Trixie was walking through Ponyville. The ponies, although somewhat still distrusting, nonetheless greeted her and waved a good morning to the azure mare. Trixie didn’t know why, but something told her that today was going to be a good day. Despite the setbacks in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and Trixie had actually hit it off quite nicely, of course, after Shining Armor apologized about the whole Sabio/Sombra thing. Which in hindsight she may’ve overreacted to the comparison, after all, when you thought about it, it was a compliment, in way.
Trixie saw her destination coming into view, Golden Oaks Library. It was still odd, calling this tree/house/library her home, seeing as how she never had a real home after her mother died. But Trixie was slowly starting to enjoy calling that place her home.
Even if it smells of parchment and ink from time to time, she thought.
Trixie approached the front door and noticed something odd. The “Open” sign was switched to “Closed”, which was odd seeing as it was early afternoon and still within normal operation hours. The library didn’t really see much patronage, the only time the library was actually used was during projects at the local school, or during fairs, or when a new Daring Do or Harry Trotter book was released. Trixie merely shrugged the oddity off, it was Twilight’s, and Trixie’s, home, and being the owner and Princess did give her leeway in deciding when the library was open and closed.
Trixie opened the door and entered her home. Upon stepping hoof within Trixie could immediately tell that something was off. Usually, the library gave her a somewhat comforting, homey feeling. But right now, though, it felt as if that vibe was the complete opposite, like the library wanted to reject Trixie like a virus invading a healthy body. Trixie made her way further into the library, climbing up the stairs to the second level where she knew Twilight would be. But as she ascended the stairs Trixie couldn’t help but hear a faint sound.
Trixie continued up and the sound grew louder, it wasn’t long before Trixie fully recognized what it was. It was the sound of somepony crying. The azure mare quickened her pace to the second story. Once she reached the top Trixie quickly looked around for the source. Trixie knew that Twilight occasionally did magical experiments or scientific projects that Trixie didn’t really understand, or cared to understand, and feared she might’ve hurt herself or worse. It wasn’t long before she found the source. And as she thought, it was indeed Twilight crying, but what she didn’t understand was why Shining Armor was there.
The white unicorn stallion held his little sister close as she sobbed into his chest, gently stroking her mane in a comforting fashion. Trixie slowly walked towards them, confused and even more concerned about what was going on.
“Twilight, Shining Armor, what…what’s wrong,” asked Trixie.
For some reason, hearing Trixie’s voice made Twilight recede deeper into her big brother’s embrace. Shining Armor then fixed Trixie with a piercing glare that almost made her yelp out of fear.
“This is all your fault, Trixie!”
“W-What’s going on!? What is my fault, I just got home!?”
“Shut up, this isn’t your home, not anymore you…you…home wrecker!” Twilight shouted as she glanced over her shoulder to Trixie.
Needless to say, Trixie was taken aback by both the accusation and the amount of venom that was laced in her words.
“‘Home wrecker’, what did I do!? Would you two please tell me what’s going on, instead of just yelling at me!?” Trixie demanded with a stomp of her hoof.
“Our Mom…she divorced our Dad…and furthermore, she completely disowned Shining Armor and me! She said…” Twilight tried to bite back the growing lump in her throat. “She said that she couldn’t stand the sight of us, knowing that we were his children! And now she’s gone off to Faust knows where!”
Trixie felt like the wind was knocked out of her lungs. She collapsed onto her haunches as the gravity of what Twilight had said took root. This was her worst fear come to life, yes she knew that no real good would come of Twilight’s and Shining Armor’s parents finding out about her, but Trixie didn’t think that that would happen, not complete disownment.
“And that’s not all…” Shining Armor separated himself from Twilight. He then rose up and began to advance on Trixie. “Cadance left me…”
Trixie’s eyes grew to the size of saucer plates, this was worse than she’d thought. Cadance was the Princess of Love; she was kind, caring, and compassionate, and just as every bit as faithful to Shining Armor as he was to her. She looked up at her big brother with disbelief and sadness in her eyes.
“That can’t be true! Shining Armor, Cadance loves you, why would she do that!?”
The stallion snorted angrily at this question. “She thought that a family that had no real understanding about what love was, especially familial love, was undeserving of her love. She thinks that eventually, I’ll be the one to cheat on her, you know, since my Father messed around with your floozy mother!”
Trixie quickly rose up and stared Shining Armor in the eyes, insults to Trixie were one thing, she didn’t like them, but she was fine with that she wasn’t looking for acceptance. But to insult her mother, the mare who did all she could to raise her and in the end lost her life trying to give them a better life, that’s where Trixie drew the line.
“Don’t you DARE talk about my Mother like that! She was the kindest and most hardworking mare I ever knew, she was twice the mother Twilight Velvet was if this was enough to make her leave!”
Trixie didn’t notice it, but Twilight had swiftly made her way to her and slapped the azure unicorn mare across the face. Trixie stumbled back a bit, eyes wide with shock at the realization that she was assailed by her big sister.
“T-Twilight…”
“You cause nothing but pain, humiliation, and destruction wherever you go! I wish I never found out you were my sister, I wish you weren’t ever born,” shouted Twilight at the top of her lungs.
That was it…those were the dreaded words she hoped to never hear, and spoken by the pony she both aspired to be and had previously wanted to defeat.
“You!” Twilight pointed her hoof at Trixie for emphasis. “You are a danger to everypony around you, and so…in order to spare others the same pain that we’ve suffered I, Twilight Sparkle, as a Princess of Equestria, hereby banish you Trixie Lulamoon!”
Trixie couldn’t believe what she was hearing; she backed away slowly, shaking her head at what was transpiring.
“Twilight…you’re…you’re banishing me!? T-To where…the moon!?”
“No, the moon is a dissolute and empty place, although it would be poetic justice with you. No, I’m banishing you to the SUN!”
Trixie’s eyes grew wider in sheer horror. The moon was one thing, but the sun!? Trixie couldn’t take it anymore she hurriedly ran down the stairs and burst through the front door. She ran through the town till she saw Twilight’s friends gathered in Town Square. She quickly made her way towards them, thinking that they might be able to talk Twilight out of her vendetta.
“Trixie, what the hay do you want,” asked Spike agitated by her presence.
“You-You have to help me! Twilight and Shining Armor have gone crazy! They want to banish me to the sun – the SUN!”
Spike and the other five mares looked at each other in turn before finally looking at Trixie.
“So,” asked Spike.
Trixie was struck speechless.
“It’s your fault in the end, darling. You couldn’t help but seek out Twilight to prove that you were the best, your pride wouldn’t let it go,” said Rarity.
“Ya brought it on yerself Trix, if ya went and left well enough alone you could’ve avoided all this,” stated Applejack.
“Besides, did you really think we’d forgive and forget that easily? You enslaved Ponyville, and now you’ve gone and messed up Twi’s family,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Sounds like you really, really, really, really, REALLY hate Twilight. I mean, splitting up her family and getting them to hate each other, sounds like a good ultimate revenge to me,” Pinkie pointed out.
Trixie vigorously shook her head, “NO! I never wanted that! I’m through with revenge! This was never about that I just…I just…!”
“You just wanted a family, to belong, well boo-hoo-hoo,” mocked Fluttershy. “You’re getting exactly what you deserve!”
“And you have nopony else to blame but yourself.”
Trixie turned her head around and watched as Twilight slowly trotted towards her, with Shining Armor and Princess Celestia flanking her.
“I had had such high hopes for you, Trixie Luluamoon, I truly believed you could rise above your pity vengeance and seek true forgiveness, but it seems that, even after living thousands of lifetimes, there are still ponies who can take advantage of my caring nature,” said Princess Celestia.
Trixie was practically surrounded. The five mares and one baby dragon had created a semi-circle in front of her, with Twilight, Princess Celestia, and Shining Armor bringing up the rear. There was nowhere to escape, nopony here was going to help her, they had condemned her. All of them were on Twilight’s side, and really, Trixie couldn’t blame, as much as she wanted to.
Trixie then found herself incased in a powerful magical bubble, the source of which was Twilight’s magic. She quickly pounded at the bubble, yelling, pleading with anypony to stop this from happening.
“If I had sent you to the moon, you’d merely suffocate. I’m going to thrust you deep into the core of the sun, and place just enough magical wards on this sphere to ensure you slowly and painfully burn to death! You’ll spend every waking moment in agony, thinking only of what you’ve done, about the lives you’ve ruined!”
Trixie was now crying. She quickly went to the side of the bubble that Twilight was closest to, she then dropped to her knees and pleaded with the enraged mare.
“Twilight, big sister, please don’t do this! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean for this – ANY of this to happen! I just…I just wanted…”
“I’m sorry too Trixie…” Twilight walked up to the sphere and placed a hoof on its surface. Trixie reached out and placed her hoof on the same spot that Twilight’s was, a small smile daring to grace her lips. “…But I don’t believe you, I can never believe you…”
Twilight’s horn glowed with a great intensity as the bubble started to rise into the air. Trixie started to cry even harder, curling into a fetal position as she continued to sob for what awaited her.
“Please help me…somepony…anypony…MOTHER!”
“Come little children,
I’ll take thee away,
Into a land of enchantment~
Come little children,
The time’s come to play,
Here in my garden of shadows~”
Suddenly everything stopped. The ponies that were around Trixie started look around for the source of the melodic voice. Whimsical and mysterious music started to play, filling the air and coming from seemingly every direction.
“Follow sweet children
I’ll show thee the way~
Through all the pain
And the sorrows~”
Trixie continued to cry, shutting her eyes, thinking that the sound was just a trick. Not noticing that the world around her began to ebb and flow like waves in a pond of water and slowly dissolving the world around her.
“Weep not poor children
For life is this way
Murdering beauty and passions~
Hush now dear children
It must be this way
Too weary of life and deceptions
Rest now my children
For soon we’ll away~
Into the calm and quiet~”
The world was now an empty blackness, but that was soon corrected as the soft and gentle glow of the full moon dominated the darkness. Soon the world became filled with stars and constellations. Trixie slowly opened her eyes, the terror and pain she felt was slowly melting away by the soothing music. She saw that the world she was once in had become very different. Twilight and the others had disappeared, and now she bared witness to a beautiful night sky, with the moon overhead, acting as a gentle guardian in the night. The bubble, no longer rose colored, but instead was a navy blue color, with tiny silver sparkles. The bubble slowly made its way to the moon.
Trixie was not afraid, not anymore. When she reached the moon, she found it not to be a barren land as most would think. There were large, alabaster columns, a fountain with crystal clear water danced in ways that weren’t natural, making spirals and whimsical patterns that almost hypnotized. All around there were flowers, white and blue roses littered the landscape, arranged with careful and artistic thought. Soon the bubble came upon a pavilion, held up by four large columns and a rotunda top with bronze trim. Underneath the pavilion, much to Trixie’s surprise was a midnight blue alicorn mare, instantly she recognized this mare as the Princess of the Night, Princess Luna.
She seemed enraptured with the music, swaying with it, and even her ethereal mane seemed to be doing the same.
“Come little children
I’ll take thee away
Into a land of enchantment~
Come little children
The time’s come to play
Here in my garden of shaaaadoooowwwws~”
The bubble soon landed on the stone pathway, popping and releasing Trixie. And at the end of Luna’s song, the hauntingly sweet music came to an end. Princess Luna then opened her eyes and looked upon Trixie with kindness and, she dared think, understanding.
“Welcome Trixie Lulamoon.” Luna spoke.
Trixie immediately bowed before her, remembering that this was the first time she had met Princess Luna. Even during Nightmare Night, she didn’t approach her, out of slight fear knowing that she and Twilight were close friends and did not want to incur the wrath of Princes of the Night.
“Princess Luna…I…I don’t know what to say…”
Trixie rose up and looked around once more before turning her gaze on Princess Luna.
“‘Dream Garden’? Wait this is a dream!? I’m dreaming!?”
“Yes, yes, and yes to the last. It has been a while since I had to bring anypony here, you should feel honored, not many get to see it, a shame really,” said Luna.
“Why’s that, exactly…?”
“Come, let us sit first.”
Within the pavilion a table appeared at the center, with two plush cushions for them to sit on. Princess Luna sat on one and beckoned for Trixie to join her. The azure mare did so, and sat across from her.
“So…ahem, why did you bring me here,” asked Trixie.
“I use the Dream Garden as a safe haven, for ponies whose nightmares are so frightening that they cannot bare it and risk hurting themselves. I intervene, as I did not a moment ago, and bring them here so that their mind can rest easier while I wipe away the nightmare.”
Trixie slumped onto the table, “Ugh! That was some nightmare. I’ve never had one like that! It felt so real! Shouldn’t I have realized it was a nightmare at some point, or woken up?”
“Often times nightmares aren’t easily recognized, sometimes it takes a shocking event within the nightmare to effectively wake a pony up, but…”
Trixie didn’t exactly like the way Princess Luna was trailing off at that last part, it made her worry.
“But what?”
“I am concerned about you, Trixie Lulamoon. I thought when Twilight and Shining Armor acted as they did that that would be enough to wake you, but it didn’t. You also didn’t wake when you saw how Twilight’s friends reacted to your news. I have spent time with them, I have come to know them well, and even if Twilight was in such a state over you, her friends would’ve done everything they could to talk her out of it, even my sister wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen and that should’ve have been a dead giveaway.”
“Not to appear rude, Princess Luna, but what’s your point?”
“There were many instances, yet none of them struck you as odd. Dreams and nightmares are where a ponies psyche, their inner most thoughts are made manifest. They sometimes fulfill our wishes, help us sort our problems in the waking world, enable us to conquer our fears in a somewhat controlled setting, and…they often act as a way for our conscious to punish us for a wrong we may have done or perceived to have committed,” she explained.
Trixie looked upon the lunar mare incredulously, “What do mean!? Are you saying that all that stuff those nightmare copies said were true!? That I’m some kind of…of…home wrecker! And that I bring nothing but pain and misery to everypony around me!” Trixie shouted.
Princess Luna did not flinch from Trixie’s shouting, showing that this wasn’t the first time that she had to deal with a difficult pony, “Those words are not what they think. It would be more prudent to say that those are the things you believe yourself to be.” Trixie seemed taken aback by what Luna said, nonetheless she pressed on. “While you hope for the best, Trixie, in the back of your mind, you envision the worst case scenario, which is what your nightmare was about, the worst thing that could happen. You believe yourself to be the center of this but you needn’t bare that burden or shame –”
“WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?” Trixie’s eyes had tears streaming down them once again as her anger and sadness started to return. “What I want I can never have! I can never be accepted into their family! Sooner or later I’d drive them apart, a constant reminder of infidelity! Even now I’m messing up in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor doesn’t even like me, and I don’t blame him!”
“DO NOT THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WITH SUCH FEARS TRIXIE LULAMOON!” Luna boomed in the Royal Canterlot voice.
Trixie shrank down in her seat from the power and authority that was carried in Princess Luna’s voice. She then slowly rose up, seeing that the Princess was waiting for her to do so.
“When I returned, after the Elements of Harmony purified me of Nightmare Moon’s influence, I was filled with so many fears and doubts. I sought to usurp my sister’s rule, and bring about eternal night. And I did it all because I was jealous and angry, jealous that my sister was always the one ponies went to when they had questions, and angry that they enjoyed the day more than the night, no matter how beautifully I arranged the stars, or brightened the dark so that ponies wouldn’t be afraid, all of it was gone unnoticed and without the slightest bit of gratitude.
But all that jealousy and anger were gone after I was freed, I no longer wanted eternal night, all I wanted was to be with my sister, and to return to the only home I knew. But as I said, I was frightened at what my sister would say or do once I was back, but to my surprise, she was as happy to see me as I her, and as they say, the rest is history.”
Trixie took a moment to digest Princess Luna’s words, Luna, like her, only wanted to be recognized for her talents, to be seen and accepted and to not fade away into the background and be forgotten, to live in the shadow of somepony else. I find I have more in common with Princess Luna, and a little in common with Sabio the Wise…how messed up am I, thought Trixie.
“Tell me, Princess Luna, did Twilight tell you of our situation or did you just eavesdrop on my dreams?”
“Oh no, Tia told me – oops – I mean Celestia told me, and maybe I took a peek, only a little,” said Princess Luna, blushing a little from using her sister’s nickname, and from being found out.
The azure mare could help but chuckle at being able to make this particular Princess blush.
“So, what do you think I should do…?”
“I think the real question is what do you think you should do?”
Trixie let out a long sigh, “I guess I should make a better effort like Twilight wanted, but not at least until he apologizes!”
“Oh most definitely, older siblings need to know that they can be wrong once and a while, and it’s fun to have that for leverage later.”
Princess Luna gave Trixie a playful wink, a sort of understanding between younger siblings.
“Well, then, the dawn is coming, and you should wake. Hopefully the next time we meet it will be under less stressful circumstances,” said Luna.
The sun started to rise on the horizon of the moon, and as it did Trixie’s body slowly started to fade away. It was then that the magician remembered something.
“Princess Luna, there’s one thing I needed to ask you!”
“Make it quick, you’ll wake shortly.”
“Exactly how did you know that was the lullaby that my Mother used to sing me –!?”
Luna watched as Trixie faded away, leaving the mare with a confused expression. “That lullaby…nopony else knows that lullaby beyond…How did her mother know of it?”