//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: I Woke Up In My Favorite TV Show, But Before I Could Do Anything, I Was Recruited By The Villainess! // by Leafdoggy //------------------------------// It was easy enough to find Trixie thanks to the huge wagon she was trailing around. I met back up with her at the outskirts of Ponyville’s market square just in time for her to make me help load up the supplies, which she certainly hadn’t skimped on. Apparently, since she didn’t know how far we’d be going, she just rounded up and got enough to take us all the way to the edge of Equestria. It took another hour of organizing Trixie’s magic supplies and playing luggage-Tetris before we were finally able to get it all inside, and even then, there was barely enough room left inside for us to get to the cots at night to sleep. She had gotten a tent, though, so I took that as a win. It was another thirty minutes before we finally reached the edge of Ponyville. The houses parted, and we were greeted with an immaculate view of the lands beyond. Equestria, at least the part we were going to be traveling through, was pretty flat, and there were plains as far as the eye could see. Some trees dotted the landscape in sparse groves, but not nearly enough to mar the view. What did block the view was the tall spike of a mountain jutting out straight ahead of us. The peak that housed Canterlot took up a good third of what we could see, splitting the world in half. Much, much further away, we could just see the ghosts of the mountain range that spanned across the north side of Equestria. As we walked, I pointed just to the right of the nearby mountain, towards the horizon beyond. “That’s where we’re headed,” I told Trixie. “Starlight’s village is at the base of the mountains in the northwest.” Trixie groaned. “I hate mountains. Are you sure we need this girl?” “Positive.” I patted Trixie’s back reassuringly. “It shouldn’t be too bad, though. The village is on this side of the mountain range, and once we’re past Canterlot, it’s pretty much just plains from there on out.” “So we only have to climb one mountain,” Trixie said. “Twice.” She still sounded pretty disgruntled. “Who knows, maybe we won’t even have to make the trip back,” I said. “If she can use one of the Elements, Starlight might be able to just teleport us all back.” “Nopony is that strong,” Trixie said. “Even Nightmare Moon only sent us to the edge of the forest.” I shrugged. “We’ll see.” “I guess.” Trixie huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. “So, how’d your date with Twilight go?” I flushed. “I-It wasn’t a date.” Trixie laughed. “Well, well. I was just teasing you, but you almost look like you wish it was a date.” “Oh, shut up,” I said. “It was a perfectly normal visit.” Trixie just laughed more. “Ohh, look at Starfall over here, getting a crush on her best friend’s mortal enemy. I guess we’ve ruled out Loyalty as your Element, huh?” “You say ‘best friend’ like you’re swinging a weapon.” “And you’re deflecting like you’ve got a shield.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have a crush, okay? She’s not even my type.” “Ooh, you shouldn't have said that,” Trixie teased. “Now I know you have a type! What is it, huh? Are you into bad girls? You’ve been playing a dangerous game, if that’s it.” “I thought you wanted to know how things went with Twilight!” “Fine, fine,” Trixie relented. “We can shelve the issue for now.” “Or forever, ideally.” “We’ll see,” Trixie told me, a faux sweetness filling her voice. “Anyway, the visit went pretty well. I mean, I was pretty nervous, but—” And so on. We continued like that for a while, talking away the hours as the sun slowly dipped towards the horizon. We took turns pulling the wagon, and Trixie convinced me we should take a longer route around the mountain to avoid the worst slopes. Even then, it was slow going, but we were getting there.  Before we knew it, the sun had set, and we were forced to set down for the night. We were about halfway around the mountain, which felt like good time to me, although that was more or less a blind guess on my part. We were both so tired by the time we stopped that we fell into a dead sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows. I dreamed of Nightmare Moon’s castle that night. It was dark, seemingly empty, but oddly soothing. The air was cool without being chilly, and the carpeted floors were soft under my hooves. The dream was uneventful, spent exploring all the hidden nooks and crannies, learning the layout of the castle in my dreamy daze. My dreams were the same the next night, after we’d left the mountain behind and were skirting around the edges of a forest. The castle felt more and more welcoming with every minute I spent there. On the third day, we made it to the northern mountain range, and found we were close enough for Trixie’s locator spell to take us the rest of the way. We spent the day traveling west, slower than we’d been going before, keeping a sharp eye out for the little village hidden away in the cliffs and valleys. When the sun set then, we fought against it, continuing to search as we grew eager for the long journey to end. Eventually, though, the night grew too dense, and we were forced to camp one last time. I wasn’t alone in my dreams that night. I found myself in the grand throne room, Trixie by my side, and I idly realized I’d been avoiding the room in my wandering for some reason. Before us, Nightmare Moon lounged in her massive throne. She had a wine glass clutched in one wing, and swirled it around as she grinned down at us. “It seems you’ve made it, my little ponies,” Nightmare Moon said cheerily. “Just about,” I told her. “We were—” “Wait, wait, wait,” Trixie interrupted. “What’s going on here? This is Trixie’s dream, why is she not the one in the throne?” Nightmare Moon laughed, then stood up and sauntered down towards us. “My apologies, my dearest court wizard. I did not mean to bruise your ego. Come, let’s walk and talk.” She beckoned us along, and we followed into the vast labyrinth of corridors that made up the castle. Before long, she turned down a hall that seemed like a dead end. At the far end, she pressed in one of the bricks on the wall and opened up a passageway I hadn’t seen before, leading us inside. “What’s all this about?” I asked her. “I assume you’ve been bringing us here the past few nights?” “Wait, what?” Trixie asked. “Are you saying you two are real? That Nightmare Moon can control dreams? Well, now that I say it out loud, actually…” Nightmare Moon chuckled. “Well, I just thought you’d appreciate the chance to get used to your new home. Of course, it is fairly barren at the moment, but that could easily change! Of course, you two will have your pick of rooms, and can do whatever you wish with the other empty chambers, should you need them.” “Really?” I asked. “That’s… Generous.” “I’ve been thinking, since you two left,” Nightmare Moon said. “I am, of course, thousands of years old. In my imprisonment, I grew to view myself as… Independent. Above the trifles of other ponies.” As she spoke, we exited the passage and found ourselves in the castle’s vast library. From there, she led us deep into the shelves, and pulled aside a rug to reveal a bare spot on the ground. She made a complicated gesture with her horn, and shot a bolt of magic at the floor, and suddenly there was a passageway gaping open. Inside, slick stone stairs led down into the depths, lit by flickering blue flames in sconces lining the walls. The stairway curved subtly, just enough to keep the other end of it out of sight, and obscure how deep they went. She led us down. “Even now, that feels right to me,” she continued on. “And yet, if Starfall is to be believed, I would have made it scarce hours before my defeat under that approach. Laid low by the very power that I now see hugging my visage every day. The power I’m reminded of every time I look at my reflection, and see this nigh infantile form.” After what felt like thousands of steps, we made it to the bottom of the staircase. Before us was a colossal room, with high ceilings and longer than the light could travel. Shelves ran up the walls, holding untold numbers of hefty tomes. We clearly weren’t in a library, though. The rest of the room, the entire floor, was packed densely with… Things. Mossy statues, dusty artifacts, golden pedestals holding strange amulets and dark objects of all sorts behind thick glass. There was room to walk, but just barely. It felt like swaying even an inch could cause an avalanche of toppling valuables. Nightmare Moon turned and faced us, then. “I have decided to take these recent events, and my current form, as a sign. A message, perhaps from the moon itself, telling me that I am not yet as vast and powerful as I wish to see myself.” She stretched her wings out wide, painting an impressive silhouette. “I am as thou art. Queen, but hardly ruler. Empress, but no god. I must grow, and I cannot do so alone.” She took a step back, and angled her wings to frame the vast riches behind her. “So welcome, my friends. My allies. My equals. Welcome to our home. None have set their eyes upon this room before. Not Celestia. Not even Luna. This is my true power, subconsciously hidden away in secret over the millenia, even from myself. Celestia imprisoned me before I could reach it before, but not now. No, now we can use it to its fullest extent.” “So may Equestria be ours.” I woke up with a gasp, drenched in a cold sweat. My heart was racing, and I felt dizzy. Light streamed in from the window, blinding me. Images of Nightmare Moon flashed before my eyes. When I finally recovered, I saw that Trixie was gone, so I pushed myself out of bed and went outside to greet her. I found her staring off into the distance, at a nearby mountain, so I walked up beside her and followed her gaze. There, nestled comfortably into the little valley, was a group of homes, hardly large enough to even call a village. We were close enough to see ponies going about their days, and a dirt road, slightly overgrown from disuse, led straight from us down to the entrance of town. I took a deep breath. It was time to go meet Starlight.