“You will regret this,” promised Celestia, staring up the long flight of stairs at her newfound nemesis. Trixie laughed sinisterly, her very voice causing the fabric of reality to ripple around her. Once, not too long ago, Trixie actually feared the childlike alicorn that was climbing her castle stairs to challenge her. Now, the mare that Equestria called their princess was little more than a nuisance to the Supreme and Almighty Princess Trixie Lulamoon.
“It was a mistake to return here, to Trixie’s castle,” said Trixie. She wrapped her body in her magical glow, raising herself high into the air. “You cannot possibly defeat me.”
“And what leads you to believe that?” asked the former princess of Equestria.
“A number of things. Firstly, Trixie has smote three alicorns before you and stolen their power.” Trixie charged her magic in her horn and fired a concussive blast of energy, knocking Celestia down onto her butt. “Second, Trixie has recently learned every spell ever cast by ponykind. But most importantly—” Celestia, quite rudely, interrupted Trixie’s sentence with a powerful blast of magic. The new Overlady of Equestria caught it with her bare hooves and threw it to the ground.
“You will not defeat me twice,” said Celestia, flapping her wings and rising into the air. What she didn’t know is that Trixie, Supreme Leader of Equestria, had recently outlawed all manner of flight in Equestria, and her automatic crime-prevention spell froze Celestia’s wings (as well as setting up a court date and giving her a forty bit ticket). Celestia dropped like a rock, impacting the stairs with a sickening thud.
“You cannot defeat Trixie,” said Empress Trixie Lulamoon, Vanquisher of Alicorns. “It’s over, Celestia! I have the high ground!”
“You underestimate my power,” grunted Celestia, pushing herself to her hooves. She crouched slightly, preparing to jump.
“Don’t try it!” The Everlasting, Unsurpassable, Infinitely-Powerful Trixie Lulamoon the Invincible gathered all of her magic at the tip of her horn, charging up enough magic to erase the insignificant former princess from the multiverse. Celestia leapt high into the air, her horn glowing gold and raining down sparks to the floor. Trixie unleashed her spell, and—
TRIXIE IS THE HIGHEST LEVEL UNICORN!
Trixie awoke with a start, temporarily annoyed by the interruption of her slumber. Then, she realized that her alarm was still blaring and she sat to listen to herself speak for a bit. After a few minutes (twenty-two, to be precise), Trixie snuffed the spell from her horn and silenced the voice that it played.
TRIXIE IS THE HIGHEST LEV—
Trixie stretched herself out on the floor before getting up and marching through the ruined castle in search of the bathroom. All the while, Trixie was grinning. She had killed an alicorn, as far as she knew. She was more powerful than ever. Except…
Any unicorn mage worth their salt would recognize Cadance’s display as nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Trixie’s pool of magic was not affected by “killing” Cadance. She was not any stronger—in fact, she was slightly weaker on account of the magic she spent battling the princess. Trixie, of course, made no effort to notice this.
“Up and at ‘em, Trixie,” she sighed wistfully to herself. “Firstly, breakfast. Secondly, make-over! Thirdly, Twilight Sparkle!”
Trixie darted through the Castle of the Two Sisters, gunning for the dilapidated kitchen. When she arrived, she grabbed a spoon and one of several jars of peanut butter and quickly began shovelling the delicious, smooth, sweet, nutty paste into her mouth. After she finished the entire jar, she walked out of the kitchen and into one of the nearby dressing rooms, where there was a large, full-body mirror for her to stand before. She lit up her horn, trying to remember exactly how to cast her appearance modifier spell. When she recalled everything she needed to know, Trixie began to ponder her look.
“Okay, Trixie. It’s just like Cosmarepolitan said. Look good, feel good, do good,” said Trixie. “So, let’s start with the eyes. Windows to the soul and all that, yes?” Her magical aura enveloped her eyes, changing them from their typical purple to a bright, piercing yellow. “Hm… Too Rivian.”
She tried again, this time changing her eyes to bold red, with three black, comma-like figures surrounding her pupil. Trixie liked these eyes. They made her feel powerful, like some sort of prodigy soldier. However, she soon had to remove this change as well, because a strange feeling eventually gripped her. For some reason, the eyes made her want to kill her brother to avenge her family (despite the fact that her family was fine and she was an only child). Moving on, Trixie turned her attention to her mane.
“Hm… Oh, yes! Voice-Activated Mane Styling Charm!” Trixie waved her horn slightly through the air, sending a faint cloud of sparkling dust into the air, where it hovered around her head. “Okay, Charm. Give me the hairstyle of… The strongest being in the multiverse!”
Trixie’s mane vanished in a puff of sparks, leaving her head shiny and bald.
“Ah! Fix this now, Charm! Give me the hairstyle of the second strongest being in the multiverse!” Sparks rained from around her glistening dome, replacing her baldness with a head of long, straight-cut purple hair, with a bright pink highlight through it.
Suffice it to say, Trixie was not amused.
“Fine. Charm, return Trixie’s hair to normal,” said Trixie. The spell complied and changed Trixie’s hair back to how she started. “Perhaps just the color. Make the dark blue parts of Trixie’s mane black, and the light blue parts white.” The spell did as it was told, and the result was a nicely contrasting and powerful-feeling look to Trixie.
“Perfect! Charm, you’ve done well. You are dismissed.” The magic faded away. “Excellent! Twilight Sparkle will die of sheer envy upon seeing Trixie’s magnificent new manestyle, and that is only if I don’t slay her first! To Ponyville!”
Something strange happened on Trixie’s way to Ponyville, that strange thing being that Trixie thought ahead. Even though she was confident that she could defeat Twilight Sparkle on her own (which, for the record, she absolutely, positively, 100% could not), she decided that there was no need to risk it. She manufactured a plan that was far too brilliant to come from Trixie, but still not especially genius.
“Trixie is a genius!” she declared as she put the finishing touches on her plan.
She wasn’t, but she was confident in herself, and that was what mattered. Look good, feel good, do good.
“Um… I really hate to be that mare,” said Rainbow Dash awkwardly. “But I think I might bail. Twilight’s five minutes late, so she’s probably dead or dying right now. Might as well get my nap in while I can.”
“Now hold on, Dash, give the girl a second,” Applejack said firmly. “Y’all know how busy she is nowadays. Between Starlight Glimmer and the random crap that happens to Ponyville, she sure as sugar’s got her hooves full.”
“I agree with Applejack, it would be rude of us to leave now,” said Rarity, her voice amazingly false in its cheeriness. “Although I do admit myself curious as to why she called all of us out here.”
Rarity wasn’t the only one curious. Neither Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, or Fluttershy could properly explain why Twilight had told them to gather in the South Everfree Forest. It was odd, to say the least. Not the weirdest thing Twilight ever did, of course, but definitely in the top twenty.
“Maybe she’s finally taking my advice and throwing a forest party!” said Pinkie excitedly. “Check the note again! Maybe she gave some sort of clue! FLUTTERSHY, READ THE NOTE!”
Fluttershy practically dropped dead from shock, but eventually recovered and withdrew the note from her saddlebag.
“Dear friends, please meet me in the southern end of the Everfree Forest at noon,” read Fluttershy. “It is urgent. Sincerely yours, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Well, there ya go, Dash,” said Applejack. “We just need to be patient.” Rarity nodded in agreement, then, out of curiosity, crossed over to look at the note herself.
“Hm… This doesn’t look like Twilight’s hoofwriting,” said Rarity. “I think this may be some sort of practical joke.” Rainbow Dash groaned, stomping her hoof.
“If somepony ruined my nap schedule with a stupid prank...” growled Rainbow. “I will find whoever is responsible and break my hoof off in their—”
A dart of purple light connected with the base of Rainbow’s neck, halting her speech and freezing her in place. Before anypony else could react, four more darts of light connected with each of the other mares. Nopony could move or speak, and a strange sensation filled their bodies. It wasn’t pain, more like a slightly annoying itching.
That’s when Trixie stepped out.
“Huzzah! My old friends, Applecrack, Lameblow Crash, Stinkie Pie, Fluttercry, and the one that has no nickname!” said Trixie triumphantly. “You are now under the influence of Trixie’s mind control magic! And you will help me murder your friend Twilight! Come, let us go, my slaves! To Ponyville!”
Trixie skipped away, leaving the mares behind as she laughed maniacally. The girls peered at each other in confusion, some of them jittering slightly in place.
“Do you guys feel that weird itching?” asked Rainbow. They all nodded. “What was it Trixie said she wanted from us?”
“She said that she wants us to help her kill Twilight,” said Pinkie.
“I believe that this itching will remain until we obey,” added Rarity. “We obviously can’t kill Twilight, however, so we’re between something of a rock and a hard place.” They remained in place for a few more moments, then the itching spread to their necks.
“Ah think Twilight could take us,” said Applejack. “Let’s see what she’s gonna do.”
“We just walk down to Ponyville?” asked Fluttershy. The girls nodded, then set off for town. “So… Do we just work for Trixie forever, or…?”