Determination of Fate

The meal was a blur, and before I knew it we were walking back down the halls, my stomach now full. For some reason, something felt... off about the past hour, but I couldn't quite place why.

Trixie seemed to confuse my silence for nervousness. "Do not worry, familiar, I am sure that you will prove to be a valuable asset in my quest!" We stopped outside a library. "Now, Trixie has to do some research on this subject. Do you want to help me?"

While I was agreeable before, I suddenly felt something urging me the other way. "I'd rather go and look around the town."

Trixie tilted her head in confusion, but quickly shrugged it off. "If you insist. Just be sure to come back before it gets dark, or if you find anything, understand?"

I nodded, and she went into the library, while I walked to the front of the castle. Once back in the open air, I surveyed my surroundings. The castle was a bit bigger than it looked before, but I brushed it aside as I focused on my next destination.

There was a shopping plaza ahead, which I strode into, my expression blank. The ponies tried to be friendly, but for some reason I could detect a hint of nervousness in their eyes. Maybe they knew something I didn't...?

I dismissed the thought quickly. After all, I was a brand new species here, it would make sense if they were nervous around me.

The sky flickered for a second, but I ignored it.

I came to a stand selling crystal corn, and the pony manning the booth smiled down at me. "Hey there, kid. Want to try one?"

Wordlessly, I accepted the offer, taking a bite as I walked off. I could hear him grumble to himself as I walked away, but at that point something in my mind screamed at me.

Something was happening.

Suddenly, a stand next to me exploded as a swarm of solid black beetles burst out of the ground. I could feel the conflict spring forward, and I felt myself working on autopilot.

I effortlessly dodged through their bites and strikes, as if I knew where they were going to attack before they actually did. Soon, I ended up dodging right into a stand selling pony-sized armor. The owner had fled, so I simply grabbed a set that was somehow perfectly shaped for me and put it on as quickly as I could.

I dodged more attacks, before I realized that I would need to be armed at some point if I wanted to survive this. I scrambled to another stand, which was apparently selling toys of some kind. Most of it was useless, but one thing stood out to me.

A lone plastic knife, scattered in the midst of the other toys.

Good enough.

I rolled out of the way of another swarm of jaws, then made a beeline for the knife, taking it into my grasp. Now armed, I whirled around at the swarm of beetles, striking with as much force as I could.

I hit one of them straight in its face, causing it to cry out before falling on the ground and fading away in a flash of light. The others looked at their fallen comrade, before charging at me.

I saw it coming, though, and I was able to dodge right between the two of them, before striking one of them from behind. He, too, shouted in pain, before fading out.

The last beetle let out a series of frantic clicks, and more beetles flew in to oppose me.

I just stood my ground and tightened my grip on the knife. It wasn't long before they attacked me, and I made sure to return the favor.

One by one, the beetles tried in vain to hit me with mandibles or energy beams, only to fall to my imitation blade, and with every fallen bug, I could feel... something swell within me. It felt...

...good.

One of the beetles managed to land a strike on me, but I was surprised at how little it hurt. In fact, I couldn't help but chuckle at how little pain the attack caused me, which made the beetles start to back away, shaking slightly.

Seeing this, I pressed my advantage. Jumping forward, I stabbed into the beetle at the front of the group, almost blinding myself with the ensuing flash of light. I immediately swung to the left to take out another beetle, and as I got back to my feet, I noticed a couple of odd things.

One, there were a lot less beetles than there were before.

Two, those that were left were running away from me.

I wanted to go after them, but at the same time I didn't feel like I was in any real hurry.

So I walked.

The marketplace was a wreck, now, and all the ponies had fled long ago. Oddly, there didn't seem to be any guards deployed here, yet.

I managed to stumble into a hiding beetle during my thoughts, and I cut it down without effort.

As I did that, I heard another pair of beetles scuttle behind me, but I was too fast for them, and I cut both their lives short.

If my mental count was correct, then there should only be two beetles left.

Suddenly, the ground below me started to rumble, and I jumped out of the way just in time for a massive beetle to burst through the ground. It was quickly joined by the last two stragglers, who started frantically clicking at it, motioning to me. I said nothing as the giant beetle faced me, and clicked angrily and loudly in my direction.

Looks like it was a fight, then.

Likely due to their apparent leader's appearance, the two smaller beetles decided to rush me, a decision which resulted in both of them being struck down with little effort.

As I felt power surge within me again, the large beetle just looked on, dumbstruck.

And then he roared, and charged at me.

I jumped out of the way at the last possible second, letting him plow into a nearby house. As he sat in the rubble, dazed, I charged, toy knife forward.

With all of my strength, I plunged my knife into his carapace, piercing it flawlessly. The beetle seized up, and his body slowly started to be engulfed by light. He cried out and writhed, no doubt in a last ditch attempt to kill me, but I had already stepped back, and watched as he vanished, just the same as his underlings.

Once again, I felt my power grow, and I looked around the smashed marketplace.

That was certainly the last of the beetles, as the place was now completely empty.

Well, almost.

"Familiar!" Trixie shouted, trotting up to me. "There you are. Trixie heard about the commotion happening here, and she would be very upset if..." Slowly, she looked around, and I saw her eyes glance at my knife. "Trixie is too late, perhaps? Are you alright, then?"

Her horn glowed, and I could feel some of my bruises disappear, as well as the dirt sliding off my body. "Hardly a scratch. You are as clever as Trixie thought. Although..." Her gaze scanned our surroundings. "What did you do during that vicious attack?"

I didn't say anything.

She glanced at my knife again. "...well, I suppose the important thing is that nopony was hurt." She shook her head. "Anyway, Trixie has managed to develop a darkness detecting spell, and she knows where we need to go. There are six main sources of darkness in and around the city, and we need to deal with them all."

I nodded.

"Well then, we'll start with the one closest to us." She began walking, and I followed. I had pocketed the knife for now, though it was still within easy reach if I needed it.

As we walked, she looked over at me. "Where did you get the armor and toy, familiar?"

"Found them."

She looked uneasy at my answer, but we kept walking. By now, we were starting to see ponies out in the streets again, and while they greeted Trixie with smiles, they looked at me with suspicion.

Eventually, though, the streets became abandoned again, and Trixie turned to me. "We're getting close. We should split up, but be ready to call for Trixie if you encounter any trouble."

I didn't even give her a nod as we walked our separate ways. I had a hunch that what I was looking for was...

Ahead of me was an alleyway that was entirely devoid of light. Seeing my destination, I walked into it.

Soon, the darkness enveloped me completely, and after taking a few more steps in the dark, a purple cloud of smoke with a green face appeared and smiled at me.

It chuckled. "It's different this time, isn't it?"

His words confused me, but I stayed silent, curious.

"Yeah, it's very different, I can tell." He laughed. "You don't remember this time, either, do you?"

That got my attention. "Remember what?"

He sighed. "Remember that this isn't your first time doing this. Don't you remember? You've done this before..."

Suddenly, the memories were flooding back. I...

I had done this before, countless times. All because...

He laughed again. "You never did find that perfect happy ending, after all. I suppose no one could blame you for trying again." He got closer to me. "Even if I was pulled back every time, forced to live through this countless times along with you."

He suddenly pulled away. "But now, now you've changed. In fact..."

He smiled wide. "You're not yourself, are you?"

I... I wasn't sure what to say.

He laughed. "Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. But, regardless," he winked, "welcome back. I bet the darkness feels good, doesn't it?"

With that, he disappeared, leaving me alone in the pitch black alleyway. Soon after, Trixie appeared, her horn lighting up the surroundings. "Familiar! Are you alright?"

I nodded.

She let out a sigh. "Good. In any case, I see you have found the source."

I looked to the end of the alley, and saw a single blob of darkness that avoided any and all attempts at being lit up by her horn.

"Just one little spell and we'll be on our way."

I just watched as she fired a purple beam into it, only for it to rebound and hit her back, causing her to fall off her feet. I ignored her rant until she called out, "Familiar!"

I just took a step towards her.

She extended a hoof to me. "Let us try a combined attack, using your esoteric and my magical mastery. Surely we can defeat it then!"

I hesitated a moment, before offering my hand to her. She smiled, and once again powered her horn to fire at the blob. This time, the beam had bits of blue and green in it, and the blob vanished with an audible squeal. Once again, there was that swelling of power, and... something else.

Trixie shivered and shook her head as I let go of her hoof. "Huh, that was... more power than I was expecting." She shivered again. "S- Still! Another job well done by the Great and Powerful Trixie! And her familiar. Perhaps we should get a treat to celebrate this! How do you feel about oat shakes?"

"That sounds fine."

"Excellent! Then let us go!"

Trixie trotted out of the alleyway, and you followed.