//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine: Tragic Embrace // Story: Marble Magic // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Marble Magic Chapter Nine: Tragic Embrace Written by TheCrimsonDM It was late, and Trixie sat on the balcony of the Sugarcube Corner all alone. Since Marble had just gone in for the night, this left Trixie wondering about her next move. She was a little tired, but dreaded the idea of going home to sleep alone. Still she had to get off of the balcony before anypony had the chance to notice. She was about halfway down the rope before her hoof got tangled and she was forced to spend a minute trying to work herself out of it. Just as she managed to get her hoof out she heard a fearsome battle cry that chilled her heart. Just over the horizon, flying a few feet above some houses and coming in fast was a rainbow colored streak. It could only be one thing; Rainbow Dash. Trixie faced the oncoming mare and bravely set herself. It was only a moment before the mare was on her, and Trixie was sure that they would collide mid air. The mare came to a complete halt not but inches away from Trixie’s face and stared at her. A cold shiver ran down Trixie’s spine as she stared into those feral eyes. “What, are, you, doing?” Rainbow Dash asked, venom dripped from each word. “…nothing.” Trixie looked up at the balcony and down at the ground at least twenty feet below her. Falling from this height she knew would be bad, and would probably result in broken legs. Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Trixie’s chest and pushed gently. The rocking motion made Trixie’s hooves slip just a little and she yelped in terror. Rainbow Dash grinned. “What, you don’t like heights?” “If Trixie falls from here she’ll break her legs!” Trixie snapped. “And I should care because…” Trixie growled at the pegasus. It looked like she was about to get hurt, badly, and all because this bully had to show up then and there. If that was indeed the case, Trixie wouldn’t go down without a fight. Gathering up her courage Trixie did the only thing she could, she leapt onto Rainbow Dash, locking her legs around the mare’s neck as they both struggled in the air. Rainbow Dash pushed at Trixie, but Trixie opened her mouth and latched onto the mare’s neck with her teeth. They jerked and twisted, each time getting closer to the ground. Trixie hit the ground and rolled a few times. Rainbow Dash was clutching her neck and cursing. There wasn’t any time to lose, Trixie pulled the hoof cuffs from her saddlebags and once again pounced upon the Rainbow pony. They rolled into the earth for a moment before Rainbow Dash got her rear legs against Trixie’s chest and pushed with all her might. Trixie flew off of her. Trixie hit the ground a second later but grinned at her success. Rainbow Dash’s left foreleg was cuffed to her left wing. The mare looked pathetic as she struggled to pull it off, she fell over and rolled on the ground while screaming in frustration. This gave Trixie plenty of time to retrieve her grappling hook and gallop away. Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop her now. Though after she found the release button on the cuffs the mare was likely to give chase. Returning home wasn’t the best idea at the moment. So where else does one Trixie go when she can’t return home after midnight? To the only pony nopony would expect her to go to; the oh so generous Twilight Sparkle of course. Trixie began her trot to the castle straight away. When she arrived at the castle she found herself to be in luck, not only was Twilight awake, she was standing outside her castle talking to Starlight. It looked like she wouldn’t have to risk raising the princess’s ire by breaking into her castle this time. Upon Trixie’s approach however she felt something change in the atmosphere. It occurred to her that Starlight and Spike should have been gone, they were dealing dragons after all. “This is a giant mess, I’m going to have to pull her out of this. I won’t risk her,” Twilight said. “Once she realizes that it was her home, do you really think she’ll let you? Besides she deserves to be part of this,” Starlight said. “I’ll just ask her mom, that’ll solve that,” Twilight said. She looked over at Trixie and blinked a few times. “Oh… well crap.” “What are you two talking about?” Trixie asked. “Nothing,” Twilight said too quickly to be honest. “It doesn’t sound like nothing,” Trixie said. She looked at Starlight and noticed something off about the way she stood and the look in her eyes. She looked a little lost, frightened perhaps. “Are you okay?” Starlight sat down. “I’m not supposed to say anything… I’m so sorry.” “Why? If Twilight’s making you keep secrets then you can’t really do anything about it. Oh,” Trixie looked at Twilight. “Rainbow Dash might be very upset with Trixie right now, uh… could you calm her down instead of letting her beat up Trixie?” “Did she threaten to hurt you?” Twilight asked in disbelief. “She almost dropped me from two stories,” Trixie replied hotly. She forced herself to calm down. “Trixie could have been seriously injured.” “I’ll talk to her… why is she mad at you?” Twilight asked. Trixie opened her mouth to smart off, but stopped just short. She would need a good lie in order to sell this. Luckily she had just the lie ready. “Trixie is afraid that Pinkie’s got some magical artifact, a dark one. So she was investigating around Pinkie’s home. Why else would she attack Trixie out of the blue like she did earlier unless she was being corrupted?” Twilight frowned. “I… I’d already considered that possibility. She’s clean, I checked out her house earlier.” “You did?” Trixie asked. “I checked out all of my friends, just to make sure they weren’t in trouble. After what Rarity did to the whole town, she nearly killed several ponies, I just can’t risk my friends being in or causing trouble.” Trixie nodded. “Yes, and then Spike ate the darn book which meant Trixie had to retrieve it.” Twilight looked away. “Y-yeah… I don’t think I ever thanked you for that. So, uh, thanks.” Trixie nodded. “Don’t mention it. Trixie is here to help. She is the best at helping after all.” The door behind Twilight opened up, and an amber light filled the room beyond her. Trixie recognized the light, and where it came from. When Trixie saw the orange mare with golden mane walk out, Trixie was sure that she had just died. For a moment she couldn’t be happier, until she saw the scars littering the mare’s body. “M-Mommy?” Trixie asked. Marigold stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at her with such soft eyes. “Baby, it’s okay. I’m just fine. Me and Twilight are just working on something.” “What… why are you here? Shouldn’t you be protecting Hoofington?” Trixie asked. A pained look crossed into her eyes. “Trixie… it’s gone. Hoofington is gone.” “What?” Trixie exclaimed. “But, but what about Peppers Ghost and Miss Direction?” “They’re in Tall Tale, so their okay.” “Mr. Lumber? His son Woodsly? What about our neighbor’s granddaughter?” Trixie asked. Darkness covered her mother’s eyes, and her face hardened. “Trixie, it’s gone. It’s all gone. Don’t you fret though baby, all your sisters are okay, and I am going to fix this.” Trixie wasn’t sure what she should be feeling. Everything just felt numb, and no matter how hard she tried to wrap her mind around the idea that her home was simply gone, she couldn’t. It was impossible for an entire town to just up and vanish. Then she began putting the pieces together. “It was dragons wasn’t it?” Trixie asked. “No, they all… their gone too,” Starlight said. “It was something worse than…” Marigold gave a dark look to Starlight. “She doesn’t need to hear details right now.” She looked back at Trixie. “Come inside, Spike’s making us some hot chocolate and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind making some for you too.” Trixie took a few steps toward her mom, and stumbled. The amber colored aura that surrounded her was followed by an invisible force that gently wrapped it’s warmth around her and helped her steady herself. Trixie blinked, and hot tears ran down her cheeks. “Th-thank you.” “You’re my baby, and I’ll always be here for you, not even an ancient kitty can stop me,” Marigold promised. There was something about that sentence that Trixie knew she should have picked up on, that was important. She just couldn’t stop thinking about all the friends she’d left behind at Hoofington. The promises she made to become a world famous magician just like her mom, and how that goal had been utterly destroyed. She broke her promises and now she couldn’t even apologize for it. She’d never get to say sorry for breaking Long Grass’s fence, or to learn how to bake triple chocolate chip cookies with Sweet Sugar. They were gone. The shouting off in the distance was muddled and barely touched Trixie’s ears. She glanced behind her to see an awkwardly cantering Rainbow Dash. Her wing and leg still cuffed together and the look of rage upon her face was hot enough to melt iron. Somehow that rage didn’t touch Trixie, she just felt numb. Even the fact that Pinkie Pie was right beside Rainbow Dash and looking just as angry, if not more so, didn’t affect Trixie. They could beat her up for all she cared. The world might as well have just ended for Trixie. “Twilight, you better keep those monsters away from my baby,” Marigold warned. “Because I am not nearly as kind as you are.” Twilight nodded. “I got it, I’ll just explain to them that it was my fault and she was only acting under my orders. Mistakes were made but they can be forgiven.” Marigold led Trixie inside and shut the doors behind them just as the two enraged mares arrived. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise baby.” ***  “I’ll be right back, I promise,” Pinkie Pie said. Marble stared up at her with longing eyes. She had just barely gotten back to bed when she heard the commotion outside and when she and Pinkie saw Rainbow Dash hopping around like a wounded puppy a decision was made. Unfortunately Pinkie Pie had seen Trixie running away and automatically assumed the worst. “I have to help Rainbow Dash teach that meanie pants a lesson,” Pinkie Pie said as she trotted to the bedroom door. “Just try and get some sleep okay?” Marble nodded. “Good, see ya when I return!” with that said, Pinkie Pie was out the door and gone before Marble was even sure what to do. Since Pinkie Pie was finally gone there were a few things that Marble hadn’t been able to do ever since she arrived. Out of all the possibilities the one that that stood out in her mind involved a bottle of lotion, a picture of Fluttershy, and lots of privacy. Marble went straight to the bathroom where she knew the lotion was kept. It was dark in here so she ended up bumping up against the staircase on her way. There was a clicking sound, followed by something moving and for a brief moment Marble kept her breath held. It occurred to her that she might have just hit the wrong thing by mistake. The floor opened up and she fell through with a gasp. The slide went down an impossible ways and in awkward angles. When she finally landed in a pile of pillows at the bottom she looked around and found herself in Pinkie’s secret file room. There was an obscene amount of pillows in here with a note attached to one of them. “Please rearrange the pillows when you’re done, these are for the slumber party I’m planning. Love your big sister, Pinkie.” Marble smiled down at the note. It was so kind of her to leave little messages like this behind. Although she was a bit worried about the fact that Pinkie Pie somehow knew that she was going to come down here at some point. Instead of trying to figure out how her sister would know that she took a look around and discovered something better still. The file cabinets. Marble raced to them and began looking for the T’s. When she found them she threw open the drawer and searched for the one pony she wanted to know more about than anything. She found Trixie’s file right away. When she pulled it out it had been stamped with a red circle with an x in the middle of it. It didn’t look very friendly. Marble sat down at the table, brushed the confetti aside and opened the file. She was determined to learn more about her mare and if she was lucky, she’d learn why Pinkie Pie hated her so much. “Name: Trixie Lulamoon Occupation: Magician Likes: Herself Hates: Everything that’s not her. Fears: Failure, Wheels, and Trust Summery: I have tried on multiple occasions to befriend this mare and each time she has reacted worse and worse. The first time was just after the incident with the ursa minor attacking Ponyville. I wanted to see how she was doing and help her, she verbally attacked me once I mentioned Twilight Sparkle. Later on she had gotten close to my family while living on my family’s rock farm. Maud convinced me to take her out on a PSSD and so I did. We spent the day in Tall Tale, and all day was spent with her insulting me, my family and the farm. Just as soon as it was looking like she might have finally realized what she was doing and actually apologized for it, we gave our gifts. I got her a grappling hook, and she got me… a book entitled, ‘Diet for Dummies.’ Obviously that was a big mistake and we ended up arguing about whether she thought I was fat or not. I work at a bakery, of course I won’t be some petite small thing like Marble, but that doesn’t mean you can pick on me for it! That day went poorly. Later on she came to Ponyville and hurt me and all of my friends. Not only did she take my mouth away, she forced to watch her as she slowly ate cupcakes. Licking the delicious frosting off before eating the rest… slowly. She got half way through them before throwing the rest away! She threw cupcakes away! How dare she!? Anyways, I gave her one last attempt at redemption after that. I left her alone when she moved to Ponyville, hoping that maybe, just maybe she would come to her senses. What she did was go to one of my best friends and start bad mouthing my sisters. She said awful things about Maud and Limestone, and she’s just lucky she didn’t mention Marble or else I’d have to hurt her. That was the last straw, after that I have put her down as being a bully that can’t be cured. Other things she has done includes forcing Rainbow Dash to save her from a pack of diamond dogs, and getting half of my best friends in trouble with the law in Manehattan. Even when she means well all she can do is get my friends hurt or in trouble and I won’t stand for it anymore. She’s on the no friend list. Amendment: She just recently tried to befriend me, which is weird. I’m sure she’s up to something nefarious and wanted to use me. But when I told her so, she dumped ice cream in my mane! How rude can she really be? Still on the no friend list.” Marble sat back and stared at the report. Well… that explains a lot. *** An hour went by with Trixie and Marigold sitting in a small room with hot cups of cocoa. Spike was in the room as well but he was already asleep lying on the couch. The door was cracked open and they could both hear the argument that had been going on for the past hour. It mostly involved Twilight being yelled at for spying on ponies and for giving Trixie the right to break into homes snooping for evidence. Twilight tried to defend herself but was doing a progressively worse job at it. Finally Starlight broke the argument by shouting, “Shut up! You two have been attacking Twilight and Trixie for the past hour and I am sick of it. Trixie’s entire village was just turned to stone, everypony she grew up with, everypony she knew is gone now. Mares, stallions, and even foals are all gone and you two have the audacity to keep bad mouthing her. If I hear one more word tonight about how Trixie is a bad pony and is up to no good and needs to be punished, I will take your cutiemarks and shove them so far up your butt that they will never see the light of day again!” There was silence for a moment. “Do you understand me?” Starlight asked. Trixie heard the two mares mumble their agreements. The door swung open and Starlight walked in. she shut it behind and went straight to Trixie. Before Trixie could even be sure what was happening Starlight took a seat next to her and wrapped a leg over Trixie’s back. “We’ll take care of you, okay?” Starlight offered. Trixie nodded. “I… just can’t believe this.” “You don’t have too,” Starlight said carefully. “Right now you just need to get some rest, and plenty of love. When you want to confront this, you can. And I promise you that I’ll be there to help you through this. If there is one thing I’ve learned since becoming Twilight’s pupil it would be that sometimes I need to grow a pair and take care of ponies that really need it. Because we both know how blind Twilight can be.” “She’s also terrible at standing up for herself when her friends are involved,” Trixie said. “Yeah, it’s not just her. These mares are crazy and even if the group is totally wrong they will usually go with the group rather than stand up for themselves. Honestly I feel like they are a living breathing lesson on peer pressure.” Trixie smiled at that. “It’s too bad too. If they could only figure that much out we’d have a decent group of heroes.” “They are decent, but they’re not great. Not yet,” Starlight said. Trixie laid her head down. “Me and Twilight can’t even find out more information on Baast, because only Golden Oak knew anything and he’s dead and his library was destroyed. How are we going to find my friend, let alone what I’m supposed to do about my home…” “You’re helping Twilight look for Baast?” Marigold asked. She reached out and grabbed Trixie’s hoof gently. “I used to work with him. He had a secret depository in the old ruined castle not too far from here. Built it himself, it contains all sorts of forbidden knowledge.” Trixie looked up into her mom’s eyes. “You mean that we can learn more about Baast? That we can actually save Guile?” Marigold smiled down at her. “Of course, baby. But don’t mistake my kindness for stupidity. You are forbidden to engage Baast in any form of conflict.” “I-I know. I don’t want too, she’s scary, but I can do research, I’m good at that,” Trixie said. The door opened up and Twilight Sparkle walked in. She shut it behind her and slumped against it. With sluggish movements she wiped a hoof at her eyes and sniffled. “How are you all feeling?” “Twilight,” Trixie said cautiously. “I think I have something to cheer you up with.” “Oh yeah?” she replied. “Mom here knows about a secret hideout of Golden Oak’s and thinks that he might have what we’re looking for in it. Are you up for an adventure to the Castle of the Two Sisters?” Trixie asked. “Can we all get some rest first?” Twilight asked. Trixie looked up at her mom. Marigold didn’t even blink. “That would be wise. May we stay here tonight, Princess Twilight?” “Y-yeah, sure,” Twilight replied. “I have a lot of guest rooms you could stay in… we’ll all go tomorrow.” Starlight stood up. “You two want me to stay with you tonight? Keep an eye out and all that?” Marigold shook her head. “There’s no need for that, but thank you. Me and Trixie will get some sleep and I advise you do the same. The Everfree Forest is slightly dangerous.” “Slightly?” Twilight asked. “For a professional magician such as myself? The place is practically safe enough for a picnic,” Marigold said proudly. “I’ll keep you three safe tomorrow.” Twilight managed a small smile. “I think I can see the similarities between you and your daughter.” “Trixie learned from the best after all.”