//------------------------------// // VIII: Trixie Delivers the Package (Burning's End) // Story: They Know You're Reading Them // by Aureane //------------------------------// As soon as your view shifts into that of Burning Twilight and the others, you immediately see that Trixie is on Celestia's back, Starlight is along Discord's skinny spine, and Luna is atop Pinkie, bouncing around gleefully... for some reason. But whatever works, works, right? The Pink pony doesn't seem to have a problem with it, either. Without warning, the whole void shifts itself into that of pixels everywhere-- what was once hair and fur are now animated squares and blocks, including you, and everything past the glass. How is this possible, you wonder? Nonetheless, you take another chomp at the 8-bit cake. "I thought we could use a little... redesign, if you all don't mind," Discord looks about the others in their idle loops. Luna is pretending like Pinkie is an alicorn, Starlight is holding onto his spine, and Trixie is really admiring Celestia's pixel-mane, all rainbow and the like. "Besides, I'd hate for any of us to get seriously hurt." From this point on, their speech appears in text at the bottom of the screen. Each of the pairs has 9999/999 HP / MP. Twilight has ???/??? HP / MP. "Burn..." The scorched one mutters. "Trixie." 'Leader' status appears above the aqua unicorn, and she is outlined in yellow. "Wow, Trixie. You just had to go stick your flank in her face!" Starlight's text appears. "Q--quiet! I didn't mean for this to happen! Besides, I feel violated too!" "Good job, Trixie! That's one burning package! Wee!" Luna pokes at Pinkie's mane. Pinkie throws out a disc into the air, completely defying the rules of a turn-based role-playing game, and immediately, a heavy beat starts up in the middle of outer space. "Let's get this party started!" She blurts out. A grasping pile of compact drums and snares rolls on the beat, 8-bit style. A buff appears over the whole party: ^ Regen. "Let's just... get this over with quickly, okay?" Trixie tosses a vial into the air, blasts it with her horn and cracks it, causing the liquid to fall upon the group: ^ Magic Resist. Unfortunately, Burning Twilight doesn't have enough patience to wait for six turns to happen at once. "I don't have time for this!" Her voice breaks out past the text. Drawing out dark matter from the void, Twilight raises a hoof and immediately combusts the surrounding area, efficiently absorbing her side of the guns into that of a flaming star. Tossing her arm to the side, the conglomeration separates with a snap. The whole dimension once again converts into however many bits normal Equestria has. Technicolor, or whatever you like to call it? Before your eyes, Burning Twilight has converted the guns, and they are instead magnified into millions of deadly projectiles, now made entirely out of lava. They spin about her as she crosses her hooves, essentially forging a mobile, molten death star right before the group's eyes. "Oh dear," Discord says. "Well, there went that plan." With a swipe of her horn, a surging field of flames tears straight through space and time itself, forcing her targets to move out of the way. In immediate retaliation, Trixie grabs hold of two plasma cannons in either arm. "Eat this, Twilight!" She calls out. As she releases the beams upon the burning mare, the energy itself simmers and melts, rendering them completely useless. Discord and Starlight swoop behind her-- draconequus with a bazooka, and violet pony with a shotgun. In their combined blast, Twilight simply does a somersault and faces them upside down, launching magma spears towards the projectiles-- instantly melting the bullets into bare matter. The burning mage teleports behind both violet and chaos, splitting them from each other with a simple, singing kick. She then unleashes a flurry of charged, purple chains, essentially grappling on to the four characters and keeping them captive in knots. "Melt..." Twilight whispers. She places her hooves on the chains, igniting them. As the six struggle to break free, their burning oblivion awaits them as the fire crackles along the empowered strings. "Looks like this is it, friends," Celestia solemnly mumbles. "One last sip of tea before we go." She spawns a cup of tea and takes a good swig, all the way down to the bottom. Suddenly, however, Discord remembers something. "Oh, relax, my fellow Sun." He snaps his fingers, and Twilight, as well as the chains, are swiftly frozen in stasis. "See? Easy as that. Though, I've no clue how we're going to get out of these binds. Would anyone care for a board game?" He spawns a game of Connect Four. "Uh, Discord?" Starlight asks. "Is that a yes, my dear?" "No. You've forgotten about... those." She points, and all of the magma floating about the void is still encircling the angry, purple pony. "Oh, right. Did I mention that I can only freeze every so often?" Discord holds his finger up, and the whole group frowns at him. "Psh. Whatever." The board game poofs away. A third of the spears all point towards the static, Burning Twilight, and in a moment's notice, they dive into her shell, melting apart Discord's stone encasement within a matter of seconds. She shakes her head, and realizing that the group is still trapped, increases the strength of her flames as the chains begin to spark and simmer among the cold, dark void, traveling along the magical ropes. "We're definitely doomed," Trixie makes out through her shaking teeth. She holds onto Celestia tightly. "Hold on. Weren't there six of us?" The sun pony speculates. "Right. Luna and Pinkie! Where are they?" Starlight extends on her point, causing the four of them to look around. "There!" Discord points. Up above Twilight is the pair, holding a giant, massive bucket of water. "Like that's going to work?!" Trixie exclaims. The bound group looks in front of them, seeing that the flames are closing in. "Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie calls out. The fire on the chains abruptly stops as the angry mare looks around, wondering who said that. Splash! Fires are immediately quenched as Twilight stands there dumbfounded, hair still smoky from the heat. "Good thinking, Pinkie!" Luna hugs the hyper pony, joyfully flapping her wings about. Twilight fixes her hair and looks around, noticing Discord, Celestia, and their riders in the distance. "What... just happened?" "It's a... well, quite the bottom story," Trixie says. Twilight blushes and covers her cheeks. "Trixie, you--" "Let's... pretend it didn't happen." She winces at Twilight, but the two of them soon break out in a chuckle. Twilight looks up, seeing a party and the Moon. "I see you're out of your cast, Luna!" "Oh, yes I am, Twilight!" She zips on down to her. "And, I have something to ask of you!" She highlights Trixie and drags her over, whilst the others are left to stare out of curiosity-- though, Celestia is secretly smiling under one of her hoofs, giggling to herself. "Yes, Luna?" Twilight asks. "Can you..." The moon pony works out through a gradually increasing flush. "No--" She corrects herself. "Will; w-- will you and Trixie hug me?" Twilight crosses her hooves out of disbelief. "I thought you didn't like hugs?" "Well, I have a... non-secret to share with you, Twilight..." Twilight simply blinks. "Sure. What's on your mind?" "I don't like giving hugs but I like getting hugs." "What was that?" "I don't like giving hugs but I like getting hugs." "I honestly can't hear you." "Me neither," Trixie shrugs. "I said, I don't like giving hugs but I like getting hugs!" She cries out, covering her eyes with her hooves as her tears work their way out into the void. "I knew my dream was too good to be true." Both Trixie and Twilight look to each other. That's it? A hug? Twilight thinks. They both conclude to pull in close to the crying pony and embrace her in a warm grapple. After about a minute, Trixie lets go, somehow sensing that this isn't her Ship, and she pushes herself back to Starlight. Purple continues to hold on to Dark Blue. As soon as Luna chooses to stop whimpering and uncover her eyes, she notices that Twilight wipes the tears away from them. And immediately, Luna can't keep her gaze off of her. Her frown fades into the happiest smile any childish pony could ever have. "You-- you're the package, Twilight!" "I had a feeling," Twilight responds, grinning, and they wholeheartedly snuggle into each other's fur, right in the middle of the void.