//------------------------------// // The Trial of Pride. // Story: A Lost Soul Returns: The King of Monsters // by Dark Star the Crazed //------------------------------// Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth. ~ Oscar Wilde. Three days later. Trixie opened her eyes and sighed as she saw a wall of white. She remembered drinking some whiskey last night, she had always been a lightweight when it came to alcohol, she wasn't even sure why she drank the vile liquor in the first place, she had probably seen something that she wanted to un-see. She then realized something, the sun hadn't touched her eyes. Not bothering in questioning this, she got up and went downstairs. She walked into the kitchen, made a cup of coffee, and slowly drank it while waiting for Soul and Hex to wake up. After ten minutes she got bored and went outside for a walk, the first thing she noticed was that the streets were empty. "Where is everypony?" She looked up and saw that the sun was in the center of the sky. "It's the middle of the... Pinkie is probably throwing a party and nopony told me." Trixie shrugged and turned to go back inside, but a sudden whistling sound caught her attention. Fireworks. "Presenting... The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie's ears perked up and she growled, even if she didn't perform anymore, she didn't want anypony stealing her stage name. She slammed the door and turned around before running off towards the source of the sound, the town square. When she reached the town fountain she gasped at what she saw. Her wagon, the one that the Ursa Minor had destroyed the first time she came to Ponyville. And she was standing on the stage. Standing in front of the wagon was a large crowd, including Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight, except Twilight wasn't an alicorn... She was just a unicorn. "Oh I get it... This is a lucid dream about one of my memories! Wait... It was before I changed for the better. Ok, it's a lucid nightmare." "I wouldn't be so sure about that Trixie." The blue mare yelped and jumped into the air. She landed in a pony's forelegs, she turned to thank the pony who caught her, only to realize that it wasn't a pony. It resembled what Twilight had described a human as. Except for one major difference. It had wings. Three solid black draconic that sprouted from the left, and three pure white pegasus wings sprouted from the right. It also had mismatched eyes. One silver and one gold. "Or should I call you Charm?" Trixie blinked as the creature set her down. "My name is Trixie. Charm is my mother." The creature shook his head. "No. You are not Trixie Lulamoon..." He turned her around and pointed to the other her, the one on the stage. "That is Trixie Lulamoon. She is you and you are her, she is great and powerful, but you? You are nothing like her... You are nothing but a younger version of your mother, a scared little filly who wants to have 'friends'. Well let me tell you something Trixie... You know your friends? They aren't your friends. In fact, the only friend you have in town is your little brother. And the only beings you can trust in this world is yourself." Trixie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? They talk to and hang out with me, and help me when I need them to, and they try to cheer me up when I'm upset. That's what friends do for each other, so of course they're my friends!" The creature frowned. "Yes. They are your friends... They are friends with the worthless ball of fur that you have become. They hate the real you. That means they aren't your real friends... You shouldn't have to change yourself to make friends. If they don't like the real you, then they don't like you at all. Do you really want to stay like this? Do you want to live the rest of your life using this false personality that gets you fake friends?" A sudden bright light surrounded Trixie's body. "Looks like it's time for you to wake up. Think about what I have said." Before Trixie could ask what he meant by 'wake up' a bright flash of light blinded her. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. What was that? It sounded familiar... Trixie opened her eyes and looked towards the source of the sound. 'A heart monitor? Am I in the hospital?' "Twilight, Fang, Hex! She's waking up!" Trixie tried to sit up but was gently laid back down. "Don't move Trix, you're still recovering from the fall." "What fall? What happened and why am I in the hospital?" The shade sighed. "Well... You fell down the stairs, hit your head, and slipped into a coma for two days... When I couldn't wake you up I brought you here." "And he hasn't left your side once." Trixie looked at Soul and smiled before giving him a kiss. "Speaking of which... Soul, you should really go to the bathroom before your bladder explodes." Soul blinked and sunk into the shadows. Trixie heard a toilet flush and watched as Soul walked out of the bathroom. Fang smiled at Soul. "As much as I want to stay and chat, I must return to my castle. I am holding a meeting between my district governors to discuss ongoing problems in the kingdom..." Soul raised an eyebrow at Fang. "Things like homelessness, crime, lack of jobs, things of that nature." Fang turned and looked at Twilight. "Do you wish to accompany me my- Look out!" Fang suddenly jumped into the air and tackled Twilight to the ground, just in time for the window to shatter and a large writhing black tentacle to shoot in and grab Hex before pulling him out the window. Soul turned and looked out the window. "I-is that... A shade?" If it was, than it was a kind he had certainly never seen before. It was large, about half the size of a house. It had eight spiderlike legs on a lion like body, the head of a chicken, eight squid like tentacles sprouting from its back, and had the tail of a fox, that had a hand on the end just like Ahuizotl. Soul then realized something, it was just one shade. Not a hybrid, shades that are made of many others, it was one single shade. The smaller shade watched as the beast opened its beak and threw Hex into its mouth. Trixie saw Soul's eyes flash red with anger for a second before he jumped out the window. "You don't mess with my fillyfriend's little brother!" Fang and Twilight galloped over to the window, saw the beast and flew out. "You know they aren't going to be able to save your little brother..." Trixie shot her head to the side and growled when she saw the creature that was in her dream. He was just sitting there tossing a ball up and down. "Now don't look at me like that. I'm not able to create living creatures..." "Just... Who and what are you?" The demon smirked. "My name is Lucifer. I am the demon that represents the Trial of Pride. Anyway, as I said before, they won't be able to save Hex, you however, can." The demon snapped his fingers and Trixie suddenly felt better, like nothing had even happened to her. She watched as the room began to change until it looked just like her living room, in fact it was her living room. "Put these on." Trixie turned around and suddenly had her old hat slammed onto her head and her cape wrapped around her neck. She pulled the hat off of her head and glared at the demon. "Only you can defeat the shade that has devoured your brother. How you ask? You're a smart mare, you'll figure it out." The demon snapped his fingers once more and Trixie was suddenly looking at the shade that had devoured her brother. She saw the elements of harmony, Fang, and Soul, trying to escape the grasp of its tentacles. She also noticed where she was. She was in front of the schoolhouse. "So young, so tender, so... Fresh, I love the taste of the young..." She watched as the shadow beast's tail went into the school and he pulled it back out after a few seconds. She noticed he had about ten different fillies and colts, including the Crusaders, in his hand. The beast opened his mouth and dropped the foals, licking his lips after he had swallowed all of them. Trixie growled and shot a firework spell at the foal devouring beast, the action only ended up annoying the beast. It turned around and winced, as if in pain, when it saw Trixie. "So many negative emotions... Such pain, fear, rage, and sorrow should have killed you long ago blue one." Soul stopped struggling when he saw Trixie. "Trix! What are you doing here!? You should be hiding! Run before this thing decides you would be a good snack!" Trixie looked at Soul and nodded, but before she could run something that the demon had said in her dream flashed through her head. 'She is you and you are her, she is great and powerful, but you? You are nothing like her... You are nothing but a younger version of your mother, a scared little filly who wants to have 'friends'. Well let me tell you something Trixie... You know your friends? They aren't your friends. In fact, the only friend you have in town is your little brother.' Trixie growled and stomped her hoof. "No Soul... Trixie won't run! Trixie is tired of having to pretend to be somepony she is not so that ponies will like her! The Trixie that is your fillyfriend and the one you live with isn't the real Trixie! The real Trixie is standing right here!" The blue mare lowered her head and looked at the large shade. "The blue unicorn colt that you ate in the hospital was my little brother, doing that was a big mistake... Do you know who you have angered by devouring innocent fillies and colts?" The shade chuckled. "If I had to guess, I made a little blue unicorn mare angry. That mare also happens to be overconfident in her abilities, proven by the fact that she thinks she can scare a being that is five times her size, at least ten thousand years older than her, and can defeat two earth ponies, two pegasi, a unicorn, a shade, and two alicorns... Or should I say two living gods? And this blue unicorn is apparently named Trixie." "That's the Great and Powerful Trixie to you beast! However, Trixie is in a forgiving mood, so regurgitate the fillies and colts you have eaten and Trixie might, might let you leave this town alive!" The shade smirked. "And if I refuse?" "If you refuse Trixie will turn you into dust!" The shade just snorted. "I have a better idea." The beast's tail swung from the side and sent Trixie flying into the side of the schoolhouse, leaving a pony shaped hole in the wall. "I kill you, eat your corpse, eat your friends, and then eat every single pony in this miserable plane of existence." "That was a big mistake." The shade turned, only to have Trixie impale one of his eyes with her horn. "Now Trixie is going to make you wish you had never existed!" Trixie's horn glowed and a silver sword appeared. This sword was something she used to use in her acts. The trick, called the Blade Box, involved her stepping into a box and getting a random pony in the crowd to shove swords through the sides while she used an intangibility spell to keep herself from getting impaled. The blue unicorn jumped onto the shade's back and began to swing the sword, cutting off his tentacles one by one before jumping off and looking at the beast. Soul and the others stood there with their mouths agape. Trixie seemed to be stronger than usual, almost if putting on the hat and cape made her a good fighter, if it did then it also made her a good acrobat, if the flips she was doing while avoiding getting impaled by the shade's sharp, spider like legs. "I... I don't believe this!" Everypony turned and looked at Twilight, who was shaking and turning red in the face. "She's acting the same way she did before she changed! She is making a show out of this!" Rainbow flew up and growled at the sight. "She's... She's smiling like she knows what's going to happen! I bet she cast a spell to make this thing leave her imagination! That's probably why she is the only one of us who has been able to hurt it!" Soul growled and stomped a hoof before looking at the group of ponies behind him. "Trixie wouldn't do something like that! And if she's your friend then you she be able to see that!" The mares all frowned and started to look down, realizing that Soul was right, Trixie was their friend, and they knew that she had changed and become a better pony than she was the first time she had come to Ponyville. Soul heard a growl and turned around, just in time to see the shade jump on Trixie. The group was about to run in and try to help her, until they heard laughter. "You lose beast!" He watched as the large shade began to shake and stand up, slowly revealing that Trixie had impaled his stomach with her horn. The blue mare stood up and gave a large grin. "Now... Be gone from this existence!" The shade began to scream as a white glow spread from the small hole in his stomach, quickly engulfing his body. A few seconds later the shade exploded in a flash of light. Soul watched as the fillies and colts that the shade had eaten slowly stood up from the ashen remains of the beast. He had seen this happen to shades before. She had sent a ball of pure light into its body, causing it to burn from the inside out. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has saved the day once again!" Trixie turned around and looked at the group with a large smile on her face, only to see the mares in the group scowling at her. The blue mare's smile turned into a frown and she sat down. "I guess that he was right... You all really do hate the real Trixie." Twilight blinked and stepped forward, her scowl becoming a frown. "What are you talking about? We don't hate you. We just don't like it when you show off." Twilight walked over and placed a hoof on Trixie's shoulder, only to have it violently swatted away by the blue mare. "Don't lie to me Sparkle! I know you and your friends hate me! You always did, the only pony that was ever really my friend was Hex, and that's just because he is my little brother. I am tired of hearing false kind words and having false friendships! If you were really my friend than my large ego wouldn't bother you! I don't understand it! Rainbow Dash has a bigger ego than I do and you really are her friend. Well let me tell you something... I am not putting up with being hated just because I'm me for one more day! You all make me sick! Tricking a pony into thinking you were their friends, only for the pony to realize that they hated the real her!" The other elements began to walk up to Twilight with frowns on their faces. "Trixie... We weren't trying to trick you, we really are your friends. Why would you think otherwise? Who was right when he said that we hated you?" Trixie growled and lit up her horn. "What are you-" Twilight and the other elements were sent flying back towards Fang and Soul. Their fur was singed and they were covered in cuts and scrapes. "Stop lying to me!" The blue mare stood up and her horn glowed once more. A swirling blue portal appeared behind her and she ran in. Just before she entered it however, she looked back and gave a sad frown at the mares who were now glaring at her. Rainbow and Applejack began to charge at the mare, but slowed down when they saw that she was crying. "Even if it wasn't real... You all are the best friends that a mare could ever ask for. You don't have to worry about tricking me anymore, after this day... None of you will see my face, or hear the name Trixie ever again. You will only hear about me one more time... When they write in the newspaper that they... That they found my body hanging by the neck from the branch of an oak tree... I'm sorry..." With that the blue mare stepped through the portal and it closed, just in time for Twilight to tackle the air where she had just been standing and fall to the ground, receiving a mouth full of dirt. Twilight slowly sat up and began to break down into quiet sobs, realizing that she and the other elements had just driven off one of their friends. What disturbed her the most however was what Trixie had said just before she went through the portal. She just admitted that she planned to commit suicide. "W-why Trixie? W-what made you think we hate you?" "It was not a what, but a who Miss Sparkle." Everypony looked up and saw Lucifer floating in the air. "To think that you would all try and give her a false sense of acceptance, for shame. And her pride has made it so that she wants to die for believing that you were her friends. When I said that I honestly didn't think she would believe such an obvious lie." The demon laughed and floated down. "Looks like she has decided that she should die, now nopony can wield the Elements of Humility and Pride!" "What are the Elements of Humility and Pride?" "They were the first elements to be created by the Tree." The mares turned and looked at Fang. "All the Elements of Sin stem from Pride, while all the Elements of Harmony stem from Humility." The black alicorn growled at the demon. "Are you saying that Trixie represents them both?" "Yes, or at least she would have. Unfortunately a dead pony can't represent anything at all." The demon raised an arm and grabbed Soul's sword as the unicorn shade jumped at him. He then threw him down next to Twilight. "You have to admit, you never did like the Great and Powerful Trixie... However... I'm feeling nice today, so I'll give the two of you a chance to save her." The demon smirked. "Would you stop her if you could?" Soul and Twilight nodded. "Then I will send you to the Dead Mare's Wood!" The demon snapped his fingers and the two ponies disappeared. When the opened their eyes they saw they were standing at the entrance to a large forest. Just looking at it made Soul shudder inside, normally he was only scared of things that took him completely by surprise, and that was bad for him, because Pinkie Pie lived in Ponyville. "Twilight... Why is it called Dead Mare's Wood?" The sudden sound of hoofsteps filled the air. Soul and Twilight turned towards the sound and saw a band of walking skeletons. As the bony ponies passed the two, they noticed that the one in the back was carrying a pure black cloak. "They must be Jisatsu Korekutā... Forest spirits that are doomed to collect the souls of ponies who commit suicide in their forest, and they will do this until the end of time... We need to follow them, they are our best chance of finding Trixie..." Soul nodded and the two ponies took off after the skeletons. "Hey Twilight, why is the one in the back carrying a black cloak?" "It's what Jisatsu Korekutā do. They have to place a black cloak on the dead pony’s body before they are buried, if they don’t then they will simply cease to exist. At least that’s what Fang told me." The two continued to follow the skeletons until they got to a clearing, then the bony ponies simply disappeared. "Remember friends as you pass by..." Twilight and Soul turned to the left and saw a large tree, with a large creature that looked like the rotting corpse of a pony. "As you are now, so once was I..." The creature began to throw dust into the air. The quiet sound of crying caught Soul's ears and he looked up. that's when he noticed the nooses, at least twenty five, and saw Trixie standing on one of the branches with a noose around her neck. "Remember in life, that you must die." The creature faded out of existence and the rope around the blue mare's neck began to tighten. They watched as the blue mare raised her hoof and tried to step off the branch, then she brought her hoof back. "Trixie! Don't do this!" The blue mare looked behind her and frowned. "Why did you follow me?" The blue mare shook her head. "Actually, this is perfect... I never could feel confident unless I had a crowd watching me... Or if I was infuriated." The blue mare when to jump again, only to be grabbed by Soul's magic. "Trixie! Please don't!" The blue mare sighed and went to jump once more. "Luna dammit Trixie! Don't do this! I love you!" The blue mare froze in place. "W-what did you just say?" Trixie couldn't believe what she had just heard, the only ponies that had ever told her that they loved her were Hex and her mother, and that was just because they were her family. "I said that I love you, and I don't want you to die!" Trixie looked at the ground and saw both Soul and Twilight crying. "Please... Don't jump..." "Trixie please take the noose off and come down! If not for us, then do it for Hex and your mother! Please! Lucifer was lying! We really are your friends!" Trixie looked at the ground and removed the noose before jumping off of the branch. Twilight smiled and walked up to Trixie along with Soul. "Great, now we can go home and-" "I'm not going back to Ponyville Twilight..." The two immortals looked at her in confusion. "I mean... How could I? I attacked a queen and five national heroes... In front of a school... Even if I went back... I wouldn't be welcome... So... I'm going back to my old life..." Trixie stood up, summoned her hat and cape, turned and smiled at the two darker colored ponies, and went to walk off into the woods. Suddenly they were all back in Ponyville. "What? Why am I in Ponyville?" "Big sis!" Trixie turned her head and suddenly found a colt attached to her face. "You're back!" Trixie blinked and levitated Hex off of her face. "You're a hero sis!" The blue mare blinked. "What? How am I a hero?" The fillies and colts that were in front of the school started to run up to her and give her flowers. "Ok... This is a dream... It has to be... Time to wake up..." Trixie walked over to the school and slammed her head against the wall, she turned around and saw that the flowers the foals had given her were still there. "Ok... What in Equestria is going on here?" "Well... I um... Kinda let it slip that you were the one who destroyed that monster..." Trixie looked up and saw Rainbow Dash giving a sheepish grin. "I may have a really big ego... But I won't take credit for something that my friend did." Trixie blinked. "Did you just call me your friend?" The cyan pegasus nodded. "I told you we were your friends Trixie..." The blue mare turned and saw the bearers of the elements, along with Fang and Soul. "Also... You are not just a hero to these fillies and colts... Just like me and my friends you are a hero to all of Equestria and Transylmaneia." The blue unicorn stared at Twilight in confusion. "How am I?" "We wouldn't have been able to beat Tirek without your help... Besides, you made sure that Grogar would never have children..." Trixie looked at her friends and smiled, knowing that she was among friends and that she herself was counted as a hero. Until she heard a voice in her head. 'That's right, feel your pride, embrace it... Doesn't it feel good? Don't you want more? Don't you want to be more of a hero than you already are? Embrace your pride and you will be...' Trixie growled and began to shake her head. 'Shut up Lucifer! You won't trick me with your lies ever again! Now get out of my head! I am not a hero just because I helped them! I'm not a hero at all! I'm just a pony who did what she thought what she thought was right!' Trixie blinked and looked around. She noticed that the world had become a dark purple void, with only her and her friends inside. "Alright Trixie... You passed your trial..." Trixie looked up and growled at the demon. "You have overcome your pride and accepted the fact that you have friends. You did this when two of them pulled you from the brink of death. Just as Fang and Twilight helped Ana overcome her envy of her younger siblings, Twilight and Soul have proved to you that you do not need your pride to interfere with your life. As such... I now bestow upon you your elements..." Lucifer pulled the golden brooch off his toga and it levitated onto Trixie's cloak, replacing the diamond clasp and changing shape, becoming a golden star. A glowing yellow gem, the same shade as the stars on her cape and hat, formed in the inlet of the star. The ponies around her noticed that the star only had five points, unlike Twilight's, which had six. Trixie watched as a golden gem appeared before her eyes and slowly floated into her hoof, taking the shape of a wand. A golden beam shot out of the wand and out of the void. Trixie just sat there for a second, staring at the wand and broach. "Did you just say... My elements?" Lucifer nodded. "Then... What are their names?" "The clasp is Humility, the wand is Pride..." Trixie looked at Soul and smiled, she was like the friends that were gathered at the moment, she was the bearer of an element, not just one, but two. "Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Wrath, and Pride. Sins of the forefathers, sins you can't hide." With that the demon and the void disappeared. Trixie and the others looked around, noticing that they were in front of the Tree of Harmony. "I believe that you are meant to add Humility to the tree..." Trixie nodded and levitated the glowing gold star towards the tree and watched as it suddenly shot onto the tree, right below Twilight's element. The ponies watched as the leaves of the tree began to glow before becoming every color of the rainbow. "Amazing..." "It is getting more of its power back..." The ground began to shake and caused everypony to fall over. After ten minutes there was a bright flash and all of the ponies gathered were blinded, when they could finally see again they noticed that both they and the tree were back in town. The tree was now standing where the Golden Oaks Library formerly had. The ponies heard the sound of crystal breaking and ran towards the source of the sound, Twilight's castle. The ponies all watched as the castle began to take the shape of Fang's castle, it turned black and became stone, it was Fang's castle. The lavender part of Twilight's castle rose into the air on a crystal platform behind Fang's newly relocated castle, then a crystal staircase came from the back of Fang's castle and connected to the platform. "My wish came true!" Twilight and Fang blinked and looked at the front doors of the castle. They saw Ana gawking at it. "Yay! Mommy and Daddy can still spend time together when they are ruling now! I can't wait to tell them!" Ana began hopping around before she noticed her parents. The little grey filly ran over and hugged her mother and father. While Fang was staring at the castle Twilight looked down at her adoptive daughter. "Ana... What did you wish for?" "I wished that you and Daddy wouldn't have to be so far apart, because you would be so busy ruling from two castles... Is that bad? D-did I make a mistake?" Twilight smiled and shook her head. "No! What you did is... Really nice... Fang and I were wondering how we would have spent time together as a family now that we each had a castle..." Twilight looked at the castle and smiled. "Well... The problem solved thanks to your wish Ana... Hey Ana, how are Dawn and Dusk doing?" "I fed them at noon, changed them, and put them down in their crib for a nap just like you asked me to Mommy." "CRIMSON FANG!!!" Twilight grabbed her head and looked towards Canterlot. That... That had been both Celestia and Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice at the same time. A bright flash of white and blue light appeared in front of the group. Standing there was a furious looking Celestia and Luna. The white alicorn glared at her older brother. "Brother... Care to tell me why the Everfree Forest and your kingdom have surrounded Ponyville?" The black alicorn blinked, flew into the sky, and looked around. Sure enough, the forest and the districts of his kingdom were now circled around Ponyville. The black alicorn watched as some of the land turned into sand and a large stretch of water appeared, a channel that led to an ocean. "Well big brother? We want an answer!" Fang looked below him and saw Celestia and Luna glaring up at him. The black alicorn floated down, blinked a few times and pointed at Ana. "She did it." Ana smiled and nodded. Celestia and Luna looked in between Ana, Fang, and Twilight, they noticed that Fang was keeping eye contact with them. He only did that when he was being extremely serious. A sudden scream from the direction of the town caught the attention of the ponies. They saw a familiar light green unicorn running at them. "Werewolf!!!" The mare jumped and hid behind Celestia and Luna. "Werewolf! He's gonna eat us all!" "Calm down Lyra!" The green unicorn looked to the side and saw Twilight standing there. "He is not going to hurt you, most monsters are extremely nice. Did he just walk into town?" "No! Caramel just... Turned into one!" Fang went wide eyed and looked at the sky. "The glamor... It's gone... Nothing is hiding their true forms now... Humility must have canceled it out..." Celestia raised an eyebrow. "You mean that the bearer of humility was chosen?" Fang nodded. "Well... Who is it?" "Um... It's me, Princess Celestia..." The white alicorn turned and looked at Trixie. "As well as Pride..." "Both Harmony and Sin? There must be something very special about you Trixie..." Fang coughed. "I suppose it would be best if we explained that the citizens of Ponyville have nothing to fear from my subjects." Celestia, Luna, and Twilight nodded in agreement before the group trotted off toward the town so they could keep the citizens calm. The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but that this humiliation is seen by everyone. ~ Milan Kundera.