//------------------------------// // 3: Old Friends, New Tricks // Story: New Age of Harmony // by Spirit Chaser //------------------------------// Darkness wasn’t something that was necessarily welcome in Equestria. The night sky still gave certain ponies the creeps and others just called it a curse and demanded that the sun never set (of course that would burn them all to ashes, but apparently nopony really cared). She couldn’t really blame them, if she was there when Nightmare Moon took over, she would still be sleeping with one eye open and Smarty Pants. Overall, the dark wasn’t as terrifying as everypony thought it was, but why was she encased in it? Everywhere she turned, there was absolute darkness. She couldn’t even tell what direction she was facing...if she still had a face. Why would she think that? What exactly happened that would lead her to this situation? All she remembered was a white flash. That wasn’t helpful, it could’ve been from glancing at the sun for all she knew. “T—ight S—kle,” murmured a distance voice. She attempted to look in the direction of the whisper, but remembered that she couldn’t see anything so it wouldn’t matter anyway. Focusing on where she assumed the voice was coming from, Twilight listened for the voice again. She got nothing in response, but there was no way she was giving up on what could be the answer to her predicament. Suddenly remembering the horn jutting out of her head, she tried to activate it to get a light source. Once again, nothing. It was as if it wasn’t even there. “B—re T—ight —llow —he —ly.” With each sound, the whisper got further and further away from her. “Wait!” Twilight shouted, finally finding her voice. “What are you telling me? Who are you? What’s going on?” “F—et —stia,” the whisper sounded like it was strained. “Farewell, Twilight Sparkle.” “Wait, what?” Twilight shouted into the darkness. “Why could I hear that clearly? Don’t go!” She appeared to be speaking too late as she could no longer sense the voice’s presence. Convincing herself, she would be stuck there forever, Twilight covered her face with her hooves and sobbed. After a few seconds of feeling sorry for herself, her prayers appeared to be answered. A shining light cut through the darkness, creating a bright path for her to follow. Eager to escape her shadowy prison, Twilight galloped straight into the warm light. Wherever the light took her, it was a place with a ceiling Rarity would refer to as “tacky.” It had no pattern whatsoever and appeared to be carved entirely from rocks. It was also dripping sand around her onto the floor. That would be uncomfortable except for the fact that she wasn’t on the floor, she was laying down on a bed that felt as though it was made out of straw. She turned her head to see what else her little hut had to offer. The walls were also carved from rock and were decorated with torn scrolls and missing chunks of the rock. A chest was located in one corner and a rock table in the other one. The bed she was laying on was probably in one of the corners and there was nothing in the last corner. A large crudely shaped hole made up the door and small crude holes made up what appeared to be windows. Orange rays of the setting sun shone through the windows, indicating a large amount of time had passed since the fight on the time. If she could get to the windows, she could pinpoint her location and get back to what she was doing before this. Lifting her foreleg to help her off the bed, she was met with a sharp pain in her ribs. Instantly, it all came rushing back to her, the quest, the train, the argument, the Starponies, the battle and her saving Rainbow Dash by taking the blast herself. The series of events leading up to her current situation explained her pained sides and the bandages wrapped around her midsection, but it didn’t tell her where she was. She was blasted out of the sky, so it would make sense that she was completely lost. Now that she thought about it, it didn’t exactly explain why her wounds were bandaged. Obviously somepony lived in the rock hut she laid in, but who? Her question was quickly answered as a pony-shaped figure strolled through the opening. She didn’t notice before, but it seemed the blast messed with her vision as the pony was blurred in her eyes. “You’ve finally awoken,” said the feminine voice. “It’s about time.” “Who,” Twilight said slowly, squinting her eyes. “Who are you?” “You don’t recognize me?” asked the apparently azure pony. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is offended by this!” As she boasted about her name, it all clicked. Twilight’s vision cleared and standing before her was indeed Trixie, her old rival. She was wearing a strange vest that covered most of her body and seemed.. older. Her mane was slightly shriveled and she had barely noticeable wrinkles around her eyes. She wasn’t wearing her signature hat or cloak, so Twilight assumed they were somewhere in the chest. “Trix...ie?” Twilight stammered. She wasn’t used to Trixie looking so official and mature. “Recognize me now? Good,” Trixie said confidently, trotting to the chest and opening it with her pale magenta aura. “First of all, don’t move. I need to perform another healing spell and replace your bandages.” Retrieving the new bandages from the chest, Trixie trotted over to Twilight and began to unravel the old bandages. For whatever reason, Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Trixie blushed as she gently removed the only thing covering her body.  With the bandages removed, she could see why they were needed in the first place. Looking down at her stomach, she instantly regretted it. The lavender fur on her stomach had been replaced with a black scorch mark. It took every ounce of her willpower not to prod at it. “It’s not too bad, but if you get hurt again, you’re a goner,” Trixie said coldly, lowering her head. “Trixie hates repeating herself, but don’t move.” The pale magenta glow returned as Trixie charged her magic for the healing spell. Twilight recalled that she didn’t see much of the magic talent Trixie had to offer. Mostly because she only used it show off before, but now; she had a focused look of resolve in her eyes as she readied herself to cast an advanced spell such as healing. The magic built up until it shot itself into Twilight’s wound with a calming chime. A wave of warmth spread across Twilight’s body, soothing her and giving her newfound strength. She didn’t even realize she closed her eyes until the satisfying warmth ended. Opening them, she found herself face to face with Trixie, who was wrapping her in the new bandages. “As you can tell, the spell can’t completely heal this wound,” Trixie said, gesturing at the burn. “So you’ll just have to live with being bandaged for a while. The spell should help with your ribs though, how’d this happen anyway?” Twilight stared in confusion at Trixie, who had changed so much since last time that she might as well be a completely different pony (or a Changeling). Realizing that Trixie asked her a question, she shook her head and cleared her throat. “M-my friends and I are on a mission from Princess Celestia. It’s kinda confidential, but while we were getting from one point to another, we were attacked by these strange ponies with star patterns on their body and supernatural abilities. It was as if they could shoot nuclear energy out of their bodies, but they weren’t radioactive or anything.” “Star creatures?” Trixie asked, looking down at her hooves. Since her last encounter with creatures from the stars made her leave Ponyville in shame, Twilight couldn’t blame her for being bashful about the subject. “Trixie has learned all that is known about star creatures since our last encounter. She has never heard of these Starponies you speak of.” “It sounds like they’re not of Equestria,” Twilight exclaimed, rubbing her chin. “I planned to write a letter to Celestia about it before I was blasted out of the sky, do you have any scrolls? I could also write a letter to my friends to rendezvous somewhere nearby.” “No, Trixie meant to get some while she was out, but she assumed you would awake soon; so she returned before she got the chance,” Trixie said, hastily looking out her rock hole window. “Great, “ Twilight kneaded her forehead while she tried to think. “Can you at least tell me where we are and where I can get some scrolls so I can send out some letters?” Trixie looked as appalled as Pinkie did when Twilight tried to explain to her that partying wasn’t everything. “Are you mad? With your injuries, I doubt you can even stand.” Deciding to challenge Trixie’s claim, Twilight gently lowered all fours onto the sand floor. So far so good, now she just had to trot to illustrate her point. First step, good, second step good; falling on her face within the third step, bad. She tried pushing on the sand to get herself up, but it wasn’t working well. Remembering her wings, she got herself airborne and flew back on the bed. “Heh, I guess I’m not fine after all,” Twilight chuckled. “Indeed you aren’t, I suppose I’ll have to go get the scrolls after all,” Trixie sighed, refusing to meet Twilight’s eyes. “Stay here and don’t mess up my home.” Before Twilight could even think about what to say next, Trixie galloped out of the door frame. Twilight was still trying to process the past ten minutes of her life. After waking from a terrible dream, she finds she was rescued by Trixie? That apparent act of heroism sounded nothing like the Trixie she knew, then again the unicorn who just galloped out of the rock house didn’t act like the Trixie she knew either. Actually, the new Trixie acted like a combination of the old and new to create somepony who didn’t seem to know who she was. Moving on from her stranger than usual personality, what was she doing living in a rock house in the middle of who knows where? Twilight really should have gotten an answer to where they were before she let Trixie gallop off like that. If she didn’t know where she was, the scrolls would be useless because she couldn’t tell her friends her location. She just felt so useless lying in some bed when she had an important mission to get back to. She almost had trotting down, she just needed to make it past the third step. Lowering herself down on the sand, she put one hoof in front of the other just like before. By the third step, she felt that something would go wrong if she continued. Wondering what could help prevent her disasters, she extended her wings to use as balance. She took her third step to see if it worked and to her surprise, she didn’t find herself lying in the sand. The fourth step went just as successful, and the fifth; she faltered slightly at the sixth, but it was still going well. It reminded her of trying to walk on only two legs when she became that strange creature in the mirror world. Obviously she still wasn’t in any condition to properly return to her mission, but she needed to see what the outside looked like. Trixie didn’t even mention where she was going to retrieve the parchment, it could be hours before she saw her again. Don’t mess up her home, sure, it wasn’t like she had much of a home to mess up anyway. As she trotted out the door frame, she wondered once more what could possibly make Trixie want to live in a rock house, but she lost her train of thought when she reached the outside. Calling it a desert would be an insult, but she didn’t know any other word to describe an endless land filled with sand. She thought the sand floor in Trixie’s home was some strange decorative touch, but it was clear that it was just the tip of the iceberg. Standing still put unnecessary weight on her weak body, so she trotted further into the sandy wasteland. The sand was illuminated by the beautiful sunset so it had an eerie red hue to it. Any other pony with a severe injury and no idea where they were would’ve crawled back into their bed, but Twilight merely wandered deeper into the most likely dangerous desert. The hot sand burned her hooves but seeing as she had enough pain to deal with, she ignored it. Truthfully, she was just lucky that the sun was setting, if she had been out there during the day, the heat would have been unbearable. Wandering around in a place she knew she shouldn’t be, was this how Sunset Shimmer felt when she first visited the mirror world? No, she had to remember that while they were both students of Celestia, they were very different. Shimmer probably relished the fact that she was trespassing, while Twilight was only doing it because she was curious. Though, in her own twisted way, Shimmer was also curious, hmm. Just having these thoughts in her head was making Twilight feel less intelligent, exploring the massive desert in front of her required all of her focus. Though it was unlikely, it was possible that she would get lost in said desert, a signal or beacon of some sort would’ve been a smart idea. It certainly didn’t help that the entire desert had the same creepy red tint to it. How Trixie ever found enough rocks to create a house with all this sand was beyond her. How Trixie did anything that she did in the past hour of her life was completely beyond her. It wasn’t that she thought Trixie wasn’t a good unicorn; a healing spell such as the one she used wasn’t too hard to learn (even if Twilight still hadn’t learned, much less master it), but for what purpose had she learned it for? The only magic she had ever seen Trixie use (when not under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet) was the smoke and mirrors type she had seen in Ponyville. Now Trixie was casually using advanced spells like she actually was a high-level unicorn! Was Twilight simply jealous or was she just lost? No, she actually was lost, she could no longer see the rock house in the distance, just sand. It would be as simple as retracing her steps if the wind hadn’t removed any evidence that she had ever stepped hoof in the sand, alongside the fact that while she was deep in her thoughts; she had taken one too many twists and turns. Seeing as there was literally no going back, Twilight decided to keep moving forward until she found any trace of civilization. Trotting past small mountains of sand so often that it felt like the past five minutes of her life was on repeat didn’t help with Twilight’s sanity. The closest thing to her current, completely ridiculous situation was marching through the blizzard by the Crystal Empire, but at least then she had a guide, now she was all alone. What good is it being a princess loved by all if you’re just going to die alone in the end? What would Celestia say if she found her student’s decaying remains in the middle of a desert? What would her friends think? Even worse, what if Rainbow Dash never got over Twilight’s death? Being the loyal one, Rainbow would surely blame herself if anything happened to Twilight. Wandering through an endless desert sure had a way of bringing out your darkest thoughts, why couldn’t Twilight think of anything positive? Probably because there was nothing positive about her bleak situation. Countless red mountains of grain were spread in front of her, each one more annoying than the last simply because they never seemed to end. She didn’t even dare to attempt to use her wings to get a bird’s eye view on the desert. Such an attempt would most likely just result in plummeting back into the sand at high speeds. Not to mention somepony with her flying experience could never get enough altitude to truly see anything in the crimson sandbox she wandered in. What even was her goal at this point? Trot into the sunset and wait for Celestia to solve all her problems just like when she was her student? Obviously things didn’t work that way between them anymore. She had once seen Celestia’s own personal gallery of her life in the weird magical realm she went to for her transformation. Was Celestia watching over her at that very moment? Judging her mistakes much in the same way the Queen of Equestria was? It occurred to her that being watched all hours of the day was a very creepy thought. She made a mental note to never watch over her future student. A sound like an explosion being interrupted by another explosion ruptured the silence, leaving behind very terrifying echoes in it’s wake. Twilight spun in a quick circle and fell over as a result. Getting back on her hooves, she saw nothing around her that could’ve caused the noise, which of course, greatly frightened her. The sound was too clear to have come from underground and the origin of the sound seemed to come from somewhere behind her. If only that information was actually helpful; all she knew was that she should be galloping as fast as her aching legs could carry her. If she heard the roar again, then she would probably be able to pinpoint the location of the thing making it. Even if she figured out what made the sound; based on how loud the roar was, there was no way she would be able to defend herself against it. Even if she could properly focus her magic, she still couldn’t defeat anything larger than the average pony with her basic combat spells. After seeing how dangerous Sunset Shimmer turned out to be, Twilight finally understood why Celestia never let her focus on combat spells as a filly. If Celestia wasn’t so insistent on the subject, Twilight would’ve learned more of those instead of the mundane spells she’d been focusing on instead. None of which was currently helping her. The exploding roar broke through her thoughts once again, nearly making her heart stop. It definitely got closer and more terrifying than last time. Her options (and possibly her time) were running out as the monster got nearer. It was clearly above ground, so why couldn’t she see it? The wind wasn’t bad enough to hide a giant monster, which brings up the possibility of a type of camouflage or total invisibility. She prayed to Celestia that it was the first one, she didn’t feel like being thrown around by an invisible monster today. She fell forward into the sand and pushed herself back up, but froze as she heard a soft growl. Was it watching her? Judging her movements and waiting to strike like a predator would stalk it’s prey? If there was one thing Twilight Sparkle wasn’t, it was prey. She didn’t want to be the predator either, but she refused to die in the jaws of some creature. Deciding to test how close and how hidden her stalker was, Twilight shot a flare into the air. She immediately heard rustling behind her, followed by another soft growl. It was definitely close and had some sort of invisibility. She already had one being she couldn’t see watching her, she didn’t need another one. Preparing herself with several deep breaths, Twilight turned around. With a swish of her neck, Twilight magically slashed the ground, causing a stream of sand to fly into what seemed like air. The sand bounced off the “air” as the insanely loud roar shattered the air. Her suspicions unfortunately confirmed, Twilight took off in the opposite direction as fast as she could without irritating her injury too much. The sound of steps and the sand flying in all directions told her that it was close on her tail. Twilight glanced behind her before she remembered that she wouldn’t be able to tell how close an invisible monster was to her. Mentally punishing herself, she realized that if she made another mistake she’d be done for. After a minute of running, Twilight felt as though she was in one of the puppet shows she witnessed as a filly, the one where the villain chases the main character around the same area over and over. The desert had the same repeating pattern as it did before, which was not helping her dire situation. Panicking, Twilight dug a quick hole in the sand with her magic and jumped inside, quickly filling the hole back up with sand as she did so. Closing her eyes to protect them from sand, Twilight waited with bated breath for the monster to pass by. From underground, she heard the heavy steps as it wandered around her hole, somehow unaware that she was right underneath it. Her heart beat faster than a sonic rainboom as she waited for her predator to leave. After a soft growl that sounded as though it was a warning, the camouflaged beast stomped off, more importantly; stomped away from her. After waiting a few more seconds just to be safe, Twilight dug away the sand and scanned the desert once more. Even though she couldn’t see it, she could just sense that the beast left. Sighing her hundredth sigh of relief, Twilight climbed out of the hole and thought about what her next move would be. She had decided to try sending a flare into the sky to see if anypony would see it, when she felt it. It wasn’t an instinct as much as it was something necessary to do if she wanted to survive. Her legs moved on their own, not waiting on her brain to give the signal. What began as a gallop evolved into what Rainbow Dash would compare to her Super Speed Strut. Every injury on her body screamed at her to stop, but she knew that if she did, she would die. It was only after the explosion of sand that she barely noticed through her adrenaline stopped that she knew she could slow down. She didn’t of course, or else the beast would’ve been that much closer. She thought it left; it wasn’t often that she was wrong about something unless it had something to do with Pinkie Pie, but clearly she was wrong to assume that the monster left. She also wasn’t sure how she knew to get out of the way when her predator attacked the spot she once stood, but she wasn’t able to question that until she got to safety. This time she was sure she could sense the beast and it was eagerly following her. Perhaps galloping away from something that obviously responded to movement was a bad idea, but Twilight wasn’t at her best today. Taking another chance, Twilight quickly fired a spell behind her. She was satisfied by the sound of it exploding against her pursuer. She hoped it would double as the flare she needed because she no longer had the time to cast a proper one. Even though the blast should have surely stalled it, it seemed to have picked up speed and was now inches from her. Her injuries were no longer taking no for an answer, she clearly had to stop galloping. Her instincts told her that stopping meant certain death, but her body told her that there was no other option. Another magic blast would just slow her down, which would bring her that much closer to her death. She could smell it’s breath, the scent of death; what a terrible last scent. If only she could get airborne; then again, any attempt to fly would allow the creature to snatch her out of the sky because of how slow her ascent would be. Out of options and out of time, Twilight allowed the burn on her stomach to spread across her body as she continued to gallop only to stall her death long enough for her last thoughts. Instantly, images of her friends and family popped into her mind. She would never live long enough to be an aunt to Shining Armor and Cadence’s offspring. She would go down in history as Equestria’s worst princess, not even lasting a full year. For some reason neither of these seemed as bad as the fact that she would never fully make amends with Rainbow Dash. A bright flash followed by a pained roar snapped her back into reality. Craning her head, what Twilight saw made her stop completely. She expected to see nothing as usual when you’re being chased by an invisible monster, but instead she saw a twenty-foot tall muscular serpent with three heads all looking confused and deadly at the same time. A hydra. The last hydra she faced had four heads instead of three, but then again that one didn’t turn invisible, or had a muscular body. Between the legs of the serpent monster, stood an azure unicorn with a faint glow to her horn. The familiar pony looked straight at Twilight and opened it’s mouth. “Go!” shouted Trixie. Twilight certainly didn’t need to be told twice, but the pain in her body said otherwise. The pain in her burned stomach had basically immobilized her by now. Moving her legs one after the other was a painful task, one that she wouldn’t be able to complete in time to save her life. All of the hydra heads roared straight at her, as if reminding her that she was doomed. Another flash ruptured the desert air as the heads turned towards Trixie. “Yes, I t-the Great a-and Powerful Trixie have challenged you, do you accept?!” Trixie shouted, rearing up in an attempt to seem bigger. Trixie fired another blast straight into one of the heads to further illustrate her challenge. Shaking it’s heads in frustration, it focused all it’s attention on Trixie and stomped towards her. Trixie galloped away while still firing blasts of magic at it. Twilight continued to quickly limp away, self-assured that Trixie would keep the monster busy. After a few painful seconds of limping, Twilight realized that she was getting nowhere fast. How long could Trixie could keep something like that busy anyway? How long would it be before Trixie gets stuck in the same situation Twilight was stuck in? Cornered with no hope of survival. Except that a hope did arrive in the form of a boastful azure unicorn. Now Trixie’s only hope was limping away, saving herself.... As soon as Twilight spun around and limped in the other direction, she knew she made a mistake. As soon as her horn lit up with magic, she knew she was only dooming herself. As soon as her body was engulfed in the familiar aura of teleportation and appeared facing a large hydra and tired pony, she knew her body was out of energy. “If you’re going to pick on somepony,” Twilight coughed out, her speech slurred and raspy. “Then pick—on—me!” Not knowing where this energy was coming from, Twilight prepared another blast, one that would make the one she used on the Starpony look weak. This last resort would ultimately save Trixie’s life, but no doubt end Twilight’s.   The hydra released his devastating roar, letting them know that it was out of patience. Trixie was saying something, but Twilight could no longer hear anything except soft buzzing. Aiming her horn at the hydra’s stomach, she let go of the magic, allowing it to launch itself into the mighty beast. A bright flash became all that she could see as darkness engulfed her once more. Considering how often she encountered darkness, Twilight probably should’ve been Luna’s student instead of Celestia. She was right back where she started, surrounded by absolute darkness with no source of light to be seen. Except, instead of being unconscious, this time, she was probably dead. Unlike last time, she retained her memory on how she came to be here. Of all the ways to go, she never expected to die saving Trixie. Fluttershy, yes, but Trixie? Hopefully, her last spell did the job and Trixie got away, if not, then her last moments were all for nothing. Nevertheless, she was dead now, and she was not going to spend the rest of her afterlife in complete. She repeated her routine of looking around in the dark until a voice made her jump. “You’ve r—urned, T—ght S—kle,” said the distant voice from before. Looking in the direction of the voice Twilight searched for it’s host but it was as if the darkness was speaking to her. “Who are you?” Twilight asked. “My i—nity will r—main a mys—y to you,” it replied. “You realize I can’t understand anything you’re saying right?” Twilight informed it. The voice remained silent for so long that Twilight thought it had left her there in the darkness. Suddenly her mane began flowing, which she considered illogical as there was wind here, until she noticed that stars began appearing above her. Was she back on Equestria? Or was this her own personal Heaven? The stars were becoming bigger, which was also illogical. Now the stars were blending together to form large white spots. She tried to count how many ways this was impossible until she finally realized that the stars weren’t growing, the darkness was shrinking! Not only that, but it seemed to be drawn to a certain point like a vortex sucks in everything around it. The darkness appeared to be forming a shape similar to how Celestia can use light to form herself. The shape manifested into a tall shadowy mare with shining eyes. It seemed to radiate power as if she standing in the presence of a divine being. It’s flowing mane of darkness seemed to flow without rhyme or reason, as if it was chaos that was barely being controlled. Now that the darkness was concentrated into this being, they were standing in infinite white space. “I have broken free of my imprisonment for a short time,” said the shadow mare. “We have very little time to speak, so I will say that you cannot know of my identity or I will pay the price. You must trust me enough to listen when I tell you to abandon your current quest.” Twilight considered it’s words for a moment. Wasn’t she dead? Wouldn’t that automatically mean that she couldn’t continue the quest? “Are you telling me that I’m still alive?” Twilight asked with enthusiasm. Even though reading it’s expression was somewhat impossible, Twilight could tell that it was surprised by her question. “Of course not,” it responded. “Why would you...never mind, when you wake, immediately find your friends and return home.” “I can’t, I have the opportunity to do something great for Equestria. It’s my duty as a princess and an Element of Harmony to see this through.” “You’re allowing your desire to prove yourself as a ruler overshadow your reasoning. This is a deadly trait that will bring your downfall if you do not heed my words.” “You seem to be composed of darkness, something that’s feared in Equestria. Do you want to see Equestria fall?” “You don’t know anything about me, who are you to—time’s running out. If you value your life and the life of your loved ones, do not finish your quest!” The darkness that composed the mare seemed to be unraveling itself. The white space was being consumed by the darkness. The creature’s body completely melted into it’s surroundings, all except for it’s eyes. As it’s dark body melted, it’s shining eyes grew and melded together. The eye grew more and became a large shining frame. Similar to last time, Twilight galloped into it, hoping she would go back to Equestria instead of going to Heaven. If she weren’t so happy to be alive, she would be annoyed to be waking up to the rock ceiling again. Looking around she saw that the rock hut was the same as before, but now had a pile of scrolls filling up the corner that used to be empty. Seems like Trixie got the scrolls after all. Speaking of, Twilight didn’t see Trixie anywhere, she did survive didn’t she? Apparently Twilight was so concerned about Trixie that she let out an audible sigh of relief when she trotted into the hut. At the sound of her sigh, Trixie shot her a snotty look that reminded her of certain ponies in Canterlot. “Once again, you wake up in my home and once again you save my life. Make sure neither of those ever happen again. Do you understand Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight slightly nodded her head, which was apparently enough to give her a headache. Not that she was surprised, considering all the magic she used last time she was awake. “Good, now that that’s been said,” Trixie said calmly. Suddenly she fired magic from her horn and blew a new hole in her rocky home. “Do. You. Have. Any idea how stupid you are?! There I was, acquiring the scrolls that YOU requested from the village that you would’ve run into if you have ANY sense of direction and there you are; thinking you can take down an Ignis Hydra all by yourself and—and now you have wings and ugh!” If Twilight’s head wasn’t already aching, it would’ve been after that scolding. Judging by the way Trixie was heaving, Twilight could tell that she wasn’t allowed to talk yet so she gave Trixie a few more minutes to calm down. “I’m not quite used to the wings yet actually,” Twilight said, attempting to break the ice. “And I have them because I’m a princess now...surprise.” “I know,” Trixie said through clenched teeth, her voice still laced with anger. “I’m not as out of touch as it seems. Of course, after seeing what little you can actually accomplish on your own; I’m seriously doubting that you deserve to be a princess.” Even though Twilight wondered the same thing on a daily basis, something about hearing it out of Trixie’s mouth caused something in Twilight’s mind to snap. “I can’t believe someone as boastful and rude as you would accuse me of not deserving my title Ms. Great and Powerful. You do realize my friends and I have saved Equestria multiple times? Once we even had to save Ponyville from you! I’m not saying I’m the most qualified pony in the world, but I’m certainly qualified enough, thank you very much.” Trixie seemed to consider this while she stared out the window. Twilight also considered her words. Hearing herself say it made her realize that she meant every word of it, which surprised her. She thought the only way she would accept herself as a princess is if she went down in history as the princess who brought eternal peace, but apparently all she needed was to nearly die twice in the timespan of twenty-four hours. “I was fully capable of defeating the Ignis Hydra by myself you know,” Trixie muttered quietly. “You didn’t need to risk your life to save mine.” “I know you feel like you don’t need anyone, but everypony could use a helping hoof from time to time.” “You misunderstand Trix—me,” Trixie said sadly, turning to face her. “Ever since you released me from the influence of the Alicorn Amulet, I dedicated my life to reaching that insane level of magic through hard work. Obviously I’m not quite there yet, but I’m definitely a better unicorn than I was that day, and a better pony in general.” “I’ve noticed you struggling to act like a civilized pony while keeping your true self at bay. Have you ever considered that the boastful side of you is the real you—” “No!” Trixie suddenly screamed. Caught off-guard by this sudden outburst, Twilight accidentally became airborne and fell harshly back onto the bed. “It isn’t and it can’t be,” Trixie said sadly, lowering her head in sorrow. “As a filly at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, I was always ridiculed for not being as advanced as the other Unicorns. They all laughed at me and told me that I was pathetic and weak, it didn’t take much to convince me that they were right.” Trixie raised her head and Twilight was pleasantly surprised that there were no tears on her face. It couldn’t have been easy to admit something as heavy as that. The strange thing was that Twilight didn’t remember any accounts of bullying at her old school and didn’t remember seeing Trixie at all when she was there. “Everyday I went home and lied to my caring mother; telling her that I was having a lot of fun and learning so much at the school that she spent every bit to send me to. It wasn’t until I came home crying one day that she learned the truth. Once she knew, I thought she would take out of the school, but instead she told me not to give up. She said that I had to prove I wasn’t pathetic or weak by becoming Great and Powerful.” Trixie stared into the sky as if searching for her mother in the stars; Twilight often saw the same look in Applejack’s eyes. It was then that Twilight noticed that it was daylight outside. Had she been unconscious the entire night? Feeling as though Trixie was done sharing about her past, Twilight trotted up beside her. “Trixie, I understand what it means to feel like you have to prove something; especially to yourself, but—” “Oh, I’m sure you do!” Trixie angrily snapped at her, the sad look in her eye replaced by one of fury. “You were something of a legend at the school. All everypony ever talked about was the little unicorn who Celestia personally chose to be her student even though she nearly flunked her entrance exam. I was always being compared to you, whenever they noticed me actually I was passing, they mocked me by asking if I thought I was Twilight Sparkle. When I finally met you in Ponyville, I was insulted that my entire childhood was ruined by somepony who wouldn’t even stand up for herself. When you took care of the Ursa Minor so easily, I just had to retreat because I knew then, I knew that you were everything they said you were and more. “I realized that I had to take my magic to the next level; your level. I tried to put in the patience to advance my magic, but back then I was so obsessed with power that I wanted it as soon as possible. Once I learned of the Alicorn Amulet, I dedicated my life to acquiring it, doing anything that would get the bits I needed. Even working on that terrible rock farm.” “Hey, Pinkie Pie grew up on that rock farm!” Twilight interrupted. “Is that really what you’re going to speak out about? Really?” Trixie asked, rolling her eyes. “The Amulet told me things that clogged my mind, muddled my decisions, made me see nothing but red. After you tricked me into taking it off, I could see clearly for the first time in my life. It was as if the Amulet fused with my ambition for power so much that once it was gone, it took my darkness with it. For the first time, I felt remorse for my actions; I didn’t like it. I was prepared to beg for your forgiveness, which is why I was so relieved that you were so forgiving.” “So basically you had to become more evil in order to become good?” Twilight asked, attempting to process the thought. “I wasn’t evil, I was just hungry for the kind of attention I never received from anyone except my mother. Anyway, once I decided to give up my selfish ways, I galloped. I galloped and galloped, determined to find somewhere I can use to make a fresh new start. That’s when the Ignis Hydra first attacked me. At the time I wasn’t good enough with magic to defend myself against an actual threat so naturally, I fled. Eventually I found a very large rock, after blasting a large hole in it, I hid inside. After a while, the Hydra just left and it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to go so I just stayed in the rock that would eventually become my home. The nearby village is the only one in all of the Badlands, so I go there for all my supplies.” “So this place is called the Badlands?” Twilight asked. “It’s amazing what you get out of my life story,” Trixie said coldly, letting out an annoyed sigh. “Yes, this is one of the most dangerous places in Equestria, the Badlands. The only way I’ve survived this long is by training with the old Unicorns in the village who’ve spent their whole life here. This vest I’m wearing is one that’s been crafted to boost my magic and maintain my defenses. I went out and got an extra one for you, because I know you’ll need it on your journey.” Trixie lifted a vest identical to the one she was wearing out of her chest and fitted it onto Twilight. Even though it appeared to be heavy, the vest was relatively light and easy to wear. “Wow, thanks Trixie.” “It’s me who should be thanking you. You turned me into the unicorn I am today. I thought I hated you, but I now see you as a true friend. Perhaps the only one I have left.” “I’m happy to hear you say that, Trixie.” Twilight pulled Trixie into a short but satisfying hug. “I’m glad I got to see you again, but I really should send a scroll to my friends already. While I was unconscious I got some new found motivation to continue my journey.” “Right, but how do we know where to send it? Do you know your friends’ next destination?” Trixie asked. “Actually, I got this cool new spell that I’ve been dying to try out. It’s gonna make delivering letters a breeze.”