//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 ~ This Is Trixie's Might (V2) // Story: Lunarium // by Tramper //------------------------------// They were running once more, weren’t they? Trixie was unsure whether she should be happy about this. On one hoof it meant everypony would finally shut up, on the other it meant that something was after them again. Still, putting on a brave face came easy, all you needed to do was lie, but every step still made her feel worse. She knew it wasn’t only because of the soldiers. She’d wanted to never run away again, she’d found another haven, away from the tower and the cliff and she’d taken the first steps towards her goal. Though a light shone from Lyra’s horn, she felt like she was still in the dark. They hurried through the narrow tunnel and she did not know where they were going or what would wait at the end. Maybe the Lunarium would be there, maybe it would be just a place far better than the one they came from. Maybe it was a worse place, she had no idea. Yet she didn’t look back. Hoping that they’d find a better place was also easy. All of them were following Lyra, the one who held the light, the pony who had never believed in magic. Trixie felt herself seething with hatred. All of them talked how great this was, how wonderful magic would be. The same ponies had laughed at her, had told her she couldn’t be a wizard. At the same time she was sure, the next time they would stop, they would all go crying again. The only pony who had no tears left was Trixie. She had always endured, always hoped, always dreamt of magic and a better tomorrow. She had sat on the window sill of her room in the old orphanage, the day before her new parents had come, and had looked at the sky. There she had spotted a single star, shaped like the ones on her hat and cloak. From the filly's point of view it had been as bright as the sun, even though it had was one small star in a sea of them. It had been there for her. She galloped and her hooves made a clacking sound on the rocky ground. It felt much like the roads of Canterlot, like the alleys where they’d played tag. Not that she cared. Nopony cared about the rocks beneath them. Derpy had grabbed Twilight and put her on her back with ease the moment they’d started their gallop. The brown filly was holding on, while the one beneath her stared forward, not quite knowing what she did but kept doing it anyway. Octavia panted, she’d never been a pony with much strength in her legs. Hopefully she could keep up with the rest of them. Were the soldiers even following the group? The little filly didn't know and in truth, she didn't even want to know. The only thought on her mind, like always when she ran away, was what that star had been. That night it had dedicated its light to her and summer snows had fallen, like they had done the day the princess of the night had held her own wake. Trixie remembered a filly by her side that night, but neither the color of her mane nor the sound of her voice came to her. But this other foal had told her that the sky was beautiful for once. She had spoken to the ugly, little Trixie. Suddenly, she felt a sting of pain as her hoof rammed against a stone. The filly stumbled, falling face first into the dirt while her friends still moved forward. Not one stopped for her. There were fewer gems in the walls and the crystals were all but gone. The ground wasn't made of soft sand but hard, dark rocks, some of which had edges that could easily cut. As she felt her jaw hit the ground, she closed her eyes and took one long second, thinking about somewhere else. She thought about her room. Six beds standing side by side with only a small corridor between them leading to the door. The stink was unbearable and the window was almost always open. The only times it wasn't was because they had been ordered to close it. Her own bed was always neatly done, as if nopony would ever touch it. She never had slept in it, only on the sill, where she could see the city resting below and dream of both princesses and dragons. Just like at this moment, with the summer snows falling. The orphanage had been placed higher on the mountain, overlooking the city so that the normal folk wouldn't be bothered by the parentless little ponies. On one hand, that meant long walks if the town was to be visited, on the other, that they had lots of space for themselves. For the nights it meant one more thing: Canterlot. It was an ugly town, coated in the worst tones of brown and red, with steam rising from the factories and dirt covering every inch of it. But the factories didn't work at night and the dirt was covered up by darkness. What remained were the black silhouettes of buildings on a dark blue background with black clouds above and a few holes in them, through which the light shone. Now, Canterlot was only towers and spires, a conglomeration of shapes and structures that looked like a piece of art. And it had been the only beautiful thing Trixie had ever seen since coming to the orphanage. Nopony else even looked out of the window. Everypony was asleep, because anypony that wasn’t, they would put in detention. Small flakes of white were falling and she looked up to a sky she only knew to be covered with smog and smoke. Down in the city, the air was almost unbreathable. Trixie had heard about the factories, how ponies had to wear masks and most workers didn't even make ten years there. Someday, if no family picked her up, she had to work there, too. Thinking about it made her feel sad, so she didn't dwell on it. Her thoughts were concerned with snowponies and a clear sky. She smiled at the window. A single light gleamed in the middle of the room. Sugar High insisted on one being lit, just like Trixie insisted that when she had to leave the room at night another filly had to come with her. The light caused a reflection which Trixie, at that point, still enjoyed. Her coat was both brown and white, her mane part white, part black and her eyes were a shade of the richest purple. She had always loved her own appearance, since it reminded her of both her parents. Her mother, who had always walked around with a mess of a black mane and her father whose white mane had always been adorned with ribbons of various colors. She could still spot most of her teeth in that reflection, too. Within the window she saw the door swing open and another filly entering the room. Trixie remembered her now. This one had a coat as white as the snow outside and a well-combed, brownish blonde mane. Her unicorn horn had been taken off like Lyra's. The only filly here who wasn't an orphan. Oh, if Trixie would only have been able to remember her name. What memory she still had was how it went. The filly tip-toed across the room and seated herself beside Trixie, looking silently out of the window. There had been an air of grace about her, but her mane was dripping wet. She sometimes cleaned herself at night, both herself and her sheets. Nopony but Trixie had noticed until now. It was this filly's secret, whyever Trixie had never quite understood, though it was probably for the same reason most ponies here kept secrets. For the fear of punishment. They both sat like they did and for minutes, maybe even an hour, neither said anything. “It's beautiful,” the other filly whispered, then looked behind her, hoping not to have woken any other ponies. “Uh huh,” Trixie answered. That was the only thing that needed to be said. The world was covered in a beautiful white carpet and this moment would be engraved in her mind forever. There was no thought that needed to be spoken out and both of them could just stare at the snow falling forever. It would stop, Trixie still knew, but the moment was theirs. The other filly then did something Trixie didn't remember. She turned around, her eyes a tone of cyan that gleamed with a fierceness of old age in them. Trixie would not have believed anypony to have such a gaze. They looked at each other but the silence lasted not a breath. “Trixie Lulamoon, do not stop!” The voice didn’t belong to the filly who’d sat there with her on the sill. It was old and filled with a power Trixie could hardly comprehend and the eyes were staring at her, two abysses of wisdom and regret. You still have something to fight for! And the second was gone, Trixie touched the ground, felt a sharp pain in her mouth. Next time she wouldn't scream while falling, because biting her tongue hurt. Yet she stood up immediately, taking energy she had not known to possess before. If not for anything else, then for the sole fact that magic still existed in this world and all her dreams would soon be answered. She hurled herself forward, only barely hearing a voice behind her, shouting. “Dammit, there's really more kids down here! Get them!” Trixie heard them, regrettably so. She knew that voice from the city. The female that had so idly chatted about murdering civilians, it had to be her. She didn't want to be caught, she wanted to be free and she wanted to see the Lunarium. The filly wouldn't stop and her friends didn't appear to slow down either. With a determination only children could bring up, they galloped farther and farther into the dark. The path was straight, but still they had to watch where they were going. Rocks and crystals were on the ground, some were pointy, some had edges. Trixie felt a sudden sting and a sharp pain on her hooves more than once. The path got narrower and narrower and then the light orb vanished, Trixie didn't even know why. Not until she fell, her hooves slipping from under her. Suddenly she was propelled on her back and felt herself gaining speed. With six different sounding Aaaaah’s they went down a natural slide. Down and down, but Trixie spotted a light at the end. Lyra hit the ground first and the others landed on her. Then they hit the ground, or rather, Lyra did, and everypony else just landed atop her. A quiet moment passed and none of them even tried to stand up, because they were immediately sucked in by what they saw. They were all feeling like they had just woken up in a world filled with magic, surely. Trixie knew she did. The cave was monstrous with walls made of crystals and a glowing stream in its middle. The sand they had landed on was the same as before, the moon sand, as Trixie recalled it. There were a few holes in the walls and some of them could be reached by using the rock formations that spread themselves around the river. A filly could easily climb them, but all of them were leading into the blackness again. After a few moments Twilight said one thing and she was too astonished to cough, “Luna's garden.” Trixie had heard that story. How Princess Luna had build a garden beneath the castle for all the children in Canterlot to play in. A giant playcave, so to speak. Trixie, like any sane mare had believed it to be a myth since the entrance had never been found. Yet they were here and– “You're squashing me,” Lyra whined and as Trixie looked down, she realized that they were still a heap of ponies and got up immediately. She did enjoy the irony of using Lyra as a cushion, though. The others followed suit, but Lyra left anypony a chance to make a productive comment. “This is totally destiny. Adults can’t get into Luna’s garden. We should celebrate by playing for a bit!” Octavia, wise as she was, shook her head. "We were just being hunted, Lyra. I don't think we'd lose soldiers this easily." Everypony easily agreed to that. These ponies were out to kill them, so of course, there was only one thing they could possibly do. We should keep running. Twilight nodded, “Tavi’s right.” She looked at the river. “Maybe we should look from where this water comes. Maybe the Lunarium’s there.” If only they had some reassurance as to where exactly they needed to go, Trixie thought, but there was no time to question the situation. A noise came up from behind them, from the slide. “Hide,” Octavia said quickly and looked around, finding a formation of rocks to their left. They hurried in this direction, following the river down and jumped behind the stone. They heard a thud and then a cry of pain, clearly male. “Storm, you applebuckin' idiot, watch where yer goin'!” A hoarse voice grumbled, coughing. “Shut it, you dumb bastard. If it weren't for you they wouldn't have run. Really, I have better things to do than to friggin' chase after kids,” a second voice said, a bit younger, but even though he said that, he didn’t sound annoyed at all. Trixie could’ve sworn she heard him giggle. “I mean, not really. It’s a sport, right? Plus, they’re the first who’re actually smart enough to run.” “Yet you two should’ve gotten them far easier. You’re a disgrace to both the military and me,” a third voice then said, this one belonging to a female and she spoke the words in the same tone tone any other mare would have gushed about having her hooves polished. A moment after that voice had spoken, the thud of this pony landing on the ground came. It was softer than the others, and the flapping of wings reached the foals’ ears. The other two spoke up in unison; “Sarge!” The two sounded both awed by the mare and rather fearful of her. Pegasi had a proud military tradition and many of the officers were frontline veterans. Trixie remembered an idiot back in her home village always bragging about it and how his parent was a major or something. “At least it’s done now, just collect the bodies and we can go back up.” No answer. “Well sarge ... Uhm, you don' need to come. We can find and kill them kids all on our own.” “What do you mean ki– Storm, Black, why aren't there any corpses?” “Uhm …” Both male voices seemed to be wondering exactly why, or at least they were thinking up an excuse. “You didn’t even start to look for them? I mean ...” The sarge grew quite for a moment. “Wow, this is pretty nice.” “Yup!” the raspy voice said with what Trixie thought to be a dumb accent. Then came the sound a hoof made when it hit another pony's face. “You idiots! How're we supposed to find them here. They could’ve already gone into one of these tunnels, or hide behind a rock formation. I swear, my promotion’ll get ruined thanks to you.” “It’ll be fine, they’re probably cowering in fear, all we need to do is search. They’re bound to make a mistake,” the other, younger one said. Trixie knew what that meant. She hadn't spotted that many actual rocks in here, and the only others that could’ve hid them were either on the other side of the river, or a few meters going upstream. As the soldier had suggested, the others were all just cowering. “Wait here till they're gone,” she whispered in a sudden turn of madness and leaned around. The trio was made up of three ponies. The one with the rough voice she figured to be the brown, small stallion that wore a very untidy looking Canterlot uniform and a rusty helmet. The younger one looked not much cleaner, but was tall and lanky. He had a white coat and blonde hair. The female was a black, elegant pony who had her uniform clean and even wore armored horseshoes. Not many ponies could afford proper horseshoes. They all carried long staffs, one-edged blades at their ends and guns mounted on them. She hadn't really any idea about the equestrian military, but she already knew that she didn't want to be hit by one of those. Luckily, all three were walking upstream instead of fanning out. Trixie really didn’t know why they did that, but if they were going to be stupid about their tactics, she wouldn’t be the one complaining. She then moved both as quickly and quietly as possible. There was another group of large rocks that might've made an excellent hiding place, right on the other side of the small river and they had another tunnel behind them. That was her goal. Her eyes were focused on the three ponies, who themselves were trying to sneak up on the stones. One misstep and everything would be lost. Trixie stepped into the water, fully aware that if she moved too fast, or lifted one hoof too high, even if she did it just once, it could spell doom for them all. Her movements were pretty graceful she thought, and the river, while wide, wasn't very deep. She took about half a minute to the other side, making no noise. The soldiers went forward, one turned his head in her direction, but she was quick enough to notice and hide within the water. He didn’t notice her. They were doing their job fairly half-heartedly, Trixie thought, but maybe the three of them also were awestruck by this place, and just use their chase as an excuse to explore it. The eyes of her friends were focused on her, but not a single one of them moved. That's good, she thought. Not a single step produced a noise that would have given her away. She was a bit clumsy on normal occasions, but somehow it all worked out. Truthfully, Trixie felt a bit strange, like an old friend was watching over her, making her feel surefooted and safe. That's what she wanted to think, that and how there was a tower by the cliff, just waiting for her. Reaching the other side, she looked at the rocks and then at the tunnel behind it, which led into the blackness. It was a path to nowhere, but a path nonetheless. She couldn't even tell whether it was a dead end or not. A smirk found its way to her face. One step, then another step, both very quiet. Then, just as she entered the hole she spotted a little rock in the corner of her eye and kicked it with a little force. The rock flew through the air. It hit a wall and the sound resonated through her ears. Suddenly, she felt the adrenaline rushing through her, her senses sharpening and regret kicking in. As the stone hit, the noise sounded like the hammering of a thousand drums to her, and it reached the three soldiers, too. The mare called 'Sarge' reacted immediately and turned her staff towards Trixie. Without hesitation she let her hoof move to the gun. Trixie couldn’t make out the exact motion, but a split-second later the shot erupted with smoke and fire. Trixie's hat flew off her head, now filled with holes. Trixie, while regretting what she had done, only did one thing, the most insane thing. “They’re onto us!” she yelled, “Run!” and turned around, hearing a voice behind her. “Damn brats, after them!” With a frightful shiver she picked up her fallen hat and then she galloped into the darkness, a smirk on her face. Her plan had worked out and for whatever reason she had decided to run towards certain doom. Everything was up to her friends now, they needed to find the Lunarium and end this. Why? She asked herself but found the answer long since engraved in her mind, ever since the night, the snow and the promise she had made. This right there, right at that moment. This was all she could do to reach her goal. This was Trixie's might, Trixie's determination. If it meant to sacrifice herself to bring magic back, so it would be, but nopony Trixie called her friend would ever be hurt while Trixie was around and could do something about it. Don't stop, the voice echoed through her head, You are on the right path.