Chapter 4: The Toll it Takes

=Gaia, Equestria, The City, The Streets, 1103 C.E. =

Trixie breathed heavily as blood spilled from her body, her cuts opening back up. She tried to seal them back up with magic, but found the experience had taken too much out of her to do it just yet. She looked into the darkness, realizing that she had passed by the TARDIS and was lost in a place where she could hardly see anything. Her eyes darted around. She let her eyes close. Taking several steps forward, Trixie decided to do this carefully. She knew full well she could definitely make it by herself, but didn't want to risk her own life by just running around and potentially crashing into things and breaking her own neck. She held her hoof out. She couldn't feel anything in front of her. She tried to cast an illumination spell. It worked, but it came across as really feeble and didn't really help her all that much. It only allowed her to see about one foot more. She tried to pt more energy into it.

Part of her body went numb, but she held it. She walked ahead with slightly more a sense of where she was going, and just decided that anywhere inside would be safer than out on the streets where ponies were after her color, something she had plenty of. She would stand out like a sore hoof around here. And so she had no choice but to just keep her guard up. That wasn't too hard. She felt the blood coming down her leg, but she ignore it. It wouldn't do anything to her, she was sure of that.

=Gaia, Equestria, The City, The Apartment Building Near the Edge of the City, 1103 C.E. =

Making absolutely sure not to let anypony see the jars tucked away in his cloak, Shadow made his way into the building they lived in as inconspicuously as he could make himself. There was no guard watching him, as far as he knew. He and his partner walked about the streets, which here were slightly less in disrepair than the streets where the Doctor had landed. They gazed up longingly at the tallest building in the entire city, a 50 story or so building with light coming out of all the windows. It was the dream of everypony in the city to get into that building. They knew that once you went in, you would never come out, and that meant you would never have to experience the hell that was he outside would ever again.

Shadow whispered something to Noir, and they split up, with Noir going through the door of their apartment while Shadow got in a different to advert suspicion away from them. Noir took off his cloak, handed it to Shadow, and watched as his partner darted away. He went out into the streets, trying to create the illusion that he was a different pony than the one in the cloak. This was easy because he knew exactly what average ponies did walking along the streets. He did the same thing often himself. He looked up to the Haven and thought of how to reach it.

Three years ago, a thing that had the shape of a pony came to the town. They didn't remember how, but he took away the color. Just sucked it out of the town. And nopony had gotten over it since. They kept paying him, knowing that eventually he would have enough to be willing to bring the color back. He hadn't yet, but everypony knew he had to someday. He did offer a solution for some ponies though. There was a building. If you had enough money for yourself, you could live there. There was all kinds of color and happiness there. It was called the Haven…

Noir entered the apartment building, and thought that with what they had found, they might finally have enough money to get a place in the Haven.

=Gaia, Equestria, The City, The Streets, 1103 C.E. =

Trixie was startled when the streets around her suddenly became easy to see. Her eyes had adjusted or something and she could make out everything around her. She could see where she was going much more. It was quite an experience, for she was quite unprepared for what she was seeing. The building and streets were completely untouched, but there was an unpolished dingy look about it. She saw the ponies standing in the streets looking upwards with lust. She could not see exactly what it was they were looking at.

But one was looking at her. And in her eyes was hunger. The pony began to walk at her.

Don't attempt to fight it. You'll really just fail like all the other things you do. She was surprised when a deep male voice said this in her head.

Nonsense. I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie. I can do anything, she retorted back to it.

Are you overly sure of that? What made you decide that a few simple magic tricks that can't fool anypony and some words in a loud voice made you Great and Powerful? It seems overly silly to me. It seems the only thing Great and Powerful about is your ego. But I suppose you believe you're fully capable of proving me wrong about that.

Indeed I am. I am Trixie. I am The Great and Powerful Trixie. Just because I boast about it does not make it untrue.

You may be Great in your skill at inflating yourself. But you inflate yourself enough that all a pony has to do is touch you and you'll pop. Let's see you make that Powerful.

I will! I will do it! I am not at the brink of breaking, just so you know. I am quite ready to continue going up.

It's not all that far to go.

Trixie does not have nothing! Trixie has all that she needs! She is the Great and Powerful Trixie!

As if tired of continually hearing her repeat the same thing over and over again, the voice stopped talking. I seemed to back up to watch her prove her claims of being Great and Powerful.

She smirked. She came back to reality to see the mare that was advancing on her only 3 feet away. She reared up her magic to make a swift victory. The voice seemed to have completely erased the memory from her that she had been weakened and couldn't really make any powerful magic.

She didn't even notice as blood dripped from her to make a tiny puddle on the ground. But she was very surprised when instead of attacking her, the mare jumped onto the ground and started licking up the blood to get the color into her system. She looked on in disgust, and tried to power up her magic to try to shoot the mare away. Because she didn't remember she was in a weakened state, the realization that she couldn't do it created only utter horror in her. She wasn't Great and Powerful…

And the mare jumped up and chomped on her leg. She screamed as more blood gushed out of her, but it died as she let the thought that the voice had been right. She hadn't been Great and Powerful enough to defend herself after all…

And all the color flowed out of her faster than the blood.

Not far away, Puzzlehunt had felt the same sensation when he realized that he could see around him quite well. It was strange. He wasn't really complaining about it though. He chuckled that something good had happened to him after all. He walked away, knowing that now it would be easier by far for him to find the TARDIS again.

Then all of a sudden the lights disappeared, and he got the dizzy sensation that he was falling.

And then it stopped and the lights came back on again. He breathed in, trying to regain his bearings from the incredibly sudden moment that had just took place.

Well isn't that odd? It appears you had taken a tumble there, and you didn't even move. I suppose that isn't all that different from your personality, a deep voice said.

"What?" He asked.

Well, you just let all of your problems just fall away from you. Oh that's right. No you don't. You can't let any of you issues go. You just act like you do.

And what is that supposed to mean?

You never seem to let anything go. Your brother wasn't very nice, but he's not here anymore, and he won't ever be in your life again. You became the way you are so you wouldn't have to deal with him, and you're still like that even though he isn't here anymore. You don't drop any of your problems. You hold onto them and let them make you bitter, acting arrogant because you wouldn't be able to function if you didn't have that much self-confidence. Gee, what a stallion.

I doubt that you're actually a part of my personality, so you have no right to be making judgments about me. Go away.

No, see, I doubt you'd be able to last for 10 seconds without that mask of arrogance. And I can take it off. We can both see for ourselves.

Puzzlehunt snorted. Yeah right. I am not stupid. I wouldn't let you into my mind. You'd do something bad to me in 10 seconds.

But the voice surprised him by speaking in Mystery's voice. Are you that afraid of me? You always claimed to be an individual separate from me. Yet you appear to be totally afraid of being an individual. You know you're no different from me, and you don't want to be…

Shut up! I will be different! You can do it to me!

Oh, it is too easy.

Puzzlehunt gasped in pain as something simply ripped a part of him away easily. His color drained away with it.

Whatever it was left swiftly, returning to its home in the Haven.

The newly converted Puzzlehunt and Trixie no longer had a direction to go in, so they just walked away.