King Sombra, his dark mane flowing, lounged in his throne. Across the room, his ponies--heads shackled with mind-controlling helms--stood at attention. Puddles pooled around some of the Helmed's hooves. He sighed. Although he could control minds--sending clear instructions to fight, defend, or march--mastery over base bodily needs still escaped him. Overcoming that difficulty was an interesting challenge, but one that extensive testing suggested might not be solvable. Ponies were mortal. And mortals were weak creatures.
He examined his hooves. Once he had taken over the Crystal Empire, he'd had purpose. He used its populace to manufacture weapons and helms. Equestria had been unable to withstand him. Celestia had bowed and been helmed and shackled. She rotted in his dungeons.
Celestia's sister had been a feisty one. She led a resistance, and she menaced his dreams until she forgot that although she had mastery over the night--he was master over the shadows of darkness itself. It wasn't long before he'd affixed a bit and stirrups of darkness to her side and rode her to her death--she'd tried to take him with her. A pity. He'd only intended to break her. She had nearly been his equal. Many long nights, he reflected how he could have loved her. If only she'd seen things the same.
Warm feelings evaporated with a warm summer breeze through the windows of the room, and he snarled. All he had left were slaves and "yes-mares." So many simpering "yes-mares" wanting to clutch on to his strong, cold darkness for protection. His magic, though impressive, could not support helms for every pony, so simpering supplicants were permitted. They managed trivialities and cared for the bodily needs of his helmed guard, feeding them through the slits in their helms, carting away their waste and so-on and so-forth.
King Sombra had conquered the world, but he had nopony to share it with. His last partner, Radiant Hope, had died centuries ago, before even the Crystal Empire and he had been occluded. He had foolishly thrown her aside even though there had been benefits to having a near-equal with whom to share the delights of power. He longed for someone like her who could challenge him intellectually. The yes-mares always let him win at crossed words and competitive maredoku. And not just win... he annihilated them. He'd taken to executing ponies who performed atrociously and had placed their empty heads on display. But the quality of his challengers had barely improved.
There had been but one who could match his wit: a pegasus. Cozy Glow, he recalled her name. She beat him soundly at chess--that should have been expected, given her cutie mark was that of a rook. But Cozy Glow was not around any more. She used an opportunity to remove his phylactery collar. But it was a false phylactery, not holding the part of his soul that helped him re-form. He had not intended to slay her, but she was so vicious and turned when she should have twisted and his restraint had a stronger effect on her emaciated body than it would have had on a healthier pony. On a whim, he had a statue-topped tomb constructed in her honor and he gave a speech to ponies to implore them to "Strive for the brilliance of Cozy Glow, with the loyalty of the Helmed! That is the way to enrich and encourage your LORD KING SOMBRA." He'd finished her memorial with a tiny epitaph bearing her favorite phrase: "Golly!"
"Golly, indeed. What did it mean?" He pondered the neologism and regretted he had never asked its meaning. Then, a pony came to him bearing news of the hinterlands.
"It is said, great and powerful King Sombra, that there is a pony, claiming to be 'Great and Powerful,' who has been traveling through your territories, crafting strange magical displays and bringing flame to the heavens. When confronted by guardsmares bearing warning to express proper humility and to not use magic except that which is permitted by the King, she guffawed and blew a raspberry--literally--a raspberry exploded against one of the guardsmares' faces. Then, four doves flew from her cape and eliminated on the Guard in a pelting barrage. After that, she threw a flashbang and disappeared, covering the coughing Guard with glitter."
King Sombra leaned forward, a frown upon his visage. "Glitter? Like a clown?"
"Yes," the pony agreed.
"I once enjoyed clowns," Sombra said.
"The last professional clown was executed after the Uprising, along with all other performing--"
Sombra glared, "Bring me this clown."
"Indeed, my liege." The pony bowed and, simpering, backed out of the throne room.
King Sombra, while stretching and exercising, mulled over the story of the arrogant pony. A smile twisted at the edges of his snout.
Later, a menagerie of mares waxed King Sombra's chiseled figure, cooing over him. He had what most stallions would consider a joyous time, but he found his mind wandering to the upcoming challenge. And he slumbered with that on his mind.
Once his contingency spell informed his helmed guards he had drifted off, as instructed, the guards removed the mares. Then, he was safe and alone, as he was every night.
"Dance for me, ponies!" Sombra laughed as his nerve-wracked subjects danced. One stumbled and fell, and he guffawed. The unicorn stumbled to his hooves and resumed dancing.
"Bump him again!" Sombra ordered.
The other dancers complied, and the stallion went sprawling.
The routine was repeated several times. The stallion, laying on the ground, fixed an angry eye at Sombra and ignited his horn. Sombra's anti-magic field flared into being. The stallion's magic snuffed out and he hung his head. Several mares kicked him unconscious.
Then, that entertainment was done, Sombra was bored, and Sombra's guard captain entered. "My liege," he said, "The rebellious mare has been apprehended."
With a smile, Sombra ordered, "Ready the helmet!"
Prodded and poked by pikes, the mare shuffled into the room, objecting, "This is not an appropriate way to treat a pony who voluntarily came here!"
Sombra raised an eyebrow at his guard captain.
"She was apprehended at the front gate.... After presenting herself."
"Very interesting," Sombra affixed the mare with a steady stare. "Who are you, and why do you seek me?"
"Presenting the Great and Powerful Trixie, a wandering magician," she bowed a simpering descent, deeply to the ground. "After being informed you were the iron-hoofed master of these lands, Trixie determined it would be most appropriate to present herself and seek your leave to perform."
"Are you a clown?"
"Celes--By Tartarus, no, King Sombra," Trixie fixed a toothy smile.
"If not a clown, then what do you intend for these 'performances'?" Sombra brought forehooves menacingly together beneath his snout.
"Trixie intends to wow and awe her audiences,"
"Very well, clown," Sombra smirked and gestured for her to demonstrate.
Trixie's left eye twitched, but she smiled and produced a handkerchief. She passed it between her hooves and then one handkerchief became two, then three.
Sombra snorted. "Any unicorn can do that. Who would enjoy such triviality?"
"No," Trixie shook her head. "Trixie is special."
"Not so special without magic!" Sombra activated his anti-magic field.
Trixie smiled, and she repeated the trick.
Sombra's nostrils flared. "How--how could you?"
"It's quite simple." Trixie put away the handkerchiefs and took out a colorful tube, then she placed the tube between her hooves and pulled back and forth. It stretched tight, then loose. She moved her hooves together, sneezed, and she was freed.
"It does look simple," Sombra said.
"Will you try?"
He gestured for her to approach, keeping the edge of the antimagic field between her and him. She passed him the contraption, stepped back, and watched with a grin.
He struggled and strained to remove the contraption from his hooves. The stronger he pulled against it, the more it strained. He twisted and pulled and frowned. "How dare you!" he asserted.
"You are the only one who is taking actions," Trixie said. "You're entrapping yourself."
Sombra's keen hearing picked up on a giggle emanating from somewhere in the crowd. One of the yes-mares was getting uppity. Asserting his strength, he redoubled his efforts, snarling, twisting, pulling, and tugging back and forth. Then, he disintegrated the contraption with a blast from his horn. "It is nothing against my magic."
"True," Trixie smiled. "No pony is a match for 'your' magic. But no pony is able to replicate 'my' magic."
Sombra raised an eyebrow. "I wish to see more of your magic, mare."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie, please."
"I am great and powerful!" Sombra slammed his hooves down on the forelegs of his throne.
Trixie didn't flinch. "And so am I. Of course, you are the most powerful with 'your' type of magic. But I am powerful too."
He stared at her and met her gaze, noting her quivering lower lip. "You are right to fear me, mare. Guards, hold her tonight. Forgo the helm. We will have a private performance tomorrow." Indeed they would, he planned--after he located the uppity yes-mare and ensured she would not dare mock him again.
That night, he lay with his mares and surveyed them, their hides, their attitudes. They were nothing compared to this Trixie.
Before Trixie's demonstration, King Sombra met with his guard captain. "How goes progress with locating the loudmouth?"
"None recognized the voice."
"I would prefer not to punish randomly," King Sombra said. Then, he shook his head, waving away the captain. To an audience chamber of just himself and the helmed, he had Trixie brought before him.
"Now, for your performance, pony," he ordered.
She performed magical tricks--stage magic--for him aplenty. Cards and disappearing-reappearing bits and more. His eyes danced with delight. She sang, and she danced. And he laughed and he clapped.
"Your exertions, without true magic, truly are something I have not seen before, pony."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is truly unique and accomplished."
"And she will be rewarded. Take this gem."
A guard stood beside her, presenting a necklace with a red gem ring cinched at its center.
"Oh, I couldn't."
"It is required."
She put it on. And her unicorn magic dimmed. She wouldn't be able to cast magic--the gem suppressed those powers.
"Will you have a new performance for me tomorrow?" Sombra asked.
"Of course." Trixie flinched and tugged at the gem. "But, I can do better if I have certain supplies."
"Yes," Sombra's brows knitted. "Provide a list to my captain of the guards. Oh, and, you're sleeping with me tonight."
A gurgling sound came from Trixie's throat. "King Sombra, I beg, not that."
"Why?"
"Because, King Sombra, I need to be well rested to make the show especially great and powerful and befitting of your imposing stature."
King Sombra swelled. "I understand. You lack the endurance of a King."
Trixie hung her head, and prayed a little prayer to Celestia under her breath.
"Very well... 'Great and Powerful' Trixie," he said the words in a mocking lilt. "Slumber in my guest quarters."
At night, King Sombra could not rest. He found his mares distasteful, and he sent them away. And, he brooded about a light-blue hided pony who brought him joy and excitement--and a thrill of rebellious intelligent danger.
Trixie's eyes focused on King Sombra's false necklace-ensconced phylactery as he sat upon his throne and she performed her more complex tricks. She'd had his guards bring her traveling cart to the castle, and she used its wonders to shock and awe.
"Be prepared to be amazed! For, the Great and Powerful Trixie has brought her marvelous magics to delight and devour your interest!" she announced. And He was enraptured.
So went another display.
"Would you accompany me to my chambers?" he raised a seductive eyebrow.
"There are many preparations to be made." Trixie shot him a wan smile.
"Tea. For a half turning of an hour?"
Trixie looked into his intense eyes, and knew it would be a mistake--possibly a deadly one--to reject him. "Of course," she smiled.
At night, she met him in a drawing room. Piping oolong tea bubbled and servants poured. Sombra loomed over her, casting a shadow across her cup. He gestured for her to sip first. She tried to conjure the teacup into her hooves with her magic, but nothing happened. He smiled. "You will need to use your hoof."
"Like an earth pony?"
"You're so good with your hooves. I would think that for you it would be foal's play."
Trixie fumbled with the tiny teacup, but she managed to tilt it up adroitly enough to take a sip.
Sombra used his magic to imbibe his tea. Trixie noted that his antimagic field ended somewhere between them--it was an impermanent spell, something that needed to be concentrated upon and maintained.
"So... Trixie," he said, allowing her the honor of being referred to by name. "Where did you come from?"
"A land far, far away."
"More specificity," he demanded.
"A land where Trixie's talents were sometimes respected, but a land where ponies had mostly seen Trixie's displays."
"Novelty does have a way of wearing off."
"They enjoyed the displays. Though familiarity made them less surprised."
King Sombra smiled. "But you are still novel to me."
"Trixie is Great and Powerful," she said. "And Trixie is glad to entertain you for a time. But Trixie will, of course, be moving on after sharing her joy... her performative joy... her shows. Trixie will, of course, continue topping the grandeur of her displays so as to build a sense of anticipation."
"Indeed. I find them more and more intriguing each time."
Trixie sipped. And found herself smiling. "Trixie has had many fans and many more have seen her tricks many times and trotted away with enjoyment. But her closest friends assist with her performances."
"I could be part of the show?" Sombra leaned forward and Trixie felt his breath on her face. He snorted with excitement. And even though he was a horrible pony, Trixie blushed.
"You're interested?" This was what she had wanted from this meeting, but the response felt rather more personal and special than she had imagined.
"I am," he said. And he placed a forehoof on Trixie's thigh.
"I will work on some plans," she said, suddenly rising. "It will take time."
"Join me. Tonight. Take a rest."
"I'm... I have plans," Trixie said. "Please, excuse me." She backed away from the table.
King Sombra frowned, but he gestured toward his guards and they opened the door for his magician friend.
Trixie returned to her room and did a double-take. The small quarters had doubled during the day. A wall had been smashed and her room had been extended beyond it and dressed quite sumptuously.
Although the palace's wealth was blood-derived from the suffering of thousands of ponies, her surroundings looked quite pleasant. Moss, lye and other chemicals wiped away the nasty history. She sighed and sat at her desk and mirror and focused on her plan and the saltpeter surrounding her.
But then she placed a hoof on her thigh and stroked it, like Sombra had done. And she thrilled a bit. But, then she shuddered and looked back at the mirror and set a determined mien as she focused on her touchstones: the plan and Starlight Glimmer: her best friend. She needed to delay. Focus.
The next day, Trixie presented her fireworks outside. Flashes of red and green and other colors exploded in a pleasing display as their rockets decorated the heavens.
King Sombra stood at her side, stroking her mane. She whinnied.
"Are your quarters to your liking?" he asked, after the display.
"Yes," she said.
"Is there anything you could want? I'll arrange a fully body massage. Sweet smelling fruits. A spa treatment."
"That would be good!" Mission or not, and evil King or not, Trixie had traveled the road too much with aches and pains to turn down a good relaxing treatment.
"If any pony appreciated you more than I have, tell me what that pony did. And I will match it."
"Oh," she said.
He rubbed his body against hers. She swallowed. "There's a mare. She helped with my show. But she's not around any more. It's why I came," she lied.
"Do you... prefer the company of mares?" he asked.
"I... feel something else with you," she told the truth, quivering. "But... I need to go to the bathroom."
A pony brushed up against her. "I found it," the mare said while briefly pressing Trixie against the stone wall.
Trixie gulped and didn't dare say anything. Her heart pounded, she licked her lips and planned her final performance.
But before that last performance, she needed to entertain King Sombra. He'd grown bolder and insisted on a chess game, he said, to test her mettle.
Trixie was not good at chess.
He expected her to win.
Other ponies said those who lost to Sombra tended to be executed.
He said that if she lost, she'd be in his power.
She sat at the table and assumed her stage persona, hoping her bluster would carry her. Playing this game was like playing any performance, she told herself. But, in a performance, nopony lost. A performance was entertaining, or it was not. In chess, a pony won, or a pony did not--no matter how entertaining that pony had been.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie looks forward to asserting her dominance," she said, idly taking a piece and testing its weight.
"King Sombra's dominance is well known," he said.
"That's why it's easy to work out how to defeat it."
"I will not be taken so easily." He leaned forward.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie will teach you a lesson."
"And if you lose, I will teach you one," he gestured to a corner, where a pink and blue-maned servant held a bit, a whip, and a saddle.
Trixie winced, hiding it with a smile. "Trixie is more than experienced with such things. Trixie is surprised you would submit to her."
Sombra's nostrils flared. "I am a King!"
"A Queen trumps a King." Trixie picked up the piece.
Sombra's eyes grew wide.
Trixie scolded herself for pushing too far, but she didn't let her feelings reach her face.
Sombra reached for her foreleg that held the Queen, and he took it, staring into her eyes. His hot breath fell on her. "You see yourself as a Queen."
Trixie smiled, trying to salvage the situation. "Trixie would be one with you. Not a bedmare. Trixie will not settle. That's why we've had this delicate dance. You must see this similarly... this game?"
"Indeed," he released her foreleg. "If you can defeat me, I may consider you. But, if you disappoint me, I will grow tired," he shrugged. "It is best we both understand."
"I have a lot of surprises," Trixie said, with a smile, placing the piece back down.
They played for a while. Then Sombra looked at the board and blinked. He had two rooks moments before. Now, he had one. "Open your hoof," he demanded.
Trixie smiled and nothing was in her outturned hooves. On the board, both rooks were present, but one was in a new location.
"You moved my rook," Sombra said.
Trixie arched an eyebrow. "Did Trixie?"
"Clearly you did."
"Isn't it interesting?"
"What?"
"Moving the pieces around. New challenges and puzzles to solve."
Sombra threw his head back and laughed. Tears flowed. "You are clever, Trixie the Great and Powerful. Too clever by half."
They played out the game, and Sombra won. But it had been difficult. His pieces kept relocating.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "This was like mastering unexpected challenges of life, rather than manufactured challenges."
Trixie had smiled, although she was trembling.
"It matters not that you lost. This game, and you, are unique." He rose, and bid her goodnight.
It was shockingly easy to convince fearsome King Sombra to participate in a show for his helmed and unhelmed ponies. The Great and Powerful Trixie whispered in his ear and he'd agreed. He became her partner on stage and she ran him through simple tricks. At first, he didn't follow her instructions well, and the tricks failed. But, he soon learned to follow her commands.
Backstage after the show, he pulled her against a wall and violently smooched her mouth.
"I must have you," he huffed.
"Trixie must demur." She twisted away. "This is not becoming. It's scary. Rude. Evil."
"No mare has denied me."
"They've been too scared. Or beaten down. I--Trixie doesn't know. You are the best option in this blighted Kingdom that you've created, no?"
"Blighted?"
"--Crops failed last season." She recovered with a truth, hoping that would be enough to save her.
"They will not fail again. We will be fertile."
"Will we?" Trixie arched an eyebrow, doubling down. "Do you want a mere bedmare, or a Queen?"
King Sombra hung his head. "But, there must be an end to this game."
Trixie smiled, for his response was what she had been awaiting. "Let's perform the best, most special show. Together. After that, I'll be your Queen."
"The Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive, combined with the Calamitously Chained Coffin!" The Great and Powerful Trixie announced to the gathered herd. "In this amazing performance, only successfully attempted by The Great and Powerful Trixie--correction--only successfully survived by The Great and Powerful Trixie.... A chained pony, ensconced in a chained coffin, will launch itself from a cannon and into the mouth of a deadly manticore. Then, that same pony will re-appear unharmed--not chomped into several bits!"
"I teleport myself?" Sombra had asked. "It's that simple? No sleight-of-hoof? No illusory copy of me is launched?"
"No," Trixie shook her head. "It's about timing. Once you're launched, the crowd sees a flying coffin. Meanwhile, you teleport away. This will look spectacular. Only someone as Great and Powerful as myself or you could successfully execute it."
Sombra nodded.
And Sombra prepared himself mentally, straining against his chains. They were nothing he couldn't overcome with magic. And he told this to Trixie.
"I love you because of your stage magic. Use of this magic is... obscene for you, isn't it?"
Trixie smiled. "Baby steps, Dear. You won't let me use unicorn magic with this gem," she gestured to her restraint. "So, it is perfect for you to perform this."
"Perhaps some day we can forego the precautions," Sombra smiled.
Trixie smiled too because Sombra wasn't using an antimagic field to protect against her. That provided her an opening. He had hobbled her with the gem restraint so he would no longer need to concentrate on his magic to protect himself. Of course, if his hidden phylactery was safe, then even if she betrayed him, he would re-form. But, unbeknownst to him, Trixie's contact had found and, Trixie supposed, destroyed that artifact.
Trixie reached down and kissed him.
"And we will be married after this," he said, releasing her muzzle and breathing hard.
"After this... it will be at an end," she choked in reply, clutching at the ring-inset gem at her neck and scraping the cord holding it against the coffin's coarse wood and a well-concealed razor.
"Ponies," King Sombra, leaning in the upright coffin at an awkward angle, announced. "My subjects. I have an announcement."
The helmed and unhelmed kneeled. "I will be married on the morrow to this mare--Trixie, the Great and Powerful! You will applaud!"
They applauded.
"Trixie will become my Queen." He motioned for her to kiss him again, and she did, leaning her body against him in the upright coffin and rubbing furiously against a stage-trick sharpened point of his chains.
Sombra wasn't the only pony who could create an antimagic field. Certainly, he wasn't the only pony who could use an antimagic field. Trixie 'accidentally' caught her necklace on the sharpened point she had prepared and severed her gem with it. Using a steady, studied hoof, she deftly covered the removed ring-gem and hooked it against the King's body.
"What's this?" he asked.
"A ring," Trixie swallowed, blanching.
"You were prepared," he smiled, unable to glimpse the ring at the angle he reclined.
"Of course," she said.
"Tradition!"
Trixie exhaled.
"You are truly a catch, Great and Powerful Trixie. Always full of surprises." A knee of his sought purchase against her belly. She shivered and leaned into him.
"Please... tomorrow..." she gasped.
"Of course. Any surprises you have are fine by me, my Trixie."
"You really do appreciate Trixie's talent."
"Of course, my Great and Powerful partner."
"If you knew...." She nearly blundered leaking everything.
"Knew what?"
Her face reddened and she concentrated on anything other than the bile coagulating in her throat. "I'm a coward."
He laughed and his eyes grew large as his heart throbbed against hers. They kissed.
"I never thought--" he blinked, shifting slightly beneath her.
"We can... later," she said, and they kissed some more. Then, she stepped back, hind legs crossed. He blew a kiss to her and she winced.
Bowing discretely, she closed King Sombra's coffin, placed a big lock to secure it, then spun it. She swallowed her vomit and whispered, "Checkmate."
Not too far off, the manticore, a terrifying lion-headed creature that had devoured two guards who captured it for the show, waited, yawning.
Trixie had servants load the coffin into her cannon. Then, she lit the cannon and repeated her well-rehearsed spiel. Moments later, the cannon expelled its occupant and its trajectory was true. Trixie had run the calculations, then she had re-run them, and then she had Sombra's best mathematician, a bespectacled red-maned pony named Sunburst, confirm the accuracy--after correcting Trixie's errors.
King Sombra, still ensconced in his coffin, made his journey to the manticore. The game he'd been playing with her was almost over.
Trixie held a hoof beneath her belly. She could save him. There was no antimagic field or gem surrounding her. But, his feelings were as temporal as a disintegrating sugar spoon in a trick; a union was not to be. That wasn't how the game was played. Unlike a magic show that everypony could enjoy, here there was a winner and a loser.
The Queen of Magic had put her all-too-mortal King in check.
"This time was really risky," Trixie said. "We probably should stop traveling to alternative timeline Equestrias.... Something could go terribly wrong."
Starlight Glimmer clapped her hooves, then she hugged Trixie. "I understand. I know. I really do. You don't have to help with my penance even though these alternative timelines from when I fought Twilight Sparkle persisted and even though their populaces are suffering. It's my mess. Although, I would like it if you continue to accompany me. It's so thrilling when you save the day." Starlight Glimmer squeezed Trixie's forelegs. "I felt so close to you after you defeated Sombra and Chrysalis."
Trixie swallowed. "Of course, I did pledge to be your Great and Powerful friend..."
Starlight Glimmer nuzzled Trixie.
"Trixie supposes it is fine." Trixie nuzzled back, regaining her composure and her artifice. "What timeline are we going to next?"
Starlight Glimmer produced some breathing masks out of somewhere--Trixie tried not to think too much about how to replicate whatever strange magic Starlight unexpectedly produced from time-to-time, since much of Starlight's skill was beyond Trixie's meager capabilities in manipulating true magic. Trixie's strength was, of course, in stage magic, which required sleight-of-hoof.
"I'd like to see what you do against the Smooze," Starlight beamed.
"The what?"
"A puddle of sticky gelatin. We'll take it on together. Get all greased up," Starlight hugged Trixie, panting heavily. "It's said that its gel acts as an aphrodisiac."
"Why is that important?"
"No reason," Starlight Glimmer, giggling behind her grin, held her best friend tight. "I'm so excited we can do this together. I wouldn't want to do this with any pony other than you. And I feel even closer to you when you're being so Great and Powerful."
Trixie frowned. "... Have these trips been dates?"
"Oh," Starlight Glimmer said. "Well," she tensed. "They could be. I suppose. In the sense of dates to happen. In the calendar sense, one knows."
"Oh," Trixie's eyes went wide. "For a moment, Trixie thought you were implying these alternative dimension excursions were dates with you. But they could not be since we did not spend time together. Although, you did watch Trixie's conquests. Did you mean these were dates to set Trixie up with ponies, like King Sombra? He was evil, Starlight. Anything could have happened."
"I... didn't know he would take matters so intensely. I thought he'd be distracted. By the magic. Not you. Archives revealed his fondness for performances. And, your show is quite fascinating."
"I know," Trixie said, letting her stage persona drop. "I really, really, like it when a true connoisseur enjoys the fruits of Trixie's labor."
Starlight licked her lips. "I was nearby, watching--in case something went wrong. Of course, maybe you might have liked him, but if not, then there are other--"
"I did."
"Oh," Starlight Glimmer's eyes went wide and she nearly choked on some swallowed spit. "You like stallions?"
"Trixie supposes she must. Possibly." Trixie looked away. "Let's not talk about it."
"Oh."
"When--when are we to deal with this Smooze?"
"Do you like me?"
"Of course Trixie likes her best friend."
"The same way you liked King--oh, fiddlesticks. Never mind."
"What?"
"Let's make a date for next week."
fin
