//------------------------------// // World Of Treachery, Mare Of Devotion // Story: Fall Of Dark Tyrant Eclipse // by The REAL Mister Pkmn //------------------------------// Trixie travelled far with her same disguise that she had left the capital with, and had found her way towards a small town on the edge of one of the places rumored to hold an Element of Harmony—the Southern Desert. It was here, in this town, that she hoped to find one of her fellow “Marked Ones”. The small town had quaint little houses, and almost seemed peaceful. However, the ponies of this town eyed each other with distrust, much in the same way ponies in the capital did. Arguing and shady deals were thrown every which way, making the small town somewhat unpleasant. The din of a beastial roar in the air drew her attention to a plain just outside the town. A pegasus mare was fighting off a giant earthen colored worm, known as a sandworm, that was trying to force its way into the town. As Trixie drew closer, the details of the mare came into view. Her coat was seafoam green, and her mane and tail were a pattern of yellow and orange. Her Cutie Mark was a white lightning bolt with little orange stars coming off of it. There was no doubt about it. She was Lightning Dust, one of the Marked Ones. As Trixie came onto the scene, Lightning shot up into the sky and grabbed a thundercloud. Most pegasi probably would’ve kicked it to shoot a bolt of lightning at the sandworm, but not her. She went into the cloud and burst it apart from the inside. She was charged with electricity, ready to strike. She swooped down, almost fast enough to break the sound barrier. But with a single collision to the lighter band of flesh on the sandworm, the beast wailed out in agony, and finally fell to the ground. Afterwards, the pegasus turned back to the crowd. But, instead of cheers, the crowd dispersed without a thought. Lightning then touched down as she ruffled her wings and sighed. “I honestly don’t know why I keep expecting cheers…” She then looked to Trixie, and seemed surprised. “You. What’re you doing, staring at me like that?” Trixie scoffed, then spoke out, “Just appreciating what you’re doing for this town, is all.” Lightning raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Oh? And why should I trust you?” Trixie sighed, and shook her head. “I can’t speak about this in the open—who knows who might overhear.” She then turned to face Lightning. “Miss Dust, if you want to know why I’m here, follow me. Just be discreet about it.” Trixie then turned and walked off at a leisurely pace while Lightning seemed to follow above the clouds. However, the ponies of the town were too busy festering in distrust of each other to pay them much mind. They travelled in silence until they reached a small unused shack at the edge of the town. Trixie went inside first, and Lightning followed. After they were both inside, Trixie used an anti-eavesdropping charm to coat the shack’s interior. Once that was done, she allowed her disguise to fall, revealing her half-fur, half-chitin body, along with her Cutie Mark. Lightning opened her mouth, her wings flaring up. Before she could speak, Trixie cut her off. “I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not with Eclipse. Why do you think I was disguised around the Royal Guard? They’re after me. Because I’m like you. I got my Cutie Mark naturally. I’m not entirely certain why, but the Tyrant wants those like us brought in.” Lightning was skeptical, but decided to trust Trixie for the moment. “Alright, say I believe you for a moment. Why are you here? Why find me? What’s this all about?” Trixie took a moment to collect her thoughts. How should she go about convincing her to join her cause? After an internal debate, she settled for what she felt the truth was, given the information she had. “Listen. I came to find you because if Eclipse wants those like us out of the picture, that means that he doesn’t want us to band together. I’m not entirely certain why, but if he doesn’t want us together, then we should band together just to spite him. There may only be six of us ‘Marked Ones’ as the public has taken to calling us, but perhaps we might be able to find and use the legendary Elements of Harmony somehow, even if one would be unaccounted for. If we could bring Eclipse down, perhaps everything would get better! Maybe not immediately, but together, I really think that we could pull this off!” For quite a while, Lightning seemed to ponder what to do. But, she came to a conclusion, and voiced it, “I don’t know if I can trust you. But, that doesn’t mean I’ll outright refuse. How about I give you a little test, to see where your devotion really lies? If you pass it, I’ll travel with you on your quest. If you don’t, well… Let’s just say it won’t be pretty for you. You game?” Trixie knew that she would have to do this if her gamble was to pay off. So, she nodded. “What do you have in mind?” Lightning smirked. This pony had guts, she had to admit. She jerked her head towards the door. “Oh, I’ve got just the thing.” Lightning dragged Trixie, who had put her disguise back on, to the northern edge of the desert. Trixie raised an incredulous eyebrow. “What’re we doing here? What’s the desert gotta do with proving myself to you?” Lightning smirked. “I wanna see if you’ve got the guts to take on the sandworms like I do. Best way to get to know somebody is by fighting alongside them, in my book.” Trixie shrugged, and decided to go along with it for now. She may not have much expertise with combat magic, but her illusions should give her a bit of an edge against the creatures. She walked with Lightning for a bit until the sandworms came into view. Once there, Lightning started her aerobatics to grab some of the sandworms’ attention while Trixie powered up her magic to lay out an illusion mist to single out a few of them. Her strategy seemed to be working. The sandworms that she’d isolated looked around in confusion at the illusion-space she’d created. It was a subtle illusion to be sure, of endless sand and clear skies, but it did the trick to get their attention focused on her. She then started to focus he magic to spring some traps. As one of the sandworms lumbered forward, she unleashed a spell that dazed her target. Just enough that it stumbled into one of the trap tiles she’d woven into her illusion mist. The unlucky one was jolted with shocks directed straight at its most vulnerable point, until it was fried thoroughly, and dropped dead. She altered up her tactics a little for the next one, casting a scent illusion that made it want to follow her. She treaded carefully enough so that she would not be caught by her own trap, but the sandworm wasn’t so lucky. Once it stepped onto the trap tile, it was consumed by blue flames as it wailed in agony. Fried to a crisp, the beast was no more. For her next target, Trixie decided that a different approach was needed. She used an illusion to create duplicates of herself and shuffled the copies along with herself enough to confuse the sandworm. She and her copies split up, one of them guiding the sandworm onto the next trap. Once it made contact, the sandworm was caught in a sudden vortex of water that tunneled down its throat until it stopped thrashing, and drowned. The last of her targets was a tad more difficult to trick. She dispelled the clones, as it had not followed any of them. She puzzled on how she would defeat it, until an idea struck her. This would be good. She tapped into her magic to transform herself into something the sandworm feared—a dragon, about the size of a mountain. The sandworm was shaking as Trixie lumbered forward, causing it to backtrack. It was pushed back onto the last of the trap tiles, and sharp spikes erupted from it in an instant. It barely had time to register the pain before it fell limp and dead. Trixie turned back into her previous state, and dispelled the illusion mist. After she had done so, she saw that Lightning had taken care of all of her targets as well. Lightning looked at the fates of the sandworms and whistled. “I’m impressed, Trixie. I didn’t know you could use trap magic.” She then looked directly at Trixie. “However, that’s only stage one. If you can help me oust the Royal Guard from the town, then we might have a deal.” Trixie knew it might come to this, so she took her basic form. As Lightning raised an eyebrow, Trixie explained, “If I’m going to do this, might as well let them know who sent ‘em packing, right?” Lightning grinned at that, and the two went back into town. A dark teal unicorn stallion was at his post on the edge of town, looking at the squabbling masses. He scoffed internally. Hmph. Lousy low-born filth. They fight and bicker, constantly backstabbing one another. It’s sickening. He shook his head, causing his dark red mane with a zig-zag dark turquoise streak down the middle to wave. Oh well. That’s the way things have always been, and the way things always will be. Nothing will change that. He raised an eyebrow as he saw his stallions fleeing the town en masse with explosions and shots of lightning at their heels. What the Flying Feather? What’s got them running like little fillies? He caught one of the terrified stallions in his dark turquoise magic, and forced him to look into his dark blue-green eyes. “Soldier! Why are you abandoning your post! Speak now, or forever be branded traitor to His Highness!” The terrified stallion stuttered as he saluted. “C-commander Ch-chromablade! I-it’s two of th-the M-marked Ones, sir! Th-they’re attacking! And with such power! Everypony for himself!” The poor stallion was let go as the commander let that sink in. The Marked Ones? He’d heard rumors, like everyone else, but to think that they were real? Now this, he had to see. His dark rainbow tail swayed in the breeze as he made his way to the center of the commotion. As his stallions saw him approach, they saluted, and stopped running. He then reached the two invaders in question, who had stopped to see who had arrived. They then saw his Cutie Mark: a dark turquoise music note superimposed over a paintbrush that had seven colored swords popping out of the brush tip, one for each color of the rainbow, but darker. He then spoke, “So, you are the Marked Ones, hmm?” He gave them an analytical glance. “It is an honor.” He bowed a little. “I am Cacophony Chromablade, commander of this unit.” He then looked to Trixie, and noticed something. “Hm? A powerful spark in your soul? Well this is interesting…” He then approached her. “Tell me, Miss Lulamoon. Is it really worth pursuing whatever your goal is? You’ll just fail in the end, you know. Why not save yourself the trouble? If you submit, I can try and convince Eclipse to be lenient, and let me see out your sentence. What do you say?” Trixie looked to Lightning for a moment, then back to Cacophony. She then answered, “No. I stand by my beliefs. We can change this world for the better! I will find the others, and together, we will save Equestria from the darkness it has been under!” The crowd was shocked at that, and Cacophony blinked. They want to change things? The conviction in her voice… It made him almost want to believe her. He shook his head. No. He would not be swayed by this mare. His loyalty was to one being alone, and that was Eclipse. He turned to his stallions. “We’re leaving. You all need inspections. Who knows how many of you might’ve been swayed by her words…” They audibly gulped. He turned to Trixie and sent a hard look in her direction. “As for you, the next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky. I will capture you, and bring you to Eclipse myself. But for now, farewell.” The Royal Guard then left the town, and the citizens of the town went home, unsure of how to process that. Lightning went up to Trixie. “That was pretty cool, how you refused him like that. You’ve got my support.” She then grinned. “So, where to next?” Putting on her trusty disguise, Trixie discussed things as they exited town together. “Well, I’ve heard that there’s a rather honorable pony in the Southwest…” As they left, they didn’t notice that a small wisp of gentle red light came from the desert, and permeated into Lightning.