Night of Dreams

Chapter 4. Requiem

Twilight was stunned, confused, and scared.

At the same time, she was furious. It was an odd sensation to say the least.

Luna was being attacked, in the most literal way, by her own nightmare.

As the laugh drew to a close, twilight threw herself at the imposter of Nightmare Moon. If anything it was a simple distraction, not an actual attack.

The pitch black alicorn snarled, turning to look at the intruder before being blasted by a shock of pastel blue light flecked with stars, forcing the spectre away.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Luna and the imposter both said in shock, as twilight used every scrap of magic at her disposal to throw one last spell, one designed to strip a changeling of its form.

Nothing happened.

<ΩΩΩ>

Spike trudged through the bushes and undergrowth, grumbling.

Of course Trixie had offered a ride on her back, but as long as she wouldn't tell him what she was up to, demanding to see twilight like this, he wouldn't treat her like a friend.

Trixie had been silent for a while now, and seemed to alternate between hopeful whenever the baby dragon looked back, and depressed the rest of the time.

The night made it feel like they were the only two living creatures in all of Equestria, and Spike wondered how Twilight was doing without him. Given her track record, probably very well, but he still worried.

"I'll tell you ... if you promise not to tell anypony." Trixie finally said, sitting down with a muffled whump.

"Finally!" Spike said, spinning around and crossing his arms.

"I'm sure you remember me leaving Ponyville..."

"Running away from Ponyville." Spike corrected, noticing with a little regret that Trixie winced and resumed her story, staring at the ground.

<ΩΩΩ>

Trixie had left Ponyville without anything. Her cart with its fireworks and props had been left in the centre of town and was soon moved into storage in case she returned, but she didn't have the heart to come back.

She had wandered Equestria, first trying her shows without the cart, but quickly being shown up by more experienced or talented unicorns.

A month later she had ended up curled up in a barn someone had been nice enough to let her sleep in, eating grass she had picked off the side of the road.

Trixie was miserable, utterly unhappy, and she hadn't even had a chance to perform her tricks, which she had always been proud of.

Trixie was not great and powerful, but she had a knack for the little tricks and spells that were used to put on a good show. She started sitting in a park on the outskirts of Manehattan, practicing her little tricks in silence, her dishevelled hat and torn cape no longer resplendent but a fading purple.

She was surprised when one day she looked up to see a pair of foals watching her with great interest.

She smiled and pulled a bit from behind one of their ears, pride and tears welling up inside of her as the awestruck giggles of the children warmed her.

Becoming a performer had been challenging and she had to do something special and brag about things she had never done to stun the crowd, but these children were happy with the simplest of her tricks, never needing an elaborate ruse to be enchanted.

For several weeks after that, Trixie had become a party magician. She cared not if she only was paid in food, lodging and smiles, she was happier than she had been spreading lies across Equestria for bits.

Trixie had a renewed sense of herself, not as a liar and trickster, but as a humble magician. Her simple tricks were often more practiced and fluid than some of the most powerful unicorns attempts she had seen, and she knew her calling was the subtle, finer things magic could bring.

Like a smile on a child's face.

The faces of the ponies she had deceived in Ponyville haunted her, however. Many nights were spent practicing a spell she had more recently learned, which summoned a soft purple firework which wasn't loud and flashy like all the ones she had used before, but instead flashed with a soft light before shedding sparkling lights to the ground.

A very poignant reminder of the pony she had so quickly dismissed and lied to, before being saved by that same pony.

She left Manehattan for Canterlot a while later, then catching a late train for Ponyville when she had been stunned to discover Twilight Sparkle walking past her cabin to the food car!

She hid herself, not ready to offer her apology yet, and scared what Twilight would think of a previously rude pony seeming to follow her. When the train stopped Trixie had climbed out the train window, but slipped and fell on her way towards the front of the train to get to the other side of the tracks.

Trixie hung onto the branch for as long as she could before finally crying out, not knowing what else to do.

<ΩΩΩ>

Spike wiped a tear from beneath his eye but pretended like it had never been there.

"So your here to apologize." He said quietly.

Trixie nodded, still downcast. "And hopefully, to offer my friendship. But if what you have told me about the current situation is true, she is likely too busy to even listen to me."

Trixie absentmindedly threw up the soft purple firework with a sad smile.

Spike watched it appreciatively before a look of confusion passed his features.

"How did you do that?" He asked demandingly.

Trixie was taken aback. "It's a simple spell really, It uses a burst of energy to make colour and..."

"No, you don't get it. You shouldn't be able to do any magic at all!" Spike said, waving his arms excitedly.

Trixie threw up another poof of colour. "But I can." She said simply.

"Twilight needs to see this." Spike said. "She and the conductor lost their magic earlier, and they need to know you can still use yours."

Trixie tried to lift up a rock but panted from the effort. "Just my flashy stuff." She said, disappointed. Then she reached a hoof behind Spike's ear, pulling out a bit.

"Well, a kids show is better than no show at all." Spike said with a smile. "Now, how about that ride?"

<ΩΩΩ>

The three stood in the hall for several moments, before Nightmare Moon snarled a second time, and took off, fleeing in the moment of confusion.

Twilight fell to her knees, staring at the retreating form. "I don't understand... That should have fixed it." she said, panting and trying to stay awake as the world swam in front of her eyes from the sheer effort required to cast the spell.

The gentle touch of a hoof on her shoulder shook her out of it, and she looked up to see Luna who carried a sad smile.

"Princess Luna! We have to go to the castle; we need to raise the sun!" Twilight said in a panic, struggling to stand.

Luna simply shook her head.

"Child, I am simply the Princess of the night now. No longer am I Princess of the moon. The darkness I held within me allowed me to connect with the desolate, lonely sphere, to grasp its power. That creature, the changeling, has taken Nightmare Moon from me."

Twilight stared in shock. At some level she realized that Luna was small, she looked just like she had immediately after the first defeat of Nightmare Moon, not the regal figure she had cut in the appearances since.

"You have to have both ... a balance." Twilight said, realization dawning.

Luna nodded, looking up at the night sky.

"How did this happen?" Twilight asked, no longer struggling to stand, but trying to gather her strength.

"I have a great love for the night, the moon, for all that Nightmare Moon and I share. That creature managed to discover this love, and pull it from me. I began loving the shadows, obsessing over darkening everything around me when I could hide it, but I am no stranger to magic of the mind. Not after the last thousand years."

Luna sighed.

"I discovered the connection, but it was too late, I did not fall into a trance as was intended, but as I raised the moon, Nightmare herself found a more eager vessel in those shadows I had began cultivating."

"Chrysalis." Twilight finished breathlessly.

A nod was her answer.

Twilight's head spun, this explanation did not lend itself to an easy fix.

"Why is Celestia losing her power?" Twilight asked.

Luna finally sat next to Twilight. "So many questions. Though this one is important. Nightmare moon and I jointly control the flow of magic through the moon. In the past this did not help our ... Her ... attempts at taking over, as there was no way to truly stop the flow, only to increase it in one spot to drain it from another. Now there exists a duality. Two Sisters of the Night, pulling at the same connection. And with her greedy consumption of as much power as possible, I can only contain her and defend myself by using the rest."

Twilight thought she understood, but know there were likely books to be written on the subject before anypony could really grasp it.

"Should we contact Celestia?" Twilight asked.

"If I reach out to my sister, Nightmare moon will panic, and I will never recover her, to be whole again."

A branch snapping in the distance broke them out of their conversation and a blue flame surrounded Luna as she spun to face the intruders.

Twilight stared, even more confused than before.

"Spike, what is she doing here?" she said, pointing an accusing hoof at the pastel blue pony, who seemed to shrink away from it as though it was a blast of energy.

"Hey, hear her out Twilight. I think this might be a chance to fix all this. Also, your hoof-writing is terrible." He said, panting as he held out the hastily scribbled note she had left.