//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: A Mother's Plight // Story: Midnight Star: Recovery // by Nebula Star //------------------------------// Midnight Star: Recovery By Nebula Star A Mother's Plight *** Late summer, three years after the Battle of the Badlands It wasn't much further. Even in the dim light of twilight she could see the Ponyville library tree ahead. But every step was torture. Feeling the bundle on her back shift, she carefully nudged it back into place, but even that movement took more strength than she could afford. Nearly stumbling, she continued on, timing her shallow breaths with each step she took. She just kept putting one hoof in front of another, one step at a time, just one hoof... in front... of another. “Ma'am, are you alright? Do you need any help?” She barely heard the stallion calling to her from across the road. Raising her eyes, she realized that she'd reached her destination; the front door of the library tree was right there. She was nearly gasping for breath as she reached up and knocked; two loud knocks were all she could manage before her strength failed completely and she collapsed on the doorstep. Darkness was creeping into the edges of her vision as she lay there, her last hope fading with every moment the door remained closed. She could hear hoof-steps galloping toward her, but it didn't matter; her last hope lay on the other side of the unopened door. Unable to hold on any longer, her eyes slowly drifted shut. It had been a fool’s hope anyway. She was barely aware when the door latch clicked, and light flooded out as the door swung open. “TRIXIE!” It was the last thing she heard. ~~~ Twilight sat next to the bed watching over the sky-blue unicorn that currently occupied it. Her horn was glowing, channeling her magic into her one-time rival, trying to give her strength. Trixie's breathing was weak but steady, a good sign that she was beginning to recover, but it had been close. It had been quite a shock finding Trixie unconscious on her doorstep, malnourished and exhausted to the point of collapse. Possibly the bigger surprise was what Trixie had been carrying. Twilight glanced over at the small basket bed where a tiny pegasus foal lay, sleeping soundly. Again she wondered if the filly, less than a year old, could really be Trixie's daughter. With a strawberry coat and a golden mane and tail, she didn't look like it, but that could just mean that she took after her father. In any case, the foal was in better shape than Trixie herself. She could only assume Trixie had been neglecting herself to care for the foal. After bringing them inside Twilight had sent one of her guards to fetch a doctor, then did a quick examination of them both herself. Trixie was on the edge of starvation, her ribs showing clearly and her legs seeming shrunken, as if her skin were wrapped around nothing but bone. The foal was better, but still was showing signs of malnutrition. When the doctor arrived, he'd done what he could for both of them, which wasn't much, but then assured Twilight that so long as they both got plenty of rest and food, they should recover, and that hospitalization shouldn’t be necessary. After that, he had taken his leave. It had been almost seven hours since then. The foal had woken once and Twilight had given her a bottle, glad she'd watched Star Bright a few times for Midnight, and had supplies on hoof. She seemed to be sleeping soundly now that she'd been fed and would likely be just fine. It was Trixie that worried her. She hadn't woken at all. As the doctor had recommended, Twilight had gotten her to drink some fortified fruit juice, but that had been all, and it definitely wouldn't be enough. But it was all she could do until Trixie woke. She could only hope that Trixie would wake soon. The sooner she could get the unicorn to eat the better. ~~~ Warmth was one of the first sensations that Trixie became aware of. Soon though she became aware of the softness that surrounded her. She was comfortable. She didn't want to wake up. She just wanted to stay in this wonderful comfort forever. Then her memories started to return. With a gasp, she remembered where she'd been headed and why; remembered what she'd been trying to do, who she'd been trying to protect. She tried to get up, to open her eyes, but her body felt sluggish, and didn't respond to her commands at first. Still, she fought her uncooperative body, trying to get up. “Easy, it's alright, you're safe.” A voice said from somewhere above and to the side of her. Finally, her eyes drifted open. It was a mare standing next to the bed she was in; an enormous mare with a long sharp horn silhouetted by a glowing ethereal mane in the dim light of the room. Trixie panicked, lunging away from the strange mare. Or at least she tried to, the condition she was in, she was only able to back herself against the bed's headrest. The mare's eyes widened at her reaction. “No, no, it's alright, it's me, Twilight!” Her horn lit up, brightening the room. Trixie froze, seeing the mare's lavender coat and familiar violet eyes. They were all that were the same as she remembered. Her snout was longer, her body slimmer, wings... well the last time she'd seen Twilight had been before she even had wings. Probably the most spectacular difference was the glowing ethereal mane that looked like a piece of the night sky edged with the warm glow of a coming sunrise. “You look different,” She breathed. Twilight smiled, sitting back. “Yes, becoming an alicorn can do that to a mare,” she said, and Trixie finally relaxed, laying back against the headboard. “I was really worried, when I found you on my doorstep...” Trixie's eyes widened as she remembered why she'd come here. “Where's my daughter!?” “She's right here,” Twilight told her calmly, with a gentle smile, carefully levitating the basket bed up onto the mattress next to Trixie. “She's woken a couple times, and I gave her a bottle each time. She's doing very well, all things considered...” Trixie reached out and gently caressed her daughter's mane, a sad smile on her lips. “Thank you...” “So, she really is you're daughter?” Twilight asked softly, making Trixie look up at her. Twilight shrugged. “I wasn't really sure, I mean, it's not like she looks like you.” Trixie sniffed and nodded understandingly. “She's mine,” she confirmed simply, continuing to smile sadly and gently caress her daughter's mane; too weak to do more. After a time, Twilight levitated a serving tray up onto the bed. “Here, you should try to eat this.” Trixie looked to see a bowl of a thin vegetable soup on the tray as well as a couple pieces of toast and what looked like apple juice. Immediately she became aware of her ravenous hunger and automatically tried to levitate the bowl to her. The almost non-existent glow around her horn matched the weak aura that surrounded the bowl, but nothing happened. Trixie focused but no matter how hard she tried; she couldn't get the bowl to move. “Here.” A vibrant magenta aura replaced Trixie's and the bowl raised up to her, the spoon scooping up some soup and offering it to her. Trixie froze for a moment, mortified; she was being fed. She was a grown mare and she was being fed like a foal, and by a princess no less. “I can...” she started to object, but Twilight gently put a hoof on her own. “Don't push yourself, Trixie,” Twilight said gently and again moved the spoon closer in offering. Not knowing what else she could do, Trixie let herself be fed. “Thank you,” Trixie said softly when she had finished her meal. Twilight just gave her a smile as she levitated the tray aside to take care of later. Feeling a bit better with food in her stomach, Trixie reached out to her daughter once more and began gently stroking her mane, longing to hold her but not having the strength to lift her from her bed magically or physically. Seeing Trixie's expression, Twilight understood and very carefully levitated the foal into her mother's hold. Trixie thankfully hugged her daughter to her chest, feeling her instinctively cuddle into her mother's warmth. “What's her name?” Twilight asked, a warm smile gracing her lips as well. “Rhea; Rhea Fireheart.” Trixie told her, smiling as she watched her daughter sleep, safe for the moment, in her mother's hooves. “That's a beautiful name,” Twilight complimented, softly. Trixie just smiled, enjoying the simple pleasure of holding her daughter a few moments more, glad she had made it this far. She wished she could stay in this moment forever, holding her daughter close. But it couldn't last. “You'll make sure she's taken care of, won't you?” Trixie asked softly, her voice quavering slightly. Twilight looked at her confused. “Trixie, what are you talking about; you're going to be just fine...” “I can't stay. I have to keep moving. I just... had to get her out of their reach. But they'll find me here. Please, just promise me you'll make sure she's taken care of.” Twilight was more than a little alarmed now. “What? Trixie, you're in no shape to go anywhere!” “I can't stay; they'll find me...” “Who will find you? Is someone after you?” Trixie averted her eyes. “Trixie? Is someone after you?” Reluctantly, Trixie nodded. “And they don’t care about laws or princesses… They’ll find me here. I can’t stay.” “Who are they?” Twilight asked, her voice firm. “I can’t…” “Trixie! You are not going anywhere! Now tell me who is after you!” She looked down at her daughter for a moment in silence until Twilight was about to press for more when she finally spoke. “I don’t know what they call themselves… they’re a gang from Manehattan… but they have ponies everywhere, they’ll find me!” “What happened?” Twilight asked patiently. She knew well enough about the gang problems in Manehattan thanks to Midnight’s rampage a few weeks back. She understood why Midnight had done it, even so, she was disappointed in her daughter’s lack of control. Fortunately, Luna had informed her that she had been planning on rounding them all up for judgement and most likely execution herself, so at least she knew that the ponies involved had been among the worst in Equestria. Trixie kept her eyes down on the bedcovers, not really seeing them as she thought back to how everything had started. “I was having a hard time… I needed bits to get my show back together, but I needed to do shows to make bits. Nopony would give me a loan… then one of their ponies offered.” She shook her head thinking back. “I knew they were shady, that it was risky. But I was desperate, and I thought for sure that I could make the money back in time.” She sighed and looked at her daughter again. “And I was doing fine, I was well on my way to paying back the loan months before it was due… then Rhea happened. Her father was so charismatic… so caring… I thought I was in love, and that he loved me as well. But as soon as I told him I was pregnant, he disappeared without a trace.” Her eyes turned angry remembering that betrayal. “I tried to find him, but apparently, he wasn’t even using his real name. “After that I couldn’t recover in time; the loan came due, and I didn’t even have half of what I owed. At first, they seemed generous, giving me more time, but now I realize they were just waiting until Rhea was old enough to be taken from me… they came to the room I was renting and tied me up and then I heard one of them talk about selling Rhea. I was terrified, but I’d been practicing escape acts. Usually of course, there would be some trick to the bindings in a stage act, but I have learned a lot about knots and ropes… I managed to get free, grabbed Rhea and ran. We’ve been on the run ever since.” Twilight looked at her for a moment frowning. From what Midnight hat told her, that sounded like something the Triad would have done, and if so… well Trixie likely could have stopped running weeks ago. She’d have to make sure though, but she had no idea how she could confirm if the gang that had been after Trixie had been the Triad or not. She didn’t, but perhaps Midnight would. “Alright. Trixie, I understand how scared you’ve been, but I want you to trust me. Princess Luna has been dealing with the gang situation in Manehattan and… and my daughter as well. I’m going to send for Midnight and I want you to talk to her. She might know something about the gang that’s been hunting you.” Trixie looked up at her fearfully. “You… you don’t mean Midnight Star, do you?” Twilight gave her an annoyed look. “Yes, I do. She’s my daughter, Trixie, and yes, she’s done some bad things in the past but for the past decade everything she’s done has been in defense of the innocent ponies of Equestria. Don’t believe every rumor you hear.” She lowered her eyes looking a little contrite, but still afraid. After a few moments Twilight sighed. “She’s also a mother and has a daughter around the same age as Rhea, as well as an older daughter she just adopted. Believe me, you have nothing to fear from her.” Reluctantly, Trixie nodded. Getting to her hooves, Twilight went to ask one of her guards to send for Midnight. Even living halfway across town, it didn’t take long for Midnight to arrive. Twilight spent the time trying to reassure Trixie about meeting her controversial daughter, and at least got her to just be nervous and not cower in fear when there was a knock on the door. Twilight answered and was glad to find Midnight standing on the other side. “You wanted to see me, mom?” Midnight asked looking up at her. Though Midnight was starting to grow into her alicorn stature, she was still only a bit taller than the average mare. Hopefully noticing that would also help Trixie feel more at ease. “Yes, come in.” Twilight said stepping aside so she could enter. “Midnight, this is Trixie Lulumoon.” She said gesturing to where Trixie was still lying in the bed, holding her daughter. Midnight looked at her surprised. “You mean the stage magician you told me about?” Trixie seemed surprised that Midnight would know about her, but Twilight just smiled. “Yes. Trixie recently had a run-in with one of the Manehattan gangs, and it sounded a lot like what you told me of that Triad gang.” Twilight told her, getting right to the point. Midnight’s eyes went to Trixie’s daughter and her eyes widened further. “They tried to take your foal?” Midnight asked, just to confirm it. Silently Trixie nodded holding her daughter close. “Trixie has been on the run for some time and is afraid that they’re still after her.” “Not if it was the Triad.” Midnight said with a little anger in her voice. “Exactly. I was hoping you might be able to think of some way we confirm if it was them or not, and if Trixie is still in danger.” Midnight frowned for a second, then looked over at Trixie. “Every full member of the Triad had a mark; three parallel lines scarred into their necks, usually just to the side of their mane where it could be easily concealed. Do you remember seeing a mark like that on any of the ponies that attacked you?” Trixie stared at her for a moment wide eyed as she recalled. “Yes… I saw a mark like that on two of them.” Midnight nodded solemnly. “Then it was probably the Triad. But why don’t you tell me exactly what happened just to be sure.” Trixie looked at her for a moment then nodded. “Alright…” she said and went into recounting the events once more. When she was done, Midnight sighed and nodded. “That does sound like the Triad…” She said and looked down at Trixie’s daughter. “Did her father have a piece of jewelry or clothing that he never removed?” Trixie looked at her a little confused, but nodded. “Yes… a gold band he wore around his right forehoof; he said it was a gift from a zebra shamare he’d once helped.” “And were you using a contraceptive spell?” “I… I was, but I forgot to recast it or maybe miscast it.” Trixie told her. Midnight looked down sadly. “I don’t think you did… I really hate to tell you this… but your daughter’s father was probably working for them.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are you sure!?” “I can’t be certain. But they did have a number of stallions working for them that their jobs were to seduce the mares indebted to them and make sure they got pregnant. They weren’t full members of the Triad; just worked for them.” Midnight said as gently as she could. “And they were all equipped with items, usually pieces of jewelry that had two enchantments on them. The first was designed to break most common contraceptive spells. The second when activated, would increase a mare’s fertility by inducing them to go into heat out of season.” “You mean they had stallions purposefully impregnating mares just so the foals could be sold into slavery!?” Twilight gasped. Trixie looked shocked as well but then let out a sigh and looked down at her daughter sadly. “I… I suspected, when he disappeared…” She sniffed back sudden tears. “And when they tried to take Rhea…” Midnight put a hoof on one of hers in a comforting gesture. “The good news is you’re safe and you don’t have to worry about them anymore.” “How can you be sure?” Trixie asked looking up at her. She sighed. “Because I killed them all.” Trixie’s eyes widened. “You… you killed them? All of them?” Midnight nodded. “That mark I mentioned. To earn that mark they have to have committed three murders in service of the gang. So when I… I found a mare less fortunate than you; and found out what those marks mean… I hunted down and killed every pony in the gang that wore that mark.” Some of the fear Trixie had shown when Twilight had first mentioned Midnight returned and she hugged her daughter close. “Trixie. If you hadn’t escaped, they were likely going to rape you repeatedly and beat you to death, then take your daughter and sell her as a slave in some distant pony land. The mare I was too late to save, the filly wasn’t a newborn; she’s old enough to remember, and they made her watch as they raped and murdered her mother.” Midnight told her softly. “Trust me; they deserved to die.” Trixie looked at her a moment longer, and slowly nodded. “How is Terra doing?” Twilight asked softly. “She’s… well, she’s doing as well as can be expected, I guess. She’s getting used to her new home; but she’s having nightmares every night. Luna’s been working with her on those and I’m there for her when she wakes.” Midnight sighed. “It’s going to take time though. She’s still young enough that her mother was her whole world… and now she’s gone. I’m doing my best to be whatever she needs me to be, but she’s still worried I’m trying to replace her mother.” Trixie looked between them. “Is Terra the filly…” “That I rescued; yes. She didn’t have anypony else, so I adopted her.” Midnight confirmed. Twilight smiled sadly and gave her daughter a brief hug with one wing. “Well, we’ll let you get back then, in case she needs you.” Midnight gave a more hopeful smile. “Hopefully not. She was actually playing with Starbright when I left, I think she even almost smiled.” “Still, we’ll let you get back to them, thanks for coming and confirming that for us.” She nodded, then looked over at Trixie. “It was nice meeting you, Trixie. I hope you recover quickly.” Trixie blinked seeming a little surprised but then nodded. “It… it was nice meeting you as well.” Midnight smiled and with one last wave left the room. Twilight followed, seeing her daughter out, then returned to the bedroom, smiling as she entered. “So, now that we’ve got that cleared up. The doctor said that you’re going to need plenty of rest and food while you recover, so I’m going to be setting up a room at the Ponyville inn for you for when you’ve recovered enough to get around. Until then you can stay here in my extra room.” “I don’t want to impose,” Trixie said sounding a little nervous. Twilight waved a hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry about it, besides, the doctor said you should be back on your hooves in just a few days with good food and rest. You’ll want to take it easy for a few weeks after that, but you should at least be able to get around.” “I… thank you.” Twilight smiled and reached out, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Trixie. Consider it an apology from the crown for not preventing what happened in the first place.” ~~~ Twilight was taking a moment to relax the third morning after Trixie had shown up, when the door to the guest room opened. She looked up from her book and smiled when she saw the former showmare emerge with her daughter on her back. “I take it you’re feeling better?” “Better than I was,” she agreed as she walked over and carefully laid down on a free cushion. “I still feel so weak though.” “That’s to be expected,” Twilight said gently. “You were on the edge of starvation after all.” As she spoke, she noticed little Rhea reaching toward her aethereal mane and smiled. Taking control of a small part, she moved it over within the tiny filly’s reach. She giggled and batted at the tendril of starfield with her little hooves. Trixie watched a little surprised. “You can control it?” Twilight nodded. “It’s a technique Luna taught us.” “Huh… it’s a little weird.” “You should see what Pinkie can do with her mane.” Twilight said with a grin. “Your friend? Doesn’t she have a normal mane?” “I think you’ll find that ‘normal’ can rarely be applied to anything related to Pinkie.” Trixie looked at her a little confused. Twilight just watched Rhea continue playing with her mane for a moment. “You should probably stay here a couple more days, recover a little longer.” “If that’s alright.” “Of course, it is.” Twilight told her with a smile. “I don’t mind having you and Rhea here.” “Thank you…” Trixie said softly, letting her daughter keep playing with Twilight’s mane a moment more. “So why do you have so many toys and foal supplies?” Twilight laughed softly. “Well, it’s getting so more of my friends and family have foals than don’t these days. I told you Midnight has a foal about the same age as Rhea. But so does my friend Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy has her three, and we just found out that my friend, Rarity, is pregnant; though she refuses to tell anypony who the father is.” Trixie blinked. “Your fashion friend? She’s not married?” “No, she’s not.” “So she went and got herself pregnant?” Twilight nodded. “She told me it was entirely her fault and doesn’t want to tarnish the father’s reputation with her own mistake.” “Hmm… never really thought I’d have something in common with her. Though in my case, I definitely wouldn’t be worried about tarnishing… his reputation.” Twilight gave her an understanding look then decided to change the subject. “So have you put any thought into what you’re going to do once you’ve recovered?” Trixie looked up at her for a moment in surprise. “I haven’t really thought about it… I left everything behind in Manehattan. I didn’t dare go back to my apartment after I escaped…” “Oh right… we should see about recovering your possessions.” “If we still can… it’s been weeks, after all.” “We’ll see what we can do.” Twilight assured her. “They’re just things anyway… I have Rhea; that’s what’s important.” Twilight smiled, understanding what she meant. “Well, we might still be able to recover some of it.” Trixie nodded then thought for a moment. “I don’t know what I want to do…” “Do you want a more stable home for Rhea?” Twilight asked. She looked back at her daughter, still batting away at Twilight’s mane with foalish giggles. “I would… but being a traveling showmare is all I’ve ever known…” “Well, I was thinking about that actually. You know I help run the branch of Celestia’s school here in Ponyville? Well, we’ve been expanding our arts programs recently and we already have a few classes in stage productions, but one thing we don’t have is a class on stage magic.” Trixie looked at her surprised. “You want me to teach?” Twilight smiled and shrugged. “It was just an idea I had. Would you be interested in something like that?” “I… I don’t know, I’ve never been a teacher before.” “But you have years of professional experience, and sometimes that can be even better than teaching experience,” Twilight told her. She glanced back at her daughter again. “I would like a stable home for Rhea…” Noticing she had her mother’s attention, Rhea giggled again then jumped down off her back and galloped over to the small toybox Twilight had for whenever Midnight, Rainbow or Fluttershy brought their foals to visit. Twilight smiled as they both watched Rhea pull out one of the toys and begin playing. “It’s up to you, and you have plenty of time to decide; you wouldn’t be able to start until next semester anyway. Though if you decide you want to, you’ll need to take some time to come up with lesson plans, so you’d be hired right away.” “How much would I have to teach?” “Well, being an elective, for the first semester, we’d probably only have you teach one class, then if there’s enough demand, we can add more classes as needed. But you’d make decent pay; it is Celestia’s school after all. Though the Ponyville branch does teach pegasi and earth ponies as well so keep that in mind.” Trixie nodded understanding. “So I’d need to focus on the completely magic-free stage magic.” “You can still teach some tricks specifically for unicorns as well, and for pegasi if you know any. But yes, you’ll need to focus on teaching things anypony can do with practice.” Twilight agreed. “That would be fine, I know plenty of stage magic that doesn’t use any unicorn magic at all.” She smiled thinking back. “It’s always fun seeing other unicorns wonder how I’m doing things without my horn glowing. I had one stallion accuse me of finding a way to cast spells without lighting up my horn.” Twilight laughed, casting spells without lighting one’s horn was impossible as far as she knew. You could dim the glow, but not put it out all together. “So, are you interested? You could stay here in Ponyville, give Rhea a stable home to grow up in, and as a bonus, there will be lots of other foals her age that she could be friends with.” Trixie looked at her a moment curiously. “You really want me to stay?” “Of course! We may have gotten off on the wrong hoof at first, but you apologized, and besides, that was so long ago, we’ve both changed and learned a lot since then.” Trixie smirked looking up at her. Even both lying down, the top of her head was just about level with Twilight’s snout. “I think you have me beat in the change department.” Twilight laughed and glanced back at herself. She had certainly changed a lot since the last time they’d met. Between her growth in recent years making her closer to Cadence in size than the average mare she had been, her wings, and her aethereal mane, she’d definitely changed a lot more in appearance than Trixie had. “I suppose that’s true. But yes, Trixie, I would like for you to stay.” “What if nopony wants to take my class?” Twilight frowned. “Well, I don’t think that would happen, but if it does, I suppose we’ll just have to find something else for you to do.” “We?” Trixie raised a brow. Twilight shrugged. “If your class happened to fail, I’d feel a little responsible so I’d be glad to help you find other work in that case. But like I said; I doubt it would come to that. There’s been pretty high demand for most of the new art programs we’ve added. I bet there’s a lot of students at the school that would love to learn some stage magic, especially among the non-unicorn students.” “But if I teach them all my tricks…” Trixie said a little worried. “You wouldn’t need to teach them everything. Just cover the basics such as how to plan and create new tricks of their own.” Trixie’s eyes brightened. “That might actually make a good final project for a class; have them make a new trick all their own; a big trick! A headline act kind of trick, and I could grade them on how well they pull it off!” “Exactly!” Twilight agreed with a smile. “Teach them what they would need to become their own stage magicians. Obviously, most of your students may never make a career out of it, but learning that kind of creativity and ingenuity could certainly help them in other fields as well.” Trixie smiled thinking on it. She could have them make smaller tricks as well for regular assignments; they could do a section on slight-of-hoof… Twilight continued to smile seeing Trixie’s eager expression as she continued to consider the idea. “So; are you interested?” Trixie looked up at her then glanced over at her daughter where she was pulling out yet another toy from the toy box, several others already discarded around her. It would mean a steady home for Rhea, while she’d still get to be doing what she loved. “Yes. Yes; I’ll do it!” Twilight grinned. “Well then, Welcome to Ponyville, Trixie! I really think you’ll like it here!” “Thank you, Twilight!” Trixie said, gratefully.