//------------------------------// // Ten Minutes // Story: Legacy of the Greatest // by Emperor //------------------------------// The majestic castle glittered gold against the setting sun, as its splendid grandeur provided a beacon of hope to all ponies within spitting distance of the stronghold. Towers jutted out of the landscape, piercing the heavens above. Less pure white and more the colour of platinum, there were no earthly foes capable of taking the castle and the city that had grown around it. Yet fall it eventually had, not to mortal enemies but to the interlopers of winter’s heart. The mere sight of brown and green was all Trixie needed to prove this scene to be nothing more than memory. Still, it was a memory that brought a great deal of nostalgia to her, the vivid sight so great and powerful that it had yet to fade away after over a thousand years. Trixie knew the truth of the dream around her, but she took the opportunity to reminisce. The world was quiet here. The only sound that could be heard was the light clopping of her hooves on the cobbled roads as she walked towards the castle town. A few minutes later, Trixie furled her brow as she realised she was getting no closer to the settlement. The yellow road somehow always seemed to have the same length left to travel. Trixie sighed. Sometimes, dreams could be metaphorical, and sometimes those metaphors could be a pain in the dock. She understood all too well what this dream meant. Unicornia was a city that could never again be touched. Instead, she turned her sights to the falling sun. With its descent would come the moon’s ascent, and the pony Trixie had sensed since her dream began. “Hello, Luna.” At first, there was no acknowledgement. Slowly, however, a mass of shadows appeared at Trixie’s hooves. The shadows coalesced, then sprout, growing taller and wider until taking shape as a pony, finally gaining colour and depth. Blinking a few times and shaking her head a few times to clear her mind, Luna looked over at the city that never would be again. “I wish I had been born earlier, so that I could have seen old Unicornia even once before its fall.” With Luna’s appearance, the sun abruptly set, and the moon rose to take its sibling’s place. Gone were the golden hues that lit up Unicornia Castle with a splendid radiance. In its place was the white-blue moonlight. With a pallour that more reflected its own platinum colour, the former home of the unicorn nation showed her true beauty. “She was a beauty,” Trixie agreed. “So was old Pegasopolis, and even the former Earthville in her own rustic manner.” Of course, she had only ever seen the other two cities briefly. While her mentor Star Swirl was respected enough amongst all three tribes that him and her could briefly step into the land of the other tribes, Clover had never been able to freely explore them in-depth. She never would, either. The Windigos had seen to that. “I can see how Princess Platinum’s home influenced our own castle in the Everfree,” Luna commented, making small talk. “It is less obvious with Canterlot, though there are a number of spires that seem loosely like the ones in Unicornia. The castle town of Canterlot does not seem nearly as magnificent as Unicornia, however, aside from being built on top of a mountain. Again, I wish I had seen Unicornia at least once in the flesh.” “Unicornia still exists,” Trixie said. “But only as a pile of ruins. I return there on a pilgrimage about once every hundred years to remember from where I came. I recognise her less and less every century, and soon she will be lost. When your Castle in the Everfree was shiny and sparkling, Unicornia was in the state that castle is in now.” Suddenly, the castle town disappeared, its vibrant platinums and silvers vanished underneath a mountain of sleet. An eternal snowfall continued to bury the homeland of the unicorns. Here and there, one could make out what once were the stone-capped towers of Unicornia Castle. Only a hoofful of the former towers were recognisable: many more had since crumbled. Unicornia’s legacy was that of loose stones that littered the endless wastes of a world of ice. The contrast to what Unicornia had been was overwhelming, and Trixie felt guilty as she saw the pain in Luna’s eyes. Trixie herself had had only fifteen hundred years to rationalise the decay of Unicornia. To Luna, the decline had been in the blink of an eye. Rather like when she returned from the moon to see her own former fillyhood home fallen apart, Trixie thought, her mind wandering off as she attempted to ignore the scene of her own decayed homeland. Celestia and Luna had never asked her where Unicornia was located, and so Trixie would be the last to ever see the city before it finally completely vanished in a world of white. “Such is the history of equinity,” Trixie babbled. “Maybe we should thank the Windigos for having the last laugh and destroying our old homelands. If not for that, perhaps we would have returned and continued to live separately. By coming south and founding Equestria, we were forced to integrate for the very first time to survive.” Luna surveyed the fallen metropolis one last time, shaking her head before looking back at Trixie. “Maybe. But it still truly is a shame. However, I am still glad that you managed to vanquish the Windigos. At least me and Celestia had some time to grow up before Discord’s appearance,” Luna remarked. Trixie chewed her lip. Some days, it was difficult to remember that she was older than the Royal Sisters, so pervasive was their cultural influence. Trixie had never been born under the banner of Celestia and Luna, and was now the only pony alive to predate Equestria as a nation. Still, it meant something, like that Trixie should be the one giving guidance here instead of Luna. So she tried. “I have many regrets over the year, but founding Equestria wasn’t one of them. Every day I see foals laughing as their mothers and fathers take them out to the park. Cutie Marks these days are for a pony’s true passion in life, not for whatever talent of hers or his is most useful for surviving the Everlasting Winter. With luck, Equestria will never need to call upon her ponies again. I only wish you and your sister could have had a few more years before you too were thrust into your own age of strife.” “It was a tough time, both before and after we defeated Discord,” Luna admitted, looking at the moon as she reminisced of days past. “Well, I say ‘we’ meaning me and my sister. But even in that, you contributed perhaps more than we did, Clover.” Trixie shuddered. Even now, hearing her name, her true name, not the name that she had been born with, but the one she had become famous by, left her feeling apprehensive. But Trixie’s resistance to her old name was not what Luna was inquiring about. “You and Celestia were the one who defeated Discord.” “Maybe, but that was after discovering the Elements of Harmony. You helped delay him to the point that Celestia and I could go on our journey of self-discovery and locate the Elements,” Luna pointed out. The smaller mare bit her tongue, blankly looking off into space. Even though Trixie had recently chatted with Discord and ‘made up’ with him in a sense, there were far too many old wounds to be healed in one conversation. Besides, thinking about those days and her lost companions still hurt Trixie too much to easily remember them. “I did what I was able to, to the best of my ability.” “Don’t!” Luna suddenly barked, causing Trixie to jump. “Don’t, please, Clover,” Luna said, backing off from her sharp barking, nearly approaching the opposite extreme in what came close to begging. Don’t sell yourself short like that! You and your two friends were the single greatest threat to Discord’s reign. Every second you fought him, every breath you defied him, it all helped. The suffering of our little ponies was greatly alleviated by the three of you.” “Defy him?” Trixie sighed, looking up at the sky. There was a wistful smile on her face. “You do realise we never actually stood a chance against Discord, right?” “You did,” insisted Luna. “I know what you are trying to say. If he truly unleashed all his power, none of us would have stood a chance until we finally found the Elements of Harmony. But what you did was still something nopony else could.” Trixie knew Luna’s words were true. She knew this both on a logical and emotional basis. However, the strife of that era past till gnawed at Trixie, threatening to tear open the scabs on her heart that time had barely been able to heal. Only Trixie’s recent meetings with Discord and Celestia were finally helping her to move on. “We did what we could,” Trixie agreed. “In the end, Equestria lived on and experienced an era of peace. What brings you to my dream, Luna?” “I thought I would visit you again when my sister mentioned having seen you at Twilight Sparkle’s grave some time ago,” said Luna. “Alas, but you are difficult at the best of times to track down in the waking realm. I have only been able to meet with you thrice since my return. That leaves the world of dreams.” “I wasn’t deliberately avoiding you,” Trixie defended herself, but she knew it was a hollow excuse. Even if Clover had long embraced the road as a genuine joy, she still had never returned to Canterlot to see Luna upon the latter coming back from the moon. With Discord, she at least had the reason of him being her former mortal foe. With Luna, there was no such excuse. Clover had been afraid, afraid of encountering anything that could remind her of her past.  After meeting Celestia again and Discord’s visit only a few months prior, Trixie had intended to visit Luna again soon. The eighty years before that, however, Trixie was unable to defend. Perhaps it was a good thing Luna had taken the initiative to seek out Trixie. Sometimes, a scab would heal quicker when it was picked at. Luna, to her credit, didn’t press Trixie. Instead, she sat down on her haunches, looking away from the buried castle and instead towards her own heavenly body, soaking in the moonlight. “Tell me about your life in the last thousand years, Clover. Celestia knew precious little of your wanderings. Surely you’ve seen some interesting sights. Explored some ruins, built what would become ruins, created new spells, fought in wars, found new lovers?” Trixie puffed her cheeks up at that last suggestion. But she found the prospect of idle talk alluring, and sat down besides Luna. “No new lovers, though I’m certain your sister would have loved to hear about them. Oh, but perhaps you would like to hear about my apprentices instead?” “You took apprentices?” Luna asked, her eyes finally shining with excitement instead of melancholy. For the first time, the Lunar Princess had perked up. Trixie nodded. “Yes, three of them, all unicorns of course. In this modern era, they were the only ponies who knew my true identity as Clover the Clever. Oh, I suppose I should tell you about Spectral Trick. He wasn’t the first of my three apprentices, but he was the one who inspired my current life.” “Your current life?” Luna asked. “Of course. I haven’t wandered as Clover the Clever in over a thousand years, but the Great and Powerful Trixie is merely an alter-ego I conjured less than a century ago. I rotate out new egos ever several decades as they are supposed to grow old and fade out. To be truthful, I often lose my self-identity as Clover as I become possessed by my new characters.” Trixie swallowed. That had happened to her this time, too. She had broken free in her conversation with Discord and asserted herself as Clover, but Trixie felt she still owed her current role a last hurrah. What that last hurrah was, was something she still hadn’t found. “This time, Trixie was so depressed at the beginning that she even began referring to herself in the third-pony. Like Trixie is currently doing, for instance.” “I noticed,” Luna said, her eyebrows raised in amusement. “You were saying about Spectral Trick?” “Of course. Spectral Trick was one of three ponies I apprenticed over my lifetime. He had a flair for putting on a show, both with physical gadgets and amusements and illusionary cantrips. I raised him from when he was practically a colt. You won’t find his name in more than a couple of old textbooks, but he was quite an accomplished wizard in his day,” Trixie said, puffing her chest out with pride. “When it came time for me to cast aside my last identity, I decided to honour him in my own personal way by adopting his personal philosophy. He loved to entertain, and he loved the stage, and so I became a wandering magician in his stead.” “I would have loved to meet him then, if he was able to inspire you so,” Luna said. Trixie agreed. “He was full of mischief, even in his last days. You would have loved that side of him. Heheh. Sometimes I wonder what Spec's reaction would be to me doing this. I think he would have been tickled silly at inspiring me to perform one of my greatest tricks. Imagine what normal ponies would think if they knew Clover the Clever was still alive, wandering upon them, playing at being a showmare.” Luna let out a soft giggle at that, muffling it with her wing in front of her mouth. “Some of the ponies in our court at least suspect, correctly so, that me and my sister occasionally go out in public disguised. But our walks are just brief flings, to drop in on the common pony and see Equestria in a way. We have often talked about taking turns at governing solo so the other may live out a mortal life for a few years.” “It has its upsides,” Trixie agreed. “Princesses are supposed to love all their subjects, but I suspect Celestia has always despised only being able to see their lives from the top. The mortal alicorn princesses can live casual lives, like Twilight Sparkle did living in Ponyville, but she cannot. You are more able than she is in that aspect by wandering the dream realm. I, on the other hoof, am totally free and unrestrained. I can live among ponies as a mere unicorn, and live the life of the unworrying commoner.” Trixie sighed wistfully. “Like Spectral Trick. I think Celestia felt forced to teach students who were supremely talented so as to better Equestria. Spec was never the greatest of unicorn mages, but his heart was akin to my own when I was growing up. He was merely a colt when I first discovered him. Or should I say, he discovered me. He nearly ran me over when I first walked into the village he hailed from.” Luna was engrossed in Trixie’s tale, allowing the smaller mare to continue reminiscing. “Even then, he was loud. He saw I was a wandering unicorn, and pushed me to teach him magic. In the mind of a young colt, a foreign unicorn from away had to be a mysterious mentor figure, come to take him away, like in one of those stories. Especially since I had a freaky deformity like two cloven hooves, that just made me more mysterious. Heh, and he was right,” Trixie said, smiling softly at the memories. “Of course, he didn’t learn who I truly was until much later, and it took me many months of staying in his village before I realised he was somepony I wanted to teach.” “I envy you in that,” Luna spoke up. “You are right. Sister does feel pressured to choose the best of the crop whenever she chooses to teach again. Twilight Sparkle, for example, turned out wonderfully, but she was one-of-a-kind. It is rare that Celestia can teach to aptitude instead of talent.” “Spec would never even have had a chance to be one of Celestia’s pupils, even if he had gone to her school,” Trixie agreed. “Well, enough of that. Regardless of the reasons I chose to teach him, he was still my student. It’s always a joy to watch a pony grow up under one’s teachings, which is why I’m certain Celestia loves to take on new faithful students. What about you, Luna? You must have settled in after nearly a century. Do you think you will teach as well?” Luna shook her head with mirth. “No thank you. I suppose it is just as you yourself have said, Clover. I would rather teach a pony who suits my own personality, than a pony who is merely magically talented. You said it yourself. You have wandered for over a thousand years, and you have only taught three ponies in that time period. I am surprised, however. I would have expected you to reveal yourself as Clover the Clever to more than just those three.” Trixie grimaced. There was a good reason for that, but it fell into things she would rather not talk about. It was just like how Trixie had stopped talking about Spectral Trick. If she had talked anymore about him and the joy and memories of teaching, Trixie would also have to speak of how he refused to join her in eternity, and how she eventually buried him with her own hooves. “I assume Celestia already told you, but I was Equestria’s ace in the hole while you were gone,” Trixie said. “Nopony knew I still lived, after all, so no enemy of Equestria that wasn’t already sealed away could have planned for me. If Celestia ever fell, I would have broken my hermitage and stopped the threat of the day. Were Celestia to die, then Clover would finally return to take Equestria's throne. No matter how many years I went without seeing her, Celestia always trusted I would hold up my own end.” Trixie wrinkled her snout. “I am just glad that measure never had to be taken.” Luna frowned. “Truly? What would you have done, then, if the Elements had not managed to stop me upon my return to Equestria, and I had usurped my sister?” “I might have allowed the Nightmare a brief chance to rule, seeing if she was at least tolerable. But going off what I saw of the real Nightmare Moon, I would have killed you,” Trixie said bluntly. “Or died trying,” she added. Luna flinched at the morbid turn in conversation, even as she had expected Trixie’s answer.  “In the last century, I’ve finally been able to shake off my ennui, thanks to the excitement since your return,” Trixie continued. There was another reason for that, one she didn’t mention to Luna. Trixie had made friends once with Starlight Glimmer, and the other unicorn had occasionally mentioned the alternate timelines Twilight Sparkle had seen with Starlight's time travel spell. Trixie had thought of her own mortality and potential death many times, but to hear of other timelines where a villain had taken over Equestria had driven it home for her. There was no way she would have stood in the background and let Nightmare Moon or Queen Chrysalis take over, which left only one option for what had happened to the Clover of other timelines. Even now, Trixie still wondered who or what had caused the apocalyptic timeline of ash and dust Starlight had briefly talked about in a haunted tone. That had been the true reason Trixie had begun to shake off her rust after several centuries again. An unknown enemy able to exterminate Equestria wasn’t something she could stand by and wait for, even if it had never appeared in this timeline. A century ago, she would not have been able to fend off any major threat right away. Eighty years ago, she had trained and practiced again in anticipation of Nightmare Moon’s arrival, in the event Celestia’s plan did not work. Clearly, given the events of the Nightmare Moon timeline, Trixie’s preparations had been insufficient. Now, in a battle between herself and both Celestia and Luna, Trixie knew how she would match up. Starlight Glimmer had once expressed surprise that she, a mere unicorn, could go hoof-to-hoof in a duel with an alicorn. Trixie wondered what Starlight would have said if she found out a mere unicorn could not just battle but defeat two alicorns at once. “Equestria still owes you so much. Yours is a debt that we could never pay off,” Luna said. Trixie felt a chill run down her spine. “I cannot believe you would say that after I just said I would have killed you or died trying.” Luna lowered her gaze, looking at the white snow under their hooves. She made a pawing motion at the ground, before looking back up. “I remember much of my time as Nightmare Moon when attempting to take over Equestria, though thankfully preciously little of when I was sealed away. I would choose death than my alter-ego ruling.” There was an awkward lull in the conversation, as the world turned quiet under the gentle snowfall. Their dream conversation had gone from depressing to melancholic reminiscing and back to a morbid depressing again. “Oh. I am curious about one other thing, though,” Luna started, breaking the silence. “What is it?” “Why did you never seek to become an alicorn?” Luna asked, looking over at Trixie. “With your magic and knowledge, I am certain you could have achieved it within a few years, if not months. I mean, you wouldn't have attempted it when you were trying to stay incognito, but before that.” “That’s—” Trixie cut herself off, before she nervously pawed at the ground with a hoof, mimicking Luna’s earlier nervous tic. “In a way, I think it always comes back around to her.” “Princess Platinum?” Luna asked gently, knowing precisely who Trixie was speaking of. Trixie nodded. “Yes. I, I looked up to her. I still do. Maybe time has warped my memory of her so she seems like an ideal I could never reach. No, not maybe. I know I’ve forgotten all her bad moments, all but for a precious few. It’s not healthy, but Platinum’s dreams are one of the things I still carry a torch for.  Every time I think about the princess, I always think of how Platinum was born a unicorn, and she died a unicorn. I want to do the same.” She sighed. Luna gave the other blue-furred mare space to breath and some thinking time, and Trixie used it to mull for a few seconds. Then she added, “If the worst-case scenario had occurred and I had to rule Equestria, then I would have gone for it. I would never desire it, but I know an alicorn princess has more legitimacy in the eyes of Equestrians than a unicorn princess ever will again. Reassuring the ponies of Equestria has more bearing than my own ego.” “Princess Clover,” Luna mused, trying the words out. “I would never have expected to hear such a title in my lifetime.” “You won’t. Not in your lifetime, anyways.” Luna was silent for a minute, looking apprehensive. Trixie knew the alicorn wanted to say something, but seemed reluctant to. It wasn’t surprising. Trixie had just spoken such blatant words, after all. So she spoke first. “What is the issue?” The other mare started, taken aback by Trixie’s prodding. Luna fidgeted a little, looking off to the side at Unicornia's remains, before looking back. “Even we immortals can grow tired of life. It is clear you seem to have been beaten down by your long life yourself, after all. What if me and my sister both decide to pass on to the endless rolling fields of the great pasture beyond before you do?” It was a question so pointed and piercing that Trixie instantly felt her throat clench. Her eyes softened as she considered it. “I can only hope you never do,” Trixie said, softly, looking upon the horizon at old Unicornia, the remains of the platinum castle now bathed in moonlight. “All my closest friends chose to leave me than to stay.” Luna recoiled at those words. The change in the princess’ demeanor was instant. Luna’s ears flopped down, and her muzzle was tightened up into a sad expression. It was a good thing she closed her eyes as well. Trixie couldn’t bear to see the emotions she knew she would have seen in Luna’s eyes. Trixie hated herself for that. She knew what effect her words would have on Luna, and they had hit the younger pony like a sledgehammer. “I suppose I can empathise,” Luna spoke softly. “I cannot imagine how Celestia felt for the thousand years I was exiled. Even then, she knew that I was to come back, albeit still possessed. Heh,” Luna chuckled bitterly. “If I had been the older sister, would it have been me who everypony looked up to? If that had been the case, would Celestia have gone jealous? Ten minutes in the womb would have made a thousand years of difference.” Trixie frowned. “I really have been avoiding you too much, haven’t I?” It was a rhetorical question. “What is done is done, Luna. Who is to say if you had been the older twin that you would not have still been the one to turn into the Nightmare? Ponies are diurnal, after all. Unless you think being born ten minutes before Celestia instead of ten minutes after would have changed your talents around so you were the Solar Princess?” Mentally, Trixie chuckled nervously. She had heard from Starlight Glimmer how tiny changes in the way the Sonic Rainboom was disrupted could massively change the villain who fought Equestria in the future. Only after saying those words to Luna had she realised how poor an argument it was. Luna either didn’t remember Starlight’s accounts or she chose to move past them, allowing Trixie’s argument to stand. “Maybe so. If I still had to be sealed away for a thousand years, I would have liked to be stuck in stasis with the Crystal Empire and Sombra, instead of going mad with envy and being forcibly banished. I still feel guilty to have left my twin sister by herself for a thousand years, but that was by circumstance. You, Clover, you still choose to stay away. You really do need to come around more often. Celestia and I would both welcome you as many times as you wish to meet again.” “I have been getting better,” Trixie spoke softly. She noticed she no longer even flinched anymore at being called Clover. That was a good sign. “I apologise, Luna. I met both Celestia and Discord recently. I am getting there. I know I am. If Discord can change, then so can I, again. I said I discard my identities every several decades, didn’t I? I told Discord I would go under my true name when I leave the Great and Powerful Trixie behind, and call myself Clover once more.” Luna lifted her eyebrows. “Truly?” Trixie nodded. “Yes. Time itself got the better of me after I conquered it, but I know I am winning our latest battle. I won the first war, after all. This time I intend it to be our last.” She paused, not wanting to get ahead of herself. “Trixie has a few things left undone that she must do before I can finally put her to rest. As my homage to Spectral Trick, and as the identity that I held during this last calamitous century, I owe it to send her off into the night with a glorious bang instead of a whimper!” Goodness, even as she tried not to, Trixie was still working herself up. Luna looked up at the sky, where Trixie’s enthusiasm had just caused an impromptu fireworks display to light off in her dream, sending a thousand dazzling sparks spraying in all directions, with the crackling, sizzling noise of lit fireworks following a split-second thereafter. She looked back down at Trixie. “This Spectral Trick really did rub off on you, it seems.” “He did, and in a good way,” Trixie agreed. “When we meet again, I would be more than happy to tell you more about him, and my other two apprentices. Spectral Trick really did pull a fast one on me just now. Thanks to talking about him, I think I finally have the best way to send him and Trixie off once more!”