There you are.
Trixie eyed the star with curiosity. Maybe she was insane after only a few weeks out here, but she swore something was definitely off about this one. It wasn’t the distance. The sun definitely appeared closer, and round. This star just looked like four points in the sky. Trixie sighed and gazed around, trying to figure out why the star bothered her enough that they had spent the last few days trying to get closer to it.
The gentle feeling of feathers wrapped around her shoulders and gave her a weak squeeze.
She is getting a lot better at that, Trixie noted, not feeling the desperate energy Luna normally put into her hugs. About time she stopped freaking out about Trixie not being real.
Trixie thought hard on her current predicament with the star. What was so off about it? Her gaze wandered to the other little balls of light that covered the sky. Was this a sky? She was on the moon, which was part of the sky, right? So-
Trixie shook her head roughly and mentally berated herself. She felt Luna’s wing lightly rub along her shoulders.
“Tis something wrong?” Luna questioned.
“No, Trixie is just finding herself a bit easier to distract than usual.”
“We see.” Luna softly nuzzled against Trixie’s ear and gave it a brief kiss. “Is there some way in which we could be of assistance?” She enquired.
Trixie inwardly groaned and ignored the brief spark that went off between her hind legs.
“Not unless you can figure out why that star is so strange to Trixie?” She pointed up to it. “Trixie has travelled the world, and has seen many things, but Astrology never really entered her life until she was literally shot into it.”
Luna put her head against Trixie’s and looked upwards. Trixie could feel her face heating up and mentally worked to control her breathing.
No wonder I’m so distracted, Trixie thought, something is off about that star and Luna. I wonder if there is a connection?
“Hmm, well, there are in fact, two unique traits to that star.” Luna stated casually a moment later, breaking Trixie out of her thoughts.
“Ha! Trixie knew something was wrong with it! What are they?”
“Pfft,” Luna muttered, playfully sticking her tongue out at Trixie briefly. “Now why should we just give that away for free? What might thou offer for our insights?”
Luna was getting way too cheeky lately for Trixie’s liking.
“Are you serious?”
“We are.”
“But, why?” Trixie asked, a bewildered look on her face.
“Because it’s funner this way,” Luna said, gently rubbing Trixie’s shoulder again.
What is going on?
To Trixie’s growing worry, Luna began to pout as Trixie continued to look confused.
“Oh come now, Trixie.” Luna stated, nuzzling her cheek. “Just play along with us. Thee is the only one we are comfortable doing this with.”
Trixie glowered at that.
“Trixie is the only one here to do any of this with.”
“Well…tis true, but there were others before thou.”
“...What?”
“Hmm…” Luna looked thoughtful for a moment. “There was Rocky McRock face, we think he was turned to pebbles after a particularly heated argument. Craggy Crater, whom we lost track of, and Madame Le Flour. We are...not sure where she went, actually.”
“Your fake friends seem to have a way of disappearing, don’t they?” Trixie pointed out nervously.
“Hmm..” Luna nodded, looking at, yet past Trixie. “Yes. Our friends do.”
Trixie grabbed Luna’s mane. “If Trixie starts pulling on this, will you remember that she is real and not do anything stupid to her again?”
Luna’s throaty purr unnerved Trixie. Seeing Trixie frozen in place, Luna pulled her own head back and playfully caused Trixie to tug on her hair a few times.
“Thou has become quite an expert on how to pull our hair, hasn’t thee?” Luna nuzzled along Trixie’s muzzle in a manner that caused Trixie to quickly let go and step back.
Chuckling, Luna gave Trixie a brief pat on the head. “Thou is right, thee...you? You are easily befuddled today. Pray tell us what might be the cause of this?”
Trixie wanted to wipe that grin off of Luna’s face very badly, but didn’t know how. Luna knew she was messing with Trixie, but to what end? She was so casual now, her nuzzling against Trixie had lost that desperate tension, yet was replaced with a tenderness Trixie found very disturbing in its own way.
Trixie’s dreams as of late were not doing her any favors either. Trixie remembered the way she had played with Luna’s body just the night before. Mane pulling was just the start of the foreplay that night, and Luna was acting far too similar to those dreams today for Trixie’s liking.
Never stick your horn in crazy, seemed like advice her Father would have told her if she had one. And Luna was definitely crazy.
Not that that stopped Trixie’s eyes from hungrily looking over Luna’s toned form and even enjoying the arrogant little smirk Luna had on her face after realizing that Trixie was staring.
Luna stared right back, a look on her face that Trixie could only define as hungry, like a wolf sizing up a rabbit. Trixie’s tail instinctively tucked in as she took another step back.
Luna’s head cocked slightly to the left and her eyes widened for a brief second before she closed them. She let out a deep breath and seemed to relax before opening her eyes again and giving Trixie a sheepish smile.
“Forgive us, that was, perhaps, more than agreed upon, was it not?”
Did we agree to something? I’ve asked her repeatedly to be less smothering, but she never agreed to stop.
And there was that damn chastised look on Luna’s face Trixie dreaded seeing. It always meant she was going to give ground, or say something to just make this hole Trixie was in deeper still.
“It’s...okay. I think? You’re fine, Luna. Trixie is, um, flattered, really. She just doesn’t want to end up like your previous...friends.”
“Oh, Trixie.” Luna shook her head. “ We are past that now, we think. We have had all the proof we need to know that you exist. When we spoke before of those past mishaps, of those false shadows made to keep ourselves together, we meant it when we said we did not act with those as we do with you.”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Of course you didn’t. How does somepony even befriend a crater?”
Luna shrugged. “We don’t remember the details, and it is perhaps better we never do. But, with them, a part of us always knew they were fake, but did not care. Unlike thou, however, we did not have the issue of them dying from being on the moon, nor were we inclined to connect our magics to them to ensure their continued survival.”
Luna’s eyes unfocused for a second, and began to glow a soft blue along with her horn. A smile came to her lips as her gaze slowly looked Trixie over.
“You have no idea how beautiful you are to us, Trixie. The glowing symbols, the myriad of colors coming from them as they cling to thine fur. Nothing on the moon or Equiss itself could convince us that thee is just a product of our imagination now.”
With a blush Trixie looked away, shuffling her hooves awkwardly.
Luna eyed over Trixie for a moment before giving a high pitched giggle. “Oh? What is this? Has our words touched the moon’s greatest and only showmare so thoroughly?”
“W-what?” Trixie muttered out, still looking away and barely listening to Luna for the moment. “T-that’s great. Uh, Trixie has heard that before, often, yes...S-so!”
Trixie finally looked over to Luna for a brief second before pointing back to the star. “You said there were two strange things you noticed about it?”
Luna hummed to herself for a brief moment before giving a nod and whispering something to herself Trixie could not hear.
“Very well, we would not want to embarrass thee further.” Luna smirked, noticing Trixie visibly relaxing. “For now.”
With a hoof, Luna gestured up to the star. “First, despite a lack of any entity we can tell directing it, the star is in fact closer to us as we approach it. This is a touch odd, as our dear sister is likely moving the moon every night, meaning the star is somehow tied to, or perhaps following, the moon.”
“And...that is bad?”
“Not necessarily, it’s just strange. Who is directing it to follow the moon?”
Trixie shrugged. “Maybe it just does? The moon follows Equis, right?”
Luna looked at her askance. “What? No! What are they teaching down there now? The moon is moved around Equis by the will of one strong enough to command it to do so, much like the sun. It must be spell related, more so considering the second unique trait this star has; it has thus far kept perfectly still. In fact-”
Luna tilted her head up, following the star as she took a few more steps forward before abruptly stopping.
“-we are quite sure that this is the closest we will ever be to that strange star. It is...hovering, just above us now. Strange.”
Luna’s horn glowed palely before a small blue beam shot out and into the air, dissipating a few feet above her head.
“Hmph. Not like it matters much. We have no way of reaching out to it.”
“Trixie is not you, remember?”
Trixie lit up her own horn and shot a beam up into the sky.
Wait, what?
Trixie’s eyes widened in shock. Not only was the beam she shot out a different color, but far more energy had blasted out of her horn than she intended. To make matters even more concerning, the blue beam immediately impacted something a few feet above her head and dissipated.
“Wait, WHAT!?”
A soft chuckle from Luna brought Trixie’s attention away from the sky. Luna approached Trixie and gave her head a brief caress.
“Our dear magician, we told thee what would happen, did we not? Our magic clings to your body now like a very intimate hug. The curse placed upon us now engulfs you as well. Let us show you.”
Luna’s hoof came up and lingered on Trixie’s cheek, then, her eyes took on a dark glow. Trixie gasped in fear as she felt her magic leaking out of her horn of its own volition.
“Ssshhh…” Luna gently said. “It’s okay. Just relax and do not fight against it.”
“What in Tartarus do you THINK your-MMMPH!”
Why can’t I talk?
Trixie looked down her muzzle, barely able to register what she was seeing. What she was feeling.
“Mmmmhh…” Luna grumbled throatily against Trixie’s lips, pressing firmly against her as she continued to gently pull at Trixie’s magic, forcing it to slowly make a long tendril.
Before Trixie could wrap her head around what to do, Luna’s lips left hers with a wet smack.
“There. “Luna grinned, fluttering her eyes as she slowly licked her lips. “Now, can you see what we are doing?”
Driving me Crazy!?
A flicker of blue light caught Trixie’s attention. Reluctantly, she looked away from the captivating look Luna was giving her, and to whatever it was Luna was trying to show her. A thin tendril-like beam of blue energy lazily flicked back and forth in front of her.
“T-that is coming out of Trixie’s horn…?”
Luna nodded. Trixie gave an audible gulp.
“Why is that coming from Trixie’s horn?”
With another flick of Luna’s horn, Trixie felt a shift in her magic, and the tendril split open, revealing a magenta glow emitting from deeper in the tendril.
“We were not lying when we said our magic would wrap around you. Thou’s magic is still there and quite safe, we swear. But our own magic is engulfing it. Hence why the barrier believes you to be us.”
“This is...the second creepiest thing to happen to Trixie in her entire life…”
With a snort, Luna’s horn stopped glowing. Instinctively, Trixie reabsorbed the tendril of magic and gave a brief shudder.
“Do NOT ever do that again.”
“We apologize, but we needed to show thou-”
“EVER!”
“Hmph.” Luna looked to the side.
“And don’t roll your eyes at Trixie!”
“We didn’t know you were so easily panicked.”
“Being a little disturbed that somepony is literally able to reach inside and control your magic like some kind of...of ghost is not considered ‘easily panicked!’”
Luna made a point to stare directly at Trixie as she slowly rolled her eyes. Trixie gave out a low growl before having a sudden thought.
“Wait. So Trixie can only not get through this...exile magic-thing because your magic is all over her own?”
“Quite.”
Trixie paused for a moment. “Do the thing again.”
“...What?”
“Do the magic tendril-thing again. But just hold it there. And keep it visible for Trixie.”
“But you just said-”
Don’t think about it.
With a quick step, Trixie got right in front of Luna and grabbed her hair with a hoof. A quick yank brought Luna’s head down enough for Trixie to whisper harshly into her ear.
“Trixie knows what she said, now do what she says!”
By Celestia, she just raised her tail. No, no, ignore it, ignore her heavy breathing. Just focus on what you need to do!
With a rough shove, Luna stumbled backwards a few steps. Slowly, much too slow for Trixie, Luna’s head raised.
“Mhmmm…” Luna bit at her lip, chewing a bit. Her tail flipped back and forth as if it had a mind of its own for a moment before finally settling down.
“No fair.” Luna whined. “And here we thought thou didn’t want anymore teasing for the time being.”
The look Luna was giving Trixie was becoming a little too smoldering, especially thanks to the little twitches Trixie was trying to hold back of her own.
Stupid, sexy dreams.
“S-shut up” Trixie managed to stutter out, feeling a drop of sweat making its way down her face. “J-just help Trixie and do that thing again.”
With a gentle hum that shot electric down Trixie’s spine, Luna slowly approached Trixie and gave her a brief nuzzle. “Fine.”
“Finally! Now-eep!”
Trixie gave a sharp squeak as she felt a wet appendage drag itself up the side of her face.
“Sorry, you were dripping.” Luna whispered in her ear, a playful lilt in her voice.
“T-thank you?” Trixie strangled out.
“Thou is very welcome. Now, shall we?” Luna said, smirking as her horn lit up again.
Once Trixie managed to calm down a little, she could feel the strange pull of Luna’s dragging her magic out of her horn again. With a brief shake of her head, Trixie started to concentrate on the feeling, on the magic now coating her own glorious magenta glow.
After a moment of this, Trixie could once again see the tendril of blue magic in front of her. It was creepy, realizing somepony else was now in some way able to control her. She shook the thought away quickly.
“Good, now, just hold it there while Trixie tries something.”
Luna nodded, giving Trixie a curious look.
Okay, so the magic barrier won’t let Trixie’s magic through thanks to Luna, but what if-
Trixie stared at the tendril of magic, and concentrated. She could feel it swirling around, mixing and coating her own power, overwhelming it and keeping her own below the surface.
Yet she could feel her own magic still. Could use it to control the entire tendril from within, and luna’s magic was part of her now, right?
Slowly, Trixie worked her magic, forcing it out. She refused to admit openly that her magic was weaker than Luna’s, but had no problem understanding it in her own head. Accepting it would come later. Maybe. For now she slowly pushed the new magic to the center of the tendril while thinning out her own magic to cover it. After almost ten minutes of effort, she heard a gasp from Luna.
“What in the world are you doing?”
Trixie relished the surprise in Luna’s voice as she looked at the gently glowing magenta tendril.
“Phew.” Trixie wiped sweat from her brow. “O-okay. Now, if I just.” Slowly, the tendril grew and reached upwards.
Heh, Trixie never did live up to that whole ‘don’t stick your horn in crazy’ thing, but there was one other saying she has always strived to live by. Reach for the stars. She never thought to take it literally though...
Inch by inch, the tendril reached upwards, passed the barrier and continued almost a dozen hooves into the air. Luna’s magic was a strong base for the tendril, but Trixie’s own magic was beginning to feel thin. The whole experience felt like she was casting two spells at once on top of feeling two different pulls on her horn thanks to the separate energies intertwined together.
With a gasp, Trixie felt the tendril touch something. She gently wrapped her magic around it.
Still very far from the star...not that Trixie ever expected to reach it. But what is this? A rope?
“There is something up there.” She gave it a hard yank with her magic, feeling something give a little. “Maybe a rope, or a chain?”
“Hmm, perhaps it is one of the chains keeping the Nightmare sealed and asleep then?”
Trixie froze up at Luna’s words. Slowly, she unfurled the tendril from the invisible rope-thing, and brought it down to her level before dissipating the whole thing.
“Trixie...probably shouldn’t be touching that then.”
Luna cocked her head to the side curiously. “So, did anything happen?”
“Trixie greatly hopes not. At least, if it involves waking up Nightmare Moon.”
“Oh? We thought you liked her? Considering you were raised in an orphanage that apparently worshipped her.”
“Well,” Trixie rubbed one of her hooves into the dust awkwardly. “She’s the reason you were trapped here, right?”
Luna slowly smiled, realizing what Trixie was getting at. “Aww, you’re adorable.”
Trixie’s legs stiffened at that. “Hey! Whatever you think, it’s wrong!”
A chuckle was all she was met with. Trixie huffed.
“Anyways, all this talk of Nightmare Moon has Trixie on edge. You’ve been up here for...awhile. Aside from walking around and staring at stuff, is there something else to do? To play?”
“Oh! Yes!” Trixie heard Luna clap her hooves together somewhere behind her. “We have just the game! Catch!”
KLONK!
Trixie’s world quickly went dark as she felt something hard and heavy hit her square in the back of the head.