Help

Trixie's eyes opened and with a groan, she tried to recall where she was. Fresh bedding, but it wasn't anywhere she'd recalled. Her body ached. Pain spiked at each breath, her shoulder blades felt as if they were held together by hope. She couldn't even muster enough strength to try to push up off the bed.

“So…how do we handle this?” She heard Indigo ask.

“She wasn't in control.” Starlight's voice spoke.

“We know that much, the necklace seems inert for now, but how do we stop it from happening again?” Sugarcoat asked.

“Lemon and Sour are still recovering as well. I doubt we'd be able to handle her if it still had any hold over her.” Sunny sighed.

Trixie stared at the wall, laying on her stomach. Listening to her sentence being discussed. She thought to speak up, but they were right to hate her. Even want to make sure she wasn't a threat. It made sense.

Indigo leaned back in her seat. “Still, I'm glad she's okay now.” She crossed her arms. “That whole scene was fucked, the fact she had to experience it all?”

“It would be horrifying to be a prisoner in your own body.” Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “But I agree. I am also glad we managed to bring her back around.”

“You were scared at the end there.” Indigo chuckled. “I heard that voice crack when you called over Sour.”

“Buh-I-It, she was bleeding from her back! Of course I panicked!” Sugarcoat huffed, crossing her arms.

The laughter faded after a moment before Indigo sighed. “Think she'll be back to her old self?”

“We can only hope so.” Sugarcoat said.

“She helped us stop Eclipse in the end.” Starlight noted.

“Oh yeah. She teleported the necklace to you, didn't she?” Sunny asked. “Plus Eclipse kept speaking as if she was trying to convince her to let go.” She mused. “You think she really was conscious the whole time?”

‘I was.’ Trixie thought, remembering grabbing Sugarcoat by the throat. ‘I remember the feeling…the fear.’ She closed her eyes, immediately reliving the scene.

“She tried to warn me…” Sugarcoat said. “It all happened so fast.”

“I had to knock her off of you, she was choking you out.” Indigo noted.

“Then you smacked the shit out of her. Was that personal?” Sugarcoat asked with a small smirk.

“At that point? Probably. I had to do something.” She shrugged. “She accessed Sour's magic to heal herself…so that's probably something Sour can manage too.”

“I doubt she's going to have much energy for a few days.” Sunny noted. “She exhausted herself healing Trixie.”

‘Even her? Why aren't they more mad at me?’

The door to the nurse's office opened slowly, Twilight peeking her head in to see the trio looking up at her. “Twilight? What are you doing here?”

“Cadence called…” She led the others in, Sunset looking around at the girls resting in the beds.

She sighed. “I'm sorry we weren't here to prevent this. If Rainbow and I weren't in Equestria-”

“What? You would have known that we had a situation and handled it before we could have even called you about it?” Sugarcoat asked, cutting her off. “While I appreciate your concern, trying to take the blame for something like this is stupid. It is not your fault.”

“I-.”

“You heard her.” Indigo chuckled. “We managed to handle it, but I will say that I don't mind asking for help from here on.”

Sunset nodded with a small smile. “Okay. Well, can you run us through what happened?”

Aria walked around the room seeing Trixie laying face down on the bed with bandages going over her upper body. “Hell happened to her?” She asked, pointing her thumb at her.

“Looking at the former ‘Eclipse’. Whatever that necklace did really fucked with her head.” Indigo said. “We managed to sap her magic. Trixie even helped us in the end.”

“Necklace? You mean Trixie had the amulet?” Sunset asked. “Where is it now?”

Starlight reached over to her backpack. “I neutralized as much of its magic as I could, it was enough to snap Trixie out of whatever control it had…you know what this is?” She asked, taking out the necklace.

“It's a dangerous relic, people theorize that it was created by the evil King Sombra in efforts to make him as strong as an alicorn.” Sunset said, gently taking the amulet.

“Sombra?” Aria asked. “The same dude who was enslaving the crystal empire?”

“I thought the name sounded familiar.” Adagio said, cupping her chin in thought.

“Yeah. He took over the empire and forced the whole kingdom into hiding just before we got banished.” Sonata said. “We used to go to the empire from time to time in disguise, remember?”

Both Aria and Adagio blinked. “We…did?”

“Yeah! Anytime we needed a quick snack, that place was full of all sorts of discourse.” She shrugged. “It tasted like you mixed rock candy with corn on the cob.”

Aria grimaced. “Blugh. Glad I don't remember that part.”

“We're getting sidetracked here, ladies.” Adagio said. “So Sombra's influence could be involved…what happened to Trixie?”

“She became overwhelmed by the need to absorb magic and become stronger.” Sugarcoat said. “If Starlight didn't specifically counter her with neutralizing magic, I'm pretty sure we'd be dead.”

“Three contractions…” Twilight noted.

“There's no way Trixie would have wanted to kill anyone.” Rainbow said.

Trixie felt a hint of pride that Rainbow believed in her.

“Well…” Twilight said. “When you're being corrupted, you don't really have much of a say.”

“I figured as much.” Indigo spoke up. “So, how do we break it to her that she did all that stuff? We were in the middle of discussing if she was aware or not.”

“Well, both Twilight and I were aware when it happened to us.” Sunset said. “Corrupting magic has a similar source, the inherent need for more of something.”

“I say we give her time to rest and talk to her when she's more awake.” Aria suggested. “That work for you?” She asked, looking toward Trixie.

She felt herself jolt, knowing the question was directed at her. She tried to reply but her voice didn't come.

“How long were you up for?” Starlight asked, standing up from her seat.

“Mm…” Trixie mumbled, turning to bury her face in the pillow.

“We're glad you're okay. Just rest up.” Indigo offered from behind Starlight.

“We can help her through the next few days.” Sunset said. “I've been where she is…wings and all.” She added with a tired chuckle.

“She's gonna be okay, right?” Starlight asked.

“Of course she will. She's got people to look after her now.” Sunset said. “You have no idea how much that helped when I went through it.”

“Me too.” Twilight said.

Sugarcoat frowned. “Is this…just-” She sighed. “Did we just cause another person's life to dramatically change?” She looked at Twilight. “We could have avoided the stuff you went through if we were better people back then…and now we're at ground zero for Trixie-”

“Don't.” Trixie's muffled voice spoke up. It was raspy. Hoarse. “You…saved…me.” She struggled to speak, taking painful breaths between words.

“Hey, don't..strain yourself, idiot.” Sour spoke up, pushing herself to sit up, she was light-headed, and the lights in the room messed with her eyes, but she was rested enough to get back to healing.

“No, none of that.” Indigo said, quickly moving to gently push her back down. “You're in no condition to talk.”

“I'm rested-”

“You've slept maybe an hour at most!” She huffed. “Why are you so determined to-”

“It's what you'd do.” Sour said simply.

Indigo blinked. “But, I mean, you're right, but you guys get all over me about doing that crap!” She grumbled.

“You guys really look up to Indigo, huh?” Aria asked, resting her hands in the center pocket of her hoodie.

“We do.” Sugarcoat said simply before turning her attention back to Trixie. “I'm sorry you had to go through that.” She said quietly. “I don't think we could have stopped Eclipse without you. Thank you, Trixie.”

“Don't…thank…Trixie.” She mumbled, burying her face again. She didn't deserve thanks. She was the source of danger…she could have killed them. She should feel this pain. She deserved it.

Sugarcoat frowned at the words, still feeling somewhat responsible. Her usually icy demeanor was gone. She fidgeted with her hands anxiously.

“You're still carrying some unresolved concerns about my turning into Midnight…” Twilight said quietly.

“How could I not?” She asked. “A simple apology can never make up for what we pushed you into…” Sugarcoat sighed. “It did help, but I do not think I will ever be past it.” She glanced back to Twilight. “You didn't deserve that then, and Trixie didn't deserve this now…”

“Don't try and shoulder this Sugarcoat.” Twilight said, reaching up to put her hand on the girl's shoulder. “The only way we could have possibly prepared for this would be to have known about the missing amulet. We couldn't have prepared for this, and you can't take responsibility for something you'd never have known could happen.”

“Maybe it's just easier to blame myself.” She said simply. “If we had noticed…maybe we could have seen if there were any changes…”

“We only met Trixie a few weeks ago.” Indigo spoke up. “We wouldn't have been able to pick up on changes for someone we'd barely had time to know. You're reaching.” She crossed her arms. “We take this and move forward with it. Together. Okay?”

“...Right.” She said over her shoulder.

“It's really not good for you to try and take so much blame, Sugarcoat.” Sunny said with a small frown. “Why do you feel like it's on you?”

“Because out of all of us, I feel like I'm the one who…” She shook her head. “Ignore me. I'm just being dramatic.” She sighed.

“Right when you're about to give an actual answer? No way.” Indigo chuckled.

“I don't know.” She admitted. “Maybe I'm just trying to rationalize it? That we could have done something to prevent it and the fact that we failed her in that aspect…” She pinched the bridge of her nose, lifting her glasses as she sighed in frustration. “I know it is stupid…I just feel…” She took a second. “I never wanted someone to go through that again and even with this newfound power I couldn't do anything. It's irrational. I know…” She mumbled. “I'm just…tired of failing.”

“I feel like there's something to that.” Adagio spoke up. “Sounds like she's had trouble whenever she can't live up to her own standards and it's starting to compound.”

“Don't talk about her like she isn't right there…” Aria sighed. “But that's a good theory.” She looked at Sugarcoat. “Does any of that sound accurate?”

Sugarcoat fell silent.

“Oof, bullseye.” Sonata said from her spot beside Sour Sweet. The tired girl elbowed her in response. “Ow!”

“That's something you should face sooner rather than later.” Adagio suggested. “It isn't good for your mind to spiral over your screw ups. Trust me.”

“And how do I just…get over it?” Sugarcoat asked.

“You don't just ‘get over it’. It's work.” Adagio said with a frown. “If you find a way to magically fix it, lemme know. But until then, gear up. You've got a journey ahead of you.” She shrugged. “But if I could give any advice, you need two things to start out and they weren't easy for me, so I hope they are for you.”

“And those are?”

“One. You need to believe in yourself.” She said, “You're going to second guess yourself every day. Every decision. Beat that nagging voice in the back of your head, and two, you need to acknowledge that it's okay to make mistakes.”

“But-”

“It's. Okay.” Adagio said simply in a much calmer tone than she'd usually speak in. “Things will happen. Plenty will be outside of your control, you'll never be able to know every outcome. Taking the good with the bad is the only thing you can do.” She smiled softly. “Having people you love with you and knowing that if you get knocked down they'll be there to pick you up.”

Sugarcoat took a deep breath. “Yeah…that sounds like a logical place to start. I apologize. I did not mean to make this whole thing about me.” She adjusted her glasses.

“It's cool.” Indigo patted her back. “When is a good time to show emotional vulnerability if not in front of your friends?”

“I would like to no longer be the center of attention.” She admitted, crossing her arms.

“We'll revisit this later. No worries.” Sunny said. “So, you guys came here to check in on us…how would you say we did on our first magical showdown?”

“She says as if she's expecting more to happen.” Indigo noted, lifting an eyebrow.

“We just went over how we can't know what tomorrow brings.” Sunny shrugged. “I'm just curious if we could do better.”

“I'd say you did pretty great, considering.” Sunset chuckled. “I'll get the amulet back to Twilight…you girls did an exceptional job, stopping the threat while saving Trixie.” She frowned softly. “I wish it didn't happen…but I'm glad you were there for her. I don't know where we'd be if you didn't stop her.”

“We ran back through the portal as soon as we heard the amulet was here…” Rainbow said. “But I never would have expected you guys to have had to fight yet.”

“Yet? You expected us to fight at some point?” Indigo asked. “Not like we have a choice…but still.”

“We can't know.” Rainbow said, throwing her hands up. “We went on a cruise and ended up in equestria once. Weird shit happens, man.”

“Damn. Is it that easy to go home?” Aria asked.

“Not for us. Starswirl banished us, remember? We probly couldn't go through the portal if we tried.” Sonata said simply.

“Who?” Indigo asked.

“Starswirl the bearded. Big name in equestria. One of the strongest unicorns in history.” Sonata said casually. “Yeah. He threw us into this universe about a thousand years ago and we've been living here ever since.”

“That would make you…” Sunny thought aloud.

“Yeah, don't think too hard about it.” Aria shrugged.

“Y'know, I did wonder why you never tried.” Sunset said. “Guess it makes more sense that it took somepony that powerful to banish three full powered sirens.”

“He didn't really appreciate our brand of resource gathering.” Aria said.

“We caused a lot of havoc.” Sonata said with a sad smile. “But that was the only way we could eat after we got those gems. But…if there's anything to take from that it's that people can change.”

Aria's shoulders slumped as she listened to the girl speak. “Man…we really were awful, huh?”

“Not all the time. We had the occasional good day.”

“That doesn't make me feel much better…” Aria sighed.

“Alright, let's hold off on that for now.” Adagio said, quickly changing topics. “What are we doing next?”

“I think we should give Sour some more time to rest, and she can help Trixie heal up more…then we go from there.” Indigo suggested. “You guys don't happen to have a doctor in your little circle, do you?”

“Mm, not an official one, no.” Sunset said. “But, with Sour's magic, Trixie is through the worst of the recovery process. When I got blasted by magic, I had a few days where I didn't even leave my room.”

“Wondered where you were. We figured you just ran off at first.” Rainbow chuckled.

“Being overcome by magic really wears you out. I wasn't kidding about the wings either…those took a while to heal, but since the bandages on her back aren't still bloody, it looks like you got those wounds to close.” She noted. “Mine took about a week or two of constant changing.”

“I mean, I was curious about those scars, but didn't wanna ask.” Rainbow said.

“I noticed.” Sunset smirked. “I appreciate you waiting for me to bring it up. Honestly, I meant to a while back. It just never came up. For now, we should get Trixie home.”

“...about that.” Starlight said with a nervous chuckle.