Black and White
The city of Canterlot had a rather unique architecture in Equestria. Though the Royal Palace dominated the view, it wasn't the centre of the metropolis. Instead, it was located five hundred meters in front of its main entrance, in a rather modest main square. Despite being surrounded by the marble and gold that made out most of the place, the square itself was marked by a monolith made out of colder and simpler concrete.
Yet, despite it's simpler appearance, it was still the point where all the city's streets converged. Thus, it had become as important as the palace itself. Festivals, protests, reunions. The concrete monolith had witnessed as many events as Princess Celestia.
This is what was on Trixie's mind as she sat in front of the concrete landmark.
The cold breeze of autumn flustered her cape, making her hold tighter onto it to avoid the cold. Even if the sun was painting the sky with a warm pallete of pinks and oranges, the tall buildings along the mountains cast tall shadows over the streets, keeping them fresh, surrounding Trixie with a cold sensation ever since she stepped out of the train. She knew it wasn't the climate, though. Even if the cold started once she was in Canterlot, she had the same unease since leaving Ponyville.
She gave the monolith one last glance before going her way. Taking one of the many tangents to the main road to the palace, the street changed from the furnished stores and royal buildings for simpler and more practical office ones. At the end of the street, after a couple of minutes of her silent march accompanied by the cold breeze and shadows of the sunset, she made it to her destination; The Monarch Trading Company.
Founded fifty years before Princess Twilight's coronation, the Monarch Entertainment Company was the first big trust of Equestria. Though it started its life as an entertainment company some years before that. Monarch Entertainment made chess boards, cards, dice and other tabletop implements. Then it expanded its printing factory to start a couple of magazines. Trixie still remembered reading their fashion and lifestyle one called Black/White from when she was a filly.
That's when the Entertainment company started to expand more and more through Equestria. Books publishing deals became book stores. Two magazines turned into a newspaper, then into a network of local and national newspapers across the continent. By the return of Princess Luna, Monarch Entertainment had a branch on every city and major town in Equestria. Hence its change of name to Monarch Entertainment Company after expanding to radio and television, as well as countless indirect publishers they owned.
As the elevator lifted her to the higher floors, Trixie imagined herself a priestess of old descending to the realms of demons. Sh chuckled, thinking of up as down, black as white and her own limitations put against the vast power she was about to meet. Even is she didn't follow the news too closely, she knew the Monarch Company was vast and powerful. Maybe the second main power after the nobles and Princess Twilight herself.
And so she exited the elevator, mechanically following the small courtesies with the receptionist before a maid opened the main office's door. Trixie waltzed in, as casually as she could keep herself as fear and anger started to boil in the back of her head. She bowed to the young maid, who looked uncannily similar to a younger version of Trixie, and waited for her to leave before speaking.
"I see you still hire mares based on me," she commented in a rather factually tone. "Is that a memoir, or a fixation?" Trixie kept her eyes nailed to the back of the chair, not even blinking as it turned around.
"Sister," Checker Monarch greeted Trixie once they were face to face. "Why, I thought you would appreciate the compliment." She smiled warmly, but Trixie knew the kind of chronic and sustained cruelty that made her sister smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I know everything." Trixie answered, keeping her neutral tone and doing everything she could to subside her emotions. She needed to be as cold as a void.
"Oh?" Monarch, on the other hoof, spilled satisfaction each time she spoke. "And what did I do, may you tell?" She made a gesture with a hoof. From a corner in her office, another maid, who also looked like Trixie, poured a cup of tea for each one of them. Once again, Trixie waited until she left before speaking again.
"Are we alone now?" She asked, lifting the small cup with her magic until it was just in front of her face.
"Yes, we are." Checker took a small sip from her own cup. Trixie took the reassurance and sipped her tea too. Checker may manipulate and hurt ponies almost for sport. But she never lied. For a mare like her, lying was too easy, too simple to lower herself to do it.
"I should have realized it at the Gala," Trixie sipped again, savoring the acid pinch of lemon in her throat. "Princess Twilight's first Grand Galloping Gala, right?" She tilted her head to her sister, who nodded in confirmation. "Right," Trixie continued. "But it was too small to notice. Too subtle."
"After all, who would mind just a couple of nobles refusing their invites when so many more still went." Monarch sipper her tea again as Trixie continued. "But then, those same nobles accusing Princess Twilight of favoritism and revealing they didn't went as a protest. That caught some eyes," Trixie measured her tone as she spoke. "Specially if the main paper on Canterlot put their interview on the front page."
"Ah, my sister," Checker faked a warm tone. "Always aware of what I do, yet never able to stop me."
"Oh, no," Trixie stopped her with a hoof. "I wasn't aware yet. You know I don't read much press these days." Trixie adjusted herself on her seat before sipping some tea again. "But you just confirmed it now, didn't you?"
"Why lie?" Checker answered, finishing her tea. "I just printed a column about how many foreign emissaries were coming in comparison to the local ones. Some nobles too exception to that, and I sent a reporter to know their side of the story." She shrugged. "You can't accuse me for having a paper now, can you?"
"Of course not," Trixie lowered her unfinished cup. "I guess running a piece against the Wonderbolts, accusing them of not doing their job as a military force on the borders was just business too." Her sister nodded again. "Nor the study supporting the industrialized mining of magical gems close to the Everfree forest, or publishing the cards to the director complaining about Discord's acts in Ponyville almost daily."
"Free press." Checker replied simply, beaming with pride as if Trixie just listed her accomplishments.
"So, it was free press too when no one reported on the displaced diamond dogs produced by gem mining?" Trixie asked, pushing her chair away from the desk to sit more comfortably. "Or printing in first page how the Court rejected her motion to stop said gem mining, without mentioning it was to prevent the wild life disruption?"
"Of course it was," Checker nodded again, smiling wider than before. "After all, I'm free to decide what is newsworthy and what isn't."
"It wasn't newsworthy when the School of Friendship graduated its first generation?" Trixie asked, letting out some hurt in her tone to satiate her sister. It worked, making Checker chuckle under her breath, but there was no reply besides that.
"Checker," Trixie finally stopped holding herself. "What are you doing?"
"Why, my dear Trixie, it should be obvious." Checker Monarch got up from her seat. "Princess Celestia stood a thousand years. you really think she did so unchallenged?" She trotted away from her desk, towards a painting hung on the wall to her left. It depicted a single unicorn standing proud over a hill, with a group of ponies below, bowing to her as a coat of arms in purple and silver shone over her head. "An entire family waged war on her for generations. Daughter after daughter." She turned around sharply, not smiling anymore, but frowning menacingly. "But what would you understand about a lineage?"
"I understood enough," Trixie got up from her seat and towards her sister. "All the senseless pain and sacrifice." She looked at the painting of their ancestor too. "That's why I left."
"If you understood, you wouldn't be asking me what am I doing," Checker turned away from her sister and went to the window. Trixie considered following her, but she knew it was pointless. There were no more bounds to claim between them. "I'm doing what any other Monarch was born to do since a thousand years ago."
"So, this is it?" Trixie asked, not hiding her sorrow anymore. "You will destabilize a Princess on her first years just because our mother told us to?"
"I know you wouldn't understand." Checker turned around, bathed in the first rays of silver from the moon. "I'm creating something better."
"You have only created pain," Trixie corrected her. "Ever since we were foals, that's all you always did."
"Pain to whom?" Checker started trotting over Trixie. "To the little ponies that work for me? That owe me?" She came to face her sister. "Or to those weak ones in my way?" Trixie trotted back to make some distance, but her sister followed, almost backing her against the wall. "Should I stop myself because of others?"
"I know you won't" Trixie looked down in a mixture of sadness and fear of the pony who made her run away when she was little. "You never stop, no matter who gets hurt."
She turned to leave. There was no use in talking anymore. Trixie never really had any hope her sister would stop. Yeet, deep down, she didn't want to believe it either. But she never made it to the door. Trixie felt her own strength leaving her as her hooves went limp and she felt on her barrel.
"Oh, my poor Trixie, always one move behind me." Checker trotted along her sister and kneeled to be face to face with her. "Did you feel safe when I drank the same tea?" She taunted. "Didn't you consider I would poison the cup too?"
Breathing became an effort to Trixie. It was as if her entire body didn't have enough strength to live. She felt her sister's magic under her shin, pulling her gaze up to meet the violence of Checker's eyes. The sadistic glee of seeing her prey being hurt.
"I... knew," Trixie said between gasps. There was a sting of pain under her lungs that stopped her from saying more.
"Oh, you knew?" Checker said in a disappointed tone. "Then you knew I wouldn't let you leave here with your life, knowing what you know?" Trixie nodded weakly, slipping in and out of consciousness as the poison claimed her life.
"Then why did you came here?" She released Trixie's head from her magic, making it fall hard against the carpet.
"To... stop... you." Trixie closed her eyes for the last time. As she did so, she couldn't keep the illusion that prevented her horn from lighting up in a green and blue aura. And aura Checker Monarch recognized too late as her own body also succumbed to her sister's poisoning spell.
"Heh," Checker snickered before starting to cough violently. "Of-- *cough* course."
With her last strengths, Trixie reached for her sister's hoof, barely touching it.
Then, all went to black.
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*Shivers*
Dude I know you may not feel it.... but you still got the skill.
10988628
Eh, let's call it a draw. I'm definitely still out of focus.
Nicely written and very dark.
You know, when I saw the title, Trixie character tag, and the new great evil, my first thought was "Is her evil sister, Checker Monarch from GBoYH gonna be in this?" And I called it!
10989434
I used to be subtle, I swear. Though, there's an indication I'm still out of focus. A better tittle would have been stalemate, or look up a type of chess gambit that applies.
Anyhow, glad you liked it.
What a very exquisite story, I must say that you have done an excellent job with the writing on this one. I actually have heard of The “Trixie's Gettin' Back On Her Hooves” universe but I am unsure whether it is a good read or not. Would you by any chance recommend this series, from a reader’s perspective or not? Also, the story and how it develops are excellently well done. The only suggestion that I could give you to make it even better would be to make a sequel one shot that goes over the aftermath of this event. After all, the deaths of two ponies, one the head of a massive corporation and the other a distant friend of Twilight would most certainly be a headline story for the papers, wouldn’t you agree? I would love to see the various reactions that Twilight and friends would have about such a event. That’s all I have to say for now, once again thank you for the absolutely excellent story.
Kind regards,
SonicDJM
10990235
I've only read the original fic, and the Magic Duel sequel. Both are great reads, and high ranking in my personal favorites, so of course I recommend them.
IDK about a sequel, though starting with the journalist perspective sounds like a tempting idea.
Glad you enjoyed the read.
Well, coming in I didn't know it would be from that universe. But Monarch is kinda telling. The story... I'm kinda dissapointed. No, the story is good. I'm sad that Trixie will not live to tell Twilight what she has done, and just live to enjoy life without that freak. Pyrrhic victory, and I don't like it. Leaves extremely bitter taste.
11640359
Oh, definitely. I was in a dark place when I wrote this (as you can see on the notes, the dictatorship was on my mind). I needed to get out a lot of poison, just as Trixie's radiation spell (hence why it shines blue, like ionized air, instead of the usual green or purple for poison in fantasy).
Setting wise, I don't consider this to be on the same universe as Shadow Raikou's story. More like a divergent, where Trixie never saw Monarch again, canon happened as in the show, and after the coronation, Monarch and Trixie were set to collide. But even then, I had a far different backstory here. Like, the Monarch family on itself being dedicated to power and control, and Trixie leaving them behind and changing her name to Lulamoon, like some queer people end up having to do. Hell, at the back of my mind, Trixie was trans in this story, something I'm pretty sure isn't the case in Shadow Raikou's version either.
All in all, this was a dark story I'm not too proud of. But it did came out better than expected, by all accounts.
11640628
Apart from Trixie being trans(gender?), and "bad ending" this story would get an upvote from me. Like I said, solid story, I just don't like the ending. Maybe you can rewrite it, with Trixie either just not falling to posion(having a number of anti-posion and vitality spells with Twilight's help, maybe), or being saved in prologue, by Twilight, who knew that SOMETHING was happening. Twlight, being friends with Applejack and Fluttershy would not approve direct murder, but rather found Trixie's death note, or something, rushed to Monarch's office, barrel through security, and found dead Monarch, and seemingly dead Trixie. I'm also not above Twilight having problems not being able to get Trixie out of jail(but no death sentence), but trying to.
Also, Hulk is green, and he basically IS radiation. In some cartoons he also glows green, when he get's extra angry.
11640701
In story, Trixie just released a lethal dose of radiation. Neither of them is gonna get out of there alive, which is basically the main point; Trixie concluding there wasn't other way to stop Monarch other than killing her, and accepting she as a killer can't get away impune. To save Trixie (preventing her from firing the radiation spell), is to save Monarch, and that would be back to square one, only now Monarch would have the leverage of an attempted murder against her for public image.
From a meta perspective, changing it around so to save Trixie and still kill Monarch defeats the purpose. The point of the story is being a dead end. Trixie encountering a problem without an easy solution and deciding to give herself up for others. A stark contrast from her usual characterization of a selfish pony who would have ignored the situation and move away to avoid the fallout.
So, all in all, it reaches a Ship of Theseus situation; yes, this could be rewritten around a different end goal, different set-up and different characterizations. But after that, is it still the same story, or an entirely different one? I don't have the answer, just mussing over the concept. Personally, the subject in this story are a tad too heavy for me to revisit at the time being.
On the radiation thing, I was taking more inspiration from real life, like the blue light described by witness at the Chernobyl plant disaster, or the ones during the Demon Core experiment. A quick googling says the effect's name is the 'Vavilov–Cherenkov effect', also known a Cherenkov radiation.
11640701
Also, yes, transgender. It was around that time I found out Lauren Faust meant for one of the characters from Season 1 to be trans, and that Trixie was meant to be originally a stallion. So, I found a couple of fanfics on the subject, and the idea of Trixie as a trans mare stuck to me.
But that's just background info, since it didn't come up in the narration. I did consider make Checker commenting on it, preying on Trixie's dysphoria, but it fell a wee bit out of place along everything else, so it got scrapped.
11640795
Well, it's not transgender then. Just a different character, with same interests and name, or whatever. How to describe it... alternate universe flip. Celestia was the one, who fell to Nightmare, or whatever. They never WERE different for themselves. Trixie was ALWAYS a mare, or was ALWAYS a stallion, nothing trans here. But that's my take.
11640791
Well, I would think it is the same story, only with more consequences. Twilight is VERY cross with Trixie, Trixie is tried for murder and is put away for life. Maybe the dirt on Monarch DOES surfaces after Monarch bites the dust, and any ponies who are interested in keeping it quet are not enough anymore, not with this much scrutiny, as Trixie had to have motive for murder. Maybe Monarch is tried post-mortem for high treason?
11641213
Eh, I still wrote her as trans in this story, hence her cutting ties with her family up to the point of changing her last name. So, that's a thing
11641217
Again, I think that starts being another story. For starters, nothing of what Monarch does here is illegal or even considerable as treason (both plotpoints of why Trixie can't just tell Twilight). Or at least not without heavy anti-trust laws to prevent a media monopoly, implied to not be the case, since Monarch Entertainment managed to become a media trust through Celestia's period.
Again, ship of Theseus; to get that kind of continuation, it requires a lot of changes.
And again, this was a really heavy writing for me. So I'm not planning on revisiting it in the time being.
Trixie isn't much of a Great and Powerful Trixie here. It could be good with some other background pony like Lyra or Bon Bon, Octavia, even Dr. Hooves.
Also Trixie is dead - again. Foreshadowing? Don't do this to me
11700447
Yeah, kind of an accidental pattern there, isn't it?
I promise she doesn't die in Weltendämmerung or Ash Witches.
11640628
Just coming back to this comment:
You might want to rethink green color. Green might stand for radiation.