Chasing Winter

by Raging Mouse

Trixie is Judged and Found Worthy

Chapter Ten:

Trixie is Judged and Found Worthy

Finding chalk, crayons, paint or any other source of easily applied colour anywhere in the castle turned out to be impossible. Clover didn’t wish to draw with blood that wasn’t hers. Electrum managed to persuade her to ask for some mucus from the changelings, reasoning that it was magically conductive and easily washable. They had brought a tub of the stuff to Electrum’s quarters, where a full-length mirror graced one of the walls. Bright green lines now traced away from its base forming an intricate pattern, interspersed with mystic runes, that was reflected in the mirror as if it was merely one half of a larger whole.

Electrum eyed the pattern on the stone floor curiously. She turned to gaze at Clover who was putting the finishing touches on the pattern with a paintbrush held in her magic. “What does this do?”

Clover lifted the brush and turned it around in the air a few times as she moved it over to a bucket half-full with green sludge. “This is a mirror separation pattern mixed with a circle of holding. It’s most commonly used in cases of suspected possession in order to identify and question the intrusive spirit. It has other uses as well. In this case it will help me isolate my memories from the mare’s own and then manifest a projection of her inside the mirror. We’ll be able to talk to her as if through a window.”

“Um... wouldn’t you be the intrusive spirit? Will you end up in the mirror?”

“Nah, the pattern and spells involved are easy to modify to suit a variety of situations. I’ve taken that into account already. About the only thing I just can’t guarantee is whether she’ll be in any mood to talk to us.”

Electrum nodded thoughtfully. “Mother said she was insane but I think that’s because she was speaking in a foreign language. Will that be a problem?”

Clover had stiffened and was staring straight ahead. She answered slowly. “Yes, it will be. The easy solution is to share with her my memory of language, or then I partake of her memory, or we trade both. All options equally gross and unethical breaches of privacy and the sanctity of the mind if done without permission.”

“Oh? Well then. I command you to do it.”

Clover’s head shot up and jerked around to stare aghast at Electrum. “What?!”

Princess Electrum shrugged and gazed levelly at Clover the Clever. “Technically you are still my subject. You had a moral quandary preventing you from moving forward so I removed it by shouldering the responsibility.”

This was met with suspicion. “It’s not that simple, Ellie. Now my dilemma is if I should persuade you to reconsider or outright refuse your command! Why would you pressure me into this anyway?”

The regal unicorn looked down at her hooves. “I don’t think I’ll see my twenty-third birthday with my mind intact. It won’t be long now before I get discarded.” She raised her head and met Clover’s gaze with desperation in her eyes. “You’ve surely realised what this mare being here means, haven’t you? She’s fit, well-nourished and healthy! I don’t know how she got here but it must have been a feat considering how widespread the windigos’ chill was spreading. She’s not a barbarian, Clover! She came from a strong nation that raises strong ponies! There’s a nation out there that is thriving... which means... I can escape.”

Electrum’s words sped up and her breathing grew excited. “I can run away from Mother. I realised that as soon as I saw this mare in the tunnels. Somehow she got down here! Something she or her companions did lured the windigos away for a moment! And all of this new knowledge in my head... it means I won’t have the strength of will to love Mother much longer. It means she’ll never, ever consider preserving my memories. She won’t miss me; she can always recreate me again... minus any hope of getting away from her. Oh Clover, don’t you see?! If I can escape then I can live to old age! I can see the sun again! I can love whoever I choose to! And the key to all this is inside that head you’re holding up... so yes, Clo. I really, really don’t care about the ethics right now. Frankly I think Mother already did all the damage there is to do so what’s a little more really?”

Clover couldn’t look her childhood friend in the eye. Instead her eyes traced the lines of the magic diagram she’d painted, all the way up to the mirror and beyond, finally meeting her own reflected gaze. “Ellie... I don’t belong in this body. I have no right to it. I should remove myself without a trace. Anything I leave behind, no matter how momentarily beneficial, would be a violent pollution of an innocent mind. I shouldn’t even consider talking to her. I-I could show you a translation spell, maybe. That would let you talk to her...”

Electrum was shaking her head more and more. Tears were streaming down her face. “Clover, I can’t use magic for more than basic lifting. This me hasn’t been tutored at all. The only books I’ve seen are the ones in your room! I can barely read! I-I’m just a copy of the Ellie you knew... I don’t even have a cutiemark...” Clover’s eyes glanced involuntarily down at her friend’s hips, noting the lack of what every adult pony took for granted. Electrum was trembling with emotion now but she kept speaking. “And what good would it do for this mare if you left now? Mother would just punish her or use the memory spell on her again... She needs you. I need you! Please, Clover... Help us both get away from here?”

Clover the Clever stared at the reflection of the body she was occupying, noting that her lips moved in pace with her galloping thoughts.

******

Trixie didn’t open her eyes as much as she suddenly gained the ability to see. Bright green lines, crackling with magic, formed intricate patterns in the otherwise total darkness around her. She sat in an obvious focal point, a glowing ring from which numerous trails branched. The lines curved like stylised plant stems and the impression was strengthened by the occasional bifurcation where the ‘offshoot’ curled wildly before stopping. Eventually most of the green trails aligned in front of Trixie, running into some kind of doorway – or possibly a window; Trixie only saw a wooden frame – before spreading out again to create a mirror of the pattern centered on her inside what appeared to be a bedchamber of some kind. Trixie spied a large bed and a drawer from where she sat, both carved in a very antique, pre-Discordian-era style. A pony was sitting motionless in the focal point of the bedchamber but strange shadows shrouded the pony’s identity.

When Trixie tried to approach the portal she found that she couldn’t move. In fact she couldn’t feel her body. She was obviously held by some kind of magic but she felt no distress. I guess I should be curious about all this, or even scared, but I’m not. Do the dead feel nothing at all?

Another pony appeared behind the opening, walking in from the side and apparently careful not to tread on any of the glowing lines. The newcomer headed to the first pony and spoke. The voices were muffled and Trixie couldn’t pick out any words. Then a horn glowed and Trixie could see their faces. The mare sitting in the circle and casting a spell was... Trixie. The other mare was the golden and silvery angel that had come for her. Trixie gasped mentally, more out of habit than any sudden swelling of emotion. The view on the other side of the aperture was curious, but didn’t provoke any further feelings from Trixie. She was dead after all: the worst was over.

Trixie’s guide to Concordia approached the aperture and for the first time looked directly at her. The beautiful mare stopped just on the other side of the opening, still careful to stay off the glowing lines. Then she spoke.

“Hello. Can you understand me?”

Trixie supposed this was part of the bureaucracy of the afterlife. Concordia had wardens and a selection process to keep the undeserving out. The thought that she might yet end up someplace much less pleasant was unnerving but only a little. Trixie was confident she’d be all right.

“I do. I suppose this is where my life is judged and a final verdict is passed? If so, how may Trixie help?”

“Trixie who? Oh wait. Your name is Trixie?”

Now Trixie felt a slight shade of embarrassment. Of course they wouldn’t recognise anything but her true name. “My apologies. I call myself Trixie... the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’ to be exact... but my true name is Bellatrix Lulamoon, of House Lulamoon. You can call me by whatever name pleases you. I no longer care.”

The pony in the circle said something, causing Trixie’s angel to frown with irritation and toss her mane.

“Bellatrix of House Lulamoon, my name is Electrum. We are now able to understand each other due to a spell my friend here cast on me. I’d like to ask permission on behalf of my friend to use another spell on you that would permanently grant you an understanding of your language. She’d gift you with a memory of learning it. I’ll caution you that once cast the spell would be difficult to undo but know that the benefits would be so much greater than the risk.”

The suggestion troubled Trixie a great deal but on the whole a great deal less than usual. She knew that she’d normally react with disgust if anypony suggested interfering with her memories, or any other part of her mind, and that the risk was much higher now that she most likely only consisted of memories and a will but as a being of pure mind she could consider even such distressing proposals with cool detachment. That didn’t make the correct answer any less obscure.

Eventually she arrived at a conclusion: she’d be stuck in whatever limbo this was for that much longer if she didn’t accept and go ahead with the memory transfer.

“Very well. You and your friend have Trixie’s permission.”

Electrum smiled and walked carefully away from the opening back to where her ‘friend’ in the form of Trixie’s mirror image sat. The two exchanged words and Trixie saw the shadows retreat from her double’s face, allowing her to meet and nod at the suspicious glance she was receiving. Trixie watched as her doppelganger’s horn lit with magic. Counter to Trixie’s expectations there was no bolt or arcing line of magic when the spell was cast. Instead her head filled with soft white noise as she suddenly remembered knowing a language she’d never heard spoken before. The sensation was reeling even to her ghost-like form but the magic of the circle held her steady.

The final shadows fell away from the doppelganger, erasing any doubt that this was Trixie’s image down to the finest detail. Then it spoke, with Trixie’s voice but oddly doubled, as if an echo projected a slightly distorted version of her voice to her ears at the same time as the original arrived.

“Greetings, Trixie was it? And thank you for allowing the memory spell. We are in your debt. Would you mind answering some questions for us?”

“Not at all. Though if Trixie may, she’d like to ask some questions as well.”

“She would? I mean, um, you may. It’s the least we can do for you. Would you like to go first?”

“Thank you. Now, Trixie will admit she hasn’t paid much attention to what happens after a pony dies so she must admit that ignorance is fueling her curiosity right now: who are you and why are you looking exactly like the Great and Powerful Trixie? Are you a judge of some sort?”

Trixie watched her mirror image’s eyes bulge with surprise. “Wait... you think you’re dead?” She nodded and watched as a hoof was brought to her double’s chin. “Well I suppose that’s a logical enough conclusion considering the circumstances. You didn’t expect anypony to be nearby where you ended up did you?”

“No-one but the windigos, no. But are you saying Trixie is not dead? How could that be?” Again, any feeling of elation was absent.

“You probably didn’t expect anypony to live down here but...” Trixie’s double glanced at Electrum. “Apparently that’s the case. Your arrival was noted and Electrum here found you. You were gravely injured but your body has recovered fully as far as I can tell. So no, you are quite alive indeed.”

Trixie digested this. Then she smiled because it seemed appropriate. “No, Trixie shall go on considering herself dead. Falling into a nest of windigos in the middle of a glacier several weeks’ travel from anyplace hospitable to ponies and surviving? Ridiculous. Trixie may be breathing and her heart may be beating but she’s still dead.” She considered her situation. If she was alive then what was happening right now? She came to an interesting conclusion. “You have trapped Trixie’s spirit in a mirror haven’t you? Trixie sees you wearing her body in a well-lit room yet she herself feels nothing and is surrounded by darkness. She cannot even look down at her hooves.”

The look of guilt and embarrassment that stole over her double’s face was most unbecoming, Trixie thought. She still listened patiently as her body stuttered through an excuse. “W-we thought it best to break the situation to you gently... You see there’s been, um, a case of mixed identity. A-as a result I’m sort of stuck in your body. Um. Sorry!”

By now Trixie was sure she wasn’t acting as normal. Somepony had possessed her, leaving her helpless, and it didn’t faze her even slightly. Being able to so easily fluster the one holding all the cards was undoubtedly reassuring but Trixie knew herself well enough to admit she should be a panicking mess by now.

“Well, mysterious pony, what’s your name?”

Her body blinked. “Wait, you’re not going to demand that I turn over your body?”

“All in good time. You have twice now avoided telling your name. Should Trixie be concerned?”

“Oh! My apologies. I am Cl... Cloven Hoof.” Trixie watched with interest as Electrum frowned and turned her head to gaze with confusion at the pony calling herself Cloven Hoof. She filed away the reaction for later, choosing instead to grin at Cloven – or at least to attempt a grin: she still couldn’t feel anything.

“Well then Cloven Hoof... May Trixie call you Clovis? Just Clo? All right. Well then, Clo, Trixie demands that you hoof over her body this damned instant.”

Electrum waved a hoof at Trixie. “No, wait. There are problems with that. If Clov— Cloven here just surrenders your body then she’ll disappear and we’ll soon need her.”

“Explain.”

Electrum approached the mirror again. “Miss Trixie, I believe you’ve come from a rich and prosperous kingdom where ponies live happily. Is this true?”

Trixie considered this. “It’s true – provided you allow for the ponies themselves messing things up and becoming unhappy. But yes, Trixie understands what you mean. Equestria is a very nice place to live in.”

Both of Trixie’s listeners gasped when they heard the word ‘Equestria’. They went into a huddle and whispered to each other but to Trixie’s great fascination their whispers sounded so clear and close that she might as well have been their target... and, watching her body, she supposed she was.

“Calm down, Ellie! It’s just a name, it could be a coinc—"

“Coincidence my hoof, Clover! That name was your brainchild! Ask her about it!”

Clover..? Equestria her brainchild..? ‘Clover’ and Electrum had argued on while Trixie turned over these bits of information and when she returned her attention to the portal in front of her Electrum was marching up to it with an eager look.

“Trixie, I would like to hear more about Equestria if you don’t mind.”

For a brief moment Trixie considered demanding to be put back in her body before answering anything else but decided instead to feed her interrogators information and gauge their reactions.

“Ask away. What would you like to know?”

“How... how big is Equestria?”

That’s not the question you want to ask, is it? Trixie nodded and pretended to think for a moment. She noted that Clover was swivelling her ears and looking around. “A vague question but Trixie shall do her best to answer. Equestria stretches from the deserts and badlands in the south to the Crystal Mountains in the north and from the eastern to the western coast. Ponies there live in several cities, scores of towns and multitudes of villages and hamlets. As for numbers, ah, statistics were never Trixie’s strong point. She seems to recall reading somewhere about a total population of around twenty million ponies. Divided equally among earthen, unicorns and pegasi.”

Electrum had turned her head to gaze at Clover but her grin was still visible to Trixie. The pony wearing Trixie’s body was trying hard and failing absolutely at hiding her joy. They did it! Equestria lives! Trixie frowned out of habit. That wasn’t her thoughts nor was it her joy she was feeling. Before she could ask about it Electrum spoke.

“Who rules in Equestria?”

“The princesses Celestia and Luna are the absolute diarchs. Should both of them be indisposed then the general assembly takes over.”

“They’re just princesses?”

“Oh, let’s just say that their right to rule is so self-evident that any coronation would be unnecessary to the point of bad taste.”

Clover asked the next question. “Trixie, why are you here?”

“Trixie assumes you mean here in the Crystal Glacier?”

“Um... yes?”

“A windigo appeared in the middle of Equestria some time ago. Since nopony had seen one for thousands of years it caused a lot of alarm. Trixie and five others were tasked with trying to capture this windigo, most likely so it could be studied. We tracked it to here. We were aware that there could be other windigos but from what Trixie saw just before she fell down a hole in the ice there has to be dozens of them.”

Clover’s ears were turning this way and that and she had brought a hoof to her chin. “It sounds like there’s a demonologist in Equestria.” That’s troubling.

Trixie seized the opportunity. “Before you ask anything else: did you just think that this is troubling?”

“Did I think-?” Clover’s eyes went wide. “There’s some mental leaking! Trixie, I’m sorry but we are running out of time. It sounds like you could use my help but I have no place to go but your head. Would you mind sharing it for a while? I’ll cast a spell to keep our thoughts and memories separate.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t mind an audience... but this is her show, not yours. Understand?”

“I’ll give you control. You have my word.”

“Then we have an agreement.”

Trixie watched her horn light up. She felt a jolt as if she’d walked into a wall without noticing. Then she realised she was staring at herself in a mirror, traces of her magic fading from her horn. She could feel her body again. She had feelings again, and the one most prominent was triumph. She grinned and struck a pose: legs planted slightly apart and head held high. “Trixie is back!”

There was a sigh in her head. A showoff. Just my luck Starswirl isn’t around to see this or he’d die again from laughter.

That confirmed it for Trixie. She grinned at the yellow and gray mare who was watching her warily. “Is Trixie to understand that she is in the company of Clover the Clever and Princess Electrum of Unicornia?”

Electrum nodded with wide eyes. “You’ve heard of us?”

“There are many stories about you, most of which are...” Trixie’s grin, which had widened until it rivalled that of a cat in a fishery, vanished without a trace. She mumbled the end of her sentence. “Um, tragic.” She quickly changed the subject. “Uh, what happened to you? Have you been under a mad king’s spell that kept you asleep all these years only to reappear recently?”

Electrum frowned in confusion. “Like the old story of Rosethorn? No, it’s not like that. It’s complicated.”

Well, except for the part about the mad ruler. That’s spot on, said the voice in Trixie’s head.

Trixie muttered to herself. “It must run in the family then.”

A sound made Trixie and Electrum turn towards the door just as it swung open. Electrum gasped when she saw the pony that was entering. Clover started whispering urgently, telling Trixie to bow. She did so while stealing a glance at the newcomer.

Queen Platinum smiled at her. “Cloven Hoof! I see that you have recovered.” Don’t contradict her! You’re much safer posing as me! “Come. There are matters we must discuss.” Hornrot take me, this isn’t good. Trixie, it might be best if you’d let me do this.

Trixie hesitated, but nodded. It might be best. So how— A tingling feeling spread through her body just before she lost all sense of touch, smell and taste. She heard her own voice. “Yes, your majesty.” She was already trotting forward.

The queen walked through the halls in silence, going ever upward. Clover didn’t talk to her: proper ponies waited for the queen to address them and were otherwise silent. Eventually they walked onto the roof of the castle’s main hall, level with the top of the walls. Darkness tinted with purple surrounded the castle but the space on the roof was brightly lit by magic in the form of glowing spheres hovering in the air. They shone down on a garden unlike any Trixie (or Clover for that matter) had seen.

Queen Platinum walked in among the flora, stopping by a rosebush with dual-coloured petals in white and red. She bent down and inhaled deeply, humming happily. Then she frowned. Her horn lit with magic as she plucked a couple of withered leaves off the bush. Her humming had evolved into a melody. She plucked a rose and brought it to her mouth, biting off a petal. She chewed with a faraway expression while turning away from the bush, coming to face Clover. Platinum’s eyes widened.

“Cloven! How long have you been standing there?! I do not appreciated being disturbed while in my garden!”

Clover lied before having consciously made the decision to do so. “Your majesty, you summoned me here. I did not wish to disturb so I waited.”

A moment of uncertainty flickered over the queen’s face before she managed to hide it. “Yes. Quite. What did I want to talk about... Oh, yes.” She started walking among the plants, beckoning for Clover to follow.

“Tell me, Cloven, have you ever considered the significance of my mark of destiny?”

Clover glanced down at the cutiemark on the queen’s hips. It was a tree, an oak to be precise. Three acorns were visible. Then she glanced around at the enchanted garden, tended by a single unicorn and growing in complete darkness unfathomable depths beneath a glacier. “I can’t say I remember ever thinking about it, my Queen.”

“I think about it constantly, Clover. One can never spend too much time preparing for one’s destiny. As you can see, my mark is a tree – a family tree to be exact. Do you realise what that means?”

Clover spent a moment mentally shushing Trixie who was inventing some quite ingeniously sarcastic ways of calling Queen Platinum both blind and insane. “Not fully, your highness. I take it is related to your family?”

Queen Platinum smiled while her hoof lovingly caressed the stem of a sunflower. “It is indeed, Clover. My destiny, you see, is to found the next dynasty. I will bear the children that will lead the world’s next great empire. All of ponykind united under unicorn rule as nature intended.” She frowned unhappily. “There is one little snag however. Due to the machinations of your traitorous mentor, Starswirl, I was unable to preserve the memory and shape of my dear betrothed before he passed away. Had your mentor not disappeared three years prior I’d have had him executed for high treason. Thus I am single and unable to fulfill my destiny.”

“Surely Princess Electrum is—"

“Pay attention, Cloven Hoof. Count the fruits on my tree.”

Three acorns. “O-oh.”

“You should know that, as his apprentice, I hold you partially responsible for his crimes. Fear not however. In my infinite wisdom I have seen a way for you to redeem yourself.”

Clover held her tongue. She was unsure if she’d be able to keep from blurting out some of the things Trixie was shouting in her mind. Platinum continued. “While I looked into your mind I saw that you had joined a band of barbarian marauders. I don’t know how you managed to convince their leader to venture out here: no doubt you wove tales of the fantastic treasures beyond their tiny imaginings they could find beneath the ice. But among their number was a barbarian prince and, if what you thought is true, a distant relative of myself. Should you invite and bring that unicorn here I would issue a royal pardon for you.”

The bone-chilling horror that Trixie felt leaked a bit over to Clover and was enough to convince her this was a meeting that never, ever should come to pass. “Um, it is true, your majesty, that he is indeed a prince and distant relative but he is uncivilised and—"

Platinum held up a hoof. “Minor issues, Cloven, though you are a dear to raise them. They can be addressed in due time. He appears healthy and with good command of his magic, of strange hue though it is. It reminds me of my dear nephew, Sombra, which is a most auspicious portent. Sombra was my first success with the amniomorphic magic your master tried to keep from me, you know. My vapid sister never noticed a thing! I watched him grow up with a sense of unbridled triumph!”

There were retching sounds in the back of Clover’s mind. She herself found that her tongue was tied, her skills of speech having left her. And the queen talked on. “The prince’s companions also tell a great deal about him which is no doubt why you chose them for your company. The pegasi appear quick, aggressive and loyal and the earthen... I’ve never seen such a large pony before as that mare leading the expedition! Whatever noble that managed to breed forth her had to be very happy! If my servants hadn’t found her dying body in the tunnels at the same time as Electrum found yours, why, I’d probably think she were a phantom of your imagination, Cloven!”

Platinum blinked at the pony in front of her. “Is something the matter? You appear to be twitching.”

Comments

[Snowybee]

Platinum must be like Clover; a second voice in her head. Unfortunately, that voice isn't slightly reasonable like Trixie.

[Phazon]

I’d like to ask permission on behalf of my friend to use another spell on you that would permanently grant you an understanding of your language.

That sounds redundant.