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// Under The Moon's Reflection 
// Story: The Redemption of a Never Ending Ambition 
// by Time Reaper 
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It was almost nighttime in a public park in Vanhoover. 

The ponies were gathered, waiting for the show to start. They've been waiting for weeks for this show to get into their vicinity, after all, they heard that this unicorn was capable of some strange magic unlike any other but, the audience bet, this was all just words invented to make the magician more attractive to the onlookers.

As the ponies reached the park and started to rest, they noticed how there was one dragon and an unicorn offering drinks to sell. Some were worried about the sellers but, when the sellers showed their permits to sell alcohol, they would later calm down.

The sun was setting and the moon was rising, the fireworks began to lighting up the sky, surprising the audience with the light show that made a display of a pony committing various types of stunts. And while the ponies were trying to decipher the scenes being displayed, they heard a huge female voice that sounded like it came from various places at the same time.

"Greetings, citizens of Vanhoover! Are you ready to be surprised!?"

The ponies started to make slight cheers as they were expecting something out of this show.

"Then prepare yourself for one of the greatest mages in the history of Equestria!"

Those who were close and attentive enough would hear one of the waiters (a dragon wearing a pair of shades, despite getting dark, and a nice suit, covering his arms) chuckling at the voice's statement.

"Tonight, on her first grandiose appearance, The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

A great, purple smokescreen exploded from the middle of the stage and, as the smoke rescinded, a blue unicorn was now on stage, standing on two legs, wearing a purple cape and hat, with a whitish mane. She was with her closed eyes but she opened her eyes and her face was invaded with a confident smile that looked prepared to show them what was she capable off.

The audience didn't look very surprised by her presentation but she didn't seem to mind that very much, in fact, it looked more as if she was expecting that.

"Greetings my great audience. The Great and Powerful Trixie humbly thanks you for coming by."

She then started to move from her cart-stage to the audience.

"Please, enjoy your stay with the drinks provided by our good helpers, We're sure you'll enjoy the taste of their fine drinks as The Great and Powerful Trixie entertains you with magic never seen before, such as... this!"

Her horn gave out a huge flash that evoked shock on the audience and, as the light subsided, everyone got surprised by seeing she was now back at her cart with a series of objects, like ropes, pottery, chalk, a chair and a transparent jar containing dust, all of that appeared out of nowhere and it brought a lot of curiosity to the ponies watching her show.

Some ponies decided then to take a shot at the drinks while the stage artist picked up the ropes with her magic and started to tie herself on the legs.

"Can anyone on the audience come to test the rope and see how well tied The Great and Powerful Trixie is?"

For a brief moment, the audience was quiet, but a stallion then decided to raise and moved to where Trixie was and tested the ropes, certifying that they weren't loose.

"Thank you" -, responded Trixie, - "and now, The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to release herself, without! Using! Magic!"

All the unicorns gasped at this, followed by some who laughed at the absurdity of what the mare just said. If she was that well tied, there was no way for her to untie herself, although some bystanders noticed how her face never faltered at the laughs. In fact, it looked like she was expecting that.

She started to move her legs slowly, probably trying to release herself from her ropes, while the ponies were enjoying the drinks offered by the dragon and pony. As the unicorn was trying to untie herself, the sun was finally set down by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna started to raise the moon, meanwhile, many ponies were starting to doubt on the mare's capabilities.

"Hey, lady, don't you want so help?"

"Are you sure you are 'great and powerful'?"

"Perhaps she's new on this!"

And, just as the crowd was starting to rile up, to the surprise of all, the ropes were unbound and Trixie was free. She then turned to the shocked audience as she shouted, ignoring how the crowd was just mocking her, with absolute confidence.

"Could, please, someone from the audience come and see if the ropes were broken, cut or were influenced by magic?"

A stallion (different from the one who checked her ties just a while ago) came to the stage and  verified that, indeed, the ropes were in perfect state and had no cuts or magical influence whatsoever. Trixie then moved forward and proclaimed.

"You've been witnesses to The Great and Powerful Trixie's astounding capabilities! Now, who want to see more!?"

The audience shouted with glee as Trixie then moved forward and started to draw a pair of circles, with some geometrical figures within them, with the chalk. As the audience looked at her drawings with curiosity, others were still skeptic of her skills. As Trixie finished drawing the circles, she picked up a vase, moved around it to show the audience that it was empty, she then placed it on one of the circles and looked at the audience.

"And now" -, she continued, - "for my next trick, I am going to teleport this empty pot from this circle to the other one."

Once again, this only prompted the audience to shout at her and taunt of how teleportation of objects wasn't anything new or amazing. As far they could tell, she wasn't doing much on magic worth calling 'great' or 'powerful'. Nonetheless, Trixie ignored them and used her magic to teleport the vase from one circle to another, and just as the vase appeared on the second circle, Trixie called for an earth pony stallion from the audience.

"Excuse me, sir, could you please hold this with your hooves right now?"

The stallion came and tried to hold the vase as he was looking bored from all of this. Trixe then let the vase drop on his hooves, just to slip through his hooves, drop and break into the circle, much to the Stallion's surprise. When the audience took a look at the broken vase, there was a small sized box that it looked like it was put inside the vase while it was being teleported.

"Behold!" - Shouted Trixie. - "The Great and Powerful Trixie transported the vase and manage to add something in it, certainly something not many unicorns can do!"

The audience were now stomping the ground in approval as Trixie was smiling at her success. She then looked at the broken vase, the stallion now with the audience, and prepared to do her next trick.

"Do not worry sir" -, responded Trixie, - "for The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to fix this pot right now and in front of your eyes, without using magic!"

This was a breaking point for many on the audience, who started to boo at her, pointing out the reality that it was impossible to repair something like that without magic. She just made a smug smile and moved forward.

"But The Great and Powerful Trixie is aware that some of you may not believe her, so to prove herself, she'll show you this."

She then opened the box that was inside the vase and it revealed a ring. The audience wasn't surprised in seeing a ring inside the small box but Trixie was aiming at them being skeptics of her talents.

"This isn't a common ring, dear audience" -, she said in a foretelling tone of voice, - "this is a suppression ring and, to prove that this is a real one, I ask once more for a member of the audience to come here and test it out."

The audience briefly doubted the veracity of Trixie's claim, but nobody was willing to try out the ring on themselves until one brave unicorn stallion decided to come forward and try it out. Trixie put the ring on him, to the shock of the audience, it was a real one. Once it was established the reality of the ring, Trixie picked it up and placed it on her horn, effectively nullifying her magic. She then moved towards the broken vase, she stood up in two legs, and shouted:

"And now, the Great and Powerful Trixie will fix this vase without using any type of magic!" - She then joined her two forelegs and threw herself towards the ground as her voice could be heard by all the ponies in the audience. - "Behold!"

Her legs then touched the circle and, to the amazement of the crowd, nothing happened...

For about two of the longest seconds the ponies in Vanhoover has ever felt in their life.

Then, to the audience's surprise, the circle, as well as the vase, were engulfed in light, melting the vase and moving it as if it were changing its own state of form. Before the audience could even comprehend what they were looking at, the light subsided and, to the audience's surprise, the vase was fixed as if it were never broken in the first place.

This, understandably, lead to one of the greatest stomps and cheers ever done, something that Trixie was very pleased to hear as she moved saluted the audience.

Hearing the crowds' shouts of surprise, The Great and Powerful Trixie rose up to her hooves, showing that her trick was done, earning herself an absolute ovation as the ponies of Vanhoover started throwing their bits towards her without questioning.

A few hours later, as the ponies have already left the park, some more surprised, and drunk, than others, Trixie started to save her belongings back into the cart as the dragon and unicorn were getting closer to her. She looked at them as the dragon decided to speak to her with a very confident tone of voice.

"Well, Great and Powerful Trixie, are you satisfied with the results of your training?"

Trixie looked at her hooves, still trying to assimilate the fact that she performed something that no other pony could ever consider possible. She could feel herself getting closer to compete against Twilight Sparkle and that only made her happier than the prestige she just earned with the crowd.

"Yes, Greed, Trxie can certainly say that she is."

The dragon then started to smile with glee as he then commented.

"In that case, my part of the deal is done."

Trixie's happiness almost stopped to a crawl, remembering the deal she did with Greed not too long ago.

"Does that mean you won't be with Trixie anymore?"

The dragon kept his smile as he brushed aside Trixie's worries.

"No, you still need to do your part. Besides, you may become an integral part of my plans."

This brought Trixie some curiosity about Greed.

"That reminds Trixie, what are your plans overall? Trixie doesn't remember hearing what those plans were."

Greed kept his smug smile as he gave a very simple retort.

"Don't worry Trixie. once my plans become operational, I'll tell them to you. For now, all we need to worry about is to help you out on your alchemy and to earn more money for ourselves."

'Well, you certainly live up to your name.' - Trixie thought on her mind, commenting on Greed's desire for more money. She then looked at the bits they earned through legal means and pondered on them. - 'But Trixie won't deny that you have skills to get what you want.'

In that moment, they heard something on the bushes. At the beginning, they were going to brush them off as a random animal but, out of nowhere, Weight Lifter got up and moved close to the bushes with extreme care, as if there was something to worry about. Trixe was going to call him but, before she could even react, a huge green spell came out from the bush and hit Weight Lifter, sending him flying towards them, knocking him out, putting his body in green flames and revealing a changeling on his place.

Trixie quickly fell into shock and her body remained on this state as more changelings came out of nowhere and surrounded the two figures still standing. Trixie was taken quickly, with her inhibitor ring being placed on her horn before she could react; Greed tried to fight but, as his armor was reaching his shoulders, a changeling got close to his head and shot a spell, sending him to the ground, unconscious.

Trixie was going to shout but, once more, her body was filled into shock as Greed's body started to shrink into the size of a little foal. A familiar draconian foal.

Trixie's mind would have tried to digest all she was looking at, but a bag was put on her head, allowing her to finally react and scream in fear, as the drones started to tie her up and make sure she didn't give much of a fight.

"Why don't we knock her out too?"

"She's inconsequential, we can simply use a muffling spell on her and be done. It's easier to carry bodies that are awake, besides, she cannot use her magic."

"What about that thing she did on her show? She did it without magic."

"It was just a trick. I don't know how she did it, but it was just a trick."

"But-"

"Enough!" - Shouted the one in charge of the operation. - "We have our targets, we're now taking them to our home and our queen will have her revenge."