//------------------------------//
// And Choose to Alter Fate 
// Story: Trickles 2 - Memory Sound 
// by Glen Gorewood 
//------------------------------//

Zecora sees the terror from six nights past as it enters the clearing.  She senses the hunger, the desire, the malice that it exudes.  She spies Twilight Sparkle, her friend, reaching a hoof towards her, with her head turned towards the Trickles as they move towards the gate.  Towards Zecora.  And they will devour and assimilate anything in their path to get her.

Zecora, the zebra shaman who hails from Zebrica; whose mother knew of the terror these Trickles posed.  Who has lived her life aiding others as best she can with her own knowledge, while learning ever more with time.  This young Zebra mare who lived in the Everfree, and has friends who still need her; makes her decision there in the Wayside beneath the massive moon.

She quickly lowers her muzzle to the bowl, within which the crystal colored essence of a long gone Fey shifts and curls.  Not closing her eyes, but instead facing the fearsome reflection that gets closer by the second she stares at her own future; and defies that fate.  As her muzzle enters the liquid and she begins to drink, the vile reflection shrieks.  Before her eyes, as she downs the shattered soul of the opposite of those once bound to her; that horrific visage twists and screams.  Then, it bursts.  

And from within she sees something new.  A luminescent moon pearl colored being, whose surface ripples not with malice but serenity.  It has her stripes, but misty grey eyes that shine from within.  Her golden adornments mirrored by it, but in crystal not gold.  And in her mind, Zecora hears a voice ancient and calm, an echo of something long gone.

“Reflect the Memory, Resound the Sound of Mind.  Stare into the Darkness, and Force it to Face Itself.”

And with that, the reflection fades away with a ripple on the crystal liquid’s surface.  Zecora knows what she must do.  Lifting her muzzle free from the bowl, she turns to face the fiendish Fey that stole her original fate.  As she walks down the branch made archway path.
As she passes, Luna stares at her.  For though Zecora does not see it, she has changed.  

As she passes Twilight, the mare lowers her hoof.
And as she walks forward, the tide of Trickles turns into a tidal wave.

The rushing sound of water, the rage of a typhoon, the fey of malice and memory rears up.  Yet as it threatens to wash over ever pony present, dooming them to agony for all eternity; Zecora stops walking.

Then she looks up, to the crest of the wave.  And opens her eyes.  For the entire time she walked, she had kept them closed.  Beneath the eyelids are now crystalline mirrors, formed of the same liquid that she had imbibed.  The same liquid that now courses through her veins, the curse that will save them all.  Finally, she speaks.
“Who are you, remember you not.  Wake up from within, that prison of liquid rot.”

The tidal wave shivers.  
The Trickles freeze.  
And then they start to scream. 

A chorus of a thousand thousand voices echoes freely from the wave that grows in size and height. Thousands upon thousands of souls worth of memories come crashing down within the hive mind.  Pain, agony, hurt, death, everything inflicted becomes known to them, it,  all at once.  Shrieking an unearthly sound, they rush towards the Fey Gate.  As the river roars forward, some pieces fall free and cry out in agony before freezing in place.

Zecora dodges out of the way of the anguished fell tide of Trickles as it roars past like a freight train.

Luna acts quickly, and grabs Twilight before soaring into the skies above as the malevolent mass flows forward and into the gate.  From above, they can see the faces and forms of the victims blended together and screaming in the dark blue viscous surface.  The most recent are more prominent than those long gone, and Twilight swears she recognizes the stallion that applied for a job last week among them.  

However, she does not have time to double check for within seconds the Trickles have fled through the Fey Gate and to the other side.  Save a few remnants frozen forever where they fell, nothing remains to prove that the abomination ever existed.  Nothing remains but the fear and knowledge, nothing remains but the memory.


As Luna lands upon the grass within the clearing, she places Twilight down gently.  Zecora stands to the side, her fur now a luminescent pearl with obsidian grey stripes.  Her golden rings now crystal, and her eyes now calmed to a misty grey.  As she turns to Twilight and Luna, she smiles her usual smile.

The lavender mare on the other hand, starts to panic.
“Is it over?  Are they gone?  Will I be doomed since I remember them?”
Twilight asks in quick succession.

Zecora shakes her head then speaks.
“I am free and so are you, memory will not spell our doom.  The Trickles have gone beyond the gate, and I it seems have quite changed.”

Twilight chuckles, then laughs, then smiles before running up to hug her friend in euphoric relief.  Noticing how her body is no longer furry, bit more like a smooth pearl she chuckles.  “You haven’t changes that much.  Besides, you’re safe.  That’s all that matters.  Not like...”

The lavender mare looks at her own reflection in her friend’s form, then letting go of her she wipes a tear from her eye.  “Not like Spike...”

Zecora puts a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Do not worry or despair, there is a chance he still out there.”  She says, only half believing it herself.

Twilight sniffles before responding.
“A chance...that’s all I have.. a chance of seeing him again.”

Luna walks up to the two mares, tapping the, both with one wing.  To Zecora, the now Pesudo Fey Zebra, she smiles. “It seems your fate is written anew, We are most happy for you.”
Then looking at Twilight she sighs.  “We will not lie to you, the chance is slim, it is very likely Spike is one of them.  Yet a slim chance there is for you see, there are more fey to fear indeed.”

Lighting her horn, the princess of the moon casts her aura upon both of her friends.
“But for now, let us return to Ponyville.  We must ensure the evacuation went smoothly, and you two must comfort your friends.”

As the light of the group teleport activates, unseen by the other two mares, Luna glares out at the boundary of the forest.  And as the trademark pop takes them from the Wayside, a chittering giggle can be heard echoing from that very spot.  Soon, more giggles and chitters join it, and a cacophony of fey begins to resound.