//------------------------------// // Illusionists at work // Story: Illusionary Romance // by Kikio3000 //------------------------------// Trixie slumped her shoulders. Another sad performance. Nopony trusted Trixie after what she did to Ponyville last time she appeared to do a show. As a species, ponies may be forgiving; but manipulating, controlling, and enslaving Ponyville's entire population in the time span of less than a day was pretty illegal and hard to forget, leaving heavy physical and mental bruises. She trotted back to where her wagon home, hoping to find some solace in at least getting her rest for the day after another day of actual honest work and not much money from the shows. It was hard for her to pick herself back up after everything that she had done. Trixie was apparently not as good as a magician as she had thought - and now she had lost ponies’ trust in her. At least before Trixie had shown her face in Ponyville, she had not had anyone that hated, nor loved her. Now they hated her, and she could not get her reputation back up to even being neutral. Every time Trixie even showed even her horn in town, wads of tomatoes would be hurled at her - even if she tried buying things at the market from afar, her money and produce would be intercepted by other unicorns' magic or pegasai that would do a fly-by wing slap on her items; rendering her produce splattered or some of her money stolen. Trixie had to start levitating more money across to the vendors so she had enough money by the time it got there. Sadly, the unicorn vendors did not help with their own magic, even if they were impartial to Trixie. “Trixie can't believe that she cannot even enjoy a meal without somepony ruining her meals every day!” She's mostly outlawed in decent towns and other places treated her with the barest respect since word travels quickly from Ponyville – especially bad news or extreme events that change the course of either the town or its residents. These towns, since the ‘bad Trixie’ events only happened in Ponyville, and Trixie had been decent in other places. The “outlaw” part came in because when it concerned Trixie specifically, everypony had the right to refuse their service to her, and could chase her out of town if anyone felt threatened or felt like the unicorn was insulting them. (She DID do that action a bit too frequently for most ponies’ taste, thought she had improved on her kinder conversations overall.) Ponyville, though…disliked Trixie with a vengeance, and only let her get food from town because they knew that Trixie had had to earn her money fairly to buy things and the shop owners understood the basic need to eat. However, Trixie was running out of bits, and was technically homeless. She needed help. The unicorn slumped down near her wagon, which had nearly been destroyed by angry ponies, and started sulking. The vehicle had been placed at the edge of a forest near Ponyville, yet the ponies STILL found where Trixie had hidden it. “Ugh,” Trixie sighed, Even a dark secluded place like this wasn’t spared from being destroyed. My reputation is ruined, all because I focused my time way too much on that Twilight Sparkle. She sneered…then slumped again. Trixie knows what she did was wrong…Trixie gets it! Now, can she please just return back to her normal life?” Trixie lay down on the forest grass and started to sob quietly (though not quite teary yet,) something she had not done for a long time. A shadow passed overhead that she did not notice, her eyes closed and focused on her misfortune. … Trixie was in tears when Discord found her. Having heard of the petty, amateur magician from older versions of Fluttershy’s letters, she sounded like an awful pony – especially to his Fluttershy. Nevertheless, he could hear sobbing and fast breathing from the blue unicorn, sneaking up behind her to get a closer look. Even thought there was nopony else to see, Discord thought, as a sort of a trickster, slight con-artist, and manipulator, she was faking her tears. He took a closer look and channeled his sense for feeling ponies’ emotions. She wasn’t faking. The tears were real. What on earth could she possibly be crying about? Discord asked, and tapped on Trixie’s shoulder with a talon. “W-wah?!” Trixie gasped, looking behind her. A huge, weird looking, mismatched creature stood before her, filling her mind with panic. Her flight instinct almost took over, before she realized that Discord could just follow her anywhere anyway. “You think I’m weird-looking?” Discord asked, reading Trixie’s mind. “How rude.” “D-Discord!” Trixie gasped, backing away slightly, then, knowing that Discord could explode in anger, she tried to be polite. “H-hello! W-why are YOU here, pray tell? It’s n-nice to see you! Heh-heh.” “Well, that is nicer!” Discord exclaimed. That’s my name, don’t wear it out, now! He made a serious face, his eye close to Trixie’s. And I can tell that you are. “Ulp!” Trixie gulped, terrified at the thought that she had done just that. Recently, she had thought about the Draconequus in her mind, insulting him for what HE had done to Equestria and thinking that she did not deserve the punishment she received, unlike him. She had thought of him as being as being a despicable being who did not deserve any friends or anypony’s trust, especially since his first reign had been so widespread, and she had merely taken over a whole town that was mostly filled with boring earth ponies that needed some excitement like her show in their lives. She was merely entertaining them, Discord only entertained himself. “I see your thoughts, my dear,” Discord said, “And they are not fair. You toyed with others yourself, and that is not nice. Luckily for you, I am reformed because of Fluttershy, so I’m gonna show you the world and its beauty, and maybe you will understand.” “Uhhh…Ok, I guess…” Trixie did not dare protest – for the first time in a long time, she felt smaller than somecreature. … Discord then decides to show Trixie some beautiful parts of the world, hoping that it would lift her spirits. After spending so much time with Fluttershy, Discord could finally see the true beauty of the world. To cheer her up, Discord showed Trixie some exotic animals like Quetzals and other animals that she had never seen before. They went to places she had never dreamed of, and they barreling down Neighagra falls, accidentally cause animals/pets to go on the loose from a pet shop by teleporting them out of their cages and not remembering that the door was still open when they did all this, getting an earful from the owner. Discord showed Trixie how to write letter and they spent a magical day until the starts started coming out. Finally, Discord fixed Trixie’s beloved home. They had had a lot of fun! … Under the stars, Discord felt the temperature on his muzzle rising. It was probably turning red or pink...um…blushing was it? That was what Fluttershy said it was. How embarrassing. He was falling for this strange magic mare. After some thought, he did think that they could be an amazing power couple with Trixie’s shows. If spiced things up a bit, and added tricks that were not possible with “play magic”, he could turn the shows into actual hits. True magic shows that captivate the mind, widen the imagination, and startle earthly thinking. Why, a few exotic animals popping out here and there, a teleporting hat bunny whizzing around, and lopping portals for Discord to hop around in could make Trixie become a sensation! And showing her some more magic trick magic for unicorns would be easy because he already knew how to do these things innately. He did not want to see her fail. OH, GOSH, was he already caring for another pony already?! “You are not so different you and me,” Discord asked, “Are we?” “I guess not,” Trixie said, “And we both have this strange need to both entertain outsselves, and impress ponies at the same time. I guess that is where a lot of our trouble comes from. It’s finding that balance between doing something to list others’ spirits, and doing something that only makes us laugh or feel big. …Now I see that I really DID make a huge mess like everypony said. Humiliation is NOT fun.” Discord nodded, smiling. Now it was Trixie’s turn to blush. “Thanks for making me realize that, Discord. You know, you’re not so bad after all. And, I guess, I have to thank Twilight for dealing with that Ursa Minor and getting that Amulet off me. It was clever, and it helped me finally fit my head through the door. You really are a cool looking creature.” Discord blushed again. “T-thank you, my dear.” “So…” Discord said, are we going to be like me – are we going to turn down that seething hate for Twilight Sparkle, are we not?” “Yes,” Trixie stated in a forgiving tone. “Yes, I am. No more trying to boast excessively or showing ponies up. That causes too much trouble. If Twilight ever accepts me as a friend, that’ll be a true mercy. I am ready to start over and gain everyone’s trust from the beginning.” Discord happily wagged his snake tail. “There you go, I think making up with Princess Twilight and her friends will make up for lost time. Finally, you are beginning to understand friendship! Fluttershy will be proud.” Discord smiled, then lifted Trixie’s head up towards his and bent his neck down, kissing Trixie passionately. After a moment of feeling uncomfortable at kissing a non-pony creature with a giant fang, Trixie gave in to it and stated warmly: “You know…I wouldn’t mind actually dating you…you seem like a really interesting creature and your lips are actually quite nice. And your long tooth does not actually get in the way.”