//------------------------------// // Chapter 04 // Story: Trixie's Shadow // by Paul_Daniel //------------------------------// 4. Trixie followed her disappearing pony act with a medley of minor enchantments and sleight-of-hoof displays. They were all well done, and thoroughly impressed the audience, especially when Trixie made an illusionary duplicate of herself appear on stage. After bowing to one another, the pair began tandem juggling a series of increasingly hazardous objects, so that what started out as a few water balloons was swiftly mixed with bowling balls, burning white sparklers, and flower pots planted with needly cactus. “I ain’t seein’ things, am I?” said Applejack. “Trixie can’t really split in two?” “No,” replied Twilight, “she’s using telekinesis to do the juggling and timing to make it look like her twin’s interacting with her.” “Well, I’ll be.” “I know—she’s gotten a lot better magically since the last time she was here. What’s even more impressive is how good her double is. Illusionary clones usually have flaws that make it easy to see they aren’t real. But Trixie’s doesn’t. I honestly can’t tell them apart.” “Practice makes perfect,” said Applejack. “I guess that’s as true for stage tricks as it is for farming.” “I guess it is. Anyway, I’m going home. I feel like I need to do some research.” “Right. I’ll send Big Mac over with your food tomorrow—he’s pickin’ up a new harness in town, so he’ll be goin’ straight past the library.” “Thank you!” said Twilight. “I’ll be sure to keep watch.” She bid farewell to her friend and jumped out of the hay wagon. As she left the plaza, Twilight looked over one shoulder, and could not help feeling uneasy that none of the disappeared ponies had returned. But she also noticed that Trixie’s stage had a long curtain hanging over its front edge. Assuming the stage had a trap door, it would have been foal’s play for the three volunteers to drop down while everyone was blinded by the light. And if they were under the stage behind the curtain, Trixie was no doubt planning to make them reappear in another part of her act. Of course, none of that accounted for the black stallion. Twilight mulled over him as she walked, but was unable to form any explanation as to why he had made her so deathly afraid. Fortunately, living in a library gave Twilight access to plenty of books on unnatural phenomena. Nor was it long until she came within sight of her home. “Oh my!” she said. “It’s beautiful…” It was indeed; the sun was setting directly ahead and its rays had thrown a warm sheen across the town. But even without that, the Golden Oakes library was an arresting sight, because it had been built inside of a giant tree. The tree was still healthy, and in fact looked better than ever, thanks to Twilight’s growing spells and Spike’s careful pruning. Now its branches were filled with acorns and wavy leaves, the latter just beginning their annual change from green to gold. Two balconies jutted from the tree’s higher branches, and over the door in its base hung a lantern, whose glow had attracted a number of azure-winged moths. Twilight smiled and moved forward, wiping her hooves on the welcome mat and letting herself in through the front door. Spike was glad to see her—at least once Twilight managed to convince him who she was—and he readily agreed to help find the means of undoing her color morph. The reversal spell wasn’t difficult to perform, but it was obscure enough that it took most of the evening to locate the scroll on which it had been written. This meant that—by the time Twilight finally restored herself to her usual appearance—it was well past dinner. Spike absolutely insisted that Twilight have something to eat before beginning her research, so she gave in and, inspired by Apple Fritter’s lunch, tried her hoof at making blueberry tarts. When these promptly caught fire and had to be frantically levitated into the sink, Spike took over the kitchen and whipped up two spinach and daisy sandwiches. “Thanks, Spike,” said Twilight. “I guess I should leave the cooking to you.” “No problem,” said Spike. “You stick with what you’re good at, and I’ll handle the rest.” He tramped off to do the dishes, humming something about “dragons are awesome” and “Spike the suavest sandwich-maker.” Meanwhile, Twilight ate her dinner and walked out into the main book room. This was a large circular area, with curving shelves along the walls and the wooden bust of a hippocampus mounted on a table in its center. Grabbing a blanket, Twilight snuggled down on a plush window seat and levitated a tome into her hooves. Alas, she had had a busy day, and it wasn’t long until she was nodding over the pages. Soon she was fast asleep. For a time, everything was peaceful. Then the dream began—it seemed a thick fog had descended on Ponyville, and those who went inside it to investigate never came out. Twilight had galloped away to warn her friends, only to find their houses empty and each of them gone. Suddenly the fog began closing in on her. Twilight ran, but couldn’t escape—each desperate turn only led to another, until she was trapped in an alley, pounding desperately on a door that blocked the only way out. Just as the fog was about to reach her, Twilight woke up. Amazingly, the sound of frantic knocking appeared to have followed her. For a second, all was confusion. Then her mind cleared and she realized what was happening. “Be there in a minute!” she called. Already, the nightmare was fading. Twilight leapt up to stretch, arching her back like a cat until the last bits of sleepiness were gone. A quick glance outside revealed clear midmorning skies over Ponyville, along with a soft breeze that rustled the leaves of the library. Twilight pushed open a window to let the fresh air inside. Then she blew out her reading candles and hurried to answer the front door. A unicorn was standing behind it, a light-aquamarine unicorn with a white-striped cyan mane and a golden lyre for a cutie mark. “Twilight!” she gasped. “I can’t find Bon Bon anywhere! Not since that horrible trick.” “Trick?” said Spike, who had popped down from upstairs. “What trick?” This was apparently the wrong question, because the visiting unicorn burst into tears. “Spike,” said Twilight, “could you get Lyra something to eat? It might help her feel better.” Spike nodded and bustled off. Meanwhile, Twilight brought Lyra inside and kindly sat her on a comfortable cushion. She had just begun to get her guest talking when there was a light, almost hesitant knock on the front door. Upon answering, Twilight found a bluish-gray pegasus with bubbles for a cutie mark and amber-colored, slightly googly eyes. “Oh! Hi, Derpy.” The pegasus stood in the doorway but did not respond. Her tail drooped, her wings hung limply, and she looked altogether too woeful to speak. “Let me guess,” said Twilight, “Carrot Top’s been missing since Trixie’s trick and you’re starting to worry?” Derpy nodded. “Come on in,” said Twilight. Derpy followed her to the center of the library and stood next to Lyra. “Muffin?” asked Spike. Both guests reached out to accept one of the large blueberry muffins on Spike’s tray, though only Derpy took a bite. Lyra continued to sob. “Okay,” said Twilight, “logically we should begin our investigation at once. Practically, I think we’d better wait. According to my calculations, there’s going to be another knock in 3… 2… 1…” No sooner had the countdown ended than a brisk rapping sounded at the door. As she had expected, Twilight opened it to find a blue earth pony with a pink mane and a white hair band. Her cutie mark was an ivory-colored lotus flower. “Mes étoiles, Twilight!” she cried. “It is zee most ’orrible t’ing! I ’ave not seen my sister—” “Since Trixie,” finished Twilight. “Hello, Lotus. Why don’t you come in?” Lotus smiled gratefully and stepped into the library. Upon noticing Lyra, she rushed forward and put one of her front legs around the tearful pony’s shoulders. “Z’air, z’air,” she said. “We must ’ave faith! Twilight will ’elp us. Is zat not right, Derpy?” Derpy nodded and finished her muffin, politely wiping her hooves on the napkin Spike had given her. This done, she cleared her throat and looked beseechingly at Twilight. “Of course I’ll help!” said Twilight. “I just hope we can figure out what’s going on.” She closed the door, took out a quill and some parchment for notes, and began questioning her guests. Unfortunately, none of them could offer much information. Derpy had been shopping with Carrot Top before they went to Trixie’s show, and hadn’t noticed anything unusual until the disappearing act. Lotus told a similar story, though she had a rather disturbing statement in that—since she and Aloe were twins with a close emotional connection—she had felt as though her sister had been extremely frightened in the instant before she vanished. As for Lyra, once she had calmed down enough to talk, she was unable to say where Bon Bon had been for most of yesterday, but swore they had met up prior to Trixie’s arrival, and that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred until her friend joined the others onstage. Twilight asked a few more questions but was unable to glean any additional facts, nor could she give an answer when the others asked if she had any idea about what had happened at Trixie’s show. All the same, having Twilight on the case was an immense relief to everyone present, partly because Twilight had never failed to solve a mystery before and partly because, if this proved to be the first time when she did, she could always request the assistance of her mentor, the great Princess Celestia of Canterlot. “Well zen,” said Lotus, “if z’ere is noz’ing more we can do, we must leave zee matter in your ’ooves. You will let us know if we can ’elp? And also zee instant you learn somez’ing?” “I promise,” said Twilight. Lotus smiled, Derpy nodded, and even Lyra managed to look a little more cheerful. When they had all said thank you to Twilight and departed, Spike closed the door and voiced a question that had obviously been bothering him. “I don’t get it. If all those ponies think Trixie made their friends disappear, why’d they come here instead of going to see her?” “Would you?” replied Twilight. “Trixie isn’t exactly known for her patience. If the others believe she’s got the power to make them vanish, I can see why they’d rather not face her directly.” “That’s silly. Trixie can’t really make ponies disappear… can she?” “I don’t know, Spike. I wouldn’t have thought so myself, but there’s no denying that something very strange has happened.” “But how can you figure it out from here?” “How else? I’m going to read. Where’d you put our Almanac of Supernatural Entities?” “In the Legends and Lore shelf,” said Spike, “fourth row from the top. I’ll get it!” He bustled off at once. Twilight helped herself to one of the leftover muffins while she waited. It was still warm, smelling faintly of blueberries and butter. Twilight ate the first half plain, and was just thinking of getting some jam to go with the rest when a robin appeared in the nearest window. For a few seconds, the bird fluttered helplessly, as though it were trying to fly inside. Then it settled on the windowsill and began to peck the glass. “Stop that!” said Twilight. The bird pecked harder. Twilight set down her half-eaten breakfast and swung open the window. “Now,” she said, “what’s the big idea of—AHHHHH!” The last part of her statement owed itself to the fact that a brilliant pink and gold comet had just come tearing through the opened window and crashed into her. The resulting impact knocked bushels of books from their shelves, and sent blueberry muffins sailing in every direction. “Hey, Fluttershy,” said Spike, who had chosen that moment to return, “when’d you get here? And why’re you standing on Twilight?” “Because-it’s-an-emergency!” cried Fluttershy all in a rush. “There’s-a-super-scary-never-seen-anything-like-it-shadow-in-the-forest-that-keeps-getting-bigger-and-what-if-it-doesn’t-stop-and-eats-up-everything-so-that’s-why-I-need-Twilight-to-come-right-away! That is… only if you aren’t already busy?” Fluttershy smiled timidly and moved aside. She was a slender, delicate-looking pegasus with a pale gold coat, a very long and flowing pink tail, a similarly flowing pink mane, and three pink and blue butterflies for a cutie mark. “Why is life so complicated today?” said Twilight, and then to her friend, “Fluttershy, it’s nice to see you, but couldn’t you have used the front door?” “Oh, no! I mean, yes, I could have used the door but what if you didn’t hear me and you didn’t answer and the big scary shadow got even bigger and scarier while I tried to find you?” Twilight hauled herself back to her hooves. “What shadow?” “It’s horrible! Please, Twilight, I need your help right away!” Fluttershy stepped out the open window and hovered above the library’s front door. She looked so distressed that Twilight immediately discarded any plans to investigate Trixie’s disappearances, mentally shoving that problem onto the back burner in order to deal with this new, unexpected crisis. “Spike,” she said, “I’m going with Fluttershy. I’ll be back later.” “Sounds good,” replied Spike. “I’ll clean up and see if I can find any books that might help you.” He trundled off, scooping muffins off the floor and gulping them down in one bite each as he went. Meanwhile, Twilight gathered herself for a leap and followed Fluttershy out the window. Landing solidly on the grass, she looked up to see that her friend had already begun moving off. Fluttershy was not normally a speedy flyer—nothing at all like Rainbow Dash—but even still, she traveled at a brisk pace and Twilight, who had to go around obstacles rather than above them, was hard pressed not to fall behind. Still, somehow she managed to keep Fluttershy in sight as they passed through the outskirts of Ponyville. Soon they were traveling over a prairie, much as Twilight had done on the previous morning. But instead of veering west toward Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy turned south. In this direction, the prairie stretched for several miles, until it merged into a line of trees, bright and cheerful at first but gradually fading into the murk and menace of the Everfree Forest. It was a place few ponies cared to visit. Fluttershy lived in a cottage near its edge, kept safe by a spell that warded dangerous animals away from her property. Not that most animals would harm Fluttershy to begin with, for her many years of providing free veterinary care had given her a near-mythical reputation, and the vast majority of local beasts would sooner bite off a paw than see their beloved healer come to harm. “How far are we going?” called Twilight. Fluttershy pointed ahead but made no effort to explain any further. Twilight didn’t press her, and concentrated on galloping. The prairie grasses were dewy under her hooves, and every now and again an insect would buzz or some tiny creature would scamper aside as her passage disturbed it. At last, the two ponies reached the start of the tree line. Twilight paused in the shade of a sycamore to catch her breath, while Fluttershy swooped gracefully down to land beside her. “It’s not far now. I asked one of my friends to guard it.” Even as Fluttershy spoke, a stoat popped out of the undergrowth. The sleek little animal immediately broke into a run, chattering wildly with every step. “He says the shadow’s still there,” explained Fluttershy. “He was too scared to stay near it, so he came here to wait for us.” She held out a half-crooked foreleg and the stoat scampered up until he could perch on her shoulders. He stayed for only a moment, however; as soon as it became clear that the ponies meant to go further into the forest, he leapt to the ground and dashed away. Fluttershy made no attempt to call him back and Twilight felt distinctly uneasy, because, in spite of their diminutive size, stoats were notoriously brave, and knowing that this one had been so unnerved by whatever lay ahead was not a pleasant thought. “All right,” she said, “let’s take a look.” With a quick spell, Twilight bound a halo of light around her horn, adjusting its brightness until she could easily see beneath the forest eaves. Then she took a deep breath and led the way forward. “A little to the left,” said Fluttershy. Twilight shifted direction, noting how quickly the trees became larger and how soon their leafy branches blotted out the sunlight. It was much cooler here than on the prairie, and the wind stirred up a pungent, earthly smell. Twilight wrinkled her nose, at the same time perking her ears to listen. But the forest was quiet. “There!” said Fluttershy. Both ponies stopped walking. At first, Twilight didn’t understand what her friend was looking at. Then she made out an irregular shadowy mass on the ground, big enough for a dozen ponies to sit comfortably within its borders. In a way, the thing was almost like a hole or a pit, except that unlike either of those it had no edges or bottom. It was just a black void, completely covering whatever lay beneath it and refusing to brighten, even when Twilight shone the light from her horn upon it. “That’s odd,” she said. “I’ve never seen a shadow like this before. Or maybe ‘seen’ is the wrong word since we’re dealing with darkness and darkness is actually the absence of visible light as opposed to the—” “Is it dangerous?” interrupted Fluttershy. “Should we run away?” “Oh, Fluttershy, relax. I admit, this is certainly an unusual phenomenon. But now that I’ve seen it, I don’t think there’s any reason to be afraid, not unless we find some evidence proving it’s harmful. Of course, we should be cautious, but a bit of shadow is hardly going to hurt us.” “No!” cried Fluttershy. “Don’t touch it! We don’t know what it might do.” “How can I investigate unless I get closer?” “Please, Twilight, I just know there’s something bad here.” Twilight let out a deep sigh. Nevertheless, she stopped walking and turned around, ready to argue her point and convince Fluttershy that nothing untoward would happen. But when Twilight actually saw her friend trembling—almost cowering—in the bracken, she changed her mind and adopted a much gentler voice. “All right, Fluttershy, you win. I’ll stay away for now. But why did you want me to come here if you don’t actually want me to do anything?” Fluttershy stopped shaking and glanced down, a rosy blush on her cheeks. “I… I thought that, if you saw the shadow for yourself, you might ask for help from Princess Celestia. I’m sure she’ll know what to do!” “So am I,” said Twilight, “and the princess would be very flattered by your faith in her. But she’s much too busy to go looking into every little anomaly in her kingdom. Besides, it’s Princess Luna who’s in charge of the night, so a problem with shadows is much more likely to fall under her domain, don’t you think?” “You mean Princess Luna might come here? To Ponyville?!” “She’s really not so bad, Fluttershy. You just have to give her a chance.” Fluttershy made a number of indecipherable squeaking noises. “Anyway,” continued Twilight, “I suppose we ought to go back now. But before we do, you mentioned the shadow had gotten larger?” “Yes, it wasn’t half this size when I found it.” “When was that?” “Yesterday. Big McIntosh came to see me, about animals who might like to eat a whole lot of pumpkin. I had no idea they even grew pumpkins at Sweet Apple Acres, but the squirrels love them! So I went into the forest and told all my squirrel friends they could follow Big McIntosh, and help themselves to whatever he said was all right to eat. I was going home when I found the shadow.” “I see. What happened next?” “Well, I hoped the shadow might go away by itself, so I left and came back this morning to check. That’s when I saw it had actually gotten bigger.” A vague suspicion began forming in Twilight’s mind. “Fluttershy, do you remember the exact time you passed by here yesterday?” “No, I don’t. But it was definitely in the afternoon.” “What about fireworks? Did you see any?” “Oh, yes! Right above Ponyville! They were so pretty that I flew up to watch them.” “And you found the shadow before or after?” “After. There was a big finale and then the fireworks seemed to be over. I waited a bit, and decided to walk home instead of flying, in case I might meet an animal who needed my help. So I went back to the forest floor and a little while later I saw the shadow.” “And how big was it then?” “Not big at all—you could only fit three ponies inside it.” “That,” said Twilight, “is exactly what I’m afraid of.”