//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Guardian Angel 
// by Absentialucci 
//------------------------------//

Just who did that unicorn think she was!?
Trixie was running from Ponyville. She couldn’t stand the embarrassment she had been forced to endure.
I… I  could’ve defeated the Ursa Minor! Only reason she did it was because she had the advantage of research!
Trixie slid to a halt, and looked over her shoulder. The quiet town of Ponyville… the latest stop on her wagon route. It was supposed to be an easy stop. Pull into the town center, set up, and perform for the citizens.
Couldn’t they all see it was an act? I… I didn’t actually mean anything I said!
The business of a showpony… was all just that. A show and she put it all on for free! She relied entirely on donations of bits, and whatever the good folks she was putting the show on for were willing to give her. All she really had was her wagon.
Her wagon.
Trixie’s vision began to blur, and her eyes stung with tears.
That was… the last thing that… it was all I had! My home! My… my show supplies! My source of income! And that… that bear destroyed it like it was nothing!
She grit her teeth, and tried to blink away her tears. But… she just couldn’t. Her wagon was… it was everything. Trixie let out a quiet sob. Then the waterworks came, and didn’t stop until Trixie was balling her eyes out, staring out behind her at the town that had cost her everything.
Well… at least I still have some bits left… illusionary magic isn’t just for tricks after all… with some creativity, it can be used for a large number of applications!
Illusionary magic was entirely reliant on the beliefs of the audience. If Trixie could make the audience herself she could trick herself into believing many things. For example, carrying items. Saddlebags were bulky and got in the way of show magic, so… if she tricked herself into thinking that she wasn’t carrying anything, she could have a makeshift space to store some basic items in. She focused on calling her travelling pack into reality, and with a pop, some saddlebags seemingly were summoned into existence. Amateurs would call it a subspace pocket, or some form of summoning. But in reality, it was all in the head. Mind over matter, after all.
Let’s see what we got here… some basic, dried, travelling oat sticks, bars of granola… a spare hat, which I’ll have to put on now, I suppose… and… aha! One bag of… 100 bits… well, it isn’t much… but it hopefully should be enough for me to put up in an apartment, maybe in Canterlot. Those stuffed-up nobles don’t understand even the basics of creativity! And, on top of that, they all have a good amount of money to spend!
“Yes, this is a good choice of action for Trixie! Trixie will go to Canterlot and perform there until she can buy a new wagon to begin travelling again!”
Trixie exclaimed to nobody in particular.
“Is that so, eh?”
Came a gruff voice suddenly behind Trixie. Trixie let out a whinny of surprise, and spun around immediately. Her heart sank. Another unicorn had snuck up behind her, unbeknownst to Trixie, and was now brandishing what looked to be a knife threateningly in his white, magical aura.
“If yous got enough bit t’get t’Canterlot, yous surely must have somethin’ else too. Hand it over. Or else.”
He’s got a knife! I… I don’t know what to do here!
Trixie didn’t let her internal panic show, though she did take a couple of steps back, and let a cocky smile appear on her face.
“You dare to threaten the Great, and Powerful, Trixie!?”
Think, think, think! There’s only one of him… and he’s not attacked yet… perhaps I can get out of this.
 “Trixie has faced down bigger, and more threatening foes than the likes of you.”
The stallion let out a cruel laugh.
“You tink I’s oblivious? Yous nothin’ but a showboating, wussy pony who can’t back her words!”
He must’ve seen my… failure in Ponyville. Doesn’t he know that I have nothing anymore! Why is he doing this?
Trixie let a flippant smile across her face as she tossed her mane, and continued to back up.
Just a little bit more and I should be able to book it back to Ponyville… even they won’t let someone like me be robbed… right?
“Trixie believes that some ponies should use glue instead of lipstick, little filly.”
A look of anger flashed across the stallion’s face.
Seems like I found a weak spot… maybe we can exploit this… then again… if he’s angry, he might do worse to me. Regardless, it doesn’t matter. Just… a little… further… 
Trixie suddenly bumped into something, and her heart sank even more. She surreptitiously looked behind her to see what she’d bumped into, and all hope of escaping vanished. A huge stallion, the likes of which she’d never seen before loomed over her. Her ears flattened in fear, and she couldn’t help but shrink away from the earth pony who was grinning nastily over her. There were clear gaps in his teeth, and hygiene… certainly wasn’t something he considered important, judging from the smell.
I… I can’t run… should I just drop what I have? But… I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t have anything!
Trixie then made one choice. She couldn’t run, she couldn’t afford to hand over her belongings… so she had nothing else to do, but fight.
“So, were was we, eh? Oh, I know. You were going to be dropping all that you had for me. And, well, I was going to leave it at dat. But now you’s gone and made me angry. You won’t like so much now tha’ I’m angry.”
Just three steps closer…
Trixie gulped. Was she really doing this?
Two more steps.
Yes. She was doing this. Trixie had her pride. And these ponies were clearly going to harm her.
Just one more step…
She had no choice in the matter.
Now!
She put all of her magic into the brightest flash of light that she could summon, accompanied by the loudest peal of thunder she could pull off. The unicorn reeled back in surprise, losing focus on keeping his knife aloft. She then aimed a buck as hard as she could to the stomach of the earth pony behind her. She may not be an earth pony, but she could still buck! The stallion let out a wheeze, and Trixie used that to her advantage. She then created the illusion of smoke surrounding her. She could see just fine, it wasn’t there after all, but the other two… She bolted as fast as she could, scooping up the knife in the process, just in case. A few subtle changes to the illusion field meant that the smoke cloud would follow the would-be muggers as long as she maintained concentration. She may not have the finesse and raw power of that one lilac unicorn in Ponyville, but multitasking was a part of the showbiz. She could do this. And she kept running. Not looking back until she nearly collapsed from exhaustion nearly an hour later. Several hills and curves between her and her assailants.