//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The end of Greatness // Story: The Harmony War // by Ten Speed //------------------------------// The rubble shifted and the stones that threatened to be her tomb reluctantly surrendered as Trixie crawled from the devastation she had created. Her tattered dusty cape stuck to the wounds oozing from her back and shoulders. Her broken bones wouldn't allow anything more than an agonizing crawl as she drug herself inch by inch to a lone tree defiant of the decay around it. “Think twice before tussling with The Great Trixie,” she smiled weekly coughing up the blood pooling in her throat. Next to her a single wilted flower under the boughs of that great tree was begging desperately for attention. She gazed sympathetically, tears stinging the dust in her eyes. It was the first flower she had seen in years. Gritting her teeth she exerted the last of her energy in a vain attempt to revive the sorrowful blossom. “I only wanted a friend...” she choked as her final breath slowly escaped her body. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.” came an unimpassioned voice. “My, my Trixie. It's a shame you chose this path, you could have been useful to me. You always did have a flare for over-dramatics.” Discord's unsympathetic tone was less than palpable as he materialized from the dust still lingering from the collapsed structure. He purposely crushed the woeful flower Trixie attempted to revive under his heel as he towered over her. Discord's sight shifted from the battered Trixie to the direction Twilight and her new companion had fled. “Good,” he grinned wickedly, “You've finally made things interesting Twilight, I was starting to get bored... Fascinating, you bringing the human here. Let's have ourselves a little game shall we?” He laughed devilishly as his form melded into the shadows.