Return to Disharmony

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Trixie saw herself standing on a large, wooden stage in the middle of the canterlot courtyard as legions of fans cheered below her. She saw colorful sparks dancing beside her as everypony in Equestria cheered and stomped their hooves in delight. She had everypony around her immersed in the show and now there was nothing left to do but begin the grand finale.

“Thank you, thank you all for your applause but now I must ask you to be silent for I, the great and powerful Trixie, am about to perform a trick that nopony has ever done before!”

Behind her, the purple curtains were enveloped in a spiky wave of azure energy as they were pulled back by an unseen force. The crowd gasped as they all laid their eyes on the dreaded Ursa Major. The Ursa Major was over fifty feet tall with large jagged teeth, beady yellow eyes, and blue fur which displayed the stars of the night sky all over its body. The Ursa Major snarled at Trixie from behind its metal cage while Trixie merely looked at her frightened crowd with smirk on her face.

“As you can see fillies and gentlecolts, behind me is the dreaded Ursa Major. Do not be alarmed for long for I, the great and powerful Trixie, shall tame this beast before your very eyes into becoming my trusty steed.”

From the murmurs quietly beginning to travel throughout the crowd, she knew that she had the audience’s full attention. Without a second’s thought, she enveloped the lock on the cage with spiky energy before unlocking it and allowing it to fall to the ground with an audible crash.

The audience was still, so quiet in fact that nothing could be heard but the sounds of the Ursa Major who had not yet discovered its own freedom. Trixie turned away from the audience and faced the Ursa as she enveloped the door in spiky energy and pulled so that it swung open before her, allowing the Ursa to escape.

At the sight of the released Ursa, many members of the audience screamed while others began to quickly make their way to the safety of their homes. Trixie was about to say something when the Ursa let loose a powerful roar which silenced her audience almost immediately.

“Now stay calm everypony, this act requires total and complete concentration.”

Trixie closed her eyes and began to concentrate. In her mind, she saw herself enveloping the Ursa Major in her energy before gently scratching the Ursa’s fur. The Ursa resisted for a moment before it started to calm down. She could feel the creature’s eyes becoming heavier and heavier as she continued to scratch its ears and muzzle.

It’s working. She thought to herself, it’s really working.

Suddenly, a loud knock was heard, causing Trixie to break her concentration. She tried to regain her composure when suddenly another knock sounded which shattered whatever instance of concentration she had left.

When her concentration left, her progress went with it for the Ursa suddenly made a loud roar before stomping one of its forepaws into the stage, splintering parts of it upon impact.

The crowd began to panic as everypony frantically tried to find safety from the wrath of the Ursa Major.

“She’s a fake!” One pony cried.

“A charlatan!” Another screamed over the rush of the crowd.

“She’s going to kill us all!” A third unknown pony cried in a panic.

While the crowd was busy running for safety, Trixie found herself shaking before the awesome sight of the Ursa Major. As the Ursa sank its head towards Trixie, she began to scream before the world around her gave way to the darkness.

•••

Trixie’s eyes opened wide as she sat upright in her cot. A ray of sunlight poured in through the hole in the roof of her small shack which blinded her before causing her to shut her eyes tight and block it out with her hoofs. As she groaned in pain, a series of loud thumps were heard coming from the other side of the door.

“Trixie, Trixie are you in there? It’s almost dawn, you need to get started!”

Trixie’s eyes readjusted to the sudden amount of sunlight in the room as she reluctantly crawled out of bed and put on her purple uniform. As she got dressed, she projected a wave of energy towards the handle on the door and “welcomed” her boss into the shack.

“Good morning Mr. Leo.” Trixie said sarcastically as she tried to shake the remaining sleep from her eyes.

Mr. Leo was a brown earth pony with short, squared off brown hair with a matching goatee. He had yellow eyes which shot an angry look at his tenant and a cutie mark on his flank which showed a chisel with its blade pointed towards a block of marble, represented his amazing knack for sculpting works of art from the toughest marble in Equestria and his job as the royal sculptor for the royal family.

“Don’t start with me Trixie, now you know that I don’t necessarily mind you using my shack while you’re in between jobs but I at least want you to start working in the garden on time, especially since you’re right here.”

Trixie met Mr. Leo shortly after she ran out of Ponyville. Broke and homeless, Trixie asked Mr. Leo for a place to stay and Mr. Leo allowed Trixie to stay in his spare shack towards the edge of the Canterlot sculpture garden. In exchange for room and board, Trixie had to help Mr. Leo keep the sculpture garden in shape for the many guests who regularly visit the garden to see many of Mr. Leo’s creations…especially the “newest” addition which was sent from Ponyville a few weeks ago.

“I’m sorry Mr. Leo…I’ve just been having a few late nights lately.”

“I don’t care Trixie,” Mr. Leo said impatiently, “you’re job here is to go out into the garden and help me manage the garden. If you’re in your hut all day, sleeping the entire day away while I’m in there busting my back then you’re not really earning your keep now are you.”

Trixie groaned under her breathe as reluctantly shook her head.

“It’s nice that you understand, now come on, you’re already a few hours behind and we have a lot of work to do today.” Mr. Leo said as he walked out towards the field.

“Yes sir.” Trixie said as she followed her boss out into the field.

Today’s going to be a long day.

Chapter 2

“Alright now Trixie, today I have to work on an important piece for the upcoming celebration. While I’m working on it, I want you to maintain the garden and make sure no suspicious ponies come along to make a mess of things understand?”

“Yes sir,” Trixie said flatly.

“Also, I don’t want to hear any more complaints about you harassing the visitors. If anypony comes up to me today and tells me that you’ve been slaking off, I’ll dock you an hour’s pay understand?”

“Yes sir,” I suppose not everypony is ready to learn about my greatness.

“Good, now today I want you make each statue on the east end shine. Also be careful around the Discord statue, there has a lot of strange rumors are flying around Equestria about it being possessed or something.”

“Alright sir, I’ll make sure to clean all the statues.”

“Good, then I’ll see you later and try not to mess up.” Mr. Leo said in a half serious, half joking tone.

Mr. Leo disappeared behind the entrance to his studio, a large wooden house with earthly tones and brown paint with an emblem resembling Mr. Leo’s cutie mark emblazoned on the front door. As Trixie walked away from Mr. Leo’s studio, she could hear the sounds of chiseling coming from behind the doorway.

•••

Trixie carried around a small pale filled halfway with soapy water. While her unicorn magic helped her to clean many of the statues fairly fast, time still slowed to a crawl for Trixie as she slowly started on Mr. Leo’s assignment.

I still don’t believe this, I, the great and powerful Trixie, forced to work as a groundskeeper for an old goat who carves rocks all day long.

Trixie had finished her first statue for the day and walked towards the nearest one, a statue with four fillies stacked on top of one another representing friendship.

Humph, if I still had my wagon, I’d be able to rack in more than enough money to quit this demeaning job.

“I could help you with that.”

Trixie heard a voice coming from behind her, causing her to turn around only to find nothing.

Must be hearing things…

Ignoring the strange voice, Trixie continued to wash the statue.

As time went on, Trixie had finished washing statue after statue after statue along the eastern part of the sculpture garden. As she neared the end of her quota, she found herself standing in front of the statue of Discord.

The statue of Discord depicted a strange creature with the body of a dragon, horns, the paw of a lion, the talon of a griffin, the leg of a horse, and the leg of a lizard, holding its arms out as a look of fear spread across its face. Trixie didn’t know the specifics about this strange statue except that it had come from Ponyville and that a mysterious rumor had circulated which related to this statue.

“Superstitious fools, afraid of a stupid rock.”

“Now that’s not very nice, I’m actually quite eloquent once you get to know me.”

Trixie jumped, spilling her bucket of soap onto the ground, as she frantically looked around to see where the voice was coming from. After she chided herself at jumping at the air, the begrudgingly traveled back to the worker’s quarters to refill the bucket. As she walked towards the quarters, she took one last look at the Discord statue before calling a stupid rock under her breath.

•••

Trixie walked into the worker’s quarters behind Mr. Leo’s home. She took the empty bucket in her teeth and dropped it into the sink without thinking. The bucket clanked loudly against the hard surface of the sink which caused Trixie to cringe as she heard her boss yelling at her from his house.

“What’s going on out there?”

“Nothing Mr. Leo, I just dropped something in the sink.”

“Well try to keep it down out there, I’m trying to concentrate!”

Trixie grumbled as she turned on the sink and added some soap, creating a soapy mixture which created foam which rose over the edge of the bucket. Trixie blew the excess suds off and carried the bucket with her magic, careful to not spill anymore on the ground lest she have to deal with Leo’s mouth again.

Trixie made certain to avoid the Discord statue as she continued her job for the day. When she was finally finished, she stole one uneasy look at the Discord statue as she walked towards the worker’s quarters to deposit the bucket and check in with Mr. Leo.

As she passed his home, she noticed that she couldn’t hear the sound of chiseling from within, meaning that he must’ve been finished with his job as well.

“Trixie!”

Trixie looked up to see Mr. Leo standing in the doorway of the worker’s quarters with an angry look on his face.

“I saw you avoiding the Discord statue, now I know I told you to be careful around the Discord statue but I didn’t say that you could slack off in your duties.”

“I was going to do it late-“

“Save it Trixie, I’m docking you half an hour’s pay! Now drop off the bucket and follow me, I need a second opinion on the piece that I’m working on.”

“Yes sir…”

As Trixie passed Mr. Leo, she couldn’t help but calling Mr. Leo every terrible name in the book.

“I bet you’d love to see him suffer huh my little pony.”

Trixie stopped in her tracks and looked around the worker’s quarters.

“What in the world is wrong with you Trixie?”

“Go ahead, tell him that you’ve been hearing voices from nowhere, I’m sure he’ll understand without sending you away.”

“N-nothing sir just thought I heard something.”

“Well don’t go crazy now; I’m not giving you nearly enough work for you to go loopy on me.”

Trixie dumped the bucket into the sink and followed Mr. Leo into his studio, a large empty room with chiseling tools lining the walls, where a large slab of carved marble sat in the center of the room with a small stool stationed in front of it.

“So, what do you think?”

Trixie could’ve lied but she knew that Mr. Leo would’ve seen through her faux criticism. She sighed and took a closer look at unfinished sculpture when she saw something that dropped her jaw and caused her to rush towards it.

“Hey be careful!”

Ignoring Mr. Leo, Trixie rushed over until she was spitting distance away from the sculpture. To her shock, she wasn’t wrong with her assumption and shook her head in disbelief.

Sculpted into the marble's surface was the face of the mare who had ruined her life.

Chapter 3

“Who is this?”

“Who?”

“The mare in the sculpture, who is she?”

Mr. Leo walked towards a clipboard hanging on the wall. After a brief moment, he answered Trixie with…

“Twilight Sparkle, according to the princess and the photograph she gave me the other day with the order. Why are you so interested in this mare though, it’s honestly a surprise to see you show in interest in someone other than yourself.”

Trixie growled before she took a deep breath and continued the conversation.

“The mare…Twilight I should say, was the one who ruined my career by showing me up and forced me to run out of Ponyville.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that, something about your fans leading an Ursa…an Ursa…minor, yeah that was it, an Ursa minor into town before Twilight took it down singlehandedly. Yeah, I heard it took them weeks to repair the damage though…so she’s the reason you had to go on the road?”

“Yes Leo, after she vanquished the Ursa there was no way that could show my face around Equestria, especially after my name was tarnished by my failure to subdue the Ursa Minor myself. After everypony found out that I had never vanquished an Ursa Major on my own, everypony disregarded my amazing feats as more lies and I was forced to find work elsewhere.”

“Well that’s certainly a sad story Trixie,” Mr. Leo said as he put a hoof to his eyes and wiped away an imaginary tear, “really brings a tear to the eyes. Unfortunately for you though, you kinda deserved it.”

“Excuse me!?!”

“Yeah, the way I see it, if you don't have the power to back up your claims, you shouldn't have made them in the first place. Now I'm sorry that your fans brought a monster the size of a building into ponyville but they only did it because they believed in your outrageous claims. If you hadn't built yourself up like you were so amazing and powerful, the Ursa wouldn't have been brought in, you'd be on the road, and I'd have my shed. So as I said before, you deserved it and Twilight had nothing to do with your fall from grace. Stop shifting blame and take responsibility for your actions Trixie!”

Trixie’s anger boiled over inside her skull until she found herself lifting a chisel high into air. She launched the chisel towards the Twilight sculpture’s head when something slammed into her and sent her crashing to the floor behind the chisel. As she shook her head, she looked behind her to see Mr. Leo angrily staring at her as she slowly rose from the floor.

“Now Trixie, I’ve put up with a lot of your antics now, but I cannot allow you to ruin my latest piece just because of a grudge.”

Mr. Leo walked towards the door and opened it before lifting a hoof and pointing towards the outside.

“Get out!”

As Trixie walked out the door, she felt tears rolling down her face. As she walked towards her hut, she could hear Mr. Leo slamming the door behind her as he started to get back to work.

•••

Trixie walked into her hut near the outskirts of the sculpture garden and jump into her small, damaged cot in the corner of her suffocating little home. She was too angry and hurt to notice the smell of dust which filled the air and too tired to hear the creaks of the ancient mattress as she tossed and turned in a futile attempt at finding comfort. She was too tired to fight and for the first time in nearly two weeks, she had managed to go to sleep as soon as she laid her head down.

•••

In her dreams, Trixie was at her most vulnerable. While she dreamed, she lacked the bolstering attitude of a performer in her element. She lacked the will to continue even after the show was already over. She lacked the voice which chased away the feelings of self-doubt and inferiority, and she lacked the ability to forget how far she had fallen.
Trixie found herself running out of Ponyville as she was chased by the Ursa Minor. She felt the ground shaking beneath her hooves as the beast roared angrily in reply. The landscape faded to black around her, growing darker and darker with each step she took, until she was running in a faded void with the dreaded Ursa growing closer and closer. She tried to run faster but it seemed as if her legs grew heavier and heavier, her lungs growing more and more belabored until she could barely draw in the tiniest breath. The thumps grew more and more severe until she felt herself being thrust into the air nearly a foot at a time.

The Ursa was almost upon her but she couldn’t risk a peak to turn around. She felt the air itself bend around the Ursa’s claws as one was raised into the air around her. She couldn’t run anymore and resigned herself to her impending doom when suddenly; a purple light appeared around her.

Trixie turned to see the Ursa enveloped in a purple wave of energy. Between them, a purple unicorn who she recognized as Twilight Sparkle, was straining from effort before suddenly the Ursa disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Twilight turned around to face her but Trixie couldn’t help but back away. Twilight’s eyes were completely white, glowing with the power of magic as a dissonant grin was spreading across her face.

“What’s wrong Trixie?” Twilight said in a mocking tone, “you can’t take care of a little Ursa minor? Whatever happened to the great and powerful Trixie huh, I thought that you could take care of an Ursa Major single-handedly.”

“I could…it’s just…”

“It’s just what Trixie? It’s just that you’re not skilled enough, your magic not powerful enough? You’re just like me; we both had the same potential Trixie, what’s really keeping you from vanquishing the Ursa Minor besides ineptitude and inferiority.”

Trixie felt the anger in her flare.

“Stop it Twilight…or I’ll…”

“…run and hide while the real mares do your dirty work, because if that’s true then maybe your talent is running instead of magic.”

“No, you’re wrong; I’m the great and powerful Trixie. I vanquished an Ursa Major; I don’t have to take lip from an upstart who got lucky!”

Twilight’s eyes suddenly turned jet black as her face contorted to a visage of pure rage. Twilight enveloped Trixie in a black wave of energy before pulling her close to her face, so close in fact that Trixie could sense the rage boiling out of Twilight’s body.

“Lucky?!? If it wasn’t for me, Ponyville would be in ruins thanks to you and your fan club. If it’s anypony who should consider themselves luck, I’d say it’s the one who got out of her own mess with nothing more than a few broken knick-knacks and a damaged caravan.”

Trixie began to weep helplessly as Twilight’s words hit her in her soul, as she remembered how much she had lost when her broken promises came back to haunt her.

“Wh-what do you want me to admit…that I’m a failure, that I can’t live up to my own legacy, that I can’t ever hope to accomplish my own goals, or that I’m destined to die alone and forgotten like my father?”

“Actually my dear, I believe that what you just said will be enough.”

Twilight’s body suddenly began to change as Trixie witnessed the metamorphosis. Her snout extended itself until it was almost poking Trixie in her eye, her body straightened itself out to almost serpentine proportions, and her limbs each morphed into strange new forms vastly different from her formerly equine features.

Trixie looked on in horror as “Twilight’s” body changed into the Discord’s form. The black energy that had previously surrounded her was now replaced with a sharp talon which clamped uncomfortably around Trixie’s neck.

“Now I must say it really is quite rare to meet someone as unsure of themselves as you. I mean, I know that it’s in my job description to spread chaos and misery across Equestria but never before have I witnessed such sadness and self-hatred coming from any one pony.”

For once in her life, Trixie was speechless.

“I understand, it must be hard for you to meet someone at a higher wrung of the food chain. I personally felt the same way when I was bested by those little…but enough about me; tell me about you, my little pony.”

Still, Trixie was speechless but now it was from lack of oxygen instead of a lack of bravery.

“What’s wrong, cat’s got your tongue?” Discord said in an overly jovial tone as he tightened his grip and pulled Trixie closer to his face, as if she’d say something now that her oxygen was deprived.

“Oh right, I forgot you little one’s required air to live…” Discord said before loosening his grip and allowing her to fall onto the cold hard checkered floor which had suddenly materialized beneath them. “…my mistake, you see you tend to forget minor things like that after you’ve been imprisoned for a thousand years…twice!”

“O-okay, well what do you want with me?”

“My oh my, you certainly don’t waste time cutting to the chase huh sweetie?”

Discord suddenly materialized a black La-z-boy chair out of the ground as he took a seat and crossed his mismatched legs.

“Well you see my dear, the thing they forget to mention about prisons is that even the most secured prison can't prevent the imprisoned from communicating with the outside. You see, after I recovered from the prospect of spending the rest of my natural life in bondage, I had already begun to plan out my escape.”

“Your escape?”

“Why yes my little parrot, my escape. As wacky as I appear on the outside, the inside hides a mind much smarter than the average Equestrian. Y’see little one, before they sealed me away, I had already created contingency plans that would one day aid in my escape. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before the seal weakened and my reign could begin anew but I figured, why wait for another thousand years to pass when I can begin my new reign ahead of schedule. That’s where you come in great and powerful one.”

“Me?”

“Unless there’s another pony hidden in your subconscious, I’d say yes. Anyways, I want you to help me out with my plans of escape, since I believe that you’d be the perfect choice of aid in my escape.”

“But why me, aren’t you worried that I’d just go to the princesses. Wouldn’t you be weary of trusting anypony with such an important task, especially since they’d just go to the princesses or the keepers of harmony?”

Discord scratched his chin in thought for a moment. “Well my dear, you do raise some very good points about the flaws in my plans but all I have to offer is one startling rebuttal.”

“And what, pray tell would that be?”

“Well little Trixie, do you really want to give that Twilight Sparkle another reason to show you up? Another opportunity for her to show you just how out leagued you are compared to her, the pony who vanquished me, Ursa, and Nightmare Moon?”

Trixie looked down at the checkered floor and frowned.

“I’m not really as heartless as the rest of those ponies think I am Trixie.” He said as he lightly touched her cheek with his paw, “I can do anything I want honestly, I mean I can take powers away or…” Discord said as he wrapped himself around Trixie, “I could just give them away.”

In Discord’s hand, a white ball of light floated above his talon. As Trixie’s eyes glued themselves to its brilliance, she could hear the crackle of electricity surging just beneath the sphere’s surface.

“What is that?” Trixie asked dumbly.

“This dear is…a gift.”

Trixie could barely contain her excitement.

“Within this sphere is one tenth of my vast reservoirs of magic. For your services, I will give you a taste of my power as an incentive for you to do a really good job. What you do with this power, I honestly don’t care. How you use it is completely up to you. Lastly, but best of all, this power will allow you to show up anyone in Equestria, up to and including the princesses and the keepers of harmony.”

Trixie felt the allure of the power in Discord’s talon but still felt a part of herself becoming hesitant at the thought of accepting the gift.

“Don’t worry my dear, my gifts lack expiration dates so you can just accept it whenever you decide to take me up on my offer.”

Discord then arose from his seat, took three long strides away from Trixie and held out his paw as his fingers were poised to snap. The last thing Trixie heard in her dream was Discord saying “remember my dear; I’ll always be with you.” Before he snapped his fingers.

•••

Trixie found herself sitting upright in her cot as moonlight poured in from the cracks in the ceiling. She felt moisture all over her face as she found herself sweating in fear.

“Was that all a dream? “ Trixie thought to herself, “am I going insane?”

“Well they say that insanity it merely a sign of acute intelligence my dear.”

Trixie frantically looked around her ruddy shake as the voice of Discord appeared seemingly out of nowhere. As she looked from wall to wall, she didn’t find any sign of anypony else residing in her shack.

“Is anyone there?” Trixie asked hesitantly.

“Why of course I’m here, did you think that I’d desert you my dear?” Discord said mockingly.

Trixie looked around at the shack once more until she saw something strange. In the broken mirror across from her cot, she saw something strange in her eyes which instantly caught her attention. As Trixie slowly walked closer and closer to the mirror, she saw the object beginning to focus until she saw Discord’s face staring back at her with a demented grin on his face.

“As I always said, I’ll always be near, always!”

Chapter 4

Trixie grabbed her head with her hoofs as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Why are you in my head, why are you IN MY HEAD? Stop it; please get out of my head!”

Discord stretched his arms out wide before leaning back on Trixie’s iris. Though she technically couldn’t feel anything, she still felt something…wrong happening within her eye.

“Well you see my dear, I would love to leave your body but I have plans that require a vessel for it to work properly. You can understand my plight right? Do you know how difficult it is to find a unicorn with magical powers that just happen to come by the sculpture garden where I lie in wait? I can tell you, it’s rare.”

Trixie began to feel her heart racing and her hoofs trembling.

“B-but you said that I had a choice, I never gave my answer.”

“Well my dear, allow me to introduce myself, hello dear, my name is Discord and I’m the spirit of chaos and disarray. I don’t recall ever mentioning you had a choice in the matter.”

Trixie smacked her head into the mirror hard enough for her to feel it cracking against her fur. When she pulled away from the mirror, she saw no wound on her forehead and the image of Discord laughing at her from within her eye.

“Nuh-uh-uh, I can’t have my vessel damaging herself before the job is done can I?”

Somewhere in her mind, Trixie felt something being pulled before she found herself walking out of her shack. Terror flooded her senses but her face wouldn’t allow her to show it. She felt her heart racing and her hoofs trembling yet they continued to carry her forward. She wanted to scream, yell for help, and call out to Mr. Leo, Twilight, Celestia, anypony who could hear her yet her mouth wouldn’t open.

Eventually, she found herself standing before the statue of Discord. The early morning air and crescent moon casting an eerie light on the ominous statue which sent a chill down Trixie’s spine.

“Well, here we are my dear, my home. Now please, please, don’t be unimpressed by my humble abode, I mean it’s much better than your dwellings and a thousand times roomier on the inside.”

“Anyways…”

Trixie heard the snapping of fingers in her head before a spark erupted from the statue. A white orb of light floated from the base of the statue’s skull to ground level where it floated before Trixie’s eyes.

“Beau-ti-ful isn’t it? I shall call it…power. Do you Trixie, swear to be my faithful servant, to love honor and obey my whims whenever I call for your assistance, for now and always, till death do us part?”

Trixie felt something moving her jaw up and down as Discord, in a high falsetto voice said, “Why yes Discord, I do and I find you so handsome as well my master.”

“Oh dear, flattery will get you nowhere, anyways, by the powers invested in me by the powers of chaos and disharmony, I now pronounce you…my faithful servant!”

Trixie saw the light fly into her face and for a moment all she could see was white. When her vision returned, she found herself standing in a steel cage surrounded by darkness.

“Where am I?”

“Well my dear, I’ve decided to take over for the time being until I have everything I need in place.”

Suddenly, a white window appeared before Trixie before it shifted to screen which showed the statue of Discord within the sculpture garden.

“While I’m busy though, you can enjoy the entertainment. Also, please pay attention because you honestly don’t want to miss this.”

●●●

Mr. Leo worked inside his studio where he was just putting the finishing touches on Twilight’s torso. As he worked, he couldn’t think about how Trixie left his studio and how he may have been a bit too hard on her.

Maybe I should…yea, I’ll be sure to apologize next time I see her.

Seconds later, a knock on the door knocked Mr. Leo out of his thoughts and forced him to drop his hammer to ask who was there. He heard someone opening the door as he turned around to see someone standing just beyond the entrance of the studio.

“Oh hello ma’am is there something I can…”

Mr. Leo caught himself as he recognized his worker.

Something’s wrong…

Trixie walked into his studio with dark fur and a gray and white mane. Her features were a strange combination of joy and flatness as she displayed a smirk which seemed much colder and than when she used to smirk to the customers. Her eyes were yellow with blood red irises and even her unicorn magic had changed from periwinkle blue to jet black. As “Trixie” walked into the studio, she shut the door behind her hard enough to crack the edges and splinter the frame. Any other day Mr. Leo would’ve yelled at her for damaging his property but something…something about the way she moved and the way she did it that caused his breath to become caught in his throat as he slowly backed away.

“Why hello there Mr. Leo, lovely weather today wasn’t it?”

The way Trixie’s voice sounded, so flat yet so openly malicious, sent shivers down his spine.

“Who are you?”

“Why it’s just me, Trixie, from the shack from out back. I must say though, it is awfully uncomfortable in there, can I apply for some new living quarters?”

Mr. Leo backed into one of the closest walls as “Trixie” began to advance.

“I know you’re not Trixie, now I’m going to ask again…who are you?”

Mr. Leo wrapped one tail around one of the chisels that hung low on the wall behind him. As he wrapped his tail around the handle, “Trixie” grabbed the hammer that Mr. Leo had left on the floor and twirled it absent-mindedly in the air as she displayed a wicked grin.

“Well sir, as I told you before, I am Trixie.

Before his eyes, Trixie’s tooth had suddenly sharpened to a point until enlarged to a single, sharp fang.

“YOU’RE NOT TRIXIE!”

Mr. Leo threw his chisel at “Trixie” and watched as it sailed through the air towards “her” face. In an instant, the chisel was engulfed in black magic before it dropped to the ground.

“Now is that anyway to act Mr. Leo? Is that anyway to treat your employees?”

Mr. Leo tried to grab another chisel from the wall but black magic had engulfed his entire body found himself being launched through the air, into an adjacent wall with enough force to cause most of the instruments which hung to fall to the ground.

“It looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson.”

Mr. Leo tried to pick himself off the ground when he discovered that he couldn’t feel anything in his lower body except a chill. He looked down to find his legs replaced with gray marble as the chill moved from his hoofs all the way up to his upper thigh.

“Please, stop it! It hurts Trixie, it hurts!”

Mr. Leo thrashed around on the ground as the marble continued its way up his body. His breathing began to grow shallow as the panic surged through his body, choking his lungs and seizing his heart until the chill finally reached his torso. Mr. Leo screamed louder than he ever had before as he felt the stone rising, turning everything it touched into cold, dead marble. He felt the sensation of every organ in his body petrifying from within as the spell surged through him until all Mr. Leo could feel was the spell working its way up his neck. The last thing he saw before the spell finally took hold was the face of his former employee as she smiled and said…

“No wonder the princess enjoyed doing this so much. It’s actually quite fun once you get the hang of it.”

●●●

“Mr. Leo!” Trixie screamed at the screen in front of her as the petrification spell finished turning her boss to stone.

Trixie rammed the bars in her cage futilely as Discord’s laugh echoed throughout the abyss.

“Did you enjoy my little show my dear? I did it especially for you y’know.”

Trixie continued to ram her cage as tears began to fall down her face.

“This isn’t what I wanted! This isn’t what I wanted! This isn’t what I wanted!”

Trixie may not have liked Mr. Leo, but she never wanted to harm him the Discord had. Nobody deserved it, not even her
worse enemy.

Trixie continued to ram her cage until her vision began to blur and her head began to grow cloudy. Defeated, Trixie fell to the ground and watched the image of Mr. Leo, stone cold and immobile, lying on the ground with the most frightened expression on his face.

Suddenly, Trixie saw Mr. Leo’s body becoming incased in black magic as it was lifted into the air high enough to almost touch the ceiling of the studio.

“What are you doing?” Trixie said urgently.

“Oh me,” Discord said mockingly, “I’m just adding an incentive for you.”

Suddenly, the black magic disappeared and Mr. Leo’s statue began to fall to the earth.

“No please! Don’t let him hit the ground! I’ll do anything!”

Black magic surrounded Mr. Leo’s statue once more seconds before its hoofs touched the ground. As Trixie let out a sigh of relieve, Discord began to chuckle wickedly.

“Now that’s what I’d like to hear from a willing vessel.”

Mr. Leo was unceremoniously dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes as Trixie watched her body walking out of Mr. Leo’s studio.

“Where are we going?” Trixie asked as she saw herself walking down a dirt road.

“Oh nowhere special, we’re just going to take a little trip to see some old friends back home.”

Chapter 5

Trixie lied in her cage in the abyss.

She looked at the gray floor of her cramped dwellings, watched the static of the abyss which surrounded her, and absentmindedly watched the screen which showed a worn, dirt road as her body trotted through at a leisurely pace.

It was early in the morning, an hour after she would’ve gotten up to clean the sculptures after…Mr. Leo would’ve started to yell at her.

Her mind replayed the last few hours over and over again, the hostile takeover of her own body, Mr. Leo turning to stone…

She felt lower than she had ever felt before yet after a while, all she felt…was tired.

“How’s it going in there my little vessel?” Discord chimed in mockingly.

Trixie merely snorted when she heard Discord’s voice, not even his voice could lull her from stupor.

“Oh come now, it’s only temporary and I promise I’ll reverse his condition once you’ve done every little thing that I’ve asked of you.”

Trixie rolled on her side as she said “well how am I going to do your favors if you’re using my body.”

Discord gasped as he remembered what he had done and said “oh my, I do apologize for being so heavy-handed with you these last couple of hours but I just knew that unless I was tough on you, we’d have problems with one another.”

“So the best way to avert problems was to take over my body and kill my boss?”

“Again, I didn’t kill anyone and, assuming he had no long term health problems, he should be a-o-kay and besides…you’ll get your body back.”

“When?” Trixie sighed in apathy.

Suddenly, the screen turned black as the abyss around her cage began to fade. In time, more and more of the abyss shifted to become a bright, blinding light until Trixie couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer in its brilliance. Trixie yelled as she felt something pulling her from the cage into the everlasting light.

When Trixie opened her eyes, she found herself standing atop a tower, specifically on a black disk of magic which levitated of the top of the tower’s spire. Trixie jumped back in surprise and was surprised to see the disc shifting so that she wouldn’t fall off.

“Now that would’ve been an embarrassing way to die, good thing I’m here huh?”

“W-w-what…?”

“…are you doing here, in canterlot, atop the tallest tower overlooking the royal chambers, well this is where I have to cash in one of my favors because you see…I need you to schedule an impromptu visit with the princess today.”

Trixie almost gagged as she gasped in shock.

“What? How do you expect me to get to the princesses? I mean…they have to have thousands of guards in there, not to mention that they are, you know, the princesses.”

Discord laughed.

“Well my dear, I’m an ancient spirit that embodies chaos and disharmony, no one is going to stop me unless I give them permission to. Besides, as long as you’re with me, my lovely vessel, you’re practically immortal anyway.”

Trixie nervously inched her way towards the edge and reluctantly looked over the sides to see the long drop to the streets below. From where she stood, everypony looked like ants scurrying through a narrow tunnel, completely unaware of the mysterious mare which stood in the air stories above them.

Trixie withdrew from the sides as her heart started to race.

“How am I supposed to get down from here anyway? I hope you don’t expect me to jump!”

“Now my dear, I never thought that you’d suggest anything so suicidal. Why don’t you just warp?”

“Warp?” Trixie said incredulously.

“Yeah,” a flash of black light blinded her vision for a moment before Trixie found herself falling out of the sky, “as in teleport, verb, the act of instantly moving from one place to the other.”

Trixie screamed as she fell out of the sky, desperately flailing her hoofs to slow her descent, before a black flash filled her vision and she found herself landing atop the black disc atop the tallest tower.

“P-p-p-please…d-don’t do that…again!” Trixie said as she shivered from fear.

“Well pardon me for providing a visual aid. Anywho, why don’t you just warp to the ground like I did?”

“Because obviously I don’t know how. It’s not like unicorns just wake up knowing to warp like you and…”

“Like me and Twilight can?” Discord mused.

Trixie was silent as she tried to come up with an answer. Nothing came.

“Well it’s no worry my dear, what kind of entity would I be if I didn’t teach you how to warp like I do, especially since you’re going through all the trouble to help little ol’ me with my plans.”

“Not like I have a choice…” Trixie muttered.

“Now then, I suppose the best place to start would be to close your eyes and imagine yourself standing in the place where you want to warp.”

Trixie followed Discord’s instructions and closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself standing on the ground. She felt something building in the base of her horn which caused it to tingle.

“Now then, after you do that, imagine a doorway opening in front of you…”

Trixie saw a wooden doorway appearing in front of her in her mind as the tingle in her horn began to travel upwards until she felt her whole horn tingling with raw magical power.

“Good, great work my little servant. Now then, for the grand finale, imagine yourself stepping through the door until you’re on the other side.”

Trixie did so and the power in her horn began to spread until her whole body was enveloped in it. Her whole body felt warm, tingling as the power soaked into her until all at once she felt nothing. For a brief moment, she felt as if she was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, halfway in and halfway out until she could feel herself again and was surrounded by the sounds of the bustling city surrounded her.

Trixie opened her eyes and felt the ground shaking until she could no longer stand up straight. After awkwardly navigating through the crowd, she uneasily leaned against the side of an adjacent building.

“Not bad servant, though you may want to work on something a bit more…inconspicuous.”

Trixie was too sick to retort and held her hoof to her mouth to keep the nausea from overwhelming her. As she looked ahead, all she could see was the crowd busily trotting about their business, oblivious to the mysterious mare seemingly hugging the side of the building only a few feet away.

“Why don’t they notice me? Don’t they see that I need some help?”

“Well my dear, these ponies are too stuck-up and self-centered to lend a hoof to a stranger in need. In fact, I always wondered why someone as “friendly” as the princess would allow her subjects to act this way towards other ponies…but then again I am talking about the mare who sent her own sister to the stratosphere.”

Trixie tried to get her balance but a wave of nausea overwhelmed her senses. To keep herself from falling over, she held out her hoof and tried to grab the closest thing in front of her which just so happened to be a random stallion.

“Ick,” he yelled as Trixie’s hoof brushed against the side of his jacket, “you’re filthy! Get away from me!”

The stallion jumped away from Trixie as she lost her balance and fell on the sidewalk. As she looked up from the ground, all she could see was the crowd, walking around her, making cruel comments about the way she dressed and the way she looked. Trixie self-consciously at herself and realized how much her body had changed since Discord took over it. Her blue fur and light blue highlights had changed to gray and her entire body was covered in dirt and dust. She hid her face into her hoofs and her face burning from embarrassment. She wanted to crawl into a hole and waste away until she heard Discord speaking to her.

“Now now Trixie, you shouldn’t let these high class sticks in the mud get you down. You hold the powers of a god in your hoofs and you were chosen to become my servant. Do you think that I’d choose any ol’ mare off the streets to take on a task so important?”

Trixie somehow felt a little better when she offered a weak “no” in response.

“Correct, now I can’t have my servant sitting in the corner and crying just because a few ponies don’t know who they’re talking to. I mean, are you just going to lie here on a filthy sidewalk and allow that stallion to get away with his arrogance?”

“Of course not!”

Trixie got off the sidewalk and looked ahead until she saw the stallion who had rudely allowed her to drop. She felt the power building in the base of her horn before she felt the familiar warmth surrounding her. The next moment, she warped a few inches ahead of the stallion who had fallen backwards in surprise, causing a smirk to appear on Trixie’s face.

“I want you to apologize to me.” Trixie said as she watched the stallion picking himself up off of the ground.

“I will do no such thing you litt-“

Trixie built the power up in her horn and released it over herself and the stallion. One moment later, they both found themselves falling out of the sky towards the ground several miles below. The stallion screamed as he fell while Discord laughed heartily inside Trixie’s head.

“You’re insane,” the stallion yelled over the roar of the winds, “put me down, put me down right now!”

“If he’s more patient, he’ll hit the ground any moment.” Discord chuckled.

“I want you to apologize and you’d better hurry, the ground’s coming up any second now.”

The stallion resumed screaming until he looked down and loudly spouted “all right, all right, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please get us down.”

“Why thank you for apologizing sir, I really appreciate it.” Trixie said with a satisfied smirk as she rebuilt the power and enveloped herself and the stallion in it.

The next moment, both ponies found themselves standing in the middle of a crowded street as the crowd looked at the pair with looks which resembled a gamut of shock, surprise, and confusion. The stallion, realizing where he was, quickly crawled away from Trixie as his teeth started to chatter.

“W-wh-who are y-y-y-you?” The stallion stammered as he tried to pick himself up off of the ground.

Trixie arrogantly laughed as she felt the rush starting to return. “It’s been a while” she thought as she arrogantly laughed in the faces of the crowd.

“I’m the great and powerful Trixie,” she boasted, “and I guarantee that everypony here is going to remember my name!”

Trixie rebuilt the power into her horn and warped away from the center of the crowd back to the disc high atop the tallest tower. As she looked on at the city of canterlot, she couldn’t help but beam at herself and her new-found powers. It’s been a while since Trixie felt this joy in her life and for the first time since the Ursa incident, Trixie could feel nothing but pride because for the first time in a long time, she felt in control of her own life again.

“Not bad for a first day…”

Chapter 6

“I’ve never seen anyone master warping so fast my dear.”

“Well I’ve always been good at learning a few extra tricks on the fly.” Trixie laughed.

“Oh and the way you warped that pompous stallion into the sky, o-ho-ho, that was classic my dear. Couldn’t have done any better myself.” Discord said as he reminisced.

“Yeah, and did you see all his friends gawking at me? They looked at me as if I’d sprouted a second head or something.”

In truth, Trixie loved the attention of the crowd as they witnessed her feats of magic. It’s been almost a year since the Ursa incident forced her to work for Mr. Leo and though she wouldn’t admit it, she was happy to finally be back in the spotlight…though she wished that it had happened under different circumstances.

Her thoughts suddenly shifted to Mr. Leo.

“Why so sad my dear, you were so happy a moment ago.”

Trixie knew that she couldn’t trust Discord. She’d have to find a way to free Mr. Leo on her own but until then, she had to pick her moment.

“Oh it’s…nothing. So are there any other tricks that I could learn?”

Discord chuckled warmly inside Trixie’s mind.

“Why of course my dear, what good is unlimited power if you don’t have as many tricks up your sleeves?”

Trixie had a smile on her face, she didn’t know whether or not it was because of the chance to practice magic again or to lull the chaotic trickster into a false sense of security.

“Well what do I get to learn first?”

She could hear him chuckling to herself before he continued.

“Where do you wanna begin?”

Trixie thought back to her days as performer and tried the first trick she could think off. She felt the power building at the base of her horn as she thought of a fresh bushel of daisies. As the power grew, the fragrance of fresh cut flowers filled the air until suddenly, in a flash, a fresh bouquet of flowers appeared in front of her, floating in front of her nose.

“Bravo Trixie, bravo!” Discord cheered as Trixie heard the sound of clapping inside her mind.

A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she remembered her days on the road, traveling from town to town, performing feats of magic for the masses as they cheered her on. She remembered how happy she was when she first bought her shack and left home to start her career. Nothing, short of her discovering her special talent, could compare to her first show when she first made a bouquet appear before her eyes.

Then, just as suddenly, her mood began to change as she sadly remembered how far she had come since then, cleaning statues and getting yelled at when things went wrong, it wasn’t what she’d expected when she first thought of her first visit to Canterlot.

And now it came down to this…

“Is something wrong?”

Trixie didn’t notice the tear running down her face until she had subconsciously wiped it away.

“Oh its nothing,” she lied, “it’s been a while since I performed this trick.”

“Alright then, well my dear, would you like to learn how to use that trick of yours to its full potential?”

Curiosity got the better of her.

“Sure, how?”

Trixie heard the sound of cracking knuckles inside her head before she heard Discord continue.

“Well my dear, instead of making something appear, have you ever thought of making something…disappear?”

Some part of her didn’t like where the conversation was going yet some part of her was too curious to let the question drop so easily.

“Well no…I mean I have tried making ponies disappear in my shows but usually that was a temporary invisibility spell. I’ve never actually tried to make something disappear completely.”

“Wait…you could turn ponies invisible?”

“Well like I said, it was temporary, maybe only three minutes at the most.”

“Oh…how disappointing.” Discord said dejectedly, “it would’ve really helped if you could turn yourself invisible. Anywho, you haven’t thought about making something disappear?”

“Well…” Trixie thought about it for a moment, “no actually.”

“Well how about we start now, with something easy of course like say…that wonderful bouquet you poofed out of nowhere in particular.”

“Alright, where do I start?”

Trixie could swear she could’ve heard Discord thinking inside her mind.

“Well I suppose the best place to start would be to imagine something like a safe or a capsule, y’know, something where you could store these things until you’re ready to appearify them again.”

“Appearify, seriously?” Trixie asked, cocking an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Now don’t look at me like that, what better way would you describe causing something to reappear out of thin air? I’m not a dictionary y’know, just the master or chaos, embodiment of disharmony, blah blah blah, can we please move on? Now then, imagine a capsule or something similar where you can chuck these things until later.”

Trixie closed her eyes and the first thing she saw was an old oak chest with her father’s cutie mark, an oak wand with stars wrapping themselves around it, emblazoned on the lock. She didn’t know why she would’ve thought of it now, after all these years, but since beggars can’t be choosers she chose to focus on the image on the chest as power began to build at the base of her horn.

“Good, now imagine yourself throwing the bouquet into it.”

She imagined herself chucking the bouquet into the chest just as the power began to work its way up her horn. The power released itself almost instantaneously before a flash enveloped the bouquet and caused it disappeared before her eyes.

“Good my pupil, y’know you’re really getting the hang of this more quickly than I thought. I can see that I chose well in my choice of vessel.”

Trixie could feel the pride puffing up in her chest as the praise reached her ears. She couldn’t remember hearing such praise coming from someone besides her father.

“Thank you Discord…” She felt weird saying that to a voice in her mind.

“Why you’re quite welcome my dear. So…do you think that you’re ready to perform my favor yet?”

“I don’t know…even with my new tricks, I don’t know if I’d be able to actually get rid of the princesses for you.”

“I know my dear, I suppose it would be a bit much to ask you to take on the monarchs of Equestria, especially since you’re just getting your wings after all.”

Trixie could hear footsteps going back and forth inside her skull until she heard something like a light bulb going off inside her mind.

“I’ve got it, all I’d need you to do is take me into the throne room. All you’d have to do is avoid the guards, bypass the traps and defenses, and break into the princess’s throne room without getting crushed, trapped, burned, frozen, or banished to an astral body in the sky. Does that sound easier for you?”

“Are you joking?” It was the only thing Trixie could think to say in response to something so ridiculous.

“My dear, I have never been more serious about anything ever before in my entire life. It’s either I take us to the throne room and you take on the princesses or vice versa.”

She could feel the sweat dripping down her face as she considered her options. She either had to work her way into the throne room or she had to take on the princesses, two of the most powerful beings in all of Equestria and one of the few ponies to actually defeat Discord. Her nervousness began to show on her face and all she could think of was failure and the consequences of what she was about to do.

“What if I fail? I could be imprisoned for the rest of my life or even…banished. There’s no way that I could take on the princesses on my own. I’ll never make it past the front do-“

“Now my dear, first off, you hold the powers of unlimited potential in your hooves. You’re a natural magician who can learn any trick, any illusion, anything you wish to learn in the blink of an eye. You can’t run from this Trixie, one way or another you’re going to do this and y’know what my dear, you’re going to succeed and when you do, it’s going to be the greatest, show stopping event in your entire life. In addition, after this day, everypony is going to recognize your greatness from now until the end of time itself.

Trixie heard Discord drawing in a breath before he yelled a single question.

“WHO ARE YOU?”

“Trixie…” She said flatly.

“No my dear, that’s your civilian name, that’s the name of the mare who scrubbed statues and took orders from cantankerous old fogies. I want you to tell me what you’re true name is, the name greatness, the name that the ponies below will chant when they remember this day. Tell me what your name is my dear!”

Confidence built inside Trixie from a place she had forgotten existed. She found her voice, locked away deep inside her from so long ago, tucked away when she could no longer find an outlet to express her greatness to be forgotten forever. She took her voice, loud and confident, and loudly boasted to the heavens above, loudly enough for all of Equestria to hear, “I am the great and powerful Trixie!”

“I’m sorry, once again?”

”I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I AM, NO, I WILL WIN, I WILL SUCCEED!”

“That’s my girl, large and in charge as it should be! So with this in mind, I believe that we’re ready to begin.”

She felt a part of her still giving into the fear in spite of herself.

“Are you sure?” Trixie said apprehensively.

“Of course, and remember Trixie, I’ll be there every step of the way, all you need to do…is lead.”

So with that, Trixie looked upon the royal chambers from above her disc and smirked. The princesses had no idea what was coming for them.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

Trixie warped from atop the tallest tower into an alleyway before walking down a crowded street. As she walked, passing the blue manes who looked down upon her with contempt, she took pleasure in laughing in the face of every ignorant, self-centered pony that had the nerve to look down upon her. She didn’t need to prove anything to these stuck-up blue-manes who walked as if they owned the place, as if they owned the ground they walked on and Trixie was just an unwelcomed guest. She had nothing to fear from them and she knew that in time, she’d be able to show everyone why.

Meanwhile, disc which hung above the tallest tower began to fade until it was nothing more than a memory.

“No turning back now.”

Chapter 7

Hours later, the sun began to set as Luna brought in the new night. The sky had slowly begun to change from blue to a rainbow of fantastic colors before finally beginning to darken.

Two guards stood outside the main gates of the royal castle, taking in the breathtaking sight of the setting dusk as they momentarily forgotten their duties.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” One guard said to his companion as he smiled warmly.

“Yeah, it’s moments like these that make you glad to be alive.”

As the dark sky slowly became illuminated by the stars above, the two guards stood silently by as they kept a watch out for anyone suspicious.

As they stood guard, a thought suddenly appeared in one of the guard’s heads.

“Hey John…you ever wonder why the princess even needs us to stand guard? I mean…she and her sister are so powerful, you’d think that they’d be able to handle almost anything by themselves.”

John merely shrugged in response to his friend’s question.

“Well you know how the princess is Joe, always doing something for the good of her people and such. I guess she bothers keeping us around so that she’d have more time to focus on her…royal duties and such.”

“Meh, I guess you’re right, I just found it od-“

In a flash, Joe had disappeared in a flash of black light, startling John into jumping into the gate, causing it to ring loudly behind him as he frantically looked for his companion.

“Hey Joe, where’d you go? This better not be another one of your tricks!”

“I prefer the term magic myself.”

John turned around to see a gray mare standing behind him, causing him to take to the air out of reflex before calmly landing across from her.

“Did you do this? Where’s Joe and what did you do to him?”

John looked at the mare as she smirked coldly in response. She had gray fur, gray and white hair, and a single buck toothed fang. Her cutie mark was partially obscured by the cloak she wore which hung loosely off her body but for some reason it almost looked transparent, as if it faded in and out of existence every time you watched it.

John angrily asked the mysterious mare what she had done to his partner only be told that she had “sent him away.”

“Sent him away to where?”

The mare had smirked and shrugged her shoulders, as if she had simply had simply made a simple mistake instead of sending a pony to oblivion.

“Why don’t you step forward and see for yourself?”

Red filled John’s vision before the Pegasus took a running charge towards the gray mare. Before his eyes, the mare disappeared in a flash of smoke before he hit something hard which suddenly made him see spots of white. In his last moments of consciousness, John looked up to see the mare smiling before his vision went dark and he felt himself being pulled away…to nowhere

●●●

“That was spectacular Trixie,” Discord said with joy, “you took care of two of the royal guards as if it was nothing.”

Discord’s approval filled Trixie with shame and pride. On one hand she had wished that there was another way to dispatch the princess’s guards but on the other hand she had done what no other pony was able to do. In her mind, she assured herself that they would be safe inside the box she sent them too, especially compared to where Discord wanted her to send them, but some part deep inside wondered whether or not what she had done was truly the lesser of two evils.

She pushed these feelings of worry away before she warped herself into the other side of the royal gates. As she walked deeper into the castle grounds until she found herself walking through a garden. As she walked through it, she couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of it. Wildflowers of various colors and scents grew all throughout the garden, emitting an intoxicating scent that waif through the air to blend into a single, amazing olfactory sensation. Animals like squirrels, blue jays, red jays, flamingoes, buzzards, rabbits, chipmunks, and various other woodland creatures happily frolicked through the courtyard as if there wasn’t a care in the world.

As Trixie looked around, she couldn’t help but shed a tear at the beauty of this place. She felt guilty for what she was about to do and casually wondered what would happen to the creatures once she was finished with the princesses.
She quickly pushed this feeling out of her mind and pulled up her hood, careful to obscure her face so that nopony would see her face. She bolted up the beaten path toward the entrance of the castle. As she ran, she noticed too late a pair of guards looking at her from the highest window before a horn sounded from somewhere inside, awakening every guard and alerting everypony in the vicinity to her presence.

●●●

Trixie wasn’t a fool; she knew that it wouldn’t be easy, waltzing up to the princesses as if it was a stroll at the park. She knew that there was no way that she’d get out of it unscathed, but she didn’t think that the princesses would have so many guards on hand to defend the castle.

Seconds after the horn was blown, wave after wave of pegasi flew in from behind the castle filling the sky with wave of white and gold as they all swooped down in unison like a bird of prey.

Trixie took a running charge into the fray as she built up the power into the base of her horn. As the first wave swooped in, she released the energy, warping herself into the air, atop a guard who had realized too late that Trixie was on his back. Trixie then covered his eyes with her hoofs and awkwardly steered him through the crowd until they both burst through the door and crashed into the castle lobby.

On the other side, more guards (a wider assortment of unicorns and earth ponies) went about their business before immediately spotting Trixie. Trixie warped the guard away before warping around the guards without slowing down. Behind her, she could hear the guards closely behind her in hot pursuit but she kept on running, jumping, charging, and warping around any obstacle that stood in her way.

As she ran, something caught onto her leg and tripped her up as she fell to the ground. She looked down to see a wave of green magic creeping up her leg and keeping her in place as the guards quickly closed in.

Frantically, she looked around and spotted an old gray mare peeking from around a nearby corner. She quickly built up energy into the base of her horn and felt herself being warped.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself at the end of an empty hallway. As she peeked around the corner, she found the gray mare lying on the floor with the creeping magic holding her in place as the confused guards tried to sort out what had just happened.

Trixie ran down the hallway and quickly tried to find a staircase to ascend to the highest level.

“Good show there with the ol’ switcheroo there Trixie.”

Trixie ran in circles as she tried to navigate the halls of the castle. With every step she took, she reflexively looked over her shoulder to make sure that nopony had followed her or alerted any of the guards to her presence.

After what felt like an eternity, Trixie spotted a staircase outside which led to the top of one of the many adjacent towers which lined the perimeter of the castle grounds.

After making sure that the coast was clear, Trixie warped outside a few feet from the tower and quickly dove for some cover in a nearby bush. For a tense moment, she expected a wayward servant or guard to spot her and sound the alarm before she worked up the nerve to run towards the tower. Thankfully, she heard nopony around and quickly made a break for the tower before anything else happened.

Just as she was closing in, a purple flash appeared before Trixie and knocked her backwards through the air. After recovering from the unexpected flight, she looked up, in a mixture of awe and fear, to see Princess Luna standing between her and the tower.

Chapter 8

“FOUL REPREHENSABLE CRETIN,” Luna screamed in rage, “HOW DARE THEE INTRUDE UPON OUR HOME IN THIS MANNER!”

Trixie was pinned, frozen in place as the princess barked her threat. She had no idea if it was the royal Canterlot voice that made it hard for her to move her or the fear of finally facing one of the princesses.

She tried to stammer and all she could do was mutter weakly under her breath.

“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be moving not muttering! Get a move on!” Discord said loudly in Trixie’s head.

Trixie could feel the raw power pooling over Luna, rising into the air like steam bleeding heat into the air around her.

“PREPARE THYSELF FOR THINE RETRIBUTION HEATHEN!”

Trixie felt the air grow heavy as the power built up in Luna’s horn. She saw a blinding flash followed by the air growing terribly warm. She felt the light growing hotter and hotter around her until it became almost to difficult to breathe.
Trixie hastily built up power into her horn and warped.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself standing behind the princess who had dispelled whatever spell she was used and turned around to look for her. When Trixie looked at the spot where she stood, she thought that she could see smoke rising from the grass.

She shivered when she tried thinking of what could’ve caused the smoke…

Trixie ran away from the princess and began to climb the stairs of the tower.

“STAY WHERE THEE ARE, THOU CANNOT ESCAPE THY PUNISHMENT!”

Trixie could feel the raw energy building behind her as she ran up the stairs. She saw a bright flash spark behind her before she felt the air growing warm around her. She looked back to see Luna flying after her. She warped herself up the spiral staircase when the heat grew too warm. She continued to progress slowly up the never-ending stairs, running and warping her way up several steps at a time until she found herself standing before a large wooden door at the top of the tower.

Bursting through the doorway, she found herself standing on a bridge which led to an adjacent tower a few feet away.
Trixie ran onto the bridge and looked back to see Luna absent. For a moment, her hope began to rise before she saw a dark flash appear before her which stopped her in her tracks.

Luna had teleported before Trixie and stood poised to deliver her punishment. Her wings had unfurled as if she was hawk diving to capture its prey and her eyes had glowed white with rage and power. She stood before Trixie, silently leering as Trixie could feel the rage boiling over inside Luna’s body. Luna tucked in her wings and built up the power in her horn.

“THIS GAME ENDS NOW! PREPARE THYSELF FOR THINE PUNISHMENT!”

Trixie saw the flash and felt the air grow warm and instantly warped only to find the air still growing continually warmer. She tried warping around Luna only for Luna to block her path, preventing her from making any progress to the other tower. The air continued to grow warmer and Trixie was starting to have trouble breathing from the rising heat and exhaustion.

“Please…help.” Trixie pleaded as she tried to talk to Discord.

“Oh I’m sure you can handle it dear, what kind of person would I be if I put myself in the middle of your spat?”
“But you said that you’d take care of the princesses…”

“I said that I’d take care of the princesses after you made it to the throne room. Clearly we’re both having some trouble holding up our ends of the bargain aren’t we dear?”

Trixie clenched her teeth as she felt the air becoming more and more unbearable. She wished that she could strangle Discord for putting her in this position, fighting a princess while she felt herself slowly succumbing to the heat. She wished that she could go back in time and stop herself from falling into Discord’s web of lies. Nothing could’ve made this debacle worth it, not even the magic she gained and the tricks she’d learned.

“The tricks…I’ve learned…”

An idea formed in Trixie’s head, it was a longshot but she had to bet everything she had on it.

Trixie forced herself to run in spite of the heat. She felt the sweat pouring down her face and could feel her vision growing darker as the heat exhaustion began to take hold.

“You’re kidding…”

Trixie charged Luna and kept the last of her energy charged in the base of her horn, she couldn’t afford to waste any more than absolutely necessary. Surprisingly, Luna charged as well, head forward and horn pointed dangerously at Trixie’s head. She guessed the distance between herself and Luna and silently counted down to the last possible second.

“Five…”

Luna was a few feet away and closing the distance fast.

“Four…”

Trixie looked to the side to scan the horizon.

“Three…”

She found what she was looking for, a large ornate tower in the center of the castle grounds.

“Two…”

She spotted a row of windows which showed an elegant room where Princess Celestia was speaking to a lone guard.

“One…”

At the last possible second, she released all the stored energy in her horn and warped herself away from the bridge. When she looked at her surroundings, she found herself standing in the center of an elegant throne room, in the presence of a very surprised princess and the guard who was talking to her.

With the last of her strength spent, Trixie succumbed to her weariness and allowed her vision to go dark. The last thing that Trixie heard before she collapsed was…

“Go ahead and rest dear, I’ve got it from here.”

●●●

In a dark abyss, Trixie lied unconsciously on the ground as Discord walked past her body.

As she slept, Discord snapped his fingers and two rotary fans appeared and blew cool wind onto Trixie’s body. He silently patted Trixie on her head and smiled as he said “Good job, my little vessel.”

Discord made a door of light appear before him before he took a step through and found himself in the princess’s throne room.

●●●

Discord opened its eyes and found itself drenched in cold sweat. The air around him seemed to bake its fur and parch its throat. It exhaled a breath of wind and immediately felt the temperature drop around him as Luna’s spell was dispelled.

“Who are you?”

Discord looked ahead and saw a lone guard standing before the princess, teeth bared, crouched, and ready to charge.
It had just occurred to Discord that, while in Trixie’s body, it’d need a new name to differentiate itself from the being that controlled the mind and the mare who owned the body.

“You can call me Dixie.” Dixie said off the top of its head. As it thought about the its new alias, it began to chuckle at the ridiculousness of its new persona, it infinitely preferred Discord, a name to match its chaotic, whimsical nature.

Though it supposed it’d have to do.

“How did you get here?” The guard said as he took an angry step forward.

“The same way you left.”

Discord sent the guard away to the chest deep within its mind; it’d be able to find a use for him later.

Seconds later, Luna teleported into the room, standing beside her sister as Celestia looked at Dixie with shock.

“Wha…what did you do?” Celestia asked Dixie slowly.

Dixie could see the tears running down Celestia’s face as she stared at the spot where the guard stood. It surprised it how much someone as powerful as her could’ve felt such love for such a lowly creature.

“What happened sister?” Luna asked, “Where’s Conroy?”

“What an ordinary name for a guard,” Dixie said with a smile, “I suppose you only hand out unique names to the important ponies here? What a shame, so ordinary I already forgot about, ooh what’s his face…Cammy?”

“It! Was! Conroy!”

The room’s temperature rose sharply as Celestia gave a glare that seemed to burn into Dixie’s soul. Her eyes began to glow white, her colorful mane became muted as sparks danced before combusting into flames, and the air became overwhelmingly hot, like the room had suddenly been transported to the center of an active volcano.

Dixie made a shield to protect itself from the worse of the heat and merely smiled cockily as Celestia’s anger continued to rise.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS DIXIE!” Celestia roared.

Celestia disappeared in a flash of yellow before she suddenly appeared before Dixie. She reared her front hooves up brought them down before her. Dixie wasn’t impressed until it saw the floor glowing below it and a geyser of flames erupted from beneath.

Thanks to its shield, it had managed to avoid the worse of the flames and quickly warped away to get some more breathing room. As it watched Celestia, it looked up to see a storm cloud slowly growing larger before a bolt of lightning shot forth from the cloud.

Dixie dodged the bolt and warped to the far side of the room. It saw Celestia disappearing in a flash while Luna stood where she was and seemed to be studying the cloud. Another bolt of lightning shot forth from the cloud, forcing Dixie to warp away to find Celestia already standing before it.

Celestia encased Dixie in cocoon of magic, forcing Dixie to fall to the ground, unable to stand under the tremendous weight of her hold. The temperature started to grow colder, colder than ice, as Celestia’s eyes glowed brighter and brighter by the second. The room slowly became darker and the air became thinner, as if Dixie was standing atop a mountain…

"NOW IT'S MY TURN TO MAKE YOU DISAPPEAR!"

Chapter 9

Dixie was trapped as Celestia’s spell held it in place. Feeling the full force of Celestia’s spell, thousands of pounds of pressure, Dixie could do nothing as Celestia’s spell started to take hold. Dixie held up a meager shield to protect itself from the worse of the pressure but as time went on she started to feel colder and colder with each passing second.

“Think Discord think.” Dixie thought to itself as it quickly tried to formulate a plan.

With its body held in place, Luna stood idly by; keeping the lightning cloud that hung above her charged and ready to fire in case it tried to escape. Dixie looked at its options and lamented at the desperation that the princess had put it in.

“She probably has the spell locked on me,” Dixie thought to itself, “and I can’t teleport away with this pressure bearing down on me, if only there was a wa-“

Inspiration struck Dixie suddenly as it thought of a plan for escape and it suddenly started to grin in spite of itself.

“HAVE YOU FINALLY GIVEN UP THIS GAME DIXIE?”

“Nope,” Dixie said as it paused for dramatic effect, “I’m just getting started!”

Dixie warped every smoke bomb in Trixie’s chest into the throne room before detonating every single bomb at once. In seconds, the room was filled to the brim with smoke as if the throne room spontaneously combusted. Dixie could hear the princesses coughing from somewhere in the haze while Dixie smugly sucked in a breathe full of fresh air. It felt the spell weakening enough for it to gain some breathing room and suddenly charged up some power in its horn. It only took an instant for the power to charge and now all Dixie had to worry about was the timing . . .

In moments, the smoke was blown away by a powerful gust of wind. Both of the princess’ faces were fuming as tears ran down their faces. Dixie, in all its life, had never seen the princesses look so furious in its entire life.

“I’ll take this as an achievement.” It thought to itself.

“DID YOU THINK THAT THIS WOULD SAVE YOU?” Celestia screamed angrily, “DID YOU THINK THAT THIS LITTLE REPRIEVE WOULD SAVE YOU FROM MY WRATH?”

Dixie felt the pressure beginning to worsen as the shield protecting its body started to crack from the pressure. It felt the air getting pushed out of its lungs as the pressure continued to increase until she could feel her torso being pushed into the floor.

“Just…a little…more…” Dixie thought to itself weakly.

She began to see darkness enveloping her vision; in its half delirious state it wasn’t sure if it was going black from the oxygen deprivation or from the spell. It held on to consciousness bitterly as the pressure continued to rise, knowing that if it gave in now, it would all be over.

“IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO DISAPPEAR!” Celestia roared as she finally let loose the spell.

As the pressure reached its apex, Dixie let loose the energy that it had saved up. There was a flash that blinded Dixie’s vision before it found itself lying a few feet away from where it was being held down moments ago. Dixie saw the most satisfying look of terror on Luna’s face as she took the full brunt of Celestia’s spell and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving nothing but a crater and small wisps of smoke behind.

●●●

The throne room was quiet as Celestia stared at the spot where her sister stood just moments ago. Her face was blank, devoid of all emotion, as she just stood there watching the trails of smoke slowly fading from the edge of the crater.

While Celestia watched the crater, Dixie slowly rose to its feet. It took more damage from the spell than it had thought and had trouble standing until it had gathered magic into its horn and casted a healing spell on its aching joints and spine. Once it had recovered, it had suddenly started to giggle as it got a good look at Celestia’s face.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho, this is rich princess, sending your own sister to the moon like that? Ha-ha-ha, talk about irony right?”

Celestia’s face remained stoic as Dixie continued her tirade.

“You know what princess, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, my true name isn’t Dixie, it’s Discord.”

The news didn’t shake the princess as much as Dixie had thought. In spite of the startling revelation, the princesses still wore a mask that hid her emotions.

“Oh come now princess, you could technically just wait for her to come back again. I mean it’s been what, a thousand years since she returned the first time you banished her to the moon? I imagine she’ll be back sometime over the next millennia or so.”

The princess’s mask started to crack as tears began to run down her face.

“Oh boo hoo princess, she’ll be back…eventually.” Dixie laughed.

“Quiet!” Celestia said under her breath.

“Oh I’m sorry, touchy subject for the royal family? I’d imagine that this sort of thing would be old hat since you were the one who banished her the first time.”

“Not another word…” Celestia said in a loud whisper.

“I mean it must have taken a lot of will to take control of the elements and use against your own flesh and blood. Were you laughing while you did it, did you honestly believe that there was no other way, or did you think that you were doing an act of generosity, banishing your own sister to oblivion for a few ponies whose unappreciative attitude is what drove her to become nightmare moon in the first place?”

“NOT. ANOTHER. WORD!”

Celestia’s mane erupted into pure heat and fire. She teleported before Dixie and stamped both hooves atop Dixie’s back, causing a crater to appear around its body as she continued to apply more and more force. Celestia then jumped back and activated a spell that pushed Dixie to the ground and began to crush it into the ground.

“I…never…imagined you…as…being…so ruthless…princess.” Dixie said weakly as the air was forced from its lungs.

Dixie shakily built up energy into its horn and warped away before Celestia’s spell could continue much farther. Once it was safely freed, it saw the spot where it was previously being crushed to into a deep crater by Celestia’s spell.

“My goodness,” Dixie thought, “she’s actually trying to kill me.”

“STAND STILL AND FIGHT!”

Twin balls of light flashed beside Celestia before two fireballs twice Dixie’s size flew towards it. Dixie warped away from the fireball’s path to the side of the throne room only to see the fireballs changing direction in mid-air and continuing their path towards it. Dixie slowly backed away from the fireballs until they were a few feet away from its position. It then warped away just as the fireballs closed in and watched as the fireballs collided, causing a bright flash and an incredible explosion.

“Now y’know what princess, I was just hoping to have a friendly combative reunion and then you had to get too violent.”

“SHUT UP!”

Another set of fireballs ripped through the air as they burned so brightly that the throne room was bathed in a violent shade of crimson. Dixie smirked and coolly teleported out of the way, allowing the blazing fireballs to crash into and ignite the walls behind it.

Celestia’s eyes suddenly began to change, shifting from a cool violet, until her eyes became blazing spheres of white light. Her main had changed from blazing red to a cool blue as the flames in her mane danced and quivered, as if it were actually alive. The flames in Celestia’s mane caused the room to become bathed in an otherworldly purple light as she calmly strode toward Dixie who had become momentarily stunned by Celestia’s image. Everywhere her hoofs trotted, a scorch mark in the shape of an equine hoof blazed for a moment before extinguishing itself and letting out a puff of smoke.

As Dixie watched the princess approaching, it had become lost in thought. It had never seen the princess in this form before, so powerful yet so beautiful that it couldn’t bear to tear its eyes from her. It shook its head before it retained its wits and flashed the princess a coy smile. As it noticed the temperature steadily rising in the room, it waved to the princess.

“Ta-Ta for now princess, give my regards to Luna when she comes back from her impromptu vacation.”

As Dixie gathered energy and teleported away, the last thing it saw was the princess’s eyes glowing brighter than the sun itself before the flames in her mane leaped forward in the shape of a phoenix. . .

● ● ●

As the flames in Celestia’s throne room finally died down, a group of soldiers burst into the room.

Most were taken aback by the contrast of the room, how the once brightly colored interior had now been reduced to soot and ash, how the carpets and drapes had been eaten away by the flames, and worse of all, the throne which was now nothing more than a memory.

In the middle of the destruction, the soldiers saw Celestia, bent forward, holding her head down as if she was looking into the crater for something.

“Princess Celestia?” A soldier called out worriedly.

Without lifting her head, Celestia simply said “find the one responsible and bring them to me at once.”

The soldiers looked at one another before one asked her if there was anything else they could do.

Celestia simply stated, “No, there’s nothing else you can do, I just want to be alone with my sister.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait you guys, I hope this latest chapter makes up for it somewhat.