Ever since she had gotten rid of that stupid amulet, Trixie had been overcome with mercilessly pounding headache that often started from the tip of her horn and felt like it bore through her skull and into her brain.
Usually she'd rely on her own magic to remedy such physical problems, but even the smallest of spells put a tremendous strain on her and more often than not-her horn would at most send out a shower of sparks and she'd end up even more exhausted.
While she had frowned upon the aid of herbs or medical sciences, the pain eventually became so unbearable the she finally caved when returning to Ponyville and collapsed in front of the hospital.
Her dreams were haunted by the memory of that accursed amulet and the things it made her do.
Sure, she had always planned on getting even with Twilight Sparkle for showing her up and maybe she did have a little anger towards Snips and Snails for summoning that Ursa Minor.
But, she realized that they were just stupid kids and held her temper-until that amulet had seductively whispered into her ear.
Telling her that there was no excuse and that they deserved to suffer as Twilight, her friends, and the rest of Ponyville should suffer just as she had-even more so if they resisted her rule.
It had almost been as if a demonic entity resided within the piece of jewelry and had burrowed deep within her subconscious, manipulating her, playing off her fears, pain, anger, and shame.
When she awoke she was lying in a hospital bed with her head pounding, she was startled as the curtain dividing her bed from the other patient’s was thrust open by a brown stallion wearing a blue suit with a red necktie.
“Oh, good you’re awake!” he exclaimed jovially. “Yeah, you’re in the hospital…passed out a few hours ago by my calculations. Personally, this is the last place I’d want to wake up in…hospitals creep me out.”
Given his attire, Trixie could already tell he wasn’t a patient…
“Oh, sorry…am I being rude again?” he seemed to be asking himself more than her.
“I’m The Doctor-well, not you’re doctor-in fact I don’t have any affiliation with this hospital whatsoever…you still look a little pale, is there anything you need?”
Yes, she was trying to collect her thoughts and it would really help if there wasn’t a skinny idiot ranting in her face about every single thing that happened to pop into his head.
“Look, I really don’t feel good and right now what I’d like more than anything is to be left alone so I can get some rest…” Trixie replied, before rolling onto her side facing away from The Doctor.
“Do you know why you’re here?” he asked.
“Because I passed out in front of the hospital?” Trixie replied with her voice muffled from the pillow her face was buried in.
“No…well, yeah…but, the reason you are here now is because you’re suffering from withdrawal.” He continued.
“I don’t do drugs...” she groaned, agitatedly in response.
“Actually,” The Doctor replied. “The effects of the Alicorn Amulet actually act as a magically steroid, producing so much magical energy for you that after a while your body ceases to begin producing it on its own.”
“Is that why I feel so wiped out?” she muttered.
“Well, it’s also sort of like speed in the regard that it will give you a large energy boost, but once it’s taken away from you…you’ll crash pretty hard.”
“My head is killing me…” Trixie groaned, rolling over onto her back and placing a foreleg over her eyes.
“I just want to stop….or die….whatever comes first.”
“You don’t sound like yourself.” The Doctor observed.
“Good, because in case you haven’t noticed the real me enslaved Ponyville, tortured its citizens, and all because of a petty revenge scheme to get back at everyone’s favorite princess, Twilight Sparkle.” Trixie replied, sourly.
“As if everyone didn’t already hate me enough…”
“If everyone hates you…” The Doctor began. “Then why would anyone bother bringing you in her and giving you treatment?”
“Probably just so they could cover their flanks for from a potential lawsuit on the off-chance I managed to survive without their help.” She snorted.
“It sounds like you view your entire life as an utter failure.” The Doctor commented.
“Yeah, you could say that…I’ve never been wealthy with my performances before coming to Ponyville…but, I had enough disposable income to live comfortably.” She sighed.
“Yes, maybe I did exaggerated my abilities with a story I heard about an Ursa Major wreaking havoc in Hoofington by taking credited for another Unicorn’s work…but, Twilight and her friends trying to take me down a peg because I was bragging?” Trixie continued.
“I’m an entertainer, if I don’t put any effort into promoting myself, then no one knows I exist or comes to any of my shows and I end up going hungry and out of the job.” She sighed.
“You make a valid point.” The Doctor conceded.
“And yes, you have made mistakes in the past…but, if you come with me I can show you that your life does have value.”
Trixie appeared to be mulling his proposition over before coming to a decision.
“Alright,” she relented. “It’s not like I’ve got anything else to lose…being homeless and all…”
Trixie tried magically removing the IV drip from her foreleg, only to wince as her horn began to sting; so instead, she ripped it out with a hoof and carelessly tossed it aside before pulling off her hospital gown.
Trixie followed The Doctor downstairs and through the lobby as Nurse Redheart looked up from a file she was examining near the front desk.
“Hey!” she shouted as she followed the duo outside.
Trixie and The Doctor both turned to her after stopping short of a large wooden blue box a few feet from the hospital.
“Just who do you think you are?” Redheart demanded as she marched toward The Doctor.
“And what the hell are you doing with my patient?”
“I’m The Doctor.” He replied, matter-of-factly.
“I think you’ll find that we’re the doctors here!” She replied, angrily.
“I’m just trying to help.” He stated defensively.
“Well I appreciate that, but we are trained professionals.” Redheart then pointed towards Trixie with a hoof.
“And this patient is my responsibility!”
“Well, with all due respect, not all ailments are physical and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but this mare is severely depressed.” The Doctor replied.
“That may be, but I cannot allow a patient to leave the hospital unattended with a mentally unstable individual!”
The Doctor turned back to her while unlocking the TARDIS.
“Then come with us.”
“What?”
“If you accompany us, then Trixie isn’t technically unsupervised by hospital staff, is she?”
Redheart examined the box which appeared to be only moderately larger than an outhouse and sighed.
This stallion clearly needed psychiatric help.
“Fine, I’ll play along for now…but, then I’m calling the authorities.” She turned back to Trixie.
“And you will go back to bed and get some much needed rest.”
Trixie didn’t even hear this words as the noise of the outside world was drowned out as The Doctor pushed the door to the box open, revealing a much larger room inside, which even with the aid of magic seemed completely impossible.
The inside of the box were walls which appeared to have been made from some form of choral with brown, tree and vine-like support beams.
In the center appeared to be some type of control panel with a large aquamarine tube from the ceiling of the structure to level down below, inside was some sort of machinery which would slowly piston up and down.
The Doctor quickly hopped up to the control panel before setting the TARDIS coordinates.
“Are you two coming in or what?”
“It’s…” Redheart began slowly.
“Yeah, yeah, bigger on the inside, Trixie do you mind shutting the door behind you?”
Trixie did as instructed while The Doctor pulled a lever, causing the piston to move even faster as an alien grinding and whirring sound filled the room.
“I can’t believe the day has come when I finally get to do this!” he exclaimed.
“Do what?” Trixie asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Today or…more accurately, tonight we are going to participate in creating known Equestrian history!” he replied, excitedly.
The two mares exchanged confused glances with each other.
“What do you mean?” Redheart asked.
The Doctor moved towards the door before pushing it open.
They were on the outskirts of a town and it was nightfall.
This only increased their confusion, before they entered the mysterious box it was morning in Ponyville.
“This is Hoofington…” Trixie realized.
“That’s right!” The Doctor confirmed. “Three years in the past to be precise, which would make this about…November twelfth of the one-thousandth Celestial year.”
Trixie’s heart skipped a beat that meant this was a week before she came to Ponyville…
“Doctor…” Redheart began slowly. “Are you saying that box of yours is actually a time machine?”
Before he could offer a witty response, a shrill scream pierced the night air as they all instinctively ran towards it.
In the center of town stood a large dark violet ethereal bear-like creature with long fangs, claws, and a blue star-like mark on its forehead.
Its yellow eyes were bloodshot as saliva freely cascaded from its mouth into large puddles on the ground below.
There was a yellow mare with a blue mane huddled next to a dark blue stallion with a raspberry-colored mane.
“It’s an Ursa Major.” Trixie observed in horror.
“And judging by the eyes and excess saliva, I’ willing to bet it’s rabid as well-don’t get too close.” The Doctor instructed.
“Well, we have to do something!” Redheart protested, desperately.
“You have medical training…tell his wife to get some alcohol to cleanse the wound go see what you can do for that stallion. And then go see if there’s anything else you can do to treat it so he doesn’t bleed out.” The Doctor replied.
He then turned to Trixie.
“At this point the infection has spread throughout her entire body…the only way to stop her as far as I can tell…is to put her down-I don’t like it-but, I’m afraid putting her out of he misery is the kindest thing we can do for her at this point.”
“But, why are you telling me?” Trixie asked. “My magic is useless, remember?”
“Yes, it is below your strength, but if you really focus and charge it up enough I believe you can end her life quickly and painlessly with a single blast…the handicap you are dealing with right now is your own lack of confidence…there’s a reason your special talent is magic.” He replied.
Glancing at her Cutie Mark with a sapphire blue crescent moon accompanied with a star-tipped magic wand he continued.
“But, before you release the blast you need to be one hundred percent sure that it will be powerful enough to take her down with a single hit, otherwise she’ll turn her attention on you and you won’t get a second chance.”
The Doctor then returned to Nurse Redheart who was applying alcohol to the deep and ugly gash in the stallion’s side.
“How’s he holding up?” The Doctor asked.
“It was touch and go for a while, but he should be fine…as soon as the Ursa is taken care of, he still needs to go to the hospital to receive a proper vaccine.”
“Trixie’s working on it.” The Doctor replied.
“You know, I was originally going to be a doctor like stable, but my professor had it out for me back in med school.” Redheart sighed.
“I can do so much more than just be a nurse…but, I never got anything past an ADN because he purposely failed me on the grounds that he believed that mares should be nurses or midwives and that, stallions are the only ones competent enough to become doctors.”
“Well, that’s a serious ethics violation-didn’t you complain?” The Doctor asked.
“Yes, actually just about all of us did, but he had connections so we were just ignored and called ‘entitled brats’.” She replied.
“Still, it’s not all bad…Stable’s a great doctor, but he’s not above making a few mistakes and he trusts me to catch them and advise him…even though I can’t legally correct most of them myself.”
Suddenly, they turned as a strong, light blue glow shone throughout the town emanating from Trixie as her horn appeared as if it were about to burst from the sheer amount of magical energy it was building up.
The powerful light caught the Ursa’s attention as it snarled and began stomping towards her.
“Trixie you have to release it now!” The Doctor shouted.
“I…I can’t!” Trixie shouted back desperately, with her eyes screwed shut.
“I don’t think it’s strong enough!”
“It is strong enough!” The Doctor insisted. “You are strong enough! You mustn’t doubt it!”
The Ursa roared as in stood on its hind-legs, raising its claw to strike before a large beam of magical energy was released from Trixie’s horn, hitting the center of its chest.
The Ursa Major let out an agonized groaned before falling onto its back, causing the entire town to shake.
“She did it!” The yellow mare exclaimed triumphantly. “That Unicorn saved the town from the Ursa Major!”
The joy was short lived, however as Trixie collapsed onto her side.
The Doctor and Nurse Redheart galloped to her side before examining her.
“She passed out from fatigue.” The Doctor observed.
“Trixie’s still recovering from the effects of the Alicorn Amulet; you shouldn’t have made her push herself so hard.” Redheart chastised.
“We need to get her back into the TARDIS-help me carry her.” The Doctor instructed.
A few days later The Doctor entered Trixie’s hospital room with to see Nurse Redheart picking up her breakfast tray.
“Sorry, about pushing you so hard…” The Doctor apologized.
“But, I wanted to help you regain your own self-confidence.”
“Doctor, I’ve been thinking…” Trixie replied.
“What happened back in Hoofington was actually three years ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“So does that mean I really did vanquish the Ursa Major?”
“Technically yes, it’s probably why no citizens from Hoofington ever called you out on lying about or exaggerating your feats.”
“Unfortunately,” Redheart added, picking up a spoon. “It also means that the strain your little magic trick put on your body has also doubled the time it will take for you to completely recover.”
“Regardless, I would like to thank you Doctor.” Trixie replied. “I was in a very dark place for a while and you showed me that my life has more value than just hurting people while I was under the Amulet’s influence.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved a hoof dismissively, before turning to leave.
“Where are you going now?” Redheart asked curiously.
“Well, as pointed out I stole your patient…so I’m going to step into that police box outside and arrest myself.” He replied before leaving.
Trixie chuckled while Redheart merely shook her head.
Author's Note
Sixteenth Story for 'One-Shotober'
This is a one-shot I've wanted to do one with Trixie and the negative effects of the Alicorn Amulet along with Nurse Redheart (she deserves more love) and of course The Doctor seemed to be the best candidate to help resolve Trixie's self-esteem issues after she becomes both magically and emotionally broken.
