EIS dossier: Trixie Lulamoon

Authorization level Infiltrator required.

Trixie Lulamoon
Gender: F
Race: Unicorn
Clearance Level: None
Status: Flagged as potentially Disharmonious
Relevant Information:
Possesses an unusually high sense of self-worth. Observing agents have had difficulty determining if it truly is an act or signs of a deeper personal issue that goes against Harmony.

Special Notes: Currently undergoing personal instruction by Celestia for Operation Nightmare.

Twilight put down the clipboard, her magic blood red, tinged with flecks of darkness, nearly blending into the dark hallway she’s in. She looked above a nearby door, the clock ticking down from three minutes.

Once the timer reached 0:00 a small beep sounds Twilight opened the door, The light made her eyes hurt, taking a bit longer to adjust than a normal. when it did her gaze fell upon the blue unicorn sitting in the corner.

“Are you willing to agree to have the Harmony spell cast upon you?” Twilight’s voice is monotone, showing no strong emotion even at the smell that penetrated the room.

Opening a dark umbrella Twilight stepped into the room, a tingle passing through her body as she passed through the accelerated time field. Opening the umbrella to shield against the artificial sun above she stood in the doorway, the scorching heat of the room not seeming to phase her.

The room is spartan, white floors, white walls, a bucket on Trixie’s left being the only other thing of note.

Blue ears flicked at the sound of Twilight entering, the single occupant turning slightly, tired violet eyes locking onto Twilight’s red ones.

“Personally trying to break me? I know what this country is now.” Trixie goes to toss the bucket away from her, only managing the strength to move it slightly, the groan of metal echoed around the room for a moment.

“It’s a lie.” Fire still sparked in her eyes for a brief moment. “Did Celestia lie too? Was Trixie just one mistake away from this every time I made her laugh?”

Trixie tried again to move the bucket, panting a bit as she slumps again, the fire leaving her. “Trixie always thought she didn’t wear a mask near me. How foalish Trixie was.” Trixie goes back to looking at the corner. “Do what you must, Trixie never gives up.”

Twilight finds herself in an odd situation.

Trixie’s crime is against Harmony, and she’s showing no signs of penitence. Two weeks of food deprivation and her will is still unbroken. Twilight took her time trying to figure out the proper course of action.

The procedure for possession of forbidden magic artifacts was accelerated, possession of them amounting to treason, or at the very least sedition.

And that amulet was at the very top of the restricted list.

The procedure was clear.

Standard sleep and food deprivation, but more interaction to find out how they learned of the item in the first place, then execution if they refuse Harmony after two weeks of accelerated deprivation.

To buy herself some time Twilight checked the time field to make sure it was working properly, finding it slightly out of sync she fixes it absently.

When she’s done she makes her decision, returning her attention to Trixie her shoulders were hunched in fear, but she’s making no other attempt to defend herself.

With a soft humming sound, Trixie was put out of her misery, her head softly rolling from her shoulders and landing on the ground with a soft thud.

The smell of blood fills the room and Twilight’s breathing catches in her throat for a moment, biting her lip she turns and hastily exits the room.

Only to be greeted by a very heavily breathing Celestia.

“Twilight, It’s Trixie, she’s been taken here, I need to know where she is.” Celestia’s eyes are wider than normal, this must be important.

“I just executed her, She refused to submit to the spell after the first round.”

Celestia pushed past Twilight and looks into the room behind Twilight, gagging at the sight and looking away.

“No.”

Celestia takes a deep, shuddering breath.

“Why. she was only picked up….”

The smell of blood is getting to her, seeing the most expedient method to end the conversation Twilight seized it. “She was caught with the Alicorn Amulet. The procedure is expedited for possession of Endless Night class artifacts.”

Celestia waved a hoof dismissively. “I know the procedure, it would explain why I was not contacted first but this is not the...” Her voice trails off once she realized Twilight was already leaving, heading toward her office.

After all the centuries with Twilight, she knew better than to try to correct her rude behavior. Instead, she simply follows the smaller unicorn into her office, waiting patiently even as her mind is running around looking for a solution to her current predicament.

Twilight for her part pulled a small bag from a nearby cooled cabinet, opening it and drinking from it, the coppery smell of blood making Celestia try extra hard to hide her disgust, old memories of the battlefield threatening to come back.

“As I was saying, she’s a special case, we are out of time and she was the last viable candidate for operation Nightmare.”

Twilight took her time before answering. This case messed with her scheduled intake of blood, and her resolve was wavering. When she’s confident her urges are satisfied she returned the half-empty container to its storage, her body arguing against itself the entire way, demanding more like it always does.

When she’s done she takes a familiar seat at her desk. “I am aware, but this system works for a reason. Letting emotions get in the way of procedure is a slippery slope.”

The alicorn sighs, having come up empty on alternative plans. The only remaining option was…

To be frank, it was a terrible idea.

But it was out of alternatives; she couldn’t train a new student in time.

“From now on I’m to be informed on all expedited cases, even if I’m not going to be able to talk to them, consult me before executions.

Twilight frowns, taking a few moments to rifle through several documents before she found the one she was looking for. “This contradicts earlier commands. in 1570 you said-”

“I know what I said Twilight! But this can’t be allowed to happen again, I’ll deal with my... distaste for your work. It’s been a long time since I took the battlefield twilight, I’d rather not revisit such places again, but this takes precedence over that.”

Twilight simply looks at Celestia, once she’s certain that the alicorn is serious she began writing down the new procedure.

When she finished she looked up. “Will that be all?”

Celestia shakes her head sadly, I’m afraid not. Do you have the current files on the prospective element bearers?”

Twilight nods and pulls the relevant files, holding them out to Celestia in her magic. Celestia takes them but lowered them to the desk, sliding them toward Twilight.

“I recommend studying them yourself, the last option I have for a bearer of Magic is you.”

Quick on the uptake Twilight shook her head. “There are at least fifteen issues with that suggestion.”

“I’m well aware.”

“I can’t leave my work, Vampirism has been removed from history, there are any number of ways I might reveal crown secrets, let alone my….inability to read social cues, I’m likely to raise suspicion and not even notice it.”

“I am aware, Twilight.”

Twilight goes to open her mouth again but Celestia cuts her off.

“I’m going to give you access to study the Inspiration Manifestation should you succeed.”

Twilight pauses, the mind-affecting nature of that book had long intrigued her.

Something inside Twilight made her pause, thinking it over for a long moment, she’s not sure what she was feeling.

The fact that she was feeling anything at all was odd in and of itself.

Twilight makes a mental note to examine herself later. Long hours or improper blood intake may be messing with her mental faculties.

“I accept, I request permission to use memory alteration as insurance in case crown secrets get revealed.”

Celestia nods. “Granted, remember lethal force is not acceptable against my sister when you confront her. I am also assigning you Spike as an assistant.”

Twilight simply looks at Celestia. “I do not see a reason I need an assistant, let alone him. That experiment was a failure from the theoretical stage.”

Celestia sighs. “Should you frenzy his scales would stop your fangs, he can also take visitors while you sleep. He’s the only one I would trust to accompany you, anypony else would likely try to get in your way, and that has not once ended well.”

Celestia turned and left, closing the door behind her.

The vampire simply looked down at her desk, something in her chest making her uncomfortable.

Maybe her blood intake really was miscalculated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia managed to keep her mask in place until she entered her room, closing the door and locking it with a spell even Twilight would have difficulty opening for at least five minutes.

When she’s sure nopony could see her she lets her rage out, a pulse of heat and anger so powerful it sets her bed aflame, ripping her throat raw with the force of her scream.

The burning bed takes her ire and she grabbed in her magic, smashing it against the wall over and over, by the time she’s only holding burning splinters and ashes in her magic she’s calmed down a bit, slumping to the ground.

“Why Trixie, why! I warned you time and time again. I know your magic was weak, but that didn’t matter.” Celestia looked to the wall, where there’s a large painting of herself with a younger Trixie, the corners of it were already starting to burn from her earlier rage.”

Celestia carefully removes the painting, looking at it fondly for a long time, the flame at the edges slowly burning more and more of the memory away, with a flash of magic the painting vanished, crumbling to ash and joining the growing pile on the floor.

Opening the door she calls a nearby guard. “Trixie is to be erased. Pass it on to section three, have her room remodeled into another ambassador’s suite.” Getting a salute in response she closes the door once again, looking at the ruins of her chambers she faintly smiles. The loss still hurt, but it couldn’t be helped, she’ll mourn her latest student later.

She needed to redecorate anyway.

Author's Note

Got struck by some inspiration on where to take this story, as usual thanks go to the editor for hammering this into something resembling good writing.