Drip... drip... drip, a slow but constant flow of water dribbled into a small wooden cabin in the Whitetail Woods. Every drop splashed onto a blue unicorn's face, earning a grumble from the sleeping mare. The Great and Powerful Trixie rolled over with an incomprehensible mumble. As if in retaliation, the droplets of water sped up, bombarding her back with a chilling cascade comprised of cold water. Trixie's eyes shot open as the ice cold water made contact with her flank, leaping into the air with a shriek. Rubbing her flank, she tried to look around but everything was dark, too dark to see. Her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed, a second later a bright orb of blue tinged light appeared at the end of her horn. She looked around furtively, which didn't take long due to the small size of her house, eventually spotting the source of her disturbance. A small hole in the wooden roof. With a sigh she turned to the small cramped end of her new home that was littered with the remainder of her belongings. Another short burst of magic later and an old cooking pot sat at the bottom of the hole, slowly filling with rainwater. Each droplet made a hollow ringing sound that resonated with Trixie's soul. For a few seconds she stood there in silence, her brain hard at work behind her eyes, until she finally decided to see if Planks could help her repair the hole in the ceiling. Her smile quickly soured when she suddenly remembered the events of the previous month. There was no more Planks, there was no more Zeila, there was no more Melodia. Her old troupe had abandoned her, she had made the wrong decision and now she was paying for it.
She stood there silent again, contemplative. What can I do? she thought to herself, what was there left to do? I've lost everything I worked towards, one step at a time. My fame is gone, my family is gone, my only friend in the world has gone. Where did it all go wrong? I once had it all and now I have nothing. Tears began to force their way out of her eyes again, one of the strongest ponies around reduced to a sobbing simpleton.
"It's all your fault you know?" a voice in her head announced, a voice she hadn't heard in a very long time. "You could have been one of the greatest performers around, but you let your arrogance take control. Your own hubris was your undoing," The voice announced without a shred of pity. Each word rang truthful and cut into Trixie's spirit like a dagger. It was then at her lowest moment, when something abnormal happened. A thick red fog seemed to descend into the cabin and surrounded her. The fog whispered to her, words of encouragement, words of persuasion, words of redemption. Trixie stood still for a few seconds as this new, different voice seemed to take control of her, empowering her and refilling her ego back to bursting levels.
"No... no! It's not my fault! It's... it's all their fault! All of it! Twilight Sparkle and her friends took my fame! Melodia took my family! The Canterlot Academy took my Silver-Scales! All of them were just jealous! Jealous of the power I control!" Trixie shouted deafeningly loud, "and I'll prove it, yes! This isn't the last they've heard of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" The other voice in her head tried to retreat from this sudden burst of unrestrained self-confidence, but the stronger spirit smashed the voice of reason away with a burst of fury. Trixie bucked open the door to the cabin sending it flying off of its hinges. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is back, for one last escapade!" she announced in an unnervingly powerful voice to the world. "I'm going to fix it all! Everything that went wrong! First I'll get back Silver-Scales, then I'll take care of my so-called family and finish up with that meddling Twilight!" The blue unicorn threw back her silver mane and laughed with glee as these thoughts powered through her skull. She had found purpose again.
A grey unicorn with a white mane trotted through the gates into Canterlot. Her worn brown cape covered up her cutie mark and her dull grey eyes betrayed no emotion. Saddlebags lay balanced across her back, stuffed full of various items. A grey unicorn guard on the gate waved her over and she complied without any show of feeling.
"Is this your first time in Canterlot, Miss?" the gold-armoured guard began with a welcoming smile.
"Miss Chroma, Mona Chroma," the unfamiliar unicorn replied, her voice careful and composed, "Is there a problem officer?"
"No, it's just with all the new threats that seem to be springing up every day we have to monitor everypony who comes in. All I need to know now is your home-town and date of birth and I'll issue you with your I.D scroll," the guard said in a clearly rehearsed voice.
"Hoofingt... Hooflyn, I'm from Hooflyn." She managed to keep her face expressionless but inside she was screaming at herself for almost slipping up badly there.
The guardspony's eyes narrowed a little as he scrawled that down before motioning her to continue.
"I was born on the twelfth Lunar, twenty-two Seed Cycles ago," she replied with considerably more confidence.
The guardspony nodded and scribbled it down with a quill. "One last thing and I can let you in, your cutie mark, if you'd please?" the guard asked sincerely.
It took all of her self control to hold herself together as she gently lifted the cloak. The underside of the cloak was bright purple and dotted with stars and moons in an array of colours.
The guardspony's eyes widened with surprise at the sudden burst of colour from the otherwise grey pony. He got a brief glance at her cutie mark and assumed it was a star and a moon. So he wrote that down onto the report. "Everything seems to be in order, Miss Chroma. Here is your I.D scroll, do not hand to this any other pony and keep it on yourself at all times while in Canterlot. Please enjoy your stay," the guard said with a smile as he waved her in.
The Great and Powerful Trixie trotted in through the gates and into the bustling metropolis that was Canterlot. Ponies were everywhere, the rich mingled with the poor, the famous with the unknown. If it wasn't for the proximity to the Celestial Guard then this would be the best place for someone like herself to hide. But she wasn't here for that, she was here to go on the attack, to reclaim what was hers. She set her sights on the distant high spires of Princess Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns. This was the first step on her road to fixing everything. As soon as had Silver-Scales once more at her side, she'd be unstoppable again, she was sure of it. She cantered along the main road ignoring the other ponies as she passed them, too absorbed in her own world to pay any attention to these common folk.
As she drew closer to the university her illusion spell began to wane, flashes of blue began to break through the grey barrier on her fur, forcing her to stop and duck into a nearby alley. "Celestia damn it!" she shouted in rage, removing the cloak and stuffing it into her saddlebags. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply and then exhaled again. When she opened them they had regained their deep purple hue. Looking up she happened to catch sight of an open window on the side of the building and with a huge smile realised it was the one to her old dormitory. Pulling a rope from her saddlebags she telekinetically lifted it up to the window above and tied it around where she remembered her old bed to be. A sharp tug ensured told her that she had got lucky and she began to climb. Holding the rope with her mouth she scaled the building slowly and awkwardly, making sure to pass around windows.
With an exhausted sigh she pulled herself through the window and collapsed in a heap on the other side. Dragging herself to her hooves, she looked around with a genuine smile, she hadn't been here in a long time and old memories flooded her mind. She had always stood out amongst her classmates when it came to magic. Her spell-casting was far superior to many of their attempts, and she had always picked up spells quickly. But she learnt by example not by theory, as a result of this she found many of the more complex spells evading her, no matter how hard she had tried. She had gone from top of the class in the first two years to barely cutting it in the third year. Dragging behind the rest of the class, her lack of concentration had made her infamous among her instructors. When she had eventually given up and left a lot of them had cheered behind her back. A whole spectrum of emotions assaulted her, an unpleasant mix of boredom and fear blended almost seamlessly with excitement and happiness. She had almost forgotten about this part of her history.
"Stop reminiscing and start searching, Remember your brilliant plan and follow it," A voice suddenly snapped her out of her reverie, the same voice from earlier. "We are going to make things how they should have been, remember? We are going to fix reality, undo all the evil that has been done upon us. Pay them back for their jealousy and spite," the cold voice said persuasively, "we'll be more powerful than ever before, more powerful than Celestia herself, isn't that what you want?"
"More powerful than Celestia... yes," Trixie mumbled. "The Greatest and Most Powerful Trixie! I like the sound of that," Trixie shouted in glee. She then began searching for her secret stockpile of transmogrification potions. It was actually quite surprising how many times I had to use these, Trixie thought with a laugh. If you ever need to skip class then these are the things for you. Her horn flashed again, surrounding her old bed in a blue aura and moving it aside. She trotted over to the previously covered area and rapped her hoof against the wall. A hollow knock sounded in reply earning another self-satisfied smirk from the mare. She kneeled down, placing her horn to the false wall. Her horn pulsed brightly again and the compartment shot open. She let out a cheer of triumph as she grabbed a hoofful of the potions and placed them in her saddlebags. A quick glance back in the box confirmed that she had missed one, so she grabbed that one too and popped the cork. Lifting the glowing purple liquid to her mouth, she began to picture a small golden dragon with dazzling emerald eyes, the administrator's dragon. With this image emblazoned on her brain she took a deep draught of the liquid, draining the vial completely.
Trixie's eyes began to glow green, shooting rays of light outwards. She threw the glass vial onto the bed as her forehooves began to shake. She barely managed to wrench off her saddlebags before convulsions began to wrack her body, her dark blue fur beginning to lighten. Patches of gold began to shine through as she collapsed to her knees. Her snout began to extend and flatten, wrenching bone and reshaping it. She gritted her teeth in pain but only ended up biting her lip with her newly sharpened fangs. Blood poured out of her mouth as she fell onto her back. Her hooves began to split open, tearing into separate digits. Four on the forehooves, three on the rear ones. Trixie suppressed a scream of pain as her organs began to shift, bones rearranging in her body. It took all of her focus to prevent herself from screaming aloud, she hadn't done this in a long time and never for a non-pony. Her fur shined a brilliant gold as it began to harden, causing a burning sensation in her skin. Her pupils suddenly slitted as her irises exploded with green. Her forehooves formed complete clawed hands and her rear hooves formed complete clawed toes. Another shift from her spinal column caused her to clench her teeth again, this time more carefully so as not to pierce her lips. Her skin stopped burning but felt excessively dry and her tail, uncomfortably heavy.
Her slitted green eyes crossed as she gazed at her newly elongated golden snout. She rose to her newly formed feet and stood upright, then promptly fell over. "Curse these stupid toes!" she shouted aloud, once more trying to rise upwards. She placed her hands onto the bed and managed to pull herself upright once more, stumbling awkwardly but keeping on her feet. She put her new tail down to the ground and suddenly found herself more stable. So there was a trick to it, she thought as she smiled with her new-found success. She took a step forwards, then another, managing a slow stumble. Opening her saddlebags she checked how many potions she had left. Four purple vials blinked back, their luminescent glare was mesmerising but she shut the lid on the bag. She closed her eyes and her brow furrowed yet nothing happened. She tried once more, before realising with a cry that she would have to do it manually. With a grunt she roughly seized her saddlebags and tied them around her waist like a belt. "Show time," she announced aloud in a rough masculine voice, pushing open the doors into the academy proper.
She walked along the corridors a little awkwardly, but none of the ponies she passed seem to notice. This place was crawling with students of all ages, chatting excitedly as they walked to lessons. Every so often one of them would nod at her as she passed which she made sure to return with a false smile. Her unusual belt caught a few glances but nopony stopped to ask her about it. She continued down the immaculate marble corridors, this trek was like a nostalgia trip for her. Seeing the place that had been her home for three years was unnerving to her, but the voice inside her head kept her focused. She knew where she was heading. Take a left at the library here, walk up this flight of stairs, and first door on the right. Finally she was here, she could hardly contain her excitement as she pulled on the door handle and entered the room.
The room had workbenches lining every wall along with sets of tools hanging down from above. Cogs and gyros lay scattered across the room in heaps, as if someone had started cleaning and then gotten bored halfway through. The furnace was lit and a half forged construct lay on a table, various components lay strewn around it, as if someone had wrenched its robotic guts out and thrown them around. She took a step forward and closed the door behind her. A silver dragon popped out from behind the half-built mechanism, goggles on his head and a tool belt around his waist. "Goldie! What are you doing here? I thought you and the administrator were going to be out all day?" the silver dragon called to her, waving her over.
"I... was but then something happened," Trixie tried to stall for time as she approached the silver dragon. "Silver-Scales, I must apologise for my intrusion," she quickly changed the topic and switched into how she remembered the gold dragon spoke from her old days.
"Oh no, you're not intruding. Actually you could be of some assistance. I don't suppose you could hand me a hammer? I can't release this darn thing without it resetting," Silver-Scales replied, pointing to a tool box stuffed with all kinds of implements.
Trixie's walked forwards and grabbed a hammer with her claws before carrying it over to the workbench. Silver-Scales took it with a nod of thanks and vanished back behind the machine. A second later he reappeared with a large grin on his face. He wiped his forehead with a sigh and turned to the gold dragon. "So why are you back so early?"
Trixie tried to piece together a reply that made sense but, after a few tense seconds of silence, settled on just blurting out, "It's me Trixie!"
"Trixie? Impossible. Unless... unless... by Celestia! Tell me you didn't?!" Silver-Scales eyes widened in horror as Trixie pulled a vial of viscous purple liquid from her saddlebag-belt thing. "Do you know how dangerous that is! Transmogrification is a level eighteen spell for a reason! Even the potions are a prohibited substance, how did you get hold of them?! Then again, only Trixie would have the lack of forethought to come up with a plan like this." Silver-Scales sighed deeply. "What do you want, Trixie?"
"To team up again! Just like old times, the two of us against the world. We worked so well together!" Trixie's draconic eyes lit up as she spoke of her glory days.
"No. You worked so well because I was behind you, fixing all your mistakes. What did I ever get out of it? There's a reason the Academy took me back, remember? You almost got us both killed with that growth spell!” the silver dragon shouted angrily in reply.
"But, but, Silver-Scales! Remember all the fun we had, the Trottingham affair? That mismatch with the Griffon Empire?"
"Remember all the fun you had! I almost got killed by those griffons! And you practically abandoned me in Trottingham! No. Trixie, I won't report this transgression out of respect for the time we spent together. But if you do not leave this room in the next ten seconds." Silver-Scales paused to let out a sigh, "I'll call the Celestial Guard on you."
To say Trixie was stunned would be an understatement, this was supposed to be the easy part of the plan. I mean who wouldn't want to be part of my team? Maybe... maybe I am wrong, maybe I did mistreat him, maybe it always was me. Self-doubt once again reared its ugly head.
"My turn," The voice inside her head announced as Trixie began to feel faint. Her dragon body started moving without her input and she couldn't stop it. She watched unable to do anything as her claws began to flex. "Sleep!" her internal voice commanded. She suddenly felt weak, her vision began to blur and she collapsed into a deep sleep; despite the fact that her body seemed to remain autonomous.
"Three, two..." Silver-Scales continued, his back turned. "One," he finished, the last sound Trixie heard, distorted as if underwater before the sleep set in.
When she came to she was a unicorn again, but she still wasn't quite in control. She tried to stop herself from moving but her legs continued to trot along, heading to some unknown destination.
"Awake I see," the voice sounded even stronger than before. "Don't worry Trixie. I'm still sticking to the plan, next up was your old Pomani friends, wasn't it?"
"What just happened?" Trixie questioned weakly.
"Oh, Silver-Scales and I had a delightful chat. By the end, he was begging for your forgiveness," the voice said silkily.
"You didn't...?" Trixie gasped.
"Kill him? No, I simply reminded him of his loyalties. He'll be back up again in mere months, but loyalty is a lesson he won't go forgetting in a long time," it boomed back.
"You're not going to..." Trixie began again but her mouth was dry, she couldn't formulate the words she needed.
"Teach them all a lesson? I'll give you a fair chance to convince them to apologise and all that. Violence is always a last resort. Besides, couldn't you tell that they had gotten to Silver-Scales? Did he ever act like that back in the day, hmm?
"No... no he didn't," Trixie mumbled confusedly.
"See. They got to him too, turned him against you. A stronger friend would've fought back, would've argued. But he succumbed to their wills, their wishes. He forsook your name to carve himself a nicer prison. He deserved all that he got."
"But... he was... he was still my friend,"
"No he wasn't. If he was your friend, he wouldn't have hesitated to leap at the opportunity to join you again. I did you a favour, trust me," The voice wheedled and wheezed.
"You're right," Trixie mumbled weakly. "You're right!" she repeated again, this time with gusto. "He was corrupted, why else would he not join me. It's the only thing that makes sense," Trixie shouted, her voice charged with confidence.
"Exactly. Now the Pomani camp lies just over that hill. I'm going to give you control once more and we'll see how they respond. If you need my help, don't hesitate to call. Our combined power can solve any problem."
Trixie could suddenly feel again, nerve signals pulsing their electric charges back into her brain. She moved a hoof slowly and took a step forward. It felt good to be a pony again. The brisk air of an autumn evening filled her with feeling. She inhaled deeply, taking the scents of the forest in and holding them, before releasing them back into the air. A sudden nudge from inside her head made her jump. She lookied at the hill that the thing inside her had pointed out and gulped. Putting her best hoof forward, she began to scale the hill.
Less than a minute later she sat at the top gazing into the valley below. The exciting sound of tambourines and hoof stomping emanated from the forest below. A camp fire sat in a small glade surrounded by four wooden carriages. Eight ponies were stood around the fire, some stomping and some dancing. A quick melodic voice suddenly rang out, accompanying the fast paced beat. The voice of the head of this particular band of Pomani, Melodia's voice. The very sound of her voice was a bitter-sweet thing to Trixie.
Once again she was assaulted by memories, once again they conflicted. The fun times back before the academy, when she had grown up. This had been her family after the tragic loss of her parents to a Manticore attack. Melodia had been like a mother, but as they were all earth ponies, except Zeila the zebra, they could teach her little of magic. They had refused her request to go to the academy but she had gone anyway. When she passed the examination with aplomb, it had been the proudest moment of her life but they hadn't shared that sentiment. Still they had allowed her back in when she left the academy, even accommodating for her dragon friend. They had allowed her to perform her magic shows, encouraged them even... until the accident. One of her fireworks had improperly detonated and sprayed fire onto the wooden caravans. Of the six caravans, only two survived the deadly blaze unscathed. Fortunately nopony was injured, but the mistake had set them back considerably, and they had cast her out as a result.
"Focus! the voice suddenly shouted inside her head, its shout reverberating around her skull, "for the love of Discord, will you stop reminiscing every time we get close to the goal at hoof!"
Trixie shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She turned to pull out her cape and wizard hat from her saddlebags, only to find the bags were missing. She sighed loudly and trotted dejectedly down the other side of the hill. The folk music grew louder as she got closer. At the bottom of the hill a small wall of trees separated her from the camp. She put on her most confident, smug smile and upturned her nose before striding proudly through the undergrowth.
The music suddenly stopped as she strode conspicuously into the centre of the camp. All of the ponies stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. Melodia trotted forwards to meet her.
"Trixie Lulamoon, do our rules and customs mean nothing to you?" Her thick accent clearly marked her out as a Pomani. "You break our trust, destroy our homes and don't even have the decency to stay out of our lives," Melodia shouted, her voice charged with anger.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is here to accept your apology!" Trixie announced unabashedly.
"Our apology... our apology! You... you... you..." Melodia's voice trailed off as she began to visibly shake, her forehead bulging with anger.
Noticing this Zeila stepped forwards and motioned for Melodia to back off. Melodia grumbled something vulgar under her breath and trotted back. Zeila began to advance towards Trixie. "Trixie, I knew I hadn't seen the last of you," she mumbled with a sigh,
"This was Trixie's life once. Trixie demands an apology for the downward spiral you caused when you cast me out," Trixie said, her resolve beginning to wane.
"Trixie, out of respect for your parents, we are not going to go there. I am asking you now, as a friend of the family, please leave and do not return," Zeila requested.
"But... but... this was my life," Trixie stumbled on her words. The accusatory stares from the other Pomani seemed to bore into her very soul. Her resolve seemed to dissolve under their withering gaze. She felt like a foal again, being told off for insulting the other kids.
"My turn?" the voice asked inside her head.
"Wait! They still raised me, they're still family!"
"Corrupt! Look, at the way they surround us! Look at the hatred in their eyes. Listen to the venom in their voice. Would they revile you so if they still cared for you," the voice was mesmerising, its slow drawl boring into her mind.
"No... no! They raised me, they..."
"They cast you out. They disgraced you. They tried to stop you from achieving greatness and then they kicked you out after you achieved it. They are the enemy."
"They... they did didn't they?" Trixie muttered, conflicted.
"Trixie. I am sorry for having to use such extreme methods, but it is important that you learn how to accept blame. Your fireworks set fire to the camp, your magic spread the flames, your show set us all back by months," Zeila said apologetically, her voice and demeanour were sincere, even though the rest of the camp continued to regard her the way they would discarded rubbish.
"No! No I will not accept this! You are the ones who kicked me out for trying to pursue my talents! You are the ones who cast me away when I was to become a star!" A sudden burst of liquid confidence spread around her body, oozing from the voice in her head.
"I'm sorry Trixie, but if you can't accept this simple truth, then there is no way you can rejoin our group," Zeila said, cutting to the chase.
"Let me deal with them. Our powers combined could easily neutralise the threat they pose," the voice whispered inside her ear.
"No! No... they're right, they're right..." Trixie began to sulk.
"Look I'm so..." Trixie began when her voice suddenly shifted pitch as she found herself thrown back into her mind again.
"Lend me your will and I can make all these ponies fall over themselves in their rush to beg forgiveness!" the voice shouted in a twisted and demonic voice.
"No! You'll just beat them up!" Luna cried meekly.
"Give me what I want or I will beat them all to a bloody pulp!" the voice boomed aloud.
"I grant you permission, take this body," she whispered breathlessly.
"Good," the voice replied tersely. All of a sudden she felt strength like she'd never believed possible. Her horn pulsed with red energy and grew longer and pointier before her eyes. The rest of her body also grew, though not to the same proportion. Her fur darkened into an even deeper blue, the colour of the sky at dusk.
"I am nothing if not a demon of my word," the new Trixie announced to the assembled crowd. "You are lucky your Trixie cares so much for you," she said arrogantly in a voice clearly not her own and then she vanished, seemingly into thin air.
Using her enhanced magical abilities it had been a simple matter to teleport all the way to Ponyville. The mare appeared in the town square without a sound. It was dark now. A few ponies still rushed about the town, trying to finish whatever errands were keeping them awake. Just down the street in front of her sat Twilight's Library, the home of the pony who had broken the camel's back. Her streak of bad luck had brought her here, she had put on quite a show, earning the respect of some of the ponies in town. She had planned to start over here, try to build anew but Twilight Sparkle had put an end to that. After those two idiotic foals had brought an Ursa Minor to town, Twilight had been the pony that upstaged her and ruined her credibility. Not to mention the damnable beast had crushed her home and most of her property. The purple unicorn had cost her what little she had had left. And now that she no longer had those saddlebags, she literally had nothing. A sudden burst of lightning came from the darkened sky above, followed by torrential rain. The rain soaked her fur but she couldn't even feel it any more. Only two things remained in her mind, a need to fill the empty hole and this lust for power.
She knocked on the door with her hoof, three quick raps. After no reply for ten seconds her horn glowed red once more and the door burst from its hinges, flying into the house. A cry of pain came from behind the wrecked door as Trixie strode in.
"Spike! Who was that?! A voice called through beyond an archway as Twilight entered the entrance hall. She saw the destroyed door pinning her assistant to the floor with a gasp, before panning her eyes across the room to Trixie.
"My dear Twilight," a horrible low voice came from Trixie's mouth, "remember me?"
Twilight's eyes narrowed and her body began to tremble with terror. "That body... Trixie! That voice... you're not Trixie! You've infected Trixie!"
"I no longer go by that moniker, I am now The Greatest and Powerfullest Trixie!" the unicorn shouted conjuring up magical fireworks to accompany her grand display.
"You can't just make up words like that!" Twilight shouted incredulously.
"Yes I can! I am The Greatest and Powerfullest Trixie! And now we come to the final act of our grandest show. Prepare to die, Miss Sparkle!" the daemonic voice announced before letting out an even more horrid laugh.
"No... no! I gave you a chance, it's your fault you didn't accept it! Trixie! Believe me when I say I didn't mean it," Twilight shouted, her voice full of emotion.
Trixie's horn glowed a deep red once more, a huge bolt of energy began to form in front of her. Twilight threw up her best shield spell just before Trixie released the bolt. The bolt hit the shield and for a brief second, the shield managed to hold before fracturing and sending Twilight flying into a wall. She slid down the wall, landing at the bottom grasping her chest. Trixie stalked over, stopping right above the injured unicorn.
"I'm... I'm sorry Trixie," Twilight mumbled through gritted in pain.
"I don't care," Trixie said with another laugh, preparing to finish her off.
"Stop right there!" a voice came from behind Trixie and she turned to find herself face-to-face with a golden unicorn wearing an elaborate set of goggles. A bright red lens slid over his eye, "Target acquired!" he shouted before letting loose a pulse of golden energy.
Trixie laughed, throwing up a barrier of blood red magic. The golden bolt flew right through it, causing Trixie to panic and dive to the side. The spell crashed into the wall, scoring smouldering scorch marks on the surface.
"Blast!" the newcomer cursed as his horn glowed a vibrant gold, and cast off another large bolt. Trixie threw up another barrier, this time blue. The golden bolt dissipated against the blue shield earning a stronger curse from the yellow unicorn. A red arrow of energy hurtled back in reply. The unicorn recoiled in shock as the arrow hurtled straight for his head. A hastily thrown up purple shield appeared in front of him, knocking the arrow off course and sending it flying into "A Dissertation on Pulsating Quasars"
Twilight was back on her hooves as she threw up a simple guard spell for her attempted rescuer. Trixie stalked forwards, slowly advancing on the unicorn who was fiddling with some kind of device. The golden pony shouted something in some obscure language and the device flickered on, green light emitting from the top of it. He held it out forwards and mashed on some buttons causing it to fire a massive bolt of green energy. Trixie squealed and threw up row upon row of alternating red and blue barriers, but the green energy pushed right on through, shattering every wall it reached. With a howl of pain the bolt collided with the possessed pony, knocking her onto the floor, where she lay unmoving.
The golden unicorn pumped his hoof into the air. "Buck yeah!" he shouted confidently.
"Okay, not that I'm not grateful. Believe me I am. But who in Celestia's name are you and what was that device?!" Twilight shouted, causing the pony to stumble back in surprise.
"Oh, yes, we haven't met. I know all about you though, Twilight Sparkle, right? Yeah, the purple one," the pony mumbled mostly to himself.
"And you know that how?" Twilight demanded, stomping the ground with a hoof.
"Oh, right, yes. I'm a Daemonologist from the Silver City, you know... uh... umm... Hoofington! That's the place." The unicorn stumbled over his words in a rushed and frantic tone.
"Really?" Twilight replied sarcastically.
"Well uh, no. I'm from Canterlot. Name's... uh... Harmonic Wave," he said almost questioningly.
"It clearly isn't," Twilight replied drily.
"Fine! It's Insight!" The unicorn yelled angrily. "You studied at Celestia's school, you've probably heard of me," Insight sighed.
Twilight sat there for a few seconds staring into a space before bounding back with a stomp forward. "Yes! You're the unicorn that couldn't master a simple ward!" Twilight said, excited by her ability to recollect it.
"Yes, that's right, rub it in. But I am now the only successful Daemonologist in Equestria! Just, uh, three demons isn't a brilliant tally. But still it counts for something, right?" Insight turned to the unicorn with a very self-concious look.
"Yeah, of course it does. Only successful Daemonologist in Equestria, that's quite a claim." Twilight nodded along.
"Thank you! Would you mind telling my mother that, she's always complaining that I'm not making something of myself! Every time I see her it's like..." Insight began to rant but Twilight cut him short.
"What do we do about Trixie? Is she dead?"
"Trixie? Oh yeah! We need to put it in stasis quickly! Before it wakes up and tears us apart. My Arcane Resonance Rod will take another week to charge up to that level again. Quickly, uhh... lend me your magic," Insight said as he galloped to the prone pony and crouched beside her.
"Lend you? Okay, I'll give it a shot," Twilight said as she closed her eyes and focused. She shut out the sound of the ticking clock, she ignored the ambient noise of the rain outside, she disregarded her concern for Spike. Focusing all her attention into her horn and radiating it towards Trixie. She could feel the magic draining from her horn along with the fellow magic stream from Insight. She began to feel weak but kept her concentration, something was definitely happening.
"Oh my, that wasn't supposed to happen," Insight said with a gulp.
"Oh my, that wasn't supposed to happen," Insight said with a gulp. The orange unicorn pushed a button on his goggles and the red lens popped in to be replaced with a blue one. “This isn’t good at all,” he murmured to himself.
Twilight forced her tired eyes open, almost stumbling with the apparent effort. She then blinked several times, to ensure that she was seeing this right. The two ponies were stood on what appeared to be a rocky outcropping overlooking a vast sea of magenta. As far as the eye could see was an ocean of thick purple fog. If she squinted she could make out a few other rocky islands suspended above the ocean of mist. The sky itself was a greyish cyan which was strange enough, but Twilight did a double take when she realised something. There was no moon, no sun, no stars, no clouds, no rainbows; no weather at all! Not even a breeze! The unnaturally still air was going to take a bit of getting used to. It was then she remembered her current companion who was still fiddling with his goggles.
“You! You did this, didn’t you?!” Twilight spun around and shouted at the awkward unicorn.
“Well… uh… you see…” Insight began to babble as he backed away slowly.
Twilight rounded on him, jabbing him in the chest with her hoof accusatorily, “What. Did. You. Do?!” With each word another sharp jab, eliciting a pained expression from her cohort.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen…” Insight blurted out quickly as he backed away from the furious mare. His hoof almost slipped as he reached the edge of the floating island, small rock that his hoof had disturbed slid over the edge. With a heavy gulp he tried to swallow his fear, and confront Twilight. “Uhh… look here… Missy. It’s not entirely my fault… uh… what happened here that is. You… you were the one who didn’t want to destroy that Trixie!” His voice fluttered along with his confidence jumping from loud and angry to meek and apologetic.
“You were going to kill her?!” Twilight shouted, “You were going to use my magic to take another life!” Twilight looked as if she were about to explode with flame, her body shook with barely constrained rage.
“It’s the only safe way to banish a pride demon,” Insight mumbled weakly as he shrank from her gaze.
“You’re despicable,” Twilight said vehemently before turning around and trotting off.
Insight pulled himself back to his usual height and trotted away from the edge. With a hoof, he brushed away the dirty imprints on his golden coat, when he suddenly jumped. “Wait! Where are you going?!” Insight shouted after the purple mare.
“Home,” Twilight said with a sense of finality.
“You know a way out of here?!” he shouted after the retreating figure of Twilight.
“Not really!” she shouted back.
“Do you have a plan?!” Insight returned, desperation edging into his voice. Twilight stopped in her tracks and Insight breathed a sigh of relief.
“It can’t be that hard to get out of here. Unless, do you know where we are?!” Twilight spun around.
“I have an inkling,” Insight began when the purple unicorn suddenly appeared in front of him again, causing him to stumble back to the edge once more in shock. “Don’t do that!” he whined.
“Look here Mister Insight. It is becoming readily apparent that you know a lot more about this situation than I do. So, how about you share what you know and I don’t abandon you… wherever we are. All… alone,” Twilight said with a much rougher edge in her voice than usual.
“I think that we’re inside Trixie’s consciousness…” Insight mumbled.
“What?!” It was Twilight’s turn to take a step back, her eyes wide with shock.
“Trixie’s consciousness!” Insight shouted it this time.
“How?! How could we possibly be here!”
“Because you went and…” Insight began angrily but stopped when he saw the look on Twilight’s face. He sighed sadly before continuing, “Normally I eliminate the demon and the host, it’s the only way to deal with lesser demons, they kill the host on possession. From the powers this individual exhibited I could tell it was a pride demon. Pride demons are the strongest kind but a pride demon can be removed without killing the host, they prefer to keep them on hand for “entertainment”. When you lent me your magic, you must have somehow altered the spell I was casting so as to take the non-lethal action. Your magical ability seems to far exceed my own.”
Twilight blushed at the compliment while her brain attempted to work with this new information. “Are we literally inside her mind or is it just our consciousnesses?”
“Well… uh… I don’t actually know. Hmm. I’ve got my goggles so we could possibly really be here but… to be frank, I don’t have a clue.
“So you’re the only demonologist in Equestria, but you’re still completely hopeless?” Twilight asked rather snarkily.
“Ouch, low blow. But to be fair it is traditionally only done by zebras. All the texts I have on it were translated from Zebrican texts, and their language is really hard,” Insight said in his high-pitched whiney tone.
“My heart bleeds,” Twilight said flatly. “Now, just tell me the way out of here,” she added irritably.
“We could just leave,” Insight said plainly before leaning in and adding, “or we could save Trixie.”
“So we can remove this demon from here?” Twilight asked, a confused expression on her face.
“That’s what I said,” Insight replied snidely.
Twilight brushed aside the comment with a false smile.
Insight was waiting for a proper reaction but after five seconds passed he continued, “We fight through her memories and try to restore her psyche. Depending on the pride demon, we should either be able to quietly restore her to entirety or at least provoke him into reacting. The demon feeds on positive emotions so we need to focus on severing its connection with sources of this. Just be aware that demons attract other demons and have the power to enthral lesser beings. I know a spell to protect us both from the mind control, but we’ll still have to fight any minions we come across.”
“You want me to fight demons?” Twilight asked incredulously.
“It’s not hard here. In this plane the demons are vulnerable to physical and magical attacks. It may not come to that though, we keep our heads down and act like we’re meant to be here. Demons tend to get enveloped in their own fantasies, it furthers their experiences and such,” Insight said almost casually.
“So we just blend in? Are they really that ignorant?!” Twilight asked disbelievingly.
“Demons cannot always distinguish between what is real and what isn’t,” Insight stated as if reading it straight from a book before hesitating and adding, “Then again; we can’t either, so.”
“Great, so we’re trapped here in Trixie’s subconscious with an army of demons,” Twilight stated throwing her hooves up in protest.
“I’d hardly call them an army…” Insight began awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hoof.
“A mob of demons,” Twilight corrected, fixing Insight with another hard glare.
“Look, this is exactly what you wanted! A chance to save Trixie from her inner demons.” Insight chuckled at his own joke.
Twilight was not amused. “Don’t you realise how much trouble we’re in?” she asked, putting a heavy emphasis on the word how.
“I have some idea, one of the few translated texts is from Zevran, a zebra shaman who singlehoofedly saved an entire tribe from a pride demon after it infected their chieftain,”
“Wait! There’s only one account of this?!” Twilight shouted, her rage surfacing again.
“Pride demons are even rarer than accomplished Demonologists. They’re the least documented species! In fact, all I know is from Zevran’s writings,” Insight said defensively, not backing away this time and actually meeting her eyes.
“Fine, let’s just get started then shall we?” Twilight said with a heavy sigh.
“Fine,” Insight retorted pettishly.
“Where are we?”
“Trixie’s consciousness, we covered this…” Insight began with a groan.
“No, I mean where in her consciousness are we?” Twilight restated, gritting her teeth.
“Oh,” Insight said as he turned around and observed the areas. “Let’s see here… Cyan sky, purple sea of fog, floating island…” he began to mumble mostly to himself.
Twilight started tapping her hoof against the ground impatiently but Insight remained unperturbed.
“I would surmise that we are currently in the central node of the consciousness. You see that huge island in the distance?”
Twilight strained her eyes gazing into the distance before replying with a curt, “No.”
“Really?! Oh wait, here put these on,” Insight said as he unhooked his goggles and handed them over.
Twilight gazed through the blue lens and suddenly everything was even bluer. “Great, they turn everything blue,” she said sarcastically.
“No, no. They can pick up residual magic in the air, typical of demons. Look closer and in that direction, you should see a large structure made of darker blue clusters where the magic is concentrated,” Insight advised.
Twilight gazed hard at the advised area and sure enough there seemed to be a castle made of dark blue energy in the far distance. The magic seemed to be gathering on the other islands too although in nowhere near the same quantity. “Oh yeah, I see it now. What of it?”
“I suspect that’s where the demon’s holed up. They’re a stickler for tradition, I expect it’s proclaimed itself emperor or whatever in this world. Just keep an eye out for any magical constructs, they’ll probably be modelled after ponies but some demons like to customise their minions,” Insight once again took the role as mentor, he was loving having some pony to finally talk to about this kind of stuff.
Twilight mumbled in agreement before asking, “What do the other lenses do?”
“Hmm… oh, the other lenses. Well the red spots demonic energy but it’s only effective up close, blue spots magical energy as you know, yellow, spots life-signs; even false constructs will exude one of these, and green is for use in the dark; it amplifies light levels in low-light conditions,” Insight retorted counting with each hoof as he read them off.
“Fascinating piece of equipment, you said it can spot life signs?” Twilight said, mesmerised by the marvel of technology.
“Yes, all life gives off a certain energy and these goggles can spot that, unfortunately it can’t distinguish between plants or animals or ponies so they’re only really useful in situations like this,” Insight said with a nervous laugh. “Can I have them back?” he asked politely. Now that both ponies had mellowed out he was regaining his confidence.
“Sorry,” Twilight said with an apologetic smile before unfastening and handing over the brass contraption.
“Quite alright,” Insight said returning the smile.
Twilight’s smile then soured again as now that the goggle distraction had been disposed of; there was nothing to distract her from the task at hand. “While we’re here is time still moving?” she asked offhoof.
“Yes, this is all in real-time,” Insight replied a little confusedly.
“So the ponies are going to wake up and then think us dead,” Twilight said flatly.
“No, we’ll still be breathing, just unconscious… like a coma,” Insight said in what he thought was a reassuring manner. It wasn’t.
“Will Trixie wake up?” Twilight asked urgently.
Insight hesitated at this point and visibly paled, “I… I don’t actually know,” he replied staring into space.
“If she wakes up and kills us, will we die here?” Twilight continued in the same urgent manner.
I don’t know,” Insight mumbled.
“If we die here, do we die out there?” Twilight was beginning to grow annoying.
“I don’t know!” Insight shouted; he was beginning to break out into a cold sweat.
Twilight did not take this as a good sign. “Should we hurry then?”
“Yes!” Insight shouted uncomfortably loud and appearing to physically rise to the challenge. “But where?” he added, shrinking back down a bit.
“I’m assuming we island hop?” Twilight hazarded.
“Yes!” Insight shouted again reflating his ego. “Each island should have a means of transportation to the next island; demons had to move around too,” Insight reasoned aloud.
“But where? The island appears to be completely cut off,” Twilight said, gazing around the small island.
“The goggles!” Insight suddenly shouted, replacing them on his head and staring through the blue lens. “There! A blue hole! Look, right here!” Insight said stumbling forward, hoof outstretched.
Twilight watched him grope around like an idiot yet she was still intrigued by the idea of invisible, magical portals despite their inherent ridiculousness. Insight appeared to trip over a stone and fall into nothing. He just suddenly wasn’t there anymore. Twilight approached the space where he had vanished cautiously. “Insight?!” she shouted but there was no reply. She poked forward with her hoof and watched as it vanished into nothingness. With an all or nothing shrug she jumped into the nothingness and emerged on the other side. They were on another island, in front of her she could just make out the island they were on, the only island in that direction.
“Hey, Twilight!” Insight called from slightly further over, he was crouched to the ground and looking at something.”
Twilight trotted over to the bent over unicorn. He appeared to have found a bookcase. Lying discarded on the floor, its books scattered around it. Twilight picked up one of the books with a spurt of telekinetic energy from her horn. She opened the cover, written in an elegant script that rivalled even Celestia’s calligraphy was the title, “Trixie’s Life Volume One: Conception.” Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise once more and she flipped onto the first page out of curiosity. Her face turned as red as beetroot, she firmly closed the book before fitting it onto the broken bookcase.
“What was that?” Insight asked eagerly.
“It was nothing,” Twilight said awkwardly before trotting over to another bookcase that was still standing. The majority of the books were still on this case, their spines clearly labelling them all as more volumes of Trixie’s life. They passed into the thousands and kept going. Twilight looked along the dirty ground and took a step forward. Her hoof made a loud clopping noise as it hit the marble ground, Twilight recoiled, everything had changed instantaneously; what was once dirt was now marble, what was once air was now towering stone walls.
Insight whistled with admiration as he trotted up to Twilight. “Something has noticed our presence here in the hall of memories and judging from the detail of this apparition it’s something powerful,”
“Isn’t that very bad?” Twilight asked, her lower lip trembling with fear.
“Partially, the fact that we aren’t dead but instead being entreated to this probably means that this demon isn’t hostile, it could be a demon of Inadequacy or Obsession,” Insight said, smiling despite the matter at hoof.
“And how is that good?” Twilight said in a curious mix of rage and fear.
“Demons of Inadequacy are so self-conscious that they’ll do absolutely anything to impress us, as long as we refrain from insulting them then we should just be able to pass through. Demons of Obsession are extremely single-minded and are very likely to strike a deal with us if it corresponds with their focus,” Insight said coolly.
“Oh… okay,” Twilight replied, her voice wavering as she said it.
“That is unless it’s pretty much any other demon… then we could be in a lot of trouble,” Insight said with a gulp. He switched his lens back to red and peered through it around the area. “Can’t see anything,” he said reassuringly to himself.
Twilight looked around too, this reminded her a lot of Canterlot library, the massive bookcases towering in each area, the bookcase that had collapsed was suddenly fully repaired and standing upright, all its books neatly in order. The library was well lit by a plethora of candles hanging from the ceiling in candelabras or mounted on the wall. Twilight took another step, once again it clopped out loudly off the marble floor, reverberating around the white stone walls. She began to trot directly down the centre of the bookcases.
“Hey! Where are you going?!” Insight shouted nervously before galloping after her.
“We are going to find this demon and see if it will help us, I cans see no other option,” she tried to announce confidently but her voice failed her towards the end.
“But what if it isn’t?” Insight asked with a squeak.
“You just said yourself that the demon knows we’re here and may be negotiable,” Twilight said exasperatedly.
Insight shrugged in reply. Twilight couldn’t even be asked to give him another hard stare. The two ponies continued the journey in silence.
A few minutes later Insight finally opened his mouth. “Look, the bookcases here are empty,” he said. Twilight looked and sure enough he was right.
“I hadn’t noticed, I’ve been staring at that banner in the distance we seem to be approaching, trying to gauge this demon’s allegiance,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“Huh, actually didn’t see that,” Insight mumbled in reply. Putting on his goggles he switched to the green lens and examined the banner. It was clearly red satin with gold embroidery. The stitching appeared to be in the shape of a stylised griffon. It bore a striking resemblance to the Trottingham coat of arms. “It looks like the old heraldry that Trottingham used to have back before they joined Equestria proper,” he said to his companion.
Twilight took a long, hard look before breaking into a nod. “I see it, except it’s missing the sword and crown,” she replied thoughtfully.
“Wait, do you hear that?” Insight asked.
Twilight strained her ears and there was some-sort of scratchy sound that she was oh-so familiar with. It reminded her of home and, more specifically, Spike. “Sounds like the scratching of a quill on paper,” Twilight mused.
“Huh, yeah I see that. Sounds like it’s coming from around the corner,” Insight replied with a half-hearted nod.
The two ponies rounded the corner by the bookcase and found themselves face to face with a very, very, very old looking griffon. It appeared almost corpse-like, its skin sunken and sallow, its feathers patchy and grey, its eyes wrinkled but oh so bright. In its decrepit claw was a quill that scratched loudly against the book as he scribbled furiously. He seemed so absorbed with his work that he didn’t even register their presence.
Twilight looked to Insight who just shrugged in return, earning an eye roll from the purple unicorn. Insight switched his goggles back to red and peered through, nothing changed. Surprised he switched along to yellow and looked through again, once more there was no signal being emitted off him. He looked at Twilight and she was bathed in a bright yellow light, yet the griffon was giving off no such signal. He then switched to blue and peered through, the griffon was encased in an almost blinding aura of blue light. Insight wrenched the goggles off and blinked trying to clear his eyes. Twilight looked at him with an angry glare. A sudden cough made them both look up.
The griffon was staring straight at them, his quill neatly lain on the open book so no ink would leak from it. “Would it be wrong of me to presume that you are the two interlopers in my domicile?”
Twilight gave a nervous nod whilst Insight seemed to switch back to his yellow lens and stare through it.
“Would it also be wrong if I was to opine that you two equines are the paladins that have come for my mistress?” The griffon asked once more, his voice was surprisingly clear and powerful despite his weak frame.
“So you serve the demon of pride then?” Insight murmured weakly, his face paling.
The griffon burst out in a roaring display of furious laughter, it seemed to roll off of the walls and fill the room with a sense of cheer and mirth. Insight and Twilight couldn’t help but begin to laugh along with him. “You think that I, Lord Featherheart of Fairwind would deign to answer to a cacodemon like that fiend!? The very thought is just absolutely preposterous,” the griffon laughed again.
“Then… uh, what are you doing here?” Twilight hazarded.
The griffon’s mirth vanished in a heartbeat to be replaced by a forlorn look of regret. “I… I was once a member of The Order of Feather and Steel in his Majesty, Prince Exalted Talon VI’s service,” he announced with all the necessary pomp despite the sadness now present in his eyes. “I was given lordship over the settlement of Fairwind. The town was a nice boon but it wasn’t enough for me, I had selflessly given the best fifty years of my life, served in countless battles against all matter of evil. My rival, Beaksley, was given the resplendent city of Eyrie in the Icecap Mountains. I… grew disillusioned, began to doubt that I was getting what I deserved, and then it spoke to me, that incorporeal voice. It promised me my own kingdom, all I had to do was rebel against my Prince. I did. My body was quickly slain before the demon had a chance to completely drain me so here I am, kept alive in this wizened state for its amusement. But now I have found a kindred spirit, this Trixie. She understands what I went through and I offered my allegiance to her, she tried to talk me out of it but eventually relented. Together we were going to attempt to overthrow this daemonic beast and free ourselves from this nightmare. That is until I detected you two show up, we’ll need all the allies we are going to get if we hope to stand up to Flauros,” Featherheart spat out the name and rose to his paws.
Insight looked at Twilight then back to the griffon, “You want to team up?” he asked surprisedly.
“Of course, together we stand a much greater chance of triumph,” Featherheart cheered and attempted a heroic pose, but all this did was highlight how past his glory was. His beak was upturned in what he imagined as a dazzling smile but what appeared to the two ponies as a beaky grin.
Twilight pointed to Insight’s goggles with a hoof and a nod of her head. Insight nodded and crossed his forehooves. Twilight nodded back and put on a polite smile. “We would be honoured to serve with the esteemed Lord Featherheart.”
“Verily,” Insight said in an overly elaborate tone that wouldn’t feel out of place in Canterlot.
“Forsooth I did not think that you would agree so readily, but let us go to Trixie lest we flap our tongues ‘til they fall out,” the aged griffon cheered before turning and walking down the corridor behind the desk.
Insight and Twilight walked behind him but whispered between themselves. “Something is definitely wrong with him, no demonic signs but no life signs either. To top that off though, he is surrounded by a colossal field of magic,” Insight told Twilight.
“Maybe he is the real deal, that story seemed pretty realistic,” Twilight whispered back earning a look of disbelief from the orange colt.
“Don’t believe anything you’re told here, demons are the trickiest of the tricky. They think they’re so clever compared to us “mortals”,” Insight replied, his voice almost physically dripping with disdain.
“Buy you said so yourself that he was clean,” Twilight stated.
“I said my goggles weren’t picking anything up, I don’t trust him but if he’s taking us to Trixie,” Insight said shrugging at the end to illustrate his point.
“How will we know it’s Trixie? It could be another demon,” Twilight asked anxiously.
“Good point,” Insight replied, fear edging into his tone again. He bit his lip lightly as they continued to trot.
Featherheart was whistling jauntily to himself as he walked, or at least what could have been misconstrued as jauntily.
Insight finally sighed and poked his goggles with one of his forehooves. “We just have to hope the goggles tell us,” he surmised thoughtfully.
“They aren’t picking up Featherheart,” Twilight replied flatly.
“He’s a unique case, these haven’t let me down yet,” Insight said snidely, glaring at the purple mare who had the gall to insult his beloved contraption.
“They have now,” Twilight replied with an in-your-face smile before trotting forwards to walk next to Featherheart. “So, you’re from the Griffon Kingdom?” she asked eagerly.
“Not quite my equine chum,” Featherheart replied with a deep yet dusty chuckle. “I hail from the Principality of Talonreath; an antediluvian realm that stretched from the Icecap Mountains to the ancient Forests of Woodmore,” Featherheart said rather grandiosely.
“Talonreath? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the place… wait did you just say Woodmore!?” Twilight shouted as realisation crossed her face.
“Yes I did, what of it?” Featherheart asked with anticipation.
“Woodmore hasn’t been called Woodmore in ten thousand years! Not since the settling of Trottingham by Chancellor Puddinghead!”
“You know of Chancellor Puddinghead? That old mare was a tricky one. I recall this one time where she arrived on a diplomatic visit dressed as her envoy Smart Cookie dressed as herself! A brilliant if completely pointless disguise,” Featherheart said with another hearty chuckle.
“You knew Puddinghead?!” Twilight asked incredulously, her eyes filled with the sparkling of awe.
“Our Principality bordered the fledgling Republic of Equestrians. My town of Fairwind sat on the other side of Woodmore. As the local lord of the town it was my duty to meet with the occasional dignitary. I remember Commander Hurricane, the brutish pegasi who almost caused a war along if it wasn’t for Corporal Pansy,” Featherheart was practically gushing now, it seemed all those years of loneliness had left him with a bit of a social void.
“You mean Private Pansy,” Twilight corrected automatically.
“Hah, maybe once, Corporal Pansy was head of Cloudsdale’s Diplomatic Division and represented the Pegasi in all diplomatic missions. I spoke with her may a time but I only met Hurricane once. He demanded I execute a Pegasi prisoner we captured stealing from our market. I obviously refused and handed the prisoner to the Equestrian Council who ruled imprisonment instead. Hurricane was so furious he almost slew me where I stood. Thank the divines for Pansy,” Featherheart said, his voice improving as he did, the raspy old griffon was sounding younger by the second.
“How about Princess Platinum?” Twilight asked excitedly, she was astounded that she was speaking to someone from history. Just thinking about the wealth of knowledge that he could tell her was reason enough to follow him to infinity and beyond.
Featherheart stopped and seemed to wrack his brains for a few seconds. Insight almost walked into the back of him but stopped millimetres from his back. “The name sounds familiar but I can’t place it.” Featherheart eventually replied.
“The settler of Canterlot?” Twilight ventured.
“Oh! You mean King Rhodium’s spoiled brat!” Featherheart said with a click of his talons. “I thankfully never dealt with her but she frequently sent over Clover the Clever for frankly ridiculous requests. I liked Clover, he couldn’t tolerate his mistress either, although he just referred to her as “She Who Must Not Be Named.” Ah, fun times.” Featherheart couldn’t help but laugh again. He then became silent but his eyes stayed alight and his ears stayed alight.
Twilight looked at him and motioned to say something but stopped herself. He looked peaceful, happy as he walked along the overly long but still dead straight corridor.
Insight continued to trot in short bursts, looking everywhere as he did with his prized goggles. The walls, floor and ceiling all had a faint blue glow about them, when looked at through the blue lens. All the furnishings did too: candles, chairs, closed doors; all of them were magical constructs. Insight still hadn’t mind up his mind about Featherheart, he had heard snippets of his conversation with Twilight. The fact that he seemed to be speaking from some degree of personal experience pointed towards him being real, unless you considered the possibility that he is a demon that was active around that time period. Right now the two ideas seemed to be battling it out around his head, dodging each accusation due to lack of evidence. He isn’t showing up on the life scanner one voice seemed to say, scoring a hit. The other quickly returned with a jab to the face. He isn’t showing up on the demonic energy detector.
“We’re almost there,” Featherheart called out as the marble tiles began to spread out and grass came up beneath them. The walls and ceilings were full of holes and seemed half-destroyed.
Insight shook himself from his imaginary boxing match. Pity, he’d had seventy imaginary bits on the red guy.
Twilight could see the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. She picked up the pace then slowed down again when she remembered they didn’t know if this was the real Trixie up ahead or a demonic representation of Trixie or they might not even bother with the Trixie. Featherheart sounded genuine but Twilight maintained a healthy suspicion.
The group emerged from the tunnel onto another rocky desolate island. Only dirt coated the floating chunk of ground, dirt and a small campsite.
“This island is the final landmass to not be under demonic control. The demons get stronger as you get closer to the end,” Featherheart explained as he began to walk towards the tent.
Insight switched to the red lens and scanned the area, still no demonic signs. The blue lens then told him that all of the objects here were slightly enchanted as well. The yellow lens picked up two signals. Insight breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Two life signs, not including my own. No demonic signs are telling me that the pony inside that tent is alive and, quite possibly, the real Trixie.”
“Featherheart, is that you?” a weak voice called out from the tent. A light greyish blue unicorn stumbled out looking almost as bad for wear as Featherheart. Her eyes were sunken and her fur looked as if almost all of her colour had drained out from her. She was covered in bandages and plasters, an especially large one holding together her cracked horn. Both her eyes still shone the same deep purple but they were unusually active, darting in all directions with a hint of fear.
“Mistress,” Featherheart bowed widely. “As I suspected, we have recruited two new companions to our cause,”
“New companions?! Can they be trusted?! Are they friendly?! Are they here to kill us?! Tell them that we surrender!” Trixie began to hyperventilate as she squeaked furiously to her companion, before turning to flee.
“Trixie,” Twilight said flatly as she emerged from behind Featherheart along with her golden associate.
“M…m…m…Miss Sparkle?!” Trixie mumbled awkwardly. “Featherheart, they can’t be real, do something!” Trixie screamed, her entire body quivering with fear.
“I can personally vouch for their integrity. I’ve been here long enough to tell the difference between fake constructs and flesh and blood ponies,” Featherheart announced confidently.
“Real? Then that must mean…” Trixie trailed off, she had stopped shaking violently but made sure to keep Featherheart between her and the two newcomers. “Am… am I dead?”
“Dead? Good heavens no, you’re just in a state of suspended limbo, possibly for eternity,” Insight said enthusiastically.
Trixie processed this information with a brief, “Oh.”
Twilight gave Insight a glare for what must have been the tenth time in an hour, before turning her attention to the distressed mare. “We’re here to rescue you Trixie!”
“Rescue me? Me? I’m not worth it, I’m just going to stay here forever,”
“Mistress! We discussed this, there is no point in remaining here,” Featherheart sighed exasperatedly. “There is finally enough of us to pose a real threat to our warden.”
“You can’t all risk your lives for me. I’ll be fine here, just go on and get out of here,” Trixie said with a sigh, she went to wave her hoof but cried out with pain at the effort.
“Look at you! You’re not the Trixie that we all know and lo… well, uh, tolerate actually,” Twilight said in as reassuring a manner as she could.
“She’s fragmented. It appears that the demon has completely broken her psyche. That probably means its leaching off her. If we cut its access to the sources of these traits then she’s going to strengthen whilst the demon weakens. If we’re quiet we could completely avoid a physical confrontation with the pride demon,” Insight told the rest of the group.
“That would probably be best,” Twilight said with an appreciative nod. She then turned to Trixie and said, “You’re coming with us then, Trixie,” she said in a non-negotiable tone of voice.
“No… no! You can’t make me! There are demons out there!” Trixie squealed when she found herself in Twilight’s magical field. The ramshackle group approached the edge of the island where Featherheart stood on his hind legs and spread his talons outwards , whispering something. A sudden blinding light appeared then vanished just as quickly revealing a sturdy stone bridge in its place.
“Let’s go then,” Insight said with a shrug as he began to trot across the bridge.
“Let us earn our freedom!” Featherheart shouted triumphantly before charging over the same bridge.
“It’s time to get back to the real word Trixie!” Twilight shouted enthusiastically before tailing her comrades, dragging Trixie along with her magic.
