Dreams of Embers

Trixie Lulamoon slowly pulled her small wagon down the trail. She was on the road from Seaside to Middleton. It was a common path that wound through the eastern wood and eventually went on through to Canterlot. She had been walking the best part of the day and was beginning to consider taking a break when she saw something odd as she came around a bend in the path. After the hair pin turn, the path continued fairly straight for about a mile. It was because of this she was able to see the smoke billowing skyward from someplace ahead. Trixie was a mare of the world and had been traveling most of her adult life, This gave her a danger sense that had served her well in the past. It was this danger sense that was warning her now.

She straightened her cloak and grabbed a few special surprises as she grew closer to the source.. As she drew closer she began to see a small clearing to the right of the path. In the clearing was a cart similar to hers, a smoldering fire, and signs of a small one or two mare camp.

While examining the camp for any signs of coin purses or valuables, grunting and thumping sounds caught her attention and drew her eye to the edge of the wood. What she saw surprised her.

“Dam you, die! Die dam it Die!”

A stallion, a young one was mercilessly beating a bush with a thick branch.

“Why! wont! you! die! Die, Die, die, di…”

It was about this time the colt noticed her and froze mid swing, eyes large as saucers. Looking around frantically, most likely for a place to run, the colt noticed he still held the branch. He quickly whipped it behind his back in the hopes that Trixie would somehow not have seen it.

Her right eyebrow lifted.

“The great and powerful Trixie demands to know what you are doing”

“Nothing…nothing at all.” The colt said in a voice so nervous that it wouldn't have fooled a foal.

“Nope, nothing. I’m doing nothing at all. Nope. Not killing anypony in the bushes. Nope, not doing that. Um yeah, no…”

Trixie rolled her eyes giving the colt enough time to toss the branch unseen into the bushes.

“Of course you aren't. The great and powerful Trixie can clearly see that you're a simple stallion. Trixie knows full well how fragile and dainty stallions like you are.

“I am?”

Trixie believes she can see the snake that frightened your timid heart in that bush.”

The colts eyes shot wide and he pointed a hoof at her. “Snake! Yes, there is a snake, in the bushes there. I was terrified by the snake, in the bushes. I was scaring it off. Yes!”

As Trixie turned toward the fire, a thump drew the stallions eye and he sneakily kicked a very limp hoof back into the bushes. Retrieving a smoldering stick from the fire, Trixie strolled toward the undergrowth.

“Fear not frail flower, the great and powerful Trixie will save you from the snake. She announced as she began eyeing the bushes.

“No! no no no no no. The colt said rushing forward and spinning Trixie around, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders he marehandeled her to the fire.

“Tea. Lets have some tea. Tea, and you can tell me all about yourself.

It was about this time that Trixie really got a good look at the colt. He had the look of a colt on the brink of stallionhood. He was thin, almost unhealthily so. His mane was an almost clear white, and his coat was a vibrant red. On his head sat a minimalistic tiara of crystal that sported two imitation devil horns that gleamed like polished glass. He was strikingly beautiful for a stallion and had the height of a runway model. .

Trixie spent her formative years on the road perfecting her act. She had sizable skills with showmanship, misdirection and more importantly, pony nature. This made Trixie a natural Trixie. Trixie was not only her name, but also what she was. A Trixie, is what the single stallions liked to call the Bad Mares. The natural player, and pick up artist that the stallions swooned for and the parents despised. Over the decades Trixie perfected her game and knew how to hook a stallion. She began studying this one to lure him into her sheets tonight. Pony nature was part of her special talent and came as naturally to her as slight-of -hoof.

As she began looking him over, something behind her caught her eye. She slid over to get a better look at his wagon, and what she saw caught her by surprise. Trixie had seen everything over the years and she didn't surprise easily. What she spotted on his wagon had honestly surprised her.

“Your a comfort horse?”

“Im a what?” he said.

“Your a comfort horse. You should have told Trixie you were a hooker.”

The stallions clear blue eyes shot wide in surprise.

“I am?”

Then he blinked.

“Of course I am.”

He looked at her somewhat confused.

“How did you know?”

Trixie rolled her eyes and pointed her horn-light next to the door of his cart.

“Thats the guild insignia.”

She looked at him dead pan.

“Next to your price list”

Trixie watched the stallion get up, and with a look of interest, he examined his own wagon. She shook her head noting how he was looking at it like he hadn’t seen it before. ‘Could stallions be any more flighty?’ She thought. She watched him read his price list and after trying the handle, he walked in.

“Oh wow.” came his muffled voice from the interior.

He came back out and sat next to the fire.

“While you were messing around in there, primping your mane, Trixie rekindled the fire. Trixie has done the hard work, now Trixie would like some tea.“ Trixie said in an authoritative voice that all mares used when talking to stallions. They were so flighty and prone to coltish whimsy that the mares really had to keep an eye on them. Then Trixie had a realization that stopped her mid thought. Where was his mare? This stallion was out in the woods alone. Out in the bandit prone woods by himself.

Trixie hurriedly glanced around, looking for any irate mares who could confuse her innocent conversation as trying to steal a colt.

“Trixie wants to know where your herd is. Where are your herd mares?” Trixies eyes were narrowing. The colt just looked around surprised.

“Mares? What Mares?”

“What do you mean what mares? Where are the mares that take care of you. The mares who protect you. The mares who have sex with you when your worried or stressed”

The colt looked over at his coach and grinned.

“Apparently My mares as you call them, are only mine in one hour increments.”

Trixie face-hooved. “Even a colt of your reputation needs a mare. How do you know they gave you the right money? What if they cheat you, or worse! You're a stallion after all!”

The stallions grin grew playful. “And a big strong mare like the great and powerful Trixie is here to protect me?” He said as he teasingly traced his hoof around the clasp of her cloak.

Trixie gave this some thought. They were both out here, both alone, and from the tracks she had seen earlier they were both heading the same direction. He was tantalizingly exotic, had a nice flank, and was completely vulnerable in the way that stallions always are. She smiled. She could take full advantage of this. Keep him around and rut him into her mattress until she got tired of him, then when he became a problem like most stallions become, she can dump him someplace. A roadside diner would do. Pay the tab, excuse herself to the mares room and then take off before he realized she had left. Pump and dump, the Trixie way.

She gave him her most confident grin.

“Trixie would love to!”

As he turned his back to tend the tea her grin turned wicked.

In her millennia of life Celestia gained the ability to accurately predict the corse of any event. This allowed her to keep several steps ahead of her political rivals. The one thing that Celestia did not like at all was the unknown. She considered the unknown to be a kind of chaos, bringing uncertainty into her life and breeding unforeseen surprises. Celestia despised anything that interfered with her carefully cultivated plans. She cleared her mind and increased her pace as she turned toward the guarded double doors. Celestia stormed into her throne room and called out for her personal assistant.

“Raven, Raven Inkwell!”

“Yes your highness?”

“Good, you're here. Raven, I felt a disturbance in the wyrd when that rift tore open. I think that something came through. Something came into our world.”

“Are you sure Princess? The battle mages I spoke with said that they couldn't sense anything through the etheric noise. At least not anything with clarity.”

Celestia looked at her new friend. Raven Inkwell was very good at her job, but Celestia had to remind herself that Raven was also the youngest pony ever to hold the position of her personal assistant. She smiled at the white earth pony and watched her slide a pencil into her tight brown mane.

“Raven, I’m certain. I clearly felt something enter our world.”

Celestia moved to the balcony and looked in to the distance. When it had first appeared the rift had dominated the skyline, but was slowly shrinking thanks to the constant attention of her guard. She could clearly see the mages hard at work binding and sealing the rip in reality. Although it was going to be a long and grueling endeavor, she had faith in their ability to close it properly.

Celestia leaned her hooves on the balcony and calmly exhaled. She looked at Raven.

“I want you to get me Sergeant Dowsing from S.M.I.L.E. and have him here as soon as possible.”

Raven chewed her pencil as she sifted her memory.

“I believe he is in Las Pegasus right now, I can send him a message and have him here in a day and a half.”

The Princess gave her consent and Raven left.

SMILE was one of the oldest organizations in Equestria. Its unbroken line could be traced back almost to the founding itself. Its name and its purpose evolved over the years as the fledgling countries own needs had changed. Celestia took pride in the fact the core of that organization was just as old and just as strong as herself.

Sergeant Dowsing Rod was an old guardsmare. She knew her type. She was the type of guard that only grew harder as she aged, and while they slowed down, their experience and stubborn attitude well made up for it. Celestia knew the type well, they popped up from time to time over the years, becoming guards and stubbornly staying long after retirement. Stopping only when a young recruit found them slumped over the desk the next morning, never to sign paperwork again. Dowsing was a slow and methodical investigator who the princess was certain, could find trouble, if trouble had truly come.

Celestia let out a sigh and smiled, content in the belief that everything of importance was being covered. She moved over to the stained glass and gazed up at her sister. Luna stood high above the throne room, enshrined in stained glass among the dozens of windows that towered above. Her form was handsome and regal. Having been preserved for all time from memory. ‘I promise you sister, this time, when you come back, I'll do things right. You'll be watched and protected better this time. This time I know how weak you are. This time I will protect you from yourself.

As Fae made his way down the trail, the rhythmic clattering of the wheeled home behind him reached his ears. He glanced over to his right and looked at the strange companion he picked up last night. He had no trouble remembering her name. He grinned. She had made dam sure that he knew it. ‘Trixie, Great and powerful, The.’ He wondered if he should tease her by pretending to be dense and thinking her first name was The. The smile didn't last long however, and his mind went back to last night. She had casually wandered in while he was killing the last of the bandits. It was a close one too, if she had come any closer to the forests edge she would have spotted the hidden bandit camp. He shook his head. ‘Poorly hidden, Barely hidden.’ He sighed. ‘A foal would have hidden it better.’

He glanced over to her again, she had a nice flank and it drew his eye. He thought about what she had said during last nights conversation. He pulled up along side of her and asked.

“So, let me get this straight. Mares will pay me for sex?”

“Yyyess.” Trixie said looking at him oddly.

“Um…Why?” he said in honest confusion.

“To rut a stallion. Blow off some steam. Does Trixie really have to spell it out for you?”

“I know this might sound silly…wouldn't it kind of go, I don't know, the other way around?”

This stopped Trixie in her tracks for a moment, She looked at him.

“Why would a stallion ever pay a mare? It's four mares to every one stallion in most cities and it's even worse odds in rural towns.”

Fae’s eyes flew wide because the penny had finally dropped. He suddenly understood the ponies and there odd behavior around him.

“Im a mare. Im the mare here!”

“No, no you aren't. You are clearly a stallion. Trixie can clearly see it.” she deadpanned, craning her neck in an obvious gesture at his flanks.

“Oh, never mind.” Things were starting to make some sense now to Fae as pieces slowly clicked into place. ‘This version of Equestria is off balance, unlike home. Stallions are scarce and have all the power in relationships here.’ Naturally power corrupts and they use it to their own advantage, or so he thought. ‘So…and so, mares that don't have much that the colts want, are shit out of luck. Thats apparently where I come in. Well that poor bastard back there anyway.’ He subconsciously glanced behind him.

Fae looked at Trixie for a long time, lost in thought. He had let her come along because they were both out here, both alone, and from the way her wagon was sitting, they were both heading the same direction. She was cute for a mortal and had a nice flank.. He nodded. He could take full advantage of this. Keep her around for world information, and when he got bored he would dump her someplace. A roadside diner would do. He would pay the tab, excuse himself a moment and then take off before she realized he left. Use and loose, the Faerie way.

Trixie woke with the feeling of a warm barrel pressing against her back and a stallions head resting on her withers. Her groggy mind worked slowly as she glanced at the sleeping form cuddled closely behind her. With the skills from years of practice, she slid carefully out of bed and began gathering her belongings to sneak out. She preferred leaving before the stallions woke up, it saved her the inevitable ‘Look Babe, it was just sex.’ argument that often happened the next morning. Trixies exhausted mind began informing her that she wasn't in a sleazy motel. She looked around and realized that she was standing in her own wagon. A few moments later her brain reminded her what had happened last night. This was followed closely by her nose reminding her how much badly sex smells when done in confined spaces. Trixie tiredly went outside and took a breath of clean air in an attempt to save her sinuses.

Looking around she saw that it was still dark. She hadn't managed to sleep for long and she was still fairly tired. Trixie was a loner. Decades of being alone on the road made sleeping alone a normal event for her. Sleeping with somepony else just felt off to her. She couldn't get comfortable and the other body just got in the way. She sighed and looked up at the starscape.

‘Wonder if thats why I never settled down.’ She thought. ‘Never could get comfortable living with somepony else. That and being in one place. Never was one to stay anyplace long. The great and powerful…wanderer.’

She looked down, starting to feel a little melancholy. Unconsciously shifting the brim of her hat she stopped when she felt something. Reaching into a hidden pocket, she pulled out a coin purse. Trixie smiled and hefted it for weight, it held quite a few bits. It had become so second nature she didn't even realize that she lifted it off the colt. Hefting the purse one last time she turned to head back inside where she would slide the purse back..

‘No matter how much he denies it that colt needs a mare. Somepony to protect him from mares like me.’ She gave a rueful grin