Great and Powerful

by conceitedcake

Prologue - The Canterlot Dungeons

Great and Powerful

Prologue - The Canterlot Dungeons

Canterlot Castle, the famed home of the royal pony sisters, was quite lovely. I hadn’t seen much of it besides the dungeon, but if my prison cell was the tiniest bit like the castle above it, I’m sure it was definitely befitting of a couple of goddesses. I had stayed in 4-star hotels more menacing and under-furnished than my current accommodations. They even left a bowl of grapes on a dais in the room. I’d remember to break the law more often if this was the way Canterlot treated its prisoners.

A knock on the door interrupted my future criminal plans. I turned around and saw a grey pegasus enter the room and buck the door shut. She stared at me heatedly, or more accurately, one of her eyes did. The other eye traced off to the grapes next to me. If her withering gaze could burn, those grapes would have been raisins within minutes. She broke the silence.

“Ms. Lulamoon,” she said coldly.

“Ditzy,” I replied evenly.

“Friendquisitor Doo, to you,” she snapped.

After our re-introductions the conversation froze over. The silence returned. I decided to banish it this time.

“So, do you usually prisoners locked up in classy cells like this, or is it because I’m a VIP?”

Ditzy looked away and pawed the ground nervously.

“Actually, Canterlot Castle doesn’t have a dungeon. Haven’t had a need for one in a long time. We ended up stuffing you into one of the private rooms Celestia and Luna keep for their guests.” She frowned, the heated glare gone from her face, “ It's not secure at all, I mean, just take a look at the balcony!” she gestured behind me with a hoof.

I turned around. The back of the room led out to a beautiful stone patio balcony, complete with lounge chairs and a breath-taking view of countryside below Canterlot. I knew this was too nice to be a prison. Even by the merciful Celestia’s standards.

“I thought as much, good thing I’m not a pegasus, right?” I joked.

Ditzy narrowed her eyes. “Why? If you were, you’d only end up adding ‘attempting to escape royal custody’ to that already impressive list of crimes you've managed to bring upon yourself.”

Figures that it went over her head. Friendquisitors are known for their absolute loyalty to the princesses and maintaining their kingdom. Comic sense, not so much.

“Of course,” Ditzy continued, “You probably knew this wasn't a pleasure visit. She reached into her saddle bag and removed a huge scroll. After snapping the wax seal, the paper spilled down, and across the ground a comically long distance. She began to read.

"Kidnapping. Extortion. Grand Theft Auto. Property damage. Aiding traitors to the crown. High Treason. Conspiracy against Harmony. Public Intoxication-”

I felt my face flush at the memory. Ditzy stopped reading and tossed the scroll aside. We both knew that she could spend hours reading off every offense on that sheet.

“And beyond the criminal offenses, you managed to sabotage the mission of a group of sea ponies, enrage a sphinx, partake in a war outside Equestia, and consort with demons from Tartarus. Honestly, I’m not sure what the legal precedent there is to punish ponies who consort with demons. Hay, I don’t even think there is a legal precedent to punish something like that!”

I grimaced. After everything that had happened, I was sure I didn’t need any additional punishments to atone for the demons.

“Look,” I said, pointing a hoof accusingly at Ditzy, “You’ve managed to repeat just about the same thing everypony has said to me ever since I’ve been imprisoned against my will in th-“

Derpy let out something of a half snort, half chuckle. “This is no prison Ms. Lulamoon.”

“I know,” I responded, “I’ve spent a lot of time imprisoned in places nowhere near as nice without even a hope to a fair trial.” I hinted. Ditzy frowned again. She failed to catch my drift. I knew the Friendquisitors were supposed to be stubborn, they weren't known to be stupid.

"I'm pretty sure Equestrian law mandates everypony had a right to a fair trial." I suggested.

“Then, Ms. Lulamoon I don’t think you do know what's happening here.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. But I was worried. Friendquisition interrogations were something I no desire to experience.

“Could you please elaborate, Friendquisitor?” I asked timidly.

“Despite breaking more laws than I thought existed in Equestria, Princess Celestia has informed me that she has postponed your trial until I manage to get the whole story of what happened. From your point of view, and present it to her Majesty.”

“The whole story?” I asked.

“The whole story,” she affirmed.

“We might want to sit down, it’s going to take awhile.” I suggested, a bit relieved that the friendquisitor hadn't broken out some medieval torture device.

She nodded, and pointed a hoof at two pillows near a low lying table in the corner of the room. After getting comfortably settled I enveloped the bowl of grapes in a sheen of magic, and slowly drifted it onto the table between us.

“Whenever you’re ready to begin,” Ditzy prompted. Despite sitting on what may have been one of the comfiest pillows in all of Equestria, Ditzy sat uncomfortably straight, as rigid as a pole. I popped a grape into my mouth, it was a bit unnerving sitting in a cozy spot like this with my captor, who currently looked more like of the stone guard statues than an actual pony. Albeit, a cross-eyed guard statue.

“Grape?” I asked, gesturing to the bowl between us.

Ditzy shook her head. “I can’t be deriving a prisoner of her food, now can i?” she said with a grin.

I felt a shadow of a smile creep across my own face. Maybe she wasn’t as rough and mirthless as our past run-ins had made me think. Maybe she wasn’t a heartless cog in Celestia’s secret service after all. The grin fell off Ditzy’s face as quickly as it had appeared.

“In all seriousness, that’s the only food you’re going to get until you explain this mess.”

Maybe not.

“The rest of your friends are being interrogated right now." She continued, " any inconsistencies between your recollection of the past events and that of your friends will be noted. Please, don’t make this any harder than it needs to be. We don’t need to add ‘lying to the Friendquisition’ to your list of crimes.”

Ditzy put her hoof under her chin thoughtfully, “not that it really matters when you’ve been accused of consorting with Discord. To be honest, I’m not sure why anypony in their right mind would be driven to request his help.”

I let out a sigh, “First, let’s get one thing straight. I didn’t ask for help. He did. And we didn’t just wreak havoc on all of Equestria like you keep saying. If you want to hear the real story. The story of how I ,the great and powerful Trixie, and a group of ponies ended up saving Equestria with the help of the spirit of chaos, I might as well start at the beginning.

It all started out on the outskirts of Ponyville, after a disastrous night…..”

Author's notes: I'm still getting used to the publishing format on FIMFiction, so I apologize for any spacing issues. That said, I hope you enjoyed the prologue! Trixie's story will start out immediately after the events of 'Boast Busters', I hope you'll enjoy what I have in store and stick with me through it. Welcome aboard!

Comments

[mechafone]

Fascinating intro! This sounds very interesting, you can bet I'll stick around for it!
That being said,
i48.photobucket.com/albums/f202/Kibasbane/dingunbgood.gif

[Hustlin Tom]

Original concept, epic potential plot, and above average self-editing.

TrackingFavoriting.

[RTStephens]

It's a nice start with plenty of potential. I'll be checking on this to see if it keeps up.

You may want find someone to proofread for you though. There are some easily fixable errors that I came across that a simply read-through can fix.

Other than that, let's see what you can do.

[Yukito]

Seems interesting. I shall track this and see where it goes.

[Kamylian]

Very intriguing start Definitely keeping track of this one.

[Seether00]

This has major potential as long as its funny. Make sure to keep the funny.

[GK-47]

The title is what got me, so simple but so intriguing. This...is going to be good.

[bahatumay]

I didn't expect the Friendquisition...
I think I like where this is going.
(In all honesty, I was half expecting her to say, "murder, arson, and jaywalking, among other crimes.")

[YukeNavyPilot]

1026890
Nobody expects the Friendquisition!

[Frankie]

After the list of crime Ditzy read to Trixie, I am expecting this to be a very long Fic, You also have my interest piqued.