The Great and Powerful Trixie Rises

by kildeez

Chapter IX: The Prestige

TWO DAYS LATER

As terrible as the Town Hall looked before, it looked even worse now that it’d had to endure an attack from the fake Elements of Harmony. Still, Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she stepped carefully through the ruins, ducking under a beam as she picked her way along. Everything had gone exactly as they’d planned.

“Careful, sugahcube,” a voice said behind her. “There’s some glass by yer hoof.”

“Thanks, Applejack,” the unicorn smiled at her friend, inching her hoof to the side as the Earth pony popped up beside her. “Now, could you tell me how you took those dogs out so quickly? I couldn’t see from where I was standing.”

“Hey Twi, you really think this is the best time for an interview?” Rainbow Dash asked as she landed effortlessly next to the beam, bracing her shoulder against it as her friends passed underneath. “Any other time, I’d LOVE to talk about how awesome I am, but right now…”

“I think Twily just wants to hear something to distract her from how scary this all is,” Fluttershy added, cautiously hovering along until her flank brushed by an exposed nail. “EEP! I-I know I do!” She promptly shot to Rainbow’s side and cowered behind her pegasus friend, shivering as her eyes darted around for anything scary in the cold, dark ruins.

“Actually, I’ve read that it’s best to go through a debriefing as soon as possible, while the event in question is still fresh in the mind,” Twilight explained, her head turning for a split-second. Suddenly, Applejack bolted forward and grabbed her flank, stopping her in her tracks. The unicorn turned back to where she was walking and found herself staring face-to-face with a massive glass shard, her friend having saved her from literally impaling herself. “Of course, that other reason is good too,” she laughed nervously.

“Well, what can Ah say, sugahcube?” AJ replied in relief, happy her friend hadn’t just turned herself into a pony-kabob.

“We’re just masters of subtlety,” Rainbow added coolly. “Those Dogs didn’t stand a chance once we set our minds to grabbin’ that…big, weird…pony-less…chariot…thing.”

“Ooh, subtlety!” Pinkie said, skipping effortlessly along, her body oftentimes mere inches from splintered wood and pointy glass shards. “Is that what you call that thing where you grabbed that one Dog in a headlock and choked him out while he was distracted because Applejack had just punched his friend?”

“Ahem, yeah Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash sighed, rolling her eyes. “That’s subtlety.”

“Wussy went down with one punch,” Applejack added under her breath, pulling her trademark hat down over her eyes. “Them Dogs got glass jaws, Ah’ll tell y’what.”

“I say, is anypony going to ask me how my part went?” Rarity asked as she daintily laid a handkerchief over the ground before shimmying under the beam. “I mean, I know it wasn’t the most exciting of parts, but convincing everypony that we weren’t really under Trixie’s power still took quite a bit of effort!”

“Of course, Rarity,” Twilight smiled. “You can tell us all about it while we make our way to Trixie. I’m sure she’s buried pretty deep down here.”

“Actually, Ah wouldn’t be too sure ‘bout that,” Applejack said, her voice gaining a solemn tone as she pointed. Twilight turned and saw what was, at once, the most tragic and the most hilarious thing she had seen that week: a male unicorn stallion in a French maid’s uniform, weeping at the side of a certain blue mare.

“Sethisto,” she sighed, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

He looked back at Twilight, tears soaking the front of his apron, his hooves wrapped around the part of Trixie’s body that wasn’t pinned beneath the Roman-styled column. He hadn’t even taken off the little white hat in his mane, which was now covered in red from sobbing into her chest. “Sh-she lied to me, Twilight,” he sobbed.

“Oh Sethy,” Twilight replied. “She had to lie to everypony, or else it wouldn’t have…”

“No,” he shook his head, holding the lifeless body closer. “She lied when she caught me in here earlier. She said she was gonna put me to sleep, and when I woke up, everything would make sense. Shuh-she said she loved me and…and…” he gazed down at the lifeless blue form in his hooves and bawled. “She said I’d just wake up and everything would make sense, but it doesn’t. She’s gone! How could anything make sense now, huh!? How could getting herself killed make any sense at all!?”

“You’re right, Sethy,” Twilight replied knowingly. “It wouldn’t make sense.”

“It…wouldn’t?”

“Of course not, which is why she had me work on something a couple nights ago, before I focused on implementing that oatmeal spell outside,” the lilac mare pulled a small vial filled with green fluid out of thin air. “Sethy, do you know what this is?”

The stallion shook his head, looking more and more confused as Twilight unceremoniously dumped the contents of the vial down Trixie’s throat. “It’s an antidote for a certain brand of the Manticore’s poison. Now, usually a Manticore’s vemon is almost always fatal. However, if mixed with a few key ingredients in the proper amounts, the poison gains a delayed reaction. Rather than killing its victim immediately, there is instead a twelve hour window of time during which the victim can be saved.”

“We get what yer gettin’ at, sugarcube,” Applejack said, smiling at her friend. “But if y’can pick up th’ pace, Ah think Sethy could use some comfort more than a science lesson raght now.”

“I’m getting to it; let’s just see if he figures it out!”

“I don’t get it,” Sethisto sighed, wiping at his eyes. “What does Manticore venom hafta do with Trixie being duh-deh…” he gave up on finishing the sentence, unable to even say the word out loud.

“Well Sethy, during that twelve-hour window, there is a special side-effect: the victim slides into a coma with a greatly reduced heart and respiration rate combined with sleep paralysis, producing an effect that almost perfectly mimics death.” Sethy stared at her for a half-second before something dawned in his eyes. Twilight smiled. “Do you get it now?”

“Y-you’re saying Trixie’s just…”

Suddenly, the blue mare gasped behind him, her eyes bugging out as her lungs greedily drank in air. “Trixie!” Her stallionfriend screamed, wrapping his hooves around her. “H-how!? There’s so much blood, you should be…”

“…Vampire…bat’s blood…” she panted, wiping some of the sticky red stuff off her face. “Good for…potions. Never leave home…without some.”

“You brilliant, incredible…” he gasped, squeezing her and locking his lips over hers, tears drifting down his cheeks. After a while, Rainbow hovered over to break them up.

“Okay guys, I know you’re ready to suck each other’s faces off, but now’s not the time,” she explained. “I’m pretty sure Trixie needs air more than she needs love for the time being.”

“Trixie,” Twilight said, studying the blue mare on the ground. “How are you feeling? Any side effects left from the potion?”

The blue mare nodded, tears welling in her eyes. “Trixie cannot feel her legs,” she said, crying softly. “Trixie is a paraplegic! How can Trixie…”

“No, Trixie is a moron who doesn’t know when to listen,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes as she wrapped her magic around the column pinning the magician and lifted it away. “I told you not to let anything fall onto your body before the venom kicked in, your circulation’s been cut-off!”

“That’s just because Twilight is a nerdy pony with no sense of showmareship,” Trixie replied stubbornly, silently grateful for the warmth rushing back into her hind legs.

“Trixie, I know this is a really warm time for us all,” Twilight said awkwardly. “But, if you please, I think it’d be a good idea for you to take off that Amulet.”

“Wha-oh!” Trixie stared at the small red jewel still locked around her neck. Her hooves began to grab for it. “Trixie had almost forgotten she was still wearing it to keep it safe from the Diamond Dogs! Trixie will just…just…” she drifted off as the world around her turned red, her eyes glowing. Her hooves raced to grab the Amulet, but they seemed to weigh a ton each, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t get them to her neck in time. They landed on the Amulet with a pair of loud thuds that echoed in her ears.

Something hissed in her ear as the red in her vision grew deeper and deeper: Did you really think it would be that easy, little pony? You are mine! Mine and mine alone, to use as I…

A yellow hoof thrust through the sea of red and grabbed her, pulling her back into reality. Sethisto stood over her, concern on his face as he reached down and rested his hoof on the Amulet next to hers. His was followed by a lilac hoof, then a cyan, a pink, another yellow, a white, and finally a burnt orange. Sethisto and each of the Elements of Harmony were all gathered in a tight little circle around Trixie, each resting their hooves on the Amulet, each lending Trixie all their love and all their hope and all their support for one last little push.

Suddenly, the magician found the strength to raise her hooves and rest them on each side of the Amulet. She inhaled, exhaled, readying herself. What are you doing!? The voice gasped, unable to comprehend this newfound strength. The blue mare slowly undid the clasp keeping the Amulet latched around her neck. No, stop! Think of the power you will be losing! You’ll just go back to being a worthless excuse of a magician, living in the Elements’ shadow with her doofus of a stallionfriend! You’ll be nothing again! Do you really want that!?

Sethisto stared down at her, smiling through the tears gathering in his eyes. “More than anything in the world,” the magician replied before wrestling the Amulet off her neck and tossing it aside like so much trash. She leaned back, gasping for air while Sethisto hugged her close, nuzzling into her chest. The Elements beamed with pride on their faces down at their new friend. Off to the side, the Amulet’s glow slowly faded, its power once again falling dormant without a host.

“You did it, Trixie,” Twilight said. “You’ve kept a dangerous artifact out of the wrong hooves, stopped Shizukh’s army, and avoided a war without a single drop of blood spilt, and all while fighting the Amulet’s influence!”

Trixie wrapped a hoof around Sethisto’s back, winced at the stiffness in her shoulder, and played it off as a cocky half-grin through gritted teeth as she replied: “Was there ever any doubt?”

Author's Note:

And yes, "Pledge" "Turn" and "Prestige" ARE references to the stages of a magic trick. Because I'm clever like that.