//------------------------------//
// Maybe I'm Not Forsaken, The Silence Speaks The Words Unspoken, Behind The Tears There is Salvation, Behind the Hurt, A New Beginning 
// Story: We Remember Everything 
// by Thunderscourge 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Title from Mutiny Within's "Forsaken"

I hope you enjoy our final "chapter", and that you will grace me with your thoughts in the comment section below. There will be plenty to talk about, so I do hope to hear what you all think!







At the edge of the battle no-one noticed the wounded Sonata get up from the ground. She was not built for physical combat, and the way she had been scorched by flames and impaled by ice showed just how out of her depth she was.

The pain had numbed though. The edges of the vortex of magic in the center of the room were throwing traces of magical energy out into the room, empowering anyone who could snatch them, and the overflow of magic was serving as a healing aid. By no means was Sonata fine from her wounds, and even as she rose from the floor she nearly found herself collapsing again. It was only enough to give her the strength to get to her feet, since she did not know how to actively heal herself with the magic.

“Aria…Adagio…”

She was crying as she watched Trixie come to confront the newly arrived Avengers. The green one was defeated with a blast that would kill many others, but only served to repel him for the moment. 

Seeing Trixie try and forcibly control people while fighting those opposed to the idea reminded the Siren greatly of her own bid for power just a day prior.

“Not to long ago, we would have been the ones doing something like this…”

Sonata wiped the tears from her face, but more came to join them. Because of Trixie, Sonata had lost everything. She didn’t care that it saved them from Thanos, she didn’t care if they were in the wrong, but she cared that she had lost everything because of the blue mare.

“I want things to be how they were. I want my friends…”

It was then that she realized the warm feeling of the magic brushing up against her. Magic was like food for them, and Sonata found herself surprised by how much of it was just hanging in the air. She did not know this, but the Bifrost could only use so much of the power given it due to mechanical limitations that Trixie could not deal with. It was receiving her power faster than it could handle it, and the extra had to go somewhere.

“This energy…”

Wobbling pathetically, Sonata had what might have been her first good idea in centuries. No-one was paying her any mind, and she had power she could absorb if she only just had the time to sing.

	“Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh”

Having taken flight to mirror Stark doing the same, Trixie’s blue face curled into a smirk as she watched him fly with the aid of his mechanical suit, “So many people to kill…it would be so much easier if you all just accepted your fates. I am only trying to help people, and here you are trying to stop me!”

You didn't know that you fell 
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh 

From the ground, Luna could see that Stark was ready to start fighting, but she had seen what Thanos could do to him and the others, and she didn’t want that to be done by none other than Trixie. Sure, Luna had no power at the moment and should be grateful the others would provide a momentary distraction, but she was not thinking rationally with how hurt her heart was at the time.

“Trixie, pay them no mind! I am the one you want to fight!”

Trixie began to fly around wildly to avoid the incoming projectiles from Stark and the two other regular Humans who had come to their death in fighting her, though she still managed to spare the time to shoot a mildly powerful blast at Luna at a speed too great for the Alicorn to avoid. Luna collapsed from its power, the attack enough to kill any lesser being, but she held on to consciousness by tapping into a reserve of strength Trixie did not know to account for. 

As much as she had power over them, Trixie was having trouble doling it out in the quantities she desired due to the sheer massive quantity she had flowing through her, so the sight of Luna barely hanging on both relieved and pleased her.

“I want you to be last. I want you to see them suffer so you can know the pain I do,” Trixie commented coolly as she continued to flit about, avoiding energy blasts, bullets, and arrows with calm ease.

Now that you're under our spell 
Blindsided by the beat 
Clapping your hands, stomping your feet 
You didn't know that you fell 

Stark flew after Trixie and continued to fire at her to no avail, her empowered speed outmatching his suit which could fly faster than a military jet, “I didn’t even like her that much on Earth, but who are you fooling? You’re hemorrhaging power because you can’t control it all. You’re lucky you have this device gathering everything you shed so you can prevent yourself from imploding.”

Because of his suit Stark was able to read her situation quite well, though it made little difference in Trixie’s mind given his low threat level, “How perceptive…I’m restraining myself at this level of power so I don’t kill and destroy everything. My power is beyond a scope your little device can understand.”

She was avoiding them rather than attacking because it amused her to see them fail so spectacularly. She had become stronger than she ever imagined and it was getting to her head.

“Too slow,” she taunted as she avoided a missile sent flying at her by Stark, mimicking something Luna once told her.

	Now you've fallen under our spell 

Loki tried lending a hand by flinging a set of ice daggers at Trixie, though they too were unable to land a solid hit. Trixie had stolen the staff he was used to, and Luna was the one holding onto Gungnir in her own pocket dimension…and she had no power with which to retrieve it and lend it to him now that things had taken to the sky.

Trixie laughed in a calm, controlled manner as she avoided the increasing number of projectiles being hurtled at her, “Over here!”

We've got the music, makes you move it 
Got the song that makes you lose it 

Stark needed to get in close to Trixie to make use of his newest invention, but her speed was preventing him from even getting close. He unleashed every weapon in his arsenal in the hopes it would distract her enough to give him an opening.

When one missile was prematurely detonated by Trixie’s magic just as it left Stark’s suit, it took all of the others along with it. The explosion sent him spinning in the air as his suit’s laser beams all went awry instead of on target.

“You missed…” Trixie spoke in an almost disappointed tone. Now that she was in control of the area again she had sanctioned off teleportation again to keep things interesting, but when she could move this fast she didn’t need to.

We say "jump", you say "how high?" 
Put your hands up to the sky 

Just as Stark stabilized himself in the air, a voice behind him spelled his doom, “Have fun with your friend Coulson.”

Trixie mirrored the way Loki impaled Coulson long ago and Stark fell from the air as his body went limp, and the lack of control causing him to crash haphazardly on the ground.

The sight of a comrade falling caused Captain Rogers to glare at Trixie as she set down on the ground. She knew she had an advantage in the air, but she would have too easy of a time if she went all out on them. The only way this would be fun was if they were all truly gambling their lives, and she surely was interested in losing her own.

“Seriously, did the others seriously not tell you how foolish you were to come here? You are just sheep coming to the slaughter!” Trixie scolded them in a pitying tone, though the disparity in their power would not make her spare them.

We've got the music, makes you move it 
Got the song that makes you lose it 
We say "jump", you say "how high?" 
Put your hands up to the sky 

The Captain stared Trixie down as he prepared his trustworthy shield for combat, with Trixie giving him the grace of last words, “Heimdall told us the danger, but we came anyways. You may outmatch us, you may have more power than we ever will, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still die fighting for what we believe in.”

Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh 
You didn't know that you fell 
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh 
Now that you're under our spell 

His nice little speech over, Trixie’s retort came in the form of a sigh, “And die you will.”

She fired a powerful blast at the Captain and he raised his shield to guard just in time for the energy to clash with the metal.

	Listen to the sound of my voice 

Loki was watching as the shield held its own even as the magical energy began to press Rogers back, his feet not taking a step back but rather being pushed bit by bit as his signature tool kept him from becoming a speck of dust.

What was keeping Loki from fully focusing on the spectacle before him was the fact that nearby a woman was singing to herself and going through the motions of a performance as if nothing else mattered.

“Siren, now is not the time for your damned singing—”

	Soon you'll find you don't have a choice 

Loki paused as his eyes caught a glimpse of the power surrounding her in slow, but increasing, amounts.

He grinned as he noticed what she was really doing, and he found himself revising his plans to take this into account, “For an idiot, you are no fool.”

She gave no indication that she had heard him, though she did continue on as if in her own world.

	Captured in the web of my song 
Soon you'll all be singing along 

The swirl of colors forming Trixie’s attack broke as the Captain forcefully took a step forward, and in this moment of freedom he hurled the circular piece of armor at Trixie, who had since turned her attention to the other Humans who had come to fight.

The metal collided with Trixie’s jaw and neck as she turned to face it, at which point it bounced right back to its owner who caught and quickly prepared to use it in its intended purpose. Instead of retaliating though, Trixie sighed and shook her head. The attack had done close to nothing to her, even though it was irritating.

“You Humans could have crafted any weapon for your premier soldier to use, and you chose a frisbee that works like a boomerang.”

Seeing how little damage it did, Rogers looked over to where Thor was finishing recovering and then took to hurling the shield right back at Trixie.

Trixie moved to sidestep the easily dodged projectile just as Rogers called out his ally’s name.

“Thor!”

The shield was hurtling across the air, but Thor still managed to focus his own power on the metal object due to its conductivity. Electrical energy slammed down into the shield just as it passed by Trixie, and when it splashed in every direction it struck Trixie as well.

Unlike the purely physical attack, this actually put a miniscule dent in Trixie. What it truly did was put a dent in her patience, as her horn began to glow once again, “I am a fan of lightning, myself.”

As the Captain caught his shield again, a large storm cloud appeared right above him and he began the conduit for which energy would travel from it. His bulletproof armor gave him little protection from the fully directed electrical wrath Trixie was unleashing upon him, though he did not even have the chance to fall to his feet before Trixie grabbed him with her telekinesis and threw him in a wide arc all the way to the other side of the room, the soldier slamming into a wall and collapsing down as his body writhed from the entire storm just unleashed into his form.

The defeat of his ally had Thor in a rage, though his compassion for his comrade overrode it temporarily as he watched the Captain’s body convulse sickly, “Rogers!”

He was not the only one infuriated though. Trixie felt small pieces of metal deflecting off her body as she stood, and once she had enough with the pesky metal pebbles being shot at her she began to dodge them once again.

Try as she might, Black Widow was unable to do any real damage to her target as her poison laced bullets were not even breaking Trixie’s skin but rather deflecting off of her uselessly.

Annoyed with the bullets as she was, Trixie decided to redirect them directly back at their owner. The hail of bullets shed during the fight found themselves much more at home in the flesh of a Human than resting on the cold floor, and yet another of the Avengers fell.

“How pathetic.”

You didn't know that you fell 
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh 
Now that you're under our 

By this point Thor had hurled himself at her, but Trixie avoided his great speed with her own. With him barreling past her, Trixie turned to the last of the Humans, the arrow slinging man named Barton and she went about ending the Human element. 

“What can a mere Human hope to contribute to a battle of the gods?”

	Spell… 

Trixie’s head was just about to turn to face the maniacal laughter that was interspersed with sobbing coming from Sonata, but she sensed the rapid approach of yet another opponent that would require her attention far more than Barton or the weakened Siren.

A mighty roar preceded the Hulk rushing back into the fray, and Trixie was forced to avoid yet another strike from Thor before she could then narrowly avoid the enlarged and enraged Doctor Banner.

She actually had to begin a gallop so she could continually move out of the large man’s path, though this was because she was internally considering how to deal with him rather than because she couldn’t just eliminate his threat in an instant again, “So you’re back,” she suddenly stopped dodging as she realized how she wanted to finish him off.

His fist stopped less than an inch in front of her face, as if it were being held there against his will. The green monster tried using its other fist to punch at her as well, but it began to bend back in the other direction as Trixie began to break his thick arm while keeping the other still.

“I know that in your rage you are just an ignorant jerk, but it’s about time we put you down like the animal you are.”

She remembered Luna speaking about how she had befriended Doctor Banner in her time on Earth. That would make this all the more difficult to watch. Coldly, she pointed her horn his face as she forced him to bend down to her height.

Luna was just beginning to get a piece of her strength back, having unleashed the entirety of her magic on Trixie when she had tried to stop her in one attack…but the Elf had intervened and left Luna at the mercy of her daughter. Now she could not help but watch as Trixie killed yet another person she cared about in such a brutal manner Luna would have gagged if she had the strength to do so.

Trixie shrugged as the Hulk slumped to the ground, almost surprised by how much power had gone into her last attack.

“Perhaps that was a bit much.”

Her attention focused on the Hulk did not stop her from also blasting Thor back yet again, his strong body not powerful enough to combat her even stronger magic. Nor did it disallow her from catching an arrow flying at her face right before it connected with her eye.

Trixie haughtily looked over at Barton, who was preparing another arrow, “An arrow? Really?”

The arrow hovering right in front of Trixie’s face exploded with more power than anything she had been hit with yet, courtesy of a specially crafted arrow by Stark given to Barton for such an occasion. Trixie was engulfed in the fiery explosion and actually let out a cry of surprise as she let her guard down to the foe she believed the least threatening.

“Yes,” the man replied plainly as he fired his knocked arrow and quickly went about preparing another to fire. As he unloaded a series of arrows into the growing masses of explosions, the Siren began her second song as magic began to glow around her.

Ahh, ah-ah, ahh 
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah 
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah 
Ahh, ah-ah, ah, ah-ah 
Ah-ah, ah, ah-ah, ah, ah-ah 

“Enough!”

Barton found himself on the receiving end of an arrow, though it was truly just magic formed in the shape of an arrow. Flying out of the cloud of smoke that had appeared in his explosions were a series of these arrows lashing out in every direction. Barton ended up being pinned to the wall closest to them as his Human reflexes could not spare him from them all, while Loki moved to shield Sonata from the arrows while Thor stood his ground as they tore and ripped across his already damaged armor.

As the smoke cleared it revealed a still healthy Trixie, though her fur was darkened in some places and she had very minor wounds to show for the surprise attack, “Didn’t see that coming, did you? Anything you all can do, I can do better…”

Loki took interest in her physical state. She indeed was not physically immune to their attacks because her body could only become so strong, but her magic was dampening the damage taken. She had endurance, not toughness, at least not in the same degree.

She could be defeated if they brought her body to the point it could no longer stand even if her mind willed it. If they could weaken her to the point where holding her massive power was actually a liability rather than a strength, as it would seek to break from its weakening host through the chinks presented.

That all was secondary to the Siren’s seeming intentions though, but Loki could still see about enacting this backup plan while stalling for his main objective.

“Brother, can you fight?” Loki questioned Thor as the warrior began to shake and wobble from the damage sustained from Trixie’s barrage. True to her intentions, Trixie was forcing her surrogate mother to watch as she harmed the others, since Loki was quite sure she could kill anyone and everyone in the blink of an eye if she really desired, but that wouldn’t deliver the same satisfaction. The rational plan was not always the most satisfactory or fulfilling, and if Trixie were to live with herself in her deranged mind afterwards she would need to receive the complete satisfaction of this encounter lest she be rendered hollow by an easy and complete massacre.

Loki was thankful she was mad in both senses of the word: he once was too, and it was a helpful tool for opponents to exploit.

Thor felt the call of his body to just fall down and collapse, but so long as he could will it he would keep on his feet. He prepared his hammer and nodded to Loki, “I must, so I will.”

Welcome to the show 
We're here to let you know 

Luna weakly rose to her hooves, having regained the strength necessary to heal her body in the requisite amount and ways to restore her motor functions. Caught between crushing despair and seething anger, Luna was not even sure what to do. A part of her wanted to let Trixie punish her for her actions, while the rest of her was feeling pressed to attack and protect her friends and family.

As Luna stood in confusion Trixie flicked her head and took a page out of her partner’s book, erecting a barrier between Thor and Loki that cut Loki off completely from the main arena of battle while trapping Thor by Trixie.

“Do you think I am just going to let you two team up? You fought together for centuries, I am not so daft as to give you the opportunity to pull out of this,” Trixie scoffed. Out of all her remaining foes, she placed the most faith in Loki, Thor, and Luna in actually succeeding at something.

Our time is now 
Your time is running out 

Despite being isolated, Thor refused to back down. If he turned his back on Trixie and tried destroying the barrier she put up he would be vulnerable to her attacks, and he was already running on empty. Still infuriated by the fates of his allies, Thor charged headlong at Trixie. If he failed, if they could not stop her, then the lives of everyone on Earth, everyone in existence across every instance of existence, would be left at the hands and hooves of an insane mare. As protector of Earth and a lover of all life now, Thor could not allow that.

Seeing Trixie begin to dodge Thor with complete ease while laughing contemptuously snapped Luna out of her indecision, and she ran towards the barrier erected while also retrieving the weapon she had been holding onto for Loki.

“Your rage reminds me of your father’s. Where did that get him?” Trixie laughed at Thor in a deliberate attempt to get him to start swinging harder: while he was fighting to win, he was still holding back a little with each swing because of an unconscious inability to completely fight against family with his all. It was how despite all their conflicts nothing serious had ever befallen Loki, since the elder brother had a resistance to fighting kin.

His swings became faster and stronger as his mind entered a blind fury at the mention of Odin, “You will refrain from speaking of him in such a manner!”

While quick, Trixie had trouble avoiding each and every swing now that he was in a state of bloodlust, though the challenge was actually enjoyable to her. She was not at the point of exhaustion she had been when they first arrived, since due to Kael’s stalling she had recovered quite a great deal of strength. More than enough to finish things, but not too much to stop enjoying the conflict.

The hammer began to deal more damage than Barton’s arrows as each swing gave another scrape and another bruise, but Trixie was able to ignore it all as she playfully returned with her own counterattacks with a magic formed hammer of similar appearance to Thor’s signature weapon. 

The bruiser fought through the pain inflicted upon his body as he swung again and again at Trixie, though when he was finally unable to block out the pain he swung one last time and let his hammer go at the end of his swing not from exhaustion solely but as if it was planned.

Trixie used this opportunity to use her summoned weapon to uppercut him in the jaw and neck, hitting him with enough strength to knock him dozens of feet away as a mist of energy began to leave his body. Trixie was about to comment on the magic leaving Thor’s body when she felt Mjolnir slam into the base of her head, right where it connected to her neck.

She had discounted the weapon’s threat when she knocked Thor back into unconsciousness, since only those worthy could lift it…but when she turned around to see who had thrown it she growled in anger.

Captain Rogers stood gasping in pain as he finished lowering his arm from the position it had been in when he hurled the weapon, his body stumbling from both pain and dizziness because he had spun around to gain extra strength behind the throw. The Human had managed to catch the hammer when it was thrown by Thor, and in the process catch Trixie completely off guard because of something she did not know to account for.

Not about to let him do a similar trick again, Trixie sent her summoned hammer flying straight into the man’s chest, breaking through his armor and impacting straight into his instantly shattered ribs. Mjolnir had fallen beside her as she stood her ground when it hit her despite her confusion, and while it was barely more damaging than any singular one of Thor’s strikes it did leave her mind in an unwelcome haze.

“I really do hate that hammer…” Trixie muttered as she tried to ignore the growing migraine in her head, though she had little time to rest as another voice yelled out just then.

“Try this then!”

Trixie sidestepped based on the source of the noise a powerful blast from Luna, and in a pitying mood she decided not to return fire so she could instead mock her.

“You really ought not to announce your attacks, mother. It really telegraphs them.”

Luna smiled smugly at Trixie, “I know.”

The meaning behind that statement just dawned on Trixie’s muddled mind when the immense power held in the staff known as Gungnir slammed into her head on. As Trixie dealt with Thor, Luna had freed Loki, and by using Luna’s attack as bait they allowed Loki to reposition himself and take his own aim at their wayward daughter.

Ah-ha, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah 
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah 
Ah-ha, ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah 
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah 

The attack blasted Trixie back quite a ways, nearly pushing her into the edges of the vortex of energy being absorbed into her machine, but she stopped herself in time to not fall victim to her own power.

With a glint Trixie glanced at them both, avoiding their follow up attacks by rushing forward, “Cute.”

When Trixie lunged forward Loki met her, putting himself in the way of her and Luna. He used his father’s staff to ward her back, though Trixie’s far larger body pressed into it with enough strength to begin pushing him back.

Loki was grateful she was likely too out of it to really focus and cast magic, something he knew would not last long, as she began to lean in with her body and try and skewer him with her long horn, “End this madness!” the Alicorn’s natural weapon began to close in to his face as Loki felt his muscles begin to fail him under her strength and weight, “I have lost my father, I have lost my friends, I refuse to lose anyone else! You are of our family as much as any of us!”

His words actually gave Trixie pause. She had always felt like Loki cared less for her than a father ought to, but here he was pleading for her to stop because of how it would not only hurt Luna, but him as well…

Trixie’s pause lessened her attack on him from impalement to a headbutt that spared him the horn. While he proclaimed caring for her, Trixie failed to recall any great instance or example of this, and so she denied him his plea as she knocked him aside. 

“If only that were true.”

	Feel the wave of sound 
As it crashes down 
You can't turn away 
We'll make you wanna sta-a-a-ay 

Trixie once again turned her head to where the increasingly loud sound of singing was originating, though a flurry of attacks from Luna caught her direct attention. With but one mind, she could only focus on so much at once, and she could just eliminate the Siren next.

On the ground where Loki was about to get up from with the aid of his former staff, now crutch, a hand grabbed Loki’s leg. He looked back to see the weakened Stark, the man’s mask removed in the front to show his face.

“Let me…get ahold of her. I got another trick up my sleeve that might help, so make an opening for me to grab her.”

Loki knew not what the drunkard had planned, but it surely was better than being beaten down without purpose, “I can try, but it’s up to you to succeed.”

Trixie’s attention was torn from trading blows with Luna when she noticed that Loki had approached the center of the room and was pointing Gungnir at the place where his former scepter sat at the eye of the entire vortex.

“What are you doing!?” Trixie screamed as she disengaged her confrontation with Luna to instead deal with Loki. As she did this, she did not notice that a certain other soul in the room was begin to float from the power they were receiving, with wings and other vestiges of Sonata’s true form as a Siren beginning to shine through as her once great power was restored to her.

We will be adored 
Tell us that you want us 
We won't be ignored 
It's time for our reward 

Loki began blasting away at the core of it, trying to punch through the vortex but also knowing that he would fail at doing so, “If I destroy this, the magic will be unleashed and wipe out this entire facility.”

While Trixie was not convinced he could succeed at what he was doing, since to break through her power surrounding it all would take power nearly as great so long as she was in control of it, but the ramifications of what would happen if he did succeed had her worried nonetheless, “And the nearby galaxy! Do you know how much power I have stored here!? Get the Hel away from that!”

Now you need us 
Come and heed us 
Nothing can stop us now 

Trixie rushing to confront Loki left her open to suddenly having Stark launch from the ground and attempt to grab at her. Trixie realized this just in time to pull her body away from him, and with his distraction done Loki stopped his bluff and instead turned to also confront Trixie. Stark said he had a plan, and Loki intended to let him fulfill it.

It was with great agility that Trixie managed to keep avoiding each of the two men attempted to grab ahold of her, though she was suddenly over-conscious about possibly using too much power right by her machine’s center: Loki might not be able to damage it, but if she accidently unleashed too much energy she might destroy everything she had worked so long on.

“What are you doing, Human?” Trixie growled in anger as she felt a slash from Gungnir nick her side, only for Stark to just then grab ahold of her body’s barrel in the swirling madness and confusion of their close quarters encounter.

What we have in store 
All we want and more 

Trixie felt her energy level instantly sap down multiple tiers from just the brief touch, and in shock and anger Trixie twisted and bucked Stark in the gut. His suit had overloaded on stolen power upon sapping it from Trixie preventing him from moving to avoid her attack, and so Stark fell.

“Get away from me!”

As the final member of the Human Avengers fell, Luna called out to him in anguish.

“Stark!”

He did not stir from where he had collapsed, his since closed metal mask hiding whatever expression would be held on his face after the felling blow.

We will break on through,
Now it's time to finish you!

“Damnit, what do we do?” Loki whispered as he put space between himself and Trixie, though remaining close enough to the room’s center to be shielded from her own power.

Fortunately for him, a third and final song followed the end of the last.

	“Hush now, quiet now…”

The voice of the Siren had grown louder and more enthralling with each passing moment, her power growing as she sapped it from each person in the area as well as from the air itself. Using a song acquired in her time in Equestria, Sonata was entering the fight on her own terms, causing Loki to smirk as he realized how good timing she had, “Well then…”

Still leagues above the others in terms of strength, even Trixie found the entrancing words of Sonata beginning to dig into her mind. Stark’s intervention had weakened her to the point where Sonata, using Trixie’s own excess power, could actually begin to rival her in terms of magical energy: after all, she had been lapping up the massive quantities Trixie had been shedding previously to not implode under her own power. 

“Shut up! No lullaby’s! I defeated Adagio, I can—!”

Trixie had turned to face and completely blow Sonata away with a magical attack, but her body’s sudden sluggishness caused her to stumble and miss despite the size and width of her magical strike.

	“…it’s time to lay your sleepy head.”

Loki began to laugh as he felt his own body grow weak as well. He had a resistance to the Sirens due to his…special traits, and he was watching in amusement as both Trixie and Luna began to fall down in exhaustion to the Siren who he had made sure to bring along in case she was useful. 

It turned out she was, and Loki was willing to take credit. The fact that Sonata looked as if she was about to collapse as well made it all the better, since she could not use the opportunity to come out on top since Loki would still be awake and she would be nearly dead.

“W…what are you laughing at?” Trixie tried to growl, but her grogginess as her body began to lose balance and her eyes fluttered made it sound more like a whine. Sonata was singing directly at her, and so Trixie was receiving the brunt of the song despite all being effected.

As Trixie fell to her knees Loki moved out of her head’s swivel range, not wanting her to shoot at him even through her exhaustion, “The whole time we have been fighting she has been gradually taking energy from the room around us. She’s been leeching it to power herself.”

	“…hush now, quiet now…”

Trixie could not defend herself from the verbal assault, for it assaulted her very mind rather than her body. Given her minds fragile state it made the influence all the more effective, though she fought to remain awake and get back up, “I…won’t lose…to a damnable…”

Despite her best efforts, Trixie fell victim to the unexpected attack. In her last moments of consciousness she forcibly stood up, and in the end she fell asleep while upright. 

Loki began to contemplate how to handle the situation now that no threats remained, but his thoughts were disrupted by Luna moving to be beside Trixie as the latter fell asleep. Luna leaned into Trixie and nuzzled her as she too fell asleep, standing together with Trixie as they both succumbed to Sonata’s lullaby.

“Luna?”





Luna had a plan that meshed with what the Siren had done to disrupt the battle. Being the Princess of the Night, she would use her powers to enter Trixie’s sleep and continue speaking to her there where no-one else could interrupt them.

She would make Trixie see reason. She would end this and make sure they all would come home alive, which was still possible so long as Trixie and Kael could use the Life Gem or Soul Gem. Luna didn’t care about their names so long as they worked to her ends.

Luna had directly entered Trixie’s dream upon them falling asleep given their proximity and her deliberate intentions, and so she found herself in a dark landscape that reminded her of the dark abyss she once found Loki in.

Come to think of it, Loki had betrayed her then too…and she had been blind to it until the very end. While she was better than Celestia at recognizing such things, she too had fallen into obliviousness when it came to those she loved. 

Her mother, her sister, Loki’s father, Loki’s brother…and now her. She had played the same role to Trixie they all once had in the downfall of herself and Loki, and Luna hated herself for it. She had always wanted to be better than them, to surpass them and transcend their faults…but in the end by striving to be better than them, she drove yet another down the same path she once was on.

“Mommy.”

Luna blinked as she heard the voice of a toddler nearby her in the black void. She turned to her side where there suddenly was a small foal, no bigger than a young toddler, sitting in a crib staring at her with big eyes.

Luna found herself mesmerized by the soft blue fur and the silver-blue hair that revealed who this was. A mental projection of Trixie at a young age was staring up at Luna uncertainly, as if it were not sure how Luna would react.

The foal tried leaning up on the edge of its crib to point past Luna at something.

“Awpul.”

Luna looked back to where it was pointing, and surely enough a tray of food had materialized. An apple was shining as the focal point, and the young foal seemed to be craving food. Her body was far thinner than it ought to be at that age, not possessing the girth most would attribute to babies but rather appearing underweight.

Without hesitation Luna moved the apple over to Trixie with her mental projection’s magic. She smiled as the foal form of Trixie began to dig into the meal provided, and Luna sighed contently as she saw the innocence of the child.

“How’s my little girl?” Luna cooed as she moved over to the crib and began to stroke Trixie’s fairly long mane for a child, as if she never had it cut yet in her life.

The foal seemed to forget the apple it was so wildly tearing into until then when Luna touched her. It turned to face Luna, at which point it moved to hug all its limbs around Luna’s outstretched one.

“Mommy…”

Luna could have spent forever just like that, but it all disappeared moments after as a different scene presented itself inside Trixie’s dream.

Now a young foal, years younger than the likes of Scootaloo but by no means a baby, stood before her and was presenting a cake to her. This version of Trixie was beginning to take on the appearance Luna knew well, with height offsetting the lack of weight and making her appear gaunt in all but face.

“Happy birthday, mother.”

The overly polite tone used…Luna winced as she realized what this was.

“These are your memories…”

Luna was standing in the place of the deceased Lulamoon, back when Trixie was still at the whims of the depressed mare little older than its own daughter. Luna wondered just how these memories had played out with the other mare at the helm, since Luna doubted the resentful Lulamoon would have been so caring…

“Huh?” the child form of Trixie questioned, not understanding what Luna was saying to herself.

To recover from this Luna shook her head and leaned down to kiss Trixie on the forehead, letting her know how much she loved her. She may not actually get to raise Trixie or have these opportunities now that Trixie was grown up, but she could try and set her mind at ease after all it had gone through. She would let her know how much she meant to her.

“Nothing, Trixie. Thank you.”

Having received a surprising amount of affection, something Trixie was not at all used to at that point in her life, Trixie tried to reciprocate by leaning into Luna and rubbing her face on Luna’s chest, “I love you mother…”

Luna pulled Trixie’s mental representation into her as tightly as she could, tears forming at the edges of her own eyes as she thought about how much she wanted this to be real. To get a chance to do it all over.

“I love you too, Trixie.”

The scene faded away to black once again, though this time Luna was not left with a replacement right there, but rather noticed that there were all sorts of scenes playing out in the distance in the darkness.

There was the time Trixie was in Ponyville being heckled by Twilight’s friends, an instance of her being driven out of a town because of her reputation, her working hard on a rock farm, her using her savings from the farm to buy an artifact to get revenge on Twilight, her further disgrace after being bested once again by the Ponyville crowd, the beginning of her show in Canterlot where Luna would later intervene, her working in the field to train, Trixie’s time at the tryouts where Luna would stupidly spurn her because of the influence the Nightmare had over her, Trixie fighting the Ursas all alone…

The memories would go on for just about ever if Luna kept wandering through them. Trixie’s mind was actively going over the steps that brought it to the point it was at currently, and Luna realized that she needed to find the “real” Trixie if she were to actually accomplish anything. If she were to calm Trixie down from the fit of madness she was encountering.

While sorting through all of the memory-dreams, Luna had her attention caught by one she was in…not because she remembered it vividly, but because it felt like it was in a repressed part of her mind that only just came to the surface because of seeing it.

It was a simple dream with only Luna, Trixie, and a tree that had pink petals on it. Given the size of Luna’s stomach, this was from when she was still pregnant with Hela and Sleep Near and after the conflict with the Dark Elves.

Trixie was the one to take notice of the tree, for the beauty of its petals surprised her, “What is this?”

“This is a cherry blossom,” dream-Luna responded, stopping to observe and enjoy the sight as well.

Seeing that Trixie was interested in it, dream-Luna went on to further explain, “They are known for their beauty, but also for how their beauty is short lived. I have heard mention of them as a metaphor for the short and tragic life of a soldier.”

That gave dream-Trixie pause, and for a moment she looked down to the ground with pain in her eyes. Luna realized that even back then Trixie must have been struggling with her inner struggle, and it made her heart break to see Trixie realize the symbolism behind the tree and how it might apply to her own self.

After a moment of contemplation Trixie spoke again, her voice soft and restrained as she tried not to cry, “I think they are beautiful,” she had to pause again before she asked something that brought a full tear to her eye, “May we have one back at the castle?”

“Of course. I think they are beautiful as well,” dream-Luna smiled at the idea, only to then sigh as she realized the unfortunate aspect of the trees and their beauty, “I only wish I had enough of a green thumb to keep them from wilting and dying.”

“Perhaps if you heal them? If anyone could save them, I’m sure you could…”

The real Luna gasped at what she missed back then, and she felt her heart falter at how oblivious she had been. She noticed the dream version of herself give Trixie an odd look, though they quickly lost it when they chalked it up to Trixie just feeling sad about the trees beauty being fleeting. Luna remembered it now…she thought something was up, but she had been so willing to just be happy for once that she cast aside the notion that Trixie was as sad as she looked.

“Sadly, my limited healing magic is ill suited for longevity. I can remedy a tear or cut in them, but not the fundamental issue behind their loss,” dream-Luna said without noticing the irony behind her words. If there needed to be any reason this was one of the memories pulled up by Trixie in her sleep, Luna had found it, and she hated herself for not seeing the signs all sooner.

Trixie nodded, only to then lament wistfully, “Short lived…”

She looked up to Luna with a faltering face, as if she were about to break down in tears just by looking at her.

“I…”

Instead her horn lit up and dream-Luna had an aura of magic appear around her head. Trixie had used magic to make her forget the conversation…

How much had Trixie made her forget to keep Luna from finding out? How much did she hide to keep Luna from realizing how broken and depressed she was? Luna had trouble recalling many actual meeting with Trixie all the way from the conflict with the Dark Elves all the way until now, though it felt like something ought to be there…

The scene faded away like all the others, though the one it was replaced by was one without Luna at all. Standing in her hidden Jotunheim fortress and Bifrost, Trixie was standing with tears dripping from her face onto the floor where they froze.

The only one beside her there was Kael, who stood silently in his mind-controlled status Luna cursed herself for not understanding sooner. She had even been the one to let Trixie inside his head in the first place…

“I can’t…”

Trixie was trying to say something, but her voice was failing her as she began to ball her fists in anger.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t hold it in any longer. There is too much for me…”

She shook her head violently, causing the purple hat sitting atop her head to nearly fall off. She was in her common clothes she would wear as an Elf rather than the outfit they would later find her in, but the purple cape and hat gave Luna memories of when she first met Trixie. So much had happened since then…

There was no time to think as Trixie conjured up statues of both Luna and Loki, ice forming their bodies as her perfect control let her craft them so beautifully.

“Mother, father…”

Trixie cracked a smile as she waved a hand and formed five other figures to form beside them in a half-circle formation around her.

“Twilight, Celestia…” Trixie’s face softened further as she saw the last two, “Sleep Near, Hela…”

In an afterthought Trixie conjured two more to finish the family of statues.

“Thor, grandmother…”

Trixie’s face slowly lapsed into a pained expression as she looked over them all, causing her to grab her forehead to massage it, though after the pain did not leave her she ran her hand through her hair as a panicked expression settled in on her to replace the other.

“No, by now you all know how much of a monster I am. You know what I’ve done…”

“I’m a murderer, I’m a monster…no better than either of you…” what started as a self-deprecating statement to demean her own self morphed into a different kind of hatred as Trixie looked on at Luna and Loki’s representations.

“I’m just like you! Does that make you happy!?” her voice started to shout as her pain began to channel itself outward by focusing on them, “I tried so long to make you love me, and now I’m just as twisted as you two. This is all your fault!”

Anger gave way to wide eyed madness as Trixie stumbled to the side and began to breathe heavily, on the path to hyperventilating, “No…I don’t care what you all think! I have come this far because of everything I’ve worked for…” she screamed as she grabbed her head and lowered it down, her voice increasing in opposite proportion, “I deserve this! So what if Hela said this would happen? So what if that frigid bitch says I’m going to destroy everything I love!?”

Trixie stood back up in complete fury as she whipped around to face the representation of baby Hela, which she then quickly destroyed in an act of anger, “I make my own fate! I do this of my own free will, and nothing anyone does or says is going to change that! I am my own master for once, not the fool of fate or the pawn of some selfish woman!”

Seeing the shattered pieces of Hela fall onto the floor shocked the highly emotional woman back into another state, gasping as she realized what she did and began to crumble at the sight of it falling apart.

On her knees, Trixie began to sob, “But I…” Trixie brought a hand out to touch the front leg of Luna’s representation, “I love you all…I can’t…”

As if in pain, Trixie recoiled from the touch of the ice. She pulled back and stumbled over onto her side while suddenly sobbing, “No, no!”

Pulling herself to her feet, Trixie looked at all the figures with a completely distraught face, “I can’t go back…” noticing she dropped her hat when she fell over, Trixie gingerly picked it up. While looking at the stars embroidered on the purple surface she gave a soft sigh, “That’s…that is in the past…that’s a life I’ve forsaken.”

Trixie spun around and threw the hat rather than place it back on her head, and instead of let it hurl away she clenched her hand as a glow of magic surrounded it. The hat exploded in a display of ice, its tattered shreds falling to the floor.

This done, Trixie looked back up to the two statues she started with. Her eyes seemed hollow as she looked on at them, her mind at a breaking point for the battle she was raging within, “Luna…Loki…”

She sighed and lowered her head. As she took in her next breathe, a glow surrounded her clothing, and in moments her original clothes were instead reformed into the mimicry of Loki’s and Nightmare Moon’s she currently was in.

Trixie glared at the two statues again, anger now simmering in her eyes and in her voice, “You reap what you sew. And I am going to make you pay for every bit of suffering I have gone through because of your mistakes, because of your faults.”

With a violent heave Trixie both summoned the staff she stole and smashed the statues before her. This done, she glanced over to her accomplice, who had stood in silent vigil nearby.

“Go. I need time. Stall them in Asgard.”

Kael wordlessly obeyed, having been at her beck and call, and once he was gone Trixie let herself fall to her knees once more.

“Now I am truly alone, the way I deserve to be…

Luna wanted to go to her and tell her it would all be alright, that they could make things better together…but the memory faded. It was just another fleeting dream Trixie was having along with countless other memories.

As Luna began to leave it, she heard shouting nearby that drew her attention. Not surrounded by any scene was Trixie in her Unicorn form, and a malformed and misshapen Alicorn form of Trixie. The two were running around in circles and firing off pseudo-magical blasts at one another, occasionally physically colliding before setting themselves apart and continuing their back and forth fight.

Luna realized that this ought to be the real Trixie, fighting a nightmare, and she rushed to the confrontation so that she could intervene. 





Still awake, Loki felt an odd feeling wash over him. He no longer felt as cold, as if Hela’s curse were being lifted from him.

While this might be good in some regards since it meant he would have access to his magic, the affliction also had its benefits…pain began to wrack Loki as his now mortal body began to feel the pain his undead one was able to ignore.

Loki fell to the ground as he tried to fight through the pain, and though it was a winning battle it was slow. He had a dark feeling that Hela had succumbed to her pain and thus her magic had worn off on him.

Across the room from him he noticed that the previously still body of Celestia was finally regaining consciousness. She had been hit hard early on, and hit even after she was down which undoubtedly prolonged her status.

As Celestia weakly rose to her hooves, Loki could hear her murmuring something as she looked on at Trixie and Luna.

“Get…”

Celestia stumbled forward as she tried to right herself, her eyes barely able to hang open as she fought through pain to look on at Luna and Trixie.

“…away…”

Loki wanted to yell out to her to stay her hand, but he could only cough out in pain as blood formed in his mouth. He spat out blood and began to choke on it as Celestia’s horn began to light up.

Celestia was not alone though among those recently awoken, and the sight of the next one to stand made Loki even more worried.





Using her ability to manipulate dreams, Luna dispelled the corrupted depiction of Trixie and rushed to the side of the original one. She embraced it like she had the others, hoping to comfort it, but she found herself surprised when it rebuffed her and separated itself from her side.

Turning her back on Luna, Trixie grunted, “Why are you here? Why aren’t you with Hela? She really is your daughter…”

Luna realized that what Trixie said was true: both Hela and Sleep Near were also there, and they were likely in pain as well, but she had come to Trixie’s side. The answer was simple though: those adult forms of her children were from another world, and they would likely be fine after everything. Trixie needed her here and now though, for Luna feared that she would be lost forever if she was left to confront her inner demons like she just was.

Luna did not find the words to respond in time to stop Trixie from beginning to sob, despite trying to put on a tough act, “Just as I am not.”

That actually struck a nerve for Luna, for she truly wished that things had been different and that they were actually related, but she had come to grow past her own reservations in order to fully open her heart to Trixie long ago. It seemed as if Trixie resented that fact about herself though, that she was not actually Luna’s daughter but rather was some fake substitute.

Luna shook her head as she approached Trixie again and brought a hoof to her shoulder. She did not give a full hug again in fear that Trixie would react badly to it, but she did want to give some comfort, “Trixie, don’t say that about yourself. You may not be my flesh and blood, but neither was Loki to his family. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

She did not verbally respond to the statement, but Trixie’s body relaxed some as she heard Luna’s words. As they sunk into her Trixie let herself shrink down, and she began to sob even harder, “I want to be your daughter. I want to grow up with you as my mother. I want Loki to be my father. I want to have siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.”

Trixie paused to just cry for a few moments, her tears streaming down her face and dripping into her own mouth as she tried to speak. As she did this Luna just consolingly ran a hoof down Trixie’s back, being supportive without overdoing it.

“I…I want people to love me, but…”

That made Luna wince. Did Trixie really believe that no-one loved her? In an effort to dispel this, Luna shook her head and smiled at Trixie weakly, “We do love you, Trixie.”

Trixie began to lean on Luna’s side, still unable to look up at her but also finally giving into the comfort on some level, “No, you loved me, and the others love you. You’re the only one who cares about me personally.”

Luna was actually surprised, though it made sense the moment she began to think about it. The only reason the others paid any mind to Trixie was that Luna loved her, even Loki. However, Loki had still done his share to care for Trixie, even if he showed it in a different way, “Loki put himself through extreme danger to keep you safe. He may not have bonded with you yet the way I have, but these things take time. Believe me, Loki may be reserved but he most definitely has a big heart.”

Trixie forced herself from Luna and turned to face the completely opposite direction as her, her voice weak as she spoke her inner feelings, “You’ll all be happier without me. I brought my own baggage and problems to the table, and they have only made things more difficult to you all. You don’t need an adoptive, bastard daughter, to mess with the inheritance of your true borns.”

Luna paused before approaching Trixie and finally embracing her in a full hug, and while Trixie momentarily struggled she ultimately allowed it as Luna crooned, “We all have our problems we bring with us. A family comes together and overcomes them, and that’s what we are.”

Once again Trixie tried getting free of her, but Luna did not allow for it this time. Trixie may be more powerful in real life, but Luna was the one with power in a dream world.

“Trixie, why won’t you let me love you? I thought that was what you wanted?”

“I…” Trixie stopped her struggling to instead bury her face in one of Luna’s legs, “You didn’t deserve what I did to you. You deserve better than a washed up performer. I just thought…”

Luna moved to make herself curve more around Trixie as the latter continued to sob and speak. Her daughter had always had self-worth and self-confidence issues, and they had made all this worse than it ever had to be because more than anyone else hated her, Trixie hated her own self.

“I thought, even though it was selfish, you could fix what my mother did. Be the one who would make me feel good. Be there to support me and love me unconditionally. But I…I don’t deserve you.”

“Sometimes we get things we don’t deserve,” Luna whispered in Trixie’s ear softly, “I didn’t deserve such a loyal, thoughtful student, nor a great husband, or the family we now have together.”

That managed to soothe Trixie enough that her sobbing began to ebb, and silence fell between the two in a way that was not uncomfortable but rather needed.

Once she had a moment to think, Luna spoke again and gave Trixie’s head a soft nuzzle with her own, “Trixie, when we wake up, I promise I will do everything I can in my power to make you happy. Please, snap out of this. Hela and Sleep Near need their sister growing up. They need to have you so they can know what it’s like to be a good person.”

That actually brought a sardonic smirk to Trixie’s lips as she returned Luna’s gesture, “I’m haughty, prideful, and have crippling self-confidence issues despite those two things…” she almost laughed as she joked, “Not exactly role model material.”

Luna could feel the pony she had taken under her wing so long ago back again. This was the Trixie she loved, the one she was willing to die for in order to bring back, “For…for what it’s worth, Trixie, I…I wish I could have been your mother as well. I wish I could have been the mother you thought I could be.”

Trixie’s amusement sobered as Luna spoke, though she did not become distraught or sullen, only quiet.

“It’s the one thing I couldn’t bring myself to do. I could change your mind and alter memories, but I couldn’t make you better. I couldn’t make you love me the way I wanted you to. I would rather have painful, true love than that kind of hollow feeling.”

“I think there is another who loves you, you know,” Luna teased, a pairing she had thought perfect before coming to mind, and even despite recent revelations it still held due to a certain man’s complete and utter devotion displayed in a way Luna couldn’t even resent him for despite him doing so by opposing her. 

That made Trixie scoff and blush at the same time, embarrassed by this other aspect of having a parent, “Kael and I share only a platonic relationship. We both understand and know this.”

“Are you sure?” Luna continued to playfully tease as she played with Trixie’s mane.

Pressing on that assertion made Trixie seem less sure of herself, and she paused briefly before letting out a sigh, “From my side, at least,” she could, after all, only truly confirm that it was platonic for her. But at the same time, having been inside his head, she was pretty sure it didn’t go beyond that for him…yet, “I don’t want the happily ever after other girls dream of. I don’t want Prince Charming…I want everything. A whole family, so I know people love me…so I know I have a place in this world.”

Luna could tell that Trixie had more to say, but she did not press her and instead let her calm down. Once Trixie had finished relaxing herself, she sighed in a defeated manner.

“But…families give so much more than that feeling…the very thing I want hurts me more than any other kind of pain I have experienced.”

Luna could understand that feeling. She knew it from back when she wanted Celestia and their mother to love her, to show it beyond a doubt, but at the same time she grew to resent them when they didn’t meet her specifications for affection.

“When we get back, you only need let me know if something I do hurts you and I promise I will do whatever I can for you,” Luna gave Trixie another kiss on the forehead to reassure her beyond a doubt, “We’re not perfect, no-one is, but I will never purposefully harm you. I love you too much.”

Sensing that she was succeeding at getting to Trixie, Luna continued onward, “And stop feeling so bad about yourself. Trixie, you are a wonderful mare, if only you could just realize that. You aren’t some wicked being who is as forsaken as you think you are. I love you, Trixie, you only need to learn to love yourself.”

It worked. It got through to Trixie, and for the first time in years she felt at ease.

Finally, Trixie turned around part of the way so that she could look up at Luna. Her face was equal parts sad and tired, though Luna could tell by looking into those eyes that things could go back to how they were. Trixie was not gone, she was just hurt and confused.

“I love you too, mother. You know that, right?”

Luna would have said yes, but it was then that the dream ended and she was thrown back into reality.





“What the…”

Luna groggily looked around to see what was going on, but when she saw it she saw it as if in slow motion.

Trixie was being hit in the side by a powerful beam of magic originating from Celestia, who was screaming “my sister!” as she did so.

“No!”

As Luna yelled out in desperation, she noticed that someone else was attacking Trixie: Maiev had recovered and, in an attempt to avenge her son, was slashing across the back of Trixie in what would have been a lethal strike if not for how Celestia’s attack moved Trixie. Instead, it ended up leaving a deep gash on Trixie from the top of her shoulder to her lower hip as Trixie spun out of her original place.

Standing still, Trixie began to shake as her eyes widened, “You all…you…”

Shaking more and more violent in every second, gone was the girl Luna had just been comforting, and back was the insane mare intent on forcibly changing the world and fate to fit her desires.

“Get away from me!”

Luna tried to approach her and resume her comforting, but a shockwave of energy caught her and Maiev and hurled them all the way against the walls behind them. So far was its reach that it knocked over even the recovering Loki, Celestia, and Sonata, slamming the last two so hard that it rendered them unconscious.

Trixie’s eyes lit up and her body began to completely glow with magical power. Along her body she began to change bit by bit as everyone else still conscious could only just watch, “I’ll kill you all! No more pain! No more evil! I’ll drag you all down to Hel with me!”

By the time she was finished screaming she had finished changing. Up until then she had been hiding her true body, her true self from everyone including her own self. Locked away behind her magic and self-restraint, Trixie had put on the aura of being a regular Alicorn for some time now…but it was not the truth.

Now standing was indeed an Alicorn, but with long wings that were not formed correctly. Her body was completely gaunt, as if she had just been stretched out, and her fur was a faded version of its original hue.

Overall, it looked like a skeleton with blue fur, raggedy wings, and purple, glowing eyes. 

Shocked at the reveal of Trixie’s true body, Luna took a moment to formulate a response, “Trixie, please—”

Trixie snapped at her with her eyes narrowing in fury, “Shut up! This isn’t just for me…” Trixie shook her head and growled again, though her tone softened somewhat “I don’t want anyone to go through that. I can’t let them, not so long as I have the power to change things.”

Luna found herself crying once again, though she refused to watch Trixie willingly walk back into the abyss she had just helped her escape, “No, that’s not how this is supposed to go. We’re supposed to get through this together, just like we always have!”

In a surprisingly tender moment, Trixie dropped her head and spoke even softer, “Mother…please…leave me. I’ll hurt you…”

Having regained his magical sensibilities, Loki could feel energy surging in Trixie’s wrecked body. The power of the Aether had forced this unnatural transformation upon Trixie in the first place, and he could feel its dark energy coursing throughout her. It was no longer locked deep down in her and now instead was threatening to burst out.

Knowing that the Aether would lash out at anything that might be a threat to its host, Loki crawled to his feet and called out to his wife, “Luna, don’t!”

Luna ignored Loki’s warning and began to approach Trixie as the mare stood in the center of the room as if in extreme pain, “I’m not going to leave you, you’re my daughter. I won’t leave you, not when you need me.”

Luna was only feet from Trixie when the latter finally spoke. Her eyes did not rise to meet Luna’s, instead focusing on her own hooves beneath her.

“Maybe I’m not forsaken like you said…”

What Luna had hoped would be Trixie backing down and giving all of this up instead happened to be an eruption of magic that was so powerful that it forced Luna back hard enough to hurtle Luna back against a wall and nearly break all of her bones given her proximity to it when it went off.

As Luna was hurled away Trixie began to lose her composure to shouting and screaming again, “But even so, I am the one who decides my own fate! I may be able to return to how I was, but this is who I am! This is who I choose to be, and nothing is going to change that!”

Having decided her path, Trixie went about ensuring it. Her gaze fell upon where Maiev had been slammed by the entrance, and the stubborn woman was trying to get up despite having numerous broken bones.

“You…”

Trixie braced her awkwardly shaped body and lowered her head so that her horn was pointing forward.

“Burn in Hel like your son!”

The amount of energy unleashed was enough to kill any mortal, and it tore a hole straight through the entranceway the size of a normal room.

When the beam faded, no trace was left of the vengeful mother who had fought for her child’s sake.

This done, Trixie turned her attention to the next person she had a current issue with. To the left of the entrance, Sonata was shifting in-between consciousness and unconsciousness, and was in no state to even notice she was being approached by a very furious Alicorn.

“And you!”

Once she had closed the gap between them somewhat, Trixie prepared another attack. She had to brace herself to counter the massive power behind her attack, and as she did this the light from her own horn’s glowing mass of energy blinded her temporarily.

So, when Trixie found her head yanked upwards to point at the ceiling she was completely caught off guard, and she screamed as her attack burst through the ceiling and damaged her creation.

“What the Hel!?” she threw her head around to shake whatever the Hel was grabbing her, though a glimpse of what was on her back and tugging her head with her mane was all she needed, “No, you died!”

Atop Trixie’s back was a smug Fandral, who continued to fight against Trixie’s movements to try and disorientate her. As she began to try and toss him off he responded to her in his normal, jovial voice.

“Your friend gave us his gem. I doubt he expected us to come back in time for this though. I guess he was feeling guilty for having had us killed!”

Fandral had not come alone, as the fully restored team of Lady Sif and the Warriors Three had come to fight as well. The only Asgardian warrior available who had not come was Heimdall, who was left behind to keep control of the other Bifrost. After being given their lives back by Kael through his gem, they all recovered in the healing chambers so they could do more than just hobble around and fall over.

Unfortunately, their timing proved little more opportune.

“It’s no matter,” Trixie ignored the blades and axe that pierced into her skin as she spun around violently and tossed Fandral off of her despite his best effort to hold on, “I killed you off once, I can do it again!”

Fandral crashed into Hogun and Sif, and Volstagg was smashed aside by Trixie’s rapid spin that dislodged Fandral. With the warriors all disorientated, Trixie called power back to her horn to end their threat.

Appalled that Trixie would just kill them all too, Luna called out to her from across the room, “Trixie, wait, you don’t have to do this!”

Loki too was shocked, and in anger he grabbed his father’s weapon to level at Trixie. He blasted her with the powerful weapon, but it did nothing to stop her from her intended murder.

Trixie ignored Luna’s outcry as the four Asgardians got back to their feet, “You all are standing in the way of me saving everyone, you all are the cancer of our society, you all are the reason for all this! I will see you all rotting in Hel before I let you stop me!”

Four beams left Trixie’s horn, each splitting off and jutting in irregular manners to perfectly strike each of the soldiers straight through the heart. Each fell as their lives were taken as quickly as they had arrived, and while they were not able to deal much actual damage to Trixie they had a greater effect on the battle’s outcome.

Seeing them fall shocked both Luna and Loki into realizing how far Trixie had fallen. She was not coming back from this, nor could she.

Despite a newfound resolve to end this, Luna shut her eyes in pain. The realization that even though the Trixie she wanted was in there that she would still have to fight her to the death was crushing Luna, and it almost made her sick to contemplate, “I have to…”

Her husband approached her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, “Luna, if you can’t, I will do it for you.”

While Loki did not expect to really get to share a tender moment, he did not expect to be yanked off his feet and thrown to the ground. He recovered just in time to block with Gungnir a large sword from coming down on his neck.

Above him stood a heavily wounded Kael’thas, finally awake and most definitely still alive despite all the punishment he had received earlier, “You will have trouble defeating her when you are busy with me, my King!”

Loki struggled to keep the Elf from killing him outright, since now losing his head would be quite lethal, “You’re still alive…” Loki grunted as struggled to both think of a way out of this position and to keep pressing up against his attacker’s blade, “Your persistence would be commendable if not for your actions!”

Loki twisted Gungnir so it was still blocking but so its sharp end also slammed into Kael’s leg. Before Loki could launch a point blank blast into the limb, Kael spun out of the way and Loki had the time to roll out of the position.

With both men upright they began to pace around one another. Neither was as invincible as they had been earlier, and a wrong move could mean their death, “Oh come now, you are not about to act as if you have some kind of moral superiority to me, are you?” Kael scoffed as he continued to demean Loki, his mouth running just as it would normally with him at his own reins, “This, coming from the man that nearly wiped out an entire species to get over his own insecurities?”

“I have since learned from my mistakes, just as you are free to do now.”

Kael narrowed his eyes and frowned, actually feeling some remorse at being unable to accept that offer, “Live or die, I have made my choice. It is a shame you have as well!”

Across the room Luna had her hooves full dealing with a raging Trixie, who was slinging magic with such abandon that she was destroying the floor all over the room. It was either due to careful planning of complete luck that she missed the bodies of the many dead and unconscious people in the area, but it was with strenuous effort that Luna managed to avoid each attack while returning a few of her own. Trixie managed to avoid some of them, but she was so focused on killing that she was not thinking clearly about avoiding attacks.

Also disturbed was her mind, as she began to yell at Luna in ways that confused the elder Alicorn.

“Why did you even have me!?” Trixie screamed, her mind blending together her mother figures into one solid object of deserved hatred, “If you hated me so much, why did you even have me!? Why did you torture me all those years when you could have been done with me before I was even born!?”

“Trixie, snap out of it!” Luna yelled back, though she knew it would yield no result. She could see the pain in Trixie’s eyes, she could see the scared little Unicorn who was unsure if their mother was going to hug them or yell at them, but she could also see the sheer mad rage behind those purple orbs as well. Looking into them yielded nothing but an insight at a future that would not be, as well as a sad understanding of what would.

“All you ever gave me was pain! It’s all you can ever do, you deplorable bitch!”

Trixie tackled Luna and knocked her over, preparing for a powerful magical attack at the very same moment to serve as a coup de grace for Luna.

As she charged her power up Trixie began to cry anger fueled tears, her voice not backing down from its high level, “I’m not going to let this ever happen again! No more petty revenge, no more pain, no more choice about whether to hurt others or not! I’ll remove free will from you all if that is what it takes to make no-one suffer again! The Sirens had the right idea when they sought to control everyone!”

Fortunately for Luna, Trixie’s madness made her take too long to actually finish her attack. Luna leapt out of the way just as Trixie fired her attack straight into the ground and by the time she finished it Luna was well clear of her.

Not about to let the setback slow her down, Trixie continued to hunt after Luna with relentless attack after relentless attack, “And why not? Is there something better about being able to decree that someone do something rather than just make them do it with a whim? Either join me in shaping the future, or become a missing piece of the past!”

Luna hissed in pain as a strike hit her that ought to have broken the bones in her barrel, but she remained standing as if it didn’t happen, “No, Trixie, I’m not going to let you twist the world to what you desire! I love you and everyone else too much to let you do that! This isn’t what I wanted for you, Trixie! Please, stop it while you still can!”

Trixie did not heed her words at all, though she did play off them as she howled back in rage, “You wanted an apprentice who could one day take your place. Well congratulations, I have become far more powerful and manipulative than you ever were, mother!”

As Luna dodged another blast she found herself being body slammed by Trixie, who then impaled her mother straight in the side with her long horn.

“If you want to stop me you’ll have to kill me, for if you don’t finish the job I sure as Hel will!”

Luna tore herself off Trixie’s horn and ducked under a blast that would have torn straight through her, with the blast instead forming a wall of sorts between Loki and Kael. The two had been exchanging blows and been parrying eachother carefully, and while each man was wearing down no real damage had been done. Kael was still recovering from his near death and was just beginning to get control back over his magic while Loki was trying to save his for when he would need it most, not wanting to waste what little he had recovered at a less than opportune moment.

As they were forced apart by Trixie Loki stared down his rival, “I can see now why Illidan pitied you. You are truly lost, forever to act as the well intentioned extremist even when alternatives present themselves.”

The beam dissipated and Kael lunged forward and swung his acquired sword down forcefully, intending to strike Loki down once and for all.

The blade began to press into Gungnir as the spear stopped it in its tracks, though Kael’s greater natural strength started to give him the advantage as they engaged in a power struggle.

“Don’t you dare lecture me. I may not be as old as you, but have you lost your home? Have you had your people annihilated by the pettiness of others? I lost my family, I lost everything I had, and even then I went onward! I will always give everything I have for others, and you cannot look down on me for the sacrifices I make!”

Loki forcefully diverted the sword to the side and quickly slipped in a dagger into one of many openings on Kael’s armor. The Elf seethed as the pain wracked him, though he did not let it slow him down as he returned his sword in a figure eight motion that began to drive Loki back.

“I would have found a way to aid your people. We could have been allies!” Loki grunted as he was forced back step by step.

“Allies?” the word enraged the Elven prince even further, “I was a part of an Alliance once, and it nearly wiped out my race twice-over! I am through with waiting, I am through with trusting other species to do what is right! Trixie understands that woe, and with her I will save my people as well as all others!”

With a powerful strike Kael actually knocked Loki around, sending him a few feet back…and right into a place Trixie had forced Luna to dodge to. Loki collided with Luna and each was disorientated enough that Trixie managed to take Loki off his feet with a wild charge and Luna howled in pain as a blade carved through her side.

“Damnit…” Loki cursed as he curled up to prevent Trixie from completely trampling him. While no longer master and servant, Trixie and Kael appeared to still be completely in tune to one another’s thoughts as they had coordinated the tradeoff attack quite adeptly.

Loki flung himself to his feet as Trixie finished running him over…just in time for a greatsword to catch him through the gut. Kael and Trixie had spun around in a circle to disorientate their foes once again, with Luna having expected Kael to continue attacking her only for Trixie to spin around and launch another blast of energy at her while Loki was left vulnerable to a well-timed blade placement.

Trixie used the moment as a breather since Loki was dispatched and Luna was hobbling on the ground. Trixie had shed a great deal of her power, and her wounds were beginning to catch up to her, “You two aren’t like us. You are manipulators, fiends who just use one another…” she glared over at Luna, who she didn’t understand how she could keep fighting on, “You don’t understand true partnership.”

“True…” Loki coughed as he dropped his father’s weapon to grab Kael’s arm and pull him and the blade closer.

An Alicorn horn pierced through Loki beside the blade, and before Kael could do anything he was being slammed backward by an attack so sudden he could not absorb it. His blade went with him as he was launched away from Loki, and afterwards Luna removed her horn from her husband as Trixie watched the utterly demented move in abject surprise.

“But because we take advantage of eachother, idealistic fools like you can’t predict our movements!” Luna scolded as she used some of her power to seal Loki’s wounds. He would need medical attention for them later, but she could keep him from dying for the moment.

The Luna who had been blasted by Trixie had been a quick illusion thrown up by Loki, while the real one managed to escape and utilize his move to catch their foes off guard.

“Idealistic, am I…” Trixie sighed as she began to gather power for another attack, “Yes, I once had an ideal about who you were.”

“Now I’d rather hate you for who you are, than love you for who I want you to be…” Trixie paused to fire her attack at Luna, who had trouble avoiding it because she was beginning to feel aches all over her body that slowed her, “Just as I want you to hate me for who I truly am, and not for who I’m not! Who I never could truly be…”

Loki hobbled over out of the way so he would not be a detracting factor in the fight for Luna. Across the room their Elven foe was just beginning to recover, his willpower and the bond he shared with Trixie tethering him to the land of the living still. So long as one lived, the other could still feed them energy to live.

Given that Kael and Trixie could and would coordinate their attacks together in a way that would win them the conflict, Loki knew that despite his own current weakness he would have to eliminate the Elf before he could rejoin Trixie.

As Loki went to hunt down the Elf, Trixie had halted her assault as remorse crept into her soul, “I am what I am. A weak mare whose lack of self confidence drives her to pretend and act around others, deceive them, and try to earn their love and admiration by being something I’m not…” tears ran down her face, and the sight of them kept Luna from taking advantage of the moment, “I’m not a good mare. I’m just a selfish one.”

Luna felt conflicted as Trixie began to shake uncontrollably from her self-hatred, since now would be the opportune time to strike, but this was also perhaps the last chance she would get to talk Trixie down from this. As futile as she knew it was, Luna decided to not attack so she would have one last chance.

Trixie was completely crying as she nearly collapsed in grief, barely standing on her misshapen legs, “I wanted you to respect me, and over time I wanted you to give me the love I could never receive from my own mother…” she looked up to Luna sorrowfully, “If I had to adopt the hats of a good student, a good daughter, and a good member of royalty, I would do all of that just to have myself affirmed by you.”

Seeing her opportunity, and still knowing it would be pointless, Luna tried once again to reach out, “Trixie, you’re not bad. The pain you feel…The pain you feel is proof enough that your heart is true. You may not realize it, but you’re better than you think you are. Perhaps after acting so long you forgot what your true center is, but—”

Just as expected, the attempt at consoling Trixie instead set her off and she assaulted Luna once again, “I don’t need your false kindness! I never deserved any of this to begin with, and I won’t let you lie to me any longer!”

“I’m not lying! Trixie, I—”

Luna was cut off by a barrage of magical attacks all colliding with her, each with enough power to perhaps kill her. However, when the smoke cleared, Luna still stood before Trixie.

Trixie had been forced to stop controlling their environment in order to unleash that last barrage, having cut off that power drain so she could focus on finishing the fight. How was it that Luna could still be standing after that?

“Why won’t you die!?” Trixie screamed, though she needed to recharge for a moment before she could continue on attacking.

Luna was panting as she fought to keep standing, her blue fur now duller and mixed with some grey, “Remember how I saved you after you came back?”

Trixie’s eyes widened as she realized what Luna was doing: she was healing herself to keep from dying, but she needed so much energy to do so she had to tap into her own life. She was sacrificing her lifespan to continue combating Trixie, sacrificing her future so that she might have a better one.

“I donated my life energy to keep you alive…a part of me is in you now because of that…” Luna’s laugh was weak as she fell to her knees, “In some ways you truly are my daughter now…”

The explanation infuriated Trixie, for the same thing that once saved her was now costing her the victory she had so desperately sought, “Just die already! Fall!”

Despite another wave of magic wash over her body and threaten to kill her, Luna refused to let it stop her. She would not lose this, and if she could help it she would not lose anyone else in the process, “I didn’t get much of a chance to use it once I mastered it a bit more, but…”

“You foolish mare, you honestly think that by sacrificing your life energy to keep yourself fighting you’ll somehow come out on top?!”

“I can either die outright or live a shorter life. I think the choice is obvious…”

Loki had approached the wounded Elf like someone about to put down a rabid animal. He gave him proper distance, but he still closed in so he could accomplish the deed. Instead of Gungnir he had brought Illidan’s blades which were on his path there. He saw it fitting to finish off the man with the blades of their mutual friend whom Kael had slain back in Hel.

Despite his caution, Loki did not expect for Kael to pull a new trick out on him. So used to Kael using the same few powerful techniques, Loki did not foresee Kael pointing a hand at him and for the part of him the weakened Elf pointed at to begin glowing.

Loki could feel a fiery sensation burning in his arm where Kael had just infused magic into him, and the glow began to creep up his arm as his limb began to feel like it would burst at any moment. Loki painfully took Illidan’s blade to his own left arm and removed the limb before the light could creep up to his main body.

He only then had a moment to move to the side before the limb exploded in a large inferno that nearly knocked Loki off his feet. Remembering that Illidan’s blades could be fused, Loki used his one remaining hand to do so as Kael began to slowly pick himself back up.

“Damn…I had hoped that would work…” the Elf groaned, not sure he’d be able to do that same trick right again. Loki glaring at him made him quite sure he also did not have time to catch a second wind, so Kael accepted his fate with one caveat: if he was about to lose his life, why not pour every ounce of energy he could muster into one last glory or death strike?

“I only have one shot left…” Kael gathered his strength and brought his hands back, an orb of fire forming around them.

As Loki charged at him, Kael took one more glance at Trixie. He had hoped to survive this with her, but he had no regrets in dying for her, “For you…”

His next words were swallowed by the sound of a Phoenix’s screech as he cast his hands forward and unleashed his strike, with his following words able to be heard by all others in the Bifrost.

“By fire, be purged!”

A flame the shape of a bird burst forward from Kael, followed right behind by a giant orb of flame. Fire trailed behind the flaming bird as it surged forth right into Loki…

…only to pass straight through him as the real Loki appeared in front of Kael and lodged his blade straight through Kael’s chest cavity. The Elf sunk to his knees without another word or move, and Loki let him be as he looked back to where the flames ended up.

Loki had not realized it, but Luna had been in the path of the phoenix as well as the large orb of fire that Kael had previously used on Thor and Celestia. Luna had seen it coming and accepted her fate like Kael had, not having the body strength to avoid it and not mentally aware that she could teleport again.

When the flaming bird did not crash into her, Luna found herself stunned to see Trixie shielding her with her own body. Some flames surged through from the bird as it disappeared into Trixie’s scorched side, but overall Luna remained relatively uninjured from the last attack from Trixie’s partner.

“What…what are you doing?”

Weakly, Trixie choked out, “We’re a family…and no-one but me can kill you…”

In that one sentence Luna could see the fight inside of Trixie to both love and hate them, but she could not comment on the contradiction then because something else caused her to shout, “Watch out!”

Trixie turned to face the slow but oncoming second piece of Kael’s attack: the floating orb of flame. Trixie would teleport out of the way, but the terrible pain surging through her was keeping her from even taking a step just yet. She needed a moment to fight through the pain, and she had not had it yet.

Just as she had done though, someone else took the brunt of the attack.

Trixie gasped as she saw Celestia throw her body in front of her, and then Thor do the same. The two were blasted aside by the power of the spell, but it dissipated and left both Trixie and Luna alive.

“Uncle? Aunt Tia?”

Celestia had ended up blaming herself for how things turned out, and saw it as a chance to redeem herself and possibly help Trixie back from the brink she was standing on, “I am sorry…”

Trixie wasn’t looking at them anymore though, for her eyes had gone ahead to where the attack had come from…where Kael silently rest without any trace of life.

“You…you killed him…”

Shaking her head side to side, Trixie began to choke on her tears, “No…he…he’s the only person I…”

In a flash of light, Trixie disappeared and reappeared next to the core of the room. Standing only a dozen feet away from the vortex, Trixie lit up her own horn and shut her eyes.

“This last strength will do it. Your people will be saved, and everyone will…”

Luna pulled herself upright and cast Celestia a concerned look before the loud noise of Trixie focusing her magic drew her attention.

“Now and forever, everyone will live as I wish…even without me…”

Across the room, the weakened Loki cursed himself as he realized he would not reach Trixie in time to accomplish anything, though Luna could teleport, “Luna, now is your only chance! I can feel it, if she lets that power go, the Bifrost will succeed at its task!”

He hadn’t said it out loud, but Luna knew exactly what he meant, “But I…”

Loki knew it would kill her on the inside to do, but she was the only one who could defeat Trixie and end this all, “She braces herself to counterbalance her magic’s power, you can strike right at the moment she lets her guard down!”

Surely enough, as Loki said, Trixie braced herself to prepare for a large emission of power by spreading her legs and lowering herself, and it was as if she didn’t even hear them talking with how she just went on and did it anyway...

“Trixie…I…I’m so sorry…”

Standing in front of Trixie’s chest, Luna began to cry as she felt blood running down the top of her head. It wasn’t her blood though.

Her horn had pierced Trixie’s heart, and her former student slumped down on top of her. The magic Trixie had been charging dissipated, and she felt her life leaving her as Luna continued to cry into her chest.

“Don’t you dare pity me…” Trixie coughed out weakly, spurring Luna to shed even more tears.

Loki looked on for a moment before he had to avert his eyes from the scene. He couldn’t bear to see this…but then he forced himself to look back at it. He would need to see this. To remember it, so he could make sure he would have what he needed to make sure it would never happen again.

Trixie’s mouth began to bleed, but she kept speaking despite her pain, “But … remember this moment…You’re looking at your own past…your own future…”

“Trixie…” Luna sobbed, not knowing what to say. She wanted to hear what Trixie had to say, but she also couldn’t bear to handle the terrible feelings coursing through her at that moment.

“Every world…every civilization…” Trixie coughed again, her eyes growing dimmer as she continued her last words, “Tears and blood are always shed…they always will be, so long as we are free…Even after everything, I couldn’t change that…”

Luna felt her heart breaking as she listened to the very sound of her unforgivable failure, “Trixie, please, just…”

“Some day you will see too…”

Her tone shifted for a moment though as Trixie cried out, “Mother…I…”

Luna finally looked up into the chest she was stabbing as she adopted a soft, motherly tone one might use for an infant, “Please, just rest. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. No one will every hurt you again.”

Trixie looked down to Luna and smiled despite everything, “Thank you. For everything…” she coughed one last time as her eyes shut, “I only wish…in the end…”

Trixie’s body fell still as her last words left her mouth.

“That I was sorry…”

Unwilling to just leave her daughter then, Luna stayed there standing with Trixie as the room began to crumble. The magic in the room was going wild without its owner to guide it, and the facility began to tear apart around them all.

Loki dared not interrupt Luna’s death embrace with Trixie in a physical manner, but he could see what was happening around them, “Luna, we must go!”

Luna stared blankly into Trixie’s chest, unable or unwilling to listen to him. Fortunately, a hand placed on Loki’s shoulder spelled their savior.

“I didn’t die…” came the soft, dulled voice of Kael. He still had a blade run through him, but Loki could feel that the energy coursing through the room had given him a jolt of life, “But I am prepared to now. I have stolen enough power to teleport you and the others out of here.”

Loki was still concerned about what would happen, given what Trixie stated before, “Won’t this structure destroy everything in the nearby galaxy?”

“Not if I meddle with its power…” Kael closed his eyes as he passed Loki and approached Trixie and Luna, “I will stay behind, with her, so she’s not alone.”

He took a hand to Trixie’s resting face and then leaned his own head into it. After a moment of silent crying, the Elf turned back to Loki one last time.

“Farewell…Make our deaths count.”

Every soul in the room was removed except for Kael and Trixie, including the unwilling Luna. Left alone with Trixie, Kael brought her into an embrace as he held a hand out to the energy surrounding them.

“Trixie…I’m sorry…I…”





Everyone had been teleported outside a good few thousand feet from the Bifrost, though only Loki was standing after it. Luna had collapsed down in self-pity and hatred, unable to look back at the structure where Trixie lay.

It only took a moment more for the entire facility to explode outwards and take with it the nearby area…though not so far as to reach them. As Loki watched, he noticed something that caused him to grab Luna.

“Luna, look.”

She turned away from him in anger, “Leave me like you left her.”

Loki could understand her feelings, but he would not let her miss this, “No. Not when you are ignoring her final gift.”

“Final—” Luna started, though her curiosity finished her inquiry by having her look over.

Where the second Bifrost once stood was a brilliant explosion of pink light around a white stream of energy…holding the shape of the tree Trixie had been so taken by that she requested one be planted in the castle.

A cherry blossom of energy was emanating from the wreckage, and from it streams of energy were shooting off into the sky.

Not only that, some of the energy streams branching out were arcing down into the dead bodies around them. Those slain soon stood, and those harmed stood with their lives once again. Loki watched as his arm reformed around him, though this replacement limb felt hollow given how it came to be.

Everyone was alive who had fought from Twilight to Banner…everyone except those lost in the explosion. Kael and Trixie remained gone, with no trace of them coming from the explosion.

“Oh Trixie…” Luna said in pain, thankful that Trixie in the end had the heart to undo her damage, but hurt by the thought that perhaps that had always been something Trixie intended to do. It wasn’t as if she could ever find out now.

Around her everyone was celebrating, with Twilight and Celestia embracing, Thor joining the Asgardians in merry cheer, Sonata tackling Fandral to the ground, the Avengers all gathering together and laughing off how the first one to do anything was the guy with the bow, and even Sleep Near and Hela were gathered at the back together in a silent embrace. None of them knew what had happened, and so they all were celebrating their good health and victory.

Away from the main group Maiev had what would be the first physical contact she has ever had with her son, and he embraced her back as a white light appeared beside them both…from which the form of Illidan appeared. While Maiev was shocked, his son took to embracing his father as well. 

Loki wanted to speak with his friend, but something appearing beside Luna caught his interest even more. As Coulson appeared next to all the Avengers, another person right beside Luna.

“Luna?”

Luna spun around to face a white coated mare with a red mane…who was as tall as Celestia. In fact, she had the same white coat as Celestia. Luna gasped as she stared into her mother’s eyes.

“Mother? You…”

Her mother smiled back at her before moving to embrace her, “I could feel someone’s sadness drawing me towards them…” she paused to stop herself from growing the frown she had almost had, and then smiled back again at her youngest daughter, “But they led me here, and now I can be with my family again.”

The mention of family caused Luna’s sudden elation to leave her completely. Her eyes welled up with water and she fell down into her mother, crying into her and using her as a support to stand.

“What has happened?” Luna’s mother questioned, knowing something terrible must have just happened.

Luna refused to answer her, instead spinning around to face the brilliant aurora above them, “Of course you would do this!” she was shouting up at the pseudo-tree in unrestrained anger, “Of course you would help everyone but yourself!”

Loki moved to embrace her, and after a moment she calmed down at his touch. Trixie had ripped these souls out of the depths of the afterlife so that their loved ones could be happy again…her energy diverted from enslaving everyone to freeing lost souls.

“Loki.”

Loki twisted around to come face to face with Odin. The elderly man was smiling slightly at him, as if unsure what to do. After an awkward moment the two embraced, and then a moment later Odin found himself shaking hands with an offering Laufey.

Seeing everyone happy, seeing everyone get along…it was all perfect, but to Luna it could never truly be.

They may only be missing two loved ones, but that was the part that hurt more than anything felt by any of them before.

Luna spared one last look up at the brilliant light above her. This was Trixie’s final gift…

“We’re a family…And you’ll always be a part of it.”






“P-princess Luna, I uh, can explain…I think.”

“There is no need to. This city has a serious infestation by arrogant foals.”

“I only came to try and cheer everypony up after word got out about the invasion…”

“For that, you have my thanks.” 

…

“You do look quite thin. Care to come with me back to Canterlot Castle?”

“Wait, seriously?”

“I would rather you not be starved while I tell you more about my proposal.”

“Proposal?”

“If you are willing, I am looking for a student of my own. It is quite fortunate I found one so talented…Only if you so wish, though.”

“I-I, uh-“

“A nod will do.”

“I am pleased. There will be some conditions, however.”

“Conditions?”

“You must take your studies seriously, and you must help me when I so require your talents. I will be taking several trips in the future that may take days to weeks, and I need somepony to take care of my paperwork during that time.”

“Of course, anything! I promise to do my very best!”

“I will hold you to that.”

“Princess, I…Not to sound ungrateful, but do I really deserve this opportunity?”

“Relax. I am a firm believer in getting your just dues, and you sound as if you are in need of some help after all you have been through. Become my student and you will not ever have to worry about bits or a home again.”

…

“I will not disappoint you, Princess!”

“I’m sure you won’t. Now, have a good night, Trixie. Tomorrow we get started.”