//------------------------------// // 13 Days until T-Day // Story: 14 Days Until T-Day // by bahatumay //------------------------------// 13 Days until T-Day 9:13 am Streets of Ponyville Dust Dancer the earth pony groaned in trepidation. He didn't know what he had done to anger the Great and Dreadful Trixie, but it was obvious that someone upstairs hated him. His assignment seemed simple—go to the library, and get information on the pony living there. Simple enough.... on paper. He knew the rumors just like everypony else. The Ponyville library was staffed by the only pony the Great and Dreadful Trixie ever feared. And he had been chosen to check her out. Lucky him. Normally, he would have found this a great pun—checking out a librarian, checking books out of the library—but his mind kept wandering. He had seen Trixie. He had seen what she had done. He had seen what she was capable of. He had seen the horrors she had wrought. So what could a simple librarian do to make her so afraid? His mind brought out various possibilities, each less likely but more frightening than the last. She was an alicorn in disguise. She was Trixie's mother. (1) She was strong in dark magic and gained power by drinking foal's blood. He shuddered at the last possibility. Looking up, he realized that he had arrived at the library. Even with his heart seizing up in fear, he took a moment to appreciate the effort it must have required to hollow out a tree. Admiration aside, it took a gargantuan effort for him to raise his forehoof and knock on the door. Maybe she was a lunar guard, but huge? A vision of gray fur, yellow slitted eyes, and sharp, dragon-like teeth filled his vision. This vision was quickly disrupted when the door opened. Ironically, it was a gray pony with yellow eyes that opened the door; but there were no teeth or slitted eyes. She looked like just a regular gray pegasus with golden eyes. She didn't look scary. She looked... ditzy. “Hi!” she chirped happily, smiling broadly (and showing off her normal, non-spiked teeth). “Come for a book?” Dust Dancer found it hard to respond, because he was rather hypnotized by her eyes. One looked at him, while the other seemed to find something interesting in the sky. After a few seconds of silence, she cocked her head at him. “Is that a yes, or a no?” she asked. Still not sure how scared he should be of this legendary librarian, he decided to skip the eye pun that had just popped into his head (which would have been brilliant, if he did say so himself) and go with her suggestion. “Uh.... sure.” “Then come on in!” With slight apprehension, Dust Dancer entered. She turned away from him, leading him in. Being a red-blooded stallion, his eyes flicked down and traced her body down to her well-formed hindquarters. Her cutie mark seemed to be... bubbles? Strange.... He shook his head and scanned the library. It seemed normal enough. Well, normal if you call a tree converted into a library 'normal'. Briefly musing upon the irony of paper being inside of a tree, he stopped to admire just how many books fit in here. Shelves upon shelves lined the walls, and they all looked organized. Cross-eyed or not, the mare seemed to have... wait for it... an eye for detail. It was probably the left one. He was still mentally congratulating himself on such a clever pun when the gray pegasus interrupted his train of thought. She waved a hoof around as she pointed out various books. “If you want books, you came to the right place. We have cook books, comic books, history books, big books, little books, red books, blue books...” As she was walking and speaking and gesturing wildly, her flank hit a bookshelf—which promptly collapsed on top of her, burying her in books. She poked her head out of the pile and looked up sheepishly (which is surprisingly easy to pull off when you're wearing an open book as a hat). “Oops. My bad,” she giggled. Dust Dancer made sure to not step on any of the books that scattered the floor. He quickly decided that the only thing Trixie could be worried about was if stupidity were contagious. Or maybe the fabled librarian of Ponyville was just a legend Trixie herself made up, just to raise a small glimmer of hope in her conquered ponies, only to crush that hope later. He wouldn't put it past her to pull such a stunt. The term “cruel” could be a compliment to that blue mare. He shuddered as he thought back to what she had done to her last “personal assistant”. She had been a feisty cream-colored earth pony.... at first. The shackles he could understand, but not even removing them or letting her leave to relieve herself? And then making her clean up the mess after? He pulled himself back into the present. “You know, I think I changed my mind. I'm not really in the mood for books.” The pegasus shook the book off her head and flapped her wings, pulling her body out of the pile. She landed gently in front of the earth pony. “So what are you in the mood for?” she asked innocently, her wings still spread slightly. Dust Dancer felt a slight flush in his cheeks. Was that an... invitation? Dust Dancer shook his head to clear it. “Oh, I don't know... Uh... Walking.” That sounded safe. The pegasus cocked her head again. “Walking?” she asked, confused. Then, recognition dawned in her eyes. “Oh yeah. You funny earth ponies. You have to walk everywhere. Lame! I could give you a ride if you wanted,” she offered. Dust Dancer blinked in confusion. “What?” “Yeah!” the gray pegasus said. “I'm pretty strong from my part-time job at a moving company. I'm good at handling heavy loads and I have lots of endurance. You could ride me and I'll take you wherever you want to go!” she invited. Ok. That was it. This mare was either crazy or stupid beyond measure but either way, Trixie should probably be more afraid of a turnip than this nutcase. “I gotta go.” And Dust Dancer nearly flew out the front door. For an earth pony, his speed was rather impressive. Twilight Sparkle, who had tears of laughter streaming from her eyes and was at that moment very grateful that she had also cast the silencing spell on herself as well as the invisibility spell, waited until their visitor was halfway down the street. Regaining control of her laughing, she began to count down as she watched him run. “Three.... two.... one....” she whispered. As she watched, their visitor suddenly found himself ambushed by what appeared to be a pink whirlwind. Even from halfway down the street, she could catch phrases like “new pony in town” and “welcome party” and “cake” and “deep fried squid”. She had no idea what had spawned that last comment, but then again, she had long ago given up trying to make sense of Pinkie Pie. Even from that far away, she could see the fear in his eyes as Pinkie Pie dragged him away to go meet some of the other members of the town. She undid her enchantments, much to Derpy's surprise. “I can never get over how weird that looks,” the gray pegasus mused, watching in awe as Twilight seemingly appeared from nowhere. Twilight was much prouder of her first few accomplishments. She levitated a worn, but official-looking checklist, and crossed off the first two items. “Bait-and-switch at library? Check. Launch 'Operation Pinkie Pie's Welcome To Crazy Town'? Check.” She smiled as she returned the checklist to her side. “That should do double duty of reassuring Trixie of no threat, and dampening morale for the rank and file soldiers.” She turned to her partner in saving the city and extended a hoof. “You did great, Derpy. The collapsing a bookshelf was a nice touch.” Derpy grinned in slight embarrassment as she returned the offered hoofbump. “That part was an accident,” she admitted. “Well, you did great anyway,” Twilight said. “Especially the four innuendos—the look on his face was priceless! I'll make you muffins later or something.” Derpy's eyes narrowed slightly as she glowered at Twilight. “There were five, and the muffin thing is a bit of an overused stereotype,” she said. (2) Twilight blinked in slight embarrassment. That was quite a common emotion today, wasn't it? She started to stammer out an apology, but, with her eyes still narrowed, the gray mare interrupted. “That didn't mean no, by the way. I want chocolate chip ones, and don't skimp on the chocolate!” 13 Days until T-Day 2:03 pm Trixie's Headquarters The Great and Dreadful Trixie was in her airship, sitting in the captain's chair. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to obtain one of these, but she was very glad she had. It provided comfort, shelter, a deep feeling of power, an amazing view, and privacy when she wanted it. Which, for Trixie, wasn't that often. She was a little bit like a changeling, except she seemed to feed off the attention of others instead of love. Her eyes scanned the room. What wall space wasn't covered in maps or star charts was covered with images of her cutie mark, or her face. Her beautiful face. She smirked. A light green pegasus flinched at the twisted smile. She was Trixie's “personal assistant”. That was her official title, but she wasn't just that. How many personal assistants wear a tight saddle, a gag, and shackles on all four legs? No, she was Trixie's plaything. Trixie had even chosen a saddle that let her spread her wings, while making sure that the shackles were securely connected to the ground, within reach of her captain's chair. It was freedom and captivity at the same time. To a pegasus, being in the air but not flying, to be able to flap your wings but never achieve lift? Torture, pure and simple. Deep, psychological torture. She was breaking. Just like Trixie wanted it. Trixie looked down at the pair of shears in her lap and stroked them gently. “Soon,” she murmured. “Oh Supreme one!” Trixie dropped her shears and turned to face the guard. “Dust Dancer returns with his report!” Trixie sniffed haughtily. “It's about time!” she said. “Send him in.” She hopped down from her chair with slight apprehension, and she felt her heart rate speed up. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, to be completely honest, but she knew what she was hoping it was not. She hoped it wasn't something like, “the librarian is a pretty purple unicorn mare with a star cutie mark”, or, “Guess who I ran into today? Princess Celestia!” What did she get? A bedraggled-looking earth pony staggering into her cabin. He sat down hard, releasing dust into the air, and saluted shakily. “Dust Dancer reporting, oh Supreme One.” He took a deep breath. “All the ponies in this town are CRAZY!” he shouted. Trixie paused, taking in the crazed look in Dust Dancer's eyes. “Explain,” she invited, but with a hint of steel behind it. Dust Dancer needed no further prodding. “This librarian mare everypony's so afraid of is this stupid gray pegasus with two eyes going different directions and there's a monster in that town known as Pinkie Pie who throws parties for everypony and she sings and she talks and she talks and she talks and she talks and she sings and it's still stuck in my head...” He started rocking back and forth, a hint of insanity flaring in his eyes as he started to sing. “Oh, I don't care if a loud-mouthed mare shows up to give us a big mean scare / but Pinkie's here so have no fear, I welcome you with friends so dear!” He kept rocking, eyes becoming slightly unfocused as he continued. “She rhymed words like 'squid' and 'orange'.” His voice degenerated into a pitiful whine. “How did she rhyme a word with orange?” (3) “So... no purple unicorn?” Trixie asked hopefully. Dust Dancer wasn't done. “I got hit on by five mares. That's good, right? A stallion's dream, right? No! Not at all! They were all insane! This green one tried to tell me how much better it is to walk on your back hooves and kept talking about... about....” he struggled to remember the word, “'hoomins'! She was insane! Insane!” His voice dropped conspiratorially. “But the last one. She was a purple earth pony. She wasn't insane. She was just drunk off her rocker!” “She'd have to be, to find you attractive,” Trixie sniped. “She tried to tongue kiss me two seconds after meeting me! And I'm pretty sure she had thrown up thirty seconds earlier!” Dust Dancer shuddered, paused to take a breath, and suddenly processed her first question. “Nope, no purple unicorns. Unless you count foals. I saw two or three, and I'm pretty sure they had changing cutie marks. Why? Looking for a new toy?” “Oh, no. Trixie has... standards... for her assistants,” Trixie said, casting a glance at the light green pegasus mare who was still shackled by her chair. Trixie gave her a quick smile, and was rewarded by a sharp (yet hindered) gasp, her eyes reflexively widening and the pupils shrinking. The pegasus might have said something as well, but with that gag in her mouth, who knew what she was trying to say? And furthermore, who cared? That reminded Trixie... this “assistant” was almost broken completely. She would need to get a new one soon. After she re-clipped her wings, of course. That did wonders for breaking pegasi, and Trixie found it very therapeutic for herself. Dust Dancer had kept rambling in the midst of Trixie's thoughts. “But there is a white unicorn who makes dresses and tried to get me to try one on, this monstrosity of a stallion that sells apples and just glares at you—his legs are as big around as my body!—and three little fillies who call themselves the cutie mark something or others and they are loud and everypony is loud and everypony is crazy and I do NOT want to go back there again!” His speech devolved into incoherent mutterings, and he rocked back and forth on the ground. The lack of reports of a certain purple unicorn had relieved Trixie, and she decided that she had heard enough. “Take him away,” she ordered, waving a hoof. Dust Dancer let himself be dragged away, breaking into song again. “Forests, hills, and loads of thrills, I welcome you to Ponyville! / I hope you'll stay another day, yes, making friends is Pinkie's way!” Trixie walked back to her chair and hopped up. She stretched a hoof out to run it through the green pegasus's mane, and was rewarded by a sharp flinch and an involuntary whimper. Trixie reached out with her magic and pulled her in, giving her a deep hug as she stroked her mane. She could feel the other mare's heartbeat racing in fear. Perfect. “Surely you're not that afraid of little old Trixie, are you?” she asked, faux sadness entering her voice. “You are, aren't you. That's ok. Trixie will let you leave tonight. She might throw you back into your cell with the rest of your rebel friends... or maybe she'll let you go go.” She could feel her heartbeat slow slightly. She brushed a hoof through her mane in a strange mockery of tenderness. “Yes, that sounds good, doesn't it? No more shackles, no more ball gag... but the saddle stays, of course.” Sensing another shudder, she pulled the mare in tighter and dropped the third-person speech. “Shh... shh...” Trixie soothed, speaking tenderly to the mare. “I'll let you go tonight, I promise. I just want to...” she let her hooves wander down to the bottom of her wings and drew small circles around the base, which was a semi-intimate gesture usually reserved only for lovers, “...play with your wings a bit first.” She levitated her rather large pair of shears and grinned evilly. With a quick gasp (hampered by her gag, of course), the pegasus's eyes went wide, and she promptly fainted. Trixie sighed impatiently and dropped her shears as she shoved the unconscious pegasus off her lap. Clipping wings was much more fun when the pegasus in question was awake. She sighed, before coming to a decision: she would just do one wing to start, and save the second for when she woke up again. After all, Trixie had nothing but time. She smiled as she lifted the shears and stretched out the other mare's right wing. All was going exactly according to plan. 13 days until T-Day 8:56 pm Ponyville Library Twilight softly walked past Derpy, who was napping on a cloud. She had to stay at the library, just in case another spy showed up to confirm the lack of a certain purple unicorn. Twilight was pretty glad she had chosen a pegasus to be her replacement—Twilight had moved to the basement couch so that Derpy could use her bed; but after the first night the pegasus had woken up with a really nasty crick in her neck, and decided that a bed is much less comfy than a cloud, and thus Twilight had gotten her bed back. She levitated her checklist. “Step three—codenamed Estrus Cycle, complete. If that doesn't demoralize Trixie's soldiers, nothing will. Step three and a half, Cutie-Mark Crusaders Anti-spy tacticians? Check. If that stallion has ANY sanity left, it would be a miracle.” She smiled. “This is going exactly according to plan.” (4) 13 Days until T-Day 10:56 pm Edge of Everfree Forest It was dark as the blue unicorn and green pegasus stood at the edge of the forest. Trixie had made her shuffle all the way out here before taking off the shackles. She rubbed a foreleg, which had been rubbed red and raw from the grinding metal. A trickle of blood ran down one leg, and more raw spots came from where the too tight saddle had rubbed against her body. Trixie sniffed. “Well, like Trixie promised, you are free to go.” The green pegasus looked pleadingly at Trixie. Trixie paused in mock confusion, and then understanding 'dawned'. “Oh, that's right,” Trixie said. “Trixie said she'd take off the gag, too.” The pegasus nodded, her eyes appealing for mercy. “She lied.” And Trixie reared back and slapped her flank. Now sporting a red mark on her flank as well as on her hooves, the pegasus took off into the night. Right into the heart of the Everfree forest. Trixie smiled deviously. She had spent a week in the Everfree Forest back many years ago. She had survived using only her pure skill and abilities. And a healthy dose of pure luck, but she didn't share that part with anypony. One broken pegasus with clipped wings, running blindly into the forest? She'd be dead in a day. “I think I want a unicorn next time,” she mused, already mentally running through the list of high ranking prisoners.