Chapter 8: The Road Goes Ever On
Celestia dreamed.
Her dreams were pleasant ones. They were young again at Paradise Estate, running and laughing and playing through the hills, her and Lulu and weird little Dissy, three innocent foals who knew they would forever be best friends. A part of Celestia dimly knew that, one day, the harmony would be irreparably broken, but most of her enjoyed remembering this good day in a summer over two thousand five hundred years ago, when they were young in this cycle of incarnation and knew naught of cosmic struggles or high destinies, only love and friendship.
She wanted the dream to last forever, but of course it couldn't, any more than had Paradise Estate.
As she cycled into brief semi-wakefulness, she remembered sadly that Dissy was lost to her forever, that he had awoken to and resumed his role as her enemy, that love and kindness had failed to conquer all. He waited out there in the gardens, frozen in stone, kept near her because ... the excuse she gave herself was that she could watch him better that way, but the truth was that some part of her still cared, still wished, still hoped against hope that there was some way to bring him back to her, once again at least some sort of friend. The thought that there probably wasn't, saddened her, but then she breathed in a scent that restored her spirits.
Luna, she thought happily. Little Lulu. My dear sister. Back again, after a thousand years.
She was still so weak, so small. It had only been a few days since her return and redemption, and she had only just begun to regain a fraction of her true power. Luna hadn't remembered much, but she did remember that at the last, when the Shadow commanded her to slay Twilight Sparkle, Luna had instead turned on her possessor. She had nearly died exhausting herself in that struggle, one no less titanic for being waged within.
Of course you fought, little sister, Celestia thought to herself. You never would have slain our friends, no matter what someone told you to do. But then, it was always you who were the heroine, I just the smiling schemer. She wondered if, at a similar pass, she would have had Luna's courage, her determination, her sheer unbreakable integrity. I wish I could explain this to you, and you believe it. But then, I never could. I could manipulate you into anything, sister, save truly appreciating your own worth.
One crisis averted, she thought. One battle won. Not by myself, but by the Element Bearers and your own great heart. One loved one restored to me.
What comes next? I know this is not the end. The Shadows descended across Equestria that night, and though many of them were too weak to find good hosts, they will be working their ill in many places over the coming months, the coming years. They tried to destroy Manehattan -- had they succeeded, the economy of the whole Realm would now be lurching toward collapse, weakening us in the many battles we will have to fight in the near future. Something stopped them there -- something of my own order, I sensed the power -- but I don't know what or whom. Do beings such as myself have guardian angels? She chuckled quietly at the thought.
I can snuff out this or that pocket of resurgent evil -- indeed the weaker Nightmares will just rampage, and be completely vulnerable to ordinary troops or mages. But the stronger ones will also be more cunning. They will hold back, work to loose the greater evils, the many foes of Ponykind who have waited for just such an opportunity. The Ponies are good, but they are far from the only sapients on Earth, and there are some Ponies who will ally with evil in the belief that it will grant them their wishes. The attack on Manehattan was carried out by Ponies, after all.
What will they throw against me next? she wondered. Her mind could summon up a terrifyingly long list of foes, forgotten by most but far from gone forever, waiting outside the bars of spacetime she and others had built to protect Ponykind. How will I repel it? How many of my little Ponies will die this time, pay the price for my new errors?
She felt a motion, heard a soft whimper. Luna's sleep was restless, all four legs twitching as if she were trying to outrun some terror.
The nightmares, Celestia thought, the reason she's in here with me. She should be able to control her dreams. She can't control these dreams. I've told her not to worry too much, but it worries me. A lot. Something's after her. Something dark. Something wants her ... again.
Celestia embraced her sleeping sister, folded her wings around them both, let her own paramagnetic field cloak them. It was one of the most intimate postures which could be assumed by an Alicorn, something one would do only for one's best beloved, whether child, sibling or lover. It placed her defenses around both Luna and herself, while leaving her own self completely vulnerable to Luna's. There were few on Earth she trusted so completely. Luna was one, and another slept this night in the library at Ponyville.
She could feel something trying to touch Luna, a stream of energy which Celestia knew without having to check was emanating from Earth's sister planet, a quarter-million miles away, her sister's own namesake. With a savage flex of her wings and the paramagnetic field emanating from them, she severed the connection. She could feel the far-off Shadows hissing angrily. She summoned her love for her sister, and had the satisfaction of hearing their shrill squeals of pain and fear as they scuttled back into their crevices.
Abominations! she thought angrily, looking up in that direction. You torment her because she's still weak! Wait until she's all the way back -- you'll be the ones tormented! There was something vile about them, something viler than any minds she had ever touched, as if their very structure was somehow opposed to everything wholesome, everything healthy and living. Simply sensing them made her angry, as if they were the essence of serpents which every primal instinct told her to trample.
She held Luna closely, let her own love wrap around her like her wings. Luna relaxed, settled into a calm sleep, comforted both by their psychic bond and by the simple warmth, the scent of her sister.
I wish I had more time for her, Celestia thought. But there's always so much to do. So much work, if the Realm is to survive the next few decades. All the routine business, and all the new business, and all the threats known and unknown. It'll be easier when I have more helpers closer to my own level. Soon ... She drifted back off to sleep on that thought, thinking of a certain lavender librarian ... and others.
Dreaming again. Back at Paradise Estate. She was a foal, now alone. She stepped over a log, into a glen, and suddenly she was adult again.
A pony awaited her there, sitting on a dry rock. A pony she'd seen many times before, both in waking and in dreaming..
"Wisedreamer?" she said in surprise, seeing the familiar long white beard, gray mane, sharp muzzle, keen blue-gray eyes twinkling at her under bushy eyebrows and the usual floppy high-peaked hat, elaborate pipe trailing smoke clouds.
"Well met, Celestia," he replied. "Pleasant to see you again. Haven't, lately."
"Well of course not," said Celestia logically. "Last I heard you'd discarnated again, from being White-Beard."
"Indeed I have," the wizard replied. "Needed, you see. Somewhere else," he added vaguely.
Celestia knew that it was very likely that the "somewhere else" of which he spoke was not even within her present spacetime. Wisedreamer was something of a troubleshooter. When he was needed somewhere, it was often because things had gotten very bad indeed.
"Are you planning on coming back?" she asked. "My sister and I could really use your help."
"You're handling it well," he pointed out. "Proof of which is that you are with your sister again. Congratulations, on that."
"Thank you," said Celestia. "Though my student Twilight Sparkle had more to do with bringing her back."
"Oh, good," he said. "She always seemed very ... promising. And I'm glad to see Luna free of her personal shadows. A good mare, if sometimes a bit ... headstrong."
"That's just it," explained Celestia. "I don't know how free she is, really. They still assail her. And they're beginning to attack all Equestria. We would really appreciate your help."
"Wish I could," said Wisedreamer. "But I'm really busy here. Dholes. Not the doggy kind. The mile-long planet-eating wormy kind. Unusually bad infestation." He did not elaborate on why an infestation by mile-long planet-eating worms was worse even than the norm for such a calamity.
"Oh, sorry about that." Celestia's ears dropped.
"You'll manage," he told her. "You and your sister are strong. She'll get better, you'll find more friends. It'll turn out right in the end.. I have a feeling that it's ... meant ... to get a bit darker first, though. So be wary."
"Is that why you've come?" asked Celestia. "To give me this warning."
"No, actually I came on ... another matter. My own former faithful student. Beatrix Lulamoon. The Great and Powerful Trixie, she's styling herself."
"The little show-mare? Is she in some kind of trouble?" Celestia asked. She vaguely remembered Trixie Lulamoon from her short time at her own school. Annoying, rebellious, but not really a bad pony.
"She's Manifested," Wisedreamer explained. "Long before she was really ready. There was something of a, hmm, emergency. I helped a little, but she needed to wake her Concept, to win through. It was her who saved Manehattan."
"Wait, another Magic?" Celestia asked. "Is that even possible?"
"Not Magic," the wizard explained. "Illusion. Not precisely the same thing."
"Is she able to ...?"
"No," said Wisedreamer. "Not at all. She barely understands being a unicorn, let alone anything else. She's a little, hmm, strange, you see."
"My student is a little strange," pointed out Celestia. "And you're stranger than either of us. What you really mean is ...?"
"Insane," Wisedreamer admitted. "Narcissistic. Almost a sociopath. I had to tell her to be worthy of her own gigantic ego, more or less, to make her even remotely safe around others. I wish I might have had more time with her, though. She liked me, listened to me. I don't know if she'll listen to anypony else."
"An insane Concept?" Celestia was alarmed. "The last thing we need is another one like --" She couldn't bear to finish that sentence with either of the two obvious choices. "She could fall into Nightmare!"
"Ah, hmm ... I think not," Wisedreamer said. "Not if there's somepony to ... look out for her."
"But you're saying she's --"
"They mostly are, dear filly," Wisedreamer said. His bushy eyebrows descended. "A librarian who is afraid that you'll clap her in a dungeon if she gives the wrong answer on a test. That little bouncy pink Chosen One of a whole lost timeline. A half-pegasus of the highest lineage and greatest power, who is afraid of her own shadow. Her best friend, another pegasus who imagines herself an entire army in one mare. Really, the only sane ones are the Apple clansmare and that dressmaker, and even they are a bit touched, sometimes."
"I know," admitted Celestia. "But they're who I have, now. They're the ones who attuned."
"You do know why this is happening?" said Wisedreamer.
"Yes," said Celestia. "You've told me many times before. I can't just ... how did you put it?"
"Grow Alicorns as if they were potatoes?" the bearded mage kindly suggested the missing words.
"That was, I believe, your phrase."
"And true," said Wisedreamer with some satisfaction. "You cannot force Concepts into being, and expect them to emerge wholly sane from the experience."
"I know," admitted Celestia. "But I had no choice. Nightmare Moon would have annihilated all the little Ponies."
"What was behind her still may," replied the mage. "Which is why you will need the help you have, perhaps foolishly, called up before it was wholly ready."
"What should I do?" asked Celestia.
"Watch over her," advised Wisedreamer. His face softened. "She is strange, but she is good. There is true nobility within her, under all the boasting. For all the anger within her, she's never really hurt anyone, and the closest she ever came to doing so was when someone made scurrilous accusations about myself. In her own way, she is honorable. She would prove a very loyal friend -- if she could ever keep one."
"Should I take her in, then?"
"No," the wizard said. "Hmm ... she's bad with authority, you see. The only reason I could control her was that she happened to like me personally. She won't listen to anyone she doesn't like."
"I'm likeable," pointed out Celestia.
"Yes," said Wisedreamer. "Unfortunately, in the wrong way. You're devastatingly charismatic. Everyone adores you. She hates that."
"You maker her sound impossible to manage," said Celestia, a little miffed at his analysis.
"You're too imposing," explained the wizard. "You don't cloak yourself as well as do I. Hmm, well, few do. She would feel threatened, challenged, see you as a rival."
"That's fairly arrogant of her," pointed out Celestia.
"Well, yes. 'Fairly arrogant' would be a good description of little Trixie. 'Incredibly arrogant' a better one." He smiled at a fond memory.
"You like that about her," Celestia accused.
"Hmm, well, yes. You might say she grew on me. Ridiculous little creature, thinks she's bigger than the whole wide world. I have a weakness for silly ponies like that."
She caught a motion behind him and saw a very small and stocky Pony peeping out at her from behind Wisedreamer. He was small, his head not even shoulder-height on the big stallion, but his breadth of barrel and muscular build indicated that he was no colt, but himself a stallion full-grown. "Who's that?" she asked.
"Oh ... hmm ... he's Delver," the wizard explained. "Old friend, came to help me with the worm problem. Good underground, natural sense of direction, you know." He turned to his smaller friend. "Delver, this is the Princess Celestia of Equestria."
Pale green eyes gazed shyly at Celestia.
"Delver is pleased to meet you, Your Highness," the diminuitive Pony said in a soft voice, almost a whisper, bowing to her.
Another one speaking about himself in the third person, Celestia thought, smiling to herself as she remembered Trixie. Something about Wisedreamer seems to attract them.
"And I am pleased to meet you too, good Delver," said Celestia kindly. "Should you ever come into my land, know that you are welcome at my Court."
"Thanks to you, Great Grand-Mother," said the very little Pony. "You are good to Delver, yes, Delver is your friend. Delver hopes to some day visit your noble Court!"
Very strange speech patterns, Celestia thought. I wonder what he really said, in his native language. Celestia was more than a little bit familiar with the principles of transformation and translation, and well-aware that Delver's native form might not be even remotely equine. Wisedreamer traveled to some very strange places.
Celestia nodded and smiled at Delver. "I look forward to your coming, good Delver. May you fare well with my old friend!"
Then she gazed at Wisedreamer.
"Very well, old friend," she said. "I shall watch over Beatrix Lulamoon, without making it obvious that I am doing so. If I can figure out how to do this, and if I can even find her."
"Oh, I imagine that you shall find her," said Wisedreamer, his eyes twinkling merrily. "She's not very good at keeping quiet." He got up off his rock. "Come, Delver, we have work to do!" He smiled at Celestia. "Fare thee well, Sun Maiden. And your sister as well."
"Fare thee well too, old wanderer," replied Celestia.
The two figures, the big old stallion and the little one, stepped through a gap in the trees. Light shone behind them. For a moment they were both impossible bipedal things, one tall and leaning on a staff, the other still short and stocky but also bipedal. Then they were something else, with far too many legs and what looked like insectile wings and some sort of tentacles. And then they were gone, into the wastes of the Cosmos, back to whatever worm-menaced world they had been saving.
Celestia made a note to her subconscious to remember the promise to watch over Trixie. Then she returned, happily, to the deeper Dreaming.
***
"Bridleway!"
The Great and Powerful Trixie practically bounced up and down in excitement, but of course did not, because such would have been undignified behavior for such an experienced and professional show-mare. The sound of hooves clopping repeatedly against Bottom Billing's wooden floor must have come from somewhere else in the office building.
"Yep. All the major theatres. They want to see your act." Bottom Billing looked smug, chomping down on an unlit cigar. "Told `ya that with the help of an experienced agent such as myself, you could get the best engagements."
"But I thought you said ... never mind. Which parts did they like in particular?" Trixie was already mentally flipping through her routines, trying to figure which supplies she would have to buy, which tricks to rehearse.
"Well, they liked all of it -- `cept of course the fireworks, can't do that kind of thing indoors," Bottom chuckled.
"Tell me about it," said Trixie. "Try even a simple illusion of that sort, and ..." The Judicious and Diplomatic Trixie did not finish the statement, considering it unwise to mention how close she had come to burning down that one theatre. That was the kind of talk that made promoters nervous about her, though she wasn't entirely sure why they lacked a sense of humor in this regard.
"There's just one thing they really wanted ta see, though," continued Bottom.
"Ooh! I bet I can guess. My little playlets! With the lights and the music and the narration and the sleight-of-hoof! The Clever and Dramatic Trixie is very good at that!"
"Well, Trixie," said Bottom, "I don't know how well that translates to a big house. Can the back rows even see your little figures?"
"The Crafty and Artistic Trixie can make bigger figurines," she pointed out. "As big as they need to be. Six foot tall plushies, even! Large-scale illusions are well within the Great and Powerful Trixie's capabilities!"
"Yeah," said Bottom, "that kind of gets to what the producers really want." His eyes grew shifty.
The Wise and Perceptive Trixie was alert to such significant changes in facial expression. And that phrase sounded sinister.
"And precisely what," she quietly asked, in her most refined and upper-class tone, "do the producers 'really want?'" She could think of a number of things they might 'really want' which she would never give them, not even for more bits than they were likely to be offering. She gave Bottom what she considered a very direct and honest gaze. Her eye was barely twitching, one hoof just starting to gently scrape the floorboards.
Bottom wilted before her regard.
"Nothing that ain't classy, Trixie, baby, you have my word on it!"
He seemed to say that confidently, which caused the Decent and Respectable Trixie to relax a bit along one line of worry, but left all the others open.
"Then what do they want?" she asked.
"They wanna see the Alicorn Illusion!"
"Ah ..." she said, caught for once in her life at a loss for words. "There is a slight problem with that ..."
"What kinda problem?" Bottom asked. "Is it a matter of supplies? Preparations? I can get ya anything ya want for this. Legal or illegal. There's a lotta bits riding on this, if ya need some kinda drugs ..."
"No!" squealed the Clean and Sober Trixie. "Nothing like that!" She rarely drank, especially since that incident in Baltimare, and avoided anything stronger than alcohol as the poison it was to any serious performer's career. Even in her relatively short time on the stage, she'd seen too many others collapse under the pressure and swirl down the drain of one or another sort of strong soporific or stimulant. This was not going to happen to Trixie!
"Well then, whattaya need?"
"It's nothing I need," replied Trixie. "It's just that -- I don't think I can do the Alicorn Illusion again. Not on purpose, anyway."
"Whattaya mean by that?" Bottom asked. "It's just a trick, right? One'a yer illusions?"
Normally, Trixie would have been furious to hear one of her routines described as "just a trick" by a talentless talent agent like Bottom. She was certainly annoyed. But there was something important she had to get across.
"I don't know," confessed Trixie. "I don't know how I did it in the first place. I needed something impressive -- there were these hecklers, you see. Or band of terrorists. I can't remember exactly what they were, but they were a very nasty gang. And I reached ... I reached in some direction I can't describe ... and She was there. She came out to face them, to save me. I think maybe She is part of me. And She is the one who did all the really impressive magic at the end. Something like that." She looked at him helplessly. There was no way she could explain this any better. She normally wouldn't have been so open with someone like Bottom, but the whole memory frightened her. She wrapped her forelegs around her chest, shivering.
"That's a nice bit 'a patter, Babe," Bottom told her. "But save it for the stage. Seriously -- how much money do ya need to do the trick? Cuz I think I can onager those cheapskates up a bit, if ya can give `em the goods. Know what I mean?"
The Great and Powerful Trixie did know what he meant. He meant that to himself, the most truly magical experience of her entire life was just some cheap act, something to be bought and sold like a bale of hay. To him, she was just something to be bought and sold in a like fashion. In every fashion that she let herself be bought and sold, which was why she could never trust other ponies, because they were always looking to take something from you at a bargain price.
She wished uselessly that she might have been able to discuss what had happened with Master White-Beard. He loved her, would have taken what happened seriously, might even have been able to explain it. She missed him so much sometimes. She'd never see him again, but he was her reminder that not all ponies were jerks, that every now and then one might find somepony who could be trusted.
Even Piercing Gaze -- there had been that one unfortunate night, but all the other times he had been a real friend. She had told him her hopes, her dreams, and he had listened, taken her seriously, offered her constructive advice. He would never have just thought she was asking for more money. Yes, he'd been a true friend, and she'd been a fool to let that one misunderstanding tear them apart.
She wished she could go to Baltimare, drop in on him, pick up their old friendship. But no -- it was too embarrassing. The way they'd parted, the things he'd seen, the things they'd done -- her face flushed with shame at the memory.
But maybe ...
Bottom mistook her expression for interest in his proposition.
"Yeah, now you see the light, Babe -- I can see you're gettin' excited by my offer. Ya got the hots for some more dough, and I --"
Trixie glared at Bottom. The crass way he intruded on my most intimate memories! she thought furiously. The disgusting, base, common little dog!
"What's wrong, ya want me to lower my share --?"
Trixie cast a very simple spell. It was just a matter of telekinesing the air out of a sphere and then letting it flow back within. It made an impressive sound, but was best performed outdoors, because ...
WHOOM!!!
Every window in Bottom's office, including the glass-frosted one on the door, blew out simultaneously. Every loose piece of paper in the office -- and he was a rather messy Pony -- blew all over the place, some of it out the windows. Bottom himself staggered backward, hooves clapped over his ringing ears. Trixie, who as the caster had of course expected the report and pinned her own ears back the instant before casting the spell, smirked with satisfaction.
"Ya crazy nag!" Bottom bellowed, his voice harsh because his hearing had been temporarily destroyed. "Do ya know what you just cost me! You can forget about me finding ya a gig in this town ever again! Ya can forget about ever workin' in this town again! When I get through with you yer name'll be mud in Manehattan!"
Smiling sweetly, Trixie stepped out the door, projecting a small shield over her own hooves as they crunched the broken glass from the frosted window. I'm through with Bottom, she thought, and everypony like Bottom. He's a fool, and he doesn't deserve his cut of my take. He has no class, no vision, no heart.
She walked down the hlll, Bottom's angry shouting fading away behind her, just as he was fading out of her life forever. She trotted to the main ramp, began walking down.
I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, she thought. That's not just my stage name, it's my self. I faced down a coven of black magicians who meant to kill me, and I defeated them. I summoned something -- I don't even know what yet, but it was something special, something maybe akin to the Princess herself, and it saved me in my hour of need. I really am better than any other living magician. Even in her moment of pride, she could not see herself as better than Master White-Beard, who -- if she was one in a million -- was one in a billion, for certain.
She stepped out the front door of the office building. The clatter and noise of the great city were all around her. It's been only a few days since that terrible long night, she thought to herself, and now it's like nothing bad ever happened. Business as usual. This city is amazing. I've got to come back here someday.
She hitched herself to her caravan, pulled it out into the street, turned onto Bridleway.
Someday, she thought, but not now. Bottom was not merely bluffing. He could make trouble for her in this town, especially since her last outburst had been literally criminal. Better to leave town before the law caught up with her for that one. And even if he didn't proscute, he certainly could get her blacklisted, the more so because she couldn't summon the Alicorn, Illusion. Not at will. Not yet.
There are other towns, Trixie told herself. Other places I can do my act, build my reputation, until I don't need an agent because their agents will be calling on me. I'm not just a normal show-mare, she thought. I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie, the One and Only Trixie, and this whole big world is mine.
She picked up speed as she cleared the downtown. The Blueskin Bridge lay before her, huge and gleaming, stretching out westward. I can go anywhere, she thought. Canterlot? Maybe when I've built up more of a reputation. Morgan? Eh, they're kind of stuffy up northeast. Baltimare?
Baltimare was tempting. She wanted to renew her friendship with Piercing. Sometimes -- not most of the time, but sometimes. when she was in a certain mood, she wondered if she wanted to renew something more. Maybe, if we hadn't been drunk ....
No, she firmly told herself. That's common, unthinkable. Disgusting! For mundane mares, not for the Great and Powerful Trixie!
But friendship -- that would be nice. It's been so long since I've been able to really relax and just talk to somepony ...
Not as a supplicant, though. She had to make her chops, build up her reputation. When she saw Piercing Gaze again, he too would marvel at the fame and fortune of the Great and Powerful Trixie. He would be the one to want to make up with her.
She felt confident now that she could succeed. She had faced the worst, and she was still alive, still trotting along, pulling her van.
West, she decided. I'll just go west. Then maybe south a bit. There's a whole wide world out there, and it's going to belong to me. To the Great and Powerful Trixie!
Singing a merry little song, she trotted across the bridge, toward her destiny.
END.
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I liked the concept of this story. It promises surprises and some character growth for Trixie, as well as a peak into the happenings of other parts of Equestria during the pilot. Trixie is really put to the test and it's refreshing to see her go about in her own unique way. No character assassination here!
However, what really drags this story down for me, is the excess exposition. There's a ton of it and not all of it is necessary for the story. The bits with Celestria going over all her plans, the parts with some of the villains such as Chrystallis and Sombra, and the bits where the focus changes to these groups that are fighting against the cult in towns other than Manehattan. All these are distracting from the main selling point: Trixie's struggle. They shouldn't be in this story; rather they should be their own story within this universe you've created.
Remove those, and this story will be stronger for it. I still enjoyed the Trixie parts, but it was a slog to get to them.
Till next time!
3888271
You've got a point about the cuts to other events. There are two reasons why I did this:
(1) - I wanted to establish that what Trixie faced was just her own piece of the larger fight. I wanted to directly reference the Season 1 Opener and Nightmares Are Tragic to connect directly with both my show and storyverse. I also picked Celestia and Mayor Orangetree to show the POV from the royal and municipal governments respectively.
(2) - The little views -- Chrysalis, Sombra, Granny Pie at Dunnich and the Deep Ponies of Hinnysmouth -- were either to tie to the show or to other stories I have planned in my own series (Chrysalis ties to Fluttershy Is Free and Sombra will tie to later parts of All the Way Back). I'm aiming for a very inter-connected set of stories, like a well-planned out comic book universe, though absent a huge national emergency I probably wouldn't have packed so many cross-references.
===
I went with the concept of Trixie as an abrasive, distrustful loner who has great difficulty forming and keeping meaningful social connections with other ponies to explain the Trixie we see on screen in her two canon appearances. Alex Warlorn's PonyPOVerse Trixie provided the fundamental motivation for her character: she wants to be special, unique, the antithesis of just one of the herd. RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse added a key element of her character: she has a weak sex drive and is afraid of emotional intimacy, which explains something important: why such a beautiful mare is alone.
I also got White-Beard the Grey from Alex Warlorn's stories. He wasn't used much and was obviously meant as an Expy of one of the most famous wizards in all Western fantasy, Gandalf. Since the Cosmic Concepts are essentially similar to Tolkien's Valar, as Ardashir at least once pointed out to me, I decided -- heck, why couldn't there also be "Maiar" in my universe? The conclusion was obvious: Trixie's mentor was the same entity who once walked Middle-Earth as Gandalf.
This is actually not unreasonable. Both Celestia and Wisedreamer (a direct translation of Olorin, the "true name" of Gandalf) are quite aware that Trixie is the Aspect of a larval (or fetal, depending on how one looks at it) Cosmic Concept. Why wouldn't a lesser Cosmic spirit be assigned to guide and protect Celestia's baby Alicorns, to make sure that they don't turn into Nightmares (namely, insane and unbalanced Alicorns, capable of great destruction)?
"Delver" is also taken directly from Tolkien, though you probably know him under a couple of other names. It's a direct translation of his true name. I intend to use him again, if he survives the mile-long planet-eating worms. But then, Delver's survived quite a bit, even being killed at least once!
Why, specifically, did I give Trixie a failed close friendship / love affair in her past? The real question should be, why didn't I give her multiple ones?
The reason is that Trixie generally doesn't let other ponies get all that close to her. She's had friendships which she didn't recognize as such, which her paranoia led her to dismiss as deliberate betrayals when something went wrong with them. The combination of her low sex drive and mistrust of others makes it pretty obvious why she's relatively sexually-inexperienced. In the Lunaverse, she's a virgin at this point; here, her life on the road made her lonelier so she -- once and once only -- let a stallion through her defenses. The reason is that she saw him as the first close friend she'd had since White-Beard died.
One way or another, we'll obviously be hearing more of Piercing Gaze again. Trixie may try to deny it, but it's obvious that he occupies her thoughts far too greatly to be purely part of her past. Whether he will want to see her again -- and if he ever loved her at all -- is an open question.
I see Trixie as a heroine, but a very flawed one -- almost an anti-heroine. The main thing that stops her from using her powers for evil (which she could, easily) is that White-Beard got to her at about the last moment for her character formation and instilled in her a rudimentary morality. It's not a very rational one, nor even necessarily a long-term stable one, because it's based on ego-centrism and she might as easily decide to become a villain based on her self-love. But for the moment, it tells her that she is too special a person to sink to base behavior, so it links her morality directly to her pride.
The fact that a character based on the concept of a Christian angel was forced to such a resort, as the only good third alternative to the unacceptable choices of letting her rampage across Equestria or killing her, tickles my sense of irony. Though Wisedreamer probably doesn't share my amusement on this matter.
Why do I assume that Trixie has a strong moral core? Because of what she did and didn't do in her two canon appearances. As herself, she only acted against hecklers, and only to the extent of publicly embarrassing them. Under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet -- an evil artifact which was corrupting her soul -- she did evil deeds against the more or less innocent, but she didn't kill or even try to kill anyponies. She clearly and in particular has a Code Against Killing. It's too bad that she didn't kill the black magicians, but then maybe it's a good thing that a new and only marginally-sane Alicorn has picked up such scruples from Her first Aspect!
3888271
One more thing. From the Ponies' point of view, Trixie is even more messed up than she is from ours. Trixie comes from a friendlier, more gregarious, and more trusting species than our own. As an acerbic loner whose mantra is "You can't trust other ponies," she's almost insane.
3890610
Well, she's presumably going some other places first, but -- yes -- she's doomed to lose her wagon and much of her self-respect in "Boast Busters."
After I wrote the last chapter, I realized that Trixie -- in direct consequence of her primary character flaw of overweening pride -- made three bad decisions in rapid sequence at the end of the story. Firstly, she not only left Bottom as an agent (which may have been a good decision, really) but (bad decision) did so in a way that burned her bridges and made it hard for her to work in Manehattan again. Secondly, she decided not to go to Canterlot (where she might have been able to find a mentor to help her develop her powers further). Thirdly, she decided not to go to Baltimare (where Piercing Gaze might have been willing to resume their friendship (romantic or not), so at least she wouldn't have had to face her future alone). Instead, she basically figured "Oh good, I have some kind of ill-defined goddess-like power which I totally don't understand and have no idea how to summon it again, so I can handle anything on my own now, whee!"
By this point I've come to love Trixie enough that I felt a little sad knowing some of the things in canon and out that she's doomed to suffer, but really this is totally in-character for Trixie. Before she summoned The Alicorn Illusion she was already arrogant, now she's even more arrogant. Pride goeth before ... well, you know the rest.
3890610
Ok.
Manehattan is important because -- like the New York City c. 1900 on which Manehattan is based in canon -- it's the main entry port on Equestria's East Coast and the center of much of the country's financial sector. The Shadow Coven may have over-estimated the power of their attack a bit -- it "only" would have produced a Hiroshima-sized explosion, and when the pegasi shifted the wind most of the city probably could have been saved from the resultant firestorm, because it's of heavier and better construction, and is a lot bigger, than were Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945. But the part of the city that would have been destroyed would have included one of the main oceanic transhipping merchant harbors and the business district -- including, incidentally, the offices of the insurance companies who would be contracted to pay for the damages (and who probably would either be forced to default on legal technicalities or go bankrupt). In addition to the direct damage, much commerce would have ground to a halt as companies desperately tried to reconstruct their financial records (much of which would have been reduced to ashes) and resume their operations from temporary offices (with whichever executives and other employees survived the destruction).
The losses to the economy in delayed business alone would have been immense. When our own version of the Shadow Cult did something similar on a smaller scale on 9-11-2001, it triggered a small recession despite the fact that the damage and loss of life was both far less and it took place in a country with a considerably larger population than Equestria. Other points of comparison in American history would be the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 (much less loss of life, and SF was never a national financial center on the scale of NY) and the Katrina Flood of 2005 (which destroyed a much lesser city than NY and with far less loss of life).
I didn't go into this too much because I wanted to write an epic adventure, not the Canterlot bureaucracy's report on "The Near-Catastrophic Manehattan Fire of 1000 and Lessons To Be Learned In Future Disaster Planning." I mean, Celestia actually wants to see that report, but you guys probably don't!
My point is that yes, Trixie was a true heroine in terms of her internal story (her determination that the show must go on and her successful struggle to overcome her own intense fear of the Night Stallion and his Disciples) and her external story (the Alicorn Illusion's defeat of the Shadow Coven and her healing of the minds of the Manehattanites from the fear and madness they'd spread); and it had major consequences: her courage saved a city and helped save a nation.
The ironic thing is that Trixie doesn't know most of what she's done. If she did, she might be even more arrogant.
This is an absolutely incredible story and I feel better for reading it.
I particularly appreciated the depiction of Trixie as a motivated and capable individual. Aside from the often overlooked fact that she's both good at magic (by regular, not-Twilight-Sparkle standards at least) and very good at her job (or she wouldn't have lasted long at it), there's the simple truth that Trixie is highly confident in herself, which translates as a certain kind of proud courage. She takes on challengers of any skill, and she stood up to a rampaging Ursa when she could easily have turned and run away. Here, she is refusing to end her show prematurely even though it's almost killing her because she won't admit defeat, and challenges an impossibly dangerous foe because she'd rather die with her head high.
In fact, much as the scene with Illusion was impressive and flashy, the events leading up to that was by far more epic. An invincible alicorn curbstomping shadowy foes? Pretty good. A mundane mortal unicorn facing down impossible odds? Awesome!
Trixie: Headstrong, confident, determined. Stubborn, arrogant, flawed. How can you not love her?
3901112
I'm so glad you caught that. The real dramatic moment is when Trixie decides to make her stand. The spirit of White-Beard helps her overcome the fear aura, but Trixie still could have bolted. She's not stupid, and was well aware she was seriously risking her life standing up to the manifestation of a force which she suspected was devastating the city. Also note that her resistance to the fear aura actually starts to build before White-Beard aids her: it comes from within Trixie herself.
The important point was that she chose to fight. She could have run. Indeed, she might have been able to escape, even given when they were planning (though she didn't know precisely what they were planning), provided that she'd chosen to run in a fortunate direction. This was incredibly brave of her -- she was staking her life on her ability to manipulate the Shadow Coven into challenging rather than simply killing her (she almost lost that bet, too) and her ability to match whatever they chose to do.
Trixie is a misfit, but she's a magnificent misfit. She has both courage and integrity -- not the exact same kind of integrity that any of the Mane Six have, but integrity nonetheless. She believes in herself, and she believes that she has both a destiny and a responsibility as an entertainer. She is stubborn and not easily intimidated away from her chosen course.
Exactly. And that's the spirit that makes the Ponies, in general, a great race. Trixie is a very atypical Pony, but in her courage and determination she simply expresses a classic trait for her kind to an unusual degree.
Exactly the reasons I love her.
I'm glad you liked my story.
3903932
I liked doing Expies of Wizard Whateley (Granny Pie), Wilbur Whateley (Pinkie Pie) and Wilbur's Twin (the Least Noticeable Grand-Daughter) as heroines.
And thank you tremendously for your praise.
3910936
The real "romance" was her friendship with Piercing. Whether it could have worked as something more if they both hadn't been drunk so that he would have had time to find and deal with her qualms over the very concept of sexual contact, over a more normally-extended courtship -- that's another matter.
Was Piercing just pretending to be her friend to get her into exactly that situation? If so, he was making a good pretense of it, since he seems to have behaved toward her up until then exactly like a good friend -- listening to her hopes and dreams, helping her work out ways of achieving them. I think it's at least safe to say that on some level he cared about her.
Trixie's mistake here was being so horrified at her own fall from her ideals of perfection (which, up until then, may have included marriage at some point, but not sex as the first stage of a romantic relationship) that she actually fled the city. What she should have done was talk to Piercing. He might well have remained her friend. Or maybe she would have found that under other circumstances they might have made good lovers. She didn't give either of them the chance to find out.
It's actually not Trixie's ideals which were at fault, either -- there's no reason why she should get drunk and have sex at random. It's her own colossal ego which wouldn't let her admit to herself that she made a mistake and needed to deal with it instead of running away.
Later, she did get the point, enough that she doesn't see Piercing as some sort of monster of male lust. But by then she'd acted so extremely that she felt she couldn't reach out and contact him. And he can't easily contact her, nor does he even know that she would even consider making up with him. Consider how the scene looked from his point of view, especially since he's twice her age.
Trixie messes up because not only is she sexually inexperienced (and still really is, getting drunk one night isn't much of an experience), she is also inexperienced at having long-term friendships. The only other one she's had was with her mentor, who loved her but not that way, and who was possibly the only person she's genuinely considered her "superior." In this she is again Twilight Sparkle's Shadow Archetype.
3910906
I'm glad you like the way I built up my fictional Manehattan. The geology is of course based on the real Island of Manhattan. The history is different because the island is bigger and Equestria's been inhabited by its current masters much longer than has been the continental United States of America.
I'm coming to love my Trixie. It's going to be hard to write the inevitable story in which she loses everything she owns.
3910948
Oh yes ... Equestria is in a pre-electronic mass media stage of cultural development. Performers essentially go from being itinerant shows (usually with partners rather than alone like the Anti-Social and Solitary Trixie) to getting gigs at theatres in various towns (playing a few weeks and then moving on to the next gig) to becoming a regular part of a troupe based at a friendly theatre (like Piercing's Hippodrome: this is essentially the non-personal part of what Piercing was trying to do, get her to become part of his troupe, because he felt she was that GOOD); finally to becoming so famous that theatres actually vie to get you to play them (the apotheosis attained by, for example, Jenny Lind the Swedish Nightingale in our 19th century). From that point on you may even be doing command performances for monarchs, you become accepted into high society, and the sky's the limit (hmm, actually in Equestria they have cloud cities, so ...).
Trixie's on the low end of this so she sometimes finds herself in embarassing, humiliating and even dangerous situations. Her usual pattern is that her great talent gets her admirers and then her great arrogance alienates them. She's not very honest with herself most of the time, so she rarely really understands what just happened.
This is one reason why she's far from Ascension. Right now, if Trixie tried to Ascend -- to merge with the Cosmic spirit to which she's linked -- she'd corrupt it. She'd become a Nightmare -- the self-generated kind. That was precisely what White-Beard feared.
3910906
War of the Wing-Men (aka The Man Who Counts) was a great novella / short novel, and I've been thinking about the possibilities of Pegasi as sailors. Historically, the greatest problem with oceanic sailing ships is their vulnerability to the weather, but enough Pegasi can control the local weather (though I suspect in the great reaches of the ocean this would more boil down to trying to mitigate the local weather than directly mastering it). Also, importantly, they can fly high and scout weather patterns, giving the captain the ability to steer around threatening weather systems. Finally, they could easily handle themselves aloft, flying from point to point in the rigging.
They would probably also carry some non-Pegasus crew as well: Unicorns for craft work and Earth Ponies for strength. Such a crew could sail a little medieval cog better than humans could sail a big modern 19th century iron-hulled sail freighter like the lovely one sitting in San Francisco Bay (I've been on her, and she's an impressive example of how far sailing ship technology got before it was totally outcompeted by steam).
Manehattan, as a super-Manhattan Island, would be an ideal port, or even island of ports, for sailing vessels. It would also have originally been big enough to be at least somewhat self-supporting in terms of food supplies, important if it ever had to face blockade.
*missing quotation marks
*they're
... I have no idea who Delver is. Then again, I haven't actually read most of Tolkien's work, so if he's not in the Hobbit or a major LOtR character, I probably don't know him.
Sounds like an interesting guy, though.
4015113
Very true. Actually I was thinking of making up Equestrian chess. You could change the name of some of the pieces and add a few fairy-chess rules. It probably evolved from one of the books The Megan left at Paradise Estate, anyway, so the similarities would make sense.
4015149
Even under my concept of Nightmare Moon, that might even have been possible -- the sight of the planet dying around her might have enabled Luna to dominate her Shadow. It's a good thing that this never had to be put to the test.
(*nods*) As Celestia knows. Her plan is basically
(1) Champions try to purge Luna of the Shadow,
(2) If that fails, Celestia tries to kill or subdue Luna,
(3) If that fails, Cadance tries to kill or subdue Luna,
(4) If that fails, anypony else still able to fight fights her,
(5) If Luna regains her sanity at any point, stop the civil war and swear to her as the surviving Sister,
(6) If that fails, pray the Ponies can survive long enough for Celestia to reincarnate.
4015401
Heh, I'm glad you noticed. Incidentally, "Wisedreamer" is a translation of the meaning of "Olorin," the big G's name as a Maiar. And his role in Tolkien's universe basically was that of "troubleshooter," on a grand scale.
4015437
Poor Trixie ...
... you do realize that, as she's starting to realize that she somehow really did contact or summon some awesome and real supernatural force, her reaction to this is to become even more arrogant? And that this is propelling her headlong toward disaster?
Which makes me sad, because I rather like Trixie. I wouldn't have written this story if I hadn't.
She really should have either stayed in Manehattan, gone to Canterlot, or gone to Baltimare. Each of those choices would have helped her, in different ways.
What she especially doesn't realize is that she is very far from Ascending (she doesn't even know she has the potential to become an Alicorn, rather than merely contact one external to herself) and that Illusion, right now, is very weak -- Illusion's power, right now, is very slowly tapped and stored from Trixie herself, and Illusion used up years worth of it saving the city.
So Trixie is not as Great and Powerful, right now, as she imagines.
4015504
Delver is a very familiar character, but he's been stark raving mad every other time you've seen him. This is him, sane -- a sly, slightly shy adventurer, with some very unpleasant memories from a past incarnation.
4015504
Let's just say Delver is very unlikely to want the Alicorn Amulet. He's been through that before, and it wasn't fun.
4016146
Oh wait, that's him?
I totally did not catch that. Wow. Mind blown.
4016170
Most people don't get it ... I didn't get it the first time I read Lord of the Rings ... but Smeagol was one of the heroes. His adventures had just taken a very bad turn. He's actually very much a Shadow Archetype to Frodo himself: the main difference between them is that Smeagol was overcome so rapidly on first contact by the Ring's corruption that he killed Deagol -- his equivalent of "Sam" -- and without a loyal friend, the remainder of his sanity was soon eroded.
There are some very strong hints that Gandalf may have known Smeagol before Smeagol found the Ring, and that Gandalf might even have been grooming him as an adventurer. Gandalf knew suspiciously much about Smeagol's people, and he's always liked Hobbits.
4210125
Oh, very much so In fact I hereby state explicitly that the version of the Fenris wolf legend to which Trixie refers came from the same source as Ardi's, and was inspired by A Wolf in Pony's Clothing.
4210487 Yes, I like how this story showed all of Trixie's flaws, as well as the parts of herself that are genuinely noble and decent -- even if she wouldn't ever care to admit as much to anypony, even herself.
4210294 Well, I imagine that there's a difference between the heroes and villains of the tale in Trixie's version. No 'noble Father Fenris was betrayed by Nightmare Moon and the Burning Queen' here!
4210725
Oh, of course -- Trixie's a Pony, and she is entertaining an audience of Ponies, and she probably heard the legend either from Northwestern or from Old Worlds sources. Trixie at this point in her life is also fairly naive -- it doesn't really occur to her that neither side of a conflict may be evil, or for that matter good.
This is actually one of the reasons she becomes obsessed with proving herself against Twilight Sparkle -- after "Boast Busters" she can't admit to herself that her suffering has all come from a combination of mutual misperceptions and bad luck. She needs to see a villain, and when she realizes that everypony who heckled her was actually a follower of Twilight Sparkle, she assumes that she was set up with the Ursa Minor, rather than it just being a big stupid accident.
She can't see herself as a villain, and in fact she only is a villain for one short episode in her life -- when she dons the Alicorn Amulet -- which she ironically does to fight Twilight Sparkle, whom she perceives as a Villain With Good Publicity. She doesn't get that there doesn't have to be a villain. She imagines herself very sophisticated, but at this point in her life (around 20-23) she's actually very innocent.
4210723
I regard Trixie as a heroine whose heart is in the right place, but whose attitude problems get her into one fix after another. I feel very sorry for everything she's going to go through, especially as I take her (in The Romance of the Open Road) to utter ruin at Ponyville. She in part makes her own fate, but does not entirely deserve it. Far worse characters in that universe get treated more nicely by fortune, and even by the Mane Six is particular (though note: they did not wreck her wagon).
Trixie's heroic virtue of determination is also her heroic flaw of stubbornness. She just can't ask for help from anypony, because doing so would imply that she wasn't the great heroine of the epic fantasy that constantly runs in her mind.
It is this ideal of herself which causes her to stand up to creatures out of nightmare (and note well, she could have run away on the Longest Night, and if she had just abandoned Snips and Snails to the Ursus at Ponyville she could have saved her own property). But it is this ideal of herself which prevents her from asking for help from Twilight afterward, or heading back to Baltimare where Piercing probably would have set her back up on her feet with a loan or outright gift (no strings attached), or to Canterlot where she would have been welcomed by Celestia (she dropped out of the School for Gifted Unicorns but never actually offended Celestia the way Sunset Shimmer did). And in a later chapter of All the Way Back she will reject Luna's assistance.
One of her biggest problems is that she won't admit to herself when she's getting in over her head, and she is too freakin' proud to ask for help when this happens. This is going to hurt her a lot in her future adventures, before she manages to realize that spitting in the face of or at best ignoring those who actually care about her isn't a viable life strategy.
And now I'm disappointed I don't get to see the place Gandalf goes to have fun in.
4016190
I wasn't aware of the meaning of Sméagol’s name before. It’s interesting, given that “hobbit” (“kuduk”) means “hole dweller”.
(It also reminds me of the famous opening of The Hobbit:
It occurred to me some time ago that that paragraph could be interpreted as contrasting Bilbo’s home with Gollum’s (and thus foreshadowing the reveal of the true nature of Gollum/Sméagol.)
5345899
Why, thank you! I hope you like my particular take on Trixie.
5347369
I'm very glad to hear this, since by this point you have obviously seen my full characterization of Trixie. If I may be so bold as to ask, what in particular did you like about the tale?
Okay I rarely read stories of Trixie that portray her this well. Her Narcissism clearly well written but in such a way that it's actually likeable. That's a hard thing to do. Congratulations in being able to do so. This story goes into my favourites.
You did a great in debt analysis about Trixie even though she showed only 2 times in the show. You clearly captured her stage persona pretty well. But I like to tell you there is more to Trixie then her stage persona. Proof of this can be found actually in comics. So far everything what has happened in the comics is also considered Cannon.
If you are interested in more deeper analysis about Trixie I would suggest to read.
Friends Forever Issue #6 (This story actually reveals how good Trixie is at manipulating/tricking others. Which of course backfires.)
Friendship is Magic Issue #21 and Magic Issue #22 (These two comics are a two parter in which Trixie plays a major role. This show Trixie as redeemed pony.)
Oh and for laughs read,
Friendship is Magic Issue #12 and look especially at the glass window on page 12.
Trixie does appear in small cameos in the other comic issues but I think the ones I have mentioned have the greatest resource of her personality. The show only shows the showmare and the corrupted Trixie. The comic actually reveal the real mare. Which is actually a devious and cunning mare. But one with a good hart.
7244337
The nice thing about cultists as villains (or heroes) is that you can realistically make them as vile and fanatical, or virtuous and reasonable, as the plot demands. Real cults have ranged all along both spectra.
Deep and I LOVED Trixie going boss mode.
Why, if Trixie did something this heroic in reality prior to Boast Busters, would she resort to making something up during her magic show? (One possibility is that claiming to have turned into an alicorn without evidence may be considered something close to blasphemy in Equestrian culture.)
9280487
Well, she had some unpleasant experiences in between this and Boast Busters. Trixie also can't remember what the Alicorn Illusion did. She has no real idea whether or not she is the Alicorn or summoned the Alicorn or what the limits are on manifesting that power. I didn't write most of Trixie's Adventures in between although I meant to, but one of her adventures right after Boast Busters is in All the Way Back.
9282338
I figured that she at least remembered that some evil ponies came to attack her audience and she turned into an alicorn to drive them off. That has about as much detail as the story about her defeating the Ursa, anyway.
What makes you think that Trixie puts a lot of emphasis on accuracy in her stories?
9282338
One possibility that also just occurred to me is that the audience might expect her to turn into an alicorn right then and there, as it’s less dangerous than drawing the Ursa out.
Although she might’ve said something like, “Ha! As if you should be so lucky! Only a very few privileged ponies will ever have the honor of gazing upon The Great and Powerful Trixie in her full magnificence.”
9280487
Because there's a fundamental difference between claims of heroics and claims of ability. Claiming to defeat a monster will either impress ponies, or make them roll their eyes. Technically no one can prove she can't defeat a giant monster, because the giant monster isn't in the immediate area. Claiming to have become an alicorn, on top of potential blasphemy, WILL result in the crowd demanding to see a feat she doesn't know how to recreate, and failing or backing out of said feat will make them angry. The giant monster claim is much safer.
9404068
Yes, I acknowledged this possibility in another comment of mine.
9404086
Ah, okay. Didn't see that, sorry.
Well I wanted to read this but the second chapter completely lost me.