//------------------------------// // Voodeedoo // Story: The View Over Atlantis // by Zobeid //------------------------------// Trixie peered out the window of the studio to watch Twilight Sparkle’s air car lift off. She was already feeling sick to her stomach and mentally chewing herself out. “Why, why did I have to say that? Why couldn’t I have just let them go and draw their own conclusions?” But it was done, and there was no taking it back. Outside, the gaggle of news reporters began to bring in their drones and collect their other gear and disperse. Certain she’d get no more work done, Trixie returned to her quarters and flopped on the bed. She wondered, “What is wrong with me? Do I just make awful decisions when I’m under pressure?” There was no good answer for that, so she groped with her magic for the remote and switched on the television. She avoided the news, switching instead to the cartoon channel for some mindless, silly entertainment, or so she hoped. However, even the cartoon shows and commercials were including more and more ponies — trying to “normalize” conversion, doing their part to mentally prepare the population for the inevitable. Trixie sighed and shut off the screen. She lay there in languid melancholy, she didn’t know for how long, but eventually even sulking got old. She wandered back to the office and found a set of earbuds, plugged them into her phone and her ears, and dialed up some of the music Moondancer had shared with her. With her magic she reached to the bookshelf and pulled out Letters from the Devil’s Forest, opened the volume and began to read. Trixie’s sleep was uneasy and fitful, punctuated by disturbing, incoherent dreams. In the morning, though, she was cheered considerably after she received a message that Moondancer would return in the afternoon, and that Ivan would also be visiting Castlerigg again for a couple of days to make sure all the finishing touches on the site were up to his standard. Later, as lunchtime neared, she received a phone call. As she went through the motions of answering, she was startled for a moment to see it was from Katrina. She had no time to contemplate, though. “Ahoy… uhh, I mean hello!” she spoke to the phone. Katrina’s voice responded, “Trixie, I hope you are well and I am not interrupting anything important. Your meeting with Twilight Sparkle yesterday made the news, and I was wondering if I could hear a report from you on the subject?” Trixie’s ears drooped, and she gave silent thanks that this call was voice-only. She took a breath to collect herself and then replied, “Trixie allowed Her Excellency Twilight Sparkle and her associates a brief look into our office here, where our research material and maps are kept. Then she guided them to the stone circle itself, where they performed some basic scrying.” There was a tone of skepticism in Katrina’s next words, “Is that all that happened? Rumors have come back to me that you and Twilight Sparkle experienced some… friction.” Trixie bit her lip, then said, “Shouldn’t I submit my report to Lord Peter? I mean, he is actually my employer.” “I’m sure he would be pleased to receive anything you wish to send him,” Katrina replied. “However, this is a matter of the highest interest, and I felt compelled to ask you directly rather than hear about it second-hand.” Trixie gulped. “Well, uh… I’ll admit that I didn’t see entirely eye-to-eye with Twilight on everything. But I don’t really want to repeat our conversation. It’s better left behind, unless… What has she said about it?” “She has also declined to elaborate upon her disagreements with you. However, the news has been showing video of your interactions, and the unhappiness with which you parted was readily apparent.” “Well, there you have it.” Katrina said, “It is disappointing. However, if both of you believe the conversation should be kept confidential, then I suppose I must accede”O to that.” Trixie quietly sighed relief. “Thank you! I’m sorry I couldn’t satisfy your, uh… curiosity.” She wondered if Earth also had a saying about curiosity and cats? “Since I have you on the line, might I inquire about your studies of the ley lines?” “I haven’t made any breakthroughs, I’m afraid. Moondancer will be back soon, though, and I’m sure we’ll both do better when we can bounce ideas off one another. I’ve been reading some of her spell books here.” “Wiccan spell books? And what is your opinion of them, if I might ask?” “Madness!” was what she thought to herself, but what she said out loud was, “They contain a lot of lore that’s hard for me to interpret, but I find them interesting anyhow.” “Wiccan magic is only one tradition among many, and very different from that of our Kemetic faith. If you fail to find what you seek among Moondancer’s books, I am sure Lord Peter can provide others with fresh viewpoints and ideas.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” Trixie agreed. “On that note, I shall let you return to your work. Ankh udjat seneb, Trixie!” “What does that mean?” “It means: live long, be safe and well.” “Ah. Likewise to you, Katrina!” Then the connection was closed. Out of morbid curiosity Trixie turned to the TV news and the various talking heads — human and pony alike — speculating about her dispute with Twilight Sparkle. To her relief, none who were actually party to the conversation seemed to have let it slip. Still feeling in a funk over the whole incident, Trixie returned to the office, but she merely ended up making more zen doodles on the maps. Late in the afternoon Ivan and Moondancer arrived, separately. Having always been a loner in her travels around Equestria, Trixie was surprised at how relieved she felt upon seeing them again, and how they lifted her mood. They went to Keswick for supper together and each shared their experiences of the last several days. Trixie gave a carefully edited version of her encounter with Twilight, Moondancer spoke animatedly about the confab with her Wiccan peers, and Ivan summarized the discussions that were becoming heated with regard to possible action on Stonehenge and Avebury. He explained, “It’s amazing how quickly attitudes have shifted. Our project seems to have quite captured the public imagination.” He also told them, with a wink and a grin, that he had a surprise for them, but he wanted to wait until morning when everyone was rested before springing it. Trixie slept better that night. The next day, after breakfast, they gathered in the office. Ivan cleared off a space on the table, opened up his portable computer, and called up a map of the area between Castlerigg and Swinside. Then he took a paper map out of his briefcase and unfolded it on the table next to the computer. “A few days ago I received this, and I found the markings intriguing. So, I dispatched some volunteers to survey the spots that had been marked on it, here and here and here.” He pointed. Trixie’s eyes went wide as she recognized the map she’d doodled on. “Where did you get that map?” she blurted. Ivan glanced to her. “It’s yours isn’t it? Did you not intend for your assistants to pass it on to me?” “I… I didn’t know they were going to. It was just a little experiment.” She thought it had gone into the trash bin, in fact. “Well, it’s a good thing they did!” He pointed again. “Here, where you marked this triangle, we found what appears to be remnants of a dolmen that nobody had ever recognized before. And over here we found the foundation of an old stone building. Our volunteers asked around, and the local lore indicates it was an old church. You remember, the early Christians sometimes tore down neolithic structures and built their churches over the spot.” Trixie blinked. “That’s, uh… interesting…” Moondancer countered, “That’s more than interesting, that’s amazing.” Ivan looked to the little blue unicorn and smiled broadly as he told her, “Congratulations, Trixie! You’ve looked at an incomplete ley line on a map and calculated where the missing pieces belong. This could be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.” Trixie’s mouth hung open, as she found herself at a loss for words, but Moondancer had no such difficulty and hugged the little pony’s neck. “That’s fantastic, Trixie!” she gushed. Ivan grinned as he reached over for some other maps nearby and picked them up. “I see you’ve been working on more of these,” he observed. “So, what’s the trick? How did you come up with these locations? And what do all these other lines and markings mean?” Trixie’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, and she stammered, “I can’t… I can’t explain that to you.” Smiles faded, and the two humans glanced at one another. “Why not?” Moondancer asked, gently. “It’s… voodeedoo!” There was silence for just a moment. Then Moondancer asked, “You mean voodoo?” Trixie shrugged. “Uh, maybe? During my travels I once spent some time with a zebra witch doctor. She taught me some of their secret magic. I’d forgotten about it for a long time, but then I realized it might be possible to apply those ideas to our problem.” “She taught you voodoo?” “Voodeedoo,” Trixie corrected. “And you can’t explain it to us?” “I can’t! She cast a geas on me, so I’m never able to reveal the secrets to anyone.” Ivan mused, “Geas? Isn’t that something from Irish folklore? That’s not voodoo.” “Voodeedoo.” Moondancer placed a comforting hand on Trixie’s mane and wondered, “Can’t we find some way to break the geas?” Trixie shook her head. “Nnnno… No, I don’t think so, it’s a very powerful spell. Very dangerous to try and break. And besides… I’m still not sure I really have this figured out anyhow. I need more time to work on it.” Ivan looked over the maps in his hand, then waved them and said, “Mind if I take these? Even if you can’t tell us exactly how you made them, maybe we can analyze them and work it out. I can send out teams to dig around more the spots you’ve marked, too.” “Sure, go ahead,” Trixie agreed.