化け物, 終局
The white faded into nothingness.
Sparks rose into the air, motes of light blending with the sky as they faded away.
Reality came back into view.
Clothing nearly shredded, Trixie found herself coming to in the middle of the giant crater several feet deep. She got up, looking around at the smoldering remains of what had been a Tokyo neighborhood. This section of the city was now gone, and…
How did I survive? I didn’t have time to get away. That would have killed me! Hell, I’m not sure even Twi could have walked away from that one. There was only one real way she could have survived, she realized.
Damn it, Kuzunoha! Why didn’t you just…. The unicorn fell back, unable to stand from the crushing realization of what had happened. She had failed. She’d failed Kuzunoha in trying to help her. She’d failed the Uedas in trying to get their daughter back. She’d failed Twilight and the others in proving she could be a better mare than she was.
Because Kuzunoha wanted to prove to her sister that she’d stick by her, the thought suddenly came, unbidden and unwanted. Trixie was an only foal, so she couldn’t entirely comprehend what it would be like, but she knew what it was like to have someone look out for you. She had an older cousin, Pastel Chime, who oftentimes was the only pony that ever seemed to understand Trixie. In many ways, Pastel was the closest thing Trixie had to a sister.
Pastel, if I’d gone horribly wrong, would you have done the same? she wondered. When Trixie had been corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet, had Pastel been there, would she have gone as far? There was no way to ask; shortly after Trixie had begun her travelling show around the Equestriani countryside, Pastel had been killed in a freak accident. Trixie had never gotten over the wound to her heart, and it was probably why she’d been the haughty, aloof mare she’d been for that period in her life.
The sounds of tears came from behind her. The unicorn turned to see, to her amazement, Tsubasa. She was sitting there, crying her eyes out. As Trixie reached over to embrace the younger mare, the pegasus began sobbing in full. “Why, Subaru-chan? Why? You were supposed to be happy! Why?”
“What happened?” Trixie asked.
“She died!” Tsubasa said, horrified. “Subaru-chan couldn’t live with the shame of her mistakes, so she turned the spell on herself – she exorcised me out of her body…I mean, her out of my body…I mean….” The pegasus buried her face in Trixie’s chest, crying, unable to vocalize the trauma she’d been through. And as the sirens in the distance got closer and emergency workers and police showed up, there was nothing the unicorn mare could say. Even as she was taken into custody, she didn’t know what to say.
“Okay, you’re free to go, Lulamoon,” the officer told her. Trixie sat up in her jail cell, getting to her feet. They’d allowed her to conjure up some replacement clothing, but had an armed guard on her at all other times, since Japan had no real other way to counter magic.
“Thanks,” she said to the police officer.
“Don’t thank me,” he told her. “Your employer is in the lobby.”
Trixie wasn’t too sure by what was going on, so she walked out of the area. As she did, she was met by someone from the Equestriani embassy. “Should’ve known it was you.”
“You’re welcome,” Pokey Pierce told her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to Japan? Or that you were involved with the Uedas?”
Trixie crossed her arms. “Let’s see…maybe because you don’t run my life, Pokey? Or maybe because we’re not a couple anymore?”
“Trixie, don’t be like that. For what it’s worth, I made a mistake when we broke up. We can’t ever go back to what we had, but I’ll stallion up and admit I made the error. Now, please tell me what you’re doing in Japan. I had to have Blossomforth lie to their Minister of Justice and explain you were contracted to take care of the Ueda situation since we had no Guild members available. I’d like to at least try to not make my boss look like a fraud amongst her peers in the international community.”
She looked at him as though she wanted to cry. “Do you remember what you told me the night before you said we were through?”
“That you’re not critical enough with yourself and that’s why you keep feathering things up,” he replied, regretting it the moment he said it. It had been one of their bigger fights and not one of his better moments.
“Well, it might please you to know that ever since I trained with Twilight, I have quite the opposite problem now…especially when it turns out to be true.” She looked at him, wanting to just rage and snarl at the helplessness of the situation, but he’d nothing to earn her ire and so she had nowhere for it to go. “Look, I need to get to the Ueda house,” she said after a few more seconds. “My stuff is there.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. Their daughter, Tsubasa, has been rehospitalized. This time…well, I’d call it a case of CMFIS, but she doesn’t have a cutie mark, so I guess ‘outright mental breakdown’ would be more apt. As for the Uedas, they’re with her at the hospital and they’re understandably distraught. We’ve offered a grief counselor and…well, if you want my opinion, give it a couple of days.”
“Okay, okay. Just drop me off at a nearby hotel then.”
“Actually, I was going to have you come to my place. I know you, Trixie. You don’t do well when you’re by yourself and in a bad mood.” He went over to her and hugged her. “C’mon. My car’s outside. Let’s get going.”
She shook her head. “No, Pokey. Because if I do, same old shit’s gonna happen again. We’ll talk, we’ll fight, we’ll get drunk, and then I’ll wake up next to you in the morning wondering about the same problems I had the night before, combined with if one or the other of us wove a contraceptive spell or not.”
He gave her a soft smile. “Trust me – that’s not going to happen. My wife wouldn’t appreciate it much.”
“When did you get married?”
“Trixie, we really haven’t spoken to each other in nearly a decade. Surely you’d think I’d have fallen for someone else. In fact, based on what you’re saying, I’m surprised you haven’t.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You know me: my love life’s always been a wreck. But thanks for offering me the space.”
She stayed at Pokey’s for two days. His wife, Stellar Galaxy, wasn’t very thrilled to find he’d invited his old flame over, but after the three adults had talked Gal, as Pokey called her, warmed up to Trixie, enough so that the two mares started comparing notes, much to Pokey’s chagrin. As for his children, she’d given a quick impromptu magic show, much to their delight. And after everything that had happened to her, frankly, she needed the rest and morale boost. And it turned out, so did they: things had gotten worse over the past few weeks and she was horrified to hear that Cloudsdale had been attacked and all but completely destroyed, Fillydelphia was now wiped off the map and that Equestria was on the verge of war with a Middle Eastern nation. The world was going to hell right now and to Trixie, somehow that seemed too damn appropriate.
Plus, something still felt empty inside. Kuzunoha’s sacrifice still somehow felt empty and incomprehensible. So after telling Pokey that she needed to see the Uedas, he’d finally relented and given her their address and directions. She’d called the Uedas first thing in the morning and found that Tsubasa wasn’t sleeping well. The Uedas had also expressed concern for Trixie as well; after she’d been hauled off in a police car no one had been willing to tell them anything about her situation.
After promising she’d be there for dinner, she went to the Ginza. There was one place she needed to go to, and fortunately, she knew she could get there on her own.
It was an easy matter to get into the shop; Kuzunoha had created a pony-compatible keyspell for her. She went in, hoping that she’d find something to ease her own fears and hopefully those of Tsubasa. But instead, she’d found the place picked bare, as if nothing had ever existed in the space two days ago. The place had been completely cleaned, waiting for a business to move in instead of being the bric-a-brac mess that it had been while Kuzunoha had pretended to be the old medicine maker.
“I knew you’d come.” Trixie turned and found a man sitting there on the steps leading to the upstairs area. He looked Japanese, was in his forties or so with glasses, well groomed hair and soul patch and dressed in a polo and slacks. Probably not the sign of a powerful sorcerer, but looks were always deceiving. “It was only a matter of time,” he said, speaking in perfect English. Japanese-American, perhaps?
“Who are you?” she asked. Kuzunoha had secrets galore as well as that organization she was a part of, and though the unicorn mage knew nothing about it, she’d protect her friend’s memory – the kitsune deserved that much at the least.
But the man smiled, holding his palms forward in the somewhat universal gesture amongst magic users that no harm was meant. “I’d tell you my real name, but I doubt even one in a dozen people in Japan remember it nowadays. But I go by Don as of recent. Donald Ashiya, average everyday real estate agent in Palm Springs, California. I also have a license for Nevada, if you’re ever interested in purchasing any additional property in Vegas, Ms. Lulamoon.”
“Well, you know more about me than I do about you,” she said.
He ignored that and said, “Not only did I know you’d come, I also know why you came. There was an aching in your heart, a refusal to believe that Kuzunoha’s dead. A lack of comprehension as to why she sacrificed herself and for her sister, of all things. Tamamo no Mae – tell me, is it true that she really did have a change of heart?”
“I don’t know. I wish I could say she did, but I didn’t know her. The Ueda girl does.”
“We’ll have to have one of ours talk to her. I can promise you that we’ll protect her, no matter what. She’s a special girl and not just because she’s a pony.” There was something about his tone that made the back hairs of Trixie’s mane stand on end.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It might interest you to know that my colleagues and I have conferred and strangely enough, we may have a human sorceress on our hands.”
“But that’s—”
“Impossible? Like a humanized pony picking up a philosopher’s stone, mistaking it for a genderstone and using it as one – and successfully activating it to act as one? You mean like that kind of impossible? I mean, after all, as a unicorn you’re quite aware that since she’s just a pegasus, it should be impossible for her as a non-unicorn pony to be an active magic user to begin with. But then again, she’s not entirely a pony, not in her mind. Somehow, her mindset and her latent magic have made her into something else. And we intend to ensure she’s protected.”
“You mean controlled.”
“No, I mean protected. If Ueda Tsubasa never manifests magic; or if she does and chooses to deny it, we will not force the issue. In truth, I’d rather not have another human sorcerer to deal with. I’m sure Kuzunoha told you about the inherent problem with human magic.”
She knew this line of conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere, so she went to the next part. “What about her raccoon servants?”
“You mean the tanuki? The little guys and gals are understandably distraught right now – serving the Holy Fox was all they knew for dozens of generations. We had one of our people pick them up an hour ago. They’ll be taken to a farm in Hokkaido where they can live in peace and will be well cared for. Another colleague will be selling this building, then putting the money in a trust fund. Half of that will go towards Ms. Ueda’s college funds. The rest will be used to take care of the tanuki.”
“I see,” Trixie said, unsure of what to say.
“Listen,” Don replied, “I can understand your hesitancy. You only knew her for a few days, but you got to know her in the way all magic users know one another. And you feel you failed her. If it makes you feel any easier, I failed her worse.” He raised his hand, calling a ball of yellow light to his palm. “Once, I was the bitterest rival and worst enemy of her son and her grandson. I made their lives a mortal hell. But when Tamamo no Mae slaughtered Abe no Yasuchika, it was then that I truly understood what evil was. I offered my allegiance to the Holy Nine-Tailed Fox, and in the centuries since, I’ve come to appreciate the difference between the Light and Dark Foxes: Kuzunoha not only genuinely believed in a brighter tomorrow…but she believed in a tomorrow where her sister could be happy.” He looked as his composure was about to break as he added, “And I spent centuries getting to know her very well.”
Trixie knew that tone all too well. “She turned you down, didn’t she?”
He smiled softly. “I made the mistake of proposing on December 7th, 1941. But she didn’t turn me down because of that, or because she didn’t love me – she had grown to do so. It was because she swore she wouldn’t have happiness until Tamamo could. She was willing to sacrifice everything because it was the duty of an older sister to guide the younger. And now she is gone, and I am alone.”
“I am sorry for your loss. I suppose I found what I came for. Or rather I didn’t, but it will have to do. Are you planning to be in town long?”
“Officially I’m here to see to the burial of my grandmother, Kappabashi Utane, who died in her sleep two days ago. Once that’s done, I’m not sure. I’ve been living in California since the 1930s, so maybe it’s time for a change of place. I’ve heard there’s a house available in Boston.” He waved his hand again, and a package enveloped in yellow power floated before her. “Take this. I think she would have wanted you to have it.”
Trixie opened the package and found a short sword in it. The sword was clearly thousands of years old and in an instant Trixie knew what it was: the sword Kuzunoha once used to take arms against Faust. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I choose to remember the woman I love as a firm believer in peace and redemption. You knew her as a fellow sister-in-arms. It’s only fair that you have that.”
“Thank you,” Trixie said, stowing the sword away in a magical pocket she kept in her clothing for such needs. “Well, it was good to meet you, Don, and if you’re ever at the Aqua Maré, come see my show.”
“Oh, we’ll be in touch,” he said with a smile. “You’ve proven to be trusted and relied upon, Great and Powerful Mage of Equestria. And to find a magic user of honor on our world? There is no higher blessing than that.”
Trixie left the onmyōji to grieve alone. She’d come looking for answers regarding her friend, but there was nothing here but ghosts and regrets.
It was evening when Trixie arrived at the Ueda house. Somehow fittingly, there was a funereal feel about the home, a sense of loss and displacement. Both of the elder Uedas were thrilled to see Trixie again, and over dinner the three adults chatted, though there was a feeling that it was small talk for the sake of trying to avoid the obvious elephant on the tatami. Trixie updated them on the situation regarding Kuzunoha’s effects and the future of the tanuki; this seemed to put the concerns of the two humans somewhat at ease.
And then Trixie decided to wade into the dangerous waters. “How is Tsubasa?”
Goro shook his head. “She refuses to leave her room. Her friends have been over, trying to coax her out, but to no avail. She just…she just shut herself in the room once we returned from the hospital and refused to come out.”
Kyoko looked at the mare. “Is there anything you can do?”
“I’ll try,” Trixie said. “I think I know what’s bothering her.” Trixie took a tray of food over and walked up the stairs towards the girl’s room, finally arriving. Letting the tray float next to her while she knocked, she said, “Tsubasa, it’s me. Can I come in?” The response was silence, as if the pegasus wasn’t there. “Tsubasa, this isn’t healthy, and it isn’t fair to your parents or your friends. Open the door, please.” More silence, as was expected. Finally, Trixie snarked, “You do realize that with just a thought I can make this door go away or teleport you out here, right?” Yet more silence.
Trixie’s horn flashed magenta for a second and the next second later, the door was somewhere else, ripped off the hinges and teleported downstairs. As the azure unicorn walked into the room, setting the tray down by the desk, she noted the disheveled bed, the tell-tale “stablish” scent of a pony that hadn’t showered in a few days, and the window, wide open, the curtains floating in the breeze. To anyone else, that would be a worrisome sign. But for Trixie, it was a worrisome sign for a whole different reason: Tsubasa may have decided to run away.
Taking a chance – her hooves were hardly built for it – she climbed out the window, standing on the barest ledge. A quick teleportation spell, however, put her square on the roof, solving that problem. And that’s when she saw Tsubasa.
She lay on the roof, sans thread, exposed to the elements. Her wings were flat out against the surface of the roof, providing stability, though her feathers were in need of preening. Her mane and tail were a chaotic spray of knots and snarls. She seemed to stare out into the sky, aimlessly, as if she wanted to throw herself to the stars as if they were so many feeding sharks. It was a scene both terrifying and beautiful.
Plus, that Yoshida kid would probably appreciate the view, the unicorn mage mused, as she conjured up a blanket. “C’mon, cover up. That’s indecent even in Equestria.” She didn’t move, and Trixie ended up covering her with the blanket. “You mind telling me why you’re being so damn stupid? Your parents are worried about you. So are your friends. Me too, for that matter.” More silence. Finally, Trixie said, “Look – I don’t care if you’re going emo or whatever the hell they call it here. People are worried about you and you don’t have the right to make it worse.”
Finally, Tsubasa spoke. “Did you ever dream of another world, Lulamoon-sensei?”
“In case it hadn’t dawned on you, both of us come from another world,” the unicorn reminded her.
Tsubasa ignored that comment. “I keep having dreams. Dreams of Subaru as she used to be – Tamamo no Mae. Dreams of how she wanted to be – married to Ryuji-kun. I dream of another world, where we’re all friends, growing up. That she and I were the closest of friends, maybe even more than Yuka and I – not that I would abandon my other friends. That’s the world she wanted. Why didn’t she get that? Why did she have to die?”
The older mare sat down next to the younger one. “I keep thinking of Kuzunoha, and wondering why she had to die. She obviously wanted to save her sister, but at the same time, she couldn’t afford to let you die for that sake.”
Tsubasa sat up, folded her wings, shivering slightly as she finally felt the effects of the cold, wrapping herself in the blanket. “But I wouldn’t have died. Subaru was going to redirect the magic you and her sister used against her to create a new body for me before time ran out.” The look in the pegasus’ tear-stained eyes was stark enough that she believed it to be true whether it objectively was or not.
Trixie shook her head. “Look, that kind of magic is way above my paygrade, kid, but you have to understand that kind of magic is something only one of the alicorns can do, maybe – maybe – one or two others. And while I believe you, I’m not sure Tamamo no Mae—”
“Subaru,” Tsubasa interjected, somewhat harshly. “She didn’t want to be called by her name anymore. She was going to give that up, because she didn’t want to be called a murderer anymore.”
“Fine, Subaru, then. But the end result would have been the same. She would have failed and you would have been the one who died.”
“But aren’t imperial foxes the same as alicorns?” That much was true; the nine-tailed foxes of Inari were worshipped as gods in much the same way as the alicorns were in pony lands. But unlike the constant protests from the Equestriani royal family, the Inarese imperial family had no such compunctions.
“Maybe, but bear in mind that she was also trapped in the philosopher’s stone for hundreds of years, and a spell like that, I’m sure, requires a lot of precise timing and plenty of practice. Even Princess Celestia herself would say that.”
“Then maybe I should have been the one to die and Suba—” The pegasus never finished the statement as she was slapped hard across the face by a blue hoof.
“Don’t you dare say that,” Trixie growled. “Your parents have been through hell these past few days and your only answer to that is ‘I should’ve died?’ Your friends stood by you – one of them is even the reason I’m here in the first place – and you want to throw away everything for the fox that stole your body and nearly killed you?”
Tsubaru rubbed the place where she’d been slapped. Tears came to her eyes once more, but not because of the wound. “Why won’t you believe that she changed? Why? How hard is it to believe that someone wrong can change? I know she did wrong – I was in her body when she killed an innocent man and I couldn’t stop her! I was there when she did things – with my body – that I would never do, not in a million years! But I also saw her fall in love. And I also saw her cry once she realized she’d taken a life again. And I saw how much she loved Ryuji-kun. But all you want to do is just accuse her of being Nightmare Moon.”
“Kid, you don’t understand.” Trixie sighed, then let it all out. Being bullied as a kid because of her lisp. Having Pastel stick up for her constantly, the one pony who meant so much to her. Despite coming from a well-known Guild mage family, falling in love with the performing arts, so much so that it led to her lisp disappearing and revealed her cutie mark. Finally deciding to take her show on the road, only to find out her cousin had been killed by a rogue manticore. Being so sullen and alone that she’d built a persona for herself – “The Great and Powerful Trixie” – and that persona had subsumed her. Being shown the truth of her lies by Twilight Sparkle, only to give into temptation and be consumed by the Alicorn Amulet. Twilight ultimately defeating her again, and this time Trixie taking back to the road, but ditching her title and going back to her roots. Training with Twilight and truly becoming strong, though she never joined the Guild. And as the human world came into their lives, she took to the human roads, opting to reuse her old showbiz title once again, but this time never letting it get the best of her.
“And all this time, I believe if she’d been alive, Pastel would have protected me. Pastel would have never let me get near that damn amulet. Pastel, like Kuzunoha, would have given her life if it meant saving me. That’s the strength of an older sister, Tsubasa. And to want to throw away your life not only insults your parents and your friends, it insults Kuzunoha – and I don’t think Tam…Subaru would have appreciated that.” Trixie reached out and pulled the pegasus into a hug. “I know you’re an only child, but don’t you have anyone you can turn to?”
“I do, but…she’s elsewhere at the moment. Maybe she would have talked me out of using the stone,” Tsubasa mused. Would DJ-sempai have prevented me from doing so? Tsubasa knew in a heartbeat that the older pony would have stopped her; though like Tsubasa DJ considered herself more human than pony, the older mare was also very much about being true to oneself.
“If she cares about you, I know she would have. If I had a younger sister, I know I would have. Take it from me: shortcuts aren’t always worth it – sometimes you end up doing more work just trying to take the ‘easy’ way. And there are too many people who would have been broken if you’d died.”
A thought suddenly came to the pegasus’ mind: “Would you come with me to Tochigi tomorrow? I have to go, but…I don’t want to go alone.”
“You’ve been out of school for nearly two weeks, kiddo. Not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I have to go. And I think you need to as well.”
“I’ll ask your parents – but you owe some people some apologies, got that? Too many people have been worried about you and you need to make amends.”
Tsubasa nodded imperceptibly, but enough so that Trixie could sense it. “Okay,” was all she said.
While Tsubasa’s parents were worried about their daughter’s sudden morbid fascination with the past of the monster that had nearly taken her life, assurances by Trixie that she would use every spell in her arsenal to defend the younger pony was enough to get them to agree. They really couldn’t say no, in any case; they had to reopen the café and it was clear that Tsubasa was going to go even if it meant committing outright truancy from school.
The drive to Tochigi the following morning was a long one, mostly due to the Japanese roadways. While both mares were willing to take a train, Pokey insisted on driving them because he didn’t want his old flame to a) get in more trouble, b) cause more property damage or c) cause another international incident, not necessarily in that order. So off they went in his Mitsubishi Fortis Exoros.
“You know, I could have just driven, if you were that worried about me taking a train,” she told him. For the sake of Tsubasa’s need to remain fluent in English, the conversation was carried on in that language.
He laughed. “I’ve seen how you drive, remember? You treat every car like you need to outrace Rainbow Dash.”
Finally, they reached the ryokan where they’d stay the night. After quickly checking in – courtesy of Pokey’s expense account – they then went off to the Mt. Nasu hiking trail. It was rough enough that the three had to drop to all fours at some points, being difficult terrain for even humans. At last, they hit a fork in the trail. The one on the left led to the volcano station, while the one at the right led to the Sessho-seki, complete with signs in Japanese and English warning people that taking the trail to the stone was at one’s own risk due to the sulfuric gas vents that had opened up in the area after the earthquake mid-last year.
“Well, that’s the last of that,” Pokey said, looking at the sign. “Time to turn around, enjoy the view and just relax, okay?”
“No,” Tsubasa said, determination in her voice. “I’m going on, Mr. Pierce. I need to.”
“Miss, you did read the sign about poisonous gases, right? You do know that ponies are more susceptible to those things because of our biology, right?”
In turn, Tsubasa looked at Trixie, a wordless pleading in her eyes. Trixie noted that and said, “Look, Pokey, if you want to go back, we’ll stay the night and take a train back in the morning. I’m sure Gal would feel a whole lot better if you weren’t babysitting me.”
“You’re probably right. But I like having a job and Blossomforth said if you end up getting in a fight with Godzilla because I wasn’t paying attention my flank is toast.”
“Well, I always thought it was a cute flank,” she teased.
He sighed. “Very much married, remember?”
She rolled her eyes. “Did you lose your sense of humor when you put on the wedding bracelet?” Her horn glowed and suddenly the three were surrounded in protective bubbles. “This should hold us until we get back down,” she advised, “though I wouldn’t push it too much.” The three moved forward on uneven ground until the finally reached a set of stairs with rails, allowing them to go back upright, much to Tsubasa’s relief. A few more steps and then they reached it.
Marked only by a wooden sign in need of replacement was a single stone, weathered and cracked. Roughly the size of a pony stallion curled up sleeping, the site was marked by a long-unattended offering tray – and hundreds upon hundreds of sacred Buddhist jizō statues. There was a distinct sense of unease that came over Trixie and after a few seconds she realized why: the jizō were serving as magic wards, in the event that Tamamo no Mae were ever to get free and attempt to recover her original body.
But that was nothing compared to Tsubasa, who went and hugged the Sessho-seki itself, heedless of the sulfuric fumes emanating from the fissure beneath it. “I miss you, Subaru-chan,” she said, her voice sorrowful. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
“Has the girl gon—” Pokey began.
“Keep it up and I’ll buck your plot straight into Low Earth Orbit,” Trixie threatened.
“Look at her, Trixie! That thing tried to kill her and she’s acting like a lovesick filly!”
“No, I think she’s acting like someone who lost somepony very important to her. Just like in the few days I knew her, I really bonded wit….” The azure mare stopped as realization suddenly hit her. She walked over to Tsubasa and said, “I think I know what’s going on.”
That caught the attention of the teen immediately. “Why?”
“I’ll tell you over lunch. C’mon – I think I saw something with a yellow M around here.”
“I’d like to stay here for a while,” Tsubasa said.
“No. We’re near the limit of what the bubbles can handle and I’m sure you’ve had enough hospitals for the year.”
“No!” Tsubasa shouted. “I’m staying! You can’t make me leave!”
“Tsubasa….”
“I SAID NO!”
“Okay, filly, I think we’ve had enough of that,” Trixie said, levitating the bubble. Tsubasa immediately started to beat against it, trying to rip it and even went so far as to try to pop it by pushing her wings out to maximum, but Trixie shrank the bubble to the point that Tsubasa couldn’t move.
“What the buck’s gotten into her all of a sudden?” the navy-blue stallion asked.
Pushing it over to Pokey, she asked, “Can you teleport her?”
“I think I—”
“Take her and get her out of here, Pokey. Now.” There was a steely look in Trixie’s amethyst eyes that brooked no argument.
“Trixie, don’t do anything stupid.”
“If I did that, we’d be married,” she retorted, though he knew it was a joke. Her horn started to flare up and he took that as a cue to leave, wrapping a silver lasso of magic around Tsubasa’s bubble as they teleported back to the ryokan. Meanwhile, horn burning with burgundy power, Trixie growled, “You have seconds to remove that enthrallment on or her I swear I will make you pay.”
The late morning sky suddenly grew as black as midnight as a form appeared before her. The form looked like a grotesque version of her friend. Kuzunoha. The creature had unnatural black eyes and spiky red hair that seemed like tines of blood. It glowed with an eerie yellow aura – the color of sulfur – and the sparse grass died the moment its feet touched the floor.
“It makes so much sense now,” Trixie said. “Why Kuzunoha would rather die than to kill her sister. Why she only had the courage to do so at the last moment. Because she forced herself to do it, because she no longer had the willpower to.”
The creature, still silent, smiled in a threatening manner. The teeth were all razor sharp fangs, all unnatural and sickly yellow.
“You’re Hōji, aren’t you? But you weren’t a creature that Kuzunoha summoned – you’re a part of Kuzunoha’s soul, the one that was bloodthirsty and rapine. The only one you wouldn't dare disobey was Kuzunoha herself, because you were compelled to her. But now that she’s gone, you’re free to take the only thing stopping you from becoming like the fox sisters were: the power that Subaru left with Tsubasa. Because they bonded, Subaru vowed to leave the life she had behind…and left the power with the one person she knew would never abuse it! Tsubasa now has the power of the Demon Fox, but with the virtue of her Holy Sister.”
Hōji flexed its claws, and they burned with the same sickly aura. The sulfurous smoke wafting off them seemed to be a very offense against the air. The creature then spoke, its voice a twisted, obscene parody of Kuzunoha’s. “i want power. i want life. i will take it.”
“You will do no such thing,” Trixie snarled, reaching through the dimensions for her magic pocket. Within seconds, she produced Kuzunoha’s short sword and the sword sang with Trixie’s power, blazing like a star in her grap. “I have no idea how to use one of these things, but I’m a fast learner.”
“i will kill you. i will drink your blood. i will take what is mine!” Hōji vowed.
Trixie laughed. “Maybe you would…if you weren’t such an idiot!” And with that, she let the sword float into the air. Filled with her power, the sword shot of blast of magenta into the air, which split into hundreds of individual beams. Each beam fell down onto a jizō, energizing it. And as the statues became powered, each transformed into miniature magenta copies of Kuzunoha, each brandishing a tiny sword and immediately rushing in to attack Hōji, who screamed as she had to deal with hundreds of copies of her parent soul.
“These guardian statues: they were never here to protect the world from Tamamo no Mae, they were here to protect her body from you. A failsafe, should you ever revert to the bloodthirsty monster you were in the beginning. How many innocents have you killed, or worse? How many souls have suffered your wrath? Well, no more!"
The monster screamed as it was beaten back by hundreds of mini-Kuzunohas…all but one. And to Trixie’s surprise, the lone mini-Kuzunoha turned and smiled at the unicorn mage and mouthed a silent phrase: Thank you, Trixie. Thank you for everything.
“You’re welcome,” Trixie said, a tear of joy coming unbidden to her cheek. But there was still something to deal with. Focusing all of her power into the space between her hooves, she called forth Celestia’s Justice, an offensive spell Twilight had developed and named after her mentor – and, as far as Trixie knew, taught only to a few select unicorns with the skill.
And because she was an otaku by admission, she shouted, “Your passport to Human-Earth is hereby cancelled!” and let the massive bolt of energy rip. The column of power slammed into the creature at full force before tearing apart reality itself with the smell of ozone and a loud snap as air rushed into the vacuum where the creature had been. Its control over the area gone, the sky returned to normal. The sword fell back to the earth, and with the ease of an illusionist in full control with her stagecraft, she caught the blade in mid-air, spun it with a flourish and stuck it back into the magic pocket where it’d be safe.
There was clapping behind her and Trixie turned and bowed. “My, even on my vacation I know how to please a crowd.”
“You certainly do, Ms. Lulamoon.” There was Don and standing next to him, a girl in her twenties. She had ice-blue eyes, which for a Japanese woman only meant one thing.
“You must be the Yuki Onna, if my memory of anime clichés serves me,” Trixie replied.
“A yuki-onna, not the,” the girl laughed. “My ancestress, though powerful, lived a mortal life, despite what the legends say. And I’m just as normal as the next girl…well, except for the adeptness at ice magic. I’m not even a Japanese citizen – I’m from Montana. Name’s Rose.”
“She’s officially here on a JET exchange program,” Don replied. “She’ll be teaching English at Tsubasa’s school. In reality, however, she’ll be giving extra-curricular lessons to one particular sorceress-to-be. That is, if Tsubasa wants.”
“And what about you? Your true love avenged?”
Don looked at her funny. “Um…I really hope you didn’t believe that part about me and Kuzunoha. I mean, she was Seimei’s mother. She’s beautiful, but….” He shook his head. “Uh, no. Just…no.”
“Well, it’s been great and all, but I’ve got some explaining to do to a teen who’s probably very embarrassed about her behavior up here.”
“I can imagine that,” Rose replied. “Being enthralled’s no fun at all.”
“Oh, and Trixie?” Don asked.
“Yes?”
“First Thursday you’re back. Eight in the evening at the Trattoria Venezia at the Bellagio. Sound like a plan?”
She gave him a smile. “Date or a meeting for this Conclave business?”
He grinned. “Depends.”
She laughed and said as she walked down the pathway, “Make it seven and I’ll see you then.” She then walked off, headed back to the ryokan. She was sure someone was due some answers.
Both Pokey and Tsubasa looked at her in surprise. “You’re kidding.”
Trixie shook her head. “No. She gave you her memories and dreams, because she wants you to continue for her sake. Take the role up that Kuzunoha couldn’t and be the person that Subaru wanted to be in the end.”
The pegasus looked at her forehooves, trying to imagine conjuring magic in them. “So…if I’ve got a human mind and pony passive magic and human active magic, what does that make me?”
“A high school student,” Trixie reminded her. “One that needs to focus on that, first. Let the rest happen as they will, or not – that’s for you to decide.”
“And if I want to do it?”
“Then Rose will train you, and I’m sure we’ll get you help afterwards. And if not, no worries. After all, you have to do what’s important to you. And I doubt Subaru would disagree with that.”
Tsubasa looked at herself in a mirror, then at Trixie. She then looked at the afternoon sky and Mount Nasu, looming closely in the distance. There, Tamamo no Mae would remain just a legend. But Tsubasa would always remember her friend. And as long as that happened, Subaru would have her happily ever after. “One last question, sensei: when does it stop hurting?”
Trixie went over and hugged the younger mare. “It does eventually when time heals the wound. But it leaves the memories behind, because if we didn’t have those, we’d end up like the Hōji, enraged and bitter until there was nothing left but hate. And you have too much to live for to do that.”
Tsubasa was about to say something when her stomach picked that exact moment to grumble. “Can we get something to eat?” Trixie just laughed and hugged the girl closer.
“Well, this is all well and fun, but I think you’ve got everything wrapped up here, Trixie. So I’m going to head back. I have a report to fill out.”
“A report?” Trixie’s heart suddenly sunk – she’d never considered the fact that Pokey would have to file a report on this.
He nodded. “Yes. That you dealt with the monster that was possessing Tsubasa and that she’s fine now, and can just go about her business without further issue.” He shook his head slightly. “I wouldn’t even know how to report about a non-unicorn with human magic. Hell, that sounds like something out of a badly-written story, if you ask me.”
She smiled. “Thank you, Pokey. Thank you for everything.”
He paused by the door and turned to look at her. “Trixie, I may be happily married to my wife, but that doesn’t mean I ever stopped loving you.” And with that, he departed, leaving the two mares to their day in Tochigi.
Ryuji Daisuke was never heard from again. Without their star pitcher, the baseball team fell apart at the Kōshien. Koji felt particularly guilty, having pushed his friend to do something stupid, but his ex-girlfriend, sensing he needed someone, forgave him and they got back together.
As the weeks went by, the rumor began that Ryuji had run off with the mysterious Subaru girl. No one knew where she was from or where she went, and as the days went by, the chances of them returning became remote. Considering that she was only seen by the cherry tree in the park, a second rumor started that Subaru really was the spirit of the cherry tree, and the two had returned to within the cherry tree, where they’d spend the rest of their days. In truth, as the police had told his parents, he’d probably made a lovers’ pact with the girl and decided to head off to a grisly end in the infamous Aokigahara “suicide forest.”
Tsubasa returned to school after a “bad case of the feather flu.” Those in the know agreed to keep her counseling secret; she’d agreed to meet with a counselor twice a week to deal with the depression she had from her ordeal. Those who really knew what happened to her, including her friends, said nothing; who would believe it, anyway? The Equestriani embassy, informed that the crisis was now over, quickly forgot about it, especially with a new political crisis on-hoof.
An investigation discovered that the destruction of Sanseki Hospital and the blocks around it was due to a small earthquake having set off a previously undiscovered bomb from World War II. The sole survivors, Ueda Tsubasa and Trixie Lulamoon, were only due to the quick-thinking of the unicorn setting up a protective magic barrier to protect herself and her charge, though Equestriani researchers confirmed there would not have been enough time for the mage to set up a protective barrier beyond the two ponies. Considering the tragedy happened in the same manner manner as the 1993 Funabashi incident, Lulamoon was absolved of any wrongdoing.
As for Trixie, after a couple more days in Japan, she was ready to go back early. She’d been changed during her experiences here, and she had yet to decide if it had been good or not. On the bright side, Tsubasa made it through the wringer, though time would tell what scars the pegasus teen would end up with, physical or otherwise. But Trixie now was a party to the realization that human magic still existed…and in the wrong hands could be horrifically dangerous. And all the money she spent on rarities like the Limited Edition Sakura Flare Seifuku Mystic Warrior Holy Suzume statue and the Collector’s Version of the complete figure collection from Go! Battle Robot Gansizer would never remove that fact. Even though being in the middle of Akihabara, the otaku mecca should have made her bouncier than Pinkie Pie on mescaline, Kuzunoha’s death had taken the fun out of being in what was effectively paradise for her.
And the day later, when she told everyone her plans to return to the US early and spent the day trying to find a flight – after some arguing with a travel agent, she managed to land a multi-leg: Pacific Southwest 2919, Narita to Seattle. From there, she’d catch an Air Cal to Ontario, where she’d catch a taxi to Riverside and take the Desert Express bullet train directly into Vegas. She’d be wiped, but it was better staying here in a place that more and more felt like her friend’s mausoleum than the biggest metro in the world.
At last the day came when they all assembled at Narita to see Trixie off at the airport. Yuka and the others stayed at school, with only Yoshida coming to say goodbye to the mare.
“Thank you for everything, Lulamoon-sensei,” both Goro and Kyoko said, bowing deeply.
“It was nothing. Thank you for putting up with me,” she said, returning the bow.
“Thank you for coming to help me,” Yoshida told her, shaking her hoof. “I appreciate everything you did.”
“See you on the boards,” Trixie told him, “and next time, just tell MagicMan to STFU.”
“Well, this is it. Thanks for everything, sensei,” Tsubasa said, hugging the Vegas showmare. The two held each other for a long time, and the pegasus whispered to the other mare, “I had a dream last night: of both Kuzunoha-san and Subaru-chan. And they said they’d be back someday, just when we needed them most. What do you think?”
Trixie detached slightly and smiled. “It sounds like something Kuzunoha would say. So let’s hope that they come back soon, okay?” the answer to that was Trixie getting hugged again by the pegasus.
“I’ll miss you, Lulamoon-sensei,” Tsubasa replied.
“You’re welcome to visit any time,” Trixie assured her, followed by another round of goodbyes. At last, they called for boarding for Trixie’s flight and with that, she descended the ramp, headed towards her gate.
As she approached the ticket checker, the woman asked, “So, welcome aboard, Ms. Lulamoon. Enjoy your time in Japan?”
She shrugged. “Well, I would say it was…eventful,” she replied as she got onto the plane, ready for the long flight home. Once onboard, she stowed her baggage in the upper compartment, pulled out a tablet and threw on some raw anime – now that her time in Japan was over, likely the only thing she’d use the language for now was to avoid crappy fansubs. She’d just dialed up the latest episode of Magical Princess Dancer Mango, when a scroll flashed into being in front of her. After assuring everyone it was just the magical version of email and nothing else, the unicorn mare opened it and smiled.
Trixie,
Sorry I couldn’t respond sooner, but I’ve been…busy lately. I’m sure Rarity told you when you spoke to her. Anyway, Blossomforth forwarded me a copy of a report Pokey Pierce did regarding some misadventure you had in Japan (when did you and he get back together?) I have to say: I’m both impressed and proud to have you as a friend. You stood up for that girl and proved yourself to be worthy of the Lulamoon family name. Your grandfather would have been proud.
When I get out of this, I promise to visit you in Vegas. We’ve got some catching up to do.
Your friend always,
-Twilight
Trixie closed the scroll and shoved it in her pocket. Too bad you couldn’t come along for this trip, Twi. I met this great person and I think you would have liked meeting her. The unicorn mare then felt the plane move and start taxiing down the runway. As it did, she popped her headphones in and went back to her tablet. It was going to be a long flight home and probably the first time in days Trixie got some downtime.
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A great ending to a enjoyable side story.
That's right folks, Trixie now has a sword that shoots LASERS.
1946117
MAGICAL lasers.
Or ancient Japanese laser beams?
I really like the concept of dead human magic coming back, but I feel like this particular side-story was a bit... cliché. In more ways than one.
1946228
Part of the fact that it's cliche is due to the pastiche of anime cliches and writing in some Japanese kaidan story methods. It was both an exercise and a sort of love letter to anime and kaidan.
1946117
1946252 I've never seen any anime. But it definitely felt like an anime.
Trixie kicking ass, and giving an awesome movie-esc quote, "Your passport to Human-Earth is hereby cancelled!”
Sort of a happy ending for the most part, the Foxes find peace, the evil spirit is dead, Tsubasa was fixed and gained a new set of magic powers, Twilight missed out on the fun (Poor Twi), and Pokey and Trixie absolved their past anger with one another.
So did Ryuji die in the blast or did he die to Trixie's attack; or did he did he vanish
1946560
He's dead. Trixie knocked him out, and she didn't even have enough time to protect herself from the blast, much less another person.
1946560
And what's all this business about 'coming back'?
Seems that the fox sisters are dead in the same way Tsubasa was going to be, judging by the bit where Tsubasa told of Subaru exorcising herself. that is, wandering spirits. Mayhap some powerful magic could bring them back in new bodies?
I suspect we have not seen the last of the effects of this story
While how things went was a bit saddening I would like to believe this is not the end if things.
Obviously Tsubasa has a bigger role to play (if she makes the choice), as well as Trixie and her Laser Sword.
Buts its the bits about the secret organization and Tsubasa's dream that interests me the most.
**********
Im sure Trixie loved this moment.
**********
You sure made up a lot of magical girl anime names didn't you?
I liked " Magical Princess Dancer Mango" the most.
1946354
You should have seen the ORIGINAL draft of the ending. If the current ending is pretty anime, the old one blew it out of the water!
All right, PSA exists in this universe and got some screentime.
You get flutteryays.
Hmmm... Kuzunoha and Subaru telling Tsubasa that they'll be back when she needs them the most? Somehow I get the feeling that they'll be playing a role in the coming war.
The return of human magic. This might not end well.
Fantastic story good author. Trixie was the show stopper.
1946881
The Kitsune's death as ambiguous and mumbo-jumbo enough that if the author wanted to he could bring the characters back in a future story. They could be back in full, or they could just be ghosts that could help the main character along in their journey, or they could both stay deader than a doornail. No matter the choice the author makes though, it will be a long time before we see Japan and the characters from it again.
1948097
Read: when DJ goes back to Japan to get the family possessions moved from the Naval base to the Canterlot house.
1948106
Well, true, but I don't think that Subaru's going to just pop back as a blue specter then and go, "Tsubasa, you must go to the Saturn system. There you will learn from--Oh shite! . . . Uh, listen, is this a bad time? 'Cause I can come back later if this is a bad time."
1948133
Or maybe a teen who's been through a hell of a lot right now had a comforting dream that she misinterpreted and Trixie humored her. Or maybe it's a psychokinetic metamorphatelepathic message. Or...y' know, bees.
1948141
Bees, my word . . . Actually, I've heard about bee stings causing a very few people to hallucinate. That's not a very out there explanation.
1948151
Especially when you consider that Japan is home to the suzumebachi (aka the Japanese giant hornet), the largest hornet in the world.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Picture_Vespa.jpg
:1948192 *falls out of chair* D-DEMON SPAWN!!
But seriously, that hornet is just too damn big!
1948207
Actually, that's one of the smaller ones. There's a picture I saw once of a baseball and a suzumebachi for size comparison. Roughly about the same size.
1948192
Well, that settles it. Tsubasa had a weird dream, and the cause was the horror hornet. That's it, and I don't want to touch that subject, or that arthropod, again.
As the what faded away? I think you accidentally a word here.
1948727
But it was the word that faded away! I'll go put it back in.
"Was" implies that it's still there, while the following sentence implies that it's not. This would probably read better as "what had been a Tokyo neighborhood".
1948742
And done.
"Stellar Galaxy" is an interjection here, so it needs to have commas on both sides of it.
1948776
Actually, I think it's probably one of the strangest G2 pony names ever. Probably topped only by Tender Sighs.
"In the even" should probably be "in the event".
This sentence doesn't quite parse -- should it be "or I swear I will make you pay"?
"A very offense against the air" sounds odd. Perhaps "an offense against the very air"?
1948839
入力ミスによって死！
("I ded from the typo!")
Couple of word-repetition issues -- you might consider finding synonyms for one of the copies.
1948878
そして今では悪い書くことで死。
("and now from crappy writing, too.")
"Ueda Tsubasa and Trixie Lulamoon" is an interjection, so it should have commas on both sides of it.
This sentence should be capitalized.
Coandco, you SERIOUSLY need to join on a prereading session.
1948889
Did you, uh, set your computer to type in Kanji and forget to reset? You know that it's against the rules of a lot of sites to post in languages other than the dominant site language, right? I'm fairly certain that includes this site too.
1949625
Yeah, let me go back and translate that.
1941677 To be honest, I just couldn't remember any of her names, be it Subaru or otherwise despite having read the story not 5 minutes before posting. Also, apparently I lacked the common sense to scroll up. That's what I get for staying up late on week nights.
1948211 thank you for putting that image in my head
you can has this as a reward because I love it!
1987261
No, which is why an OC is. Most of the show cast is tied to the Equestriani government or their own careers. I figured AI was going to be in sooner or later, so I created a character for that purpose.
1987314
He'd probably be Vlad Tepes if he thought he could get away with it.
1987318
Does that make the changelings their version of the Ottomans?
I have to ask, where did that saying Trixie used come from??? I tried to find it but no dice.
there was afunerealfuneral3605477
No, it's correct. "funereal" is an adjectival term for the somber feel of a funeral.
This was my favorite arc from the main story's time. Tsubasa is going to appear in the main story, complete with ancient fox powers, I just know it.