The Deeper Side of Magic

Trixie opens her eyes slowly to check the little clock sitting on the bedside table. The clock reads 7:30A.M.

Ok it’s time. I will make everything right.

She moves to get out of the bed you two share now, and slowly steps toward the dresser. A magenta aura surrounds the two knobs as Trixie uses her magic to slowly pull the shelf towards her. She lifts some of your extra clothes out of the way revealing the amulet she bought the night before. She slowly lifts the amulet out and begins to move towards the door leading out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

“Where exactly are you going this early?”

She freezes when she hears you address her.

“You….You’re up a little earlier than I thought you’d be.” Trixie stammers nervously

“Well when someone sneaks out of bed in the middle of the night and wanders off for about three hours, then comes back climbs into a bed and acts like nothing happened, kinda gives someone a lot of time to be awake. So where did you go? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“I…a…couldn’t sleep is all so I went for a walk around town.” She lies

You put your fist up against your mouth to think.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell she isn’t acting right. I wonder what she’s got clutched in her magic? You question to yourself.

“Trixie?”

“Ye…yeah?”

“Are you ok? You’re acting a little strange. You know what ever is wrong you can tell me right?”

“I am completely fine. Never been better.” She replies through a phony grin.

“What’s that behind your back?” You ask her calmly.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

You swing your legs off the bed and stand up. In one quick grab you scoop up the shirt you had taken off the night before and put it on.

“Trixie I can see your horn glowing, and I can barely see something floating behind your back. So I want to know what that is, and why you are so desperately trying to hide it while avoiding all my questions. Please don’t lie to me. I’ll ask you again what is that behind your back, where are you going, and what are you hiding from me.”

Trixie’s eyes narrow downwards in defeat. She turns away still keeping the object hidden from view. She quietly mumbles something that you don’t fully catch.

“What did you say?” You ask her. Your voice turning from calm and gentle to serious.

“I said please forgive me.”

“For what?”

“This.”

Trixie’s horn erupts with light filling the room with smoke. You put your hand over your mouth to try to inhale as little the blue smoke as possible. You begin to cough as you try to grab Trixie before she can make through the door. Another flash of light from her horn, and the bed sheets gain a life of their own. They stretch out in your path causing you to trip and fall face first onto the hard wood flooring of the upstairs bedroom.

The smoke slowly begins to dissipate, and you get back to your feet. You know Trixie made it out of the house. You move towards the stairs and descend them two at a time.

“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.” You say openly to yourself as your feet hit the living room.

You rush to the door and throw it open. You sprint out of your house and into the streets of Ponyville to find Trixie before she gets herself into even more trouble.

It doesn’t take long to find her in the center of town surrounded by a crowd of onlookers. You wade through the crowd of ponies catching a few hate filled glances as you do so. At the center you find Trixie standing over Twilight and laughing victoriously.

“Trixie IS the highest level unicorn.” She says uttering another laugh.

Her words shake you to the bone causing you to stop in your tracks and stare in stunned silence. You glance over and see what looks like Snips and Snails except Snips seems to be a foal and Snails has become extremely old

Twilight glances over and sees you standing there.

“Look at her now. Look at the mare you defended. We gave her a chance and look what happened. She is evil and that’s all she has been since she arrived. This is the side you chose. To think I ever dared to call you my friend.” Twilight says. Her voice lined with fury and spite.

Twilight stands up and begins to walk away, in the direction leading out of Ponyville.

“What happened here?” You ask the only pony that will look at you.

“TRIXIE WHAT HAPPENED?” You yell out at her.

“I did the only thing that could be done. I got rid of the problem. Twilight Sparkle and I had a little competition. A Magic Duel, loser has to leave Ponyville and never return.” Trixie finishes with a sinister chuckle.

“Then that means.”

“That’s right. Twilight lost now she has to leave and never return. Now everything is right. Everything is ok.”

“What is right about this? I protected you and this is what you go and do. They were gonna give you a chance here. Why? Why did you do this? Please help me understand.”

“I did this for you to make those ponies leave us alone. Now that their ringleader is gone they will stop.”

“Trixie this isn’t right you shouldn’t have done this. They gave you a chance. I gave you a chance. I thought you were different. I thought you were more.”

“Do you not appreciate what I’ve done for you? With this power we can have anything we want. We can rule Ponyville together. As king and queen.”

“No, I don’t want that. I could never do that. Please stop this.” You plead to her.

“Then I’m sorry to have to do this to you. I thought you loved me, but it seems you are no different than the ponies standing here.”

A giant glass dome appears in the sky and drops down surrounding Ponyville preventing Twilight from coming back.

“Just hang on Twi we’ll figure something out.” You hear AJ say

“With this power I will rule Ponyville. Even if it’s by myself.” Trixie glances at you.

In all of the commotion you just now notice the necklace Trixie is wearing, you also notice her once magenta colored eyes are now an evil looking read. You begin to piece it together.

“Trixie is that what you were hiding from me.”

“I don’t owe you an explanation for anything now. EVERYPONY RETURN TO YOUR HOUSES OR FACE THE WRATH OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE.” She shouts.

The crowds of ponies disband leaving just you and her.

“I suppose I’ll need some servants.” She fires a red beam from her horn turning Snips and Snails back to their normal respective ages.

“As for you my former loves interest. Even though I have enough power to pretty much do anything I want to you. I still can’t bring myself to hurt you for some reason so I’ll quarantine you. That way you won’t be able to interfere with my plans.”

Trixie fires a beam of red magic at you. You see a bright flash of light as it hits you. You watch as your body begins to disappear until nothing is left.

You throw yourself forward in fright. A cold sweat slides down the side of your face as the terrible nightmare you just suffered begins to resurface in your mind. The room is dark. You climb out of bed desperately fumbling along the wall for the light switch. Your fingers touch the familiar switch and you flick it up bathing the bedroom in a somber glow. You move to the bathroom and turn on the sink. You splash the cold refreshing water onto your face taking a minute to catch your breath.

You feel your heart racing almost as if you had just run a marathon. Looking into the mirror you wonder if was how James Sunderland felt before he stepped into the little town of Silent Hill in search of his late wife. After your rapid breathing dies down you exit the bathroom and sit down on the edge of your bed.

That nightmare…it felt…so..so real.

You get up and move towards the window to open and let in the gentle breeze of the world outside. You push on the handle but the window doesn’t budge. Looking around puzzled you realize it’s still locked. You reach up to unlatch it. The latch refuses to lift. You press your hands against the thin glass and push to no avail the window remains closed.

You realize something is off and search the house. Trixie is nowhere to be found. You walk towards the front door and reach out to grab the knob. The door refuses to open. You check the door and it appears to be completely fine. The realization that the nightmare you just had actually happened washes over your mind causing your knees to feel week.

You begin to think back to what Trixie said about quarantining you.

“She locked me in my own house then sealed it with some kind of magic.” You say to yourself.

You head back upstairs and look out the window you couldn’t get open. It is night outside, and many of the houses in Ponyville are disheveled and look deserted. From your bedroom window the once vibrant colorful town of Ponyville looks like nothing but a grey barren ghost town. He streets are empty, and not a soul is walking the streets.

How long…how long were you out. It couldn’t have been more than an hour or two right?

You go back downstairs to try to open the door again when a letter you didn’t notice before catches your eye.

It’s from Fluttershy.

My friend

I’m writing you a letter because it was the only way to communicate with you through Trixie’s magic. We went searching through Twilight’s library to find out if she had any books that could help us find out how Trixie became so powerful and mean. We know she is keeping you locked inside your house because she sees you as a threat. She might still feel something for you deep down, and we hope that can help us stop her. We found in a certain book we found out that the thing she is wearing is called the Alicorn Amulet. It is an ancient magical artifact that grants the wearer a lot of power at the cost of them slowly becoming evil. Trixie will continue to become more evil as long as she wears it. The book said only the wearer can take it off so there is a chance we can get her back to normal.

I am going to tell Twilight what is going on, and I am so scared. I’m really nervous about this, but I hope Twilight will know what to do. Just hold on a little while then everything should be ok again. You should get some sleep since I know there isn’t much else for you to do being trapped in your house.

Sincerely Fluttershy

You fold the letter back up and toss it onto the coffee table. You could never sleep knowing what is going on.

It didn’t say when she wrote it. You think shaking your head.

“How could this have happened? Whose fault is it? Am I to blame for protecting her too much…..No, I can’t just sit here and wait for something to happen I have to do something.” You conclude going back up to the door.

You step back and turn sideways. You buckle your legs and throw all your weight into the door. The door still doesn’t move. You try again slamming harder into the wooden door. Still nothing. Again you try. Upon impact you hear a splintering sound as the door begins crack slightly. Your shoulder burns from the pain of constant abuse. You grit your teeth and slam into the door again. The splintering sound grows louder as more cracks appear. Harder and harder you ram into the door. With one final push you break through the magically sealed door as the wooden obstacle breaks and gives way.

You fall forward as you land rather hard onto the grass. You clutch your shoulder feeling the full amount of pain you inflicted on yourself as the adrenaline rush begins to fade. You stand up attempting to forget the aching cries of your bruised and bloodied shoulder.

You begin to walk towards the center of Ponyville knowing that if that were where it began that would also be where it would end. Sure enough you find Trixie and Twilight locked in another heated magic duel. You see a strange necklace around Twilight’s neck. As you move closer you begin to pick up what they are saying

“It’s over Trixie you’ve lost.” Twilight says raising her head in victory.

“How? How could I have lost I had all the power I could have ever wanted.” Trixie says dropping to the ground.

“Because there is one magic you do not possess Trixie. The magic of friendship.” Twilights says calmly.

You hear her continue.

“You had everything Trixie. Something most mares would dream of having. A partner to love you and cherish you, treat you perfectly someone who gave their heart and soul to you. Now look at you. Lying on the ground in defeat. You threw all away for a chance at revenge. Now look the one who cared about you the most doesn’t know what to think of you anymore.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” Twilight steps back confused

“I’m sorry…..sorry it had to end like this. You know Twilight Sparkle nothing is. TrueNot even love.”

Trixie stands up and turns towards you.

Time seems to slow as her eyes begin to burn a fiery red. Her horn sparks throwing flashes of red here and there Twilight moves in to intervene, but the spell is unleashed before she can stop it.

The red beam flies right at you piercing the center of your chest before you can even think to move. Your legs grow weak and you see Trixie unlatch the amulet from around her neck and throw it away. She screams in horror as her mind returns to normal. Tears stream down her face at the sight of what she’s done.

You drop to your knees and place a hand over the wound. You draw your hand back and see it is stained red with blood. Your vision begins to dim as you fall forward. Your eyes slowly close as everything goes dark, and the last thing you hear is Trixie calling out your name in a fit tears as your heartbeat slows to crawl and……………stops.