Days in the Mind of One that is Great and Powerful

by The REAL Mister Pkmn

Xavier Breakthrough Project, Day 17: A Hand To Others

Trixie woke up the next morning with a good feeling inside. Today was the day. She had this feeling that Xavier would continue what he set out to do yesterday. But then she considered something. Weren’t they done? Wasn’t their goal achieved when it concerned him? He seemed to be well on his way to finding his new self, to being well-adjusted to it all. But maybe there was one last step, one that she couldn’t think of at the moment. She went to the park after school, and saw something intriguing. Maestro was there, back towards her. He was alone- Nobody else in sight. He seemed to be holding something, though she couldn’t make out what it was from this angle. He just stood there silently contemplating something. He put the object away after the interminable moment was over, and spoke. “He’s not here yet. Whenever we speak with him, he’s always been here first. Certainly, something has changed.” Everyone that had helped Xavier out then came into the park- except Sarah, for some reason-, and saw the two of them. They were just as confused as they were- why wasn’t Xavier here yet? Though Maestro seemed to have some idea. “He’s bringing some people by. I think he’s finally starting to apply all the lessons…” He smiled, and nodded. “He’s come a long way. He’ll be here soon.”

Sure enough, Xavier came into the park with Ramona’s former gang members in tow. He approached Maestro, and offered his hand. “How about we finally put this all behind us, alright? I think it’s high time that we officially patch things up. What do you say, old pal?”

Surprisingly, Maestro hesitated for a moment. Nobody was quite sure why, and Xavier looked concerned. But the moment passed, and Maestro shook his old friend’s hand, a smile on his face. “I’d like that, Xav. I’d like that quite a lot.” As the others cheered, Trixie could’ve sworn that she saw a dark, almost haunted look dance on Maestro’s face for a split second, but it vanished just as quickly. She shrugged, convinced that it must’ve been a trick of the light.

Then, after everyone calmed down, a masculine voice piped up. “Well, I must say that this is quite something.” The group’s attention was drawn to a light gray unicorn anthro, who just exuded confidence. This was clearly “Slighthand”, the leader of the stange anthros. He bowed, and smiled. “I see many of you have put together who I am- but for those of you who don’t quite get it, I am ‘Slighthand’.” He then stood, and took in the scene before him. “It is quite an honor to see all of you here-” He blinked, and did a double-take. “Hmm. Somebody’s missing from this picture. Has anyone seen Sarah?”

Now that Trixie thought about it, Sarah hadn’t been seen for a while now. The group was a bit concerned, that was until Maestro spoke up. “She’s fine, really. I’ve seen her recently. She’s just a bit occupied at the moment, is all.” The group breathed a collective sigh of relief, though Trixie thought that she saw that same look from before on his face- it went away just as quickly, so she presumed that she was just seeing things.

Xavier assured Leon and the others that they were indeed forgiven, that he had moved on. “Seriously, just forget about it. I don’t want any hard feelings between us going forward. Alright?” He extended a hand to them, which they shook in turn. This truly was the greatest thing that had happened in some time.

Then, they heard feminine laughter, at which “Slighthand” went a bit pale. “Oh no. Not her. Not now!”

A blast of magic was fired at the group, which they deftly avoided. They then looked upon the anthro in the air- a thestricorn with tealish-lavender fur. She pouted for effect. “Aw~, you’re no fun. I thought that you’d play along~!”

The group was reasonably surprised, having not seen this anthro before. “Slighthand” glared at her. “Princess Starfall. We meet again.”

Princess Starfall chuckled. “Hello to you too, ‘Slighthand’. Been a while, hasn’t it?” she laughed as his glare intensified. “Oh, somebody’s got some issues~!” She then broke out into a mocking tone. “Can’t we get along~?” She laughed so hard, she cried. She then wiped away the tears as she calmed down “Ah, I’ll never forget the day that you naively asked me that. So precious!”

“Slighthand” growled at that comment, clearly not amused. “Listen here, Starfall. I will not rest until your plans fail! Whatever you got, my team and I are ready!”

Starfall wagged a finger and tsked. “Au contraire, ‘Silghthand’. You’ve yet to meet our trump card. But, I won’t spoil the fun yet. He’s not somebody to be trifled with though, I will give you that.” she looked amused at the group getting ready for a scuffle. “Oh, please. As if I’d dirty my hands directly with you at this venture. I’ve something more entertaining in mind.” Her hand started to glow red, and the air grew dense. “Rise, Mirror of Shadow! Bring forth the darkness that lies within!” A onyx framed mirror arose from the ground accompanied by swirling dark clouds. Once it was above ground, it towered above them all with massive height. The glow of red intensified as a sheen pulsed across the surface of the mirror. “Now, bring forth a warrior of Darkness from the heart of one who is present!” The mirror’s surface shuffled through the images of the anthros present- aside from Starfall, for obvious reasons- and continued going for a good while before coming to a stop on the image of Trixie. The mirror shone with red light as the dark clouds coalesced inside the mirror, and then started to spin as they took form of a shadow of Trixie. Starfall grinned, and spoke out dramatically. “I proudly present for the first time anywhere…!” The now silhouette stepped out of the mirror, and the clouds dispersed to reveal an anthro that looked a lot like Trixie, except with darker fur and longer mane and tail. The Cutie Mark was changed slightly, too. The tip of the wand was a black star, and the cloud coming off the tip was now navy blue. Starfall concluded the introduction of her new creation. “The Great and Powerful Malatrix!”

The look in the dark duplicate’s eyes was certainly vile, and she looked downright intimidating. She flexed her hands and breathed deeply. She then spoke in a malevolent tone, with the attitude of a prima donna. “Insects of all vocations! Measly insignificant wretches! Bare witness of the power of the Great and Dominant Malatrix!” She lit her horn with dark maroon magic, and prepared for her “show.”

At this, Starfall chuckled. “I would stay and watch, but I’ve better things to do! Auf vitesain!” She then disappeared in a flash of red magic, taking the mirror with her.

Ready and raring, Twilight was about to end this quickly. “Alright girls! Let’s- Hey!” Just as she was taking out the Element of Magic, a box appeared around it, as well as the other Elements of Harmony.

In a flash, the boxes disappeared, leaving nothing behind. The group saw Malatrix now held a bigger box, and then summoned chains around it. She then wagged a finger at them. “Sorry. I don’t think that’s very sporting of you. How about we have some fun~?”

This setback was a bit unexpected, but they were resolved in taking down this dark entity. They got ready to attack, but Malatrix seemed unconcerned. The first to try and take her down was Ashley, readying to lasso Malatrix. Slightly amused, Malatrix took the rope in her magic, and turned it on its wielder. Ashley cried out as the rope hog-tied her, and she glared at Malatrix. Though before she could say anything, Malatrix summoned an apple into Ashley’s mouth, and smirked. “Seems you’re the one that’s all tied up!” She regarded the others, and lit her horn. “Let’s up the ante!” She then duplicated herself until there was a copy of her for each anthro in the area that was not incapacitated. All of them grinned. The original raised her arm. “Time to divide and conquer!”

The copies each isolated one of the anthros, intent on leaving them as helpless as Ashley. One of them trapped Rarity in a lock box, placing a magic suppression ring on her so she couldn’t use her magic to escape. Another transported Chessmaster into a playing card, while another found Janice and trapped her in an illusion maze. One by one, they blocked off the anthros’ magic, and trapped them in various ways- Micaela in a loop of the sword and box trick, Flora in a hamster ball, Servo on an endless staircase, Tyra in a mirror, Cheryl as a drawing on a chalkboard, Carmen stuck in the ground, Rae being tormented by visions of that “therapist”, Diana in a glass box with no exit, Prism trapped in a metal egg, and then finally after much hassle, Pinkie as a cardboard standee. The remaining anthros- Trixie herself, Twilight, Maestro, Alex, Ayumi, Serine and Gearbox huddled together as they were approached by the copies. Maestro grit his teeth as he pulled out a crystal blade. “Well, this went south quickly.” He looked to the others as they were surrounded. “Any bright ideas?”

The others were unsure of what they could do, for the clones had taken down their friends rather quickly. Serine grimaced in thought. “A few that I don’t like. That said, Mary has one but you might not like it.”

Shaking his head, Maestro was about to chastise her for even thinking on that. But Gearbox yelled out as one of the duplicates grabbed him. “Oi! Let go, you shallow imitation!” He forced the imposter off, but it only bought a bit of time. He looked to Maestro. “Listen, bud. I know that you’ve got qualms with her methods, but now is not the time! These are hardly real, Maestro! We gotta do what’s necessary to win!”

Anger flowed through Maestro as he gripped the blade tighter. He hated to admit it, but Gearbox had a point. He braced himself to ask the plan- until he saw something rather peculiar from the corner of his eye. Xavier was keeping the humans calm. How didn’t he see it before? A grin spread across his face. “Maybe we’ve got a little surprise of our own! Xavier!” Garnering the desired attention, he saw the Xavier already had the artifact in hand. Maestro nodded. “Go get ‘em!”

Nodding, Xavier held up the artifact to his chest. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Now is the time. His eyes shot open, and lifted the artifact into the sky. “The shards on the wind! The phantoms that howl! I accept my new life, and spread my wings!” A sudden change came upon him like lightning, and his form changed in seconds. His skin sprouted crystalline periwinkle fur, and his hair became jet black as a tail of the same color grew. His face elongated, and his eyes changed color to light orange. His ears became equine as they travelled up his head, and large wings sprouted from his back. A necklace now hung from his neck, bearing a gravestone with a spirit circling it. This sudden change caught the attention of the duplicates, and Malatrix herself seemed slightly amused. Though as the the duplicates tried to overpower him, he broke them into pure magic with a focused touch. Their numbers were soon dwindled to even things out, and he barely had a scratch on him. He smirked. “I am known as Phantom Howler! And now, your grave awaits!”

Scowling, Malatrix readied an attack. “You really think that you can defeat me? Well then, how about this for a trick up my sleeve?” She cast a spell that covered the entire park in a giant mist, causing the humans and incapacitated anthros to disappear from the scene- though for whatever reason, Malatrix was nowhere to be seen. She laughed, and the group’s attention was now drawn to the giant Malatrix that had appeared. She cackled. “In this realm, I am all powerful!”

Things were looking bleak, even with the newly anthrofied Phantom Howler on their side. The anthros looked between one another, knowing that if they were to stand a chance, they would each have to take quite a risk. Twilight channeled her magic into the most powerful spell she could think of. Ayumi tapped into her full potential as well. Gearbox was ambushed from the fog by a duplicate and entranced by a hypnotic screen before he faded into the fog. This got the rest of them on edge, knowing now that the clones had not disappeared, only been made undetectable. Alex honed her senses, and Phantom tapped into his magic that he retained from his human life. Serine let Mary off her “leash”, and Trixie focused on dispelling the illusion field. Maestro had a grim look on his face, and steeled himself. He attacked one of the clones without much hesitation, now that he knew they were basically pure magic. He glared at Malatrix as he scanned the magic. She had made this world, and projected a giant avatar of herself- though it was evident that the source of the spell was… “Alright. I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news. Good news is that she’s still vulnerable- Bad news is that she’s basically made the avatar a giant barrier to protect her.” He shook his head. “We need to bring down that barrier in order to defeat her, but there’s a problem with that…” He grimaced. “That barrier is the toughest I’ve seen. We need full power attacks to break it, and even then it will take a while.” He focused his magic as he let the seals open. “Best shot is we attack all at once. On my mark!” With blade charged with magic, Maestro yelled as he leapt at the barrier. A bit startled, the others managed to get ahold of themselves and fire their attacks as Maestro attacked the barrier.

The projection smirked, shaking her head. “Oh, foolish microbes! You cannot overthrow the might and majesty of Malatrix! Try as you might, it will do you no good!” She smirked at them as they tried to break her barrier. Oh, it was quite amusing that they tried so hard. She almost felt pity towards them… almost.

With Malatrix distracted, Trixie assaulted the illusion field with an illusion breaker spell. It was a bit complex, but she poured more effort in as the others kept Malatrix’s attention. She was starting to see some results, as Gearbox was soon revealed again. She went over to him, and snapped him out of his trance. He shook his head and looked to her. He smiled, and nodded his head. He whistled, summoning his new and improved synthetic horn. He attached it to his head, then lit it with magic and cracked his knuckles. He jumped into the battle, pumping magic into his landing. When he crashed down, he sent a mighty shockwave across the form of the barrier. She turned, and was shocked to see him. He smirked. “Nobody impersonates my girlfriend!” He landed on solid ground, and taunted her. This cause on of the duplicates to attack- but he broke it with a single well-placed kick. He glared. “I’m not falling for that again!”

The tides started to turn as Trixie freed more and more of the anthros, soon overwhelming the duplicates entirely, leaving only Malatrix. She scowled, and shouted. “ENOUGH!” This froze everyone in their tracks, including the now-visible humans. Malatrix grabbed Trixie, and brought her to herself. “You have been a thorn in my side for too long!” The avatar opened its mouth. “Bon appetít!” The group yelled out, unable to help Trixie as she was dropped inside the giant barrier.

---

Dharcveld

Trixie woke up groggily, a hand going to her head. She took in her surroundings, and was disturbed by them. She was in a castle, with walls of onyx stone. She looked around, and saw Malatrix sitting smugly on a throne of silver. She motioned to the surrounding area. “Isn’t it beautiful, Trixie? This is what we could’ve had, were we smart enough to usurp Starlight and make her plans our own.” She shook her head. “Oh well. Better late than never.”

Trixie stared at the grin growing on her dopplegänger’s face. It was a twisted, unnatural thing, a far cry from a genuine smile. Trixie tried to stand, and only barely managed. She hissed in pain, but was determined to stand up for herself. “Do you think that I would join or submit to you? You are naught but the dark desires of my being! I am stronger than that!”

Malatrix chuckled as she shook her head. “Oh, sweet, naïve, Trixie. You think yourself strong? You think yourself great? You think yourself powerful?” Malatrix shook her head. “Far from it, I’m afraid. You are nothing. You are a two-bit hack, a few cards short of a full deck! You do not have any real power without me.”

Part of Trixie wanted to listen to Malatrix. After all, Trixie was a stage magician- how could she win against this power? But, just as she was about to give in, she felt something- a power in her soul. One of Loyalty. One of Honesty. One of Kindness. One of Generosity. One of Laughter. One of Magic. She glowed with power, and Malatrix stepped back. “You’re wrong, Malatrix! For I have something you don’t!” She lit her horn, as the rainbow energy filled her.

Malatrix’s eyes widened, looking over to the locked box, only to be puzzled that it wasn’t open. She looked back to Trixie. “But how? This shouldn’t be possible! You gave those back!”

Trixie spoke with power as the faith of her friends filled her. “Once an Element Bearer, always an Element Bearer!” The rainbow magic filled the room, expanding outward as it became white. Malatrix could only scream as she was enveloped, and the white magic washed over Trixie as she passed out.

Author's Note:

Well now, haven't done a proper cliffhanger in a while. So Xavier has anthrofied, and Trixie has defeated her inner darkness. Don't worry, she is okay... But she might be different when you hear from her next in chapter 35. Things just keep getting crazier...