(6) The Pink
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(6)
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"Watch in awe, fillies and gentlecolts, as the Great and Powerful TRIXIE performs yet another feat of prestidigitation!"
Up on stage, a baby blue mare with a lighter shade of mane gestured dramatically into the air, gossamer lights and sparkling fire wheeling around her as she spun in place. Glowing with the tell-tale signs of unicorn magic, a long trough slid out from the right side of the sage and a low glass duplicate on the left. In the latter case, it was easy to see the bin was filled with clear blue water.
Trixie held up a hoof to her ear as she faced the audience.
"What's that?" she asked, making a display of listening not just to part of the audience, but to the entire crowd assembled in the theater. "Trixie can't hear you! You'll have to speak up!"
The crowd roared in a mix of cheers and shouts.
"You're telling the Great and Powerful TRIXIE that you know this trick?" She gasped and drew back, as if shocked. "That walking on water will not impress you?" With a swoop of her cloak, she revealed only her dark purple eyes. "Whatever is to be done, then? Think, Trixie, think! Ah HA!"
The showmare gave a sweeping motion of her hoof, and the glass tank floated higher and higher into the air, all while the metal trough rolled under it. A pair of pegasus assistants - mares in skimpy black costumes - quickly flew over, hitching the glass tank to a series of ropes hanging from the ceiling. Trixie's horn lost its magical glow as one of them gave the signal that the water tank was safely in place.
"A different sort of water walking then!" Trixie declared, pumping her legs as she ran in place. A few ponies in the audience whistled and Trixie took the occasion to strut around, showing off her figure with a few athletic flips and twirls. Shrugging off her cape and hat, she pointed up at the hanging glass water tank.
"The Great and Powerful TRIXIE is ready!" she announced, and her assistants tipped over the tank, releasing a torrent of rushing water. The veritable waterfall cascaded down and into the trough, splashing everywhere. A few audience members whinnied and jumped as some of the spray hit them; the rest of the audience cheered in approval. Everypony could see the water flowing out of one tank and then splashing into the trough below.
"Here she goes!"
Taking a galloping start, Trixie jumped right into the waterfall -
But instead of going through it, her hooves stuck to the rushing water! One leg over another, she scaled the waterfall, her face and mane getting visibly wet for her trouble. It was like watching a pony climb a rope, except the rope was running water. The crowd ooh'd and aah'd as she seemed to slip, falling a few inches before catching herself. Then it was back up the waterfall, right to the top.
Climbing at last onto the rim of the water tank, Trixie straddled the makeshift waterfall.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie!" a well dressed stallion announced as he ran to the center of the stage, a festive towel in his hooves. The crowd cheered again, clopping their hooves as the water tank lowered back down to the ground. For her part, Trixie didn't wait for it to descend more than half way before jumping through the air and into the outstretched towel. Drying herself off as the stage reset, she swept her foreleg across the audience.
"Thank you, thank you!" She tossed back her mane and walked up to the edge of the stage. "Now for everypony's favorite part of the evening! The audience challenge! Is there anypony out there tonight who thinks he or she has what it takes to out-dazzle the Great and Powerful TRIXIE?"
A dozen legs shot into the air as ponies stood, jumped, or even flew to get her attention.
"There must be somepony out there...!" Trixie pretended not to see them, only to keep scanning the audience. "If you want Trixie to pick you, you'll have to be a little louder!"
"OH! OH! OH ME! ME ME ME! OH! PICK ME!"
"You, sir!" Trixie winked, and a rose appeared in the hoof of a blue coated stallion, much to the annoyance of one bright pink audience member.
"Yes!" The cobalt pegasus, egged on by his wife, flew up onto the stage.
"And who are you, sir?" Trixie asked, floating over a microphone from off stage.
"Boulder Dash!"
"And you are blue," the showmare muttered, taking another look over the audience. "You wouldn't be related to another pegasus with a rainbow colored mane...?"
"No ma'am!" Boulder Dash grinned at the audience, waving to one enthusiastic mare with a camera.
"Well, then, what is your special skill?" Trixie asked, back to her usual showmare-level confidence. "TRIXIE shall match it with ease!"
"I break rocks off of mountainsides, ma'am," the stallion replied with a snicker. "Just like my name."
"I see! I don't think even the Great and Powerful TRIXIE can conjure up a mountain for us to break open-" Trixie paused for the laughter of the audience. "-but we may have something backstage. And here come Trixie's lovely assistants now!"
With a heave, the two skimpily attired pegasi pushed and pulled a stone block onto the stage.
"Why don't you show us what you can do?" Trixie prompted, trotting past the stone block and waving away her assistants.
"Sure thing!" Boulder Dash lifted off, and hovering in place, started to gather up water into a cloud overhead. Electricity began to crackle among the billowing innards of the cloud, building up until -
With a crack, a bolt of lightning hit the block of stone, splitting it down the middle!
The crowd clopped their hooves in approval, and even Trixie joined in, though very slowly and with choreographed haughty dismissal. A quick 'thank you' and she ordered the stallion back. She had some weather magic of her own, enough to even summon and charge up a lightning cloud... but no pony just wanted to see the same thing done twice, even if she thought she could put enough juice into it to break what was left of the stone.
Instead, her horn glowed and her eyes shut in concentration. Unlike the 'climbing waterfall' trick, this one was just a matter of the right spell and the right amount of power. Pieces of the blasted rock floated through the air and shot back together, arranging and slotting up like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The hardest part was soon over: putting the stone block (mostly) back together.
The crowd began to applaud, but she wasn't done.
Another spell, right after the first, so quickly it was like she hadn't paused in between - a flash of light, plus a loud clap of thunder, created the visual illusion of lightning without a cloud. Under that cover, in the moment when ponies averted their eyes, she used a simply division spell to roughly cut the block in half. It was actually quite draining, but the experienced showmare didn't let even a little strain show as she twirled for the audience, her cloak swishing around her.
Now, finally, she could use the more visible magic - unicorn telekinesis - to add a little spectacle to the show. Wrapping the two halves of rock in the glow of her magical field, Trixie directed them off the cart to spin around Boulder Dash, forcing the poor stallion to duck down and cover his head. A few revolutions, combined with a few theatrical pyrotechnics, and she flew the halves back over to the cart.
"Let's give Boulder Dash a hoof of applause, everypony!" Trixie said, not needing a microphone for her voice to carry to every corner of the theater. Extending a hoof to help the stallion back onto his hooves, she even planted a quick kiss on his cheek, much to the delight of the crowd... and the flustering of the pony's wife.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you for your attempt," she said, walking him back to the end of the stage. "But alas, don't give up your day job! Anypony else? One more!"
"MEEEEEE!!!!"
Four exclamation marks worth of pleading couldn't help but grab Trixie's attention. There was a pink earth pony standing on the edge of her chair, her mane poofed up like some sort of equine imitation of cotton candy. Her legs spun in dizzying circles as she either tried to keep balanced or just outdo the rest of the room in pure energy. Trixie hesitated to pick her on that alone. The hyperactive ones, the ones really, really eager to get on stage, were often also the ones planning to do something inappropriate or bizarre. It was just a fact of life on the stage.
Plus... there was just something a little ominous about this one...
Against her better judgment, Trixie could also see that the crowd seemed to be cheering for the crazy pink pony. The ponies around here had lowered their legs and started cheering for her to be picked. Trixie could sense it in the air, and what the crowd wanted, the crowd got.
"You, Miss!" Trixie pointed dramatically to the pink pony, wasting only a few more seconds in a production of searching the theater for a target.
"WOO-HOO!" One grasshopper-like bounce and she went from her seat to the stage, tucking into a confetti sprinkling ball along the way. That was... odd. Did she have confetti in her mane? It sure hadn't been in her hooves.
"And who may you be?" Trixie asked, floating over the microphone. "Let Trixie guess: your name is 'Sugar Rush?'"
"No! But that IS a great name!" the pony smiled to the audience, gleefully waving one leg in the air. "Hiya, everypony! My name is Pinkie Pie!"
"And what, pray tell, is your special skill?" Trixie directed a small sparkling light overhead, exploding it into a glittering cloud behind them.
"Ohhhh!" Pinkie's expression became coy, her eyes lidded. "I don't need my special skill to do something I bet you can't do."
Trixie's hackles immediately caught on the remark, but she kept up her facade. It had been a while since anypony challenged her on stage... well, anypony who she hadn't invited to do so ahead of time and as part of the act, anyway. Covering her thoughts with a noblemare laugh, Trixie tipped her wizard hat, flipped it end over end through the air, caught it, and retrieved a small juice box from inside. It was just a bit of trickery, but used on the fly it always delighted ponies. It was also useful for killing a bit of time and making a little show.
"Well, well, well!" she told the audience, sipping noisily from her juice box before tossing it to the crowd. "The Great and Powerful TRIXIE is all ears. What did you have in mind?"
"I'll need a prop," Pinkie said into the microphone.
"Trixie will humor you, so long as you do not bring anything too dangerous on stage." She winked at the audience. "You aren't going to swallow firecrackers or needles, are you?"
"I need a cake."
"A cake?" Trixie turned to the right side of the stage, a pair of long-burn fireworks spiraling wildly through the air at her command. They shot all across the stage and overhead before popping into twin sprays of harmless sparks. Just as her two assistants brought out a large single-tiered cake, covered in whipped cream, chocolate shavings and cherries.
"Can you cut it in half?" Pinkie asked, still toting the microphone in one hoof.
"Foal's play!" Trixie's horn glowed, telekinetically retrieving a sword from off stage. With a showy spin, she used it to slice the cake into two neat halves. With another artistic flourish, the sword bobbed and weaved off stage, 'bowing' to the audience as it made its exit.
"Let's see if you can do... THIS!" Pinkie stomped a hoof, on the stage, not even on the platter of the cake, and half of it flipped end over end through the air -
Onto her outstretched tongue.
A second later, both tongue and cake-half disappeared, the former retracting back into the pink pony's mouth. Trixie could only stare, instinct and experience alone keeping her jaw from going slack. Had she missed some slight of hoof, or had... had this pony just consumed half a cake in the time it took to nip the head off a flower?
"Mmmm! Black forest cake! Super Delicious!" Pinkie did a happy little pirouette and bowed to the cheering audience. "Thank you! Thank you!"
"Oh ho ho ho ho!" Trixie chortled, quickly deflecting Pinkie's applause and attention with her act. "A simple parlor trick! The Great and Powerful TRIXIE is not so easily impressed!"
Facing the remaining half-cake, Trixie felt her left eye twitch out of sight of the crowd. She still had no idea how the other pony had done it, eating something the size of her own head... like some kind of pink anaconda... but she could do this. All she had to do was make the cake vanish without being obvious about it. That wasn't so hard. Not for the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!
Rearing up, front legs pedaling, she stomped down, hard.
A discrete burst of magic sent the cake half flying - spraying a bit more whipped cream than she would have preferred - but still flying into the air. Watching it tumble, end over end, Trixie seriously considered trying to eat the thing. It was lunacy, but...
No, no. The risk of making a foal of herself was too much. Instead, she stepped back and tipped her wizard's hat. The cake fell right in and vanished without a trace. Trixie smirked, artfully flipping the hat through the air and back onto her head, snugly in place over her horn.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie, sadly, also has to watch out for her great and powerful figure!" she explained, to the audience's delight and approval. Thankfully. It never hurt to inject a little sex appeal into her shows. The theater filled with the sound of hooves clopping on polished mahogany.
"Aww. What a waste of perfectly good cake!" Pinkie bemoaned the fate of the lost pastry. "One more trick!"
As if! "Ah, now, now - I think you've had enough fun -"
"One more! One more! One more!" The audience, sadly, didn't share Trixie's inclination to get the competition off stage. There was only room for one spotlight per show, after all. "One more! One more!"
The crowd wanted it, so...
"If the Great and Powerful TRIXIE's fans demand it!" she extorted, indulging the crowd with a bow. She frowned at the pink mare. "...one more."
This was getting out of hoof.
The pink pony seemed to know how to play to a crowd, albeit in an amateurish sort of way. Was it that bouncy, bubbly personality? Was it the candy-cane sweet voice? The audience seemed to be eating this pink pony up. Cracking a joke about cakes and "empty calories" she asked for a table and a set of cups. Trixie's instincts were warning her to try and come up with a counter trick. Was this earth pony hustling her, on her own stage?
"The old vanishing balls in a cup, trick?" Trixie asked, sharing a laugh with the audience. "How old fashioned! Trixie recalls playing this game as a foal!"
Pinkie stuck out a bright pink tongue, making an annoyingly adorable 'nyaah' sound.
"I've got something much better than some boring balls!" She leaned towards the crowd, wiggling her eyebrows. "Can anypony guess what it is?" Her lips pinched together into a perfect 'o' as she listened to the shouts of the audience. "I heard cupcakes!"
"B-uu-t..." Pinkie reached a hoof into her mane. "I don't think I have any cupcakes left! Ummm... OH! Here's something good!"
Trixie watched, nonplussed, as the pink pony pulled three plates out of her hair. How - how was she...? Disgusting! A magic hat was one thing, a magic mane was another!
"Strawberry jam swiss rolls!" Pinkie licked her lips and tossed all three over to the table Trixie's assistants had brought out. Twirling like a top, she spun her way over to one side of the table, three rolls on three plates, with three large cups next to each one.
Snorting in disdain, Trixie made her way over as well.
"You know," she warned in a low, quiet voice. "Trixie will see you when you try to palm those rolls. This is the oldest trick in the book."
Pinkie just giggled. "Ready?"
"Trixie shall let you begin whenever you wish."
Sitting on her haunches, the showmare put on an unconcerned expression and posture, even as she sharpened her eyes and carefully watched the other mare. Pinkie slowly put one cup on top of each dish, covering up the slices of swiss roll.
"I missed your last show, you know." She nimbly switched two of the plates, just getting started; just warming up for the trick to come.
"At Hoofington?" Trixie asked, playing along. Conversation was part of the street magic. She knew it well enough herself. She had cut her teeth on street magic. "Canterlot Plaza? Or..."
"Ponyville."
"Oh. That town." Trixie's eyes watched Pinkie's hooves shuffle the plates, occasionally raising one of the cups to show that the roll was still there. "Did those two little idiots ever drag anything worse to the village? A black dragon, maybe?"
"Well... Snips and Snails didn't do anything bad after you left, but we did get attacked by Parasprites."
"Parasprites?"
"And a sleepy dragon."
"..."
"And Discord. Oh! And we had an outbreak of cutie pox! And the dam broke and the town was nearly flooded! And then another dragon rampaged through town, but he wasn't really himself at the time." Pinkie's conversation grew faster and more animated as she jumped from one disaster to another. "And there was this time when Twilight went back in time because she was worried about the future and there was a time loop or a paradox and she thought the world was going to end and..."
Pinkie's hooves stopped, hovering over the two end cups.
"And... how many rolls are there under these cups again?" she tilted her head to the left, big blue eyes full of what genuinely seemed to be confusion. "I forget."
"Urggh!" Trixie groaned, both at the distracting pink pony and at herself. She had been watching for palms, but even then, all that talk had distracted her. Especially mention of that 'Twilight' pony. The very same who had vanquished the Ursa Minor.
Still -
"The Great and Powerful TRIXIE has seen through your little trick!" she declared, pointing to the center cup. "All three are under the middle! Trixie can see the chocolate and strawberry stains on your hooves!"
"Ohhh! Oops!" Pinkie licked her hooves clean, much to Trixie's disgust. "Mmm!"
"Such foal's play!" Trixie's magic seized the three cups, lifting them off the platters. "Did you really think - wha-aa-ah!?"
All three plates were empty.
"Oh yeah!" Pinkie turned to the crowd, shrugging helplessly. "I remember now! I ate all three of them! Sorry, everypony!"
For just a moment, Trixie's vision turned red. Not pink. Red. How - how had she missed this cherry chatterbox not only palming all three rolls, but eating them?! Sputtering, her mind raced to find some way to turn the tables on her challenger: to humiliate her before she won over the audience.
The sound of laughing and hooves clopping snapped her out of thoughts of revenge.
Before she knew what was happening, the pink mare had taken one of her hooves in a hearty hoofshake. The tension ebbed out of Trixie's body as she realized, a little belatedly, that the crowd had enjoyed the show and that they were laughing in enjoyment and not in derision. The showmare took over, dispelling her inner turmoil and replacing it with the need to play to the audience.
"A splendid trick!" she declared, to applause. "The Great and Powerful Trixie salutes you!"
Taking off her hat, she briefly placed it on Pinkie's mane... only to pluck it off a second later, leaving a trio of doves behind. The birds took wing, signaling the end of the show. A bit of magic and the fireworks finale went off behind and in front of the stage, filling the air with sparklers and glitter-bombs. Bouncing off the stage, Pinkie returned to her seat and her table...
It took another pony pointing to her mane for her to realize something had been stuck into her pink curls.
- -
"I was about to say: you can have some... but I guess, help yourself?"
"Thanks!" Pinkie said around a mouthful of sweets and drop-candies. The very last one balanced cutely on the tip of her nose, her head bobbing left and right to keep it from falling.
Trixie raised an eyebrow in mixed annoyance and amusement. They were backstage; Pinkie had found the VIP pass not so subtly magiced into her mane and accepted the unspoken invitation after the show ended. The showmare returned to her couch, brush running through her pale blue mane.
"I didn't see any of your friends in the audience," she said, closing her eyes and relaxing in the post-show glow.
"My friends?"
"The farmer with the rope tricks, the rainbow pegasus, the unicorn with the fabric magic?" Trixie scoffed. "To say nothing of that little lavender powerhouse who handled the Ursa."
"Oooohhh!" Pinkie bounced over, still somehow balancing the last gum-drop on her nose. "Nope! I came here by myself!"
"Why?" the magician asked, plucking the sweet off the pink pony's snout.
"Well-ll-lll...!" Pinkie drew out the word for a vexingly long second or two. "I just wanted to see your show for myself! I didn't get to see you in Ponyville... I didn't even get to throw you a party!"
"Your friends didn't strike me as fans."
"Oh, they're not!" Pinkie assured her and Trixie coughed at the brusque response. "They don't like you much at all! They told me you were a big, smelly, no-good braggy-pants!"
Trixie frowned at the other mare. "Then why-"
"Everypony else thought you were funny!" Pinkie said with an innocent grin, popping out and over the back of Trixie's couch. "They said you put on a good show, even if you did... um... not get along with someponies. When I saw that you were putting on shows here, I just had to come see for myself!"
"And?"
Pinkie stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Well, you are a braggy-pants, that's for sure! I don't think I could get away with calling myself the Great and Powerful Pinkie Pie!"
"Of course not!" Trixie declared with an imperious laugh.
"You messed up in Ponyville, but you're still doing the same thing." The party pony had a different smile as she spoke, one of admiration. "Making ponies happy." Then, tapping her chin and rethinking it, she added, "And making some ponies angry, too..."
The showmare closed her eyes and resumed brushing her hair. "It pays the bills. So..." she asked at length, "I don't have to worry about anypony making a scene while I'm on stage?"
"Nope!"
"Good."
The brush in her mane paused, wavering in her magic, as something else occurred to the magician.
"You're going to be at my next show, aren't you?"
"Yep!" Pinkie still hung onto the back of the couch. "I really, really loved being up there! The roar of the crowd! The bright lights! The cheers and the smiles! Nothing makes me happier than making other ponies happy! That's my special talent, you know! I just didn't want to spoil it when you asked me earlier!"
"... is that so?" Trixie's right eye opened a crack. She popped the last gumdrop candy into her mouth as she considered something. "Will you have a new trick for Trixie tomorrow?"
Pinkie's impish grin grew half again in size. "Will you let me up on stage?"
"You are strangely entertaining."
Her giggle proved infectious, and soon Trixie was laughing as well.
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NEXT
(7) Epilogue (aka "Is that who I think it is?")
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I think what makes this story good is that despite being very surprising/unexpected, the actions of the characters are very believable. Its a good piece of writing and I'm looking forward to the final chapter.
I love this, it really is pairings I've never seen done before, and wonderfully done. Never considered any of these pairs, or some of the non-main characters you used, but still done well. Non of them are even acting unlike they normally would, you haven't really changed who they are, but you've pulled it off.
Awww, only one more chapter left?! But you've barely given us a glimpse into these strange yet fascinating ships! Now that you've started my imagination running I'd like to see some of them fleshed out more just to see how the romance would play out.
Oh well, the story is still very enjoyable and I hope the Epilogue will be as well! I wonder if everypony will learn about the other's dates... The reactions should be fun to watch! My only gripe is that I couldn't sense much romantic potential between AJ and Flim. To me it felt like they reconciled and became business associates, there was maybe even a tentative friendship forming between the two, but nothing beyond that. I just didn't feel that certain romantic vibe I guess...
Very nice.
YAY! Pinkie\Trix! SHOW AND PARTY AND STUFF.
The epilogue is going to be all of them seeing who the others have paired off with, isn't it? Also, I am impressed that you have not used any background characters; you've only used characters with defined names and personalities.
you WILL sequel this.
562909 It's ok allright, but the very moment he makes fluttershy cry he's fair game for all the predator animals around, no exeptions
572590
Something to cover in a potential epilogue. I liked one alternative that no one thought of before: she's his bodyguard!
568786
Haha. Yep. I was lucky to find that this pairing hadn't been done before.
563867
Exactly what I wanted. The pairings couldn't just be 'new,' they also had to be at least semi-established characters. But you don't think AppleFlim is crack enough? I guess there have been pictures of AJ and the brothers, but as far as I knew, no fics.
563685
One of the things I considered, writing these chapters, is just how much each pair needed just to get back on even footing before any real chemistry could click. AJ's chapter required the most, and she was very proactive in it. I guess you could say I thought of the 'partnership' step as being the biggest hurtle with the hypothetical litmus test being how the brothers integrate to life on Sweet Apple Acres. It doesn't help that I've always thought of AJ s very professional-minded.
568247
The Eastern Roman Empire is always on my mind. lol. I figured it was just a fun little bit of trivia to stick in and I'm glad a bunch of people noticed! Though Dash's loyalty towards the Reds also matches some of the grief we modern sports fans often feel towards our favorite teams that tend to struggle.
563725
Thanks. I sort of figure, imagine if we saw any of the mane six on a really bad day (or a freak out) - we'd get a bad impression of them too. So I tried to give all the former antagonists the benefit of the doubt in my own way, though I also didn't want this to be about a 'villain's redemption.' They are who they are.
Thanks again for reading, guys!
572705 Well, AppleFlim is something I haven't seen done before. It just occurs to me that, given show canon and nothing more, it seems about as likely as something like Twixie.
572705 Fleur being Fancypants bodyguard?... hmmm... ME GUSTA!, that's really an interesting concept and nopony would expect that, then again your AppleFlim starting out as a buisness relationship at first have a lot of potential, and finally the Trixie Pie was just simply awesome and the way you put it makes as much sense as the pinkie sense(don't question it, just acept it)
572705 572799 Fleur as a bodyguard sounds like a great idea.
572928 Talking about decieving apearances don't we?
Capn, I'll admit that I've had a bit of a negative thought when I first saw this story go up. When I saw the first couple ships, along with the established plot point in This Platinum Crown of the imbalance of mares to stallions seemingly being solved simply by each stallion having multiple mares, I began to think that you had issues with same-sex shipping. And I'll admit, the idea that one of my favourite pony authors might be so close-minded irritated me greatly, and so I ignored this story (though I still followed This Platinum Crown, because you already had me hooked on that).
So when Eros Dreaming was posted at EqD, I clicked the link before noticing that it was this story, and I saw that there were six chapters rather than the two seen last time, and I decided to glance through the comments briefly to see if the trend had continued. And it did for the third chapter, and the fourth, and the fifth, and my irritation grew... and then I got to the sixth chapter, and I saw it was Pinkie paired with Trixie.
And I also see that I owe you an apology, Capn. I judged too soon, on too circumstantial of evidence, and I will now actually go and read what you have written. I am sorry.
Uh, Pixie? Is that what we're going to call this? I can't think of anything else...
To say this entire story was unusual is an understatement. Despite that, or rather because of it, this has been one of the most entertaining things I have read in a while. You kept me guessing with Shy's and Twi's, and surprised the hell out of me with everyone of them except Rarity. I don't know why, but that one didn't have as much of a profound effect on me as the others.
Also, Pinkie's was easily the best out of all of them. It's also the only mare mare shipping here as well.
575731
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm
"In other animals, the term arm can also be used for analogous structures, such as one of the paired forelimbs of a four-legged animal or the arms of cephalopods."
Furthermore, while I would never berate any author for the use of the word foreleg, the word would imply that the front two limbs of a pony are used just like the rear limbs, as legs, and this is simply not true. In the show, a pony's front limbs are used to manipulate the environment, to pick up items, to hug. These are not the sorts of actions associated with legs; they are things one generally does with one's arms.
I wonder how many times I'll have to copy and paste that...
575593
575621
Since this was brought up twice in succession, please let me take a moment to reply to it. Oddly, I never really thought much about this issue, which I suspect you'll be thinking "bullshit" on. Pairings had no bearing in my first MLP fanfic, World of Ponycraft, and the BB/Rarity pairing was simply a given in TBNE because of the plot. Platinum Crown has the wife-vs-mistress element inherited from the fact that it was so endemic among nobility, especially where one did not marry for love as we do now. Pairings in general play such a minor role in most of what I write, I don't think much about m/m or m/f or f/f ... the exception being this one fic, Eros Dreaming. Coming up with the pairings, I actually had two rows of single characters, and created a variety of "never before seen ships," winnowing it down based on what could be interesting (I'll admit I had preference in mane six partners: I didn't want them to be backgrounders, like Whooves or even my beloved Lyra). I think the problem with f/f is that there was so much of it among core characters that I couldn't use it, because it had been done before. Luckily there was no Pinkie/Trixie, or else I'd have had to swap Trixie in with AJ and then do Flam/Pinkie... or something.
Anyway, the point is that as long as a pairing "gets the job done" in the story, I don't care what it is, really. Which you can either say is very utilitarian, or terribly unfeeling and lacking in romance.
575729
I had a lot of fun imagining Pinkie and Trixie as the wild pair of entertainers, though it also depends on how you handle Trixie's character (and how abrasive her personality gets). Especially "off stage." Plus I love that name. Pixie! For some reason, I can't say it without chuckling.
575731
"Winged unicorn? Why not horned pegasus, huh?"
"I'm sure it doesn't mean anything..."
"We live in a unicorn-centric world. Deal with it."
575725
Thanks for the catch! I actually did use "arm" in earlier fics, but switched to foreleg, not so much because it is technically incorrect, but because the readership prefers it. Just like we all use "alicorn" to describe a "winged unicorn."
bravo, sir, bravo. you managed to take the mane 6, and ship them with the 6 last ponies i'd expect. and you did it GOOD too
. Great job!
Read this before it even made it to EqD. Some of the ships aren't that new to me. But I LOVE seeing other people trying new ships, a breath of fresh air, FancyDash and BlueShy are definitely new to me.
Bravo! I was very, very impressed by every single one of these; some of the best reading I've done in a while here!
Huh, an interpretation of Trixie I haven't really seem much of before. Normally she's either pretentious to the point of being evil, or she 'just putting on an act' or 'was on some kind of emotional high' and was actually good along. But here she seems somewhat in the middle, I like it.
Now, that being said, is this Yuri? Or just friendshipping? Either way I'm cool with it. Still, you say that the next chapter the the last?
But you can't end it here! There's so much story left to tell! You'll write a sequel, right? D:
Congratulations on the EQD feature, you definitely deserve it.
Trixie?! Sweet Pony Sisters, TRIXIE?! Oh god, I can't even...
Maybe it's my rabid fanboyism for the showmare talking, but the way you've written her in this story, it has me riding on a high the likes of which I've never experienced before. If you've ever seen the character in Avatar: The Last Airbender (the cartoon of course, not that god-awful live action abortion) who froths at the mouth and faints dead away multiple times in the series, then you've seen the reaction I would've had had I been part of the audience watching Trixie's performance.
I was equal parts enraptured by the performance of the Pink Pony, who pulled some stunts we all know only she knows how to do. I absolutely love how you characterized Trixie in this one too. Most others would have her being absolutely mean to Pinkie instead of the grudging respect and (admiration?) we saw.
I'm sad to see that the story is already nearing it's end. It's been such a joy to read.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to uh, take care of a few things that suddenly require my immediate attention.
All the pairings in this story are ingenious and way out of the left field, but this is by far the best one. Yes, I'm speaking purely out of fanboyism for both the ponies in question, but seeing that someone's finally done this pairing made my day
And I could have sworn I started following you after reading The Best Night Ever... turns out, I'm not. What's up with that? *starts watching*
575845 Myself, I think the reason it's "winged unicorn" is because of how the unicorn-style magic of the alicorns is incredibly obvious, both in- and out-of-universe. In universe, especially - they move celestial objects around! Compared to that, their wings are sort of... there. Oh, they have some impact, but they don't use their wings to tow parts of the solar system around.
575717 this comment is epix dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
... DAMMIT. It looks good. I just can't read it right now.
Too busy writing my ownstuff. D;
I'll read it on the bus home, I guess. My iPod might prove to be somewhat useful, for once. Too bad I can only open and view one chapter at a time, unless I can download it onto my ipod... I SHALL SEE TO THAT!
575845
I don't! Celestia and Luna are alicorns; Cadence is a winged unicorn.
575758 there were those other ones teasing Rainbow in Sonic Rainboom
564279
You realize that Nyx starts a lot of arguements about "OMG MARY SUE KILL IT W/ FIRE" and "OMG NO SHES TOO CUTE TO BE MARY SUE"
At least, I hope you realize that.
Off-topic: Shining and Vinyl have have the same hair (electric blue) and coat (white) colors. And Vinyl appeared in the same episode as Shining - in fact, Vinyl's red eyes became canon during that episode (she lifted her shades and exposed her eyes).
Coincidence? Or are does Twilight have a sister too?
577503 it is crack pairings not over used ones
577576 Vinyl's eyes are closer to Magenta than Red but they are a Redish Magenta so close enough
Vinyl is Twilight's sister is another part of my head canon since I noticed that
THOSE RELATIONS...
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OOOOHHH YES.
Perfect. I myself am a proud "SHIP ALL THE RAREPAIRS!"-er, and a fic like this just makes me want to eat it right up! This is marvelous, simply marvelous. The things I really enjoy here is that one, they're not all lesbians, two, Twilight gets paired with someone who's NOT Trixie, three, Those awesome couple portmanteaus... Pixie, Sparklin', BlueShy, Rainbow Pants.
Priceless. The best thing, however, is that you keep everyone relatively in-character. Rarity's a nosy mare with good intentions that get the best of her, Twilight's an egghead, Fluttershy's most important question is "Do you like animals?"... it's great!
In conclusion, gotta love dose rarepairs.
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I have to say this is very well written with hardly any mistakes, none that i've seen anyway
I am sightly disappointed that there's only one chapter left, I think it would be more interesting if you could draw it all out a bit, add more to all the pairings as at the moment there isn't an awful lot of romance as such and I think if you continued it further you could really improve on that 
On another note it would be interesting to see how you plan to end all this 
576104 in some headcanons, yes, to Fleur de lis. its so to me as well.
images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/28500000/Fleur-and-Fancypants-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-28577531-780-1000.jpg
though in my headcannon, Fleur is french. don't know why, her names sounds frenchy.
also, a personal note to 575845, i know you try to prevent spoilers, but, with all the comments made about the ships, the surprase failed, and i didn't even read it. but, i respect what you are trying to do: bringing rise to new ships and Male to Female ones to that (along side and exception with another Mare and Mare relationship with Pinkie and Trixie), it's admireable.
word of advice, if you want to prevent spoilers, be sure to remove comments that expose the surprase. some people, like yours truely, likes to read the comments (sometimes) before even reading.
i give a green thumbs up for origenally. though as why i didn't read it, well, as origenal as they are, i am familier with the consept of boat romances and romances in general.
576104 When you think back to the Wedding Episode, particular the photos at the end, you can see Fancy Pants and Rarity without Fleur. Looks for me like Rarity is flirting with him. I think because of that, that Fleur could be everything for Fancy Pants. From Good Friend, over Wife (Girlfriend) or Ex, to Bodyguard or Paid Killer. Or she just work for/with him. who knows.
578081
Oh hey, I loved that movie!
Hmm... that would be interesting...
Predictions (assuming there are really NO fics that have the ships):
Twilight Sparkle xx Fancy Pants
Rarity xx Caramel
Pinkie xx Cheerilee
Dash xx Trixie
Applejack xx Daisy
Fluttershy xx Roseluck
I'm not sure how this fic flew over my head before, I'm definatly keeping an eye on it for atleast the ending. To think, I found this fic by browsing EqD, a place I visit incredibly rarely and out of the blue.
And I absolutely love what you did with Pinkie, and Trixie for that matter. As someone mentioned before, the 'it's all business' approach to the once antagonists worked so good rather then making them plain evil or something even more silly. This fic is simply amazing overall with it's new pairings and you, sir, are awesome.
Lolwut this is somehow featured now? Did it get onto EQD or something?
Oh God this is brilliant!
Must be in EQD! I DEMAND IT
Well, if your intention was to write an off-the-wall crack-fic, I'm afraid to say you failed miserably. If, however, your intention was to write a delightfully engaging story wherein you would establish some pairings we've never seen before, you succeeded wonderfully. This whole story feels beautifully on-key and lighthearted, and I'm very excited for the conclusion. Enjoy your favorite, like, and watch!
Pixie?
TrixiePie? I APPROVE!
Okay when I first started reading this and I realized quickly that the first pairing was Soarin and Twilight I was liek:
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So i read on, Chapter 2 was a welcomed surprised and interesting idea. Then I read chapter 3, such an odd pairing but HOLY SHIT did you convince me that in that situation Dash and Facy is actually friggin possible. Not to mention that was a really fun chapter with the gambling and all.
Chapter 4 begins and I find out it's Braeburn, and I'm like "Wha-wha-huh-WHAT? why HASN'T this been done before?" Oh what a great chapter it was. Truly.
Chapter 5 wasn't out of the blue like the rest but it was an interesting chapter all the same. And the Pinkie and Trixie interaction was really fun. Finally a fic that Trixie's in where she's not shipped with Twilight.
Faved, looking forward to what you bring next. Especially Soarlight, FancyDash, and Braerity. This is going to be a really fun read.
578048 Les fleurs is french for flowers.
Good story, can't wait for the epilogue!
Oh, it was a VIP pass. I thought for a second the thing stuck to her mane was dove crap.
Good to see Trixie backing off her stage presence just enough to play nice during the audience segment and not just be a dick to them. Also good to see her be a good sport about the inevitable case of the Pinkies.
578205
I've... Actually seen Dash/Trixie. It was OK.
556689
Sounds like an abusive story waiting to happen. Must READ!
"little lavender powerhouse"
Perfect.