“Where is… Trixie?” the unicorn rubbed her throbbing temple, the pain slowly subsiding as she stood to her feet.
“Why, you’re in my bed,” an omnipresent voice proclaimed in an almost eerie tone.
“Your… bed?”
The unicorn looked every which she could, but found no one. All her eyes witnessed were a myriad of roses as far as the eye could see. Every flower was in full bloom, all a boring pattern of blood and ink and dressed in morning dew. They were the ground, the earth itself where she tread, she’d slept in a flowerbed. Petals from the pristine plants danced in the ever-flowing breeze, the wind acting as proof of the passage of time, they blanket the sky like stars.
The sky itself was dull and blue without a single source of light, though it somehow gave a glow that echo the sun, clearly present and yet not at all. Her body silhouette within the incorporeal shimmer of the strange world.
“That voice, where are you!?”
The queer setting wouldn’t quell the showmare’s frustration, past shame would always stain her encounters with this one.
A ray of light shone down upon the azure equine. She shield her eyes as her mane continued swaying beside the restless breeze. The new duly-appointed alicorn princess descend from the blinding white radiance, her wings unfurled, shredding the light into rays. Her crown and calm eyes illuminated before the one standing on her bed, she touched down to the velvet earth , the inflorescence her hooves touched splashed; the petals pooling, and cascading like water.
Such an unusual spectacle, she stood on only two legs. The princess' lips curled, a curious smile affixed to her muzzle as she watched the other’s gaping expression as they studied her royal gown and figure.
“You-you! When did you get wings!?” she point a hoof trembling with anger and disbelief at her welcoming hostess.
Twilight’s delicate voice was still omnipresent as she spoke gently, her tone now taught regality by royal standards. “I received them shortly after I forgave you, it was… fate as I was told, a reward from princess Celestia.”
Twilight’s smile hadn’t ceased, that smile… Trixie hated it. She’d never seen one she was so uncertain of, it was so impish, comforting yet it curved so fiendishly, the unicorn herself had never been so curious to comprehend something so simple.
Trixie also couldn’t understand why Twilight had chosen to stand upon two hooves, it bothered her to no end. And so she did the same, she would never allow anypony to look down on her.
“So the princess was just giving out unspeakable power for good behavior!?” she stomped toward the noble, the delicate rose-riddled surface never disrupted, not a single stem breaking from the bed where she stepped. “You expect Trixie to believe—“
“Indeed I do… to the living rare impossible things are permitted more than most would ever believe,” Twilight’s soothing, yet otherworldly tone easily towered over the other’s. Petals still pranced at her feet even as she stood, virtually motionless. She chuckled at her stamping guest, her mere amusement stopping the unicorn in her stead.
“The living… just what are you implying?” Trixie furrowed a brow beneath her fluttering mane.
“I was right to bring you here after all… just look at how wonderful you are. After a single misstep almost everyone sinks to the thorns, after that its only a matter of time until Luna comes for them. And yet you harshly romp through my bed without the slightest shiver or bruise, somehow... you’re better than even I imagined you’d be.”
“Enough of your games Sparkle! What did you mean by living, where is Trixie?” The unicorn shouted as she swiped away the foliage swimming too close to her vision.
Twilight’s smile had been dismissed. “Celestia is the sun, the essence of life energy itself, life is her dominion. The same as Luna dwells over death, the silent night and quiet corpses… I tend to what’s left between the two, those stubborn and indecisive… Are you starting to understand?”
“…” Trixie took a step closer.
“When someone is close to death they see a white light, Celestia’s light guiding them toward another chance, she believes all deserve this much. Those who fall to the dark no longer have the strength to stride toward the light, they are deemed dead when they don’t possess the will to stand anymore, and become stranded within their dreams. And those who simply outright refuse to move are mine. This quiet place,” she gestured to her world, “is purgatory… your death was gruesome… surely you remember?”
“… Liar.” The mare brought another leg forward, one more and she could reach out and grab hold of the sovereign.
The princess smiled, she had a lovely thought. “Oh, and if I were you I’d stop before it’s too late. If you touch my skin you’ll never be able to have that blessing again. Your body will become the ruby and onyx earth here, and when it begins to shatter into the sky your own skin will become the stars. The brightest I’ll ever see I’m sure.”
“You think Trixie’s bloody death was a blessing!? Are you insane Twilight Sparkle, have those wings warped what little mind you had left!?” Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs, liquid filling to the brim of her eyes, only did they fall and become tears after witnessing no change of expression in the alicorn.
Twilight appeared unfazed by the display of emotion, only asking a question in response. “So, do you remember the one responsible for you bloody demise?”
“No… just fragments, and somehow the visage of my messy, tattered body collapsed on the cold ground,” she shook her head as she did her best to dry her eyes.
Twilight watched on without the slightest show of sympathy.
“That’s why I’m here, to bring you back after all. I waged a wager with Luna that I could get you to agree to be where you belong and bring you back. You see… I’m forever a princess now,” Twilight kneeled and plucked a rose from the ground, breathing in its scent before watching another blossom in its place. “I can’t be bothered to keep track of every little thing, I’m even riddled with distracting guards.”
“What I want most, need is someone at my side, somepony so magnificent I never have to worry for myself again and can fully commit to others; my friends and subjects all the same. Only you will ever do.”
Trixie took two steps backward. “A-And why would the Great and Powerful Trixie ever help you? You Sparkle, are no goddess in my eyes.”
A single petal, one of each color caught the showmare’s eyes, she blinked as they passed by, and as she opened them she found the alicorn had taken a single leap to meet her. She touched down and the gentle earth splashed again, a single hoof brought to her desire’s cheek.
The experience slowed in Trixie's now overwhelmed state.
“That is precisely why I want you, I’ll never be goddess in those eyes, that and I have no intention of losing you. Dedicate your life to me and in exchange I’ll grant any wish you’ve ever dreamed, I’m even willing to give you my soul, you’ll be immortal in the end.”
The gracious hoof that brushed her azure cheeks now fell to her chin as it seemingly fled from their growing blush. “You know Trixie, while your soul was being collected here I saw all your sins, regrets, passions, and obsessions. Meaning I know you have an unhealthy obsession with me that goes beyond your defeat. Admittedly I have one as well, but mine goes much, much deeper,” she pursed her lips with the final word.
Trixie wasn’t sure what would happen next, but she was shivering, expecting her skin to turn even more fragile and fuse with the quaint world. “B-But you—“
“Not to worry Trixie, I can touch you all I wish, you just can’t touch me of your own free will,” she chuckled as she brought breath closer to the other’s ear, “However if you refuse my offer, you can touch me all you want. I’m suppose to leave you to Luna, if you say no, but I’m still being fair if I leave her to find what’s left of you.”
Trixie could feel it, her former rival casting a shadow over her with that corrosive smile once again. Three words were whispered into her ear, ones the unicorn refused to repeat. “That’s all I require.”
Twilight breathed in the blue scent.
“You smell of chrysanthemum and your ceremony hasn’t even begun.”
Trixie stared into those deep, indigo eyes that only showed her in their reflection. She’d found herself seemingly speechless given her situation and the staggering proposal of a single mare able to permit her a second chance out of… obsession as she so eloquently called it.
“So Trixie, is to receive a ceremony?” she sighed, slowly coming to terms that she may well be dead. The unicorn starting to wish she’d sunken to the depths of this earth and became entangled in thorns rather than acknowledge her ultimate defeat.
Twilight’s hoof traveled once again, from frail chin to one’s supple neck as she strides to the dead mare’s blind spot. “After my brother and Cadence, we’ll be the second pair to be buried together in a chapel built just for us,” she wrapped another hoof around the other’s waist and gently squeezed until the two were in a true embrace. “They’ll encase us both, only the softest silk lining your coffin… I begged Luna and Celestia for this until I couldn’t stop crying…”
Trixie pushed the deity aside, using her own strength to force them apart and stepped away from the accursed creature before she found herself a flower.
“And if Trixie becomes yours, then this ceremony, this chapel will go to waste?” she clenched her hoof, she loathed the notion of what she was considering.
“… Yes, I suppose it would, for now,” Twilight scoffed, her smile growing softer to match her royal tone, less genuine perhaps.
“You’re still parading that farce, even when I told you I’ve seen the full extent of your obsession?”
The immortal stepped toward the performer, the breeze still blowing against her polished mane and posh attire. Trixie found her cheeks gradually turning another shade whenever she heard that word, obsession. Before she could offer response she felt the touch against her bare chest, the sensation making its way to her chin, cupping it firmly.
“I’d be a fool to lose you to Luna you know… If you become mine I’ll give you all my knowledge and strength, look here…” Twilight guide Trixie’s eyes to her expression, “I’ll even teach you how to smile. Just take mine, it was meant for me, but never upon this face.”
Trixie shut her eyes, that smile that cast shadows and accents a silhouette even in the sun’s light, it wouldn’t win.
“You might want to hurry, you’re already running out of time.”
The showmare opened her eyes only to find Twilight’s fixed on a specific spot, curiosity beckoned her eyes as well. Both widened with disbelief as she saw her forehoof peel in a spiral accent, every fiber that escape her breaking into beautiful petals against the wind, that for whatever reason now began to come as a chill after all this time.
Her body feeling as though it was composed only of air, it felt as if she’d abandoned all her insides as the wind serenade ever bristle of fur her coat kept.
She looked to the one who had cursed her, all she saw was the same grin she’d curtained her eyes from before. That grin only seemed to grow darker whenever the unicorn found herself stricken with fear or uncertainty so certain she could only be described as predictable.
Trixie took a deep breath as she glare at the goddess, almost snarling at her. What she’d took as smug or snide before was slowly changing, Twilight had always been honest, just never so… provocative or insinuating. Though she’d spoken from the heart, of what she wished for, a partner to give her proper mind to govern the ponies she ruled for now.
Despite that, princess Twilight just plain pissed her off. The very air around her was so clean, calm, it wasn’t condescending, but it couldn’t very well be seen as anything else.
Trixie swat away the princess’ hoof.
“Fine, Sparkle! … Trixie will be yours, if only to have the chance at revenge for the who sentenced her here,” she grit her teeth, she was close to biting her own tongue for being able to succumb at all. “But know this princess, Trixie will never bow to you, is that understood!?”
Twilight chuckled once again, it seemed as if she found humor in every word her fellow equine spoke.
“Of course you wouldn’t… if you serve me, I’ll bow to you night and day, oh Great and Powerful Trixie,” she held a hoof to her immortal heart and swore upon it, “now, if you truly intend to be mine, then you must speak those words.”
Twilight offered her hoof and the very smile she intended for Trixie. “I’ve had my eye on you for so long, now, heed my order, so it shall be your turn.”
Trixie took a solemn breath and spoke those three words loud and clear as she came into contact with her new keeper. In the blink of an eye she was snatched forward and pulled into a waltz, she felt her breath, tasting the royal scent, it was then she realized that the roses smelled the same.
“You’re mine now, till the day you never die,” she pursed her lips and the two intertwined with azure. The instant their muzzles met the magician burst, blown apart by the sudden gust of wind as she transformed to suit the earth. The wind carried her consciousness, her body now long gone against the countless strings of crimson and coal.
“… Not again,” she groaned as her head throb a familiar rhythm, “where is Trixie now?”
As her eyes gathered focused she found herself atop a red rug, its trimming pure gold. The floor made of marble that kept a marvelous reflection within it.
“Is Trixie… dead?” she stood from the rug, to her surprise she immediately realized where she was as she furrow a cautious brow at the three alicorns surroundings her… all with faces the same color as the rug’s carpet. The smallest of the three burying her face between her hooves.
“N-No… I brought you back.”
It was all Twilight could do to keep herself from dying of embarrassment. The silence that came after was deafening, it seemed to devour the room the same as the light from the setting sun that bled through the immense stained glass.
Quickly Trixie checked her body for imperfections. None…, she sighed with relief, But why…, she thought. Nopony spoke, all kept bloody cheeks, and then, her cheeks soon gained a spot of color. It was the only explanation she could find: that they’d seen everything before she’d arrived, but… Twilight’s godly air had vanished and she appeared the same as Trixie remembered her adversary.
Luna was the first to step forward, she tread down from the throne and led her graceful form forward. Only stopping inches away from the unicorn as her large stature forced her to look down upon the new adviser.
The lunar equine sighed. “It would seem Twilight Sparkle hath proven our earlier assumption incorrect. What we believed as obsession and hatred ‘twas in fact affection and admiration, though… we were quite surprised to see thee persuaded in such a manner.”
Luna cleared her throat as she avoided Trixie’s gaze, the words that come were awkward enough.
“But, the princess said I had to be confident… s-so I approached her how I… thought she would,” Twilight kept her burning face hidden.
“Ah-Twilight! H-How could you think I would-and just so—“
“Come now dear sister, you should take it as a show of flattery. She found her courage and did so without fail.” Luna chuckled at her elder sister’s bewildered expression.
“But… Twilight,” Celestia furrowed a concerned brow, “now I wonder what you truly think of me,” she sighed. “However, success is success and I suppose congratulations are in order.” Celestia smiled at her treasured, former student.
“T-Thank you princess, can I, take Trixie with me now? We have a lot to get started on.”
“Why of course Twilight, but you must remember, that you are no longer my student. You needn’t ask my approval of every little thing.”
“Yes princess.” The miniature alicorn teleported to the one she wanted most and nuzzled her.
Both princesses nod. “Wait, what about—“ the shimmer of her lavender horn took them to Twilight’s corridor of the castle as the sun had vanished under the horizon and the moon took its place.
The night had seemed endless, the eternity itself now at its end as the sun was due to rise at any second.
Trixie had resisted all sleep that evening, not that repose was possible with all she’d learned in a single moon. The unicorn now trot the enormous hallway, doors at every corner of her eye, Celestia and Luna’s guardsmen all watching in awe as the unicorn stride in such a queer fashion. They had been informed shortly before, but they’d only just begun to believe their eyes.
The showmare conducted herself flawlessly upon two legs, the two others in position. One held to her spine and another housing a violet, velvety cushion that kept a symbol of indefinite power.
She was outfit with a pearly vest, and onyx coat with twin tails; purple trimmed the ends of the coat as well as the black stockings she wore. Instead of the traditional tie she fastened the jewel from her cape, it sat as her collar’s crest. The emblem of her devoted entity was affixed to the left knee, custom gloves fit atop her forehooves, and not a single piece of cloth was permitted crease or fold.
The mare’s mane and tail were tied as the royal handbook stated, and just as the book unnecessarily stated she kept a keepsake, rather a weapon at her side, a stiletto was her choice. This was for the sake of safety, as a butler was to fulfill every condition, including bodyguard.
As she continued down the lavished hall she soon found the stares of her keeper’s guardsmares, they reminded her of a coward whose name she couldn’t quite place.
Shortly after she arrived at the princess’ chamber, paying no mind to the two guards at the entrance as they need her approval before she needed theirs, she knocked three times and slowly the gigantic door opened. She passed through the door and approached the one who allowed her another chance at being alive, she witnessed the alicorn on her throne that faced outward into the horizon. Trixie ascend the stairs and arrived at the throne’s feet, eyes transfixed on her savior.
The goddess sat upon her golden canopy, one leg crossed over the other and hooves set upon the chair’s limbs. Her expression was questionable, not a smile nor a frown. “You’re late.”
The sun had begun to rise and its radiant glow refract from the large glass, neither equine blinked. The day had come and as she’d sworn, Twilight bowed her head to her butler.
In turn Trixie kneel, her three tails carelessly falling to the floor. “My apologies, I wanted to make certain everything was close to the epitome of perfection you described.” Trixie took the royal’s crown from the cushion and as instructed she kissed the polished crown before gently setting it atop the one she served.
“You've done well, but I expect better next time.” Her head rose and eyes met the sun.
“Trixie smirked at the sun-entranced deity. “Hmm, you seem to be wearing your mane like Celestia, a single eye hidden under extravagance. Is this a common practice?”
Twilight sighed at the light peered over them. “My eye has acquired an unusual zeal and envy, it only sees you when it can see, so I won’t let it into the light. My sight is set to my subjects, it would only get in the way.”
Trixie chuckled.
“To think, you sacrificed so much for me, your obsession truly does run deep your majesty. I’m flattered, and now I’m yours entirely, yet you aren’t smiling.”
“That’s because you've stolen it... and what did I tell you about calling me such things?” Twilight glared at her partner.
“A thousand pardons, Sparkle,” Trixie stood from her knee, showing the smirk she’d supposedly stolen, her smile silhouetting even as the gracious sun shone so brightly against their skin.
“Trixie… I shared all my knowledge with you and strength to oppose any I shouldn’t wish to…”
“And Trixie is ever-grateful and indebted to you, it’s why Trixie is as adequate as she has ever been.”
“And surely by now… you’re aware of your killer, how unlikely it is you’ll ever have your revenge. Yet, you still serve me?”
Trixie’s smile only grew, it smeared against her word through pursed lips. “Trixie knows you had not dealt the killing blow, though you find yourself responsible when you played little part. And even if you had, that would only give Trixie more reason to stay by your side.”
Twilight never met Trixie’s eyes as they conversed, only the sun had seen them this day. “Trixie… tell me, if you could act upon those obsessions we talked about yesterday, what would you do?”
“Trixie would guide you to your princess-sized canopy and sully the sheets with your screams and warm whispers. I would fuel your every fire and heed your body’s every command over and over again until the sun once again fell to its own bed.”
Trixie drew closer and touched her highness’ temple, brushing a hoof through her lovely mane, their breaths now close enough to merge. “You see, I consider this desire to serve you an obsession of my own, and it runs much, much deeper than any other I possess.”
Twilight stood from her throne and shoved the shameless mare. “Trixie, how can you say something so, embarrassing?” her tail and mane both swinging side to side as she shook, holding her flushed cheeks, her regal farce now failing the bookworm.
Apparently she pushed harder than she expected, her alicorn strength was something she’d yet to study, as she sent her servant darting backward amidst the air. With minimal effort the unicorn adjusted her position and land nearly without a sound, the cushion carelessly landing in her hoof.
“A sparkling butler, who can’t admit to this much, isn’t worth her weight in gold.”
Twilight had finally shaken her blush, she looked to the one she’d saved as she stood in front of her golden throne.
“Are you saying, that your obsession is so deep!? That it goes so far that you’d service one… responsible for your death?”
Trixie kneel once more, a single hoof to her back as she held the cushion forward. She made certain to lock eye with her ruler as she shown what was stolen; what was meant for the other. And spoke those three words without fail.
“Yes, my mistress.”
