The Golden Trail

Like she often did in the morning, Gold sat in deep meditation under the shade of the orchard's many trees. A simple part of her routine, one of many that she now found herself in these days. It had taken a week, but everypony managed to move past Twilight's hasty actions. One side-effect of the incident was a strong sense of gratitude Gold now felt towards the six mares. In the days that followed the incident, she personally went out of her way to spend time with her new friends. One day was spent chatting with Fluttershy at her cottage. On another, she visited Rarity's house for tea and to help Sweetie Belle with her meditation lessons. She even helped Rainbow with her exercises, followed by several rounds of chess. Time spent with Starlight was a lot more fun than she expected, ending stealth-walk training with a relaxing kite-flying session. She even helped Pinkie Pie watch her manager's twins, those particular days being more adventurous than some of her past life's most perilous missions.

It was also from those visits that she noticed an odd quirk about her phobia. While the glow of an adult unicorn's horn froze her heart, foals and infants simply made her feel nervous or slightly uncomfortable, respectively. Whether that was a product of her exposure therapy sessions with Starlight or had something to do with the ages of the unicorns in question was beyond her. Regardless, she chose to take that as a sign of progress.

If there was one thing that she was having a hard time adjusting to, it was the presence of Princess Twilight Sparkle and the extremely unnerving Spiderweb. While the latter mostly kept his distance from her, only crossing paths with her when they both happened to visit Pinkie Pie, the former seemed to go out of her way to orbit her. Every day, she could sense Twilight's magic aura just on the edge of her perception range when she meditated, while her old instincts made it easier to detect her outside of those moments. Initially, it put her on edge, but as the days passed, it became more of a minor nuisance than anything else. She didn't even seem to be trying to hide herself from Gold, the stalker happily waving at her the few times Gold would deadpan her way. Another oddity was the fact that the only times she seemed to give Gold any peace was when she was on the farm or in the Everfree Forest. It was almost as if she was trying to keep an eye on her, for some reason.

But what reason would that be? Does she feel guilty? Hmmm.....that could be a possibility. Perhaps I can talk her into joining me in my next therapy session with Fluttershy.

Easing herself out of her zen, she opened her eyes and stretched her stiff body as she stood up. After she slipped on her cloak, she made her way towards the main house, only to pause when she felt a pull from a tree at her right. Curious, she connected to it. Instantly, she was hit with a long string of worry from several trees, the chain seemingly reaching from the tree in question all the way to a cluster further into the orchard.

Egged on by the connection, she turned right and followed the string of connections. As she did, she started to hear voices. She instantly identified four of them as Hazel and the pack along with the panicked shouts of Applebloom and her friends. There were also two new voices, one sounding like a young colt and the other an extremely nervous filly. Worry mixed with curiosity, quickening Gold's pace while she followed the trees' trail. When she made it to its end, she was met with a scene that chilled her blood.

Just a couple steps ahead of her was a wide open clearing. On one side of the clearing, the timberwolves stood in a row, crouched low, fangs bared, and ready to strike. Behind them were Applebloom and her friends, each of them pulling feebly on their back legs with their hooves, telling them to stop. On the other side of the clearing, a purple and green baby dragon stood in a similar fashion, green flames flickering past his lips while he flexed his claws. Cowering behind the drake was a black and gray kirin foal, the poor thing curled up into a tight ball and hiding her face behind her hooves.

"Hold the line!" Hazel roared, pure malice burning in her glowing green eyes. "We need to keep the foals safe!"

The wolves all nodded, eyes locked entirely onto the odd duo.

"Wait! Hazel! Down!" Applebloom cried, still frantically pulling on the wolf's leg. "Spike's a friend!"

Did she say Spike?! Gold thought, shock knocking her out of her stunned state.

Before things could escalate further, Gold jumped out of the clearing between the two parties.

"Hazel! Stand down!" she demanded, meeting the wolf's eyes head on.

The wolf flinched, taken aback by Gold's sudden appearance.

"Wha-bu -Gold? Are yo serious?! That's-"

"Yes a dragon," Gold curtly nodded. "He is also a minor noble connected to a high royal. Therefore, unless you wish to be brought before the high court, I suggest you stand down."

Hazel balked at her for a moment, struggling to make any sense of what the mare had just revealed to her. Even if what she said was true, she was basically telling her to ignore two potential fire hazards. She was going to bring this up to her, but the cold glare Gold gave her killed that urge. Letting out an irate huff, the wolf turned away and started walking towards the trees.

"fine, but don't come crying to me when this whole place goes up in smoke."

The other wolves awkwardly did the same, none of them sure what to add to the situation.

Once the pack had left, Gold let out a relieved sigh and turned to face the visiting pair. At the same time, Applebloom and her friends ran to check on the still cowering kirin. Meanwhile, Spike looked up at Gold with cautious eyes, his posture subtly shifting from threatening to guarded.

"My apologies," she said, offering him a friendly smile. "My friends can be a bit over protective at times."

***

Twilight frantically paced her room, mane sprung loose in places and muttering under her breath. Spider silently watched her from her bed, face blank as he followed her with his eyes. He faintly let out a small sigh, already aware of what had pushed the princess into such a state.

For the past week, the two of them had been working in shifts to keep an eye on Gold. Thanks to a few enchantments she had placed on the perimeter of the farm's borders, Twilight knew when Gold left the area's protection. With a well-timed scrying spell, she was able to know Gold's exact location and then teleport to her general area to watch her. Spider did the same at night, silently patrolling the town's mostly empty streets for any suspicious individuals among the few night pony residents. So far, nothing of note had happened to Gold or any of the ponies connected to her, but they both knew that it was only a matter of time before that changed. At the same time, a debate nipped at the back of their minds.

"We need to tell her," Spider calmly stated.

"I know!" Twilight groaned, stopping her pacing to fall to her haunches. "I just don't know how we should do it."

"It is easy," he frowned. "Simply tell her that Moonstone escaped and may be targeting her."

"We can't do it like that!" she squawked. "We need to do this delicately. If we just blurt out the fact that Moonstone is on the loose, there's no telling what could happen!"

"Then, how do you suppose we break the news to her?" he pressed, a hint of irritation entering his tone. "It is only a matter of time before Moonstone makes a move. At the very least, Gold deserves to know there is a target on her back."

"I know, I know!" she cried, aggressively running her hooves through her frazzled mane.

Spider sighed, getting off of the bed and heading towards the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?"

"The farm," he flatly stated. "You may want to dance around the subject, but this needs to be done now."

"Spider, wait!" she cried.

just as he reached forward to open the door, a lavender aura encased his body. A second later, a rancid black aura formed on his horn, then spread to the barrier holding him. Twilight's spell rotted away under the power of Spider's, allowing him to easily break out of it and make his exit. Twilight jumped to her hooves and ran after him, casting more restraints in an attempt to halt his advance. With casual ease, he destroyed her bindings and ignored her pleas for him to stop. With each step he took, his patience started to thin. By the time he reached the castle's main gate, it had finally ran out.

"This needs to be done!" he roared, back to her and furious glare aimed at the doors. "I know that she will not take this well, but she needs to know!"

"But we need-" Twilight shakily started, only to be cut off.

"There is no delicate way to tell her! We need to approach this like a bandaid and rip it off!"

"But-"

"NO!" he barked, whirling to face her.

She flinched back from his glare.

Seeing her fear, a pang of guilt chilled his temper. Taking a deep breath, he pulled back his ire into a few flickering embers. When he next spoke, it was with a tone filled with tired sympathy.

"I wish that there was a better way to do this, I really do, princess. Unfortunately, we do not know how much time we have before Moonstone makes her move or if she is even aware of Gold's location, in the first place. As it stands, our only option is to make Gold aware of the situation and then help her plan accordingly."

"I....I don't want her to live in fear," Twilight whimpered, tears already forming in the corners of her eyes. "She...She's finally found a happy life. I don't want to take that away from her."

"Better us than Moonstone," he sighed. "I am sorry, princess, but sometimes, you need to pick the lesser of two evils."

"I know," she shuddered, tears finally starting to fall. "I just wish there was a better way."

Closing the distance, he gently nuzzled the side of his head into the side of hers. She leaned into him, letting the familiar scent of ash and paper ease her heart.

"So do I, Twilight," he sighed, ignoring the tears staining his coat. "So do I."

***

An odd party of six sat merrily in the Apple Family living room, each enjoying cups of tea or fresh apple juice as they traded stories. At the moment, Spike was regaling everypony present with the tale of how he helped save the Crystal Empire. While Gold, Sweetie, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were interested, none of them were as much as Echo was. While he talked, Gold couldn't help noticing the look of pure wonder the little kirin aimed in his general direction. It brought a small knowing smile to her lips along with a silent hope that things work out for them in the future.

"And that's how I helped save the Crystal Empire," he beamed, ending his tale with a dramatic bow.

Everypony clapped, with Echo doing so with much more enthusiasm.

"Well done, Lord Spike," Gold said, smiling lightly. "Truly a feat worthy of the title of Great and Glorious."

Sweetie, Applebloom, and Scootaloo nodded, each giving him appreciative smiles.

Echo practically glowed as she gushed, "That was so cool! Not only are you Princess Twilight's son, but you're a hero, too!"

Spike froze for a moment, then brought a claw to his chin as a contemplative frown formed on his face.

"Spike? Are you okay?" Sweetie asked, noticing the shift.

"Huh?" he flinched, then forced a smile and said, "Oh! Yeah. I'm fine. Just...suddenly kind've realized something."

"Is it somethin' bad?" Applebloom pressed, worried. "Ya' looked kind'a spooked for a second there."

"Nah," he chuckled, waving her concern away with a claw. "Just...something I think I need to ask Twilight about when I get home."

"Are you sure?" Echo asked, a worried frown marring her cute face. "You...sound nervous."

"Yeah," he lightly chuckled, a more genuine warm smile replacing his stiff one. "It's nothing too big."

"Okay," she nodded, giving him an even warmer smile.

A brief pause settled into the room, before Scootaloo broke it with a teasing, "Are you guys sure your not special someponies?"

"What?!" Spike gaped. "No! I-It's not like that!"

"Y-Yeah," Echo stammered out, blushing deeply and sheepishly tapping her hooves together. "W-We're just friends."

"Ah don't know," Applebloom smirked, "Ya'll'er blushin' pretty bright right now."

"No I'm not," he huffed, crossing his arms and looking away.

"I-I'm just hot right now," Echo mumbled hiding her face behind her cup.

Sweetie giggled at their misery, then said, "Well, if you two do decide to become a couple, you would be a really cute match."

Both of them let out irate huffs, but aside from a slightly growing blush, there was no other reaction to the unicorn's words.

Taking pity on the young not-couple, Gold decided to shift the topic away to something a little less embarrassing.

"Echo Song, was it?" Gold gently asked.

She nodded, shyly turning her head towards her.

"Thank you," she smiled. "Have you adjusted to Ponyville yet?"

"A-Almost," Echo frowned. "Th-There are so many new sounds and smells to keep track of. It's....really scary sometimes."

"I imagine it would be," Gold nodded.

"B-But I'm not alone!" she beamed. "I've got my mommies now and everypony at school have been really nice to me."

"I see," Gold chuckled. "And I would assume Lord Spike has been helping you as well?"

"Y-Yeah," she gulped, curling in on herself with a small blush.

The fillies and Gold shared little knowing smirks, but held back their thoughts when the mare put a hoof to her lips. Spike noticed, nodding in thanks, yet still holding a mildly embarrassed frown.

"I would expect nothing less from such a nobel hero," she winked.

Echo nodded, still too embarrassed to raise her head.

"Care to share how he helped you?" she softly pressed.

Again, Echo nodded, her posture slowly relaxing as she happily did just that.

"Well, on the first day, we went to a really loud place for ice cream. I was...a little scared at first, but we had a lot of fun once we got to a table. The mare that took our order was really really nice. She even read the menu to me."

"I see," Gold nodded. "That was very nice of her."

"That's Pinkie for ya," Spike chuckled. "She even told us a few jokes in between orders.

Echo giggled at that, before continuing.

"Then, Spike guided me around town."

"To help you familiarize yourself with the town's layout, correct?" Gold asked.

She nodded.

"It was....scary at first, but whenever I got too scared, Spike would hold my hoof and I'd...start to feel better."

"And now?" Gold asked, taking a sip of tea.

"It's...not as scary, but I still like walking around town with Spike or my friends better than doing it alone."

"Spike is not your only companion?" she asked.

Smiling proudly, Echo shook her head.

"Nope! I have Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Dinky Doo, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon!"

"Fellow classmates, I take it," Gold smiled, aiming her words mostly at the three fillies.

Echo happily nodded.

"All of them help me keep up in class and keep the other students from mobbing me."

"Mobbing?" she blinked.

"Yeah," Scootaloo cringed. "The first day in, everypony kept bugging her and asking her questions. Diamond, Applebloom, and Dinky had to jump in to get them all to back off."

"Good thin' we did too," Applebloom frowned. "All of the fire wards in the classroom were startin' to activate."

"I'm sorry," Echo mumbled, sheepishly tapping her hooves together.

"Hey, it's okay," Sweetie reassured, gently placing a hoof on the kirin's shoulder. "Nopony was hurt and you got a bunch of good friends out of it."

"She's right," Spike chuckled. "Plus, after that hour long lecture your moms and Twilight gave the class, I don't think things like that will happen all that often."

"I hope not," Applebloom shuddered. "Seein' all of that fire pop up allover her like that? Really shook me up, somethin' fierce."

"Not as much as Bonbon and Lyra did," Sweetie gulped. "They looked like they were ready to fight a full grown dragon, before the lecture!"

"Lyra and Bonbon?" Gold blinked, a dawning a faintly perplexed look.

"Is something wrong?" Spike asked.

"Not exactly," she frowned. "Just that those are rather odd names for kirins."

And I am more than certain that I have heard the name Bonbon somewhere before, she thought.

"My mommies aren't kirin," Echo stated, her whole demeanor suddenly turning somber. "They adopted me after my mommy and daddy....passed away."

"Oh my," Gold balked, hoof flying to her mouth. "I am so sorry. I....I did not know."

"It's okay," Echo sighed, a small smile slipping past her melancholy onto her muzzle. "I know they're with me and they'd want me to be happy."

As she said that, she gently placed a hoof on her heart. Slowly, her demeanor brightened back to its previous level of radiance, giving Gold an equally bright smile. Gold let out a small breath at that, a small smile gracing her muzzle.

"Indeed they are and they do," she nodded. "Now, have you had any other adventures?"

"Not really," she giggled. "But Sweetie has let me try meditating with her."

"Really?" Gold asked, staring at the filly in question.

"Yup!" Sweetie and Echo chorused.

Sweetie merrily continued with, "Echo told me that she was having trouble with her magic. So, I thought she could try meditation. I mean, it's been helping me so far so I thought it could help her too!"

"Has it?" Gold pressed.

"I think so," Echo shrugged. "My magic's flow is a lot....smoother, I think?"

"It may be too soon to tell," Gold nodded. "Keep trying for a few more days and see if anything else changes."

"Okay," Echo nodded.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Scootaloo cheered, raising a hoof. "I got her some Daring Doo books!"

"Oh yeah!" Echo beamed. "Thanks a lot for that! There weren't a lot of fun brail books at the orphanage so I hand't read anything that fun before."

"No prob," Scootaloo smirked proudly. "Rainbow and I are big fans, so it wasn't hard for us to find a few brail copies. If you want to read something else, just let me know and we'll go get it for you."

"Thanks," she giggled.

"Ah think Diamond said she wanted to get her an eye dog, too," Applebloom added.

"Yeah," Echo sighed, looking a bit troubled. "I had to tell her that I didn't need one."

"You do not need one?" Gold asked, intrigued.

She nodded.

"I have a spell that lets me detect things around me. I make a clicking noise with my mouth and the spell tells me where everything is with my ears. It's....hard to explain."

A hint of astonishment flickered across Gold's face as she processed what the filly had told her.

A sonar spell? At such a young age?

"That is quite impressive spell work."

"It is?" Echo blinked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Very much so," she nodded. "There is a spell similar to what you described that most adult casters struggle with. If you can master your spell, you might be able to do the same with that one as well."

"Really!?" she gaped.

"Yes," Gold nodded.

"What's the spell called?!" she pressed.

Gold giggled lightly at the filly's enthusiasm, and said, "Master your spell, and I will tell you."

Suddenly looking cheated, Echo slumped in her seat and crossed her forelegs with a huff.

"Meanie."

"None of that now," Gold smirked. "Think of it as a special prize. If you are a good girl and work hard, then you will have the name."

Echo continued to sulk for a few seconds, then sheepishly asked, "Do you promise?"

"By the Maker's name, I cross my heart," she nodded, crossing her hear,

"Okay," she smiled, relaxing her posture.

Spike watched the whole exchange with a raised brow. Before he could voice his thoughts, there was a loud knock at the front door. Perplexed, Gold politely excused herself then got up to investigate. When she opened the door, she was met with a nervous Princess Twilight and somber looking Spiderweb.

"P-Princess Twilight," she stammered out, taking a step back. "A-And Lord Spider. T-To what do I owe this visit?"

"G-Good afternoon Gold," she gulped. "Um....well....."

Gold raised a brow at the odd display, before Spider let out a sigh and said, "There is something that you need to know. Something that....we should have told you far earlier."