//------------------------------// // Interlude: Your Soul is Mine! // Story: Actually, I'm Dead // by Magenta Cat //------------------------------// *beeeeeeeeeeeeee…* “Have you got anything?!” “Negative, doctor! No blood pressure, no pulse, damn!” “Okay, back up, I’m going to try hitting her again.” The white earth pony with pink mane and tail in the nurse’s uniform backs away from the body of the azure unicorn on the operating table. The body is surrounded by an amber glow of magic and shakes as the spell goes through it. The heart monitor continues its monotone beep. “Okay, Red. Start compressions again.” Nurse Redheart gets to her rear hooves and begins chest compressions on Trixie once more. “Are you getting anything, doctor?” Doctor Stable grimaces and shakes his head. He is shining a light from his horn into the eyes of their patient. “No. Pupillary response is negative.” He looks up at the clock on the wall. “We’ve been at this just over ten minutes since she was brought in. No response to anything. Time to call it, Red.” “No!” the younger earth pony nurse snaps. She moves to the patient’s head, pressing her muzzle to Trixie’s and forcing breath into her lungs before going back to working the chest. “We are not going to let her die like this!” “Red,” doctor Stable says as gently as he can. He knows how his colleague can get in the heat of the moment. “Red, we’ve done all that we can for her. It’s time to let her go.” With angry snarl, nurse Redheart backs off and settles down panting on all fours again. She’s young and hates to lose, willing to do everything in her power to fight for her patients. That’s a quality in her that doctor Stable admires, he knows from experience that there comes a time when a pony has to admit that defeat is inevitable. Just as he’s reaching for the chart to note time of death, the doors to the operating room swing open to admit the imposing form of Princess Celestia. Trailing close behind is the shorter form of Zecora. "Doctor Stable, Nurse Redheart." Celestia nods to each of and approaches the operating table. "Is it..?" “Too. Late,” Redheart finishes her voice a tired croak. “We tried, your highness,” explains doctor Stable regretfully. “She was totally unresponsive. I’m… very sorry.” Celestia sighs deeply, her wings and even her flowing mane seeming to slump. “I see.” “Even if the deceased did bad, any demise is always sad.” “We’ll be moving the body for autopsy shortly, then I’ll be free to answer…” Doctor Stable trails off with a puzzled look on his face, his ears perked and twitching about. The other three ponies in the room follow suit, trying to locate the source of the eerie buzzing that had suddenly started. They all focus on Zecora, and she in turn focuses on her saddle bags. “What could be doing this crazy buzz, of a swarm of insects in a fuzz?” Reaching into the bag she drew out the source of the sound; a wooden box that was humming and shaking very angrily. Nopony has the chance to react further, as the box explodes, staggering Celestia back and knocking the rest off their hooves. The Princess is just barely quick enough to recover and respond with her own magic. Even through her magic, she is chilled to the core by the feeling of what she’s holding back. The Alicorn Amulet is hovering just over the body of Trixie. Its own angry red aura is wrapped securely in a bubble of Celestia’s golden glowing magic. Try as she might, though, the solar princess can’t seem to reel it back. Digging in all four hooves and calling on her earth pony strength, she tries to back up and pull it off that way. “No,” Celestia says in a low growl, “you cannot have her.” Much to her surprise, the Amulet actually stops fighting her. Or rather it stops trying to advance. Instead, and before she can react to stop it, it reaches its red aura out and down through her own magic to envelop the body of the unicorn below it. Celestia barely has time to react before the Amulet’s magic pulls the body up to itself. The magical shockwave of their joining is enough to knock all of the room’s occupants off their hooves this time. Celestia is the first to her hooves, doing her best to shake off the blindness caused by the flash. Over her ringing ears, she can hear a voice, otherworldly and dripping menace. “Trixie Lulamoon of Equestria,” it intones, “RISE!” Her vision finally clear, the Princess gasps in shock at what she sees. Standing on the operating table is Trixie, only not. There are still small sparks of the Amulet’s magic dancing along her hooves and coat, and her eyes are two pools of livid red. The Alicorn Amulet is clearly visible on her chest, the straps that should be around her neck nowhere in evidence. “Heh,” that new voice speaks once more as the corpse opens its mouth. “I live! Again!” Even though she is prepared this time, Celestia is still staggered back by the lash of red lighting that rips across her golden shields. She just can see from the corner of her eye that Stable, Redheart, and Zecora have recovered and are taking shelter behind her. Trixie jumps from the bed to the floor, standing pridefully in front of Celestia. “Now, bow before your master!” Responding with a spell of her own, the Princess throws a bolt of her own magic only to see it dashed against the shield Trixie calls forth. “Resistance is futile, for I, the Supreme and Almighty Trixie, am your new master.” Trixie laughs maniacally, only to be caught by Celestia shattering her defences with one spell and wrapping her in a golden restraining field with another, effectively trapping her. “Release her!” Celestia shouts, the Royal Voice shaking the racks of medical instruments on the other side of the room. “I command you!” “You command nothing here,” Trixie informs her, her voice dripping with scorn. “Soon you shall know true power. Soon you shall kneel before the Supreme and Almighty Trixie.” This time it is Celestia that sends a lash of magic across her opponent. “You’re not Trixie Lulamoon,” she growls. “And you have no right to disturb my ponies’ rest.” Celestia charges her horn with everything she has, ready to destroy the amulet for good. At the same time, the red eyes of her opponent flash with power and hate. “I know you Celestia. I know there are lines that even you won’t cross.” Before Celestia can respond, the red glow in Trixie’s eye fade and they return to their once dark violet. “Pr-Princess? Where..?” She blinks and looks around the room, fright clear on her features. Celestia stops charging her horn, too astounded at the sight in front of her. Again the Amulet is too fast, Trixie’s eyes turning red once more and an arrogant sneer creasing her muzzle. “You would never harm one of your own, Princess,” Trixie spits at her. “Not again. I have her now. And I am not letting go!” A surge of crimson magic breaks Celestia’s shield, dropping Trixie once more to the floor on all fours. Her eyes and the jewel at the centre of the amulet all glow with a sinister light. “You defeated me once, before I knew of your kind. That won’t be a mistake that will be--” Years of battles had taught Celestia to exploit her opponents in ways they may never have expected. Seeing that Trixie had yet to fully re-raise her shields, Celestia channels her magic into a brief spell aimed directly at Trixie’s horn. The summoned restraining ring snaps into place and the unicorn’s eyes roll up into the back of her head before Trixie Lulamoon collapses to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. The operating room is dead silent except for the panting snorts of the great white alicorn at its center. “Is everyone okay?” Celestia asks, not even turning back to look at them. She hears a chorus of affirmatives. “Good. Granary, I need you to fetch your colleagues, any who have experience with dark magic. Red, I need you to bring me a set of full body restraints, the strongest you have.” Princess Celestia advances on the pony lying before her, a gaze that would have struck heart-stopping terror into the heartiest of souls aimed squarely at the Amulet embedded in Trixie’s chest. She lowers her head and growls, “We’re going to get this accursed thing off of her.”