Fallen King
"I said, get back!" Trixie yelled as she fired crimson magic into the chest of a pony clad all in black that had leapt in the air at her, sending him flying backwards into a tree. She then spun around to summon a giant claw of stone from the ground that grabbed another pony in black, who had tried to sneak up behind her, and slammed it into the ground.
"Who are these ponies?!" Starshine shrieked as one of the ponies ran past him with a blade gripped in his teeth, only to take a yellow spell to the face and feel the power of electric magic. "And why are they trying to kill you?"
"They're assassins, from the look of their outfits," Trixie responded as she flipped off a tree trunk to dodge a blade strike, before she kicked the pony in the back of the head and slammed his face into the trunk. She spun to face three more attackers who kept their distance, having learned from their comrades' mistakes that attacking her 'head on' wouldn't work in their favor. Trixie's horn glowed with power as she thought of a number of spells that would deal with these foals. Then, the pony in the front nodded to the two behind him as he threw a smoke pellet into the ground. The other two followed suit with smoke pellets of their own. When Trixie could see again, the three and their knocked-out friends were gone, allowing her to sigh in relief.
"Well that's one way to wake up in the morning," she said with a smirk as she walked over to Starshine, who had taken refuge under a hollowed out tree. He shakily got to his hooves and looked around the forest in terror.
"W-why would assassins be after you?" he stammered as he continued to look, but his only answer was a sigh from Trixie while she headed back to her wagon, which had been flipped onto its side during the fighting. With a quick spell and a bit of effort, Trixie managed to re-right the wagon and motioned for Starshine to join her inside. "And why are there assassins in Equestria? I thought that the princesses had them all disbanded years ago?"
"They may have been ordered to, but after the two princesses were nearly de-throned by Morgaine, a lot of ponies lost faith in the princesses and began to ignore them. While the assassins may have been ordered to stop, they still continue as a secret underground society, only going after those that no pony would miss or everypony hates. And guess who falls into both of those catagories?" Trixie asked with a somber smile as she walked inside of the wagon to find all of her books off their shelves, her potion materials on the floor, and the rest of her home in one giant mess. "Ugh, this is going to take a while to clean up. How about you go practice your magic while I try to sort this out."
"But I want to know more about the assassins," Starshine begged, but Trixie had already begun to pick up her wagon and paid no more attention to him. Starshine huffed and walked over to the practice dummy, glaring at it as his imagination took over and he thought of it as one of the assassins that was going after Trixie. "Take this!" he yelled as he tried to use the repulsing spell that Trixie had taught him, but all that happened was a burst of light exploded in front of him and sent him rolling backwards until he hit the wall.
"Are you alright over there?" Trixie called out from the other side of the room as she scooped up water back into her tub.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Starshine muttered as he stood back up, walking back towards the dummy while he tried the spell again. But just like the previous attempt, his spell backfired and knocked him down in a flash of light. "Argh, why can't I get it to work?" he muttered as he tried the spell again, but slower. Just like the last time, he felt a build up of magic in his horn that flowed throughout his entire head. "No use, it just doesn't work the way I want it to." He wasn't certain if he was missing or if he was just bad at magic, but it frustrated him to no end.
"Alright, we're going to be heading off for the Temple of Reflections in a few minutes," Trixie yelled to Starshine, who sighed in defeat and plopped down on a couch. He sat mostly in silence as the wagon moved on its own, not able to talk to Trixie because she was busy organizing her supplies again to make sure nothing was lost. All he could do was think quietly to himself as they moved along: 'Why can't I use magic? Is there something wrong with my horn or am I just...defective?' Starshine hung his head a bit at this thought, staying silent as the wagon moved along to its next location.
/M\
"Ugh, why did the temple have to be in a volcano?" Starshine asked as he struggled to move forward, the heat from the lava nearby beginning to get to him. Trixie had parked the wagon far away from the volcano and the two had to travel to it on hoof, which would have been impossible for any pony besides a Pegasus, if Trixie had not summoned magic platforms for them to walk on instead. But the platforms didn't stop the heat, hence Starshine's complaints.
"Each of the temples were hidden by Star-Swirl in locations that hopefully no pony would be able to find," Trixie explained as she walked towards the temple in the side of the volcano. The temple was the same reddish color as the land around them, which would have made it impossible to find if they didn't know where to look. Trixie did, and she saw the doors were still open from before. She remarked aloud, "And it's just like that Twilight to leave her doors open and allow anypony to walk in!" Trixie smiled with a shake of her head. "So for ten years, she never bothered to come back and check up on the place to see how it was doing? Shame, I thought she was smarter than that. Come on, let us head inside and out of this infernal heat."
Starshine followed Trixie inside of the temple and marveled at what awaited them there. There was a room with many reflective surfaces, such as crystals and a variety of cracked mirrors as well, but what grabbed his attention was in the center of the room where a single pond sat. "What is this place?" he asked Trixie, who was looking at a number of ancient writings on the wall.
"This is the temple of reflection, where in order to proceed a pony must face themselves and triumph, which is easier said than done," Trixie replied as she frowned at the writing. "And while I may not seek to go deeper into the temple, it seems that I must face myself if I am to progress."
"What about me? Will I have to face myself?" Starshine questioned.
"No, only one needs to succeed to pass. I assume that it was Batman who did it for the ponies. There is no way they could defeat themselves without his help," Trixie commented with a smile as she walked to the pond, taking a deep breath before she looked down into it. Her reflection shimmered a bit before the pond began to move and a dark azure hoof grabbed onto the bank in front of her. She backed away as a darker version of herself pulled itself from the pond, its eyes glaring at her with hatred as it approached her.
"Well if it isn't the failure," the dark reflection said to her as it marched towards her, its eyes looking out from under the brim of a certain hat that Trixie no longer wore. It also wore her star-covered cape along with the hat, but that meant little to Trixie as she prepared her magic for a battle. "The pony who could have had it all, but chose to listen to her heart and be a coward."
"My actions saved the lives of everypony in Equestria. I do not regret what I have done," Trixie said with no emotion, causing her duplicate to hiss at her as it began to circle her.
"Oh, but you do have regrets. You regret that you joined with Morgaine in the first place, that you were almost responsible for the death of nearly everypony in your precious land," the dark reflection spat back.
"I thought this was the Temple of Reflections, not of things I already know," Trixie replied with a smirk, causing the dark her to grow even angrier.
"You hide behind a façade that is your humor," the dark one began. "Because deep down inside, you know that no pony will ever be able to love you again, not after what you did." The dark Trixie began to advance as she spoke, but Trixie did not give an inch. "You will be hated for what you have done and will forever be an outcast. Forever."
"If that is to be my punishment for the sins I have committed, then so be it," Trixie replied as she lowered her horn at the reflection. "Now then, are you going to fight or continue to fail at getting under my skin?" The dark her hissed and leapt into the air, raining down a flurry of fireballs, all of which Trixie deflected with ease. The dark her landed and summoned a lasso of magic with which she tried to lasso Trixie, but the real her slipped between the rope and shot the stones under the dark her's hooves, sending up a column of water that knocked the dark Trixie into the ceiling. When she came crashing back down, Trixie finished her with a face full of electric magic that, combined with the water, caused her counterpart to scream in pain. Trixie ceased the attack and let the dark her fall to the ground, knowing that she had won.
"Do you yield?" Trixie asked.
The dark her stood back up with a smile and simply said, "Well done," before vanishing into the pond again, leaving the chamber as when they had entered. Trixie sighed as she ceased her magic, looking behind her as the doors opened once again.
"Are we going to enter?" Starshine asked her, to which Trixie shook her head in reply.
"No, we have no need to go in there. Besides, all of value was taken long ago," she replied as she walked back over to the pond. "This is where we need to go. Join me, if you will." Starshine did so as Trixie summoned a barrier around them that she lifted into the air and placed above the pond, slowly entering the both of them into the water. Starshine had to blink twice as the world seemed to flip upside down for him before they came out on the other side, where Trixie lowered the both of them back down to solid ground.
"Ugh, that felt weird," he muttered as he looked around the room, more confused than ever. It almost looked like a duplicate of the room they were just in, but a few of the details had been switched around. All of the mirrors and crystals were in perfect condition and the pond looked like it was in bad shape. But unlike the previous room, this one only had one door...and that door was already open.
"Somepony else is here," Trixie said quietly as she prepared a spell, pulling Starshine close to her as she did so. "Stay close to me and make as little noise as you can. I know not who this pony is, but I have a bad feeling that they are a force to be reckoned with if they could get in here." Starshine nodded as Trixie began to slowly move forward, her eyes darting left and right as they moved down the long hallway that connected to the next room. As they got closer to the next room, they could begin to hear something faint.
"It sounds like somepony is fighting something," Starshine whispered to Trixie. Trixie nodded in response, her thoughts being along the same lines. As the two drew closer, they heard a cry of pain and something hitting the ground, followed by very heavy hoofsteps. "Trixie, somepony's in danger! You have to help them!" Trixie frowned at the idea, but the look Starshine gave her made it so she had to agree. So she prepared the strongest spell she knew as she leapt around the corner, believing herself ready for anything. She was wrong.
In the center of a room with a floor that looked like it was a solar system, stood a massive stone statue of Star-Swirl the Bearded, similar to the one that Morgaine had used to attack the bat and the Elements back in the final temple. But what surprised her wasn't the massive statue, but instead what it was attacking. For in the center of the room lay a pony with a black coat and an equally black mane, known to many as a king, but now he was just...
"Sombra," Trixie said with a snarl as the former unicorn rolled out of the way of one of the statue's hooves. The shockwave still launched him across the room and into a wall, where he slid down with a groan. He looked up with his one good eye to Trixie and Starshine standing across the room from him, confusion showing on his face before the statue charged at him again. Trixie smiled to herself as she watched Sombra fight a futile battle against the statue, because without his horn he would certainly be killed by it.
"Trixie, what are you doing?" Starshine asked her as Sombra got tossed around the room again. "You have to help!"
"Do you have any idea who that is?" Trixie asked as she looked away from the battle. "That is Sombra, one of the evilest ponies that has ever existed in the history of this land. He enslaved the crystal empire and tried to kill the princesses in an attempt to take full control. I am not helping a pony as evil as him." Starshine looked up at her with a frown before a thought came to his mind.
"That's funny, because that's what everypony says about you," he said with a smile. "Evil; tried to enslave all of Equestria while trying to overthrow the princesses; That you're as bad as Sombra. Well, are you?" Trixie glared down at him, knowing exactly what he was doing, but it was too late to change anything. His words had struck home and she figured that she had to help, at least stop the statue. Then she could flatten Sombra herself.
"You can be very manipulative, do you know that?" Trixie asked the smiling Starshine as she charged the statue, firing the spell that she had been holding onto. The spell collided with the statue's face and knocked it over, causing Sombra to look at Trixie in complete surprise as she ran to his side, using her magic to help him to his hooves.
"You are...helping me?" Sombra asked in complete shock, having no idea who this pony was or why she was helping him. His response was a glare from Trixie and for her magic to grab him by the throat.
"Yes, but only because that little foal over there guilt-tripped me into doing so," she replied with a snarl as the statue began to get back up. "But let me tell you right now, I do not like you and I do not trust you. But I will defeat this statue, so you stay out of my sight." She threw him to the ground as she said this and used her magic to lift the Star-Swirl into the air, slamming it down again against the floor. Sombra looked at her in complete shock as she began to show her full power, her horn glowing as bright as one of the stars in the sky.
"Be gone," was all she said as she blasted a white hot spell into the center of the statue's chest and blew it across the room into the opposing wall, watching with a smile as it sank down to the ground before crumbling into pieces. She then looked back and smirked at the awe-struck Sombra before she flicked her mane and walked towards Starshine. "I heard that you were the greatest unicorn in your time Sombra, but there is a new unicorn that holds that title. Me."
"W-who are you?" he asked her as he got back up.
"I am Trixie Lulamoon, the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria," she responded with a smile. Sombra looked at her for a moment before an evil smile broke out across his face.
"Oh yes, I have heard of you Trixie, the pony whose evil is supposed to rival mine as well as her magical might. Oh this truly is a treat," he said with a cackle, not noticing the daggers that she glared at him. "Yes, she who nearly overthrew the two princesses and nearly hoofed everything over to a crazy mad woman that tried to kill everything good. I know that I have a bad rep, but you might just have me--URK!" His words were cut off as Trixie grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air, her eyes blazing with rage as she glared at him.
"I am nothing like you," she said in a quiet whisper, but Sombra began to chuckle again.
"Nothing like me? Oh, let's go down the list. Tried to take out the princesses? Check. Tried to take everything in Equestria as their own? Check. Masters of magic? Do I need to go on?" he taunted, closing his eyes in pain when she tightened her grip. "Go on, try and kill me. I have contingencies in place in case I die. Just ask the Elements." Trixie snarled at him and threw him across the room into the wall again before she headed to the exit on the other end.
"That hurt," Sombra muttered to himself as he got back up, looking down to see Starshine standing next to him. "What the hell do you want?"
"Where did your horn go?" Starshine asked, pointing to the stub on his head. Sombra growled and took a step forward, but a fire spell hit him in the side of the head and set his main ablaze. He spent a minute trying to put the fire out, and when he did so he glared at Trixie before looking back to the colt. "You really wanna know? Fine, I lost it when the princess of the crystal empire blew me to kingdom come. After that I spent about six years piecing myself back together. There, happy?"
"What are you doing here then?" Starshine asked. Sombra didn't want to answer the colt, but then Trixie walked back over to them and glared at him.
"Yes, I would like to know that as well. What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him, pointing her glowing horn at him to show that he had to answer.
"Fine. I'm here because I'm after whatever Star-Swirl has locked away in a temple far from here," Sombra replied with a growl as he avoided her eyes, so he didn't notice when Trixie and Starshine both looked at each other, both knowing the temple he was talking about.
"And what else?" Trixie asked, having fire shoot from her horn when he refused to answer.
"Okay, there is supposed to be an item in here that will help to unlock the temple doors, now stop shooting fire at me." Trixie didn't cease the fire spell, but she did motion for Starshine to join her by the door on the other end of the room, where even more strange writing on the wall lay.
"What's it say Trixie?" Starshine asked her, but this time Trixie could only shake her head in response.
"I do not know. It is similar to the language on the wall in the other room, but it is different at the same time," she replied. "I cannot translate this."
"Ha. And you are supposed to be my equal," Sombra chuckled from across the room. "Yet you cannot read what it says. You have been exaggerated."
"Oh? And I suppose you can read it?" Trixie asked
"Of course, I was alive when they were being used" Sombra replied as he crossed his arms with a smile, but then the smile fell as Trixie pointed her horn at him again and motioned for him to go to the door.
"Then why don't you be a gentlecolt and help a mare out," Trixie said as she fired a small burst of flame at his hooves, causing him to grumble as he walked over.
"If I had my horn, you would both be dead," he muttered just loud enough for Trixie to hear.
"I would still be able to defeat you," Trixie replied as Sombra began to mutter something to himself. Once he was finished, the lettering on the doors began to glow and the doors began to slowly creep open, but Trixie kept an eye on Sombra the entire time. Once the doors were fully open, the three ponies stepped inside and despite Trixie and Sombra not trusting each other, both were struck in awe by what they saw. In the center of the room sat an incredible ruby that blazed with the fierceness of the sun when Trixie's glowing horn got close to it.
"What is it?" Starshine asked as he ran up to it, gazing in wonder as the ruby's light reflected in his eyes.
"It is the ruby that Star-Swirl used to bargain with the dragons to keep them from attacking Equestria," Trixie responded as she walked up to the ruby as well, looking on it with impressed eyes. "However, even the dragons were so in awe of its beauty, as well as the kindness that Star-Swirl had shown them, that they asked him to hide the ruby away so that no pony could ever take it. I did not know that he used it as a key."
"That shows just how little of Star-Swirl you know," Sombra said with a smirk as he walked up to the ruby, but was stopped before he could get too close. "All of the items that are in the lock are items that Star-Swirl held cherished in his heart; this ruby, the changeling claw, the trident of the..." Trixie's eyes narrowed as she saw a hint of fear in Sombra's eyes as he mentioned the trident. "All of which belong to him. And it is said when you open the temple with those items, the true power of Star-Swirl will be yours.
"So that is why you are trying to open the temple," Trixie growled at Sombra suddenly, placing herself between him and the ruby. "So that you can take his power and add it onto your own."
"You are just too clever for me," Sombra said with a chuckle. "But no, I have no need for that foal's magic. I simply require that power to repair my horn, then I will truly be the great wizard I once was! Then no pony will be able to..." Sombra's words cut off there, as he groaned once and fell over onto his face, causing both Trixie and Starshine to look down in confusion.
"What happened to him?" Starshine asked as he and Trixie both approached Sombra, Trixie examined him as she did so. Now that she could have a closer look, she noticed all the bruising and scarring along his body, as well as the fact that she could see most of his ribs--and his mane was thinner than in the stories.
"I think that he is starving, dehydrated, and nearly dead from exhaustion," she replied as she opened one of his eyes. "I'm not surprised myself. I can hide my presence well enough to allow me to buy food and supplies in towns, but without his horn, even a full coat could not hide his stench of evil. He will probably be dead soon. But he lived just long enough to help us get to the ruby, so that's good." Trixie grabbed the ruby off of its pedestal and placed it inside of her coat, heading towards the exit. Starshine, however, did not join her. "Starshine, what are you doing? We must leave."
"We're taking him with us," Starshine replied as he tried to get Sombra onto his shoulders while Trixie stood stunned by his response.
"Okay, apparently you did not understand when I told you about Sombra before," she said after recovering. "He is evil, and unlike me he did not repent for what he did. And when he managed to escape from the prison that the princesses placed him in, he tried to take control of the crystal empire again. You don't know what he will do."
"No, but I do know what it's like to be starving to death and having no pony to rely on," Starshine shot back, causing Trixie to raise her eyebrows in surprise at his tone. "I spent four years of my life on the streets hoping that the following day wouldn't be my last. Now I know that you've had a bad life too, but I don't think you have ever had to worry about starving to death, or being mugged in the cold of the night. I do. That's why I can't let him die like this. We can turn him in to the princesses once he's healthy, or give him to the Elements to lock away in stone, but first I want to make sure he will live. No pony should die by starving."
Trixie lowered her head at what Starshine was saying, hating that he was right and wrong at the same time. He was right in saying that no pony should have to die this way, but he was wrong in saying that Trixie had never been on the verge of starving, or that she hadn't been mugged in the night. It had happened to her more times than she could count. And that was why she knew he was right in saying that they couldn't leave Sombra die, at least not like this. She wasn't that heartless
"...Fine, but I will keep him under spell the entire time he is with us, and he will not sleep or be anywhere near us," Trixie said with such a tone that Starshine didn't dare to argue. Trixie then lifted the limp body of Sombra over her head and began to walk to the exit, Starshine following her with a huge smile on his face.
"Thank you for doing this Trixie, I didn't think you would," Starshine said with a smile. "I thought that you would have forced me to come back with you."
"Maybe I'm just a bit more generous than you thought," Trixie replied as she started up the barrier spell again, not telling Starshine of her other reason for not letting Sombra die. Despite her knowledge of ancient literature, she still couldn't decipher what had been written on the wall. But Sombra could. And if she knew anything about Star-Swirl from what she had read, it was that he enjoyed all sorts of puzzles and tricks to use on others.
'You got lucky today, Sombra, lucky that Starshine has a heart of gold and a silver tongue that even I can't fully resist. But mark my words. if you do anything that endangers me or Starshine, I will put you down without a moment's hesitation,' Trixie thought to herself as she, Starshine and Sombra all exited through the pond, leaving the room nearly completely empty, empty except for the mirrors that shattered once the group was gone.
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Hope I'm wrong, but they are SO going to regret taking Sombra with them to open the temple
So Starshine was able to guilt-trip Trixie into saving Sombra and taking him along with them. This seems like it will turn out to be either a really good decision, or a decision that almost gets them killed.
3817472 or both.
Sombra, eh? Interesting...who's joining the group next? Chrysalis?
3817472
I'm betting for the second.
This are definantly going to get interesting from now on.
3817472
3817482
3817902
I'm saying both... but until that point, Sombra is Trixie's bitch!
3819567
Am I a bad person to say that someone should make a clopfic out of that?
3820970
If you find one let me know.
3817515
sssshhhhh.... don't spoil what could possibly happen.
Achievements earned:
You're Fired (defeat the assassins)
Stop Hitting Yourself (defeat mirror image)
True Nobility (rescue Sombra)
7243239 possible "game over" scenes:
random assassin: Almost wasn't worth the bounty...ALMOST
Sombra: Heh, Just as I suspected: WEAK
*edited: 10/18/17*
"Trixie": You of all ponies should have known how powerful *I* am...