The Tritone Disappearance of Paprika Blues

We're in a city, but it stinks. Bad. Trixie wrinkles her nose in disgust.
"It smells worse than Flame Geyser Swamp!" She pulls out a rag from somewhere under her cape and wraps it around her snout.
Smart move, honestly, but I didn't think to bring any supplies.
We're in an alleyway of sorts, and -

A piercing, wailing noise breaks my train of thought. I turn towards the direction of the noise, and see a - a human, running past the alleyway looking extremely frightened. A massive metal carriage roars and barrels through a few seconds later, definitely the source of the noise. I'm half certain it had the word "POLICE" etched into the side of the carriage.

Great. Even in another universe, there's cops.
Trixie and I stick our heads out of the alley at the same time, and see humans strolling idly around.

It's an entire goddamn human civilization. They're all a bit taller than the average pony, by at least thirty or so centimeters, generally, but height seemed to vary.

"Okay, well, we're gonna stick out like a broken hoof if we don't have a disguise." I groan. "You know any transformation magic?'

"Pfft. Trixie does illusion magic best, Miss North. If you wish to remain hidden among these aliens, avoid being touched."

She lights up her horn, and I can see another.. me, overlaid on top of my mostly invisible body.
It's a damn good illusion, I'll give it that. My reflection in a nearby window barely resembles a pony - I'm the spitting image of a human, down to the weird short nose and beady little eyes. The perspective is a little off, so my real eyes are about where my chest looks to be.

Wait, why are the teats on the chest?? Weird. Kinda cool, but weird.
"Trixie thinks she performed admirably in this spell!"
"I guess so. But just in case we walk out into the street and humans can see through illusion magic, what's plan B?"

Trixie hums. "Trixie supposes she can make a distraction with fireworks."

The earth pony side of my blood goes haywire in warning. My fetlocks get all tingly in fear, and I hold a hoof up to her withers to stop her. "No! Nononono. Bad idea. Baaaad idea."

Trixie looks bemused. "Trixie does not have bad ideas."
"Listen, trust me, I'm the one with more Earth pony in my blood. The air and ground are so dry here, that a single fire could spread into a big ass inferno."
"When you say, 'more Earth pony'... you're implying you're not fully that. What's.. the rest of you..?"
My ear flicks. "Let's not talk about that."

We wander the city for a little while, and I honestly feel completely in my element. Trixie keeps challenging me, saying things like, "Tell Trixie where the next stop on the route of that mobile trolley is!"
I jerk my thumb in a direction, we go there, and bam. Another trolley stop for the route. Oh, wait, no, it says it's a "bus".
"You're cheating!"
"I'm not cheating. Being a city slicker is my whole deal. It's my cutie mark."
"That's not true, your cutie mark is a compass with a dagger as the needle."
"Yeah, cuz I'm sharp. I got street smarts."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Trixie does not believe you. There has to be more to your cutie mark than being able to traverse one specific type of environment!"

Just then, a human that was sitting by a stand approaches us, holding a clip board with their paw.
"Excuse me, I'd like to ask you lovely ladies a few questions about your electricity bill!"

I look over at her stand. There's a banner that reads, "MANAHEMO ENERGY SOLUTIONS, LLC."

Trixie jabs me in the side, and whispers, "Hey, North, look. Didn't that book have the same name..?"
"It did." I nod and mutter back.

"Uh.. sure?" I give the lady a weird look.
"Are you satisfied with the rate you pay for your current electricity bill?"
"I guess so."
"How much would you say you pay monthly?"

Ah shit, I hadn't gotten that far.
"Uh-"
"Actually, Trixie would like to ask about your company." Trixie says, slightly hoity toity. "Where we are from, we have subsidizing from the government, and therefore have no need for any imprrrrovements to our bill."

The lady looks at Trixie with a slightly tense look on her face. "Oh, uh, congratulations?"
"Thank you," Trixie continues, "Anyways, I've never heard of your company before. Are you accredited? Are you one of those services that starts off cheap and then ramps up the bill after your customers have gotten used to seeing your name?"
"Ah- no, no no no! We don't scam customers, not at all!"
"Sounds like something a scammer would say." Trixie ripostes with a raised eyebrow.
"No, really! We're an upstart company, experimenting with a new source for energy. It's clean, efficient, and holds none of the caveats that other renewable energy sources come with!"
"Really? Then what is it?" I ask.

The lady makes a bit of a noncommittal shrug. "It's still under wraps until the testing is complete, this is just the company reaching out to the public to see who might be interested!"

Trixie raises her hoof- hand up, palm out towards her.
"Trixie has dealt with many a grifter in her career as a magician," and here she flourishes her cape dramatically, "And unfortunately, that sounds too much like the Flim Flam brothers. Trixie has decided she is not interested, thank you!"

And Trixie starts to walk away. The lady turns to me, and tries again. "Well, maybe you-"
"Yeah, nah, I'm not interested either." I turn to follow Trixie.

The lady's smile gets really tight, and she says, "Okay, have a good day!"
As we walk off, I hear her mutter, "Fucking New York tourists."

Okay. I sound like a New Yorker. Good to know.

We end up at a library, after a while. There's a sign out front advertising the fact that they have free water, which confuses me. Water is free, generally, right? It's water. You can't put a price on water. Everypony - no, everyBODY, needs water.

"Now that I think about it, some water would be primo, right now." I clear my throat.
"Trixie agrees. Shall we take a rest here, Miss North?"
"From one library to the next, I guess."

I count my lucky stars when I see how the water fountain is operated. It's so strangely shaped - like an upside down metal L, buttons on the side, and the spout on top. Most of the humans I see drinking from it have to bend over to reach it.

I guess it makes less of a mess than an Equestrian water fountain, but it still doesn't feel right.

When I get back, I find that Trixie is boasting to the librarian at the front desk - and frankly she looks enraptured.

I see a poster on the corkboard by the front desk full of different advertisements for community events and such.
One of them catches my eye.
"Ever feel like you're not human? Like you were meant to be a different creature, one that chirps, or roars, or howls, or whinnies?
You may just be therian! And you're not alone! Come to Felicia's Dive Bar on 107 Sturges Avenue after closing to meet for a weekly support group! We meet on Tuesdays."

Okay. That's a really good start.
The librarian is excitedly discussing potential shows for the teen meetups when she sees the kinda magic Trixie can do - slight-of-hoof magic, not like, magic magic. She's trying her best to keep it quiet, but just slightly failing, and some cranky old dam is staring daggers at the two of them.

"Hey, uh, weird question, what day of the week is it?"
The librarian looks at me with a little concern. "It's a Tuesday. Why?"
"Oh, no reason, I just have a weird brain that forgets what day it is, pretty often."

The librarian nods. "Ohhh, yeah, my cousin up north, Moitié has that problem. It's so funny, she'll ramble on and on about magic being real, and all her studies into the occult, and then forget what she had planned for dinner."

"Ah yes, that sounds quite like you, North." Trixie grins at me.
I know she's playing up the lie so that my bluff about not knowing the date makes sense, but mare, buck offffff. I snort and tap her on the shoulder.

We enter the bar sometime around ten pm, which I know thanks to the clocks we've seen all over the city. I wonder who's responsible for the moon here, because I don't see it anywhere as the sun sets.

The bar itself is decorated in a very.. bright and colorful scheme. Reminds me of one of the all-night diners that would play Shimmy Hoofit frequently.
Tropical! That's the word. It's tropical, with the caveat that whoever decorated this place actually had lived on a tropical island before. There's just something in me that can tell.

There's a big lady at the bar who eyes me and Trixie up. She's got deep black hair, and violet in her eyes. Behind her, there's an absolute powerhouse of a human stallion, wearing a cowmare's hat and a red neckerchief. He's pure lean muscle, and also eyeing us suspiciously, his ruby red eyes almost piercing my soul.
No other human has had violet or red in their eyes. Weird.

"Can I help you girls?" The big lady asks.
"We're here for the.. therian meeting..?"

She goes from suspicious to motherly delight in a nanosecond. "Oh!! You saw my flyer! Oh, lovely, lovely - you're a bit early, but go on and take a seat, make yourself comfortable. I'll get you two something to drink, on the house."
The big muscular human stallion purses his lips, wiping down a glass. "Hermana, no creo que sean como nosotros."
"Nonsense, hon! Anyone can be like us, even if they don't have the, y'know, the thing."
Dammit, I'm only getting half the conversation here. I don't speak Caballeran, or whatever the human equivalent is. She turns back to us and says, "Just take a seat anywhere you like, girls, I'll have something non alcoholic mixed up in a snap."

We turn and look around, and one spot catches my eye. There's a mare across the room, reading a book about pianos. She looks troubled, in more ways than one. I decide to approach her.

"Hey," I say, "You okay?"
She jolts, and yanks the book up to her chest, looking at me in shock.
"Ey, ey, easy, hon, I was just worried." I say. "You look like you just survived something harrowing."
"I mean.. had a run in with the cops, so, yeah.."
"Mind if me and my friend sit with you?"
She blinks for a second, and then shakes her head. "Sorry, got reminded of something - sure, go on ahead."
She takes a sip of her drink while Trixie and I sit down with her. Just then, the big lady drops a few drinks in front of me and Trixie. Smells like... mango and banana.
My mouth waters.

"What's your name?" I ask, taking a drink and immediately savoring the taste of whatever this stuff was.
"Chelsea. You?"
"Magne-." I let slip.

Chelsea shakes her head in confusion. "Magna..?"
"Yup?" I say. Definitely confident.
"Magna. One hell of a name, that." Chelsea chuckles and takes a sip of her drink. I can smell it from here, it's got all sorts of booze.
"And you?" She puts down the glass and points to Trixie.
"None other than the Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie!"

Chelsea blinks. I facehoof- facepalm, and sigh. "Trixie doesn't like to break keyfabe, even when she's not doing her magician gigs."
Trixie scoffs. "Trixie has an image to maintain, Magna."
I snort and take a sip of my damn good drink. Chelsea looks.. lost.

"Great and.. Powerful.. Trixie.." She furrows a brow, then suddenly flinches, hard. "OW!"
"You okay?" I ask, almost making the mistake of putting my hoof on her withers. She waves me off.
"Fine, fine, don't worry. I have amnesia induced migraines."

Trixie and I exchange a glance.
"Amnesia..?" I ask gingerly.
"Yeah, I.. ugh, I dunno. Felicia, the bartender," she jerks her stubbier claw in the direction of the big lady, "found me two years ago covered in burns in the middle of an alleyway. I don't have any memories of who I was, no ID, and I feel intense pain anytime I try to remember. Been like this for a while. Only clue that I have to my identity is, well... I get an urge to play piano. Almost like it's my destiny or something. But I can't play shit for fuck."

"Damn. I can't imagine what that must be like." I mutter, genuinely at a loss.
"It sucks, and that's pretty much all there is to say on the matter." She shrugs. "Where you two from? Don't sound like Californians to me."
"New York." I answer swiftly.
"Where in New York? Like the city."

Ah, shit. I'm at a loss there, it has to be something specific, it couldn't just be -
"Manehattan." Trixie answers.
"Damn, Manhattan? That's where all the bougie people are right? You must hate em."

I have to put in effort to not gawk at the fact that there is a borough in New York called Manhattan, which just so happens to sound like Manehattan. Another mystery for somepony with a higher power creep. Not my problem.

"Yes, quite. Trixie comes from old money, but her family has since disowned her for reasons she'd rather not get into."
"Ah, yeah, fair." Chelsea nods.
"So, what caused the cops to hitch up your tail?" I ask. She huffs a long sigh.

"How do you feel about cops?" Chelsea asks me.
"Ugh. Nothing positive, that's for sure." I roll my eyes, and the big lady shouts from the bar, "Woo! ACAB, baby!"
The rest of the patrons at this bar raise their glasses in a cheer, and Chelsea relaxes.
"Cool, cool. You won't snitch, right? You won't tell anybody?"
"I don't think I could snitch even if I wanted to." I truthfully reply.
"Haha! Okay, cool, I'll take that statement at face value! I uh.." She takes another swig of her drink to sooth her nerves. "...I saw the body of a unicorn, dude."

Trixie spits her drink. Chelsea and I look over to her, and she wipes off her face with her cape, then grabs a napkin to wipe off the juice from the table.
"What's your problem..?" Chelsea says.
"Trixie is..!"

I give Trixie a slight shake of the head.
"Afraid! Of unicorns!" She plays up the fear aspect.

It takes every muscle in my body to not laugh.
"You.. you're scared of unicorns?" Chelsea asks, bemused.
"Yes!" She's really going down this route. "They are always depicted as powerful creatures! Capable of magic and spells beyond human capability! If unicorns are real.. can you imagine what that spells for us?"
"Not.. really?"
"They could pierce the veil of reality and meddle with human affairs without anyp-" She coughs, clears her throat, thumps her chest. "Anybody knowing! The whole world could be controlled by them, unbeknownst to us all!"
Chelsea gives Trixie a blank stare. I'm going to bust my gut at any second if we don't steer the conversation elsewhere.
"So it's like... an off-brand version of the lizard people thing, but less racist?" Chelsea suggests.
"Lizard people? What lizard people?" Trixie genuinely asks. "Do you mean dragons?"

I see something red in my peripheral vision, and notice that the big stallion jerked his head towards Trixie, before shaking it and getting back to work.

"Okay, you're fucking with me, there's no way you genuinely believe that unicorns control the world, while not having heard of the lizard people thing."

My face is in my hooves. I am going to lose it.
The worst part is that this is exactly how things went down back at the orphanage, when it was just me, Paprika, and Trixie, all hanging out together.

Wait. No.

It can't have been that easy.
"H-hey, uh, Chelsea," I start to ask. "You ever have.. visions.. of.. like a past life. Therian wise?" I hesitantly ask.
That makes Chelsea stop whatever she was gonna say, and she looks at me. "Actually.. now that you mention it.. yeah."

No bucking way.
"I've been having this reoccuring dream where, it's like, I'm at a ramen shop, drunk off my tits, and these two animal girls are doting on me. They take me to their home, say they're gonna wait till I sober up in the morning, and.."

It takes every fiber of my entire being not to explode then and there. That's too damn specific not to be anypony else. I'm talking to fucking Paprika, and she doesn't even know it. Tears well up in my eyes. What happened to her? Why does she not remember?
What can I do to make her remember...?

I look at the bag, the one that has her feathers in it. No, no, not yet, she barely knows me right now. I have to get her to trust me. I can't just whip these out now, and say, "Haha! You were my best friend in another life and I'm here to take you back home!"
Ugh, how slimy that feels to think. I feel gross.

"I've been in denial about it, to be honest. Felicia, she's.. convinced that I'm like her, that I was another creature before, but then.. something happened. She claims the same thing happened to her too, and, I never believed her, until. Today. Seeing a goddamn unicorn cadaver. I'm beginning to wonder.. if there's.."

She trails off.

"No.. that would be too easy."
I swallow. "What would be too easy."
"There was this thing about.. finding a new source of power that could solve so many energy crisis problems. The director guy, on the news, he said, 'it burns clean and leaves little to no nuclear waste'... And it was about the explosion that happened at the airport which.. was caused by a..."

Oh, sweet Celestia.
"Do you think.. They're harvesting unicorns for electricity here..?" I asked, shivering.
"Think about it, Mags!" She's already got her nickname for me down pat, oh my stars. "Magic is the one energy source completely undiscovered by humanity! If they managed to figure out how to find a place where unicorns are real? Well- augh, no this is just. Wayside style lizard people. Nevermind."

Trixie and I exchange glances. We shake our heads - best not to tell her yet. First and foremost, we need to stick by her side until she can trust us.