//------------------------------// // Waxing a Boaster // Story: The Magic and Mysteries of Friendship // by The Stainmore Phoenix //------------------------------// Sun, singing birds, and fresh air from a new day was what the doctor ordered. Aquatis Storm was out, waiting for a delivery of medicine from Canterlot when he saw a caravan pull in and stop. His curiosity was piqued and so was the rest of Ponyville apparently. However, he saw that White Orchid, Soundstar, Amplitude, Hurricane, Storm Blast, the four Thestrals and Gemstone were not so keen on this guest. “Oh, here comes trouble!” Shaydefire hissed. “Don’t tell us…Trixie?” the others asked. He nodded. The others groaned. Aquatis Storm joined them and asked them what was happening. “Trixie, the voice of trouble in Canterlot became a traveling stage mare,” White Orchid explained. “Let’s just say, ever since she was a filly, she was a right terror. Always bragging in her magical powers and creating all sorts of problems and relying on somepony else to sort them out.” “Best thing is to ignore her and keep your distance,” Gemstone added. Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie showed up while the others were talking. They were intrigued by what they heard and were somewhat curious as to why a large group of ponies hated Trixie. As they trotted over to the group, Dragonstorm flew in after finishing his morning mail route. “Oh, the “Great and Powerful” Trixie is here,” the Alicorn huffed. “that one trick pony is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. She’s gifted with magic, much like Twilight, but she doesn’t use it to sort any problem out and leaves it for others. I have experience having to sort out her messes.” “Really?” Twilight asked. “Yes!” Dragonstorm snapped. “She once summoned a group of large spiders that she had somehow made magic proof and that meant I had to go and create fire the old fashion way and smoke them out of Canterlot and I lead them to the Frigid North, where they froze solid and were shattered by a snowflake.” “Why’d you lead them?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Let’s just say these spiders had a taste for Alicorns and were planning to go for Celestia, which forced my hand too soon,” he growled. “Trixie then tried to pin the whole fiasco on me! Thankfully, Celestia understood and she basically told Trixie that she’d better be gone within 125 hours and put me on clean up duty. Take a wild guess as to what the clean up duty was.” “Cleaning up spider webs?” Rarity asked. “Cleaning up spider webs, freeing ponies that the spiders intended to snack on, rebuild a good 9/10ths of Canterlot, tending to the injured and rescuing those trapped in the destroyed buildings,” Dragonstorm spat. “She never learns her lessons and wants to always get even with those who fixed her mess. She also steals the credit of those who fixed her mess.” The others were now paler than a bed sheet. Rarity noticed that the Alicorn wanted to blow a blood vessel and promptly wring Trixie’s neck. The unicorn lead the stallion Alicorn to a local restaurant, where she told him to order a strong herbal tea. However, that plan was wrecked when they heard a voice. “Ah, the Great and Powerful Trixie sees somepony she despises,” it said. “Just ignore her,” White Orchid said. However, Trixie teleported in front of them and placed a hoof on Dragonstorm’s chest. She gave him a dirty and malicious grin as she forced him towards the stage. He glared at her and locked his hooves hard, causing her to slip and slide while she tried to push him. “Trixie, don’t even try to get me on that stage,” he told her darkly. “After your escapade in Canterlot, I’m surprised you haven’t been jailed yet.” “I have changed, young stallion,” she said, tauntingly. “That is, if your man enough to face me.” Dragonstorm looked down at her. She looked up at him and grinned again, this time trying to pour on the charm. He lowered his eye lids and curled his upper lip. “I despise you,” he said. “You’re nothing but trouble.” She glared at him, but he sidestepped and lead his group of friends to the restaurant, where he had them order lunch and he paid for it. As they ate, he gave more information on Trixie, including the fact that she also has something against Twilight and that something is that Twilight was selected to be a student under Celestia’s own Tutelage. The others were confused as to why Trixie would hate Twilight because of that, but Dragonstorm explained. “Twilight’s always had better control of her magical powers and showed a greater use of it and that was what attracted Celestia’s attention while our little Element of Magic attended “Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns”. Dangersignal ended up being Twilight’s teacher for some spells while Celestia had to attend to some very important meetings.” “Oh,” Twilight said. “I didn’t know Celestia would let anypony else teach me.” “Well, the “going to an important meeting” was an excuse. She wanted him to teach you a simple spell that he used quite often, which would allow the caster recount an entire conversation complete with voices and their pauses, without straining the vocal chords,” Dragonstorm explained. “Oh, that sounds like a fun spell,” Rarity said. “It is, since it helps if said pony tries to reword what they said, you can have a full account, with what they actually said,” Dragonstorm said. “It’s helped us catch many criminals, as well as weed out conspirators and corrupted guards.” “Wow!” everyone else said. “Yes, but remember, I am not bragging about my brother’s accomplishments, I am merely telling you things he wouldn’t tell you for fear that he’d come off as a braggart,” Dragonstorm said. “He’s too modest and will say things like: “It’s nothing”, “No trouble at all”, “My pleasure”, and so on down the list.” “Seems like a good guy, really,” Twilight said. “He is, especially since we’ve been saddled with a secret, but I see Trixie approaching,” the Alicorn said. Everyone turned to face her and glare, as the wizard hat and cloak wearing unicorn came up to them. She was furious that Dragonstorm ignored her and refused to take the stage and make a monkey out of himself. It became apparent that his biting comment about despising her hadn’t sunk in. “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you come on stage, you poor excuse of an Alicorn!” she snapped. “Listen, sweetheart, your in no position to make demands,” Dragonstorm said. “The last time you tried that, you almost got Celestia eaten by spiders.” “That was a mistake that any useless pony, such as yourself could make,” Trixie sneered. Dragonstorm didn’t even bother with a response. Instead, he continued to talk with his friends. Trixie was now livid and ready to fire off when a voice spoke up behind her. “Trixie, be a doll and do us a favor. Put an egg in your hoof boot and beat it!” She wheeled to see Dangersignal standing behind her, with Big Mac, Soarin and Spitfire. The four of them were going to join the others for a game of poker and didn’t want to be bothered by this sad clown. “I’ll get your poor excuse of an Alicorn brother on stage,” Trixie snarled. “Then we’ll see who’s great!” Dangersignal shook his head and raised a hoof. “I said beat it!” he snarled. “Or would you like me to propel you?” Trixie snarled again left them alone. The larger Alicorn stallion looked as his large group and smiled politely. Big Mac and Soarin looked at each other and chuckled. “He’s definitely a stallion worthy of a large group of friends,” Big Mac whispered to Soarin. “He is, indeed,” Soarin whispered in reply. Dangersignal pulled out three decks of cards, all with the same markings and shuffled the decks together after pulling out the jokers. He asked if any pony had a preference in what card game they played. It was universal-Five Card Stud, Deuces Wild. “Right then,” Dangersignal said. “Let’s get started.” They played for three hours, with Rainbow Dash winning most of the hands and chuckling. Dangersignal looked up at her while he dealt out the final hand. “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid,” Dangersignal chuckled. Rainbow Dash gave a mock pout and the game resumed. This time, Soarin won and was promised a fresh apple pie. Dangersignal then promised everyone dinner, seeing as he had a successful haul in terms of profit and was willing to treat them nicely. Trixie watched them and decided to try and show them up. “I’ll get back at them tomorrow,” she huffed. That night, the group slept soundly and when the morning came, trouble came a-callin’. Trixie was back and this time stirring up more trouble than a rainstorm made mud. Luckily, every pony in the Elements of Harmony group had their jobs to tend to and it made Trixie’s job more difficult. Dangersignal was on registered parcel delivery, Dragonstorm was on shunting duties in Ponyville Junction Goods Yard, White Orchid was to catch a train to Canterlot to pick up a load of Dendrobium Amabile, Rarity was waiting on a special shipment of fabrics and gems from a town called Aberhoofi and the others were busy with other chores. Trixie was not exactly happy with her prospects. The two Alicorns were proving more difficult to catch than a bee loaded with nectar. It became clear that they were avoiding her, so she went back to performing, and bragging about being able to banish an Ursa Major. Twilight could hear her boasting about that and roping the audience in, including two rather stupid looking stallion foals. It seemed that they were absolutely taken with how brave she was. However, if the others hadn’t been taken by her incessant boasting, they would have realized she was putting on an act. “I smell it ending in tears,” came a grunt from alongside her. Storm Blast had finished his morning’s weather duties and was now as free as a canary. Twilight looked at him and decided to pop a question that had been plaguing her for some time. “Storm Blast, seeing as we are friends, be honest with me-do you see me becoming Trixie at all?” she asked. He shook his head and grinned at her. “Nah, I see you taking up being a new princess, but that’s just my eyes telling my brain what they see in you,” he said. Twilight giggled and gave him a light shove. He smiled and bowed like a gentleman. It became apparent that Princess Celestia hadn’t made any mistakes in choosing the ponies that Twilight now hung out with. As for the others, they were busy with their tasks and managed to get together for a fancy dinner at Canterlot’s well hidden Restaurant-The Golden Needle. According to White Orchid and Dragonstorm, the restaurant had the best meals any pony could ever eat. “Their “Chocolate and Cream Coconut Stuffed Pastries” are simply to die for,” Dragonstorm said. “Also, their Slow Roasted Vegetable stew and Slow Grilled Apple and Pineapple soup is rather delicious. I found the place during one night, when a train was due to take down to Ponyville was held up due to severe weather conditions and several hotboxes.” “Okay, I have to ask you this,” Twilight said, looking at the younger Alicorn. “How many ponies do you know? How many ponies know you and how do you know all these places?” “To answer your first question, I know tons of ponies and tons of ponies know me from my time in the Royal Guard and I know all these hidden gems because I often went out while my brother handled the castle guard,” Dragonstorm said. “If the Grand Galloping Gala was going on, I stayed to help him out.” “Oh,” was all anyone of the group could say. “Yeah,” Dragonstorm said. “In my former line of work, you met all kinds of ponies-Assassins, Lawyers, Detectives, Cops, Chefs, Loonies, Nurses, Doctors, House Call Surgeons, House Call Doctors, Changelings, Vamponies, Bat Ponies, Celebrities, you name it, me and my brother have dealt with them.” As he listed his accomplishments, Trixie continued to boast and not show any remorse. He started to feel sorry for her and after excusing himself from the group, he made his way to the stage, to watch. Of course, Trixie saw him and he followed her on stage and grinned inwardly. He was going to show her the power of boasting in what you have done, versus what you haven’t done. “My dear Trixie, it is an honor to be here on stage,” Dragonstorm said. “But I needn’t sweet talk. My fine improvisational skills shall do the speaking for me.” With that, he stood stiff and gave a hearty jolt forward, as if lunging at an invisible loony. Trixie seemed slightly bemused, but the group of friends were watching with awe. As if on cue, Dragonstorm changed his lunge into a slide as if to catch a falling infant. Trixie began to glare as he upstaged her more and more, but he continued until he dislocated his front left shoulder. Aquatis Storm took to tending to him and Trixie came to face him. “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know why you did that?” she snapped. “Simple, I boasted in what I could do and followed it up with my actions, letting people see that I don’t make empty boasts,” he said. “I was an Improv theatre student for years and that was the one thing I was taught, rather painfully I might add.” Trixie looked at him, and at the group, who were ready to throw things at her and make a mess. Dragonstorm said that if any pony threw anything, he’d have them booked for disturbing the peace so fast that they wouldn’t have their head on their body when they landed in a cell. “Trixie fell into the usual trap of any traveling performer,” he said. “She boasted in what she couldn’t do, in hopes that it would make her feel better about herself. This isn’t true. If you boast in what you do, then people will like you better than if you boast in things you don’t do at all.” Twilight was in awe and Dragonstorm lead Trixie off the stage and over to the café to treat her to lunch and give her some tips. Her persona off the stage was different-she seemed to be apprehensive and scared. Dragonstorm laid a reassuring wing over her and told her that no matter what, he’d be there for her and that he enjoyed her shows and the work she did. Later, in the library, Twilight asked Dragonstorm to take a letter, as Spike was busy dealing with some books that other ponies had returned. He had to reshelf them and log them into the roster that Twilight kept in the back cabinet. “Dear Princess Celestia, I learned some rather interesting things today from Dragonstorm. He said to a traveling performer named Trixie that if she boasts in her accomplishments, then ponies will like her for who she really is. He was also of the mind that if some pony doesn’t like you for boasting in what you do, then they do not matter. He also showed that he cared for her and saved her from embarrassment. He showed her how to boast in her accomplishments and back it up with actions that follow the boast. He showed her that he has no problems befriending any pony who shows their true selves. He also showed that if you accept yourself first and foremost, then you can accept others. His lesson to me, which I report will be in shorter terms-accept yourself, boast in your accomplishments and show others that you care. Some things I never thought would be used to judge the quality of friends. Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle.” Spike was soon free to send the letter off and then the group split up. Dragonstorm went to his house, where Princess Luna was waiting. She was slightly afraid of being accepted by the others, but he comforted her and treated her just like the little sister he never had: laughing and joking around. As for the next plan, that is another story.