//------------------------------// // Epilogue - Family // Story: Sunset Glimmer // by Ninjadeadbeard //------------------------------// Trixie Lulamoon was supposed to let everypony know when she was within one-hundred feet of the Cutie Map Table. It was even a Royal Decree, signed into law mere days after Twilight’s latest coronation. It was a new record. Even Celestia and Luna had waited a month before they were fed up enough to temporarily ban Chancellor Puddinghead from Canterlot. Even then, that was only so they could eat something without processed sugar for a change. The Alarm spell, that was supposed to keep Trixie honest about her restraining order, had been bypassed, no doubt by a Great and Powerful magician, as she was now standing before the map itself, directly across from Twilight Sparkle’s throne. And who, of all the beings of the multiverse, should be sitting in that throne just then, than the Spirit of Harmony herself? The two beings stared at one another. Harmony, with a look that bordered on disdain. Trixie, with a proud bearing only marginally damaged by the sight of a day-old foal nomming on her mane while perched atop Trixie’s Great and Powerful withers. Celeste Lulamoon completely missed the high-stakes staring contest going on around her. The gray unicorn filly was just happy to be with her momma. Harmony, it would appear, broke first. “I am… a little impressed, Interloper,” she said, “I’m not sure how you were able to summon me here.” “A magician never reveals her secrets.” Trixie turned back to the foal on her back, and added, “Lesson one.” Celeste looked up, a long strand of Trixie’s mane caught in her mouth as she happily chewed away. “I see,” Harmony sighed, then glanced around the room, “I don’t suppose you’re here for any particular reason…?” “Trixie has been busy the last day or so,” the self-named mare said, “And I’ve been left out of the loop. So… Trixie is told that you were the one who sent Sunshine back in time?” “That’s not what happened,” Harmony shook her head, and slipped into an academic tone, “I merely allowed…” “A likely story!” Trixie shouted, with Celeste mimicking her movements, pointed hoof and all, “And why, praytell, did you need to send a baby back in time!?” The Spirit blinked a few times. Then, she frowned. “If you would let me explain, the entire space-time…” “Enough questions!” Trixie declared, cutting off Harmony yet again, “What’s done, is done!” “Yes, that’s…” Harmony was having a hard time focusing for a moment, and briefly wondered why, “That’s how Time works, Trixie.” “Excuse moi?” Trixie glared, though this was again undone somewhat by the baby nibbling on the end of her ear, “But who here has actually time-traveled?” Harmony, despite not needed lungs, took a slow breath. “Technically, I exist at all points of space and time, so…” “Exactly!” Trixie shouted, standing now on her hindlegs in a grand, audience-pleasing gesture, “Me!” The blue unicorn came back down to all fours, and took just a moment to look back, and make sure her baby was still atop her back. Finding the foal still giggling and holding tight, Trixie turned back towards the Spirit. “But, that’s not what I’m here for tonight.” Harmony could feel… something pressing down at her temples. She wasn’t aware she could get a migraine, but it would appear Trixie was pushing new grounds. “… Yes?” she sighed. “I have come here to ask you some questions,” Trixie declared, taking a seat in Applejack’s throne and settling little Celeste on her lap as she did so, “Pressing questions…” The Spirit of Harmony groaned. It didn’t want to be here, suffering the indignity of dealing with Trixie. And she certainly didn’t like seeing somepony who lied as much as Trixie did, as a force of habit, and almost always to herself, sitting on Honesty’s throne. I can feel it shivering from here, she thought, bitterly. “Ask your questions.” Trixie smirked, and Harmony could almost swear, the baby was too… “Very well, Spirit of Harmony… if that is your real name…” The pressure behind Harmony’s horn was building, and she didn’t like it. Trixie clearly didn’t notice. “… when were you born?” Harmony’s ears twitched. The Spirit tilted her head to one side, and frowned. “I… don’t understand the question. I was not born, but…” “Bwha!” Celeste huffed in her mother’s lap, and scowled. “Exactly,” Trixie leaned over and pecked Celeste on her brow, “You’re dodging the question.” “… Are you taking counsel from a baby…?” “That doesn’t sound like an answer,” Trixie said in a mocking, sing-song tone. Harmony was surprised, and not pleasantly, to realize she had hackles. And they were standing up. She rubbed her temple again, and said, “I… suppose the Tree of Harmony was planted over one-thousand years ago, by...” “And who planted the original Tree of Harmony?” Trixie pointed an accusatory hoof at the Spirit. Harmony could feel it’s eyes beginning to pulse with the pressure of having to deal with Trixie in such close proximity, and she was pretty sure she didn’t actually have eyes with which to even feel. “The Pillars of Equestria planted aspects of their nature and their magic into the ground,” she said, though through clenched teeth, “And, following Twilight Sparkle’s ascension, I…” “So!” Trixie stood up suddenly, Celeste bobbing in her magical aura, tiny hooves reaching for more mane to chew, “You admit it!” “Admit… what? What!?” Harmony tried, again, to take in a deep, cleansing breath… only to have it rush out through her nose in a snort, “Trixie! How are you doing this!? I am the Serene Spirit of Harmony! How am I getting this angry!?” Trixie smirked, and looked down. Celeste… didn’t smirk back, but she did finally get ahold of a lock of Trixie’s mane, and so was contented anyway. “Why,” Trixie placed a hoof over her heart, “Trixie did not mean to cause you any consternation. I was only trying to ascertain whether or not you knew who your father was.” Harmony, still fuming, glared across the table. “I… have three fathers, technically,” she said, slowly, so as not to melt the table. Trixie nodded, and said, “So then, technically… Starswirl’s your father?” “Yes, Trixie,” Harmony snarled, “Starswirl is…” The Spirit’s eyes widened. “Oh… oh, good Gods above and below… no…” Trixie nuzzled her daughter, seemingly oblivious to the way Harmony suddenly went completely rigid. “You hear that, Celeste?” The baby cooed. “That’s right!” Trixie hefted her child up, and turned her around to face what was becoming a shivering, sweating Harmony. “You have a step-sister!” Harmony’s lips drew into a tight line. Her right eye twitched. Her feathers… were falling out. “But…” she licked her lips, and tried to speak, “But… if Starswirl is like my… and you married… and had a… then we… then… you…” “Shhh!” Trixie shushed the Spirit, gently, “It’s alright. I know that this can be an emotional moment.” Harmony looked up at the showpony. Her ethereal mane was starting to fray at the ends. Trixie smiled. “You can call me Mom. I don’t mind.” By the way that Harmony’s face contorted in that moment, Trixie knew she’d hit something quite sensitive, and so took a few steps away from what was about to become an epicenter. The Spirit threw back her head, and let loose a scream. A scream that bypassed the laws and nature of sound. A howling pain that could never be healed. It roared across time and space, and could be heard at both the beginning, and end of time. And then, with a sound identical to an overstuffed paper bag exploding, she popped out of existence entirely, leaving behind little more than a crackle of dissipating light. Trixie… did not smile. In fact, the look on her face suddenly fell away entirely, leaving behind the sort of expression ponies would give a pile of trash in the middle of the road. “That’s for hurting my Bestie,” she hissed. Then, she picked up her baby and, setting Celeste on her withers, she started trotting out of the throne room. Celeste, not used to ponies… exploding, tugged at her mother’s ears until Trixie tilted her head back. Then, the little filly gave her mother a curious, questioning look. “Ah, don’t worry about it, kid!” she shrugged, and proudly high-stepped down the hall, “She’s not dead. Harmony’s just evaporated into the magical ether. She’ll be fine! And when she wakes up, maybe she’ll pick up some better manners before…” Trixie stepped directly on the Alarm spell meant to maintain the magical restraining order on her, suddenly filling the whole castle… and Ponyville beyond with sirens and bells and enough flashing lights to shame a Manehattan dance-party. Celeste, naturally, began cheering at the sight, and tried to join in on her wobbly foal-legs. Trixie, on the other hoof, simply sighed, and started working on her alibi. “The things I do for family…”