Trixie grumbled to herself as she walked along the bleak moonscape. A quick glance to her left showed nothing but barren landscape and rocks; and to her right, more of the same. She had been up here for a few days now, but everything about her current situation still felt surreal. If Trixie had been the only one around, she suspected she would have spent the entire time curled up waiting for this nightmare to end. But thanks to a certain small Alicorn, she didn’t have that luxury.
Behind her, though only a scant inch or two away, was Luna, still doggedly being a bother.
She bit back the urge to yell as she felt Luna prod her for the hundredth time with the tip of one wing. Trixie was no longer sure if they were just for Luna to confirm that Trixie was real, for a sense of comfort, or in the hopes that Trixie would once again lose her temper and pounce on her.
I get it, she’s been alone for a long, long time, but this is really getting annoying.
Poke.
Trixie didn’t like to think of herself as a violent mare, and she didn’t take much pleasure in hurting other ponies. Humiliating? Yes. Taking down heckler’s in front of a crowd was one thing, but slamming her hoof into a mare desperate for any type of attention, good or bad, was another.
Poke.
And yet Trixie was very tempted to do just that. The only reason she was on this ‘nature walk’ was to keep Luna from smothering her. She could remember only a few minutes here and there so far where Luna had given Trixie some space. She understood why Luna was like this, but-
Not that Trixie isn’t affectionate, she thought, sighing at the feeling of Luna briefly touching her side again. This just isn’t her definition of the time or place for it.
Shaking her head, Trixie looked back at her aggravating companion. Luna’s eyes were stuck firmly to Trixie’s tail while she was, once again, lowering a wing to prod at it. “Ahem.”
Luna quickly looked up and gave a awkward smile before replying. “Yes, Trixie? Is thou tired, perhaps?”
“No,” she rolled her eyes at Luna’s obvious disappointment. “And I don’t suppose when I am that you would let me rest on my own for once?”
Luna shook her head. “No, we will not. But did thee really expect any other answer?”
“...I suppose not.” Trixie hummed to herself for a second, thinking. “So, what’s it like to be an Alicorn?”
“What’s it like to be a unicorn?” Luna countered.
“You know what Trixie means!” She grumbled out, slapping Luna’s wing away with her tail after feeling it brush along her flank. “The banquets, the subjects, the whole ‘Ruler of the night’ thing?”
Luna huffed and trotted a bit faster in agitation as fleeting memories burst in and out of her mind. “It was...fulfilling, but thankless work.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow as a moment went by and Luna said nothing else. “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“Hmph, I wonder if Princess Celestia feels the same.”
For a brief second, Luna’s scowled before returning to a neutral expression. “We highly doubt that. Now, is there not a better subject we could be speaking of?”
So much for that, I suppose asking her about Nightmare would just get her more upset as well. “Fine. In that case, would you mind explaining something to Trixie that has had her slightly concerned since she arrived here?”
“Of course.”
“How are we alive?”
“Magic.”
Trixie gave Luna a deadpan look. “Could you explain a bit more? There’s no food, no water, I should be desperate by now, but the worst Trixie has is a dry mouth. Why?”
Luna hummed to herself a little as she caught up a bit to Trixie and placed a wing around her while she thought.
“To make it simple, our magic is enough to sustain ourselves, and unless we became completely exhausted, it is more than enough to share with another. It keeps us alive without the need for outside assistance. At the same time, some functions are not...viable without sustenance beyond magic.”
Trixie nodded as she tried and failed to move out from under Luna’s wing. “I see. Would that explain why Trixie hasn’t, umm, needed the facilities for some time?”
“The what? Do thou mean a cafeteria? We just explained-”
“No, no” Trixie stopped walking and waved one hoof in the air in small circles. “You know, what did they call it from...whenever you were from? A mare’s business?”
Luna looked at her in confusion before nuzzling into Trixie’s hair. “Still nothing.”
Trixie gave out a low growl and used her magic and hooves to forcefully push Luna away. “The bathroom!”
Luna pushed back against Trixie’s hooves on her chest as she replied. “Oh! Yes, that is one thing thou does not have to worry about in this state of being. The same can be said of trying to throw up or trying to bear a child. Magic has some rather strange limits without anything physical to manipulate.”
Trixie gave one last push and quickly jumped backwards as Luna unceremoniously fell to the ground. With a snort, Trixie turned around and started walking again. “Well, Trixie supposes she can live without those for a time. So what role does Trixie’s magic play in this?”
After a few coughs to clear the dust from her throat, Luna calmly stood back up and went to a trot to catch up to her companion. “None, right now we are lightly connected through our own magic to sustain thee, but we do not recommend thou getting too far from us.”
Trixie gave a nervous laugh and brushed some dust off of her cloak to cover her agitation. “Wait, what do you mean nothing? And just how lightly connected?”
Luna clicked her tongue. “Well, while we mean no offense, thine magic is not...diverse enough, or available in a supply we would need to convert it to be able to sustain thine self. As for the connection, thou should be able to see for thine self.”
Trixie didn’t need Luna to elaborate anymore and paused mid step, her horn glowing a soft magenta as she felt over herself with her magic for anything different. A stronger unicorn would infuse their eyes with magic to see any patterns or runes near them, but Trixie had to settle with touch.
“You’re kidding me…” She growled out as her magic tendrils felt over the string-thin line of magic linking her to Luna. The knot of spells Luna had constructed around Trixie’s flanks were crude, hasty, and archaic if her few lessons in magic history had anything to say about it. It was akin to a pony communicating with a string and two cans, only these cans and string were all that was keeping her alive.
“What does thou think?” Luna said directly into one of Trixie’s ears before starting to gently chew on it.
Trixie gave a annoyed growl. “You are keeping Trixie, beloved by untold numbers in Equestria, safe with what is akin to a stick hut in the middle of a hurricane!! And stop that!” Trixie’s ears pressed against her skull to avoid Luna’s roaming mouth.
Unseen, Luna simply shrugged and nosed through Trixie’s mane. Part of her was concentrating on what Trixie said, while the other was thinking on how to preserve the smell of Trixie’s already fading perfume. "We admit to being a little panicked at the time. It tis not as if we have needed to practice spells like that in centuries. What more would thee have us do?”
Trixie sat down and gave out a grumbling protest. Her eyes caught onto a star brighter than the others, or at least to her own eyes. “Could you perhaps try a little harder? Trixie’s life is worth more than a spell matrix that could be destroyed by a light breeze.”
Luna took one more deep breath before taking her muzzle out of Trixie’s hair, replacing it with a hoof that gently rubbed Trixie’s shoulder. “Art thou sure? We would need to practice some and it would be more,” Luna looked away, Trixie could swear she blushed for a second, but it was gone almost as fast as Trixie saw it. “invasive than what we have already done.”
Trixie felt heat in her cheek as she wiped the first several thoughts of what Luna may have meant from her mind. “This...wouldn’t involve anything more physical, would it?”
Luna shook her head. “No, what I remember of this involves nothing more in a physical sense. Though I will point out one potential problem if we went down this road.”
Luna’s horn glowed brightly. A lance of light shot up into the dark void above them. However, much to Trixie’s surprise, the beam dispersed after a few short yards above Luna’s head.
“Until my imprisonment is removed, thou would not be able to use thine magic to lift thine self higher than this off of the moon. If we wrap thee in our magic in a stronger manner than we have already, and thou did such a thing, the magics entrapping us here will unravel it. Thou should also know that this would mean thou will likely fully share our banishment.”
Trixie huffed and stood up, knocking Luna’s hoof away and starting to walk in the direction of the odd looking star. “Is Trixie not already doing that?”
Luna moved next to Trixie again and shook her head. “Nay, thine travel here is likely more a unique ritual than an actual banishment. But, whatever holds us here may view thee as our self after this, and in turn keep thou here, regardless of any efforts your friends may be making to save thou at this moment.”
Trixie had a stricken look for a second, before lapsing into silence. She continued to walk on with Luna eventually going back to poking at Trixie’s tail. After an hour or so, Trixie spoke up again.
“Trixie would...rather not take the risk of you getting knocked out, or deciding she is not real again and being able to easily sever the link keeping her alive randomly. She would like you to work on that spell more. If it does make it harder for Trixie’s...friends to find her, it’s fine.”
Luna smiled happily at Trixie’s words, her mind going over spell structures half imagined and half taught from long, long ago. With the right adjustments, she wouldn’t have to be alone ever again.
A younger part of her would have reconsidered her current ideas, but that part of Luna, along with any potential guilt at these plans had died out long, long ago.