Celestia Gambit

Zecora, sprit talker, and agent of the king of Zebrica, looked at the small blue pony sitting huddled on the seat in her tree hut in the Everfree forest. The mare looked even smaller than usual, her big pointed hat sagged over her face while her star covered purple cloak was wrapped tight round her

“Trix you do not look well, it’s true,” Zecora said, walking over to the fire and grabbing the kettle, “here, let me pour you some more of my brew.”

“Thank you, Zecora,” Trix stammered, holding out the cup in her fore hooves.

Zecora refilled the pony’s cup and retreated back across her hut, keeping a careful eye on the huddled pony. She was getting better, and at least now she was responding to her proper name. When Zecora had first found her, roaming wildly around the edge of the Everfree forest, she had been insisting that a collection of rocks and bushes call her ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie,’ and ranting about how it was all the fault of the wheels, and how she would have her revenge. She had become quite violent when Zecora had approached her, and had tried to use her magic to turn Zecora into what Zecora thought had probably been a penguin, but between Zecora’s training as a sprit talker, and the fact that The Great and Powerful Trixie seemed to be unable to concentrate, the spell had fallen apart well before Zecora had started growing feathers.

Zecora had managed to persuade Trixie to come back to her hut and, with the aid of some of Zecora’s potions, she seemed to be recovering nicely.

There was the sound of wings flapping and then suddenly the sound of hooves and wheels on the muddy floor of the forest.

“Ah, what is that I hear?” Zecora muttered, walking over to the window. “Could it be that the princess is near?” Looking out the window, she saw the familiar shape of the royal chariot and the brightly armoured royal guards. As usual, the guard ponies looked very nervous about landing in the forest. They’re heads twisted this way and that at the various sounds. Zecora smiled inwardly; while they were, of coarse, very brave ponies, in the princess’ personal guard they were mostly city ponies with an inherent distrust of nature.

There was a knock on the door.

“Do not linger outside, guest.
Come in, and take your rest”

The door opened, and Celestia and Winged Sword entered. The princess of the sun wore a concerned expression. She saw the huddled form of Trixie sitting in the corner and turned to Zecora, her face twisted in dismay.

“How is she?” she asked, skipping over all the formalities. “I got the message that you had managed to remove....it... without any further damage.” Her gaze shot to the small wooden box sitting on a shelf by the door. “But we both know that nature of that magic. Is she... herself?”

“SHE is sitting right over here, you know.” Trix said from underneath the hat.

“I really hope she is,” Celestia said, turning to gaze at the blue little pony.

“I am fine, Tia. I am back in control and I am myself again.”

Celestia looked back at the zebra. “Is she? Has she been showing any renewed effects? Trying to use her magic to change things or control you?”

Zecora rocked her head side to side in the Zebra equivalent of a shrug.

“Not since I got her back here,
Although she has not been very clear,
but that is not surprising, you see,
as I put Fork Root in her tea.”

“You drugged me!” Trix exclaimed, looking at the cup in her hooves.

“It is for your own good,” Celestia told her sharply. “That thing--” She again pointed at the innocent looking wooden box. “--feeds off the magical power of the unicorn wielding it; the more powerful you are, the faster it twists you -- even with it off, you where still under its effects. We had to temporally drain your magic in order to try to cure you.”

“I wondered why I could not stand up.” She looked at her hooves. “And why these are a funny colour.”

Zecora felt a pang of sympathy for Trix. Fork Root did funny things to unicorns; first it drained their magic, and because of that the made them terribly weak. Magic was not just some sort of additional thing to a unicorn; it was part of their very being, it ran through their body and kept them alive. She knew some tales of unicorns who had eaten Fork Root raw and had died from it, their hearts failing when the magic was withdrawn. Quite apart from that, it was mildly hallucinogenic.

Celestia looked at the unicorn and walked over to the table. Taking a seat on the opposite side, Zecora noted that Winged Sword placed himself next to his princess, but closer to the potently dangerous unicorn. He also did not sit completely; instead he maintained an alert crouch. It was clear that he, at least, did not completely trust her.

“So,” Celestia said, looking deep into the unicorn’s eyes, “who am I talking to?”

The unicorn across the table leaned over to her and tried to return the stare, but her eyebrows were twitching and her eyes could not focus properly. That could be the Fork Root.

“It is me, Tia. Trix”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, of course I could be a butterfly dreaming I am a pony. But I think that metaphysical question was dealt with years ago.”

“Really, that thing over there does make you believe you are not who you are.”

“No really, Tia, I am fine. Well, I am full of Fork Root, so I am smelling colours and seeing sounds, but I am me again. I know the dangers of the Alicorn Amulet and I am free from it now.”

“So what in Discord’s name were you doing wearing it in the first palace.” Celestia almost shouted.

“I’m not really sure.”

“Not really sure? Trix, you know how dangerous that thing is -- did you not take precautions, were you not ready for it?”

“Of course I did , Tia. I am not a foal, I have been doing this for long enough to know how to handle dangerous magics, but that thing--” She stopped. “--it calls to you. I can feel it even now.”

Celestia nodded. She could as well, even from inside the protective box Zecora had made. It was a gentle pull at the back of her mind, sort of like a hunger that you know would be sated if you took just one bite of that cake.

“And that stupid earth pony had, of course, not taken any precautions, and... Trixie has a bit of an ego, so she believed that she could manage it, and, well, it is all a little blurry.” Trix waved her hoof in the air; it caught her eye and she stared at it while waving it experimentally back and forth .

“Okay Trix, let’s start at the beginning. Where did you find it in the first place?”

Trix smiled. “In a small shop in the back streets of Canterlot, if you believe that. I had been travelling near Manehatten, and one of the silly little unicorns who thought they could defeat The Great And Powerful Trixie--” She stopped, realising she had declaimed that last sentence. “--well, one of them said that she knew of a powerful necklace that would have given her power to best me. And we all know what that means. Well, it turned out they did not know where it was -- they had heard about it from a friend who had heard about it from a friend who had heard about it from a pegasus in a bar somewhere.

Took me a month or two to finally track it down to that small shop. I almost fainted when I saw what that silly earth pony had behind his counter. He even knew its name – Tia, he actually called it the ‘Alicorn Amulet,’ claimed it had great power. I do not think he knew what he really had his hooves on, otherwise he would not have parted with it for all the bits in Las Pegasus. Even so, he would not sell it until I dumped a bag load of bits on the counter.” She stopped and looked thoughtful for a second. “By the way, Tia, you owe me two hundred and seventy five bits. I have the receipt somewhere.”

Celestia waved a hoof dismissively. “Submit it to the treasury; I am sure they will get around to it before the end of the year. Keep going.”

“Well, I remember getting it back to my wagon and unwrapping it, and I stared at it for a little and then....” she trailed off, “well, then it gets a bit fuzzy. You know what that thing does to a pony’s mind? Well, I remember becoming Trixie -- more than usual, I mean I really believed that I was her -- I totally forgot who I was, I really believed that I had been humiliated by Twilight. It created this whole past for her, this whole history that never happened. I remember telling ponies that I had been forced to work on a rock farm to make money. Can you believe that -- a rock farm! Then I remember challenging Twilight to a duel, and something about a bubble over Ponyville. There is something in there about apples and wheels for some reason.” She put her head in her fore hooves. “I really cannot remember much else. Did I do anything serious? Did I hurt anypony?”

Celestia shook her head. “Nothing that won’t heal; although I think that you should not be expecting a Heart’s Warming card from Silver Scroll anytime soon.”

“So all that business with the banners and the statues was not a dream?”

“I think it was when you put her in a cage outside her own townhall that most upset her.”

“Oh,” Trix said.

Zecora could clearly see her imagining the rather proper mayor of Ponyville’s reaction.

“Well, I am glad you managed to get me out from under its effects before I actually hurt anypony -- even if I am going to have to spend the next few months apologising.”

Zecora nodded.

“I too am glad of Miss Sparkle’s scheme’s success.
For you see, I must confess,
That had we had to use the next best plan,
while we would have done the best we can,
the end result of this to-do,
might not have been as pleasant for you.”

Celestia nodded. The arrival of The Great and Powerful Trixie wielding the Alicorn Amulet had come as a surprise, and by the time Silver Scroll or any of her agents in the town had realised the danger, Trixie had defeated Twilight, put up her glass dome over Ponville, and established a one unicorn reign of terror. With Spike trapped inside the dome, Twilight had no way to communicate directly with the princess. Fortunately, she had gone to Zecora, and Zecora had managed to communicate with Red Star in Canterlot. But they’d had very little information to go on.

Twilight had not been able to tell them very much, other than the fact that Trixie had returned and she had seemed to be able to wield much more power. Both Zecora and Red Star where very confused as to why Trix would be acting like this. Celestia had been away on her diplomatic mission to Saddle Arabia,## and Luna was up in the crystal empire with Cadence and Shining Armour, so there had been a day of near panic with messenger birds and pegasus ponies flitting back and forth.

Then Fluttershy had come with the news that they had identified the strange new necklace as the ‘Alicorn Amulet.’ Based on Zecora’s first report Red Star had already provided a list of the possible reasons why Trix had started to behave like that -- and some of the nasty implications of them -- the Amulet was near the top of it. Zecora had suggested to Twilight that she might try to trick Trixe to take it off, more as a way of getting her to lower the shield than with any hope of success.

The backup plan had consisted of some dozen or so of the strongest unicorns in the Canterlot Guard, who had snuck into Ponyville when Trixe had removed the shield, some of Silver Scrolls agents, and a spell that Red Star and Zecora thought might be able to neutralize the amulet, but as Red Star had put it: ‘Because of the way the magic of the amulet and its wearer integrates, there is a good chance that both might be neutralised, and a better than even chance that they might damage the surrounding area when it happens.’ Everything else considered, Zecora was very glad that they had managed to use Trixie’s ego against her.

Trix tried to give the small box a meaningful look, but her eyes still would not focus properly. “Well, I hope Red Star appreciates the effort I went to retrieve that for him.”

Celestia nodded. “I am sure some of us will sleep more soundly knowing that one more dangerous magical artefact is properly locked away. There is much tension at the moment with the return of the Crystal Empire.”

“How were the Saddle Arabians?”

“Nervous as usual, but I think I managed to reassure them. The reappearance of the Crystal Empire has everyone on edge. The crystal ponies have a lot of innate magic and, of course, they traditionally have strong ties with Equestria; even more so now. And we could not exactly keep it hidden, could we?”

Trix nodded. She had seen the light show from Manehatten

“They have a delegation coming to Ponyville, and Twilight is putting on a show for them. I flew ahead as soon as I got the message form Zecora and Red Star.”

“Why?”

“Why what, my little pony?”

“You know what I mean, Tia. Why take them to Ponyville? Why not Canterlot or Manehatten?”

Celestia smiled. “Because Ponyville is a place of peace and harmony where all races live together cooperatively and peace reigns undisturbed.”

Trix sat silently for a while. Then a grin spread slowly over her muzzle. “You want them to meet Twilight.”

“I can see you are recovering well, Trix.”

“You want them to meet Twilight and show them that the Elements of Harmony are well guarded, and ready to be used if it should become necessary. In case of something like Discord. Or the Changelings, or Sombra or, well, me for that matter.”

“Nice to see you have completely recovered your usually good grasp of diplomatic realities, Trix,” Celestia said as she stood.

“Tia, I often wondered why you called it the ‘peaceful, harmonious kingdom of Equestria.’ ”

“Optimism, my little pony. I thought if I put it in the name, maybe someday somepony would take the hint.”

She turned to where her silent Guard pony had sat for the entire meeting. “Wing, would you gather up some of your ponies and take that--” She pointed at the innocent looking box containing the Alicorn amulet . “--back to Canterlot and give it personally to Red Star.”

The white pegasus looked like he was about to protest, but Celestia held up a hoof. “I will be fine, Wing, there is a whole unit of guard ponies with the group from Saddle Arabia, not to mention all the Saddleian guards.”

Winged Sword still did not look to happy.

“Look, how about I promise not to run off and fight any manticores until you get back, okay? I need somepony I can rely on to get that thing back to Canterlot. Now, I do not want it anywhere near any unicorn ponies. I can feel its pull myself, I need it taken back to safety, and I need it done quickly and by sompony I can trust.”

Wing pursed his lips, but he nodded and grabbed the box off the shelf by the door and left. There was the sound of shouted orders and the flapping of wings retreating into the night.

Celestia turned to Zecora. “I better get back to the delegation before I am missed. It was nice to see you, Zecora. We must find a time to meet when the kingdom is not threatened with imminent disaster.”

“It was nice to see you to Tia,
perhaps we can meet before next year.”

“What about you, Trix?” She turned to where the blue unicorn seemed to be intently studying Zecora’s table.

The blue unicorn snapped her attention back to the princess of the sun. “Well, first I think I am going to sleep off this accursed drug she fed me, and then I think The Great And Powerful Trixie might make an appearance in Ponyville, see if I can do some fence mending. After that, I think my first priority has to be to find my wagon. You do not know where I left it, do you?”

Celestia laughed, waved goodbye and left the little hut in the tree in the forest.