Warrants Misdirection
“Say what now?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight tried to look over at her guard for a moment, but her eyes couldn’t quite leave Trixie. Not after saying something like that. “Crudely put, but I agree. ‘Say what now?’”
Trixie pulled a newspaper from a pocket in her cape and showed it to Twilight. “Did you not sign a warrant for my arrest? It says so right here.”
Twilight grabbed it with her own magic and started to read aloud. “The Hoofington Post has learned that newly minted Grand Mage Twilight Sparkle has issued her first arrest warrants in a crackdown on dissent. Our paper has obtained copies of these, and first in the list is magician and illusionist Trixie Lulamoon, most famous for… This… This is libel! I never put out these warrants! I haven’t put out any warrants! Where are they getting this garbage from?”
“You mean you didn’t demand the Great and Powerful Trixie turn herself in?” Trixie fidgeted with her hooves, scraping them together. “The paper was a lie?”
Twilight stuffed the paper in her saddlebag, crumpling it with her hoof. “Trixie, I am so sorry.”
“We are?” Rainbow snorted.
“We are!” Twilight snapped. “Truly. I never meant for you to make a trip all the way here like this. I’ll get you a room in a hotel and a train ticket home. Don’t worry about this. I’m going to investigate and demand they print a front-page retraction letter. This is libelous against both of us!”
“No!” Trixie yelled, looking around the plaza, eyes darting every which way. “I mean, no, there’s no need! Heh heh. Trixie will just… just get out of your mane now. Forget Trixie was ever here.”
“Um, are you okay?” Spike asked, scratching his head. “You’re acting a little… odd.”
Trixie’s head whipped around back towards Twilight, but not quite making eye contact with her either. She was looking behind them.
“Trixie?” Twilight asked, waving an arm in front of the mare’s face. “You there?”
“Yes! Yes, Trixie is here. But she must be going.”
“Um, okay?” Twilight looked her right in the eyes, but she was still transfixed on something else. There was also the faintest pink glow on her iris. “Well, if you need help, the offer still stands.”
“Thanks! Gotta go! Bye!” With that, she turned and ran. Not a trot or walk, she was using a full-bore gallop as if the tide of the river Styx was lapping at her fetlocks.
“Anypony else get a weird vibe from that?” Spike asked, rubbing his arms. “I mean, like, really weird?”
Twilight turned around and looked behind her, trying to find anything suspicious. “She was staring behind us. Can anypony see anything off? I can’t.”
The other two looked as well.
“Nada,” Spike said.
“Negative. Want me to fly around?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight paused and sat, considering her options. “No, I want you to find Trixie. Something’s up here, and I want to find out what it is. If you see her, try to get her to come to the castle. Spike and I will follow on hoof.”
“We’re really going to try to help her?” Rainbow scratched her head. “After she dissed all of Ponyville?”
“Yes, Rainbow, we are.” Twilight groaned.
Rainbow hovered in front of Twilight. “Even after she saw you at that Canterlot show and she tried to turn you into a turnip as part of her act?”
Twilight pushed her lightly to the side and started to walk. “Lucky for me, I know spells to prevent ponies from turning into plants, but yes, we are, Rainbow.”
Spike cut in. “Even after she publicly called you ‘Celestia’s harlot’ at a press conference and—”
“Yes, all of that!” Twilight yelled. “Look, I’m not her biggest fan, but somepony must have gone to an awful lot of trouble to get this newspaper article printed, and I want to find out who and why! Right now, she’s our best lead, and she’s clearly terrified about something that isn’t me. I can only assume she’s in some kind of trouble! So get moving! Arrest her for something if you have to! Go!”
“Ugh. Fine. At least I get to arrest her.” Rainbow took off into the air, thunder rolling in her wake.
Twilight turned to her other guard. “Spike? You go down La Rue De L’Argent and cut across that alley to the north. See if you can head her off. She might not know Canterlot as well as we do.”
“Roger!” He saluted, taking off down the avenue at a run.
Twilight, however, ran right where Trixie had gone, but wasn’t going as fast as she expected. Earth pony leylines must still be damaged. I’m going to have to be careful of that. Now, where did she go?
As she neared a corner, she spotted a half-wrecked flower stand with a pony picking up pieces and flower bits, looking rather distraught. Looks like she turned here.
She banked right down the road, hoping that the high hoof traffic would slow the show mare down a bit. Her legs pumped ever harder without adding much to her speed. She didn’t feel any fatigue set in from the exertion. Good thing for Trixie I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been. I’d never be able to do this before my training.
The road led out of the market area to one of the denser sections of the city with much narrower streets and taller buildings. Despite the lack of stalls, Twilight spotted fresh scraping on the pavement at three more intersections leading right, left, and then right again into a shady alley.
As she rounded the corner in her own slide, she spotted the mare in question. Trixie had her horn blazing with magic and was reared on her hind legs.
She was also facing away from Twilight.
“Trixie? Are you okay?” the Grand Mage called out. “What’s going on? Are you in tr—?”
A wall of fire swallowed Trixie whole, knocking Twilight backwards and onto her side while smoke and soot engulfed the air.
No! Twilight scrambled to her hooves. Her legs rushed towards the blaze, leaping over the flames in a grand jump. A wave of scorching heat hit her skin, but was followed by soothing cold as her armor deployed automatically. When she landed, Trixie was behind her, unconscious on the ground. The flames left a circle of untouched pavement around them, at least for the time being, and both mares were currently “safe” within that border. Safe was a relative term, however, as Trixie’s body had been riddled with cuts, and an obviously broken leg, as evidenced by the protruding bone of the compound fracture. Shards of pink magic lay scattered about, the remnants of a failed shield spell.
Twilight’s head snapped left and right, looking for the source of the blast, but found nothing. Her synapses fired into overdrive as she activated her magic sight, taking in the current situation. This much fire must be from a unicorn attack spell. Somepony is definitely after her, and they are close. But I can’t see them behind the flames. I—
Twilight’s body rocketed off to the side as a pair of unseen hooves kicked into her, knocking her into the adjacent wall. Her jaw and head slammed into it an instant later, splashing the taste of blood on her tongue. She opened her eyes, looking around for her attackers with such focused intent that time itself seemed to slow. However, nopony could be found. There was nothing but concrete, flame, and soot.
There was nothing there, though the hairs standing up on the back of her neck said otherwise.
Her horn lashed out with random energy strikes. Each bolt was weak, attempting to mark her target without destroying everything around her. The blasts hit the walls and ground, adding new little scorch marks to what was already blackened by smoke. Bolt after bolt shot out, all passing through nothing but air.
Twilight stopped, looking around more carefully. There’s nothing here? How—?
A new series of strikes slammed into her face, impacting the weaker part of her armor and knocking her back into the wall. More hooves punched into her stomach and neck, and others punched her head left and right, pain roaring through her until she finally fell to the ground.
What…? What happened...?
A wave of cold washed over her, dripping down her bloodied face. Her left eye was already swelling, too, and her magic sight had failed completely.
Wait… That cold… It’s water!
She wrenched her gaze to the sky, pushing aside the pain. The sky was dark but not from just smoke. It was a storm cloud. The firefighters are already here!
“Twilight!”
Or maybe…
The rain started to come down in a sheet, and Rainbow flew down from the cloud, landing next to her. “Twilight! Are you okay?”
“Rainbow,” she coughed, barely able to speak. “Run…”
More water poured down, dousing the flames somewhat but mostly just preventing their spread. Yet there was something else, something subtle in the downpour. Nearly invisible and lasting only for the barest moment of time, Twilight could see the water bounce off something.
Something that looked like a pair of hooves.
Twilight put up her forelegs to shield herself from the coming blow, and the two hooves punched into her, landing with nothing more than a “pmoofm” into her armor. It forced her back a little, but it didn’t hurt.
Pegasus magic!
She lashed out with her own hooves, punching away her attacker’s and then launching into a series of blows against an invisible body in front of her. More rain started to sheet over a pony form, giving her a clear target to which she attacked time and time again.
“Rrrrrrrraaaaaaghhhhh!” Her forehooves lashed out, striking as fast as she could pump them, hitting its jaw, its stomach, anything that presented itself as open, which was all of it. Then, as she pulled back for one last strike, a new feature stood out on the figure in the rain.
Horn!
Magic blazed from her in a powerful telekinetic stream, striking the figure directly on its horn. A wave of distortion melted into the air, carrying with it a ripping explosion and bits of alicorn as the body fell limp to the ground. Whatever spell that was around it immediately faded, revealing a blue unicorn stallion in a grey suit with a white mane and tail.
Twilight spat a glob of blood on the ground. “Ha!”
“Twi, little help here!”
Rainbow was blocking a series of blows with another ghost, barely visible in the downpour. She wasn’t even able to counter the attacks, only brace herself at the last moment to absorb the blow like Twilight had.
“Hang on!” Twilight fired up her horn again, pushing magic into a stationary lance, much like her telekinetic blade. Magic circles materialized around the thaumic rod, spinning in opposition and painting her power with strokes of burning darkness.
Meanwhile, Rainbow was doing her best, though the ghost wasn’t letting up or taking hits. Twilight winced at her friend’s pain and tried to speed up, but this spell needed a very specific rhythm. One more solid hit landed in Rainbow’s gut, doubling her over and dropping her to the ground.
Twilight’s eyes flared with magic, the thaumic flames radiating with an energy she could feel as it licked at her ears. Her vision focused on her target. Silence flooded her ears as the magic shot forth, piercing right into another horn causing it to shatter in an explosive blast. The pony figure stumbled and wobbled then finally fell in a heap on the other. Its invisibility spell no longer powered, she could see him in the rain like the other. A blue stallion in a grey suit, with a white mane and tail.
Exactly the same as the other.
“What—?” Rainbow coughed, dry-heaving on the ground. “Ugh. What the hell happened there? Did we just get our flanks handed to us?”
A young, soprano voice echoed in Twilight’s head. “I would have used a different—”
Twilight looked down at her torc and raised an eyebrow.
“Eep!”
We’ll talk later. Twilight spat blood out of her mouth and rubbed her throat. “We’re doing better than they are. Thanks for the rain.”
Rainbow looked around. “Not like it’s doing anything. Look at the fire! It’s not going out!”
Twilight closed her eyes and readied a spell. “Magic fire cannot be put out by normal water. At least not easily. Magic water, on the other hoof…” She fired “Sender’s Shower” on the wall ahead of them, sending a small waterfall down on the flames, dousing them for good. “Rainbow, are other fireponies on their way?”
“Yeah, Guard’s been called. I think—”
Alarm sirens cut Rainbow off as easily as they sliced through the air, warning all of Canterlot to get to cover. The sound of hooves rumbling for safety could be heard even in the relative seclusion of the alley, and the sky was becoming a bright violet.
“Wait, is that what I think it is?” Rainbow asked, pointing.
“Yeah, I think so, but I’m going to make sure.” She sparked her horn and teleported onto the roof of the nearest building. The clouds overhead appeared to warp and shimmer, and a magic circle of metropolitan scale filled the sky with stunning speed. The runes were already inscribed in it. Her brother had said it was an entire magic book’s worth of knowledge carved into the sky, and she believed it. When the circle was finished, it expanded and spun around. The whole process took less than fifteen seconds, and in the end, there was an enormous shield around the entirety of the city.
Rainbow put her ears back in awe. “What do we do?”
Twilight looked over at the fallen enemies and teleported back down. “We stay right here until Shining and the Guard come help.”
“How long is that going to take?”
Twilight smiled.
A bolt of black lightning dropped from the sky, the thunder loud enough to hurt her ears and blow their manes back.
“Twily! Are you alright?!” Obsidian said after appearing, leaping to his sister. “Holy hell. You look like crap. What happened?”
“They happened.” Twilight pointed a hoof at the two bodies. “Appeared right out of nowhere. Literally! They were using some kind of invisibility spell. Not even my thaumic sight could see them. They really hurt us until I got an opening.”
Obsidian looked over at them and snorted then wrapped a barrier around them. “Do you know them?”
Twilight sneered at them. “No. But I’m betting Trixie over there does. She needs immediate medical attention. Can you help?”
Shining cast a shield spell and slid the rectangle underneath Trixie, lifting her up. Slowly and carefully, he levitated her over the two bodies on the ground. “Absolutely. I just need to get her over to the main street, and the paramedics should be here in a minute.”
About halfway down the alley, with the group following carefully behind them, the barrier began to flicker.
“Um, Shining?” Twilight asked, looking at it. “What are you doing?”
Obsidian stopped the barrier’s movement and looked over it too. “I’m not sure. Something’s disrupting—”
The barrier flicked again and failed, collapsing in a shattered heap, and Trixie’s battered body hit the floor.
“Shiny!” Twilight yelled, stomping her hoof. “Come on—your shields are better than that!”
Obsidian held up his forehooves. “I swear, that shouldn’t have happened.”
“Then what was—?” Twilight turned around to point at the beaten stallions on the ground and froze.
“Everypony see what I see?” Rainbow asked in a hush.
“Yeah.” Twilight swallowed.
Obsidian was hushed, too. “They had blown out horns. They should be out for hours or even days! And now…”
“They’re gone.” Twilight finished, still staring at the empty space where they had been, shield still in place. “Shining, area shield, around us, now.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. In under a second, a shield sprung up around them, and in the moment following that, reinforced. “There. Now at least they shouldn’t be able to get through. And I can move it as we go. Let’s get going.”
The group slowly continued down the alley, the shield moving at a relative crawl. Eventually, they reached the main street, now devoid of other ponies.
“Can’t go any faster, Shining?” Rainbow asked, tapping the barrier.
He shook his head. “Not with this solid of a shield around so many ponies, and with my attention split on carrying the injured. Also, it’s Obsidian now. Twily and Cadence are the sole exceptions for using my old name.”
The swift clomping of boots came up behind them. “There you guys are! I’ve been looking everywhere!”
Twilight turned around. “Spike! Are you okay?”
The dragon wiped off a scuff mark on his armor. “Got jumped by a couple stallions. Idiots tried to attack me with ice. I’m a friggin’ purple dragon. I could swim in liquid nitrogen. Idiots. Then they tried to be smart and went and turned invisible.”
Rainbow, Obsidian, and Twilight all looked at each other.
“Did they have white manes and tails?” Twilight asked.
“And blue coats?” Rainbow added.
“And a grey suit with sunglasses?” Obsidian finished.
Spike looked at them and tilted his body a bit to one side. “How did…?”
“Get in here,” Obsidian demanded, opening a hole in the shield.
Spike ran through, and it closed up behind him the instant he was clear. “Well, yeah, as I was saying, they went invisible, and started hitting me. Guess they weren’t used to fighting dragons. When I get the wind knocked out of me, it comes out as flames. Turns out, invisible doesn’t mean fireproo— Whoa, what happened to Trixie?”
“Those goons happened.” Twilight grumbled. “And don’t look now, Shiny, but I think your shield is about to crack again.”
“Son of a—” Obsidian put up another barrier under Trixie just as the other one failed. “Why does that keep happening?”
“Hmm…” Twilight squinted at the mare, and pulled at her horn to reactivate her magic sight. The answer was obvious immediately. “Aha! Well, who would’ve thought.”
“What’s up, Twi?” Spike asked. “She a changeling with anti-magic armor or something?”
Twilight cringed a bit. “First off, no, and that would be terrifying. Second, she has two networks of leylines. One’s for unicorn magic, and the other’s for earth pony magic! She’s a hybrid!”
Rainbow tried to hop into a hover but bounced off the shield. “Ow. Wait, Trixie’s an earth pony?” She said, rubbing her head a little.
Twilight nodded, dismissing her enhanced sight. “Looks like it. Earth pony hybrids can be hard to spot since they don’t always look any different from pegasi and unicorns.”
“At least I know why the shield is failing. Here.” Obsidian’s horn grew a little brighter, and the shield under Trixie began to shimmer a little more. “Now it’s earth-pony resistant. Shouldn’t fail again.”
The group resumed their slow march towards the castle. “Good. Time to start planning. First things first, we need to get her to the medical wing of the castle and put her under lockdown. Think you can help with the ponypower needs there, Shiny?”
“Of course.” Obsidian’s voice was so deep it was practically a growl. “Sable Seer! Arcane Edge! Show yourselves!”
Two Night Guards appeared from a shadow in another alleyway, trailing smoke and bowing before their leader.
The unicorn mare spoke for them. “What is thy command, High Cardinal?” She was not only wearing the Night Guard armor but a black blindfold over her eyes as well.
Obsidian’s stride was still slow but unyielding. “Sable, I want you to coordinate with the soldiers sweeping the city. Whoever set off that explosion did so to attack this mare and my sister. They are using highly effective invisibility spells and are too dangerous to attempt capture. No holding back.”
Rainbow’s wings spread out to her sides. “Whoa, are you sure that’s—?”
Obsidian cut her off. “Unfortunate, but I can’t see a way around it.”
Twilight’s mouth went agape too. “Shiny?”
He shook his head. “This is a matter of national security, Twilight. Or should you have put that dragon you found in irons instead?”
Twilight’s pupils shrank down to dots, and her ears went back. “Well, I mean, if I could have…”
Obsidian’s face grew ever more grim. “If. Just like with you in Wintervale, holding back will only get my ponies killed. Sable, get moving. Arcane, round up three more Night Guards. Make sure at least one is a Paladin. They are going to protect our injured citizen while the doctors heal her.”
The two Night Guard spoke in unison. “Thy command is the will of the Moon.” Their orders received, they moved back into the shadow as one whisp of smoke and vanished.
“Doctor Suture. I am pleased to see you again. Although, I wish it were under better circumstances.” Luna ruffled the feathers in her wings a little. “Tell us, how fares this maiden?”
Twilight fought a snort. Maiden. Right.
The doctor held up a chart in his magic, looking through it. “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that she’ll live, and her current injuries will heal just fine, given time.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “I am guessing that your use of the phrase ‘current injuries’ is a hint as to the bad news.”
The doctor sighed and took out some x-ray photographs with his magic. “The bad news is that we can’t use healing magic on her to speed it up. We tried, but it just doesn’t have an effect on her.”
“I’ve heard of this before.” Twilight chimed in. “Ponies use overdoses of healing magic to get an artificial high causing them to become resistant. Eventually, healing magic just doesn’t work on them anymore.”
The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m afraid this poor mare wasn’t abusing—she was being abused.” He put the photographs up on the lightboard and switched it on. “Her x-rays show dozens of serious injuries, most sustained within the past two or three years and healed with powerful magic. Multiple fractures to her legs, ribs, even vertebrae. There’s evidence of old cuts, burns, blunt impacts, all manner of damage. You have to examine closely, but I think she’s used a coat growing potion to restore her hair to cover dozens upon dozens of scars.”
“I’m amazed she lasted as long as she has,” Twilight said, reviewing the images. “Some of these wounds look like they could’ve been fatal had they landed in a slightly different spot.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Which means either she was exceptionally lucky, or they were trying to incapacitate her rather than kill her. They could have incinerated her in that attack, but they did not. Why?”
Twilight pulled out her notebook and started scribbling. “I intend to find out. Doctor, when will she be awake?”
The doctor put his glasses back on and looked again at the chart. “Head injuries like this are always iffy, but if things go well, she might be awake as early as tonight. If not, it may be substantially longer.”
“Keep us appraised, doctor. You are dismissed.”
As the stallion left, Twilight and Luna both ducked into an empty room next to Trixie’s, closing the door behind them. The Princess applied a shield on the walls and door.
Luna took a deep breath. “There, now we may speak freely. Twilight, are you certain that the rain only fell on your attackers when they hit you? It fell through them before that?”
Twilight nodded. “Absolutely. It’s like they weren’t even there until then.”
Luna winced. “Damn.”
“I take it you know something.”
She nodded. “Indeed. One of the things stolen from our library during the attempted coup was knowledge of a very old, very powerful form of illusion. One so great it can fool all of a pony’s senses, but it can also feedback onto the caster. That’s why the rain revealed their forms eventually; the caster must not have been able to handle it. I’d imagine they were also stunned when you defeated their projections.
“But, what was taken in the raid was incomplete. This… This does not entirely make sense. If it is Lady Optika’s magic, from what they managed to steal, it should have been decades before they unlocked the secrets, and that is only if they knew exactly what to look for. On top of that, to even train in the use of this magic should have taken a generation! Maybe two! Foals were supposed to practice at this from the moment they could speak!”
Twilight scribed the notes into her book. “So either they were impossibly talented, came up with it independently centuries before its time, or something else. Who’s Lady Optika?”
The pain in Luna’s eyes made Twilight flinch again. “One of the pre-Discordian alicorns. A true master of illusion magic. Changelings are amateurs next to her. She created her entire capital city with nothing more than a manifestation of her willful illusions. But that’s neither here nor there. Time is short. I want you to track down the paper that printed this article. See if you can figure out where they got the information from. If we do not hurry, they may make witnesses ‘disappear.’”
Twilight stopped writing. “Is there any way to break through the illusion? Without some means of doing that, we’re sitting ducks.”
“Yes. Well, maybe. Bring an anti-candle. I have some in my chambers. They destroy most illusion spells quite effectively. If this were truly Lady Optika at her prime, they would be useless, but we may yet luck out.”
After a few last scribbles, Twilight bowed and went to leave through the door. “I’m on it!”
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Did you forget to replace the placeholder for
? Doctor Name sounds pretty cool, actually.
I am getting so hyped right now.
5820793 The whole chapter was put up a day early on accident! Refresh to see the edited version with A/N, although I STILL don't have a name for that doctor and I'm willing to take suggestions.
I think you accidentally a name
5820819 See blog post!
5820799
Time flies by real fast.
Season 5 is airing tomorrow?
You could name the doctor Asmodeus. It's fancy, professional-sounding, and would make a very pretty illegible signature.
5820908
Doctor Illegible!
For the Doctor's name, I suggest Bones, as a play on Star Trek. Though that might require rewriting to give him an appropriately gruff bedside manner, I dunno.
The plot thickens, at this point I have no idea what's going to happen next, which is a pleasant surprise for me.
I am consistently amazed of how you keep up with this story with such quality despite your real life issues. I know most writers would stop posting for less. Keep it up dude, we're all rooting for you!
well....I found this chapter to be exciting, and now I pray for poor trixie, I hope she is safe. may luna guard her.
literally. have luna laying at her bedside.
The sheer amount you go through, and still manage to come up with the likes of this?
Seriously, my writing falters the second I have the littlest thing going on in my life.
You're incredible, man.
Make sure you know that.
Relating to this chapter...hmm.
I'm starting to get a sneaking suspicion that Discord and the Pre-Discordian Alicorns are more involved in this than they may seem. Or at least someone from that time period is still around, and messing with people.
Or time travel?
Why now? What's their goal?
Curious. Very curious.
Oh, and regarding Trixie and the barrier that couldn't hold her. What's your in-universe system regarding magical barriers and different races of pony? We saw earlier that telekinetic grips are quite easy to break. Are non-specialised barriers similarly easy for earth ponies?
Because passively breaking barriers in your sleep is quite the accomplishment.
5821901 Earth ponies are very effective against regular, vanilla barriers. Their innate magic can break simple ones with ease, using only a single buck. Even being in contact with one, like with Trixie, can do it. Unless, of course, the barrier caster knows what they are doing. Simple ones are easy to break, but it's entirely possible (and not even all that difficult) to make barriers that are specifically designed to resist earth pony magic.
Doing so, however, leaves them more vulnerable to pegasus lightning and unicorn magic.
Really advanced barrier users like Shining, however, can tune them to be balanced for all three. He just didn't do it at first because it was only meant to carry an unconscious pony, rather than a combat shield, and Trixie doesn't look anything like an earth pony. But, she is a hybrid and has full earth pony and unicorn magic.
She created her entire capital city with nothing more than a manifestation of her willful illusions.
Better than the Amazing Mystico and Janet?
Well done, it's good to see the sparkle siblings back in the fight again. Also, is it odd I wanted to give twilight torc a hug? For some reason I am imagining it's voice sounds quite a bit like fluttershy.
Well, this certainly raises more questions. Trixie showing up was bound to herald some trouble, but this is much more direct than anything I expected - and I still can't quite figure out what Trixie's role is in this attack, or what were the individuals pulling her chains wanting to achieve by having her appear before Twilight.
Obviously it couldn't be to draw out/distract Twilight - she was simply walking down the street after all, and your attackers being invisible is the only "distraction" you need. For that matter, I don't get the impression the invisible "assassins" were actually trying to kill Twilight/Rainbow - after all, they attacked with simple kicks and punches. Painful to be sure, but if you were going for an actual kill, simply stabbing her with a blade in the throat as the opening move would have sealed the deal.
Hm ... testing the concept, then? Giving their newfound invisibility spells a test-drive in real combat situations against a well known mage, so they can observe how it holds up during an actual fight and how quickly enemies can realize what's going on and how they go about countering it and how effective those counters are? I'd worry about the hostages this approach would leave behind, but I guess they could either be geassed or some sort of clones, seeing their similar coloration (which, suspiciously enough, seemed pretty close to Trixie's color scheme).
Still doesn't explain Trixie's presence though, and what was to be gained by having her appear before Twilight. Hm, I guess we won't know for sure until Trixie is awake and talking. I imagine she has quite the tale to tell.
And why do I feel like sending Twilight after the paper might be a poorly thought-out move. The whole thing screams "trap" from miles away, all but designed to lure Twilight in and have her come checking. I'd rather send a company of Guards to comb the paper's HQ and detain everyone present for questioning, rather than send only a couple of individuals without knowing what they are walking in to, but recent events suggesting a trap (or something otherwise dangerous) being pretty likely.
Hm, that's pretty interesting. So does that mean it's actually universally better to have mixed parentage (and you get the best of both worlds), rather than being a pure-blooded specimen in Rites universe?
So, a paper printed a fake arrest warrant, essentially?
Someponies are in neck-deep manure, I'd say
Hmm, interesting take on illusions.
Great chapter btw.
Nice chapter, though I don't really like Trixie being a victim of long-time abuse.
That's something I have heard too often already. Anyway, Trixie having two leylines is very interesting.
She also seems to have been able to see the invisible attackers.
Would be pretty cool if you made her part of the team. Trixie is, after all, one of my favourite characters.
I'm looking forward for more
One thing that I'm surprised that no one thought of (I got this from Ghosts of Onyx):
3 'ponies'
2 fight/interact
1 observes and learns
and potentially cleans up when the others aren't looking
Great chapter!
So i guess Trixie could see the ponies using that alicorn illusion magic, and since she is usually pretty good at illusion magic, i'm gonna guess that she either discovered something going on, or that she helped develop the spell.
Also:
Hopefully not an alicorn, rather a mistype i presume?
Interesting... Very interesting. I wonder, has one of the other alicorns finally managed to travel close enough to reach Luna and Celestia's domain? Are they malign in nature?
Just when I thought our heroes might get a breather after dealing with a dragon, invisible assassins appear. Ugh, nothing will amp the paranoia like enemies you can't see.
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That is a term for what a Unicorn horn is made of. They literally blew out their horns.
Cv Great work as always, I loved the chapter!!! As for your grandfather just pm his name and I'll have it added to my churches prayer list if you'd like man.
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Oh, ****, you're right, i had forgotten about that. A little confusing to say the least
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Magically, it's almost always better to be a hybrid. There are narrow downsides, though. Heavy pegasi are less maneuverable than their pureblood cousins, but get in their way and you are in for a whole new world of pain. Earth unicorns are lousy at barriers, but have the best healing magic anywhere. Winged unicorns are always at risk of blowing out their horns by using too much magic, but... they can fly and use magic.
Being a hybrid with earth pony blood, however, will often get you looked down on by the other tribes if they ever find out. So it's not a social win unless you manage to get to be one of the winged unicorns.
And things got serious fast again.
Twilight is already speaking with her torc? After her being so surprised before the fight with the dragon, I expected some scene focused on that fact. In the story itself, is there anything more than a passing mention that her torc may speak with her?
So earth ponies are strong against simple barriers? Nice detail, it increments your already interesting rules of magic in this universe. However, it'd be nice for some explanation on this in the story. It was "the barrier was breaking because she's an earth pony", but left you wondering "why?" while the characters found that it was obvious. Or was it explained before in the story?
5823094 I'm pretty sure he explained it earlier in the story, it's just one effect of earth pony magic.
This. So very much this.
This was great! Tonnes of new mysteries popping up that I am going to love to see unfold (Trixie a hybrid?! How does that work?). Also get to see a little more of the new Shining Armor; I still am eager to see more of him in combat and politics! And how the heck are ponies with splintered horns casting alicorn-level spells? And why go for Trixie? It all sounds a bit like she escaped from some abusive secret lab that doesn't want their dirty secrets to get out, but that hadley explains the newspaper article.
Great stuff!
Like this. :)
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This occurred to me earlier (it'd explain how someone knew complex/skilled geas magic), but Twilight and Celestia concluded earlier that the person using geas magic didn't know about magic sight (because they took no steps to conceal what the dragon did). That suggests that it isn't a full alicorn, as the sight seems to be universal among them.
It's still an odd puzzle.
It's possible that we have someone with "learning" as their special talent, turned up to eleven. We've been shown that they don't already have all the knowledge they need (they swiped the books), but that they're able to master things far too quickly (the geas, the projection spell). Another explanation would be time travel, but that opens enough cans of worms that I really hope CV didn't go there.
I am enjoying reading your story and the interesting worldbuilding :)
Just wanted to let you know that this is currently my favorite story on the site and no matter how long it takes I will keep reading it. I kn ow you have had a lot of troubles recently so I just wanted to let you know this.
Woah, that went far less humorously than I was expecting.
Interesting development having Trixie be a unicorn/earth pony hybrid.
Good plan, whoever was after her isn't likely to stop after just one failure.
Well, this is an odd development. My first thought is time travel, but that raises even more questions...
Still, Trixie may prove informative when she comes to, and even if she's reluctant to discuss what happened to her, there's still the Hoofington lead to go on.
Also, Trixie is an earth unicorn? Didn't see that one coming.
When it comes to your health, I can't offer anything other than empty platitudes and an eagerness for more. Take as much time as you need. I'll be here.
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I'm going to avoid time travel in general. If time travel happens, Twi won't be involved, and so it'll be a side story and likely feature a mad
manpony with a box. :PI can confirm that what's happening here isn't time travel.
That is fucking awesome. Liquid Nitrogen? Damn. How would he fair against other cryogenic liquids? Like maybe helium. I think that element has the lowest boiling point, so it requires an extremely low temperature to be in a liquid state.
This is quite the interesting development. Trixie is involved with something quite dangerous and I'm sure that it somehow relates to the coup.
I'm really excited to see where this goes Cv. Keep it up!
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:D :D :D
How come Cadance, a pegasus/unicorn is a princess, but Trixie, a unicorn/ earth pony is just a hybrid?
Also, Fluttershy must be an hybrid too, she always acted a lot more Earth pony like than pegasus like.
5845422 Cadence was born into it. The title of "Princess of the Lost" is hereditary, much like Blueblood's title of "Prince of Canterlot".
Hybridization with earth ponies is relatively common. Winged unicorns are rare, with only a few dozen individuals. Cadence is the only one that's royalty, and that's not because of her being a hybrid.
So... the twin cities of Illusion (which is really there, but you can't see it) and Reality (which looks great, but there's nothing there) have already fallen?
That's sad news.
Nice one CV looking forward to more!
I enjoyed this chapter. I like a chapter where something happens or something is discovered and I don't have a full explanation. Lets my brain chew on it for a while.
I enjoyed this chapter. I do like you OCs but I admit that it makes me happy to "see" some old faces. I hope Trixie can help them out. And I hope they can help Trixie.
I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading this! This is amazing so far! I'm loving every part of this!
Thank you for making this story, I'm only sad that it took me so long to actually start reading this... that and now I have to wait for the next update. :P
well as long as you have fun making this story I hope that you keep up the great work!
Oh and I hope the pain you are having goes away... that kind of stuff sucks...
P.S. I keep thinking that Trixie will become Twilight's 2nd guard, thought that even before she showed up. Kinda hope it happens... but eh...
First, I just want to say that I hope your grandfather is alright.
Second, I just want to say that I love this fic. The grand, far-sweeping conspiracy you've constructed is impressive, and I really want to see it all revealed.
Actually, apprised. (I'm not sure how you determine the dollar value of a princess.)
Enjoying this as always.
again, did she literally say "uughhhhh" after her line? If she did, period is correct. If she didn't, comma is correct.
showman is one word, so showmare is one too, i would think.
"can't you" is more appropriate here
wisp
Can Trixie, at least once, not be abused?
?
;_;
So many pieces, so many things happening, three groups minimum at play