Crisis of Infinite Trixies

by Rixizu

Contradictory Selves - Chapter 9

“Trixie!” Representative Trixie said, rushing over to her fallen counterpart.

“It’s getting dark. Why is it getting dark?” Trixie Celestiamaden said, wheezing out her words. “Is anyone there? I can’t see.”

“I’m here.” Representative Trixie said, taking her hoof.

“Thank you.” Trixie Celestiamaden said, tears flowing.

“And you’re next.” Antithesis said, eyes alight with raw hatred.

“No. That’s far enough.” A familiar voice said.

“No! Impossible!” Antithesis stared in abject horror at the newly healed Luna, her coat returning to its usual hue.

“Phew. We did it.” Twilight said, wiping sweat from her brow. She collapsed, the strain of freeing the princess’s mind too much to bear.

“Yes, I am free and will restore everything to its proper place. Starting with you.” Luna said, glaring death at Antithesis. The anti-mare screamed in fright, fleeing for her life. But she was too slow, taking a burst of magical energy to the chest. She wheezed, her breathing labored from the shock of the painful blast. Representative Trixie winced, glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of the ‘stun bolt’.

The ground rumbled again, and Representative Trixie stared at the moon already piercing through the cloud cover. They had seconds to live.

“No! I will not allow my ponies to be destroyed!” Luna charged forward, her horn alight. Sweat gathered across her brow as she struggled to push the moon back, the planet’s gravity and the moon’s momentum fought in a deadly tandem against her. Much to Representative Trixie’s horror, her mentor was losing, getting pushed back as the moon continued its deadly descent. This was it.

“Don’t give up, sister! I have you!” Much to everypony’s shock, Corona joined Luna’s efforts, horn alight. “I won’t allow Equestria to be destroyed!”

“Sister?” Luna said, surprised.

“Are you surprised? Equestria is my home, too. It has always been my first love.”

“Sister.” Tears gathered around Luna’s eyelids, touched by the fallen princess’s nobility.

“No time for tears, Lula,” Corona replied, a wry grin on her muzzle. “First, we must fight back your celestial satellite before it crushes us all.”

The sky roared as the two princesses fought against doom. The pair stained with the effort, their heads veins bulging. Representative Trixie feared, at this rate, the alicorns would overchannel their magic. Was that even possible?

The moon refused to heed their efforts, making them fight for every inch. But the pair refused to budge. Much to everypony’s amazement, they pushed the moon back.

“Hold a little more, Celle. We have it!” With a grunt of effort, the moon began receding back into the sky. Both alicorns collapsed to the ground, spent, both magically and physically.

“Is it over?” Representative Trixie said, not daring to hope.

“It is, my student,” Luna replied. “The moon is returning to space. It will take some effort to get it back to its proper orbit, but Equestria is safe. Thanks to you, Trixie. Each one of you.”

“Well.” Representative Trixie found herself lost for words.

“Yeah, we make a pretty sweet team!” Captain Cosmos slapped her on the back.

“Is it over?” The Human Trixie said, appearing from behind a building.

“I commend you, Trixie, Trixies. I swear, Equestria won’t forget your efforts today!” Corona said, standing shakily to her hooves.

“Indeed. I will commission a memorial. And one for you as well, sister.” Luna said. “We don’t always get along, but you saved us all, Celle, with your timely intervention.”

“Maybe now ponies may realize I am not their enemy,” Corona replied.

“Then!” Luna straightened, her expression painfully hopeful.

“But not enough to abandon my ambitions. My rule will be the best for Equestria. It is time for the cycle to turn, and I return to my role as ruler.” Corona said, dashing their hopes.

“I see.” Luna sagged, disappointed.

“Our final confrontation will come soon, sister, Trixie. I look forward to seeing which side prevails. Remember this: destiny is decided through fire. Farewell.” With that, Corona disappeared in a flash.

“Dang it. She still has some magic left?” Representative Trixie said, annoyed but not surprised. She’d hoped to use the Mind Stone against her. Oh, well.

“You are still there, Trixie?” A pony said, coughing.

“I’m here.” Representative Trixie said, gripping the dying Trixie Celestiamaden’s hoof tight. Everypony gathered around, concern on their faces.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Humility asked, ears flattening.

“No, I can tell the wound is fatal,” Luna said, shaking her head.

“It’s getting dark. I don’t want to go.” Trixie Celestiamaden said, his hoof getting weaker. “Please, don’t forget me. Maybe even sculpt a statue in my honor. I saved Equestria, after all.”

Representative Trixie sniffed, holding back tears. “Anything.”

“It shall be done,” Luna said, her smile sad.

“Here.” Trixie Celestiamaden placed a small device into Representative Trixie’s hooves. “I took it from Antithesis. It should help you find him, Proto.”

“Was that why you betrayed us? To get this?” Representative Trixie asked.

Trixie Celestiamaden only responded with a weak smile. “Please, remember your promise. Don’t forget m…” All life left her, and everypony hung their head.

“Ha! And she won’t be the only one going to the grave!” A crazed voice said.

“Antithesis, just give up already.” Representative Trixie said, already preparing an illusion to protect herself and her friends.

“Ugh, doesn’t she realize when she’s beaten?” Human Trixie said, grunting in annoyance.

“Enough.” A flat voice said, startling everypony.

“No, it can’t be,” Antithesis said, eyes wide. “Master Proto?”

“You’ve done enough damage, my lackey.” From the mechanical tint of Proto’s voice, it was hard to identify anything about it. “I only intended to destroy Trixie and her ilk, not doom an entire world.”

Huh? Proto never approved of Antithesis’s actions?

“But it would have done the job, killed five birds with a single stone!” Antithesis argued back, her voice panicked.

“And you sought to betray me. Take my throne for yourself.”

“What, Master Proto? Never!” But everypony heard the lie behind her words, obvious as night.

“You’ll be punished to the worst degree for your betrayal.”

“No!” Antithesis said, entering a full-blown panic. She tried to flee on shaky hooves, but her body started glowing. It grew brighter and brighter, getting so intense that it hurt the eyes.

“No! Please! I don’t want to die again! I still have so much left to do!” But Antithesis’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Her body exploded like a burst balloon. Much to Representative Trixie’s shock and disgust, her body just fell to pieces, not leaving even a trace of blood. It was like she never existed.

“As you, Trixies. I apologize for my minion’s behavior. I didn’t intend for her actions to go that far. To destroy Equestria. It was too much to bear,” Proto said, confusing Representative Trixie. Proto was a godlike being. Why would he care what happened to Equestria?

“I will offer you a small respite in exchange.” Proto continued. “I will give you three days to escape. After that, I will show you no mercy. I have plenty of other terrors ready for you. Come after me if you dare!” The godlike being broke into smug, mocking laughter that vanished as it continued.

“Wait, why are you even after us, anyway?” Representative Trixie demanded. “What have us Trixies done to you?” But her words fell on deaf ears. She cursed hard in Prench.

“I see Proto won’t offer his secrets easily, but this respite is welcome,” Luna said. “Come. We have much to do.”

“Yeah, somepony needs to clean his mess!” Representative Trixie said, scowling. Whatever Proto was planning, she swore to stop it.

---

“Hey, how are you holding up?” Twilight asked as she entered the ship’s hold. The technology astonished her, she was amazed anything could sail on the cosmic seas.

“Good” Like before, The Goddess had dropped all illusions. They seemed silly after the intimate link they’d shared. She was fine with showing her true self with Twilight. “Since I can’t help repairing the ship nor cleaning up Ponyville, the hold seems the best place for me. I’d scare ponies otherwise.”

But this wasn’t quite true. Since sharing minds, Twilight understood the mare at an integrated level. The truth was, the Goddess feared meeting ordinary ponies. She knew they’d call her a monster, and she couldn’t bear that.

Twilight put a comforting hoof on the Goddess’s tank. “Mind if I stay to hang out?”

“What, and not help with the repairs?” The Goddess snorted in amusement. “I’d thought you’d be geeking out about the new technology.”

“That can wait. Besides, I’d rather hang around a friend. I don’t enjoy seeing my friends lonely.”

“Friends.” The word tasted odd on the Goddess’s psychic lips, unused for far too long. “Yeah, I suppose we are. Never thought I’d say that about you, Sparkle.”

“Me too.” She’d fought so hard and long against her Trixie that she’d lost track of what was really important. They sat in companionable silence, not needing to say anything. When you shared a psychic link with somepony, secrets were behind you.

“I wish I could stay.” The Goddess said, finally speaking. “Your world is pretty amazing and full of even more amazing ponies. But it isn’t meant to be. Besides, not like I could walk around and enjoy it.”

“Don’t say that. You’re always welcome, Trixie! You’re a hero despite how you appear!”

“Sparkle, please protect this world.” The Goddess said, not taking the compliment. “In my world, we messed up hard. But you have a chance. Please give it a better future.”

“I will.” The barren landscape of the Goddess’s world kept returning to her mind, and she suppressed a shudder. How can everything go so catastrophically wrong? But her friend was mistaken about one thing. “But yours isn’t doomed either. Things will get better. It just will take time. Your planet’s a mess, but it will heal.”

“You think?”

“Absolutely. But healing the Wasteland with force was a mistake. You arrogantly assumed you knew what was best for everypony. Because of that, many ponies got hurt. I’m not accusing you of anything, but I only hope you can learn from your mistakes. You can’t single-hoofedly fix everything.”

“You’re right, of course. I’m tired of fighting, anyway. I don’t know how I’ll face my sisters back home. They were counting on me to fix everything, and I gave them empty promises and emptier futures.”

“I still believe in you, always.”

“Yeah, why am I wallowing in despair? I’m the Great and Majestic Goddess! I save Equestria! A radiated wasteland and its bazillion problems shouldn’t be too hard!” She said, regaining her mojo.

“That’s the spirit!”

“Thank you again.”

“And thank you, Trixie. You’ve given me plenty to think about.” Sparkle released a slight chuckle. “Never thought I’d say that. I suppose my old mentor, Spell Nexus, was right. You can learn something from anyone. I just wish I'd taken that lesson to heart sooner.”

“What now? I’m still stuck here?” The Goddess said, somewhat self-deprecatingly.

“Hmm,” Twilight said, scratching her chin. She clopped her hooves together, getting the perfect idea. “Leave it to me!”

---

“I have to hoof it to Night Light’s daughter. She really is a clever mare.” Princess Luna said, watching as dozens of work ponies darted around the fallen spacecraft with eerie precision. Every hoof was where it needed to be. Representative Trixie watched as an earth pony with a hard hat walked around some fallen screws like he’d always known they’d be there.

“I guess.” The Goddess was giving Twilight and the engineers telepathic instructions. With this crazy efficiency level, Captain Cosmos promised they would repair the ship in days instead of a week or more.

“The College of Science and Astrophysics are almost jumping in their horseshoes. This level of technology is hundreds of years ahead of ours. They’re hopeful we’ll be able to reverse engineer it.”

“It’s not all bad, then.” It meant Ponyville hadn’t gotten totaled for nothing.

“Is something on your mind, my student? You’ve been oddly introspective lately. It’s most unlike you.”

“Funny princess,” Trixie said dryly. “It’s Trixie Celestiamaden. I’m unsure what to make of her.”

“What the others have told me, she was a vexatious one, prone to unpredictable behavior and complete narcissism.”

“I hated her when I first met her, on instinct. She reminded me too much of myself, the ugly parts. She’s me if I’d never met my friends.”

But Luna only smiled. “But she still fought to protect ponies in her own way. She had a noble heart deep down and proved it.”

“She was a Trixie in the end.” Still, why didn’t she tell them about her double-crossing plan? It would have avoided a lot of trouble. Trixie Celestiamaden might not have died. That was what frustrated her. Something about Trixie Celestiamaden’s death felt so pointless and needless. But I suppose all death is like that, painful, regardless.

“And I’m going to make it count. I’m taking Proto down.” Representative Trixie swore to herself. She wouldn’t stop until the job was done.

“That’s the spirit!” Luna said, brightening. “Indomitable. That’s the reason I made you my student, Trixie. I knew the Night Court could never break you.”

“Yeah, about that…” Representative Trixie’s voice trailed off, struggling to find words. “The things you said under Antithesis’s control, do you remember them?”

“Partly.” Luna released a long, pained breath. “And the rest I can easily guess at.”

“Do you want to destroy Equestria?” Representative Trixie winced at speaking such a blunt question, but it needed to be said.

This, however, only earned a smile from the princess. “Don’t we all? There are times it frustrates me, but I love it still. Somehow, Antithesis’s spell made me forget that. But it never made me forget my love for you, Trixie.”

“Really?” Representative Trixie flushed as her mentor nuzzled her cheek. It wasn’t something Luna had done since she was a foal.

“Of course, I love you, Trixie. You’ve always been a daughter to me. Thank you, Trixie. You saved me from doing something terrible I’d never forgive myself for.”

“I love you too, princess.” While somewhat embarrassing to say, it came deep from her heart. She paused, thinking. “And you said some choice words about the Night Court, too. Many well deserved.”

“Indeed. It reminds me I need to be harder on them. I never realized how much I resented them until now.” Luna sighed. “I’ve kept too much bottled within, and Antithesis used those grudges against me.”

“A lot of ugliness got shown today, but we can move past it, become stronger from it.” Representative Trixie turned her head towards Ponyville, watching as ponies and cows worked together to rebuild the damage caused by Antithesis. Nopony fought or complained. Instead, both species each worked together to rebuild and move on, hopefully learning much from this misadventure. Trixie certainly had. For one, Applejack wasn’t so bad a pony, deep down.

“They have.” Luna nodded in agreement. “And I’m proud of my little ponies. Antithesis might have represented our darkest side, but we’ve proven we can push past it.”

“Want to join a party, princess? Pinkie is throwing one doozy of a “Save Equestria from Ultimate Destruction” party.” Sure, Proto and his ultimate army of invincible robots were after their hides, but, darn it all, they deserved this after everything.

“Sounds delightful. It’ll surely be a party to remember for the millennium.” Luna said, laughing. It sounded good on the princess, genuine.

“I hope they pin the tail on the pony,” Luna said as they trotted over to Sugarcube Corner. “That game has always been my favorite.”

---

“All patched up!” Captain Cosmos said, pleased with herself, to the collected group of Trixies.

“Really, all finished?” The Great and Powerful Trixie said, beaming. She plopped her third breakfast muffin into her mouth. “Delightful! Now we can escape before those death machines swarm us.”

“It wasn’t easy, but we managed it,” Twilight said, bags under her eyes. She accepted the proffered mug of coffee gratefully. “And with a day to spare! We’ll miss some preliminary checks, but it should be ready to launch tonight.”

“Good.” Representative Trixie hadn’t slept well in days, either, fretting over their predicament.

“Any luck with using that wafer to track where Proto’s lair is?” The Great and Powerful Trixie asked.

Captain Cosmos rubbed the back of her neck. “Kinda of. The signal is definitely coming from Limbo, but Limbo’s very nature scrambles the source. Its technology is beyond me, sorry.”

“That’s not too bad,” Humility said, thinking. We’ll just find a universe with more advanced technology.

“Or find some Zebras!” Captain Cosmos said, excited. “Our ship comes from their technology! Of course, most of them have forgotten said technology, but it’s a start.”

“Zebras, huh?” The Goddess’s illusionary self didn’t seemed pleased, but didn’t press the issue. Considering her Equestria’s war with the race, such animosity wasn’t surprising.

They chatted about other plans, particularly upgrading their ship. Some weapon systems would be nice. They needed more ways to defend themselves. Many dangers lay ahead in their adventure through the wider multiverse.

“So, you’re about ready to take off, my student?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, we think it’s better to leave sooner than later.” Representative Trixie said, nodding. Other Trixies were in danger. They couldn’t afford to sit idle. Representative Trixie swore she’d save them all.

“I doubt Corona’s ready to cause trouble just yet, but I will remain watchful. Good luck,” Luna replied, inclining her head.

“I wish I could stay and say goodbye to my friends, but there isn’t time. Tell them I’ll be back, and I love them.”

“Enough of the sappy stuff. Can we get going already?” The Great and Powerful Trixie said, annoying Representative Trixie. Didn’t the mare realize they were having a moment?

“You realize we’re going into great danger, right?” Representative Trixie said, somewhat testily. “We already lost one Trixie already. No doubt it’s going to get worse, more dangerous.” She wasn’t in a hurry to rush into unknown dangers.

The Great and Powerful Trixie’s expression became more forlorn. “You’re right. Trixie Celestiamaden gave her life to make this trip possible. We won’t have gotten this far without her. Truly, she was the best of us!” Tears pricked at the mare’s eyelids.

“Right.” I don’t think I’d go that far.

“But she is right about one thing. The sooner we leave, the sooner we return home. My parents are probably freaking out once they realize I’ve disappeared. I hope they’re doing okay.” Human Trixie said, her mood souring.

“You do have a difficult quest ahead of you,” Luna said. “I wish you luck.”

“Right. And protect the Mind Stone.” After some arguing, they’d all agreed it’d be best if it was hidden from everypony. It was too dangerous, and they feared it falling into Proto’s grubby hooves. Representative Trixie’s throat tightened as the door closed, sealing her away from her previous life. It was quite possible she’d never see her Equestria again. But they had a mission to perform. She could grieve later.

“Everyone ready, strapped in?” Captain Cosmos said from the controls. Representative Trixie did as instructed, wrapping the seat belt around herself. The others had promised leaving the universe would be a rough ride.

“And here we go!”

Comments

[Comickook]

Another really well done job on the dialogue, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up. Definitely liked how Luna and Corona worked together with the surviving Trixies to foil Antithesis's attempt to destroy the Lunaverse Equestria before Proto ended up severely punishing Antithesis for both her excess and her planned betrayal. The reflections on what happened to the Loki Expy Trixie was also really appreciated.

Well, onto the next chapter/last chapter for this arc.

[DracoDarastrix]

And it's going to get even more interesting. There a few Trixies we are missing. I'm surprised the Ursa Ranger or Goo Trixie haven't appeared yet.

But the one I look most forward if she makes an appearance would be Trixcord.