"Has she said anything?" Twilight asked as Luna used magic to soothe her hooves. If it wasn't for her concern about Trixie she might have surrendered to sleep in the comfort of the bed she'd been placed on in the officers section of the barracks.

"Nay," Luna replied, "not a word. She's also refusing to allow us to treat her injuries, and viciously attacks anypony that tries." Luna pushed Twilight down as she started to rise, "Calm yourself Twilight, she is not at risk of dying. The bleeding from her... I'll call it horn for simplicity's sake, stopped not long after we got to you. However, if she refuses treatment she stands a chance of getting her wounds infected, and the one on her side will definitely scar if we don't heal it soon."

"Then you have to help her!"

"And we shall. There's no point using a healing device on her if she refuses to lie still for it, but I can hold her down long enough for one of the medical ponies to clean up her wounds."

"One of the medical ponies?" Twilight asked suspiciously.

"Octavia doesn't wish to antagonise Trixie towards her by being the one to force treatment on her, and Summer won't either because Octavia won't."

"Oh, okay." Twilight closed her eyes for a moment until she thought of something else. "Where is Trixie?"

"We were forced to find a secure room in the keep for her. Then we had to take everything out of it in case she tried to hurt herself, while I placed a inhibitor on the remains of her horn just in case her magic isn't as gone as we hope it is. Then we had to restrain her after she galloped head first into the wall, so now she's chained up so she can't reach anything. All she does now is lie on the bedding we provided her, and doesn't move-"

"What?! You chained her up! Are you insane Luna?"

"Possibly, but that's a different debate. Twilight, you saw first hoof what Trixie was behaving like after having her revenge denied. She wished to die, and still does. Add to that the removal of her horn, and she is in a very bad place. Magic is a large part of her identity Twilight, and without it..."

"She's worse... Fine, so she's chained up in an empty room, alone, where all she does is mope, unmoving, unless you try to treat her."

"That does sum it up, yes."

Twilight sighed, which seemed to take a lot of effort for her battered body, "Why did this happen?" She paused as she realised this was the wrong thing to ask. "No, not why; how."

"She gave up," Luna replied. "Her revenge was what kept her going, and when she was denied even that, she gave up, on everything, including life. Without that goal to focus on, and filled with that much pain and despair, she just wanted to die and end her pain, which is what gave the darkness in her a chance to take control."

Twilight thought back on what she saw, "She hardly even seemed like Trixie, and she kept asking me to kill her even though she was trying to kill me."

"Perhaps part of her realised what was happening, and wanted you to end both her misery and her dark apotheosis. As for not seeming like herself, that was because there's a chance she wasn't, not entirely."

"You mean like she was being controlled?"

"I couldn't say exactly, not without seeing her as you did. However, I think I could posit that it was more like she was possessed. I suspect that this was the moment she was kept alive for after her fight against Pearl, to give in and let the magic control her, which only begs the question of whether this is truly the end of the matter, or did you merely postpone it?" Luna chewed on her bottom lip as she realised what she'd just said, "Apologies Twilight, that probably wasn't the comfort you were hoping for."

Twilight said nothing, and just lay still for a while, but eventually her curiosity won out. "How do you know all that? About the dark magic, and possession?"

Luna smiled without humour, "I learnt about it around the time my coat turned black and I started calling myself Nightmare Moon. The major difference is that I actually wanted it to happen, and made it happen, which made the end result somewhat different. The parallels are definitely there though. Another clue was my darkness now seeming to be an entirely separate entity."

"Can she be helped?"

"Certainly Twilight, and my sister and I shall provide the best care available once we return to Equestria. In the meantime though, I suggest you give her space for at least a few days. Seeing you likely would not help her mental state right now." Twilight nodded forlornly in response. "Now, let's see how these hooves of yours are doing. Do they still hurt?"

"Less than before. They're not corrupted are they? Like after I destroyed Trixie's contract?"

"Not at all Twilight, there's a difference between dark magic casting a spell, and a vellum made of purest dark magic. All she did was burn your hooves. What does surprise me though, is that you were able to bite her horn without damaging or corrupting your face. Unless you did it quick enough to not cause damage, I have no idea how you avoided that. Perhaps your experiences with your corrupted leg and prolonged proximity to Trixie has given you a measure of resistance to dark magic. I mean, this is purely conjecture, but not impossible. You are the element of magic after all."

"Maybe." Twilight honestly didn't care right now. She was battered, bruised, and exhausted. Every spare thought she had right now was going towards Trixie, and certainly not towards unhelpful magical theories.

Luna could sense Twilight's disinterest and frowned with concern. In her experience, Twilight would usually be all over magical theories in a heartbeat. Not sure what to do she changed the subject.

"Taking the keep went well, with little resistance from the inhabitants. It seemed Trixie took care of the lions share of armed ponies in there. We've already sent a messenger to Prance to inform the parliament, and I shall contact my sister tonight, so she might start arranging her departure from Equestria." Twilight said nothing. "I also think we should go and find Faust before much else. I've restricted access to the dungeons so as to prevent ponies finding her by accident, but I would like to see first hoof what we're dealing with."

"Uh-huh."

"Your presence while doing so would be appreciated," Luna said hopefully. Again Twilight said nothing. "Don't do this Twilight, don't give in."

"Don't lecture me Luna. I'm tired, I'm hurt, and part of me wishes I could die. I don't care what you do right now Luna, but leave me out of it."

"So you're just going to stay here? Even when there is much still to do?" Twilight rolled over and mumbled an affirmative into her pillow. Luna was about to argue, but stopped herself as Twilight did at least deserve a rest. "Very well Twilight, but only for tonight. Tomorrow you're back at it."

"Mmhmm."

Luna shook her head as she stood. She knew well enough that Twilight was likely depressed after what had happened, and could hardly blame her for it. She could only hope a good night's rest would improve matters, although she knew not to hope too much. Twilight was likely replaying events right now, trying to see what she could have done differently, to try and save Trixie from her fate.

Fleur was waiting outside, hovering uncertainly as she waited for news, and she almost jumped on Luna as soon as she shut the door to Twilight's room. "Is she alright?"

"Physically she's well enough. Mentally might be another matter altogether. I'm leaving her to rest for a while, and I suggest you do the same."

"I know, but I was hoping she'd come with me, into the keep that is." Fleur intensely studied the ground in front of her, "I-um...I'm a bit nervous about going in there, and Twilight promised she'd, y'know, come with me."

Luna smiled sympathetically, "I'm afraid Twilight's in no condition to walk very far, and I don't think she's in the right frame of mind to be much of a comfort to you. I suggest you either wait until tomorrow, or allow me to escort you, if you're willing?"

Fleur glanced at the filly, who shrugged in return, saying with a gesture that this was Fleur's problem, not hers. She turned back to Luna and nodded. "Okay," she said in a tiny voice.

"Very well, let us proceed." Luna led the way, walking up the ramps while Fleur trailed behind her, often having to stop as the filly urged Fleur on. Luna wasn't going to say it, because even she thought it weird to say, but she really did think that Fleur and the filly were a delightful pair, and were glad they'd found each other-

"Quit being such a wimp Fleur, and get your fat ass up that ramp, and in that keep!"

-Even if they blurred the line between affirmation and antagonizing.

Fleur stopped at the top of the final ramp, the entrance to the keep not all that far away, and whimpered. She started to backpedal, slowly creeping back down the ramp. "I can't. I can't go back in there. I'm sorry Princess, but I can't."

Luna understood all too well. It was similar to the reason she avoided the old castle she shared with her sister before her fall. "I understand Fleur. However, before you go I have something I wish to ask of you. What are you really afraid of in there? The keep is secure and filled with allies, so I doubt you're afraid of harm. Nopony is asking you to go into the dungeons, and the pony that did those awful things to you has been deceased for some time, so I have to ask what it is here that you're really afraid of?"

"I was tortured here Luna, badly. She almost broke me, and could've made me... Made me..."

"Like Seeker?"

Fleur hung her head, "Yeah."

"So if I were to say to you would you kindly enter the keep, do you feel compelled to do so?"

"What? No! Of course not!"

"And yet you are, and because she asked you to." Fleur looked at the ground, no longer able to meet Luna's gaze. "Is that what you're afraid of? That you're really under her control if you do this one thing?"

"Probably a mix of both," the filly quietly said to nopony in particular.

Luna laid a leg over Fleur's withers as she started to breath heavily in panic. She leant down until her mouth was level with Fleur's ear, "You do realise that's bullshit yes?"

"What!?" Fleur shouted, almost falling over from Luna whispering words like that into her ear.

"Utter bullshit," Luna confirmed. "You already know why you're doing this, and it isn't because you're a slave to Pearl's will. Stop focusing on the possible negative reasons, and focus on the fact that you're a good pony who doesn't want to see these kids suffer for their parents mistakes."

"B-but..!" Fleur's argument died on her lips. Not because she thought Luna was right without a doubt, but because she had enough presence of mind to not cuss at a princess. "Okay, fine, so maybe I'm overthinking this a little-"

"A lot," the filly corrected her.

"Fine, a lot. But that still doesn't change what this place is, and how completely terrified I am at going in there! Last time I went through that door I was on a leash with a bag over my head and had a bunch of stallions leering at me as they tried to touch me up!"

"So this time is already a significant improvement then."

"Yes! Yes it is! But that isn't the point!" Fleur took a deep breath and stuck her chest out as she glared at the keep with determination that lasted for all of a few seconds before she exhaled violently and sagged. "Fuck it, let's get this over with."

Step by cautious step Fleur inched up to the still open doors to the keep. She stopped at the line where the gravel courtyard ended and the flagstones of the keep's interior began. After a moment's hesitation she lifted her leg and crossed the line, then followed it until she was in the keep entirely.

"Bravo Fleur," Luna congratulated her. "You have conquered your fear."

"Trust me, those fears haven't gone anywhere." Fleur looked around the entrance hall, taking in the floor ruined by Trixie, and the bloodstains. "Seems less like the inside of a sack than I remember." She couldn't deny that her curiosity about this place was just enough to push her on. Too bad she was going to have to find and deal with Pearl's psychobrats first.

"Oh, we've already found them," said Luna after hearing Fleur mumble about it under her breath. "I could lead you there if you wish?"

"That'd be good; I have no idea where I'm going in this place." Fleur quietly followed after Luna as she led them to their destination. Most of Fleur's attention was spent observing their surroundings, taking in the rather cosy lifestyle the Duke had built for himself here. It wasn't quite enough to stop her jumping and flinching at every unexpected sight and noise, but it did at least stop her from dwelling on it.

"Out of interest, what have you done with the Duke and his missus?" The filly asked Luna as they continued their trek.

"Nothing as yet. I'm proposing that we bury them in the family vault and be done with it, but that choice isn't mine. Honestly though I don't much care, and would only wish to see them removed from their current place to prevent them from smelling."

"So I could go poke their bodies with a stick and nopony would stop me?"

"Not at all." Luna smiled sideways at the filly, "I can assure you though that poking dead bodies with a stick isn't as entertaining as you think. Might I instead suggest finding some ink and drawing on their faces instead."

"Ooh! Could I dress them up in funny clothes as well?"

"Only if you can bear moving them to do so."

The filly grinned evilly, "Fleur, I might have some things I need to do later."

"Yeeaahhh, you can do that on your own you weirdo. Are we almost there Luna?"

"Just around the corner." Luna stopped outside a door guarded by a single pony, and turned to face Fleur, "They're in there." She smiled as Fleur swallowed nervously, "Do you wish me to go in with you?"

"No, I'm fine," Fleur lied. "You probably have enough to do since Twilight's out of action; I can manage from here." She smiled back at Luna, "Thanks for getting me this far."

"Quite alright Fleur, and I would be happy to assist further should you feel the need to ask." Luna left, and Fleur tried to keep her knees from knocking together in front of the guard.

"Fleur?"

"Yes filly?"

"How close are you to chickening out?"

"Somewhere between 'buk' and 'bukkawk!' Is it showing that badly?"

"Yeah, since we're still standing in the corridor," the filly gestured at the door, "instead of in there. Seriously Fleur, they're just a couple of kids."

"Just a couple of Pearl's kids," Fleur muttered. The filly was right though, and she knew it. She readied her magic and took a deep breath before pushing down on the latch and opening the door into some kind of playroom. There were various toys scattered around, many of them curiously lacking various limbs, or their heads, and in the corner was a bookshelf complete with books. What was missing though was a couple of kids, but there were other rooms leading off the playroom, so Fleur wasn't too concerned.

"Do you think they're hiding?" Fleur asked as the filly wandered over to the bookshelf to sate her curiosity.

"Wow, we got some real Mareitanian classics here." She pulled out a couple and read their titles for Fleur, "'Why earth ponies are awesome.' 'How the unicorn learnt her place.' Oh, and that old favourite, 'punish the naughty pegasus.' I can see these kids are going to grow up to be well rounded individuals reading stuff like this." She flipped open one of the books, "Oh look, all those earth ponies are spitting on the unicorn. So that's how she learnt her place." She then opened punish the naughty pegasus, and skimmed through a few pages before slamming it shut, her eyes wide and haunted. "Dude, that's just sick."

"What?"

"They fucking gelded him. With illustrations. Nice to see they start the brainwashing and training early in this family." The filly shuddered and shoved the books back onto the shelf, "None of this is really filling me with optimism Fleur."

"No kidding, this whole place has a weird vibe. I'd feel better if I knew where those kids were-"

"Why are you in our room?"

"YAAHH-AAH!" Fleur bucked violently in her surprise, and turned on the spot to find a colt and filly sat in the middle of the floor, their eyes wide with curiosity, and totally unfazed by Fleur bucking at them. "Where the hell did you come from!?"

"Mommy said that if the bad ponies came we should hide," the filly explained. "But we got bored." She was a sandy yellow colour, with a brown mane and tail, and couldn't have been more than eight, while the slightly older looking colt was light brown like his mother, while his mane and tail were almost black.

"Did you kill mom like you killed dad?" the colt asked suddenly.

"What? No! I mean, yes, your mother's dead, and I'm...sorry, for that, but I didn't do it." Fleur stood there guiltily as the colt comforted his sister, "I'm sorry," she said again as the filly sniffled. Neither of them cried though, and there was something unbelievably creepy about that. "Uh, hey, could I ask your names?"

"Tracker," the colt replied tersely. The filly took a little longer, having to wipe her nose first.

"Opal."

"Okay, Tracker and Opal, I don't know how much you know about what's going on, but your mom asked me to take care of you-"

"No she didn't," Tracker interrupted. "Why would mom ask a unicorn to take care of us? There's no way she would do that."

"Well, she did. Or at least she asked me to make sure you were safe in case... In case something happened to her. Yeah..."

"Does that mean you and mommy were friends?" Opal asked innocently, while Fleur's stomach tried to crawl out of her mouth. The filly covered her mouth with her hooves, not wanting to say anything that might make the situation worse.

"S-sure," Fleur stammered after a few long seconds. "Friends, yeah, that's what we- what we were."

"Don't be stupid Opal, mom wouldn't be friends with a unicorn."

"No, you're stupid!" Opal pointed at Fleur's necklace, "Look, she's wearing one of mommy's necklaces, so they had to be friends. Mommy doesn't just make those for anypony!"

"Maybe she stole it," Tracker growled back.

"No, she gave it to me," Fleur said quickly to try and defuse the situation. She turned so they could both see her cutie mark. "See? She made it so it looks just like my cutie mark."

"Told you so," Opal said triumphantly. Tracker relented slightly, then squinted at Fleur's leg. He walked up, and before Fleur could stop him, grabbed the bandage and yanked it down, exposing some of the scars beneath.

"Did mom give you that too?" he asked sneeringly as Fleur quickly pulled the bandage back up. "You weren't mom's friend, you were one of her prisoners!"

"No! I..." Fleur's eyes darted around the room as she desperately tried to invent a plausible story. "I-uh, I asked her to do it! I thought it'd be pretty, so I asked her to."

"Then why are you hiding it?"

"Um... I wanted to be sure that it's healed properly, before I s-sho-" Fleur swallowed hard as the words fought to not be said. "-before I showed it to ponies."

"Looks plenty healed to me," said Tracker.

Opal's eyes lit up, "Can I see it? Can I see some of mommy's work?"

Fleur nodded dumbly, feeling absolutely sick to her stomach about how this was going. She hoped that if she went along with what the two foals wanted this would go smoother, so she unwound the bandage completely, letting Opal have a good look at her mutilation. The young filly smiled as she ran her hooves over it, but it quickly morphed into a frown.

"It's not finished."

"Huh?" Fleur said dumbly.

"It's not finished. I know how mommy's drawings work, and she always has something going one way, and something going another, then joins them together. Uh..." Opal scampered off to a desk in the corner of the room, and came back with a green crayon in her mouth. "Look, I'll show you." She started drawing lines between the scarred designs, slowly joining them up with faint green lines. It was amateurish, which was understandable, and in the wrong colour, but Fleur could see what Opal meant as the swirls of the design connected together. It really didn't make her feel better in the slightest though, knowing that Pearl intended to do more than she already had.

"Too bad mommy can't finish it now," Opal said sadly, "it won't be as pretty."

"That's what upsets you most!?" the filly blurted out before clamping her hooves back over her mouth. She looked back up at Fleur as she stood still, shaking and silent. "Fleur?"

"I can't do this. I can't fucking do this." Fleur turned and galloped out of the room, not bothering to wait for the filly, or to shut the door behind her.

"Fleur, wait!" The filly started chasing after her, but stopped as she felt the appraising eyes of Tracker and Opal upon her. Then she was struck with indecision between chasing Fleur, and sorting the two other ponies in the room out. Stomping her hooves in frustration she compromised by yelling at the two kids.

"Alright you little fucks, here's the deal. Your parents are dead and never coming back, and I know how bad that sucks. That pony that just ran away was trying to help you, but since that's now unlikely other ponies are going to have to, and they won't be as nice, caring, and wonderful as Fleur is, so you've really fucked yourselves over. I just thought I should tell you that."

"B-but I was only trying to help," Opal whimpered.

"You seriously need to rethink your definition of helping. Now, are they bringing you food and water?"

Tracker frowned like he didn't understand the question, "Yeah? Of course they are."

"Good, then you can fucking stay here, torturing your toys and reading your messed up books. And seriously, stay the hell away from Fleur."

It didn't take too long to find Fleur, mostly because the castle was quite busy with lots of ponies to see where she went. Even so it took some time, and when the filly located Fleur behind the curtains of a bay window in one of the upstairs drawing rooms, she really wished she'd just chased after Fleur straight away.

Tears poured down Fleur's face as she sat with her back pressed to the cold stone wall. Her scarred leg was red and raw as she viciously rubbed it again and again with her other hoof.

"What are you doing Fleur? Stop that!"

"I want it off filly! I want it gone!"

"It doesn't come off Fleur! The only way you'll get rid of that is if you flay your entire leg."

"I know, and believe me it's really fucking tempting."

"Don't even say that." The filly climbed up onto the window ledge, and forced herself between Fleur's forelegs to make her stop rubbing her leg, and hugged her with all her might. "I'm sorry that went so wrong."

"Did it? I'm not really sure what I was expecting." Fleur pulled the filly up her chest and nuzzled her nose into the filly's mane, enjoying the comfort provided as best she could. "Do you know what got me in the end though?" The filly shook her head, "I convinced myself Opal was going to try and finish the thing on my leg." Fleur laughed bitterly, "I was absolutely terrified...of a kid."

"To be fair those kids were creepy as get all out." The filly nuzzled tighter to Fleur's chest, "Just so long as you're not scared of this kid."

Fleur smiled, even as her tears continued to fall, "Never. This kid doesn't realise just how much I need her."

"The feeling's mutual, adult." The filly turned her head so she could look out of the window, and marvelled at how far she could see. "Fleur, is it okay if we stay here for a while?"

"Sure." Silence fell as they both stared out of the window, watching what clouds there were drift by as the ponies below did whatever they were doing. Then the filly chuckled, breaking the quiet.

"I can't believe you were scared of a little filly."

"Shut it you asshole."

"Is she doing anything?" Octavia asked Summer as the pegasus peeked through the keyhole to the room where Trixie was confined.

"No, nothing. She's just lying there, wrapped up in her blanket like she expects the windigoes to come for her."

"Like the what? Is that a Mareitanian expression or something?"

"Maybe? I don't know." Summer stepped back from the door and shook her head, "I really don't think we can leave her there much longer. She hasn't eaten for a couple of days, or drank anything for several hours now. I know Twilight said she wanted to die, but we can't let that happen."

"No, we can't. The problem is we can't force her to do those things either, and I told Luna I wanted no part in forcing treatment on her."

Summer glanced back at the door, "Could we at least talk to her? She must be lonely in there."

"I rather suspect that is what she wants." Octavia wished Summer would drop the issue now. She had no desire to let Trixie die, but at the same time she didn't want Trixie to hate her for forcing her to live. There didn't seem to be a happy medium, other than hope Trixie forgave them.

"Please, can we at least try?"

"Oh very well," Octavia sighed. "Let's find her some food and water, and try to get her to consume something. There must be a kitchen in this place somewhere we can find those."

Much as Octavia expected, there was a kitchen, and it was twice the size of the flat she shared with Vinyl back in Canterlot, built to cater for hundreds, if not thousands of ponies at a time. It was also, almost oppressively quiet as the support staff within the keep had been rounded up earlier. The prevailing theory was that they'd be allowed to keep their jobs if they wanted them, and Octavia had been surprised to learn that there was quite a few unicorns amongst them. Then somepony pointed out that they were all mares, and that the Duke enjoyed being served by the 'lesser' ponies, especially if they were pretty.

"I don't like it in here," Summer whispered, not wanting to disturb the silence. "Can we just get what we came for and go?"

"Certainly," Octavia whispered back, sharing Summer's reticence about the place. They quickly set about collecting a few small bits of food, a jug of water, and were quite surprised when absolutely nothing happened at all. "That was anti-climatic," she commented as they made their way back up to Trixie.

"I can do without bad things happening right before we do this," Summer said back. "This is going to be hard enough as it is."

"There's an understatment," Octavia sighed. She could already feel her own hooves trembling under her, and tried to slow them down as she waited for Summer to get the key off the nearby hook and unlock the door. She let Summer enter first, and together they both slowly approached the still form of Trixie, who didn't acknowledge them in the slightest, and made Octavia think she was dead until she saw Trixie breathing. "Uh, hello Trixie. We've brought you some food and water since we thought you might be hungry and, you know, thirsty.

They placed the food and water down in front of Trixie, and backed away a little bit. Trixie made no moves for several seconds, then reached out for the water with her hooves, showing both of them the shackles on her legs that were connected to a ring in the floor not far away. She drank for several seconds, then placed the jug back down. She totally ignored the food.

"You need to eat something," Summer insisted, but never got so much as a shrug from Trixie, who just stared into the middle distance. A blue hoof reached back out and took hold of a bread roll, only to throw it across the room before retreating back into the warmth of Trixie's blanket. "That's not eating," Summer sighed in anoyance.

"H-how are you feeling Trixie?" Octavia asked. She knew that it was one of the questions on their list of dumb things to ask, but couldn't think of anything else. She almost wished Trixie would get angry, just so they could be sure she was all there, but there was only the silence that had started after they had to drag her away from Twilight after their fight. "Come on Trixie, please say something, even if it's to tell us to leave you alone."

They glanced sideways at each other as the silence continued. Neither of them knew what to do as Trixie remained uninterested in engaging with them. Octavia supposed she could claim it a small victory as Trixie had drank something, but that was it. She hadn't eaten, and still had untreated wounds that could easily turn foul if this continued. As Octavia understood it, Trixie's dark magic had sustained her for much of the time since she acquired it, which was useful since she didn't eat much and barely slept, but without her horn she had no magic, and was at risk of wasting away unless she ate. The idea of force feeding Trixie had less appeal than forcing treatment onto her.

At the same time though, standing here was a waste when they still had plenty of other tasks that needed to be done. The arrival of the new healing devices had eliminated almost all of their long term work, but truly the work never ended, even if Octavia seemed to remember saying it would for herself. Then again, helping Trixie probably counted as part of that.

Octavia felt her frustrations bubbling up, and stomped a hoof. "You know what Trixie, I'm fed up of this. I realise you didn't get what you wanted, as barbaric as that was; and I'm sorry for that, but what you're doing now isn't the solution. Neither is killing yourself." She cautiously pulled the blanket from over Trixie's head, exposing her broken horn, then her eyes, which flicked up to glare intensely at Octavia. Octavia took an involuntary step back as Trixie's eyes bore into her, but for the life of her she couldn't actually tell what it was about Trixie's eyes that made them so intense. They weren't angry, hateful, or even the tired defeated eyes she was expecting. Instead they made her feel like apologising for intruding on Trixie's valuable time.

"We're just trying to help you," Summer continued while Octavia froze on the spot. Summer had seen all kinds of things in ponies eyes over the years, and would barely rate what Trixie was doing as a seven out of ten as Trixie's eyes met her own. "I know you want to die, and I can sympathise because I've been there, a lot, but there is so much more to live for than just the revenge you wanted. I'm sorry you didn't get it, and I guess you feel horrible for attacking Twilight, but you still have so much to live for. This doesn't have to be the end, and shouldn't be.
Summer sighed as Trixie's gaze left her and was hidden back behind the blanket as Trixie pulled it back over her head. "We're not giving up on you Trixie, even if you have. We'll be back, and your wounds will get treated, and you will eat even if we have to force it down you, because you are going to live Trixie, whether you want to or not. Now, we're going to go, so is there anything you want besides death?" Trixie remained quiet, and Summer sighed again as she nudged Octavia out of the room. Then she stopped as Trixie made a noise. "What was that?"

"Tell- Tell Twilight I'm sorry."

"Of course," Summer replied with a faint smile. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Luna was seriously regretting certain life choices. Primarily of those was not kicking Twilight out of her funk and dragging her along, even if she couldn't really walk right now. Secondly was being the one to come to Mareitania instead of literally anypony else. Even Cadence, heavily pregnant though she might currently be, felt like a better choice as far as Luna was concerned, standing as she was at the top of the stairs down to the dungeons where the entrance to the even lower set of dungeons were, where her so called mother was kept under lock and key.

"Come now Luna, I'm sure she won't call you every name under the sun. She might not know a lot of the newer ones after all." Not feeling particularly emboldened by that she started making her way down, her hooves lightly tapping on the stone steps. The stink of the dungeons hit her nose, and her imagination quietly ran through the horrible things that had to have been carried out down there. "You are really not making yourself feel better."

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking around with the air of a buyer checking out a new property, and not liking what they saw. It certainly had all the hallmarks of a dungeon crossed with a torture chamber, and even had the right, disconcerting level of echo to the place, so you couldn't quite tell how big it was, or where any other ponies would be. She could almost imagine the screams, or at least hoped she did, as there shouldn't have been anypony else down here to be making them. Luna cocked an ear and listened carefully, just to make sure she wasn't actually hearing anything.

Satisfied that she was actually alone she searched through the dungeons for the way down to where Faust was imprisoned, not knowing where she was going entirely since the one pony that did know was occupied with her own misery.

Luna cursed herself for being so unfair on Twilight. She had a right to some time out after what had happened.

After several minutes of searching she came upon the spiral staircase that Twilight had described to her in their previous talks, and since it was the only thing she had found that led to a level lower than the dungeons themselves, she could only assume it was in fact the right way to go. She stopped at the top of them and looked at the faint hoofprints in the dust that she could only hope were from Twilight's visit months ago, and not from somepony else who really didn't need to know anything about the ancient alicorn known as the Lady that was locked up down there.

The idea of the finding the cell empty and Faust free didn't exactly fill Luna with warm fuzzies. Quite the opposite actually.

Luna took a deep breath to try and prepare herself, but in reality there was no way she could think of that would make her feel better about this. Faust despised her, despite having never met her, and Luna sincerely hoped her disguise would hold up against Faust's scrutiny since she knew that Faust would likely refuse to say a word to her otherwise.

Feeling her confidence dwindling rather bolstering Luna took the plunge, lighting her horn to show the way as she carefully made her way down the spiral steps into the darkness. She reached the bottom, and saw the long hallway cut out of the very stone of the mountain, and saw at the far end the blue glow where Faust's cell was located. Hoping to get as close as she could without Faust noticing her, Luna extinguished the glow on her horn so that she might approach in darkness. Then she heard her own hooves echoing off the stone and gave up on that idea entirely since using magic to eliminate the sound of her hooves would conflict with her extinguishing her horn in the first place.

"My kingdom for a stealthy approach," Luna muttered to herself as she slowly walked up to Faust's cell. She was only halfway when the blue glow was mostly cut off, blocked by the silhouetted head of Faust herself. Luna could feel herself being watched, and almost started to back away.

"Don't think I cannot see you." Luna shuddered and resumed her journey towards the source of the voice. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and as she travelled the last few meters, could see Faust quite well. Well enough to see the look of disgust Faust wore at least.

"What are you doing here?" Faust asked angrily.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You don't fool me, Luna. I can see your true nature under that rather flimsy disguise."

So much for that. Luna removed her disguise, revealing her true self to Faust, who seemed surprised.

"You're taller than the other one was."

"I assume you mean Twilight?"

"The one that left me here." There was no mistaking the bitterness in Faust's voice. It seemed likely that Twilight had made herself an enemy.

"She was right to do so, mother."

Faust chuckled humourlessly, "So she told you the truth about me. I suppose she failed to tell you who your father was though."

"No, she told me, and I care not. Just as I care not that you are my mother. Platinum treated me as an inconvenience, while you despise me and wish I were never born simply because of who my father was, and how I was conceived. The sins of the father should not pass to the child."

"And so you've come to ask my acceptance?"

"No, I wish no acceptance from you, or from Platinum. The world seems determined to give me nothing but pain where my parentage is concerned, so I choose to stop caring at all. You might be the one that brought me into this world, but you are not my mother."

"At least we can agree about that," Faust replied evenly. Even though she was expecting it, the words still stung Luna. If they were said with venom she would have thought nothing of it, but to be said in so blasé a way caught her by surprise. "Why are you here then?" Faust said, filling the silence her last comment left.

"I wished to see you for myself, to decide if there was a pony worth saving here. Twilight informed us that you wished to see Equestria destroyed for what Platinum did to you, and my sister and I-"

"She is not your sister!"

"My sister and I," Luna repeated slowly, enjoying the aggravation the four words seemed to cause in Faust, "have no desire to see that happen. Yet here you are, having threatened to do so if you were ever released. As you can imagine this leaves us with a problem because while we would not wish to see Equestria destroyed, we still find your treatment here reprehensible."

"Perhaps if you were to release me now I could be merciful."

Luna rolled her eyes, "As I'm sure you're aware, I was not born yesterday. Nor am I going to be the one to choose your fate. You despise me Faust, and have threatened the country I love despite having never been there, and for that alone I am not above sealing you away in here for another thousand years, just to see the peace maintained. But I also realise that is wrong, as you are still a living, breathing pony, who doesn't deserve such treatment. Because of that I shall be leaving your fate to Celestia to decide."

Faust's eyes softened, "Celestia is here? I want to see her!"

"She isn't here, but she will be in the next couple of weeks, whereupon I shall be departing back to Equestria with Twilight. Even if we wanted to help you, we cannot because of other events which cannot be ignored. Your fate is being left almost entirely to Celestia, the pony that made Equestria the beacon of harmony it is today. The pony that had her heart torn out with the discovery that Platinum wasn't truly her mother." Luna narrowed her eyes towards Faust, "For your sake I hope she is feeling merciful."

Luna turned on her heel and started trotting back to the way out, her head held high even as Faust's eyes bore into the back of her head. She turned out of sight and re-donned her disguise before collapsing onto the stairs. "Stars above, I couldn't have antagonised her more if I wanted to. Why couldn't she have just screamed at me to go away?"

Dragging herself to her hooves she clambered up the stairs and paused at the top. Using her magic she inscribed some spell-runes inside the entrance and fed some magic into them. They glowed, then faded from sight as the entrance seemed to become one with the stone on both sides. Luna poked a hoof into the entrance, satisfied that the illusion would fool all but the most terminally curious. The last thing she needed was somepony going in there and freeing Faust after the way that conversation went.

Snowbright gently pushed the door open to Twilight's room, stopping as he saw the purple lump of Twilight curled up on the bed within. Then he decided to knock.

"Come in," Twilight said tiredly, pulling herself up to look at Snowbright. He recoiled slightly as he saw the scruffy bed-mane, the bags under her eyes, and the sheer listlessness her entire being displayed, like the life had been sucked out of her.

"You wanted to see me?" he said, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him. "I was planning to come anyway. We found this in the Duke's room." Snowbright held up a letter that was addressed to Twilight.

"Oh good, more letters I don't want to read from ponies I don't like. Just put it over there," Twilight said, waving vaguely at some point of the room. Instead Snowbright placed it on the small bedside table within easy reach of Twilight.

"So, why did you want to see me?"

"I think I finally worked out what that mare meant. They fought to defend the Duchy because it's theirs. It might not be perfect by a long, long way, but it's theirs, and what we've built isn't. That also works with what you said about not wanting Mareitania to become like Equestria, despite Equestria's many, many fine qualities."

"I suspected that might've been what she meant, yes," Snowbright admitted.

"And you still want the agreement we made to happen?"

"I do."

Twilight nodded, "Good, because that means you won't argue when I ask you to get everything ready for an attack on Stalliongrad in just over a week."

"Huh? What? So soon after we lost so many?"

"We still outnumber them, and as many have said, this place was far easier to defend than Stalliongrad, and with winter coming and the city having no supplies coming from the south while also having an extra seven thousand mouths to feed, they are going to need our help to survive. Frankly, I'd rather get on with it before the soldiers dig themselves in too deeply, and cause too much suffering."

"Alright," Snowbright said slowly, "but what does that have to with our agreement?"

"Because I can't do this anymore," Twilight sighed. "I just had to fight and tear the horn off a pony that has done nothing but stick with me through all of this, despite me giving her plenty of reasons not to. I know she did a lot of it for her own reasons, but that doesn't matter. She's...hurt Snowbright, and I want to help her, but I can't until this is over so it's in my interest to get this war won as soon as possible. Since it's also what you want, will you help me do that?" Twilight half expected him to be triumphant in his demeanour, and was pleasantly surprised when he wasn't.

"It'll take some effort to get everything ready that fast, but I'm pretty sure we can pull it off if that's really what you want?"

Twilight lay back, closed her eyes, and nodded. "It is. It really is."

"Then I'll see it done. Was there anything else?"

"No, not right now."

"Then I'll get back to work." Snowbright saluted and left, leaving Twilight feeling guilty about others doing the work she should really be doing. Another piece of negativity to add to the large pile that she was already wallowing in. She rolled onto her side, and saw the letter with her name on. Her full name as decreed by her position, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Her first instinct was to incinerate it until there wasn't even ashes left, but her love of the written word preserved it for a little longer. She instead tried to ignore it, fairly sure that she couldn't handle whatever the Duke had written to make her feel worse than she already did. Eventually her curiosity prodded her enough to pick the letter up and break the wax seal, freeing the letter from the confines of its envelope where it could do the damage the Duke desired.

Holding the letter in her magic above her, Twilight started to read, struggling at times due to the sloppy writing.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I saw your army arrive this morning, and knew that today truly was the end. I had thought your rebel movement inconsequential at first, but the sight proved to me that I was very wrong, more than the destruction of my country ever could. It's been months since I've left High Rock due to my health, and sitting here it was very easy to deny that you were winning simply because I couldn't see it happening.

My hoof shakes as I write this, but whether that's due to my age or nerves I couldn't tell you. I should've retired years ago, but didn't as the reins of the Duchy would pass to my son, whom I regret has become nothing more than a hedonistic buffoon, coddled into foolishness by the country I fostered, and by the pony I am. I'm almost tempted to congratulate you on your inevitable victory simply because it means Mareitania will be kept by ponies that won't run it into the ground.

Part of me wishes I had listened to my son when he was younger. But instead of listening to him, I forced him to listen to me, and I suspect that's what broke him. If I had listened to him, the unicorns and pegasi may have been treated better, and maybe we wouldn't be where we are now, and my son may have grown to be a fine leader. Instead I turned him into an incompetent. I know my apologies are likely worth nothing to you, but I am sorry for what he did to the pegasus. As Francis came to accept my view on things I allowed him to indulge his darker fantasies far too much, and she paid the highest price, along with Ivory. I know that you might think me foolish for saying so, considering what you've likely seen during your time in my country, but I should've stopped that before it started if only because it only led my son further down the path he'd chosen.

He hopes to hold you off in Stalliongrad. I tried to convince him that he wouldn't stand a chance there, but I can understand the instinct to run is strong when faced with such defeat, just as I can understand the instinct many of my soldiers had to follow him. He blames me for all of this, and rightfully so since my own blindness and complacency led me to think of you than less of a threat than you turned out to be. Now with you here, it's very clear I was wrong. Now more ponies are going to die defending the crumbling remains of my Duchy. I tried to convince those still here to surrender, but to my surprise they refused. They seem content to keep on giving their lives for something that no longer exists, and for a foolish old stallion that has already chosen the cowards path. They're giving their lives to defend a dead pony, and that is probably the cruelest thing I could have done to them, to undermine their efforts like that, making their sacrifices meaningless.

But that is just one regret piled on a lifetime of them. I've ran this country just as my father did, just as he moulded me to, as his father moulded him. I haven't forgotten the day they dehorned my little sister Felicia. That day changed me, although less than they changed her, and I can still hear her screams, coming as they were from a pony that was barely two years old. Mother had refused to let father dehorn her like that, but after her death from consumption father had lost the one thing stopping him from making her into a proper earth pony. Or that's what he told me anyway, and like the dutiful son I believed him, even though Felicia never felt right to be around afterwards. I was almost thankful when she ran away, just so I wouldn't have to see how she had been wronged every single day, and I'm glad she at least found some form of happiness, away from here, and away from who she was.

I realise I'm rambling, but sat here now with a quill in my hoof as I pen these final thoughts of mine it's easy for me to say how much I regret everything. Truthfully it's a recent revelation for me to be thinking this way. A revelation I've had about seventy years too late. It's easy to say I should have done this differently, or that differently, but I didn't. Now with death knocking on my door I can see decades of things I should have done differently. Thankfully I'm not so foolish to think it absolves me of my sins. Nothing can do that now.

I'm sure that by now you're thinking of me as a disgusting hypocrite, and from what you know of me, you'd be right, so I'll bring this to a close. Congratulations on your victory Princess, it's well deserved. I truly hope you turn Mareitania into the country it deserves to be, while I escape the fate that I deserve to suffer. Miss Lulamoon's hatred of me is well placed, and I also regret that I'm going to take even more from her, but as a pony that's always been in control I can't help but also need to be in control of my own death. I hope she understands.

Sincerely

Hargrave, former Duke of Mareitania.

"She understood just fine you asshole."

Twilight sighed and crumpled the letter up, too tired to be angry. Then she held it up in the middle of the room and set fire to it, watching intently as it burned away to ashes. How could a pony having a change of heart at that very moment, enough so to write it down for her, have missed the point so badly? Saying the unicorns and pegasi may have been treated better didn't exactly suggest he was willing to do what the rebellion had fought for. What it did suggest that despite his regrets he was still an earth pony supremacist to the bitter end.

"I am so fucking done with this country."

Author's Notes:

Lucky Twilight gets to keep her legs. You can tell she's pleased.

Anyway, now is the time for me to judge things because here I can pretend that my opinion matters to more than just myself. Let us begin.

The mlp movie character reveal, oh yes.

Firstly we have sea ponies, which we knew were to be involved from early on in the movies production. Not much to say here other than if there isn't a shoo-be-doo somewhere in the movie I'll be very disappointed.

Then there's the Storm King, who seems to be some kind of yeti I think. But he also seems a little Tirek-ish, and could be a centaur since we can't see his bottom half. Who knows, could be interesting to see what happens with him as he looks angry.

There's a griffon, or at least I think she is. This pleases me. That is all.

The edgelord OC. My god... Really Hasbro? You're letting this one fly? She's one step from being a black and red alicorn with her scar, and her broken horn which conflicts with my head canon where horns grow back. (Much swearing happened about that.) She's wearing black armour. Even the name is terrible OC territory. I can't wait to see how tragic her backstory is.

The cat, who clearly thinks he's the shit. I'm not sure whose privates the furries had to fondle to get a talking cat in the movie, but I wish they hadn't. I know it's not unreasonable to have bipedal cats in the world since we have the diamond dogs, but the diamond dogs were awesome being a parody of actual dogs, and frankly I would love to see them again. But that cat has clearly been written to be almost offensively cool, and that really rubs me the wrong way. I want to see a disinterested, predatory, hairball coughing up, joke of a cat. Not a slick, jacket wearing, cool guy that is totally unfair on the diamond dogs who were written with actual dog characteristics.

I'm really not filled with hope for the movie, and hope it surprises me like Equestria girls did. In fact, if Sunset Shimmer made it into the movie I will go fondle that same persons privates as a thank you, but I really doubt they'd give us that.

Oh tjpones, you know just how to make me smile.