Side Effects
Written by Aldrigold
The first time it happened, Trixie chalked it up to an accident, or perhaps a trick of the light.
Snow swirled in dizzying patterns above the stage, refracting her dancing lights into multiple hues onto the crowd. She wished that the pegasi had cleared the sky, but in a cold climate like Manetreal it couldn’t be helped. The crowd needed lights and color after a hard winter, and she would give it to them.
Sweat dripped from her forehead as she summoned her magic, sending it skyward into her grand finale. Oohs and aahs emanated from the throats of dozens of ponies as the fireworks flared among the heavy snow clouds, sending dizzying ribbons of light arcing in all directions.
Trixie narrowed her eyes as she held her triumphant pose. The lights were faint, washed out among the dark clouds, and her heart thudded as her brain leaped for an explanation. Her horn ached with effort, so it couldn’t be her. Not the Great and Powerful Trixie. It was the clouds, she guessed, but wouldn’t her lights look brighter against a slate grey backdrop, not fainter?
The heavy sound of hooves striking stone in applause brought her back. Trixie smiled, white teeth flashing. “Thank you, thank you,” she called, assuming her role as the great entertainer. “I hope you have been properly awed by The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Bits shone in the light of the streetlamps and clinked in her collection bowl, same as they always had since before and after her stint with the amulet. Sometimes the memory of the amulet’s power taunted her with visions of what she could do with it, living a life greater than just that of traveling showpony, but they had grown easier to ignore over time.
The show after that was worse. She had waited until late evening to perform, and timed the finale perfectly. She raised her horn to the heavens just when the first star appeared and Luna raised the moon just above the horizon. Trixie summoned her magic.
The intricacies of the spell wouldn’t come. The knowledge of the spell, the fireworks in the shape of her own face, was on the edge of her brain, but it would not leap to reality. Her horn fizzled.
The audience was silent. A small laugh came from the throat of a foal near the front. Trixie’s gaze leapt from pony to pony, their expectant gazes boring into her.
She couldn’t remember the spell. Instead she summoned more light, sending it into a refractory rainbow that arced over wagon. Ponies oohed, and applause echoed from the cobblestones, but it was half-hearted.
Her collection bowl was only half as full that night, and for many nights to come.
***
Trixie stared at her reflection in her cup of coffee, the brown liquid swirling in a mini tornado inside the cup. That had been the first cantrip she had mastered, and her mother had thought she would be one of those rare unicorns who aided pegasus ponies with their weather working. She sighed and wondered if it would have made a difference.
“Hey!” A small earth pony colt with a gold coat grinned up at her from his place on the floor. “I’m Stone Gem! You’re a magic pony, right? Are you going to show us magic? We don’t see a lot of magic unicorn ponies here. You know magic, right?” He stood up on his hind legs, staring at Trixie’s coffee cup on the table. “Wow!”
Trixie had stumbled upon the small town on her way to Manehatten. In truth, she had boarded the wrong train and ended up here, but she didn’t like to think about that. “Well, certainly,” she said, throwing her head back. Her hat slid back on her head, revealing her horn. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will be glad to show you some magic! There will be a show, tonight!”
“Cool!” The colt trotted in a happy circle. “I’ll tell all my friends!” He dashed out the door, his hooves leaving scuff marks on the dirt floor of the café.
“You really gonna do magic?” The barista leaned over the counter, staring across empty tables. “Here? There ain’t many ponies here in Coltnell who can part with their bits, y’know. Miners don’t have much. You’d be better served performing down in Manehattan.”
“That will be my next stop!” Trixie said with a confident grin. Her stomach quivered, the coffee sloshing.
This town would be her final test. If she could perform the same as always, she would continue to Manehattan. Ponies crammed into that city always needed a break. If not…it was off to Canterlot. They had the best unicorn doctors in Equestria. Of course, she needed the bits for the train ride first.
Trixie swigged the rest of her coffee, heading out the door to where her wagon sat by the empty train tracks, soot and dust from the dirty air of this small mining town having already blackened the tarp. She had almost forgotten to get a car for it when she had scheduled her trip. Maybe that was why she had picked the wrong train. No other reason.
The sight of the familiar starry decorations calmed her nerves. She was fine. She didn’t need doctors. This was a rut, that was all. Every performer had them, even the Great and Powerful Trixie.
She would wow these yokels and head off to stardom in Manehattan. The rich bourgeoisie earth ponies there would love her.
But first, the performance.
She waited until the sky grew dark, then rolled her wagon into the center of town. Lights streamed from the café, and through the windows earth pony shapes moved back and forth as they relaxed from… Trixie blinked. She didn’t quite know what this town was known for, actually. She could have sworn she had read about it on the signs in the train station, or heard it somewhere, but now it escaped her. What was the town’s name again?
No matter. “Everyone!” Her cannons, which she had rigged to go off, exploded around her, sending streamers into the night air. “Are you prepared to see some magic?!”
She summoned another cantrip, sending a whirlwind that caught the still flying streamers. They swirled in a vortex of color.
A few ponies poked their heads out of the door of the café, and clattering announced the arrival of a group of colts and fillies. “See!” the gold colt yelled. Trixie didn’t recall his name. “I told you there would be magic”!
“Yes. There will be magic. The Magic of the Grrrreat and Powerful TRIXIE!” She let go of the magic in time with her shout, and streamers drifted over the audience. The assembled foals cheered, their voices high pitched and shrill, and ponies from the café and from streets nearby began to assemble, appearing out the darkness to gather around her stage.
Okay, she had them. Her heart beat hard. Now she had to do the act. Make with the magic, as Photo Finish would say.
First trick. Fireworks and an accompanying fanfare. Trixie summoned her magic…and stopped.
Fireworks. Fireworks. Her forehead broke out in a sweat as she stared over the expectant faces of the small crowd. What was the spell for fireworks?!
This couldn’t be happening. “Alright,” she called out, hoping her voice didn’t come off as shaky as she thought it did. “For my first trick, I’ll need an assistant. Who wants to see….” She cast her gaze around the square. “An earth pony filly fly!?”
“Me! Me!” A filly with a brown coat jumped up and down, appearing and disappearing at the foot of the stage. Trixie summoned her magic for the most basic of all spells—levitation.
“Look at me!” The filly squealed, kicking her legs as she floated upside down over the crowd. “I’m flying!”
The colts and fillies cheered, their tiny voices piping up. “Me next, me next!” An older pony near the back headed back toward the café.
Trixie bit her lip. Without bits for the train, she was stuck here. Entertaining foals was one thing, but she needed their parents to pay up.
She hadn’t made those claims since that time in Ponyville with…The purple unicorn’s name wouldn’t come to mind. No matter, no matter. She needed the money. Bragging and fakery was all she had left. It wasn’t too harmful. Sometimes illusion was better than reality, after all.
“Alright!” She let the pony down on stage, her magic fizzling with a spark and the filly falling with an oomph. “Now, Trixie, the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, will amaze you all with…” she thought hard. Nothing was working. What was flashy, but had no risk?
Of course. Illusion. “Who wants to see an image of the great creature Trixie vanquished? A image of… “ She knelt down, fixing a steely gaze on the crowd. “An Ursa Major!”
The pony heading back to the café turned, and Trixie’s spirits lifted. The foals at the front of the stage quivered in excitement, their eyes wide. Good.
“Feast your eyes…on this!”
She closed her eyes, her horn glowing. She reviewed the spell in her mind, holding on to it.
She had seen the Ursa Major in Ponyville. It looked like…looked like….
“It’s a baby dragon!” The filly on stage cried, and the crowd broke into laughter.
A small purple dragon shimmered on stage, a goofy grin on its face. Trixie’s magic flared and fizzled, the dragon disappearing into a shower of sparks. It looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where from.
Her stomach fell into her hooves, the crowd’s laughter echoing in her ears. The show…the show must go on. That was the first rule of any performer’s life.
She was a performer, right? She could do this. But instead, she backed up one step, then another, her hindquarters bumping against the backdrop to the stage.
“What’s the matter?” the filly looked up at her with big eyes. “Are you going to do more magic?” In the back of the crowd, more ponies were leaving, and the door to the café swung open and shut.
“Can you make me fly again?” the filly asked.
Trixe swallowed hard, calling up her magic. But even that, the most basic spell of all, was gone.
“No,” she said. The filly’s face fell, and dread pierced Trixie’s chest. “I….I can’t.”
***
“Hey Twilight. Where does this book go? The one Fluttershy found?”
“Huh?” Twilight looked up from the pile she sat on. Books and scrolls lay in heaps around the library or hung haphazardly from the shelves. Celestia had given her numerous tomes to study over since she became a princess, and with all the new additions, of course everything needed to be reshelved.
“This one. The one about the Alicorn Amulet?” Spike held it out to her, opened to the page with the picture of the amulet prominently displayed. “I don’t remember where she got it.”
“Oh…um…” Twilight narrowed her eyes as she gazed at the picture, then at the words beneath it. “Wow, I never actually read this, did I?”
“You were kind of…banished at the time,” Spike said, dropping his gaze to the floor.
“Yeah. That sure was a crazy time,” Twilight said with a laugh. She levitated the book with her magic, flipping to the next page. She wondered if her power would match the amulet now.
Her blood began to run cold as she read on.
Once used, the amulet will corrupt the user. Depending on the duration it is worn and the power of the unicorn, this corruption may extend indefinitely, regardless of whether the amulet is removed or not.
Twilight’s eyes widened as she read the last part out loud. “The last unicorn reported to use the amulet, Lilac Forest, lost her magic and her mind…completely!?”
The book dropped to the floor. Twilight stared straight ahead, her wings flared. “I have to find Trixie!”
***
Rain drummed against the ground, and the blue unicorn walked on. She had been walking for days, or at least she thought she had, and mud spattered her hooves and flanks. Her stomach growled, and she pulled at the tough grass that lined the road.
“My name is Trixie.” She spoke aloud, because it made things easier to remember. “I have to get to Canterlot.”
More information swirled in her mind, but none of it made sense. She knew she had parents, but she could not remember them. All she could remember was something about a cantrip, a tiny whirlwind in a cup, and weather ponies. Maybe she was a weather pony.
She had started the journey into the open plains with a hat and cape, but they had blown off during the first squall. If she really was a weather pony, that probably wouldn’t have happened, so maybe that was wrong.
She also had a wagon, but she had left behind because it hadn’t been important. Except, it was important. Her name had been on it. Why had she left it behind?
“My name is Trixie.” Rain plastered her mane to her face. Something flashed, and she looked to her side. Fear flashed through her for a moment when she saw the bare spot where a wand and star had been just moments before. She stopped walking, staring ahead at a city in the distance and a dark shape flying toward her. She squinted through the rain. Was that a pony? And that city…was that where she was going?
She looked back to her side. It was bare. That seemed wrong, but she didn’t know why. Something had been there before.
“Trixie!” A purple winged shape alighted next to her, mud and water splashing in all directions. A horn, like hers, jutted from the newcomers forehead. “I saw your wagon in Coltnell, and they said you wandered off! Trixie…” the winged unicorn stared at her, eyes wide. Her voice dropped. “Is that really you?”
“My name is Trixie,” the blue pony said.
***
“Oh Celestia, what do we do!?” Twilight’s hooves echoed back and forth on the marble floors. “This is my fault! If only I had read that book sooner, or told you about what happened with Trixie…”
“Calm down, Twilight.” Celestia stared down at the sleeping form of Trixie. The unicorn was blank flanked and looked small on the large bed. The setting sun lanced through stained glass windows, illuminating her form. A pony with a red cross on her flank stood by her bedside with a worried expression.
“All is not lost,” Celestia continued. “She still knew her name, right?”
“Yes.” Twilight returned from her pacing, standing next to the bed. “But she didn’t know anything! She didn’t know magic! Just like the book said…”
“Shh. Twilight. You can help her.” Celestia nodded to the doctor, who bowed and exited the room.
“I can?”
“You can.” Celestia smiled. “You must help her to remember.”
“Remember what?” Twilight spluttered. “I barely know her!”
“I will help with that, Twilight Sparkle,” a deeper voice said. Luna strode into the room, her expression severe.
Twilight turned to Celestia. “What?”
“You and I will enter her dreams, together,” Luna spoke. “We will retrieve her most important memory.”
“And with that most important memory, you can restore her,” Celestia said. “With the memory spell you used to save your friends from Discord’s magic.”
“But…but how will I know what her most important memory even is!?” Twilight turned from one alicorn to the other. “Like I said, I don’t know her. The things I remember most about our interactions is that she bullied my friends and banished me from Ponyville!”
“Will you let her be lost, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna demanded, her eyes narrowed.
Twilight wilted. “No. No, of course not.” She strode closer to the bed, staring down at the small form and taking a deep breath. She squared her shoulders. “How do we start?”
***
Now, try to remember.
She was home.
“Trixie, that is wonderful!” Her mother smiled at her from across the table. “Have you shown your father that trick? What control at such a young age!” Trixie rolled her eyes as she spun the tiny whirlwind. “I wish I had half your talent!”
“Mom, it’s not that big a deal,” she said. She let the magic go, and the whirling air dispersed and disappeared. “But I’m going to make it part of my act.”
“Part of your ‘act’?” Her mom snorted. “With control like that, you could learn to work the weather! Even help your father! You can’t rely on entertaining ponies to support yourself.”
Trixie sighed. Her mom just didn’t get it. “People like what I do.”
“Your friends like what you do.” Her mother waved a dismissive hoof. “That’s all.”
Trixie put a hoof on the table. “Mom—”
“Hey now, I like what you do!” Her father trotted into the room. The blue pegasus’ wings were bedraggled and dripped water on the floor. “Your tricks really brighten up a pony’s day after too much hard work!”
Trixie grinned. Her mother shooed her father away, levitating towels from the kitchen counter. “Out out out! What have I told you about getting the floors wet!”
“Alright, alright!” He laughed. “I was just going out again anyway. A chain reaction from FillyDelphia is sending a windstorm our way, and we have to intercept it.”
Trixie followed her father out the door. “Will you be alright?”
“Of course, Trixie the Great,” he said, ruffling her mane with a wing. “It’ll be easy. And I’ll be watching your magic shows the whole time. From everywhere in the sky!”
Trixie giggled, but rolled her eyes again. “You can’t be everywhere, Dad,” she said, pushing his wing away.
“Sure I can. The sky is everywhere, isn’t it?” he grinned. “The whole world will want to see your shows!”
“That’s not what mom says,” Trixie said, but she couldn’t sound convincing.
“That’s what I say,” he replied. “And I’ve been lots of places. I know. In fact, why not put on a show for when I come home? For all the pegasi. We’re going to be tired after the windstorm, and we’ll need a pick me up.”
Trixie smiled. “Sure.” She threw her head back. “Trixie the Great is on it!”
She kept her pose as he grinned and took off.
Keep going. Remember!
Rain lashed the side of the house, and something in the distance shattered with a deafening crack.
“Get away from the window!” her mother screamed. Trixie ducked under the table just as the pane shattered into a dozen shards of glass.
“Keep going. This must be it!”
The town was in shambles. Her father had not come home, and he was not the only one.
Spiral sobbed next to Trixie. “She said it was safe,” her friend sobbed, the white and black pegasus folding her wings tight against her back. “She said it was just a little windstorm!” the pegasus shoved her hooves into the grass. “I’m never flying again!”
Trixie stared into the distance from their place on the hill. She hated this. She hated the tears, the loss, and the horrible ragged hole in her chest that had been there ever since her father’s wingleader had shown up on their doorstep.
“Trixie?” her friend asked, sniffing hard. Trixe looked back. “Can you do your trick again?”
“Why?” Trixie asked, her voice dull.
“I just want to see it. My mother always said it was neat, that a unicorn could do that. I just want to see.”
Trixie wanted to say no. It was stupid. What good would a trick do? Especially when the real thing, a real tornado, had destroyed everything.
But she summoned the magic anyway. The tiny whirlwind spun in the air.
Spiral watched it, her tears drying. She moved a hoof through it, and it reformed around her leg.
“It’s cute,” Spiral sniffed. “I guess…it’d be stupid not to fly again, huh?”
“I guess.” Trixie kept spinning the whirlwind. She added color to it, and soon a rainbow spun in flashing colors.
“I like your tricks a lot more than the real thing,” Spiral said.
Trixie nodded, her father’s word echoing in her mind. “Yeah.”
“Almost there,” a voice whispered. “Almost there.”
“You’re leaving.” Her mother didn’t phrase it as a question.
“Of course I’m leaving. People want tricks. They want to be dazzled. They want to forget.” Or at least she did.
“Will you come back?”
Trixie turned. Her mother had aged since her husband had died three months ago, her mane scraggly and unkempt and fraying where it had once been lustrous.
“If you ever want a show, mother, let me know, and I will.”
“Well, I want some magic now,” her mother demanded. “To remember you by.”
Trixie lowered her bag. “Fine.”
“Just a little more!”
The remnants of the town gathered. Spiral waved from her perch on the roof.
“Now, watch and be awed!” Trixie put her horn to the sky. She hoped her father was watching. She hoped he would watch, no matter where she went. He had said he would, after all.
Trixie’s heart beat hard as she turned her gaze to the crowd. It seemed the whole town had turned out for her impromptu show, some of them clearly tired and sweaty from the effort of rebuilding.
They needed a pick me up, an escape. Illusion was better than the real thing.
“Witness the magic of Trixie the Great and Powerful!” As she sent fireworks shooting into the sky, light blazed on her flank.
"YES!"
She knew that voice.
***
Trixie gasped, her eyes flying open. Wide purple eyes stared back at her, and purple light flashed.
“What are you doing?!” Trixie bellowed. “Where am I?” The covers fell to the floor as she leaped up. Her hooves skidded on the stone floor when she came face to face with Princess Celestia. Princess Luna’s mane shimmered in the moonlight streaming through the window, and Twilight—no, Princess Twilight now, Trixie remembered—stood by the bed.
Trixie blinked. “Um…did I do something wrong?”
Twilight moved closer, once again staring straight into Trixie's eyes. “Do you remember me? Do you remember Ponyville? Tell me you remember!”
Trixie recoiled from Twilight’s searching gaze. “I remember that—“ Trixie bit her tongue. She was in the presence of royalty, after all. “I remember that I should be in Manetreal, entertaining the populace after a hard winter!” she finally snapped.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief, her wings folding back to her sides. “Trixie, you don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say that.”
“Why? What happened?” Trixie’s heart pounded, and she turned in a circle. “And where’s my hat?!”
“I will give you a ride to Manetreal,” Princess Celestia said, a smile on her face. “But on the way, let me fill you in.”