A Forgotten Trooper

by TheIronPone035

Chapter 15: Magic Tricks

"So, remind me what you wanted exactly?" Fluttershy asked as she and Strider walked through the vastly populated market.

"A rope that needs to be long and tough, tough enough to hold up the wing of the gunship." Strider explained. "Hopefully one of these shops has some."

Right on cue, a nearby cart came into view which had several ropes hanging from the side of it. A large sign on top of the cart read Hardware For Hoofwork.

The two navigated through the wave of ponies and across the street over to the cart with the rope, a stallion with grey fur and a black mane and tail stood behind its counter. He smiled as he spotted Fluttershy trot over to him.

"Hello Miss Shy, what would you like today?" The stallion asked.

"Oh, I don't need anything, but my friend here does." Fluttershy exclaimed before stepping to the side to allow Strider a clear view of him.

"Hello, i'm Strider. I've been working on something that needs a pulley system and was wondering if you had any thirty two foot long ropes?" Strider questioned.

"Well, I do have a thirty two hoof length rope over there." The Stallion stated, pointing a hoof at a brown rope resting on a nail.

Strider picked the rope up and examined it. The rope seemed to be tough and was definitely long enough.

"Perfect, how much?" Strider asked.

"That rope would be around thirty bits." The stallion claimed.

Strider didn't exactly know what a bit was, so Fluttershy stepped back in front of him and put the money on the counter. The money appeared to be small circular golden pieces. The stallion counted them up before putting them away in a wooden box that was set on the far right of the counter.

As the two were walking away from the cart, Strider brought it up.

"Your currency is gold?" Strider asked.

"Some of them are also silver, but most are gold. We call them bits." Fluttershy explained.

"Huh, well I guess I shouldn't of been surprised that this planet doesn't use galactic credits."

"Galactic credits?"

"They're actually quite similar to your currency, ranging from gold to silver and even bronze. But they're shaped like long rectangles instead of circles." Strider stated.

"So, the whole galaxy uses these credits?" Fluttershy questioned.

Strider was about to reply but stopped when he spotted a crowd gathering in front of the town square building. Most of the ponies there didn't look familiar, but there were a few he recognised from the party. In the very front he could swear he spotted Pinkie Pie's mane bouncing up and down as she bounced in place.

"What's going on over there?" Strider wondered out loud.

"I don't know." Fluttershy answered.

"Let's check it out." Strider said, already advancing towards the crowd of ponies.

Fluttershy was a bit hesitant to head towards the crowd, but was relieved a little when she noticed Strider go around the large group of ponies and stop near the far right. She made her way over to Strider, who was already staring at what the crowd of ponies were gathered before.

It turned out that the group of ponies were looking at a rickety wooden wagon that was in front of town square. It had a dark red roof and pale yellow wooden walls which had a few brown windows on each side. A voice echoed through a microphone from inside the wagon, which suddenly opened up.

"Come one! Come all! Come and witness the Great And Powerful TRIXIE!" The female sounding voice proclaimed through the microphone.

The wagon's right wall suddenly sprung out, transforming it into a makeshift stage while several other objects popped out on the roof. This was then followed by a set of fireworks which were launched into the air.

"Wow, a traveling entertainer. I've heard some pretty strange stories about these guys." Strider stated, glancing over at Fluttershy who had ducked behind him when the fireworks exploded.

Strider looked back at the stage, now seeing a female pony with light blue fur and a white and light blue colored mane and tail. She was wearing a star covered purple pointy hat and a matching purple cape, her purple irises gazing out across the crowd.

Strider didn't need to be a jedi to tell that the pony was probably Trixie, who was talking to the crowd before another set of fireworks blasted into the air. Trixie followed up the display of explosions by raising her right forehoof and waved it around. Suddenly, a bouquet of flowers appeared out of nowhere and onto her hoof.

That was when Strider remembered something else about this world that he had forgotten completely. It had unicorns, (yet another mythical creature who was only told in the stories his brother read) who use real magic. Nightmare Moon had used said magic to fight him in that castle, but other than that, Strider hadn't seen magic used before.

"She's got some nice moves." Strider stated to Fluttershy, who had come out from behind his leg and joined him and the crowd at watching the performance.

As Trixie continued her show, a pony in the crowd said something inaudible from Strider's position. Trixie stopped what she was doing and looked down at the pony, eyes narrowing.

"Well well well, it seems we have some neighsayors in the audience." She declared.

It took a moment before the pun registered in Strider's head, before he answered it with a face palm to his helmet. When he removed his hand from the visor, he spotted Rainbow Dash hovering in front of Trixie, frowning at her.

"What makes you so much better than everypony else?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Why, only the Great And Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!" Trixie claimed in a booming voice.

Another set of fireworks went off, but this set was different then the others. This set somehow showed neon glowing images in the sky which took the shape of a bear. A few gasps escaped through the crowd at the sight, while Strider looked up in confusion. What the heck was an Ursa Major?

Trixie continued to talk about the Ursa Major and how she had defeated it. But Strider was more focused on the lights which faded once the story was finished.

"That was a nice light show, huh Fluttershy?" Strider asked.

"U-Ursa, M-Major?" Fluttershy stammered, her mind racing.

"Yeah, what is an Ursa Major?" Strider wondered.

Fluttershy didn't answer, her forehooves visible wobbling. Whatever it was, she seemed terrified of it.

Strider looked back at the stage which once again had fireworks going off above it. Ok, that trick was getting a little repetitive now. Even the machines which launched the fireworks was beginning to lose power.

"That's it. Ah can't stand for no more of this!" Applejack's voice stated as it rang through the crowd.

The orange pony got up onto the stage and grabbed a rope out of seemingly nowhere and tied it to her tail. She then spun the rope around and around like a lasso and launched it over to an apple tree. The rope wrapped around an apple and was yanked back with the rope towards Applejack. The mare ate the whole apple as it came soaring into her mouth and smiled.

The crowd of ponies cheered at the performance, some stomping their hooves together while others whistled. Strider couldn't help but give Applejack a round of applause as well.

That was, until he realized the lack of weight on his shoulder where he had put the rope. Strider quickly realized that the rope was gone.

"Hey! That's my--" Strider trailed off as Trixie took the rope in her magic and did some strange dancing with it.

Applejack had frozen up, her eyes locked with the rope. The rope slowly tied itself around Applejack, before spinning her out and off the stage. Trixie then looked up at the rope and grinned, before twisting it around a few times and into a knotted pony shape.

Trixie then tried to undo the knot but after a few sharp tugs, just simply broke the rope around the knots and put it away in a barrel.

"rope..." Strider finished, quickly realizing that the rope was no longer usable due to Trixie breaking it and shortening its length.

Strider cursed under his breath and clenched his hand into a fist. The small amount of respect Trixie had earned from her show vanished instantly.

Fluttershy spotted Strider's clenched fist and looked up at him.

"Don't worry, we can get another one," Fluttershy said. "But it wasn't very nice for her to do that to Applejack--and Rainbow Dash----and, Rarity."

Strider looked back to the stage to see Rarity rush off with green hair and Rainbow Dash rubbing her head with a hoof. The trooper sighed, before spotting the crowd break away back into town. His hands still clenched in a fist as he and Fluttershy walked back towards the market.

Comments

[RDDash]

Well, Trixie owes Fluttershy 30 bits

[SuperPinkBrony12]

9716752 And a rope.

[deathcombo99]

9717140
Kinky

[Sozmioi]

Why is he walking away? She just literally stole from him.

[Ziper Ace]

Dang Trixie
You just mess up badly
Plus stealing is Bad