//------------------------------// // CHAPTER FIVE: Flashbacks Make for Good Transitions // Story: The What and Whatiful Who // by cosby7 //------------------------------// Thump, thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Rain. Always, the never ending drumbeat of the rain. She knew in her head that there had to have been a time before it, but all of Trixie’s memories were slick and rain soaked. Sure, when they stopped in a town the weather ponies kept the skies sunny, it wouldn’t do to literally rain on a parade, but the roads between most cities had no weather service. Out beyond the city limits, the elements worked on their own or not at all. And it had been a long time since the wagons had left Baltimare. If days could be measured in raindrops, Trixie thought to herself, then we must have been out here a gazillion years. There wasn’t much for a young filly to do, cooped up in a wagon all day without any other ponies her age to play with. Her mother taught her lessons during the day and her father told stories to her and the rest of the troupe at night. At least, he used to. Trixie missed the days when they could all lie out under the stars around a campfire, while her father told fantastic stories of heroes from ancient wars and the terrible evils they faced, both pony and beast alike. It was not one of the most traditional acts they offered, but her father’s stories, more thrilling than any play and more heartfelt than any tome, always brought in a crowd. Without anything else to occupy her time of late, Trixie had taken to sampling acts from anyone and everyone who would offer her a lesson. She wanted desperately to be a great acrobat, like her mother, but a cramped wagon did not lend itself well to lessons in acrobatics. The poor mare had tried to teach her daughter some basic stretches, but she quickly found that Trixie had no patience for such things. Instead, she very much possessed her father’s flair for the dramatic. Unfortunately, she simply did not share the stallion’s ear for stories. It broke Trixie’s heart to find that her path did not seem to follow that of her parents, but she was a determined little filly and vowed that she would not give up until she found her place among her extended family. Not until she nearly took a throwing knife to the flank, courtesy of Steel Slice, did Trixie start to lose hope. Eventually though, even the ambitious young mare grew melancholy at her own failure. With each passing day on the road, she had grown more and more despondent, the rain worsening with her mood. All her life, she had been brought up around ponies who were all so talented and amazing at something. But Trixie was just . . . Trixie. There in her bunk aboard her family’s wagon, Trixie sat, worried and alone. Maybe I’m not special, she thought morosely. Maybe there’s not anything about me that’s important. Only then, seemingly out of nowhere, did she hear it. VWOOOOORP! VWOOOOOORP! And then the rain stopped. The world returned to Trixie at a slow trickle as her eyes finally fluttered open. At first, she found herself confused at her surroundings, but then her memories began to filter in just behind her senses. She remembered the horrible disasters that seemed hellbent on dismantling Equestria and its citizens. The horrible magics and strange things in the sky, like something out of her father’s stories. She remembered the strangely alien box with the spatial enchantment, full of metal bones and cables. It was different now, she noticed. There was light, for one thing. The whole room was brightly illuminated, granting an otherworldly glow to the glass floor and ruddy walls. Bits and pieces that Trixie had earlier mistaken for useless clutter now appeared to be alive with activity, either blinking or beeping or pshooing. The subtle hum she had heard before was noticeably stronger. She remembered the incredible amount of sheer magic power she had somehow mustered to power it. No wonder she was so groggy. Finally, she remembered the mysterious brown stallion with an hourglass for a cutie mark, and how he inexplicably managed to be more alien than his blue box and yet still so familiar at the same time. “Good, you’re up.” Trixie pivoted in the direction of the voice to find Doctor Hooves there, beaming at her warmly. “I, Trixie, was . . . dreaming,” she replied drowsily, still not quite free from the haze of sleep. “Nothing life threatening, I trust?” Hooves asked with a note of genuine concern. “That has been a problem before.” She gave her head a firm shake, waving off the tiredness that remained. “No. It was about the day that Trixie received her cutie mark,” she said, letting the words hang in the air. When enough time had passed that it did not seem he was going to press her on the details, she asked, “How long was Trixie out for?” “Oh, not long, not long,” the Doctor answered, avoiding her eyes. Trixie had no idea what that might have meant. “Just a little while, I imagine. Honestly a little hard to tell when we’re traveling through a wormhole of pure time energy. We’ve just been bouncing around the time vortex for a bit, getting the TARDIS acclimatized, seeing if we can pick up any stray bits of energy. We won’t be able to refuel in earnest for a while yet, but the old girl should be fine until then.” His eyes, swollen with pride, stopped their wild roaming around the beloved control room and refocused on Trixie. She was almost taken aback at how much attention, with no pride lost, was suddenly focused on her. “As we’re on the subject, may I just say that was a truly inspiring display you managed. I mean, wow. Really, really wow. I had no idea you had that much power in you.” Trixie hadn’t either, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Thank you. Really. From both of us.” He said this last statement with a tender pat on the TARDIS console. “You’ve kept your part of the bargain, now it’s time for us to do the same.” “Yes,” Trixie began weakly, not quite certain how to ask her next question. “Um, what was it exactly that you were planning on doing?” “What?” Doctor Hooves looked crestfallen. “But . . . the plan?” “If there is a plan in motion,” Trixie began, puffing herself up haughtily, “then the Great and Powerful Trixie has not been informed.” There was only so much of this pony’s shenanigans one great and powerful unicorn could take. “I’m sure I told you.” “You most certainly did not!” Trixie turned away in admonishment. “Trixie would have remembered.” “No,” the Doctor trailed off warily. “You sure? Not on the walk to the TARDIS? Really?” “There was not a great deal of time to discuss things, so, no, Trixie does not think so.” “Right, I,” the Doctor said, making a face of pure discomfort. “I’m sorry, sometimes my mind is doing one thing while the rest of me is doing something else. Why was it that we didn’t have time?” Trixie gave the poor befuddled colt a flat stare. “Cyborg ponies.” “Oh! Yes, okay. I remember those! All,” he stopped and began making a show of squinting at something, almost like he was trying to catch an invisible object between his eyelids, “cyborg-pony-like.” Facehoof. “Yes, those are the ones.” “Alright, well, exactly,” he exclaimed, seemingly reclaiming his control of the conversation. “I did mention something about this being a time machine?” Trixie nodded. It was a way skeptical nod though. A nod so slight, in indication of such reserved agreeance, that one would scarcely have noticed it had one not been looking for this exact tilt of the head. Fortunately, Doctor Hooves was well trained in skepticism. “Perfect. Here’s the plan then: We use the TARDIS to track down whatever source it is that is destroying Equestria and make that not a thing that is happening any longer.” Your Doctor Hooves explanation comes complete with a way too cheerful grin, like this plan is not basically insane or something. “Oh,” Trixie began in mock seriousness, and she was laying the mock down pretty thick, “is that all? Trixie thought you were going to say something completely impossible and full of nonsense. Are you sure there’s nothing you wanted to add?” Doctor Hooves considered this carefully. His mouth and eye scrunched up in the corner of his face and everything. “There is not.” “I see.” “Usually, anytime I come up with anything more complicated than that, it just sort of,” the Doctor shuddered at the thought of some unseen memory, “goes sideways on me and ends with a lot of running. Thought I do suppose running on four legs might be new and interesting.” “Fine!” Trixie yelled in exasperation. “If Trixie has allowed herself to believe in this nonsense up until now, then there is no harm in going along with it a little further. Show Trixie the magic of this box of yours.” With that, the Doctor nearly leapt back to the controls of his TARDIS. His hooves were a blur of motion as he flicked and waggled, slapped and turned. As far as Trixie could see, the only halt in his movements was the brief second he took to mutter something about ‘not magic.’ As he whirled around the controls, with unceasing motion and no less enthusiasm, Trixie allowed herself to be mesmerized. It was almost like she was witnessing a dance. A dance between the Doctor and his TARDIS. Just watching, she got the distinct impression it was a dance the two had shared countless times before. “Trixie,” he called, finally stopping to watch her, his hoof hovering just above one last lever. “I don’t suppose you remember the Elements of Harmony?” The what of where? For some reason, Trixie couldn’t help but feel the words sounded vaguely familiar. They sounded like something important. She wracked her brain for memories of every song, story, and lesson she had heard as a filly, but nothing came to her. Strangely, that worried her. “Trixie is not familiar with them.” She had expected the Doctor to slump or pout at this news; to show some sign of disappointment. Instead he continued on without skipping a beat, as if any other answer would have been the strangest thing in the world. “They are a group of artifacts that represent the stability of your world. I’m not quite sure how it works yet, but I believe their presence is in no small way responsible for the prosperity of Equestria and its citizens.” Trixie frowned. That did sound like something she should have been aware of. Most unicorns had some knowledge of at least the most basic magical artifacts throughout history. “I also believe that who or whatever it is that is currently interfering with your world has done so, at least in part, by removing the Elements of Harmony from your history.” Was that why she couldn’t remember these “Elements?” Is that how time spells worked? Trixie had admittedly studied time magic only very little, but she had never heard of any spell powerful enough to alter history, like Doctor Hooves had said. For the first time that day, but certainly not the last, Trixie began to wonder just what she had gotten herself into. “How do you know all this, Doctor?” “I don’t,” he replied, frowning seriously. “Not for certain yet. It’s sort of hard to explain, but, I can sort of see where time has gone wrong.” Trixie raised an eyebrow. The Doctor sighed. “Like I said: It’s hard to explain. You know how sometimes you can walk into a room you’ve been in a hundred times before and, without even looking around, you can just sort of sense that something isn’t the way it’s supposed to be? It’s not really anything like that. I can tell though. Paradoxes leave signs. The bigger the alteration, the bigger the sign.” “Okay.” Trixie had given herself over to the lectures of the sagacious stallion and was ready to believe just about anything at this point. “So how do you and Trixie restore these ‘Elements?’” “Simple.” The sage fell away and the excited youngster appeared once more, grinning from ear to ear. “We catch the thief by returning to the scene of the crime.” “Oh? And where, excuse me, when, pray tell, would that be?” “Trixie,” he said before pausing dramatically, his hoof finally falling on the last lever, causing the room to violently shudder, “we’re going to witness the creation of the Elements of Harmony.” “Ahem?” “Sorry, meant to say ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie.” Trixie beamed proudly. “That’s better.” Doctor Hooves eyed the young mare warily before continuing. He’d never been that conceited, had he? “Right then, what say we take a peak outside?” Without another word, he was at the door, prepared to make his exit. “Wait, but, Doctor,” Trixie hemmed and hawed, overtaken by a sudden case of stage fright, “shouldn’t we attire ourselves properly or go over the proper tongue or, or something?” “What? No,” he replied incredulously. “Just act like you belong there. Easiest thing in the world.” “Well,” Trixie scoffed, stalling for time, “forgive Trixie, but it is not everyday she travels into the past a . . . just how far back in time have we gone, supposedly?” Doctor Hooves let out a swallow of air, as his eyes glazed in a look of concentration. It was almost like he was computing something in his head. Shouldn’t he know? “Over a thousand years or so,” was his too casual answer. “Just around the start of the Princesses’ rule, if I’m remembering the history right.” Finally, it occurred to the Doctor to actually look at the young unicorn. She looked terrified. “Trixie, what’s wrong?” “I . . . Trixie has never done anything like this before,” she whimpered. “Trixie is a stage magician. She does not go on adventures like something out a young foal’s tale. She, I . . . I just want to go home.” What had she been thinking? She didn‘t belong here, like this. For all her boasting, she couldn‘t even best an ursa minor. How was she to make a difference in anything? Every failure she had ever faced began to surface in the silence of that moment, from filly to full grown mare, and it was not a short list. Trixie‘s head hung low. And then he spoke. “Great and Powerful Trixie,” he announced loudly. She looked at him sheepishly and found herself cowed by the hardness in his eyes. “You have earned your name today and I will not let you forget that. You can be as brilliant as you let yourself be. Now, please, help me so that there will be a future for me to take you back to.” To her great and powerful surprise, Trixie believed him. Every word he said. Not only did she feel ashamed for the fear she felt a moment before, but she found herself now actually wanting to venture out beyond those doors. She wanted to see the past and save her home. She wanted him to be proud of her. It scared her a little. “Very well,” she finally agreed. “The Great and Powerful Trixie needed but a moment to collect herself.” With one leg thrown out to her side, she caused a dramatic flutter of her star-covered cloak. “Let’s save Equestria!” With a final nod and smile exchanged, Trixie made her way to the mad pony’s side. In one move, Doctor Hooves struck out his namesake and the doors of the TARDIS opened wide before them. Without another thought, they stepped into the light.