Trixie couldn’t help but let out another sigh as the rain continued to beat down on her head. She looked ahead, groaning when faced with the miles of empty meadow past Hollow Shades. Still, she continued to take step after step on the cobbled roads. As much as she hated the travel from Manehatten to Canterlot, with a whole lot of nothing and the occasional backwater town, it was the fastest way across by hoof.

Still was an awful trip, by every regard.

Picking up her pace, Trixie went as fast as her legs allowed her to get under the forest canopy, away from the rain and towards pitching camp. Her wagon bumped along after her, it managing to creak every time it tapped the ground.

Finally reaching her reprieve from the rain above, she unhooked herself from the wagon and sat down on the ground, her legs aching from the distance she walked. Letting herself rest in the grass, she let her magic do all the work of setting up the campfire, before setting it alight and basking in the warmth of the flame.

Before she was able to get herself settled, some rustling behind her rocketed her to high alert and she spun around to face the noise. She took a few deep breaths and tried to center herself, hoping that she wouldn’t stutter or let her voice crack when she spoke. “Who’s there!? Come out, whoever you are!”

All she was met with was silence.

As much as she wanted to sit back down and pretend that nothing happened, that she was just hearing things, her years in performance magic taught her how to notice the small things. And that definitely wasn’t her imagination.

Taking every step with care, she quietly moved towards where the noise came from, her horn lit and her body prepped to jump away at a moment’s notice. With one fluid motion, she leapt through the bush, casting a blinding light in hopes of catching the creature by surprise.

The magic in her horn died, and she looked on in surprise at the stallion standing frozen in the mud, who was returning the same sort of look back at her. Her curiosity outweighing her other emotions, she relaxed her stance and looked towards the stallion with intent. Following a few seconds of silence, and some internal conflict of what exactly to say, she decided on the simplest course of action. “Are you alright?”

The stallion gave her a distrustful glare, before slowly standing up to face her. “No, not really. I’m...lost.” He sighed, his shoulders dropping a little bit, and his defensive posture replaced by one of fatigue. He muttered to himself, ‘Oh, I give up.’ before falling back down onto his rear.

“One second.” Trixie ran back to her wagon, threw open the doors, and quickly rummaged through her stuff. Finding the item she was searching for, she ran back to the stallion and wrapped him up in the blanket. His protests were cut short by a shout of surprise as she brought him over by her wagon. Placing him by the campfire, she took out a blanket for herself and cocooned herself beside him. “So, what’s your name?”

“Glenn,” He stared down at the blanket, shifting his packs off of himself and onto the dried mud. “And excuse me if I’m not gracious about this, but this is a bit unusual for me.”

Trixie levitated a pair of hot chocolates over and placed them by the fire, before turning towards Glenn. “What do you mean? Hospitality is rare for you?”

Glenn let out a dry chuckle. “You could say that. Most mares are a lot less subtle with their attempts to grab me.” He let out a long breath, reclining back on to the ground. The two rested silently by the campfire, the rhythm of the crickets’ chirping and the light downfall of the rain bringing a tired peace upon the makeshift campground.

Breaking from her relaxed trance, Trixie picked up the warmed-up hot chocolates, placing one by Glenn. “If I remember right, you mentioned you were lost?” She went to take a sip out of her mug, but gave a short shout of pain and recoiled as the scalding water touched her lips. She couldn’t help but turn a light shade of red as her guest let out an amused snort.

“Sorry, sorry, that was mean.” He shakily lowered his own mug back to the ground, deciding not to take the same course of action as Trixie. After a few seconds of letting nature’s serenade ring past, he let out another deep sigh. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to get to Neighgra Falls, but the endless fields all look the same. Headed towards the closest landmark, which was here.” Checking his cocoa again, he muttered in disappointment, seeing the steam still billowing off of the drink. “I tried to sneak around the town near the center of this forest, but apparently they’re all batponies, and they gave me a good scare. Almost forgot how good bats’ hearing is. Luckily, they didn’t chase after me, which was a relief. The running schtick gets tired after the third or fourth time.”

Trixie nodded. “Mhm, Trixie can understand that sentiment. I’ve had my fair share of getting chased out.” She couldn’t help but let out a depressed mutter at the pause, but her smile quickly returned. “Luckily, that hasn’t been happening as of late. It’s quite surprising how ponies change when you change yourself.”

“You talk about yourself in the third person?” Glenn gave Trixie an inquisitive look.

“I—It’s a habit. A part of my act, to be fair. A part of the spectacle of my magic!” She threw her blanket off, striking a pose, her blush returned as Glenn burst out into laughter. “What’s so funny?”

Glenn took a few deep breaths, in hopes to control his giggling. “Sorry, I—*snirk*—it’s just that you said it with such gusto.” He let out one long breath, managing to bring his giggles to a halt. “It’s just...everybody takes themselves so seriously for some reason. And here you are, a magician in a world of magic, in the forest with a stranger, showing off. It’s so absurd, yet it’s probably the most enjoyable moment I’ve had in awhile. It shouldn’t be funny, but I can’t help but feel relief.” He sat up and brought the mug of cocoa to his lips, letting out a pleased sigh as the warm drink ran down his throat. “So you’re not going to try and herd me, or whatever the gist is?”

“No, I’d rather not. I can understand your concern, though,” Trixie wrapped herself back up in her blanket and began drinking her own cocoa. “I traveled a bit with my father when I was young, so I got to see first hoof what it was like for the stallions to be hounded by mares. It just doesn’t sit right with me whenever I try it.” Another sip, and a satisfied sigh. “I’ve come to terms with the way I work. And it seems you’re in a similar vein, not wanting to be chased by mares.”

“Bingo.”

Silence settled in between the two, and the realization hit Trixie that the forest had gone silent. “Well, looks like the rain stopped. Hopefully, the mud isn’t too bad come the morning. Anyways, why do you want to go the Neighgra Falls?”

“To hop the border. Supposedly the magic there is weakest, so I’ll take my chances and see if I can slip by.” Glenn let out a yawn and felt himself slowly lower back on to the ground.

“You want help getting across the border, then?”

Glenn looked over at her with some surprise. “...You’d seriously do that?”

Trixie nodded. “I think another tour out of Equestria is long overdue. Having a bit of extra carry-on wouldn’t be of any harm. Plus, I couldn’t call myself a magician without pushing a few rules.” She let out a big yawn, and Glenn followed in kind. “I guess we can start heading out in the morning, then.”

The two soon fell asleep, the returning chirps of the crickets lulling them to the world of dreams.

Between Trixie’s steps on the cobbled road, the consistent rumble of the wagon, and the occasional splashing of the sitting water, Glenn couldn’t help but fall into a peaceful, quiet trance. For the first time in what felt like forever, he felt soothed and unburdened. No pony chasing him. No need to watch his back. No need to hide away in the darkest corners.

Even if it was only for a moment, it was a moment he only just realized he needed.

He pulled out the mirror from his bag, and let out a groan upon seeing its condition. The cracks had gotten worse. He lightly chewed his tongue, wondering if he should activate it again and risk worsening its condition. Deciding against it, he placed it back into his bag and opened the window curtain to embrace the day. He momentarily recoiled from the sudden brightness of the sun overhead, but after a few blinks, he was able to reorient himself in the world of the awake.

Throwing the window open, he hears Trixie speak from the front of the wagon. “Oh, nice to see you’re up. You feeling alright?”

“Yeah. Much better.” He crawled out the window, landed on the ground with a thump, and trotted up to Trixie’s side. “You want me to take over?”

Trixie chuckled and shook her head. “No, I’m good, lugging this big thing around isn’t any trouble for me. What would help me is knowing a bit more about my companion.” She gave him a look of intrigue. “Haven’t seen a stallion like you ever before, and I’ve been to quite a few places.”

She could see several emotions run past Glenn’s face, mainly uncertainty and a little bit of sadness. Eventually, he relented with a sigh. “Well, I guess there’s no harm. Where to start…” He clicked his tongue. “When I came to this wor—uh, Baltimare, I had an...an accident, and I couldn’t really walk or speak. Some mares took me in and helped me recuperate. I didn’t realize I had a herd—uh, I was isolated when I was young, wasn’t told about the norms—but I didn’t find many issues with it at first. But, they became...defensive and controlling after I was able to act as normal. And...they did some pretty unforgivable things to keep me around. In my eyes, at least, I think they didn’t think they did anything wrong. Some running and hiding later, I took refuge in the Everfree, where a few more mares found me and tried to get me into the same situation. They couldn’t take no for an answer, so I ran from there too.” Glenn took a deep breath. “That’s the short of it. If I think about it too much, I’ll probably flip out.”

“Mhm.” Trixie rolled her neck, a loud crack popping from it. “Sounds like you were on quite an adventure.”

“More than I need in my lifetime.”

The magician let out a chuckle before the quiet settled in between them. Glenn took this opportunity to take a good look at his surroundings, his head up and hood off. He lost track of how long he stared at the empty meadows. While he wasn’t one to care about how pretty his surroundings were, he couldn’t help but appreciate the view.

Noticing that the rolling of the wagon had stopped, Glenn looked back at Trixie in confusion and saw her waving him back. “We’re almost at Neighgra Falls, so you might want to stow away in the wagon. It’d be easiest if you weren’t seen at all.”

He nodded and hopped back through the window, slamming it shut behind him. Glancing around, he decided the pros outweighed the cons and buried himself under the covers of Trixie’s bed. Better to be comfortable and unseen, no matter the cost when his benefactor discovered his location. The darkness surrounding combined with the resumed rumble managed to send him off to sleep.

His respite was broken when a minor shock ran through his body, but he managed to silence himself from shouting in surprise. The wagon lurched to a halt, the rear door opening with a loud creak a few moments later.

“See, I told you there was nothing.”

“That seems to be a case. That reaction from the barrier was too weak, must’ve been a false alarm. You may go.”

The rumble returned, and he let out a relieved sigh. No longer feeling tired, he thought back on all the events that occurred in this cursed land and he couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like he was finally free.

His train of thought was broken when the door creaked again, and Trixie ripped the blanket off of him. “Seriously?”

Glenn gave her an awkward smile. “Hey, it worked.”

Trixie sighed, but her frown vanished. “Well, it’s another day’s trip to the next town, so do you want to take over pulling the wagon? My heart is beating a bit too hard.”

“Can you repeat that?”

“What? My heart is—”

“No, no, not that, the part where you asked me to do something.”

“Uh, do you want to take over pulling the wagon?”

A genuine grin grew on Glenn’s muzzle. “Fuck yeah I will.” He sprinted out the wagon and fumbled to attached the harness to himself as quickly as he could.

Trixie followed him and gave him an inquisitive look. “...This is definitely an interesting reaction.”

“Hey, you’re the first pony to ask me to do something for them. It’s a nice feeling.” Managing to get the harness around his barrel, he closed it with a click and grinned back towards Trixie. “Alright, you ready?”

Author's Notes:

Expected more?

Nah.