I Tried To Be Someone Else, But Nothing Seemed To Change, I Know Now, This Is Who I Really Am Inside
A/N: Tonight is the biggest chapter to date. Not in size, of course, but in meaningfulness. I hope that you all enjoy it, but by that I hope that you enjoy the story in a manner other than just "Yay, everything is happy and awesome" way. Not that kind of enjoy, the kind where you finish watching Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet and are like "That was good, even if it was depressing".
So, with that out of the way, special thanks to Mewaponny, Deadinlight, SilentMech, Amethyst Blade, kojivsleo, Ally of the Daleks, ErekLich, Killabyte, Ketvirtas, and Ozymandias42 for your thoughts and comments last chapter, and I hope to continue hearing from you all as we bring this story to a close!
Chapter title is from "The Kill" from 30 Seconds to Mars, which is a song I thought about while writing this chapter like most of the others where I use them as the chapter title. I suggest giving it a listen. 
So, I hope you all enjoy, and please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!
“Fandral!”
The member of the former cadre of warriors known as Lady Sif and the Warriors Three had been helping the wounded at the Coliseum when he heard his name called. Without Thor or the others to place value in him, he was just like any other Asgardian and so he was busy doing the semi-menial task of helping out those in need. Not that he minded, of course, as he was just happy that he himself survived the whole ordeal.
So, when he turned around just in time to be both tackled and hugged by someone he thought dead, he was taken aback.
“You’re…”
Sonata was absolutely beaming as she squeezed him as tightly as she could manage. Blood still marred her shirt where she had been struck by the axe, but outside of that she appeared no worse for wear. She was alive, something Fandral had previously considered himself lucky to be.
Sonata brought her face down into Fandral’s chest and let out a content breath. She had not expected to be brought back to life, but she did get a glimpse at how, “That hot Elf guy brought everyone who was dead back to life!”
She took a quick glance to the side to see that one of Thanos’s soldiers still lay dead on the ground. But, given that it appeared almost like a metal machine rather than a normal living organism she couldn’t exactly say it was alive to begin with, and she had not the philosophical mind to debate the subject of what constituted “alive”.
“Well, almost everyone, but I don’t think anybody misses them…”
Fandral didn’t mind the revelation that she was alive, or the feeling of her pressing up against him given his perverted nature, but he was perplexed. Okay, so the aide of Trixie was the only one who was an Elf to his knowledge, and he could revive the dead now? How long had he been holding that trick up his sleeve? And if he revived everyone except those who they were fighting, why was it that Sonata was here now and alive?
He had personally seen her less evil side, but how did the Elf know?
“If he wasn’t reviving villains…” he trailed off, a part of him hoping that everyone was revived who wasn’t Thanos or his men…but that would mean that Tirek, who was deceased, would be alive too. Unless an exception was made for him, but if exceptions were being made why would Sonata be alive in this instance? Did they bring her back by accident or by design?
Sonata didn’t have the capacity to understand the issue or what Fandral was partly concerned about but mostly grateful for, “I think he took pity on me or something, but whatever the case, I’m alive now!”
In the end, Fandral dismissed the issue with a smile. What mattered was that this woman had come back to life after dying to save him. While he was furious she had been a traitor, he could not bring himself to hate the dimwitted woman, “You saved my life.”
“After you saved mine,” Sonata murmured, her eyes growing softer as her face morphed into one of grief. She had done it because she cared about him, just like she would have done it once for two others, “You’re my only friend…”
Seeing how she was beginning to think about her less scrupulous companions who stabbed her in the back, Fandral decided to steer the topic away from them. They could address that issue another day.
“Let’s find you a place to rest, milady. I hear that dying takes a toll on people.”
If Kael knew that reviving Sonata would come back to bite him in the end, he never said so, though it’s entirely possible he knew that she could still play a role in their story and went out of his way to revive her for that reason.
Adagio was slumped against a wall when she was found by Trixie. Kael was busy reviving the dead with the Infinity Gem he possessed and so that left Trixie to handle other business alone.
“Come to kill me too?” Adagio sighed. She had heard the fighting, she had heard the yelling, the explosions. It wasn’t hard to surmise that the threats were no more, given the brutality of it all.
Trixie blankly looked at the Siren with no notable expression on her muzzle. Given the lack of response, Adagio winced and thought about the pain she was likely about to feel. Still, it beat the screaming in her mind. It beat the sick feeling in her abdomen as she thought every moment about what she had done. Thinking back on it all, it was like a dream. A dream where she was drunk on power and victory, where all that mattered was herself and her own petty desires.
“I wouldn’t blame you…in fact, I welcome it.”
That surprised Trixie to hear, though she again said nothing. It seemed like Adagio had more to say, and there was plenty going on in Trixie’s mind to keep her from saying anything yet. So much to consider. So much to repress. So much to decide.
“Aria’s fighting my control. They always do, but this time I can’t overpower her completely…” Adagio brought her left hand down to her body and winced again while her right arm lay limply to her side, “I’ve never taken someone’s life and power when they were my near equal. I never…I never had someone so strong willed they could fight back this hard. Oh Aria…”
Trixie could hear the regret. She hated Adagio for how power hungry and manipulative she tried to be for evil goals, but the regret noticeable in her voice made up Trixie’s mind.
“I am not so far gone as to deny you mercy, as befitting of a victor to give a foe post-defeat. I will take you to Tartarus, a prison for beings such as yourself. You will live there the rest of your life. You won’t hurt anyone else ever again.”
Trixie made sure to remove the magical necklace that helped store power for Adagio, only to notice she was wearing two now. It seemed that she had needed Aria’s as well, bringing Trixie’s mind back to how she herself had lost the tool she needed to wield the Aether.
The Infinity Gauntlet was gone. Pieces remained and with enough time perhaps someone could fix it, but she needed it now. She had her own considerable power, the Aether, the Nightmare power, Adagio’s power, Aria’s power, the crowd’s power taken by both Sirens, Celestia’s power also taken by them, had absorbed what Tirek had taken which included Discord’s and the audience’s powers as well as Sonata’s, she had absorbed the energy pouring off of Thanos in their encounter to counter him and keep herself going, and now she had no ultimately powerful tool to keep it all in check.
“I have a feeling you will regret your life choices soon enough.”
Adagio scoffed at Trixie’s words. She knew something the others didn’t then.
“As if you’re any better…”
“Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!”
The cheering had continued even on into Canterlot, where all the leaders returned to after the events. Everyone broke off and went their own way to handle this matter or another upon arriving, but Celestia and Twilight had stayed together for the sole purpose of Twilight wanting to speak about something very important with her mentor.
As they reached Canterlot Castle Celestia began to take in all the damage that had been wrought upon the structure in her short absence. Luna must have been quite busy when she confronted the riot.
Still, it was Twilight who was receiving the praise. She was the Celestia of this age, the public icon and sweetheart who people looked up to and loved. While Twilight had indeed fought and helped, both she and Celestia knew there were others far more deserving of the good will being bestowed upon them.
The fact that Twilight was not reveling in the cheering pleased Celestia though, because her student had not humored the crowds, which may have in turn caused bad blood between her and those who actually saved the day, “It’s good that you aren’t encouraging their cheering. It could cause future resentment from the mare who will be Luna’s replacement one day.”
“I haven’t really been paying attention to them to be honest…” Twilight admitted, her mind having solely been focused on the other new princess of sorts, “Princess Celestia, I’m…” she struggled to find the words to say even though she had been considering this topic for quite some time, “I’m…worried about Trixie.”
That was a very serious topic to bring up, though Twilight likely had no idea the severity of her words to Celestia. The eldest ruler of Equestria still remembered the last time she said something negative about Trixie around Luna, as well as the death threat that followed.
There had best be a good reason to bring up such a thing, so Celestia decided to inquire as to what her pupil had in her mind, “Why Twilight?”
Twilight had a good enough reason though for her worries. She had seen Trixie explode on Adagio and beat her down with a fury that belied greater issues than just the problem at hand at the time.
In fact, Twilight had been scared to follow her into battle with Tirek and Thanos because of that fact, and had instead helped with the situation in the coliseum because she was worried Trixie might perhaps continue taking out her anger in less than healthy ways. She had even saved someone she hadn’t seen in awhile because of this, but that was neither here nor there. If she hadn’t saved him though he most certainly would not have been among those returned to life, though there was no way of knowing this at the time.
Twilight had a theory behind it all though. She had once fought Trixie long ago when Trixie was corrupted by the power of the Alicorn Amulet, long before Luna even took Trixie under her wing. If that taught Twilight anything it was that power could truly corrupt, especially when its source was a tainted one.
“I think that she’s struggling right now with the power of the Aether, and she seems to have issues outside of just the villains we’ve encountered. Luna should know—”
Celestia curtly cut her off. She had learned from experience that saying your mind on such matters would not go over well, and that a more gentle, subtle approach was warranted, “Twilight, I do not think this is the time to talk to Luna about such a matter. After all we’ve all been through I think it might be best if you give this a day or two.”
“But…” Twilight complained, not wanting to contradict Celestia but also not really agreeing with her about the solution presented.
“Twilight, Luna loves Trixie and if you approach her saying that you believe her student and daughter is unwell mentally, you will be quite lucky to only be laughed off. I for one would like to see my daughter and wind down without someone blowing something up in anger.”
Hearing this confused Twilight somewhat, but this was only because she was not present when Celestia and Luna had their last spat.
Celestia thought it best if she clued Twilight in on her own hesitation to be up front about any issues she had. Twilight couldn’t possibly be hurt by knowing the truth after all, right? If it meant she wouldn’t step on any landmines, it would be for the best.
“When you fought against Trixie last, Luna threatened my life for daring to imply that she was using Trixie as a tool. Her mind was corrupted back then, as it was for quite some time, but it is a complicated issue and must be dealt with in a calm, diplomatic matter over time. Addressing it head on will only serve to further the rift between us all, a rift that has for some time been closed.”
Twilight remembered how on-edge the two sisters had been that day, though luckily it had been diffused in the end and everyone was happy.
Not wanting to be the one to ruin the social situation between them all, Twilight found herself discouraged from approaching the others about this as much as it sat wrong with her.
“I understand, Princess…”
This done, Celestia left Trixie behind to visit her daughter and relax for the rest of the day. She had been through quite the ordeal and felt drained, though she believed it to be because of the fight she had been forced to partake in against Trixie and Twilight rather than because of a huge piece of her power just being gone entirely.
Alone, Twilight began to walk around the outskirts of the castle, not entering in case she ran into Trixie, Luna, or Loki. She feared she might spill the beans and let loose her doubts and fears.
This location was perfect for her to be found though, as after she stewed and contemplated her thoughts a little more someone approached her.
“Still curious?”
Twilight looked to the side to see that Prince Blueblood was back as well. He had been saved by Twilight when she opted to not help Trixie and instead help the ponies in the stadium, the so called Prince first having snuck into the event despite having been told not to come. He had yet to be found and thrown out by the time everything went to hell, and so he was still there when Thanos’s army came and tried to execute everyone.
Twilight had saved him because she saw it as her duty as a princess, but she despised him as a pony. She knew how rude he could be after hearing stories from her friend Rarity, and her own encounters with him prior to his fleeing the country were always grating.
“Blueblood…” Twilight groaned. She hadn’t expected to see him, nor did she want to. Sure, he owed her, but it really would have been best if he didn’t.
The smarmy stallion smiled at her and gave a small bow to her, “I think for saving me I ought to show you some form of gratitude, so let me help you. We do share a common interest after all.”
Common interest? Twilight narrowed her eyes at him, her mind highly suspicious of him and whatever he had in mind. What was he talking about?
“I did not save you for any personal reason,” she sighed as she gave in to him in an attempt to be polite, “But what do you want to tell me?”
“Oh, nothing too much…” he lied, his face still smug as he shrugged, “Just that Trixie has some very interesting books in her room from what I hear…”
Twilight paused. This was definitely feeding into her craving for knowledge surrounding her former rival, but she only cared out of concern. Blueblood seemed to be out to besmirch her name. Still, if it helped explain anything Twilight would not exactly object to hearing all the facts…
“There’s also how she seemed to be affiliated with the singers who recently tried to bring harm to us all, but ended up fighting them. An interesting thing to keep in mind,” Blueblood continued as he noticed Twilight grow interested in what he had to say.
Despite her own interest though, Twilight did not want this to continue. She had internally bit the bait, but she no longer wanted to hear him slander Trixie, “Blueblood, go away. Trixie’s just been having a rough time and I want to help her. What you’re implying is slanderous and I won’t have any part in it.”
“But aren’t you curious? If not, I suppose I’ll just go and talk to her myself. She and I have so much to catch up on!”
Twilight didn’t even watch him leave or listen to him. His words had struck a cord in her…
Something was wrong, and she was going to figure it out before anything else could go wrong.
Elsewhere on the castle grounds were Luna and Loki, both of whom were barely standing after everything they had been forced to survive through, and yet either of them could hardly be happier. While soured somewhat by everything from the day, they were no longer under the shadow of Thanos. They could live happily with the knowledge that they had defeated the strongest threat in existence, and that they could now focus on being a family and living their lives in that manner without any powerful outside threat looming over them.
Luna had powered through strikes that ought to have killed her outright, yet with enough healing she managed to stumble forth through the castle while Loki used her as a way to keep himself upright. He too had been crushed and maimed, even more so, though his affliction assisted in this would be issue.
“Loki, I need to rest…” Luna coughed up as the two took a moment to rest. There was going to be a lot of work to do again rebuilding after the battle much like with the Dark Elf invasion, but that could wait long enough for Luna to sleep off her pain.
Loki ushered her on towards their room, though he did not follow in her footsteps, “Go to bed and recover. I can handle the immediate oversight here, and then I will join you.”
Luna turned around to kiss him, not caring that she was still in her equine body, “I love you.”
Loki brought a hand to the top of her large skull as she nuzzled against his face, his other hand wrapping around her back and neck to embrace her, “I love you too.”
When the two parted ways and Luna was finally about to head to her room a voice brought her to a stop.
“And here I thought love was my specialty.”
Luna turned around to see Cadance smiling at and approaching her, the pink princess of the Crystal Empire seeing Luna for the first time in many months.
“Oh, Cadance. Did you come when you heard there was a problem?” Luna gave a weak laugh as she thought about how Cadance may have been helpful to have with them. After all, the princess had the overpowered ability to make people love eachother. Perhaps it might not have worked on someone as powerful as Thanos, but having her certainly wouldn’t have hurt.
“Oh, yes, I was quite worried,” Cadance said with some exaggeration on the last word, though Luna did not catch it in her daze.
“I am thankful that you came to aid us, but we have handled all the possible threats we could have in a lifetime in a day. You should return to your empire and—”
Cadance had continued to approach Luna as the elder mare spoke, and given that there was no-one but the exhausted Luna around there was no-one to notice the sneer forming on her face as Luna spoke.
Because of this, when Luna found herself suddenly impaled by a jagged horn unlike Cadance’s it was a complete surprise.
“I heard there were problems, that you all nearly died and were exhausted…” the so-called Cadance whispered before shifting into all out taunting, “What better time to take advantage of a situation and finish all of you pathetic meddlers while you are too weak to fight back?”
The pink form of Cadance disappeared and became replaced by that of Chrystalis, still alive and having returned after her defeat so long ago.
“Chrysalis…” Luna coughed up blood as she prepared herself for a fight.
If she had not been stalled on her way to the residential ward, perhaps things may have gone differently.
Yet another pair of royalty was in the castle after splitting away from the others, though these two were in complete silence. Trixie had been sitting in her room and been hiding away from everyone else after the battle, her eyes a cross between wide and weak as she felt more power churning inside of her than she ever thought possible.
Standing at the door and keeping guard to make sure no-one disturbed her was Kael, who after quite some time broke the silence.
“Trixie, you need to—”
He was silenced without Trixie moving a hoof or even looking at him.
“Quiet. I know what I ought to do…I don’t need to tell myself that…” she let out an amused sigh, “I talk to myself enough as it is…”
Focusing on keeping herself in check, on not losing control, was barely yielding any results. The Aether was too much for her to control, but over time she was at least able to tame how it changed her. In fact it was what spurred her to initiate the plan that had its first stage completed today, of putting on the greatest show ever…
Only for Twilight to take the credit—Trixie shook her head. No, it wasn’t Twilight…it was those idiots who would forever undervalue Trixie and instead sing the praises of Twilight no matter the situation. She had gotten her own dosage of this when she defeated Twilight in combat, but that was temporary fame and adoration. She knew who the public truly loved, and it wasn’t her.
She tried to be the good student to Luna…she tried being the good leader for the people of Equestria…she tried being a good daughter to fill a hole in her life she had had since she was a child. But none of it mattered. She was nothing, and the person she tried to be did not matter at all to the others around her.
Celestia and Luna, Thor and Loki…Twilight and Trixie.
Luna broke under the pressure of her own envy and depression, Loki had broke under his own envy and seemingly death seeking ways…
A part of her had planned for this. But she wasn’t like them. She wasn’t going to let envy drive her to ignobly seize power and harm the ones she loved…
Trixie felt herself begin to cry again as she thought about what she had planned as her way out of this downward spiral. It was a single object, a single thing that could have tamed the beast swelling within her these many months, threatening to rip out of her and lash out at everyone at every given second and turn.
“I needed that Gauntlet…” Trixie was hollowed and emptied by how she would never be able to speak to her mother again. She had spoken to Loki after he lost Odin in the same way, and it seemed that there was no soul left after those weapons went off. Nothing to go to Hel, or the good equivalent of Valhalla. Loki did not have firsthand experience with the latter, but he had sighed when he explained that his father should have been there, but that he never would be able to join other good people and champions in that world.
“Mother, you saved me, but…”
It’s time.
Trixie shook her head at the sound of the voice in her head, refusing to listen to it, “No. I know I set things up to carry on from here, but I…”
You know you crave it as much as any of them once did.
“I…” she sobbed, “I can’t…”
It’s easy. Just let go.
“No!” Trixie finally shouted, losing her depressed expression and gaining one of fury in its place, “I can keep control. I don’t need that device to keep my power in check! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie. I won’t let it change me, I won’t fall to the power of an artifact ever again! I couldn’t overcome the Alicorn Amulet, but I’m different now! Even then I was able to restrain myself to avoid doing anything irreversible, and I can do the same now with the Aether. I can overcome the Nightmare power Luna failed to!”
You’ve already changed. You just refuse to see it. Just let go.
“Be quiet! Shut up! I am not…”
Trixie took a deep breath in. No…she would not give in to the temptations that clouded her mind. She would not be like all the others in her place.
She stood up and had to take deep breaths to keep herself from caving in on herself and crumbling to the ground in misery. Her body was searing and her mind had grown hazier as the day had come to its close.
“I need to calm down…”
She could have visited Luna, but the Princess was the last person Trixie wanted to see to calm down. There was too much emotion tied into even the thought of Luna for Trixie to consider going to her.
There were others though…in fact, there were two in particular who wouldn’t judge her…wouldn’t talk down to her, wouldn’t see her as pathetic.
Sleep Near and Hela would love her no matter what, because newborn foals weren’t jaded or corrupted like everyone else. Even the thought of the two innocent beings helped calm Trixie down, so it was with this in mind that she decided to pay them a visit.
“My good sir, I am looking for a certain pony who wrongfully considers herself a princess. Could you be of assistance in helping me locate her?”
“Trixie might be with her family.”
“She’s not at her room, she’s not with Luna, and she’s not with that outsider Ikol or whatever his name is,” Blueblood muttered to himself, “Where else could she be here?”
“Visiting her newborn siblings, my Prince.”
“Bring me to them.”
Had there been a less lax security force that day Blueblood would never have been able to enter the building. He wouldn’t have been able to find a guard who was nursing a variety of injuries under and over his orange fur and who wasn’t in the greatest states of mind.
The issue noticed and observed earlier that day by Luna and many others would finally come back to bite them.
When Trixie left her room she had left the door open, her mind too scattered and distracted to focus on such simple things as shutting a door. This would otherwise be cured by having someone else with her like Kael, but he had similarly left it open when he followed Trixie as a silent sentinel.
This meant that anyone who so pleased could stroll on in, and so while she felt bad about it Twilight did so. She needed to figure out this mystery so she could solve whatever was going on before it erupted and became a big issue. She was the Princess of Friendship, and so it was her duty to make sure rifts and issues would not interfere with their everyday lives. She had been so busy in Ponyville she had not noticed anything arising in Canterlot, yet now she had the chance to possibly help out and prevent another in-fight.
What she found made her go from worried to frightened gradually as she looked at every single word on the papers she found.
“Bifrost books…Ancient Equestrian Threats…The Art of Mind Control…” she gasped as she found what appeared to be designs to accompany the texts, “Are these blueprints?”
Twilight put everything down as she shuddered at a dark thought that just crept into her mind.
“Trixie, what have you done?”
It took some time, but Trixie managed stumble her way to the nursery. While harmed physically that day and having used a lot of energy, her wounds were healed and exhaustion alone would not make her falter while walking. It was the heaviness of what was on her mind that caused her to sway back and forth and even crash into the wall on occasion.
When she reached her destination she pushed the door open and let out a content breath. She could relax here.
Scootaloo had since left, and when she did so the guard she defeated in combat had been removed. If he had been left there, Blueblood wouldn’t have a guide, but Trixie didn’t know of any of that.
Their cribs kept the infants out of view from Trixie in the doorway, but she could hear their soft breathing. They were asleep, or just being mute as Hela was prone to being, but that was just fine.
Trixie approached one crib and looked in with a smile. Below her was the pale little girl who, in a different time, would become a sadistic monster born from tragedy. This was the baby who could become that, but that didn’t mean she would be…
Trixie brought a hand down to brush against the silent, sleeping infant’s face. The only noise she let out was that of the air releasing from her body. With a dark green blanket draped over her it appeared that Loki had made sure she was comfortable, since green was only his color.
Well, it was all of theirs in a way because of the saying “green with envy”, but Luna preferred her black and blue, and Trixie was blue and purple.
“Hela…”
How that name brought pain to Trixie…only to vanish as soon as Trixie repeated the mantra that this was a different girl. This wasn’t the one who tortured her and so many people. This was a sweet, innocent girl who would one day be the best daughter Luna could hope for.
Feeling less on the edge, Trixie turned to face the other infant in the room, Sleep Near. Scootaloo had taken her own sister with her when she left to meet up with Rainbow Dash, and Celestia had taken Ataxia for a nap in her own room along with the newly returned Discord. This meant they had the room all to themselves, sans the quiet presence of Kael standing vigilantly behind Trixie.
“Sleep Near…” Trixie sighed as she looked down at the foal who had too many limbs. He was surely going to be made fun of in the future, but hopefully he wouldn’t give in to his own grief like his parents had when they were ostracized. A family of pariahs, that they were, and any who would say otherwise were deluding themselves. One day they might be loved like others, but they did not have the natural draw and pull their counterparts had.
Sleep Near was a good person even in the reality Hela was twisted in, which meant that in this better one he was likely going to be even better. Luna would have two children who were great and would love her, and that thought made Trixie want to give up everything in her soul to be a part of.
“You will grow up and be perfect. I know you will.”
She paused and looked down away from them. They wouldn’t remember any of this, but she had always been keeping record of what she was doing so it perhaps wouldn’t matter.
She wanted only one thing as much as she wanted to be with them, and that is what she was struggling with. There was no way to have both.
“I…I’m…”
“No better than that deceased whore who you called mother.”
Trixie’s heart jolted at the voice.
No…it couldn’t be…
She turned around slowly as her body froze up. Not him…not now…
When Trixie turned to face Blueblood she lost the warmness and kindness in her voice. He was standing right in the doorway with a guard behind him lazily, though Blueblood corrected this by shutting the door and creating a sense of privacy.
“You,” Trixie snarled. She wanted to hurt him for everything his father did now that he said those words. She had no faith in this fool. She didn’t think that he had it in him to be any better than what he proved himself to be thus far.
If he wasn’t her brother, she may have killed him outright for his callous statement towards her mother.
The stallion did not appear to be put off by her anger, as if he didn’t care and even expected it, “Yes, it is I, Prince Blueblood in the flesh, returning after a disgraceful exile brought about by you and your disgusting mentor. At least, disgusting is the word I believe most would use to describe any mare who would create those half-breeds you call siblings.”
Trixie shook her head back and forth while growling at him, “Shut up, you insolent, recalcitrant foal.”
“Did I hit a nerve? What, are you mad that your mother was nothing more than some abusive, drunken whore? That your so called siblings are half-breeds who will one day be as depraved as their mother, father, and sister,” he mocked with a sneer towards the infants in the room.
“Shut up or—”
His verbal barrage had been planned and he would not let her interrupt his moment of payback for what she did to him. He had spent months studying her, looking into her life, and now it was time to make her cry and whimper, “Or what? I’m a Prince, and you are just the adopted daughter of a traitor,” he returned to his planned words and even began approaching Trixie with the same smug look on his face as when he and her first met, “And actual daughter of the lowest part of our society. I am surprised you ever managed to amount to anything with such a pathetic mother.”
That was enough to set Trixie off and bring up something she had been trying to hide from herself for over a year.
“Well it certainly wasn’t because of our father!”
What should have been a shocking revelation instead only made him pause.
“Oh?” Blueblood questioned quietly, though Trixie watched with abject horror as his previous expression returned from the blank one he had adopted briefly, “Oh do you think yourself special because we share half our blood?” he jabbed a hoof into her chest and laughed as he brought it back to point at himself, “Silly foal, I am his legitimate heir. You are a bastard daughter whose mother was lucky enough to have my father spend the night with her.”
Trixie froze, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping at him.
This was exactly what Blueblood desired after he had been so humiliated by this mare. He wanted to make her feel as low as possible to match the feeling he had when he was shaved all over his body and humiliated to the point he left the country, “I am so glad I could catch you right now at this very moment. Your wit must be dulled by the long day you’ve had. What, does a cat have your tongue?”
Trixie forced herself to snap her jaw shut and to avert her eyes. She couldn’t take this anymore. Not now. Especially not now.
“That's enough. Get out and shut up. I won’t warn you again.”
Blueblood just laughed at her threat. As if she could do anything to him without her so called “mother” there to make the royal decree or allow it? Her reaction was feeding into exactly what he wanted from her.
“Ooooh, big scary mare. What, you think I buy all those stunts you’ve pulled off were your own work? Bah, you were a street rat who Princess Luna has been carrying this entire time. Why should I fear you?”
Trixie lowered her head and began to mutter to growl in increasing volume, “Shut up, shut up…”
“Where is Princess Luna, anyways? You look like you could use a hoof here, and I bet she’s on the other side of the castle with that ape making yet another disgusting half-breed child to replace you.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Trixie continued as a mantra with increasing intensity, though it had no effect on the stallion out to taunt her.
“What, does thinking about the princess having such disparaging physical contact with another race disturb you?” Blueblood brought a hoof to brush across Trixie’s face in a mockingly gentle manner, “I could show you how it should be done, even if you are marginally related to me. You’re large enough and have big enough hips to possibly even prove your worth having a child one day…”
Trixie’s body was as tight as it could be as she fought to keep herself from beating the stallion to death. Her mother wanted her to forgive others, yet she found it nearly impossible to feel anything but outright hatred for this disgusting example of a living being, “Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup—”
“How about it? Would you like to be just like your whore of a mother? I can add you to my list of consorts. Plenty of mares here in Canterlot are willing to do anything for a few bits, not to mention social status…” Blueblood trailed off as he remembered all the mares he had taken in and then spurned for nothing more than his own amusement. There was a steady stream of them in his social world.
“Here, you’re too shocked and weak to really do anything, so let me help you,” he laughed offensively, “Knowing your old fashioned mentor, she may even make you wed me, but I would of course decline. I can’t have myself be lowered to marrying such an impudent mare, even if she is attractive…”
Trixie found herself hyperventilating and unable to speak as his words processed in her mind. The sheer audacity and despicableness of the stallion could not have possibly made her any angrier than she was, for in that moment she hated him even more than she had hated the monster Thanos.
“Come on, follow the example of both of your mothers and be a good little mare for me. I’ve wanted to make you pay for ruining my reputation for over a year now, you disgusting bitch.”
Trixie’s horn began to glow as Blueblood brought a hoof down her side sensually, though it did nothing but further her building rage, “I said…”
If he had taken another move towards her he would have died in that moment, but he had some time yet to live because he backed off to laugh even more.
“Hahahaha, that’s what you want to hear, don’t you?” “You’re just as petty as I am. You want every reason to hate me, and I won’t give you the pleasure. Why do I need to bother myself with being like my father when I can have everything I want, and what I like are high class mares, not anything and everything.”
In a shocking turn for Trixie, he revealed himself to have been making a sick, dark joke. Her bided anger deflated at this, though the fact that he was willing to be such a disgusting pervert in even the form of words kept her still on the tipping point of her sanity that she had spent so many hours trying to keep in check.
“You see, sister, you and I are very different. I am comfortable and have always been happy with what I have been granted in this life, while a low class wretch like you has clawed her way up to the top every step of the way, and now that you’re here you’re is coming to the realization that somepony like you never deserved anything more than the small pittance you were born with alongside that deceased whore—”
Unfortunately for him, the revelation that it was a joke did nothing to endear him to the mare who was still grieving her mother. While Trixie held resentment towards her mother, the fact that this stallion dared insult her so egregiously after she died saving them all nobly was the last straw.
“I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH!”
Luna teleported sluggishly to the side of Chrysalis to dislodge the latter’s misshapen horn, and once free of the appendage Luna threw her whole weight into her opponent to set her off balance. Chrysalis was powerful and could even defeat a fully powered Celestia under the right circumstances, but she did not have the tricks that Luna had built up over time.
A magic strike of any importance would be too much for Luna to charge and hold long enough to aim and use, so she began to focus on ending this physically.
Chrysalis recovered from the strike to her side by turning and kicking Luna fiercely in the chest, placing her long, swiss cheese legs in the way of her stomach as if to protect her insectoid abdomen. Luna paid no mind to this and took the strike head on before batting down Chrysalis’s legs with her face and then stomping on them midway down.
While Chrysalis was not as tired, she was no tougher than either Luna or Celestia, so having her legs crushed made her howl in pain. This slowed her down as she tried to turn around and shoot Luna with a beam of magic she had initially meant to shoot through the point she stabbed her only for Luna to teleport.
Luna sidestepped the beam and then rushed forward to again use her head as a battering ram. She caught her opponent in the throat and made Chrysalis cough out for a moment because of her damaged wind passage, giving Luna the time she finally needed to charge up a beam of magic to blast Chrysalis back with.
The magic struck Chrysalis and knocked her off her feet, the Changeling Queen awkwardly falling onto her side as she tried to steer herself in her fall. She was not at 100% either, but not for the same reason as Luna.
Still, Luna reigned victor as she threatened her fallen foe with a long and sharp horn so as to keep her from getting back up and trying to fight, “Even weakened, I defeated you. You must be out of practice after all those months masquerading as Cadance,” Luna was almost grateful that her time in constant conflict left her capable of fighting and doing so scrappily, “When did you replace her?”
Realizing her defeat, Chrysalis let herself fall prone. She could not defeat these ponies even when they were at their weakest…though perhaps that was because their current weakest state lay entire tiers above where it once had been. They had improved, while her own skills had regressed as of lately. Still, she had to take the chance lest she forever lose the opportunity to end them all, since she doubted she would ever receive such an opportunity again.
Chrysalis sighed as she realized just how defeated she was, as well as how she was likely going to be punished for this all, “Many months back, so many in fact that I cannot even recall the precise date. Some ponies took notice and started rumors that I was acting out of it because I was carrying a foal,” she closed her eyes and sighed again, one hoof falling to her lower abdomen, “They weren’t entirely wrong.”
Luna gaped as she looked down at what was a curve she had not noticed before on Chrysalis, “You…”
She was masquerading as Cadance for quite some time…that meant that it was quite likely that whatever foal she was going to have was from the stallion whose wife she replaced.
Just how sick and wrong the situation infuriated Luna to even think about, and if it didn’t mean killing an innocent foal she would have slain Chrysalis right there.
“You disgusting witch!”
Chrysalis didn’t complain, since she both understood and did not care what Luna had to say about this.
“Shining Armor truly believed me to be his beloved. I didn’t even have to use any mind alteration on him this time, since he scoffed at the idea that he had lost his lover twice to an impersonator. A foolish delusion I took advantage of.”
That still left out an important aspect of the whole impersonation issue, one that left Luna worried and feeling sick to her stomach because of what might be a dark answer.
“Where is Cadance?”
Fortunately, Chrysalis was not above keeping a hostage, “She is imprisoned in the place I once was. How trusting she can be when she thinks she is in charge of an Empire isolated from everywhere else…” she snorted at how she just lost what she had slowly gained power over and assimilated into. She never expected the charade to last forever, but now she could not even continue that, “She’d have loved to visit more, I suppose, but I didn’t care to. Easier to manipulate events when you are at the top of the food chain in a place with little outside interference.”
“You disgust me.”
Chrysalis sighed and kept her eyes closed, a part of her worried that perhaps this would finally be the end of her life, “So, are you going to kill us?”
“As much as I wish to, I am a new mother myself. I will imprison you though, and after you carry your foal to term I will see about how to judge you,” Luna growled as she thought about this. The way Chrysalis said “us” made it sound as if she was going to use this as a way of defending herself from the start, “And how dare you use a child as a shield. As a tool for your obsession…”
Luna would have insulted and demeaned Chrysalis for her wickedness even more if not for the loudest explosion Luna had ever heard. She half expected to see a wave of energy cascade from the direction she heard it, but no such thing happened.
Still, the sound was enough to get Luna to look towards where it came from.
“What was…”
It was when she looked to the side and could see the explosion come through the roof of a part of the castle visible through a nearby window that her heart froze and Luna panicked.
The entire roof of the nursery had exploded in a violent burst of magic with a whole variety of colors that lit up the night sky. Fire too burst forth from the room, and Luna found herself screaming at the sight.
“Sleep Near, Hela!”
The light carried on enough to be visible for miles as it ascended further and further into the sky.
The day’s tragedies had only just begun. Thanos had only been the set up to the true events that ended their story, and it was with this fusion of events that the family created from good will and emotional turmoil came to fall apart.
It was the day that Trixie remembered who she was, not who others wanted her to be.
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Oh..
That...Oh c'mon! You keep toturing these characters...
Okay, yeah, mildly angry. Good news, things are better for you. Bad news, you should add a tragedy tag at this rate. Give new readers at least that much warning of the possible events.
Dear lord you weren't kidding about the amount of sad in this chapter. How can you do this to them when they just finished off the biggest baddy in the known universe? Trixie has come so far and that damned blue blood asshole gets back in the castle and sets her off!!!! AAAAGGGGHHHH! It's so frustrating.
Having chrysalis come back now made my eyes BUG out of my head. I got ANTSY when you left us with her horn stuck in Luna's chest. You also really shook up THE HIVE with how cadence is captured again. Ok I'm done with the puns hope they didn't BUG you!
Anyway what happened to Kael I thought he was in the nursery with Trixie when she went to see the foals.
Hot damn I can't wait for the next installment next week. Good luck everyone. We're gonna need it!
Trixie, what have you done?! Dude stop torturing your characters!
Aww dude, that was just a total sucker punch right in the nads! Everything finally seemed like it was all going to be ok and then BANG! bitch-slapped by reality. The sad thing is that is actually how most things in life tend to come out in the end, all the consequences of everyones actions show up regardless of what reason to what ends it all leads.
My personal hope is that Blueblood is dead, period. Some people just need to die. And where the hell was Kael that he did not do anything while Trixie was being talked down to? And then Chrysalis making her appearance with her failed assassination and a surprise pregnancy. Talk about throwing a wrench into a marriage.
This is one of those moments where not even total love based marriages could survive, there is no way that Shining could get away from this issue by trying to convince anyone that he just did not notice his wife acting weird and not suspect that she was replaced. If anything he should have been paranoid. Still, might as well throw a changeling hybrid into the mix and complete the overall weird family dynamic. There might be a possible divorce involved, however that is just to be expected. the bigger issue is that Trixie might have finally gone of the deep end, and Twilights assumptions would not do any good for anyone. I guess the overall theme would be that life just sucks sometimes and by that I mean pretty much almost all the time.
A rather interesting chapter.
This done, Celestia left Trixie behind to visit her daughter and relax for the rest of the day.
I think you mean twilight
I am no longer mad. As soon as I saw cadences name in this chapter I knew it was chryssie
5859074 Oh?
5859375 Remind me, it was because of happiness and fluffiness that Luna and Loki became villains once?
They suffer because of their own choices and actions as well as the imperfect world they were born into. Until those things change they will continue to suffer, and that my friend is the conceit of the story. A tale of anti-heroes who try to find comfort in one another despite their suffering, but pain can often beget pain.
5864740 We work in the darkness, to serve the light!
5859999 New readers often times don't make it this far I have learned, so I'm not too worried about them. We have our Sad tag because in total everything balances out to Sad when you average it all out. Sure, there's tragedy, but there is also Comedy and the site won't allow me to even add that as a tag to this because the story is also sad (ironic, because it is said about Shakespeare's sad tragedies that they are funnier than his comedies).
Welcome to the Tragic Truth of the story though. We've been headed to this one point for over a year now, over fifty chapters since I decided to not have a simple black and white clash of ideologies be the finish to the story.
I hope you enjoy. After all, we have all come so far.
5860312 Of course I wasn't kidding. We are in our true final arc now, so I don't really need to hide much anymore
How can I do this to them? Because about a year ago I sat down and had a great idea about how to bring things full circle in ending the story, and that plan was not about having them beat someone as flatly evil as Thanos. I've meant for us to get to this point the entire way, ever since around chapter twenty four, and I look forward to ending things as I have planned them to. Trixie has come so far, as have we all here, and it is time to wrap up everything.
Kael was there the entire time, though like often he faded into the background and seemingly lost all personality once the attention was taken off of him
A recurring event I hope others have taken notice of 
You'll all see next time why.
I'm glad you're psyched for the installment next week, and yes, good luck. I am sure the sadness and heartbreak will not end here, nor next week. I am sure because I already have planned it all from here to the end
So good luck.
5860413 Trixie's just doing what her parents are good at: getting consumed by emotions and letting them out violently towards those she abhors
And fine, I'll stop torturing the characters...when the story's done.
They still have their parts to play for now.
5864747 I had to look that up. Don't play or care for Assassin's Creed.
5861927 You call it a sucker punch, but I can't honestly feel bad for anyone surprised by it because we've had too much build up to that punch for it to count as a sucker punch
I'm sorry. It's like a Player Punch in a video game, but it's not a sucker punch.
I will confirm that Blueblood is dead, as is a certain orange guard outside the room. Kael was there the entire time, though like usual he faded into the background when the focus was taken off of him. Not the first time. Curious, huh? We'll have that addressed next chapter, something I've been looking forward to for so long.
Trixie has most definitely lost it, as Twilight feared. Twilight was right to worry, and while her fear may have been offensive in some ways she was completely in the right. Celestia's worry about setting off Luna was what was wrong. If Twilight hadn't been restrained by Celestia, if Luna hadn't been stalled, if the guards had been more organized at the time and been able to prevent Blueblood from entering...so many things could have changed what would have just happened, but Trixie was not so lucky as to avoid the fate that's been chasing her for so long.
I'll discuss the theme behind it all when we're done, but for now just draw what lessons that you will.
5864723 Had 50 different revelations from this one chapter...
5865931 I'm curious how much everyone's noticed now, so please do tell!
5865957 It's kinda hard to explain, it's like those times where you realize something but you don't know how to explain.
5865976 Well, could you at least say what they pertain to? You have to at least know that much to have realized something
5865988 But... so many...
5866012 Quantity is of no issue to me
Feel free to list as many things you noticed as you'd like. More the merrier! 
5864782 Yes, it is something from Assassin's creed but it is also what i consider to be the thing for most anti-hero (dark hero)
5867536 I see
I don't want to say too much more yet, but I think everything will be plainly obvious for everyone at the end of the week
5867555 I will take your words for it...
*cackle*
5867558 Oh no, I was the one literally cackling when I posted the last chapter
It's one of my many laughs, and one of my favorites. Learned from Transformers Armada Cyclonus.
I hope that was the real blue blood and not a changling.
5872061 Because a Changeling could totally mimic his memories too...no, it was Blueblood, and he and the guard standing by the door are now dead for good. I doubt they will be mourned, especially after these coming chapters and all that will happen because of them.
Glad you were hoping it was the real one
He came back to die. I really stopped having a reason for him so long ago, but he had a final role to play and now is rotting in Hel with his father.
5872194
5872251 Of course, he won't be alone, and will likely spend eternity being tortured by Hela.
Wonder who else is going to end up with him down there...
Oh, there's Chryssi! I was wondering where she'd gone.
you want to hear, don’t you?” “You’re just as petty
1. Forgot to seperate.
Now I see the line which she once remembered. Now I see where it all fell apart. Sad that it's not always the deadliest foes presented in life or death situations that are the most dangerous but those bigots that always creep up when you least expect them.
Yes, I can see Blueblood did his research. But the main problem is that he was confined to mainly one world. Oh sure he knows of Asgard and some few other things there but that's it. He knows not of Hel, he knows not of the Aether, he knows not how her power is now beyond control of that of a near true god. One can always plan for the worst but one can never plan for everything.
Fate deals its own brand of shit at times and it seems like it will be too much but the fact of the matter is that the only real thing stopping them from stopping is themselves. Think about it.
6274492 I realized a long way back that a pure, unambiguous evil final villain (such as Thanos) wouldn't be fitting for a story of grey morality, so I took a different path.
Trixie in Equestria Was Merely a Setback got a nasty flashback in her experience from this chapter, but it's honestly for the best she didn't remember much beyond that.
Fortunately for everyone, including Blueblood to some degree, Trixie is both not naturally malevolent as well as so unstable right now that her power is literally too much for her to handle (physically and mentally). She's been near insane for awhile now, and I'd hate to think how bad things would be if she had a natural mean bone in her body (rather than just selfish ones and those born of grudges). Blueblood was wholly unprepared, but at the same time he got off easier than he could have given the circumstances.
Welcome to the final arc
This hole just keeps going!!!!!!!!!