A Day in the Limelight

by Trish Hankins

Chapter 5-Reveal

The Monkey King opened the door that led to the break room of Town Hall. It was a tad small, had a vending machine, a table, and four chairs. Off to the far side from the door was a counter, and a coffee machine sat on top of it. After he motioned with his hand, his soldiers brought in Bon Bon, an unconscious Carrot Top, Vinyl Scratch, and Derpy Hooves all of whom were tied up with rope. With another hand sign his grunts left the room. He turned to leave, but before he was all the way out the door he turned to the ponies. "I'll be back in a couple minutes. I would stay, but the orange one interrupted my speech and I'd like to finish it. I'll send somemonkey to wake that magician up so she can keep you company while I'm busy." He sighed, then a large smile appeared on his face and left the room.

The silence lasted for about thirty seconds. "Um, Derpy?" Both of the other conscious ponies looked at Bon Bon. "I wanted to, uh, apologize. For, well, insulting you this morning. It was wrong. Could you forgive me?" When Derpy started to answer, Bon Bon's body braced itself.

"Of course I accept your apology, Bon Bon!" After Derpy finished, Bon Bon stared at her oddly.

"Wait, that's it? I was horrible to you! Shouldn't you, I don't know, yell at me or something?" Derpy's eyes went from staring outward to focusing inward again.

"Why? You said you were sorry, and you look sincere, so why would I be mad?" Before Bon Bon could reply, Vinyl started talking.

"Don't sweat over it, Double B. It took me some time to get used to it too, but D is just that awesome. You're lucky she accepted it too, because if I knew you had hurt her..." Vinyl's horn started glowing lightly. "Well, let's just say these ropes would not have helped you. So, wait a second, that fake Celestia was you?"

Bon Bon scooted a little away from Vinyl before saying, "Yeah. Carrot and I had worked it out beforehoof, in case you two hadn't finished by the time she was too tired to fight. Her striking a conversation with him was the trigger."

A gray aura surrounded Vinyl's glasses, and they moved to behind her horn. "I don't think you understand how impressed I am. I did a half-hour interview with Princess Celestia in-pony, and I thought that she had shown up."

Bon Bon's cheeks turned a little pink. "Yeah, well, before I took up the confectioner thing, I was a professional voice actress. I still do a little of it when my old characters are used again. After hearing you and Octavia interview the Princess, I started practicing her voice. I thought it would make for a good prank to get back at Lyra one day."

Vinyl's pupils went wide. "Woah! What did you do? You might have been in something I saw!"

The mare let out a small cough. "Uh, just some anime. I voiced Rukia from Bleach, Yuki from The Depression of Haruhi Suzumiya, Princess Euphemia from Operation Geass, and, dang what was her name, Yoko! That's it, Yoko, from Tengen Terra Gurren Lagann."

"What." Vinyl's mouth was gaping open. "You're Miss Red? The mysterious voice actress!? If there was any paper around here I would ask you for an autograph! Gurren Lagann is, like, the greatest anime of all time!"

Derpy decided to jump in here. "Yeah, and if Carrot was awake she'd be doing that weird noise she does sometimes! What was it, 'Squa?' 'Squee?' Anyway, she has all of the stuff from the depressing show you mentioned. I remember one time something happened in the show, and for the rest of the day all she could say was, 'Endless Eight?!' Well, that and some pretty bad curse words."

Bon Bon was blushing furiously now. "Oh, no, it's just a hobby. I miss it sometimes, but it made me travel too much. I really like Ponyv—"

Before Bon Bon could finish, the door slammed open and Trixie walked in.

"Trixie hopes you four are happy! Because of your intervention, The Great and Powerful Trixie has been deprived of her sleep!" She slowly moved over to a chair and sat down.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, you do look really tired. Why don't you take a nap right now?" Derpy said with sparkling eyes.

Something resembling a laugh came from Trixie, though it was quickly overwhelmed by exhaustion. "What, so you can all escape and stop Mr. Conqueror? Ha. Besides, the rest wouldn't help much anyway. Trixie's fatigue has nothing to do with her body."

The grin on the DJ's face grew. "Oh, I get it! Little Miss Awesome over here used too much magic." The scowl on Trixie's face did nothing but confirm Vinyl's statement to the other two mares. Derpy and Bon Bon looked at Vinyl, an unspoken question in their eyes. "Oh, right, you two wouldn't know that much about this kinda thing, huh? That sleep spell is very simple, and doesn't use that much energy to cast. But when you cast it on more ponies at the same time, it end up costing more and more energy. Trix Are For Foals over here cast it on the entire town, which is crazy! I'm amazed she's just tired and not unconscious right now!

A smug smile plastered itself on Trixie's face as she leaned back in her chair. "Trixie is insulted that you would compare her majestic magical might to your paltry spells! Not only did she do the spell as you said she did, she also conjured that cage you saw outside!" She smirked at the captured citizens.

"Uh, I don't know how to say this Trixie, but what is wrong with you!?" At Vinyl's question Trixie, almost nodding off, jumped clear out of her chair. "Using up that much magic in a week is dangerous, and in one night might as well be suicide! What screws were knocked loose that make you follow this monkey dude so much?"

Trixie hung her head low. "You want to know why Trixie's doing this? Fine. She's sure you all remember the last time she payed a visit to this despicable hamlet. Trixie bets you all thought she didn't learn her lesson, right?" A small chuckle filled the chilled air. "Oh, she learned. That day Trixie saw the truth. Despite her exceptional talent for magic and many claims to the contrary, Trixie is not Great or Powerful.

"That day Trixie realized something had to change. So she realized what she must do." She looked up at the mares, tears in her eyes. "Trixie must become Great and Powerful. By doing this job for that filthy monkey, he will give her all the magical books in his country, and with that knowledge, Trixie will evolve! Trixie will make it so nopony ever questions her power again!" With that she turned away from them and started a low laugh, only to be interrupted by Bon Bon.

"Well, it looks like your overblown stage persona hasn't 'evolved' Trixie. Still as over-the-top as ever. Also, y'know, that teensy tiny little point of, that wasn't the lesson you twit! When you're called out on your grandiose lies and exaggerations, you're supposed to learn to stop bragging! Only you would take away from that that her mistake was she wasn't cool enough to brag yet!" Trixie turned around with an icy look on her face, absently wiping the tears from her eyes as Bon Bon talked.

"Really? And when did you suddenly become the general of the fort on the Moral High Ground?" A small smirk was etched on the magician's face. "Why, Trixie remembers when she came here the first time! She wasn't in town long, maybe a day or so, but even that was enough to hear the awful rumors about you. Bon Bon, the pony with an acid tongue." Vinyl tried to say something, but Trixie talked over her. "Can you honestly tell Trixie that she's never insulted either of you?" Trixie paused here, and Vinyl was decidedly silent as she mulled it over.

"You're wrong about her," Derpy said, and iron conviction ringing out with every syllable. "I haven't known Bon Bon for very long, but I still know she's ten times the mare you'll ever be. She sometimes snaps at ponies, but she has a good heart. When danger reared it's head, she was the one who convinced us to help. You're a bully and a braggart."

"Why you little imb—" The door slammed open. Sun Wukong walked in, slouching as he did so. The sound of ecstatic applause leaked in until he shut the door behind him. He took notice of the venomous look on Trixie's face. She turned to him and said. "Payment. Now."

The Monkey King's eyes widened a little. "Oh, uh, really? I thought you were going to stick around a while longer, maybe rest or, uh, something."

Trixie's eyes narrowed into slits. "Trixie has to see a zebra about a potion. Get her the reward, now." The way she pronounced that last word procured no argument in the matter.

Wukong shrugged. "Sure, I have it right here." He reached into his robe pocket, and pulled out a single book. "Here's your payment Trix."

A light blue glow covered the book as it left Wukong's hand and floated in front of Trixie's face. She stared at the cover, then at Wukong, then back at the book. "This cover says, 'The Spell Compendium Book 1-The Basics' by Nord Perfect." Her glaring eyes slowly moved from the encyclopedia to Sun Wukong. "You said you'd give Trixie tomes of magic far exceeding anything she'd ever seen! Instead you give her a basic list of spells any unicorn can learn? Ones Trixie mastered before she reached adulthood?!"

The room was silent. After almost a full minute of dead air, Wukong coughed. "Well, that's not exactly true. I told you I was a being who has ruled a country for almost a thousand years, and that your reward was every book about magic we have." He looked away from Trixie. "It just so happens that at the moment, the book you now have is the only book about magic we have."

For a second, it was as if Trixie was trying to stare at Sun Wukong's head so hard it would explode. "I!" she started. "You? Book!?" she stammered out, trying to vocalize her frustration. Then she took a long, deep breath. The book dropped to the ground, and Trixie walked to the door. Without a sound she opened it, and left.

"Well, now that she's gone, we can talk." Wukong walked over and untied the three conscious ponies. He chattered away as he worked. "Sorry about your friend here. I didn't want anypony actually getting hurt, but I have a temper problem I've been working on." After they were all free of their bonds, he gestured over at the table. "Sit down, please."

Vinyl stretched a little before walking over to the table. "So, why are you untying us? Can't we talk while tied up? And by untying us, don't you run the risk of us escaping?"

Wukong started laughing uproariously. By the time he finished, he was almost out of breath, and wiping a tear from his eye. "That's a good one. Okay, in order: at this point you're more my guests than prisoners; we could, but I feel it would be rude of me; and no. I am an immortal master of martial arts who defeated your strongest fighter without breaking a sweat. There is no risk of you escaping. At all."

Bon Bon sat down and nodded. "True. After what you did to Carrot Top, I don't want to try my luck."

Derpy flew over to her seat and plopped down. "Can I be honest Mr. Wukong?" He nodded his head in reply. "What you did to Trixie was really mean of you."

The brow on the monkey's face furrowed. "Yes, that. I wasn't trying to trick her. I needed a way into this country safely, let alone the whole sleeping spell thing. When I explained who I was, she's the one who set the conditions of the bet. And maybe, what, sixty years ago it would have been a good trade. But the reason for that being my last magic book is the same one for why we came here tonight."

"How?" Bon Bon asked. "How could you possibly justify invading our country and holding this peaceful town hostage? What could you possibly say that would make us understand?!"

"My people are dying." With that simple sentence, all the fire seemed to leave Bon Bon. "It was inevitable really. My country consists of three jungles and the open land between them. Our population has been steadily rising for centuries, but now..." As the monkey king looked down at his open palms, he looked as old as he was. "Over the last three years I've sold everything I can to keep my people fed, but it isn't enough. Our coffers are empty, and we need more land."

Bon Bon shook her head, and said solemnly, "Okay, yeah, that's a pretty bad situation. But why are you doing this to Equestria? Don't you have another neighbor you can bother?"

Before the king could respond Derpy did. "He can't. His only other neighboring country is the changelings, and there's no way this trick would work on their Queen."

Wukong looked at Derpy, as if seeing her for the first time. "Exactly right. And I can't just invade her, those you see outside is my entire armed forces. And if you paid attention during your little rescue mission you'd have noticed they're all unarmed. Speaking of the dear Queen Chrysalis, when I actually talk with Celestia next I need to remember to tell her to thank her nice, what was it, Cadence. Without her Chrysalis would be ruling this country, and the lives of you ponies would be no bargaining chip at all." He stared at the pegasus a little closer. "Haven't I seen you before?"

Derpy's eyes went wide, and she said, "What? No! I'm just a mare who likes her history, yeah! Never seen you before in my life!"

The Monkey King held his chin in thought. After ten seconds he said, "Yeah, you're right. The mare I'm thinking of must have died centuries ago."

"Back on subject," Vinyl said, frowning intently. "Why didn't you just ask Princess Celestia for help? I've met her before, and I'm sure she'd work something out."

The Monkey King barked out a laugh. "Like that wasn't my first idea. You'd be surprised, considering the rhetoric I feed my army, but I've always admired her. She's the only long-living being who isn't disdainful and rude to me. She tries to help, and is genuinely kind. But there's no way I would get a chance to talk to her. This country is set up in such a way that any message from me to her goes through at least eight ponies before she can see it. There's no way her a message about giving away Equestrian land, for free no less, to me would actually get to her. The only time we can talk is at summits, and those are only convened when three nations vote to do so. Freaking bur—"

All of a sudden, a small red dot on Vinyl's back lit up with a beep. She put her shades back on, then said, "Girls, we better back up a little. And cover your eyes." She ran to the wall where Carrot Top lay, and huddled against it. Seeing her reaction, Bon Bon and Derpy quickly followed suit.

Sun Wukong stood up, and asked, "What is going on?" The sound of a large machine being activated filled the air, the source apparently being behind the wall with the counter. Slowly, the sound of techno beats began to blossom, growing louder every second. "What is this?" Wukong said, staring at the wall. Then, a beam of white light as tall as the monkey king himself blasted through the wall. It sent the ruler flying backwards, and through the whole in the wall the beam had created.

"That," Vinyl said, "is my bass cannon."

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

"Derpy Hooves: The Element of Suspiciously Specific Denial."

[BenRG]

"That," Vinyl said, "is my bass cannon."

Or, as one side character in an episode of 'Doctor Who' put it: "Pure, penetrating sound! It kills!" Given that it could kill Daleks, I'm not convinced that there will be much left of his primateness over than jellified protein stew.

[Trish Hankins]

@BenRG Hahahahahahahaha

[Frankie]

Looks like the monkey king was made to see the light. Next!