A Great and Powerful Show, to be Sure...
“Here we are; Ponyville!”
“Ugh, finally...”
A half-asleep Starlight Glimmer peeked through the curtained window at the front of the small and gaily-painted house on wheels called a wagon, her bleary eyes landing on the afternoon-lit, thatch-rooved buildings of the small town that lay before her, a dark forest just visible beyond the far edges of it.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Starly!” Trixie called back as she turned to her marefriend and assistant, “We have to get ready for the show!”
“Mm, yeah, I know...” The other unicorn mumbled, resting her body on the window sill while rubbing her eyes and then yawning. “It just took a while to get here.”
The wagon was jerked forward by the sapphire-coated magician harnessed to it, making her over-rested partner stumble back and thump onto the floor. “Eh, Trixie warned you,” The wagon-puller replied and rolled her eyes as she managed to move the several hundred-kilogram wagon forward even without a featherweight spell, a feat that always surprised her lover.
Of course, that didn’t mean said lover didn’t like the results of it; resting her head on her forelegs with a dopey grin and staring at the very well-toned flank of her marefriend showed as much.
“You know, Trixie’s a little intrigued by this place,” Trixie said as she glanced around at the thinly-populated streets that she sought to soon fill with entertainment, examining the lively locals and pastel-painted buildings around them, all atop a quaint groundwork of cobblestone and grass spattered in dampness from the rain from the previous night.
“Mm,” Starlight grunted, her subdued reply making abundantly clear the fact that it was only in subconscious acknowledgement.
The other pony chose not to comment on it, only continuing, “Its name is so incredibly dull, and yet its architecture so colourful... How do you think the ponies are gonna be?”
A non-committal shrug was the only response--at least before the assistant was smacked across the face with a frost-coloured tail, making her pull back and sputter ineffectually for a few moments before shaking her head and looking at the face of the frost-maned magician, her expression still showing a question.
“O-oh, um,” Starlight stuttered and blushed, pausing for a moment, and only then actually responding; “Eh, they’ll probably be fine. I mean, you did say ponies in towns like these are kind of desperate for entertainment, right?”
“Right!” Trixie replied before looking around again. “‘Tis a lesson learned from experience. Of course, though, the ponies here may go to Canterlot to entertain themselves, but they likely don’t have the bits--or the taste, for that matter--for those stuffy fools.”
“Right, right...” The pink pony agreed, though did comment tentatively, “You probably shouldn’t be so rude, though. The ponies up there tend to be, um...” She paused for a moment, thinking as to what a non-offensive term here would be, “Fragile.”
The other mare merely scoffed and waved those worries off with a hoof. “Oh, it doesn’t matter. Trixie knows what to do when we go up there next.”
The casualness of the statement threw Starlight off for a second, but then she realized what was said and nearly shrieked, “W-wait, Canterlot’s next?!” A nonchalant ‘mm-hm’ from her marefriend confirmed it, making her sputter out, “U-um, c-can’t we have s-some baby steps?! I-I’m not used to large audiences staring at me, you know!”
Trixie shrugged, though offered a warm smile back to the hysterical mare. “Trixie does not believe in baby steps; you should know that by this point, Starly. She only gave you some more warm-up at this small town before we get to the big stuff.”
“Y-yeah, b-but...” The lilac unicorn stammered, gulped in fear, then continued, “C-couldn’t we go a little slower? I-I mean, I know y-you’re used to this, b-but I always like to go slower, a-and maybe you could b-be a bit better to your m-marefriend...?” A somewhat guilty and shamed look came on the magician’s face as she stopped moving and looked back towards her assistant.
“I... I’m sorry, Starlight...” The showmare said solemnly, “I won’t make you go up on stage there--it’s just...” Her amethyst eyes watered up a little as she whispered, “Y-you know by now that I didn’t really have much of a good past... Being so a-alone and helpless... I always had to go fast and ignore the past, s-so...”
“It’s alright now, though,” Starlight responded, leaning forward so that she could put her forelegs around her lover’s neck. “You don’t have to worry about making everything completely perfect; you can relax a little bit, alright?” Her comforting made the other pony tear up more and nod her head as she leaned into the embrace, both staying that way for a short while.
Eventually, though Trixie managed to stop crying and wipe her face of her tears, letting the two mares pull back a bit so that the former could kiss the latter on the snout. “Thank you, Starly,” She said, looking at the delighted face of her lover. “I needed that.”
The lilac unicorn merely pecked her magician on the cheek and responded, “Of course.” She glanced around at the town they were in, and seeing the attention they were getting, looked back at her lover sheepishly and mumbled, “M-maybe we should go set up now?”
The performer merely smirked and agreed, “Alright.”
After the duo had set up their wagon and folded out the stage that made up one of its walls on the outskirts of the town, near the dark forest which Trixie had said could serve as ‘a good backdrop for her amazing and delightful show’, a crowd had slowly began to build from the gossip borne from their passing through town. It certainly seemed a good sight from outside the wagon, however, things on the inside were a bit different.
“Are you okay, Starlight?” A confident voice said over the quiet sounds of the crowd outside the wagon, waiting for the show.
The heliotrope-maned mare, dressed in her zipped-up sky-blue leotard with white and purple stars dotted all over it, looked up to her marefriend who was grabbing her trademark purple cape and hat with golden and platinum stars on it off a hook on a wall and adorning it. “You look pretty nervous,” The magician observed, looking at her assistant with concern.
“Y-yeah,” Starlight responded, sitting on the floor of their home while shivering a little in fear, “I mean, last time, I had been in that town for a while and so I knew who everypony was, b-but here...”
“Of course,” Trixie agreed, trotting forward to place a hoof on her assistant’s shoulder, “The people here might be rather rude and try to screw with our performance, but Trixie should get the worst of it; she is the main star, after all. But,” She continued, smiling softly down at the worried mare, “If they go out of their way to disparage you, Trixie will defend you, and if it gets too bad, then we’ll just leave, alright?”
The other pony nodded and hugged her partner, holding it for a few moments, and then pulling back to smile at her. “Thank you,” She replied, the words lingering in the cool air of the wagon as the two mares stared into each other’s eyes, the souls behind them completing the other, making them feel safe in spite of their dreadful pasts and uncertain future.
The murmuring outside suddenly picked up in volume, breaking the lovers out of their reverie and pulling their attention to the curtains which hid the clearly excited crowd. “Are you ready, my lovely assistant?” Trixie whispered as she pulled back and got too her hooves, all the while not taking her eyes off the curtains.
Starlight inhaled deeply through her nose, then held it in for a few seconds before letting it go. “Of course, Great and Powerful Trixie,” She whispered back while standing up as well.
“Then let’s get ‘em,” The magician stated with a wayward glance at the invigorated pink unicorn.
A flash of Trixie’s horn threw a hoofful of smoke-bombs onto the stage as the mare trotted over to the center of the room, just behind the curtains. “Come one, come all!” She shouted beyond the rising veil of smoke, magic amplifying her voice somewhat, the sharp volume making her assistant wince a bit before she went to stand beside her marefriend. “Come and witness the most amazing magic of all time!” Illusionary fireworks were fired off on the stage outside, their streaking sounds far eclipsing the quiet clacking of hooves as the two showmares stepped onto the stage, their visage covered by the lingering smoke.
“BEHOLD,” The blue pony shouted, an ardent grin growing on her face from the feeling of the stage as she lifted herself onto her hindlegs and thrusted her forelegs up to the sky, “The GREAT and POWERFUL TRRRRIXIE!!!”
An energetic cheering could be heard as Starlight assumed her own, less grandiose pose of presenting the main star, hampered though it was by her eyes tearing up a bit from the thinning smoke. When said smoke finally did clear, she had a clear view of the crowd; around one-hundred and fifty ponies, mostly rural earth ponies with a decent amount of them foals, standing around the stage and cheering rather energetically, at least compared to the more proper society her previous performance was in.
She supposed her marefriend was right about these ponies not having much entertainment; their enrapturement to the magicians as they worked their way through their routine told of their thirst. Even with that idea of having a low bar to clear didn’t rid her of her worries, however, as the possibility of failure stood strongly in her mind, growing even worse as she eventually heard a loud, disgruntled conversation from near the front of the crowd.
The assistant attempted to keep her mien as calm as possible as she glanced down to where the speakers were, keeping and an eye and ear on the Great and Powerful Trixie so that she wouldn’t faltering in her show work, finding four somewhat irate ponies looking on with disapproval in their eyes as they seemed to speak of ‘how irritating that boastful mare was’, or something like that.
However, their speaking was loud enough that during a lull in the audience’s enthusiasm, it had become pronounced enough for the main magician to take notice of it, suddenly shouting out while looking challengingly at the hecklers; “Oh? Does Trixie hear some neigh-sayers in the audience?!”
The hecklers looked surprised for a moment at being called out, but three of them quickly glared right back at the sapphire unicorn while the rest of the audience quieted down a bit in confusion and Starlight looked at the encounter with worry.
“Yeah!” One of those rude ponies then shouted, cutting away the silence with her grating voice and brazen attitude, jumping up onto the stage without a care for anything but her cyan-coated, rainbow-maned pegasus self. “What makes you think you’re so ‘great’ and ‘powerful’, huh?” She taunted as the magician looked mildly ticked off back at her. “‘Specially compared to the only pegasus to ever perform a Sonic Rainboom; yours truly, Rainbow Dash!” She called out, flying up a bit to show herself off even more, though she only got some odd stares and murmurs from the audience.
‘Great, it’s one of those’, Starlight thought as her stomach churned at her marefriend being caught up with this fool, ‘Not just a heckler, but somepony who tries to steal the show for themselves!’
“Really?” Trixie asked back with a raised eyebrow while summoning up her magic to form a pink mist covering the stage floor. “Well, Trixie has vanquished the dreaded Ursa Major, a beast so large and ferocious that not even Starswirl himself dared fight it,” She asserted, her illusory mist rising up into a recreation of the very creature she spoke of; a massive translucent bear with a star on its head and razor-sharp bared teeth, all with a illusion pony next to it and seeming tiny in comparison.
Some of the audience gasped and shook fearfully at the monster while the other hecklers had expressions of doubt and curiosity, though, even with the amount of times the dearly beloved of the boastful mare had heard such a tale, it hardly seemed a possibly feat to best such a beast.
“However,” The magician continued at the heckler’s doubtful expression towards the illusion, “There must have been others to have do this ‘Sonic Rain-boom’ you speak of before you, as its name was known before you specifically performed it. So, you’re not all that unique after all, are you?” The pegasus looked bewildered at that, but quickly shook herself off and was about to retort before the unicorn cut her off; “Perhaps it would be best to leave the show to the showmare, as then Trixie can show just how amazing her show is without you ruining it.”
‘Guilt-trip? I’m not sure how well that would work...’ The assistant pondered while she remained still and tried to keep from her cold, nauseous sweat from expelling bile from her throat. ‘Unless you’re just trying to anger her...’
“Hey! I make any show I’m in twenty--no, two-hundred percent cooler!” This ‘Rainbow Dash’ boasted, really grating on the nerves of the showponies.
“Really?” Trixie asked, disappointment audible in her tone. “If this is how you ‘make a show better’, then Trixie very much doubts that. Even then,” Her voice turned taunting, “Anything you can do, Trixie can do better.”
The rude pegasus scoffed, then shouted in response, “Oh yeah? Watch this!” She shot up into the sky to take a small cloud that remained from yesterday from it, carrying it down and slamming back down onto the stage while using the water from the cloud to create a rainbow just over her head.
One of the magician’s eyes subtly twitched in anger at the impact, but she quickly covered it up with a yawn while taking hold of the rainbow and spinning it into a small tornado around the heckler, sending her flying into the air while spinning around before she fell back down the damp dirt, slamming face-first into it.
“Oh yes, great gob getting caught in that tornado. How ‘cool’...” Trixie taunted, giggling a bit at the silly eyes her opponent had now gained.
It wasn’t too easy for Starlight to gauge how well the audience was reacting to this whole situation, as the mare was still unnerved about the hecklers. Dealing the pegasus didn’t curtail it all too much, even before one of the other hecklers hopped up onto the stage.
“‘EY!” The archetypical cowpony with an orange coat and yellow mane with a distinct hat shouted angrily, “Tha’s hardly fair, with ya cheatin’ like that!”
“Oh? ‘Cheating’?” The magician questioned with a hoof to her chest, as if offended at the idea. “Trixie did not cheat; your rude compatriot merely failed to Trixie’s superior manipulation of rainbows and showmareship!”
“That wasn’t what she was compet’n fer!” The fool shouted without even a hint of thinking about it; something which was quickly called out.
“This is a show, you beguiled farmer; showmareship is always the goal. Now,” Trixie stated indignantly, “If you have nothing to contribute you here, Trixie suggests you leave; you are ruining the show.”
The mare snorted and stared at the irate-looking showpony for moment, making Starlight think she was debating giving up, but instead she reached under her hat to pull out a long rope that was tied up into a lasso. “I got somethin’ to contribute. Ya really think yer ‘amazin’’ magical powers can do this?” She challenged, gripping the loose end of the rope in her mouth and throwing the other end over to an apple that hung from a tree, before yanking back on it to grab the apple with the lasso and pull it back to her.
While an impressive feat for an earth pony, she still far underestimated the versatility of a unicorn’s magic. The orchid glow of the magician’s magic grabbed the rope from the farmer’s mouth and quickly spun it around her legs, tying them up before shoving the apple into her mouth and letting her fall onto the ground, sufficiently dealt with.
“Trixie believes she caught something a bit bigger than an apple.” Well, ‘dealt with’, barring the teasing that technically acted as an explanation for what she beat the heckler at.
Unfortunately, there was still two more, as a white unicorn with a curly heliotrope mane was all too eager to call out, much to the disapproval and worry of the other lavender unicorn (making her seem less like a heckler and more like somepony who was trying to get her friends to calm down). “Hmph!” The pony grunted in a way only those of Canterlot did, telling the travelers everything what they needed to know about her. “You think you are the best just because you can beat some ponies at some tiny ‘challenges’?” She asks in her archetypically pretentious voice, “Perhaps Rainbow Dash and Applejack may fall for that, but Rarity is above such nonsense.”
“No, Trixie knows she is the best because you idiots clearly only care about the way you look, rather than actually trying to provide a show for others to enjoy,” Trixie deadpanned, though exasperation could be felt in her mien.
“Well, I do not need to put on a show for I am the show,” She boasted, completely ruining any claim that she had over the magician that she described with the same word earlier.
The sapphire unicorn and replied sarcastically, “Sure, sure, because people always love rich, fancy snobs who are so vain that everything they do is for the purpose of making them look better.” The other mare looked offended at the notion and was about to retort, but got cut off; “Like, say, spending an hour every single day just to keep your mane in order; an effort so frivolous and petty that nature can’t help but wreak karma upon you?”
Starlight could tell Rarity got way too aggravated at her mane-styling being called pointless, what with her jumping onto the stage herself and shouting back, “Well, I don’t make my living off of boasting, unlike you!”
“Trixie’s career is magic,” Trixie stated, irritation now clearer in her tone, “Which you are currently preventing from happening, so Trixie would much rather you get your flank of her stage and allow her to entertain the people that actually wish to watch her.”
“Hmph! I’ll give the ponies a show they actually want to watch!” The vain unicorn boldly gloated and then strutting around a bit, and before the magician could speak, she grabbed one of the curtains of the stage, and tore it straight off.
She went on to cut up the curtains and attempt to put it together into some sort of clothing, ignorant of the gasp of the audience, the widened eyes of the Great and Powerful Trixie, as well as of Starlight’s cold, hollow nausea suddenly clearing, only to be replaced by a deep, infernal rage.
The previously confident showmare was blindsided by the ungodly arrogance and disrespect of the townspony, though seeing a blaze in the corner of her eye, her gaze quickly turned to her seething assistant, who’s expression showed nothing but murderous intent and horn sparking with its usual teal colour and sputtering a crimson red smoke that had only bad memories associated with it. She reached a hoof towards the mare to try to get her attention so that she may prevent the worst outcome, but those furious teal eyes still bored into the pompous heckler who was so deluded thinking that her own performance could be better than anypony else’s.
“You dare...” Starlight growled, inciting some frightful glances from the audience and even more worried look from her marefriend. “We come here to entertain you...” She continued, picking up in volume enough to pull the white unicorn’s attention from her ‘performance’ and to the source of rage behind her, her expression turning from gaily enthusiastic to shocked and bewildered, “We put this show on for free, where you can leave at any time and lose nothing, and you disrupt it with your fuss, interrupt with with your bragging, and ruin it with your ego,” Her words were slowly getting louder, her tone angrier, and her horn flared with magic in a way that terrified even the foolish egomaniac before her, “And you dare believe that you are better than us?!”
Rarity was quickly gripped in a writhing teal aura, her own light blue one flickering out as fierce, blazing magic pressed strongly in on her from all directions and yanked her into the air, pinning her limbs to her sides and making her stare into the infernal blaze in the assistant’s grey-blue eyes. “Are you so fucking vain and narcissistic that you want to be seen at the expense of everypony else?!” The lilac unicorn’s magic quickly threw the other mare down into the ground a short way away from the stage, splatting her into some mud that lay there, tarnishing her pristine form.
“Oh, I’ll let you be seen alright, though maybe this way, you might learn a fucking lesson!” The enraged pony shouted, charging magic into her horn while keeping her blazing eyes locked onto the bitch before her and prepared to really give it to her, but was stopped when she felt a hoof on her shoulder, making her whip her head around to see her marefriend trying to calm her down.
“Starlight, no...” Trixie whispered to her assistant while looking so imploringly at her, her amethyst eyes that usually held an enchanting pride and panache now only saying, ‘You’ve gone too far...’ A few moments were spent staring at her before the furious mare looked back to the crowd she was meant to entertain, finding only horrified and scared looks on their faces.
Starlight’s magic quickly faded, fright dawning on her own face as she realized what she was doing; in her attempts to clear the show of damaging interruptions, she herself had caused more damage to it and a pony attending than said pony did herself. Vain and infuriating that pony may be, she didn’t deserve this.
“I-I...” The assistant sputtered, tears welling in her eyes as her head darted around frantically, horrified with what she was about to do and what she had already done. She wasn’t able to mutter anything more before her instincts kicked in and she darted back into the wagon behind the remaining curtain, collapsing onto the floor as her emotions broke forth into loud sobs.
The mare’s vision, stuffed into her lilac forelegs though it was, became blurred from the rivers of tears bursting from her eyes and the horror of what she had done sinking into her mind; the pain and nausea there all to reminiscent of that which she had felt some time ago and had wished to keep it in the past. She could hear somepony speaking with a faint rumbling underneath for a short while, the latter she could feel as a crowd’s displeasure of her, which only made her more terrified of the world and hateful of herself.
However, the predominant voice eventually became louder as soft thumping came closer to her, the fear of being hurt making her hide further into herself, shaking violently as she so desperately wished to disappear from existence.
“Starlight?” The voice now penetrated her veil, its tone soft and concerned and the pitch all too familiar. The quietly sobbing unicorn gulped before pushing her head up slowly from her forelegs and looking over to see a sapphire face peering into her eyes, bereft of any anger and only carrying worry and concern. “I ended the show early; everyone’s gone home,” Trixie informed calmly. “I wanted to make sure you were alright.”
“B-but,” Starlight croaked out, but had to shake her head and rest it back on her forelegs to help curb the nausea’s flaring up again. “T-the show...”
The light blue mare wrapped a soft foreleg around her marefriend’s leotard-clad withers, slowly rubbing it up and down to help soothe her. “Shhhh...” She whispered as she leaned down closer, “I care for you more that making bits.”
“I-I, b-but...” The assistant sputtered as the other mare grabbed the zipper on the back of the clothing clinging to her body with a hoof, pulling it back from neck to tail before gripping the entire piece of cloth in her magic and peeling off her body, the nervous sweat that had collected beneath it slightly sticking it to her coat.
Trixie magically pulled her own attire off her body (with no sweat sticking it to her) before taking both costumes and tossing them onto a their respective hooks on the wagon wall. “Trixie knows you’re worried about people hurting you, and give what you did out there, you think they have a good reason to do so,” She stated, her calm voice managing to hold no argument in it. At the surprised and bewildered look of her partner, she explained, “Trixie does pay attention to your emotions, you know.”
“R-right,” Starlight muttered as she shook herself out of perplexment, “I-I forgot you knew how to do that...”
The magician smirked, glad that she could assistant astray from her worrying thoughts, though went back and resumed, “Trixie knows that your afraid currently, so Trixie will do everything in her power to make you feel safe, okay?”
A smile grew on the other unicorn’s face from the love pouring from that statement, looking straight into those lovely amethyst eyes and replying, “Okay.” Any further words were extinguished as the sapphire mare darted forward to press her lips against her lover’s and swung around to better grasp the whole of her body with her forelegs, copious amounts of love and safety exploding between the two and quashing any feeling of insecurity or fear.
For a while, Starlight remained floating in that sea of bliss, uncaring of the large, terrifying world she lived in as the only world she truly cared for remained pressing into her, promising so fiercely to keep her safe against anything and everything that they may come across. Even when the kiss ended and the mares pulled apart just a bit so that they may stare so deeply into each other’s eyes, love still flooded into them from each other and made them feel more alive than the thrill of performing ever could.
However, the silence did eventually come to an end, a breathless gasp from the lilac pony before she looked out at the dusk sky outside and realized just how late it had somehow become. “U-um,” She sputtered while looking back to her lover, who only had a laid-back look on her face, “L-let’s head off to sleep, okay?”
Trixie smirked again while pulling away from her marefriend and standing up. “Okay,” She replied, looking over to the open stage to her side and magically grabbing the lever just beside it and yanking it back, the stage outside quickly folding in on itself into a flat shape that then folded up to become flush with the side of the wagon. After that, she quickly turned to the bed on the other side of the interior and hopped on, taking the purple blanket hanging off the edge and covering her body with it.
“Well?” She teased at Starlight’s awe of the impressive mechanical work that she so causally passed over, “Aren’t you going to join me?”
The other pony shook herself and turned her attention from the stage to her lover, staring into the bedroom eyes that had become so connected with some... euphoric sessions in the past, leading her to easily make her decision and jump straight into the bed as well.
A loud, repeated banging noise broke Starlight from her slumber, her vision filled with a blurred light blue and her senses numbed but for extreme lethargy that kept her from moving. Eventually, though, after the sound continued for several more seconds, the mare resolved to find out what it was, forcing her to actually grasp her surroundings.
The lilac unicorn felt something so very soft and warm she was holding onto, making her pull away from it just enough to see a faintly-lit beautiful sapphire face just above her head, then realize she was in bed, sleeping with her marefriend with a thick purple blanket covering them both. How the other pony was able to sleep so peacefully through the racket booming throughout the wagon was still a mystery to her, even after remembering how long the performer had to trek through loud cities and violent storms while still needing to get some rest.
Regardless, the conscious pony pulled fully away from her partner and slid off of the wall-sidled bed to stand in the middle of their home while grabbing the blanket with her magic so that she may keep it atop her marefriend. Shaking herself more awake, she turned to the source of that incredibly aggravating noise, which turned out to be the door of the wagon, hardly lit from the light coming from the window on the opposite side as somepony knocked on it so violently that it visibly shook.
Heaving out a sigh, Starlight plodded over to the door and, taking a moment to bare herself against what may soon come, threw it open with her magic, wincing for a moment at the brighter early dawn light that came through before looking down to see a couple of ecstatic colts just beyond the threshold, hopping up and down with boundless energy.
“Oh, hey!” The lanky orange colt with a green mane cheered loudly, “...Uh, Starlight, right?”
The mare in question was startled at the volume of the foal, but then she shook herself and replied tentatively, “That’s right...”
“Cool!” The other, much shorter colt with a pale turquoise and an orange mane shouted. “Um, is the Great and Powerful Trixie here?”
“Er, yes, but can you keep your volume down?” Starlight requested, pausing the foals in their erratic hopping motions, “She’s kinda asleep right now...”
“Uh-” The colts glanced at each other quickly before looking back to the mare. “Sure!” They both said at a slightly lower volume before dashing straight past her and into the wagon itself, leaving her standing there in the threshold with a stiff body and closed eyes, aggravated at their foolish dismissal of her requests, explicit or otherwise.
‘Calm down...’ She told herself in her mind while trying to curb her irritation, ‘They’re just really excitable kids who don’t know how to act in this situation; they don’t deserve your ire.’ She inhaled deeply to calm and ready herself, then opened her eyes and turned around to see the fools jumping up and down at the bed, where Trixie still lay asleep.
“Hey Great and Powerful Trixie! Hey Great and Powerful Trixie! Hey Great and Powerful Trixie!” The children shouted repeatedly and incessantly, making the lilac unicorn wonder just how they could stand their own blaring voices as well as how her marefriend could sleep through it.
Resigning herself to this unavoidable fate, Starlight sighed heavily and trotted over to the bed beside the colts and put a forehoof on her dozing partner and shook her lightly. “Trixie...” She said softly to the other mare, “Wake up.” The magician still remained asleep, the blanket resting atop her slowly rising and falling with her breaths, unaware of the grating noises of the kids right next to her.
“Guess I’ll have to do something a bit different then...” The unicorn muttered as she leaned her head forward and flared her magic, her horn glowing cyan as it stopped just above her counterpart’s and pushing a small spark between them.
“GAH!” Trixie shouted as she got quickly shocked awake, jerking up in the bed with wide eyes darting around frantically for a couple moments before landing on her lover, who pulled back to avoid getting hit from the sudden movements. “Oh, Starlight...” She sighed in relief with her body loosening, at least, before her eyes shifted over to the awed foals staring up at her. “Uh...”
“S-sorry, they’re, um, fans of yours...” Starlight mumbled, glancing nervously between the kids and her marefriend. “They wanted to see you, and I, uh... don’t really know how to deal with them...”
The bedded magician nodded with a slightly forced smile and turned to the kids, who still haven’t moved after her outburst. “While Trixie does appreciate your enthusiasm for her show, she does need her beauty sleep to remain lively for her performances,” She said to them, her subtle wishes for them to leave her in peace for a couple more hours being picked up by her lover.
Unfortunately, the kids themselves didn’t seem to get it.
“You’re welcome, Great and Powerful Trixie!” “You’re the best, Great and Powerful Trixie!” The colts shouted at the same time, their volume making even the firework and shout-prone magician move back a bit.
Starlight gave her partner a very forced smile, which was clearly caught before the sapphire unicorn rolled her eyes and acquiesced, asking the foals, “So, what do you so desperately wish from Trixie that you ignore her boundaries?”
“Well we brought an Ursa Major for you to vanquish!” The lanky colt shouted.
“Yeah, so you can show off how awesome you are!” The stubby colt followed up.
Suddenly, Trixie’s groggy, half-closed eyes shot wide open, pupils shrinking into pinpricks. “You WHAT?!” She shrieked, but any further remark was cut off when a faint tremor rocked through the ground and up through the floor of the wagon.
As much as Starlight wanted to think otherwise, she couldn’t ignore what that these kids said was true; they really did bring a monster to them, and each tremor of the floor only made that clearer. She was in utter disbelief, and the only thing preventing her from breaking out into a mad frenzy was her paralyzing, nausea-begetting terror.
“What... the fuck... have you done...,” The still-in-bed magician breathed, confusing the absolute morons of children that apparently thought their actions made sense. Those words were enough, though, to break the other mare from her reverie, making her frantically shoot her gaze towards where the tremors seemed to spawn from before her horn quickly lit up and she teleported out of the home.
The lilac pony landed on the dimly-lit, damp grass just next to the wagon, her gaze fixed on the forest a short ways in the distance and the shimmering blue mass that was slowly emerging from its dark and hazy depths. The wagon to her side shook a bit before the other three ponies emerged from it, coming to a stop just next to her.
The illusion Trixie had conjured before looked so very similar to the thing coming out of the woods, though perhaps it was more mature in a way that was hard to place, but that didn’t mean it was any less terrifying when its translucent cobalt body finally became fully unobscured by the large trees of the forest.
This... beast, this ‘Ursa Major’ if she recalled correctly, was larger than most of the buildings in this town, its spectral, star-laden face a mask of pure rage--though it didn’t quite seem as... competent as her own, somehow--that showed its only intent was to destroy anything in its path.
That idea, that threat, quickly consumed Starlight so fully that she couldn’t even feel her own face dipping into a scowl, a deep well of anger filling her as this beast looked to threaten everything she loved. She could hear Trixie’s voice behind her, fear and concern saturating it, but she was unable to take notice of it. More sounds behind her; a whoosh of flight and pop of teleportation and then bewildered and fearful words being exchanged, but the pink unicorn noticed none of it.
The starry blue beast continued to stomp forward, each step shaking the ground with more and more force, the occasional snarl and roar from its maw only making everything shake even more. The distance between it and the ponies it was heading towards shrunk and shrunk, the latter panicking as some fled towards the inner part of the town while others hid behind the wagon, though the two showmares remained completely still as emotions stormed away in their minds, terror of being reduced to nothing in one’s and fearful fury in the other’s.
Closer still the Ursa came, hardly a couple dozen meters from the mares, though the target not being themselves was quickly becoming apparent; rather, the astral monster was heading for the wagon right next to them. Trixie then broke free of her immobilization and darted forward between the beast and her treasured home, bursting forth with her magical flare even in spite of her exhaustion in an attempt to distract the beast.
The magician’s showy illusions did little to impede the magical bear, unable to curb its efforts for more than a moment before it moved forward, even angrier than before. Even while her magic sputtered with fatigue, she still persevered, giving everything she had to shoo away the beast, from bolts to flares to bursts, and nothing more than singed the creature. Finally, the mare collapsed, hardly able to lift her head to look towards her still-paralyzed marefriend and croak out a plea while the massive blue paws came closer and closer...
And just when the bear’s paw was about to crush their home into a pile of splinters and shattered dreams, a deafening voice shouted, “ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!” A blazing cyan magic bolt shot from Starlight’s horn, sparking and flashing with incredible power as it quickly plowed into the translucent beast, exploding with a forceful blast wave that made the creature fly back several of its own length’s away from the wagon.
The air was filled with static as the pink unicorn finally managed to crush her fears under the threat of everything she loved being destroyed right before her eyes, crimson clouds lightly spurting from her blazing horn as thunderous aqua magic erupted from it in erratic directions, pure power now truly being shown to the world. She was beyond words at this point, only able to pour her rage into her horn to force its glow to become nearly blinding, before blasting out in a bolt so fast and powerful that it could only be seen as a flash in one’s vision as it shot towards the Ursa, and straight through it.
The starry gel innards of the creature were harshly shoved out from their own pressure as a massive hole got torn in its front and back, the magical essence that made it up soon erupting out from both holes in its carapace and deflating the being as a whole, only seconds passing before everything that made the creature what it was shot out into a fine mist and floating off into the sky while the magical power that made it so faded back into the ether.
Minutes passed in silence, not even the usual ambient sounds of crickets or rustling leaves seeing fit to break it. However, it was eventually pierced by a weak cough from behind the lilac mare, making her quickly turn to see Trixie watching her with astonishment clear on her exhausted face.
“Trixie!” Starlight shouted as any anger faded from her mind, only being replaced with worry as she darted over to her fallen marefriend and grasping onto her and looking into her eyes for any sign of pain. The magician merely looked back with a slacked jaw, awe still filling her mind and leaving her unable to express anything else.
More silence passed, the two mares unmoving but for their heaving breaths for minute or so before the more powerful unicorn’s worry turned into woe, tears welling in her eyes and trailing down her cheeks in thin rivulets as she wrapped her forelegs more fully around her lover, grasping her in a strong hug while sobbing and sputtering erratically, “W-why... y-you could’ve j-just... b-but, a-and...”
Trixie managed to reciprocate the hug, running her forelegs up and down her partner’s back to help comfort her while her mind slowly faded from shock, now becoming concerned to see her love like this. “I...” She croaked with a parched throat, making her gulp down some saliva before trying again; “I needed to protect my home.” The pink unicorn’s wailing quieted only the slightest amount, making the other pony continue, “Not just my wagon... but you, Starlight. ...I couldn’t let it hurt you.”
Starlight’s sobbing quieted further, dimming into sniffling as her hug loosened a bit, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts that she couldn’t notice or feel, only keeping her body unmoving in troubled apathy. Eventually, she slowly pulled back from her sapphire marefriend just far enough to look into her amethyst eyes, finding a compassion that was usually hidden under a thick layer of bravado, though shown to her in a way that it was to nopony else. That care and sympathy that was first shown to at her lowest of lows by this amazing mare was the only thing that broke her out of her vicious cycle and led her to join this show, to be a showmare and find happiness by granting it to others.
Even in the face of the horrid way this day had played out, the magician’s compassion was still there, so clear to her and care given so freely to her; that was why she loved her so much.
Her fuchsia lips pushed back forward as her eyes closed again, tears of woe being washed away by tears of joy as she kissed Trixie with all her might, showing that no matter how far she fell, no matter how much damage she did to others and herself, she would never push her away.
The world outside was lost to the the pair as they waded through the sea of love, time and gauche noises from any onlookers unable to phase the pair as they remained tightly gripped onto each other while tears poured down their faces for minutes on end.
However, reality did eventually come back to them, the lack of air from having their mouths so tightly pressed against each other forcing them to pull apart with heaving inhales while looking straight into each other’s eyes. Even without an outpouring of emotion, they felt like they could stay like that for hours, but that was cut short when a quiet ‘squee!’ could be heard, making both whip their heads to the side opposite the forest to see the three hecklers and their less irritating friend(?) standing there with mildly embarrassed miens.
“U-uhm, s-sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your moment, Darlings,” Rarity mumbled audibly, tilting her head down with a blush on her face.
Starlight scowled while pulling back from her marefriend to sit on the ground, looking towards the cyan pegasus and orange earth pony--Rainbow Dash and Applejack, respectively, she believed--seeming to not know what they were doing there. “What are you doing here?” She questioned bluntly, making shame grow on their faces as they mumbled quietly and look downward as well.
“They are here to make up for what they did to you,” Their friend(?), the nerdy-looking lavender unicorn with a plain, striped indigo mane, next to them said with the belief that what she said made perfect sense.
“...And why?” Trixie replied in confusion.
“B-because...” The other mare stuttered, pausing to think for a moment before continuing as though she didn’t get derailed at all, “Because they were mean to you.” An awkward silence passed over them all for a moment, this mare’s legs shaking a bit as she was so clearly trying to keep up a strong face despite apparently bringing her friends(?) here for a penance.
“...And who are you?” The magician asked, figuring that perhaps a more tactful tactic would yield better results.
The purple pony paused again, looking bewildered at the question, before thinking awkwardly for several more seconds. “Um, I-I’m Twilight Sparkle...” She finally said, though quietly and with a blush that spoke of her discomfort with being in other’s attention. “A-and, um, I-I...” She continued, mumbling even quieter as her blush got stronger and her forehooves scuffed along the ground.
“What was that?” Starlight questioned flatly, hardly hateful to the bashful unicorn, but still not all too welcoming.
“I-I, um...” Twilight spoke again, gulping down some fear before sputtering incoherently and almost inaudibly. At a raised eyebrow from the slightly irate lilac unicorn, she stuttered, “I... I... I-I liked your shows!” She finished with a shout as her cheeks burned brightly and the other mares’ eyes widened a bit in surprise. “Th-that’s, uh, why I d-didn’t like them picking on you, b-because you’re really good and nice a-and... stuff...”
“Right,” Trixie spoke with a genuine smile, “Trixie does appreciate her fans’ enthusiasm. Speaking of,” Her face swiftly dipped into a scowl as she turned to where the two colts from earlier were peeking around the edge of her wagon, her gaze making them cry out fearfully and amscray into the main town at speed. “Catch them, will you?” She said to the other townsponies, disgust and hatred for the fools who brought the Ursa clear in her voice.
The three main hecklers all shouted in assent as they dashed off into the town to try and retrieve the colts, leaving the three cool-hued unicorns by themselves.
“I, uh,” Twilight said, awkwardly trying to break the silence, “I should note that the, um, creature you just... k-killed,” Her face gained a faint greenness with that word, “Was n-not an Ursa Major.” At the other mares’ expressions of surprise, she added, “It was just an Ursa Minor; ...a baby compared to the Major.”
While the other silences were awkward, this one was chilling; the idea that the massive beast that they just saw was but a child?! They shivered in fear as the other pony continued, “A-and I know that you don’t have much reason to know that,” Her cheeks burned again in shame from how demeaning and awkward her words seemed, “T-the only reason I d-do is because I-I’m the librarian here a-and thought your d-depiction of the Major w-was off, s-so I checked...” She trailed off into a silence, head drooping down and tears welling in her eyes.
“...It’s alright,” Trixie spoke carefully, getting to her hooves and walking closer to the ashamed unicorn. “Trixie knows everything she needs to to be a showmare; you may know different things that are more useful as a librarian,” She comforted with a smile, one which only grew as she laughed a bit and added, “At least Trixie got the right species, though.”
Twilight looked up into the performer’s eyes, finding it difficult to keep being so ashamed at demeaning somepony when the supposedly demeaned didn’t care at all. “R-right,” She croaked while wiping her tears away with a foreleg.
“Regardless of that, there are more important things to talk about,” The sapphire unicorn said, gesturing over to the town they were near, and more specifically, towards the dots chasing each other in the distance.
“M-my, um, friends...” The librarian mumbled while looking over towards them, her tone slightly perplexed. “U-usually they’re pretty nice, s-so I didn’t really expect... y’know...”
Starlight got to her hooves and trotted slowly over next to her partner, looking towards the townspony in thought. “...I don’t know the protocol for punishing ponies who’ve ruined a show, but...” Her mien gained some anger, “They definitely deserve some punishment.”
Twilight nodded quickly. “Right, of course!” She blurt out with some conviction as she turned to the others, though soon became bashful again for a couple moments before she asked, “Um... j-just so I know, w-why did you say you defeated and Ursa Major when I-I could see you having t-trouble with the Minor just now?”
Trixie smirked and rolled her eyes, clearly able to tell didn’t know how performances worked. “It makes the audience more excited; being larger-than-life makes people more interested in the Great and Powerful Trixie than some boring play where everything is done verbatim from history.”
“‘People’?” The lavender mare asked, confused at the term.
“Trixie performs for more than just ponies, you know.”
“Oh, r-right,” Twilight slunk back a bit, apparently embarrassed at even not knowing something show wouldn’t have much reason to. “I, uh...” She spoke again as she attempted to get back on the previous topic, “I kind of like everything being accurate, b-but-”
“Just how you like being misdirected in a magic show?” Trixie cut her off with a teasing smirk.
The purple pony’s eyes widened as her cheeks turned crimson, faintly gasping in realization before muttering quietly, “Oh, right...”
Once again, the librarian left an awkward silence between herself and the magicians as she tried to calm her blush. “R-right,” She eventually said, still unable to figure out how not to be awkward, “W-well, I should p-probably get going, a-and, um, y’know,” She gestured over to her friends in the distance, “S-so, um... bye...” After finishing, she still stood there for a couple of seconds before resigning herself to fate and turning around and walking back into the town.
Starlight watched the townspony walk away for several seconds, her expression still rather passive, before turning to her marefriend whom bore a slightly somber smile as she stared at the town. “Well,” The lilac mare sighed, making her partner look at her with a raised eyebrow, “Now what?”
Trixie smirked again and rolled her eyes. “Now,” She began while turning on the spot and walking over to her wagon, “We shall get going. To Canterlot?” She then asked while looking over her shoulder to her assistant.
“To-” The other unicorn repeated, but cut herself off as she recalled their next destination, eyes widening and body stiffening in fear.
“I won’t force you to go on stage,” The sapphire magician said softly as she lifted the harness with her magic and moved it around her barrel. “After all, what just happened here certainly wouldn’t help your ability to stay cool up there,” She noted while tightening the harness and letting out a quiet grunt, “But, Canterlot’s expecting the Great and Powerful Trixie tomorrow, so...”
“Oh, a-alright,” Starlight stuttered a bit as she calmed down, then walked to the wagon and trotted up the small flight of stairs to the still-open door and went inside, closing it after her. She stood in the center of the home for a moment, just relieved that it was all still intact and appreciating its existence more than she did a couple hours ago, back when it was serving as she and her marefriend’s shelter from the elements so that they could sleep in peace.
The pink pony was shaken from her reverie when the wagon jerked forward, making her almost fall backward onto her plot, but she stabilized herself, though found herself feeling rather tired from everything that had just happened. She spared a glance to the curtain-covered window beyond which her amazing partner was pulling the structure, before shuffling over to the bed to her side and hopping onto it, not even bothering to cover herself with the blanket before her exhaustion finally pulled her back down into the realm of dreams.