//------------------------------// // Trixie in danger! // Story: The New and Reborn Trixie // by Yukito //------------------------------// Sawdust and Trixie made their way through the streets of Canterlot, passing through the crowds of ponies and moving away from the museum. Trixie kept a distance between herself and Sawdust, but whenever she started to slow down, Sawdust would turn to face her, causing her to pick up her pace again. She watched Sawdust closely, staying silent as various thoughts ran through her head. ‘Who is this guy? How are we related? Is he really my fiancé? Did I really kill my uncle? There’s something I don’t trust about this stallion…He must be lying! He must be! I wonder where he’s taking me? The street’s getting pretty deserted here.’ Sawdust stopped suddenly, causing Trixie to also stop. He turned towards Trixie, and began to close the distance. “This should do. Now, let me help you remember everything…” His horn started to light up, and Trixie began to back away. “Relax. It’s a spell that should help bring out your sealed memories.” “But…Twilight said that wasn’t possible…She tried it before, and it didn’t work.” Trixie said, shuddering as she remembered the horrible experience that came when Twilight tried to fix Trixie’s memories with her magic. It was not the most pleasant experience in the world, to say the least. “Twilight? Who’s that?” Sawdust asked, but then continued before she could answer. “Ah, doesn’t matter. Trust me, this will most certainly work.” He lowered his still glowing horn towards Trixie’s forehead, who ducked down and closed her eyes tight as she feared what memories would emerge. Trixie looked around at the white scenery surrounding her. Everything was white as far as the eyes could see. There were a few walls standing around in various areas, of various colours. There were black walls, with paintings of places or ponies hanging on them, blue walls, with blank frames hanging on them, and green walls, with no frames, and large cracks running down them. They were placed in a very random manor, and were too tall for Trixie to see over them. “Hello? Is anypony here?” Trixie asked, walking forward a bit and looking around a few of the walls. She saw somepony staring up at one of the paintings on a black wall, and approached them cautiously. “Um…Hello?” The pony turned around, and Trixie thought that she must have been looking into a mirror. The pony in front of her was an exact duplicate of her. She stared for a few seconds, until the other Trixie broke the silence. “What? You never see a Great and Powerful magician before?” “Um…Are you…Me?” “Indeed. I am the Great and Powerful Trixie. The most powerful Unicorn in all of Equestria. I imagine you’re curious as to why you’re seeing yourself right now.” Trixie nodded, still in shock and disbelief at seeing herself in front of her. “That’s right. And also, what is this place?” “This is Trixie’s mind, of course.” The other Trixie said, waving her hoof around at the surroundings. “And right now, it’s in a state of complete and total chaos. But don’t worry. Soon, everything will become crystal clear.” Trixie was about to ask something, but her duplicate began to walk away, before turning and signalling for Trixie to follow her. She was lead down a passageway of black walls, all lined up, with paintings on each one. She noticed that further down, there were blue walls being placed into various slots, with phantom images of Trixie attempting to find the right picture for each wall. “What is all of this?” “Your mind is being reconstructed. It’s a slow, but steady process. However, you seem to be content with your current life with Twilight. As such, the reconstruction is going much slower than we would like.” “I don’t need to remember anything. My current life is just fine. I have friends who care for me, and-” “What about your old friends?” The two Trixies stopped, and the duplicate Trixie continued. “Did you not think that maybe, just maybe, there are some ponies from your old life who are worried about you, and want to see you again? For example, Sawdust.” “Sawdust…The pony from earlier?” “Indeed. He’s been looking for you for a long, long time. And to be honest, you need him.” The duplicate Trixie turned to face the real Trixie, and stared her straight in the eyes. “No matter how happy you are right now, it is only a temporary escape from reality. Soon enough, your past will catch up to you, and you will have nowhere to go.” She closed the distance between herself and the real Trixie, and pressed their foreheads together. “Nowhere…But to Sawdust.” Trixie watched as her duplicate’s horn began to light up, and an image started to form in front of her eyes. “Trixie! What are you doing!? Stop this at once!” Trixie looked down at her uncle as he tried to crawl away from her. She levitated a knife towards her uncle, and pressed the tip against his throat. “Please! Don’t do this! There’s still time! You don’t have to-” “Isn’t that enough?” The image evaporated, and the two Trixies turned around to see a cloaked pony walking towards them. “If you’re going to fill her head with false memories, at least make them convincing. Trixie couldn’t have killed her uncle…Because she just doesn’t have it in her to kill another living being. You and I both know that better than anypony.” The duplicate Trixie pushed Trixie aside, and walked towards this new visitor. “Who the hell are you? And how did you get inside Trixie’s mind!?” When the other pony refused to answer, the duplicate Trixie’s horn ignited, and a blast of magic was fired forward. “ANSWER ME!” The cloaked pony’s own horn began to light up, shooting forth a blast of dark blue energy that clashed with the duplicate Trixie’s white energy. The two energies collided in midair, and evaporated, leaving behind a small smokescreen between the two ponies. “How strange. I thought Trixie’s energy was light blue. By the way, what’s Twilight’s full name, miss fake Trixie?” Now it was the duplicate’s turn to be silent. “As expected. You don’t know. As for how I got in here, it was the same way as you, Sawdust.” Trixie gasped and looked up at her duplicate, who then began to laughed manically and change shape. Soon, the stallion that Trixie had met earlier was standing in front of her, powering up for another attack. “Ok, so you got me. Yeah, I tried to break Trixie’s mind a lil’. But what’s it to you, anyway?” The cloaked pony’s body began to glow, and he sighed very deeply. “Trixie, when you get outside, run as fast as you can. I don’t have time to explain, but you have to hurry. Whatever you do, don’t let yourself be captured by Sawdust.” The cloaked pony paused for a second, and then continued. “Or by your father.” Before Trixie could ask what he meant, a huge flash of blue light began to fill the entire room, blinding both Trixie and Sawdust. Applejack looked over at the clock tower near the museum. It had been quite some time since Twilight had left, and she was starting to get worried. “Ah! There he is! On the roof!” She turned her head towards the rooftop of the museum when she heard a random pony nearby shout that out. She saw Kaito Stallion standing on top of the museum, looking down at the crowd of ponies. Hovering in front of him was Princess Celestia, preventing him from escaping. “Is it another illusion?” Rainbow Dash asked Pinkie Pie, who responded by shaking her head rapidly. She was too busy watching the scene and munching on her popcorn to answer verbally. “Then he’s as good as captured now, right?” Applejack looked around her, trying to see if she could spot Twilight. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a large flash of light, and quickly turned her head to see what it was. She saw two ponies in the distance, and raised the binoculars that Twilight was using earlier to see who they were, since one of them seemed familiar. “Trixie!?” The group turned to her as she shouted that, and she watched as Trixie kicked the stallion next to her and began running away, the stallion giving chase after he recovered from her attack. “What’ wrong, AJ? You look worried.” Rainbow Dash said, looking into the distance to try to see what Applejack was looking at. “Is Trixie alright?” Fluttershy asked, bringing her own binoculars to her face and looking in the same direction as Applejack. Applejack threw down the binoculars, and stood up suddenly. “Trixie’s in trouble! Rainbow Dash, you come with me! The rest of you, go find Twi and tell her what’s going on!” And with that, she started to gallop in the direction that Trixie was seen running in, with Rainbow Dash flying right behind. Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, who were left behind, exchanged worried glances, before getting on with their duty. “Alright, girls…And boy!” Rarity started. “We must find Twilight at once and let her know that Trixie needs our help!” Spike scratched the back of his head, and asked the question on everypony’s minds. “But…How’re we gonna find her?” Everypony’s ears dropped when Spike asked that question, and they began discussing where Twilight could possibly be. Finally, the silence was broken by Fluttershy gasping the loudest she had ever gasped before. It was just enough to gather the attention of the others. “Up there!” Fluttershy said, pointing up at the roof of the museum, whilst looking through her binoculars. Trixie ran through the deserted streets of Canterlot as fast as could. Of course tonight would happen to be the night where everypony was gathered in one area, thus leaving no guards patrolling the streets for her to seek help from. Her only hope was to find somewhere to hide. Anywhere. She noticed a warehouse in the distance that looked abandoned. Looked like a good place to hide. She picked up her pace and moved towards it as fast as she could. She could hear Sawdust not too far behind, and was beginning to wonder if she’d make it in time. Luckily, she somehow managed to make her way inside before Sawdust could catch up to her, and quickly found a good hiding spot behind some crates at the back. She sat down silently, and waited. She was wondering if she had actually lost him, but her hopes were dashed when she heard the sounds of hoof steps entering the warehouse. They stopped after taking a few more steps in, and then she heard Sawdust calling out to her. “Trixiiiiie! Let’s stop this nonsense already! I’m a busy stallion, y’know? We have a lot to do before the wedding. So come on out and accept my proposal already.” She heard the hoof steps moving closer her hiding spot, and she curled up tight, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t see her in such a dark spot. Thoughts were rushing through her head. So fast that she couldn’t keep up with them all. ‘Is he going to kill me? Is he serious about us getting married? What’s with this guy? Is he insane? Does he have a grudge against me, or is he just a psychopath?’ She heard the crates behind her start to move, and suddenly, only one thought passed through her mind. ‘Twilight! Please help me!’ “Hey! Back away from our friend!” Trixie gasped when she heard a familiar mare’s voice coming from behind her, and dared to peek her head around the side of her hiding spot. At the entrance of the warehouse, she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both glaring at Sawdust, and getting ready to charge. Rainbow Dash stepped forward a little, and spoke up again. “Well!? Didn’t ya hear me!? I said to leave our friend alone!” Sawdust looked at the two mares with a confused face, and then began his maniacal laugh that sent chills down Trixie’s spine. “Oh, I see. You two must be her new friends! Don’t worry, I assure you that Trixie is quite safe in my hooves!” Applejack stepped forward, and tapped her hoof on the ground a few times. “Really? Is that why she kicked you earlier, and ran away with a look of complete horror on her face?” Sawdust sighed, and used his magic to levitate a few steel pipes from a nearby pile into the air. “Well, it seems you insist on interrupting our beautiful wedding ceremony. So…I guess the only logical course of action is to kill you both!” Trixie flinched at this, and watched in horror as Applejack and Rainbow Dash charged forward, attempting to subdue Sawdust. There was no question now. This stallion was insane. And worse than that; he was powerful. He was armed with dangerous magical and athletic abilities. Trixie knew that he meant it when he said that he would kill them, and despite how strong Applejack and Rainbow Dash were, Trixie couldn’t help but feel that they were no match for this Unicorn. Not wanting to see her friends be killed because of her, she did the only thing that she could do. She had to convince them to leave her behind. It was the only way they would survive. “No! Don’t!” She shouted, emerging from her hiding place. “Just run! Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine!” Kaito Stallion neared the edge of the museum rooftop, and slowly took a look down. It was quite a drop down. Even if he somehow defied the laws of physics and survived, he wouldn’t be able to get away from the guards that were waiting for him down below. Flying was out of the question with the Princess flying about in the sky. “Well, this sucks. Didn’t get the amethysts, and now it looks like I’m gonna get caught…” He turned around to see a purple Unicorn running up to him, stopping just a short distance away. This was the talented Unicorn that set up the trap for him inside, forcing him to retreat to the rooftop. Now, he was surrounded. On one side, this Unicorn whose magic he couldn’t cancel, since he didn’t have enough information on her. On the other side, the Princess of the Sun. No way he could get out of this situation. “Give up, Kaito Stallion!” Celestia shouted, lowering down the near the phantom thief. “There’s nowhere to run or fly to now. Just turn yourself in.” Shining Armour walked up besides Twilight, grinning at Kaito Stallion, holding back to the urge to gloat over Kaito Stallion’s defeat. “Indeed. With the Princess on one side, and my sis on the other-” “NO!” Celestia shouted, but it was too late. Shining Armour realised his mistake, and charged towards Kaito Stallion before it was too late. “Thanks, Shiny!” Kaito Stallion said as he teleported past Shining Armour. He charged towards Twilight, who was preparing a holding spell. Just as she cast it towards Kaito Stallion, he used his own magic to cancel out the spell, and galloped past Twilight Sparkle. “Now that I know you’re related, it’s easy for me to cancel out your magic!” He explained, running over to the other side of the rooftop, and jumping off. “Not good!” Celestia flew over to where Kaito Stallion had jumped, but was too late. He was already flying away, in three different directions. He was using an illusion to try and distract her, but if she focused her magic on each one, she could identify which one was the real one. “Left one…Fake. Middle one…Fake. Which means…” She used her magic to teleport the right one to her, but suddenly realised her mistake when the spell had no effect. “Oh no!” All three images of Katio Stallion disappeared. They were all illusion, made to cover his escape on the ground. A series of fireworks shot up into the sky, which exploded in sequence, writing out a message in the night sky. The message read: “I may have failed tonight. But rest assured, Princess Celestia. On my honour as a phantom thief, I shall return one day, to claim the beautiful treasure of the Royal Family.” Shining Armour stamped the ground, mumbling under his breath how it was all his fault that Kaito Stallion had managed to escape. Twilight tried to comfort him, but was interrupted by Fluttershy’s sudden appearance behind him. “Twilight!” She jumped onto the rooftop, being followed by two Pegasus guards. “At ease, stallions!” The guards stopped, turning to face Shining Armour. “She has permission to be up here! Go search for Katio Stallion! He can’t have gotten too far!” The guards saluted, and flew off in different directions. Fluttershy took a moment to catch her breath, not used to flying so fast. Twilight approached her to ask why she was here. “Fluttershy, what’re you doing here? This area is restricted to civilians.” “Twilight…Trixie is…In danger…” She managed to say in between pants. Twilight’s eyes widened at this news, and se let Fluttershy continue. “Hurry…Applejack and…Rainbow Dash…” She couldn’t talk anymore. She was simply too out of breath. She slowly pointed her hoof in the direction that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had run off in, and Twilight seemed to get the message. Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash was knocked to the floor by a levitating steel pipe. They were now in the same boat. Both were on the floor, blood pouring from their heads, barely staying conscious. Sawdust turned away from the two distractions, leaving them to die slowly on the floor, and made his way towards Trixie, who was shivering in a corner, looking for a way to escape. She tried to run over to a nearby staircase that led up to the catwalk above them, but was held in place by Sawdust’s magic. “Come now, Trixie. Why do you keep delaying the inevitable? The two of us are destined to be together, and you know it.” Despite her resistance, Trixie was pulled close to Sawdust, who wrapped his front hooves around her. “You know you love me, Trixie. Just admit it already, and we can begin our new life together.” Trixie tried to push him away from her, but he was too strong. “No…I…I don’t love you…” She, feeling another headache start to come around. “I…I did love somepony…” She said, wondering why her memories were returning at a time like this. “Yeah, me!” Sawdust insisted, brining Trixie’s lips closer to his. “I’m the one you love, Trixie. And don’t you forget it.” Trixie could only stare in horror as Sawdust moved in to kiss Trixie on the lips. Suddenly, an image passed through her mind. She couldn’t quite make out what it was, but it appeared to be a small Unicorn…A filly. Trixie was sure that it was a small Unicorn filly. She closed her eyes, and screamed at the top of her lungs as magic began to erupt from her horn, engulfing the room in a very bright blue light, and forcing her and Sawdust apart. Sawdust watched Trixie’s magic display go on for about a minute, before it started to fade away. When it was finally over, he got up, and started walking over to the mare. Trixie also stood up, and stared at Sawdust, her legs trembling from both fear and exhaustion. “I don’t remember who I loved, but I know this. I swore my heart to them, and it wasn’t you!” She said, causing Sawdust to stop in his tracks. “I don’t care what you say or do. I will never love you. Trixie’s heart belongs to only one pony!” She said, feeling like, for a second, she had reverted back to her old self. But there were still many things that she couldn’t remember. Sawdust studied the look in Trixie’s eyes. Strong. Confident. Determined. Resolved. They were good eyes. They showed Trixie’s strength well. But, for Sawdust, it was unfortunate. It meant that, now, he had no hope of breaking. He’s seen those kinds of eyes before. And he hated them. He couldn’t bend somepony to his will if they wore eyes like those. And, if he couldn’t control somepony the way he wanted, there was only one thing he felt he could do. “It’s a shame, Trixie…” He used his magic to levitate a nearby steel pipe, which was covered in blood from either Rainbow Dash or Applejack, and brought it near to him. “I really did love you…But if you say you’ll never love me…” He removed his shades and tossed them aside. Trixie could now see his eyes clearly. They were…Empty. There was no emotion in them. Absolutely nothing. This caused Trixie to freeze up yet again. Unlike earlier, where she was scared of the total lack of sanity coming from this pony, now she was completely terrified of the total lack of emotion coming from him. “THEN I’LL KILL YOU, SO THAT NOPONY ELSE CAN HAVE YOU!” He shouted, his eyes now showing some emotion. Well, just one. Hatred. Pure hatred, with no other sign of any emotion alongside it. He charged at the still frozen Trixie. She managed to snap out of her panicked state, and used her newly awakened magic to levitate another steel pipe up to defend herself. Unfortunately, she was too slow, and she wasn’t going to make it in time. Before Sawdust could complete his assault a beam of dark blue energy landed between the two ponies, stopping his assault, and causing him to look towards the beam’s origin. He saw the same cloaked pony from earlier looking down at him from the catwalk above them. “You again!? Who the hell are you!?” The cloaked pony looked towards the entrance, and then teleported out of sight. “HEY!” Sawdust shouted out, running toward the centre of the warehouse, and looking around for the meddlesome pony. “SHOW YOURSELF! I’LL FREAKIN’ KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME!?” “You’ll be killing nopony today!” The new voice startled Sawdust, who turned towards Trixie to see a large white Alicorn guarding her, staring down at the crazy stallion with an angry look in her eyes. “Drop your weapon! Now!” Sawdust looked at the entrance to see three guards, one of which was wearing Captain class armour, cutting off his escape. He looked behind him to see two Unicorns, both dressed in medical attire, tending to the wounds on Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s heads. He was completely surrounded. He had only one hope of escape…It was risky, but if he was going to get away, it was all he could do. Without hesitation, he used his magic to raise as many objects as possible, and sling them towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash, before galloping towards the entrance to the warehouse. As expected, Princess Celestia and the Captain, Shining Armour, used their magic to protect the injured mares. This gave Sawdust an opening to use his teleportation spell and get past the guards. However, once he was outside, he was immediately slugged in the face by a hoof from a pony that he hadn’t seen. He fell to the ground, but managed to recover fairly quickly, and he took a good look at his assailant. It was a purple Unicorn, with a striped mane and tail. “Who the hell are you!?” “Twilight Sparkle!” She shouted, charging towards Sawdust and pining him down, using her magic to suppress his horn’s ability to use magic. “And that was for my friends! Don’t you EVER hurt my friends! Got that!?” Sawdust watched as the three guards from earlier ran up to him, cursing out loud as he realised that it was over for him. At least, until he noticed a few cans of gasoline sitting next to the warehouse in the distance. A grin returned to his face, and when Twilight moved off of him to allow her brother to arrest him, he used his magic to explode the gasoline cans, creating a huge explosion that caught the attention of everypony around. By the time everypony had turned back to Sawdust, it was too late. They watched as he charged towards a nearby chariot, and hijacked it using his magic. “Guards, after him!” Celestia, shouted, carrying an exhausted Trixie on her back and setting her outside. “Hurry!” Shining Armour and his stallions wasted no time in pursuing the escaping fugitive. Celestia would have followed, but the earlier explosion had set the warehouse on fire. She had to stay behind to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash out of the warehouse, and douse the fire, before it spread to any nearby buildings. She told Twilight to move her friends a safe distance away, in case there was any more gasoline containers nearby that could explode from the fire. Twilight and her friends had been invited to stay in the Palace for the night. Celestia felt it safer for them to be there, in case Sawdust were to return. Later that night, news reached the group that Sawdust had lost control of his chariot, and fell off a cliff. They were still searching for his body, which had probably washed downstream, but they were certain that he was dead, since they saw him fall with the chariot. Trixie remained silent for the whole night, with Twilight staying by her side, trying her best to cheer her up. Trixie appreciated her friend’s efforts, and actually asked Twilight to stay by her side, not wanting to be alone right now. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both resting up in the infirmary, with Rarity and Fluttershy watching over them. Pinkie Pie and Spike were moving everyone’s belongings from the hotel to the Palace, since they would be staying there for the night, and were planning to leave early the following morning. Twilight fell asleep before Trixie, and Trixie just watched as Twilight slept peacefully next to her, not letting go of Twilight’s leg. She was feeling so tired, but she didn’t want to fall asleep. She was afraid that if she did, she would have another nightmare. Of her past. Or of losing Twilight, and the rest of her friends. Despite her best efforts, she still fell into a deep sleep, he head resting on Twilight’s shoulder, and her hooves wrapped around Twilight’s leg. Fortunately, it seems the gods were smiling on Trixie tonight. She was able to get a nice, peaceful sleep, in spite of the night’s events. Black Cat stood at the top of the hill where Sawdust had fallen down. He stared down at the ground below, and sighed. “That fool. I warned him to be careful around my daughter…Well, it seems in this case, it was her friends he had to watch out for…” He began to walk away from the site, using his magic to remain invisible to the nearby guards. “Amnesia, huh? Maybe I should visit Ponyville tomorrow…Just in case.”