//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 - The End of the Nightmare 
// Story: Start Of A New Life 
// by Madox 
//------------------------------//

Darkness.

Darkness was all around her, no matter in which direction Trixie looked. Not that she had much time to look around, there were much different things on her mind. Like running for her life.

She was not able to see the creature, but she could hear the roar of the ursa minor from behind her. Sometimes it sounded as if she managed to increase the distance between her and the monster, only to hear the roar even closer than before. It felt as if she has been running for hours without end, maybe even days, not knowing if she would escape the beast or find somepony who might be able to help her in her misery. But she wasn't so sure if she truly wanted to find somepony else. Sure, it would mean that she had help, but it would also mean that somepony else was in danger with her.

Just when Trixie was about to fall to the ground out of exhaustion, she noticed a small shape appearing in front of her.

As she drew closer, her hearth jumped out of joy when she finally recognized the shape. It was Twilight, just sitting in this darkness with her back facing Trixie.

Trixie summoned her last strength and galloped in Twilight's direction. When she was close enough she called out to her.

"Twilight!"

Trixie could see her friend turn around, looking for the one who called her, but when she recognized Trixie, she glared at her. Trixie didn't notice that, though. She was too much fixated on reaching her friend.

When she finally arrived in front of Twilight, she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"It's you," Twilight said in a neutral tone.

"Yes, its me," Trixie said, breathing hard after running for so long. "Listen, I need your help. We must get out of here, there is an ursa minor running around somewhere in this darkness."

Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Sure, just come to me to help you once again with your problems instead of solving them yourself. I thought you would learn one day to do something on your own, but you are still just a weak and pathetic moron."

Trixie was taken aback when she heard those words, she couldn't believe that Twilight would say something like this into her face.

"No! T-that's not true!"

"Is it not?" Twilight answered with a sneer before she started walking around Trixie in circles like a predator with its prey. "Oh no, I got nightmares, let's go to Twilight Sparkle for help. Somepony needs to recharge the amulet, but I'm too scared to stay in Canterlot, so I will stay near Twilight. My mommy died because of me, Twilight will comfort me while I cry like a baby! Pathetic!"

Trixie did her best to keep the tears from leaking. "W-why do you say something like this? I thought we are friends?"

"Oh, please. Who would want to be friends with somepony like you? You are useless. I thought I could impress Princess Celestia by reforming a villain. You are not more than a study project for me, but since the princess decided to free Discord and let Fluttershy of all ponies reform him, you are of no use for me any longer. It doesn't matter any longer if I reform you, in comparison to Discord you are a joke. There was only one time I thought you might be worth my time, and that was when you wore the alicorn amulet. You possessed so much power, you could have done everything. But without it, you are nothing."

Twilight stopped her pacing around Trixie in front of her. "Get lost! You will always be the Weak and Pathetic Trixie," she yelled in Trixie's face before she turned her back on her. "Now, if you will excuse me, there is an ursa I need to vanquish. Something YOU can only dream of ever doing."

Twilight flicked her tail against Trixie's nose, but she barely noticed. She sat on the floor, head downcast and tears streaking down her face after she lost the fight against it during Twilight's speech.

Once again she has lost everything and has been abandoned by her 'friend' who simply used her. She thought that she finally had a new home and friends who understood and support her, but it was not to be. A part of her always knew it was too good to be true, but she didn't listen. Everything was just a joke.

“Well, if you don't wanna call me a friend that's okay, but I will still call you friend. And there is nothing you can do against it.”

Trixie perked up when she heard that quiet whisper. She looked around for the source, but besides Twilight who was still walking away she could see nothing. 'Wasn't that... Lyra?' she thought.

"Well, duh. Why should I not wanna help a friend in need?"

'There it is again! And I remember that, it was from after I met Bon Bon and Lyra came to help me afterwards!'

"...I promise you to stay by your side as your friend, if you want me to."

Trixie blinked. 'That... was Twilight, the night I told her about my parents, but...,' she looked at the retreating form of Twilight, who seemed to be at the same place as the last time she looked. '...that came not from her...'

“I did it, I really did it! Thank you, Trixie, thank you so much!”

Trixie looked down at her hoofs, lost in thought. 'Sweetie Belle... Those are my memories...'

"I did ignore everything when Twilight tried to reason with me before, but I should have listened. But now I'm willing to forgive you.”

“Anypony who talks to you a bit can see that you truly regret anything that happened. You made a mistake, and you paid for it. We both see no reason to avoid you or anything else, so we are good.”

'...on my honor as a royal guard, whenever you need help, feel free to come to me and ask."

“We thought that would be the best way to always remind you that we will always be there for you.” That last memory came with an image of the picture she got from her friends for Hearths Warming that Trixie saw in front of her eyes.

"You are right..." Trixie whispered just loud enough for Twilight to hear and stop. She turned around and looked at Trixie who slowly got to her hooves.

"What is it now again," Twilight groaned. "You got something else to say, oh Weak and Pathetic Trixie?"

"You are right," Trixie repeated. "I'm not as strong as I always claimed to be in the past. But I don't need to be that like I thought all these years." Trixie glared at Twilight. "I got my friends with me, and they help me with whatever I can not do myself. Alone, I'm weak, but with my friends by my side I can accomplish everything."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Did you not listen to me before? You have no friends! You are nothing but a study project to me! At the end of the day, you are the Weak and Pathetic Trixie, while I'm Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Princess Celestia and probably the most powerful unicorn since Starswirl the Bearded!"

Trixie stood her ground against the verbal assault of the mare in front of her with a smirk. "You are good, I nearly believed you, but you made a few mistakes."

"What are you talking about?"

"First," Trixie continued without acknowledging the question, "you are only talking about yourself. Not even once did you mention the others. Even if you are telling the truth and only used me, I know at least three mares that I doubt are a part of your 'project', namely Lyra, Fuchsia and Lavender. Maybe the crusaders as well. So I have friends, no matter what you say."

"So what?" Twilight asked with a frown. "I forgot a few morons, big deal."

"Second. Twilight does nearly anything the princess would ask of her, but she would never use another sapient lifeform for a project that would do any harm, physically or mentally."

"You are pulling at straws here, you know? You don't know anything about me."

"I know more than enough, which leads to my third point. Twilight Sparkle is the most kind and modest pony I ever met. She doesn't think she is something special, and she would never proclaim herself to be the mightiest unicorn, even if it is true."

Trixie narrowed her eyes and glared at the unicorn in front of her. She could feel a warmth growing in her, pressing her to go on. And it felt so good. "I don't know who or even what you are, but I don't believe you any longer that you are Twilight Sparkle!"

Neither of the two mares said anything for what felt like minutes, they only looked at each other. One of them with a glare, ready to attack if necessary, the other looked unimpressed and bored.

"So, you don't think that I'm Twilight Sparkle, and that you are strong enough with the help of the ones you call friends?" Twilight finally said before she smirked. "Well, I guess that means I'm not needed any longer, so you can have some fun on your own..."

There was a loud 'thump' behind Trixie as if something big hit the ground. Trixie's eyes widened in fear.

"...because I think your little friend finally found you."

Trixie slowly turned around and saw the Ursa Minor emerging from the darkness not far away from her position. It growled and narrowed its eyes before it slowly approached. Trixie herself took several steps back from the beast.

"What's the matter, oh Great and Powerful Trixie? Not so courageous anymore?"

"Would you just shut-" Trixie stopped in her remark when she looked over her shoulder only to notice that the Twilight imposter has vanished. Instead, she saw Ponyville behind her, with all her friends minus Twilight standing between her and the town, each of them either frowning or glaring at her. "What is going on?"

"What have you done?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You brought it back into town again?!"

"I knew it was just a farce. Nopony like you can change," Rarity said.

"Told ya!" Spike yelled"

"We should have run away the moment we learned who she is. Am I right, Lavender?" Fuchsia Blush asked her friend who simply nodded in agreement with tears in her eyes.

"Can you forgive me for not believing you, Bonnie?"

"Of course, Lyra. She fooled all of us."

This verbal assault continued with each of Trixie's friends, and every statement hurt more than the last one. In the end Trixie was staring at the ground, tears running down her cheeks. She didn't know what she was more afraid of any longer: The approaching beast behind her or the words of her friends in front of her.

'No, these are not my friends! They are just like that Twilight imposter before. I should just run away and look for my real friends.'

'But what if these truly are my friends? I can't simply abandon them and leave them to their fate.'

'Even if these are my friends they clearly don't want to see me any longer. I just want to go home.'

'But... this is my home...'

Trixie wiped the tears from her face with her leg and turned around to face the Ursa again.

"What are you doing now, loud mouth?" she heard Rainbow Dash calling from behind her.

Trixie was silent for a moment while she simply stared at the beast. "I don't believe that you are my friends. You are just imposters trying to break me. But a part of me still insists that you are the real ones. And maybe you are. It doesn't matter, because I won't let the Ursa lay a paw on even one of you.

"I have been running away from my problems and my past the biggest part of my life, claiming to be the most powerful unicorn in existence just to feel better. I made many mistakes I deeply regret and would do anything to repay the ones I hurt in my path." There was something behind the ursa, but Trixie couldn't identify what it was. It looked like a small ball of light that slowly grew in size. "My friends are the reason for my change. They showed me that there is so much to live for. Without them I would still be the same self-absorbed pony I used to be."

The Ursa continued its approach. Maybe it was Trixie's imagination but it seemed farther away then it was moments before. Or maybe it was smaller? The ball of light has grown, but it still seemed to be far away.

"As if someone like you could do anything against that monster. It will kill you!" Rainbow yelled from behind.

Trixie was silent for a moment while the ball continued growing. "Maybe you are right and I won't survive. But I can buy some time for help to arrive. If that means sacrificing everything so that the most important ponies in my life and my home are safe, I'm willing to pay that prize." Trixie saw her mother in her mind smiling at her. "Just like someone else did for me long ago..."

Trixie regarded the ursa in front of her again. It really was smaller than Trixie remembered, but she dismissed that thought quickly. She dug her hoofs in the ground and prepared herself. 

"You won't harm my friends!" she yelled before she charged forward.

'Forgive me, mother, for ever blaming myself for your fate. Now I understand why you did it.'

The ball of light in the distance grew in size at an alarming rate and engulfed everything in its light.


~*~


Trixie was not able to open her eyes. After she has spent what felt like days in that darkness her eyes needed some time to adjust to the light surrounding her. That did not mean that she left her guard down. After all, the last thing she remembered before the light was herself running towards an Ursa Minor.

She stayed silent, fully relying on her ears which flicked around to capture any sound of a potential enemy while she waited for her sight to return.

After what felt like eternity Trixie was able to open her eyes, but it did not help very much. It was just like before when she has been surrounded by darkness, but instead of an eternal blackness she saw nothing but white light.

"What happened? Where am I?" she asked herself, her voice echoing in the void. After not receiving an answer or seeing anything dangerous Trixie decided to lay down and rest while she thought about everything that occurred earlier.

Barely a minute after she flopped down to the space she was standing on she heard a new sound. Trixie looked around and tried to locate the source of that strange sound. It did not take long until she found the direction and saw something getting closer.

It was a small black object, similar to the white ball of light she saw earlier, but different. It was not flying directly in her direction but wobbled in the air, reminding her a bit of a firefly.

Trixie got back to her hooves and prepared herself to fight in case it was an enemy. The ball finally arrived and hovered a small distance away from Trixie who realized that the ball was in fact not black but a dark blue. 

"Fear not, daughter of Lulamoon, you are safe. I mean no harm."

Trixie blinked in surprise and relaxed. She knew that voice, but there was a distortion which made it hard to place it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything the small ball extended and grew in size until it was bigger than Trixie. She was not a magic protege like Twilight, but Trixie recognized a portal if it opens in front of her. Out of the portal stepped one of the last ponies Trixie expected to see.

"Princess Luna!"

The princess of the night smiled down at Trixie from her position while the portal she used disappeared behind her. "Indeed, it is I. And I'm glad to see you as well, Miss Lulamoon."

Trixie stared at the alicorn in front of her before she narrowed her eyes. "Are you the real one or a fake?"

Luna blinked in surprise. "What makes you think I'm a fake, little one?"

"Just a run in with some beings that claimed to be my friends." Trixie lowered her gaze to the ground. "At least I hope they only claimed to be them..."

Luna smiled again. "Well, I can't prove anything to you in this realm, but I can assure you that everything besides me you saw here was not real."

Trixie breathed out in relieve. "That at least fills me with more hope. But what is with you speaking... normal?"

"Ah, I see. I understand that this might be suspicious, but I learned the modern tongue long ago. I just keep the old speech around the nobles to make them think I'm still adjusting, and so they underestimate me, and around my sister because it annoys her." Luna said with a wink of her eye. 

Trixie kept staring at Luna for some time before she relaxed again. "Alright, I believe you, your highness. All of these imposters I met earlier tried to discourage me with their appearances and voices, but you did nothing like that. But what happened? And where are we?"

"This is the dream realm, and you are asleep. Everything you saw earlier was just a dream, nothing that happened was real."

"It was all a dream? So there was no ursa attacking Ponyville?" Trixie asked.

Luna's smile turned into a frown. "I'm afraid that this did happen. The beast came into town and destroyed a small part of it and several of Ponyville's guards got injured while trying to defend their home."

"Right, I remember. I tried to help as much as I could."

"And you succeeded. You lured the ursa away and avoided much greater damage and casualties in the process while putting yourself in danger."

Trixie couldn't resist a small snort. "That wasn't really what I had in mind, but I guess I did. And since I'm dreaming I assume the ursa didn't catch me." Trixie looked around the void in astonishment before she realized something about that statement. 

"Wait a second..." She looked up at Luna again who was once again smiling as if she has been waiting for something that was finally coming. "I'm dreaming, and you are here, visiting me in my dream. But you told me all these months ago that you can't enter my dreams because of the curse without causing damage to me."

"All of this is true," Luna replied.

"That means I'm either beyond saving so that it doesn't matter any longer-" Luna shook her head -or... it's over..." Trixie looked longingly at Luna for confirmation and received it with a nod.

"Yes, indeed. There are still small pockets of the amulets magic left, but I can take care of those without causing any harm to your mind." Before Luna had any chance to react she had a pair of blue hooves around her neck squeezing as hard as they could.

"Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Um, you're welcome?" Luna replied, unsure about what to say to that unexpected development. Realizing what she was doing Trixie quickly released her grip on the royal neck.

"I'm sorry for that, your highness," Trixie said with red tinted cheeks.

Luna quickly regained her posture. "There is no need to apologize. Your reaction is more than understandable."

"But how? What did I do to lift the curse?"

"I'm not sure about that, but after reading over both, Twilight Sparkle's reports about her observations and the ones from old cases of the curse, I have an idea, or a theory. But please, tell me first what exactly happened in your dream before you arrived in this place."

Trixie frowned. "Is that really necessary? I would like to forget about what happened."

"I'm afraid it might be necessary to understand the curse and help future victims of the amulet, but I won't force you if you don't want to tell me."

Trixie thought about that. She truly would like to forget about the nightmare, but could she live with the knowledge that others might suffer through the same ordeal as she did because she was selfish? What was one last reminder before she can forget it for good?

With this thought in mind Trixie told Luna what happened in her dream before she arrived, including every said word and thought she could remember. After she finished her tale she waited for the princess to say something who was looking down with her eyes closed.

"I see... Thank you for telling me your experiences. I think that my theory might be correct regarding the curse."

"Would you tell me your theory, your highness?"

"Of course. You have every right to know about it," Luna replied. "I think that the magic the amulet left behind is feeding on emotions and feelings, growing stronger over time. For what purpose is still a mystery, tho."

"It's feeding on emotions?"

Luna nodded. "Indeed. As you know, our emotions can have an influence on our magic, making it stronger under certain circumstances. I believe the curse uses the same way to strengthen itself, probably more the negative emotions regarding the dark nature of the curse. 

"Wrath, anger, jealousy, guilt, just to name a few. The stronger the emotions, the faster it can grow in strength."

"And I had more than enough of these..." Trixie mumbled, her ears hanging low.

"Indeed," Luna said. "But over these last few months you overcame those feelings with the help of your friends. Earlier this morning I was able to feel your presence in the dream realm strengthen and came to your aide. I was still unable to enter your dream, but I did my best to help from the outside until you manage to break free."

"So that was this warm feeling I suddenly had," Trixie mumbled. "But what now?"

"Now, daughter of Lulamoon, it's time for you to rest, you have earned it. In the meantime I will take care of the remaining magic. During this time your sleep will be protected. I will do my best so that you can wake up soon, your friends are waiting for you."

Trixie nodded. "Thank you, your highness. For everything."

Luna graced Trixie with one last smile before she left, leaving Trixie alone in her dream which slowly formed around her. She would never again take any nice dream for granted for the rest of her life.