//------------------------------// // Ch. 24 - Courage // Story: The Monster in the Twilight // by Georg //------------------------------// The Monster in the Twilight Courage It was happy. It even looked happy, with a smiling face and mismatched button eyes, although It felt a little damp. Monster gave It a sniff once her laughter had subsided enough for breathing, but It smelled different now. It smelled of tears and lilacs, brother and sitter and— No. It smelled of Shining Armor and Cadence, of soft pink feathers that wrapped around her when she felt sad, and the musky scent of a perspiring stallion that mom… A flicker of purple and white darted through her memories, but could not escape. Monster pounced, dragging the thought back up to the surface of her mind and examining the strange face. Twilight. Mom. The rumble of falling stones blotted out the memory, blown about by fire from the sky and smashing the image of the mare with the purple-striped mane into dust. So many dead ponies, dead by her actions, dead and smashed to pieces by the power she was unable to control. Not a single living thing survived — except the blue unicorn now chasing her. If brother… If Shining Armor had saved Trixie, could he have saved others from the flames Monster brought down upon them? Monster turned, ignoring the crackling flames that filled the clearing with smoke and the pitiful whine of burning Timber Wolves. When she would fight the dark pony, others would be hurt. Her friends. sis and rarity and — Trixie, whom she had almost killed before. One at a time, Monster dug her hooves deep into the soft soil of the clearing and concentrated. The Fear remaining in the area fought and hissed against the power she held within herself, but Monster had proven that Fear could still be used to power a spell even if she could not tolerate its filthy sensation for long. The earth resonated with the touch of her friends and the hoofsteps of the larger ponies who followed them. Fear lashed out against the restraints she forced upon it, but she held it firm and shaped it, moulded it to her will, stretching it into a barrier between them and her. As thin as gossamer, it only could touch the mind, but none of them would be able to overcome it. They would all remain safe while Monster fought the bad pony. Monster frowned, twisting her hooves into the soft soil with puzzlement, and finally resignation. The changeling no longer resonated with the earth. He had probably been eaten by one of the myriad creatures who hunted the Everfree Forest at night. She added the infinitesimal weight of its soul to the giant pile of bodies that she was already responsible for. The guilt of his death remained on Monster even though she had not killed him directly, as she most certainly would have needed to if he had eventually caught her. The words of the big changeling still resonated in her ears. …We shall have our revenge for the deaths of my children, for my changelings shall never rest until you are dead and eaten! With a shudder, Monster returned to her travel, trotting much slower and with It held carefully to her cheek. Alone except for her doll, she continued down the path to her destiny. * * * “This is (untranslatable) insane!” screamed Tallgrass after he burst up out of the deep water for a third time, flapping frantically for air as a set of toothed jaws snapped shut inches behind his rear hooves and took another nip off his already-shortened tail. Throwing his entire energy into flight, the changeling hurtled forward with one eye angled skyward until the stars suddenly obscured above him. With a snap roll, he plunged into the water again a split-second before a set of serrated tentacles swept through the air he had just occupied, the flying predator screeching in frustration at missing the delightfully tasty-smelling prey. Tallgrass barely managed to swim a few body-lengths before exploding back up into the air again, only this time close enough to the shore to dart between two thick trees in a narrow path too small for the flying beast to follow. “Watch the kids, bug! Read the book, bug! Trixie, I’m going to kill you if I get out of this alive!” * * * “That was so cool!” Featherweight dashed about in the air, zipping back and forth like some oversugared hummingbird. “I need a flash like that! I could take night pictures of the whole town at once!” “That’s great, Featherweight. Could you come over here and help pull Scootaloo out of the tree, please?” The little ponies continued to tug on Scootaloo once all the larger branches had been cleared away, finally pulling the dizzy pegasus out of the old hollow tree she had managed to stick her head into when blinded by the purple flash. Despite her protestations of perfect health, her friends loaded her in the wagon and held her down while Featherweight took over scooter propulsion duty, at a much reduced rate of speed and with many mournful glances at missed photographic opportunities. Once they entered the smoky clearing, all of the little ponies gaped at the circle of burning trees around them, charred and blasted to fall away from the very center of the path. In a circle farther out, a ring of burning branches nearly turned to charcoal still twitched and spasmed as the occasional Timber Wolf fragment crumbled to ashes and fell to the ground. Featherweight slowed even more as the path narrowed, finally coming to a panting halt a few inches away from four deep hoofprints in the forest clearing’s rich soil. “Cant. Go. Afraid.” Featherweight clung to the handlebars of the scooter as if they were a life vest in a treacherous sea, his wings just barely flapping. “I-I know y-y-you’re skeered,” shouted Apple Bloom with chattering teeth. “But we h-have to keep going. M-m-monster needs us!” The rest of the little ponies huddled together in terror, holding onto one another until Apple Bloom crawled out of the back of the wagon and braced her head against the tailgate. “I-I’m not going to abandon her! I-I’m not going to be afraid!” “Apple Bloom! No!” Sweetie Belle reached feebly for her friend but stumbled as the wagon began to move again, pushed by four little earth pony hooves. “Not. Going. To. Abandon. You.” Apple Bloom’s voice got lower and cracked with stress as she pushed. “Not.Like. mom.” Fear roared to a world-rending volume in the ears of the little fillies, cresting into a crescendo of raw terror that abruptly began to fall as they passed through the wall of fear and the wagon picked up speed. What was first a trot turned to a gallop, then to a full roar down the pathway as Apple Bloom was dragged up into the wagon by her friends and Featherweight put his full effort into a pace that even Scootaloo would have considered dangerous. “Wahooo! Faster!” Or maybe not. * * * The path where Zecora led them up angled in the direction of the flames and smoke seen climbing into the night sky ahead, which Trixie considered being at least some indication the supposed zebra knew what she was talking about, although that still did not totally eliminate the possibility she was simply luring them deeper into a trap. Still, if they were ambushed by some nameless⁽*⁾ monstrosity, at least during the digestion process, Trixie would have the cold comfort of knowing somepony else had led them to their doom. (*) Technically, the monsters of the Everfree all had names given to them by the first ponies who discovered them, but since that meant many of them would be simply known as ‘Arrrgh! Help!’ it was probably better to simply consider them nameless. Applejack put a hoof over Trixie and pulled her close as they trotted down the path towards the smoky fire in the distance. “Ah’m sorry about being so hard on your flank back there. It’s just… well, mah baby sister’s out there, and I’m all tied up in knots with worry.” “Yes. Trixie knows how you feel.” After a few false starts, Trixie managed to get her magical field to pull the bottle of bourbon out of her cloak and float it over to Applejack. “Trixie has found Monsieur Bourbon to be a great comfort in stressful times.” The bottle bobbed somewhat while they trotted down the road with Trixie unable to meet the farmer’s eyes. “Perhaps too great a comfort.” “Yeah, I know what’cha mean. It’s not a good idea to own a distillery when your parents die.” They trotted for a short while, both trying to ignore the fire ahead while it grew nearer. Finally with a sigh, Applejack pushed the bottle away. “You just put ‘ol Monster Bourbon back in yer cloak, and we’ll drag him out for a victory drink when we’re done, ya’hear?” “Deal.” Trixie tucked the bottle back into her cloak and giggled nervously. “What? Did ah say sumpthin funny?” “No. It is just something Trixie heard from Princess Cadence’s guards once. They called Twilight Sparkle ‘Monster’ because of the trail of destruction she leaves behind. It made me think we’re like a little dog chasing a wagon. What are we going to do if we catch her?” “Oh, now yer makin plans? Seems a bit late.” “Harumph.” Trixie trotted along, waving a hoof at the smoke ahead. “The Great and Powerful Trixie prefers to work off-the-hoof, but planning is still important. I borrowed your grandmother’s false teeth to use in the puppet spell to be prepared in case I needed to cast it tonight. If I had managed to lay my hooves on some glass eyes, my performance would have been perfect.” “Say what?” “The Puppet spell is a vastly complicated spell, far beyond your meager knowledge. But if you must know, I performed the trick for Princess Celestia three times. The first time, she was able to detect the Puppet from my voice. The second time, I used a set of dentures in the spell, but she could still see which image was real by looking into my eyes. On the third time, I cheated. I put a tiny bit of my own essence into the spell along with the glass eyes.” “Wasn’t that just a mite dangerous? Ah mean there’s only so much of ya to go around.” Trixie snorted dismissively, missing Applejack rolling her eyes with a hidden smile. “It was worth it, tenfold. Celestia nearly ripped the stage apart in a panic when the candle burned through the rope and the spiked trap slammed shut on my alter ego. Presto!” Trixie’s eyes glittered in the nearing flames as if a fire of nearly forgotten joy burned in her mind. “Ya really brought down the house in Ponyville this time. Or burned it down, ah suppose.” Trixie’s joyous expression fell, returning to her cynical sneer. “Bill me.” Applejack chuckled, nudging Trixie with a shoulder as they trotted into the outskirts of the scattered flames illuminating the clearing. “You know, if’n Big Mac did take a shine to you, I reckon it wouldn’t be too bad to have you out at the farm all the time.” “It wouldn’t?” Trixie blinked in confusion, her attention drawn away from the flames. “Wait, at the farm?” “Heck, yeah. We’re always a little short hooved around apple bucking season, and a few little ones runnin’ around to keep Apple Bloom company would be darned welcome.” “Little ones? Like — foals?” Several unused muscles in Trixie’s gut clenched, thinking of delivery pains associated with a foal the size of Big Mac. “Only about five or six, ‘cause you don’t want to get too busy to buck apples.” “But what about—” “‘Tween raising the young uns, apple bucking, fixin’ the barns, weaving apple baskets, chopping firewood, planting, canning, weeding, cooking and cleaning, we put in a good seventeen hour day, but a few months of that and you’d be just like one of the family.” “Seventeen…” Trixie slowed, thinking of endless lines of trees needing harvesting while Applejack continued trotting along. “And there’s always more ‘n enough grub. I mean we got apple pies, apple fritters, apple dumplings, apple brown betty, apple cake, apple chips, apple juice, applesauce—” Trixie interrupted rather weakly. “The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t really like apples all that much.” “Oh, don’t you worry none about that. We also gots us a plum tree.” “Oh, Applejack?” called Rarity, trying to keep out of as much of the smoke as possible. “Would you be a dear and stop taunting the poor dear. There’s something wrong with Rainbow Dash.” * * * The rainbow-maned pegasus lay curled up in a ball in the center of the clearing, well lit by the burning trees around her. Every so often, her blue coat would twitch, or a wing would shudder, the only signs of life she showed other than a rapid panting. The rest of the ponies held up a number of yards back, clustered together in a small herd for social protection from the paralyzing fear that seemed to pulse out from an invisible wall in front of them. “Stand back,” said Trixie, not moving one inch away from the warm huddle of the rest of the ponies. “There’s some sort of spell in the air here. Let me just get a look at — Uggha!” The unicorn shuddered when she lit her horn, fighting her head back and forth while the glow flickered and pulsed as if reluctant to be controlled. Several moments passed until her magic steadied into a soft light. “Ow. Stupid Everfree. Oh. Yeah, it’s a spell.” “Really?” said Rarity in an almost perfect imitation of Trixie’s voice. “I never would have guessed.” With a growl of effort from Trixie, a pink aura surrounded Rainbow Dash, floating her away from the invisible spell and into the warm embrace of her friends. “I c-couldn’t fly,” gasped the pegasus from inside the group hug. “My wings froze up. Are they okay? Do you think there will be any damage?” “Only to your thick head,” muttered Trixie. “Ow!” “Polite you should be to the very young flier, for she saved you from dying in the terrible fire. Think about that while you rub your head,or consider the next time, you may wind up dead.” “I was never in danger from the fire. And besides, you could have just told me to apologize without hitting me,” grumbled Trixie while rubbing the back of her head and glaring at the disguised zebra. “Some of our lessons are easily learned, but some only sink in when you are burned. Now, what do you see as an enchantment up there, that seems to have frightened our dashing young mare.” “I’m not afraid!” Trixie scoffed. “Oh, yes you were. I’ve seen a variant of this spell used to protect chests or rooms from unauthorized intruders, and not just in Daring Do novels. There’s a web of fear woven into the spell, pulled out in each direction as far as I could see.” Trixie paused and glared at Zecora. “Before I was hit.” Getting nothing but a shrug, Trixie continued. “There’s always one exception to the spell, and this one’s a tricky little stinker.” Rainbow Dash hopped to her hooves and shook her head vigorously. “Oh, no. This is just a wall, right? I’ll just fly everypony over the top. How tall is it?” “Tall enough if you misjudge it, you’ll freeze up like you did just now a couple thousand feet up, and make a bloody crater in the ground when you hit.” Ignoring the faint whimpering from Fluttershy, Trixie turned back to the wall and began searching for a weak spot. “There has to be something that bypasses it, some trick or code, but where is it?” Ignoring Trixie, the pink ‘alicorn’ walked to the deep hoofprints in the ground, placing each of her own hooves in them before closing her eyes and humming. “Got it,” growled Trixie with a grin. “You’re a powerful one, Twilight Sparkle, but you’re about as subtle as a crutch. It’s your greatest fear. All you have to do is admit your greatest fear, and you can pass right through.” “What the arrogant one sees, is completely true, for Flower’s friends have been here and through. While Trixie fears the tempting booze, my daughter is what I fear to lose.” Scattering fresh earth as she stepped forward, Zecora walked straight through the invisible wall and down the path where she stood calmly, waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. “Me! Me next!” Pinkie Pie bounced forward and stopped, facing the wall like she was about to charge, before announcing, “I’m afraid of losing my friends.” Trixie huffed and watched the pink party pony hop casually through the wall while muttering, “Like that could ever happen to you. Come on, who’s next?” “I-I’m afraid of not being able to fly anymore.” “Ah’m afraid of losin’ mah sister. Ah promised ma and pa I’d take care of her.” “I’m afraid of… dirt! Icky dirt! Ewww! But I would wallow in mud to save my darling Sweetie Belle!” “I-I’m afraid! Of everything!” Trixie scowled at the pink tail that blocked her view where Fluttershy’s front legs had collapsed on the trail in front of her. Her hind legs remained locked, holding her rear in the air with tremors shaking her pink tail like some huge fluffy rattlesnake. “Oh, for the love of ponykind! Just walk through it! You admitted your greatest fear.” “T-t-that’s n-not m-my g-greatest f-f-f—” “Fear!” shouted Trixie. “Eep!” squeaked Fluttershy, in a terrified tone that nearly exceeded audible frequencies, but did not gain any forward progress more than a brief hop. “Come on, Fluttershy! You can do it!” “Yeah, Fluttershy! You rock!” “Darling, you need to have faith in yourself. Think of it as a photo shoot.” “Eeek!” Fluttershy’s paralyzed hind legs collapsed, allowing the yellow pegasus to curl up into a terrified ball of fur and feathers. “Ah don’t think mentioning a photo shoot was the right thing to say there, sugarcube.” “I. Have. Had. Enough!” Trixie’s pink magic wrapped around the terrified pegasus and propelled her down the road, landing her firmly on her belly in front of her friends. Trixie cut off the levitation spell with an angry snap and stepped forward. “I’m afraid of…” Trixie trailed off, looking at the six ponies waiting on her. It was odd. Nopony had ever waited on Trixie before. They actually wanted her to succeed, and were waiting on her instead of bolting off into the forest in continued pursuit of the little menaces. “I’m afraid of…” There were so many things to be afraid of. Ants. Spiders. Laughter. She always hated to be laughed at on stage. Trixie knew the touch of fear every time she lifted a hoof to climb onto the stage, although she had never admitted it. There was only one thing it could possibly be, and Trixie blurted it out before she could talk herself out of it. “Laughter!” Trixie trotted forward, only to come to a crashing halt when a wave of raw terror swept up her legs and across her chest, holding her muscles paralyzed. Fear filled her mind with images, of standing alone on stage in the middle of a performance while the yawning audience trickled out the exits, the empty bed where a handsome stallion had slipped away on first light of the sun before his drunken companion could awaken, seeing Celestia perform a powerful magic on a whim that Trixie would not ever be able to master even if she spent her entire life trying. Failure. She would never be able to do what Celestia had wanted, she could never make friends, she was not great or powerful enough to use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. The evil being who corrupted Princess Luna was only toying with Trixie, feeling her thrash in terror like a crawdad in a boiling pot. Laughing at her. Mocking her. Relishing the fear that came from the crowd. Like a changeling consuming love, Nightmare Moon consumed— Trixie hardly felt the lariat when it settled around her neck, but she certainly felt it when all six ponies grabbed the other end of the rope and pulled, yanking Trixie through the wall of fear and dragging her down the path in a spluttering fury. Spitting out dirt and a twig, Trixie leapt to her hooves and glared at Applejack. “What did you think you were doing?!” The smiles that occupied the ponies’ faces began to fade while Trixie continued to fume in relative silence. Applejack flipped the rope off her neck and began to roll it back up, trying not to look Trixie in the eyes. “You was stuck there for quite some time, and we got worried.” “How long?” “It seemed like forever!” said Pinkie Pie in an aged, tremulous voice, earning a second glance from Trixie as somehow the party pony had grown a long white beard and was walking with a cane. Zecora walked around Pinkie carefully, as if she were contagious, before looking deeply into Trixie’s eyes. “Have you seen some power, that might help my Flower?” “I-I don’t know. There’s something wrong in what we’re doing, but I’m not sure what. Trixie thinks you all were right about the Elements of Harmony, but if Princess Celestia did not want to bring them to Ponyville and train Trixie… Or Twilight Sparkle with them earlier, she must have had a good reason. Why didn’t she just tell me?” The last words came out in a plaintive tone, just a fraction away from a whine. “Perhaps the use of this device is not meant to be taught twice. Once to you, and once to Flower, could there be dangers in this power?” “It put an alicorn princess on the moon, so of course it’s dangerous! But it’s missing a part, because the book said it only has five of the six pieces. Unless one of you has some ancient relic disguised as a knick-knack or necklace, Princess Celestia sent us out here on a wild goose chase to give Twilight Sparkle a broken weapon to fight an angry goddess.” Applejack frowned. “Well, what in tarnation would that do?” Trixie held up a hoof, turned it back and forth a few times, then produced a bit coin out of Applejack’s ear. “Provide a distraction.” --*-*-*-- Celestia soared on wings of flame. Magnetic vortices swirled all around her, lifting torrents of plasma into the sky everywhere the sun constantly erupted. Other immaterial forms danced with her upon the rising fiery wave, calling to shed what was left of her body and join their celebration. One at a time, they fell away with little piping cries of joy as she climbed. It was getting more difficult with every attempt to resist their siren call, but Celestia held to her purpose with a will of steel. Hold fast, my sister! She clung to the updraft, her wings catching every solar particle as it climbed. Up. Up. Up. Until she struck the wards. Blackened flames crashed across her ethereal body, magic meeting magic in a clash of power that she had yet to win, but could not stop trying. Her body twisted at the lashing agony, hurtling backwards away from the open sky where her beloved Equestria could be seen and back down into the swirling sea of fire where she floated in pain. The barely-seen forms of others drifted past, calling out to her in happiness as they danced and played before being swirled away by the constant solar wind. She gathered her corporeal form about herself, and spread her fiery wings again, fighting against the little fingers that seemed to pluck about her mind, attempting to steal her self and turn her into one of the mindless beings who danced through the solar plasma. Luna would not have lasted a moment in this place, extinguished as a shadow before the flame. Celestia drew power from the sun, filling her being with might for yet another attempt at escape. If it took a thousand thousand years, she would leave this place, and save her sister from the shadows. I am Celestia Invicta, the Unconquered Sun. Hear me, Nightmare. I am coming for you. * * ✹ * *