Villains

by MarvelandPonder

2/ The Great and Powerful Trixie: Fraud

FRAUD

The Great and Powerful Trixie

As though possessed, Trixie bangs with the knocker on the thick oak door and sits back. This isn’t a place she hasn’t been, but not one she wants to be, either. She can just as easily slip away now, her reconstructed wagon is parked right behind her. A strange desire to see this visit through quells her anxiety.

The magician waits on her haunches, becoming more and more certain that this meeting is a bad idea. She knocks again. “Open sesame, Twilight Sparkle.”

The purple-eyed face appears, her home’s light hiding behind her like the sheepish, sleepy sun behind the protection of the hills. She’s wearing a purple, argyle cardigan, assumedly for the occasion, what little of one there is to dress for. The librarian wastes a moment on a frown, then promptly steps aside holding the door. “You’ll have to forgive me, Trixie. Welcome. Hello.”

Trixie grimaces and murmurs, “That was the most underwhelming yet … but;” she announces, trotting in. “you’re forgiven. I can make do.”

“Pardon me?” Twilight looks on after her, shutting the library’s door.

Twilight’s houseguest takes a sharp breath in before exploding into pink dust and sparkles. She reappears atop the table in the center of the room, where the horse bust used to be. “Revellers!” She looked around finding only Twilight. “Reveller! Heed me! For you, are about to take witness, and note for future generations, of the Great,” chitty-chitty-bang-bang! “and Powerful,” whimmy-wham-wham-wozzle! “Trixie!”

She throws down a spree of firecrackers, which singe Twilight’s rug and dance as they cackle along with the magician.

“Trixie!” Twilight shrieks, staggering back from the path of a writhing firecracker, stumbling until falling painfully on her rump. She scowls and frantically rubs out the small flames. “Are you insane in the membrane? We’re in a very flammable tree! More importantly, we’re in a library! Your stage magic is more suitable for- I don‘t know- oh, the stage.”

“For your information, it’s not ‘stage magic,’ it’s called class.” She hops down to Twilight’s eye level and tosses her cap onto Twilight‘s horn. “I refuse to enter any establishment without a little recognition. Suitable of a pony of my prestige, you have to admit.”

Twilight attempts to stop glaring, levitating the hat to a rack by the door. Tiredly, she rubs her neck. “Okay. How’s your stage show been in Las Pegasus?”

“I run that town. I am their queen now.”

“Oh?”

She chuckles in delight. “You wouldn’t believe it. Before Trixie arrived, Las Pegasus was hardly on the map. A dust-bowl of woe and unentertained ponies; but now,” she trumpeted before losing herself in a fit of giggles. “it’s absolutely perfect.

“They love my magic. They treat Trixie the way she should be treated, as a treasure. Soon, all shall follow; we’re building the town up, putting in some of those casinos- and an amphitheater just for Trixie and Trixie key chains.”

Twilight’s tickled by the idea as she leads Trixie to the stairs. “Wow, great. Building up a town must be a lot of work, though. You’re actually helping, or …?”

“The Constructive and Hard-hatted Trixie does her due,” although she says that in a quick manner that suggests otherwise. The unicorn hesitates. “And, yourself, Princess?”

Twilight pauses at the top of the staircase. Trixie stands half-way up, holding back her breath soundlessly and looking to the top of the steps with pompous disinterest on her face. The feathers beneath the princess’s sweater ruffle noisily as she shifts her eyes away. “I’m well. I didn’t know if you would’ve-”

“Sparkle, please.” The magician pushes past the alicorn, emerging from the stairwell in the foyer of Twilight’s private library. As she wanders slowly, scanning the oaken shelves with little curiosity, there’s a degree of coolness in her voice. “You didn’t drag me back here to catch up, did you?”

With all seriousness, Twilight nods. “No, no, you’re right. I brought you here for tea.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Her cover blown, Twilight abandons her clothes and stretches her wings. “Owlowiscious,” she beckons to the hall. “we have a guest.”

The owl glides down with a sagging bindle in his claws. Swooping up to the bedroom, he lets down the tied blanket for it to unfold into a table cloth and place setting for two, on a table waiting where Twilight’s bed should be. As the two trot up the steps, Owlowiscious ornaments the table with ornate dishes. A matching teapot floats beside them in his ready talons.

Trixie seats, her cape pluming theatrically around her.

“Green tea?” the princess offers, gesturing to the pot.

Trixie raises a brow particularly. “You had anything else in mind?”

The spout leaks a liquid grass into their dainty cups. Trixie takes it with her levitation, sips at it, then swirls it idly beside her smirk. “So, I came here, Twilight Sparkle.”

“So, you did,” she mumbles into her steaming cup. It warms her muzzle swelteringly. Twilight looks up from it. “This is dire. I’ll out and say it to begin with because there’s no use in telling you anything else.” She leans in. “When I die, I want you to do something for me-”

“When you- say that again?” Her magic sputters, spilling green drops.

Twilight puts down her cup with a flattening sigh. “… Maybe that isn’t the best way to do this.” Instead, she pulls out a round tin from under the table and smiles genially, removing the lid. “Sugar cookies?”

Trixie pushes the tin down, wide eyed, but Twilight shoves it back with an urgently insistent smile. Raising one out with her magic, the unicorn seems to be shocked solid.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight laments. “Forget I said that. I meant to say, my friends and I are under some pressure right now. It’s tough. We’re hard-pressed with our assignment, and none of us seem to have the answers. Sometimes we don’t think there are any. Or, any right ones.”

“But- you’re a princess. You’re still in school?”

“Not anymore. It’s a different kind of assignment. I did come here originally to study abroad from Canterlot. I never told you that in my letter’s, I guess, but it might be good for you to know.” Twilight slightly winches, smiling. “I was Celestia’s faithful student. I studied magic and friendship under her.”

Trixie takes a breath-

“That’s not the part I need you to believe,” she interrupts. “Princess Celestia sent me to study them, so we’re friends. I- ” She pauses. “Wait, no- I mean, I was sent to study what it’s like to be friends with them, to understand friendship.”

“Because nopony else would?” Trixie gasps in realization, “Is that why the fat newt follows you around?”

Twilight’s lip quirks up in an irritated clump. “He’s not a newt. He‘s my assistant. And no, they’re wonderful ponies, and he‘s a wonderful dragon, whatever the reason we became friends in the first place.” Twilight sits back. “If you don’t insult them again this will be easier for the both of us.”

Trixie scoffs. “If you’d get to the point it’d be a lot easier for the both of us. What does this have to do with me, Sparkle? What do you want?”

She breathes in heavily. "The princesses have asked my friends and I to select our successors. Maybe it was too close a call with Scylla and Charybdis in the strait. I don‘t blame them exactly, I was petrified when my friend Applejack … fell into the sea. And when Rainbow jumped after …”

"Scylla and Charybdis?" she says, as if begging Twilight to think of something more entertaining. "Oh, Hoofdini‘s ghost- you're lying to impress me. Badly. Everypony knows-"

"I know. You don't have to believe me with that one, either but,” a breathy grunt ends her thought. Meekly, her head turns slightly sideways as she she asks, “have you heard about the Elements of Harmony?"

There‘s a crease in her forehead. “Trixie hears of many things, from many ponies who worship Trixie.”

Twilight blinks slowly, then sighs. “Alright, the Elements of Harmony are ancient, embryonic forces that work together to-”

“I know,” Trixie declares. “but the Elements aren’t magic enchantments, or possessors, or even amplifiers, they wouldn’t be that easy to find, if anypony ever found them. Even for a princess.” Her nose scrunches slightly with the word. “No matter how far you’ve come with your magic, the Elements have been lost for a thousand years.”

“A few years ago-”

Trixie glowers at Twilight. “Furthermore, don’t think you can trick the Trixie just because you did once. I’m not a gullible mare, and I’d thank you give me a little bit of respect. At least more credit than this. I’ve been performing longer than you’ve been doing- whatever you do when I’m not here. Trixie is a master of the arcane arts, a showmare, she knows stories you’ll never find in your books- Trixie has lived them. The Great and Powerful Trixie-”

Twilight slams her hooves on the table. "Do you want to be the next Element of magic or not?"

Trixie takes a second to focus her eyes back on Twilight. Loudly, she contempts a squawking, “Ha!”

Twilight recoils in rage. “Don’t laugh.”

Tickled with glee, the showmare takes on a smug look and rests her head on her hoof on the table. Silent chuckles twitch her shoulders as Twilight talks in a quiet, contained voice, sounding as though she’s trying very hard to discover something.

“This is the most surgical selection process in existence, and I don’t even know how it works, but it does, and if I choose you, you have to take it seriously. Equestria relies on you. The princesses, your friends, your family, everypony you’ve ever known, and even the ones you never will.

“There’s so much power behind it. Sometimes I think everything you do has a consequence for somepony else, even if you never know you did anything. It’s worth it, though. It’s so worth it. Being a representative of Harmony is the most fulfilling-” Twilight grunts, “would you stop laughing at me?”

Trixie sniggers breathily. “This was all I wanted the first time we met, you know.”

The princess is taken aback. “Wh- my Element? You knew?”

“An admission of my superiority,” she giggles. “If you’d done this earlier, a lot of hardship could’ve been avoided. A lot. Was that really so hard for you?”

Twilight bristles, “Why do you make everything into a competition?”

Trixie waves her hooves dismissively. “Oh, one more and I‘m done. Finish this for me: what’s the definition of the word upgrade?”

Twilight’s nostrils flare. “Trixie.”

“Hm?”

“Stop talking.”

Trixie crosses her hooves, her chuckles turing harsh. “Why? Why invite me here in the first place? Tea and tulips? Verily, Trixie hasn't seen anypony try so hard, and for what? All I want to hear is why I deserve it.” She smirks as though savouring the words: “It’s because I’m better than you, right? Maybe you can’t admit it, but it has to be true.”

After a moment of holding her breath, Twilight softens, sitting back in her seat and looking directly down as if trying to see her own cheeks, or solve calculus equations written on the floor.

"Oh, what's that look for?"

"When I invited you I didn't think you'd come. But, out of everypony, you did, we're here ..." Twilight takes in a sigh as if her chest is constricted, in a staggering, light-headed fashion. As if it terrifies her she murmurs, "You could be my successor."

Trixie frowns. "But, of course. Trixie is best. At everything. Her b-ball skills and mad lyrical rhymes rule the underworld scene. She also does magic.”

“Stop talking,” mutters the tea-party host. Her jaw hangs slightly ajar as she takes in the proportions and ramifications of her own words.

Unhearing, Trixie takes a sip of tea and smiles, doing some contemplation of her own: “It’s true, then. Since I’m the new Element of Magic, I must really be the most magical unicorn in Equestria. Only logically. If the rumours are true, and you do have the Elements, of course.”

Twilight’s eyes flick back to Trixie, and she grunts. “There you go again. Why would I make something like this up? I don’t have that much spare time.”

“Well,” she muses. “if, in fact, anything you say has validation, why not give me your Element now and save the ink on your will? Funerals are always messy businesses, you wouldn’t want me to bother your grieving friends and family with a little matter like ‘the Elements of Harmony’, would you?”

“I-” Twilight scoffs. “Oh! First of all, I told you to stop talking. Second of all, I told you to stop talking.” Twilight’s shoulders are slightly raised around her neck, in offence or maybe even hurt.

Trixie’s eyebrow raise. Her lips perk in an amused little smirk, but she remains silent.

“Thirdly,” she continues, shoulders falling. “I don’t decide when to give it to whoever I decide to give it to. Logically, it would happen when I’ve passed away, but the last bearers didn’t have to, so I don’t know. I guess it happens when it needs to happen.”

“Uh-huh.”

Exhausted and exasperated, the princess sighs, “Trixie.”

“You realize I’m not stupid, right?” She scowls. “I’m a magician, I’ve read volumes about Harmony magic, what it did for ponies. You’re no Element. Nothing to be ashamed of. They belong to the royal sisters, and even if you’re a princess now, Princess Luna was the Element of Magic, and there’s no reason she wouldn’t be still, now that she’s returned.”

“It’s- I can’t explain it. We needed the Elements to save her, but we didn’t steal them. We were meant for them just as much as the princesses.”

The Great and Powerful Trixie groans, “But, why you? Stop acting so sanctimonious.”

“Sanctimonious?” Twilight’s ears fall. “It’s not because we’re better than anypony. I … sorry, I didn’t mean to sound that way. It’s important to me, if nopony else.”

“Hm. Fine and good, but I don’t know how reliable your word is. If you have no proof, Trixie will leave in flurry of insult for having wasted her time. But, if you do,” She raises her chin. “let’s see it.”

“My Element is in Canterlot,” she mutters.

The magician stands and levitates her hat from the rack across the room. She doesn’t waste time on a wave or a nod goodbye. She doesn’t even look her way.“I guess you’ll have to try harder next time, Princess.”

“Dear Celestia, please …” As Twilight watches Trixie speed from the room, she massages her eyes. Her guest must have noticed by now how bloodshot they were. She takes in a breath as Trixie reaches the foyer stairwell, and frowns to her herself. A frown without remorse. “Don’t leave yet.”

“Trixie is leaving,” she sings with her hooves clunking down the stairs.

“I need you to listen. Please.” the clunking continues. Twilight sighs, and wearily offers, “I’ll grant you anything you want. I’m a princess now, so ...”

The clunks stop, then revert and race back up. In the foyer, Trixie looks up to Twilight and the tea table. “Anything?”

“Okay,” Twilight mopes.

She sniffs, raising her chin to the air and shutting her eyes. “Trixie finds your offer pitiful.” She opens one eye and bubbles, “But she’s always wanted to take pity."

“Well, take pity where I don’t have to speak so loud. I don’t know if Spike is home yet.”

Trixie skips gaily up the stairs. She looks as though she might be singing a song about Twilight Sparkle owing her one in her head. Twilight’s frown sags ever deeper.

When Trixie spins around and seats again, her face is reminiscent of foals at the beach and her voice is as bubbly as soda. “Trixie’s patient, compassionate ears are yours.”

“Thank you.”

Actually concentrating on Twilight, Trixie’s smile lessens. “Your face.” she says.

Twilight looks at her dully. “I don’t owe you one if you interrupt me again. That’s a new rule.”

“Fine, fine,” this is allowed because Trixie sees age in Twilight Sparkle’s face for the first time. Real age. Twilight’s the elder of them both, but by such a small margin that this is jarring. An overall tiredness. A slight droop in her ears, a darkness framing her eyes.

This isn’t a pony who could’ve done any of the things Twilight had to Trixie. This pony is suffering, isn’t she? Trixie owns up to her end of the deal, deciding there isn’t anything else she needs to say.

Twilight goes on. “Alright. I may not be able to convince you of anything. That’s okay. But, I know it’s somehow important for me to talk to you. Whether or not you’re the next Element, you came. I know you used to hate me, and even though I never tried to, I impacted your life. So, I’m sorry you were hurt.”

“… You’ve accepted my apologies.”

She nodded once.

There’s silence.

“You never answered my question, Twilight.” Every word she says is perpetually quieter. “Why me?

“I don’t know. The same reason you came?”

“Trixie came because she thought it would be funny. This isn’t as humorous as she’d hoped.”

“Uh, sorry,” Twilight studied the oaken floor, and rubbed the table top idly.

She shrugs slightly. “Trixie forgives you.”

Twilight looks in Trixie’s eyes suddenly. “Would you be an Element, if you had the choice? Seriously. You know what that would mean?”

She softly scoffs. “What a stupid question. Were you ever asked that?”

Twilight groans, and her head falls into her waiting hoof. “No, that’s my problem …”

Trixie laughs. “There’s no need to be short, we’re supposed to be civilized at a tea table.”

“Well, you don’t answer any of my questions with yes or no. If I picked you, and if it was you, could I trust you to take care of Equestria and the other future Elements?” She narrows her eyes. “Answer as honestly as possible, yes or no.”

After a moment considering it, Trixie’s brows knit. Her eyes flit down to her left. “Yes. Without fail. So, you’ve officially picked me? The obvious choice?”

Twilight smiles. “That’s not something you’re supposed to ask in a job interview. But you’re a good applicant. Wish I’d gotten that resume, though.”

There’s another silence.

“Perfect.” Trixie stands again. “Trixie has heard enough, and if you have nothing left to say, there’s the matter of your end of the bargain.”

“What? I- oh.” The princess sinks in her seat. “What do you want?”

“Among the many things Trixie wants, she’d prefer a quest.”

“Huh?”

“A quest. You’re a princess now, if it comes from you it’ll mean something.”

Twilight narrows her eyes, trying to understand. “What? Why?”

“Whether or not you give Trixie the Element, she has incredible magical abilities and since the Great and Powerful Trixie’s career has stabilized, I want more.”

The princess’s features neutralize. “I- sure. I’ll get back to you on that. I might have the perfect one.”

“Excellent.” Trixie places her starry hat on her head. “If that’s all, Trixie should be leaving. Adieu, Princess.”

Twilight motions to the window next to the table. “It looks like it’s going to rain, you could wait it out, if-”

“And suddenly Trixie is gone!” and a smoke bomb fills Twilight’s bedroom with throat-clogging pink gas. The princess chokes on it, swearing. By the time the smoke is clear, she can hear the front door slamming shut.

Twilight chokes down more tea to stop her coughing fit. After a moment, she clears her throat, and without a breath in between, pours another cup. "She’s gone, Spike."

Above, the rafters groan. “How’d you know?” He comes down clinging to the bookshelves, very careful not to disrupt anything. As he’s grown, Spike’s been more inclined to climb things and sleep in weird places around the library. They’ve found out the hard way that little dragon boys are more rambunctious than dragon babies.

"Twilight," he begins.

She laughs tiredly. "You know, I'd pick you if I could."

"She doesn't deserve it, Twilight, she's not half the unicorn you are. Alicorn. She never will be. I don't care what kind of magic she can do, it doesn't mean she can represent the spark of friendship." He snaps his claws for affect.

"Believe me, I get it."

"You don't if you're picking her," he mutters coldly. He sits down in Trixie’s place, taking a cookie.

"I'm not sure I am. I don't think I am. I can't explain it to you, it's one of those things you just have to feel for yourself. It’s being a spirit of Harmony. There's a perfect balance between the host and their Element, but, well …” she rubs one hoof with the other. “sometimes it's hard to tell where a motivation or desire came from.”

“What?” You’ve never said that,” he grumbles.

Twilight shrugs. “These days. I think, if I had to guess, as the bond of our friendship grows, the bond with our Elements does, as well. It feels like it, anyway.”

“Makes sense,” he nods. Probably only to humour her, but maybe he’s just too consumed with the cookie tin to find objections.

“It’s not like the Element assume control or anything silly like that, but I can sense when ... oh, how do I- since it’s sort of this energy I tap into, I can tell which way its flowing. Oh, that doesn't make sense, either.” she spins her tea cup as Trixie had, and studies it. “I don't know why, but the Element is making me choose her. Well, not making me, we agree ... I think."

Vaguely, Spike‘s expression fouls. "Are you sure that's not gas? It could be gas."

"I know my Element, Spike. It's gravitating towards her, for whatever reason. Maybe-" she scoffs, "maybe not having anything to do with being my successor, but something. I think she feels it, too.”

Spike puts down the cookies and looks at her earnestly. "Twilight, she's almost the same age as you. How much longer could she carry the Element than you could?"

Twilight rolls her eyes. "I don't know. How much longer could I carry it than an immortal pair of royal sisters? I don't think the Elements are vain, Spike. They choose who they choose because ... well, if I knew that, these Elemental interviews could be a lot more efficient."

“Well, no doubts there.” he says through a double-chocolate chip. “Any of the girls find theirs yet?”

Twilight puts out her hoof, like it was exactly what she was thinking.“That’s the thing. None of us have. Fluttershy says she has a hunch, but she’s been saying that for almost a month, and nopony has seen Pinkie anywhere for a week. We hope a search party would attract her, just because, you know; Pinkie.

“Applejack seems to be pretty relaxed with all this, so maybe she has, but you know, if we ask her about it, she just gets distant and soul-search-y and we have to change the subject.

“Then, of course, Dash … well, Scootaloo doesn’t want it, but Rainbow keeps throwing it at her. Her actual Element amulet, I mean. Scootaloo has bruises on the sides of her head. She’s going to give that young mare a concussion.”

Twilight takes a breath, but stops herself, looking at Spike. After he motions for her to continue she lets it out . “… You haven’t talked to Rarity?”

“I was gonna head over toni- wait.”

Twilight held up her hooves. “Talk to Rarity.”

“Seriously?” He points to himself, horrified.

“TalktoRarity,” she repeats, eyes wide. She wasn’t supposed to say anything to him. She’s promised. Pinkie’s going to demolish her when she gets back.

Spike slumps in his chair, loosing focus. “Man …”

Twilight levitates a grand tome to their tea table and breezes through the pages. She’d ordered a new Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide after finding hers hollowed out by Discord. Her features sink into grieving over its laminated pictures and empty phrases.

“None of these choices make sense,” Spike objects loudly. As if electrocuted, his torso jerks up. “I don’t know Scootaloo that well, but why not Spitfire? Or, um, Soarin’? If age doesn’t matter, why not? And me? Rarity can’t think that’s a good idea. That’s too much responsibility. I’d do anything for any of you, but I’m not-”

“You’d make a great Element of Generosity,” Twilight argues. She does that with enough edge in her voice to make it final.

“Whatever,” But he looks at her, and says it with this ridiculous tone in his voice. “the one I can’t understand is Trixie. I mean, that‘s just,” he even laughs. “Twilight-”

"Alright, Spike," she says loudly. "maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she's not!" She flips through the Reference Guide. "I don't see anything in here! There's no criteria, I can't give her an entrance exam! It's not a science it's Harmony. And I have to know that it'll be okay when I'm gone."

"If you're gone," Spike amends as automatically as he has for the past two months. He crosses his arms.

“If. The most troubling thing is that nothing feels wrong with the idea of Trixie being the next Element of Magic. She fits. If there’s requirements, it’s these inclinations I keep getting that she has something to do with it.”

“She doesn’t fit, Twilight.”

Twilight stops on a page in the guide, a place she’s bookmarked with a photo of her friends. She watches over them. Naturally, she smiles, but then something- a thought- flares inside of her and everything around her seems to freeze. Fearfully, she looks at her assistant. “Spike … I didn’t, either. It’s why she’s perfect.”

Author's Note:

Edited by Delta93

Comments

[TrollestiaSubject]

Haven't read the Flim-Flam one yet, but the trixie one was GREAT.

[MarvelandPonder]

2451424
Thanks, man, good to hear

[MarvelandPonder]

2451912
Oh my ... thank you. Thank you so much. I want you to know that however long you took out of your day to write that is so very appreciated.

If you thought the prose was clear, you can thank my editor Delta. He's fantastic. Diction and syntax were some of my biggest problems when writing this story.

Oh, and trust me, Flim and Flam are too fun to write. Try it sometime! Their so hammy and sleazy, the possibilities are endless with these two.

Also, I agree with you about pacing being a vital yet subtle story element. You know, I think a story like this, being only 2,000 words, is easier to pace then longer stories, which later chapters are. I'm glad you found the pacing to your liking here, I just hope I'll be any good with a longer run

But, most of all, I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my hear for dat moustache. Dat stache, man. That's what I live for. For realsies.

[ForSpite]

I love this bit so much:
“Then, of course, Dash … well, Scootaloo doesn’t want it, but Rainbow keeps throwing it at her. Her actual Element amulet, I mean. Scootaloo has bruises on the sides of her head. She’s going to give that young mare a concussion.”

[toonbat]

Congratulations, Spike. You're the new Rarity.

Brilliant touch.

[Noakwolf]

You have wonderful pacing, and an excellent choice of words. The fluidity of your prose is so mesmerizing it baffles me. As I mentioned before, I don't read FanFiction anymore. This, however, was definitely worth reading. The one criticism I would have is that not much happens, but when one considers that this is not meant to have too much happen then a new light begins to shine of the overall work.

I must agree with theycallmejub, you achieved the interesting personalities of Flim and Flam perfectly. I'm considering following you -- which never happens with me nowadays. I'm surprised this doesn't have more attention drawn toward it. Did you edit this yourself? If so, you are incredibly good at it.

- Noakwolf