Great and Powerful Trixie in the Exordium under the Pyramids | MLP FIM

"Uffff…" A long exhale, accompanied by thick steam, escaped Summermoon's mouth as she leaned back in the plush, comfortable chair. The sweet and burning taste of the tea she had just poured inside her still lingered on her tongue, leaving it tingling and slightly numb.

However, beyond that discomfort (which would have caused third-degree burns to any other being's upper digestive tract), Summermoon only felt slightly refreshed.

Perhaps too little.

"Would you like anything else… your eminence?" a voice suddenly asked.

Summermoon turned her head toward the sound with an exaggerated theatrical sigh. A few steps away, the maid who had brought the tea was still standing, anxiously awaiting any further instructions.

How about you just shut up and let me eat you? she suddenly thought. Summermoon's eyes gleamed for a moment with a pale yellow light as she gave the young maid a predatory stare.

The maid, who had already been trembling before, now couldn't contain the terror that overtook her body. Her fine, delicate skin seemed to bristle under the weight of that gaze.

However, just as Summermoon began to flash a malicious grin at her potential prey, something in her expression shifted. She rolled her eyes with a bored air, letting out a sigh heavy with vulgar exhaustion, and sank her pony body back into the sofa.

"Leave. Tell 'Doni', or whoever's in charge, not to send anyone else," she ordered with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

"Yes… yes, your eminence," the maid stammered clumsily, bowing awkwardly before quickly hurrying out of the room.

As the young maid left, Summermoon turned her gaze back to watch her once more. From behind, emotions stirred inside her like lurking shadows.

"How adorable…" she murmured to herself, biting her lip. "Damn Dhona… where the hell did you find these beauties?"

The maid in question was a bear—more precisely, a little bear. With a striking pink color and proportions resembling a plush toy, she wore an elegant café maid uniform that accentuated her charming figure. Summermoon couldn't take her eyes off her. The way she moved, with short, nervous steps, only fueled her desire.

"What if I take her… " she thought with dark greed, watching as the little bearmaid hopped slightly to reach a bell by the door.

Just as Summermoon began to rise, her eyes filled with wild desire and a grin splitting her face in two, the bell rang, and immediately the door to the room opened. Without another word, the maid disappeared without looking back.

KROOOOO.

The stone door, which had opened silently before, now closed with a brief but irritating creak that echoed through the room.

Summermoon, still mid-motion, dropped back onto the sofa, her face filled with disappointment. After a few seconds of sitting there immobile, the heavy silence in the room felt as thick as the tea she had just drunk.

And then…

"UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A fierce growl, like that of a raging beast, shattered the stillness of the place.

"Why, why, WHY?!" she began shouting, kicking furiously as she threw a full-blown tantrum on the sofa, flailing her pony hooves in the air.

Summermoon was feeling awful. Her erratic behavior from earlier was proof enough. How awful was she feeling? That was a question of little importance. The real question was:

What had happened to make her feel this bad?

The answer was murky.

She had arrived with her sisters in this universe less than 24 hours ago, with a mission handed directly to them by their master. They hadn't wasted any time in executing it. While the most important part of the mission had already been completed, the secondary objectives that arose became a point of difficult-to-reconcile disagreement between them. After a quick "leadership assessment," it was decided that the "eldest" of the sisters would determine the next steps to complete the mission in a way most favorable to their dark master's interests.

"Stupid Vim, you just had to abstain from participating right now!" Summermoon spat furiously, biting into the sofa like a dog, ripping apart its cushioned interior.

The "leadership assessment" had actually been nothing more than a simple game of rock, paper, scissors among the sisters. Though Summermoon usually won these kinds of games (thanks to the edge she gained over her insufferably boring sister Vim), this time hadn't been the case. Vim, in her usual apathy, had refused to participate, leaving Summermoon and the "eldest" to settle the matter between them.

The result hadn't surprised Summermoon. In fact, she had expected it, which only made her angrier.

With no chance of winning, she had to obey the eldest's decisions, decisions with which she completely disagreed.

"Not only is she as boring as Vim. She has to be just as stupid…" Summermoon growled, casting a dark look while smashing her body into the furniture. The poor sofa had already lost much of its original shape and was now just a deformed, destroyed mass of what it once was.

The first order she had received from the "eldest" was:

"Find Dhona Oleg-Nar Dhazer in the dying lands of Eufalia, locate him, and eliminate him."

As Summermoon recalled those words, her gaze turned icy.

"They want to get rid of me…" she murmured bitterly. She couldn't be sure, but there was a strong possibility that her sisters were conspiring against her. In fact, given that all of them were beings with a strong inclination toward evil, it would be strange if they weren't.

"Idiots…" she muttered again, her adorable pony face transforming into a more sinister expression.

She stood up and, without making any other sound or movement, fixed her eyes on the stone walls of the room. Suddenly, the already badly damaged sofa began to burn spontaneously.

Behind her, black flames rose, consuming the piece of furniture until there was no trace of it left.

Another deep exhale escaped Summermoon, accompanied by thick steam, just like before.

She didn't want to eliminate Dhona. That was the truth.

"An alliance… brilliant idea…" Summermoon muttered, frustrated with herself. Her plan to avoid eliminating Dhona had been to convince him to form an alliance with her master. It couldn't be considered a full-on deception or a misuse of her respected lord's name. If she took into account that her master had an open stance toward forming alliances with anyone who supported his cause and was competent, then there was no problem in proposing it. Besides, the orders to eliminate Dhona hadn't come directly from her master but were an idea of her sisters to get her into trouble.

Of course, if that plan failed—and it had—the other option was…

Another angry exhale left Summermoon.

Dhona wasn't an easy fish to catch. Though his current power was much lower compared to hers or her sisters', old "Doni" knew the terrain well. Moreover, he wielded complex types of magic that she didn't understand and that were only possible in this world.

And not only that, Dhona wouldn't be alone in a potential battle; his pets were also a factor to consider. He had many of them.

With all this in mind, Summermoon concluded, quite confidently, that she couldn't eliminate Dhona even if she wanted to.

At least not without a lot—really, a lot—of effort.

So, she was left with no choice but to accept her failure in advance. And observe. Sidelined from her eldest sister's plans.

A growl came from the center of the room. Summermoon, this time, had suppressed her emotions.

"It's so obvious..." Summermoon could already imagine the scene her sisters would stage upon returning to their master. They would accuse her of incompetence and demand punishment. She wouldn't even be surprised if their "older brother" joined them.

She would likely be in serious trouble sooner rather than later. But for now, there were more urgent matters to attend to...

Suddenly, in the middle of her thoughts, she sensed something.

Summermoon, who had been showing a side of herself that very few knew, let that facade fade. She then turned her gaze toward one of the stone walls of the room.

The wall, where the relief of an immense tree devouring the world was carved, began to glow. The large stone room, which until then only had a sofa, a table, and a shelf in the center, was suddenly flooded with a magical emerald light.

A ghostly figure emerged from the stone wall.

"You're late... What did he tell you?" Summermoon asked, her expression extremely serious.

"Nothing important, nothing we didn't already know," Dhona Oleg-Nar Dhazer responded cryptically as he materialized before her, wearing his signature emerald scarf.

"And you expect me to trust you when you're clearly hiding things from me?"

"You shouldn't trust me. Trust in the darkness, trust in our new lord," Dhona replied solemnly.

Those words only deepened Summermoon's disdain.

"You've got a deal now."

"We have a deal now," Summermoon corrected instantly. Dhona didn't respond. Instead, floating in the air, he waved one of his claws, and out of nowhere, two elegant sofas appeared for them to sit on.

Summermoon was still in a foul mood, but she sat down anyway, as did Dhona.

"And now... what is our new 'lord' up to?" Summermoon asked sharply, just as she sat.

"The great dark lord will need more time to complete an avatar in this universe. His slumber must not be interrupted."

"Oh... I see. Doesn't that make him a little... weak?" Summermoon asked, a bit skeptical. She had met several dark lords before, but this was the first time she had heard of one needing time to manifest in the universe he was invading.

"Quite the opposite. This will ensure his long-lasting presence in this world. The dark lord Nodoub Death had a similar existence through his subjects when he first arrived, eons ago."

"Uhmmm..." Summermoon responded, drawing out the sound, still unconvinced. But then, Dhona, who had been speaking in a neutral tone until then, shifted to a much more... fiery stance.

"Do you doubt the extraordinary opportunity we have been given?" Dhona asked, his voice sharp.

"No," Summermoon replied dryly. "What I doubt is that we can actually fulfill the mission he's demanding... Build a city beyond time to be his dwelling? That's incredibly difficult in this universe, you should know that."

Dhona didn't respond. Instead, his emerald eyes dimmed for a long moment.

Summermoon was starting to have a bad feeling. Uneasy, she poured herself a cup of hot tea from the teapot on the table. Even after finishing the cup, Dhona remained silent.

Just as Summermoon began losing patience with Dhona's unnecessary "mystery" games, he opened his eyes, and a sinister laugh whispered through the room.

"Your judgment is very narrow. We will complete the mission in no time. The preparations are already made. The only way to stop this would be if you completed the mission your sisters tasked you with right now."

A suffocating silence filled the room.

Summermoon, her sharp gaze fixed on Dhona, didn't move. They stared at each other for a long time, as if in a dance of possibilities, studying the potential outcome.

Until...

"Ha! Hahahaha!" Summermoon erupted in volcanic laughter. Until then, her face had been full of concern, but now she seemed to have all her doubts cleared.

Dhona clenched one of his claws, preparing for what was to come.

"Well... I admit it, you got me. But before you do something stupid, how did you know? Clairvoyance? Or do you have spy cameras here? I can't detect anything magical or technological," Summermoon asked, amused, glancing at the empty walls around her.

"It was the dark lord Pit Prompt himself who revealed it to me not long ago."

Those words hit Summermoon like a titan's fist on her head. The surprised pony's eyes widened for an instant, but it was fleeting. Her expression quickly shifted to an even wider smile than before.

"Of course... of course... What else did he tell you?"

"Many things. Do you want to know?"

"Yes... I do," Summermoon replied, emphasizing the last word, her smile growing even larger on her pony face.

"I'll tell you. But first, I need you to do me a favor."

"Okay... a favor?" Summermoon echoed, wearing a mockingly confused expression but never lowering her guard. "What is it?"

Dhona paused for a moment. He didn't blink, but he had the demeanor of someone taking a deep breath before saying something important.

"On the other side of the world, in the magical lands of Equestria, there is a pony I need you to find."

"Are you serious?" Summermoon replied, clearly offended by the request. "Can't your pets do that for you?"

"Will you do it?" Dhona asked, ignoring Summermoon's provocation.

After another silent exchange of stares between the two, Summermoon finally leaned back in her seat. She had the demeanor of someone resigned to performing a task they didn't want to take on.

After letting out a great deal of steam from her mouth in a hiss, Summermoon finally spoke.

"I'll do it for the sake of our beautiful friendship, Doni... What's the name?" Summermoon spat, her once mocking smile now transformed into a fierce glare.

Dhona finally relaxed the claw he had kept clenched until that moment. Calmer, he too leaned back in his seat.

"Trixie Lulamoon," Dhona replied, with an unusual weariness.