A Great and Powerful Adversary - Trixie Enters the Stage
Pinkie looked around at the solid iron cage around her, then strained lightly against the ropes that tied her forelegs to her barrel to test them. “You know, I’m starting to get my doubts about this plan.”
Rarity smiled, whispering without turning her head to look at her. “Don’t worry, darling. I have everything perfectly under control.” She took a few steps forward towards the crowd of pirates, most of them dressed or painted in a circus theme. “Hello again, everypony. I came here with the intention to join your crew, and I captured my former boss as an offering.”
Pinkie cocked her head, looking around. “Your boss?”
“So the thief has returned to make amends, has she?”
The crowd started to mutter and look around for the source of the disembodied voice, most of them grinning knowingly. There was a loud bang followed by a plume of blue smoke bursting from the ground between Rarity and the crowd, and a powder blue earth pony mare with a silver-grey mane stepped out. She was wearing a deep blue, star-spangled cape and a pointy wizard’s hat of the same color, studded with even more stars and moons and the word 'WIZZARD' stitched onto the front in silver letters.
The mare took a few steps forward and cleared her throat, then threw her forelegs up in a pose, cape blowing behind her as two more plumes of sparkling smoke erupted on both her sides.
“Welcome! To the greatest show in the East Blue!”
Rarity took a step back, forcing a nervous smile. “T-Trixie, I presume?”
Trixie settled back down, bowing humbly with a smirk. “The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trixie! But you may call me Captain Trixie, if you want. And if you pass a… rite of induction, so to speak.”
Rarity gulped and glanced around. “And… what would that rite entail, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Trixie hummed and pretended to mull the question over for a moment. “Well, usually it would be a simple show of skill. But you gave us quite some trouble, didn’t you? And since you already brought your former Captain here…” She smiled, the expression turning slightly sinister. “Bring it in, boys.”
“Right away, Captain-ji!”
“Loaded and ready-ji!”
The crowd parted to let two earth pony colts through, both of them barely visible behind the huge cannon on wheels they were pushing. They stopped it next to Trixie, then quickly scampered back to the front of the crowd.
“Thank you, boys.” Trixie smiled after them, then turned back around, gesturing grandly towards the cannon. “Behold, the Great And Powerful Trixie’s masterpiece: the Grand Finale!”
She put a hoof to the cannon and effortlessly turned it until it was facing a row of houses. Then she waved her hooves once, producing a box of matches. “Years of research have gone into the special ammunition, the Trixie ball. And now all Trixie needs is one shot…” She lit the fuse, everypony watching with bated breath as it burned down.
[KHOOOOOOOOM]
A massive blast of energy shot out from the cannon, blindingly bright and wider than the houses it had been aiming at. It took several seconds to simmer down again, leaving nothing but a large gash in the ground where the houses used to be.
Rarity gulped audibly, smiling nervously. “That’s… very impressive? Quite a good show. Now if you don’t mind I should probably–“
Trixie cut her off, turning the cannon around and pushing it towards the unicorn. “Now now, Trixie insists. You see, after all the shenanigans you caused she is just not quite convinced you really want to join her crew. But there’s a simple solution.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to shoot your former boss with this. Nice, clean and simple.”
Rarity looked between Trixie, Pinkie and the cannon, stammering. “T-that… you mean… O-oh, of course. Nothing easier than that, y-yes?”
“Trixie sees we have an understanding. Boys, load’er up.” Trixie pushed past Rarity and strutted up to the cage while the two colts from earlier returned with a large blue cannonball. “As for you…”
She frowned and leaned in towards the bars. “You are a very unlucky mare, you know. Trixie would have just let you run off with your tail tucked between your legs if you hadn’t had the gall to show up here… wearing that hat!”
Rarity blinked, thrown off enough to forget her problems for the moment. “Her… her hat? It’s not exactly in season, I know, but don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”
“Did I ask for your opinion?!” Trixie snapped at her before turning her attention back to Pinkie.
“Trixie would recognize that hat out of thousands. Elore gave it to you, didn’t she?! Admit it!”
Pinkie blinked, then gasped and leaned forward excitedly. “You know Shanks?”
“Know her? Know her?!” Trixie reared back and stomped her hoof on the ground, shrieking in anger. “That stupid old two-bit clown and her infuriating grin ruined my life!”
Pinkie frowned and tilted her head. “That doesn’t sound like Shanks at all… Are you sure that you’re thinking about the same pony? The Shanks I know always tries to make everypony happy?”
“She–“ Trixie raised a hoof, then froze, her left eye twitching a bit. “…Trixie does not need to explain herself to the likes of you. You won’t live to remember the story anyway.” She turned around and strutted back to the cannon. “Well? What’s the holdup?”
“Everything’s prepared-ji!”
“Fire in the hole-ji!”
Rarity took a step back as Trixie turned to her, smiling nervously. “Y-yes, darling?”
Trixie narrowed her eyes, pulling a box of matches out of her cloak. “Light the fuse.”
The unicorn gulped and nodded, taking the matches and nervously pulling one out. She pulled it across the side of the box in her magic several times, breaking it on the fourth try and chuckling awkwardly. “Oh dear, they don’t seem to be working… So sorry, Miss Trixie.”
“That’s Captain Trixie to you, and Captain Trixie is getting the impression that you aren’t even trying.” Trixie sat down and pushed her forehooves together, pulling them apart again to reveal a small flame floating between them. The flame took the form of a butterfly under polite applause and cheers from the crowd, slowly flapping its way over to the cannon.
Rarity could only watch, standing beside Trixie, as the butterfly settled on the fuse and lit it, disappearing as the fuse quickly lit down. She shifted in place, nervously looking around.
Trixie glanced at her, frowning. “Is something wrong?”
“N-no, of course not. I was just…” Rarity looked around before suddenly gasping and pointing behind Trixie. “Hey, is that a demonic duck of some sort?!”
Everypony – including Pinkie Pie – turned their heads to look; except for Trixie. The mare simply looked down at Rarity, raising an eyebrow. “Did you really think I would fall for an obvious diversion like that?”
[Shinnnnng]
There was the sound of steel and soft clop of hooves on the pavement, the tip of the cannon’s fuse falling to the ground, cut off cleanly. Rainbow Dash was standing right in front of it, wearing a cocky smirk with her wingblades ready. “So what, this a party?”
There was a dead silence as everypony stared at her, broken when Pinkie grinned and wiggled around in her ropes, trying to wave. “Hey Rainbow Dash, how’s it going?”
Rainbow turned her head, keeping one eye on the pirates and the other on Pinkie. “We’ve been separated for less than twenty minutes. How did you manage to get yourself into this mess?”
“Would you look at that…” Trixie slowly stepped forward, looking the pegasus over. “Aren’t you that infamous bounty hunter? What is somepony like you doing associating with these mares?”
Rainbow tilted her head, ears perking up. “What do you mean, ‘these mares’? I’m only with her.” She pointed at Pinkie.
“Oh, and what about–“ Trixie turned to her left, pausing as she saw only empty air. “Oh, she’s good.” She turned back to Rainbow. “I suppose you are here to take me in, then?”
“Hey, when in Roam…” Rainbow shrugged, smirking. “I’m feeling generous, though. Just give me the key for this cage and we’ll be out of your mane.”
Trixie chuckled, standing tall. “A tempting offer. How about instead I finish you off and then we continue with blasting your friend into an obnoxious pink speck on the ground.”
Rainbow looked her over, raising an eyebrow. “You really want to go at me? You don’t even have a weapon.”
“Oh really? Well, let me show you one of my most popular tricks, then.” Trixie smirked and raised herself onto her hind legs, throwing her cape out with a hoof. “Lulamoon!”
“Whoa!” Rainbow brought her wings up as far as she could, yelping in surprise as a dozen different swords and knives flew out from the inside of the cape, all headed for her and clattering against her wingblades as she deflected them with three fluid movements. “What the heck, where did those come from?!”
“Years ago I have eaten of a devil fruit, the Weapon Weapon Fruit.” Trixie declared, taking off her hat and aiming the opening at Rainbow. “I can summon any kind of weapon I want and send them at you fast enough to take your head off. Lulamoon!” The hat bulged and shot out a torrent of knives like a gatling gun, the crowd behind Trixie cheering and stomping their hooves at the show.
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow grunted, her wingblades taking on a purple sheen at the edges as she blocked the weapons one by one, flinging them away or letting them harmlessly clatter to the ground around her. After several moments the assault ended, leaving her panting lightly but still smirking confidently. “Not such a great power if you can’t hit me, is– Ugh…” She froze, twitching.
“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie gasped and squirmed in her cage, staring at the knife that had pushed itself deeply into Rainbow’s barrel without warning, blood dripping down the handle.
“Oh dear, did I forget to mention that? You see, I can also control the weapons I summoned. While you parried my initial attack, you unknowingly laid the trap that would lose you the battle.” Trixie smirked haughtily, the knives and swords around Rainbow shivering and slowly rising up.
“D… dirty cheat…” Rainbow coughed a bit of blood, wings drooping onto the floor at her sides as she grit her teeth, fighting to keep standing.
“It’s a pirate’s world. There’s no such thing as cheating.” Trixie shrugged, rubbing a hoof against her chest casually. “It’s nothing personal. Now, do you have any last words before I kill you?” The cloud of metal around Rainbow tensed, each blade pointed directly at her and quivering in anticipation.
Rainbow coughed again, then smirked. “It’s a pirate’s world…” She brought up her wings to reveal the box of matches. “There’s no such thing as cheating.” Before Trixie or any of her crew could react she quickly struck one of them against the side and turned to jump past the cannon, lighting the short remains of the fuse as she passed it.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Trixie screeched, the weapons dropping in surprise as Rainbow seemed to take cover behind the cannon, moving her right into the line of fire. Her eyes widened as Rainbow crouched right under the front of the cannon, pushing her front hooves against the underside and trying to push it up. “Hey, don’t touch that!”
Rainbow chuckled through the pain in her side, gritting her teeth. “Sorry, but I’m on a schedule. Yeesh, that thing is heavy…” She tensed up, muscles in her forelegs bulging as the front of the cannon slowly rose. “Yeeeaaaaahhh!”
With a mighty heave, the cannon turned over, swinging over before landing upside down with a heavy THUNK. Rainbow quickly scampered away to escape with Pinkie’s cage as fast as she could, while the pirates started to panic, running around and making a last, desperate attempt to escape from an attack that could obliterate whole buildings.
The fuse burned down the last inch.
[KHOOOOOOOOM]
~~~~~
“Well… that was a bust.” Rainbow dropped Pinkie’s cage in front of the tavern Fluttershy had been waiting at, shuffling over and collapsing on the porch of the building with heavy breaths, chest heaving.
“Yeah, you busted them up good.” Pinkie grinned from inside the cage, now rid of her ropes but still locked in. Her smile quickly faded as she looked at the gash in her friend’s side. “Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Rainbow nodded, groaning softly. “Yeah, I’ll be fine… just need to sleep it off.” She looked up as Fluttershy came out of the tavern with a small scraggy brown dog by her side and scampered over with her first aid bag, quickly disinfecting the wound and fussing over it. “Oh right, I got a doctor now. You seem awfully calm about all this.”
“You’re hurt and you need medical attention. I can panic later, but I won’t let my personal problems get in the way of providing help where it is needed.” Fluttershy mumbled around a needle in her mouth. “I’m just glad you are both safe, but you will need some stitches on this, so hold still.”
“Well, would you look at that. I honestly didn’t think you would survive that encounter.” Rarity walked up the street, looking them over and frowning as she saw the injury. “Oh dear…”
“Hey Rarity!” Pinkie waved cheerfully from inside her cage, turning to face the unicorn.
Rainbow looked up, shooting a suspicious glare at the new arrival. “Aren’t you one of Trixie’s cronies?”
“Why, I’ll have you know that I’m not, and if you hadn’t just provided the distraction I needed, I would be offended by just the implication.” Rarity huffed and walked up to the cage. “But as it is, I feel that I owe you a favor. Do you maybe need some help getting out of that cage?”
Pinkie grinned. “That’d be super swell. Do you have the key?”
Rarity struck a small pose. “Oh darling, don’t be silly. Why would I need a key when I can open doors through the sheer power of my fabulosity~”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “What, are you going to flutter your eyelashes at the lock?”
Rarity simply smiled and hummed, prancing past the cage before stopping. Her horn lit up and her tail uncurled like a snake under her telekinesis, jabbing into the lock. There were a few twitches and a click and the door swung open, Rarity’s tail curling back into its usual style perfectly. She turned her head to Rainbow and gave her a smug smile. “Ten seconds flat, darling~”
“Finally! I was starting to get cramped in there.” Pinkie giggled and jumped out, stretching her legs and then stretching them some more the way only a pony made of rubber could. After a few moments she paused, ear twitching. “Hey, do you girls hear something?”
Rainbow didn’t answer, snoring quietly as she lay on the porch, her barrel wrapped up in bandages now in a way that they didn’t hinder her wing movements. Everypony else turned their heads however, looking down the street at the sound of hoofsteps and metal grinding on stone.
They watched curiously as a small, light brown earth pony came running down the street, awkwardly dragging a sword almost their own length across the ground. They stopped a couple paces away from the group, huffing and panting to catch their breath, then picked up the sword again and ‘charged’ the rest of the way towards them, yelling around the handle in a raspy voice. “Get out of town you dumb pirates!”
Pinkie watched as the foal ran towards her, slowly lifting a hoof and casually pushing it down against their forehead, easily keeping them at distance. She waited for the foal to push and squirm against her for a while, kicking up dirt until they slowly tired and finally sat down, dropping the weapon but shooting a defiant glare up at Pinkie.
Pinkie stared down at them for a moment, then turned to the others. “I thought this was a ghost town. What’s a colt doing all alone out here?”
“I’m a filly!” The not-colt yelled, flailing furiously before going back to glaring at Pinkie.
Pinkie blinked, looking her over again for a moment before tilting her head. “Huh… you could’ve fooled me. What’s a filly doing all alone out here then. Are you looking for your parents?”
The filly jumped up, pushing her chest out slightly in an attempt to look bigger and more intimidating. “I’m here to liberate this town from you and your crew, pirates! I’m Babs Seed, the mayor of this town!”
Everypony stared at her for a moment, until Pinkie turned back to her friends. “No seriously, who is this kid?”
~~~~~
Steam and dust wafted across the plaza, slowly dissipating to reveal a crowd of pirates, all cowering in some way or another. One by one they lifted their heads to look around, some of them gasping as they looked at where their certain death had loomed just a moment ago.
“Everypony, look!”
“It’s Captain Trixie!”
“She did it again!”
“Incredible!”
The two colts from before stepped forward, looking in awe at their captain.
“That’s the true strength of our Captain-ji.”
“Stopping an attack with the sheer power of her will-ji.”
Trixie was standing tall and proud, her cape flapping in the breeze and her hat under one foreleg as she looked out in the direction Pinkie and Rainbow had disappeared. Only inches away from her hooves the edge of the road was sizzling and glowing with red heat, a clean edge separating a short crater from the point at which the blast seemed to have been stopped suddenly.
Trixie narrowed her eyes, smiling despite her visible exhaustion. “Everypony, get ready… the show has only just started.”
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Well, I don't think that there were any hints about the colts other than they were small and were not Snips and Snails. So I guess the only two colts I could think of would be Pipsqueak and Featherweight. both of them are pretty small. Except Pipsqueak has an accent so...
Maybe Rumble and Featherweight?
7858074
One hint was the way they talk, which is one long build-up to two absolutely terrible puns on Buggy's two main underlings in the original.
Only one of them is actually show-canon though. I think the second one would be hard to guess even with more hints.
7858091 KO awesome chapter, Pinkie Pie and the crew made it out of Trixie with barely a scratch and now their Battle have only just begun!
Getting a Scooby Doo vibe here.
7858375
Not sure if I'd call it "barely a scratch".
In the East Blue most battles are still rather story-driven. Starting with Arlong it goes into fights that really can go a full chapter of action.
7859026
Not intended, but thank you I suppose.
7859519 If you ever see some of the older series, you'll know that Scooby Doo is pretty much a Swiss army knife in disguise.
7859901
Great... now I'm picturing Rainbow Dash/Zoro dual-wielding Rarity and Spike.
If that ever happens in this story, I'm blaming you!
7860041 It'd be your own fault for writing it in.
7860075
I'm still blaming you. My own fault would be the first meeting between Pinkie and [Pauly] in Water Seven.
At first, I was worried that this would just be a retelling of One Piece with a pony-colored coat of paint. I no longer have such concerns. Looking forward to more. (Also, very nice EGS reference.)
7896427
Thank you for that comment. Short as it was, it had everything I could wish for as the author (didn't actually think anyone would ever point out that reference).
While I'm orienting myself by the islands and basic plot of the manga, I have many plans to change or even completely subvert parts of it, especially once we get to the Grand Line. The next chapter will hopefully provide a better look on how Rainbow is different from Zoro.
Gotta write harder now, live up to these expectations.
7908865 True, at this point it is up to personal preference. I think the manga justified searching the Grand Line as everyone having already scoured the East Blue. *shrugs*
7908966
Two practical reasons against that; first, they could never be completely sure it wasn't just hidden somewhere someone else missed it (and we've seen that there's always still undiscovered secrets in that world)...
but more importantly, it's repeatedly stated that the East Blue is considered "the weakest sea" and barely needs any heavy Marine forces stationed, especially since Roger's execution. They wouldn't say that if they'd just come out of decades of pirates swarming in to look for the legendary treasure.
7909385 Hey, never said it made sense, just that was one of the ways they justified it.
I just went with it. 
Though it would be ironic if that was where it was actually hidden after all this time.
Why was this cancelled?
8811715
It wasn't cancelled, I'm just realy bad at sitting myself down to write. All my stories have suffered of procrastination for the last year or so.
I actually have over a dozen seasons outlined, up to the Totland Arc at the very least, and I'm not cancelling the story even if it takes me a decade to finish just the East Blue Arc.
Well. Then I MOGHT watch it when I get the chance. That said...
in BAZOOKA!
Gummy gummy f
Sorry. Been wanting to do that since I managed to watch a few episodes last night
11378871
Probably would have been better if you said wait and see so it would be a surprise but thank you for telling me