Trixie struggled through a dark and ominous forest. It was not the Everfree forest (few ponies would last longer than a few days in the Everfree), but that did not make the travel that much safer or less terrifying. Or less humiliating.

After she had been defeated for the second time, Twilight Sparkle had promised Trixie redemption and forgiveness. She had said that Trixie could start afresh and rebuild her life in a better way. That Trixie could come to be loved by ponies of all ages across Equestria

Twilight Sparkle had lied.

There was no forgiveness. Every time Trixie walked into a town Trixie would be ostracized. Townsponies would stare and speak in hushed whispers about the atrocities that Trixie had committed. Mothers would steer their foals back telling their children to stay away from the “bad mare”. Shopkeepers would refuse Trixie service and innkeepers would give Trixie their worst room at twice the normal fare (that is if she got a room at all). Even the worthless beggars on the street would hurtle rocks and insults at Trixie.

Of course, that was only if Trixie had not been chased out of town by an angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches (Pitchforks and torches, why do they always have pitchforks and torches)

And now Trixie was pushing Trixie's way through some nameless Celestia-forsaken forest a thousand kilometres from any 'civilization' while the liar, Princess Twilight Sparkle, sat fat and happy, in her pretty little castle, loved by everypony.

It made Trixie sick to her stomach. That the Great and Powerful Trixie should live the life of a common outlaw while the weak, deceitful coward, Twilight Sparkle, gets everything. The worst part was that Twilight Sparkle had not even had the honour to face Trixie like a mare, and had resorted to underhanded tricks and treachery in order to defeat Trixie.

Trixie's mental rant was cut short by her faceplanting in the mud.

Trixie slowly got up while cycling through every cuss and swear that Trixie knew. As Trixie was standing up she saw a soft blue light off to her right.

Trixie cautiously approached the light and caught glimpse of an ethereal cerulean sphere.

Trixie recognized it instantly: a Will-O-Wisp, the rare and beautiful forest spirit that was renowned to bring to redemption or lure them to their doom.

The wisp floated in front of Trixie's head as if beckoning her to follow and zipped off into the foliage.

“Stop. The Great and Powerful Trixie commands you to stop” Trixie exclaimed.

The wisp stopped and flew right in front of Trixie's face; rapidly moving up and down as if saying 'hurry up' then hurried into the foliage again. This time followed by it's quarry

After following the wisp for an untold time through rough forest Trixie finally came to a clearing. The wisp flew off and stopped in front of the first pony-built structure Trixie had seen for three months.

It was a small cabin built entirely out wooden planks (that, had Trixie been observant, were much too straight and clean to be rough hewed from the forest) and had several small glass windows and a solid wood door.

Trixie walked right up to the door. Behind this door lay something important; something that could change Trixie's destiny. Something that could destroy her. Or something that could save her from her own destruction.

So Trixie did the only thing that she could do at that moment.

She opened that door.

The inside of the cabin was as unassuming as the exterior; the wooden walls were unadorned and the accommodations were spartan. Trixie looked around, eyes trailing from the couch to the small bed to the many drawers that covered the far wall.

“It has been so long since somepony had the heart to come to this old and decrepit cripple. So long indeed”

Trixie spun around and found herself muzzle to muzzle with a small, frail, and rather deformed, elderly stallion.

“I am Pravitas. What is your name?”

Trixie was caught slightly off guard but recovered quickly. “I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie exclaimed using her illusion magic to make faux fireworks above her head.

Pravitas smiled. “I am honoured to have one who is both great and powerful in my humble home”

Trixie scowled, as so many times before had she been mocked for her self-proclaimed title, but she softened her face as she noted the lack of any mocking tone.

“You have been betrayed, humiliated and cast away by the ponies of Equestria” the stallion limped around the Trixie, examining her.

Trixie didn't know what to think so she examined the stallion before her; his dismal grey coat was marred with black burn-spots and ugly pink wounds, the entire left side of his face was limp, he was missing most of his right ear and his left hind leg was little more than a stump. However two things stood out most of all: first was his cutie mark (or rather Trixie's inability to see his cutie mark (as that every time that Trixie tried to look at it, her eyes would drift elsewhere leaving her with a vague sense of dread)) and second was his wings. His wings were not feathered like a pegasus' or ever draconic like the thestrals', rather they mostly resembled the wings of a butterfly and seemed like they would have been very beautiful at a past time, but were blackened and burnt and full of holes.

“Trixie demands you tell her how you know this!” Trixie exclaimed with venom

“I may be lame, but I am not blind; the truth of your predicament is all too manifest on your pretty face.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I was once the same; my tribe feared me and what I could do so they cursed and exiled me.”

“What happened?”

The stallion smiled (an utterly terrifying expression on someone who had half their face melted off) and chuckled “they paid for their insolence”

Trixie decided against asking further questions on the topic

“Anyways enough about me.” the stallion took on a serious look “I have a proposition for you”

Trixie was intrigued “What?”

“I can make it so that you will never be mocked or humiliated again”

Trixie became excited “How?”

The stallion pulled a thin, nondescript, black book out of seemingly nowhere “All you have to do is take this”

Trixie was disappointed. A book? Who do I look like, Twilight Sparkle? “A book?”

“Knowledge is power, and this knowledge is more powerful than anything else.” Pravitas smirked “Is there anything wrong with a book?”

“Um ... no ... it's just that ...” Trixie tried to think of an excuse “... the pony that humiliated me is now an alicorn, and I don't think that one book will be enough”

“So you are wondering if I could make you one your self”

Trixie's eyes widened with excitement “Can you?”

“Depending on what you are willing to give up”

“Anything!”

Pravitas smiled again “Good enough for me”. He then proceeded to draw a circle surrounded by symbols that Trixie had never seen before with surprising speed and precision.

“Stand in the centre of the circle”

Trixie followed his command even though her every instinct screamed at her to run away and never look back

“This may hurt a bit” Pravitas said with his terrible smile and started to chant in a strange and grating tongue, each syllable leaving Trixie's mind as soon as it had entered, leaving nothing but dread and terror in it's wake.

Trixie felt the air fill with the thrumming of twisted and depraved black magic more powerful than anything she had ever felt in her life.

Then the pain came. The excruciating torment of her mind and body and soul being torn to pieces and remade in a terrible mockery of their original form.

Slowly the pain subsided, giving way to blackness. The last thing Trixie heard before slipping into unconsciousness was “Your move, Celestia. Let us see how well you play without your precious little heroes.

Did I say that next chapter was Fluttershy? I lied. Have some Trixie instead. This chapter introduces the arch-plot and the primary antagonist for the story; the flutterpony named Pravitas (bonus points for saying what his name means (it's Latin))

Edit: almost no change to this chapter, it was already almost perfect.