//------------------------------// // The Fat Lady Sings // Story: Trixcord // by RTStephens //------------------------------// Twilight heard her friends trot up next to her. They all remained silent and sat down. She felt one of them place their legs around her, though she didn’t turn to see who it was. For a time, they all stayed that way, sitting in front of Trixie and Discord’s petrified forms. Finally, Twilight felt the legs around her tighten. “You okay, hon?” Applejack asked softly. Twilight simply shook her head. Unsure of what else to do, Applejack continued holding her friend. Princess Celestia trotted into her view next. She looked over the statue briefly before turning towards her subjects, muzzle heavy with sorrow. “I apologize. Much of what has happened this day is due to me. I’m not going to get into what could have been or should have been done, though. Trixie’s sacrifice will not be forgotten. I will make sure of it, personally.” “It’s not fair,” Twilight murmured quietly. “I... promised her...” Celestia bent down and nuzzled Twilight gently. “I know. I know all too well. I’m here for you if you need it. And so are all your friends.” “Can’t... can’t anything be done?” Twilight looked up at her mentor with desperate hope. “Can’t you free her?” “I’m not sure, Twilight. If I do, then Discord will be free again. Then we’ll be back to fighting him.” “Can we use the Elements to at least try?” Celestia sighed. She understood Twilight’s sense of loss, she really did. “I do not know if there is anything more we can do. The Elements of Harmony have passed judgement. Using them again will not change things. I-” A crack sounded behind her. Celestia blinked in surprise. She stepped away to reveal that a large fissure had formed where Trixie’s hoof met Discord’s back. Celestia backed away, urging the others to do the same. More cracks began to appear one after another. Soon, the entire statue became littered with them. The ponies dared not speak and unconsciously held their breath. They watched as a small piece of stone fell away at the base where Discord lay. All at once, the whole statue crumbled to the floor. “Trixie!” Twilight rushed forward before anypony could stop her. She reached the spot where the statue had once stood and stared down at it helplessly. It was now just a heap of rubble. Headless of the danger, Twilight began to push away piles of stone with her hooves. She distantly heard her friends calling to her to get away but she ignored them to continue clearing away what was left of the statue. Just as she feared that she would reach the bottom and find nothing, her hoof came into contact with something solid. She brushed away a few more pieces of stone to reveal a blue unicorn horn. Twilight's face lit up. “She’s alive! I knew it! She’s okay! She’s-” Rumbling from underneath the rubble caused her to back away. An avalanche of stone pieces cascaded down the body that emerged. Trixie’s head appeared first, eyes blinking and groggy, followed by the rest of her. She moved away from the discarded rock pile, taking small, uncoordinated movements as though she were a newborn taking her first steps. “Oh,” Trixie groaned as she stepped forward. “Did anypony get the license of that carriage?” She shook her head a few times, causing a few more crumbs of stone to fall from her body, and looked up. She noticed that everypony was staring at her. “What? Do I have something on my muzzle?” A collective blink passed through them. Nopony made a move or said anything. “What is it?” Trixie asked, worry entering her voice. “What’s happened?” Rarity gulped, conjured up a small hand mirror, and cautiously levitated it to her. “I think... you’d better see for yourself.” Trixie reached forward with a paw to grab the mirror when it got close enough and stared into it. Yellow eyes with mismatched red pupils stared back at her. Slowly, the creature passed the mirror over its entire body. It was pony shaped in head and body, but several new appendages had been changed or added. A single tooth jutted from its mouth on one side. A pair of horns, one a deer antler and the other a goat’s horn, protruded behind a unicorn’s horn. Trixie’s platinum mane flowed through them. Four different legs of animals were attached to its blue pony body. From its back sprouted a bat and pegasus wing. A long, red dragon tail emerged from its behind. Finally, Trixie’s cutie mark had changed. The wand was still present, but black lines coiled around it and pointed off in random directions. The creature took its time inspecting itself, not uttering a word. The others watched it in anticipation and worry. Finally, the creature placed down the mirror and stared up at the ceiling. “I am...” The ponies across from it leaned forward... “... strangely gorgeous.” … and fell flat on their muzzles. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed after picking herself up. She rushed forward and spread her legs apart to indicate the entirety of the being in front of her. “Look at you! You’re all... weird!” “So says the one with rainbow hair,” the creature shot back. It was only now that it noticed that its voice sounded as though it were two different voices overlapping each other. “I bet you dye it.” “Hey! I’m all natural, you... you... whatever you are!” “Rainbow, stop!” Twilight scolded the pegasus. “Don’t be mean to her!” “Us.” Twilight switched her focus to the new chimera. “What’s that?” “Isn’t it obvious, Twilight Sparkle?” the creature mocked. “It seems your elements did something wondrously unexpected. It looks like they combined what used to be Trixie and Discord into one.” Twilight stared at it in shock. “What? But... but, how?” The chimera stood up on its hind lizard and goat legs and shrugged. “Who knows. Magic is funny like that.” Suddenly, Celestia galloped forward and stood before the chimera. With it standing on its hind legs as it was now, the princess was able to look it in the eyes without having to bend down. The creature flinched back and held up its lion paw and eagle claw in warding. “Now hold on, princess!” the chimera said with desperation. “Let’s not be hasty!” Celestia’s horn glowed and a golden blanket of magic flowed over the creature’s body. Before the chimera could attempt to shrug it off, the glow disappeared. Celestia regarded it carefully, gaining a cautious look from the chimera. Finally, she said, “It’s true. There is no trace of the life link. It has merged completely.” The creature quirked an eyebrow. “Soooooo... what now? You going to try using the elements again?” It landed on all fours and braced itself. The unicorn horn glowed a soft purple and its front fingers twitched. “You know they won’t work, your highness.” “That’s right. They won’t.” Celestia continued looking at the chimera. A palpable air of tension filled the room as one godlike being faced the other. Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The elements have passed their judgement. There doesn’t need to be anymore fighting.” She reopened her eyes and her mouth lifted in a hint of a smile. “As long as you don’t cause too much of a fuss, that is. After all, you are still one of my subjects. I still get to order you around.” The chimera winced, feeling a part of itself being compelled to follow its ruler. “Ew.” A head peeked around the princess’ body. Twilight hesitantly stepped forward until she stood in front of the creature. “So, you’re not gone? You are still in there,Trixie?” “I’m not Trixie anymore,” the chimera waved off. “Discord neither.” The chimera looked over to the pile of rubble it had emerged from. A simple activation of magic and a star covered cape floated out of it. The cape levitated over and wrapped around the creature’s neck. It reared up, cape fluttering behind it, and proclaimed grandly, “Call me... Trixcord!” --------------------------------------------------- “Spike? Is the telescope set up?” Spike stopped dusting a row of books to turn and address Twilight’s question. “I think so. It’s right where it usually is.” “Thanks,” Twilight said. She stepped away from her work desk and trotted up to her loft. “Weren’t you working on your next letter to the princess?” Spike called to her before she left his sight. “I’m taking a break,” she replied. Spike shrugged and went back to his chores. Twilight reached her living area and climbed up to the window that her favorite telescope was set up next to. A flick of magic teleported her new copy of “Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy” to her side. She quickly referenced one of its pages, gently adjusted the telescope’s position and placed her eye against the viewer. The constellation Draco shone back at her, its serpentine form a beautiful sight against the dark of the sky. The unicorn shifted the telescope slowly to another part of the night sky, looking for more constellations to gaze at. She passed over Orion, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major, a smiley face, Eridanus, Taurus- Wait. Twilight whipped the telescope back. Where Lepus should be located, a pony’s face instead gazed back at her. Impossibly, the constellation winked at her and stuck out a star outlined tongue. “Trixie!” Twilight yelled up at the stars. “Cord. Trixcord.” Twilight felt something tapping her head. She whirled around and found the creature made of pony parts and many other things floating next to her, casually leafing through her astronomy book. “Trixcord was wondering where this had gotten to,” Trixcord commented as it flipped through the pages with its eagle claws at a blurring pace. “Brings back memories...” Twilight held back a retort and said instead, “Princess Luna won’t like you messing with her stars. I hear she gets touchy about that since she takes a lot of effort to make them look special.” “She’ll get over it.” Trixcord tossed the astronomy book away. Twilight reacted quickly with her magic to keep it from landing roughly on the floor. She placed it on a shelf and glared up at the chimera. “Aren’t you suppose to be keeping a low profile?” Twilight asked sternly. “There are a lot of ponies that don’t trust you, you know.” “Feh, don’t remind Trixcord. The princess is still making me write status letters to her. It’s like I’m in a prison with no walls.” Trixcord crossed its arms and pouted. “Better than being in stone though, right?” Twilight pointed out. Trixcord grimaced at the thought. “True,” it conceded. “Still, even with Equestria opened to me, it can get so boring. Trixcord has all this power and nothing to use it on.” Its eyes suddenly opened in delight and looked down at Twilight expectantly. Twilight spoke before Trixcord could. “No.” “You don’t even know what Trixcord was going to say...” “I’ve seen that look before and I know it’s nothing good. Especially for me.” “You’ve got to learn to loosen up, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixcord chided with a grin before fading away. “You’ll enjoy things more that way.” “Trixcord!” Twilight screeched before racing down the stairs. She found the chimera sitting at her desk, a quill in its lion paw. Spike stared at the creature uneasily before deciding that the downstairs hadn’t had a good cleaning in a while. He rushed away, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. “Ugh, this is what you do in your spare time?” Trixcord complained as it reached down to begin adding to the letter. “You’ve got to get out more. Let’s spruce this up, shall we?” “Leave that alone!” Twilight summoned her magic and yanked the paper and quill from out of Trixcord’s reach. She levitated them behind her and watched for any movements to take them back. Her expression softened when she saw Trixcord body sag. She trotted up to it. “Look, I’m sorry things are so tough for you right now,” Twilight said in sympathy. She placed the parchment and quill back down on the desk. “I wish I could make things better, but it’s just going to take time to adjust to things.” Trixcord harrumphed and walked away from the desk, head held high. “Time is not something Trixcord has to worry about anymore, Twilight Sparkle.” It walked to the center of the room and stared at the bust of a wooden stallion head displayed on a table. “Trixie got what she wanted on that day. So did Discord. Eternal life along with being free to do as Trixcord pleases. Well, almost anything Trixcord pleases. “I have adjusted. You’d think that I would be furious to be stuck like this but really, it feels as natural as when I was Trixie and Discord. I have no regrets about that.” “Then...” Twilight trailed off, unsure of what Trixcord was getting at. “What’s the problem?” “Equestria hasn’t adjusted to me yet,” Trixcord answered bitterly. “I'm still a spirit of chaos and a showpony. Trixcord has a function to perform and it’s annoying having to hold back. No pony sees me at my best. Pulling pranks like what Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash do are so boring. I need something big to satisfy myself.” Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. She herself was always satisfied with just laying by the fire with a good book. There wasn’t much that could beat that, except maybe laying down under the stars with a good book. Still, she was just a pony. Trixcord was... something else entirely. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have an instinctual urge to do something and being forced to keep it toned down. Trixcord continued to look at the wooden bust. Seeing as the chimera wasn’t going anywhere, Twilight walked up to one of her bookshelves and scanned through the titles there. One book called, “Unexplained Phenomenon That Are Phenomenal” caught her eye. She plucked it with her magic and brought it over to Trixcord. “Here. Maybe something in here will give you an idea.” Twilight placed the book down and smiled encouraging at it. Trixcord raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and lazily flipped through the book. Twilight nodded in satisfaction and went back to her letter. A few minutes passed, the only sound the quiet shuffling of pages being turned. Finally, Trixcord stopped and read through a passage with intense interest. “That’s it!” Twilight jerked in surprise, causing her quill to draw a thick black line across her letter. “Shoot! Not I’ve got to start all over again! Thanks a lot, Trix-” She turned around to scold the chimera but found that it was gone. “... cord?” Suddenly, a flash of light filled her windows. Twilight rushed out of her library and noticed that other ponies were out and looking around in confusion. Movement on the ground caught her eye. Colors danced across the dirt path, predominantly fluorescent green with some red sprinkled in. Realizing the colors were just a reflection of something above her, Twilight looked up to the sky. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. A display of light flowed high in the air, rippling like a curtain in the wind. The light stretched from one end of the horizon to the other and possibly even further than that. Ponies watched the glorious light show with rapt attention, too enraptured to look away. “Aurora borealis,” Twilight murmured in awe. She had never seen one. The last time such an event had been seen was reported to have happened over a thousand years ago. However, nothing in her books could ever describe properly what she was experiencing now. “By Celestia, the sky’s on fire!” “It’s the end of the world!” “Run for your lives!” Twilight was brought out of her gazing of the aurora to witness ponies scrambling to get back inside. She ran forward and called out, “No! No! It won’t hurt you! It’s just a result of an illusion of light! It results from the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmo-!” Mad cackling next to her drowned out her long winded explanation. Twilight looked down and saw Trixcord rolling on the ground and laughing uncontrollably. “L-l-l-look at them run! Ha! Ha! Ha! Everypony in Equestria is probably f-f-freaking out right now! This is just too much! The whole world is my stage to p-p-perform on!” The chimera lost all ability to talk as it lapsed into another round of joyous laughter. Twilight shook her head in exasperation. She wanted to lecture it, tell it that it wasn’t very nice to scare ponies like that and remind it that Celestia wouldn’t be very thrilled about this later. However, seeing the chimera find something that brought it some happiness, and didn’t really hurt anypony, Twilight thought she’d let it get away with it for now. Just so long as this didn’t become a regular occurrence- “Just wait until they see what Trixcord has in store for them tomorrow!” Then again, Twilight Sparkle heard that the lands of Draconia were rather nice this time of year.