The Darklands

"Report." Nightmare Moon commanded as she stepped back through the mirror and into her own realm.

Before her stood the Captain of her Guard: Glimmering Shield.  With his helmet off, his jet-black hair lay slightly curled against the side of his face and made him a rather intimidating pony.  Now, however, he bore all of his onyx armor over his gray coat and stood rigidly at attention before his queen.

"Milady," he began, bowing in respect.  "We have lost contact with Lieutenant Stardust and his detachment.  I have sent two Pegasi scouts into the forest to confirm whether or not they have taken down Latrodias, but..."

"But she is an aged, formidable fighter.  Nay, those guards are lost, Captain, but perhaps Twilight and Trixie managed to escape..." Nightmare Moon mused, mostly talking to herself as she slowly trotted out the door and down the hall, her eyes distant as she was overwhelmed with her thoughts.

Sleep was not being kind to Trixie.  Nay, it was outright taunting her.  Every second Trixie felt as if she could fall asleep on a whim if she simply shut her eyes, but something kept her from the gently embrace of sleep.

How did Twilight know what I was thinking?  Mind reading is an illegal art here, and I can't imagine it would be legal for whatever reason in her world... Trixie thought, casting a wary glance on the huddled ball next to her.  She was sure Twilight was asleep this time.

She sighed and simply stared up at the small clouds instead, thinking back on her life and scavenging for any memories that might have something to do with these strange new feelings for the purple unicorn mare beside her.

Ever since Trixie was a little filly, her whole world had been consumed with books and knowledge.  Knowledge of any subject- although luckily she was too young and naive back then for certain subjects.  She had passed up opportunities to make friends that she could see clearly now that she looked back.

Her entire life had been wasted while she crammed her snout into countless books, and for what?  Never once had Trixie formed any theories on magic by herself or set about compiling her many strewn notes.  It would take ages to go through all those loose little snippets of paper that lay scattered about the library and crammed into books- sometimes even the wrong books.

Trixie couldn't suppress another sigh.

Is this the way Twilight Sparkle lived?

No. Trixie thought, shaking away those thoughts.  Twilight was happy, even in a strange new place with the Queen of Darkness herself hunting the poor unicorn.

She most have friends, family...Maybe even a lover back in her realm...

Trixie groaned before turning away from Twilight Sparkle and laying on her side- fighting back tears.

Why does everything terrible have to happen to me?

"You promise, Tia?"

"I promise, little sister.  I will do my best to treat Nightmare Moon as an equal- unless, of course, my original suspicions prove to be correct.  I hope that they do not, Lulu- for your sake and mine."

"I hope so too, Tia...We talked a lot during our banishment, you know..."

"Oh?  And what all did you two talk about?"

"...You know...Stuff."

"Lulu, if there's something on your mind, you can tell me."

"...Tia, there are more of them out there- Alicorns, like Nightmare, except not.  They're all her brothers and sisters who own their own realms like we do our own, except they're evil.  When you banished us, Nightmare couldn't get back to her own world because there was nothing to reflect it into ours on the moon.  Her land died during that time, and her ponies suffered.  The others...They're not like her.  They don't care about their ponies, and they'll use whatever destructive powers they can harness to make the land what they want."

"I don't see your point, Luna."

"My point is, is that Nightmare found me because she's linked with depression and anger.  The others, they're all linked to a certain emotion.  If our world, or a key figure in it, feels so strongly on one emotion, it'll call them to us, and we'll be powerless to stop them."

"...And what would you have me, do, Luna?  I've struggled to maintain peace, prosperity, and happiness for thousands of years in Equestria.  The only time I've ever even heard about this was from Mother, and when it happened to you."

"Just do me a favor, 'Tia?"

"Anything for you, little sister."

"...Just keep me from crying?"

"Huh...Whazzat..." Trixie groaned sleepily as a hoof gently prodded her side.

"Come on, Trixie.  It's time to get up.  Looks like those two mares ditched us, but they didn't take anything, at least."

"Nyeh...Five more minutes..." Trixie groaned childishly before Twilight Sparkle elicited a sigh and began trotting away.

"Well, then I guess I'll just go looking for breakfast by myself and leave you here as an easy meal for any predators." Twilight said with a smirk as she turned her head back to Trixie's prone form, which suddenly tumbled around in a flurry of hooves as the blue Unicorn mare struggled to fight off the imaginary creatures she thought were standing over her.

Giggling, Twilight beckoned her forth.  "I think I'm starting to get a hang of telling night from day, even when the moon's stuck in the sky."

"It's something that grows on you." Trixie said with a shiver, fighting off the cold morning air as she tried to awaken herself fully.

"Speaking of which, I thought we'd backtrack and get your bag.  I mean, even if it's just a memory bag, you cared enough to bring it in the first place."

Trixie smiled softly at the notion, but shook her head to disagree. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, but I'd rather just leave it where ever it's laying.  I've spent too many nights just looking at its contents and crying- wondering how I could have done things differently so that they would turn out better."

"Oh?  Like what things?"

"Well, one of them was Spike's first tooth that he chipped when he tried to eat a gem for the first time." Trixie said with a sad smile, memories rushing through her head of the pairs happiest moments- only to be soured by the memory of the small dragon's departure because the blue mare couldn't get her head out of her books for a few seconds.

"He broke it here, too?" Twilight questioned with a giggle.  "He cried for hours after that because he kept thinking if he hit something wrong he would crumble into dust.  In fact, that's why he always used to ride on my back when he was younger- even after he got over that fear."

The two mares giggled together as they walked, remembering similar times.

"Do you still have Mrs. Buzzy?" Trixie wondered aloud.

"No.  I got her from my parents alongside Smarty Pants, from my brother, but I always preferred Smarty Pants over the bee." Twilight replied.

"Oh.  I chose Mrs. Buzzy, because I've always wanted to fly.  I mean, Smarty Pants was nice, too, but I wasn't too keen on loving a doll who studied a lot.  Kind of ironic, considering how I turned out." Trixie said, offering a shy smile.

Twilight smiled back, happy that Trixie's mood had improved.

It was a wild card, prodding at Trixie's soft spots to see if she would open up, but at least she was sharing her opinions instead of bottling them up and letting them eat away at her.

Before long, the pair of Unicorns managed to exit the dark and foreboding Everfree Forest, coming through it's trees on the banks of a river that curved along wildly in either direction.

"So, which way now?" Twilight asked, turning towards Trixie for guidance.

"To the castle; both of you." a new voice said sternly.

Trixie and Twilight froze in their spot.

"I do not wish to see him."

"Milady, he is very insistent- he's been tossing our guards about as if we were but ragdolls and his playthings!"

"And so you shall be until he decides to leave, Captain.  No harm will come to your stallions, but for the last time: I do not wish to see that bumbling buffoon!" Nightmare Moon declared sternly, raising her voice in anger and causing her Captain to back away slowly, bowing his head in respect and fear.

As the dark armored Unicorn turned to open the doors to the throne room and escape before his Queen could vent her frustration on him, the heavy wooden oaks burst open with an audible crack and sent the poor Captain flying backwards into the wall.

"Good morning, everypony!  Or is it afternoon?  Well, in reality it's always nighttime, but still!" a strange voice sounded before a jagged looking chimera stumbled into the throne room.  "Ah, my Queen, how very nice to see you- I didn't expect you to be up this early, or late?  You really should think about installing clocks around the castle- it's so CONFUSING, not being able to tell the correct time!"

Nightmare Moon bowed her head and placed a hoof over her snout, rubbing the bridge of her nose softly as a sigh escaped her snout.  "Good evening, Turbatias..."

"What, that's it?  No 'How are you doing?', or 'How was your trip'?  Why, from the sounds of it, I'd say you didn't even like me!" Turbatias replied cheerfully, teasingly as he soon went from three dimensional to flat, disappearing from Nightmare Moon's sight until he turned.  "I still wonder why you assigned me as a diplomat.  Can you imagine?  ME, trying talk to the other races about peace and trade?  Ha!  You should have seen the looks on those Zebra when I went flat and slipped through the floor, screaming my head off!  Of course, I had meant to do that, but only because everything was getting so dreadfully boring."

"Turbatias, is there something I can assist you with?" Nightmare Moon asked dully, hoping to get the matter over with quickly and be rid of the nonsensical chimera.

"Oh, always, my dear Queen!  As you can clearly see, I've returned from my yearly rounds.  This time, however, there's something that you need to hear." The chimera said as his form morphed back into his three dimensional form, shooing the attending guards away as he approached the throne.  "The Changelings weren't at home."

A long pause struck up between the two as Nightmare Moon waited for the chimera to go on.

When he did not, she gave another, irritated sigh and spoke up.  "Well, why not?"

"I'm so glad you asked! And the answer is simple." Turbatias said proudly, folding his arms and closing his eyes in satisfaction.  "I have no idea."

"Then why did you come to tell me this?!" Nightmare Moon shouted furiously, standing up form her seat.

"Yeouch- use your inside voice, Queenie.  And I told you because everything looked as if they just packed up and left.  No signs of struggle, no magic in the air- which was really strange.  It's baffling and bothering even me- the god of confusion!"  Turbatias replied, throwing his paw and claw, respectively, into the air.

"Then I will depart immediately to the Badlands to review the situation personally.  You will stay here and keep an eye on Twilight Sparkle.  You are not to interact with her, and if anything happens, you will contact me first. Am I understood?" Nightmare Moon said with an irritated flick of her wings.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Turbatias said with a mock salute, to which Nightmare shook her head and groaned before stomping out of the throne room, leaving Turbatias alone.

With a sly smile, the chimera rubbed his paw and claw together slowly.  "Oh, this will be fun, Twilight Sparkle..."