We pulled the caravan into the center of Hoofington, much to the consternation of the townsponies. Some of them threw tomatoes at us from their windows as we passed along a residential street.
"We could always turn back, you know," I offered. A tomato landed on the ground in front of my right hind leg as somepony shouted at Trixie to get out of town.
"You are here with Trixie! You promised to protect her!" she protested as a tomato hit her left hind leg. More tomatoes hit her caravan, making thumping noises as they hit their target. The cobblestones grew slick and pulling became somewhat more difficult. Presently we arrived in the town square and set up the stage.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, Trixie," I stated with some apprehension. A crowd of ponies was starting to gather, many of them with angry expressions on their faces.
"The show must go on, regardless," she responded. She went behind the red curtain of her stage and made her entrance. I stood off to the right side of the stage to gauge the crowd's reaction. Quite a few of them already had lettuce and tomatoes ready to hurl at the show-mare. She then made her appearance on the stage in front of her audience.
"Ladies and Gentlecolts, prepare to be amazed by the magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" she shouted, lighting off an intense pyrotechnic display. She proceeded to produce flowers from seemingly out of nowhere and showered the audience with them. Before she could get any further, though, the audience started hurling tomatoes and lettuce, loudly booing her with as much gusto as they could. I used my magic to erect a barrier to protect her from their projectiles. One of the audience members noticed me doing this and asked me why.
"Because she is MY WIFE," I stated loudly. Some of the closer ponies perked their ears in my direction.
"Shouldn't you be on the stage with her? Get up there and take your medicine!" one of them shouted at me. I teleported onto the stage beside Trixie, who had lost her concentration because of how loud the booing was. I glared at the ponies, who seemed to stop for a moment.
"You now gaze upon the Awesome and Astonishing Amethyst!" I shouted at them. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is MY WIFE!" I lit up a massive pyrotechnic shower, which then turned into candy and rained down upon the audience. Some picked up the candies and tasted them, applauding at the display.
I turned to Trixie, who grinned at me. "Give 'em candy, and they'll be eating out of your hooves," I said to her.
"How did you do that?" she asked me.
"I picked up a few spells from Twilight," I grinned. The audience started to grow restless again, so Trixie tried to perform some more of her magic. For some reason or other, they weren't interested in what she did, so I decided to try something else. I persuaded Trixie to work in tandem with me juggling fiery orbs between us using our telekinesis. We steadily increased the number of flaming balls until there seemed to be too many to count. I saw Trixie strain from concentration, so I turned the orbs into hoofballs, gently lobbing them towards the audience, which drew some more applause. Of course, armed with new weapons, they were readied once again.
"Everypony who has received a hoofball, I want you to throw them all at once towards me!" I shouted at them. There were gleeful shouts and laughter as the balls were hurled towards the stage. I used more magic to turn them into birds, which flew away into the sky. Trixie glowered at me.
"How dare you show Trixie up on her own stage? Some husband YOU are!" she exclaimed indignantly. I decided to play along to see how the audience might react.
"Your magic is far better than mine, Trixie, I could never hope to show YOU up!" I stated in mock surprise. The audience chuckled.
"Trixie will show you just how much better her magic is than yours!" she shouted at me, grinning as she almost instinctively knew what was going on. She created a bouquet of flowers. "Come over here and smell them!"
I trotted over to take a moment to smell the flowers, whereupon a gush of water issued forth from them, splashing my face. The audience chuckled again at this display.
"Thou hast offended me, thou brazen witch!" I shouted at her, trying to stifle my laughter. "Open this can of toffee!" I said, giving her a long cylindrical can with a metal top to it. She opened said can and a pair of green cloth covered springs ejected themselves from the can, eliciting a gasp of mock horror from the show-mare. She retaliated by slapping a cream pie in my face. I created a rain cloud to wash my face off, then moved it over Trixie and doused her with water. At this point, the audience was roaring with laughter.
"Amethyst! They're not supposed to be laughing at Trixie!"
"If you make them laugh, they'll love you, girl! That's why I chose to change the show into a comedy of sorts. Look, they're tossing money up on the stage!"
"You two make a great pair! Do you have more?" asked a tan stallion at the front of the stage.
I turned to Trixie. "I'm going to show them something really impressive, Trixie -- I'm going to change both our appearances simultaneously. I hope you're willing to let me do this for you -- the effect will only be temporary."
"As long as you don't hurt Trixie, she is ready."
"Ladies and gentlecolts, feast your eyes upon my greatest of magic tricks!" I shouted to the audience. I lit my horn, levitating myself and Trixie above the stage, ascending to a height of about twenty feet. She started panicking and I told her to remain calm. Using a different spell, I changed the color of our coats to pure white, then made a pair of wings grow out from behind our withers, then made our manes and tails appear to billow in an ethereal fashion as I slowly lowered us back to the stage. The audience was wowed, to say the least.
"Michael, what have you done?" asked the show-mare.
"Here, take a look at the new you," I chuckled, creating a mirror so she could see. She gasped in astonishment.
"Y-you made ... Trixie ... a p-princess?" she asked.
"Only temporarily. It will wear off in about five minutes," I replied flatly.
"Will you do this for Trixie in each town we perform together?"
"But of course, it will be part of the act."
Trixie turned her attention to the audience, who appeared to be bowing before us. She used her magic to amplify her voice. "The Great and Powerful Princess Trixie commands your respect!" she exclaimed, her voice reverberating throughout the town square. The audience members began bowing even more deeply for her.
"You may rise," I stated loudly to the audience. "That concludes our show for today. Please show your enthusiasm by donating whatever you think is fair for our performance, and thank you once again for coming to see our show!"
As the audience dispersed, a good many left bits on the stage for us to collect. Five minutes later we reverted to our original forms and none of the audience remained as they went about their daily activities. I collected the money and put it into a pouch and helped Trixie reconfigure her stage back into the caravan.
"Amethyst, I had no idea you could do THAT!" the show-mare grinned. "Trixie loves being a Princess!"
"I thought you might like that. So where are we off to now? Maybe we should stock up our supplies before we head off to the next town."
"Trixie thinks that's a good idea -- we should head to Baltimare next, but it will take a few days to get there."