Darkness filled the Great and Powerful Trixie’s vision as she awoke. She blinked, confused about where she was. She stretched out a hoof, and it knocked against something wooden.
“What the hay?” She stretched out another hoof and struck another wooden surface. And then another. Panic struck as she realized the shape of her prison.
“Dear Celestia! Let me out! Please!” Her hooves slammed harder and harder against her wooden confinement, praying somepony would hear her. But only silence responded, silent as the grave.
“No! Let me out, please!” Tears welled in her eyes as the hopelessness of her situation set in.
This was it. She would die by being buried alive! Her hooves slammed against her coffin hard enough to hurt. But the Great and Powerful Trixie didn’t care, too scared to think straight. She punched the roof harder and harder, her heart soaring as a crack appeared. Renewed with hope, the Great and Powerful Trixie struck harder and harder, not caring about the splinters stabbing into her hooves. She spat as dirt rained on her face but kept pushing. More soil poured on her, and she increased her desperate pace. If she didn’t dig herself free, she’d die.
Like a worm, she dug through the dirt above her, lungs burning as they demanded air. Fear drove her forward, anything to see the wondrous light again. She prayed to Celestia she’d survive the next few moments. Already, her legs were tiring, burning from the strain of pushing herself out.
“Just a little further. I can make it!” It returned uncomfortable memories of when she’d fallen into Lake Ponytchartrain as a foal and almost drowned. She’d only survived because a passing stallion helped her. History was repeating to mock her, the surface, with its life-giving air, just out of reach. Only this time, nopony would arrive to save her. The total, absolute darkness suffocated her, sapping the hope from her soul.
“I must make it. Dear Celestia, I must!” Then light filled her vision, blinding her. She sucked in grateful gulps of glorious air, tasting better than anything she’d ever had. The stars were a beautiful, welcome sight, majestic as they sparkled above her.
“I’m free!” The Great and Powerful Trixie didn’t fight back her grateful tears.
“What the hey?” An old stallion holding a shovel said, dropping it when he spotted the newly risen pony.
“Uh, a little help, please.” Trixie said, her voice interlaced with desperate gasps for air. While she’d reached the surface, she was still stuck like a turnip.
“Zompony!” The grave keeper threw his hooves into the air, fleeing for his life.
“Oh, come on!” Annoyed, the Great and Powerful Trixie worked the last few hooves to free herself. She lay on the dirty ground, tired but happy she’d just survived almost certain death.
“Where am I?” She turned around, gazing up at her tombstone.
“Trixie Celestiamaden, a brave hero who gave her life to save Equestria and the world,” the Great and Powerful Trixie said as she read it. Everything clicked into place.
“You son of a!” The Great and Powerful Trixie punched the fake gravestone hard and winced in pain. It was solid stone. “When I get my hooves on you, Trixie Celestiamaden, I’m going to throttle you!” Another one of her stupid pranks, and she was its unfortunate sap. That meant she was posing as her with the others.
She put her hooves in her face. “I hate you so much, fake goddess!” With the others exploring the outer cosmos, how would she ever find them?
“Whatever. Bath first, then revenge!” The Great and Powerful Trixie stomped into Ponyville. In most other towns a dirt-covered pony making their way from the graveyard would cause panic, but the Ponyvillian’s were made of stronger stuff, only staring with a peeved expression and creating some distance. At least the town had somewhat returned to normal after Antithesis’s attack. An impressive amount of repairs had already been erected. Ponyville was a resilient town, she had to admit.
“Trixie?” Somepony said. They spoke familiarly, like they knew her. It must be one of Representative Trixie’s friends. Sure enough, a mint-colored unicorn was staring at her, worried. A gray-colored pegasus with wobbly eyes, a tough-looking yellow pegasus, a yellow earth pony with an orange mane, and a purple earth pony all looked at her with concern.
“What the hey happened to you?” The gray pegasus said, worried. “Are you okay?”
A memory flashed in the Great and Powerful Trixie’s head. She’d met these ponies before. These were the Elements of Harmony in Representative Trixie’s world. They’d briefly met the last time she was in this universe.
“And what happened to Ponyville?” Cheerilee said, gazing around. “It looks like a war zone!”
“Is this connected to the moon almost hitting the planet?” Raindrops asked. “We rushed here when we saw what was happening.”
“The carrot conference wasn’t that interesting, anyway. You were lucky to stay behind.” Lyra whispered conspiratorially. The earth pony snorted but otherwise didn’t respond.
“Guys, I’m not...” the Great and Powerful Trixie paused as a familiar midnight alicorn flew down to meet them.
“Elements, it is a pleasure to see you again. Much has happened in Ponyville in your absence. We have much to discuss,” Luna said.
“Princess? Why are you here?” Cheerilee asked.
“I’m here to supervise the cleanup. The riot and the moon’s close proximity caused considerable damage to the town,” the alicorn replied. The Elements’ eyes widened in shock at the mention of a riot. Luna paused, brows furrowing at the sight of the Great and Powerful Trixie. With the dirt and grime, she almost hadn’t recognized her.
“Trixie? What are you doing here? Why aren’t you traveling with the other Trixies? What happened? You look like death itself,” Luna said.
“Other Trixies?” Cheerilee said, furrowing her brow.
“That’s it. I’m not your Trixie! I’m the Trixie from the universe where Sparkle is the Element of Magic!” The words exploded from her mouth. The Elements became even more puzzled.
Luna, however, considered this before her eyes widened, realizing what had happened. “That devious little mare. To think anypony could fool me so easily. Her title of Goddess of Mischief is well-earned. No doubt this is one of her jokes.”
“Yeah, and it’s making me bust a gut,” the Great and Powerful Trixie said dryly. “I loved getting buried alive for a joke!”
“What’s going on here?” Ditzy asked, shifting uncomfortably on her hooves. “If you’re not our Trixie, where is she?”
“Yeah, where’s the real Trixie!?” Lyra said, getting into the Great and Powerful Trixie’s face.
“Calm yourselves, my little ponies. All will be explained in time. But first, we must get our guest somewhere comfortable with a delectable meal. She’s had a trying time,” Luna said. “Come, Trixie. My hotel room isn’t far.”
“A bath would be divine right now,” the Great and Powerful Trixie paused, brow furrowing as she spotted something strange. In the distance, a lone cloud was dark despite the entire sky being cleared. The weather ponies had likely delayed any weather to aid the town’s repair efforts. Was it her imagination, or was the cloud raining something brown?
“Is that chocolate?” Raindrops asked, puzzled.
“What are you?” Luna froze as she noticed the cloud, her expression turning tense and worried. “It can’t be.”
“What is it, princess?” Cheerilee asked.
“I feared this might happen,” Luna said, her voice grim. “The havoc caused by Antithesis was enough to finally free him.”
“Oh, ponyfeathers, you don’t mean him!” the Great and Powerful Trixie scowled, having bad memories of the first time he’d gotten free. He’d made her permanently invisible, unable to be touched or seen by anypony! And she didn’t buy this reformed nonsense either.
“I’m afraid so,” Luna replied. “Discord, the Lord of Chaos, is free!” Mocking laughter punctuated the princess’s proclamation of doom.
---
Trixie watched the floating eyes in amusement, laughing as they blinked sideways at her and tapping it with a raised claw. How unorthodox! How wonderful! Her otherworld counterpart stared at the growing, chaotic scene in growing dread, unable to believe her eyes. She came from a very boring, orthodox world, and her other other counterpart’s chaotic majesty was beyond anything her dull mind could handle.
While Discord’s wonderful chaos delighted her, she had a job to do. With a snap, she summoned a map made of cheese of the outer shell of reality. She spotted a very noticeable hole, the other Trixies’ inelegant way of piercing into the void. She showed her other counterparts, and they sighed in annoyance.
“So we’ve missed them,” Another Trixie said, her manner grim. She slunk into the shadow of a nearby tree, brooding to herself. She did that a lot.
“That’s a bummer,” A more cheerful Trixie said. “At least they’re safe. But what about this? We can’t just leave this mess!” She gestured to an upside-down bear riding a unicycle on a winding road through the air.
“How! We can’t stop this!” The scared Trixie said. Despite her terror, firm resolution blazed behind her eyes.
Trixie waved a dismissive paw. “I see the Elements of Harmony are in Ponyville. They’ll be fine.” Her eyes extended outward, seeing them argue with his world’s muckety muck princess, Luna. Alongside them stood a filthy hobo who’d joined the argument for whatever reason. How delightfully random.
“I thought this universe’s Trixie was the Element of Magic?” The serious Trixie said, frowning. “How will they stop that monster?”
Trixie took offense at the word monster. Her counterpart may take his chaos a bit too far, but it was all in good fun! She pounded a hoof in annoyance before beaming. “They’ll be fine. They could use that hobo as the new Element of Magic! She’s a unicorn.” And strangely familiar somehow. Oh, well. It wasn’t worth the effort worrying about.
“That’s not how the Elements of Harmony work,” The cheerful Trixie said, pointedly. And Trixie supposed she should know; she was the Element of Laughter.
“Whatever, the point’s the same,” Trixie replied. “We can’t afford to waste time stopping to solve every random problem we come across. We need to stop Proto, remember? The mutual threat to our very existence?”
“I remember.” The Element of Laughter replied, glum. She was taking leaving her Elemental friends from her world harder than expected. “And you’re right. Those other Trixies are in terrible danger!” She suppressed a shudder. “We can’t afford to waste time.”
“Yeah, the sooner we stop Proto, the sooner we can return this Element of Magic to her world!” The serious Trixie said, wearing her usual permascowl.
“Excellent! And we’re off!” While she’d love to hang around for the chaotic funhouse, they really needed to go. With a click of her talons, she summoned their ride, something far more elegant than their counterpart’s crude spacecraft.
Its engine roared as Trixie plopped into the driver’s seat. The smell of smoke and gasoline filled her nostrils, and she breathed it in happily. The three other Trixie sat on the wooden seat that sat elevated over the vehicle. They carefully navigated the random junk sitting back there before finding their seats.
“Who needs a DeLorean when you have this baby!” Trixie said, laughing as their ride chugged through the dirt road. Everypony yelped in startled surprise as it suddenly gained speed, going a cool 6 million miles per hour! Space and time-warped as they vanished from the universe, leaving for their next awesome adventure, care of Trixcord1, this story’s wonderful, beautiful heroine.
To be continued.