Lavender eyes opened to an azure sky.
It was speckled with hints of silver and white where the clouds danced to the never ending duet of the heavens. They danced and laughed and waited, as always, to hopefully meet the song’s composers.
The sun would rise as it always did, passing from east to west as it graced the guests to its party. Its half of the song was cheery and bright, always bringing smiles to the clouds. Even as she set, they would glow warm with contentment from her presence.
The moon would always follow the sun. And, while she seemed but a shadow of her counterpart, she too filled the clouds with joy. Her half of the song was dark and mysterious, but that was half the fun. The clouds listened to it, and reveled in the subtle surprises she gave them through her work.
It was truly a beautiful sight, yet the mare meeting that sight didn’t care. She’d seen it countless times before, and if her luck was poor she’d see it countless times again. All that mattered was the name that burned in her head.
With a muffled groan the unicorn known as The Great and Powerful Trixie pulled herself to her hooves. The wagon at her back creaked and groaned, and small splinters cracked off the ancient piece of rot. The friends she had, few and far between, always hinted about how she needed a new wagon, but there was so much more to it than they would ever be able to understand. Some of her greatest memories were tied to that wagon. She’d tried to explain that to them, but they only thought she was talking in the figurative sense instead of the literal.
After all, it was rather far fetched of them to believe that her most precious memories were locked in a drawer inside the blasted thing. Whenever she tried to stress her point, they asked for proof. What proof could she possibly give? It was more than just her memories locked in there. It was all the memories of her. The proof of who and what she was before The Great and Powerful Trixie had been stolen and locked away. And it had been stolen by him. Her mind burned at the thought of his so-called “name”.
It had been stolen by The Trickster.
Insane giggling filled the air at the mere thought of his “name”, and it was this that heralded his first visit for the day.
He had chosen to appear as an earth pony this time, but even such a humble form as that could not mitigate his bizarre effects on the world. Time seemed to freeze as he galloped down from the sky. A bird darted down to swallow a bee to Trixie’s left, but she couldn’t get it out of the way before it froze in mid-air. Now it was nothing but a trapped spectator to the show. It would be forced to watch her torment with beady eyes, only for it’s memories of her to be locked away by him.
He couldn’t risk her secret getting out after all.
Through it all rang his laughter. Trixie could not describe how much she hated his laughter. If a pony took all the laughter of all the foals in the world and tossed them into a blender, the cracked and crazy laughter that came out would be nothing but an echo of his laughter.
“G-good morning, T-Trixie!” Even as he spoke he continued to laugh, stuttering over the simplest of words as he gasped for breath. He didn’t even need to breath. He just liked the effect. “I d-do hope y-you have an answer for me today.”
Her eyes narrowed at his use of that name. Her nostrils flared, and her muscles tensed. She could barely restrain herself from charging him, but attacking him never ended well. “The Great and Powerful Trixie told you never to use that name when addressing her. It’s not my name. It’s your name for me. The Great and Powerful Trixie will submit to the humiliation of others using that name, but she will not suffer you, the only pony left with knowledge of her real name, doing so. It is nothing but a sign of how incredibly large your ego is that you named her after yourself, and she will not stand you rewarding yourself for such a childish prank.”
The Trickster did nothing but laugh, just like he always did. “Oh, T-Trixie! You do me an honor! I-if anypony has the right to j-judge whether I am an egotistical b-bastard, it would be you. Y-You are one of the few who have a p-planet sized ego after all.”
“You know that it’s all an act!” She screamed. Her voice cracked in the middle from her desperate attempts to control her urge to at least try and beat his head into a pulp. “It has and always will be an act! You want The Great and Powerful Trixie to be a famous showpony? Well, she is one! She acts out the story of the greatest villain ever told!
“She tells them your story.
“If you want to live through her and get the fame and glory you could never have, she’s got news for you. If you think cursing another is the only way to break your own blasted curse, she’s got news for you. You will never earn fame and fortune through The Great and Powerful Trixie, because everyday she acts just like you to spite you.”
His laughter increased in volume. “B-But isn’t m-mimicry the sincerest form of flattery?”
She couldn’t take it anymore. The Great and Powerful Trixie threw herself at the source of every miserable little thing in her life. “It isn’t flattery when the mimer hates you with every fiber of her being!”
He didn’t resist the tackle. If anything, he added a few extra somersaults to drive both their heads against a tree.
Trixie just ignored the headache and continued to scream at him. “Everything The Great and Powerful Trixie does is to spite you. She acts like you to deny you the pleasure of earning fame and fortune through her. She struts and brags and shows off because she wants ponies to hate you! She even talks in the third person to spite you, because she is not you! The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t know who she is, but she will not give you the pleasure of feeling her fame. To say ‘I am famous,’ is to say ‘You are famous,’ as long as she uses this cursed name you gave us.”
“W-well then, Trixie. Y-you know the solution.” The laughter took on a darker tone. The stuttering stopped as his voice rang in her head. “Say my name, Trixie. Proclaim who and what I am to all the world, and let them bask in the irony of the greatest joke ever told. Let them see the truth.” All the while he continued to laugh. His head tossed and turned like he couldn’t couldn’t control it in his mirth, but his eyes said otherwise. They bored into her soul no matter where his head turned. He would throw his head back howling with laughter and The Great and Powerful Trixie would still feel them glaring through the underside of his head as he waited for a response.
A rush of emotions filled The Great and Powerful Trixie over the idea that her tormentor had the gall to ask her that. Her normal response was to spit in his face, but she was tired of getting angry him day after day. Today she’d try something different.
She laughed.
He shut up.
“But I thought a good magician never reveals her secret?” she crooned.
“Y-you found it?” The stuttering came back, but there was no laughter.
“Maybe.” The Great and Powerful Trixie grinned coyly. “I just expect something in return first. You don’t think I’m going to give it to you without making sure I get what I want in return right?”
“T-that w-wasn’t the deal.” Thunder rumbled above them despite the pale azure sky being clear.
Trixie shrugged. “All I’m asking is to get a name for a name.”
The silence seemed ominous as The Trickster thought her proposition over.
“Fair enough.” He finally relented. He shoved her off of him like she weighed nothing. Standing, he trotted towards the wagon that held everything she’d ever cared about. The door slammed open of it’s own accord as he approached, and without a second thought he stomped inside.
She followed.
Within the sparse little interior were the stage props and few personal items The Great and Powerful Trixie had collected over the years. In the back, a cracked vanity as old as the wagon itself gathered dust. She hadn’t looked in it’s mirror since her journey began. It was too hard to see what she’d lost.
“Sit” It was a command and she obeyed.
“Look.” She gazed into the broken surface. Thousands of faces stared mournfully back.
“Listen.” She spread her focus out just like she had when this all began. She listened to all the world and for the second time in her life she heard just how much energy and life filled the world. And she heard laughter.
The Trickster stuck a hoof in his mouth and pulled. With a crack, one of his teeth came loose. It was a gold tooth. Holding it before him, he molded it like clay into the intricate key The Great and Powerful Trixie remembered, and he slowly drove it into a drawer no bigger than a jewelry box at the base of the vanity.
A torrent of emotions and memories hit The Great and Powerful Trixie as the key was fully inserted. She scrambled to grab and hold on to them, but they were rushing by too fast. The Trickster turned the key just the tiniest bit of a degree, and a single word burned into her mind.
Lulamoon.
Quick as a whip, The Trickster removed the key and returned it from whence it came. “There. You have your name, or part of it at least. Now give me mine.”
Trixie Lulamoon didn’t hear him. “My last name is Lulamoon...” she whispered before shouting in glee. “My last name is Lulamoon!” She giggled like a schoolfilly. “Lulamoon!”
“Yes. Yes. We get it.” The Trickster somehow made his manic smile seem like a glower. “I think, however, it’s time you hold up your end of the bargain. You searched all over Equestria and found my name. So tell me, what is it?”
Trixie arched her eyebrow at him. “You really want to know who you are?”
“Yes!” Her tormentor shouted.
Trixie leaned right next to his ear before whispering with a grin. “You’re The Trickster.”
The Trickster bellowed in rage at the use of that idiotic title. The laughter came back, but this time it was mocking its master. His hoof came out of nowhere and slammed Trixie Lulamoon into the vanity behind her. She heard it crack and smiled even as the glass dug into her back.
“Why?!” he shrieked holding her in place.
Trixie laughed painfully. “You think I ever actually cared enough to look for your stupid name? Why should I ever help you after everything you took from me? Nope, you’ll get nothing but contempt from me.”
Her laugh had gone from being shakey and hollow to an uproarious below. For the first time in ages she was feeling alive again. She had been traveling days upon end without any hope of getting her life back. But The Trickster could be tricked! She didn’t have to follow his little quest. Trixie Lulamoon bowed to no pony. Even if that pony was more of a long forgotten beast from the depths of Tartarus than a pony. She would hold her ground, no matter the cost.
The Trickster, for his part, had a hoof to his head.
“No. No. No!” he roared amongst the laughter. “Help is the wrong word! I own you Great and Powerful Trixie. As long I own your memories, you are mine, and you would do well to remember that!”
That was when she decided to go back to her usual response, and, no matter how often she did it, the look on his face as The Great and Powerful Trixie spit in it was priceless.
“Fine!” The Trickster yelled at her. “To Tartarus with you and your memories!"
The Trickster paused for a second, letting his anger build. His normal manic grin spread wider and wider, until it looked like his face should be splitting in two. “I hope you didn’t think you got the last laugh, because that’s my job!” He pulled her back from the mirror.
“Haa!”
He slammed her into it again.
“Haa!”
There went a rib.
“Haa!”
With a powerful spin, he hurled her out of the wagon.
She slammed into a tree and fell to the ground disoriented. By the time she’d managed to get herself right side up, he was gone and time had started to flow again. He’d be back again tomorrow though. He always was. Wincing in pain as she got up. She headed to the wagon to get the first aid kit. One broken rib treatment later, she was setting about cleaning up camp so she could set out on the road again. She needed to hurry if she was going to hit Trottingham by sunset.
After cleaning the camp up, she headed into the wagon to do the same to herself. Her normally luscious silver mane was completely ragged with small clumps of dirt and pine needles were spread about it. If she was going to perform tonight she needed to look as good as possible. Studiously ignoring the vanity, she brushed her mane using a small mirror one of the few fans she had had once given her, and grabbed her favorite hat and cape.
Finally, she was ready to travel, and ready for the show tonight. Thus she started the slow trip to Trottingham, pulling the ancient old wagon behind her.
The Great and Powerful Trixie gazed into the sky, and watched as the clouds danced to the never ending duet of the sun and moon. She saw the clouds laughing and cheering, and she thought to herself. “Why can’t I have that?”
She imagined the clouds to be her fans, waving and cheering for her instead of that blasted Trickster. They would pound their hooves in applause and shout praises like never before. Tiny foals would point her out from their parent’s backs, and squeal in delight at her many illusions. Above it all, one name rang clear.
“Lulamoon! Lulamoon! Lulamoon!”
“Lulamoon, huh?” She chuckled to herself as she planned some changes for that night’s performance. “I might be able to work with that.”