//------------------------------//
// Intermission 02: Remembrance and a Teacher's Duel 
// Story: Equestrian Earth the MMORPG 
// by Chaotic Note 
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The skies above the royal sisters’ garden were clear like glass. Nothing much was up there except for the patches of clouds that dotted the blue space, and the occasional pegasus. It was as if somepony took a brush of white paint and made a few dashes on a canvas. The princess of the night, with her long and mystical mane, stepped into the green vicinity with her loyal warrior, Black Paladin, by her side. She looked around for a certain blue mare of hers. Ever since this morning, Trixie had been avoiding her and Paladin as if her delicate life depended on it. It’s impressive how her apprentice could already stalk away into the shadows in the few months of training she received. All her previous students couldn’t keep up with the magical instructions Luna gave out to them. They either failed, or succumbed to the insanity that is the darkness of Lunar Magic.

She could recall the moments she first met her student in a snap. Luna was visiting all the nearby towns for official business of Canterlot. It had to deal with the increase of parasprite infestations, and it required the utmost and personal attention of a noble and powerful mage, and since all the other officials were packed with work on that day, her sister sent her instead. Not only was Luna quick and powerful like the wind, but she was also considered one of the more “persuasive” ponies in Equestria. No doubt, she wouldn’t even need her magic. She could just scare the pests away. Trottingham was the last town on the list. It was pretty far away from Canterlot. While she was fighting the infestation there, she always felt a slight twitch in her right ear. It was like a slight buzzing of a bee. She couldn’t tell why her ears were acting up like that. When Luna finished off the last of the parasprites, she was about ready to leave until a certain former showmare caught her eye.

Trixie was but a poor vagabond on the dirty road when she found her. Her luxurious, blue-silver mane was diminished to nothing more than rags of sweat and mud. The azure blue coat was caked with bundles of dried grass and even more stains of dirt. Luna’s heart couldn’t help but shatter a little. It was as if somepony shot a bolt of magic at her heart, but she survived the encounter and required a surgeon to heal her wound. She’d been in that situation before when nopony wanted or cared for her (except for Celestia). It was a darker time for Luna. She approached the poor pony and knelt down beside her. The princess wrapped one of her wings over the drifter’s back to keep the mare warm. She felt her body twitch a little beneath her wings.

“Hello little one,” she cooed. She had practice from her sister to be more approachable (and less imposing) to the ponies of Equestria. “What’s your name?”

The mare didn’t answer her.

“Is something the matter? I would love to help you.”

“…No thanks.”

Luna perked her ears up a little. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that. Could you speak a little louder?”

“N-no thanks. I’m fine your majesty. There’s no need to converse with a lesser pony like myself,” she said softly.

Luna was about to think of a spirit-lifting comeback to that depressing statement, when she became aware of a steady stream of magic right underneath her. She didn’t notice it at first, but there was a powerful pool of magic in the town, and it seems that she’d just found the source.

“Oh ho, but I beg to differ,” Luna countered. “It seems that you have a lot of potential in magic.”

“No I don’t,” the mare murmured. “Everypony still hates me.”

This comment intrigued Luna a bit. “Whatever do you mean?”

The mare peered over to her from underneath her wing. She told Luna her name was Trixie, and began telling her life story. How she grew up in the very town that they were in. How she discovered her special talent for magic, and becoming a very popular showmare. When the topic of the story shifted to her first meeting with Twilight Sparkle, a match was struck in Luna’s mind. She’d remembered Tia telling her about her student’s encounter with a certain azure magician. She could have stop the mare at that moment, but Luna let Trixie continue on. After Twilight saved Ponyville from certain destruction at the paws of an Ursa Minor, Trixie ran away from the town. Everywhere she went; ponies were tormenting her for being a fraud. Some even called her a lunatic for bringing the Ursa Minor itself to the rural village. Apparently, the rumors of the Ursa attack were twisted as the news traveled around Equestria. Trixie spoke of how her anger towards Twilight grew more unstable, so she came up with a way for vengeance.

She told Luna how she honed her magic to become even stronger. To challenge Twilight to a battle of wits: A magic duel. Luna (yet again) caught a strange detail about her story. Celestia had received a letter from Twilight. How Trixie came to town with the Alicorn Amulet. It was a dark and dangerous artifact forged in the sinister times of Discord’s era. He was tampering with the elements of nature, trying to figure out a way to turn his pony minions into powerful super soldiers. He came up with the Alicorn Amulet. Unfortunately, every test subject he had tried on turned even more chaotic. Every single one of them tried to overthrow the being of chaos in order to rule Equestria themselves, but that didn’t deter him from his throne. When she and her sister sealed him in stone, they scoured everywhere for any signs of the relic. Nothing turned up. Celestia knew that the power of the amulet would corrupt anypony to a degree that anything they do wasn’t their fault. The dark influence would have eventually turned the bearer of the amulet into another sinister being, perhaps into one that would pose a threat to the world. To a point when the bearer wouldn’t be their former selves. Celestia said that she’d met up with the potion brewer known as Zecora. They came up with a solution to guard the artifact in the zebra territory’s badlands. Hopefully, that would be the last they would heard of Discord’s amulet. As for the magician, Celestia at the time decided to pardon the mare.

Anyway, Luna tuned back into the real world after her long trip down memory lane. Trixie was just finishing up about the aftermath of the duel. How she asked Twilight for forgiveness. Everything seemed to turn out alright for the former showmare, but she was still affronted from everywhere she went. She went on from town to town, until she stopped here. She didn’t have the strength to go back to Ponyville, the one town that might possibly accept her, so she decided to herself that her resting place would be her hometown.

“I’m so pathetic,” Trixie summed up.

Luna, at that moment, suddenly got on her hooves. “Nope,” She stated as she levitated the tired, but struggling mare onto her back.

“W-what are you doing? Put me down!” Trixie weakly attempted to yell. Despite being at the pit of despair, the azure bundle of magic was still attempting to fight back.

“Nope,” Luna said again. She took a line of sturdy rope from a nearby shop, with the owner insisting that it’s on the house.

“Please! I’m nothing but dirt on the ground,” Trixie pleaded. “I don’t want to trouble you.”

“Nope,” she repeated.

The night princess was obviously not going to take no for an answer. She gently wrapped the rope around her and Trixie, but made sure it was tight enough and that it wouldn’t tangle her wings. She then spread her feathery limbs apart as she prepared for a quick flight back to Canterlot.

“B-but why?” she asked, wanting to gleam an answer from the goddess.

Luna returned her question with a sincere and confident smile. “Because I believe everypony deserves a second chance, and I’m not about to leave my student behind.”



+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+



“Princess Luna.”

Luna quickly snapped back into reality. She looked beside her to see Black Paladin giving her a very quizzical look.

“Are you okay your majesty?” he asked, with concern. “You seem distracted.”

“I-I’m fine my paladin,” she quickly answered. “I was just taking a (oh how do ponies say it nowadays?) small trip down memory lane.”

He grunted in understanding. He had those moments as well every now and then. Every day, the world seemed to get stranger and stranger to him, and it was not because he was placed out touch from the world for a thousand years like his master. He believed it was partly due to the reveal of the recently chosen Harmony Bearers, but he would never directly put the blame on them. Nor say it out loud in front of them or any of the princesses.

Luna and Paladin walked through the hedge maze, hoping to find any signs that Trixie might of took refuge in there. There were no clues, nor any glimpse of her student’s signature hat or cape. She was slightly getting irritated from this prolonged search. They were scheduled to have a lesson today, and Luna felt like this was the most creative one yet. Paladin just calmly walked beside her. If he was just as annoyed about the search as the night princess is, he didn’t show it. He was very well trained as a soldier. They had reached the center of the maze of shrubs. The area was filled with a pasture of exotic flowers and various kinds of plants. A circular mirror pool was lying contently in the midst of this small paradise. 

Sitting by the bank of the pond were Trixie and Celestia. Her prodigy was donning her trademark purple cape as usually, but seemed to be missing out on her hat. She was making the time go by skipping stones across the water, while her sister was comfortably watching beside the mare. The two of them seemed to be having a conversation in small and soft whispers. Their responses to each other were like a breeze in the grass. Luna wanted to interrupt and talk to her student alone, but she waited patiently for Celestia to finish. It took a few moments for Celestia to finish. Her eyebrows rose up a little when the sun goddess noticed her counterpart nearby. She gave a quick smile to Luna, and whispered something in Trixie’s ears. Trixie quickly turned around with a surprised look on her face. Her ears then drooped with certain shame. She looked nervously awkward.

“Um, sister?”

Celestia only gave Luna a small nod. “I’ll be in the throne room if you need me. I’m expecting a certain somepony to come by.”

Luna gave her sister a curious look, but the goddess didn’t give her any answers as she flew away towards the castle. She turned her attention towards Trixie and frowned. It wasn’t a big, disgusted frown, but it was the disappointed one. Trixie shrank back and was tracing small circles in the dirt with the tip of her hoof.

“Trixie Lulamoon,” Luna greeted in a regal tone.

“Yes milady?” she timidly asked, with the expectation of being lectured harshly.

Luna was having thoughts of doing so, but she sighed when her student had the puppy eyes. She resigned with a huff, and drew her student closer to her with her wing. Trixie eyes widened with realization, and accepted her comfort with a small nuzzle. Luna’s heart leapt a little from the daughterly affection her student was giving. Luna returned the favor with one of her own. Paladin looked away, but didn’t show any signs of discomfort.

“We have been looking for you,” Luna said, with a chuckle.

“Sorry for being so distant,” Trixie apologized. “I just needed to clear my head a little.”

Luna hummed with acceptance. “It’s alright my faithful student.” She gave Trixie a sly grin. “You know, we could skip today’s lesson if you don’t feel like you’re up to it.”

“What? No!” Trixie giggled. “Come on, teach! You know I look forward to each one!”

Luna could tell that Trixie wasn’t kidding. At first the magician didn’t seem like the studious type, but Luna was surprised by the amount of prior knowledge Trixie had to illusionary magic. It was one of the edges her student have in learning the field of Lunar magic. Her inner will was strong as well.

“Well then.” Luna got up from their hug and gestured Trixie towards the castle. “Shall we get going?”

Trixie nodded and followed her, along with Paladin. The trio wasted no time getting to Luna’s room, except for the few greeting exchanges they had with some of the nobles and the castle’s staff. One of the few places they’ve took the time to sit down and learn. Most of the lessons Luna taught to Trixie were usually on the go. Everywhere they went together, Trixie usually had a saddle bag with a textbook and some parchments used for some spare note taking. Within a few turns and hallways, they’ve reached Luna’s inner sanctum. Well, more like somepony’s room rather than the personal domain of a goddess. The curtains and the mattress were very impressive, but everything else in the room looked like it belongs to a normal, young lady. Paladin dragged a small coffee table towards the footend of the bed, and started to go out the door.

“Wait.”

Paladin looked behind him. Luna was waving him over.

“How about you stay for a while? This lesson doesn’t really require the most decisive of guarding.”

“Are you sure your majesty?” he asked.

“Yes,” Luna said, with her voice adapting an annoyed tone. She felt like they had this conversation a hundred times over (which happened to be a little bit over true). “I’m not teaching some ancient form of spell to her today.”

“You aren’t?” Trixie’s eyebrows rose, along with figurative question marks popping up behind her.

“Nope. Instead of magic, it’s going to be a lesson of the mind.”

Luna took a silent, deep breath and concentrated on a focal point. Her horn glowed with a light, cobalt blue aura. The space beside her warped a little as its center point sparkled. A pair of deck of cards was conjured. At first, her student adopted a sign of confusion, but as she looked closer she could see the logo on the back of one of the cards. It says ‘Magic the Gathering’. Trixie’s expression only got more constructed with more questions. At this point, Paladin closed the door behind him and took a spot at table. He waited patiently for the highly anticipated match to unfold. Luna felt accomplished and warm at the sight of her curious student.

“Um, Luna?”

“Yes my student?” Luna said happily as she magically shuffled the two decks.

“I hate to ask, but what’s the does Magic the Gathering have to do with today’s lesson?” Trixie asked.

“I’ll answer them shortly,” the goddess simply answered back. “Just as soon as I finish shuffling.”

Trixie sighed as she waited for her mentor to finish. When Luna was pleased with her results, she handed Trixie one of the decks and laid down hers. Trixie does this as well, and drew the appropriate amount of cards. Luna had a few choices of ocean land cards, some spare sea creatures, and an instant spell.

“Are you pleased with your choice?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” Trixie answered back.

“Good, because I’m not going to give you a chance to re-choose your hoof.”

“Huh?” she responded, now looking truly confused.

This was strange for a match of MtG, because at the start of the duel you can choose to mulligan. Mulligan allows the player to shuffle what’s in their hooves, and draw a new set of cards (only to draw one less with each go).  Luna could tell that Trixie was about to question the motive behind her decision, but then she held her tongue back. Luna smiled as her student seemed willing to play along. Luna flipped the coin to decide who’ll go first. The two mares called their side. The coin decided to go in Trixie’s favor.

Her student decided to place down a land card for the fire element. From what she had gathered from the look of her first card, she was playing with a fire deck. Adaptable, fast, and dangerous.

‘Just her kind of magic,’ Luna chuckled at her inside joke.

Luna decided to retaliate against her student with a seaside land card. With the way that the battle is turning out now, it looks like it’ll truly be a battle of the opposites. The cool and collected versus the willful and burning. Trixie placed down another land card, and waited for her mentor’s turn. Luna wasted no time as she placed down one of her monsters.

“I summon the almighty Seapony Harp!” Luna soundly smacked the card onto the table surface.

It had 1 power and 2 toughness, but its special ability allowed it to switch its capabilities, giving it 2 powers and 1 toughness for the user’s current turn and the opponent’s next one. At the cost of one blue mana. Of course, it can't be affected by equipment

Trixie rubbed her chin a little, and then placed down another land card. Luna’s eyes glinted at the opportunity.

“Alright then,” Luna said. “With my Sea-Foal now out of its summoning illness, I shall activate its special ability. It now has 2  powers and 1 toughness at the cost of one blue mana.”

She could imagine Trixie’s 20 life going down to 18. In order to keep track, Luna prepared a bag of gummy bears, and gave twenty pieces to each of them. She then promptly took two of Trixie’s bears (much to her dismay) and ate them. She giggled as she witnessed her student’s expression turning into horror.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

“Too bad,” Luna giggled. 

Today’s lesson was going to be fun, but of course Trixie will have to learn the meaning behind the session. It was ironic, considering the fact that Trixie’s deck had shared the nature of that trait as well. Trixie moaned as Luna joyfully enjoyed the delectable juiciness of the treat that is the gummy bear. Luna could tell that her student was now devising a strategy to eat all of her precious twenty candy pieces (which by then, Luna hoped Trixie would learn the lesson).

After a few turns of plotting, attacking, and casting spells at each other (with the card’s effects), Luna was down to 3 life while Trixie was down to a measly 1. Despite the absence of physical activity, the two mares were both out of breath and were wiping sweat off their foreheads. Their match was so intense. Luna could feel her own heart pounding like war drums, as well as her student’s.

The goddess had a legendary beast on her side of the plane. It was a sea dragon of immense proportions. It was known for drowning countless fleets and armadas. The ocean drowned with the blood of the innocent, and battle-worned heroes. The 7 attack power was more than enough to defeat Trixie’s puny life. Luna dubbed the creature a name so horrifying and powerful, mares around would scream out of fear and beg for mercy. For its name was this: Miss. Catpaws – The Fuzziest Ship Destroyer. Truthfully, it was a picture of a furry seacat. An Angean breed to be exact. Celestia advised her to not use the card, for fear that her student wouldn’t take her seriously. But that doesn’t seem to be case now as Trixie was practically shaking with fear.

Luna could tell that it wasn’t the card that frightened her, but it was the results of her might failing the lesson. She sighed as she waited for Trixie to start her turn.

“Come on now,” Luna moaned.

“Sorry!” Trixie apologized hurryingly. “But I just can’t seem to figure this out!”

“Figure what out?” Luna knew all too well what Trixie was racking her brain for, but she wanted to hear her answer.

“Nothing nothing!”

Luna’s hoof and taste buds weren’t being so patient. They want to feel the texture of another gummy bear. Both minds were working together as her hoof inched towards the bag of gummy bears, but Luna’s conscious snapped them out of it. They’ll get their prize in the end, no matter the outcome of the duel. Trixie looked back and forth towards the card and her own hoof. To Luna, it seemed that her student was running out of moves. Out of curiosity, Luna decided to take a peek at Trixie’s next card. It wasn’t like she was cheating or whatever. It’s just that she wanted to know if Trixie has a chance of winning. What she got out of the magical scan was a nice surprise. Luna smiled as she dimmed her magical glow. It looked like Trixie was too distracted to notice anything. Luna decided to comfort the mare.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

Trixie looked up at her teacher, and gave a huge sigh of disappointment. “No, it’s not.”

“What is it then?”

Trixie waited for a few moments before answering. “Twilight Sparkle.”

Luna’s ears perked at this shocking news. Out of all the answers she anticipated, she didn’t expect her sister’s student to pop into the conversation. She waited for Trixie to go on.

“It’s just that, I never knew Twilight was Princess Celestia’s student,” Trixie explained. “It caught me off guard. I know she’s an adapt user of magic, but I didn’t know it was due to her privileged training under the princess.” She let out a deep breath, as if she was getting something big off her chest. “Honestly, when I became your student and found out about this tiny bit of information, my passion of competition with her rose again.”

There was a slight pause between the two before Luna asked. “Is that the reason why you attacked in-game?”

Trixie looked away with a pained expression. “Yes.”

“Would you attack her in real life?”

“What? No! Nononono!” Trixie quickly responded with a frightened voice. “I would never do such a thing! She may be a rival to me now, but we’re still friends!”

Luna’s mind shifted towards that time her student and Celestia had in the garden. A certain comment came to mind.

I’m expecting a certain somepony to come by.

She decided to throw a random stone. “Is there by any chance that Twilight is dropping by today?”

Trixie’s expression turned from depression to shock. “H-how did yo-”

“Trust me my student, I can tell how these events would work out. That conversation you had with Celestia wasn’t been just about the weather was it?”

Trixie huffed out a small breath. “No, she told me that Twilight was coming to Canterlot today.”

“And?” Luna asked for her to continue.

“And, I’m going to apologize to her for the surprise attack, and explain why I did so.” Trixie slumped in her spot, looking relaxed now that she professed the reasoning behind her online attack on Twilight and her friends.

“Well then, then I suppose that my curiosity is now satisfied for now. Should we continue on with the duel, or is there something else you would like to know?”

Trixie’s eyes brightened up with questioning. “Actually, yes. Why are we having this duel?”

“Well,” Luna said, deciding to give her a hint. “What’s the most important trait to have in battle with another mage?”

Luna could tell that Trixie was racking her brain again. “Well, you need to be smart.”

“That’s part of the answer, but there’s more to it than that.”

“Creativity?”

Luna shook head. “While being creative in battle is a good thing, it certainly won’t help when the time calls for action.”

Trixie drawled out an ‘um’ before answering. “Magic?”

Luna laughed in an outburst. She suddenly stopped herself when she saw Trixie blushing furiously. She let out a few more chuckles before apologizing.

“Tell me,” Luna smiled. “How do you win in a match of cards? More specifically, this game.”

“Umm, by having a good set of cards?” Trixie answered with uncertainty.

“Close, but you’re getting there.”

She gave out a huge groan of displeasure. “I’m sorry teach, but I don’t know what you’re trying to teach me-”

Trixie looked like she was about to give up, until she drew her next card. Her eyebrows raised a little, and then her face gave a bright grin. Then she looked puzzled as she saw her teacher grinning as well. She looked back at her card, and then her land plots. She looked back at the amount of gummy bears Luna had, and back at hers. She developed a confident smile.

“Flexibility. Being adaptable, and resourceful. Using the surroundings, and what you have on you, to win,” Trixie boldly answered. “Am I right?”

Luna gave her an honest clap. “Well done my student. Using everything you have at your disposal is a sure way to win. If you don’t give it your all, then you can never see victory. Same thing applies to studying and exploring the field of magic. If you don’t take extra measures to solving the problem, then you’ll find yourself stuck in one spot.” She gave her a sly smile, knowing that her three gummy bears were coming at an end. “Now then, mind telling me what you have there?”

“Well,” Trixie started. She showed Luna an instant spell card.

The name was The Purple Mare’s Many Uses of Everything. The cover of the card was a lavender unicorn rising up into the air, with five other ponies beside her. The debris around them was flying up with the entity and her eyes were glowing pure energy. It was like staring into the face of oblivion.

“This card,” Trixie explained. “Allows me to take away as much lives from you at the cost of double the mana.” She then showed Luna the amount of land plots she had. “As you can see, I have just enough to take you out. 3 lives with 6 mana.  Prepare yourself, for I’m about to begin my tur-”

“Yes Twilight, this is my sister’s room.”

The three ponies’ attention reared towards the door as Celestia and Twilight walked in. An awkward moment paused between all of them. Luna thought quickly on how to deal with the matter.

“Oh excuse me! Oh dear if you look at the time,” Luna started quickly as she pretended to look at a wristwatch. She took hold of the Paladin’s ear by the teeth and pulled him away out the door.

“Ow wow wow!” the stallion cried. “Please, watch it your majesty!”

“Now’s not the time Paladin!” Luna forcibly chuckled while giving him an intent stare from the corners of her eyes.

Her loyal soldier gulped loudly as he reeled back from her intense glare. She could see her sister leaning over to Twilight to whisper something, and then head out the door with her. She closed the doors behind her. Luna released Paladin’s ears, and looked at her sister with a regal pose. She tried to not look like nothing weird had happened. Celestia only chuckled as they heard Twilight trying to say hi to Trixie, only to stammer with her words.

“Mind telling me what’s up?” Luna asked bluntly.

“Perhaps,” Celestia chuckled. “Join me for tea?”

Luna dropped her gaze and replaced it with a warm smile. “Umm, yeah sure. Come along Paladin.”

“Y-yes ma’am.”