//------------------------------//
// Trixie Lulamoon 
// Story: Of Capes and Robbers 
// by Jet Kusanagi 
//------------------------------//

	Life in Taraville was not as bad as everyone claimed. Most people complained about the fact that it was always dark and raining and that the streets were never very well lit. Others felt that it's atmosphere was depressing overall. Still others claimed that the salesponies that chose to set up shops were less than reputable and ripped ponies off more often than not. The way this unicorn saw it...all of those claims were true enough, but he chose to look at the bright side of them all. Sure it was always dark and raining, meaning that it was impossible to get a sunburn and that his skin never dried out. Yes, the lighting was poor on the best of days, but that meant it was easy to catch unsuspecting ponies unawares. The atmosphere could drive even the most peppy of party ponies to off themselves, but that meant that making friends would never be an issue for him since no one would dare attempt to live in this place. And of course the shopkeepers were all scoundrels.

But hey, he had to make a living somehow. And after all, anyone who would dare to trek through this place would rather not be noticed, which made his life even easier.

Splish splash!

He looked up and smiled behind his old, tattered cloak. “A customer...” he said out loud to himself in his raspy, voice.

“This is unbearable! Why on Earth is it raining so hard here!? There isn't a cloud in the sky!”

He frowned a bit. He recognized that voice from somewhere, but he couldn't tell where from.

“Ugh, I was better off on that thrice-cursed rock farm! This town is no place for the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!”

His eyes widened. Now he knew who it was...even without the source screaming out her name like that. He had attended a few of her shows before, not at all impressed with what he had seen there. He thought that her magic was mediocre at best. Worst of all, her incessant boasting was exceedingly annoying to him. What was she doing in a place like this?

Then, realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. He knew exactly what a mediocre show magician like her would be searching for in a town like this. But maybe he would be able to trick her into a sale before he had a chance to get to her. She was about to run right past him when he called out. “Traveler!” he whispered loudly.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke. This was a reaction that he was used to, seeing as how his little stand was in a dark alleyway where no one would expect. He found that keeping his stand in the alley made it easy to sell to passersby while making it difficult for anyone less reputable than him to rob him.

Trixie locked eyes with him once she composed herself. She flipped her hair and tried to pretend like nothing had happened. “How dare you attempt to sneak up on the Great and Powerful Trixie!?” she accused.

He smiled, feigning guilt. “My apologies, Miss Trixie,” he said, bowing. He stepped out from the alley. “Living here, it is easy to forget one's manners. My name is Cloak Nefarious Dagger, but my friends call me Cloak N. Dagger.” That was a half lie, seeing as how he had no friends. “You may call me Cloak, though.”

Trixie closed her eyes and “humphed” at him. “Whatever. The Great and Powerful Trixie does not speak with commoners like you. I have more important business to attend to.” She started to trot away.

Cloak never lost his smile. “More important than the Alicorn Amulet?”

Trixie stopped and turned around. He had her in his hooves completely. “What did you say?” she asked, her tone betraying more than a little surprise.

Cloak pointed at himself in a “Who, me” sort of gesture and shrugged. “I have no idea what you are talking about, Miss Trixie. Maybe you are hearing things-”

Cloak was taken off guard when Trixie lifted him up with her bare hooves and slammed him against the wall. She was strong, for a unicorn. “Do not toy with me, Cloak N. Dagger!” she commanded. “What do you know of the Amulet!?”

Cloak regained his smile. “Ah, so that is what you are after,” he said as if he did not already know. “I don't think-”

Trixie pulled him off the wall and then pushed him into it again, making Cloak a little dizzy. “I said not to toy with me, salespony!” she reminded.

Cloak shook his head to clear out the flying mailponies from his head. “If you kill me, you'll never be able to get the Amulet,” he warned, not raising his voice. “Believe me, Trixie Lulamoon when I say that I am on your side.” He wasn't to be honest, but it was a tried and true sales tactic to claim to be looking out for the best interests of your customer.

She let him go, looking upon him with confusion. “How do you know my whole name?” she asked.

Cloak rubbed his neck to help get the air back in. He chuckled. “Who doesn't know of the Great and Powerful Trixie?” he flattered. “Your feats are legendary.” This was not necessarily a lie. Trixie's deeds were indeed legendary, but not in a good way.

Trixie smirked. “I suppose they are. Trixie's feats are so legendary that word of them has reached even this backwater town.”

Cloak bowed again. “Yes, they have,” he said. Then, he frowned. “But I fear that you will find it difficult to retrieve that which you seek.”

Trixie started to growl. “Why is that?”

Cloak smiled again, unable to control himself. This was going to be easy. “Oh, if it were up to me I would give it to you without question, but...”

Trixie was in his face. Her breath smelled strangely like cherries and maple syrup. He had no idea where such a smell would come from. “But what!?”

“The shopkeeper that holds it is a bit...strict when it comes to selling rare and powerful items like the Alicorn Amulet,” Cloak claimed.

“Who has it?” Trixie asked. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will change his mind!”

Cloak shook his head and stepped backward. The cherry and maple syrup stench was starting to bother him. “If only it were that easy, Miss Trixie,” he said, sounding hopeless. “You see...it's your voice.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “My voice!?” She took a deep breath. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE GREAT AND POWERFUL VOICE!?”

Cloak's ears would be ringing for a while after that. “Oh nothing, nothing at all! It is the shopkeeper's tendencies, I assure you. The problem is...he only sells to patrons with distinguished voices.”

Trixie was starting to look skeptical. Her horn was glowing white. “What sort of game are you playing with me, Cloak N. Dagger?”

Cloak would need to play this carefully or else lose the sale completely. “There is no other voice that I would rather listen to than yours, Great and Powerful Trixie.” More lies. “But there are others like that shopkeeper that would refuse to sell to you because...because, well you are...a mare.” He tried his best to sound uncomfortable with saying it.

“WHAT!?” Trixie yelled in anger.

Got her. Cloak hid his smile as best he could. “Yes. It is unfortunate that we live in a society such as this one, Miss Trixie. It is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless.”

This was clearly upsetting her. Perfect, Cloak thought. Now was the time to make his sale. He continued. “However, I have just the thing to get around this. Give me a moment.” He went behind his stand for a second and came back up with a small capsule.

“What is that?” Trixie asked, examining it from a distance.

“This pill contains the essence of a plant that I like to call Joys N' Poke,” Cloak claimed with a trustworthy smile.

“That's an odd name for a plant,” Trixie observed, stepping closer.

“Even so,” Cloak continued. “This capsule will give your voice the necessary base to fool that old bigot of a shopkeeper.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. She was clearly interested, but not completely sold. Cloak had to hurry, he knew. He went back down below his stand. “I understand your skepticism. You're worried about your appearance. While your voice will sound like a stallion, he will still be able to tell that you are a mare.” He came back up with a simple black cloak. “A simple solution, I know but it will be enough to trick him.”

Trixie scratched her chin. “Black does not suit the Great and Powerful Trixie at all,” she claimed. “Do you have one in purple?”

Cloak resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Sadly, no. Even if I did, I would advise against it. Purple is your signature color, after all. It would give you away too easily.”

A few seconds passed before Trixie nodded in agreement. “I suppose you are right. No one looks better in purple than the Great and Powerful Trixie. I practically started the trend. He would recognize me immediately.” A few more seconds passed before she nodded her head definitively. “Fine, I'll take it!”

Cloak's smile broadened. “Perfect. For the cloak and Poi-er, Joys N' Poke...30 bits.”

Trixie stamped her hooves on the ground. “30 bits!? That's outrageous!”

Cloak chuckled. “Of course, of course! My apologies, Great and Powerful Trixie. How about...25 bits?”

“15 bits,” Trixie countered.

She fancies herself a haggler, Cloak thought. He decided to play along to satisfy her. “24.”

Trixie crossed her hooves, smiling. “18!”

Cloak sighed, feigning defeat. “Fine, fine 18 bits it is, but I'm losing money,” he lied. He gave her the cloak and the pill. This mare had clearly never haggled for anything in her entire life. “It might take a minute for the full affect of the pill to settle in, but once it does it will last long enough for you to make your purchase.”

Trixie fastened the cloak around her neck and looked at herself in a nearby puddle. She posed a little and smirked. “Perhaps the Great and Powerful Trixie does not look as bad in black as she thought!” She lifted the pill and looked at it. “Are you certain that this thing is safe?” she asked.

“Of course it is!” Cloak only half-lied. “I would never sell anything that I wasn't sure was safe.” That last part was a complete lie.

Trixie raised and eyebrow at him and shrugged. “Fine,” she said. She popped the pill into her mouth and swallowed. She grimaced. “Ugh, it's bitter!”

Cloak chuckled. “The shopkeeper that you want is named Oddsin Ends. He is five blocks down to your left.”

Trixie coughed a little. “Thank-” Cough! “-thank you!”

“It was my pleasure to have served you, Great and Powerful Trixie,” Cloak said, bowing low. After standing up, he backed away into the shadows of the alley.

Trixie turned around and coughed some more, this time more violently. “My throat...hurts...” She coughed again. “...must...be working...”

She started trotting towards where Cloak had told her to go, but then she was bent double by another fit of coughing. She tried standing up, but she couldn't from the raucous coughing coming from her throat. After it was done, she went back to the alley to see if he had a lozenge or other such thing for sale. “C-cloak...?” she asked weakly. “Where...?” There was one last cough before she drew in a breath to call out again, only there was a problem.

No sound came out of her mouth.

She tried speaking, but not only was her voice not deep and full of base as the salespony had promised, it was also non-existent. She went into the alley and looked around for him. Both he and his stand were gone. She looked up and screamed, which to anyone listening sounded as quiet as a mouse whispering.

She had been played for a fool.

There would be time to find that treacherous salespony later though. Right now, she had something she needed to find. She trotted away into the rain and darkness, leaving Cloak Nefarious Dagger to chuckle silently upon the roof.

This had been a glorious day for him.