Twilight's Return

by Meurogane

Chapter 1

Trixie had always hated black. When she was a showmare, she had done her best to avoid using it entirely. She wanted her shows to be as spectacular as possible and a black costume or a black background did absolutely nothing to help this cause.
If anypony had thought to look down the dark alley, they might have noticed the cloaked figure; trying to be as discreet as possible as she made her way towards the local bakery. This behavior would have been regarded suspiciously in other towns, but with the newly built weapons factory nearby pulsing gusts of polluted smoke into the air, wearing clothing that covered a pony’s head was better for its health. However, this pony was strong and wore the cloak for a different reason entirely. There was only one reason, in fact, that Trixie would ever wear such dark and dirty attire- to blend in rather than stand out.
The adult unicorn seemed to have a knack for getting herself into dangerous situations. If it been any other patrol- she had told herself- she would not have dared risk her life to hunt her three missing soldiers down, to try to find them. But as of late, the rebel’s numbers were slimming down too much for her liking. She felt sending out anypony else would be begging for more casualties. Clearly, if three of her top soldiers had been abducted or worse, the police must have been stepping up their game. As an important leader in the rebellion against the Empress of Equestria, she felt she had the experience and power to be able to maneuver through Ponyville stealthily and quickly as well as make a swift escape from the police should the need arise. It was a dangerous mission, but it was one she felt she must complete alone.
Trixie had been informed by one of her fellow rebels that an ally with information would await her arrival at Ponyville’s bakery. The fact that it was such a public building concerned her greatly, as well as pained her, for she remembered the bakery from when she was younger. Although her childhood years had not been spent in Ponyville for very long, she did recall the praise and sweet smells that came out from the bakery’s doors. She, herself, had never actually walked in and now she regretted the decision. Her heart sank at the thought that she’d never be able to dine there without risking the discovery of her identity.
She slowly pushed the front doors open and walked up to the counter. As she made her way across the room, she glanced at the small number of ponies sitting and enjoying their treats as best as they could in the gloomy weather. She made note of their sizes and was relieved to see that there was nopony yet present who could really challenge her physically in a fight. Her eyes wandered over to the pony at the counter. He was a yellow earth pony with a messy brown mane, sporting a striped hat and white apron. His shaggy appearance did nothing to distract from the glazed look in his eyes, a look that could be found on the faces of all of the ponies in Equestria.
“Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner, miss,” he said in a monotone. Trixie, alarmed that he recognized her gender, glanced down and saw that some of her mane was poking out of her hood. She readjusted it as the old colt listed the daily special and sales.
“Got something in your mane, miss?” he asked, causing the unicorn to look up at him in confusion.
“I…” she kept her voice low so as not to draw attention to herself, “I don’t think so-”
“You sure about that?” the pony asked, now sounding a bit more suspicious and squinting at something on the top of her head…
Oh no, Trixie swore inwardly and attempted to readjust her hood again to hide her horn, which was ever so slightly poking out under the fabric of her hood.
“Hat mane,” she babbled, “I hate getting the soot outside in my mane, but unfortunately, I have a horrible case of hat mane that gets bumpy whenever I wear hats, or in this case, hoods and I’ve been trying to find some product for it lately, but I haven’t had much luck-”
“Ah. I know who you are,” he interrupted, a look of understanding crossing his face. “You’re my new intern, aren’t you? The one that called in last week? You’re a bit late, but that’s alright. Business is pretty slow around here these days.”
Trixie blinked in confusion.
“Forgive me, sir, but I think you might have me confused with somepony else-”
“Oh no, I always remember faces. And voices. Anyways, why don’t you come on back and I’ll give you a tour of the kitchens. I hear a storm’s coming this afternoon and ponies are going to want a roof over their heads. A warm bakery is just the place to run to, so we better hurry up and get you started if we wanna keep up with all of those orders, don’t we?”
He winked at her and called to one of the employees in the back to watch the counter. Trixie tried to explain again that there must have been some mistake, but the old colt just dragged her along by her cloak into the backrooms. Once they were alone in the kitchens, the colt banged one of his front hooves on a table and glared at Trixie, making her jump in surprise.
“What is the matter with you?” he growled, “are you trying to get yourself noticed? A lone pony walking around by herself in heavy clothing during the day? I thought you rebels were smarter than that!”
Trixie was taken aback at first, but she quickly realized that this pony must have been the rebel’s insider. She narrowed her eyes at the pony’s comments.
“Listen Mister-”
“-Cake,” he retorted. Trixie rolled her eyes.
“How fitting,” she muttered, “Anyways, since you clearly spend all of your time indoors baking, you must not be aware that this attire isn’t unusual at all. Ponies are practically breathing in all of the smoke pouring from the factory-”
“Oh, I’m fully aware of what they have to go through, but it’s not the attire you should be worried about. Why are you here alone?”
She stiffened at the unspoken implication. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I happen to be one of the rebel generals, so I am perfectly capable of making my way around town unnoticed and defending myself if necessary.”
Mr. Cake shook his head, his expression softening. “General or not, you need somepony to watch your back. The police are everywhere; wearing disguises just as you are and looking for suspicious activity.”
“They won’t get close enough to spot my horn like you did. And thank you so much for pointing that out so loudly. Really, you’ve been a great help.”
“Maybe if you had hid it better, I wouldn’t have needed to. I wasn’t trying to expose you, I was warning you. But you clearly weren’t perceptive enough to even realize who I am.” He snorted. “And you’re supposed to be a general. Give me a break.”
Trixie huffed furiously, but realized they were wasting time.
“Whatever, old donkey,” she snapped, “just tell me what I need to know or-”
“For all you know, this place could be under surveillance right now! You can’t just go gallivanting into my store with that horn poking out like-”
“I thought they only watched buildings for suspicious activity. Don’t tell me you of all ponies have got anything to hide aside from passing along gossip…”
Mr. Cake paled and a despairing look filled his eyes.
“My wife…” he murmured, his voice cracking, “the police…they…”
He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. Trixie felt her frustration with the colt disappear and become replaced by a familiar sympathy. She placed one of her hooves on the colt’s back, comfortingly, as a tear began to trickle down his face.
“They took her away, didn’t they?” she asked quietly. He let out a short, bitter chuckle.
“I almost wish they did.” He rubbed the tear off of his face and cleared his throat.
“They came some time ago to take away our children because of their…‘conditions’ as they put it.” He rolled his eyes, before continuing. “They were only fillies! They hadn’t done anything wrong. They were the best fillies a parent could have asked for.” He sighed. “But, you know, ‘orders are orders’ and all that. And poor Mrs. Cake…she just couldn’t bear them being taken away. So she…she tried to stand up to them…and…you know what they do to ponies that get in…her…way…” They both shuddered. “…And since I am – was – her husband, I haven’t been considered completely trustworthy ever since. I never know when they’re watching…I had to hide my mourning all of these years…”
Trixie closed her eyes.
“I…I am so sorry. I had no idea…” she apologized.
He looked up at her warily, his earlier snappy tone returning, “Well, that’s certainly clear enough.”
Trixie shot him a glare, though this was not as pointed as before. “Look, old colt, I’m only trying to help. And if you can give me the information I need, I…I’ll do everything I can to get the revenge that you never could for your family. I would be honored to.”
Mr. Cake rolled his eyes. “I appreciate the sentiments, General, but really? You are going to stand up to the police? You are going to take down the Empress? Ha! Just how do you plan on doing that?”
Trixie smirked and gestured to her horn, still slightly concealed under her hood.
“I’m going to use my head.”
Mr. Cake raised an eyebrow and sighed, realizing that there would be no arguing with her.
“All right, I’ll give you your precious information, but it ain’t pretty…” His voice dropping lower, “A customer told me that they saw three ponies get captured after trying to escape the police down by the train station. She even recognized the three and was able to tell me who they were.”
Trixie’s heart stopped, her worst fears confirmed. Captured.
“Who…?” Trixie began to ask, even though she already knew the answer.
Mr. Cake’s face was grim.
“The ex-Crusaders. An earth pony named Applebloom, a Pegasus named Scootaloo, and a…unicorn named Sweetie Belle.”
Trixie gulped. “And, how, exactly, were they captured?”
Mr. Cake shook his head. “It was – is – horrifying. It’s nothing anypony’s ever seen before…”

As the unicorn walked out of the building, she did not see three figures, one of them dressed in a hood, down the street start following her at a leisurely pace. Trixie moved quickly in the direction of Ponyville library, which was a few blocks away and housed the secret entrance to the rebels’ headquarters. It was imperative that she alert the rest of the rebellion and pass along the alarming news she had received, news that endangered them all on a whole new level.
She was a little more than halfway there when she rounded a corner and accidentally bumped into somepony.
“Please excuse me, sir” she said quickly in a low voice, but the colt, larger than she, put a hoof to her chest. She peeked up at his face from under her hood and realized with horror that it was a police pony.
“Excuse me, miss,” he said in a gruff voice, glancing at her approaching pursuers, “we’re going to have to ask you a few questions…”
Trixie finally noticed her followers and cursed inwardly. The information she had couldn’t wait.
“I’m sorry, but now is not a good time at all, I have to be somewhere-”
“We would be happy to escort you wherever you need to go,” he interrupted. Trixie almost snorted. He didn’t look happy at all.
“No, no,” she said, starting to panic as the other three ponies trotted closer, “I mean, I appreciate it greatly, but I don’t want to waste your time or anything…I’ll be fine on my own and-”
“SEIZE HER!” came a yell from behind.
“SHE’S A REBEL!” came another.
“MAKE HER DROP HER HOOD!” came the chilling third.
The police pony looked down, reaching a hoof towards his belt, ready to use weapons if necessary, but before he could do so, he realized she was already running away and was halfway down the block. Growling in anger, the four ponies chased after her at full speed.
Trixie panted heavily, running as fast as she could. She wished she could use her teleportation spell to escape to HQ. However, due to the defensive spells that had been placed all around it for protection and camouflage, she would simply be bounced back a few blocks. Trixie would’ve been fine defending herself against the one police pony, but the other three would have caught up. Dealing with four ponies at once was something she had been trained for, but now that she knew what kind of new high tech weapons they had been making, now that she knew what they were capable of, she realized she wouldn’t stand a chance. Risking the location of headquarters was not enough of a danger to rival the importance of the information the unicorn carried.
The four polices ponies weren’t catching up with her yet, but they weren’t shrinking in the distance either. Trixie growled in frustration and trudged onwards. She thought only of the secret entrance that would allow her through the concealment shield, which prevented anypony from being able to see the building unless they knew of the entrance. She quickly brainstormed how to distract the police chasing her so they would not see where this entrance was. Her answer came as she turned the corner, briefly hidden from the view of her pursuers.
Trixie jumped behind an abandoned apple stand and used her magic to create a mirage of herself running down the street. She held her breath as the guards passed by her hiding spot and followed the mirage. As they passed the location of the library, she felt a glimmer of hope, which was squashed when one of the ponies, the hooded one, stopped to stare at it.
This pony was even larger than the one Trixie had bumped into earlier. The hiding unicorn could tell it was puzzled by something it saw, even though all it should have been able to see in place of the library was ruins. One of the police ponies called back to it, saying that the rebel was getting away.
The hooded figure held up its hoof and beckoned for the others to come back. Trixie felt her heart stop as she watched the pony walk up to the very edge of the shield. It looked up quietly for a moment, before revealing a long unicorn horn and casting a spell that easily shattered the shield. Trixie heard one of the other police start to say that the Trixie they were chasing was an illusion when the hooded figure also performed a powerful spell that caused the revealed library to burst into flames.
Trixie almost cried out. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There was no way a unicorn could still be alive that would burn down such a building or work with the police ponies. Nopony would do such a thing.
Unless…
Trixie stared in horror, her eyes tearing up in fright as waves of an explosion from inside the library blew off the pony’s hood. A straight black mane tumbled and hovered just a few inches above the ground and a long, gray alicorn horn extended from the pony’s head. Even from the distance, Trixie could clearly make out the glowing red eyes and cruel smile on the pony’s face, an all too familiar face.
“Find her,” Trixie heard the alicorn command her police ponies, “and search the library after it burns to the ground. There can be no survivors, understand? None. And I don’t have to remind you that, if there are any pegasi or unicorns around…”
“Yes, Empress” answered the police pony that Trixie had bumped into, “of course.”
The three police ponies ran off in different directions to try and hunt down the rebel. Trixie paid them no attention, as none of them were headed her way. She performed her transporting spell, quietly, but not before watching the alicorn Empress that had conquered Equestria and had caused this nightmare laugh as pieces of the library melted off and dropped to the ground in the heat.

An alicorn, with a gold coat and a jaggedly cut mane, watched the scenes of these events play out silently in a floating portal. There were many of these portals that dotted the large room, cluttered with clocks, hour glasses, sundials, and many other broken objects. The room was dark due to a lack of lights or windows. The only dim light that shone came from the various portals, all brimming with energy as they illustrated various scenes in time.
A young female dragon entered the room behind him and peered around his shoulder to see what he was looking at. Her eyes narrowed as the two of them watched the Ponyville library start to crumble in front of the dark alicorn.
“Tempus,” she murmured darkly. The golden alicorn closed his eyes slowly, knowing what she was about to say. “This future must be prevented. Empress Aurora-”
“I know,” his deep voice echoed around the room, “Ananke.”
The dragon stomped her foot in impatience. “Then what are you waiting for?” she demanded, crossly, her voice going up in volume.
Tempus turned to glare at her slightly. “What you have asked me to do is not a choice I am willing to make.”
“Oh, for the love of-” Ananke shook her head, “you’re still refusing despite everything? You know that it’s the only choice. There’s no way out of this, Tempus. You know what is behind this future even occurring.”
“Yes,” Tempus said more softly, walking over to another portal. Ananke followed him, disgruntled that he was being so unresponsive. She pointed to the unicorn that could be seen in the portal.
“You have to destroy her. It’s the only way to prevent the prophecy from coming true. I tried to warn them, but they did not interpret my warnings correctly in time. And we are responsible for the fate of this universe. If the others find out we let it get out of hand-”
“Do not concern yourself with the others, my assistant.” Ananke’s frown deepened at his words. “I will do the job needed. I will ensure that such a future never exists. And to do that…”
Tempus gazed, his expression resolute, at the young mare, watching as her life began to change forever.
“…I will destroy Twilight Sparkle.”