Beep… Beep…
Octavia groaned as she slowly awoke. ‘Where am I?’ She cracked an eyelid open, immediately regretting it as the blinding white light streamed into her eye, screwing it shut again. The gears in her head sluggishly began to turn again, allowing for the processing of more complex thoughts. ‘What happened? … The alleyway… Vinyl!’ Her eyes wrenched open as she tried to bolt upright, and started coughing violently, her throat dry.
“Ah, you’re awake.” Said a mare’s voice, a blur moving towards her as her vision began to clear. “You gave us quite the scare there; you lost so much blood we weren’t sure that you were going to make it.” The voice continued. “Are you alright?”
“Water.” Rasped Octavia, coughing again. The smaller blur on top of the larger blur bobbed, and a new blur levitated towards her. Octavia gulped the cool liquid gratefully. “Vinyl?” She asked, as soon as she could talk without it hurting.
“She’s stable, but still unconscious. She lost a lot of blood as well. Our main concern is in actual fact you.”
“Me?” Octavia asked warily.
“Yes. Beyond mild blood loss, and some minor injuries to the head, Vinyl appears fine. You, however, took a fair amount of damage to your leg. We had to operate whilst you were out.”
“How bad?”
“Not as bad as we thought. Our initial fear was that you’d lose the leg. The good news is that we didn’t have to amputate.” The voice said cheerily. Octavia’s vision had now cleared, and the mare talking to her was a brown unicorn with a cutie mark in the shape of a bed crossed with a thermometer.
“The bad news?” Pressed Octavia, causing the mare to hesitate.
“The bad news is that a great deal of nerves were sliced, not enough for you to lose all control of the leg, but you will have lost a lot of feeling in the leg, and moving it will no longer be as fluid.” Octavia nodded, as another thought occurred to her.
“How long was I out for?”
“Three days.”
“Right.” Said Octavia. “And who brought me here?”
“That would be me.” Another voice put in, and Octavia lethargically turned her head to see another mare in the room. The mare in question had blue fur, and a silver mane. Her cutie mark was a blue sparkling mist roughly in the shape of a crescent moon, with a wand running alongside it. “The Great and Powerful Trixie!” She exclaimed, throwing her front hooves into the air with a grin.
Trixie winced and dropped back down to all four legs, wincing again. “Bad Trixie, stop doing that.” She admonished herself, rubbing a bandage on her front leg.
“So you’re Trixie?” Asked Octavia, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes. You have heard of Trixie?” She asked, appearing wary.
“Yes, from Vinyl. I heard you two were friends in school.” She said with a smile, before the events of the attack came crashing down around her. “Oh Celestia. Vinyl!” She gasped, trying to get up, before the nurse stopped her.
“Your leg is not yet healed; you can’t leave your bed yet.”
“But I need to see Vinyl.” Octavia said, biting back a snarl.
“I already told you, she’s stable, but unconscious. She’s going to be fine.”
“No, you don’t understand. The people who attacked us were…” Octavia trailed off.
“Yes?” Asked the nurse when Octavia stopped.
“This is going to sound ridiculous, but…” Octavia sighed. “They were vampires.”
“Vampires?” Asked the nurse. Octavia nodded. “Dear, vampires don’t exist.”
“Actually.” Interrupted Trixie. “What Trixie saw makes a lot of sense now that she knows it was vampires.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Octavia.
“When Trixie walked into that alleyway, she saw a unicorn biting Vinyl’s neck. When the unicorn released her, Trixie saw she had fangs.”
“You saved me and Vinyl from the vampires?” Asked Octavia, blinking. Whilst Vinyl obviously was fond of Trixie, the stories about her portrayed her as arrogant and egotistical, rarely if ever going out of her way to help others.
“Trixie was… not thinking.” She admitted, looking at the floor. “Trixie just saw the scene and acted.” Trixie appeared highly embarrassed by her actions.
“You not only managed to fight off a vampire, but managed to get two unconscious mares to the hospital by yourself?” This only made Trixie even more embarrassed, a red tinge suffusing her cheeks and mumbled something along the lines of ‘Looking out for an old friend.’
“In any case, if what you say is true, it doesn’t matter until she regains consciousness.” The nurse said with finality. “I must insist that you get some rest, and try to avoid moving your leg too much.” Octavia nodded. “Trixie, you may stay with Octavia if you like. I’m sure she’d appreciate the company.” The nurse walked out of the room, and Octavia turned to Trixie, and smiled.
“So, Trixie, tell me a bit about yourself.” Octavia started, and Trixie looked up with a smirk.
“Very well, Trixie will indulge you.” She adopted a grand pose. “Trixie’s tale is an exciting one, full of tragedy and heartbreak, fraught with dangerous beasts and evil ponies at every turn.” She turned her slightly manic grin to Octavia, who raised an eyebrow. “…Or, since you are Vinyl’s marefriend, Trixie supposes she can give you the true story.” She cleared her throat, and appeared to brace herself.
“It all started shortly after my fifth birthday…”
“Mummy, mummy! Look what I can do!” Exclaimed the exited blue filly, bouncing up and down on the spot. The filly’s mother, a kind-hearted green unicorn with azure eyes and a teal mane, turned to the filly and smiled.
“What is it my dear?” She asked kindly, a hint of humour present in her voice. The filly beamed, as her horn glowed with a pale pink light, a small green light materialising in front of her, soon joined by two other lights, one matching the colour of the filly’s fur, and the other a navy blue shade. The lights danced in front of her beaming face, and flew towards her mother, settling in her mane, and the older mare returned the happy smile.
“Well done!” She congratulated her as the lights faded, sweeping her daughter into a hug. “I told you you’d get it eventually.” The filly giggled happily, nuzzling her mother. “I love you my little Trixie.”
“Love you too.” Trixie murmured happily. Trixie’s mother started slightly as the door knocked.
“Now I wonder who that could be?” She asked, standing up and allowing Trixie to clamber onto her back before going to the door and opening it. She froze, her heart skipping a beat in her chest as she saw the armour-clad form of a pegasus of the Royal Guard standing there.
“Mrs Lulamoon?” Asked the pegasus. The mare nodded slowly, turning to Trixie.
“Trixie, would you be a dear and go upstairs?” She asked, forcing a smile.
“But mum, I want to know what’s going on.” The blue filly whined. The mare’s smile faltered.
“Tell you what princess, if you do this for me, we’ll go for ice cream later, ok?”
“Ok mummy.” Said Trixie, perking up at the idea of ice cream, and galloped clumsily up the stairs. The guard paused until her heard Trixie’s door close, before continuing.
“I have some bad news concerning your husband.” The guard began; unaware of the pair of purple eyes watching through the banister.
“Oh no…” Gasped the mare, her eyes widening. The guard’s eyes betrayed his true feelings, this being without a doubt the worst part of being a guard.
“He was attacked during his rounds; any belongings with him were taken, and he is now in a critical condition at the hospital. He’s conscious, but they’re not sure he’s going to make it.” He sighed as the mare began to cry. “Words cannot describe how sorry I am.” He said, as Trixie bolted down the stairs.
“NO!” She shouted, crying. “Daddy can’t be hurt, he just can’t. Daddy’s strong, no one can hurt him.” She protested uselessly, shaking with sobs. “Daddy…” The mare embraced her filly, trying to comfort her.
“Can we see him?” Asked the mare, tears in her eyes. The guard nodded.
“I’ll take you too him. He asked to see you two.” The guard motioned for the pair to follow him once the mother had locked up the house.
“When we got to the hospital the doctors knew he was on his death bed.” Trixie said dispassionately, though it was clear how badly the memory was hurting her. “He died half an hour after us getting there, just enough time for me to show him my new trick, and for him to say his last goodbyes. He told me not to give up, no matter what. He told me that I was an illusionist, a rare type of magic that only a handful of unicorns can perform. It made me feel special, unique.” Trixie sighed. “It was the only thing I had in the next few years…”
“Why are you telling me this if it hurts you so much?” Octavia asked, frowning with concern.
“Vinyl was my only friend in school; we had no secrets from each other. You’re her marefriend, so you deserve to know as much as she does.” She smirked sadly. “Besides, you were willing to admit in front of me that Vinyl was likely to become a vampire without really knowing who I was, so I owe you a little explanation.” Trixie sighed, and looked out the window.
“What happened after your father died?”
“Everything went downhill. The story I originally promised? With tragedy and danger? Not too far from the truth in this case…”