To Be Without Magic

by Amethyst_Crystal

A Great and Powerful Friend

Trixie struggled against Twilight’s grasp, snarling and scrabbling at the sand, deep in the ancient desert. “Let me go! I’ll destroy that monster!” She grunted and strained. Tempest and Starlight laid collapsed on the sandy rocks, both unconscious and injured from their vicious battle.

“What do you plan to do?” Twilight demanded firmly, her eyes wary. “Forget Tempest for now,” she implored, “Let’s help Starlight!”

The blue magician’s mask of rage fell away, fear and concern in her eyes. “Yes, you’re right, let’s please save her then!”

The Princess of Friendship teleported them both immediately to Starlight’s side, Trixie collapsing to ground, putting an ear to her lavender chest. “Thank Celestia she’s still breathing, but she looks awful!”

“The magic she used… it may have been some really bad stuff, Trixie,” Twilight muttered sadly, brushing her wing through Starlight’s soft purple mane. “She’s showing symptoms of having channeled a powerful dark spell, or even a curse. Maybe more than one. This degree of exhaustion isn’t normal for a unicorn of her magical ability.”

“I also got hit really hard in the face,” Starlight groaned weakly, “With her hoof.” She stirred from her unwanted slumber, coughing and shivering in realization. “I-I can’t believe I did that. I resorted to… to summoning ruined spirits…”

“You’re alive!” Trixie squealed with joy, tackling Starlight and cuddling the tired sorceress. “Forget that dark spell stuff! You did it because you were protecting me! Don’t feel bad about it!” An affectionate mane petting was in order, the wizard so relieved that her best friend was better off than expected.

Starlight and Twilight exchanged a worried look, while Trixie nuzzled her friend’s neck. “I do not wish to judge,” her alicorn teacher somberly stated. “What you did in the heat of battle, against someone intent on harming your friend…” Tears fell onto the hot sand, hiding her face in a wing, sniffling. “I’m sorry. I’m just so sad, for you both…”

The Great and Powerful Magician rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Excuse me while I don’t feel the tiniest bit sad for that crazy wild mare.” she pointed an accusing hoof at the silent form of Tempest Shadow right beside them.

Twilight gasped, having forgotten to even check on the dark orchid mercenary. She went closer to Tempest, listening to her chest. “Her breathing is erratic, and her muscles are twitching… OW!” she stumbled back shaking her hind leg, having been kicked suddenly in the shin.

Trixie chuckled dryly, still petting her friend’s purple mane. “Are you sure she didn’t do it on purpose? Maybe you should try kicking her back, teach her a lesson!”

“Trixie, no!” Starlight scolded, pushing her away, ignoring the pouting. “I know she started this, but even enemies shouldn’t be inflicted with dark magic! I went too far!”

The magician stomped a fore-hoof angrily. “And let’s say you did play nice instead, how awake do you think you’d be right now, huh? I don’t recall Tempest being gentle or careful when you two left, and it certainly doesn’t seem that way right now, either!”

Tempest groaned out loud, sweating heavily, panting, flailing her limbs. “No… no…” she muttered. “Find… way out…”

“Nightmares, most likely,” Starlight mumbled quietly. “I wanted to make her suffer… I wanted to… to...” she put her hooves in her hands and began sobbing, tears of shame falling.

The magician wanted to scold Starlight again for her graciousness towards a fallen foe, but instead wrapped her cloak around the soft pink-purple unicorn, hugging gently. “Let’s just get out of here, and give you the chance to recover! Right, Twilight?”

“Not without her, Trixie,” sighed Starlight. “She’s not going to be able to do anything on her own, not for awhile anyway.” She stared at the delirious dreaming mare. “We won’t be able to wake her up, either. She will be stuck in her dreams for… possibly days…”

Twilight’s disapproving frown caught Starlight’s eye, ears drooping in dismay. “Just let me get Tempest… I mean Fizzlepop… under control. I’ll have to keep her in a protective sphere for n-”

“Forget her!” snapped Trixie angrily, clenching Starlight protectively to her chest. “She had her chance!”

“Trixie, you know we shouldn’t do that…” Starlight looked up in scowling disapproval. “After all the chances we have had ourselves.”

Trixie stared, then turned up her nose, snorting. “Fine, whatever! I still hate her...”

“Be that as it may,” Twilight decided, a raspberry-colored field of magic encasing Tempest, “I consider her my responsibility. She is my friend, after all.” she reminded sharply, glancing over her shoulder.

“I want to be her friend too… even now,” Starlight admitted.

Trixie glared at them both and huffed indignantly. “Great, let’s save the mean brat then. Can we please go now?”

Sighing in unison at Trixie’s ire and rage, Starlight and Twilight teleported the four of them away from the deep desert, and back to the comfort of Twilight’s castle. Tempest Shadow’s arrival and condition were kept secret, until she could open up her eyes once more.

Deep into the canyon she fell… escape was absolutely impossible.

And then she landed… it hurt more than all the pain she ever felt.

The breaking of bones, and tearing of muscles, familiar but worse.

Nothing could compare to the special pain of these hollow depths.

She was alone, deep in the ancient underground.

There was a light, somewhere, maybe… but that faded, like her hopes…

Never to see the sun rise again, to forever be lost,

to the deep darkness, blind and unknowing.

Ancient power flows within her.

Power she will never access, by much of anything.

Voices whispering, chilling and dusty:

Contemplate Eternity, Child of Darkness.

Social Interaction, Unbearably Obnoxious,

For You, Oh Powerful Struggler.

Failure to Find Solace, Now Seek Lunacy.

Darkness Consumes Your Heart and Mind.

Never Do Such Deeds Again,

Unless Suffering is Your Fate, and Your Purpose.

Familiar voices mumbled above Tempest, in a brief, motionless moment of vague wakefulness.

Are you sure it’s safe? What if they just fight again?

Yes, I trust her ability. Besides, she can reach Fizzlepop’s spirit in ways that you and I can’t.

Um, really? And why would that be?

Because she truly is a great and powerful pony. Just, in ways more subtle than obvious.

Alright then, I will trust your judgment. Let us hope it does them both good.

I’m sure it will, but when this is all over, I hope Fizzy can forgive me.

Tempest Shadow woke up, or at least, she thought she did. Unless, the nightmares were still consuming her soul. Where am I? She wondered… so dark, so hot, so cramped… panic rising, struggling… a loud thud, as hooves hit solid wood.

“Oh, finally awake, are we?” scoffed the great magician, from nearby, in a muffled tone. Her voice from directly overhead. Was she trapped inside a trunk?

“Get off me!” howled Tempest, exhausted from her prison, and her accursed slumber. To finally be awake and still seeing darkness, after dreaming of so much...

A harsh cackle in reply. “Oh, don’t be so fussy! There’s plenty of air-holes for you to breathe, this is a stage performance trunk, after all.” Trixie knocked on the top firmly.

“Just let me out of here! Now!” Tempest begged, voice filled with resentment and desperation, sweat getting in her eyes.

“Fine, but only because I’m not as mean as you.” Trixie tapped her hoof on the back panel, unlocking and revealing an ‘escape route’ for the occupant. “You are free!”

The dark orchid pony crawled wearily out with a groan, sprawling on the green grass, panting. “Wait,” she growled in confusion, “I was in a desert. Where are we?”

Trixie smirked wickedly, looking up at the trees towering overhead. “Deep in an ancient magical forest. Far from pony lands. Just you and me!” she chortled with glee.

Tempest stared at her captor, chest heaving for breath. She was certain she could defeat Trixie in combat, but she was in no condition to satisfy her smoldering rage.

“So, I’ve been meaning to let you know,” Trixie rambled casually, ignored Tempest’s hateful gaze. “You’re a coward and a fool.”

“What did you say?” demanded Tempest angrily, astounded by this audacity.

“I’m a coward and a fool too though, so it’s fine.” Trixie sarcastically reassured her, leaping up onto the roof of her wagon with a daring somersault and striking a dignified pose, “Tada!” she declared, staring up at the vast trees. “Have you been this far, this deep in the forest?”

Tempest shook her head, finally getting to her feet. The sun was starting to descend on the horizon, between the trunks. “No. Well… long ago. I can hardly remember.”

Trixie cackled, twirling her cape with gusto. “I come here every few moons…” she looked up at the foliage, dark and ominous above the campfire. “It brings me joy.”

A veil of shadows fell from the disfigured unicorn’s eyes. Fizzlepop beheld the world about her, as though perhaps she could find peace, if she dared. “Alright,” she growled. “Why did you bring me here? Don’t you hate me?”

“I mean, I do,” Trixie agreed without hesitation, venom in her voice, “But I guess Starlight is too powerful an influence on me, so, I’m trying not to…”

Tempest remembered the fire in Starlight’s spirit when she came to protect Trixie from the broken unicorn’s wrath. The deep anger and malice when they fought… but she wanted Trixie to get along with her foe? Whatever friendship Tempest had with Starlight, it was surely broken now…

“Do you know why she’s such a great pony?” Trixie pressed the point, leaning over the side of the wagon’s roof and glaring down, purple eyes welling up with tears. “Because Starlight Glimmer gave me a reason to live! She showed me that I can be a great pony too, without changing the core of who I am.”

Tempest Shadow felt a shudder of shame,those words conjuring a vision of the princess of friendship, for but a sparkling moment of emotional twilight. “I… I want to hate you both,” she admitted. “You and Starlight. Because… I…” she choked up, tears in her eyes.

Trixie burst into laughter, cackling with glee. “Oh wow, this is just magnificent,” she declared, gazing down from under her hat with arrogance. “You are jealous! You want to have your precious princess friendship, and be a monster too!” she taunted, the blue pony propping hooves on her hips for extra sass. “You’re just a whiny, selfish brat who always expects to get her way!”

The solitary warrior ground her teeth, crackling energy glowing from her broken horn, bunching up her legs, and leaping up onto the wagon with a loud thud. “Unlike Starlight, you seem eager to piss me off! You don’t know when to stop!”

The blue magician struck a daring defensive pose, arms outstretched and legs bent. “You don’t scare me this time!” she blinked, “I mean, I was more surprised than scared last time, anyway, really… but nonetheless, do not underestimate the resources of a stage magician! At any moment you may be defeated and dazzled, all at once!”

Tempest’s horn sizzled magic, scowling irritably at her captor. “Why did you bring me here?” she demanded. “What is your problem?”

Trixie gasped and crossed her forelegs over her chest, deeply indignant. “Ohhh, I’m sorry… did I magically or physically attack your best friend Twilight Sparkle only a few days ago, just because her way with words was greatly annoying me, as it often does? Oh, I didn’t?” the magician smiled and battered eyelashes. “THEN DON’T ASK ME ABOUT MY PROBLEMS!” she shrieked with fury.

Tempest clenched her eyes and hunched down, frustrated and ashamed, all at once. Her mind swirled, to all those instances in her life, when violence was the chosen recourse of the crippled unicorn. To inflict her will upon the world around her with brutality. To hide from her own suffering, by inflicting more...

“Awww, what’s wrong?” Trixie leaned forward, interrupting her thoughts with her flamboyant, mocking tone. “Does the violent brat want to hurt Trixie again for speaking the truth?” Laughter echoed upwards across the forest leaves.

Fizzlepop privately acknowledged that Trixie was indeed powerful, in her own way. “Yes, but… I won’t.” she answered firmly. She did not rise, as though afraid of her own body. Of how she would confront power, with her own crude methods of domination.

Trixie tilted her hat back and spread her cape, fluttering in the breeze, putting on her best winning smile, “Then bask in the wonder of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria!”

Fizzy sighed heavily and shook her head… she had slept for so long, yet already she felt tired… “Just stop, please, you’re making me angry again...”

Trixie demanded no less than an absolute apology. “You’re angry? Can you feel the rage in Trixie’s heart, you merciless mercenary moron? You have put my dear Starlight through much grief and pain! I have every reason to be angry at you right now!” she stomped a hoof down, tears welling up in her eyes. “Your stupid selfishness, and stubborn righteousness! Your rage and your misery! You can wallow in it all you like, but don’t you dare take it out on those who are only trying to help you, those undeserving of your wretched petty problems!”

Fizzlepop trembled, staring down at the wagon’s roof. A warm breeze blew past her mane, the trees rustling all around them. How could this be? To feel so angry, so sad, so broken. And yet, and yet she could not lash out. Would not lash out. “I can’t fight you, and I can’t atone,” she muttered, collapsing with a heavy sigh, Twilight’s smile and kindness in her mind once more, then fading. “I will never have friendship…”

“Umm, wow.” Trixie muttered, moving closer, gently nudging Fizzlepop’s flank with a foot. “Hey, cut that out! It’s kinda awkward. What happened to Miss Badass, huh? I mean, still excluding the kicking of my own ass, thank you.”

Tempest sighed again, shaking her head. “No, it’s just… if I did attack you now… what would that accomplish? My rage would be sated, maybe… momentarily… before it will come back again,” she felt wetness on her cheeks, breathing heavily. “And it would just prove your point too...”

Trixie put her fore-hoof just above Fizzy’s broken horn, ignoring the tensing flinch. “You must be in a lot of pain,” she said softly, the first gentle words she gave her captive. “Look, as angry as I am, Trixie can’t hate someone as powerful and beautiful as you,” she confessed, “Not forever, anyway. You may not realize, but Starlight forgave you too, so stop moping and being hard on yourself, okay? That’s my job. The being hard on you, I meant, not the moping.” she looked away, “Besides, it makes me nervous to see you weak, same as when she acts like this…”

Fizzlepop laughed bitterly, but with a smile. Why did Starlight’s friend have to be so crazy? “You really don’t have any filter, whatsoever,” she accused, looking up at Trixie. “You expose everything in your heart to everyone.”

Trixie huffed. “Not everyone! But Starlight did say you were becoming a good friend, so I thought I could try to be one too…” she glared again. “But instead you attacked me!” Fizzlepop stood up then, making the magician hop back, but she walked to the front corner of the wagon’s roof, looking out over the green of nature. “Hey don’t ignore me!” she snapped.

Fizzlepop didn’t look back. “Now I know your game,” she declared. “You’ll have to try harder, if you want to upset me now.”

Blushing like a violet, the blue unicorn fumed. “What do you mean game? If you mean like a stage show performance, this was all very serious! I’ve been giving you a piece of my mind!”

“I know, and thank you.” Fizzlepop replied warmly. "I appreciate all you have done here.”

A magical entity appeared by her side, a blue pony with deepest purple eyes, hidden depths shrouded in that soul. “It’s not often I meet a truly solitary pony like myself,” Trixie confided, placing a hoof gently on her back. “You and I have much in common, you just haven’t figured that out yet.”

Solitude. Loneliness. Confidence. Arrogance. Ferocity. Bravery. Mystery. Madness. Fizzlepop felt that she was looking upon this pony with new eyes, a spirit far more kindred than she could admit before. “I think I’ve figured out quite a bit. But I still dislike your lack of shame.”

A fire rose up in those amethyst eyes, a glowing power. A majesty of magic. “Do not be so bold, broken brat.” snapped Trixie the Great and Powerful. “To presume that my shining spirit must grovel in atonement, for as long as you see fit!”

Fizzlepop chaffed, “And yet you get to insult and degrade and shame me all you like?”

Trixie smiled and winked roguishly. “Well, you have permission to do likewise now, if you want.”

The hardened mercenary unicorn frowned. “You are certainly difficult to deal with…”

Trixie grew somber, a quiet strength. “I refuse to bend or break my will for anything… anything but my friends.”

Fizzlepop laughed. “Guess I will have to become your friend then.”

Trixie looked expectantly… both blushing… “Really? We’re friends already? But you hated me…” those purple lights were doused of fire, at least momentarily.

“And now,” Tempest reminded gently, “you hate me too. Isn’t that so?”

The wandering magician paused, struggling with pride. They sat quietly, as the woods made its presence known, roaming beasts calling out nearby, yet leaving them be, as the last rays of sunlight broke upon their backs, like the burdens in their little pony hearts. “I would rather be your friend,” Trixie admitted, with some reluctance. “You already have the talent for great and powerful stage performance, after all. And besides,” she looked upon Fizzlepop. “You deserve to have friends as powerful as you.”

Fizzlepop sighed in relief, blushing in surprise at her own happy reaction. “Then, all is forgiven?”

Trixie nodded eagerly, lunging out to give Fizzy a huge hug, feeling the warrior’s muscles tense up in surprise. “Well maybe I’ll be angry later, but for now…well, I know what it’s like to not have friends, so I… I…”

Fizzlepop relaxed, overwhelmed with exhaustion, held in Trixie’s warm embrace, enshrouded by a cape of flowing stars, the patterns of magic cloaking her drowsy mind in something almost resembling peace. “This forest… on further consideration, I’ve been here after all, I’m sure,” she muttered. “It must have been while I was on some bounty hunting quest or another...”

Trixie chuckled dryly, leaning in for a whisper in the dark purple ear, “We’ve met here before.” The startled Tempest looked up in shocked surprised, invoking a giggle. “Well, it was very brief, and very long ago. But, you did leave quite an impression, what with being such a unique unicorn. I still haven’t met any other that fights with their body instead of their mind. But really, all you did was ask for directions towards some monster’s lair, and off you went.”

Fizzlepop shook her head. “I don’t remember any of that, sorry… I was probably focused on the hunt.”

Trixie giggled, giving her a pat. “You didn’t seem to care about anything but yourself and your goals. I recall how awesome and powerful you were, and still are.” she smirked at the purple blush creeping onto Fizzy’s cheeks. “In any case, you should just relax up here for now. I will have some great and powerful soup ready, sooner or later.” with that, she cast down a smoke bomb, a flash of light and puff of smoke, a loud yelp, as she fell off the edge of the wagon. “Trixie meant to do that.” she grunted, getting to her hooves. “Oh yeah, and don’t presume the best from me, either. Trixie also hasn’t entirely forgiven you.”

Fizzlepop frowned in puzzlement. Why was this pony so strange? So bold yet so friendly? But she nodded solemnly. “Alright. I won’t hold it against you.”

The magician ‘hmf’d! “I should hope not!” And then trotted off into the woods, even as it grew darker, to forage for supper’s ingredients.

The ferocity of Trixie felt more familiar than the softness of both the princess and counselor of friendship, but the wandering mercenary did not expect the wandering magician to be so resourceful, too. “I should not underestimate her strength… or her compassion.” she decided, humbled and yet content. The last vestiges of nightmares had drifted from her mind, and finally, a deep peaceful calm, in the early hours of a starlit twilight.

Comments

[Shiny Kelp]

I'm generally not a big fan of Trixie, but damn I'm liking her and her brutal honesty in this chapter.
I hope you continue this story because so far it's awesome!

[Amethyst_Crystal]

10472375
Thank you! I was pleased with this chapter as well, and I definitely would like to write another!