Relieved of the pressure that had been building up inside her, Sunset merrily trotted back into the room only to notice the couch was sadly, unavoidably, full to capacity.
“Sorry, Sunset,” Trixie said with an expression and with a tone that suggested she wasn’t sorry one little bit. “But I’m afraid the couch is quite full up at the moment.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Sunset said evenly.
“Oh?” Tempest replied in a somewhat disbelieving tone.
Sunset nodded. “Because I’m going to tell my story first anyway, and it’s going to be SO good, that the three of you, especially, you, Trixie, will be so blown away that your stories will seem trite and sad in compare—”
With an indignant shout, Trixie lept from the couch to confront the amber alicorn.“Hold on! Who said you get to go fir—”
With a blinding red light and a ‘BAMF, Sunset was once again in the center of the couch. Wordlessly, she moved her forelegs up and down like a cat clawing at the ground before she laid down on her legs with a smug expression. Neither Starlight or Tempest were able to keep an impressed look from their faces as they glanced over at Sunset.
Though irritation momentarily flashed across her face, Trixie quickly put on a smile that matched Sunset’s. “Lucky for you, the Grrrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie planned this from the very beginning,” she announced as she motioned to herself.
Sunset couldn’t help but smirk as she rolled her eyes. “Sure, you did, Trixie… Sure you did.”
Tempest’s forehead tightened in confusion. “Beginning of what?”
“Beginning of when Trixie first showed up at Ponyville and met Twilight, is what!” Sunset said.
Tempest’s brow wrinkled further. “That doesn't”—
“Come on!” Sunset said, turning to Trixie. “Give us the juicy deets! I want to know why Twilight got so bent out of shape she rushed off to apologize and leave her idol entertaining a trio of Ponyville goofballs when you and Starlight became besties!”
Starlight cringed. “Your mom told you about that, huh?”
“Actually, it was Twilight,” Sunset clarified, “she kinda gives me the rundown of everything that happens to her, especially when it comes to you and Trixie…”
Starlight swallowed. “Great, now I get to be doubly self-conscious about my behavior.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Sunset said with a dismissive wave of a forehoof. “I wouldn’t expect you to change your behavior because of this!” She frowned. “I mean, I really don’t.”
“Excuse you!” Trixie said in an irritated tone. “Just which pony do you think has the stage right now?!”
“Alright, alright,” Sunset said as she held her forehooves in front of her defensively, “Just re—”
Trixie put her face so close to Sunset, the alicorn could feel the show mare’s hot breath, “I’m the one running this show at the moment, Princess!” Trixie said, spitting out the title.
Sunset’s face impulsively tightened at the tone Trixie took at ‘Princess’, but Trixie wasn’t about to let her get a word in edgewise as she took a few steps back and began to address all ponies present. “This is not a time of relaxation!” Trixie smiled and pointed at all the ponies on the couch. “Not for me and especially not for any of you!” Trixie waved a forehoof in a wide, sweeping arc. “Now pay attention as the Grrrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie recounts an epic tale of her rise to glory in Ponyville and her tragic fall from grace!”
“Well, get on with it then!” Sunset said irritably.
“Sunset,” Starlight said, “stop heckling and let Trixie do her thing, alright?”
“But I wasn’t…!” Sighing to herself, Sunset let out a groan. “Alright…”
Trixie couldn’t help but smirk. “How fortunate that you mention hecklers, my lovely assistant, for you see it was heckling that played a part in how Trixie was first wronged when she arrived at Ponyville!”
“Wronged?” Sunset said in a disbelieving tone. “Oh, this outta be good…”
Tempest raised a forehoof to her lips. “Shhh!” she hissed out.
“I was just…!” Sighing to herself. Sunset rested her chin on her forehooves as she put on a sullen expression.
“When I arrived at Ponyville all those many moons ago, it was simply another stop in a long line of towns hungry for entertainment!” As Trixie narrated, colors sprung forth from the cherry-blossom pink aura of her horn and began to take on basic illusions. They quickly took the form of a light-blue pony in a cape and hat trotting with a wagon behind her, past little towns and villages made of simple shapes, until it arrived in front of a crowd of small, simply drawn ponies.
Tempest examined the display carefully for a moment. “Does Ponyville have an extensive triplet and quadruplet population I’m unaware off?”
“Magicking up pony designs is hard, okay!”
“Okay, but you copied the exact expressions on all the identical ponies as well. You clearly just stuck them behind a line of unique ponies and hoped we wouldn’t notice.”
Trixie’s head began to shake with frustration. “You’re just jealous because you can’t use magic!”
Anger flashed across Tempest’s face. “I don’t see what that has to do with you being a lazy animator.”
Sunset chimed in, “So, I’m the only pony who’s not allowed to make comments?”
“Both of you shut up and let Trixie talk!” Starlight snapped. She narrowed her eyes threateningly. “Or do I have to break out Twilight’s notes and flashcards about being a polite audience member?”
Tempest and Sunset both cringed.
“It worries me that I don’t even have to question if those really exist,” Sunset quipped.
“Agreed,” Tempest added.
Trixie cleared her throat and continued, “But little did I know that Ponyville would be a town utterly unlike the others! Ponyville would prove to be full of jerks and idiots!” The faces on the crowd of ponies changed to a mixture of devious expressions or the looks of ponies with not a lot going on behind their eyes.
Sunset perked up. “Okay! Suddenly I’m invested again!”
“Trixie put on a show to amaze, but instead the stuck-up jerk Elements of Harmony ponies just had to challenge Trixie even as she dazzled the village masses!” Trixie quickly changed her display to have six simply drawn ponies, each one representing the Element of Harmony Bearers.
“I’m heavily invested!” Sunset added excitedly as she stood up and began to excitedly trot in place on the couch.
“One by one, these ponies stepped up to attempt to upstage the Trixie! And one by one, I smote their ruin in front of their peers and neighbors.”
The trio of ponies on the couch couldn’t help but let out a good-natured guffaw.
“Alright,” Tempest said, “I really must find reasons to use ‘smote their ruin’ in casual conversation.”
“While Trixie had successfully enamored the hearts of much of her audience, it seemed several had hearts made of stone.” Trixie illustrated Applejack stepping onto the stage with her own magical light-up avatar. “That obnoxiously proud pony Applejack”—
Sunset and Tempest shared a snicker.
— Trixie met the snicker with a dirty look, but continued unabated “was the first to challenge Trixie with the country pony’s lasso tricks, and the first to fall! This was done vis-a-vie Trixie’s superior hypnosis and telekinesis skills! While I cleverly mesmerized the apple pony with the rhythmic swaying of her very own rope, I tied all four of her legs together with the other end and stuck an apple in her mouth just to get my point across!” Trixie stated, displaying all of this with her magic.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “So… you upstaged her skillful use of the lasso by distracting her and tying her up?”
“Flashcards! Notes!” Starlight hissed out in a warning tone.
“Alright, already!” Sunset snapped back.
“Next, the biggest of braggarts Rainbow Dash—”
Sunset let out a partially suppressed giggle snort while Tempest let out a short and derisive laugh. Both her met with a slight glare as Trixie powered on.
“—flew up to challenge Trixie!” Trixie once again had ‘herself’ confronted by one of the representations of the other ponies. This time she made a display of the Rainbow Dash pony flying and looping in the air. “Even I must admit, she put on an impressive aerial show with stunts, punching holes in the clouds themselves and even a landing that ended in her creating her own mini-rainbow!” Trixie gave a begrudging smile as the micro-2D rainbow Dash stood smugly under its own rainbow. “The mare certainly has showmanship.”
Tempest tilted her head slightly. “So, what’d you do?”
“Trixie wrapped her up in her own rainbow and spun her like a whirling dervish until she was nearly sick!” Trixie once again displayed with her magic.
Sunset and Starlight exchanged glanced.
“… Okay, but how?!” Sunset exclaimed.
“Yeah, that doesn’t seem physically possible!” Starlight chimed in.
Trixie grinned. “Anything is possible if you believe in yourself!”
“That’s the opposite of an answer!” Sunset snarled.
“Oh, also I summoned a small storm cloud and zapped her.” Trixie created a small black puffball and a tiny lightning bolt to shock her own animated Rainbow Dash.
Sunset’s forehead tightened. “Okay… how did you not pass through my mom’s school with flying colors? … No pun intended.”
“Trixie doesn’t want to talk about that!” she cried angrily. Her expression softened once more and she continued. “Next to step up on stage was that incredibly haughty pony—”
Sunset interrupted, “Okay, for the record- I’m being nice, and reserving my laughter.”
“Same,” Tempest said.
Trixie grit her teeth. “—incredibly haughty pony, Rarity!” Trixie took a deep breath and continued telling her story in an even tone as she had ‘Rarity’ step onto the stage. “She was skilled enough to create a dress on stage using naught but one of my curtains!” Trixie wrapped the Rarity avatar in a purple outline. A split-second later, the pony was wearing a blue and gold dress. She frowned. “I’ve yet to be compensated for that and how she got gold and blue from a purple curtain, Trixie is still uncertain!”
The ponies on the couch flashed Trixie a confused look.
“If she can do that, why does she spend so much time making dresses?” Starlight pondered aloud.
“Yeah,” Sunset agreed. “Was everyone just hyper-competent this day for some reason?!”
Trixie sighed. “The important thing is that Trixie once again proved she was superior in every way!”
Tempest cocked her head. “Don’t tell me you made a dress, too?”
“No!” Trixie crowed. The Trixie avatar’s horn flashed cherry-blossom pink and ‘Rarity’s’ hair suddenly flashed and changed. “I turned her hair ugly and green so she ran off!” The mock-Rarity’s hair now a disheveled green mess, she began crying as she galloped away.
Tempest raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t so much prove you were better than anypony, you just embarrassed them publicly,” she said in her characteristically blunt tone.
Before Trixie could say anything, Sunset came to her defense, “It’s a pretty tried and true method, honestly,” She said. “I mean, just stay away from dumping buckets of blood on somepony if they’re a strong psychokinetic…” Sunset thought for a moment. “It’s a good thing no pony has dumped a bucket of blood on me.”
Turning to Sunset with a perplexed look, Tempest asked, “What exactly goes on in that world of yours?”
Sunset smirked. “Lots and lots of twisted and weird stuff… You might be better off not knowing.”
“I’m just trying to figure out how Trixie pulled of mane magic!” Starlight quipped. “It’s just so difficult! Nearly impossible.”
Sunset pursed her lips. “So, you can bend time to your will, but it’s hair that trips you up?”
Starlight threw her forehooves into the air. “Hey, I don’t write the rules of reality! I just bend them to my whims when I can!”
“… Fair enough,” Sunset replied.
Starlight turned back to Trixie, “Really… how is it you weren’t a top student at Celesti—”
“So, Trixie proved herself the superior pony to all and everypony in Ponyville not Twilight and her friends decided they loved me forever!” Trixie created an image of the townsponies throwing her up into the air and cheering.
“Wait,” Starlight said. “What happened to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie? I mean, I could see Fluttershy wandering away because she hates crowds, but Pinkie Pie loves your shows…”
“I don’t know where they disappeared to!” Trixie announced theatrically. “Perhaps they somehow simultaneously got sore throats that rendered then unable to speak and went to lay down.”
“…Riiiiight, so when did the town turn on you.?” Tempest quipped as she leaned her head on her hoof.
Trixie sighed as the image abruptly changed to that of a blue celestial bear. “Well, one of my stories was how about I single-hoofedly dispatched an Ursa Major!”
Tempest’s head shot straight up.
With an embarrassed smile, Trixie continued, “This was a slight fabrication as I had never actually seen one before…” A red ‘X’ appeared over the creature.
Frowning heavily, Tempest lowered her chin onto the couch cushion with a slight glare.
Trixie continued, “Local dullards Snips and Snails” —
“Can confirm,” Sunset quipped.
— “lured one of the giant beats straight to Ponyville to see Trixie in action!” Trixie again animated this complete with Snips and Snails luring the bear directly to an image of herself standing resolutely.
“That’s an Ursa Minor…” Tempest said irritably. Her face tightened further. “Believe me. I know.”
“Minor details!” Trixie insisted.
“It’s pretty major, actually,” Tempest said.
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Look, the important thing is that before Trixie could once again prove her superiority over ponies and all beasts, that great upstart Twilight showed up!” Trixie ‘teleported’ in the caricature of Twilight, which was wearing an uncharacteristically smug look. Twilight’s horn glowed magenta as Trixie animated a simple wind blowing through growing reeds and cattails. The bear’s expression turned sleepy as Twilight gleefully pulled apart a water tower, floated it through a barn where it was filled with milk, then floated it to the bear. Both bear and impromptu bottle where taken up in a magenta glow as the sleepy bear drank and was drifted off into a giant cave. “Using trickery and property destruction, Twilight simply lured the creature back to sleep and sent it home!”
The left corner of Sunset’s mouth twitched. “Sounds clever enough. Why? What would you have done—” Sunset coughed “—if you weren’t so rudely interrupted.”
Trixie scoffed. “The Grrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie would have tamed the beast and made it a personal mount, of course!” She said, creating an image of herself with her forelegs stretched in the air as she gleefully rode the massive bear.
Sunset blinked a few times. “Okay, I’m not sure you could have pulled it off, but yeah… That would have been way cooler.”
Trixie lowered her head and her ears dropped. “Sadly, with Twilight upstaging me, I knew it was time to exit stage right and leave the town which had gone from adoring Trixie to denouncing her in a mere matter of minutes!” Trixie added a sorrowful sigh to punctuate her feeling of injustice.
“Wow, that’s, uh, actually kinda sad,” Starlight said.
“Yeah,” Sunset agreed. “I mean… You didn’t lure the Ursa Minor to Ponyville yourself and I’d say you could have been nicer to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, but given they decided to heckle and interrupt your show…” Sunset looked at Starlight in mild disbelief. “I think Trixie was in the right here…”
“She lied about defeating an Ursa Major, though,” Tempest deadpanned mercilessly.
Sunset gave Tempest a smug smirk. “You do understand what the word ‘show’ means, right?” Sunset motioned to the blank TV screen. “I mean, I thought you were smart enough to figure that wasn’t a documentary we just watched.”
If the many, many eyes on Tempest’s pajamas could glare with her, she’d happily let them. “Okay,” she growled out, “but we’re supposed to share stories of our wrong-doing. If Trixie actually didn’t commit a wrong, then that story doesn’t count.”
Sunset thought about that for a moment. “Well, we’re not exactly keeping score, since my victory is assured”
— Clearly unamused, Starlight raised an eyebrow, “I created several horrible alternative timelines with impressive death tolls, but okay.” —
“but you have a point,” Sunset replied to Tempest, ignoring Starlight.
Trixie smirked. “Does she, tho—”
“Is it your dream to die onstage?” Tempest threatened as a few errant sparks crackled from her broken horn.
A slightly worried expression on her face, Trixie cleared her throat. “That was just the Grrrrrrreat and Entertaining Prologue!” Trixie cackled. With a cherry-blossom glow of her horn, an image of a silver, triangular emblem with a large diamond shaped ruby set in it appeared. Above this, the shape of a horned ponies’ head and spread wings in dark-grey and red were added as the entire thing began to glow a menacing crimson. Despite being a mere image, the item itself felt foreboding and malicious.
Trixie’s eyes began to glow with a crimson aura that wafted from her eyes like colored smoke as she grinned malevolently.
“The main story is about revenge!”