//------------------------------// // Episode 5-Part 2: Enter, the "Great" Magician Trixie // Story: The Other Mane Six: Adventures in Ponyville // by DayDrifter75 //------------------------------// "Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" the showmare exclaimed as fireworks erupted on stage, yet a particular group of ponies were far from impressed. "My, my, my. What boasting," Octavia said. She stared coldly up on stage, eyeing Trixie as the unicorn conjured up flowers. "It was obviously her, no doubt about it," Vinyl Scratch expressed. "Nopony can be that arrogant and not be evil." "Now hold on," Lyra interjected, "don't go judging a book by its cover. I mean, she's obviously an entertainer, so why can't she put a little flair and overexaggeration into her show?" Vinyl put a leg around Lyra's shoulder, smiling calmly. "Oh, don't worry. We understand that," she said. "You... You do?" Admittedly, that did make Lyra feel much better. "Yeah. But she matches the description perfectly, so it must be her!" During this time, Lyra hunched down and let her ears droop sheepishly. "Plus, she's so arrogant. She would deserve it if somepony put her in her place. Booo!" A voice coming from the stage to the front of them interrupted the conversation taking place. "Well, well, well," proclaimed Trixie, "It seems we have some neeeeeigh-sayers in the audience." Vinyl Scratch's eyes went wide behind her purple-tinted sunglasses. She didn't actually want to attract the attention of both the performer and her crowd; luckily Trixie had not actually heard her, as Trixie looked to be scanning across the entire crowd, showing assorted reactions of confusion and awe—the latter coming from Snips and Snails. "Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie?" Derpy, nervous about being picked out of the crowd by Trixie's wandering eye landed from eher position in the air and hid behind Lyra, who frowned. "Just who does she think she is?" Octavia whispered over to the group. "I'm beginning to agree with the lot of you. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone named Trixie, and I've been doing quite a bit of travelling," the Doctor whispered back. "Sshhhh! I told you before, she's just an entertainer. This is just all part of the act. You'll see, she's probably not a bad pony," murmured Lyra. Sounds from the stage instantly drew their attention; the performer’s fireworks were going off again, more energetically than before. A Lyra spied a pony with a rainbow mane fly onto the stage. It was none other than the current captain of Ponyville's weather department, Rainbow Dash. It seemed to Lyra that Rainbow was fed up with Trixie, much like most of her friends were. And they weren't even very far into the show! The five filly friends (and one colt) quieted down temporarily as the pegasus spoke. "So, Great and Powerful Trixie, what makes you think you’re so awesome, anyway?" she began. Trixie put a hoof to her face, her venomous laugh filled with disdain. "Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish… the dreaded Ursa Major!" The Doctor, previously choosing to be mostly quiet until now, suddenly burst out with a loud but short chortle. He nearly choked on his own tongue trying to hold in his giggles while everypony around him gasped in awe and wonderment. Fireworks blasted from the horns at one end of the stage, decorating the sky with the outline of a huge bear whose forehead had the mark of a starburst. Its head and tail moved as if this were a neon sign. "A... What now?" he asked to nopony in particular. The four stared at him. "An Ursa Major!? Well, now I know she's no idea what she's talking about. She's pretending she fought a constellation of all things." Lyra, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch al stared at him. "Dude, Ursa Majors are real things," said Vinyl. "... Shutting up now," the Doctor said. The Great and Powerful Trixie began her tale. "When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to." As she spoke, the Ursa Major pyrotechnic began to change. A Trixie figure then approached, wand at the ready. As she continued, it stood before the beast’s swipes and cast a spell, causing it to fizzle out and disappear in a shower of sparks. "But the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave deep within the Everfree Forest!" She stood proudly, basking in the audiences wonder. "It’s true, my enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville!" The crowd stayed dead silent. "Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie? Well, then, I hereby challenge you Ponyvillians. Anything you can do, I can do better," she proposed. "Any takers? Anyone, hmm? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived?" Vinyl Scratch took a step forward, hoping to show Trixie what she had, but Lyra stopped her. "Wait. Let's just watch. Don't want to miss anything, right? Besides, this is probably part of the show." At least, that's what she hoped. Lyra wanted very hard not to jump to conclusions and judge a book by its cover. "Hmmm…how about…" Trixie pointed to somepony in the front row. " …you?" Trixie, striding confidently toward the edge of the stage asked, "Well, how about it, hmmm? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't? Well, little hayseed?" "That’s it! I can’t stand for no more of this!" It was the voice of Applejack, a friend of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. She clanbered up onto the stage with Trixie, accepting the challenge issued to her. "Yeah, you show her!" called Vinyl with her hooves cupped around her mouth. Lyra certainly thought it to be a coincidence that the two friends sitting in the front row were the only ponies interacting with Trixie herself. It could only be all a part of the act. The orange mare brought out a lasso from under her hat. "Can your magical powers do this?" Now on the stage, she was twirling a lasso around herself at floor level with her tail. She hoisted the loop clear of the boards, then moved it forward and backward. "Ooooh!" An expert flick of the tail sent the lasso flying to a tree, allowing her to snag an apple from its branches; the rope loosened, and the fruit landed squarely in her mouth. After a quick chew and swallow, the crowd cheered, encouraging Applejack further. "Top that, missy!" she said. Trixie’s hat began to glow due to the magic of her horn underneath. "Oh, ye of little talent." The hat lifts clear of her head, fully exposing her lush and flowing mane. "Watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie!" she proclaimed. A gleam from her horn brought the untied rope under her control; one end rose off the stage as if it had become a lively snake being charmed. It swayed back and forth before Applejack’s face, hypnotizing her into mimicking its movements, and the other end pulled another apple from the tree. The first end lashed toward Applejack’s hooves and hogtied her, briefly lifting her upside down off the stage before dropping her on her back. "What—oof!" Once she landed, the apple was stuffed whole into her mouth; everypony in the crowd laughed and cheered, convinced like Lyra that this was all simply part of the show. "Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails," gloated Trixie. Lyra could not see any of this as being anything more than an act. It did not take long for her to find out she was wrong. "I can't believe that pony!" Vinyl Scratch exclaimed. "There’s no need to go strutting around and showing off like that!" She stomped her hooves on the ground multiple times, almost causing cracks in the wooden floor of Lyra's shared home. Jumping like she did a moment later was not something that Lyra particularly liked, and she knew that when Bon Bon returned she wouldn't be too impressed either. Octavia spoke up, laying down upon the green couch. "I must agree. How could that ruffian commit such terrible acts. There is nothing worse than green hair. Turning such a prestigious pony's hair into a literal rats nest is a crime against fabulousness." She raised her ash grey hoof to her forehead and sighed deeply. Derpy, sitting on the floor, drooped her head down. The Doctor stood behind her, holding a hoof to the top of her head. "I wanted to agree with Lyra, but that Trixie is such a big meanie face," Derpy said. "The way she treated those ponies was just terrible." Lyra felt terrible. The entire time she was obsessed with trying to defend Trixie, convincing herself and her friends not to judge a book by its cover, that just because Trixie was gloating, didn't mean she was a bad pony. But alas, she was just a big jerk with a superiority complex. That was all there was to it. And what was worse was they'd entirely forgotten about their search for Bon Bon's necklace, distracted by the show mare, the five of them gathered back at Lyra and Bon Bon's house to discuss what had just happened. "I'm sorry girls," Lyra explained, " I just didn't want to accuse an innocent pony, you know, jump to conclusions." "It's alright Lyra, if she wasn't such a meanie stupid head, you would have been right," said Derpy. Vinyl rubbed her hooves together menacingly. Shadows were cast upon her face from the few lights that were on, and she lowered her glasses to reveal her red eyes, seeming to glow with her smile. "Now we just need to plot our revenge. For Bon Bon, for those ponies on stage, FOR PONYVILLE! MUAHAHA-" Octavia smacked Vinyl upside the head to cease her malicious cackling. "Stop that. We simply need to concoct a plan of sorts to drive this Trixie away from Ponyville while also getting Bon Bon's necklace back. Seeing as the mare would probably never admit to such a crime, I propose the following..."