Trixie floated in a world of white nothingness. She was aware. She could see—herself, anyway. The wounds on her body were there, but they didn't hurt. That was all right, at least. Maybe she was dead, then. Trixie looked around. Was this it? Was there nothing in the afterlife? She had heard old mare's tales, of meeting ponies who had passed on, or judgement for her actions in life. Trixie did not really believe any of them, because she was the Great and Powerful Trixie, who knew no rivals.

Except one.

Twilight Sparkle appeared then, as she usually did, but this was not the somewhat diminutive purple unicorn—Trixie was no larger, but thought of herself as being so—but a towering, demonic figure with glowing eyes, horn and golden crown glowing with hellish energy, her mouth parted in a savage grin. Wings spread in an arc around Trixie, but the feathers were metallic and sharp. They tightened the arc, coming closer and closer until they tore into Trixie's skin, reopening her wounds. Agony shot through every nerve in her body, her ears assaulted by Twilight's horrible cackling as she tortured Trixie. Somehow, Trixie knew this would never end: the pain would be eternal. She tried to scream but then realized she had no mouth—

Trixie's eyes opened. She drew in a breath. Then another. She could breathe. "I'm…alive…"

"Yes, you are."

She looked around and saw who spoke: Princess Luna. Luna sat on her haunches, and as Trixie surveyed the room, she realized she was in the palace at Canterlot. The bed she lay on was actually quite comfortable, though as she moved, the pain started. It was not as bad as the dream, though.

Then Trixie remembered. She turned away from Luna. "Ponyville. I destroyed it, didn't I?"

"No."

"And Twilight Sparkle?"

"Alive."

"How? I cast a mass disintegration spell."

"Which I cancelled out."

Trixie turned back to her, eyes wide. "You can do that?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "I raise the moon every night, and ponies are shocked that I can cast magic? "

There was silence for a few minutes, then Trixie spoke. "Kill me."

"No."

Trixie tried to fill her voice with as much venom as it would hold. "Kill me while you can." It sounded pathetic.

"Why?"

The question took Trixie by surprise. She stared at Luna. "I think it's plainly obvious. I tried to kill Celestia's prize student. I was going to destroy Ponyville. For that matter, I enslaved Ponyville before all of this. By Celestia's law, any of that is punishable by death."

"'Tis true."

Trixie motioned around the chamber. "Then why the nice treatment? Why am I still alive, or at least not chained up in a dungeon somewhere?" She met Luna's eyes. "Or on the moon?"

Luna's tail lashed. Her pleasant expression vanished—but only for a moment. "Because I believe in you, Trixie."

It was Trixie's turn to roll her eyes. "Oh, please. You think there's still good in me. I remember that from books I read when I was a filly. A foal turns his father back to the good and gains his cutie mark. Well, there's no good in me, Luna, and I'd much rather get it over with."

Luna said nothing for a moment. "Then why didn't you destroy Ponyville or kill Twilight Sparkle?"

"I tried."

"Did you?" Luna stood and stretched her wings. "No one saw you enter Ponyville. You could've trotted to the town square and wiped the town off the map. As far as Twilight goes, why not wait until she was asleep and cut her throat with a magic dagger?"

"I wanted her to know it was me that killed her."

"Ah, you wanted a dramatic exit."

Trixie considered that for a moment. Luna was right: it would have been easier to take Twilight by surprise. For that matter, she could have poisoned Twilight, acted like her friend and then slipped a few drops of nightshade into her water trough. Or killed her silently with a spell in Twilight's own library. No one would've ever known who the culprit was. Celestia would've figured it out eventually, probably, but by that time Trixie would be long gone. There were a few places on Equestria where Celestia's long hoof did not reach.

Yet Trixie knew exactly why she had challenged Twilight to the magic duel. Assassin tricks were not the way of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Standing over Twilight's dying body, defying even Celestia in an epic last stand, or killing both Twilight and herself in an awesome act of mutual destruction—yes, that was how the Great and Powerful Trixie should die.

Then Trixie began to cry. She couldn't even get revenge right.

Luna watched her. Trixie finally couldn't stand the princess' stare. "What are you looking at?" Trixie bawled.

"Myself." Luna walked away.