"Of course I'm happy living only surrounded by dolls. They never complain of anything!"-Alice Margatroid, Doll Judgement Master
~Alice Margatroid~
My birth name is something I don't bother to remember anymore, but ever since I arrived in this strange land I have been called the name the locals presumed was mine.
I am, for better or worse, Alice Margatroid and I was once a human.
My memories about my past are at best vague and at worst missing, but there are some points that I remember with clarity. Approximately 1,300 years ago I was on my home world, dimension or whatever attending an anime convention, called A-kon, cosplaying as the Touhou character Alice Margatroid. The character choice was a careful and deliberate one. Alice was one of my absolute favorite characters from Japanese fiction, gaming or other wise.
I had spent months getting my costume prepared and spent a small fortune making a pair of dolls that matched Shanghai and Hourai's appearance. I had given up on making a copy of the rather infamous Grimoire of Alice, since doll making turned out to be an insanely difficult endeavor. So I was elated to find a vendor selling an exact duplicate of Alice's Grimoire. It's leather binding was the correct shade of brown, the golden lettering was near perfect, the red ribbons running across and over it were exact, and the small lock the ribbons were tied to was delightfully antique. I bought it on the spot. The vendor merchant smiled and told me "Good luck." I was about to ask him what he meant when everything went dark.
I vaguely remember plummeting through a glowing tunnel then darkness. The next thing I know I'm being shaken awake by the two dolls I had made for my cosplay in a forest with two anthropomorphic unicorns with wings looking at me strangely. These two were Celestia and Luna. They were to become my best friends and, eventually, my reasons for abandoning the society I once helped build and defend.
-Current Era, Age of Friendship~
~Rainbow Dash~
"I am way too nice," Rainbow Dash grumbled to herself as she flew over the Everfree Forest and glanced to crudely drawn map Ditzy had given her.
Originally, RD had spent the morning between lazing about and was going to spend the rest of the day practicing the spiral barrel roll Spitfire had told her about a few days ago. That is, until Derpy Hooves had flagged her down and asked her to drop off a package for her so she could pick up her daughter, Dinky, from school for a doctor's appointment.
"It's just a stop and drop. Easy peasy," Rainbow said mimicking Ditzy's bubbly voice, idly looping in the air, while balancing a large box vaguely marked as "Eastern Doll Supply Inc.", then looked back down to the dense green canopy of the forest. "Yeah, but you forgot to tell me I'd be flying two hours into the flippin' Everfree to drop off a dumb box."
Rainbow Dash continued her petulant grumbling as she kept an eye out for the clearing the "big cottage" was supposed to be in.
"Ah, there it is," Rainbow said, relieved that this ridiculously out of the way trip was nearly at an end.
As she landed, Rainbow took a good look at the cottage and realized it resembled an old fashioned Germane cottage she'd read about in one of the newer Daring Do books. The cottage that rested in a good size clearing was painted a simple white, with a porch covered by a pillar supported roof, and attached to the side of the cottage was a two story rotunda that reminded Rainbow of the grain silos at Sweet Apple Acres.
What kind of pony would live way out here in the Everfree?, Rainbow wondered, shifting the box under her arm and leaning in to peek into a window. Looking past white frilled curtains, the curious pegasus saw a simple, well kept sitting room with a few pieces of furniture, a low set of shelves stuffed full of old looking books, and a high set of shelves with rows of dolls sitting upon them.
"Creepy," Rainbow muttered as she looked at the shelf full of dolls and realized they were mostly human dolls with the occasional pony doll mixed in. "Who would keep human dolls? Those things are for foals."
Eh, probably some crazy hermit unicorn, Rainbow thought after a few more minutes of peeking, then set the box by the door and, per Derpy's instructions, knocked twice then turned and took to the sky leaving behind the creepy cottage of dolls.
Or she would have if her curiosity hadn't been piqued.
The moment Rainbow had gotten out of sight of the cottage she had quickly snagged a small cloud and hollowed it out then slowly guided it to the perimeter of the clearing the cottage rested in. It didn't take long for her patience to be rewarded, but Rainbow was not prepared for what she saw.
The door to the cottage slowly opened and out came two flying dolls. Both dolls were maybe two feet tall and both of them had long blonde hair. The only way for Rainbow to tell them apart from her cloud hideout was their clothes; one was wearing a dark red maid's dress and the other in a dark blue maid's dress.
Now, Rainbow Dash had seen a lot of weird and down right bizarre things in her many adventures with her friends, but seeing two dolls fly around and inspect the box she had dropped off was definitely in the top ten.
Rainbow watched in fascination as the two dolls lifted up the box over their heads and flew back inside the cottage. Then, after a moment, the red maid doll flew back out the door and slowly moved it's head side to side almost like it was scanning the area. Rainbow chuckled at how the little doll was trying to act like some tough guard dog, until she saw the doll was darting towards the cloud she was hiding in.
"Time to go," RD said as she gave a strong flap of her wings and took off, breaking the cloud up as she took off.
Only to find herself heading directly towards the red doll, who was now wielding a long silver lance and wore an angry expression.
~ Alice Margatroid ~
Inside the rotunda of her cottage Alice was surrounded by dozens and dozens of tools, ranging from wood carving tools to mystical powders and an enchanting table with an intricately engraved copper circle. She was about the apply a thin line of paint to a nearly finished doll's lips, when she felt a tug on her dress' sleeve. Looking down she saw the worried face of one her two most trusted dolls.
"What is it, Shanghai?" Alice asked setting the paint brush down.
The doll in her blue maid dress waved her arms about, pantomiming wings, pointed the recently delivered box of doll supplies, then gave an angry expression while acting like she was waving a sword about.
Alice's eyes widened in surprise as the meaning of Shanghai's gestures dawned on her. "Show me," she said firmly then quickly followed after her doll.
~ Rainbow Dash ~
"Crap, crap, crap!" Rainbow Dash swore as she bobbed and weaved, barely dodged the angry doll's scarily sharp lance.
Her t-shirt had several tears from near misses and there was even a long, but thankfully shallow, gash down her calf from the doll's attacks. While Rainbow was one of the fastest fliers in Equestria, she was hard pressed just to dodge the little red psycho doll's attacks.
"Only in the Everfree," Rainbow panted out as she hovered with the doll glaring at her from a few feet away.
RD was about to try flying through the forest to see if she could lose the doll, when suddenly the doll's lance glowed with a menacing red aura and darted towards her even faster than before.
"Holy—!" Rainbow shouted as she dived down to dodge the glowing lance tip.
Rainbow was able to dodge the lance strike and on pure instinct gave a kick to the doll's back as it passed her. The kick connected and sent the doll tumbling into a bush by the cottage's porch.
"Yes!" Rainbow shouted in victory, then turned with a flap of her wings to take off back towards Ponyville.
Only to catch a glimpse of a tree directly in front of her, right before she plowed into it and knocked herself silly.
"Hourai!" Rainbow heard a distinctly female voice cry out. With her blurry vision, RD was barely able to make out a vaguely blue-ish shape of somepony running to the bush the doll had crashed into, before everything went black.
Alice quickly pulled the Hourai out of the bush and dusted off some leaves sticking to her doll's red maid dress.
"No, stay with me," Alice said firmly as Hourai tried to squirm out of her grip.
Looking between the overprotective doll squirming in her arms and the unconscious pegasus in her yard, Alice let out a resigned sigh. "So much for solitude."
- - -
~Third Person ~
Rainbow Dash groaned and shifted on the small couch as she woke up. Remembering her predicament, the pegasus quickly sat up, knocking off the wet towel on her forehead, quickly looking for the red doll she had been fighting. She didn't spot the doll, but what she did see wasn't what Rainbow had expected.
She had been laying on a comfortably plush couch in the well kept siting room see had seen through the window. Rainbow rubbed her aching head as she looked around the quaint room then stopped as she felt a bandage on her forehead. A quick self inspection revealed a few bandages covering the handful of cuts she had received during the short fight. Looking around the sitting room Rainbow was able to get a better look at the rows of books and the small army's worth of dolls on the high shelves. A large number of the human dolls wore maids dresses and the rest of the human dolls were wearing clothes that reflected different countries. Mixed in with the human dolls were dolls of ponies designed after famous ponies Rainbow recognized from history books. Well, she recognized them from the pictures in the history books, at least.
"Ah, you're awake," a prim, but gentle feminine voice said behind the pegasus.
Turning to look, Rainbow expected to see the pony she had caught a blurry glimpse of, but instead saw the impossible creature that resembled a pony, but clearly was not a pony. It was female, was standing on two legs like pony, wearing a light blue dress with a red sash like a pony would, but had no fur, only a short blonde mane. This creature was something that Rainbow Dash had long ago dismissed as impossible.
"You're a human," Rainbow said in tone of wonder.
The "human" woman gave a slight smile at Rainbow's statement and replied, "My name is Alice. What's your name?"
"Rainbow Dash," RD replied still a bit star struck at having a real human in front of her.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Dash," Alice replied with a polite nod, "Are you feeling better?"
"Uh, yeah a little sore, but—" Rainbow was about to explain her slight headache, but saw the doll in the red maid dress she had been fighting earlier.
Rainbow Dash jumped off the couch and assumed a quasi-boxing stance, glaring at the doll.
Hourai grinned and was about to charge at Rainbow, but Alice quickly pulled her into the firm grip of her arms. "No fighting in the house, Hourai."
"Hourai?" Rainbow asked, relaxing her fighting stance and rubbing a sore wing joint.
"Yes, this little one is Hourai," Alice said with a nod as she sat in a rocking chair. "She's a bit overprotective, but has a good heart."
Rainbow Dash blinked at that as she sat back down on the couch and continued rubbing her wing while she gave a closer look to the doll. The serious little doll was indeed wearing a dark red, knee length, maid's dress with a white apron, a dark red capelet, a matching red bow in her long blonde hair, black stockings, and black shoes.
Wow, these dolls are better dressed than even Rarity, Rainbow thought after getting a closer look at the doll.
If I keep my side of this short, but polite I think I can avoid having to make small talk, Alice thought to herself while adjusting Hourai's bow.
While Alice and Rainbow were focused on their own thoughts another doll floated in from the kitchen carrying a tea cup on a small dish. This doll was dressed similarly to Hourai, but it's maid dress was dark blue and more frilly, with a white apron and capelet, a matching bow in her long blonde hair, white stockings, and the same dark shoes.
The doll smiled and set the tea cup on the table in front of Rainbow.
"This is Shanghai," Alice explained as the doll gave a curtsy then floated over to her side.
"Okay, so why did Hourai attack me?" Rainbow asked with a frown and her arms crossed.
"You have my sincerest apologies. I would never command my dolls to attack anyone without due cause," Alice said as she idly stroked the frowning Hourai's hair. "As I said, Hourai can be overprotective."
"Well, that makes sense, I guess," Rainbow said with a nod before sipping from her tea.
There was a long moment of silence, while Rainbow looked around the sitting room and Alice adjusted her doll's dress. While Shanghai sat on her mistress' shoulder and Hourai kept a mild glare aimed at the pegasus.
Not much of a talker I guess, Rainbow thought, Eh, I'll just have to ask if I want to know what's up.
"Did you make all these dolls?" Rainbow asked nodding to the shelves full of dolls.
"About three quarters, the rest I acquired over time," Alice replied as she straightened the bow in the Hourai's hair.
"So are all your dolls alive or is it just magic?" Rainbow asked, motioning towards Hourai with her teacup before taking a sip.
Blunt and to the point, how very much like Marisa, Alice thought then chided herself, No, Marisa is fiction. Alice is a character I resemble and a name I use for simplicity's sake. Keep the memories sorted.
"No, they're bound to my will by my magic." Alice replied without betraying her moment of internal conflict. "However, Hourai and Shanghai are my most oldest dolls and have small amount of their own initiative," Alice explained as she let Hourai go to float off to the kitchen.
"So I'm guessing you use magic like a unicorn?" Rainbow asked, looking at the pleasantly sweet tea.
"My magic is a touch different, but I do use it for similar purposes," Alice replied, accepting a teacup from Hourai, who then floated out of the room.
Alright, so not a hermit unicorn, but acts like one, Rainbow thought as she took another sip of her tea.
"And you live out in the middle of the Everfree so nopony can interrupt your magic studies?" Rainbow Dash asked, setting her now empty tea cup down.
"Essentially, but how did you guess that?" Alice asked with a brow arched in curiosity.
I swear all magic nerds are shut-ins, Rainbow thought, but said, "A friend of mine tends to literally bury herself in magic books when she's studying."
"I see," Alice replied evenly, but courteously before sipping her tea.
After another long moment of slightly awkward silence Rainbow Dash couldn't take it anymore.
"Do you not want to talk or are you just being very careful with what you're saying?" Rainbow asked curiously.
Alice fidgeted for a moment before replying, "The latter. You're the first pony I've encountered in a very long time"
"Guess you've been out here alone all that time?" Rainbow asked before sipping on her tea.
"I'm hardly alone. I have my dolls for company," Alice replied matter-of-factly.
So a magical nerd, a shut in, and creepy to boot. Fun, Rainbow thought.
"I can see that," Rainbow said as she watched a few dolls float by as they tend to the cottage.
Alice nodded and the pair fell into a pleasant silence for a time, while an unseen clock ticked quietly.
"Well, thanks for the bandaids and tea. I gotta get back to Ponyville," Rainbow said as stood and stretched her wings then yelped and fell to one knee wincing as her right wing twitched.
Looks the Fates are bent on me being social, Alice thought as she walked over to the pegasus' side.
"Hmm, feels like a sprain," Alice said, gently running her fingers along Rainbow's wing. "How far is this Ponyville?"
"Two hours by wing," Rainbow groaned in response as she sat up.
"I doubt you'd be able to fly that far like this," Alice said, considering her options.
"No kidding," Rainbow groaned in response as she stood up. "Guess I'll have to hoof it... through the Everfree," she finished lamely.
Alice hummed in thought before coming to a decision. "Well, as a proper host, I can't let you go through the forest as you are. So I'll go with you."
"Nah, you don't have to do that," Rainbow replied, trying wave off Alice's statement.
"I insist," Alice said with a small determined smile, while a three of her dolls brought down a while capelet and placed it on her shoulders.
Rainbow Dash watched in fascination as a another set of dolls appeared with a pair of tall lace-up boots and set them in front of their mistress. Alice then stepped out of her slippers and slipped on the tall boots with her dolls quickly tying the boots laces.
"That's pretty impressive," Rainbow said, watching the dolls float back to their shelves.
"Thank you," Alice replied, picking up a book with a band of red ribbon running down then across the book that was tied to a very old padlock.
After a flick of her fingers, Hourai and Shanghai appeared from the kitchen and quickly took up a spot above each of Alice's shoulders. On the way out the door, Rainbow eyed the book Alice clutched, wondering why it would need a lock.
"Just give me a moment to lock up and we can go," Alice said before she turned to face her cottage.
Rainbow watched as Alice waved her fingers in a few deliberate gestures, she was about to ask what she was doing when the top most window of the rotunda opened. From the little window ten maid dolls emerged. Four were carrying doll sized bows and wearing quivers full of arrows and were led by another carrying a brass spyglass. While the other five were carrying doll sized swords and shields.
"So that's how you lock up?" Rainbow asked a bit incredulously.
"Obviously," Alice replied as if having a small squadron of armed dolls guard her house was the most logical thing in the world.
The path through the Everfree was faded from disuse and Alice couldn't easily remember when the last time she used it was, but the path was still intact enough for her sharp eyes to pick out the way and thankfully free of undergrowth. The walk was quiet, but painstakingly slow to Rainbow Dash so after a few minutes she began asking questions.
"So do you get everything by delivery?" Rainbow asked as she followed the puppeteer.
"Everything that I cannot make myself," Alice replied simply.
The majority of their conversation had held true to the previous sparse pattern. Rainbow would ask a question and Alice would give a short, carefully worded answer. Much to Rainbow's annoyance.
Deciding to try and get a more wordy response, Rainbow decided to ask a few more brazen questions.
"It doesn't bother you living surrounded by the monsters of the Everfree?"
Well, if that's not an invitation I don't know what is, Alice thought before replying.
"You're assuming I am not one of those 'monsters'," Alice replied, looking back at the pegasus with a smile that revealed the tips of multiple, pointed teeth.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow asked with equal parts defensiveness and wariness.
"Earlier, you said I was a human. At one time that was once correct," Alice explained with a sigh, causing Hourai to lean into her shoulder and Shanghai to hug her other shoulder, Alice smiled at her dolls and resumed. "For the most part I still look human, but I am what's known as a magician youkai."
"Okay, I'm following so far," Rainbow replied, more curious than wary.
"Youkai is a term for beings that are more spiritual than physical. Most youkai could be considered monsters by attitude and appetite," Alice explained to Rainbow as they walked. "However, as you have seen I do not act so. I suppose one way to think of me would a human-like youkai."
"Yeah, you're more like a polite noble or something," Rainbow said with a nod. "What about the magician part?"
"Magician as in I use magic," Alice explained with a half-shrug.
Rainbow Dash was about ask if Alice's magic only involved dolls when the snapping of branch caught her attention. Normally such a thing wasn't a great concern, but normally she wasn't in the middle of the Everfree without flying as an option. Rainbow noticed Alice had stopped walking as well, pushing down her nervousness as best she could the pegasus leaned closer to the young woman.
"Alice, maybe we should take another path," Rainbow whispered with her eyes glancing back forth as her ears pivoted, trying to pick up any sounds.
"Too late," Alice replied before snapping her fingers causing a glowing circle filled with intricate shapes to appear around her as a full grown manticore leapt out of the forest. In an instant Hourai darted forward as her lance and shield materialized in her hands while five shield bearing dolls appeared behind Alice. Shanghai summoned her twin shields, just as quickly as her sister's weapons, and led the rest of the shield dolls float in a defensive circle around Rainbow Dash.
The manticore let loose a deafening roar, but Hourai didn't even register it as her lance's tip smashed into the beast's forehead, causing it's head to snap back viciously as the beast to stumble back from the hit. The mighty beast shook it's head the growled menacingly before lunging forward towards Alice, dodging Hourai's follow up blow, only to be greeted by the frowning puppeteer.
"Spell Card: Puppeteer's Strings," Alice declared with her right hand extended and eyes glinting with magic as countless wires suddenly erupted from the rings on her fingers and quickly wrapped themselves around the manticore and anchored into the surrounding trees.
Alice glared at the growling, entangled beast before she slowly closed her hand, causing the sorcerous strings to start squeezing the manticore. The beast growled defiantly then whined as the unbreakable strings constricted its chest.
"Do you yield?" Alice asked in a cold, hard tone glaring into the beast's eyes.
Rainbow Dash was surprised to see the manticore whimper and nod in affirmation.
Alice nodded then dismissed the strings with a flick of her wrist. The manticore dropped to the ground and slowly slinked back into the safety of the forest's undergrowth. Alice let out a slow breath, the shield bearing dolls vanished in a wink of light, while the glowing circle around the puppeteer faded away and Hourai and Shanghai dismissed their shields and weapons.
"That was awesome!" Rainbow declared with wide eyes.
"If you say so," Alice calmly said with a shrug. "Personally, I don't care for fighting animals as they are hard to evenly match and rarely care for such things."
"What?" Rainbow asked as she and Alice started walking again.
"It's a personal code of mine not a fight an opponent with more power than they have. Unless, of course, they are extremely skilled," Alice explained, unconsciously rubbing her free hand over her Grimoire.
"To be fair to them or what?" Rainbow asked with an arched eyebrow.
"A proper duel is about skill, not power," Alice replied as she walked.
Rainbow Dash merely hummed thoughtfully as she followed the magician along the winding path to Ponyville.
