Villainy
Chapter 6: Hoofington
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Ten years ago
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Grayscale dodged as his opponent clumsily thrust a spear towards him, easily knocking it out of his opponent’s telekinetic grip with a well-placed kick. With a practiced movement, he tackled the pleading unicorn in front of him, striking his opponent’s horn hard enough to crack it. The unicorn howled in pain, and Grayscale’s own horn lit as he drew his sword. “Broken Chain, by order of Her Majesty Princess Celestia, for crimes against the crown including rebellion, murder, and sedition, you are under arrest.”
Around the shattered basement that the rebels had been hiding in, various members of the Royal Guard finished securing and extracting their new prisoners. As Broken Chain was dragged kicking and screaming away by one of Grayscale’s subordinates, a familiar light flooded the room. Grayscale instinctively turned and bowed to his monarch. “Princess Celestia, the rebels have all been accounted for.”
The ageless princess smiled in response, but her face was still tinged with sadness. “You have done well, as always, Captain. Did you know Broken Chain was once a good friend of mine? He has such a brilliant mind, and I know he could have been such a boon to society if he hadn’t resorted to violence. I never expected his resentment to go this far.”
Grayscale’s gaze fell to the ground. “Permission to speak freely, Your Majesty?”
Celestia nodded, her luminescent mane billowing in an astral breeze only she could perceive. “Speak your mind, Captain.”
“I...” Grayscale hesitated for a moment, before gathering his courage. “I feel that this could have been avoided if he had been allowed to speak his mind. Surely he could have been persuaded to drop his complaints. You have been ruling fairly and justly for time untold, and Equestria is prosperous for it.”
Celestia sighed. “Broken Chain meant well, he really did...Maybe I am partly to blame for this spiralling out of control.” Celestia drew in her breath, holding it for a moment before speaking. “At what point do I become a tyrant, Captain? Equestria exists in a state of harmony rivaled by no other nation on the planet, and it is my eternal shame to say that it is founded upon lies and enforced ignorance. I keep my little ponies blissfully unaware of most of the bad things that happen in Equestria, and their ignorance allows you to do your work with less obstruction. Many ponies could never turn to evil if they wanted to, simply because they do not know how, and you and I both work to keep this so. Criminals like Broken Chain never see the public eye, and their ideas stay with them. My subjects’ idea of dastardly is someone stealing a few bits from a vendor, not revolution or murder.” Celestia let out a hollow laugh, hanging her head low. “Maybe I am not so wise as my subjects have taught me to believe, but I am afraid, Captain. I am afraid that without me to guide them, my little ponies will sink into the same mire of chaos, infighting, and greed that allowed my predecessor, Discord to take control. Did you know that right before Discord came, ponies were experimenting with a form of democracy almost identical to his? They were so divided, so disharmonious, that any effort to form a united resistance to his tyranny came far, far too late. So many ponies died... I vowed I would never let that happen again.”
“But we have learned so much, and progressed so far since those times, Your Majesty,” replied Grayscale, doubt entering his timid voice. “I understand that the peace must be kept, but at what point are we worthy to choose our own fates? Your eye is watchful and wise, Your Majesty, but are we forever fated to be as children to be herded by a surrogate mother?”
“You have always been worthy,” whispered Celestia. “I’m so proud of my subjects, accomplishing so much in the time that I have been graced to rule this land. I want this peace that we have, this happiness and prosperity, to last as long as possible. I wrong my subjects by protecting them from themselves, but I... You haven’t met my pupil, have you? Twilight Sparkle, my pride and joy. I found her when she was but a filly, her flank having been marked before my very eyes. She’s a magical prodigy, and a brilliant mind even in her adolescence. I want...I need her to grow up in this land that we have now, this safe world of peace and happiness. My subjects deserve the right to choose their fates, but don’t they also deserve peace and prosperity?” Celestia used one of her wings to nudge Grayscale’s head upward. “I am far from as perfect as ponies say, but the least I can do for my subjects is give them long, happy, prosperous lives.”
Grayscale couldn’t meet her gaze. “Perhaps, if you trusted them a little more, they might have both.” Celestia had no response.
Grayscale left the ruined hideout hoping that nopony would notice the faint bulge of a new book in his armor's storage compartment.
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Present
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Hoofington stank of tourist trap. Trixie was relatively sure that this city was where wallets came to die. Grayscale had somehow pulled some strings to get her a relatively public performing avenue at the Redhorn Amphitheatre, a somewhat posh structure that was mildly famous for being the jumping point for pop sensation Sapphire Shores. Trixie was inclined to wonder how Grayscale had managed to secure her place there, but decided to cut that train of thought short before it took her mind to darker places.
Trixie had been wandering with Hurricane and Meteora around the city, the latter of which had been hopping around eagerly to see the sights. “I’ve never been to a place like this!” exclaimed Meteora. “There’s just so much to do, so much to see! Oh, I know, we should go to the Equestrian Museum of Musical History, and I heard that the park here has a garden second only to the palace! Or we could-” Meteora’s babbling was cut off as her brother’s hoof was unceremoniously stuffed into her mouth.
“I swear, I can’t take you anywhere,” sighed Hurricane, an undercurrent of resignation in his voice. “This is why we can’t have nice things. ‘Sides, we should leave it up to Miss Trixie here. It’s her show, after all.”
“All right...” replied Meteora, her ears drooping slightly.
Trixie put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, to be perfectly honest, it’s about time we got busy setting up the stage for later. Since we cannot get Trixie’s wagon inside the building, preparations must be made for the effects that are normally stored within it.” Trixie paused for a moment, smiling softly as Meteora’s gaze fell to the ground in disappointment. “If Trixie recalls, however, we will have a few hours after the show with which we can see the wonders of Hoofington.” Meteora beamed and practically leapt onto Trixie with a delighted squeak. Trixie simply laughed, unable to bring herself to mention how much substance the various tourist traps lacked.
Hurricane rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind her, Trixie. Manehattan was more business than pleasure when we grew up, so we didn’t really have many things like this city does, and she’s always been a child at heart.”
Trixie nodded. “Trixie can understand that, though Trixie shall always be a Canterlot girl at heart. Being so close to the Princesses brings in plenty of tourist traffic, so Trixie has always been accustomed to places such as this. In any case, it is high time that we got to work on Trixie’s show.”
- - - -
Twilight Sparkle stared at the polished marble floor of her mentor’s floor dejectedly. “I just don’t know what I did wrong. I tried to be friendly, I even salvaged her things from the wreckage of her old cart, and she just...” Twilight paused a moment to sniffle. “She just blew me off. She told me to go to Tartarus. I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”
Celestia stretched a comforting wing over her poor, naive, socially inexperienced student. Rejection was a lesson that she knew would come eventually to Twilight in her studies of friendship, and the immortal diarch was more than prepared to help her student through it personally, lest she risk Twilight returning to the reclusive ways of her childhood again. “Let your heart be at ease, my faithful student. It seems that Trixie has gone through some pretty rough times, and may need some time to heal. It wasn’t anything you did wrong. Despite the best efforts of myself and my sister, some ponies live to see their dreams crushed and their spirits sorely tested in the face of poverty. Unfortunately, not all ponies know of the government’s temporary work programs, or, perhaps in Trixie’s case, her pride simply refused help from another. There will be times that the magic of friendship isn’t enough to pierce through the defenses around another pony’s heart, and at these times, the most important thing is to not let the sting of any perceived failure poison your own heart.”
Twilight sighed, her ears drooping downward. “I know, Princess... I just can’t help but feel like I screwed it up somehow. I couldn’t let anyone get hurt by the Ursa, but I didn’t want to destroy Trixie’s career like that... Even the Foal Free Press was taking shots at her afterward.”
Celestia smiled sadly at her student. “You did the right thing by protecting your home and those around you. One of the harsh realities of life is that things beyond our control happen sometimes, and at those times, what matters is how we proceed forward, not how we acted in the past. You said that you left Trixie an offer to stop by Ponyville if she ever changed her mind. Perhaps one day she will act upon that offer, and at that point, you should be ready to help her in her healing journey. Perhaps more than any physical injury, it hurts most for a pony’s pride to become wounded, and I bet that right now Trixie is struggling to figure out what lies intact beneath her shattered ego. The time will come when she will need friends of her own to lend strength to her as she figures out who she really is beneath the performance. The most you can do is be there for her if she comes to you. If she doesn’t, do not blame yourself.”
Twilight nodded, wiping her eyes. “Thanks, Princess. I don’t know where I’d be without you... I probably better catch my train soon though, if I want to get back to Ponyville tonight.”
Celestia and Twilight exchanged hugs. “I know exactly where I’d be without ponies like you, Twilight,” muttered Celestia quietly to herself as the door shut behind her student. As Celestia turned back to the endless stacks of paperwork that seemed to haunt her more and more in the past few hundred years, she was startled out of her work by another knock on the door. “Come in,” she said wearily, not letting her annoyance at getting her work interrupted slip into her voice. The disruption was one of the Night Guards that she had assigned to helping her student find Trixie.
The Night Guard bowed professionally before speaking. “Your Majesty, I have additional information regarding Trixie Lulamoon.”
Celestia’s brow furrowed. “What more information could we need? My student has already met and spoken with her.”
“Well,” began the Night Guard, shifting uncomfortably, “something seemed amiss about the amount of wealth that she has recently come into possession of, so my partner did some digging. She found out that Trixie has recently been employed by a pony by the name of Grayscale. He’s been elusive thus far, but we’ve confirmed his cutie mark as being the missing former head of Undercover Operations.”
Celestia stared at the floor, deep in thought, for several moments. “Leave him be. The fault rests only with myself that he left. Mark him as pardoned for his desertion in my files, and let him live as he is. I cannot pray for forgiveness, but perhaps the best justice I can give him is an escape from the mistakes of an old mare. Thank you for the information, Lieutenant. If you would please, leave me be. I think I need some time to rest.”
“As you wish, your Majesty.” The Night Guard wore a concerned expression, but said nothing else before departing.
- - - -
Trixie and Meteora were in high spirits when the performance ended, and even Hurricane seemed almost ready to crack a smile here and there as the trio’s conversation shifted from topic to topic. “So, I heard, somepony in Chicacolt invented a carriage that can move by itself!” exclaimed Meteora.
Trixie snorted. “Preposterous. No come-to-life spell can last that long.”
Meteora nodded rapidly in confirmation. “I’m serious. Somepony figured out how to shrink those steam catalysts that are enchanted for factories and stuck it in a carriage. I bet that-”
Meteora stopped suddenly as Hurricane tapped her shoulder. “Don’t look now, but we’re being followed. Act naturally.”
Shortly after they rounded the corner into the alley where Trixie’s wagon was parked, two stallions appeared. One of them was a pegasus, who appeared to be in the process of affixing two bladed metal harnesses to his wings. The other was a unicorn, who was casually loading a bolt into a crossbow that had a spiked lath. The unicorn was the first to speak. “Oh, we were told you’d be alone, Miss Trixie. Not like it’ll matter in about a minute or so.”
Trixie’s facial expression turned to panic as the three friends slowly retreated toward the wagon. “W-what do you want with Trixie?”
The pegasus laughed, responding with a thick country drawl. “Awww, it ain’t nothin’ personal, Miss Trixie, we just need to send your pal Grayscale a little reminder about his place in the world. The boss pony wants the head of his little rising star to get the message across, along with a few ponies tomorrow for good measure. Hope you don’t take it too personal, business is business. Now, why don’t y’all hold still and we’ll make it quick and painful?”
Hurricane was the first to move, bucking a nearby trash can at the unicorn, who flinched as he was firing the crossbow, causing the shot to go wild. Trixie screamed and bolted for the wagon. Meteora was following closely behind Hurricane as he charged the two assailants, his expression grim as he ducked under the bladed wing of the pegasus and tackled the unicorn, who was was trying to reload. The two rolled across the cobblestones, slamming into the nearby wall as they wrestled. Close by, Meteora was bobbing between swings of the pegasus’ blades, occasionally slipping a jab in where she could, to little effect against her bulkier opponent.
Trixie watched on with mute horror as her mind went blank, unable to tear her eyes away from the fight in front of her. She was barely aware that her name was being called, like an echo gradually increasing in volume until she was finally startled out of her shock by Hurricane. “Trixie! Trixie! Celestia damnit, we could use a little help!”
“I-I...” Trixie stammered as she saw Hurricane’s opponent begin to take the upper hand.
“The mirror, Trixie! Remember the mirror!” Meteora called out, still more than occupied with her own attacker.
Finally spurred into action, Trixie tilted the mirror with her magic, reaching out to the first weapon she saw as the compartment opened. Trixie hesitated as she hefted the crossbow. “Trixie, hurry up please! Any second now!” Hurricane had been pinned and was barely keeping the unicorn from shoving the spikes attached to the crossbow into his throat.
Trixie began to hyperventilate, seizing up for several seconds. “Celestia help me,” she whimpered, and finally pulled the trigger. A sickening thud later, and the unicorn slumped to the ground, his breath rattling as he weakly tried to extract the bolt from his throat. After a few more moments of futile struggle and a gurgling cough, Hurricane finally tossed the corpse to the side and moved to help Meteora. Time seemed to stand still for Trixie as she stared blankly ahead at the body in front of her, and she slumped to the ground as if it had been her hit by the bolt.
“Trixie!” Meteora frowned as she tried to shake Trixie out of her enraptured state. “Trixie! Come on! We won, but we gotta get out of here. They know about the raid tomorrow. Trixie! Trixie...” At that point, Trixie couldn’t hear anything over the rushing in her ears and the churning of her stomach. Without further ceremony, Trixie surrendered to the darkness clawing at her vision.