//------------------------------//
// The Circus of Power 
// Story: Big Brother - Equestria 
// by gmv124 
//------------------------------//

	 Following the Head of Household competition, many of the house
guests began to act a lot nicer towards Trixie.
“Nice job Trixie! I’m really happy for you!” said Soarin.
“Thank you Soarin, but to be honest, I knew I would be the first Head
of Household. I AM the Great and Powerful Trixie after all.” She
smiled as Soarin hugged her and then rolled his eyes as he turned
away. Then he was called into the Diary Room. He entered, and sat down smiling.
“So I didn’t win H.O.H., whoop-de-doo. That doesn’t matter. That
narcissistic unicorn is going to annoy a lot of ponies, so if I can
survive this week, I can guarantee next week everypony will be after
her, and I can cruise through the week and focus on making alliances
with ponies that will get me further in this game.” He smiled as he
said that and left the Diary Room to rejoin the house guests who
wandered the house until they went to bed for the night..
The next day, all the bearers of the Elements of Harmony gathered
in the outdoors room to talk.
“Ugh, how in Equestria did Trixie beat me!” Rainbow said as she fell onto her bed.	
“She beat a lot of ponies, Rainbow, myself included. But that isn’t our biggest issue right now.”
Twilight replied.
“I know that Twilight, we have to worry about who
she’s gonna nominate this week.”
“Exactly,” said Twilight, “Trixie is almost completely unpredictable right now with her nominations.”
“Not really! Everypony knows she has it out for you Twilight. There is no
way you won’t get nominated this week. What we really have to worry
about is who the other nominee is gonna be.” Applejack nodded in
agreement.
“She’s got a point sugarcube, Trixie ain’t too fond of ya
and she’s in control of the week. It’s gonna be you and somepony else
on the block this week.”
Twilight sighed, “I guess you’re right. But I don’t think I’m in
any REAL danger this week. I mean I’m guaranteed at least five votes
to stay if I get nominated. Maybe six if all five of you can stay out
of harms way." "Who's the sixth vote Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "My
brother," replied Twilight. "In fact, if I can get those six votes I'm
guaranteed to be here next week. That's all I n-" Before she could
finish the door opened and Trixie walked in.
"Well well well. If it isn't the elements of failure!" Trixie said
cockily.
"What do you want Trixie?" Rainbow asked.
"Oh, nothing much. Just to let you know that I just got my key to the HOH room and wanted
you to see what it looked like. You know. Before you all leave the
house empty hooved." She laughed as she turned away, tail flicking at
the six ponies still laying on the beds.
"Oh that Trixie makes me want to hit something!" Fluttershy
exclaimed quietly.
"Here, hit this." Rainbow said as she passed
Fluttershy a pillow. "Toss it back when you're done." Fluttershy
nodded and proceeded to hit the pillow as hard as she could (and
barely made an imprint in it) before giving it to Rainbow again.
A few minutes after Trixie left the room she walked around the
house and called out, "Who wants to see my HOH room?" Everypony
(except the six sitting in the outdoors room) then excitedly followed
Trixie up the spiral staircase to the HOH room and watched as she
unlocked the door.
As she entered, she gasped and looked around. The ponies following
her then entered and had about the same reaction. The room was
amazing. There was an enormous bed with about fifteen pillows and on
it was a gift basket filled with cookies and chocolates. Hanging on
the walls were picture frames all containing pictures of Trixie and
her family. On the other side of the room was a private bathroom fully
stocked with make up and other beauty products. Finally, across from
the bed in the main part of the room was a large television monitor.
Trixie turned on the monitor and a live video feed of the living
room came on. "Oh, this is good. This is very good," said Trixie. The
other houseguests sat down on the couch and end of the bed and watched
the monitor as Trixie flipped between feeds of the different rooms.
Eventually, she stopped and watched as the camera in outdoors room
showed her and the rest of the houseguests the bearers of the elements
of harmony talking amongst themselves.
"You know they could have at least come up to see the room,"
Cheerilee commented.
"Yeah, that was pretty rude," said Filthy Rich.
"It's things like that that can make ponies not trust you," said
Doctor Whooves.
"Yeah, hey is there any audio on that monitor,
Trixie?" asked Braeburn. Trixie shook her head.
“None, just video.”
“Well, that sucks. Anyway, congrats again Trixie. You earned this. I’ll leave you to
enjoy it,” said Shining Armor.
Braeburn smiled, “I guess I’ll get out of your mane as well. Comin’ Big Mac?”
“Eyyup,” he replied.
“I’ll come too,” Soarin said, “I want to get something to eat.”
They all then filed out of the room and shut the door behind them
leaving Trixie, Whooves, Rich and Cheerilee in the room. It was silent
for a while but that silence was broken by Trixie when she looked at
the other three ponies and said, "I get this feeling that none of us
trust those element bearers in this game. Am I right?" Everypony
looked at each other and nodded.
"They're too big of a threat. The six of them will dominate this
house if we don't get rid of at least some of them fast," Rich said.
"Yeah," said Trixie.
"Well, obviously you're going to nominate two of them this week.
Right?" Cheerilee asked, and Trixie nodded. "Well I have an idea. You say
you want Twilight out of the house right? So we need our votes and
three more and she's gone. If you put her up against Applejack, then
Big Mac and Braeburn will vote out Twilight, and then we just need
somepony like Fluttershy to vote Twilight out and she'll be gone,"
Cheerilee explained.
Trixie smiled, "No wonder you're a teacher. That plan is
brilliant! You're all in?" Everypony nodded. "Good, then let's get
this plan in motion."
A couple of hours later Trixie was called into the Diary Room and
what awaited her made her jaw drop. On the chair was a costume and a
note that read: For Head of Household. Wear this so you can host the
Have/ Have Not competition. - Big Brother. Trixie sighed and picked
up the costume. “No pony will ever feel as embarrassed as I do at this
moment.,” she said to herself. She sighed again and put on the costume
before walking out of the Diary Room and back into the house.
As she returned, the first one to see her was Twilight who fell
over laughing at the sight of her. “Hahaha! Everypony! C-Come here
quick! HAHAHA!” Hearing Twilight’s fits of laughter, everypony quickly
came over and laughed hard at the sight of Trixie dressed up like a
circus clown.
“Yeah, yeah. I get it. I look ridiculous. But I’m not going to be
the only one! Everypony come with me. It’s time for the first Have/
Have Not competition of the summer."
The houseguests (thirteen of which laughing their plots off)
headed into the backyard and looked around in awe at the backyard which
has been transformed into what looked like the inside of a circus
tent, with 13 balance beams spaced out in a circle around a ball pit. Pinkie Pie grinned and started bouncing around looking at everything.
"Wowie! This is awesome-tacular! And OH MY GOSH! BALL
PIT!!" She bounced up and tried to jump into it but Applejack grabbed
her by the tail and pulled her back and away from it.
"Really? You can't even control yourself for one minute, Pinkie
Pie?" Trixie asked snarkily. Pinkie Pie frowned for a second but her
smile quickly returned. "Whatever. Anyway welcome everypony to the Big
Brother Circus! Today you won't be competing for power but instead for
comfort. On go, each of you will attempt to cross your balance beam and
jump into the ball pit. In the ball pit located in the middle of the
ring are thirteen boxes. Your job is to find a box and cross your
balance beam back to your starting platform. If you fall off, you must
go back to the side you last successfully made it to. After everypony
has a box, or the ten minute time limit expires, we will open up the
boxes. Inside ten of them are tickets, while the other three are empty.
If your box is empty, or you do not find a box within ten minutes,
then you will be a “Have Not” for the week and will only be allowed to
eat Big Brother slop, take only cold showers, and sleep only in the
Have Not bedroom. As Head Of Household, I am automatically a Have for
the week. Make sense? I don't care because it's time to play Big
Brother Circus Search!"
Hearing the consequences of being a Have Not, many ponies timidly
approached their balance beams. However, Pinkie Pie was still smiling
as she happily jumped up to her beam and cried out, "Woo! Let's go!"
Trixie then stood at her place away from the beams and balls and
announced, “Let the Big Brother Circus, Begin!” Once she said that, circus music came on and everypony quickly attempted to run across their balance beam, which seemed simple enough.
However, the first to discover that this challenge was not what it
seemed was Rainbow Dash who was the first to reach the middle of her
beam and felt it twist under her, causing her to lose her balance and
fall off.
“Whoa! Oh come on! That’s so not cool!”
Seeing this Trixie fell over laughing and because no pony else
noticed Rainbow fall. They quickly came to the same fate of falling off
because of the twisting beam section, except for Pinkie Pie who
stopping and scratched an itch on her hoof before jumping over that
section and quickly reaching the ball pit and diving in. She laughed
and looked around and said, “Whee! This is fun!!”
Filthy Rich turned to Twilight who was beside him and asked, “How
in Equestria did she know about the beam?” Twilight shrugged
“She’s Pinkie Pie. There is no better explanation than that,” she replied.
She then laughed and quickly ran across her beam and jumped into the
ball pit where many of the other houseguests had quickly joined
Pinkie.
As the houseguests searched the pit two ponies could not find
their way across the beam. Cheerilee as having trouble keeping her
balance, and Fluttershy, who was too scared to jump from the balance
beam to the ball pit (even if it was a six inch jump). Inside the ball
pit the other eleven ponies were tearing through the balls looking for
a box. It took a minute but eventually Twilight, Applejack, and Doctor
Whooves all grabbed a box and jumped from the pit, back to their beams
and successfully crossed back. When this happened Trixie stood up and
announced, “Houseguests! You have five minutes left!”
Hearing this, many ponies doubled their efforts to find a box. Shining Armor and Big Mac quickly found one each and returned across
their beams. Right behind them, Pinkie Pie and Rarity each got out
with their boxes. Knowing she was running very short on time, Cheerilee
finally made it into the ball pit and within ten seconds found a box
and left with it. Rainbow Dash watched this and frustratedly cried
out, “OH COME ON!” and smacked her hoof against the balls near her and
perfectly propelled a box that was near her up into the air and right
in front of Fluttershy, who squeed and brought it back over the beam.
Soarin found one next and rocketed back over his beam leaving
Rainbow, Braeburn and Filthy Rich still searching with only two
minutes remaining. Filthy Rich grabbed a box next and quickly hopped up to his
beam and shakily crossed it. After him, Braeburn found his box and
crossed with less than half a minute to go. Rainbow frantically
searched the ball pit as her fellow house guests counted down the
time, “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!” A
buzzer sounded and Rainbow pounded at the balls in frustration before
crawling out of the pit.
“DANG IT!” she cried.
“Sorry Rainbow. For failing to find a box, you are immediately a
Have Not this week,” Trixie said, “now, for everypony else. Open your
boxes. If you find a ticket you are a Have, if not, you will be joining
Rainbow Crash, I mean Dash, as a Have Not.” She smirked and nodded at
the house guests, allowing them to open their boxes.
The house guests tore them open and a cry of terror came from
Fluttershy, “I-It’s empty!” she screamed.
Trixie smiled smugly and said, “Sorry Fluttershy, you are a have
not this week. Enjoy your slop!” Trixie laughed and turned to look at
Twilight but frowned when she saw she was holding a ticket. Trixie
looked around the group and saw that only one other pony was without a
ticket was Applejack. “So, Rainbow, Applejack, and
Fluttershy, you are the Have Nots for the week. You will eat only slop
and can sleep only in the Have Not room, which is the most
uncomfortable room in the house. Enjoy” Trixie said with a laugh.
The Have Nots groaned and followed behind the other
houseguests slowly as they all reentered the house. The Have Nots walked into the kitchen and saw buckets and buckets of Big Brother Slop piled on the kitchen table with a note.
Rainbow Dash picked up te mote and read it, "Dearest Have Nots,
please enjoy these buckets of Big Brother Slop because they're ALL for
you. Also, your new bedroom is the door on the left, closest to the
bathroom. Have a nice week. - Big Brother"
Applejack grabbed a bucket of slop and opened it. "C'mon, how
bad could this stuff be?" she said. Everypony else stared at her as
she took a bite of it and watched as her face screwed up in disgust.
She swallowed it and coughed. "Ugh! It tastes like mushy, over salted
oatmeal!"
Trixie laughed as she watched Applejack try to get the taste
out of her mouth, and laughed harder as she heard Rainbow and
Fluttershy groan. Rainbow then looked at the note and re-read the part
about the bedroom and shrugged before saying, “Come on. How bad could
this Have Not bedroom be?”
“I say we find out,” Applejack replied.
“D-do we have to?” asked Fluttershy.
“Yes Fluttershy, we have to. Stop worrying. How bad could it
possibly be?” Rainbow said.
“Umm, Rainbow? You may wanna come see this.” Applejack said from
across the room.
Rainbow came over to where Applejack was standing and opened the
door behind her. She stepped into the room and immediately tripped and
cried out in pain. Applejack followed her into the room and looked
around. The entire room was painted a sickly green and the floor,
walls and ceiling were all covered in large bumps and holes. Rainbow
stood up and went over to one of the beds and laid down on it before
sitting back up. “These beds suck!” she said, “They’re hard as a rock
and have huge holes and bumps like the rest of the room!”
Applejack huffed and Fluttershy started to tear up, but Rainbow
quickly hugged her and she calmed down. The house guests then went
around and socialized while Trixie went upstairs to the Head of
Household’s room and laid down for an hour or two until there was a
knock on the door. She went to open the door, and standing there was
Twilight.
“Oh look. It’ you. Come to beg for me to not nominate you?”
Trixie said with a laugh.
Twilight sighed, “No, I know I’m going to be  nominated. It’s
pretty obvious we don’t like each other. What I came to talk to you
about was the second nominee,” she said as she entered the room and
sat down. “Who are you thinking about putting up as a second nominee?”
she asked.
“Hmmm, let me think for a second. Oh that’s right! I’m not telling
you.” Trixie replied.
“Ugh! I thought maybe, just maybe I could see if you'd be willing
to work together in this game, but you are a total loser! If I make it
through this week. You are so evicted next week!” Twilight yelled as
she stormed out of the room.
The door slammed shut and Trixie laughed, “Yeah, I’m the one who's
going to get evicted,” she said to herself. “I can’t wait for the
nomination ceremony tomorrow. Twilight Sparkle, your sorry flank is
going home.” she said to herself as she climbed into bed for the
night.
The following morning, all of the house guests except for Trixie
went out to the backyard to await the nomination ceremony.
Inside the house, Trixie walked up to the memory wall, pulled
out her key and placed it around her neck. She looked at each
houseguests pictures closely and thought about how they could help her
in the game as she took everyone's key out and brought them all up to
the Head if Household room. On the table was a circular box with
fourteen key holes in it that Trixie began to fill with the keys of
the houseguests she wanted to be safe this week. She quickly filled
all of the spots she needed to and took the two nominees keys and
sealed then in another box before leaving the HOH room and going out
to the backyard. "Hey everypony. It's time for the nomination
ceremony." she announced.
The houseguests slowly filed in and sat around the nomination
table while Trixie went upstairs and grabbed the nomination box. She
brought it downstairs and placed it on the table and said,"This is the
nomination ceremony. As Head of Household it is my duty to nominate
two houseguests for eviction. I will pull the first key from the box
and that pony is safe. They will pull the next key and so on," she
said. She looked at everypony and then started the ceremony.
She turned the first key an pulled it out. "Cheerilee, you are
safe" she announced.
"Thank you Trixie," Cheerilee replied. she took her key and
turned the next key in the box. She pulled it out and
announced, "Fluttershy, you are safe."
Fluttershy stood up and took her key,"Th-thank you." she
replied. She grabbed the next key and the ceremony continued until
only Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow were without keys. Doctor Whooves
stood up and turned the final key. He pulled it out and
announced,"Rainbow Dash. You're safe."
Rainbow took her key and thanked Trixie, (very insincerely) and
Trixie stood up. "I have nominated you Applejack, and you Twilight for
eviction. Applejack you are a very physical threat and Twilight, I
don't really have to explain anything. Good luck at the Celestia
competition. This nomination ceremony is adjourned."