The Great and Very Hungry Trixie sighed heavily as she plodded along the path, grumbling a bit as she struggled to pull her heavy cart-home. She had always had the strength to pull her little hoof-made home before, but a heavy mind made for a weaker body, she had found, time and time again. Her stage show had not gone entirely to plan in Manehatten. A few well-placed hecklers- she was quite certain some of her competition had paid them to show up- had booed and hissed throughout most of her show, ruining the mysterious atmosphere she had painstakingly set up. Even her best illusionary tricks, including a brilliant magical cantrip of a rising moon turning into a star tiger, had done little to repair the mood once damaged. She had only just made enough bits to cover expenses, and a few meals. “Meals” being three apples from a roadside vendor.
“Perhaps I should send another letter to Twilight,” Trixie mused, dropping the third person accent she affected while amongst other ponies, for dramatic effect.
Most of Trixie’s animosity to Twilight Sparkle had drifted away since the unfortunate incident with the Alicorn Amulet. Even the memory of that particular lapse of judgement stung the proud showmare. After being thrown into the Canterlot Dungeons, Trixie had languished in the dark and cold, certain that, at her trial, she would be found guilty and sent to one of the few prisons that Equestria maintained, or at the very least, banished from its borders forever. And Trixie knew, deep down, she deserved it. She had let an obsession consume her life, destroying her reputation and almost all of her bits in order to hurt a mare that had only acted in truth.
So imagine her surprise when a certain purple alicorn appeared in front of Trixie’s cell on her court date… and pardoned her. On the spot, with only one condition: that she would put this revenge obsession behind her, and write to Twilight during her travels. Trixie would have been a foal to toss such a generous offer back at her face, especially since… ahem… she had cried rather heavily at Twilight’s hooves. In gratitude. Ahem.
Up ahead, the path curved into a large, flower-laden meadow, the sky above framing it with a picture-perfect view. A smile broke out on the over-taxed unicorn’s lips. Perhaps it would be a good place for her to set up camp, and get a little painting in. She- A shadow passed overhead; quite a large one in fact. With a soft squeak, Trixie jerked her head up, fear of one of the massive bird hunters from Griffonia bubbling up in her brain. Though attacks in Equestria were rare in the extreme, the massive condors sometimes flew down from the mountains to hunt for easy prey. What greeted her eyes instead was a sleek, dark chariot, two batponies pulling it from the front, while a starry mane whipped back in the wind.
Awe surged through Trixie’s soul, and she couldn’t help but beam, the early events of the day fading away. Princess Luna. Goddess of the Night, Mistress of the Night. In the old days, Trixie would have petitioned the dark princess to be her patron, so that she may have the proper funds and backing to ply her trade. If she could, Trixie would have done so already. Luna was the Mistress of all the old ways of magic; of runes, and illusions aplenty. Studying her history was a hobby of Trixie’s, one she greatly enjoyed doing. And finding old artwork… oh, don’t get her started on-
A metallic gleam blinked into Trixie’s eyes from the meadow, and she blinked at it in surprise, narrowing her eyes. Four tubes, dark in appearance but still somewhat shiny from its metallic surface, jutted up from the flowers. As Trixie watched, a sleek, antlered head rose from its hiding place, peering through a sight. A sight?! Startled, Trixie darted forward, horn glowing as she amplified her voice, mimicking the Royal Voice of the Sisters.
“You there, what in Equestria are you doing!?”
The head, Cervine in appearance, jerked in surprise at the volume of the voice, throwing off his aim; the tubes fired with roar of the sound of cannons, and Trixie gave a cry as explosions went up all around Luna’s chariot. All four of the assassins rose up from the flowers, deadly glares thrown Trixie’s way as she skidded to a stop, heart stopping as she realized just what she had tried to stop: an assassination of one of the Princesses of Equestria. The assassins were all larger than normal Deer, furs ranging from tan to bright white, and all with massive, swept back antler racks. Their barrels were circled by muddy armor plates, and all had began to swing the smaller tubes on their saddles towards Trixie.
“Oh dear,” Trixie whimpered out, horn flashing through a cantrip she had learned as a foal, to taunt bullies, before throwing herself prone.
Light, brighter than a paparazzi's flashbulb, flared in front of the group, and they roared and cried out in pain and shock, rifles echoing with shots and clouds of smoke. The faintest of tugs knocked Trixie’s starry hat to the ground, and she was stunned to see a still-smoking hole through it. The Great and Very Sick-Feeling Trixie whimpered.
“You DARE harm a PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!”
Jerking her head up in surprise, Trixie’s heart nearly burst in elation as she saw Princess Luna, her legendary blades gleaming in the light, diving for the Deer-like creatures, eyes bright and deadly. Her chariot stood intact, batpony guards struggling to get out of their harnesses to protect their Mistress. It wasn’t needed. Luna was grace incarnate, and Trixie’s eyes dared not leave her idol as she flowed into battle. The assassins were faster than Trixie gave them credit for, and all seemed to have magic. Fields of magic, hidden before even to Trixie’s unicorn vision, flared to life, oily trails grabbing for axes on their saddles, swinging them up to engage the Lunar Goddess. The first bared his muzzle in a fierce snarl, thundering in an enchanted voice.
“Ash’ei vas-”
His axes shattered on contact with Luna’s blades, which swung on with no slowing of momentum to disconnect his head from his body, blood fountaining up to coat his compatriots. Bile rose in Trixie’s throat, but she watched on, captivated. Landing on two hooves, Luna spun to the closest attacker, plunging her head forehead to bury her razor-sharp horn into his throat, a pained gurgle raising up from what was left of his voice box. With a shudder he fell back, sliding free of Luna’s head-pike.
To Trixie’s mild surprise, she found herself suddenly charging forward, stubby legs thundering across the meadow. Bravery? Maybe. But it seemed far too wrong to leave her Princess fighting alone, even if she did have the upper-hoof and experience. One of the assassins had rushed by to one of the tubes in the ground, using his magic to jam a papery bundle into the mouth while he used his hooves to flip it back towards Luna.
“No!” Trixie shouted in desperation, not knowing if even Luna’s magic could protect her from a cannon blast at such short range, closing her eyes.
Come on, Twilight had shown her how to do this, she HAD to do this, now! With an odd, almost suction-y feel, Trixie disappeared from her spot… and popped back into being with a flash. A good foot in the air above the assassin’s back. With a yelp, she landed, hooves and mouth instinctively grabbing and tugging onto the long fur and mane of the deer-like creature.
“GET OFF!”
The voice was loud and deep, masculine to the point of near-amusement, though amusement was the last emotion on Trixie’s mind at that point. More terror than anything else. Pain erupted on Trixie’s sides, more pain than she had ever before experienced, and she opened her mouth to scream out the agony. Red hot fire rising up her sides, tearing towards her throat, driving the scream out, and causing old instincts to rise up. During the formative years of the unicorn tribes, they were well-known for their art of horn-fencing, which had acted upon the unicorn instinct to gore anything that threatened them at close range. With a primal scream, Trixie darted her head forward, horn slamming through the attackers skull with a sickening crunch. The pain faded instantly, and Trixie was horrified to feel hot liquid running down her head and mingling into her hair, some even running past her eyes.
Frantically shoving with her hooves, the showmare backpedaled off the creature’s back, sobbing out a small denial as she fell to the ground in a heap, completely unmoving. No, no, no. She had… she had murdered a creature? She was just a showmare, not a soldier! What had she done? What would Twilight think, what would Luna…
“Trixie Lulamoon?”
Squeaking a bit, Trixie looked up with bleary eyes, trembling as she found the eyes of the Princess of the Night upon her. The last of the attackers lay dead, his chest and stomach a bloody, gore-drenched mess. With a soft gleam, a magical pentagram ran over Luna’s blades and armor, the blood disappearing with a whim. But Trixie’s eyes only barely noticed this, too consumed by the eyes of her idol. Deep, powerful understanding filled them, along with the ghost of recognition. Taking slow, yet graceful steps, Luna strode over to Trixie… and held out a hoof. And with a heart-wrenching sob, the Great and Soul-torn Trixie threw herself to the ground at Luna’s hooves, trembling and whimpering as the last shred of her innocence floated away on the warm, summer’s breeze.