Chapter 2: Land of the Ice and Snow
Trixie watched the frozen tundra of the Crystal Mountains pass by through the window of the speeding train. They had left behind the vegetation line hours ago, and although the snow and far away mountains glittered with unparalleled beauty, it grew boring after so long. The lack of trees or grass only emphasized the barren and lifeless scenery.
“Is there really an empire all the way out here?” Trixie asked the tiny window.
“Apparently so. Hard to believe isn’t it?” said a voice from behind Trixie.
Trixie turned around to see this new pony was a jasmine coated pegasus mare. Her cutie mark was three light blue raindrops, and her pretty turquoise eyes distracted from her light blue mane and tail. She looked familiar, as if Trixie had seen her somewhere before, but couldn’t quite place it. “Does Trixie know you from somewhere?”
The jasmine pegasus’ face turned red. “Well, no, not officially. Not like we ever talked or anything like that, but I know who you are. You’re the Great and Powerful Trixie,” she said with a big toothy grin.
Trixie just smiled and nodded. She had dealt with over eager fans before (normally not anypony this old, though). “So you’ve see Trixie’s shows? That’s nice. Where did you see Trixie--Hoofington, Los Pegasus, Baltamare perhaps?”
“Ponyville actually.”
Trixie’s eye twitched.
“Hee hee, not the response you wanted to hear I guess? Not that I can blame you, I mean after all that happened there, and all.” The mare sat in the seat across from Trixie and smiled.
“So Trixie takes it you aren’t mad at Trixie then? Um, ah, who were you again?”
“R-RAINDROPS! My n-name is Raindrops, hah hah.” The mare’s face turned bright red again. “And no, I’m not mad at you. I mean, I know it wasn’t your fault. The last Time you were in Ponyville you were under the influence of that evil amulet thingy, and the Ursa thing was more the fault of my little brother and his stupid friend.”
“Wait, your little brother‽”
“Yeah, his name is Snails. You more then likely remember him as that young unicorn colt that worshiped the ground you walked on,” she said with an awkward smile.
“That little foal practically destroyed Trixie’s life!”
“Well to be fair you did turn him and his best friend into babies with dark magic, and then never turned them back.”
“Wha … oops.”
“Yep. Oh well, it’s probably for the best. Maybe he’ll get better grades this time around.”
“Well in any case, its nice to know that the ponies of Ponyville don’t hate Trixie.”
“Well, let’s not jump to conclusions. I said I wasn’t mad at you. The rest of Ponyville would probably tar and feather you if you ever stepped hoof back in town,” Raindrops said with another awkward smile.
Trixie said, “Well that’s nice to know.”
“How about we change topics shall we? So what’s bringing you to the Crystal Empire? Ooh, ooh, ooh! Are you going to do a show there?” Raindrops asked, her wings fluttering hard enough to shed feathers.
“Ah, maybe? If the mood strikes Trixie, but for the most part Trixie was just going sight seeing. Come up with a few new stories of exiting never before seen lands. Or something like that,” Trixie mumbled under her breath.
“Squee! That would be so cool if you did a show here.” Raindrops clapped her hoofs together.
“Okay, so why are you going to the Crystal Empire? It’s kind of a long ways away from Ponyville.”
“Myself and a few of my fellow classmates from the Wonderbolts Academy who didn’t get accepted into the second stage of the program, decided that instead of moping around about not continuing, we would take a trip together. Rainbow Dash suggested the Crystal Empire, so, here we are. Dash didn’t come with because she had already been here before, and she is like the biggest sore loser out of all of us, so I think she’s still at home depressed,” She said nearly in one breath.
“You were at the Wonderbolts Academy?” Trixie asked with honest surprise.
“Only the first stage of it. Apparently it’s not that hard to get into, but out of the eight ponies in my class only one went to stage two, Clark Colt I think his name was, but it was like his third time taking the course while everypony else was a first timer.”
“Yeah! and it was cow patties!” Another mare’s voice shouted across the train car. She then angrily trotted over to the two ponies.
She was a light blue pegasus with an orange and amber striped mane with orange eyes. She looked very upset and angry, her cheeks turning a rosy color. Her posture swayed back and forth, and her breath smelled of whisky.
“Lightning Dust, are you… drunk again?” Raindrops asked with concern in her voice.
“NO! Maybe. WHAT of it‽” the mare said very defensively. “And who the buck is this?” She pointed accusingly at Trixie.
“The pony of who you speak is none other then the best magician in all of Equestria, The Great and Powerful TRIXIE!” Trixie said in her best stage voice, while striking her famous pose with little fireworks going off behind her cape. Raindrops clapped happily at the display.
“Hay, isn’t that that crazy mare who took over our town a few months ago?” asked a black-coated pegasus stallion from the other side of the train where Raindrops and Lightning Dust had come from.
“YEAH!” yelled a big, overly muscular stallion sitting with them.
“Oops, maybe I should have mentioned that over half of my class that came was, also from Ponyville,” Raindrop said with a sheepish smile.
“Great, that’s just…great,” Trixie said softly.
“Yeah, all you Unicorns are the same,” Lightning Dust said with a slur. “Ya’ll just think you’re so high and mighty, don’t you?”
Raindrops covered her face with her hoofs in embarrassment. “Oh dear, Celestia. Please tell me this isn’t happening.”
“You unicorns think you’re so much better then us pegasi don’t you? Well guess what, you’re NOT!”
“Dust please stop.”
“You unicorns don’t do jack all to help the community, either. At least Earth ponies grow food, but us pegasi do the most work. We control the weather, every single day, and get no appreciation for it. When was the last time you did any think like that, hm?” Lightning Dust chuckled as if she had just won some argument that only she was having.
But Trixie on the other hoof didn’t like losing arguments, especially arguments against ponies who where clearly more intoxicated then she was. “Just the other day actually.”
“What?” Lightning Dust asked, confused.
“Well, even though weather manipulation is normally reserved for pegasi, that type of magic can be imitated by unicorns such as Trixie. In fact Trixie can summon forth-lightning clouds and control rainbows at the slightest whim. Trixie can even imitate Earth pony magic as well, but the things Trixie can grow never seem to taste right. There’s always this weird aftertaste.”
“Ohhh,” Raindrops said with wonder.
Lightning Dust fumed with frustration. “Well-Well you’re nothing but a washed up has-been!”
“Takes one to know one,” Trixie said with a smirk.
“Why you little—” Lightning Dust tried to jump at Trixie, but Raindrops got in-between and pushed Lightning away.
“Dust, just stop it! Why don’t you go sit down, and cool off for a little bit,” Raindrops commanded. Lightning Dust slunk back to the others, mumbling under her breath. Raindrops said, “I am so sorry about that.”
“It’s ok,” Trixie said. She was always amused by how easily it was to control other ponies’ actions when they were mad, or not in a sober state of mind (with the sole exception of when a certain purple pony did it to her). However, Lightning Dust’s last comment did hurt Trixie’s pride more then she had shown.
“Attention all passengers, we will be arriving at the Crystal Empire’s train station in ten minuets, that is all,” said the conductor over the intercom.
Oh thank Celestia, Trixie can finally get off of this train. Trixie thought to herself.
“Oh wow! Check it out, Trixie,” Raindrops said with her face to the window, “We can finally see the Crystal Empire.”
“What are you talking abou--What is that?” Trixie asked while looking out the window. She saw a giant blue glowing dome off in the distance, getting larger with every second they got closer. Just looking at it filled Trixie with a warmth and joy she had never known before.
“It’s the Crystal Empire, I think.” Raindrops’ nose scrunched up for a split second. “The whole place is covered in some kind of love dome, or something. At least that’s what the brochure said.”
“Now that Trixie thinks about it, Trixie doesn’t know much about this place. Mind telling Trixie anything you might know?”
“To be honest, not much. I know the whole place is supposed to be made of crystals or something, and the Crystal Heart is what’s powering the dome. Beyond that, not much is know by anypony, but if you want an unconfirmed rumor--they used to be ruled by some evil unicorn king, or smoke monster…according to Rainbow Dash anyway.”
That last bit of info gave Trixie a bad feeling, as if she knew exactly whom Raindrops was talking about. “You don’t say.”
When the train passed through the dome’s barrier, the scenery changed from a frozen wasteland to a bright springtime grassland. The lack of a transition disoriented Trixie at first, but with everypony else, quickly became amazed with the inside of the dome. The city sparkled even more beautifully than the snow outside as they came up to the train station.
Everypony made their way to the platform, very grateful to get a chance to stretch their legs. That’s when Trixie felt it—a dark presence scratching at the back of her mind. She turned away from the city and looked towards the edge of the dome to see where this feeling was coming from. Wherever it was, it was beyond the barrier out in the tundra, calling out to Trixie like a dark whisper being carried by the wind.
“Hey, Trixie,” Raindrops called out to her. Trixie turned around to see the energetic mare approach her. “So like, I was talking to my friends and all. I mean, we need to go to the hotel first to check in and stuff, but later we’re all going to this wicked awesome night club, and I was wondering if you would like to come with us?” She asked, throwing up the biggest smile she could.
"Didn't you tell Trixie that the other ponies in your group wanted to 'tar n' feather' Trixie?"
"What? Oh right, well, I wasn't talking about those guys. They're cool. I just finished talking to them. I was referring more to the earth pony community, anyway." Raindrops tried to explain.
“Well that does sound like a lot of fun, but Trixie has some stuff she needs to take care of first, and Trixie doesn’t know how long that’s going to take,” she said, now looking at a very sad pegasus. “But, if Trixie has time she will drop by.”
“Awesome. I can’t wait. So I guess, I will see you later then.” Raindrops flew back to her friends as they all gathered their thing to head to the hotel.
Trixie tilted her hat over her eyes, and gave a little smile. Raindrops seemed like a very good pony to her, and it was nice to know she still had fans. As soon as everypony was gone, she turned again to the dark whispers that were scratching at her mind. She followed them all the way to the edge of the barrier. Trixie stopped for a moment to inspect the wall of magic. The wall was massive and Trixie could feel the love radiating off of it like never before. However, the darkness that called her was still cutting through it like a hot knife through warm butter.
Curiously, Trixie touched the wall with her hoof to find that it just fazed through, no alarms were set off, and there was no visible sign of Trixie’s hoof going through it except for some ripples that were hardly noticeable. With a deep breath Trixie stepped completely though the barrier to the other side.
It was at this exact point in time Trixie was extremely glad that she enchanted her hat and cape with a spell to keep her body heat from leaving. Without it she would have frozen to death in seconds. Even the grass that was thriving just inside the barrier had died instantly. The only thing she needed to worry about was getting lost. All directions looked the same, but she still marched on across the frozen tundra. Trixie couldn’t tell if it was snowing, or if the constant wind was just picking up and moving around the snow that was already there. It felt like she had been walking for hours following the whispers leading her. She couldn’t even see the dome of the Crystal Empire anymore, until she finally found it.
A big red…thorn? Trixie thought to herself. It was weird, just sticking out of the ground in what looked like a mini crater. Whatever it was, it was pulsating with a dark magic, the likes of which Trixie had seen before. The same kind of magic from the Alicorn Amulet. Trixie knew what this magic was capable of, and how corrupting it was (she was still uncomfortable around wheels for reasons Trixie still doesn’t understand). She also knew this was different. This thing had a mind and will of its own, unlike the Amulet.
It reminded her of that dark stranger she met in Shetland.
Every rational thought in Trixie’s head was telling her to leave and just go back now and take Raindrops up on that offer, but Trixie just kept staring at the red thorn as it called out to her.