II-XIV. ... the Great and Powerful... Tr-r-r-r-rixie!!
Rainbow promptly continued her trek, leaving Twilight stunned and motionless in the library doorframe. Spike also stayed behind, nodding towards the Town Square. "Why don't you come too, Twi?" he said, grinning enthusiastically. He was still blushing, but it had simmered down significantly. "It's not every day we're gonna get an opportunity like this, right?"
It was Twilight's turn to flush with embarrassment and discomfort. "I- ... I don't know...." she muttered, looking away. "... I mean...."
"... You've... never been to one of these before...?" Spike said, his eyes widening with mild surprise.
Twilight scoffed. "Of course not!" she huffed, sounding rather affronted. "What do you take me for, Spike?!"
Spike anxiously waved his hands, his expression fearful and apologetic. "S-sorry, Twi!" he cried. "I didn't mean that-!"
"N-no, I'm sorry, Spike...." Twilight sighed, having calmed down a bit. She rubbed her brow, mentally berating herself for snapping at her student. "You're not in the wrong here; I apologize," she continued. "This has all to do with me, and not you."
Spike frowned with confusion. "... What's wrong...?" he asked concernedly.
Twilight's blush intensified. "It... i-it's not just that I've never gone to any- ... p-performances like these...." she stammered, fidgeting with her fingers. "But also... w-with this one...."
"... Yeah...?" Spike prodded.
"... Well... this is the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie, right?"
"... Yeah...?"
Twilight looked more uncomfortable and embarrassed than ever. "Well... that's Trixie Lulamoon."
Spike blinked. "... And...?" he said.
Twilight growled with angry frustration. "Spike, she's my cousin!" she cried exasperatedly.
It took a moment for Spike to process what Twilight had just said. "... Wai- OH!!" he cried, suddenly understanding. He then laughed, "Yeah! She would be, wouldn't she?"
Twilight had never met "the Great and Powerful" Trixie Lulamoon before, but she certainly knew of her. On top of being Twilight's cousin on her father's side, Trixie Lulamoon was also one of the most famous (or, others would argue, infamous) living members of the esteemed House Lulamoon. That Trixie- a nineteen-year-old, reportedly prodigious magician Elf girl- had deigned to visit Avalon was nearly as big news as when Twilight had moved there.
Like many members of her House, Trixie had been born in the kingdom of El Dorado; the domain of the jolly and hospitable Luxury-God Dionysus. The Wine Prince's kingdom lied to the West of his mother's kingdom of Arcadia on the equator of the Western Pillar. El Dorado encompassed great swaths of hot, arid deserts; as well as vast rainforest jungles. These were united by the presence of rich underground gold veins that webbed under the canyons and mountains that cut through their landscapes, and topped by many ancient ruins that were filled with the priceless treasures and artifacts of many primitive civilizations. It was for this reason that El Dorado was often called "the Kingdom of Riches," and its capital of the same name was nicknamed "the City of Gold."
The kingdom's largest and most famous metropolis- aside from the capital of El Dorado City, which stood majestically from the Easternmost coastal mountains of the Diamond-Jungles- was the gambler's oasis of Pegasus City, which shined atop the most inhospitable plateau of the California Desert. Trixie had been born in a private suite of Pegasus City's most famous hotel-casino resort: the Hotel California, which had just been given to the House Lulamoon as a peacemaking gift by the House Dawnbringer during the wedding between Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Of course, absolutely no-one believed that this gift had been given out of genuine altruism; it was obvious that old Cometlight Dawnbringer had presented the deeds for the Hotel California- as well as all the other resorts his House controlled in Pegasus City- to the Duke Mountainpool Lulamoon, as a direct result of arm-twisting from Princess Celestia.
Were it not a thinly-veiled punishment in the form of reparation payments that Celestia had blackmailed from Cometlight, his gift of a monopoly over the world's most valuable gambling niche to the Lulamoons would have been the most expensive freely-given present of all time, as the deeds were valued at a combined total of approximately two billion gold pieces. Of course, the Dawnbringers had entire small mountain ranges of gold in their vaults, and their resort-chain in Pegasus City was only one of nearly a dozen scattered throughout the world, so this loss amounted to only a fraction of their fortune. Nonetheless, it was still a stark humiliation that Cometlight had seethed over for the remainder of his life.
Not that anyone but a handful had felt any sympathy for Cometlight; not even his own heir. Velvet had told Twilight as a child that she had little affection for her grandfather, upon whom she placed the entirety of the blame for the perpetuation of their Houses' blood feud and the deadly street-fight which had resulted in Night Light being assigned to be her apprentice by the High Princess herself in the first place. The Lulamoons had always freely offered reconciliation and forgiveness to their enemy dynasty, Twilight's mother explained; and many members of the Dawnbringer clan pleaded with their patriarch to accept it; but the hard-hearted Cometlight had always answered, "Until I sit upon Equestria's throne as its Grand Duke- its rightful Lord- those thieving Lulamoons shall only have their traitorous blood spilt upon its streets and soil."
Even her parents' marriage was, itself, regarded as insult by her great-grandfather Cometlight, Twilight had learned; it gave his House and heir the claim to Equestria's Duchy which they'd always coveted, but only because they were now connected by marriage to his enemy. The House Lulamoon still carried Equestria's lordly title; Twilight Velvet was only the Grand Duchess-Apparent of Olympus because she was- through her marriage to Night Light- a member of the House Lulamoon. Of course, this also meant that Night Light was- conversely- wedded into the House Dawnbringer, as well, but Velvet had learned from a favorite aunt that Cometlight had grumbled over this, "I'm now forced to call a shadow-skinned, mud-child Lulamoon my 'son'. My only greater shame is that I am descended from the very same weak-willed woman who ordered and approved of such miscegenation."
Velvet, Night Light, and their children shed no tears when he died in a fire that claimed the Promethean Mansion, nor did they attend his funeral.
"The racist old windbag finally did himself in," Night Light had said when their family butler Frederic had delivered the news to him and his wife.
"Goodbye, Grandfather; you won't be missed," Twilight Velvet had bitterly muttered.
"Good riddance; fuck that guy," an eleven-year-old Shining had remarked after his parents first told him and Twilight the story. For the only time in his life, he wasn't reprimanded by his parents for cursing in his little sister's presence.
Trixie had been born just a couple years after her birthplace's ownership had been transferred to Mountainpool, who she shared with Twilight as a loving, beloved, and wise great-grandfather. Trixie grew up in Pegasus City, living her childhood in the same private suite she'd been born in. She had attended El Dorado University after the end of her apprenticeship, where she graduated at only eighteen as the valedictorian of her class with a full degree in the performing arts and a sub-diploma in advertisement.
Since then, Trixie had rapidly made a name for herself in Pegasus City as its most savvy and skilled erotic dancer. She had performed at her birthplace's burlesque stage between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, and had shattered the records for earnings within that two-year career; she was the most wealthy stripper of all time relative to the length of her tenure on the stage. It was widely accepted that this was directly attributable to two things: first, she was a fully-trained theatrical performer; and second, she was a master sorceress, and had pioneered the art of incorporating ornate Magic into burlesque by fusing her visually amazing spellcraft directly with the showmanship of her own performances. Of course, it didn't hurt at all that she was also exemplary in terms of physical fitness and beauty, being a demigoddess descendant of both Celestia and Luna.
As immensely impressive as Trixie's accomplishments as a Pegasus City stripper were- particularly since she had only been able to perform part-time throughout that career, as she was still in university- her record-making earnings on the Hotel California's stage still only represented a little less than half of her true wealth. The other half, of course, had come from her illegal-but-utterly-obvious shadow career as a high-class escort, for which her stripping acted as little more than advertising for.
Trixie's black-market prostitution career was far from unusual; in fact, there wasn't a single burlesque performer in Pegasus City who wasn't a whore. Indeed, across the entire world, the professions of erotic dancing and prostitution always went hand-in-hand with only exceedingly rare exceptions. Every stripper was a prostitute, and the few prostitutes who weren't dancers were invariably the very most impoverished of their trade, for they were totally unable to auction off their services and thus consistently increase their selling-prices for them.
As a general rule, attendance for strip shows was free. Nonetheless, strippers' audiences were always peopled by eager "bidders" with pockets and purses full near to bursting with gold. You had to bring a great deal of money, if you intended to bid. Therefore, coins tended to be tossed onto performers' stages by only a handful of attendees; these were collectively referred to as the "pool," and strippers constantly strived to draw in the largest "pool" possible. The rest of the crowd almost always came to watch empty-handed, but the performers never ignored their non-bidding attendees. This was best exemplified by the proverb, "Always give a fantastic show, both to your poolers and to your spectators; if you do, your poolers will bestow you a rainstorm of gold, and your spectators will be seduced to dive into your next pool."
Before the beginning of a burlesque performance, an enchantment was placed on the surface of the stage. This enchantment was either Spellcasted (if the performer was an Elf) or anointed with a pre-Mixed potion (if the performer was a Human or an Angel). This enchantment counted the total amount of currency all the poolers had thrown onto the stage, as well as which pooler had casted any given coin. If you threw a coin onto a performer's stage, that coin was forfeit; it now belonged to the performer, whether or not you won the "auction." However, until a performance ended, every coin a pooler cast to the stage remained in their "bid," which could therefore only grow bigger; never smaller. Nonetheless, it could still of course be quite devastating to cast a generous sum in the auction only to be outbid, losing both your offer and the services of the performer you wanted to buy with it. For this reason, poolers had formulated a triad of popular proverbs of their own: "You are not a bidder; you are a gambler. Never join a pool unprepared to lose the purse you bring to it, and remember that every coin you cast is a gift. Even if you lose the chance to win the pleasure a performer's company, you have still won the pleasure of receiving their gratitude and witnessing their art."
When a show ended- which was usually when poolers had ceased casting coins onto the stage- the stripper performed a "Final Bow Ritual": they thanked their audience, expressed especial gratitude to their pool, and finally they thanked their most generous pooler while looking them directly in the eye and bowing to them. This "chosen" pooler then usually stepped up to the stage, where the performer gave them a handwritten card listing an address and a time; these were where and when the chosen pooler was expected to meet the performer to enjoy the services they had won.
Though this was how burlesque shows were usually conducted, it was by no means universal. Most of the variations were resulted from and made necessary by the few holds where prostitution was illegal. El Dorado- and, therefore, Pegasus City- were among these unusual prohibitionary kingdoms.
Prince Dionysus had grudgingly outlawed prostitution in order to restore public peace, which had been consistently disturbed by Sonatian anti-sex work extremist activists. The Cult of Sonata (obviously) prohibited and condemned sex work of any kind as cardinally sinful, with only slightly more leniency towards theatre and other performative arts. It wasn't uncommon for their zealotry to result in violence; several public riots had broken out as a result of their protests around the world, and some had even gone so far as to engage in acts of overt terrorism to "punish" the perceived moral bankruptcy of the world's civilizations. After decades of attacking the public well-being, the Sonatians finally managed to pressure Dionysus into caving in and signing the anti-prostitution mandate to pacify them.
The God of Wine and Wealth received widespread criticism for this; including from Celestia herself, who had begged him not to reward authoritarian violence by restricting their subjects' freedoms. Once El Dorado outlawed prostitution despite her protests, Celestia had considered exercising her powers as the world's High Princess to strike the law back down, fearing that a long-term germination of malignant puritanism would come about as a result of this, what she described as a short-sighted solution for a manufactured moral panic.
Ultimately, however, Celestia had chosen to allow Dionysus to do what he believed was for the best interests of his kingdom, and let him learn from his own mistakes. Twilight thought that Celestia was glad she had decided to err on the side of tolerance and mercy; the law Dionysus had enacted was all but a law in name only, and he seemed to intend to abolish it again as soon as would be possible without painting himself as impulsively indecisive.
Dionysus had insisted on presiding over every criminal court case drawn up against those accused of engaging in prostitution within the borders of his kingdom. He dismissed all but the most high-profile cases, stating that the evidence was too insubstantial or the damage done by the accused was so trivial that conviction would do more harm than good. In this way, almost all sex workers arrested and brought before him endured little more than the annoyance of having their time wasted.
Not all of these arrestees were so lucky, however. When a prostitute had reached a certain height of wealth and renown, it was no longer possible for Dionysus to just quietly pardon their transgressions and sweep their charges back under the rug. The reason for this was simple: tax evasion was an innately and deeply serious crime, particularly when the offender was exceptionally wealthy; and prostitution, being outlawed in El Dorado, was therefore by definition a profession that was inseparably tied to it.
The Sonatians were quick to point out that even if Dionysus was willing to look the other way for illegal sex work, it would be an indisputable sign of corruption on his part if he were also willing to ignore grand theft from his kingdom. They made barely-veiled threats to rally even more supporters into riots around his demonstrable leniency towards thievery if he refused to punish prostitutes for this, and so Dionysus felt that he had no choice but to convict and jail the very most wealthy and famous accused and proven practicers of prostitution brought before his court of law.
Like all of the other most elite escorts of Pegasus City, Trixie had learned to master the art of completely cleaning up after herself. One of the preventative measures Sonatians had demanded of Dionysus's anti-prostitution law in order to ensure a firm separation of whoring from strip-teasing was that the coin-counting enchantment could no longer be placed upon a stage, for example; in response, Trixie and her peers had learned to count and categorize the currency their poolers cast by sight and memory alone. This was reportedly extremely difficult, and so many burlesque artists were said to take illicit magical devices disguised as mood-jewelry onto stage with them while they danced to make it easier. Such devices were given the street name "Alicorn Amulets," but Trixie was said to have required the aid of her own Amulet only rarely during her tenure in the Hotel California.
Nonetheless, though Trixie was clearly a master of staying one step ahead of the law, even she evidently believed that her luck was going to run out. She had amazingly avoided being arrested even once for her lucrative and famous escort career in Pegasus City, though she had ultimately decided to leave- likely to avoid the possibility altogether. She was now a nomadic traveling performer, visiting whatever settlement seemed to draw her interest. Though she would never make the small fortunes she'd regularly formerly won outside of Pegasus City, she was still doing quite well for herself- partially from brand recognition alone.
It's no wonder, Twilight thought, that it seems every single man in town is going to see her (not to mention Rainbow Dash, of course).
"Is it alright if I go see her show, Twilight?" Spike asked. He was subtly pouting, and his eyes were wide in pleading.
Twilight thought about it for a moment, then made a half-groaning sigh, "Yes, you may go, Spike," she answered drily.
Spike tightly embraced his mentor. "You're the best, Twi!" he cried.
Spike then released Twilight, turned to walk away, and raised his hand in farewell, saying, "I'll see ya later, the-"
"Not so fast," Twilight sighed, sliding her hands into her pockets as she stepped forward to rejoin Spike's side. "I think I should come with you."
Spike blinked. "Bu- ... really...?" he said, stunned. "... But... didn't you have problems with... y'know... watching your cousin...?"
Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Spike. I wouldn't do this if things were different. But you are underage, and we're in deep enough trouble already."
Spike replied confusedly, "It's not illegal for me to see strip shows."
"No, but it is illegal for you to bid on them."
Spike looked a little hurt. "You don't trust me, Twi?" he asked softly.
"Of course I trust you, Spike," Twilight quickly assured him, squeezing his shoulder and giving him a sincerely apologetic look. "It's Trixie and the other attendees I don't trust. Burlesque shows have been known to get dangerous, you know. Brawls over tied bids, predatory drugging- all sorts of nasty things happen at these things."
Spike nodded. "Yeah, but... what's wrong with Trixie, though?" he asked anxiously.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with her, necessarily," Twilight said. Her eyes narrowed as she added, "However, technically, she is a criminal, by her own admission. Illegal prostitution in El Dorado isn't a dangerous crime, mind you- but the fact that she was willing to risk jail time, and never got caught, despite becoming its highest-earning escort, gives me a little pause."
Spike smirked. "Do you really think she could hurt me, though?" he said, holding up his hand to show her the green flame Mark on it. "I doubt it's me you'll need to worry about if worst comes to worst."
Twilight laughed. "I agree," she said. "Still, you never know- and I don't know her. Until I've met her, I just wanna be on the safe side."
Spike shrugged. "I get it," he said. With another grin, he nodded in the direction the crowd was gathering towards. "Let's get going, then."
Twilight nodded, then began walking down the road alongside Spike.
Within minutes, they arrived at Avalon's Town Square, where a cart fastened to a bright blue Alicorn was parked. There was no doubt that his cart belonged to the "Great and Powerful" Trixie Lulamoon; aside from the posters and advertisements plastered all over it, to own an Alicorn as a personal steed was a sign of great wealth on the part of its owner, and this particular Alicorn was one of the youngest and most famous ones the world currently knew.
The traditional fifteenth birthday gift for members of anything at or above the higher tiers of the economic middle class was a Horse. A personal steed was a social symbol of independence and freedom; in other words, it was seen as the perfect coming-of-age gift for new adults. The races of such horses traditionally corresponded to the race of the Being they were being gifted to; for wealthy young Elves, turning fifteen meant receiving a Unicorn from their parents. Their Human counterparts were given Earth-Ponies, and likewise young Angels were traditionally given Pegasi.
Many young children, however, fantasized of receiving their very own Alicorn when they turned fifteen. This was particularly true for little girls; in fact, using a birthday wish to ask for an Alicorn was so ubiquitous amongst little girls that it was universally considered cliché. Unfortunately, there weren't nearly enough Alicorns to fulfill all these wishes; though this race of Horses was divine, and therefore as immortal as the Gods, breeding was exceptionally rare for them.
Like all other immortal creatures, such as phoenixes and dragons and Gods, Alicorns were in no hurry to rear offspring; since they could not die, their only worry about their brood was the possibility of being cramped and crowded by them. As a result, there were only about a thousand Alicorns in the world; all of whom were direct descendants of Vega and Ganymede, and the birth of an Alicorn foal was nearly as much of a rarity and cause for worldwide celebration as the birth of a new God.
Since Luna was first imprisoned, her steed and dear friend Ganymede had been so depressed that he was totally unwilling to even consider fathering any foals. Vega had continued to be affectionate to him and one of his few sources of comfort during that time, though Camelot's stable-keepers reported to Celestia that Ganymede had evidently completely lost his sex drive; neither Vega nor any of the castle's other mares had even once been courted by him throughout the entire thousand years of Luna's Sealing.
However, though Ganymede showed no interest in parenting foals during Luna's imprisonment, Vega continued courting other stallions throughout that time- albeit with less enthusiasm than she had originally displayed. Ganymede was her favorite mate, after all, and Vega had also seemed to share some of the stallion's deep sadness at Luna's absence. Nonetheless, Vega had birthed and raised about two hundred mortal Horse foals during Ganymede's millennium-long bout of depression. This was a dramatic decrease in Vega's personal fertility rate; before Luna's imprisonment, Celestia's Alicorn mare had reared an average of about three mortal foals per decade. Likewise, before Luna had been banished to Tartarus, an Alicorn foal had been born to Vega about once every twenty-five years; in the millennium since, Vega had become a new mother to only one.
The stallion who had sired Vega's sole immortal foal for a thousand years was- interestingly- not Ganymede, but his firstborn son. This Alicorn stallion- whose name was Umbriel- was something of a folk legend among the mortal Beings. Widely considered the wildest and most mysterious of all immortal Horses, Umbriel was a midnight-black living shadow who was described in legends as the most beautiful of all stallions, mortal or divine; he was even said to be more handsome than Ganymede, his own father.
Umbriel's nature could best be described with a string of contradictions. He was massive and earthshakingly powerful, yet when he moved he was as silent and stealthy as a stalking tiger. His inky-black coat and moon-silver eyes gave him the aura of terror and intimidation that one otherwise only felt in the grips of a terrible nightmare, and yet the few Beings lucky enough to befriend him had described his nature as being quite retiring and sweet.
However, though Umbriel was usually very gentle, this didn't mean he wasn't also capable of being extremely dangerous; those who roused his wrath invariably met swift and brutal deaths. Fortunately, this only seemed to happen to those who deserved it, by all accounts; legends featuring him usually described him as entering the narrative when young children were in danger. If the source of the danger was another mortal Being, Umbriel would quickly dispatch them, then allow their distressed young victims to climb onto his great back to silently carry them until they were returned to safety.
For this reason, Umbriel had become a popular symbol of deep goodness and compassion masked by misleading or fearsome appearances, as well as benevolent but lawless rogues and travelers. The Shadow-Stallion never stood still and often inspired dread in the few eyes that caught glimpses of him, but by all accounts he never brought anything but the gentle blessings of a tranquil night wherever he went. Indeed, almost five years before Luna's return, Umbriel blessed his mother Vega with the foal who would come to be retroactively described as a good omen of joyful reunions- both for his parents, as well as their Goddess masters. Though Twilight thought this recent rumor rather superstitious and silly, she still regarded it as fitting that Luna's return was immediately preceded by a joyous event that had not occurred for almost a thousand years. Celestia named Vega and Umbriel's colt "Oberon."
Oberon's birth was, like the births of all other Alicorns, an event for great celebration. The world threw an impromptu holiday on that day, though it was comparatively small in scale; no shops or businesses were closed, but many lords and socialites held public and private feasts at which they toasted the arrival of a new Lord of Horses. Commoner mortals looked forward to the births of Alicorn foals because they promised a large and delicious free meal; lords looked forward to them because they (usually) promised them the chance of having a divine steed of their own in just a few short years.
It was all but impossible to call yourself an Alicorn's "master" if the Alicorn refused to accept you; at heart, all Alicorns were wild, even if they had Being riders who cared for them, housed them, and called themselves their "masters." If a divine Horse stayed in a stable, it was by its own choice; you could no more keep an Alicorn trapped against its will than you could fill a fist with sand and then prevent any of it from slipping out of your grip. Locks and chains were no more obstacles preventing them from leaving than a simple doorknob was for a Being; and whenever they did leave, only strong fondness and friendship with their masters could assure their return. To attempt to "break" an Alicorn was futility and suicide; to ride one could only ever be a privilege and a gift from them.
About one in ten yearling Alicorns born in the care of Beings decided to escape into the wilds once they had been weaned from the milk of their mothers. The rest became the subjects of the most lucrative auctions in all the kingdoms of the world. However, to win one of these auctions did not guarantee a Being the right to call themselves that Alicorn yearling's master; only the first rights to offer themselves to the yearling as a partner and rider. For this reason, offered payments for an Alicorn's deed were never given until the Alicorn met the winning bidder and indicated whether it was willing to accept them as a master or not. If the yearling accepted, money changed hands; if not, the winning bidder kept their offer, and the second-place bidder was contacted next, and so on.
Before Trixie Lulamoon's fifteenth birthday, her parents- being some of the wealthiest mortal lords on the face of the Earth- had quietly and anonymously won Celestia's auction for the first rights to present a hopeful "master" to the newly-weaned Oberon. Such auctions Celestia held were always made for charitable causes; therefore, Trixie's parents insisted that Celestia keep their payment, whether or not Oberon joined their household. However, when Trixie was taken on a surprise visit to Camelot's stables and met Oberon for her fifteenth birthday, the majestic little colt took to her with no hesitation. There was no doubt that they would be fast companions for life.
Now that Oberon was a full-grown stallion, it wasn't hard to see why. His manner, temperament, and flowing magenta mane were all every bit as haughty and ostentatious as the Elvish performer he served was reputed to be. He was as obviously full of himself as a Horse could be; he was standing quite still, but he flapped his great feathered wings for no practical purpose every few seconds; his blue coat was too clean for him to have allowed anything to soil it since it was groomed; and he was looking at the densely-packed audience gathering around him with unmistakable aloof amusement. If a Horse was physically capable of smirking, Twilight and Spike had no doubt Oberon would be smirking right now.
The cart behind Oberon was almost as impressive as him; it was like no other cart Twilight or her friends had seen before. It seemed to have been constructed partially out of wood; but also from sturdy, lustrous precious metals such as silver and titanium. It was perched above black rubber tires reinforced by steel spokes and axels; and the cushioned, red, velvet driver's seat on its front wouldn't have looked out-of-place as a sofa in a lordly parlor.
However, Twilight couldn't see anything resembling a door anywhere on the cart's surface. While the crowd of men (and a few women) around them excitedly murmured amongst themselves, Twilight leaned over and muttered to Spike, "Why do you suppose the cart's made out of metal?"
Spike looked to her. "Huh?" he said.
"Why do you think Trixie had her cart built like that?" Twilight repeated. "I mean, what purpose could it possibly serve? It's probably much heavier than carts ought to be."
Spike shrugged. "She has an Alicorn," he observed. "He can pull it comfortably."
"Yes, but why does he need to?" Twilight said. "I don't get why she would insist on making it out of metal, instead of just-"
"You'll see why, Twilight!" Rainbow laughed, startling and interrupting her. Twilight whipped her head around, and saw that Rainbow had silently snuck up to her side. Rainbow then smirked and leered mischievously at Twilight as she crossed her arms and said with faux incredulity, "What are you doing here, Egghead? I thought you were an innocent and prudish little librarian!"
Twilight's face burned as she stared daggers at Rainbow, but Rainbow wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Rainbow sarcastically added, "You mean to tell me that the so called "innocent" librarian is secretly a raging hornball? Shocking."
"It's not like that, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied, barely refraining from snarling. "I'm just here to make sure Spike stays safe."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, suuuuuuure," she drawled through a wide, sadistic grin.
"Get your mind out of the gutter; Trixie's my cousin," Twilight said.
Rainbow shrugged. "So?" she said, frowning.
Twilight's eyes widened; Rainbow's flat expression screamed, Yeah, I knew that. "You think that's why I'm here...?!" Twilight cried, affronted.
Rainbow's smug grin returned. Before she could begin a new sentence, however, a blast of brass band music erupted from the cart. Twilight (and several other Beings) yelped in fright, returning her attention to it. To her shock, a pair of speakers had materialized at the front and back of the cart.
The music suddenly stopped. A second later, as if on cue, Oberon stomped his right hoof twice against the road. "Ladies and gents," a young woman's voice then cried from the speakers, "this is the moment you've waited for!"
Again, Oberon made two resounding "clops" against the pavement.
"Your faces were in the dark; your sweat dripping to the floor!"
Clop stomp. This time, many attendees had stomped along with the Horse.
"And buried in your bones is an ache that you can't ignore, so take in a breath, steel in your mind, while all that was real was left behind...!"
Twilight again made a small, startled jump as several jets of steam escaped from unseen cracks in the cart's surface with loud hisses. Oberon began rhythmically marching away from the cart, and it began to twist and transform.
Twilight gaped awestruck at the cart as it began unfolding into a curtained stage as Trixie's voice continued chanting to the beat of Oberon's hoof-clops and the audience's stomping, "Don't fight it, it's coming for ya; running atcha... it's only this moment, don't worry what comes after...."
Bright blue flames rose up from pipes in the newly-emerging stage's floor, and several complementary fireworks flew up from behind the curtains. As breathtaking as this was, however, Twilight's brow furrowed in concentration. "I've heard this voice before," she murmured to herself. "Where have I heard this voice before...?"
No one heard her, however; the stomping around her drowned it out. At any rate, she couldn't answer her own question. Her attempt to was cut short by another startlement: there was a particularly large burst of more bright blue flames on the stage, and when they subsided- to uproarious applause- the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon smirkingly emerged from them.
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Oh this should be fun.
This is, of course the main reason why the cartoon My Large Alicorns is so popular.
part of me hope Trixie is not going to be like how she is in cannon toward twilight in the start, of the show and be more friendly/nice to her,
even go out of the way of treating the male if they even touch her wrong she would find out somehow.
Well this will be one heck of show.
Glad you got past your writers block lol, this should be good
Definitely an interesting setup; hopefully, the next few chapters will have action paying off on it. That's an interesting take on alicorns, as well; reminds me a little bit of Shadowfax. Makes me wonder how that little tidbit will come back.
That being said, the exposition was still a bit heavy in this chapter. It worked in say, Spike's Memories, because it said a lot about the character that wasn't being explicitly told. Here, there is some of this (and it's improved from last chapter, definitely), but it's still very front-loaded. Twilight may have been reminiscing while watching Trixie, for instance, which would have broken it up with dialogue, and provided more segways into the worldbuilding. Doing so would also have let us, the reader, know that information as Twilight was learning it, rather than her simply knowing very specifically what someone she barely knows has been doing for several years.
Also, Promethean mansion? What are the odds that the man named Prometheus has something to do with the Lulamoon family? Or that Trixie was one of the elves in the mansion releasing NMM?
Oh boy.
Time to see how Trixie of this universe handles seeing her cousin in the audience.
And how this Trixie acts.
Are we gonna see some incest? Part of me wants there to be (I mean come on! it's Trixie and Twilight!)
So I have a couple random questions: 1) Are you a male, female, or transgender? The name "Morgan" can go either way.
2) What is your sexuallity? Personally, I'm pansexual (I actually learned the word from I-IX: Pinkie Pie).
I get if you don't want to answer, but I'm just curious...
10071841 I'm happy to!
I'm a guy, and I would say my sexuality on the Kinsey Scale is about a 1.5. IE, I by far prefer women, but occasionally a guy can "do it" for me.
If I might ask- what prompted this?
10074089
" And because I've told so many of my friends, I got tired of not knowing and became curious. That pretty much sums up the reason. 
Mostly since I love your stories, I would suggest them to my other brony/pegasister friends, and I would say something like, "Oh you would really like his stories! Or her stories... I don't know if the author's a boy or a girl...
Also, if I might ask, what month do you think your next chapter will come out?
10078388 This month, I hope.
10079184
Awesome, I'll be looking forward to it!
I know that you mentioned that they use kanji, rather than the Roman alphabet, but I'm curious, what language do you see the characters speaking?
10100001 East Dragon Imperial. Which is, for us, Japanese.
Hey Morgan, how's it going? Are you doing okay with the pandemic going on? I'm honestly a little worried... You said you might be able to submit the next chapter a few months ago, but... Did something happen? Sorry if it feels like I'm nagging you, but when someone I get attached to doesn't follow up on something, I honestly get a bit anxious. You don't have to tell me what's going on, but please let me know if your okay.
10148250 Hey there. Thanks for your concern. I'm okay, I've actually started working on the next chapter today.
Just in case you never have the chance to finish this story, could I know what plot lines and ending you had in mind ?
10291450 I'm still working on it, don't worry. I'm sorry I've gone full George Martin though.
The suspense is killing me. Especially with what she looks like. Best of luck to you- these times are rather trying for a lot of us.
If you don't mind me asking, what prompted the name change?
10335466
It's a framing device, a la Lemony Snicket. Akira Hayashi is the in-universe character who is relaying this story to our world.
Hey quick question. Since Adigo’s Name got changed to Sonata will Aria and actual Sonata make an appearance in the fic?
10481410
They will, yes.
How many books are there gonna be?
10483036 Seven.
10148334
If you have a block you should put your story on hiatus.
Hey, are you okay? I’m worried something bad happened to you.
10759741
I am okay, don't worry.