To Die Twice

by Quite Quiet

2: From unexpected places

Meanwhile in the capital city of Equestria, Canterlot, a very frantic and exhausted blue unicorn could be found galloping through the halls of the Canterlot Castle. Without the slightest care to how he acted he navigated carefully through the white corridors of the castle, occasionally slipping on the polished marble floor but catching himself before falling. His dark and unkept mane whipping in his eyes as he ran, slowly closing in on the Princess’ private study room.

At the end of the hallway his destination comes into view, a completely unassuming wooden door save for the two guards currently standing outside guarding it. Gradually slowing down as he approached the two guards, he took a moment to catch his breath before addressing the two golden-clad guards.

“I need to speak with Princess Celestia right now, this is important,” he little less than shouted at the guards, who merely looked at each other before knocking once on the wooden door between them.

For the next few minutes of waiting everything went dead quiet. The ponies were quiet, the hallways were quiet and even the fading sun outside was quiet. So quiet, that when the pony on the other side of that wooden door moved to open all three immediately knew she was coming. Guards standing just a little bit straighter and messenger just a little more nervous.

Then out from the door stepped Celestia, supreme ruler of the land and currently the most powerful pony to walk among mortals. Her ethereal mane in blues and pinks flowing in a non-existing wind, and the bleach white coat. The most noticeable thing about her was the smile, that almost ever-present smile few had seen her without. That same smile now looking down at him, questioningly.

“Hello, Night Light. What can be so important you have to come here, in the last hours of the day when you should be home with your family?” she asked him, never once losing that smile.
Realizing she asked him something, Night Light quickly gathered his thoughts back to form coherent sentences again.

“Apologizes Princess, but this couldn’t wait. We double-checked the instruments a last time just a few minutes ago to make sure we didn’t miss anything during today’s events. Not surprisingly, two extreme magical surges happened almost simultaneously in Couldsdale and here in Canterlot. Eye witnesses in Couldsdale confirmed the surge as a ‘Rainboom’ as they called it. Very obvious.”

“The second was the same one we both witnessed and you stopped, when my daughter had her first surge. Princess, both of these events were very obvious and noticed by a lot of ponies. During out latest search we found a third surge recorded, mere minutes after the first two. So close we missed it during out first look-through.”

“I will admit Night Light that this is very interesting, but I fail to see the importance of this,” Celestia replied as he trailed off, looking at her for a confirmation to go on.

“You see Princess, the first two were really obvious”–earning him a nod from the princess–“but the third? The third nopony we had the time to ask ever saw. Measuring at forces equal to the one my daughter had it should be known by hundreds it happened. But nothing, not a single notice of anything of that scale recorded by anypony around the Fillydelphia region.” He completed his short and hastily prepared explanation and stood there waiting for a response as the Princess had a thoughtful expression. After what felt like hours but could only have been a minute at most.

“Very well, I will send a message to my guards to search the area and question the locals in hope of finding the source of this surge. In the meantime, go home Night Light. You have a wonderful wife and daughter waiting for you.” If it was possible, Night Light would swear he saw the tiniest of teasing on her face as she completed that sentence. But if he asked she would forever deny it. And while she had forever to deny, he didn’t have forever to ask. Right at this moment he knew of several much better ways to spend the evening, too.

“I will, your Highness. I will.”

---

Morning came and with that the all too bright sun shining from above the rooftops. Still sleeping Trixie moved deeper in under her makeshift cover, trying hard to escape the morning light attempting to wake her. Joining the light in attempts to wake her was an insistent poking on her backside, making it harder and harder to ignore the world around her any longer.

The relentless assault on her senses became too much and Trixie involuntarily opened her eyes to the surroundings, only to find herself staring at the brick wall right in front of her. Yawning loudly she pushed the cardboard off her, but much to her surprise the damp cover fell to pieces as she pushed it. Covered in mud and wet pieces of paper she finally took the time to roll to her other side to look out across the alley she had spent her night in. Largely holding the same trash can and junk as the night before, the biggest change stood right in front of her.

Towering high above her shrunken frame stood a frowning earth pony stallion, most likely the source of the earlier poking. Looking down on her with a disapproving glare, he took a step back to allow her enough space so she could stand up again. Standing on weak legs Trixie slowly moved her head up towards the stallion, but ended up staring at his brown coat.

“’s forbidden sleeping in the alleys, kiddo. Hate to say ‘t like this, but ya gotta follow me down to the station for questioning. Standard procedure. Follow ‘t and ya are out b’fore ya know ‘t.” The way he said it you could almost think he had practiced that same speech in the mirror or something, just waiting for a chance to use it. But the looks he gave her quickly crushed any attempt at humor at it and Trixie could only swallow what little rebellion she could muster.

Sighing, Trixie fell in beside the officer as he moved out of the alley taking off down the road she just the other day had come from. Next to the larger pony she noticed far less issues with traveling than she had on her own just the day before. The absence of required focus let her mind wander.

“What am I doing? I can’t get caught now. He said it’ will just be questioning, but what if I say something wrong? Should I really risk that, or try to escape right now? But escaping now is practically impossible, he knows the area more and I have no idea where I am at all. I should try escaping at all. Maybe I can try explaining it to him and he will understand? But I guess he can’t know, after all…” Her thoughts continued in a similar manner for the duration of the journey, only occasionally taking a moment’s pause to make sure she still followed her captor.

The police station was a sorry affair in itself. The rundown building falling apart in the corners, barely holding together in places. As little Trixie got closer more and more of the blemishes showed up. The grey paint didn’t quite have the same tint all over, sporting darker and lighter places among the sides, much like a badly shaded painting.

The stallion held up one of the glass doors for her, motioning with his head for her to enter properly. Entering the lobby showed much of the same decay as the outside did. Darker spots in the wooden floor she carefully navigated around, not particularly interested finding out exactly what it consisted of.

Continuing down the hallway passing several offices in the process. Rooms occupied by a single mare or stallion most of the time, but two or three on occasion as well. Each of the rooms just as broken and touched by time as the last, broken glass laying on the floor she carefully avoided. Moving past the last of the rooms, Trixie came to the very end of the corridors. Two closed metal doors met her, one right in front of her and one to the side. The stallion next to her moved forward as she stopped, opening the door with a hoof for her.

“’n with ya now, kiddo. ‘ll come back with the forms ‘n a second,” he said as he motioned with his head for her to enter.

Slowly moving forward Trixie moved into the dimly lit room one hoof at a time. Navigating around the cube that could be used as a table she sat down on the pillow facing the mirror in the opposite side of the room. In said mirror she could see the reflection of her still unfamiliar visage staring back at her.

Interrupted in her staring by a loud bang from the door, she shakes her head for a second to clear her mind. She watches as the same officer from before sit down right in front of her, this time carrying a bundle of papers in his mouth while balancing a pen at the very top of the stack.

“’s al right kiddo. This takes just a minute and ya’ll be back out there again,” he begins in an attempt to calm her down a little. With no obvious sign of it working or not he continues without missing a beat. “So first of all, need a name. Who are ya, kiddo?”

“Trixie Lulamoon.” The answer comes from her a bit louder than expected, in her attempt for whoever might be watching from behind the mirror that most likely is a one-way to hear her.

“So Trixie, why were ya sleeping ‘n the alley, besides being tired?” While noting down the replied name on the topmost paper in the stack he continues to ask questions. Before answering the filly in front of him sighs loudly once.

“I slept there because it was the only place with any form of privacy I could find.” He nodded once in between his writing before casually dropping the pen down on the table, discarding the rest of the papers for the moment.

“So ya are saying ya had noplace to sleep with a roof?” A nod came from the filly.

“’m guessing ya don’t have a family to turn to, either?” Another nod.

“Sorry kiddo, but guessing ya won’t get out tonight after all. ‘s illegal sleeping in the alleys, even for a filly like yaself. Now sit tight while I go make things happen for ya. Ya’ll be out of here soon.”
And with that proclamation he took the stack of papers on the table and left the room, suddenly in a hurry.

What followed were the longest hours in her previous and current life. Sitting awkwardly in place fiddling with the few locks of her mane she could reach, pacing around the room or practicing her magic. All of it a way to make the time pass as she waited for whatever would happen. No significant improvements to her magic happened but before the day ended the tiniest hint of a circle could be seen in the floor.

Sometime in the middle of the pacing, fiddling and training lunch came. It was the same as other common free food you got at hospitals or visitors in prison, watered down vegetables with barely any nutrition at all. She ate regardless, if only to get a break in the monotone routine this one day had become.

Then sometime in the afternoon during her six hundred forty second lap around the room the door opened while she was one the opposite side of the room, as far from the door as possible. Entering through the doorway was once again the stallion officer from before. Behind him, an unknown white-coated earth pony nearing the prime of her life entered.

“Sorry for the wait, kiddo. This ‘s Winter Heart, and she’ll be taking ya to the orphanage first thing in the morning,” he explained as he motioned to the mare in question with one of his fore hooves and at the mention at her name she smiled a gentle and warm smile towards the lone filly in the room. Said filly had barely registered any of which had been said.

“Orphanage?”

Author's Note:

I have a question for you who are reading this. Is this too fast-paced?

Also, Winter Heart's name courtesy of Random Name Generator. Go check it out if you have five minutes sometime.

Comments

[silvadel]

It is not too fast paced to me at least.

[Seether00]

Nah, this type of story needs to have stuff happen quickly.

[Zero Blue]

Its not to fast pace as it is lacking details, try to add what Trixie/twilight is thinking. there's a lot she could be dwelling on that the reader can only guess at.

[Mordecaiser]

i wonder if the trixie before was actually another twilight
you sir, have created a paradox

[Quite Quiet]

2319923 You'll see. It will be touched upon.