No , that’s silly, why am I thinking this? She shook her head and took another drink. Trixie was showing another trick with lights… the flashes were imprinting themselves on the back of her eyes, and her vision suddenly turned into a colorful eruption.
Is this part of Trixie’s magic? Twilight scrunched her eyes and opened them again, but this only made her sight more and more kaleidoscope-like, with strange colors morphing and swirling in the oddest ways. She raised the glass to her lips again, and suddenly everything was back to normal – Trixie was setting off multicolored fireworks and she could no longer see the weird, swirling tinges.
The princess didn’t answer my question, she thought as she swallowed, the liquid traveling down and warming her, spreading tingling sensations along her limbs that soon seemed that they were being weighed down. It doesn’t matter anyway, why did I even want to know in the first place?
She giggled quietly, trying to concentrate on the ongoing performance again. I’d like to try performing too, I want to show everypony those explosions I can make… Princess Celestia would be so proud, and she’d kiss me- Twilight frowned, just realizing what she had thought. Get a grip, Twilight! Why are you thinking these things? You shouldn’t!
She raised a hoof and bopped her head, prompting the princesses on either side of her to turn and look at her, slightly concerned, so she hastily made it like she was scratching the side of her cheek. They smiled at her and turned back to the stage, and Twilight let out a small sigh of relief. I have to stop thinking like this, what’s going on? She glared at the glass in front of her. Her taste and sight had both felt odd after drinking; could it be that the drink could influence her thoughts as well?
No, that’s absurd; beverages can’t do that, no matter how strange they taste. No, I wonder how it’d taste if I stuck one of Princess Celestia’s feathers in it – no, stop! Twilight glanced sideways before looking back to the stage. No, I don’t have to check, of course they can’t hear my thoughts, I’ll just pretend I’m paying attention to the show and nopony will guess I’m thinking about Princess Celestia’s feathers.
Twilight smiled and shifted her position a bit, pretending to look very intently at the stage. Now I can think about this in peace! About the feathers… She stole a glance at the alabaster alicorn beside her. They’re so white, and white, and white, and I want to – urgh, no! What am I thinking?
The more she tried to resist, the more her imagination drifted – she was flying into a hole, flying out another one, she could see herself, she could hear Princess Celestia’s voice, she could hear Luna’s…
“Twilight?” She had indeed heard Princess Celestia’s voice, and it pulled her back to reality, but not completely. Twilight stared at her empty glass before turning to the alicorn.
“Uuh, what, Princess?” She found herself grinning lopsidedly and wiggling a bit closer to her mentor.
“Just wondering if you’re enjoying it,” the princess said with a gentle smile.
“Yes, I am! Very much!” Twilight blushed and it felt her mind was going all woozy, like experiencing vertigo, and the world went white before she could focus again. Now it was getting worse; she could hear her pulse in her ears, and she felt like throwing up but it was okay – “Princess, can I have one of your fea-” No, Twilight Sparkle! What are you doing? Shut up!
“Yes?”
“No, no, nothing!” Twilight chuckled nervously. Just then Trixie lit up her horn again, conjuring something in a very loud ‘pop’, and Twilight hastily pointed her hoof. “Oh look, another trick!”
Celestia looked at her curiously but didn’t pursue the issue, giving her a faint smile before turning back to the show.
The showmare brandished the object which had popped into existence, a large bouquet of roses, and lit up her horn making the individual flowers soar out and fan into a circular shape behind her. Then like lightening, she shot them out, the stalks like knives that cut the air. Just before they reached the audience however, the flowers swerved up, curving back to line up in the air behind Trixie.
Trixie spread the flowers out, and they started to multiply; more roses appeared, and other flowers too, soon creating the illusion that there was a garden growing on the stage.
That was pretty impressive, Twilight observed, tilting her head. In her mind’s eye though she imagined the roses shooting towards her again, before turning into feathers that started to tickle her – why this fixation with feathers? What have I ever done wrong to you, feathers? Hmm, that’s not right, they’re roses…
Her thoughts trailed off as the attendant returned, taking away the glasses that were empty. Twilight looked wistfully as he picked up her glass, but he returned soon afterwards with a tray of refilled glasses. Twilight took hers back, taking a long sip. Her heart was beating quite quickly and it was like the room had grown hotter; the strong tang of the drink had somehow grown in intensity too.
Oh, good! This just tastes better and better each sip I take. Twilight thought back to the first few tastes; the drink tasted much better now and she welcomed back the flurry of senses that the drink brought to her. Good, now I can see everything though that kaleidoscope sight again.
The flowers on the stage started growing, snaking up and intertwining in intricate patterns. They weaved in and out rapidly, slowly making the outlines of various animals. Twilight could recognize a turtle, a fowl and a feline. She leaned comfortably on Celestia’s shoulder, grinning and staring at Trixie’s magic tricks.
Maybe I should try doing some of them too… I wonder how she’s doing it? Twilight cast her magic senses out. Unicorns could feel each other’s magic if they were standing quite close together and were concentrating hard enough, but Twilight, having more magical finesse and sensitivity than most, could ‘see’ the flow of the showmare’s magic much more easily.
The spell Trixie was using Twilight recognized quickly enough – it was an illusion spell, targeted for the eyes, as Twilight had guessed, but she couldn’t be completely sure she was right until she actually sensed it.
I should be able to duplicate that easily enough… it’s just like the spells I already know, just changing the images and controlling them more delicately. She used one that was for both sight and hearing – that’s much more complicated but I’ve done it before…
She absentmindedly made a small projection of a feather, brushing it against her hoof but it went through, being only a projection. I should be able to add the sense of touch to this. She noticed Luna turning to look at her, and quickly let the feather disperse with a sheepish grin. Luna returned the grin, slowly reaching out a hoof.
What’s she doing? Twilight barely kept herself from starting as Luna brushed her hoof with her own, smiling gently before pulling away and turning back to look at the stage, a faint blush on her cheeks.
What was that about? Twilight did a mental shrug. Maybe she wants a feather too – Urgh, why do I keep thinking about feathers? A small pocket of thought interrupted her current line of thinking.
No – you keep thinking about feathers, but you don’t actually do anything about it!
Twilight took another deep drink. It all seemed quite clear that she should actually start doing something about it. The hard, metallic taste was everywhere now – spread throughout her body, making her eyesight go neon; there was a pounding in her head and her ears, accompanied with the feeling of vertigo, twisting everything like the room was slowly spinning around her.
Then with a sharp prickling sensation behind her eyes the world righted itself. Trixie was now pulling out a large, black top hat, and Twilight watched closely as the magician reached inside, groped around, finally pulling out a rabbit.
Trixie lit her horn and the rabbit started growing larger and larger – was it even a rabbit anymore? Twilight heard Fluttershy squeak, and she quickly cast her magical senses to Trixie’s spell. The rabbit was an illusion too, but what was disturbing was what it was transforming into: a beast, large and menacing, with stars dotting its transparent-blue coat.
The Ursa Minor barred its teeth and snarled, pulling up a claw before smashing it hard down on the stage. The surface was torn with a huge wrenching sound, while splinters whizzed out. The beast stomped forward, roaring so loudly it shook the room.
Twilight felt a wave of vertigo descending; the sound was just deafening, magnified in strange ways that resonated back and forth in her skull. It became quieter as the dizziness fell away, replaced by Princess Celestia’s voice: “Twilight, are you feeling alright?”
Twilight blinked slowly. “Y-yes? It got so loud all of a sudden, then it was normal again, like just now, no I mean just a few seconds ago…”
Celestia nodded, still concerned. “Tell me if you’re feeling unwell, all right? It is your first time drinking after all…”
“I feel perfectly fine, Princess.” She nodded slowly. What did she mean, first time drinking…? Celestia leaned down and gave her a quick nuzzle, brushing her with her feathers, and Twilight giggled. They feel so nice… how can I ever get them?
Meanwhile the Ursa Minor kept stomping, and tore a large chunk out the wall. The chunk started to change color, growing a claw, then two, elongating and transforming into a second Ursa Minor that was slightly smaller in stature.
The first Ursa Minor looked at the second with a growl - a deep guttural sound - and lifted a claw, swiping heavily at the second. The second ducked down and roared, lunging forward at the first.
The two beasts pushed against each other, roaring, a crushing sound emanating from the floor as they threw themselves into an Ursa Minor wrestling match. Twilight looked on, quite impressed by Trixie’s magic illusions, but her mind kept drifting back to Celestia’s feathers.
Maybe… I can just get them sneakily. Twilight peeked at Celestia’s wings, wiggling a bit and lifting her hoof slightly. I should prod her right here, shouldn’t I? She inched her hoof forward, but stopped. This is not going to help me, am I crazy?
On stage, the two massive bears were still fighting. The first managed to push back the smaller beast, and roared triumphantly as the second lost its balance and fell to the floor with a huge thud. It launched itself down, tackling the second, which mustered its remaining strength and dodged to the side. The first Ursa Minor overshot and smashed into the floor, while the second rose and pushed it down on the ground, waving a paw and making a sound like it was laughing.
Darkness then descended, as Trixie used a spell to project heavy rain clouds and mist, drifting over the stage and shrouding the two Ursa Minors. They seemed to become one with the dark mist, growing more and more transparent before finally fading away into the clouds.
There was the rumble of thunder, then rain, though Twilight confirmed that it was still only an illusion by examining Trixie’s spells again with her magical senses.
“That was really awesome!” Twilight could hear Rainbow Dash saying, and Applejack voicing her agreement while trying to console a whimpering Fluttershy. The sounds were growing further and further away from her though as she took a few more drinks out of her glass, and she was back in the multicolored sight-and-sound-scape.
I like it like this… when the sound waves are so slow and nice. Music played itself in her ears of their own accord, and the ground was tilting up to meet her even though she was not moving, like she was on a seesaw. She was in control of her body, and yet she was not; it was like seeing through another pair of eyes, and everything sorted itself out, all thoughts and reason just drifted past like peaceful clouds in the sky.
The volume of the haphazard music in her head increased, and she was sure it was something that was making itself up as it went, not a melody she had ever heard before. So I’ve got music talent too, I never knew! Now if I could only remember some of this and write it down so I can duplicate it… oh, I can ask Pinkie Pie to play it out, she can play so many instruments! I wonder if she can read musical notation though…
Trixie’s storm clouds slowly subsided but the mist remained and grew heavy, hiding the showmare from her audience. There was a faint humming sound, and flashes in the mist, before several Trixies broke through it.
Twilight blinked a few times. No, she definitely wasn’t imagining it, Trixie had somehow managed to replicate herself, and they were all prancing around and they were all of different hues… The dozen or so Trixies changed in color and back again, though Twilight felt through her magic that Trixie wasn’t using a color change spell at all – that was strange, but she was seeing it. Maybe it’s a spell I can’t sense… but that’s pretty impossible, ‘cuz I know what a color change spell feels like.
A few of the Trixies strode to the poles lining the stage and started dancing around them, twirling and swaying. The others lined in the center in a formation before joining in the dancing, and Twilight could sense that the one in the very middle was the real Trixie. Some of the copies started floating up into the air as they danced, doing a few aerobatic flips as they rose.
As Twilight watched the performance, she had the rush of swirling color in her vision again and again, and she drained her glass. Once in a while she would have an urgent need to jiggle a hoof, or scratch her mane, but those urges passed quickly. This is probably what Pinkie feels most of the time, she mused.
Well, if Pinkie could think as well as do crazy things most of the time, why couldn’t she? This could be the chance to… get the feathers! There was no stopping it, some hidden part of her seemed to be against the idea, but its voice was too far away.
Trixie was still going on with her show with the illusions, and Twilight did a quick search of which was the real pony. I’ll probably need to cause a distraction if I want to draw away Princess Celestia’s attention…
She’d wondered already why she was so fixated on getting the feathers, but the flashing lights in her head were urging her on, and her mind and her body seemed to be listening only to themselves. Where’d all this bravado come from anyway? It must have already been in me all along… though I guess it was the wonderful tasting drink that helped me find it. Now, what to do?
Twilight scanned the stage again; the real Trixie was floating up, joining the rest of the illusionary copies of herself. Self levitating? That’s pretty advanced! Hmm, but I can use this to my advantage. I could teleport on the stage, or I could make an explosion. I can even create more illusions then have them all pretend to attack Trixie, and then everypony will be distracted…
Options, some wilder than the rest, kept popping up in her mind; it seemed her thinking speed was much faster than usual, though jumpy and most certainly not following the same line of logic all of the time.
Oh, that’s right… I should just make her fall! It’s fancier. Yeah, fancy.
The decision she made at this point was like jumping off a cliff – there was no going back, even though she hadn’t done anything yet. She couldn’t stop herself, and she had to find some way to use up all that bravado, right?
Everything’s logical. The Princess will be distracted, and I can obtain what I want. She lit her horn, spreading her magic over to where Trixie was floating – and yanked on her tail. Hard.
Time seemed to slow – it was only a matter of a few seconds though it felt like much longer to Twilight.
Trixie fell, and didn’t realize what was happening till she hit the floor. None of the others knew what was going on, perhaps except for Celestia and Luna. Fluttershy was the first to react – she flapped her wings and flew onto the stage with a quiet “Are you alright…?” The others followed the yellow pegasus; only Twilight, Celestia and Luna were left behind.
No, it wasn’t supposed to work like this – why did I even do that in the first place? Twilight's mind felt blank, and it was getting blanker by the second. And why was she so calm?
“Luna, please make sure Trixie is fine.” Celestia looked down at Twilight, and Twilight was unable to make out her mentor’s expression – was Princess Celestia actually smiling? Or was she frowning? The world lurched and she couldn’t keep her balance, one of her hoofs went limp under her and the floor came up to meet her.