//------------------------------// // Wake Up, Wake Up, Get Yourself Straight // Story: J Is For Genius // by SoundOfImpact //------------------------------// Wake Up, Wake Up, Get Yourself Straight Give up sleeping beauty plans to hesitate, there's no time now for faux pas and circumstance. "So, it's revenge you seek?" The voice was smooth, yet oh so powerful and commanding. It had an indescribable presence, something about it had an inescapable enigmatic draw. There was a certain feeling of wrongness about it, but it was overpowered by the sheer authority it exuded. There was an unsure tone of disagreement in the ether, and the voice seemed to take notice. "Hmm, no, not revenge. Validation, perhaps?" There was a more agreeable aura to that, 'validation', a more pleasant ring to the whole thing. The voice apparently understood. "Yes, validation. You have something to prove, it seems. We can help." There was a sense of swirling, a sense of blueness. A feeling of being overtaken by something, an all encompassing power. It was good. "We can aid you in this venture, you may find us in the seat of power." Suddenly it all stopped. The feeling of power, the swirling, the blue. It disappeared, and it left wanting in it's place. "We shall be seeing you, Lulamoon." Trixie woke with a start, enough of a start fling herself from her hammock, landing quite ungracefully on top of the cauldron she'd stolen borrowed from Twilight. She'd had less painful mornings. She groaned, but didn't bother moving just yet, still kind of a little asleep. She must have slept weird. She had a funny feeling about something, but she didn't know what. Falling out of bed probably didn't help. She didn't know what time it was, but it was past sunrise if the light coming through the shutters was anything to go by. Trixie rubbed her head and righted herself, landing on her hooves in a clear spot of floor. With a shake of her head, Trixie nosed the door open to the great outdoors. It looked like a beautiful day, sun was shining, air heavy with bird calls. This was ruined when Trixie stepped outside, immediately setting hoof in a large, dirty puddle. The ground was still soggy and muddy from last night's rain, the soil totally logged. She frowned at her muddied hoof. It would not going to be a fun day to walk around the forest. And to make matters worse, Trixie didn't even have a shower to wash off with! It honestly made her wonder how she used to live like this, and it had only been one night. The sooner Trixie figured out a way to get back into town, the better. Trixie decided she would get started on that right after breakfast, it was the most important meal of the day, after all. After a brief inspection she had no doubt that the campfire from last night would be no good now, and the wet grass didn't really make for the best kindling. It seemed she'd be in for another cold meal. She'd managed to get away from the tower with all of Twilight's peanut butter, and at least half a loaf of bread. It wasn't quite toast, but it'd do. Clambering back inside the wagon, and making sure to try and clean her hooves, she squeezed her way to the sack she'd stuffed full of food. Food, she realised, but no utensils. This left her with an uncut half loaf of bread and most of a jar of peanut butter, with nothing to spread or cut with! As much of an Equestrian tragedy as this predicament was, she wasn't about to go smearing peanut butter on the bread with her hoof, especially not now that she'd stepped in mud. There had to be something she could do. Trixie wrestled with this particular issue for a few minutes before settling for tearing off chunks of bread and dipping them into the peanut butter jar. She decided to call it a 'lateral thinking sandwich'. Problem solving was one of Trixie's key strengths. Which nicely brought her back to the subject of solving the big problem: getting Twilight to let her back in. Not that she necessarily needed Twilight to let her back in, Trixie was sure that she'd do just fine on her own, probably better than fine, in fact! What would be nice, thought, would be the cudos she'd get as a Master Witch having trained under Twilight, that kind of status was worth it's weight in gold. Of course, Trixie already considered herself a master witch, but having the clout of the most powerful mage in the country couldn't hurt. She hummed in thought, chewing her breakfast. Surely there was something in the books she brought with her that she could use? She was sure that there would be a spell that Twilight hadn't covered in one of the books somewhere, if she could learn it and cast it on her own using her own methods, then there was no way Twilight could stay mad at her, it'd be proof that Trixie was right, and it'd perfectly demonstrate her greatness! A win-win-win situation! Trixie nodded to herself. It was a good plan, a plan so good that she didn't even need to stop eating to start work. Rummaging around with her magic, Trixie pulled out the first spell book she could find in the pile of crap she'd brought with her. Bastard Of Disguise: Illusion, Transformation, Transmogrification. It was certainly a colourful title. Still, Trixie thrived on illusions, so this seemed like a great place to start. Taking another bite of bread, she flicked through the book, skipping most of the introduction. All these spell books were the same, with very heavy, dense, boring intro sections. They could save so much time and paper if they just went straight to the spells, those were the only important bits anyway! It was easy to see when the wall of text gave way to the spells proper, mostly because the words stopped and runes started. Trixie glanced at the headers of each page for the spell names. They usually gave a pretty good idea of what the spell was meant to do. Scanning the headers, she came to one in particular that looked interesting. 'Alicorn Apparition: impress and amaze by appearing as one of the legendary Astral Sisters of the sun and moon.' What better way to show up an alicorn than by becoming an alicorn herself? Best of all, it was a spell she'd definitely not learned before. All she needed to do was pull it off without Twilight's help, get back into town, and rub it in Twilight's face about how wrong she was, and then everything would be back to normal! Trixie smiled as she finished off the last of the bread. This was perfect! Who would've thought that the first thing she found would have been such a good idea? She looked over the spell, noting several sections that looked unfamiliar. Though she loved illusion, Trixie had never attempted a full body transformation before. It looked like it was going to be a tricky one, even though it was only a temporary spell. Still, if anypony could do it, it'd be Trixie. The matrix seemed standard enough, even with runes she didn't recognise. Trixie figured it'd be safe enough to assume what the new runes signified, if she could work out the rest of the spell then surely it'd just be a game of filling in the blanks, right? The bits she did know seemed simple enough. A little perception manipulation here, a little image projection there, standard illusion stuff. It was the rest of it that would need some working out. I didn't help that there seemed to be two separate spells, one for the sun alicorn and one for the moon alicorn. Honestly, she'd be more enthralled if she could somehow make her own Trixie alicorn version. She smirked. Why couldn't she make her own Trixie version of the spell? There was nothing stopping her, Twilight wasn't here to reprimand here. Wouldn't that be the ultimate comeback for her? Trixie knew what she had to do. Trixie had the perception and projection down, but she'd need to work out how to bring everything all together in alicorn form. For one, she was going to need wings, or at the very least, to look like she had wings. Trixie used to have an illusion spell she'd use during her shows to make it look like birds were flying out of her hat. Birds had wings, which was close enough, so she decided to add that into the matrix. Twilight was undeniably a little taller than Trixie, which Trixie didn't resent at all because she was perfectly formed. She didn't think the old legends mentioned anything about the Astral Sister's heights, but it couldn't hurt to be taller anyway. Probably. A standard Embiggenment spell would likely do the trick. The last rune in the matrix was something or other regarding stars. Trixie figured if she was going to appear herself as an alicorn and not as one of the sisters, she could just ignore that part. Satisfied, Trixie lit up her horn and cast the matrix. Next stop, alicornhood! The was a pop, and a flash, and a tingle. And then nothing. Trixie was confused. She looked over herself, but she certainly didn't see any wings. She glanced at her mirror, only to find that she definitely didn't have any wings, nor did she look taller. That wasn't right, she should at least be able to see something! She cast the spell again, but still nothing. Frowning, she double checked all her guesstimations before casting the spell a third time. But again, nothing. There should have been some kind of result. Even if she was doing the spell wrong, something should be happening! She couldn't be casting blanks, she was young, great, and powerful! There had to have been some sort of effect. Trixie's hat fell off the hook. She looked at it just in time to witness the largest Parakeet head she'd ever seen poke out the bottom if it. She blinked. The bird ejected itself from her hat, flapping wildly. Then another. Then another. There seemed to be an endless stream of enormous Parakeets emerging from her hat! Trixie groaned. This is not what she wanted to happen at all! Though they might not have been real, the birds were certainly annoying, flapping and screeching, and generally just creating quite a scene. They were now taking up most of the free space in the cart, and Trixie wasn't in the mood to be dealing with it. She managed to trudge her way to the door and get herself outside, sighing as she watch the inside of her cart fill up with gigantic birds. She didn't have a counterspell for this, she'd never needed one before. And to make matters worse, the book was still inside, so she couldn't even try and make one up. Trixie looked back through the door, only to find a mass of feathers and plumage blocking her view. Even though the birds weren't real, searching through that pandemonium would be a fool's errand. She'd just have to wait this mess out. Trixie 'hmphd', indignant. This was pretty close to the worst possible thing. Now she was stuck outside, in the mud. Not only were her hooves getting dirty, but these birds were going to seriously eat into the time she could've have spent one-upping Twilight! And to make things even worse, she couldn't even wear her hat because it was the source of the problem! The unicorn frowned and slammed a forehoof down in annoyance. All this did was splash muddy water up her legs and barrel. She was not impressed. At least her cloak was still inside, so it didn't get dirty. Still, she felt kind of naked without her hat and cloak, she'd be happy when she could wear them again. Sooner rather than later, hopefully. This left Trixie at something of an impasse. She was now stuck outside with nothing to do. She was already bored. She blew a strand of her mane out of her face, thinking about what to do next. She looked at her dirty hooves. Maybe she could find a lake or a river to wash off in? It'd certainly be better than being muddy all day. It'd be something to do, at the very least. Maybe she could even go for a swim, if the water was deep enough! She perked her ears up to see if she could hear any running water anywhere, but the din from the Parakeets in the cart was drowning anything else out. Trixie was going to have to do some old fashioned exploring, it seemed. She slammed the door closed with her magic, making sure to lock it before setting off. Which way looked most likely to have water? She could go back and follow the path to see if it led to a lake anywhere. She didn't ever remember passing one, but it had been a while since she'd had to use the road into Ponyville, so she could be mistaken. It should be easy enough. She could just follow the path, and if she didn't find any water then she can just follow it back. How hard could it be? Head held high, Trixie came back around the front of the tree and back onto the path. There was no way anything could possibly go wrong. Trixie clung to the side of a tree trunk, breaths ragged and shallow. She was trying to make as little noise as she possibly could. She didn't even know how this happened! She was walking down the path minding her own business, at some point she'd had a disagreement with a Squirrel, things somehow went downhill from there and now here she was, deep in the heart of the forest hiding from an angry manticore! All she wanted was a lake to bathe in! How was she supposed to know that the fork in the path led straight into the manticore's cave?! What kind of idiot designed this road? The manticore was pretty pissed off, which resulted in Trixie being chased through the trees. She was now well and truly off the beaten path, she had no idea where she was. Not that it was necessarily her main concern at the moment, she was far more focused on not being torn to pieces by a very angry predator. Trixie peeked her head around the tree, to try and get a bearing on where the manticore was. It was close, it was sniffing around, but it wasn't quite looking in her direction. There was a chance that she might just be able to slip away, if it didn't notice her. She steeled herself, taking a deep calming breath. She could do this, Trixie was the most sneaky-est pony around! Gingerly, she stepped away from the tree, being as quiet as she could. This, of course, was ruined when a few paces from the tree she stepped on a twig and snapped it. Trixie froze. The manticore growled and started bounding towards her. Trixie got herself together and erupted into a full on gallop. This was ridiculous! This kind of shit only ever happens in stories, it wasn't supposed to happen in real life! Trixie weaved through the forest, ducking under branches and diving her way between trees and bushes. Running away in a zig-zag worked for Crocodiles, right? She reasoned that it should work just as well for a manticore. She glanced back, only to find the manticore much to close for comfort. She deduced that the zig-zagging wasn't working when the beast started nipping at her tail. She couldn't get her legs to move any faster, she was already flat out, but she wasn't making any distance. Trixie wasn't built for running, she was a mare of luxury! Not that she was out of shape, not at all, Trixie was the very picture of health! It's just that she had dedicated herself to more refined pursuits in the last few years. Trixie was quickly running out of breath, but unfortunately slowing down was not an option. Her legs were starting to burn, not used to the exertion. She was going to be very sore later. Trixie yelped as the manticore's jaw clamped around her tail, tearing out a few magnificent strands. She was running out of options. She lit up her horn, preparing for an emergency teleport. She wouldn't be able to go very far because she didn't know where she was. The last thing she needed was to end up merging herself with a tree because she didn't look before she leapt. The way ahead looked clear, so she flashed herself forwards to put some distance between herself and the manticore. Her lead didn't last very long though, and she soon found herself having to teleport forwards again just to escape the beast's jaws. This wasn't working, she was going to have to get creative. Being the masterful tactician that she was, Trixie decided that this time she would teleport sideways, which would hopefully throw the manticore off long enough for her to get away. Glancing through the trees, it looked like there was a clearing off to her right. Lighting up her horn again, she cast the spell and popped herself over, gasping and wheezing as she reappeared. She clambered behind a tree to get out of the manticore's line of sight, and desperately pleaded to the gods that it hadn't noticed that she was there. She could hear the thing growl, she could hear it's pace slow down as it searched for her. She did her best to stay quiet, but her lungs really needed the air. The manticore grunted in frustration at having suddenly lost it's prey. She could hear it trampling around, looking for her. She scrunched her eyes closed and hoped beyond hope that it wouldn't find her. Fortunately for Trixie, the creature stomped away, apparently having given up the chase. Trixie waited to make sure it was gone before breathing out a massive sigh of relief. All the tension left her body and she collapsed on the floor, limbs aching, lungs burning, lightheaded, but alive. Another victory! The unicorn could hear her blood pumping in her ears, and was feeling a little queasy after all that physical exertion so suddenly. It wasn't her fault she felt so bad though, she hadn't had time to warm up. For the moment, she was content to lie on the ground and rest for a while. The adrenaline was slowly running down, and Trixie's body was making it's protest very much known to her. She was not looking forward to getting out of the hammock tomorrow morning. It was a shame she hadn't managed to find any water, because she could really use a drink. Sweat was pouring off her coat, and her throat was incredibly dry. Still, it was a testament to her physical prowess and quick thinking that she had managed to outsmart a vicious predator. Not just anypony could do that! Truly, she was more gifted than even she had thought. Now that she actually had a moment to think, she realised something very important: she had absolutely no idea where she was. She was totally lost, as far off track as she could get, probably. She didn't know how long she'd been running through the forest for, but it had been a long while since she was on the path. Her heart had started to slow back down, breathing becoming less desperate. It occurred to her that she hadn't actually looked where she'd flopped down, and she was probably muddying up her coat. She just about managed to push herself up, legs wobbly. Her coat, as expected, was a total mess. She was covered in mud, leaves, sap, generally just caked in dirt. Now she really needed to find somewhere to bathe, she couldn't let anypony see her like this! The unicorn stood up. She was calm now, she'd calmed down, but she was shaking. The adrenaline was still working it's way out of her system, and she was going to be unsteady for a while after that ordeal. Her legs were already aching, but she couldn't very well stay in the clearing all day, not if she wanted to find her way back to her cart. Her legs practically groaned as she stepped forwards. She winced as her aching muscles worked, putting in a heroic effort just to move. The first thing Trixie decided the first thing she was going to do when she got back to her cart was to lie in her hammock for three or four days. She glanced around the clearing, getting a good look. It all seemed pretty normal, thick, lush grass, perimeter tree line, a few flowers. The only thing a little odd was a big rock in the middle, covered in moss and ivy. It was an odd shape, round and looking like it had broken off of something at some point. It was tall, it was very cylindrical, and inspecting it closer, it wasn't a rock at all. It was a column. Or most of a column. What in Tartarus was a column doing out here in the middle of nowhere? Did somepony try to build a tacky casino in the forest or something? She frowned. She had heard of stranger things, to be fair. And actually, thinking about it, it would kind of make sense to build a casino here. Since the town guard didn't patrol this far out from the city, there was nopony to enforce the laws. You could gamble all you wanted. Trixie knew one thing, if there was a casino out here, there was booze too. Even if there wasn't actually a casino here, the column was a landmark. At the very least she'd have something to navigate by. It was a start, for now. Any gambling would be a bonus. Trixie didn't get her hopes up too high about finding a casino though, the column looked really rather old, very weathered and overgrown. Maybe it was a part of some old shrine or something? She shook her head, she was surely looking into this too much. It was just an old column, who cares why it was there? Now she had a marker, but which way should she go? As far as she could tell, it was just trees in all directions from here. She looked back to the way she'd entered the clearing. She had no idea what compass bearing it would be, but she wasn't all that eager to go back the way she'd came, because there was a strong possibility that the manticore was still hanging around. Thinking logically, the safest direction would probably be just to head forwards, away from the angry creature. There was something pulling her forwards, forwards felt just about right. Trixie moved onwards, muscles straining to get her moving. It was not going to be a nice walk. She was on edge now, wary of her surroundings. The forest was a dangerous place, and her letting her guard down now that there was an aggravated manticore somewhere in the woods was not a good idea. It was a good thing that Trixie was the alertest pony around, and brave too! Lesser unicorns would faint at the prospect of sneaking around the Everfree being pursued by angry animals, but Trixie could handle it. She kept her ears perked up and her eyes open as she crossed back through the treeline again. Darkness washed over her as the canopy blocked the midday sun. She creakily made her way through the light underbrush, keeping a look out for anything less than friendly. Now that she had time to take in her surroundings, something seemed different. This part of the Everfree felt... heavier, for lack of a better word. There was something of an oppressive air about it, something that put her on guard. It might well have just been the paranoia of being chased, but it felt like something more. Cautious, Trixie pressed on, treading lightly and watching every shadow. The sooner she could find her way back onto the path and back to her cart the better. The birds would probably have all dissipated by now, she could have a nice spot of lunch and continue her research. That would be something to look forward to. That was if she ever found her way back. Trixie grimaced as she looked around. Every direction looked the same, trees as far as the eye could see. It was no wonder ponies got lost so often in the woods, without a compass it was a very tricky place to navigate. She was glad to have the column as a landmark, but in reality it was only just a fraction better than nothing. Still, she could make do with that, Trixie was the best navigator she knew after all. She was sure that she'd be back at her cart in no time, having a well deserved rest. Trixie was only starting to panic just the teensiest, slightest bit. That's not to say she was scared, no, not at all! She was merely concerned. It seemed that she wasn't quite alone. Something was stalking her, she was pretty sure. A while ago she accidentally snapped a twig, and something growled. Whether it was the manticore or not she didn't know, but since then she'd had a very distinct feeling of being watched. Night was now fast approaching, it was very quickly getting darker and darker, making it even more difficult for Trixie to find her way. She still hadn't managed to find her cart, or even get back onto the path for that matter. She had passed more interesting things on her way. More columns, bits of old wall, a torn up cobblestone floor, but nothing that actually helped her get anywhere. Yes, she was progressing cautiously, but she'd hoped to have gotten somewhere! She wasn't even sure if she'd gone back on herself, a few of those columns had been really similar. Or maybe it was just one column she'd found multiple times? Gah, this was getting her nowhere fast. Literally. She'd been following her hunch since she left the clearing, and as it was she had no idea if she'd gotten any closer to getting back to her cart. But there was still something pulling her in this direction. It wasn't much, but a hunch was better than nothing. Something rustled somewhere. It wasn't very close, but it wasn't very far away either. Trixie gulped. Hopefully it was just a fox or a jackalope or something. Something that wasn't going to eviscerate her. She picked up her pace just a little. It was getting dark enough now that she had to call upon her magic to light the way ahead. An owl's hoot echoed through the trees. Trixie had to admit that it was all just a tad spooky. It was also starting to get rather chilly, too. Especially without her hat and cape. Stylish as they were, Trixie had practical reasons for wearing them too. That, and it helped to be distinctive when you worked as an entertainer. Trixie thought that her clothes made her look rather dashing, not that she wasn't already the picture of beauty. She looked magnificent with or without her getup! Well, she usually did. Maybe not so much now that she was covered in dirt and her mane was all over the place. Trixie shivered, her cape would have been especially appreciated about now. The chill that the breeze was carrying was most unwelcome. As on edge as she was, Trixie was also tired. She'd not had a proper rest all day, and she'd burned through a lot of energy. Her bed was calling her, wherever it was. But tired as she was she knew she couldn't stop here, it probably wasn't safe. The nastier creatures of the forest came out after dark. She would do well to remain cautious. Still, she couldn't stop herself from yawning. It was only natural for a tired pony to yawn, after all. Yawning helped keep a pony awake by taking in a load more air, or something like that. Twilight had told her why ponies yawned before, but Trixie wasn't really paying attention. She probably had witchier things to worry about at the time. She was tired enough that it was taking real effort to keep moving. Trixie slowed down, but she didn't stop. Her throat was as dry as a bone, and a headache was starting to set in. She really needed a drink and a place to rest, neither of which she could find here. She'd been on the move for hours now, just how big was this place anyway? All this walking and not one lousy lake? Not one river or stream? This was the Everfree forest, not Everfree desert! She'd settle for a pond, even rainfall would be good enough at this point! She wasn't desperate enough to start sucking the moisture from rocks and moss, she had standards after all, but she was going to have to find something to drink very soon. Trixie's ears pinned back as she heard a twig snap behind her. She looked back, but couldn't see anything. It sounded much closer than the rustling. Trixie decided that it might be in her best interest to pick up her pace again. She quickened to a canter, despite her legs telling her to stop. She was so busy watching her flank that she almost didn't notice when her hooffalls starting making a different sound. She glanced down, curious. Up until now the ground had been as expected from a forest, soft, muddy, and leafy. Yet now she found herself walking on what looked like finely cut, if worse for wear granite. Looking ahead, it seemed to stretch on, and she could see little bits of other stonework in between the trees. Just where had she ended up now? An unfortunate effect of walking on stone was that the clip-clopping of her hooves was now much, much louder. This is less than idea when one is being perused, since it practically advertised your location to anybody who cared to listen. There was a throaty growl from somewhere behind her. Nervously, Trixie cast a light-hoofed spell to deaden the sound of her hooves, and also a basic perception glamour for good measure. She didn't know what made the noise, but she didn't really want to find out. Hopefully the spells could throw it off. She didn't really want to, but if it came to it she'd have to stop the light spell too. If she had her books she'd probably be able to cast a night vision spell, but there was no way she'd know how to do it without them. On the very slight upside, she at least had stable ground to walk on now. Even better it seemed to be leading the direction she was being pulled. With any luck it'd take her right back to the path! The trees seemed to be getting more sparsely spaced now, thinning out as she pressed further. She was noticing more, for lack of a better word, ruins. Crumbling old stone walls, piles of rubble and the like. Some of them even looked like they used to be buildings, whole houses or something similar. She couldn't see all that far ahead in the darkness, but she could tell that there was something different coming up. The treeline was changing, there was something at the end of this path. Trixie's eyes grew wider the closer she got. The trees gave way to another clearing, a big one. The clearing wasn't really the remarkable part though, it was what stood in the clearing that had thrown her for a loop. Trixie slowed to a halt, gawping at what lie before her. In the middle of the clearing was a very large, very old looking castle. A proper, real castle! High walls, turrets, towers, moat, everything! It even had a portcullis! It was partially ruined, sections collapsing and crumbling away, ivy and vines scaling the well worn stone walls. It looked like at some point in it's life it had been involved in a serious battle of some kind, there were craters and cracks all over the walls, and she could see ruins where towers had collapsed. It was still something to behold though, and there was something of an ethereal presence to the place, something she couldn't quite put her hoof on. There was a whole lot of residual magic in the air, something big had happened here. Was this what had been drawing her through the forest? How come she had never heard of this place? How is it that nopony had mentioned it? Surely somepony knew about it, you could hardly miss it, it was enormous! She can't have been the first one to stumble across it, right? Trixie's ears swivelled as the brush behind her rustled. Her heart dropped as she turned to see what the noise was. She didn't know if it was the same one from earlier or not, but stood just behind her, ready to pounce, was a manticore. The glamour she cast must have been as effective as using a colander as a cereal bowl, because the thing was looking straight at her. She froze, it roared. She didn't stay frozen for very long. She bolted forward on instinct, making for the bridge into the castle. The manticore was not far behind. Trixie couldn't believe this was happening for the second time today! She couldn't believe she had to run again when her legs felt like they could give out at any moment. Was this thing trying to get her killed?! Don't answer that. Trixie ran under the portcullis, pulling it down behind her with her magic. It took some effort, but she managed to slide it down, hitting the ground with a metallic clang. Alas, it seemed she was just a second too late, as the manticore was still right behind her. All she'd managed to do was trap herself in the castle walls with the beast. They ran through the gatehouse and into the bailey. It was a large, open space with nowhere to hide. She had nowhere to go but the keep, which conveniently enough had it's doors open. Trixie decided that would be the best place to try and hold up. She lit her horn and teleported herself inside. This only seemed to make the manticore angrier. Trixie used all her strength the move the huge wooden doors, shunting them on rusty hinges until they closed. She managed to get a wooden beam across them in the nick of time as the manticore slammed into them, trying to force them open. The beam held, she was safe for now. Trixie sat on her haunches, wobbly. She couldn't keep doing this. Yes, she was the very epitome of health, but she had her limits. She was in desperate need of a drink now, her breaths were painful in her throat. She was going to be so achey later. Her headache had increased tenfold and was well on the way to becoming a migraine. She felt pretty awful, and now- She yelped in surprise as a slam caused the door to rattle in place. She backpedalled away, but the door held strong. A few seconds later there was another slam, followed by a growl. The manticore was trying to get in. She decided to get away from the door. It was holding for the moment, but she didn't want to take any more chances. Grunting, she stood back up and slowly trotted further into the building. She was in a large, long corridor. It was dark, but oddly enough she didn't have much trouble seeing her surroundings. She was sure that at one point the place had been finely decorated. Now all she could see was tarnished metalwork and rotted tapestries, but in better days it must have looked sublime. At the end of the corridor she could see a large set of double doors. There was something drawing her to them. She couldn't put her hoof on it, but she felt like whatever had she had been feeling the whole day was behind those doors. Trixie slowly trotted down the hall. There wasn't a whole lot to distract her along the way, but she really wasn't up to moving at full speed again just yet. She came upon the doors. They were tall, finely crafted things, very elegant looking, and with a lot of fancy trim. No doubt with a bit of polish they'd look as spectacular as when they were new. Perhaps once she'd gotten her room back in Twilight's tower, she could bring these doors with her. They'd look fabulous as the entrance to her bedroom. She shook her head, she was getting ahead of herself. She grabbed the latch with a hoof and lifted it. With a click, the doors opened freely, being much lighter than they looked. On the other side of the threshold was a very big room. Big was an understatement, it was gigantic! A grand hall, full of stylised columns, woven banners and decorative windows, including one particularly huge one at the far end, showcasing a breathtaking view of the moon. Moonlight filled the chamber, illuminating the place to a greater degree than Trixie thought possible. It may have been dusty, but the hall was beautiful, it seemed in a much nicer state than the hallway did. The marble floors still gleamed, the colours of the stained glass windows still vibrant. A thick, rich red carpet ran through the centre of the room, and up to two very impressive looking chairs. There was a heavy presence here. A huge amount of magic had been used here some time ago. It still lingered even now. There was a certain unstable feel to the air. It seemed to be the epicentre of whatever she had been feeling. "Ah, Lulamoon, you have arrived. Excellent." Trixie jumped out of her skin. Somepony was here? Somepony who knew who she was? Somepony who was expecting her? "W-who's there?" She asked, glancing around the hall for any sign of anypony. "There is no need to be afraid, Lulamoon. Do you not remember our talk last night?" "How do you know my name?" Trixie spoke, still looking for the source of the voice. It was tricky though, it was almost like it was coming from inside her own head! "I have a great knowledge of many things, Lulamoon. I had thought to offer a helping hoof to you, your dream seemed tumultuous." "My dream?" Trixie parroted, confused. She didn't have a dream last night, did she? Maybe? There was a voice or something... "We had told you to seek us, and here you are. You are looking for validation, correct?" Was Trixie after validation? She supposed she was, after all, she had to prove Twilight wrong. This all sounded a little familiar. "That's right." "We can aid you, young Lulamoon. Step upon our dais so that we might offer out assistance." Uneasy, Trixie slowly made her way towards the far end of the room, towards the podium. She moved slowly and deliberately, watching the shadows. This was all getting to be very bizarre now, she wasn't about to let her guard down. As she approached, she noticed a pile of dark looking armour in front of the large chairs. Like the rest of the room, it looked to be in very nice condition, still looking polished and shiny, ready for battle. It didn't even seem to have any dust on it, unlike everything else. "Now, don our helm." Trixie fell to her haunches and picked up the headpiece of the armour. It was a simple, elegant thing, crafted in a brilliant sheen of blue. The contours almost seemed to cascade off of it, it was truly a beautiful piece of work. The unicorn cautiously lifted it to her head, taking care to align her horn with the corresponding hole, and slipped it onto her head- Trixie saw everything. Trixie saw the alicorn of the moon and the alicorn of the sun. Trixie saw the immense power wielded by both. Trixie saw the trials, the wars, the struggles waged by both of them. Trixie saw a fight between them, unfathomable arcane energy being exchanged. The legends were true. Trixie felt that power. And it felt great. She felt fantastic! Gone was the burning in her legs, the thirst in her throat, and the pounding in her head. She felt like she could run a marathon right now! "Excellent, this should serve us better as a platform, no?" The voice came from her mind. It wasn't her voice, and that wasn't her thought, but Trixie wasn't scared. She could feel another presence in her self, something powerful had merged with her. It was reassuring, she could almost feel the gravitas teeming from this new part of her mind, this... thing? "'Thing' is a very ugly word, especially for your benefactor, Lulamoon. You may call us Nightmare." That was an odd name, but it was certainly a fearsome one. Do doubt this 'Nightmare' wasn't somepony to be messed with. And surely by extension that meant Trixie now, too! There was so much extra everything she could feel from Nightmare, she was somepony with real expertise, knowledge that nopony else possessed. This was amazing! The moment was interrupted when the keep doors finally gave way, and the manticore came barrelling into the building. It set it's sights on Trixie, and began sprinting down the hallway right towards her. Trixie got ready to run away, but before she had a chance to move, she was overridden. "Ah, a pesky thing. Allow us." Trixie's horn began to glow, a deeper, darker shade of purple than normal, she noted. She wasn't willing this to happen, she wasn't casting anything. It was strange, having somepony else work your magic while you were sill conscious. She was building up a great charge. She wondered what it was that Nightmare was going to do, before an almighty beam of violet light shot out of her horn, straight as an arrow down the hallway and right into the manticore. The thing collapsed, sliding along the floor as it's momentum carried it, stopping at Trixie's hooves. There was a good chunk of it missing. The head, the tip of the tail, and a fair amount of the back was gone, it had been burned away, the body still smoking. Trixie was gobsmacked. She may never have paid much attention to combat spells, but this was way beyond anything she'd ever seen a guard or fighter cast. This was total overkill, that spell had a ridiculous amount of power. A terrifying amount of power. And Trixie could tell that for Nightmare that something like that was little more than foal's play. It was amazing! "Now then, with that out of the way, how can we help you, Lulamoon?" Trixie smiled. With this much power behind her, there was almost limitless potential for her plans to show up Twilight. She could shapeshift into a dragon, she could move the moon, anything seemed possible right now. And yet, for as much as she could have done, she couldn't best the sweet irony of her first idea. The look on Twilight's face would be priceless, and that alone made it the most worthwhile. "I want to be an alicorn." "Ha, a simple matter!"