Chapter 4: Fright to the Finish
Trixie floated lightly over to her challenger and said, “Nightmare Moon I presume?”
The Alicorn dug her hooves into the ground in frustration and said, “I am Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon is gone.”
Trixie chuckled, “Oh, but is she?”
Luna glared back at Trixie and said, “Figures!”
“What figures?” Trixie responded.
“You using mind games.”
“What?”
“Don't 'what' me!” Luna said in a stern voice royals are known to use, “Tricks, lying, and deceit is how you operate! To elevate yourself, you lied about facing an Ursa Major. You used magic to brainwash the baby dragon. You used him to distract Twilight from finishing you off. You used a mana potion to cheat your way to victory. And to top it all off, you used the power of dark magic to do. . .that!” she screamed as she pointed a hoof to Twilight and Spike's petrified forms.
“Hypocrite!” Trixie spat, “Are you free of sin!”
“Of course not, no one is,” Luna replied, and she closed her eyes, “It's true, that I nearly brought eternal night over all of Equestria as the evil Nightmare Moon. I was corrupted and blinded by anger, hatred, and jealousy. So much, that I allowed Four Evil Beings to talk me into accepting their power if I created chaos and despair for them by causing eternal night.”
Luna then opened her eyes and said, “But you were not corrupted and blinded by your anger. You accepted it! You used it a strength! Just as you allowed the the Evil Ones into your soul!”
“Of course I did! The Great and Powerful Trixie can never have too much power!” Trixie said, and she pointed over to Twilight and Spike, “Especially if I can use it to silence anypony who gets in my way!”
“That's exactly my point!” Luna replied, “I wanted me and my nights to be appreciated. You just want to cause pain and fear. . .and you can end lives without batting an eye!”
“What do you want from me?” Trixie spat.
“A new Magical Duel of Shadow. If I win, you free Twilight and Spike. If I loose, you turn me to stone.”
Trixie ran a hoof under her chin thoughtfully, “Hmm, actually, I have a better idea.”
A mana medallion appeared around Luna's neck. This one was divided in to six sections.
“You see how it's been divided into sixths? Well, whenever your mana level uses a sixth of its strength, another one of Twilight’s friends will be turned to stone!”
Luna was horrified, “What! No! I'll never agree to that!”
“Then I'll never free Twilight or the baby dragon,” Trixie said with a smirk.
“Leave the others out of this! Please, leave them alone!”
“Why? Why do you care so much about them,and Twilight too for that matter. Answer me, why do you care?”
Luna's eyes began to tear up as she replied, “Because, they saved me. They cured me of the darkness inside my heart. If it hadn't been for them, I would still be a cruel, hated shadow of my former self, and everyone would be suffering under eternal life.”
“And don't forget! We're all her friends!” Pinkie Pie suddenly chimed in.
Luna was surprised, and she turned around to the five of them in confusion.
“Pinkie's right, we are your friends,” Rarity said.
“Ya can sure say that agin, y'all!” Applejack added.
“Sure can!” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy added simultaneously.
“But. . .how? After all I've done. . .” Luna said.
“That's all in the past, and it's all forgiven,” Applejack said gently.
“You came to save Twilight and beat Trixie! That's a friend in my book! Go ahead and accept her challenge! You'll beat her for sure!” Rainbow Dash said.
Luna looked around at the five ponies, not sure what to do.
Fluttershy gave the princess a nod and said, “We'll all be fine, we promise. We believe in you.”
Luna heart fluttered, “They believe in me. . .” she thought.
“Do you accept or don't you? The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't have all day!”
Luna turned to Trixie with a glowing horn, and determined eyes, and said, “Alright, I agree to your terms!”
Trixie smiled wickedly, “Good! Oh, and by the way, I had orders to get rid of the ponies who bear the Elements of Harmony, so I would have had to find a way to get rid of Twilight's friends anyway, so by you agreeing to my terms, you've just fallen for my Xanatos Gambit! Ha-ha-ha! Nice job breaking it, hero!”
Trixie then sent out a lightning ball at Luna, who quickly blocked it with her own magic, but was straining to keep it back.
“Did I mention The Great and Powerful Trixie's lightning balls attract more lightning like lightning rods?” Trixie said as more bolts shot down into the sphere Luna was fighting to push back.
“No!” Luna cried as the ball exploded, throwing her back with great force, but she shook her head and got back up again, “How could you possibly get this strong?”
Trixie pointed at Luna's medallion and said, “Forget that, look!”
Luna didn't bother looking. The pained expression on her face showed she already knew a sixth of her mana was already gone.
“So much for friendship!” Trixie said, “You couldn't protect them, could you!”
“Doesn't matter! She's still our friends! Today, tomorrow, forever and ever!” Pinkie Pie shouted while jumping up and down.
“You are starting to annoy me! You'll be the first to go!” Trixie shouted.
Lightning screeched down.
“Pinkie, look out!” Fluttershy gasped.
Pinkie gave a cheery wink as she kicked up her front legs and flipped, narrowly dodging the lighting.
“Alright then, let's she how long you can keep that up,” Trixie said with a mischievous facial expression.
More lightning came down all around Pinkie. The pink pony simply danced around wildly while singing, “She's an evil enchantress, and she does evil dances, and if you look into her eyes, then she'll put you in trances, and then what will she do? She'll mix up an evil brew, and she'll gobble you up in a big tasty stew!”
Pinkie then jumped up onto her hind legs with her front hooves raised and a crazed expression on her face as she concluded, “So, WATCH OUT!”
BOOOM!
The lightning finally hit it's target, leaving Pinkie Pie frozen in this wild position as a gray stone statue.
Rainbow Dash gave a strangled sob of grief and shouted at Luna, “Luna! You need to beat Trixie!”
“I will! I promise!” Luna said, and her horn created a blast of sparkling dust that covered her. When the cloud settled, she was gone.
Luna then reappeared behind Trixie, and shot a beam of stardust into her. Trixie grunted as she was sent sprawling.
“Not bad!” Trixie commented, but then she cast a spell onto the surrounding stardust, which then blasted back into Luna, knocking her over. The stardust then formed around Trixie, creating a mighty tornado. The stardust tornado then zoomed over and caught up Luna, shaking her up, and tossing her into the ground hard.
Trixie let the tornado fade and said, “But not good either! There goes another of Twilight's friends!”
This time, the bolt of lightning slammed into Applejack.
“Aaaaahhhhh!” she shouted as she turned to stone from hoof to head.
“No! This can't be happening!” Fluttershy whimpered.
“Alright! I won't let you keep doing this! Now I am going to defeat you!” Luna said.
“Just try it!” Trixie challenged.
FLASH!
Trixie closed her eyes against the sudden flash of moonlight as Luna jumped to her rear hooves, casting another spell that caused stardust to form into a small comet. Luna pounded down her hooves hard, and the comet shot forward, slammed into Trixie, and exploded.
Luna stood over Trixie with a serious expression. That attack had reduced Trixie's man by a third.
Trixie staggered to her hooves and said, “That attack. . .it was so strong. . .” Trixie then got a wicked smile, “Perfect. . .”
Trixie's horn flashed as she shouted, “Now, you feel the pain!”
Luna was suddenly sent flying backward, while letting out screams of pain.
“Luna!” shouted the three ponies as everypony else in the crowd let out a gasp of surprise.
Luna was in so much pain that she couldn't even see. Every inch of her body seemed to hurt. It was as if she was being put to the rack after coming out of a trash compactor. She struggled to her hooves as she vaguely saw the image of Trixie laughing as she walked closer to her.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! The Great and Powerful Trixie expected a magnificent attack from the Princess of the Night,” Trixie said, “Therefore, I used a spell that would take the power of your attack and hit you back with it!” Trixie the chuckled lightly and said, “So, this means two more of the Elements of Harmony are no more!”
“Oh no! Please don't let it ruin my hair!” Rarity screamed as the lightning slammed into her a made her a statue.
“And now, for you, freak!” Trixie shouted as she pointed to Fluttershy.
“No! I'm not just gonna sit here this time!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and she threw herself into Fluttershy, knocking her out of the way, and taking the lightning herself.
“NO!” Fluttershy screamed as Rainbow Dash was frozen in a heroic action pose right before her eyes.
The yellow pegasus fell down in tears, “No, that's not fair. It should have been me, no her. Why did she do it? She didn't deserve it. . .”
“Hmph! What a fool,” Trixie said.
Fluttershy then got up, looking very determined indeed, “No, what a friend! She didn't care what would happen to her, all she cared about was protecting her friends! That is a true friend.”
“Wow,” Luna whispered.
“Enough!” Trixie shouted, and Luna was levitated, and then thrown into the ground again, and again, and again. . .
“STOP IT!” Fluttershy screamed with rage as she flew straight towards Trixie.
Trixie wasn't expecting this at all, and was caught completely of guard. Pegasus and unicorn were rolling on the ground, over and over, until Trixie finally knocked Fluttershy off of her with a blast of magic.
“HOW DARE YOU! FEEL THE WRATH OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!” the unicorn screeched, and a final bolt of lighting came down and struck Fluttershy.
“No!” Luna shouted as the cute pegasus was frozen in stone with a fearful look in her eye.
“See! You couldn't save any of them! You can't even save yourself from. . .” Trixie announced as she rammed into Luna knocking her down. As she stood triumphantly over the Princess, the unicorn shouted loudly, “. . .The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Luna looked sadly up at Trixie, and then at her own medallion, which showed only a small sliver of mana left.
“I'm sorry everyone,” the night Princess whispered as she closed her eyes in defeat. . .
“It's not over yet, Luna.”
Luna opened her eyes to find that she was surrounded by the six incarnates of the Elements of Harmony.
“But. . .how. . .?”
“Were with you, Luna!” Applejack said.
“Show that evil enchantress who's boss!” Pinkie Pie said.
“We believe in you, you can do it!” Rarity said.
“Teach Trixie a lesson she won't forget!” Rainbow Dash shouted excitedly.
“You're strong enough, I know you are,” Fluttershy said.
Luna blinked and said, “But, after all I did, and you all got turned to stone because I wasn't quick enough, how. . .?”
Twilight stepped forward and said, “Luna, you showed remorse for what you did in the past, and you've been doing all you can to make up for it. And now, you're risking your life to save us. I know the odds don't look good, but that doesn't matter, because everything that's been happening has clearly proven one thing. The same thing I discovered the night that we all saved you.”
Luna's eyes opened wide and said, “That. . . you are all my friends. . .”
Back in the real world, Luna's eyes snapped open, and a small spark appeared in each pupil.
“That's it. . .that's the Spark Twilight was talking about. . .” Luna gasped.
“What?” Trixie asked.
There was then a massive flash that actually threw Trixie back.
The light faded to reveal the five necklaces and the tiara that represented the Elements of Harmony.
“No! That can't be! I've turned their holders to stone! The Elements should be dead and lifeless as well!” Trixie shouted.
The tiara then lightly landed on Luna's head, and the necklaces orbited around her.
“WHAT THE HECK!!!??? YOU CAN'T USE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!!!”
“Yes I can,” Luna said strongly, “Because I am connected to the ones who can control them, because they are my friends!”
The necklaces shot out beams of light that hit the petrified ponies, freeing them in a flash. The tiara shot a beam that freed Twilight and Spike in a flash as well.
“NO! MY PLAN WAS FLAWLESS! THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE CANNOT BE DENIED!” Trixie screeched.
“Trixie. . . YOU LOOSE!” Luna shouted, and the Elements of Harmony unleashed their power, created a huge rainbow lazer that twisted into the air, and came down fast, making a beeline for Trixie.
“WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???!!!” Trixie screamed as the rainbow beam hit the ground underneath her and formed a huge multicolored tornado that suddenly exploded in a burst of light.
The entire crowd was in an uproar as the light faded, leaving Trixie lying on the ground, looking very defeated.
The mane cast quickly ran over to Luna in excitement for a huge group hug.
“The Elements of Harmony came through!” Luna cheered.
Twilight shook her head and said, “No, you came through Luna.”
“Yeah! You won! And you know what that means?” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.
“Yes, but before that, there's one more thing I've gotta do,” Luna said gravely, and she then walked towards Trixie.
“My magic. . .gone. My plan. . .failed. . .” Trixie whimpered.
“Trixie. . .” Luna said softly, “When I was freed from Nightmare Moon, I thought everypony would hate me, and never forgive me, but I was wrong. They did forgive me. My sister forgave me after all I did to her. . .” Luna closed her eyes for a moment, fighting to hold back tears, and then she continued, “Trixie, I know you accepted the dark magic, “But if you show us that now you know that evil in any shape or form will always lead to a bad end, and if you sincerely apologize to everypony for all the chaos you caused, then I'm sure we shall all be willing to forgive you, and give you a second chance.”
Trixie looked up at the Princess, her entire weakened body trembling violently. The unicorn slowly got up on shaky legs. She looked strait in the eye, and spat upon the ground in front of her.
“You all make me sick. I don't regret anything I've done here. The Great and Powerful Trixie enjoyed every minute of the torment she inflicted on Twilight and her little friends! I don't give a horse apple about your silly little speech either, Nightmare Moon!”
Luna didn't seem at all fazed by this, although all of the surrounding ponies gasped in shock and disgust. Luna simply nodded, turned the way, and said loudly, “Alright, she's all yours.”
Two armored pegasus guards suddenly walked through the crowd. As they approached Trixie, one of them said, “Trixie the unicorn, you are hereby under arrest for attempted murder, vile misuse of magic, assaulting a royal figure, and malicious mischief.”
Trixie's eyes widened in fear, “What? No! Please! Don't do this to me! I'll be banished to the moon, or worse, the sun! No!”
The pegasus guards were nearly upon her, when all of a sudden. Four bright columns of light shot down around her, knocking the guards back.
“No! Not them!” Luna gasped.
The columns of light flashed brightly to reveal the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse.
“Yes!” Trixie exclaimed as she got back up shakily. She gave a soft chuckle and said, “The end has come for all of you.”
“Pathetic,” Conquest said.
“Failure,” War said.
“Waste of time,” Famine said.
“That's you,” Death concluded.
“And the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse shall punish you!”
A huge bolt of lightning struck Trixie, turning her to stone. Then, her statue burst apart into dust.
"I am Conquest," he was a white earth pony, with a cutie mark depicting a bow and arrow inside a golden crown.
"I am War," he was a red pegasus with a cutie mark depicting a flaming sword.
"I am Famine," he was a black unicorn with a cutie mark depicting balance scales.
"I am Death," he was a pale-green pegacorn, with a cutie mark depicting the Grim Reaper's Scythe Blade.
"We are the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse."
“You! You're the ones who took advantage of my jealousy and turned me into Nightmare Moon!” Luna shouted out.
“You were the stars! You were those four stars that I saw the night Nightmare Moon escaped! It was you who broke the seal!” Twilight gasped.
“Come on everypony! They're no match for the Elements of Harmony! That's why they wanted Trixie to get rid of us!” Rainbow Dash said.
“You misunderstand,” Conquest said.
“True, we wanted those Elements gone, but only because we figured that their holders would help everypony get through our curses,” War said.
“Curses that we would use to but every living thing in Equestria through intense pain and chaos!” Famine cackled.
“Regardless of whether the Elements of Harmony are working or not, our plans will still go through. Trixie and Luna were just ploys to make our curses even more unbearable. Although they both failed, our curses will still cause some major damage to all of Equestria,” Death said smoothly.
“Wait, what kind of curses are you talking about?” Twilight asked.
“You will all soon see in due time. But for now, we must say, farewell. . .for now. . .” Conquest said.
And just like that, the Four Ponies were gone, and the dark clouds left with them, revealing the beautiful sunny sky once again.
“Oh dear,” Rarity whispered.
“Those dangerous delights will be back before long,” Applejack said.
Luna simply looked up at the sky, “Intense pain and chaos. . .” she whispered.
Suddenly, a new flash of warm sunlight revealed the elder Princess of Equestria. As everyone bowed in respect, Celestia made her way over to her younger sister.
“I am proud of Luna, you have stopped a great evil from dominating Equestria,” Celestia said with a smile.
“For now,” Luna whispered.
“Princess Celestia, I don't understand, why didn't you help Luna to fight Trixie?” Twilight asked.
“Because it was her fight,” Celestia said, “It would finally make things right. She would be redeeming herself in the eyes of everypony in Ponyville.” Celestia then smiled and said, “Also, it would finally help her to understand that she truly did have friends, through the Elements of Harmony.”
“Yes,” Luna said softly, as she turned to the mane cast.
“Thank you all!” she exclaimed with tears of joy, and they all jumped in for another group hug.
“And as for the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse, and their curse,” Celestia thought, and she finished her sentence out loud, “For now, let us just relax and get through our sunny days and stormy nights.”
“With a party!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
And what a party it was.
The End