Trixie Searches For Magic

by MagicS

Worm

When you’ve been in a place like East Glade for a while and you keep hearing about all the dangerous monsters that live in the mountains around here but never actually see one you start to get a little complacent and forget they’re there. Those mountains to the east are supposed to be the worst. But Trixie had never stepped foot in them nor dealt with any creature that happened to stumble down from them and she didn’t even really get a look at the strange balloon monsters that she accidentally saved the village from a while ago either. These “threats” to the village were so far-off and imaginary to her.

So this afternoon as she watched a gigantic worm monster slithering down from the eastern mountains towards the village she was a little panicked.

Vector, Gizzard, and Trixie were standing on the East Glade side of the newly remade bridge. All of them staring at the massive beast in trepidation. Thanks to its size the other villagers had already seen it coming and were hiding in their homes while Daylight went to get Coil.

“Stone worm,” Gizzard muttered. “First one that’s come out of the caves in ages.”

This was a stone worm? Trixie was fairly certain she had heard them mentioned once or twice but she wasn’t expecting something quite so huge. It might have been two—no—three hundred feet long and as thick at its widest point as a house! And more than just its size but the rest of its appearance was frightening too. Huge stone plates were interlinked like scales around its head and the first third of its body, ringing a gaping maw that could have probably swallowed her wagon whole if it wanted to. Inside that horrifying mouth was row after row of churning teeth that all ground together like a chainsaw to turn any earth and minerals swallowed into dust. The rest of its flesh was a threatening bright orange that coiled and bunched up before stretching out again in a grotesque manner each time the worm moved.

“Why has it come out of the caves? I mean what does it even want here if it’s normally something that spends all its time digging through rocks?” Trixie asked, no small amount of fear and hesitation in her voice.

Vector pointed in front of them, past the bridge to the carrot patch on the other side. “Carrots. Carrots are the stone worms favorite food.”

At that, Trixie had to briefly pause. Her fear had momentarily been replaced by pure stupefication.

“Wait. What?” She raised an eyebrow at the two villagers. “You’re kidding right?”

“Nope, they love carrots,” Vector shook his head. “That’s why the only carrot patch is on the other side of the ravine, so they aren’t tempted to cross over into the actual village.”

The traveling magician had to hold her head to fight off the headache that was coming. She knew very well that she wasn’t normally the sensible one. “Just hold on one second, I feel like I’m not getting something here. If the carrots are dangerous cause they might draw out a hungry stone worm then why even have them in the first place?”

“Well we’ve thought about getting rid of them but Senax and the other merponies are fiercely against that. So we’re all willing to take the risk. This is a really rare occurrence to be fair,” Gizzard sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, knowing that this excuse was pretty embarrassing.

“I’m all for doing things for dumb reasons but I’m just kind of surprised that you all are doing this,” Trixie said as she watched the worm steadily approach.

“We all really like carrots,” Vector shrugged.

“Okay so then what do we do to stop this thing?” Trixie asked them. If that was going to be the way things had to be she would (reluctantly) accept her role and duty as a hero of East Glade again. At least the glory and praise was always good. The threat of being eaten by a horrible worm monster was a pretty big weight on the scale that was tipping things towards “Be a coward and run away again” though.

Gizzard coughed, his hacking fit soon abating he gave Trixie an apologetic look. “Hope for the best?”

“That thing looks like it can cause a lot of damage to the village...” She worried. Regardless of heroism or how it was essentially their own fault this time if something bad happened she didn’t want to see anyone hurt or betray their expectations. And it wasn’t even just because everyone in the village loved her either! Honest this time!

“It could potentially, yes. But we know from experience that nothing can be done to a stone worm. Their heads are practically invulnerable and they don’t seem to be bothered by any injuries to the rest of their bodies,” Vector told her.

“And the only defense or plan you have against one is keeping the carrots on the other side of the ravine,” It wasn’t a question.

Vector’s smile was forced and crooked as he answered the pony he looked up to so much. “Yes...”

“At best that thing is going to come down here, completely destroy and devour the patch, and leave,” Gizzard said as he watched the worm slink closer and closer to the foothills. “And even that would probably leave the ground over there all torn up and prone to landslides going into the ravine...”

“And at worst it’ll come over to the village even without carrots here and destroy it,” Trixie sighed. She knew from prior experience that she didn’t have the raw power to deal with a creature of this size. Maybe she should just try anyways and she’d end up lucking into victory? That’s pretty much how things had been going for her so far here. This thing was really, really, big though. Maybe pulling a Twilight and thinking of an actual plan would be good? That worked pretty well for her before too.

If only we had something to distract it with and lead it away from the village. I’m great at grabbing attention. Trixie thought. And then she realized just how stupid she was being. Oh wait. We do.

Trixie looked at the big carrot patch on the other side of the bridge, at the rate the worm was going it would be ten or perhaps fifteen minutes before it actually got to the patch. There were enough carrots there right now to feed the entire village, that posed a bit of a problem but Trixie was sure they could deal with it.

“Vector? Gizzard? I’ve got a plan for getting rid of this thing but we’re going to have to sacrifice some carrots. Think everyone will forgive that?” She asked them.

“In this situation? I think so,” Vector said, grimacing at the approaching worm.

“Hey you guys!”

The three at the bridge turned to see Daylight and Coil running towards them, and right on cue Gizzard’s grandsons also came out of the sky after finishing their survey of the situation from above. Now all seven of them stood together to defend East Glade with one big worm as their opponent rolling down from the mountains.

“Gramps, everyone's safe indoors,” Gullet told his grandpa.

“If the stone worm looks like it might come over here after eating the carrots should we try evacuating everyone?” Garry asked.

Gizzard nodded. “We should, but the only problem is that I have no idea where we’d even go or if we could even escape in time. And if the whole town gets destroyed what’s even the point if we run away?”

“Don’t worry!” Trixie reassured them. “Like I said I have a plan, and since we’re all here here it is.” She smugly grinned as she walked out onto the bridge towards the carrot patch. “We’re going to bait that thing with carrots and get it to jump into the ravine!”

Simple enough. The others looked at least thoughtful about it. It was after all probably the best and most straightforward idea any of them could come up with.

Coil stroked his chin as he looked past Trixie at the carrot patch. “There are quite a few carrots there though. If we’re drawing the worm’s attention away we’ll need to gather up a majority of them to lead it away, otherwise it would still go for the larger prize.”

“That’s why we all need to work fast to grab as many carrots as we can right now before the worm gets here,” Trixie told them. “Come on!”

They worked as quickly as possible, the huge worm thankfully seemed to pay them no heed (if it could even see them in the first place) and didn’t speed up while the defenders picked every carrot in sight to carry them away. It would be a hassle to actually carry the growing pile of carrots but they had enough people and enough magical power to manage it.

“So what are we going to do from here?” Daylight asked her while they gathered up the carrots.

“We’re all going to take some carrots far up the ravine away from the village, staying just close enough to the worm to make sure it keeps interest. Once we’ve gone far enough I want you all to dump your carrots and run off, then I’ll stay there at the edge of the ravine and wait for the worm to get right to me before tossing all of the carrots in with my magic. Hopefully the worm will jump in after them,” Trixie explained.

“Hopefully? You really think it’s going to just jump in there for them?” Daylight asked her.

“It’s a big dumb worm monster. How smart can it be?”

“Famous. Last. Words,” She eyed Trixie with an unimpressed look. “Also if you’re staying behind to make sure that works what’s to stop the worm from eating you too?”

“I will simply teleport to safety to the other side of the ravine,” Trixie replied simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You just smashed face first into a rock yesterday though...” Daylight shook her head.

“Please, that was clearly a one time thing,” Trixie glared at her.

Daylight gave up. “Well good luck. I’m kind of just impressed that you’re willing to be the one in the most danger. Maybe Gizzard can stay around too to fly you to safety?”

Trixie grumbled, muttering something under her breath like an old mare woken up in the middle of the night. “I’m the hero after all, has to be me in danger or I’ll look bad. Yep, sure do love it. The glory is totally one hundred percent worth it and I don’t have any regrets or hesitations about any of this.”

The white unicorn snickered. “The alternative is telling everyone the truth and have someone else be the bait?”

“Never!” Trixie sharply whispered. “I have a reputation to uphold and I’m not letting the entire rest of the village know I’m a fake. And if that means potentially getting eaten by a giant worm monster then so be it.”

“Even if your motivations aren’t the purest at least you’re still doing something good,” Daylight shrugged. “I’ve got familiarity with that.”

This time Trixie grinned. “Yes, I’m so selfish in wanting everyone to praise me and continue to think I’m the perfect hero that it’s wrapped around to being selfless because I’m willing to do such amazing and dangerous things to preserve that view. Or if possible, lie about it and still come out on top someway anyways.”

“Miss Trixie! The worm is getting closer!” The two of them heard Coil yell.

It was true, while they had been making good progress on the carrots the worm was still inching ever closer to them and now the ground was even starting to shake from the massive weight of the beast as it approached. Trixie looked to the foothills to see its grotesque body worming its way down them, in five minutes the creature would be upon the carrot patch unless they drew it away.

“Grab all the carrots you can!” Trixie shouted at the others and picked up a sizable amount in her magic. “Gizzard, take your grandsons and start throwing carrots in the worm’s path to grab its attention, make sure it knows we’re taking a whole bunch of carrots with us.”

“It should be able to smell us anyways but alright,” Gizzard nodded to his grandsons and the three picked up as many carrots as they could in their talons and sped off towards the stone worm.

“The rest of you follow The Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie yelled to the others, even though she didn’t really need to grandstand since everyone else here knew well of her true nature. That’s just how Trixie was.

Either way they didn’t need to be told twice. The three unicorns and Vector picked up all the carrots they could and ran north up the ravine. The ground rumbled behind them as the worm slithered its way out onto the flat dirt leading up to the carrot patch, Trixie looked over her shoulder to see the griffons throwing their carrots in front of the worm’s mouth and trying to make a trail leading north. It seemed to be working so far, whatever passed for sensory organs on that monster got the whiff of the carrots and it turned its massive body to the griffons and the ponies beyond them. The garbage disposal like mouth of the worm opened up whenever it came to a carrot on the ground, effortlessly tearing up the ground and swallowing it along with the carrots, not slowed down in the slightest by all the rocks and dirt it was eating too.

“That thing is gross. Bleh,” Trixie stuck out her tongue.

“At least it’s coming our way,” Vector said.

“Do you think the village will be safe?” Coil asked as he ran along with them.

“By the looks of it yeah, even if it doesn’t go into the ravine or leave right after eating the village isn’t going to be right next to it. So as long as we go a little further north I think we’ll be fine,” Vector answered.

“And then we just have to hope this thing doesn’t try and eat us if Trixie’s plan goes awry,” Daylight muttered.

“You won’t be the one in danger if that happens,” Trixie scowled at Daylight but then bit her lip when she returned to looking forward. I’m doing something dumb and crazy again, aren’t I?

A low guttural wail came from behind the running ponies, the sound startled them and they all looked back to see the stone worm picking up speed as it slithered towards them with Gizzard, Garry, and Gullet flying in front of it and holding onto the last of their carrots. The worm certainly couldn’t be said to be roaring but the sound that came from that horrifying maw was no less unsettling. And by keeping its mouth open like that while it moved it tore a new ditch in the ground. The thing really didn’t want to miss any carrots. If any of them could speak worm they would know that the wails coming from the monster were it screaming in desire of the orange vegetables.

East Glade truly was in an odd part of the world.

“Okay, that thing is getting kind of close. Do you think we’ve gone far enough cause I want to get out of here!” Daylight said.

Trixie snorted. “Oh just turn invisible and run off then you scaredy-cat!”

She was right though, Gizzard and his grandsons had ditched their last carrots on the ground and that just seems to have made the worm more eager to get the rest that the ponies were carrying. With the worms strength and determination, not to mention the whole fact that the thing was built to bore through anything and the size advantage it had, it was gaining on them as they ran parallel to the ravine.

“Daylight is right though, I think we can ditch our carrots and get out of here!” Vector said. “I don’t want that thing chasing after us cause it suddenly likes our smell too.”

“Alright,” Trixie allowed. “You can drop your carrots. When you do, signal Gizzard and, er, his grandsons to come pick you three up. I’ll keep taking my carrots a little further and really make sure this thing goes down!”

Vector nodded. “Thank you, Trixie. And good luck.” He shrugged off the carrots he had been carrying on his back and let them fall all around the edge of the ravine.

Coil and Daylight did the same, dropping their spells and the carrots they were holding with them.

“By the way-” Coil said as he came up alongside Trixie while they waited for the griffons to come down. “Gizzard’s grandsons are named Garry and Gullet. Thought you might like to actually know that.”

The magician blushed slightly in embarrassment. “Thank you… would’ve been a little awkward sooner or later.”

The others waved goodbye and good luck to Trixie once the griffons came back and flew off with them, leaving her levitating a big ball of carrots in front of her while she ran and the giant stone worm chased her down from behind. She didn’t want to look back to see how close it was but the grinding sound of its mouth and the shaking of the ground told her that if she slowed down it’d catch her pretty quick.

Testing to see if she had its full attention she deftly plucked one carrot from the ball she was carrying and threw it into the ravine. Just as she expected the worm gave no sign that it cared about one or two carrots now when a much bigger prize was right in front of it. It was still a dumb animal, Trixie wouldn’t doubt that, but it wouldn’t jump into the ravine just for one or two carrots when it knew so many more were still up here. It wanted the whole schmear.

Now I just have to hope it wants these carrots so bad it isn’t paying attention to where it’s going… and also that stone worms cant swim.

She was far enough now that she could toss the carrots over at anytime but she had to make sure of where the worm was exactly so it would follow along. And that meant looking behind her.

“Oh dang.”

The mammoth creature was tearing up the ground right behind her, nearly close enough to be chewing on the end of her robe.

“Gah!” Trixie telekinetically lifted the carrots she was holding high over her head and tried to run even faster to get a little distance. She could teleport right after throwing them but if the worm was too close to her and her teleport a little slow the thing might gobble her up or smack into her as it went for the carrots. She had originally planned to drop off the carrots with enough time to catch her breath but the worm was faster than she had expected.

Well it was an all or nothing kind of thing. Why did she always find herself in these situations now? Oh right. It was her own fault.

“Stupid worm! Look at these!” She shook the ball of clumped together carrots back and forth while she kept watch on the stone worm by looking over her shoulder as she ran. She couldn’t tell if the thing had any eyes but whenever she moved the carrots to the left or the right it would slightly twitch and adjust its direction. Good.

She didn’t move them to over the ravine at all just yet, lest the thing notice that if it went for them it would fall down and into the river. It needed to be sudden so the dumb worm couldn’t think at all.

Trixie did her best to focus, trying to push out any fear of being eaten or failing her teleport or any number of other unfortunate things that could happen. She was the hero and she was looking forward to the cheers and inevitable party that awaited her at the village after she defeated the stone worm. Also it was kind of the right thing to do she guessed.

With a deep inhale of air Trixie readied herself. “Dinner’s ready!” She yelled and threw the carrots as hard as she could so they arced high into the air and would go right into the middle of the ravine.

After that she didn’t look anymore. She didn’t think. She just pushed as much magic as possible into her horn.

“Teleport spell, go!”

With a burst of her pink magic she instantly transported herself to the East Glade side of the ravine right as a loud shriek came from behind her. She looked back to see the stone worm falling down towards the water, following the carrots Trixie had just tossed in. She ran up right to the edge to watch the gargantuan creature fall, the thing was longer than the ravine was deep by a wide margin but that didn’t matter once its heavy head struck the fast moving river down below. The stone worm was pulled along by the current and its massive body slipped from the other side of the ravine until the entire thing plunged down to the river. Huge waves and spouts of water were shot up from something so heavy impacting down there and Trixie could see the thing struggling and squirming as it tried to figure out what was going on and look for a way to escape. But luckily for her and the villagers the stone worm, as powerful as it was, simply couldn’t do anything in this situation and it thrashed and thrashed helplessly as the river carried it further out into the Grand Ocean.

“Whew,” Trixie wiped the sweat from her brow that had gathered from all the running and sat down, exhausted.

“Wow, it worked.”

Trixie heard Vector’s voice and looked up to see him being carried by one of Gizzard’s grandsons. The fact that she new their name’s now still didn’t exactly help distinguish which was which. Coil was being carried by the other and Daylight got the honor of being carried by Gizzard, all six settled down next to her. One of the grandsons walked up right alongside her and whistled as he watched the stone worm get carried further and further away.

“Excellent work as always, Miss Trixie,” Coil said, a cheery smile on his face. “I’m sure the village will be most excited and grateful to learn about this.”

“Who’s going to tell the merponies about the carrots though?” Gullet asked.

“Anyone except for Trixie,” Trixie stated. “It may have been my plan but I think I earned the right to not be bothered with that. The only thing I want to be bothered with is a party in my name.”

“How noble of you,” Daylight chuffed.

“Blah, blah, take it up with the pony that didn’t save the village again,” Trixie was too tired to argue.

The group of seven soon returned to East Glade after that, Trixie scowling the whole way and reconsidering this hero business that was eating up the time she wanted to spend on other things while here. Maybe it was time to get back to her original goal? Even if it meant doing something dangerous she’d rather do something dangerous for herself than for someone else. She appreciated the friends she had made here and wouldn’t do anything to hurt that trust she had forged with them anymore but that didn’t mean she always needed to put on this fake hero performance. The more she had to do stuff like this the more she realized that despite all the basking in glory it brought her she really wasn’t a hero and it couldn’t compare to the feeling of joy she got from a crowd loving one of her magic shows.

Gizzard and Vector meanwhile were thinking that maybe now they could actually come up with something that would dissuade future stone worms from coming for the carrots.

Comments

[Raistlin]

“Well we’ve thought about getting rid of them but Senax and the other merponies are fiercely against that. So we’re all willing to take the risk. This is a really rare occurrence to be fair,” Gizzard sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, knowing that this excuse was pretty embarrassing.

“I’m all for doing things for dumb reasons but I’m just kind of surprised that you all are doing this,” Trixie said as she watched the worm steadily approach.

“We all really like carrots,” Vector shrugged.

Sometimes I forget how dumb ponies can be.

[Dashie04]

9875000
And griffons, don’t forget griffons.

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Well that was exciting. Love how Trixie's accidentally become a hero.

[redmar]

Trixie 's becoming quite successfull at protecting the twon intentionally rather than accidentaly. Still it would be nice if she could make some progress towards her original goal.

[Maud of Sterner Stuff]

Meanwhile at the bottom of the ravine...