//------------------------------// // The Show - Part 1 // Story: Saving Equestria // by Damaged //------------------------------// Pulling her wagon along, Trixie Lulamoon was enjoying the lovely spring day not at all. She grumbled under her breath at nearly everything, and even cursed when her wagon hit a rock that caused it to tug painfully at her harness. "The Great and Powerful Trixie deserves better than this!" She stomped along, mood completely in the dumps. "Ever since Twilight Sparkle and her friends heckled her, Trixie has been—" She cut off suddenly as a cracking sound came from the same wheel that had hit a stone earlier. "What is it this time?!" Unfastening the wagon, Trixie stomped around to inspect the wheel. A large crack split the felloes, and a spoke had popped out completely as a result. "Oh, great! First Trixie gets lost looking for Neighagra Falls, and now her stupid wagon is broken!" Lashing out with a hoof in her anger, Trixie kicked the wheel hard. Years on the roads of Equestria—and in some cases not roads—had given Trixie more strength than the average unicorn. The wheel turned suddenly to kindling, and Trixie spotted something shiny in the muddy soil. "What was that?" Reaching down with her magic, Trixie felt something sing to her, calling to her power. The amulet looked like it was carved from steel. It had a glowing, large gem in the middle, but the stylized alicorn that made up the body of it had red markings on the leading edges of its wings, and a glowing red eye. Trixie's magic seemed to pulse with promises of power. She stared into the gem and was spellbound by the perfection of the necklace. Standing still, Trixie lost track of time, not that the world dared to offend her while she was lost in the necklace's power. "With…" Her mouth was dry, feeling like she hadn't had a drink in days; it was the truth. Working some moisture into her mouth by rubbing her tongue around, Trixie's mouth pulled into a wide grin. "With this, Trixie can show all those ponies who is truly Great and Powerful." Power sang from the amulet, and Trixie could feel her own magic drawn in, enhanced, and fed back into her being. Lifting the necklace up, she fastened it around her neck and gave a gasp of excitement. Heat burned in her horn—heat and power that wanted to be used. Trixie looked askance at the remains of the wheel she had kicked, and blasted. For the first time in Trixie Lulamoon's life, real power shot from her horn. Bright red, the magic seemed to scorch her horn as it lanced out at the wood. The flash of energy ripped apart what was left of the wheel, exploding it into a thousand, tiny pieces. Trixie's rage wasn't done, and she screamed her joy and swung the mindless destruction onto her wagon. Her life was gone in an instant. The wagon exploded violently, and the life of a lonely showmare was history. "The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks this is very, very good." Turning towards Canterlot, Trixie used the mountaintop city as a guide; her true target was Ponyville. Derpy was delivering letters when she saw the strange pony walk in from the outskirts of town. Smiling brightly, she dropped to the ground and trotted up to the black-cloaked unicorn. Since the incursion of Sombra, and the change of power from Princess Celestia to Queen Chrysalis, Derpy's nerves have been wound a little tight. She paused and shook her head; her trusting Swift "Bulk Biceps" Stride had been just about the best thing ever. "Hi! Welcome to Ponyville!" Derpy's smile lit up her face. But a moment passed, and the other pony hadn't replied. "Uh…" Now Derpy was nervous, and when she got nervous, she got clumsy. "I just… I wanted to welcome you to Ponyville. I'm Derpy Hooves!" She held out a hoof, throwing the last of her confidence into the attempted hoof bump. "The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to know where Twilight Sparkle is." Trixie's fury was barely kept in-check; she was breathing heavily, and hadn't blown something up (or otherwise used a big chunk of her powering) for nearly an hour. "Take Trixie to Twilight!" "Trixie?" Derpy's worry immediately evaporated. "The Great and Powerful Trixie was the best show ever! I'll get Princess Twilight!" She began to turn, when a steel-like grip of magic latched on to her shoulder. "T-T-Trixie…?" "Take Trixie to her." Power and potential pooled around Trixie like an ocean. She felt magic practically bursting to get out. "Take Trixie to this false princess." Tossing back her hood, Trixie Lulamoon revealed her face to the stuck pegasus. "I c-c-can't lead you to her if you don't let go…" Derpy had stopped trying to fight the tight grip of the magic. Attempts at movement on caused pain, sharp jolts of magic sinking into her with each tried escape attempt. Suddenly she could move, and ruffled her wings. "T-T-Thank you…" "Don't let it be said Trixie doesn't treat her servants well." Trixie felt on top of Equus. "Lead on!" She didn't so much fall in behind Derpy, as strutted. Making their way to the center of town, she noticed that the pegasus was getting more and more nervous. They had done two full laps around a tree house when she got suspicious of something. "Where exactly is Twilight Sparkle's home?" Derpy spun around, her nerves flaring into full gear. As she turned, her legs got tangled up and she tripped, falling forward. "P-P-Please… I think she might be out or something…" Derpy's jaw was pressed to the ground and her snout barely touched Trixie's hoof. "Begging and pleading will get you everywhere." Working on a whim that just came to her, Trixie reached a hoof out and pressed it to Derpy's forehead. Power surged, and Trixie didn't hold back the rush of energy that flooded down her limb. "W-What—?" Derpy couldn't talk, couldn't think. Magic wrapped tightly around her head and squeezed. She felt a bond forming between her and her queen. Smiling beatifically up at Trixie, Derpy's eyes were clouded by red magic as surely as her mind was. "What does my Queen wish?" The word "queen" seemed to trigger very interesting thoughts in Trixie's head. She drew back her hoof—noticing that the limb shook somewhat—and took in the sight of Derpy. The pegasus lay on the ground now, belly in the dirt before Trixie, and wings spread and held down. Trixie recognized it as the most passive and submissive gesture a pegasus could make. "Your Queen demands to know where is Twilight Sparkle?" "My Queen!" Derpy loved to say the words, and further she loved being able to answer her queen's question. "Princess Twilight Sparkle will be in Canterlot if she isn't here." Serving felt so good that Derpy wanted to do it forever. "Humph…" Trixie thought for a moment, a moment when she reached out with her power—unconsciously—and stroked the magic along Derpy's spine and mind. "Then the Dominant and Regal Trixie will claim ownership of her new town!" "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?! DERPY?!" Swift Stride—in his guise of Bulk Biceps, mainly keeping it because it was comfortable—made his way over to investigate why his fillyfriend was squirming in the dirt. A spark of recognition flared in Derpy's head. She turned to face Swift Stride. Looking up at the big stallion, she squirmed more on the ground; something about her back felt strange, like the magic of her queen was changing her. Though the stallion who had stolen her heart was right before her, Derpy couldn't answer in the presence of her queen. "And who does Trixie have the delight of meeting?" Trixie turned and looked up, and up, and up. Bulk Biceps' size was legendary. "My…" "That is Bulk Biceps!" Derpy barked the words out, and felt the magic slip into her mouth as she spoke. "He is my—" "He now belongs to Trixie!" Trixie sent her magic out to capture the big pony, but something seemed odd about them. She leaned into the magic more, only to see the big pony look at her with shock. "What is this? You are just a pegasus!" Swift Stride wasn't sure what was going on, but he could tell somepony was trying to use really nasty things on him. The natural slipperiness of an infiltrator would only keep the mare from changing tactics for a moment, however, so he decided that it was time to leave. For the first time in "Bulk Biceps" life, he didn't say a word before acting. Kicking forward, he bowled past the unicorn and up to Derpy. He didn't have time to worry about the feathers she seemed to be shedding, and just opted to grab her and fly. Trixie stumbled upright to see a flash of green light. Flames coiled around Swift Stride, but all that changed in the stallion was his tiny wings were replaced by huge ones. Pumping the new limbs as hard as he could, he left Trixie spluttering curses on the ground. "You are stealing Trixie's servant!" Dealing with a mare that was suddenly all claws and fangs, Swift pumped his wings as hard as he could. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOU, DERPY, BUT I'M TAKING YOU TO OUR QUEEN!" A blast of red magic shot past Swift. There was nothing he could do but gain more altitude and hope the crazy unicorn would go on missing him. In his grip, Derpy seemed to have gone limp, and Swift could only hope it wasn't from a hit. "Blast, blast, blast!" Trixie stomped her hooves in annoyance. "Very well. If that is how you want to play, Trixie will make all of Ponyville her servants!" Gathering her magic, Trixie felt the amulet sing around her neck as it empowered her. "The Amazing and Majestic Trixie will be the best queen you have ever known!" "What's going on, Bon Bon?" Lyra walked up beside her best friend, then followed her gaze to where a familiar—if cloaked—unicorn stood. Red magic boiled out of Trixie's horn, and Lyra managed to take a step back before it lanced out and grabbed her horn. Lyra's eyes narrowed to pin pricks as she felt the power sink into her head, heart, and body. Trixie walked up to the crowd of supplicating ponies. She let her magic sink into each one, but lamented the one that got away from her. "Spread out like this, Trixie's magic isn't going to be quite as effective as working on just one…" Movement caught her eye, and when she turned to get a better look a blue blur of speed slammed into her. "Whatever you are doing, Trixie, give it up." Rainbow Dash jerked back from the unicorn, but reared up to be ready to deal with her physically again. "Rainbow Crash…" Trixie's tone held almost as much contempt as she had for Twilight Sparkle herself. "And Trixie can assume the rest of your band of hecklers are around here somewhere?" Getting up to her hooves, Trixie held back on her magic for the moment—she wanted answers. "Yup! Applejack and Rarity are right behind me!" Rainbow flew closer to Trixie, hovering and brandishing an upraised forehoof. "So don't try anything tric—" She froze as a red glow filled out Trixie's eyes. It took only a single flash of the light to make her unable to do anything but hover in place. She watched as Trixie's eyes seemed to leak light. The magic flashes of color flowed out of the edges of the unicorns eyes, streaming to the sides. "S-S-Sombra…" "What're you doin'?" Applejack stood slightly in front of Rarity. The sight of Trixie's flashing, streaming eyes shocked her. She too remembered Sombra's eyes, but his had been leaking shadow. The amulet seemed to have reached a new level of rapport with Trixie's magic, and she felt a new confidence burn inside. "Trixie has a fun game. She is sure this is one none of you have seen. Trixie says, 'Grab them.' " She pointed a hoof at Applejack and Rarity, and on her command the crowd of bowing ponies jumped to their hooves, and jumped at the Element Bearers. "This ain't right!" Applejack buckled like a bronco, clearing enough area around Rarity so that her friend could raise a magical shield. "You okay Rares?" "This is not…" Rarity puffed a little at the strain. "… not what I wanted to do… today." Combat magic wasn't her forte, nor was it for the rest of the ponies of Ponyville, but that didn't stop Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, and Dark Moon from leveling their horns at them and letting loose credible blasts. Alone, their makeshift blasts would not have stressed even Rarity's weak shield, but together, and combined with dozens of ponies throwing themselves against the shield, it started to weaken and show cracks. "I can't hold this much longer!" Rarity's voice was filled with despair. "If you have a plan, Darling, now would be a great time to—" She froze as a familiar face appeared in the crowd, just outside the bubble. Staring directly into Rarity's eyes, was Rainbow Dash. "Just give up, Rarity. You'll see. Queen Trixie is pretty awesome once you get to know her." Rainbow tapped on the shield, smiling widely, just wishing she could be looking at her queen's face again. "Please? Just let it down so I can sneak in too." "Don't listen to her, Rarity!" Applejack was looking everywhere but at Rainbow Dash. "If'n I can just figure out how to—" "Applejack, Darling?" Rarity felt her reserves weakening. "I would suggest running for someplace safe. I… I'll do what I can, but do be good and don't look back." "Rarity? What are—" Applejack's voice cut off as the shield dropped. A flood of magic washed in at the pair of revealed ponies, but with the last of her strength Rarity threw a bubble of power over Applejack like a cloak. "Run, Darl—" Rarity wanted to continue, but something stole her attention away from her friend's departing flank. "Trixie." The word suddenly meant everything to Rarity, and more. "Queen Trixie." She bowed low, leaning down to kiss her queen's hoof. "I am so sorry I let her get away. I simply don't know what came over me." "Trixie is prepared to forgive your treachery, but she is going to require an amazing outfit. An outfit worthy of a queen!" The amulet around Trixie's neck flared bright, and she felt a pulse of energy rush out to engulf the town in her magic. "This will be Trixie's best show ever." Galloping as fast as her hooves would take her, Applejack couldn't think any further than doing the last thing Rarity had told her. Focusing on the dark, Everfree Forest as it wrapped around her, Applejack could think of just one pony who wouldn't have had any chance of being in town when Trixie returned. "Zecora…"