Everfree Forest Phenomenal Cosmic Power! (Closed - SteelEagle, BrianBlackberry, Imagination)

[brianblackberry]

Trixie grumbled to herself as Pathfinder played with the unicorn's beautiful mane, tolerating the ditzy pegasus' invasion of personal space only because she was useful, and the azure show mare would rather retire to her tent than make any sort of scene at this point. When Pathfinder announced she was off to secure the perimeter along with Trail Blazer, Trixie smiled. "Oh, an excellent strategy! Make sure to check and re-check your explosives and take your time; we wouldn't want the princess to feel unsafe, now, would we?" The more thorough Pathfinder was in doing … whatever it was she does, the more time the blue unicorn had to work without distraction.

That only left the princess. Trixie was not so arrogant as to believe Twilight Sparkle would simply retire for the night like some pampered high-borne noble. No, the purple unicorn was studious as she was obsessive, and no doubt would spend much of the evening trying to decipher the interlocked magical wards that were hidden deep in the earth. For Trixie, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing - it would keep the princess in her tent and out of Trixie's mane. What's more, that would make it a race, and that would make Trixie's victory all the sweeter!

Enough about the others, it was time for the Mistress of Magic to go to work! Trixie was astute enough to detect the nuanced layers of interconnected magical locks - more than many unicorns could determine. Any pony worth their horn that attended those over-hyped and exaggerated magic schools should be trained enough to see what Trixie saw, though the skilled and talented Trixie, of course, could do so with raw talent. No, the real challenge that distinguished the most powerful and refined magical users from your average or even gifted unicorn was the ability to make use of all the tools available to them. Trixie was good, but she wasn't that good, not that she would admit this sobering fact to any other pony, She couldn't just reach out with her mystic might and cut through these ancient wards. But this did not delay her! Where any learned and schooled pony might simply accept defeat, The Great and Powerful Trixie knew there was a solution to this seemingly insurmountable problem!

One of the material benefits of traveling across the breath and width of Equestria and beyond with Whooves was the opportunity to hone one's magic and learn all manner of exotic spells and techniques, especially with an earth pony who fancied himself far more magically knowledgeable than he was, playing with his little tricks and trinkets. Even such as he, however, occasionally had a good trick up his nonexistent sleeve, and she was going to use one of those tonight!

The azure unicorn cut open the floor of her tent, knowing she could repair it later - she regretted sullying such a beautiful canopy, but her privacy was far more important! Deep below, invisible to the naked eye, she sought out the weakest link in that network of wards. There! A hexagon shaped linkage with six key mystic connections to the rest of the weave. She closed her eyes and let her perceptions spread along the unseen web. Yes, of all that she could detect, this one seemed most centrally located. A lock for her to pick - probably not the only lock, but Trixie didn't want to send her perceptions too close to Twilight's tent, for fear the upstart 'princess' might detect what she was doing. Carefully, Trixie drew out several of Whooves' little magically receptive crystals, laying them in a hexagon pattern similar to the ward she could feel far below, and lowered her horn to imbue the stones with a little of her power.

Sure enough, she could feel them aligning, and instead of infusing them utterly with her own magics, she guided them to become aligned with the ward below. There! Not quite the fancy and scholarly way of doing it, but it would get the job done. Another reason for privacy - so that Twilight had no grounding for making fun of Trixie's earthy and kludged technique. Now, whatever she did with these crystals should happen to the ward below. She touched carefully at this mirrored pattern, getting to know its feel. Brushing over the mystic tumblers to see which were looser, and which were held tight. Yes, if she sent just the right vibrations along these lines, and if the pattern to the rest of the weave held true, she should be able to release an entire half of the lock, right there! In fact, she suspected if she just nudged that crystal there a little to the right...

Without even meaning to, she did just that, and froze, tensed up. Sure enough, she could feel the wards releasing, one after another, deep down below. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had done it! Not that she'd meant to do it just then, but she had! Not that it should do anything unless Twilight somehow managed to do the same, but surely the Great and Powerful Trixie, with her vast experience with ancient ruins and artifacts, would surely be far ahead of the sequestered librarian. Now to just figure out where the door would open before Twilight could discover the way to unlock -

The ground underneath the encampment suddenly *clicked* and fell away in two massive doors, dropping their tents, their fire pit, and all the ponies down into the darkness below before just as suddenly closing back up and sealing shut, as if nopony had been there at all.

[SteelEagle]

"Tra-la-la-la-la," Pathfinder mused and sang to nopony in particular as she traveled the stretches of the perimeter with excitement. It was always fun to secure perimeters, especially perimeters that couldn't really be secured! Besides, with what she had planned for later she would need to be fast and smart when the opportunity presented itself. Watching her compatriot in arms Trailblazer bop around and set traps and warnings was funny enough for her. She did the same, but knowing him, he believed it would actually matter. He was an old foogy without the foggiest idea of what was about to happen. She didn't blame him. He was very much a systems adventurer. He had plots and plans and thoughts and ideas that dominated all of the processes through which he acted out his adventuring. Little imagination or quick wit brought forth from a place of fun and creativity, all systems, all plans. That was useful in a scenario like this but in most cases it was simply shoring up one of his weaknesses- well, most pony's weaknesses. Only one pony was cool enough to not have this weakness and that was cool Pathfinder.

She had this sixth sense about her that gave her that edge. That cool adventure edge. She always thought that all the holes in her body from arrows and swords and venom and all that fun stuff was filled with sixth sense, a somewhat silly way to explain that it came with her experience. Experience born of risk taking at the highest level of life's greatest pursuit, adventure. She didn't spend weeks slowly working her way through two hoofball fields of traps and schemes to get her prize like some other adventurers. She charged in and took the punishment for it. This gave her the freshest taste of danger in all the world! Nopony had as many near death experiences as Pathfinder. And each time her mortal coil was rewound from its near expenditure she gained another piece of experience. That had formed up in one very powerful way- that aforementioned sixth sense. Some called it lucky. Pathfinder gave it the soon to be trademarked name should the Equestrian patent office ever return her letters, "Adventurity". She had lots of Adventurity. And Adventurity told her that it would be boring for something to trip some traps and give them warning and thus it would never happen. Instead, se expected something sudden and dramatic because that is what her adventures were all about- suddenness and dramaticability!

And Adventurity proved itself above the lawsof systems adventurers when the entire backside of Pathfinder's perimeter, the very center of camp and the surroundng area, collapsed! A mighty crash of earth giving away followed by a strange metallic sound and the blasting of aetheral air rushing forth, like a pocket collapsing. The reverberations slammed Pathfinder against a tree but she kept in the air, flapping oddly to keep aflight. After she pulled herself together, Pathfinder shot towards the scene of the crime adventure, beholding what was to be behalden beholdingly: The area had collapsed! And just as quickly, it was uncollapsing itself sans the camp and the ponies. Pathfinder put herself into ultra gear mach six...and slammed right into the doors, skipping along it until she slammed into a tree. Pssh, trees, Pathfinder had crashed into you so many times she didn't even feel her head anymore! She pulled herself up and trotted back to the doors, yelling to her fellow adventure pal, Traily Bailey!

"Hey Trailmixalot, let's blow these doors open! Silly unicorns causing trouble. I bet they're making out or somethin'....Traily?" Pathfinder offered, already writing the fanfiction in her head. And then she realized that Traily might be down below! Well then, she needed to just get this door open lickity split...so she started attaching explosives.

--------------------------------------

Twilight was not making out. Far from it, she wasn't even in a physical form. While Trixie had been handling the situation with all the force of a blunt hammer, Twilight had been working her magic slowly with the artistry of a true professional. It had been a simple process. First she had simply detached her aura from herself and gave it corpeal form and sent it below. From below ground she could see the truth of the matter. The patchwork of magical barriers laid out like so many quilts unevenly stitched together was a defense mechanism by other adventurers who had noticed the trap doors and decided to do what they could to protect others...and keep what was inside of this dangerous zone inside for good. Even in corpeal form, Twilight felt shivers go up and down her spine. The magic here was twisted and cruel. Too dangerous to be played with, too mischivous to be laughed at. More importantly, removing these magical barriers would allow the doors to sense the presences above and they would collapse. Further corpeal investigation revealed that the mechanics driving the door were exquisitely well maintained against all sense, but aso that it would only close again once the above-ground situation was cleared of added weight.

So the plan was simple. She would cut certain parts of the 'quilt' off, then levitate some objects in place to maintain the weight ratio. Having Trixie around then would be a massive boon. Removing the rest of the burial slowly so they could eventually make their way down with their camp intact was important yet doing so wasn't incredibly difficult. No doubt Trixie could handle it and Twilight was not above seeking her aid- pride had little place in her heart, as opposed to her friend-rival. It would be tiring for Twilight but if they worked well, no doubt by this time the following day they would be insde and ready to go. The only real question was when to break the news to the rest of the group. She figured the guides would be happy- well, maybe just Trailblazer. Pathfinder might be heartbroken at staying in one place for too great a time. But all Twilight was concerned about was her hired aid. The other pony could do her job but Twilight wasn't going to go out of her way to ensure good business. Twilight started returning to her physical form when disaster struck.

The barriers were going down, but that wasn't unexpected. Whatever Trixie was doing- Twilight could have spied but thought ill of the concept- would work, but hopefully the weight would not be detected. After a little while the barriers would re-emerge if not dealt with correctly and all of that effort would be for naught. But in a flash the barriers all vanished...and the trap activated. Twilight wanted to yell but couldn't, her body motionless and expressionless in it's high-powered state as she projected herself corpeally. But everything above still collapsed. Rocks, dirt, boulders, soil open soil, ground upon ground, ponies and their camp. It all came crashing down and Twilight worried somepony might get hurt.

She took drastic action. Summoning up the power to do an advanced aetheral levitation management spell was hard enough, but when you channeled it through your corpeal aura, it was even harder. The aura was a powerful symbol and avatar on the plane of magic, but Twilight had removed hers to create this corpeal form. The other important part of magic was the aetheral connection between the pony, the world, and the pony's aura. Twilight's aura was now removed from that aetheral connection. In order to get the power needed to complete the spell she would have to channel a significant amount of energy through her. But there wasn't much natural magic for her to draw upon since she did not have ready access to her own aural's aetheral flow!

Instead, she had to take local magic. Magic from this ruin, magic that felt nasty and corrupt. She had done so in the past and found the tradeoffs worthwhile when the situation was dire and it certainly was now- life or death, perhaps. So she allowed herself to take in some of the odd local magic and instantly used what she had been given as well as what stores of magic she had in her corpeal form to levitate herself, Trailblazer, and Trixie in protective bubbles. All three were lowered to the ground harmlessly as around them boulders smatched through tends, rocks cracked against their shields, and everything they had brought with them was destroyed. After about ten seconds, the spell dissapitated and Twilight's corpeal form started to fade back towards Twilight's physical body. But as it was sucked back in, for a moment it seemed trapped in place as an odd tendril of dark purple magic latched onto the corpeal form's horn and seemingly pumped something into it. Twilight's corpeal form thrashed and 'gasped' before the tendril vanished and it was sucked back into Twilight's form, which started to stir...

[Imagination]

True, Trailblazer didn't share Pathfinder's 'sixth sense', though what he did have was training. Experience. Reflexes. Most of all, money. He had the strategic know-how to stay one step ahead of other adventurers, and had the assets to get him whatever support he needed. He had been doing this since he left the Army, with many lessons learned. Every lesson, every failure, became a new reflex. Avoiding something, reacting to something else, spotting familiar patterns and tells. Indeed, Trailblazer was a very systematic adventurer, and for the most part it worked for him... Until Pathfinder managed to pull something out of thin air. Neither one has a specific advantage that makes them better, but their differences are enough to ruin the other's adventure at times.

Speaking of which, Trailblazer was doing his best to keep the area around the barrier clear. He didn't need sleep. Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow, but not tonight. He noticed a glow coming from Trixie's tent, but opted not to investigate. She was probably just reading. Or something. But, it wasn't long before everything went topsy-turvy. Or down-under. Whatever. Either way, the ground suddenly gave way! If this had not happened before in countless crumbling ruins, he probably would've panicked! But he didn't! Because he's awesome! While Pathfinder was busy making out with trees, forcefully, Trailblazer was preparing to dazzle these woods with the most incredible feats of acrobati-!

Oh. He was in a bubble. Awkward. However, fearing this was a complex magical trap, and not the Princess' other-planely-sort-of-whatever magic, he started wailing at the magical barrier with his hooves, attempting to break free. Once his bubble touched the ground and let him go, he tumbled out onto the recently disturbed earth and rubble, panting from the exertion. How he had to figure out what in the name of Celestia's bubblegum bathtub just happened. He figured the Princess may have an explanation... He didn't want to go assigning blame if this wasn't done by anypony in the party. If that were the case, a little warning would've been great. That was his thought process at the time, anyway. "Hey Trailmixalot, let's blow these doors open! Silly unicorns causing trouble. I bet they're making out or somethin'....Traily?" Pathfinder was ignored for the moment. The Princess' wellbeing was his top priority. If Twilight wasn't returned in one piece, that would mean he failed! And if he failed, he wouldn't get PAID!

"Your highness! Trixie! You you alri-" He felt it proper to check on Pathfinder's employer as well, thinking the copycat mare wasn't don't that good of a job as a guide. Again, he felt bad for Trixie for kindof getting the short straw in that regard. Oh, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw just what his rival was doing. Double-taking, it was only then a look of panic took over his face, rushing toward the now dangerously explosive Pathfinder "NonononONONONO!" Best attention getter ever. Yup, Traily was bringing the poop to the party. "What is WRONG with you?! You have no idea how badly the structure of this place could be compromised! The entire area just collapsed around us, and now you want to blow something up?! We need to get our bearings before we dive into this! One false move and this whole trip could be for nothing!" He wasn't talking so much about their safety as he was about whatever artifact was inside. He felt it better to er on the side of caution this time... He didn't want to risk Pathfinder messing up his payday with 'whoops, the ruins collapsed on itself, my bad. But that was cool, huh?'. Though he did admit to himself that if it were any other adventure, he would probably be the one planting the explosives.

[brianblackberry]

Trixie had never expected the entire magical doorway below them to open, not yet at least, after all it should have taken more than one magical lock being undone. The only plausible answer was that Twilight was attempting to open the door herself at the same time in order to try and get to the Djinn Eye before Trixie! That devious lavender alicorn! She always had to show Trixie up! Wasn't enough for Twilight to be the heroine of Equestia, to be elevated to princess? Did she need to swipe every magical discovery under the hooves of those who seek new magical understanding such as the Daring and Mystical Trixie?

The azure unicorn couldn't ponder on this attempt to undermine her own selfless research into wizardry as she was currently free falling into a pitch black chasm of indeterminate depth and certain peril. How did levitation work on oneself again?! She had to try and concentrate; where was the Doctor when she needed… When he could be useful?! Fortunately for Trixie, her predicament was solved by a lavender colored bubble that both protected her and slowed her decent enough to simply cause her to unceremoniously face-plant into the dirt but otherwise remain unharmed.

Trixie shook her head and got slowly to her hooves, squinting into the darkness. She felt in a very visceral way deep down in her soul that some horrible monstrosity was screaming at her in the shadows, and she leapt up, despite still feeling woozy. How far had she fallen anyway? Whatever the sound was it couldn't be a monster, it just was the wind, right? A rushing, gale-force wind coming from down here in the dark, deep cavern.

Scared to see what it was, scared NOT to see what it was, Trixie lit up her horn.

A monstrous, towering pony form loomed out of the darkness over her, hooves outstretched. She let out a shriek of terror and fell backwards, releasing a firework spell right at its chest, then ducked and covered her head with her hooves as gravel and dust showered over her. She blinked, shook her head, and peered up again. The forty-foot tall stone djinn statue had a large crater in its chest, now; its hind legs gathered together into a mist, and clouds swirled its far away head, even underground, somehow creating the tremendous magical winds that swirled around its massive form.

At least she knew she was in the right place. Trixie looked about, her horn dimly lighting the cavern, it was so large and dark she couldn't see an end to it. What the azure unicorn spotted though was Trail Brazer and of course, Twilight Sparkle, curse it, the lavender princess made it down here as well! "Wait, where is Pathfinder?" Did she make it down? If she didn't, this put Trixie at a greater disadvantage, she'd have to play coy for now until the situation became clear, and more importantly, to her advantage. She sighed, time to put on a show… "Princess Twilight? Are you alright? Trixie don't know what happened or where we are, perhaps… If we work together, we can find our way out." Trixie was happy to cooperate, as long as it meant she was the one to manage to get a hold of the eye that was rightfully hers!

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder had always done her best by her clients on the very few occassions she had been hired out. For the most part she was a loner who had to get through life by her own wits and experiences. few ponies could claim to have done as much as she had and fewer still had the love of their cataclysmic lives that she did. ow often did a pony get into the scraps of a lifetime if he or she wasn't named Pathfinder? Just once! If she WAS named Pathfinder and was a super adorable super adventure pony of awesomesauce skill and suave and experience? On a daily basis! Her adventurer friend was a good friend. Good adventure buddy. But he was also something of a loser-face with no creativity. He was fine with just plopping around the world running into walls with his snout. Pathfinder had a little sympathy for him as he ran around like a chick with his head cut off. Poor colt. he needed his little Princess to help him.

"We're just going to blow the trap door open so we can go to the, you dunce!" she said, giving him a noogie right before she tossed the magical trigger ball into the pile. It rolled for a few seconds before a purple haze, a purple stream of smoke, started to fill the area. It started to reach the explosives one by one, activating them...slowly. They wouldn't go until all four aether-bombs were ready to go, at which point the whole thing would blow sky-high! "I found these babies in the Canterlot armory! They do this cool thing where they vaporise the aetheral barrier or whatever and disintegrate anything it touches within a certain radius. Ponies, trees, rocks- doors! Tough stuff. And once that door goes we can see what out buddies are doing down there! I bet they're totally fighting off hordes of possessed ponies! This is so cool! AHHH I'M SO EXCITED!" She said shaking her pal as three, two, one...

...Twilight was overcome by a feeling. It was a feeling that came across every little port of her aetheral being and slammed shut the thoughts against it. She had never felt this way before. Or had she? It was hard to tell. It didn't seem like she could really think straight as powerful, animalistic urges crackled through her and drowned out her thoughts. Small voices begging for sanity quivered and quaked under those very same urges, themselves piece by piece torn to shreds by desire. She had never felt this way before. Or if she had, she couldn't organize her thoughts in any manner to remember it. Everything up to this moment in time was a blur. Everything in that moment was a blur. Everything after would likely be a blur. All that mattered was the emotion of the moment, and that emotion- the only emotion- was an intense hunger, but not for food. In the dust and in the smoke, one voice could be heard, and that voice was the object of her desire.

Trixie. Something about her drove every part of emotionally mad. Nothing more than to be held and to hold and to feel warmth with her, the only thought that crossed her mind, that was all. Twilight tried to blink but she saw Trixie in the dust and her eyes shot back open and her breath grew short and panting. Twilight's mind bled information and memories and filled only with a love she had never known or thought possible and a want that became a need, all with the same name and same form. Twilight approached Trixie huskily, her eyes half-lidded and awash with deviousness. Trixie Trixie Trixie Trixie Trixie Trixie. Trixie Trixie Trixie? Oh, Trixie. Oh, oh, oh, oh...Trixie.

"Oh yes, we can work together, Trixie," Twilight said as she came snout to snout with the magical mare, "but I don't think we'll work together to get out," she placed her hoof on Trixie's chest, rubbing the fur around as she leaned in, "I have a much better idea," she whispered warmly before biting the ear pleasantly-

-BOOM!

The magical bombs went off in a flash of colors, fluctuating around the the whole spectrum of color, erasing from existence the door above. Pathfinder was sent flying up into the air by the explosion and due to teh aetheral effects lost the ability to fly for a few moments, crash landing right on top of Twilight.

"Anypony get the number on the Princess I have landed on?"

[Imagination]

Trailblazer could only watch. He didn't have the time to disable these, she had already set them to blow! His teeth grinded as she tried to explain the devices to him. Him! Did she forget where he got his adventuring skill?! "I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, YOU LUNATIC-!" but his brief moment of him losing his cool was having his fellow adventurer suddenly shaking him and shouting about how excited she was. Spectacular!

But what she said did bring a couple of sobering thoughts. If the Princess WAS fighting possessed ponies, he'd have to step in to help! As best he could, anyway... Then again, it was probably best to leave the supernatural enemies to the magic users. He led them here, so he had really done most of what he can. Though once they reach this artifact, he'll really have to put his skills to the test, like he had so many times before. No sweat. He's got this. A smirk even starts to crack on his muzzle before he remembers, at the last moment, something's about to blow up! His sudden adventurous expression is suppressed by a panicked one yet again, just as the BOOM rattled his ears. He, with Pathfinder, was tossed by the concussive force of the blast. Though rather than a soft Princess to land on, he was heading straight for ground! He flared his wings out to try and slow his fall, but just ended up cracking his jaw over the stone floor and skidding a few feet, finally flopping onto his belly. "Ooogh..."

The dizzy spell went away after a moment, though his head was still ringing. Picking himself up, he spat out some dirt and fixed his mane. Appearance is everything. Wait, he lost his cover! His hat! Oh well, he can probably get another. Dusting off his garb, he checked over his gear to see what he had. Bandoleer, still with a few tools. Good. He might need those if there's traps to disable... Or activate, should he have to. He had a small pack with some provisions and a couple of canteens at his waist, both half full. Could last him maybe a week if it was rationed for one pony. So now he just had to focus on not getting trapped down here and he should be fine. The rest of his gear was topside, but he wasn't worried about that. There'd be time to recover it later. Better to go light in temples anyway.

His selfcheck taken care of, he rushed over to the small pile of mares and labored to roll Pathfinder off of his royal client. "Your highness, are you hurt?"

He didn't need the Princess, it was the Princess who needed him! Right...? Would she have hired him otherwise? He had to keep his eyes on the prize.

[brianblackberry]

Trixie was completely unsure of the situation, the chamber, if one could call it that, appeared either to be far larger than she initially thought or was somehow magically empowered to counter her light spell, limiting her ability to see anything for more than a few yards. In fact the only thing that she could make out was the statue she accidently damaged moments before. Trixie wonder if the same dark magic that kept the head obscured in gloomy swirling mists was what kept her from seeing anything else.

Despite the frightening statue’s eerie appearance that pierced right into the azure unicorn’s soul, she knew it had to be an essential clue in finding the Djinn Eye; it was the only object that was evident in the otherwise unending, impenetrable black. As much as it was important to examine the unnerving stonework for any sort of revelation, Trixie was hesitant to approach any closer, as if some malevolent force was screaming into her mind to GET OUT! She had no choice though but to continue on, this was her once chance to acquire one of the most powerful fabled magical objects in the whole of the world.

Hopefully having an alicorn with her would prove to be advantageous. Trixie didn’t like the idea of depending on Twilight Sparkle one little bit and she liked the idea of having to admit her own magic paled in comparison even less, but what choice was there? At least the princess was initially affable to the idea, “well Twilight, the Knowledgeable and Resplendent Trixie believes that if you use your alicorn magic to light-“. Before she could even finish her thought, the lavender alicorn had other ideas as she was getting uncomfortably close… What did she mean they won’t work together to get out? Was Twilight planning to pull a double cross?!

Trixie’s mind went from clueless to totally getting it in less than a second when princess revealed what her 'idea' exactly was through her suddenly unexpected intimate flirtations. The unicorn mare shuddered as lavender alicorn had nibbled on her sensitive ear in all the right ways; not that Trixie wouldn’t welcome such amorous advances, even from a pony she more saw as a rival than anything else, but it would be better in just about any other situation then the one they were in right now! “Uhh… Twilight, not that uhh… The Solicitous and Passionate Trixie minds such closeness but we really need to focus-“

BOOM!

With only the ear-shattering warning of impending disaster Trixie looked up, shining her horn as best she could, only to see the rapidly approaching dark outlines of stone and dirt hurling downwards towards the pair. Something.. Someone, caused the entrance to collapse above them! As Twilight was too busy running her hooves along Trixie’s shoulders and around her chest in an intimate embrace, it was up to the azure unicorn to save their lives. A bright bubble of purple energy formed around them deflecting the rain of stones, dirt, and even some of the now ruined camping gear! “Trixie’s pulchritudinous camping abode; that was a gift!! “ At the end of the rain of ruin was the tumbling form of the pegasus Trail Blazer, who got caught up in and possibly responsible for, the explosion.

Trixie was impressed by her own magic, the protection bubble worked perfectly; her skills were definitely improving. No time to brag now though, things were way too out of control, “what in all of Equestria are you doing Trail Blazer, you almost got us killed with your explosion!” Ugh.. This was definitely not going according to her carefully laid out plans, and where was her supposed guide, Pathfinder?

She looked up to see if she could spot the eccentric pegasus mare in the new light of the full moon shining in the cavern. Thanks to Luna's shining orb hanging above them in the night, the darkness was dissipated enough where Trixie could finally see the head of the statue for brief moments among the whirring fog that swirled about it; and there, momentarily gleaming in the occasional light was a beautiful crystalline spear as one of the eyes. It took a moment to register, but Trixie soon realized…. THE DJINN EYE!

[SteelEagle]

There were so many words Twilight wanted to speak that she could not, a great filter or gate being laid in harsh cement around her. So many questions that spoke to fleeting memories that one by one were being sealed off and forgotten ad in their empty spaces a single image of a single mare came to dominate. Then those mare's words were made to cause every little synaptic nerve in Twilight's brain shudder with ecstasy. Her every little move made her eyes swim in her luscious body. There was nothing in the past Twilight quite cared about as much as the second by second taking in of Trixie in both mind and body was all she could imagine anymore. There was little else but Trixie in the present and what wasn't Trixie in the present was Trixie in the future.

Trixie present trixie future Trixie Trixie Trixie. She was addicted and her addiction was Trixie. She was a peasant and her dictator was Trixie. She was a flower and Trixie was the gardener. She was ill and Trixie her doctor. She was madly in love and her lover was Trixie. Pathfinder falling on Twilight's head did little to stop the Princess' thoughts from straying far from Trixie. In fact the fact she couldn't see Trixie drove Trixie's lover mad. Trixie's lover shot right back up, flipping Pathfinder end over end as she stood up, eyes locked on Trixie desperately for a brief moment. Trixie's lover found Trixie and Trixie's lover sighed in only brief contentment, advancing towards Trixie until Trixie's Lover caught the trajectory of Trixie's immeasurably beautiful eyes.

Trixie's Lover saw the Djinn's Eye and Trixie's Lover moaned as she saw it. At the same time, her head snapped back to Trixie- the addict needed her fill. She approached Trixie and reared up, grasping Trixie's head and pulling her up and in. Trixie's Lover had unnatural alicorn strength and used it, pulling Trixie deep into Trixie's Lover's warm and luxurious coat. Taller and bigger, Trixie's Lover took this opportunity to stick her snout on the base of Trixie's horn and to kiss it gently, passionately, before working her way to the ear. Warm and hot in Trixie's ear, her lover spoke in a hushed and husky tone as her deep and hammering heartbeat played a staccato song.

“Trixie, my...oohh, Trixie, want that eye, I see? I see...” She whispered, tail flicking behind her energetically before curling up alongside Trixie.

Pathfinder sat up from being knocked around and what was the on thing she saw? The Eye. It caught something deep in her. Carefree youth sprung up in her- she saw it and could only think of her younger days. It made her feel....great! She wanted it. Well, she would give it to Trixie probably. Eventually. She fluttered towards it- her wings felt a little smaller- but the way was clear- until Trixie's Lover snapped her up telekenitically and tossed her aside like a grape towards Trailblazer.

“I am fine, Trailblazer. You've done very well. I'll triple your pay. Also, your job is done. Please go,” Trixie's Lover said as she purred into Trixie's ear before standing next to her. Side by side she matched Trixie's breathing and wound their tails together. Trixie's Lover's horn lit up and the Eye wiggled in place as Trixie's Lover kissed Trixie's ear so very softly.

“Oh, go and get your prize, my love, and then let us find some more together...”

[Imagination]

The ring in his ears had subsided, so he heard Trixie very clearly name him as the culprit of the explosion!

"Your guide almost blew me to Tartarus!" he corrected, a bit annoyed at both having been blown up and now being blamed for it. Taking a breath, he calmed himself as he looked up to assess the situation... Or he tried to. He just felt.... overwhelmed with emotion. Looking around him again, he saw the great treasure they were after! The Djinn Eye! But that was second only to the Princess and the pretty Trixie... getting familiar. Oh my. He could only watch, doing is absolute best to keep from grinning like an idiot. Though as usual, Pathfinder was there to put his mind back to what was truely important: making sure Pathfinder never left with the treasure. NO. That belonged to Twilight. The smile on Trailblazer's face as his rival was lifted away from the Eye was short-lived as the mare as tossed at him.

Again, he found himself on the ground with a headache. Well, and headache and then some. With a lot of deadbeat, braindead deadweight on top of him. Quickly forcing Pathfinder of of him and rising to his feet, he heard Twilight's dismissal and... Frankly, was outraged. He was about to voice objection when the 'triple pay' part hit him like a ton of bricks, changing his mood right away. Triple? Well... Something did seem very VERY wrong here, but perhaps he could make the best of this! Get the promised pay, help the Princess and maybe get away with the Eye, if Twilight remained focused on Trixie and Pathfinder could be easily disposed. But first, the pay. If Twilight was eager to see him gone, it couldn't hurt to cover himself. "Uh, can I get that in write-...ing...?" He asked, though had to give pause in the middle of it all. His voice seemed... Odd. Higher pitched? His voice must just be cracking, or something. After clearing his throat several times, he tried again.

"Your highn--What?!" His thought was again interrupted by his own voice. No, no that didn't sound like his voice at all. He was starting to become overwhelmed with emotion, sadness, worry, anger, all flooding him at once. He wasn't entirely sure how to handle this. Was it the eye? Are there bugs down here?!

That sudden random thought had sprouted from a trickling sensation on the back of his neck. After a few swats with his hoof, further investigation saw that his mane was growing.

"Your highness, what's happening?! We must have triggered something!" Was this some kind of protective measure of the Eye, or was it supposed to mess with ponies like this? Trixie seemed fine, Pathfinder... Well, she was always a bit strange as a rule... Trailblazer wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with him... Yet... And the Princess seemed to be the most drastically effected by whatever was going on.

[brianblackberry]

Trixie was momentarily transfixed. There it was - the goal of her quest, the object of her desire, the mystical and - to most ponies - mythical, Djinn Eye. One of the most powerful magical artifacts ever to exist in the whole of the world, it was said to be created long before anypony had ever conceived of an Equestria. Nothing stood in her way of possessing it and gaining its legendary powers, nothing but the other three ponies in the cavern.

At first, Trixie hoped the others had not seen the Eye, but no such luck - she was momentarily distracted, though, by the strange actions of Twilight Sparkle. Was this why the lavender alicorn was being so amorous towards her all of the sudden? A ruse, playing off of Trixie's loneliness, throwing her off guard through seduction to gain some sort of temporary advantage? Was this some play for the Eye, herself? Trixie would have never imagined the bookish and awkward Twilight of having the personality to attempt such an unorthodox ruse.

Even watching Twilight use her magic to take down both Pathfinder and Trail Blazer and even dismissing the later didn't convince Trixie that the alicorn wasn't playing her. Only when the lavender princess intimately nibbled on her ear and whispered for Trixie to claim the eye did the azure unicorn realized something else was at play here. Did Twilight succumb to a spell, compelled to act this way? Why wasn't Trixie affected? All she wanted was the Eye. Oh. So. Very. Much. Even Trail Blazer suddenly started to change, was he starting to sound like a mare?

Trixie didn't want to waste any more time pondering what was happening, lest the curse or spell got to her too and keep her from her object of desire, kept her from here destiny! She couldn't stand up to Twilight's magic but if she knew if she caught them all off by surprise and momentarily disorient them, she could use that moment to seize her rightful prize!

"Sorry, Twilight" Before the alicorn could react, the azure unicorn summoned all her inner strength to release an omni-directional purple blast from her fully illuminated horn, knocking down the other ponies with a concussive force. It was a powerful spell and took most of Trixie's magical energy, but in a moment it would not matter.

The eye seemed to be protected from unicorn magic - even Twilight's alicorn magic had not moved it from its place. And the storm was protecting it from pegasus ponies. But Trixie was not great and powerful because she relied solely on natural talents like some other unicorn ... or alicorn ... mages she could mention. She had studied and worked to make her own magic flexible and apply to any number of situations! She lifted her hat and, with the last remnants of her magic, draw a rope out from under to fashion swiftly into a lasso and loop around the eye. One quick non-magical tug, and the eye fell from its loosened place and fell down into her waiting hooves, at last, AT LAST, THE DJINN'S EYE WAS HER'S!!

"Trixie has won!!!! Muwahahahahahaha!!!!"

The power… oh the absolute power! The eye's energies quickly surrounded the azure unicorn's body with an eerie galaxy blue glow as she felt an energy fill her unlike any she had felt before! Not even the alicorn amulet had filled Trixie with such a rush of potency. She turned and gave a menacing grin as the light that covered her form grew larger and more intense, "now all of you watch! Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie becomes the greatest magical power in all of Equestria!!! Soon even Tartarus itself shall tremble in the shadow of Trixie's might!!!" She started to laugh with maniacal glee as a ball of luminous pure blue light formed around her so vivid that it obscured her completely from view.

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder tried to shake off the psychic toss from Twilight into the tough customer that was Trailblazer, but was having problems. She couldn't understand why. She was used to getting tossed around. She was tossed around scary dungeons with monsters all the time. She was tossed around the Equestrian healthcare system by a series of increasingly vexed physicians who wanted to help her but knew thst she could not help herself. Or wouldn't. She was tossed around by scary magical traps, sometimes aimed directly into traps that then tried to toss her into tinier bits, like pocket sized bits and pieces of Pathfinder. Pathfinder kibble and bits, yum! Well, not so yum. That was why she avoided it. She also tossed herself a little bit- mostly court date papers and medical bills. There was a lot of tossing, but why was this worse?

She felt sore and hurt everywhere on her body. Normally it didn't hurt this much, but she felt as though she had been thrown a lot harder. Maybe that was only because of the Princess. She was a powerhouse no doubt, but there was no question that this felt...odd. Her hat fell off and Pathfinder went to put it back on, but it slid down across her eyes about half-way. That was weird too, but she was too hurt to really give it too much greater thought as she staggered back up to her hooves. Her muscles and body in general felt so much stringier than usual, softer to the touch. Weird. Felt like she was smaller and weaker, but she would just toss that- she was saying toss a lot- up to her being tossed- there it was again- around by a Princess. Pathfinder looked up at Trailblazer, who was significantly prettier now and had a softer looking mane. Again, she was a damaged pony.

“Hey Traily, do you have any idea on what's coming over the Princess?” Pathfinder asked, her voice cracking a little as she observed the Princess prance about slowly, the Trixie-genie of super powerness go on about how super powerful she was. This was getting good! Maybe Trixie would go mad with power and with an alicorn by her side, it would be up to an adventurer mom Trailblazer and her daughter Pathfinder to take them on!

“Oh my gosh mo- Trailblazer! This is gonna be so much fun!” Pathfinder chortled with glee, her voice cracking lower and lower, younger and younger, andher wings buzzing taking on a different tone as her clothes started to very slowly fall off of her. “I wish I knew what was going on though!"

And with her uttering the wish, there was a loud crack across the room. The magical aura around Trixie grew in intensity and then suddenly stopped, the sound of metallic clanks and clinks cracking through the soundless chamber. When the aura dispersed, Trixie had golden hoops around her hooves and fetlocks with a golden inlain tiara with a gem in the middle, her horn also capped off in gold. The whole room shook, grew dark as the void, and then burst into the light of a hundred fires. It revealed that the walls were covered in tapestries, each one of the same scene- a powerful genie, his or her mentally chained lover at his or her hooves, and a mother and child. A bright green vase hovered in mid-air for a moment before exploding. In it's place was one in the same color as Trixie, and a tapestry on the wall that slowly came into being with a new collection of Saddle Arabians playing the part. Trixie was picked up and suddenly white light shot from her mouth and eyes, bathing the area in unnatural brightness as a booming voice came from her...

(OOC- Including this, but so much is revealed/happens that I can just remove all of this if it is a problem.)

“AHHHHHHH! HAHAHA! An eternity of service continues! New vessels with which to contain my might and continue the legacy of the Djinn! You, the daughter, wished and now the genie shall answer!

The Djinn are a race of nearly unlimited power, but it made many of us arrogant and eventually cruel. The young race of Saddle Arabians revolted against the cruelty of my brothers and sisters and created these magical chains, pouring every ounce of their collective magic from across time and space into their creation. Most of my kind refused this servitude even in defeat and chose to perish, helping create the aetheral flow that you Equestrians call 'magic'. I regretted the actions of my kind and accepted my fate. But, there was a caveat. Some Saddle Arabians bemoaned the utter subjugation of our magical abilities and created a way in which our magic could still be let out...by wishes. Whenever a wish is heard and granted, the chains and collars that shackle us are removed and all our great power is restored towards the completion of that wish. This release is euphoric- at all other times you are chained and locked up internally, unable to achieve release. Wishes are perfect. I love wishes. So will you, Trixie of Equestria, come to love them as well.

In any case, the majority of Saddle Arabian still considered a Djinn who could use any of its power a danger, so those who unchained me fled their homes to protect. They fled into the desert, where they built a chamber and lived out their days. I took a wife. Her sister was a mother. They had a daughter. Ever since that day there has always been the the genie, the wife, the mother, the daughter. Every group that I allow to find whatever chamber I reside numbers four. Now you will all take part in this grand service. I- me- th Djinn- Stormy Sky of Manehattan...whatever I am or was...I am Djinn! Was Djinn...and Yellow High was my wife. Serechal was the mother. Somepony Serechal hired was the daughter...and now, I rest. I go to the tapestry of dreams for an eternity amongst the playground of the Djinn, as one of their own!

Now you Trixie, you are now the Genie of the Vase! You will be granted the power cosmic. Reality itself will bend to your will, but your will is bent to the will of the wish. Across the world, you will hear the wishes that are pure of heart or essence and will be compelled to answer them. Such is your existence that to keep you safe, you shall be transported into the eternal vase, which is protected from all harm for all time.

Now you Twilight, you are now the Lover of the Genie! Your great magic allowed you to be so easily manipulated that I know I speak to one who has already taken up the mantle, but the question must be answered. Your thoughts are concerned with the love and satisfaction of the Genie and nothing else. Such is the prize of the Genie, and such is your prize that you shall know contentment through your simplicity!

Now you Trailblazer, you are the Mother of the Child! You will be a protector of this chamber until such a time that the Genie has spent all of its power. In that time, you will take on the role of the Mother of the Child, raising the one and only child in all the world who bore witness to the birth of the Djinn and knows the Secrets Aetheral Eternium. From your teat shall she grow strong once you enter the Tapestry of Dreams and give us all greater power, and from your hard work shall we remain safe. Draw your weapon against any and all intruders and be made stronger by us all!

Now you Pathfinder, you are the Child of the Mother! You are an idiot! Goodbye, question answered! Farewell, and serve eternal!”

And with that, the voice stopped and the new tapestry took on greater definition and glowed before settling, a pegasus genie appearing on the tapestry. And then the blue vase started to shake and a thin line of smoke started billowing out, eventually covering the whole area. Everything grew dark swiftly then and when the color came back on, they were somewhere else. Pathfinder was having a hard time making it out, but it seemed rather fine. She needed more definition...

and in the empty chamber where once four ponies and a vase stood there was simply the vase, which clanked against the ground meekly.

[Imagination]

Trailblazer hadn't fully grasped his change yet. He feared he might be getting youthanized like Pathfinder... But he wasn't getting any smaller. He couldn't be that much older than her, could he?

He hadn't even noticed Pathfinder's question, though he was certainly thinking about it. What the heck was wrong with her?! He had to get her back to the palace! He had to get PAID! But right now it seemed Trixie was the source of the purple alicorn's attention, and Trixie was definitely getting more powerful. It practically surged through the entire chamber! He was convinced this was all Trixie's doing! That it was her plan all along! He had to stop her! "Much fun indeed!" he cried out after hearing Pathfinder at last, vengeance churning in his voice. He quickly took a nearby slab of stone, a tent stake from his pack, and some strong to fasten a makeshift spear. He was taking aim at the eye, looking to shatter it and hopefully break its magical hold on them all, when Pathfinder's wish suddenly came true. As the voice boomed in the chamber, it gave Trailblazer pause, the spear eventually falling from his grasp onto the dusty floor.

Their fates were read to them, none of them pleasant. "Mother...?"

Reaching into his pack, he took out a mirror he had packed away and took a look at the reflection. At first his mind just dismissed it as more magical trickery. In denial. The pretty mare in the mirror smiled back at him. Though that smile hit him pretty hard... and again when she had an expression of shock! "Uh-Buh...?" was all she could manage to utter. She wasn't raising no child and ain't nothing was going to come from her teats.

At least it was nice to hear that the Djinn was in Pathfinder what nopony except Trailblazer seemed to be able to see. "Yeah, idiot" she teased, sticking her tongue out at the foal. But, an unusual pang of guilt washed over her, and so she bend down to embrace little Pathfinder. I have to get out of here. Yesterday. He thought to himself, all the while aware of what he was doing, feeling, and thinking. He had been under curses and spells before, but this was taking the cake.

When that vase clanked to the ground, she quickly ran over to it and started shaking it, turning over the open end to the ground as if that Djinn spirit would just pour out of it. "Hey! Get back here!"

[brianblackberry]

Trixie was aghast, here was her moment, her ultimate triumph, her moment to shine more brightly than anypony, indeed, anyone else, and of course there was a catch! There was always a catch!! As the faceless, booming voice spoke all around her, it didn't take long for the azure unicorn to realize this was yet another elaborate curse designed to ensnare those who sought the secrets of greater magic. She should have known; if her travels with Whooves taught Trixie anything, it was everything ancient and desirable was either guarded, booby-trapped, or cursed, and often all three! Whoever these ancients were who created such magnificent tomes of unbelievable power, they sure were a bunch of jerks!

Just as the mysterious voice explained, Trixie found herself inside a vase, one claimed to be for her protection, but in reality, at least to her, was nothing more than an elaborate prison. One could hardly tell though initially once the magical fog dissipated. There she sat on a magnificent, and very comfortable chair, shaped like a throne and embroidered with all manners of jewels along the edges. At the foot of the cathedra on the velvet red carpet laid Twilight Sparkle who looked ready to serve Trixie's every whim. The rest of the room was as palatial: Luxurious furniture, beautiful statues, colorful tapestries, and a vast fountain in the center. On the nearby tables sat exotic fruits, sweet pastries, and other delectables. Most stunning through was the view through the vast open windows on either side of the room: Large, green, rolling hills and stunning waterfalls that all sat under a glorious, warm summer day signalling perfect weather. It appeard heavenly, and no doubt that was the intent.

Trixie knew the truth though, her "realm" was nothing more than a glided cage. Despite all the luxuriousness around her, there were no one else, no ponies, save for Twilight, as stunning as her palace was, it was lifeless. She was the goddess of an empty universe of which she could not escape of her own free will.

Trixie was so despondent about the cruel circumstance that she slipped off the chair onto the floor and embraced in a reassuring hug the only other pony there, the pony she saw as a rival and whom she felt so much jealousy towards, but right now the lavender alicorn was the only one there for her, even if she was also cursed to be absolutely devoted no matter the true state of her will.

Trixie was about to do the hardest thing ever, apologize, apologize to the only pony who could listen, she had trapped them both with her arrogant desire for who knew how long. Even Trixie's immense ego could not possibly justify this and a tear started to roll down her cheek, "Trixie is so sorry Twilight… Trixie didn't think-"

Before she could finish baring her soul, Trixie's ear perked from the sound of a young mare calling her seemingly from nowhere, "Hey! Get back here!" Trixie couldn't explain why, but she was compelled to answer the desire of this mysterious pony for her presence and could see a magical, swirling opening above her, beaconing her to pass through so that she may fulfill her obligation to answer the call. She could have left Twilight behind of course, and perhaps for her own amusement, she would have in the past, but this time Trixie only saw it as cruelty to leave the alicorn behind, alone, without friends; it was a terrible feeling Trixie knew all too well. As she lifted herself towards the opening, the blue unicorn's fore hooves reached don and picked Twilight up to carry off with her through the portal towards the voice.

In a flash, the unicorn appeared, dressed with golden hoops around her hooves and fetlocks with a golden tiara with a gem in the middle on the crown of her head, her horn also capped off in gold, behind her stood Twilight Sparkle, looking the same as before other than simply dazed from her sudden appearance back in the real world. "Who has summoned The Great and Powerful Trixie, the most beautiful and mighty genie in all of the world?!!" There before Trixie stood Trail Blazer, or a mare that looked like Trail Blazer, next to her was a small, light gold colored pegasus filly. "Wait… Pathfinder?!?" Trixie snickered, and then burst out laughing.

[SteelEagle]

Twilight was lost in herself, more importantly, what she believes was what she wanted. What she wanted was so pure and visceral it almost became pure by the sheer degree of wanting that was associated with every impulse. Every single message that rocketed along her neural pathways screamed it, every thought she had was the result of it. It wasn't just that Twilight's world revolved around desire, it was that Twilight herself revolved around it. She could not beg herself a thought unrelated to it and try as the fading remnants of resistance might her desire grew and grew and grew. It became a living creature all its own to such a degree that Twilight was little more than the vessel upon which desire could take hold most powerfully and act out its mesmerizing ambitions.

She was so enamored with Trixie that it took a few seconds to realize that the setting had changed dramatically. Instead of being in a smudgy cave hidden away she found herself laying at the throne of the Genie Trixie in a palace that reminded her very much of the ancient Sultan style in Saddle Arabia. Twilight found herself dressed rather splendidly, a short tunic that draped over her with a degree of transparency. That didn't make much sense. Why bother giving her anything at all if it was designed to be revealing? She wanted it off in any case. She was already feeling like the surface of the sun and the clothes didn't help. No matter. No matter at all- she was close to Trixie. Trixie the Powerful, Trixie the Great, Trixie the Beautiful and Benevolent Goddess.

Trixie the Intense held her charge, forcing a powerful jolt of energy across Twilight. She held Trixie close, her hoof exploring the shoulder and neck in a reassuring manner, rubbing as her tail found Trixie's flank and absentmindedly played upon it. Trixie was sad- all Twilight wanted to do was make her feel better. She only knew one way to help, and as Trixie was speaking Twilight laid a kiss upon her with such passion and intensity that the whole of the world know it...if only it ever connected. Instead, Trixie was called upon and it was only by the good graces of Twilight's eternal overlord that she was brought out of her Saddle Arabian paradise. She fell at Trixie's hooves, pulling herself up off the ground, her tail intertwining with Trixie's as she waited for events to transpire.

Pathfinder was feeling PRETTY PRETTY good about all this. She really super loved adventure because you neer really knew what sorrt of cool stuff you may run into. She read a Daring Do book this one time where Daring Do fought a hydra in the sky. A sky hydra! That was fun! She wished she could fight sky hydras but that was probably a bit much for her. Maybe when she was a big mare- wait, wasn't she a big mare? Her clothes had fallen off and her hat hid most of her head. Was she still a big mare? Maybe not! And then her mommy gave her a big hug and Pathfinder nuzzled her like a champion nuzzler machine nuzzler snuggle. That distracted her fr a moment from the demands of the ongoing adventure, but then the big genie showed up.

“Wow!” Pathfinder said in spite of the genie laughing. Genies were also really cool! Maybe she could wish for her brain to start working right so she could understand what was going on, but her tummy was aching. “Wow, you're so big! I bet if I wished for some ice cream I'd get some, huh?”

[Imagination]

Trailblazer seemed pretty surprised when Trixie answered her call. Honestly she was expecting nothing to happen, but then it begs the question why she called out in the first place. Probably her own sense of pride still wanted her to have the last word. Though in a way, Trixie hadn't changed at all, from what she knew about the magical mare anyway. Still egotistical, still making flashy entrances, and still thinking she has the upper hoof. If Trailblazer knew anything, it was local legends, mystical beings, and curses.

"Who has summoned The Great and Powerful Trixie, the most beautiful and mighty genie in all of the world?!!"

Trailblazer just teetered her hoof, looking fairly unimpressed. "I'm sure there's prettier genies out there. You're still new to the game. I'd give it a 7/10 for effort though..."

A blow to the ego is the perfect icebreaker when dealing with a maniacal magical demigoddess. But Trailblazer knew genies. Or at least he knew what the legends said about them. They can't kill, and are bound to grant wishes.

Speaking of wishes, Pathfinder had to open her now literally childish mouth! "“Wow, you're so big! I bet if I wished for some ice cream I'd get some, huh?” Trailblazer had to jump on this immediately, snapping- "NO! We only have a limited number of wishes, you're not going to screw this up for me! This whole mess was probably somehow your fault in the first place, you explosive totting lunatic!"

Yet again, she felt bad for yelling at the child. Moreso than usual. But she bit back her tears and motherly instincts, knowing what kind of game this Djinn was playing. She'd have none of it. She wanted to get out, take the Princess with her, and get paid! Pathfinder could rot down here for all he cared and, as cute as she was on the way here, Princess Twilight was the only mare he cared about getting out of here.

"I'M making the first wish, because I summoned you! And I wish for more wishes!"

Just in case the number of wishes were limited. She knew there was some kind of limit on either Trixie's power or what they could do with it. She just had to figure it out. Trial and error should do it. Worse comes to worse, she could just break the vase, get a new identity and keep doing what she did as Trailblazer, the handsome and rich adventurer. Her monkey guards at her island home probably wouldn't recognize her though...

Regardless, Trailblazer stood there with a 'checkmate' smirk on her face, waiting to see what the great and magically bound Trixie would do. Or not do. Either way, it was a step toward fixing this mess.

[brianblackberry]

As the blue smoke dissipated, Trixie stood before the small entourage that has sought out her invaluable aid in the search for the Djinn’s Eye, looking much the same as she had, but with gilded ornamentation about her. A little silly, but quite attractive; she could do a show with these. Speaking of new ornamentation – Twilight’s small, semi-transparent tunic, looked pretty cute on the lavender alicorn. Not as cute as … the blue genie’s horn glowed brightly for a moment, and suddenly Twilight’s outfit changed into sheer purple lace stockings on all four of her legs, along with a matching lacy purple bodice around her mid-section. Now that was an alluring outfit! Trixie wasn’t even sure why she’d suddenly decided to dress Twilight in such a manner - the idea had been merely a flippant whim that flitted across her mind for only a moment, and suddenly thought became reality! For the first time, Trixie truly noticed her erstwhile rival as attractive, and blushed a little at what she had done.

Before Trixie could snicker or maybe even consider apologizing to Twilight, her attention was immediately turned to the now diminutive Pathfinder, a spectacle Trixie found indeed most amusing. More important though, the small filly revealed her honest heart’s desire, ice cream! A foolish request given the circumstances, but despite Trail Blazer’s objection, Trixie’s horn grew bright and a huge bowl appeared between them filled with a gallon’s worth of cool strawberry fudge ice cream, “Trixie has granted your first wish little one, and as the Great and Wondrous Trixie, the Most Exquisite Genie of the Lamp has yet to explain the rules of summoning the genie, that one is free!”

The azure genie immediately turned her gaze to Trail Blazer, instinctively knowing it was the stallion turned mare who had called her out from her gilded cage. “Little pony, you have summoned the Immeasurably Power- Hey wait a minute! Did you say Trixie was merely a seven?! Trixie would have you know that she is viewed as not only as a great stage magician, but also a standard of Equestrian feminine beauty that young fillies aspire to be, you shaggy vagabond of a mare! Now where was Trixie… Oh right! You have summoned The Immeasurably Powerful and beautiful Trixie, Genie Extraordinaire!!” As she finished her sentence, large fireworks exploded from nowhere and everywhere, covering the cave walls with a brilliant rainbow of colors.

“You have three wishes! However Trixie is forbidden to kill anyone, force anyone to fall in love with you, or raise anyone from the dead, which wouldn’t be a pretty sight anyway, Trixie means, if you think Changlings were ugly, well undead ponies… ugggh, no.” Why … had she said that? How did she even know that? Was this yet another aspect of the Djinn Eye’s magic? Was part of its curse to have her chant such words to anypony that found her? She needed to figure a way out of this, even if it meant being regular ol’ Trixie again!

Before Trixie could contemplate her situation further, trail blazer had made her first wish, more wishes! Was that allowed? The azure genie didn’t feel compelled to refuse so it must be. “Very well, The Generous and Omnipotent Trixie grants you three more wishes out of the infinite kindness of her heart!”

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder recoiled slightly as her mommy- Trailblazer, Pathfinder fought to remind herself- as mommy yelled at her a little, Pathfinder's ears pulling themselves down in response a little. She had a hard time dealing with what she was feeling right now or what it meant. Her mind was...foggy. Excited but foggy. She was thinking really odd like and parts of her were feeling like something was really wrong. Her mommy was angry and wanting more and more wishes because she was being a bit greedy, but that was like her, wasn't it? Wait, was it? Pathfinder wasn't sure. She wasn't sure what anypony was like anymore because it was all so very confusing and she was being a bad filly because her mommy was angry. She needed to get her spirits back up! Maybe some ice cream would help. But...uggh. Okay, Pathfinder. Get your mind back! Pull together and figure out what's wrong with all this because-

 

Ice cream! “Yay!” Pathfinder screamed with delight as she attacked the bowl. It was a big bowl and the ice cream was as deliciously creamy looking as she could have ever dreamed and she dreamed lots and lots! Pathfinder put her whole snout into the bowl and started eating it directly, going nom nom nom as harsh as possible. Her whole face got creamy delicious fast, humming as she did so, her tail high in he air flicking to and fro deliriously. “Thanksh yoush prett-y geeeniee!” Pathfinder blasted through her ice cream face, the happiest she had been in what seemed like forever. She suddenly stopped, took a step back, and then fall directly on her flank, holding her brain. It hurt real bad all of a sudden! “Ahhhughhughh I wish my brain freeze would stooooop! Moooooooommmm my head hurts!”

 

Twilight wasn't listening to the filly moan about a self-caused headache. She was too busy checking herself out. Was this pleasing to her Mistress, her Goddess? It seemed so. It was a gift from her after all, so sweetly bestowed by her great benefactor, the Wondrous and Kind Trixie. She was mightily attractive, every fine piece of lace and sequin seductively marking her form in such a manner as to outline her curves succulently. They were sheer which only added to the allure. She was very attractive and used as a plaything for her genie's most wonderful desires. She kissed Trixie on the neck and nibbled on her ear, huskily whispering, “good choice, most grand genie!...unnf...ahhh...I-I wish...” she shook her head clear of those troubling thoughts that tried to fight out, smiling as she did so. There was only room for one emotion, and that was...passion.

[Imagination]

So six wishes, minus the one she just used. More than enough to work with. Now that she knew the rules, and what she could take advantage of, she could work on getting everypony out of here, ending this curse, and coming out of this with a pretty great deal if she played her card right. 

 

But even more interesting was Trixie's response to Trailblazer's criticism. What was a purposeful jab at her ego seemed to yield better results than anticipated. She was very responsive, and as a genie she seemed to be more protective of her image than usual. Her image, and her status. But her thoughts were broken by Pathfinder's whining. Trailblazer almost impulsively used one of her wishes, but Pathfinder used one of hers instead... Probably unwittingly. Part of Trailblazer was furious, because she was actually wasting a wish this time, as she doubted Trixie would give her another freebie. The brainfreeze would've gone away in a few seconds anyway!

 

But, that motherly instinct that was slowly creeping on her was relieved that the child wouldn't hurt anymore.

 

Trailblazer seemed to be the only one here still somewhat in control of her faculties, but she couldn't count on it lasting long. Every second that passed her by, she seemed to... care... about Pathfinder a bit more and more, and more concerned with the safety of the chamber as a whole, just as the djiin said.

 

Speaking of this chamber... Hmm...

 

"Weeeell... Maybe you're pretty good-looking." she shrugged "But omni-potent? All-powerful? Pfft." She flicked a hoof in dismissal. "I bet you can't even get us out of this cave... I guess it's up to me to find another way out..." she said to 'herself' as she started to examine the chamber, particularly the walls.

[brianblackberry]

Well at least the little filly appreciated the generosity of the Most Exquisite Genie in all of the world! Trixie simply smiled as the messy little pegasus thanked her; she always had a soft spot for foals.  This was even more evident as Trixie became visibly distressed as Pathfinder ate her gift too quickly and found her little brain surging in pain from the sudden chill.  

Trixie was about to help the filly regardless but little Pathfinder made it official by wishes for the brain freeze to end.  "The Kindhearted and Preeminent Trixie shall grant your innocent wish sweet little foal!"  With a golden flash from the azure unicorn's horn the chilling effects of the ice cream were sudden gone for the young pegasus filly.  "You are now immune from the dreaded effects of the ice-cream headache, so you may have as much ice cream as to your heart's content!  Thanks to the All-Powerful and Glorious Trixie's magic!"  In Trixie's mind, this only further proved that she would be a generous and benevolent djinn, a goddess worthy of worship by all ponies, and whose life she happily would make more pleasant, if only they would offer their lifelong loving devotion in return!  Truly a bargain for any pony!

Speaking of devotion, the alluring Twilight Sparkle interrupted Trixie's train of though as the alicorn again became physically affectionate.  Trixie wasn't sure how to feel about this as her past interactions with the princess have been less than amicable, but at the same time it had been so long since the lonely unicorn mare had any real affection shown to her, especially the intimate, physical variety.  Even the costume she placed Twilight in was more for amusement at the alicorn's expense than anything else.  Trixie remained torn, at least until Twilight playfully nibbled on her ear, eliciting an audible gasp of pleasure from the azure djinn's mouth.  Now in a way, she sort of wished to return to the bottle with her wanting alicorn in tow.

However another wish was asked of the most beautiful of all genies, although in a very rude and provoking sort of way.  Why did Tail Blazer feel the need to be so incredibly insulting about it?  Trixie would grant her wishes regardless.  Fine, she wanted out of the cave?  Trixie will get her out of the cave!  "You wish shall  be granted troublesome mare!"

With a sly smile and a golden flash, all four ponies appeared in the clearing that hid the secret entrance to the cave, or more accurately, several feat in the air above the clearing.  Before anypony could react, Trixie caught both Pathfinder and twilight in a pair of magical bubbles that floated them safely to the ground, Trail blazer on the other hoof found herself slamming into the earth a few feet below; Trixie simply snickered in a sarcastic tone as she floated down , "oops, I suppose if Trixie was more powerful she would have manage to catch all three of you in time, but like you said perhaps Trixie is not, so sorry about thattttt!  Oh, by the way, Trixie forgot to mention before, little Pathfinder's wish also counted, so you are back to three, just in case you forgot how to count after that nasty fall."

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder held her head in a vice-like pattern with her hooves trying to squeeze the pain away. This didn't work and the pain only went higher, which defied her greatly reduced logic. Luckily her wish ha come true and the super nice genie mare took away all the problems of the world a filly could encounter with a simple flick of her majestic horn. Her headache cleared up immediately and she felt like the greatest filly in existence with the totally best superpower EVER. She could have all the ice cream she could ever want? Wow! “Thanks Trixie Genie! I like this version of you better. You're so super cool!” Pathfinder praised the attention starved genie some as she flew on top of her mom's head, hugging it from on top of the mane. This was a good day and she wanted to share the goodness!

 

And just like that- boop! They blinked out of existence briefly and traveled the aetheral wave topside, a simple teleportation being much more epic when you thought of it that way. Pathfinder herself free felled for all of a second though before the nice genie caught her in a safe bubble and put her down gently, the little filly landing on her hooves excitedly. Teleportation was fun! Yay! But what wasn't as yayinducing was her mommy falling flat on her rear. Was she hurt? Pathfinder went over and checked her flank. There was a big bruise there! Oh no! Mommy couldn't have a big bruise. Only Pathfinder could have bruises! Her memory was shoddy but she remembered lots of bruises and viper attackss and traps and knives! Mommy was a big softie according to her memory and not nearly as tough or cool! Pathfinder hugged the wounded leg. “Oh no mom, you're hurt! I wish your bruises went away!”

 

Twilight for her part was far too powerful an alicorn to be kept locked in a cage, kept inside a hovel of discontent, forever. But she needed a catalyst for a small breakout as the overpowering and mind-warping power over her didn't allow the small frame of resistance a chance to breathe in any manner. It was a remarkable spell this curse, something she'd have to study if she could survive- which was much in doubt. Reality was water and it ebbed an flowed and changed with the times and for every second her shattered mind was being polluted she could feel it just that much harder to survive inside these shark infested waters. Her vast reserve of power had been corrupted against her will and turned inward like the cruelest cut but she could not possibly be defeated as long as the flame of hope remained.

 

The flame of hope needed some tinder and she got that when the aetheral plane opened up and they were ushered through it. She sensed a tiny droplet of it hanging out there and latched onto it, pulling it into herself just as they appeared on top. Just as quickly as her resistance found some success she managed to withdraw before the overwhelming power of the curse returned as she was gently lowered. Momentarily crushed, Twilight walked over to her genie love and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. After all, displays of such raw power were always very alluring. “Oh Most Sultry Trixie, what a powerful and beautiful spellcaster you are,” she brushed up against Trixie's ear, nibbling it some more with her wings blowing out and folding around her body and Trixie's head as she hugged around the neck, “what is it you command, my------ I-I wish for the lamp to be here-” she powered out through clenched teeth before her short run from her own will was squashed ruthlessly, its plan needing the lamp...but she was gone for now, ”what is it you command, my mistress?”

[Imagination]

Her ruse worked!

 

But at the cost of her lovely lady rump.

 

Once they teleported out, Trailblazer half expected to just show up on the ground, safe and sound, but it seems the vengeful and malicious Trixie was looking to have the last laugh. The way this was going, she probably would. With a yep of surprise, the pegasus mare plummeted to the ground below with a hard 'THUMP'. "OW!" Indeed, it left quite a bruise, but she had worse. They were out of the cave... Though Trailblazer felt they were nowhere near a solution. She was wondering why caring for these ponies was still her top priority, especially Pathfinder. Stupid curse. If she had her way she would've bolted through the Everfree by now.

 

Wincing as she stood, she at least wore a face of confidence to look to the genie. "Well, I don't recall ever wishing for us to get out of the cave-" Though, she spoke too soon. Her darling daughter wished for her bruise to go away! Assuming Trixie would still count Trailblazer's ruse, now they only had two left! Trailblazer tried something she never thought to try before:

 

"Pathy, you shouldn't just wish for everything right away" she coddled "You have to be patient, and frugal with your wishes-" But her train of thought was interrupted again, this time by a briefly liberated Twilight! She had to be fighting the control! Why would such an intense trance be broken to make a wish otherwise? A totally obedient and happy servant would have no inclination of wishing anything more of their master...

 

This wish for the lamp left only one wish remaining! In a panic, Trailblazer blurted out the first thing to mind!

 

"IWishForMoreWishes!" came as a cry to the genie, as quickly and coherently as she could muster, before anypony else could waste the wish. Though now it remained to be seen if Trixie would oblige the mare again with the same wish.

 

So much for being patient and frugal.

[brianblackberry]

Trixie felt annoyed that the next wish asked of her was to heal the very pegasus who she taught a lesson to for being so inconsiderate and downright rude, but as it was a wish she was compelled to grant it no matter her personal feelings, fortunately the overwhelming impulse didn’t command her to like it.  Trixie rolled her eyes and sighed, “very well, the Generous and Palliative Trixie shall grant your trivial wish little Pathfinder to heal this annoyance of a pony.”  A golden glow of her horn briefly shone and just as suddenly all the pain along with the bruise was gone from Trail Blazer’s backside.  “Silly filly, it is a good the Kind and Generous Trixie finds you so adorable as to help your erstwhile companion!”  As if she had any real choice in the matter.

 

Twilight Sparkle started to passionately praise Trixie again, which the azure genie did find flattering and even sensual, but the adulation of her greatest rival didn’t bring the expected satisfaction.  Even in her new form, Trixie was still partly a unicorn, and she was trained enough to sense the same immeasurably powerful spell that forced her to grant wishes holding Twilight’s mind in a prison, forcing her to love Trixie.  It was in one way quite depressing - here she had finally found somepony who loved her, yet it was just an illusion, a sham caused by a magic spell neither could control.

 

As much as an illusion the love may have been, Trixie still shivered up her spine as Twilight playfully nibbled at her ear and muzzled up against her.  How Trixie wished it was real.  Still, as long as it was happening, why not take advantage?  The azure genie turned to Twilight and was about to plant a kiss when the alicorn suddenly made her wish.   Trixie stepped back, stunned, not so much because of the wish itself, but for a brief moment she could sense Twilight’s mind, her real mind, free from any spell, before it was again lost behind the wall of whatever curse the Djinn Eye placed upon them, and the lavender alicorn returned to her slavish devotion.

 

Trixie genuinely smiled, “as you wish, my lovely little lavender beauty!”  With a brief golden flash the blue glass genie bottle reappeared on the grass next to them.  Trixie had no idea how, but it had to be some clue to their freedom, otherwise why would Twilight ask for it?

 

Her train of thought was interrupted by Trail Blazer using the final wish available to ask for another set of wishes.  “Ha! The Great and Powerful genie of the Lamp laughs at your pathetic attempt! You are only allowed to use that cheap trick once!  Did you think a genie such as Trixie would allow you to wish for more wishes forever, no, foolish mare, you were allowed to do so initially so you may have the illusion of hope before the cruel reality dawns on your puny mind that you are truly on your final wish !  MWAHAHAHA!!  Only another pony who calls Trixie from the lamp can have a new set of wishes!  Now what is your final wish of the Great and Glorious Trixie, fool!” 

 

Ugh, Trixie wished how she knew all of this; it would make answering even more satisfying!

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder had never ever been as excited as she was now. She was used to being disappointed by ponies because they didn't often think much of her. And why would they, she was just a filly after all! But she knew that a filly could do so many amazing things that they didn't even know! But that didn't mean she wasn't above listening to her momma tell her something new and interesting. Well, if not interesting at least important! And telling Pathfinder to make sure she was patient for things was something pretty important, even if Pathfinder totally didn't agree and promptly disregarded it! Especially when she went about and went blurt blurt with her own desire for more wishes, which was promptly shot down by ol' Gentle Genie Trixie like WHEEEBAM.
 

“Momma, what did you JUST say?” Pathfinder laughed, giving her momma a playful noogie noog, “you gotta be all about that epic patience action, right? Riiiiight?” Pathfinder blew raspberries in the air before launching off, spotting what seemed to be a butterfly fluttering away, which demanded her attention and energies as she decided to chase it down. Maybe it could tell her ecrets! Speaking of Secrets Inside, Twilight no longer struggled. Ruthless curse aided oppression had devastated her and now she was a mule of desire, baying and praying for the acceptance of her mistress, her master, her genie and lover Trixie. She sidled up to her mistress and was content, her tail wrapped around the base of Trixie's and purring. Twilight was content.

But the plan she had hatched even momentarily would work after the last wish was granted and they could go back inside of the lamp. Even in her state, the residual pokiness and curiosity of Twilight would remain, even in her slavish devotion to the most beneficial and generous Trixie. Hopefully everything would work out, because now Twilight was gone and defeated and what she had noticed before would consist of every dice in her available pool. Victory or an eternity of erotic servitude- that was her risk. Or reward, if you were Trixie!

[Imagination]

Trailblazer tried to think of something. Anything. She was failing, the the grip of this curse was getting tighter and tighter. She felt like there was something exploitable in what Trixie said... Another pony who summons her can get a new set of wishes? Didn't Trailblazer technically summon her? Maybe Pathfinder...

 

Pathfinder! Where was Pathfinder?!

 

Her attention was finally ripped away from her efforts to save them, those motherly instincts taking control as she realized she had no idea where Pathfinder was! She must've been so absorbed in trying to fix this whole situation and pay attention to what rixie was saying that she lost track of Pathfinder!

 

She looked around her in a panic, hoping she didn't run off into the forest! But, she soon heard the flapping of wings above her, and looked up to find the filly adventurer chasing a butterfly. She heaved a sigh of relief and smiled as she watched the little filly whiz around. But she could hurt herself! What if she lost control, or accidentally ate the butterfly? Trailblazer knew she could help if she had to. She has wings too, after all. But still, if only she could be a bit more cautious... Or at least tell her where she was going so she could've avoided that little panic attack. 

 

"Oh, Pathy" she laughed, watching her "I wish you'd be more careful. You have to tell me before you run off, you gave me a fright!"

[brianblackberry]

Did Trail Blazer understand Trixie’s cryptic message hidden within her warning about the wishes?  He, well now she, did seem like an intelligent, resourceful pony with the innate skills necessary to be a successful adventurer, unlike Pathfinder who seemed to only succeed out of pure chance and dumb luck. 

 

However fate, or more appropriately, the curse, appeared to have other ideas as the pegasus mare only wished for the easily distracted Pathfinder filly to be more careful.  Ughhh!  Why did she have to frame the statement as a wish?!  Now Trixie had no choice but to grant her final bidding!   At that moment though, Trixie realized while she is forced to grant the wish, she can still decide how it was to be done, at least within parameters…  It would be enough, hopefully!   “The Great and Powerful Genie of the Lamp, the Magnificent Trixie shall grant your final wish Trail Blazer!!  Your adopted daughter shall be... Responsible!!”

 

A brilliant golden glow emanated from Trixie’s horn, blasting the erstwhile filly with a flash of energy.  Trixie couldn’t fundamentally change Pathfinder’s personality, but she could make the filly far more mentally focused, like a diamond, and to greatly increase her ability to be cautious rather than impulsive, hopefully that will be enough to get them all one step closer to freedom!

 

“It is done!!  No more wishes shall be granted for you Trail Blazer!! The Magnanimous and Gregarious Trixie must now return to the lamp!" With that, the bottom half of the azure unicorn turned into an opaque blue smoke that connected to the opening of the lamp and she quickly shrunk down and swirled back inside.   This time though she intentionally forgot Twilight Sparkle with the idea that two ponies that could still ask for wishes were certainly better than one.  Even if the purple alicorn was singularly obsessed, Trixie felt she still held the key to freedom!