Chapter 1
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Fancy Pants was bored.
Bored and Impatient.
Was the Canterlot Bank always so crowded? He wouldn't know; he normally had his servants go to the bank to take care of his errands instead of going himself. But a slight scheduling conflict -- that's what sending his most trusted servant to pick up his dry cleaning at the same time as the meeting with his personal accountant gets you -- left him with little choice but to go himself.
At least, that was the story.
At least Fleur De Lis -- his lovely Fleur -- deigned to join him on this outing. Silver lining, clouds, and all that.
But still… he was incredibly bored. And very impatient.
And then the lights suddenly went out.
That was… odd. Was there some sort of problem with the building? He assumed so, that is, until he heard a sudden dramatic laugh erupt behind him and he turned in place to see. There, not three feet from him was a mare, laughing maniacally, her head thrown back, smoke billowing all around her. She'd probably arrived from… a smoke spell, or something? Some kind of teleportation? Her mane was a striking silver and her coat a light blue. A purple cape -- decorated with stars of different colors -- covered her flanks and disguising her cutie mark, and a matching hat lay perched on her head. Her horn shimmered with pale lavender, which only served to confirm the fact that she had used some sort of spell to suddenly arrive in the middle of the bank.
Fancy tensed, wary. Either this mare was some kind of dangerous unicorn who planned on causing trouble in the middle of a crowded bank… or she was disturbed in some way.
Both situations were of equal cause for alarm.
"Citizens on Canterlot!" she called out in a booming, clearly-practiced voice, gesturing at the surprised crowd with a wide sweep of a hoof. "All of you lie down on the ground now, unless you wish to face the mighty wrath of The Great And Powerful Trixie!" She finished the declaration with a dramatic pose and a regal roll of the ‘R’ in ‘Trixie’. Her cape fluttered behind her in a nonexistent breeze.
Okay… so, disturbed, it would seem.
Was that some kind of moniker, or her actual name? Or both?
In a sort of confused and dazed way, the ponies did as she said. In their defense she was a bit… startling; it was kind of hard not to. It was like a knee jerk reaction and even Fancy found himself lying on the ground a moment later. With everypony on the ground and satisfied that no one would get in her way, the mare laughed loudly and vaulted over the counter, cantering into the back room. For ten minutes there was just the sound of cursing and muttering, and then a shout of "Ah hah!! The Great And Powerful Trixie is victorious at last!"
During the supposed theft no pony had run away, because at some point, going somehow unnoticed by Fancy and every single other of the thirty odd ponies in the bank, sloppy, lumpy-looking mud constructs had suddenly appeared from the ground and taken up guard positions at the front and back doors.
The Great And Powerful Trixie, or as she called herself, leapt over the counter again, now holding a rather unimpressively-sized burlap sack with a picture of a bit on it between her teeth. Fancy stared at the sight. That… just didn't make any sense. Why would she bother to go through all this… trouble -- if that’s what this was -- to steal such a small amount of money from the largest bank in Canterlot?
Suddenly, there was a loud sound outside the bank. The mare visibly perked up and raced towards the front to look out of the window to look.
"Ah hah!" she said, spitting out the bag of bits to the floor. "So, the authorities finally arrived to confront The Great And Powerful Trixie, have they?” She rolled the ‘R’ in ‘Trixie’ again. “Their overconfidence shall be their undoing!”
And then, without even hesitating -- or picking up the disappointing sack of bits -- the lone mare dramatically (Fancy was beginning to suspect everything The Great And Powerful Trixie did was dramatic) burst through the front doors to face an entire team of Canterlot guardsponies, her cape flowing behind her.
"Nobel Guards of Canterlot!" she announced loudly, digging her hooves into the concrete. "Hear me and fear my name, for I am The Great And Powerful Trixie! Surrender quietly, and I may yet show you mercy! If you don't, you will face complete and utter obliteration at my hooves!"
A split second later, she yelped and dove to the side as a concussion spell -- if Fancy was correct -- went sailing in her direction. The spell cracked against the wall instead and The Great And Powerful Trixie pulled herself up, her hat askew and more than a little flustered.
"So! It seems I have some neiiiiiiiiigh-sayers! No matter -- they have chosen a dignified defeat over a cowardly compromise. Truly, the Canterlot guards are worthy adversaries and deserve to fall at my hooves."
She turned -- dramatically -- back to the bank and her horn shined with lavender light.
"Fight, my putties! Fight for your mistress!"
As one the mud monsters left their guard positions to storm the entrance of the bank, The Great And Powerful Trixie trailing along behind them, cackling maniacally. At being left unguarded, all of the hostages made a break for the rear entrance, glad for an escape. Fancy remained where he was, confusion mixed with mild interest at the spectacle unfolding before him. He moved to the front window in order to see the battle unfold.
Well… this was… huh. Alright, then.
The guards were surrounded by at least three putty monsters to one, though they clearly had the advantage. Each pony took out the mud creations without obvious effort; some using magic and other bucking the sloppy constructs to dirt and mismatched rubble. A few were trying to hit The Great And Powerful Trixie in the chaos, but she was just sort of standing there in the middle, surrounded by a larger group of putties, laughing in a decidedly evil sounding way, occasionally pausing in her laughter to monologue about the hopelessness of the guards' situation.
Fancy felt Fleur sidle up beside him, and peered at her out of the corner of his eyes.
"Well… isn't this interesting?" he murmured.
"What about it, dear?"
"I mean, just… well, look at them. Really look at them.” They did so for a few moments, watching the fight. After yet another guard tried in vain to subdue the madmare, he continued, “None of them are even touching her. The best Canterlot has to offer, and she's making them look the foal. It's…"
Something he could work with, he considered saying, but held his tongue. There were too many ears, even now.
Fleur looked, and saw that Fancy was right. One of the guards even managed to sneak up close to the mare and powered up his horn for an attack, but was promptly dog-piled by no less than ten putty monsters. Trixie noticed this and laughed, declaring how silly it was to think she could be snuck up on.
"Well… I do believe they have it handled, don't you?"
Raising an eyebrow at Fancy, Fleur opened her mouth, but after a moment closed it, shrugging. "If you insist," she said at length.
Grinning slightly at Fleur's bemusement, Fancy turned and trotted off towards the back door. The bank job might have been a bust, but there were lots of other things to do that day.
And many more plans to make.
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