//------------------------------//
// The Price of Vengeance 
// Story: Legion's LoL one-shots 
// by Legion222 
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It is ready, Trixie thought with a malicious smirk, surveying the setup before her. The ritual she'd spent the last week preparing would allow her to  finally get her revenge upon the wretched Twilight Sparkle and her friends once and for all. A large, flat stone carefully inscribed with a circle of summoning runes was surrounded by a ring of stolen spears, planted in the ground with their tips pointing up and outward. It was surprisingly simple for a summoning, though according to the book she'd swiped from the Canterlot Archives, the being would exact a toll of its own for its services.

Entering the half-ruined wagon that she called home, Trixie retrieved the last pieces of the ritual: a miniature wood carving in the crude shape of an Alicorn, its neck tied in a noose of dark mane-hair, a hammer and three gleaming nails. Thinking for a moment, she removed her traditional magician's hat and cape, hanging them inside the door and leaving herself naked save for the Alicorn Amulet clasped around her neck. Despite what the legends had said the Amulet had thus far proved to be naught but an expensive trinket. She could only hope the same would not prove true of her current plan.

Trixie returned to her ritual circle, placing the effigy in the center of the runic circle, and took hammer and nails in her magic. Trixie took a deep breath, examining her handiwork, and suddenly felt a pang of doubt. How had she come to this? Summoning a being from another world was extremely dangerous, was petty revenge really worth this?

Now! Do it now! a dark voice in her head screamed. Pushing away her doubts, Trixie placed the first nail above the Alicorn effigy's chest.

"I invoke thee, Lady of Vengeance!" Trixie called into the open air, reciting the summons from the book. "From beyond this world, hear my plea! Come forth! Let justice be done!" Steadying her hammer, she continued: "She who wronged me, I name once!" Trixie shouted the name of her vile foe as she swung the hammer, driving the first nail through the wooden Alicorn's chest. She paused afterwards, however; she was sure she'd just heard somepony else, but that was unlikely. The Everfree Forest wasn't exactly a tourist attraction.

Trixie shivered as she felt an unnatural cold pass over her. She heaved a single breath, mist escaping her mouth with her exhale.

Pushing through, she continued the ritual. "I name her twice!" Again she shouted her hated enemy's name to the heavens, and again she heard another voice call out. Whipping her head this way and that, she saw nothing, and felt only the growing cold. As she turned back to her ritual, however, she noticed a tall, dark figure standing silent and still among the trees in front of her.

It is working! the dark voice in her head cheered. Finish it!

"I name her thrice," Trixie no more than whispered, again naming Twilight Sparkle as she rammed the final nail completely through the effigy. She almost managed to hear this time as another voice spoke along with her, but she couldn't make out what it said.

The tall figure stood right in front of her now, black mist coiling around its form. It stood on its two hind legs with its forelegs held beside its body. It wore black armor over its green, spectral skin, and its back was pierced through by a single black spear that protruded out through its breastplate on the other side. Pale blue light emanated from its eyes as it studied her in return, staring silently at – no, through – her, seemingly seeing into her very soul.

After several moments of silence, the Lady of Vengeance spoke. Its tone was hard but vaguely female, and its voice reverberated like an echo. "You who have called us, step forth from your mortal shell."

Trixie just stared in blank confusion until a reddish mist emanated from the Amulet she wore, coalescing into the form of a red-eyed Alicorn that stood beside her. "I am she who called you." the mist spoke in the same dark voice Trixie had heard in her mind several times while working on the ritual.

The Lady's small eyes narrowed, and Trixie would almost swear it growled. "Betrayer," it hissed, "tell us why we should help you, who led another to betray her sister and her nation?"

The misty form of the Nightmare glared right back. "That was her choice, not mine. I merely gave her power, and that was how she chose to use it. It was she who betrayed me upon our return. The Elements could never have separated us if she hadn't helped them to. She stabbed me in the back and left me to take the fall. This is why I seek vengeance upon Luna, Princess of the Night."

Trixie was feeling quite happy about being ignored by these two powerful specters, until the Nightmare gestured at her with a hoof. "I have brought this mortal as payment for your services. She has devoted her life to vengeance, and will serve you well."

Trixie gulped as the Lady of Vengeance looked her over, then slowly shook its head. "She is not fully devoted. Not yet, at least. Doubt still lingers within."

The Nightmare was about to object when the Lady reached for its chest, the digits at the end of its forelegs grasping the black spear and pulling it through. The Lady hefted the weapon of its own demise, then planted it in the ground in front of the Nightmare's shade. "The price is known," the Lady said simply.

Grinning like a schoolyard bully who'd just found her favorite target all alone, the Nightmare grabbed the spear in her ethereal mouth. Pulling it from the ground without a sound, she turned to Trixie. The showmare-turned-sacrifice shook and fell onto her haunches, unable to flee.

The Nightmare raised the spear high, then plunged it towards Trixie's chest. The Unicorn mare's eyes squeezed shut as she waited for the end, but instead her ears were assaulted with an unworldly shriek. Prying open her eyes, the showmare watched as the spear, poised just above her heart, swirled with red mist. The Nightmare shrieked again in apparent agony as her form was pulled into the black spear she held.

"The price is known," the Lady of Vengeance repeated softly, watching the Nightmare fade away. "The soul of the betrayed is the requirement, and neither she nor you qualify."

Trixie sat in silence, the two of them watching one of the most evil beings in Equestria's history be absorbed by the dark weapon. At last, the Nightmare disappeared entirely, and the Lady of Vengeance appeared in a moment to catch the spear before it had dropped an inch. "Deceiver and Betrayer I name thee," the Lady whispered grimly. "The Warden shall make particularly sweet music this night."

The Lady glanced at Trixie, and as they locked eyes for a brief moment Trixie saw through the blue light to the sad eyes of the person the Lady had once been. "Behold, mortal one," the Lady whispered, gesturing to both the black spear it held and to itself, "the price of vengeance."

And with that, the Lady turned and walked away into the trees, black mist coiling around it, obscuring its form until it finally disappeared.