//------------------------------//
// Trixie and Dodge City 
// Story: Society as We Know It 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

The sun shone its light and heat onto the tall grass below. Past the forests and beyond the Ghastly Gorge, the grass and the occasional tree filled the ground with a green wonder. The plains went on for many miles and so did the dirth path.
Along the way, a few signs and arrows pointed their way to different directions and to different cities and towns. Several crossroads were there but with almost no one in sight. The only sound that was heard was the chirping of the birds, the breezing of the wind, and the rustle of the grass and of the leaves.
Further down the road, a wagon was slowly wheeling its way forward. A few changelings were walking and flying around it while a unicorn caped with a cape and a pointy hat led the way by walking. The wagon, as if by itself, moved with a radiating glow around it.
"Psst, Neon Guard."
Neon Guard turned around. Red Noise waved a hoof.
"What is it, Red Noise?" he said with an irritated tone.
"Can you explain to me again why we agreed to walk with—" He held up two hooves and made hoofquotes with them as he went on "—'the Great and Powerful Trixie' along with her bulky wagon when we can just fly?"
Neon Guard looked ahead. "One, I need to keep all of you happy, and Humerus...you know about him, so I won't tell anymore. Second, it's Trixie. As an honorary hero of the Changeling Kingdom, she cannot just be left out in the open when we changelings are already there. That's tantamount to outright disrespect of a hero."
And he looked at the other changelings and Trixie as they continued walking.
The two changelings smiled as Trixie pulled a rabbit out of her hat which she was holding with her hoof. Blue Alarm smiled at the act. Humerus gasped, placed two hooves on his face, and simply said, "Wow! That's great magic you have with you, the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Trixie laughed smugly and turned her head towards the two. "You were amazed by that? That is mere foal's play compared to the wonders of Trixie's magical repertoire of tricks! The rabbit-out-of-a-hat trick is a basic lesson to those who practice magical tricks—and I do not just practice, for I am a professional!"
The shout went out through the plains.
"Do you want to see something more advanced, more complex, more amazing and more fitting for the Great and Powerful Trixie?"
Humerus nodded and smiled.
"So, what else can you do, Trixie?" Blue Alarm asked.
Trixie looked someplace. She pointed to that place with a hoof. "Do you see that sign over there, changelings?"
The changelings looked.
A wooden, rectangular sign stood on two posts. An arrow faced the path ahead.
"Read the words on the sign, one of you."
"'Dodge City/Dodge Junction only one-and-a-half mile ahead!'" Humerus yelled.
"Finally, we're near a stop!" Red Noise shouted.
Trixie looked at him. "Yes we are indeed near a stop, changeling!" She gestured once more to the sign. "So, behold and witness the transfiguration of this sign into a delicious feast!"
Her horn glowed.
A great light appeared, engulfing the sign. When the light disappeared after a short moment, it was now baskets and baskets filled with apples of red and green, of big and small.
Humerus flew straight to the basketful of apples.
"Humerus!" Blue Alarm shouted as he flew right after the flying changeling.
Red Noise took off with his wings.
Neon Guard grabbed one of those wings.
"Come on, Neon Guard!" he yelled. "Can't you see that Humerus is going to cause us trouble again?"
Neon Guard sighed and shook his head facing the cheery Humerus and worried Blue Alarm, looking past the smiling Trixie. "It's hard for me to stay calm, considering everything that's been happening to us because of Humerus, but..." He looked at Humerus again.
He was grabbing apples and was eating them. "They're even real apples! And the taste! It's unlike any taste I've ever tasted—and I only began tasting food the day before!"
Blue Alarm eyed an apple nervously. He looked at the feasting Humerus, happily eating noisily with his mouth open and his eyes closed, stuffing himself with even more apples by the hoofful. Blue Alarm eyed the apple in front of him again. He flew a little far away from the basketfuls, now standing on his own with the apple on his hoof. 
"So, the apples taste real, that's what Humerus says. They must be real apples, but apples made out of wood? I'm not sure I'm willing to try that. Will wood be in my stomach? Timber in my stomach? I'll probably get sick from that, unless what Trixie did is actually real." He considered the apple again, examining it with his eyes, then with the touch of his hoof, then with smell. His eyes opened more. His blank expression became a smile, but he looked back at Humerus—he was still eating more and more apples, although the baskets themselves were far from even half full.
Then, Blue Alarm closed his eyes and took a crunchy bite.
The loud blare and the forceful explosion from the bright light beside him pushed him away, bringing the changeling and the apple to a short tumble through the grass. He went back on his hooves fast.
Trixie was there, smiling and facing the sky, the cape flowing with the wind. She slowly turned her head towards him. Then, she shouted, "The trick was of the highest and utmost quality and of the greatest, grandest grandeur that matches the skill of of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Blue Alarm coughed one cough.
Trixie's smile went away. 
Blue Alarm grinned and clapped, not saying a word.
"And, fear not a single thing, changeling! The apples are indeed apples, not illusions of any sort like a normal, run-of-the-mill stage pony would have in her array of magical tricks and acts and other things!"
Then, Blue Alarm floated off the ground—but his wings weren't moving, nor was there any buzzing sound.
"What's the use of flapping those wings of yours when you have me, the Great and Powerful Trixie to levitate you to safety?" Her horn was glowing.
Blue Alarm looked at the apple left on the ground. From his place in the air, he looked back at the unicorn. "But I wasn't in any danger, Trixie."
Trixie narrowed her eyes. "What about...timberwolves?"
Dark clouds appeared above her and thundered.
"Ahh!" And Humerus fled away from the apples and to the safety of the wagon.
"Hey, Trixie!" Red Noise shouted beside the wagon. "There are almost no trees here! I don't think we're in any danger of timberwolves!"
Neon Guard nudged him. He leaned to his ear to whisper, "I don't think that's a good idea."
Almost instantly after that, Trixie shot a glance at the red changeling.
Then, she disappeared in a great light.
The great light reappeared right in front of Red Noise.
Red Noise stepped back a few steps.
Trixie, fuming with anger that can be shown on her expressive face, was staring at him. "You dare dishonor the Great and Powerful Trixie in that manner?!"
Red Noise laughed in front of her. "Come on, the Great and Powerful Trixie, you're making yourself look like a foal by saying that timberwolves might attack us—in a place that has the next tree in another hundred meters!"
He and the rest of the changelings were lifted up from the ground, surrounded by a magical bubble. Trixie's horn glowed brightly, and her face shone with anger seen in her eyes and in her gritted teeth while she pointed a hoof at the red changeling levitating and struggling in front of her. "You have dared question the wisdom of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do you know the pony that you have insulted with your mindless words?"
Through groans, he said, "Of course, I know the pony's name—it's Trixie!" He laughed as he strived to get out.
Neon Guard and Humerus were also trying to get out, pushing the bubble's walls to no avail. Blue Alarm only looked here and there, trying to see something.
Trixie gasped.
Then, the bubbles went away. The changelings almost fell to the ground, but they flapped their wings and hovered off the ground.
Humerus was trembling. Red Noise grumbled as he glared at Trixie. Neon Guard and Blue Alarm just watched the unicorn as she held a hoof to her chin. There was no smile on her face—her mouth was open, her eyes were watery.
Then, a quick swipe over her eyes and a smile appeared again—and her hat floated off her hoof. "That was a quick display of more of my magical power for I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Then, she took a bow with her eyes closed.
Humerus stomped his feet happily, smiling as he did so.



The four changelings and the one unicorn went on, trudging along with the blue and purple wagon.
As they went on, the grass got shorter and the trees became more occasional until there was no more grass, there were no more trees, and there was only a shallow depth of sand and an abundance of orange and red rocks and stones.
The dirt path continued on for a short while.
Then, in the distance, there were wooden buildings and a railway.
Inside Dodge Junction, there were stores and houses of all colors—from the brown and yellow that matched the land around it to even a pink building. There was not much with roads—not even dirt roads. There was only the dirt, the sand, and the ground that stood between the structures. Off in the distance, an oasis of grass beamed along with the red barn the rested on top of it. Near the barn, a silo with the image of cherries stood. Green and pink trees thrived in the desert grass, some of them already bearing cherries of several varieties.
Back at the town proper, ponies, most of them wearing hats or other forms of headwear, were walking, some of them pulling or pushing carts of apples, cherries, hay, barrels, among other things. Although many of them did not talk, there were some that talked although the talk that did last only lasted for a short time. After that, it was back to going to this place or carrying that cargo to that other place or doing an errand for somepony.
Then, the sound of explosions and firecrackers rang through the town.
Everypony looked at the wagon in front of the railroad.
"Changelings?!" a pony shouted. "With a magician unicorn?!"
Trixie smiled.
The four changelings flew to stand beside the bewildered ponies, eyes wide open at the sudden changelings and then back at the unicorn in front of them, surrounded with even more fireworks.
Amidst the bangs of the bursts, Trixie declared, "Prepare to be entertained and mesmerized by the excellent and celebrated magic acts of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
The sound of the words went out with an echo, shaking the ground and making some apples fall off somepony's cart. The somepony glared at Trixie, but she was facing the sky while she smiled, more fireworks flying to the air and exploding, adding to Trixie's shout.
Humerus grinned.
The pony beside him, wearing a cowboy hat, glanced at the cheery Humerus. He looked past him at his three fellow changelings who looked back at the pony.
He pointed at Humerus. "Uh, is he OK?"
"That's normal for him," Blue Alarm said, waving a hoof.
He nodded, still looking at Humerus. "OK, I see..."
"What, do you think we're crazy?" Red Noise said, inching towards him fast.
The pony held up his hooves, "No, no! I don't think you're crazy at all!" He glanced to the left and then to the right then back at the red changeling in front of him.
"Just stay quiet and watch the show," Neon Guard said.
And, among the several ponies that surrounded them, the changelings watched as Trixie began her performance. There were ponies on the ground, on the platforms of some of the buildings, from behind the windows—they all held their gaze on this unicorn with a cape and a pointy hat.
"So, what do you want to see?" Trixie paced the ground, eyeing certain ponies. "I'm willing to take requests from you, pony folk!"
Then, she pointed at a pony. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You!"
There were loud gasps and loud murmurs. The pony in question pointed a hoof at himself. "Me?"
"Yes, you!" Trixie exclaimed. Fireworks decorated the exclamation. "Come here!"
The pony gulped and trotted hurriedly to the stage, making a few dust clouds on the way. Several ponies coughed. A few more ponies wiped their faces with a hoof.
Red Noise tapped Neon Guard on the shoulder again. "I know that it's good to see Trixie perform and I know that she's an honorary hero, but can we please get to the Changeling Kingdom already? It's almost noon!" He pointed to the sun.
Neon Guard frowned. He glanced at Trixie. He looked back at Red Noise.
"Do you really want to get to the kingdom—"
"Of course!"
The ponies shushed him. Then, they looked back at the stage mare and the pony beside her.
"What's inside the bag you have there?" Trixie asked. She pointed at the bag on his side.
"It's my things, Trixie!" the pony said, smiling, watching the ponies watching him. "I have my bits, my apples and cherries—"
"Cherries?" Trixie interrupted. She held a hoof to her chin and tapped her chin with it. "Would you mind holding one cherry on your hoof for the Great and Powerful Trixie—" Fireworks once again appeared and exploded, startling the audience, making some of them step back and gasp "—to see." She held out a hoof and looked at the pony.
"Oh, OK!"
So, he opened the bag with his mouth and brought a single cherry. Slowly and gently placing it on a hoof, he held it out for everypony and every changeling to behold.
"Now, give the cherry to me."
So, he dropped the cherry on to her hoof.
"Hmph." Trixie looked at the cherry. She examined it, eyeing it.
There were whispers and questions in whispers among the ponies there.
Humerus was grinning, happily stomping the ground, creating more clouds of dust. Neon Guard nudged him. Humerus looked at him—then, he stopped stomping and looked back at Trixie, still smiling.
"What I have done was just superficial," Trixie declared. "You don't need to look at the cherry like that when you can transform it to—"
And a bright light shone from the cherry. And instantly a stage coach appeared in its place. Trixie tumbled but caught herself with her magic and the stage coach stopped falling—it levitated off the dusty and sandy desert ground.
"Don't try to eat it, ponies. This stage coach is not made of cherry." Trixie smiled once again at the ponies.
Then the audience of ponies—and Humerus—stomped their hooves and yelled out cheers, some even shouting the unicorn's name. The pony beside her also stomped his hooves and smiled.
The dust clouds that were made weren't that bad—they weren't so big, they weren't so dusty, and not many ponies coughed afterwards.
When the dust cleared, there was a pony asking "Where are the changelings?"
"Did Trixie make them gone?" another pony asked.
And, the ponies looked around them and walked a little, searching from where they stood. A loud murmur arose. They were now looking here and there, although they did not move much away from their places.
"Don't worry, ponies of Dodge Junction!" Trixie shouted.  "I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have made them disappear in yet another great and wonderful act of magic!"
The ponies stopped their search and faced Trixie. Then, they cheered on even more although not as much as the first time—it wasn't as loud as before.
Then, a green changeling flew towards her.
There were gasps again.
"The changeling's back!" a voice cried out.
Trixie faced the changeling and screamed. "I thought you were gone!"
"No, we're just asking for permission to leave early. Neon Guard said so." He smiled, showing his sharp fangs. His eyes glistened in the sunlight.
"Uh, that's OK." She glanced at the ponies then she faced the changeling again. "The Great and Powerful Trixie gives you permission to leave the show early!"
"Thank you for the permission, the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Then, the changeling went down onto the ground and bowed down to her with closed eyes.
Trixie glanced at the audience. She turned towards the changeling.
A smile appeared on her face. "You're that happy about me, huh, changeling?" She paused. "I didn't even get to know your name."
"My name's Humerus!" He beamed a smile at the unicorn.
"Aww!"
Trixie saw the audience, smiling at the sight and sound of the changeling in front of her.
"Bye, Trixie!" Then, Humerus flew off to the distance.