Princess Luna, the princess of the night, jolted upright and whipped her head around to gaze beyond her window. Any normal pony would have had whiplash from it's shear force but the princess didn’t even have time to process that she'd moved her head. She was more concerned with the fact that night had already fallen and the moon had risen before she had.
Oh, curses! Sister is going to give me an earful for this later. She groaned before a thought entered her mind. Where is she anyway?
With a sigh, she stretched her arms and gave a mighty yawn. She was still so tired. Last night had been a particularly hard night of dream wading. It seemed that more and more ponies around her kingdom had been having horrible nightmares, particularly the ponies closest to the castle. It was no doubt due to the changeling attack that happened just a few days . . .
Oh, crud. The wedding! She’d forgotten about Cadence’s wedding—and if you include the one stolen by the changeling queen—for the second time.
She began to quake as she imagined Celestia's reaction. She registered a clock ticking in the background as a dozen images of royal torture plagued her brain, particularly a 'vacation' trip to the moon second only to a royal lecture by a royally angry sister.
Maybe if I sneak in while the procession is in progress, she won’t notice. The princess thought as she threw her blankets away and vaulted off the bed. She rushed to get ready, placing her royal regalia and shoes on as quickly as possible while simultaneously running a comb through her ethereal mane. She might have tripped once or twice as she ran to the bathroom to brush the morning . . . or, in her case evening breath out of her mouth.
After 11 seconds, she was pleased to find herself looking at least presentable until She stole a quick glance at a hanging clock and gulped. Maybe if I hurry, I’ll be able to make it before the kiss.
At that moment, a blast of magic lit up the sky invoking a sigh from the princess.
Well, there's no hope now. At the lose of motivation, her movements slowed to a trudge. She knew that there was no way that Celestia had missed her lack of attendance. Her head lowered to the floor as she tried to catch, at the very least, the reception. I guess I should start mentally preparing myself for Celestia's tirade. I'm going to lose another 1000 years for this. She walked a few feet more feet before something caught her attention.
Another pony had fallen asleep and they'd begun to have nightmares, powerful ones too, far from Twilights Sparkle but well beyond most other ponies and potent enough to cause some damage to the dream world, intentional or not.
Luna reached for it with her magic and suddenly felt a chill travel the length of her spine. It was so cold but still somehow felt familiar. As soon as the two forces made contact, her knees grew weaker and she almost collapsed from the sheer emotionality. Sorrow and anger enveloped her as she was overcome with memories not her own. It made her feel so sad that she wanted to cry. Whoever it was that was dreaming had certainly suffered a great deal.
Having completely forgotten the wedding (again) the princess of the night opened her wings and launched herself into the cold air.
Twelve hours of labor had resulted in nothing more than twelve bits. It was much more than what she use to get as a traveling musician but it was also so much more taxing. Trixie groaned as her muscles struggled to move her sore legs. She was so weary that she had to practically crawl. Slowly, the blue unicorn was able to finally climb her way onto the bright pink bed.
It had belonged to one of her employer's daughters who had moved away a few years ago. She laughed as she remembered adamantly refusing to sleep on the ridiculously peppy bed. At the end of that very day, however, she couldn't help but smile as she relaxed into it's warmth and sugary scent.
With the last flickers of her magic, she pulled the blanket over her weary form and buried her face in its soft folds. She waited for sleep to take her but nights where her mind didn’t travel to more unpleasant thoughts were rare.
It had already been two years and she wasn’t even close to the amount of bits needed to get herself back on the road. Excluding food, a custom made wagon (with trap doors and fully retractable stage), props, more fireworks, a new cape and a hat, she was still a couple thousand short. Even if she did manage to return as a magician, she wasn’t even how she would fair with her reputation tattered and beaten as it was.
Not only that, she was doubtful that she even had the physical fortitude to earn the money needed. All she had to do was turn her head to remind her that the job she now occupied wasn't meant for unicorns. Her body was slowly breaking each day she trudged into those plains.
Her heart aches as she thought about her hopeless situation. Life has certainly dealt the ex-traveling magician a hard hand. The worst part was that she deserved every single misfortune that had befallen her. If only she'd never started telling that stupid lie. Maybe she would still be a no name magician but at least she could have fulfilled her promise.
She cringed at the last thought. All in all, even after everything she told her mother, she still had absolutely nothing to show for it and, now, she was farther away from fulfilling it than ever.
With a sigh, her sorrows finally guided her to unconsciousness.
Another day, another disappointment.
“Trixie, do we have anymore booze?” A light gray mare asked as she swung her glass bottle around.
A small, filly sized Trixie ambled out of the kitchen with a frown. “We might, but I honestly think that you’ve had enough for today, mother.”
Trixie gazed at her parent for a moment, examining her condition. Her two toned snow white and icy blue mane was disheveled and matted. The smell of alcohol was strong enough to cover the intensely musky body odor emitting from her but at least her bloodshot eyes were focused. She sported a grin as she looked at her adorable, glaring little filly.
“Come here precious.” She beckoned.
Trixie’s glare dropped and she felt a twinge of nervousness creep up her spine. “Actually, I think that you need some water. . .” she began but was cut off by her mother.
“No, no, it’s alright. I’m fine. Come here.” The grey mare patted the sofa that she lay on.
Trixie removed the apron she was wearing and walked over to her mother and sat on her lap. The older mare enveloped the young filly in large hug. Trixie gagged at the smell but didn’t resist.
“You are so much like your father.” She cooed, running a hoof through Trixie's identical mane. “He was so responsible, so sensible and so handsome.” Her mind began to drift away. Trixie had seen it so many times before but it never did get any easier.
After a few moments, she heard it, the soft hiccups that started a bout of choked sobs.
“He was such a kind man. He was so talented.”
Trixie pulled her mother closer. The list seemed to get longer and longer every time she was roped into these alcohol induced breakdowns.
“He was so smart. He was so gifted. He was so special. He was so generous.”
But, it always ended the same way.
“And he’s gone. . .”
Trixie hiccupped in her sleep as tears began to form a giant smudge on her current pillow. She curled her body around the blanket and she whimpered. Her body began to shake as her eyes began to glow through her eyelids.
