The Quickverse Chronicles

by Quick Fix

The Great Illusionary Artist (Trixie)

Arena of the Stars, Los Pegasus
June 2nd, Year 18 under the Four Princesses

---

The Night of Gladiators was always a major draw for the city of Los Pegasus, a grand event for the bolder ponies of Equestria to step up and test their mettle against any variety of the dangerous creatures of the world without the risk of serious injury or worse that would normally come from it. It was no secret that the 'creatures' used were realistic illusions created by talented unicorns, tangible and able to interact with their opponents, yet unable to hit them hard enough to cause serious harm. It took a lot to keep such illusions in control and only those with the best, most show stopping abilities could handle it. Somepony like the Great and Powerful Trixie would like to think she'd have no problem like that.

The Great Illusionary Artist, Trixie, was better than that though.

A lot had changed since she had hit her lowest point. Acquiring an evil soul sucking amulet and using it to take over a whole town with an iron hoof for the sole purpose of petty one upponyship had a way of making you take a long hard look at what you were doing with your life. In Trixie's case, that look had lasted a few years while she came to terms with her actions and figured out what she needed to do next. Eventually, she had decided to focus her skills and use them for better shows than her travelling act. Five years ago she had fully mastered illusion magic and re-launched her career, clearly it had gone well considering where she was now.

Trixie took a slow breath and glanced round her surroundings. Currently standing in front of the entry gate where the 'monsters' came into the arena, she was set to send out the one of the headline acts any minute now. Ponies from backstage had gathered to see her in action, taking the moment to see such a recognisable name. While she wouldn't call herself famous, she was well known to those in the same line of work. Part of her was glad she didn't bring the old hat and cape out to these events anymore, they looked kind of silly when she was being so serious and they were now simply kept as mementos of her past, a reminder of where she had needed to come from and go through to become what she was now.

Her horn flared into life, it's pink glow shining brightly enough to make ponies nearby shield their eyes. The glow enveloped her body as she focused, every part of her focused on projecting the mental imagine she held, mimicking it's actions, senses, even expressions. She knew the waiting audience couldn't see her thanks to the metal gates thirty feet in front of her, it was a good thing too, they'd find the act less believable if they saw how she handled it. The magic glow around her intensified for several seconds until her body couldn't be seen past it before jumping off her and erupting into a swirling vortex of energy that lasted the merest of moments before disappearing in a flash. As the surrounding ponies managed to adjust to the light and look back at Trixie, many of them gasped in shock, several recoiling slightly.

Standing before Trixie, facing the gates, was a huge bear creature. Twenty five feet long, fifteen feet tall, covered in semi translucent blue fur and piercing yellow eyes with red pupils, it was unmistakably an ursa minor. Even as the gathered ponies hesitated in how to react, Trixie shook her shoulders slightly and grinned as the ursa did the same. This was her masterpiece, she had such skill over her illusion that as long as she focused on it, it would do whatever she did. She pushed her front hooves off the ground and brought the left one back down quickly, watching the ursa rear up slightly and slam it's paw into the ground hard enough to shake the area slightly. Satisfied she was at maximum efficiency she turned her head toward the crowd, hoping one of them was an organiser.

"Alright, I'm ready to start."

One of the crowd nodded and rushed off, leaving the others to keep watching as Trixie focused herself. She'd done this kind of show before, as soon as those gates opened she was going to come out all guns blazing and put on the act of a lifetime. Already she could hear the muffled voice of the announcer riling the crowd up for this event, their cheers coming through the stone above her loud and clear. A minute later the cheers intensified and the crowd around her backed off to give her space to work. Trixie nodded to them quickly and dug her hooves into the ground, poised to charge. As the gates started to open she got an idea and moved forward, pushing herself onto her back hooves and stepping forward, spreading her front hooves out as she did.

Following her actions to the letter, the ursa illusion planted it's front paws on the gate and forced them open fully, letting out a huge roar that masked the rather pathetic one that Trixie had given for it. She could see through it's legs to get a glimpse of the arena, covered in sand, thousands of ponies in the crowd, her opponent standing in the gate on the other side of the arena. She recognised the ice blue unicorn stallion from a previous show they had been part of, he was a hotshot but undeniably talented, kind of like her. This was going to be an interesting duel.

"Alright, Serac. It's showtime." Trixie thought to herself as she stepped forward and reared up fully, the ursa having enough space to do the same now it was out in the arena. Faced with this opponent, Serac simply pushed his two-tone white and gray mane out of his green eyes and fired a blue-white beam of magic straight into the illusion's chest.

It didn't even flinch.

Trixie managed to suppress a wince at the attack. One of the downsides of being so focused on her illusion was that she felt anything coming into contact with it, her chest stung slightly but it had happened enough times for her to now shrug it off without losing her balance or focus. Her front left hoof came back down hard, her right making an inward sweeping motion along the ground a moment later. As she expected, Serac's evasive move put him right into the path of the second paw, knocking the air out of him and sending him sideways through the sand. To his credit, he managed to stay on his hooves the whole time and she thought the least she could do was give him a moment to recover. Wild creatures did seem to have a tendency to wait for the heroic pony to find a counter and win the fight after all.

She gave a fresh roar and snapped her jaws, unable to hide a grin at imagining the look on Serac's face as the ursa illusion did the same just inches away from him. Said grin quickly faded as he ducked under the beast and moved closer to her gate. It was a clever play on his part, the ursa was following her movements so to continue the duel she would have to turn round and fight blind. Her head went back over her right shoulder and she turned round with a stomping action, managing to do a pretty good snarl for a pony. She hadn't realised that the crowd from before was still behind her but at least two dozen ponies were watching intently, hopefully they wouldn't mind her miming until she could get turned round again and swing the fight back into her favour.

Another stomp, then her body went back into the air before coming down in a full body slam. Trixie hoped that her attacks were coming close to their mark. As she started to get back to her hooves, a sudden pain shot down her back like somepony was holding a torch close to it, most likely Serac had managed to get on the ursa illusion's back while she was down and was trying to subjugate it from there. She grunted in pain and forced herself back into a standing position, swinging round to update herself on the situation. As expected, her opponent was clinging to the ursa's back, firing short magic bursts that hit her like a flurry of bee stings. Trixie growled and threw herself onto her side, rolling over in an attempt to make it stop. A surprised cry outside, followed by a collective gasp from the crowd, made it clear that Serac had been caught out by the sudden move.

She hesitated slightly as the dust cleared from the roll and she got back up to assess the situation. Serac had actually been squashed under the ursa illusion during the roll and while the nature of the magic meant he would escape serious injury, he was still laid out on his front, clearly struggling to recover. Part of her wondered if she should keep the fight going with his current state, another was yelling that they'd both tried their tactics and she had come out on top, a third just wanted to end it quickly, limit how she might hurt him and knock him down a peg at the same time. Trixie gritted her teeth and focused, surely he would understand that going with option three would be best for him, her and the crowd baying for a show. Her hoof went up and started to come back down, just as Serac rolled onto his back and fired a beam in desperation. The ursa's body meant she couldn't see it hit anything but she could certainly feel it.

"Arrrgghh!! Ponyfeathers!" She cursed, recoiling as she felt like her right eye had taken the full impact. Her attack fell apart as she stumbled and fell onto her front, rubbing her eye desperately to try and soothe it. Her ears were ringing from the roar the illusion had given thanks to her cursing and she could barely focus enough to keep it going. Serac seemed to have come to the same conclusion she had before trying to finish the fight as she felt his horn touch the ursa illusion's forehead and fire a point blank blast.

The ursa glowed brightly before vanishing in a flash. Trixie hardly had time to notice as the combined effects of the magic attack and her ursa being broken hit her like a freight train that was on fire. She didn't even try to get up once it passed, her whole body ached, the spots that had been hit before felt worse than ever and her mane had been blown into a more bedraggled style. As she removed her hoof from her eye she could tell her vision was blurred in it, yet another downside of being a master of her craft. There wasn't time to dwell on that though, the crowd was going wild for Serac's victory and she had to try and be a gracious loser.

As she forced herself back to her hooves, stumbling slightly as she did so, Trixie looked out at the area through her good eye and realised that nopony was motioning for her to step out. All the previous illusionists she seen perform tonight had been invited out by their opponent to share the crowd's approval, no matter the result. Serac however seemed to be so caught up in his victory that he was taking it all for himself, not even looking her way. Even as she watched he raised a hoof to the crowd and made his way out to their cheers before the doors in front of her closed again. With the din of the crowds dulled and her own body's complaints becoming more prevalent, Trixie looked back to the backstage group that had stayed with her, doing their best to give their own cheers and applause just for her.

"Thank you, thank you. Triskie appreciates it." Trixie replied weakly, trying to wave to the group but nearly falling over as she did, her legs feeling like they didn't want to support anything as heavy as her body right now. She tensed as somepony came up on her blurred side, unable to see them clearly enough for any identifying marks. She felt them come up and drape something over her back, at this range she could still only make out it was an orange pegasus.

"Lean on me if you need to, we've got a spot for you to recover just back here." The voice was that of a mare, not much of a clue to go on for her identity. She seemed to command some respect among the other ponies present, her good eye could see they were clearing out of her way as the two of them walked toward the back wall. Once they got there, Trixie sat herself down on some quilts had been laid out, avoiding resting against the wall with how sore her back was. Her surprise helper placed something on her back that made her wince initially but quickly soothed her stung muscles. A quick glance back revealed it was just an ice pack.

"Thank you." She said quietly, feeling a little better than she had. Another ice pack was offered for her eye and she took it in her magic, gingerly placing it on her eye and biting back another curse at the shot of pain it briefly gave.

"No problem, just glad the medics had them handy." The helper replied. Trixie finally brought her head up to get a look with her good eye, freezing slightly as she took it in. It was an orange pegasus alright, purple mane, tail and eyes with a cutie mark of a dark purple aviator helmet with blue straps and light purple goggles. Even if Trixie hadn't recognised the voice, she recognised the mare easily.

"...Scootaloo?"

"The one and only." Scootaloo grinned, though it was clear in her eyes that showing off her name was less important than making sure Trixie was alright.

"W-what are you doing here? This isn't exactly a stunt show."

"Yeah, but the stadium owner liked my last performance here so much she offered me free backstage passes to any show of my choice, and I always wanted to see how skilled ponies like you did it."

Trixie smiled slightly more at those words. If somepony had asked her, she would have said without doubt that Scootaloo was the more famous of the two, a proper household name. Yet she not only thought that Trixie was skilled, she was taking time out of her visit to help. Even as she thought it, Scootaloo placed a third ice pack on her chest and held it in place for her. It was weird in a way. Sure, Trixie had managed to make a few friends since reimaging herself, but she had always approached them. This was the first time somepony had been friendly to her first and it actually felt pretty good.

"Well...Thank you again," Trixie replied, starting to feel a little steadier on her hooves but opting to lie down on her front. The position kept her front and back ice packs in place while she held the eye pack up in her magic. "Are you sure you want to stay with me?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, you did come to see the show, not play nursemaid. Plus...Well...I did subject you to what a brainwashed tyrant could be like nineteen years ago. I'm sorry."

Scootaloo opened her mouth to comment, only to realise that there was a small shine in Trixie's visible eye after she said it. Those last two words were cathartic, giving her a chance to let go of her past mistakes a little more. Truth be told, Scootaloo couldn't really remember that time but she wasn't going to admit it if it resulted in letting another pony smile that much more. For now, she decided to let that go and answer the first part instead.

"I couldn't just stand aside and not try to help a pony who needed it. Speaking of, do you need anything else?"

"Not right now. I..." Trixie's eye went over to the crowds further away. Even with her sight impaired she could make out Serac making his way through the various ponies toward her position. His cutie mark of an iceberg with a burst of magic at its peak seemed apt now, even after their magic duel he looked as energetic as ever.

"By Celestia," Serac said as he reached her, taking in the state she was in. "I didn't realise I'd hurt you that badly!"

"I'm alright, comes with being so in tune with my illusion. I'd only be upset if I'd needed bandages," Trixie remarked, making it clear that she didn't hold it against him. "That was some performance we managed though, you were cunning and kind of agile."

"Kind of is right." Scootaloo commented with a small chuckle.

"Well I was only kind of agile because you were at the top of your game," Serac replied, managing a smile of his own. "Listen. I'm sorry I got carried away out there, stealing all the spotlight for myself. Especially when you performed better than me. There anything I can do to make up for it?"

"Right now, I just appreciate the support." Trixie stretched herself out slightly, biting her lip at the fresh ache it brought before it subsided again. Serac simply nodded and looked round before leaving for somewhere else.

"You're gonna marry him someday." Scootaloo joked as she sat down next to Trixie and made sure nopony tripped over her by accident. Trixie couldn't help but laugh at that and relaxed further. As the night wore on the two of them got talking more and more, discussing themselves, their pasts and what they were going to do next. By the time the show was wrapping up, anypony who hadn't gone by earlier could be forgiven for thinking that the two of them had been friends for years, especially after Scootaloo had fetched some cider for them both.

"So I told them 'You spin Trixie right round' and left while they were still figuring out who Trixie was." Trixie giggled as she finished her anecdote, getting a proper laugh out of Scootaloo from it.

"Guys like that never catch on do they?"

"No. You've had the problem before?"

"You'd be surprised." Scootaloo shook her head slightly and glanced round for a chance of topic. Trixie thought for a minute before getting an idea of her own.

"When do they normally make a move?"

"Hmmm? Oh, often they tend to come up asking if I'm looking for ponies to help me out on tour and try to slide into making a move."

"Well...What if, you had a pony helping your performances?"

"Trixie," Scootaloo looked back at her with a slight degree of caution. "Are you asking for a job?"

"I err, ah..." Trixie stammered, hesitantly removing the ice pack on her eye. The rest of her body had felt good enough for the other two to be removed earlier and there weren't any signs of any damage. Her eye was still sore but at least she could see clearly now. "I just thought if you had a pony working with you, even if it was just a few special effects, then I-"

"When can you start?"

Trixie blinked in surprise, so caught out she could hardly bring herself to move. She was used to hours, days of negotiating contacts and going over details before managing to land any kind of major job. She slowly looked over at Scootaloo, who was wearing the most genuine smile she'd ever seen.

"R-really?"

"Sure!" Scootaloo grinned more at her nervous curiosity. "I normally end up giving most of my payments to charity, what's giving some more bits to a friend?"

"Well..." Trixie looked down for a moment before sitting up and matching Scootaloo's grin with an equal one of her own. "I can get my wagon moving pretty fast when I want to. When's your next show?"

"Think you can be in Baltimare in three weeks?" Scootaloo asked with a hint of challenge in her voice as she put her hoof out. Trixie's grin dropped a little but became a lot friendlier as she hoofbumped her eagerly.

"I wouldn't miss it."

Comments

[Comickook]

Not much I can say beyond thanks greatly for getting the next chapter/story up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. The exchanges, action, emotional content and wrap-up were all well done in all the right places. Great piece depicting Trixie and Scoots's first meeting in this universe.

[Quick Fix]

7625177 It's no trouble, though I'm glad you're still enjoying it this much. I always thought Scoots and Trixie was one of the stranger friendships I'd come up with even before the Quickverse was a thing, so it deserved some background.