Author's Notes:

Added on 11 May 2016

Trudging and rocking through the expansive sea, bobbing with each wave and spewing a trail of smoke from its dual smokestacks is a large, white boat decorated with gold and lavender trim. The boat's deck is clean and reflective with plenty of outdoor seating and lifeboats hanging underneath the railing to allow a great view of the ocean. And resting on one of the benches, trying to enjoy the view is the Magnificent Monte Fountain.

He is sitting on the bench, watching the former Great and Powerful Trixie pace in circles in front of him. He has his head rested on his hoof and his eyes are half lidded while Trixie’s ears are perked up and her eyes constantly locking onto passengers or crew who have the misfortune of walking too close to them. Essentially, she is creeping out everyone that passes the two.

“Are you going to relax anytime soon?” asks Monte.

“I can’t relax. For all I know Brisk Wind could have sent somepony on this ship to kill us,” says Trixie, focusing her eyes on a young unicorn couple walking towards them, licking ice cream cones levitating in front of them. She shoots her hoof towards them, growling. “Back off.”

The couple freezes and slowly back away with their tongues still on the cones. When Trixie takes a threatening step towards them with a charging horn they turn tail and run. Monte shouts an apology and tries to explain that Trixie is just off her meds. With that statement she glares at Monte.

“Don’t tell them that!” says Trixie.

“Well you’re acting a little nutty so I have to give them explanation. Besides, you are a pill popper who is off her meds so what we have to do is-” Monte hops off the bench and grabs Trixie’s shoulders and looks her in the eyes “-find a way to calm you down.”

Trixie bats Monte’s hooves off of her shoulders. “Don’t touch me. And don’t tell me to calm down. I am perfectly calm.”

“Excuse me,” says an ibex wearing a sailor uniform in broken Equestrian, “we have received complaints about the missus.”

Trixie sticks her nose in the air and looks away while Monte chuckles uneasily, wraps his hoof around her neck and tugs her in for a one-hoof hug. Trixie nearly loses her balance because of that, but she is able to regain it quickly and give Monte a death glare.

“Oh, yeah, my wife is off of her meds so she’s a little antsy right now,” says Monte.

Trixie rolls her eyes and looks down at the waterproofed, polished floorboards of the ship. She can see her reflection, and Monte was right, she does look a bit butch. But she likes Fancy Pants’s toned description better.

The ibex arches an eyebrow. “Why is she walking without medicine?”

“Simple.” Monte raises his hoof and his mouth is open to give an answer. But after five seconds of silence, he lowers his hoof. “She’s a naughty girl.”

Trixie’s eyes widen and she feels her blood heating up in her cheeks and ears, then her gaze drifts to Monte, shifting to a murderous glare along the way. Then she is caught off guard when Monte speaks to the ibex in his native tongue fluently. At first Monte and the ibex sailor appear to be having a serious conversation, but it gradually turns into a lighthearted one. Soon the zony and ibex are laughing and Trixie feels completely lost, but has a feeling it has something to do with her, especially when Monte hugs her tighter. She tries to leave, but he keeps his hoof hooked around her neck, forcing her to stay with him. She has to endure the conversation for a good ten minutes before the two finally say their farewell.

“Ah, das alles macht sinn. Nun halten sie unter kontrolle und genießen sie ihren tag, Herr Fountain,” says the ibex with a smile.

“Auch sie, dank für sein verständnis,” says Monte, waving farewell to the ibex. When the ibex is out of sight, Monte sighs and looks at Trixie, ears drooping when he realizes she’s glaring at him. “Is something wrong, honey?”

“Don’t you ‘honey’ me!” yells Trixie, jabbing his chest with her hoof. “First you call me a naughty girl and then you speak that weird language, leaving me in the dark! What the hay were you talking about, anyway? It was me wasn’t it? You were talking about me!”

Monte smiles. “First off, it is not a weird language, it is Bernesenese. Secondly, yes we were talking about you. I was just explaining to Herr Strudel that you have some conditions and that we accidentally left your extra pills at home. I just have to keep you under control and nopony will get into any sort of trouble.”

Trixie huffs. “You were talking for almost ten minutes.”

“There was a lot to talk about. Now why don’t you have a seat on the bench and relax?”

Trixie grumbles and reluctantly lays down on the bench, when Monte tries to take a spot next to her, she snaps her hoof out and orders him to the other side. Monte’s ears droop and he goes to the other side, pouting. Trixie watches the sun setting in the distance, which she admits is pretty, especially loving how the light reflects off of the water. She also loves the comforting feeling of the boat’s barely noticeable, gentle rocking. The temperature is not too bad, too. However, in spite of all these things, she can’t sit still and continues to glare at those passing by. A minute or two passes before Trixie puts her hoof on the floor.

“Ah ah ah, Trixie. No hoofy on the floory,” says Monte.

“I was stretching,” says Trixie defensively, turning her glare to Monte as she tucks her leg back.

Monte simply smiles and looks back at the scenery with Trixie, but while Monte is relaxed, Trixie is fidgeting. Monte has to constantly tell Trixie to relax, make her sit down, and on one occasion, hold her back with his magic because of her attempts to find an assassin almost leads to her ripping apart a cleaner’s cart. Needless to say, Monte spews a seemingly endless line of apologies to the poor female ibex while keeping Trixie levitated off of the ground. The ibex runs. She runs very fast.

When the ibex is out of sight, Monte drops Trixie on the bench and scowls at her as she adjusts her position.

“Well, I hope you’re happy. You just traumatized a maid,” says Monte.

“I had my reasons,” grumbles Trixie.

“Oh, like Brisk Wind fitting an assassin in a stuffed cart? Who is she going to stick in there? A killer midget? A psychotic filly?”

“A bomb?”

“...You are a disturbed individual.”

"Yeah, and this disturbed individual is going to do her patrol stuff.”

Trixie stands up, but is tugged back onto the bench by Monte’s magic.

“No you aren't,” says Monte. “You’re going to sit here, you’re going to watch the scenery with me, and you’re going to love it.”

Trixie sighs and reluctantly lays on the bench, shifting her position so that she is as far from Monte as possible. The two watch the scenery, and Trixie tries to relax by humming the zebra lullaby that Wazza taught her, but it only brings tears to her eyes and reminds her of how Adanz tried to kill her. Trixie whimpers quietly and folds her hooves over each other so she can rest her head on them, and she closes her eyes, hoping to think of something other than what had happened at Gilda's loft.

She fails.

All she can hear is Adanz accusing her of betrayal, feel his claws digging into her and the air rushing past her when he tossed her over the edge using Monte. Then she feels a hoof against her shoulder and her eyes snap open and her body goes on autopilot as she tackles her enemy to the ground with her hoof on their chest and the other raised and engulfed in an electric ball. She is panting and her watery eyes are narrowed on the pony under her, too terrified to care about the pain in her horn.

“Trixie, relax, it’s me,” says Monte, his voice shaky and his hoofs raised defensively. “It’s Monte. The zony you hate, remember?”

Trixie continues to stare at Monte, still breathing heavily and her hoof charged for an attack. Her tears are now that of pain and fear, being that her horn injury is making it feel as though her horn is about to crack into pieces.

“It’s okay, Trixie, you’re safe,” says Monte softly as he cautiously pushes her charged hoof away from his face.

The energy around Trixie’s hoof and horn disappears and a look of horror and shock crosses her mind when she realizes what she was about to do. Monte offers a comforting smile and gently removes Trixie’s hoof from his chest and pulls her in for a hug. He gently shushes her and rubs her back as she trembles in his hug, closing his eyes when he feels her tears on his shoulder.

“I promise nopony will get you,” whispers Monte, closing his eyes and tightening his hug around her as he lowers his head. “I promise.”