//------------------------------// // Level 1: Okay, You Want Me To What!? // Story: Equestria Was Merely a Setback! // by Thunderscourge //------------------------------// It was not the first time Trixie woke up flat on the ground, limbs sprawled and her head in splitting pain. The pain was so great, in fact, that it took her a whole minute to even manage to open her eyes. As soon as the bright light of the sun hit them, she groaned and shut them again. She felt completely unwell on a level she had not felt since… Since… Trixie shook her head from side to side while trying to lift herself to her feet. As her eyes opened again, her efforts to rise were met by her flopping over onto the ground beside where she woke up. Her body felt…different. Lighter, and her weight was distributed differently. She brought the end of one limb to touch her forehead, as if by massaging her throbbing temple she could ease the pain. Still suffering, a weak groan escaped her lips, “Ohhhh…” As she made that simple utterance, the feeling against her forehead changed...it was being touched, but something about what was touching it felt wrong. Trixie focused her light sensitive eyes on whatever was touching her head. It was colored funnily. Like someone had drained a peachy color and made it quite pale. The shape was quite funny too, with a few skinny blocks coming off of a square-ish shaped part. Trixie moved her head away from it, only to find that this thing flopped onto her smooth forehead again. “What is this?” That was enough for Trixie to try and look at it more thoroughly…and all it took was a look as to what the thing was attached to for her mind to figure out what was touching her. Attached to the thing was what Trixie could recall was called an arm, which was connected to what was known as a shoulder, which in turn was attached to her. She had a hand. Somehow that felt wrong. Why would having a hand feel so weird? A glance to her other side revealed a matching hand. So she had two of them, and the one that had been touching her head was not some abnormality. Still, it felt…funny. “Hands? I don’t remember having those…” The pain still lingering in Trixie’s head gave her ample explanation as to why maybe she was feeling a bit off. Now that she was awake, it was time to find out where she had slept for the night and determine what to do from there. A look at the ground she was on top of revealed a soft green field of grass. Various patches of grass were unkempt and rising above others, one of which was nearby where she had woken up. Curious, Trixie ran a hand through the grass there to find that a rock was inside the grass. Trixie groaned. She hit her head on that rock, hadn’t she? Reaching one of her hands back, Trixie found that the back of her head indeed had a bruise. A bruise so large, in fact, that she gasped at the touch of her own soft fingers. A strand of hair caught in her fingers as she brought them across her scalp and away from the pain, granting Trixie sight of the silver sliver before it drifted away in the day’s gentle breeze. The ground would reveal little else to her, so it was time to get up! Trixie heaved upward and tried to bring herself onto all four limbs. She instead flopped forward and had to catch herself with her hands, ending up in a position kneeling down on the ground. That granted her a better enough view though, now being able to see that she was next to a round building with a symbol that had the appearance of a stylized fleur-de-lis with red as its primary color, and a golden outline surrounding it. Around the building was an assortment of trees, some green and some a golden orange. Those that were green came from intricate, swirled bases that were a part of the building while the others rose from the ground. The building itself was a similar shade to Trixie’s skin, and it held an architecture than only felt partly familiar…like she had seen something like it before, but not actually seen anything exactly like it in her life. The unfamiliarity brought some uneasiness to Trixie’s stomach, “Where in Tartarus am I? And just how hard did I hit my head?” she brought her hand over to her stomach at the queasy feeling, “There better not have been anything in my food last night…” In fact, what had she eaten last night? Ah, whatever, Trixie was sure she could figure it out as soon as her head cleared a bit. Trixie lowered her hand from her stomach to one of her lower limbs, finding that it was a leg. That was normal, even if the leg itself felt weird. A quick check revealed her last limb to be the same, and Trixie sighed. Okay, whatever was wrong with her, she at least had all of the parts that would let her get up and move. While checking herself, Trixie found that her body was covered by a soft purple robe. Wearing purple felt right, so she paid it little mind as she slowly pulled herself to her feet. Just when she reached her feet, Trixie yelped as something crashed into the back of her legs and knocked her forward. Her head plunged into one of the green trees nearby and the young woman flailed as she tried fighting her way out of the tree's leaves. “Ahhh!” Once successful in freeing herself, Trixie turned to find herself being approached by what appeared to be a...feline being. It had a coat of reddish-orange, and it had fangs that poked far out of its mouth in a threatening manner. Yellow glowing eyes stared intently at her, and Trixie found herself backing right into that tree she had been fighting to escape. This little cat just tackled her, and it did not look friendly! Trixie glanced around to see if there was anyone around. After all, she was right next to a building! People had to be around— More cats. Dozens of more cats. Some trees as well, yes, but the field seemed filled with these felines. Trixie gave the cat a nice smile and held a hand out to try and touch it. It was worth a shot, right? "Good kitty...soft kitty...little ball of fur..." Trixie weakly sang as she slowly approached it. It growled at her and snapped towards her outstretched hand, which made Trixie realize something: she could do magic! All she had to do was... Oh great, now she could not even remember how to do magic! What was the world coming to? A growl reminded her that the world was coming to her being mauled by a cat. Yes, that. The cat sniffed towards her and let out another growl before turning around and leaving, walking towards the others gathered on the plains. At that moment the war cry of a man rung out, and someone in full armor rushed and impaled one of the farther cats with their sword. The others did not appear all that pleased by this and turned to assault the armored man, but Trixie was already running along the edge of the building away from the whole mess the moment he appeared. It would be nice and noble to help him murder the cats for no reason, since their numbers were sure to kill him, but Trixie valued her own life more. And did not feel comfortable hurting poor animals for no explained reason. On the way around the building Trixie came across what appeared to be target dummies, like what you might beat up in training, and surely enough there was a line of robed figures hurling magic towards these dummies. Trixie watched in awe for a moment as fire and ice hurled forward and crashed into the straw figures, but a stray shot of a poor magic user flew right by her head. At that point Trixie decided watching from behind the targets was not the smartest decision of her life. The concentrating mages did not seem to even notice the person in their line of fire, and they continued to attack their targets despite everything. With the warrior attacking the poor cats, and these mages attacking their targets, Trixie could not help but feel as if this was some training ground for soldiers. She did not recognize just what these beings were, but she did not give them a second glance before continuing on her way. She wanted to figure out what this all was as soon as possible, idiot mages be damned. After continuing around the circle that was the building for a few more moments, Trixie was met with a wide open hole where one would think a door should be. The entrance was simply the lack of a door, and Trixie found herself a little stunned by this very open building. How did they keep the weather from getting in? Standing in front of the entrance of the building and looking like they could answer some questions was another woman who was pointing some other robed figures towards a different field. Someone with directions most certainly could be helpful! Trixie approached the woman, but before addressing her she observed her for a moment. The woman had a soft face with green, literally glowing eyes, long, pointed ears that sloped up and slightly towards the back of the head, and blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Her body was bipedal, much like Trixie found herself, and formed a surprising hourglass shape with a narrow waist, large hips, and two large bumps on the chest that were almost as big as the chest they hung off of in length. What were those things, Trixie wondered? A glance down made her realize that she too possessed them. Having looked the woman over, Trixie cleared her throat to get her attention, “Hello, my name is…” Oh no. Trixie's eyes widened as the woman turned towards her...she was blanking on her own name! She bit her lip for a moment and groaned as she fought to remember who she was. The woman Trixie stood across from rose an eyebrow, curious about the sudden stop, but she was not kept waiting long as a wave of information hit Trixie: she was, indeed, named Trixie. Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful! The Great and Powerful what though? She remembered doing magic before, so was it magician? Whatever, she would just leave that out until she could remember more. “Trixie! Trixie Lulamoon,” she finished awkwardly. The woman smiled, ignoring Trixie's awkwardness as if it were something she was used to, “Oh, you must be another student who has come here to prepare against the Burning Legion. Welcome to Sunstrider Isle, Ms. Lulamoon. I am Magistrix Erona, your guide for the near future.” Absolutely none of that registered with Trixie, who gave the other woman a weird look. “Burning Legion? Sunstrider Isle?” What was this 'Magistrix" even saying? What were those things and why was Trixie supposed to know what those meant? "Yes..." the Magistrix nodded slowly, her voice trailing off as she grimaced. The poor woman was wondering what brain damage this poor soul was ailed with to not know what those words meant to their people. Realizing that she was seeming a bit unintelligent, Trixie chuckled nervously. She hated not knowing what she was doing, “Okay, so, hypothetically, would it be possible for you to talk to me like I have no idea what is going on, what I am doing, or where I am? Just, you know, to be sure we are clear on those details?” Her hypothetical that was completely the case made Erona facepalm. She had encountered many...mentally challenged trainees before, but never quite to this degree. Even that idiot warrior who had rushed off to slay the cubs by the back of the building knew those basics. Magistrix Erona knew already this was going to be difficult. “Silvermoon kids these days and their Bloodthistle and drinking…” Trixie could hear with her large ears that the woman had muttered something, but she had not caught just what was said, “What?” Erona gave Trixie a fake smile,“Nothing! Let us begin with the basics. What do you know?” Trixie nodded, glad that she could finally address her problems, “I have hands, and that feels abnormal. You have them too, so an explanation would be nice ” a similar and more important question surfaced for Trixie, “Also, what are you?” The urge to have her jaw drop was killing Erona inside. Was this student just playing with her or were they just that unintelligent? Perhaps they were just suffering from a bit too much partying in the city? “I am a Blood Elf, much like yourself. We are a race known for its magical prowess and our refined ways. To think that your hangover is so great that you cannot remember that tells me that perhaps we should limit the drinking of ones as young as yourself.” Trixie crossed her arms over her chest defensively, “I didn’t drink anything!” a moment passed before Trixie realized she had no idea if she had or not, “Or, at least I don’t think so. I might have. But what I do in the privacy of my wagon is my own business!” That caught Erona's attention, “Wagon? So you are a traveler?” “I…” Trixie slowly grew a smirk as she continued, “Yes. Yes I am.” Yes, she was a traveler! A traveling magician, the Great and Powerful Trixie! She would go from place to place and perform magic. Sure, she could not remember her spells at that moment, but she would with time. Of that she was sure. This temporary setback with her memory would go away and things would go back to normal...whatever that was. Trixie bowed to the Magistrix, adopting a grandiose voice, “A traveling magician, in fact. And I have come here to improve my skills so I can become the greatest performer in Equestria!” Erona rose her brow again, now being the one feeling slightly foolish, “Equestria? Is that some realm of Kalimdor? These are the Eastern Kingdoms, there is no Equestria here.” Not able to know if that was indeed the case but also not willing to appear like any more of a fool, Trixie nodded and stood back up with a smile to mask her inner nervousness, “Yes, that is it. Completely! Trixie knows what she is talking about now.” That seemed to put Erona partially at ease, “Oh good then. Perhaps we can discuss more details later then. For now, I would like to have your aid in a most pressing matter.” To make herself appear at least competent and make up for previous...bumbling, Trixie gestured to herself while boasting proudly, “I will amaze you with my talents. What shall I do? Pull a rabbit out of a hat? Summon a bouquet of flowers?” Internally, Trixie was saying something along the lines of "Pleasedon'tcallmybluffpleasedon'tcallmybluffpleasedon'tcallmybluff!" as a result of how she could not currently back up her claims. Luckily for her, Erona could not read minds and paid it all no mind. The Magistrix smiled to Trixie in a way that made the confused "Blood Elf" nervous. “I am more interested in your capability of murder, my young student. The sooner you begin your magic education, Trixie, the better for us all. There is little room for error, so listen closely.” Now it was Trixie's turn to fight the urge of dropping one's jaw, “M-murder? Like people murder?” Just the idea made Trixie's stomach feel ill. Here they were, having this nice conversation, and now death was on the table! The nonchalant manner made Trixie wonder just how common a subject this was for the woman, since she did not seem nearly as put off by it as anyone should! Seeing that Trixie was alarmed, Erona backpedaled verbally, “No, no, no. Let me explain. The Burning Crystals - the green floating objects to the west of the Sunspire here - have long been used to power the isle's experimentations.” Trixie glanced around the landscape and found that in the nearby distance there were the so called Burning Crystals. Floating above the ground and surrounded by what Trixie presumed to be floating eels, the crystals were above circular platforms that had a similar architecture to the nearby building, which she then realized was not the only one of its kind. Multiple buildings surrounded the nearby area, which made Trixie curious as to what they all were for. Inspection of them could happen later though, for now she was observing the crystals. The largest one in view, shaped like an elongated diamond, was quite large even at a few hundred feet away. Inside of it were two glowing shapes of orange and yellow that held the shape of eyes, and Trixie found herself slightly unnerved by how it seemed to be staring back at her. Her observation complete, Erona continued for her new student of sorts, “The mana wyrms you see around them were their guardians, but the Scourge invasion of Quel'Thalas has driven them errant from our lack of magical control over them.” Trixie glanced back at the floating eels, some of which were closer and gave a better view. They had a blue-ish body with a thin, weblike membrane around forming straight back across their long and slim bodies on both top and bottom. They too had glowing eyes, and the way they waved back and forth as they hovered above the ground had a mesmerizing effect on Trixie, who found herself smiling at them. This said, Trixie once again found herself confused by the jargon used. “What is this Scourge you speak of?” This time Erona seemed more than a little miffed at Trixie's questioning, “The race of undead monstrosities that drove us from our homeland and demolished our species. I am a magic teacher, not a history professor, so just listen. There is little choice but to thin the mana wyrms numbers for reclamation of this Isle. This is a great way to test out your magical powers and let me gauge where you are at in terms of skill level. Do this, then return to me.” Trixie gulped. So this was the murder mentioned previously. She was supposed to just go and kill creatures as a task? “Are there no beast tamers who could help these poor creatures? I don’t think I’ve ever killed something, and I would hate to break a good streak now!” Trixie laughed nervously, trying to find an alternate option to killing. Erona shook her head sadly, “No. I mean, we receive a flux of warriors, criminals for hire, magicians, and other such talented people here, but if I am to be honest we do not receive too many huntards with the skill to tame such creatures. Not nearly enough to make a true impact...” Trixie tilted her head at the odd word she heard, “Huntards?” Erona chuckled as she realized she used the wrong word, “Excuse me, Hunters. Ranged specialists who tame creatures. Their profession is less popular amongst our race these days because of the cowardice associated with their tactics.” “So, to begin my training, you want me to murder animals that are tainted by something we can possibly help with but just do not have the manpower for?” Erona nodded to Trixie's question, which led to the new student proclaiming, “I’m going to capture them.” The Magistrix could tell this would be a difficult apprentice already, “That would prove most difficult, and what would you do with them? All of our animal holding pens are full with Dragonhawks.” Trixie placed her hands on her hips smarmily, tilting her head back and lifting her nose up as she brought forth yet another boast, this one being one she intended to fulfill however she could, “You want to help their species by thinning the amount of corrupted ones there are. I’ll do just that. Let the Great and Powerful Trixie amaze you!” “I can sense your overall magic, though not your skill. This being said, you are barely above average in terms of new recruits and their power. Why do you think you are so amazing?” Erona scoffed, hoping to bring some humility to the younger woman. Ready to begin her task, Trixie strutted past Erona and towards the nearby plains where a gathering of mana wyrms was, “Pardon me, teacher, but you will not be a neigh-sayer much longer. Just watch as I do the impossible.” Their conversation over, Trixie set out to reclaim Sunstrider Isle in her own way. This being said, she quickly looked around to see if anyone else was using magic. A nearby feline cub growled in pain, bringing Trixie's attention to what caused the pain. A man in similar robes to Trixie's own, though his had a crimson shade with gold outlines like the building from before, was forming a ball of what appeared to be ice and fire magic in his hand before blasting it out towards the wild animal. This next shot did not hit the cub like the last, but it did give Trixie the time to study him. He began saying an incantation along the lines of "Anara'nel belore", and suddenly a burst of fire erupted before the cub. The grass lit and singed the charging animal, at which point the man formed another ball of ice and fire in his hands while chanting, "Dune'adah!" The cub fell down, and Trixie cast her eyes away. She knew what she had to do in order to have her magic now though. To herself, Trixie whispered exactly what he said while focusing some of her energy into her palm. "Dune'adah!" her fierce whisper went. A flicker of flame and a tinge of frost formed in her hand, making Trixie grin. By channeling more of her energy, she could cast an attack like that blonde man in the red robes, but for now she would only use that as a last resort. Trixie approached the closest wrym and attempted to see if they were nicer than the dreadful cubs nearby, “Here wyrmy-wyrmy.” One of the nearby wyrms could seemingly tell that she was speaking to it, which Trixie realized likely stemmed from its previous affiliation with Elves like her. A perfect test subject for her to try and tame! Trixie regretted not having any treats or the like, but she was sure she could think of something. Trixie smiled as it wavered back and forth, slowly hovering over to her with its smooth yet scaly body. It stopped about a foot in front of her, at which point Trixie brought a hand out to touch it. She felt like she had always wanted a pet, and could not remember actually ever getting one. The wyrm accepted her touch, not making any threatening movement as she began to stroke it. Trixie could not understand just why these seemingly docile creatures had to die, but she did find herself smiling as it moved to rub against her hand more with its body, “That’s a good wrym. Would you like to join me and be my pet?” The animal's ability to respond was already at a low level before an arrow crashed through its upper body, right behind its glowing blue eyes. It wavered back and forth as Trixie gasped and jumped back, with a second arrow crashing right into the small fin on one side, through the body, and skewering the other fin as well. The wyrm's floating ceased and it twirled in the air before exploding in a brief flash. Trixie cast her eyes away for the duration of the flash, only to return her gaze to it and find that there was but a glowing orb remaining of the wyrm. Trixie turned around to see a green armored woman with auburn hair looking cooly at her, the woman's green eyes matching her outfit and not displaying any emotion as she placed another arrow on her bow. Behind her, a frightened mana wyrm hovered around, a chain around its neck that led to a belt on the woman. Angry that her new friend was dead now because of this reckless person, Trixie shook a fist at them and let them know her feelings on the matter, “What the heck do you think you are doing?!” The woman shrugged, slowly lifting her bow and aiming at another wyrm about ten feet from Trixie, “Putting down the animals like I was tasked with doing.” Seeing what was about to happen, Trixie jumped in front of the other creature. This stupid person was ruining her great plan! Not only that, they were being a total jerk about it too! “Oh no you don’t. I’m not going to just kill these adorable creatures because you’re bloodthirsty!” The other woman appeared only slightly irritated by Trixie getting in the way, still aiming at the creature peacefully floating behind Trixie's shoulder, “I am a Hunter. I kill animals as I see fit, and use them similarly however I wish. Apparently you do not get how this works.” Seeing the Hunter pull their bow string back, Trixie gulped as she realized this game of chicken might not go in her favor, “Apparently not, but that does not mean the Great and Powerful Trixie is just going to permit mass slaughter!” Narrowing their eyes momentarily, the woman glared at Trixie as their bowstring remained ready to fire. After remaining like that for ten dreadful seconds, they lowered it and sighed. “So be it.” Trixie opened her mouth to thank them for their understanding, only for the shoulder part of her purple robe to be clipped by an arrow that was shot at a pace so fast Trixie knew that the woman had to be crazy. Who just shot like that when people were standing right by!? Trixie turned around to see the poor wyrm behind her fall and die similar to the first, bringing a tear to her eye as she realized she had failed two of these poor creatures. “You just shot at me!” Trixie shrieked at the other woman, the feeling of wet blood now trickling down her skin inside the robe making her all the more angry. What happens if that shot had been a little to the side? It could have killed her! Once again, the hunter shrugged, though this time it was with a slight smirk, “You were in the way.” Trixie decided then that she was not very fond of these Huntards either. And since she now knew how to use her magic again, or at least a single spell of it, why not give it some field practice? As the Hunter began to leave, Trixie brought a hand to her shoulder, arcing it over her back so that it looked like she was covering her now exposed shoulder and clutching the spot where she was bleeding. In reality, she was beginning to channel her energy into her palm to let off a blast of fire and ice like that other mage had, but only someone standing behind her could see it. She whispered the incantation and held the attack there. Not wanting them to go just yet, Trixie decided to announce her new brilliant plan, “Hey, Huntard! Know what? Let’s handle this disagreement about methods and ethics the good old fashioned way. Up for a duel, Huntard?” The so called Huntard turned to face Trixie, the shackled wyrm shivering as its seeming owner coolly responded, “I have more experience than you. I would kill you without breaking a sweat.” Trixie scoffed, fully confident in how striking someone with magic would cause them to give up in an instant, “We’ll see about that! Are you too afraid?” The stoic Hunter nodded, "Very well. We begin in three...two...one..." As they counted they had begun to draw their bowstring back with another arrow, aiming right at Trixie. Trixie had gathered up all of her strength for this one attack, and intended to knock this arrogant woman out so she could do no more harm. The moment things began, Trixie whipped her sneak attack at her foe and the ice-fire attack sailed through the air right to its intended target. Luckily they had been standing still, so Trixie did not have trouble aiming it in a straight line at her foe. The Hunter fired off a quick shot that actually caught Trixie in the arm in a stunning display of accuracy, before quickly yanking the chain on their belt and pulling the mana wyrm they had shackled to shield them from Trixie's attack. Trixie gasped both in pain and surprise as all of her energy just was wasted on one of the beings she was trying to help. It did not die, but it fell weakly onto the ground as its owner prepared another arrow to fire. Trixie tried moving, but felt sluggish after being hit by the first arrow and so the second one nicked her leg. Trixie could feel some more energy welling inside of her, and began to summon forth another attack before the hunter closed their gap somewhat and pointed the arrow right at Trixie's head. Realizing she had been bested, Trixie bowed her head and raised her hands up in surrender to her enemy who was now only five feet away. It took all of her pride to admit it, but Trixie knew she was not good enough to succeed in this encounter, "You win." That did not appear good enough for the Hunter, who drew their string back and prepared to fire again. “Dead in the first area of one’s journey. How pathetic,” the Hunter snorted. Trixie realized quickly that her foe was taking this as a duel to the death, not just a competitive and sporting one, and quickly opened her mouth to try and stop herself from being killed over such a trivial matter. Before either could do as they intended, a red blur moved in-between them. Trixie found herself staring at the back of the red robed man from before, who now stood right in front of the Hunter and was now acting as a shield for Trixie. The man held a smile in his voice as he intervened, “Hold it there, friend. What happens to be the problem here?” “We had a duel. She lost. So you get lost unless you care to have a new hole,” the Hunter growled. The magic using man gestured back to Trixie, who snorted at his gesture, “There is no need to finish her then. You have proven whatever point you were trying to make.” Trixie used this time to gather herself and to look at her bleeding arm, where the arrow had caught her and broken through. She hid a groan of pain, not wanting to appear even weaker than she was. The Hunter looked around the red robed mage to see Trixie, at which point she huffed, “If I was not so repulsed by this man's face I would stay to finish you.” That being said, the Hunter turned her back again and made to leave, dragging the unconscious wyrm along with her. The threat gone, the man turned around to face Trixie. Before he could say anything though, Trixie decided to see who she needed to thank for her life. Trixie crouched down as she winced in pain, “Who are you? I owe you one...” The fellow magic user offered her a hand, a warm smile on his face as he introduced himself, “My name is Kael’Thas, a fellow student and mage, and it was no problem at all. Welcome to Sunstrider Isle, my lady.” Trixie might be confused, she might be bleeding, and she might be pissed off about how her first ten minutes in this new place had gone...but seeing a friendly smile made her feel at least a little better about it all. If there was a next time though, she was not going to lose to that stupid Huntard. Lesson learned.