The dew glistened on the tall grass, as Trixie walked along the path to Ponyville with her head towards the ground. She watched her feet step on the dirt as she thought about the last time she had visited this town. Unlike last time, she didn't want revenge, she just needed friends. Her last act didn't go over too well and she had been run out of Fillydelphia. Maybe Twilight and her friends would make her feel better.
Something felt very wrong as she neared Ponyville. Trixie looked up to see that it was night time already. "Wait, it was day just a few minutes ago. Something's not right." That's when she noticed the moon in the sky, it was blood red and gave off an eerie glow that sent a shiver down Trixie's spine. Has Nightmare Moon returned? she thought to herself. Something about the glow the moon gave off told her otherwise.
Just then a loud shriek echoed over the hills. "Trixie knows that voice... isn't that Fluttershy?" Without wasting time, Trixie galloped as fast as she could towards Ponyville. As she neared the town she noticed the buildings, they all looked like no one had cared for them in months.
She slowed her pace as she saw what she thought looked like Fluttershy. Something was wrong, and as she neared she was horrified at what she saw. Fluttershy was covered in bruises and wounds that were still bleeding, her hair was ragged and missing in places, and one of her eyes was missing. She was screaming at some other pony.
"Why don't you watch where you're going!" screamed Fluttershy.
The other pony stuttered. "I-I didn't-" Before the pony finished what she was going to say, Fluttershy turned around and bucked her in the face. Then she screamed, "That's what you get!" and stormed off. Trixie was standing there watching all this happen in complete horror. She shook her head and ran over to the other pony, who was on the ground with her face in her hooves.
"Are you okay?" Trixie asked as she knelt down next to the pony.
"Wha...what?" The pony looked up and blood was pouring out of her eyes.
Trixie gasped and backed up a little bit. "We need to get you help!"
"H...Help? From who?" asked the pony.
"Um... Twilight will know what to do." Trixie looked around, hoping to see Twilight nearby. The streets were fairly empty aside from a few depressed looking ponies.
"Twilight?" the pony laughed slightly. "That pony only cares about sex."
"What?" replied Trixie "That makes no sense." She recalled the last time she had seen Twilight. The pony had worked with her friends to stop her. She couldn't recall her caring about anything like sex. "Twilight cares about other ponies."
"Not... not anymore." The pony uttered before she passed out.
Trixie stood up and looked at the blood moon. "Something is seriously not right here. Trixie is going to get to the bottom of this." She started walking towards the library. Before she was able to reach the front door she heard someone call her name.
"Psst... Trixie." She spotted a pony standing in the dark between two buildings. "You should not enter that house."
"Hello? Who's there?" Trixie stepped closer to see that it was Princess Luna. "Princess?" She walked up to her and pointed at the moon. "Did you do that?"
Luna shook her head. "I did not do that. I have no power over the moon anymore."
"What?" asked Trixie. "But you are Princess Luna. It's in your name!"
The Princess ignored Trixie's comment and continued. "My sister has been corrupted. She cast me out of Canterlot and now controls night and day."
Trixie nodded. "So what are you doing now? Sitting in back alleys and telling ponies to stay away from Twilight?"
"Twilight has also been corrupted, you do not want to see her. Trust me." Luna looked at the alley she was standing in. "Well it's not like I have anywhere else to go."
Trixie looked out at the streets. "Are all the ponies corrupted?"
"No." Luna shook her head. "Not all of them. But the ones that aren't are too busy crying to notice."
"How did this happen?" asked Trixie.
"It all began with my sister." Luna began walking and Trixie followed next to her. "Her pride got the better of her. It consumed her like a disease, and that disease is what caused the blood moon. You've noticed the glow, I'm sure." Trixie nodded. "The moon changed something in the ponies. It caused them to forget the Elements of Harmony and take on something terrible."
"I saw Fluttershy." said Trixie. "She hurt somepony."
"Fluttershy is one of the worst ones." Luna looked up at the moon.
"Wait." Trixie looked at Luna. "Why haven't we changed?"
Luna shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe because we already have darkness in our hearts."
Trixie looked up at the moon as well. Darkness in our hearts? she thought. Well she had been pretty mean to someponies, but hadn't she changed since then? Maybe not enough. Trixie thought about Fluttershy, and couldn't help but feel grateful that she didn't end up like that. It made her sad to think that all the ponies had been corrupted. She looked at Luna and said, "We need to help them."
Luna looked back at Trixie. "How? I've already tried to lower the moon countless times."
Trixie thought for a moment and then replied. "We have to purify Princess Celestia to lower the moon."
"How do you suppose we do that?" asked Luna.
"By purifying the other ponies and getting them to use the Elements of Harmony." said Trixie as she started walking towards the library.
"Wait." said Luna. Trixie stopped and looked at her. "We're going to need help, we can't do this on our own."
Trixie nodded. "You're right. But who? Everypony is corrupted."
"Not everypony. We aren't." Luna looked up at the moon again. "So what if there are others who were able to withstand the moon's glow."
"Who do you have in mind?" asked Trixie.
Luna looked at Trixie, with an intense stare. "We need to find Discord."
Author's Note
I'm still trying to decide how I'm going to depict each sin with the ponies. Fluttershy is Wrath so I made her beaten up and bloody because wrath is usually related to violence. I'm having fun trying to get into Trixie's mind to decide just how she'd act after turning over a new leaf and then finding these horrible things before her. I wasn't sure if I should make Luna say thou and thy and whatever cause she didn't really use that kind of language after Luna Eclipsed and this is suppose to be after Season 3.
"What in the world are you doing?"
Trixie was climbing up the rubble of a nearly destroyed building. "Huh?" she looked back at Luna.
"I said, what are you doing?" repeated Luna. She was looking up at Trixie, confused.
"Trixie is trying to get up here so she can look for Discord." Trixie replied, she continued climbing.
Luna flew up next to her and laughed. "Did you forget I have wings? I could just fly up and take a look."
"Oh yeah." Trixie started sliding back down the rubble. She blushed a little and looked down. "Trixie wasn't really thinking. You go fly up there."
Luna smiled at Trixie, then she flew up into the sky and looked over Ponyville. The town looked horrible: the buildings were falling apart, there was blood on the streets, and the ponies that were outside either looked depressed or wanted to hurt you. Luna sighed and kept looking around for any sign of Discord.
"Anything yet?" called Trixie.
"Nope. Wait," Luna squinted a little. Was that chocolate puddles? "I think I see something. Come on!" She started flying towards the puddles.
"Hey wait for Trixie!" yelled Trixie as she raced after Luna. Will Discord be willing to help us? wondered Trixie. She had never met him but had heard stories of how he turned Ponyville into the epicenter of chaos. Why would someone like that want to stop this darkness?
The ponies reached the chocolate puddles. Pink clouds were raining chocolate down on the little park and at the center was Discord sitting on an upside-down bench. He had a black eye and bruises on his body, but what stood out the most was the sad look on his face.
"Oh no, even Discord has been changed by the moon!" yelled Trixie in dismay.
Discord looked up when he heard Trixie's voice. "What?" he laughed a little and pointed up at the moon. "That thing didn't do this."
"Then what did?" asked Luna.
"Fluttershy." replied Discord, Luna and Trixie both nodded. He stood up and looked at them. "She just kept kicking me for no good reason. Now I'm all for not making sense but my chaos doesn't hurt anypony."
Trixie was confused. "Since when do you care about other ponies? Wasn't it you who turned Ponyville into complete chaos just for fun?"
"Where have you been?" Discord stood up straight and put his claw up in a silly pose. "I'm reformed now."
"More or less." muttered Luna.
"Hey I heard that!" replied Discord, and Luna laughed a little. "What do you two want anyway?"
"We're trying to change everything back to normal." said Trixie as she stepped around a puddle to get closer to Discord. "We need your help."
"Do you even know what you are doing?" asked Discord.
"Not really." Trixie admited.
"The ponies are corrupted by a thing called Sin." Discord poked Trixie's horn, who frowned at him. "There's seven sins that are taking over the ponies that used to control the Elements of Harmony; Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. Everyone else is stuck with Acedia. Anyway, the only way to stop them is with the seven corresponding virtues; Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility. Good luck finding those here."
Trixie was writing all this down in the dirt. "How do you know all this?"
"I've been around." Discord looked at Luna. "I'm surprised the Princess here didn't figure it out for herself."
Luna sighed. "I suppose I should have realized it."
Trixie was lost in thought, trying to figure out just how they could possibly find the seven virtues. What would Twilight do? Then she heard Discord say "I forgive you." to Luna. Wait a second! Trixie looked up at Discord and Luna. "It's us!"
"What's us?" asked Luna, confused.
"The virtues!" Trixie stood up and pointed at Luna. "Humility." She then pointed at Discord. "Patience." Trixie looked at her hoof. "Trixie's not sure what she is, but you two are definitely virtues!"
"I can't possibly be Humility." replied Luna. "I was Nightmare Moon after all."
Discord looked at Trixie for a moment, considering what she had said. "Patience? I dunno about that, have you met me before?"
"Trixie knows it probably doesn't make sense, but it has to be right." Trixie turned and looked back at Ponyville. "Why else are we not affected by the moon?"
"If what you say is true," Discord walked closer to Trixie. "Then who are the other virtues?"
Luna walked up next to them. "There must be others who have darkness in their hearts..."
Trixie looked at them both. "We can figure that all later. We have three virtues already, maybe we can change some of the ponies back."
"But if I'm Humility, that means my counterpart is my sister Pride." replied Luna, sadly.
"Then we'll have to use yours last. We still have Patience." Trixie looked at Discord.
"And Diligence." said Discord. "That's definitely you."
Trixie nodded, "Trixie guesses that makes sense. Who should we go after first?"
"Let's go after Fluttershy." Luna looked at Discord as she said this. "She seems to be hurting ponies the most."
Trixie started running towards the last place she saw Fluttershy. "Come on then! Let's save these ponies!" Discord and Luna headed after her. The three ran along the buildings that were falling apart. Trixie wondered if Ponyville would ever look the same again. Both times she had visited this town she had admired the architecture, now it was a total wasteland. She stopped suddenly as she reached the fountain. Instead of the clear water that usually poured down upon the stone there was dark red blood. The smell was sickening and made Trixie feel nauseous.
Luna gasped. "Wh-where did all that blood come from?"
"Somepony in the pumping station must have died." groaned Discord, holding his nose. "I'm all for chaos, but this is just wrong."
"Should..." Trixie turned away from the fountain and looked at the other two. Looking at all that blood was unbearable. "Should we investigate? What if somepony needs help down there?"
Luna looked at the fountain with tears in her eyes. "We probably better. Then we'll look for Fluttershy." She began walking away from the fountain. "Come on, the entrance to the station is this way." The three walked towards the station with grim looks on their faces. When they reached the door, none of them really wanted to enter. After a few moments of staring at it, Trixie opened the door. Immediately the smell of blood and rotting flesh hit them like a tidal wave. Discord doubled over as if to throw up, Luna's eyes teared up, and Trixie felt so dizzy that she had to hold tight to the door to keep herself from falling.
"We have to go in there." Trixie uttered as they started to recover.
"Ugh..." Discord stood up and looked at the dim lit stairs within the door. "You're right."
"Very well..." Luna said as she wiped tears out of her eyes. The three entered the station in single file. Their steps echoed off the metal stairs as they descended into the dark depths. The stench of the place grew stronger the further they went and they could now hear the pumps working hard. Something sounded wrong, almost like the pumps were hitting something.
"What's that sound?" asked Trixie.
"It's the pumps." replied Luna.
"Yes, but they don't sound quite how I imagined they would." As they continued, Trixie suddenly slipped and began tumbling down the stairs until she hit the corner. There was a loud thud as she hit her head on the wall. "Ow..." she whined softly. "That really hurt."
Luna carefully headed down the stairs, Discord following close behind. "Are you okay?" She said as she reached Trixie.
"Trixie will be okay." she stood up, dazed and holding her head which was now bleeding a little. "Ow... what did Trixie slip on." The three looked at the stairs and immediately saw the blood that trailed down it. It led all the way to the bottom. "Oh great, more blood."
Discord used his magic to conjure a piece of taffy. "Here." He tied it around Trixie's head. "It'll stop the bleeding."
Trixie looked up and frowned. "Really? Taffy? Couldn't you make like a piece of cloth or something?"
"Taffy is really absorbent." laughed Discord. "As for these stairs." Discord snapped his fingers and the stairs turned into a big slide.
"Discord!" Luna exclaimed as the three went sliding down the bloody slide. Before they could hit the wall at the bottom of the slide Discord conjured up a big pile of cotton candy. The three plowed right into the big pink cloud and were now all covered in blood. "This... probably wasn't one of my better ideas..."
"You think?" said Trixie as she freed herself from the cotton candy. She tried to shake off some of the blood.
Discord ate his way out of the cotton candy and chuckled a little. "You got to admit, that was kinda fun."
Trixie glared at him for a moment, and then giggled. "Yeah... I guess it was." The two helped pull Luna out of the cotton candy.
Luna looked at herself. "You could have at least changed the blood to chocolate milk or something."
Suddenly they heard a strange laugh come from the next room. "Yeah! That's what you get you dirty rat!" There was a loud squishing sound followed by a chop that made Trixie cringe.
"That voice..." Trixie looked at the others. The three sat in silence for a moment before Discord said what they were all thinking.
"Fluttershy."
Author's Note
There's a ton of dialogue in this chapter and I'm really sorry about that. It was just the best way to get the story moving along. I wanted this chapter to be longer than the first chapter but not too long because it's kind of like a second intro chapter. I feel like it should have actually been part of chapter one.
