New chapter in Farmer Bruener and Letters is still being worked on · 4:32am Apr 19th, 2022
Viking ZX has a good writing blog on creating a credible villain today, which I urge all evil minions to read for pointers. Personally, I prefer the misunderstood powerhouse of Monster in the current chapter I'm working on (snippet below), as well as the generally villainless Farmer Bruener series (which a new chapter will be released tomorrow), but Letters does have Trixie in it, I suppose, and she's a bad influence on young and overpowered children. Also, Estee is a bad influence because she was the one who planted the idea that Green Grass' special talent is not teaching young unicorns, but actually surviving the process. Read on. You'll see.
Celestia and Luna had spoken in the iced cream store about fighting him, but Monster quickly pushed that option to the back of her mind. She had to reach her friends first, and without breaking their protection against the weather, but none of her spells had that kind of precision, and nopony else on the airship…
As the wailing groan of a pregnant mare came up from belowdecks, Monster came to a sudden realization about what Trixie would call an opportunity to get help from a friend.
It would require a very Trixie-like approach.
* * *
“I’ve never been happier to be a shaggy mess. It’s cold out here,” said Green Grass into the wind as Monster brought him up on deck. The skinny stallion flapped in the wind where loose skin rippled and his coat caught snowflakes, but Monster’s spell kept him from blowing away. The airship’s colorful sails were extended, lifting the vessel higher above the raging storm as the sun neared the horizon and lit them all with golden light, but soon the night would fall and…
“Need you,” said Monster in slow, specific words that required a great deal of force to make herself heard over the wind. “Save friends. Need to break through magic shield over Crystal Empire. Shiny’s shield. Never have before. Can’t now. You can.”
“Whoa, now.” Green Grass held out one hoof in a stopping motion, only to put it back down so he would not be blown off the airship deck. “I’m an earth pony, Twilight. Your brother has unicorn magic. Can’t we like land and knock on the outside or something?”
“Storm would break ship. Need to get through now and fast. Stargazer having foal. Needs doctor. Friends in trouble. King Sombra will hurt them.”
Green Grass nodded. “That’s all true, right up to the point where… What are you doing?”
Monster walked up to the front of the airship, followed by her tutor. It gave a spectacular view of the unforgiving arctic terrain far below, even moreso when the airship gave a lurch and began to level out. This was no roller coaster from Funland, but the sensation was similar, with threads of probability thrashing around so hard that Monster could not see anything at all.
Trust in Harmony.
Trixie said there was no such thing as fate, that a poor decision now beat a perfect decision made too late. Actions determined results no matter the intent, so it was best to focus on the facts the way they were instead of the way you meant. Her power was depleted by the use of Friendship’s fire, therefore everypony’s survival depended on her being a liar.
“You should be dead,” said Monster bluntly as the airship finished leveling off at such a high altitude that she could barely see the glimmering dot of the Crystal Empire’s shield in the storm below. “Killed Windigo. Kicked to death. You’re not dead. Alive.” Her eyes traced back to Greenie’s snow-white hindquarters with the long brown stripe of dried blood over an opened scar that still weeped a few drops of red. “Just changed colors like Trixie. Dyed. Not died.”
“I was lucky, Twilight.” Since they were above most of the weather, Green Grass was able to get down on his knees so he could look Monster in the eyes. “I was terrified, and had no choice.”
“Always choices. Some bad. Trixie said you never got hurt teaching unicorn magic. Never.”
“I was briefly turned into a geranium once—” started Green Grass, only to have Monster narrow her eyebrows and fix him with a fierce glare.
“Never hurt! Bad things happened, but only where they could be fixed easy. Not afraid of me!”
The anger she felt was real, but restrained by the importance of her task. This was only one step in saving her friends and everypony else in the Crystal Empire. Shiny could not keep his shield up forever, and the growing shadows below would eventually wear him down, tear down the shield, and flood into the unseen city on the winds of the huge blizzard.
If… No, because Green Grass’ magical talent appeared to unconsciously protect him during magical accidents, it had to know how important this was to his survival. The idea of a cutie mark that thought was unusual to Monster’s distorted mind, but the theory fit into the hypothesis, and all that remained was the experiment to prove it. Or maybe she had those reversed. Anyway, it was time as Trixie would say to go all in and call the universe’s bluff.
Above them in the airship’s rigging there was the sudden clanging of a bell and the captain’s voice calling out. “Secure all cargo and passengers! Trim the sails and rig for rapid descent.”
“Descent?” said Green Grass, looking very wide-eyed and panicked.
“It’s the only way to save our friends,” said Monster. “I trust you.”
Sunny’s young voice shouted, “We’re ready in cargo, Captain Celaeno.”
Almost immediately, the airship began to nose over and the bell from before started clanging in an unbroken sequence of harsh notes. “All hands to crash positions,” called out the captain. “Ramming speed! Dive! Dive!”
“Uh, Twilight?” started her tutor as the airship continued to nose over until it was pointed nearly straight down at the glittering magical dome glowing with fire in the light of the setting sun and began to pick up speed. “Is this the way—”
“Sunny said you got hurt by her uncle earlier, but not killed. Other ponies got eaten. You lived. Made me think.”
Green Grass gave a terrified squeak and grabbed onto the rail, although Monster did not move in the slightest. She continued to talk as the wind picked up, driven by the ever-increasing velocity of the plunging airship.
“I trust you. Moosashi said to go into battle as if you were already dead. If you can’t open Shiny’s shield, you die. I die. We all die.”
“This won’t work!” screamed Green Grass as the ground below grew larger at an increasing rate. “This is misplaced trust! I can’t—”
Why settle for a cliffhanger when you can stop with an airship plummeting down at full speed into a raging blizzard with an unbreakable shield at the end of the dive?
Trixie has been a bad influence on Monster.
I love it!
Noooo don't try to game the event pump.
Well this could be painful. Or a valuable lesson in trust!
5651740
Hope they got enough fuel.
5651740
Twilight was never the Monster.
You monster.
(Kidding, of course. The prospect of more Letters is making it difficult not to squee out loud
)
5651811 No, if I was really cruel, I'd light the airship on fire.
Hm....