Across the nation of Equestria, clocks of all kinds read One PM. In Ponyville, normally a hustling bustling city of hundreds, all activities had ceased. Horrified, the city's inhabitants stared at the heavens above. A sheet of black, speckled with glimmering dots was painted across the sky. A bright full moon in the middle, finished the celestial work. Ponies trembled at the phenomenon, such an event had only happened twice before in their whole history; at the creation and return of Nightmare Moon.
Over three hundred years had passed since Nightmare Moon returned. Every pony knew the history. In the Age of Celestia the mare who would become their princess stood alongside her friends against the night. Applejack the honest, Rainbow Dash the loyal, Fluttershy the kind, Pinkie Pie of laughter, Rarity the generous, Twilight Sparkle the first half of magic, and Trixie Lulamoon the second half of magic, these seven rose against the darkness incarnate and slew it's shadows. Thus ended the short reign of Nightmare Moon, but now the sky indicated she had somehow returned.
Nopony alive had ever seen the mythical mare. Any pony who lived in the age of Celestia had long since passed away. It didn't matter that none of them had seen the mare of the moon though, they had all heard of her dark powers.
While rational ponies were quick to point out Celestia and Luna had long passed away, rendering Nightmare Moon's return impossible, others let the hysteria overtake them.
In the slums of the city, ponies threw rocks into the windows of a low rate shops, ready to take anything they could. Prophets of doom danced in the streets, joyous shouts of "I told you it was coming!" escaped from their mouths. Mental patients howled in their cells, slamming their bodies hard against the walls. Rational ponies huddled themselves in their homes, armed with anything they could find. Unlucky ponies found themselves victim to insane rioters who believed the world was coming to an end.
From her massive oak tree castle Twilight peered down on the terror and fear running rampant through her city. She shook her head in disappointment at her subject's reaction to the afternoon moon. On the horizon an explosion burst from the ground, sending innocents ponies hurtling through the air. Twilight watched the riots, the panicked citizens below her scurried about in their hysteria. She hung her head, moving her eyes to the railing in front of her. Before she became princess, ponies would just freak out and run about when they were scared, now they resorted to hurting each other and looting.
Gazing back up at the moon Twilight could not blame the ponies for their fear. In her younger days she would have been panicking as well and probably would have caused Ponyville's newest disaster as a side-effect of her panic attack. She had a tendency to overreact back then. Over the years Twilight had learned to calm herself better, now she had the composure required to be a princess. She still had her moments where she blew up in paranoia, but it rarely resulted in anything serious.
Glancing to her side, Twilight's focus fell upon a set of pictures, newspaper clippings, and her personal keepsakes. Slowly she cantered over to her table of memories. The image of Princess Celestia sitting beside two fillies, one blue, one lavender, stood out amongst the items. A faint smile crept onto Twilight's mouth as she looked over the image, fondly remembering that day.
Twilight bounced about happily, much like a pink mare she would eventually meet would do.
"I can't believe it! We're Celestia's personal students!"
"I know isn't it great!?" the blue filly beside her excitedly exclaimed.
Both let out a excited squeal, giving the other a wide-armed hug. Not five seconds passed before the two were jumping about, shouting "yes yes yes yes yes yes" in unison.
Celestia chuckled. "Alright settle down children. Come over here so Mr. Shoot can take the picture."
Photo Shoot grumbled, lamenting the fact he had to work with fillies. He was famous for his pictures of models, celebrities, and the occasional building, not children. Colts and fillies were rarely ever cooperative, his past experiences with his daughter, Photo Finish, was a testament to that. The filly barely held still, bemoaning her situation every time she was forced to wear a dress for her father's shoot. In his opinion, children should have been banned from even coming near a camera. He stared at the playful lavender and light blue fillies and groaned. Oh how he detested his current circumstances.
"Mr. Shoot?" Celestia raised a brow to the photographer, "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing Princess. Alright you little rascals, hold still." He barely resisted the temptation to call the children "little demons" instead of "rascals" but managed to catch himself from making what would probably have been the biggest mistake in his life.
The camera came to life in an instant and let out a flash of light.
Multicolored spots filled Trixie and Twilight's vision. As she lifted a hoof, Twilight lurched forward and fell flat onto her face. Trixie stumbled to the side, equally as disoriented as her companion.
Photo couldn't help but feel a sadistic smirk creep onto his face as he watched the fillies stumble about and eventually crash into each other. "Almost makes it worth dealing with these little demons" he thought.
The world stopped turning for the cyan foal. She motioned toward her friend "Hey Twilight, can we play at your house?"
"I'll ask my mom." Twilight replied, still stumbling a bit as she took a step toward Trixie.
Trixie mouth crooked into a faint smile. "Okay."
And with that the fillies burst out of the room, Twilight fell a few times, ready to go on adventures with Smartypants and cardboard boxes.
Twilight slid her vision toward another framed image a mere five inches apart from the photo. Within the picture, Trixie laid on her back in a green grassy field. The Cutie Mark Crusaders crawled up onto the magician. All three of the crusaders wore their crusading capes on their backs. Trixie wore her trademark hat but instead of the usual cape, she had on a larger version of the Cutie Mark Crusader cape. Each of the four bore a wide joyous smile on their faces. The memory of these four sent a warm surge through the depths of Twilight's heart. Such feeling was broken like a glass vase against floor once she looked upon the next piece on her table.
A clipping from the Daily Tuba bore the image of two alicorns standing in front of titanic mountain of living slime. "Personal Students of Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Trixie Lulamoon bring Lord Smooze's terrifying reign to a close" read the clipping's headline.
Twilight growled at the name "Lord Smooze". Just like with Discord, there was no warning to the attack. A villain that called himself Lord Smooze rose from the depths of obscurity to lay siege to Equestria with a raging ocean of purple slime. The Elements of Harmony proved useless against the monster. When all seemed lost Trixie devised a method to defeat the monster and end his assault on Equestria, permanently.
In the end, Smooze fell to Twilight and Trixie's power, but the damage had still been done. The slime destroyed hundreds of crops, ruined homes, even managed to level cities. During Smooze's siege they lost Canterlot to his vast sea of violet ooze. The hardest hit to Twilight had been the fate of her mentor, Smooze slew both Luna and Celestia in his rampage.
Repressing the memory, Twilight moved to the next picture, the crowning of Equestrian's new royal pair, Trixie and her rise into princess-hood. The photo brought back a bittersweet memory. Twilight never was one to brag, that had always been Trixie's domain, but she knew if there had ever been anyone capable of replacing Celestia as princess, she was the one. Trixie on the other hoof, was not as capable, she had always been a pony to put personal enjoyment over responsibility. In the picture Twilight was shaking while Trixie had the largest and most sly smirk on her face she'd ever had in her life. Twilight had been terrified of receiving the crown, she knew full well of the responsibilities that came with it. As princess she had to watch over all of Equestria, watch over every pony. Trixie knew that as well, not that it stopped her from boasting about her new status.
Twilight's eyes moved to the final photograph on the table. The picture showed her and Trixie raising the library to its present size. After the loss of Canterlot, Equestria needed a new capitol and Ponyville seemed as good a place as anywhere. No capitol was complete without a castle, but the process of building a new castle would be far too time consuming. To remedy the situation, the two had looked to the library. Their library home had already been large, but together they made the old tree grow to a size rivaling the Canterlot castle. Despite the somewhat pleasant memory the photograph presented, the princess could not to bring herself to smile.
"Well time to do what I do best," she told herself with a faint, dry chuckle that failed to relieve any sadness. "lecture her."
Every pony felt a brush of relief as their princess stepped into view on the balcony of the Ponyville Castle tree. Twilight's wide wings spread outward and swished through the air. She ascended into air, becoming a silhouette against the moon's rays. Her subjects smiled and cheered as she flew over overhead.
Wings beat with fury as they propelled the large alicorn through the afternoon night air. Harsh winds whipped against Twilight's face, forcing her eyes to water. Multiple droplets blurred her vision but the princess did not move to remove the obscuring liquid, bigger issues required her attention.
The matriarch skid through the sky, passing over a small graveyard below her. A quick glance momentarily drew the ruler's attention to five particular headstones. A butterfly, a lightning bolt, an apple, a balloon, and a gem marked each of the tombstones respectively.
Memories of her friends flowed into her mind.
"And then I said 'oatmeal, are you crazy?'" Pinkie circled her friends in a bouncing rhythm.
"Oatmeal could be no more crazy than you Pinkie, Trixie is sure of this." Trixie inspected her hoof, ignoring the erratic hops of her pink friend.
"Oatmeal is just so silly though, he thinks were all gonna be gobbled up by purple slime," Pinkie chirped.
"Pinkie, you think muffins want to take over the world." Twilight rebuked.
"But Twilight, they do! I have proof."
"Really?" Trixie and Twilight replied flatly, unconvinced of her claims.
Instantly a cloud in Pinkie's shape replaced the mare. A long trail of dust marked the direction Pinkie ran off in. Somehow a red exclamation mark shaped cloud formed above the Pinkie cloud. Pinkie Cloud lurched into the air and bolted after its creator.
"Twilight, tell Trixie, how does Pinkie disappear like that?"
Twilight shook her head lightly in response. "I have no idea. Just her being Pinkie Pie I suppose."
The magicians stared at the spot Pinkie had recently occupied. A shadow moved across the ground toward the duo. They looked up to find a pony sized muffin with teeth lunging at them.
"What the hay is that!?" Rainbow Dash shrieked overheard. Fluttershy whimpered and held her hoofs to her chest. Gnashing teeth snapped in front of Twilight. Quickly she reared back, narrowly avoiding the sharp teeth. Her horn lit up in a brilliant glow. The giant muffin hovered helplessly in mid-air, struggling fruitlessly against the unicorn's power.
Twilight stared up at the confection writhing in her grasp. "Is this a giant muffin?"
"With teeth?" Trixie added.
"See! I told you! Giant evil muffins that want to take over the world!" Pinkie barked, a hoof pointed toward her friends as she bounced in place.
Chocolate chip spines pierced through the magical veil.
"Pinkie, tell Trixie what the muffin is doing." The magician commanded as she backed away from the snarling beast.
"Oh it's just gonna shoot delicious chocolaty spikes." Pinkie licked her lips happily. As if she was covered in oil, she slid up next to baked beast, mouth wide open, ready to receive a sugary spike in her mouth.
Trixie's eyes became wide as saucers. Her hind legs pushed against the ground, sending her flying in the air toward the baked bad. As she made contact with the captured creature, she sunk her teeth into the monster. It released a oddly cheerful squee as the mare tore away at its muffiny flesh.
"Eat the bucking thing Twilight," Trixie screamed, chunks of muffin spewing from her mouth. "Before it starts shooting chocolate spikes at everyone!"
Twilight did as told and plunged her mouth into the sentient mound of baked batter.
Pinkie leaped onto the muffin to join her friends.
"Yummy yummy muffin in my tummy! nom nom nom." Pinkie whirled around to face the two pegasi hanging in the air. "Rainbow dash! Fluttershy! aintcha' gonna eat this with us?"
Fluttershy shook her head, refusing to eat another living being, even if it was a pissed off muffin.
"Uh sure Pinkie. Whatever you say." Rainbow Dash glided down and joined her friends in cannibalizing the muffin monster. The monster didn't mind at all
A small but broken chuckle climbed its way out of the princess's throat as the memory played in her mind. Twilight felt water rise from her eyes once more, the wind no longer the culprit. Finally she raised her hoof to wipe away the tears.
Shaking her head, Twilight removed the superfluous thought from her mind. It had been so long since she thought of her friends, not because she forgot about them, but because she couldn't let herself dwell on them. Remembering her friends would drive her into depression, something she had no time for. She had a duty to Equestria, her own personal dilemmas had no place in her life as princess.
"Focus Twilight. Focus on Trixie." the alicorn berated herself. All her attention moved back to the mission at hand; finding Trixie and pleading with her to lower the moon. Her wings beat hard against the air, reaching speeds that easily beat anything the WonderBolts could ever achieve.
"How did Rainbow Dash enjoy this?" Twilight queried as the wind blew into her eyes.
The abandoned city of Canter lot came into view. A purple haze hung over the late Equestrian capitol, remnants of Lord Smooze's assault from so many years ago. Wrecked and crumbling architecture rose from the violet smog below. Twilight maneuvered herself over the ruined castle. A roofless structure provided easy access to Celestia's once grand throne room.
An audible squish came when Twilight touched her hoofs against a soggy, torn carpet. Damp rot of the pale grey-red carpet muddied the alicorn's golden shoes. As she studied the room, as she saw the disrepair of her old home, Twilight's mouth edged to a small frown. Cobalt pillars supported a roof no longer within existence. The shine of the marble floors had long faded away. Dank grey, filthy scratches, and grime replaced the beautiful white of the floors. At the end of the hall sat a deceased ruler's throne. The seat showed its age and lack of proper care; its gold lining no longer shined, worn down by age and constant beatings of showers that frequented the area. Damp pillows now stunk of rot and filth, their color toned down to a sickly brown.
"Not pretty is it Twilight?" A voice called from the darkness.
Faint moonlight shined through the hole in the roof, illuminating small sections the room in a faint glow. Shadows hung over all spots untouched by the dim moon glow. Within the darkness the figure of an alicorn was discernible. The figure rested its front legs on the arms of the broken throne. Its voice reached out from the shadows once more.
"Do you remember this place Twilight Sparkle? You haven't visited since Smooze destroyed it. Tell Trixie, has that overgrown tree you call Ponyville Castle has taken Canterlot's place in your heart?"
Twilight's attention instantly snapped to the source of the voice.
"Trixie, you know why I'm here"
Trixie released a disappointed groan. "Straight to the point as always, Sparkle. You're just as dull as you were 300 years ago."
"Trixie, you need to lower the moon."
"Why? So you can overshadow Trixie more? So you can continue to ruin Equestria?" the shadow shrouded alicorn growled, her gritted teeth glinting in the soft light.
"Trixie, please. Just listen to me"
"No Twilight. You've always been soft. Trixie has seen our world getting darker. There are slums now Twilight, slums! Crimes are becoming more rampant. Trixie bets that ponies are already looting in Ponyville."
" They are... " Twilight hesitantly admitted, " You have to lower the moon. Your terrifying every pony"
"What are you going to do about those looting ponies Twilight? Are you going to punish them or are you going to be soft again... are you going to let them get away with their crimes?" Trixie asked her fellow Element of Magic.
"Trixie!" The princess barked, in no mood to deal with her friend's angst and accusations. "Equestria is terrified! They think Nightmare Moon is back."
Trixie removed herself from the shadows of the throne. Her usual cyan coat had been replaced by heavy indigo shades. Black armor adorned her tall frame. The moons beams danced on her armor, sending thin trails of light into her flowing intangible mane.
"She is. What are you going to do about it Twilight? Are you going to send Trixie to the moon like our mentor did to her own sister?"
Twilights eyes widened.
"No Of-of course not. Trixie, what's going on. Please, tell me"
"This is about justice! That's what's going on!" Trixie screeched, unknowingly activating the Royal Canterlot Voice in her irritation.
"You are unfit to rule Equestria! Crime is higher than it ever was before Smooze killed Celestia and you do nothing about it. Ponies are growing violent and you still cling to your idealistic ways! These ponies must be controlled, they have to be saved from themselves! Trixie is far more fit to rule than you are, Twilight Sparkle..." Trixie spat her friend's name with venom.
"So you're going to be a dictator?... Is that your plan?"
"Trixie will do whatever is necessary to keep Equestria safe."
The corrupted alicorn turned her attention to the afternoon moon hanging in the sky. She directed a hoof toward the celestial body. "The moon will fall only if you hand control over to Trixie or kill her." Her voice wavered as she glared at Twilight
"I don't want to fight you Trixie."
"You don't have a choice Twilight." A somber tone invaded Trixie's voice.
Rock tore from the ground below them. Two stones slammed down in front of the alicorns. A blue aura rose around the torn earth. Magical energy transformed the two large stones into long pointed spikes. With her magic, Trixie tossed one of the stone spikes to Twilight.
"Defend yourself Twilight Sparkle. Today, we decide the future of Equestria. " Trixie raised her weapon, directing the sharpened end toward the lilac alicorn.
Twilight seized the sharpened spike in her telekinetic grip. A tear slid down her face as she prepared to fight. A single thought ruminated in her mind.
" How did it come to this?"
Well here we are, end of the chapter....myep. Hopefully this was at least half-way decent to read.
I was trying to present a kind of crapsack future, so forgive me if the characters are bit angsty here. Promise they will be more in character in the next chapter
This was the product of a desire to explore what might have happened if Trixie was friends with the mane 6 from the beginning. It's mostly going to be my attempt at a character study toward Twilight, Trixie, and how I think they might interact as friends. I'll also be exploring the villain's motivations for well...being a villain. Next chapter will be about how Twilight and Trixie first meet and become friends.
Doing this is possibly a stupid idea but I'm gonna do it anyway, Why? Cause I CAN!
Soooo.....How'd I do ?
