//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Sorry to Interrupt // Story: Hero Antagonist // by dungeonguy88 //------------------------------// She'd done it. Trixie had found the audience for her next performance. After days of searching, weeks and weeks of travel, and months of steady work re-designing her entire act from the ground up, she had found them. They were perfect. ...Well, not exactly. A perfect audience would be an audience of thousands of drunken, easily amused, wealthy Canterlot aristocrats, all ready to shower her with patronage and accolades. But for the beginning of Trixie's grand comeback, this out-of-the way little town would be a good start. She'd traveled far abroad to get to this point, heading beyond the core of Equestria looking for far-flung communities where nopony had heard of her. Or her past mistakes. Out here, Trixie's act could be judged by its undeniable brilliance and style, rather than the stories ponies had heard about it. Here she could garner a new following and reputation, that she could then carry back with her to Equestria. Sure, having to start from the bottom all over again was going to be tough. I mean, one could argue that in some places she was below the bottom, as far as some ponies were concerned. But she was the Great and Powerful Trixie. She had built herself up from scratch once before. And that was when she was still learning to perform and apply her magic. Now Trixie knew everything she needed to know. ...Apart from the name of this town. The roadside innkeeper that had set her after this rumored town didn't actually know what the town was called. All he said was, that they were strange folks out here. Which was good enough for Trixie. She'd accept any sort of audience with open hooves, at this point. ...Besides, even strange ponies needed to eat and Trixie was flat-out sick of grazing. “Trixie may have bought a few too many fireworks...” The mare complained aloud, as she began dragging her wagon once more. At first, the math had sounded right to her. Trixie needed to amaze ponies anew, which meant she needed some more glitz, glamour and excitement, to at least hook the ponies long enough to get them to see her act. And it's not like there were many places a pony could really starve in Equestria. Or even beyond Equestria, for that matter. Provided they weren't too picky about what they ate. But Trixie really, really wanted to be a bit picky about what she ate right now. A sophisticated, classy mare like herself could only survive for so long on grass and the occasional wildflower. She'd even found herself eying the odd pine cone, out of sheer desire for some much needed variety. Past-Trixie had really screwed over Present-Trixie with that whole spend-all-your-money-on-fireworks idea. At least, the rest of the journey looked to be all downhill from here, nestled as the town was in this valley. Trixie took another look down upon the small community with all of it's buildings arranged into two immaculately precise rows, but for the lone house at the far end. 'They must be big fans of urban-planning...' It would certainly be easier navigating than the winding, multi-level streets of Canterlot or the criss-crossing boulevards and back alleys of Manehattan. Very little chance that Trixie was going to get lost here... ...who would have thought that Manehattan even had a system of catacombs anyway? Apart from all the crocodiles that had been living down there. And that nice elderly couple she met, when she burst up from their basement while being chased by the aforementioned crocodiles, were probably aware of them too. After successfully beating back the angry reptiles, the couple assured her that they had ponies escaping from their basement every couple of weeks, and they always looked forward to the company... Trixie still had no idea how she was going to ever work that story into her act. Maybe something with magic tunnels and a fake crocodile? Trixie had been trying to work more of the things that had actually happened to her over the course of her travels into her new act, under Twilight Sparkle's advice. Shortly after the incident with that stupid amulet, she'd received a letter from her rival in the ways of magic, by way of a mailmare with some...odd eyes. It had turned out to be a surprisingly benign correspondence. Rather than being all condescending, or worse, sending her a bill for the damages, it seemed the purple unicorn had simply wanted to follow up and make sure that Trixie was doing alright. Trixie didn't know how to respond at the time, so she didn't. Then she received another letter at the end of that month, checking in on her. And like clockwork, she'd received another letter the next month. At that point Trixie finally started responding to the letters. Mostly just to let Twilight Sparkle know that she was doing fine on her own and that, no, she didn't need any extra help getting back on her hooves. Trixie was a bit thrown, when Twilight's next letter mentioned how she just wanted to make sure that the offer was out there. And that she understood that Trixie wanted to stand on her own abilities, but wanted to make sure that if she needed help that Trixie would ask. The part where Twilight compared it to similar situations that had arisen between herself and her other friends, had really messed with Trixie's head. The implication being that Twilight wanted to consider Trixie a friend... Trixie refused to bring any attention to that in any of her response letters. Not that it was hard, as she managed to find plenty of other things to talk about in their correspondence. Like the notion that perhaps Trixie could tell stories about her real adventures, rather than the fabricated ones. Twilight had rather generously pointed out that, details aside, Trixie had faced down an Ursa Minor and defeated Princess Celestia's personal student in a magic duel. Despite Twilight's surprisingly relaxed perspective on these things, Trixie still couldn't bring herself to use those stories in her act, regardless of embellishment. Both were terribly embarrassing for her, albeit for different reasons, no matter what Twilight's opinion might have been. It was still nice knowing that at least one pony didn't begrudge her too much for those encounters. In any event, that really left her with just the one story about the creepy, old couple and the sewer-gators. It was a story which even Trixie found hard-to-believe, despite having lived it. And if Trixie couldn't believe in it, how could anypony in this town buy into it? She might as well declare herself Queen of the Diamond Dogs while she was at it. There probably wasn't anything as weird as that story going on in this quaint little village. From her approach, the place looked almost aggressively boring and drab. Not the sort of place one was likely to run into gargantuan star-beasts, crocodiles, creepy old ponies or anything that was at all interesting. “Welcome!” Trixie shook herself from her ruminations, as she turned her attention to the very welcoming stallion that was currently standing in front of her. And his big, toothy grin. Blinking, at the almost rictus-like smile he was sending her way, Trixie had to take a moment to recall her planned introductions “Oh, yes. Trixie is pleased to-” “Welcome!” Called another mare, that was walking by. “Right...As Trixie was saying-” “Welcome!” “And it's very good to be welcomed so-” “Welcome!” A pegasus mare said from above, again cutting Trixie off from her planned grandstanding. Resisting the urge to shoot a glare at this latest of interruptions, Trixie cast her gaze along the dirt path that went through the center of the little town. Waiting now, to see if anymore townsponies were planning on cutting her off with another enthusiastic 'welcome', the azure mare found her brow furrowing. Trixie wasn't normally the one to turn down an attentive audience, but the focused cheer being sent her way was a bit unsettling. 'What they lack in monsters and creepy old ponies, they've made up for in unsettling smiling...' “...” “...” “...” After a few more seconds bereft of excessively friendly and ill-timed greetings, Trixie slapped on her own confident grin, as she again prepared to introduce herself. “Trixie-” “Welcome!” “Graarrhhh!” Trixie bit down on a snarl, as a group of passing foals gave another chorus of welcomes. “What's all this here?” Came yet another optimistic voice, though this mare's voice also carried with it a tinge of authority. Judging by the way the other townsponies immediately turned their collective attention to the approaching pink-coated mare, it was not wrong to think she was in-charge. “Starlight Glimmer.” Came the murmur from several of the ponies, before a dark-blue pegasus mare with a white mane and tail set down a few steps away from the newcomer “Somepony new has come to the village, Starlight.” Starlight gave a somewhat condescending smile at this, before using a hoof to push a stray hair from her purple mane back into it's place. Turning towards the other mare, the unicorn replied in a sugary-sweet voice “Wonderful! Just wonderful, Night Glider. I take it we've all been very welcoming to our new friend?” A quick chorus of affirmations and nods came from the smiling ponies, leading Trixie to glance between the townsponies and this new arrival, at this oddly coordinated response. The showmare's attention was turned back to this Starlight Glimmer, as she approached Trixie's wagon with a confident stride “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Starlight Glimmer and this, as you can see, is our perfect little community! I can see that-” “Yes, yes, Trixie is very pleased to meet you and see your little town.” Trixie irritably cut-in, leaving Starlight's perfect smile just a bit strained “But, if you don't mind, Trixie would like to take care of her own introductions now?” “Oh...” Came the forcibly calm response from Starlight “...Well, isn't that a lovely surprise. I had no idea that you were traveling with somepony else.” Several of the nearby townsponies looked ever-so-slightly anxious, at the glance Starlight sent their way. “I do so love surprises, and we would be happy to meet this Trixie, as soon as we're through with our own introductions.” “What are you talking about? You're meeting Trixie right now.” Trixie said, even as she furrowed her brow. Starlight was given some pause at this, before giving a slightly uncomfortable laugh “I'm afraid I don't recall meeting this-” “Trixie is Trixie! You're staring right at her!” Trixie exclaimed, her own patience running thin. Though, if one were to listen carefully, they might hear the sound of Starlight Glimmer's own patience being worn down, as well. Along with the sound of her teeth grinding against one another. “Well...I think, that I might understand our little miscommunication a bit better now, Trixie.” Starlight slowly said, tilting her head as she kept on her own radiant smile. “Yes, well...” Trixie said, mostly to herself, as she reined in her annoyance. She'd yet to even get through her introduction, and Trixie already found herself trying to contain her contempt for this town. 'Come on, Trixie. It's the Compassionate and Humble Trixie now. It's all about the audience, not you...' The consummate and incredibly professional magician took in a deep breath, before sending her own smile back towards Starlight. Trixie let loose her own awkward chuckle before speaking up “Miscommunication. Yes, Trixie sometimes runs into that problem.” “Well, we'll need to work on that, won't we?” Came Starlight's reply. The pink mare then cantered in a small circle, to face the gathered crowd of mostly-smiling ponies “But, that is for later. Please everypony, grant me the pleasure of welcoming Trixie to our-” “Actually, Trixie has already been quite thoroughly welcomed.” The azure mare matter-of-factly pointed out. Starlight Glimmer, slowly turned around to face Trixie once more, before smiling as she again tilted her head towards the other unicorn “Oh?...I must say, I am very glad to hear that.” Trixie gave a grin at this, finally sensing the opportunity to segue into her act “In fact, Trixie believes it is her turn now to welcome all of you to something.” This garnered some murmurs of confusion and curiosity from the townsponies, which elicited some pointed glances from Starlight Glimmer, in turn. Smiling again for Trixie, the pink mare once more spoke for the community “And, just what is it that we're being welcomed to?...If I might ask?” “You may.” Came Trixie smart response, accompanied by a very self-satisfied grin. She quickly used her magic to undo the harnesses holding her to her wagon, glad that she was finally getting a chance to kick things off. Starlight found herself giving a rather strained laugh at that “I would certainly-” “I'm getting to it.” Trixie said, a bit sharply, as she cantered over to a particular part of her wagon. This quickly got the townsponies murmuring amongst themselves, their smiles fading, as their curiosity won out. Others were looking to Starlight Glimmer for some answers, only to find the mare locked in place with a 'friendly' expression on her face. “It is Trixie's very great pleasure, to welcome all of you to...” The showmare paused for dramatic effect, before using one of her backhooves to knock against a nondescript point on her wagon... The quiet wore on for several seconds. Trixie's grin became a bit strained, as she gave another kick to her wagon. For the first time since the aggravating mare had arrived, Starlight Glimmer found herself the slightest bit amused. Trixie gave another frown, before giving one last sharp kick to the side of her wagon. “Is something wrong, dear?” Starlight asked, in a saccharine tone, as she spared a seemingly compassionate look for the frustrated Trixie “I'd hate to think-” Starlight was cut-off by a loud clanking noise, before being chased back, as the Trixie's wagon exploded into motion. Rearing back, as the hidden mechanisms in the caravan cranked into motion, Starlight quickly found herself falling over backwards into the hooves of her followers. Within a few seconds, a large stage had unfolded itself from the wagon, complete with it's own purple curtain. There was a spare moment of silence, after the stage had finished unveiling itself before the air was cracking with the sounds of fireworks launching. The townsponies quickly found themselves staring upon the multi-colored starbursts of light and sound that had been unleashed over their humble community. A sudden plume of smoke erupted on stage, before dissipating to reveal Trixie, as she struck the most dramatic pose she could manage. "As Trixie was saying...let Trixie welcome you all, to the Greatest Show in the World!"