To say that the ones who had just been defending the village in the valley from the Nuckelavee were surprised at Trixie’s sudden arrival would be putting it lightly. Not to mention their sheer confusion at the fireworks display she had put on right after her wagon landed. A horrible monster was minutes away from destroying their village when all of a sudden a flying wagon landed on it, crushing it, and then out popped some weird unicorn wizard.
Trixie as well was starting to get a little nervous, the fake grin she had plastered on her face was getting a little difficult to keep up. She had a lot of time to plan her arrival when she was flying through the sky thanks to Discord and she had made certain that she would give a grand first impression wherever she landed. So what was up with these ponies, oh, and griffon, just standing there gawking at her? Anyone should be amazed after seeing that! Where was the applause?
Perhaps they have never seen one as majestic and overwhelmingly amazing as I? Trixie thought to herself. Maybe I’m just too good.
Trixie glanced out of the corners of her eyes to see just where she was, upon only seeing the nonindicative mountains that enclosed this entire valley she had to wonder just where in the world Discord sent her to. Her jaw began to tremble a bit from keeping up her large grin and if no one else said anything soon she was going to sorely lose her patience.
“Who are you? Did you do that on purpose?” One of the ponies across from her asked, the male earth pony.
Uh oh. Trixie tried not to sweat. I can’t let them know that I have no idea where I am or what’s going on. If these are the first people I’m meeting here I need to show from the beginning that I am truly great and powerful, not the type of pony who is helplessly thrown across the world in her wagon, I can’t let my reputation be sullied right from the start. Better lie and puff things up.
“Of course I did that on purpose! And like I said, I am The Great and Powerful Trixie! Unparalleled magician from Equestria.” She proudly stated.
The male earth pony suddenly ran up to her and prostrated himself before her. “Thank you! Thank you so much, you’ve saved all of our lives, Great and Powerful Trixie! We can never repay you for this.”
Okay, now I’m just confused. Trixie scratched her head. “Um, thank you?”
“How did you get your wagon to fly like that and crush the Nukelavee?” The other stallion said as he came up to her. “I must admit I am simply amazed.”
Trixie coughed and gave a small laugh. “Well that’s easy, it was magic that made my wagon fly.” The question of what in the hay was a “Nuckelavee” she felt was better not to ask. Trixie also briefly glanced back to make sure those rockets Discord had created were gone, who knows whatever happened to things he made when they were done fulfilling their purpose.
“It must’ve taken some power. You called yourself the Great and Powerful Trixie, did you not? I suppose you must be quite the hero. Do you commonly vanquish monsters?” He asked.
It would be easy for her to explain the truth right now. But Trixie’s ego ballooned at the word “hero”. She could (and probably should) say she was just a traveling performer but these people didn’t know her. Traveling hero had a nice sound to it too. Why not just perform as a hero while she was here? After all she was trying to do something new and different so maybe she could start like this. What harm could it do for her to act a little more like Twilight or Starlight rather than her real self? And not a single pony liked to brag about themselves as much as Trixie.
“That is correct. Trixie is perhaps the greatest of Equestria’s heroes.” She smiled.
Now I just need to figure out where I am and what just happened when I landed here…
“Well you got here just in time then.” The old griffon said as he came over to her wagon, looking it up and down. The last pony, the unicorn mare, also followed him along. She was giving Trixie something of a suspicious look.
“Yes… here.” Trixie said. “I have never been to this place before, does that village I can see in the distance have a name?”
“The first ones to live here were some griffons who knows how long ago, they called it East Glade.” The griffon shrugged.
East and griffons? Am I in the Griffon Lands?
“Look, forget about all that.” The earth pony said, getting up off the ground and happily taking Trixie’s hooves in his own. “Please come visit the village, everyone is going to want to meet the hero that saved them. And we have to reward you somehow, we’ll throw a feast, or a party, or something!” He frantically shook her hooves back and forth.
“Yes, well-” Trixie disengaged herself from him. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would be more than happy to join you.”
“Great!” He shouted in glee. “My name is Vector by the way. And this is Coil, Gizzard, and Daylight Gleam.” He motioned to each of the others in turn.
“Pleased to meet you.” Trixie smiled at them.
Daylight Gleam hummed to herself and ran an appraising eye over Trixie. “Hmm, so you’re not going off to deal with another monster after the Nuckelavee? If you’re a traveling hero then didn’t you come here in the first place to take care of it?”
“No, no, that was hardly the only reason.” Trixie was not exactly quick-witted but she was fairly good at lying her way out of a situation. “Trixie also came here for other reasons. The Nuckelavee merely gave me an excuse. I plan on staying here for a good while if I’m being honest. You see I wanted to learn more about this place, the ponies of Equestria know nothing about it and I also came to perhaps learn a new spell or magical power that will help me on my heroic quests.” She just went on and on.
“Not just the ponies of Equestria, even most griffons don’t know anything about this place.” Gizzard said. “These mountains go for too far past east of Griffonstone. This valley is close to the end of the mountain range and the ocean but most “adventurers” lose heart well before they come this far, thinking it’s just endless mountains this way.”
Aha, so you did send me into the mountains east of Griffonstone? I wonder what’s out here.
“I see. Well, I can just leave my wagon here for the moment and we can head on to your village then.” Trixie said.
“Yes, we should get back and let everyone know things are okay.” Vector nodded and began walking away from the wagon, leading Trixie and the others to the small village in the distance.
Coil gave Trixie a small smile and followed Vector. Gizzard also gave her a nod of appreciation. Daylight Gleam continued to intently look at her and her gaze was putting Trixie off a bit.
I get the feeling that that pony suspects that I’m not telling the truth. Oh well, might as well enjoy my party. I just wish I could figure out what a Nuckelavee is…
The village was not even half the size of Ponyville. A small series of buildings all arrayed around a relatively large town square with a couple of farms right on the outside of the village. At the moment no one seemed to be out working so Trixie and the others walked down the simple dirt road that went right down the middle of the village unmolested.
“Where is everyone?” Trixie asked.
“Hiding inside their homes and other buildings. It’s what we told them to do when we learned the Nuckelavee was coming.” Gizzard said.
Trixie grinned. “Well they’ll all be happy to know that things are once again safe, thanks to The Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“Yes, thank you.” Daylight didn’t seem entirely sincere when she said that.
Vector on the other hand continued to gush over her. “Everyone is going to be so excited, we were really worried about that monster. I’m sure the mayor will be happy to throw a huge celebration in honor of you and your heroic deeds.” He was practically bouncing with joy. “Oh, right! And by the way, what were those sparkly exploding things that came with you?”
“Huh?” Trixie furrowed her brow at him. “You mean the fireworks?”
“Yes! I’ve never seen anything like those before!” Vector nodded enthusiastically.
“They’re fairly common.” Daylight said.
“Yes, fireworks are used for parties and celebrations in Equestria. Among other places I suppose.” Coil explained.
“Maybe to you but I’ve never seen anything like them.” Vector said. “Gizzard and I were born and raised here, not like you two.”
The old griffon nodded. “I’ll say. I’ve never seen anything like those fireworks either. They weren’t like your magical bombs at all, Coil.”
“Oh, so you’re not all from this village?” Trixie chimed in. And if the locals had no idea what fireworks were she could probably put on a few good shows here.
Daylight Gleam shook her head. “I’m from all over. Only came here recently myself.”
Coil gave a small but proud smile to Trixie, pushing up his glasses. “I was originally a teacher and scientist from Canterlot but I wanted to learn more about the potential magic and science to be found outside of Equestria.”
Kind of similar to me then. Trixie thought.
“Heh.” Daylight Gleam chuckled. “Yeah and you ended up out here where there isn’t anything but the occasional horrible monster.”
“Everywhere gives the opportunity for study and invention.” Coil shrugged before turning to Trixie. “I have my own little home slash laboratory a little ways away from the village, closer to the foothills of the mountains. I’d love to show you around it sometime.”
Before Trixie could respond Vector spoke up again. “There are a number of others not born in the village here right now. It’s actually kind of strange now that I think about it, everyone just converged here all at once for some reason or another. Normally we would go years without seeing any outsiders, but even aside from the three of you now there are one or two others hiding out in the village. Like that crazy cultist who wandered in a month ago.”
Daylight groaned. “Ugh, don’t even mention that weirdo.”
Gizzard grunted and continued from where Vector left off. “Yeah. Strange times. Thanks to that griffon a few years back we normally wouldn’t be so kind to strangers either, but once the village learns you defeated the Nuckelavee I’m sure they’ll be fine with you.”
Trixie was a little lost now. “What do you mean you don’t normally like strangers? Why?”
“Well a few years back...” Vector started, grimacing at the thought of it. “Some griffon from Griffonstone came here. In a single day he pillaged the entire village, set homes on fire, stole food and valuables, attacked the ones who tried to stop him, and then just flew away east towards the ocean by the end of it all. For years that was our only contact with outsiders. Daylight and Coil can tell you that they didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome here at first, they had to win everybody over. I don’t think you’ll have that same problem though.”
“Thank you for warning Trixie at least.” She said. They had made it past the small farms that covered the ground outside the village and were now walking down the scant rows of buildings to reach the square. A thought came to Trixie about something else that had just been said. “Ocean? So there’s an ocean if you keep going east?”
“Yes.” This time it was Coil who spoke up. “A huge ocean from what I can tell, possibly the same body of water that wraps all the way around to the west of Equestria, becoming the North and South Luna Oceans. I haven’t traveled the way myself but I theorize you can get to it by going south of the Griffon or Dragon Lands and just heading east along the waters.”
“Trixie had no idea there was an ocean like that over here.” She said.
“Most on this side of the world don’t.” Coil shrugged. “Hay, most ponies never even leave Equestria.”
Trixie smirked. “Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie loves to travel, I have always been special in that way compared to most ponies.”
“You keep switching between third and first person.” Daylight flatly stared at her.
The blue unicorn coughed and waved her off. “Whatever.”
“Speaking of the ocean there’s a ravine on the other side of the village too. At the bottom of it a river runs right to the ocean, but it’s a sheer drop down about a hundred feet.” Vector said. “We’ve got a bridge that goes over the ravine but all that’s over there are more mountains.”
Trixie didn’t have any more questions for now, and there wasn’t anything else that really caught her attention about this village, it looked rather poor off and there wasn’t a modern building in sight. Most places in Equestria were still pretty old-fashioned but this went straight off into behind the times. And Trixie would know what with all of the different places she had been. Not only was the village and most of the buildings in it fairly small but a lot looked dilapidated and damaged. Some had doors halfway off the hinges or roofs with missing shingles or holes in them. If Trixie had had the choice she probably wouldn’t have come here for her mission.
But as it was the five of them had now made it to the town square. It at least was made of paved stones and had a well in the middle, so it had that up on some towns Trixie had been to that left their ground and roads as dirt or grass. And Trixie noticed that there was something else above the well, a large brass bell.
Vector happily strode up to the well with a bell and yanked on the rope hanging from the bell, ringing it loudly several times. Trixie had to wince as the powerful sound rang in her ears, her teeth clattering from it.
“Trixie hopes she doesn’t have to hear that much more.” She said, covering her ears.
“It’s only used for important notifications!” Coil had to nearly shout to make sure Trixie heard him.
Vector stopped ringing it and instead started yelling. “Everyone! It’s alright, the Nuckelavee is dead! It’s safe to come out now!”
Slowly doors and shuttered windows began to open. Griffons, ponies, and… some things that looked like ponies but weren’t that Trixie didn’t recognize, started filing into the square. The crowd was murmuring in disbelieving whispers. One fat mustachioed griffon waddled up to Vector, an expectant but also wary look on his face.
“Is it true? You stopped that monster?” He asked Vector.
“It’s true, the threat of the Nuckelavee is no more!” Vector yelled.
Gasps of shock and relief radiated out from the crowd. There was a split second of silence and then a deafening cheer broke out from the villagers. There was a good hundred of them and their combined voices were even louder than the bell, much to Trixie’s discomfort.
“Hooray for the heroes!” The portly griffon yelled, raising a fisted talon into the air.
“Hooray!” The crowd yelled.
Vector motioned for everyone to calm down, a bashful smile and embarrassed blush spreading on his face. “Slow down everyone. I have to be honest and give the credit to the one who really deserves it. The four of us out there were in a lot of trouble when our reprieve literally fell from the sky.” He pointed to Trixie. “That is The Great and Powerful Trixie, a wandering hero and magician from Equestria. She’s the one who stopped the Nuckelavee and saved all of us!”
You know, keeping up this ruse might end poorly for me… eh, it’s too fun to pass up. Trixie thought and then flashed her most winning and showy of smiles. “No need to thank me. Although I wouldn’t mind at all if you did.” She tilted her hat back and pushed the curl of her mane out of her face, more grateful than ever that she was wearing her costume. It really fit the persona she had on right now.
The villagers murmured in surprise, Trixie could see a lot of apprehension on their faces. There were some children in the crowd who looked torn between whether they should stare in awe or hide behind their parents. Finally the large griffon came up to her as well.
“Excuse me, Miss Trixie, but is what Vector’s saying true?” He asked her.
“It is indeed.” She puffed out her chest and stood as tall as she could.
“Well then, as Gabriel, the mayor of East Glade, there is clearly only one thing to do.” He grasped her hoof and raised it in the air. “Hooray for Trixie!”
With Gabriel’s blessing the crowd was more than happy to cheer for her as well, just like they had done for Vector and the others. The loudness returned in full force and made the blue unicorn worry she was about to go deaf if it continued for much longer.
Vector walked up beside Gizzard. “Guess we were right that she’d get a warm welcome unlike the others.”
The old griffon nodded. “Now we can really start to celebrate, no?”
Trixie spent a good deal of time being accosted by villagers and basking in the glory after that. She lied or exaggerated her way through any questions and managed to enrapture the children courageous enough to come and meet the new hero with her bombastic personality. Trixie was good at acting special and amazing and she knew it. She just chose not to remember how this had occasionally come back to bite her in the past.
While the celebrating started to really get more festive, with some even dancing around in the middle of the square, Trixie continued to explain the extraordinary way of how she totally intentionally defeated the Nuckelavee to any villager that asked.
“Well you certainly had an easy time winning the hearts of the villagers.” Daylight Gleam said as she sidled up next to Trixie while there was a lull in the ones wishing to speak with her.
Coil was also standing behind Daylight and keenly listening in to the two of them, giving a friendly smile to Trixie and trying to ignore the raucousness around him.
The blue unicorn grinned at her. “But of course, Trixie is the greatest at winning others over.”
“Uh huh.” Daylight wasn’t exactly convinced about that. “Well I’m just as grateful as any of them that you saved us but I wouldn’t exactly say you’ve won me over just yet. Sorry if this is rude but you come off as a little… silly to be a hero.”
Trixie frowned and was about to say more about how great she was when a voice cut between the two of them.
“So from the sound of things it seems like you arrived at just the right time.”
The heads of the three outside ponies turned to look at the new arrival. He was an earth pony, a bit on the large side, with a coat the same ashen gray color as the mountains surrounding the village and a deep brown mane and tail. It gave him a very bland and forgettable appearance. Trixie being Trixie she just naturally thought that, since she was the exact opposite of bland and forgettable.
Daylight smiled at the newcomer. “Hey, almost forgot to see where you were. We’ve gotta thank you just as much as Trixie, you were right about exactly when and where the Nuckelavee would come from.”
“Yes.” Coil nodded. “Thanks to you our traps stalled it for just the right amount of time, even if they weren’t able to hurt it.”
Trixie tilted her head at the earth pony (not entirely happy at having her spotlight stolen). “Trixie is lost here, who is this?”
The unknown pony stepped up to her and extended a hoof in greeting, giving her a warm smile. “Harlequin Black, at your service, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie.” He bowed his head slightly.
“Well thank you.” Trixie smiled and shook his hoof, more than appeased by his bow. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is always happy to get the respect she deserves.”
Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes at that. “Anyways, thanks again Harlequin.”
“Please, don’t mention it. Trixie deserves all the credit.” He said. “I’ll be going back to my shack now. You should all get to know each other better.” He gave a friendly grin and waved goodbye to them, retreating through the crowd.
“He’s kind of weird.” Trixie said as he left.
“In my opinion you’re the pot calling the kettle black right now.” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “But yeah, he’s actually an outsider to East Glade too. Don’t know when he came here though.”
“He’s the one who learned the Nuckelavee’s path and warned us about what happened to the village south of us.” Coil explained to her.
“Trixie sees...” She trailed off as three young griffon’s no larger than foals ran up to her, practically jumping up at the blue unicorn.
“You’re the hero that stopped the Nuckelavee?!” The biggest and oldest looking one shouted at her.
“Um, y-yes, that’s Trixie!” She backpedaled away from the overexcited griffons.
“Are you staying here for much longer? What kind of hero stuff do you do?” The next oldest asked her while the other two continued to shoot rapid-fire questions at her that kept drowning each other out.
Before Trixie could respond, Gabriel flapped down behind the three young griffons and scooped them up in his talons. “I told you boys not to bother her.” He scowled at them before giving Trixie an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Miss Trixie, my sons got a little excited.”
“That’s alright, Trixie has a lot of experience dealing with excited children.” She assuaged his guilt. Then something caught her attention, those not-ponies she had seen in the crowd, one of them was walking towards her. She, whatever she was, was leaner than the average pony and her faded yellow coat shimmered a bit in the light. Trixie squinted at her and saw what looked like a pattern of fish scales all across her coat, and unlike normal pony ears she had large webbed ears. Her eyes were deep black surrounded by a milky white. Her mane was seaweed green in color and short and spiky while her tail was hairless and ended in a large horizontal fin.
She leaned her head in close to Daylight Gleam and whispered in her ear. “Psst. What’s that?”
Daylight looked at where Trixie was looking and spotted the creature. “Oh, right. That’s Senax, she’s a merpony. She says they come from the ocean to the east.”
“Merpony?” Trixie furrowed her brow. “Like a hippogriff?”
The white unicorn shrugged. “I dunno, ask her.”
The merpony approached Trixie and gave a deep bow, something Trixie would never get tired of, before raising her head and smiling gratefully at the blue unicorn. “I am Senax. As leader of my small tribe of merponies I must thank you for saving our home.”
“Don’t mention it.” Trixie tossed her mane back. “I mean unless you really want to.”
Senax giggled. “I do. We merponies were scattered to the far ends of the Grand Ocean ages ago, only a hundred years in the past did my predecessors find East Glade and settled here. I don’t know what we would do if anything happened to it.”
“Uh huh.” Trixie said, not even trying to hide the face that she hadn’t been paying attention. She was too distracted by all the fishy bits of Senax. “Are you like a hippogriff or something?”
The merpony smiled awkwardly and shook her head. “No, we are aware of the hippogriffs but we lack the ability to transform like they do. However, we can breath underwater.” She turned her head to the side to show Trixie the gills on the side of her neck.
“Ooh, cool.” Trixie said.
That got another giggle out of the merpony. “Thank you. I hope to introduce you to all of my tribe sometime soon but for now they’ve all gotten caught up in celebrating. Please excuse me for now.” She closed her eyes and bowed to the “hero” again before walking away.
Hmm. This may not have been my first choice but I know I can find at least one way to show up Twilight now. Trixie thought as she watched the merpony leave.
For the rest of the day and well into the night the celebration continued, Trixie got to know the villagers and their home better while they cheered for their new hero. She almost felt bad. By the end of it all Trixie had been offered a room in the same small hovel that Daylight Gleam used and she graciously accepted the offer. She would set out and ask around to find any new and special magic at some point (certain that with all the other brand new stuff she had never known about before there had to be unusual magic here too) but for now she wanted to milk this love and glory for all it was worth. Tomorrow morning she would lug her wagon to the village and show East Glade that they didn’t know half of what The Great and Powerful Trixie could do!