//------------------------------// // Trixie's Misfortune and Hope on the Horizon // Story: The Unlikley Sanctuary // by Tie RoamingHooves //------------------------------// I wrote and read this chapter to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSFvbAiwJxU&feature=player_detailpage (it may make the reading easier) Trixie was in laying on a bed of leaves in the cave which she had called home for two months as a wolf howled in the distance not making it any easier for her to sleep. She usually cried herself to sleep but tonight was an exception. She had a run in with a wolf earlier and was lucky to be alive. The howls didn't make sleep an option tonight. Trixie just lied there trembling as the cold wind blew around inside the cave. She decided to get up since she wasn't going to be sleeping tonight. She walked to the mouth of the mouth of the cave and sat staring up at the moon. "What have I become?" she said sorrowfully to the moon. She looked back into her memories after she left Ponyville. Trixie had hit hard times after she left Ponyville. The stage that the Ursa Minor had destroyed had doubled as her home and had all her possessions inside. After she left from Ponyville she had nothing, not even the cape and hat her mother and father gave her when she learned her special talent. She went from town to town only to find she wouldn't receive much charity from anypony like she used to under the name of "The Great and Powerful Trixie". She was even forced to have to find nourishment from the lowest form of food; grass. Without her cape or stage she was nothing but another homeless pony. One day the mare had wandered into Canterlot during the Royal Wedding. When the changelings attacked she ran for her life as powerful magic bolts rained down upon the city. She ran inside a building in to hide from the swarm. She hid there for ten brutally slow minutes hearing the screams of the ponies outside unlucky enough to be caught by changelings. Suddenly a magic bolt had blew out the front of the building and left a gaping hole in it effectively ruining her hiding spot. Three changelings flew in through the front of the building while Trixie ran further into the building trying desperately to find an exit. She got to the end of the hallway to find a door. She quickly ran out and ran through the ally with the three changelings gave chase. She stopped to find her path was blocked by three more. Trixie could only watch as tears rolled down her face while the changelings inched closer. "This is the end" she thought to herself. She closed her eyes awaiting her fate when she heard the confused shriek of a changeling. She opened her eyes to see a purple wave of light coming out of the castle. It came through the ally and knocked the changelings away. For a brief moment she thought she was safe, but that thought was short lived as one of the changelings smacked into her and sent her skyward. She flew through the air screaming the whole way. "This is the end" she again thought to herself. She fell from the mountain city of Canterlot into the Forests of Everfree. She closed her eyes waiting for the end to come. She waited and was rewarded with a lack of oxygen as she fell into a lake. She quickly swam up and surfaced and gasped for air. She dragged her self to shore and lied on her back in the grass coughing up a lungfull of water. She looked up to the sky. She needed to get back to civilization as quickly as she could because she wouldn't last in the wilderness. She was disoriented during her flight over so she had no idea where she came from. She decided anywhere was better than here so she started walking. She continued walking as minutes turned to hours and hours turned to days. On day two of her walk she had found no source of water so she decided to go back to where she came from. She again walked for a day or two but unfortunately she never found the lake. It was cloudy on day number four. Trixie had long since collapsed from dehydration and lied on her side unable to go any further. She looked up at the overcast afternoon sky. The clouds moving on there own was no longer bothering her due to her current situation. She was watching the clouds go by but felt herself losing consciousness. Just before slipping under, she felt something, something wet. Rain. It had started to rain. Quickly she turned her head to the sky and opened her mouth genuinely thankful for a gift as simple as water. She drank as much as she could and when she got her fill she still lied there letting the water move through her body and help her regain her strength. With enough strength to get up she did so and trekked through the woods and in the rain. After an hour of walking she came a cross a cave and took shelter. She walked in, sat down, and let out a sigh of relief. She went further into the cave and saw a puddle. She looked into it and didn't recognize the pony that stared back from its reflection. Her mane once beautiful was now a mess with grass and various twigs a sticking out. Her coat had grown to a pale shade of the once magnificent blue that it had been in days prior. Her eyes were bloodshot and had lost the glimmer of light which gave everypony's eyes a sense of life. There was only two empty purple orbs staring back at her. She saw a tear roll down the reflections cheek realizing she wasn't the mare she used to be. Trixie's thoughts were interrupted when she saw smoke billowing over the moon in the horizon. It was a thick black column of smoke which meant it wasn't a forest fire. She'd seen two of those during her time in this cave. This was definitely different. Something artificial was burning which meant there were ponies. Trixie felt hope for the first time in two months. She knew this may be her only lead to civilization. She picked up two buckets full off water she made from hollowed out logs and tied a vine around them and strung her creation over her back much like a saddlebag and started her journey. She had her sight set on the hope on the horizon.