The Prompt: Trixie becomes great and powerful.
Special rule: Twilight Sparkle cannot appear or be alluded to.
“Unbelievable! Inexcusable! Just…just UNFAIR!”
Trixie stomped down the road, steaming. Her cape was torn. Her hat was askew. These things only served to make her angrier as she trudged onward, trying to get as far away as possible from the horrible town that had potentially ruined her reputation. All she wanted to do was perform for the ponies of Ponyville, while making some extra bits along the way. Every town that Equestria had to offer needed to see her greatness, and she had hoped that Ponyville was just another step along her path to eventual world fame. As it turned out, though, that apparently wasn’t meant to be.
So she bragged a little. Or rather, she bragged a whole lot. That was what she was supposed to do, though. She was a stage performer; she was supposed to tout her obvious talent and overblow her abilities (Even though they needed no exaggeration). Those simplistic Ponyvillians just didn’t understand the art of stage performance. To resort to heckling, even before she’d gotten fully into her self-aggrandization? It showed a true lack of class. Why couldn’t they grasp this concept? Stupidity, that’s why. Simpletons.
Yet she still ended up shown up in the end. Even though she knew how good she was and was used to a bit of heckling here and there, it still hurt to have her skills mocked like that, and even more to watch other ponies just destroy her efforts. And those horrible ponies had looked down on her so harshly after it…so she wasn’t able to stop the Ursa Minor. At least she’d made an attempt! The other citizens…well, most of them…had done nothing but run and scream. Sure, she ran, and sure, she screamed, but she made an effort! She tried to tie it up! She tried to hurt it with a lightning bolt! It wasn’t her fault that the rope was too short, or that the Ursa wasn’t hurt by the lightning…or maybe she should have tried harder with the rope, or concentrated harder on the lightning…maybe she wasn’t as great and powerful as she thought.
Trixie slumped to her haunches in the middle of the path. The broken remainders of her cart fell off of her back, and one of the wheels rolled off down the hill, splashing into the lake. Trixie might have normally tried to stop it with her magic, but she was too disheartened to do so. It probably wouldn’t work anyway, just like her efforts to stop the Ursa didn’t. Maybe her parents were right about her, about her choice of profession…about everything. “You’ll never get anywhere as a performer,” Dad had said. “You’re better off working at our shop. If you go out and try this, you’ll be throwing your life away!” Mom just sat and shook her head, much like she often did. At the time, Trixie refused to believe that anything they said could have been right at all. Her talents would have been wasted as a tailor…but whatever. Her talents clearly weren’t enough anyway. She wasn’t great. She wasn’t powerful. She was just normal, useless Trixie. Maybe she should have just stayed at home and worked for her parents. She’d probably be making a lot of bits right now…a lot more than the paltry amount she’d gathered from doing this. Trixie sighed as she pulled herself back to her hooves. She would head back to Fillydelphia at her first opportunity. Hopefully her parents would accept her back.
Trixie continued along the path for a few steps before she accidentally dropped another wagon wheel. Her eyes followed it as it hurtled towards a young, unsuspecting filly who was fishing at the edge of the lake. Reacting quickly, Trixie lit her horn up. The filly turned her head to see the wheel about to hit her, before it was lifted into the air. Trixie levitated the wheel back onto her back and started trotting down the path, before she was stopped by a small tug on the back on he cape.
“Hey!” Trixie heard from behind her. She turned to see the beaming face of the filly who had been fishing.
“Yes?” Trixie asked, tilting her head.
“That was AMAZING!” the filly said, jumping into the air. “The wheel was coming and was all scary, and you just WHOOSH!”
“Oh…it was nothing, really,” Trixie said.
“Nothing??” the filly exclaimed. “You saved me! That woulda knocked me into the lake or something, and I can’t even swim! You’re the best!” The filly hugged Trixie’s leg, and Trixie smiled warmly at her.
“You think THAT was good?” Trixie asked. She lifted the filly’s fishing pole up, making it dance in the air. The filly was floored.
“That’s GREAT!!” she shouted, jumping up and down.
“How about this?” Trixie asked. She lifted a nearby stone up, trussing it up in the fishing line.
“So powerful!!” the filly raved. “You’re so…”
“Great and Powerful,” Trixie said, her usual smug smile returning to her face. “The Great and Powerful Trixie, at your service.”