Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts

by HoofAndQuill

LP62: Element of Inspiration [General?]

The prompt:

Write a story where one (or more) of the hero(ine)s of FiM and one (or more) of the antagonists have swapped roles.

The familiar fanfare played loudly, as Trixie stood on hind legs with her forelegs spread wide and triumphant, her cloak splaying out behind her. By the sound of the cloth, her stage had deployed perfectly again, as if there had been any doubt that it would. "Welcome, one and all, to the greatest show in Ponyville!"

Trixie waited for the now-familiar applause. After only a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked out over the crowd. Only two ponies stood there, Snips and Snails, cheering and stamping their hooves. Trixie tried to keep the smile off of her lips, despite the continuing loyalty of her two most ardent admirers. It wasn't so hard to keep from smiling when all of her audience seemed to be missing. The show had to stop immediately, there was no point performing for these two again. "Snips! Snails! Where is everypony?"

Snips tilted his head, as though the question was strange. "They're all off watching that new unicorn in town!"

Snails kicked in his two bits. "Yeah. There's a new one!"

Trixie's eyes narrowed. "A new unicorn? Stealing The Great and Powerful Trixie's audience?"

---

Ponyville wasn't a terribly large town, and the music and pomp from the other pony's show could be heard from all over. Soon enough, Trixie found herself in the throng of other ponies, all looking up at the flashy, glitzy runway in front of the old, run-down Roundabout Restaurant. Trixie looked through the crowd, and managed her way over to stand next to her new-ish friend, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight gave her a little smile, and then looked to the stage as the music quieted.

A male voice called out an announcement over speakers. "Welcome, Ponyvillians, to the grand opening of... Carousel Boutique!"

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Was that Spike?"

Twilight blushed slightly and nodded, looking just a bit embarrassed for her assistant. "It was! He's really taken with this new mare, I've never seen him fall so quickly for anypony!"

Well, that explained where Trixie's third most enthusiastic admirer had gone.

Trixie watched as a series of mares came walking out along the runway and doing a little turn on the stage, each mare showing off some new, garishly over-sparkly gown or dress. She rolled her eyes at the attention-seeking getups, though as she looked around at the crowd, it certainly seemed to be working. All eyes in Ponyville were on the new dresses, and none of them were on Trixie.

Finally, after the show of the various well-made if a bit gaudy costumes, a white unicorn walked deliberately out along the runway, dressed in her own finely-made attire. Something made it obvious to Trixie that this was not simply another model. Trixie found herself glaring up at the beautiful unicorn that now took center stage. She did her best not to listen to any of the speech that the new mare was giving.

Blah blah, thanking everypony for coming to see her new store, blah blah all proceeds to charity, blah blah.

Trixie muttered. "Just what is this new pony doing? Didn't she know Trixie had a show planned for today?"

The accent made it obvious that the reply was coming from her friend Applejack. "Aw, don't go gettin' upset, Tricks. Rarity's a nice enough pony. Used to live around here before headin' off to Canterlot to make her fortune."

Trixie frowned, and looked up at the new mare again. The plainly fake and falsely gracious speech was ending, and Rarity stepped aside to unveil the newly restored Roundabout Restaurant, now apparently named "Carousel Boutique".

Twilight clopped her front hooves together in applause. "Come on, girls! It might be fun to look at some new dresses!"

Applejack and Twilight walked forward with the crowd, all going to see the new store. Trixie glowered at the building as though wishing could make it collapse. Some new showmare coming to Ponyville and stealing her spotlight, and stealing her friends?

The Great and Powerful Trixie was going to have to show this one who was the boss around here!