She pushed her front hooves forward, and they hit the stony road hard. It gave no room for them to find leverage on, so she slipped and fell down. Dark clouds flew above the forest and blocked out the sun. There were still pools on the side of the road to prove that they weren’t the first. Lots of snails had searched for shelter on the road, yet they were really slow to move aside when she came. Broken train tracks lied to the right of the road. They were overgrown with wet plants, and seemed as an idyll place for snails to hide in.
The cart was fastened on her body; it brought with everything Trixie owned. A nice hat with stars on and a cloak to go with it lied on top of the pile. Among them were firecrackers, balloons, wooden planks, rope, and anything else she thought she would need of during her shows. A blue blanket lied on top of it all. The cart’s wheels were uneven which made it hard to pull. On more soft ground it would roll on easily, but on the harder ground it did everything to resist her movement.
Curse you, Twilight Sparkle, she thought as she pushed herself up. The two Unicorns had left each other on good notes, she had even apologised, but it didn’t change that she was still on unable to do her shows in Ponyville and the Crystal Empire. On both places they had driven her out and turned the common ponies against her. Hollow Shades, here they can’t interfere with my show, no pony can.
The cart screeched on the road as she moved forward; every step took a while. By the time she reached the clearing, sweat was all over her. Cold breezes flew through the abandoned house that stood nearby. It was made all out of wood, and the roof had caved in along with the one of the walls. There were a few windows, but they were all broken. The train tracks went right next to the house, but wooden planks covered most of it.
They didn’t say I would have to perform for ghosts. She quickly laid the sight behind her back. As she ventured on, the road started to slowly change. Piece after piece of the road became free from plants until the entire road was free. By then an entire village stood before her. It was completely surrounded by the forest, and only one road seemed to lead in there. Red wooden houses stood everywhere alongside the road. They were all in a rectangular shape, but the sizes differed from each other. All of them had gable roofs with large water filled barrels right under it. Colourful curtains covered the few windows that existed. Every house had a farmland right next to it. Earth Ponies stood and worked there among large plants that looked ready to be harvested. Fillies and colts ran around on the road playing while others helped their elders. They screamed something about a princess when she passed by, but their parents paid her no mind.
This will serve as a splendid audience for the afternoon. She pushed on ahead until she reached a house that stood out from the rest of the village. It was a large round wooden house painted red with a blue door. Around it extended three new roads to other parts of the village. Ponies went past it quickly, but few bothered to enter. The area around it was filled with open space, so she sat down her cart to the side of the door. There she pulled out some equipment with her magic and started building up her scene.
When she finished, she had a small wooden stage built. It had room for two ponies at most to stand on, but it did have a small roof to protect her from any rain. A blue curtain was hanging at the back; behind it was only a wall. Before, it had been used as a place to retreat and change clothes, but ever since her old stage had been destroyed, the curtain served only to look pretty.
“Come and watch the Great and Powerful Trixie perform this afternoon!” she said to the ponies walking by. Some gave her a small look and giggled. Others were kinder and simply walked past.
“Whatever are you doing?” The question came from a yellow Earth Pony standing at the door to the round house. She closed it carefully with her left hind leg, and the door never gave a sound. Her mane was a curly cerise that was so clean it glowed. The tail was similar, and there was not even a single wrinkle on her face. Three raindrops in a falling formation served as her cutie mark. “Some of us ladies wish to perform our duties without being disturbed.”
“I should have you know that I’m the great an...” This kind of behaviour got you sent away last time. Be more humble and magnificent, like Twilight said. Trixie gave a slight cough before she started talking again. “It was not my intention to disturb you. I merely wished to get word out for my new show. You look just like the pony who would love it.”
“Sounds quite boring,” the Earth Pony replied and walked down to the road. She kept her head held high all the time. “Besides, it’s not like a lady, such as me, to spend time watching these dull shows.”
“I’ll show you what I do to ladies.” Trixie’s fur had risen on her back, and her horn glowed light grey. Think of what Twilight and her friends would have you do. The glow died out without any magic being cast. “Would you perhaps know where I can spend the night? Traveling around and committing acts can be quite wearisome at times.”
“We have no inns since we don’t receive many visitors here. Although, the last visitor was the best pony I’ve ever met. For you, I recommend the spot over there. It suits a pony of your kind just perfectly.” The yellow pony used her right front hoof to point at a pool of rainwater beside the round house. It looked quite deep and filled with mud.
“I’m not sleeping in that,” Trixie answered, but the Earth Pony had already moved away. “It’s not fitting for the Magnificent Trixie to sleep there.” She gave her head a quick shake and equipped her hat. It fitted perfectly on her head, and made her look the most beautiful pony in history, according to herself. She drew the cloak over as well and returned to spread the word to nearby ponies.
After some time standing in one place, she grabbed some posters and moved through the village. Whenever she saw a tree standing next to the road, she used her magic to place a poster there. It featured her doing a few magic acts. The text stated where and when she would perform next. Since they were printed beforehand, it said that she would perform at the town hall and not the round house her stage was built by.
“Do you need some help?” an Earth Pony asked her when she had reached the end of the road. A few houses stood nearby and blocked off the way to the forest. A few cats ran happily by them with dogs chasing.
“I’m well capable of handling this myself,” she answered the stallion. He had light brown coat and grey hair. On his flank were two rocks. The face was a bit wrinkled, and there were black spots under his eyes. Oh no, not another rock farmer. She kept that thought in her head. Instead, she said: “You are welcome to visit my show this afternoon.”
“I would be delighted to watch you perform,” the stallion answered. “We don’t get many visitors here. The last one brought with her some valuable knowledge from the outside. This is why I’ve come to you. My dear wife is wrought at me, and I fear we’ll never be reunited. Please, can you go talk to her? You outsiders must have some knowledge of these things that we don’t. Her name is Breccia; she has three small rocks as her cutie mark.”
That visitor again, whatever she could do I can do better. “I’ll have a talk with her, and bring her to her senses. I’m sure I’ll meet you two at the show.”
“Thank you,” the Earth Pony said.
Trixie went back the way she came from, and continued to spread the word. She soon reached the round house again. Her stage and equipment still lied untouched where she had left them, so she continued on to the other side of the village. After placing some more posters, she ran into a blue Earth Pony with green hair. Her face was clean and free from wrinkles, but her hooves were beyond dirty. Three small rocks acted as her cutie mark.
“Are you Breccia?” she asked the pony.
“Who’s asking?” the blue pony replied. She swooped up some rocks with her mouth and placed them on her back.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie. I would be very happy if you would come and watch my show this afternoon. Your husband will be coming, and he asked me to talk to you.”
“The old bastard, Vitric?” Breccia asked. “He’s my husband alright. Did he think you are some kind of princess like those children? They have never see any Unicorn before the last visitor, and she was some mighty fine princess.”
“They think I’m a princess?” A smile went up on her face, and her eyes lit up. This is perfect for business. Everypony wants to see a princess. It would not be humble of me to crush their beliefs.
“One princess is all we need,” the Earth Pony said. “The children just like playing around with their fantasies. But enough of such talk, my bastard husband sent you here for a reason, did he not?”
Trixie sighed at the answer. Her smile remained for a little while before dying out. “He wants you to watch my show with him. He’s really sad, and since I’m humble now, I should do my best to get you two back together.”
“A bastard and a fool.” Breccia let out a loud laugh. “I wasn’t going to leave him. Tell you what. If you show your humbleness, and make a good show, I’ll tell him that you convinced me to get back together with him.”
It will be a lie. They haven’t brought anything good to me, but no pony will question this. “Sounds like a good idea.”
They said their farewells and Trixie continued onwards on the road. Ponies passed her by, and she chanted her words out. Soon she reached the end of that road as well, and she headed back. Her equipment still lied where she had left them at round house. She placed down some more fire crackers on the stage, and then she waited. By the time it was afternoon, the area around her stage was crawling with Earth Ponies. Many of them she recognised as ponies she had talked to, even Breccia and Vitric were standing among the crowd together. There was, however, no sight of the arrogant pony she had run into first.
“Come one,” she started shouting to the audience, “come all! Come and witness the magic of Trixie.” Her horn lit up for a second and fireworks in all colours flew up into the air. Loud fanfare joined in, and soon it had all died out. Keep the boasting down. Don’t forget what happened in Ponyville. Keep calm and give them what they want. “Watch as I perform magic tricks for entertainment.” More fireworks flew up into the air. Once it had calmed she started doing some tricks with a rope and some loose wooden boards. The crowd stood silent as she did loop after loop. When she was finished, all that could be heard were some ponies coughing.
“And now, the story of a village in fear as an Ursa Minor attacked it!” Trixie screamed the words out, but the only response she got was a few ponies in the back row leaving. Her horn lit up as the story was told in images above them all. “The ponies of Ponyville were helpless as this threat smashed their homes.” The images showed the bear attacking the village first, and then her own wagon as she stood watching helplessly. Sparks in the form of wooden pieces flew through the air when a purple Unicorn appeared. A tear rolled down her cheek at the sight. Curse you, Twilight Sparkle. “When all hope was lost, a brave Unicorn appeared. With the help of her magic tricks, she managed to defeat the monster. That brave Unicorn –“ the words got stuck in her throat as a clump for a moment “– was not me.”
Some ponies cheered at the end, and others hit the ground in quick succession with their front hooves, but others were still quiet. “Does anypony want to come up and do some tricks with the magical Trixie?”
“Me!” a little filly screamed out jumping. “Pick me! Please, pick me!”
“Alright, come on up,” Trixie responded and helped the child up on stage. Don’t say anything about how you can do everything better. You know it yourself, but the others won’t like knowing it. “What kind of trick would you have us do?”
“I want to fly!” The audience cheered at the filly in response.
“So be it,” she said. Easy. Her horn lit up and grasped the filly fully. She raised the child slowly up into the air. Screams of joy filled the air together with the cheers of the audience. A smile crept up on her face, and a warm feeling went through her body. She raised her head up further and allowed the filly to fly out over the audience. They cheered in response.
After the filly came a little colt up on stage. He wanted her to make a few cards vanish, and so she did easily. At the end, she made the cards appear again and returned them. It continued so for an hour. Towards the end of it, some of the adults had dared to come up and do tricks with her, but no pony had challenged her.
“That’s it for today, everypony!” Trixie yelled out and fireworks covered the sky. The audience gave her a cheer and hit their hooves into the ground before they started to disintegrate. She packed up her equipment, including the stage, using her magic and went back to her cart. A fine performance without lies; Twilight and her stupid friends would be proud, almost. She allowed everything to fall down into the cart as she ran back to where the crowd had been. A few ponies still lingered, and they congratulated her when she passed by.
“Breccia!” she called out to nowhere in particular. It was silent for a while before she received an answer.
“Calm your horses,” the blue pony said. Her husband was with her. “I’m right here.”
“Vitric,” Trixie started, “I owe you an apology. I did nothing to help your relationship get better. Lies have brought me nowhere but the great and apologetic. I’m sorry for trying to trick you.”
“It’s alright,” the stallion replied. “I’m not much better myself. Whether you like to admit or not, your show was great enough to bring us back together. Thank you for that.”
“Thank you,” Breccia echoed.
Trixie smiled at them, and they said their goodbyes. She returned to her cart and placed the blue blanket over it. Is this how it feels to have ponies appreciate you for what you do? she thought as she started moving with the cart and its annoying wheels. In a nearby window she could see her face turning red.
Raindrops fell from the black clouds when she moved out of the village. At the station she saw a yellow Earth Pony dancing in the rain. A black dress lied nearby protected by the wooden roof. Trixie passed by without saying anything. Snails would cover the road once again. At least there are no rock farms here.
