That sheepish, shame-ridden reaction of hers was enough to make me consider getting to Ponyville some way else.
If there was another way to consider.
Trixie was now much less eager to take my money, or talk to me in general. Her magic wrapped around the edges of the door and prepared to slam it on me at a moment's notice.
“Wait!” I jumped forward, barely moving an inch with the bag of bits in my hand. “I don’t care about whatever you did in Ponyville right now. Please, just take this—” I offered the bag, hands trembling for the few seconds I had my arms outstretched before they fell. Luckily, Trixie caught it in her magic with only a slight flinch. “And get me to Ponyville.”
“Hm.” She eyed the bag, loosening the band and peeking inside. Her jaw unhinged as she stared, shaking it in her magic for seemingly no reason other than to hear it jingle. “You must be quite desperate to get to Ponyville. Trixie just paid for a powerful artifact with a bag half this size.” She casually floated it into the wagon, a thumping sound following as she set it on something and opened the door. “Trixie assumes it is also hush money so she does not ask why you are paying so much for a simple trip?”
I held my tongue.
It didn’t feel right not telling her about the danger she’d be walking into by taking me there, even if she was going to Ponyville with or without me, according to Brash. Then again, if I told her there were changelings in Ponyville, that might be more than enough to convince her not to take me no matter how much money I had.
She ran away from the Ursa Minor, why not this?
“Yes.” I responded slowly. I would just warn her when we get closer so she can drop me off instead of going in herself; one of the only benefits of being as small as I am is that I’m relatively fast. By myself, I should be able to get into Ponyville once I’m on the outskirts.
Hopefully.
“Then, we shall be off; just as soon as Trixie gets out of this suit her father left for her.”
Trixie began undoing the tie of her suit with magic as she entered her carriage, gesturing for me to follow. In a few tentative steps, I was inside and immediately shuddered as an aura of heat washed over me. It was a huge contrast to the bitter chill of the night air, which my hoodie helped against. Now, with the warmth, it was more of a slight nuisance. The inner linings'
softness didn’t mesh very well with heat.
Trixie was half-naked when I saw her next, the suit hanging off a random nightstand that sat between a bed and a large chest.
A different kind of heat rushed to my face as I tore my eyes away, forced to keep her on the edges of vision of how small the inside of the wagon really was. All of Trixie’s belongings were visible and laid out, from the few sets of clothes she wore to her toothbrush sitting in a cup. There was barely any room to walk, so much as sit.
How could someone live like this?
“Ah, finally; my apparel!” With a last tug of her pants, Trixie swung around to face me; newly adorned cape flapping behind her. She was wearing a different suit now, this one the typical black and white without an overshirt. It ended in a long-skirt that went down to her knees, and two extremely large boots that gave Trixie more than a few inches to her height.
Despite being black and white, this suit was somehow much more flashy than her other one. Maybe that was just Trixie.
“Now, feel free to make yourself at home in Trixie’s wagon. Trixie has her attire, her greatness, and her wand.” Trixie nodded her head, eyes darting up to her horn as she made her way to the door, just barely scraping past me. “Unless there was anything else Trixie needed to know?”
“Uhm,” I climbed up to the bed, fitting perfectly in it. While that’s nice for me, that meant Trixie was somehow sleeping in a bed half her size. I placed my hands on my lap as I met her waiting gaze, unable to meet it. “Not really.”
“Then Trixie shall begin her trek. This time,” the singular pillow Trixie’s bed had wiggled, something small and black flying out from under it towards her. I couldn’t get a good look at it until she put it around her neck, standing out with a dark black in contrast to her sparkled cape and hat. It was an amulet of some kind, the necklace part made with a dark black material that resembled a collar more than anything else. A little pony head at the top with a horn poked out, the edges were red and black wings that I think were also meant to be the ponies.
A red gem in the center stood out; so shiny light reflected off of it in a sort of sheen when the back of it connected to her cape. For a second, I thought I saw a tinge of red in Trixie’s eyes. But at a second glance, there was nothing there that I could see.
“With a very expensive boost. Now then, Trixie will be just outside the front window should you be in need of her services. Just don’t touch anything in here peanut butter flavored, and we shall get along greatly.”
She didn’t give me the chance to respond, shutting the door behind her with a thud. Trixie’s hoofsteps were clear and loud, in spite of the chorus of crickets outside. So was her grunting as she got to the front, along with the sensation of the wagon picking up and moving forward. Slowly, at first; a snail’s pace.
Following the sound of a spell being cast from just outside the wagon, that changed immediately. The uptick in speed actually knocked me on my side, leaving me laying down on the stiff bed. It was hard to tell without seeing outside, but I think we were going even faster than the chariot was.
Half a minute passed where I just stayed there on my side, adjusting to the turbulence of the wagon. I really wanted to just fall asleep, to get as much rest as I could before getting to Ponyville. As refreshing as that would be, I couldn’t risk Trixie getting on the outskirts while I was asleep and getting ambushed by changelings. Then this would all be pointless, and I’d be responsible for another ponies death
With a groan, I ignored the heaviness of my body and sat up, clutching the backpack to my chest. The emptiness in my stomach made itself known, annoying me with its existence. The cupcake should still be in my inventory, warm and brimming with caramel sweetness.
My stomach churned, a sourness reached up from my throat and filled the inside of my cheeks.
“Water it is, then.” I murmured to myself as I reached into my backpack, choosing instead one of the handful of bottles that had been sitting in there. They came with the backpack, and so stayed cold in there for as long as they stayed as per the nature of a pocket dimension inventory.
I didn’t think I was that thirsty before taking my first sip, then it was impossible to stop myself until all the water was down my gullet. My breathing got noticeably heavier as I held the crumpled bottle, catching it relatively quickly as I decided to get off the bed.
I just as swiftly ended up on the ground. Clearly, I underestimated how fast Trixie was going. A dull pain throbbed in my backside as I sat there, getting back to my feet with trembling legs and knees I didn’t trust not to buckle out from under me. I held onto whatever I could as I made my way to the window inside the wagon, leaning on a counter and pushing it open.
The sharp wind pricked my face with thousands of miniscule needles, blowing my hair back with just as much abrupt force. Trixie was speeding down a pathway, making turns and drifting with incredible ease. The wagon was connected around her waist, and with an aura that covered every inch of her body, she barreled towards Ponyville with no visible strain.
While the air stung my eyes, I could still make out the oddities of Trixie appearance. To my understanding, and from what I’ve read, a unicorn’s magical aura does not change color. Yet, Trixie’s was starting to. A crimson red had tainted the edges of her magic, including the wisp of it on her horn. It was still mostly pink, just the ends of it were darker and it was spreading.
Her cape too had started changing color. Like her magic, it was just the corners. Unlike her magic, it wasn’t red but black. Most of it had stayed purple and speckled with glitter in the center, with the parts around her neck fading to a black cutting off whatever stars that were there. In fact, I think it was starting right where the amulet connected to her cape.
Was it because of the artifact? Was it doing something to her?
“T-trixie.” Right as I tried to speak we hit a corner, and I had to clutch onto something as I clenched my teeth together so tightly it was painful. Those few seconds of silence as the wagon dragged against the dirt were rigid. I could make out a few of the words she muttered under her breath. Something along the lines of ‘Twilight’ and ‘recompense’.
That didn’t exactly instill confidence.
“C-can you slow down?”
“What?” Trixie yelled as she did just that, glancing back at me with a half-sneer. “Oh, you. Yes, Trixie can abide by your request.”
Instead of sprinting full force, she paced it to a more speedy-jog. We were still going fairly fast, but I wasn’t at risk of tumbling on the floor with each turn or second I wasn’t holding on to something. Trixie wasn’t even breathing heavily, fixing her cape and readjusting the tongue of the wagon.
“Trixie has an admittedly offensive sounding question. Assuming you don’t prefer the uncomfortable silence and lullaby of the crickets?”
The cricket didn’t sound like they cared either way.
“I,” It was going to be something I couldn’t answer. There were so many things that made me suspicious, from the hoodie I was wearing to how I just showed up in the middle of the night knowing exactly where she was. I could say no, of course. If I wanted to be more suspicious.
“Sure.”
“What are you?”
Ok, that wasn’t even on the list.
“What do you mean?”
“Trixie has been traveling Equestria ever since her and Celestia’s School Board had a disagreement about ‘closed note testing’. As a magician, she’s been just about everywhere and seen griffons, yak’s, goats, even a dragon on one occasion. You, however,” She peered over her shoulders at me, eyes falling to my body for a second before back up to my face. “Are new. And tiny. What species are you?”
“Oh.” It’d been months since someone had asked me that. Now that it’s in mind, none of the ponies in Canterlot seemed to care that I was a different species. Canterlot must have gotten a lot of foreign visitors and they’d become desensitized to new species, or Celestia just instructed them to act casual around me?
Whatever the case, it made me feel awkward. I raised my hoodie, triple checking that my ears were tucked inside.
“I’m a human. I came from The Everfree Forest a month ago and I’ve been living in Ponyville since. Well,” I poked my head out of the window, trying to crane my eyes around and see how far Canterlot is by now. I couldn’t bend my neck enough to see it. “Until recently.”
“A month ago? So, you weren’t there then when I was during,” She paused, her back tensing up as she shuddered. “The incident. How did you hear about it?”
I was reluctant to continue, seeing all the signs of how much talking about it bothered her: hiding her face under her hat, keeping her arms tightly against her sides, the way her hooves began to drag.
Of course, I was worse at changing the subject than I was at lying.
“My partner told me about it. Do you mind if I ask…”
The wagon had come to an almost complete stop as Trixie scraped her hooves against the dirt, whispering something just under her breath. With every mutter uttered, the crimson teetering on just the edge of her magic spread further in. More and more of her cape faded to a black so poignant it would have been hard to make out in the night had it not been moving.
I choked on the air in my lungs as the shadows of her cape seemed to reach out to me, grasping me by my throat and squeezing it with an unfathomable, phantom strength. I tried to stop it by grabbing the wrist, only for my hands to phase through.
I couldn’t breathe.
My hands were sticky.
Is this where this loop would end? Strangled by the ebony limbs of nothingness? I tried to struggle, lifted off the ground by its strength; or maybe I was just that small. Like the oxygen in my lungs, warmth began to sap out of my body. The corners of my vision slick with the same darkness that was draining it.
“What happened?”
For whatever reason, those last words of a now pointless question caused them to vanish. The soles of my feet hit the bottom of the wagon as I drew in as much air as I could, just for it to be too much as I went into a coughing fit.
“Oh, I am more than happy to tell you what happened.”
Which Trixie didn’t even notice.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie was on her tour of Equestria, showing off her proficiency for magic that no other unicorn has dared try. Yet this backwards town Ponyville could not stand her well-deserved flaunting, and gave Trixie the worst encore she’d ever received.”
Trixie began walking again, albeit with much more force as she was literally kicking up dust with each step. The crimson wasn’t spreading anymore, nor was the cape fading; though the parts that had turned black were staying that way.
“And, yes, Trixie may have told a fib that she did something she actually hadn’t; she’d done that in a thousand towns before! None of which decided to go out and actually get an Ursa Minor just to call Trixie’s bluff! Snips and Snails must share the same brain-cell to have come up with something so amazingly asinine.”
“Snips and Snails?” Those names, if that’s what they were, didn’t sound familiar at all. “Dark didn—”
“Once the dust of the Ursa settled, they blamed Trixie for the whole ordeal. Kicking her out and spreading the same lies they conjure for herself. Now, everywhere Trixie goes she must deal with these accusations spurred by the foul mouth of Celestia’s star pupil!” Trixie stomped on the ground, the aura around her horn now completely crimson. “Twilight Sparkle. The bane of my existence.”
“That,” Trixie’s seething voice held with a spiteful resolve, holding her chin up in an unblinking stare against the sky itself. I could practically see the tension in her muscles as she moved, half of face in a scowl. “Doesn’t sound like Twilight.”
There was no mistaking it, no playing it off as the moonlight or just blurry vision; her pupils had turned crimson. The white of her eyes stayed that color, fortunately. Like steam from a fresh bowl of soup, a wispiness hovered from her eyes that matched her pupils.
I didn’t know what I was seeing, and that’s what made it scarier than the shadows.
“I’m sure she’s normally on her best behavior since her precious mentor may always be watching.” She responded in a mocking tone, sticking out her tongue like just parodying Twilight disgusted her. “You’ll see once we get to Ponyville what she’s really like. Then, Trixie will defeat her in a magic duel, and bequeath herself the greatest unicorn that’s ever lived! If I can beat The Princess’ best student, who could possibly be better!”
“You’re,” I took slow, quiet steps back as I grabbed my backpack off the ground. Leaning over the window and holding on to it. “Going to kill her?”
“What? No!” She swung around to face me, the crimson vanishing from her eyes and horn. “I don’t want to kill her; what would be the point of that? How could I watch her live with the shame of defeat if she’s just a corpse? No, I’m going to beat her at her own game and leave that trashy nowhereville and its residents in the dust of my magical prowess.” She flicked her cape, which she had somehow failed to see was now half a different color, as Trixie drifted around another corner. Keeping an eye on her shoulder. “I hope Trixie’s plans do not interfere with yours for Ponyville.”
“Not exactly. I—” Is that really how things went down? It’s not like I ever asked Twilight or any of the others about it after Dark told me, who wasn’t even there when it happened. None of that sounded like something they’d do.
Then again, I’d known them for maybe a month. Dark wasn’t even really there for it, he only heard what everyone else did about what happened. Would Twilight really do that? Throw somepony out of the town because of something she did on accident?
I wanted to say no, almost desperately. But I couldn’t say yes with as much confidence as I’d like.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Wonderful.”
If she just wanted to challenge Twilight to a duel, then I wasn’t going to try to stop her. What choice did I have, really? Trixie was already going to Ponyville with or without me, meaning all I could do was go with her and try to stop the changelings from attacking. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop her. I knew firsthand how irrational the desire for revenge is, and I was already bad with words.
Besides, Twilight’s the best unicorn I know when it comes to magic. If she could handle the Ursa Minor and Trixie couldn’t, then she shouldn’t be able to beat Twilight.
If it wasn’t for that amulet, that thought would have been reassuring.
My hands were still trembling from the lingering sensation of that limb-like magic around my neck. She hadn’t been looking at me when she did that; leading me to believe it wasn’t even intentional. Something about that amulet must have been granting her some kind of power, flaring up whenever she was angry or just emotional. Any more discussion about the Ursa Minor incident was off the table if I wanted to keep breathing.
I fiddled with my sleeves, waiting for Trixie to say something else. I kept expecting more questions about being a human, or how Twilight had been in a mocking way. To my relief, she didn’t say anything else. Seemingly content to just chug along towards Ponyville without another word on the subject.
I certainly wasn’t going to break the silence.
I propped my head on my hand, gazing up at the night sky I’d become so familiar with. The moon was full, shining brightly and illuminating the path we were taking so well I’d almost think Luna herself was guiding us.
My attention drifted to the stars, and inevitably constellations. I recalled my date with Dark, and how he spent most of the night showing me each one. It was a lot harder to make them out without the telescope, nevertheless I managed. With my offhand, I drew an invisible line connecting them; it helped to picture the images. I could see The Big Dipper, then The Little Dipper by proxy.
Inevitably, I found the Ursa Major and Minor. I didn’t notice it the first time, but it was a very motherly depiction. With the Minor hiding right under the Major, who was much larger and took up a good chunk of stars. I guess it’s a good thing that it was an Ursa Minor and not an Ursa Major that came to Ponyville.
In retrospect, Starboy is a terrible nickname. Especially for a first date. I haven’t had a chance to read any more romance books since then due to, well, everything. Even so, I’d wager none of them involved giving nicknames on a first date, nor would any of them include it being so forced. A lot of that first date was forced. Heck, it even being a date was something I ended up making it into.
The newspaper from earlier flashed in mind, like a reminder that my next meeting with him wasn’t going to just be pleasantries. Should I show him it, or just try to tell him? That’s what he asked me to do, but I don’t really understand what it meant. Mayb—
We’d entered Whitetail Woods.
I was so concentrated on daydreaming I didn’t see that more and more of the trees had become birch instead of oak until one passed by in my periphery.
“Trixe!” I scream-whispered, hoping not to notify any of the sentries that were lurking in the trees. It was a miracle they hadn’t attacked us already. “There’s something I need to warn you about. We—”
“We’re just outside of Ponyville and you wish to convince Trixie to not humiliate your friend. Yes, yes, I know.”
“No! There’s ch—”
It was too late.
I spotted that gut-wrenching familiar green flash, then a whistling as a spell was shot off. The entire wagon rocked as it was hit with something, knocked on its side along with everything in it; including me.
I screamed as I was slammed into the wall, a throbbing pain hit the entire left side of my body with an agonizing thud. Everything Trixie owned came crashing down onto what was now the ground, including me. Pots, pans, and Trixie’s bed buried me, just not in that order. The bed hit me first, being relatively soft and taking the brunt of it.
I couldn’t hear anything for a few moments, the headache and agony in my ribs pulsated so loudly no other sound carried through. I dug my way out of the pile of Trixie’s possessions, then out of the front window of the wagon where I expected to see Trixie already knocked out.
In place of that, two black bug-like creatures were on the ground. Resembling Chrysalis quite a bit, just much smaller in all aspects including their horns. Trixie stood over them, breathing heavily with scorch marks in the ground that had turned patches of grass black.
“A-Are these,” she looked between them and me, horn staying a lit and steaming. “Changelings?”
“Yes. There’s going to be more of them.” I got to my feet, one hand on side as I checked how many of my ribs hadn’t broken. As far as I can tell, none of them. “They’re all in these woods and plan on invading Ponyville this morning.”
I stared at my right hand, palm open as I contemplated summoning my knife. Celestia fixed me, I should be able to do it now. Just like with the diamond dogs.
Just like with them…
Despite being cold out, my hands felt warm.
“What? Ponyville’s under—then how can Trixie?” She stopped, narrowing her eyes as her jaw went slack. “You knew there were changelings lying in wait, yet you didn’t warn me? Are you a changeling?”
Her chin dropped to her chest, horn sparking as that crimson aura leaked from the edges of her eyes. I recognized that burning leer, that emotion so potent it made her pupils shake. The way she dug her hooves into the ground, entire body coiling as she waited for me to make one wrong move.
I was seconds away from being as charred as the ground just a few feet away from me.
“No, no! I promise, I’m not a changeling. I—” I desperately tried to come up with a way to prove I wasn’t a changeling. In my ferver, one of the times Brash was searching my room came to mind. “You can look in my eyes. With changelings, your reflection is upside down. Please, give me the chance.”
“Hmm.” Trixie stared at me for far too long. Raising her head with each syllable until the magic around her horn vanished with a pop. “Trixie does recall reading something along those lines during her studies. Very well, Trixie will give you the pleasure of staring into her endlessly beautiful eyes. Just,” she pointed a hand at me. “Stay where you are. If she thinks for a moment that this is a trick, Trixie will make sure you join your potential friends.”
She gestured to the changelings, who were still twitching.
“Of course.”
I couldn’t hide how terrified I was of Trixie at the moment. The gleam from the red gem in the center of her necklace burned my eyes, telling me to get as far away from it as I could. There was something deeply wrong about it, yet I couldn’t look away.
Trixie trotted up to me, standing just a few inches away as she leaned in. I got that strange discomfort in my brain to look away from her eyes as she peered into mine, having to chew on my tongue to keep myself from doing so. I clenched my fist, gritting my teeth with so much force they began to creak.
“Well, Trixie’s reflection appears as gorgeous and un-upside down as she last saw it.” Trixie straightened her posture, taking a few steps away from me. I let out a sigh of relief as I let the tension ebb its way out of my body, a sharp pain in my palm as I’d apparently dug my nails in it too tightly. “However, that doesn’t explain why you decided to leave Trixie in the dark while she was…in the dark. A bag of bits or not, Trixie needs to be informed if you’re paying her to put her life in danger.”
“I tried to earlier.” I leaned against the tipped over wagon, watching the darkness in the treeline for any kind of movement. “They attacked right as I was. I should have told you sooner, I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you should have. Had Trixie known Ponyville had a bug infestation, she would ha—”
A whistle, then another green flash blasted out of the woods; this one shaped somewhat like a spear. Trixie reacted sooner than I did, pivoting and waving her head as she cast a counter-spell. A veil of see-through magic appeared in front of us, cutting off the transparent spear as it rammed into it and dispersed into the air.
I didn’t even feel the force behind it, so completely stopped by the glass-like shield it might as well have not been cast. It stayed afloat as the changelings came out of the forest, at least a handful of them from the side we were facing.
“Never mind. Can you defend yourself, or must Trixie play babysitter as well as escort?”
“N-No, I can.” I pushed myself off the wagon, glancing down at my open palm. It trembled as the image of that vorpal knife, as red as the blood it was last covered in, hovered in closer as I took in the painfully cold air.
I hated doing this again. So much.
Once the knife was in my hand, I waited for that inevitable sticky sensation of ichor leaking out of my eyes and dripping down my chin. To throb with that sickening power that pulsated with my heartbeat.
It never came.
I reached up, feeling dryness and a total lack of liquid flowers decorating my face. There wasn’t any blood or buttercup residue, just my face.
“A conjurer?” Trixie commented as she took her eyes off of the changelings for just a second. “Trixie hasn’t encountered one of those for quite a while. How fortuitous.”
The changelings took that moment to pounce on her, thinking she had dropped her guard for that precious second. To both of our surprise, she was waiting for it.
Trixie snapped her head to one of the changelings, wrapping it in her magic and slamming it into the other one. They tumbled to the ground, hissing as their horns lit up to cast a spell, only to be blasted with a wave of purple and red magic. They made some sort of wheezing noise as it crackled across their bodies, scorching their already black carapaces and the ground beneath them.
Soon they stopped moving entirely, going limp as visible steam evaporated off their body. The blue light in their eyes faded to an empty gray.
Before I had the chance to so much as speak, there was the sound of grass crunching and a branch snapping as another changeling—this one alone from what I could see — stepped out from the sect of trees behind us. It immediately lit up its horn, a green light that morphed into a small, spiky ball. The changeling raised its head, bringing the ball with it as it dropped and threw it towards me, spiking with a visceral energy.
I thought about jumping out of the way, and my body listened with much more complacency than it had before. In fact, after summoning the knife this odd numbness began to spread from my hand to the rest of my body. Weirdly, I could still feel every sensation where it reached, except for weight. It was like every pound had vanished, creating this lightness that took next to no effort to move.
It was such a bizarre feeling, being disconnected from my body in such a manner. But, it meant I could move fast. Faster than I was able to normally.
Unfortunately, moving fast didn’t mean stopping the spell that the changeling threw at me.
It hit Trixie’s wagon, lighting it ablaze with a green flame that spread faster than any fire I’d seen before. Trixie screamed, casting a spell that covered the entire wagon, placing small wall-like objects where the flames had yet to reach. A torrent of magic came from her horn, spraying the wagon like a fire-hose.
I couldn’t watch anymore as the changeling moved closer to me, another green flash as it cast a spell.
Without thinking I leaped forward, swiping at its neck with the knife. I heard that accursed noise of hitting something, then the ding of gaining EXP. It might have been in my mind, or it might have been another cruel joke by whatever deity put me here in the first place, but it rang as clear as day.
I swallowed the bile in the back of my throat as it chimed in my ears.
The changeling’s head was separated from its neck for a second before falling back on it, tilted by a few inches as blood began to leak from that cut, a luminescent green compared to the red I was used to seeing. Then, they just…collapsed, twitching on the ground as a pool of blood gathered under the head that’d landed a few inches away. The wings buzzed, as if the body was still trying to get away from the threat, not realizing it was already dead.
Some part of me kept waiting for it to turn into dust. Even after what happened with The Diamond Dogs, those years of slaughter had conditioned me to expect every corpse would turn into specks bound to be blown away in the wind.
Then came that ding. That sound indicating that I’d level’d up.
I wanted to scream.
“My wagon!” I heard Trixie cry from behind me, her usual confidence replaced with utter dismay.
I pursed my lips together to a painful extent, breathing as loudly as I could through my nostrils just to drown out the sound of my own riveting heartbeat. It didn’t work, my organs were louder. They always were.
I dragged my feet as I moved to face her, eyes darting to the treeline for any more changelings as adrenaline painfully coursed through me.
“Trixie.” My voice was quiet, more because I didn’t want to break into a sob than because I didn’t want the changelings to hear me. “There’s more of them. A lot more. We have to get to Ponyville so we c—”
“Do not tell me what to do!”
Her eyes flashed red, this time lasting much longer. I took a step back, clenching the handle of my knife as I held it to my side.
Trixie stayed on her knees in front of her burnt wagon, a tear going down her check as the red aura coming from her eyes flared up.
“Is their queen here? The queen of the changelings who ruined Trixie’s chance at retribution and nearly her precious carriage and home?”
Trixie’s words quivered with held back anger, her hands digging in the dirt as she grimaced. It was nigh tangible how much rage she was holding on to, and visible with most of her cape now being black and hardly any purple left in her magic.
“Yes.” it was a struggle not to bump into the changeling just behind me. Its blood must have started seeping into the grass by now, no longer spreading. Hopefully. “She’s in a cave in the woods.”
“Good.” Trixie got to her hooves, adjusting her hat and pulling her cape tighter. “Take Trixie there. This is an opportunity; if Trixie can defeat the queen, a feat even Celestia herself could not accomplish, then she will become Ponyville’s hero. Leaving Twilight forgotten in her great and powerful shadow! With this amulet,” She touched the gem as it shined brightly, corroding any last color in her cape that wasn’t black. “Trixie can do anything.”
She could. I could feel it.
It was petrifying. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, out of fear that the wrong sentence would direct that power in my direction. Especially considering I couldn’t take her to Chrysalis, as much as I wanted to. We were in a completely different part of The Whitetail Woods, and Ponyville wasn’t anywhere in sight. In the last loop, we must have landed on the other side of the forest or something.
“Hmm,” I couldn’t tell her that, of course. I don’t know what she’ll do. I have to lie and hope she won’t catch me in it. “Ok. It’s,” I scanned the treeline once more, internally begging for something to be familiar.
None of it was. I had no idea where we were.
“This way. It’s far though.” I pointed in a random direction.
“That’s a trivial tribulation for Trixie.”
There was no chance we’d run into the cave by accident, not on the other side of the forest. My hope was that we’d either kill enough changelings on the way there, or at least get Chrysalis’ attention and deal with her directly.
The problem was I had no idea what would happen even if Trixie does manage to defeat Chrysalis. Will all the other changelings just flee back to their home, or are there other queens? If not, would one of them take up her mantle? Will we have to kill all of them?
I had this yearning to check my level, just to see how much L.O.V.E. I’d gained off that single changeling; how close was I to leveling up again?
It was so quiet in the woods without any animals. The crickets had long gone silent, and every other nighttime noise was absent. I wanted to hear something, a crunch of a branch or chirp of a bird; some sign that the changelings hadn’t completely sapped the life out of this place.
Fluttershy’s heart would break.
“So, Trixie has to ask,” Trixie stayed just behind me, following in my steps with little more than her lit horn and my glowing dagger to light our way. “Why a knife?”
I should have expected that question. I’m sure it’s one Twilight’s wanted to ask countless times.
“I don’t know.” The lie came out of my mouth with a painful tingle, holding it out in front of me like a lantern. “I have amnesia from before The Everfree.”
“Is that right?” Trixie cleared her throat, her hooves shuffling as she quickened her pace. “That must be convenient for certain questions.”
“Not really. It’s,” I couldn’t hide my voice cracking, struck by the tinge of doubt in Trixie’s tone. As I fumbled to come up with something, the bushes ended and we found ourselves in a sort of clearing. Like the pathway to Ponyville, it was well lit in the moon’s evanescent light.
It was eerily empty, almost unnaturally so. Some of the nearby trees had markings on them, but it was far too dark to make them out.
“Really hard sometimes. Where are we?”
“Not at the cave, from Trixie’s understanding of caves. So she doesn’t see wh—”
A green flash, this one brighter despite being a much darker green, jutted out of the treeline straight towards Trixie. With barely a second to spare, she summoned that magical shield. Except this time it began to crack under the strength of this spell, forcing Trixie to dig her heels in the ground as she skid back in the dirt. Gritting her teeth as she made a trail with her hooves from being pushed back in the dirt.
Her back hit a tree with a yelp, but the shield held; if just barely. It crumbled into magic dust the moment the spell dissipated into the air. Trixie’s arms lay limp at her sides, her neck craned as she sneered in the direction the spell came from.
“Of course, it would be you who’s skulking around the forest and killing my drones.”
That bitter, boisterous voice paired with the crackling of each step. A strange warmth rubbed against my skin, reminiscent of that slimy pod I woke up in. It was sticky, so sticky, spreading to my hands and suffocating me in its pleasantness up to my neck.
Chrysalis stepped out of the woods into the clearing, her chest puffed out and her chin high in complete confidence. Those harlequin eyes of hers stabbed invisible daggers into me, her wide posture and spread wings daring me to make the first move.
To my surprise, no changelings came to her side. Did she come alone? No way, not in a forest full of her changelings. I glanced to my side, peering into the darkness between the trees before spotting exactly what I was afraid of.
A single pair of blue eyes stuck out. Then another. Then dozens opened all around us, every bit of the clearing on its edges had a pair of eyes. In every direction, everywhere I turned.
We were completely surrounded.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Canterlot? And you,” Chrysalis didn’t even give me the time to process her question, shifting her attention to Trixie. “I have no idea who you are. Somehow, this pain in my existence has convinced you to help her foil my plans. And that—” She scowled, dropping her leer to the amulet. “Thing around your neck makes you more than just a nuisance. I will give you one chance to take it off and leave here with your life. Or become food for my servants who you haven’t killed.”
Her crooked horn throbbed with magic, her eyes narrowing into a scowl as her wings began to flutter, gradually lifting her off the ground.
“Your choice.”
I backed away from Chrysalis as far as I could, at least without bumping into one of the changelings waiting for us. Why weren’t they attacking? She must have ordered them specifically to surround us. We didn’t run into any of them after we started our trek, but that might have been intentional.
Whatever the case, it was clear Chrysalis planned on killing me here. Trixie too, if she didn’t leave.
“You haven’t heard of The Great and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie stepped away from the tree, placing a hand on her shoulder as she stretched. She walked towards Chrysalis with matching confidence and swagger. “Then now is the best time for an introduction.”
Trixie widened her stance, digging her hooves into the ground as she took off her hat and doffed it to Chrysalis. It was only for a second as she placed it back on, grabbing her vantablack cape in her magic and letting it flow in the non-present wind.
“I am Trixie Lulamoon; the greatest illusionist spellcaster who’s ever lived! Now, with her expertise at its best, Trixie will be a heroine better than Twilight Sparkle by squashing Ponyville’s infestation!” Trixie spread her arms as the magic from her horn spread to the rest of her body, enrapturing her in a red aura that was so vibrant I could feel it. “So go on and give Trixie your best. It’ll make the tale they sing of her that much more legendary.”
“Oh, is that right?” Chrysalis laughed, tilting her head with a sneer. “How cute. You think that disgusting little trinket giving you a boost with its revolting magic will be enough to defeat me.” She grabbed the lion’s paw that was around her neck, clutching it deeply in between her claw-like fingers. “I’ve been feasting on the love of every creature in this forest, as well as the pony who we’ve already replaced, all in preparation for tomorrow. You’re nothing more than a meal that lacks self-awareness.”
She lifted her head, a whirring noise coming from her horn as the atmosphere in the clearing seemingly got hotter. Green magic thrummed as it gathered at her horn, charging with so much energy the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight.
“Then you’ve bitten off more than you could ever chew.” Trixie retorted, a smug smile taking hold of her face as the red mist from her eyes concentrated in her horn.
Chrysalis’ magic concentrated into a fireball as she flung at Trixie. Slow, but with a temperature hot enough I struggled to breathe just in its presence. Trixie surrounded herself in her magic, then disappeared with a whooshing sound, no trace of her to be seen.
The green fireball hit the tree Trixie had been pressured into, not even burning it. Instead, just searing into the wood and turning straight into ash. A pile of burnt dust sat where the tree did, no wind to blow it away.
“Yes! Trixie’s always wanted to teleport!”
Trixie appeared in a flash on the ground beside Chrysalis, who didn’t give Trixie the opportunity to revel in her magical feat. A beam of magic came straight toward Trixie, who teleported away just as quickly. This time, ending up above Chrysalis a few feet in the air.
“Trixie also always wanted to do,” The red in her pupils grew stronger with every spell she cast. Her horn shined with magic as she summoned some sort of pipe-shaped object, curved with two holes on each end. “This!”
She caught the spell in one of the holes, the entire pipe violently vibrating as it traveled through and shot out the other hole with a schlinking sound. It was sent straight back to its caster, this time faster and pulsating with magic.
Chrysalis’ entire body tightened as she withdrew her wings, plummeting to the ground faster than a rock in water. It was just barely fast enough, with the top of her seaweed-like hair getting singed at the top. A look of absolute despair came over her as she patted the top of her head, finding a small bald spot where her own spell grazed her.
The growl she sent in Trixie’s direction was so hate filled it was feral.
I glimpsed at my dagger, stretching my fingers as I had to remind myself they were there. Chrysalis wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. I needed to help Trixie. Even if she could match her in magical power, I couldn’t risk going through another reset. This is my last idea, I don’t know what to do if this fails.
Besides, I can’t just stand by and do nothing. Not again, not ever again.
I clenched my fist, inching my way forward as I stood on the tips of my feet. Before I could convince myself otherwise, I ran towards Chrysalis, holding my knife the same way I did against the diamond dogs. It was invigorating to finally move with all the energy that charged me, the magic that made me feel alive.
I somehow hated the pleasurable sensation more this time than I did under the farm.
I jumped into the air, bending my wrist and bringing it down onto her. I tried aiming for her wings, getting rid of her ability to fly if nothing else. Unfortunately for me, she was ready for that. Summoning a green shield of her own, though a much smaller one than Trixie did.
I expected my knife to cut through it. After how easily—to my chagrin—it cut through the diamond dogs and their armor, it was hard to imagine it’d have trouble cutting through anything.
So when it bounced off her shield, I was entirely unprepared for it.
The very tip went through, leaving a small gash in the magic, but not nearly enough to break it. A dull, tormenting vibration shook my hand and traveled up my body. The recoil so strong it knocked me right on my back, desperately holding on to the knife. I knew that if I let go of it, even for an instant, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be able to conjure it again.
“That’s it? That’s how you killed the diamond dogs? Ha!” Chrysalis lowered her shield, literally laughing in my face. I tried standing up and getting away from her, but was suddenly caught in a restraint of green magic that captured me in its steel clutch. “I don’t know what’s more pitiable; that I spent so much time arranging for those curs to be on the farm, or that they were so pathetically killed by you!”
In that single second she mocked me, I held my eyes open, well aware what awaited me if I closed them. She flung me across the clearing with such ease, aiming for one of the nearby trees. I managed to adjust myself enough to stab the ground, holding onto the handle as the momentum slowed me down to a complete stop.
The palms of my hands burned from the attempt. I may not be able to feel my weight, but pain was just as visceral.
“Diamond dogs? As in the same diamond dogs Trixie was once the queen of?” Trixie asked as she looked at me. “They’re harmless, why would you—never mind. Trixie doesn’t want to know.”
“You? The queen of diamond dogs?” Chrysalis guffawed even harder, placing a hand over her mouth and then pointing at Trixie. “Trixie Lulamoon, heir to the kingdom of mutts. How fitting for a unicorn who needs a shiny trinket to reach the level of any competent creature with a horn.”
Trixie let out an offended scoff, hand on her chest as she scowled.
“Please, your jabs are as annoying as your spells. You’re just upset that I’ve held the same title that you do. Except over creatures that can think for themselves!”
“Don’t you dare compare yourself to me!” Every single one of Chrysalis’s teeth were visible as she hissed at Trixie, already preparing her next spell. “You have no idea what it's like to be the queen of a starving kingdom, all while you ponies thrive with abundant amounts of love. Your very existence is a joke; one far more insulting than funny!”
A wave of raw magic barreled its way in Trixie’s direction. However, Trixie didn’t teleport away or try to deflect it. She stood her ground, coiling her body as magic centered in her horn. Trixie met Chrysalis’ power with her own, ebbing all of her strength into a blast of blood-red aura.
The pressure when they collided was enough to blow my hair back. If I hadn’t still been holding onto my knife perched in the dirt, I would have gone tumbling right back into the changelings that surrounded us. The bark of the trees started to creak, leaves began to fall as my eyes stung from the cutting edge of the breeze.
“Thanks to this ‘shiny trinket’, Trixie is getting more great and powerful by the second!” As if to prove her claim, Trixie walked forward, leaning her body into the spell. Chrysalis didn’t move an inch, tightening her jaw in strain.
“You petulant fool. Do you have any idea what you’re toying with? You will lose your mind far before you get even a fraction powerful enough to overtake me!” Chrysalis’ took her eyes off Trixie, steering her leer to a seemingly random group of changelings in the dark. “Of course, not that you’ll get that far in the first place.”
She spread her wings, curling her spine forward as her eyes widened. Trixie’s mouth shut as soon as she opened it for some comeback, getting pushed on her knees as Chrysalis’ spell grew in size and color; becoming so bright it was painful to look at directly. It was overpowering Trixie’s magic rapidly. So fast that Trixie had to dash out of the way to avoid it.
The spot Trixie was just standing at was vaporized. Not turned into ash like the tree, but gone. A crater that reached deep enough to hit the rock deep underground was in its place, crackling with a green flame that may never go out.
I got to my feet now that I could, struggling just to regain my balance. Chrysalis didn’t show me her back this time, standing sideways so she can keep both of us in her line of sight. I couldn’t just attack her this time, I needed to wait for Trixie to give me another opportunity.
Assuming there will be one.
Trixie was trying to catch her breath, only for the changelings behind her to end their passivity and tackle her to the ground. To my surprise, they didn’t try to attack her or hurt her in any way. Going for her necklace primarily. Using their magic to try to lift it off her neck, and when that didn’t work, physical grabbing it and trying to lift it off.
It didn’t budge.
Trixie lifted them in her magic, conjuring a purple cylindrical object that was twice her size. A see-through gate began opening, leading to a spinning box which zapped with an electricity-like energy. She threw the changelings inside, closing the gate as the changelings were electrocuted.
“Nice try, but Trixie doesn’t pay top shelf bits for something that can just be stolen off of her. This amulet only comes off when Trixie takes it off, no one else.”
Chrysalis was grimacing. Not at Trixie, but at the two changeling corpses. The queen was trembling, chewing on her tongue as she dared me to make a move.
“Is that right?” She sidestepped to face Trixie, leaning down so much that I could count each vertebra. “That’s fine. Then I’ll simply break it.”
Another spell from her horn, this time with no flash before it. Trixie teleported out of it, ending up on the edge of the treeline once more.
This time, it was a lot more than two changelings that attacked her. There was a deafening buzzing noise as a swarm of them came straight out of the forest at full speed, grouping up and attacking her. She tried to summon a shield, seconds too late as they began to pile onto her. Spurts of red magic would blast a changeling off the pile, only for another to take its spot.
I wanted to help, but Chrysalis had her gaze on me. The second I tried to move, she would blast me. If I tried to help Trixie, I might get caught in the crossfire of her magic and end up just another corpse on the ground.
This was much worse than The Diamond Dogs. I really can’t do anything. I might as well be a specter all over again.
“G-get off me!” They got Trixie to the ground, her head placed on the side against the ground; a familiar black rock placed beside her. The mist was still coming from her eyes, yet no more magic was sparking from her horn. She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, her horn sputtering out small embers of red magic that dissipated as quickly as they spawned.
“I should have brought these out earlier.” Chrysalis picked up the anti-magic rock, tossing it up in the air and catching over and early. “In fact, I shouldn’t have bothered challenging you when I realized you were using dark magic just to stand a chance. Nevertheless, it’s done, and so are you!”
A ray of magic centered on Trixie’s amulet, specifically the gleaming red gem that was in the middle of it. Trixie yelped as if she herself had been hit with the spell, curling up as much as she could with the changelings holding her down. The more the gem began to crack, the less Trixie’s screams were coherent.
Each one was more strained and gut-wrenching, curdling my blood and piercing my very soul. Breaking the gem was torture to Trixie, and Chrysalis was enjoying every second of it. Her smile grew with each yelp, each audible agony that shone through.
I couldn’t watch anymore.
For a second time, I tried attacking her. Taking the widest steps I could as I rushed forward, loosening my grip on my knife as I held it by the edge of the handle. If I threw it, it might get to her fast enough. The question crossed my mind if it was even possible for me to throw it, as Twilight mentioned the moment I stopped touching it it would disappear.
Maybe there would be just enough time before it does wh—
“It’s going for the queen!” One of the changelings shouted, flying away from the dogpile and towards me.
I acted before I had the time to think, bending my knee and pivoting my body in the direction of the changeling as I swung upward. Like with the one before, there was that phantom noise when I hit it, followed by a disgusting squelching noise as the blade cut through its carapace, into its body, and came out the other side.
I didn’t level up this time. At least, there was no noise.
It wasn’t breathing as it landed on me, assuming they did breathe in the first place. They were much lighter than I expected, or that could have been because the hole in its body where some of its organs had fallen out. I could feel its warm blood pooling on my hoodie, while its body slowly lost any semblance of heat and became a cold carcass.
It was dead, and I was feeling its last bits of life leak onto me.
I wanted to cry.
“Stop.”
Trixie’s crying halted as Chrysalis spoke. A single word in a steely tone that froze all of the buzzing of changeling wings. I managed to get the dead changeling off of me, shoving it to the side as I saw that several changelings had surrounded me; none of which were the ones that were holding down Trixie.
Their hexagonal eyes quivered with that same anger Chrysalis had when she was leering at Trixie. Horns lit with a violently vivid light, not killing me only because their queen had commanded them not to.
I could only fear why that is.
“Not yet. I have questions for her. First,” She sharpened her gaze, powering more of her magic. “This must be handled.”
With the sound of glass breaking, and a final shriek from Trixie, the gem broke into pieces; the rest of the amulet following as the gem was what held it together. Trixie fumbled desperately to try to put the pieces back together, like a broken jigsaw puzzle.
“No, no no no.” she whimpered, none of the changelings that held her down before were stopping her from futily attempting to fix the one thing keeping her alive. Eventually, she gave up, glancing up at Chrysalis in abject terror. “Y-you know, Trixie was just doing this because she was paid to. She didn’t wa—”
“You’re pathetic.” Chrysalis nodded at one of the changelings, who hit Trixie with a spell. Seconds later, Trixie stopped moving, having been put to sleep on the ground. “I’ll make sure to take my time feeding on you. And you?”
I groaned as she snapped to me, approaching me with something closer to a march; resolved in whatever she had planned for me.
“You’re a disappointment.” She bent down, lifting my chin with a single claw. I just barely stifled a gag at the touch, jerking away from her as much as I could with my back against the ground. “You know, when I first heard that some mysterious new creature single-handedly killed nearly all of the diamond dogs, there was this sickening sensation in my stomach. I almost didn’t recognize it at first; it took a few moments of rumination to realize what it was.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the changelings begin to drag Trixie off into the woods. Very few were left in the clearing, other than a handful of them that stayed in a circle around me. Not once did their horns stop being lit, blue orbs filled with contempt waiting only for the order.
“It was fear. Just a tiny, obscure little blob of uncertainty that’s been resting in my chest ever since I heard of you. I admit, some part of me expected you’d find your way here anyhow; your sleuthing mangled my previous plan, why not this one? But seeing you here now, shaking like a newborn drone,” Chrysalis fixed her mane, scowling as she placed a horn over her bald spot.
“It’s obvious to me how absurd that very notion is. You’re more feeble than that unicorn; I’m embarrassed to have had you be the pitiable thorn in my side. I have so many queries about how you’ve managed such obnoxiousness. However, I have this inkling that you wouldn't answer them honestly; which is fine. I’ll have all the time in the world to ensure your honesty once Ponyville is mine. Now,” She extended her hand, placing her pointer finger against her thumb. “Any last words? Before the rest of your life is served as a source of sustenance that is.”
The knife felt cold in my hands.
An invisible heat wrapped itself around my neck, sticking out among the warmth of the drying blood on my stomach. I knew what she was referring to, being in those pods again. Except this time, she wouldn’t wake me up until after Ponyville is invaded. Days, or maybe even weeks, of being stuck encased in that slime.
Maybe so long that my save point would reset; I still haven’t figured out when it does. She’ll get bored of me eventually, and once I die, I’ll just find myself stuck in a loop of her torturing me to death and resetting.
I couldn’t go through that.
I’d break.
“Y-you won’t,” I raised the knife, pointing the tip of it at Chrysalis. “Take me.”
“Oh, ho! Is that right?” She gestured for the changelings to back up, leaving herself a few feet in front of me. “Are you going to pointlessly try gutting me with that dull thing?” She mocked, spreading her arms to the side as if to welcome me. “Well, go on. Slash me to your heart’s content, if you think you can.”
My arm felt weak. Fatigue starting at my shoulder and spreading to my elbow, making it difficult to keep it outstretched. I’d been using magic too long, my body was giving out. I pulled it into my side, letting my chest rise and fall with a deep breath as I mentally prepared myself.
I’d done it once before, I could do it again.
I flipped the knife in my hand, plunging it into my chest right where my heart was. It was an excruciating sensation as the knife skewered my heart, blood coming out of the slice as it continued to beat for just a few seconds. I didn’t have the energy to scream, or really do much of anything but let go of the knife and slip onto the ground.
It was odd, having a body without its rhythmic drum. I could make out the warmth leaving me, the cold blanket of death taking its rightful place. No more blood, no more heat, nothing. Just a chilling nothingness.
Sound followed a similar pattern. I could see Chrysalis saying something, shouting in fact, but I couldn’t hear it. Not clearly, at least. Distant, like an island at the end of the sea. There was a strange tingling as some of the changelings hit me with a spell over and over again, nothing came of it.
It was a cold death this time.
Some part of me was relieved at that.
________________
The heat in my chest when I reset was painful as usual, I just found it more tolerable. I slowly raised myself up in the bed, a weird stiffness in my bones that made every movement extremely rigid and effortful.
Brash and Luster were just outside of the room. It was the middle of the night, I was a bit hungry and my throat was just as dry. My hands were warm and sticky, accompanied by a similar sensation around my neck like a collar and on my stomach. I could take a shower, but my intuition told me even the most frigid water would struggle to soothe the discomfort that plagued every inch of me.
I extended my arms, staring at my open palms. I wondered for a moment what to do now, with all my other options exhausted. I couldn’t tell Celestia, and getting there at night was pointless with the changelings having completely secured the forest. Trixie, even with that amulet, couldn’t beat Chrysalis. And I couldn’t help.
My fingers curled in one at a time, then unfurled and repeated the process, all to an invisible tune in my head.
I guess my body had answered me, in its own way.
I swung my legs over the end of the bed, hopping off and making my way to the door. It was heavier to open than I remembered it being.
“Chara?” Luster stated as I stood on the other side of the open door, quickly exchanging a glance with Brash. “I didn’t even hear you wake up.”
Brash tilted her head as she turned to me, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head with her wing. “Did you want something? I can fly to the cafeteria to get you some food if you’re hungry.”
“I don’t want to eat right now.” I shut the door, looking past them to the right hallway. The pathway to the theatre was a vivid line in the picture I had of the castle.
I deeply hoped that Luna didn’t have another play tonight.
“I want to play the piano.”