Chapters Eyes on Trixie, watch the birdy .
Come one, come all, and peer into Trixie's orb of wonders. Squint, now, it's a bit of a cheap model, it may be foggy. You're a special case, I can tell, a real special one. You don't settle for ideas like 'this is the way it is, and it always has been', do you? You want explanation, a freudian excuse of sorts. If you so insist, Trixie loves to please a crowd.
But understand, vagabond, that nothing Trixie intends to tell you is an excuse. She does not play to any emotion but wonder. She does not beg, or plead for others to understand her life. She revels in… quite the opposite, in fact.
Watch the birdy. Can you see the little filly in the orb, through the haze? Look at them play with their plush Ursa, dreaming of one day being strong enough to conquer it. Aren't they cute? Their mother watches them from the corner of the tiny room, weary and tired. Mother was a nice enough woman. Father, less so. Being descended directly from him was... blech. Trixie had never seen him, but they knew him, felt him, in every word their mother spat with frustration, in every Los Pegasus apartment they moved between, in every dollar they spent, knew that Father had condemned Trixie and their mother to this existence because he couldn't keep it in his pants.
Talk about holding on to the past. Move on, am I right?
Years pass, and the filly grows older. Trixie begins to attend Celestia's School. The first time they had ever seen their mother smile was opening that acceptance letter, and the first time they had begun to wonder if their past was not today. But, like most things at this point in their life, Trixie screwed it up. Magic was driven from emotions, and emotions when you're a repressed, sheltered teen who hates themselves can lead to... unfortunate magical side effects. Trixie was an insecure freak, the students were bullies, the teacher was oblivious.
Most people in this story are stupid. I know, I know. Give it time.
After getting kicked out for one too many displeasing actions- nobody likes invisible snakes in their coffee, and Canterlot ponies have no sense of humour, remember that- Trixie returned to the family trade. Trixie's mother was an enchantress, their father a magician, and with their only other path in life dashed, they would have to return to a well-trodden one. Trixie would become the greatest of both lives under their aging mother's gaze. By the time they grew up, she had accomplished what was then her greatest vanishing trick, turning a pathetic, weak child into Trixie, the greatest sorceress the world had ever seen.
Her mother had always told her not to trust boys. It was stupid advice, of course, borne of an injured heart, but it probably made the pill easier to swallow when her little boy decided to metamorphosize into a beautiful adult woman. Many would regret being such an idiot child. Trixie knows better. The past made her who she is today.
Of course, that doesn't mean she would return to it....
After the transition, after the transformation, Trixie had finally become who she was meant to be. She would finally have all eyes on her, and she set out on the dirt roads across Equestria to make her mark. To wow and entertain, to finally be someone worth having all eyes on her.
Then came the encounter with Twilight. Poor Twilight, she could have been something so great. Maybe she could have even rivaled Trixie. Twilight defeated her once or twice, the exact number eludes her, and Trixie… perhaps didn't react as gracefully as she could have. She was once again that little boy in Celestia's school, shown up by the more fortunate fools around her. But for once, her foe was no fool; Trixie was the one at fault. She had been brash, overconfident, weak, if she had realized that sooner, maybe she could have...
It was no matter. She didn't like to dwell on that little boy and his schoolyard bullies, and she especially wouldn’t be dragged down by Twilight.
They were the past. Now was today.
And today...
Magic was easy .
Magic was the easiest thing Trixie had ever practiced in her life.
Once upon a time, it had seemed so far off, so distant, so unfair that others could achieve what she had not. That others could fundamentally rewrite the world around them at nearly a whim, and that they all spouted the virtues of hard work and study as all that separated a child from a mage.
As Trixie had always suspected, they were fools.
Mastery in magic wasn't won through a special education. It wasn't won through studying book after book in libraries at small hours of the night. And it wasn't won with friends to encourage you. Trixie had gone to the same school as some of the best mages on the planet. She had spent years studying single spells. And friends... Well, if friends were the secret, how could her work have finally bore fruit, after so long?
Magic had eluded her for years. Now, it seemed laughable.
She almost had to thank... Her. If it wasn't for that other unicorn, she wouldn't have gained the drive she needed to finally cross that barrier and become what she was now.
Trixie was a magician now. And it wasn't because of her twice as relentless studying, because of her paths between town after town following the Ponyville debacles, scrounging for every teacher she could find. It was all from the drive to do what others couldn't. What she couldn't.
Trixie took a breath and reached for the flower growing through the cracks between the stones before her without moving a muscle. Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. Trixie stayed focused, and reached through the soil, feeling delicate hooves narrower than needles around the roots and to the flower's very core buried under the earth. With magic, the entire form, every root and petal was gripped in thaumic energy, and soil parted like water as it was lifted to Trixie's nose.
With magic, the flower was stripped to bare particles and left to scatter on the wind.
Trixie had been a fool, too, she supposed.
Outside, rain battered the stone walls mercilessly.
"Get back! "
Sore and tired, Twilight Sparkle pushed on.
She leaned forward with another cone of thaumic energy building around her horn. Whipping her head forward with a spray of rain off her face, she launched the crack of magic, choosing to just miss the snarling jaws that had swung towards her. The snap of the whip worked, and the Manticore took a step back, a heavy paw carving a streak in the mud behind it.
"Go away!" She yelled at the monster like a housecat, forcing her legs to keep her up, groaning as she prepared another spell. The Manticore took advantage of the lull in action, pouncing forward with a paw raised to swing forward, batting her away effortlessly. At the last moment it crashed into a solid barrier of ethereal violet energy, sending cracks of blistering white along the shield’s face before it dissipated, only standing for as long as it needed to to conserve Twilight's sapping energy.
An idea sprung into her head, and she drew up another one, a bowl-shaped protection forming at the point of her horn like a fountain of water, and swung her head forward with a yell, bashing the Manticore's cheek. The fight through, she had focused on non-lethal magic, trying to cause as little harm to the Manticore as she could. Her goal had never been to kill it, instead casting herself as the mouse to lead it back towards the heart of the Everfree she now struggled to stay standing inside. The trees around them grew high and wide, letting only wisps and speckles of moonlight light her path- moonlight, and the violent violet aura she called into being and manipulated like putty.
Her face was lit again as she grabbed the Manticore's gnarled fang jutting out from its jaw in telekinesis, leaning into the spell with a contorted expression to force it backwards, taking quick and calculated steps forward to guide their path.
The Manticore glared, struggling to open its maw. Twilight glared back.
Another lash of magical energy at its back, and the Manticore finally decided it had had enough. It whimpered, and she released it, letting it run back into the foliage, standing proud until she was sure it was out of sight.
Now she fell to a knee, reminding herself blithely she had to keep going. The Everfree wasn't a place to fall asleep; she only knew one person who could tame it, and they had a lot more experience with it than she did.
The Beast had returned to the path it strayed from.
She had saved the day.
Twilight lifted her head, letting rain wash mud out of her eyes before blinking away, trying to shake strength back into herself. Her coat was frazzled and crossed with gouges, some still bleeding. She didn't know if she had the strength to call up another spell, let alone a teleport through the mangle of the forest that detested any and all magic cast within its borders.
Twilight took a second to heave, and wasted no more time turning herself around and trying to trace back the wartorn path, split trees and disturbed mush and cleaved hanging vines. Something buzzed at her ear, and the instinctive attempt to pluck it out of the air magically drove a jolt of pain into her skull.
She couldn't make it back to Ponyville. Not like this.
Luckily, she had firsthand experience with this neck of the woods.
Squelches in mud became clicks on stone as Twilight staggered through the rotting wooden doors, ajar and swinging in the wind. Rain still trickled down from the crumbling ceiling in steady streams of water against spots of uneven cobblestone, but shelter was shelter.
Only once she was up the steps that led to the two thrones beneath billowing banners of blue and beige did she let herself rest. She collapsed forward onto folded hooves, resting in front of a tall and narrow window overlooking the brief shred of hills and plains in a ring of forest the castle had been built within.
Now Twilight's breathing steadied, and she let herself calm and relax, waiting for her strength to return and mend her wounds with magic.
She idly hoped she hadn't hurt the Manticore too badly. On the continent of Equestria, it was difficult to gauge the intelligence of any creature- sparse records even told of a sapient Manticore helping build the castle she resided in now- but besides that, she didn't like hurting animals. Unfortunately, Ponyville was... precariously placed. And if you've got a renowned magic user in town, who calmed an Ursa Minor into submission in the first few months after she arrived...
Twilight's magic reached out to her fresh scar, numbing the pain and drawing skin back together. Fur wouldn't grow there for a while, but it could have been far worse.
So she was the town's monster hunter, who could literally magically solve all of their problems. In the beginning, her little adventures had been fun. Important, even. She learnt an important lesson, would return home laughing with her friends. A cute little sleepover, a townwide race event, meaningless little ditties to bring her sheltered head out of the clouds and back to her friends.
It was hard to learn a lesson each time once it became apparent that those adventures were now a job, a burden.
"Good evening, Twilight Sparkle."
Instantly her mind shifted into problem solving mode. Female voice. Knows my name. Prefers my full name, professionally. Knows where to meet me. How do they know where to meet me? Assume friendliness. Possible Friendship Letter: Don't judge a book by its cover.
She turned slowly to the source of the voice, one of the thrones behind her.
"Err... Hello. May I ask who you are?"
A purple hoof fell on the arm of the throne. Hooved, furred end. Pony, most likely. Fur the color of mine- It shifted and caught the light, and she recognized the texture of fabric now. No, not fur. A lavender cape.
"I think you know her very, very well, Twilight Sparkle."
Third person. She's standing. Blue fur... She's...
Trixie Lulamoon emerged into the moonlight. With Twilight's eyes on her, she seemed to grow a head taller as she watched.
"It's always a pleasure, isn't it? How's town been since Trixie left it?"
Twilight fought through the haze of tiredness. Something new; Trixie had followed her? Expected her? Okay, you're a little sore. But you know Trixie. She talks a big game and she runs when the cards are down. Keep her talking, ready some spells.
Honestly, it could be far worse. Twilight would have laughed if she wasn't... Well...
"Humbler than usual." Twilight's words left her mouth without thought or passion.
"Well, perhaps they need a bit of a change then. I'm sure you know you can never have enough flashy spells. My own magic fills a single hoof, after all, doesn't it?"
The strange deprecation barely registered to her, and she began looking for tactical places in the castle to... duel? Run? Talk?
"I don't want to do this, Trixie. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not in the best shape right now." Twilight stepped lightly to conserve energy around the thrones.
Trixie's eyes never left her, piercing straight into her thoughts. "Oh, but I do. I want to so badly, you couldn't understand in your life ."
"I understand you just want attention. That's all you've ever wanted, Trixie."
"You'll be pleased to know I've expanded my horizons."
Down the steps. "Oh? What do you want?"
Trixie drew her tongue over her lips, cleared her throat, and spoke loudly and clearly,
"I want you to duel me."
Twilight nodded slowly. "Winner stays?"
Trixie almost vibrated in glee, closing her eyes for a second before replying, "Loser leaves forever."
She had handled this brand before. No amulet, but that didn't mean Trixie didn't have a dirty trick up her sleeve. She just needed to stay awake, stay afloat- Her duels are never much of a challenge, and if she wins... The most she'll do is leave me to fight her another day. Leave me to rest.
"Alright, Trixie." Twilight steeled herself in a firm stance, rolling her head on its neck and blinking back sleep.
"Let's duel."
Trixie's eyes narrowed.
Twilight was no stranger to this by now, and she lit her own horn, mind racing with possibilities to pull off in this small castle. It was just like her shows; flashy might, throwing herself around, the only difference was there was no audience. Twilight would be expected to match, and she had to think of a retaliation to whatever Trixie had building. Grow plants, deconstruct a wall, something on Trixie perhaps, try-
"Draw! "
-to levitate something, her classical show- The beam was approaching, abnormally fast- maybe use herself as the dummy, testing out physical altercations she could easily- was Trixie thinking the same- Is she-?
The blast tore past her side without stopping until it hit stone, striking from the base of her neck to her flank, ripping up fur and blistering skin, and Twilight was blown onto her withers. The floor rose to catch her as she slammed into it, feeling something break beneath her, although she didn't know if it was the rock or a bone.
That was an attack spell, the same Twilight would use against Tirek. Sombra. A threat . Trixie had attacked her. This wasn't a duel for an audience, of who could appeal to the most eyes, quite the opposite; this duel relished in the absence of an audience. Twilight caught her breath, thinking. This was a brawl, and Trixie had hit her with force to burn fur without breaking a sweat. Even now as Twilight's mind raced with information, Trixie casually sauntered down the steps beneath the twin banners, passing under the drizzles of rain from the cracks and holes in the roof moonlight shone through.
Twilight switched tactics without even thinking. She wasn't a monster hunter anymore. She was an adult woman in a fight to the death.
"Trixie, wait! You- Why are you doing this?" Appeal to logic. Twilight struggled to regain air, and had to roll this time to avoid another concussive blast aimed at her prone form. The stone she had sat on shattered.
"Trixie, you're better than this!" Appeal to flattery. Twilight had to stumble to her hooves to break away from the castle floor, running for one of the halls.
"Trixie, please!" Appeal to mercy. Twilight was struck across the face and skidded to the ground, the rough stone dragging across her cheek.
"Trixie-" Now something did break, her nose punching in against her face as she was hit point blank, and she felt detached from her body as it rolled into a water drenched pocket of mud the floor had split over.
It wasn't supposed to go like this. Blood rushed to Twilight’s face, and she tasted it on her lip as she found herself unable to get up. Hoofsteps sauntered out of the corner of her ear, and Trixie stopped just in front of her, gently kicking at her stomach to watch her stir.
"Trixie..." Twilight pushed out again. It would be alright; she just needed time to think, and it was due time for Trixie to start prematurely boasting about her victory. This was when she worked best. Then, Trixie rolled her onto her back, and they met each other's gaze.
"Tr..." Trixie's horn lit, and Twilight flinched feebly, waiting for the next blow. Twilight was struggling to see through spots of black now, and for the first time in ages she felt genuine fear against a foe.
Trixie spoke, only now that she knew she had won.
"I hope I'm all you're thinking about right now, Twilight Sparkle. I hope I'm all you ever think about again."
Twilight was dropped to the floor, swimming in and out of consciousness. She gurgled something out before she was finally removed from the picture.
Trixie flicked a spell at her like a wad of gum, and every molecule in Twilight's body disappeared.
Easy.
Ending Twilight was the easiest thing she had ever done in her life.
There wasn't even a body left to bury. All Trixie had done, all she had ever had to do, was stop putting on the show.
The show, the spectacle, the illusions weren't useless. They were everything that made her Trixie. But they had their place, and that place was on the stage. Taking advantage of this, allowing herself to stop being the Great and Powerful Trixie, if only for a second, was what let her finally win. She had always had the power to end Twilight Sparkle.
It was on the trek back through the woods, rain still seeping through her cloak and soaking her pelt, that it finally started to seep in what she had done, and she felt high and lightheaded. It wasn't long before giggles racked her, turning into full belly laughs that nearly brought her to her knees as she tried to keep going. The lantern lit streets of Ponyville were hardly visible now, and as she staggered forward like a drunk beggar she found herself wondering what Twilight would have done when she returned. She had been exhausted when Trixie found her. Where did she live again? The library, yes, the one shaped like the tree.
Trixie shambled along the paths, not even caring who saw her draped in the same garbs she had worn her previous visits. Her eyes were raggedly held wide, and she was still covered in mud and water; it was realizing how much of a wreck she was that sobered her up, and she quickened her pace up to the Golden Oaks Library.
Door was locked. Lockpicking spell. Barely a thought, more of an instinct that opened it before her hoof hit the handle. Then she shut the door behind her, and just like that, she was Twilight Sparkle.
In the sanctum of Twilight's own house, in her entryway, surrounded by loving pictures of herself and her friends, the books she cared for so dearly; Trixie traced a hoof over the shelves lovingly before forgetting them instantly when her eyes fell on a new interest; a stack of crumpled paper balls by a writing desk.
Delicately opening them, she skimmed the crossed out lines and smudged ink with a thin smile.
Today I learned a bird in the bush
Today I rediscovered the magic of friendship when a diamond dog tried to
Today I
Today I
Trixie pulled the letter to her chest, closing her eyes. All of beloved Sparkle's failures, neatly organized for her, wasn't that nice? Perhaps she could send a few, or staple them to doors, or-
She scanned the lines again. She was more mature than that, after all. Perhaps a different approach was in order. Better to show the town she had changed.
These were Twilight's failures. Twilight certainly couldn't fix them. It was only the gracious thing for Trixie to pick up the slack.
Dear Princess Celestia,
At today's royal wedding, I learned that when your friends and mentor abandon you
when you're locked underground because you dared to trust someone
when Chrysalis attacked
when you can't win
when you
Something snored above her, and Trixie set the scroll down on the writing desk, craning an ear to the tinny sound. A small bed at the top of the stairs, something rolling in it... Trixie approached slowly, hypnotically. She stopped at the top of the stairs, looking down. So fragile.
She gently reached down and stroked his back lovingly.
"Mm... Twilight...?" He muttered.
Trixie leaned down, inches from his face, and felt a spark of delight as his eyes shot awake.
"Get out of my house ." Trixie snarled.
Spike shot out of bed, rolling away from her with blankets streaming behind him. "Tr- It's-"
"Get out of my house! " Trixie cackled, and she brought lightning crashing an inch above the drake, rearing back onto her hindlegs and laughing as Spike bolted past her to the stairs.
"Tell your friends Trixie's home! " She yelled after him without making a move to pursue. "Tell them Twilight is dead! "
Yes, Trixie was home. She would never be Twilight. She didn't want to be Twilight.
She would be something better.
She looked back downstairs at the writing desk, letters still fluttering from the force of Spike's exit out the door and into the streets. Chrysalis , the letter named. Greatness waited for nobody.
The chamber Twilight was trapped in was rolling and rumbling, and all around her the roars and screams of monsters called to her. She opened her eyes, but still saw nothing. She was curled on cold metal, and found herself wanting only to pull herself further into a ball, to go to bed.
But the beasts weren’t quieting. They were every monster she had been tasked to defeat, every monster she had saved the town from, and they hated her, they closed in on her, jaws salivating and hunger growing and they wanted her please no please no oh Celestia
Calm down.
The noises didn't die, animals against metal confining them. They were real, and so was the metal underneath her and the darkness engulfing her, but she wasn't dying. They were caged, and the metal underneath her meant she was in a cage too.
She was in Tartarus. It was a spell she had seen used before, meant for use on monsters and wild animals, to lock them in one of Tartarus's prisons, like they were criminals to be locked in cages. Twilight had always sworn not to use it; it was better to spend hours fighting to bring them back to the Everfree than to take the easy way out, and to throw them in a confined darkness for the rest of their days.
Twilight was the animal now, and escape was only a simple teleport away, but she couldn't... muster the strength. Her magic felt drained, she couldn't reach through the haze of her mind. Was this the spell Trixie had used? No, she was just...
Tired.
Twilight had never felt this tired in her life.
Twilight would return to the womb for now. Into her dreams, roars followed her.
The prison had been a castle, once. Now, a familiar purple shield was erected over it, held constantly by some form of physical cantrip to remain stable even when the creator was in another country. Trixie eyed it up as she approached, impressed; especially now, she could appreciate good magical craftsmanship.
The sign said 'WARNING: Do not approach. Keep away 200 yards. PENITENTIARY.'
Trixie smugly crossed yard 200.
"Good morning, Miss Sparkle. Here to check up on her imprisonment?"
Trixie smiled under her illusion spell, while the face of her old nemesis she hid under kept its eyes steadfastly locked on the royal guard's. "I am. Princess Celestia has given me Royal clearance to see the prisoner. In person."
"We weren't informed of this-"
"Would you like to question the Princess herself, sir?" Trixie leaned into the guard at the gate, drawing herself up.
The Guard didn't flinch. "You still understand, it's a must for every visitor."
Trixie fell back with a hmph. The ruse had failed, but she had expected it to. It's purpose had been buying seconds. With a flourish, she withdrew the scroll she had been casting over for the seconds she was talking. Nearly every textbook she had ever had had taught her illusion spells as a means of disguising a living creature. Naturally, she had decided to branch out.
The guard read the disguised decree closely, and finally relented. Of course it was flawless- Trixie had seen Celestia's letters now, neatly arranged at Twilight's. She knew how the princess wrote and sealed. Finally, Trixie signed the list of visitors she was offered, drawing a cute little star over the I in Twilight.
Passing through the gate built into the bubble, she trekked up towards the door of the converted castle. Locks and warning signs covered its face, alongside a more detailed notice on the stone wall. 'Journal spells and minor motion spells only. Restrict all other magic.'
"It seems somepony isn't a very good reader. I can smell an illusion from here. Tsk tsk, trying to trick a changeling with a disguise... Disgraceful." The voice seeped and oozed from behind the door, toxicity crawling up Trixie's leg and into her ear.
Trixie fell down against the door, leaning into it thoughtfully. "Queen of Changelings. It's an honor. I used to read little kid's horror stories about you. The Sandman, Mother Horse Eyes, The Knackerman, all the bogeymen under my bed. Imagine my surprise at finding out you were real."
"It's about time someone greeted me with respect... Oh, I do so love legend. What do they say about me? Spare no gory detail."
"They say you hide in closets, run from light, swallow children whole."
"Well, they exaggerate a little ..."
Trixie realized a part of her was scared. In a movement faster than she could stop herself, she opened the flap on the door, peering in at the darkness to confront her bogeyman. A lime green eye opened inches from her. She didn't flinch, but did quiver. Just for a second.
"You're not Twilight, indeed. Who might you be?" Chrysalis rested her head against the door, moving her fangs into view through the peephole.
"An old friend of hers. It really is horrible how she's treated you. Caged, humiliated, beaten..."
"And I suppose you've come to offer me flowers."
Trixie shut the hatch, not letting the sting show.
"I've come to make my mark."
Trixie distinctly heard the sound of some sort of salivation on the other end. "That's all anyone wants, I suppose... Would you like to know what comes with Fame, Not-Twilight?"
"From you?"
"I've been around for a good few thousand years. From what you tell me, I've built up quite a fame, haven't I? And eeeevery few centuries, decades even, someone approaches me, and I always listen. They boldly show themselves to my face with much less than your petty little disguise spell. Some come to kill me. Some come to join me. All of them want their names in the book right besides mine. And do you know what I do to them each time after hearing them out?"
The hatch forced itself open. "I eat them alive . The obituaries are more of a record than a book, but I suppose it counts. So, you know, talk. I always appreciate a visitor."
Trixie puffed herself up, licked her lips, and spoke clearly and proudly, "I think you'll find there's a difference between me and them." Pause for effect. "Twilight Sparkle is dead. I have killed her."
Instantaneous, without a breath of thought. "No she isn't."
Trixie had expected denial, vehement rage. Or perhaps an incredulity, a begging for details. Maybe even delight, a happy congratulation, although that was more of a fantasy. But a simple 'no', as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, as if she were stupid for even implying it... Trixie’s blood boiled. "And what makes you so sure, since you're the expert in killing her?" She snapped.
"Exactly that." Chrysalis boredly replied. "Thousands and thousands of years. I've killed kings, gods, monsters. Oh, that dragon was fun... But I've encountered Twilight twice, once even in one-on-one combat. I've learned her, as well as I can learn any opponent. If she still eludes me... How many encounters have you had with her, exactly?"
The answer burned at the back of Trixie's brain, but she refused to entertain it. "You dare doubt Tri-"
"I dare, I dare. Lean towards the door more, I can't hear you. Is this all you've come to offer me? Empty boasts and pride? I've met a thousand magicians like that. And like most people in Twilight’s life, they were fools."
Sparks were flying over Trixie's eyes now as a cone solidified around her horn. She leaned towards the hatch, not noticing the corner of a smile at Chrysalis's lip.
"I could kill you where you stand, bug. "
Chrysalis yawned. "In a cage, weakened and wearing a magic suppressor. I'd say a particularly impassioned dog could kill me now, but I seem to be dealing with one as we speak."
Trixie’d had enough, and practically jammed her muzzle through the hatch. "If you had any idea- "
Chrysalis reached into Trixie’s open jaws and grabbed her tongue. The Changeling Queen smirked.
Boiling over, Trixie dropped her disguise, bursting from the magic veil she wore and teleported inside.
Twilight was awake. Darkness.
She had never felt so rested. How long had she slept? Ten hours? Two days? One hundred years? All she knew was how good she felt, even with the muttered growls and sniffs and muggy air and metal floor.
Feel around. What had happened? Trixie . They had fought, but it wasn't... normal. Trixie had tried to kill her . Even now she could feel her injuries beneath her. Why had she sent her to Tartarus?
Crawl forward. There should be bars, eventually, miles and miles and miles and- here. Why had she been so weak? She had held herself in a fight before, hundreds and hundreds of changelings and growls and roars and monsters and Manticores. She had been asked to fight off a monster. That was who she was, Twilight Sparkle, the magical prodigy, the monster hunter, the superhero. She felt at the bars- about 2 inches wide, important not to botch this-
For a second, she saw in the light from her spell, and in that second she wish she hadn't. The dripping saliva, the sharpened fangs, the glaring eyes, they were everywhere. By the time the teleport was over and Twilight was out of the cage, she was too shaken to move.
I can't fight them off, they'll tear me apart, I'm not strong enough, I can't- Deep breath, deep breath.
The monsters were caged. She wasn't. Listen to them, listen to horrible roars and noises telling her how far away they were. Don't misstep, don't come within their reach. Don't light your horn. I don't want to see them.
Twilight crawled forward on her belly, using only her front legs to drag herself along, grimacing at the feeling of stone against healing wounds.
She hated monsters. She hated friendship lessons. She hated being an episodic adventure, every day a new threat, with specials on weekends. Specials like Trixie. These monsters won't hesitate to kill me. Trixie won't- No, Trixie did. Trixie wasn't the serialized cartoon villain who came back with a new plot each week only to run away cursing her when she was defeated. I hurt her. She had to. It didn't have to go this far. I never wanted to hurt her, to humiliate and show her up and fight her. She was just... solving the puzzle placed in front of her. Trixie hadn't been a pony. She had been another monster the town wanted her to handle.
Where did Trixie come from? She was just a traveling magician, doing fake tricks, but... she had such talent. That much is obvious . The spells she had cast, even without the Alicorn Amulet were incredible . Spells like that weren't the mark of amateur magicians, but students. Twilight searched her memories. The two of them were around the same age, if Trixie had gone to a magical school...
A blue colt with a cutie mark of a star-tipped wand and a crescent moon. Dropped out after only two years. Anti-social, only cared about studying. Talented, but friendless.
Twilight closed her eyes. She didn't need them.
The noises of Tartarus' stomach sounded all about her, and she used them to guide her.
Wiping her hooves, Trixie caught her breath and surveyed the damage. Hundreds upon hundreds of cocoons had filled the entry hall Chrysalis was sealed upon, growing like boils along the walls and ceilings. In her fury, she had cleaved through all of them in bursts of magic. The walls were seared. Guards were banging at the doors, realizing their own keys didn't work; she had had enough sense to put a few extra enchantments on them before getting to work.
And Chrysalis, oh how easy to tear she was. Missing a leg, hair tattered, several gaping holes on her barrel leaking unidentifiable fluids. Nevertheless, she remained infuriatingly conscious. Were Trixie calm, she might have been impressed.
Chrysalis groaned, coughing up something, heaving a breath. "You know... You were right... You are better than Twilight... I'm really feeling the compassion for how horribly she treated me... Really feeling the love... Coming out my neck... Might have been an old meal..."
Another zap. Celestia, please drop dead. "Shut up ."
"Ah, the refreshing- hack - zap of moral superiority, burning in my brain."
"Shut up! "
"My children have been killed in their sleep. My legacy ends to a fool. You'll have your name in the history books, as the mare who broke into a prison to be the vigilante."
Before Trixie could even begin to respond, Chrysalis leaned forward weakly. "And one last thing. I give Twilight another day before she shows up. Throw her a welcome party, will you?"
Trixie gave up on calmness. In the last minutes before the guards broke down the door, she charged her horn for one last spell. Trixie thought of flowers, then tore Chrysalis apart to the fibres of her being. A crack of magic, and Trixie teleported away.
The roars were a distant susurrus now. Feeling ahead, Twilight could now gauge the sensation of a giant door in front of her. She pressed her ear to the door, and heard birds twittering outside.
Get to your hooves. Twilight stabled herself against the door, deep and rusty laughs belching out of her system. She had gotten to Tartarus and back to Ponyville in two days before. She just needed this teleport. How thick was the door? What was the terrain around it like? Somewhere she knew well was easy to teleport between, but she had only visited Tartarus once- if she botched this...
Twilight stumbled, and her cheek ran down the length of the engraved carvings on the door.
It hurt.
I need to get back. I don't know what Trixie's doing to town, to... my friends. I need to tell her...
How could she fix this? This wasn't a friendship problem anymore. Monsters be damned, this was a real person she was talking to, a real person who had been beaten down by more successful mages her entire life. Show her up, beat her in a duel- there was no good way to diffuse the situation.
Well, there was one.
Ironically, it was friendship related.
Twilight made the leap of faith, and sunlight blinded her.
In the dirt outside Tartarus' entrance, Twilight fell to her knees, laughing and hooting.
In Ponyville, the doors to the Golden Oaks Library had been double, triple, and quadruple locked. All the blinds were shut. Inside, five mares and a drake spoke in heated hushes, wary of listeners even in the safety of the library. Their faces were painted with worry, and their eyes frequently darted to the closed windows, conversation frequently punctuated by periods of silence mid-word, flinching at small noises.
Rarity spoke hurriedly and despondently. "Neither hide nor hair of either, for going on a day now. Twilight was apparently called to help with a Manticore venturing onto the roads, and- Oh, Celestia, I can't imagine what's going on."
Applejack spoke contemplatively but determinedly. "I reckon these little excursions into the routine are easier when there is a giant monster. At least then we can see the root of the issue, smack dab on the schoolhouse or climbing a building or whatzits. Here? It feels like something we ain't involved in, and that makes me worried."
Dash growled suddenly. "If we're not involved, we're going to be. Twilight is our friend. There's no way she'd consider a mission too important for us."
"I just don't understand." Fluttershy added. "What could Trixie possibly want that she's so... secretive about? This isn't like her at all. I think... I think something is seriously wrong."
"I should think you're right... Fluttershy? I don't believe we've met."
They hadn't even heard her enter. The entire room started, and Applejack placed herself between the new guest and Spike. Dash was more direct; she put herself at the front of the group, haunches raised, shoulders lowered, jabbing her nose in Trixie's direction. "You! What are you doing here? Where's Twilight?"
A weak barrier was raised between them lazily, not even coming up to Trixie's neck. "Sheathe your claws, Crash. You wouldn't want to do something drastic."
"Tell me what I don’t want to do." Dash retorted.
"I'd never dream of it. I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, and I come with an invitation I hope may satiate them." Trixie paused, waiting for a reaction, eyes scanning the crowd. "A party. We all like parties, don't we? I think you may find this one, ah, enlightening."
"Trixie..." Rarity warned. "We know you're trying something."
"You haven't a clue." Trixie snapped. "I'm offering you an olive branch. One last show, as it may be. A celebration."
"Celebration... of what?" Shy meekly prodded.
Trixie's brow furrowed. "It all depends on who shows up, I suppose." With a tilt of her head, a scroll wrapped in red coalesced next to her, and was laid on the floor between them politely. "I highly recommend showing. Wear something nice."
And she turned, unlocking the door from the inside and parting with a tip of her hat.
Dash rolled the scroll on the floor suspiciously, as if wary of a bomb. Then, tearing the ribbon off with her teeth, she unfurled it on the wood.
Come one come all
Watch the birdy
At Trixie's greatest show yet
Fluttershy sighed. "I suppose I did ask for her old self back."
"Didn't give a shit until I started getting pretty… waste all my time…"
Trixie's eyes remained on her reflection as she put on a fresh coat of lipstick, tilting her head to gauge the effectiveness.
"Would you fight me to the death? I'd fight me to the death." She muttered delicately.
She hadn't killed Twilight. She knew this for a fact. Trixie could slay monsters, but a pony... was another story. And that decision had cost her. The more she thought it over, the more it made sense. Twilight would be returning, she was just too damned determined to keel over in Tartarus and die. And the thought exhilarated Trixie.
Twilight couldn't beat her, not in ten million years, not now . Trixie hadn't been able to kill her. She supposed Chrysalis had put her into perspective: It wasn't enough to kill someone at their weakest. She needed to do it at their strongest. And for that, she would get over her qualms, put her worries aside, just for one day. For one show. Just long enough to do what she had failed to do in the castle, and in the eyes of everyone.
By now, the crowd must be waiting on her. All eyes would be on her.
It would be wonderful.
The ground beat under Twilight as she kicked up dust behind her, racing the land. Already she knew it wasn't enough; She needed to return now .
Twilight's horn reached out in a field of energy around her, invisible strings aligning to form a direct line from just between her eyes to a tall rock several feet off. Space folded like paper, the two points meeting exactly, and Twilight was on the rock, magic flowing through her as she chalked up another, just as fast. 7 feet now. 20. As long as it was within her sight- but she didn't need to restrict it to that, did she? Mentally she scanned through memories of maps, vacations, train rides- her memory was perfect, and the strings laced all Equestria.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Her hooves didn't even touch the ground, and before long, she was falling, falling for miles over the country, erratic mass teleports keeping her in the air even in freefall. She could do this with her eyes closed.
The protege of Celestia, the greatest mage in Equestria set sights for home.
Trixie's cape was her veil, cast over her and snapped back to present herself to the crowd. She closed her eyes and imagined them cheering.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PATRONS OF THE CROWD, I PRESENT TO YOU: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE'S GREATEST SHOW YET!"
There was confusion, mass concern, and more than a bit of fear, but she paid it no mind. As long as she was worth looking at, she had a captive audience- And she intended to never be boring again.
"Eyes on Trixie, Watch the birdy! What you see tonight is what I leave behind, so come one, come all, and behold, the story of the two greatest lives to ever live!"
The opening act began. In a flourish of veil, the curtains behind her dropped, and from the forest behind it came Trixie's favorite beast. The beauty, the cosmic significance of the bear whose coat showed the universe, on whom stars grew and died, on whom the history of the galaxy could be effectively mapped, if not for the raw danger of the claws and teeth it wore...
Trixie's cape was blown behind her by the force of the first footstep towards her, and as the maw swooped down for a careless chomp she turned her nose up, proudly looking away from the threat as it closed around her. The teeth parted once again as Trixie seized both jaws in magic, wrenching them open and daintily raising herself to a standing position to watch the audience. Carelessly she held her cape to keep it dry while standing on the tongue of the struggling Ursa, inches from the razors that circled her where she stood.
"Trixie has been brash, stupid, amateur. She knows what you think of her; Stuck-up, pathetic, evil. You've had reason; Trixie hasn't been truly Great for some time."
In a crunch and a shattering of her grip into purple shards that melted on the air, the Ursa clamped its jaws down, only to be immediately repelled by a crack of white hot magic that drove it back into the parted curtains, and Trixie onto her hooves in a roll that brought her up to a stand unfazed.
"So I'd like to invite a very special guest to the stage. Someone who's always been there for Trixie- at the top of the mountain, always ready to push her back down.
"You know her."
The crowd began to part with gasps as something passed by them, eventually giving up on shoving them as they began to automatically make room for her.
"You love her."
The path she carved finally closed as she hit the stage and pulled herself up.
"The Great... And Powerful..."
Trixie lowered her voice to a whisper, lovingly meeting Twilight's impassioned glare with a tilted head.
"Twilight Sparkle."
"Trixie Lulamoon."
Trixie squinted. "Did I ever tell you my last name? I've always omitted it from the posters."
"I know you, Trixie. I've known you since school."
Trixie's mouth hung as she tried to recall, then finally cracked a smile. "Oh, that. Is. Perfect. My own mother didn't know me as long as you have. Every stage of my life, and you watched me through it all, isn't that right? Well, what did you think of the show? Speak up, make sure the audience can hear you."
On the circular stage, the two mages circled each other. Trixie punctuated her speech with sudden and sharp leans towards her rival, as if trying to startle her, but Twilight remained steady and slow.
"I think you're scared, Trixie."
Trixie scoffed. "Scared? I've been telegraphing worse than I thought. Magic school was when I was scared. Living in a shack was when I was scared. Now, my blood might be on fire. I feel high ."
"Then you're angry."
"Wrong again, but that I can forgive, you've been out of it for a few days. Of course I'm not going to be angry; I'm going to be immortal!"
"Then what are you going to do? You planned for something, you brought us all out here, you waited on me. What do you plan to do?" Twilight finally spat.
"Are you deaf, Sparkle?" Trixie lit her horn. "I’m the mare who killed the greatest monster hunter in history. I'm going to be immortal. "
Twilight barely dodged the first blow, smacking into the stage and sizzling a hole into it. The crowd began to stampede, panicking and running from the flying spells, but still wanted to be close enough to watch the action.
"You don't want to kill me, Trixie! You couldn't do it before!" Twilight shouted, strafing for a position to duck to if needed.
"When, for the love of Celestia, will you understand?" Trixie took a step back, and smoke blew in jets from the cannons at either end of the stage. "All I've ever wanted is to be known! To be seen, by the world! And I'll do whatever it takes to get that!"
She drew a whip of magic and cracked it three times in succession near Twilight, just missing each time. "Can you see me, world? Do not adjust your sets!"
Twilight scrambled for the curtain in desperation. "Trixie, we're not going to kill each other!"
"Then make me one of your problems to be solved, Sparkle! I'm the only one left for you; Discord, Sombra, Nightmare Moon, all your greatest foes have been vanquished. And thanks to me, I've finished Chrysalis. Your job on this earth is done. Take your bow!" Trixie tore the curtain off and left it to flutter over the ground the audience had stood on.
Twilight hid behind the pillar supporting the lights, panting. "Chrysalis? What did you do? She's in jail, what did you do?"
"I paid her a visit. From her tone, I'm guessing you enjoy the same from time to time. She's a nice talk, but just does not let go."
Twilight's heart raced, and the stage under her felt much more real. Was she still an adult woman in a fight to the death?
"If I were you, I'd follow her lead. With a little more manners, perhaps." Trixie sniffed, whipping her head briefly to face the crowd with faux carelessness.
"You said... I treated my enemies like problems. I treated you like a puzzle to be solved. Look what you've done; you've just tied her to me, like she doesn't even matter. Trixie, you killed her." Twilight shut her eyes, waiting for the footsteps and hum of charged magic to finally turn around the pillar and come face to face with her.
"Omelette, breaking eggs, the like. You started this; and when I end you, I'll make sure the problem ends forever. You should be happy. I fixed your life in what, two days?" Twilight was met with confident lavender eyes. "Now go out proudly. Fight me, Sparkle, and lose. You've cemented yourself in history. It's my turn."
Twilight exhaled shakily.
"Alright, Trixie." Close eyes. Don't look at how happy she is. "Let's duel."
"I thought you'd never ask."
Twilight was torn from the ground, and in a sharp arc, carried over the entire stage and slammed into the other side. Just before impact, Twilight drew a shield that hissed violently as her shoulder still caught the brunt.
Pouring all her energy into her magic, Twilight rocketed off the stage on her damaged shoulder from the force of the short beam attack in Trixie's general direction, easily dodged and countered as Twilight found herself wrenched back and driven through the wood floor.
The world was ending, and Trixie would outlive it.
Eyes on... You get it.
How's that for a story? Trixie's won. She killed Twilight in a matter of seconds, and went on to live a happy and fulfilling life. She had millions of adoring fans, and died... I don't know, around 70? In bed? Who cares, the show always ends long before that. Who's ever heard of a magician who died on stage? Yech. What if you accidentally pulled a face, stuck your tongue out or something, and then just had to sit there with your tongue out until someone ran to throw a sheet over you?
What, you don't believe Trixie? After spending this long together.
Yeah. Neither does she, sadly.
Sometimes, dear audience, we get everything we've ever wanted. The show is over. The curtains are called. In fiction, this is the end. In real life, it's just another passed second. Isn't that unfair?
And sometimes, just sometimes, no matter what happens, whether you get everything you wanted or keel over on stage, you lose anyway.
What a lousy show. You should demand a refund.
When it's done, of course.
Nothing riled up the crowds like a spectator sport. Even as they fled, they couldn't take their eyes off Trixie, and only kept the bare minimum of what could be considered a safe distance from the flying sparks to keep watching the event unfold.
“Trixie, I don’t want to fight you!” Appeal to mercy.
“Then put your money where your mouth is and Die .”
Twilight leaned forward into the thaumic blow to catch it and spread it through her body, then returned with a flurry of quick weak spells, like a barrage of punches in the hopes to slow down the opponent. Not a wisp touched Trixie; shreds of half formed shields shot down before they could form were used like mitts to catch the balls with the bare minimum of energy expenditure. A magic duel was risk versus reward.
And Twilight had a lot more to risk for round 2. Trixie had the crowd to fuel her, gasps and cries of shock pushing her will, but even with the mass strength just getting here in the first place had taken Twilight, she felt like she could take down an Ursa Major- and with Trixie, she'd need to be about that skilled.
"I understand. Celestia, it all makes sense now, like all the pieces fitting together. After school- After you dropped out, meeting me must have been like you were a kid again." Twilight calculated a necessary step back for the two more forward that would come as soon as Trixie stopped swinging her whip, as soon as Trixie deemed the risk higher than the reward.
"You're preaching to the choir, Twilight. You can't get out without a fight. Will it be a blaze of glory or a matchstick under my hoof?" Trixie shot back, abandoning the whip to dissipate back into the atmosphere and going instead for something simpler. A small, cup-shaped shield formed around her horn to protect her head from the needle of energy that Twilight fired next.
Forward. Back. Lure. Heed. Learn. Attack.
Talk.
"Fine. You don't want me to beg?" Twilight growled, sacrificing a blow to her cheek and a gasp from the crowd to take a step back and readjust. "I'll tell you exactly what you need to hear. Nothing separates us; nothing important, anyway."
Now a full formed shield, a dome over Twilight to let her think as Trixie threw herself against it. "You got a bad roll of the dice, and I didn't. Do you think I've been riding the high of grade school my entire life? I was a friendless loser, Trixie." At Trixie's next mindless charge, Twilight caught her ear in telekinesis to wrench her around facefirst, shoving her muzzle to the stage.
"Can you imagine that? I was a social shut in, and I broke out of it because I acted. I forced my life to change, and look where I am now." Trixie broke out of the weak grasp and launched an offensive spell past Twilight's ear. A miss- Twilight's gambit was paying off. But the second the monster killer started thinking like that... Take a breath, ignore the noise, focus on your words.
"Trixie, you're strong, you're the strongest unicorn I know, but you haven't changed since- You know well when the last time you changed was." At the mere mention of it Trixie seemed to gain strength, and toppled Twilight over in a bearhug around the neck, no magic required. "A-And now you're trying to do it again after years to what, take me down? Prove you can do what I can't? You can't. You won't, more like." Twilight choked, cursing her physical strength and pouring mana instead into magic, dragging Trixie backwards by the hindleg off her. The crowd cheered, and Trixie stiffened, crumpled, finally realizing how against her her fans were.
"Trixie, you've lived through stuff I couldn't dream of. You've survived, and that's it . You needed to do more. You didn't, and now look where you are." Twilight stood, and her conical shield spell reformed, the size of a baseball bat and far taller than it was wide. Like a spear, she brought it down on Trixie's back, only managing one blow before Trixie rolled to her hooves. "What happens when the fight ends?"
Now to something much more familiar- a Beam of War. Both of them poured a small fraction of their mana into thin shields around them, and then forced the rest into thick, dense beams of energy that collided and wrestled for superiority, blotting out the rest of the world and the roaring crowd. In a magic duel, it was the ultimate show of strength- the thaumic equivalent of an arm wrestle, forgoing flashiness and cunning for sheer calculable brute strength. Push forward. Never blink.
"After the curtain closes?" Twilight yelled to be heard as she took quick and long strides towards where Trixie rooted herself. "What happens if you win , Trixie? You're exactly where you left off, but you snuffed out your only hope of getting better." She was close enough now to see Trixie's eyes through the blinding light of their crossed beams. "You snuffed out who might be the only person left who cares about the Great and Powerful Trixie, the only one who gets her." Trixie's eyes wavered, and there was barely an inch of beam between them, flaring into Auroras battling for dominance. "There's no ending, Trixie, no credit roll after your final moments. We keep living, Trixie."
"That's... it. "
Trixie broke first, and the instant Twilight felt give, she nyxed every active spell and prayed she wouldn't be obliterated in a counterattack.
Nothing came, and for a second Twilight only soaked in the sun and air, relishing her aching joints newfound peace. Then, when she was finally ready, she met her opponent's gaze with fiery vigour, ready for whatever was next.
Trixie looked at Twilight with an agape jaw, stumbling back.
"Oh. " The magician spoke.
With a soft exhale, Trixie fell onto her haunches, staring despondently into the air, not even noticing what was left of the crowd and their eyes.
"There." Twilight muttered, the glow from her horn dying. "I treated you like a person. It's what you wanted. It's what you deserve. All of us deserve it."
"I do, don't I? I think that's all I needed." Trixie mouthed, the air barely leaving her mouth as she sat in shock.
"We're not characters, Trixie. We don't have a checklist of goals to meet before we're allowed to die."
"I know, I know. But it's just... Celestia, it's so much easier to think that way, isn't it? Like you've got something waiting for you at the end if you just hold out. Like life's all a big show."
Trixie seemed to regain some composure at her last words, rubbing dirt off her cheek and tidying her frazzled hair as well as she could. Twilight took this as initiative, and nursing a damaged leg, wobbled forwards towards the recovering catatonic performer.
"Trixie, if we... appeal to the Princess, explain everything..." Twilight searched for solutions, struggling to stay afloat.
"Twilight, there's no coming back for me. You're right, we keep on living, and I'm not gonna be pardoned for this. Nobody cares if I learned my lesson, at the end of the day there's no magic fix-all. I've got no more tricks up my sleeve."
"Trixie..." Twilight finally fell to her belly, lying draped across the stage a few feet away from Trixie. She was vacantly aware of her friends climbing the steps to them trepidatiously. "You look great."
"Is that what you've got for me? At the end of all this?" Another pitiful laugh. Trixie was good at that lately. It didn't seem like she had much else to offer anymore. "I-I did my hair. I don't know why. For you, maybe. It's cute, isn't it?" She toyed with the loose strands hanging off her mane nervously. "Twilight, I think there's an ending to this. A happy one."
Twilight's face fell flat, solidified into stone. "Yeah? What's that?"
"I want you to write a letter to the princess."
"For you? I don't thi-"
"For you . I want you to tell her all your baggage about, I don’t know, fighting monsters. Saving ponies. Whatever's on your mind." She waved her hoof in Twilight's direction amusedly. "You've got me all figured out, but I'm not too sure what's up with you. I guess that's the real reason you've got more life to live. Me?"
Trixie thought it over. She thought about her father. Her dear departed mother. Her school life. Her childhood homes. Her transition. Her career. Her learning and training and fighting to be more.
"Did you mean what you said?" Trixie softly mused, looking into the shiny stage panels. "I look great, Twilight." She repeated like it was the best compliment she had ever received. "I look beautiful."
Trixie's magic felt gingerly at her own neck, her head, her hair, sculpting a mold of thaumic energy along it, feeling every crevice and contour, taking her entire head in a comforting grasp like she was cradling the feminine body she rested in.
"Take my picture, Twilight."
Here's how it went. Dash rushed for her, hoping to be fast enough. Rarity fainted on the spot. The crowd that had been recollecting gasped as one. Twilight screamed. She was a bit embarrassed about this, but it was all she could think to do. She wasn't exactly used to this from her villains.
Well, whatever Trixie was.
Trixie thought of flowers, then she pulled. She pulled for all of about a second before she gave out. Then, Rarity's fainted body hit the ground, Dash skidded across the stage, Twilight's scream died in her throat, and Trixie was gone. Not bloodstain nor hair remained where she had been.
The only clue she had ever existed was a lavender cape and hat that neatly fluttered into a pile over her final resting spot, on the stage with all eyes on her.
Put a quill to the paper.
The stage was torn down. For several days after, nobody was quite sure what to do. Nothing like this had ever happened like this before in the sleepy forestside town.
Dip it in ink.
The case was presented to Celestia. The matters of the suddenly deceased prisoner and what remained of her spawn were settled far, far away from Twilight. She didn’t mind. She didn’t want to think any more about it.
Dear Princess Celestia
At the end of that particular day, it was a strangely open and shut ending, at least in the physical matters. One of the only stones left unturned was the remains of the once famous magician, her beloved hat and cape.
Today I learned
Trixie had no remaining family, or anyone who wished to claim ownership. Twilight searched, and she searched hard.
Everything is fine
Twilight finally ended up keeping it. She supposed it was what Trixie would have wanted; but she still wasn’t sure what, if anything, she would want now. That was the most annoying part of an ending.
Twilight shook her head in annoyance, and threw out the ‘Everything is fine’ letter, starting anew with a fresh sheet of paper. There was no point to wondering what she might have said when she said one thing very, very explicitly.
Dear Princess Celestia
I’ve wanted to speak about my life in Ponyville for a long while. Now seems as good a time as any. I’ve had a lot to think about.
Twilight sighed in relief. As she wrote, she began to feel rested for the first time in days now.
