//------------------------------//
// Mare in The Moon (Part 5) 
// Story: Home Reversal 
// by cloudedguardian 
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	Unknown to Trixie, her loud gasp of revelation earlier had caught the attention of a certain pride-bruised alicorn who had stuck around long enough to see if she truly had been forgotten. It was much to her delight to hear that not only had Celestia immortalized their fight as a well-beloved fairytale, but that somehow, Destiny had written a way for Nightmare Moon to discover a precious student of Celestia’s… Who was about to run head first into the Everfree. 
This was going to be dreadfully fun.


Trixie stared into the darkened depths of the trees before her. Her heart pounded out a panicked tune that sung about the many different reasons why she should just go home and wait for Celestia to sort everything out, and that this was a very stupid idea in every sense of the word. Trixie knew, however, that this time Celestia could very well be unable to do anything, could very well be in trouble herself. Otherwise, why would she have waited this long? No, the Celestia Trixie knew would have stepped in the second that Nightmare Moon had returned. Something was wrong with this whole situation, and Trixie was positive that stopping Nightmare Moon would make things right once more.
That didn’t stop her knees from knocking.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” She muttered to herself, shooting a look over her shoulder to the empty streets behind. “Trixie is not this much of a coward. I can do this. I have to do this.”
With a final gulp, Trixie took one shaky step after another, and slowly her soft blue figure disappeared into the gloom of the trees.

Several minutes passed as she stepped quickly through the forest, her ears flat against her head as her hooves cracked the old wood and bark that coated the forest floor underneath the thick layers of moss. There was only a few small paths that still remained from the olden days, and they were often hard to find among the rubble and where nature had reclaimed its land. She had only been at this for a little while, and already Trixie felt as if her nerves had been run through a wood chipper. Every time she snapped another twig, hidden by moss or shadows, it took all her being not to jump, and every hoot or hiss from the nearby animals brought her fur to end.
“I-I wonder if any ponies have ever come in here before?” Trixie muttered to herself, trying to think of anything other than what those two glowing orange eyes ahead could belong to.
As she passed it, it turned out to be two large fragments of amber in a rather strange and fierce necklace that was tangled in nearby vines. Although there was no sign of hide or hair of its previous owner, a new question still arose.
“Perhaps I should be worrying about whether anypony has ever come out…”
Trixie suppressed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the trees and onto a clearing in the form of a mountainous path. Despite the strange purple mist that was drifting about, the area felt far safer than the thick trees behind, as the light of the moon eased her fear with its gentle glow. 
Unfortunately for Trixie, nothing is as it seems, and she would have most likely been safer back in the trees with the beasts. She had only moved a few feet forward, to the widest part of the mountains path, when a deafening crack echoed through the air, the dust that suddenly arose from around her as the rocks split into fragments and dust, her only warning before the whole side of the mountain she was on broke away.
A scream escaped her lips as the path under foot broke into pieces and left her tumbling down the rocky side of the mountains along with several small boulders. Her horn lit in time to raise a shield to protect her from the shattering stones around her that almost seemed to be actively seeking to kill her. Adrenaline pumping, Trixie struggled to gain any amount of footing. After what felt like forever as well as a single heartbeat,  she managed to hook her front hoof around a stone that was embedded deep into the mountain, forcing herself to a stop. She winced heavily as a sharp pain shot up her foreleg, her rear legs scrambling to get her to her hooves. Although she wasn’t quite successful, she was able to pull herself forward enough to grab a thick tree root that was nearby, giving herself a somewhat more stable place to rest.
“That… Was far too close.” Trixie breathed, still shaking as her heartbeat continued to pound almost painfully away.
It was a long time before she had regained enough composure to think straight, at which point a rather important question arose.
“How am I going to get down?”

The “How” was of course needlessly complicated, but perhaps one cannot blame her for that, as ruffled and confused as she was… All the same, after a series of teleportation and stabilization spells that left Trixie feeling light-headed and tired, her hooves were safely on the ground once more, the path ahead leading towards the castle once again.
Trixie shook her head rapidly as she tried to clear the fog that settled about it. Trying to take a step forward dispelled it with ease as pain shot up her leg and brought tears to her eyes. It was now quite obvious that she had sprained her fetlock during the fall.
“There’s nothing I can do about you, is there…” She muttered, her leg reflexively pulling the sore hoof off the ground, just to be glared at by the flustered mare.
Trixie grimaced slightly, before resolutely putting her injury out of her mind. I can tend to it once this is all over. She huffed, forcing herself forward towards the ancient castle again, a pronounced limp now in her gait. 
She didn’t get farther than a hundred feet at best when a thundering roar echoed out around her.
“Oh. Pony feathers.” Trixie whimpered, as a hulking shadow rose up before her.
The manticore gave a terrifying snarl as it lunged forward to pin the blue pony beneath it’s massive paws… Just to discover she was no longer there. She was no longer anywhere. The manticore’s angry growl did not diminish in volume nor strength as it looked about for the pony it though was the source of its pain. It sniffed deeply, trying to find where the pony had gone off too, just as she snuck by it, tears welling in her eyes as she suppressed her limp to sneak as quietly as possible.
She had never expected that the invisibility spell she had learned years ago for a prank would ever truly come into use. For that matter, she never would have expected that the studies she did on ancient monsters would ever come into play either. Manticores were primarily reliant on their spectacular eyesight, with which they could see even in pitch-black darkness, so hopefully she could get far enough way with this spell to escape before he caught her scent. A second, slightly triumphant snarl caught her ears, declaring that she had better hope that the fifty feet she had gained was enough.
The manticore’s wings unfolded, slamming the air like a drum as they came down in a lunge that slammed the lion-like creature only a few feet away from the now full-out fleeing unicorn. Trixie was galloping like her life depended on it, which, really, it probably was. Her horn started to glow once more as she began to draw upon her magic, not yet even having a spell in mind. It was a foolish thing to do, but such things as common sense and logic often take a back seat to fear and desperation in situations such as this one. Trixie’s mind whirled even as pain shot up her leg repeatedly as she landed heavily again and again on her injured hoof. I need a spell, any spell, come on Trixie! THINK! She pleaded with herself, her horn growing hot as the magic began to build up in it. Brambles caught her fur as she stumbled once more into the clinging darkness of the trees, the manticore still hot on her tail. 
She turned and swerved, diving in among strange willows in a desperate hope to lose the angry beast behind her. On and on, hooves slamming against the ground with all their might, all in what felt like a futile effort to lose the monster behind her, whose every step almost seemed to shake the ground below. As she continued to flee, the trees themselves began to block her path, growing dark and terrifying in their own right.  At first Trixie was sure it was her imagination, panic and adrenaline twisting reality… But as the shadows grew thicker, and branches turned to talons, eyes began to glow, and fangs beginning to show, she realized that perhaps she had somehow run straight into a nightmare.
As the world twisted itself darker and darker, fear grew until she could only think of one thing. She wanted light. Anything to dispel the darkness, and give her but a whisper of safety. In her desperate desire, she reached for her illumination spell, not realizing that it would react violently with all the magic she had already called up.
The forest grew blindingly bright with a slamming bang as the basic spell and built-up magic combined in an effect much like a flash-bang grenade. The manticore gave a half strangled mew as it slammed on the brakes and turned away from the dazzling magical blaze, before turning tail and fleeing from the noise and painful light.
In the following silence that trailed her magical outburst, Trixie collapsed to gasp for her air, a now pounding headache adding to her already vast collection of aches and pains. I’m only half-way there at this point. Perhaps this really was a dumb idea. She thought feebly, just about ready to give-up altogether. Then, a single memory came to mind, forcing her resolution and determination back with an almost choking strength;
That one night, when a storm blotted out all light from star and moon, bringing the fear of darkness to add to the already clinging panic that a foal’s nightmare had created… That one night where Celestia held her close and reassured her, as even her own mother wouldn’t. Lulamoon had always said that Trixie had to face her own fears to be a proper lady, and would send her unceremoniously back to bed… Celestia didn’t though. In all her foalish fears, Celestia had just wrapped her in the soft white wings of her and hummed. All she said was, “It’s alright… I’m here…” And that in turn, was all Trixie had needed.
Lilac eyes flared open as Trixie struggled to her hooves once more. If this one time, Celestia needed her, then whether it was in success or failure, she would be there for Celestia. 











A/N: Really I had intended this to be the last chapter for "Mare in The Moon" but after being unable to write it for so long, it seems that inspiration has OTHER ideas. I'm sure you guys don't mind a little extra reading material, eh?