//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Mending Hearts // by Ronglar //------------------------------// Prologue 1 Year Ago "Hah! You may have vanquished an Ursa Minor, but you will never have the amazing, show stopping ability of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" the mare exclaimed, before using her magic to conjure a cloud of smoke to cover her escape, unsuccessfully, as she galloped away from Ponyville. "Why that little...." Rainbow Dash started, flying up a few feet, intending to chase Trixie down. "Just let her go...." Twilight soothed, "maybe someday she'll learn her lesson...." She stared in the direction Trixie had left town for a moment before turning her attention to the two colts responsible for bringing the Ursa to town. Trixie ran from Ponyville as fast as her hooves could carry her. The humiliation of the past day's events was too much to bear. She was angry at the Ursa... she was angry at the purple mare... but most of all, she was angry at herself. She could not hold back the wave of disappointment she felt at her own foalish self. As she continued galloping thru the trees of the thick forest she had run into, she came to a slow trot after realizing she was lost. "Humph! How dare they show up The Great and Powerful Trixie!" she huffed, her ego beginning to wane as she passed a large oak tree. Coming to a stop, Trixie finally took notice of her surroundings. The night was beautiful; she could easily see everything around her, the fallen branches of the trees, the small wildlife scurrying about and the calming pond a few feet away. She slowly walked up to the waters' edge and looked at her own reflection. Her azure coat was frazzled and her normally straight, silver mane stuck out in all directions. Trixie sat and thought back to the events of the last two days. How she came into town with the hopes of putting on a great performance and how she ended up humiliating the ponies who dared challenge her ego; the eager young colts who had brought the Ursa into town; that purple unicorn, what was her name...? Twilight... yeah, that's it, coming to the rescue and proving how powerless The Great and Powerful Trixie really was. "That stuck-up purple mare! Twilight! How dare she usurp The Great and Powerful Trixie’s reputation!?" Trixie shouted in blind rage. "I could have had a fresh start here! A brand new chapter in The Great and Powerful Trixie's life... but no! She just had to let her ego take control and ruin everything!" Trixie realized she was yelling at herself now, venting all the pent up anger and embarrassment that had welled up inside her. After finally calming down, she began to quietly sob on the shore of the small pond. Her ego, defeated by the day's recent events, begrudgingly allowed her to let it all out. "Every time... every time I try and start over in a new town I blow it. Always someone has to feed my ego until it fights back," Trixie cried into her hooves, "I can never just have a regular show where the ponies actually enjoy themselves." Trixie felt horrible. Every time she performed in a new town, someone would challenge her ego, which would usually end up badly for the showmare. She hadn't had a good show in months, but this time was different. Instead of just angering some locals, Trixie's boasting accidentally led to part of the town getting destroyed. "Oh, why can’t I ever just behave myself? Why can't I stop everypony from hating me...?" Trixie began sobbing once more. Trixie's tears started to subside when she felt something tapping on her shoulder, her ego flared up, instantly trying to save face with whatever had actually taken the time to notice and take pity on her. "Leave me alone!" Trixie hissed at whoever had just come up to her, "Can't you see that I don't need to be humiliated anymore or was the Ursa not enough for you?" Instead of being met with the harsh onslaught of words that she was expecting, Trixie felt something squeeze her shoulder. "What the...!" Trixie started as she looked down to find a small, snow white rabbit hugging her. "What are you doing?" Trixie asked, shocked and slightly afraid that something was trying to comfort her instead of ridicule her. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need companionship from a lowly rodent!" Angel, for that was his name, looked up at Trixie, staring right into her eyes. They weren't the eyes of malice, only a form of sympathy and a willingness to help. Even without words, Trixie could tell that the rabbit had heard everything that had happened over the last few minutes. "Do you," Trixie started, unsure whether to trust the rabbit, "actually care about me?" Angel just nodded and directed Trixie's gaze into the pond. "Wow...! I guess that I have made a mess of myself,” Trixie said with a dry laugh. "Hmm, better try and fix myself up." Both of them knew that this was completely irrelevant but it had served its intended purpose: Trixie's mind was starting to wander to things other than the horrible display back in Ponyville. By the time her mane and coat were fixed up, Trixie's tears had stopped flowing and had dried on her cheeks. "Thank you," Trixie whispered before turning to Angel and giving him the most heartfelt smile she could muster. Feeling that he had served his purpose, Angel gave a happy nod and hopped away towards Ponyville, leaving Trixie once again alone in the forest. Trixie sat beside the pond, thinking of the mistakes she’d made while traveling across Equestria and thinking of ways to fix them. Trixie finally gathered up the courage to stand and stare across the vast land before her. "No!" Trixie proudly proclaimed to anypony who was listening, but mostly to herself. “I won't let this get me down! I may have lost everything, but..." Trixie could feel her emotions well up again, but kept them under control, "I will continue! I will be strong and I will fix the mistakes I've made and reclaim my title of the greatest showmare ever!" As Trixie looked up into the night sky, she swore that she could see a proud face watching her. She would fix her wrongs and live up to the name her mother had given to her. Trixie galloped off into the wilds of Equestria, determined to take back her dignity any way she could. 3 Months Ago "OH my, love, love, love all this chaos," Discord mused to himself. Being a draconequus, Discord certainly appeared fit for his role as the master of chaos and disharmony. He had the head of a pony, body of a dragon, left and right arms and legs of an eagle, lion, goat and dragon, respectively, and the tail of a snake. He certainly looked the part. After being resurrected from his stone prison in the Canterlot Castle Royal Gardens and breaking up the elements of harmony, Discord had quickly spread his corrupting touch all over Equestria. With Ponyville being his prime target for a reason: it was home to The Elements. "Oh! The Elements of Harmony, how I thought you'd be more fun,” Discord continued. Truth be told, corrupting the bearers of The Elements of Harmony within Canterlot's Royal Hedge Maze was the most fun he'd had in thousands of years. It was the only thing he'd done in thousands of years. Being frozen in stone tended to limit your options when it came to entertainment. Discord currently sat atop his distorted throne in the center of Ponyville, or what was left of it. He himself had named the place the chaos capital of the world, aptly named considering how much magic he put into corrupting the small town compared to the rest of Equestria. Now Discord just sat upon his throne, admiring his work and occasionally sending out a puff of magic for a good laugh. But even with Celestia and Luna powerless to stop him and The Elements of Harmony disbanded, Discord felt uneasy. Like he had won too quickly. "No no no, I'm Discord! The most powerful and awesome being ever!" Discord grinned triumphantly, "It's no wonder that I won so easily!" And yet, something just didn't feel right. Like his victory would be short lived because of those pesky Elements. "Argh!" Discord yelled in frustration. "How can I still feel vulnerable!? I'm the sole king of Equestria!" Discord thought back to his plan. Step One: Escape and draw out The Elements of Harmony. Step Two: Break apart The Elements of Harmony in Canterlot's Royal Hedge Maze. Step Three: Rule Equestria in eternal chaos. Step Four: ...there was no step 4. Discord didn't have any kind of backup plan in case the Elements actually won. "Aha, so that's it!" said Discord, already forming an idea. "So, I'll just do this... and that... and some of these...." he said, performing the occasional hand gesture with each exclamation. Discord lost himself in thought, forming a spell based off the chaotic nature of his magic. For a split second, all the craziness in Ponyville seemed to turn down a couple notches. A few floating objects started to drop back down to the ground, some of the multi-colored surfaces started to fade away and the sun and moon even stopped midway between one of their minute long cycles. Once Discord finished the spell, Ponyville turned right back to its state of complete and utter chaos. Before him floated the fruits of his labor, two glowing balls of magic. The first orb was a dull swirling of different colors, while the other was a dark purple, blue-black vortex. Discord laughed manically as the two menacing spheres went to work. The multi-colored orb split off into six smaller dull orbs, each flying far out over the land of Equestria, each heading to a specific destination. The dark orb however flew straight up into the atmosphere until it was no longer in sight. "Well... that should take care of that," said Discord, reassured that he could never truly be defeated. So Discord leaned back on his throne and continued admiring his hard work across the land, completely unaware that a certain purple unicorn was already planning his downfall. Present Day All of Equestria was looking at the night sky. Luna had out done herself this time. She had prepared this night for weeks, wanting to make sure everything turned out beautifully. Luna was standing on her bedroom balcony, at the top of the second tallest tower of Canterlot Castle, watching the amazing display of shooting stars magically crafted into the night sky. She was so engrossed in the display that she barely noticed the faint creak coming from her bedroom door. "You've really out done yourself tonight, sister," Celestia said as she walked up beside Luna. "You should be proud of your hard work." "Oh! Thank you, Tia. I couldn't have pulled this off without your help." "You're welcome, Luna, it’s the least I could do to help ponies appreciate the night." The two princesses stood happily together on the balcony, enjoying the beautiful view of Equestria and pleasure of each others company. Luna took a step closer and nuzzled Celestia's neck, still too short to reach her sister's head. The older sister just lowered herself and affectionately nuzzled her back. They held the silence for a few more minutes before Celestia spoke up. "I missed you so much while you were gone, Lulu." "I missed you too, Tia." "Promise me that you'll never leave again." "I promise, Tia." And so the royal sisters held each other in a loving embrace, enjoying one of the rare moments that they had to themselves. Blissfully unaware that one particularly bright light in the night sky was not of the night princess' creation. Big Thanks to Dr.Jekyll & NikitaKitten for prereading/editing the chapter!