A Partner Ship So Good It's Almost Criminal
“I am not paying extra,” Starchee said plainly, sitting at his desk as he stared down the mares. The ‘office’ was more of a part of his storage room cut off by a few crates. He was an older stallion with a graying black mane, a brown coat, and a mustache to match. He creaked forward, staring bitterly with his yellow eyes at the showpony.
“You have a lot of nerve Trixie; first, you shoot fireworks in my bar, and then you bring in your lacky to stiff me! Do you think I’m a sucker? This mare isn’t some slob you pulled from the crowd. No, no, it’s obvious she comes in right about where you’re about to perform a trick.”
The tavernkeeper hissed, “And you made it so obvious too, really? Mage-ika…Magic….whatever her name is! It’s way too convenient, don’t you think? I am not paying extra; I should cut your pay for going around our agreements!”
Trixie reeled back in shock at the blunt manner in which Starchee refused her. How dare he, when she had put her heart and soul into her act even while thrown off by her mysterious comrade’s appearance! The blue mare couldn’t help but stick out her lip and lower her brow.
And as soon as he began to accuse her of staging such a blatant insult to her craft as if it were some sort of scheme to steal from him was just-- just--
Actually, it was rather clever; she needed to write that down.
“Look, sir, I’m not affiliated with this mare; I just wanted to come in for a drink.” Starlight said as she attempted to ease the situation.
“How dare you accuse Trixie of being a... a fraud?! As if Trixie would ever willingly associate herself with somepony who attempts to upstage her!” She turned, hissing at the cloaked pony.
“I don’t want to hear it! I’m not giving you extra bits, you…you…quack!” snapped the old stallion; his brown mustache twitched with every bitter syllable.
Facing back to Starchee, Trixie harrumphed. “Trixie put in all this effort, pulled off such a spectacular act... and the fireworks were on my bits. Do you have any idea how much these fireworks cost?!” she didn’t even want to mention the legality.
“You should be paying Trixie double for even stepping into this waste bin!”
“You want to talk about the fireworks? I said you could light a few sparklers and use a smoke machine, not turn my bar into the Equestria games half-time show!” snapped Starchee, “You figure it out; it’s not MY problem. Maybe next time, you won’t try to sneak around our agreements in an attempt to swindle bits out of me.”
Her smile instantly dropped when he reminded her of the limits on her pyrotechnics. To be fair, she had genuinely forgotten, and it had been her regular act; she hadn’t really thought about the fire hazard. Or, if she had thought about it, she hadn’t considered it a problem worth worrying about.
Starlight looked at Trixie bitterly; she knew it was too good to be true; she quickly hissed, “You better give me something, or we'll have some issues.” threatened Starlight.
The blue unicorn rolled her eyes and turned her back on Starlight, sighing dramatically.
“Whatever, it wasn’t like the payment was worth anything to Trixie, only her pride was on the line, and it is clear to her that this establishment is beneath her!” she began to turn down a hallway, glancing back only to throw one more nasty remark their way. “Trixie will be leaving, but first, she needs to use the little filly’s room. After all, this place is a dump anyway.” And with that, she trotted further into the building.
Starchee chuckled, before looking at Starlight, “I bet this poor excuse of a showpony promised you a nice reward, didn’t she? Well, too bad! I haven’t run my business for this long by being conned by low-brow hooligans!” he smirked, “Why don’t you talk to your boss.”
Starlight bubbled with anger, the gall of this pony, and now she wasn’t going to get paid? She had risked her identity and safety for nothing! This would not stand; she was going to confront her, “She’s not my boss…and trust me, I will.” growled Starlight as she rose from her seat as she stamped out of the storage room.
Before, she used her magic to turn herself invisible quickly, following Trixie down the hallway, catching up to her. Passing by the bathroom, Trixie glanced back down the hall she had come, checking to make sure nopony was watching before she bolted for a set of stairs, climbing to a second floor. It seemed to be a small office, and Trixie knew exactly where one would hide a safe in such a place.
Unlike most ponies, Starchee didn’t hide his behind a painting; it was in plain view behind his desk. Trixie tossed one more glance to the doorway before trotting up to it. Pulling out a few hair pins from her mane, she began working her own special magic on the bolts inside the lock.
Trixie began to sweat as the time passed; ten, twenty, thirty seconds passed as she slowly worked through the pins inside the safe’s lock before finally hearing the blessed click inside. She couldn’t help but let out a little hissed “yessss!” before quickly shooting a look toward the doorway. Turning back towards her prize, she opened the safe and promptly closed her own jaw at the stack of bits inside.
Starlight watched in complete shock as the blue mare cracked the staff in Starchee’s office, more impressed than anything. The mare crept closer, cautious of her hoofsteps as she inched toward Trixie.
Trixie didn’t waste any time, taking a nice chunk of change for herself and a few bits for her strange friend down there. Enough to get her to shut up, at least. Satisfied with her haul, she kicked the safe door shut and turned to the exit.
As the blue mare quickly turned to face the doorway, Starlight leaned in and whispered, “If you’re going to steal, you might as well take everything.”
Trixie nearly jumped to the ceiling at the sudden voice, doing a complete 360º as she attempted to find the source of the mysterious mare’s voice. “Wh-Where are you?! H-How dare you sneak up on Trixie! And why aren’t you keeping him busy?”
Starlight scoffed as she quietly whispered, attempting to control herself. She’d appear if she were to yell or run while using her invisibility spell.
“I’m in the room; that’s all that matters.” cooed Starlight. She’d pause, “Keep him busy?...We? What do you mean ‘we,’ we aren’t partners! Did you just assume I’d go along with whatever idea you had without deliberating with me first!?” hissed Starlight.
Trixie snorted, “Well, duh, Trixie assumed you would be at least that bright, but Trixie supposes she overestimated your intelligence. Trixie guesses only one of us here attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, eh?”
Taking a deep breath, the blue unicorn mare attempted to calm herself and regain her confidence. “You know, Trixie’s never had a stalker before, but Trixie knew it would happen eventually; Trixie’s just that magnificent.” she was practically preening like a peacock, a smirk on her lips.
“And besides, Trixie doesn’t want him to notice until we’re both long gone.” she trotted towards the door, rolling her eyes.
Before the two could react, Starchee walked into the doorway, “Boys? Are you in here-” the stallion slowly stared at Trixie as his face turned red as a tomato, “HOW DARE YOU STEAL FROM ME! I’VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU, BOYS. WE HAVE OURSELVES A THIEF IN OUR MITS!” shouted Starchee.
The blue mare would have gone on further with her insults if the owner hadn't arrived. Trixie’s ears went back as her eyes scanned the place for an exit. Yes, a window! Perfect! Thinking quickly, Trixie summoned her best exit line before--
Starlight quickly revealed herself next to Trixie and promptly blasted Starchee with a freezing spell, engulfing the older stallion into a block of ice.
Trixie’s jaw dropped at the sudden spell, her blood turning cold as she witnessed the strange pony turn her theft victim into a possible murder.
Soon Starchee’s sons stormed the room; their mouths dropped to the floor at the sight of their dad being turned into a block of ice. Starlight swiftly turned before bucking the large ice cube into the boys before it slammed into them and shoved them into a nearby wall.
Starlight quickly used her magic to raid the safe, taking whatever Trixie left behind, “How’s that for keeping him busy?” chuckled Starlight as the ponies groaned and squirmed against the weight of the ice block.
By the time Starlight turned around to speak to Trixie, she was already squirming her way out of a window, about to drop from the second floor and hopefully make it to her wagon. She didn’t sign up for this! Just a show and a little extra payment, that was all!
“Hey!” snapped Starlight as she quickly shot Trixie with a stun spell, Trixie felt her muscles grow stiff as her squirming ceased, but she didn’t hang limp or give out, no. She remained firm in her awkward position in the window. Trixie slumped against the windowsill, not even given a chance to make a noise of complaint; although she was terrified, she was about to fall face-first onto the street below.
Using her levitation spell, Starlight quickly grabbed the motionless showpony, “alright, I have had it up to here with you! The constant boasting and annoying quips, who cares if you went to some school? I bested Princess Twilight in a magical duel twice! (Kinda.)”
“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t just leave you here and pin you for freezing that grumpy old stallion and harming his boys.” snapped Starlight before she chuckled; her chuckling erupted into laughter, “Hey! It’s kinda funny; at least you’ll actually be known for being a great and powerful magician in jail!”
Starlight quickly turned around as she attempted to walk away from her and to add salt to the wound. She took the bits she earned and subsequently stole from Starchee.
Trixie listened to the strange unicorn rant, trying her best to hold back, rolling her eyes at the lecture. She made a pained noise of annoyance, attempting to move as the strange mare threatened to pin everything on Trixie. The worst part was the bits; she had stolen that fair and square!
Trixie was just about to give up and lie motionless on the floor, complacent with the fate she had been given... until she realized what Starlight had first said.
“You... you fought Twilight in a duel... and won?” Trixie asked, having to fight the spell in order not to slur her words. “Well... I suppose we have something in common after all.”
“Oh please, just like your great victory in Zebrica, right? Fabricated and full of lies?” hissed Starlight as she once again attempted to leave Trixie to her fate.
“Please, ask the perfect pony princess herself if you really want to. Or any pony in that blasted town of hers. All I wanted was to do my act in town. I got the permit like I was supposed to; I even scheduled it with their mayor! But noooooo, all of Twilight’s friends had to come up and heckle my act. And then those two little idiots set loose an Ursa Minor...” Trixie grumbled, looking to the side. She had utterly stopped speaking in the third person, “And then that amulet...”
“I almost took over that backward little hick town, and I had the power of an Alicorn with that amulet! But she tricked me and took it from me...” the unicorn looked away scornfully, shaking her head. “I will admit, I became a little... unhinged under its influence, but still...”
Looking up at the lilac unicorn, Trixie narrowed her gaze, “Believe I’m lying if you want, but that’s my story. I’ve been traveling Equestria and, just recently, beyond to try and make some sort of money... but word travels pretty far... The empire seems to be the only place that hasn’t been entirely tainted yet.”
Starlight said nothing for a moment as she quietly listened to Trixie’s story, slowly smiley before softly laughing, “I’ve heard of you. The ponies in the Ponyville market talked of some wiry magician; that was you, right?”
As Starlight said that, her mind began to drift to the little town she cultivated herself. What she do to be able to rule that backward village again. To have her life back on track once more. Her firey and bitter glare turned to a sympathetic gaze as she quickly freed Trixie and placed her rightly earned and stolen bits beside her.
Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes before looking down at the floor, “.... yeah. But don’t believe anything they said; my performance was legendary!” it wasn’t exactly pleasant to unveil all of her dirty little secrets to this complete stranger, but it was even more shocking when she realized that the mare was... letting her go? The blue unicorn blinked rapidly, trying to understand why she would do that for her.
“I know what it’s like to have your life turned on its head, believe me.” Sighed Starlight, “I’ll see you around, oh Great and Powerful Trixie, and one more thing. You better pack up your bags, Twilight Sparkle is in the city with all of her friends, and I don’t think stealing will make your history any better with her.”
“Oh, and my name is Starlight Glimmer,” she said finally before walking toward the door.
The blue mare paused for a moment as Starlight walked out, finally having a name to put to the face. Eyes flicking towards the bag, she quickly grabbed it and tucked it under her cape, following the other mare out of the office.
Trixie quickly caught up to Starlight, her curiosity winning over her common sense. If she had any reason, she would have just leaped from that window as soon as the exchange was over, but she was intrigued, “Why would you fight our perfect pony princess overlord?”
Starlight looked over to Trixie, wholly baffled that this pony would still follow her despite freezing a pony into a block of ice, assaulting two others, and nearly letting her be arrested. But this mare had gone above and beyond in terms of her expectations, if only it were in a positive sense.
“We’re still talking?...Uh….well, I created a perfect society, where everypony was equal, where nopony was better than anyone else, and then she and her posse of friends showed up to my doorstep, literally!” grumbled Starlight.
“Anywho…I showed them around my town and allowed them to stay! But someponies got the idea in their head that they needed and wanted their Cutie Marks back. They were happy before Twilight Sparkle, and her friends showed up. I was their leader!” snapped Starlight.
The unicorn took a deep breath as she continued, “I tried to show them the benefits of being equal, and do you know what? I had to do something; I couldn’t just let everything I worked for go to waste, years of my life down the drain. So I had to take a stand, I took them to the vault where I stored everypony’s cutie mark, and I took Twilight’s.”
Starlight snarled, “But then she turned my own friend’s against me and ran me out of my own town! And from that moment on, I have sworn revenge against her, and her little friends too…and so far my plan has…well, it hasn’t succeeded, but it hasn’t failed either…. it’s a work in progress.” she’d chuckle nervously.
Trixie stayed silent for the majority of Starlight’s story; frankly, she was trying her best not to become bored and tap her hoof to some silent rhythm in the room. It wasn’t until she mentioned taking away ponies' talents that she looked up.
“So... you took ponies, Cutie Marks, away, and she stopped you with her friends? Huh.” she wasn’t sure if she should be horrified or impressed,“I’m not really that surprised that they stopped you. Honestly, you sounded like you deserved it.”
“Buuuut, I’m not really one to talk. I did take over their town and keep it in a dome for a few days.” she shrugged, following Starlight to the door.
Starlight grumbled at Trixie’s comments; she really didn’t ask for her opinion; all things considered, why can’t she just shut up and listen for once?
“Look, I have to go, and you should too. It was nice meeting you and all, but I think we should split before the Royal Guard comes.”
Raising a brow, Trixie turned towards the crowded tavern and raised her hoof to show off the disgusting glory of its patrons, unintentionally using her stage voice, “Do you really think any of these idiots heard what happened up there? And you knocked those stallions out cold. Trixie thinks we have some time. Besides, Trixie needs to move her wagon, and those alley corners are tight, and she needs a second pair of eyes.”
Starlight’s eyes widened at the sheer gall from Trixie, completely taken aback by her sheer…stupidity. Not only did she openly mock and belittle the patrons, but she said out loud the very illegal crimes they had just committed.
“....Excuse me?” asked one of the more sober ponies sitting at a table.
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Lmao. Trixie you dolt.
Good chapter tho!
oh my god
you are such an idiot
Yeah even that's kind of dumb why would you put fireworks inside of a building knowing to the fact that something will caught on fire that happened a couple of times which people got killed for that
I mean I don't blame Trixie to run away like that Starlight is crazy
Well whose fault is that
Wow good job Trixie you and your big mouth
Well then things really escalated so quickly and apparently the owner of this bar was not to please about Trixie's stunts and everything especially bringing Starlight around just to Swindle him and Trixie was insulted and apparently we're not going to get paid so out of desperation she went to the bathroom leaving Starlight to deal with him but she's trying to control her anger not to go crazy on him so she rocked out and noticing Trixie stealing the money and starlight try to tell her to steal more instead of just half and Trixie was about to say something until the boss came and saw what they were doing and called for a security but Starlight wouldn't go down like that song she decided to do what she has to do she freeze the guy and knocked out the others and Trixie was about to make a hasty retreat but Starlight got her and stunned her and leave her to deal with the law but then Trixie basically told Starlight about her backstory of this whole situation with Twilight and her friends and somehow Starlight actually felt bad for her so she got rid of the stun spell and give the money to her but somehow Trixie was pretty interested about her backstory as well and she did admit it so they had to get out of town but of course Trixie had to open her big mouth to almost everybody in the bar you are so close Trixie