Blue

Shining Armor slowly rose to his hooves. His head felt like he had been bludgeoned relentlessly with something. He noticed his two fellow 'intruders' stand right next to him; his concentration however, was disturbed slightly by the glare a certain blue mare gave them. She was fuming with anger, though still half-laying on her couch, with the sleeping Rainbow in tow.

"Had fun poking around in my head?!" she asked with venom.

"Forgive me, but I needed to know. I needed to know if you weren't the one behind this. I am sorry for causing you pain," Luna answered softly. The unicorn slowly exhaled, anger seemingly leaving her with that single breath; only sadness and tiredness stayed.

"Can't I ever leave my past behind?"

A sudden, loud snort startled them, signalling the only present prismatic pegasus waking from her slumber. Rainbow stretched her hooves, while still laying down, and half asleep. She slowly sat up, and rubbed her eyes, glancing back where her head was up to that point.

"Mornin'." She suppressed a yawn. "So, I guess I slept on your flank, eh? Sorry about that. It's soft, if that makes you feel any better."

Trixie's face was unreadable.

"Are you implying that I am fat again?"

Rainbow chuckled, but her smile faded away as she noticed the others, and their serious expression.

"What's with this mood? Did I miss something?"

Before any other could reply, Trixie snatched the reins of the conversation back to her.

"Oh, we were just playing a game of truth." Hearing that, the pegasus' ears perked up. "Do you have something you wish to ask me? I'll answer honestly."

Rainbow yawned again, and scratched her head.

"Well... Here's an important one. Don't cha think the Wonderbolts are awesome?"

The showmare blinked, then burst into laughter.

"Seriously Rainbow, you never disappoint. The others all pried around my personal life, yet you just come and ask a completely innocent question, even when presented the opportunity to explore the darkest recesses of my soul."

The pegasus contemplated on this.

"You have one of those?"

Trixie smiled, and suddenly pulled the surprised speedster into a gentle hug.

"Never change, Rainbow. Promise me this. Keep your faith and innocence intact; for they are both scarce to come by."

She slowly let go, sighing.

"Sadly, the same cannot be said about me. And to answer your question: I always respected them as fellow performers, but I always felt their peace-keeping skills could use some hustle and polishing." She looked slyly at the patient figure of the moon princess.

"You know what? You win. Might as well answer your questions; given there is a high chance we won't live through this. But first, I believe we haven't been properly introduced yet." Trixie got off the couch, wobbling a bit, yet still refusing Rainbow's help; she managed to stand up, performing a proper curtsy. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Beatrix Lunamoon, daughter of the Lunamoon clan."

The others' (save Luna's) expression couldn't have been more surprised if she brought proof that carrots are purple. Finally, Vinyl managed to shake off her sudden stupor.

"Lunamoon? As in Luna Lunamoon?" she asked with disbelief.

Trixie nodded.

"That is correct."

"Are-are you some kind of illegal love child?" the DJ asked again, eyeing suspiciously both the azure mare and the dark alicorn. Luna shook her head, the slightest of embarassments flushing her cheeks.

"No, I have never had affairs with my subjects. The true answer lies within the past, before the time of my banishment... with a certain stallion."

Trixie nodded again. By that time, she half-laid back on the couch, hooves hanging sideways. She made a circular motion with her horn, giving life to something illusionary that very well could have been the mark of her clan.

"Our origins start with 'the one blessed by the moon', the clan founder, Patrick Lunamoon. Family legends say he was bestowed his powers by you, Luna, and that you considered him your right-hoof pony. How much of that is true?"

The alicorn smiled.

"I considered him a true friend. He was strong, noble, and kind, yet there was an air of mischief around him. Back then, he was one of the few ponies to genuinely enjoy the night... That of course pleased me. I did not give him his power, however; he earned it himself. He underwent hard training, and performed a ritual to connect his kin to the moon. He succeeded in doing so. I merely pointed out the way, but one without a noble heart would never have obtained the moon's purity. The connection is hard to explain; let it be enough that it differs with each generation. One more thing about him: his true talent was planning. He single-hoofedly planned and organised the Night Guard. Their traditions still remain after so many years. I was deeply hurt by his passing... yet I cannot thank Eternus enough that he did not see me become the villain."

Trixie shrugged.

"Anyway, our family always considered ourselves connected to Luna, too, until her banisment. When that happened, though... suddenly, we were unwelcome guests in the courtroom. Ponies acted antagonistically towards us, suspecting we were planning to bring the nightmare back. My ancestor leading the clan at that time, Grigorij Lunamoon, stepped down from politics; thus preserving our wealth, if not our influence. Although hated countrywide for being firm believers in Luna, the clan quickly faded into obscurity. Even so, worshipping openly was too prominent; they kept their faith in Luna under our clan roof. Maybe it's because that very reason that our belief changed. Many years later, even we believed that Luna was nothing else but Nightmare Moon all along... so we thought we should be a cult that will serve her upon her return. Maybe this caused my parents' views to be distorted so."

"Dis...torted?" Rainbow asked worriedly.

Trixie conjured up an illusion. While the ponies were not familiar to the others, Shining recognised them as the ones he'd seen with her at the Hearth's Warming tree. The stallion wore an ever-frowning expression on his face, and was dressed quite posh. The mare, however, smiled gently at him, and the only thing separating her from a common pony was a silvery locket hanging around her neck. Trixie shifted their images a bit, so their sides became visible; the stallion had two swords crossed before the full moon as a cutie mark, and the mare had a branch with three buds as hers.

"These are my parents;" the showmare began, " heair of the clan, my father, Aleister Lunamoon, and my mother, Blossoming Bud. It's funny... They loved me more than anything in the world... they just showed it the wrong way. Dad was overprotective, often chasing away fillies and colts of my age. Mom was kind and gentle... but Discord forgive you if you just as much as touched a hair on my head. One of my earliest memories is her beating up a stallion twice her size for looking funny at me." She smiled, lost in sad reminiscence. "Yet, for all their love that they gave to me, we had our disagreements. They insisted I go to elite schools and take over leadership of the clan... for it was their firm belief that when Nightmare Moon returned, we would rise to power again, as a reward for supporting our Dark Mistress throughout the ages."

"But, uh... you lost me." Vinyl said, scratching her head. "Isn't the Princess good, or what?"

"I was indeed freed from my madness when I returned to this world after a millenia..." Luna confirmed, pausing slightly. "It did not happen without help, however, nor did it pass without leaving a mark. Rainbow Dash, do you remember my appearance from that fateful night?"

"Um... You had fangs, a helmet, weird snake-eyes—"

"I meant after you used the Elements on me." Luna interjected patiently.

"Oh? Well, you were small, I mean, really small compared to Princess Celestia. I think you were even shorter than me." she mused. Luna nodded, staring at the far corner of the throne room.

"Indeed. The reason behind that is simple; it took me some time to regain my powers. Until then, I spent most of my time hiding in that form, shielded by my sister, to protect me of those who did not believe the prodigal alicorn would ever return to the fold. It did not matter to me, for I understood perfectly how much fear and suffering I wrought... I could not, and can not blame them even today. On the bright side, " she smiled gently, "I had the chance to spend time with my sister after a thousand years... which shortened as soon as I took up my duties again."

"That brings me to my second point," Trixie continued as if nothing happened, startling the others a bit. "Some time later, when I heard about your return and redemption... I had a terrible premonition. I hurried back to my hometown... only to be greeted by gruesome news: my parents had committed suicide. I can only guess their reason... for on that day, our manor disappeared, too; their bodies were found in the plaza." Her voice was empty, her words disconcerting. "Our entire clan disappeared from the face of Equestria, and I had a family to bury. Best Hearth's Warming, ever."

"I had no idea I caused you so much grief, Trixie. Forgive me, if you can," Luna said softly. Trixie shook her head.

"It does not matter anymore. They chose their path, it was not you who forced them. But enough of that. What happened during my visits to Ponyville, you probably know from Twilight."

Rainbow and Luna nodded, while Vinyl and Shining looked uncertain. The stallion finally spoke up.

"Strange as it is, I haven't been told by Twilie of your visits. Perhaps you could elaborate?"

"As for my first appearance... ask Rainbow. I have enough of that incident. As for the second one..." She gazed deeply in his eyes, measuring his reaction. "...I went to get my revenge on your sister."

Shining glared angrily at the mare, feeling his temper slowly boiling.

"What reason could you have had?"

"Oh, I don't know," she replied sarcastically. "First, that damn bear destroyed my wagon; with every possession of mine in it. Second, she humiliated me in front of a large crowd—"

"Trixie, you kinda did that with us, too," Rainbow interrupted.

"Tell me, Rainbow, did I force you to challenge me? Did I let you gloat until the retaliation would cause the most amount of shame? No. I simply boasted, and you fell for it. The moment I was done, I forgot all about you. It was never about ponies, it was about the challenges themselves. They attracted the attention. But she... she waited for the moment when revealing my weak skills, and besting me would cause the most damage to my reputation! She only proved herself to be more than capable of handling the situation, after she let me utterly fail at every single thing I tried to drive away that bear."

"She would never do that!" Shining yelled, his rage exploding.

"Really? So me starving for half a month after that is okay because she didn't mean to?! It's fine that I became laughing stock of Equestria, and subsequently couldn't perform anywhere? Do you have any, any idea what it's like to forget about what you like and can do and work on a bucking rock farm?!"

"Oh boo hoo! You had to work once in your life for your money, so sorry for that!"

He instantly regretted those words. Knowing his tendencies to be overprotective towards his beloved (sometimes even against one of them in favor of the other), he quickly realized this outburst was just the product of not actually thinking, but reacting to insults with insults. Before he could say anything, though, Trixie spoke up in a cold tone, full of anger and pain.

"So you think that it's no big deal? Maybe that I deserved it? I deserved to be denied the chance to practice my special talent—which I suck at, by the way, so I can't even take pleasure in that—and work on a rock farm, doing heavy physical labour amongst ponies who looked at me funny if I as much as thought about using magic to crack open the damn rocks; not to mention I had to work there for two whole years to scrape together enough bits to buy a magical artifact, which I wanted to use for my performances. And if that's not enough, said trinket turned out to be containing an evil spirit that decided to eat away my soul, because he couldn't control me?! All while giving me incredible power, so I would have no inclinations to remove that amulet! Oh yes, a brief moment of triumph, before falling back to the position of Equestria's greatest fool!" She slowly calmed down, her voice turning from agitated to bitter and tired. "I was stopped by your sister before I disappeared completely; and for that, I am grateful. I sought vengeance when I felt my power, and yet it brought nothing but pain and disappointment... and not just to me, but everypony around me. When I finally left the town again, I decided to leave behind my past. I returned to my origins, performing actual tricks, not just humiliating ponies professionally. From that point on, I lived on small stage shows and odd jobs... until that fateful night, not long ago."

Silence loomed for a moment, only to be broken by Luna.

"Trixie, I am sorry about the whole ordeal you had to go through. If we were less complacent with my sister, we could have realised there could have been a phylactery."

"What is done, is done. There is no use thinking about 'what could have been'... for it already passed by us. The only thing that came out good from the whole ordeal is that Twilight hid it somewhere safe."

"Wow, dudette, so that's why you were in prison?"

"No. Didn't you pay attention? I roamed the country for years after that... Well, I guess I must tell you the truth... but I don't want to waste too many words on it. So, here is the short version. Three little towns were involved, too little to even show up on the map. It started pretty late in the evening; I set up my stage, and some ponies even gathered to watch me. The moment I stepped onstage, however, a raging roar shattered the sound of silence. Before my very eyes, an Ursa Major marched into town, lunging at ponies, tearing them apart, and destroying their homes. Fear paralyzed me. The monster's size... well, the Minor was nothing compared to it. The beast was so immense, and I was so small... but when it looked at me, I finally gathered enough of my willpower to run away. I lost it sometime later, but I dared not stop. Early next morning, I reached a different town. I stumbled through the outskirts, desperately trying to find somepony. Of course, it was deserted, no pony in sight. Finally, I came upon somepony resembling an authority figure. Before he could speak, I told him that an Ursa attacked the neighbouring town... then I passed out. When I came to, I was in a barn of some kind, laid on top of a bale of hay. Glancing around, I noticed the same stallion grinning cheerfully at me. I got a terrible feeling about the whole situation, so I questioned him about his actions..."

Trixie looked positvely disgusted with herself, and angry; angry beyond simple words.

"He only responded with incoherent ramblings. Can you believe it? I had a chance to avert the whole tragedy... and I picked a retard, who couldn't even speak, as my messenger. I hurried out in the open, the fool following me. I heard screams, so I immediately steered towards the direction they came from. A good minute passed, before we came across a square littered with bodies. I froze again... my mind refused to acknowledge what was happening. Somehow, the beast emerged from behind us, catching us completely by surprise. A quick smash, and the fool had become but a bloody pulp... which, ironically, was the final drop in the full glass to spill. It broke my stupor, and I turned to face the monster. I desperately tried every single spell in my arsenal on him... needless to say, to no avail. The monstrosity looked no worse for the wear when it decided to slap me with it's paw. I broke through a cart, and hit my head on something heavy... for the second time in two days, I passed out. When I woke up, a dead silence loomed over the ravaged settlement. All I saw were ponies mangled, slaughtered, ripped to pieces... not a single soul alive. It started to dawn on me that the beast let me live. Why? I couldn't fathom it. And, to be quite honest, I thought little of it once I saw it's tracks, leading away from this carnage. I could see an another town in the distance, realising I could warn them this time properly. So I ran... again." She shrugged, displaying a pitiful look.

"Little did I know that I would end up in a town that I visited before. A town, where I had humiliated ponies before with my little 'act'. Needless to say, I received... unkind treatment. It took quite some time to get them to believe me; the fact that the Ursa had not reached them even made me unsure if it really happened, or if I just hallucinated it. Finally, they begrudgingly believed me. I started to feel relieved when I saw them build some barricades, and ready themselves in a professional manner—but nothing happened. Hours passed, and no bear showed up. What little credit they gave me was gone. They started abandoning their posts. I desperately tried to stop them... they didn't listen. I myself nearly gave up, and thought I finally went mad, when a dreadfully familiar roar shattered my hopes. It showed up again. This time, however, a handful of ponies still remained vigilant, and held the line, until practically the whole town flocked out to fight it. It seemed like they could fend it off—but then something unexpected happened. One of the locals managed to land a deep cut on the beast. It... Well, I thought it was fierce and fearsome up until then. I couldn't have been more wrong. The roar that followed... was something unearthly. In retrospect, the pain probably broke whatever control the murderer had over it. Really, if you think about it, why would it attack everypony but leave me alive? Twice? The answer is simple: it was instructed to do so."

They all fell silent. Rainbow looked disbelievingly at the azure mare, and Luna was deep in thought. Vinyl looked sick. Shining was baffled; the mere thought that there was somepony vile enough to slaughter three towns for their dastardly purposes... was wrong, for lack of a more fitting word. He'd seen attackers, like skirmishes on the griffon border, spies, who sold out their country for riches, and even changeligs, who tried to invade Canterlot through him—but he never heard of a person who would willingly kill three settlements as collateral damage, without any real purpose. Luna finally broke the eerie silence.

"I... I never expected for someone to be able to do mind-control on such an advanced level... Our enemy is formidable indeed."

"Yeah, but, uh, dudette." Vinyl spoke up, suppressing the urge to throw up, "You, how'sh'd I say... still stand and breathe here. How'd you escape?"

Trixie looked sad. By now, she shed all her masks; the real Trixie was talking: one who didn't boast about her power, one who tried to show compassion for others from time to time... and one who nearly went insane from the pain and sorrow pushed upon her. She looked so vulnerable that all of them started to feel like they are just bullying her with this... 'cross-examination'.

"How did I survive? Dumb luck. Pure, dumb luck. The beast... erupted in rage, felling tens of ponies in one swipe. It finally slashed at me, too, that is how I got my wounds. It was... like hell. We were but little playthings to the monster. Ponies shred to pieces, homes destroyed, fires starting and spreading... I think I started to wager everything on one move. It was a really stupid idea. No matter what we tried, barely anything pierced it's thick hide and skin. So... what about it's insides? A fire burning it's your gut ought to distract it, I thought. So I gathered the last of my strength, and picked up a decently big burning log. I unleashed every little ounce of magic I possessed... and the log disappeared in a flash."

She lit up her horn, and the same scene they saw upon leaving her mind appeared, albeit on a smaller scale. A panting Trixie on the middle of a sea of corpses, and pieces of Ursha flesh. Rainbow's eyes widened.

"You did this?! Last time you weren't even able to take on a Minor, not to mention it was a friggin' Major now! How?!"

The pegasus was startled by the princess' calm voice.

"Ursas are creatures of magic; when fully matured, they become... instabile. Their insides contain highly flammable materials. It is of no surprise that it... disintegrated."

"It blew up. Say with me. Bleeeeew up."

"Still," Luna continued, ignoring her, "how were you able to teleport... well, the fire itself?"

"Rub it in, would you? I know I am royally bucked up when it comes to casting spells, but hey, I had no choice but to do it; besides, the fire was smaller than me, so it was easier to try and teleport it."

Luna shook her head.

"It does not work that way. Teleporting oneself is a spell that strong unicorns can learn. Some even extend it to others at the same time. But teleporting objects? It requires a different type of spell. Not many can do it."

"Huh. Maybe that's why I was never able to 'port myself, then. I was attuned to objects, eh? Go figure. Anyway, I was quite surprised, too. Several minutes later, I was still standing there, in shock. The end." She looked around, noticing their bewildered gazes. "Oh, all right. I'll show you with a memory-display spell, but I ain't watching it. It was more than enough living through it. So, I'll just start this, and go get some fresh air."

She huffed, and sprang to her hooves... well, more like struggled for long seconds to stand up, barely succeeding at that. She limped to the spiral stairs, and cast a quick spell before disappearing around the corner. Immediately, the projection came alive with various sounds—fires crackling eerily, Trixie panting, and... the sound of hooves? The image strengthened, and they could not see through it anymore. From a half-spared building, three ponies emerged. a mare, a filly and a little colt. The colt was a yellow earth pony, with an unkempt cream-coloured mane, the filly was a white unicorn, untainted by the smoke and ash, with green mane. Neither of them had a cutie mark yet. Their eyes frantically searched for something, and the filly froze as she discovered what she yearned to. She screamed as she ran over to an unmoving mare; lying in a pool of her own blood.

"Mommy!"

She desperately shook, poked, and nudged the corpse.

"Mommy! It's me! Please, wake up! I swear I will eat my cauliflowers, just p-please, get up!"

She began to wail loudly, grabbing the dead pony's hoof, gently nuzzling it. The colt stepped closer, embracing the filly while crying himself. Trixie looked at them in a daze while the mare cautiously approached her. She was red, with a neon green mane and potatoes for a cutie mark.

"Is... is it over?"

Trixie snorted.

"Over? The bear is dead. What brought it here... probably isn't, but I doubt they'd linger here. For the moment we are safe... if this can be considered safe. Are there any other survivors?"

The mare shook her head.

"N-no. Just me and these kids." Her eye lit up. "You... you saved us! You got rid of that terrible beast!" She noticed the showmare's wounds. "Are you in pain? What can I do to help you?"

Trixie contemplated silently, then raised her head to meet the other mare's eyes. She spoke quietly, but in a determined voice.

"You will take care of these two... recently orphaned. You will raise them as if they were your own flesh and blood. They need you, and you will care for them. It is the only way. You will take them far away from this place, and if anypony asks..." She paused, anger filling her voice, though not directed at the red earth pony. "You will tell them that Trixie Lulamoon, that putrid, despicable pile of thrash brought an Ursa Major into town, and wrought terror and destruction until the beast turned on her, and she was forced to kill it, too. You will tell them that you hate that upstart, pompous git, and you will punch me in the face if you meet me in public again. It is the only way to ensure the safety of you three. Now tell me where I can find some bandages, then scram before somepony finds you here."

The scene faded away, leaving them dumbfounded, until Rainbow broke the silence.

"Okay, what the HAY was that?!"

"I am afraid we... unauthorisedly entered her dreams to figure out if she is trustable. You see, Rainbow Dash..."

Shining Armor heard the voice slowly trail off as he climbed the stairs. Upon ascending from underneath the throne, he noticed Trixie sitting on a broken stone slab, bathing in the pale moonlight. It was strangely fitting. He trotted up to her, and sat on his haunches right beside her.

She glanced at him sideways, but did no gesture to welcome, or shoo him. They sat silently for a short while, neither of them satisfied with their past actions. Finally, the stallion spoke up.

"Trixie, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make fun of you earlier, it's just... I'm a little touchy about my family."

The mare sighed.

"Forget it, Shining, you are right, in a sense. Over the course of the last fifteen years, I acted as a superior jerk towards everypony. To top that off, I openly abused the three of you, even though you were just trying to help me. I am not a good pony, Shining."

"Look, I know I said things, but I didn't really mean them. Heck, half the stuff you've gone through could have made anypony else insane! You're not as bad as you picture yourself to be. You stopped the inmates of Canterlot Prison from hurting Rainbow, and you even charged in and got Strong Walls off my back, when I was helpless."

"Whom I later tried to kill in cold blood."

"But you didn't."

"That did not depend on me that's for sure."

"Still, you chose to catch Rainbow instead of having your revenge. And you helped us get camouflage from the Opera."

"Which I burned down."

"You fought your hardest against your injury, just to aid our escape."

"I still became a burden."

Shining glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She seemed to be really displeased with herself, not just wanting to keep the argument running. The stallion shook his head. The situation was absurd—him comforting a mare he barely knew, while both of them are on the run from the law, no less. On the other hoof, it was this mare who helped him realise that by dwelling on the past, he will only be ignorant of the future. He still missed Cadance, and it hurt when he thought about her—but no longer would he be overwhelmed by the feeling of guilt. His wife would be ashamed of him if he let somepony get hurt, because he was absorbed in self-pity for not being able to save her. Clearly, Trixie is hurt, not physically, but emotionally. She believes her... 'evilness' to be a given. Maybe the truth will be enough to open her eyes.

"All right, how about this? I will now say three facts that prove you are not without passion."

Trixie let out a short, bemused laugh.

"You are too good-natured for your own good. But go on anyway."

"You saved three ponies from the Ursa."

"Yeah, and let about three hundred die. Nice rate, don't you think?"

"You still managed to save lives, unlike me, who was even trained in combat, and was regarded as the best defensive shield-caster in a hundred years." His voice was bitter. "Furthermore, I couldn't even save my wife, a good friend, and my loyal troops. You risked your life, and saved three complete strangers."

Trixie looked ashamed.

"I ran away from the first two towns. I am not brave."

"I am sure you've already heard this, but bravery is not blindly charging in, or being strong. True courage was facing that monster, because of the small possibility that there were somepony still alive, worth saving. If that is not brave and noble, I don't know what is."

"...One."

"When I felt the most down, you caught on. You shocked me out of my stupor, and made me realise I can't be going around blaming myself what happened, and disregard everything else. I suppressed my emotions, and all it was good for to distract me. Yet, you helped me, pointed out that I need to face my sorrow, not hide it. While it still hurts, and I deeply miss Cadence, I will not deny my feelings anymore. I am not perfect. I am not stone-cold and emotionless to simply shrug it off when needed. I am a simple stallion, with all the consequences of a sad mistake."

Trixie hesitated.

"I... I knew what it's like to lose your beloved. You've seen it; I ran away from home, yet I couldn't bring myself to hate them for all their mistakes of judgement. I miss them so much... and I can't help, but think that maybe, just maybe if I was home, I could have convinced them to live on... even if their goddess was not as they wished her to be." A single tear rolled down her cheek.

The ponies sat quietly for a while. Finally, the showmare spoke up.

"Two."

"Last, but not least, you've shown you have a conscience."

Trixie smiled, softly and sadly.

"Now where in Equestria did you get that from?"

Shining looked at her with a serious expression.

"From Rainbow."

Trixie gasped, her surprise finally snapping her out of her neutral stance.

"S-she told you? But why?"

The stallion looked up to the stars before answering.

"Princess Luna did not give us a false sense of hope. She outright stated when she finished patching you up that you might die at any second. In case that it'd really happen, Rainbow wanted us to know that you regretted your actions. Vinyl suggested that you instinctively snap at everypony as some sort of defense mechanism, so you wouldn't get close to anypony."

"I...well..."

"Taking responsibility is something that proves that at the very least, you are trying to stay on the right path. The self-inflicted punishment you chose was a little off the scale, though."

"...I have something to confess concerning your sister. When she confronted me, and finally freed me from that damned amulet, I went back later to apologise. I... I was this close to revealing everything I told you today, to ask for her true forgiveness from the bottom of my heart... but something stopped me. It was her expression. An all-knowing, pitying look. I know now that it's probably not the case, but I felt that she looked down on me. I... I ran away, like I ran from all my problems, instead of going through with what I originally planned. That is the reason I didn't talk kindly about your sister."

"Don't worry. I'm sure that she told the others that you tried to say sorry. I can't think of a more violently loyal pegasus than Rainbow, and she didn't react to you too antagonistically when you met, correct?"

Trixie shifted around uncomfortably.

"I... may or may not have written some letters later, under a fake name, in which I mock her for nonexistent flaws."

The stallion shook his head disapprovingly, but he smirked a bit, too.

"That was uncalled for. Childish, even"

"I know, and I wouldn't do it, if I had the opportunity to do so again. I am not saying this because you're her brother. I'm not saying either that I am a better mare now, but at least I concur now that I was wrong. I neglected everypony... and you three made me realise I miss my old friends more than I thought. If given the chance, I'd chase after Specs—no matter how hard she tried to hide. Just like you are doing now, so stop it and come out, Luna!"

The stallion's heart nearly skipped a beat as in reply to Trixie's shout, a tall figure suddenly appeared behind them.

"I am impressed once again, Beatrix Lunamoon. You were able to sense me even when I hid myself, and deliberately kept my magic output low."

"Yeah, well, it was about as effective as hiding a burning torch between snowponies. You have too much power to not pick up on it... well, to be honest, if I didn't know you were here, I'd have thought a powerful unicorn is lurking nearby."

Shining's cheeks reddened with embarassement.

"...I didn't notice anything." he muttered.

"Hm. Let's face it, I am probably more paranoid than you are right now... Besides, I had to be able to sense magic at a low age, even perceiving the tiniest amount of it, because otherwise I couldn't tell if the leaf I was practicing my telekinesis on moved because of me, or just got swept away by the wind."

The ex-captain scratched his head.

"But you maintained an illusion to cover your wounds for weeks! You can't be bad at magic if you can pull that off!"

"That's... half-true. My magic is really weak... but I learned illusion spells from her..."

"Whom?"

"The one you saw in my memories, the one who is like the opposite of Rainbow; Spectral Prism, nicknamed Colorful Spectrum, or Specs. She was a master illusionist, second to none. All I know about illusions, I learned from her. That is the only reason I can use it adequately."

Luna broke her silence, stepping closer.

"I take it she was the one who taught you the basics of magic, too?"

Trixie looked surprised.

"No! Every member of the Lunamoon clan (well, unicorns) must discover the use of magic by themselves, as stated by Prin... It's bollocks, isn't it?"

"I never asked for such a feat. But then, you have taught yourself magic?!"

"Yeah, well, even though I generally suck, I did a good job there for a beginner, don't you think?"

Luna seemed distraught. The unicorns waited patiently, but then they realised she won't speak up anytime soon.

"So... How are things on your part? What about your family?" Trixie asked, only to end the uneasy silence.

Shining sighed.

"Mom refused to acknowledge any of this... foolishness. She believes firmly in dad and me... at least she believed before the assasination. I know they loved Cadence, too. Twilie... well, based on how she acted to Rainbow's assumed guilt, I'd say she's out of it. I could understand, though, she always believed in numbers and facts, since she was small. Sometimes I think she ignores her intuitions just a little too much. Someday, her naivety will make her commit a grave mistake..."

"And that very dragon fellow?"

"Spike? I suppose he feels down, too. I hadn't the chance to know him better."

There was an awkward silence until Luna finally spoke up.

"Beatrix..."

"Just call me Trixie, like everypony does." she interrupted. Luna nodded.

"Trixie, how do you feel about these three ponies? Please answer honestly."

The question caught Trixie off-guard. It took her a moment to regain her composure.

"Talk about unexpected... To be honest, I don't really know. I just... I just wish to return the kindness they gave me... even if I'm just a jerk."

The alicorn looked seriously at her for a moment.

"I believe I have a plan. It requires trust and cooperation, so I was hesitant to bring it up up until now. To put this plan into motion, however, I'll have to measure the extent of your abilities. All three of you. I must ask you to not divulge the details until everypony has been tried. I will now head inside, and begin immediately with Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch. I'll send for you when it's your turn."

The unicorns watched the princess descend back underground. The azure mare then turned back to Shining.

"Don't think you're off the hook yet. You now know nearly everything about me, sooo... What was growing up like? Three, by the way."