The Hero of Oaton

Chapters

Chapter 1: I Need a Hero
Chapter 2: Memories and Complications
Chapter 3: Oaton
Chapter 4: Perspectives
Chapter 5: The Other Side of the Coin
Chapter 6: Tarnished Efforts
Chapter 7: The Limits of a Hero
Chapter 8: Family
Chapter 9: Always Darkest...
Chapter 11: Heart of a Hero (Part 2)
Epilogue: A Promise to a Filly
Chapter 10: Heart of a Hero (Part 1)

Chapter 1: I Need a Hero

Chapter 1: I Need a Hero

It was a rare day for Trixie, one in which, against all the odds of the cosmos, she didn’t have any work to do. Normally when her assistant Pokey Pierce had a day off, like today, there was inevitably a mass of paperwork waiting to ambush her in her office. Yet some miracle of good fortune had led to Trixie discovering only a small and easily manageable hoof full of documents on her desk that morning and it’d taken less than half an hour to power through them.

That left her with the entire day to do as she pleased, with no obligations, appointments, or even minor errands that needed doing. An almost completely free day. This was something to be savored. The azure unicorn almost teared up at the realization. Hm, quick check to see if anypony was looking. No? Good. Tearing up commencing!

“A day off, all to myself. How to spend it, how to spend it?”

The immediate notion of crawling right back into bed and napping for awhile was certainly promising, but since these kind of days were so rare she didn’t want it to go by that fast, which napping would certainly make happen. Besides she did that anyway even on days she was supposed to be busy, hence why the paperwork tended to pile up like it usually did even with an assistant on hoof to help. No, she should do something special with this precious free time. Something fun. Fun, that thing that other ponies who weren’t Representatives of the Night Court got to have. Perhaps she was exaggerating a bit, but for such a supposedly unimportant position she’d been saddled with there seemed to be a suspicious amount of work involved with being the Night Court Representative in Ponyville. Trixie intended to take advantage of every possible opportunity to avoid said work and enjoy herself, especially now that she had friends who seemed to genuinely enjoy her company.

“I should go see who’s free today. Do lunch at the park or something. Think we’re scheduled for decent weather today.”

If she hurried she’d be able to check up on her friends before noon hit and the customary ‘hide in our houses for an hour out of fear of the sun’ tradition was done with. Trixie had noted that since Corona’s return that ponies were extending that hour somewhat past its thousand year old tradition and were certainly taking it more seriously than they had before. Trixie couldn’t blame them. Corona might have had her power severely damaged by the Elements of Harmony but as long as she was out there she remained a very real threat, one that most the ponies of Equestria had good reason to fear would resurface sooner rather than later.

Trixie’s expression soured.

“Good job Trixie,” she said to herself “Ruin a perfectly good mood with pessimism. Corona will show up when she shows up, and when she does, you and your friends will shove a huge dose of Harmony so far up her flaming posterior that she’ll be throwing up rainbows for the rest of her life freshly re-interred in the core of the sun. Simple as that.”

She needed to psyche herself up some, because whether her ego let her admit it out loud or not, Trixie was afraid. It was a lot easier to focus her attention on more immediate issues like keeping her friends safe from the machinations of Night Court nobles like Greengrass than letting herself get worked up over a confrontation that may be months or longer down the road...but the knowledge of the inevitable rematch with Corona was always a unpleasant back thought that never quite left Trixie’s mind.

When the time for that fight did arrive would the Elements of Harmony work a second time? Trixie had no real reason to suspect they wouldn’t, but she wasn’t comfortable relying entirely on the Elements either. Corona was insane, not stupid. Trixie felt a sneaking sense of paranoia that the maddened alicorn may just find some way to counter the Elements of Harmony. If not Corona it was also possible Zecora might dig up some ancient zebra magic that at could at least interfere with the Elements ability to function.

The problem was Trixie didn’t know much about the Elements of Harmony, despite being the Element of Magic herself. Far as she could tell the things just sort of…did what they did when they felt like doing it. There was no obvious on/off switch, no clear and definable list of powers and functions to choose from. The Elements just…were. Trixie didn’t doubt that they were powerful beyond any other singular form of magic known to ponykind, she’d felt that power herself and seen it in action. She just didn’t like the notion of betting her life, and the lives of her friends, and by proxy the safety of Equestria, on something that seemed so…finicky.
.

“Nope, not thinking like that! This is a day for relaxation and enjoyment. With friends. Yes, Trixie will show her friends so much friendship today they won’t even know what hit them! Ponyville, neigh, the world shall bow before my friendliness! And there is nothing to stand in my way!”

The natural talent and nature of a performer combined with a growing love of the magic acts she’d been putting on for the locals of Ponyville had brought out something of a dramatic streak in Trixie, one that got away from her at times. She was posing on her hind legs with her forelegs spread out around her as if she were imagining the world in her megalomaniacal hooves. Or something like that.

Then there was a knock at the door.

Trixie looked at the door of her house with narrowed eyes. She knew that kind of knock.

“No…”

There was that knock again. The obvious insistent, hectic, frantic knock of a pony that wanted something from Trixie. Something work related.

“No, no, no…”

Whether mundane work or taking care of some random disaster there would be something she needed to do and there would go her day off. That was what that knock meant. Only ponies who had work for her to do, or some catastrophic matter (like signing something) for her to attend to knocked like that.

“I’m not here. Go away. The Trixie you are trying to reach is no longer in service.”

…Blast it all they were still knocking! But, but, but, friends! Free time! Her day off! The fate of Equestria depended her being lazy and not doing work today! Couldn’t ponies see that!? After it became clear that the incessant knocking wasn’t going to stop Trixie heaved out a resigned sigh.

“Fine…I’ll answer the door. Then do whatever stupid thing it is they want me to do. When Equestria is set on fire by Corona and we couldn’t stop her because I wasn’t able to spend time with my friends to boost our harmony levels or however those stupid Elements work I’m going to have it put in my epitaph that it was the fault of this one pony who wouldn’t stop knocking on my day off!”

Trixie went up to the door and opened it with a glow of magic and with a barely suppressed scowl said, “What?”…to thin air.

She looked left. Nothing. Right. Nothing still. Down…oh.

There was a young earth pony filly with a bright yellow coat and blue mane looking up at her with wide brown eyes. Trixie stared at her for a moment, taken aback by the filly’s earnest expression.

“Um, I mean, yes, can I help you?”

The filly’s eyes went even wider, if that was possible, and her mouth slowly opened, and she whispered in a tone of near reverence that took Trixie completely off guard, and maybe made her feel a tad pleased.

“Is it really you?” said the filly between gasps of air, apparently out of breath from her frantic knocking “Are you…are you…her? The Great and Powerful Trixie?”

Trixie blinked, for a second not sure what to make of the awe in the filly’s voice. Then Trixie grinned. Broadly, and smugly. So this was a fan then? Some filly who’d seen her magic show and had come for an autograph? Of course she was! The title was a dead giveaway, as among the various stage names she used to build herself up the one the filly had used was among Trixie’s favorites. An autograph wouldn’t take long at all and she could easily go about spending time with her friend’s today. Strange that the filly had knocked so frantically, like she was in trouble or something, but Trixie supposed she couldn’t help it if some of her fans were just that eager to speak with her.

“Why yes I am. Normally I don’t do autographs outside of performance but since you’ve gone through the trouble to come to my home I’d be happy to-“

‘Ohpleaseyouhavetohelpusyoujustgotta!” the filly practically threw herself onto Trixie, wrapping around one of Trixie’s forelegs and shaking it as she shouted a fast jumble of words in a voice of pure desperation.

Trixie, too stunned to respond, just sort of stood there for several seconds as the filly bawled, shook Trixie’s leg and babbled words spoken so fast Trixie wasn’t understanding a one of them. Before she could respond, however, a concerned feminine voice said from above her.

“Trixie, what’s going on?”

Trixie looked up to see Ditzy Doo in her blue mailmare uniform and satchel hover around the corner of Trixie’s house. The gray coated, blond pegasus was giving the filly a worried look and in turn a questioning one at Trixie.

“What? I don’t know! She just showed up at my doorstep! I don’t know who she is.” Trixie said quickly, not pulling away from the filly but certainly looking uncomfortable with the situation. Actually now that she just heard herself say it Trixie did a quick mental checklist of all the fillies she knew in Ponyville. Having done a fair number of magic shows when time permitted since starting her official duties as the Night Court’s Representative in Ponyville she’d gotten pretty familiar with most the foals in town, as there were few that missed any of her performances. This filly wasn’t at all familiar.

Ditzy, nodding and immediately snapping into parental mode floated down and put a hoof on the young filly’s shoulder, saying soothingly “There there, slow down honey. It’s okay, just take a deep breath and tell us what it is you’re trying to say.”

The filly quickly quieted down and wiped her face; doing as she’d been bade and took a few deep breaths. Trixie had to admit she was a tad envious of Ditzy’s facility with foals. Trixie could work with them well enough when she was doing a performance and certainly enjoyed entertaining them, but outside of that she had little experience with dealing with foals, especially hysterical ones. Ditzy Doo on the other hoof was a single mother who by all accounts was what any parent should strive to be. Trixie couldn’t imagine a pony more suited to being the Element of Kindness.

The filly had to take a minute or two to calm herself, taking big deep breaths. Even then she still seemed to practically vibrate with a nervous energy as she looked up at Trixie, and still teary eyed, said “You got to help us! You’re the only one who can!”

“Help who honey?” coaxed Ditzy calmly in a soft tone.

“My town, Oaton! The mayor sent me to find Trixie.”

“The Elements of Harmony, then. You were sent to get help from them,” Trixie presumed, the gears in her mind turning. She figured sooner or later, probably sooner, someponies would start coming to her and her friends to help deal with this, that, or the other thing. It wasn’t general knowledge that being an Element or Harmony conveyed no actual special power or ability beyond what the pony already had before becoming one. The power of the Elements only worked when all of them were together, and even then Trixie wasn't sure how that power activated or even what it could conceivably be used for other than giving mentally unstable sun alicorns the equivalent of a magical enema. Still if this filly was looking for help she didn’t see any reason not to hear her out…though that name, Oaton, it sounded oddly familiar. Where had she heard that name before?

The filly just looked at Trixie in a puzzled manner, head tilting to the side.

“Elements? Oh, that’s what that nice mare I met on the road called you when I asked her where Ponyville was and if she’d heard of you. I don’t know about any Elements, but I’m definitely here for you!”

It was Trixie’s turn to look puzzled as she peered down at this little filly, “If you don’t need me because I’m an Element, then why do you need me?”

“Why? Because you’re the Hero of Oaton! That’s why!”

Trixie’s eyes widened and she and Ditzy exchanged looks, then Trixie blurted the first thought that ran through her mind.

“I’m the what of what now?”

My little pony, My little pony
Ahh ahh ahh ahhh...
My little pony
Friendship never meant that much to me
My little pony
But you're all here and now I can see
Stormy weather; Lots to share
A musical bond; With love and care
Teaching laughter; It's an easy feat,
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
How'd I ever make so many true friends?

It was late afternoon now, with the Elements of Harmony having gathered at Trixie’s home after their own daily obligations were done and Ditzy during her mail rounds had spread the word of what was happening. Trixie’s living room was a little crowded with all of her friend’s present but they made do, and Carrot Top had volunteered to cook up dinner for everypony. Trixie was more than happy to let the farmer have at the kitchen, her skills as a cook completely outshone by Carrot Top’s recently developed culinary prowess.
.
Raindrops had a disbelieving expression as she leaned up against one of the walls. Lyra had just looked bemused, lounging on a couch. Cheerilee was looking like she was trying not to laugh and not hiding it very well. Ditzy at least had the propriety to look away and cover her mouth when she chuckled. Carrot Top was just barely visible in the kitchen glancing their way and clearly paying attention but otherwise too focused on cooking to show much reaction to…well…

“-and is it true you can grow a hundred feet tall whenever you want!?”

The filly, who’d introduced herself as Bushel, hadn’t detached herself from Trixie for a second since they got her calm enough to at least partially explain what all this was about and during the time Trixie was waiting for her friends to gather in the hopes of salvaging at least part of the day for some quality time with them the filly had also been asking a constant stream of questions. Most of which were ridiculous beyond belief but Trixie couldn’t deny a certain warm glow as she felt her ego getting a hefty stroke.

“Such a feat isn’t that hard,” she said, straightening her shoulders, then quickly amended “Sort of. I can make myself look that tall without difficulty in any case!...I think.”

She probably could, she thought, as she puzzled out a few magical theories on a proper illusion spell to create a realistic fabrication of a hundred foot tall version of herself. She’d have to sacrifice a little on the tactile department to get that size but she thought she could manage it.

“I actually was a hundred feet tall once,” Raindrops said with a small laugh, “Don’t hear any fillies calling me a hero for it though.”

“It was really more life fifty feet tall,” Trixie said “And Poison Joke doesn’t count.”

“That dragon sure seemed to think it counted when I bucked him in the face. Anyway is this filly sure she’s got the right hero? I mean, you don’t even seem to remember this ‘Oaton’, Trixie.”

Bushel scrunched up her nose and shouted before Trixie could reply, “Trixie is too the Hero of Oaton. My ma and pa told me so!”

“Where is Oaton anyway?” Lyra asked, “I’ve never heard of it.”

Cheerilee calmed her chuckles enough to say, “It’s a hamlet to the south west, on the route between Ponyville and Hoofington. There’s no train that goes there directly but there’s a way-station ponies can get off at and follow a road a few miles there.”

“You been there?” asked the lyrist, and Cheerilee shook her head.

“Just know my geography. Apparently I don’t know my history as well as I thought though,” the teacher grinned “The Hero of Oaton must have been a chapter I missed.”

Apparently I did too, thought Trixie, a little morosely as she wracked her brain. Raindrops was right on that count; for the life of her she just couldn’t remember Oaton or anything that Bushel was talking about. If she was a hero she wanted to remember it! Bragging rights were always better when they were legitimate, after all. One would think that would be the kind of thing that would stick out in a pony’s memory anyway, saving a whole town from…whatever she supposedly saved it from.

“Come on,” said Carrot Top, poking her head out of the kitchen “Stop nettling Trixie, she clearly doesn’t know what this is about and I for one want to know why Bushel here was sent so far from home just to get her.”

“Yes, I don’t know what that mayor was thinking sending a young filly by herself across country like that,” said Ditzy, looking at Bushel “That’s no kind of journey for a foal to make alone.”

Cheerilee nodded, her smile still present but no longer quite as amused, “Alright, no more laughing on my part. It is a little funny though, seeing Trixie all flustered.”

“I am not flustered! I am merely a tad…confused. Besides what is so funny about someponies thinking of me as a hero?”

“The part where you clearly don’t remember what Bushel’s talking about?” said Raindrops with a shrug, “No offense Trixie, you’re my friend, and you’ve shown you can pull through in a pinch, but to be honest you don’t exactly exude heroic qualities, you know? Odd doesn’t begin to cover this.”

“Hey!” shouted Bushel “You take that back! She is a hero! I know it; she’s got a song and everything!”

That caused all those gathered to stare at the filly. Lyra’s interest seemed most piqued.

“A song?” Lyra asked, leaning towards Bushel.

Bushel nodded her head viciously and without any prompt began to launch into song, her squeaky voice a tad high pitched but otherwise slipping easily into a jaunty and fast paced tune.

Trixie!
The mare they call Trixie!
She stood up for right and she stood against wrong
She fought injustice as you’ll hear in this song
Our love for her now is easy to see
The Hero of Oaton
The mare they call Trixie!

Now Trixie saw our crops were dyin’
She heard our cries for water
She saw that Lumber Guild buildin’
Without a care for who they were hurtin’

She said “You won’t harm my little ponies!”
“You can’t dry up all their land!”
So Trixie put on her hat and in no time flat
Burned down the Guild’s wretched dam

Raindrops came over to Trixie, leaning in and whispering, “Any of this ringing any bells?”

Trixie slowly shook her head, unable to qualify any of what was being sung with what her memory was telling her. The Lumber Guild was an ambiguous term; it could reference any number of small organizations that handled lumber acquisition all over Equestria, and she certainly didn’t remember burning down any dams.

Trixie’s confusion aside Bushel kept right on singing, hopping on top of a chair and jumping to a book-stand, much to the dismay of Ditzy who kept floating nearby to catch the filly if she fell.

She stood up for right and she stood against wrong
She fought injustice as you’ll hear in this song
Our love for her now is easy to see
The Hero of Oaton
The mare they call Trixie!

Now the Guild came after our hero
Waving permits and thinking themselves sly
But mare they call Trixie, even while tipsy
Showed the Guild’s permits for lies

Something was starting to turn over in Trixie’s mind. Small snippets of memory that were beginning to surface from the recesses of memory from her early years at Night Court, arranging themselves into place with each additional line of the song.

She brought water back to our fields
She brought hope back to our hearts
Then the mare they call Trixie, still quite tipsy
Galloped off that night full of stars

She stood up for right and stood against wrong
She fought injustice as you’ll hear in this song
Our love for her now is easy to see
The Hero of Oaton
The mare they call Trixie!

The filly had sung with such energy and exuberance that none of the Elements had dared interrupt, though Trixie had seen various looks that ranged from shock to amusement, and ultimately, curiosity as they all looked her way. As Bushel caught her breath after such vigorous singing Raindrops gave Trixie a raised eyebrow and gestured a hoof at the filly.

“So, care to elaborate on any of that?”

“I…maybe…?” Trixie said as fragments of memory continued to link up in her mind, until finally a somewhat coherent picture formed and the dots got connected. The azure unicorn’s jaw slowly dropped as she did finally remember Oaton.

“Bushel,” she said in as sweet a voice she could manage in an attempt to imitate Ditzy, “Could you give me and my friends a few minutes alone please?”

Bushel’s eyes widened and began to water as her lips quavered, “You didn’t like the song?”

Trixie was quick to say in a panic, “What!? No! I mean, yes, yes it was a nice song. Very…um…provoking! Yes, thought provoking. I just need a little time to talk hero-y stuff with my friends, that’s all.”

The filly still looked like she was about to cry but Ditzy came to the rescue and with a few whispered but firm assurances that yes Trixie did in fact like the song and that everything was alright was able to usher Bushel upstairs. With the filly out of earshot Trixie was able to finally look to all her gathered friends and try to explain things.

“Alright, so maybe I kind of sort of recall going to a village called Oaton. It was a little over a year ago, back when I was trying to get involved in the Night Court, with…er…sort of mixed results.”

“Define ‘mixed results’, “said Raindrops.

“Not entirely succeeding as much as I may have less than fully succeeded at any of my plans but as a result had many useful learning experiences.”

“…so you pretty much failed a lot.”

“I was trying to put a positive spin on it.”

“I know.”

“So did you save the town or something? Like it says in the song?” asked Carrot Top as she stirred a pot of something that smelled good enough to get Trixie’s mouth watering.

“Did you commit arson, like it says in the song?” asked Raindrops with a wry grin.

“No, yes, a little of both? Look I was drunk for most that night!”

“Like it says in the song,” said Cheerilee with a chuckle.

“Let her explain,” said Lyra, arms crossing, as she lounged back on Trixie’s couch “I want to hear this.”

“Don’t worry Trixie I’ll keep the gigglers in the audience quiet,” said Ditzy with a wink and floated over between Cheerilee and Raindrops, giving the two fake glares. The two did quiet down though and Trixie resumed her story.

“So as I was saying, this was slightly over a year ago. I had no real status per se, I was just the Princess’ protégé, a student with no title or actual place in court. Luna was trying to teach me the ins and outs of politics and I figured I’d put those lessons to practical use and try to involve myself with the Night Court. With no title or power all I could really do was try to look for ways to gather information on ponies I could use later, or try to earn favors to call in once I was actually established. The trouble was I tended to get cornered in a lot of my schemes to get information or collect favors. Instead I ended up the one owing favors myself. One of those favors was ferrying a package to a small farming hamlet called Oaton, near the edge of the South Everfree province…I was rather depressed that day and may have indulged in bringing a flask of bourbon with me…”

Chapter 2: Memories and Complications

Chapter 2: Memories and Complications

One year ago…

Trixie stared out the train window at the passing landscape, chin in hoof, scowl on face, liquor at the ready. Irritation clawed at her, causing her to tap one of her hind hooves repeatedly as she waited for the train to make its appointed stop. Soon enough she could get this pointless and annoying errand over and done with and get back to Canterlot, her first order of business upon doing so being to find a way to get back at Baron Flouting for this indignation! Being reduced to a…a…a delivery pony!

Okay so perhaps she’d overstretched her ambitions by trying to eavesdrop on the Baron’s dealings, hoping to dig up some kind of dirt she could use sometime in the future when she wasn’t a political non-entity. Luna was teaching her how politics worked so the Princess could hardly be surprised if Trixie was trying to put some of those lessons to use…though granted Luna hadn’t actually taught her that sneaking onto a Baron’s property to try and listen in on his dealings was a good idea. That was all Trixie.

Trixie had been shocked to discover the Baron was no slouch in divination or warding spells. She was equally dismayed to discover that invisibility didn’t do much against guard dogs, who had annoyingly keen hearing.

For the record Trixie had decided she very much hated guard dogs. First of all who kept guard dogs in this day and age!? Furthermore, who, upon wishing to employ the use of said guard dogs upon a suspected invisible intruder, says ‘Release the hounds!’. Baron Flouting, apparently, because that was exactly what he had done. It was just in horrible poor taste as far as Trixie was concerned. She supposed she should count herself fortunate said guard dogs had been called off after she’d been cornered and her invisibly spell had faltered. Trixie’s endurance and concentration in keeping up such a spell while under duress (being chased by guard dogs, for example) still needed a lot of work.

In either an act of mercy or contempt…probably both, Trixie reflected, the Baron didn’t do more than request she do him a small favor in exchange for forgetting the whole affair and not having her thrown in jail for trespassing. The favor in question being this inane courier task to some two-bit nowhere village. What was the name of it again? Trixie didn’t recall, but since it was apparently the only settlement for miles from the way station she was getting off at she supposed it didn’t matter.

I do this, go home, and first thing first I start refining my invisibility spell, find a way to conceal sound as well as my body. Perhaps I can layer two spells together without them interfering, maybe even empowering each other...? But how to bypass wards designed to detect magic auras?

“You need anything miss?” asked a train attendant, a friendly looking white earth pony mare with a short mane of rosy red hair.

“No,” said Trixie curtly, not even looking at the attendant save for out of the corner of her eye, taking a long pull from her flask of bourbon. She felt slightly less annoyed as the liquid burned its way to her stomach and filled her with a pleasant warmth, despite the chill of the morning. Since moving to Canterlot and becoming Princess Luna’s apprentice her sleep schedule had become adjusted to one that generally saw her going to sleep around this time. Luna was a nocturnal being and Trixie had gotten used to following suit, so Trixie was normally asleep during the day and was active at night. Still being away this time of morning wasn’t the norm for her and she was more than a little cranky. Hence the bourbon. Admittedly the alcohol was a recent thing for her, having just come of age not long ago. She had become fond of the warm buzz that came with drink, however. It relaxed her. Trixie generally felt she was in constant need of relaxing.

“Well, okay, if you’re sure,” said the attendant, friendly smile dropping and edging away from Trixie to go see to the few other ponies in the passenger car. Trixie paid her no mind, continuing to nurse her flask of liquor and fuming over the general injustices of the world. By her side a simple small box shaped parcel sat, wrapped in brown parchment. She didn’t care what she was delivering or why and half suspected the package itself was a hoax, just set up as an excuse to send her on some pointless trip away from Canterlot.

She only somewhat remembered she was to deliver it to somepony named…Saw…something? Sawblade, that was it. Worked for the Hoofington Lumber Guild. At least she thought that’s what the Baron had said. It was getting harder to think clearly as the bourbon did its’ work.

By the time the train stopped at the way station, a simple stone platform in the middle of nowhere, Trixie was swaying slightly as she haphazardly threw on her hat and cape and carried the package in a field of magic next to her as she disembarked.

As the train pulled away Trixie looked about. There was a plain dirt road winding alongside the tracks, with another branching off in the distance towards a dense clump of shadows she figured was a forest. A single post with a wood sign sat at the cross section between the two roads, reading a single word: Oaton. The sign pointed towards the forest.

“And so the Great and Powerful Trixie, apprentice to Princess Luna herself, begins her epic quest to deliver pointless mail to a pointless town in the back end of Equestria!”

Taking a swig of her drink she began trotting down the road, a particularly dramatic wind billowing across the scene and causing her mane and cape to flutter just so-

Present day…

“Okay, okay, can you just skip to the important part where you did the hero thing?” said Raindrops as Trixie described the way some wind or something was blowing her cape.

Trixie rolled her eyes, dropping the small telekinesis spell she’d been using to simulate wind blowing her cape and mane, “I need to set the scene! And what’s wrong with a little dramatic description and exposition?”

“I like it,” said Lyra, though Trixie wasn’t even sure the unicorn had been listening until she spoke up, as Lyra’s eyes had been closed and she’d just looked so…relaxed, laying back like that, practically sinking into Trixie’s couch, “Can’t get to the chorus without the introduction. Carry on.”

“I want to hear the whole story too, but we shouldn’t keep Bushel upstairs for too long,” Ditzy said.

“Don’t worry this won’t take much longer,” said Trixie “My memory of events gets fuzzy not long after I arrived in Oaton. It was just about sunset when I got there…”

One year ago…again.

Oaton was tiny. Hamlet didn’t cover it. It was less than a dozen thatch roof buildings, one just slightly larger than the others, clustered along the bank what Trixie imagined was supposed to be a river but right now looked to be little more than a dry strip of mud. Across from the river was a series of small fields, all of them looking forlornly bare of crops despite it being prime planting season.

Gazing at her empty flask she sympathized with the fields. Nothing good ever comes from being dry. Trotting down the dirt road that led straight through the center of the cluster of buildings she barely noticed the shouting and yelling going on in the middle of town until she was right on top of the argument.

“Don’t you understand!? We need that river to keep our field irrigated. We don’t got a big well to water them and keep ourselves from dying of thirst!”

“I understand perfectly. You merely seem to lack an understanding of the extent to which I care. There’s, what, thirty ponies in this whole so-called ‘town’? You shouldn’t have any trouble moving to a more…populated area.”

“This is our home! And we’re not letting you drive us out of it! We’ll fight if we have to!”

“Is that so? Our operation is supported by very important ponies from Canterlot. Do you think, even if you did fight us, that there would be no repercussion from the law? We have ever legal right to be here.”

Trixie peered at the two arguing parties, headed by two ponies of near equal size if very different disposition and dress. One, an earth pony with a dark green coat and sandy colored mane wearing a wide brimmed straw hat was practically smoking at the nostrils in anger. By contrast the other pony, a violet unicorn with a painfully bright blue and neatly trimmed mane wearing a bowler cap and tie, was icy calm and seemed not even remotely concerned with the other pony’s ire. A dozen ponies, almost all of them of the earth tribe, were gathered behind the big green one, while behind the violet unicorn there were half a dozen ponies of all breeds, all wearing the same bowler style cap as their apparent boss. The mood in the air was one of extreme tension ready to boil over.

Trixie walked right up in the middle of it, between the two lead ponies, and planted herself between them and held up her flask.

“If anypony in town possess access to more alcohol let them speak now and forever gain the infinite gratitude of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Silence reigned for a moment, and then was broken by the violet unicorn.

“Who in blue blazes are you?”

Trixie just looked at him as if he were a slow foal, “Trixie. Great and Powerful. Try to keep up, otherwise this will take all night. I require a drink. I don’t care what kind, I’m still experimenting with what I like. Also I need to find a pony whose name is Sawsomething. Can you do either of these things?”

“I don’t plan on doing anyth-“

“Then you’re of no use to me. You, the big green fellow with the nice hat. Do you know where a mare can find herself something to drink, at least?”

The earth pony seemed a little taken aback but looked at the violet unicorn sputtering in impotent rage at Trixie’s dismissal and grinned at her, “Well might be I do miss Trixie. We might not have much here in Oaton but we got ale aplenty. Gonna need a drink myself after talking with this sod here.”

“Watch your tone Sheaf,” said the violet unicorn, “I don’t take insults lightly.”

“You’re still here?” said Trixie, “I thought I dismissed you. Go now,” she waved a hoof at the other unicorn “Shoo. I’m done with you.”

“I don’t know who you think you are missy, but I don’t let things like this slide. You’ll be in a world of hurt if you don’t adjust that attitude. I know some very important ponies in Canterlot.”

Trixie laughed, though it rather hurt her head to do so. She needed something to drink, her buzz was wearing off, and this pony was starting to get on her nerves.

“Important ponies? That right? Allow me a moment to care about that…okay, done. Now then, perhaps you should consider adjusting your attitude, as I know some rather important ponies as well. One in particular you may be quite familiar with. Princess Luna Equestris, Shepherd of the Moon, Sovereign of the Three Tribes, ect, ect? I’m sure you must have heard of her. And to think you’re threatening her personal apprentice and student. What would she do, I wonder, if she heard of that?”

…Probably nothing, actually. Luna was very much a ‘stand on your own four hooves’ kind of teacher and wasn’t likely to bail Trixie out of any trouble she got into. But Trixie didn’t need to tell any of these ponies that.

“Horseapples,” was the violet unicorn’s reply but he noticed several of his subordinates muttering amongst themselves plus the generally bolstered attitude of the Oaton villagers and seemed to quickly decide this was ceasing to be worth it as he snorted, “In any case mayor Sheaf, neither my ponies or our facilities are budging. We have permits. You want us gone you’d best take it up with the Count who owns that land, but good luck getting an audience. C’mon bucks, let’s scram.”

“Yes, you do that,” Trixie said as the ponies in bowler caps trotted off out of town, heading north towards the forest. She let out a disdainful snort and turned her attention to the villagers, who had gathered around her, most of them wearing smiles.

“Well that was just plumb refreshing! You sure got under that Sawblade’s hide!” said one yellow earth pony mare with a wide grin.

“You sure are fancy looking miss if you don’t mind my saying so. You really from Canterlot?” asked another mare, a dusty brown earth pony with a shawl covering her mane.

“Is it true you really are the apprentice of Princess Luna herself?” asked an excitable young stallion who looked a few years younger than Trixie.

Trixie adored attention, and beamed under the amount being showered on her now. She drew herself up and proudly puffed up, giving them all a very serious look.

“But of course! Few have the ear of the Princess of the Night as well as I! I’m all but her right hoof at the Night Court. She’s teaching me the most mystical secrets of magic and before long I may be the greatest spellcaster in all of Equine history, second only to Luna herself!”

Now would have been a more accurate time for that unicorn, Sawblade (wasn’t that name relevant somehow?…Trixie was sure she’s remember later), to show up and shout ‘Horseapples’. While it was true Luna was teaching her magic, and that yes Trixie was essentially the immortal alicorn’s apprentice…that actually didn’t amount to a lot. Trixie had no influence or power whatsoever. Hence her being regulated to a delivery pony status by a single Baron’s whim. Her magical abilities were also being exaggerated. She was certainly good at instinctively learning various spells, and was rather talented in the school of illusion spells, but her own reserve of magical power was…limited. She’d be a capable wizard one day to be sure, but greatest in history? Not happening. But Trixie had an audience now and she was happy despite her fading buzz.

“Now then, I seem to recall somepony saying something about there being more alcohol?”

Present day…again.

“I’m surprised you got that drunk back then. I remember you telling me the morning after Pinkie Pie’s party that that was your first hangover,” commented Carrot Top as she brought out plates of the food she’d been cooking, everypony taking a plate gratefully.

Trixie looked away, face tingeing a little red. Carrot Top was referring to Trixie’s first day in Ponyville and the subsequent party a certain pink pony had thrown for the town’s new arrival. If the accounts could be believed Trixie got particularly hammered that night and the morning after had been correspondingly unpleasant. Trixie did recall telling Carrot Top that had been her first real hangover.

“Like I said, my memory goes to pieces after accepting the mayor’s offer for more alcohol. I didn’t even remember this much until Bushel jogged my memory. I think I tried to just bury the whole affair and forget it ever happened,” said Trixie, floating her plate of food next to her and taking a bite of sandwich, “Which means if there was a hangover, which I don’t doubt there was, I didn’t remember it.”

“Seems weird you’d do that. It was only a year ago, right? How do you forget something so quickly?” said Ditzy. Trixie wasn’t surprised Ditzy would ask that. The gray pegasus had a memory that Trixie suspected was near photographic. The idea of forgetting something, especially only a year past, was probably a foreign concept to somepony like Ditzy.

“When you have a long list of unpleasant experiences it becomes remarkably easy to selectively forget certain ones. At least it is for me. It probably helped that alcohol erased any clear memories except what I’ve already told you.”

Raindrops put a hoof to her face, “Wait, are you telling me you regaled us with a overblown narrative and you don’t even remember the important part? You know, the one where you actually saved the town?”

“That does seem a little anti-climatic,” mentioned Cheerilee, “I was looking forward to hearing how you managed to burn down a dam. While drunk. Like, did you miscast a spell?”

“What? Me, miscast a spell!? Not…likely…” Trixie trailed off as she got a raised eyebrow from Lyra and she quickly amended “Well…possibly. But even if I had miscast some spell while drunk I doubt I could have burned anything down. When a unicorn miscasts a spell it tends to just fizzle out.”

“Or turn ponies into not ponies,” muttered Lyra quietly, probably too quiet for anypony to hear.

“On the off hoof chance a spell still has an affect when miscast that affect would still be inside the school of the spell,” explained Trixie hastily, “Burning anything down would require an evocation spell. I don’t know much evocation…its…pretty much the opposite of what I’m good at; illusion. I can’t imagine a spell I could have cast that would have gone awry enough for a whole dam to burn down as a result. I don’t even remember anything being on fire that night. I think.”

“You think?” Raindrops hovered closer, “Just how much more do you remember about that night?”

“Not a lot. I remember the mayor taking me to the town’s only building that wasn’t a home, the tavern. There was singing, dancing, a pretty yellow mare who kept giving me drinks…” Trixie’s face scrunched up as she thought, dredging through faint images in her mind, none of which contained any context with one another, “…there’s nothing solid after that. I do recall something about a fire, but the strange thing is that I don’t think it was a dam that was on fire. I seem to recall something else burning…Gah, I just can’t remember what.”

“Do you remember anything about that line in the song about the permits being fake?” asked Carrot Top, “I remember when I got my farming license it was pretty easy. I can’t figure why this Lumber Guild would need to fake permits. Shouldn’t they have had an easy time getting legitimate ones?”

“Depends on who owned the land,” said Trixie, eyes staring up at the ceiling as she did battle with her memory, or lack thereof, “Land owned by a noble can either be expensive or cheap to get permits to build and farm, depending on the mood of the noble. I don’t remember anything about the permits though. If they had been forged for whatever reason then however I found out about it must have been…simple in nature. If I was that drunk I couldn’t have figured out anything complicated.”

“I don’t know, you seem pretty sharp when you get sloshed. And a lot more friendly,” Lyra said, “Almost disturbingly friendly.”

Trixie frowned, “Yes, I’ve heard about that. There’s a reason I try not to get that drunk anymore, at least not in company.”

“Oh, why not? I hear Lulamoon is a lot of fun!” said Cheerilee, “You should let her out more often!”

“Ugh, Cheerilee, I don’t find the existence of this…alter ego, the least bit amusing.”

“Oh come on, you’ve never even met her!”

“She is me! Or an anti-me. I don’t even know what she’s supposed to be! I just don’t like that there’s this weird split personality I get when I imbibe a little too much alcohol, and that this personality is more popular with my friends than I am!”

“We like you just fine Trixie,” Ditzy said, coming over and putting a hoof on the blue unicorn’s shoulder, “I’ve never met this other you either and I’m perfectly fine with there just being the one you. No need for alcohol. Two of you would be too much anyway.”

“Thanks…I think,” Trixie said, giving Ditzy a small smile before she glanced at the stairs that led to the second floor of her home, “In any case we should get Bushel back down here. She’s probably hungry. We let her eat, then hear what she has to say. I want to know just what’s going on with Oaton this time.”

It took a few tries to get Bushel to not wolf down her food and talk at the same time. Even then the little filly focused a lot more on her plate of food than on answering their questions and it was clear she was famished. Trixie felt a little ashamed of having stuffed her upstairs at first instead of letting the filly eat. She just wanted to get her side of the story to her friends without the filly around to hear about it. Bushel kept looking at her with those awe filled eyes and Trixie couldn’t deny it felt…good, to be looked at like that. Besides, wouldn’t it be rather brutish to damage a young filly’s viewpoint with something silly like the truth? And what was the truth anyway? All Trixie remembered was going to Oaton, breaking up an argument, then getting quite drunk. Perhaps she was everything Bushel said she was in that song; a hero who rescued a village from certain starvation at the hooves of greedy ponies…

…okay so perhaps Trixie wasn’t entirely buying into that. There were too many unanswered questions about that night for her to totally believe that everything had gone down exactly as described. And the song was pretty vague anyway. Still, why not let the filly have her hero for however long it lasted? After all it was the duty of a performer to give her audience what they wanted and Trixie was loath to disappoint an audience, whether it be a whole crowd or just one awe-struck filly.

“Well my good young filly, have you finished eating?” asked Trixie after Bushel had devoured the last of the meal, and the filly nodded enthusiastically.

“Mmhmm! Is there any more? That was really good!”

Trixie gave Carrot Top a questioning side-long glance and the farmer pony smiled and gave a wink, “I think I can whip up some dessert pretty quick.”

As Carrot Top went back to the kitchen Trixie returned her attention to Bushel.

“Now then,” Trixie began, “Please tell the Great and Powerful Trixie what trouble has befallen your humble village.”

She noticed Raindrops roll her eyes and Ditzy quirk an eyebrow as she leaned over to Cheerilee and whisper “She really likes that title doesn’t she?”

Trixie didn’t hear Cheerilee’s response as Bushel practically began to shout at a hundred miles a minute.

“Its horrible! Everything was fine until a month ago when that stupid dumb Lumber Guild came back like they’d never left and just started rebuilding the dam you burned up! And they got the sheriff from Bridlesville telling my pa that their permits are all good this time and that there’s nothing he can do even though the Lumber Guild set a big mean basilisk loose in the forest-“

“Wait, a basilisk!?” Trixie said, eyes wide, but Bushel just kept right on going.

“- and its already turned Mr. and Mrs. Thresher to stone but the sheriff won’t do anything about it and nopony was allowed to leave town because it’s too dangerous! Oh, when you’re done beating up all the Lumber Guild ponies you gotta slay the basilisk! That’d be so cool! I can watch right? But you need to stop the Lumber Guild first, that’s most important of all! Even though they got all these fancy guards wearing livers or something I bet you can take care of all of them no problem.”

“Livers…?” Trixie was starting to get a very uncomfortable feeling about all this.

“Some kind of fancy get up! That’s what my pa said they was wearing anyway.”

“Livery,” Trixie said, trying to not gulp. Those weren't just hired goons Bushel was describing then, but noble appointed guards wearing the colors of whoever had hired them. Trixie put on a confident smile she wasn’t quite feeling.

“Bushel could you describe what the guards were wearing? You have seen them right?’’

Bushel frowned, “Yeah, them bullies marched right through town and caused a big ruckus at the tavern. Didn’t pay for anything! Said we ‘dirt farmers’ ought to be glad we let them run up a tab! But I got good look at them. Their livers were all bright blue with three red fish on them. How lame is that? Why’d somepony wear something that dumb looking?”

Because its shows which noble they work for, Trixie thought grimly as she scoured her brain for what she knew of Equestrian heraldry. This situation was getting a lot more complicated than she’d hoped. Basilisks were uncommon anywhere outside the northernmost regions of the land, and they were an endangered species to boot. It was little wonder the sheriff of the area would’ve been hesitant to round up a hunting party to deal with the beast. More so if he was already paid off by the Lumber Guild to look the other way. But of much greater concern were these guards. If they were working for a noble that meant that the Lumber Guild was now operating with noble backing, which probably meant their permits were legit this time. That was going to make things far more difficult.

Light blue with three red fish…red fish…that would be the Copper Coin family. Counts now. Great, so this is going to involve going up against a Count. Well I already have a Duke on my list of enemies, compared to that a Count’s not so bad.

Taking a deep breath and drawing herself up into what she imagined was a appropriately confident stance Trixie smiled at Bushel, getting into her performance as she imagined how a suitably heroic figure might talk, “Very well, I have heard all I need to hear! Fear not my good filly, rest assured the Great and Powerful Trixie shall not leave the folk of Oaton to face this peril alone. I shall accompany you back to your village with all due haste and do everything within my not inconsiderable power,” oh, Raindrops was giving her a very unpleasant look, “er, mostly formidable power to rid Oaton of that which imperils it!”

Whatever her friends thought of her performance the filly was overjoyed. Bushel was practically jumping with excitement and reattached herself to Trixie’s leg, “I knew you would! I mean, I wasn’t worried at all that you might have more important things to do. Nope, not at all! And now my pa will have to forgive me for…” Bushel blinked at her own words then sheepishly squeaked.

“Bushel?” Ditzy said, coming over and leaning down to look the filly in the eyes. Trixie had seen those eyes before. They were the mom-stare, an impossibly powerful technique against which no foal had a chance of keeping secrets, “Honey, it’s not nice to keep things from adults. We want to help but if there’s something you’re not telling us you really, really need to.”

Bushel’s jaw worked soundlessly for a moment save for a few tiny squeaks, but the mom-stare continued to bore into her and the filly’s willpower soon crumbled and she looked at the ground and scuffed a hoof on the floor as she said, “I might have kind of come to find the Hero of Oaton against my pa’s wishes. He didn’t want anypony leaving the village, even though a whole bunch of us wanted to come find Trixie!”

“I’m going to stab a guess and say that’s probably because of the basilisk,” said Cheerilee, “If you got something like that loose running around it wouldn’t be safe to travel.”

“Mmhmm,” Bushel verified, “Pa said he couldn’t risk anypony else getting turned to stone. He was real mad at me when I insisted we come find Trixie and grounded me when I argued with him.”

“And you snuck out of town and came to look for her anyway,” concluded Raindrops, shaking her head, “That was stupidly dangerous, but I kind of admire the dedication. How old are you?”

“Eleven!” Bushel proclaimed proudly, “Practically full grown. I can handle a long walk! And I’m not scared of any dumb lizard…” she wilted a bit though and her ears flattened on her head, “Though it was scary, seeing Mr. and Mrs. Thresher like that. They weren’t just stone, they were frozen with their faces all screwed up like they were hurting or something. Does getting turned to stone hurt?”

“I’m sure they’ll be alright,” said Ditzy comfortingly, “There’s cures for being turned to stone like that…” Ditsy glanced at Trixie and Trixie realized the pegaus was looking for some confirmation.

“Ahem, yes, as it happens being petrified can be cured with the right spells. I can probably do it myself, with enough time to study the spells in question. I’ll bring a spellbook with those spells when we leave.”

“So we’re doing this then? We’re going to Oaton?” asked Raindrops.

“Well,” Trixie looked among her friends, “I’m going. My assistant can take care of things for me here for a few days, and I can’t really say no to a plea like this. It wouldn’t be the…heroic thing to do.”

Given the circumstances few would likely blame her if she’d decided to deny Bushel’s request and instead just try to take care of the matter through third parties. Her influence was minimal at best as Representative in Ponyville, but she could still write some letters, make some inquiries, and try to solve the whole problem from her desk. She could write the sheriff in Bridlesville to try and encourage him to round up a posse to hunt the basilisk, though there might be some kind of legal issues coming up with it being an endangered creature (Trixie wasn't up on her law code involving such environmental affairs), and then try to get what few contacts she did have in Canterlot to investigate this Lumber Guild.

But none of that would be very heroic. It’d probably crush whatever image Bushel had of her certainly. A performer gives their audience what they want; it was one of the first rules of the stage. She might not be quite the hero from the song but she could play the role well enough, she thought.

Raindrops was looking at Trixie with an expression Trixie had trouble reading. The yellow pegasus had her forehooves crossed as she hovered a little off the ground, eyes only slightly narrowed. It made Trixie nervous, getting that look. Raindrops was doing a lot better these days with her anger management issues but the pegasus still had a way with displaying her displeasure that made Trixie’s jaw ache even months after the fact. It was clear Raindrops was not thrilled with Trixie’s act so far. At length Raindrops let out a sigh.

“Alright, I’m coming with you then.”

“Can you? I mean, your job with the weather patrol…” Trixie began.

“I got a few days off I can take. I usually work other pony’s shifts when they get sick, so I got a little leeway with my time off. Rainbow Dash has been shockingly less lazy this past week so I think I can afford to spend a few days away. Thing’s probably won’t fall apart.”

“I wish I could go, but I’m still scheduled for full shifts the next three days,” said Ditzy apologetically.

“You all know I’m pretty busy with the farm, but if you want me to come help I will,” said Carrot Top as she brought out some scones she’d been baking while everypony else had been talking, and she set the plate of still steaming pastries on the table in front of the couch.

“Actually its probably best if only a few of us go,” said Trixie, “I don’t want you neglecting your farm Carrot Top. Honestly me and Raindrops are probably enough for this.”

“You sure?” Lyra said, floating a scone to her mouth and munching away, “I don’t know what I could do to help, but you want it, you go it.”

“I’m sure. There’s no real point to a bunch of us going. Numbers won’t make a difference in a situation like this,” said Trixie, glad for the offers but feeling pretty sure that this was a matter that she was probably going to have to solve mostly herself.

“Well I’m definitely going,” piped in Cheerilee, which caused Trixie to over to the schoolteacher in surprise.

“Waitwhat? Don’t you have, you know, school to teach?”

“Three day weekend,” said Cheerilee, “Its Birds and Bees Day on Monday, so no school.”

“Its…what?” Confused Trixie was confused.

“Birds and Bees Day, national holiday declared two hundred and thirty three years ago by Princess Luna to celebrate the middle of spring and give certain ponies…quality time together. Kind of a smaller cousin to Hearts and Hooves Day.”

“That’s not a thing. You’re making that up,” Trixie said, almost certain she’d never heard of this holiday before now.

“Actually she’s not,” said Lyra, coughing politely, “Me and BonBon…well let’s just say I offered to come with you, but I’m pretty glad you declined. BonBon would’ve been less than thrilled if I was out of town this weekend.”

Trixie couldn’t help but agree. BonBon, Lyra’s marefriend, was tied with Raindrops on Trixie’s list of ponies she didn’t want mad at her.

“Still doesn’t sound like a real holiday,” Trixie said under her breath.

“You just haven’t heard of it because you’ve never-“ Lyra started but Trixie cut her off.

“Not important! Yay Cheerilee has time off and can come with me! This conversation can now move on to other things! More important things that have nothing to do with anything involving me and talking about…that…ever again!”

Trixie had turned a particularly dark shade of redish purple and for the moment was more than willing to let slide asking Cheerilee more about why the schoolteacher even wanted to come along on this venture. Aside from just wanting to help a friend she couldn’t imagine a motivation for the usually fairly introverted schoolteacher to want to come. No matter, while the paranoid part of Trixie wanted to ask further questions she’d trust her friend’s judgment here.

“So it’s going to be the three of us then,” Raindrops said, “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Trixie said, and as Bushel shuffled nervously Trixie looked to the filly questioningly.

“Shouldn’t we go right now? I’m not tired or anything! We can get there in a day if we leave now!” Bushel asked.

“There’s not rush. We’re not walking after all. We’ll take the train to the way station. Much faster. Besides I need to prepare a few things tonight that can help me help your village,” Trixie leaned down in front of Bushel, speaking softly and dropping the pretense of ‘acting’ like a hero. What she was about to say next wasn’t acting, after all, just Trixie being something rare for her…honest.

“Don’t worry. Whatever else happens, I give you my word as Representative of the Night Court that I will do everything I can to help Oaton.”

This seemed to be enough for Bushel because she just nodded slowly, looking a little more relaxed.

By now the evening had become late and the sun was setting. Looking at her friends Trixie said, “Does anypony have space for Bushel to sleep tonight?”

“I could sleep here! You could tell me stories about your other adventures! I bet you got dozens of ‘em!” Bushel said before any of Trixie’s friends could answer.

“Um, well, I only have the one bed,” Trixie said.

“ I don’t mind, I always share a bed with my little brother and sister. I’m used to it.”

“That’s not what I meant; I mean I’m going to be very busy tonight with some preparations for tomorrow. I’ll need to be able to concentrate completely on my work, which I do best when alone.”

“Oh…” Bushel said, head drooping.

“She can stay with me tonight,” said Cheerilee, “I don’t have a guest bed or anything but I don’t mind sharing. I have some things I’d like to ask Bushel about anyway.”

“You do?” asked Trixie, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing big, just a few things I want to clear up before we leave for Oaton. I’ll let you know if anything important comes of it. You just focus on your heroic preparations,” Cheerilee said with a wink.

One by one Trixie’s friends filed out of her house, Bushel going with Cheerilee and already assaulting the schoolteacher with a barrage of questions about the Hero of Oaton’s life in Ponyville. Raindrops was the last to leave, and turned around to face Trixie as they stood in the doorway.

“How long do you plan to keep that act up?” the pegasus asked straightforward, staring at Trixie.

“I don’t…” know what you mean, was what Trixie was going to say, out of habit if nothing else, but saw the seriousness in her friend’s eyes and continued, “…want to break a filly’s dream by hitting her with the truth, alright? She clearly thinks I’m a hero, so why shouldn’t I play the part? Besides technically we are going to save her town!”

“Can you guarantee that?” Raindrops asked, putting her face close to Trixie’s, uncomfortably so and Trixie took an involuntary step back, “Can you guarantee we’re going to save her town? I saw that look on your face when you heard about the guards in livery. You’re not half as confident about our chances as you were putting on to Bushel.”

“And what would you have had me say? Sorry kid, you’re town’s probably screwed this time around?”

“No,” the pegasus admitted, backing off slightly but still keeping her stared fixed on Trixie, “But I’m not liking this. That filly at least deserves to know the truth about how hard this is probably going to be…we’re not just going to fly in there and kick out a legitimate business operation, even if they’re a bunch of jerks.”

“I know that. However there’s something about this situation that doesn’t seem right. No matter how legitimate this Lumber Guild’s actions are, there’s something very suspicious about they’re being in Oaton again. I mean, if they’d taken a hit before for being there illegally how did they recover within just a year, then come right on back? And why would a basilisk suddenly be in the forest? Wouldn’t trying to cut lumber in a place that has such a monster in it be far too dangerous to be worth the trouble? No…I can tell there’s something up with all this, and I intend to find out what. I may not be a hero like it says in the song, but I’m certainly a Representative of the Night Court. I have a duty to protect the ponies of Equestria, don’t I?”

“Oh, so this is about duty then, not say…getting the attention and praises of a whole town that thinks you’re a hero?”

“…Okay so maybe there is a little of that going on, but still it’s not like I don’t deserve a little praise, right? I did save Equestria from Corona!”

“With help.”

“Yes, yes you’re right. I know that. And I get what you’re trying to say here Raindrops, I do! I won’t let this get blown out of proportion. I’m going to Oaton to help it however I can, not pump up my ego, that’s the truth.”

Raindrops looked at Trixie for several long moments. At length Raindrops said, “I suppose you have preparations to do. What kind, if you don’t mind telling me that much?”

Glad for the change in subject Trixie said, “I’ve been working on a few things since Corona, actually. Branching out from illusion spells for one, and learning how to more permanently layer enchantments on items. I want us to be prepared for as many contingencies as possible and that means finding ways to keep my friends safe. Most of what I’ve been doing is still in the…developmental stages, admittedly, but some I can have ready by morning. Items I can enchant to do certain things. I’ll show you tomorrow.”

“Fine. Just…remember to get some sleep. And I’m sorry if I sound like I’m coming down on you,” Raindrops rubbed the back of her head, “I just don’t want to see you take a hard fall because you set yourself on too high a pedestal.”

“I’ll be careful. Besides with you along I can’t imagine I’d get very far in putting myself on a pedestal without you pulling me back down to earth.”

“Damned straight,” Raindrops said with a small, rueful smile.

With that the two friends parted with a final exchange of ‘good nights’, Trixie waiting until the pegasus had flown out of view before going back into her home, the door behind her with a brush of magic.

Now left to her own devices Trixie steeled herself for a long night. Despite what Raindrops said it was highly unlikely Trixie was going to get much sleep, but as she started to get out the proper materials and review in her mind the spells she’d need she reflected that she’d never read about a hero that slept when there was work to be done.

Chapter 3: Oaton

Chapter 3: Oaton

Trixie hadn’t noticed morning arrive until light from the rising sun literally caught her right in the eyes and she blinked irritably at the interruption, muttering under her breath.

“For the love of-, Luna could you have at least waited another hour or two? I know it’s the season for longer days, but really, I wouldn’t have killed you to be late on a sunrise for once.”

Ignoring the fact that talking to a pony that wasn’t there could be construed a sign of her exhaustion Trixie resumed her concentration on her work. The item floating before her consumed her entire focus, filling her field of vision as she interwove the layers of her magic through the material of the item, adding fine latticework after latticework of arcane thread. Theoretically she’d done this numerous times, practiced the patterns over and over again until she was certain of their viability and strength. This was, however, her first time putting the theories into practical use. She hadn’t been lying to Raindrops when she’d said these had all been in the ‘developmental stages’.

The first three items had been easy enough. Those enchantments had been simple ones in nature and each earpiece, a small silver clasp meant to clip onto the ear, had been easier to enchant than the last.

The next item had been…more problematic. Mainly because while she had a little experience with the type of enchantment in question. Divination wasn’t exactly an opposite school from illusion, like evocation was, but it was certainly a side-step from what she was used to working with. The enchantment in question wasn’t remarkably advanced, compared to the things she could do with illusion, but she’d still needed to practice the formula numerous times to feel comfortable with layering this enchantment upon the item chosen; a pair of thick black glasses.

So then that had left this final item to enchant, which was by far the easiest because she’d done this particular enchantment before. Compared to the others layering this one was a cakewalk. The problem overall with all the items had been much more about the duration she was attempting to achieve, not the effects themselves.

Enchantments she was present to maintain were essentially second nature. A long term enchantment, however? One that would theoretically last for hours if not days without her around to keep it maintained? It was a task well outside of what she was used to doing and the toll it was taking on her exceeded what she’d anticipated.

But it was nearly done. Before the sun managed to crawl too much higher into the sky Trixie wove together the final threads of the spell and tied them off, watching with satisfaction as the enchantments settled into the pendant she had floating before her. It was a plain diamond shaped piece of steel no larger than a bit, with a single oval sapphire embedded within. The pendant was attached to a plain series of small box-links. A simple enough bauble that few ponies would take a second look at, which was exactly what Trixie had wanted when she’d sought the item out from the local jeweler, Amethyst Star.

It was a cheap piece of jewelry, but with the enchantment now on it Trixie imagined it was worth quite a bit more than what she’d paid for it. Too bad there were certain laws against selling items with the kind of enchantments she’d placed on the pendant otherwise Trixie could solve all kinds of financial problems with a little side business.

Tucking away the enchanted items in a pair of small saddlebags the same color as her signature cape and hat she did one brief check that she had everything she’d need, yawning as she did so. Perhaps she should have at least tried to get a quick nap in between enchantments? She was feeling a little light headed and the world was tilting ever so slightly to the left…no, wait, that was her. Trixie caught herself from falling over and shook her head, clearing the light, fuzzy feeling.

“I’ll just sleep on the train,” she told herself as she went to the shower and got herself cleaned up for the day.

Cheerilee was a morning pony as much by nature as by necessity of her job as Ponyville’s only current practicing schoolteacher so she was up, packed, and almost as eager to get going as the filly by her side by the time they left her home under the light of the sunrise.

“Bye-bye guys,” Bushel said, waving back at the house, “I had a lot of fun feeding all of you! Especially you Monty!”

“Oh, you liked Monty the most?” Cheerilee said with a knowing smile.

“Mmmhmm! He gets all big and puffy and it’s awesome with all those spikes! Why’s he do that and the others don’t?”

“It’s a defense mechanism his species developed to avoid being eaten by bigger fish,” Cheerilee explained, instantly dropping into instructor-mode, “He’s called a porcupine-fish, from the Diodontidae family.”

“That’s weird name,” Bushel said, face screwing up in confusion.

Cheerilee chuckled, “It is isn’t it? Monty is a much better name I thought.”

“But I feel kinda bad for Monty 2, 3, and 4. You should think of special names for them.”

“Well that’s…kind of…” Cheerilee trailed off. She wasn’t sure how to break it to Bushel that she’d run out of new names a while ago and had to move onto alpha-numeric system in order to keep things straight with her fish.

“And why is there only one goldfish named Gil 29? That’s weird. What about the other Gil’s?”

“Oh that’s a long boring story; you don’t want to hear about that, dear,” Cheerilee said, perhaps a tad on the quick side and waving a dismissive hoof.

It had certainly been an interesting time, having Bushel in her home. Cheerilee was used to dealing with a large number of energetic foals, it sort of came as part of her job description, but there was something…different about having one in her own house. Cheerliee wasn’t really used to having anypony over to her home, at least not for more than a brief visit, so for a little while at first she hadn’t been sure what to do with Bushel besides answer the filly’s enthusiastic barrage of Trixie-related questions. Bushel had wanted to know everything about the Great and Powerful Trixie. What she liked to eat, what she liked to do for fun, what kind of adventures she’d had besides the one in Oaton. The thing of it was…Cheerilee wasn’t sure how to answer a lot of those questions. Trixie was her friend, no doubting that, but Cheerilee had to admit that she hadn’t spent a lot of time with the azure unicorn since Trixie had arrived in Ponyville.

At least not as much as the other Elements had, it seemed.

Cheerilee knew a lot of that had to do with her job and how busy it kept her, making it difficult to find the time for just being social and ‘getting out there’ as it were. It wasn’t like Cheerilee didn’t enjoy being around other ponies. And she didn’t think she felt guilty about not being able to spend a lot of time with her friends, or being there to help when some misadventure had reared its head, which had happened quite a lot since Trixie had come to town.

That said she’d made the snap decision last night that she was going to help Trixie out with this situation. It just felt like the right thing to do. She wasn’t exactly sure how she was going to help, but she was certain she’d find a way. She’d actually already started the previous night with Bushel. Cheerilee had managed to work in some questions of her own for the filly amid either awkwardly hiding how little she really knew about Trixie’s personal habits or telling a highly edited version of the events of the Longest Night festival, the only adventure Cheerilee knew Trixie had had that was legit.

I’ll let Trixie know what I found out on the train, Cheerilee thought as she and Bushel came upon Trixie’s home. There wasn’t a lot to what she’d learned from Bushel, but Cheerilee knew every little detail might prove useful.

She saw there was light on inside Trixie’s house and Cheerilee figured the unicorn had to be up, so when she knocked and didn’t get an response after a few minutes Cheerilee taped a hoof to her chin and tried knocking again.

“Something wrong?” Bushel asked with the voice of somepony trying to sound worried and not succeeding.

“Oh, no I’m sure nothing’s wrong. Probably just wrapped up in her preparations. You know how heroes are, dear. Extremely focused,” Cheerilee said, going over to peer through one of the windows. She didn’t see Trixie inside the living room, though a pair of saddlebags were clear to be seen sitting by the couch with Trixie’s wizard’s hat and cape.

Then Cheerilee heard the sound of the shower running and nodded her head. Oh, so that explained that.

“Hey, Cheerilee, what’s up?” said a male voice from behind her and she started a bit in surprise, turning around to see a blue unicorn stallion trotting up to the house. Pokey Pierce, assistant to the Representative of the Night Court in Ponyville, all around saint of patience and mental endurance, whose horn shall one day pierce the heavens, looked between Cheerilee and Bushel with a quizzical raise of his eyebrow.

“Good morning Pokey. Aren’t you here a little early?”

“Trixie messaged me last night saying she wanted me here crack of dawn to start work ‘cause she was going out somewhere. Offered overtime for covering the weekend for her, but I’ll believe that when I see the bits hit my wallet.”

“Messaged?”

“Spell she’s got going that lets her talk from one spot to the next. Basically she yells into her desk drawer and the sound comes out right next to my friggin’ bed. I never should have let set it up… but you know how she can be convincing,” Pokey said with an exasperated sigh, which he then shrugged it off and asked, “So what’s with the kid?”

“I’m Bushel! So you work for the Great and Powerful Trixie!? That’s so cool!”

“…It’s…cool?” Pokey looked to the schoolteacher for help as the filly bounced up to him, wide eyed and clearly ready to assault the poor unicorn stallion with questions.

“Bushel’s traveled here from her village to ask for Trixie’s help with a problem her village is having. You know Trixie how she’s always helping ponies,” Cheerilee grinned at Pokey while giving him a stare that she hoped suggested that he needed to take the hint and play along.

No such luck.

“Trixie helping ponies…” the way Pokey said it was as if he were sounding out the words of a foreign language.

“Yes,” Cheerilee responded with emphasis, “She does that. She’s known-” point at Bushel while the filly wasn’t looking, “-for her heroic deeds in helping ponies. And as her assistant you would of course know about that, and act accordingly.”

“So what do you do as her assistant?” Bushel asked, “Do you help her fight bad guys and monsters?”

“I do her paperwork, mostly, and fetch her drinks and generally take her shi-guglgh!”

Cheerilee had come up and wrapped a hoof around Pokey’s neck, in a way that probably looked like a hug to the casual observer, but was actually rather closer to a choke. Hopefully Bushel wouldn’t notice the difference. While Pokey was busy trying to figure out how to move air through a now significantly constricted wind pipe Cheerilee smiled at Bushel in a completely natural manner.

“Oh Pokey, such a kidder! He’s actually quite embarrassed about helping such an important pony like Trixie so he likes to joke a lot about it. Anyway Bushel why don’t you listen at the door and tell me if it still sounds like Trixie is showering?”

While Bushel gave them a weird look she obeyed and went over to the door. In the meantime Cheerilee let Pokey go enough so the could get some air but not quite get away as she put her face up against his and whispered.

“Sorry Pokey, but just play along, okay? For the moment Trixie’s a hero, at least to that filly. And really, watch your language. You’re old enough to know better than to swear around a foal.”

“Gee, thanks mom,” Pokey said, then frowned, “Wait, Trixie’s showering?”

“Well, the shower’s running, so it stands to reason…” Cheerilee said, wondering at the concerned look on Pokey’s face.

“Then shouldn’t we be hearing some sort of off key annoyingly loud and inappropriate singing right around now?” Pokey asked with a raised eyebrow.

Actually Cheerilee hadn’t thought of that. She didn’t know much about Trixie’s habits, but it was kind of hard not to know about her penchant for singing in the shower, as Pokey at least complained about it often and there had been a few other complaints from the Representative’s neighbors about noise pollution. And right now there was certainly no singing going on.

“I suppose we’ll have to check inside,” Cheerilee said, coming up to the door, which Bushel still had her ear pressed against.

“Oh, Miss Cheerilee! I still hear the shower going.”

“Thank you dear, me and Mr. Pierce will take things from here. Just wait here and we’ll go fetch Trixie, alright?”

“Um…okay,” Bushel said and stood aside.

Cheerilee didn’t want to worry her but if something was wrong she didn’t want to waste any time. She tried the door handle but found it was locked. Really, Trixie? Ponyville was about as crime free as towns got and Trixie still kept her door locked? Cheerilee shook her head and glanced at the windows, “Maybe we can get one of those open?”

“Oh, no need for that,” said Pokey as he trotted, or more like strutted, up to the door, his horn practically catching the morning sunlight in a gleaming glint, “I got this.”

Cheerilee cocked her head as he lowered his head and aimed his horn at the door knob around the lock, “Pokey, are you sure?“

“Just who the hay do you think I am!? I’m Pokey Pierce! Now let me show you why I got that name!”

The blue unicorn flipped his mane out of the way of his horn and lowered his head, tip of the horn aimed squarely for the lock that Pokey now had his eyes fixed on like a prizefighter sizes up his opponent before the bell rings. His nostril’s flared and Cheerilee wondered if that wasn’t steam she was seeing jetting out of if her imagination was just getting a tad overworked. There was a tense moment of silence as school teacher and filly watched on as Pokey and Trixie’s door lock squared off. Then with an undulating cry of battle Pokey shoved his head forward. Horn hit lock with a high pitched squeal of metal.

Cheerilee was suitably impressed. Pokey’s horn had gone right through the lock and embedded itself all the way up to his forehead. Property damage and possible legal repercussions aside it certainly was one way to get into a locked house.

Then a minute passed and Pokey hadn’t removed himself from the door. Cheerilee continued to wait patiently but when it was clear the unicorn stallion wasn’t extricating himself from his position she cleared her throat.

“Are you alright Pokey?”

“Uhhhhh, yup, just fine. Just…y’know, really comfortable where I am right now.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be stuck would you?”

There was a small, experimental wiggle of Pokey’s head before the unicorn’s body sagged.

“It is a distinct possibility.”

“That was so awesome,” Bushel said in a small voice, “Do it again!”

“Later, dear, first I need to get Mr. Pierce out of Trixie’s door. Pokey, I apologize in advance if this hurts a little.”

“Wait what are you going to do? Oh, oh no, wait a sec Cheerilee!” Pokey began to saw as the earth pony mare got behind him, wrapped her hooves around his barrel, and braced her hind legs to pull, “A unicorn’s horn is real sensitive! It’s like…like…well like a part I can’t talk about with a filly present! If you pull like that-“

“Oh I’m sure you’ll pop out just fine,” Cheerilee said as she yanked. However Pokey had apparently done a very good job piercing Trixe’s door because he didn’t come free from the first tug, the second, or the third. Pokey was less than enthused with the situation.

“Gaaaaah! For the love of Luna’s hot immortal plot just stop! Cheerilee, you’re gonna tear the thing off!”

“Maybe I’m getting the angle wrong? Try wigging it a bit.”

“NO! No wigging! Just get off me!”

“I’m certain we can get it out with enough force.”

“You can do it Mr. Pokey! Don’t believe in yourself, believe in the me that believes in you!”’

“Bushel, you’re not helping!”

“Do I even want to ask?” interrupted a dry female voice.

Everypony, well, everypony that didn’t have their head shoved in a door, looked up at the new voice to see Raindrops flying over head, saddlebags strapped to her back. The pegasus was looking at the scene with the look of a pony that wanted to ask details but wasn’t sure it’d be worth it.

“Trixie’s not answering her door and is taking a shower but her doors locked so Mr. Pokey attacked the door with his head but now his horn is stuck so Miss Cheerilee is trying to pull him free but he’s being a big baby and I was so helping even if he doesn’t say so!” Bushel got out in one giant rush of a run on sentence, only sucking in a breath when she was done.

Raindrops looked at each of them in turn and then shook her head, sighing, “Right. Hold on a sec.”

Raindrops flew around the side of the house out of sight. Cheerilee heard Raindrop’s voice and in a few seconds the pegaus was flying back, landing next to them, looking vaguely annoyed. Not long after that Pokey let out a yelp as the door swung open inward, dragging him along with it, Cheerilee letting go and standing there to stare at a still dripping wet Trixie who had a towel half wrapped around her.

Trixie looked dead tired, her horn glowing with its faint violet aura as she held the door open, looking at everypony. Her eyes slowly came to rest on Pokey who was half laying on the floor and half held up by his horn stuck in her door.

“Good morning Pokey,” she said.

“Mornin’ boss,” he said, waving a hoof.

“…Why are you in my door?”

“We couldn’t hear you singing even though you were taking a shower. We got worried, and Mr. Pierce decided to…open the door,” Cheerilee explained with an apologetic smile.

Trixie’s deadpan expression matched her tone, “I was tired of all the complaints, so I decided to use a sound dampening spell this morning, see how well it worked and if it’d get my neighbors off my back. You could have just done what Raindrops did and knock on the shower window. I can hear stuff right outside the field.”

“Yes, well, I suppose we all just got a little caught up in the moment,” said Cheerilee, “But only because we were worried about you.”

“You alright?” asked Raindrops, looking Trixie over, “You did get some sleep didn’t you?”

“I’m fine,” Trixie said, starting to yawn, but then seeing Bushel there, suppressed it and smiled instead “More than fine. If you don’t mind waiting just a minute I’ll finish drying off and get my things.”

Trixie turned and went back inside, closing the door behind her, with Pokey still in it.

“Gaaah! Boss, watch it! I’m seriously starting to feel my horn loosening here!”

“Oh don’t exaggerate,” Cheerilee said with a comforting pat on Pokey’s head, “I’m sure your horn is fine. Biologically speaking the horn of a unicorn is one of the stoutest pieces of their anatomy. It’s not like a tooth that can just be knocked out. It’s practically a part of your skull. It’s far more likely to break in half than come loose.”

“Thank you Cheerilee. That makes me feel much better,” Pokey’s voice was skinny dipping in the Ocean of Sarcasm.

“You’re very welcome,” Cheerilee said with a smile, oblivious to the unicorn’s tone.

“We’re not even on the train yet and this day’s just starting off weird,” Raindrops muttered.

A minute later the door swung open once again, dragging a groaning Pokey along with it, and Trixie, freshly toweled off and striking a fairly impressive figure in with her violet spark bedecked wizard hat and cape. Despite her earlier signs of fatigue the azure unicorn mare had an alert and determined poise to her, though the way her eyes flicked towards Bushel suggested the filly’s presence had a lot to do with this.

“Well then, shall we be off? We have a town to save and little time to waste I suspect,” Trixie said in that slightly baritone pitched ‘hero’ voice she come to adopt.

Cheerilee might not have been the most observant pony in the world but even she caught the way Raindrops stiffened at Trixie’s voice, though the pegasus didn’t say anything. Bushel’s eyes were locked on Trixie with clear reverence and excitement.

“Yes, yes! Let’s go. I can’t wait to get back home and see the look on everypony’s face when they see who I brought! Pa won’t be able to stay mad at me I’m sure! Not when you save the town again!”

“Just be ready Bushel in case this…takes longer than just one day,” said Raindrops as they all got walking towards the train station, slowly choosing her words, “We might not be able to pull this off easy, you know?”

“Oh come on! This is the Great and Powerful Trixie we’re talking about! She beat up Corona, so how could a stupid Lumber Guild be hard compared to that?” the filly asked with innocent confidence.

Raindrops looked at Cheerilee who smiled sheepishly and said, “I may have told her a little about what happened on the Longest Night festival.”

“Apparently you did tell ‘a little’. Beat up Corona?” Raindrops whispered as she floated down next to Cheerilee, putting her head next to the earth pony mare so they could talk quiet enough for Bushel to not hear.

“I tried to put Trixie in a good light while sticking as close to the truth as I could. I didn’t tell her anything like Trixie beating up Corona in a hoof-to-hoof duel, but Bushel’s a foal, Raindrops, they tend to fill in gaps with their own vivid imaginings. I at least tried to make it clear that Trixie had the help of the rest of us during that incident and that it was all of us together with the Elements that defeated Corona, not just Trixie herself.”

“Yeah, I can see that from the way she’s glued to Trixie and seems to see the rest of us as sidekicks,” Raindrops said.

“Are you jealous?” Cheerilee asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ugh, no, I’m not jealous of Trixie getting hero worshiped. I’m worried Cheerilee. Whole different spectrum of emotion.”

Cheerilee frowned. She knew she sometimes had difficulty reading her fellow ponies, but it still sounded to her like Raindrops was jealous of the attention Bushel was giving Trixie. But she could be wrong. If Raindrops said she was just worried, well, Cheerilee wasn’t going to question that. Still, she didn’t think the situation was all that bad to warrant such worry. Sure the problem in Oaton might prove more difficult to fix than what Bushel seemed to think it was going to be. True Trixie might have been slightly (slightly being a purely relative term here) overacting for Bushel’s sake, but Cheerilee had to admit it was hard not to get into the spirit of things. A small band of ponies embarking on a quest to save a small hamlet from the machinations of greed and avarice? Felt like the start of a properly heroic folk-tale to Cheerilee. Reminded her of that Gates & Golems game she’d played back in college.

Raindrops just needed to lighten up.

“Well try not to worry too much and let’s have fun with this,” Cheerilee said, giving the weather pegasus a reassuring smile, “I mean, as much fun as can be had in a very serious have-to-save-a-town kind of situation. Just relax. We’ll help Trixie help Oaton and then everything will be fine. You’ll see.”

Raindrops looked far from convinced but she did nod an acknowledgement and the group continued on to the Ponyville train station.

Some time later, after they had long since boarded the train and left, Ditzy Doo arrived at the house as part of her regular mail rounds. Trixie of course would still be receiving her mail and Ditzy surmised, much as had been the case during other times Trixie had to leave town that Pokey Pierce would be there to take the mail.

The first thing Ditzy noticed was that Trixie no longer seemed to have a front door. That was disconcerting.

It didn’t seem likely but perhaps robbers had removed the door from its hinges to ransack the Representative's home!? Tentatively poking her head in Ditzy was immediately greeted by Pokey Pierce, who was awkwardly dragging himself across the living room towards Trixie’s office…door still attached to his head.

“Mornin’ Ditzy. Mail?”

“…Yes…”

“Good, good, just, uh, leave it on the table there. I’ll get to it in a sec.”

“…Okay…”

Ditzy carefully set down Trixie’s mail on the table in front of the couch, not taking her eyes, well one of them, the other was doing its thing, off of the unicorn stallion and his epic struggle to cross the room.

“Do you need help Pokey?”

“Huh? Nah, I got this. You have a good one Miss Doo!”

“Yeah…you too,” Ditzy said as she slowly backed out of the house.

Once outside she stood there a second. She then shook her head and turned and walked away. There were times even Kindness was too baffled to do more than that.

Trixie had a lot on her mind by the time Oaton came into view. Her memory of the hamlet almost matched what she was seeing, though she hadn’t really expected any changes to occur in just a year. The main difference that she noted, even tired as she was, was that the river that ran alongside the thatch roof houses of the village wasn’t completely dry like last time. It certainly wasn’t what a proper river ought to be, but there was still a clear flow, albeit the water level was far too low for a riverbed of that size.

She filed that away in her ‘interesting’ mental folder alongside what Cheerilee had told her in-between power naps on the train.

“I’d been curious to know why Bushel didn’t seem to recognize you, despite being eleven, and this whole affair with you and Oaton having happened a mere year ago,” the schoolteacher had explained while Trixie had been forcing herself to stay awake and Raindrops kept Bushel busy a few seats down. Staying awake was hard enough under normal conditions but the comfy train seat combined with the rhythmic soothing motion of the train was a two-hit combo that was killing what little energy she had.

“I *yawn* suppose that is a little odd,” Trixie said. Honestly she hadn’t even thought about it. Normally she was pretty good at spotting strange details like that but she’d been so caught up with Bushel’s hero worship that it’d been an easy detail to miss.

“It certainly was, but there is a simple reason for it,” Cheerilee explained, “She had fallen very ill the past few days before you arrived in Oaton. Some kind of fever that none of the local remedies could fix. Her parents were quite worried about her. Seems the poor dear was in a borderline coma and there certainly wasn’t a properly trained doctor in town to look at her.”

“Why not just get a doctor from Bridlesville? It’s a larger town, and within walking distance.”

“They didn’t have any bits to pay for a doctor’s visit. Most times a pony gets sick in a hamlet as small as Oaton if there isn’t a local healer then the pony just has to stick it out and hope for the best.”

“She clearly got better though,” Trixie noted as she looked ahead where the filly had apparently convinced Raindrops to let her stick her head out the window.

“That is actually the most interesting part of this,” Cheerilee pointed a hoof at Trixie, “According to her it was you that cured her.”

Trixie’s closed eyes fluttered open and she gave the magenta mare next to her an incredulous look.

“Waitwhat? But…healing magic is well outside my area of expertise. I mean, I could learn the spells if I wanted to of course. I’m studying how to un-petrify ponies after all. But unless I’d known exactly what Bushel had been ill with there’s no way I could have studied, mastered, and then properly cast a spell to cure her. Especially in one night, while drunk!”

“Well what she’s told me is all second-hoof, told to her by her parents. However she insists that the story goes that before you left, after you’d dealt with everything else, you found out there was a sick filly in town and insisted to be shown to her. Apparently you spent all of ten seconds looking Bushel over, did some sort of spell with your horn touching it to her forehead, and said she’d be fine. A day after you left, Bushel recovered completely,” Trixie had noted the way Cheerilee’s tone softened as she looked towards Bushel, “Far as that filly is concerned you not only saved her town, you saved her life.”

Trixie had been mulling that over in her mind for most the rest of the train ride and the subsequent walk to Oaton after they’d gotten off at the way station.

Despite Raindrop’s clear concerns it seemed more important than ever to Trixie now that she put in a good showing for the little filly. Still, what exactly had she done to fix Bushel back then? It just didn’t seem possible that while drunk her…ugh…Lulamoon personality could have somehow instantly diagnosed a disease and pulled a curative spell out of her flank, in less than a minute! No, Trixie refused to acknowledge that side of her could possibly be capable of a feat she herself wasn’t. There was clearly more to the story than this. When she got a chance to talk with Bushel’s parents she’d press for more details.

Cheerilee had made it pretty clear Bushel didn’t know any real details of Trixie’s actions in Oaton either, as that had been the other thing she’d tried asking about. Bushel’s illness had kept her from witnessing any events herself and while she’d heard the tale from the other Oaton villagers Bushel’s recounting of events seemed to vary with each telling. Cheerilee had theorized to Trixie that chances were the filly had probably heard a few conflicting versions of events. If Trixie, Cheerilee, and Raindrops wanted to find out the truth they’d just have to piece it together by talking to the ponies of Oaton themselves.

At least the trek was nearly over. The sun was out in full force today and while summer was still a ways off this particular day had decided to provide a preview of what was to come by being particularly humid and hot. Trixie was glad for the shade of her hat.

The three adult ponies plus one filly were spotted by the villagers well before they got close to the collection of homes and there was already a small crowd gathering to see who was coming to Oaton by the time Trixie and company passed the threshold of the hamlet.

Trixie hadn’t been entirely sure what to expect out of these ponies, but it didn’t take long for her to get her answer as about a dozen earth ponies of various hues met her and the others and promptly all began talking at once.

“Bushel! You daft girl your pa’s gonna tan your hide after he’s done hugging you! Where’d you run off to!?”

“Who’re them ponies with…you…? Wait, is that-?”

“Ohmygoshohmygosh! It is! It’s her! Bushel you crazy little filly you actually up and found her!?”

“Mayor! Mayor! You gotta come! You daughter’s back and she brought her back! She brought back Trixie!”

“I thought her name was Lulamoon?”

“Its both you daft draft horse. Some ponies do got two names. Like, real important ones.”

“Can’t believe you came back, just like you said you would! We’re gonna bust out the best whiskey, hay, all of the whiskey, tonight!”

“Who’re your friends Miss Trixie? They also from Canterlot?”

“Don’t ask dumb questions Spit Shine, course they are! Bet they’re big-wig nobles or, like, special bodyguards for Lady Lulamoon!”

“Oh, come on, you still calling her ‘Lady’ after she took you in a hoof-wrestling and drinking contest, at the same time?”

“Well, yeah, ain’t that what you call noble mares and the like?”

“Not when they down nine mugs of hard liquor without battin’ an eyelash then proceed to break your arm off, Potato Sack. Then you call them ‘Goddess’.”

Before the deluge of dialogue could get any more drowning a bellowing male voice cut through the noise as a familiar big burly dark green earth pony stallion with a straw hat on over his sand colored mane waded through the crowd.

“Alright that’s enough! Everypony back up and give these ponies some space! And where you at Bushel!? You’re in an entire rainbow spectrum of trouble girl!”

Bushel, eyes wide with the kind of terror only a kid who knows they’ve royally pissed off their parent is capable of having immediately gulped and decided to try and see how easily she could turn herself invisible behind Trixie. Trixie for her part looked at the approaching stallion with as much confidence as she could muster despite thinking how promising the dirt looked right now for a good lay down and nap. Damn, maybe Raindrops was right and she should’ve gotten more sleep.

“Mayor Sheaf, good to see you again,” she said, pitching her voice so she was sure everypony gathered could hear her clearly “Don’t be too angry with your daughter. She went through much to come to me and inform me of Oaton’s peril! She’s only had the well being of your village at heart and merely took the initiative to do something about the problems you face. Surely that merits consideration?”

Trixie’s memory of mayor Sheaf had been brief but in it he’d seemed a genuinely friendly pony, or at least friendly when not stuck in a shouting match with the ponies who’d been responsible for his village’s farmland drying up. So she was surprised at the sharp look Sheaf gave her, though the expression softened almost instantly. However the way it did was like the mayor had just thrown on a hasty mask. Trixie was good at picking out masks and it was clear Sheaf wasn’t used to hiding his emotions, so mask or not his feelings were clear; unlike the rest of his village he was not happy to see her.

“I’ll keep it in mind Miss Trixie,” he said in a even tone, “Won’t say I ain’t impressed my girl managed to go get you, but a child needs to mind her parent, and I told her it was too dangerous to leave town.”

“Yes, the basilisk. She told me about that. We didn’t see any sign of such a creature on our way in,” Trixie said.

That had been a concern on the walk to Oaton to be sure. Raindrops had flown above them a fair portion of the way to keep an eye out and Trixie had been ready with a few choice illusion spells to provide distraction in case the beast did rear its head, but the walk had proven peaceful.

“Seems to have gone to ground past day or so,” Sheaf said, a grave look on his face, “But ain’t no denying it’s out there, the Thresher family’s condition are testament to that. Lot a folk here said we ought to try and get a hold of you when the Hoofington Lumber Guild set up shop here again, but I didn’t want to risk any more of my ponies getting turned to stone. Especially not my daughter.”

“Sorry pa,” Bushel said quietly from behind Trixie, “I just thought that if I did manage to bring her back with me you wouldn’t be too mad. I’m a real fast runner you know!”

“Hush girl, and stop hiding back there. You might have done right but you still disobeyed your father. Very least you’re grounded to your room until all this blows over. Now get on back to the house and see to your mother, she’s been worried sick about you.”

“…yes pa…” Bushel slowly walked out from behind Trixie, head hung a little, and gave Trixie one last look before heading off towards the largest of the buildings in town.

Trixie had been watching Sheaf’s expression carefully, trying to measure his reactions. She wished she’d thought to put on the glasses she’d enchanted before all of this but she had been too busy napping on the train in between talking with Cheerilee to even mention the items to her friends or explain their use. That was going to get bumped higher on her to-do list as soon as she got things sorted out with Sheaf and got a few answers.

“Yes, well, that aside I would like to know more details about what exactly is happening here in Oaton. My friends and I will need to know as much as possible if we’re going to be able to help.”

“Who are your friends, exactly?” asked Sheaf.

“Name’s Raindrops,” the pegasus in question said, looking uncomfortable with all the village ponies looking at her, “I’m part of the weather patrol team in Ponyville.”

Cheerilee was happy to chime in, “And my name is Cheerilee. I teach at the Ponyville grade school.”

“Weather patrol team…?” one of the villagers asked another in a whisper that did little to keep it from being heard, “What’s a weather pony doing hanging out with Princess Luna’s right-hoof mare?”

“Don’t ask dumb questions, that’s obviously just a cover. She’s probably a Shadowbolt or something like that, just pretending to be a weather pony. It’s like a secret identity!” said the other villager.

“And the school teacher?”

“I’m going to guess Royal Guard. Just look at those eyes! Those are the eyes of a mare that knows how to kill you five different ways before your body hits the ground.”

“…I’m not seeing it.”

“Tilt your head a bit; get the light to catch her eyes just the right way.”

“Ooooh yeah, now I’m seeing it.”

“Spit Shine, Potato Sack, we don’t need the run-on commentary,” said mayor Sheaf dryly and the two stallions in question both quieted down, looking embarrassed.

Raindrops seemed to be surpassing a groan, shaking her head as a few more whispers about the ‘Shadowbolt’ and ‘Royal Guard’ flitted about the crowd, but Cheerilee didn’t seem to mind and was looking like she was hiding a amused grin behind her hoof. Raindrops came up next to Trixie and whispered.

“If you’re going to start setting the record straight now would be great time to start. Just tell them all who we really are and why we’re here so we can get to the actual business of helping them out.”

“Yes, yes, I know. Trust me Raindrops, I have this well under control,” said Trixie whispered back as she then turned to the ponies of Oaton and cleared her throat loud enough to get all of their attention, which wasn’t hard since most of it was riveted don her and her friends anyway.

Trixie smiled. She couldn’t help it. Whether she was on an actual stage or not all eyes were fixed on her and this was the time to perform. It was clear from the looks on the faces of these villagers that they thought the world of her and by extension thought the same of the ponies by her side. It was time to put on a good showing.

Just a touch of dramatic license, she thought, No need to overdo it.

“Good ponyfolk of Oaton, my friends are as they say! A humble weather patrol pony and schoolteacher. But fear not, for each of them is a mare worth ten of any Shadowbolt of mere Royal Guard! They are part of my personal entourage as fellow bearers of the Elements of Harmony! What are the Elements of Harmony you might ask? Why, the very primal forces of creation that brought the dreaded Corona to her knees in utter defeat! Primal forces that have chosen myself and my intrepid companions as their living vessels! Yes, the very embodiments of Honesty and Laughter have come alongside me to restore peace and prosperity to your humble village. Now watch in awe as I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, bearer of the Element of Magic itself, shall use all of my not inconsiderable power and intellect to banish the troubles that face this community!”

She ended reared up on her hind legs, forelegs poised out dramatically before her, and she resisted the urge to throw in a few illusionary bursts of magical light and smoke to add some pizazz to the speech. For something ad-libbed on the fly she thought it sounded appropriately impressive and heroic. She’d spoken loudly and clearly, hoping that Bushel, even indoors, might have been able to hear her. She may have added a slight sound amplifying spell to get her voice pitched just right. On top of that nothing she said was in any way a lie. A little exaggerated perhaps, but what performance wasn’t? Surely Raindrops would be satisfied with this-

-Raindrops hoof casually wrapped around Trixie, not strongly or anything, just sort of there in a almost hugging manner, as she gave the crowd an extremely forced smile that involved more grinding teeth than actual smiling.

“Trixie, can I talk to you for a second, over there, behind that house, where nopony can see or hear us?”

“Um…sure,” Trixie said quietly then addressed the crowd, “If you would all be as patient as to wait a moment while my stalwart companion wishes a word with me! We shall return in a momen-“

Raindrops didn’t even wait for Trixie to finish before she started to drag the showmare away, giving Cheerilee a brief look to say, “Mind keeping them busy for a second while I chat with our ‘entourage’ leader here?”

“Sure, no problem,” the school teacher replied and while Raindrops half dragged a worried looking Trixie behind the nearest house Cheerilee smiled brightly at the confused looking Oaton villagers, “So, who here has ever played Apples to Apples?”

Raindrops was keeping her breathing even as she let go of Trixie once they were both out of sight of the villagers and faced the azure unicorn.

Keep it cool, keep it cool, just talk to her without all the shouting you want to do

“What the hay was that back there!?”

Okay, not so good at the not shouting, Raindrops took in another shuddering breath.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked with an indignant toss of her mane, the sight of which only dug a deeper claw of irritation into Raindrops, “I was telling the truth, that’s all. With some slight embellishment.”

“Would it have been so hard to just say ‘hey, we’re just a few concerned ponies here to help’? Was the speech about the power of the Elements of Harmony, which by the way we don’t actually wield at will, necessary?” Raindrops had gotten control of her voice, not shouting anymore. Despite the distance she’d taken the unicorn she didn’t want to risk any villagers listening in on this and she gave a few glances about, just in case.

“It’s not about necessity Raindrops, it’s about appearances. Did you see the way they were looking at us? It was obvious what they wanted, so I decided to give it to them,” Trixie set her shoulders straight, “and I did it without lying, if you were paying attention.”

Raindrops had been paying attention, and Trixie was missing the problem.

“Maybe not lying in the literal sense,” Raindrops said, tone steadfast “But that’s not important. What’s important is that you were making us out to be more than we are. I’m a weather pony. That’s it. A Shadowbolt, if they even exist, would kick my flank! Being the bearer of an Element doesn’t make us better than any other pony.”

“I’m aware of that. Believe me I was keeping things simple in comparison to how I could have gone about presenting us. Again Raindrops, just a little embellishment, but still the truth. As long as we succeed in saving the town what does it matter if I make us look good while doing it?”

Raindrops looked her friend in the eye, trying to measure, trying to be sure. She knew Trixie could be manipulative. There had been certain promises involving hooves and jaws concerning that matter. And that being said Raindrops was even willing to cut the unicorn mare a bit of slack, understanding that to a degree this was just Trixie being Trixie. She was a showmare and this was a performance to her, and while Raindrops wasn’t happy with it she couldn’t fault Trixie for it. Yet. There was always the chance Trixie could take things too far…and that was what Raindrops was most concerned about. Raindrops knew how bad things could get when anger took over and she was aware of few things that could be angrier than that of ponies who felt betrayed. If Trixie made out that saving the town was a given, and they failed to deliver…

Slowly Raindrops said, “Just keep the speeches to a minimum and focus on the job. We still need to find out what’s up with this Lumber Guild.”

“I’ll try to tone it down a bit,” Trixie said, “Just wanted to make a good first impression.”

“By the way, do you actually have a plan, or are we just winging this?”

“First things first we get mayor Sheaf alone. Something seemed a bit off about him. I want to get details about the Lumber Guild, obviously, but I’m curious about why the mayor doesn’t seem nearly as thrilled about us being here as everypony else is. So-” Trixie rummaged into her saddlebags and pulled something out, “-I’ll need you to wear these.”

Raindrops looked at the item Trixie had levitated out and blinked.

“Trixie, I don’t need glasses.”

Trixie grinned, “Oh, for what I have in mind, you do. Trust me.”

Chapter 4: Perspectives

Chapter 4: Perspectives

Cut n’ Dry and her fellow guards were thirsty and the hooch back at camp was all gone, so that meant it was time for another trip to the podunk village to snatch some of theirs. Cut n’ Dry didn’t like the locals at all. The villagers were always giving her and her fellow guards unpleasant looks, muttering under their breaths when the guards bearing the tabards adorned with the Copper Coin family’s heraldry walked by. The lack of respect was irritating but long as they kept their traps shut and kept the drink flowing Cut n’ Dry didn’t care what the residents of this no-name hamlet thought.

“Hey Cut, what’s going on there do you think?” asked Bootheel, the dark brown earth pony stallion nodding his head towards the middle of town, chain coif of his armor jingling as he did so.

Cut n’ Dry peered, noticing that there was indeed an odd gathering in the middle of the village, easily the majority of the villagers encircling something, or someone, near the entrance to the road that led out of town. The rust colored unicorn mare adjusted the scabbard of the short sword sheathed on her back and narrowed her forest green eyes.

“Let’s go find out. Lock n’ Key, you hang back, just in case this leads to…trouble.”

“Sure thing sis, just, y’know, watch yourself. Them village types don’t like us much,” said her brother as he halted and let Cut n’ Dry and Bootheel continue on. If anything went wrong he’d be able to gallop back to camp and let their superiors know about it. She wasn’t expecting there to be trouble, but she didn’t credit these villagers with a lot of intelligence, so it was always possible they’d get stupid enough to attack the guards of a noble family, consequences be damned.

Cut n’ Dry made sure her tabard was on straight, proudly displaying the red fish of the Copper Coins. She didn’t care if these villagers wanted to spit all over her, she wouldn’t let them forget who she worked for.

Next to her Bootheel, who had her beat in the height department by a good hoof and a half, said, “Looks like they’re talking to somepony. Magenta…earth pony…damn fine looking. She ain’t a local.”

Cut n’ Dry didn’t question him. Bootheel was a lousy guard, with a tendency to goof off and chase tail more than actually do his job, but he had very good eyes and a solid memory for details. She frowned. A new pony in town? That didn’t happen, not in Oaton. It was a speck of a hamlet and nopony new ever showed up, at least not since this whole gig with the Lumber Guild. That made investigating all the more important.

As they approached the back of the crowd Cut n’ Dry could hear a mare’s voice speaking with that clear and carrying tone somepony used when addressing a crowd to be heard, but without shouting over them.

“Alright so this round’s adjective is; Dysfunctional!”

Cut n’ Dry cocked her head. The hay were these ponies doing? The crowd of villagers hadn’t noticed her or Bootheel yet, so she took the opportunity to listen in, not able to see who was at the center of the crowd but able to hear the mare’s voice speak up again.

“Hmm, let’s see what you’ve all chosen…Hm, yes well I suppose Tax Return Forms are a tad dysfunctional, but…oh-ho, somepony is feeling rebellious. The Nobility can rate as being dysfunctional at times, but I’ve met a few nobles who are alright-“

Cut n’ Dry bristled. She didn’t know what these ponies were jabbering about but to smack talk the nobility like that was infuriating! These country bumpkins just didn’t get it did they? The noble class existed for a reason! Knowing one’s place, one’s purpose in the social structure, that was the stability and peace Equestria enjoyed, stemming from a noble class that knew how to run the show. Without that, it’d just be the chaos of everypony being out for themselves. She’d lived what it was like to not know one’s place in the world and to be surrounded by that kind of free-for-all culture where anypony could do what they pleased, no order or higher powers to keep them in check…

She didn’t even realize she’d been growling until a faded orange earth pony villager turned and looked at her, his eyes going wide.

“What’re the likes of you doing here? We don’t want you in our village no more!”

Following that pony’s voice a number of the other villagers also turned their attention to the two approaching guards and a dark, uneasy murmur passed through the crowd. Cut n’ Dry met the villager’s unfriendly looks and jeers with a hard look of her own, pride in her voice. She’d keep standing tall, as long as she had the Copper Coin fish on her chest, the symbol of her place in life.

“The ‘likes of us’ are here to spend some coin on some decent liquor; bout the only thing this village is good for. But we saw all you folk gathered up here and were wondering what the fuss was about, so how about you ponies stand aside in the name of the Copper Coins and let us get a gander at who you’re talking to.”

The crowd didn’t part. If anything it seemed to condense, ponies moving in-between the two guards and the pony in the middle of the crowd. But rather quickly a voice, female and oddly cheerful sounding, rose above the din of unhappy murmuring.

“Oh come now everypony, I’m not shy or anything, let them through if they want to talk to me.”

It took a minute but the crowd did slowly and begrudgingly part and allow the two guards to step forward to the middle of the gathering. It made Cut n’ Dry just a little nervous, being surrounded in such a manner, and it made her adjust her sword sheath once more. The clearing in the center of the gathered crowd had two ponies standing in it, one Cut n’ Dry recognized as the burly green mayor of the village, Sheaf. If the other villagers were giving Cut n’ Dry and Bootheel unpleasant looks the mayor’s eyes were the daggers of Corona herself by comparison. Cut n’ Dry took it in stride, ignoring the mayor and instead fixing her eyes on the magenta mare that was packing away…some kind of card game?

Cut n’ Dry shook her head and looked the magenta mare up and down, sizing her up. She suppressed a snort. She didn’t think this mare rated a ‘damn fine’ but her preferences tended to run towards pegasi anyway. More lithe and…flexible.

“So miss whoever-you-are-“

“Cheerilee.”

Cut n’ Dry felt her eyebrow twitch, “…Cheerilee, what brings you to the tail end of South Everfree province?”

“Sightseeing.”

“Sightseeing?”

“When a pony goes from place to place to view the local attractions and taking in the sights-“

“I know what sightseeing is!” Cut n’ Dry snapped, feeling an almost irrational level of irritation boiling up inside her. Something about this mare was rubbing her the wrong way, “What’s in Oaton that’d be worth sightseeing?”

“What wouldn’t be? It’s a beautifully rustic and charming village.”

Before Cut n’ Dry could respond to that she felt Bootheel nudge her and she glanced over at the stallion, who was pointing to a part of the crowd that was moving aside to let two more ponies into the circle. She immediately noted the change in the attitude of the Oaton villagers. The undertone of sourness towards her and Bootheel was still evident, but now it was supplemented by an almost physical wave of confidence that shot through the crowd at the appearance of these two other ponies; mares both.

Cut n’ Dry took an almost immediate dislike to the azure unicorn with the silver mane who was wearing a violet starburst adorned wizard hat and cape; mainly due to that blatantly smug grin she was wearing. The other mare, a jasmine pegasus, Cut n’ Dry found curious as the pegasus was looking left and right nervously and seemed positively jumpy for some reason. She was also wearing some of the thickest glasses Cut n’ Dry had ever seen. It was kind of…cute, actually. The pegasus was also quite athletic looking. Cut n’ Dry shook her head a bit, trying to focus. Apparently athletic plus nerdy thick glasses as a combination that did it for her; who knew?

Cheerilee was smiling widely at these two newcomers so Cut n’ Dry could only assume the magenta mare knew them, though the way Cheerilee suddenly giggle-snorted while looking at the pegasus while putting a hoof to her mouth to try and stifle an outright laugh seemed odd.

“R-Raindrops what are you wearing? Those glasses, they’re-“

“Don’t say it,” Raindrops said, her nervousness suddenly vanishing in a odd mix of embarrassment and anger, her face trying to look threatening but the effect was somewhat ruined by the red hue across her features.

Cheerilee was undeterred, “-absolutely adorable!”

“Ugh…just…ugh…” the pegasus seemed to sag, wings dropping as she looked at the ground.

Cheerilee coughed, looking a little abashed as she said, “Sorry, sorry, I meant it as a compliment. My giggling is a reflex based purely on how surprisingly good you look with glasses.”

“Yes, I am such a good friend that I brought along a pair of glasses for Raindrops because she forgot her contact lenses back home,” the azure unicorn said, giving Cheerilee a pointed look that Cut n’ Dry didn’t miss. That was the look that said ‘play along’. She’d had to use the same look on her brother a few times. What were these ponies trying to hide though?

“Oooooh, yes,” said Cheerilee with a wry smile, “Silly Raindrops, forgetting your lenses like that. Trixie’s such a good friend to have brought your backup glasses, which I totally haven’t seen until now but make you look just so cute!”

“Hate you…hate you both,” mumbled Raindrops under her breath.

Cut n’ Dry didn’t get what was going on but she was going to get answers. She walked right up to the azure unicorn, who seemed to be the one in charge, but was shocked when several villagers had the gall to…to…get in her way!

“You won’t be threatening our town’s hero, ya hear, or you’ll be in a world of hurt!” spat out one of the villagers.

“Yeah! Don’t you even think of trying nothing!” said another villager with barred teeth.

“I believe you mean ‘trying anything, otherwise you have a double negative,” corrected Cheerilee with a helpful smile.

Cut n’ Dry was a little shocked. The villagers of Oaton had been plenty displeased with the presence of her and the other guards before but it’d never gone beyond simple grumbling and shot looks. They’d never dared…bar her path, let alone threaten her. More than that, Cut n’ Dry held a fair bit of confidence in her ability to read a crowd, and this crowd wasn’t simply sour about her and Bootheel being here. They felt ready for violence. What was the cause of this change? She got her answer rather quickly as a clear and cultured tone rang out.

“Please, please my good citizens of Oaton, the Great and Powerful Trixie appreciates your concerns but she is more than capable of dealing with these ponies. You have nothing to fear from them, least of all anything they might try and do to me.”

The villagers moved aside. Just like that. Cut n’ Dry eyes narrowed. This unicorn had the attention of almost every villager upon her. More than that they responded to this unicorn’s presence with a visible surge of bolstered confidence and clear respect. Cut n’ Dry didn’t share it. This mare was practically basking under the anticipating and adoring looks the crowd was giving her, soaking the attention like a sponge that was in turn made of many smaller, very smug sponges. It made Cut n’ Dry want to introduce that self-satisfied looking face to her hoof…but just one glance at the villagers told her that would’ve been the worst possible move. They looked ready to jump her and Bootheel if this unicorn mare so much as gestured a hoof for them to do so.

“Who the hay are you?” Cut n’ Dry asked past grit teeth.

The azure unicorn grinned almost from ear to ear, sweeping that ridiculous looking wizard hat off her head and taking a bow almost like she was on stage. The ‘want to punch’ feeling got stronger in Cut n’ Dry.

“So glad you asked.”

The unicorn reared up on her hind legs, flourishing her cape out behind her.

“I am the shining beacon of hope for all ponies who live in fear of those who abuse their power for unjust machinations!”

Cut n’ Dry’s first thought; …what?

“I am the unrelenting avalanche of justice that smashes aside the layers of corruption and greed that shield foul schemers from their proper judgment!”

Cut n’ Dry’s further though process; …huh?

“I am the butter on the toast of this town; the stoic blue avenger who stands goddess-like upon the shoulders of humility, for no glory nor (much appreciated) praise shall distract her from her vigil!”

Okay now she’s just choosing words at random, the guardsmare thought with certainty.

“I am-“ the unicorn paused mid-sentence as the jasmine pegasus coughed loudly and fixed her with a hard stare.

“-Trixie,” the unicorn finished while giving the pegasus a wary look.

“Trixie?”

The azure unicorn glanced questioningly at her pegasus companion and Raindrops sighed, nodding her head as if in defeat and saying, “Just one more, then you’re cut off.”

The unicorn grinned again and reared up, “The Great and Powerful Trixie, Element of Magic, Defender of the dreams and aspirations of young fillies everywhere! Ahem, you, of course, can humbly refer to me as Trixie.”

As ridiculous as all this sounded to her Cut n’ Dry couldn’t help but notice the surrounding villagers of Oaton were eating up everything that had been said…except for the mayor. Cut n’ Dry had been a guard long enough to read when a pony was hiding a scowl, and the mayor wasn’t even doing a very good job of hiding it. That would’ve seemed normal, if the look had been for her. But it was directed at this ‘Trixie’ character…wait…that name…hadn’t she heard it somewhere before? She couldn’t remember, but whatever, probably wasn’t important.

“Riiiight, so now that my train of thought has been thoroughly derailed, let me consult with my associate here for a second,” Cut n’ Dry said and turned to Bootheel, who had been spending most of this time eying the mares present up and down. Cut n’ Dry tried to suppress a sigh as the stallion apparently concluded that the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie was the highest ranking piece of flank in the bunch and gave the unicorn a raunchy grin. To Cut n’ Dry’s momentary satisfaction her fellow guard’s gesture apparently took the air right out of the ‘blue avenger’ and caused that smug look to turn immediately sour. Guess she didn’t like that kind of attention.

Waving a hoof in front of his face to get him to lean his head down next to hears Cut n’ Dry whispered, “What do you make of these jokers?”

“Earth pony mare is a solid 8, the pegasus is a little young for me, a 6 possibly upgrading to higher pending a few years development, and the unicorn is a freakin’ 10 out of 10 for being the hottest mare I think I’ve seen since I scored a ticket to that gray earth pony cello player’s concert last year.”

“I meant who do you think they really are!? What’s up with that stupid speech the unicorn just made!?” Cut n’ Dry said, fixing her fellow guard with a harsh glare. Really was he capable of thinking about anything else? And what did he mean the pegasus was a 6!? Raindrops was clearly the 10 of the trio, not that bag of hot air unicorn!

…Cut n’ Dry decided she needed to focus and stop thinking about cute pegasi with glasses.

“Huh?” Bootheel just cocked his head at her as if her question didn’t quite click, “Dunno, maybe she’s crazy. I can dig crazy. The crazy ones are always real manticores under the sheets. Why, do you think there’s something odd about them?”

“…why did I think asking your opinion would be beneficial?”

“Dunno. Hey are we getting anything to drink soon? That is why we came to town.”

It was clear she wasn’t going to be getting any kind of useful backup from her fellow guard. Cut n’ Dry hesitated for a moment as she glanced back, taking in both the crowd of villagers and these three strange mares. Trixie was still standing tall, having gotten over her apparent discomfort at getting ogled by Bootheel, and was giving her and Bootheel a challenging look, like she was just daring the two guards to try something. The jasmine pegasus, Raindrops apparently (cute name to match the glasses...ugh, focus Cut, focus) was also looking her way but her expression was clearly uncomfortable…and she kept squinting and flicking her eyes upward. Huh, weird. Cheerilee still looked like she was suppressing giggles, apparently finding Trixie’s antics far more amusing than Cut n’ Dry did.

Cut n’ Dry took in a deep breath. Given the mood of the crowd it was clear a tactical retreat was in order. She had to inform her lord about this development as soon as possible. It was her job to protect the Copper Coin’s interests and while she didn’t get half of Trixie’s speech one thing was pretty clear from it; she was a troublemaker.

I’ll press for a little more information, then get out of here before things have a chance to get ugly…

“Right then, ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie. Fancy talk aside, what are you and these two other mares doing here? None of you are from Oaton and you’re friend there mentioned ‘sightseeing’?”

Trixie cast a brief glance at Cheerilee that could’ve meant anything and Cut n’ Dry noticed a barely perceptible shrug from the magenta earth pony mare. Trixie put on a confident smile.

“Ah, something of a joking understatement of our purpose. First, before I answer that question, allow the Astute and Perceptive Trixie to confirm something. Those red fish upon you’re tabard, you and your fellows are hired House Guard for the Copper Coin family, correct?”

Cut n’ Dry narrowed her eyes. Why would the mare be asking that if she clearly recognized the heraldry? What was this crazy mare’s game!?

“We are-” Cut n’ Dry said slowly, then with a sudden surge or pride, “-the appointed House Guard and personal bodyguards of Lord Count Shiny Copper Coin.”

“I see,” Trixie said with a satisfied grin, “Personal bodyguard? So that would mean your lord is directly involved in this matter?”

…Cut n’ Dry blanched and mentally hit herself. There were few things she was more proud of than the fact that she and her team had been assigned as Count Shiny’s personal guard. It’d been the single greatest moment of her life, receiving this tabard and being told that she was being trusted with the safety of the pony who’d given her a second chance at life. She knew she shouldn’t have given away any additional information than what was strictly necessary.

“Wh-what’s it to you if he is? And what do you mean by ‘this matter’?” she said, trying to remain calm.

“Oh no need to look so flustered,” Trixie said waving a hoof, “This merely simplifies matters. I can speak with both the head of the Lumber Guild and your lord at the same time, if he happens to be here, which I would assume he is if his personal guard is present. As for ‘this matter’, I am referring to the inspection of course.”

I…inspection? What inspection!?

“I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to pull here but you’d better think carefully about what you say and do. This land belongs to the Copper Coins. I suggest you start talking straight Miss Loud and Obnoxious, and explain exactly who you are and what you mean by ‘inspection’. No horseapples.”

“She don’t have to answer to you!” shouted a villager, “She’s got bigger, uh…in-charge stuff…”

“I think the word you’re searing for is ‘authority’,” supplied Cheerilee to the villager.

“Yeah! That!”

“Authority? On what grounds!?” Cut n’ Dry couldn’t sound more incredulous. Trixie didn’t look like she could hold authority over a paper bag…dang it that name was still bugging her too. She was sure she’d heard it before. Actually, now that Cut n’ Dry was thinking about it, Cheerilee and Raindrops’ names also sounded familiar. Like she’d heard them mentioned pretty recently.

“Ahem, if you could keep from making an outburst for a minute I’d be more than happy to illuminate you,” Trixie said, clearing her throat and looking at Cut n’ Dry expectantly. The guardsmare grit her teeth and grudgingly nodded for the unicorn to continue.

“Now, for the details, ‘no horseapples’ as you so eloquently put it. As I said, my name is Trixie. My associates are Raindrops and Cheerilee. I can see from that look your giving that you must have heard of us if not quite remembering from where. Understandable, as you are after all just a mere appointed guard, with no reason to keep up with important happenings beyond your…small area of expertise.”

Cut n’ Dry took in slow, deep breaths, willing to let this mare keep talking only because she had a professional duty to learn as much about these mares as possible in order to make a more accurate report to her lord.

“However,” Trixie continued “I am certain you’ve heard of the Elements of Harmony.”

Trixie paused for dramatic effect. Cut n’ Dry starred, the information turning certain gears in her mind that made everything click into place. That’s where she’d heard those names! It’d been all over the newspapers for weeks after the Longest Night Celebration! It was the biggest historical event in centuries! And…and…oh buck me into the sun, Cut n’ Dry thought, this walking mountain of pompous ego is the Element of Magic!?

Which would make her two companions Elements of Harmony as well? She couldn’t see it. Not even for the cute pegasus.

“So these two, and you, are...Elements of…” she shook her head, “No. Seriously? No. This has gotta be some kind of con. You seriously expect me to believe that you’re the mares that saved Equestria from Corona? What proof do you have?”

“If you don’t believe me then that’s your problem, not mine,” said Trixie in a purely dismissive tone, as if she could care less about Cut n’ Dry’s opinion, “I and my fellow Elements are here to ensure the ponies of Oaton are not being mistreated and that their rights as citizens of Equestria are not being trampled upon, by either the Hoofington Lumber Guild or the Copper Coin family. You may inform your employer that I shall be visiting the Lumber Guild’s compound later today to conduct a thorough inspection of their operation under the authority I possess as both the Element of Magic and as an appointed Representative of the Night Court.”

The mare’s words were followed by a few cheers from the crowd, though Cut n’ Dry was observant enough to note that a few of the villagers seemed just a tad disappointed that it didn’t look like things were about to lead to a brawl. Seemed a lot of them had been keeping some serious pent up anger inside. Cut n’ Dry would have to remember when making her report to Count Shiny that it might be a good idea to call in another squad of House Guard to the Lumber Guild’s camp. Right now it was just her and five other ponies…enough for basic security but not enough to deal with a full mob of angry villagers. Oaton was small, but there were still enough burly earth ponies here that Cut n’ Dry would want a few more swords and spears on her side of things, just to be on the safe side. Ugh, why did her lord have to choose now of all times to take a personal interest in his business ventures anyway!? Shiny had never gone out of his way to oversee the family’s business ventures before. Heck of a time to start…but her duty was to ensure his safety and to look after the interests of the Copper Coins. Right now that meant getting back to the Lumber Guild’s camp. She supposed the Lumber Guild’s current leader, Sawdust, would also need to be informed…though Cut n’ Dry wasn’t all that fond of him. He was a weird unicorn, with a quiet manner that gave Cut n’ Dry the creeps.

“Fine,” she said “I’ll let my lord know of your request for an audience and inspection. Bootheel, let’s go.”

“But-but…what about getting sloshed!? We’re off duty Cut! Can’t I stay at least!? I can get drunk with a bunch of surly villagers and chat up the mares in town!”

“It’s clear we’re not wanted here, and it’s even clearer you’re not getting any local tail. Suck it up, buck, you’ll just have to suffer being alone and sober tonight.”

“Hey, I can accept the risk of being lynched by an angry mob if they at least let me have a drink first. This place has some of the best hooch I’ve had, and I’ve gotten drunk in a lot of watering holes in my day! And this Trixie isn’t a local! I might have shot with her!”

Trixie blanched, lips twisting in disgust and face reddening as she said with vehemence, “I assure you, in every conceivable manner, you do not.”

“See? You’re out of luck Casanova, let’s go,” Cut n’ Dry said quickly as she grabbed Bootheel within a white aura of telekinetic magic and began to drag the halfheartedly struggling stallion off. The villagers parted for the leaving guards, most of them looking quite pleased and full of themselves now that the objects of their scorn were departing, though she did catch a few comments as she went by.

“I almost feel sorry for the guy, tonight’s gonna be one serious party to celebrate Trixie coming back to town.”

“Bah, don’t feel sorry for ‘em. Them guards are just bootlickers who’d do anything to stay pets of the nobility. Bah, nobles, who needs em!?”

“Ain’t Trixie a noble though…being all the apprentice of the Princess?”

“That’s totally different, and even if she was a noble it don’t matter, she’s here to save us, just like before!”

Just like before…? What are they talking about? Cut n’ Dry wondered, then recalled something. She and her fellow guards weren’t a part of the Lumber Guild but they did spend of their off time drinking and playing card games with the lumber ponies, and she’d remembered hearing a few of those ponies mention that the Lumber Guild had come to Oaton before…and that some madness involving a crazed unicorn had nearly cost all of them their jobs and some of them their lives by burning down the entire camp. She hadn’t really pressed for details, not caring much about some incident from a year ago…but if this Trixie was the same pony from before…

The comments became inaudible as Cut n’ Dry pulled Bootheel out of town and met up with her brother down the road heading north. Her mind turned over what she’d learned. While having heard of the mares who’d become the Elements of Harmony, despite not being able to instantly recognize them by description or name, she knew little else. Did they actually have the authority to just walk into a Count’s fiefdom and inspect one of the business operations without any kind of prior arrangements being made? Trixie didn’t even remotely seem like the trustworthy sort, but she’d been so confident in her manner it was hard for Cut n’ Dry to dismiss the possibility that the mare was being serious. She didn’t know what to make of the other two mares either. Cheerilee had seemed like she was enjoying the proceedings and had didn’t look like she’d been taking anything seriously. She certainly hadn’t come off as some kind of agent of the crown. The only one who had looked serious had been the pegasus, Raindrops (nice name, it suited her…ugh, focus Cut). Raindrops had if anything seemed both nervous about something and was the only one in the entire crowd besides the mayor who wasn’t amused by Trixie’s attitude. Which only gave the pegasus more points in Cut n’ Dry’s book.

It was all quite puzzling and the guardsmare couldn’t get a clear picture out of the pieces she had. All she knew for sure was that this Trixie mare was trouble.

When they finally caught up with Lock n’ Key her brother visibly relaxed and she heard the relief in his voice.

“Glad you made it out. Was worried when I saw all them villagers gathered around you sis. Things look kinda…tense down there.”

She sighed, seeing that her brother was shaking slightly. She probably shouldn’t have left him alone up the road like that. He never did do too well on his own. She gave him a quick and brief smile that she hoped was reassuring, “I’m fine, Lock. So’s Bootheel-“

“My alcohol! My poor brain cannot tolerate another night without sweet inebriation!”

“-…mostly. If things had gotten ugly down there I had a spell that could’ve gotten us clear quick enough. Let’s get back to the camp, fast. Lord Shiny needs to be informed of this development.”

“What development’s that? What’s going on sis?”

At that question Cut n’ Dry glanced back at Oaton, where she could faintly see the image of the three mares, the three supposed Elements of Harmony, being led by the now clearly jovial crowd towards the village tavern. Her eyes narrowed.

“Trouble; with a capital T.”

…Well, there goes our element of surprise Trixie thought sourly but kept it from showing on her face, maintaining her confident front for the villagers as they led her and her friends into the village tavern. The jovial mood of the Oaton residents was infectious and Trixie found she didn’t even have to force her confident smile, despite feeling a tad irked at that guardmare.

The guardmare, Trixie hadn’t even bothered to ask her name, had certainly been a prickly sort and much to Trixie’s chagrin hadn’t at all seemed amused by the situation. Still, everything had gone about as well as Trixie could’ve hoped, given she hadn’t wanted to have to deal with the Copper Coin’s House Guard so soon, and she’d managed to coax a little extra information out of the conversation. She’d hoped to be able to interroga…question, mayor Sheaf as quickly as possible and then get her and her friends moving on to phase two of “Trixie’s Masterful and Amazing Plan to Save Oaton and Look Good While Doing It!” before running into anypony form either the Lumber Guild or the Copper Coin’s.

The plan had been to be able to drop in on the Lumber Guild unannounced in order to put them off balance and catch anything suspicious before they had a chance to hide it away. The guards showing up in Oaton right on the heels of her own arrival ruined that prospect. If circumstances had been different Trixie didn’t doubt she could have spun a few easy to believe lies that would have deflected attention away from herself and her two friends, putting the guard’s minds at ease. She couldn’t do that though with the entire village gathered around watching. Under the eyes of her audience she had to play the role they expected of her.

So instead she went for the opposite tactic, play up exactly why she was here and go a step further by declaring her intention to inspect the Lumber Guild’s camp. It was a gamble; trying to tack on any kind of supposed authority to her and her friends being the Elements of Harmony. A gamble that relied heavily on the notion that Count Shiny was ignorant of just what little power the Elements actually had, politically speaking.

One benefit of this whole Elements thing is nopony seems to know what to make of us yet. Nopony besides Luna ever wielded them and that was a thousand years ago. For all Count Shiny knows I do have the authority to conduct an inspection. At the very least it would take him a few days to make an inquiry to find out that nether I or my friends have any kind of backing from the Night Court. More than enough time to snoop around under the pretext of an inspection and find out what skeletons he and the Lumber Guild have hidden away.

She imagined the news that guardsmare would deliver would at the very least put her opponents on edge and even if they had time to prepare for her arrival, hide away evidence of whatever wrongdoing they were up to, their nervousness could make their efforts sloppy. Sometimes it was easier to find evidence that was hastily and poorly hidden rather than if it was left innocuously out in the open, where it might not look like evidence at all.

She, Raindrops, and Cheerilee had been ushered into the large common room on the bottom floor of the tavern. As it happened this was also the home of mayor Sheaf and his family, the entire second floor of the building acting as their residence. Trixie had managed to tell the mayor that she really needed to talk with him about Oaton’s situation in private before the crowd of eager villagers had begun to get positively festive. Sheaf, giving her a guarded look, had told her to just give him a few minutes and he’d send somepony to get her and her friends and that in the meantime she should enjoy his village’s hospitality and with that he’d headed upstairs leaving Trixie and her friends to the crowd.

Cheerilee was in her element here, already with a mug of foaming ale in hoof and happily chatting with a half dozen Oaton residents near the tavern’s bar and from the sound of things was immensely enjoying herself, having little trouble keeping up with the enthuastic questions of the villagers. Trixie could pick up a few lines of the conversation, only frowning slightly when some of Oaton’s ponies started asking Cheerilee how they were going to deal with the Lumber Guild. Trixie didn’t pick out Cheerilee’s response to that line of questioning but could see the schoolteacher shoot a wink her way, letting Trixie know she had things well in hoof.

However Raindrops seemed less comfortable with all the attention and was also having a hard time telling the villagers no when they kept trying to put a drink in her hoof. Trixie felt a small stab of guilt. She imagined part of Raindrops’ nervousness stemmed from the glasses and their enchantment. Trixie had explained their function briefly before getting Raindrops to put them on but she doubted the pegasus had been quite prepared for how effective the enchantment was at doing what it did…well, assuming it was working the way it was supposed to. It should be. Trixie had practiced the spells plenty, despite the difficulty of learning them from a book instead of the far more natural method of seeing the spell in action itself.

Trixie wasn’t without her own drink, having practically been bombarded with them from the moment of entering the tavern. In her case it was a cup of whiskey that she kept floating next to her. One of the villagers had been all too happy to explain that the village usually got by on ale but kept a stock of whiskey around for special occasions, which Trixie and her friend’s arrival certainly counted as.

Most of the villagers were already well on their way to inebriation and Trixie was getting the start of a pleasant buzz but didn’t have any intention of getting actually drunk. It was easy enough to weave a simple illusion of her glass either looking empty or full as the circumstances demanded, keeping the villager’s happy that she was enjoying the festivities without actually drinking too much.

Seeing Raindrops getting a little cornered Trixie managed to weave her way through the crowd and come up next to her friend, addressing the over eager villagers that had surrounded Raindrops.

“Alright folks, let’s give my friend here a little space shall we?”

“Oh, of course, weren’t trying to bother her or nothing. Just want you all to feel at home,” said one already fairly inebriated looking stallion with a wide grin and raising his mug “Gotta celebrate you coming back to help us out and it ain’t a celebration without drinks! Bet you’ll be kicking them Lumber Guild jerks outta here by tomorrow. Hay, by tonight I bet! Burn ‘em all right out like you did last time!”

“Er, yes, of course. I doubt this will take more than a day or two to sort out for one of my talents,” Trixie said, then flinched as she felt a hoof nudge her hard in the ribs.

“Yeah, but let’s not celebrate too hard until we’ve actually got the job done,” said Raindrops, “Hopefully without needing to burn anything down.

“Bah, Lumber Guild jerks deserve it after having the gall to come back here after what they did! Drying up our only source of water! That’s like trying to kill the whole town!”

“Noticed there was still some water in the riverbed this time though,” mentioned Raindrops, her eyes carefully squinting at something just above the village stallion’s head. Trixie knew what Raindrops was looking at but wondered if the pegasus realized she didn’t need to squint like that to make the enchantment work. Trixie was impressed though, she thought she’d need to steer her honest friend a little bit, prompt her to ask the right questions or do the questioning herself. It was pleasing to see Raindrops taking the initiative, and that she’d noticed that there was still a bit of water in the riverbed this time. Trixie had wondered about that.

The villager, Trixie realized it was the one called Potato Sack, the one she supposedly beat in a drinking/hoof wrestling contest, just cocked his head to the side curiously.

“Yeah, guess there is, but it ain’t near enough for us to keep the fields watered. Barely enough to keep a decent stock of ale. Bet the Guild just got lazy with their dam this time and its leaking a bit is all. Not like it matters, you’re all gonna bust that thing up soon enough! Hey Trixie, wanna do a rematch! I’ve been practicing how to hold my liquor since you trashed me just in case you ever did come back to town!”

Trixie smiled politely, “Oh I wish I could, but I’ll be speaking with your mayor soon about a few things I need to know before speaking with the Lumber Guild so-“

“Why you need to talk the them?” Potato Sack asked abruptly.

“…Excuse me?” Trixie wasn’t sure what he meant and was a little surprised at being interrupted.

Potato Sock downed some more ale, eyes a tad unfocused, “S’nuthin I guess, just don’t figure what needs to be talked about with them Lumber Guild jerks. Ya just go up there, kick ‘em out, burn ‘em out, whatever, an’ then come on back here and we can have an even bigger party to celebrate! Heh, its not like you bein’ Princess Luna’s right-hoof mare need to listen to what a bunch of dam-building, water stealing, money grubbing, nobles-pets like them have to say! Right everypony!?”

There were a number of raucous cheers issued from the nearby villagers, all raising their drinks.

“Yeeah! The Great and Powerful Trixie will teach them stuck up bastards that the common ponies got big friends in the Night Court too!”

“Copper Coins, bah, their just Counts, nothing compared to the Night’s Justice!”

“…Night’s Justice…?” Raindrops gave Trixie a look.

“Must have been one of those titles I gave myself last time I was here,” Trixie sighed quietly, ears flattening under her hat, “I must have really given these ponies the impression I was a big-roller in the Night Court…”

“We really should just come out and explain to them that we’re not affiliated with the Night Court, let alone have any power there,” said Raindrops. The villagers were still being so loud that none standing around could hear her and Trixie even if they were speaking normally but she was whispering to her friend all the same, “Honestly Trixie, they might be mad, but ultimately this is only going to get more complicated the more they think we’re something we’re not.”

Trixie frowned, trying to decide how to best explain this to Raindrops. She knew Raindrops wasn’t one who’d refuse to lie, her sense of honesty wasn’t quite that straightforward. She was pretty sure she’d heard Raindrops lie before, if the circumstances demanded it. So Trixie didn’t understand why Raindrops had such a problem with this. Trixie didn’t want to deceive the citizens of Oaton, and maybe if it was just the township in general she’d have been willing to come out with the truth right from the start.

…But there was a certain filly that had come to Trixie. A filly who hadn’t come for Trixie Lulamoon, the not-so-well-known (or liked) apprentice of Luna who’d screwed up her time in Canterlot so badly that she’d come to Ponyville leaving behind no friends or allies behind in the capital. A filly that hadn’t come for the mare who bore the Element of Magic and saved the country from Corona. Instead, a filly who had come to find the Hero of Oaton, the mare called Trixie who saved her town (while apparently sloshed beyond belief) from certain doom and did so all the while seeming larger than life itself.

Trixie knew that she wasn’t actually all that heroic, even on her best days. She wasn’t quite that self deluded…most of the time. But that wasn’t the point. From Bushel’s perspective Trixie was that hero of grand tales, who could ooze confidence and sweep away other pony’s fears and make them believe that everything was going to turn out okay…that was who she needed to be while she was here in Oaton, because that was what that filly had come to Ponyville for. Even if it was just an illusion that didn’t make it any less real to those who viewed it and believed in it. That was the magic of illusions, the power of perspective.

“Please, Raindrops, just bear with me on this,” Trixie wasn’t a mare who used the word ‘please’ very often, “They have to believe. It’s what they need. It’s what Bushel needs. For many ponies the belief in a legend is far more powerful than the actual truth.”

“I…really don’t agree with that,” said the jasmine pegasus, but she did slowly close her eyes and nod, “But you’re the showpony. Just understand that if this turns bad…ugh, I’ll stick by you, but I’m going to be pissed at you afterward.”

“Understood.”

“Hey guys!” Cheerilee suddenly came walking through the crowd, face reddened even beyond her normal magenta shade, with one arm slung around a stallion she seemed to be dragging around with her, and still holding a now empty mug in the other, “This place is great! That guard fellow wasn’t joking, this town’s got some fantastic ale! Seriously I need to tell Berry Punch about this place, she’d love to find out what they put in this stuff!”

The stallion she seemed to be dragging around, Trixie noted with a slight quirk of her eyebrows, seemed both elated and terrified at the same time. Trixie surmised the terror might be stemming from the fact that Cheerilee’s grip on him didn’t look all that…safe. Trixie might’ve been imagining things but she was almost certain she heard ribs grinding together from the tightness of that grip. The stallion seemed to be bearing it only because of his proximity to an attractive mare. Or at least Trixie figured Cheerilee counted as attractive. Trixie didn’t think on such things, thank you very much, subject changing now.

“Y-you’d have to talk with…ugh..m-mayor Sheaf, urk, Miss Chee-*gulp*ilee, about the ale. It’s his, gah…recipe. OhstarsIthinkshebrokesomething…”

“Oh I think I will,” said Cheerille, tossing the empty mug aside and setting down the poor stallion, “Definitely, before leaving town. So Great and Powerful Trixie, Cute and Adorable Raindrops, we talking to the mayor soon? Much as I’m enjoying myself we do have some hero-ing to do, right? Seems everypony here is expecting us to get this wrapped up by morning.”

“Cute and…ugh, that’s it, glasses are coming off now,” said Raindrops, moving a hoof to take the glasses off.

“Wait Raindrops,” Trixie said, putting a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder and leaning in to whisper, “The enchantment takes time to adjust to a new pony. If you take them off now it’ll be an hour before somepony else could use them. I need you to wear them when we talk to mayor Sheaf. If he’s hiding anything, those glasses are our best bet to find any clues about it.”

“…Fine. But one more ‘adorable’ comment and you can find another lie detector. These glasses are creeping me out. You have any idea how disconcerting it is to…to…see what other ponies are-“

“Heya Trixie! Raindrops! Cheerilee! What are you all talking about!?” Bushel’s sudden and excited voice piped in.

“Oh, Bushel,” Trixie had almost dropped her drink at the filly’s abrupt appearance but recovered fast, “We were just talking about your father, actually. Is he ready to see us?”

Bushel nodded enthusiastically, “Uh-huh! He told me to come get you! I can’t wait to see you in action…even though I’m grounded and probably won’t get to see much. But c’mon, my dad’s waiting. Oh, and you gotta meet my brothers and sisters and mom!”

Trixie couldn’t help but smile warmly at the filly, “Lead on Bushel, I’d love to meet the rest of your family.”

Though there were a few disappointed groans from the villagers that Trixie and company were departing upstairs Trixie was quick to assure them that there would be more than enough time later for her to participate in a proper party once their fair village was saved. It seemed to do the trick and many of the villagers went back to happily drinking, while many others had cleared some space in the middle of the tavern to start dancing. As she was led upstairs Trixie felt a small pang of worry, looking on all of those happy ponies. They honestly thought their troubles were at an end, now that she was here.

She wasn’t going to screw this up…not this time…not like all those times back in Canterlot…not like the Ice Palace. She had her friends with her. She couldn’t fail as long as she had them by her side.

…right?

Raindrops was trying very hard not to focus on any one pony for too long. Trixie had given Raindrops a very brief explanation of how the glasses worked before she’d put them on but it had ill prepared the pegasus for the nature of this enchantment. If she intentionally avoided focusing her attention on anypony then things were fine, but the second she paid any kind of attention to a pony the glasses would start to do their thing and begin to…show her what was on the pony’s mind.

Just felt wrong to begin with, peering into a pony’s mind without permission. If Trixie hadn’t seemed so absolutely certain that using these glasses would be instrumental in finding evidence to uncover whatever wrongdoings were going on in Oaton Raindrops wouldn’t have even considered using these things. Ponies needed their privacy. She had things in her mind she certainly wouldn’t want a pony ever looking at.

Trixie had assured her that the glasses would only display surface thoughts. The unicorn had explained that it was not a remarkably powerful spell and couldn’t delve deeply or seek out any specific information from a pony’s head. That was why asking the right questions was important; it’d bring certain thoughts to the surface and hence display the images associated with those thoughts.

It was still unbelievably unnerving and Raindrops even wondered at the legality of such an enchantment. Shouldn’t making something like this be kind of…restricted? Trixie didn’t seem concerned with that but considering it was Trixie that didn’t mean much. Raindrops just hoped her friend knew what she was doing.

Trixie would be handling the talk with mayor Sheaf, asking certain questions about Trixie’s first time to Oaton and the current predicament of the village. Raindrops job would be to watch the stallion’s surface thoughts for anything…out of the ordinary.

Not sure what she expects to find out. The mayor doesn’t strike me as the type to hide much of anything. It’s clear he’s got some kind of issue with Trixie, but that doesn’t mean he’s hiding some big secret.

The stairs led to a decent sized living room, though much like the tavern below it had fairly bare bones furnishings. Bushel hopped happily into the room and called out, “Ma, Breadcrumb, Milkdrop! I brought ‘em up, come and see!”

From a side room a pair of foals came stumbling in so fast that they were practically tripping over each other, a colt and a filly, both who seemed a number of years younger than Bushel. One, the colt had a green coat that matched mayor Sheaf’s, but his mane was the same blue that Bushel had. The filly had a creamy white coat and a mop-like yellow mane. From behind the two foal’s an adult mare entered. The family resemblance between the mare and Bushel were unmistakable as the mare shared an identical bright sunny yellow coat and light blue mane, even the same wide expressive brown eyes. Bushel’s mother looked identical to her daughter save that she had her cutie mark; what appeared to be…Raindrops blinked…was that a camera? Odd cutie mark for a farm mare.

With so many ponies now in the room it might’ve seemed cramped but Raindrops was pretty used to it. Her home was a pretty cramped place too, but it was cozy. This felt the same. The two new foals had rushed right up to them, eyes wide and bright.

“Oh, oh, oh, which one’s Trixie! Which one! Bushel is it this one!?” the colt was bouncing up and down, looking at Raindrops and pointing his hoof. Bushel snorted and rolled her eyes.

“No, no, that’s one of Trixie’s friends. Trixie’s the unicorn!”

“Which one’s a unicorn…?”

“The one with the awesome hat, duh!”

“Oh but can’t this one be Trixie?” said the filly, looking up at Cheerilee, “She’s prettiest!”

Raindrops, Cheerilee, and Trixie all exchanged glances. Raindrops had to look away quickly though as she almost started to see that odd white mist form that indicated the glasses were starting to read a pony’s thoughts, the mist beginning to form around Trixie’s head as Raindrops had focused on her but vanished as Raindrops looked away. Dang glasses were so troublesome. Why couldn’t have Trixie put in some kind of command word or something?

“Ahem, children don’t bother these good ponies, they’re here on important business,” said Bushel’s mother as she walked up lowered her head in a polite bow, “It’s a pleasure to meet you again Miss Lulamoon.”

“Just Trixie, please,” Trixie said, and Raindrops could see the small twitch of her friend’s ear. Trixie really did have an issue with that last name.

“Oh? You were so insistent upon me calling you Lulamoon on your last visit,” the mare looked away and coughed politely, “Quite insistent, but perhaps that was the alcohol talking? You certainly imbibed a…remarkable quantity as I recall.”

Weird… thought Raindrops, Her accent. I can’t be sure, but it sounds real different from everypony else in Oaton. She sounds more like Trixie than like anypony from Oaton.

It struck her then. It was a Canterlot accent. Raindrops couldn’t be entirely sure, but enough Canterlot ponies had come through Ponyville over the years that she’d heard that airy, sophisticated accent enough times to recognize it.

“Yes, well,” Trixie went on, “I was doing my utmost to accept the village’s hospitality. Still, I’d prefer there be no, uh, formality between us. Just Trixie will do.”

“Very well. Things did proceed so quickly that night I hadn’t even the time to properly introduce myself, so please allow me the honor, Trixie. My name is Picturesque, Sheaf’s wife, and mother of these rambunctious little storms of chaos that like to masquerade as foals.”

“They don’t seem so bad,” Trixie said, then blinked in surprise as Breadcrumb jumped on her back and poked his head under her hat.

“Hey, you’re right sis, she is a unicorn! I’m gonna poke her horn!”

Just as fast Bushel was clambering up Trixie’s side, biting her bother’s tail and trying to pull him off, “Get off her, stupid! You don’t poke heroes!”

The sudden additional weight caused Trixie to stumble with a surprised yelp and she almost went right back down the stairs if Raindrops hadn’t quickly moved to steady her friend. Even so Bushel’s pulling on Breadcrumb caused the foal and filly to go tumbling off to the ground, the former with Trixie’s hat now stuck on his head.

Picturesque sighed and smiled apologetically before fixing her children with a stern gaze, “That’s enough you two. Breadcrumb, what have I told you about not jumping on the adults?”

“…not to do it…”

“And Bushel, what did I say about pulling your brother’s tail?”

“That it was…okay under emergency circumstances?”

“…”

“…not to do it…”

“That’s right. Now, all three of you will sit quietly and behave yourselves around these good ponies who have come to speak with your father, otherwise there will be more than one grounded foal in this household and no desert to be had by any of them. Understood?”

“Yes ma,” chimed three pacified young ponies.

“Good,” Picturesque said with a satisfied nod and looked to Trixie, “I do apologize. Are you quite alright?”

“I’m fine. A little horse-play is nothing compared to some of my past experiences with foals,” Trixie said with a side-long look at Cheerilee. Cheerilee rolled her eyes.

“My class wasn’t that rough with you.”

“There was rope involved! Well, a jump-rope anyway. I don’t know where the foals learned to tie knots that effectively.”

Raindrops was quick to clear her throat loudly before that side conversation could go any further, “Anyways, where’s your husband Miss Picturesque? Kinda got a lot on our ‘to-do’ list today and we need to get to it.”

“Oh, yes of course, right this way.”

Picturesque led them to one of the side doors that opened up into a short hallway with multiple doors to either side, “He’s in his study on the door to the right, end of the hallway. I’m currently getting lunch made if the three of you are hungry. I can easily fix some extra plates.”

“That’d be good, thanks,” said Trixie, and for a second Raindrops thought she could see a look of exhaustion pass over her friend’s face before Trixie replaced it firmly with her usual confident bravado, “Had a light breakfast and could use the food. Coffee too, if you have any.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have coffee, but I do have a tea that is nearly as effective.”

“That’ll work I suppose.”

Raindrops frowned, peering at Trixie, then had to look away as that damn mist began to form again. Be nice if she could just take these glasses off, but she’d seen enough in her brief look anyway. Trixie was tired. More tired than she was showing. Mare hadn’t slept at all last night despite Raindrops insistence that she do so. Well that was certainly going to change tonight! Raindrops mentally vowed to make sure Trixie got some sleep.

Picturesque left them to it and the three friends entered the indicated door. Inside was a small space with little more than a desk, a few sitting cushions, and a short bookshelf that was only half full. Mayor Sheaf was sitting behind the desk, his large stray hat off and sitting on the edge of the desk as he…levitated a quill pen and was writing in a notebook.

Raindrops blinked, looking at the soft yellow glow around the horn poking from his head, a horn that had been hidden by the hat he’d worn up to this point. She didn’t know why she was so surprised. It was probably because of his build. Sheaf was built like an earth-pony, and top that off with the fact that all the ponies in Oaton had looked to be earth ponies it’d just seemed natural to assume…

“I see you managed to pull yourselves away from my ponies,” Sheaf commented dryly, eyes fixed on Trixie, “And you’re not drunk. Remarkable restraint Miss Lulamoon.”

Because Raindrops had been starring at him, still surprised that he’d turned out to be a unicorn, the mist had already formed around his head without her realizing it and began to do its thing. Of course she was the only one who could see the mist, the image being generated by the enchantment inside the glasses she wore. Within the mist images began to swirl and take shape. She saw Trixie in those shapes, face red from clear intoxication, dancing on a table with a yellow mare…Picturesque? There were images of two purple unicorns as well that looked so similar to each other they had to be related, one clearly older than the other, and in the images they were glaring at each other. Raindrops saw what she thought might have been the dam, an edifice of wood beams that in the image was clearly on fire, but there was something…off about flames. They weren’t the right color. The flames were red, rather than a natural orange.

Raindrops resisted the urge to look away as Trixie approached the mayor to speak with him. Her job here was to watch these images for clues so that’s what she was going to do, as uncomfortable as doing so made her. She felt Cheerilee next to her nudge her hoof and Raindrops glanced over. The schoolteacher pony was giving her a concerned look.

“You okay?”

Raindrops was a little surprised. Cheerilee usually didn’t pick up easily on moods of other ponies, which probably meant Raindrops was more visibly bothered than she’d prefer to show.

“It’s ...I’ll tell you later,” Raindrops whispered back and re-focused on Sheaf, who still only had eyes for Trixie, practically ignoring the other two mares in the room.

“I would prefer if you just called me Trixie, mayor Sheaf, if it’s all the same to you,” Trixie said, sitting on one of the cushions, and setting down the glass of whiskey she’d still be levitating around with her on his desk, “And while I’d love to indulge in a little more of the generosity of your village I did come here with a purpose, one that I’d prefer to be sober to take on.”

“Strange, considering last time you were here we could hardly keep your cup full. Not that I minded that much, given the circumstances of the time my ponies were in need of an excuse for a good party…much like now,” Sheaf replied evenly.

“I’ve learned to moderate myself a bit more since then. Mayor let me ask this straight out; can you tell me in detail what happened that night? I’ll admit my memory isn’t complete about…a number of things,” Trixie said.

Sheaf looked at Trixie for a long few seconds and Raindrops saw the images in the mist begin to slow their rapid and confusing twirl and begin to focus into one sharp image; one of Trixie doing one of her grandstanding poses, face red from intoxication and grinning with such smug confidence that Raindrops imagined this had to be some kind of exaggeration. The Trixie Raindrops knew never looked that full of herself. Maybe there’d been a few instances of her getting close to it, but not quite like this.

“Nothing much to tell, Trixie. You came to town in the middle of a confrontation between myself and the then leader of Hoofington’s Lumber Guild. You brushing Sawblade off tickled me a bit and…I’ll admit I didn’t think much of your sudden appearance. You wanted a drink, my ponies needed to relax after all the stress we were under, so I called it a reason to have a bit of a drinking party. Would’ve stopped there I imagine if my wife hadn’t told you about what was going on with the Lumber Guild.”

“I presume you mean the dam they built? I wanted to ask you about that. Why did the Lumber Guild build a dam on the river in the first place?” cut in Cheerilee suddenly, drawing looks from both the mayor and Trixie. Cheerilee returned their looks with a small shrug, “It just isn’t something that ponies working in lumber would normally need to do.”

Mayor Sheaf didn’t visibly tense but Raindrops saw the image of Trixie vanish and be replaced by what looked like a vague pegasus-eye view of the landscape around Oaton. The river was a rather long one, snaking its way north to south with a number of bends that let it trail around the edge of the forest, then through it near the north end. The image showed the river ceasing at one point, the blue line of water moving westward to another, larger river.

“Simple enough; they were redirecting the river to another nearby river, a larger one that flows by Hoofington. Transporting lumber overland is expensive in terms of labor. Sawblade figured he could save bits by paying to dam up and redirect the river in the short term, then ship the lumber via raft. Less labor intensive once the construction is done. He was planning to spend a long time cutting into South Everfree forest, and didn’t much care if cutting off the water to any farmland south of his operation would hurt the ponies who lived there.”

Again with the images of those two purple unicorns. Raindrops realized that the coloring of them was close to the description Trixie had given in her story about how Sawblade looked. But if one of those unicorns was Sawblade, the older presumably…who was the younger one? And why were they butting heads in Sheaf’s thoughts?

“Hmm, still seems like an odd choice,” said Cheerilee, rubbing a hoof to her chin but she let it drop, having taken a seat next to Trixie. Raindrops hadn’t sat down and was still hanging back a bit, trying to look unobtrusive.

“In any case,” said Trixie, “You say your wife told me about what was happening? What happened?”

“You mean before or after you hit on my wife?” said Sheaf dryly.

Trixie starred.

“I…what…?”

“Let’s just say you were getting pretty friendly with Picturesque, not that my wife can’t handle herself with a drunk mare but a stallion can’t help but get a little protective. Oh don’t look so horrified, you two didn’t do anything! You got all hot about defending us Oaton ponyfolk as Luna’s…let me see if I remember this right…’Blazing and Righteous Apprentice of Justice’?”

“…I do have a certain flare for titles.”

“All of them as made up as that one?”

Trixie’s lips tightened and her posture stiffened, but only a little, “Some of them I’ve earned. Representative of the Night Court, and the Element of Magic, to name two.”

“Right…and I’m willing to bet my village’s prosperity, because unfortunately I’m rather stuck doing so, that neither of those ‘titles’ confers much actual authority,” said mayor Sheaf, placing his front hooves on his desk and looming at Trixie.

Raindrops for a second was ignoring the images in the mist swirling around the mayor’s head and found herself instinctively moving forward, putting her own front hooves on the desk and pushing herself up to face the mayor.

“Does it matter who had what authority!? We’re here to help you, so cut the imposing act.”

Sheaf’s eyes flicked to hers and they locked stares. After a few seconds the mayor sighed and backed down, sitting back on his own cushion.

“Okay, fine, you three are here to help. How? I wasn’t fooled by your boasting even back then Trixie. I’m…slightly better informed than my fellow villagers on how the Night Court works, and I’d never even heard of Princess Luna having an apprentice, let alone an apprentice having any great personal authority. I also know that you saving my village was as much accident as anything else. So now that you’re here, what do you think you’re going to accomplish?”

“My friends and I shall investigate the Lumber Guild’s current operation, and their connection to the Copper Coins. I’m certain I’ll find evidence that their presence here is violating some kind of law, or that they’re doing something illegal. Once I find that all I’ll need to do is present that evidence to the ponies that do have the authority to stop it. I can do that much as a Representative of the Night Court. That should ensure Oaton’s safety. But…what did you mean by ‘accident’ last time?”

“…You really don’t remember do you…?” Sheaf said as if realizing it for the first time, “You nearly…every one of my ponies could have…my daughter almost…and you don’t even have the decency to remember!? “

Mayor Sheaf’s voice had raised to nearly a shout as he glared wide eyed anger at Trixie and she starred back with eyes equally wide from shock. Raindrops moved protectively between the two and fixed Sheaf with a hard stare and said, “Probably the last pony that ought to be saying this, but calm down. You’re pissed, fine, but explain to us first before you go off shouting. What did Trixie do?”

The mayor was breathing heavily and the mist around his head was filled with…water? Raindrops could see nothing but what looked like a torrent of unending water in the mist, dark and frothing…and an image of Sheaf standing beside the young violet unicorn who looked like Sawblade but clearly wasn’t. They were in the middle of that flood of water…not, not in it, in front of it. Holding it back.

Sheaf slowly calmed himself, lowering his head as if under a heavy weight while looking at Trixie with smoldering anger.

“One year ago, a unicorn named Trixie Lulamoon came to my village. She got stupidly drunk, admittedly at my invitation, and after hearing about my town’s plight declared herself the hero that would save us. As far as any of my ponies know that’s exactly what she did, and I’m the one who made sure that’s what they’d think. What the truth is, Trixie Lulamoon, isn’t that you saved Oaton. The truth is that you nearly destroyed it.”

Chapter 5: The Other Side of the Coin

Chapter 5: The Other Side of the Coin

Trixie swallowed, barely noticing how dry her mouth had just gotten. She met Sheaf’s hard eyes with her own stare that was probably putting out more calm than she felt. He had to be exaggerating. Time to get answers.

“If what you say is true, then I think I deserve to know exactly what happened one year ago,” she said, proud that the wavering coldness she felt inside wasn’t coming out in her tone. She knew she could…screw up sometimes, but it was hard to swallow she could have done something to endanger an entire village.

“I suppose you do at that,” Sheaf said, his own voice calming while still carrying a undercurrent of anger, “though I still have difficulty believing you forgot so much of that night.”

“Believe me, I never intend to become that intoxicated again barring some kind of severe drinking emergency.”

“Drinking emergency?” Sheaf repeated with a look of mild disbelief.

“Like if my personal window repair pony Windowpane left town.”

“…You have a personal window repair pony?”

“Well, he might as well be. Honestly I think I’m his only regular client.”

“…I’m not even going to ask.”

“It’s for the best. In any case I take no pleasure in failing to recall what happened last time I was in Oaton. I want to know what happened,” Trixie said. Sincerity wasn’t exactly her middle name, true, and admittedly part of her wasn’t entirely sure she did want to know about this. She’d gotten kind of fond to the idea that she’d legitimately saved this village, even if she couldn’t remember the details.

That said, there was more than one reason to want to hear Sheaf’s account. Trixie’s desire to know the truth aside she wasn’t discounting the possibility that Sheaf might still be hiding something. She didn’t look at Raindrops directly but could see peripherally that the pegasus was intently watching the mayor from behind the glasses. Trixie bit back a smile. The spell might not be well known for its accuracy, but she didn’t doubt she could decipher some clues of value from whatever her friend was seeing.

Mayor Sheaf gave her a measuring look before closing his eyes with a sigh.

“Your departure from the tavern that evening was followed by a lot of good natured betting on whether or not you were serious about trying to help us with the Lumber Guild. I think most of us assumed you’d pass out before you’d even get out of the village. You were clearly well past the point of just being…tipsy…”

“Like the line from the song,” said Cheerilee, “I noticed it didn’t leave out the part about Trixie being drunk when all this happened.”

Sheaf shrugged, “My ponies like a good tune and thinking our troubles were swept away by the Princess’ personal apprentice gave them plenty of reason to come up with something to honor our new ‘hero’. The fact that she was drunk the whole time, quite frankly, only added to her image. Might not have noticed Miss Cheerilee, but my ponies like to drink when given half an opportunity, and respect a mare who can hold her liquor.”

“Oh I noticed. Reminds me I need to get details on what goes into that ale,” said Cheerilee, but catching a look from Trixie quickly added, “After we’ve sorted all this out of course.”

“Please, continue mayor Sheaf,” Trixie said, “What happened after I left Oaton?”

“It was about only an hour after you left that we saw the sings of the fire,” Sheaf went on, “The Lumber Guild’s camp wasn’t far from town, but it was far enough nopony could make out what was happening. I told everypony to stay put while I went to investigate. By the time I got there the entire camp was ablaze. Thankfully nopony got badly hurt, but the fires were well out of control and were close to spreading to the forest itself.”

“Do you know for sure what caused this fire?” asked Trixie, leaning in, eyes narrowing intently. This was a crux question she was very keen on hearing the answer to.

“First thing I asked the Guild ponies when I got to them. They told me it was, let me see if I remember the phrasing right, ‘an insane blue mare’ who started the fire.”

“Did they explain how she started the fire?” Trixie pressed, very intentionally using the word ‘she’ instead of ‘I’.

Sheaf grimaced, perhaps noticing her choice of words, “About a dozen different ways if I was to believe each account I got. Bottom line is though, each story pinned the cause of the fire on you. One pony said you did it with a spell, summoned fire straight from your horn. Another claimed it was because of something you threw into the camp, a potion or some such. A few ponies even swore upon Luna that you conjured monsters made out of fire. The only unifying part of the accounts is your involvement and that all this happened after you got into a shouting match with Sawblade.”

“And you call that enough to blame me for everything?” Trixie said with more than a little snap to her tone, “A bunch of conflicting stories half of which sound like they’re the result of some serious exaggeration?”

More than that, there were things about this fire that didn’t make sense, never mind the bizarre accounts of the Lumber Guild ponies. A fire spreading so fast, to cover an entire camp, was something that only could’ve happened with a catalyst beyond her own magic. She just didn’t know any spells to start a fire that size. That camp was right on a river, right? Couldn’t the ponies in the camp have gotten the fire under control? How had it grown beyond their control?

Sheaf shook his head, “If it were just those stories then I wouldn’t be blaming you for anything. No, it’s because of what happened after, at the dam.”

Trixie ground her teeth in mounting frustration. Why was it the more answers she got the more the questions were piling on!? This was supposed to be…well, not simple, but this whole mess was getting far more complicated than she’d thought it would. She was keeping her face natural but she hadn’t even noticed that her front hooves had been shaking until she felt a small, steadying touch on her shoulder. It was one of Raindrops’ wings, the pegasus withdrawing the wing almost as quick as she’d lowered it while giving Trixie a weird look halfway between apology and encouraging. Trixie wasn’t much on physical contact, having a rather sizable personal bubble, but she appreciated the gesture and took a calming breath.

Sheaf raised an eyebrow at the exchange before continuing his narrative.

“The Lumber Guild was fighting to keep the fire from getting too far into the forest, and much as I hated them for what they’d tried to do to my home, I was willing to help. In fact I was planning on returning to Oaton to rouse my ponies to help the Guild with the fire, but before I could I spotted a commotion on the dam. Fireworks, going off all over the bloody thing. Amid the bursts of light I saw the dam catching fire, and you, standing right on top of the whole thing, screaming utter nonsense.”

“…What kind of nonsense?” Trixie asked, her growing bewilderment barely contained by her focus on thinking over this information. Fireworks? Like the illusion spells she used for her performances? She’d developed those spells well before her first real performance in Ponyville, always liking the idea of being able to give herself some proper fanfare wherever and whenever she wanted…but there were just illusions! They couldn’t catch anything on fire. Of course it was possible there were spells other than the illusions going off, but again that came back to her not knowing spells that could light a whole dam on fire. Small stuff, maybe, but not a dam of any real size. But if she was drunk and throwing magic about at random…? Well, magic was far from an exact science, despite some ponies best efforts to see it that way. Trixie couldn’t entirely deny the possibility that if her drunken self was randomly throwing around magic it was possible she might have caused a fire…

“Honestly it was hard to hear exactly. It was slurred and also oddly…amplified…” said Sheaf with a frown, “I’m certain it was you though. I might not have caught all the words, but I recognized your voice, loud as it was.”

“There are spells that can amplify sound, they’re actually pretty simple,” Trixie said, wracking her mind for something, any kind of memory of these events.

“So you’re admitting it was you there?”

“I didn’t say any such thing!” Trixie snapped, “In fact nothing your saying is making this sound like it was me! I can’t light anything on fire with a spell because I don’t know any evocation spells of that level of power! My illusions are just figments, no matter how amazingly detailed or real they might seem they can’t cause a real affect!”

“It was you, Trixie Lulamoon. I saw you plain as a full moon standing on that dam, yammering some nonsense about ‘slaying monsters’ or something and popping off your harmless ‘illusions’ left and right! The dam started burning right while you were doing that so who else could it have been but you!?”

“Whoa, whoa, let’s back this up a sec,” said Raindrops before the shouting got any louder, “This still isn’t explaining how Trixie ended up almost destroying Oaton.”

Sheaf rolled his eyes, “I’m honestly surprised none of you have figured this out yet. It’s simple cause and effect.”

“The dam,” Cheerilee said suddenly, looking thoughtful, “I’d wondered, honestly, why Oaton hadn’t been damaged by the dam’s destruction.”

Trixie and Raindrops both looked at the schoolteacher mare, Trixie feeling her ears flatten against the back of her skull as she realized what Cheerilee was talking about.

“That’s…is the river large enough for there to be that much water…?” Trixie said, eyes blinking in disbelief. She hadn’t really looked at the dried up river, at its size.

“Yes,” said Sheaf, “Dried up like it is the river probably doesn’t look like much, but in its proper state it’s quite large. Damned up, the reservoir of water created was more than big enough that its sudden release would have done a lot of damage to what was immediately downriver…specifically Oaton, which you might not have noticed does sit in something of a shallow valley. Even if the water wouldn’t have destroyed our homes entirely the flooding would have made the area unlivable. Any who didn’t drown would have ended up homeless.”

It was such a simple detail Trixie was shocked to her core she hadn’t thought of it when she’d first heard the song. Destroying a dam, obviously the water would’ve had to go somewhere. She’d just sort of…assumed the river was so small that the amount of freed water was insignificant. Was she really so caught up in playing the part of hero, enjoying some time in the limelight, that she was ignoring some of her basic deductive reasoning skills? What was wrong with her?

Don’t let it get to you, she thought harshly to herself, you’re not the same as you were then. You’re smarter, more capable, and overall better now than you’ve ever been Trixie. Besides, there’s a hole in his story.

“Oaton is still here though…” she said, waving an arm.

“Yes, yes it is. When it became obvious the dam was about to burst, you just vanished in a giant poof of smoke, and there wasn’t any time to think about things. I…with some help from some of the Lumber Guild’s unicorns, were able to create a barrier to redirect the flood away from the village and into the forest, towards where the fires had already spread.”

Trixie hadn’t missed the slight hesitation in the mayor’s voice when talking about the help he’d gotten from the Lumber Guild in dealing with that flood. Was he still hiding something? Probably. Everypony’s got a secret; that was…what, Rule Two, or Rule Six of the Night Court? She’d never bothered to memorize them, mainly because Trixie figured with the way the Night Court tended to work any ‘rules’ it had were subjective at best…

…there were times she really questioned the value of the Night Court as a whole…but that was for other times when she wasn’t busy trying to save a village and questioning her own value. Stupid dam, why was it so flammable in the first place!? She wanted a drink…wait, that’s apparently what caused all this in the first place. She wanted…uh…exercise? She and Raindrops had started up a semi-regular exercise routine, somewhat in secret. It was grueling, as Trixie was far from what one would call athletic, or even ‘in shape’, but she found the exercise at least had a way of relaxing her in a so-tired-need-to-pass-out kind of way.

“Alright, fine” she said, teeth grinding slightly, “I…don’t remember doing anything you’re saying but regardless of what I did or didn’t do the fact remains I’m here, now, to help Oaton. To do that I need your cooperation. Whether you like me or not, or blame me for that flood or not, are you willing to work with me this time around?”

Sheaf’s lips were pressed tight and he looked like he was chewing on something sour but with a irritated flick of his tail he said, “I am. Providing you give me your word as a Representative of the Night Court that this time you won’t do anything to endanger the lives of my ponies.”

“You have it,” Trixie said firmly. She’d already promised something similar to Bushel, she didn’t have much problem doing the same with her father. Quite frankly the promise to the filly was a lot more personal and important. The thought that she might have nearly gotten that poor filly drowned a year ago didn’t sit well in her stomach, leaving a sour feeling in her gut. If what Sheaf was saying had any truth to it she could have been responsible for a lot of damage being done. Though was it really her fault, she wondered? Lulamoon, her drunken alter ego, was probably the one who thought burning down a dam was a good idea…though the how of it all still mystified her. She knew her illusions couldn’t cause real effects like that! Then there was that whole bit about healing Bushel…

“Mayor, there’s something else I’d like to ask about,” she said, “Two things, actually, but first things first; I heard that last year your eldest daughter was sick with something…?”

“Yes. We didn’t know what it was…still don’t.”

“What were the symptoms? When did they appear?” Cheerilee asked.

“More to the point, how did I cure her of it?” added Trixie

Sheaf looked between the two mares before settling his eyes on Cheerilee, “Bushel started to get really severe headaches a few days before Trixie’s arrival in Oaton. Not long after that the headaches got joined by a fever that just got worse and worse until she couldn’t walk. Maybe a day before the whole mess with Trixie my daughter lost consciousness. Me and my wife sent for the doctor over in Bridlesville, but we didn’t have enough bits to pay for her services.”

“What kind of doctor won’t help a sick filly because of something stupid like that!?” snapped Raindrops, stamping a hoof.

“It’s…not that unusual,” said Trixie and winced a bit as the pegasus shot her a glare. The glasses did nothing to soften that look and while Trixie thought she and Raindrops were on pretty good terms overall and she did understand that the pegasus was trying very hard to handle her anger issues…that look still terrified her a little. Was it odd that she could still feel a bit of fear towards her friend but still very much consider her a friend? Meh, Trixie cared not for other pony’s definition of ‘odd’ anyway.

“Are you kidding me!? If your job is healing ponies then you don’t go around denying them just because they’re a few bits short!” Raindrops practically growled, eyes flashing dangerously.

“I’m not saying it’s right,” said Trixie, forcing her tone to remain level , “I’m just saying that it’s not that unusual. Ponyville’s rather lucky to have a hospital that offers cheap medical care. Most private doctors are…pricy.”

Raindrops was still clearly fuming but the pegasus mare let the matter drop, crossing her forelegs across her chest with a snort and irritated flutter of her wings.

“Regardless,” said Sheaf after a moment, “Bushel’s condition was getting worse, and it only added to the…tension between me and the Lumber Guild’s leader, Sawblade. But to your second question, Trixie, I was sort of hoping you’d be able to explain that one to me. I was there when you did it, but I still don’t understand what happened.”

“Could you describe it in detail?” Cheerilee pressed.

“Well this was all after she’d dealt with Sawblade and his permits, which I’m going to assume you’ll want to know about as well.”

“Be nice,” said Trixie, “Assuming I did that and it wasn’t some exaggeration of events.”

Sheaf, for the first time, looked a little ashamed, “That much, at least, was something you did that helped us. It was actually so simple I’m surprised I didn’t think of it myself. You see Sawblade brought in the sheriff from Bridlesville, wanting you arrested for destruction of his property. You claimed, quite drunk still, that since he didn’t have permission to build there that the building’s themselves, including the dam, were forfeit as illegal construction. Sawblade threw his permits at your hooves, claiming them as the only proof he needed of his Guild’s right to build, and you just poured some whiskey on them and lit them on fire with a little magic spark.”

Raindrops shook her head, “What was it with you and fire that night Trixie?”

“I don’t know! I’m not some pyromaniac! I’m more surprised I’d waste good whiskey. Still, that was a smart move on my part, for me being drunk.”

“How so?” asked the confused Raindrops.

Cheerilee suddenly chuckled, “Official documents are magically laminated! Any kind of permit, or license, or official note would have a magic lamination on it that prevents damage from mundane sources. Even my teaching certificate is laminated by that enchantment!

“Meaning…what?” Raindrops asked, raising a hoof.

“Meaning,” Cheerilee said, pointing at Raindrops like she was calling on her class, “In order to alter or destroy an official document like that you’d need something specific to either counter the lamentation enchantment or a powerful enough spell to burn through it! And I’m willing to bet burning whiskey doesn’t count in that regard.”

Trixie looked at Cheerilee with a sidelong, wondering glance “How do you know all this? I…am only vaguely recalling hearing about this and I’ve actually studied the Night Court’s procedures.”

“Yes, but you’re not a teacher,” Cheerilee stated, then coughed.

Trixie’s eyes narrowed, “So this has nothing to do with your previous…lifestyle? Haven’t had any reason to know what it takes to mess with official Night Court documents?”

“Of course not!” Cheerilee said firmly, then grinned wryly, “For the most part.”

“Waitwaitwait, how did you know to burn the permits like that then, if even you’re just now remembering about this magic lamentation?” asked Raindrops.

“It’s…possible that my,” Trixie heaved out an annoyed sigh “ ‘Lulamoon’ personality remembered that particular detail. Honestly I don’t know how else it could have happened.”

“So…are you saying being drunk can make you smarter?”

“No. No it doesn’t. It makes me relaxed, when I’m buzzed. And clearly when I’m smashed I’m not smarter so much as…luckier?” Trixie didn’t even like saying that and felt like retracting it. She didn’t put much stock in the concept of ‘luck’. In her experience there was no such thing.

“Right, so Trixie burned up the permits, and that proved they were fake,” said Sheaf, moving the conversation along before it got further derailed by theorizing about the affects of alcohol on Trixie, “The sheriff who’d been brought to arrest her verified this, so while they didn’t really put her in the clear for the arson per se, it meant Sawblade and the Lumber Guild were going to be investigated for possessing illegally forged documents.”

“Bushel said something about that sheriff being in the Lumber Guild’s pocket though?” Trixie said, curious as to why this sheriff would switch sides so easily.

Sheaf actually laughed, a rough deep guttural sound that was one part bitter one part genuine amusement, “Sheriff Switch Hit isn’t the most…reliable pony I’ve ever met. Never mind him. The Lumber Guild may have paid him off to look the other way concerning their building with fake permits, and I don’t doubt he knew, but with proof of the permits being fake being publicly shown with my entire town to see it…well his hooves were tied. He had to file for an investigation of the Lumber Guild and cut ties with them, or sink with them.”

“Okay, okay, now back to what happened with Bushel,” Trixie said, starting to feel exhausted with all of this new information. It was all information she needed to know, but it was tiring to absorb all of this alongside the blow to her ego concerning the flood she’d almost caused. No, did cause, but was lucky enough to have other ponies covering for her. She couldn’t even decide if it was better or worse that she didn’t remember doing it. It still baffled her how it had happened like Sheaf described. Could he be lying? Everypony lies, it was a fact of life, but his anger seemed pretty genuine. She felt she was good at reading other ponies and while she sensed there were things Sheaf wasn’t talking about, his account at the dam at least sounded truthful…as unlikely as its details sounded to her.

“Yes. After things had settled down after the permit thing my wife came to tell me that Bushel’s fever had worsened. You overheard and insisted upon seeing her. I was…hesitant to say the least, but the whole town was cheering you as our hero. How could I tell them otherwise? How could I, as their mayor, deny the pony they were cheering a chance to help my daughter?”

Trixie understood. She understood perfectly. You don’t tell the audience the nature of the illusion, because their believing in it is the whole point of the performance. Even casting a little doubt into the utter veracity of the act isn’t something any proper magician allows, because the point is to believe with utter faith that the illusion is true. Sheaf couldn’t tell his fellow villagers that the mare they were heralding as a hero was also the one who nearly got them all killed through her drunken antics, or that he was fearful that she might hurt his daughter due to that same recklessness.

“Don’t misunderstand; I had every intention of keeping a close eye on you while you examined her. I may have spent most of my life in Oaton, but I did…learn some magic in my time. My daughter’s safety, my family’s safety is the single most important thing to me,” said Sheaf in a hard tone, eyes locked on Trixie’s, “Now, when you entered my daughter’s room I was there with my wife, so if you want you can confirm this with her. You went up to her bed, looked her over, then said ‘she just needs to be fed’, and then you touched your horn to her forehead. Your horn glowed, and this went on for a minute or two. I didn’t stop you because, far as I could tell, you weren't casting a spell, you were just…putting out magic. I assumed this was just you being drunk. Once you were done you just grinned and told us she’d be alright, and then that was that.”

“That was that?” Trixie asked.

“You left immediately afterward. My ponies asked you to stay for a celebration but you said something about Princess Luna having a special room for punishing ponies who were late for appointments and galloped off into the night. My ponies celebrated anyway, cost us a week’s worth of ale in one night, and by the next day Potato Sack and Spit Shine were working on the first lines of that damn song I’ve heard sung every night in the tavern downstairs for the past year.”

Trixie slowly levitated the whiskey she’d set down on Sheaf’s desk earlier and brought it to her lips, taking a single quick sip. Nope, not getting drunk, just needed to get the buzz going again to help her focus. First in her mind was what Sheaf had said she’d done with Bushel. Something about it was tickling the back of her mind. She thought she almost remembered that part. A faint recollection of being in a small room with the tiny yellow filly being wrapped up in sweat soaked sheets…her horn touching the filly’s forehead and…feeling something there.

She shook her head. She needed to talk to Raindrops about what the pegasus might have seen through the glasses enchantment. After that, the Lumber Guild, and her supposed ‘inspection’ needed to get under way.

“Mayor Sheaf, thank you for speaking with me and answering our questions,” Trixie said, hesitated a second before adding, “I won’t take up any more of your time, as I now have a lot I need to do.”

“You’re going to speak with the Lumber Guild, right? Perform your little inspection,” Sheaf said, leaning forward intently, “Tread carefully, Trixie Lulamoon. The Copper Coins are the ones running the show there, now, and they’ve already proven they care even less about the safety of ponies than the previous leader of the Lumber Guild did.”

“Oh, we’ll be careful of them, you can count on that,” said Trixie.

It wasn’t until she, Cheerilee, and Raindrops had left the room that she paused.

Wait, what did he mean by ‘previous’ leader of the Lumber Guild?

Bushel jumped upon the small table, rearing up on her hind legs and waving one hoof in the air while using her other to point at the table beneath her.

“Now I, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall shock and amaze you by turning this horrible dam into a pile of cinders with a flash of my incredible magic might!”

“Hey you can’t do that,” cried Milkdrop, “You don’t gotta horn!”

“Ugh, it’s hidden under my awesome wizard hat, duh!” said Bushel, pointing at the tablecloth she’d bundled up around her head.

“Nope, you’re an earth pony sissy, you can’t do magic,” said Milkdrop and poked her brother Breadcrumb, “Right, right?”

Breadcrumb, however was too busy staring at Bushel, expectantly waiting for her to light the table on fire or at the very least make a show of trying. Milkdrop gave up after a few more jostles and rolled her eyes.

Confident her audience was now back to paying attention to her and that her mother was too busy in the kitchen to mind her using the living room table as a temporary Lumber Guild Dam the energetic little yellow filly began to recite her magic chant.

“Abrazabra, bim, bob, boo, awesiomus magickus explodius!”

“…are those real magic words?” deadpanned Milkdrop.

“Yes. Yes they are. From a real magic book. That I read. For real.”

“The ‘dam’ isn’t burning down though,” noted Milkdrop.

“Oh come on! Use your imagination!”

“Daddy said imagination doesn’t plant crops,” was Milkdrop’s comment.

“I like the fire! It’s really pretty!” said Breadcrumb.

“See? Brother totally can see my amazing skills!”

Bushel noted that now Milkdrop was starring at the table with wide eyes, mouth hanging open. Curious, she looked down…and nearly hopped off the table, which was smoking.

“Whoa! How’d I do that!?”

There was a friendly chuckle from the other side of the room and the two fillies and little colt all looked to see the return of Trixie and her two friends. Bushel’s face immediately brightened with a smile, seeing that Trixie’s horn was glowing, her hat floating next to her. The azure unicorn made a small bow and the smoke around the table vanished.

“My apologies my little ponies, but Bushel’s performance was so inspiring I felt the need to add a little special affects of my own.”

Hearing Trixie’s words ignited a bright bulb of pride in Bushel’s chest and she practically danced up to the unicorn, “That was cool! I wish I could do magic. Being an earth pony is so dull…um, not that you’re not awesome too Miss Cheerilee!”

“Oh being an earth pony isn’t so bad,” said the schoolteacher, “You’ll find when you get older that you’ve got a magic of your own.”

“Well said,” Trixie was nodding, and then looked at her hat in consideration, ten to Bushel’s surprise she floated it over to rest on the filly’s head, “Tell you what, why don’t you hold onto this for a little while.”

“W-w-w-w-what!? Really!?” Bushel knew she was looking so completely uncool in front of her idol right now but she didn’t even care!

Trixie gave her two friends a knowing look and then leaned her head down next to Bushel to whisper, “Might get dicey, what with all the heroing me and my friends will be doing, so I’d just like you to look after my hat until this is all done, so it doesn’t get damaged. In exchange for this service to me I’ll teach you a little magic.”

“But…I’m an earth pony…” Bushel breathed.

Trixie smiled, bouncing a bit from her saddlebags and rolling it along her hoof until it rolled off the back, but to Bushel’s surprise it didn’t drop to the floor, it just seemed to vanish.

“That just means you can’t do spells. What I’ll teach you is magic,” Trixie said with a wink.

Bushel could only nod in response, the normally chatty filly now at a complete loss for words. Best. Day. Ever!

“Are you all not staying for lunch?” came her mother’s voice from the kitchen, and Bushel turned to see Picturesque glancing out at them all from the doorway.

“I’m afraid we’ve got too much to do to take a lunch break, but if you’ll have us I’m certain come dinner time we’ll all be famished,” said Trixie.

Picturesque giggled, hiding the expression with one hoof that was wrapped around a ladle, “Of course. I’ll look forward to seeing you all come dinnertime. I trust my husband wasn’t…too wordy with you all?”

That was good point, Bushel thought! They’d spent a lot of time in there talking with her father. What was all that talking about? Weren’t heroes supposed to get out there and mix it up with the bad ponies? Maybe Trixie just needed a lot of information to plan tactics or something?

“Let’s just say our conversation was informative,” Trixie said, and Bushel wasn’t sure why but the azure unicorn cast a brief look at her that to Bushel seemed…worried? No, that was just Bushel’s imagination. Hero’s didn’t get worried about things.

“So, we going or what?” asked Raindrops, and Bushel wondered again why the pretty jasmine pegasus was wearing those dorky glasses.

“Yes, let’s go,” said Trixie and gave Bushel one last look, “Remember, keep the hat safe until I get back.”

“Like my life depended on it!” cried Bushel, snapping a salute.

After the three had left Bushel and her siblings played a time longer, Bushel inventing a new role for herself, the Awesome and Amazing Bushel! Breadcrumb at least seemed pretty impressed. After her mother finished making lunch the whole family gathered around the table to eat. It was about halfway through the meal that Bushel groaned, rubbing her forehead.

“Bushel?” her mother looked at her with concern, “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine ma,” said Bushel, continuing to eat her dandelion sandwich.

It was just a headache, no big deal.

Cheerilee trotted alongside her friends up the small dirt path with a bounce to her steps. It was a rather beautiful day and while the circumstances of their being there might not have been for relaxation she couldn’t help but enjoy the view of the surrounding landscape. The ponies of Oaton had certainly chosen a beautiful locale to build their village. The fields to the west were like a rolling ocean of green, while the portion of the Southern Everfree forest that dominated the view to the east and north was an enticing sight, with tall and powerful pines stretching to the sky. Quite a bit different than the more deciduous trees found in Northern Everfree. It would be such a good place to take the class for a field trip sometime to discuss the differences between the various types of trees…

“Cheerilee are you paying attention!?” Trixie’s voice snapped Cheerilee out of her thoughts and she looked over to her friend.

“More or less. You were explaining your dastardly plans, right?” she said with a wide smile.

“Dastardly!? There’s nothing ‘dastardly’ going on with my plans. My plans are perfectly legitimate and legal…well, maybe not entirely legal in the strictest sense of the words definition, but we’re the ones in the right, so rule bending is allowed! Besides I’m pretty sure it’s these Copper Coins that are the dastards around here, among other things,” Trixie said with a huff, then raised a hoof for the three of them to stop.

Up ahead the path bend around a portion of the forest that spread out from its main body and the dry riverbed followed this curve. Just barely in the distance it was possible to hear a rhythmic, loud cracking sound, and one of the trees was seen to twist and fall behind the tree line with a loud crash.

“We’re almost there, and now that we’re out of Oaton I can ensure you two are fully informed on these magic items I’ve made,” said Trixie, turning her horn to the saddlebags on her back and flipping one of them open. From there she floated out three small silver ear clasps, and a little amulet with a sapphire embedded in it.

“So, what, more stuff like these glasses?” Raindrops asked, hoofing the glasses and eying the other items suspiciously, “Do the ear clasps let us hear a pony’s thoughts now?”

“What? No. Raindrops I had one night to prepare these,” Trixie said, shoulder’s slumping a bit and Cheerilee wondered just how much steam the unicorn really had left in her for the day, “I wouldn’t waste time on multiple items that do basically the same thing. Mostly. The ear clasps all do the same thing I guess, but that’s kind of their point. They’re for each of us…here…”

She floated one up to one of her own ears, while floating the other two towards her friends, one apiece. Cheerilee exchanged a glance with Raindrops, and shrugged with a grin, “Not like they’re likely to turn us into newts, right?”

She put the ear clasp on her right ear, flopping the ear back and forth to make sure it was on tight but comfortably. Raindrops did the same after giving Trixie one last questioning look to which the unicorn just waved a hoof for her to go ahead.

“Okay, now what?” asked Raindrops.

Trixie cleared her throat, a confident half smile on her face as she pressed a hoof to the ear clasp on her own ear, “Listen closely. *ahem* Can you hear me loudly and clearly?”

“…Yes…” said Raindrops in a bland monotone, with an expression to match.

“Quite clearly,” confirmed Cheerilee, not sure where Trixie was going with this.

“Behold! Or rather, behear!" Cheerilee winced at the abuse of the Equestrian language, "These ear clasps grant us the ability to communicate with each other clearly over a distance!”

“...you’re standing right there, Trixie.”

“Yes, of course I am, Raindrops.”

“…so, how are we not going to hear you loudly and clearly?”

Cheerilee put a hoof to her mouth, surpassing a giggle as Trixie blinked and realized what Raindrops was trying to say. Trixie recovered with grace, or that is to say she only blushed a little bit as she turned and with a flick of her tail trotted on down the road a few dozen feet. Cheerilee saw her touch the ear clasp again and this time Cheerilee heard Trixie quite clearly in her own ear where she was wearing the ear piece.

“Now, my joking friends, can you hear me? Touch your own ear clasp and speak and I should hear your answer.”

Cheerilee touched her own ear clasp and soon Raindrops did the same, “I heard you clearly.”

“Same here,” said Raindrops, looking thoughtful, “This is…actually kind of useful. I like this far more than the glasses. What are these thing’s limits?”

Trixie, still a few dozen feet away, said, “The enchantment has a limited range, maybe a mile, mile and a half. I decided to develop these enchantments, the glasses, these ear clasps, the amulet, when I realized we’d need all sorts of advantages when dealing with Corona, when she inevitably rears her overbearing flaming head. This messaging spell is something I’ve developed so we Elements can keep in contact, even if we’re separated…or if one of us ends up turned invisible by Poison Joke. I’m working on ways to boost the range, but for now this should do. While we’re investigating we might have to split up, so being able to speak to each other should prove useful.”

“Neat,” said Cheerilee, “Not very subtle, what with having to touch the ear clasp to make it work, but I can see where these will come in handy. What about the amulet?”

“An even simpler thing. It’s just an invisibility spell. Normally I’d just sustain that myself, but the problem is that I have to be there to maintain the spell for other ponies. But I put a layered duration enchantment on the amulet. It won’t last long…we’re talking ten minutes tops, but if you wear the amulet and press the gem you’ll turn invisible. Sorry, no sound dampening…I’m not quite up to putting multiple-duration enchantments on the same item. And again, one night. Very tiring.”

“You okay, Trixie?” asked Raindrops, “You didn’t sleep last night and you’ve been pushing yourself pretty hard. Not to mention there was that whole bit about the dam-“

“I’m fine,” said Trixie, rather hastily, “Just fine. Not tired, much. And as for the dam…well, wasn’t that really Lulamoon, not me?”

“You do realize you two are the same pony, right?” asked Cheerilee.

“Are we?”

Okaaaay…Cheerilee was climbing into Raindrops camp on this one; Trixie needed sleep, and soon.

Cheerilee and Raindrops caught up with Trixie and the three resumed their walk, though Trixie was quick to resume the conversation.

“Raindrops, I know you’re a bit uncomfortable with the glasses, but did you see anything from mayor Sheaf, or any other pony so far, that seemed…out of the ordinary?”

“You mean other than the interesting mental images that Copper Coin guard stallion had about you?”

Trixie audibly gagged.

Raindrops shook her head, “Sorry, but viable vengeance for making me wear these things before telling me what they did. Seriously, I don’t like peeping into ponies minds. Just…doesn’t feel right. But to answer your question seriously; I didn’t see much that wasn’t in tune with what any pony was saying…except…”

“Except?” Trixie pressed and Cheerilee leaned forward as well, curious.

“Except that whenever the Lumber Guild was brought up he thought about two specific ponies, both of which matched your description of Sawblade. Unicorns, violet, with blue manes and tails. Only one was clearly older and one was clearly younger. In Sheaf’s...though, image, thingies, these two were butting heads a lot, glaring at each other. Then when he first started talking about you destroying the dam his head was filled with thoughts of a lot of water, holding it all back, with that younger violet unicorn by his side. Oh, and one last thing, not sure what it means, but when he was thinking about the dam being on fire, the flames were red.”

Even while Trixie was pacing back and forth, chewing that information over, Cheerilee’s own thoughts began to rapidly go over the rather deep mine of random trivia she possessed. As a schoolteacher she’d studied hard to become learned on a remarkably wide variety of subjects. A part of her mind had been busily going over the symptoms and known magical cures of numerous sicknesses since getting the story on Bushel’s condition. So far she hadn’t thought of anything specific that would fit, as headaches and fevers were common symptoms for a lot of potential ailments. Trixie’s actions, putting out magic in close proximity to the filly, seemed like the most specific clue to that mystery, and it did tickle something in Cheerilee’s mind, but she’d need to reference some books to learn more. Fortunately she’d packed a few reference encyclopedias, figuring some research material would be useful during this whole affair. Mostly to research the basilisk, since she wasn’t too familiar with those creatures, but she had other stuff. Speaking of the basilisk, she wondered when it might make an appearance.

The schoolteacher glanced around, just in case her thinking about it happened to act as a summons. Luck worked that way. But nope, no giant frilled lizard to be seen. Oh well, back to thinking! Aloud this time!

“Okay the two unicorns I’m going to surmise are related, either brothers, or father and son,” Cheerilee said, “Or maybe evil clones?”

Trixie stared at her and Cheerilee grinned, “Father and son most likely,” the schoolteacher admitted.

“Makes sense, but what about these red flames? Could it be a property of the wood the dam was made from?”

“Ooo, that’s a good guess Trixie! You get a bronze star.”

“What, no silver star? So that’s what you think it is?”

“Not at all, but it’s a good guess,” said Cheerilee, to which Trixie made a small ‘pfft’ sound, “No its probably either a random element of the magic that was used to cause the fire, or the fire was caused by a unique source that doesn’t burn a conventional color, or the temperature of the flame itself could also affect color. Until we discover what exactly caused the flame we’re just stuck speculating.”

“Sounds like that’s what we’re going to have to do a lot of,” said Raindrops, scuffing the ground, “Feel like we’re just flapping our wings without moving any clouds!”

“We’ll find something at the Lumber Guild’s camp, I’m sure of it,” Trixie said, and after a second floated the invisibility amulet over to Cheerilee, who took it around one hoof and gave the unicorn a questioning look.

“The plan,” Trixie said, “Is that while me and Raindrops keep the camp distracted with this inspection I’m going to conduct, you’re going to snoop around and see what you can find.”

Cheerilee smiled impishly as she slipped the amulet around her neck, “So I get to play spy? How fun! Though I warn you, back when I played Gates and Golems my characters had the worst luck with search checks.”

Trixie and Raindrops starred at her. Cheerilee gave a light chuckle.

“What, just because I had a wild youth doesn’t mean I didn’t do more normal things too.”

“…I’m not sure that counts as normal,” said Trixie, “But, yeah, I was sort of assuming your previous experience with…er…more clandestine activities would make you most suited to sneak around the camp.”

“Just because a mare knows how a to pick a lock suddenly everypony starts assuming things,” Cheerilee said with another chuckle, examining the amulet, “So you say all I have to do is press the sapphire?”

“That’s right. Like I said, should last you about ten minutes. Not long, but hopefully enough.”

“And whiles she’s doing that we’re…inspecting?” Raindrops asked, making an off-hoof gesture.

“Officially our story is that due to ‘registered’ complains from Oaton’s citizenry we’ve been dispatched as Elements of Harmony to conduct a ‘inspection of the harmonious status of the Lumber Guild’s activities’. There’s likely to be some complaints, but I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble. They won’t want to risk it if we’re legitimately sanctioned.”

“Which we’re not, Trixie,” Raindrops said, “Are you sure this is a good idea? What will the Princess do if she finds out?”

“When, not if,” said Trixie with a sigh, “She’ll find out, sooner or later. Honestly I can’t say how she’ll react. She might blow it off, or she might get…pretty angry with me.”

“Let her,” said Cheerilee suddenly, and the schoolteacher just shrugged as both Trixie and Raindrops starred at her. When they kept starring at her Cheerilee felt the need to explain.

“Look, has there been any official word concerning just what we…are, as Elements of Harmony? Any official word at all as to our political status?”

“None, because I don’t think anypony is quite sure if we have any,” Trixie said, then looked away darkly and added “Not that that stops them from trying to use us like we do.”

“That’s sort of what I mean,” said Cheerilee, “Look, our lives have gotten kind of turned upside down since the Longest Night Celebration. We’re all still the same mares, more or less, but suddenly we have all these politicians from the Night Court messing with our lives! I’m not even that heavily affected yet, haven’t been directly targeted like Carrot Top, Ditzy or Lyra have! Ditzy's daughter was foalnapped for ponies sake! And you know what? It makes me kind of mad that nothings been done about all this! If Princess Luna wants to get huffy over us trying to throw our weight around as Elements of Harmony, then she can take her complaints and shove them where the moon fails to shine, far as I’m concerned…unless she wants to get off her godly behind and do something about her Night Court messing with my friends lives!”

Cheerilee took a deep breath. She usually didn’t do outbursts like that, but, well, she had been holding it in a bit of late. She didn’t like seeing her friends having to constantly deal with political schemes that were, by and large, completely pointless. The Elements of Harmony weren’t some political tool! But if ponies wanted to see them that way, well then, Cheerilee didn’t see it as wrong to do a little turnabout, which was basically what Trixie was planning here.

“That’s all well and good…” said Trixie, “But you’ve never seen Luna angry before.”

“Fair enough. Then again, she’s never seen me angry before,” said Cheerilee.

Raindrops suddenly laughed, shaking her head, “What would you do, give her a lecture?”

“With a quiz afterwards to make sure she learned her lesson!” said Cheerilee with a grin that might have had a touch of ruefulness to it.

Trixie was still looking nervously at Cheerilee and the magenta mare gave her friend a slightly apologetic look, “Try not to worry about it Trixie. Whatever happens after this, you know all of us, me, Raindrops, Carrot Top, Ditzy, Lyra, we all will support you.”

“I know and…thank you. I was…well it doesn’t matter, we still have to save Oaton first.”

Cheerilee wondered what the azure unicorn was thinking, tried to read Trixie’s expression, which was still nervous and a little sullen. Cheerilee was reminded that one of the main reasons she came on this trip was to become more familiar with Trixie, a friend she was still learning so much about. She’d committed plenty of faux pas in her time due to not really understanding the dynamics of a pony, or the situation. Recently she’d even completely misread a situation concerning Trixie’s issue with sex…and while Cheerilee had managed to apologize and put that incident behind her it was just a glaring example of how little she understood the showmare.

Raindrops had to give to Cheerilee, while the earth pony mare was undeniably a talented teacher, she had certainly developed some interesting skills in her youth. Before Raindrops and Trixie had finished their approach to the Lumber Guild’s camp the schoolteacher had broken off into the forest where the sounds of trees being cut down could be heard, saying she’d use the forest cover to swing around and come at the camp from another direction, and that she’d link up with them once the ‘inspection’ was done with. With that Cheerilee had vanished into the tall grass across the dry river bed and Raindrops completely lost sight of her. Apparently Trixie had picked the right one for the job.

Which unfortunately meant Raindrops was still stuck on glasses duty. Still irked her, but she was getting used to the big clunky glasses perched on her snout. Trixie made it clear she wanted Raindrops to focus on as many ponies as possible here, both the Lumber Guild ponies and the ones wearing livery for the Copper Coins.

“It’s not likely that Count Shiny will meet with us personally, if he’s here, but if he does I can’t wait to see what you’ll spot in his head,” said Trixie as they walked up towards the camp.

“Assuming we can make any sense of it,” said Raindrops, eyes looking over what was before them.

The Lumber Guild clearly had some good ponies working for them in regards to construction. There were three sections to it, far as she could tell, all of it built on a big hill that had its top flattened out. The first section was what looked to be almost a small walled compound with a wall of thickly bound logs forming a palisade around a series of log cabins all arranged in a neatly ordered set of rows, with one larger cabin built at the end of these rows. Next to this was the dam itself, an impressive edifice that was almost all timber built, with the bottom section made from compacted earth. The dam obviously spanned the length of the river, and Raindrops could see a pair of grated gates that were letting out a small flow of water, creating the trickle in the otherwise dry riverbed. The top of the dam was slanted, with a single plank walkway spanning it. Behind this was a large reservoir of water and while she couldn’t see it she heard the sound of further construction along the west banks of this reservoir. The final part of the camp was on the other side of the dry river and reservoir, the staging ground for the logging efforts. It was a big clearing where trees were piled up in various stages of preparation for transport, with teams of ponies working to cut off branches and move the logs into piles that were in turn being stacked to be moved onto large rafts floating in the reservoir.

Impressive for something that hadn’t started up too long ago, according to Bushel. Raindrops noted that the Lumber Guild ponies were easy to spot due to their distinctive bowler caps they wore, much as Trixie had described in her memories of last year. That also made the Copper Coin ponies easy to spot, even without their blue tabards with the red fish. There was one such pony patrolling on top of the dam, and another pair standing at the gate of the palisade Raindrops and Trixie were cantering up to.

“In the name of the Copper Coin family of Counts halt and declare yourself!” said one guard, stamping a hoof and drawing himself up to his full height of…almost up to Raindrop’s chin. She noted the wings on the green stallion with the short black mane and it make her realize this was the first other pegasus she’d seen since leaving Ponyville. Odd. Oaton was almost all earth ponies, and even the Lumber Guild didn’t seem to have that many pegasi in their ranks. Guess that sort of made sense, given all the heavy labor with the logging would’ve been more for earth ponies, or unicorns who could easily manipulate tools. It did make her think, though, that Oaton’s water problem could be solved if they just had a few pegasi to organize some rain for them.

…Something she’d bring up with the mayor when they got back to Oaton.

The other Copper Coin guard was a female earth pony, black coated and with a hot pink mane that reminded Raindrops of Pinkie Pie’s, if Pinkie Pie styled her mane into pigtails. Looked uncomfortable, with that chain coif the guards wore. The chainmail armor was actually a little surprising. Raindrops didn’t know much military stuff, but she’d only ever seen armor on the Royal Guard. She didn’t think the nobles equipped their House Guard with anything too heavy…but these guards worth thick chainmail and had broadswords strapped to their barrels, while also carrying spears between their fetlocks. Seemed a little overkill for ponies guarding a lumber camp.

Trixie cleared her throat and held her head high, taking on an officious pose, “I am the Element of Magic and Representative of the Night Court in Ponyville, Trixie,” what, no Great and Powerful this time, was she learning?, “And the mare by my side is the Element of Honestly, Raindrops. We are here to speak with the leader of the Lumber Guild and Count Shiny Copper Coin, so we may conduct an inspection of the harmonious status of this lumber operation.”

Raindrops looked her over, feeling a crawling sense of worry. Trixie was still doing a decent job of hiding it but her fatigue was getting more obvious; a slight tremble to her legs, a faint flutter of her eyelids lowering for a second. Raindrops had gotten better at spotting when Trixie was reaching her physical limits since their little workout sessions. She had to, because Trixie had a bad habit of not paying attention to her limits. If Raindrops didn’t tell Trixie when to stop the unicorn would keep right on stubbornly going with an exercise to the point of exhaustion. Right now Trixie was pushing it and the jasmine pegasus clenched her jaw, resolving that tonight she was going to make sure Trixie got some sleep.

She blinked, not realizing that the glasses’ enchantment had formed a mist around Trixie’s head, with images swirling around it. Raindrops looked away quickly, but not before catching an image of Trixie…smacking a copy of herself with her own hat? And was that an image of Bushel, stuck in bed, with water rising around her? What was Trixie thinking about…?

Raindrops shook her head. She shouldn’t be looking at her friend’s thoughts. She hated these glasses. She instead, with reluctance, focused on the guard in front of her. Trixie had told her to watch for any clues. So far the only thing she was seeing that this pony seemed to be thinking about was apparently a dice game, though if the game was one already played or one the stallion intended to play Raindrops had no idea. Stupid abstract glasses. Why did Trixie think these things were going to help again?

To Trixie’s words the two Copper Coin guards exchanged looks, the green pegasus saying, “My lord has already been informed of your…intent, Miss Lulamoon,” Trixie’s eyebrow twitched, the stallion smiled, not pleasantly “And we have been informed to tell you that should you wish to conduct an inspection that he is willing to meet with you later this evening to discuss the proposition.”

“It is not a proposition,” said Trixie firmly “This is an official inspection by the Elements of Harmony to address the concerns of some of Equestria’s citizens, who live under the protection of Princess Luna herself. Tell Lord Shiny that to deny this inspection is tantamount to denying his own duty as a member of Equestria’s nobility to ensure the safety of all who live in his domain.”

Raindrops saw the images of the card game dissolve into an image of the pegasus stallion throttling Trixie, and she instinctively stepped a little closer to the unicorn mare, eyes boring into the guard. He seemed to notice her shift in mood and eased his stance.

“I can pass along the message Miss Lulamoon, but I doubt my lord will-“

“Now now, that won’t be necessary,” said a calm, smooth male tone as the palisade’s gate swung open and two ponies came strolling out to meet them.

One Raindrops recognized as the rust colored unicorn guardsmare who they’d met in Oaton. The guardsmare gave Trixie a look of distaste, but that look vanished the moment she looked over at Raindrops. Raindrops for her part felt her face heat up as she noticed that this unicorn mare was apparently thinking quite a bit about a certain jasmine pegasus in glasses. Okay looking elsewhere now…wow, how’d that mare guess Raindrops was that limber? Yes, looking at other pony now!

The other pony in question was stallion, young looking, perhaps close to Raindrops own age. He was a unicorn, with a dark violet coat and a neatly trimmed swept back mane of summer blue. He wore a black bowler cap perched on his head, which shaded a pair of blue eyes that were partially closed like the unicorn was sleepy. His smile was wide and bright as he swept his bowler cap off his head and bowed to her and Trixie.

“Pleasure to meet you both, Miss Trixie, Miss Raindrops. Please don’t mind the standoffish nature of those assigned to protect me and my operation, they’re just doing their jobs. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sawdust, current head of the Hoofington Lumber Guild, and you can consider me at your service. Now, I’ve heard-” a sidelong glance at the rust colored guardsmare “-that you’re interested in conducting an inspection of our little logging business? Excellent! Quite good, I would be more than happy to act as your guide and answer any questions you may have. I’m certain Count Shiny Copper Coin will be understanding and agree that there is no reason at all to deny you the right to inspect to your heart’s content.”

For a second Trixie appeared to be at a loss for words, before Raindrops nudged her with a wing and the azure unicorn nodded her head, “Yes, yes of course. Very good to see you’re being so understanding…Sawdust, you said? You wouldn’t happen to be familiar with a Sawblade, would you?”

“Ah, yes, my father. He is…no longer in charge of Lumber Guild operations. As you should well know Miss Trixie, given you were the one primarily responsible for his early retirement. My deepest thanks, by the way.”

“…thanks…?” Trixie blinked, and Raindrops felt a similar confusion. This wasn’t the conversation either mare was expecting to have with the leader of the Lumber Guild.

“Yes, if it wasn’t for you we would still be stuck under the guidance of a pony who did not…shall we say, have the best business sense? While I regret my father must consider his poor choices from behind bars, it has given me the opportunity to redirect the Guild’s efforts towards a more profitable future for not just ourselves, but all the ponies living in this region. Now, shall we begin your inspection? I’m certain you’re eager to start.”

Raindrops was now thoroughly worried. There was something wrong here. Not with Sawdust’s manner, per se. He was being friendly, and sounded genuine. But she was…she couldn’t explain it, sensed something off about his tone. It was just a subtle smoothness to it that felt…mechanical. Cold. The warmth in his words felt fake.

But that a minor issue next to the glasses enchantment and what they were showing her…or rather what they weren’t showing.

The mist around Sawdust’s head, where a pony’s thoughts were supposed to be shown, was completely empty.

Cheerilee held the mirror around the corner of the cabin and confirmed there was no pony looking her way. With swiftness that was quite unlike the easy going schoolteacher’s normal canter she moved across the gap between this log cabin and the next in a mere second. Her ears were perked and listening for any sound of approaching ponies, and her eyes flicked left and right with regularity. She tucked the mirror back into her saddlebag.

Her heart was beating at a quick pace that was sending a pleasant thrill through her. She enjoyed her life as one of Ponyville’s teachers and wouldn’t give it up for anything, let alone going back to her wild early years, but she couldn’t deny a certain…nostalgia this was making her feel.

Getting into the Lumber Guild’s camp had been pretty easy, to the point where she hadn’t needed to rely on Trixie’s amulet yet..hm, should it be called Trixie’s Necklace of Invisibility, perhaps? Knowing Trixie she’d want something more flashy in a name, Trixie’s Incredible Talisman of the Unseen Pony or something along those lines. In any case, she hadn’t needed it for sneaking up to this point.

The ponies in bowler caps were very focused on their work so she’d flitted through the logging area without any trouble, even snatching a bowler cap off a napping pony to give her a temporary disguise when she had to cross the open space between the logging area and the dam. She wouldn’t have been able to cross the top of the dam, but looking at it from the back there had been a wood walkway across the back end that led to the Lumber Guild’s walled camp. She’d had to slip off into the water once to avoid a curious Copper Coin guard who’d peeked over at the walkway, but that was the only real trouble she had. Once she was at the palisade it wasn’t difficult to find a side gate that wasn’t guarded and instead just has a simple padlock. No match for Cheerilee and a little bobby-pin she kept wrapped in her mane; you know, just in case she forgot her house key or something.

Once inside the walled camp she’d begun looking around for anything suspicious, and had quickly noted that, of the rows of log cabins, only about half even looked like they were being used. There were at least four she’d seen that looked dark and empty, with big padlocks on their front doors. And even bigger padlocks on the back doors which Cheerilee noted were quite a bit larger.

She made note of the fact that the cabins with these back doors were all facing towards the reservoir, where there was another gate at the north east end of the palisade that led to a long dock.

The cabin she was behind now was the last one in the row on the north end, past which was a clearing where the camp’s main building was erected, a two story affair with an even larger three story watch tower. While she’d noted that around most the camp was the emblem she assumed was that of the Lumber Guild’s, that of a tree with a bowler cap on it, this tower was clearly flying the blue flag and three red fish of the Copper Coins.

Little much, Cheerilee thought, examining this main building. Chances were if there was anything incriminating about any of the activities going on around here, it’d be in there. First though she should try popping the locks on one of those cabins with the large back doors and seeing just what was in there. She was about to turn around and do exactly that when she noticed the doors of the main building open and a pony walk out, heading by himself towards the cabin she was hiding behind.

The cabins had some space under them just big enough for a pony to hide under, so by the time this pony reached the cabin there was no Cheerilee to be seen. She heard him go up the wood steps to the cabin’s back door and with some clinking and clanking the padlock came off. She poked her head out just enough to see a crème colored tail swish inside, the door starting to close behind it. She reached up and gently stopped the door and wiggled out from under the cabin. Quietly she went up to the door and peeked inside.

The interior was darkly lit and was filled with a musty scent that reminded her of a barn. She saw the pony standing just inside, muttering over a table piled with scrolls and a map. Cheerilee’s eyes widened. So it was him! Same blue coat, like a lake, and same curly mane of crème shades. Same cutie mark of a large red fish jumping out of the water.

Cheerilee suppressed a chuckle. Trixie would probably scold her for doing something so reckless and outside of the plan, but she couldn’t help herself, it had been so long, and she wanted to prank.

Cheerilee crept inside and closed the door behind her and then came up behind the stallion’s left side, tapping his shoulder, then darted right as his head snapped left.

“Guess who?” she said with a bright grin as she tapped the stallions’ right shoulder and stayed put so he could turn around and get a good look at her.

Those eyes, wide and a little sunken, the color of fresh grass, were the same as she remembered.

“Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-,” oh, that was so cute, he still stuttered, “Ch-Cheerilee!?”

Cheerilee laughed, and nodded, “Long time no see, Shiny. How have you been?”

Chapter 6: Tarnished Efforts

Chapter 6: Tarnished Efforts

Shiny Copper Coin, Count of the Night Court of Luna, scion of his family line controlling the entire province of Stringhalt, was starring boggled eyed at Cheerilee and even took a step back, bumping into the table he’d been standing at. Cheerilee was still smiling, but it faltered a bit as she noticed Shiny’s confusion was being quickly replaced by a…wow should a pony’s face go through that much emotional change that quickly? He looked like he couldn’t decide whether to look happy, angry, sad, or scared. It’d have been cute if she had any notion of what was causing him to do the emotional roulette routine.

“H-h-how have I been!? Cheerilee what are you d-doing here!?” he shook himself and sucked in a deep breath and Cheerilee noticed the other earth pony was schooling his voice to remove the stutter. Good to know he’d worked on that, he’d been trying hard to get it under control back in the old days, without a lot of success as she recalled.

“You shouldn’t be here, Cheerilee. I knew the report said three of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had shown up in Oaton, but I didn’t realize one of them was going to be you! Stars and moon if she saw you here it could mess up everything!”

“Shiny, slow down, take a breath,” Cheerilee said, trying to give him a reassuring look, but Shiny seemed to be getting more and more agitated by the second, “First of all I’m here because when I heard that it was you here in charge of all this I thought I’d be able to talk to you; get some answers. Seeing you come in here, well I just took the opportunity it presented to talk to you alone, without us having to worry about anypony else being around.”

“Wait, did you…you broke into the compound!?”

“Shiny. Calm. Deep breaths. Besides I didn’t break anything. I just let myself in. Without being seen. Now, who is ‘she’ and what do you mean ‘it could mess up everything’? Also,” she peered around him, lifting a hoof to point at all the cages she was seeing in this dark cabin with a questioning look on her face, “What’s with all the cages?”

“Ch-Cheerilee,” the stutter was back, but he was gritting his teeth, apparently fighting it “T-that isn’t any of your c-c-concern. You’re not safe h-here. T-T-T-Tarnished, if she sees you-“

“Tarnished!?” Cheerilee’s smile was back, temporarily forgetting about the cages, “How is she? It’s been so long, and she never wrote me back, not once. I always thought it’d be nice to visit sometime, just to catch up with her, but jut never seemed to find the time. I’ve managed to keep tabs with most of the old crew, and Tarnished was always such a good friend I felt bad losing touch-“

“Cheerilee!” Shiny’s fear was now very much replaced by anger, so much it took Cheerilee of guard and she took a step back. Shiny seemed to realize his outburst and lowered his voice.

“Tarnished is…she…when you left, when everypony s-split off…” he shook his head “My sister did not take it well.”

“Well, yes, it was rough back then. We all had our reasons to go separate ways, I really needed to get my life together and focus on my studies to become a teacher. I do recall that Tarnished was the most vocal about us…not breaking up the group. Still, didn’t she have plans to start up at that veterinary school in Manehattan?”

“No, those were our parents’ plans for her. S-sure she was good with animals, but Tarnished never wanted those days running around with you and the gang to end. You guys were everything to her. Everypony leaving and going their own way, Cheerilee, it hit her hard. She ran away from the e-estate.”

“She did what? But…you managed to find her, right?” asked Cheerilee, honestly surprised. Her memories of Shiny’s little sister were fond ones for her. Tarnished had been the last addition to the crew she’d run with in her youth, the young and sensitive noble mare who got caught up in one crazy gang of ponies’ antics and got swept up in their lifestyle. She’d gotten into the adrenaline rush of those days more so than even Cheerilee had, as if trying to make up for the control and boredom of her life as a noble. She hadn’t been happy about the gang breaking up, or Cheerilee’s decision to start hitting the books to become a teacher. There’d been words, heated ones. Cheerilee had thought Tarnished at least had understood why Cheerilee had wanted to settle down. Granted, she did recall that Tarnished could be quite…emotional. Tended to overreact. Now that she thought about it Cheerilee could imagine Tarnished throwing a bit of a fit and running away from home for a time, but the Copper Coin family should have been able to find her…

Shiny was shaking his head, “We d-didn’t. She certainly learned well from her time with you, because she vanished and our best efforts failed for a l-l-long time to turn up anything more than rumors and vague leads. Then, finally, last year we managed to find solid evidence of her w-whereabouts.”

“That means…” Cheerilee’s eyes slowly widened and she moved to place a hoof on Shiny’s shoulder, but he backed away from her, and she let her hoof drop, “ …oh, oh Shiny, I’m so sorry. She’s been missing that long? I know you two were close. Why didn’t you tell me anything!? You could have written me about this!”

“A-and what would you have been able to do, Cheerilee? Would you have q-q-quit your studies to go find her?”

“Of course! She’s a friend. If she’d gone missing I would’ve happily turned Equestria upside down to find her.”

Shiny finally seemed to lose some of his anger, “That’s why I didn’t tell y-you. Finding Tarnished and brining her home is my p-problem as the next head of the family, and as her brother. Then or now I didn’t want to i-i-involve you. You choose the life you wanted to live and I…I didn’t want to interfere with that. H-having you drop your studies, to spend maybe years looking for my sister, you wouldn’t have b-b-been able to become a teacher that way.”

Cheerilee smiled at him, wanting to give the other earth pony a hug. And a bit of a bonk on the head for being such a dope. It’s not like there was a time limit on her becoming a teacher. She would have gladly put aside the time to help him find Tarnished, years ago. Besides with Cheerilee’s skills and knowledge of the gangs old hangouts and contacts she probably could’ve tracked Tarnished’s movements much faster than the Copper Coin family would have been able to do by using its own ponies or hiring investigators. It’d be a low blow to chide Shiny on that though, and his heart had been in the right place, not telling her. He’d been trying to let her pursue her dreams.

“You were always a good friend Shiny,” she said.

“…yeah, always just a friend,” he muttered and Cheerilee cocked her head, one ear flicking.

“Pardon? Didn’t catch that?” she said honestly, having not really heard him clearly.

“Never mind.”

Cheerilee was once again distracted by the cages, “Anyway…what do these cages have to do with finding Tarnished?”

Shiny gulped and very forcibly talked without a stutter this time, “It’s complicated. Look, you’re here with your Element friends, right? One of them is Trixe Lulamoon correct?”

“Okay, no. No turning my question into a question of your own. My students try that on me all the time. Now, let me ask clearly; why do you have these cages here? It’s not exactly the most legal looking set up you have here, Shiny. What’s going on?”

“Cheerilee, please, don’t. Don’t pull the legality card on me,” Shiny said past several slow breaths, keeping his stutters in check “Not you, of all ponies. The cages are there for a reason, and it’s a reason you, quite frankly, don’t need to know. I have a lot on my plate right now, most important of which right now is capturing Tarnished while the chance remains to do so!”

“So Tarnished is here? Wait, capture? What do you mean capture!?”

Shiny looked away from her sudden intense glare, saying “Yes, she is here. Or, rather, she’s hiding out somewhere in South Everfree. We’ve already had one encounter with her, but she…attacked my guards and escaped. We haven’t been able to track her since, but I have a plan to draw her back out into the open.”

Cheerilee’s eyes widened, “You’re joking?” Chereilee shook her head in shock, “You’re not joking. Why would she do that? Attack other ponies?”

Shiny ran a hoof over his mane, his features pained, his stutter creeping back into his voice, “Are you starting to understand why I don’t want you here? You sh-shouldn’t be involved in this, Cheerile. Last year we have reason to believe Tarnished was involved in the attack on the Hoofington Lumber Guild’s camp and the subsequent destruction of their dam. The same incident your friend Trixie was mixed up in, if my reports are accurate. My family’s magic specialist’s found traces of Tarnished’s magic in the aftermath of that mess.”

“What were they doing there investigating that in the first place?” Cheerilee asked, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of Tarnished doing such things. It didn’t mesh with the memory Cheerilee had of the demure and sensitive young noble mare.

Shiny looked slightly embarrassed as he said, “The Copper Coins, admittedly, weren’t paying very close attention to what was happening in area. It’s at the very furthest border of our holdings and we never considered it a region of any importance. But when we found out a guild from Hoofington had set up shop on our land without proper permits, well it was our duty to investigate the matter. It came as a complete surprise to us that our investigating unicorn discovered a trace of magic that matched Tarnished. Further investigation revealed a number of ponies who reported…some conflicting accounts of the mare responsible for the fire.”

It suddenly clicked in Cheerilee’s mind.

“Tarnished…she shares your coat and mane color.”

Shiny nodded, “Sky blue and crème.”

“And in the dark, with only some moonlight, those could easily be mixed up for azure and silver.”

“I presume that’s the coloring of Trixie then?” Shiny sighed, “I figured as much. The Lumber Guild ponies’ account from a year ago were so conflicting it sounded as if there might’ve been two or more mares involved, and it explains the other magic traces that were found that didn’t belong to Tarnished. I still don’t know what actually happened that night. Tarnished could have caused the fire, but there were…other things that could have been the cause as well…”

“But what was she even doing there in the first place!?” Cheerilee asked, starting to pace, “Why would she want to attack the Lumber Guild at all?”

“We’re not sure why she did it, but have…suspicions. Look, Tarnished isn’t st-stable, mentally. If she saw you here or in Oaton there’s no telling how she’ll react. With you and your Element friends snooping into this affair I can’t…can’t guarantee…”

He seemed to have difficulty saying it, but forced it out, “…your safety…”

Cheerilee shook her head, not able to quite make sense of this, “I don’t understand. Tarnished wouldn’t do anything to harm anypony! It just isn’t in her! You can’t be serious that she’s become so unstable that she’s a danger? How can you be so sure?”

“Our s-second day here overseeing the Lumber Guild the camp was attacked by that b-basilisk. It was driven off, and I p-personally led my guards trying to track it. My unicorn bodyguard doubles as my advisor on m-magic and she could sense Tarnished’s magic on the basilisk. We believe she’s controlling it. W-we managed to track it into the forest. That’s where we ran into her…”

Shiny’s whole form seemed to sag, his ears drooping, his tail sagging. Cheerilee couldn’t help herself, she went over to him and put her hooves around him. This time he didn’t move away. He just spoke in a soft whisper into her shoulder.

“She’s changed so much. She was completely irrational. I’m not even sure she understands what she’s doing, and the moment I mentioned your name, hoping the prospect of visiting you might calm her down, she reacted…badly. Her magic was s-strong, too. Stronger than it ever was w-when she was with you. We couldn’t catch her…so I’ve sent for more of my House Guard and I’m planning catch her in a trap. The cages are part of that plan. Among other things.”

Strength seemed to bleed back into his voice as he looked at her, and he seemed to compose himself, slowly pushing her away. Cheerilee could see the way he slowly put on his ‘noble’ mantle, straightening his posture, calming his features, taking on a mask of authority.

“And you do not need to be involved. You or the Elements of Harmony. It will only aggravate Tarnished, if she hasn’t already spotted you. You need to leave. Now. The last thing I need is to worry about protecting you while trying to capture my sister without hurting her.”

His expression darkened, his stutter completely gone under a tone of dead seriousness, “And I cannot afford for this matter to be made public. I don’t know what kind of game your friend Trixie is playing at with this inspection, but I shall not allow this information to get back to the Night Court. There’s no telling what would happen to Tarnished if she was taking in by the authorities. I might never see her again if they stuck her in some mental hospital, or worse, just jailed her! The only reason I’m telling you any of this is because I know you well enough to understand you wouldn’t leave without some manner of answers and I’m trusting you to keep this information to yourself. So I’m asking you to trust me in turn, Cheerilee, and convince your friends to leave with you, and not return. You have my word I’ll inform you once I’ve taken Tarnished back home and…gotten her some help.”

Cheerilee was silent for a moment, digesting things.

First, she wondered if any of this information really changed anything. Concerning Oaton and the Lumber Guild, specifically. The whole point of Trixie coming here with her and Raindrops had been to assure the town’s well being, which was in jeopardy because the Lumber Guild had rebuilt its dam. Fundamentally nothing about Shiny’s story or the situation with Tarnished changed that. In fact, it was curious to Cheerilee that the dam was there at all. She knew was missing something, an important piece of the puzzle, and she was sure it had to do with those cages. Despite the dim lighting of the cabin she’d managed to get a decent look at them. The bars were thick and spaced closely together, certainly not the kind of thing for holding any standard livestock. There were cages of multiple shapes and sizes as well, some large enough that they could fit multiple ponies if that was the intent; which she didn’t think it was. Talk of capturing Tarnished aside she didn’t see Shiny putting his sister in a cage, no matter how unhinged she’d supposedly become. No, the cages clearly served a different purpose.

Cheerilee’s eyes flicked towards her right ear, where the silver clasp was. She hadn’t hoofed it during the conversation with Shiny because, frankly, she hadn’t wanted to dampen a reunion with an old friend by having Trixie and Raindrops eavesdrop on it. Besides, since they were conducting that inspection right now Cheerilee didn’t want to risk that the transferred sound between the ear clasps was audible to anypony standing nearby. Be rather awkward for Trixie to have to suddenly explain why there was a conversation coming out of her ear.

Cheerilee didn’t think long on what to do.

“Shiny, Tarnished is a dear friend, and since I’m partly responsible for her running away, it’s also partly on me to see she’s brought home. I’m not going to try and force Trixie to leave, either. I don’t think she would, anyway, even if I did try. She’s dedicated to helping Oaton, and she won’t go anywhere until that dam is either taken down or some other way is found to get those farm ponies the water they need for their village to survive. Look Shiny, let me go get her and my other friend Raindrops. Come clean with us completely on what’s going on here. It’ll make all this easie- oh stop shaking your head like that! At least let me finish talking!”

“No, no Cheerilee, not happening,” said Shiny, still shaking his head “I’ve heard plenty about Trixie Lulamoon from my contacts in the Night Court. Word is she’s as intelligent as a rock, and only half as subtle. I may trust you to keep a lid on things, but not her.”

“She’s not that bad,” Cheerilee said, waving a hoof “Really, why does nopony give her any credit? How many goddesses does she have to take part in defeating before somepony in the Night Court gives her the benefit of the doubt? This is why I don’t like politics. She can be trusted. I wouldn’t have suggested you talk to her if I didn’t trust her myself. Besides it’s not like you can avoid her Shiny. She’s inspecting the camp as we speak. She’s going to find these cages and is going to ask questions. What were you planning on telling her?”

“Nothing! I intend to shut down her inspection! I doubt it has any kind of official backing from the Night Court-“

“How do you know that for sure?” interrupted Cheerilee, raising a coy eyebrow, “The Elements of Harmony haven’t been active in Equestria for a very long time. Maybe Princess Luna has given us mares who represent them a little special leeway in what we can do, given we’re the only ones who can safeguard the country from Corona.”

Cheerilee wasn’t all that fond of pressing the lie of the Elements phantom authority with Shiny, but she’d already jeopardized Trixie’s plan by approaching Shiny in the first place, least she could do was back the notion that they did have some authority. Might make Trixie’s job easier or convince Shiny to actually talk straight with them.

Shiny was giving her a small look of surprise, a nervous tick in one of his ears, “Would the Princess take the risk of playing favorites…?” he began to look thoughtful, second guessing himself “But then, you’re right that if the Elements of Harmony really are the only weapon against Corona…blast, maybe Princess Luna would invest some authority in all of you. But enough authority to overturn a Count’s decree for her to leave land that he owns, I wonder?”

Cheerilee put on her best poker face. Which wasn’t half bad, despite how long it’d been since she’d done anything with cards other than play fun and educational games with her class?

“The only way you’d be able to find out for sure, Shiny, would be to write the Princess herself and confirm it. In the meantime, Trixie and Raindrops will still be inspecting the camp. Shiny, please, just trust me. Come clean. We can even help. Trixie’s an excellent illusionist. She might be able to help catch Tarnished!”

For a second Shiny looked as if he was convinced, biting his lower lip and his eyes wavering. Cheerilee sighed as she saw him finally shake his head once more though.

“I’m sorry Cheerilee, but…I can’t risk it. Not when my sister’s well being is on the line. The only pony I can trust to deal with this matter is myself. I have things in hoof. Well in hoof. Yes, the plan will work. I have to. And I can’t be having you or Trixie or Sheaf or anypony interfering. If you do not leave with your friends I’ll…”

Cheerilee gave him a look. Or more precise the look. The look she gave when somepony was about to do something not smart and she wanted them to know in no uncertain terms just how not smart it was. She was still sympathetic towards him. He was her friend, one of her oldest, and it was clear he was under a lot of stress, and she appreciated his position and the situation with Tarnished…but Cheerilee was not a mare that tolerated threats towards her or her friends and it was sounding like he was about to make one.

Something in her eyes must have clued Shiny into the shift in mood, because he stiffened, trailing off for a moment before finally finishing his sentence with, “…ask you all politely to reconsider?”

“My lord!” a female voice suddenly said from the door, “That mare Trixie has arrived and Sawdust is taking her around…the…camp…”

Cheerilee was looking over her shoulder at the same rust coated unicorn who had met them in Oaton, who was giving Cheerilee and Shiny a slightly boggle eyed stare. The unicorn snapped out of her daze quickly and with a glow of white magic shrouding her horn she telekinetically drew the short sword buckled to her side.

“Back away from the Count! How did you get in here!?”

Cheerilee turned to face the unicorn mare, tensing her body to move quickly if need be, but otherwise had a calm expression. Shiny was the one to speak up first, stepping up next to Cheerilee.

“You may stand down Cut n’ Dry, this mare was just leaving.”

“She was?” asked Cut n’ Dry, still holding her sword in her magic, poised to strike.

“I was?” asked Cheerilee.

Shiny gave her a look. Cheerilee was impressed. It was a good approximation of her own ‘look’. Shiny had certainly grown from being the shy young noble she’d known back in the day.

“Yes, you are. I won’t demand you leave Oaton today, but I expect you three to be off my land within the next forty eight hours. Do not attempt any further interference with this affair, Cheerilee. I’m asking you as a friend this time. Don’t make me…ask it as something other than a friend. Please.”

“Lord…Copper Coin…?” Cut n’ Dry looked confused as Shiny’s tone and the way he was looking at Cheerilee.

Cheerilee met Shiny’s eyes, seeing he was resolved to pursue this course. He wasn’t going to cooperate, and she doubted he was going to give Trixie an easy time with the inspection. If she pressed him further, now, he’d probably order his guards to have them thrown out. Even if Cheerilee felt confident in winning such a brawl, it ultimately wouldn’t help. Besides, she’d gotten far more information than she thought she would when she snuck into this camp. Not the incriminating, hard evidence Trixie needed to oust the Lumber Guild and protect Oaton, but certainly something that might give them a new direction to investigate. Might also put Trixie’s mind at ease a bit, knowing the fire at the damn might not have been her doing.

“Alright…I’m going,” she said, “Just remember, Shiny, that offer of cooperating is still open. Any time you feel like coming clean with us in full, I’ll be ready to listen, and help anyway I can.”

As she walked pass Cut n’ Dry the unicorn gave Cheerilee a wary look, not sheathing her sword. Cheerilee smiled at the guardsmare and tipped an invisible cap to her, saying softly, so only Cut n’ Dry could hear, “Keep him safe.”

Once she was outside the cabin it was an easy affair to begin sneaking her way to the back entrance she’d used to enter. She could faintly hear Cut n’ Dry asking Shiny something, but didn’t catch his reply, but he sounded flustered.

As she shadowed her way back towards the back gate she didn’t go through it, but rather passed it by. She could remain unseen for as long as she paid attention to where she was going, and whatever she might have told Shiny, there was still that large central building she wanted to check out. Cheerilee was not done searching for clues.

She wondered idly as she crept her way slowly around to the other side of the camp, winding her way towards the north end of the camp, how Trixie and Raindrops were doing.

Cut n’ Dry watched the magenta mare leave with confusion still swirling in her. Keep Lord Shiny safe? Of course she would! It went without saying! But…but how did that mare even know Lord Shiny? And why had Lord Shiny not asked to have the intruder apprehended?

“My lord, are you unharmed?” she asked, returning her weapon to its sheath and approaching him with a respectful bow.

“Um, y-yes, I’m fine, you n-n-needn’t be concerned, and please, cease bowing your head,” her lord said, face a little red. She did as she was told, but maintained a respectful, straight posture.

“Now then, your report?” he said, seemingly now more composed, controlling his stutter. Cut n’ Dry was a little surprised to have heard in the first place. It’d been some time since she’d last heard him so much as trip over a syllable. Had that mare, Cheerilee, upset her lord?

“Sawdust is leading the Elements of Harmony through the camp,” Cut n’ Dry said, frowning slightly, “I came as soon as I could excuse myself without arousing suspicion. I had to ask Bootheel where you went, my lord, and I apologize that lazy bum didn’t accompany you. As your personal guards we should remain at your side-“

“It’s quite all right,” Lord Shiny said, turning his attention to the papers strewn on the table, “I told him to stay at the main building. I was just tidying up here, making sure all was prepared for tomorrow. Now, how to deal with this Trixie character…?”

“Might I suggest bludgeoning across the head, stuffing her in a sack, and mailing her back to Ponyville?”

“Unfortunately I doubt such a direct method will be an option. I’ll keep your plan in mind, though. For now, let’s see about putting this inspection nonsense to an end. I assume you came here to fetch me. Let me guess, at Sawdusts’s behest?”

Cut n’ Dry blanched, rather perturbed that in fact Sawdust had ‘asked’ her to go get Lord Shiny to speak with Trixie. One, because it showed disrespect to her lord to demand he come to them rather than vice versa. And two, because it meant Cut n’ Dry had to go find her lord and hence wasn’t spending time admiring the…uh…wingspan, yes, wingspan, of that athletic yet adorable pegasus mare, Raindrops.

“You’re assumption is correct my lord. Sawdust does not know his place. I could always inform him you are indisposed. You don’t need to speak with that…that irritating unicorn mare anyway.”

“Wish that was true, but I suspect I’ll have to speak with her personally to…impress upon her the importance of leaving. Cut n’ Dry, I can trust you to remain loyal to me during this trying time?”

Her eyes widened, shocked at the question, “O-of course my lord! You can always count on me. You have my loyalty.”

Lord Shiny nodded, smiling slightly, “I suppose I didn’t have to ask. You’ve proven to be more than up to any task I’ve given you, and followed my lead without question, despite the dubious nature of this while ‘plan’ I’ve cooked up.”

“My lord,” Cut n’ Dry said, briefly meeting his eyes before looking away. She never could quite bring herself to look him in the eye for long. Not because she was trying to hide anything, but because she never wanted to show anything but absolute respect for him, “you gave me and my brother a second chance at life when we’d hit our lowest point. A little bending, or outright breaking, of the law is an inconsequential matter in light of all you’ve given to me.”

When she said that her eyes briefly flicked backwards, towards her flank. Her cutie mark was hidden by the armor she wore, but she could all but feel the pair of outstretched white wings she knew were there.

“Still,” Shiny said, “In the event that things…go poorly, I want you to understand I appreciate your loyalty. If, for whatever reason, the worst comes to pass and you find yourself no longer in my service-“

“My lord, stop,” Cut n’ Dry said, raising a hoof, and surprised at her own boldness at cutting him off. She had to take a second to compose herself before she resumed what she wanted to say, “There will never be a time when I do not consider myself your loyal servant.”

“…Well, t-t-that’s…” Shiny said, stutter returning, but he grit his teeth and schooled it back to normal, “That is now, but circumstances may occur where I will no longer be able to retain your services. In that event I have prepared instructions for you; a thank you of sorts for all your years of service. Those instructions are in my office here at the camp, right desk drawer. Follow them, and you and your brother should be set for a time, at least until you can find other work. A mare of your talents should certainly be able to-“

“Lord Shiny,” Cut n’ Dry couldn’t believe her own audacity at interrupting her lord twice in a row, but she couldn’t listen to this, “There will be no need for that. The plan will work. Your sister, your family’s debt, all will be taken care of. You have me at your command.”

Shiny stared at her, then slowly shook his head in apparent wonderment, “Very well, then. I shan’t question you again, Cut n’ Dry. Now then, shall we go see these Elements of Harmony? What can you tell me about them?”

As they strode out of the cabin, Cut n’ Dry locking it firmly behind them, she said, “The unicorn, Trixie Lulamoon, is a bragging, arrogant, self important jerk, from what I’ve seen. Grating, but not dangerous. The pegaus of the group is named Raindrops, and she…um…seems nice?” Cut n’ Dry hoped her face wasn’t reddening, but she felt the heat on her face, “Far more intelligent and serious minded than either of her companions, by all appearances. As for the third mare, Cheerilee…well if you don’t mind my saying my lord you seem to know her far better than I.”

“Indeed, I won’t hide it from you, I do know Cheerilee quite well,” Shiny said as he looked around, as if expecting to see the mare in question. He even glanced under the cabin, seemingly just in case, “Perhaps too well. She…is a very old friend. One I’d lost touch with, admittedly. Maybe I should have told her about Tarnished. Of all ponies outside the family, she deserved to know…”

Cut n’ Dry couldn’t venture a comment. For all her loyalty to Lord Shiny she made it a point to not inquire too deeply in his personal affairs. She knew the basic details of the situation with Tarnished, but only enough to do her job and enact her part in his plan to bring his sister home. Shiny sighed as they came around the cabin, and in the distance they could spot the entourage of what had to be Trixie and Raindrops being led around the camp by Sawdust.

“Well, nothing for it now. Let’s have us a chat with the Element of Magic.”

“And as you can see our central building is right over here at the back of the camp,” said Sawdust in a cordial and jovial tone, “We’ll be heading in there shortly, once you’re satisfied with the rest of the camp. Do you have any questions so far?”

Trixie kept the mounting desire to frown off her face and instead looked around, one eyebrow arching, “Just how many ponies are working out of this camp?”

“Oh, several dozen,” said Sawdust casually, and Trixie paused a second, thinking.

“Hold it,” she said, “Only a few dozen? Why all these additional buildings then? You could hold a hundred or more ponies in here?”

“Hey, yeah,” said Raindrops, floating nearby with a few slow flaps of her wings, “I was noticing how big this place looked. What’s the deal there? Some of these cabins are even locked? Why?”

Sawdust smiled widely, not seeming slightly perturbed by the question, which frustrated Trixie because he’d been that way since he’d met them at the gate. Relaxed, friendly, and utterly unconcerned with her being there. Not exactly the way somepony with something to hide acted. Which meant either he was a very good actor, or he wasn’t the one doing the hiding. Trixie couldn’t tell which yet.

“Oh, while our operation is currently only supporting a few dozen workers, more will be coming. I wanted to ensure the camp was already set to take care of my employees when they arrive. The locked cabins merely indicate which cabins are not currently in use. No point leaving them open if nopony is using them currently.”

“Why so few to start then? Wouldn’t building this camp take a lot of ponypower?” Trixie asked, trying to find some crack in the story. She seriously suspected the locked cabins. You didn’t put a lock on something because it wasn’t being used, you put a lock on something because you didn’t want anypony getting in. So far she hadn’t had to press the issue of her ‘inspection’ to go anywhere…well, she’d see how the conversation with Sawdust panned out. Cheerilee was probably already in the camp, snooping around. As long as Sawdust’s attention was on her and Raindrops it’d make Cheerilee’s task easier.

“Ah, I can see where that might seem odd, but honestly most of this camp was already built. The fire from last year destroyed the dam, and much of the east end of the camp, but the rest was left intact. It was somewhat dilapidated after a year, but cleaning up an old, partially burned camp is much easier and faster than building a whole new one,” Sawdust said, pride in his voice, “But even then my ponies certainly worked hard to get everything set up quickly.”

“Why even come back here?” Trixie pressed, “Is the lumber in South Everfree really worth the trouble? Or putting an entire village at risk?”

Finally, some kind of reaction! It wasn’t much but Sawdust did pause in his steps briefly, but only for a moment before he put on that calm, confident smile of his.

“I’m afraid that the decision to resume lumber operations in this area was not entirely my own, Miss Trixie. You see the Copper Coin family now owns a…controlling share of the Hoofington Lumber Guild.”

Now it was Trixie’s turn to pause in surprise, though it was Raindrops that spoke up first.

“So waitasec, are you saying you got no control over where your own Guild goes? That you wouldn’t be here if the Copper Coins didn’t tell you to be?”

“Not exactly, on both questions, Miss Raindrops. I still have final word on all operations my Guild undertakes, at least by the letter of the law. However the Copper Coins can…make certain things difficult for the Guild, were we not to follow suggested courses of action. Now, that said, were the choice entirely my own I would still seriously consider continuing operations here. There is a great deal of untapped resources in this region that are ideal for developing a growing business. Now I imagine your line of questioning is referring to the ethics of what is occurring to the unfortunate hamlet downstream from us. Oaton, I believe?”

Trixie snorted, getting more and more fed up with this pony, “Don’t act like you don’t know the town’s name. Oaton relies on that river to keep their farmland irrigated. You understand exactly what your Lumber Guild being here is doing. What’s your justification for it?”

“Please, Miss Trixie, no pony is more concerned than I am about the well being of Oaton. The ponies there were wronged by my father, and circumstances have unfortunately placed me in the same position. I have allowed some water through, so the villagers of Oaton do not suffer from thirst…but there is little more I can do about the dam. It is by…heavy suggestion, of Lord Shiny Copper Coin that the river be redirected to Hoofington River itself, and that we transport the lumber over water. Were I to deny him, my entire Guild would suffer for it. I’m sorry, but Oaton must accept things as they are, for the moment at least.”

Trixie head tilted, one ear flicking in partial curiosity and in partial frustration. What was this pony’s game?

“For the moment?”

Sawdust looked like he was about to say more but he glanced over to his right and Trixie followed his gaze to the sight of two ponies approaching them. One of which was the unicorn guardsmare Trixie met in Oaton, the one with the stubborn attitude, and the other was a sea blue earth pony with a crème colored mane and tail. Before the two got within earshot Sawdust looked at Trixie and said quietly, “If you prove capable, perhaps I’ll tell you.”

“You are Representative Trixie Lulamoon, I take it?” asked the sky blue earth pony as he approached, giving them all quick once over looks, one of which lingered slightly longer on Sawdust with a faint crease of displeasure in his brow.

Trixie cleared her throat and took a step forward, head held high. She didn’t know what to make of what Sawdust had said but she put it from her mind, focusing her attention on the pony in front of her, “I am. Count Shiny Copper Coin, I presume?”

She was certain if for no other reason than his cutie mark incorporated a part of the Copper Coin family heraldry, but had to ask anyway. Next to her Raindrops stopped hovering in the air and settled on the ground, and Trixie noticed out of the corner of her eye that that rust colored unicorn mare was looking at Raindrops without trying to make it obvious; and wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Raindrops for her part was tensely standing by Trixie’s side, eyes focused on Count Shiny. Good, so far Trixie wasn’t sure how effective the glasses were being at their job, but at least Raindrops was still using them. Trixie hoped Raindrops wouldn’t hold it against her, having the pegasus using such an item.

“That is correct,” said Shiny, and Trixie noted that while he was carrying himself with all the poise and pride that seemed to fit the image of a noble, there was a nervousness to his posture and a very deliberate slowness to the way he spoke, as if he was carefully controlling each word he spoke, “I have been informed by my servant here that you have arrived to conduct some manner of inspection on this lumber operation. I trust you have some manner of documentation to prove the veracity of this?”

Ouch, he was going straight for the nitty-gritty on this, was he? If Trixie had had another day of preparation for this plan she could have whipped up some proper illusionary enchantments on some paper to make halfway decent forgeries of some kind of official inspection papers; but she’d been winging things since she’d arrived in Oaton. Taking a quick, calming breath, she talked fast.

“While Oaton made an official request for aid this is an uncommon set of circumstances, since this is the first time we mares who bear the Elements of Harmony have been sent in any official capacity to protect the citizens of Equestria. Our mere word should be proof enough of the validity of our being here, or would you question a mare who embodies the very Element of Honesty?”

Raindrops glanced sidelong at her, and Trixie sort of half-smiled encouragingly at the jasmine pegasus. Shiny looked between the two, eyes slowly settling on Raindrops, “I take it that is who you are, Miss Raindrops? Element of Honesty?”

Raindrops straightened her shoulders and flicked her wings slightly, and met the noble stallion’s gaze, “That’s right.”

“And you, in all honestly, can tell me that you are here as part of an official, sanctioned inspection of this lumber site in order to…what, exactly?”

Trixie tried to keep the nervousness off her face. She knew Raindrops was capable of bending the truth, Element or not, and that Raindrops was usually more about being honest with herself than doing so with others…but Trixie couldn’t deny feeling a stab of concern as she held her breath.

“I can say I am here to make sure the village of Oaton is safe and that my friends don’t get into too much trouble,” again a sidelong look at Trixie, “This inspection is just a part of doing that.”

“That didn’t answer the question. Is this so-called ‘inspection’ officially backed by anypony in the Night Court? By the Princess herself?” Shiny asked.

There was only a short pause, a slight narrowing of Raindrops eyes past the thick glasses perched on her muzzle, and she said, in a very even tone, “To the extent of my knowledge.”

Trixie almost smiled, impressed with Raindrops managing both a true yet cryptic response.

Count Shiny, though, seemed less than impressed. Trixie noted he was slightly shifting the weight on his hooves as if he wanted to nervously shuffle about and was trying to contain the fact. His eyes occasionally darted to one of the locked cabins, and Trixie noted it was the same one he and that guardsmare of his had come around the corner of. Oh, she was sure there was something important in those locked cabins now!

“Count Shiny,” she said, “If you wish to confirm our inspection’s validity you may feel free to do so through proper channels,” which would take him several days at least, “In the meantime I really must insist that we be allowed to continue. I asked you to meet with me in hopes you’d be willing to show me around yourself, and perhaps explain to me why you feel that dam is necessary for this lumber operation. There is an entire village of ponies downstream who need that water.”

For just an instant there was a flash of anger in Shiny’s dark blue eyes, but the look vanished almost as fast as it had appeared.

“An ‘entire village’, by which you mean a small hamlet of little more than thirty or so ponies. The lumber operation here, once it reaches full steam, could supply enough bits to buy the worth of that hamlet several hundred times over.“

Trixie frowned. Several hundred times? Even a village as small as Oaton was worth more than that. What was he going on about? Lumber was that lucrative an industry, though Trixie had to admit she wasn’t too knowledgeable on the subject. She’d need to ask Cheerilee later.

“Because of that I have made several offers to Mayor Sheaf and the ponies of that hamlet to purchase their land wholesale from them and even pay for their relocation to a new home deeper in my family’s territory, land that could use skilled and experienced farm ponies to work it. I’d even pay them a proper wage for their labor! But every time I have made the offer it has been declined, rather rudely I might add, by Mayor Sheaf.”

“Alright, so you’ve made them an offer,” said Raindrops, frowning “So what? That doesn’t give you any special right to ignore their situation. Their village still needs water to survive, and they’re not getting enough. What are you using it for besides making it a little easier to transport lumber?”

“Hey, speak to Lord Shiny with some respect…” said the guardsmare, then she blinked, and coughed into a hoof, giving Raindrops a look that was oddly conflicted, making Trixie wonder what was going on with the unicorn mare, “Just, you know, as a matter of courtesy. He is a Count of the Night Court of Luna.”

“It’s alright Cut n’ Dry,” said Shiny, “It’s clear these mares are very…incensed towards the well being of that hamlet. Look, Miss Raindrops, I don’t know what else I can tell you. The Hoofington Lumber Guild is now a critical part of the Copper Coin’s financial interests and I can’t put my family’s well being, and by extension the well being of my entire province in jeopardy because one hamlet of thirty ponies is being stubborn! I have done all I can in making them an offer to take care of them, which has been declined multiple times. I don’t see what this ‘inspection’ of yours is meant to do other than waste my time and the time of the Lumber Guild. What do you expect to find?”

“Perhaps nothing, perhaps everything,” Trxie said, intentionally keeping things cryptic, “We won’t know what we’re seeking to find until we’ve found it. But ‘it’ will certainly be sought. By me. Oaton’s rights and well being will be protected.”

“Their well being would be best served by accepting my offer,” said Shiny.

“If they want to stay on their land then nopony should be allowed to force them off it,” Trixie replied, sounding confident, though a part of her…if she were being honest with herself, was a little conflicted. On one hoof she was pretty entrenched in the notion she had to save Oaton, though how much of the reason for that was satisfying her self-image and how much of it was genuinely wanting to help the ponies of Oaton even she wasn’t sure. On the other hoof, the practical side of her sort of was seeing how Lord Shiny was being relatively fair in offering the villagers of Oaton a chance to relocate, at his own expense no less!

“It’s not their land, strictly speaking, now is it?” asked Shiny “It’s always belonged to the Copper Coins. We just haven’t paid it much mind. If one wanted to get into the gritty letter of the law Oaton probably owes enough back taxes to foreclose the entire hamlet several times over, but here’s the funny thing I imagine you didn’t know…Oaton, as a village, doesn’t exist in any logs or records.”

“…What?” Trixie was now taken utterly off guard, her ears flopping down against the back of her head as her eyes widened a bit. Raindrops immediately frowned and took a step towards her, eyes concerned.

“Trixie? What’s that mean?”

“It means,” Lord Shiny said, “Oaton was never registered in any municipal records. Officially it doesn’t exist. Never has.”

“It also means,” said Trixie with a small shake of her head, “That Oaton…couldn’t have…”

She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

“Couldn’t have what?” Raindrops asked, raising a hoof in question.

“Couldn’t have officially registered for any kind of inspection at all, or even basic aid,” said Lord Shiny. To Trixie’s surprise, though his tone was now confident, there wasn’t a smile on his face. In fact the sky blue earth pony didn’t look any more pleased than she did, just…hard, resolved to the situation, “I’m afraid, Miss Trixie Lulamoon, that if you are here by any kind of official capacity, then it is in error of the law. Oaton cannot request official aide because of its non-status. By extension, this land is free for my family to do with as it wishes. Even if you did complete this inspection of yours, what good would it do?”

Trixie was still trying to process this. Why hadn’t Sheaf said anything!? Or…did he even know? Certainly wouldn’t be the first time in Equestria’s history a group of ponies settled in somewhere remote and just never filed the paperwork to register their existence as a settlement. Usually there were parts of the Night Court that functioned alongside Equestria’s courier and exploration guilds and companies to ensure any such settlements were found and properly registered…but occasionally a settlement would slip through the cracks. Oaton was just remote enough that it wasn’t inconceivable for it to have been such a settlement. But still…with Bridlesville being a much larger settlement nearby, practically a day’s walking distance…shouldn’t Oaton have been a shoe-in to be registered at some point in time? There was a train waystation right next to it for pony’s sake! It didn’t make sense. Was she missing something? Or was it just bad luck?

Either way, she had to press on. This wasn’t over yet.

“Well,” she said, forcing herself to sound calm and unperturbed by events, though anything but that was true and it was an effort to keep her face passive, “Be that as it may, I still fully intend to finish what I started here. I’m certain that, regardless of Oaton’s status on paper, the fact that real living breathing ponies call that ‘hamlet’ home means more to Princess Luna than a few scribbles on a scroll in some archive. If you doubt that, feel free to ask her yourself. As her personal apprentice, why, I could probably put you in touch with her rather quickly.”

Bluff, bluff, bluff the confident noble! Trixie had zero intention of calling in Princess Luna on this, and in fact rather hoped she never caught wind of any of this, though she realized there was a ice cubes chance on the surface of the sun of that occurring. But Lord Shiny didn’t have to know that. Admittedly though it was a little like sucking on sour grapes, falling back to the old ‘I’m the Princess’ apprentice!’ routine. In the past it was just her bragging to everypony around Canterlot. Now, it was a tactic to try and put pressure on Shiny.

It seemed to work, somewhat. Lord Shiny coughed, nervousness well hidden but still there for Trixie’s keen eye to pick up on, as he said “I am aware of your relationship with the Princess, and do not doubt how much her highness cares for her little ponies. However she may agree with me that the needs of the province as a whole outweigh the needs a single group. I am not removing the Lumber Guild from this area, Trixie Lulamoon. If you persist in badgering this operation, I’m afraid I may have to resort to force to remove you from these premises. Indeed, I am giving you a forty eight hour deadline to be gone from this area.”

Trixie grit her teeth behind tightly closed lips, not willing to give it up quite yet, “You can’t just throw us out. We have every right to finish inspecting-“

Count Shiny cut her off mid-sentence, and for just a moment at the start of it his voice stuttered before he schooled it to normal “R-R-Representative Lulamoon, th-the only reason I’ve entertained even speaking with you is because a certain pony whose opinion I hold in good esteem has vouched for you. However that alone is not enough for me to let you run roughshod over me. It is only due to polite courtesy that I give you fair warning to leave these premises before I have my guards assist you through the gates.

Raindrops had flared her wings out and took a protective step in front of Trixie, putting herself partway between Trixie and Count Shiny. By the same token Cut n’ Dry did the same, so that she and the jasmine pegasus were facing off. Raindrops looked hard and determined, and Cut n’ Dry wore a similar expression, though Trixie noted a hint of…hesitation? After a second Raindrops squinted at Cut n’ Dry, seeing something through the glasses Trixie surmised, and similarly suddenly looked hesitant. Neither mare moved aside though. Trixie looked to see how everypony else was reacting.

There weren’t many ponies from the Lumber Guild in the camp, and what few that were there were looking at the them curiously, except for Sawdust. Sawdust met her eyes with that slightly lidded, calm expression of his and just barely shook his head at her.

Trixie sighed. It was an all too familiar one that reminded her of fruitless times back in Canterlot, whenever something inevitably had gone wrong for her. She rather suddenly felt in full force just how tired she was, as if this situation had sapped all the momentum she’d been riding on. For a second she just wanted to lay down and sleep, but she shook it off, forcing her mind to focus past the exhaustion. She knew there had to be something worth finding around here, but the ‘inspection’ wasn’t getting them anywhere. She’d have to try more extreme measures later tonight, pending what Cheerilee may have found. She fixed Count Shiny with as confident a stare as she could manage, holding her head high.

“Very well, if you insist upon being difficult I and my friend will leave. For now. But this is far from over Count Shiny. Oaton will have its water back, even if I have to go to Canterlot myself to register them as a settlement!”

It was an empty promise, for the most part, given that it’d take days to do the that kind of paperwork short of a serious noble in the Night Court pulling strings, and even if Oaton was registered that wouldn’t change their land was still technically owned by the Copper Coins, but she had to say something.

“Do whatever you feel you have to,” said Count Shiny, turning away from her, “As shall I. Cut n’ Dry, escort these mares to the gate if you would. Sawdust…come with me, you and I have…matters to discuss.”

“Well that was a complete and utter waste!” Trixie said as she kicked a nearby offending rock, her face a mask of frustration.

“Trixie, relax,” said Raindrops, walking next to her and giving her friend a look somewhere between concerned and encouraging, “I think we managed to learn more than you think.”

“Like what?” Trixie asked, waving a hoof in the air, “Like Lord Count Stubborn Jerk is a…a…stubborn jerk!?”

Trixie paused. Okay, maybe she was rather tired, because she was losing her train of thought mid sentence.

Raindrops was looking at her with her teal eyes flashing with equal parts anger and worry, “Alright, that’s it. Trixie, first thing we do when we get back to Oaton, very first thing, is you’re getting some sleep!”

‘Pfft,” Trixie whinnied, “I’m fine. Really. Just a little…fatigued. I have far too many things to do to worry about…” she trailed off. Had she really just been about to say she didn’t have time for sleep? Sleep, one of her favorite things in the whole wide world?

Well…yes, yes she was. Normally Trixie thoroughly enjoyed the life-long quest of avoiding hard work and finding any proper opportunity to take a load off. But something had changed. She didn’t know if it was something that had been happening since she’d arrived in Ponyville. She was normally still pretty lazy, except…except when her friend’ s needed help. And when Ponyville needed saving. She was starting to notice a bizarre, uncharacteristic growing sense of…responsibility to the town she was Representative of. But in this case it wasn’t Ponyville in danger, but a far smaller, more remote hamlet. That wasn’t the point though, the point was that she’d been asked to come here, asked to take on the role of the town’s hero. It made her feel needed, and in response she was readily willing to push on despite the fatigue on her body. Wasn’t that what a hero was supposed to do? Push on no matter how hard things got.

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, which was feeling rather cotton stuffed. She collected herself and met Raindrops’ hard stare.

“I’ll be alright Raindrops. When we meet back up with Cheerilee we’ll go back to Oaton and work out a new plan, depending on what she’s found. Also still need to finish studying that spell to reverse basilisk stone…thingy…” she shook her head, no, not letting tiredness affect her, “Never liked learning spells from books, utterly unintu…unitru…not natural.”

Raindrops had a look on her face that wasn’t quite the ‘I’m about to hit you’ look Trixie had seen before, but the pegasus seemed about ready to jump Trixie and drag her to a bed, throw her in it and if needed pummel Trixie into sleep/unconsciousness. Instead of doing that though Raindrops hung her head slightly, heaving out a heavy sigh, and kept walking alongside Trixie until they’d gotten a fair distance from the Lumber Guild camp.

“So, where were we supposed to meet up with Cheerilee anyway?” Raindrops asked.

Trixie paused, titled her head, and then put a hoof to her face, “I don’t think we even decided that before splitting up. Well…okay, she’s smart enough to meet up with us in Oaton, so let’s just get back to town. By the way, did you see anything with the glasses?”

Raindrops paused, looking away for a moment, and Trixie wondered if that had been a bit of red she saw on the jasmine pegasus’ face.

“Aside from some ponies needing to keep their mind out of the gutter, there were two things that bugged me. One, that Sawdust guy, his mind was a total blank.”

“Blank…? What do you mean?”

“Just that. I didn’t see a thing. Not a single image.”

Trixie blinked, “That’s not a good sign. Either he’s mentally trained to keep his surface thoughts clear, which shouldn’t be a common skill for a lumber pony, or he has some kind of magic that’s blocking the glasses. Argh, I should’ve tried using my magic sight to see if he was shielding his mind…wait, no hat, couldn’t hid the horn glow. And he’s got that bowler cap, so if he was shielding himself I couldn’t have seen if he was casting. But why would he be doing that in the first place? He couldn’t have figured the glasses were enchanted, let alone with what kind of enchantment. So he has another reason? But wh-“

Raindrops put a hoof to her mouth, forestalling any more words.

“Enough, think about it later, when we’re back with Cheerilee. Speaking of her, that was the other weird thing I saw. Count Shiny, a lot of his thoughts seemed to be about her. A lot o images, of Cheerilee from what I can only guess was from a long time ago, because of the way she…er…had her mane. There was another mare too, one that looked a lot like Shiny. All he was thinking about while he was talking with you were Cheerilee and this other mare. Except for one instant where he was imagining bucking you out the gate.”

“I seem to have that affect on someponies…” Trixie muttered, shaking her head, “Why would he be thinking about Cheerilee? That doesn’t…” a look from Raindrops “…er, right, think about it later. Alright, alright, let’s just get back to Oaton then. Hopefully Cheerilee is already there waiting for us.”

The hallway was empty and quiet, a Lumber Guild earth pony having just walked by a minute ago, carrying a stack of scrolls from a room on the right side of the hallway into a room on the left. This pony didn’t see the quick peeking head of a magenta mare as she carefully looked around the hallway corner, then silently and quickly slipped into the hallway and tip-hoofed her way down, hunkered low, and smiling in a mischievous manner.

Getting into the camp’s main building had been…a little tricky. The bottom floor of the place seemed pretty busy, and from the sound and smells wafting from the place she figured there had to be some kind of cafeteria in there. One peek through a window had shown far too many ponies to easily slip around, but Cheerilee was unperturbed. Stealth was a matter of simply being where the eyes of others weren’t, moving in a manner that didn’t draw attention, and when needed, looking like you belonged where you were…

…other times it meant climbing up a tool shed to reach a second floor window that happened to be open and clambering through…you know, whatever works. Sure she could have just used the invisibility amulet to make things easier, but she still wanted to hold onto that as an emergency measure.

Now that she was on the second floor her hope was to find some kind of office or archive that could give her an idea of what Shiny was doing here with the Lumber Guild. Sure, getting Tarnished back was the prime goal, but she new Shiny, could read him pretty well. If this was just about Tarnished then Shiny wouldn’t have brought in the Lumber Guild, and she doubted he’d need all those cages in those cabins. Nope, she was pretty sure there was another side to this, and Shiny, well, he was a tad obsessive compulsive if she recalled. He’d keep documentation of what he was doing. Records for records’ sake.

Spotting a pony carrying a bunch of scrolls was a good sign she was on the right track. Careful to keep an eye out for the earth pony’s return she approached the door on the right and slipped inside, closing the door behind her quietly.

“Alrighty, let’s see what we can see…” Cheerilee couldn’t help but giggle a bit. It’d been a long time since she’d done anything like this and it did feel rather good, the fast heart rate, the way her senses were keenly alert. Just a small taste of the old adrenaline.

The room she’d entered was a cramped office, with shelves lining all walls beside the one she’d entered. A single table in the center of the room, long and rectangular, was covered with a map of the region and a number of tacked on notes, and a case of scrolls. The shelves themselves contained many more scrolls, most of them in small labeled sub-sections that were dated. Putting a hoof to her chin she briefly debated where to check first. She didn’t imagine she had a lot of time and it’d already taken quite a bit to get inside here. Trixie and Raindrops probably wouldn’t be able to keep up their inspection for long, from the way Shiny had been talking.

Choice made, she went for the table.

The map showed the Lumber Camp in the center, with the South Everfree forest stretching for miles to the east, northeast, and southeast. Oaton was little more than a blip a little ways to the south. On the far west side of the map was the grand Hoofington River, to which a small blue dotted line denoting the redirected unnamed river of Oaton’s connection to the dam next to the Lumber Guild camp. Of interest were a number of markings and lines that didn’t seem to have anything to do with the topography.

A red dotted line marched its way through the northeast edge of the forest, stopping at a point right by the Lumber Guild’s actual lumber yard. The line was marked ‘shipment route’ and by a large X where it ended by the lumber yard was a note ‘Meet client at fourth hour after midnight, Bootheel&Sleetcloud&Cut n’ Dry, be watchful for T, attack likely’.

Inside the forest itself were several red circles, many of which were crossed out by more Xs. A nearby note read, ‘She must be in deeper, the basilisk makes searching dangerous.’ One of the circles, one deep in the southeast part of the forest read, ‘Observe Oaton from here, Cut n’ Dry made odd report of voices in trees and uncomfortable feeling. T’s magic? When reinforcements arrive from home, resume search from here.’

Cheerilee didn’t have Ditzy’s photographic memory but as a teacher she was well versed in memorization techniques for the mind and took a moment to make mental notes on the locations of the map makers, and memorize the details of the notes. She heard a door open in the hallway and was instantly under the table, shuffling herself over to the far end and staying low just before the door to the office opened. Same earth pony from before, a brown coated mare with a blond mane and tail. Cheerilee watched the mare’s hooves circle around the table, and slowly shifted herself so she was always at the furthest end of the table from the mare. Cheerilee heard the shuffling of scrolls for a moment as the mare apparently arranged something on the shelves. Cheerilee held her breath as the mare dropped a scroll, and bent down to pick it up with her mouth.

Fortunately the mare seemed rather tired and her eyes were lidded heavily with a need for sleep and she picked up the scroll without noticing the magenta mare underneath the table. Cheerilee held back a sigh of relief; she’d almost had to use the amulet there.

After the mare left the room Cheerilee crawled out from under the table and turned her attention to the small pile o scrolls on the table by the map. She snatched one out and unrolled it with her nose, slowly reading the contents.

I am writing to inform you that I’m sending additional security on my end for the first shipment of goods. Given the problem we’ve had the last time we tried this through this route and method I feel the extra precautions are warranted. Inform your ponies to be ready to receive and transfer the goods at the agreed meeting point on Sunday, at the fourth hour. You will also be given the needed materials for controlling the goods and keeping them docile. No more using second hoof couriers, and I’m sending an expert on animal behavior and control to ensure there aren’t any problems like we had last time. Keep in mind that any problems that do arise and any and all contact between us is cut. Ensure things go smoothly and we’ll both be richer ponies for it.

-C

Cheerilee frowned at the note. Nothing in it was stated clearly, probably by intention, but it didn’t take her entire intellect to deduce that the ‘goods’ being transported were living creatures; animals of some sort if the letter was any indication. Why would anypony be shipping animals like this, through a forest, then to some random lumber camp in the middle of nowhere…where…nopony would see it happen…

Cheerilee suddenly recalled a brief time during her wilder days of youth she’d spent a few nights binging around the clubs and seedier bars of Hoofington. While her memory wasn’t sharp due to the possibly deadly amounts of alcohol she’d consumed at the time she did remember one night being taken by some affluent businesspony who thought she was a good luck charm for gambling purposes to a place beneath one of the taverns. There’s been a sizable underground racing track where ponies had bet on the outcome of a cockatrice race. Cheerilee remembered vaguely asking where they even got the cockatrices for the race, given that they were a protected species. The answer to the question had been to tell her not to ask questions; or in layponies terms, because it was illegal. The kind of illegal that makes a pony a lot of bits.

Shiny…what have you gotten yourself into…? Cheerilee thought, as one more piece of the puzzle fell into place. She rolled up the note and tucked it into her mane, and was about to check another when the door suddenly opened. She blinked in surprised. She hadn’t heard anypony approach! Hoofsteps were usually pretty loud on the wood floorboards of this place, but she hadn’t heard any! Yet now she was looking right at an earth pony stallion with a dark brown coat and lighter brown mane, wearing the clear armor and tabard of a Copper Coin guard. In fact it was the same stallion who’d been with the guardsmare in Oaton.

He paused in the doorway, staring at her with green eyes that slowly roved over her as his eyebrow quirked up. Rather than look surprised, or begin shouting ‘intruder’, the guard smiled suggestively.

“Hey there.”

“Hey…” Cheerilee said, “Would you believe me if I said I got lost looking for the little filly’s room?”

“Oh I’ll believe all kinds of things beautiful,” the guard said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him, “But not that you’re here by accident. Nope, mamma didn’t raise me to be no fool, even in the face of such deliciously shaped flank.”

His movements were casual on the surface, but Cheerilee read the tension in them. She mentally sighed. This wasn’t going to play out pleasantly. She adopted a cheerful smile.

“That’s too bad, and here I was hoping you’d be a gentlestallion and be nice enough to show me the way out.”

The stallion but a hoof to his chest, “I’m the very soul of gentleness. Especially when dealing with a smoking hot mare. Speaking of which, even though I’m about to take you into custody and ask my lord what he wants done with you, do you think you’d be willing to put in a good word for me with that unicorn friend of yours. The one with the rocking silver mane and lean little haunches?”

He was almost to her, almost to hoof’s reach. Cheerilee tensed, even as she kept her own smile up, “I’ll consider it, but it’s doubtful it’d do you any good. She’s not really into that kind of thing…what was your name again?”

“Bootheel,” the guard said with an even wider and raunchier grin, “And I’m not worried about what she’s into. I like a challenge. As the saying goes ‘once you take the Heel it’s all you’ll ever want to feel’.”

Cheerilee suddenly felt a lot less conflicted over what she was about to do as Bootheel reached for her and she ducked under his hoof, stepping forward and body checking the guard. The stallion had her outweighed, but that…didn’t matter. Cheerilee packed a lot of punch in her fairly average frame and knew just where to strike to break an opponent’s center of gravity. Bootheel went stumbling back and fell on his haunches, the wind knocked out of him.

Cheerilee didn’t give him a moment to recover, turning around and delivering a solid buck straight to Bootheel’s chest, slamming him back into the wall. That…caused noise. She imagined she had a minute at most before ponies started to come to see what was happening. She moved to go for the door, but was shocked when Bootheel actually got to his hooves and intercepted her with a flying tackle.

…perhaps the stallion was a bit tougher than Cheerilee had given him credit for?

Still if he was planning to try and grapple her he was in for a unpleasant surprise. She’d had much larger, tougher creatures try to pin her down; one of which, her former minotaur boyfriend had had the benefit of arms, hands, and opposable thumbs. And he more often than not had been pinned by her. Good times.

Bootheel tried to use his weight to keep her down but she, like a slippery eel, wiggled from his grasp, locked her hind legs around his waist, snaked a foreleg up and around his neck, and with one heave flipped Bootheel over so he was on bottom and she was on top, pressing one arm on his neck.

Despite his now very precarious position, Bootheel looked her up and down, and grinned widely.

“Would you consider bearing my foals?”

Cheerilee head butted the stallion between the eyes, which began to swirl around. Her head apparently was a tad harder than his.

“…take that…as a…maybe?”

With those words Bootheel fell unconscious.

Cheerilee stared at him a second, as if daring him to wake back up and make another crack, then got off him and shoved the guard under the table. She already heard multiple hoofsteps approaching from outside. With a sigh, realizing the narrow hallway outside had no place for her to hide in; she pressed her hoof to the amulet. She felt a slight tingling sensation and watched as her form vanished from view like chalk being erased from a blackboard.

A number of ponies entered the room, and Cheerilee waited until she had a clear moment before slipping out.

From there getting outside the building and finding her way back out of the lumber camp was easy enough, the amulet’s duration lasting her all the way until she got the forest past the lumber yard across from the dam. Safely hidden among the trees she began heading along the forest edge southward, her mind lost in thought.

She’d collected a lot of puzzle pieces. Now it was just a matter of getting back together with her friends and get those pieces put together.

…As she moved through the forest, unbeknownst to Cheerilee, her every step was being followed by two pairs of eyes. One small and dark blue, filled with equal parts anger and sadness, and another, larger yellow pair of eyes that were slit like those of a lizard.

Trixie’s return to Oaton was much quieter than her initial arrival. She looked to see that most the farmponies were working out in their fields. At first this confused her because, well, no water obviously, so what was the point? Then she realized that they were working at preparing their fields because they thought the water was coming back, that she was going to get them their irrigation river back, and soon. She gulped, suddenly a lot less relaxed. How were they going to take…well…her lackluster first go at the Lumber Guild?

As she and Raindrops entered Oaton proper she spotted Mayor Sheaf leaving a house on the south end of town. Spotting her the mayor trotted over to them.

“Mayor Sheaf,” she said, nodding her head.

He gave her a quick once over, then turned his head to Raindrops, “Well, don’t see any columns of smoke in the distance so I can only guess there was a lot less burning down of things than last time? What happened?”

Raindrops looked to Trixie, who coughed nervously before saying, “Less fire, yes. But through a little ‘inspection’ and some discourse we managed to learn a lot. Many things. Many clues. There’s certainly something fishy going on in that camp.”

“…You have no idea at all what’s going on there or how to get rid of them, do you?” deadpanned Sheaf.

“Not at all! I just need some time to confer with my friends and put the pieces of the puzzle together, as it were. By the way, have you seen Cheerilee?”

Sheaf nodded his head down the road, “That’s here right there, ain’t it?”

Trixie and Raindrops both turned their heads to see the Element of Laughter cantering down the road, looking behind her with squinting eyes. Trixie wondered why she and Raindrops hadn’t seen Cheerilee, if she’d been that close behind them? As Cheerilee got to them she smiled at Trixie and Raindrops, wiping her brow with a hoof, then gave Trixie a mock salute, face a mask of pretend seriousness.

“Operative Cheerilee reporting a mostly successful mission! I’ve acquired critical intel on enemy movements and motives.”

When everypony just starred at her Cheerilee sighed and lowered her hoof, “Too much?”

Trixie shrugged, “So what did you find…and what do you mean by ‘mostly successful’?”

“Ladies, why don’t we take this conversation inside?” said Sheaf, gesturing with his head at the fields, where ponies were starting to return from their work. Trixie did note it was getting into evening, the sun starting its decent towards the horizon, “I’d prefer to hear all this without my town crowding around to try and hear what’s going in. Some of them have…high hopes you’d already have gotten rid of the Lumber Guild and Copper Coins. Better I know everything you’ve discovered so I can figure out what to tell them.”

“Perhaps that’d be for the best,” said Trixie, not at all liking the idea of having to see any disappointment on the faces of those who were counting on her. The first day might not have been as fruitful as she’d wanted it to be, but she’d reserve final judgment until she’d heard what Cheerilee had learned. The day might not be an entire bust.

Trixie was struggling with every hoofstep now to get down the hallway. She had been on her hooves for most the day and her muscles were not being gentle in reminding her that she was flesh and blood. Raindrops hadn’t been all that gentle about it either. Trixie was only heading for the guest room of Sheaf’s house because Raindrops and Cheerilee had promised they’d both drag her to the bed and tie her to it if she didn’t call it a night. Trixie thought that was rather unfair, given those other two mares were going to be staying up for a little while longer to try and work out a plan of action.

Trixie’s own mind was like a mud strewn mire, with thoughts trudging through it with halting slowness. Cheerilee had learned quite a lot, and Trixie wasn’t sure what had caught her off guard more, that Cheerilee knew Count Shiny personally, or that the Count was apparently trying to both capture his runaway sister and possibly run some sort of smuggling ring involving unknown wildlife.

How those two things were even remotely related eluded Trixie.

On the plus side, it was possible that she wasn’t directly responsible for the fires burning down the dam last year, as Cheerilee had pointed out this ‘Tarnished’ mare bore similar coloring to her own. It was also a boon that at least they had some evidence of the Copper Coins pulling something illegal. The note Cheerilee had found, unfortunately, didn’t actually name any names. As evidence it was next to useless, but Trixie felt encouraged. Between the note and the markings on the map Cheerilee had seen they knew there was a ‘shipment’ coming through the forest at four in the morning.

If she went to sleep now, she could get plenty of sleep before the ‘fourth hour’. The plan was to try and stake out this ‘shipment’ and find out exactly what it was. It was a shame Cheerilee had had to use the invisibility amulet, but at least it’d gotten her out of the lumber camp, and for this part of the plan Trixie could keep her friend’s invisible with her own magic. There was also a small worry that the guard having seen Cheerilee would mean Shiny now likely knew his office had been infiltrated. It would make him more wary.

Then there was the matter of Oaton's non-status as a settlement. She had avoided bringing it up with Sheaf for the moment, if only because the reason Sheaf never got his village registered wasn't an immediate issue until they managed to find some solid dirt on the Copper Coins or Lumber Guild. Talking with him about it was on her 'to-do' list though.

Trixie was so mixed up in her thoughts she barely saw Bushel before bumping into the filly.

“Bushel? Shouldn’t you be in bed *yawn* at this time of evening?”

The filly still had Trixie’s hat on and was shuffling nervously on her hooves, but also was buzzing with excitement, “Oh, I just wanted to make sure I got your hat back to you! You said to hold onto it until you got back and I’ve been taking real good care of it! Milkdrop wanted to use it to try and jump off the roof but I told her no because that wasn’t what magic hats are for and mom would yell at us anyway for playing on the roof again.”

Trixie was envious of the filly’s energy, smiling softly and putting a hoof on Bushel’s head, “You did a good job there my enthusiastic little filly. Why don’t you hold onto it a little longer, return it when I’ve gotten your village all nice and safe.”

“Okay! Wait…um…so its not safe now?”

“Well, it will be soon,” Trixie said cautiously, “Me and my friends have a plan, and before the next day is out I’m sure we’ll have both the Lumber Guild and the Copper Coins sorted out. Just be patient.”

Bushel seemed confused, the filly scrunching up her brow in thought, “Can’t you just burn down the dam and tell all the bad ponies to leave us alone, or else you’ll beat them all up?”

Trixie, in a less fatigued state, probably could have thought up a quick way to put the filly’s fears to rest, but as it was she was taken aback and desperately stretched her currently dulled mind for a way to explain things to the pony who most wanted to see her as the hero from song.

“I…the bad ponies are…well they’re not always so bad that the hero can just fight them directly. Last time…well…they sort of where. This time the bad ponies are hiding themselves and what they’re doing. The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to have to shine the light of justice into the gloom to root out the bad ponies to make sure she’s getting the right ones. Understand?”

It wasn’t her best piece of fast talking. Bushel still looked a little confused, but she gave a little nod, “Okay…you’ll find the bad ponies but they’re hiding. Maybe I could help you look for them?”

“You’re already helping me plenty,” said Trixie, “By believing. And of course protecting my hat.”

“It’s a really cool magic hat,” Bushel said, putting a hoof on it with a smile. Now that was better, Trixie much preferred to see her audience smiling.

Bushel went back to her room, which apparently was shared with her two siblings. Trixie caught a glimpse of Breadcrumb and Milkdrop sharing a bed, which Bushel also clambered into. Trixie breathed a light laugh. The sight brought back memories of growing up in Neigh Orleans and having to share a bed with her many cousins.

Going to the guest bedroom Trixie levitated off her cape and tossed it to the side, followed by her saddlebags. She paused, looking at the saddlebags and briefly considered ignoring Raindrops and Cheerilee’s warnings. She did have that petrification removal spell to study after all. She heaved a sigh, knowing her friends would fulfill their threat if they found her still awake. Raindrops had promised to wake her in five hours, enough time to get some rest and still get to the spot where the ‘shipment’ was to show up by the fourth hour.

Trixie stretched her aching limbs and flopped onto the guest rooms only bed…only dully realizing that either she and her friends were going to have to either sleep in shifts or that somepony would have to make do with the floor. Too tired to care now.

Trixie had only just closed her eyes when a piercing roar echoed from outside the room’s window and she snapped them back open.

At first she thought she’d imagined it, but a second later another roar sounded, even closer. She barely stumbled off the bed and reached the window in time to see what was causing the racket.

Oaton’s homes were mostly still lit with the lights of family’s that hadn’t quite bedded down for the night, and the night itself was a clear and star filled one, Luna’s moon at three quarters full and casting a dull silvery glow over the village.

Making the twenty five foot long shadowy form of a basilisk stomping into town all the easier to see…

Chapter 7: The Limits of a Hero

Chapter 7: The Limits of a Hero

Screams punctuated the high, ear splitting roar of the basilisk, the ponyfolk of Oaton glancing out windows and doors to see the creature that was now boldly making its way down the center road that cut through the town.

Trixie was already scrambling out the guest room and heading for the stairs down. When she saw Bushel poking her head out the door, looking fearful, Trixie paused only long enough to say, “Close your door and stay inside, until I or your parents come get you!”

She didn’t wait for a response, but heard the door close behind her. She almost tripped down the stairs, but was caught by Raindrops, who’d apparently been flying up the stairs. The pegasus steadied Trixie, helping her down the last few steps, where Cheerilee, Mayor Sheaf, and Picturesque were waiting in the tavern common room.

Picturesque was looking fearfully towards the doors, then at her husband, “Dear, what are we going to do?”

Sheaf’s face was a stone mask, “You’re going to get upstairs and stay with the foals. I’m going out there to try and get anypony with a pitchfork and torch to try and drive that thing off!”

“Bad idea,” said Trixie, “Even if you did drive it away, you’d lose ponies to its gaze.”

“What do you suggest then, ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie?” asked Sheaf, “I have to protect my village!”

Raindrops was frowning, flying over to the window and chancing a peek out, “Can’t everypony just hunker down and wait for it to leave?”

“I don’t think that will work,” piped in Cheerilee, looking thoughtful, and the thoughts she was having weren’t the warm fuzzy kind, “What I read on basilisks on the train ride says they’re territorial, but not aggressive like this. If it’s attacking, it won’t stop until whatever is aggravating it…goes away.”

There was a crashing sound from outside, so loud it made Trixie jump. This was followed by a roar, and the sound of ponies yelling. Raindrops was still out the window and her eyes widened, mane and tail seeming to wilt one second, then bristle the next as she growled, “It’s trying to tear down one of the houses!”

The pegasus didn’t even wait for a response, she went flying out the door, much to Trixie’s immediate horror.

“Raindrops, wait! Blast it all!” Trixie began to gallop after her friend, Cheerilee and Sheaf close behind her.

The night was crisp, with a faint chill wind starting to flit through the village. Trixie ignored the cold, ignored her aching legs, ignored the exhausting pressure in her head of an oncoming headache. None of that mattered. What mattered was that her friend was flying into danger, the village was in danger, and she had to do something about it!

All of Oaton was wide awake at this point, as evidenced by the ponies who were either looking out of doors or even coming out into the street, some with farm tools at the ready. Trixie shouted to them as she galloped past, “Everypony back inside! Nopony come out until its over!”

She didn’t know if her words were having any affect though, many of the farm ponies who saw her go past were cheering her on or waving at her. Trixie almost snarled under her breath. Didn’t they get how dangerous the situation was!? To make matters worse, Sheaf had started calling out for every able bodied pony to arm themselves. Was he mad? Then again, she had to be pretty mad too…it wasn’t like she had any idea how she was going to stop the basilisk.

Speaking of which, she saw it up ahead. Like Raindrops had said it was busy tearing down the wall of one of Oaton’s single story houses. It was a patch of black in the shadows of the night, the moon’s silver light only dully reflecting off its scales, which were a dark, deep forest green that would have made it blend in perfectly in the thick undergrowth of the Everfree. It had a somewhat alligator like appearance, its body a long scale covered affair, but its legs were larger and more muscled than any alligator’s should have been, tipped with four powerful claws. Its back was ridged with thin bony spines that went all the way to the crest of its head. A pointed snout held a five foot wide jaw lined with four inch needle sharp teeth. Worse of all, though, were the basilisk’s eyes. A fierce golden yellow, like the painful glare of the sun itself, slit down the middle with an inky black line.

The beast had gouged a wide hole in the side of the house with its claws and was sticking its snout inside. A mare’s voice screamed, and Trixie heard the muffled wails of foals. She put on an extra burst of speed, already channeling magic through her horn. A few fireworks in its face might distract it-

-Raindrops seemed to appear from nowhere. Trixie had lost sight of the pegasus once she’d gotten outside, but that was just because Raindrops had flown up at an angle and now dive-bombed the basilisk, smashing both fore hooves into the side of the creature’s head. Trixie had seen Raindrops crack rock with those hooves.

The basilisk barely rocked under the blow and snorted, pulling its snout out of the house and shaking its head slightly. Raindrops seemed stunned. The basilisk began to look at her, Trixie felt her blood run cold and she pushed her magic through her horn faster.

Brilliant green, violent, and blue bursts of light illuminated the night, right above the basilisk’s head. Rather than fix Raindrops with its petrifying gaze it instead closed its eyes against the lights and shook its head back and forth in confusion.

“Raindrops, get out of there!” Trixie shouted, screeching her own gallop to a halt. She didn’t want to get too close to the thing, and knew it wouldn’t be distracted for long.

Raindrops flew up, putting distance between herself and the creature. Meanwhile Trixie felt a presence beside her and saw Cheerilee next to her, the schoolteacher’s expression grim, but she was chuckling under her breath all the same.

“I don’t suppose you have an incredibly brilliant plan for how we’re going to deal with this one?”

Trixie gulped as the basilisk shook off its daze and with a deep guttural growl focused its attention on her and Cheerilee.

“Um, not as such, no.”

“Oh well,” said Cheerilee, scuffing a hoof and leaning down, preparing to charge, “Plan B it is then.”

“Bushel, what can you see?” asked Milkdrop, trying to push her muzzle past her older sister to peek out the window.

“Hey, back up Milk, you’re making me lose my balance!” said Bushel, who was standing on top of an upturned bucket, who her sister was also standing on, making the two fillies wobble a bit. Breadcrumb was still in the bed, covers wrapped up over his head as he shook fearfully from the sounds coming from outside. His two sisters had briefly teased him as a scaredey-pony before they’d put all their attention towards looking out the window.

“Nuh-uh, you’re making me lose balance! Come scoot over, I can’t see anything!”

Bushel scrunched up her face in a frown, hooves balanced on the windowsill as she poked her head out into the night, looking left and right.

“Awww, it sounds like everything’s happening on the other side of the house. We won’t see anything from here. Darn it I’m missing out on seeing Trixie in action!”

Milkdrop sighed and hopped off the bucket, “I don’t know, I think ma’s a prettier pony. Is Trixie really special?’

“Of course she is!” Bushel said, waving a hoof, almost falling off the bucket in her excitement, “I bet she’s throwing that big lizard around with one hoof, or is turning it into a cactus with her awesome magic!”

A roar reached their ears and both fillies for a second shuddered. Bushel licked her lips, looking at the window worriedly. She knew she shouldn’t be worrying. Trixie was on the case! She’d take care of that basilisk and protect everypony! She was the hero, after all!

And I’m missing all that heroic action! Bushel thought in dismay. Sure Trixie had looked really tired earlier today, and for some reason Bushel still didn’t quite get hadn’t been able to just make the Lumber Guild shove off, and she’d looked kind of scared when she’d run by just a little bit ago, telling Bushel to stay inside…but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a hero, right? Bushel looked over at Trixie’s hat, sitting on the bed where she’d been snuggling with it while trying to sleep. Trixie trusted her, which felt really good. She was hesitant to disobey what Trixie said, but she so badly wanted to see the amazing unicorn actually fight a monster. An epic battle was taking place this very moment and she wasn’t there to witness it…just like she’d missed it the last time Trixie saved Oaton because she was sick.

After a second or two of intense debate the filly made her choice and went over to the bed, putting the hat on her head. It felt nice and tingly, though for some reason her headache came back when she put it on. She shook off the feeling. This was no time to let little things like headaches get in the way!

As she went for the door Milkdrop said, “What do you think you’re doing? Ma and pa will get super mad if you go out there!”

“Only if they see me. I’ll keep hidden real good. I’m just going down to the door is all, to peek. I’m not missing Trixie’s heroics again!”

Milkdrop, who’d been just madly arguing with her sister a second ago, suddenly looked very scared, “A-are you actually going outside? But there’s a real monster out there! Bushel, don’t go, please.”

“Hey, no need to worry. Trixie and her friends are out there, and so’s ma and pa. It’ll be fine, you’ll see. Or rather, you won’t because you’ll be here being all scared while I’ll be watching the show!”

Raindrops banked to the left, narrowly avoiding the flailing, whip-like tail of the basilisk. She wasn’t really all that agile or fast a flyer but it was pretty clear the creature wasn’t used to dealing with anything that could fly around it. So far she’d focused on trying to keep the basilisk’s attention on her, not letting it look at her friends. Which meant she had to keep looking away from its face whenever it tried looking at her.

“Just don’t make eye contact!” shouted Cheerilee, who’d charged up to deliver a buck to one of the basilisk’s legs, “Not for a second!”

“Sure, no problem!” Raindrops shouted back, too much fear and adrenaline pumping through her to put much sarcasm into the words.

So far they’d managed to get the basilisk away from the house it’d been attacking, but not much else. The twenty five foot long lizard had to have weighed several tons and even the impressive physical strength of Raindrops and Cheerilee was doing little more than causing the thing to get more angry at them. Trixie was keeping her distance, sending distracting bursts of illusionary fireworks to keep the beast off balance. Raindrops was glad to see her friend was keeping back, not pushing herself. But there was a problem, the ponyfolk of Oaton were watching, most from the safety of their homes, but several had come outside armed with various farm tools and torches and had gathered behind Mayor Sheaf.

Raindrops might have admired their honest desire to defend their village from such a threat, but it wasn’t smart. This was a clearly angry animal and it wasn’t going to leave because some ponies waved a few pitchforks at it. Then again, who was she to talk; she and her friends were trying to fight it bare hooved!

The basilisk hissed and turned its head towards Cheerilee, who immediately ducked her head and put her eyes to the ground to avoid eye contact. Which was problematic given the creature raised one of its clawed arms to strike at the magenta mare. Raindrops rushed to protect her friend, looking to smack the basilisk on the back of the head while it was distracted, but suddenly the creature snapped its head around at her. Had it just tricked her!?

Caught off guard Raindrops looked at its piercing yellow eyes and felt a coldness seize over her, stopping her in mid-flight.

“Raindrops!” she heard Trixie shout, and then the world around her turned brilliant white.

“Raindrops!” Trixie screamed as the basilisk whipped its head around and fixed its eyes on the jasmine pegasus who’d been about to hit it while it’d been supposedly distracted by Cheerilee. Trixie charged forward and channeled magic through her horn, focusing all her attention on forcing the magic through her horn as fast as possible. Her head ached from the effort.

Just as Raindrops seized up in the air, the first flicks of stone appearing on her wingtips and hooves, Trixie finished her spell and a burst of light as bright as the sun appeared right between the pegaus and basilisk. It simple flare spell, but it did what it needed to do. It broke the line of sight the basilisk had on Raindrops. Even so the shock of the near petrification had caused Raindrops to, well, drop out of the sky and Trixie had to channel magic even faster to catch her friend in a blanket of telekinesis.

As she did this she heard a few cheers behind her, and Mayor Sheaf bellowing, “Alright folks, let’s drive this critter off our land!”

Trixie was too busy concentrating on gently getting Raindrops to the ground to try to warn them of what a bad idea that was. Even in Trixie’s tired, drained state, and her general lack of knowledge on the subject, she felt pretty sure in thinking that this basilisk was acting odd. The fact that it was even attacking Oaton in the first place was strange. Why was it attacking now, when it could have done so at any time? There wasn’t time to think about it.

Sheaf and a dozen other Oaton farmers went past her, going at the basilisk with hoes and pitchforks. One of them, the earth pony Trixie vaguely recalled was named Potato Sack, paused and gave her a grin, “Guess you’re taking it easy on the poor critter? Not gonna just blast it with your magic?”

She almost yelled at him before she remembered she had pretty much portrayed herself as a unicorn of great power, personal apprentice to Princess Luna. It sort of implied that dealing with a rampaging basilisk should be foal’s play if she wasn’t holding back…as opposed to using everything she had to just to keep the thing distracted and from petrifying her friend. So instead of blowing up at the villager she just grit her teeth in a tight, forced smile, “Just need to get it to leave town.”

Potato Sack just kept grinning and joined the charge at the basilisk. Trixie got Raindrops to the ground. The pegasus was shaking off her stunned state, removing flecks of stone from her wingtips and hooves. Trixie sighed in relief, and then turned her full focus back on the basilisk. It was surrounded by Oaton’s villagers, but it seemed unperturbed by their shouting and poking at it with farm instruments. In fact it seemed to…completely ignore all the ponies around it that it could easily petrify or crush and instead was turning his head about, as if looking for something.

Raindrops had gotten airborne again and Cheerilee was mixed in with the Oaton ponies, using her hooves in place of a farm tool. The basilisk snorted in a way that sounded to Trixie very much like annoyance and with one motion it turned itself about, slamming its tail around in a single sweep that sent ponies flying. Trixie winced. The ponies who’d been knocked aside were either groaning or slowly getting back to their hooves, and Trixie hoped none of them were too badly hurt. With the ponies of Oaton temporarily dispersed Cheerilee was left exposed. She’d ducked the tail, and was now giving the basilisk a hard stare.

“Alright, no more miss nice schoolteacher. Hope you’re ready for some discipline.”

Really, Cheerilee? Trixie would’ve shook her head if she felt she had time to feel embarrassed by her friend’s attempt at banter with a giant lizard.

The basilisk looked down at Cheerilee, who averted her eyes while rearing up on her hind legs and charging in. The basilisk struck with its stout jaws open to try and clamp on the magenta mare, but she timed her own spin and a powerful buck so it smacked the giant lizard square on the chin, this time with enough force that it clearly rung the creature’s bell a bit. Raindrops then came in from above and planted all four hooves on top of the basilisk’s back.

The basilisk roared and backed up a few steps, and for a second Trixie felt a surge of hope. They were doing it! The beast was retreating! Then the basilisk snorted and let out a low hissing growl, apparently angrier than ever.

Raindrops landed next to Trixie, and Cheerilee had backed up a step or two herself so that she was standing beside her friends.

“What’s with this thing?” Raindrops asked, teeth grinding, wings flared out as she glared at the basilisk, though cautious to avoid its eyes, “What are we going to have to do to get it to scram?”

“This isn’t typical basilisk behavior,” said Cheerilee, “Meeting this much resistance should’ve made it give up. I don’t know what could be driving it.”

The Oaton ponies had gathered up again, those who’d been injured hanging back, and Mayor Sheaf directing them to go to the tavern. Picturesque was helping those who’d injured legs to get to safety. Trixie noticed most of them were casting looks her way, most of them hopeful…and to Trixie’s fear, some of them looked confused. A few of the Oaton ponies were looking at her as if they were wondering why their hero hadn’t gotten rid of the monster yet. Those looks sent cold stabs of fears through her. She gathered her strained thoughts and looked back towards the basilisk.

It was hunching down, claws flexing, apparently getting ready to charge at her and her friends. Its eyes were focused on Cheerilee still, but the schoolteacher was doing a good job of not meeting the look, staring off to the side while looking sidelong at the basilisk’s feet. Trixie wondered why the basilisk seemed so fixated on Cheerilee. A thought ran across her mind, half formed from sleep deprivation, but still clear. What if somepony was influencing the basilisk? Hadn’t Cheerilee mentioned something about her friend, Tarnished, having an affinity for animals?

On that hunch Trixie channeled magic into her horn, activating her magic sight spell as she said, “Raindrops, Cheerilee, try to keep it distracted just a tad longer. I need to check something.”

“Check something?” Raindrops asked, “Like what?”

“I think magic is involved in this. I’m going to find out for sure. Just keep it busy but…just don’t get hurt.”

“Right, keeping the dangerous monster busy without suffering mortal injury or getting stoned,” said Cheerilee with a little half grin, “It’s like college all over again.”

Trixie wasn’t going to touch that comment with a hundred foot range levitation spell.

There was a second of tension as the three mares from Ponyville squared off with the basilisk that was ready to pounce. Then a dry, cold wind blew through the town, blowing, of all things, a loose bush that looked suspiciously like a tumbling week across the road. The basilisk roared. So did Cheerilee. Raindrops shot off like a dart. Trixie channeled magic. The ponyfolk of Oaton held their breaths.

Unseen by anypony, a little yellow filly who had chanced creeping out behind one of the buildings watched on, eyes wide and mouth gaping in awe.

The basilisk charged, its steps plodding and shuffling like the massive alligator it resembled. Cheerilee galloped to meet it, eyes downcast to avoid petrification. Raindrops was flying above her, hooves outstretched, face a mast of stoic determination.

Trixie’s attention was focused entirely on her magic sight. Every second counted, so she wasted not a one. As Cheerilee dove to the side of the basilisk’s striking maw, delivering a buck to the side of the creatures face Trixie examined the air around the fight, eyes narrowing. Raindrops swooped in and, with an odd ‘Kiyaa!’ shout that Trixie wondered at the purpose of delivered a hefty kick focusing all her hoof power through one hindleg at the opposite side of the basiliks’s head. Trixie blinked, starting to see it…

…a crown of magic wrapping the head of the basilisk. White aura, twisting around the monster’s entire head like multiple layers of strings. The pattern looked like…yes, enchantment, and the aura was strong, but had a odd quality to it. The aura fluctuated and twisted unnaturally, erratically, like the magic didn’t really know what it was supposed to be doing, or rather, was fighting the notion that it was being driven to form a spell at all. But more important than all of that was that Trixie could see where the spell was coming from, following a single strand of magic that was trailing off to the north and east.

The basilisk was turning about, growling and slashing into the air at Raindrops, who tried to fly back out of reach, almost getting clear, but Raindrops wasn’t that fast of a flyer even on her best days. Trixie wince as the pegasus was battered through the air by the claw, but what Raindrops lacked in speed she made up for in strength and stamina. Raindrops righted herself in the air, battered, but still alright, and flew right back into the fight.

Cheerilee was busy playing a deadly game of jump rope with the basilisk’s tail, which kept trying to whip the magenta mare off her hooves, but she was doing well jumping over the low sweeps, or ducking under the high ones. Unfortunately the flailing basilisk was starting to cause Oaton even more damage, its tail smashing windows and its claws gouging out portions of wall.

Trixie was so busy trying to pin point exactly where the white thread of magic was originating from, trotting along trying to follow it, that she didn’t notice Bushel hiding behind the corner of a nearby house, watching her curiously.

Trixie focused, drowning out the sounds of the fight, putting at all her attention on that one thread of magic.

You’re close. You’d need line of sight to control your tool. I’m going to find you, and put a stop to this!

And there it was! The white thread of magic was originating just outside of town, across the dry riverbed, where Trixie spotted a dark, cloaked figure huddled down, intently watching the basilisk.

“Gotcha!” Trixie said triumphantly, and so intent was she on getting the culprit, on putting on end to the threat to Oaton and maybe even finishing this whole matter once and for all, she broke into a full on gallop towards the shadowy figure. She ignored her exhaustion, ignored her tired legs. Exercising weekly with Raindrops had gotten her used to at least doing that much and adrenaline and the thrill of possibly solving everything in one go was driving her forward.

She pounded across the riverbed and the shadowy figure then finally noticed her, launching to its hooves and turning and running. Trixie caught the sight of a crème colored, ragged tail and mane streaming out from the dark forest green cloak the figure wore.

“Get back here! You’re not escaping this time!”

This had to be the real culprit. The one who’d destroyed the dam, for whatever reason. This pony was the key to everything, Trixie was sure of it!...But by Luna’s night this pony was fast! Trixie was having to go all out just to keep the fleeing form in sight, let alone catch up. Before Trixie knew it she was clear across the fields and rushing straight into the depths of the South Everfree Forest, chasing her quarry, but utterly unaware of events transpiring in Oaton behind her.

Bushel had been so filled with excitement she felt ready to burst. Here were the heroes battling a monster from the darkest of nightmares, and she was here with a front row, well front bush seat to the action. It was thrilling beyond anything the little filly could imagine…only as she watched she noticed something odd.

While Raindrops and Cheerilee were fighting head on, Trixie was just sort of…standing there, hanging back. Her horn was glowing, so obviously she was doing some kind of magic, but Bushel couldn’t tell what. No bolts of lightning, or great gouts of fire, or huge gusts of wind to batter the basilisk were being summoned. No levitating rocks to pelt the beast at a distance from. Not even any of those cool fireworks to distract it. Nothing. Trixie, aside from the horn glow and looking about oddly, had seemed to be doing nothing.

Bushel was confused by this but didn’t let her faith in her hero falter. Surely Trixie was just planning something super amazing and was just waiting for the right moment to unleash it! Perhaps she just needed time to charge up some kind of ultra powerful spell?

Bushel didn’t know, but she edged closer to the action, darting from one bush to the next, then sneaking around the corner of one of the houses right next to the fight. Whatever awesome things Trixie was surely about to do Bushel didn’t want to miss it!

Then Trixie suddenly blurted “Gotcha!” which made Bushel jump and duck back behind the house. When she chanced to peek out again, her eyes widened. What was Trixie doing? Bushel didn’t want to believe it but was Trixie…running away? The azure unicorn was bolting off into the night, directly away from the fight. But that didn’t make sense! Trixie, the Great and Powerful Trixie, the Nights Justice, the Hero of Oaton was…abandoning it?

Bushel didn’t want to believe it, and so choose not to. She ran out into the street, ready to call out after her hero, because surely this was some kind of mistake and there had to be a reason Trixie was fleeing.

But before Bushel could shout there was another voice that called out, “Watch out!” and she felt something hit her from the side. She went tumbling. It didn’t hurt much, but she was dizzy and got to wobbly hooves, wondering what had happened as she put a hoof to her head.

Next to her she saw the jasmine pegasus, Raindrops, laying on the ground, looking rather battered with one of her wings a little bent. The pegasus got to her hooves, shaking herself.

Had the pegasus mare just pushed Bushel out of the way? Out of the way of wha-

A deep, rumbling hiss filled the air above Bushel and the filly felt her entire body chill to the bone. Slowly, like the jerking movements of a doll, she turned her head around…and looked right into the boiling golden eyes of the basilisk. Terror overwhelmed her at the same time a tingling seizing sensation rooted her body to the spot. For a moment she felt her hooves begin to harden an grow cold as the basilisks’ eyes bored into her…but then something strange happened. Her head suddenly burst into a splitting headache and the cold feeling in her hooves vanished, as if being sucked away. She felt her head throbbing and the world spun.

Something warm and soft caught her, and she felt hooves wrap around her. She hear shouting, several voices at once.

“Get her away from it!”

“Don’t you dare hurt my daughter!”

“Watch the eyes; don’t look at its eyes for pony’s sake!”

“Cheerilee, now!”

Bushel couldn’t see what was going on because she was being pressed face first into somepony’s chest, and with wiggle of her head she managed to look up. It was her mother. Picturesque was holding her protectively, and for a second Bushel felt a comforting relief at being in her mother’s hooves…but something was wrong. Her mother was staring up at something and wasn’t moving, her embrace becoming rigid. Bushel managed to turn her head enough to see the basilisk, its eyes fixated on her mother.

Bushel began to feel a cold, hardness spreading through her mother, stone starting to replace flesh.

Raindrops was hurting, she wasn’t going to deny it. The basilisk had managed to get in to solid hits on her, the most recent when she’d had to push that filly, Bushel, out of the way of the creature’s random tail slap. Her right wing was a little sprained but she could still use it, and she wasn’t planning on stopping until the town was safe. The last hit had knocked those glasses off her nose, sending them sailing next to the basilisk’s stomping claws, but she’d spotted Cheerilee pick them up before the enchanted item could get smashed up. Raindrops was almost disappointed they didn’t, if only because it’d give her an excuse to Trixie to not have to wear them again. She had bigger concerns on her mind though. The sooner the basilisk was dealt with the sooner she could go find Trixie.

What had she been thinking, running off like that!?

Probably wasn’t thinking at all, with no sleep, Raindrops thought, grinding her teeth, I should’ve…I should’ve…blast it I don’t know what I should have done!

She was angry, and normally this was the kind of thing that was par for the course with her, as much as she disliked that, but at least in this moment she had something resembling a valid to focus that anger on. The basilisk. She saw it staring down at Bushel and another mare that was holding the filly. Picturesque! She was staring up at the basilisk, protectively shielding her daughter, but fixated on the beast’s eyes.

“Watch the eyes; don’t look at its eyes for pony’s sake!”

That was Cheerilee, on the other side of the basilisk, putting out a hoof towards Picturesque with an alarmed shout. Raindrops grit her teeth past the pain in her wing and flew up into the air, fixing the basilisk with all the heat her enraged gaze could muster.

“Cheerilee, now!”

She didn’t wait to see if Cheerilee acknowledged her, trusting in the schoolteacher to realize they had to stop the basilisk, and they had to stop it now. Raindrops flew forward, taking a deep breath and holding it, clearing her mind, letting everything in her perception still to a single moment. Iron Hoof, the art of calming the mind, focusing it, and then unleashing its potential through a single point of the body, that of the hoof. It was an art of control, which was what had attracted Raindrops to it. She wanted control over herself, the ability to focus and remain calm no matter what was happening.

Of course she was still just a student, and she was pretty pissed. Sometimes you work with what you got.

She flipped in the air, letting out the breath she been holding with a focusing ‘Kiyaa!’ shout. She brought the heel end of her right hindleg down on top of the basilisk’s head with all the force she could muster focused on that one point. The force of the blow knocked the basilisks’ head down towards the ground…right where Cheerilee was waiting with a full force buck straight to the creature’s face.

The basilisk stumbled; its leg’s trembling from the blows. He shook its head, eyes unfocused, and snorted. It turned its head about, looking at the town around it as if seeing it all for the first time. While Raindrops wasn’t exactly an expert on reading animals, in fact she had no idea at all; she still got the impression that the basilisk was quite confused. It sniffed at the air, sniffed at the ponies around it, and with a low, displeased hiss it abruptly turned around and began tromping off towards the forest.

For a second Raindrops just hovered in the air, watching it go.

“Left looking like it’d forgotten what it was here for in the first place.”

Raindrops looked down at Cheerilee, who’d made the comment, who was hoofing her chin and squinting after the retreating basilisk with a ponderous expression. Raindrops landed next to the schoolteacher, taking slow, deep breaths to calm her racing heart.

“Yeah…well at least it’s gone now.”

The sound of a sobbing voice behind them drew the two mare’s attention. Bushel was hugging her mother. Raindrops felt her ears droop, a sinking feeling in her hooves. Cheerilee closed her eyes, sadly shaking her head, “Well, at least Trixie brought the materials to learn an de-petrification spell.”

Raindrops supposed that was some consolation, but it didn’t change the current scene before them.

Picturesque had protected her daughter, but Raindrops and Cheerilee hadn’t been fast enough. The once bright yellow mare was now solid gray stone. Bushel’s hooves were wrapped around her mother’s barrel, crying. Nearby Mayor Sheaf and a number of the less injured Oaton ponies were gathering. For a moment nopony talked. Sheaf went up to his wife and daughter, putting a hoof on both the cold stone face of his wife and another around the face of his still flesh and blood daughter, and drew himself into an embrace with both, whispering something to Bushel that only seemed to make the filly’s tears come faster.

Then somepony did speak, words that cut though Raindrops tired mind and made her realize the night was far from over.

“Where’s Trixie?”

Trixie galloped through the trees for only a brief time before she realized that the terrain was not made for this kind of speed. She’d easily end up tripping and breaking a leg if she tried to keep up this pace. It was vexing, though, given that her quarry was moving so fast that within a minute inside the dense thickets, Trixie had lost sight of the black cloaked figure.

“Must know this forest well, to move so easily in it,” Trixie breathed to herself, “But I shall not be deterred! You may be fast, but I’m smart. Oh, and magic.”

She began to weave a spell through her horn, bringing her magic sight back into play. Even if the pony wasn’t casting that enchantment anymore there should still be a residual trail to follow. Ahah! There, just faint enough to be seen, a glittering white trail of magical aura. Trixie shook her head as fatigue threatened to overtake her, but she began to steadfastly follow the trail. A current of worry washed through her, now that she wasn’t galloping off in a rush. Were Cheerilee and Raindrops okay? Well, they were both mares far more physically able than she was, and had been handling the basilisk well enough last she’d seen…but an image of either, or both of her friends as glorified garden ornaments flashed through her mind. And what of the ponies of Oaton? Were they okay?

If you worry about it you’ll lose your focus, Trixie. Concentrate. This may be your only chance to track down the culprit in all of this!

Minutes stretched by, slow and agonizing as her legs, fed up with Trixie’s silly continuous use of them, began to make their pain known in earnest to her. She focused past it, forcing herself to put one hoof before the other. Heroes didn’t tire. Heroes didn’t stop. They got the…job…she shook her head fiercely. Had she almost fallen asleep on her hooves?

Suddenly a wind passed through the dense trees of the forest, chilling Trixie to the bone, and carrying with it a…sound. Like the whispering of many voices, coursing through the leaves. She paused, unable to quite make any of it out, but it sent a cold feeling into her worse than the wind itself. Instinctively she pulled her cape closer around herself and channeled an invisibility spell without dropping her magic sight. It was an additional strain on her, but she suddenly felt much better, being unseen.

As she trudged on the wind only got worse, as did the whispering. Every now and again she thought she was able to make out words, but even when she did they were nonsensical, as if another language. It was starting to affect her head as badly as her fatigue. Once or twice she lost sight of the smoky trail of magic she was following, but she was not going to lose sight of it. She refused.

At length she came upon a clearing, one that was a few dozen yards across and oblong. Here high untamed grasses grew in thick clumps around a small hillock in the north end of the clearing, one that held the entrance to a cave. There, Trixie felt with a certainty, was something wrong with that cave. The shape of its mouth didn’t seem right, as if it was carved rather than naturally formed. She didn’t look at the cave for long though because she felt the ground tremble suddenly, and watched wide eyes as the basilisk marched from another edge of the clearing and entered it.

The creature looked battered and angry. It came to the center of the clearing and raised its head, making a loud trilling noise. Trixie hunkered down behind a bush, even though she knew she was still invisible. What if this thing could hunt by scent though?

Another trilling call answered the first, and Trixie’s eyes went even wide as a second and larger basilisk poked its head out of the cave. Walking next to this larger basilisk was the cloaked pony, with her hood pulled back. Trixie blinked. Cheerilee was right, in the dark lighting Tarnished Copper Coin’s sea blue coat and crème mane could easily be mistaken for Trixie’s own coloring.

Tarnished looked as tired as Trixie felt, her mane a frizzy, tangled mess, her violet eyes carrying dark circles under them. She smiled at the smaller basilisk and approached it, putting out a hoof. The basilisk lowered its head and let her pet it on the bridge of its snout and Trixie heard Tarnished speak, her voice a soft chime, but somehow cracked and strained.

“There, there, it’s okay. I don’t mind that you couldn’t bring her to me. I forgive you. I’ll just have to find another way to meet her...now go, rest with your mate. I’ll need you again soon.”

The smaller basilisk made a small rumbling sound that reminded Trixie of a very loud purr as it moved off to the cave mouth, nuzzling with the bigger basilisk before both vanished inside. Trixie debated on her next move. Should she try to take Tarnished now? With two basilisks nearby, apparently at Tarnished’s command, Trixie suddenly wasn’t enjoying her odds. But that was if she tried a straight fight. Not at all Trixie’s style. If she could surprise Tarnished with a sleeping spell she might be able to drag the other mare away without the basilisk’s noticing?

“What are you waiting for?”

Trixie froze. Tarnished had spoken, though she wasn’t looking Trixie’s way. Instead she was looking about at nothing in particular, though her expression was…not friendly.

“You’re here for me, right? Trying to make me go back, send me to a place far away from my real friends? You’re with her, aren’t you!? I know. I know what she’s here for. She’s here for my brother, not me! But you, you just want to hurt me don’t you, send me somewhere bad. Why wait? Come on out, you can meet all of my friends!”

The wind had been slow a moment ago, but it kicked up, sharper and colder than before, and the whispering was back, a dozen times over. The whispering voices felt like they were trying to claw at Trixie’s ears and she forced herself to ignore it. Tarnished was looking around, face screwed up in a mixture of rage and fear. It was clear though, she didn’t know where Trixie was, just that Trixie was there. Trixie wondered how-

“Show yourself! You can hide your form but you can’t hid your smell!”

Trixie blanched. Then experimentally sniffed herself. Okay, so it had been a long day, involved a lot of walking and running, and she hadn’t had time to take a bath or shower. Still, did the crazy cave pony have to blatantly insult her like that?

Tarnished glared around at the forest, then blew out an incensed snort, “Don’t want to come out? That’s fine. I’ll have one of my friend’s drag you out.”

Tarnished’s horn lit up with a white glow, and once again Trixie noted how erratic the magical aura looked. The aura flickered with twists and sharp spiky protrusions, very unlike the normal gentle wavy appearance of most magical aura’s. Trixie also thought she saw a little discoloration in the white, like small snippets of green, black, violet, and every other sickly shade. They’d appear for a second and be gone just as fast, but it was fairly clear there was something wrong with this pony’s magic.

Magic she was using to send white tendrils into the cave, which was accompanied by the familiar growling of a basilisk. Trixie might not have been an animal expert but if Tarnished could smell her she was pretty sure the basilisk wasn’t going to have trouble with that.

It was galling to admit to herself, but it looked like her only choice was to retreat back to Oaton.

”Trixie? Can you hear me?

It was Raindrops voice, speaking straight into Trixie’s ear where the small magic silver clasp was. Trixie started a bit upon hearing it, and quickly put a hoof to the clasp as she began to slowly back up into the deeper forest. The basilisk was emerging, under the sway of Tarnished’s spell, and was already sorting at the air.

“Yes,” Trixie whispered, “Hearing you quite clear. Glad to know you’re okay, but really can’t talk right now, kind of needing to run. Much easier with all four hooves, as it happens.”

”Run? Trixie, where are you? What’s happening!?”

Raindrops sounded a little panicked. Trixie suddenly felt rather foolish, having run off on her own like this. She’d been so fixated on catching Tarnished she hadn’t just stopped and thought that if she’d waited and helped deal with the basilisk then she could have still probably followed the magical aura, and had her friends next to her right now.

“Just, um, a slight miscalculation on my part. I’m in the forest, um…I think a mile or so east of Oaton? Don’t really know for sure,” the basilisk’s nostrils flared as it seemed to pick up her trail and its face turned towards her, “Right gotta run now. See you soon. Hopefully!”

”Hopefully? Trixie! Just, just hang on, I’m on my way!”

Trixie would have responded but now she was too busy turning and galloping away full tilt through the forest as the basilisk roared and began to chase after her, pausing only long enough for Tarnished to climb onto its back.

“I know,” called out Tarnished, “I bet if I have you then she’ll come to me on her own! And then, and then I’ll settle everything! I thought she didn’t want friends, but she lied to me! She made more friends after tossing me aside like garbage! Now she’s got friends like you instead of me!? Why!? Wasn’t I good enough!?”

Trixie decided not to get drawn into a banter session with the clearly unhinged pony. She sincerely hoped the rest of Cheerilee’s old friends were a lot more solid and less prone to crazy like these Copper Coins were. It suddenly made a lot more sense to her though, why Shiny wanted to get his sister back without the authorities getting involved. There would be a serious scandal if it got out that one of the Copper Coins was a borderline madpony. Not family ruining, but bad enough that it’d make political life in the Night Court rough, a sort of stigma that could be used against them.

…Trixie found herself frowning and berating herself. It was also quite possible that Shiny just wanted his sister back because of, you know, affection. Like siblings were supposed to have. He probably didn’t want her being locked away anywhere. He wanted to help her personally.

Trixie tripped over a root and faceplanted in the grass.

Right, think later, running now.

She got to her hooves and resumed her gallop, but her little fall had given the basilisk the chance to close the distance on her. Tarnished was laughing now, seemingly enjoying the ride. Trixie was still invisible, so while the basilisk could track her general location by scent, it wasn’t able to target her directly. Trixie heard claws slashing at trees behind her, the snap of jaws hooflengths away from her hindquarters. Always close, never quite reaching her. Her lungs burned from the scorching cold air, her legs were trembling from overwork, and the freezing winds blasted by her ears with the howling of all the monsters of Tartarus.

“Just quit running and give up,” cooed Tarnished, “If you do I won’t even do anything to you. I just want you for bait. Yes, nice, tasty bait for Cheerilee. I just want to talk to her! Maybe hurt her a little bit for treating our friendship like something disposable. But not much! Just a little sharing of my pain. It’s that part of friendship, sharing!?”

“Oh for Luna’s moon will you stop complaining!?” Trixie blurted without thinking, fed up with what she was hearing, “Way I heard it was you acted like a spoiled foal and ran away from home because your friend wanted to take the time to pursue a career! How does that count as abandoning you, you moron!?”

“Moron? I’m not the one who just gave away her position!”

Trixie had a second to contemplate that, yes, indeed she probably should have just kept her mouth shut and kept running, before a basilisk claw tripped her and she went sprawling, tumbling end over end until she ended up on her back, facing up at the menacing form of the giant lizard. Tarnished was now standing on its head, gazing down at her. Trixie realized she’d lost her concentration on her invisibility spell and was now in plain view. The basilisk lowered its head towards her and Tarnished leaned down with it, a triumphant smile on her otherwise tired and somewhat crazed features.

The wind churned through the trees, those discordant whispers echoing over the scene like the patrons at a theater murmuring over the climax of a performance. As the wind moved the branches Trixie saw a break in them, saw up into the night sky above…and saw a jasmine form sailing pass.

“Gotcha,” Tarnished said, with a poorly done mocking imitation of Trixie’s voice.

Trixie smiled , and her horn lit up, “Not quite.”

Fireworks shot up into the air, exploding in front of Tarnished, and further up into the sky, detonating in brilliant green and violet flashes above the treeline. The basilisk reeled from the light show, and Tarnished fell off the head with a little yelp. Trixie was too tired to even get up, but kept up her magic, sending more fireworks up into the sky as she put a hoof to the ear clasp.

“Here I am…could use a lift…”

Just as the basilisk was recover and Tarnished was getting to her hooves, a jasmine bolt smashed through the tops layers of the forest like the branches weren’t even there and landed with a solid thud on the wet forest earth.

Raindrops didn’t waste a second. She scooped Trixie up and threw the unicorn onto her back and with slow, mighty flaps of her wings powered up through the dense forest canopy. Tarnished yelled in wordless rage, the basilisk roared and took a swipe, but Raindrops was already too high, breaking through the tops of the trees and into the open sky.

A few minutes passed of just silent flying before Raindrops looked back at Trixie, concern and relief on her features with equal measure.

“You okay?”

“Yes…” Trixie was finding it hard to even talk, “Just…you know…a little tired.”

Raindrops smiled ruefully, shaking her head, “You keep pulling stunts like what you did and you and I are going to have words.”

Trixie was too tired to argue, wasn’t even sure she would, “I…will admit I perhaps didn’t think my actions through all that well. Wasn’t a total waste however. I did discover more or less with this Tarnished mare is hiding. May be something we can use to get leverage with Count Shiny. Though there are some added complications.”

“More complications,” Raindrops didn’t sound surprised, “Seems to be the status quo around here. What’s up?”

“Two basilisks, for starters,” Trixie said and felt Raindrops tense beneath her, “One bigger than the other. Don’t know what that means, maybe Cheerilee will know. Next,*yawn*, there’s definitely something…affecting Tarnished. I heard whispers in that forest that I know aren’t natural. Her magic was strange too. I don’t think her not being ‘all there’ is at least partially due to an outside influence.”

“What kind if influence?” Raindrops asked, tone a little unnerved, “Whispers in the forest doesn’t sound all that healthy to me, yeah, but what do you think it is.”

“Not sure. Not sure it even matters at this point. We just have to get the Copper Coins to leave Oaton alone…” Trixie yawned again “…what time is it…?”

“Left my clock at home,” Raindrops said with a small laugh, “But by the moon’s position, I’d guess a little after midnight?”

“Four hours until…shipment shows at that place…gotta go there and find out…” Trixie was having trouble finishing a full thought, let alone a full sentence.

“You let me and Cheerilee worry about that. You’re going to sleep the second we get back,” Raindrops glared at Trixie when the unicorn looked like she was about to protest, “Not. A .Word.”

Trixie lowered her head, carefully keeping her hooves wrapped around Raindrops, even though the pegasus was remarkably good at flying steady to the point where Trixie was oddly comfortable just sort of lounging on her friend’s back. She was too tired to even feel embarrassed about the close contact, which she usually wasn’t comfortable with. Then a thought struck her through the foggy cloud her mind was becoming.

“Oaton…everypony…alright?”

Raindrops silence at the question cut right through Trixie’s exhaustion and made her stomach drop.

Trixie unsteadily got off of Raindrops when the pegasus landed and took a few hasty steps before almost falling. Raindrops was there to catch her, and Cheerilee was approaching them quickly from a crowd of Oaton ponies, one of them Mayor Sheaf.

“Trixie, you look terrible,” Cheerilee said, then frowned, “Sorry, that came out rather blunt didn’t it? What happened?”

“Yes, why did you suddenly run away?” asked Sheaf, tone cool, eyes accusing.

Trixie waved a hoof, “Cloaked pony. Controlling basilisk. Chased. Tried to catch. Didn’t go well. Where’re my saddlebags?”

“What?” Sheaf cocked his head, “You flee the fight, my wife gets turned to stone and you want your saddlebags!?”

Trixie lolled her head to the side, giving Sheaf a level look that was somewhat ruined by her nearly falling over, “Saddlebags. Yes, those. Sorry about Picturesque. Spellbook in saddlebags, learn spell to fix problem... Saddlebags now please!”

“Trixie, I said you need sleep,” warned Raindrops.

“Yes. Yes sleep is good. Will get sleep. Just want to get spellbook out, find right spell…*yawn* study it…a little.”

She felt she had to at least get started on the de-petrification spell. She’d said she’d protect Oaton, and she was not only feeling tired, she was feeling a hollow, sinking guilt. All those words she’d spoken upon first arriving, claiming herself as some grand defender of justice who would surely save the town…they were echoing so hollow in her mind now. But she wasn’t giving up! She just had to…keep going…

The world felt like it was swimming. She tried to shake her head to clear the feeling but that only made it worse. She saw the ponyfolk of Oaton looking at her. So many faces, filled with emotions she didn’t want to see. Ponies who’d seemed so jubilant before, celebrating the return of their hero, were now looking at her with expressions of shock, in some cases concern and worry, others looking almost…betrayed. They were the looks of an audience who’d realized what the illusion was all along.

Then, through the crowd, Trixie saw Picturesque, the petrified mare still in a position on her haunches, arms wrapped around the air as if she’d been protectively hugging something. Next to the statue was a familiar hat. Her hat. She idly wondered what it was doing there.

“Is Bushel…okay…?” she found herself asking, but she was hearing her own voice as if from a great distance.

Sheaf was suddenly there, looking at her, his expression guarded but his eyes no longer cold, but wide as if finally seeing something for the first time.

“She’s resting. I’m starting to agree with your friend, you need too as well.”

“No…soon…just need…to…” Trixie tried to walk past Sheaf but firm hooves were grabbing her.

Cheerilee, Raindrops, they were on either side of her, supporting her. Sheaf was saying something to his ponies, the Oaton folk listening to him, but Trixie couldn’t hear the words.

She tried to walk on her own, after all a hero ought to do that much…but her legs were not responding to her anymore and her friends were being silly and carrying her now anyway.

Trixie fell into dreamless sleep before her friends even managed to carry her to the guest room.

Trixie woke up to sunlight on her face, which she tried to bat away in annoyance. However random hoof flailing doesn’t do much against sunlight so she soon gave up that particular plan and instead used the much more effective blanket as a shield. She curled up tighter in the bed and took a deep sighing breath…

…Then snapped awake and threw the covers up, nearly springing out of the bed. In so doing she almost bowled over Raindrops, who’d been sleeping head down on the bed but sitting on her haunches next to it. The pegasus awoke with a lazy shake of her head and then blinked at Trixie.

“What time is it!?” Trixie asked, scrambling to the window, looking out, “Blast! It’s late morning! Why did you let me sleep so long!?”

“Trixie, calm down!” Raindrops said, “You needed the rest.”

“I know I needed it, but I can’t afford it! What about the shipment last night!? We missed it!”

“You missed it. Me and Cheerilee didn’t,” said Raindrops and came around the bed, walking up next to Trixie, “Now will you calm down?”

Trixie took a deep breath and tried to do just that. Then her eyes slid to the bed post where she saw her cape hanging, and next to it, her hat. She remembered last night, the fight with the basilisk, chasing Tarnished, the return to Oaton after Raindrops rescued her. Picturesque turned to stone, and her hat left laying next to the mare. The hat she’d given to Bushel to look after.

Apparently the filly didn’t feel the need to do that anymore.

“I failed again…” she said, putting a hoof on the hat, “Told them I’d take care of everything, and this is how it’s turning out.”

“Trixie, don’t talk like that,” Raindrops said, keeping close, “You haven’t failed anything yet. Though…okay going to tell you straight, this would’ve been a lot easier if you’d just come out and told Oaton the truth from the start.”

“…Yeah…”

“And right now I think the thing you need to do is come out with the truth. Tell them who we really are. That we’re not powerful Night Court members or the like, that we’re just three simple ponies who want to help them. They need to know the real Trixie, not the Great and Powerful Trixie, not the Night’s Justice…the real Trixie, Element of Magic, Representative of the Night Court of Luna in Ponyville. No more. No less.”

“But…what it’ll break their confidence in us. What if they hate me for…boasting?”

“Trixie, they’re already worried and doubting. Most of them are worried for you, though, not about you! They all saw what condition you were in last night. They saw what lengths you pushed yourself through to try and catch the pony responsible for attacking their town. Trust them, Trixie, and tell the truth. Me and Cheerilee will be right there next to you.”

Trixie held up the hat, looking at it curiously, “And what is the truth Raindrops? I’m not even sure what it is anymore. Am I the hero they sing about, or just a fraud that’s gotten in over her head?”

She felt a hoof smack her lightly upside the head.

“Ow! Hey, what was that for!?” Trixie said, rubbing her head and giving Raindrops a little glare.

“Because you’re being foalish. Doesn’t matter if you’re a hero or not. You came here to help Oaton, right?”

“Yes, that was the idea.”

“Then what else matters? Tell them that. Then, whether they accept you or not, accept that. Then you, me, and Cheerilee…we’re going to finish this, smash right through all the lies and mystery surrounding this whole mess and sort things out. That’s what we came here to do. That’s the truth.”

Trixie paused a moment…then slowly smiled. She put her hat on and adjusted it with a hoof until it sat just right. She then levitated on her cape with a flourish. She then gave Raindrops a grateful look.

“Thanks Raindrops. I think I’ll…I’ll be okay now. I need to talk with the ponies of Oaton. First though, spellbook!”

She found her saddlebags tucked next to her bed and levitated out the spellbook she’d brought with the de-petrification spell in it. It was one of the many books she’d recovered from Twilight Sparkle’s cart months back, and while Trixie was not very good at learning magic from the kind of esoteric writings to be found in these kinds of books, she was oddly grateful for the purple unicorn’s vast collection of books. It was affording Trixie a chance to really branch out with her magic, and in this case it was good fortune there had been a book that had a spell needed to reverse a basilisk’s stare. The basilisk’s ability to turn living things to stone was, fundamentally, an innate magical spell in and of itself. Reversing it shouldn’t be too complicated.

As she and Raindrops trotted out, Trixie already glancing at the spell in question as she levitated the book next to her, she spotted Bushel curled up on the living room couch down the hallway. The filly was sleeping, and from the look of her had been crying most the night. The sight put a stab of deeper guilt in Trixie, but also ignited a stronger sense of determination. She had to make this up to the filly. She’d restore Bushel’s mother and the other ponies turned to stone. Trixie paused by the sleeping filly, noticing that she seemed…paler than normal.

“Was Bushel hurt last night during the fight?” Trixie asked.

“I don’t think so. I managed to push her out of the way of harm, then her mother shielded her from the basilisk’s stare…although…”

“Although?”

“Happened so fast I thought I’d imagined it, but before Picturesque came in to protect her I thought the basilisk had Bushel, thought I saw it stare right at her. Weird thing, she didn’t start turning to stone, she just sort of…well I thought I saw her forehead glow for a second.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow and Raindrops shrugged, “Like I said, it happened really fast, though maybe I’d just been seeing things.”

Trixie glanced down at Bushel; concern welling up in her as she slowly reached out a hoof to strike the filly’s mane, but then retracted it. No reason to chance waking her. The filly’s pale features could just be attributed to the night she’d had, seeing her mother turned to stone before her. It was also possible that Raindrops had merely been seeing things. In the middle of that kind of situation it’d e easy to think you saw something amid all the confusion. Still, something was nagging at her mind. Now that she was rested she was thinking much more clearly…and something Bushel had said the previous night.

“Magic hat…” Trixie said.

“Huh?” Raindrops gave Trixie a confused look.

“She called my hat magic, last night. I don’t think I ever told her it actually was magic though, so how did she know it was?”

“She’s a foal, Trixie, one that hero worships you. She probably just assumed.”

Trixie frowned. Was that all it was? It made sense but…something was still bothering her. She shook the feeling off, “I suppose so. Cheerilee is downstairs?”

“Yes, we were waiting for you to wake up so we could eat, then bring you up to speed on what we saw last night.”

Downstairs the tavern area of the building wasn’t empty. There were a few Oaton ponies gathered around, many of them giving Trixie various looks as she came down the stairs. Some of those look were relieved, but many were guarded, a few looking worried. Mayor Sheaf was behind the bar, seeming to nurse his own drink as much as he was serving them out, and he looked up at her as well as she and Raindrops entered.

“Mayor Sheaf,” Trixie said, with an oddly formal tone, “Could you please gather your ponies? I need to talk with everypony, about something very important…say out in the center of town in half an hour, so I can eat and confer with my friends?”

Sheaf was silent a moment, then nodded solemnly, as if he knew what Trixie intended to do, “Fair enough. I’ll go spread the word.”

As the mayor left Trixie and Raindrops joined Cheerilee at one of the center tables. The remaining Oaton ponyfolk were still looking at them and Trixie gave what she hope was an encouraging smile, but couldn’t tell how well it went over. Only one of them, Potato Sack she recognize, returned the smile.

“Well, you’re looking much better after some shuteye,” said Cheerilee, pushing a plate towards Trixie, “Saved a hay and oats sandwich for you. Mug of ale too.”

Trixie accepted the food and drink gratefully and between bites asked, “You and Raindrops went to that meeting point last night? When did you two sleep?”

“We managed some hours before morning came,” said Raindrops, stretching her wings, “Unlike you we’d gotten sleep the night before last too. Had more to push ourselves with.”

“Now, as to what we found…unfortunately not much,” said Cheerilee with a sigh.

“What do you mean ‘not much’?” Trixie asked incredulously, “I thought you said you were fairly certain the shipment would be animals being illegally smuggled?”

“And I still am,” said Cheerilee, “It s just that the ponies doing this shipment were being very careful. Big wagons, covered in canvas, with quiet, smooth transfers of wrapped boxes being moved into the lumber camp. The entire affair was heavily guarded, both by Copper Coin guards and other ponies, and they worked like clockwork to get the wagons unloaded quickly. Me and Raindrops watched, and I tried to get a little closer to the action, but even then all I could tell was that a lot of the crates had a distinct smells. They can hide the animals, but not the scents they give off. My guess is that Shiny’s going to hold the animals in the camp for a night…giving us a window of opportunity to sneak back in and collect hard evidence of what he’s doing.”

“Any idea why he’s doing this, though?” asked Raindrops, “I mean the way you told it he’s all about getting his sister back, so what’s with the animal smuggling?”

Trixie frowned, thinking, then offered “Bait. Tarnished, she seemed very…in tune, I guess, with the basilisks.”

Cheerilee nodded, “She was always good with animals. Saved us a lot of trouble with guard dogs back in the day.”

Trixie grimaced, “Never was fond of guard dogs myself. Anyway, maybe Shiny’s expecting Tarnished to attack the lumber camp again?”

Something clicked in her head, “Probably the same reason she attacked the camp a year ago! I’m willing to bet Sawblade was trying something similar to this. That note you found in the office suggests as much anyway.”

Cheerilee nodded, “Makes sense…so that means sometime tonight Tarnished might attack the lumber camp?”

“Or send the basilisks to do it.”

“Basilisks?” Cheerilee asked.

“Oh, right, still need to tell you that. There are two basilisks. The one we fought here in Oaton was the smaller of the two. Tarnished has them holed up in some creepy cave in the forest. “

Cheerilee made a small ‘hmm’ noise as she thought, “Two basilisks…the smaller one, it must be the male. That would explain it’s more aggressive behavior if the other is a female and they’re…”

“Cheerilee?” Trixie was wondering what the magenta mare was thinking of.

“Hm, I’ll have to double check my reference material. Want to be sure. Don’t worry about it Trixie, I’m just bouncing a thought around in my head, but it’s probably a minor point right now. So, you found Tarnished. Did you speak with her?”

Trixie made a face, remembering the crazy mare’s ranting, “Wouldn’t have really called it a conversation. She’s really, really unhealthily fixated on you Cheerilee. She’s as likely to come after you again as go after the lumber camp.”

Cheerilee’s expression became more somber, looking down at the table, “That’s probably why Shiny was so upset to see me. He knew Tarnished would target me.”

She took in a deep breath, then put on a bright smile, “Been a long time since I lectured anypony that wasn’t a foal, but you better believe Tarnished is going to get the talking to a lifetime! Really, sending basilisks into a peaceful farm community like this. It’s time that mare grew up.”

“What’s our move then?” asked Raindrops, “Do you have a plan Trixie.”

Trixie had been thinking on that very then and managed a confident smile, “Of course! I suspect Sawdust knows a lot more than he’s letting on, and Shiny’s made the mistake of leaving a lot of his plans exposed in that office. I’m going to sneak in there and find proof we can use to force the Copper Coins to abandon the Lumber Guild, or face a full investigation.”

“You know I’ve been wondering why you don’t just contact the Princess about what’s going on here…by this point wouldn’t the situation kind of warrant it?” asked Raindrops.

“No. Problem is all we have at this point is our word on what we’ve seen, which while Princess Luna might listen to, the Night Court itself operates on the need for solid evidence to instigate a proper investigation. Like proven fake permits, which is what caused a formal investigation last year. I don’t doubt the permits are real this time, given the Copper Coins themselves are behind this affair. What we need is stamped documentation, which Shiny probably is too smart to leave behind, or a record of the animals they’re keeping captive. A ledger of illicit payments would be nice too…either way I’ll find something while looking for Sawdust.”

“Be careful around him,” Raindrops said, “Something about that pony really sets off warning signals in me.”

A deep frown crossed Raindrops’ features then as she leaned forward at Trixie, “So I notice this plan so far just involves you doing some incredibly dangerous sneaking about. What about me and Cheerilee?”

“Shiny is trying to capture his sister. So, logically, we capture her first, we have a leg up on him,” said Trixie, putting her forehooves on the table and leveraging herself up, looking far more energetic now that she’d had some food and a bit of a drink to get her mind lubricated, “Since we can’t guarantee where she and her basilisk’s will strike, I want to make sure Oaton is safe. So Cheerilee, I want you to go to the lumber camp and try to talk to Shiny again. See if you can convince him to work with us in catching Tarnished.”

“I don’t think he’ll go for it. He doesn’t trust you Trixie.”

“I know, but it isn’t important if he agrees or not, just that you’re there at the lumber camp and you at least get Shiny to let you stay there for the night.”

Cheerilee’s eyebrow shot up and Trixie blushed and coughed, “Not like that. I just mean you need to be there, and Tarnished needs to know you’re there. That way she’ll be all but guaranteed to attack the place, and not here at Oaton. I figure you’ll know best how to get Shiny to let you stay. Hm, why not tell him that me and Raindrops agreed to return to Ponyville, if we let you stay to handle things?”

“He might buy that. Aren’t we just taking the danger to Oaton, though, and shoving it on the Lumber Guild? Most of those ponies are just doing a job, after all.”

“I know, but I’m betting on Raindrops on that count,” said Trixie.

“So we get to my part in all this,” said Raindrops, looking eager, “What’s my play?”

“Whether or not I’ve found the evidence I’m looking for, when the basilisk attacks I’m going to head for that area and use my magic sight to track Tarnished’s control spell. When I’ve found her location I’ll contact you with the ear piece,” she tapped her hoof at the silver clasp on her ear, “You’ll already be in the air by that point. Just use a cloud to hide yourself until the right time. Then drop on Tarnished and…do what you do best. Just knock her out. That should break her control on the basilisk. Then I can take control.”

“You?”

Trixie nodded, “I got a pretty good look at the spell. Its high level enchantment, might be difficult. I’m going to spend a lot of today practicing it, but I’m certain I can duplicate the spell. Once I take control of the basilisk I can send it back to the forest. We’ll have Tarnished, and then we can start negotiating with Shiny for his family leaving Oaton alone in exchange for his sister. Sound like a plan?”

Her two friends exchanged glances before Cheerilee said, “I’ve heard worse. A lot of things can go wrong with it, but as any military history text will say ‘no plan survives contact with the enemy’. I believe that was General Skybreaker from the Pegasi-Unicorn Tribal Conflict of 108 BE.”

At the look from her friends Cheerilee chuckled, “What? I’m a schoolteacher. Equestria doesn’t have much military history, true, but the Before Equestria era had a lot of conflicts of great interest, especially conflicts between pegasi and unicorns, who vied for a lot of control of mountain territory now under control of the Griffin Kingdoms, though back in that time period the economic dynamics between the tribes created and almost tradition of skirmish warfare to settle trade disputes-“

“Cheerilee, some other time. Please?”

“Fine Trixie, but an uneducated mind is a unfulfilled one,” said Cheerilee, waggling a hoof at her.

A cough next to them drew the three’s attention to Mayor Sheaf, who had returned. Trixie noted the tavern had emptied and through the windows she could see a crowd of the gathered Oaton ponies. She felt an odd thrill and fear of unfamiliar stage jitters. She was used to crowds. When she was sure she could deliver to them a performance they’d enjoy and their attention on her would all be positive. There was no guarantee at all that the ponyfolk of Oaton were going to enjoy the next act she had in store for them; mainly because it wasn’t going to be an act.

“Everypony’s gathered, Miss Trixie,” said Sheaf, “Ready when you are.”

Trixie looked at the door, eyes a little wide, until she felt a hoof on one shoulder, and a wingtip on the other. Cheerilee was giving her a cheerful smile, Raindrops was a slightly inclined nod of encouragement.

Trixie took a deep breath, adjusted her hat, and stood, beginning a slow walk to the door, her friends by her side.

“I’m ready. Let’s go tell these ponies the truth.”

Chapter 8: Family

Chapter 8: Family

I am not ready for this… Trixie thought as she went out the door to Mayor Sheaf’s tavern and home to see the populace of Oaton gathered in the center of town waiting for her. The majority of the village’s ponies were present, though Trixie noticed the younger foals were not, probably being kept in doors for safety’s sake, in case the basilisk returned. However just about every adult pony in town was there, all eyes on her, her friends, and their mayor.

Trixie was usually very collected, even energized, in front of crowds. She was an extrovert when it came to being able to put herself on any metaphorical or literal stage. She was a pony who fed on attention like it was a sweet and tasty treat. The problem was that it had to be attention she wanted. There were plenty of kinds of unwanted attention she balked under, or felt nervous pressure under. Lustful attention, for example, universally made her uncomfortable on the grounds of ‘eww gross’.

Another great example of unwanted attention would be standing before an entire village of ponies who looked at her as a hero above reproach, and tell them that she’d essentially been lying to them and was a borderline fraud. Oh, and all of said village ponies happened to have access to sharp pointy farm instruments.

If Trixie had been alone this would’ve been the moment a well timed invisibility spell and a lot of running would’ve been called for. That or more liberal lying; which she was quite good at.

But Trixie wasn’t alone. On her right was Raindrops, the pegasus standing tall and straight next to Trixie, a simple, solid presence of strength and support. On her left was Cheerilee, an encouraging smile on her face that was only enhanced by the confidence in her eyes. Trixie took great comfort in their presence, and found herself wishing all of her friends were here. In a way, they were. Trixie felt rather certain whether it’d been Ditzy or Lyra or Carrot Top who’d ended up coming with her to Oaton, any one of them would have helped her and stood by her in their own way.

They were friends she was deathly afraid of losing. While their bonds seemed to be growing, despite her occasional misstep, Trixie continued to harbor the fear that she’d make a mistake so bad and irrevocable that those bonds would end up severed beyond salvaging. She kept that fear nice and buried, but it was always there. Part of why she’d so readily dove into the notion of playing Oaton’s hero had been to prove to herself that she was the kind of pony worth that friendship she’d been forging with the other Elements since the Longest Night festival.

Which made dropping the act of playing that hero a terrifying prospect for her, but it needed to be done. Just one look at Cheerilee and Raindrops on either side of her was enough to know that. They both had complete confidence in her. She wasn’t going to fail their confidence now. She was going to tell these ponies before her just who she really was…and what she was going to do, regardless of whether or not they accepted or forgave her for the act.

Time to drop the curtain on the performance, and clear the smoke and mirrors from the stage. No more illusions…

“Ponyfolk of Oaton,” she began, not quite as bombastically throwing her voice like she normally would, and “There are things I have to tell you, things I…owe it to you all to tell you.”

There were a few murmurs among the crowd, many of the villagers giving each other questioning side looks. They probably were noting her more serious, even somber tone, as opposed to the loud boisterous mannerisms she’d spoken with when she’d first arrived. One of the villagers, Trixie thought his name was Spit Shine, took a step forward, his eyes hesitant but hopeful.

“We’ve all been wondering, er, Lady Trixie, about the past day. Why you haven’t gotten rid of the Guild yet…and…and why you kinda seemed to run off last night when that critter was tearing things up,” he looked behind him, as if looking for approval, getting a few nods from the otherwise subdued crowd, “But you don’t gotta explain yourself to us…we trust you.”

Those words cut, even though Trixie knew that wasn’t the intent. Even in their doubts about their hero they were still trying to trust her, give her the benefit of the doubt. A small part of her even thought to grasp at that straw offered, take the easy way out and avoid having to tell the truth. She’d never really considered the ‘truth’ more than a subjective concept anyway. Mutable with the right perspectives. But no…no she’d decided to do this, so time to get it done. She swallowed her fear and addressed the crowd.

“Your trust is appreciated, more than I can say. And…and because of that trust, I need to come out with this,” she took a deep breath, now or never, “I am not entirely who I claimed to be.”

She saw confused looks spread amongst the ponies before her like an unpleasant wave. A few questioning murmurs started up but Trixie pressed on, her pace of speech increasing with her rising nervousness as the entire village’s attention became undivided and rooted on her and the air began to feel thick in her lungs.

“I, uh, well my first time here I was rather drunk and…sort of made myself out to be more than I was. Am. Er…”

Now a few voices rose louder from the crowds, ponies giving voice to the thoughts that they’d been guarding in their minds, hoping their hero would wash away the need to speak them.

“What does that mean? You are the Princess’ apprentice, right? Of course you are!” said one of the older earth ponies.

“Strictly speaking yes, but-“ Trixie tried to explain but the Oaton farmers kept right on talking.

“You saved us before though! You’re a hero! You stopped the Lumber Guild last time, you can do it again! You have to!” cried a motherly mare, starring at Trixie wide-eyed.

“I did, sort of. Look its complicated-“ Trixie began again, trying to avoid the pony’s eyes.

“You’re just kidding us right? You have to be, because you’re the same Trixie I remember seeing swagger out there last year and showed those Guild jerks all kinds of trouble!” said one of the younger stallions with confidence, though it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

“Look I am Trixie, I’m just not-“ Trixie once again tried to say, feeling her heart rate increasing with her nerves and frustration.

“Of course she’s kidding with us you dolt. She’s just trying to be modest, cause she pushed herself last night and got a little tuckered out. Ain’t that right, Lady Trixie?” said Spit Shine.

“If you’d let me finish-“

“But why’d didn’t she just zap that big lizard before Picturesque got hurt? I figured you were just trying to be nice to the thing, but…is it really because you couldn’t?” asked Potato Sack, looking thoughtful, and he didn’t like the thoughts he was having.

“That’s because-“

“I’m sure it was just part of some amazing plan she had. You’ll see!” said a young mare, who was still looking at Trixie with admiration rather than the growing doubts of the others around her. That look hurt even more than the ones now looking at her with doubt.

“Enough!” Sheaf roared, the broad unicorn taking several steps forward so he was no longer hanging out behind Trixie but instead was facing his village directly, giving them a stern look, “You all quiet down and let her finish what she has to say. Don’t want to hear any more interruptions. Once she’s said her piece, then you can waggle your tongues all you want.”

The ponies of Oaton did as the mayor bade, though Trixie was good enough at reading a crowd to tell the tension among them was high. They wanted to believe in her, and she knew that her next words could easily deflate that faith. Her legs were feeling weak and she was starting to breathe fast. A small brush of a wingtip on her shoulder caused a brief glance at Raindrops. It wasn’t the first time her friend had offered the supporting gesture, and before Raindrops could withdraw the wing Trixie gave her friend a small smile, letting her know she didn’t mind. Personal space aside, she welcomed the gesture. At this point she needed all the support she could get.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” she began again, trying to steady her voice, “So I’ll just…say it plainly. Yes, my name is Trixie Lulamoon. I was here one year ago, and got caught up the affair between your village and the Lumber Guild. But I claimed to be more than I was. I claimed to be a great and powerful unicorn and influential member of Princess Luna’s Night Court. This was…a lie. As far as magic goes I’m…above average.”

She didn’t really like admitting that, but even Trixie in her deepest bouts of egotism knew her talents in magic, while extensive, were still limited in scope and overall power.

“I’m skilled, but no more. For now. Working on the Great and Powerful part and have gotten quite good at illusions if I do say so myself-“a soft elbow from Raindrops, “Er, yes, anyway… as for the Night Court I, uh, I’m merely the Representative assigned to Ponyville. I have no real title and next to zero influence. Back then I didn’t even have that small title; I was just Princess Luna’s apprentice. That in and of itself gives me no power. The Princess grants me no special favor because I’m her student. I’m hardly her right hoof mare. My saving of Oaton last year was the result of chance and circumstance, and me being very, very drunk.”

She paused briefly to take a few calming breaths. The crowd of ponies before her was silent, and for the most part their expressions were about what she’d expected; stunned, disbelieving, and yes, disappointed, a few even angry. The look of ponies who were having the magic of the illusion pulled away and seeing the trick for what it was. Trixie closed her eyes briefly before continuing. No point stopping now, even though the urge to turn herself invisible was stronger than ever.

“I perpetuated the lie of my power yesterday when I came here to Oaton. I could offer any number of excuses why. None of them matter. It is the reason, however, that I haven’t just removed the Lumber Guild or the Copper Coin family. Because I can’t, not just by walking up and telling them to leave. I don’t’ have that kind of authority. To get them to stop I need hard evidence of then committing a crime. Without that, I can’t stop them from damming your river. I and my friends have been looking for such evidence, but we need more time. The basilisk attack…I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop it sooner, that I didn’t have the kind of magic I made myself out to have. Those of you who saw me gallop away like I did; it was because I was chasing the pony who was controlling the basilisk.”

That got a rather immediate response of angry murmurs and louder outbursts, none of which were directed at her so much at the notion of somepony controlling the basilisk and intentionally setting it on their village. Trixie had briefly debated whether to tell that part of the story, but she felt she needed to explain what she did, so they didn’t think she just ran away. Sheaf once again silenced the crowd and nodded for her to go on.

“I chased this pony into the forest, but wasn’t able to capture them. In fact I barely managed to escape being turned to stone myself if not for my friend’s help,” she nodded at Raindrops, “Which brings us to what happens now. I…don’t really expect forgiveness for lying to you about who I am, but not everything I said was a lie. I am a bearer for the Element of Magic, as each of my friends also bear an Element of Harmony. There’s no authority or power that comes with that, but safeguarding Equestria from threats seems to come with the territory. More than that though, I’m here to help Oaton because one of your own, a young filly with a lot of courage in her, came to my doorstep asking for help. I still fully intend to make good on my word to her. My friends and I will protect your village. That is the truth.”

The next words she said were just a soft whisper, “If you still want us here that is…”

So there it was, all out, that silly little thing she generally tried to avoid except under dire circumstances; the truth.

It felt oddly good, now that it was done with. She felt lighter, which was nice because her hooves were still shaking a little. She’d had enough collapsing in front of ponies for one week. One lifetime, actually. In fact Trixie was making a mental amendment to avoid exhausting herself to personal collapse from here on. A rather traitorous part of her mind was taking bets on how long that would last.

She waited. Waited for the angry shouts, and cries of betrayal and condemnation. Instead what she got was silence. She looked out across the numerous faces of ponies who, just the other day, had surrounded her with expressions of jubilant and utter joy at their hero’s return, and now saw a kaleidoscope of apprehension, concern, disappointment…and fear.

The ponies of Oaton weren’t angry. They were afraid. Because yesterday they felt they had a chance, that they had a hero to look out for them. Now, Trixie could tell, they were wondering if they had any hope at all. Trixie thought she would have preferred they get angry at her, that they ranted and railed at her for lying to them. Seeing this dejection and despair in ponies who had been so lively and joyful just the other day was a punch straight to the gut for the showmare.

“So…” said Potato Sack, clearly trying to force some shred of enthusiasm into his voice as looked about at his fellow villagers, “Can’t say if I speak for everypony here. I, uh, kinda am feeling a little lost here. But basically you’re still planning to help us out, right?”

“That’s what she said,” spoke up Mayor Sheaf before Trixie could respond, and she found herself giving him a surprised look as the mayor spoke loudly for everypony to hear, “We’re far from done, and we ain’t laying down for the Lumber Guild or their ‘noble’ leash holders! Our food stores aren’t empty yet, and our window for planting isn’t gone yet either! So that means we still got a chance!”

Though Sheaf was throwing a lot of confidence into his voice and there was no lack of fire in it Trixie noted the ponies of Oaton still looked unconvinced, still wavering with fear and doubt. She couldn’t let that stand. If the ponies of Oaton needed to have their hope rekindled she’d do exactly that! She had to give them something, some kind of sign that, even if she wasn’t the hero they thought she was, she could still help them.

“I may not be everything you thought I was, but neither I nor my friends are giving up! We do have a plan that may well give us a chance. Before that, though I intend to restore the ponies that were turned to stone!”

“Can you do that?” asked one of the Oaton ponies, a younger brown mare, “You…you just admitted you’re not…powerful.”

“Maybe not powerful,” put in Cheerilee suddenly, “But quite a bit more talented than most I’ve ever met when it comes to learning magic. She’ll have them fixed up, don’t you doubt.”

“Um…so are you really just a schoolteacher then?” asked Spit Shine, “Not a Royal Guard or anything?”

Cheerilee laughed lightly, waving a hoof, “Of course I’m a schoolteacher. I just wasn’t always a schoolteacher.”

“And…she’s not a Shadowbolt?” asked another pony, pointing at Raindrops.

The jasmine pegasus rolled her eyes, “Never said I was.”

“But I saw you last night! You did this weird flipping thing with a kick and were all like ‘waataaah!’ in the basilisk's face!”

“I know a little Iron Hoof, that’s it. I’m just a weather pony.”

“But-“

“Just. A. Weather. Pony,” Raindrops said in no uncertain tone or terms.

“To answer the original question,” said Trixie, her heart rate getting back to something resembling normal now that she had something positive to focus on, “I believe I can counter the petrification. I just need to study to spell and practice it. I should have your fellow villagers back to normal by this evening.”

“What are you going to do then?” asked Potato Sack, his face still echoing the distraught lack of certainty that seemed to be blanketing the Oaton residents, looks that Trixie desperately wanted to somehow wipe away, “You just said you can’t just get rid of the Lumber Guild.”

“And who is the cursed rat of a pony that set that monster on our homes!?” cried another.

Trixie was hesitant to get specific on Tarnished’s identity. The last thing she needed was for these ponies to it in their heads to try and go after Tarnished themselves. Not only was Trixie far from certain that Tarnished was in control of her own actions, it also wouldn’t serve the cause of resolving this matter to have Count Shiny’s sister get caught by a bunch of angry and scared farmpoines. Trixie wanted to capture Tarnished herself anyway, to have some kind of leverage to get Count Shiny to cooperate.

“I can’t ‘get rid’ of the Lumber Guild because they’re under the Copper Coins control, and unfortunately they’re actions are legal by Night Court law for several reasons. One, they have legal permits this time; if they didn’t the Copper Coins wouldn’t even be here. Two, Oaton is…unregistered as a town. By law that means this land isn’t owned by anypony other than the controlling nobles of the province it’s a part of. As for who let the basilisk loose…I can’t say for sure.”

That last bit was carefully worded. She didn’t say she didn’t know, just that she couldn’t say. Which was true. She couldn’t. Tarnished was clearly operating a few ponies short of a full drawn carriage, and Trixie had a feeling those whispers she’d heard in the forest had something to do with that.

Mayor Sheaf was giving her a slightly irked look, “Our lack of registry is intentional, Miss Trixie. Oaton was founded by ponies, our forebears, who wanted to find a quiet place away from the politics of the Night Court and its nobles.”

Trixie sighed, “The Night Court exists to serve Equestria. If your town isn’t registered then how can that system work?”

“Our forebears from centuries ago didn’t want to be a part of that system, and neither do we,” said Sheaf, though Trixie noted a certain lack of conviction in his words, “We’re just simple farmers who want to live our lives without having ponies who think themselves better than the rest of us telling us what to do!”

“That’s not what the Night Court is for,” Trixie said…or began to say, but there were numerous other voices raising among the Oaton ponies.

“We’ve done just fine without any nobles meddling with us.”

“This is our home, there aren’t anyponies who should be able to lord it over us.”

Cheerilee leaned close to Trixie, saying in a quiet tone, “Got this impression when we first got here that these ponies aren’t that fond of the nobility.”

Trixie tried to suppress the urge to facehoof, “Okay, fine, a teensy bit of distrust is pretty common, but the Night Court is fundamental to how Equestria functions! If their town was properly registered it’d at least give them grounds to stand on for lodging a complaint concerning the Copper Coin family neglecting their needs. There’d be piles of red tape in the way, sure, but at least the process could be started.”

Her words were spoken softly so only Cheerilee could hear. She was in no mood to argue with Oaton’s populace on the pros and cons of ensuring their town was officially recognized as such. Admittedly it was probably too small to rate a Representative, but at least Mayor Sheaf’s title as mayor could have been made official and granted him some measure of ability to look after Oaton’s interests. She was curious as to why Sheaf didn’t sound like he bought his own words. She found herself wishing she was wearing the enchanted glasses, so she could get an idea of what Sheaf might be thinking. Speaking of which, where had those gone off too? She noticed Raindrops wasn’t wearing them.

“For now I’ll drop the matter,” she finally said to Sheaf, “But if I’m going to be able to do much of anything to help Oaton within legal bounds, it’d be made easier if this town was officially registered.”

“We haven’t needed it until now, and I’m not convinced we will. We’re just fine living our own…isolated lives,” he said, and there it was again, that lack of conviction. Trixie’s ears twitched at hearing it.

Not long after that Oaton’s ponies returned to their daily business, though with a subdued air. Many of them still looked to her as if she were their sole deliverance, others with encouragement, but even the most hopeful of smiles was darkened by clear seeds of doubt and worry. They now knew things weren’t going to be easy, and that the mare they’d pinned their hopes on was, ultimately, just a mare. At least Trixie hoped they understood that. Now it was just a matter of not failing them.

“Well, that wasn’t too painful, right?” asked Cheerilee once she, Trixie, and Raindrops had gotten back to the tavern, Trixie taking up the spellbook and flipping it open to the page with the de-petrification spell.

Trixie gave her friend a look, “I’m…feeling better, but that was terrifying. I’m still a little shocked they didn’t just run us out of town.”

“They’re trying to hold onto some hope, Trixie, and right now we’re all they’ve got,” said Raindrops, “But at least now they know what the real score is.”

Trixie frowned as she began reading the spell, trying not to be distracted but feeling the hat on her head as if it were quite a bit heavier than it really was. So the ponyfolk of Oaton ‘knew the real score’…but did a certain little filly? It’d been hard enough swallowing her fear to speak to the villagers, but she dreaded having to do the same with Bushel. Bushel would hear what had been said from others no doubt, but didn’t Trixie owe it to the filly to do this face to face rather than rely on others to tell Bushel?

At the very least I can make it up to her by curing her mother, Trixie thought and redoubled her efforts to study the spell. The diagrams and arcane words were so sterile, so pointlessly mundane that they didn’t even seem like magic to Trixie, but she forged on, forcing her mind to try to properly visualize the ways to weave the magic together. It’d be so much easier if she just had somepony demonstrate this to her for real, but she’d just have to make do with this

“Alright then,” said Cheerilee, finishing a mug of ale and putting it next to four other empty tankards next to her, “If I’m going to convince Shiny to let me stay at the lumber camp then I’d better get going.”

“Are you going to be okay alone on the road?” asked Raindrops, “What if this Tarnished mare attacks you while you’re walking there?”

Cheerilee waved a hoof dismissively, “I think I’ll be fine. Tarnished has to rest sometime too. Even if she does show up…that’ll just give me a chance to try to talk to her. Maybe I can get her to give up.”

Raindrops didn’t look like she was put any more at ease and flapped her wings tensely, “Still, I’d better fly along, keep an eye on you.”

“Be careful,” said Trixie to the pegasus, “You don’t want to be spotted by anypony at the camp.”

“I’ll fly high and find a cloud to use as cover, like you said. Should be okay that way.”

Trixie nodded, barely looking up from her spellbook, “Then I’ll see about the petrified ponies here, and then head for the camp when night falls. If Tarnished is going to attack, it’ll probably be after dark.”

Cheerilee had begun to turn to leave, but she halted after a step, turning her head to look at Trixie with one eye, the normally upbeat schoolteacher suddenly looking sad and contemplative, “Trixie…about Tarnished, just how bad was she? Shiny told me she wasn’t all there in the head.”

“She sent a basilisk to attack a village just because she wanted it to bring you to her,” Trixie said, probably more bluntly than she had to, so she quickly added, “So…uh…yeah, pretty bad. But it might not be her fault. Not entirely.”

“Not her fault…” Cheerilee repeated, eyes looking a little distant, “Yes, not just hers.”

She blinked as if realizing she’d been talking to herself and smiled in her more normal and cheerful fashion, “Well we’ll manage to knock a little sense into her, then me and her can have a proper heart-to-heart. Yes, now off I go to manipulate one of my oldest friends into possibly endangering his employees so we can capture his sister, also one of my oldest friends, and hold her hostage to extort him into abandoning an animal smuggling ring!...Wow…this weekend has been the pits.”

Trixie frowned, looking a little downcast, “It really does sound rather bad when you put it all like that.”

“Don’t worry about it Trixie, this is just a messed up situation for everypony. I’m not blaming you for your plan. It’s a good plan. Just wish my own friends from back in the day weren’t so neck deep involved in all this. But I’m on board for this…all the way.”

Before the two left Raindrops gave Trixie and encouraging nod, “Good luck with the spell. Be careful on your end. Don’t take any risks you don’t have to when you sneak into the camp. And if anything goes wrong,” she tapped the silver ear clasp. Trixie smiled at her and mimicked the gesture with her own ear clasp.

“I know just which pony to call to come swooping in to pull me out of the frying pan,” Trixie said, and Raindrops nodded, following Cheerilee out of the tavern.

Trixie watched them go, almost letting herself start to worry about them again, but she forced the nagging fears aside. Things would work out. She’d make sure of it. Somehow. For the moment she focused all of her mind upon the spellbook in front of her, letting the world drop away from her periphery awareness.

When Bushel woke up she didn’t feel so good. Her head felt like the one time she’d snuck a drink of pa’s whiskey on a dare from Milkdrop. Ma had been quite furious with her and had grounded for for…a…week…

Bushel couldn’t quite stop another sob from escaping her, the sharp memory of her mother’s stone hooves, hard and cold, wrapped around her rose in her mind. She wanted to be a strong filly, she was the oldest of her siblings after all, she was supposed to be the tough one, right? Breadcrumb and Milkdrop had cried when they’d heard what happened, and Bushel had wanted to be strong enough to hold and comfort her little brother and sister, but she couldn’t. She was too busy crying herself.

She rubbed her aching head and looked around. She was laying on the couch in her home’s living room. Everything was fairly quiet, though she could hear a few voices downstairs talking in the tavern. She recognized one of the voices as Trixie’s. Bushel gulped. She didn’t know what to do or say in front of Trixie anymore. Her mind was a tangled swirl of questions, questions she was afraid of the answers to.

Why had Trixie run away like that? Why hadn’t Trixie been able to stop the basilisk? Why hadn’t Trixie protected her mother? Trixie was…she was…Bushel wanted to believe, so badly, that Trixie was every inch the hero the song and stories had made her out to be. Bushel knew she shouldn’t doubt Trixie, yet the feeling had been planted in her, rooted as firmly as the stone her mother had been turned into. She’d even left Trixie’s hat behind. At first it’d been because she’d been too deeply distraught over her mother to remember it, then later, because she was too ashamed to hold onto it and had asked her father to return it to Trixie’s room. She didn’t feel like she had a right to carry Trixie’s hat as long as she felt these doubts.

And hearing Trixie’s voice mixed in with the voices of her friends down in the tavern, Bushel felt a need to huddle down and hide herself, because she didn’t know how to face or talk to Trixie now. It didn’t help that she had this splitting headache.

Maybe I should go to my special spot in the forest…? she thought. Whenever she felt really bad about something, or was scared, or just because she wanted to be alone for a while she had a place in the forest she liked to go. She hadn’t been there for a long time though, because it’d been so long since she’d felt this scared or worried. She’d been trying to be a stronger filly for her brother and sister, and to prove to ma and pa that she could be given more responsibility.

Hadn’t it been, what, close to a year since she’d gone to the forest? Yes, that had been right when the Lumber Guild had first shown up, and pa had been angry all the time, and been arguing with ma about something involving ‘registration’ or some such thing. Bushel had just wanted to be by herself for a bit, so she’d gone to the forest…strange, Bushel couldn’t remember much else beyond that. She’d gotten pretty sick later that night, and hadn’t come out of it until Trixie’s magic had saved her. Bushel always regretted never being able to thank Trixie for helping her back then. Now she was afraid to even be seen by the azure unicorn.

Despite how much she wanted to go to the forest to be alone and sort out what she was feeling, she knew it was dangerous. Pa had forbidden her to go outside the town because of the basilisk, and now having seen the beast, and what it could do; Bushel’s desire to go to the forest was warring with a healthy dose of fear.

Eventually the talking died down for a bit and Bushel, curious, crept down the stairs and poked her head around the edge of the wall to peek into the tavern.

Trixie was by herself, reading a book, and the tavern was empty. Trixie seemed to be concentrating heavily on the book, not looking up at anything. Bushel watched as the door to the tavern opened and her pa walked inside, trotting towards Trixie’s table. Bushel hunkered down, doing her best to remain hidden.

“You know,” her pa said, sitting opposite Trixie, “My ponies, they’re good folk.”

“Yes, they are. They should’ve been…angrier with me, for lying to them.”

“Don’t think they ain’t shaken up, Trixie. They’re scared, and angry, but they’re keeping a lid on it because they want to believe in their hero, not matter who she is or isn’t. But they’re also reaching a breaking point. You need to show them something, some kind of result, otherwise this is going to boil over bad.”

“I will. Tonight, this should all come to an end, one way or another. Right now though I have to focus on learning this spell, Mayor Sheaf. You know, for your wife, and that other family?”

“The Threshers.”

“Yes, them. I do want to talk to you about that whole registration business. Why are all of you so adamant about it? There has to be a reason beyond just distrusting the Night Court?”

Bushel, despite herself, had begun to slowly pad forward with quiet, light steps, trying to listen in better. What were her pa and Trixie talking about? It sounded kind of familiar. Bushel then recalled, this sounded a lot like a conversation she’d overheard her pa and ma have once! She was nearly at the bottom of the stairs now, blue tail swishing above her crouched down form. She could see her pa and Trixie clearly now, her pa wearing a sour look she usually didn’t see unless she’d done something really bad. Why was he looking at Trixie like that?

“Trixie, you need to drop this line of questioning. Oaton isn’t registered, and isn’t going to be registered. Even if some of us don’t…have issues with Equestria’s government, or even if some of us wanted to connect again with the world…most of the ponies of Oaton keep to the ways of our forebears. For your sake just avoid pushing the matter.”

Trixie was wearing a small frown, and Bushel, despite her fears and worries, found she wanted to make that frown go away. Trixie was a lot more fun when she was smiling. Bushel felt the guilt once again at doubting the unicorn.

“Fine,” Trixie said, tossing up a hoof in exasperation, “But you’re hurting your chances of getting your river back by being stubborn about this!”

“We got it back last time. The Lumber Guild was forced out before, no registration required on our part,” pointed out Sheaf.

“That was because the Copper Coins had full authority to oust a group that was operating on their land without permits. Oaton’s well being had nothing to do with it! But now the Copper Coins are the ones setting all this up. As long as Oaton remains unregistered as a settlement it leaves you at their mercy, unless my friend and I can pull off our plan.”

“Then you’d better succeed, I’m thinking,” deadpanned Sheaf, slowly rising from the table, “Because if you don’t, me and my ponies will have to do things our own way to protect our homes.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean simply this, Miss Trixie; don’t fail.”

It was early evening and Trixie was anxious. Cheerilee and Raindrops had kept in touch via the ear pieces, from which Trixie had learned that things were so far going according to plan. Cheerilee had been a little sketchy on the details but apparently had convinced Count Shiny to allow her into the camp again. She’d also mentioned she had the enchanted glasses on her, having picked them up after Raindrops dropped them during the scuffle with the basilisk to keep them from getting crushed. Cheerilee didn’t have any specific plan to use them unless an opportunity presented itself, but at least Trixie knew where they were. Raindrops for her part was extremely bored, staying hidden above the lumber yard on a cloud she had to keep slowly moving around and changing the shape of so when ponies looked up they didn’t think they were seeing the same cloud all the time.

Trixie was eager to get out there and start snooping around the camp, wanting to begin right around the time night would fall. But she still had to do this one last thing. She’d practiced the spell all afternoon, but still wasn’t certain she had it right. Learning from a book just wasn’t natural to her. However she had to try. It wasn’t so much that there was a time limit on curing the petrified ponies, not literally, but she wanted to give the citizens of Oaton some kind of hope after having to deflate herself in front of them earlier. Some proof that their ‘hero’ was able to do something for them.

Picturesque and the Thresher family had been moved into an emptied out house so nopony would accidentally damage them. Of the Thresher’s the foals had escaped unharmed, but the mother and father had been turned to stone. This apparently had happened not long after the Lumber Guild’s arrival, and the only confirmed attack of the basilisk besides the previous night.

“Where did the Thersher’s live?” asked Trixie as Mayor Shear escorted her to the house.

“Oaton isn’t just these houses here,” he explained, “There are a few farmsteads out over the hills to the west, or north and south along the forest edge. The Thresher’s place was to the south east, right next to the forest. It’s normally not a dangerous place, pretty timid actually, given its part of the Everfree. Occasionally ponies might claim to hear strange noises coming from inside the tree line, but that’s been the rumor since as long as I can remember. The Thresher’s being attacked was our first sign of the basilisk’s presence.”

Strange noises…like whispering? Trixie’s contemplative frown ended once they got inside the house and she saw the three statue-like ponies. Picturesque was just as she remembered seeing her last, sitting on her haunches, arms out like they were wrapped around something, looking at an upward angle with fear and defiance etched on her stone features. The Threshers, much like most of Oaton’s populace, were earth ponies. Trixie immediately began to pick up on…oddities concerning them. Mainly their stances and expressions. The stallion of the pair was standing on three legs, his right foreleg up as if he was about to punch something with his hoof. His face was turned aside, as if something was blinding him, and his expression looked pained. The mare had her head down, legs bent as if she’d been in a gallop, or at least starting to gallop, face also screwed up in an expression of pain.

“They were found at their home? Like this?” Trixie asked.

“When their foals came running into town crying we all went out to look,” explained Sheaf, “Found Quick Thresher out in his field, and Soft Thresher just outside the back door of the house. The foals were too hysterical to get much of a story out of them other than they heard a roar, their father yelling for their mother to get them out of the house, and then their mother pushing them out the door. They didn’t look back, or see much of anything.”

“So nopony actually saw the basilisk?” Trixie pressed, trying to pick her brain for any details she could recall concerning how a basilisk’s petrifying stare actually worked. Cheerilee was the one who’d seemed to bone up on the subject and Trixie was regretting not following suit.

“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Thresher obviously did,” said Sheaf flatly, “What else could it have been but the basilisk?”

Trixie removed her hat, smoothing out wrinkles in the brim before putting it back on, “There is more than one way for a pony to be turned to stone, Mayor Sheaf. What are the Thresher’s doing, that your wife isn’t?”

“What kind of question is that?” Sheaf asked in a heated voice, “Talk sense, Trixie, I’m of no mind for riddles.”

“Your wife is looking up, presumably straight into the basilisk’s eyes. That’s normal. A basilisk needs eye contact for its magical stare to take effect. Even not being an expert I know that much. But look at Mr. Thresher. He’s looking to the side, but obviously trying to attack something in front of him. Mrs. Thresher’s eyes are on the ground, watching where she’s going as she tries to run, presumably away from something. So, I ask you Mayor Sheaf, how did the basilisk turn them to stone? There couldn’t have been eye contact in either case here!”

Sheaf was silent for a moment, and then slowly nodded his head, letting out a sigh, “I…see what you mean. But if a basilisk didn’t do this, then what did?”

“I don’t know. One possibility, and the one I’m thinking is the most likely, is that they were turned to stone by a spell.”

“A spell?”

“A spell designed to simulate petrification. Transmutation magic.”

“The mare who set the basilisk loose on the town?”

Trixie blinked. Then wiped the surprise off her face quickly, hoping Sheaf hadn’t noticed.

“It’s a possibility. If it was a spell it should still have the aura of the one who cast it infused in the stone. I can examine them and see if it’s similar to what I felt coming from the pony controlling the basilisk. Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two.”

And later I’m going to find out just how you knew the pony controlling the basilisk was a ‘mare’, because I know I didn’t mention any details about Tarnished, including her gender.

Putting that thought aside she focused upon the Threshers, looking over Mr. Thresher with her horn alighting with her magic. With her magic sight active she looked upon the gray stone form of the stallion before her with careful scrutiny. While seeing the auras of an active spell was an easy feat, the traces of magic leftover inside the stone were miniscule by this point; enough for the purposes of maintaining the stone while preserving the life of the pony trapped within in a state of hibernation so deep that it could potentially maintain them indefinitely. It was unnerving to Trixie, because while she was no expert on transmutation spells she was aware the spell to turn a pony to stone was no low-level cantrip. Whoever cast this was powerful. Perhaps, powerful enough to control a basilisk? Yet if Tarnished had done this…why bother with a spell at all, why not use the basilisk to turn the Threshers to stone, if they’d seen something they shouldn’t have?

True to her word her analysis did not take long. While minuscule, the magic traces leftover in the stone were distinct. Each living creature that utilized magic to any degree left a distinct aura, like a hoofprint. If Tarnished had been the one to cast this spell Trixie would have recognized the aura, having just recently become all too familiar with it.

This magic…isn’t Tarnished’s… she realized. It’s color was a deep blue, deeper than her own. Where Tarnished had magic that was erratic this magic was…smooth, controlled. She didn’t recognize it at all. But the feel of the magic was definitely that of a unicorn’s. If it hadn’t been the feel of it would’ve been different.

With a sigh she turned off her magic sight and looked at Sheaf, “Well, this confirms they’ve been turned to stone by a spell. The magic I’m sensing in them is unicorn magic, no doubt about it.”

“What does that mean then? Who would have turned them to stone!?” Sheaf had a strange, narrowed eyed look, as if he was already busy thinking of possibilities.

“A good question. A better question is why somepony would turn them to stone? What did they see that somepony didn’t want them talking about?”

Sheaf’s eyes went even narrower and his brow became a deep crease, “It had to have been somepony from either the Copper Coins or the Lumber Guild.”

“Why do you say that?”

“…Because I’m the only unicorn in Oaton,” Sheaf said, “Besides you of course. So can you do anything for them? If we restore them we can hear from their own mouths whatever it is they saw.”

Trixie bit her lip, her silver tail swishing about behind her as she thought, “Not immediately. The spell I learned is specifically for countering a basilisk’s petrification. To undo the spell on the Threshers I’d need a different spell. I might be able to modify the one I just learned to do the trick, but that’d take…another day or so of experimentation.”

Sheaf nodded solemnly, “Then do what you can for my wife.”

Trixie returned his nod and turned her attention to Picturesque, allowing the forms of the de-petrificaiton spell flow through her mind, then through her horn. Despite the limited amount of time she’d had to practice this Trixie managed to weave together the magic and direct it towards the stoned mare. She felt a twinge of fatigue. Even if she’d rested the amount she’d pushed herself yesterday was more than a single day of sleep would cure. Working unfamiliar magic was more straining than the spells she’d all but perfected and could use with little effort, like invisibility. Breathing slow and steady she kept the spell together as it washed over Picturesque…

…and didn’t do anything.

Trixie kept a frown off her face, staying focused. She probably just didn’t quite get the spell right. She tried again, redoubling her effort to make sure each component of the spell went together like she’d read in the book.

Again, no affect.

“Something wrong?” asked Sheaf, not bothering to keep his own frown from forming.

“I…” Trixie blinked, “I’m not sure. Let me try again.”

Again she wove the spell, only this time she ensured her magic sight was also active, and carefully examined the spell as it hit Picturesque. Her eyes narrowed. For just a second she saw the spell she wove distort as it touched Picturesque, its form turning a chaotic swirl of random colors for just an instant before taking affect, or rather trying to and failing.

It’s like the way Tarnished’s magic was different. It’s like the magic is breaking down? No, that’s not it. The spell is working; it’s just not interacting with the magic that’s keeping Picturesque a statue like it should. Like I’m putting water in a pool of oil.

Trixie didn’t know what that meant, but she was certain this had to do with the forest and its strange whispers. She turned to Sheaf, “Mayor Sheaf, does Oaton have any stories or legends about that forest?”

“What? Why suddenly ask about that? Why can’t you cure my wife?” he asked, seeming more uncomfortable than angry.

“The spell isn’t turning your wife back to normal,” Trixie said, voice heavy, “Because something inside the magic of the basilisk is making it so my spell won’t interact with it. Something…very strange, chaotic. Now, you say some villagers have heard strange things in the forest. So have I, the little time I spent in there. I think something is wrong with that forest. Do you know anything about that?”

“I’m not liking your tone. I know as much as anypony in Oaton knows. The forest is harmless, mostly empty. It may be part of Everfree but few animals make their homes there and it’s been safe for generations, at least until this basilisk showed up. The ‘noises’ ponies here are just rumors that’ve been around for as long as the village; just the wind whispering through the trees, nothing more. Someponies just have fun feeling scared sometimes.”

“You’ve been in there yourself?” Trixie asked, wishing more than ever Cheerilee hadn’t taken the glasses. So far she wasn’t reading any outright duplicity on Sheaf’s part, but he was clearly agitated by the conversation. But that could just have to do with the fact that his wife was still a statue.

“Like a lot of the foals I occasionally played in there when I was young, even though my pa tanned my flank whenever he found out I did. Kind of old hat to not let your foals play in the forest, tell them not to, but they’ll do it anyway. I’m strict on my foals, though mostly just Bushel, about playing I there.”

“Bushel?”

“Well, Breadcrumb is too young yet to get out much like that, and Milkdrop’s pretty obedient. Bushel though, I know she played a lot in the forest. I cracked down on her much harder after she got sick a year ago. I never wanted to take the chance she’d get sick like that again, and you never know if she did some foalish thing like eat a plant she shouldn’t have out there.”

But Trixie’s question hadn’t been for Sheaf, it’d been a surprised reaction to seeing the yellow filly in question peeking her head through the window. Bushel made a small yelp as she noticed she’d been spotted and dropped, Trixie hearing a small thump from outside. Sheaf turned his head and said, “Bushel? Bushel girl, you show yourself right this instant.”

Bushel slowly came around to the door, eyes downcast for a second before they looked up at her father, then slowly over at Trixie. Trixie felt a sharp pain in her chest as Bushel’s eyes teared up and she looked away from Trixie, eyes going back to looking at the ground.

“S-sorry pa, sorry M-Miss Trixie. I was curious what you were doing…then I wanted to see ma…”

Trixie took a deep breath. She couldn’t push back an urge to go up, lowering her head so she could look Bushel in the eyes. She couldn’t let this filly keep looking like that.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’ll fix your mother soon.”

Bushel was silent, eyes still looking at the ground. Trixie couldn’t stand it. The filly looked lost and scared, and her voice sound tiny, distant, and fearful, “O…okay…”

Trixie couldn’t bring herself to leave it at that. Bushel needed something. Some kind of proof that things were going to be alright. By Luna’s very moon Trixie intended to give it to her! The only reason the spell wasn’t working on Picturesque was because the basilisk's magic wasn’t acting like that of a normal basilisk. Theoretically the spell itself was fine; it was just a matter of getting it to interact with the basilisk’s magic.

Trixie raised her head, putting a hoof on Bushel’s shoulder, who flinched a bit at the touch but looked up at Trixie all the same. That filly’s wide eyes were filled with fear, doubt, and above all, a desperate want to believe. To believe in Trixie. Trixie wanted to meet that expectation, no matter how lofty or unrealistic it might seem.

“Just sit, and watch,” Trixie said, and turned back to Picturesque.

Sheaf was giving her a guarded look, quietly standing by his daughter and putting a hoof around her, pulling her close as Trixie began, one more time, to cast the de-petrification spell.

Instead of just throwing the spell at her I’m going to have to hold it, Trixie thought, keeping her breathing steady as she worked the spell into existence, slowly casting the magic out onto Picturesque.

Holding the magic in place around Picturesque Trixie carefully began to examine the aura of magic, both hers and that of the basilisk’s. What she intended to do was a little beyond what she normally tried with her spells. She was used to experimenting with her magic, refining the same spell with countless castings, even modifying her familiar spells slightly to suit her needs. It was part of why her illusions were so good and versatile. But normally that kind of thing took months of practice, with a spell she was already very familiar with.

Now she was trying to do it inside of a few minutes, with a spell she’d just learned that morning.

The idea was simple enough. The basilisk’s magic was acting up, behaving chaotically. Trixie’s spell had slipped off before because of that. Now she intended to hold the spell in place and try to alter the spell’s shape in slight ways, adjust its form until it fit in with the chaotic surges. It began to go poorly almost immediately. The de-petridication spell was being held over Picturesque, and much as before those random colors, surging and spiking at seemingly random, would appear and keep the aura of the spell from taking effect. Trixie kept channeling, a slight overlay of blue aura over her horn growing brighter as she focused on altering the spell…adjusting it to try to match the chaos.

But it was like trying to fit a square block into space that kept changing size and shape, none of them remotely resembling a square. No matter how Trixie was twisting the spell it just wouldn’t take hold. She choked back her frustration. It would only distract her. She shoved aside the now all too familiar feeling of growing fatigue. No time to feel tired when a depressed filly’s emotional state was on the line.

Trixie’s eyes became narrow slits, her face a hard mask of concentration as she continued to shift her own spell. Faster, more random, stretching the aura this way and that, trying to…

…Trixie blinked. She was trying to match a pattern, but the basilisks’ magic was acting without a pattern. Clearly she was going about this the wrong way. Trixie smiled, giving up on trying to match her spell with the ‘pattern’ of the basilisk's petrification magic and instead began to randomize her own spell’s shape. Nothing that would change the spell’s actual intent, but the aura itself she began to randomly shift, twist, and surge according to pure whim.

In a way it was like when she played with her illusions for practice. No real point or function to the illusions, she played with the magic of shape and form for pure enjoyment, to alleviate boredom, and to keep her skills sharp. But mostly because it was fun. She applied the same here, altering the threads of her spell in every which way as she let her whims go. No pattern or rhythm, just random whim. Gradually she began to relax, even under the strain of continuously holding the spell. Hard focus became fluid imagination as she let the spell’s energies surge and spike without pattern, riding a knife’s edge between maintaining the spell’s function and allowing its shape to flow and shift like water.

Trixie barley noticed it when the spell suddenly sunk into Picturesque fully, the magic interlocking with the magic infused in the basilisk's stone. For just a second Trixie and the chaotic magic of the basilisk were connected and she felt a horrible backlash of pure sickly nausea run through her mind. Whispers, harsh, loud, a cacophony of random voices babbling incoherently surged through her and she didn’t even feel herself fall on her haunches.

It was only when Sheaf gave her a rough shake on the shoulder that Trixie managed to blink back to awareness. Sheaf was looking at her, his features swirling with a mix of relief and happiness that he seemed to be trying hard to keep bottled and remain looking stoic…which he was failing at.

Trixie looked past the stallion. Slowly Trixie found herself smiling, feeling a little wetness on her eyes that she very quickly wiped away. Didn’t want to look like she was crying after all.

Bushel was wrapped up in her mother’s arms. Picturesque, flesh and blood once more, held her daughter tightly. Both were crying, Bushel was smiling wide while she did so, and Picturesque had a closed eyed expression of pure joy on her face was tears slide down her cheeks.

“Momma, momma,” Bushel kept saying over and over. Picturesque slowly stroked her daughter’s main.

“I’m here honey, its okay. We’re okay.”

Trixie got to her hooves and, giving Sheaf a brief look said, “I’ll just, uh, give you three some privacy.”

As she turned to leave she felt Sheaf’s hoof on her shoulder.

“…Thank you…whatever else may happen between us before all this is over…thank you.”

Trixie just nodded dumbly, adjusting her hat to hide her own slightly embarrassed look with the brim, and trotted out of the house to give the family a little space and time to themselves. Besides, she was still feeling dizzy from her brief contact with that chaotic magic and needed some air.

Outside the evening sky had grown darker, the mostly clear sky turning from bright blue to a deep cerulean. The sun was already low enough that it was partially hidden beyond the hills to the west save for a few stubborn rays of gold. The air was cool and crisp against Trixie’s hide and she took in a slow, deep breath to steady herself. Curing Picturesque might have seemed a small thing against the large laundry list of issues left to be solved for Oaton, but it was a victory she’d desperately needed to get some confidence back. Seeing Bushel’s smile, it’d been more than enough to energize her for what was to come.

I still have an hour or two before it gets totally dark. More than enough to reach the Lumber Guild’s camp. I can’t do anything for the Thresher’s right now, but knowing that it was a spell that turned them to stone is helpful. It’s the closest we’ve come so far to actual evidence of foul play.

She had nothing against Oaton’s mayor, and having just been shown such gratitude from him she did feel a tad guilty about this, but the bottom line was that he’d been acting suspicious. Evasive about why Oaton never registered itself with the Night Court’s municipal records, defensive about the oddities of the forest near his village, and he seemed to know more about Tarnished than he logically should.

Trixie doubted she’d get anywhere by confronting him directly about those matters. With the enchanted glasses in Cheerilee’s possession there’d be no chance to use them later to try and get clues; Trixie was fairly convinced this whole matter was going to be done with one way or another by the end of this night. That left the slight possibility that if she searched his rooms at his home she might turn something up.

She shook her head with a rueful little chuckle under her breath, touching a hoof to her hat.

“Or I could just write Princess Luna and beg and plead for somepony with more authority than me to come clean up this whole mess so I can go home, go to bed, and sleep for a week straight.”

It was a nice thought, but ultimately she knew she couldn’t just turn to the Princess to solve this problem. Not unless she had some serious evidence of foul play taking place here in Oaton. The Thresher’s being turned to stone by a spell was certainly evidence of something going on, and magic of that type was indeed illegal, but it didn’t constitute solid proof of a specific crime, nor did it specifically point a hoof at anypony as a culprit. The situation just didn’t warrant the kind of emergency you calling in the Princess of the Night for…

…but perhaps a little update letter, just to let her know what was going on, maybe ask for advise wouldn’t be a bad idea. In fact, Luna could probably send her a spell scroll with a method to counter the spell on the Threshers. Trixie could just tell Luna to take the cost out of her next stipend.

Feeling positively proactive Trixie glanced briefly back at the house where Bushel and her parents were. No reason to interrupt what was probably a very emotional moment for them. Besides she didn’t quite feel up to talking with Bushel. The filly was happy with her mother back. Trixie didn’t want to ruin that by having to tell Bushel that she wasn’t really the grand hero the filly had come to Ponyville to find.

I’ll tell her after this is all done, after I’ve kept my promise to her.

As she quickly trotted back to the tavern she passed only a few other ponies, the villagers turning in early, wanting to get inside in case the basilisk returned. Those she did trot by gave her looks that ranged from wan smiles to simply looking away. She couldn’t blame them, the future of their village wasn’t nearly as secure as they’d thought just the other day. She wondered if her curing Picturesque would help boost their moral some, even if the Thresher’s were still stone?

Well, if Princess Luna provided a counter-spell that problem would be solved pretty quick, and on top of that she’d be able to question the Thresher’s as to what had happened to them. Trixie’s felt her steps get a bit more bounce to them as she finally felt like some progress was about to be made! She’d get a mystery cracking clue out of the Threshers, and thus armed go to the Lumber Guild camp, infiltrate it, and get to the bottom of everything before Tarnished even arrived with her silly basilisk! Then Trixie, the Soon to Be Great and Powerful, would catch the crazy mare responsible for all of this with the aid of her stalwart friends and get the Copper Coins to pull the Lumber Guild off Oaton’s land! Oaton would be saved, Bushel’s faith in her would be proven justified, and Trixie could finally go home and get some sleep secure in the knowledge that she was worth the friendship that’d been strong enough to call forth the Elements of Harmony…

…except her hat wasn’t working.

She was in the guest room in Sheaf’s home above the tavern, having just penned the letter to Luna explaining the situation and how the Princess didn’t need to do anything and Trixie had everything well in hoof, just needed a counter spell, and had tossed the scroll into her hat with a satisfied smile on her face.

Only to blink when there wasn’t a corresponding poof of magic indicating the scroll had been sent away. When she upended her hat the scroll fell out and plopped to the floor with a dull little thud.

“No…” she said, peeking into her hat with one eye. She shook it, “No, no, no…”

The hat didn’t respond to her shaking, and with a small vein popping out on her forehead Trixie almost shoved her head into her hat as she shouted, “This is not happening! You! I enchanted you myself! You’ve been working perfectly forever! What’s wrong!?”

She recovered from her outburst enough to activate her magic sight and examine her hat…only to find herself completely befuddled.

The enchantment spell on her hat was gone? Why was the spell gone? It didn’t make any sense! Enchantments didn’t just vanish, at least not ones that were designed to be permanently anchored! Not unless…someone or something dispelled it. But who? How? Nopony had been anywhere near her hat except for her and…

…Bushel? That was impossible, there was no way the earth pony filly could have done anything to her hat! Wait, her hat had been returned to her after Trixie had passed out. Anypony could have touched it during that time. But the only pony who could have touched it while having any ability to affect the magic on it would have been Mayor Sheaf. Why would he dispel her hat though? Assuming he’d somehow discovered what it is, possibly using magic sight similar to her own, the only reason to remove the enchantment on her hat would be to prevent Trixie from contacting anypony.

I can re-enchant the hat, but that’d take half the night. I don’t have time. Why? Why would Sheaf want to keep me from sending word to anypony outside of Oaton? He couldn’t have known the hat’s spell sends things straight to Princess Luna’s desk…he’d just know it sent things somewhere. This doesn’t add up. Sheaf clearly wants Oaton to be safe, suspicious behavior or not. Why make it harder for me to do that?

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. She was so tired of getting jerked around by all these little mysteries!

With a determined huff she took her hat up in a field of levitating magic and stuck it firmly atop her head. Her nostrils flared with a snort as she turned towards the door.

“Alright, Trixie, no more mysteries! No more vague clues! Time to get to the bottom of this! Time to find the truth!”

Bushel was still crying a little. They were good tears though, so she didn’t mind them so much. She and her mother were still embracing, but they’d both calmed somewhat and Picturesque was stroking her mane while at the same time trying to give Bushel an admonishing look.

“You are in so much trouble little lady,” Picturesque said, though the affect was somewhat ruined by the soft tone of voice she used, “What were you thinking, running out of the house when you were specifically told to stay inside!?”

“Hmph,” Sheaf had a small, uncharacteristic smirk on, “Perhaps dear you don’t have much room to talk. I seem to recall telling you to stay inside and watch the foals?”

Picturesque’s face reddened, “I suppose not doing as we’re told is a family trait…I was worried about you dear, so I went outside to make sure…but then I saw Bushel…”

“I’m sorry ma,” Bushel said, recalling that horrifying moment when the basilisk’s eyes had been fixed upon her. She still didn’t know quite what that weird feeling was that had overcome her then, but it seemed a small thing in comparison to the memory of her mother breaking the gaze, protecting her, “I’m sorry you got hurt…”

“Oh, my little Bushel, it…didn’t hurt, and I’m just glad you’re safe. And I’m okay now, thanks to Miss Trixie…speaking of which, where has she gone off too? I’d like to thank her. Dear?”

Sheaf jerked his head towards the door, “She left to allow us some time to our own. I don’t think that mare is used to emotional moments.”

He poked his head out the door, looking around, “I don’t see her around. She may have already left town.”

“Left town?” Bushel asked, her eyes widened, “Not left town left town, right!?”

“No,” said Sheaf, “Not that. I mean she’s probably gone to the Lumber Guild’s camp. Her and her friends are going to try one last time to get us our water back.”

Bushel pushed away from her mother and made for the door, but her father moved to stop her, a stern look coming over his features, “And where do you think you’re going little missy?”

“I have to catch up to Trixie!” Bushel said, “I have to tell her I’m sorry too! I…I doubted her, and…and I saw in her face how much that hurt her! I have to let her know I still believe in her!”

“I’m sure she knows that already, honey,” said Picturesque slowly came up next Bushel, draping a comforting arm around the shaking filly.

“But what if she doesn’t!?” cried Bushel, “What if she still thinks I don’t like her anymore and that distracts her while she’s dealing with those mean Lumber Guild ponies or that basilisk monster!?”

“Bushel,” her father said, tone reassuring but firm, “Trixie will do what she has to, and whatever comes from that, you’ll get your chance to speak to her. She may…have things to tell you, too. Until then, though, you’re going to behave, be a good filly, and not give us any more trouble. You’re still grounded. Dear, are you okay?”

Picturesque nodded, “I’m fine, love, don’t worry. A little tired, but that’s the worst of it.”

Bushel wasn’t sure, but it almost seemed like her father flinched in worry, but it passed quickly before he put on a warm smile of the kind Bushel hadn’t seen on his face in a long time, ”Then let’s go home.”

Trixie was walking like a mare on a mission, her violet eyes fixed upon the path in front of her, alight with a drive that would have given pause to anypony who might’ve thought to bar her way. The road to the Lumber Guild’s camp was empty however, so there was nopony around to appreciate the effect. Trixie snorted, annoyed some part of her still wanted to have an audience. With almost a violent mental push she shoved away the very notion.

This wasn’t about proving anything anymore.

Before the camp’s palisade even came into view she wove her invisibility spell and sound dampening spell around herself. It was only just now getting to dusk, with the sky a vivid purple gradually turning to the deep cerulean of night. The sun was already down and Luna’s moon was raising into the sky amid the welcoming carpet of stars appearing to greet it. It was the perfect time to infiltrate the camp, as few ponies could resist looking up at such a sky, and Trixie imagined she could have walked through the gates if they had been open and nopony would have even noticed.

The gates were closed, however, guarded by a familiar pair.

“You know Lock, your sis could stand to loosen up some,” said Bootheel, the stallion’s face sporting some impressive bruises that didn’t seem to dampen his good spirits, “She’s never gonna get herself a mare if she’s too skittish to even ask one out to lunch!”

“Its not like I disagree with you,” said Lock n’ Key, the small unicorn stallion who had his sister’s rusty coat color but a honey blond mane in contrast to his sister’s black one was looking a little morose, “But you could’ve said something a little less direct to her than ‘grow a pair and snog the pegasus already’. Why do you care about Cut’s love life anyway?”

“Hey hey hey, I’m just looking out for the well being of my fellow guard’s happiness,” said Bootheel while putting a hoof to his chest and adopting a look of sincerity lightly glazed over a cocksure grin, “My love-sense detected your sis’s hots for that pegasus mare right off the bat and I’m just trying to help her along the path to carnal fulfillment with some of my sage advice!”

“I think Cut disagreed with your definition of ‘sage’ advice,” Lock n’ Key said, the sighed, “Though I do wish she’d stop being so embarrassed about it. She’s always been like that, floundering any time she sees somepony she likes.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Bootheel jabbed a hoof and shook it around as if to emphasis his words, “Life’s too short for wishy-washy embarrassment! Sometimes you just got to take life by the love flanks and give it a good all night thrusting and soak it in your burning passion!”

“...Could have done without the imagery there. Really could have done without the imagery.”

Trixie was no officially done listening in to that conversation. Though the gate was closed and clearly locked she was far from discouraged. She just needed to give the guards a reason to open the gate. Moving to the side of the gate she looked around for a decent sized rock to levitate. She wove a short duration invisibility spell over the rock, and then raised the rock up and floated it over the wall. Levitating and object didn’t require direct line of sight, as Trixie could still feel her magic and its grip on the rock even without seeing it, but she had to basically do guesswork on the rock’s location once it was out of view. Fortunately she was a decent judge of distances.

There was a knock on the other side of the gate courtesy of Trixie’s floating invisible rock.

“Hm? Who’s that?” asked Lock n’ Key, turning his head towards the gate, “Is that you Sleetcloud? Your shift doesn’t start yet does it?...Sleetcloud?”

Trixie had crept back up towards the gate while Lock n’ Key and Bootheel exchanged glances. Bootheel shrugged and with his mouth pulled a key from a pouch belted to the side of his chainmail barding and unlocked the gate, hoofing it open. Trixie had already discarded the rock and as the two guards looked around in confusion at the fact that there was nopony there who could’ve knocked on the gate Trixie herself slipped pass them and into the camp.

“Weird, you heard the knock too, right?” asked Lock n’ Key.

“Sure did. Probably one of the Guild ponies trying to pull a prank on us.”

“Yeah…guess none of them are too fond of us, are they?”

“Meh, real shame they’re so sore over getting dragged back to this place. Some of their mares are pretty smoking. Lumber work really leads to some tight, well defined flanks, mmmhmm.”

“…Bootheel, I have to ask, has your direct approach ever gotten a response other than a slap to the face?”

“Nope. Which is how I know, the day it does work, I’ve found the mare I’m going to marry!”

“…I can’t even comment on that.”

Trixie left that conversation far behind as she quickly made her way deeper into the camp, not bothering to slow her steps, trusting fully to her magic to keep her hidden as she went. She had two targets in mind; the big central building where Cheerilee had found that map and notes, and the locked cabins that Sawdust had been so evasive about during her fake inspection. However she lacked Cheerilee’s facility with persuading locks to open, so if she wanted to get into the cabins she’d need to find the key. She imagined if anypony had the key it’d be Sawdust, who was probably somewhere in the big central building.

As she made a swift canter towards the looming building she noticed that the camp wasn’t entirely bedded down for the night. Some of the cabins had lights on inside, and she could hear the sound of ponies enjoying late evening games of dice and even some light singing, the sounds of ponies relaxing after a long hard day of work. It oddly enough reminded her of how the ponies of Oaton sounded after they’d been done with a day in the fields.

Take away the conflict of interest and all these ponies would probably get on just fine with the folk of Oaton; all just hard working ponies trying to make a living. So stupid they can’t just work together towards some mutual prosperity.

Tucking away that little thought before it could get her doubting her plan Trixie picked up her pace. With night falling she didn’t know how long she had before Tarnished would make her move. Coming up to the door of the camp’s main building she paused and listened, not hearing much of anything. She lightly jiggled the handle with a hoof, and was a little surprised to find the door unlocked. Probably figured they had enough guards at the gate and on the palisade, not to mention up in that tower, to worry about locking a door to what looked to be essentially a big dining chamber.

Trixie quietly slipped inside, making sure that there was nopony around to see the door seemingly open and close on its own. She took another look around just to make sure the large dining area was completely empty before moving further inside. Long wood tables filled most the space, lined up with just enough room to walk between them. Either side of the room’s far end held a set of stairs leading to the next floor. Trixie made for the set on the right side, stopping at the foot of the stairs and listening.

She could hear the creaking and muffled sound of hoofsteps from the second floor, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from.

Trixie raised a hoof to the silver ear clasp she wore and whispered, “Raindrops, Cheerilee, I’m inside the camp’s main building. Cheerilee, if you’re not in a position to talk, just cough or something.”

Raindrops had been nearly startled off her cloud when Trixie’s voice had suddenly spoken up in her ear. It’d been a very long, cold, and boring wait for the jasmine pegasus as she’d waited atop a stretched out fluffy cloud she’d kept lazily hovering over the forest near the lumber yard. The night was shaping up to be a frosty one and she’d shivered a bit, rubbing her hooves together to generate a little heat.

Hearing Trixie’s voice she put a hoof to her own ear piece, whispering, “Is it safe to use these while Cheerilee’s in there too Trixie? Can’t other ponies hear your voice?”

No, no, the sound projects into your mind. Only those wearing the clasps can hear what’s being said between them.

“Why are you whispering then?”

Well, I still have to talk! Others might not be able to hear your response, but they’ll hear me talking if I don’t keep it down. Same reason I want Cheerilee to just cough if she’s with somepony and can’t speak freely…….Cheerilee…? You there?

When there wasn’t any response Raindrops frowned and could imagine Trixie doing the same.

“Could she have taken the ear piece off?”

Possibly. I don’t know why she would. Blast it…we don’t need more complications. Did you see where she might have gone while you were watching the camp?

Raindrops nodded, and then blanched as she realized Trixie wouldn’t see that and said, “Yeah, after she was let in at the gate by that Count Shiny guy she followed him into that big building at the back of the camp. Same one you’re in now. Haven’t seen either of them leave it since then.”

I’ll try to find her then. You wait there and keep an eye out for that basilisk. Tell me the second you see anything suspicious.

Raindrops sighed in frustration, “Yay…more waiting.”

“Shiny, I understand you might have a few reservations about fully trusting me, what with the whole ‘breaking into’ your camp, and then your office, and beating up one of your guards…” Cheerilee said as she wiggled her hooves in the tight rope bindings around them, “But is all this really necessary? You didn’t have to let me back into the camp, if this is how you really felt, after all.”

She was in a comfortably furnished bedroom with a nightstand next to a decent sized bed, a desk and dresser set up on the wall just next to the window looking down into the camp’s main thoroughfare. Her forelegs and hindlegs were separately bound, the forelegs behind her to the back of the wood chair she was sitting on, and her hindlegs to the chair itself.

Seemed all rather silly to her. If she broke the wood chair then all Shiny would’ve accomplished by tying her up was to arm her with wood clubs tied to her legs. But violence was the furthest thing from Cheerilee’s mind. She hadn’t even resisted when Shiny had ordered his guards to restrain her.

Right now Shiny was pacing back and forth in front of her, giving her nervous glances like he didn’t quite know what to do with her now that she was tied up. At her words he grimaced, his tone almost apologetic as it was flustered. His stutter was back full force.

“I let you into th-th-the camp because I already know what happened in Oaton! T-T-T-Tarnished set that beast of hers loose on the village and there’s no doubt in my mind she was after you! This is what I was a-afraid was going to h-h-happen Cheerilee! It’s why I’d wanted you to leave in the first p-p-placed, but now it’s too late. Tarnished is going to be c-completely focused on you! She’ll come here. Th-th-th-th-th…that’s fine, I can trap her here. It just puts more p-p-ponies at risk than I would’ve liked, you especially! You’re tied up so you don’t do anything s-stupid when Tarnished arrives. I’ll deal with her.”

Cheerilee flicked her ear, wishing she could have responded to Trixie and Raindrops earlier, but bound as she was she couldn’t raise a hoof to touch the ear piece still clasped to her. She imagined if she just broke the chair to do that Shiny would react poorly and maybe use manacles next time. Though honestly all that would do is slow her down slightly. She gave her old friend a simple smile, hoping to calm him down.

“I came back so I can help you talk her down, Shiny. I can’t do that if I’m tied up here.”

Guilt, it ran through her and she grit her teeth against it. She wanted to help Shiny and Tarnished both, but ultimately Trixie’s plan did call for capturing Tarnished themselves and using that to force Shiny to leave Oaton alone. She still needed to confirm Shiny’s plans, if he really was smuggling protected animal species. She wanted to know why he’d do something so drastic. He was so focused on Tarnished though it was hard to steer the conversation that direction.

“Talk her down? Y-y-you think you can j-just talk my sister down!? Just like th-that, even when I, her own b-b-b-brother couldn’t!?” the blue earth pony was near shouting, his crème colored mane falling across his face in a way that got Cheerilee noticing how disheveled it’d become. Shiny looked like he hadn’t been sleeping. Cheerilee ought to know the signs, Trixie had looked very much the same the other day.

“Shiny, get a hold of yourself. I’m your friend, I want to help. I need to know everything that’s happening here to do that. I need to know the whole truth.”

Shiny was taking in a few deep breaths, but he gave her a hard look, as if he was trying to peer into her mind. Cheerilee thought about the enchanted glasses sitting in her saddlebags, which had been tossed by Shiny in a corner of the room. If she could’ve construed a reason to have those on right now she wondered what she’d be seeing in her old friend’s head.

“Truth…you want the truth…?” he had a bitterness in his tone, and a desperation, his shoulders slumping, “Fine, here it is; the Copper Coin family is less than year from losing all its titles and lands.”

Cheerilee balked, blinking several times, “Come again?”

“It’s the d-d-debts. M-mother and father, th-they’ve been spending our family c-c-coffers into spiraling debt for…years…” Shiny shook his head, “I finally turn old enough to properly take on the mantle as s-sc-s-scion of the house…and I find we owe bits to…everypony.”

“Everypony?”

”Everypony!” Shiny’s voice was equal parts fury and despair, the emotions seeming to drown out his own stutter, “Barons, viscounts, duchesses, even simple pages! My parents have borrowed bits from every bloody thrice-cursed noble in the Night Court! And not just our fellow nobles, oh no! They’ve borrowed bits from every money lender from New Pagusus to Manehattan! Even private companies like the Apple Trust has money owed to them! We owe money to ponies who make their living kicking trees!”

“I think the colloquial term is ‘bucking’ trees.”

“Not the point Cheerilee!”

He’d sat down on his haunches, looking…drained. Cheerilee, with little hopping motions, moved herself chair and all over to him. She couldn’t really hug him per se, but she leaned her head down to sort of nuzzle his cheek. Shiny seemed almost not to notice as he whispered, “I’m inheriting a lifetime of debt, an impossible mess to fix, a crazed sister, and the responsibility to somehow make it all right to the ponies of my province and the ones who serve me.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes, yes it is. My family is going to be completely out of every single bit we have by the end of the year, and if all those debts are called in…well, the territory will likely get ceded to the noble who holds the greatest share of our debt, but my family can look forward to a future of destitute living. Even if I get Tarnished back I won’t be able to offer her a return to any kind of proper lifestyle. And what of all the employees who rely on us? Not even those who directly serve me, but all the numerous ponies who live in our territory will feel the pinch of this debt. I have to somehow fix it all. It’s all on me.”

Cheerilee couldn’t help herself anymore and wrapped her hooves around him in a hug.

It took Shiny a few seconds to blink at that and looked at the now unbound ropes laying on the floor, “How did you…? Heh, why am I even surprised? You’d break out even if I threw you in cell, wrapped up in a manacled sack, and threw the key into the ocean.”

“To help a friend? Definitely,” Cheerilee confirmed.

“…I should have told you about Tarnished years ago, before it ever got to this point.”

“You didn’t want me to abandon my studies. Which I would have, to try and find your sister. You know me pretty well Shiny.”

“Wish I knew you better,” he whispered and Cheerilee gave him an odd look, to which he pushed her away a bit, composing himself, forcing away his stutter, “But I suppose that’s a train that left the station long ago. Now, I still owe you answers, and I may as well get all this out before your friend Trixie does something stupid.”

“I told you Trixie and Raindrops left back to Ponyville-“

“Cheerilee, you’re not bad at lying, but don’t insult me, alright? I knew the moment you showed up at the gate again that you and your Element friends were up to something. I want you safe, so I didn’t question the obvious lie. Now that Tarnished is focused on you your safest here where my guards can protect you. Going to stab a guess that you’re supposed to be bait for Tarnished? Trixie planning on swooping in and capturing my sister before I can?”

Cheerilee found herself dumbly nodding at him, voice not hiding her surprise, “You…figured it out, huh?”

“Trixie Lulamoon isn’t the hardest mare to predict. Honestly though, she has surprised me in this case,” Shiny said with a grudging shrug, “I thought by now she’d give up, once the danger to her life became obvious. Her reputation in the Night Court suggests she’s stupid and kind of a coward, so I figured she’d run once the danger of the basilisk became obvious.”

“I’d like to know what ponies spread this ‘reputation’ of hers,” muttered Cheerilee, “so I can give them a proper talking to. Trixie isn’t the same mare she was before coming to Ponyville.”

“I’m starting to see that. Still, this plan of hers wasn’t hard to see through, as really at this point she’s out of options. If she wants me off Oaton’s back it’d take something like hanging Tarnished in front of me like a carrot. And you went along with this plan?” there was a undercurrent of hurt and accusation in his tone as he looked at her.

Cheerilee flinched, her earlier guilt returning, “I’m sorry about that. I want Tarnished safe as much as you, but what you’re doing to Oaton is wrong. I wanted to find out why. Why you built that dam again, and why it looks like you’re smuggling endangered species.”

“Shouldn’t be surprised you surmised that from what you stole from my office,” he muttered, then chuckled, “You’ve earned a permanent admirer in Bootheel by the way. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stallion with a bruise that large smile that widely.”

“No changing the subject Shiny,” Cheerilee said, but found herself chuckling lightly as well. While she had no interest in a stallion like Bootheel these days, she couldn’t deny that had she run into him eight or nine years ago…well who knew what might’ve come of that?

Shiny was silent for a moment, apparently gathering his thoughts.

“Yes, I’m using this camp, and the redirected river, to smuggle animals to Hoofington. Cockatrices this time, mostly. Got a few manticores coming through as well. This whole scheme was originally Sawblade’s, the old leader of the Lumber Guild. He set this all up a year ago as a get-rich-quick scheme, but it all fell apart because of Trixie Lulamoon and my sister’s interference. Tarnished was trying to free the animals being smuggled, Trixie was just being a drunk force of chaos. Either way, the Lumber Guild lost its leadership and would’ve gone under if I hadn’t snatched it up myself. My family’s debt was so large a little bit more to acquire the Lumber Guild’s stock wasn’t such a big deal, and I recognized a chance to earn a lot of bits using Sawblade’s own scheme myself. Needed his son’s help to get it all set up, though. It won’t come close to erasing my family’s debt, but it’s a start. The ponies who run this whole operation are…testing me, seeing how reliable I am. If I pull off this smuggling ring for a year, I can be trusted with doing bigger things. More bits involved. The bonus is that the animals could act as a way to draw Tarnished out of those blasted woods. The ponies behind the smuggling don’t care what else I do in this area as long as they get their goods delivered, after all, so I’m free to go after my sister and make bits at the same time.”

“What ponies? Whose behind all of this?”

“ Cheerilee, you ought to know more than most that the kind of ponies I’m working with now don’t give real names and don’t put titles to their groups. Crime in Equestria doesn’t exist, remember? We’re a peaceful little utopia of happiness and rainbows. Except for when we’re not. And the ponies that make their bits off of anything that isn’t happiness and rainbows prefer to stay anonymous and out of sight. Instead they get desperate or gullible types, types like me, to take all the risks so if something goes wrong we’re the ones that take the fall, not them.”

“Then back out Shiny!” Cheerilee said, “It’s not too late to come clean and put a stop to this! We can deal with your family’s debt some other way.”

“Really? You have two point six million bits laying around your house? Schoolteachers are paid better than I thought.”

“Two…point six…?” Cheerilee mentally calculated a few variables, “Just what have your parents been spending all that money on!?”

“Tourneys, festivals, additional summer and winter homes in Latigo and Cavallia respectively, a entire army worth of additional servants we don’t need, oh and let’s not forget their pet projects with my mother’s obsession with alchemy and father’s interest in collection random archeological artifacts. He spent two hundred thousand alone on opening that pointless museum last month. It’s like they didn’t even grasp that the bits they were spending had to come from somewhere! So, yes, before you press further, I’m willing to risk jail and the dubious morality of working with Equestria’s seedy underbelly if it means having a shot at putting enough of a dent in that debt to make sure my family doesn’t fall apart. Sorry Cheerilee.”

Cheerilee shook her head, “No, I’m sorry. Sorry that your parents put you in that kind of position. But this isn’t going to work Shiny! You said it yourself, these ponies are using you, so you can take the fall if you’re caught. Which you will be, sooner or later, even if it isn’t Trixie that exposes all of this to the authorities. If you give this up now we can protect you, we can think of something!”

“Give me a solid option, rather than just we’ll ‘think of something’ and I’ll consider it. Right now I’m following the only path I can see to get my sister back and save my family from debt…” he paused, eyes locked on hers, a desperation underlying the hardness he was trying to put into them, “Please Cheerilee…give me another way out…”

Cheerilee met his look, suddenly feeling the memories of many years flashing into her mind when she first met the shy yet passionate young noble stallion before her. He’d been so fiercely against his little sister hanging out with a ‘mare of ill repute’ like Cheerilee, had had all manner of choice words for her, threatened to have her thrown behind bars if Cheerliee kept dragging Tarnished along on any more wild escapades. It’d been cute, the way he’d stood up for his sister’s well being despite being clearly terrified, knees shaking, voice stuttering. So utterly out of his depth in confronting her, yet fired up to press on for the sake of his sister. Cheerilee had admired that spark. It was there now. Shiny wasn’t going to back down from this path, not as long as he believed it was his only chance to protect his family.

She sighed sadly, shaking her head, “I’ve already tried giving you one, and you’re not taking it.”

“Then there’s nothing left for us to say to each other.”

“…I…suppose there isn’t.”

The silence hung thickly between them for a moment, then Shiny Copper Coin turned sharply for the door. Opening it Cheerilee could see the rust colored unicorn mare Cut n’ Dry waiting patiently like a stone sentinel out in the hallway. Cut n’ Dry looked at Cheerilee’s unbound hooves and made to step forward but Shiny raised his own hoof.

“Leave her. I should have known better than to even try keeping her bound. Just ensure that she doesn’t leave that room. Use force if needed, but don’t cause any permanent harm.”

“As my lord wishes. What of your suspicions concerning her companions?” the unicorn mare was clearly tense, and kept eying Cheerilee cautiously. No doubt she was well aware of what Cheerilee had done to her fellow guard.

“They’re likely already either inside the camp or nearby, waiting for my sister to strike. We’d only waste time trying to search for them. I must go ensure our trap for Tarnished is prepared. I’ll send Bootheel to relieve you soon, as I’ll need your magic at my side against Tarnished.”

“My lord, perhaps Bootheel would not be the best choice to watch our…guest? He’s already proven unable to deal with her effectively.”

Shiny tapped his chin, nodding, “Point taken. Your brother then shall accompany him. The two seem to have a rapport, and neither are critical for trapping my sister.”

Cut n’ Dry put a hoof to her chest in salute, “Very well. Do be swift in sending them to relieve me my lord, I’d not wish to be absent from your side when the time comes.”

Shiny had a small smile on as he left Cut n’ Dry alone with Cheerilee, the rust coated unicorn entering the room and closing the door behind her in a soft white glow of magic. Cut n’ Dry eyed the rope bindings still on Cheerilee’s hind legs and after a second undid them with her magic. Cheerilee smiled at her and got up from the chair, stretching all four hooves.

“Mmm, thank you, that position was rather uncomfortable. Don’t know how Lyra does it all the time.”

“I didn’t do it to make you comfortable,” said Cut n’ Dry curtly, jaw tightening. Cheerilee’s eyebrow quirked up.

“Did I do something to upset you?”

“…No…”

“Well you’re certainly acting like I have.”

Cut n’ Dry remained silent, staring at Cheerilee while standing guard in front of the door. Cheerilee’s eyebrow went even higher as she shuffled over to the bed and stretched out on it. She noticed Cut n’ Dry tensed, and as an experiment Cheerilee stretched out even more and lay on the bed like she was going to go to sleep on it.

“What are you doing?” Cut n’ Dry’s sharp voice said.

“Just thought I’d take a nap.”

“Then do so on the floor. You shouldn’t be messing up my lord’s bed!”

“Hmm…” Cheerilee pondered, “You’re very loyal to Shiny, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Cut n’ Dry said, eyes glaring a challenge, “Unlike some ponies.”

“Are you talking about me?” Cheerilee asked honestly.

“You were his friend, once, correct?”

“I was. Am. I’m still his friend,” Cheerilee said emphatically.

“Then why are you opposing him!? Why are you causing him to doubt his actions with your very presence!? If you and that…that blue nag keep interfering do you not understand what will happen? That my lord is risking everything he has, his future and freedom, to save his family? You stand against this and have the gall to still call yourself his friend!? You should be thankful he still holds you in such high regard otherwise I’d…I’d…” Cut n’ Dry was trembling in barely contained rage.

Cheerilee smiled brightly, “I’m glad.”

“…What…?”

“I’m just, glad, you know. Back in the day Shiny was always doubting himself, always worried he’d never be worth of his family’s title. I’ll admit back then I kind of doubted it myself, I mean, he was such a shy type, always nervous and fidgeting. It’s good to see that he’s grown to be the kind of pony that inspires loyalty like yours. I sincerely believe he could lead his family out of this debt without resorting to becoming a criminal…I’m wondering why you don’t?”

“I doubt nothing about my lord!” Cut n’ Dry said.

“Then why are you letting him lower himself to be using by criminals?”

“…It…is not my place to question my lord’s wishes. He is doing what he feels is best.”

Cheerilee made a small ‘hmm’ sound to that, turning over on the bed and propped her head on her forelegs like they were pillows. Cut n’ Dry grunted in annoyance but didn’t seem interested in further chastising Cheerilee. The schoolteacher for her part contemplated what she’d learned.

What Shiny was doing was wrong, even if he had the right reasons to do it. Stopping him would probably mean him ending up in jail. Best case scenario for Tarnished was a long stay in a mental hospital, possibly also followed by jail time for endangering Equestrian citizens. The Copper Coin family as a whole would be left to crumble under the weight of its debts, the whole province suffering the repercussions of another noble family taking over the lands.

…Cheerilee knew stopping Shiny’s plans was supposed to be the right thing to do.

So why did the thought make her chest feel so tight?

Trixie pressed herself against the wall as Count Shiny Copper Coin walked pass her. She’d caught some of the conversation between him and unicorn guardsmare of his. Sounded like Cheerilee was okay, but being closely watched. Hopefully she’d gotten some useful information out of Shiny, but with that guardsmare there Trixie wasn’t going to be able to speak with her.

Trixie considered following Shiny to try and find out just what he had in store for Tarnished arriving, but she hadn’t forgotten the main reason she was here to try and dig up concrete evidence of what he was up to, and to investigate Sawdust. Silently moving down the hallway she began to make her way towards where Cheerilee had described that map room was. As she went she whispered a message to Raindrops.

“Found Cheerilee. She’s fine, just being closely watched by the Count’s guards.”

Good to know she’s alright. Everything is still quiet out here, and not in the ‘too quiet’ manner, either. Only thing odd I’m seeing are more guards on the palisade than were there last time we were here.

Trixie paused, thinking. She hadn’t noticed any additional guards, but then she didn’t have Raindrops’ vantage point and Trixie hadn’t been looking too closely at the palisade.

“Must be expecting Tarnished just like we are. I’ve got to make this fast.”

Raindrops didn’t reply to that and it was just as well, Trixie had reached the hallway with the map room. Trixie didn’t see anypony around, but the door opposite the one that led to the map room had a soft orange light flickering from the bottom crack. Trixie briefly listened at it but couldn’t hear anything. She shrugged and went for the map room, quietly wreathing the hinges in her sound dampening spell to keep them from squeaking as she swung it open.

Once inside she closed the door and turned to the table. She frowned. The table was clear, no map to be seen. All of the shelving Cheerilee had described was there, but there were only a hooffull of scrolls and paperwork left. Checking them Trixie discovered they were completely mundane ledgers and work schedules. Anything that even remotely tied to Shiny’s smuggling of animals or his search for Tarnished. He must have moved them after Cheerilee had broken in here.

Trixie didn’t let this deter her. It wasn’t as if this was all that surprising. No doubt the vital and incriminating stuff had been moved somewhere more secure. Leaving the now former map room Trixie pondered the risk of sneaking into the place they were holding Cheerilee. Shouldn’t be too hard to trick the guard Shiny left into leaving long enough for Trixie to slip in and with Cheerilee’s help it would be easy to search the room quickly…

Her ears twitched as she heard voices coming from the other side of the door across from her, the one that had had light coming from it. She slid up and pressed one ear against the door, trying to make out the words. One of the voices sounded like Sawdust.

“…you well? Did not anticipate…unstable…”

The other voice was even fainter. It was a mare’s voice, and it sounded…familiar. Trixie couldn’t place it but she was sure she’d heard this mare’s voice, and recently.

“... on’t worry…niece…please…”

Now it was Sawdust’s voice again, tone that same calm, smoothly confident tone he’d held during the inspection.

“…work…Count Shiny will…no matter what they…we win.”

Trixie frowned. We win? Who? The mare’s voice again, so familiar, and now sounding unsure. Trixie was now pressing her ear so hard against the door it almost hurt, but she still couldn’t catch more than a few words.

“…too much…can’t let…the Threshers didn’t…”

The Threshers!? Trixie couldn’t help herself, it was worth the risk. Using her sound dampening spell again on the door hinges she began to open it, catching part of Sawdust’s reply much clearer now.

“We didn’t have much choice. I told you I’d fix them as soon as…wait a moment.”

For a second the mare’s voice said, “Sawdust what-“but it was cut off abruptly.

Trixie had the door open a crack but closed it just as quickly, not sure how but suspecting Sawdust had somehow realized he was being listened in on. She backed away from the door and crouched down, even though she was invisible. A second later Sawdust opened the door and looked out, the purple unicorn with his blue mane still partially covered by his bowler cap. He had that near sleepy, closed eyed look, relaxed even as he glanced left and right down either end of the hallway.

For a moment Trixie swore he looked right at her, but then his eyes simply moved on as he scanned the hallway, then with a soft little huff of air he turned back into the room. While he swung the door behind him Trixie noticed it didn’t click closed all the way and hung open slightly. She blinked, having a hard time believing her luck. She crept forward, trying to peek inside.

It was clearly a combination office and bedroom from the table with neatly stacked papers sitting practically alongside a simple utilitarian bed. Sawdust was standing at another desk along the wall, looking at something set up on the desk, a bowl of some kind. His hat was still on but Trixie noted a blue glow wreathing the bowl, so imagined his horn must be channeling magic underneath the hat.

Soon the mare’s voice returned, clearer now, and Trixie found her mouth slowly gaping open as she recognized it.

“Sawdust? What happened? You dropped the connection.”

“Thought I heard something, but it must have been my imagination. Now as I was saying, I’ll return the Thresher’s to normal once this is all over with and I have an opportunity to ensure their memories are altered so they don’t remember seeing us.”

“You could have just used this spell to get in touch with me earlier. Meeting face to face wasn’t necessary.”

“Oh, but how could I resist seeing my big sister and giving her a hug? It’s not like your husband would allow me to come over for dinner and a chat, not without rearranging my jawbone.”

“…It doesn’t have to be that way. You two used to be friends.”

“I think that friendship ended the day father disowned you. Hard to forgive the stallion that ended such a promising career in photography because he couldn’t control himself.”

“I was my choice as well brother. I don’t regret what happened. I’m happy here. I’m happy with Sheaf. I have three beautiful foals. What more could I want?”

“Oh, so you’re helping me because you’re completely satisfied with your life? I thought the plan rather involved ensuring your foals had a future beyond being farmers?”

“…I want them to have the choice, yes. What I don’t want is for them to lose their home, or their mother. Sawdust, I nearly…that basilisk…that mare of yours is out of control!”

“As I said, Tarnished is more unstable than I anticipated. I didn’t expect her to set that beast loose on Oaton like that. Something has aggravated her beyond her bother simply chasing her. Something to do with the Elements of Harmony. Do you know anything about that?”

“No, no I don’t. They fought off the basilisk. For as much as Trixie claims to have lied to us she certainly seems like a hero to me. She and her friends beat back that monster, and Trixie herself restored me to normal. I…brother I think we should abandon this whole plan. It’s too risky. I know you think you have all the angles covered like you always do, but this time somepony could really get hurt!”

“Do not fret sister. I have everything under control. You just keep working on convincing Sheaf. Once Trixie gets rid of the Copper Coins for us all we’ll need is your husband’s cooperation to make this whole plan come together perfectly. Oaton will rise in prosperity, you’ll be able to start up your career again, and certainly my little nieces an nephew can look forward to a bright future. Just trust me.”

“…I will…”

“Good. Sleep well Picturesque.”

Author's Note

Whew, this chapter took way longer to write than it should have, mostly because I wasn't 100% satisfied with where to end it. It was already so long (I apologize for my chronic long-windedness), but couldn't decide where to properly end it. Still, pieces are falling into place, and we're moving into our penultimate chapter coming up next! I think! According to my expert calculations which are in no way random or arbitrary we're on track to finish this little tale with within one or two more chapters, plus an epilogue, plus a potential short bonus chapter I'm not even sure should count as canon but I'm gonna write it anyway!

Chapter 9: Always Darkest...

Chapter 9: Always Darkest...

Raindrops was not comfortable waiting, despite resting on quite the comfortable cloud. She understood why Trixie had given her the task of saying up in the sky, out of sight, however. Raindrops was not a stealthy mare like Cheerilee, or had a way to turn herself invisible like Trixie. Her best asset was her strength and the skill to apply it. Subtlety was not her strong suit. So Trixie needed her to stay hidden and conserve her strength until the time came for Raindrops to do what she did very well. Raindrops understood it...

...but the waiting was torture. It gave her too much time to worry about how Trixie was doing, or if Cheerilee was really okay. Sure the schoolteacher had been acting calm enough and had voiced her support of this whole plan; but it had to be bothering her. Tarnished and Shiny were old friends to Cheerilee, and while Raindrops wouldn’t speak for her friend she knew if that if she were in the same position Cheerilee was she’d be more than a little conflicted over the situation.

Raindrops was sitting in what many would see as a very awkward position with her rear legs crossed under her and her front legs pressed together in front of her barrel, her breaths coming in and out at a slow, steady pace. A bit of meditation to center herself before the inevitable confrontation. At least the night was nice and-

-a distant peal of thunder made the pegasus’ right ear flick and she opened her eyes.

“Really?” she asked as she looked towards the east, where a dark blanket of cloud that looked like an ink stain across the midnight blue sky was rapidly forming, flashing with cracks of lightning that distantly rumbled.

Raindrops knew her weather patterns, even the highly irregular and random ones of the Everfree Forest. Granted this was South Everfree and she’d never been to this region before this whole Oaton escapade, but she doubted the weather could be that much different from the Everfree up by Ponyville. This storm wasn’t natural. It was leagues away from natural. The air hadn’t been right for a forming so much as a nasty headwind, and she would’ve felt the conditions if they’d been present long before something like this could have formed.

To top it off just looking at the oily black clouds of that storm sent a uneasy shudder through her body. Normally she loved a good storm, especially if it promised rain. Looking at this storm gave her none of that usual good vibe.

“Not natural,” she muttered to herself and put her hoof to the silver ear clasp, “Trixie, you there?”

”Busynowwhat?” came the fast, whispered reply.

Raindrops frowned at Trixie’s voice, which sounded strained, “Letting you know we’ve got a storm coming in. I don’t think it’s normal, even by Everfree standards.”

A pause, then “You’ll be okay up there?”

Raindrops looked back at the storm, narrowing her eyes, trying to judge its strength, “I’m not going to want to stay up here for more than another half hour. I’ll need to ground myself when the storm gets here.”

“Right. Do what you have to. Don’t take any risks. Found something interesting. Don’t know if its what we need or not. Can’t risk talking more right now. Be careful.”

Raindrops nodded, “You too.”

She couldn’t rest. Couldn’t stop moving. Her hooves made a constant erratic and echoing series of clops in the depths of the dry cave. Every now and then she’d hear a soft growl from the shadows deeper in the cave, and every time Tarnished felt just a brief instant of calm before her mind swirled back to a frantic pace. It had begun to rain outside the cave a few minutes ago, but the steady patter of water falling on the soft forest floor outside the cave mouth failed to sooth her like such sounds had in the past. Every now and then there would be a roll of distant thunder, punctuations to her swirling thoughts.

So close! She was so close! Cheerilee was there, with her brother, she knew it! It was taking every shred of willpower Tarnished could dredged up to keep from galloping straight there immediately. The only reason she didn’t was that her friends were telling her it was dangerous to go alone. She should wait, yes, wait until the others arrived, then go in force. Then… then she could knock aside any ponies that dared get between her and Cheerilee. Even the notion of freeing the many poor friends who she was sure at this very moment were being imprisoned in that horrible place was now a secondary concern in comparison to the knowledge that Cheerilee was there.

The very thought ignited painful flares of rage inside her head that complimented the bleak, sucking feeling of emptiness in her gut. She licked a dry tongue over cracked lips; her endless pacing taking her to one of the cavern’s many walls. As always she barely looked at the strange writing that covered the walls, sharp, spidery script that curved in constant spirals along the dark gray stone. She never paid the writing any mind, any more than to what she’d found in the cave’s deepest corner.

She didn’t even see the writing now, she just stared at the wall, mind drifting in a roiling sea of memory, brought to the surface by a chorus of whispers that were such a constant now she barely noticed them. Tarnished was instead only hearing voices from the past as her eyes blankly looked at nothing.

“Who are you!? What are you doing in my garden!?”

Tarnished blinked in wide eyed fear at the gangly looking magenta ruffian that had just hopped over the gate of her family estate’s north garden; an earth pony mare with a wild mane and tail of a two-tone light pink. Tarnished balked at the mare’s dirty coat.

“Shh! Don’t make a fuss, I’m just hiding out from those gentleponies over there. I’ll be out of your mane before you know it,” the mare said with a conspiratorial wink and a gesture with her head at the hedge she was now hiding behind

Tarnished, trepidation filling her, looked through the hedge out into the streets of Hoofington’s upper crust residential district. A pair of pegasi ponies in dark blue vests and carrying batons were floating down one of the cobbled streets, looking around with narrowed eyes.

“City guard? Why are they chasing you? Are you a thief!?” Tarnished asked, fear crawling into her voice as she backed away from the magenta mare before her, glancing towards the three store manor across the garden. Could she risk screaming? If she did what would this crazy pony do to her!?

“Sometimes. Not today though,” the madmare said with coy smile that only made Tarnished feel more scandalized by the situation, “They just don’t like that I smashed one of their own through a table.”

Tarnished’s eyes popped wide.

“What!? Why would you do something so uncouth!?”

The magenta mare laughed; a rich, warm sound that for reasons Tarnished couldn’t quite grasp made her feel... slightly less terrified of her.

“Buck was playing rough with one of my friends. Had to show him the importance of manners. You’re a noble, from that expensive looking dress; you ought to appreciate the need to teach proper manners, right?”

Tarnished looked down at herself; at the spring green dress she wore with the soft white embroidery of vines and birds. It wasn’t even her nicest dress, just a simple thing she liked to wear when in the garden.

“I-I suppose so. Wait, that’s not the issue here!” Tarnished said, recalling she was talking with a ruffian and a criminal, “Get out of my garden! If mother and father see you I’ll be in so much trouble. They’ll ground me for a month!”

“Oh come on, you always do what your parents tell you? If they ground you, just run off!” the thief said with her smile widening as she took an eager step closer to Tarnished.

“I could never do anything so… so brazen!” Tarnished said, but to her own surprise didn’t step away from the mare. Something in that smile. It was warm, and seemed to beam brightly from the corners of the mare’s lips all the way up to her soft green eyes. Eyes Tarnished noted were quite lovely- Gah, what was she thinking about!?

“You think skipping out on being grounded is brazen? Heh, I take it you don’t get out much,” the mare said with that warm laugh that easily made Tarnished forget about the now long gone city guard, or the mare’s intrusion in the first place.

“I get out plenty!” Tarnished said defensively, smoothing out her dress with one hoof idly, “Why, just yesterday my big brother took me to see a play in uptown. Though… I didn’t get to see much of the city. We took a carriage the entire way, and when I saw this interesting place where a lot of ponies were going to dance brother said I couldn’t go because it’d be a bad influence on me.”

Tarnished flinched a bit as the mare looked her over. The mare’s hooves then pounded one into the other, as if coming to a sudden conclusion.

“Right, it’s decided then, you’re coming with me!”

“W-w-what!? You’re going to foalnap me!?” Tarnished cried in a high squeak.

“Foalnap?” the mare waved a hoof as if Tarnished was joking, “It’s not foalnapping if you come willingly! Come on, you want to see the city right? I can see it in your eyes, you’re just dying to get out and stretch those legs. Come with me and I’ll show you a real night on the town, introduce you to all my friends.”

“I can’t do that,” Tarnished said hastily, shaking her head vigorously so her long creme mane bounced around her face “Mother and father, my brother, they’ll be so worried about me!”

“Ah, but you are interested. Don’t worry; I’ll have you back home before anypony even realizes you’re gone.”

Interested? Was she? Tarnished didn’t know what to say. She should have instantly fled this brazen criminal mare! She should have screamed for the city guard. But she hadn’t. As scandalous as the mare’s very presence was, Tarnished was finding herself drawn into the mare’s energy, that smile infectious.

“I…I…”

“Trust me, kid, I’ll look after you, and it’ll be the most fun you’ve had in years, I promise,” the mare said as she held out a hoof, welcoming.

Without even realizing it, Tarnished was smiling, and slowly taking hold of the offered hoof. Tarnished felt her breath quicken a bit at the warm contact of the other pony.

“…o-okay, but only this one time. But please, call me by my name. I’m Tarnished, of the Copper Coin family. It’s, um, a pleasure miss…?”

“Heheh, pleased to meet you too Tarnished. Call me Cheerilee. All of my friends do.”

Tarnished found she was biting her lower lip so hard a little bit of blood was trickling down. She wanted to stop the memories. It hurt to remember what she’d had, and lost. She leaned her forehead against the cold stone wall of the cave, teeth grinding against each other as one hoof slowly, forcefully, started hitting the stone over and over again, as if by doing so she’d shove away the onslaught of memory.

“W-what do you think you’re d-d-doing Tarnished!? Do you have any idea wh-what time of night it is? I know Canterlot lives by night, but in H-H-Hoofington it is not acceptable for a young lady of noble birth to d-drag h-h-h-herself home at three in the morning!”

Tarnished yawned, slowly tilting her head and feeling muscles crack pleasantly from the night’s exertions. Her hooves were dead tired, but it was a good feeling. She clopped along the clean tiled floor of her family manor’s foyer, her brother Shiny marching alongside her. He’d been waiting for her the moment the Houseguard had escorted her through the door; a pair of young unicorns her brother had picked up off the street and introduced to the household.

Tarnished didn’t pay the two guards any mind and fixed her brother with a disarming smile; an expression she’d learned from Cheerilee.

“Chill, brother, I’m quite alright, and can decide for myself what time of day or night I wish to return home.”

Her brother rolled his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh as he nodded for his two guards to be dismissed before turning to Tarnished with a stern look; or at least what he tried to make a stern look. Shiny wasn’t all that good at trying to look serious, his expression faltering even as he admonished her.

“Chill? N-n-now you’re using s-slang? It’s her again…t-t-t-that mare! She’s t-trouble sister! Mother and father w-w-will hear of this!”

It was now Tarnished’s turn to roll her eyes. Strange, even a few months ago she’d have been too embarrassed to even think of arguing with her brother, and felt terror at the mention of her parents being displeased with her. Now? After the things she’d seen, the things she done, and the things she’d learned from her new friends?

“So what if they do?” Tarnished said curtly, “Soon I’ll be old enough to live on my own if I so wish, to go where I please. I have no intention of remaining in my little garden forever.”

“B-but you… you love y-y-your garden, and the little animals in it!”

That did give Tarnished a moment of pause. Shiny was right, she did love her animal friends from the garden, and hadn’t seen them much lately. But...

“The world is a bigger garden,” she said firmly, “With more fascinating animals occupying it than the squirrels in our backyard. Sorry brother, but Cheerilee and the others have shown me how small our manor home is. It can’t be my whole world forever. You know if you just give her a chance I’m sure you’d find you like Cheerilee. She’s quite friendly.”

Tarnished hid a small smile with her hoof at the way her brother’s face flushed and and looked away.

“I-I…I don’t care for the way she a-acts! Sh-she treats everything like it’s a g-g-g-game! She has not a si-single serious hair in her m-mane, no matter how l-lovely a mane it is!”

“Oh, you think her mane is lovely, brother?” Tarnished asked teasingly. She never knew how much fun it was, but after being on the receiving end of no small amount of teasing from her new friends Tarnished had acquired a taste for it.

“I am m-m-merely making an observation! It’s not as if I’ve been w-w-watching her or anything! Now st-stop changing the subject! This is about y-you and you spending too much time w-with her and her gang!”

And there, in an instant, Tarnished’s good mood dampened. She gave her brother a cross look as they reached the end of the foyer, where a large pair of oaken doors would lead into the dining hall.

“It’s not a ‘gang’ brother; they’re just a bunch of good friends who tend to get into a spot of trouble now and again. They’re my friends now, too. Being with them makes me happy. Shouldn’t that be enough for you brother, me being happy?”

Tarnished kept shaking her head, trying to make the memories stop. She hardly noticed the intensity of the whispering voices through her head now, or the intensity of the storm brewing above the cavern. So long ago, yet every word was a clear echo in her mind, undiminished by the passage of years. After all, how do you forget the time in your life when you were happiest?

“Huff…huff…they still…chasing us…?” Tarnished asked, heart hammering in her chest, as she looked over the small boulder into the dark depths of the thick forest.

“Think we lost them. Ha, out of breath already Tarnished?” quipped a white pegasus with a flashy, tangled orange mane. Beside her the other members of the gang were similarly catching their breaths, though none quite as loudly as Tarnished’s wheezing gasps.

“I’m fine… just… tiny lungs… not good for sprinting,” Tarnished said with a weak, but genuinely content smile, even as the adrenaline started to wear off.

“Heh, our little baroness might need some tea to catch her breath,” said the pegasus mare as she checked her wings, brushing out some twigs that’d gotten tangled up in them.

“Countess, actually,” corrected Tarnished after catching her breath, “My family is moving up in the world.”

“Should we be learning how to curtsey around you now?” said a unicorn mare with a neon pink coat and long equally neon blue mane tied into pig-tails.

“Rainbowshine, give her a break, we’re all pretty tired after a run like that,” said Cheerilee, checking one of her forelegs which had a small bite mark on it. Nothing deep, but blood was welling up, dark on her magenta coat.

“Note to self, next time we try this whole ‘tomb raiders’ thing, let’s avoid ruins infested with Timber Wolves.”

“Yeah, I vote we go back to bar hopping across Equestria. Or maybe the Griffin Kingdoms. We haven’t gone there yet,” piped up a small earthy pony stallion with a bristly dark gray coat and curled yellow mane.

“I like Gin’s idea. I’ve never even met a griffin before,” said the pegasus mare, stretching her wings.

“Hmm, well, let’s see what we can fence these relics for first. Long distance travel ain’t cheap, Sunset. We get enough coin then I’d be pretty interested in checking out the griffin’s myself,” said Cheerilee.

“Sure, you’ve already tired minotaur, why not griffin?”

“I wouldn’t be going there for that reason!” said Cheerilee, but she quickly grinned, “Mostly. I have a healthy interest in other things; what kind of food they got there, what kind of drinks I can get plastered with-“

“What kind of flanks you can bump.”

“Sunset, I’m not that bad!”

“But you had two ponies up in your hotel room last night. I think one of them was a mare,” said Tarnished, looking at the ground and bumping a rock with a hoof, sending it skipping away.

“How could you be so sure one of them was a mare, Tarnished?”

“Um, well…my room is next to yours…and I know what you sound like when…um…and unless one of the stallions had a very high pitched voice…” Tarnished coughed, looking away, hoping Cheerilee didn’t see the heat rising to her cheeks and neck.

“Okay, okay, okay, maybe I am that bad!” laughed Cheerilee, “Can we change the subject please?”

“Oh no, boss, we’re going to relentlessly tease you about this all the way back to Hoofington,” said Sunset with a grin as mirthful as it was ruthless. The unfortunately named peagsus mare was probably the closest Cheerilee’s not-gang had to a second in command, and she enjoyed seeking endless opportunity to tease.

“You guys are the worst,” said Cheerilee, smiling that smile that made Tarnished’s heart feel light as air and bright as the moon.

“That’s why you love us!”

How do you forget the times in your life when you’re happiest? More than that, how do you forget when that happiness is taken away? How do you forget when the life you’re living, and loving every minute of it, is torn out from under you? Her hoof was leaving a red imprint on the stone wall from the number of times she was striking it, but she didn’t even notice. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling inside.

“Cheerilee, where were you last night? You missed one fantastic party at Smokey Haze’s. Gin n’ Tonic brought in some stallions from Cavallia he met at the train station. I love those accents they have, they’re so cool! Cheerilee… ? What are you doing? What’s with the books?”

Tarnished was rather surprised to see Cheerilee’s room piled with books. Not like it was ever all that clean, but Tarnished couldn’t remember seeing so many texts strewn about her friend’s place before. They all seemed to be pretty random too; textbooks on any subject under the moon. Tarnished gave Cheerilee a questioning look, noticing her friend was sitting at a desk, nose buried in the pages for a second before Cheerilee looked up at her. Her green eyes (such perfect green eyes- no! Can’t tell her!) were tired from lack of sleep, a look Tarnished was used to seeing...but usually because Cheerilee was out partying with her and the others for that night.

“Huh? Oh, sorry Tarnished, mind’s a million miles away. Sounds like you guys had a good time though, sorry I missed it. Just been getting some things sorted out and forgot the party,” Cheerilee said, smile apologetic.

“You? Forget a party?” Tarnished chuckled, hoping it hid her sudden spike of nervousness as she approached the desk and leaned against Cheerilee’s side, “The stars must have aligned with the sun in an ill omen for you to miss out on a night of partying. Or perhaps you found a stallion, or mare, or both to have fun with without us?”

Tarnished liked to tease, but truthfully she hoped it wasn’t another tryst. She didn’t hold it against her friend, her promiscuous nature, but it left Tarnished always feeling... just a smidgen jealous. In the years they’d been friends Tarnished had never mustered the courage to try and make the friendship between her and Cheerilee grow into anything more.

“Heh, nothing so dramatic, or fun, I’m afraid,” Cheerilee said, oblivious to Tarnished’s mental wanderings, “No, I was making a list of study materials, if you’re curious.”

“Hm? Study materials? For what?” Tarnsihed asked, paying more attention to what was on the desk. It looked like a book on... teaching? And there were lists of what looked to be book titles, course names, and livings and tuition costs.

“Well, wasn’t planning on telling any of you this until I had the whole gang together, but I’m going back to school,” Cheerilee said, stretching her forelegs above her head and yawning.

“I don’t understand. You already went to school, didn’t you?” Tarnished didn’t like the sound of this. If Cheerilee went back to school when would they get to see each other?

“Basic education, sure, but I skipped out on most of it. I’m way behind the level of education I need if I’m serious about what I plan to do.”

“I… I’m not quite getting this Cheerilee, what is this all about?”

Cheerilee stood and walked over to the window of her room, opening it to let in some late afternoon summer breeze.

“I want to become a teacher Tarnished. I know this might seem like its coming out of nowhere, but I’ve been thinking about this for awhile,” Cheerilee’s shoulders slumped a bit, “Since the trip to the Griffin Kingdoms, actually. Rainbowshine nearly… one of my friends could have lost her life there.”

Tarnished’s eyes widened, and she followed Cheerilee to the window, looking at her friend with an intense gaze.

“It was an accident! We didn’t know how the laws there worked. And it all turned out okay, right? She’s fine, we’re fine, and it was a lot of fun in the end.”

Cheerilee just shook her head, giving Tarnished a smile, but not the kind that left Tarnished’s heart feeling uplifted. It was a sad smile, one that filled Tarnished with nervous dread.

“Fun… yeah, it was. But a friend of mine nearly got killed because we didn’t have a clue about basic local customs and laws. It just got me thinking, what am I doing with myself? It also made me think; knowledge is a powerful thing. If we knew more, knew better, we would’ve saved ourselves a lot of trouble. It’s not just that incident that’s led me to this decision, there’s a lot on my mind Tarnished. I just realized I want to do something else with my life than party all night, sleep half the day, and get mixed up in whatever trouble comes our way. Teaching, well it has a certain appeal… “

Tarnished backed away, feeling her legs trembling as she stared at her friend. Cheerilee was serious. Completely serious. She was never serious. More to the point, if Cheerilee became a teacher, when would she be able to hang out with the gang!? She’d...

“But, but what about the rest of us!?” Tarnished shouted, panic rising in her chest “You’re our leader Cheerilee! We’re together like we are because you hold us together! If you just, just… just quit on us then what will happen!?”

Tarnished couldn’t think. Cheerilee going away!? No! Everything would fall apart without her!

“Tarnished, relax, it’s not like I’ll stop being friends with everypony just because I want to buckle down and study for becoming a teacher. Yeah, I won’t be able to hang as often, might have to move back home, assuming my parents haven’t disowned me yet. I’ll keep in touch though, and visit when I can. Look, I didn’t want to talk about this until I had everypony else in the room too. Kind of feel bad springing this on you guys but-“

“Kind of feel bad… KIND OF FEEL BAD!?” Tarnished didn’t know where all of this emotion was coming from but it was spilling out of her faster than she could try to rein it in, a tide of panic, fear, and pain at the notion of the best thing that ever happened in her life just... just... going away!

“Did the past three years mean nothing to you!? Because, Cheerilee, they’ve meant everything to me! Everything!”

“Tarnished, what-“

“No! You can’t just break us up like this! My life was so… empty until I met you, Gin, Cartwheel, Sunset, Rainbowshine… you’re more family to me than my own flesh and blood,” Tarnished felt the hot tears on her face, realizing the truth of her own words. She’d barley spoken to her parents in over a year, and her brother... he kept close watch on her and Cheerilee, even seemed to be friends with the magenta mare, but Tarnished herself had lost touch with him. The gang, Cheerilee, they were her family now. The idea that it’d all come apart at the seams...

“Tarnished, you’re overreacting here. I know your parents care a lot about you, and I know for a fact Shiny does! He practically makes me swear an oath by Luna every time we leave Hoofington with you in tow to make sure you come back safe and sound.”

“Ha,” pain was churning into anger in Tarnished’s heart as she sneered, “My parents only want to protect their investment, so I can be a good little noble, marry for some pointless political gambit, and pump out foals to keep the bloodline going! Shiny’s no different! He only cares about our titles, not me!”

“You know that’s not true,” Cheerilee said, stepping towards Tarnished, but the noblemare stepped away, “They’re sending you to that vet school you were talking about, right? If they just wanted to marry you off they wouldn’t be trying to help you get an education!”

“I don’t care about my sun-blasted education! I care about being with my friends! With you!”

Some part of Tarnished wanted to tell Cheerilee the truth; how she really felt. But the words wouldn’t come. They were being swept up in fear and anger at the notion of Cheerilee leaving, for who knew how long, to become a teacher. A teacher who’d not have any time for her friends or the lifestyle they were into.

“You can still do that,” Cheerilee was saying, those too-perfect green eyes staring at Tarnished in equal amounts concern and astonishment, “We can still keep in touch and get together during our breaks. It’s not like I plan on forgetting any of you!”

“Yes you are! You’re… leaving. To be what? Some boring teacher? We laughed at ponies who wasted their lives doing some boring day job like that!”

Tarnished regretted the words the moment they left her mouth. Cheerilee’s eyes narrowed and her stance became stubborn.

“…Well, I’m not laughing at them anymore. I’d rather make my students laugh instead, as I help them learn and grow. This is what I want to do Tarnished, and I’m not changing my mind. I’m sorry. Look, its late, you’re upset, and I shouldn’t have said anything until I had the whole gang here anyway. Just go get some sleep, alright? We’ll talk more about this in the morning.”

“You… you… ARGH! Fine! Do whatever you want! I don’t care anymore! I don’t care about you!”

No words could have been further from the truth.

Tarnished had stopped hitting the wall. Not because she wanted to, but because a warm, thick serpentine tongue had wrapped around her and pulled her away from the wall. She looked back with red, puffy eyes at the visage of a basilisk looking at her. Its eyes weren’t using their petrifying stare; they’d never do that to her, she knew. They were her friends, the male and female pair… one she’d rescued a year ago from the clutches of the Lumber Guild, the male. The female had been her friend years before, when she’d first fled to this forest. The female basilisk looked at her now with its alien reptilian visage. Nopony else would be able to read that face, but Tarnished saw the concern there. The basilisk removed its tongue from around her and sniffed at her, growling in a soft, comforting manner as it nudged her.

Tarnished chuckled, a husk of a sound, devoid of any mirth, as she put one hoof on the basilisk’s snout and petted it.

“I’m pathetic… I couldn’t hold onto her… and now that she’s so close again I don’t know what to do. I’m so… I’m so ANGRY at her! I’m scared. I’m scared of what I’m going to do when I see her again.”

Hurt… hurt… make her suffer… you’ve suffered… her turn… her turn…

The whispering voices echoed through the darkness of the cavern, making Tarnished stiffen, her mane bristling. She clutched her ears with her hooves and curled up into a tight ball while the female basilisk growled loudly, standing over her protectively, though it had nothing to attack. It merely sensed its companions’ pain.

“No. I don’t want to hurt her. I won’t. Cheerilee… I just want to be with her again…” Tarnished whispered back, but the voices were unrelenting, spreading from the air and into her mind like an infection, a fever that burned into her mind.

They deserve pain… all the ponies… your brother… your friend… betrayed you… make them suffer for it… suffer… suffer…

“Stopitstopitstopitstopitstopit,” she was breathing rapidly, pressing her hooves into her ears so hard it hurt, but it did nothing to diminish the cacophony of whispering voices that had no identifiable age or gender, just a black, distorted mass of sound pounding into her skull. It’d never been this bad before. She’d always been able to ignore the voices for the most part, never noticing them when she’d first come to call this forest home. But it was as if over the past year they’d just grown day by day in volume and number, until she wasn’t sure any longer how much of her own thinking was hers anymore.

It's okay… you’re not wrong… have to make the bad ponies pay… they have more of your friends in cages… free them… and punish the bad ponies… punish the ones that hurt you… you’re not wrong… she is… Cheerille is wrong... for choosing other ponies over you…

Tarnished started to breath slower, steadier, as anger began to replace fear. An image in her mind formed crystal clear; the blue unicorn with the silver mane, and the jasmine pegasus with the teal mane. Cheerilee’s new ‘friends’. New friends. Replacements, standing where Tarnished should be standing! Slowly her resistance crumbled, swept aside by a tirade of harsh voices issuing from the darkness of the cave.

“…won’t forgive...”

Don’t forgive…

“…can’t forgive…”

Never forgive…

“They’ll pay…”

Suffer… suffer…

Tarnished slowly stood up, her face an empty mask with only the flickering fire of vengeance to give her glassy eyes any definition. The female basilisk sniffed at her, rumbling in worry, sensing the anger in its friend, and not knowing what to do other than watch as Tarnished started chuckling with a voice that didn’t at all sound like her own.

The glow from the bowl faded and Trixie was still trying to wrap her mind around what she’d just heard. Picturesque and Sawdust were brother and sister? Why hadn’t Sheaf mentioned that!? He had to have known, and it seemed rather like pertinent information! And from the sound of it whatever plan Sawdust had he’d tried to get Picturesque to convince Sheaf to be a part of it. Was that how Sheaf knew about Tarnished? And Sawdust…he knew about Tarnished and it sounded like he was somehow controlling her? For what purpose? He said something about getting rid of the Copper Coins, but it sounded like he was relying on her to do that for him? Had he somehow anticipated her arrival in Oaton to begin with?

She was distracted from her thoughts but Raindrops getting in touch with her about the approaching storm. That had Trixie concerned for a few reasons, not the least of which was that it seemed highly suspect that such a storm would suddenly form out of nowhere when the weather had been nothing but mild the past few days. Maybe one could chalk it up to coincidence, the Everfree being the Everfree, but after hearing those unpleasant whispers inside that forest… well… Trixie wouldn’t be shocked if this storm was somehow connected.

As she watched Sawdust had moved from the bowl he’d been using to communicate with Picturesque and had opened up a drawer on the desk, pulling out a thick book, an inkwell, and a quill pen. Trixie watched with interest as the Lumber Guild leader opened the book and using his magic to float around the quill, dipping it in the inkwell, began to write while muttering to himself. She couldn’t make anything out, but since he was distracted with his writing she took the chance to very carefully try opening the door wide enough for her to slip inside the room.

Sawdust didn’t seem to notice her as she closed the door quietly behind her. Trixie licked her lips, smiling to herself.

Now then, let’s see what you’re hiding, besides an interesting family connection.

Trixie had a great deal of confidence in her stealth. Well, in her invisibility and sound dampening spell anyway. That counted as stealth, right? In any case she was quite sure of herself as she approached Sawdust and poked her head over his shoulder to see what he was writing. It looked like a journal.

It seems my sister’s conviction is beginning to falter. I can hardly blame her I suppose. Her love for Sheaf has always been stronger than her own sense of self-worth. She doesn’t see the bigger picture as I do. I’m not just doing this for her; I’m doing it for her foals, so they may have a future beyond farming. It’s funny, Oaton. Those villagers follow their traditions so stubbornly, yet I wonder if they’d be so set in their ways if they knew the origins of those traditions?

Tarnished is complicating matters. She’s become all but unmanageable since the Element Bearers arrived. Her mental state has been gradually degrading since I met her, but it’s become particularly bad with the arrival of Trixie and her friends. I know Tarnished is being influenced, and I know what it is that’s affect her. I even know how it may be countered, but I have no means to acquire the spell from the Canterlot University Archives. I’m just plain out of time. The chances of her making a move tonight are quite high. If only I had another day or so I might be able to strengthen my mind warding spell to buy her another week or two, but I’m not even sure she’s allow me to at this point. She nearly set her ‘friend’ on me last time I went to her personally. I’d prefer not to lose her, yet I’m absolutely at my wits end on what to do about her.

I may have to put my faith in something I rather detest; an unknown variable. Three of them, actually. I must admit I never imagined three bearers of the Elements of Harmony to become involved in this affair, one of them the very mare who was so integral to putting my father behind bars. It is strange, seeing Trixie Lulamoon again. She’s quite a different mare while sober. Less prone to shouting and throwing things. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on my father’s face when she smacked him in the head with the very package I told Baron Flouting to have delivered. There’s no way she could have known what was in that package. I wonder if she thinks herself responsible for the fire that came after? Tarnished and her both, those mares made that night turn from a near disaster into exactly what I needed. A fair lesson to me in being more careful in how I plan things.

Ha, but this time is just as unpredictable as then. Too many unknown variables coming into the mix, throwing my plans into such disarray. Well, nopony ever said that pursuing an ambition would be easy. I truly hope Picturesque comes to understand why I do this. She’ll understand in time. She has to. I need to rest. If Tarnished comes tonight, I’ll need to be at my best to deal with matters...

Sawdust ceased writing at that last sentence, staring at the page for a few long seconds with a faint frown on his otherwise calm features before he set aside the quill, leaving the last of the journal entry unfinished.

Trixie quietly scooted back as Sawdust turned and, removing his bowler cap and hanging it on one of the posts of his bed, stretched with a yawn and flopped onto the bed. Trixie waited several minutes until she heard the quiet, rhythmic breathing of a sleeping pony before turning her attention to the desk. She could hear the distant, muffled peals of thunder from the approaching storm Raindrops had mentioned.

So not what we need right now. Alright, let’s snatch what we can, then get ready for when the crazy monster controlling mare shows up.

Her first instinct was to grab the journal. She could only imagine what more she might find that Sawdust had written down in there. It’d also take time to sift through all those entries. It was a rather thick journal, after all. She let it be for now and proceeded to check the rest of the desks drawers. The first thing she came across was a picture frame.

The picture showed three ponies, all of them ones Trixie recognized. Sheaf and Picturesque were both much younger than how she knew them now, perhaps of an age with her, and were standing in a lovely looking park, leaning against one another contentedly. Sitting on Picturesque’s back, one hoof wrapped around her neck, and the other hoof waving at the camera, with a similar sleepy eyed look as he had as an adult, was a colt version of Sawdust.

Wait… I recognize this park. That’s Canterlot University’s courtyard.

Trixie recalled Picturesque’s Canterlot accent. So Sheaf met her at university? But how had he come to be there? Everything she’d learned of Oaton suggested they were isolationist by tradition. Unless Sheaf openly defied that tradition? Was that why he seemed to lack conviction when he spoke of Oaton staying unregistered?

Judging off the ages here, this picture was taken a little over ten years ago, but there should be a date… ah, on the back… eleven years ago. eleven…

Bushel was eleven years old. Trixie grimaced.

Well, I think I can see what happened here. Hormones strike again. This is why I lock myself in my home when, ugh, ‘that time’ comes. *sigh* I shouldn’t jump to conclusions but it seems pretty clear our university going lovebirds got a little too into the spirit of the spring season. Still, fascinating as that is, it’s not exactly what I’m looking for here…

Setting the picture back where she found it Trixie moved on to the next drawer, only briefly glancing towards the ceiling as she began to hear the thick sheets of rain start to pelt the building. The storm was arriving, with a crash of thunder echoing even through the thick wood walls. Trixie moved quickly, opening the remaining desk drawers all at the same time with her magic and sifting through the contents, expanding her sound dampening spell as best she could to keep the noise her rooting around muffled.

Her eyes flicked across papers and scrolls, seeking anything that could give her an idea of what Sawdust was up to. At the same time she wondered just how deeply involved Picturesque was. From the sound of what she’d heard of that conversation Sawdust was trying to get her to convince Sheaf to cooperate with something. Perhaps abandon farming and assist the Lumber Guild with logging as a livelihood?

This would be so much simpler if it were just a few greedy ponies trying to take advantage of Oaton, but instead it seems like everypony involved in this, even the ponies I’m trying to help, have secrets and agendas. If I bust Sawdust for whatever he’s planning, does that mean Picturesque goes down with him? Can I do that to Bushel, something that may take her mother away from her? And just after I… gah, worry about it later, Trixie. Find evidence first, have moral conundrum second.

It didn’t take her long to pick out some unusual things among the papers tucked away in Sawdust’s desk. There was a large scroll that, when she unfurled it, turned out to be a very unusual map. Trixie recognized the topography as being Oaton and the surrounding region. At first she thought it might have been the same map Cheerilee had found that had been missing from the map room Trixie had checked earlier, but the markings on this map were… quite different.

These buildings aren’t supposed to be here. Neither is that quarry… no, quarries. There’s four of them, three of them in the forest. Or where the forest is supposed to be. It’s a third of the size from what it is now in this map. Extra streets, and an actual switching station for the trains… this isn’t a map for the region, its construction plans for a city. This is… wow, somepony is filled with big ambitions. I’m almost impressed.

The detail on the city plans was rather exceptional, though Trixie wondered if it was at all feasible. Was there enough natural resources for such an ambitious project in this area? Sawdust seemed to think so. The plans would call for incredible amounts of ponylabour, the kind of thing that would take a decade or more to come to fruition even under ideal conditions. But if the city in this map ever came to be, well, Trixie was no expert but it seemed to her that it would rival Hoofington for the largest of the province.

The city plans didn’t seem to neglect the rich farmland either, with much of the land to the west and south being dedicated to large fields that the small hamlet of Oaton didn’t currently touch.

It’d be impossible to build a city like this with Oaton how it is now though. The village would be swallowed up entirely by the number of ponies you’d have to bring in to begin a project of this scale… and you certainly couldn’t do anything like this if the noble family that owns the province didn’t approve of it…

Sifting through more of the papers she came across several scrolls that showed more detailed construction plans, but what caught her eye was a notebook with numerous colored tabs set into it. Flipping through it she recognized it as a research book. It contained numerous notes referencing subjects from economics and architecture to… historical notes and archeological studies?

He has lists of sites where archeological digs have taken place from practically every corner of Equestria. Why would he… wait, his first entry mentioned research to help with whatever is influencing Tarnished. Is this what these notes are? There are dates for each site. They’re all ancient, thousands of years old, but all within about a century of each other. These notes are so obtuse, can barely make any sense of this. Still, he mentioned the CU Archives. Must have… ah here we are, he at least clearly mentions what he wanted from there. What do we have here… ? Looks like a half completed Abjuration spell, missing a lot of fragments to it. Maybe he thinks the complete spell is in the Archives?

Finding nothing else of interest amid the papers she returned them to the drawers and took a brief glance at Sawdust to ensure he was still sleeping. He was still laying on his bed, breathing deep and regular. Trixie was surprised he hadn’t awoken, even with the sound of rain, wind, and thunder getting louder. It sent an odd shiver down Trixie’s spine and she felt her heart rate increasing. She wasn’t sure why.

I hope Raindrops found a better spot. She may like the rain, but that wind sounds atrocious. Time to see what’s in this journal…

She opened the first page and began to quickly scan the entries, eyes darting over the words for anything that looked key. Trixie found it a little irritating Sawdust apparently didn’t put any actual dates in the journal. Made it hard to get a grasp on just when certain entries were being made. The journal was clearly quite old, as the first entries she skimmed were talking about the kind of things a colt might; being bored in school, or getting into fights with bullies. It wasn’t until about a third of the way through that she first noted Sheaf being mentioned.

… Sister came home today and was acting quite odd. She practically was bouncing around the kitchen while I was trying to get dinner ready, and humming to herself. She’d been so down because of that upcoming calc test it was kind of disturbing seeing her grinning like a foal who’s had too much candy. When I asked her what was up she just giggled at me and said she made a new friend today, somepony named Sheaf. I’m glad she’s finally opening up a bit to make some friends, but seriously, from that smile you’d think she’d just won some sort of lottery…

Trixie skipped forward a few entries, eyes flicking over the words as another nearby roll of thunder rattled the door frame behind her, causing her to jump a little. Glancing up at the ceiling she could imagine the dark, oppressive storm clouds above. Again that odd shiver in her spine, making her mane feel like it wanted to stand on end. Trixie shook herself; wondering why her nerves suddenly felt so on edge just because of a little thunder and rain? She resumed reading.

…Sheaf’s a nice fellow. I was leery at first of how close he and sister are, but given how much happier she’s been this past month I can’t find it in me to dislike him. If he makes Picturesque smile like that he can hang out at our apartment as much as he likes, far as I’m concerned. Interesting pony too, he comes from a tiny village I’ve never even heard off; Oaton. He said he was a runaway, here in Canterlot against his parent’s wishes. Worked odd jobs through his teens to earn coin to enter university. Apparently he befriended one of the professors to get a letter of recommendation. Impressive. He’s going in for a business major, so he shares a lot of sis’ classes, even though business is just her minor. Talks a lot about going home to Oaton and turning it into some big prosperous town, rather than a no-name "village". It’s a nice dream, I’ll admit. I’m planning on going into business myself; take over for father when I’m old enough so Picturesque can focus on her photography. Sheaf doesn’t treat me like a kid, he actually talks to me seriously and we get to talking about economics and how to turn rural areas like where Oaton is into commercial and industrial centers, like what you have in Manehattan. I asked him once about why Oaton isn’t even registered with the Night Court’s municipal branch but he got real evasive. Oh well, anyway tonight for dinner we had…

So Sheaf wanted to turn Oaton into a larger town as well? Trixie thought while suppressing a groan as she read on through further entries, Hmm, well let’s see if my guess as to what happened next is correct.

A few entries further in she found one where the writing was in a far more erratic and hard pressed script than the neat and orderly writing of earlier entries.

Don’t believe this! Idiots! Both of them! What were they- and right next- For the love of Luna’s stars was this why Sheaf wanted me to teach him that sound dampening spell!? I just thought they wanted peace and quiet while they studied! To think- they did- I was no more than ten feet away while they were doing…okay, calm, calm, don’t break quill-----

-----Right, so my sister is pregnant.

I can’t write that without feeling a need to break something. Oh, no no, I’m fine, I’m happy, it’s great, always thought she’d make a great mother.

JUST NOT NOW!

Less calm than I thought. I think I’m more angry at Sheaf than her. It’s the stallions’ job to remember to take protective measures isn’t it? I really like him. He’d make a great brother in law. Five years from now. Or ten. Couldn’t they have held onto their hormones until after college at least? Father will not accept this, but Sheaf is already talking marriage like it’s a given. He doesn’t understand how mindlessly stubborn father is or how he holds a grudge. Sister understands and at least has the presence of mind to look scared.

I don’t know how I’m going to fix this either. There’s no question she’s keeping the foal. She’s also going to marry Sheaf. Father won’t allow it. He’ll disown her. I know him. He will. There’s nothing I can do to stop this.

Right now it’s all just… damage control.

Wonder what they’ll name the foal?

Moon’s tears I’m tired. Can’t think straight. Going to sleep, figure out a plan in the morning. Has to be some way to fix this.

Trixie sighed. So her suspicions had been correct. Still, as sad and sordid as this affair between Sheaf, Picturesque, and Sawdust was, it didn’t explain what happened last year, or what was happening now. It certainly wasn’t anything she could use as evidence to bring to the authorities yet. She began to skip forward by larger amounts, flipping through pages rapidly.

She stopped when she caught sight of Tarnished’s name in one of the entries and leaned over the journal intently. The writing was in a somewhat jittery format, as if written in haste.

This has been a difficult time to say the least. Father has gone beyond too far. Was cutting sister off from the family not good enough for him!? He now wants to destroy what happiness she still has by trying to choke the life out of her new home!? Oh, he makes it sound as if this is all coincidence, that his hare-brained smuggling scheme just happens to need this section of the Everfree as a transit route to Hoofington, but I don’t believe for an instant he’s not motivated purely by some asinine need to punish Picturesque for defying him. I won’t have it. Words won’t reach him, but that is fine. We are well beyond words at this point.

The plan I have formed entails a great deal of risk, but I have all the proper angles covered I believe. Encountering Tarnished was a boon I did not expect, but it makes this plan far more feasible than my original one. She’s an odd mare, erratic in temperament, but remarkably skilled with the local fauna. Gaining her trust was not easy, but she’s eager to free her ‘animal friends’ from father’s scheme. That eagerness I think pushes aside her doubts concerning my motivations.

Of course just freeing my father’s ‘cargo’ isn’t enough. I need an investigation to result from this, one where I can ensure the right evidence is found to incriminate my father, but protect the Guild as a whole. This must be made to look accidental, with no anonymous tips for the authorities to wonder over. I have an idea, but it requires a package to be delivered to my father, and a suitably unconnected courier to do the delivery. Baron Flouting owes me a favor, I’ll use him.

So far this matched up with the entry she’d watched Sawdust write. Baron Flouting sending her to deliver that package had been Sawdust’s orders. Still no mention of what was in said package, but Trixie could surmise it had to do with how that fire got started. She may have been the catalyst, but Sawdust was the responsible party for getting the ball rolling, and she didn’t doubt Tarnished played her part in that night’s chaos.

She wondered at the details of that night, but the next series of entries were after the fire and only went into detail concerning Sawdust’s work to recoup the Lumber Guild’s losses from the legal investigation into their logging without permits and smuggling protected animals. He had provided all manner of ledgers and logs to indicate the operation was entirely his father’s planning and that the majority of the Guild was ignorant of Sawblade’s actions. Trixie found that a little hard to swallow; as there had to have been some ponies in the Guild to help with smuggling animals of any kind, but apparently Sawdust did a remarkable job of minimizing the number of ponies in the Guild who were incriminated to those crimes. As a whole the Guild took a financial hit, but most of its members avoided personal fines or jail time.

And of course Sawdust filled the void of leadership his father left behind when Sawblade went to jail.

Trixie rubbed her forehead beneath her horn, feeling a bit of building pressure. Invisibility and sound dampening were second nature to her but she’d been maintaining both spells for some time now and the first hints of strain were starting to make themselves unpleasantly known. She wasn’t that surprised, she’d pushed herself to exhaustion yesterday, and despite getting some decent sleep she’d started her day by using a de-petrification spell she’d just learned in a way it wasn’t originally designed to be used. Bearer to the Element of Magic she may have been, but that didn’t confer an increased supply of magic or anything special of that sort.

Let’s try learning from our mistakes and not push ourselves to exhaustion. Going to be hard enough to try copying Tarnished’s animal control spell even if I was fully rested.

Trixie eyed the journal, considering taking it. She didn’t doubt it still contained important information, but she felt she was out of time to mine through Sawdust’s entries. The only risk was that if Sawdust knew somepony had stolen his journal there was no real telling how he’d react. It was the closest thing she had so far to evidence of Sawdust’s involvement in this whole affair though, so she was loath to leave it behind.

Pursing her lips only briefly in debate she snatched up the journal and turned for the door-

-to find Sawdust standing between her and the door, quite awake, and looking right at her. No, at the desk, with the floating journal. Trixie mentally slapped herself. She was invisible, the journal wasn’t. She corrected that issue, which caused Sawdust to raise an eyebrow.

Sawdust had a perfectly deadpan, calm expression on his half-lidded features, his voice the epitome of dry sarcasm.

“I am going to deduce, given that I know Count Shiny’s pet unicorn guard has already tried breaking into my room once and did not use invisibility in that attempt, and that neither Sheaf nor Tarnished would have the temperament for subtly, that the pony I’m speaking to is none other than you; Miss Trixie Lulamoon?”

Trixie didn’t respond, instead moving slowly in a circling arc that would take her around Sawdust and to the door.

Sawdust hung his head, sighing. His horn lit up with a keen steel gray aura, the door becoming enveloped in an identical hue. When Trixie tried the door she found it being firmly held closed.

“Surely you understand I’d prefer you didn’t leave this room with something as personal as my journal. Please, Miss Trixie, I only wish to speak with you.”

Trixie frowned, looking over the door and the aura of magic holding it closed. There was a chance she could push through Sawdust’s aura with her own magic, but not while maintaining her invisibility and sound dampening. It’d be easier just to break his concentration by smacking his horn with something. As she cast about to find something she could levitate to give Sawdust’s horn a whack the Lumber Guild unicorn spoke again.

“I don’t know how much of my journal you’ve read, but certainly it must have been clear I have nothing to do with Count Shiny’s decision to use my Guild to pursue his own agenda.”

Trixie paused just as she was considering levitating the bowl Sawdust had been using earlier to communicate with Picturesque and she gave Sawdust a critical look. The urge to just smash the bowl over his head and make a break for it was strong. In fact why use the bowl? She could use the whole desk! Just crush him entirely for having the audacity to bar her path and-… and why was she suddenly feeling so aggressive? Trixie shook her head. The moment she became self-aware of its presence the aggression receded, but she could still feel it like an unpleasant itch in her mane. An itch that said bludgeoning the other unicorn in the room with a six foot long wooden desk was a fantastic idea.

“Can I assume that you’re feeling the effects of the storm?” Sawdust said, nodding his head at the table.

Trixie glanced over, and cursed under her breath as she dispelled her telekinesis. She had taken hold of the table without realizing it. What was happening?

“It’s worse for you I imagine,” Sawdust went on, “Because you’re not used to the influence. Not like the villagers of Oaton. Tarnished might have built an immunity herself, had she not made her home right on top of the epicenter. Miss Trixie, I can help you, but I need you to trust me. Or, if not trust, be confident that merely speaking with me will not put you in no further danger.”

Trixie snorted, but dropped her invisibility and sound dampening spells, fixing Sawdust with a focused glare.

“For the record; I don’t trust you. Start explaining. What’s affecting me?”

“The negative energy contained in this storm, I imagine,” said Sawdust with a nonchalant wave of his hoof at the room’s only window as another crash of thunder sounded outside, “I can’t be sure, as my research is far from complete, but the storm is likely a byproduct of the shrine reacting to Tarnished’s degrading mental state.”

“Really? Fascinating,” Trixie said, tone dry as she ran a hoof through her mane, and touching the silver ear clasp, “Do continue, Sawdust, I’d love to hear what this shrine is, and what, if anything, this has to do with your plans.”

Trixie?, Raindrop’s voice sounded strained through the enchantment of the ear clasp.

Sounds like she’s having a chat with Lumber Guild’s leader, Cheerilee replied, though her voice was little more than a soft whisper.

This isn’t part of the plan is it? Because last I checked the plan was for her to sneak in, get evidence, then hide until whacky-basilisk-mare shows up. Now she’s chatting the guy up? Raindrops’ said with heat in her tone, but she quieted down as Sawdust continued to speak.

“It’s a complicated matter, but then so has this whole affair, so no surprise there,” Sawdust said with a small, dry chuckle, “The short version is that the shrine is a leftover from the kingdom that existed before the Princesses took it upon themselves to champion, then lead, ponykind.”

Trixie titled her head, thinking back on her own admittedly limited historical knowledge. She couldn’t recall just what had existed in place of Equestria before Princess Luna and Corona established their rule over the Three Tribes.

Cheerilee took in a sharp intake of breath.

If he’s talking about pre-Princess history, then the list of possible bad things you could link a shrine to is pretty short. None of the options are pleasant, though.

Well that’s remarkably reassuring, Raindrops said, sounding miffed. Trixie wondered how the storm was affecting her. Raindrops usually liked this kind of weather, but that was when it wasn’t charged with some odd negative energy that induced smashy-smashy feelings.

“Can you be more specific?” Trixie asked Sawdust.

“No, unfortunately. I don’t know what force the shrine is meant to honor, only that it is one of the dark beings that pre-date the Princess’ rule, and that the shrine was built by the original settlers of this area; the forebears of Oaton’s residents.”

Trixie’s eyes widened slightly, “That’s ridiculous, that would make Oaton-“

“An ancient settlement, with a populace descended to the modern day through at least twenty generations. Probably more. Definitely more, actually. The residents are unaware of this, given the long span of time that has passed since the village’s founding. All that remains is their tradition of isolation from Equestria, a tradition that is little more than a cultural mutation of the original founders’ desire to stay hidden from the Princesses so they could continue to worship… whatever it was that ruled this land in ancient times.”

“What is the shrine though? How can it make something like this storm?” Trixie’s voice was strained, one eye twitching slightly. She remembered the strange whispering voices she’d heard in the forest. More than ever she wished her hat’s enchantment was intact, because this, this right here; this was the kind of thing she could excuse herself for calling in the Princess of the Night for.

But the hat was broken, and Trixie had to deal with things herself.

“I’ve seen it only once,” Sawdust said in response to her questions, “When I first met Tarnished. She was far more lucid back then. Honestly I’m not sure why the shrine has become so active since then, its as if something… flipped a lever and charged it with negative forces.”

“That’s what I’m not understanding!” Trixie near shouted, anger flaring, “How does some shrine do things like this? What is it exactly? Sorry but ‘shrine’ isn’t exactly all that descriptive to begin with. What are we dealing with exactly, do you even know?”

“I merely use the term ‘shrine’ because that’s what it resembles, though I suppose reliquary would also be accurate. Keep in mind Miss Trixie, that when I first saw it I had no idea what it was and paid it no mind. I only began to try researching it recently, after I noticed how badly Tarnished’s mental state has degraded this past year and I came to suspect the shrine was somehow responsible. I haven’t had time to learn many details, and I’ve been more focused on finding ways to counter its influence. The shrine is permeated by negative magic, magic that has been growing gradually for centuries with every negative event that’s taken place in this area for that entire span of time.”

“So you’re saying this is some kind of magical ‘bad feelings’ sponge that just soaking up everypony’s negativity?” Trixie said, tone reflecting a certain disbelief that she’d just uttered such a nonsensical sentence.

“More like a ‘bad feelings’ amplifier. It not only feeds off of negative emotion, it magnifies it. Reacts to it. If I were a betting stallion, which as it happens I am, I’d say this storm is a reaction to Tarnished’s emotional state.”

“If this shrine has been here since Oaton’s founding, why haven’t the residents gone loopy like Tarnished? Why didn’t anything like this happen last year?” Trixie asked, still trying to get her head wrapped around this.

“I think the shrine was dormant for the vast majority of those centuries, with only a little negative energy sneaking out, giving the forest a certain… vibe to it, but otherwise harmless. Until something activated it last year. My guess is that our mutual escapade into arson combined with Tarnished herself making her home right on top of the shrine’s location all combined to serve as a tasty good morning breakfast of negative emotions for the shrine to wake up with.”

“Mutual escapade? Oh, let’s pause our shrine-talk here and tangent, because I very much would like to know exactly what happened that night,” said Trixie, taking half a threatening step forward before she realized what she was doing and with a slightly embarrassed look stepped back.

Sawdust’s half-lidded eyes opened slightly, “If the storm is affecting you that badly I can offer a mental warding spell if you like. Abjuration is something of a specialty of mine.”

Trixie frowned, shaking her head, “It's fine. I’m not going to turn violent because a little mood rain is trying to tweak my mental state. I’m not that weak willed.”

She paused then, recalling what Raindrops had told her earlier about the enchanted glasses not being able to see anything in Sawdust’s mind. Was this the reason?

“Are you using this spell on yourself?”

Sawdust nodded, “Yes, since I realized the shrine was affecting Tarnished. I’ve been casting the spell on her, myself, and as many of my own ponies as I’ve been able to, under the pretext of it being a ‘stress-relieving’ spell.”

“On second thought, I think I’d like to have it,” said Trixie.

Trixie, you can’t trust this guy to cast a spell on you! Raindrops said, concern clear in her tone.

Trixie couldn’t respond without giving away that the conversation had some extra listeners, but she hoped Raindrops would trust her on this. She didn’t trust Sawdust at all, despite his seemingly cordial and helpful manner. She fully intended to keep a close watch on what manner of spell he was casting. In fact that was the point. Being able to see, and potentially learn, a mind-warding spell was too valuable a chance to pass up. Especially if there was some kind of evil...influencey...shrine...thing, involved in all this.

Sawdust had a small, almost-smile on his face as he tilted his head towards her, “Its a very simple spell actually, modified somewhat from a ‘protection from chaos’ ward.”

Trixie watched carefully with her magic sight as his horn flowed with magic and he wove the spell. She was not up on her Abjuration magic, but she recognized the forms the threads of magic took as belonging to that school. He wasn’t trying to pull an enchantment on her, as far as she could tell. She tensed slightly as the spell settled on her and relaxed as she felt the aggressive itch in her mind fade away. Seems it really had been a mind-warding spell.

And now she’d seen the spell performed she was certain she could manage to do it herself with a little practice.

“Well, thank you for that,” she said, “Now, the fire last year. Explain.”

“Not much to explain, really. I asked an acquaintance in the Night Court who owed me a favor to have somepony deliver a package to my father. The package contained a bottle filled with a pheromone that incites certain behavior in a particular species; Badlands Fire Drakes to be precise.”

Oh my, was that what they were trying to smuggle back then? Cheerilee’s voice was still at whisper level, That better not be what they’re trying to smuggle this time too. Fire Drakes are incredibly volatile. There’d be no way to guarantee safe transport, and every pony in the camp would be at risk if they got loose.

“Now I’d intended for my father to not open the bottle until later that evening, after I’d had a chance to have Tarnished in place to keep the Drakes under control. However your… enthusiasm for championing Oaton caused a premature release.”

Hate it when that happens, said Cheerilee.

“Cheerilee!”

Cheerilee!

What? Oh, right. Sorry.

Trixie noticed Sawdust giving her an odd look and hastily said, heat flashing through her cheeks, “So, what did I do that night? Specifics, please.”

Sawdust still had a bemused look, but said “You marched into camp, got into a shouting match with my father, then proceeded to smack him in the head with the package,” said Sawdust with a deadpan expression.

“Breaking the bottle of pheromones I’m guessing?” asked Trixie, “Just what were these pheromones anyway?”

“The same kind a female Fire Drake produces during the mating season. The Fire Drakes we were smuggling were all male, and heavily sedated. Even Tarnished’s magic couldn’t control them to rouse from sleep while they were in that condition. The pheromone was the only thing strong enough to wake them, though that also would put them in a horribly violent and territorial mood. As I said, I was counting on Tarnished to control them and prevent anypony from getting hurt.”

“That was still a ridiculous risk to take, you foal! You put dozens of ponies lives at risk just to get back at your father!?” Trixie snapped.

Sawdust took her shouting in stride, his shoulders rolling in a small shrug, “Paying my father back for what he did to my sister was just the icing. The cake was, and still is, Oaton. I’m playing this for the long game, Miss Trixie, and yes, I’m willing to risk lives to achieve my goals. I took precautions, but how could I prepare for a drunken mare being my courier, one with an ego so large she decides to declare herself the hero of Oaton and randomly assault my father with the very parcel she was supposed to just hoof over to him? Some things you simply can’t prepare for.”

Trixie shook her head with a small groan, then waved a hoof dismissively, “Mind warding spell or not you’re making it very hard not to want to resume my original plan to hit you with a table-”

I’ll help, offered Raindrops, eagerness dripping in her tone.

“-but my curiosity is still the stronger factor. What happened after the pheromones got released?”

“The Fire Drakes awoke, went berserk, and broke free of their cages. Chaos followed as the camp began to go up in flames. The problem was that Tarnished wasn’t there yet to control them. My father panicked and was all but useless, so I had to take control and organize the evacuation. The Fire Drakes may have injured or killed any number of ponies, but they were distracted by a certain insane and drunk mare who took it upon herself to, let me see if I remember this correct ‘demonstrate the awesome might of the Great and Powerful Trixie to the foul beasts of Tartarus’. As it happens Fire Drakes are attracted to bright lights and loud noises, which you were producing in spades.”

Trixie blinked, “So I kept the Drakes occupied?”

“Long enough for me to clear out most of the camp, and for Tarnished to show up. She was able to get control over two of the Drakes, but one remained focused on you. You led it to the dam, fireworks going off the entire time. If it were a normal fire that Fire Drakes produced things may not have become so dire, but their flames burn red with magic and the moisture of the dam was insufficient to keep it intact. I saw you dive off the dam into the reservoir just as the Drakes flames fully engulfed the dam. The dam broke apart, and I had to work with Sheaf to keep the resulting flood from consuming Oaton. Tarnished got the last Fire Drake under her control and led the beasts away into the forest. By the end of it all most of my lumber ponies had no real idea what had happened, some of them having seen you, others Tarnished, their stories getting mixed up as rumor spread. Ultimately things worked out as I wanted. You confronted my father back in Oaton and showed the entire village, and the local Sheriff, that the permits he had were false. The authorities investigated in the wake of the fire and got full disclosure on the smuggling my father had started-”

“Which you had plenty of prepared evidence to show it was Sawblade’s doing, with few among the Guild being aware of what he was doing. This protected the Lumber Guild from much of the fallout of the investigation,” concluded Trixie, “In the aftermath you took over the Guild. I read this in the journal. Now you’re back here, the same smuggling scheme in full swing.”

“That’s Count Shiny’s doing, not mine,” said Sawdust with a small frown, “I didn’t intend to return to Oaton for some time. I wanted to take it slow, bringing Sheaf around to my way of thinking. But Shiny has forced me to up my time table. His family bought out the stocks on my Guild and forced us back here. He wants his sister back, and thinks he can clear his family debts with the bits he’ll make off the smuggling.”

I really wish I could get him to understand all the many ways that illegal animal smuggling is a bad way to secure family finances, muttered Cheerilee.

“Fine, so the Copper Coins have put you in a bad position,” Trixie said, not quite believing that part of the story, as something about the entire setup was bothering her, “but what is your plan exactly? What do you need Picturesque’s help with that you have to keep that fact that you’re talking to her hidden, to the point where you felt you had to transmute an innocent pair of ponies into stone?”

Sawdust’s calm poker face returned, “I want Sheaf’s cooperation in reconstructing Oaton. I might be able to do this without Oaton’s consent, but that would cause undue stress to the ponies I’m trying to help with this whole endeavor. Unfortunately Sheaf won’t listen to me. However he will listen to my sister, given time. The problem is if he discovers that she and I have been speaking with each other behind his back, then he won’t trust her and I’ll never gain his cooperation.”

“Yes, its amazing how going behind a pony’s back and turning those under his charge to stone can damage trust,” drawled Trixie with a flat look on her face.

Seriously. Even without this mood rain making me want to start breaking things I’d find this guy’s logic irritating, said Raindrops, You don’t build trust on deceit. Kind of defeats the purpose.

“Perhaps, Miss Trixie,” said Sawdust, tone slightly defensive, “But I saw the Thresher’s knowledge as an issue and sought to prevent them from spreading it to the rest of Oaton. Fortunately while Transmutation isn’t my forte, a certain old friend of mine was quite good at it, and I learned from him a the spell to harmlessly transmute flesh to stone.”

“Harmless? The Thresher’s looked to me as if they were in pain,” said Trixie with a flash of anger, mind shield or no. She keenly remembered the looks on the petrified ponies in question, and nothing about those expressions had suggested the process of being turned to stone had been pleasant.

“Well, I may not have perfected my friend’s spell. There may have been some discomfort experienced by the targets. Regardless, they are not unduly harmed, and I can change them back, once I’ve ensured their memories of events are altered,” Sawdust said casually, as if discussing a matter akin to doing one's taxes.

“I’m starting to see why Sheaf isn’t keen on working with you,” Trixie said, bringing magic into her horn slowly in preparation to cast a series of spells. She used a localized invisibility spell first, covering the outlying portions of her horn to hide the tell-tale glow of magic, a difficult trick she’d never tried before. Fortunately it seemed to work, so she could cast her other spells without Sawdust being any the wiser, unless he used magic sight on her.

She could feel this conversation reaching an impasse quickly, and as polite as Sawdust was being she suspected he wasn’t going to allow her to simply leave without ensuring she wasn’t a threat to his plans. Since Trixie wasn’t keen on joining the lawn-ornament brigade she decided to take some precautions for the inevitable breakdown of negotiations. What she had in mind would task her magic reserves, but she’d be even more useless if turned to stone.

“Not now,” Sawdust said with a polite, even inviting smile, ”But I’m confident in my sister’s persuasive qualities. At the moment I’m more interested in whether or not you might be willing to work with me.”

Sawdust had a calm exterior, not showing any tension, yet Trixie noted he was standing entirely too still for her liking. She’d seen Raindrops practice enough Iron Hoof during their workout sessions to grasp that when a pony went that still it was only when preparing to act.

“Ultimately I’ve not lied to you Miss Trixie, neither now nor when we first met. I only have Oaton’s best interests at heart, albeit for entirely personal and some may claim ‘selfish’ reasons. But really that’s all a matter of perspective, is it not? Some may look at my designs and methods and call me a villain. Others would see the prosperous future I wish to bring to Oaton, all for love of my sister, and call that heroic.”

“Are you really doing this for your sister?” asked Trixie, “The city plans I’ve read are ambitious for a pony who claims to just want to improve the quality of life for his sister..”

Sawdust laughed, a rich dark sound like wind billowing thick curtains.

“Oh, I don’t deny I’m also doing this to satisfy my own desires. Oaton is a stepping stone to grander things. Things you can be a part of, Miss Trixie. Surely you have desires as well? Desires to be more than a mere Representative of the Night Court, or a falsely celebrated folk hero? I think we’re both ponies with large ambitions in our hearts, Miss Trixie. Help me with mine, and I’ll be more than willing to help you with yours.”

“Don’t presume that you know anything about me,” Trixie said, heatedly, “Or what I want. Besides, who says my heroism is false? Granted I’m still on a learning curve here, and made some mistakes. Boasted when I shouldn’t have. I still don’t know if... if I’m the right pony to bear the Element of Magic, let alone claim to be anypony’s hero. But none of that matters, Sawdust. This stopped being about me awhile ago. This is about Oaton. Those ponies don’t deserve to have their lives turned upside down just because you and Count Shiny can’t conceive of how to help your siblings without putting others in harm’s way. I’d stay putting a stop to both of you is a nice, solid step towards earning that ‘hero’ title.”

“I thought you said this wasn’t about you?”

“Oh, well,” said Trixie, adjusting her pointed magician’s hat, “It’s mostly not about me.”

Sawdust cocked his head to the side, genuine confusion on his young features, “You are a very confusing mare, Miss Trixie, but I suppose I can ignore that for now. I wish to see the Copper Coin family removed as an issue and their smuggling attempt exposed, preferably in a way that exonerates my Guild of any responsibility in the affair. From there I will convince Sheaf and the citizens of Oaton to acquiesce to a long term effort to build this region into a prosperous town, and in time, a city. I’d very much like your cooperation in this goal, that and your fellow Elements of Harmony.”

“Yeah, you can ‘very much like’ that all you want. Its not happening. Too many ponies get the shaft in your little scenario. I may be ambitious, as you say, but I not to the point where I don’t care what happens to those around me. Not anymore.”

Sawdust waved a dismissive hoof, “Only Count Shiny ‘gets the shaft’, as you so put it, in my plan. Tarnished I would prefer to see saved, but she cannot be revealed to the authorities either. Not until she is mentally well and I’ve had time to... convince her of the value of returning to society. Shiny is inconsequential and expendable.”

Trixie winced at the low growl in her ear from Cheerilee. The ear clasps reduced the volume of what was transmitted through them but Trixie could taste the anger in her friend at that last statement. Trixie imagined the storm wasn’t helping.

“So I can assume then you want Tarnished for something down the road? Why would you be interested in her...?” Trixie trailed off as she thought over her own question, “If Shiny were imprisoned for smuggling that would leave the inheritance of the family title to the next youngest child. That would be Tarnished, were she not officially missing.”

Sawdust nodded, his smiling becoming knowing and confident, “But if she were to return, then she’d become the house scion. Of course anypony who happened to then, say, marry her would then enter into the nobility at a decent social rank.”

Trixie blanched as another piece of Sawdust’s plan became obvious, making an ‘eww’ face and licking her lips as if to get out a bad taste, “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“How? I mean, she’s crazy. And violent. Violent crazy. What part of that combination suggests you can put the moves on her?”

“Well I did conceive of this plan back when she was far more lucid and compliant pony. However I’m confident I can restore her mind, and with a year or of interaction can, as you worded it, ‘put the moves on her’. Really I can be quite charming when I apply myself.”

I can’t believe this guy. He wants to use marriage to a mentally sick pony as a stepping stone to become a noble? That’s... Trixie can I have a shot at this guy soon?

Normally I’m not one for violence, but he’s talking about destroying one friend’s life and taking advantage of my other friend’s trauma to suit his own ends. I’m with Raindrops on this one, the time for talky-talk is getting close to over Trixie, said Cheerilee.

Trixie couldn’t really respond to her friend’s comments, keeping her expression calm. She wasn’t done mining Sawdust for information, and she wanted to take advantage of his eagerness to gain her cooperation to learn as much as she could and confirm her final suspicion about one part of his story that didn’t add up.

“You’ve been planning this since last year. You know turning Oaton into the city you want would be hard as long as the Copper Coin family was in control of the province, but rather than seek to destroy them, you want to subvert and gain control of them. You need Shiny out of the way though. You see that’s one thing that’s been bugging me about all of this, Sawdust. How could Count Shiny have the connections to set up the exact same smuggling ring your father did? Surely whatever ponies were connected to that wouldn’t approach Count Shiny openly, and he wouldn’t have the knowledge to approach them himself. So who was the bridge between them? Who would know how to connect Shiny to the smugglers, and have motivation to do so?”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed, “It was you. You made it possible for Shiny to start this whole smuggling scheme to begin with.”

Sawdust was silent, his smile slowly vanishing like a glacier moving over a lake.

“I told you Miss Trixie, Count Shiny forced my Guild here. The smuggling scheme is his own.”

“Oh, I’m sure he thinks it is. I don’t doubt you didn’t do this all directly. I imagine you convinced your connections among those in charge of this smuggling that Shiny was a potential new middle-pony. An expandable front pony, just like your father was. Why give up on smuggling through this area, after all, when the very nobles who own the province might be wrangled into supporting it? Of course you didn’t have to do anything personally, just make the suggestion and let Shiny do the rest. Play the part of the suffering Guild leader, only trying to the make the best of a bad situation. History repeats itself, the smuggling ring is exposed, Shiny is ruined, and you get away clean. Afterward all you need to do is present Tarnished to her family all ‘reformed’ and ready to become the scion. You marry her, become the new Count Copper Coin, and then you’re free to do with Oaton and this area as you please. Nopony could stop you at that point, and likely you’d be counting your sister to have convinced Sheaf to be cooperative.”

“You’ve made some rather large leaps of logic there, Miss Trixie, and more importantly, you lack any real proof,” said Sawdust, who had put back on his calm mask, “Even my journal speaks nothing of what you say, except for my intentions to build Oaton into a proper city. Merely being ambitious is not a crime.”

“No, but framing ponies for other crimes is, not to mention using banned transmutation spells on ponies. Sawdust, I will tell you this,” Trixie said, weaving the last touches of her invisible spell, then taking several firm steps towards him until they were nearly nose-to-nose, “I don’t care about this utterly ludicrous web of schemes, ambitions, half-truths, and conflicting goals you and the Copper Coins have woven around yourselves. What I do care about is keeping a promise I’ve made to a certain young filly; and that promise was to save her town.”

“And how will you do that, Miss Trixie? If I go down then there is a strong chance that Picturesque will go down with me as an accomplice. Will you tear a mother from her foals to save the rest of the town?”

Trixie frowned, “You say you’re doing all this for her, but you’d ensure she’d be jailed as your accomplice?”

“No, I won’t say anything against her; but the only evidence you have is my journal, which makes her involvement clear. Unless you alter the journal yourself, taking me down means taking Picturesque down as well. What will my niece think of you then, I wonder?”

Trixie’s eyes flicked over the to journal, “I might be able to pull a string with the Princess to get Picturesque exonerated. I may have boasted about my influence with her in the past but that doesn’t mean I have no influence at all. I can’t see her wanting to see family’s get torn apart, which really, is kind of my whole issue here with you. I don’t like Count Shiny, and his sister has done nothing to endear me to her-”

Trixie, they’re not bad ponies... Cheerilee’s quiet voice said in Trixie’s ear.

“-but the idea of letting you set up the Count to go to jail so you can worm your way into his family through marrying his mentally unwell sister... yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’m certainly not going to help you do it, whatever benefits you think you can bring to Oaton. No, the Irate and Fed-Up Trixie very sick and tired of these plots and schemes and its ending now!”

Sawdust let a small sigh out, shaking his head, blue mane temporarily obscuring his eyes, “Then our discussion is at and end. I was very much hoping we could work together, Miss Trixie, but-” he didn’t finish his sentence, instead snapping his head down and aiming his horn at her. A thin, smokey trail of magic curled from his horn and hit her... and went right through the illusion.

Sawdust’s eyes widened as the illusionary Trixie grinned at him and stuck her tongue out. The very next second the water bowl, encased in a blue magic aura Trixie wasn’t bothering to hide, flew at Sawdust’s head and bounced off his horn. He growled out a sharp curse as his broken concentration caused the ward around his room’s door to fade and the invisible Trixie made a dash for it, flinging the door open with her own magic and galloping out into the hallway beyond.

Sawdust’s face became frostily calm as he went out into the hallway at a more measured pace and with his horn alight formed two magical barriers, blocking either ends of the hallway.

“This is pointless Miss Trixie,” he said, eyes sharply looking around the hallway for any sign of the invisible mare, “You have nothing on me that you can prove, and ultimately Count Shiny and Tarnished are greater problems for Oaton than I am. You’re only real choice to serve the ponies you claim you wish to be a hero to is to-”

A hoof smacked his horn and his two wards popped out of existence with a snap of magic and his grunted, “Stop doing that! I’m trying to be gentle with you, but if you insist...”

His eyes narrowed, “I’ll cease being a gentlecolt.”

Sawdust’s horn flashed. No steady glow of magic or moment of build up for the spell as he created a small disc of force that he then inverted and sent it down the corridor. As the disc went the magic expanded to fill the entire hallway as it rippled along at great speed.

There was a feminine yelp and a thud as the disc of force slammed into the far wall and Trixie appeared up against the wall, pressed there firmly with her face mushed up between the wood wall and the magical disc of force, her hat having fallen off her head and landed on the ground outside the disc.

Trixie had been feeling rather impressed with herself up to that point. She’d molded a perfect illusionary copy of herself and even Sawdust’s journal while she’d been speaking to him. She’d then woven an invisibility spell around herself as her illusion had stepped forward and gotten in Sawdust’s face, allowing her to maneuver herself close to the door and wait for Sawdust to eventually try something. She hadn’t specifically identified the wispy spell he’d tried to use on her initially, but she caught the Transmutation threads in it. Probably the flesh to stone spell he’d used on the Threshers. Trixie had indeed been getting a nice smug vibe smacking Sawdust’s horn around and making a break from, invisible journal in tow...

...that was until the harsh introduction between her face and the wall.

“Oh my,” Sawdust was shaking his head as he approached her, wincing slightly, “I don’t think my horn is used to such strenuous casting. I’m afraid I’m no battlemage, Miss Trixie. I lack the finesse to do this without injuring you. I would suggest just giving up so I-.”

Abruptly Trixie’s hat flew off the ground where it had landed, surrounded in a glow of her own magic, and stuffed itself over Sawdust’s face, causing the stallion to falter and stumble about and loose concentration on his spell. The disc of force vanished and Trixie got to her hooves. She aimed an awkward buck at the stumbling Sawdust’s legs. While she did managed to trip him up she ended up toppling over herself. How did Raindrops make this unarmed stuff look so easy!? Oh, right, training and practice. And being built like a boulder.

Trixie, what’s going on!? We stopped hearing anything from your end, said Raindrops, voice strained.

That was because Trixie had needed to take her hoof off the ear clasp when she had run for it, and didn’t have time to do so now that she was scrambling away from Sawdust, pulling her hat off of him with her magic and setting it back on her head. No way she was leaving behind her hat!

“Really? A hat is your best defense? I confess that I too am now wondering as to your eligibility for being the bearer of the Element of Magic.”

Trixie had gotten about halfway down another hallway, recalling this way led to the stairs down to the ground floor, when another barrier of magic snapped into place in front of her. She snorted and turned to face Sawdust who was advancing towards her.

“Not seeing a great variety of tricks from you either,” she spat, thinking over her options. Unfortunately she needed to conserve her magic for Tarnished. She did think of a possibility, but she didn’t like it. Still, it was better than letting Sawdust turn her into a statue. An awe inspiring statue, certainly, but if there were to be any Trixie statues around she intended them to be of the purely stone variety; built as a monument to how thoroughly heroic she’d become.

“Few unicorns can master spells outside their specialty,” Sawdust said, gesturing at his cutie mark. Trixie hadn’t paid it any mind before, mainly because the brief looks she caught of it she had no idea what it was. A gold...triangle...thing. What was that supposed to mean? Was it a cheese wedge? Or maybe a pyramid? Maybe it represented his talent for being terribly obtuse and hard to understand? Oh, Sawdust was still talking.

“-but I’m sure you’ll agree it was worth the... Miss Trixie have you been listening to me?”

“...No.”

A cold glare entered his eyes as he aimed his horn at her, “Goodbye Miss Trixie. I promise I’ll alter your memories to recall a pleasant but uneventful trip to Oaton.”

Trixie braced herself, took a deep breath, and used her secret weapon.

“GUARDS!”

Sawdust winced at the sheer volume and amazing shrillness of Trixie’s shout, his mane blowing back a bit from the force of it.

“What in the world are you-!?”

“GUAAARDS!” Trixie hadn’t put her lungs to this amount of use since her Canterlot days, but when Trixie Lulamoon wanted to be heard, she could raise half the castle. Luna had put a stop to that kind of hijinks early on in Trixie’s apprenticeship, but Trixie never forgot just how good her pipes where when she put them to use.

Sawdust growled, recalling what he was about to do, and aimed his horn at her once again, but it was too late. From either end of the hallway ponies in the livery of the Copper Coin family appeared, one of them the broad shouldered and brown coated form of Bootheel.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what’s going on here!? Sawdust and...heeeeey,” a wide smile and a lick of his lips indicated Bootheel’s instant mental delve into the gutter as he saw Trixie, “Now what are you doing here you completely delectable blue cupcake? Thought the Count told you to skip town? Not that I’m terribly disappointed you didn’t.”

Before Sawdust could speak Trixie jumped in, mouth running a mile a minute, “Broke in. You’d better arrest me. Yes. Arrest me and put me under guard. Heavy guard. Because I broke in. Which is bad.”

She was staring at Sawdust, just in case he tried to cast his spell anyway. But he couldn’t, and they both knew it. If he turned her to stone now, in full view of the Count’s guards, that’d raise a lot of questions that Sawdust wouldn’t want to answer. She could see Sawdust relax his stance and his face shifting to a polite smile as he looked to the guards, dropping the shield he’d cast over the hallway.

“Ah, if it isn’t the gallant ponies of our the Count. Good of you to come. This pony is a thief, who has stolen property of mine,” Sawdust said nodding at his journal.

Bootheel approached with a casual gait, the other guards trotting up with a great deal more tension as most of them loosened blades in their sheaths and eyed both Trixie and Sawdust.

“Weird,” said Bootheel, “Could’ve swore it was her that called us. Do thieves usually call for the guards, or did I miss a memo? I missed a memo didn’t I?”

The earth pony came up next to Trixie and eyed her up and down, left and right, with his gaze lingering far too long on her cutie mark... yes, Trixie preferred to assume he was examining her cutie mark. His smile made her suddenly desire a bath.

“So is it true? You being a naughty filly, breaking into the building, stealing... what is this anyway?”

“Personal,” said Sawdust.

“His journal,” said Trixie, “You should read it. Fascinating material.”

Sawdust kept his polite smile but his eyes were sharp as he tugged the journal out of her magic and into his own, floating it over to him while Bootheel eyed it curiously.

“My personal affairs may well be fascinating Miss Trixie, but no business of the Count or his guards. Now my good... Bootheel was it? Would you mind terribly escorting this thief off the premises?”

Bootheel snorted, “Its up to the Lord Shiny to decide what to do with her.”

“But surely-”

“Look buddy,” Bootheel cut Sawdust off with a furrow in his brow and his upper lip peeling back in a small snarl, “Last time I checked it was three red fish on my tabard. That means I take orders from one pony; Count Shiny Copper Count. How about you head on back to your room and enjoy some personal time with yourself, yeah?”

Trixie had to bite back a snicker at Sawdust’s look. She could practically hear the teeth grinding. Still, she was more than a little nervous. All the Copper Coin guards were tense, and not looking at her with friendly eyes. Bootheel was also bristling, and she could only imagine the storm was affecting them. While her little ploy was buying her time for Tarnished to show up she hadn’t really put herself in a better position in the meantime.

“It was my property that was taken. At the very least I should be present for any questioning that takes place,” said Sawdust.

Bootheel huffed out a sight, “Look, I was enjoying watching that Cheerilee mare’s flanks, fantasizing about her, me, a bottle of grape jelly, and no inhibitions. But, I heard the desperate cry of a female, which is probably the only thing under Luna’s moon that’d get me away from Bootheel Happy Time, so let’s just simplify this and go find Count Shiny-”

There was a distant shake, a vibration through the floorboards of the entire building.

Bootheel and his fellow guards exchanged looks with each other. Trixie looked at the floor, feeling another shake.

“Did anypony hear any thunder? Because I didn’t hear any thunder,” said Bootheel.

Trixie put her hoof to her ear, brushing the clasp, “Raindrops?”

Trixie! What happened? We stopped hearing you-

“Nevermind that, do you see anything out there?”

“Who are you talking to?” asked Bootheel.

“Her friends. That ear clasp of her’s is an enchanted item,” said Sawdust knowingly, then added “A poorly hidden one.”

Trixie blew a raspberry at him. She was too tired to be an adult about this. Sawdust just rolled his eyes.

Hold on, getting some height... storm’s isn’t making flight easy. Let’ see, not seeing anything yet... oh.

“Oh?” asked Trixie.

Yes, oh? echoed Cheeirlee.

You remember the bit in Sawdust’s story about the Fire Drakes?

“Yes,” said Trixie with a sinking feeling. Bootheel was giving her a frowning look.

“Hey, remember us? Guards arresting you? Stop talking on your sexy ear clasp thing!”

Trixie just waved him off, turning her back on him and flicking her tail at him in irritation, “Raindrops, what are you seeing?”

The ground shook again, harder this time.

I think Tarnished made friendsies with them. In fact I think its safe to say she’s made friendsies with...some fiery local fauna.

Before Trixie could respond there was a wracking crash, accompanied with a wince inducing sound of wood splitting. Soon the yells of ponies filled the air, alongside a peal of thunder. Trixie, ignoring Bootheel’s protests and Sawdust’s searching eyes, walked over to the nearest window and looked out.

The outside was a thick torrent of rain underneath a black sky being periodically cut apart by forks of lightning. Amid one such flash of lightning it was clear to see the front gate of the Lumber Guild’s camp had been smashed down, the palisade now so much wet kindling. Standing amid that rubble was the familiar shape of a basilisk, but not the one Trixie and her friends had faced in Oaton. This was the significantly larger specimen she’d spied in Tarnished’s cave, the creature’s head taller than the palisade it’d just stamped into so much broken wood.

Tarnished stood perched on the basilisk's head, balanced and not bothering to hide herself, ragged creme mane whipping about in the wind of the storm. Trixie could make out the silvery glow of magic around her horn. When Tarnished spoke, her voice was echoing through clear magic amplification.

“Cherilee, I know you’re here! Get out here, or I’ll start tearing this place into burning shreds!!”

Bootheel’s face appeared in the window next to Trixie's.

“Soooo... ex-marefriend of Cheerilee? Sounds like a scorned ex-marefriend. Is Cheerilee into mares? Because it’s totally cool if she is. Wait, are you?”

Trixie didn’t dignify the one-track minded stallion with a response.

Sawdust’s face appeared on her other side, frowning out the window at the spectacle by the now ruined gate.

“Well, at least its just one basilisk. That’s not too bad.”

Wreathed in red flames trailing along their necks and backs like crests, three more reptilian creatures crawled over the broken palisade alongside the basilisk. The resembled dragons in a base fashion, though none had wings, and their heads seemed disproportionately large to their bodies. Most notably the deluge of rain barely made the red fire flowing off their bodies do more than flicker and hiss.

Trixie gave Sawdust a withering look. He looked at her, jumped back a bit at the stare, then composed himself with a defensive snort, “They would’ve been there even if I hadn’t said anything.”

“Sawdust, get your ponies out of here.”

“Our business is far from concluded Miss Trixie, but you’re right, I must organize an evacuation. I trust you and your friends will be dealing with-”

“CHEERILEE!”

“-...that?”

Trixie didn’t bother answering his question, instead touching her ear clasp again.

“Cheerilee, you have a visitor.”

I heard her. Meet you outside?

Aren't you still under guard? asked Raindrops.

Yes, replied Cheerilee, and Trixie could hear the grin in it.

“We’re still go for Plan A” Trixie said, “We capture Tarnished, I take control of the basilisk. We’ll have to improvise with the Fire Drakes.”

“Hello? You’re not going anywhere lean-flanks,” said Bootheel, “You’re coming with-”

Trixie turned invisible.

“-me...” Bootheel frowned at the spot the illusionist had been standing a second ago and muttered, "Even not knowing she could do that I really should've seen that one coming."

The brown coated stallion then looked at Sawdust, “Well? How about some magic shield action before she gets away!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought I was supposed to be in my room enjoying personal time? As it happens, I actually have a camp to evacuate so nopony gets injured by the small army of monsters outside. Why don’t you go find your Count and see what he wants you to do; since you answer only to him after all?” said Sawdust as he walked passed the Copper Coin guards.

Bootheel hung his head, “Should’ve just kept watching teacher tight-flanks..”

Cheerilee took her hoof off the ear clasp, which she’d been making it look like she’d simply been resting her hoof against her head while she lay on the bed. She’d kept her voice to no more than a whisper. Lock n’ Key hadn’t heard anything Cheerilee had said between herself, Trixie, and Raindrops. The young stallion had relieved his sister in guarding Cheerilee about ten minutes ago alongside his partner Bootheel. Lock n’ Key and had been polite but quiet, doing little more than uncomfortably shift on his hooves by the door. He kept casting glances at the door, then at her, and jumped a little at every roll of thunder. Nervous.

Bootheel had unabashedly flirted and admired Cheerilee’s more feminine qualities with all the shame of a drunk frat-colt. He had, however, seemed to oddly respect Cheerilee’s lack of interest in conversation and had mentally retreated into a glazed eyed fantasy that Cheerilee could easily guess the contents of. Then they’d all heard Trixie’s high pitched scream for guards and Bootheel, like an eager puppy, had charged off. That left her alone with the still nervous and fidgety Lock n’ Key.

Cheerilee didn’t blame him. She wasn’t in a great mood either. Granted apparently that had something to do with some nebulous negative energy in the storm that was roaring outside, but it wasn’t as if Cheerilee’s day had been going anywhere upbeat to begin with.

Tarnished was here. Cheerilee wished she could say she knew what she had to do.

Knowing every minute was another minute her old friend’s actions could end up harming ponies Cheerilee smoothly rolled off the bed and stretched. She slipped on her saddlebags and started heading for the door.

Lock n’ Key immediately looked up, stepping between Cheerilee and the door.

“Ma’am, please lay back down,” the unicorn said, horn lighting up, “I can’t let you leave.”

“You heard the same thing I did,” said Cheerilee, “She’s here for me. I don’t go out there, she’ll start tearing this place apart.”

“Lord Shiny has given me orders to ensure you stay here. That trust will not be betrayed. Now please, take off the saddlebags, and back away from the door. I,” he gulped, widening his stance, “don’t want to use force.”

Cheerilee looked Lock n’ Key over, nodded, and said “I can respect that.”

A few seconds later the quiet of the hallway was shattered when Lock n’ Key crashed through the door, hitting the opposite wall with a thud and groan.

Cheerilee strode out of the now splintered door, giving Lock n’ Key an apologetic cringe as she said, “Sorry, I’m, uh, feeling a little aggressive? Didn’t mean to hit that hard. I didn’t break anything did I?”

“Uuuughh...”

“I’ll take that to mean you’re okay. Gotta run. Again, sorry.”

Cheerilee heard the sound of hoof beats down the hallway. She imagined it was more guards. She also heard confused shouts from outside amid the sound of rain and thunder from outside. Before Lock n’ Key could get back up or more guards could show up Cheerilee quickly galloped off, not bothering with stealth at this point.

When she reached the ground floor she saw the doors to the outside were already open. Just as Cheerilee reached it she saw a shimmer and the form of Trixie appearing before her. The two mares exchanged nods as they met, and both headed outside into the dark torrent of rain.

Across the long distance of the camp the cherry red flames of the Fire Drakes were casting a wash of light in an otherwise pitch black night. The light of those flames also flickered off the massive form of the female basilisk as took long, shaking strides down the path between the camp’s cabins.

Cheerilee couldn’t see her clearly through the rain, but the horn glow was distinct. Tarnished hadn’t spotted them yet, the basilisk's head turning left and right as Cheerilee’s old friend shouting her name into the howling wind.

“CHEERILEE!”

Hearing Tarnished’s voice again after so long, but gnarled with such pain and rage it burned the ears, Cheerilee took a step back. Had she really hurt Tarnished that badly? Had leaving to pursue her own life truly caused such a wound in her friend that she had become... this?

She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and looked over to see Trixie’s violet eyes meeting hers.

“We’ll find a way to help her, but we have to stop her first. You ready?”

In a splash hefty splash of water Raindrops suddenly landed heavily on Cheerilee’s other side, wings spread, face determined.

“I am.”

Cheerilee looked between her friends, then across the camp at friend from so long ago. She took in a deep breath, then let it out.

“As am I. Let’s just try not to hurt her.”

“Not to drizzle on the optimism, but she’s controlling a basilisk larger than the one we fought in Oaton, which we barely were able to fend off. Oh, plus three more reptiles that, while half the size, are on fire. You’re worried about us hurting her?” asked Raindrops.

Cheerilee gave a bare nod, looking up at the oppressive storm above, “Odds are not in our favor, but that just means the chances of somepony being hurt are higher. That includes Tarnished.”

Trixie looked pensively about, even as the Fire Drakes spread out into the camp; one crawling on top of a nearby cabin while the other two stalked down the main thoroughfare. Only the thick rain kept the creatures crimson flames from spreading beyond their own bodies. Behind them the massive form of the female basilisk stomped forward with ground shaking steps. Cheerilee noted that if one compared them side-by-side the huge lizard was of a size with the Ursa Minor that had rampaged into Ponyville during the whole Twilight Sparkle incident.

“If you’re concerned about the storm, I think I can copy a mind-warding spell I watched Sawdust perform,” offered Trixie.

“You’re better off conserving your magic as much as you can,” said Cheeirlee, shaking herself and a hard look entering her eyes, “I can keep myself under control.”

“I could use something to help, personally,” admitted Raindrops, her wings tense as she scuffed the ground with a hoof, “But Cheerilee’s right, we can keep our heads cool on our own. Would usually be loving this rain, but all its doing is making me want to break something. Especially Sawdust. Can’t believe that guy.”

“We’ll deal with him when the time comes,” promised Trixie, then turned her attention back to the camp and the advancing basilisk and Fire Drakes, frowning, “I figured Count Shiny would be enacting whatever plan he had by now. I was hoping that’d work as a distraction so you could just fly up and snatch Tarnished away from the basilisk.”

Raindrops’ eyes narrowed, looking towards some of crevices between the cabins closer to the center of camp, her wings flapping slowly at her sides in anticipation, “Think he’s waiting for her to get further in.”

Cheerilee looked towards where Raindrops’ had and caught sight of what the pegasus had seen. There were unicorns in the livery of the Copper Coin family hiding amongst the cabins, at least four of them. Cheerilee recognized one of them as Cut n’ Dry. Each unicorn was carrying a long metal rod, each one no more than a hoof’s length in size, in their mouths as they waited hunched up against the cabin walls, apparently waiting for their quarry to advanced deeper into the camp. Cheerilee blinked, noticing among them an odd stallion; a zebra of all things. He wore several bandoliers strapped over his stripped body that were lined with bulky pockets and dangling vials. Who in the world was that? She didn’t see where Shiny was, but she didn’t doubt he was out here, somewhere.

A number of ponies were poking their heads out of the rows of cabins, others wandering out at the commotion. These Lumber Guild ponies shaking off sleep and shock in equal measure at the racket. Most, upon seeing the one giant lizard and three slightly smaller but very much on fire lizards, decided that fleeing in panic was the order of the day. Before things could turn into a completely chaotic mess though, with ponies running every which way, Sawdust was among them. How the Lumber Guild leader had suddenly gotten outside Cheerilee didn’t know, but one moment the lumber ponies were a herd on the verge of panic,the next they were being quickly organized into a cohesive group that wasn’t stampeding over itself thanks to the directive efforts of Sawdust.

Whatever else Cheerilee may have thought of Sawdust, and she thought little enough of him for what he was planning to do to her friends, she at least gave him credit for trying to personally lead his ponies to safety, and apparently pulling it off.

She put him out of her mind and focused ahead on Tarnished. The lack of light plus the thick sheets of rain was likely the only reason her old friend hadn’t spotted her, Trixie, or Raindrops yet. They had only a minute or two at most, though, before Tarnished got deep enough into the camp that Shiny and his ponies would spring their own trap.

“Trixie, Raindrops, do me a favor?” she asked, and her two friends both looked at her, Trixie with pensive curiosity, and Raindrops with barely contained eagerness to get the fight started.

Cheerilee took in a deep breath and let it out slow, “Let me try talking her down.”

“Cheerilee, no offense, but she isn’t exuding the chit-chatty vibes,” Raindrops said, “In fact I’m getting more of smash-crush-destroy feel off of her.”

“She’s after you specifically Cheerilee,” Trixie said, ears flattening against her water soaked mane as rivulets of rain flowed off the brim of her hat like waterfalls, “And not in that warm fuzzy feeling reunion sort of way. What’s going to stop her from hurting you before you even get out so much as a ‘hey, Tarnished, long time no see, how about this weather?’.”

“Nothing. No guarantees at all she’ll listen to anything I have to say,” Cheerilee’s voice was strained, a far cry from its usual energetic tone, “But I have to try. I have to try to get through to her.”

Trixie’s expression spoke volumes of how much she didn’t like this idea, but she nodded in understanding, “Do what you feel you have to do. Raindrops and I will be ready, though, for when... if, things go bad.”

“Plan A, I know,” Cheerilee said, “Thanks for letting me try Plan B first.”

“For the record, I think we need new names for these plans,” said Raindrops, “In fact I think we need to make plans, before we give names to plans. Plans usually involve actual, you know, planning. We’ve been winging this since we got off the train.”

“Hey!” Trixie said, looking scandalized, “I planed! I planned things! Plans were made! By me! Not my fault we never stick to my brilliant and well thought through plans.”

“Oh, reminds me real quick,” Cheerilee said even as she was trotting forward to meet Tarnished and the advancing basilisk, “Don’t know if they’ll help, but don’t want them getting smashed.”

She took off her saddle bags, pulling out the enchanted glasses from them and tossing them to Raindrops. The jasmine pegasus caught them but held them at hoof’s length with a grimace of distaste.

“You dropped them before,” said Cheerilee.

“Wasn’t all that upset about losing them,” said Raindrops, hoofing them towards Trixie.

“They take an hour to re-attune to a new user, remember?” said Trixie, “Right now you’re still the only mare they’ll work for. Just hold onto them.”

“Why? We’re kinda past the investigation/cross-examination portion of things!”

“Just keep them, you never know!” said the stagemare stubbornly.

“Fine! I’m not wearing them though! They make me look...weird.”

“You look perfectly presentable with them, I don’t know why you- ugh, why are we talking about this now!? Cheerilee you... uh, Cheerilee?”

The schoolteacher in question had kept on going, cantering along the thick soupy mud the main thoroughfare of the camp had become. She noticed out of the corner of her eyes the hiding Copper Coin unicorns spotting her passing them by and one of them hastily waving at her to back away; the rust colored Cut n’ Dry who had wide eyes fixed on Cheerilee. Cheerilee ignored them.

In front of her the harsh flickering red light of the Fire Drakes formed a pool of crimson in an otherwise dark world; punctuated only by the white flashes of lightning from above. The Lumber Guild ponies had already fled to the sides of the camp, and though the Fire Drakes looked at the fleeing groups of ponies with angry hisses, something held them back from pursuing. That something was probably Tarnished. It wasn’t much, but it was at least a small hope that Tarnished wasn’t utterly lost that she was holding her creatures back from attacking the lumber ponies. Cheerilee held that small hope close to her heart as she walked into the pool of light in full view of the Fire Drakes, the towering form of the basilisk... and the sky blue unicorn mare standing perched upon the crown of the basilisk's head.

“Tarnished!” Cheerilee shouted, “You came looking for me? Here I am!”

The basilisk's head snapped down towards her, faster than anything that size should be able to move, and its blazing yellow eyes stared right at the magenta mare. Cheerilee gulped, not looking into those eyes, but instead into the brown eyes of Tarnished... eyes no less piercing than those of the creature she rode. Tarnished looked beyond haggard, her mane an absolute frazzled and tangled mess, so dirty its creme color was almost brown. Her sky blue coat was little better, dirt and mud caking it to the point where even her cutie mark was almost covered; but Cheerilee could still make out the wreath of ivy. Cheerilee choked back a sob. She'd been there when Tarnished had earned that cutie mark.

Tarnished, despite the unnatural fire burning in her eyes, broke into a smile. It was not a pleasant smile.

“Cheerilee... I’ve been looking just everywhere for you. How’s the teaching gig going?”

“Tarnished, listen to me, please,” Cheerilee said, “You’re not well. There’s a shrine that’s-”

“Because, you know, you were so focused on becoming a teacher I figured I’d never see you again; let alone that you’d ever have time to make more friends. But, funny thing, you seem to have some new ones. Its almost like you just, I don’t, abandoned your old friends, kinda sorta like we no longer existed to you, and just made some new ones. Just like that. A pony that cared might feel, well...hurt by that.”

A loud roll of thunder punctuated that last sentence, and Cheerilee readied herself, leg muscles coiling with tension even as she spoke with the calm, kind, but firmness she’d cultivated over years of loving to teach her students.

“I know, Tarnished. I know now that my leaving hurt you. I never intended to cause you pain. You were... you are my friend! That’s why I need you to listen to me, so you don’t get hurt-”

Tarnished scoffed coldly at that, interrupting with a sweeping gesture at the Fire Drakes, two of which had now moved to flank Cheerilee while the third remained crouched on top of one of the cabin roofs, “Me get hurt? Look around Cheerilee, I have plenty of new friends who won’t let me get hurt. No, I’d say I’m perfectly safe. Can’t say the same for anypony else here though. Which reminds me, where are those new pals of yours? The arrogant little blue look-a-like and the pegasus ruffian? I do so want to get to know them.”

Cheerilee felt her teeth grinding as her anger rose, and she knew part of it was the storm, pushing away thoughts of wanting to help Tarnished with a growing desire to buck her in the face for the implied threat to her friends. Cheerilee forced the feeling away, keeping her tone calm.

“You can meet them, when you’ve calmed down. That’s what I want Tarnished, for us to just put a stop to this madness and try to patch things up, between you and me, and you and Shiny. He’s worried about you, more than anypony.”

“Is he now? Is he really? Funny, he didn’t seem too worried when he set my own family’s guards on me! He doesn’t seem so worried now that he’s imprisoning my new friends in cages! I don’t care about Shiny anymore, or my so-called family! I have a new family now, new friends, “ she patted an affectionate hoof on the basilisk’s head, then glared at Cheerilee, “Friends who won’t leave me behind, who won’t ever hurt me.”

“I’m sorry for hurting you Tarnished, but this isn’t going to fix anything! This is only going to make things worse! If you stop now, we can get you the help you need, but if you end up hurting anypony here I don’t know if we can protect you from the consequences!”

Tarnished’s face twisted into a snarl, “STOP IT! Stop pretending like you care! If you cared so much about me-” the basilisk reared up and a single huge claw rose into the air, “-then you should never have left!”

The claw slammed down, but Cheerilee wasn’t where she’d been standing a second ago. She’d rolled to the side and was nimbly back to her hooves, a sad, resigned look on her face, and some of the water dripping across her face no longer just the rain.

“I’m not pretending Tarnished, but if you don’t believe that, then there’s only one thing I can do.”

She narrowed her eyes, their green depths filling with resolve.

“Make you believe it.”

Tarnished choked out a laugh that was without any mirth, but instead was only pain, anger, and... for just an instant, regretful. The Fire Drakes filled the air with a choir of enraged hisses, and the basilisk opened its maw to let out an ear jarring roar. Over it all, Tarnished’s voice still reached Cheerilee.

“Good luck.”

Author's Note

I'd say this chapter has been a good lesson in learning that eventually, no matter how many times you try to re-write certain scenes, you just gotta accept you can't make things perfect. This chapter hopefully is an interesting enough lead into what will be an action-packed epic finale (theoretically, at least). We're in the home stretch folks! Thanks for sticking with it so far and by all means let me know what you guys think.

Chapter 11: Heart of a Hero (Part 2)

Heart of a Hero: Part 2

Trixie felt panic rising in the rattling cage of her insides like a highly irate swarm of parasprites. With a deep, shuddering breath she took hold of herself. Panic wouldn’t serve here. She had to think quickly, clearly, identify the issues and figure out how to resolve them. Bushel was unconscious and there was no telling how much worse her condition would become. Trixie felt a gut stabbing sensation of guilt just looking at the young, yellow filly wrapped up in her star speckled violet cape. Trixie was supposed to be the one to protect her, to save Bushel and her town... but Trixie was the one who’d needed saving.

Bushel, Trixie thought as she stroked the filly’s forehead, looking at the glowing magical energy in the shape of a horn that sprouted from between the folds of the young pony’s blue mane, You saved my life, yet you still think I’m the hero here? I won’t let you down, whatever I have to do.

As to what that was going to entail, Trixie wasn't sure. Looking back at Cheerilee and Tarnished she could see that Tarnished was still crying into the other mare’s shoulder. Cheerilee kept a tight embrace on her friend, and for a moment her green eyes opened and met Trixie’s gaze. Cheerilee gave Trixie a tiny shake of her head, as if to say that it was a bad idea to come over or ask any questions.

Trixie didn’t need any convincing, though she was far from trusting that Tarnished wasn't still a possible threat. Trixie may have cast the mind shielding spell onto the unstable mare, but all that’d do is keep the influence of the entity in the forest from being able to worm its way into Tarnished’s mind as easily as before. The mind shield was far from a guarantee of Tarnished’s continued stability, if she was really anything that could be called stable right now.

Then there was the more immediate issue of the dam. That massive snapping sound of wood could only have meant that the dam was failing, and Trixie couldn't guess how much time they had before the entire thing came apart. Her own questionable swimming skills aside, Trixie didn't want to think about what kind of damage the dam breaking would cause.

“What do we do Trixie?” asked Raindrops, the pegasus looking towards the dark silhouette of the dam, where washing of water from the river was splashing over in gradually growing waves, “Our plan didn’t cover up to this point.”

Thoughts swirled in Trixie’s head and though they were like buzzing bees in her head she wrangled them into some semblance of order before the panic fully set in. First things first!

“Raindrops, take Bushel and head for Oaton.”

“But if the dam breaks Oaton will be right in the water’s path!”

“I know! That’s why we need to warn them, and we can’t just leave Bushel here.”

Raindrops stood on all fours, gently using her mouth to move Bushel onto her back, “Okay, fine, but what about you and Cheerilee?”

Trixie looked towards the lumber camp, where the faint orange glow of fire could still be seen despite the heavy rain, “I’m going to find Count Shiny and Sawdust. Between all of us working together maybe we can... I don’t know... fix the dam? I don’t know! If we could just stop this storm!”

Her mind thought back to the mention of the purification spell in Sawdust’s journal. If she could get those notes she’d know where the rest of the spell was inside Canterlot University, but how could she get there and back to Oaton fast enough? She thought of Twilight Sparkle and the way that mare used teleportation spells with the casual ease others used levitation. If Trixie could teleport with the same skill, she could be back here with that purification spell in a matter of minutes! She could just get Luna, and bring some alicorn power and expertise to bear on this whole mess! But wishing for that was a waste of time. Trixie hadn’t even begun to crack the secrets of teleportation magic; though she made a mental note to redouble her efforts on that front in the future.

“Tarnished?”

Trixie looked over at Cheerilee’s confused voice to see that Tarnished had slowly pushed her hooves away from Cheerilee to keep the magenta mare back and staggered to all fours to walk over to Trixie. Trixie tensed, readying to defend herself, but Tranished’s eyes were haunted, looking at Trixie, then at Bushel on Raindrops’ back with an anguished twist of her features.

“I...I think I can help?” she said, a desperate, shaking voice.

“Help!?” Raindrops exclaimed, eyes wide, one of them twitching, “You just tried to kill all of us!”

Tarnished flinched back from the pegasus, though a wash of a anger crossed her features as well. That anger was quickly replaced by guilt, and Tarnished began to turn away with a single, defeated nod. Trixie held out a hoof, “Raindrops, let’s hear her out. We’re low on options.”

“You can’t seriously be planning to trust her!?” Raindrops said, looking at Trixie askance.

Trixie wanted to laugh, but seeing Bushel in that condition drained the thought right out of her, “Trust? I’m not a trusting pony, I’m just desperate. Happens to be a good substitute for trust.”

Cheerilee had trotted to Tarnished, putting a hoof on her friend and turning the other mare around, concern creasing her normally smiling visage into one of tightness as she looked Tarnished in the eyes.

“What were you thinking of Tarn?”

Tarnished looked hesitant, eyes darting between all of them. Trixie saw the other mare look at Bushel’s unconscious form, however, and saw Tarnished take a deep breath,, “I did just try to hurt all of you. I don’t have any excuses. I still feel so angry at you Cherilee, at everything! It feels like its burning my head from the inside out and I can’t make it go away! It’s so hard just to think straight! I’m going to fight it, though. I think I can now. I don’t know for how long, but... Please, I’m not asking to be forgiven, but let me try to... to make up for what I’ve done.”

The last was said while still staring at Bushel. Trixie could only imagine what Tarnished was thinking, but Trixie had some familiarity with guilt, and Tarnished was looking like a mare who was now all too aware of the mistakes she’d just made. Trixie was also familiar with the need to make up for those mistakes, and while Trixie was leagues away from being able to actually trust Tarnished, she was willing to give the mare a chance to show she was genuine about wanting to help.

Trixie decided she’d be watching her closely though, just in case.

“I know many the animals in the forest, and along the river,” Tarnished said, “I’ve made friends with most of them. Whatever got into my head, I don’t think it affects animals as bad as ponies. If... if you can trust me, I’ll go get as many as I can to help keep the river from flooding. Oh, I can stop the Fire Drakes too! Before they hurt anypony else!”

“That is something you w-w-won’t have to do, s-sister,” said Count Shiny as he and a retinue of his House Guard emerged from the curtain of rain, “You-you’re pets have been subdued.”

The Count looked little better than his sister did, his mane signed short on the left side of his face which was marked by a few small burns. He was covered in lighter cuts and bruises, one of his hindlegs sporting a purple and swollen bruise that caused him to limp as he walked, yet he managed to move with confidence. Tarnished looked at her brother with a guilty and fearful downcast to her eyes.

The six guards with him were in similar states of injury, yet there was a tense readiness about them, especially from the rust colored unicorn mare, Cut n’ Dry. She looked ready to personally wrestle the basilisk to the ground. The basilisk for its part was looming near Tarnished, giving the scene the casual look of a predator that was supremely assured of its superiority. Cut n’ Dry gave the basilisk a wary look, then her eyes fell on Raindrops and Trixie cocked her head slightly at seeing the rust colored mare’s eyes flash with concern, quickly covered a moment later. What was that about? Raindrops was visibly injured and battered, but why would Cut n’ Dry care about that? Trixie put it out of her mind and focused on the Count.

“Count Shiny!” Trixie began, “The dam, we heard it start to break, we have to-”

“I am already well aware of the dam’s condition, Representative Lulamoon,” Count Shiny said, teeth gritting as he suppressed his stutter, “That is why I’m here, to secure my sister and get her out of here before this entire area floods!”

Trixie was taken aback by that, eyes widening, “You’re just going to abandon Oaton!?”

“I’m not going anywhere with you brother,” Tarnished said, shakily, backing away, and Cheerilee came up between them.

“Shiny, you can’t seriously be planning to just flee while Oaton is destroyed?”

Count Shiny looked as shocked as Trixie felt, his lips sputtering as he tried to get something out past his broken composure. Cut n’ Dry frowned and said, “My lord has no intention of abandoning Oaton, but he wants to ensure lady Tarnished’s safety first. Two of my fellow unicorn guard are trying to shore up the dam with ice spells, but their magic won’t last! It’s only going to buy us time.”

“Y-yes,” said Count Shiny, giving Trixie and Cheerilee an mortified look, “I sent one r-r-runner to warn Oaton, to suggest they evacuate, but he has not returned yet. The Lumber Guild is g-gathering tools to t-try to repair the dam an-an-and further barricade the river. A-as long as this storm continues, however, it-it-it-it’s only a matter of time...”

“The Lumber Guild is helping?” Trixie repeated, surprised. She’d have thought Sawdust would have taken the opportunity to get away. Then she frowned at her own thinking. Of course Sawdust wouldn’t run. However much of a manipulative liar he was, Trixie had to remember he was, at least in his own mind, doing all this for his own sister and her foals. Sawdust didn’t want to see Oaton destroyed any more than anypony else here did.

As if thinking about him was a summons, Sawdust arrived upon the scene, breathing heavily, and followed by a dozen of his own lumber ponies carrying various axes or saws. Trixie bristled upon seeing Sawdust, but it did spare her the trouble of having to track him down. He took in the scene with a quick glance, eyes lingering for a moment on Tarnished, though she didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy practically trying to hide from her brother’s line of sight behind Cheerilee.

“Ah, I see you succeeded in pacifying the situation, Miss Trixie,” Sawdust said, looking calm and collected. He turned to Tarnished, voice turning soft, “Tarnished, are you alright?”

Tarnished looked away from him, and Cheerilee glared at Sawdust, but Tarnished answered quickly, “I don’t know. Sawdust, you tried to warn me about the cave, but I didn’t listen, and...” Tarnished morosely looked towards Raindrops and Sawdust calmly followed her gaze, staying relaxed until his eyes spotted Bushel on Raindrop’s back and his calm mask slipped, eyes widening.

“What is she doing here!?”

Trixie didn’t miss then note of panic in Sawdust’s voice, and neither did anypony else. Count Shiny gave Bushel a surprised look as if he was just noticing the small filly for the first time as well, “A good question, w-who is she and why is she in s-su-such a state?”

Tarnished made a soft sobbing sound and started saying before Trixie could answer herself, “S-she got... got hurt by me! Lightning... I didn’t mean for it to happen...”

As far as Trixie recalled the whole lightning thing was pretty intentional on Tarnished’s part, but was willing to set that aside because playing the blame game was low on the priority list at the moment. Not like there wasn’t plenty of blame to go around at this point anyway. Sawdust was looking less than fully collected and his lumber ponies were giving him odd looks as he approached Bushel, ignoring Raindrops glare.

“Her Inverted Horn has come into its full growth,” he said, a sad note joining the wavering panic, “Tell me, was she directly exposed to a large burst of magic?”

Trixie frowned, nodding, “The lightning she saved me from was more magic than natural. Her horn sucked it all in. You knew about her?”

“Since the incident last year,” he said, eyeing Tarnished, “You forgot, didn’t you Tarnished?”

Tarnished wavered, shrinking back, “I...” she gave Bushel a look, paused, eyes gradually gaining recognition, “She...she was the one we found a year ago, isn’t she? The one who wandered across my cave.”

“What is the meaning of this!?” Count Shiny shouted suddenly, “T-T-Tarnished? How do-do you know Sawdust!?”

“They’ve been in contact since the time the Lumber Guild was here a year ago,” said Trixie flatly, “Just about everything that happened back then was mostly Sawdust’s plan. However, this is the first I’m hearing of Bushel having anything to do with that.”

While Count Shiny absorbed that Sawdust reached out a hoof to touched Bushel’s form. Raindrops let him but the look on her face said she was sorely tempted, by both the anger she naturally felt and the intense pull towards violence of the negatively charged storm above, to introduce his jaw to this colon in a most forceful and messy manner.

“She wandered into the forest last year, and found Tarnished’s cave. I happened to be visiting Tanrished at the time,” Sawdust said, turning to give Tarnished a look that the mare in turned looked away from, “I had little option but to use a ritual I’d learned to alter her memory-”

“On a filly!?” Cheerilee exclaimed, taking a threatening step towards Sawdust, “Do you have any idea what kind of side effects that manner of magic can have!?”

“Well, yes. I took precautionary measures to keep the spell as unobtrusive as possible. How do you know about memory spells? Hardly common knowledge for a schoolteacher, no?” Sawdust asked, looking surprised.

Cheerilee’s eyes narrowed dangerously as she continued to advance on Sawdust, “I’ve had some experience with such magic before. Experience enough to know its not magic to use on anypony, let alone a filly with a still developing mind!”

Trixie nodded, giving Sawdust a cutting look, “Its illegal magic for a reason. How do you even know it? Those spells are not exactly the kind of thing you’d learn at university.”

Several of the Lumber Guild ponies had interposed themselves between Cheerilee and Sawdust, though many others just looked confused and were muttering amongst themselves.

“Its not important where I learned the ritual,” Sawdust said, meeting Trixie and Cheerilee’s angry looks, “I have contacts in less scrupulous circles of magic, and let’s leave it at that. The fact that I’m confessing to using memory spells at all should tell you how serious this matter is. Bushel needs to be treated, as soon as possible. Using the memory altering ritual last year, I discovered her condition, because her horn partially ate the spell. She still remembered bits of what occurred in the forest, but more importantly, feeding it magic caused the Inverted Horn to start wanting to consume more.”

“But with no magic to eat, it started to feed on... on Bushel instead,” said Cheerilee, and the schoolteacher’s fury only increased. She pushed right past the Lumber Guild ponies in her way and was right in Sawdust’s face, ”Of all the irresponsible and callous acts! I should smack you into the next schoolyear for doing that to a filly!”

“You’re feelings are... justified,” said Sawdust, meeting Cheerilee’s look while waving off his fellow Lumber Guild ponies with one hoof, “At this point I do not expect to escape punishment for my actions. Damage control is my priority now; my niece at the top of the list. Last year Bushel went into a feverish comma as her horn tried to feed itself by taking magic straight from her own life force when no other magic was available to eat. That is until Trixie fed Bushel her own magic to pacify the horn.”

Trixie blinked, “I did? Wait, that’s right, Sheaf said I cast a spell on her back then. How did I know to do that? I was completely drunk off my tail!”

Sawdust looked at her with a small, barely noticeable twitch to the corner of one eye, “Yes, quite drunk,” he shivered, “Quite drunk. However, not so drunk that you were beyond suggestion. I knew of Bushel’s condition, and that it could be be treated, even if temporarily, by directly feeding her horn magic. Before you had your confrontation with my father, I let slip to you that there was a sick filly in Oaton and that she might be helped by having magic poured over her. Which is exactly what you did. Her horn consumed that magic, and it was enough to pacify the horn’s needs, sort of put it back into a dormant state.”

He looked at Bushel, and at the glowing translucent horn on her head, “Unfortunately that is not an option now.”

“Why not?” asked Raindrops, voice heated, “We have to do something for her!”

“The problem is different,” Sawdust explained, “Her horn isn’t starving, its overcharged. Instead of feeding off her its in a dangerously close state to simply exploding from having too much magic ingested. Worse, if it was magic from the storm then its filled with the dark energy from the shrine. That energy has to be purged out of her. If not...”

He left the sentence unfinished but everypony present knew what the grave look on his face meant. Tarnished looked at the ground, her whole form trembling, eyes unfocused. Cheerilee was as stoney faced as Trixie had ever seen her, save for the schooltecher’s eyes, which were emerald pools of fire directed solely at Sawdust. Raindrops looked like she could chew a boulder in half for how tightly her teeth were gritted in a half snarl. Count Shiny looked like a pony that had the proverbial sword hanging over his head and didn’t know how to get out of the way. Most the rest, the Copper Coin guards and Lumber Guild ponies, all bore looks of confusion, worry, and agitation. Tension sparked between all of them, and Trixie realized that if they didn’t get focused on something positive the effects of the storm might push these ponies over the edge before long.

“That spell,” Trixie said, “Sawdust, you researched a spell to deal with the darkness in the shrine, right?”

Sawdust nodded, eyeing her warily, “A purification spell, yes.”

“Would it also remove the dark magic from Bushel’s horn?”

Sawdust cast his eyes upwards, pondering, though he didn’t take long to think it over, “I believe it would, but she would have to be at the epicenter of the spell, which could prove dangerous considering the spell would also need to be cast at the shrine itself.”

“What shrine? S-Sawdust, explain yourself! W-what is going on!? What ha-ha-have you gotten my sister involved in!?” Count Shiny was shaking in fury, and Trixie could tell his mood was bleeding into his guards. Cut n’ Dry had her magic wreathed around the hilt of her sword, and the other guards were tensing up, all of them readying weapons with dark looks in their eyes.

“Count Shiny Copper Coin,” Trixie said, urgency in her voice, “It would take too long to bring you up to speed on everything. There is a cave in the forest, containing a shrine of some sort, which holds the remnant of some ancient evil. It’s the cause of the storm above us, which if you’re feeling particularly cranky, its partly to blame. Makes everypony more prone to anger. Including your sister, who was living on top of the thing.”

Count Shiny’s eyes boggled and he cast a nervous look up at the storm. Forks of green and violet lightning split across the dense layers of black cloud swirling above. Nopony could mistake this for a natural storm by this point.

“You knew a-a-about this Sawdust!? And you let my s-sister get infected with... with, this!?” he waved a hoof frantically at the sky, eyes wide, “I-I am p-pl-placing you under arrest for-for e-endangering the l-lives of everypony here with r-reckless negligence!”

Sawdust sighed, raising a hoof to forestall his lumber ponies, who had started to step forward with anger in their eyes, readying saws and axes, while the Copper Coin guards started to draw swords. He gave them a hard look and shook his head before turning to Count Shiny, “Arrest me as you will, but you have bigger responsibilities than punishing me. If the dam breaks, you lose everything... and if she,” he nodded at Bushel, “does not recover, then I lose the reason I started all this to begin with.”

Count Shiny looked as if he could be chewing through iron bars for as hard as his jawline was set as he said, “S-so be it. What do w-we do then?” he sounded like he was spitting nails, just agreeing with Sawdust.

Trixie brought out the spell-linking wand she’d taken from the ice wall earlier, “Count Shiny, I return this to you. Can your unicorns create a strong enough ice wall together to maintain the dam?”

Count Shiny frowned, then looked to Cut n’ Dry. The guardsmare took the wand back in her telekinetic aura, giving Trixie a bit of a stink eye but saying “Not for very long. Wands like this, they allow stronger spells to be cast through linking a unicorn’s magic with another’s, but it all but doubles the strain on our horns to do so. We’d exhaust ourselves to the point of over channeling in no time, trying to do a second ice wall of that size.”

Trixie frowned, then looked at Sawdust, “Last year, when I and the Fire Drake’s destroy the previous time, you and mayor Sheaf were able to-”

He cut her off before she could finish, shaking his head, “The barrier spell Sheaf and I created was enough to redirect the water that time only because it was just the dam itself collapsing. This storm is causing the entire river to overflow. The storm is what we have to stop, Trixie. Everything else is just buying time towards that end.”

“Then get your ponies on it,” Raindrops snapped, “All this talking is wasting time! You two,” she jabbed a hoof at Sawdust, then at Count Shiny, “Stop arguing and get your ponies working together to barricade the river! Me, Trixie, and Cheerilee will deal with the storm.”

Sawdust cocked his head, “Ignoring for the present how you three will do that, there’s the problem of I don’t think we have enough ponies between myself and the Count to be able to stop the river. We’d need dozens more sets of hooves to have much of a chance.”

“Then you have them!”

Everypony turned their heads to the south. Coming through the murky rain was a cluster of dozens of ponies, drenched to the bone but walking with determined gaits. Trixie soon recognized the faces of Oaton ponies, and at the head of the group was Sheaf himself, his wife Picturesque at his side. There was a slight stirring among the Oaton ponies, seeing the basilisk standing amid the cluster of Copper Coin family guards, Hoofington Lumber Guild ponies, and the three Elements of Harmony, but Sheaf didn’t even break stride as he came up to the unusual gathering. Picturesque come up as well, and Trixie didn’t miss the look she gave Sawdust; one of both guilt, and hope. Of course that look vanished the second she saw Bushel and gasped.

“Bushel!”

Raindrops was quick to bring the foal over to her parents, and Trixie and Cheerilee both joined her as Picturesque gathered up her filly, immediately checking her over. Sheaf gave Trixie a sidelong glance in the meantime, saying “Don’t waste time on the details, just tell me if you can help my daughter like you did before.”

Trixie hesitated, but then nodded firmly, “I’ll help her whatever it takes, but it won’t be as simple as before. Sawdust knows of a spell that can help, but getting it won’t be easy, and we have other problems besides.”

Sheaf blew out a huff of steamy air from his nostrils, “Then we deal with the problems. That’s why we’re here!”

A round of loud cries of agreement went up from the Oaton ponies, though this just seemed to make the Copper Coin guards and Lumber Guild ponies tense as Sheaf approached Sawdust and Count Shiny. Trixie took a quick look around, seeing Raindrops staying close to Picturesque and Bushel, and Cheerilee quietly talking with Tarnished while Tarnished herself was looking nervously at the Oaton ponies. In the distance Trixie heard the groaning of wood from the dam, but also saw the telltale glow of magic amid the darkness. The unicorns there just needed to hold on a little longer. Hopefully Oaton’s ponies showing up meant help was here.

Trixie joined Sheaf just in time to hear him address the other two leaders.

“Sawdust, shut up and listen. You too Count,” Sheaf said in a stony tone, “Picturesque came clean to me. She told me everything, Sawdust. Right now I don’t care about your schemes, we’ll sort that out later. Same to you Count, I don’t give a single bit about your reasons for doing what you did. Your runner got word to us about the dam, meaning right now ponies lives and homes are in danger, so me and my folk are here to help. Had to browbeat half of them into agreeing, and we all can feel this storm ain’t natural, but we’re here. So let’s skip the drama and fix this sun-cursed dam already!”

Sawdust and Count Shiny exchanged looks. There was apprehension in their eyes, a lack of trust. Trixie couldn’t let that lack of trust undo the only chance they had of getting through this, stepping between them and catching both their looks.

“If Oaton’s ponies can offer help when all either of you have done is cause them grief, then the two of you can work together with them! Your ponies don’t have to become fast friends, but cooperation has to start with someopony taking the other pony’s hoof when its offered!”

Silence stretched for a few seconds, but finally Count Shiny said, bowing his head to Sheaf, “We’ll t-take your help, mayor Sheaf.”

Sawdust nodded in agreement, turning to one of his ponies, “Flapjack, get everypony to the dam, organize the teams to include the Oaton ponies. Make sure everypony knows to work in full cooperation with them!”

The red lumber stallion nodded quickly and ran off, and soon Sheaf had sent most of the Oaton ponies along to go assist in repairing the dam and barricading the river. Count Shiny sent his guards away to assist as well except for Cut n’ Dry, who insisted to remain at his side. That left the leaders and the Element bearers in the lumber yard with a tense basilisk, a nervous Tarnished, and Picturesque still holding an unconscious Bushel close.

“Sheaf I-” Sawust began but was silenced by the larger stallion shooting him a glare.

“No. No excuses. Not while my daughter is in this state and my home about to be washed away. Tell me what can be done. Nothing more. Not a single word more, or I swear by Luna’s moon in the heavens I will give into what I’m feeling right now and knock your block off so hard you’ll get to kiss the sun before you come back down to Equestria!”

Sawdust cleared his throat, gulped, and levitated out his journal from underneath his bowler cap, floating it over to Trixie, “My journal has the details of half a spell to counter the cause of the storm and save Bushel. The other half of the spell is in Canterlot. We must take Bushel to the forest, where there is a shrine in a cave that is the source of the current problem. Somehow a way must be found to get the other half of the spell from Canterlot while we both confront the darkness in the shrine and keep the river from overflowing and wiping Oaton out.”

Trixie held the journal close to try to keep it dry despite the rain and said, “The only thing I can think of to get the rest of this spell is to send a pegasus. Count Shiny, can any of your guards volunteer?”

The Count shook his head, “The only pegasus in my employ has run afoul of a cockatrice’s stare.”

Cut n’ Dry titled her head questioningly and pointed a hoof at Raindrops, “But, what about her? Surely a pegasus as athletically built yet femininely lithe as her could make the journey,” the guardsmare seemed to realize that she was staring at Raindrops, who was in turn giving Cut n’ Dry a weird look, and looked away, “Just, pointing out that she is a pegasus.”

Raindrops looked at her wings, frowning, “I could try, but Canterlot isn’t a short flight away, and speed isn’t my strong point as a flyer.”

“Ponyville is closer,” said Cheerilee, “We could get the others, with the Elements of Harmony.”

Trixie was quick to respond, “The thought crossed my mind, but there’s a few problems with that notion. One; Lyra and Carrot Top would have to get her on hoof, which would take even longer than Raindrops flying to Canterlot. Two; we have no idea if we can activate the Elements at will. Last time they activated against Corona on their own. They might activate against this thing, or they might not. We wouldn’t know until it was too late to change our minds. Third; we don’t know if the Elements of Harmony would also fix Bushel as well as defeating the darkness in the shrine. Finally, fourth; I want Raindrops to contact Princess Luna. With the Princess, Raindrops can be teleported right back here, and if the purification spell fails, Luna might be able to finish what we couldn’t.”

Trixie didn’t like planning for failure, as that suggested she lacked confidence she’d succeed, but this situation called for it. In spades.

Raindrops didn’t look convinced, “I still don’t like this. It means I won’t be there while you’re walking into danger. Plus, slow. Even a fast pegasus would take,” Raindrops frowned, crunching numbers in her head, “We’re talking at least two hours, one way, and that’s if I was going Rainbow Dash speeds. My pace, it’d be twice that. Easy. It’d be morning by the time I even got to the palace!”

“I know, but I’m not seeing any other options. We need the other half of that spell! You might not be fast, but you’re faster than our next fastest option, which is walking,” Trixie said, voice rising slightly as her anxiety piqued, all too aware every second counted.

Raindrops looked at her wings, and Trixie could see doubt playing across the mare’s features. Trixie took a step forward, intending to give some encouraging words, but before she could Cut n’ Dry spoke up.

“I can help.”

At everypony turning to look at the rust coated guardsmare, she visibly stiffened, agitation playing over her stance as she looked at Raindrops, “It’s... its my special talent, you see. I’ve always liked the sky... and... okay its not important how I got it but my cutie mark...”

In lieu of saying it she levitated up her guard’s uniform enough to display the mark on her flank. It was a pair of white wings spreading from a puffy cloud. Cut n’ Dry quickly covered the mark up again, a rosy tint on her muzzle.

“Flight. I love flying. Wouldn't be able to, either, if not for my lord Count Shiny giving me access to his family’s library; where I learned a flight spell.”

Trixie made a small ‘hmm’ sound. She’d heard of flight spells. From what she understood, they were difficult to perform and maintain. The sky was the domain of the pegasi, and getting into it any other way was no simple process. While it wasn’t unheard of that earth ponies or unicorns would become enamored with the idea of flight, Trixie didn’t see how this helped.

“Okay, so you can cast a flight spell. You wouldn’t be much faster than Raindrops, though, and I doubt you’d have the energy to maintain the spell all the way to Canterlot.”

“You’re right,” Cut n’ Dry said, though her tone suggested she rather detested admitting Trixie was right about anything, “However I can cast the spell on other ponies. Including lady Raindrops.”

Lady Raindrops? Trixie quirked an eyebrow, “Would that... work?”

Cut n’ Dry nodded firmly, “I have done it once or twice before for pegasi among the Count’s guards. My flight spell, when placed upon a pegasus, grants them an extra set of wings. More maneuverability, and flight endurance, and most importantly in this case, speed. It will make her a faster flyer.”

“Then let’s not waste any time!” growled Sheaf, “Cast your spell, and let’s be on about saving my daughter and my town!”

In short order Cut n’ Dry approached Raindrops, both mares seeming a little nervous at the proximity. Trixie didn’t know what that was about, but plans were in motion, so no time to think about it. Soon Raindrops was wrapped up in a cocoon of iridescent white and blue magical energy. Cut n’ Dry looked strained, but not as much as Trixie would've thought, casting a spell like that. Special talents did much such a difference in spellcasting ability with certain spells. In moments, after a flash of light, Raindrops found herself floating in the air not only being held aloft by her own wings, but by an additional pair of gossamer wings spaced behind them. The wings had a prismatic coloring, and were translucent, and shaped much like the wings of an actual pegasus.

“Hey,” Raindrops sounded surprised, “This actually feels natural!”

“The spell does that,” Cut n’ Dry said, panting a little, but smiling, an expression Trixie thought looked distinctly out f place on the guardsmare, “I’ve pushed as much of my magic as I dare into extending the spell. It should last about fours hours. Enough to get you to Canterlot.”

Raindrops nodded, expression hardening into one of determination, “Thank you for this. I owe you.”

Cut n’ Dry coughed, waving a hoof, “Its nothing. Go, the clock is ticking on that spell.”

“Right,” Raindrops fixed Trixie and Cheerilee with a serious look, “I’ll be as fast as I can. Both of you, don’t do anything crazy until I get back! I mean it!”

“So, its okay for us to do something crazy when you get back?” asked Cheerilee with a small smile, trying to bring a little humor to an otherwise desperate situation.

Raindrops just shook her head, “Trying to be serious here, Cheerilee, but... yeah, just be careful. All of you.”

“Same to you,” said Trixie, looking at the storm above worriedly. Raindrops took note of Trixie’s worry and put on a confident, if faint, grin.

“Strong flyer, remember?” Raindrops turned and narrowed her eyes at the sky, “This storm isn’t going to stop me!”

“Here,” Sawdust said, carefully removing pages from his journal and floating them up to Raindrops, “These pages have the notes I put down on where the spell is located. It’s in a researcher’s document compilation in Canterlot University’s archives, the section on ancient Equestrian civilization.”

Raindrops held the pages in her mouth for a moment, until Cut n’ Dry floated over to her a small pouch to tuck the pages into that Raindrops secured to one of her legs. Then, giving her friends one last nod, Raindrops flapped her wings, both natural and magical, in a powerful double buzz and rocketed up into the sky. Cut n’ Dry hadn’t been exaggerating, the extra pair of wings was doing wonders for Raindrops’ speed. It took less than half a minute for Raindrops to vanish into the darkness, and Trixie could hope for her friend’s safe, and fast, journey.

She turned her attention to Bushel, and Picturesque. The older mare looked at Trixie, a whirlpool of emotions swirling on her face. Trixie felt taken aback by that look. Picturesque didn’t look as if she could decide whether to hate herself, or erupt in anger, and when she spoke it was in a disturbingly quiet tone, “Miss Trixie, tell me, how did my daughter’s condition get this bad?”

Trixie kept from glancing at Tarnished, who had lowered her head so far her muzzle was practically buried in the mud. Tarnished looked utterly miserable, and Cheerilee was back at her side, a hoof comforting on the other mare’s withers. Trixie opened her mouth to answer but Sheaf cut her off, looking at his wife.

“We can learn the details after this is done, Pic,” Sheaf said as he gave Tarnished a suspicious, narrowed eyed look, “We’ll sort out responsibility, and punishments, when, and only when, everypony is safe. Trixie, Sawdust, let’s have a look at this spell.”

Sawdust nodded, his horn glowing as he cast a shield spell that covered them in a then blanket of energy that kept the rain off the group. He then floated out his journal and levitated it over so it floated between him, Trixie, and Sheaf. Cut n’ Dry, though looking tired from casting her flight spell, joined them to examine the spell that Sawdust displayed. Trixie had seen these notes already, but had not really had a chance to examine them closely. She didn’t understand magic very well in written form, however.

Sheaf, looking at the geometric patterns, scribbled notations, and arcane markings spread across several pages, said “You had to translate this into modern Equestrian, didn’t you?”

“Yes, this spell was conceived by ponies from thousands of years ago, so the syntax of their arcane writings differ from ours. However the spell translated well into contemporary methods, and I’ve applied several modern theories to enhance its potential effects,” said Sawdust.

“I don’t understand,” said Cut n’ Dry, frowning “You said this is half a spell, but it looks like a complete ritual to me.”

Trixie was quick to jump on this one, familiar with the concept as she was, being an illusionist, “That’s because its a compound spell. Illusions utilize the concept often. You know how illusions can affect multiple senses, sight being the most common? Well, a illusion can have added effects, like sound, taste, even texture, but at its core it's still the same spell. That’s a compound spell. This ritual here is the initial effect, and can be cast and maintained on its own, but it is only meant to be half of a whole. Sawdust, what does this first half actually do?”

“Its a barrier of sorts,” said Sawdust, “My specialty is abjuration, after all. The barrier is special, however, in that it draws in a certain kind of energy, specifically negative energy, then contains it in a concentrated spot for as long as the ponies casting it can hold the spell.”

“Ponies?” asked Sheaf.

“Yes, this spell ritual requires at least three unicorns to maintain the barrier,” Sawdust said solemnly, giving Sheaf a sidelong look, then at Tarnished, who was standing outside the conversation. Trixie blinked in sudden realization.

“That’s what you were planning to do!” she blurted, “You intended to use the spell against this thing in the shrine with Sheaf and Tarnished’s help from the start!”

Sawdust bobbed his head in a nod, “I rather botched that aspect of my plan. I thought that I had time, that Tarnished would resist the influence of the shrine, and that Picturesque would convince you to my way of thinking, Sheaf, if only with a little more time. Then together we could purge the darkness, and then see Oaton built into something glorious... heh, I suppose I shall settle for dealing with the shrine.”

Sheaf closed his eyes, sighing, “Why didn’t you just come to me about this to begin with? Why the deception? Why any of it, Sawdust!?”

“If I had would you have been cooperative? I know you, Sheaf. You could teach granite how to be properly stubborn. You’d never have agreed to my plans for Oaton, not if I’d just come out to you with my plans, old friend.”

Sheaf spat, grunting, “Don’t call me friend. I just want to save my daughter and town. We have enough unicorns to do this spell, right?”

“Well,” Trixie said, “There’s myself. You, mayor Sheaf, and then Sawdust, Tarnished, and Cut n’ Dry. That’s five unicorns, so I’d say we’re set.”

Sawdust gave her a flat stare, “After all you’ve done this night, you feel you have enough magic to maintain a ritual like like this? For the hours it will take for your friend to return with the second half?”

Trixie gulped. Her horn was feeling the strain. Between the fight with Tarnished and using the spell to communicate with the basilisk she felt as if she’d nearly run herself dry. However, Trixie felt she had to be there for this. As a Representative of the Night Court, as the bearer of the Element of Magic, and as the mare who’d made a promise to a certain filly to see this through until Oaton was saved. No, regardless of how tired Trixie felt, or how difficult this final spell would be, she intended to be there.

“I can handle it. The question is, who will the other two unicorns be?”

Cut n’ Dry took a step forward, but Count Shiny held up a hoof, holding her back.

“My lord?” the rust coated unicorn asked, frowning.

“You’ll be needed to work with the others on the dam, Cut n’ Dry,” Count Shiny said, “You are more familiar with the ice wall spell. Dealing with this shrine...thing, will be pointless if we lose Oaton anyway. You are remaining here.”

Sheaf moved over to Trixie’s side, giving her a firm-eyed look, “My daughter has to be at the center of the spell. There is no way in Tartarus I’m not going to be there for her. I’m going.”

Tarnished stepped forward as well, starting to say “I should do something as well-”

Trixie and Cheerilee both said “No,” at practically the same instant, but Cheerilee was the one to quickly explain in a comforting tone, rubbing Tarnished’s withers.

“Tarn, nopony can ask you to go back in there and face that thing in its lair.”

“But I should be one of the unicorns in there!” said Tarnished, gaining some of the fire back in her eyes that had been buried under pain and guilt, “Everything that’s gone wrong is my fault! I have to do my part to set things right!”

“You will, Tarn,” said Cheerilee, “Remember me and you have to go find some of those animal friends of yours to help with the dam. That will be enough. You don’t have to do more than that, Tarn. Least of all putting yourself at risk of this dark force getting into your head again.”

“You and I...” Tarnished said, softly. Cheerilee blinked.

“Huh?”

Tarnished didn’t really smile, it was just a small, barely glimpsed will-o-wisp of a smile, but Tarnished looked at Cheerilee and said, “You and I. Not ‘me and you’. Aren't you supposed to be a teacher?”

Cheerilee blinked again, then laughed, hugging her friend to her chest.

Sawdust, looking uncomfortable with the scene, twitched one of his ears, but he quickly gained a calm look, “In any case, I think we've spent enough time planning. I shall be the third unicorn. I should have enough magical energy to fill in the role, and you, Sheaf, should be pretty fresh. We can make up for the strain that’d otherwise be put on Miss Trixie.”

“I’m going too,” said Picturesque suddenly, fiercely, as she held her daughter close, “If Bushel must be there, I’m not leaving her. That won’t disrupt the spell will it?”

Sawdust shook his head, “No, you can hold your daughter the entire time, if you so wish. But do understand the more minds the shrine has to affect, the greater the chances it will influence one of us enough to disrupt the ritual. I’ll have to shield all of our minds. Right now the storm’s influence merely makes us more prone to anger, but at the heart of the shrine, where the ritual must be done... its influence will be much stronger. We must all be prepared for that.”

There was a moment of silence as all the ponies present looked at one another, apprehension and tension filling the space between them. Trixie was the first to take in a deep breath, step forward, and put her hoof out in the middle of the group, “We can’t be separated in this!”

She looked at each of them in turn, “Together, we’re going to save Oaton, Bushel, and everypony else here! This thing is going to try to divide us, to prey on the mistrust and anger. Whatever grievances we have, whoever feels wronged by another, put it from your mind! We go in there, we do so with one mind, one purpose, and we don’t let anything break that!”

Sheaf looked at his wife and daughter, Bushel still unconscious and breathing shallowly. He then looked between Count Shiny, Tarnished, and Sawdust with eyes gleaming with anger... but he was the first to take in and let out a deep breath and step forward, putting his hoof over Trixie’s.

“Together,” he said.

Sawdust cocked his head to one side, a wry smile creeping onto his face, “You still have something of a dramatic streak, Miss Trixie, but I can’t argue with your words,” he stepped up and put his hoof onto the pile, “Together it is.”

Count Shiny, for a second, seemed taken aback, perhaps even ashamed he wasn’t the one leading this chain of events, but after a moment he took hold of himself and with a firm nod at Cut n’ Dry both he and the guardsmare put their hooves onto the others.

“I will not mistake where my responsibilities as a noble lay anymore, even if I lose that noble title,” he said firmly, no sign of his stutter to be heard, “Though I and Cut n’ Dry will not be going with you, we will be fighting alongside everypony from Oaton and the Lumber Guild! I swear it on my family name, you will have a home to return to!”

Cut n’ Dry glanced briefly at Trixie, dislike still clear in the rust coated mare’s eyes, but she nodded at her sword lord’s words and put her hoof firmly onto the others.

Cheerilee looked at them, then at Tarnished, and gave the other mare an encouraging nod, gently leading Tarnished over to the group. Tarnished had the look of a mare who was adrift at sea in the middle of a storm, reaching her hoof hesitantly towards the others like it was a lifeline. Settling onto her hoof, suddenly, was Picturesque’s. The two mare’s eyes met for a second, Tarnished’s surprised and guilt filled, Picturesque’s encouraging, and Trixie noted, forgiving. Had Picturesque put together who was responsible for Bushel’s condition? If she had Trixie was glad to see Picturesque was willing to give Tarnished the benefit of the doubt. Cheerilee’s own hoof came to rest atop the pile, completing the group.

Trixie and Cheerilee shared a smile, then Trixie looked at the assembled ponies. She felt like she ought to say something else here. Wasn’t the hero supposed to have some final, rousing, inspiring thing to say before everypony leaps into the breach? Her showmare’s mind conjured a dozen different grand turns of phrase about facing the darkness, etcetera, but nothing really fit what she was feeling at that moment. Thoughts of heroism were, quite frankly, nowhere in her mind. Her thoughts were consumed with one thing alone; saving the filly that had in turn, saved her.

The forest had been difficult to navigate before when Trixie had chased Tarnished into it, but now, with the raging storm overhead, Trixie was having trouble just seeing in front of her own muzzle. The wind screamed in violent howls through the thickly clustered branches and streams of water pelted the group of ponies marching through the forest relentlessly. It would have been all but impossible to find their way to the cave if not for the rather... sizable guide

“Sawdust,” Trixie heard Sheaf say, “You’re certain we can trust this thing?”

Trixie winced slightly as the massive basilisk leading the party through the forest turned its head and hissed in a low, menacing way that seemed to suggest Sheaf ought to keep his mouth shut. Sawdust, trotting just ahead of Trixie, looked back at his onetime friend and gave a wry smile.

“As certain as I can be, considering circumstances,” replied the Lumber Guild leader, putting a hoof on his bowler cap as a particular strong gust of wind nearly blew it off. He paused, as did the rest of the group, as they waited for the basilisk to bat aside a tree that had fallen in their path, “I’ve seen Tarnished play with these creatures like they were large, scale covered kittens. If she says this one will lead us to the cave safely, and convince its mate not to eat us, I am willing to hold confidence in her.”

That got Trixie curious, and she needed something to distract her from the growing sense of impending doom that was pressing in on her with every step they took. Despite the blanket of the mind shield she could feel a building anxiety she was certain wasn’t natural. The whispers she’d heard the last time she was in the forest were back, muffled as if being heard through a door, but remaining an unceasing background noise clawing at the corners of her awareness, and getting louder the deeper in they went.

“How did you get Tarnished to trust you at all anyway?” Trixie asked Sawdust, “She ran away from her family to get all back to nature in this forest, and you’re a lumber pony. Not exactly any common ground between you.”

Sawdust huffed out what might have been a laugh, “Persistence, mostly. That and we shared at least one thing in common; we both had issues with family. Different issues, true, but the fact remained it was good for both of us to have somepony to talk to about our frustrations. Certainly she wasn’t keen on my profession, but in time I was able to convince her that it was not my intention to destroy the forest or upset the homes of her animal friends. Which is true, whether you believe me or not. I don’t want to destroy this forest. This place would be key to Oaton’s revival.”

Sheaf snorted in disgust, “Oaton’s revival... as if you understand what Oaton needs. As if we’re dying.”

“You are.”

Sheaf let out a soft growl, and Picturesque put a hoof on his shoulder, to which he gave her a sharp look, eyes flashing in anger... though that look faded quickly as they fell on the sight of his daughter. He sighed, taking in deep breaths, before saying, “Not having this argument with you again Sawdust.”

Slowly, almost subtly, he and Picturesque hung back a few extra paces while they continued to trudge through the forest, for a few minutes the only sounds to be heard being the thunder of the storm, the crashing steps of the basilisk, and the barely perceptible wash of incoherent whispers. Trixie licked her now dry lips and pulled up next to Sawdust.

“What do you mean?” she said in a quiet tone, “About Oaton?”

Sawdust kept his eyes forward, “Just what I said; Oaton is dying. Slowly, year by year, generation by generation. Their population has steadily declined over time. Inevitably, if they continue as they are, Oaton will just become a ghost town, what few inhabitants are left little more than hermits, until they too, die off.”

Trixie grimaced, the whispers in her head suddenly gaining a sharp clarity that she could feel pressing against the shield around her consciousness.

He’s lying to make himself sound better, just trying to gain your sympathy! You’re smarter than he is, better than he is. He’s the bad guy here. You shouldn’t be trusting him. The ritual must be a trap! He’s leading you into a-

Trixie shook her head. No! Those were not her thoughts. She took in a calming breath, forcing away the aberrant thoughts trying to push their way into her head. Sawdust was looking at her now with unreadable eyes.

“Why are you so convinced they can’t survive on their own?” Trixie asked, “They’ve done alright from what I’ve seen.”

“Oaton is just too small. Not enough new blood to keep the pool diverse. Each generation there are just a few fewer foals born, hence fewer ponies to work the fields. Gradually they’ve lost farms as families have petered out to single, old individuals are all that remain. This isn’t just my idea, Miss Trixie. The reason Sheaf gets so angry when I bring this up is because he’s the one who first realized that Oaton needed to change. That’s why he left to go to Canterlot and become educated. To save Oaton. But... he failed. He met my sister, fell in love, had a foal with her, and in so doing completely forgot why he left Oaton to begin with, moving back here to raise his family.”

Trixie was no expert, but Sawdust’s words did make a sort of sense, despite there being whispers in her head saying that he was a untrustworthy, sneaky, oily bastard she ought to stab in the throat with her horn before his sudden by inevitable betrayal. She suppressed a shiver. The whispers were getting steadily worse.

“Its stupid,” she found herself saying under her breath, causing Sawdust to look at her askance. Trixie rubbed her head with a hoof, trying to tune out the whispers, “Just, you and Sheaf. Sorry, can’t think straight, words not good right now. Be better if you, him, Count Shiny, everypony all got together, and decided how to make Oaton better. Now, with all the, you know, massively illegal actions certain ponies, namely you and Count Shiny, have done... Bah! Its just stupid. The ponies most suited to fixing things are going to end up in jail, and the best I can do is... what’s that phrase you use?”

“Damage control,” he provided.

“Yes, that,” Trixie said bitterly, “I want there to be a way for everypony to come out of this for the better.”

“You shouldn’t trouble yourself over it,” Sawdust said with a resigned note, “Myself and Count Shiny have dug our own graves. I will find mine comfortable enough to lay down in if I can do so with some assurance that my family is safe and my employee’s needs looked after. I merely regret that Oaton will never live up to its potential as I and Sheaf dreamed of during those days he, my sister, and I were together.”

The stallion sounded genuinely regretful. Trixie looked back at Sheaf and Picturesque, who were remaining far enough back they couldn’t hear what she and Sawdust were saying over the noise of the storm. She remembered the journal entries she’d read and could almost see the three of these ponies together at Canterlot University, enjoying an evening meal at some cluttered dorm room. The space between them now was painfully obvious, and Trixie had had enough of it. They weren’t even to the cave yet and they were already pulling apart!

“Sawdust, go talk to them,” she said. He gave her a sudden look, his calm eyes opening a little wider, his ears slightly drawing back.

“I do not think Sheaf wants to talk-”

Trixie cut him off and pointed a hoof back, “Talk to them both! Talk to your friend, and your sister! Talk about the good times! Talk about the bad! Talk about family! Talk about anything! But. Talk. To. Them!”

He blinked at her. In fact they all were, because Trixie had stopped walking, hence bringing the group to a halt. Sawdust gulped visibly and nodded slowly, turning and trotting back to where Picturesque and Sheaf were, leaving Trixie up front with the basilisk. Over the storm Trixie couldn’t hear them, but she saw as Sawdust began to awkwardly begin a conversation. Sheaf looked like he would rather chew rocks than talk, and Picturesque looked guilty and worried... but slowly Trixie saw them all relax. Sheaf’s stony visage gradually softened, if only just. Picturesque’s guilt slowly melted. Sawdust’s awkwardness, step by step, became eagerness.

Soon, the three were sharing a quiet talk, and Trixie heard the occasional laugh from the three. Trixie smiled, shaking her head.

“If they’d only done that to start with...” she muttered under her breath, and she heard the basilisk rumble a soft growl that might have been agreement, or a simple indication that it was getting hungry. She really hoped for the former.

The cold wind coursing through the forest began to batter then even harder, freezing the ponies through their coats. Trixie was hearing the whispers now almost incessantly, and Trixie employed the most advanced, sophisticated technique she knew to counter them,

“Lalalalalalala, not listening, lalalalalala, can’t hear you!” she repeated, mantra like, while tucking her hat’s brim down over her ears and packing the cloth into her eardrums.

It didn’t work nearly as well as she would’ve liked. The voices were like slick oil, slipping past conventional means of tuning them out.

“Why can we hear these voices?” asked Picturesque, shaking her head “Brother, I thought you shielded our minds?”

“I did,” Sawdust replied, tilting his head at the surrounding forest, “Most of this is actual sound being made by the wind, manipulated into this cacophony. The shield’s are just a buffer, sister. They should hold, but the strain will be greater once we reach the shrine... which should be soon, it appears.”

His words were brought on by the basilisk tromping out into the clearing surrounding the hillock that bore the dark cavern mouth. The cave’s entrance was as foreboding as Trixie remembered from the previous night, like a gaping, black wound in the grassy hillock. Trixie suppressed a gulp. Every instinct she had told her she did not want to walk into there! In fact, the moment the ponies entered the clearing a blast of wind assaulted them, almost strong enough to force even the sizeable Sheaf back a step, and Trixie actually did have to stagger back, not just from the force of the wind, but the wall of voices that hit them. The maddening tangle of hundreds of shrill whispers, incomprehensibly speaking of death and doom if another step were taken.

Trixie, despite everything, nearly succumbed to instinct to turn and flee then and there. But one glance at Bushel’s form on Picturesque’s back, the filly letting out a soft moan in her unconscious state, forced away any thought of running. Anger flared, determination solidified, and Trixie straightened her hat, stepping forward.

“Sawdust, what is this thing? You must know something,” said Sheaf, looking at the cave entrance with wide eyes, but a strong stance, as if he was squaring off against a physical foe.

“Less than you’d imagine,” Sawdust replied, shading his eyes with his bowler cap against the slashing rain, “Its old, its feeds off our worst emotions, and it was brought here by Oaton’s founding ancestors.”

Sheaf drew in a sharp breath, “You’re saying this is our fault?”

Sawdust sighed, “No, its the fault of ponies centuries dead, Sheaf. Lucky us, other ponies, also centuries dead, researched the spell we’re about to use to undo the mistake of your forebears.”

“This changes nothing,” Sheaf said, “Oaton’s traditions still stand, even if... they have unfortunate origins.”

“Stubborn,” Sawdust said, lips compressing in a thin frown, “I used to see you as a visionary, Sheaf. Where did that vision of a thriving, progressive Oaton go?.”

“I saw it for the foalish dream it was! I had a family to raise! I had to return to my home!”

“And abandon your convictions to change that home into something better?”

“No, I merely learned, through raising my family, that the home I thought was too stifling, was in fact a honest, safe place for my foals to grow up. It didn’t need to change.”

“Hmph, oh, certainly, if all your foals ever wanted to be were farmers-”

“Sheaf! Brother! Please, both of you stop,” Picturesque said, her own eyes staring into the cave mouth, one hoof reaching back to gently stroke Bushel’s mane, “We can’t argue now.”

The two stallions looked at her, then at each other. They both ceased their arguing, but the silence between them spoke volumes. Trixie heaved out a sigh. She supposed it was too much to hope that a brief talk would be enough to mend fences that’d been broken years ago, but they needed to start somewhere.

The basilisk had approached the cave and let out a trumpeting call, lowering its head to look inside. Trixie watched as seconds passed, trotting closer. She backpedalled fast as, bursting from the shadows of the cave mouth, the smaller basilisk came charging out, its roar ringing louder than the howls of wind and crashes of thunder from the storm. The male basilisk was frothing at the mouth, its eyes wide and wild, and Trixie found herself unable to turn away before those eyes fixed right on her. She felt her whole body go ridgid as stone started to crawl up her legs.

She felt her hat move on its own, pulling down over her eyes, and noticed the white glow of Sawdust’s magic on her hat. The stallion was using his magic to pull her own hat over her eyes, just like she had in her brief scuffle with him. Breaking her line of sight with the male basilisk stopped the petrification, though Trixie was still too stunned to move. She didn’t have to, however, as she felt a titanic crash that knocked her off her hooves. Pulling her hat off her face she looked to see the larger female basilisks had wrestled her smaller mate to the ground and was holding the male down. The male’s wild look lessened slightly, but it was still slightly struggling in the female’s grasp, its yellow eyes bloodshot.

Sheaf helped Trixie up, eyeing the two huge predatory lizards warily, “What’s wrong with the smaller one? I thought that Tarnished mare said these creatures were resistant to the shrine’s influence or somesuch?”

Trixie gave him a thankful nod and brushed herself off, “Resistant, not immune. Let’s get in there fast. I don’t think we have a lot of time left.”

Not a one of them looked remarkably eager to pass by the clearly enraged and possibly insane basilisk, but at least the larger female seemed to have her mate well in claw. As Trixie and the others trotted by Trixie saw the female basilisk lower its head to her mate’s and start making hissing sounds that were incredibly soft sounding coming from something that could challenge an Ursa Minor for sheer mass. Trixie, despite it seeming just a little crazy, stopped and nodding to the basilisk.

“Thank you for showing us the way, and sorry about your mate’s current mental state. Hopefully what we’re about to do in there will fix all of this.”

The basilisk grumbled a noise that could’ve meant anything, but Trixie choose to take it as encouragement. She, Sheaf, Sawdust, and Picturesque stood at the precipice of the cave entrance, inky blackness stretching out before her. Taking a shuddering breath, Trixie adjusted her hat so her horn was exposed and lit it up, her blue magical light shining into the gloom. Her light was joined by Sawdust’s white, and Sheaf’s yellow, illuminating less than Trixie thought three unicorn light spells should.

When Trixie took the first step inside, she felt a chill that didn’t have anything to do with the rain. Picturesque actually shivered, flicking her tail so it covered her daughter protectively. Sheaf noticed and stepped closer to her, putting a hoof both over her withers, and their foal. She looked a little surprised for a second, but then leaned in close and nuzzled him. Sheaf returned the gesture after only a moment’s hesitation. Sawdust stood apart from them, looking uncomfortable. Trixie, a few steps into the cave, was shining her horn straight ahead, resisting the urge to looking around too much. She knew if she starting swinging her light around it’d make the shadows around her look like they were moving even more than they already did.

Slowly the others filed in behind her. This front area of the cave had a high enough ceiling that Trixie could easily see how the basilisk’s lair here, though the ceiling hung with thick vines and roots from the hill above. The cave floor was running with water, but fortunately the land sloped towards the entrance, so the cave was in no danger of flooding. The oblong, oval cavern had a relatively smooth floor, and as the ponies went deeper in they become completely enfolded by the dark, the unicorn lights only providing a small pool of visibility to move by.

“Sheaf,” said Picturesque, “This is officially the worst date you’ve ever taken me on.”

Sheaf’s laugh was dry, “Not really the time for humor, Pic.”

“Actually,” said Sawdust, “This may be the best time for it. Any positive emotion will help.”

“If you start trying to tell jokes, Sawdust, any positive emotion I’ve got going towards you is going to instantly vanish,” said Sheaf.

Trixie’s nervousness only increased as she realized that now that they’d entered the cave, the whispers that had been trying to worm their way into her mind during the trek across the forest hadn’t increased, but instead had abruptly vanished. She’d expected them to get worse, being inside the cave. Sawdust had suggested as much would happen. Catching Sawdust’s eye with her own she saw the Lumber Guild leader nod. So he’d noticed it too.

“What’s all this stuff on the walls?” asked Sheaf, shining his horn towards one of the smooth stone walls of the cave. Trixie approached, adding her light, and gulped. Strange lettering, strings and strings of it, spread over the walls in spidery, web-like patterns. Trixie didn’t recognize the style of writing, but that wasn’t too surprising to her. Her studies with Princess Luna didn’t cover ancient evil writings. Probably wasn’t high on the Princess’ list of important topics to cover.

“Probably made by the founders of Oaton,” said Sawdust, “Those ponies still worshiped the entity this shrine was meant to venerate. Who knows what kind of rituals they conducted here?”

Sheaf looked like he’d chewed something sour, “Makes my head hurt looking at it. I’m starting to think collapsing this cave would be an excellent idea.”

“Couple of house sized lizards that might take issue with that,” said Trixie as she started trotting towards the back of the cave.

“Will Bushel really be safe, brother?” Picturesque asked, looking worriedly at the filly, “She’s getting warmer.”

“Let me see,” Trixie said, coming over and leaning over Bushel. The little yellow filly was breathing in small, shallow breaths, seeming faster than what Trixie had seen earlier. The Inverted Horn was still mostly just an aura of condensed magical energy in horn shape, but Trixie could now see washes of shadow flowing through the magical light, like oil in a clear pool. Trixie gulped, using her magical sight for a moment to examine things more closely. She swore under her breath.

“What is it?” Picturesque’s voice was sharp with fear.

“The writing,” Trixie said past clenched teeth, “Its got negative energy flowing through it, like... like conduits. Motes of it are siphoning off and into Bushel’s horn!”

Sheaf glared at Sawdust, “I thought you said the writing wasn’t important!”

Sawdust’s composed look faltered at Sheaf’s anger, “I said I didn’t think it was! It could be part of whatever old magic was used here when the shrine was first made. I don’t know for certain. Regardless, our only hope is the ritual. Bushel should be safe once its completed.”

Trixie frowned, wishing she knew more about Bushel’s condition. There was nothing they could do, however, but press forward. The cavern soon narrowed past the nest, turning from a fairly wide and open area into a constricted tunnel winding down at an angle into the earth. After a moment of stumbling over the uneven floor Trixie looked down and realized with a start that somepony had fashioned, probably via magic, a crude set of stairs into the stone. The cavern gradually turned into a spiral staircase of stone, that mind bending spidery arcane writing flowing along the walls and ceiling in thicker and denser quantities the deeper they went.

“At what point in time did Tarnished ever think making this place her home was a good idea?” asked Trixie, not expecting an answer, but Sawdust offered one up anyway.

“There was nothing too unusual about this place, at first,” said Sawdust, “No whispers, no darkness, just a simple cave with some odd writing in it. I think that, by the time she would have realized something was amiss, it was already too late. This happened gradually, Miss Trixie, not all at once.”

Sheaf was casting nervous looks all around him, as if he expected the writing on the walls to perhaps spring to life and attack, or the shadows beyond their horn lights to start spawning nightmarish things in their path, “I don’t understand. If there is some kind of spirit in this shrine, why isn’t it trying harder to stop us? Its just letting us walk right into its heart without so much as a little wind and a few voices in our heads as resistance?”

“Two possibilities as I see it,” said Trixie as she saw the stairs come to a stop ahead at a worked archway of stone, where natural cavern stopped completely and took on more the appearance of the interior of a fashioned room, with smooth worked stone and not a hint of natural rock formation in sight, “One; the spirit is blowing so much of its energy on the storm above that it doesn't have anything left to resist us with besides what we’ve already seen-”

She stepped into the gloom of the room, one hoof clopping onto the stone, creating an echo that joined her voice, “-Or two; its been saving its strength until we got here, so it could hit us with everything it has.”

Light from her horn cast the room in a pale blue pool that sent shadows skittering away like roaches. One by one the others entered behind her, adding their light to hers. Trixie noticed the chamber they’d entered was perfectly circular in shape. It was large enough that dozens of ponies could have gathered in it. At the center of the chamber was a cluster of stone pillars, arranged in a perfect circle just like the chamber itself. The six pillars each bore carved holes up and down their length where various objects were placed. Daggers, curved like waves. Animal skulls bedecked with spidery runes like the writing in the cave above. Strange bone fetishes shaped in the likeness of the equine form. Wax coated jars of unidentifiable liquids.

And those were just the times that Trixie could easily discern what they were.

“Well,” said Trixie, “I can see why you kept calling this place a shrine, Sawdust.”

“It does seem to be the only word to suit,” he replied, pulling out his journal, “Let’s begin. The first thing we need to do is-”

“You’re wasting your time..”

The voice came from across the room, a female voice that Trixie instantly recognized, but hadn’t at all expected to hear. Stepping from around the pillars, all but sauntering with a confident swagger that Trixie knew quite well, because there was a point in time she’d practiced that walk in a mirror on a daily basis, was a mare. A pale blue unicorn mare, with a silver mane, and wearing a distinctive hat and cape.

“The spell couldn’t possibly work with a pony like her being part of your efforts,” said Trixie, or rather, the mare who looked identical to Trixie.

Trixie, the actual Trixie, took a step back, mind boggling for a moment before she managed to compose herself, ”You’re not real. You’re just some figment or illusion conjured by this shrine”

The fake Trixie rolled her eyes, “Figure that all out on your own, did you? Didn’t strain any blood vessels in that tiny, atrophied brain coming up with that unimaginative conclusion?”

Trixie narrowed her eyes, “Not just an illusion, but an irritating one. Great.”

“What are you, exactly?” Sawdust asked, as he slowly walked to the right, circling the false Trixie. The figment, not that Trixie was looking at it closely, was easy to tell apart from her. It’s eyes lacked color. They were just straight black, with no definition. The realization made her coat crawl.

The shadows of the room seemed to creep in on their own pools of light cast by their horns, and the air had become cloyingly humid yet incredibly cold. Trixie could hear the sharp, clawing whispers again. Quiet, as if they were trying to allow the illusion to speak, but so many voices now, trying to scratch their way into her head.

“I was part of a whole, once, that had a name. A feared name, that all ponies bowed to,” said a male voice as a stallion who bore an identical appearance to Sawdust appeared in Sawdust’s path, with the same dead, black eyes in place of Sawdust’s natural colors, “That name no longer matters. The Princesses defeated the whole, and the whole in its defeat broke off parts of itself, scattered them across the land, so that if ever the whole returned, it could gather those pieces of itself it left behind, and regain its power. That is what I am, a left behind piece of a whole. A forgotten whisper.”

Sawdust drew up short of his counterpart, looking the illusion over and after a second waving a hoof at the other Sawdust. The illusionary Sawdust wove apart like a bank of fog but reformed just as quickly.

“These... Whispers, I suppose, are not solid,” Sawdust said, trying, and failing, to not look somewhat disturbed, “Illusions, as Miss Trixie says. I think its using this method because it cannot break into our minds completely with the shields in place.”

The Whisper of Sawdust laughed, cold, mocking, “Or perhaps I’m already in your minds?” it said as it looked at Trixie, “He’s going to betray you, you know. His ambitions don’t know any limits, and you really think he’s just going to let you turn him in to the authorities?”

Picturesque trotted forward, face drawn tight in anger, “My brother isn’t going to turn on us! Not with his niece’s life at stake!”

“Do you actually believe that?” asked another voice, and a Whisper of Picturesque formed from the shadows on the mare’s left, managing to run a smokey hoof over Bushel’s form before Picturesque turned to snarl at the Whisper, backing away.

“Get your hooves off my daughter!”

The Whisper of Picturesque smiled, far too wide for a natural pony’s mouth, reaching from ear to ear, “Oh, I like that. Nothing like a mother’s wrath; the flavor of that anger is just so... rich. Seriously though, do you believe your brother isn’t planning something?”

“I trust him,” said Picturesque firmly, “I’ve always trusted him. He’s... he’s not a bad pony.”

The Whisper laughed, “Oh, and you sound just so convinced of that. Is that why he asked you to lie to your husband? To connive and manipulate your beloved Sheaf into doing what Sawdust wants?”

Trixie saw Picturesque falter and was quick to jump in, “Just tune them out, everypony! This is just a last ditch effort to try and stop us, and its a pathetic and transparent attempt at that.”

The Whisper of Trixie scoffed and came right up to Trixie, smiling sickly sweet, “You’d know all about pathetic attempts, wouldn’t you ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie? How many mistakes and bumbling screw ups have marked your life so far, hmm? The laughing stock of the Night Court, a joke of a Representative, and a lousy friend, barely able to hold onto the few ponies who can stomach your so-called ‘friendship’..”

Trixie scoffed, then frowned as she realized how closely she’d just mirrored the Whisper, “Really, this is the best ammo you have to use against me? My ego is not that fragile!”

“Oh, really?” Whisper Trixie said, flicking a smokey tail at Trixie’s nose, causing Trixie to shiver at the coldness of the Whisper’s touch. Insubstantial they were, but their touch was shiver inducing, “I suppose you’d know better than anypony how strong your ego is. So strong it requires you to lie to an innocent little filly to stroke it!”

That got Trixie to wince, though she regrouped quickly, “I didn’t lie to her. I-”

But her Whisper vanished, not giving Trixie a chance to finish her sentence, and reappeared by Picturesque. The Whisper struck a mockingly ‘heroic’ pose while looking down at the unconscious Bushel, “Don’t fear my little pony, I the Hero of Oaton shall save your family and friends without fail, for I am the Right Hoof of Justice, whose magic knows no equal in all the realm!”

The Whisper’s tone took on a tiny, squeak mock-version of Bushel’s, “Oh Great and Powerful Trixie, you’re so awesome, certainly you’d never, ever exaggerate who or what you are just to make yourself look better in my eyes! I want to grow up to be just like you so I can lie to ponies about who I am too!”

Trixie felt fury flare up inside her, and she advanced on her Whisper with bared teeth, “I am not rising to this bait. It didn’t happen that way... okay, it didn’t happen exactly that way. It doesn’t matter, I’ve already fessed up to Oaton about everything. You’re not driving doubts into me with this farce.”

“Fessed up to Oaton, but not to this poor little filly,” said the Whisper with a predatory smile, “What will she think of you, I wonder, when she learns of your lies? Will she be forgiving? Will she be devastated? Will she cry, that her idol is nothing more than a fake, straw hero?”

Trixie clenched her teeth together so tight she tasted the slight tang of blood. She knew the Whisper was digging at her weakest points, at all of their weak points. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to take. Trixie took a deep breath and met her Whisper’s inky black eyes.

“Whatever she may think, I’ll come clean to her on it all, and accept the consequences. Thing is, straw hero or not, I’m more than enough to deal with a two-bit whisper like you. Compared to Corona, you’re nothing special.”

The Whisper of Trixie sniffed at that, walking through Picturesque like a phantom.

Picturesque yelped at the cold and rapidly away from Whisper of Trixie, but that only put her closer to her own Whisper. The Whisper of Picturesque seemed to turn into a haze and appeared next to Sheaf, raising a hoof towards his face but he growled and batted at the hoof. The hoof merely wafted into smoke, reforming a moment later, much to the Whisper’s amusement.

“Awfully quiet over here aren’t we, Sheaf? Here you are, surrounded by ponies that have done nothing but lie to you, and you think you can place faith in any of them? In a supposed ‘friend’ whose conspired to destroy your home? In a wife that’s lied to your face? In a overblown braggart who came here only to bask in unearned praise?”

On Sheaf’s other side his own Whisper finally appeared, flanking him with the Whisper of Picturesque, and leaning in and saying in a tone hard as the stone the chamber was carved from, “They can’t save your home. You can’t trust any of them. Better to work alone, for Oaton to stand alone, like it always has.”

Sheaf’s eyes were closed, his entire body stock still as he listened to his Whisper’s words. Trixie looked at him worriedly, “Sheaf, don’t listen to this! Its just trying to get us to turn on each other.”

“I don’t have to do much in that regard,” chuckled the Whisper of Sawdust in Trixie’s ear as he appeared next to her, “Mistrust, anger, pain, fear, desperation, greed; I didn’t put any of those feelings inside ponies. They are simply already a part of you. Ponies never change. Bubbly, happy sunshine on the surface, but underneath that you’re all little pressure cookers of wretchedness just waiting for an excuse to boil over.”

Trixie stared hard daggers at the Whisper, even though she knew her anger could only be feeding the thing. She looked to Sheaf, who still held Sawdust’s journal, but remained quiet and still, eyes closed.

“Sheaf, we have to start the ritual,” she said, trying to ignore the derisive laughter of her own Whisper, “The longer we talk with these things the more power we give them.”

“Can you really listen to the words of such an incompetent fraud?” asked the Whisper of Trixie, spinning her own phantom of Trixie’s hat on a hoof, “A stage magician who so far has only given your town empty promises? What has she really done, since coming to Oaton? Spouted a lot of worthless hot air and-”

“My wife,” Sheaf said, suddenly, slowly opening his eyes to stare at the Whisper.

The Whisper cocked it’s head, “What?”

“Trixie Lulamoon returned my wife to me. Turned cold, dead stone, into a living pony once again,” Sheaf strode past the Whispers, trotting right up to Trixie, “I don’t trust Sawdust. I still love my wife, but she’s got a lot of work to do to earn my trust again as well. But you, Trixie Lulamoon, are no fraud, and I’ve already decided to place my hopes for Oaton’s future on you.”

Trixie stared at him for a second, surprised at the honest tone in his voice, then nodded with enthusiasm, “Thank you, Sheaf.”

Sawdust looked at the two with a small smile, then turned to his Whisper, “You’re not nearly as good at this as you seem to think you are,” the Lumber Guild leader told the Whisper as he joined Trixie and Sheaf near the pedestals of the shrine. The Whispers all scowled as one, turning hazy and all vanishing save for the Whisper of Trixie, which followed Picturesque as the mare trotted up to the group with Bushel.

“W-what should I do with Bushel?” asked Picturesque, “Does she have to be anywhere specific?”

“She’ll need to be inside the ritual circle,” said Sawdust, “Don’t let her go for a single moment, sister.”

“A waste of time,” said the Whisper of Trixie, “The filly is sick, dying, and her Foolish and Incompetent hero can’t do a single thing to fix her. In fact-”

The Whisper appeared in Trixie’s face again, disdainful eyes an unsettling mirror of Trixie’s own, “-Bushel only got this way because she had to save you, didn’t she?”

Trixie could hear her blood pounding in her ears, her anger rising, mind shield or not. She shoved it aside as best she could, ignoring the Whisper. She did not want to give this thing the satisfaction of a reaction! Even so, her eyes slide towards where Picturesque had laid down between her, Sheaf, and Sawdust. The filly was cradled in her mother’s hooves, Trixie’s cape still wrapped around her. Trixie felt a sharp stab of guilt, remembering how happy and full of energy Bushel had been when Trixie first met her. It was painful to see the filly like this, and knowing it was her fault...

The Whisper glowered, then smiled cruelly, “Do you see yet? At least with all your previous screw ups a foal didn’t suffer for them. No, none of your past mistakes quite have the same repercussions this one does, hmm? Before, the stakes were just your paper-mache ego. Now, its the future of dozens of ponies who could lose their homes, and their lives, if you fail. Including one innocent filly who thinks you're far greater than you know you actually are.”

“Then I won’t fail,” said Trixie past clenched teeth.

“You won’t fail? Hm, your track record says otherwise.”

“What track record? I’ve been doing pretty well for myself since I came to Ponyville,” Trixie said back while trying to keep her emotions calm, “Maybe you don’t know, having been literally living under a rock, but my friends and I saved all of Equestria! That’s no boast or lie, just fact.”

The Whisper snorted, rolling it’s eyes, “Fact? Ha, the fact is that you failed to actually banish Corona, and because of your weakness the Tyrant Sun still threatens the freedom of every mare, stallion, and foal in the land. Oh, yes, such a great success.” The Whisper shoved a accusatory hoof at Trixie’s nose, “Even in winning, you still manage to screw up!”

“You’re grasping at straws. My friends and I, we beat Corona, earned the right to wield the Elements of Harmony! You’re not poking holes in my resolve this easy. I’m stronger than that,” Trixie said, taking hold of her emotions, pushing down the doubts that the Whisper’s words conjured. Not to mention the anger. Trixie was now quite glad Raindrops had been sent for the second half of the ritual, as Trixie didn’t want to subject her friend to this entity’s tactics.

“Trixie, remember when you told me not to listen to this thing?” asked Sheaf, “Might want to take your own advice.”

“I know! I know!” said Trixie, “But. She’s. Really. Annoying!”

Sawdust coughed politely, “It has a good template to work off of for that purpose.”

Trixie shot him a look, “Not helping!”

Sheaf had set the journal down between them, pages open to the ritual. Trixie, despite a tremble in her legs that was one part rage and one part fear, focused her attention on the writings. Despite her general lack of ability with figuring spells out via written format the ritual was actually simple enough in design that she could get the gist of it by looking. The three unicorns involved essentially formed the bulwark of a barrier, one that from what Trixie could tell was designed to pull in negative energies and then contain them inside the confines of the barrier. Ritual magic was uncommon in the modern age, if mainly because most rituals took a large number of unicorns to work and took a long amount of time to cast; the kind of thing that just stopped being practical or useful in Equestria’s modern age. Trixie realized it was strange this ritual only required three unicorns, where a circle of seven or thirteen was far more common.

“I’ll start, the two of you follow my lead,” said Sawdust as his horn glowed with greater intensity. At the same time Sheaf and Trixie both began to pour magic into their own horns. Magical sight was not needed to follow Sawdust’s lead, the ritual created patterns of light that showed where Trixie and Sheaf needed to direct their own magic. Trixie concentrated on pushing tendrils of her magic into the patterns she saw, watching as her blue magic interlaced slowly with Sheaf’s yellow and Sawdust’s white. The magic energy traced along the ground and in the air, forming a circle on the floor consisting of two layers of arcane sigils. The outer layer was a magic funnel, sucking in negative energy. The inner layer was the barrier that would keep that energy trapped at one point. The barrier formed in the air above the center of the arcane circle in the shape of a inverted pyramid, the walls a shifting in colors between the three unicorn’s magic. Trixie hadn’t been able to tell much about the ritual when it was on paper, but now seeing it in action she was able to see how this part of the spell was designed to be maintained, but left hanging threads of magical energy that didn’t seem to serve a purpose. That must be where the second half of the ritual was meant to lock into the first half.

The Whisper of Trixie was snarling as the unicorns cast the ritual, shoving her face right against Trixie’s, thought she lacked substance to touch the real Trixie.

“Ignore me if you will, but you know you’ll fail. You don’t have enough magic to hold this ritual for long...” wisps of shadow were being pulled of the Whisper, like smoke being sucked away by a current of wind, trailing into a space just above the glowing ritual circle. It was distorting the Whisper’s voice as the image started to get pulled into that space, joining a growing cloud of roiling dark gray smoke that was forming.

“You won’t hold onto them... your friends... you’re scared of that, Trixie Lulamoon,” the Whisper was mostly formless gray smoke now, just barely in Trixie’s shape, “You don’t believe in Harmony. That’s the real reason you didn’t... send for the rest of your friends and the Elements... you don’t believe they’d work for you... not for you, who always loses her friends...”

The Whisper’s voice faded away as the hazy smoke that made up its form was pulled into the now swirling cloud that was gathered above the ritual circle. Trixie was sweating cold, trickles of it running down her neck. Even just a few minutes into the ritual, her horn was sending spikes of pain into her head in protest. She really had used up too much magic fighting Tarnished earlier. Did she really have enough to hold this ritual... for hours?

“Stay focused,” said Sheaf, his face a stone mask of concentration, his horn blazing yellow, “Whatever it meant by those words, don’t get distracted by them.”

“I’m not!” said Trixie, wincing, “I’m the picture of focus! Stupid shrine entity thing was talking out its flank anyway! I... I don’t doubt the Elements of Harmony. There just wasn’t any guarantee they’d work here!”

“You had good reasons not to send for them,” said Sawdust, and Trixie felt a little better seeing he was sweating under the strain too. Not much, but a little. Just good to know she wasn’t the only unicorn having difficulty with this, “It looks as if this being is trying to focus its insidious efforts on you, in particular. I think its afraid of you, perhaps can sense you are the linchpin of our efforts. If it breaks you, we will not be far behind.”

“Isn’t talking much now,” Trixie observed with some satisfaction.

“The ritual is pulling the entity, and its energies, into this one spot, and trapping it inside the barrier we’re forming. I doubt it can form any more Whispers,” said Sawdust, but gave them all a cautious look, “It may still be able to try influencing us, however. Be wary, I doubt it is done resisting us.”

And we have hours to wait, holding this ritual, until Raindrops returns, Trixie thought with a sinking feeling in her gut. But as much as she felt the strain on her own horn, she just needed one look at Bushel to know that every bit of pain she was going through was worth it, if they could save her.

Raindrops... hurry.

Tarnished kept looking away every time Cheerilee noticed her staring. Fear lanced through Tarnished, her thoughts a mired jumble she was barely keeping together, right now dominated by; pleasedon’taskpleasedon’taskpleasedon’task.

“Tarn, were you looking at my flank?”

Drat, she asked!

“No!” she said, far too quickly. Cheerilee slowed slightly, dropping back so she was now alongside Tarnished. They’d been galloping along the churning and rapidly flooding banks of the river, towards where Tarnished knew a local colony of beavers lived. They were nearly there, and for most of it Tarnished had avoided conversation with Cheerilee as much as possible. Too afraid and confused to know what to say. Not after what she had done.

But she had, against her own better judgement, snuck numerous glances at Cheerilee. It was just... Tarnished didn’t know what to feel. Cheerilee was right here in front of her! And despite all the horrible things Tarnished had said, and did, Cheerilee was... was just acting like everything was going to be okay! And Tarnished felt like she might actually believe that. It was strange. She just kept wanting to look at Cheerilee and sort through everything, but there wasn’t any time, and the idea of actually having a conversation terrified her.

It was just sort of coincidental Cheerilee had caught Tarnished looking just as Tarnished was taking note of Cheerilee’s cutie mark.

“Its just,” Tarnished said after an awkward silence, “I was thinking about your cutie mark. I never could see how it related to your decision to become a teacher. I always assumed it represented us, the gang, and how you kept us together, happy.”

Cheerilee chuckled; oh Luna’s pure moon how Tarnished had missed that sound!

“Its a little abstract, isn’t it? The flowers represent ponies, yes, you guys in the gang, but also my students. Their smiles, their laughter, as they grow and learn. My cutie mark is my love for helping anypony grow, I just realized that foals need that kind of guidance the most,” Cheerilee said, the warmth in her voice seeming to push back the very cold of the rain that soaked their coats. The storm had actually ended a mile back, centered completely over the dam and Oaton, and Tarnished could see it as a black solid disc of cloud in the sky. It was at utter odds with the clear, star filled sky outside the storm.

“Its a good cutie mark,” Tarnished said, ears lowering against the side of her head. She blinked, trying to keep herself from crying. Hadn’t she done that enough already? Yet it was beyond hard just to keep any kind of rein on her emotions. She was still caught between wanting to throw herself at Cheerilee and hug her friend just to make sure Cheerilee was real, and that this wasn’t some fever dream... and equally wanting to still strangle the mare to satisfy the anger still clawing at the edges of her mind and heart.

“Cheerilee...” she said at length, “How can you just... just act so normal, like nothing happened!? I tried to hurt you! Kill you, even! You’re friends, I would’ve killed them too! Even my own brother! I still don’t know if I can even trust myself to not... not just lose it again. So how-”

“Stop, Tarn. Don’t tear yourself up anymore, okay?” said Cheerilee, voice firm, but also filled with concern and a warmth that hurt Tarnished as much as it comforted the turmoil in her, “I won’t hear any more of you hurting yourself. Not one more word! When this is over, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to take you for a night on the town like you’ve never imagined! They’re going to hear us celebrating all the way in Cavallia! We got years of catching up to do, and I don’t plan on letting you sit out a moment of it!”

Tarnished just stared at Cheerilee, for a moment too stunned to even think straight. Then, slowly, she smiled, laughing like she hadn’t in... Luna, not in years! But she couldn’t help but shake her head, eventually, “Cheerilee... after this, the authorities, the things I’ve done... I don’t think I’ll be able to go much of anywhere. Might have to settle for visiting me at whatever institute I end up in.”

She tried to keep her tone light (Luna’s tears it was hard), to make it sound a little like a joke. She found Cheerilee staring at her with a look of utter seriousness that again, stunned Tarnished.

“Nonsense! You weren’t in your right mind. There are...” Cheerilee hesitated, “There are extenuating circumstances. The Princess will understand!” The schoolteacher then smiled ruefully, “And if she doesn’t, well, I’ll just have to make her understand. With my hoof.”

“I don’t think you’re students would appreciate their teacher getting banished to the sun for decking the Princess of the Night,” Tarnished said, unable to keep from smiling a bit at the thought of the magenta mare punching Equestria’s monarch. Would probably just surprise the immortal alicorn more than actually harm her. “It’ll... it’ll be okay.”

Cheerilee was silent at that, face a mask of thought and Tarnished could imagine her friend was mentally reviewing her knowledge of Equestrian law to look for loopholes to get Tarnished out of jail. Tarnished finally let a small smile on her face, realizing just how much her friend was trying to do what Cheerilee always did; brighten the mood, and hence the lives, of her friends.

“I can accept whatever happens,” Tarnished said, “Because I know, when I get out, however many years it is, you’ll still be there waiting for me. We’ll still be friends.”

Cheerilee made a small sniffing sound, looking away from Tarnished, though she didn’t know why. The rain hid the tears pretty well already.

They continued on in silence for a few minutes after that, Tarnished feeling the turmoil inside her calming, perhaps due to getting some distance from the storm, or simply because of Cheerilee’s presence. Up ahead a small tributary from the forest entered the river just as it started to curve to the northeast, around the border of trees. The tributary was marked by the thicket of logs and branches of a natural beaver dam, one of several Tarnished knew existed along this tributary.

“I hope they’re home,” Tarnished said, approaching the logs, casting wary look at the banks of the larger river, “The flooding may have scared them off.”

She cleared her throat and then made a series of rough chattering sounds that most ponies would strain their voice trying to duplicate, but to Tarnished just came naturally. It wasn’t really necessary to actually use the beaver’s own sounds, they animals more or less understood her no matter if she spoke Equestrian, but if they were scared of the storm then she wanted to ease them out of hiding with familiar sounds. Her communication spell wouldn’t work unless she had line of sight to cast it, though once cast the line of sight could be broken and the spell remain functioning, but in this case it wouldn’t be needed.

The beavers, about a dozen of them, gradually poked their heads out of various hiding spots, the largest among them tromping up to Tarnished and waving its little paws in the air as it made a bunch of chattering noises at her. Animals’ didn’t really speak with words all that much, but implied meaning through a combination of smell, body language, and inflection of natural noises. The beaver was asking her what was going on and why she was here. The family of beaver’s knew her of course, she’d been this way on walks plenty of times. The beavers more or less trusted her, though they were a more surly bunch than many of the other animals in this area.

Tarnished knelt down, taking a calm breath to steady herself. Animals could sense emotion, and she didn’t want the beavers upset by her own troubled state. She made a number of chattering noises back at the beaver, waving her hoof in her own set of gestures, to which the beaver responded with an even more exaggerated wave of its arms and a shake of its head.

Cheerilee, standing back a few paces to give Tarnished space, said, “He looks kind of angry.”

Tarnished frowned, “She, actually. She doesn’t want to risk her own to help with the dam. River is too dangerous to swim, she says. I can’t really argue that point, it will be dangerous.”

Cheerilee looked downriver, worry etched on her face, towards the storm and where Tarnished could imagine the ponies of Oaton, the Lumber Guild, and her own brother and his Houseguard would be struggling to keep the beleaguered dam from shattering and drowning them all. Tarnished took a steadying breath, and spoke again with the beaver. She didn’t know if it would ever be possible to patch things with her brother, but as much as she felt estranged from him, she didn’t want Shiny to die.

She pleaded with the beavers, and while the leader looked about ready to refuse her again, it was stopped by several others that had come up out of hiding in the bushes. Tarnished recognized ones she’d helped treat for illness or injury many times over the long months she’d lived here. It became clear very soon that, despite the leader’s honest worries for their safety, most of the beavers remembered Tarnished fondly, and were willing to help her for this first and only time she’d ever asked them for help.

Tarnished felt relief flood through her, and as she rose, she felt a hoof pat her on the back and she looked over at Cheerilee’s smiling face.

“From that sigh of relief I’m going to guess they’ll help.”

Tarnished nodded, “Yes. I wish I didn’t have to ask them to do this for me, though. It’s not why I made friends with them, just to ask things in return.”

“Of course not,” said Cheerilee, “But there’s nothing wrong with asking for help when its needed. In times of trouble, friends will be there...” she trailed off, green eyes downcast.

Tarnished looked at Cheerilee’s crestfallen face and couldn’t imagine how she ever could have doubted this mare. How she ever could have allowed herself to become so... so twisted up inside with anger at Cheerilee.

I’m such an idiot. I’ve never known a pony who cared more about her friends, and I somehow thought she’d abandoned me? She never once stopped caring. I was the one who abandoned her, by hiding myself away and spending years just... just blaming her...

Gulping back a sob, Tarnished wrapped hooves around Cheerilee, pulling her close, “You were there, Cheerilee. I was just too blind to see that you never really left.”

“Hah, I can’t believe I forgot,” Cherilee said.

“Huh?”

“You’re cutie mark. Its a wreath of ivy,” Cheerilee said, laughing, and crying at the same time, “I remember you got it when we went to the Griffin Kingdoms.”

Tarnished blinked, looking back at her flank where a circle of interwove green ivy strands was depicted, “When I stopped the duel Rainbowshine got herself stuck in. That’s the day when I realized I never wanted to ever let anything happen to my friends, my real family, and keep us all together.”

“Like ivy; an age old symbol of friendship and strong bonds,” Cheerilee said, wiping her face and looking towards the south, towards Oaton. The storm was still there, but to Cheerilee’s eyes it seemed to be contracting, pulling back at the edges and concentrating at a focal point over the forest. If Cheerilee squinted her eyes she imagined she could see a funnel of black cloud swirling downward into the treeline.

“They must be doing that ritual as we speak. Time to do our part too. Let’s back to the dam.”

Count Shiny was out of his element. He was a noble of the Night Court, and been raised to lead, but really most of his training had involved leadership of a somewhat... detached variety. Stamping legislation and political maneuvering, knowing what provisions might help his province and how to negotiate with other nobles over tea.

There had been little training to prepare him for the confusion, chaos, and sudden decision making of directing somewhere around a hundred and fifty ponies in a desperate bid to keep a flooding dam from breaking apart in front of them. While a massive, magical storm raged above, naturally increasing the aggressive tendencies of anypony underneath it.

He’d been spending most of his time rushing from one end of the dam to the other, trying to keep ponies from three different groups from bickering and fighting, and keeping them focused on the task at hoof. Amazingly, the threat of the imminent destruction to hearth and home, not to mention their lives, gave him quite a bit of ammunition to use in diffusing arguments.

“Lock n’ Key, you and miss Fresh Sap get your teams over to the west side and help those digging there get the new logs in place,” he said, rain blinding him momentarily as he wiped at his face, getting his tangled mane out of his eyes.

The young Housegard and almost as young Lumber Guild mare nodded to him, running off with their small teams of ponies. Shiny was standing atop the dam itself, honestly the only place he could get the best look at everything, despite the danger of sloshing water almost sweeping him off the top. Other ponies worked to bring freshly cut plans of wood up to reinforce breaking struts on the top of the dam, while most the rest were digging a wall of dirt and supporting logs around the areas where the ice wall failed to reach.

The ice wall itself was being sustained by the truly alicornian efforts of Cut n’ Dry and the remaining unicorn mages of the Copper Coin Houseguard. The spell-linking wands would be draining them at a ludicrous rate, pushing their arcane endurance to the limits, yet the unicorns doggedly held on, maintaining the large shelf of thick ice that was at this point the only reason the battered dam had remained intact, and why the banks of the river still hadn't flooded them yet.

Shiny’s heart groaned every time he saw Cut n’ Dry down there, her own white light flickering in the darkness. How much longer could she last? If she overchanneled... it’d be his fault, for ordering her to do this, despite the dangers.

I could just order my ponies out of here, they’d be safe. I owe Oaton and the Lumber Guild nothing. If the water sweeps them all away... no witnesses to tell of what happened...

Shiny nearly vomited as his stomach turned at his own thoughts. Those couldn’t be his own thoughts could they? It had to be the storm’s negative energies affecting him, right? He shook his head fiercely and pushed the horrible thoughts away. He did owe Oaton. It was a village on his family’s land! These ponies were his responsibility! He was a noble of the Night Court, and these were his little ponies to care for! To have forgotten that, even for his sister’s sake... it filled him with revulsion. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Trixie Lulamoon, a bumbling Representative and nothing more, had shown more nobility than Shiny had.

If he survived this he’d either thank the mare, or choke her. He wasn’t sure which yet.

“Lock n’ Key, Mister Bronze Bell, we’ve got a leak right up here!” he yelled, pointing a hoof at one of the nearby sections of dam, at the top, which had burst and was letting out a stream of water over the top of the ice wall, “I’ll hold it, but we need more planks up here to seal it!”

There were no other ponies nearby, so Shiny himself had to rush over and shove his hooves into the gap, trying to stem the flow of water while Lock n’ Key, so similar in appearance to his elder sister Cut n’ Dry, rushed up alongside an older stallion from Oaton, a bronze coated fellow with a blonde mane and bell for a cutie mark. They carried wood planks and tools between them.

“My lord, get back, we can handle this!” said Lock n’ Key.

“Do not concern yourself with me,” he said to the young Housegaurd, “Just, well, do hurry and hoof over those planks if you will!”

“You nobles always this dang stubborn?” asked Bronze Bell as he knelt down over the side of the dam with Lock n’ Key and started giving the planks to Shiny, “Though never figured I’d see one of you types getting his own hooves dirty in the thick of things.”

Count Shiny didn’t respond, just concentrating on getting the planks in place for Lock n’ Key and Bronze Bell to hammer them into place over the sprung leak. After a harrowing minute that felt closer to an hour the leak was sealed and Count Shiny rose, wiping his brow of sweat and rain both.

“Well, this is-” Count Shiny began to say, when a massive surge of water over the lip of the dam swept the walkway he was on, and he felt his hooves fly out from under him. He felt his head smack into something solid, probably the very walkway he was just on, and lights flooded his vision. Unable to respond, he felt his body twist in momentary free-fall before being enveloped on all sights by freezing, wet blackness.

He instinctively opened his mouth to scream, but that just flooded water into his lungs. Sputtering, legs flailing, he just panicked in the inky darkness. Thoughts of Cheerilee and Tarnished both flooded his mind, and he struggled to try and swim, despite having no idea which way was up, and the horrible burning pain of water in his lungs as he tried to keep from breathing in any more.

He felt things start to fade, his limbs going numb...

Then warm hooves were on his body, pulling, tugging. Another set around his neck. In seconds he felt his head break the surface and he sputtered, hacked, still trying to breath.

“C-calm down dagnabbit! Quit kicking!” said a high pitched female voice.

“My lord, do like the lady says and stop flailing, before you hit something I’d prefer you didn’t,” said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Bootheel’s.

Despite every instinct he had to the contrary, Shiny forced himself to relax as he was dragged through surging, black water. He could barely make out the sight of a mare with what might have been a white coat, but it was hard to tell under the circumstances. On the other side of him was Bootheel, the stallion waving with one hoof at the dam.

“Little help here!”

“Hold on,” said a voice from the dam, “Potato Sack, get the rope!”

“Tossing rope!” cried another voice.

Shiny heard something splash into the water a few meters to his right.

“Potato, throw the rope to them!”

“Trying, can’t see worth spit in this rain!”

“Stop playing around you daft horses!” screamed the white mare, her voice, if anything, getting even higher in pitch, “Life or death situation here! Just aim at the sound of my voice!”

“Yeah, yer extremely irate, shrill voice. Is this why your parents named you Piper?”

“Potato, I will shove that rope straight where Luna’s light don’t shine if you don’t get us out of the water right bucking now!”

Bootheel made a ‘hmm’ sound and Shiny couldn't fathom why the stallion was looking over at the white coated mare with such calm consideration, given they were struggling to stay afloat in a raging water reservoir. Soon enough the rope was tossed back out, this time the white mare, Piper, catching it in her teeth. Within minutes they were hauled onto the dam by a pair of Oaton stallions who from the looks of their similar dark coats may have well been brothers.

Coughing out water from his burning lungs, Shiny just lay there, clinging on to the edge of the dam fiercely, while above him Bootheel wrung his mane and tail out and grinned over at the white mare, who in turn was shaking her sopping black mane.

“So... Piper, right?” asked Bootheel with a lick fo his lips and a undisguised look at the Oaton mare’s flanks, “You free next Tuesday?”

The mare gave him a flat look, then snorted and hauled Count Shiny to his hooves, looking the noble over, “You alright there, uh, your nobleship?”

Shiny nodded belatedly, still trying to cough water out of his lungs, “I shall be. I... thank you.”

“Ain’t nothing. You're doing a right fine enough job bossing us about, figured it’d be shame to watch you drown. After all, Night Court might replace you with somepony worse,” she glanced over him and Shiny suddenly felt a stab of heat in his cheeks as she checked out his flanks, “Certainly worse looking anyway. C’mon your nobleship hoity toity Countishness, let’s get back to saving our town!”

Count Shiny just blinked and followed the mare, leaving behind a dumbfounded Bootheel.

It was a quiet night at the Royal Palace of Canterlot. Clear skies allowed the brilliance of Luna’s night to shine down on the two Night Guard that flanked the first set of gates leading into the palace grounds. One and older veteran, the other a fresh recruit just out of training, the pair of guards were polar opposites in behavior. The experienced Night Guard was alert, but calm, casually enjoying the fresh night breeze and grandeur of the diamond dust artistry in the stars. The recruit wasn’t paying the night sky any mind and instead was tensely looking all around, hyper alert for danger to the point of distraction.

“Recruit, if you stay that tightly wound you’re going to go gray in your mane before I do,” said the veteran.

“Yes sir, Starhelm, sir!” said the recruit, and promptly resumed skittishly glaring at every shadow in sight. Starhelm sighed. The kid would just have to learn on his own then. While there was some reason to be more wary, with the possible threat of the Tyrant Sun looming over all of Equestria, Starhelm had discovered it did little good to be overzealous in one’s duty. Tended to just give one a sour stomach, an aching head, and premature wrinkles.

Besides, what could possibly happen on such a peaceful, quiet nigh-

Something slammed into the cobble street before the palace gates with enough force to send stone chips flying into the air. Starhelm shielded his eyes with one wing while the recruit yelped in surprise.

“Stars above!” he grunted, pulling aside his wing and peering at what had landed before them.

A pegasus mare, her jasmine coat slick with sweat, a teal mane ragged and plastered to her face, was standing in the street, her hooves having cracked the cobbles from the impact of her sudden, rough landing. She was breathing hard, as if she’d just flown a marathon, and Starhelm blinked in surprise as he saw she not only had a pair of natural wings, but a glowing incandescent pair of wings behind her natural ones that he could only imagine had been conjured by magic.

“M...made...it...” the mare said, taking a shaking step forward. The recruit lowered his spear.

“H-halt! Declare yourself and your intent!”

The mare raised her head, still sucking in and out lungfuls of air. Her eyes held an intensity as she looked right at the recruit, and the Night Guard took a hesitant step back from the force of that gaze.

“Princess... Luna...” the mare blinked, shook her head, and appeared to collect herself, “Need to see Princess Luna. Its an emergency.”

“Ha, as if we’d just let anypony see the Princess! Perhaps you’re an assassin sent by the Tyrant Sun!” the recruit said, pointing his spear at the mare’s face. The mare ignored the spear, instead blowing out a snort that all but steamed with her clear aggravation.

“I don’t have time for this. Ponies lives are at stake! You have to let me see the Princess!”

“Miss,” Starhelm stepped forward, past the recruit’s spear, and gave the mare a calm look, “If there is an emergency of some sort, you must at least give us some idea of what it is and who you are. Don’t need the whole story, just the basics. Please, due process, it’ll make things faster in the long run.”

He could see the tension flowing through every inch of this pegasus mare, but he didn’t think she was lying. Starhelm couldn’t quite put his hoof on it, but she had this earnest look to her. Perhaps it was those eyes. She had honest eyes. He didn’t think this was a trick by some minion of Corona.

“My name is Raindrops. I’m a weather pony from Ponyville. Some of my friends and I were dealing with a problem in a village called Oaton, and its gotten completely out of hoof! There’s an evil spirit there, causing a storm that’s going to flood a dam and destroy the town. There’s a spell to stop it, but part of it is in the University here in Canterlot. I need to find that spell, but I also need to tell the Princess what’s happening. She can help me find the spell and get me back to Oaton fast. Oh, and my friends and I are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d skip the interrogation and take me to the bucking Princess!”

“How dare you speak of the Princess with such vulgar terms!” said the recruit, but Starhelm kept a calmer state, taking in Raindrops words. Looking at her again he realized she did match the description of one of the Element Bearers. All of the Night Guard had been given the descriptions of the mare’s who were now key to the nation’s defense, and she did bear the proper coloring and name. That didn’t necessarily prove anything, not in a realm where magic could disguise a pony’s appearance easily, and there were creatures that could take on the looks of another as naturally as others might put on a set of clothes... but again those honest, intense eyes spoke of the truth.

“Very well Miss Raindrops, I’m inclined to believe you,” he said, “However the Princess is not available-’

“Not available!? Why!?”

“Ahem, if you’d let me finish... The Princess is not in Canterlot at this time. She is currently taking care of a diplomatic issue up north with the griffins. We can get a message to her fast enough with magic, but it may take her hours or more to return, assuming she just dropped what she was doing to do so.”

Raindrops’ jaw worked silently for a second, veins popping out along her brow as her eyes widened, her face bleeding over red. Starhelm raised an eyebrow as the mare trembled for a second, then widened his eyes as she all but exploded in rage, rearing up on her hind hooves

“Burn it all in the core of the sun!” she slammed a hooves into the ground, cracking another poor helpless cobblestone in half, “I have to get that spell back to Oaton now! They’re all counting on me!”

“Miss Raindrops, please calm yourself-”

“How am I supposed to be calm!?”

“Just breathe, ma’am. Even if the Princess were here, it’d take time to process you meeting with her. We couldn’t just see you through to her. There are rules to follow, and seeing Equestria’s ruler on short notice... well, there are no provisions for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to avoid such red tape,” Starhelm explained, voice sympathetic. At Raindrops dejected look and frustrated snort he went on, “However, given that there does seem to be an emergency situation occurring, I assure you I will do what I can to help.”

He turned to the recruit, “Ardent Vigil, escort Miss Raindrops to Canterlot University. Assist her in finding this spell she’s looking for there and ensure it happens with all due haste. I shall join you shortly.”

Ardent Vigil looked... hesitant at best, giving Raindrops a wary look that said he in no way trusted her story, but the recruit was obedient. Saluting with one wing Ardent said, “Yes sir. Sir, what will you be doing sir?”

Starhelm sighed, “Too many sirs, “ he muttered, then said, louder, “I shall be breaking multiple regulations and bypassing countless points of due process to quickly secure additional assistance for Miss Raindrops and this... Oaton you said?”

Raindrops’ stared at him, her anger receding just a tad under her surprise, “Y-yes! Oaton, its a small village near the southern border of South Everfree. I could show you where on a map! Please tell me there are unicorns in the Night Guard that can teleport!”

“Not a common spell at all, but yes, there are a few,” Starhelm replied quickly, “I think I can go smack one of them awake. Oh the paperwork I’m going to have to fill out after this. Miss Raindrops, I do hope this is not some prank, otherwise...”

“No prank. Dead serious,” Raindrops said, already turning and stretching her wings with a groan, “Argh, never flown so fast in my life. Okay, where’s the University form here?”

Ardent Vigil already took to the air, “Come, I’ll lead you. But I’m keeping my eyes on you! You seem shifty!”

Raindrops heaved out a sigh, “Fine. Watch me all you want, but fly while you’re doing it.”

Despite looking more tired than a guard who’d pulled a triple shift, the jasmine pegasus easily kept pace with the young Night Guard as he flew off towards Canterlot proper. Starhelm watched them go with an appreciative eye. That mare had pushed herself beyond her physical limits, but had not even so much as taken a breather. Even if he’d denied her, he got the impression she would have torn the palace down stone by stone if necessary, to get what she needed.

If this was the quality of the mares who’d earned the right to bear the Elements of Harmony, perhaps there was no reason to fear for Equestria’s safety after all.

Trixie had lost all concept of time. There was no sense of the seconds passing. Each moment could have been minutes, hours, no way of knowing. There was just the spell before her, the pain wracking her horn as Trixie pushed every last shred of magic she had through it, and the sight of Bushel laying in her mother’s hooves. The sight of the filly may well have been the only thing keeping Trixie going.

The only other thing in her world at the moment was the darkness, and its voices. Voices that sounded like her, like her friends, like the ponies of Oaton, even her mentor, Luna. The voices taunted her, chided her, spoke of her failures and weakness. They were relentless. Trixie wanted to gouge her own eardrums out, but part of her thought that was just more of the Whisper’s influence. At least the physical Whisper's were gone, thank Luna for small favors.

Still, the multitude of whispering voices would occasionally cease, to be replaced by a single voice that still sounded to Trixie’s ears a little too much like her own, if her voice was distorted by a howling wind.

“On your last legs?” that Whisper said, chiding, “No surprise. Your magic was weak to start with. How prideful do you have to be to think you could keep this up, as weak as you are?.”

Trixie didn’t even have the energy to answer, her eyes stinging with sweat dripping down her face as she focused on just keeping her magic going. She could feel the last motes of magic in her horn straining to keep her end of the spell going. This was the worst kind of magical challenge for her; one of raw endurance. Trixie was a unicorn of finesse. She didn’t have a lot of magic, but she made creative use of what she did have. But there was nothing to be creative with here, no ticks or loopholes to exploit, no performance to be made... just an unending contest to keep her magic going. As much as she was loath to admit it, the Whisper was right, her magic wasn’t the most prodigious in Equestrian history in terms of volume. Even Lyra had a greater magic reserve that Trixie did. But size didn’t matter, it was how you used it!

Except in rituals that required you to use it for hours on end.

...That line of thinking was highly embarrassing and Trixie decided to stop it in its tracks.

The voice didn’t seem to care about her lack of response, oily gray smoke swirling in front of her eyes. The smoke skittered off a the sparking white barrier of energy the ritual spell was conjuring, like the angry claws of a caged animal.

“Ignoring me makes no difference. You’re breaking, and even if you did manage to keep going on, what’s the point? Oaton is finished.”

Unbidden to Trixie’s mind came the image of a ruined village, Oaton. Trixie’s breaths turned sharper at the image, of the village flooded through, its ponies swept away by the rapid waters. She shook her head.

“That’s a lie.”

“Is it? How do you know? What makes you think ponies who have no reason to trust each other, and every reason to hate each other, could work together to even save themselves?”

“I don’t need to know. I don’t need proof,” said Trixie, forcing herself to stay on her hooves even as her magic started to flicker. Just a little longer! Just a little more, don’t go out!, she grit her teeth and stared into the formless smoke, realizing that’s all this thing really was; smoke in the wind. “I believe that when we purge you from this place and go trotting out of these woods, Oaton will still be there! Ponies don’t break as easily as you think!”

“They don’t?” the voice, which was sounding less and less like Trixie’s and more akin to something formless, dark, and guttural, “Tarnished broke. Broke like a twig, and that was before I started to touch her mind. Ponies haven’t changed at all, not in thousands of years. So much stock put in ideals, but the moment those ideals are tested... you’ll eat each other alive.”

Trixie tried to respond, but it only came out as a groan of pain as she felt her horn’s magic starting to flare out. She delved into herself, searching for any last scrap of magic she could throw into the spell. Then, quite abruptly, she felt some of the strain on her horn slacken, giving that guttering flame of magic in her a chance to breath and recover. She looked around in surprise, and saw that Sheaf and Sawdust both were pouring out more magic from their horns.

“S-stop this...” she said, breathing heavily, “You two don’t need to pick up my slack!”

Sheaf sighed, his own face pouring sweat, but he was standing firmly, without shaking, “Don’t be an idiot. Just shut up and let us do our part. You can take credit for it later, if you want.”

“Credit!? This has gone a little beyond who gets credit! You’ll burn yourselves out at this rate!”

“I hardly think you’re in a position to lecture us, Miss Trixie, on pushing ourselves towards burnout,” said Sawdust calmly, despite the way his body shook with the strain of magical effort, “Really, how did such a wool headed mare disrupt my plans so much? Just allow Sheaf and I to do what we must.”

The gray smoke churned and flowed like a tornado around its confines in the barrier, trying to strike out at all of them, even Picturesque and Bushel. However the inverted pyramid barrier held the smoke fast, flashing every time the smoke struck, but holding strong. The voice, now a formless, genderless howl, raged at them.

“Stop pretending to be helping each other! That is not how ponies are supposed to act! You crack under pressure! Become wretched things when the chips are down! Blame and turn on one another! That is the nature of ponies. It has always been-”

“Hey, Sawdust, Sheaf,” said Picturesque, ignoring the Whisper’s voice, “Remember that time we all took a trip to the Canterlot Falls, during winter break?”

“Huh?” said Sheaf, then he chuckled, “Oh, right, I remember. That’s the day you pushed me into the water!”

“I maintain I slipped,” said Picturesque with a smile.

“Sister, I believe I can testify that you did indeed slip,” said Sawdust, who then grinned in a fond manner that was at odds with his otherwise controlled features, “Intentionally. Into Sheaf. Just so you could see him wet, as I recall you confiding in me before you did so.”

“Ha! I knew it!” said Sheaf, “You just wanted to see how I looked soaked!”

“Oh, fine you two, I admit it, I just wanted to see some wet stallion flank!” said Picturesque, “I had my camera ready and everything! But you pulled me into the water before I could get a shot! I had the framing perfect and everything!”

“What is this drivel!?” the Whisper’s voice distorted into many smaller voices, “You hate each other! You don’t trust each other!”

“I remember the night after that more than anything,” said Sawdust, “You two had to stay near the fire to stay warm, and I got roped into cooking. Never actually cooked a full meal before... ha, I remember making a giant list of ingredients I’d need, half of it stuff I didn’t actually turn out to need at all for cooking a simple batch of coleslaw and hayfries. You... Sheaf you ended up having to help me anyway, because I somehow managed to catch the hayfries on fire.”

Sheaf sighed, smiling, yet a sad look entering his eyes, “Yes, I think me and Pic forbade you from cooking after that. But we ate the fries anyway, char and all.”

Picturesque hugged Bushel close, stroking the filly’s mane, “Sawdust, I wish you’d been there the day I had Bushel. I know you thought it was a mistake for me to move to Oaton but... but the party the whole village threw me and Sheaf and our new Bushel was incredible. That was the happiest day of my life. The only thing that could have made it better is if my brother had been there.”

“Picturesque,” Sawdust lowered his head, “I wanted you to be happy. It never sunk in that maybe you were happy, even if life sent you in a different direction than I thought you wanted. I’m sorry I made a mess of things again.”

“I messed up too. Family trait, I guess,” said Picturesque, sniffing back tears, but she was smiling despite them.

“What is the point of this?” said the Whisper’s distorted voice, the churning mass of black and gray smoke inside the barrier lashing against the magic holding it, “Remembering the past doesn't change the present. Oaton will drown in sorrow. The foal will burn from her own uncontrolled ability. Your pain, rage and despair will feed me. More, and more, and until what was once a piece of a whole has enough strength to be a whole in and of itself.”

“That won’t be happening,” Trixie said past labored breaths. Even with Sawdust and Sheaf taking some more of the ritual’s energy onto themselves she was still running on fumes. How long had they been at this? Was Raindrops anywhere close to returning? What if she couldn’t hold out? NO! She would not let herself even think about stopping. She blinked away tears from the lances of pain wracking her horn as she dredged up any tiny drop of magic that still lay inside her as she spoke, “You need negative feelings to get stronger. You want us to hate and mistrust each other. You wanted Oaton and the Lumber Guild to fight, and the Copper Coin Family to fuel the flames. Even these three,” she gestured at Picturesque, Sheaf, and Sawdust, “You want to just tear into each other...”

Trixie laughed, “But that’s not what’s happening is it!? Oaton, the lumber ponies, Count Shiny and his ponies, I bet right now they’re fighting together to save each other! Tarnished, that mare you thought you had broken so thoroughly, my friend is with her right now, I know it, and they’ll fight against all that anger and hate you tired to put in her! Just like these three are fighting it! Yes, we ponies are pretty flawed. I know that better than most! We do things we think are right but just end up hurting others, and act impulsively, or let our emotions and egos get the better of us. But. We. Learn! We own up to our faults and mistakes, and become better ponies for them!”

“I see,” the Whisper said in a voice like a piece of frozen midnight, “Yet, for all that fine speech... you’re at the end of your endurance.”

Trixie felt it almost the second the Whisper’s words finished. When a unicorn hits that point of burnout, where they’ve used the last vestige of their magic, its a sensation unlike any other. It’s a feeling where all feeling in one’s body begins to pool away, like a hole has been cut in a barrel and the liquid inside is just being... let out, leaving behind cold emptiness. This cold flows from one’s core, up into the horn, and its like life itself is being blown out, a fire flickering out its last embers, with only ash left over.

Trixie felt that, as her horn’s magical aura struggled, wavered, and with a final, last tiny mote, burned out-

Trixie was yanked bodily from the ritual circle with remarkable force. She’d been about to collapse anyway, so she wasn’t really keen on resisting, and sort of just flopped like a boneless fish into the hooves of whoever had just pulled her away from the ritual.

Her vision was somewhat blurry and darkened, and that last mote of magic energy had only just been kept from being used up in the ritual. With her concentration broken she actually feel the ludicrous exhaustion in her body, and the ringing in her ears blocked out much else for a moment. She was both relieved and terrified. Why had she been pulled out of the ritual!?

“-ixe! Trixie! Sun blind you look at me!”

Trixie blinked her eyes and looked up. The chamber ceiling was above, flickering with light and shadows, and hovering above her was a blurred form. Trixie felt warm, strong hooves holding her.

“Trixie!”

Finally Trixie’s vision stopped acting as if she were at the bottom of a lake and cleared, showing her a familiar jasmine coated pony Trixie was resting her head on. Trixie tried to ignore how remarkably comfortable her friend was as she cleared her dry throat to speak.

“Oh, hey... Raindrops,” Trixie tried to raise a hoof to rub at her eyes, but found she couldn’t even lift it.

The jasmine pegasus mare was holding Trixie as she lay on her back on the stone chamber floor, and as Trixie tilted her head to look around she could see her friend wasn’t alone. The chamber had many more occupants now. She recognized Cheerilee and Count Shiny, both standing nearby by the edge of the ritual circle. Both ponies looked like they’d been through, well, a storm. Count Shiny in particular looked soaked to the bone, and twice as tired. The Count was shouting something.

“Tarnished, be careful! This is-is n-not safe!”

Trixie turned her head to see Tarnished. The mare was standing where Trixie had been, her horn glowing brightly as it struggled to interface with the ritual spell. Apparently she’d traded places with Trixie at just the right moment and the ritual barrier still held. The mare looked even more disheveled as she had when Trixie had first seen the other mare, but Tarnished was smiling. And not the crazy, unnatural smile she’d worn before. No, this was a the smile of a mare who was doing exactly what she felt she needed to do.

“It’s alright brother, I think I can do this, and this can be my way of paying part of my debt to the ponies that have saved me from this thing!”

“Yes, what is this thing again, anyone know?” asked a stallion in the armor of a Night Guard, a pegasus of middle age, though much else was hard to tell past the uniform and armor. Several other Night Guard were in the chamber, one of them a younger pegasus who was jumping at every shadow in the chamber.

“I don’t know, Sir Starhelm, but this place makes my mane crawl!”

Raindrops looked up from Trixie, “Nevermind that, Trixie needs help! I think she’s overchanneled!”

The elder Night Guard came over, but Trixie was already trying to push herself up, if not to her hooves, at least into a sitting position.

“I’m- I’m fine...didn’t overchannel,” the magician said, hoof touching her head, and frowning when she found her hat wasn’t there. She spotted it sitting on the ground a little ways away and she reached a hoof to retrieve it, but Raindrops held her close.

“You’re not moving until I know for sure you’re alright,” Raindrops said sternly.

“Don’t have time for this,” Trixie muttered, “The Whisper, have to stop it now. You have the other half of the spell thingie?” Spell thinige? Her brain might actually be a little fried. Perhaps it was a good idea to just sit there a second and catch her breath.

“You are Trixie Lulamoon then,” the older pegasus Nightguard, Starhelm said, “Your compatriot has gone to great lengths to bring the spell components you require. I hope you know how to use them.”

He gestured and one of the other Night Guard come up, bearing a saddlebag that he removed and opened up. Inside was a rolled scroll of parchment and a thick book. The Night Guard removed these and presented them to Trixie, but upon realizing that Trixie didn’t even have enough magic to levitate the objects in question the Night Guard just set them down in front of her.

Trixie stared at the items blankly for a second, before trying to reach over to them, still barely able to move her hooves. Raindrops was quick to help, and Cheerilee came over as well, kneeling down in front of Trixie as Raindrops unrolled the scroll.

“You look terrible,” said Cheerilee, “I’m going to suggest a full treatment at Aloe and Lotus’ spa when we get home, plus a week of sleep.”

“Oh, oh I am far ahead of you on plans along those lines,” said Trixie as Raindrops showed her the scroll.

“I don’t know anything about magic,” said Raindrops, “But this is what was in the spot Sawdust’s journal notes said, and it looks magical.”

Trixie looked the scroll’s contents over and was almost impressed with the simplicity of what she was seeing. As a mare who wasn’t all that into learning magic from written sources she could at least appreciate the straightforward nature of the ritual component presented on the scroll. It was designed, far as she could tell, to be cast by a single one of the unicorns already performing the barrier portion of the ritual, and doing so would ‘plug in’ the new spell into the barrier spell seamlessly.

“This looks like what we need,” Trixie said, though there was a note of unease in her voice, “What’s the book?”

“The research journal of the unicorn who translated the spell on the scroll,” said Raindrops, “I just skimmed it enough to confirm this scroll was the right one.”

“I don’t mean to sound pushy,” said Sawdust from across the room, his breathing haggard from the effort of his continued casting to hold the barrier, “But perhaps you’d be so kind as to bring the scroll over so we can use it? Before the rest of us run out of magic?”

Trixie tried to rise but Cheerilee put a hoof on her, “Take a breather, Trixie. Let us take things from here.”

Trixie frowned but nodded, taking a deep breath, still feeling the utter cold drain on her body from her ordeal in keeping the first half the ritual going for so long. She laid back down, looking across the chamber at the ritual. The pyramid shaped barrier still held the swirling mass of dark gray smoke, and Sheaf, Sawdust, and now Tarnished poured their magic into maintaining that barrier even as the smoke swirled like a hurricane trying to break free. Beneath it all Picturesque still hold her daughter Bushel close to her side, looking worriedly at her brother and her husband as both stallions strained themselves; neither far behind Trixie in running out of magic.

Count Shiny stood aside with the Night Guards, the former giving his sister a look of both concern, fear, and oddly enough, pride.

Cheerilee scooped up the scroll and quickly trotted it over to Sawdust, who took it and laid it out on the floor in front of him. Trixie was still thinking about the arcane writing as he did so. It was a single arcane pattern that drew in the positive energy from the ponies casting the barrier portion of the spell and amplified it into a burst of purifying magic directed on whatever exists inside the barrier. Very straightforward. Very simple.

Only Trixie was fairly certain that the spell would put the unicorn who cast it through an incredible amount of strain. A fresh unicorn, who had their magic at full capacity could handle it. Even a unicorn who had been holding the barrier spell for a little bit could logically take on the purification spell and still be good...but what about one who’d been using up their magic to hold the barrier for hours?

It would cause overchanneling almost certainly.

Sawdust was already channeling his magic to enact the second part of the ritual from the scroll, a triangle of magical light tracing into the air in front of him and filling with arcane sigils. He didn’t look concerned, just concentrating. Did he not know what the spell would do to him!?

“Sawdust, wait!” she shouted, and as she did so she saw him look at her. Saw his calm, half-lidded eyes that showed not a hint of surprise. He knew. He knew exactly how dangerous casting this spell was. He’d known it since suggesting this plan to begin with, because this had been his plan the entire time.

Oh, his original plan had called for him, Tarnished, and Sheaf casting the spell without having to hold the barrier for a long length of time. He’d intended to do this while still near full strength, not drained from his fight with Trixie and from hours of holding the barrier. But he was going ahead anyway because...

He looked at Bushel, smiling sadly.

... because it was still the only chance his niece had of surviving.

Others had looked at Trixie as she shouted, but only Picturesque had looked over at her brother at Trixie’s shouting warning.

“Sawdust? Brother?” she asked, as the triangular pattern in front of him filled with the final sigils of the purification spell, and Sawdust, now obscured by a glowing pulse of light that was filling the entire chamber said.

“Sorry, sister. This isn’t what I had planned, but its the best I can do, given circumstances.”

The Whisper’s voice suddenly roared, distorted like the sound of a hundred conflicting winds clashing.

“Sacrificing yourself!? Do you not care about your plans for the future!? Controlling the largest, most powerful city in the realm!? Your ambitions!?”

“Of course I do,” said Sawdust, his horn’s magic flickering out with struggling motes of light, just as Trixie’s had moment’s before, “I’m surprised myself that I’m doing this. It’s strange, though, the moment I realized my family’s lives were the cost of my ambitions, something changed. I knew what needed to be done. What was right to do. No matter the price I’d pay to see it done.”

“That’s utterly ridiculous,” said the Whisper, “Where does this sudden self-sacrificing drivel come from!? There should be nothing like that inside you! You’re no hero! So why!?”

The light from the purification spell was nearly too bright to look upon now, and the strength of that light was not just stemming from Sawdust’s magic, but it was flowing into the spell from the others in the room. Sheaf, whose face was a pained but set determinedly as he looked at his old friend. Tarnished who looked as if she wasn’t sure if she shouldn’t be in Sawdust’s place. Picturesque, staring at her brother with wide eyes, tears running. Light pooled from each of them into the spell, drawing all the positive energy into a single focal point.

Even Trixie felt motes of that energy flowing from her into the spell, and she looked at the boiling gray cloud of smoke that was the concentrated negative energy fused into an entity that clearly wasn’t able to comprehend why a pony would be willing to put their lives at risk to save others.

“Being a hero has nothing to do with it,” she told the Whisper bluntly, “Doing what’s right, that’s a choice anypony can make. No matter how many mistakes they’ve made.”

The Whisper scoffed, but there was an odd resignation in its tone.

There was blinding flash of light and a rush of magical force that drowned out sound for a moment. Trixie had her face shielded by one of Raindrop’s wings, and within the torrent of light she could hear the faint, distorted voice, the Whisper’s final words echoing in Trixie’s mind.

“Then heroism is no different than corruption... a choice.”

Cut n’ Dry was exhausted beyond belief. She felt like her horn was cracked, even though she’d rubbed it more than a few times to make sure it wasn’t. She lay against a pile of logs, just sucking in and out air.

“Aaaugh,” a male voice groaned as somepony flopped down next to her. Cut n’ Dry looked over, seeing Bootheel leaning against the logs, rubbing his face with a hoof, and shaking himself like a dog, sending water spraying everywhere. Cut n’ Dry grimaced and wiped her face of water.

“Dang it Bootheel, I’m trying to suffer in peace here!” she said, looking over her own mud covered form. This had been one Tartarus of a night. But it was over. The storm had finally cleared an hour ago, the black clouds blowing away to reveal Luna’s star filled sky above.

The sky was already starting to turn lighter shades of periwinkle blue as dawn approached. Cut n’ Dry never imagined she’d ever feel so good at the prospect of the sun rising, as she ached to have some warmth in her drenched bones. Around her dozens and dozens of other ponies also rested, many of them looking so drained they couldn’t do more than lay among their fellows and look about in shock that they’d survived the night. The only ponies around who didn’t look exhausted was the squad of Night Guard that milled around the dam. Those ponies had arrived not long before the storm broke, helping out, though few ponies had had time to question them on how’d they’d shown up.

Cut n’ Dry assumed they’d been brought by Raindrops. She fidgeted, hoping the mare was alright.

They’d survived. The dam had held. The river, despite nearly sweeping over them, had been held back. Cut n’ Dry had a hard time believing it, but ultimately she could only attribute their success on a combination of miraculous factors. Count Shiny’s leadership had been impressive, for one, and Cut n’ Dry couldn’t feel more pride surge through her at remembering her lord diving into the thick of the chaos, keeping everypony focused on what needed to be done. Even in that one harrowing moment they’d nearly lost him. She couldn’t thank the Oaton ponies enough for pulling him out of the water... a strange feeling, considering she’d felt so much scorn for the Oaton ponyfolk not long ago.

But those Oaton ponies had really pulled through. Their help had been key. Cut n’ Dry had to grudgingly admit she’d been impressed with them. The Lumber Guild too. And those beavers... Cut n’ Dry still found it odd that an entire clan of the critters had been brought by Count Shiny’s sister to help.

“Wild night,” Bootheel said, stretching popping limbs, “If only I coulda found a good mare to make it even wilder with!”

Cut n’ Dry groaned, “Bootheel... please... I don’t have the energy for you and your one track mind.”

She looked around, “You seen my brother anywhere?”

“Lock n’ Key’s over yonder,” Bootheel gestured towards the east end of the dam, “Still working with one of them Oaton mare’s double and triple checking patches on that end of the dam. Think your bro’s gonna get some before I do, way the mare was eyeing him.”

Cut n’ Dry sighed, pushing herself to her hooves. She wiped at her tabard, trying to get enough mud off it that the Copper Coin red fish could show through, “Better go check on him. Then organize a party to head into the woods. I’m worried about the Count.”

“That is most wise, but also unnecessary,” said a rich, strong female tone from above.

Cut n’ Dry looked around confused for a moment. Then she saw Bootheel looking up into the sky with wide, boggling eyes. Cut n’ Dry followed his gaze and felt her own jaw drop.

Hovering in the air upon flaps of her wide wings whose color matched the darker shades of the night sky, was Equestria’s monarch. Princess Luna was bereft of any royal regalia, and had a windswept coat, as if she’d been flying nonstop. That minor detail barely registered to Cut n’ Dry though, over the simple shock of seeing the actual Princess of the Night landing in front of her and tucking her wings to her sides.

Very nice wings, over the most supple and well toned body Cut n’ Dry had ever - what are you thinking Cut! Its the Princess! Get your mind focused and stop noticing how her muscles ripple under her sublet coat as she walk-GAH!

“Huwahah?” was about all Cut n’ Dry could manage in terms of conversation.

Princess Luna raised a coy eyebrow, but her features quickly became a frown of concern as she swept her gaze across the scene before her.

“I see I have arrived too late to do much to aid in matters. You ponies have my sincerest apologies, I made all the haste I could afford to arrive here as fast as possible,” she said, her voice sympathetic, “In any case, I see ponies emerging from the edge of the forest, my apprentice and her friends among them. Let us go meet them... it seems some among them may be injured..”

The Night Guards who had been waiting by the dam immediately came over to stand at attention for their Princess, while the Oaton, Lumber Guild, and Copper Coin ponies all gawked. Princess Luna didn’t seem to pay the gawking much mind, instead giving those ponies around her a warm, and even apologetic smile.

Cut n’ Dry had only just managed to register what the Princess had said, and could only wonder at how the Princess knew Count Shiny and the others were coming back, as looking towards the forest she couldn’t see anything. Bootheel, meanwhile, was staring at the Princess with absolutely no sense of shame. If Princess Luna noticed, she wasn’t reacting to the guard drinking in the sight of her like a barrel of cider. Cut n’ Dry interceded on the Princess’ behalf and smacked her fellow guard upside the head.

“She’s the Princess!”

“You were staring too,” he said.

Blast it, he had a point.

Within minutes Princess Luna, with an escort of Night Guard, and with Cut n’ Dry and a detail of the Copper Coin Houseguard in two, was going out to the field surrounding the forest. Cut n’ Dry was surprised only slightly as she saw the ragged band of ponies emerging from the treeline just then. Cut n’ Dry made a mental note never to underestimate the senses of an alicorn.

The group of ponies that approached the Princess and her entourage was a sight, many of them looking as worse for wear as the ponies around the dam.

Cut n’ Dry recognized Count Shiny walking alongside his sister and the magenta mare, Cheerilee, all three looking equal parts relieved, but also trepidation upon seeing Princess Luna.

Raindrops, trotted tall and strong, was a warm sight to Cut n’ Dry’s heart. The pegasus did look magnificent. The Princess’ beauty was ethereal, unreal... Cut n’ Dry found she preferred the more solid, identifiable charm of the athletic Raindrops. Upon Raindrops’ back was the azure blue form of Trixie Lulamoon, hat and all, conscious, but looking utterly tired. Cut n’ Dry felt a stab of jealousy, wishing to trade places with Trixie, wondering what that strong, lean pegasus back felt like to drape on- focus Cut!

Beside Raindrops two other ponies walked; Picturesque and Sheaf. They two had ponies on their backs. Picturesque was carrying the little filly, Bushel, who was awake and holding her mother around her neck. Her forehead still bore a glowing horn of energy, but even at this distance Cut n’ Dry could tell the horn’s glow was a lot more subdued than it was before.

...Upon Sheaf’s back was the Lumber Guild leader, Sawdust. He wasn’t moving.

Behind the lead ponies a small squad of Night Guards trotted, as if keeping guard from anything that might come from the forest.

The two parties met, and Princess Luna looked upon the tired ponies before her.

“Trixie, Cheerilee, Raindrops...” the Princess said with concern full in her voice, “I’ve been told an evil threatened this village, one of dire nature. I came as fast as I could.”

Trixie raised a weary hoof, “Dealt with,” the showmare let out a heavy sigh, her eyes glancing over to Sawdust on Sheaf’s back, “Not without cost. Don’t suppose you brought some ether potions with you?”

Princess Luna looked at the stallion, who Cut n’ Dry could see was still breathing, but was unconscious. The question about ether potions could only mean one thing; burnout.

“I did not,” said the Princess, “But such items are but two teleport spells away, along with medical aide and anything else that is needed. Starhelm, I see you back there. Does any threat to this area still remain?”

The Night Guard stepped up, offering a quick bow, “No, my Princess. The danger is passed, thanks to the efforts of the ponies you see before you. There is... some interesting wildlife in the forest, but one of the mares here claims they are not a threat.”

Princess Luna looked over the ponies arrayed before her and nodded, “Very well, let us tend to our wounded and fallen. I can hear the tale once the needs of my ponies are looked after. I can see this is going to be a long tale indeed.”

Author's Note

Here we are, the final chapter, well, final if you don't count the epilogue I'm posting right after this. I think I'll put the bulk of my actual final notes on this story there. For this particular chapter I'll just say it went through numerous reiterations, especially in the final confrontation with the Whisper. Deciding just how that all went down took a month of writing time in an of itself, never mind dealing with getting everypony there and taking care of the aftermath. Now, onward, to the epilogue!

Epilogue: A Promise to a Filly

Epilogue: A Promise to a Filly

Trixie watched Luna as the alicorn stood looking out the window into Oaton’s village square. Trixie was done resting in her guest bed at mayor Sheaf’s home, and had spent much of her recovery time telling the full story of events to the Princess while Luna listened with only occasional questions here and there for clarification.

Luna’s features were hard to read. Trixie had seen a wide spectrum of emotions on her mentor over the years of her often rocky apprenticeship, from wry amusement to raging fury, and more recently with the return of Corona, even fear. However the dark alicorn could mask her emotions with an effectiveness that Trixie was jealous of. Trixie couldn’t gauge just what Luna was thinking, having just finished telling the last of the story.

“I have rarely heard of a more tangled tale of events” Luna said, turning from the window, “Nor as troubling. To think we missed one...”

Trixie, who was sitting up in the bed, working some feeling back into her limbs, asked, “Is this where you explain to me what in the name of, well, you, that shrine was about?”

The Princess’ wings ruffled slightly, her mask dropping to show the clear distaste she had for the topic, “Long ago, the ponies of this realm were ruled by a horrible being. A creature from the darkest of places. His name is best left forgotten, for he was a despoiler of the pony spirit. He loved nothing more than to inspire the worst traits in others and revel in the tyranny he created. When my sister and I encountered his wretched empire we worked together with the ponies he oppressed to defeat him and banish him to Tartarus. However he left behind parts of his spirit in a bid to create more like himself that would grow in power and potentially free him from his prison. Celestia and I thought we’d purged all such shrines from the realm... but it seems we had missed one, hidden all these centuries. I’m amazed it remained dormant so long.”

Trixie groaned, “What? So you’re not even going to tell me the name of the thing I helped banish? I can’t just keep calling it the Whisper, or whatever!”

“Whisper? A strange choice of names. Put it from your mind, Trixie. Do not give such things power, by naming them. Suffice to say it is best left forgotten. If you truly wish to know, study more. There are only so many tyrannical times where ponies were ruled by an evil being, after all,” said Luna with a wry little smile that Trixie knew, and often found quite annoying. Soon that smile turned genuinely soft, and proud.

“You did well. To face even a fragment of such a being and see it banished from our world is no small feat. More impressive the lengths you went for this small village.”

Trixie felt heat rush through her face, not really all that used to praise from Luna, “I was hardly the only one,” she found herself saying, much to her own shock. Normally she drank in praise, when offered, but right now, after all she and her friends had gone through she wasn’t feeling the need to bask. “Everypony else did as much or more. Oaton’s standing because of a lot of ponies working together. They didn’t need a hero. They saved themselves.”

“Perhaps,” said Luna, giving Trixie a curious look, then her tone became more serious, “In any case, there remains much to do concerning Oaton and the ponies involved in these events. If I am to take this tale at face value I have a number of ponies on my hooves who have committed grave crimes, despite their heroic actions in saving this village.”

Trixie, stretching her limbs, reluctantly left the comfortable bed behind and hopped out, giving the Princess a reassuring nod as the alicorn looked at Trixie with concern. She was still a bit wobbly on her legs, but she felt leagues better than she had in some time, “Been thinking on that. Lucky for us Equestria’s legal system is flexible.”

Luna’s frown was like a cloud passing over the moon, “I will not bend the rules more than I must, and not without good reason. I did not make the laws to put myself above them, nor twist them to suit my whims. Or yours.”

“No twisting,” Trixie said, raising a placating hoof, then paused, cocking her head in thought, “At least I don’t think so. Just hear me out, that’s all I ask. I know you can’t just let everypony off the hook, but maybe we can make sure everypony still wins in the end...” she frowned, “Most everypony anyway.”

Luna’s frown deepened, but also somehow became softer, if somewhat consternation, “Yes, the pony who led Hoofington’s Lumber Guild. Sawdust. Many choice words I would like to say to him, but it may be some time before I am able to do so.”

Sawdust remained unconscious to Trixie’s knowledge, being looked after by his sister Picturesque in her own room. Unlike Trixie, who had just barely been pulled back from the edge of overchanneling, the strain of the enacting the purification half of the ritual spell had put Sawdust over the edge and into complete magical burnout. Unicorns who did that ran the heavy risk of being put into comas. The kind that might last only a few days, or could last years. In some extreme cases, waking up never occurred. He was stable, but there was no telling at what point he might recover.

“I’ve taken Sawdust’s condition into account,” said Trixie, “My plan isn’t all that complicated, but I need to have everypony involved in the same room. Before that though, I wanted to ask if Bushel was going to be okay?”

Luna’s eyes shifted, gaining a brighter gleam to them, “Ah, yes, in between breaks of you telling me your tale I’ve had chance to both speak with and examine that young filly myself. And meet her siblings. An energetic trio of foals.”

“So she’ll be alright?” Trixie asked, unable to keep from shifting on her hooves with anxiousness she wasn’t used to feeling outside of having a mountain of paperwork to do.

Luna nodded, “My head maid, Miss Clean Glow, also possesses an Inverted Horn. Young Bushel makes the fourth that I know of that currently has this condition in this particular generation, though I’ve met many others over the course of time. It is a rare condition but not unmanageable once one understands how to control it. She will need to feed upon magical energy on a semi-regular basis to keep the horn’s needs satisfied, and be careful of taking in too much lest she overcharge herself like she did when she saved your life, but it should be a simple matter to learn the needed concentration to ensure she can control what her horn does or does not consume. I’ll be making the suggestion to her parents that she be allowed to make a home-stay for a month or two in Canterlot where Clean Glow can teach her what she will need to know.”

Trixie let out a soft sigh of relief, “Well, that’s good. Sheaf shouldn’t have a problem with that... or at least I’m hoping he won’t after today.”

Luna raised a brow, “I would hope not. Oaton will not remain isolated after this. I will see to its registry myself and look to see it has a proper Representative of its own.”

Trixie smiled, “What a coincidence you bring that up, given I have just the candidate in mind.”

“You can’t b-b-be serious?” Count Shiny Copper Coin said, then blanched, drawing back into his chair as Princess Luna gave him a hard look, “I-I mean... but...” he glanced to his left where his sister sat in a chair looking both frightened and confused, sitting stock still. She was cleaned up quite a bit from the previous day, though remained unclothed and just had her mane and tail well brushed.

“T-Tarnished cannot be the Representative of Oaton!” Count Shiny said, trying to sound more confident about it than he looked.

Trixie smiled, “I don’t see why not. The Copper Coin family are the protectors of this province and Oaton requires a Representative of the Night Court to see that its needs and concerns have a voice and that the Night Court has a pony to be its voice in turn among the community. Normally this position could be held by another, but Tarnished’s unique situation makes her ideally suited. She already knows the area well, and is in a position where she needs to serve a term of community service for endangering the lives of Oaton’s citizens. On top of that, with part of the forest being considered for being turned into a wildlife preserve, there are few ponies as well suited as Tarnished to the task of also acting as Warden.”

“But s-sh-she has responsibilities b-back home with her family!” said Count Shiny, hoof striking the table, then he jumped a bit at his own actions. Next to him, on the opposite side from Tarnished, Cheerilee leaned in and patted him on the back.

“Shiny, relax, before you pop something in your head. Trixie’s idea isn’t a bad one... assuming Tarn, that you feel you’re up to it?”

Tarnished seemed to calm down just a bit at hearing Cheerilee’s voice, gulping at the way Princess Luna stared at her, “I don’t know. How much choice do I really have? Its this or... or jail, isn’t it?”

Princess Luna closed her eyes, “I know that your mind was not of your own sound thinking. As such I am willing to see this matter in a lenient light. Even were you to choose imprisonment over working as Oaton’s Representative the duration would be shortened, perhaps a year, and in a low security facility where you would be allowed visitors. It may even be a peaceful manner in which to recover from your ordeal, as opposed to the challenge of serving Oaton.”

Tarnished’s ears lowered, her face a turmoil of thought, but ultimately she looked over at her brother and Cheerilee and said, “I can’t hide away anymore. I don’t know if I’ll be any good at it, but I’ll do it. I’ll be Oaton’s Representative. If... if they’ll have me.”

All eyes in the room turned to mayor Sheaf, who’d remained quietly sitting across the table thus far. He looked at Tarnished with measuring eyes. He then turned his gaze to Princess Luna, looking unsure if he should meet her eyes directly or bow before addressing her, but ultimately decided to meet the immortal alicorn’s gaze head on.

“Ahem, Princess, Oaton’s been without any contact with your Night Court for as long as we’ve been a town. That said, what Trixie here’s suggesting is just part of a lot of changes that’d be coming our way,” he paused, then shook his head with a small laugh, “Few days ago I’d never have even considered this. None of my ponies would have. Guess things change.

He looked at Trixie, “Ponies can change. My folk, I think they can accept Tarnished her as Representative.”

Tarnished seemed to look both relieved to hear that and more than a little terrified. Trixie smiled over at her, “Don’t worry, I’ve got some experience with the job, and Ponyville is a short distance for mail carriers. I’ll help you out with answering any questions you might have on how to be an inspiring, capable Representative!”

Cheeriee’s lips twisted in a wry smile. Raindrops, sitting on Trixie’s right, gave Trixie a deadpan look. Trixie frowned, looking between her two friends, “What? I’d give good advice!”

“Tarn, whatever she says, don’t start keeping stashes of bourbon in your desk,” said Cheerilee.

Sheaf coughed, loudly, before Trixie could retort, “In any case, there’s also the other matter that Trixie has brought up.”

Count Shiny, who’d been looking like he was still having trouble fully accepting the notion of his sister staying in Oaton, started and looked over at Sheaf, “Y-y-yes... that. I...w-well,” he gulped, steadying his voice and suppressing the stutter, “I understand that unlike my sister, I do not have the excuse of having my mind influenced. I have endangered the lives of Equestrian citizens, participated in illegal smuggling of protected species, and my actions have disrupted the peace. I know that I cannot avoid due punishment... and do not intend to. Princess Luna, as a Count of your Night Court, I fully accept responsibility for my actions and submit to your judgment.”

Princess Luna carefully examined the blue earth pony before her, Count Shiny looking quite uncomfortable underneath that ancient stare despite doing his level best to hold himself with some dignity. Trixie couldn’t help but admit that the Count was doing better than she would have given him credit for, at least when they’d first met. Amazing how much one’s perceptions of a pony could change over the course of a day or two.

“Count Shiny Copper Coin,” Luna began, “It is my understanding that all of the actions you have taken, every crime you have admitted to, were done with the dual goal of retrieving your missing sister, and to erase the significant monetary debt your parents have incurred over the years.”

Count Shiny said nothing, knowing the Princess was not asking confirmation, merely establishing the circumstances. After a brief pause, Luna continued.

“It has never been my policy to bail the nobles of my Night Court out of messes they themselves have created. Your parents, while being quite foolish in amounting such large debts, remain the heads of your household. I cannot erase those debts. That said, my apprentice has suggested that it is possible for you to begin paying those debts off over a long term period of time by focusing on developing areas of your province that have remained,” she glanced at Sheaf, “untapped, shall we say?”

Sheaf sighed, “That’s one way of putting it. I... a long time ago I and a close friend dreamed of change. Oaton’s not ready for all of that change, nor to the extend Sawdust and I envisioned all those years ago. I’m willing to see where some of that change may take us, though. The Lumber Guild... some of my ponies have gotten kind of fond of those ponies. Saving our village together, kind of forged some bonds there. As I understand it, the wildlife preserve will only focus on the inner portions of the forest. The edges, within several miles, are still open for lumber work?”

“That is correct,” said Princess Luna, “South Everfree is a vast area, and I encourage the industrious nature of my little ponies. Within reason, I see no reason the Hoofington Lumber Guild could not continue its operations, as long as certain conditions are met.”

“But who will lead them, with Sawdust... ?“ Sheaf trialed off, frowning.

“The Copper Coin family owns the controlling share of stocks,” said Count Shiny, “I can speak with the ponies of the Guild and chose one among them who’d best suit.”

“There would be no dam,” said Sheaf firmly, “Oaton is still a farming community, first and foremost, and we need water.”

“I see no issue with that,” said Count Shiny, “The dam’s purpose was solely to allow us to use rafts to move animals in secret to our contacts in Hoofington. We can transport lumber overland. Harder, but doable, especially if you’re serious in following Sawdust’s plans and developing an actual train station.”

Sheaf huffed, “Let’s just take this one step at a time, Count. We’re taking your sister in as pretty much one of our own, and going to be learning to get along with the lumber ponies. Going to take us all a while to adjust to all this, so let’s not rush it all, alright?”

Count Shiny nodded slowly, setting down somewhat, “Agreed. It will be... difficult. Especially as I’ll be somewhat restricted in overseeing all of this from prison.”

“Brother...” Tarnished said, hesitantly putting a hoof on his shoulder, which he then placed his own hoof over.

“Its alright Tarnished. I can survive some time behind bars. It won’t break our family.”

“You’ll still have to go through the normal process of trial,” said Luna, “But I can safely predict that with some consideration for both your actions in protecting Oaton from flooding and fully admitting to your guilt and willingness to take responsibility for your actions that your sentence should be relatively light as well. Perhaps two years of confinement. You will be able to oversee your family’s affairs and coordinate with your sister on Oaton’s own efforts to rebuild itself even from prison.”

Cheerilee had a sour look on her face, as if she wanted to say something to Luna, but the schoolteacher seemed to understand that Luna was doing all she could under the circumstances to show Shiny some clemency. Instead Cheerilee leaned over to Shiny and gave him a comforting nuzzle, “Tarnished and I both can come visit you, and you’d better believe I’ll be writing.”

Count Shiny’s face burned red and he smiled, a little exasperated, “It w-will be good to have that to look f-f-forward to. And in time...p-perhaps I can turn my family’s finances around.”

“Princess,” said Sheaf, “What is going to happen to Sawdust? Assuming he wakes up.”

Princess Luna’s frown was back like a storm cloud, “As it stands his crimes are the most grave, especially given his use of extremely forbidden memory spells and the magical assault he has committed upon Equestrian citizens.” She was referring to the Threshers, who Sawdust had petrified. The Princess herself had dispelled the effect on the two Oaton ponies, who had quickly recovered, confused over events and with little memory of what had occurred to them.

“Much could be laid at his hooves,” Luna said, “He would normally be facing imprisonment for no small span of time. As long as he remains as he is, such imprisonment would be pointless.”

Sheaf grimaced, “Sawdust may have done a lot of things wrong, but he also did what was right, come the end.”

“I am not ignoring his final deed,” Luna said with a level tone, “Trixie has suggested that as long as he remains in this comatose state, that time counts towards his prison sentence. I am inclined to agree with her idea. There is the question of where he shall be kept-”

“He remains here,” Sheaf said firmly, and Princess Luna gave him a sidelong look, not one used to being interrupted, let alone have things told to her so bluntly. Sheaf, for his part, did not wilt at her look and instead held her gaze as he explained, “Here he has a sister who loves him who will look after him, and...” Sheaf’s voice wavered, “a friend who cares for him as well. When he wakes up, better we be there for him. Do not worry, Princess, when he awakens, you will be informed.”

Luna met his eyes for a few seconds before slowly nodded, “So be it. I shall have a Night Guard who is also properly medically trained to maintain vigil on him as well. Now then, that would seem to cover everything. Trixie, Raindrops, Cheerilee, the three of you have gone through no small trouble to help Oaton. The least feel I can do is offer you swift transport back to Ponyville so you can rest properly.”

Trixie looked at her friends. Cheerilee shrugged, “I need to be back by tomorrow morning for work, but the train would suit as well as teleporting... and honestly I’d rather take our time leaving. I have yet to really catch up with Tarnished or Shiny.”

“I’m dead tired,” said Raindrops, “But not in a rush.”

Luna shrugged her wings, “Very well. Mayor Sheaf, I trust that you and Count Shiny can work details out concerning Oaton’s future without me overseeing things. Count Shiny, you will have one week to set your affairs in order with your family before you will be required to appear at court in Canterlot. Do not require me to send an escort of Night Guards, yes?”

“Of c-c-course,” said Count Shiny, ears flattening.

As Luna stood to leave, Sheaf also stood, “Hold a moment Princess.”

“Hmm?” she glanced at him.

“I know you have important Princess-ish things to do, but might want to consider hanging around Oaton, least until the evening,” he said.

“Why would that be?” the Princess of the Night asked quizzically.

Sheaf smiled, “Well, we just worked our tails off saving our town, got a batch of genuine heroes to celebrate,” he gestured at Trixie and her friends, “And we Oaton folk don’t just let things like that go by without throwing one hay of a party! Be shame, the one time we’re likely to have the Princess here in town, that she skips out before the festivities start. You want us to get comfy being part of Equestria, best way to do it is thrown down with some dancing and drinking.”

“I avoid drink,” said Luna, but smiled, “However dancing, that is a joy to indulge in.”

“I, on the other hoof, am less apt to avoid drink,” said Trixie.

At Luna’s disapproving look Trixie stuck her nose up and cross her hooves over her chest, “Oh don’t give me that look. I’ve earned a night of being pleasantly buzzed.”

Cheerilee was grinning, hooves wrapped around Tarnished and Shiny, “It’s been way too long since all three of us were together, so neither of you better be thinking of sitting this out.”

Tarnished was wide eyed with her tail twitching nervously, but she smiled at Cheerilee, “I wasn’t planning on hiding away anywhere. It’s just been a long time since I’ve been around so many ponies. You’ll stay close?”

“Of course,” Cheerilee said.

Count Shiny made a small grumbling noise, and one of Cheerilee’s ears twitched towards him, “What was that Shiny?”

“N-n-nothing! Nothing at a-all! Just don’t en-encourage my sister into anything inappropriate! I’ll have to ch-chaperone both of you the whole night.”

Cheerilee’s grin only widened as she leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Who says it’s her that I’ll be encouraging towards inappropriate things?”

Count Shiny’s eyes twitched and he made a small squeaking sound as he shrank down in his chair like he was trying to burrow out the back of it.. Trixie just shook her head with a small laugh and got up from her chair. Raindrops gave her a look, “Where are you going?”

“Before the festivities start I have something I need to do,” Trixie said, squaring herself and taking a steadying breath , “Something that has to happen, before I feel right celebrating anything. Won’t take long.”

Sheaf, his eyes understanding as he saw the look in Trixie’s face, simply said, “She’s in her room. Or at least she’d better be in her room.”

Bushel was starting to think her parents didn’t want her leaving her room.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to have left during the storm, and that perhaps jumping out the window could, but certain parents prone to overreaction, be seen as bad. But she didn’t see how threatening to tie her to her bed, put iron bars on the windows, and board up the door was really just overdoing it. And grounding her!? Again!? Milkdrop and Bread Crumb were outside playing and she was stuck inside twiddling her hooves. She goes out into mortal danger to save Trixie? Gets grounded. Her siblings stay inside doing nothing (nevermind that’s exactly what they were told to do)? They get to go outside and play. Totally unfair.

Fortunately Bushel could distract herself from her unjustified incarceration by checking out... recent developments.

She felt with her hoof around her forehead, wishing she had a mirror. She couldn’t feel a horn there, but there was a kind of odd tingling warmth. She could also feel the faint, odd buzz that seemed to stem from her head. A little light, faintly white in color, shone from her head. Bushel didn’t really understand fully what made her horn different, but the huge blue pony with the pretty moving mane had explained it to her. Bushel was a pony whose blood from both her parent’s tribes was equally active. Apparently there were pony’s out there who had both horns and wings, but weren’t alicorns, because of the same reason. But for Bushel, who was both unicorn and earth pony, she had this weird horn that didn’t cast magic, but ate it. An Inverted Horn, which wasn’t physically there, but whenever it consumed magic it appeared in the shape of a horn, glowing with whatever magic it had eaten.

She didn’t understand but it sounded kinda cool. She kept flicking her hoof over her head, wondering what the Inverted Horn looked like. The white glow meant it still had magic in it, though she’d been told that magic would gradually be used up, and she’d have to learn how to eat more. Apparently too much magic in there though was bad, and caused headaches, fever, and passing out. It was like actually eating food. Too little and you starved. Too much and you got a tummy ache. That’s what had happened to her when she’d saved Trixie from that lightning bolt, but somehow all that dark magic had been purged out of her horn when Trixie and others did some kind of spell to make bad energy go away. Bushel didn’t fully understand, but she knew that her headache was gone and she felt a lot better.

Bushel jumped in surprise as the door creaked open, immediately hopping towards her bed.

“I’m in bed, just like I was told! No need to ground me more!” she said hastily as she threw the covers over herself.

“Don’t worry Bushel, I won’t tattle on you,” said a familiar voice that made Bushel immediately gasp, then grin as she tossed the bed covers back off and hopped up on the bed.

“Trixie!”

The Great and Powerful Trixie, Hero of Oaton, was standing there in Bushel’s doorway, oddly without her hat and cape, and looking a little awkward, even hesitant to enter the room, but Bushel didn’t care! Happiness flooded the filly as she saw the mare before her. Bushel had of course heard some bits of what had happened after she’d lost consciousness and knew Trixie had been okay, but it was one thing to hear something and another to see the proof. Bushel found herself bounding over to Trixie and throwing a tight hug around the grown mare’s nearest available leg.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I mean, of course you are, I knew you’d be! You’re the Great and Powerful-”

“Bushel, we need to talk.”

“-Trixie, and nothing can keep you down for long! I heard you beat some big bad evil thing in the forest and saved everypony! That’s-”

“Please, settle down, I have to tell you something.”

“-awesome...? Huh? Oh! Sure, no problem!”

Bushel let Trixie’s leg go and stepped back into her room, practically prancing on her hooves. While being grounded as a drag, all in all she couldn't be happier! Her hero really did save the day, and everypony was okay, though her mother seemed really sad for some reason. Actually, Trixie looked a little sad right now too. Why? Trixie closed the door behind her as Bushel went back to hop up on her bed and sit on it. Trixie slowly walked to the center of the room, and after a second of seeming to debate with herself where to sit she decided to settle for doing so at the foot of Bushel’s bed.

Bushel didn’t understand why Trixie looked so nervous and worried. Everything was great! Oaton was saved, thanks to Trixie (and her friends helped to, Bushel supposed). What was there to look so down about? Trixie seemed to be having a hard time meeting Bushel’s eyes. She fidgeted, and kept shifting her gaze about the room, as long as it was anywhere but on the filly sitting before her.

“I, well,” Trixie bit her lip, then with a heavy shake of head like she looked Bushel in the eye, “I lied.”

“Lied?” Bushel’s little head tilted, “About what?”

“When you first came to me,” Trixie said, each word only seeming to come with strain, like she was fighting to get them out, “I made myself out to be the very hero you were looking for. More, even. I got caught up in the... the performance. I wanted to meet the image of being the Hero of Oaton that you had, so I puffed myself up and played the role, even though I’m really nothing like what you thought. I just didn’t want to disappoint... a fan. I’m sorry, Bushel, for lying to you.”

Bushel just blinked several times at Trixie, mind trying to process this. She heard the words, but nothing about them made sense. It was like Trixie was speaking some bizzaro version of Equestrian where everything’s meaning was in reverse order.

“What are you talking about?” she piped up, jumping onto all fours on her bed, “But you did everything you said you were going to do! Oaton is totally saved, and everypony’s happy! You beat up the big basilisk monster, and made the Lumber Guild ponies be nice to us now, and even took down a huge scary evil thing in the forest! How does that not make you a hero?”

Trixie rubbed her head with a hoof, “Bushel, I didn’t do any of those things by myself! Without my friends, we’d never have survived the basilisk, and Tarnished in the end saved herself. Oatons’ ponies, your father and mother, the Lumber Guild, Count Shiny, even... even Sawdust in the end, they all did things that saved Oaton. I’m trying to tell you, I’m not the powerful hero from the song I let you believe I was. I’m just a pony.”

Bushel stared at her, her ears slowing drooping alongside her head, and Trixie mirrored the look, lowering her own face.

“I really am sorry Bushel. I have this... slight ego problem. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you deserved to know. I wanted to be a hero for you, and really, when it came down to it, you saved me.”

Bushel was still silent, and Trixie’s face scrunched up in pain as she whispered, “I’ll go now...”

As Trixie turned and headed for the door Bushel spoke.

“Wait.”

Trixie stopped, turning her head. Bushel hopped off her bed and came over to Trixie, looking up at the azure unicorn with wide, shining eyes. A hoof reavhed out and tightly touched Trixie’s leg.

“So some of the things you told me were lies?”

Trixie grimaced, nodding, “Yes.”

“But everything you did since I met you was real.”

Trixie blinked, “...Yes?”

Bushel pulled Trixie’s leg close, hugging the other pony, “It was real that you promised me you’d save Oaton. Then you, Cheerilee, and Raindrops. You came to my home and protected it. Even if a lot of other ponies helped, you still fought to save us when you didn’t have to. You saved my mother from being a statue, and saved that crazy mare from being crazy. Oaton is safe, my ma and pa are save, my brother and sister are safe... and you did that! You kept your promise!”

Bushel was crying, which was a very uncool thing in the filly’s opinion, especially in front of Trixie. But maybe it was alright, because Trixie was crying too.

“Yes, I guess I did, didn’t I?”

Bushel let go of Trixie’s leg and instead jumped up onto the mare’s back, hugging her around the neck, “Then this is way better than the song or stories! The real Trixie is better! The real Trixie let me look after her hat, and said she’d teach me magic, even if I’m not a unicorn!”

Trixie was stiff with shock at first, but quickly recovered and leaned her head over and nuzzled Bushel on the cheek, “The real Trixie did. So, you want to learn magic still?”

Bushel nodded her head, “Yes! But, I eat magic now, how can I learn it?”

Trixie patted her on the head, “I told you before, there’s more to magic than spells,” a light blossomed in the showmare’s eyes as she smiled, “In fact, there’s a party in the works, and a party needs a show. Perhaps you’d like to assist me in showing Oaton my special brand of magic?”

Evening settled in over the small hamlet of Oaton. The sun started its descending course under Princess Luna’s direction, though she had yet to return to Canterlot. Raindrops wasn’t going to question why the Princess decided to stick around Oaton for the festivities, but perhaps Luna was just taking the opportunity to spend an evening relaxing away from politics. Raindrops herself wasn’t certain how into the idea of a party she was. She was still feeling drained from the hard flight from Oaton to Canterlot and the stress from returning and barely making it in time to keep Trixie from overchanneling.

Hard not to get into the spirit of things, though, with the sheer infectious exuberance the Oaton ponies celebrated with. Torches had been set up to give plenty of light to the town square, which was the site of dozens of dancing and drinking ponies. Tables hastily erected along the sidelines were lined with food and drink and even more ponies conversing and carousing. Lumber Guild ponies mixed with Oaton ponies, the animosity of a generation buried, two groups having fought together as one to save each other. There was perhaps a little tension, here and there, but Raindrops to her satisfaction saw that anger didn’t rule the hearts of these ponies and many an Oaton stallion danced with a Lumber Guild mare, or vice versa.

The romantic in Raindrops imagined many a future couple were getting their start amid the laughter and high spirits of the evening. Music provided by both groups floated through the air, strumming strings and energetic flutes providing a melody of life and family that bound these ponies together. The image was brought to full fruition by the stamps of applause the rolled from one end of the celebration, where Trixie had erected a makeshift stage with several tables and borrowed tablecloth. There the showmare put on a performance, her cape on her back, but her hat upon the head of a certain yellow filly who stood on stage with her. Apparently Bushel had gotten out of grounding, at least for this one evening. Raindrops was worried about Trixie trying to put on a magic show so soon after nearly draining herself, but Trixie was keeping things simple, relying more on actual sleight of hoof with only a little help from illusion spells.

Raindrops sat at one of the side tables, enjoying a bowl of apples and oats, a small mug of milk (she had to explain she wasn’t much into ale to many confused Oaton ponies) and was just enjoying soaking in the atmosphere. She knew Cheerilee was out there in the thick of the dancing, taking turns with both Tarnished and the Count. The magenta mare was easy enough to spot, spinning her friends around the crowd of dancing ponies and laughing with them. Even if the Count was soon to face jail time, he seemed happy, and Raindrops could only nod in approval. Everypony deserved at least this evening to be happy. Tarnished still seemed nervous by Raindrops’ estimation, but some things could only be overcome with time. Raindrops still didn’t know what to make of Trixie’s plan to make Tarnished this town’s Representative, not to mention also be some kind of forest Warden. Seemed a lot of responsibility to put on a mare who ran away from home and subsequently went crazy, but maybe Raindrops was being too harsh. She was still a little sore at Tarnished for, well, nearly killing her friends.

“So,” said a quiet, nervous voice next to Raindrops, “You, um, prefer staying outside the crowd?”

Raindrops turned to see the rust colored unicorn guardsmare of the Copper Coins, Cut n’ Dry, standing next to her. Cut n’ Dry wasn’t wearing her chainmail armor or sword, but still had the blue tabard with the Copper Coin red fish on it. She’d apparently combed her black mane and tail and looked quite a bit better than the haggard look she’d had when Raindrops had briefly seen her after they’d made it out of the forest.

“I guess?” Raindrops said, shrugging, “Just not bursting with energy. That flight took a lot out of me. Thanks, by the way. Without your spell, I would never have made it in time.”

Cut n’ Dry’s muzzle brightened with a smile and Raindrops couldn’t be sure, but there might have been a deeper cast of red to that rust coat, “I was happy to help. You looked... I mean, I just, I’m glad you liked the wings.”

Cut n’ Dry suddenly facehoofed and Raindrops couldn’t figure why. Noticing some movement behind Cut n’ Dry, towards the nearby Oaton house, Raindrops saw Cut n’ Dry’s brother... Lock something-something, and that other guard, Bootheel, peeking around the corner and watching her. Cut n’ Dry’s brother was making encouraging gestures while Bootheel was just grinning like he was having trouble keeping from bursting out laughing.

Raindrops raised an eyebrow, looking at Cut n’ Dry and scooting over to provide room at the table, “Want to sit?” she asked casually.

Cut n’ Dry opened her mouth, then closed it and silently nodded, taking the spot next to Raindrops. Awkward silence ensued.

“Oh for the love of- C’mon sis, make a move!” Lock n’ Key said as quietly as he could while still shouting. His sister was just sitting there like a lump next to the pegasus and not doing anything other than examining her hooves! And sis said he had trouble with the mares!

He felt a hoof land on his head in a light pat, Bootheel standing next to him sighing, “Don’t think we’re going to get much of a show out of this, Lock my boy. Cut n’ Dry, for a unicorn who specializes in flight, is crashing hard out there. This requires drastic measures!”

Lock n’ Key looked at Bootheel warily, “What are you thinking?”

Bootheel grinned, and gestured out into the crowd. Lock n’ Key followed until he spotted, across the town square, Princess Luna. She’d been at the party since the start and most of the ponies had gotten used to her being there, though she seemed content to watch rather than participate. Lock n’ Key gave Bootheel a weird look.

“Your sister has to be shown how its done. To give her confidence!”

Lock n’ Key felt his eyes turning the size of ale mugs, “You’re not serious? Even you’re not that crazy.”

Bootheel’s grin only widened.

Cut n’ Dry wanted to smack herself again, but realized facehoofing in front of Raindrops would just make her look strange. She used drinking from a mug of Oaton ale as an excuse for her silence as she mentally did backflips trying to think of anything to say to the pegasus sitting next to her. Cut n’ Dry was sitting very carefully, trying to keep from brushing up against Raindrops, though those wings were just so close with their array of soft looking feathers, what would it be like to have one wrapped around- Gah! Think of conversation, not anything else! Talk like a normal pony!

“You alright?” asked Raindrops, causing Cut n’ Dry to nearly jump off her seat. The guardsmare turned, forcing a ‘normal’ laugh that probably sounded anything bet.

“Me? Yes, I’m fine! Why ask?”

Raindrops shrugged, “You must have pushed yourself hard last night, with those ice walls. Don’t know magic much, but from what I’ve gathered, listening to Trixie, big stuff like that isn’t easy for your average unicorn.”

Cut n’ Dry was at once pleased at the praise and concern, and soured at being reminded that Raindrops and... that mare, were friends and would be going back to Ponyville soon, all... together and stuff.

“I pushed myself, yes, but so did everypony else. Ice walls aren’t that hard, and is a well known spell for Equestrian battlemages.”

“Is that what you were before joining the Copper Coins?”

“Huh? No, not at all. Cold Edge, one of the other guards, was a discharged battlemage. He’s the one that lead the spell linking for the ice walls, the rest of us just poured our magic into the link. Me and my brother were brought into the Copper Coin Housegard by lord Shiny after we tried to, well... rob him.”

At Raindrops look Cut n’ Dry looked away, “I’m not proud of how me and my brother lived back then, and my lord gave us a new life, saw potential in a pair of desperate young ponies rather than just thieves. He will always have my loyalty. No matter how long his prison sentence is, I will await his return to serve him faithfully, until my dying day.”

“That’s admirable,” Raindrops said with a warm smile that sent Cut n’ Dry’s heart into acrobatic leaps of glee, “He’d better appreciate what he’s got in you, or I’ll have to have a talk with him.”

“That won’t be needed, my lord Shiny is - what in Tartarus is he doing!?”

Cut n’ Dry’s outburst started Raindrops, but she didn’t notice as she stared across the towns square, eyes not believing what she was seeing. Raindrops looked to where Cut n’ Dry was looking and the pegasus let out a small whistle.

“That’s one of your guard buddies, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Cut n’ Dry squeaked, paling as she debating between trying to stop Bootheel, or just watching the train wreck happen then proceed to find somewhere to hide.

“He’s walking up to Princess Luna,” Raindrops commented dryly.

“Yes,” Cut n’ Dry confirmed, feeling oddly detached from events as she watched Bootheel saunter through the crowd and right up to the Princess of the Night. To Cut n’ Dry’s utter humiliation Bootheel very obviously and intentionally turned to look at her and Raindrops from across the crowd and waggled his eyebrows at her.

He then proceeded to approach a somewhat bemused looking Princess Luna. A few Night Guard trotted out of the shadows as if to bar his path, but they stood back at a small gesture from the Princess. Bootheel ignored the Night Guards like they weren’t even there and came up right to Equestria’s sovereign and... looked her over with the most unashamedly lecherous smile Cut n’ Dry thought she’d ever seen on him.

Cut n’ Dry didnt hear what he said to the Princess, a small favor to be sure, but there was no mistaking his grin nor his highly suggestive eyebrow waggles. How could anypony convey so much low brow thoughts with just an eyebrow waggle!?

Cut n’ Dry just waited for the inevitable hoof slap, or in Princess Luna’s case likely to be lightning bolts from the sky.

Princess Luna, however, neither smote the lecherous pony before her with a smack across the face or bolts of magic. Instead, with that same slightly bemused look on her face and a small playful half smile she leaned down and whispered something in Bootheel’s ear. Bootheel’s entire body went rigid, his eyes going wider than the moon in the sky, and his entire body went glowing red from tail tip to the end of his snout.

Princess Luna’s laugh echoed over the party and the alicorn stood from where she was sitting and proceeded out to join the dancing, her tail giving a single playful flick at Bootheel’s nose as she went past him. Bootheel for his part took several minutes to recover, and upon doing so very stiffly walked over to where Raindrops and Cut n’ Dry were sitting.

“What was that all about!?” Cut n’ Dry asked, “Don’t you have any shame!? Hitting on the Princess!?”

Raindrops just cocked her head, “What did she say?”

Bootheel just sat next to them, seemingly in a daze, grabbed the nearest mug of ale, and downed it in one go, staring out into the crowd where the Princess danced among the Oaton and Lumber Guild ponies.

“That mare has a smutty mind,” he said with wonder in his voice, as if he’d found a million bits under his bed.

Bootheel seemed so stunned that Cut n’ Dry somehow doubted she’d get much more out of him, but... well if he had the guts to approach the Princess of all ponies...

“Raindrops,” Cut n’ Dry said, “I don’t suppose you’d like to go join the dancing? With me?”

Raindrops looked at her for a second, then polished off her own mug of milk and wiped her chin with a wing, then stood, “Sure, why not? Guess it is a party after all.”

Cut n’ Dry’s grin was, for once, wider than Bootheel’s had ever been.

Cheerilee settled onto the ground, not even bothering with a bench at one of the tables, just enjoying the cool feeling of the grass on her coat as she tucked her hooves under her. Tarnished flopped down by her side, panting slightly.

“Its been years since I’ve done that,” Tarnished said, looking out at the crowd of ponies that still danced wildly amid the town square, the music only increasing in tempo as the evening wore on. Cheerilee smiled, seeing Princess Luna finally in the spirit of things, most the Oaton ponies not seeming to treat the alicorn any differently than any other pony that swung about the gyrating crowd of dancers.

“Winded already Tarn?” Cheerilee asked with a smile, and her friend punched her lightly on the shoulder.

“You’re taking a breather too. Don’t want to hear it,” Tarnished said, returning the smile. Cheerilee leaned against her friend and after a moment Tarnished’s smile faded a bit, as she looked around the town. Oaton was such a small village, but with the Lumber Guild ponies sticking around, how fast would it grow? Cheerilee could imagine her friend’s thoughts were turning towards the very uncertain future.

“You’ll be okay Tarn,” she said, rubbing her friend’s cheek with her nose, “It will be hard, but I’ll always be nearby. Ponyville is just a short train ride away.”

“I know. It’s just so much, so fast. Yesterday I was so full of anger, wanting to hurt so many. Now its like I woke up from a fever dream, only to find myself in a unfamiliar place. If you and Shiny weren’t here, I’d already be running away again. Shiny... I wish he didn’t have to go.”

Cheerilee sighed, putting a hoof over her friend’s back and drawing her close, “He’ll be out before you know it. Then we’ll have ourselves a night on the town in our old stomping grounds of Hoofington. Get him to do some proper bar hopping.”

“I’d like that,” Tarnished said, leaning into Cheerilee, the two friends enjoying the comfort of each other’s presence. Then Tarnished perked up, “Where is Shiny anyway?”

Cheerilee’s smile turned devilishly coy as she pointed him out in the crowd, being dragged out of the dance area towards one of the many drink strewn tables by a white mare.

“Let’s just say I ran into a mare named Piper who showed quite an interest in your brother, and I maybe encouraged the two to spend some time together.”

From the look of Shiny’s wide eyed flailing it was possible Cheerilee had encouraged Piper a bit too much, but hey, Cheerilee figured Shiny needed some help getting out of the nervous shell of his.

Tarnished looked on curiously, “He’s going to be okay?” she winced as Piper practically wrestled Shiny to the table and proceeded to shove drinks his way while slapping on the back hard enough to nearly bowl the Count over, “Right?”

Before Cheerilee could respond a voice called to her from the crowd.

“Hey, Miss Cheerilee!” it was Spit Shine, followed by Potato Sack, the two obviously drunk stallions stumbling by and smiling wide at her and Tarnished, “How’s the evening treating you fine mares?”

“Just fine, how about the two of you? Not bothered by having the Lumber Guild ponies here?”

“Nah, they’re alright!” said Potato Sack, “Don’t figure why they never just came to town for a proper drink before! And with us getting our river back we got no quarrel worth mentioning!”

“Don’t hurt that their mare’s are easy on the eyes. Even some of the stallions,” Spit Shine said musingly, looking out into the crowd.

“Hey, aren’t you the mare that’ll be looking out for us with them Night Court nobles?” asked Potato Sack, looking at Tarnished. She gulped and pulled a little closer to Cheerilee, but nodded.

“I... am, yes.”

Potato Sack and Spit Shine exchanged looks, “Do we gotta bow or something?”

“No! I’d even prefer you didn’t! I’m just going to be doing, um, paperwork mostly, if Trixie’s explanation is accurate. Lots of paperwork,” Tarnished frowned, “I never liked paperwork.”

“Don’t worry,” said Cheerilee, “Trixie has plenty of experience on how to avoid doing exactly that. In fact, hiring an assistant was one of the first things she did to make it easier to slack off.”

“Assistant, eh?” said Spit Shine, rubbing his chin, “Might be something I’d try a hoof at, if you’re looking.”

“I, uh, maybe?” Tarnished looked a little overwhelmed and Cheerilee gave her a comforting pat along the back.

“Alright boys, let’s give the soon-to-be Representative some time to relax and avoid talk of work. This is a night for enjoying ourselves! Tarn, you feeling rested and ready for another round of dancing?”

Tarnished nodded, but looked off outside the circle of torches providing light to the party, “I am, but I sense... an old friend nearby. I think that I want to spent a little time with them, assure them I’m alright among all these ponies.”

Cheerilee looked into the darkness beyond the circle of torches and also noticed a large silhouette in the distance, keeping away from the town, probably to avoid spooking any of the ponies. Cheerilee smiled and nodded to Tarnished, “Sure, I’ll be here when you get back.”

The night was long, and was filled with the sounds of joyous ponies. Slowly, one by one, the ponies of Oaton and the Lumber Guild retired, some back to their homes, some to the lumber camp which was still in need of repairs from the fires and rain of the previous night. Some went alone, or with friends, saying fond good nights to new friends. Perhaps more than one or two new couples stole away to private places to see where their new found feelings might take them.

On the outskirts a young mare who was once lost in both mind and soul consoled and reassured a certain pair of sizable basilisks that she was going to be okay, and that many changes would be coming...but that the forest would always be their home, and she would always be nearby for them. Not far away that mare’s brother watched with a warm smile, knowing he was soon to wait a long time before seeing her again, but calm in his heart knowing he would have a chance to restore his family, and be a noble in truth and not just in title.

Within one of the rooms above the village’s tavern a husband and wife talked quietly, rebuilding trust, reassuring love, and musing over what they had both protected, and lost. On the bed they sat by a stallion slept, his countenance peaceful. Who knew when he would awake? But when he did awake, the husband and wife agreed that he would awake to the sight of family. In the next room three young ponies slept off a night of excitement, the eldest of them dreaming of a future where she too protected ponies, like the hero who’d kept her promise to a filly.

Back in the town square a tired, but exuberant showmare rested with her two friends, the three of them looking up a night sky full of stars.

“I have class tomorrow morning,” Cheerilee said with a yawn, “Maybe I should get somepony to substitute, just for one day.”

Raindrops rubbed her eyes, “We all ought to be in bed. Got to catch the train early tomorrow. Maybe we should have taken the Princess' offer to teleport us?”

Trixie grimaced, rubbing at her horn, “We'll manage. She had to return to Canterlot, then get back north to the Griffin Kingdoms. Political duties never cease when you’re at the top. I’m surprised she took this long to enjoy the party tonight... though her rapid departure might have to do with that oaf googly eyeing her the entire time.”

Raindrops chuckled, “I think the Princess can more than handle that buck on her own.”

Trixie’s grimace deepened and she shook her head, “Bad images, get out!”

Cheerilee drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking over the now quiet village, “We really did it, didn’t we girls?”

“Only took excessive investigation, battling giant monsters, and facing down a piece of an ancient evil spirit,” said Raindrops, heaving out a tired sigh.

“I can think of worse ways to spend a weekend,” said Cheerilee.

Raindrops glanced over at Trixie, “Hey, will Bushel be alright, after we leave?”

Trixie nodded, “Luna assured me Bushel would be shown how to control her horn so it wouldn’t be a problem,” she smiled and adjusted her hat, “Besides, I’ll be seeing her once a month anyway. Her parents have agreed to allow her to come to Ponyville one weekend a month, and I’ll be teaching her stage magic. She has a real flare, and has already chosen a stage name; the Beautiful and Brilliant Bushel.”

Raindrops shook her head, “That’s just what we need, you corrupting the youth of Equestria.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I am the perfect role model for today’s youth!” the showmare said, nose in the air, then laughed and said more seriously, “Thank you. Both of you. For everything.”

Cheerilee and Raindrops both shared a look, then smiled at their friend. As Trixie was embraced by her two friends she felt all her concerns and worries drift away. There were many threats and challenges to come. Greengrass’ machinations. Corona’s wrath. Let them come. Trixie Lulamoon knew that ponies were stronger than the things that tried to break them apart. She’d seen it with her own eyes. Heroes aren’t the ones who stand above others. Heroes are the ones who stand beside others.

Author's Note

And so here we are...

Really I don't know what to say. It's been over a year since I started this journey, with the simple goal of just telling a fun story about Trixie and some of her friends saving a rural town. I never imagined it'd grow into a story of this scope or size, and while there are a lot of things I consider to be less than stellar about it, I don't think I'd really change anything either. This has been a heck of a experience. Made all the better by all the support I've gotten. Every comment, every thumbs up, every page view, I want to thank all of you for giving this story a chance. I especially want to thank RDD and everyone in the Lunaverse group who have together created this world that's just been a pleasure and a privilege for me to be a part of.

This is not only the first Lunaverse story I've completed... this is the first story I've ever finished, period. I started writing fanfiction with the expressed purpose of training myself to not just toy around writing stories, but to focus, keep writing, and finish them. And Hero of Oaton, while to some it may just be another MLP fanfic, to me it marks a goal I've been striving for since I first started putting my fingers to a keyboard. And it will not be the last story I finish, Lunaverse or otherwise.

Speaking of which, while I intend to shift my focus to work on my non-canon Lunaverse stories, I will be working on developing and fleshing out ideas for my Season 2 Lunaverse story.

Once again, thank you to everyone who's given this story a read, and over this past year have helped give me the strength to see it through to the finish.

Chapter 10: Heart of a Hero (Part 1)

Chapter 10: Heart of a Hero (Part 1)

Bushel’s hooves paced back and forth on the floorboards of her room, the filly’s breaths short and agitated. Her wide eyes kept casting looks between the door, which her parents had thoroughly locked, and the window, where nothing but a darkness, rain, and harsh flashes of lightning could be seen.

“Bushel!” Milkdrop cried from underneath her blankets, “C’mon! If ma and pa find your still awake we’ll all get in trouble!”

“Can’t sleep,” Bushel said, stopping her pacing only to jump up and down on the stop, “She’s out there! In that storm! Trixie is in trouble, I just know it!”

“So? She’s a hero, isn’t that what they do?” Milkdrop moaned from her bed, followed by a peal of thunder that caused another voice to start sobbing, “Aww Breadcrumb, its just some stupid thunder, you don’t have to cry about it!”

This only seemed to make the little colt cry harder, much to an exasperated sigh from Milkdrop. Bushel would’ve thought it odd that her parents hadn’t come to check on the noise, but then her ears strained and she could still hear it, even over the sound of the storm, an angry chorus of yelling voices. Ponies were downstairs in the tavern, and they were arguing over something fiercely. Bushel couldn’t hear the words, but thought she could every now and then make out her father’s voice. The harsh, angry tone of his voice was unmistakeable.

The adults were too busy arguing to pay much attention to the foals upstairs.

But why were they arguing? Bushel didn’t understand but she had a bad feeling about all of this, a feeling that had begun when the storm rolled in over Oaton. Her head had been aching before, but the pain had been steadily getting worse with the coming of the storm. Bushel ignored it though, she didn’t have time to worry about a silly headache! Trixie, Cheerilee, Raindrops, they were all out there putting themselves at risk, and Bushel had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen to them.

But what could she do about it?

The door was locked. Ma and pa weren’t taking chances were here getting into trouble again. The yellow filly kept giving the door a sour look. She bet if she had awesome magic like Trixie then she could just bust the door down! Or teleport herself out of here. She didn’t care that she’d heard some of the adults muttering things; that Trixie wasn’t a great mage, let alone a hero. Those were just dumb adults feeling sour. Trixie was... was...

Bushel believed in her. Which only made this horrible feeling of something going wrong all the worse. She wished she knew for sure that Trixie and her friends were okay.

She looked so hurt. I didn’t say I was sorry for doubting her. I should have! What do I do!? I can’t sleep, and pacing here isn’t helping anything! But I can’t leave either! I’d just get in the way again. But... but what if something happens to Trixie?

Bushel just couldn’t shake the notion her idol was in danger, and every time the flash of lightning rattled the window that feeling only intensified. If only her head would stop hurting so much maybe she could think clearly!

“Busheeellll, just go to sleep,” cried Milkdrop, finally getting up and throwing a pillow at her pacing sister, “You’re being dumb!”

Bushel teetered to the side when the pillow hit her and she gave the offending object a stomp as she yelled back, “I am not! I’m telling you I something bad is gonna happen to Trixie! I oughta be out there to help her!”

After her outburst her hoof stayed on the pillow and her eyes snapped down to it, her hoof pressing on the pillow a few times as if just realizing what it was. An idea took shape in her head while her little sister puffed out her cheeks and stood up on the bed. Still wrapped up in his own sheets Breadcrumb continued to cry. Milkdrop glared at her sister for a moment before going over to him and plopping down next to the colt, curling around him in a hug.

“Fine, you keep being dumb then,” she said but Bushel wasn’t listening. Her eyes had gone from the pillow to the window. The window that didn’t have a lock like the door did.

When Milkdrop heard the window swing open, bringing with a hard wind and billowing sheet of rain from outside and filling the room with the wave of sound that was the storm she looked over with wide eyes. Bushel was hoisting herself up awkwardly into the window sill, pillow clutched in her teeth.

“Bushel what are you doing!?”

“I got to help her! I just got to! Don’t tell ma and pa!”

Milkdrop’s eyes were fear filled moons as she stared, unbelieving as her sister tossed the pillow out the window, took one judging look at where it landed, then hopped out herself.

As Sawdust sailed through the air, landing heavily on the wet, muddy ground, skidding a good half dozen yards before coming to a stop, he reflected that this was shaping into a very unpleasant night. Perhaps some ponies might look upon his current misfortunes as a sign of some sort that the choices that had brought him to this point had been poorly made. Sawdust was not such a pony. Getting back to his hooves, waiting patiently for his lungs to recall the proper way to breath, he merely turned his mind towards how he could still succeed at his plan.

Setbacks are merely opportunities waiting for one to find the way to exploit them.

Sawdust had nothing but spite for his father, but some lessons had still proven valuable enough to hold onto, even if they had come from such a deplorable pony.

Unfortunately it was a lesson that was not always easy to follow, especially now when it seemed all of the plans he’d made were starting to unravel around him. Even were he to survive the night, a prospect that was rapidly dwindling with each passing second, it seemed unlikely that he could spin the situation back towards a track that followed his original plan. Not impossible, just... problematic. Tarnished appeared to have completely succumbed to madness induced by the shrine. While he knew it wasn’t directly his fault, there was a painful little tug of guilt in his gut. He could have warned her. He could have done more to convince her to leave the forest for good. But he’d known so little at first, had no real idea what the shrine was until it seemed too late, before it was all too clear that it was only only affecting Tarnished but everypony who went into that forest. If she’d only allowed him to use his mind shielding spell, she might have resisted the influence of the shrine long enough for him to acquire the spell he’d discovered from Canterlot University’s archives. That spell may well still save her, but how to acquire it? He’d have needed another few days at least to have one of his ponies retrieve the spell from the archives without leaving a paper trail that could have lead to too many questions. Now? Well, it all was moot point, really, given that Tarnished’s attack upon the camp now, with the Element bearers present, would likely result in Tarnished being captured, either by the Elements or by the Count. Either result would limit his options, and certainly put a crimp in his plans to marry the mare.

Not that he was in love with her. He was fond of her, and she certainly was a looker, but the idea of marrying her was purely for the purpose of gaining control of her family. Some might call that underhooved. Despicable. But really, how many political marriages happened without the ponies intending to spend their lives together and raise a family even meeting one another before saying their vows? At least he would have made sure to see to her happiness. Molding Oaton into a true city, an economic powerhouse with all its natural resources, he could have wiped away the Copper Coin’s debts. Count Shiny, that high strung stallion, would have eventually learned to thank him for sparing him the burden of leadership. It was clear the Count was not suited to his position. He’d be happier without having to lead his family, and just spend time with his sister.

And of course Sawdust’s own family, his own beloved sister and her precious foals, could live better lives in the wealth of a prospering province. Even Sheaf, so stubborn, so proud, would have eventually learned that, in the end, Sawdust’s actions would lead to everypony being... happy.

That wasn’t too much a thing to ask for, was it? Everypony being happy?

Of course he imagined he’d have plenty of time to ponder such questions from within a comfortable prison cell, if Trixie Lulamoon had her way. Trixie might not have his journal, but she knew enough that really just one letter to Princess Luna would be enough to cast Sawdust into a tangled mess of investigations that would mire his Guild for years in legal issues, and that was the best case scenario. Worst case scenario involved a lengthy prison sentence and his Guild scattering to the four winds. Strange, but he found the prospect of prison less painful than the notion of the Hoofington Lumber Guild dissolving. What would happen to all of his employees, his ponies who worked so hard to earn a living and had no idea the schemes their leader had set up? Would they be all right?

Well, bridges to cross when I get to them. Rather more immediate concerns to deal with first... the dark violet unicorn thought as the Fire Drake that had sent him flying a moment before pounded towards him to finish the job it had started.

Sawdust licked his lips and strained some more magic through what was quickly becoming a taxed horn. He’d not been exaggerating with Trixie, he was far from a trained battlemage. He knew a number of useful tricks, but stamina was not his strong suit. Forming the opaque white barrier of magic in front of him took no small amount of effort, and the Fire Drake slamming into it sent a further burst of painful strain through his horn. Even past the shield he could feel the raw heat of the flames flowing from the Fire Drake’s body, the pouring rain doing little more than steaming off the creature's body and giving it a wraith-like shroud of mist.

Sawdust chanced a glance behind him. He could see that most of his Lumber Guild ponies had done as he’d instructed them and fled towards the back gate behind the main camp building. However several remained, all looking at him, a few even gathering saws and similar tools and making towards him as if planning to try and help. He felt his lips twitch into snarl of annoyance but he forced the expression away. Put on your mask. Do not let it slip. Lips not snarling, expression serious, but calm. Yes, that’s it. Tone level, authoritative.

“I do believe I told the lot of you to evacuate!”

“Sir, we can’t let you face that thing alone!” one of the mare’s said; a light brown one, curly green hair. Fresh Sap, he believed her name was. Sawdust learned the names of all his employees, though he at times couldn’t remember all the faces.

“You can, and you will,” he said as the Fire Drake smashed the shield again, the magic energy fluctuate and starting to crack like glass, “Do not fret, I’ll be right behind you all! But you must go now!”

“But-”

“Fresh Sap, if you and your team are not out the back gate in ten seconds flat I am docking your pay! Do not make me repeat myself!” he barked, letting just the right amount of his father’s old and familiar tone of no-nonsense anger fill his voice. Much as he loathed it, he had his father’s voice, could pull off the old stallion’s tone perfectly... and many of the Lumber Guild still responded to it.

To his satisfaction he saw the lumber ponies hesitate for only a moment before Fresh Sap turned and led her team away. They were good ponies. Strong work ethics, loyal to each other and their Guild. Sawdust was quite proud of them. It was regretful that he’d had to mire them in this whole mess. Ultimately the plan had required the use of the Guild. However he’d felt about it, simple practically had demanded he make use of them.

It would be highly... unfortunate, though, if anything untoward happened to any of them. It was to be avoided if possible, even at risk to himself. Part of the responsibility of being a leader. Even if he was a liar and manipulator, he still considered himself a leader. However neither lies, nor leadership skills would help him deal with his current issue.

His shield finally shattered under a heavy blow from the Fire Drake’s tail and Sawdust backpedaled away from the flaming appendage. It smashed into the back of the log cabin next to him and cracked one of the logs. Sawdust ran to circle around the beast, rain plastering his blue mane to his face. He heard the Fire Drake’s rumbling growl vibrating in his very bones as it started to chase after him.

My only current consolation is that, at this very moment, Trixie Lulamoon is not having any better an evening than I am.

A day ago Trixie might have rushed to Cheerilee’s side the moment things turned violent. A day ago she felt an overpowering need to prove herself to the ponies of Oaton, to strain herself past her limits, to perform the role of ‘hero’ for her eager audience.

She remembered now quite keenly that a day ago she’d exhausted herself to the point of uselessness due to that gung-ho attitude. Trixie was not going to make that mistake again.

“Raindrops, take to the sky and wait until me and Cheerilee create an opening,” Trixie said to the pegasus at her side, “If you can pluck Tarnished off the basilisk and get her high enough, you might just break past the range of her control spell.”

“Good plan, but how are you and Cheerilee going to ‘create an opening’?” asked Raindrops as her lips pulled back in a teeth baring snarl, not at Trixie, but at the ensuing battle taking place several dozen yards away. Cheerilee was jumping and rolling aside of hefty swings from the giant basilisk's claws, staying out of harm’s way but all it would take is one small slip for the earth pony mare to be sent flying by the monster’s immense strength. Raindrops’s entire frame was shaking with the need to fly in there and help her friend.

“Any way we can,” Trixie said, “You just stay out of sight until you’re sure you can take her by surprise. Please wait until the right moment, Raindrops. If you turn to stone in mid-flight, I don’t know what happens to ponies that... break when petrified.”

Raindrops nodded once and with a pained look flapped her wings in one powerful swoop and burst up into the air, leaving Trixie to her own devices. The showpony took a deep breath, lowering her head so her hat kept the rain out of her face as she started to trot forward. She wove invisibility around herself, though with the heavy rain this illusion wouldn’t be quite as perfect as she otherwise would prefer. She could have compensated for the rain hitting her form, but that would’ve taken more magic, and she wanted to conserve as much as possible.

One of the Fire Drakes had vanished behind some of the cabins to her right and she could hear it’s loud guttural hisses. She caught sight of a few Lumber Guild ponies fleeing from that area, and she hoped they’d get away safely. To her knowledge they were not at fault for their leader’s schemes. As for Sawdust himself, she knew he was out here somewhere. She wouldn’t have minded if he got a bit singed, but ultimately she hoped he’d make it as well.

After all she wanted to be able to gloat a bit at him once this was over. Or a lot.

The other Fire Drakes had, fortunately, elected to ignore Cheerilee and instead had gone for the locked cabins that presumably were holding the other animals Count Shiny had been smuggling through the camp. One Drake smashed open the door of one cabin, while another simply started clawing through the log walls. Trixie could hear a raucous series of clucking noises from inside the cabins.

Great, cockatrices. This place is going to turn into a miniature version of the Royal Gardens if those things get loose too.

Trixie, while maintaining her invisibility, sent a few illusionary blasts of sparkling and swirling bright lights towards the Fire Drakes. The flaming lizards shook their heads and hissed in irritation, looking around for the source of the distracting lights. Trixie obliged with an illusion of herself appearing nearby and running away towards the distant front gate. One of the Fire Drakes took the bait and chased after the illusion, but the other resumed its work on tearing open the cabin.

Blast it! Well, should still buy some time, Trixie thought while she brushed a hoof over her ear clasp.

“Cheerilee, I want to lead Tarnished out of the camp. Can you get out the front gate?”

Cheerilee had, with a series of leaps and even a remarkably graceful flip out of a vicious tail slap from the basilisk, ended up backed towards the center of the camp, almost parallel to where Count Shiny and his House Guard were lying in wait. The magenta mare hoofed her own ear clasp while backpedaling from one of the basilisk's grasping claws.

Sort of focused on keeping my incredibly upset friend from turning me into a mulberry stain with Baskzilla. Besides I have a clearer shot at the side gate, I’m intimately more familiar with that one’s lock and can get it to pop with a light stroke.

Trixie involuntarily gagged a bit at Cheerilee’s choice of words but responded, “Fine! That’s fine! Do whatever you do with the lock! Just get her out of the camp and into a more open area. We need her away from Count Shiny before he-”

“N-now!” shouted the voice of the aforementioned Count, with only a slight stutter in his otherwise loud and authoritative tone. Trixie wanted to smack hoof to face, but there was no time.

Ponies in the livery of the Copper Coin family dashed from their hiding places between the cabins. A half dozen of the guards had either spears or thick rope nets clutched in mouths and charged the closest Fire Drake, quickly surrounding the beast. It snarled and snapped its jaws at the guardponies, flames dancing along its maw. The guardsponies didn’t back down from this, however, and aggressively pushed in, jabbing with their spears while their net-wielding fellows looked to trip up the Drake’s legs. The heavy rains from the storm kept the flames covering the Drake’s body from instantly burning the nets.

Meanwhile four other ponies, all unicorns, among them the rust colored guardsmare Trixie recognized from Oaton, rushed to get around the basilisk. Each carried metal rods floating beside them in their telekinetic grips. Tarnished, so focused upon Cheerilee, didn’t notice the unicorns starting to surround her. Count Shiny himself had walked out into the open, next to him that strange zebra with the vest of numerous bulging pockets.

Who is that zebra supposed to be? Trixie thought, not liking the look of him. He had a face that look like it was permanently chiseled into a displeased scowl, framed by a stripped mane woven into rows of braids. Count Shiny in contrast had nothing but fear and concern on his face as he looked past the invisible Trixie towards the sight of Cheerilee, the basilisk, and Tarnished.

“C-Cheerilee, this way!” Count Shiny called out, “Quickly!”

Cheerilee whipped her head around, looking at him, then at the unicorns taking up positions at four opposite points around the basilisk. Tarnished, for her part, seemed less concerned with the unicorns surrounding her or the guards trying to drive away one of her Fire Drakes, and spared only a snarling glance towards her brother.

“Wait your turn, brother! First I punish Cheerilee, then I’ll get to you! You were always trying to keep us apart, but did you ever admit to her those feelings you kept squirreled away inside? I bet not! Ha, as if it would’ve mattered. She’d have abandoned you too, just like she did me!”

Shiny balked, taking a step back, “Tha-that has nothing to do with... You’re wrong, she didn’t abandon anypony.”

“Shiny!” Cheerilee shouted over the din of rain and the harsh peals of lightning, “Please, stay back and let me take care of this.”

“I can’t d-d-do that Cheerilee. Now I’m t-telling you to get away from Tarnished before-”

Before the Count had finished speaking Trixie saw the huge basilisk pull back one of its huge claws, its eyes focused on Cheerilee. The earth pony wasn’t looking at the eyes, still focused on Shiny, and Trixie barely had time to shout a warning, “Cheerilee, dodge!”

Only after she shouted did she realize that she’d just given away her position by doing so. She cast a hasty glance behind her. Count Shiny only had eyes for his sister and Cheerilee, shifting on his hooves nervously. However the zebra was looking in her direction. Not right at her, but his brown eyes were narrowed. Trixie held her breath, ready to bolt, but the zebra made no move against her.

Thanks to Trixie’s warning Cheerilee had spotted the incoming claw in time, but when she jumped over it her tail failed to get clear. The basilisk's claw gripped around the tail and slammed downward. Cheerilee let out a yelp as she smacked hard into the muddy ground. She rolled away from a follow up slam from the basilisk’s other claw, scrambling to her hooves and just barely keeping ahead of the basilisk as it reared down and tried to snatch her up in its teeth.

“Give the order,” Trixie heard the zebra tell Count Shiny, “Why are you waiting?”

“Ch-Cheerilee will be t-t-t-trapped too! I h-have to convince her to-to get clear first!” Count Shiny said, hesitation screwing up his features.

“Not relevant. If you want the coin from this arrangement you will protect our interests,” said the zebra in a hard tone. Count Shiny had a look like he was moments from either screaming in frustration or punching the zebra in the face. The storm, Trixie realized. Count Shiny, like everypony else not shielded by Sawdust’s spell, would be feeling naturally more aggressive.

“The sun take you!” Shiny spat, tears brimming in his eyes as he then shouted, “Cut n’ Dry, d-do it now!”

The guardsmare gave a quick, curt nod and her horn lit up brighter, the metal rod floating before her. Trixie could see the aura of the unicorns’ magic even without her magic sight, the aura flowing into the rod and the tip glowing brightly like a brand. This feat was duplicated by the other three unicorns who had taken up positions around the basilisk, forming a rough circle. Trixie didn’t know what was about to happen but didn’t imagine it’d be good for her or her friends. They needed Tarnished captured, but not by her brother!

Trixie rushed forward. If she could just distract one of the unicorns it’d disrupt whatever spell they were trying to pull! She honed in on Cut n’ Dry, getting ready to send a flash of lights into the guardsmare’s face, but before she could unleash her spell she felt something suddenly grip around her withers and hind leg. In an eye blink Trixie found herself flipped end over end to land heavily on the slick mud, the breath knocked out of her. Her invisibility it dropped, and she looked up to see that zebra standing over her, one foreleg pressed to her throat.

“Count Copper Coin, the interfering factor you assured me would not be a problem appears to be a problem,” the zebra said with the distaste of somepony who’d stepped in something unpleasant.

Trixie immediately let magic flow into her horn, intending to shove a flare of light squarely up this arrogant zebra’s left nostril, but the zebra was fast to react to the tell tale blue glow around her horn by giving it a solid smack.

“Do that again and I will break it off.”

“That’s harder to do than someponies assume,” Trixie said dryly, mostly to hide her anxiety as she saw the Copper Coin unicorns were completing their spell.

Magic was pouring forth from the metal rods, white wisps of frost sparkled mist snaking out in a dense weave of tendrils that reached out from one rod to the next, forming a circle around the basilisk. Tarnished, high up upon the creature’s head, seemed to finally take notice of what was going on around her and twisted her lips in a grow.

“What is this brother? Trying to trap me with some spell?”

“I w-will stop you, and bring you h-h-home Tarnished!” Count Shiny declared, though his eyes were slick with a combination of rain and tears, the hard set of his jaw offset by the pleading tone in his voice, “Please stop! I’m b-begging you Tarn, please just surrender!”

A peal of unnatural laughter rolled from Tarnished’s tongue, “Beg!? No, brother, your begging will not stop, not for a long time. You, Cheerilee, these filthy lumber ponies, every one of you will feel pain!”

This was punctuated by a blinding stab of lightning that landed inside the camp, blasting apart the wall of the cabin the Copper Coin guards had barely managed to drive one of the Fire Drakes away from. The shock of the lightning had knocked some of those guardponies to the ground. At the same moment the basilisk finally brought its eyes to bear in the battle, the piercing yellow pits fixing right on Count Shiny Copper Coin across the distance of rain filled night. The young noble stallion seized up, unable to tear his eyes away in time.

“My lord!” Cut n’ Dry cried, unable to move otherwise risk breaking the spell she was creating with the three other unicorns.

“Shiny!” Cheerilee shouted, and even as the Count’s body began to harden and turn to gray stone Cheerilee scooped up some mud with her hoof and flung it for all she was worth.

The basilisk, focused on Shiny for that moment, didn’t see the mud coming and the glob hit it squarely in its right eye. The beast howled and shook its head, causing Tarnished to have to hunker down and hold onto one of its spine crests to stay on top. Its petrifying gaze broken, Shiny let out a sharp breath, legs trembling as the stone that had been crawling up them now began to fall off in small flecks and turn to dust.

The zebra took his eyes off of Trixie for just a second then. A second being all Trixie needed. Having seen that lightning had struck inside the camp she quickly channeled an illusion spell faster than she’d ever tried before, and in a blinding crash of light and sound created a false bolt of lightning right on top of her. The zebra gasped and jumped back on instinct, and Trixie rolled to her hooves in that same moment and used that time to dash away, channeling another illusion, this time of a thick fog. Invisibility hadn’t worked on the zebra, probably because she didn’t have time to make the rain look a if it passed through her, so a simpler but more practical illusion would serve better.

She heard the zebra curse behind her but she didn’t stop, aiming right for where she last saw Cut n’ Dry. As she emerged from the fog she spotted the rust coated unicorn, and saw that the spell she and her fellow guards had been creating was finally manifesting.

The tendrils of mist were solidifying into dense bands of ice, joining together in a circle that grew tall into a tall wall, easily five hoof lengths thick and twenty tall. Trixie realized upon seeing it that those metal rods had to have been spell-linking wands! By themselves such wands were of no use, but when a set came together it was possible for one unicorn to link his or her magic with others, drawing on the power of all unicorns in the link to cast a spell that might otherwise be impossible by themselves. The ice wall was probably beyond any one of the unicorns, but with all four they could maintain the wall indefinitely.

Almost immediately Tarnished reacted, horn glowing with an erratic aura as she directed the basilisk. The creature snarled, a throaty rumbling noise almost as loud as the storm’s thunder as it smashed its body into the ice wall, causing it to shudder, but not break.

“This will not hold me. It can’t hold my anger! Friends, free me!” Tarnished cried, horn gaining an overlay of spiky, wavering magic. Trixie didn’t bother with her own magic sight, guessing that the crazed mare was extending her control spell to the Fire Drakes, calling to them.

The trumpeting calls of said Fire Drakes was proof enough of that as the one that had chased the illusionary Trixie returned from the darkness to leap upon the ice wall, claws slashing and tearing into the thick blue wall. Another appeared from the west side of the camp, slamming the wall with a tail. The third was too busy with the Copper Coin guards, however, one of its legs tangled in net.

Trixie imagined it would only take Tarnished a moment to realize having her monsters attack the wall was less effective than going after the unicorn mages maintaining it, but Trixie intended to make that a moot point. Coming around the wall she found herself face to face with Cut n’ Dry.

“You!” the guardsmare’s lips pulled back in a growl. Her horn still glowed, the magical aura flowing into the metal rod which had now become a part of the wall, “What do you think you’re doing here!?”

“Sorry, but we need the whacko mare, and my friend is stuck behind that wall, so-” Trixie didn’t finish her sentence as she aimed her horn and let loose with a simple but effective close range illusion, a cone shaped spray of colors so bright and vivid that it was liable to blind or even knock out anypony that took a face full of them. Cut n’ Dry, despite having to focus on maintaining her spell, reacted quickly and turned her head aside from the blast of psychedelic colors, throat issuing a snarl as she tore her blade from her scabbard.

“Auf wundud tu du thush sunce au muut yuu!” the unicorn growled unintelligibly around the hilt of her blade as she swung out at Trixie. Trixie yelped, not expecting how quick the other mare was, nor the sudden use of a lethal weapon (it had to be the storm!). Nimbly side stepping Trixie still winced as she felt the tip of the short sword scrape by, tearing part of her cape. Trixie backed away, putting a little distance between herself and the guardsmare and casting another spell, the blue glow of her horn flowing over her body and turning into an indistinct blur. Invisibility might not be as effective in the rain, but just blurring her image should help keep that blade away from her too-pretty-to-be-stabbed face.

Cut n’ Dry of course was more than happy to test the effectiveness of that spell by leaping in at Trixie and slashing back and forth with her short sword, forcing the azure illusionist to twist and turn in ways she was not used to to avoid a painful and messy situation. Trixie imagined the only reason the clearly well trained gruardsmare kept failing to land a blow was because she had to divert some concentration to maintaining the ice wall.

Still it was only a matter of time before that blade found its mark and Trixie did not have time for this horsing around! Gulping, shoving down her fear that if this went wrong she may well be performing her last trick, Trixie feinted to the right as if she was trying to run. When Cut n’ Dry moved to slash that way Trixie suddenly threw herself to the left and let loose a spell at point-blank range at the rust coated mare’s face. A pattern of colors, similar to the blast she’d unleashed earlier, formed in a sphere surrounding Cut n’ Dry, their patterns subtly shifting in a hypnotic swirl of hues. At once Cut n’ Dry’s eyes seemed to take on the very same swirling hues of the spell and her whole body began to sway back and forth, staring into the sphere of color. Her short sword dropped to the muddy ground with a thud, forgotten.

“Good, good, just stay like that my bloodthirsty little audience member,” Trixie said as she edged around the dazed guardsmare. The spell would only keep Cut n’ Dry fascinated for a matter of moments, but long enough for Trixie to get at the spell-linking wand. She just hoped Cheerilee was doing alright in there.

Cheerilee was starting to tire, trying to keep ahead of the basilisk’s claws without making eye contact with the monolithic lizard. Tarnished was directing the basilisk’s attention back upon her now that those Fire Drakes were attacking the ice wall itself. Cheerilee’s back ached from when the basilisk had managed to slam her to the ground a minute earlier but she grit her teeth and ignored the pain. She didn’t have time to feel pain. Tarnished needed her help! She had to clear the clouds from her friends eyes!

It would take more than a little laughter to fix this problem, but Cheerilee was not going to give up on Tarnished!

“You’re scurrying around like a rat, Cheerilee! Just stand still, I’ll show you how much I’ve missed you!” Tarnished shouted as the basilisk turned and twisted its body in the confines of the ice wall, tail slapping at the ice even as its head lowered and tried to shove itself straight into Cheerilee.

Cheerilee turned her head away from those piercing yellow eyes and rolled forward, feeling her hindleg get caught by the snout of the basilisk’s head with enough force she for a moment feared the bone had been broken. However as she hobbled back into an unsteady run she realized it was just a bad bruise. Cheerilee galloped for the back of the basilisk. If she could just get on top of the tail she could work her way up the creature’s spine and reach the head.

“Tarnished, listen to yourself! You’re not well! You’ve never wanted to hurt any living creature before in your life, least of all your friends or you family!” Cheerilee shouted, watching the tail for a good moment to jump onto it.

“What makes somepony friends!? What makes them family!?” Tarnished shouting back, the basilisk trying to turn to bring its foreclaws to bear on Cheerilee. Its huge size made turning slow, though, and Cheerilee wasn’t letting herself stay still, “Loyalty to each other!? Honesty with each other!? They laughter they share!? Generously giving to one another!? Being kind to one another!? NO! None of that! Its something much, much simpler!”

Cheerilee managed to leap upon the tail as the basilisk’ whipped it back and forth at her, hooves wrapping around the thick appendage. She held on tightly, but lost her grip as the basilisk smashed the tail into the ice wall, causing ice chunks to rain down around Cheerilee as she was thrown bodily across the small enclosed space, bouncing as she went. Cheerilee struggled to her hooves as Tarnished continued to rant in a voice that was cracking.

“The simple act of being together! Friends stay together. Through everything,” Tarnished laughed, bitter, painful, “I”m going to... to... make sure you can never leave me again!”

Cheerilee couldn’t risk looking up at Tarnished, if only because of that basilisk’s cursed eyes, but she did raise her head.

“Tarnished, friendship isn’t just about physically being there for somepony. It runs deeper than that. Friends support each other, even when they’re not together. Especially then. My mistake wasn’t leaving, it was doing it without making it clear that no matter how far apart we got, I’d always be friends with you. I’m correcting that mistake now!”

Something descended from above, crashing in front of Cheerilee. She dove to the side on instinct, and a good thing because what had dropped was a clay orb that burst when it hit the ground and from it issued forth a billowing cloud of green smoke. Cheerilee didn’t know what that smoke was but was quite sure inhaling any of it would be bad. She cantered back as another clay orb fell down and exploded in more of the swirling green cloud. Sparing a glance up she saw that there was a figure standing on top of the ice wall; a zebra. He was already pulling out another clay orb from one of his vest pockets and this one he aimed right for the basilisks’ face.

The orb exploded on the creature’s jaw and the creature snorted and scuffed at its nose from the green fumes. Tarnished, face twisted in fury, covered her mouth with a hoof.

“What is this!? First ice, now smoke? These cheap tricks will not stop me!”

The sky answered her rage with a thunderous roll of lightning that rained down around the camp, though none of it struck near the zebra. Cheerilee could only wonder if it was coincidence that lightning struck fiercest when Tarnished’s anger rose to new heights. The basilisk’s nostrils sniffed in the sickly green smoke and the creature made a rough cough like the sound of metal pots smashing together as its movements became sluggish. The zebra did not let up, throwing a barrage of clay bombs with remarkable speed. With each burst of smoke the basilisk took a step back, coughing more. Tarnished herself was also coughing, having inhaled some of the smoke. Cheerilee could see her friend stagger, almost falling off the basilisk's head, yet Tarnished held on with a feral snarl that was echoed much louder by the basilisk itself as it threw its entire body at the ice wall where the zebra stood.

The zebra apparently had not expected the basilisk to have so much fight left in it after breathing in so much of the smoke, which Cheerilee was suspecting now was a sleeping gas. She’d gotten a whiff of the stuff herself before getting far enough away from the cloud and even that small amount had made her feel tired. While it was slowing the basilisk down, it didn’t stop it from throwing its whole weight against the ice wall, causing a series of cracks to spiderweb along the rain slicked surface and the ground to shake violently. The zebra kept his hooves under him with graceful shifts of his weight and muttered something in his own language while getting out another clay orb, this one a bright yellow rather than beige.

Cheerilee lacked any weapons, but there was still mud around aplenty, and she scooped up more, planning to splatter it right over the zebra’s head, but she needed have bothered. Like a jasmine bolt loosed from a crossbow Raindrops shot out of the storm cloaked gloom and slammed the zebra right off the wall, pulling up sharply afterward in a slow bank that brought her around and down to land heavily next to Cheerilee.

“Hey,” said the pegasus.

“Hey,” said the earth pony.

“I was supposed to stay hidden,” said Raindrops, then flexed her legs, “Decided that wasn’t going to work out with you trapped in here, though. Think Trixie will be mad I ignored her plan?”

“I think she’ll get over it. Want to give me a lift?” asked Cheerilee as Tarnished, seeing the zebra wasn’t on the wall anymore, stopped having the basilisk smash into it to instead turn around towards the two ponies.

“Think I can accommodate you,” Raindrops said as she wrapped her hooves around Cheerilee’s barrel and started lifting off with strong, heavy wingbeats. The basilisk, sluggish or not from the poison smoke, still fixed its eyes towards Raindrops.

“Keep going up!” Cheerilee shouted as she brought her own hooves up and covered Raindrops eyes to break the basilisk's gaze. She had to quickly close her own eyes as the basilisk immediately switched to her as it surged forward. Cheerilee could hear Tarnished screaming over the roar of the storm.

“You get back here Cheerilee, I am not letting you go! Never again!”

Wind and rain slashed at Cheerilee, but even through all that sensation she felt the rush of air towards her lower half and instinctively pulled her legs up. Cheerilee felt a gasp of pain escape her lips as she felt the sharp agonizing feeling of something cutting her right hind leg the moment she heard a wet snapping sound below her followed by a thunderous crash. She chanced to open her eyes long enough to see the basilisk landing back in the ice wall, having jumped to try and snatch her out of Raindrop’s grasp by its own jaws. It’d nearly done so, its fangs narrowly missing clamping down on Cheerilee’s leg, but the teeth had still grazed her leg, tearing a shallow gash that was now bleeding, the red mixing with the rain water flowing off her.

“Cheerilee, you okay!?” Raindrops asked, shaking off Cheerilee’s hooves from her eyes, fear and worry straining her voice.

“Uhh, y-yeah, I’m fine!” Cheerilee smiled past the pain, “Just a little hickey, is all. Tarnished is the aggressive type apparently; who knew?”

“Don’t joke around! You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, just get me over the wall, towards the dam. I got to lead her away from the camp before anypony gets seriously hurt,” Cheerilee said as she chanced a glance downward. Despite the darkness and rain she had a fairly good view of things from this high up, and the entire Lumber Guild camp was a site of chaos.

The log cabin that had its wall blasted open by lightning was now also partially on fire, and pouring out of it were a half dozen small fast moving forms, creatures with the heads of fowls placed upon serpent bodies; cockatrices. The Copper Coin guards were scrambling to contain them, but there were already a few that were stone statues from the cockatrice's own petrifying red eyes. The Fire Drakes were more free to move in the confusion, two of them tearing into the ice wall, and the third freeing itself from the nets that had wrapped up its legs, tail slapping aside a few guards that had gotten too close. The flames from their bodies washed the entire camp in an orange haze painted with inky shadows.

“What a mess...” Cheerilee said as Raindrops lowered her to the ground outside the ice wall.

Raindrops looked over at the ice wall as it shuddered from another blow from the basilisk, the creature’s roar rivaling the thunder in the sky. Chunks of ice were falling from the wall, more cracks running up and down its form with each passing second.

“They must have been counting on that zebra to knock the basilisk out with gas,” the pegasus said, “That wall won’t last much longer.”

The second she had finished her sentence it was as if a thousand cracks blossomed all over the ice wall at once and in one ear splitting crash the entire edifice shattered like a window hit with a brick.

“...Or not at all,” Raindrops said, blinking.

“Hahah!” a rather self-satisfied voice cried out nearby, “My anti magic skills are beyond amazing! I, Trixie, have broken your pathetic wall with my incredible prowess! To some it may have looked like I just turned off the wand, but I did it with finesse! The amazing finesse of... Cheerilee? What are you doing out here! You’re supposed to be inside the wall so I can save you!”

Cheerilee titled her head at the sight of Trixie nearby, who had been just around the bend of the ice wall out of sight until it’d been brought down. The azure unicorn, despite looking rather haggard with her hat dropping from the rain and her mane hanging drenched around her neck, still had a rather satisfied grin on her face. Next to her was a metal rod floating in the air in a aura of Trixie’s blue magic. Behind the magician was Cut n’ Dry, head engulfed by a multi-colored sphere of magic that had the guardsmare dazedly staring at the colors.

“Got a ride out,” Cheerilee called back, pointing a hoof at Raindrops. Trixie groaned.

“Raindrops, you’re supposed to be hiding and waiting for a chance to get Tarnished!”

“Hey, plans change! There was this weird zebra and-”

She cut herself off in an instant, Raindrops’ eyes narrowing as she threw herself to the side. Cheerilee didn’t know why for a second but saw the flashing movement of a black and white striped form slash down right where Raindrops had been a second ago. The zebra stallion from before, his chopping right hoof narrowing missing Raindrops. If the pegasus hadn’t moved it would’ve caught her right in the back of the neck. Cheerilee jumped away as well, narrowing avoiding a back buck from the zebra. She grunted as pain shot up her wounded leg.

“I am not ‘weird’,” the zebra said plainly, “Its rude to label others without knowing them first.”

“Don’t care to know you,” Raindrops said with steel in her voice, hide bristling and wings flared, “I’m about to make you a moot point!”

Raindrops darted in, not fast, but with strength and purpose. She reared up and panted her hind legs, her right hoof pistoning out in a forceful punch aimed for the zebra’s barrel. Like a blade of grass bent by a harsh winter breeze the zebra just flowed away from the punishing hoof of the pegasus. He danced backwards, coldly regarding Raindrops. She had a small look of surprise on her face, squaring off with the zebra and shifting her stance, widening it. Coming in again she used her wings to give herself a boost to what became a spinning aerial kick. The zebra bent sideways, Raindrops’ hoof narrowly missing him as he snapped back like a spring.

“How do you keep dodging!?” Raindrops growled as she landed from her missed flying kick and looked the zebra over with confusion.

“By moving out of the way,” the zebra replied with an arched eyebrow, “Though to your credit it is much harder than I am making it look. You move well for one who seems only partially trained.”

Cheerilee glanced to her left at the sound of hoofbeats through the mud, seeing Trixie as the azure unicorn ran up to them, skidding to a halt next to Cheerilee. Trixie was breathing hard, and her cape was torn, but she looked uninjured as far as Cheerilee could tell.

A moment later Cut n’ Dry blinked, the colored sphere vanishing as the magic fueling it ran out and the Copper Coin guardsmare shook herself from her daze. Count Shiny appeared from the thick sheets of rain, several guardsponies by his side, including Bootheel and the three other unicorns who’d been forming the ice wall before the circle of spell-linking wands had been broken.

“Cut n’ Dry, you’re u-u-uninjured?” asked Count Shiny.

“Only my pride has been stung, my lord,” she replied, spitting out her short sword and using her magic to levitate it, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hold the wall.”

There was a brief pause then, everypony looking at each other, the sound of the storm mixing with the chaotic orchestra of the roaring Fire Drakes, cackling cockatrices, and cursing ponies that were still fighting. The silence was ended by a single, loud hiss that made Cheerilee shudder.

The basilisk, Tarnished still atop it, scattered aside the piles of ice chunks that was left of the wall. The mare that was one of Cheerilee’s oldest friends had parts of her tangled creme mane obscuring her face, but the tremble in her limbs spoke volumes of her anger.

“Cheerilee... Stop. Running. Away!”

Cheerilee took only one quick look at her two other friends, Raindrops with every muscle tense, and Trixie looking at the advancing Cut n’ Dry and her sword as if the guardsmare represented the bigger threat than the multi-ton lizard.

“Girls,” said Trixie, “How does taking all this somewhere else sound? This camp has gotten awfully crowded.”

“I’m all for that,” said Cheerilee, backing away from the basilisk, tensing to run, “Can you give a little cover?”

Trixie smirked, horn already glowing, “I can give a lot of cover!”

Cheerilee saw fog burst into being from her friend’s horn, not surprised at all Trixie chose a spell like that. Cheerilee was already in motion by the time Trixie’s fog spread out to cover them, galloping towards the direction she knew the camp’s side gate to be. She trusted that Trixie and Raindrops would get clear in their own way.

“You just keep trying to get away,” Cheerilee could hear Tarnished scoff as the ground shook to the smashing gait of the basilisk moving through the fog, “Is this how you were planning to show me that you care? By scurrying away as fast as you can like a scarred rat, Cheerilee!?”

No, Cheerilee thought with bitter resolve, her wounded leg screaming at her to stop moving, to which Cheerilee told it to suck it up, Once I get you off that basilisk, that’s when I start showing you I care. There may be rope involved, but you're in dire need of some tough love.

In all seriousness, she didn’t know what to do. Just subduing Tarnished was a temporary solution. Cheerilee needed some way to get through to her friend, to connect with Tarnished through all that pain and rage she was feeling. There was no time to think things through though, to come up with any plan beyond the next moment. Right now all she could do was lead Tarnished away from the camp and hope that nopony got hurt too badly in the process.

Cheerilee felt an intense heat straight ahead as she burst out of the fog cloud and had to go into a diving roll to avoid the snatching claw of one of the Fire Drakes that had apparently circled around the cloud, waiting for somepony to emerge from it. Cheerilee made an involuntary whimper as she had to put a little too much weight on her injured leg, stumbling but maintaining her gallop for the gate.

No time to even pick that easy lock, I’ll have to break through,, Cheerilee realized and lowered her head, forcing herself to pick up speed as the rain slashed at her. The Fire Drake hissed gutturally behind her, chasing after the magenta mare.

Cheerilee hit the gate full on with her shoulder, causing the wood legs to shudder and one of them to even crack, but the log held.

“Oh for the love of-!” Cheerilee grimaced. If her leg wasn’t hurt she could’ve hit the gate much harder. She glanced behind her, seeing the Fire Drake charging in at her with huge leaping bounds, and behind that, the towering form of the basilisk like a darker shadow on the rain soaked backdrop of the night, its eyes bright pools of yellow that were looking left and right at the ground before it. Cheerilee heard yells and shouts from the ponies over there, guardsponies of the Copper Coins most likely coming under the effects of the basilisk's gaze.

Cheerilee turned around, intending to dodge to the side of the Fire Drake, but just as the fire wreathed beast was about to reach her another pony came in from the side, delivering a solid buck to the side of the Fire Drake’s head. It didn’t stop the creature but it did make it veer off course and slam head first into the log palisade next to Cheerilee. The force of that, combined with Cheerilee’s earlier hit, weakened the gate and popped the lock clean off.

Cheerilee didn’t immediately flee through the now swinging open gate, instead looking with a little surprised at the pony who’d just helped her.

Bootheel still sported the bruises from their last encounter, plus a few fresh burns, but that didn’t stop him from grinning like a little colt at her as he posed for her in a manner that left little to the imagination.

“So, does the brave guard get a reward for leaping to the aid of the luscious mare?” he asked with a suggestive wag of his tail.

“No,” she deadpanned at him.

“Oh come on! That was textbook heroing right there! Can I at least cop a little feel? Just a second or two of proper groping?”

“No,” Cheerilee repeated, then looked to the side as the Fire Drake started to pick itself up, shaking its reptilian head like a cat that had gotten its face wet. “But survive this and I’ll consider introducing you to my sister.”

She saw Bootheel’s eyes widen and his nostrils flare as he mouthed the words ‘there's two of them?’ and Cheerilee almost face hoofed. Berry is going to kill me. Cheerilee could practically see steam snorting from the stallion’s nostrils.

“I’m going to remember that, sweet flanks!” he said, scuffing his back hooves in preparation to charge the Fire Drake again while it was still getting its bearings, then paused and looked at her with a deadly serious expression, “Seriously though, you stay alive too. Hate to see good plot go to waste!”

Cheerilee could only shake her head. Some stallions didn’t have a single serious bone in their body. Apparently Bootheel was a stallion with only one. She turned and galloped through the open gate just as the Fire Drake, rain evaporating off its flames in a white shroud of mist, growled at Bootheel and charged him. For a moment, as she ran, all Cheerilee could hear was the stallion’s boisterous laughter, then the sound and fury of the storm swallowed even that up and she was surrounded by rain and darkness.

Count Shiny Copper Coin forced his face to be a collected, calm mask... or at least he was trying to. He wasn’t at all sure how well he was succeeding on that, but there was nothing else he could do. He could not allow himself to breakdown here, now, in front of his House Guard, especially with the crisis far from over. However much he felt like just falling down and crying out all the frustration and fear in him he had to see this through; for his sister, for his family... and Cheerilee.

“Cut n’ Dry, take Ruby Canter and help contain the cockatrices before they turn too many more ponies to stone, and rally our guards in the center of the camp” he commanded, focusing to keep his voice from stuttering, as he addressed the other unicorn mages, “High Rise, Starflash, you two are with me. We’ll push back the Fire Drakes, give Cut n’ Dry time to gather everypony whose been scattered by this chaos.”

“My lord,” Cut n’ Dry said, eyes scanning the darkness with her teeth bared, sword still levitating by her side, “Respectfully it would be wiser for you to remain somewhere safe while we deal with this matter-”

“I will n-not hide while my s-s-sister remains uncaptured!” he snapped, stutter returning as boiling emotions came to a head. He’d just watched Tarnished ride away on that monstrous basilisk of hers, probably chasing after Cheerilee. The east palisade was much a ruined mess as the south was now, and at least two of the log camps were smouldering despite the heavy rain. The harsh orange glow marked the location of the Fire Drakes, all still inside the camp, and Shiny could hear the unnatural warbling of the cockatrices he’d been trying to smuggle now running loose. This mess was his, and he had to clean it up.

He took a deep breath, “Now follow my orders,” good, stutter gone again, “Once we secure the camp we will pursue my sister and put an end to this.”

“I am afraid we have further complications, Count Copper Coin,” said a smooth, calm voice from the shadows, from which a form stepped forward and resolved into the shape of Sawdust. The violet stallion looked a little worse for wear, coat marred by a few scorch marks and part of his mane burned away.

“You,” Shiny felt a stab of anger flare through his heart as he glared at the Lumber Guild leader, “What are you still doing here? I thought you would’ve run off with the rest of your guild.”

“Oh, I ensured all of my little ponies escaped out the north gate unharmed,” Shiny said, approaching and looking out at the rest of the came, not paying any attention to the way Cut n’ Dry moved defensively in front of Shiny, “They are under instructions to wait one hour, and if they have not received new instructions by then to head for the hills... to high ground.”

“Why would you... ?” Shiny began to ask, then the realization hit him as he looked up into the thickness of the storm, with its unrelenting rain, “Oh no... the dam.”

“Indeed,” said Sawdust, “This unexpected storm will flood the dam before long. I imagine we have until daybreak at most before the dam breaks. We must either shore it up and hope for the best, evacuate, or find some way to disperse this storm.”

Shiny glared at Sawdust, then looked to his House Guard, “Everypony, hurry and secure the camp! Cut n’ Dry, I’m counting on you! Don’t let me down.”

She looked at him with just a hint of fear at the edge of her expression, a slight tightness to the set of lips. She was afraid for him, he was sure, but also he didn’t doubt part of her fear was for her fellow guards. Shiny knew that while they were good and stout ponies, he was asking them to do much that was outside their area of expertise. They were trained to deal with the occasional thug or thief, protecting the Copper Coin family’s property and persons from such common threats. Battling monsters in the thick of an unnatural storm with the threat of drowning in a flood now hanging over their heads... this was far more than had ever been asked of them before.

It was a wonder any of them were still here, rather than fleeing.

“Yes, my lord. Ruby Canter, with me!” Cut n’ Dry said, the rust coated unicorn mare dashing off into the night alongside the other unicorn mage. Shiny knew he could trust her to get the cockatrices contained and regroup his guards. From there they’d have to sweep the camp for injured, to ensure nopony was left behind one way or another.

“You have some brave ponies loyal to you, Count Copper Coin,” Sawdust said, smiling that calm smile of his that Shiny had never trusted nor particularly liked, “Perhaps if your House Guard and my Lumber Guild work together we can avert disaster here.”

“Perhaps,” Shiny said, not saying his thoughts, keeping them far from his face even though there was an urge in him to start tearing into Sawdust then and there. It never occurred to Shiny that those feelings of aggression were unnaturally high.

Disaster for you, or disaster for me? How much of all this is your doing, Sawdust!? You called this storm ‘unexpected’ but by that calm face of yours I’m willing to bet you know exactly what it is and where it came from! You want to ruin my family? I don’t intend to make it easy for you, bastard!

“You should probably join your ponies and get clear of danger,” he continued, proud he could keep his stutter under control when dealing with this pony, “The Copper Coin family will deal with its own affairs.”

“No doubt,” Sawdust said, gesturing at the burning cabins and the sight of a pair of Copper Coin guards netting a cockatrice Cut n’ Dry was holding down with telekinesis, “Yet all this will be pointless if it all gets washed away by these rains. Then there is the safety of Oaton to consider-”

“I don’t give two figs about Oaton!” Shiny shouted, breath shuddering in his chest. Why was he so angry? Sawdust infuriated him, yes, but it was like he couldn’t keep a reign on those feelings. Even if he wasn’t fond of Oaton, it was still a town in his province, technically under the protection of his family even if it wasn’t in any municipal registry. These feelings of anger were clouding his thoughts. They were like a hot, uncomfortable blanket on his mind, making it hard to think clearly. He tried slowing his breathing, “However, if the dam breaks, it will cause... issues, I agree. I will send a runner to warn the citizens of Oaton of this situation. Join your ponies, Sawdust, or help my guard bring the situation here under control. I don’t care. We can’t do anything about the dam until these monsters are dealt with!”

And I won’t spare another thought for anything else until I know my sister is secured and safe.

Raindrops leaned her head against the wind and kept her wings flapping with powerful, steady flaps. She was not a fast flyer, but she was a strong one, and as much as the wind slashed at her like physical blades, Raindrops was not going to get knocked out of the air. She cursed this darkness though. It was making it hard to keep an eye on her friends.

She had no idea where Trixie was, but that wasn’t surprising. The magician no doubt turned herself invisible after summoning that cloud of fog. Raindrops had flown straight up when Trixie had done that, trusting her friends to get out of the camp... though now she was regretting that slightly as she’d lost track of both Trixie and Cheerilee.

Where are you two? Raindrops thought as she banked hard and circled, no more than fifty feet off the ground. She was flying above the logging area just east of the dam, where piles of logs were neatly stacked in ordered rows for transport onto the rafts waiting at the river bank; or rather the rafts that would’ve been waiting there if they hadn’t been swept away by the rising river and its swift currents. Raindrops was no expert but she could tell it was only a matter of time before that reservoir formed by the dam overflowed.

Should I go warn Oaton? But I can’t leave my friends behind!

Though indecision gripped her for a moment, it went away quickly as she spied a magenta form with the aid of a lightning flash illuminating the field of darkness with start white light. Cheerilee was galloping with a slight limp, leaping off the end of the walkway built along the back of the dam and onto the drenched lumber field. The reason for her friend’s haste became obvious as a huge shadowy form smashed into the walkway right behind Cheerilee from the depths of the reservoir. The basilisk reared from the watery depths like an over-sized alligator, the tiny blue form of Tarnished still riding upon the beast’s brow. It stomped from the watery reservoir bank and lumbered after the fleeing Cheerilee, smashing aside piles of stacked lumber like bits of kindling.

She’s totally focused on Cheerilee. This is as good a chance as I’m going to get!

Raindrops soared up, getting some altitude despite the heavy winds buffeting her from every direction. Once she got well over a hundred feet into the air she turned and rolled over, swinging into a dive. Rain lashed at her and her visibility was beyond poor, but the basilisk was hard to miss given it was larger than a cabin and was roaring loud enough to be heard over the thunder of the storm. Raindrops’ eyes were squinted, her teeth clenched in concentration. Another flash of lightning showed her she was on target, soaring down right at the basilisk’s head at a good angle to snatch Tarnished right off the top of it’s head! She just needed them to maintain that pace... almost...

Raindrops braced herself, sweeping a foreleg out with the intention of scooping Tarnished up the second she pulled up from her dive. However whether by pure chance or some instinct Raindrops couldn’t fathom Tarnished turned and looked up, right at the dive-bombing pegasus. For a second Raindrops could have sworn the crazy mare’s eyes were glowing green it the night, but didn’t have time to do a double take as the basilisk also turned its head and reared up on its hind legs, nearly doubling its height.

Raindrops let out a sharp curse as she was forced to close her eyes against the piercing glare of the basilisk, acting on pure intuition to barrel roll to the left as the last thing she saw before closing her eyes had been the basilisk's fore claw slashing at her. Raindrops felt the claw pass by her, the air currents rippling along her wing at the near miss and the sheer force of the blow.

That would’ve taken a wing off if it’d hit... she thought, risking opening her eyes and yelping as she realized her barrel roll had also lowered her height until she was almost touching the ground. She had to pull up sharply to avoid a pile of stacked lumber. Below her she heard Cheerilee yell.

“Raindrops! Watch out!”

Raindrops didn’t know what she meant for a second, then when the lightning lit up the lumber yard she saw the colossal shadow of a claw directly over her. She banked hard to the right, just as the basilisk smashed its whole body claw first down on the lumber pile she’d just passed over. There was an explosion of dirt, mud, and wood shards that sent Raindrops spinning through the air. She felt sharp wood chips cutting her and a few feathers violently ripped free as she rolled end over end, barely staying airborne only through sheer strength and willpower as she snapped her wings out and gave a solid push to start climbing.

However before she could get any height something leaped from the ground and slammed into her side. The breath was knocked out of her and she only barely managed to twist her body so she could land on her legs, skidding across the muddy ground as her hooves dug deep furrows in the ground.

She gasped, getting her lungs to remember how to breath as she looked up to see what had hit her. Standing atop a partially splintered log that had ended up sticking out of the ground tip first, the zebra from the camp stood perfectly balanced despite the wind and rain whipping around him.

“This entire affair has become more trouble than it is profitable. I have deemed this operation a failure and will happily leave the Count and the Lumber Guild to their fates. However before I depart I consider it a matter of personal interest to finish what you and I began.”

“The...the hay is your interest in me!? Who are you? One of the smugglers?”

The zebra dipped his head in a small approximation of a bow, “While I cannot give you my true name, you may refer to me as Tendaji. Anything else I may be is of no concern to you. My interest in you should be evident; you evaded my attack. You are one of three that have ever done so. Of the two others who have done this, one is my master, the other is my wife. Simply put, I wish to see if you can actually best me, or if that was a fluke.”

Raindrops coughed, getting her breath back, while focusing a look upon the zebra that could only be described as throat-choking mad. All she wanted to do was knock this zebra’s head into the next province! She buzzed her wings and almost dove at him to do exactly that... but after a few deep, ragged breaths she kept herself under control. Anger dripped through the cracks of her mental barriers, a hot twinge in her limbs begging to be set loose. She wanted to just blame it solely on the raging storm above, on whatever magic Trixie had said the storm had to amplify negative emotions, but she knew better. This anger was her. The storm was just pulling it out. Her jaw was clenched tight in concentration as she fought to regulate her breathing and finding her center.

I’m not being controlled by this. Just got to breath. Remember how you were taught to breath. Let the anger out with each breath, like draining rain from a cloud.

“Not. Interested,” she told the zebra between measured, calm breaths, “Kind of busy actually. You want to test me or whatever, we can do that later. Much later.”

The zebra quirked his head, “Why not fight me now?”

Raindrops gave him a perfectly deadpan look as she pointed a hoof at the gigantic basilisk, which had just finished looking under its claw to see if it’d smashed her and was only now noticing her and the zebra a little ways away. Its rumbling hiss drew the zebra’s attention and he frowned.

“Oh. That.” he said, then let out a sigh of consternation, ”She would not be a problem currently if you hadn’t stopped me from naturalizing her. That interference is costing my associates a great deal of money.”

“Cry me a river.”

Tendaji shrugged, “An early mistake in learning my alchemical art cost me the use of my tear ducts, so that is quite impossible, though why you think I could cry in such volume-”

“Its a figure of speech!” Raindrops yelled, stomping a hoof.

“... You ponies have strange turns of phrase. In any case I will agree that dueling you here and now would prove unsatisfying if your mind and heart are not fully focused upon it, so if I come to you at a later time will you agree to satisfy my interest in you without compunction?”

“Yes, yes, whatever, we’ll duel it out or whatever you want, just later!” Raindrops growled, her irritation with this weird zebra at its peak, her forehead throbbing with veins. The breathing helped but there was really only so much it could do for her.

The zebra nodded solemnly, and hopped off the log he’d been balancing on and began to trot away as casually as somepony taking a stroll in the moonlight. He paused only briefly to look back at her as the basilisk began to pound towards them and he pulled out one of those little round grenades; the yellow one he’d had out before she’d knocked him off the ice wall.

“Take this. It should help you deal with your current issues,” he said and tossed it to her. Raindrops fumbled in catching it between her hooves, lifting off with her wings as she examined it. It was clay, no larger than an apple, and painted yellow. There was a simple metal ring at the top.

“What am I supposed to do with this!?” she asked.

“Go for the eyes,” was all Tendaji said before he vanished into the night like an apparition. She didn’t have time to ponder what that had all been about or why he’d even been in the camp. Trixie was better at thinking this kind of stuff through, so assuming they were all still alive at the end of this Raindrops would run it by Trixie and let the Night Court Representative puzzle it out.

Her attention was drawn back to the basilisk and the mare atop it, Tarnished’s voice seeming to carry unnaturally loud across the sound of the raging storm above.

“So what makes you so special that Cheerilee decided to replace all her old ‘friends’ with you?” the basilisk’s mammoth head lowered, jaws widening a it let out a rank smelling roar at the hovering pegasus, “What do you possess that I lacked!? Huh!?”

“Well, I’m sane, and I’m not currently trying to kill her; that’s two things,” Raindrops said dryly as she flew backwards away from the basilisk's snapping jaws. The thing was incredibly quick in its movements for something so large. Raindrops had to keep zig-zagging left and right in an erratic pattern just to keep ahead of it and there wasn’t any clear opening to counter attack.

What’s that zebra expect me to do with this thing anyway? she thought as she held the clay grenade close, Am I supposed to use it on the basilisk or Tarnished? Will it knock them out, explode, shower them with flowers, what!? Guess it doesn’t matter if I can’t get an open shot to use it! If only I could see what they’re about to do before they... wait a second...

She had to tuck the clay grenade under the crook of one of her legs while she fumbled with her saddlebag, darting left away from jaws that nearly closed around her.

Don’t be broken, don’t be broken, don’t be -Ahah!

She pulled out the enchanted glasses. Her eyes narrowed at them and she licked her lips in distaste. These glasses, she didn’t like what they were, or what they represented... but sometimes you have to deal with things you don’t like to get something important done. With a determined breath she affixed them on her snout as she climbed higher into the air, circling the basilisk. Its head was turning to keep her in sight as she flew around it, and she had to be careful as she looked at it, avoiding its eyes while the glasses began to do their work. The enchantment took hold, faster than it had with the ponies Raindrops had looked at through the glasses before.

Perhaps the mind of the basilisk was simpler, or it being partially under the control of Tarnished’s magic made its thoughts easier to discern, but the misty haze formed around the basilisk's head quickly, filling with shapes and images representing the creature’s thought patterns; and they were simple, focused thoughts. They were images of the basilisk's intent, or perhaps Tarnished’s instructions to it, Raindrops didn’t know, and didn’t care. What it meant was that when those images dissolved into a single instance of the basilisk swinging its whip-like tail at her and knocking her out of the air Raindrops knew exactly what the basilisk was going to do next.

Of course knowing the tail was coming and actually dodging it were two totally different affairs, but with the beforehoof warning Raindrops was able to roll to the side of the basilisk's tail, the appendage easily twice as large around as her whole body, a second before it would’ve smashed her out of the sky. She heard the tail hit the ground with a thunderous crash and afterwards Tarnished screaming in rage.

Raindrops banked hard and climbed at the same time, keeping the basilisk in the corner of her vision. The images in the mist showed her the creature’s intent to surprise her by springing up on its powerful legs to try and snatch her out of the air with its jaws. Raindrops decided to give it some encouragement by curving down into a dive, supposedly making herself an easy target.

Should I use this?, she thought, glancing at the clay bomb. She had so little reason to trust the zebra. She didn’t need it for what she intended to do, so she decided to save it, in case this didn’t work. Diving, she waiting until she saw the basilisk tense, then rear up and spring with its hind legs into the air. Not high, really, but with a creature as big as the basilisk was it didn’t have to jump high to get at her.

Raindrops could see Tarnished clinging to one of the basilisk’ head spines, glaring at her and screaming something over the din of the storm. Raindrops didn’t really care what, as she was too busy slipping to the left in a move that was fairly agile by Raindrops’ standards, a spiral motion that let her cruise by the basilisks’ snapping jaws and instead tried to snatch Tarnished. Raindrops growled in frustration as she missed the timing, only getting a hooffull of Tarnished’s creme tail. Raindrops did, however, managed to snag one of the basilisk’s spines and grabbed it firmly as the creature slammed back to the ground from its jump. The force of the impact smacked Raindrops face into the creature’s hard scales and she bit back a curse as she bit her tongue. Miraculously, the enchanted glasses managed to stay perched on her nose.

Note to self; let Trixie know she enchants one tough pair of glasses, the pegasus thought as she tried to find her balance on the surprisingly slippery back of the basilisk’s neck. Tarnished was staring at her with unrestrained anger and loathing from further up on the basilisk’s head. Raindrops was no expert on magic but she was pretty sure that the aura around Tarnished’s horn shouldn’t look like a ripped apart gray cloth, with uneven, jagged edges rather than the smooth wavy form Raindrops was used to seeing when either Trixie or Lyra cast magic.

“Grraaah! Just fall already! I don’t care about you! I want Cheerilee!” Tarnished shouted, then for a moment her eyes twitched, and she shook her head, “I... don’t want to hurt... run-”

The look of confusion on Tarnished’s face vanished almost as fast as it appeared, replaced with nothing but anger and viciousness once again as her horn’s glow intensified.

“Or don’t. In fact, stay right there!”

Raindrops blinked. Had Tarnished just showed signs of trying to stop herself? Raindrops couldn’t claim to have any idea what they were dealing in regards to this storm, or whatever malevolent force had brought it on, but if that Sawdust jerk had a spell to shield minds from it then it made sense even an unshielded mind could at least try to resist it. Raindrops knew both she and Cheerilee were resisting it at any rate; though Raindrops had to admit she hadn’t been living on top of ground zero for years either.

Now that she was close to the mare, Raindrops could also see through the glasses at Tarnished’s thoughts; or would have if the mist that formed around Tarnished wasn’t a near jet black roiling cloud with no images beside red tinged scenes of violence. What was weird, though, was that amid all that there was one clear image that flickered on and off, and that was of Tarnished herself, curled into a tight little ball with chains wrapped around her. The image didn’t remain long, and Raindrops didn’t have time to think about it as she tensed to dodge whatever Tarnished intended to throw at her.

What flashed from Tarnished’s horn was the same kind of arcane bolt Raindrops had heard Trixie talk about on occasion when the magician showmare got into a rant about magic in general. Trixie didn’t put any stock in such blunt offensive magic, but it was apparently common enough among unicorns in the Equestrian military, and also among the aristocracy. Tarnished being from a noble family, never mind however long she spent getting into trouble with Cheerilee’s old gang, it wasn’t surprising the mare could do a basic arcane bolt.

Only Raindrops was pretty sure such bolts weren’t meant to be shaped like black jagged spears of energy tinged with violet and green light. Also a unicorn’s eyes probably shouldn’t go green like that either.

She kept one hoof on the basilisk’s spine, pivoting around it while trying to keep her balance. The creature itself was stomping around and making for a very bumpy ride, and Raindrops thought she caught sight of Cheerilee out of the corner of her eye, narrowing dodging between piles of lumber as the basilisk stomped after her. Raindrops could see nothing else though, and was distracted by the searing pain in her flank as the arcane bolt sizzled past her.

“Gah!” Raindrops grimaced, “Tarnished! I may not know you, but I can see this isn’t what you really want! You’re letting anger push you around into being somepony you’re not!”

Tarnished’s face was twisted up between scornful fury and a second of fearful doubt. “Don’t pretend you care either! You don’t know me! I... I’m...”

Raindrops saw it again, the image in the black storm around Tarnished’s mind. While most of the images of the mare’s thoughts were only on seeing Raindrops writhe in agony, there was that one image again of Tarnished in chains, only now she wasn’t just curled in a ball, but was struggling against the chains. Raindrops steadied herself and spoke in a stronger tone.

“I might not know you, but I know anger. It eats you alive if you let it. More than that, I know Cheerillee. She says she cares about you, then those are words you can trust! Tarnished, Cheerilee wants nothing else but to help you!”

“I... don’t trust you! You’re just saying that to confuse me!”

Raindrops had to throw herself into the air as Tarnished let loose another dark, green and violet tinged crackling bolt. While she avoided getting grazed again the speed of her ascent caused the glasses to tip off her nose and go sailing off into the darkness.

Raindrops started to circle around, growing in frustration. She had felt so close to getting through to that crazy mare! Before she could ruminate on it long, however, a voice rang out over the harsh screaming wind of the storm.

“Tarnished, over here! This has gone on long enough! Let’s put an end to it!”

Raindrops craned her neck as she banked around towards the voice. It sounded like Cheerilee, and indeed the magenta mare was standing atop one of the piles of lumber. Raindrops couldn’t place it though, but something felt off about Cheerilee’s stance. She was reared up on her hindlegs, like a posing knight about to charge. In stark contrast to the stance she also looked exceedingly terrified, but with a plastered on expression of bravado.

Raindrops, confused, quickly landed next to Cheerilee on the lumber pile.

“Oh, uh, hi Raindrops!” said Cheerilee, who was gulping as the basilisk began to stomp their way, then said in a quieter tone, “I’m the bait! I don’t like this plan, but since somepony didn’t want to wait for the right time to strike, this is Plan B. Or C. I actually don’t know which plan we’re on by now.”

Raindrops blinked, “Trixie?”

“Shhh! Don’t give it away. I got this,” Cheerilee/Trixie (Trixilee?) frowned at the clay orb Raindrops was holding, “What’s that?”

“Gift from an admirer,” Raindrops said cryptically, “Tell you more later. You sure you can be bait?”

Trixie rolled her eyes and whinnied, “Please, I’m irresistible!”

Raindrops didn’t think Trixie quite grasped what being bait was going to entail, but there was no time to argue about it; the basilisk was almost upon them.

“I’ll just assume Cheerilee knows what she’s doing. Don’t. Get. Squashed! Seriously, just keep her attention, keep evading. Also, don’t know what we can do about it, but I think she’s trying to fight whatever’s messing with her head,” Raindrops said, launching into the air once more. As she did so, however, she felt a strange heat on her back and the dark lumber yard got painted with shifting shades of orange light.

She turned around just in time to see the Fire Drake poised atop the edge of the dam, flames mixing with the rain to form a steamy shroud of mist around it, before it launched itself straight at her.

Tarnished was the storm flashing its bolts of rage across the darkened world. She was its slashing, endless torrents of rain falling like needles, covering everything in her pain. She was the rumbling thunder, shaking the air with her hatred.

She was a terrified mare chained inside her own body, screaming at herself to stop, and instead found only twisted laughter that wasn’t her own spilling from her lips.

“Yes! Fall! Fall! You dare try to replace me!? Cheerilee is mine!” her mouth said, seeing the jasmine pegasus get knocked out of the air by one of her precious pawns, her lovely lizards of flame.

No! Don’t hurt anypony! Make this stop!, it was a tiny voice, she couldn’t even be sure it was hers or just a scrap of will from some other... better pony. A pony that had been happy once, maybe even strong, with her friends by her side. A pony she didn’t know she was anymore.

“Raindrops!” It was Cheerilee who was shouting, voice fearful for her friend even as the Fire Drake turned its attention from the fallen pegasus and slapped its fire wreathed tail at her. Tarnished was at once thrilled and horrified; part of her reveling in the idea of seeing her old friend be injured, just a small payback for all the pain she’d endured, while that other part of her cried out for Cheerilee to escape. Or to help her. Tarnished desperately wanted to cry out to her friend to stop her, before she hurt somepony... but it was like her mind was a burning pyre of dark flames, flames that coursed through her body and made it move on its own, made her voice speak words she didn’t want.

Cheerilee made a quick “Ack!” sound and scrambled off the log pile she’d been standing on, ungainly avoiding the lashing tail of the Fire Drake. Tarnished snarled, irritated her servants (No, they’re my friends! Don’t use them like this!) were being so inept! She only noted with some satisfaction that from the distant sound of yelling and the smell of smoke that the lumber camp was still in disarray and chaos. The chaos felt good, but more than that, the pain and suffering it caused was what tasted like properly aged wine to her senses. Yes, this place would be a good location to begin building a monument to destruction, once the ponies here were reminded of their place-

Why am I thinking like this!? What’s wrong with me!? This isn’t what I want!

Cheerilee, she just wanted Cheerilee back. And to stop her animal friends from being imprisoned. And... and to... to go home...

Why was she crying? No, that had to just be the rain. She shook her head vigorously. Tarnished could almost feel the thoughts in her head rattle about, regaining focus. Whispers of flame in her mind, pushing aside her doubts. Yes, she was here to punish Cheerilee for leaving her, her brother for getting in the way, and the Lumber Guild and anypony associated with them for daring to capture her animal friends! Punish them. Especially those supposed ‘friends’ Cheerilee had brought with her. Parading them in front of her just to mock her! Destroying them would feel so good.

...no...

Cheerilee was running again. She had done that quite a bit. It was irritating. All Cheerilee knew how to do, apparently, was run away. How fitting. Well, it’d be interesting to see her try and run once her legs were broken and Tarnished deposited the charred remains of her ‘friends’ in front of her eyes.

...please, stop...

Trixie felt the hot flames of the Fire Drake nipping at her tail as she galloped, darting in between two neat and tall stacked lumber piles that she hoped would slow the lizard down a bit. She was circling around to get to Raindrops, having felt her heart jump into her throat when the pegasus had been knocked to the ground.

Trixie needn’t have worried. By the time she ran around the stack of logs she saw Raindrops was proving her own resilience, already shaking herself and flying back up into the air. Trixie was relieved the pegasus was holding up under the circumstances. She knew with the negative influence of the storm that Raindrops couldn't have been having an easy time of things. It was satisfying to know that she could rely so much on her friends. It was still, in a lot of ways, a new feeling for her.

She didn’t have time to bathe in that feeling, however, as Tarnished was directing the basilisk right towards her.

Basilisk in front of me, Fire Drake behind me, and me disguised as Cheerilee, so got to be careful how I use my magic so I don’t give away that I’m not the mare Tarnished is looking for, Trixie thought glumly, even though this whole gambit had been her idea.

When Trixie had made her unsteady way across the dam to the lumber yard she’d seen the basilisk trying to bite Raindrops, but before she’d been able to move in with her magic to start blinding the beast with her fabulous illusions Cheerilee had just appeared out of the shadows. Cheerilee hadn’t looked too good, breathing hard, and Trixie knew the stain of darker red on the magenta mare’s leg was from far too much blood loss. Trixie had quickly concocted the idea of taking on Cheerilee’s form to get Tarnished’s attention, ostensibly with the idea that the real Cheerilee would use the opportunity to get at Tarnished and hopefully subdue her before Trixie or Raindrops got crushed or turned to stone.

So far the distraction part was working; Trixie just didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep it up. She had to resist the urge to adjust her hat, which of course wasn’t visible due to her Cheerilee disguise. The illusion was easy enough to wear, even under duress, and wasn’t draining her magic much. Her horn was starting to seriously ache, however. They needed Tarnished off that basilisk, fast, before Trixie didn’t have enough magic to try copying Tarnished’s control spell.

The basilisk's head lowered until it was all but level with the ground as it stampeded towards her, bursting through piles of logs like the thick stacks of wood were little more than toothpicks. Behind her the Fire Drake had halted, blocking her route to escape the basilisk. Trixie’s heart was pounding as she tried to think of a way out. If she ran to the side the Fire Drake could still get at her. She could turn invisible but that would make it clear she wasn’t Cheerilee. Just standing still wasn’t an option. Any more complex illusions she could try would just drain her magic faster...

Trixie saw a flash of jasmine above her, Raindrops flying right towards the basilisk.

She saw her pegasus friend hurl something at the basilisk’s eyes, something small and yellow. Trixie heard the sound of something breaking, and suddenly the basilisk’s eyes were covered in a dull yellow goop like tree sap. The creature roared in pain but didn’t stop its charge, now a blind one.

Whether driven by a flash of inspiration of madness Trixie turned to the pile of lumber behind her and scrambled up it just as the basilisk reached her position. The Fire Drake growled and shot its head towards her, trying to catch her in its flaming maw, but she just barely managed to climb out of the way. At the very instant the basilisk hit the lumber pile, knocking the Fire Drake aside in its blind fury, Trixie threw herself backward, aiming for Tarnished atop the basilisk’s head.

Trixie was no acrobat. She was operating on pure adrenaline and instinct. She felt more than heard the impact against the pile of lumber, giant logs flying through the air around her like so much broken kindling. She flung her arms out as she sailed through the air, as blind in her action as the basilisk. Trixie felt herself impact with something warm and pony shaped that yelped. Then she only had a sense of vertigo as she tumbled end over end in the air before impacting hard on the slick ground. She ended up on her back, staring up into the black sky, aching from snout to tail. Trixie rolled over with a groan onto her barrel and started forcing herself to her hooves. With some satisfaction she noted she’d managed to maintain her illusion, the hooves beneath her were still the magenta coat color of Cheerilee.

The basilisk was a few dozen yards away, having lost its traction towards the end of its charge and slipped about on the muddy ground. It was quickly regaining its feet, shaking its head and wiping at its face with one claw, clearing away the odd goo that had temporarily blinded it. Trixie looked about. She was sure she’d managed to knock Tarnished off the basilisk, so where-?

The buck landed squarely on Trixie’s side right behind the spot her forelegs connected with her shoulder. She was sent sprawling, pain exploding in her. Trixie started to rise again, hearing the high, cracking tone of Tarnished and she looked up to see the crazed mare advancing on her.

“Why did you go away, Cheerilee? Everything was just... right, when you were with me. Why did you leave if you were just going to show up again and make me want to hurt you!? You should have stayed away!” Tarnished looked, if anything, worse off than Trixie. Her mane fell in tangled clumps around her face, which was somehow gaunter, more drained, than it had even when she’d first appeared in the camp. There were dark circles under her eyes, which were shifting about in nervous ticks. Trixie couldn’t be sure, but it looks like the mare’s magic was even more erratic than ever, the gray aura so frayed and spiked that it barely looked like a unicorn’s aura anymore so much as it reminded Trixie of a tattered rag.

Trixie, standing on shaking hooves, readied herself to avoid another attack, but it wasn’t necessary. Tarnished only got to take one more menacing step before a shape appeared out of the gloom behind her. While the move wasn’t what Trixie would’ve called elegant, Cheerilee was still gentle, or at least as gentle as one could be when sweep out Tarnished’s legs out from under her, pouncing upon her, and wrapping Tarnished up in a leg lock that looked rather uncomfortable (and indecent) to Trixie’s eyes.

Tarnished looked stunned for a second, struggling fiercely inside the hold and screeching, “Let me go! Let go! She’s right in front of me! You won’t keep me away-” her struggles ceased the second she noticed who was holding her, “-...Cheerilee?”

Trixie saw Cheerilee give her a nod and Trixie dropped the illusions. The image of the schoolteacher melted off her like evaporating mist, revealing her natural form underneath, hat, cape, and all. Just as she finished dispelling the illusion, Raindrops landed from the gloom above next to her.

“Trixie, Cheerilee, you two alright?” the pegasus asked in worry, looking Trixie over with concern.

“I’m none the worse for wear, death defying acrobatics aside,” Trixie said, then grunted as putting weight on her left foreleg sent a spear of pain shooting through her side, “Nothing a little quality down time with my physical therapist won’t cure.”

Raindrops raised an eyebrow, “Let me guess; Monsieur Bourbon?”

“Oh, you know him?” Trixie deadpanned.

“Trixie, not to interrupt the banter, but just a suggestion, might want to consider getting on this sometime soon, but...” Cheerilee nodding her head towards the basilisk, which Trixie noted was less blind now, and looking in their direction in a manner most unfriendly. Right, that part of the plan. The part where Trixie needed to use a spell she’d never used before to control a multi-ton killing machine. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

“Right,” Trixie put a hoof on her hat to keep it on her head as the wind picked up, “I was going to do that, wasn’t I?”

“None of you are doing anything!” yelled Tarnished, “My friend is going to turn you two into stone! Cheerilee and watch while it happens-ow!”

Cheerilee had one leg free and used it to bop Tarnished’s horn. Cheerilee had an unamused look. No, she had the unamused look. The look school foals across Ponyville dreaded and parents got sweaty under during parent/teacher conferences.

“Tarnished, you and I have a lot to talk about, but that talk is not starting with you threatening my friends. Now are you going to call the basilisk off, or do I really have to sic Trixie on it?”

“Sic me on it? What am I, a guard dog? Because I detest guard dogs! I’d rather be, say, a prized falcon or perhaps an ermine!”

“Is that really the issue here?” muttered Raindrops.

Tarnished glowered, voice darkening to a low, hissing tone, “Let her try. Just watch Cheerilee, just watch as your supposed friends fail! I won’t even resist... I want to watch too, I want to see the look on your face. Every. Little. Bit. Of. Pain.”

Cheerilee’s jaw tightened, “That isn’t you talking. Its whatever’s gotten into your head,” she bared her teeth, even as tears welled up in her eyes, “And if it’s got a physical body somewhere, I’m going to tear it apart with my teeth for doing this to you!”

To this Tarnished just laughed, a high pitched pealing cackle that hardly sounded like it could come from the throat of a pony. Trixie felt chilled to her core hearing it, but couldn’t spend any time worry about that; she had a basilisk to deal with. Tarnished’s horn wasn’t glowing anymore after Cheerilee hit it, which meant the basilisk wasn’t under the mad mare’s direct control. It was the opportunity Trixie needed to try and use her own control spell.

Trixie kept her eyes focused on the basilisk’s chest area, avoiding its eyes as the creature, confused without direction but still clearly loyal to Tarnished, pounded towards them. Raindrops was next to her, wings buzzing. Trixie imagined her friend was torn between going airborne to be in a position to attack the basilisk, or staying on the ground to stay close to her friends.

The basilisk was almost on them, not charging as fast as before, perhaps because it was concerned over injuring Tarnished, but its intent was clearly hostile from the threatening growl in its throat. Trixie didn’t plan on giving it time to strike first. She immediately lit up her horn, blue glow quickly gaining an overlay of magic as she pulled up as much of her remaining strength as she could to weave the spell. She remembered the pathways Tarnished’s own magic had taken, like an interlocking set of chains. The enchantment’s structure was so similar to basic charm magic that when Trixie had watched it earlier, examined its form and got a feel for the casting of it, that she’d concluded its function was a compulsion affect. It made sense to her that Tarnished had been compelling the basilisk’s to greater levels of hostility than would be their instinct. Trixie didn’t notice until she was halfway through casting the spell that it had some subtle differences from the charm spells she was familiar with. Mostly that the magical set of chains that were currently setting around the basilisk’s head weren’t actually chains, that the magic structure had formed into something more like a... conduit.

This wasn’t a spell for controlling animals.

It just happened to resemble one.

In actually what Trixie had just cast was-

Bad soft prey have good not-prey friend. Kill. Save not-prey friend. Bad noises everywhere. Bad smells everywhere. More soft prey coming. Hurry. Kill. Hurry.

-a spell for mentally communicating with animals.

It was so simple Trixie was floored she hadn’t realized it sooner. Tarnished’s special talent was supposedly working with animals so why would she have needed a spell to control them? The answer was; she didn’t. She used a spell to simplify communicating with them, linking her mind to theirs, but not in a way that forced dominance but just made it easy to share thoughts. Trixie had been so focused on the matter of copying the spell she hadn’t had time to notice the subtle differences in structure that would’ve allowed her to figure this out sooner. Now her mind and the basilisk's were linked by the magical tether between her horn and the basilisk.

While her instinct was to break the spell immediately, Trixie was canny enough to realize this might be her only chance to... well... talk to the basilisk.

The basilisk’s mind was a jumble of sharp, intense thoughts, not quite as animalistic as Trixie would have expected. She felt the creature’s anger and fear in equal measures. It was furious at all of them because Tarnished had been furious with them, while the basilisk itself was more simply afraid. Afraid for its friend, and for its mate... Trixie had trouble sorting out the images and feelings, but they were so base, so instinctual it was hard to miss their meaning. The spell was a little disorienting, her mind bombarded my sensations that weren’t her own, but she adapted quickly, focusing on sorting things out. She could tell the basilisk was equally confused with her, its own as much attached to her surface thoughts and emotions as she was to its. The beast had halted just above her, shaking its head as it apparently tried to sort out her mind as much as she was trying to sort out it’s.

Feel soft prey. Not friend. Inside like not-prey friend! Out!

The basilisk raised a claw to slam down at her and Trixie hastily tried thinking past the confusion to communicate. She might not have expected the spell to do this but she was going to roll with the situation. Not like she had a lot of choice, it was attempt diplomacy or be turned into pancake.

Wait, wait, wait! We’re trying to help your friend!

The claw didn’t come down, and Trixie didn’t dare look up to meet the basilisk’s eyes but she could feel the creature staring at down at her with intensity that made her mane itch. There was a deep rumbling growl from the beast, one that vibrated through Trixie’s entire body, but that was preferable to the basilisk just pulping her on the spot.

Soft prey lying. Soft prey scared. Hurt and chase not-prey friend!

Trixie could see the basilisk was thinking of more than just the recent fight, it was thinking of other events, earlier instances of what she could only assume was Count Shiny’s first attempt to find his sister. Mixed with those thoughts Trixie could still feel the basilisk’s own fear. It was scared for Tarnished, unable to make sense of the changes in the pony that had gradually happened and gotten particularly bad with Cheerilee’s arrival. Trixie could see images from a perspective hidden within the forest, watching Cheerilee trot along the road from the lumber camp to Oaton the night of the first attack.

Trixie felt the exceedingly uncomfortable sensation of the basilisk rooting around in her own thoughts. The spell went both ways apparently, allowing the basilisk as much access to Trixie’s emotions and surface thoughts as she had to its. Which she realized as disturbing as it was having a gigantic, angry carnivorous beast in her mind it might help her convince it of the truth.

I’m not lying. Look, look around at my thoughts, see all the fabulous not lying I’m doing!? Your, ugh, ‘not-prey’ friend is, was, a friend of my friend. It’s complicated. My friend wants to help you friend, because she’s not well. All those weird changes in her that have you feeling all uncomfortable? Yeah, that’s because of something very, very, bad in the forest you’ve been living in! We want to stop it! But we needed to stop your not-prey friend first before she hurt so many ponies that the ponies I represent don’t do bad things to her like lock her away. Understand?

“Trixie,” Raindrops asked by her side, “What’s happening? Do you have it under your control or what?”

“Not exactly. More like we’re having negotiations,” Trixie said with some strain in her voice. The spell was not easy to maintain, no less so than if it had been a full on control spell. She could feel her magic being used up like water being poured from a pitcher at an alarming rate. Didn’t help that the spell was infinitely more distracting than she’d expected because of all the mental backwash from the basilisk. Trixie never would have imagined that the survival of her and her friends would depend on how quickly she could sweet talk a twenty ton lizard while sharing brainspace with it.

This had just been a weird weekend.

Tarnished had gone from laughing to spitting anger almost instantaneously the second the basilisk had hesitated to smash Trixie into paste. Tarnished twisted and wrenched in Cheerilee’s ironclad grip, hoarsely screaming, “What are you waiting for!? Smash her! Crush her to bits! Turn her to stone then smash her head off, and then smash that into dust!”

Trixie could only think towards the basilisk, Do I even need to point out your friend isn’t well in the head?

The basilisk’s throat rumbled with what to Trixie sounded like a ponderous note. She could feel it looking at her own thoughts like a shifting pressure behind her skull. Trixie tried her best to keep her thoughts open and focused upon the events that had brought her and her friends to Oaton, so the creature could see exactly how things got to this point. It wasn’t easy, as her gut instincts were screaming at her to close her mind off; that this was a violation of her very coveted personal space. However, she really didn’t want to give the house sized carnivorous lizard in front of her any further reason to resume its attack.

Not-prey friend feels strange. Isn’t like self. I trust her. I protect her. Anger of friend growing, darker and darker. In pain, but no wound to lick, nothing to heal. Darkness in home, can’t crush, can kill, can’t eat. Want not-prey friend to be safe. To leave. But can’t. You soft prey everywhere. No safe place! Soft prey are bad! Hold others in hard place, not free! Red soft prey makes not-prey friend feel pain, feel anger! Betrayal!

The basilisk had turned its gaze towards Cheerilee and Tarnished, Cheerilee herself closing her eyes to protect herself while she struggled to keep Tarnished under control. Tarnished was growling like a caged animal, breathing heavily, and snapping her teeth in any attempt to bite at Cheerilee. Raindrops tapped Trixie on the shoulder.

“Trixie, we got another problem,” she said and Trixie flicked her eyes towards where the pegasus was pointing to see that the Fire Drake that had been knocked away by the basilisk’s blind charge had recovered and was stalking towards them.

Listen, Trixie thought thought towards the basilisk, The red one is only holding your friend to keep her from hurting herself and others! You say she feels strange; that’s because of the bad thing in the forest. You know, that ‘darkness’ you want to get away from? Help us, and we’ll stop the bad thing, and help your friend get better.

Why trust!? Not friend! No trust! You smell bad, of fear!

Trixie swallowed, her throat dry. No point denying it. She was scared. More so because of what she was about to do. She looked up at the basilisk, full on at its eyes.

Of course I’m afraid! You have teeth larger than my head. That is a pretty fear inducing thing! But right now you can see my thoughts just like I can yours. You should be able to see that all I’m after is a way to put an end to this without anypony, and, er, anycreature else from getting hurt. Even if you don’t trust me, the only other choice you have is to keep letting the bad thing in the forest hurt your friend, because I’m willing to bet you don’t have a way to stop it. I might be able to!

It wasn’t exactly her norm to be this honest, especially when she was at a disadvantage, but she wasn’t exactly swimming in options. She was betting on the basilisk wanting Tarnished safe more than it wanted to aid Tarnished’s madness. Trixie was hoping this creature was intelligent enough to realize that Tarnished’s actions were not of her own choosing, and that Trixie and her friends represented Tarnished’s best chance at getting better.

The basilisk’s eyes, two glowing yellow pits bright as torches in the night, looked at her. Trixie was fairly certain her heart decided to stop beating for a second. Raindrops was bracing herself to charge at the Fire Drake. Cheerilee was grimly holding onto Tarnished despite the other mare managing to get her teeth clamped down on one of Cheerilee’s legs.

Trixie blinked as a flash of lightning almost blinding her, and when she opened her eyes again the basilisk had looked away from her, instead lashing out with its tail and clipping the Fire Drake across its head. The Fire Drake’s eyes crossed and the creature fell over, unconscious. Raindrops looked at the basilisk in surprise.

“Did it... just help us?”

Trixie let out a breath, “I think we’ve come to an arrangement.”

Help not-prey friend. Make her better. the basilisk snorted and lowered its head until its massive snout was nearly touching Trixie and she was transfixed by its eyes, Betray trust and blue soft prey is eaten first. Now get out of head!

Trixie didn’t have any qualms with breaking the mental communication spell. She’d nearly exhausted herself maintaining it that long. It was a wonder Tarnished could use it so easily, and even with multiple animals simultaneously, but if it was part of her special talent for communicating with animals it was little wonder. Unicorns tended to have an easier time using spells that tied into their talents; it was how Trixie could use illusions for hours on end that other unicorns could drain themselves trying to maintain for as long.

“What is this!?” Tarnished screeched, ceasing biting Cheerilee as a look of absolute shock appeared on her face which then twisted into anguish, eyes locked on the basilisk, “No! You...you are turning on me!? After everything I’ve done for you!? I looked after you when you were sick! I introduced you to your mate! We’ve been friends for... for...”

Tarnished hung her head, then that unnatural laughing started bubbling up.

“Useless... friends are so... useless.”

Cheerilee’s own expression was drawn up one of pain, but Trixie doubted it was from the earth pony’s injuries. She watched the Element of Laughter not even bother to hold back tears as she held her one time friend down, one hoof, the hoof Tarnished had bitten into with her teeth, gently stroking Tarnished’s main.

“That’s not true, Tarnished. I’m here. I’m you friend-”

“No,” Tarnished cut Cheerilee off, and to Trixie’s surprise the rain slacked off suddenly.

Trixie looked up, blinking as the swirling clouds above condensed into a lowering mass above them and the air became abruptly much colder.

“No,” Tarnished repeated, her eyes flashing green, her horn’s aura roiling with motes of black and violet light. The condensed clouds above roiling and churning with a build up of... something, and Trixie heard thunder but saw no lightning. Gulping she turned on her magic sight and looked up at the clouds.

“Oh-” Trixie began

“NO!” Tarnished screamed.

“-merde!”

A bolt of magical lightning that Trixie could see was far more composed of destructive magic than it was natural electricity slashed down from the clouds and hit between all of them. Tarnished’s aim might have been horrible, or she wasn’t actually trying to hit anypony, or she wasn’t in direct control of the lightning, but regardless the concussive force released from the magic in the bolt striking the ground sent Trixie flying.

A sharp tangy scent of ozone filled her nostrils and she felt the world tilting a bit as she tried to right herself and failed, only succeeding to go from lying on one side to another. Blinking her eyes she looked around, seeing Raindrops a few yards away. Raindrops was stumbling to her hooves, mane a little frizzled and smoking. The bolt must have struck closer to her than Trixie, but at least the pegasus mare looked like she wasn’t hurt too badly.

The basilisk had back away slightly, hesitantly watching as if unsure what to do, and Trixie could almost imagine that it shrugged at her. Trixie wondered if it was a good or bad thing that the huge predator was apparently trying to give the ponies their space to sort this out.

Cheerilee was on her back, a little further away, and clearly dazed, but otherwise looking uninjured. However she was no longer holding Tarnished.

Trixie heard the mare’s laughter, and looked to see Tarnished’s blue form slowly trotting towards her through the renewed rain. Her lips were twisted in a horrible hybrid of a sneer and a grin, and her eyes were twitching erratically, not glowing green anymore but still filled with a mad light. Her horn was glowing, not with as much black and violet energy, but still a smokey dark gray, the aura frayed and jagged.

“What? No more magic tricks? No little firework displays or cheap figments to throw me off? Not even going to turn invisible?”

Legs, moving now would be great, Trixie thought with growing panic as she tried to get up on her hooves, but slipped in the mud, planting face first. She could feel the build up of thunderous energy in the clouds, and knew that the next bolt wasn’t going to be random. Tarnished was breathing heavily, looking exhausted, and Trixie didn’t know how much magical energy she was using to bring down the lightning, but it was clearly pushing her to her limit.

Tarnished was looking right at her, and all of that malevolent focus was likely to direct the next bolt right towards Trixie. Raindrops was moving, stumbling forward to try and stop Tarnished. Cheerilee, who was just now getting up to her own hooves, shouting something, probably a plea for Tarnished to stop given the look of desperate fear on the schoolteacher’s face. Trixie knew it wasn’t going to be enough, hearing the echoing crash of the lightning as it released from the magically charged clouds above. No time to move, no time for anypony to stop it.

Trixie suddenly felt something land on top of her, a warm pony shaped body landing on her back.

A rather tiny pony shaped body.

Trixie turned her head up and saw Bushel was standing on top of her. The magically charged lightning from the clouds was arching erratically around a point above the small yellow filly’s head. Bushel’s eyes were open wide and mouth was gaping, and Trixie, while panicking, noticed that the magic wasn’t coursing through Bushel, or causing her any obvious harm. Trixie’s magical sight was still active, however, and it was showing her clearly what was happening.

The lightning bolt had been far less electricity as it had been negatively charged magic gathered from the clouds. That magic was being drawn into a point on Bushel’s forehead, like water being pulled into a suction funnel. There the magic was being absorbed and concentrated, the aura of magic joining with another pool of magic that had taken a specific shape upon Bushel’s forehead.

That of a horn.

“Bushel?” Trixie blinked as the lightning dissipated completely and Bushel teetered back and forth for a second. Trixie was quick to steady the filly with her hooves, finding the filly was warm and feverish to the touch, even soaked as she was with rain and mud. Trixie realized Bushel must have run here through the storm. Trixie’s mind was locked up with too many sudden questions, all of which were overridden by concern for the filly.

“Uuuh...don’t feel so good,” the filly said, face scrunched up in pain and rubbing at her head where the horn was. She looked up at Trixie with glazed eyes, but she still, despite clearly being in pain, gave a sheepish smile, “T-Trixie! I, uh, wanted to help! Don’t tell my parents? They’ll be super mad... aah... head hurts.”

Trixie reached a hoof around Bushel and held the filly close her. Trixie could feel the little filly’s heart pounding erratically. While fear for the filly coursed through her, Trixie had to stare at Bushel’s head. The horn was both there, and it wasn’t. It was like the magic had pooled in a horn’s shape, a spike of swirling energy contained in a translucent, clear space like the horn itself was made of glass. Trixie had never seen anything like it, but her mind was tickled with the notion that she’d heard of something like this.

Even as she looked at it she could see the magic inside the horn, the same heavy, dark charge of the lightning bolt. The horn... it didn’t have any magic of its own, and now that she was looking at it the horn had other magic inside it besides from the lightning. She saw the swirling, greenish tinted magic of transmutation, like from the basilisk's petrifying gaze. There was traces of illusionary magic as well! Blue, like... like Trixie’s!

What is this? Its like this horn has been eating up magic from all around her! I... I’ve heard of this! Luna told me; one of her chamber maids has this condition. Reverse horns...no...Inverted! Bushel has an Inverted Horn! She’s a unicorn whose horn consumes magic instead of channels it!

Suddenly the reason the spells on her hat had gone inert made sense. Bushel had been wearing it, and her Inverted Horn must have consumed the magic from the hat. Was this horn the reason Bushel had fallen ill a year ago? It had to have been, because she was burning up now. Trixie could see the filly’s eyes fluttering between being wide open and nearly closing, and she was breathing in short gasps. Trixie knew very little about the medical condition of Inverted Horns, only that it was a exceedingly rare condition that had only a few documented cases, and that it was supposedly related to another uncommon phenomenon; that of ‘Null Ponies’. Regardless, Trixie’s knowledge was so limited she couldn’t be sure if this fever was supposed to be normal or not. Considering Bushel had just eaten a massive amount of invocation magic and negative energy there was no telling what it was doing to her body or spirit.

“Bushel, hold on, I’m going to get you somewhere safe,” Trixie said as she placed the filly more firmly on her back, covering Bushel with her cape.

Before she could take more than a step though a ragged, thin bolt of black tinged arcane energy burned by her nose. Tarnished was leveling her horn at Trixie, but the mare’s eyes were wide with disbelief and fear, rather than anger.

“I... I... why is there a foal here...?” Tarnished looked horrified, her neck straining as if she were forcing herself to not point her horn at Trixie. It suddenly hit Trixie that the bolt that Tarnished had just fired had missed because Tarnished had made it miss, not because she was a bad shot. As Trixie watched Tarnished’s face contorted back to anger, then to fear, back and forth.

“They’re not allowed to leave! Not until we’re done with them!”

“No...no more! Not a little filly...I don’t want this!”

“Its too late to stop. Stop. Resiting! Make them pay. Remember your pain is more important than theirs!”

“I...can’t...stop...”

Tarnished was shouting at herself, and Trixie heard Bushel say faintly from her back, “Trixie, what’s wrong with her?”

“Either she’s crazy, possessed by an ancient evil, or both. Either way I got to get you away from here!” Trixie said, concerned now only for the safety of the little pony wrapped up in her cape. Trixie didn’t want to leave Cheerilee and Raindrops to deal with Tarnished, but how could she keep fighting with Bushel’s safety at risk? She felt Bushel shift and then felt the filly’s forelegs hug around the back of Trixie’s neck.

“No, you gotta help her! Heroes help ponies, and she really sounds like she needs help,” Bushel was crying, soft little sobs she was clearly trying to hide, “I’ll be okay, doesn't h-hurt that much, I can deal with it. You just help...that poor mare. Please. I know you can do it... you’re the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Trixie halted, gritting her teeth. Why did Bushel have to hit her right in her weak spot?

Meanwhile Raindrops had shaken off her own apparent shock at the turn of events and locked her eyes on Tarnished, the pegasus growling as she clearly got ready to pounce at Tarnished.

“Raindrops, wait!” Cheerilee shouted, causing Raindrops to pause, giving Cheerilee a disbelieving look. Cheerilee held up a hoof, then start slowly approaching Tarnished, each step careful and deliberate as she looked at her old friend with concern creasing her features, but with eyes hopeful.

“Tarnished?”

Tarnished whipped her head around at the sound of Cheerilee’s voice, eyes wild.

“Cheerilee I-... you did this! I didn’t want to hurt anypony! I just wanted to be happy with you!” Tarnished was shaking her head as if trying to dislodge something, “Its everywhere in my head! I... I can’t stop myself from wanting to make everypony suffer! I can’t... I’m not strong enough to...”

“You are strong Tarnished,” Cheerilee said, taking another step closer, “I felt that the first say I met you. I knew you were a good mare, who had a lot to give the world outside that little garden I found you in.”

“And I was happy you found me. You made my life so much...better. You and everypony in the gang; you were my family. Losing that hurt so much Cheerilee. It still hurts! Everything was perfect, then you just ended it, for...for what reason!? Didn’t we make you happy too? Weren’t we your family as much as you were ours!?”

“I didn’t know how strongly you felt about it Tarnished, and I could have found a way to break the news to you better than I did. I’m sorry I hurt you Tarnished. I was happy back then, in a way. No responsibilities, or worries. But I realized I wanted to do something else with my life, and I couldn’t keep the gang together and pursue my life the way I wanted to at the same time. But Tarnished, I’m telling you now, I never once stopped being you friend! You or anypony else in the old gang!”

Cheerilee was just a few steps away from Tarnished now. Raindrops was still poised to leap at the unicorn, and Trixie couldn’t blame her. Tarnished’s horn was wreathed with magic, black and violet motes of light leaking away from the horn erratically.

“Cheerilee, I can’t...I’m going to hurt you if you take another step! It doesn’t matter, I want to believe you, but it doesn’t matter! I can’t control myself! Its too much, all this anger in me, I can’t make it stop!”

“You can!” Cheerilee said, lifting a leg to step closer, “I know you can Tarnished! This thing that’s in you, you’re better than it is! You’re a good pony Tarnished and I trust you because you’re my friend.”

Cheerilee took that next step and Trixie could have replaced her stomach with snakes and it’d feel just as twisting and roil with worry. She had Sawdust’s mind shielding spell she could try putting on Tarnished, but she was too far away to get it off in time if she decided to shoot. Even Raindrops wouldn’t be able to tackle Tarnished in time, Cheerilee was too close to Tarnished, in point-blank range. Even if Tarnished tried forcing herself to miss like she had with Trixie, at that range it might not matter.

“Cheerilee...” Tarnished was biting her lip so hard that blood was trailing down her chin and her body was trembling like she was freezing. Her eyes had bled to a green tint, and her horn was covered in black now, “...run...”

“No,” said Cheerilee, “I won’t run out on a friend again. I’m here for you Tarnished, we can beat this thing together.”

Cheerilee took a final step and then she was right there before Tarnished, one hoof pulling the other mare into an embrace that Tarnished did not fight. However Trixie did see Tarnished’s horn flash and a bolt of raw black arcane energy rip free... only Tarnished was aiming it straight up into the clouds as she screamed in raw unleashed emotion. For a second Trixie just thought Cheerilee had timed her embrace to get past the bolt, but as Tarnished kept pushing magic out of her horn and into the sky, with a look of growing, pained determination, Trixie realized what Tarnished was trying to do.

“Merde, she’s trying to overchannel!” Trixie shouted, quickly setting Bushel down and rushing forward.

“What?” Cheerilee said in shock, still holding Tarnished close, and looking at her friends face in surprise.

Tarnished grimaced, but, for once, smiled in a way that looked like her own natural smile as she kept pouring magic out of her horn.

“I...I’m s-sorry Cheerilee...I’ll hurt you, unless I make myself...incapable of doing so,” she said.

Trixie got to the pair and in a rather desperate act touched her horn to Tarnished’s head and wove the mind shielding enchantment as fast as she could, feeling her own horn tingling in protest. In seconds she felt the shield snap into place, which caused Tarnished to gasp in surprise. Trixie took advantage of the distraction to smack Tarnished’s horn with a hoof. Trixie grunted in pain as some of the black magic firing from the horn singed her hoof, but it got Tarnished to stop and both blue unicorns ended up falling back to the ground in exhausted heaps, Cheerilee landing on top of Tarnished, still in a hug.

Raindrops had moved over to Bushel protectively while the little filly huddled in Trixie’s cape, watching the events unfold with wide eyes.

Trixie herself levered herself up into a half upright position with her forelegs, just in time to see Tarnished do the same as she rubbed her horn.

“O-ow! What is wrong with you!? I could have taken your leg off you crazy mare!” Tarnished shouted, eyes back to their normal color, though they still twitched slightly.

“You’re calling me crazy? I’m not the one who uses thirty foot tall lizards to attack...ponies...” Trixie started, but trailed off as Cheerilee gave her a look that could have stripped the silver enamel off a Night Guard’s armor. She settled for holding herself as proudly as she could, while almost laying on her back, dead tired, and covered in mud, “Just saying, pot, kettle, black. So, is she lucid now?”

Cheerilee, holding Tarnished close, looked the other mare in the eyes, “Tarnished, are you okay? Are you thinking clearly?”

“I...” Tarnished’s face was one of confusion and growing realization slowly transitioning into horror, “The whispers aren’t gone, but they’re so quiet, and all that anger is...it isn’t gone either, but its not burning me inside out. Dear Luna, what have I been doing!? Cheerilee I was...I was so angry at you, and brother was smuggling animals, and I just kept getting more angry, and it hurt thinking about you...so I wanted to hurt you...oh no, I...I’ve screwed everything up...”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Cheerilee said, tightening her embrace on Tarnished, “You believe me yet? That I’m you friend.”

“I’m sorry...I’m so sorry, Cheerilee...” Tarnished didn’t seem to be able to say much else between sobbing into Cheerilee’s shoulder, letting out what was probably years worth of pain at missing her friend. Trixie looked away from the display, feeling a little uncomfortable with it, and also concerned for Bushel and wanting to check on the filly.

Raindrops was looking over Bushel, shielding the filly from the rain with her wings. Trixie and Raindrops exchanged a look and Trixie gave a small nod of thanks, which Raindrops returned with a small smile. Bushel for her part was shaking as Trixie approached, and Trixie frowned, hoping the filly’s fever wasn’t getting worse. She knelt down next to Bushel, brining her face close to the filly’s. Bushel had a wan smile of her own as she looked at Trixie.

“You helped the... the mare?”

“Well, I did my part. I think,” Trixie cast a brief look back at where Tarnished and Cheerilee were still holding each other, “I think she got the most help from a very good friend.”

“Cool. I’m glad I got to see real heroes in action finally...um, I’m sorry Trixie, that I didn’t hold onto your hat back then. I didn’t want you to think I stopped believing you were awesome. Because you are,” Bushel said, then winced and made a soft moan, “Ahh...feel like I’m...gonna hurl...why do I have to be sick in front of Trixie? Not cool.”

Raindrops put her forelegs around the filly, one feeling her brow, “Trixie, she’s burning up. We need to get her back to Oaton. But...what’s with this glowing horn?”

“Glowing...horn?” asked Bushel, in surprise, “I have a glowing horn?”

Trixie gave Raindrops a look, then said, “Its... I think its an Inverted Horn, Bushel. Think of it like being a reverse unicorn. It eats magic. I think its what’s making you sick. I don't know for sure though. That’s why we have to get you home.”

“Whoa...wait, mom and dad will be soooo mad at me! You gotta sneak me...ugh, ooow, Trixie...I’m not feeling too...goo...d”

“Bushel?” Trixie asked, seeing the filly sort of condense into a tight little ball and then just relax. Trixie felt a stab of panic but a quick look showed the filly was just passed out. But that wasn’t all that comforting, considering Trixie knew all too well this filly had fallen into a comma once from a fever. A fever that must have somehow been caused by this Inverted Horn, but how could Trixie fix this!? She didn’t know anything about this condition! And there was still the problem of this storm, and the evil presence within the forest! Then there was Sawdust and Count Shiny both still to sort out!

Subduing Tarnished was one problem scratched off the list; but the danger was far from over.

A fact made even clearer by the distant sound of wood cracking, so loud it could be heard even over the noise of the storm.

“What was that?” Raindrops asked, worry clear in her tone.

“That,” said Trixie with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, “Was probably the sound of a dam starting to break.”

Author's Note

Well, a part of me really wanted to be able to bring everything to a proper climax and close with this chapter, but as it turned out what I have in mind just didn't want to fit into the package I was trying to pack it into. So after posing the question to the forum I decided to split the final chapter into two parts. Even part 1 here has turned out rather hefty in size, but here's hoping you folks got a kick out of it. I seem to have a penchant for long action sequences. Anyways, I'd like to thank all of you who've kept reading this story. Feel free to comment away on anything about the story, let me know what you all think.