The next morning, Maud and Trixie returned to the quarry to find the dark cloud had vanished. On the other hoof, the purple mound of dirt was still purple. Maud didn’t comment on this. She just got back to work, digging up boulders for Trixie to crush into smaller boulders. The magician followed Maud’s lead, but she kept glancing back to the violet pile of rubble. She ached to try the magic rod again to see what else it could do.
During their lunch break, Trixie brought out the rod. Maud swallowed a bite of her hay and mustard sandwich, “If you’re going to use that thing, use it on the dirt mound. I don’t want you to make any of the rocks disappear.”
The magician rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Maud. I won’t hurt any of the fragile rocks.”
“Good,” Maud replied in-between mouthfuls.
Before the unicorn used her magic to wield the device, she closed her eyes and imagined the dirt mound being teleported.
“Well, I’m waiting,” Maud said in her uncaring voice.
Trixie opened one of her eyes and said irritably, “I’m trying to make the wand do what I want it to do, and that takes concentration.” Trixie went back to focusing on making the dirt pile move.
“Just don’t stand there thinking too long. The break’s about over.”
The unicorn ignored the earth pony, and after a few more seconds, she used her magic to flick the wand at her target. She felt the rod tug at the magic in her horn again. Strangely, nothing seemed to happen.
Not taking her eyes off the dirt mound, Trixie asked, “Hey, Maud, did anything happen?”
“Yeah, you disappeared,” Maud replied nonchalantly.
“No, really, did anything happen?”
“I told you already, you disappeared. I can hear you, but I can’t see you.”
“I’m right here, I’m . . .” The words died in Trixie’s throat as she held up one of her hooves to prove that she wasn’t invisible. She stared right through it. Panicking, the unicorn looked down and realized that the rest of her body was also like this. She looked for Maud but couldn’t see her either.
“Where’d you go, Maud?” Trixie asked curiously.
“I’m right here.” The magician looked in the direction of the voice and saw an apple floating in the air, slowly being eaten.
“I think you’re invisible too.”
“I know,” Maud sighed as she chomped down on the apple. “It looks like that metal stick of yours is starting to put out some more powerful magic.”
“It’s called a rod.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No, it’s not. A stick is something that comes off of a tree. A rod is something that is made with magic.”
“Uh-huh,” Maud replied unconvinced and swallowed a bite of apple. “Can you change us back?”
“Uh . . . maybe. This is kind of what I wanted the rod to do. I wanted to make the dirt pile disappear and reappear . . . This is sort of what I meant.”
Even though Trixie couldn’t see Maud, she could feel her condescending look boring into her.
“Hey, it’s an improvement,” the magician insisted. “Give the Great and Powerful Trixie time, and she will master the rod.”
Trixie watched the lunch box close, and the apple core get tossed away. “Try and make us visible again. We need to get back to work,” Maud told her.
Uncertainty gripped Trixie. Practicing on a dirt mound with a magic device was one thing; practicing on a friend was another.
“Are you sure, Maud?”
“Go ahead. You haven’t done anything equestria-shattering yet. But, this is the last time you use that stick when we’re working.”
Trixie nodded. “Alright.” Without another word she concentrated on turning Maud visible again.
Pointing the rod at the spot where she guessed Maud was, a glittering black portal opened. At least that’s what Trixie thought it was. It was a blank black space that glowed at the edges, hovering in the air. She didn’t know what else it could be. Trixie had learned about portals in basic magic classes but it was thought only high-level unicorns could create those. She couldn’t remember much else about them. Honestly, she slept through a lot of that class. Tearing her eyes off her latest creation, she raised a hoof to her face. To her great relief she was visible again but where was Maud?
“Maud? Are you okay?” Trixie called out.
No answer. Trixie approached the portal. Curiosity overcame her as she gazed into the newly-formed gateway to somewhere else. Wherever this . . . thing took Maud, it was very dark on the other side, like it was night time there when it should be day. As Trixie frowned at this peculiarity, she saw movement on the other side of the pool of magic. Whatever it was, it was moving very fast. Only when the being was actually coming through the portal did she think to get out of its way. By then it was too late.
The mysterious figure came barreling out of the gateway right into the magician. As Trixie went flying through the air, she realized the pony looked an awful lot like Maud.
Running into Trixie didn’t slow Maud down at all as she raced through the portal. The earth pony picked up the magician’s rod and pointed it at the portal, willing it to cast a spell. Any spell.
The rod worked; grey magic surrounded the earth pony and leapt forth. It encompassed the portal just as a black, nightmarish being was about to step through it. The gateway shimmered like somepony had thrown a rock in the middle of a pool of water. The creature that had almost followed her through vanished. Before Maud could breathe a sigh of relief, the gateway showed the earth pony another place.
She saw a small, rustic, town. Maud recognized the place. It was Dodge City, home of the world famous cherry orchards. The portal was showing the center of town. Ponies gawked at Maud curiously through the pool of light. Eventually, a stallion wandered up to the portal and asked, “Hey, are y’all close to Ponyville?”
Maud blinked at the pony before nodding her head absently.
“Well, Gadzooks that’s lucky. Can I use your magic door here? I reckon it’s cheaper than taking the train.” Without waiting for a reply, the gutsy stallion stepped through the portal right before it closed. The newcomer walked up to Maud and shook her hoof. “Thank you kindly. My name’s Hayseed. I’m originally from around these parts myself.”
Recovering, the rock farmer said levelly, “Maud Pie, and this is Trixie.” The earth pony pointed to where Trixie lay unconscious.
Hayseed’s eyebrows rose as he asked, “Ain’t that the mare who took over Ponyville for a spell?”
Maud nodded. “Yeah, but she’s a good worker here on the rock farm, so we keep her around.”
The stallion started in surprise. “Rock farm? Say, you wouldn’t be Igneous’s daughter by any chance, would you?”
“He’s my dad.”
A toothy smile split Hayseed’s face. “Well, ain’t I luckier than a fox in a hen house. This is perfect. I wanted to talk to your Daddy about working for him. I wanted to get here as quick as I could since I heard ‘bout the opening. Wasn’t sure I’d make it in time, on account of a magic contest of some sort going on tomorrow in Ponyville.”
Trixie sat bolt upright as if on cue.
“Magic contest?” she screeched.
The magician tackled the country earth pony to the ground. “Where? When? Magic contest?! Trixie! Must! Know! Tell her!” She didn’t care at the moment how foolish she sounded.
Not at all put out about having a crazy unicorn inches from his face, he replied. “It’s at Ponyville, tomorrow at noon. Nice to meet you, ma’am. The name’s Hayseed.”
Ignoring the hoof Hayseed was offering her, Trixie smiled menacingly and declared, “At last, another chance for the Great and Powerful Trixie to show the world what she can do!” At this, Trixie noticed that she no longer possessed the rod.
“Where’d the rod go?” she asked.
“Right here,” Maud replied holding it up.
Trixie frowned, “I thought you didn’t want to . . . oooohhhhh.” The unicorn finally remembered the dark figure running at her through the portal. “Was that you who knocked me out earlier?”
Maud nodded and explained to Trixie what happened since.
Hayseed whistled when the rock farmer was done with her story. “That’s some stick ya all got there, if it can do all that.”
The wheels in the magician’s head began to turn as Hayseed spoke. She imagined herself going to the contest and taking on all the other unicorns at once and winning. She saw herself swimming in a pool of bits. Best of all, she envisioned sitting on Celestia’s throne, commanding the former sun monarch to shine Trixie’s hooves.
Grinning with greed, the unicorn asked, “What’s the prize for first place? Is it something the Great and Powerful Trixie would like?”
The stallion bobbed his head up and down. “I reckon so. The pony who wins gets to be Celestia’s pupil and a thousand bits to boot.”
Trixie’s jaw dropped. The money was great and all, but to train under Celestia herself. . . that was priceless. Maud’s eyebrows also rose a fraction of an inch at the stallion’s answer. A thousand bits would go a long way on a rock farm.
Maud’s reaction did not go unnoticed by Trixie. “What do you think, Maud? Can we take tomorrow off and go win the farm and us some bits?”
Maud didn’t hesitate when she replied in a monotone, “I’d be all for it, if you could control this thing.”
Hayseed looked at the rod and asked wondrously, “Could I try it?”
The rock farmer shook her head as she hoofed the rod back to Trixie. “Sorry, but we got work to do. If you want the job, you start today. Trixie will show you the ropes.”
With Hayseed’s help, the three made short work of the rocks and boulders that needed to be crushed and turned into gravel. As the trio walked back to the farm house, Maud and Hayseed talked until they were almost home.
Suddenly, Maud said to Trixie, “You still want to go to Ponyville tomorrow and enter that contest?”
“Buck, yes! . . . I mean, yes,” she said reigning in her enthusiasm. “But, what changed your mind?”
“According to Hayseed, Princess Celestia will be on hoof in case anything goes wrong,” Maud replied.
Chiming in, the stallion added, “She’ll be one of the judges.”
“Who are the other judges?” Trixie asked curiously.
“Uh, Princess Twilight Sparkle for sure, and I think Princess Luna,” Hayseed said scratching his head.
A predator’s grin split Trixie’s face as she said boastfully, “At last, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall show Celestia who really is the greatest unicorn in Equestria.”
Hayseed nudged Maud and whispered, “Is she always this way?”
“She has to get that out of her system every now and then. You get used to it after the first week,” Maud replied dryly.