Chapter Nine
A flock of black birds rushed through a cluster of thick brown branches and barren tree limbs, some crashing into the thicket of branches as they tried to keep up with the others. After the intense blitz of birds, there was nothing but silence. The dead pale branches of tall willow trees swayed calmy under the gentle breeze as silence returned to the Everfree Forest; but the silence was broken once again when a voice called out.
“Princess, over here! Something must’ve spooked the birds,” shouted the voice of a stallion.
Princess Luna stepped out from behind a bush and shook off the remains of twigs and brush that had gotten stuck in her coat. The Princess of the Night looked over at the stallion after she was done cleaning herself off. The stallion was a member of her royal guard, a bat pony wearing the signature armor that all of Luna’s guards wore. The guard waited for Luna to say something, but after a brief awkward silence, decided to restate his observation.
“Princess, something frightened the birds just up ahead. I suggest we proceed with caution. Whatever it was might be dangerous,” said the guard.
“Nearly everything in the Everfree Forest is dangerous. Go inform the rest of the guards and have them meet up with me,” said Luna.
The bat pony saluted the princess and used his wings to dash through the thick trees of the Everfree Forest. Princess Luna watched as the pony soared away to alert the other guards.
The forest was very cold, especially at night. A cold wind sent shivers down Luna’s back. She would rather be anywhere else than here right now. The Everfree Forest was a common location during the nightmares of fillies and colts, a place that even she dreaded. Luna couldn’t recall how many times she had to walk the forest’s twisting paths, trying to save the youth of Equestria from nightmares. The snapping of a twig quickly brought her back to reality. She turned around towards the noise and saw two large orange eyes staring at her from behind a veil of darkness. Princess Luna glared back at whatever was eyeing her, neither her nor the stranger behind the darkness made a move.
“Who are you?” asked Luna.
The twin orange eyes continued to stare at the princess without moving at all.
“Is that you, Discord?” asked Luna.
Discord for the most part had red eyes, but Luna decided to ask the question anyways. Talking made her feel less nervous under the watchful orange eyes. Once again, Luna didn’t receive a response, but the two orange eyes widened and narrowed when they heard her mention the name “Discord”. Whoever she was talking to obviously understood English.
“Princess!” interrupted a royal guard.
For a split second, Luna turned towards the guard. By the time she had turned back, the two orange eyes were gone.
“Is something wrong, Princess?” asked another guard accompanying the first.
“No, it’s nothing… Let’s keep moving,” said Luna.
Princess Luna and a handful of her royal guards continued to press down a beaten path in the Everfree Forest. The ponies stuck together, making sure that nopony was left behind. The band of ponies continued to march on until they finally reached a wide opening. After having her guards sweep the perimeter Luna decided that it was safe for them to set up camp. Deciding to investigate a massive crevice that was taking up most of the open area, she peered into the darkness, but the ceiling of branches overhead made it too difficult to see.
“This must be the Everfree Scar…” she thought to herself.
“I can only imagine what’s down there…”
Before Luna could finish investigating the Everfree Scar, a guard approached her.
“Princess, we’ve been meaning to ask you…” said the guard, but he was too anxious to say anything else.
After an awkward pause a different guard stepped forward.
“Princess, why exactly are we out here? What is so important that we had to sneak out of Canterlot in the middle of the night?” asked the batpony.
Luna took a deep breath. She didn’t want to tell anypony why they had come out here. She was worried that somepony was going to tell her sister that she had gone against Celestia’s will. Luna looked around at all the guards, each of them staring intently at the princess, waiting for her to give them an answer.
“Not too long ago, I had a dream… a nightmare... a warning. There is something here in the Everfree Forest, something more dark and more evil than any creature I have ever encountered. We are here to make sure that the dream I had was just a dream, and nothing more…”
The royal guards saluted the princess. No matter what, it was their duty to follow anywhere, and that included the Everfree Forest.
“Good. Now hurry up. We have work to do,” said Luna.
Luna and her guards began searching the wide open area for any clues on Luna’s mysterious super monster, or the whereabouts of Discord. The ponies made sure to keep away from the massive chasm that drove up and down the wide open area.
“Princess, I think I found something!” shouted a guard.
Luna galloped over to the stallion. The batpony was crouching over something. He turned around and pointed his hoof at a black ring on the ground. The black ring was about a yard in diameter with grey stones outlining it’s circumference.
“Do you think it means anything?” asked the stallion.
“Looks like an old fireplace,” stated Luna.
The batpony waited for Luna to make a final assessment of the ring.
“Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re looking for. The creature that left that behind is already running rampant throughout Equestria,” said Luna.
The ponies continued to search for quite some time. Despite it being the middle of the night, the bat ponies weren’t hindered by the darkness. Bat Ponies have excellent vision in the night, hence why they were Luna’s royal guards. It wasn’t long till another pony found something interesting.
“Princess, I found some sort of... wedding ring?”
The pony poked a gold ring on the ground with a hoof. The ring had a series of seven diamonds running up and down it with tiny rubies and sapphires decorating it’s rims. Luna lifted the golden ring off the ground and inspected it.
“Once again, I think this belongs to Ajax… Or someone Ajax knew,” said Luna as she set the ring aside.
“Sheesh! What’s that awful smell?!” exclaimed a guard.
“You’ve been smelling it too? I thought I was the only one,” said another guard.
Princess Luna raised an eyebrow. She held her head up and sniffed the air. At first she couldn’t figure out what exactly the guards were talking about, until it hit her. A smell of corpses and flesh so foul, the princess nearly vomited from the stench. Princess Luna could no longer get the smell to go away. Now that she had noticed it, it was here to stay.
“Where is that coming from?” asked Luna.
The guards reluctantly began to sniff the air, trying to figure out the direction of the odor.
“I think it’s this way,” said a guard as he trotted away from the open area. Luna and the other guards followed after him.The guard vanished behind a cluster of trees in his quest of the source of the smell. Seconds later, Luna and the other guards heard him scream.
“AAH!”
Luna bolted forward and turned the corner to see the source of the putrid scent. A large cluster of flesh and bone laid before Luna and her guards. The guard who had led them to the pile had tripped and fallen down into a pit full of bones and blood.
“W-what is that?!” hollered a guard as he backed away.
After helping the stallion out of the pit, Luna narrowed her eyes at the mound of corpses.
“I think we just found out why there are no demons crawling out of the Everfree Scar…” she whispered.
The alicorn stepped forward and pressed her hooves against a corpse. Princess Luna rolled over a massive behemoth, a beast that could easily reach fifteen feet if it were to stand on its feet, with razor sharp teeth and dozens of eyes running up and down it’s body. The dog shaped body was fitted with insect-like mandibles running up and down it’s spine, but thankfully it was dead.
“What t-the hell i-is that thing?!” shouted a guard.
Princess Luna looked back at the guard with a calm expression.
“A demon. A demon from the depths of Tartarus…” said Luna.
“What happened to it?” asked a different guard.
Luna’s eyes caught on a massive hole located in the center of the abomination’s stomach. A huge chunk of it’s lower abdomen had been ripped off and its insides pulled out. Luna stepped forward and investigated the massive wound. Clearly this demon hadn’t been the first victim, judging by the pile of bodies. Upon closer inspection of the monster’s wounds, Luna, found ridges running up and down the monsters flesh. It was the same type of ridges, every single time. Same size, same length, same shape, and it didn’t just go for this monster. Interestingly enough, all the monsters in the junkyard of bodies had the same type of ridges surrounding their wounds.
“That’s strange…” whispered Luna under her breath.
Luna dragged a hoof up and down the massive ridges carved into the monster’s flesh.
“These… are teeth marks,” said Luna as she turned to face her guards.
“So what you’re saying is…” murmured a guard.
“Whatever killed all these demons, didn’t murder them in cold blood. It ate them, like some sort of apex predator,” interrupted Luna.
The guard that had originally fallen into the pit of bone and blood looked back down into the same hole of crimson red.
“Princess? Isn’t this blood… fresh?” asked the guard as he sniffed his red drenched coat.
“Oh, Celestia! What monster could do something like this?!” shouted a voice.
Luna’s guards became restless. They were already fearful of the dead creatures. They didn’t want to meet the monster’s murderer.
Luna looked back at the pile of flesh with a puzzled expression. Everypony waited anxiously for something to happen. Whatever had created this heap of flesh was still around here somewhere. The ground began to vibrate as the ripples in the pools of blood grew stronger and stronger.
Luna backed away slowly before turning around.
“RUN!” shouted Luna as she ran away.
Luna and her guards continued to run, but they didn’t get far. Something massive was behind them, something that crushed nearly half an acre of trees with each step. A massive shadow slammed down in front of the ponies, blocking the night sky. Luna looked up at whatever it was, the moonlight reflecting off of the giant’s metal armor.
“How are you doing this fine night, Princess Luna?” asked a voice.
Luna looked over to where the voice was coming from, she recognized it well…
Queen Chrysalis trotted out from the darkness and slowly approached Luna and her royal guards.
“Chrysalis, what are you doing here?” asked Luna as she took a hoofstep back.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” said Chrysalis with a devilish smile.
Luna looked back up at the giant shadow. What they had thought was the giant creature behind the killings was actually Pandora Prime, Ajax’s favorite warmachine.
“Don’t try to run,” said another voice from the shadows.
It was none other than Ajax himself. He walked up next to Chrysalis and folded his arms.
“Not bad Chrysalis, you did well,” he said as he patted the changeling queen on the back. As Ajax stepped forward and drew his sword, Luna caught sight of the man’s new features. His ebony horn, his hollow left eye; it was like something out of a nightmare that she had seen before.
“What happened to you?” asked Luna.
“Something similar to what I’ll be doing to you,” said Ajax with an evil smile.
Ajax looked back at Chrysalis.
“Things might get a bit messy by the way. If you care about your changeling, now’s the time...”
Chrysalis looked back at Luna. The changeling queen gave Luna a nod. Princess Luna was confused. Why was Chrysalis was nodding at her? But when she saw the guard next to her reveal his true changeling identity, she knew what had happened. Chrysalis was still working for Ajax despite betraying him, and a changeling had been tracking them through the Everfree Forest the entire time.
“This is bad. Celestia doesn’t even know that I’m gone,” thought Luna.
The arc of six crystals behind Ajax began to glow. He raised his hand and instantly wrapped Luna in a web of shadows. Luna tried to fight against the magic, but when the robots accompanying Ajax began to fire bolts full of electricity, her body went limp. Chrysalis wrapped Luna in a cocoon as a final precaution.
Ajax and Chrysalis turned to the royal guards who had just witnessed their princess being abducted. The guards were frozen by fear, they couldn’t even run to save themselves.
“What about these ponies?” asked Chrysalis.
Ajax stepped forward and drew his sword, the white light in his left eye burning brightly.
“We could have them deliver a message to Celestia...or we could just kill them,” he said as he looked over at Chrysalis.
“Do what you want. I won’t stop you,” she said.
“Perfect!” laughed Ajax as he approached the fearful guards.
The silence of the Everfree Forest was broken once again by the sounds of screaming. Luna’s guards didn’t stand a chance against Ajax and the Elements of Chaos. After the last scream echoed throughout the forest, silence returned. A cold breeze blew through the empty forest as dead silence returned to the woods.
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“Yeah, I did always want to be a Wonderbolt, but that dream is long gone.”
Lightning Dust was sitting down on a bench in the library. The pegasus’ hind legs were crossed as she leaned back against a table. Her and Trixie had been talking together in the library for quite some time. They had talked about old hopes and dreams while cracking a few jokes here and there, but nothing too serious.
A few empty cups that still reeked of alcohol laid scattered across the tables of the library. Trixie looked up from her empty cup at Lightning Dust.
“Well, it’s all in the past now. You and I can only think about our futures.”
Lightning Dust looked around the library, among the empty mugs there were dozens of books and papers scattered across the library tables.
“I dunno, it looks to me like you’ve already achieved your dream of being a wizard.”
Before Trixie could respond, a loud commotion came from down stairs, interrupting the unicorn. Although it sounded like Ajax had return from doing whatever, Trixie wondered why there so much noise.
Trixie and Lighting Dust stared at each other as the muffled sounds of yelling continued to make their way through the library walls.
“I guess we should go see what all the ruckus is about,” said Lighting Dust as she hopped off the bench.
Trixie nodded and followed after the pegasus. The sounds of the muted yelling became more audible with each step they took down the hallway. Trixie and Lighting Dust stepped into a room filled with robot soldiers crowding around something.
“Hey! Make way! Ya tin cans!” shouted Lightning Dust as she cleared a path for her and Trixie.
Trixie and Lightning Dust pushed their way through the metal wall of robots, until they came upon an open space. Ajax and Chrysalis were standing next to each other facing something on the wall. It was none other than Princess Luna. Luna had been chained to the wall, her hooves encased in thick goo for extra measure. Her horn had a complex metal gear wrapped around it, preventing her from using any form of magic. The robot guards stood at the ready with spears pointed at the pony.
“What’s going on?” asked Trixie as she approached Ajax and Chrysalis.
Trixie couldn’t believe that Ajax had managed to capture Luna so easily. He did have the elements, but Luna should’ve been safe in Canterlot.
Ajax looked back at Trixie. Both of his eyes were now hollow caves of darkness, two tiny white lights shining down at Trixie.
“A final act to ensure victory of Celestia of course,” he said.
“W-what happened to your other eye?” asked Trixie.
Chrysalis looked back at Trixie.
“He had to dispose of Luna’s guard. Now, I suggest we get a move on. The last thing we need is to have her wake up,” said Chrysalis.
Ajax turned back to Luna. The alicorn’s eyes began to fidget as she began to wake up.
“On the contrary Chrysalis, I would prefer her to be awake for this,” said Ajax.
“Wake up already!” he shouted as he drove his right fist into Luna’s jaw.
Luna screamed as she woke up from the blow. Ajax drove his ebony sword into the wall next to Luna.
“I hope you enjoyed your little nap because you’re not going to enjoy this,” said Ajax.
Luna looked around at all of the robots and allies surrounding Ajax. She spat out a bit of blood before speaking.
“So what? You’re going to kill me now? Typical for someone like you,” said Luna.
Ajax grabbed the ponies face, the tiny lights in his empty eye sockets burning brightly as he told Luna what he had in store for her.
“You think I am going to kill you? No, no, no, I’ve got greater plans for you, Luna. You’re going to help me kill Celestia.”
“Why would I do something like that?” asked Luna.
“Because you won’t have a choice…” smiled Ajax as he stepped back.
The arc of six crystals on his back floated in front of him. Luna’s eyes went wide when she saw the Elements of Chaos.
“I guess that explains why you look so different… Where on earth did you find those cursed crystals?” asked Luna.
“An old acquaintance of mine gave it to me... Now let’s get a move on.” said Ajax as he raised his right hand.
The six crystals created a hexagonal pattern in front of Luna.
“We’ve had this discussion before, Luna. I know there is a monster in you, somepony who is willing to help me defeat Celestia. If the Elements of Harmony were strong enough to change Nightmare Moon into Princess Luna, I am willing to bet that the Elements of Chaos can change Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon. Besides, if I am wrong I will just kill you, still increasing my odds to win this war,” said Ajax.
Luna grit her teeth at the man. The alicorn struggled against her bonds when she realized what he was going to do.
“Please, just kill me! I don’t want to change back into that monster! I’ve changed, please I beg you! Don’t do this!” cried Luna.
“Funny, you were acting so tough a moment ago. Even death didn’t scare you, but now… Are you really that afraid? Look at it this way. With Celestia out of the picture you’ll be the ruling princess of Equestria, just like you always wanted,” said Ajax. “I can’t wait to see you kill your own sister!” shouted the man as he stepped forward.
He laughed as he pushed both of his hands forward, all six crystals began to shoot beams of energy into Luna. The alicorn screamed as her body began to twist into a nightmarish form. Ajax yelled as he forced as much energy as he could into the crystals. An ivory horn began to sprout on his head as he continued to twist Luna’s body into Nightmare Moon.
Luna’s teeth grew sharp as she turned into Nightmare Moon. A swirl of dark purple magic surrounded Luna, completing her transformation into the legendary mare. Ajax fell backwards as he grabbed at his new ivory horn.
“Well, at least my body is symmetrical again…” sighed Ajax as he stood back up to his feet.
Now, he had both a pair of monstrous eyes and horns growing out of his skull. A maniacal laughter filled the room as darkness swept over the room.
“FOOLS! You dare bring me back and think you have the power to control me?!” shouted Nightmare Moon.
Ajax sheathed his sword and peered into the darkness.
“Of course no one has the power to rule over the mighty Nightmare Moon. I only seek to have you as an ally, as we do have a common enemy after all,” said Ajax in an attempt to gain favor with Nightmare Moon.
“So you wish to help me defeat Celestia?” asked Nightmare Moon.
“No, I want to help you KILL her,” he said.
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It was a rainy day in Canterlot. Princess Celestia’s guards had been searching for Luna for hours, but to no avail. Nopony seemed to be able to figure out where Princess Luna had gone. Celestia was worried. She knew that Luna’s disappearance wasn’t a coincidence. With both her sister and Discord gone Canterlot forces were weak. She was worried that Ajax was behind this. They had barely won the war the first time, and if Ajax were to attack now… Celestia didn’t dare think of what would happen.
Princess Celestia sat on her throne staring out the window, she didn’t know what she was going to do. All she could now was watch the rain fall, waiting for her soldiers to come back with a status report. She thought about her discussion with Luna the night before the Canterlot siege about how everypony would choose to fight rather than allowing her to give herself up. Celestia began to wonder if she had made the right decision that day. Celestia continued to stare out the window as a calm grey light continued to shine behind rainy clouds.
There was a knock on the door.
Twilight Sparkle stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The pony trotted over to Celestia, a worried expression on her face.
“Guards say there are still no clues regarding to Luna’s disappearance. I’m worried that Ajax might behind this…”
Celestia continued to stare out at the rain sky as she talked to Twilight.
“Rain is quite soothing, don’t you think, Twilight?”
“I-I suppose,” said Twilight.
“Funny, even though cloudy skies prevent the sun from shining, I have always enjoyed them, ever since I was a filly. Even though people think that rain can depressing, I always found it soothing. Maybe it was because I didn’t have to worry about moving the sun,” said Celestia before turning to Twilight with a serious expression.
You know Twilight, if neither I nor Luna are left to rule over Equestria when this is all over, you will have to step up to the throne,” she said.
Twilight looked up at Celestia. The purple alicorn still had hope in her eyes.
“You mustn't give up hope Celestia. I know things may look grim, but we always manage to pull through,” she said.
“Oh Twilight, I was so lucky to have a student like you,” sighed Celestia with a gentle smile.
The air was calm and peaceful, as if war had never come to Equestria. Unlike the torrential rain during it’s siege, the rain now gently washed over Canterlot. The gentle pitter patter of raindrops on the roof, filled Celestia’s grand palace. Twilight and her former mentor sat down by a fireside and had a chat, like in the old days, before the war.
The two alicorns tranquil chat was short lived.
“PRINCESS!!!” shouted a guard as he burst through the palace door.
Celestia and Twilight turned to the guard as he charged across the throneroom.
“We’ve found something! Some sort of robot belonging to Ajax!” shouted the stallion.
Celestia and Twilight stood up, eager to hear what the guard had found. The stallion reached back into his saddle, but right when he opened the bag a metal square shot out of the bag, knocking the guard to the ground. Twilight and Celestia’s horn glowed brightly, ready to fend of any assassination attempt. After closer inspection Twilight could tell that the square was actually a small machine. The robot was just a small screen on four little rollers, two tiny arms extended out from its sides and gestured a bow before the two princesses.
“Greetings Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight. My master has sent me here today with an important message. Please listen closely,” said the little metal machine.
Twilight and Celestia looked at each other. Celestia raised an eyebrow and waited to see what the robot had to say. Twilight had a bad feeling that all of this was regarding Luna’s disappearance. A recorded video appeared on the tiny robot’s screen. At first all they saw was static, but after a few seconds, a clear picture of Princess Luna came into view. A low quality recording of Ajax’s voice could be heard.
“Hello there Celestia. If you are hearing this, then I am sure you are aware of your beloved sister’s disappearance. As you can see she is here with me, but I don’t know how long I can guarantee her safety,” said the recording of Ajax’s voice.
A golden beam of fire shot at the robot. The tiny machine narrowly avoided being fried.
“Hey! Don’t shoot the messenger!” shouted the robot.
“Ajax, you bastard!” yelled Celestia as she stomped forward.
The little robot slowly wheeled backwards as the angered sun goddess approached.
“Woah, woah, woah, take it easy. It’s a pre-recorded video, he can’t hear you. I still have more left to play though, so if you could cool it lady I would gladly continue,” said the robot as it’s screen lit up again.
As the video came back into view the tip of Ajax’s white blade could be seen dragging slowly up and down Luna’s coat. Celestia could barely contain her rage. Twilight placed a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder.
Ajax’s voice began to speak again.
“As you can see Celestia, I now hold quite a lot of power over you. I suggest you don’t deny the request I am about to ask you. Well, it’s more of a challenge than a request. Think of it as healthy competition. I heard that Twilight Sparkle was once your apprentice. Funny, because her rival Trixie, is mine. Therefore I have an idea. How about we have a little duel between your pupil and mine? Winner decides the loser’s fate… Oh, and remember…” said Ajax’s voice as the ivory blade dug into the wall inches away from Celestia unconscious sister.
“It’s more of a demand than a request. See you soon, Celestia, and you too, Twilight.”
The video cut off. Celestia had tears streaming down her face. Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her all-knowing teacher had broken down. At that moment Twilight realised that everypony had a breaking point, even Celestia. After three months of nonstop fighting, countless lives lost, her own city being destroyed, it took the loss of her sister to finally break Celestia.
Twilight hugged Celestia.
“Listen to me Celestia. It’s going to be ok. At least we know she is ok. He’s not going to harm her. He knows he can’t hurt her if we wants to use her as leverage,” said Twilight.
“Excuse me, but can you give me a response already?” asked the little robot, obviously showing no concern for the pony's feelings.
Twilight glared down at the small square machine.
“You tell him that we accept his challenge,” growled Twilight.
The little robot didn’t even hesitate as it immediately zoomed out of the throne room and through the streets of Canterlot. It didn’t want to risk being destroyed due to a temper tantrum.
Celestia wiped her tears and looked down at Twilight.
“Thank you Twilight, I don’t know what I would do without you…” said Celestia.
Twilight nodded at her.
“I will do whatever it takes to win the war. Besides Trixie is no match for me. She only has tricks up her sleeves. Whatever her plan is this time, it’s sure to fail, just like in the past!”
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Ajax’s library was a mess as usual. Countless books laid scattered across the tables. The fifty-foot tall bookcases of the library were half empty, their contents scattered everywhere. A light blue unicorn wrapped in a grey blanket was sleeping facedown in a book at one of the tables.
“Man, you’re still asleep?”
“wha?” said Trixie as she slowly lifted her head up. A piece of paper sticking to her forehead drooped down and blocked her vision. Trixie brushed away the page and looked down at the blanket wrapped around her.
She had a confused expression after seeing the blanket. There wasn’t anything wrong with the blanket, she just didn’t remember having one before passing out. Come to think of it, she'd never even seen this blanket before.
“Oh, you’re up,” said Ajax as he plopped down in the seat across from Trixie.
The unicorn was still half asleep. Trixie nuzzled the soft blanket as Ajax continued to talk.
“Passed out studying again? You seem to do that quite often,” said Ajax as he closed his eyes and sighed.
He waited for a bit, but after receiving no response opened an eye.
“WHAT THE-?!”
Trixie had fallen back asleep.
“WAKE UP!” shouted Ajax. The white fire in his eyesockets ignited, nearly burning off his eyebrows.
Trixie immediately shot up.
“What’s going on?! Are we under attack?!” screamed the alarmed unicorn.
Ajax just sat across from Trixie with a hand under his chin, waiting for Trixie to figure out what had happened.
“Oh, sorry, I-I didn’t see you there Ajax,” said Trixie with a nervous smile.
“We need to have another chat, Trixie,” said Ajax.
Trixie still didn’t like Ajax’s new appearance. He looked like a monster more than anything now, and his condition was only getting worse. The unicorn slowly closed a book before looking up at Ajax.
“A-about what?” she asked.
Ajax looked around the room at all the books and research notes that Trixie had been rummaging through.
“You’ve sure been studying hard, Trixie. You must’ve learned quite a lot in these past few months,” he said.
“Yeah?” said Trixie wondering where Ajax was going with this.
The man stood up and began to pace around the table. Trixie grew nervous. She still hadn’t adjusted to the mans new appearance. Despite acting like his old self, Trixie still had the grim feeling that this wasn’t the Ajax she knew.
“Remember long ago, the day that I made you my apprentice?” he asked.
How could Trixie forget the day she nearly died? She only became his apprentice in a final effort to have Ajax spare her life.
“I told you that day, if you became a mighty wizard I would give you anything that you desired. Well, the time has come to prove to me your worth. Prove to me that you have become the mighty wizard that we agreed upon,” he said.”
“What are you getting at?” asked Trixie.
“I have issued a duel between you and Twilight Sparkle, where the loser’s fate is decided by the victor. Show me that accepting you as my apprentice was the right choice by defeating your nemesis, Twilight Sparkle...” said Ajax.
Trixie was speechless. She wasn’t ready. Even with the Alicorn Amulet, she had lost her duel to Twilight, and now Ajax wanted a one on one? Twilight had become a freaking alicorn since their last duel, how could she match the “Princess of Magic”?!
“The duel’s tomorrow Trixie. Be prepared by the morning,” said Ajax as he stood up and left the library. “Oh, and get some damn sleep for once!”
Trixie’s breathing became heavy. She didn’t know what was happening. Was she nervous? No, how could she be? She had fought in wars, why would she be nervous over a duel? Maybe she was nervous about embarrassing herself in front of everyone? Maybe she was having a heart attack?
Trixie continued to panic as her mind raced. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t settle down. The pony collapsed into a book in front of her. This was it. This was the end.
Trixie felt something brush against her mane. The unicorn looked up and picked a piece of paper off of her head. It was a page of notes that she had taken. She looked around the library. Everywhere she looked there were piles and piles of notes. The library was not only full of notes, but also full of hundreds, if not thousands, of books that she had read. These weren’t ordinary books either, no, no these books were the last remaining texts to one of the most powerful schools of magic to ever be introduced to Equestria.
Arcane magic, created and mastered by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded. She was ready for this duel! She had no devious plan or tricks up her sleeves. All she had was herself, and that was all she needed. For the last three months she had been pushing herself every night, testing herself every day. She had proven that she was strong when she banished Luna, and she had only grown stronger since.
“I can do this! I can win this! I will win this! Not for Ajax or anypony else! I will win this duel, not to beat Twilight, but to prove to myself that I have reached my dream!”
“THAT I HAVE FINALLY BECOME A GREAT WIZARD, TRULY WORTH THE NAME, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!!”
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“Oh man I am so excited!” squealed Lightning Dust as she hopped up and down her seat.
“Oh jeez, settle down. The duel isn’t even close to starting…” sighed Chrysalis.
Chrysalis and Trixie were sitting down in the ruins of an ancient abandoned coliseum. One side filled with hundreds of robot guards, the other, with hundreds of Canterlot guards. The coliseum was ancient and covered with moss and vines, despite Ajax’s soldiers trying to clean it up a bit, the entire place was still a green mess.
“Man, it would be so cool if there was a concession stand,” stated Lightning Dust.
Queen Chrysalis rolled her eyes.
“How did Ajax even find this place? This arena looks like sh-”
“I’ll have you know, this arena was once five times larger and even hosted worldwide gladiator championships. Thousands of thundering hooves would stamp in these very stands, as warriors clashed on the battlefield. It may be a little bit dated, but it deserves your respect,” said Ajax as he sat down in a stone throne behind Chrysalis and Lightning Dust.
“Wait, hooves? This was built by ponies?” asked Chrysalis.
“Close, it was actually built by centaurs,” stated Ajax.
“What’s a centaur?” asked both Chrysalis and Lightning Dust at the same time.
“An ancient race of Equestria... Before you ask, they no longer exist, and yes I might have had something to do with it.,” said Ajax. “Anyways, it’s a beautiful day. Let’s focus on today’s big event. Shall we?”
The sun grew bright. Everyone looked up to the sky as the figures of Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle came into view. The two alicorns landed in the stands on the opposite side of the coliseum. A grin spread across Ajax’s face as he stood up and extended an open hand to Princess Celestia.
“Soldiers! Let’s have a round of applause for Celestia and the brave Canterlot guard!” shouted Ajax.
All of the robot soldiers stood completely upright and played a quick track of applause before sitting back down in unison.
“Oh, and let’s not forget, her brave champion, Twilight Sparkle!”
Once again all of the robot soldiers stood up and played their laugh tracks before sitting back down.
“ENOUGH!” shouted Celestia. “We accepted your duel and now we’re here. Show me my sister you bastard!”
Ajax shook his head at Celestia.
“I never said anything about showing you your sister. I don’t have to listen to anything you say. You should just consider yourself lucky that I am a man of honor. I could just strike you down where you stand, you know.”
Celestia grinded her teeth, but didn’t say a word. Twilight Sparkle looked at Celestia. She gave her a quick nod before a flash of purple light teleported her into the arena.
Ajax raised an eyebrow.
“Eager to lose I see Twilight? Well, I’m not the kind of guy to make somepony wait,” said Ajax as he sat back down. “Let the duel commence!”
Pandora Prime rose up from behind the arena. The robot easily dwarfed the entire coliseum. Pandora Prime sounded it’s ear-shattering horn, signaling the start of the duel. Celestia focused her eyes on the arena, as all of the Canterlot soldiers leaned forward anxious for their princess.
A metal gate in front of Twilight slowly began to open…
“It’s starting! It’s starting!” shouted Lightning Dust.
“Why is this so exciting to you? This is more of a duel between Ajax and Celestia anyways,” groaned Chrysalis.
“WHAT?!” shouted Lighting Dust, making sure Chrysalis could still hear her under all the commotion.
Chrysalis took a moment to recover from Lightning’s outburst.
“Think about it. Twilight and Trixie are both students to Celestia and Ajax. Besides, Ajax only arranged this duel because he wants to weaken Canterlot forces even further. You see it’s quite a clever plan, he was not only able to remove Luna from the opposition, but he even turned her to his side. Now, he arranged this duel to seem like it’s a battle between Trixie and Twilight, even though all he really wants to do is further his advantage by removing Twilight Sparkle from the picture. Truly a clever plan,” Chrysalis smirked. She was quite proud of herself for her analyzation.
“WOO LET’S SEE SOME ACTION ALREADY!” shouted Lightning Dust.
Chrysalis turned to the pegasus.
“She didn’t listen to a word I said! That...That…” thought Chrysalis.
The arena’s massive metal gate finally opened. Trixie stepped into the arena and looked around at the thousands of viewers. The unicorn adjusted her hat before waving at both the robots and the Canterlot guards.
“I must say, I have forgotten how wonderful it is to perform for a crowd,” said Trixie.
“TRIXIE!” shouted Twilight as she trotted forward.
Trixie turned her gaze to Twilight.
“Twilight Sparke, are you ready to face the Great and Powerful T-T-Trixie!?”
“Enough! What are you planning here Trixie. Whatever it is won’t work!” shouted Twilight as her horn glowed a bright purple.
Trixie raised an eyebrow and pulled out a massive book from her bag.
“Trick? There is no trick Twilight. This is a duel between you and me. Between your magic and my magic. Winner takes all.”
Twilight spread out her hooves and fixed her eyes on Trixie.
“Very well, It’s about time somepony makes you pay for your crimes…”
The two ponies circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Trixie’s horn glowed bright A massive wave of water rose from under her hooves and rushed towards Twilight. The tidal wave roared as the wave hurdled toward Twilight, but Twilight stood her ground. The alicorn stomped a hoof forward and summoned a firm stone in front of her. The mighty wave crashed into the rock and broke into two gushing torrents. All the robot guards sitting in the stands behind Twilight were washed away by the rapids. Twilight glanced past the rock and saw Trixie casting another spell.
A bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens in the blink of an eye. Twilight luckily was able to see the spell ahead of time and shot up into the sky with her wings. However Trixie wasn’t done. The pool of water below twilight swirled into a cyclone that shot up towards her, still conducting the electricity of the bolt of lightning.
“She can control two spells at once?!” thought Twilight as she watched the electrified stream of water shoot towards her. The stream of water bursted in the air and began to rain down over the entire coliseum.
“Impressive, I figured you might know the basics to combining spells, but I would have never guessed you could control two spells at once.”
Trixie turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle standing right behind her, she jumped back and pointed her horn towards Twilight.
“Thanks, Twilight, but something like that is trivial to the Great and Powe-”
“Save it,” whispered Twilight as her horn sent out a wave of fire. The massive wave of fire immediately vaporized the rain, turning it into a hot cloud of steam. Trixie covered her eyes as a bolt of bright purple magic whizzed by her head, barely missing her. The unicorn turned around, but another blast of magic burned the tip of her tail. Trixie cleared the steam cloud with a gust of wind, her eyes meeting Twilight’s. Twilight was only a few feet in front of her, channeling a massive spell.
“Duels over, Trixie. You lose,” said Twilight with a sly smile.
Trixie didn’t have the time to cast her own spell, but if she didn’t do something quick, Twilight was going to be right. The unicorn charged forward. Twilight held her footing, while the spell grew stronger with every passing moment. Trixie jumped at Twilight. The alicorn was baffled by Trixie’s choice of attack. Trixie grabbed Twilight and bit down on her horn as hard as she could. Twilight screamed and pushed Trixie away, immediately teleporting to a safe distance away from Trixie’s mouth.
They both took a moment to catch their breath, despite the audience cheering for them to continue.
“Not. Bad. Trixie,” said Twilight, still trying to catch her breath.
“Heh, you’re not bad either. But it’s time to get serious,” said Trixie as her horn glowed white. The unicorn’s hooves slowly lifted off the ground.Trixie began to float in the air as white runes began to surround her.
“What the… I’ve never seen this type of magic before,” said Twilight as she took a precautionary hoofstep back.
Trixie slowly lowered back to the ground, her horn sparked with white magic as she looked up at Twilight.
“This, Twilight Sparkle, is arcane magic. A legendary school of magic, only mastered by one pony in existence, until now,” she said.
Twilight didn’t believe Trixie. This must have been the trick that Trixie had up her sleeve. Twilight shot a bolt of purple energy, but the blast was immediately deflected by a clear mirror-like barrier. Trixie smiled as she slowly trotted towards Twilight.
“You see Twilight, over the last three months I have dedicated my existence to studying arcane magic. You don’t stand a chance.”
Twilight spread her wings and began to strafe in a circle around Trixie, blasting her with bolts of magic. Each bolt deflected off an invisible barrier. Trixie reared her head back and channeled all of her magic into her horn. Hundreds upon hundreds of tiny white sparks began to appear around Trixie and circle the unicorn.
“Are those stars?” thought Twilight as she grinded to a halt.
Trixie smiled at Twilight’s shocked face.
“I am sure you must be curious about this spell. Well, how about I show you?!” shouted Trixie as the tiny stars began to fly towards Twilight.
The alicorn jumped back as the first star darted up near her face. A flash of white light blinded every spectator of the arena as the star turned into a tiny supernova, exploding. Twilight had just teleported in time, appearing behind Trixie. Before she could even try to land an attack she heard a cluster of the tiny white bombs sneaking up behind her. Twilight immediately began to teleport all around the arena, trying to find someplace safe, but everywhere she teleported she found the explosive lights.
“HOLD STILL!” shouted Trixie as she constantly kept turning, trying to keep up with Twilight. “FINE, YOU BROUGHT THIS UPON YOURSELF!”
Trixie’s horn glowed white as the tiny stars began to cluster in the middle of the arena. The white lights began to fly together, connecting with each other through beams of white light.
“Behold! Scorpius!” shouted Trixie, as the stars began to create something else.
“Behold! Cancer!” shouted Trixie.
Twilight put as much magic as possible into a quick burst, she had to stop Trixie from doing whatever she was doing. The massive beam of purple energy broke Trixie’s barrier and sent her flying into the arena wall. As a thick cloud of dust and smoke filled the arena, Twilight peered into the dense cloud and saw two white eyes staring at her.
“I WASN'T DONE YET!... NO MATTER! CANCER AND SCORPIUS ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR THE LIKES OF YOU!” shouted Trixie.
Twilight couldn’t believe she didn’t recognize the constellations. The white lights had created 2-d constellations of Cancer, the Crab and Scorpuis, the Scorpion. She almost didn’t believe it as much as she didn’t believe Trixie’s new level of power.
“FROM THE ASTRAL PLANE I SUMMON THEE, SCORPIUS, CANCER! I BIND YOU TO THIS MATERIAL REALM SO THAT YOU MAY DESTROY MY ENEMY!”
The 2-d constellations of Scorpius and Cancer floating in the middle of the arena began to glow brighter and brighter. A massive crab claw smashed down on the arena floor as both Scorpius and Cancer came to life. The 3-d constellations extended their claws out towards Twilight.
“CRUSH HER!!!” shouted Trixie.
Immediately, the two living constellations charged towards Twilight snapping their claws at lightning speed. Twilight backed up against the wall, a scorpion claw dug into the arena wall, catching Twilight in between, but the alicorn ducked, right before the claw snapped shut. With not a moment to rest, a massive crab claw slammed down towards Twilight, shaking the entire arena as it hit the ground. Twilight flew up into the air, a scorpion tail nearly spearing her right out of the sky.
“How is this even possible?! She’s on an entire different level from before?!” thought Twilight.
A massive beam of white light burst out of the ground, smashing directly into Twilight. Both Cancer and Scorpius immediately disassembled, their stars encircling Twilight’s last location and exploding. The shockwave knocked everyone who already hadn’t fled out of their seats. Ajax smiled, he stood up, but before he could say anything a burst of bright purple magic erupted in the center of the arena.
“Trixie! You may have gotten better, but you can’t win. I am the princess of magic, the element of magic, I won’t let you win! I will protect Equestria!”
Twilight Sparkle emerged in the center of the arena, her eyes teaming with magic, the ground shook under the pressure of her power. Trixie summoned another galaxy of stars, but Twilight immediately blew every last one of them out of the arena. Trixie stepped back and channeled another blast of arcane magic, but Twilight marched through it as if it were nothing.
Celestia leaned forward, staring intently at Twilight.
“What power…” she thought to herself.
“No, no, no, you can’t win. I won’t let you!” shouted Trixie as she pulled out the ancient book she had brought into the arena.
“Behold Star Swirl’s magnum opus! Let me show you my greatest spell, Twilight Sparkle!”
Trixie created a massive glass-like barrier in front of her before opening the book. Twilight started to channel a beam of destructive magic, slowly cracking the barrier.
Trixie began to chant ancient words, while frantically dragging a hoof across the books pages.
“Respice ad me. Initium et finis ego sum. Ego enim jam vastabat. Deus universi. Ego sum Dominus mortificat et vivificat.”
As Trixie continued to read the words, the entire sky began to turn dark, everything around the arena growing darker and darker until everything but the arena itself was pitch black. Twilight finally broke through Trixie’s barrier, stomping forward, but before she could deliver the final blow, Trixie finished the spell.
“Quod universum est infinitum!”
As Trixie finished the words, Twilight flew backwards into the arena wall. Bright lights began to appear in the darkness surrounding the entire coliseum. Planets, stars, galaxies, comets, all could been seen hovering in the vast void of space.
“What, w-what is this?” whispered Twilight as she stepped forward.
Trixie trotted forward, thousands of astral pages and runes hovered around her.
“This is one of the strongest spells to ever exist, Twilight. Right now my mind is infinite, my knowledge of magic endless. The only thing holding me back is the amount of magical energy I can produce..”
Twilight’s eyes went wide.
“That’s impossible. You’re lying!”
Ajax leaned forward, staring intently at Trixie.
“What power…” he thought to himself.
Trixie slowly pointed a hoof towards Twilight.
“The only thing holding me back is my limited source of magic. My knowledge is vast and limitless. I see all and know all. However, this spell lasts for a limited time. To you it will last thirty seconds, but to me that will seem like thirty minutes… So forgive me for having to stop this explanation short... Fifteen seconds left.”
Trixie raised a hoof. Twilight immediately slammed into the arena wall. Trixie raised her hoof up into the air, lifting Twilight up into the cosmos. She slammed her hoof down into the arena floor, throwing Twilight down at supersonic speed. Twilight’s horn glowed bright, but suddenly all light from her horn vanished.
“I will no longer allow you to use your feeble magic in my realm,” said Trixie.
Twilight slammed down into the ground. The alicorn struggled to sit upright, her fearful eyes locked onto Trixie. The light blue alicorn stood on her hind legs and reared a front hoof back. She bolted towards Twilight, ready to deal the final blow, but while she was still midair everything went back to normal.
The arena was no longer floating in the middle of space. It was now back in Equestria. Trixie no longer had arcane magic flowing through her; she was completely out of energy. The unicorn, still in the air, stiffened up when she saw Twilight begin to smile.
“I was supposed to have thirty seconds!” shouted Trixie.
Twilight pushed herself up with her wings and dashed towards Trixie. Twilight pulled a hoof back, a thick coat of purple magic appearing around the ski corns hoof as she raced toward Trixie.
“That was only twenty-sev” cried Trixie as she watched Twlight fly towards her.
Twilight sparkle dashed through the air and smashed her hoof directly into Trixie’s face. The unicorn flipped through the air. It felt like she had soared through the air for a good twenty-seven seconds before hitting the ground. Trixie tried to stand up, but she felt a hoof smash down on her stomach. Twilight Sparkle stood up,bashed, beaten and bruised, ontop of Trixie.
The alicorn leaned down.
“Duel’s over. You lose,” whispered Twilight as the Canterlot crowd bursted into a cheer. Twilight’s and Trixie’s duel was finally over.
“Twilight,Twilight,Twilight,Twilight,Twilight.”
The crowd continued to cheer as two royals guards hopped down onto the arena floor and placed Trixie in chains.
Twilight looked down at Trixie.
“You fought well, but it’s over now. For your crimes against Equestria I am placing you under arrest,” she said.
Trixie tried her best to fight against her tears. She had already let everyone see her be defeated, the last thing she needed was to let them see her cry. The two guards began to drag Trixie out of the arena. She had never felt such shame, but most of all she had never felt such disappointment in herself. The unicorn looked back at Ajax one last time before being taken away.
The man was gripping his armrests staring furiously at Trixie. His eyes filled with pure hatred.
“Figures, I failed him… I even hate myself…” she thought to herself as she was dragged out of the arena and thrown into a prison cart. Trixie looked out the barred window of the wooden cart. This was it, this was the end for her. She would surely be executed after she reached Canterlot.
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“No one has ever liked me, but I guess I brought that upon myself. The only person who I thought could be my friend, now hates me, but I suppose that I brought that upon myself too. I failed Ajax. I failed myself, but worse of all… I failed at becoming a great wizard. My dream ends here.”
Trixie laid on a stone floor against a stone wall staring at a stone ceiling. She had already exhausted herself of crying.
“If you don’t say anything I don’t think I can help you,” said Twilight Sparkle as she sat down in front of the prison cell. “If you tell us everything you know, I might be able to reduce the gravity of your sentence.”
Trixie rolled over and faced herself away from Twilight.
“You and I both know that I am as good as dead, Twilight. Neither Celestia nor Ajax want me alive…”
Twilight stared at Trixie for a moment before speaking.
“What happened to you? You weren’t the best pony, but joining up with someone like Ajax? What were you thinking Trixie?” she said.
Trixie rolled back over to face Twilight. She had tears brimming at her eyes.
“LOOK! I didn’t have much of an option. OK? Besides, you don’t even know Ajax. He’s not that bad of a guy once you get to know him, but somepony like you doesn’t take the time to get to know the villain. No one does… I would know…” she said.
Twilight sighed.
“You know why you didn’t win, Trixie?... It’s because you fight for a master while I fight for a friend... I’ll be back later... Hopefully you will be willing to talk then… See ya, Trixie,” said Twilight as she left the prison.
Two royals guards walked into the prison after Twilight left. The two stallions walked up to the prison cell and set up post. Trixie tried to get some sleep, it beat laying around doing nothing…
“Alone... I wandered around in Equestria alone for as long as I could remember… The only thing I carried with me was my cart. From town to town I would enact out wonderful shows, but eventually I was always run out of town.
Then I would be alone again…
Maybe, my ego was too big, but I only wanted attention. Attention that I never received when I was younger… but you receive no attention when you’re alone. Everyone saw an arrogant jerk, and maybe I was, but I only wish one person had the heart to reach out to me. To see through my self-absorbed ego and realize that I was alone.
Now here I am, alone in this cell, abandoned, forgotten, alone.”
There was just too much on her mind, for her to sleep. Not to mention the prison reeked and the floor was hard. Trixie usually complained about everything, but she wouldn’t complain if she could go back to Ajax’s library right now.
“Hey, are you up?” said a gruff voice.
Trixie rolled back over. One of the guards was gripping the prison bars, peering into her dark cell. Trixie didn’t say anything, it would be best if she just avoided contact.
“I think I saw her move,” said the other guard.
“Hey! Come over here! I want to get a good look at you!” shouted the first guard.
Trixie sat up, but didn't move away from the back wall of the cell.
“What do you want?” she said.
The first guard bashed one of his hooves against the prison’s bars.
“I want to look at the bitch who’s responsible for my brother’s death! Now, I said get over here!” shouted the guard.
“We’ve both lost family during this war! Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and you’re responsible!” shouted the second guard.
Trixie didn’t say a word or move an inch, she just continued to watch the angered ponies bash on the prison door.
“Fine! We’ll just come in there and teach you a lesson!” shouted the first guard, as he began to reach for the key.
“No, let’s not do something stupid,” said the second guard as he stepped in front of the first. The two ponies stared at each other for a brief moment.
“Fine, I suppose she’ll end up dead either way,” said the first guard as he spat into Trixie’s cell.
“Death is too good for the likes of her,” said the second guard.
The two stallions laughed, but froze up when a wave of darkness washed over the prison.
“What the…” said one of the guards.
“R-relax, it was a passing cloud. See?” said the other guard as he pointed to a small window high up on the wall. A passing cloud revealed the moon once again, which illuminated the prison once more.
“Heh, I guess we’re just a bit nervous,” said the other guard.
Another figure blocked the moon, but this time it wasn’t a shadow. Both guards looked up to the window and saw two glowing red eyes staring down at them. Before either guard could say a word, a humanoid figure slipped through the narrow square and slammed its fists down on the guards.
“Huh?” whispered Trixie as she rolled over to see what all the commotion was about.
Two glowing bright red circles looked up at Trixie. The figure slowly stood up and approached the cell door. The tall shadow looked down at Trixie with it’s solid red eyes. The unicorn didn’t need to see anything else. She immediately recognized the crimson eyes.
“You’re a robot? One of Ajax’s I presume? Don’t tell me… YOU'RE HERE TO KILL ME?!” yelled Trixie.
The robot dropped to a knee and raised a single finger over it’s mouth, telling Trixie to keep it down. The cloaked figure reached and grabbed onto Trixie’s cell door.
“Wait, you’re busting me out? I thought Ajax would want me dead…” said Trixie.
The shrouded robot began to pull against the cell door.
“Don’t even bother, there is a magic barrie-” Trixie stopped after the robot ripped the door off clean.
“Nevermind…”
“What strength… Which robot is this…?” thought Trixie.
The robot grabbed Trixie and jumped up to the prison window and dropped down onto a Canterlot rooftop.
“What’s wrong with you! You can’t just-!” shouted Trixie, before a metal hand gripped her mouth shut.
The machine began to stride across the rooftops, easily carrying Trixie under it’s arm.
“Wait! What are you? Do I know you! Hey! Are you listening to me!?!” cried a muffled Trixie.
The cloaked figure continued to clear rooftop after rooftop until finally reaching the Canterlot wall. Only minutes ago Trixie was waiting to die in a prison cell, but now she was about to be free. With one last giant leap Trixie and the robot cleared the wall and landed in a nearby acre of woods.
She was now free.
Or was she?
She wondered what Ajax could want with her… Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good...
“STOP ALREADY!” cried Trixie.
The cloaked figure looked down at the pony, Trixie began to flail around, trying to break free from the robot’s arm. The mysterious robot came to a sudden stop in the middle of the forest, but didn’t set Trixie down until finding a nearby cave.
Trixie pushed away the robot and marched into the cave. The machine sat down on a nearby rock and waited for Trixie to say whatever she wanted to say. The unicorn paced back and forth, she took a deep breath before turning around.
“I’m not going back and you can’t make me,” stated Trixie.
The robot tilted it’s head to the side.
“Look a stupid machine like you obviously can’t understand, but try to follow along as best as you can. I saw the look on Ajax’s face after the match, he was beyond furious. I am sure he deeply hates me. I failed him, I made him look like a fool for believing in me.”
Trixie began to mumble her words as tears began to roll down her face. The robot leaned forward, ready to hear what she had to say next.
“I’m sure if I were to return he would torture me as punishment, or something along those lines, but that doesn’t even matter. What would h-hurt the most is seeing t-the look of d-disappointment on his face. I can’t face him, never again. T-thats why you have to send him this message. OK?”
Trixie placed her hooves in the robots lap and tried to regain her composure.
The machine looked down at Trixie.
“T-tell him that… I am so very s-sorry and I know that he m-must hate me, b-but tell him that I didn’t say a word to C-Celestia and I’m running away and I can’t come back and even though he hates me I'll miss him and I hope that everything's works out for him and...and...and…”
Trixie began to break down and cry in the lap of the robot. The light-blue unicorn wailed and sobbed as her heart fell apart.
The cloaked robot stood up and looked down at Trixie. The unicorn looked up at the machine, still rubbing tears out of her eyes.
“W-what? I told you already t-that I’m not going!?” cried Trixie.
The robot’s metal hand reached for its own face, a wave of gas spread outward from the figures hood as the glowing red eyes slowly dimmed. The figure pulled out its metal mask and dropped it onto the floor. The robot began to slide off its… metal arms?
This was no robot.
Trixie slowly began to back away as she watched the human pull back his cloak. A black and white horn gleemed in the moonlight as two burning embers glared down at Trixie. Ajax removed his cloak and kneeled down on both knees before Trixie.
“So you want to give me a message? Well, I’m listening.” said Ajax as he raised an eyebrow.
Trixie was in disbelief.
“T-that was you back there?! B-but why would you come save me? And why were you dressed so funnily?”
Ajax shrugged.
“The gear that you see here is for a stealth operation, such as busting someone out from the Canterlot prison... Also, why is it so surprising that I saved you?”
Trixie stared blankly at Ajax.
“When I lost the duel I looked back… You were furious with me!” she cried.
Ajax chuckled.
“I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad at them for taking you away from me.”
“Wha-” mumbled Trixie.
“I’m extremely proud of you, dummy,” laughed Ajax as he rubbed Trixie’s mane.
“W-wha-” whispered Trixie.
Ajax smiled at Trixie.
“Come on, don’t you get it? Your skills during the duel amazed me. I can’t believe how strong you’ve become.”
Trixie continued to stare blankly at Ajax as more tears gathered under her eyes. Ajax scratched the back of his head and looked up at Trixie.
“Also, you do know that you’re like, the only friend I’ve had in the past six-hundred years, right? I mean if it weren’t for you-”
Ajax immediately felt something pressing against him. Trixie had rushed forward and was hugging him as tightly as possible. Ajax hugged her back, tightly.
Trixie whispered into Ajax’s ear.
“You’re my only friend, you know…”
Ajax whispered back.
“You’re my only friend too...you know…”
The man and pony remained like that for quite some time, both outcasts, both alone in the world, but not anymore. Both Trixie and Ajax now had one friend each.
“Come on Trixie, let’s go home. I left Chrysalis in charge again and we both know what happened to my vault the last time I did that...” said Ajax, with a gentle smile.
Trixie smiled and nodded her head eagerly.
“Yea, let’s go home!” she shouted.
Ajax lifted Trixie up and set her on top of his shoulders. The two had a long journey ahead of them.
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“HUH!” shouted Trixie as she woke up.
The unicorn layed back down when she realized that she had probably fallen asleep studying again, but she wasn’t in a library…
She was in a bedroom?
Trixie had a confused expression after seeing the bedroom. There wasn’t anything wrong with the room, she just didn’t remember leaving the library.Come to think of it, she'd never even seen this room before.
Trixie was in the middle of snuggling the soft sheets of the blanket when she heard a voice.
“Oh, you’re up? Good, we’ve got work to do.”
Trixie looked up and saw Ajax leaning against the doorway. The man gave her a slight nod before turning around and leaving. Trixie hopped out of bed and grabbed her hat.
“Wait for me!” she shouted as she ran after Ajax.
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5301429
Thanks Black Jesuz!
Dude wow. Is that shipping I see coming or am I just perverted?
you and me skype later im not taking no for an answer you should already know what i thought of this chapter here is what i thought of the ending
-ahem-.........ALL ABOARD THE FRIENDSHIP TRAIN NEXT STOP DEATH OF CELESTIA CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKERS!!
I hope they resurrect the human race.
Welp, I have no idea why I'm still supporting Ajax. I just hope that at the end Celestia indeed turns out to be an evil b-tch and gets what she deserves. No mercy for anyone (except the villains of course)! =P
This is an awesome story and I'm eagerly waiting for more! =)
P.S. I am still intending to sue you for jeopardizing my semester projects with this cunning piece of literature that forced me to spend the entire day on non-stop reading... >_>
P.P.S. Why does this story has such low rating? I've seen much worse stories having far higher stats than this one. Dude, you need to think about advertising your work somehow.
Thanks so much man. Comments like yours really inspire me to keep writing!
Pls don't sue me too hard.
In regards to the rating I don't care to much about it. What I like the most is the feedback and comments I get from my readers!
But if you have an idea about how I an advertise my story I would love some advice.
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Hm, I don't even know =\ It's not like I'm dedicated enough and capable of writing good stuff, so I can't really give you any specific ideas... Though I can list a few suggestions:
1.) You might want to upload the story to more websites (for example fanfiction.net if you haven't already) linking it back to the original and asking to follow it there. However, this method is not that effective, plus spamming Internet with lots of teasers and stuff is time-consuming and generally not nice.
2.) I've seen something like this once with a user named Karazor. His really good story called "The Dread Chitin" had around 300 likes or less... That is until he somehow managed to get featured in the reviews round http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/363828/karazors-outside-the-reaching-sky . Now the rating of that story (as well as all others) has more than doubled up to 800 and he gained quite a few followers. Too bad that he's kinda out of it now since he hasn't written anything for a long time... I like Sci-Fi and humans =)
Anyway, this method also requires some input from your side, but filling-in a form or sending a message to a responsible person is not that hard. If one day they chose you, it will give you a MAJOR boost in followers\rating.
3.) Lastly, you could try submitting your story to the "The Royal Guard" or any other quality-controlling groups. These groups accept only stories that pass their quality expectations. Of course a number of people turn to groups like these to search for good stories. Who knows, it might work. And even if not, at least they will tell you what you should improve =P
4.) As for the READERS AND FOLLOWERS you have right now, they can help too! Just recommend this story to your friends, post a blog about it on your Tumblr\Facebook or whatever. Personally I'm sure as hell recommending this to my friends when I meet them this Tuesday.
You could always drop something along the lines "please share the story if you like it" in the author notes to the next chapter.
That's all I can think of from the top of my head =P
The first 2 are far-fetched and a bit stupid, but the last 2 might actually work.
Good luck! I'm really hyped about this story =)
P.S. Please, include respond tags in all your messages. I was waiting for an email in case you responded and would have missed your response completely if not for the decision to go back here and follow you.
P.P.S. I hope he didn't just forget about Sombra with all the sudden success he had. That would be awkward... and hilarious: just imagine Trixie\Ajax finding the crystal heart later on in a pile of junk in the hangar and going all like "Oh shiiii*... Yeah, about that..." XD
Good chapter, although I'm surprised that he didn't use that chance to finish off Celestia and or her pupil.
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COMMUNISM IS A LIE!
5312223 Liberty Prime said that not me!
5314391 But be warned. The End of Man's Era will come.
It's currently 1 am. I am happy to stay up for this story, I mean, it's amazing! I love it tons and have been reading it this whole day, thank you for taking the time to write this.
Also, am I the only one who can see Trixie and Ajax together? I don't know, cute couple.
Anywho, I can't wait for the next chapter!
~OreoKookie
I. just. can't. take. it. anymore.
No. Matter. What. The. Reason. I. Will. Hate. Twilight. For. The. Rest. Of. My. Fucking. Life.
And the relationship between Trixie and Ajax is awesome :)
Ajax and Trixie:
Status: Shipped and delivered
6293164 Trixie... and Ajax... I don't like it. I do not approve of this ship.
Lol I was laughing my guts out at that one