//------------------------------// // chapter eight- betrayal // Story: the Equestria dialouges // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// chapter eight- betrayal When I return to the castle, the place is in absolute chaos. I find a circle of Ponies crowding in the courtyard, all talking to each other. The Dream castle sentries were doing their best to hold back the crowds, While the Dream Castle medics- Dr. Medicin, the purple earth pony with a pink mane, and her three nurses stand over the cold and silent form of the dead pony, who is now covered with a sheet. "Doctor, what happened?" I ask her in surprise. "Ah! North Star!" The doctor says, as she sees me trotting up. "I was expecting you to show up, when trouble was ahoof." I brace myself for the worst. "Who is she, doctor?" Medicin nods, and Nurse Tenderheart gently lifts the sheet to reveal Fifi-the blue unicorn who was the trainer and keeper of Queen Majesty's royal hounds. But she looks far older than I remember her... almost like an elderly mare! "How did this pony die?" I ask "My initial examination leads me to believe that it was foal play." Medicin tells me, adjusting her spectacles with her hoof. "Majesty has requested an autopsy to confirm the exact details." "But there's not a mark on her body!" I exclaim, looking her over. "We believe it was a death by magic" Nurse Sweetheart continued. "She had a life transference spell cast upon her be a unicorn assailant." "Transference spell?" I ask in shock. "A unicorn stole her youth... to make herself younger?" Nurse Loveheart nodded. "Some selfish unicorn sucked Fifi's life force away, in order to make herself younger." I look over, and see Baby Fifi crying hysterically, as Nurse Tenderheart tries to comfort her. "Mama! mama! Je suis tout seul!" The little earth filly wails, tears streaming down her innocent face. "There there, little one." The nurse says, trying to comfort her. Her heartbreak ringing in my ears, I turn to Dr. Medicin. "Who did this?" I snort coldly, steam coming from my nostrils. Medicin is taken aback, but quickly replies. "Baby Fifi says it was a Blue Unicorn with a crescent moon cutie mark. She would have killed Baby Fifi as well, but her cries brought the Castle sentries running." My heart sinks in my chest, and my stomach begins to turn. Great Horsemaster... that really had been an imposter I had seen the third time... and I hadn't even spotted the difference between her and Luna. And because I hadn't noticed, a pony was dead now. What had I done? "You see now, North Star?" Masquerade materialized next to me. "I told you she was an imposter. Now our herd has paid for your mistake in blood." "Damn it, Masquerade! I bloody told you that wasn't Luna!" I protest angrily. "The imposter..." "Tell it to that screaming filly over there, who will never see her mother's smile again!" Masquerade yells back. "Tell it to the stallion who's going to come home from the wars with the griffins and goblins on the frontier! And what is his reward for service to the crown? Burying his wife!" I fall silent, as Masquerade drives the dagger home. "How many more mares have to die, 'adventurer', before you get out of your dream world?" She looks back at the macabre scene behind us. "Queen Majesty has not yet decided to send a posse of our most powerful unicorns after this murderer, but if you to admit you were wrong, she will-" "Masquerade, will you kindly SHUT UP!" Out of nowhere, Wind Whistler comes trotting up, and stands between me and the spy pony. "I have had ENOUGH of your horsemaster-damned paranoia!" "Out of my way, scientist!" She snaps. "We have to do something about-" "Should I go to Majesty about some of the ways your spy network has gathered information? Especially with my tech that I have loaned to you?" My partner warns. "Our Queen would love to hear how you've violated dozens of pony's civil rights!" Masquerade stares at us for a moment, before her face contorts into a look of anger. "You two will get us all killed!" She snorts, before galloping away. "Let her go." Wind Whistler advises me. "We've got bigger oats to roast." Wind Whistler leads me to the royal library, and shows me several history books she has been looking at. "After I had found out about the the explicit details of the nature of the murder, I took it upon myself to do an inquiry into the archives... to see if Ponykind had ever seen this kind of calamity before." "And what did you find?" I ask her. "A few cases that greatly matches these terrible circumstances." She replies, opening a book. "Take this entry form the earth pony town of Coltonville, from year 275 A.R.- during Celestia's reign." I look over the entry. "Two earth pony friends, Bright Eyes and Clover, found drained and rapidly aged to death outside the city limits. Unicorn with crescent moon cutie mark seen nearby." "And then this entry form Ponyville, over a century later." She shows me another book. "Tula Roola and Star Song found dead of premature aging, blue unicorn with a blue mane seen fleeing from the gum house." I look back up at her. "So we're dealing with a freakish pony youth vampire, who bears a resemblance to Princess Luna." "We must make an attempt to apprehend her." Wind Whistler replies. "Before Majesty is convinced to send the battle unicorn stallion corps after Luna. If they were to utilize the magic-nullifying spells the Moochick taught them..." "-Even they could slay her without difficulty." I finish in a worried tone. "But where will this murderer will strike next?" I think for a moment. "There is only one pony we can ask...." ----- "This indeed beith news most troubling, young ones." Luna tells us. "I had been unaware of such a fiend skulking around the remains of my former dominions." It had not been hard to find her at the ruins, and we tell her everything that had transpired. She is very interested in what we had to say, and even commended us for coming to her. "And where do you think this blood-soaked unicorn will strike next?" Wind Whistler asks. "Clearly, she is a clever pony, and will choose her next victim carefully." "I beliveith that she will goeth after the frazits... the remains of discord's chaotic power." She replies. "With those energies that the gnomes guard, the villain will be unstoppable." "Quite a fiend, that unicorn is." I comment, walking around to the unicorn's side. "A selfish mare from the age of Celestia, who couldn't accept old age and death." "indeedeth." Luna replied, looking away. "And she's killed so many innocent ponies throughout the ages." Wind Whistler continues. "Taking their lives, without pity or remorse, so that she might live." "Trueth" She agrees, nervous sweat trickling down her mane. "Can we ask you a question, Princess?" I ask her, narrowing my eyes. "Wh-what beith that?" She asks, looking back and forth between us. "Why are you speaking in the first person, 'Luna'?" Wind Whistler asks her. "And since we know who you are, why do you keep your alicorn wings still hidden?" She stares at us a moment, before Wind Whistler and I are blasted back by a wave of energy from her horn. We try to get up, but our bodies won't move. "So... you fools are smarter than you look." She tells us with a smirk. "Tell me... have you two figured out who I really am?" "We knew... when we searched the records, that there was only one pony who would be great and powerful enough to carry out a spell like this." Wind Whistler gasps, pulling herself back up to her hooves. "Only one pony that skilled with magic, who is vain and cruel enough to take the lives of others..." "A pony who started off as little more that a vain braggart, but eventually gave into the darkness in her own heart..." I continue, standing up on my four legs. "The ancient terror, whose legend was passed down through generations of ponies. The story told to all of us as foals, of the evil unicorn who would steal us from our beds as we slept." "The wand beside the crescent moon-like shape on your cutie mark... that is the dead giveaway." Wind Whistler finishes. "We should have recognized you from the start." The imposter smiles a devilish smile, as I stare into her cold and ruthless eyes. "The witch of the crystal forest....Trixie Lulamoon."