Pride and Punishment

Trixie stretched out her tired legs in her latest temporary home; a small cave deep in the heart of the Everfree forest. She didn't mind too much moving from pillar to post; her former life as an entertainer involved a lot of travelling. This cave however, was not as comfortable as she would have liked but the situation had changed.

She was a criminal on the run and pregnant to a child conceived by rape. The guards in the Canterlot dungeon had used her so much she wasn't quite sure how far along the pregnancy was but the physical symptoms; morning sickness, increased hunger and slightly swollen tummy caused her to guess around two months.

The stressed pony sighed and licked up some clover leaves she had picked before the sun had gone down. As seemingly awful as it was carrying a child whose father was a rapist, the child was still Trixie's and she loved it. Her main concern was the logistics of carrying and then giving birth to a foal while on the run. It would be difficult to hide from Princess Celestia's forces whilst caring for a foal; gathering twice as much food, keeping the foal warm and dry.

Trixie began to cry – this whole situation had turned into a nightmare. The six months in the dungeon had changed her. Her moods would swing quickly from a maddening rage to fits of crying, she would feel immensely powerful one minute and terrified the next. Medically speaking, she was clinically depressed but she had no-pony to turn to. Killing Twilight Sparkle had surely been a result of the immense physical and mental stress she had been put upon thanks to Princess Celestia's tortures by-proxy - but the seriousness of her situation was now weighing heavily on her shoulders and no solution seemed in sight.

There was little chance that she could reach Princess Celestia and exact her revenge, not now she was known across all of Equestria as a brutal murderer. The thought of being killed and losing her foal was also a huge concern.

Trixie stifled her crying as she heard a sound outside the cave. A shadow appeared at the entrance – a pegasus. The frightened pony covered her horn stump with a hoof to hide the glow and magicked her dagger to her side. The pony blocking the entrance to the cave also emitted a glow from his or her horn. Trixie gasped – an alicorn. Was this it? The final battle. Princess Celestia had found her.

The alicorn's horn flashed as Trixie stood, dagger hovering at her side. Suddenly the cave lit up as though it was daylight. Temporarily blinded by the light, Trixie readied her defences. Blinking her eyes, she began to see the form of the creature confronting her.

"If we're going to fight Princess, at least give me a chance to defend myself!"

"Trixie is that you? I... I'm not here to fight you."

The light dimmed slightly and Trixie's eyes adjusted. In front of her was not Princess Celestia but her sister, Luna.

"Please Trixie, thank goodness I tracked you down. We need to talk."

Trixie backed off slightly, still using magic to hold her dagger at her side.

"Why would we need to talk Luna? I'm not a stupid pony... your sister sent you to kill me."

With an annoyed whinny, Luna shimmered her horn, causing Trixie's dagger to drop from her side.

"Look you silly pony, I'm here to help you! And I need you to help me too! Goodness, what happened to your horn?"

Trixie backed up against the cave wall and shivered.

"Please... Trixie... you are the only one I know who, like me, wants to stop Princess Celestia. I need your help."

"I don't want to stop your sister, Luna. I want to kill her!"

Trixie looked sad for a second and nodded resignedly.

"I fear, Trixie, that will be the only way to stop her... she is no longer the kind, benevolent leader she was thousands of years ago. She has become warped and cruel. Equestria no longer reveres her – they fear her. This is not how it was supposed to be."

Trixie seemed to relax although still highly suspicious of Luna's motives. She saw the beautiful princess' bruised eye and slightly askew nose, the sign of a fighter – perhaps Luna wasn't as weak as she had always seemed as the 'forgotten' princess.

"Then what do you propose, Luna?"

Luna smiled and offered her hoof to Trixie.

"Please come with me, you have nothing to lose surely? For the life of yourself and your foal? You might even get a bite to eat..."

Luna smiled shyly, hoping to win Trixie's trust. She had noticed Trixie's slightly extended tummy and sticking-out nipples. She had Luna's sympathy; being pregnant and living in such a hovel. The offer of food seemed to seal the deal from Trixie and she couldn't help smiling back and extending her hoof to Luna's. Luna began channelling a spell, extending her wings as the glow from her horn grew brighter. With a flash, Luna and Trixie vanished from the cave.

Trixie's stomach flipped and she opened her eyes. She was greeted with an incredible sight - she and Luna were standing on what seemed to be normal cream marble floor, perhaps one-hundred feet square but there were no walls, just darkness and shimmering stars beyond. In the corner of the 'room' was a bed, next to it a plush couch. Seeing Trixie's awe-struck face, Luna smiled and gently took her hoof.

"This is where I come to relax. The beautiful darkness, the stars, the quiet. How do you like it?"

Trixie tapped her hoof on the marble floor, a little wary of how it seemed to float in the middle of space.

"It is beautiful, Princess. But where are we?"

"Please, just call me Luna. Come and sit with me."

Luna sat on the bed and beckoned Trixie to sit on the couch next to her.

"Umm, are you hungry, thirsty? I could summon my servant, he is very nice and helpful."

Trixie was indeed very hungry. She had not eaten substantially since escaping from Canterlot where she had stopped for a while on the way to Ponyville, gulping down mouthfuls of wild cress and clover. She was eating for two now and her body craved something more stodgy. Her tummy rumbled, causing her to blush.

"It's okay, I am hungry too!" said Luna as her horn shimmered.

A handsome black stallion in formal attire stepped out from behind the couch Trixie sat on, giving her a fright. He had a waiter's towel on his back and his cutie mark was a delicate white cup.

"Oh my word! That is impressive, Princess. Is he.. real?"

"Ma'am, I am indeed quite real. May I take your order?"

Luna laughed and put a hoof on Trixie's shoulder.

"Orion here, is a wonderful waiter, cook, bottle washer and above all, a great listener. Many a night has this poor stallion had to endure my tales of woe!"

The stallion waiter smiled and bowed respectfully to the Princess. Luna chuckled.

"I would say more but I fear his head would swell! Anyhow, I shall have a toasted sandwich with hay and watercress, and whatever my friend here would like."

Trixie blinked and looked up at Luna. Friend? It had been a while since Trixie had a friend. Something about her seemed to upset people - she couldn't quite pinpoint it. Accidently poisoning Princess Celestia and decapitating her favourite student also didn't help with her current popularity.

"Hmm. I'll have the same, thank you."

"Very well madame, would that be all?" asked the waiter.

Luna smiled and waved him away.

"Thank you, Orion. That will be all."

The stallion walked behind the couch and Trixie turned her head to look where they mysterious waiter was going but he had already vanished. This place was very odd.

"Isn't he fabulous, Trixie? Sometimes I feel he is the only pony I can talk to. I think however that he listens only through duty."

This level of magic was difficult for Trixie to comprehend. It was as though Luna could bend time and space - it was slightly disconcerting but she did not feel afraid. Luna's demeanour was relaxed and friendly. Trixie was warming to her quickly, it had been so long since she had pony company.

"You umm, don't mind hanging out do you? Would you just like me to tell you my plan and then I can send you back? I'll understand..."

Trixie smiled and rested back on the couch. It was wonderful to feel warm and relaxed after spending so much time in cold, wet dungeons and then a cold, wet cave. Trixie was a young pony but her knees had began to ache over time due to the damp conditions she had become accustomed to.

"I'm very happy to 'hang out' with you, Luna! You know, I haven't had a friend for quite a while... Besides this place is much nicer than my damp old cave. My poor lungs feel like they were getting mouldy!"

Luna stuttered excitedly at the 'f' word.

"Oh oh! Friends! Celestia doesn't really let me have friends. I did have a colt-friend... but... she killed him. We were going to get married..."

Trixie turned to Luna with genuine concern and placed her hoof on her new friend's leg.

"Oh Luna, that is horrible... I'm sorry."

Luna blinked tears away before resting her head on Trixie's shoulder and sobbing.

"She is a monster, Trixie... no-one understands. But you know the things she does, the things she makes over ponies do for her. She is wicked and cruel! Urgh, I'm so sorry to burden you with this. I'm such a mess-up."

Trixie stroked back Luna's smoke-like mane; it was terribly sad to see such a beautiful pony crying. She wasn't used to comforting anyone and didn't really know what to say. She genuinely wished she could say something to help but socially, she considered herself rather inept.

"It's alright Luna, it's alright..."

Trixie pondered saying something more constructive but the dashing waiter returned with two plates of toasties on his back. Luna sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes before magicking one of the plates onto her new friend's lap, the other onto the bed beside her. The waiter nodded and quickly walked out of sight.

Trixie's stomach rumbled again and the two unicorns levitated their lunch, delicately eating the toasties which had been prepared and presented with great care by the mysterious stallion. Not only were the toasties perfectly sliced and toasted, a side salad of lettuce, carrot and tomato had been stacked at the side of the plate with a light clear dressing.

"Your sister really is quite something isn't she, Luna. How did one sister become so cruel and the other so... nice!"

Luna laughed softly as she ate.

"Oh, I have my moments, Trixie! But I don't think I am ever cruel. Equestria is such a wonderful place, I've never grown tired of it but I think Celestia has become weary, taking its beauty for granted. It is hard for immortals to feel compassion for mortals sometimes. I guess Celestia is a psychopath – she has no empathy for anypony's pain or suffering."

Trixie nodded, really stuffing down her food now. Luna didn't mind; poor Trixie looked so hungry and she would need a lot of food for many months in order to keep her developing foal healthy and strong in her womb.

"You poor thing, your mane needs a serious moisturising. In the dungeon it must have been hard to get vitamin-C. Your poor coat is.. Oh Trixie, I am sorry. I don't mean to bring back bad memories – it must have been awful."

Trixie shook her head and stroked back her dry and split mane dramatically.

"Oh no, it is fine. The Great and Powerful Trixie has been in many sticky situations and lived to tell the tale!"

Both of the ponies laughed, Trixie knew she couldn't bluff to this pony and Luna enjoyed Trixie's dramatic side. It had been so long since Luna had a friend. Luna had heard of Trixie's shows but sadly was rarely allowed out of Canterlot – only recently, in Celestia's bleak and morbid depression had she been able to slip out unnoticed.

"Did you know she plays horrible tricks on her guards all the time? And that she tries to kiss them and if they kiss her back, she has their stallion parts cut off?"

Trixie nearly choked on her sandwich. It was obvious the poor abused pony had a lot to get off her chest.

"Your sister does THAT? Oh my, that is appalling!"

Luna nodded matter-of-factly as she tucked into her toasted sandwich.

"And she is so, so mean to me. When I came back from the moon, I was so happy to see her. She told me we would do everything together but it was a lie! She told me afterwards that she only forgave me to make herself look more kindly in the eyes of her subjects and that no-one missed me when I was on the moon."

Luna was telling the truth and her eyes welled up again with tears. Trixie felt very sad for this poor pony - who could know that one seemingly so privileged could be so deeply unhappy?

"Why does she hate me so much? Am I that horrible a pony? She doesn't deserve to rule Equestria! If only everypony knew what she was really like. If only they were not so afraid of her."

Trixie finished her sandwich and left the couch to sit beside Luna on the bed, hoping that wasn't too impudent. She placed a hoof on Luna's and tried sincerely to comfort her.

"Oh Luna, you are not horrible. You are a wonderful pony and your sister is sure to pay for how she behaves."

"I know she will, Trixie, I know. I just wish this could have been resolved another way." Luna sniffed .

"Do you think we could really defeat her, Luna? This foal inside me, I am so afraid for its future."

Luna lay down and Trixie lay with her, nose to nose as though they were having a sleep-over and swapping secrets.

"It is all ready, Trixie. Her guards are ready to rise against her. They are exhausted from her cruelty but they cannot defeat her, that is why I need to strike the final blow... but I cannot do it alone. My most powerful magic requires the power of two, a twin force. Celestia was always the more powerful sister as her magic needs no-pony but herself. But with a true friend, a soul mate, one with magical power, I can defeat her."

Trixie felt butterflies in her tummy, she hadn't noticed until now but Luna was running a hoof up and down her stomach, over the bump where the foal grew and the inside of her thighs.

"Soul.. mate..Luna?"

Luna's breath was sweet against Trixie's nostrils and both ponies felt a little curious. They were both naïve it seemed and frisky as the night went on, although in Luna's strange planetarium hideaway it was hard to know whether it was night or day.

"I'd get so lonely, Trixie. Hundreds of years, no contact, no feeling of someone touching my coat or stroking my mane... until I met him. And my wicked sister took him away from me. Please Trixie, make me feel it again? You know, when another pony..."

It might have been the hormones caused by pregnancy but between Trixie's legs felt hot and tingly. She'd never 'done it' until the guards had cruelly abused her and thinking about a stallion doing anything with her in the future made her feel queasy – it would be hard to ever be intimate with a stallion again having been through such an experience. Maybe trying something with another filly might help overcome the trauma and frustrations?

"Ummm.. we could Luna but what do we do? I'm a little nervous... have you done this before?"

Luna kissed Trixie softly on the muzzle and got up on all fours on the bed.

"It's really easy! You just roll onto your back please, umm. I'll go on top if you don't mind?"

Since Trixie hadn't done anything like this before, she didn't really mind. Luna gently nuzzled Trixie's side, encouraging her to roll onto her back. Luna smiled down at Trixie, soothing her nerves; it was very easy to relax around Luna as her voice and mannerisms were so soft and kindly.

"Now Trixie, what I'll do is suck and nibble on your parts and if you don't mind, you could do the same to me? Is that ok? Or we could just... is this too much for you? I'm sorry its.."

Trixie put her hoof to her friend's mouth, letting her know she wanted to continue.

"I'm sorry, I talk too much when I'm.. you know."

Luna blushed and straddled Trixie, head to tail and placed her head between her friend's hind-legs.

"I'll just work away here. It's kind of like sucking a mint! Gently, without biting it."

The immortal pony did indeed start to suck away and Trixie closed her eyes as her sex-parts were touched in a caring and loving way for the first time. It felt a world away from the rough and soul-less pounding she received in the dungeon. She received no pleasure at all from that, but Luna's tongue and gentle encouragements helped her relax and allow the pleasure to slowly build up.

"Am I doing it right, Trixie? Does this work for you?"

"It feels wonderful, Luna. Could you lower your behind a little?"

Luna let her hind legs lower until her tail was resting over Trixie's horn and warm breath could be felt in her most private area. Trixie licked a little at the outside. It tasted not unpleasant but strange, a little like licking a wound clean. The more she licked, the hole opened a little and a tiny pink bulge at the top stuck-out slightly. Trixie decided to start nibbling this, remembering Luna's description of 'sucking a mint'.

"Oh thats the spot, my friend..." Luna mumbled from between Trixie's legs.