"The Great and Powerful Trixie will grant you three wishes and only three wishes! Choose wisely. I don't have all day for mere mortals like yourself! Trixie has universes to conquer!"
Zack Branigan, a socially-awkward, hormonally-stressed out, human teenager, finds a genie's lamp. He could have whatever he wants, but what does he want? It's not like genies are notorious for being tricksters. And it probably doesn't help that the genie's name is Trixie, I mean, The Great and Powerful Trixie. Meh, whatever...
Inspired by a picture on EQD Click here for a banner. Click here for the original image.
(I don't know if I'll put sex scenes in this fic, but I put the sex tag just in case the story goes in that direction.) (10/01/2013 edit: newly added gore tag.) Bonus Picture here (2/9/2014 edit: newly added dark tag)
The weather report: sunny with a small breeze around the semi-sweet town of Colton. Zack Branigan, a seventeen year old, high school loser, is walking down the street to his apartment complex. He is skinny and on the short side compared to his friends if he had any. His hair is light brown and his eyes a light red, almost pink. Around his neighborhood, he is known as pink eye because of his unusual eye color. As if that wasn't bad enough, even his mother calls him pink eye. It's truly him against the world.
A car swerves in from around the corner. A black 2007 Mustang with tinted windows speeds towards Zack, but he is too engrossed in his miserable day at school to notice the car driving dangerously close to him. The car drifts around Zack and stops directly in front of him causing him to snap out of his dark thoughts. A guy around the age of twenty-seven pokes his entire upper half of his body out of the open window. He is tall with red curly hair and a light skin tone. In his hand, he has a blue urn looking thing. The guy's face scrunches up into a nasty scowl and throw the urn with all his might at Zack.
The urn smacks Zack in the forehead knocking him to the ground. "She's your problem now!" That's the last thing Zack hears the guy say before the car speeds away and disappears as quickly as it appeared. The look on the guy's face when he threw the urn could curdle milk. It's as if he wanted nothing more, but to be rid of this mysterious urn. Zack rubs his forehead, unsure what exactly happened. He looks at the urn. It is topped off by a cork colored the same as the rest of the bottle and on the face of the urn is a light blue wand swirling some magic dust in the air.
Zack picks it up. He expected it to feel like glass but it strangely has a rubbery feel to it. He taps it on the side to test if it has anything inside. The muffled thumps prove it's filled with something thick and viscous, like syrup. It's also lighter than it indicates since the thing is nearly the size of his head. Zack is surprised the impact didn't knock him out cold.
Adding it to the list of tortures this day has brought him, he picks up the urn and continues walking home.
Zack enters the courtyard to his apartment complex. It's a pitiful, little yard, mostly sand than grass. In the middle of the yard is a dried up pool, cracking against the wear of time. Around the yard, in a U-shape, are the apartments, two floors worth. Almost no one lives here anymore. The town isn't the greatest around, and by that I mean, there are constant drive-by's, every other house lives a drug dealer, and the neighbors aren't too nice.
Zack's apartment is on the second floor, third door from the end, number 32. He climbs the crumbling stone stairs to the second floor. Near the top sits a blond girl roughly his age crying into her hands. He stops behind her and without looking at her asks, "Are you okay?"
The girl jolts up from the sudden interaction. With no warning what-so-ever, she elbows him behind the knee causing it to bend in. Zack couldn't support his weight, so he falls backwards down the stairs. Step after painful step, he rolls back down stairs, landing on the ground in a plume of dust.
"Screw you!" The girl yells at him and stomps away.
Zack coughs out some sand that flew in is mouth. He groans, tries to pick himself back up, but fails. The pain is too much. His wrist is swollen, his back feels misaligned, and his ribs want to jump out of his chest and run away.
What the girl did was uncalled for. All he wanted to do was help.
Zack tries to get up again, using his good hand to support himself. Failing to stand up, he sits up instead. First that guy hits him in the face with an urn, then this girl knocks him down the stairs. Zack sighs, wrapping his arms around his knees to wait out the pulsating agony in his body. Just as the aching in his bones dulls, his mind goes to the urn. He looks around for it, knowing he couldn't hang on to it as he fell and it must have landed near by.
He spots it nuzzled on a small hill of sand. It looks unharmed though quite dusty. What's this thing made of? From what it's been through, it seems like it can take a bullet without getting a scratch. Zack crawls to it, picking it up. What did that guy mean when he said, "She's your problem now?"
Zack turns the urn over, inspecting every piece of it. There's no logo on it, no "Made in Chine" or something similar. It's just a plain blue urn. Zack tries to take off the cork, but it refuses to budge. He bites down on it and pulls on it to get it open, but no dice. It won't move. He spits out some more dust and sand. The urn took a nasty fall too so of course it's dirty. Zack grabs his sleeve and rubs away the dirt from the urn.
The urn shakes violently as if Zack poured salt over it's wound. The cork shoots off, hitting Zack on his already injured forehead. Smoke and lights erupt from the open mouth of the urn as a blue fog encircles Zack in a warm embrace.
A girls voice moans from within the fog. It contracts to form the body of a pony. The pony is blue, sporting a long flowing mane of blue with lighter blue streaks. (It seems blue is a constant theme here.) On her flank is a blue wand, the same one on the urn. Around her legs are gold bands, one on each of her forelegs and two on her hind legs. She is wearing a gold headband with a sapphire over the forehead area and a horn tipped off with a gold cap. So technically, she's not a pony, but a unicorn.
She stretches like a cat and yawns. "Here Trixie goes again." The unicorn clears her throat. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will grant you three wishes and only three wishes! Choose wisely. I don't have all day for mere mortals like yourself! Trixie has universes to conquer!"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is a unicorn. Do not compare Trixie to such a low class equine."
Maybe when the urn hit Zack, it really did knock him out. This is a dream, nothing more than a dream. Zack stands up ignoring his injuries. If this truly is a dream, he could do whatever he wants. But the creature before him is so strange. It's a unicorn no higher than his waist. He circles her, examining every corner of her body. She's so smooth and proud.
Trixe stands up tall, loving the attention she's getting though her face remains expressionless. She knows how great she is. It's in her name after all. Zack completes his round, and stares at Trixie's eyes. "Did you say I have three wishes?"
"Was Trixie not clear? Trixie is here to fulfill any desire you may have. All you have to say is 'I wish' and what you desire."
"Is that all? Aren't there like more rules to this sorta thing?"
"You catch on quite fast. You're not like Trixie's last master." Trixie grinds her teeth on that last word as if she hates its very existence. "There are a few more rules. One: three wishes is all you get, no more, no less. Two: I can't raise people from the grave or send them there. Three: I cannot tamper with a heart. Other than those simple rules, you can have whatever you want."
"Whatever I want... Do you have to look like that? I mean, why a pony?"
"Do you not like Trixie's form? If it's what you wish, Trixie can change to a more suitable form that fits your liking."
"Will it waste one of my wishes?"
Trixie rolls her eyes. "You are going to be some trouble. Trixie can feel it. If you wish for it, yes."
"And if I don't wish for it, can you still change your body?"
"If this form really bothers you that much, then just wish for a different one."
"But, what if I really need my wish, and I waste one changing you and--"
"Just wish for it you paranoid fool!"
"But..."
Trixie growls and with a flick of her horn and a puff of smoke, she turns into a human wearing the exact same thing she was in her pony form, though still blue. "Better?!"
Zack's face nearly burns off as he blushes at Trixie's exposed flesh. He tries to move, but her shape entrances him, paralyzing his muscles. Zack curls up into a fetal position to hide his "sudden interest" in Trixie. Looking up from behind his arms, he sees Trixie still waiting for a response. He swallows. "Um, I... uh, you... why blue?"
Trixie steps closer to Zack, laying her arms on his shoulders. "Trixie does not understand your question."
Zack's heart is beating so fast, it feels like a drummer is trapped in his chest and wants to get out. He can't take the tension any more and passes out.
Trixie stares at the her unconscious master and turns back to her true form. She rolls her eyes. "Why must Trixie get all the losers? This one can't even handle some excitement." Trixie's horn glows, transforming her into a puff of smoke which snakes its way to the blue urn. It enters it and the urn caps itself with the cork, landing on Zack's chest afterwards.
It's a haze, smog that veils the eyes. There is a courtyard, pristine and clean. Many people dot the concrete courtyard. There's a fountain in the middle and on that fountain sits her, the one who changed his life. Zack is hiding behind a wall, staring at her. His heart is pounding and a cold sweat runs down his back. She is laughing at a joke her friend just told her. Her sleek blue hair gently caresses her delicate hued face. Her small but cute figure is to die for. Zack takes in one big breath. He knows what he has to do. With all his willpower, he steps forward.
Standing before the human girl--though why she is blue is beyond him--he takes in another breath. "H-hi Trixie."
The girl looks up at him. "Can I help you?"
Where did her friends go? "Um, here." Zack offers her one of those cheesy cracker snacks she likes so much.
Trixie looks at the gift then at Zack. Slowly, she takes it from his trembling hands. "You have Trixie's attention." She opens the snack and begins to eat it. Her tongue lightly touches the cracker as she stick it in her mouth. She savors its taste, slowly chewing it to fully experience what it has to offer. Each crunch of the cracker causes Zack's skin to tingle.
"Um, I was wondering if you and I could, you know, go... out on a date sometime?" Zack's heart stops and time freezes.
Trixie looks at Zack then the crackers in her hand then back at Zack. "Sure." Trixie continues eating.
Zack's heart resumes beating, happiness spreading throughout his being. Color from the scenery drains away leaving behind a black canvass ready to be painted. Trixie and Zack float in this dark abyss. Lights burst to life; stars rush past them dancing around. A flash blinds Zack as a mural of pure white meets his sight. Green drips onto this new canvass, then blue, then yellow. Hues and shades of bright colors splash all around him creating shapes: trees, flowers, a fountain, a sidewalk, a park, and various multicolored ponies.
He looks at Trixie. She has regained her pony form and leans on his leg for comfort. Her warmth seeps into his skin making him feel happy. He never felt this kind of happiness before. It's bliss; it's like nothing can go wrong ever again. He has it made.
Many other ponies come to greet him, sharing a warm welcome with love and care he can't imagine is possible back on Earth. He smiles. He smiles for all the days he never smiled before. This place, this wonderful place feels warm like a caring mother's hug, looks bright like a new summer's morning, this is where he wants to be.
Zack wakes up. His eyes gaze at the aging sky above splashed with colors of orange and purple. The twilight hour is near. How long has he been out? He gets to his feet, the urn rolling off his chest and onto the ground.
Where is he? There was a car fading into the distance, a girl's crying echoing in his mind, and blue... a lot of blue everywhere. Zack's head throbs as he tries to recollect what happened. There was smoke and lights... and the urn... and... her. It suddenly all floods back into his memory. He found a genie's lamp-urn-thing with her inside, promising him to grant any wish.
Zack picks up the urn. Was it all a dream? Is he still dreaming? His body is screaming at him, screaming, "why do you treat me this way!" His injuries rebel against him, nearly toppling him over but he resists. It's getting late. The sun is already dipping into the horizon causing the sky to bleed purple and blue.
Zack slowly makes his way up stairs, then to the left, and enters door number 32. Inside is a cozy little apartment. The living room is the first to greet Zack with its cozy shag carpet and cozy linen couch facing a small TV on a dresser. Further ahead is the kitchen with a checkered tile floor and a single round, wooden table along with other kitchen essentials.
Zack collapses on the couch, setting the urn next to him. His considering rubbing it and releasing Trixie, but their last meeting nearly stopped his heart. He could have whatever he wants though. But what does he want?
He remembers the dream he just had. What was that place? And why did it make him feel so happy?
The TV drones on, spitting out advertisements about some product that is supposed to change your life for the better. Zack couldn't care less. Besides knowing those are lies the voice actor is reading off a script, he has a genie that can do everything the product claims to be able to do and more. It's that "more" that scares Zack. Genies, from what he's read on books and seen in movies, are tricksters. Some way or another, they can twist an innocent wish back on the wisher, putting him in a deeper hole than he was in before.
Zack is a smart guy. He knows he has to word his wishes carefully and not let Trixie get the better of him. But is she really all that bad? That fiasco when she turned into a human... it caught Zack off guard. At least it didn't waste one of his wishes, but still. He has to really think out what he says before he talks to Trixie. She's an all powerful being probably thousands of years old. She knows much more than he does. The more Zack thinks about it, the more he gets discouraged. She has experience under her belt that far exceeds that of Zack's. What can he possibly say that she hasn't heard already?
Maybe that's why that guy threw the urn at Zack. All this pressure is too much and his life might actually be better off without having any wishes. That kind of power can really screw up not only his life, but other lives as well. It's like having the entire world in the palm of his hand, and he's trying so hard not to drop it. Zack doesn't know what to do.
He needs to know more about his genie so he has somewhat of an idea of what he's dealing with and if it's even worth wishing for something that can potentially bite him back. Zack carefully picks up the urn and rubs it. The cork jumps off, not like last time when it forcefully hit Zack on the head. It weakly falls off the urn as if it lost all desire to fly. Blue smoke wiggles out of the opening like a worm poking its head out of the ground. It takes form on the couch next to Zack. Trixie appears glaring at him.
"What?" asks Zack.
"Nothing. Do you have a wish?"
"No, I want to know more about you."
"Please, Trixie has no interest in your species. If your that lonely, wish for a girlfriend."
"I thought you can't tamper with a heart?"
"I never said this girlfriend has to like you."
"Oh..." That's one thing Zack can cross off his list. "Um, how old are you?"
"Older than you. Compared to Trixie, you're a child, nay, a fetus. Do not bore Trixie with trivial questions that will get you no where near Trixie's heart. Do you or do you not have a wish?"
"Hey, you're my genie and I am your master. You must do what I say." That'll show her who's in charge.
"What?!"
Um... maybe...
"Listen here, I am an all powerful unicorn genie who has seen the ends of the universe. You are nothing compared to me. The only reason Trixie is belittling herself for the likes of you is because thess bands I'm wearing tie me to that urn and won't come off until I grant one million wishes. If it wasn't for that, I would destroy you where you stand. In fact I can destroy you where you stand, and all Trixie would get is a thousand more wishes added as a penalty. So don't tempt me, because I have destroyed some previous 'masters' that got under my skin. Let's just say the penalty was worth it. You got it?!"
"Um... yes ma'am." Zack's voice quivers at Trixie's threat.
What now? Not only can she kill Zack, she has killed others before. Zack is now sure the wishes aren't worth it.
"You can't get rid of Trixie," she says.
"What?"
"The only way you can be rid of Trixie is to use up all three wishes, then give Trixie's urn to someone else."
How did she know what Zack was thinking? "Um, can't I just wish you away."
Trixie smirks at Zack as if she has Zack's wish all planned out already. "If that is what you wish for, then just say the word."
"Um." What does she see that Zack doesn't? She probably already had some master wish her away. And maybe that's one of her masters she killed. There's no way out of this. Zack has to make waste all of his wishes so Trixie can leave him alone or... he can get rid of the urn, place it somewhere he can just forget about it and Trixie.
"You don't have to rub the urn so Trixie can get out. Once you rubbed it the first time, you and Trixie are now tied together. Trixie can leave her urn whenever she wants, as long as it means being with her master."
"How are you reading my mind?"
"It's simple. You are not that smart. There isn't enough thoughts in your head to block Trixie's own mind from entering yours. But don't feel bad about it, no human has enough thoughts in their head to outsmart the Great and Powerful Trixie."
"Can't I wish for you to be unable to read my mind?"
Trixie's brow furrows. Her horn glows and a magical aura surrounds Zack. It encases him and throws him flat against the wall. At Trixie's whim, Zack flies all around the room, hitting everything. Finally Trixie lays him on the floor gasping for air. She walks up to him and whispers in his ear. "Trixie told you the rules. You can have anything you want, so hurry up, make a wish so Trixie can destroy you and move on to the next victim."
Zack coughs, his injuries yell at him again. Tears swell up behind his eyes. "I wish I had a friend."
Trixie stands back, slightly surprised at the wish. Her face softens a bit, but still hold on to the anger she has for Zack. "Very well." Her horn shines brightly, illuminating the room in a deep blue glow. It dies out and the room is cast in darkness again. "There, Trixie will now be slightly less harsh on you."
Zack groans and gets up on all fours. "Wait," he says as he crawls back to the couch, "you made yourself my friend?"
"Don't get used to it. I can still hurt a friend..." Trixie looks away as if she remembers a distant thought that was previously lost among her experiences. She doesn't say her name this time either...
Zack sits up on the couch. There goes one of his wishes. But, hey, he has a friend now, though that "friend" did threaten to kill him. At least that's one wish out of they way; two more and he could finally be rid of Trixie. But that last statement she said... it feels like she is hurt and there's really nothing Zack can do about it. As much as he wants to help, if an all powerful genie who controls the very fabric of reality is struggling with a problem, what can a mere mortal do that the genie cannot?
She hasn't said anything either. Trixie is too engulfed in her memories to pay any attention to Zack's thoughts. She is just sitting there, staring out into space. "Um, Trixie?"
"What," she says still staring at nothing.
"From a friend to a friend, can you tell me what's wrong?" Whether Zack is an idiot or not, he still wants to help or at least try to help.
"No..." Trixie's horn glows as she turns into smoke and returns to her urn.
For the rest of the afternoon, Zack cleans up the mess caused by Trixie's beating. There is so much broken glass everywhere. It's strange; the glass didn't cut him. Perhaps, and this is just a thought, Trixie didn't want to hurt Zack, intimidate him sure, but not hurt him. Maybe she's all talk and no bite, but Zack really doesn't want to test out his theory in the likely case he is wrong.
He sweeps up some glass from a broken picture frame that holds a picture of his departed father. He carefully pulls it out from the damaged frame. His father is the only person in the world Zack could ever call his friend. No matter what happened, no matter how much Zack messed up and his mother called him a failure, his dad always stood up for him. His last words he told Zack before getting shipped overseas was for Zack to man up and stand up for himself.
"I guess he never thought I would go up against a genie," Zack says to himself.
The day his family got a visit from a Chaplin and a military personnel was the day it all changed. The loss of his father took more out of Zack's mother than Zack surprisingly. She quickly became a drunk and frequently disappears for weeks, sometimes even months. There's no telling where she is now.
Zack looks at Trixie's hiding place. What if he wishes for his life to go back to the way it was before his dad died? Would Trixie let go of her arrogant ways to give him at least that luxury? No, that wouldn't work. She can't bring people back from the dead. But what if he words it as a time traveling wish? There are so many factors, too many factors. Trixie is sure to find a way where his wish would backfire. So much for having whatever he wants...
Genies really are nothing but trouble. It's as if they purposely spend their eternal lives making others miserable merely for entertainment. Then again, living for so long would take the fun out of life. Trixie doesn't even seem to like her job. She doesn't want to hurt him--from what Zack is guessing--and she really hates it when people tell her what to do. Instead of making others suffer for pleasure, Trixie is probably doing it out of habit after doing the same routine for millennia.
It's too bad she won't open up and talk about it. It would be a lot safer for Zack if he could get on Trixie's good side. Zack folds up the picture and places it in his wallet. He needs to get on Trixie's good side and she needs to get her problems off of her chest. This is going to be difficult, but Zack--after driving off so many people from his life because of his social ineptitude--refuses to give up on his only friend; even if his first wish doesn't feel like it counted, Trixie is still his friend. He'll get through to her somehow.
A darkness clings onto the walls in Zack's room. The only visible light in the room is coming from his laptop. Cleaning took up a lot of time, and school isn't really lenient on homework, especially in the middle of the school year. The constant clacking on the keyboard gets on Zack's nerves, but he really needs to finish this essay. Stuck on a sentence--being unable to word it properly--he looks over the corner of his laptop and sees Trixie's urn. The eerie quiet makes Zack's skin prick.
He gets off his bed to fetch the urn. Can Trixie see what's going on while in there?
"Hello, Trixie?"
Nothing happens. Perhaps it's sound proof. There's nothing about the urn that proves it's sound proof. For all he knows, Trixie might just be ignoring him. Zack really doesn't want to be alone, but his "friend" is scary, so he doesn't want to bother her.
With a sigh, he goes back to his bed with the urn in hand. The computer screen stares at him as he stares in return. The sentence he couldn't complete is still there, mocking him.
Zack looks down at the keyboard. "You know," he says to the urn, "I don't know why everyone I meet treats me the way they do. I'm a good kid. I don't lie. I don't steal. I try to help everyone, but they don't want my help. I don't get it. I just don't get it." His eyes become watery. "What did I do to deserve this? Why does everyone hate me? At school, everyone picks on me. They see me as weak and spineless... I... I want... I don't know what I want. I don't want to hurt anyone, but that's all that goes through my head. Thoughts of revenge, but...
"I don't know. I was raised better by my father. My mom was no help. I don't even think she likes me. She's hardly around and, when she is around, calls me a failure. Some mother that is. I didn't choose my parents, and I guess my parents didn't choose me."
The urn remains motionless. Zack feels silly talking to it, an inanimate object. But this is what Trixie needs, to express her inner turmoil so it doesn't build up inside and make her bitter, though she's probably there already. Zack closes the laptop. There's no way he can finish the essay before his weariness gets the better of him. It's already three in the morning. School starts in five hours and he can spend those five hours sleeping.
Blood rushes through his heart and mind. So much pain, but he continues. Zack is badly hurt, blood oozing out of the gaping hole in his arm where he got shot. A deep growl behind him sends shivers down his spine, but he stays steadfast. Zack jumps out of the way as a giant hammer comes crashing down overhead. "Come on," he yells. "You gotta do better than that!" He runs off.
On his shoulders, he is carrying a war-torn Trixie. "Hey, wake up." He shakes her awake.
Trixie groans in pain. "What? Where am I?"
"You got hurt by that demon. I barely got to you in time before it did anything worse. It did break you hind legs though."
Trixie glances behind her. A bloody, muscle-rippling, demonic beast with a hammer made of bone fused to its left arm is right behind them. Its rancid breath reeks of rotten meat and causes Trixie to gag. "Thanks for saving me," she says to Zack.
He winks at her. "Your my friend. I'm not going to abandon you that easily."
The demon's tongue shoots out from its maw. The slithering piece of muscle catches Zack by his feet and trips him. Blood flows from Zack's mouth from his new injury on his tongue. He spits out what he could but his mouth quickly refills with fresh blood. Trixie is writhing on the ground, her legs rebelling against her. Her pain is palpable; Zack cringes at her shrieks. "Don't worry. I won't let tha--"
The beast pulls in Zack with its tongue still wrapped around his legs. It flicks its tongue sending Zack flying through the air. He lands a few yards away behind the demon. It turns to Trixie, lifting its hammer to strike her. Like a blur, Zack rushes to her, covering her head with his arms. Her warmth seeps into his body, both their fates intertwined.
The hammer lands with a thunderous roar and darkness envelopes Zack.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
An alarm blares out waking Zack from his stupor. It was only a dream. As he lifts his blankets away, he spots blood on his hands. Was it a dream?
High school, on a Friday, Zack would rather be anywhere else besides school. Even after putting up with bullies and careless teachers for most of his high school career, he still goes. He doesn't know why he goes. Perhaps he goes out of a mindless routine; after going to school all his life, he doesn't know anything else.
The morning goes without incident, though he did have a terrible nose bleed when he woke up. It happens every so often, but this one was worse than previous ones. At school, he only gets a few insults here and there, nothing too serious. Lunchtime goes by with no problem; Zack knows better than to sit with others, so he eats his food in the academy, where most of the security guards hang around during lunch.
It's fourth period, around 12:32 pm, where matters turn for the worse. There's a knock on the classroom door, but, before anyone can answer it, it magically swings open and Trixie walks in, stout and proud. Everyone, including Zack, gawks at the blue unicorn.
"What are you doing here?" Zack whispers to Trixie as she jumps up on his desk and sits down. He can only imagine what others might be thinking. What about the people who saw her walk all the way from his apartment to his school? Unicorns aren't exactly a daily occurrence.
Trixie's horn glows and her urn appears. "Don't you dare leave it unattended again, or Trixie will personally stuff you in it herself." She looks around at the peering eyes and scoffs, transforming into a human in an attempt to regain some inconspicuousness.
The entire classroom gasps while Zack covers his eyes. "Trixie! Put some clothes on," he pleas.
"Oh, very well. You." She points at a girl wearing a blue sweater with a light blue skirt and knee high blue boots.
"Me?" The girl whimpers.
Trixie smirks and, with a flick of her wrist, transfers the girl's clothes onto herself, leaving her with nothing, but her bra and underwear.
Zack groans. "I'm so getting expelled for this."
"So who's your blue friend," asks Kyle, the guy sitting next to Zack.
Trixie answers instead. "I am the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, and Zack, here, is my master."
"Wow, I didn't think you were into this kind of stuff."
"That's cuz I'm not!" Zack exclaims. He tries to bang his head on his desk, but, apparently, he forgot Trixie is sitting there and ends up putting his head on her lap instead.
"Yeah, sure." Kyle chuckles as Zack sits back up.
"Just kill me," Zack says to the ceiling.
Trixie's face scrunches up into a venomous smile. "Is that a wish?"
"What?! No!"
"What does she mean by wish?" asks Kyle.
Zack quickly covers Trixie's mouth to prevent her from saying anything he'll regret. "Nothing! She doesn't mean anything by it!" A strange stinging sensation causes him to pull his hand away from Trixie's mouth.
It feels like someone poured acid all over his hand, but, really, all Trixie did was lick him. She spits on the carpet, creating a bald spot on it. "Trixie is an all powerful genie. She is bound to poor, little Zack here--" Zack is screaming, trying to rub off the acid "--until he makes three wishes, or I kill him."
The classroom explodes in awe, saying how cool she is. This sends Trixie's ego soaring.
"So, you can use magic. Can you show us some?" says a voice among the noise. Others hear it and quickly agree.
"Well, okay." Trixie blushes at the attention. She waves her hand in the air, creating star bursts that pulsate through the entire spectrum of colors. The students coo at the marvelous sight, each one cast in the multicolored light coming from the star bursts. Each speck of light is under Trixie's full control; following her every movement, they dance, swirling around each other in phantasmal shapes.
Through the shapes, she captivates the students, so, in a way, she has control over them too. She wields their attention, able to do whatever she pleases with it, and she loves it. For the finale, Trixie clasps her hand and blows a kiss to her audience, showering them in a glimmering rain. They clap and shout her name, praising her for what she can do.
The peal of the school bell announces the ending of class. Each student gets ready for their next class, never really taking off their sights on Trixie. Zack clutches his hand close. His injury has badly blistered and stings in the open air. Some blood has seeped onto the surface of his palm. He tries to wipe off the blood slowly, wary of the pain he'll get if he touches a sensitive spot.
Without warning, Trixie grabs his hand, sending a burrowing pain spiraling up and down his arm. He bites down on his bottom lip to prevent himself from screaming. A warm light radiates from Trixie's grasp, dispelling the pain on his hand. She smiles at Zack, but it quickly dies down as if she considers showing kindness as a weakness. Trixie looks away and pulls in her hand.
"Um, Trixie?"
"What?" She says sharply, regaining that bitter tone in her voice.
"Nothing..." That performance for the class did more than just entertain. It brought out Trixie's true self, even if it was only for a moment. Zack believes he knows how to get Trixie out of her self-inflicted obligation to be bitter and cold. She's a performer and thrives under the spotlight.
Maybe, if he takes her with him at all times, she'll soften up as she bathes under the attention only the 21st century can give her. He has to be careful what kind of attention she receives. Zack doesn't want the FBI or something to knock down his door, and take Trixie away, though she'll probably have no problem escaping them if they do capture her.
A hand crawls into Zack's point of view and snatches Trixie's urn sitting on his desk. "What? Hey!" Zack turns to the thief only to meet up with a fist that knocks him off his seat and onto the floor.
"Now you must do what a say." The thief, a guy of strong build dressed in a white T-shirt and black shorts, smiles at Trixie.
Trixie chuckles. "No she doesn't." A sharp glow radiates from her hand. The urn glows along with it and swings wildly around the classroom, narrowly missing other students as it drags along the imbecile who thought he could command Trixie. He finally lets go after he collides with an empty desk, the corner jabbing him on the side of his stomach.
Trixie picks up Zack with her magic and hands him her urn. She hooks her arm around his and leads him out of the classroom.
"Um, thanks, Trixie," Zack says.
"Please, Trixie does not need your gratitude. It's a genie's job to protect her master, lest Trixie risk 1000 more wishes added to her as punishment."
"Can I have my clothes back?!" The girl Trixie stripped yells out behind them, but Trixie promptly ignores her.
Zack's fifth period goes along similar to his fourth period. Some classmates saw her previous performance and asks for more. An encore if you will. Trixie, being the natural entertainer that she is, can't resist saying yes. She starts off by zipping up the teacher's lips because of his incessant attempts to regain the attention of his class that Trixie so rightfully stole.
Even Zack can't help, but grin at his teacher's struggle to re-open his mouth. This is the first time Trixie made him smile, other than the dreams he had of her. She's usually threatening his life which isn't much to smile about.
As she continues her performance, Zack sees Kyle--the guy from his last period--take out a cheese and cracker snack. "I wonder..." Zack whispers to himself. "Hey, Kyle."
"What?" he responds, matching Zack's whispered tone.
"I'll buy those crackers off of ya. How much?"
"What? Why?"
"I want to give it to Trixie."
"Nuh-uh, dude, I don't want any part of whatever sick game you're playing with her."
"I told you, it's not like that."
"She called you her master."
"She's a genie. They're suppose to do that. Just sell it to me."
"Fine, a buck."
"What?"
"Two bucks."
Zack growls at the ridiculous price, but he knows Kyle will only increase it if he doesn't pay him now. He takes out his wallet, glancing over the photo of his dad, and takes out two dollars. "Here." Zack throws the money at Kyle.
"Thank you," he says in a prideful manner, knowing fairly well he got the better end of the deal. He hands over the snack and continues watching Trixie's show.
The rest of the class time goes by rather quickly. Trixie never runs out of material to woo her audience. She's actually using her experience as an immortal genie to captivate and awe people rather than get the better of them. The whole time she's doing so, she is smiling, it getting wider and wider with each passing moment.
Sweat beads Trixie's brow. She's using too much magic and Zack can tell she is struggling with particularly complex tricks. Trixie doesn't hold back, not even for a second. It seems she doesn't care how much magic she uses as long as she gets the desired result in the end which is praise. A bit reckless on her part, but Zack is new to this whole magic thing, so she might be fine and all he's doing is worrying for nothing.
For her final trick, multi-colored light splashes onto an invisible canvass in front of her. They morph and fluctuate, creating a vivid image of a park showered in sunlight. Zack has seen that park before. It can't be. Trixie can read minds, but she was in her urn when Zack had that dream. Can she be recreating this image from a personal memory? Can that place actually exist somewhere?
She swipes her hand through the picture, then waves it around the air, casting it on the walls of the classroom. The walls vanish, leaving behind only the world she has painted. The students are surrounded by trees and flowers and everything Zack saw in his dream. Everything except the ponies.
Trixie's face softens. Her smile drops as she retreats back into her shell she built around her heart. This place has more meaning to her than she could otherwise have if she just saw it in Zack's dream. For all he knows, Trixie could have been the one who put that dream in Zack's mind while he was unconscious, as if it is her way of crying out for help. The school bell cuts through the image like a knife, and the walls of the classroom return to their original mundane selves.
Trixie returns to Zack's side as the students applaud. The applause lifts Trixie's spirit a bit, but she's still sulking over something Zack knows she would never tell him. This is his chance to make her feel better and show her he means well. "Trixie, here. I got this for you." He hands her the crackers.
She stares at his outstretched arm with this mysterious piece of plastic on his palm. "What is it?"
Zack smiles. He strips off the plastic wrapping and takes a cracker. "It's a snack. Just take the little spatula and spread the cheese like this." He demonstrates. "Open your mouth."
She raises a brow at him, unsure if to comply with his order or not. She sees no harm in it, so she does as told. Zack gently places the cracker in her mouth. His fingers brush against her lips as he pulls his hand away. "It's okay. You can chew now," says Zack, seeing Trixie doesn't understand what to do next. Perhaps she does and she's just playing him, but she still waits for further orders. Maybe she's finally warming up to him as his genie.
She chews the cracker slowly at first. As her tongue relishes the flavor, a smile creeps on to her face and she chews more vigorously. She likes it; no, she loves it. It makes Zack wonder what else are his dreams right about.
Zack's sixth period is a free period. Since all he wants is to get in and out of high school, he has been taking every class he can in order to graduate early. If he stays on track, he'll be able to graduate halfway through his senior year.
For his free period, he can do whatever he wants including heading home if he chooses which he usually does. No point in staying where he isn't wanted, even if Trixie is with him. People will want to see Trixie than him anyway. He heads to the entrance of the school with Trixie following close behind, enjoying her crackers. She has long abandoned the red spatula that comes with the snack and is using her finger instead.
That snack, it's so simple, but it brings Trixie so much joy. The moment Zack gave it to her is the only time he made her smile; even more so than her audience did. Call it a weakness or not, but the happiness Trixie has shown pierces through her reclusive personality. She's actually a decent being when she isn't threatening Zack's life.
Trixie isn't a bitter person--uh, pony. It makes Zack wonder why she acts the way she does. She said she has to grant one million wishes. Something like that sounds like a punishment, but what could she have possibly done to deserve this fate? Not to mention the being who gave her the punishment. The more Zack thinks about it, the more it seems like the world is getting bigger and bigger.
With all this magic, it's apparent to Zack that there's a lot to this world, this universe, he doesn't know or even hope of knowing. It makes him feel small--well, smaller than how the typical bullies and everyday life make him feel.
On the way out to school, Zack gets a few weird looks from people who haven't seen Trixie yet, but it'll only be a matter of time before her reputation spreads to everyone here. He can only imagine what the principal will say to him when he finds out he brought an all powerful genie to school. (Well, she followed him, but that's besides the point.) Students get in trouble for bringing toy guns. Trixie's more than a gun; she's a full blown war machine ready for battle.
He turns down the street and heads towards his apartment complex. It isn't too far, but it'll still take him about 15 minutes to walk there. Ten minutes into his walk home, he notices Trixie's still eating her snack and questions her about it.
"Trixie blames you. She can't stop eating them, so she's constantly having to make more. You enchanted them somehow. Never in Trixie's lifetime has she tasted something so tantalizing. And Trixie is over 3,000 years old."
"You really never had something better than those crackers?"
"What can Trixie say? Human's have a poor taste in food, no matter from what era they're from. Humans eat whatever they can fit in their mouth; it sickens Trixie. Besides these crackers, the only food I enjoy is the fine delicacies back in Equ-... a place somewhere."
"Your home?" Zack asks.
Trixie stops walking as if she is a robot and someone pulled out her batteries. She drops the crackers and steps on them. "Trixie grows tired of this. Hurry up and make the rest of your wishes so Trixie can be on her way."
It seems, to Zack, Trixie misses her home and, perhaps because of her punishment, she can't go back. "I can wish for you to go home? Would you like that?"
Trixie's face scrunches up as if she bit into a sour grape. "Can't you think for yourself?! Out of all my masters, you are the most idiotic, and I've had a monkey as a master before! But at least he knew what he wanted. You're like a lost child, trying to please everyone so no one can hurt you. You think getting on my good side will help you? I've made plenty of friends and, guess what, they're all dead! Stop trying to make me happy. My happiness was taken from me a long time ago and, no matter what, I can never get it back! I am stuck, doomed to this kind of life!"
Zack shrinks back from Trixie, unsure of what to do. He must of brought up a particular unpleasant memory. The part about her friends: did they die of natural causes or was Trixie involved? She did mention she can hurt a friend and, maybe, that's why she is being punished. "What do you mean you're stuck?" Zack dares to ask.
Trixie furls her hand into a fist and punches Zack on the chest, toppling him over on the ground. "You're so irritating, Trixie can't stand it! That's it: Trixie will give you an ultimatum. Make your wishes by the end of this week, and I will not kill you."
Zack struggles to his feet, coughing as he tries to refill his lungs with air to replace the air that was knocked out of him. "You're giving me seven days to make my wishes?" Zack croaks, his voice cracking inside his throat.
"You misunderstand Trixie, but, seeing that stupidity runs in your race, Trixie will explain herself. You have until the end of this week, so you only have two days."
"What?! But, what about you're penalty?"
"Trixie doesn't care. Just consider yourself lucky the Great and Powerful Trixie is being merciful by including Sunday." Trixie glows and, in a puff of blue smoke, disappears into her urn.
A cold sweat drips down Zack's neck as he lies on his bed while he stares at the ceiling. Trixie's urn stands on his dresser filling the air with a menacing aura Zack can pratically taste. He needs to come up with two wishes by Sunday so Trixie won't kill him. Easier said then done since Trixie can turn an innocent wish back on him, or so she says. All Zack really needs to do is wish for something small, something stupid and insignificant, then Trixie won't be able to turn it on him and she'll be someone else's problem. And Zack can get back to his pitiful life and Trixie can get back to her miserable one.
Some life... if Zack never rubbed the urn, he wouldn't be in this predicament. It's as if some higher being is purposely toying with him for its own amusement. Perhaps the being who imprisoned Trixie in the first place is to blame even if it's indirectly.
But it's not just Trixie making his life miserable. Zack has been miserable all his life. Of course his dad helped ease it, but life has always pushed him down then start kicking. Trixie is just another rock thrown at him from the countless rocks thrown at him.
Night drags on and his alarm clock on the window sill beams 5:32 am at Zack's face. Beyond the window, Colton is slowly waking up. Cars in the distance rev to life as early workers begin their day. And the whistle of a factory bellows its hallowed tone signaling the start of production. Zack has been awake all night worrying about the future, fearing it even.
Would anyone even care if Zack died? No one at school paid him any attention. In fact, even his own mother went on for days without acknowledging his existence. The more he thought about it, the more he is sure of the fact that no one will miss him.
This revelation is a sort of relief to Zack. Finding comfort in death is a huge problem and Zack knows, but it provides a means of escape from fear. If he doesn't fear death, then he can really wish for whatever he wants regardless of what consequences his wish may bring.
Really death is inevitable. What's wrong with bringing it sooner rather than later? At least he'll be in control of how he dies.
Zack shakes his head and sighs. All these morbid thoughts are making his stomach feel like it's full of molten lead. Yet another way for Trixie to torment him. Turning his own thoughts against him... pure genius. Not to mention the lack of sleep will make it easier for her to take full advantage of Zack.
Maybe that's the problem. Zack has been treating Trixie as a friend when, in reality and despite his first wish, she isn't.
His eyes widen and nearly jumps up off his bed at a realization that hits him like a snowball in the middle of a hot, summer afternoon. He's done trying to be a friend, not only to Trixie but to everyone. It's time he hits back starting with Trixie, and he knows exactly how to do it. But he'll need his rest, so he won't be slowed down by his weariness.
In about 24 hours, taking into account the fact he'll sleep most of the day today, Zack will use his first wish as leverage against Trixie. If all goes according to plan, in one fell swoop, Zack will attack Trixie where she hurts the most, gain access to her past, and still walk out of this alive.
Worst case scenario, he will soon see his father again which isn't too bad since Zack has accepted his fate.
To live without fear... many have lived and died running from what they fear the most, but to truly live is to cast those fears away and grasp life by the throat and saying, "I control you!" To think it took an emotionally distraught genie to teach him that. For the first time in his life, Zack is no longer afraid. He is reborn; old Zack is gone.
Clouds rush past Zack; their cool touch trail along the edge of his wings. Laid out below him is a lush, green valley dotted with various trees and patches of flowers but is mostly an expanse of grass, tall and crisp. His silhouette speeds across the valley floor like an arrow. Zack sees his tail swaying in the wind, providing the necessary support for flight, and the span of his wings doubling the area of his entire body, a necessity for flight to be possible.
With hawk-like vision, he catches a glimpse of a glorious, stone castle caught in the light of the golden sun when he shoots through another cloud, dispelling it with his incredible bulk. The castle comes into view again, and with a voracious roar only a dragon can produce, he announces his forthcoming. Flames lick the the edge of his lips as a nervous energy courses through his veins.
He doesn't know why he is nervous. All he knows is he feels like he is coming home after being away for a long time, and he misses someone. But he doesn't know who though.
Perched on the edge of a cliff, the castle stands alone with no one within the castle grounds in sight. But Zack knows she, whoever she is, is there. He lands in the square closest to the main tower of the castle. As he tucks in his wings, he roars once more to let her know he is here. With a grunt, he suppresses the dragon force keeping him in that state. His scales pull back into his skin, and his tail shrinks until it's nonexistent. Slowly Zack regains his human form, but his eyes still resemble that of a viper's.
The only draconian feature that doesn't fully disappear, besides the slits of his eyes, are his wings which cover him to form a leathery cloak black as oil. Zack stretches his body to get a feel for it again. He looks at the sky while stretching his arms and sees the blue expanse dotted with small lights barely visible but are coming through as the sun sets over the horizon. Purple streaks mix in with the darkening blue along with splashes of yellow and red. What better canvass to paint on than the limitless sky?
He notices she isn't coming out to greet him, whoever she is. Why is his memory so hazy? Then it hits him. The sky... It isn't night yet. She isn't awake.
He grins, taking a step forward. On his way to the main part of the castle, Zack takes his time to admire the dying day and coming night. All the colors remind him of a particular day when Trixie painted that scene with her magic. Wait...
Zack stops right where he is. He knows now where he is and why he can't remember much.
"I'm... dreaming... But who am I suppose to meet?"
Looking towards the tower before him, Zack feels an ancient power emanating from it. And without feeling his feet moving, he phases into the castle walls, taking in sporadic images of stone stairs spiraling upward into a dark room, each image fuzzy and blurry as if they don't exist but, yet, they do.
The void around him twinkles as tiny specks of light dance around him in a slow but peaceful pace. It takes him a while to figure out that what he is looking at are stars swirling around this seemingly empty room. In the center, a spherical object sparks to life in a burst of pale light.
It drenches Zack in an unearthly glow which disappears as it reaches for the expanding void around him. All of the sudden, Zack has a strong urge to bow before the glowing ball as if its very existence is divine right plotting its course. He tries to fight it but, ultimately, he sees no harm in doing so, so he bows.
"You may rise valiant knight," a voice, powerful and majestic, calls out to Zack.
"We're you the one who called me here," Zack responds as he stands up.
From the center of the ball walks in an alicorn mare. Her auroras blue mane flows on an imaginary wind, giving her a dreamlike quality while each step she takes clacks on the floor with a commanding force. Her very structure gives of an air of royalty while keeping an ominous but tranquil feel about her.
"My name is Princess Luna, and I am the one who called you."
"I need the real Zack here, so I will lift the veil from your eyes so you may see what I have to show you without this dream getting in the way." Luna's horn glows a deep, rich blue. It flows into Zack, and he feels like a blindfold is pulled away from his eyes. Like a torrent of water free from the confining walls of a dam, all of Zack's memories flood into his mind. Even ones that he thought he has forgotten but, in reality, were lying dormant underneath his subconscious.
It doesn't take long for Zack to feel the effects of memories he hoped to never remember. The sudden appearance of happy and sad memories cause him to stagger in place, nearly tipping over, as tears blur his vision more than that dreamy veil Luna took away did. The memories make him feel such a contradicting and strange emotion. He feels happy and sad, respective to the memory flashing behind his eyes at the moment, but since the flash as fast as a camera flash, the happiness and sadness mix together in a murky pool of uncertainty.
His body quivers violently, but he remains standing. "Wh-what di-d you d-do to me-ee?" Zack asks dumbfounded.
Luna ignores his question and waits. For what, Zack can only guess, but most likely, Luna is waiting for Zack to calm down from his fervor.
Since he doesn't get a response, Zack tries to ask her again but can't. He drops down to a knee as the torrent of memories becomes a swarm of buzzing flies, figuratively speaking. Now that his mind is filled to the brim with his past, it needs to sort them out and place them in their appropriate place for recollection. Little by little, the buzz becomes a dim flutter. Soon the only sound Zack can hear is the rapid beating of his own heart.
"Come," Luna says as she walks past him to the only doorway in the room.
Through the doorway is a hallway, if no one has it guessed yet. (There are mirrors too, if you haven't guessed that either.) But how can this be if Zack came through there, and it was stairs that occupied that space. Let's just say dreams aren't exactly consistent, especially a dream controlled by an all-powerful alicorn. But the inconsistency isn't what is occupying Zack's mind. Since the buzzing of memories subsided, he questions what might this so-called princess want with him.
"Um, Luna?" He calls to her, but she continues her stride, ignoring him just like the last time. "Um, Princess Luna?" Still nothing, no response escapes the lips of the alicorn. This irritates Zack. "Yo, princess! What do you want with me?"
Luna stops at the end of his remark. She looks to her left, possibly expecting for Zack to do the same. He didn't realize it at first, but all these mirrors do not show him his or Luna's reflection. Instead, a single name is inscribed under each mirror while flashing images play underneath the glassy surface, similar to what Zack experienced in the dark room.
He follows Luna's gaze to a particular mirror with a particular name underneath it: Trixie Lulamoon. (Yeah, been wondering when she'll show up in Zack's dream? Well, here ya go.)
"Wha-why are you showing me this?" asks Zack.
"Trixie is in a very delicate situation. I, for one, appreciate your choice to change who you are, but you must tread carefully because Trixie can and will kill you."
"But why would she kill me? She may say it, but I don't think she means it."
"And this is why I brought you here to the hall of mirrors. Hopefully, what you see here will help you decide the right way to deal with Trixie." Luna casts her glow once more, transforming into a puff of smoke then enveloping Zack with a feather-like embrace. With Zack fully enveloped, Luna zips into the mirror, passing its reflective surface like it's not even there.
Rain falls, cold, distant; a mare lies on the muddy ground... Trixie lies on the muddy ground. Another mare similar to her walks in behind her. "You really are pathetic, aren't you?"
"Shut up," says Trixie, "I had a long day, and I don't need your attitude."
"Well, your day isn't over yet. Since you lost the amulet before I had a chance to use it, you have to make it up to me."
"Trixie doesn't have to do anything. Just leave me alone." Trixie slowly gets to her hooves.
The mysterious mare walks up next to her. "You know I can't do that. We're sisters. We were born into this world with nothing and had to crawl all the way up."
"Yes, and all your plans have backfired in my face while you waited on the sidelines," retorts Trixie. "I'm done with you. Just leave me alone." Without looking back, Trixie walks into the unknown, leaving her sister behind in the rain alone.
"You can't do this!" Trixie's sister yells after Trixie. "You're nothing without me!"
"Wrong, I am the Great and Powerful Trixie," she whispers to herself.
Rocks upon rocks upon rocks, so many rocks everywhere. Trixie is pulling along a cart full of the burdensome weights through a grayed field of dirt.
"Trixie!" calls out an old stallion with some wicked side burns. "Mails here."
Trixie undoes the straps attaching her to the cart, a steady stream of sweat pours down the side of her cheek. She trots toward the stallion who has a single gold letter under his hoof. "Thanks, Igneous. And thanks for giving me this old job back and a place to stay."
"Not a problem. We all make mistakes. And we must learn to recognize them. Come inside when you're done. The Misses made a pie you just have to try."
"I will," says Trixie to the departing stallion. She picks up the letter he left her. On the letter is a single name that makes Trixie's heart stop: Tricky Lulamoon.
Dearest Sister,
I have finally gather a team to take Canterlot for ourselves. But I need you. Remember when we roamed the streets of that forsaken city, wondering where we'll lay our heads every night? Now I, I mean, we have a chance to get back at the city that treated us like trash. I'm a realist, and I know how you must feel about me.But I still need you, but the choice to join me is up to you. If you choose to join, I will begin with my plan tonight near the castle square. I'll be waiting.
"Tricky..." whispers Trixie. "You are an idiot. Nothing but an idiot. Why can't you just move on?"
In a nearby house, Igneous is enjoying his wife's pie when he hears the galloping of hooves fading away. "There she goes again."
"Don't worry, dear," says his wife walking in with another pie fresh from the oven. "She'll be back, and we'll be here."
"What were you thinking?" Trixie harshly whispers to her sister. "This will never work."
"Shh, it's time." Tricky is looking through some night vision goggles. She's glaring at the guard slowly making his way to the main corridor of the castle.
"You really didn't think this through. Did you even show that changling how to act like a guard?"
Tricky continues staring at her hired hand shaking in his hooves as a legit guard crosses his path. "He said he could do it."
"And you believed him?!"
"Shh!!! Quiet, somepony will hear us."
The changling passes through without arousing the suspicion of the guard, though he does get a head nod from the guard. With a sigh, he continues to the throne room.
"Get ready, Trixie. It's almost your cue."
"I told you, I'm not going to help. I just came to make sure you didn't do anything stupid. Apparently, I came too late."
"Ha ha," she responds condescendingly, "now get into position."
"I told you no!" yells Trixie.
"Trixie! Get into position!" her sister matches Trixie's volume.
"Who's there?" a guard asks a tree.
"Um, tweet?"
"That's not how a bird sounds like," says Trixie.
"Oh, yeah. Why don't you show me how a bird sounds like, oh Great and Powerful--" Tricky doesn't get a chance to finish as the guard uses his magic to shake the tree violently enough to get the two mare out of it. They fall with an oomph.
The guard stands over them as Tricky smiles nervously and Trixie hides her face with her hooves. "I should of stayed on that rock farm..." she says to herself.
Back in the castle, the changling enters the throne room. "Okay, I'm in. Now what, Tricky?" But he gets no telepathic response. "Hello? Anypony there?"
A tall, proud alicorn sits on her throne, looking over three ponies (well, two unicorns and one changling) who sneaked into her castle in the middle of the night. Her mane flows similar to Luna's but contains a completely different set of colors, which resemble the colors of a delicate, spring morning.
She raises her brow at the three, opening her mouth to say something but closes it as she reconsiders her words. All the while, Tricky and the changling (especially the changling) twitch every now and then, while Trixie is as calm as ever. The princess sighs. "What were you three thinking?"
"If I may, Princess Celestia," responds Trixie, "I simply came to stop my sister and her stupidity, but let's just say, her idiocy works too fast for me to catch."
"Why should I believe what you say?" asks Celestia.
"Because it is the truth, Princess. Isn't that right, Tricky?"
"Um..."
"No need to answer, Tricky," says the princess. "And what about you?" She turns to the changling.
The changling glances up from the floor but looks away as the princess's own gaze pierces his. She shakes her head at the poor soul dragged into this whole ordeal. "Okay, this is what we're going to do. You--" she points at the changling "--go home, I have no jurisdiction over you and any punishment I give you will give Queen Chrysalis grounds to call a war as she will, most likely, see this as an attack on her kingdom. And I wish to avoid a fight.
"Just don't let me see you here again, because next time, I will not be as merciful."
The changling smiles. "Thank you, Princess."
"Just go." Celestia rubs her temples with her hooves.
He stands to his hooves (if changlings even call them hooves) and jumps to the air, flying out an open window faster than a fly fleeing a flyswatter.
"Now, you two," Celestia says after the changling is out of sight. "I don't know what you two planned to accomplish, and I don't want to know. But if you two wish to be in the castle then so be it. You two will be maids in the castle, tending to the every need of its guests."
"What?!" exclaims Trixie. "But I had nothing to do with this! Tell her, Tricky!"
"This was all her idea," says Tricky.
"Oh, you dirty, flee-ridden, ma--"
"That's enough!" Celestia interrupts Trixie, stopping her insult toward Tricky. "My word is final. And you two start tonight under the supervision of my sister."
Trixie turns to her sister, staring her down. "I... hate... you... so much."
"And this is where we keep the ancient artifacts my sister and I collected over the years." Luna opens an immense door decorated with different, interweaving patterns, which doesn't become any less complicated the more Trixie looks at them. In fact, she longer she looks at them, the longer the patterns make her head spin. She forcefully pushes the afterimage of the door out of her mind as Luna leads her and Tricky into the room.
In the room, rows and rows of stone pedestals with many trinkets and the like are on display, each under glass casings edged with silver rods with some strange runes on them. A statue of a great dragon cast in marble stands in the middle of the room, surrounded by smaller statues of lesser creatures.
The windows are simple, not at all embellished like the stained glass windows in the throne room, but that was probably done on purpose in order to let in the full splendor of the garden just outside. The night drenches the castle garden in cool blue light, giving each flower and orchid a unearthly appearance, and, occasionally, turning them completely pale as the clouds swim in the gentle breeze, allowing the moon to show its face before getting covered again.
"Here," Luna continues, motioning at the room with a sway of her hoof, "you two will clean the glass casings, vacuum the rugs, wash the windows, and dust the statues. Try to be careful with the casings. They will react to any magical energy used near them, so they will be have to be cleaned by hoof."
"All of them?" asks Tricky.
Luna responds by raising her brow at her.
"Pay no attention to her," Trixie says. "She is just lazy."
"Yes, well, make sure you finish before you go to sleep. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some matters to attend to. I'll come in to check on you two around midnight. You know where the supply closet is. Get to work." Luna looks over them one final time before heading out the room.
The clacking of Luna's hooves fade into the dead of night, non-existent.
"Okay," Trixie breaks the silence, "go to the closet and fetch the supplies, I'll stay here to start on the--"
"Trixie, look." Tricky points at a glass case underneath the moonlight dripping in from a nearby window.
"What?" Trixie says rather uninterested in anything her sister have to show her, but she humors Tricky anyway.
"It's the amulet."
"The what?"
"The thing you lost to that unicorn mare, you idiot."
"Tricky! You really want to get the Princesses angrier at you than they already are? Just stop this nonsense."
But Tricky ignores her and steps closer to the amulet, staring at it with hungry eyes. "All I have to.." She inches her hooves closer to lift the case, her tongue sticking out from the side of her mouth (a usual mannerism when trying to do something that requires a delicate touch.)
"Tricky!" Trixie hooks her two forelegs under her sister's and pulls her away. "I had enough of your... your... AH, I don't even know what to call it anymore."
"Let me go!" Tricky struggles to get free, squirming around and trying to hit Trixie with the back of her head, but Trixie avoids every blow. Though, she does get a mouth full of her sister's mane.
Tricky kicks off the pedestal, which is surprisingly very stable and doesn't fall over--something Tricky actually hoped for. The sudden force and weight of her sister catches Trixie off guard, so she tumbles backwards falling over into another pedestal. The edge jabs her just above the middle of her back and sends an aching pain shooting through her as if the edge of the pedestal actually cut her in half, but she still refuses to let go.
Moreover, she stops spitting out Tricky's mane and yanks on it with her mouth. She can't feel what Tricky is feeling, but her screams alone sends shivers down Trixie's spine.
In the middle of their fight, a young, scrawny-looking colt walks in carrying a peach-yellow urn with a white star on its face. He looks over the struggling mares on the floor while he carefully steps to an empty pedestal near where the Alicorn Amulet is. He knows he's not a fighter and doesn't wish to be dragged into their fight.
Tricky's horn begins to glow ready to cast a spell, and, just as the spell is cast, the silver lining within the glass turns dark black and begin to absorb the very light around them, making everything match its new color. At the sight of this, the colt drops the urn and runs away as if his very life will be consumed by the growing darkness, which, in reality, his panic is justified.
Trixie sees the oozing void consuming reality itself and lets go of Tricky, then steps back from the blackness dripping onto the floor and flowing towards her; no, not her but her sister. Her horn is pitch black and she is unconscious. All the darkness is centralizing itself around her.
Trixie goes to pull her sister away from the void--not using magic to do it out of fear of succumbing to the same fate--but stops herself. Her sister has caused her so much trouble and so much pain. Would it really be worth it? Saving her and all?
Trixie groans. "I'm gonna hate myself in the morning for this."
She grabs on to Tricky's tail and pulls her away, but the darkness continues its pursuit for its target. A ripple courses though it and it leaps faster than Trixie can catch and latches itself onto Tricky's horn. The sudden touch awakens her, and Tricky begins to scream. "What's happening?!"
Trixie spits out her sister's tail. "Oh nothing new. Just you being an idiot."
"Get this thing off of me! It's draining my magic!"
Tricky tries to pull away, but the ooze is stuck on her like bubble gum. It slowly crawls up her horn and begins to literally eat her alive. "Trixie!" she yells; her legs are flailing frantically.
Trixie can feel the panic emanating from her sister, so she grabs on to her sister, wrapping her forelegs around Tricky's stomach and pulls. But the ooze doesn't like it one bit, so it opens its "mouth" and swallows more of Tricky along with a part of Trixie's mane and horn.
"No," she says, "I will not be stuck in that thing with you." Slowly, Trixie steps back bringing along her sister and the ooze. Though, one misstep on the urn the colt dropped and she falls. The urn rolls under Trixie's hoof and into the ooze, sticking to it like a rock to cement.
The only visible feature of Trixie's frustrated face is her eyes glaring at the object of her misfortune. No, not her sister, though it's kind of hard to keep her out of sight considering she is sitting directly on Trixie. She can feel the hopeless cold of the pitch void swallowing her as it takes up her legs, then her body. Slowly, it makes its way up Trixie, leaving only her eyes to glimpse at what she believes will be the final rays of light she will ever see.
Strange enough, even though the ooze covers her muzzle, she can still breath just fine, and her sister can still scream just fine, which Trixie can feel resonate throughout her own body since she is so close to Tricky at the moment. This is possibly the only time she has been, or ever will be, this close to her sister.
The last bits of moonlight fade away, but something else flashes brighter. It dispels some of the ooze and fills Trixie with warmth. It gets brighter and brighter until Trixie can feel her head fall loose of the void. She looks around to find the source of the glow hurting the void and discovers it's coming from the urn.
Soon, the glow gets too bright to directly look at, but Trixie can still feel its warmth. Yellow smoke seeps out of the urn and swirls, contorts, sprouting legs with baggy blue pants, a torso wearing a white shirt and gold vest, bare arms and hands, and a head covered in curly hair topped with a yellow fez with a white star on it and a gold tassel. It, or he, yawns; the glow dims down. "Whoa, whoa, 3,000 years stuck in that thing and I awake to this. Celestia gots some 'splaining to do."
With a snap of his fingers, the ooze instantaneously vanishes, leaving two mares in a rather awkward position laying on the floor. "Sorry, ladies, or mares... huh... But I didn't want my urn to get eaten. Now, tell me: are ponies still the dominate race on this planet?"
"Uh," Tricky drones on but gets cut off as Trixie tosses her across the room with her magic, causing Tricky to crash into a pedestal with a loud BANG; the sound of vibrating metal reverberates in the air afterwards.
"Yeah," Trixie answers his question, "ponies still dominate this planet. Why?"
"No reason," he says while dusting off his vest, "just catching up. A lot can change in a millennium, and I've been in there for three." He points at his urn. "Hey, did you know I am the reason you all are ponies? Some girl a long time ago wished for her entire race to be turned into ponies. Her name was Bonnie something... I guess no one fixed that during the time I was gone, go figure."
"What are you talking about?" Trixie asks.
"Nothing you need to worry your pretty pony head about." He knocks on Trixie's head as if it is hollow, which Trixie doesn't like, so she tries to swat his hand away.
Her hoof rasps his knuckle which makes her wonder: "What are you?" she asks.
"Hmm? Me? I'm Erin, Erin the Djinn. A pleasure to meet you, miss... uh... what was your name again?"
"I never told my name."
"Ha! Good one, you're name is Trixie Lulamoon." Erin says while slowly browsing the selection of artifacts in the room as if it is a market place for the public. He stops in front of a golden bracelet with runes written on them similar to the runes on the glass casings.
"How did you know that?" asks Trixie trying to catch up to him.
Meanwhile, Erin reaches through the glass and takes out the bracelet. He looks it over, rubbing his fingers over the runes. "To put it simply, I can read your mind. Hey--" Erin places the bracelet back "--shouldn't you check on her? I think you knocked her out."
"She'll be fine. What do you mean you can read minds?"
"Aw, I thought I put it simply. Maybe this will help you understand." Erin's finger glows and he touches Trixie on her forehead. Images, voices, emotions, all of it flood into Trixie's mind. She can see the guard upstairs thinking about what to give his daughter for her birthday, she can feel Tricky's mind spinning and spinning and spinning, she can hear the worries of the colt who came in here earlier and his intention of finding Princess Luna. The only hole in her new sense is Erin; from him, she gets nothing.
Trixie staggers at the rolling waves of thoughts and ideas. Just as she is about to fall, Erin grabs her by the chin. "Hey, hey, look at me." He snaps in the air. "Clear your mind, count to three and clear your mind."
Through her haze, she does as she is told, though whether she is counting out loud or in her mind is debatable. But at the sound of three, her mind quiets. She can feel, though, at the slightest impulse, that they can return at any moment. A soft murmur still rings in her ears, but it's nothing more than a mental itch on the back of her mind.
"Now," Erin says, "this may be new to you, but you'll learn to control it eventually." He lets go of her chin, and without his support, Trixie falls flat on her stomach.
"What did you do to me?" Trixie asks.
"Shh-shh-shh." He shushes her. "You'll wake your sister."
"I'm already awake," Tricky announces her regained consciousness.
"Oh, then why don't you get up?" Erin floats over to Tricky.
She growls as Erin gets closer. "I'm stuck."
As Erin looks over Tricky's horn embedded in the pedestal, Trixie tries her luck at standing but fails. "Yep, that's stuck alright," Erin says. "Unless an all powerful djinn is right next to you." He snaps his fingers and Tricky is pulled loose from the pedestal by invisible hands.
She rubs her horn and asks, "What's a djinn?"
"I guess the new word everybody is using now-a-days is genie, but I'm one of the first genie to ever have existed, so I'm sticking with djinn as my title. It has a nice ring to it--Erin the Djinn--don't you think?"
"No." Tricky adopts her sister's blunt attitude when addressing things that don't matter to her.
"Well, no one asked you! Oh, wait I did. Hey--" Erin pulls in Trixie and Tricky with his magic, and wraps his arms around their necks "--here's a fun question: any of you lovely mares want three wishes?"
Tricky's eyes light up while Trixie is still struggling to understand what he said over her mind-numbing stupor. "I would," Tricky blurts out.
"Great!" Erin lets them go and Trixie falls to the floor again. "What's your first wish?"
"Hmm..." Tricky taps her hooves together, fiendishly. "I wish I was the ruler of Equestria."
Erin snaps his fingers, but nothing changed." There, as of now, some idiot stormed the castle, dethroned the Princess and ruled for a mere thirty seconds before the princess's younger sister returned from her quest and, using their combined alicorn power, dethroned you, I mean the idiot, and sent the idiot and her sister to work as maids in the castle they tried to take. Now, your second wish, please."
"What?!" Tricky explodes. "That's not fair!"
"Ah-ah-ah." Erin wags his finger at the boiling mare. "You said was. And so you were, for thirty seconds. But don't worry, it'll be in the history books for future generations to mock you. Doesn't that sound fun?"
"NO!"
"Hmmpf, I'll be laughing. Now, your second wish if you may."
Tricky growls in frustration, but eventually succumbs to his cool demeanor. She knows, now, what game Erin plays, and she thinks she can get the better of him, or at least get him to comply long enough to get what she wants. "Okay, I'm going to make this as specific as possible."
"Hey, hey, now were talkin'"
But Tricky ignores him. "I wish to become, this second, an alicorn far stronger than Celestia and Luna combined."
"Wait, the Celestia and Luna? Are they still in charge around here?"
"Yeah, how could you not know? You just made a wish where I dethroned them for thirty seconds." Tricky chews over the last part of her sentence with distaste.
"I know, I just like to spice things up a bit. Immortality is boring. Anyway, I hate their guts--" Erin ruffles Tricky's mane "--telling me that my wishes will throw the world off balance. But what they don't know is I do what I want, so one powerful alicorn coming right up."
Tricky's smile grows as wide as a crescent moon as Erin snaps his fingers and brings forth the new alicorn of the land: Tricky Lulamoon. Her new body glows in surreal light, and she feels her power grow and grow and grow. It doesn't seem to stop growing. And she laughs maniacally all the while.
"Well, it looks like I'm done here."
Tricky's laughter stops abruptly. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that was my millionth wish done and over with." Erin snaps his fingers and makes two full suitcases appear. "So, um, good luck with the alicorn thing. Send the Princesses my regards, and stay away from that urn. Like now."
Tricky turns to see the urn as its color drains away, leaving a white, flawless surface. Suddenly, it flies midair and "looks" around the room. It "sees Tricky and flies at her at a devilish speed. "No," she says, grabbing the urn in midflight with her alicorn magic. "Her." She directs the urn at Trixie, who is staring at everything in a haze.
Tricky lets go of the urn, and it flies at Trixie, hitting her dead-straight on her forehead. White smoke bursts from the mouth of the urn and envelopes Trixie, turning blue as she still tries to figure out what is going on. She vanishes with the blue smoke into the urn. The urn falls and shakes on the ground as if it is struggling to keep Trixie inside. It eventually stops and turns blue, branding itself with Trixie's cutie mark.
Erin walks to it and places it in the pedestal that was suppose to be for him. "The urn always needs a host," he says to no one, or no pony, in particular. He turns to Tricky. "What are you still doing here? Go tell the Princesses that Erin says hello. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have a world to rebuild." In a puff of smoke, he disappears.
Tricky smiles, already plotting exactly how to destroy the regime of the sun and moon. Trixie, on the other hoof, is lost within the dark emptiness of the urn. She feels nothing, but the sweet sense of only her own mind. Now that she can think clearly, one name stands out in her thoughts and her mouth. "TRICKY!!!" she yells, but no pony can hear her.
A blaring red 1,000,000 casts Trixie, who is floating in a void, in red herself, turning her coat a shade of purple, almost lavender. She is curled up in a ball trying to avoid seeing the only thing visible in her prison. After hours of floating endlessly in nothing and trying to figure out what the number means, all she wants is to forget everything. But how can she? Her sister's betrayal (which she probably should have saw coming), the genie--or djinn--who gave her this new ability, and this urn who ate her. All of it is... just... not... fair. Why her?
No matter how many times she tries to answer that question, the answer is always unsatisfying. Is it punishment for all the wrong she has done? Or just terrible circumstances coming down on her? It can't be all coincidence. And it only makes her wonder if some higher power is at play here. He or she or it is only having fun with the world he or she or it possibly created. And all Trixie is is somepony else's entertainment.
"What a terrible existence..." she mumbles to herself.
"And what, pray tell, is a satisfying existence?" a voice asks, sounding deep and full of experience.
"Who's there?" Trixie calls out. She doesn't know whether to feel happy that she isn't alone in here or afraid about this new presence who is probably responsible for her current situation.
"No one is here. Existence is a lie. How can anything exist when time has no starting point? We can always go back in time, but we will never reach the end. There is no start, and yet, we are conscious of an end--our end. With no start, but an existing end, how can we possibly exist in this paradox?"
"Huh?..." is the only thing Trixie can think of saying.
"And here I thought I would be able to have a substantial conversation with my new host. Oh, these next 1,000,000 wishes are going to be quite dull, quite dull indeed."
"What's going on? Who are you?"
"My name is Ure. I will be your keeper until you complete the task entrusted to you."
Trixie scoffs. "Entrusted?! I was forced here!"
"Entrusted. Forced. What difference does it make?"
"It's a big difference!" Trixie swipes her hoof angrily at nothing.
"Not to me. To me, you are simply another fool dragged into this scheme planned out long ago by some all powerful entity. You and I are nothing but pawns, with the universe being the chess board."
Trixie's anger abates somewhat, which is apparent in her voice. "So, you're stuck here too?"
"Oh no, I was there when he made this plan. It was my idea to begin with."
Trixie's face flushes red with fury, but she calms down. Because she knows she can't win against a power far beyond her own understanding. "What is this great plan, then?" she asks to try and get this over with as quickly as possible; though, 1 million wishes sounds time consuming as is.
"You will grant 1 million wishes and hope the planet you're stationed on will not tear itself apart. If it does, then we--if you haven't granted your million wishes by then--will move on to the next planet, then the next, then the next."
"What kind of crazy plan is that?!" Trixie's anger boils over. She already hurt enough ponies, and now, she is being forced to hurt more. Worse yet, help them hurt each other.
"It's worked thus far. That boy, Erin. His planet was full of selfish people, greed and lust were as common as disease. Now, they are nothing but stardust. I am--or rather, we are--the great equalizer. We go about destroying planets who cannot contain their selfish desires to themselves. Those who think of only themselves don't deserve the life that was so selflessly given to them."
Trixie feels small. The way Ure talks, he talks of things greater than herself. Again, she has no choice but to comply. There is no way she can understand what is at stake here, because it was all planned out a long time ago on a universal scale.
"Don't feel bad," Ure says. "What you have to do is simple enough. There are just three rules you have to follow. You can't grant more than three wishes to a single master, you can't give life to the dead or take it from the living, and you can't tamper with a heart no matter how corrupt it is. After you have done your job, I will release you. Simple."
Trixie sighs. "Okay..."
The game is set, and it's time for the player to move his pawn. Though, the purpose of the pawn is to make way for a more powerful piece. Trixie can only imagine what fate her game master has for her. And this only makes her ego she spent so long building on the stage come crashing down. She is not as Great and Powerful as she thought to be.
The artifact room, just as Trixie and Tricky last left it. Since Trixie's imprisonment, no pony has gone in, not even Celestia and Luna. But, today, somepony has the audacity to break into the castle himself--with a team of course--and take a certain object that will hopefully improve his life for the better. But the taking of said object has proved a far more complicated ordeal than previously thought by the team of two pegasi, a unicorn, and an earth pony.
The earth pony--a colt of dark silver with a mustard yellow mane--steps up to a pedestal displaying a blue urn. He squints to see if it is indeed what he is seeking, more so with his left eye, which a scar--starting at his temple--runs through it and ends near his chin. He confirms that behind the dirty glass is in fact the object that has changed the world and can change it again.
With a practiced hoof, he takes a glass cutter with some magical runes inscribed on them and cuts the glass. Carefully, he grabs the urn and pulls it out the hole he cut. A desperate smile creeps up on him. It's as if he waited so long for this one moment. And everything he has worked for will finally pay off.
Like a delicate flower that can shatter at the slightest provocation, he rubs the urn to summon the being trapped inside. The urn shakes and blows its topper off, expelling a blue smoke that spills onto the ground in copious amounts. Slowly, the cloud takes the shape of a pony--a unicorn. First horn, then head, then body. Her mane is the last to materialize as the smoke she came from dissipates. Around her legs are gold bands and her horn is topped off with a gold tip--it's the uniform she will wear for the duration of her servitude (a courtesy of Ure.)
She gasps as if she has been holding her breath for the entire time she was in the urn. Her new look (the bands and head dress) are the first thing she notices. The second is the devilish smile of the colt who summoned her, and behind him, a blob of pitch black ooze engulfing some ponies. The only visible features that proves there are ponies in there are some legs, wings, and a horn protruding out from the mass.
More and more of the ooze spills out from the surrounding pedestals, completely ignoring the colt and attacking the ponies screaming and kicking within the bigger blob. Unflinchingly, the colt steps up to Trixie, smiling all the more as he gets closer. "Are you the genie who gave Tricky her power?" he asks.
Trixie opens her mouth to reply when a torrent of voices floods her ears. Thoughts and images race within her skull. Not again she thinks to herself before a foreign thought chases her mentality away, numbing her senses. The colt repeats his question--or at least Trixie thinks he did after reading his lips--but Trixie doesn't hear a thing. She tries counting to three like Erin instructed her to do. It helps focus her mind a bit, but the thoughts continue their onslaught. So she tries counting higher than three. With each passing number, her mind gains more clarity as she focuses all her thoughts on counting the next number, then the next. As she reaches twenty-five, the voices are nothing but a whisper in her ear. The images become fading afterimages.
"Do I really have twenty-five wishes?" the colt asks excitedly but confused.
"What?" Trixie asks, which makes the voices in her head louder since she stops counting. Refocusing her mind on twenty-six, then twenty seven, she continues counting in her head instead of out loud this time. "No, no"--twenty-eight--"you only get three wishes. Do you know what you want? Maybe you should consider saving your friends there." Trixie looks over him at what is left of the ponies, which isn't much.
"They aren't my friends. They're simply hired hooves I needed to pull this off. And I don't want to waste a single wish on them when I have something more important in mind."
Trixie sighs. "Very well, let's get this over with."
The colt laughs, which makes Trixie question his intentions. "Excellent, I wish Tricky was never born."
"So do I," Trixie responds, "but I can't take a life."
"What?!" The colts exclaims in disbelief. "Do you have any idea what she has done to Equestria while in power? Make an exception!"
"I can't."
"Why not?!" The colt screams into Trixie's face.
"Because..." She trails off. That's a good question. Why can't she break the rules? "Fine, so you have wished it, so it shall be."
The colt steps back. "Really?"
Trixie responds with a devilish smile of her own and gets to work. Pouring all her magical energy into her master's words, she casts the spell to make them a reality. She feels tons and tons of energy being drained from her magical reservoir, but simultaneously, she feels an outside force filling in the amount she is losing. So much energy is being used up in this wish, but Trixie doesn't feel its recoil. She doesn't feel tired; in fact, she feels she can go on forever, cast any spell she desires without fear of magical backlash.
After what seems like ages, the spell announces its completion by cutting itself off from Trixie's seemingly endless reserves of magic. Her horn sizzles in the air; she can practically feel the heat from her horn all the way down her face and down part of her neck. If she cast a similar spell under normal circumstances (with her not being a genie) the spell would have definitely killed her.
"There," she says, smiling all the while--though, not at stopping her sister's existence, but at the feat she has just accomplished without it fatally hurting her. But... something is wrong. The colt--everything--stopped moving as if somepony pressed pause on reality.
"Congratulations," Ure's voice echoes within Trixie's skull, and no amount of counting is chasing him away. "You created your first paradox."
"What?" Trixie asks out loud and in her head, unsure which voice Ure can actually hear.
"If it wasn't for your sister, you would have never become a djinn. If you never became a djinn, you never could have granted this wish. See where I'm going with this? Please say yes; I hate repeating myself. And I already have to repeat that boring list of rules to every one of my hosts."
"I'm not an idiot!" Trixie retaliates, almost hitting the immobile colt in front of her as she swings her hoof at where she thinks Ure is talking from.
"Opinions may vary. But at least you understand what you have done. I will fix this paradox and any paradox you may cause in the future, but please be careful. Time traveling wishes are not against the rules, but fixing a paradox is hectic to say the least. And I thought I didn't have to teach you how to grant wishes since you are a magic user from birth, but that spell was so ill-formed." Ure sighs. "You used way too much magic than needed."
"What do you mean ill-formed?! I cast that perfectly!"
"But it was only a spell you heard of but never really done in practice since it will end in your demise, am I correct?"
"Yeah, but--"
"Nevertheless, I will teach you spells you could not otherwise practice without me supplying you my magic. Of course, my magic is perpetual, but I'd rather have you rely on your magic than mine. After all, you will not be my host forever."
"Hmmpf." Trixie sits down. "Why the sudden compassion? I thought you were here to destroy us."
"No, no, no, I am here to help, to teach. If your planet can survive my trial, then it is worthy of continuing its existence. I am only here to purge the weak: the ones who fall victim to their selfish wants, their--how you say--undisclosed desires."
Trixie gets up with renewed vigor. From her experiences, she knows there are ponies who actually think of others than themselves. She can safely say she is not among one of them, but she has met ponies who are. All she can do now is hope Equestria will adhere to its standard of love and tolerate. "Okay," she says, "undo my wish. Let's try this again."
A blaring red 1,001,000 casts Trixie in a shade of red, turning her coat pur--... Wait... Trixie looks at the number. 1,001,000... That's definitly more than a million. But Trixie isn't sure. Though, no matter how many times she looks away and back, the number doesn't change, either in what it is nor what it means. There's no doubt about it. 1,000 has been added to her count.
"URE!!!" Trixie screams into the void.
"Yes?" comes the reply from an ambiguous source.
"Why is there 1,000 more wishes added to the million I already have to grant?!"
"You broke a rule. Isn't it obvious?"
"What?!" she shrieks. "But you undid it!"
"That doesn't absolve you from your action. You took your sister's life, which is what caused the paradox I had to fix. It doesn't matter if it never was. You still broke a rule, and there is your consequence."
"But, you didn't tell me anything." Trixie snaps back.
"Excuse me? Are you a foal?"
The question takes Trixie for a surprise. "Um, no. But what does tha--"
"I told you the rules. If you abide to them or not is completely up to you. But don't expect breaking them will result in praise. Every rule broken is another 1,000 added."
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Again, are you a foal? You said so yourself that you are not. Rules are rules, Trixie. I am not going to hold your hoof and tell you where you can and cannot step. Now, prepare yourself. You are being called upon."
"Fine..." Trixie says while jerking her head away from the number laughing in her face. Soon, a white light above Trixie bleaches out her surroundings, and she finds herself in a flurry of blue smoke, then the artifact room. Again, the voices impale her thoughts. Again, she chases them away with more numbers. Again, this idiot of a colt stands before her, looking for some kind of release from whatever Tricky has done to him--or the world.
"Let me guess--you wish Tricky was never born, correct?" Trixie says before the colt has a chance to talk.
"H-how did you know?" The colt says, astounded by what might possibly be the most powerful being in Equestria--and his hope at stopping Tricky.
Trixie flips her mane in a rather boastful manner. With pride, she says, "I can read minds," as if that very skill alone makes her better than everypony else. But--at saying it--a realization hits her. She can read minds! This colt, the ponies he hired, and Tricky... She has the ability see it all through her master's mind.
For a moment, she stops counting in her mind and focuses on the colt's face--but, beyond that, his mind. Other thoughts interfere at first: the thoughts of the ponies trapped in the ooze. One is desperately praying to whatever deity is out there to rescue her, while another is thinking that he'll never see his sister again and that he couldn't avenge his parent's deaths, while the last one is thinking that it's oddly warm in here. That the ooze feels nice, though that's probably his mind deteriorating as the ooze does its job.
Trixie forcefully pushes those thoughts out and refocuses on the colt in front of her. First, she hears a foal crying. There's a crib in the darkness. No, not darkness... a blanket. Soft, warm, smells familiar. No, it isn't familiar but the colt's own nostalgia flowing into Trixie.
Then, there's a light. Somepony lifts the blankets. A mare with a silky red mane. The colors around her blur; they're misshapen by the colt's narrow-mindedness. His only focus is on the mare. A smell, acrid, burning, a fire is nearby. A large fire. The warmth is getting more intense.
Trixie tries hard to focus on finer details, but the memories are so broken, so faded.
A sweet voice drips into the colt's ears. Inaudible but they soothe him, and he stops crying... Gentle hooves pick him up and a bright light blinds him... He cries again, wishing for the lights to be gone. Instead, a crackling sound, like burning wood, greets him next. There's that voice again, but, this time, it is as clear as day, "Everything is going to be alright."
The colt takes it in blissfully, but Trixie can sense--in the mare's voice--uncertainty. More crackling and more light... so much light... too much light. Suddenly, a darkness falls. A hole in the memory.
A jolt wakes the colt. Mud splashes in his face, causing him to cry once more... The shushing of a mother tries to calm him--but it's the mare, not his mom. Though, by now the colt accepted her as his mom. He tries to stop crying for her, but the mud stinks at his eyes. Again, the motherly touch... He feels a gentle hoof brush his face.
A terrible roar pierces his ears... Just stop, make it stop... Wind rushes pass his ears, and the huffing of a running mare with the monotonous motion of galloping crash against his senses... His head bobs up and down which knocks some of the mud off his face... An alicorn, blue, laughing as the sun and moon spiral around in the sky, tearing themselves apart... And beasts... demons of all sorts roam around a castle, doing whatever they want under their new queen...
Again... the voice says...
"Everything is going to be alright."
Again... Trixie doesn't believe her.
She pulls out of the colt's mind to see him crying. Soon, she notices her own eyes are tearing up as well. The memories were more than just moving pictures, they were the colt's actual emotions, which she forcefully brought up after he tried so hard to bury them.
"Wh-what did you do to me?" asks the tearful colt, rubbing his eyes all the while.
"I'm so sorry," comes Trixie's reply hardly above a whisper. "How can I serve you? Tell me your wish so I may make it so."
A flowing slurry of emotions slowly drains out of Trixie. The memories she had uncovered from the colt fade away from her consciousness like a fleeting dream and she is finally waking up. (Speaking of which...)
Awkwardly, she rubs away her tears, unsure of why she cried in the first place. She has no special attachment to her new master, but, rather, linked to his inner turmoil and experienced it for herself. It was more than just reading his mind.
Clearing her throat, and straightening her mane, she looks at the colt who is doing the same. "What's your name?" she asks.
"Silver Streak... heh, I thought I forgot all that. It happened so long ago. I don't know whether to thank you or smash your urn."
"He can try..." Ure says to Trixie who is the only pony that can really hear him.
Silver Streak continues, "But you reminded me of why I am fighting... You ready to take my wish?"
"I suppose," says Trixie standing to her hooves, "but I can't take Tricky's life like you want me to. Why not wish for Tricky's alicorn powers to be stripped away from her?"
"Why can't you kill her?" Silver Streak says while looking at the ooze devouring the other ponies and steps away, either to get a better view or avoid being sucked in himself. No visage can be seen coming out from the ooze, and, with a slight impulse, the black blob begins to shrink, apparently done with its job.
Trixie isn't connected to his mind anymore, but it's obvious they share the same careless attitude toward what used to be ponies but are now emptiness. She flips her mane to get it out of her eyes. "There are three rules: you can't wish for more wishes, you can't wish for death upon another pony or give life to a dead one, and you can't tamper with a heart--"
"You'll see; after your fifth master, these rules will be quite a bore." Ure's voice cuts in.
"--um, yes. Other than that, you can have whatever you want." Trixie walks to the window her urn was under. Besides, the new hole in the glass casing on the pedestal that was holding her urn, not much has changed inside the artifact room, if the collecting dust is ignored which is dark enough to count as dirt. Outside is a different matter.
"Uh, Silver Streak?" Trixie asks.
"Huh, what?" Silver snaps out of his thoughts.
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-two, why?"
"What?!" Those memories... in those memories, Silver Streak was only a foal. If Tricky took over Equestria during his foalhood, that means thirty-two years have already passed while Trixie was in the urn. But she didn't feel even a day pass in there. It felt more like, at most, half an hour.
"You seemed surprised," Ure says.
"What's going on? What did you do, Ure?!" Trixie screams out.
Silver raises his brow at Trixie. "Um, who's Ure?"
"Me? Not a thing," Ure continues talking to Trixie. "Unless you count controlling time as something; in that case, I did something."
"Why would you do that?" Trixie steps away from the wasteland just outside the window.
"Merely to speed up your servitude. You don't want to be here, and your intelligence is below desirable levels, so I can't hope to ever have a decent conversation with you. And, so far in, all you do is yell."
"That's not true!"
"Ah, yes. It must be some other voice in my head, but, you know what, I don't have a head. So it must be you. But don't take it as a bad thing; you're only a stage magician. You need to have presence. Ponies need to know you are there. But you stopped saying your name. Is it because you aren't on stage? Or because you don't know who you are after having your sister manipulate you, and, ultimately, imprisoning you?"
Trixie gasps. "Did you go through my memories?"
"Do the math: one million wishes is about 333,333 masters. It took you thirty-two years to get your first master. If I can't have a conversation with you that will entertain me, I have to find another outlet for my boredom. It's too bad you were only eighteen at the time of your djinnification. I've already went through your lifetime a dozen times over. So, now I'm going through the memories of ponies you've met. So far all of them are--boring. Except for this one pink one. Her mind is so... intricate. There is always something new in there."
Trixie slumps down on the floor after doing some math. "Won't I die before I grant even one hundred wishes?"
"Please, I've made you immortal. You're welcome."
"I don't want to outlive everypony I know?!" Trixie yells at the air in front of her.
"You already did--except for Tricky."
"What..." Trixie sheepishly says.
"But, you won't stay immortal forever. I'll take it back, and your wish-granting capabilities, once you finish your servitude. Again, you're welcome."
"Am I missing something here?" asks Silver Streak up against a wall.
"Tend to your master," says Ure. "He already thinks you're crazy, and you have some wishes to grant."
"I-I can't..." says Trixie. "Everypony... dead? Why bother... with anything?..."
Silver Streak stomps on the cold ground causing a clacking sound to hit the walls with full force. "No! Don't give up! I finally have a chance to fix everything."
"Fine," Trixie says somberly. "You want Tricky to lose her power, just say the word. It won't change a thing. Not for me anyway."
Silver smiles, but his muscles are still tense, unsure of the sanity of his genie. "I wish Tricky isn't an alicorn anymore."
Almost unconsciously, Trixie lets loose her magic and grants the wish. A burst of light as bright as a dying sun explodes outside, illuminating everything inside the artifact room until white is the only visible thing. And, just as fast, the light vanishes. Trixie sighs. "One fallen alicorn, ready for the pit. If you need anything else, just do whatever you did to get me out the first time."
Silver, from his wide smile, looks back at Trixie. "I rubbed your urn."
"Whatever..." And Trixie disappears, turning into smoke and running into her urn.
The number, still a miserable red, reads 1,000,999.
"Trixie?" asks Ure.
"What?"
"There's a reason why time-traveling wishes are not against the rules. There are ways to go back in time without causing a paradox."
"How?..."
"What fun is that? Figure it out for yourself, you have plenty of time to do it."
Trixie sighs again. "Great... I thought you were here to help."
"I am. You, and every master you will have, need to learn that to get what you want, you need to work for it. Not have some magical being, or anyone, do it for you. But, while working for it, you have to really question: Is it worth it? Will, not only I, but everyone--or everypony in your case--benefit from this? When the answer is yes, the desire becomes a mission, a goal to strive for which will end up bettering you as a person--pony in your case--and make the world easier to live in.
"I plant the seed that there is an all-powerful being that will grant any wish. The weak will be destroyed--Tricky--and the strong, those who work to get what they want--Silver Streak--will carry on."
Trixie looks up at the number. "So, there is a way to fix all this?"
"I'm not going to give you the answer. Simply, look for it. But I'll give you a courtesy. Before you have to grant your second wish, I'll show you have to control how fast time passes in this urn. That'll give you a better understanding on how time works. And, one other thing. You should go back to that third person persona you had going. It was rather amusing, and it will certainly help you manage the stupidity you will deal with in future masters if you treat your servitude like one of your shows."
"Time", says Ure, "is the movement of space around the universe. As space moves forward--well, in a spiral around its focal point--everything in it ages. This urn is a pocket of space separate from the universe. So, by controlling its spin, time will move faster or slower according to your will. The spell to do so is simple though if the pocket of space is bigger, it'll take more energy naturally. Simply, focus on the focal point of the space you want to age, then turn it around that point."
"Okay," says Trixie with her horn glowing and sparking, "Trixie will give it a shot."
"Oh, one more thing. If you try to turn it backwards, the space around the space you are trying to turn will jar up. Think of it as a gear trying to go against other gears."
"You think the Great and Powerful Trixie is a simpleton? There's nothing Trixie can't do."
A deep-throated chuckle escapes Ure. "Very well, continue."
With a smile, she releases her magic and attaches it to the very fabric of space. With it securely fastened, Trixie begins to turn it--slowly. There is no immediate change, but Trixie knows just outside her urn time is moving really fast--she can feel it move after all.
Satisfied of where time is, Trixie stops her spell. She sighs, obviously proud of completing the task without Ure's help. "See, Trixie did not lie."
"No, you did not. The next lesson will be altering space directly. But for now, your master calls upon you."
Trixie's smile doesn't disappear as the urn's light cloaks her and expunges her from its bowels. Behind the flurry of smoke--as she materializes--voices can be heard interweaving through the flurry. Only one is familiar, the one she shared memories with.
Trixie appears in a what looks like a tent but is much larger. Towards the end is a large desk seating three ponies drowning in their own wrinkles. Behing her is her master, Silver Streak.
"So this is the all-powerful genie. She doesn't seem like much." A brown earth mare rubs her eye glass to get a better look at Trixie.
"Hmm, yes," says her neighbor--a stallion of dark blue mane and cyan pelt, "she is rather young-looking. She isn't even an alicorn. How do we know she can take down the Great and Powerful Tricky?"
"What?!" says Trixie. "That's my line!"
"Quiet! We will get to you soon." The leftmost mare spits at her, her white mane curling as she does.
"Excuse me!" taunts Trixie. "But some old hags and graying stallions will not order Trixie around. Trixie should just turn you all to ash right now. It'll be much more merciful than what time is doing to you."
"Trixie, please," says Silver Streak. "The elders are the leaders of this village. Don't anger them more than you already have."
Trixie snaps the tip of her mane at the elders as she turns to her master. "What did Trixie do? Trixie has never met these old fools."
Silver looks down at his hooves. "I-It wasn't so much you, but the wish you granted me."
"So this is your fault," says Trixie.
Silver sighs. "Yes..."
"Than why is Trixie the center of their anger--don't get Trixie wrong, it's only befitting for Trixie to get attention, but this is not the attention she deserves."
"Young lady," says the white maned mare. "We will not have this kind of attitude in our village!"
Trixie tilts her head at her. "I'd like to see you stop the Great and Powerful Trixie. Now that's better than Tricky," says Trixie, putting extra disgust in her sister's name.
The elder mare stands to her hooves so fast, her chair flies off behind her, which surprises Trixie. She didn't expect the mare to have that much strength.
The last pony who hasn't spoken yet--a black stallion with a snowy mane--lifts his hoof at the elder mare. "Easy Agnes," he says. "The great one approaches. She'll know what to do with--this." He notions to Trixie.
Trixie rolls her eyes at him, but soon freezes at a very, very familiar voice. And she knows now why she shut her up all that time ago in Ponyville.
"Trixie?!" A wrinkly, pink earth mare walks in, her mane straight but quickly springs to life, which surprises everypony in the room, including Trixie. "It's me! Pinkie Pie!"
"How you've been?" Pinkie shrills, which shouldn't be possible at a mare her age.
Trixie looks around at the tent. "Apparently, better than you have."
"I'll say," says Pinkie as she gingerly steps up to Trixie. "Your face is so smooth." She puts her hooves on Trixie's face and plays around with her cheeks as if they are something she can mold to her liking but rejoices in the fact that they just spring back into place.
Trixie on the other hoof is not amused. "Please stop that," she says with a straight face.
"Uh, Elder Pie?" asks the black stallion. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, Shadowforth, I'm better than alright! This is my friend, Trixie. I know, we should throw a party! Haven't had one of those in a while." Pinkie chortles.
"A what?" asks Shadowforth.
"We're friends?" Trixie steps away from Pinkie, just out of her reach.
"A party, silly. And, yeah--" Pinkie tries to touch Trixie again "--don't you remember that time in Ponyville? You enslaved us all and got Twilight kicked out of town."
"And we're friends? Because of that?" Trixie asks as she continues to step back out of Pinkie's reach. Finally, when Trixie reaches the end of the tent, she magically grabs Pinkie's fore hooves and holds them high in the air, so she is dangling; but, strangely, Pinkie is still smiling.
Everypony in the room get to their hooves to protect their leader, but Pinkie calms them down. "It's alright, everypony," she says. "Of course we're friends, Trixie. I have to keep some memories alive. The less painful ones at least."
Trixie is speechless. For once in her life, the performer is speechless. She lets Pinkie down, carefully letting all four of her hooves touch the ground. "I-I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's not your fault. It's all just soft water--like your face. How did you keep it like this for all these years?" Pinkie continues rubbing Trixie's cheek as if there is no way she can ever get tired of examining them.
Trixie doesn't react and lets Pinkie do as she pleases; meanwhile, inside she is repeating one statement over and over again: "But it is my fault."
"Life, death, what does it all matter? We live to die. What happens in between is ultimately pointless."
"Wow, you're all kinds of darkness. No wonder you chose demons to rule over. But you do know Hades always gets the upper hand in the end, Tricky."
"That's why you're here, Erin. For insurance."
"Yeah, yeah, but there's only so much I can do. Hey, you want a drink, cuz I can really go for some cider right now."
"I'm not thirsty."
"You're off today. Did a parasprite go up your nose or something?"
"I lost my wings, and I didn't feel sad... That makes me wonder--is this really all worth it?"
"Hey, I wanted to rebuild my world. But when I was half way done, I figured it wasn't worth it, so I destroyed it and came back here. So, to answer your question, no--it isn't worth it. Nothing is worth it."
"Thanks, you're so much help."
"Aim to please, my Queen."
"Whatever... just go prepare for the invasion of the Sky Fortress."
"Aight, you're the boss--but only because I let you. And hey, just because we live to die, that doesn't mean there has to be nothing in between. Be happy, even if it's for a little bit."
"Just... go..."
"So that's a no on the cider? I'm just gonna bring you some anyways."
"Also, I asked for three marsh mellows in my hot chocolate, and you know what they gave me? Four! Can you believe that?! Four! Everypony knows that three marsh mellows is just the right amount to react with the chocolate in order to create the perfect the burst of the chocolaty-gooey goodness. But, I know Pound Cake tries his best, so I let him off easy--BUT not too easy."
It's been half an hour since Pinkie took Trixie aside and started blabbering on, and the council have done nothing to stop her. They can't. Nopony can. Pinkie is talking too fast to let anypony else in the conversation--if it can even be called a conversation. Not even Trixie can squeeze in a word, though she has tried but gave up knowing that it is futile.
"Ooh, speaking of hot air balloons, I saw the greatest thing the other day. So there I was, taking my usual stroll around Creamluck's garden when I saw a yellow balloon floating by. But, it wasn't any ordinary, yellow balloon. Oh no, this balloon is the same balloon I let go at Rainbow Dash's last birthday party. She always did like to see all the colorful balloons fly away in the wind... yeah..." Pinkie sighs, giving Trixie an opportunity to finally say something, but Shadowforth cuts her off at mid-breath.
"Elder Pie, if you don't mind, we have some issues to discuss."
"Oh, Shadowforth," Pinkie swipes her hoof in his direction, "you and your issues."
"Elder Pie," Agnes cuts in after staying quiet, "we are in grave danger thanks to this buffoon's attempt to topple the queen--"
"Wait," Pinkie looks at Silver Streak, "he isn't a baboon. He doesn't even have a witty personality or a fancy hat."
Agnes' face scrunches up into a look of confusion mixed with distaste. The entire room turns quiet, and nopony reacts.
Then, Pinkie bursts out laughing with a snort in the middle. "Sorry, the voice in my head just said something really funny."
"Excuse me?" asks Agnes.
"Oh, nothing. Hey, Trixie," Pinkie turns her attention to her, "Pound Cake has this new flavor for ice cream you just have to try. And on the way to his shop, I can show you around since I'm sure nopony here has done." She glares at the council.
After a few seconds of this stare off, Pinkie returns to Trixie and says, "Come on," then she trots outside of the tent.
Trixie, on the other hoof, doesn't react and stands motionless unsure of what to do. The council begin to murmur among themselves, causing Silver Streak to fidget when he hears them whisper his name. A pony's breathing grabs Trixie's attention, and she jumps when she sees Pinkie standing right beside her.
"You coming?" she asks Trixie.
The council members abruptly stop their whispered discussion at Pinkie's phantom reappearance. Trixie looks at the council then at Pinkie Pie. Out of all the ponies in the room, Pinkie is the only one who doesn't seem to understand how important this meeting is. Even Trixie--who isn't entirely sure what's going on, or why she's here--feels like what the council decides will change the life of somepony, and she hopes that somepony in not her.
"Well?" Pinkie asks waiting for a response.
One of the council member's answers in Trixie's stead. "She'd be happy to."
Trixie turns to see Shadowforth ushering her away with a simple wave of his hoof and a very disappointed expression on his face. And Pinkie takes that as a golden pass, so she grabs Trixie by the hoof and pulls her outside.
The first thing to hit Trixie upon opening the flap of the tent--which is surprisingly stiff--is a strong wind. It stings her eyes, forcing her to shield them with her hoof while still trying to follow Pinkie.
"Don't cover your eyes," Pinkie says. "How else are you going to see this amazing view?"
At her remark, Trixie removes her hoof and squints at the wind. Before her is a large green pasture spanning well out of sight. A few trees sprout here and there with colorful flowers dropping petals into the wind, creating a veil of flower petals riding the wind, coloring it in hues of bright yellow, cool blue, and red. Above, dark clouds outlined in a deathly red race across the sky, looking like a malevolent sea of murky haze in a hurricane. But, despite the horrid weather, ponies of all kinds dot the landscape, each enjoying each others company. Many are flying kites, playing some sort of ball game and enjoying a picnic at stone tables set about every square mile or so.
"And there's the city." Pinkie points at something behind Trixie.
Trixie turns around and sees tall skyscrapers scratching at the dirty sky. But they are so tall and so many of them that they are not just scratching but ripping and shredding the sky.
Trixie looks back at the ponies playing out in the park and notices something peculiar. "Where are all the pegasi and unicorn?" she curiously asks Pinkie who is picking a dandelion flower.
"Sad story, really," she begins nonchalantly. "Queen Tricky decided she was the only one fit to use magic and fly, so she sent her monsters to kill everything and everypony that could. If you want to see a pegasus or a unicorn now a days, you'll have to look in the city. There are only a few of them left." Pinkie then takes a bite of the flower and drops the stem.
"Wh-what about this Rainbow Dash pony? Where is she?"
"Gone."
"But Trixie remembers you say something about her birthday party."
Pinkie picks another Dandelion, but, instead of eating eat, she examines the yellow flower as if it is a priceless gem. "That was ten years ago."
Trixie's face softens into one of remorse. "Then why is everypony here look so happy if Equestria is so broken?"
Pinkie Pie places the flower she picked on the pasture, allowing the wind to rip it away from the grassy embrace. Once it is but a mere speck in the distance, Pinkie sighs then says, "Happiness is hard to come by, so everypony here learned to enjoy the little things whether it is flying a kite under a dying sky or chasing a random balloon that reminds you of a fond memory of one of my closest friends."
Trixie looks down at the gold bands set around her hooves.
She never had a friend, and the only pony she was ever close to abandoned her for the pursuit of power. It makes her wonder how differently things would have turned out if she never went to Canterlot to stop her sister, or if she never saved her--or attempted to save her--from the black goop consuming Tricky.
"Yeah..." Pinkie says in a long, distant tone.
"What?" Trixie responds.
"Nothing. So!" Pinkie springs back. "How would like to meet a real life time traveler?"
Ignoring the randomness of the question, Trixie mindlessly says, "Sure." After such a spirit-draining conversation, Pinkie's upbeat attitude is a nice refresher, and that's something Trixie doesn't want to see falter. But it was a really random question, so Trixie recollects her thoughts and asks, "why?"
To which, Pinkie's reply is, "Because the voice in my head told me you'd be very interested in talking with a time traveler."
"Voice in your head?" Trixie whispers to herself. Her eyes widen at a realization, though she quickly closes them and rubs them with her hoof after the wind dries them surprisingly fast. "You've been talking with Ure all this time?" Trixie asks with one eye open.
Pinkie begins to walk towards the city and says, "Uh-huh," nodding while she said it. "He also said that Shadowforth has a thing for me which I find funny."
"Why is that?" Trixie asks as she catches up to Pinkie Pie.
"Cuz, that 'thing' is chocolate cake for my birthday tomorrow. He was going to throw me a surprise party and was hoping that it'll make me happy enough to make my mane curl. Nopony has ever been able to do that since Rainbow's last party, so when he saw that you did it without even trying--first off, he hates you--second, he ran many scenarios in is mind to make me even happier than you did. But that reminded him of a time when he tried to throw a party for this other mare when he was younger and--"
Pinkie goes on and on, and Trixie listens. They continue walking towards the city which takes a while to get to since the park doesn't end for another quarter mile.
But once Trixie's hooves meet pavement, the whole atmosphere changes. The skyscrapers are much, much bigger up close, and there are less ponies in the city than the park. Moreover, these ponies walk around with their heads held low and with no particular destination in mind.
Trixie expected the streets to be bustling with activity--with ponies with things to do and places to be--but the council were much livelier than this.
A few ponies perk up slightly when they her Pinkie's energetic voice, but they remain on their aimless walk. Pinkie turns a corner and Trixie mindlessly follows. They go deeper into the city which does not change much from the outskirts. Ponies are still scarce and sad, the skyscrapers are overbearing as they watch the tiny ponies below make their way to nowhere.
After a decent walk, Pinkie does one final turn and stops in front of a large dome structure. It's walls are a light gray and hold a square opening every few feet midway between the ground and glass dome lying on top of them. Flashes of light beam through the glass and the openings of the structure, and the sound of crackling electricity resonates from within.
There is no visible door, but Pinkie walks to the nearest wall as if there is one. Right as she is about to hit the wall with her muzzle, a rectangular seam appears as a panel slides inwards then left to reveal a doorway.
Light continue to flash as follows Pinkie Pie inside to meet this "time traveler" Pinkie mentioned. she steps into the dark interior, and the panel closes behind her.
A light brown earth pony colt is bent over an exposed electrical panel with many fuses, circuit breakers and the like. He moves some wires out of the way and waves this strange pen-like device with a bluish glow at the end of it over a sparking circuit board causing it to stop sparking.
Next to the colt is a light gray pegasus mare with blonde mane, holding a red tool box with her mouth.
"Okay, Ditzy," the colt says with the pen in his mouth. He spits it into his hoof and places it on the white collar he is wearing with a small, red bow tie. "That should do it."
The pegasus places the tool box on the floor and picks up a small round object containing metal rings slowly spinning inside a clear glass casing. "What about this thing, Doctor?" she asks.
"Oh, would you look at that," the Doctor replies in an upbeat tone. "The Oscillating Axion converter, seems I forgot to re-install it. Ha."
Ditzy peers into the object's center as if it's a spyglass. "The Oci- octi- um... I'm just gonna call it the ostrich."
As the Doctor goes about removing some screws with his "pen", he sighs then says, "Ditzy, an ostrich is a flightless bird, and without the OSCILLATING Axion converter, this generator won't be able to draw out the axion waves from the polar frequencies and convert it to power the city uses to stay afloat. Comparing something like that to a flightless bird is a misinterpretation of the concept."
Ditzy cocks her head in confusion. "But... ostriches are fast, and I bet this thing can be just as fast." At that, the pegasus stands on her hind legs and throws the oscillator like a baseball, narrowly making it through one of the windows which leads to a cloudy abyss. "See," she says triumphantly.
The Doctor walks over to the window and gazes through it. All he sees is the round object bounce off a tin railing that encircles the city and dive into a sea of poisonous clouds, disappearing from sight. The sound of hollow wind grazes his ears as he sighs once more.
The sound of an automatic door sliding open draws the Doctor's attention away from the window.
Pinkie is the first to walk through. "Then, he went to retrieve the punch, but Barry drank it all!" She laughs. As she opens her mouth to continue her story, the Doctor calls out.
"Ah, the Great One approaches." He bows.
"Oh, you have to stop calling me that," Pinkie says, rolling her eyes all the while. "It's never going to catch on."
The Doctor raises to his full height, smiles and says, "You'd be surprised." And as if to exemplify surprise, he jumps up with a gasp when he notices Trixie. "Ah, Trixie. Long time, no see. How did that nasty fray with Drath go, hmm? Gave him the what-for no doubt." The Doctor does an underhoof sucker punch in the air.
Though Trixie's response is a mere shake of her head as she asks, "What are you talking about?"
The Doctor stops his imaginary fight and freezes in place as he stares wide-eyed at Trixie, examining every facet of her being. Trixie remains adamant; still expecting an answer, she raises her brow and asks, "Well?"
After a few more moments of silence, the Doctor jolts upright, startling everypony--except Pinkie Pie--as he blurts out, "Ah, time you rascally devil." Then points at Trixie. "You don't have your scar, so you haven't met me, yet. Well, I guess you're meeting me now--so that statement in itself is a bit contradictory. Eating its own tail if you will. No matter." And with a swipe of his hoof, the Doctor turns and heads to the open electrical panel. "Come, Ditzy. You two as well. I'm sure the Great One's visit is not just a mere tour for our guest."
Pinkie smiles, stepping forward and forcing Trixie to follow suit.
"Now," the Doctor continues as he pulls out his strange pen from his collar, "first things first, this generator will stay out of commission until I can appropriate enough tritium to make another converter. That'll be fun; won't it, Ditzy?"
The pegasus, looking out the window, turns around and says, "Sure, Doctor." She passes him a half smile afterwards, apparently realizing what she has done.
With his pen in his mouth, the Doctor screws in four bolts to the panel covering all the wires and circuits he was working on. "Till then, the other six generators will simply have to stay off auto-idle," he mumbles behind his pen. Spitting it out and twirling it around his hoof, he then says, "Sure we run the risk of over-working the machines, but when life gives you lemons, you just go back in time and make sure lemon trees never exist in the first place. Easy as that."
"So you're the time traveler?!" Trixie points at the Doctor. "Wait," she continues, "I get a scar?! Where?! When?!"
"But you can't go back in time," points out Ditzy. "Didn't you lose the TARDIS?"
"And why do you hate lemons?" Pinkie Pie jumps in.
"Umm." The Doctor chews on the questions then says, "Yes, yes, your left eye, sometime around the 20th century, yes, and I don't hate lemons; it was a figure of speech--lemons are quite well complimented with tea."
"Wait, hold on," Trixie says. Her head is swirling with questions making her dizzy. She wants answers but doesn't know where to start.
As if sensing her distress, Pinkie steps forward. "Doctor? Can you teach Trixie how time works?"
"Hmm?" The Doctor snaps away from his thoughts. "Of course I can; I'm the Doctor. Come with me."
Walking away, the Doctor begins to hum a tune; complex at first, involving long notes that seem to have nothing to do with each other, but then it cuts to a series of short notes only to start over.
Trixie follows, her hooves clacking on the hard floor, adding a monotonous beat to the Doctor's tune. The others walk close behind Trixie, supplying additional beats to the rhythm.
Without warning, the Doctor takes in a large gulp of air.
"If you sing, Trixie will hurt you."
"Oh, you're no fun--But very well." The Doctor turns down a hallway.
Along the walls of this hallway are gears--lots and lots of gears of different sizes--behind a plexiglass surface to hold back the oil running throughout the system of gears.
Further down the hall is an opening to a balcony overlooking an expanse of clouds. Around the platform, is a metallic railing scraping against the wall of dark moisture, creating grooves in the passing clouds.
"Now," abruptly says the Doctor with his intoxicating voice, "time works differently in this universe than I am use to but the concept is fairly easy to understand. See these gears?" He motions to them with his hoof. "Well, time is nothing like them--space is. Pockets of space spin and spin around, causing the fluid in between to move. That 'oil' is time. The movement of space makes time move.
"Spaces moves, time moves, simple as that. But you may ask yourself, 'some gears move in the opposite direction; does that mean time travels backwards there?' Well, kind of. I said before this universe is different than the spacetime fabric I'm use to in my universe. Anyway, time has no direction that means forward. Time is what it is. It's very movement makes things age. There is no forward, back, up, or down. It's just movement.
"But to travel through it--time travel--one needs a machine that can swim--so to speak--through the oil. And I have--or rather had--a machine that can do just that."
"The TARDIS?" asks Trixie. "Where is it?"
The Doctor steps out into the balcony. "Um, well... somewhere down there."
Trixie peeks over the railing to see the clouds part and reveal a broken city glowing in a crimson light. Spitfires burn wildly on nearly every corner of the city streets while strange creatures dance around them. It's a horrid sight of chaos and toxicity. But the more Trixie looks at it, the more she recognizes the small bridge running over a black stream, the castle grounds burning in a malevolent fire; there's no doubt about it. This city burning underneath the dead sky is Canterlot.
"Welcome to the edge of the pit," a voice behind Trixie says.
Trixie turns and sees Silverstreak walking up towards the group.
"Hi, Silver." Pinkie waves at him. "How'd the council meeting go?"
Silverstreak stands next to Trixie, his light mane waving gently despite the force of the wind around him. He places his hooves on the railing and says, "The council is voting to kick you off their ranks. The stunt you pulled caused them to question your standing as leader of the Grand Council. So far the only one defending you is Shadowforth."
Pinkie shakes her head. "Let them kick me off. They're hardly any fun to be around anyway. And the only reason I decided to be on the council is to please the Princess."
Silver streak grunts and continues looking at the city below. "Doctor," he says, "if I heard you correctly, your time machine is somewhere in Canterlot, correct?"
"Yes," the Doctor announces enthusiastically. "I left it there when I tried to take down those nasty demons. They're a powerful lot and chased me away, forcing me to leave my TARDIS."
"Did it happen to be a blue box about the size of a phone booth?" Silver asks.
Surprised, the Doctor replies, "y-yes, how do you know?"
"I saw it when I went to go get this urn." He pulls out Trixie's urn from his saddle bag. "It was the only object that looked out of place, but I didn't think much of it because I thought she could fix everything." He gestures to Trixie with a small incline of his head.
Pinkie steps towards Silverstreak and--with concerned tone--she asks, "Silver? What are you planning?"
Silver doesn't respond. Instead he turns to Trixie and says, "Come." Then walks away.
No pony talks. And the only one to move is Trixie. After all, Silver is her master and she must do what he tells her to do.
Trixie catches up to Silver and dares to question his motives. To which his only reply is, "I don't care what happens to this stupid city. I just want some answers, and the only pony who can provide them was killed by the Queen a long time ago. So... I'm sure you can figure out what needs to be done."
"But," Trixie says, "do you even know how to work a time machine? Won't you need the Doctor?"
"She's right," the Doctor yells out as he catches up to them with his assistant, Ditzy, following him. "I'll gladly lend you my assistance with my assistant. Those blasted fiends took my TARDIS, and I want it back. And this time I am ready for them."
"You sure, Doctor?" asks Ditzy. "That's what you said last time."
"Ah, but last time we didn't have an all powerful genie with us," he replies. "We'll stand a much better chance this time. But first, we must visit the Princess. I have no doubt you are powerful, Trixie, but it seems you don't know much about you're new found strength. Ure means well, but he isn't the best teacher. Don't ask me how I know Ure; I'll just end up confusing you with events in time you won't understand until you've experienced them."
Trixie holds her tongue with some difficulty, but she knows the Doctor is right. No matter how many questions she asks, she'll have more than what she started with.
"Now then," the Doctor says, "off to the see the Princess. Hopefully, I am still in good standings with her. My last venture outside the city didn't sit well with her."
All Dreams Must End (Part 1 of 3: Princess Twilight Sparkle)
The path to the Princess's castle is rather straight forward--literally. According to the Doctor, they were at the generator closest to the edge of the city, and the only generator with a straight path to the center of the city where the Princess's abode stands.
But Trixie is confused as to which princess the Doctor referred to. To her knowledge, alicorns are immortal, so both Celestia and Luna are likely candidates. But when she asks who it can be, the Doctor dodges the question by bringing up some pointless fact about how skyscrapers are made or that the streets are paved with a material he made himself that will never wear away.
Trixie tries asking Ditzy once, but all she does is repeat what the Doctor said. And Silverstreak remains oblivious to all except his thoughts. After a while of trying to get some answers, Trixie gives up and stares at the sidewalk as she blindly follows the Doctor's hooves.
"And here is the division separating the city from the Crystal Empire," says the Doctor giddy as if the line itself is a valuable piece of art in a prestigious museum.
Trixie sees the change in the sidewalk from gray and bland to colorful and iridescent. She stares at her reflection as it stares back. Her new get-up is eye catching--gold bands with sapphires--but she misses her hat.
But, more importantly, why is the Crystal Empire here?
Trixie rips her vision away from her stunning reflection and sees a dazzling view. As far as the eye can see is crystal. The buildings, the roads, even the few ponies crossing the streets.
What more, these ponies seem happier than the ones in the city. Each brave enough to pass a friendly greeting, even smile--their crystalline coats shimmering every time they do so.
Wide-eyed and jaw to the floor, Trixie mumbles, "How is this possible?" She only ever heard about the Crystal Empire, but she sure of one thing: it's suppose to be on the ground.
The Doctor trots along noticeably happier, and after greeting a sapphire mare with a light jade mane and tail, he says, "This is all possible due to Princess Twilight's persistence to keep everypony she cared about safe."
Trixie hurries to catch up with the Doctor, and, once by his side, struggles a bit to keep up with his livelier pace. "So... Twilight Sparkle"--Trixie chews over that name to find out how she feels about this--"is the Princess we are going to see?"
The Doctor hums his tune again but stops mid-way to answer the inquiring genie. "No--well... yes and no. We're only going to see a fourth of her--I think that's how that works."
"What do you mean 'a fourth?!'" Trixie asks perplexed and irritated at the Doctor's roundabout way at answering her questions.
"You'll see," is all he says then bursts into a full speed run. "Come on," he excitedly yells out, "the main attraction is up ahead!"
Trixie sees the castle and thinks about running after the Doctor, but her unsteady feeling about meeting an old acquaintance holds her pace to a trot. A gray blur whooshes past her, causing her to instinctively grab on to her hat. Though, she lets go when all she feels is her mane. She tries to shrug off the embarrassment of grabbing an imaginary hat by looking back--sliding her hoof down her neck as if she had to satisfy an itch instead--and sees Silverstreak far behind.
Every step he takes seems uneasy as if the ground is poisonous. His face holds a grimace which only gets worse when a garnet colt waves at him. It's as if he is allergic to this place and all he wants is to burn it all and leave. Curious, Trixie reaches for his mind, but she is quickly stopped by a barricade of pure hatred. Her own mental tendrils crash and bend at impact, feeling as if she physically impacted it herself.
She tries her best to hide her scrunched up face squirming in discomfort by shaking her head, then she returns to following the Doctor who is far ahead with Ditzy. Trixie, in a small smile, shakes her head this time in amusement instead as she realizes who it rushed past her only moments ago.
It takes a few minutes for Trixie to catch up to the Doctor and his assistant. Luckily, they stopped in front of this pedestal with a floating heart-shaped jewel over it. The Doctor turns in Trixie's direction as he hears her hoofsteps right behind him. "Ah, there you are. Now, look at this--never in my life, traveling to the farthest corner of the cosmos, have I seen an object quite like this. A piece of lamenous rock found around the origin of the Crystal Empire, geometrically cut into a shape that can pick up the resonant frequency of a heart in order to create--yes, create--a perpetual energy that can safeguard whatever its wielder holds dear.
The Doctor clears his throat as if he is about to give a lecture to a group of college students, then goes on to say, "Princess Twilight used this gem's energy to lift the very foundation of this very empire in addition to the city she built around it into the sky. And, my, what a sight that was. She saved thousands of lives, but... she had to sacrifice her own to do it. But, because of her sacrifice, we continue to live in harmony in this bloody hell."
Trixie gasps as she dares ask, "How did she die?"
Instead of the Doctor speaking, it is Ditzy who continues the story. "The Crystal Empire was the last safe haven in the world. And when Queen Tricky heard of its existence, she sent her army to come and destroy it. It didn't take long for one of our scouts to spot a huge army coming our way," she says as she places her hoof around the Doctors neck.
With her voice obviously quivering, she continues. "We lost a lot of our friends trying to protect the city. You see, we couldn't use the Crystal Heart to do it. Something about energy and the space around it. i don't know--Doctor?"
"The output didn't meet the necessary requirements to envelope the city as well. The heart may have perpetual energy, but there is only so much it can release at a time," explains the Doctor.
"Yeah," says Ditzy, "and because of that we had to defend the city ourselves. But it was obvious we were gonna lose and there wasn't enough time or space to move everypony into the Crystal Empire. So... Princess Twilight came up with another plan."
This time the Doctor jumps in. "At the time, I was studying the crystal heart and I found a way to generate an energy that binds with the crystal heart's energy and thin it out, so it doesn't saturate the space around it thus giving it more room to release more energy. At the mention of this discovery, Princess Twilight asked me to fabricate these generators and place them around the city. Obviously, this was going to take some time, but the Princess already had a plan to obtain the necessary time.
"At her order, everypony came back in to the city, and she alone went to face the horde. With a miniature version of the crystal heart around her neck, she cast a spell that took my concept of thinning out the main heart's energy and used it to supersaturate the air around the city with the energy.
"A violent explosion of light and color burst from the crystal heart and shot into the sky, showering the city in an array of color as if the auroras were dancing around us. It was then when I heard the voice of the Princess in my head. She told me I only have one week to finish the generators. But before I could respond, she cut the connection.
"Another flash emanated from the crystal heart, this time followed by a tremor to course through the city. But as intense as the tremor was, not a single building was damaged. They were all being protected by a violet aura. The wind did pick up some, and it was then I noticed the clouds get closer to the city.
"When the demons saw the city leaving, they rushed the city. But Twilight didn't let them on the departing island of Equestria's last citizens. Whenever one got on the city, Princess Twilight would toss them with her magic as far as she could considering she was trying to levitate an entire city with a lustrous empire at its core.
"As she fends off the monsters, the fight took her off the city and onto the cold field of the northern lands. By now, the city is meters above the ground but still not completely airborne. She needed time and the crystal heart around her neck was what gave her that time. It protected her long enough for her spell to take its full effect. She poured everything she had into one final push and the city was in the air floating up self-suspended on Twilight's spell.
"Some of us tried to go back to help Twilight, myself included. But a barrier stopped us from getting out of the city. I had to witness darkness surround an lavender glow and snuff it out. The miniature heart wasn't as stronger as the main one and its energy was depleted before it could be reinstated."
Silence creeps over Trixie, giving way to the sound of the groups breathing and the ever-present wind coursing through the city. With a long sigh, the Doctor leans his head on Ditzy and says, "We had a job to do. Princess Twilight's barrier and levitation only had enough energy to last a week. But, with the generators, it could last a lot longer, indefinitely..."
Trixie's throat feels dry, but, after a hard swallow, she manages to speak. "So she's gone for good?"
"After the generators were up and running, I made 'doors' so to speak in the barrier, and I used one to go and look for Princess Twilight. I searched all over Equestria, thinking she might have survived, but I found no trace of her or where her body could be. It is safe to say she is not with us any longer," replies the Doctor.
"Then who is the Princess I, Trixie, am suppose to meet?"
"Yes, Doctor," a feminine voice announces itself behind the group. "Who is the Princess this mare is suppose to meet?"
The clacking of hooves on the crystalline ground sounds off as a unicorn mare with a long, black mane trots towards the group. Her coat is a pale yellow like the color of an aging page within an archaic tome, and her cutie mark--briefly showing as her flank sways with her overly-exaggerated walk--is a small spherical grid outlined in blue. she brushes past Trixie to stand face-to-face with the Doctor, a small complacent smile on her face as the distance between their muzzles reaches an uncomfortable range.
Though, the Doctor certainly doesn't mind, matching her smile with his own. "Hello, Doctor," she says. "How's the generator?"
Ditzy, not being able to stay quiet as this mare stands so close to her Doctor, speaks up. "The generator's fine," she says as she steps between the two ponies, separating them with her hooves.
"Really," the unicorn says as if she knows something, stumbling back all the while.
In response, the gray pegasus faces her and looks her dead in the eye and says, "Yes, really."
The two don't say a word; they don't move. As to further invoke Ditzy, the mare yawns and holds it for an unusually long time before exhaling directly into Ditzy's face. Snorting, Ditzy's face scrunches up--her brow furrows--as she continues to glare at the pompous unicorn; her eyes bounce between different details of the mare's figure as if Ditzy is looking for something to pick at.
"Alright, you two." The Doctor breaks the tension. "Serbie," he then says to the unicorn, "Is the Princess busy?"
Quickly turning around so her tail flicks Ditzy, Serbie steps away passing Trixie once again as if she doesn't exist. "The Princess is currently meditating. Nopony is to disturb her."
"Ah, well--exception can be made." The Doctor steps after Serbie, but is quickly stopped by a magical force that grabs on to his tail and pulls him into the air.
Turning around to face the Doctor suspended upside down in the air, Serbie says, "It doesn't matter how cute you are. Nopony means nopony."
"Let him go," Ditzy demands, stomping her hoof on the ground.
But, instead of complying, Serbie smiles and lifts her as well next to the Doctor, but--at a second thought--Serbie sends Ditzy to the opposite side of the pedestal holding the heart. Ditzy flails and flaps her wings in order to break free which only leads to Serbie to further encase the pegasus in magic, restricting her movements to slight trembles, which seems to elate the unicorn, her smile growing wider, and she giggles at the struggling pegasus.
"Come on, Serbie," says the Doctor hanging in mid-air.
To which, Serbie responds with a chuckle and a "no." Then she walks away, swaying her flank deliberately within the Doctor's perspective. She passes Trixie for a third time. But this time, Trixie refuses to be ignored. She holds out her foreleg just as Serbie steps in front of her and trips her, causing her to fall flat on her muzzle.
Simultaneously, the Doctor and Ditzy are released from Serbie's magical grip, and they fall with an oomph. After rubbing away the pain from her muzzle, Serbie stands up on the edge of her hooves to make it seem she is taller than Trixie and yells straight into her face, "You stupid mule's spawn! Have you any idea who I am?! I'm the Princess's second-hoof mare! There's nothing that goes on in this city I don't know about!" she glances at Ditsy, then continues. "You may be immortal, genie, but there are fates far worse than death so DON'T tempt me!"
After a moment of staring blankly at Serbie's face contorted with rage, Trixie yawns profusely and retorts, "You bore me. And you're annoying. You're annoyingly boring, and Trixie couldn't care less who you are."
At that, Serbie's left eye twitches and her face reddens with fire. Her horn begins to glow white hot, but, then, Silverstreak--finally catching up--makes his way up to Trixie, pushing Serbie out of the way with one clean swipe of his hoof to do so. Falling on her side, Serbie's fury drains away into what looks like fear as she sees the silver colt who shoved her. The sudden change in demeanor surprises Trixie, stepping out of Silverstreak's way before he pushes her, too.
"Silverstreak," Serbie calls out as she gets to her hooves and--hesitantly at first--catches up to the colt. Staying slightly behind him, Serbie asks, "Where's my brother?"
"Dead," he replies bluntly.
"What?..." she whispers. "But you were suppose to take care of him--"
"He was suppose to take care of himself!" Silver says sharply.
Serbie shrinks back at his bite, her face dropping--while Silverstreak reaches the castle's entrance and turns around to say, "Let's see the Princess and get this over with," to Trixie and the Doctor with his assistant.
They canter along up to him, passing Serbie who is shivering, teary-eyed. She glumly looks up at them and, in a flash of light, teleports between Silver and the castle doors. "S-sorry, I can't let you through," she stammers with a lump in her throat and a mysterious fear coupled with tears in her eyes.
"Are you getting in my way?" Silver raises a brow at her.
Behind him, Trixie stares at the two. She seems to be the only one showing any interest in the confrontation. The Doctor and Ditzy are merely waiting on the side--waiting for the inevitible to happen. They know something about Silver Trixie doesn't which only peaks her interest further.
Silver certainly doesn't look dangerous in any way, but the way Serbie acts around him make it seem as if he is a walking time bomb ready to go off at his discretion. After trying to avoid Silver's gaze while still holding her ground, Serbie uneasily replies, "Y-yes."
Gently, Silver lifts Serbie's chin with his hoof. Their eyes meet, and the unicorn's countenance drains its color; her eyes look like if they are being forcibly held open while she mouths an indiscernible phrase, though it can just be her mumbling mindlessly. Like a stone, she drops to the floor when Silverstreak lets go of her, curling into a fetal position as her eyes overflow with sour tears. "Y-you s-said you wo-wouldn't d-do that anymore-ore," Serbie manages to say behind her shaky voice.
"I lied," Silver replies. And, with an emotionless side-step, he enters the castle followed by Ditzy then the Doctor. All of them pay no attention to the crying mare on the floor. Trixie canters around Serbie all the while staring at the unicorn silently weeping into her hooves and trembling sporadically. Whatever Silver did to Serbie, Trixie is intent on finding out. Such a skill is useful when dealing with problematic ponies. Though, she will be wary, so she doesn't end up the same as Serbie.
She steps inside, and looks for Silver. She sees him gazing up at what looks like a giant wall of pure light; but, more importantly, she looks at his cutie mark. To her surprise, there is nothing branded on his flank. No cutie mark; just a silvery canvass. Trixie continues walking along, fixated on Silver's flank. She pays no attention to what's ahead of her--that is until she feels a warmth on her cheek. She steps away and sees the Doctor smiling at her. His cheek has touched hers. And, since the Doctor has no problem sharing his personal space and he clearly saw her getting too close, he intentionally didn't put any effort in moving out of the way.
Trixie glares at him, not accepting his smile, so instead of going around him, she magically drags him out of her way--his hooves skidding on the marble floor as Trixie stay true to her path, head held high. She stops though when she notices the aforementioned white wall. It extends all the way up to the ceiling and curves outward as if it's a bubble being forced out of the castle. And although it's not moving closer to the castle doors, it trembles like a bubble and has a reflective sheen.
Murals on the castle walls reflect perfectly on this wall of light, painting it with scenes of important events from pony history.
"What is that?" Trixie asks gawking at it.
"I don't know," quickly replies the Doctor in kind. "Why don't you have a look inside," he says stepping towards her and, without warning, he shoves her inside. Trixie disappears behind the wall along with her yelp of surprise, concentric circles pulsating away from her entry point.
Inside, Trixie's surprise simmers into annoyance as she stumbles while trying to regain her balance. The floor feels sticky and sinks inward which makes it harder for her to find her ground, but she does. She turns around to yell at the Doctor, but she sees nothing but white, pure white. A slight buzzing sound grabs her attention, so she makes a mental note to yell at him later and walks deeper into the white void.
After a few minutes of nothing but walking, the constant buzz in her ear is lost among her thoughts, and soon she doesn't notice it anymore. The buzz intensifies and whispers something that causes Trixie to flick her ear. It repeats itself, this time louder and Trixie stops. "Hello?" she asks nopony in particular. It says it again, and this time Trixie hears it perfectly.
"Trixie... shh..." It is a subtle voice almost drowned out by Trixie's heart beating in her ears. It speaks up again. "Trixie, shhh..."
"Umm, Princess? Is that you?" Trixie's eyes dart back and forth in search of something other than white nothingness.
"Trixie... shh... Trixie, shh..." A cacophony of whispering voice join in.
"Trixie..."
"Trixie... shh..."
They continue to shush her until they meld into a flurry of white noise. Whether they're saying her name anymore, Trixie can't tell. It's all a mess of voices crashing into voices and forcing themselves down her ears to embed themselves in her brain. The blue unicorn closes her eyes and scrunches up her face as the voices grate her eardrums. Finally, she can't take anymore and screams, "Enough!"
Silence meets her, but it is so sudden that she thinks the whispering rubbed her eardrums to powder. But her thumping heart reassures her she hasn't gone deaf, and so she relaxes, opening her eyes to see the same white landscape unchanged.
She sighs. "Whoever this Princess is, she better be able to help... a fourth..." she says, remembering what the Doctor said to her. "A fourth of Twilight is already too much for me!" she yells out.
Senseless walking--it feels like hours ago since Trixie first started her journey in this white nothingness of space. But she can't really tell; nothing in here specifies the change in time. She even thinks she hasn't moved at all since everything looks the same since she got here. But one thing she does know is that she's tired of walking. Pain crawls up her legs as she takes a step after mind-numbing step.
All of the sudden, the exhausted genie collides with something. It must be white, because nothing has changed in this blank void. Trixie steps back, rubbing her muzzle. She glares ahead for any sign of a wall or something that got in her way. She carefully taps where she hit that something and feels a solid, flat wall. Upon closer inspection, she sees a shape on the wall. It's not surprising she missed it before, because the shape is a merely few shades lighter than the white around it.
Trixie has to strain her eyes in order to make out the shape. It looks like a four pointed star, with its point narrow and long, surrounded by a halo. This is the only thing different from everything else so this must be it. Acting on impulse, Trixie calls out, "Princess?"
In response, the star sends out a pulse of darkness coloring the white landscape into a true void. A wind picks up and swirls around the star burst, lifting it into the air. It shines causing Trixie to squint her eyes against the bright light. Then, the star descends. And for every few feet it drops, outlines of color spring to life. Windows, hallways and doorways, a throne. And over the throne, the star pulsates again. Another outline appears, but this time around the star burst.
First legs and body, then head and mane with a horn. Next, the outline colors itself with a spark. Sky blue shades in the unicorn's body while a deep purple streamed with thin lines of gold and silver paints her mane and tail. Then the star dims and becomes the unicorn's cutie mark. All together, the newly manifested pony touches the floor and the wind stops, dropping its grip on the pony's mane falling straight down.
Once on the floor, the pony opens her eyes to reveal two eggshell white irises--the same color as her cutie mark. They fall upon Trixie, and, with a slow sigh, her horn sends out one final wave of light to add the remaining colors to the surroundings. Trixie steps aside with a start as the Doctor walks past her. He, then bows and says, "Princess," in a somewhat formal tone.
The Princess with a stern face--unyielding--replies, "Doctor." Her voice strong and firm.
As the Doctor holds his bow and the Princess her expression, they soon melt into mirth, and they both laugh.
"Come now, Doctor," she says. "You know you don't have to use formalities with me."
"Ah, but they're so much fun when used on such a close friend." The Doctor returns from his bow.
"You're lucky you are," she says as she steps down from her throne. "I don't excuse just anypony from interrupting my meditation. That being said, I hope you have something important to say other than idle chit-chat. As much as I enjoy our conversations, I'd rather be interrupted for something more substantial than your boredom."
The Doctor smiles then says, "I brought a guest for you to see." Then he motions to Trixie to come closer--but she ignores him.
The Princess throws a formal smile with little emotion behind it and says, "I suppose I should introduce myself then. I am Princess Evening Glimmer, daughter of Princess Twilight Crimson and granddaughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle--who I'm sure you're familiar with, Trixie the Djinn."
A touch of early dawn clings onto the dark sky far off over the horizon. Where it meets dusk, sunshine mixes with the cool ambiance of night, creating an aurora-like pattern of blue, green, purple, and orange. Time is running out for Zack who is snoozing away in his bed, locked away in an induced dream state.
Sitting near the entry way to his room, back against the door, Trixie gazes up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts.
"Are you really going to kill him?" interrupts Ure.
"I don't want to die..." Trixie shifts her gaze to Zack. "But I don't want to live either..." She closes her eyes and rubs her temples with her hooves. From the window draped with white curtains, faint sunlight trickles in, hitting Trixie in the face. She screams, pounding her hooves on the carpeted floor. "I don't know what to do!"
"Keep Jude's promise," a bubbly voice echoes within her head.
Trixie slides down the door and weakly snorts. "You would say that..." Diving into her thoughts once more, she waits for her master to wake.
Meanwhile, back in Zack's head, Princess Evening Glimmer waits proud and tall for Trixie's mind to settle. Around them, the throne room is quiet except for the hollow moaning of the wind running freely through the city. Its deathly tone sounds like the final breaths of a perishing soul.
After a few seconds, Trixie finally speaks up, "How do you know Trixie's name? She's never met you."
In response, Eve smiles as if she was waiting for Trixie to ask exactly that. "Have you ever wondered where ideas come from? Certainly, you've had a burst of inspiration before, and I assume, you credit yourself for the resulting idea. But, truth be told, they're merely a product of your consciousness interacting with other consciousness in the white space known as the Unconscious."
"Oh, so that's what that was," the Doctor speaks up. "But, how did you bring the Unconscious to the real ground?"
"It's simple, Doctor," Eve answers. "It's true the Unconscious exists in the substratum of the UG which is below the RG. but it doesn't stay there. Otherwise, we couldn't have ideas, couldn't dream or have feelings of deja vu. Or even have that awkward moments when two ponies say exactly the same thing, at the same time," she muses. "All I have to do is enter myself and bring it up with me. The space practically does all the hard work for me after I lead it where I want it to go, of course."
"But that doesn't answer Trixie's question," Trixie points out.
With a giggle, Eve responds, "All consciousnesses are partly in the Unconscious and partly in the RG at all times. I can... eavesdrop on a consciousness and listen in on their thoughts. That's how I, and Serbie, keep a close eye on the city for any signs of danger. It's the perfect emergency response system, though Serbie does use it to keep tabs on most ponies, including the council, and--let's just say--they had a few colorful words to say about you, Trixie."
"But isn't that an invasion of privacy?" This is the Doctor speaking.
"Oh, very much so, but I use the Unconscious to study the ideas floating around. While, Serbie uses it to control most ponies. I don't mind it too much. She helps keep order and knows her boundaries. So no harm is actually done."
Trixie isn't entirely sure if this method is all that ethical, but what does she really know about ethics. Moreover, in this messed up world, some ethics must be sacrificed in order to survive. Trixie agrees that from all the possible ways to run a city the Princess could have chosen, this one is the most practical.
"So, if you can read minds, so to speak," says the Doctor, "do you know why we're here."
Trixie notices a quiver of nervousness in the Doctor's voice, but she doesn't understand why he's nervous.
"Actually, no," replies Eve. "I was busy looking for the consciousness of a certain demon. Which is why your visit was so unexpected."
The Doctor sighs in relief.
"By the way," Princess Eve continues, "where's your assistant, Ditzy? I almost never see you two apart."
Trixie raises her brow and turns around to see Ditzy--and even Silverstreak--have disappeared.
The Doctor replies in a manner that makes it seem as if they were never with them in the first place. "Ah, Ditzy is probably out delivering mail somewhere. Now, for the matter at han-- I mean, hoof. Trixie here is curious about those demons roaming around down there. The world she remembers is vastly different than the beautiful one we have here. You don't mind educating her in the matter, do you?"
Eve shoots the Doctor a dirty look of disbelief. "Really?" she bluntly asks. "You couldn't wait until I finished my meditation or, better yet, taught her yourself?"
"No, you know about this more than I do."
"You know that's a lie," Eve says, then sighs, her chest heaving greatly. "With that excuse, I can't imagine what crossed Serbie's mind that convinced her to let you in."
With a sly smile, the Doctor responds, "I didn't do much of the convincing." At that, Eve glances at Trixie--who is waiting for this fiasco to come crashing down on the Doctor--as the Doctor continues talking. "But, if you refuse, I can easily take her to the Crystal Library instead."
"Doctor," Princess Eve interjects before he can even formulate a second thought, "what are you really up to?"
As if right on cue, a gray pegasus mare flies through the open hallway door, screaming, "Doctor, Doctor, I got it!" while brashly waving a red circular object with a disfigured spiral at the center. It casts a warm red glow as if it is made out of hot metal, but the mare shows no discomfort at eagerly showing off her prize, waving it around for all to see.
"Ditzy," the Doctor says, his eyes flitting between the Princess's astonished expression and the red circle, "you weren't suppose to bring it here, but rather, wait for me at the rendezvous point."
"I--oh... oops," responds Ditzy, pulling in the circle in an attempt to hide it.
"Ditzy," growls the Princess obviously irritated, "give me the key." It's apparent in her voice that she is trying to keep a cool disposition but struggling at it. Whatever the key opens, Eve doesn't want anypony--even her close friends--to have it. She stares down Ditzy, waiting for her to comply. Unsure of what to do, the gray pegasus looks at every corner in the room as if she's a cornered mouse.
"Um," Ditzy mumbles as she tucks in her head and braces herself for the worst, "no..."
It's then the Doctor steps in front of Ditzy--with his pen in hoof--and says, "Sorry, Eevee." His pen flashes in a dazzling brilliance, illuminating the throne room in white. It blinds Trixie--who is still trying to figure out what's going on, so she had little time to react to the flash--and she feels like she's back in the Unconscious for a split-second before the comforting dark shield of her eyelids take over, though red spots break the darkness in irregular patterns.
Then, she feels something grab her hoof and pull at her. She mindlessly complies still dumbfounded from the flash. "Sorry for pulling something so rash with no prior warning, Trixie," says the Doctor's voice behind a quilt of red and black, "but I had to act quickly. Your eyes will recover soon."
Trixie's only response is a distasteful growl as she tries to run and rub her eyes simultaneously.
After blindly running for what seems like miles, the Doctor abruptly stops. While running, Trixie was able to catch glimpses of where they were going, but she couldn't keep her eyes open for long without them burning. But from the few glimpses she did catche, she could tell they left the Crystal Empire, but beyond that she has no clue where they ended up.
"About time," the familiar voice of Silverstreak sounds off.
"Sorry for the wait. Complications arose," says the Doctor, letting go of Trixie's hoof and stepping away.
"From her?" responds Silver. Trixie can only imagine he pointing an accusing hoof at Ditzy. Not wanting to be blind anymore, she cracks open an eye then the other, blinking a few times to adjust them to the light. There's still a dull pain around them, but it's manageable. The first thing she sees is Silver glaring at her. His gray, soulless eyes feel as if they are pulling her in, as if she is drifting out of her body, but before Trixie completely loses her grip on herself, a hoof on her cheek pushes her gaze away from Silver's tantalizing stare.
Walking pass Trixie, Ditzy says, "Don't look into his eyes." Then, still walking, she turns to Silverstreak and says, "And it was my fault we're late, not hers."
With a scoff, Silver looks away while leaning against a brick wall of a house, forelegs crossed. Meanwhile, Trixie is still adjusting her eyes, rubbing them and blinking away tears. "Where are we?" she asks.
"My house," replies Ditzy as she gives the key to the Doctor who is busy inspecting the magical barrier nearby and takes the key by holding out his hoof and waiting for it to be placed there. He taps the barrier here and there, then places his ear against it. And when unsatisfied with whatever reaction the barrier is suppose to produce, he moves a few steps over and starts again.
"What are you doing?" Trixie asks with her eyes finally used to the light, though still teary from the sharp wind.
"I'm--"
"Giving me the key," the Doctor gets cut off.
Everypony turns around to see Princess Eve and Serbie facing them--the Princess with a stern look and red, irritated eyes, though if it's from the flash of light or her anger, Trixie doesn't know.
Everypony stays completely still except for Silver. Nonchalantly, he steps between the Princess and the group, and tries to catch Eve's gaze. But Eve unflinchingly stares at him back as she walks up to him. With a swipe of her hoof, she flicks Silver on the tip of his muzzle causing him to blink. Taking that opportunity, Eve's horn alights and grabs hold of Silver then tosses him toward the brick wall he was leaning on with a loud thud, knocking the wind out of his lungs. He collapses, wheezing and struggling to refill his chest with air.
The group stares at the incapacitated Silver and then back at Eve. "No need to get violent." The Doctor steps forward. "Here." He holds out the key toward Evening. As the Princess goes about to fetch it, her horn glowing once more, the Doctor with an innocent smile flings the key behind him, hitting the barrier.
Everypony holds their breath as the Doctor's defiant actions take hold on the Princess's surprised and angry countenance. As the key hits the barrier, it sticks to it and sizzles and smokes, burning itself into the thin membrane. The white smoke explodes outward in an furious fervor like a geyser releasing a hundred years of tension--engulfing everypony in a hot embrace. Trixie coughs out the smoke that forced its way into her lungs; it warm as it passes through her throat and smells like burning sulfur.
As the wind eats away at the smoke, the spiral key--now a tattoo on the barrier--spins, getting wider with each revolution. Soon, a hole appears letting in a torrent of wind that pushes away the already-set current of wind hitting the city. It pushes the Doctor with such a force, he flies towards Eve and hits her--landing on top of her after they both fall to the ground.
Then a crackling fills the air. Lightning weaves itself across the diameter of the still-expanding hole, creating an electrical web of flashing lights and sparks. With a boom, everything is silent once more save for the normal current of wind and the electricity cracking across the new portal.
The lightning calms and sticks to the edge of the hole, signaling it's now safe to pass through the door. The Doctor picks himself up and dusts himself off. "Well, that was a tad more flashy than I expected. Though that can be blamed on me. I missed the door. But the other generators held up, so it wasn't too much strain. They held up the shield just fine." He looks over to the Princess who is on the floor glaring at him in contempt. "Oh, calm down, Eevee. As long as the portal doesn't stay there for too long, the other generators won't suffer from irreversible damage. I'll run a diagnostic when I return." With that, he turns and heads to the portal. "Alright, everyone--er, everypony. Let's be off before the hole in this delicate bubble blows the generators one at a time. Then we'll really be in trouble." He steps through followed by Ditzy.
Once on the other side, they turn and wait for whoever wants to join them; though, they seem perfectly fine if no pony does. Silver--clutching at his stomach--taps Trixie on her side signaling her to follow as he limps to the other side.
"Coming, Princess?" asks the Doctor.
She doesn't respond. Her face is full of hurt and what looks like angry depression. And it is when Trixie goes through that she says something. "Serbie, go with them."
"What? Aren't you going to stop them?"
"What's done is done, and if the Doctor can actually fix all this, then more power to him." She pauses to get up. "You're the only other pony here that can go into the Unconscious. So once the barrier is up, you'll be the only way the Doctor can communicate with me. Moreover, they'll have a much better chance out there with such a powerful unicorn mage like you by their side."
"Are you sure, Princess?" Serbie takes a wary glance at Silverstreak.
"Yes, you are more than capable."
"Okay." Serbie gulps then exhales. "I won't let you down."
Princess Eve passes her a slight but stern nod.
"I don't mean to hurry you along," says the Doctor poking his head through the hole, "but I think I see smoke coming from generator 5." He points in that direction, and sure enough a thick column of black smoke is rising over the peaks of the buildings. Without haste, Serbie hugs Eve and trots over to the hole. She puts one hoof in when the electricity running along its sides intensifies. "Uh-oh." The Doctor snaps his neck back out of the hole.
Lightning shoots out and webs up the hole again, striking Serbie in the process. She lets loose a high pitched scream as electricity has its way with her. It runs around her body, leaving nothing unexplored. Burn marks etch themselves on her coat, and her mane sizzles like a fuse.
Acting on an impulse, the Doctor grabs the edge of the hole--literally grabs it--and pulls at it, taking the key out of the barrier partway. "Eevee!" he yells against the snapping of static. "Push her through!"
Without a second thought, Eve tackles Serbie, setting off two things: a burst of plasma and fire catches them flinging the Doctor over the edge of the city--with the key in hoof--and sending a frantic Ditzy chasing after him; and the Princess along with an unconscious Serbie tumble over too--all four of them get eaten up by the dark clouds running lazily under the city.
Bewildered, Trixie stands with her mouth wide open at what she just witnessed while Silver merely yawns.
"I wonder how long the city will last without a ruler. Of course, there's the council, but not many ponies trust them," he says coming out of his yawn.
"Is that really all you can say right now?!" Trixie exclaims in disgust at her master's heartless attitude.
"Yeah," is the curt response he gives her as--with more force than he shows--he pushes her into the sky and jumps after her.
"Queen Tricky-trickster, everything is ready for the invasion."
"And what of Hades? Does he know?"
"Blind as a bat."
"Good, you've been very helpful, Erin. Now all we have to do is wait for the city to be directly over us."
"Yeah, yeah, hey, can we get out of here. I don't like this pocket of space you've created. It's too dark. I can't even see my own hands in front of my face. How am I gonna mix my favorite drinks?"
"I like it... it makes me feel... safe."
"Fine, I'll be in the throne room then, in the bar I just installed, right now... There I can have all the cider I want, Miss I'm-Too-Good-For-A-Drink. And, oh, for the record, bats aren't really blind. Their eye sight is actually quite good."
"...I know..."
All Dreams Must End (Part 3 of 3: Alive Doesn't Mean Living)
Trixie screams, flailing about in an attempt to found solid ground. Instead she feels nothing but the empty touch of open sky and cool flow of wind and vapor as her stomach sinks in further than she thought possible. The wind roars in her ears, blurring out her own screams, but she knows she is pouring her lungs out; she can feel it. Though as something obscured by the dark clouds grabs her hind legs, she quiets down and tries to see what is attached to her but all in vain. The clouds are too thick; she can barely see the tip of her muzzle, and it's that obscurity that makes her free fall all the more terrifying. She doesn't know what lies behind the next cloud or the next. It could be more clouds or the side of a mountain; she just doesn't know.
It isn't until the clouds spit her out that she sees the emotionless face of Silverstreak slowing making his way up her body. Once he is face to face with Trixie, he forces her around so that she is diving head first into the graying earth a couple hundred feet below them and holds her close, his warmth a confusing juxtaposition to the cold emptiness around Trixie. "Aren't you going to save us?"
"What?!" Trixie replies, barely hearing him over the wind.
"Save us. I can't"
"WHAT?!" Trixie looks at the desolate land ready to shatter them and drink their blood. She frantically looks around trying to think of a way out of this, but her mind is racing so fast she can't think of a spell to do the trick. Each time she thinks she has the right incantation, another thought smashes into it, knocking it back into the raging storm of her mind for her to fish up again.
Out of nowhere, a voice--shrill and high-pitched--screams at her, "Cotton candy!" Trixie glances at Silver but he is unresponsive. If he heard the voice too, he isn't showing it.
Cotton candy? Trixie thinks to herself. It's the only idea that stuck, so she latches onto it, afraid to let it go. With a wave of her horn, cotton candy sprouts on the ground like a bush, coloring the dead land in a bright pink mush; and just in time, too. It catches them safely, and seeing that it did its job, the sugary fluff drains into the ground, leaving Trixie and Silver lying on the dirt in each other's embrace.
"You pushed me!" Trixie yells in Silver's ear as she magically shrugs his leg off of her and stands.
"So?" he replies, standing as well.
"Wha--... what do you mean, 'So?!'"
"Come on, let's look for the others." Silver says, ignoring her question. "We need them... unfortunately."
"What?! You think you can order the Great and Powerful Trixie around after all that?!"
"Yeah," he replies bluntly. "Now let's go." And with that, he leads the way.
Trixie isn't free anymore, and that's a hard fact to swallow every time she is reminded of her servitude. It completely shuts her up, drains her of retorts. What can she say when it doesn't mean anything? The only value she has is the value her master allows her to have, and her current master is a dick. And there is nothing she can do about it, except follow orders. So with her muzzle pointed to the ground, she... follows... Silverstreak into what may very well be the worst plan to take back Equestria ever concocted. And it started off so well, too.
With Silver leading, they head to a field of hills coated in a whitish-gray tint as if they are covered in ash though a bit more glassier seeing as they reflect what little light passes through the clouds from the cold sun. But there are a few spots where a cracked layer of rock is exposed like a rash, black and ugly. Trixie can't believe this is the Equestira she knew. It's a boring and drab atmosphere--an ambiance she feels is sucking the life out of her, making her sluggish and lazy. If Sliver feels the same, he certainly doesn't show it as he plods onward through the maze of infected hills, kicking up white dust with each step.
Up in the sky, the dark, velvety gloom conceal the city behind a shroud of toxicity. They may have felt like ordinary clouds when Trixie fell through them--cold and moist--but the malevolent shade suggests otherwise. But her fall is a fleeting thought as Trixie stares at where she knows the city is hiding, wondering how they will get back. Certainly, Silver can wish for them to be back in the city, but from what Trixie picked up from his intentions, he is saving his wishes for something only he cares about which is a complete mystery to her.
Speaking of wishes...
"Hey," Trixie calls out to Silver.
"What do you want?"
"You used a wish. Trixie saved you."
Silver sighs. "I never said, 'I wish for you to save me.' You could have easily let me hit the ground, but you didn't. It's not my fault you did it out of your own will and not because you had to."
He's right and Trixie knows he's right which irritates her more since she is stuck with him for a while longer. She grits her teeth, holding back her tongue. As she follows Silver up a steep slope, a seething hatred sprouts in her gut--feeling like boiling water--and takes hold of her thoughts. She hates her master; she hates Ure and her job. Her master is a condescending jerk, Ure an enigmatic prick, and her job took away her freedom.
Trixie is so caught up on her acidic thoughts that she doesn't notice Silver stop below the peak of a hill and presses her muzzle to the side of his flank, taking in a mouthful of his tail hair. Spitting it out in disgust, Trixie backs up and glares at Silver; her face scrunching up in anger as he glares back at her.
He shushes her and tilts his head in the peak's direction, motioning her to take a look. But despite his cautious behavior, she struts up the hill with no intention of keeping herself hidden. Before she reaches the top of the hill, Silver hooks his foreleg over her back and pulls her to the ground. Looking straight into her eyes, he whispers, "Before you get yourself killed, at least tell me I'll still have my wishes."
"Please--" Trixie stands and continues her walts "--the Great and Powerful Trixie is immortal!" Her voice echoes as she announces her entrance. Before her two creatures hover over the body of a pony. They look at her and she at them. The creatures are blue and red with the red one having a crystalline body with three skinny, jagged legs set like a tripod and one arm over a single eye placed in the middle of its wide barrel-like chest. It's translucent with orbs of yellow-red floating inside it. It's eye is pitch black with a pale yellow ring for an iris. The blue creature has a similar eye, but its body is gooey with lighter streaks of blue pulsating with an eerie glow. It has two arms and legs though they look like overstretched pieces of gum. It's entire body looks like it went through a taffy machine.
Gracefully as if they're preparing for an elaborate dance, the red crystal creature leaps into the air, pulls together its legs and stretches its body, becoming a sleek double-edge sword with its eye in the pommel, and lands in the grasp of the blue creature. Once together the blue gum creature warps and distorts, its body becoming twisted and wiry and much larger then it sprints towards the magician with its arms folded behind it, closing the gap between it and Trixie at an alarming rate. Before she gets a chance to blink, the monster kicks the hilltop with a flick of its scrawny leg and sprays the air with dirt and a single blue unicorn. The kick was so fast and strong it sounded like a whip screaming at its target.
Just below the hill's new crater, Silver watches Trixie in mundane anticipation as she soars off into the distance and lands with a slient puff of dust. With that same blank expression, he turns to the duo and leaps off the hill as the monster slashes downward, slicing the mound of dirt and rock in half where he stood. Skidding backwards, he looks for the monster's eyes in an attempt to trap it in his gaze, but the dust panicking in the air make it impossible to pinpoint its face. All he sees is a silhouette readying another slash as it rears its arm to go in with a horizontal swipe. Any other pony would be helpless in this situation--not many ponies specialize in venturing outside the city--but Silverstreak has dealt with monsters and demons before thus he stays relatively calm as he confronts his towering aggressor.
A few miles over, Trixie coughs away dust and phlegm sticking to the side of her throat while a waterfall crashes against her ears and flashing lights flare behind her eyelids; her mind is abuzz. A subtle pressure on her left foreleg breaks through her stupor. It's soft but annoying at first, but then a breeze rubs against it and the pressure becomes a fiery sting. She glances at her leg.
Trixie tries to scream but silence meets her lips. Halfway up her shin, spiky peaks of ebony erupt with molten red--just the pure essence of red--like a chain of angry volcanoes trying to create a new island. Her leg is bent at such an extreme angle, she can't process that that's her leg she is staring at. It's not possible.
Finally, a scream lets loose in her throat. Though she doesn't believe that it's her voice, her scream, blasting into her ears. It just can't be.
But I'm immortal. Trixie tells herself.
"Immortal does not mean invincible," the less-than-comforting voice of Ure replies. "You can get hurt; you just can't die from it."
Trixie tries to overcome her scream, tries to reply, but the attempt sends a shiver to run down her body, shaking her wound and setting off a fresh wave of pain, though this time it comes from everywhere AND her leg--the only visible wound. The agony pulls out tears and now she can't stop trembling. Trixie closes her overflowing eyes and bites down on her bottom lip. With a whimper, she stammers in her mind. Am-m I g-going t-to die?
Ure sighs."No, but you will suffer if you don't heal yourself. It's merely pain--only a reminder that you're still alive."
"I WANT TO DIE!" Trixie screams, overpowering the pain's influence. A silence sets in only broken by Trixie's sobbing.
"It's not your choice. Now heal yourself. If you don't you will feel this pain for a very long time."
"I hate you..." Trixie grinds out from her clenched teeth.
"I don't care," responds Ure. "You're alive, that should matter to you."
I'm not living the life I thought I would be. I'm not living at all.
Acidic tears scratch Trixie's eyes. She looks at her leg then at the dark sky. With a deep inhale of warm air, Trixie reaches for her magic and directs it toward her leg. Merely healing the area won't be enough. The bone has to be pushed back into place or else the wound won't heal right, and Trixie knows this. It's that very prospect that is holding her in place with her magic only coursing around the wound, standing idle.
Shakily, Trixie breaths out and closes her eyes. She commands her magic to take hold of her bone and push. Biting her lip, she pushes harder and harder until a snap goes off in her ear. She lets go and arcs her back as if she's possessed by a ghost chewing on her leg. The bone barely moved, but the pain shooting through her leg and into her torso grips her in a vice of jagged teeth and it won't stop squeezing. I can't do this.
"You have to," Ure says from his haven, wherever it may be.
"Why? What's the point? The world is gone, I have no pony left, I have no reason to live anymore."
A second voice, vaguely familiar, responds this time. "What makes you happy?" This voice feels young, lively, and compassionate unlike Ure's cold tone. It's the same one that yelled, "cotton candy," when Trixie was falling.
"Who are you?" Trixie asks over the bite of her broken leg.
"That's not important right now. What IS important is you finding your fire, your reason to live, your happiness."
"That was taken away..."
"AND you can take it back!" the voice shrills on. "Don't give up, because the minute you do, you stop living. The entire world can be against you, but you deserve to be happy and no pony can tell you otherwise. You said you have no pony left; well, you have me, and I'm not giving up on you!"
A loud pop then crunch hits Trixie in the temple, and she looks at her leg. The bone moved into place and the skin has healed over it. Trixie didn't even feel a thing.
"Now move! You have a life to save."
Back where the hill once stood, Silver continues to dodge the duo's attacks. But being an earth pony, he doesn't have many options of self-defense. He can't fly or use magic. All he relies on is his quick wit and reflexes as the monster hacks and slashes at him, pushing him back. He tries to trap it in his hypnotic glare, but the monster is flailing so erratically that it's impossible to meet its gaze for more than half a second, not enough if Silver hopes to walk away from this alive.
The monster growls, sounding like metal grinding on metal, and splits the blade in half, carrying each on a thin wire. Like a mower, the blades spin around it, picking up dirt and rocks in a vortex its creating. A dark gray haze forms around the battle field as more and more dirt fills the air. With a roar, the monster slams both blades on the ground and disappears as a cloud of earth blankets everything visible.
Dust fills Silver's lungs while he listens carefully for anything out of the ordinary. The haze eats up his vision, so he has to rely on his other senses. A rumble resonates to his left, shaking the ground underneath his hooves. A groan to his right. Silence consumes him when a faint shadow appears before him. He notices just in time to back step out of a horizontal slash that would have carved a nice gorge in his chest. But something was wrong. The movement of the blade was bulky and slow, not as graceful as the previous ones.
Just as Silver lands, he feels a goo splash up. He looks down, but it's too late. Wires sprout up like thin trees and snare him in a networks of blue web. It raises him up above the haze, wrapping around his legs and neck and head. Silver kicks and grunts trying to get free, but the more he struggles, the more the wires wrap around him.
A maw and face form out of the web and laughs at him with a metallic gargle. Below, the red monster swings around and dispels the haze with two powerful swipes of its body. Then it jumps to join its counterpart. The blue monster catches it and jabs many wires into its body, pulling off shard after pointy shard. At least a hundred shards held by a thin, blue strands circles Silver, all crying for his blood with a metallic peal.
The blue monster grins and the thread snaring Silver tightens. Suspended ten feet above the ground, Silver trembles on gaunt strings, unable to move. He grunts; his eyes fleet left and right as its the only part of his body he can control. Everything else trapped by puppet strings. The monster maneuvers him so his belly faces the sky and his legs are spread to the furthest extent they can go without ripping apart. At this, Silver groans in pain as he struggles against it but to no avail.
Satisfied, the edge of the monster's mouth twitches upward and, faster than Silver can scream, thrusts ten shards at his body. All the while Silver doesn't close his eyes. He wants to see what's coming for him. The monster begins to chuckle but stops when it sees that the shards missed him. Confused it tries again, sending more at him this time; but again, they seem to avoid him as if tasting his blood will melt them.
A flash stuns the monster and Silver is gone. Looking around for him, the monster spots two ponies staring at him from below, one of them carrying Silver in a magical field. It grins at the new meat and shrinks down in size to meet them, combining the shards to create its sword again. Then it sprints at them, and just as it nears, it slices parallel to the ground so it can take them both out at once; but the blade avoids them just as it did with Silver. The monster growls in frustration and stands tall to deliver a devastating downward blow.
But the pony on the left won't have any of it. Her horn alights and a stone spire stabs the monster and carries it upward well out of sight. Then, kneeling at before the thin tower, she shoots a bolt of lightning into its base. A few seconds later, iridescent red cracks spider web up. Once it reaches the top, an earth shattering explosion goes off, filling the sky with a bright red flash. Molten rock rains down in large chunks and quickly harden into a dark mess.
The two ponies watch as the spire melts away back into the ground, both perfectly safe in a field that curves away any incoming projectiles. The pony carrying Silver drops him, and he gets up, dusting himself off with a snort. "You're late to the party, Princess," he says in a mocking manner.
"Where are the others?" Glimmer asks.
"Beats me. Why don't you have your lap dog search for them with her 'talent'?"
"Um, something is blocking my radar. I can't track anything. And the only reason we found you is because we saw all the dust that thing was kicking up," Serbie replies, avoiding any eye contact with Silverstreak; though Princess Glimmer has no problem looking him dead in the eye.
"Careful, Princess, unless you want to see what scares you the most." Silver returns her glare.
"I'm living my biggest fear. You're stare has no effect on me. Now where is your djinn? You're using a wish to get us back."
"Like hell I am. I came to finish a job, and I need her to do it."
Princess Evening sighs. "Why? What can you possibly be after that Trixie cannot give you?"
"Answers."
"From who, Silver?"
"Why should I tell you? You don't care. Or maybe you do care now that you're life depends on it, hmm? You do not rule me, you are not my princess. I only listen to one pony and that's me. So take your scared, little slave mare and go home. I only need me."
Without warning, Eve hits Silver with a right hook. The suddenness of the hit topples Silver, and Eve pins him down with her forelegs. "Listen here, this arrogance of yours is going to get you killed, and if it wasn't for Serbie, that monster would have skewered you. Stop trying to face the world alone, you're not. You have me. And you should know I care about you more than you believe."
"Um, is Trixie interrupting?" Trixie arrives and sees the Princess on top of her master. Her wounds are gone and she seems to be cheerier than before, especially at seeing her master at the mercy of another mare.
"Excellent timing," replies Eve. "You are going to gather all of us at the entrance of the city and we are all going home. I should have never let any of you go on this endeavor."
Trixie looks at her master and waits for a response. Seeing that nothing is forthcoming, she shakes her head and says, "Trixie regrets to inform you that due to the lack of response from my proxy, I cannot fulfill your request. Please try again later." Silver stifles a chuckle.
"What?" Eve turns to Silver. "Tell her you want to go home. Make the wish. Now."
"Sorry, Princess. 'Due to the lack of response from my proxy' yada yada yada. Guess we're all stuck out here til I get my answers."
The Princesses looks down with shadows in her eyes. "Fine." With that, she gets off Silver. But then, with her magic, buries him so only his head is showing, and sits on her haunches in front of him. "I'll help you find your 'answers, but you are going to have to tell me everything so I can do so. Until then, we are not moving from this spot."
"I'm not telling you anything." Silver spits in her direction, causing her to scoot back in disgust.
Recomposing herself, she clears her throat. "Then I suppose we are staying here for quite some time. Serbie, set a spatial filed around us so we are not disturbed."
"Yes, Princess." Serbie waves her horn and a blue line follows wherever her horn points to. And so she draws a circle. Once the circle completes, a dome flashes into existence then vanishes, but the blue circle on the ground is evidence that it's still in effect. "It's done."
"Excellent." Eve replies, then turns to Silver. "Anything to say yet?"
"Bite me."
"Don't tempt me. This is quite fun."
"Trixie!" Silver tries to turn his head in her direction. "Aren't you going to do something?"
Trixie smirks. "Make a wish."
"No, I need my last two wishes. Aren't you suppose to protect your master?!"
Trixie struts next to Eve and sits. "You're not in any danger. And Trixie is curious as well. She has to know where my magic is being spent, doesn't she?"
"No, you don't." Silver grunts and tries to dig himself out.
"Hmm, perhaps not. But being in servitude, Trixie is entitled to some fun."
"You witch. Get me outta here!"
Trixie drops on her belly and leans in so her muzzle is next to Silver's ear. "What's the magic word?" At that, she tips her head so Silver's muzzle is next to her ear.
"Screw you..." Silver shuts up and begins crying: a response that surprises Trixie and Eve. Trixie stands and looks over at Eve who responds with a stoic gaze. Serbie merely pays attention from the back ground as she always has. "You don't know what it's like..." Silver says after choking down a sob. Then with renewed vigor, he screams, "I had to fight and struggle to survive for most of my life! No pony ever cared about me. They were only worried about themselves. Well, you know what? Screw them. They're dead now. I've survived through my own will. So, Princess, I am alone in this world, in my world. And I refuse to let anypony else into my world. They only slow me down. The only way to live is to sever any ties with any pony else, because if they die, I won't care; and if I die... no pony else will care. It's a win-win for everypony involved.
So if you're gonna help me, then help me. If not, go back to wherever the Doctor dug you up, because you're not important to me. You don't rule me."
"Dug you up?" Trixie questions. "I thought you were a direct line from Twilight? That's what you and the Doctor said."
"That's what the official story is," says Silver. "The council doesn't want the public to know the Doctor has--or had--a time machine. Everypony will be begging for them to fix... this. It'll cause chaos. So he went back in time, got her from who knows where and brought her here, because 'apparently' she's the strongest unicorn to have ever lived. 'Her magic rivals that of the alicorns, dare I say. And she'll be able to solve all our problems.' Humph, some help. All you've done is--"
"Protect you," interrupts Evening. "You think those generators are perfect? They are still a work in progress and you know what happens if they fail? I have to sub in for them. I've been keeping the city in the sky for weeks while the Doctor runs his maintenance which is why I have to go back. Only two generators were fully functional when we left. The others were running at half capacity. They won't last much longer with all that strain."
"Not my problem," replies Silver.
"Yes it is because--" Eve sighs. "Listen, I need your help to go back. By the Doctor's calculation, the shield will only last two days while the propulsion spell one. I can't go back on my own because the shield acts as a magic jammer. Your djinn can do the impossible, so she can definitely by-pass the jamming system. So I'll make a deal with you: tell me what I want to know, and I'll tell you something I've hidden from you for years. I'll even go first."
"I have no interest in what you have to say."
Princess Evening smiles. "You will. I'm your daughter after all, so you're entitled to care about me."
I getting tired of naming chapters for this dream scape arc so this is the rest ...(part 1)..... yeah, I'm cruel.
Wind blows, but even the dust on the ground refuses to move. Silver is at a lost for for words--everypony is. Suddenly, Silver's face scrunches up into a scowl. "I don't believe you."
Eve responds, "The Doctor didn't go back in time to get me. He went forward."
"That's a lie."
"My mother, your wife, was named Twilight Crimson."
"Stop it! Stop lying!"
Evening stomps the ground, "I'm your daughter! Whether you accept it or not, it IS true."
"It's impossible! Crimson is dead. And my real daughter--"
"Is suspended in a magical space Crimson created as she died in your hooves... pregnant. Surprised I know that? I know much more. Care to test me?"
Silver stays silent. His eyes droop down and stays silent. After a few moments, his head shoots up. "Trixie! I wish the gate key was here."
Trixie stands. "As you wish master." And she makes it so. A twinkling appears before Silver in the shape of a ring and out of the gleam materializes the key to the city, round and red hot.
At that, Silver turns to Evening Glimmer. "Now can you dig me out?"
"But--"
"I got you a way back into the city. Losing a wish makes my mission much much harder, but... I owe you that much." Silver's tone isn't acidic as it was. He took a kinder tone--almost fatherly... almost.
"Silver... I can help. I want to help you."
"No! I've had enough heart break to put you in any danger. If you die, I don't want to live knowing my daughter to going to be swiped away by some Doctor in the future only to never return home. Get out of here. And let me do what I have to do."
"Silver," Evening whispers. She nods and teleports him out of the ground. "You... be careful out there."
Silver grunts. "Come on, Trixie." With that, he gallops off.
Trixie scoffs. "Are you really going to let him go? He didn't tell you what you wanted," she says to Evening.
"I can go back to the city now. It's all I really wanted. And there's nothing I can do to change his mind. He'll weasel himself out of any situation to avoid letting anypony into his heart. And this was his final test to see if he would change, and finally let me in. He failed like he always does. Trixie?" Evening turns to her. "Take care of him. You're the closest he'll ever get to trusting somepony." Evening lights her horn in preparation of a spell. "Make his last few moments happy." Without another word, Evening along with Serbie vanish in a flash.
As she left, Trixie swears she saw the Princess's eyes watering up. His last moments... Trixie thinks to herself.
