Chapter 1: "Monsters in the Dark"
They say that the Everfree forest isn’t like the rest of Equestria, that it is an untamed place where the plants, animals, and even the very weather itself all propagate without anypony’s guiding hoof. Then there are the monsters: manticores, cockatrices, timberwolves, and all sorts of other strange abominations. None of that however was currently of much concern to the lone unicorn as she staggered her way through the tangled undergrowth.
Such thoughts had briefly unsettled her shortly after entering the forest, but she was, after all, The Great & Powerful Trixie and no mere forest, no matter how weirdly unnatural, would intimidate her. With her mastery of magic, she knew she had nothing to fear from any monster no matter how big or--
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as she glanced up through the twisted canopy of trees. In a sudden blind panic, she dove into the nearest bush, paying little head to the broken twigs and thorns that added fresh cuts to her mud stained azure coat and tore at her already frayed cloak and hat.
Several moments passed before she poked her head ever so slightly out to take a second glance at the source of her sudden terror, a set of twinkling lights against a dark background. She held her breath, unable to breathe as her heart seemed to catch in her throat, but as her eyes came into focus she realized it was no colossal glowing ursine, only the star filled night sky peeking through a break in the trees.
She muttered a brief curse as she struggled to dislodge her tangled silver mane from her impromptu shelter. How could that creature still haunt her thoughts so?
True, she had been caught... unprepared that first time, and now of course she was half delirious with hunger, but she was still The Great & Powerful Trixie! With a surge of confidence, she reared back striking her well-rehearsed stage pose... only belatedly did she remember that there was no audience to faun over her in these lonely woods. Even as such, the familiarity of the motions helped renew her spirit and pride... that is until it was all swiftly spoiled by her traitorous stomach as it growled out in protest.
She dropped back to all fours as the now all too familiar empty ache reminded her that she hadn’t had a solid meal in days -- or had it been weeks? The fact she’d lost track should probably have been troubling, but her hunger was far too insistent than to allow her to waste the energy needed to properly consider that.
While the forest was lush with vegetation, it seemed that with nopony to guide its course that it was all bitter and sour. While she tried her best to force the harsh foliage down, it was hardly worth the trouble as she would only spend the next few hours painfully retching it all back up -- seemingly with interest to be paid for the trespass. The only thing she’d managed to keep down in all this time had been a few meager pinecones.
If she ever got out of this foul prison of branches, she swore that she would never look down upon another farm pony, not even that orange coated and obviously inbred hick who had been among the foulmouthed hecklers at her last performance. Mmm... Her taste buds watered as she thought of the ripe juicy apple she had so carelessly stuffed in the hillfilly’s slack-jawed mouth. If only she had that delectable morsel now, then she would-- A long moan from her sustenance deprived belly once again reminded her of the folly of dwelling on thoughts of such unavailable snacks.
She shook her head in a vain attempt to regain her senses, but only served to leave herself dizzy and woozy. Light-headed as she was, she still managed to once more place one hoof in front of the other in a slow but constant pace. Surely, if she just kept walking, she would soon find her way out. Even if she’d only been heading deeper into the darkest depths of the Everfree all this time, surely she would have to eventually come out the other side. It wasn’t as if the forest could go on forever, could it?
As she quickly tried to throw off that last unsettling thought, she found her mind wandering back to the events that had brought her to her current misfortunes, to that backwater of a town called Ponyville and that lavender coated upstart that had forced her to beat such a hasty retreat.
~~~~~~~~
Of course, at that point, Trixie still had sufficient wits about her not to do anything so foalish as to run blindly into the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria. No, she had sensibly stuck to main roads as she swiftly fled from the angry mob that would have already no doubt been organizing to lynch her for the disaster that had in no way been her fault. After all, she should hardly be held accountable over the actions of two misguided and obviously mentally deficient colts. Not that her Great & Powerful self would normally have had any difficulty handling such a trivial situation, it had after all only been a baby. Yes, she had reassured herself, if only she had not been so recently roused from a peaceful slumber and so all too excusably unable to perform to her naturally superior standards.
She supposed she owed at least a small debt of gratitude to that lavender unicorn, who had even displayed more than a fair modicum of talent and potential. Were she the type to do so, Trixie could have almost considered taking the mare on as an apprentice. Then again though, it also seemed awfully convenient, and such a showy performance, not to mention those absolutely garish mane and tail highlights. Clearly, that mare had been trying to draw as much attention as possible.
Could it be? Yes, that had to be the answer. No doubt the wench had conned those colts into helping her lure that beast into town just so she could show up Trixie, probably out of some undue sense of jealous entitlement. It was the only plausible explanation for so many coincidences to have conspired against The Great & Powerful Trixie!
Well, this is still only a... minor setback, Trixie chuckled at her own pun.
The life of a showmare was glamorous, but certainly never easy. This wasn’t the first time Trixie had stumbled on her path to the fame she so rightfully deserved, and she had always managed to land on her hooves. Bolstered with renewed confidence, Trixie had at that very moment resolved to put on the most stunning show ever as soon as she reached the next town... only to almost as quickly come to the dreadful realization that, in her hasty retreat, she had left all of her worldly possessions behind.
Slowly she turned and gazed back, then with halting trepidation she started down the path back to the town. She should have known better. The only decision that could possibly have rivaled her terrible choice to visit that backwater in the first place was to foalishly dare to step hoof into Ponyville for a second time.
~~~~~~~~
Trixie was broken out of her memories by a rumble, but this time it wasn’t the protests of her starved gut, rather instead it was from the sky. Trixie didn’t look forward to spending another night in the rain and so quickened her pace, hoping to find a cave. What she found instead was a rope bridge slung across a gorge.
Her violet eyes widened with the unexpected discovery, for it was the first signs of anything resembling civilization she had come across since entering the forest. In her delight, Trixie barely noticed how old the bridge was and nearly tumbled into the chasm below when a rotten board cracked under her weight. Still though, so glad was she to finally be through with her ordeal that Trixie hardly even felt the need to berate whatever ponies lived here for their poor maintenance habits.
Carefully crossing the remainder of the bridge Trixie strained to see through the darkness and mist to see whatever sleepy village she had stumbled upon. She cried out to anypony that might still be up, only now realizing how rough and dry her voice had become.
A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the area, and to her astonishment, Trixie saw not some sleepy village, but looming stone walls. She cautiously crept forward, no longer sure what to expect. As she did so a sliver of moon light peeked through the clouds, giving her a better view of her surroundings. She could make out, though only just barely, that the stone walls, while massive, were also ancient and crumbling. Dismayed, she realized this was no settlement but an abandoned ruin, however, it was also at that moment the sky began to leak. As the first drops of cold rain rolled down her coat, Trixie decided that ruin or not, it was still shelter and so quickly made her way inside.
Without even so much as the moonlight diffused through the thick cloud cover, Trixie found herself engulfed in total darkness. Though it was difficult in her hunger addled state, she managed to focus her magic sufficiently to cast a dull illumination from her horn. She wasn’t entirely sure that it helped, for while she could now make out her immediate surroundings the weak glow only served to cast the rest of the ruin into a deeper shadow.
Briefly she found her imagination conjuring all manner and variety of horrors that could be lurking in those shadows. What foalish nonsense! She thought while scolding herself for indulging in such delusions. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she once again reassured herself that there were no monsters beyond her Great & Powerful abilities. Thus emboldened, having nothing better to do, and with a vain hope of finding something edible despite the structure’s age, Trixie set about slowly exploring the halls of the ruin.
Eventually, she found herself atop a tower and in a grand chamber, far too large for the glow of her horn to reach from wall to wall, but flashes of lightning from the storm raging outside cast its form into a harsh contrast. Trixie could see herself surrounded by tall pillars spaced between equally large windows, yet oddly no wind seemed to blow through the shattered glass. She wondered briefly if some lingering enchantment protected this chamber. It certainly wouldn’t surprise her as the entire room seemed to resonate with residual magical energies. Most felt ancient and yet there also seemed to be something more recent as well. Oddly, some of it even seemed vaguely familiar, though Trixie couldn’t quite place where she could have ever felt something like it before.
As she slowly walked deeper into the chamber and towards the raised dais at the other end, Trixie could feel the power all around her rising. Her own magic even seemed to resonate with it, drinking it in. It did nothing to soothe her aching belly, yet at the same time it seemed to fill her with a semblance of renewed vigor.
Reaching the foot of a raised dais at the end of the chamber, she could now make out three shapes atop it, a trio of Pegasi statues facing away from her and formed in a semi-circle around the platform’s center. Each sat upon it’s haunches with a single fore-hoof raised as if reaching for something unseen, though it was the wings that struck Trixie as most odd. Each statue had its wings spread forward and folded across its own face, as if to shield its eyes.
Trixie wasn’t sure what, but there was something oddly unsettling about the statues. Though obviously mere stone, it almost seemed as though they moved every so subtly as she shifted her gaze from one to another. Such a silly thought that was though and easily explained by the ever shifting flashes of light from outside. She reached out, prodding one of the statues with her hoof. For just an instant she held her breath as though expecting it to suddenly spring to life, but of course it simply remained fixed in its spot.
Finally reassured that there was nothing of interest in this chamber, Trixie turned to leave and resume her exploration of the ruins. Half way to the doorway... she wasn’t sure why, but she felt compelled to give one last look behind her. Naturally everything was exactly as it had been, the two statues right where they had been when she had first entered. No sooner did she start to turn to leave again though, when the realization struck -- there had originally been three statues, hadn’t there?
Turning full around she gaped, not because there were now only two statues but because she could still clearly see the third. It just wasn’t where it was supposed to be. No, it was instead standing roughly half way between Trixie and the remaining pair of the trio of which it used to be part of.
Trixie stared for countless seconds trying to ponder this impossibility. There was no way that such a discrepancy could be a mere trick of light. A delusion perhaps? It seemed awfully mundane for that. Trixie found herself approaching the statue; she had to know for certain. Reaching out a hoof she touched it, tensing as if expecting the thing to lash out at her. Her hoof struck only solid stone, however, and she instantly found herself laughing at how foalish she was acting. Of course statues didn’t move, she reassured herself. Her hunger addled brain was clearly just taking advantage of the admittedly spooky nature of the ruins to play tricks on her.
The azure mare began to turn to leave again, blinking ever so briefly as she did, then fell backwards in a startled panic. Staring up at the source of her sudden fright, Trixie saw the statue, but now it had definitely moved. Its wings spread wide, its pose rearing back, forehooves poised as though ready to crush the life from her prone form, but worst of all was the face. Blank stone eyes seemed to stare emptiness at her and its lips were curled back revealing a mouth full of vicious fangs. Trixie trembled, knowing her end was near, but as she continued to stare at the monster that had been revealed to her, nothing happened.
Confusion mixed with fright as she rose unsteadily back to her hooves while keep her gaze fixed. Had she only imagined it all? No, she made that mistake before and would not allow herself to do so again. She stared defiantly at the monster, which was obviously too afraid of The Great & Powerful Trixie to dare make a move while she had her eye on it. Concentrating, she wrapped her magic about it and began to lift. The effort was hard, not just because she was still drained from hunger, and not just because the monster was heavy as the stone it appeared to be made from, but because it struggled. It didn’t actually move, not so far as her eye could discern, but Trixie was still certain that it was actively resisting her magic. With a great heave, she raised it from the floor. Then putting forth all her effort, hurled it across the chamber, shattering the window at the far end. Without a second thought, she rapidly turned and galloped down the stairs, out of the tower and into the pouring rain.
Leaning heavily against a pillar, Trixie’s lungs heaved in ragged breaths. As she slowly recovered, the frightened mare chanced a glance up at the tower, and as a sheet of lightning rolled across the sky she froze mid-breath, for in the window she saw it. Those same soulless eyes and hungry mouth. Had the monster already climbed back into the tower, or worse, did this mean that its counterparts had also been monsters? If that were the case though, where was the second?
In a panic, her eyes darted back down to the doorway from which she had emerged, and there it was, or was the beast so fast that in that brief moment it had descended the entire tower? She dared not look away to confirm whether there was still one of the beasts in the window above, but at that moment a great flash lit the whole sky, washing away the world in a sea of blinding white, and in that instant the monster in the doorway had been joined by a second.
Trixie sobbed, her tears mixing with the rain. There was no escape. How could she possibly out run creatures that could move so swiftly? This couldn’t be how it would all end. Lost and alone in forgotten ruin in the middle of a forsaken forest, not one adoring fan to mourn her passing.
No, she refused to believe that. There had to be a way out, but how when her foes seemed to move as if by magic?
...as if by magic.
That was it. Trixie hadn’t felt an ounce of magic as the monsters moved, and they bore no horns she could see. No matter how fast they were, these monsters clearly couldn’t actually teleport, but Trixie could.
Where to though?
Such a spell required a clear mental image of the destination and became more difficult with physical distance and time since the location had been last viewed. She couldn’t risk trying to target any of the random spots of forest she’d been wandering, nor had she been paying much attention to the ruined halls.
The tower?
No, then she would only trap herself.
The bridge?
Would it be a far enough lead?
Another flash across the sky turned her vision white, allowing the monsters to advance nearly half the length of the courtyard. There had to be another way. Trixie wracked her memory searching for any alternative. There was another way, there had to be! Ponyville? No, she’d already dismissed that idea when she first admitted to herself that she might have become lost. No, it was it was useless. She’d never before teleported more than the distance of her stage, besides there was nothing in that unimportant town she had bothered to remember with enough detail to picture, certainly not after so long, except...
Images of a lavender mare with a dark blue mane and shock of pink danced across the back of her mind, but could that work. Yes! In theory at least. Trixie had once read about unicorns that locked onto another unicorn to teleport across great distances. It required familiarity with the magic of the target, but after witnessing the display involved in the vanquishing of the ursa, that was something she would never forget.
Could she do it though? She’d never tried before.
What nonsense, of course she could. She was The Great & Powerful Trixie! Anything somepony could do, she could do better. With that she started to focus all her remaining magic into her horn. She thought back to that night of her greatest humiliation, to the way the lavender unicorn’s horn had burned, and there it was. Even over such distance, and though its master must surely be asleep, the power shone out like a beacon. Just how powerful was that mare? It didn’t matter, not with salvation so close.
Trixie reared back as her magic reached a crescendo. Kicking her hooves in the air as her cape billowed in the storm’s wind. She glared in defiance as she laughed at her would be assailants. They thought her cornered, weak and helpless, but she was the one, the only, THE GREAT & POWERFUL TRIXIE, and she would now perform her greatest feat of magic ever.
Was there ever any doubt...
She let loose her magic, shooting through the ethereal leylines of power, seeking its intended target. She felt her body pulled along, dissolving into nothing as she made her grand escape. As relief washed over her, she let her strained eyelids relax, and she felt it; the cold touch of stone.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
946 users online
226,293 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I'm kind of disappointed that in order to play fair with any potential readers and clue them into the type of story I'm telling I pretty much had to in the summary window spoil some of what would otherwise be the the big reveals of the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this first chapter and are eager for more, because I'm already writing the next chapter and would hate to learn that I've already bored and disinterested everyone.
Also, specially thanks goes out to Mally who so kindly offered his services to proof read this story to endure it's readability.
I'm glad I came into this "cold", since the spectre of previous experiences with cross-overs might have scared me off. I'm skittish like that.
Nice and suspenseful. I look forward to seeing what further hi-jinks our magical blue monomaniac gets up to.
And you've got a real flair for internal dialogue layered with self-justification, you know? Which does not really sound like a compliment, now I look at it....
1583750
The Verbose & Magnanimous Bookwise finds it curiously congenial that of all his numerable adoring fans you were the first to read (or at least comment upon) this latest magnum opus of literary excellence.
It gratifies The Verbose & Magnanimous Bookwise that this crossover eclipsed all of your previous unpleasantries with the genre.
Not to spoil the splendiferous surprises yet to come, but The Verbose & Magnanimous Bookwise would presume to assure you that hijinks shall most undoubtedly abound.
Bookwise would also like to assure you that his Verbose & Magnanimous self takes your ascertation of his particular vernacular "flair" as nothing short of the utmost and forthright accolade, and does not see how anyone could rightly recognize it otherwise.
So... it's on hiatus after one chapter? I'm confused here.
Before I even started reading, here is my thought process.
"Trixie? Okay, gotta try this. Doctor Who? Hell yea! Wait...
Harry
Freaking
Potter."
*Instant thumbs up*
1586251
Doh!
I may have only just published it today, but this story has pretty much been sitting on my account FOREVER. I did stop working on it for a period of time, but should have remembered to toggle it back when submitting it.
Now, after reading, my thought process is this.
"Go Trixie! Now I want more. YOU HEAR ME? MOAR!"
God. Nothing is as scary as the best pony almost getting touched by weeping Pegasi.
I can only imagine what kind of reaction the Doctor would have with Trixie. Sure, there have been many Trixie and The Doctor fics, but they are either Romance (I don't view the Doctor as the type that would settle down) or just badly written. But your story seems to be well-written so far, so I look forward to your next chapter!
1586446
I submitted it this mourning (some 16 hours ago); you hadn't made any such promise at that time, and I wasn't going to pull it out of the queue. Sorry if that's a problem
Anyway, that's a ton of errors for Mally to miss; might have to dock his pay or something.
1586520 Ah, okay. And I guess it's okay.
...I think.
1586528
I pay him exactly as much as I pay you... with my boundless gratitude and unending thanks.
...
Guess that means that any way you look, docking his pay is meaningless. It has zero physical value and any fraction of zero is still zero. At the same time though, it has an immeasurable emotional value (because the gratitude/thanks is boundless/unending) and any fraction of infinity is still infinite.
Anyway, editorial advice heeded, ignored, or modified as my so-call artistic whims dictated.
1583853 Dammit. It feels like you put more more thought into that comment than I did during the intervening time at work.
...and yeah, I was wrestling fibre directors and punching firewalls in the face. I can't even dress that up an manual labour.
1586714 That works.
Alright, though do you mean 'heeded' instead of 'headed'? :P
... This horror reminded me of SCP... I got nightmares from it the following night... I'm still reading this.
Good to see this go up. Reminds me I still need to go over Chapter 2. Luckily, now that I'm done with the beast that is Background Pony, and midterms are over with, my time is much more open, so I'll likely bludgeon you over the head with a list of errors soon.
1583750
Is your avi a ponified George Lucas? cause thats who it reminds me of...
1586714
You just had to pick the most Eldridge freeking monsters from DW, didnt you!?
Wait didnt she look it in the eyes?........ oh balls.
1624075 It's the ponified version of John Goodman as Walter Sobchak in "The Big Lebowski", cut directly out of the background of "The Cutie Pox" from season 2.
empireonline.com/images/features/100greatestcharacters/photos/49.jpg
It's one of my favourites, but "The Big Lebowski" is NOT a children's movie. And they snuck it in anyway...
...and that's when I knew I was lost to Bronidom.
But, ugh, George Lucas? I feel dirty...
1624075
1624130
Heh sorry about that, you havta admit it looks a little bit like em though.
Here take these to scrub yourself with.
1624148 Well, there is resemblance, especially if you mistake the green in the background for mountains of money.
...but I think I'll leave Spike out of this. He doesn't deserve to be a loofah.
A Harry Potter crossover starring Trixie. Please tell me Dobby will be somewhere in this fanfic, if for no other reason then that a conversation between the two would be quite amusing...
1650227
I agree, and he's probably my favorite character (that the movies mostly cut him out has always been a major disappointment to me). Regrettably though, this crossover will be be set after the events of the 7th book, so...
1652525
Ah. Pity, I was hoping it was a different timeframe. I've had "Dobby In Equestria" in my own list of plot ideas for a good while, but I doubt I'm ever doing it...
Alright, well that was interesting. I liked how you wrote Trixie in this; the perfect combination of 'slightly up herself showmare' with... Hrrrmmm... I can't think of the word... not 'relatability'...
Well, still, I want to read more of this, like it and favourite it, so you're doing several somethings right.
Soo... just wondering on how this story is still going. Decided to check up on my favourite stories and this here is one of em. Sad to say that a few of my favourited stories have MIA authors and a few cancelled
2734755
Wow! Has it really been over 7 months since I posted this?
Not only that, but I've still got at least one loyal fan that wants more. I feel absolutely terrible. The even sadder thing is that the next chapter was actually almost complete before I got distracted by other stuff. I'll see if I can get that finished up in the next week or so.
No promises, but please do feel free to remind me again if I miss that deadline.
2736132 Early poke, cause why not?
2769705
Thanks for the poke. The chapter is with my editor now and will be posted as soon as all grammar, spelling, and what other not corrections are made.
2769814
Haha, this is awesome work, can't wait to read more :D
I'm surprised no one except for one other person noticed that those things worked like Weeping Angels from Doctor Who.