Moving the Stars

Moving the Stars

Story 2

Chapter 4: Secrets

By: WriteAnything

It felt good to hold Trixie like this.  I felt like I was actually able to be more than a teacher, like she actually had someone to confide in, and a shoulder to cry on. Heck, I was probably the first shoulder she’s had in years. “Trixie, I’m more than just your teacher. I want you to know that I’m here to give you more than just magic lessons, and you can ask me for anything, okay?”

I’m positive the shade of red my cheeks became as she headed towards her room wasn’t even on the color wheel. There was no doubt in my mind that her face was just as red as mine, and I honestly don’t she was thinking when did it. I raised a hoof to my cheek slowly, thinking about what just happened and trying to figure out if it had actually happened or now. Regardless, the thing that mattered is that she went to bed with a smile, and that told me I had done something right without needing a kiss.

* * *

Trixie’s choice of spells was pretty well rounded, and her lessons began flawlessly. It only took her two days to master the first spell she wanted, and given the difficulty of her choices, I was quite proud to be her teacher. Day by day, she learned and practiced her new spells, and I would bet my bottom bit that Starswirl the Bearded himself was smiling down on her. Within a week, it was already time for her first test.

I had to get creative with how to design her course, given the diversity of her choices. I chose to give her a track to run through with a flag at the end that she had to grab in a certain amount of time. A massive boulder blocked her way through, about midway through stood a gate that would only open when three switches were pressed simultaneously, and the flag itself was surrounded by a tall circle of oscillating spikes. If she only know what I had to do to make this course; creation magic of that magnitude is not easy.

If talent was a light, Trixie would’ve been blinding. The rock had been reduced to pebbles, the gate was opened, and Trixie had hold of the flag in under two minutes! I ran over to her with the biggest smile on my face as the course disappeared. The two Trixies beside her disappeared before we shared a quick embrace and a laugh. “Trixie, I told you I’d make you a great unicorn, and you make that promise seem easier to keep each and every day.”

The change was astounding; this mare, who had once been so lonely and sad, was now smiling and laughing like she was the happiest pony in Equestria. Honestly, seeing her like this made me feel like the happiest pony in Equestria. That wasn’t the end of it, either. Trixie kept pushing and pushing, and eventually she was learning three spells in as many days. After about two weeks, I decide to surprise her with a little pop test: a course that would need to be conquered through spells of my choosing.

I set up a similar course as the first one, but with much more obstacles: another large boulder, a gate with fives switches, a gap sporting a wall of fire for her to put out, a brick wall for her to phase through, a series of clouds she’d have to walk on to get to Sapphire, who generously volunteered to be hung from a rope and held over a bucket full of gems, which Trixie had to make appear unappetizing to the hungry dragon, and then keep the baby with her as she grabbed the flag and brought it back to me.

She demolished it. There was one little goof up with her water shield, but she quickly corrected it and even got Sapphire to say no to the gems. As she brought the flag to me, there came an audible, excited clapping coming from the entrance to the garden.

I swear Trixie’s jaw went to the land down under when she saw her former “rival” clapping for her as she finished my course. “Trixie, that was amazing! You’ve really come a long way!”

Her expression wasn’t sadness or anger, but if you asked me what it was, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. “What’s she doing here?” There wasn’t any anger in her tone either, so I had to assume Trixie, at the very least, no longer hated the young mare.

Patting her on the back, I turned my attention to Celestia’s pupil, who was making her way over her with a bright smile. “I invited Twilight here to see your progress. She’s right, too, you have come a long way. Hell, Trixie, I didn’t even test half the spells you’ve learned in that last test.”

The red on her face and the fallen ears was an absolutely adorable combination. Sadly, the expression didn’t stay long enough as another small, scaly creature made his appearance from behind Twilight. “You’ve learned lots of magic, Trixie! Hey, I bet you could pull off some growth magic, huh?”

The little dragon’s friend scoffed, turning to him with a glare. “Spike, we’ve talked about this before. No more mustache!”

He hung his head, but the bucket of gems my own dragon placed before him turned that frown upside down in no time. “Hey, thanks!” They both dove in and started chowing down, leaving the unicorns with some room to talk.

I brought them both inside so they could do just that, looking through the pantry for some lunch.

Trixie’s tone was a touch apologetic, but I can’t imagine what she still felt sorry about. “Thanks for coming. It… means a lot to me now that we’re friends.”

If it weren’t for Trixie, I’d have said Twilight’s giggle was the cutest thing I’d ever heard. This day was just all around cute, so far. “You don’t need to thank me. Like I said, we’re friends, and a true friend is always there for her friends.”

Both stomachs growled at the sight of the sandwiches I set before them, but the sounds they made after the first bite were even more satisfying. “So, how was the trip, lassie? Sireland certainly isn’t too far away from Ponyville, but you’ve got to admit, strange things have been happening.”

Twilight nodded, a worried expression crossing her face. “That’s actually another reason I wanted to come here. Strange… things have been wandering around Ponyville. They’re not hurting anything, but I can’t seem to find anything about them in my books.”

Trixie and I both raised our brow. It was scary how alike we were becoming, but it was funny in a way, as well. “Strange things? Like, what kinds of things, lass? I’m sure I could find something in my too-much-money archives of knowledge.”

She had to finish a chuckle before answering me. Trixie always told me I had too much money, but hey, being a private tutor for Celestia’s Academy for Talented and Gifted Unicorns paid pretty dang well. “They were just cubes. Pink, gooey cubes of what looked like jelly. There were these little imp things that looked like they came straight out of a Nightmare Night decoration store, and these furry creatures that looked like crosses between coyotes and yellow foxes. Neither Fluttershy nor Nova has any idea what they are either.”

I recognized the descriptions immediately, teleporting to my library and returning in the blink of an eye with the book I thought would be of the most help.

“A Spiral Knight’s Guide to Outside Equestria?” Apparently tilting your head makes your voice sound silly. It didn’t matter though, I already said this day was cute, and Trixie wasn’t helping the matter with all the silly stuff she was doing.

As I was about to go into my explanation, a lavender hoof placed itself on the book, focused on “Spiral Knight’s”. “Spiral Knights are a special sect of the Princess’s Royal Guard. They’re trained to recognize and fight against monsters and beings that don’t come from Equestria. If anypony would know about these creatures, it would be one of them.”

My student let out an interested “ooooh” as I opened the book, but we didn’t even get to look at the table of contents before our dragons were tripping over each other on their way to us.

“Astro!”

“Twilight!”

I only dabble in violin playing, but these two had great harmony. “A letter from Princess Celestia!” Listening to them speak in unison was rather entertaining; it was like they combined their letters to make it seem like it was one addressed to both Twilight and myself.

“My dear friend and faithful student,

Trouble has come up in Canterlot, and I request your presence. Threats are being made against the city, and the unicorn issuing them has brought with him an army. This is a matter of utmost importance, so the sooner you arrive in the city square, the better. I would like Astro to bring Trixie, of course, and if you two are together, as I believe you are, bring your dragons as well. Search for the colt in yellow, fur armor, and he shall detail you on the situation.

Please Hurry,

Princess Celestia”

Nopony even bothered with words, we just booked it as fast as we could to Canterlot.

* * *

A massive crowed was gathered around the fountain in the city square. Sapphire and Spike sat atop mine and Twilight’s backs, but that still didn’t help our situation getting around. The three of us tried to stay together, but we eventually were forced to split up until Trixie found the unicorn in question.

He was dressed in what I recall to be the Recon issued Wolver armor of the Spiral Knights; his ensemble was mainly comprised of mail and leather with light plate painted yellow over top. The fur around his collar and boots made it look very hot, especially this time of year. The uniform sported a red and grey undershirt that gave him more movement, but it was surely hiding chainmail underneath. His dark red horn protruded out of a perfectly shaped-hole in the rather beast-like helmet. Honestly, in full armor, this pony looked more like some kind of mechanical wolf.

His voice had a gruff rasp to it, but there kindness to it, as if he didn’t like the intimidating voice he was given. “Astro Stellaris? Twilight Sparkle? Trixie Lulamoon?” After a nod from all three of us, he politely bowed to us, remaining in the stance as he spoke. “My name is Cutlass. I’m sure you have already received your letters, so I don’t need to tell you why you’re here.”

Apparently the Princess left that part out. “Well, you kind of do, actually. Celestia told us we needed to come here as fast as we could, but never told us why.”

As I finished speaking, a booted hoof pointed straight forward, guiding our eyes to another new pony. The face was somewhat obscured by the shadow the hood of his black cloak cast over it, but the straight, squared muzzle was enough to clue us in on his gender. What parts of his body were not covered by the cloak were pure white, and the tip of a coal black tail poked out from beneath the garment. The stranger stepped up onto the edge of the fountain, discarding the cloak and revealing piercing green eyes and a solid white body. His horn came to an unusual point, and on his flank was stamped the black king. Either this unicorn really liked chess, or he had done something to qualify as a genius.

His voice had projection, but there was a calmness about it. There was no sign of any kind of nervousness despite the attention he commanded, and each word had a sinister undertone. “I’d like to commend all the new faces I see before me for the courage it must’ve taken to come here. Now that it looks like I’ve gotten all the listeners I possibly can, allow me to introduce myself.”

After a clearing of the throat, he jumped to the top of the fountain, gazing at all the citizens before him. “I am Checkmate, and I am here for one purpose only: to find an opponent worthy of my wit and power!” The thunder would have been more intimidating if it wasn’t perfectly sunny outside. “I’d like to issue a challenge to you all: you have two weeks to defeat me in a one-on-one duel. Should I be defeated, I will happily go on my way. Should I remain victorious, I will have my army march on your fair city and raze it to the ground!”

With one wave of his hoof, he directed all eyes to the east, where a large group of creatures similar to what Twilight had described were standing at the borders of the city. While it was intimidating, something about it just seemed… odd. I wasn’t given much time to ponder it, though, as this “Checkmate” resumed his self-glorifying declaration.

“Of course, just like with any challenge, there are rules,” he jumped down to the ground, walking along the circle that surrounded him, “number one: the royal sisters cannot help. Number two: the duels are purely one on one, if you receive any kind of help, it’s an automatic loss. Number three: if any moves are made on my army before the two weeks are up, they will attack without mercy. If any of these rules are broken, then that will end the two week grace period, and regardless if you have eight minutes, or eight days left, we will attack the city. Now, I will be accepting challengers 24/7 throughout these weeks, so if you’re feeling lucky, don’t be shy. In fact, I’m accepting opponents as early as now.”

A sly grin formed on his face as he scanned the crowd, egging them all on to try and challenge him. Eventually his taunts and bragging got him the attention he wanted. The once perky, cheerful voice turned annoyed and angry as the golden mane shimmered in the sunlight. “I’ll take you on, you nagging prick! Let’s see how strong you really are!”

If Spike or Sapphire were to start choking on a meal, that’s the sound I’d compare to what came out of Checkmate, because that definitely was not a laugh. “A little waitress? How cute. Very well then, you shall serve as a demonstration of my awesome power! However, I am not so rude as to not give you a chance.” He bowed towards Amber, grinning as he did so. “You may make the first move.”

I have to admit, I was mildly impressed. The bushels of wheat that rose up around Checkmate were strong and healthy, a cultivation spell I don’t think anypony would’ve expected from a simple waitress. The satisfied mare flashed a smile with closed eyes. “Your turn.”

He let out that dying cat laugh again as his horn began to glow with an ugly black aura. In the blink of an eye, the pretty wheat was at the mercy of the tree underneath it. That wasn’t the end though, not only had Checkmate given rise to the massive tree, he had summoned birds into it as well, which made a beeline for Amber and furiously began to peck at her.

The whole crowd began to panic, save for the four of us. Though I’m sure they could still hear the villainous voice echoing from among the frightened whispers and chattering. “Prepare yourselves, unicorns of Canterlot, for mere pawns do not stand a chance against me.

Trixie’s elbow really hurt when it was dug into your ribcage. “Come on, Astro, all three of us are strong enough to take him on!”

She made a move toward him, but it was hard to walk with another pony’s foreleg in front of you. “No, Trixie. Something’s not right here. All of you, while he’s busy gloating, let’s get out of here.”

Weaving our way through the crowd without being spotted wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, nor did it take as long as I thought. We didn’t stop, even after we were safely out of the city. Cutlass came along too, which was good; he would no doubt prove helpful in confirming my suspicions.

“Something about this doesn’t add up. Twilight, you said there were monsters like the ones Checkmate is commanding around Ponyville, right?”

She nodded, but her brow remained raised. “Yes, but they weren’t hurting anyone. They were just kind of walking around.”

Scratching my chin was an indication of “deep focus mode”. There was something fishy about this whole situation, and I explained to everyone what I wanted them to do. Twilight and Cutlass headed off to Ponyville, while Trixie and I went back home.

Astro decided to give me the rest of the day off while he did some planning. Since he was holed up in his study, I went ahead and looked through the notes I had taken on his surprise. I had written down a lot of shortcuts and simplifications that were safe to incorporate into the technique, and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna gave me permission to go through with it. Most of my nights since making the decision involved my playing cartographer with the sky, and finally I decided what could go where to match my sketch.

It was finally time to begin. With all the spells I had mastered, focusing my magic in great quantities was easier than apologizing to Twilight, which, in hindsight, wasn’t that hard… I guess. When I believed I was finished, I nearly tripped on my own hooves to get to Astro’s observatory at the top floor of the manor. There he kept all of his maps, charts, and graphs of everything from constellations to weather patterns. My goal, however, was the high-bit telescope he owned. Again, my mentor had too much money.

As I began to think about him, my pace slowed. I still didn’t think Astro realized what I had done that night was on purpose, and I’ve been wanting to get a chance to tell him. Apparently is possible to physically shake thoughts out of your head, thought I don’t know why I thought it would. Resuming my trip to the telescope, I almost squealed when I looked through it and saw I had succeeded. Just a few more nights of this and Astro would have the surprise of his life.

With nothing else to occupy them, my thoughts returned to the tutor, and my own emotions. My rump hit the floor and almost froze. Astro really needed to have some kind of heated tiles or something. The floor in my room was a much better place to think, and my bed was even better. I was sure Astro had some knowledge of my feelings, but I was far too afraid to actually say something. The first two years we had spent together were kind of rocky, but no matter how severe my mistakes were, my mentor always managed to forgive me, and during those days recently that we spent just having fun and being together, my feelings were solidified. I loved Astro, but I just didn’t know what to do.

I stared up at the stars through my skylight, but Astro’s narwhal wasn’t in view at the moment. I needed to say something to somepony, anypony, but I just didn’t know who. In the end, I took a shot in the dark and called Sapphire, writing a letter to my new friend. “Sapphire, are you able to send letters to other dragons, or do they have to go through the princess?”

The little claw rubbed the light blue chin gently before she spoke. “Sorry, Trixie, but I think they have to go through the princess.”

That threw a wrench into the gears. Well, a small wrench. I sent a short letter to Princess Celestia requesting her to send my next letter to Twilight immediately, and then began work on my fellow unicorn’s letter.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle

I haven’t told this to anyone yet, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m in love with Astro. I’m not really sure how you can help, I just needed to tell somepony. I also want to thank you for forgiving me so easily; thanks to you I feel like a new pony. You and Astro both have done so much for me, and I don’t think there’s any way I can express my thanks enough.

Your friend,

Trixie Lulamoon.”

The baby dragon lit it on fire, and off it went. During the wait, I decided to attempt a continuation of my process, but even with all my training, the strain proved too great. I was left panting and lying in the grass as Sapphire ran up to me with Twilight’s reply. That pony wrote fast.

I was surprised by how much indirect experience Twilight had with situations like this. First the wedding between Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, but also two of her close friends just hooked up as well. Honestly, it was reassuring to know I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

After reading the letter, I decided to confront Astro once and for all. I made my way up to his study, but sadly, I never got the chance to speak. The saddle was on, and his bags were packed.

He made his way towards the door, turning to me with a determined expression. “Trixie, I know things today have been kind of sudden, but I have to leave for a few days. I’m giving you the rest of this week off to do what you like, alright?”

“Wait, where are you going?” Too late, the door was already closed. Now I was even less confident about talking to him than I was before. He was right though, events today had been quite sudden, even down to my thought patterns. His sudden departure scared me; despite the secrets I had been keeping from him, I couldn’t help but think that he was hiding something from me as well.

Regardless, I now had four days all to myself. That was plenty of time to get both my confidence, and my little surprise, together and ready to present. I trusted Twilight, and I didn’t want to be here with just Sapphire every single day, so I thought I’d send another letter to her detailing my plans, and asked if she could help for a day. That squeal I had been holding in finally came out when I got her reply.

Aside from Astro just bolting out of the manor, things were going so well, and it felt so good to be in this situation. Even with my hidden feelings, I still felt good. As I skimmed through my notes again and double checked for more tricks to make this spell easier, I began to tell myself that Astro was coming up with a plan for dealing with Checkmate. He never could tell me about a plan until he had everything thought out just the way he wanted, so I convinced myself that that was why he left.

* * *

Morning came, and still no Astro. Without any lessons, I decided to make up a schedule for myself for what to do that day. My morning was spent practicing some of my more difficult spells I had trouble with, and the afternoon consisted of me relaxing with a warm bubble bath. Despite Astro’s pay, neither he nor I really lived lavishly. In fact, most of the rooms in the manor were for educational purposes.

Twilight never came. We hadn’t really spent enough time together for me to know if that was a habit, but I couldn’t help but feel as if shewas keeping something from me too. As the sun began to set, it was time for me to prepare to continue my work. After dinner and a few deep breaths, I repeated my new nightly process of casting my magic and checking the telescope. Right now, this was the only thing that gave me hope, and I was making significant progress. With the absence of my friend and the last of the goals I had set for the day accomplished, there was nothing left to do but go to bed. I had to cling to my teddy again, as I couldn’t shake the feelings I was beginning to have.

The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. Astro suddenly leaving, Twilight not visiting, both these things in my mind pointed to them getting together. My friend promised me I’d never feel alone again, but as my emotions began to take hold, I came to the realization that while I didn’t feel useless, I was starting to feel alone again. I felt lied to, and while I didn’t cry, I hurt. Everything happened so suddenly, and it was as if the world just dropped me here.

All I could do was close my eyes and hope that this was all either a bad dream, or my inner defeatist taking hold of me again and making me overreact.