The Unexpected Alliance

There was nothing but silence; the only thing that surrounded her was darkness, branching itself out in every direction. She tried her best to see but to no avail as the darkness only allowed her to see a couple feet in front of her. She started to trot, looking for any sign of life. She stopped as she heard the sound of a light whisper in her ear. She started to look around, trying to find the source of the sound but every time she turned the sound appeared to be behind her once again. She stopped turning as she heard the sound get closer and closer, until she felt warm breathing on the back of her neck. She turned slowly and jumped back after seeing the bloody face of a unicorn. She took a few steps back as she scanned over the unicorn’s body. The unicorn had many scars, starting from the multiple scars making it's way up his hooves up to the large one that looked as if it was slashed across his face. Along with the scars there was a deep wound in his scalp, which explained why his face was so matted with dried blood. Her mind suddenly started to work again as she let out a gasp; she knew who this was. She looked him up and down once again, tears beginning to form in her eyes. This was her former mentor, The Great Hoofdini. She tried to speak but the words wouldn't come to her as she was stunned. There was nothing but complete silence. After a moment the stallion finally looked up at her, his gaze meeting direct eye contact as he spoke in a soft whisper.

“You did this to me…” The blue unicorn stared at him confused as she had not heard him. The stallion could tell by her facial expression that she had not heard his words. “You did this to me.” The stallion repeated.

“I did no such thing!” She exclaimed, tears sill threatening to spill from her eyes.

“YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!” She nearly jumped out of her skin as the fur stood on the back of her neck. “It’s your fault that I died…if you had just been there with me…” The stallion stared her down, his dried eyes still gazing towards her.

“You told me to stay back stage; I would have been there if you allowed me to!" she let out barely managing to hold back her tears.

“It was your fault that I died…and it will be me that is at fault during your death!” Hoofdini launched at her. She barely managed avoided the tackle as she broke into a quick gallop away from him. She looked back and saw Hoofdini giving chase. She suddenly tripped and crashed face first into the ground. She looked down to her hoof. Her face shifted into a terrified expression as she saw a black tendril gripping tightly at her hoof. She tried to kick it off using her other hoof but another tendril appeared and held her other hoof down. She let out a small scream and began to thrash, trying to get away as she saw Hoofdini drawing closer, his horn glowing. Two more tendrils appeared and gripped her free hooves. She let out a loud scream of pain as the tendrils started pulling her hooves in different directions, nearly tearing them from their sockets. She let out more cries of pain as it felt like her hooves were being torn from her body. She let out one last scream as everything faded to black.

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Trixie awoke with a scream, drenched in a cold sweat. She was panting heavily as she looked around her room in confusion. It seemed she had collapsed out of her bed at some point during the night. She stood up with a sigh before making her way down the hall and into the first door on the left. She stepped into the bathroom and walked over to the mirror, looking at herself. She was a complete mess; her fur was matted to her body with sweat and her mane was going in every direction. She made her way over to the bathtub and turned on the hot water, letting the tub fill up. She carefully climbed inside before lowering herself into the warm water. She let out a sigh of relief, becoming relaxed as she felt her stress wash away. She leaned her head back, resting it against the back of the tub.

This blue unicorns name is Trixie, or as she likes to be called, “The Great and Powerful Trixie”. Her mane and tail have mixtures of both baby blue and a bright white. Her fur coat is a darker shade of blue, closer to azure. Her cutie mark is of a wand with two different shades of blue, partially silhouetting a crescent moon behind it. The crescent moon of her cutie mark is adorned in stars. Trixie is a traveling magician; she travels from town to town and puts on shows using her magic. She stays in hotels in each place she visits. She used to just sleep in her traveling caravan, but that changed after it was crushed by an ursa minor. She is also one of the most well known unicorns in Equestria, though, her fame died down a little after her first and only visit to Ponyville. You see, Trixie used to be the assistant of the number one magician in all of Equestria, The Great Hoofdini. She stood by his side and assisted him in every single last one of his tricks. One day, Hoofdini planned to try something that nopony had ever tried before. He was set between two walls of steel spikes, each spike being sharp enough to pierce through nearly anything with ease. These spike walls were set to spring at 50 miles per hour. Before he went out in front of the crowd, Trixie was sitting and pleading that he would stop now and try something different; she didn’t want to see him hurt. She pleaded and pleaded, but there was no point, Hoofdini had made up his mind. He had her stay back stage as he went out to do the trick. She sat there thinking about him, she knew how good he was; maybe he could pull off this trick. With a smile on her face she stepped out of her room and stood behind the curtain. She heard the loud screaming and cheering of the crowd as the trick began. Suddenly she heard the spike walls clang together as the crowd hushed to silence. The spike walls departed and all Trixie heard was screaming from the crowd. She assumed that the trick had come perfectly until she heard those two words.

“HE’S DEAD!!” A mare from the audience shouted. Trixie ran out from behind the curtain and let out a scream as she saw what she assumed was what remains of Hoofdini’s body. She tried to run over to him but she was grabbed by a security guard who lifted her up and carried her back to the dressing room. She almost instantly collapsed onto the couch as she began to sob deeply into the cushion. As the tears continued to poor from her eyes she heard a small knock at the door.

“C-come in” Trixie said as she wiped away the tears. The same stallion that had escorted her to the dressing room made his way inside inside.

“We found this letter inside Hoofdini’s private dressing room, it says it’s for you,” The stallion explained as he passed her the letter. She picked it up using magic and flipped it open.

**“Dear Trixie,**

**You have been my assistant for many years now, after all this time I have seen your magical ability continue to grow and grow. Although I have adored our time as partners I say we must depart from one another. I’m not saying that we can’t be friends; I want us to always be friends. What I’m saying is that you have grown to be as good as me, maybe even better. I’m glad that we managed to work together and I’m sure our paths will cross again in the future. I look forward to the next time we meet. There is a gift for you under the table.**

**Hoofdini”**

Trixie trotted over to the table and lifted up the small box. She opened it with a small smile on her face. She gasped as she looked inside. There was a lavender colored cape covered in baby blue and yellow stars. After she lifted it up she found a hat that matched almost exactly with the cape. She looked at the inside of the cape and found it was made of a fine silk. As she looked it over one more time she noticed something on the inside of the hat, stitched in a golden color were five simple words, “The Great and Powerful Trixie”. Her smile grew considerably as she began to cry once again. These were different though, not only did she cry tears of sadness, but also tears of joy.

Trixie stood up and made her way out of the tub before grabbing a nearby towel and beginning to dry herself off. She walked over to the sink and floated a hair dryer over with magic. She turned the switch as it came on, hot air bursting out of it as she held it up to her mane. She slowly moved it around, drying her mane off before moving from her mane to her tail. After drying off her tail she put the hair dryer aside and floated a brush down up her mane. She brushed it down and it naturally took the shape she liked. She floated it down to her tail, using magic to hold it in place as she let the brush flow through it. After setting the brush down onto the counter she made her way out of the bathroom, turning to the right and making her way down the hall. She turned into the kitchen as she began to think about her recent dream.

“That was definitely the worst nightmare so far..what on earth is causing them though?,” Trixie said to herself as she used magic to swing the cupboards open, pulling out a bowl and setting it onto the table in the dining room. She made her way back into the kitchen and pulled down a box of Applejacks, pouring herself a bowl. She sat down at the table and began to eat. She got lost in thought once again as she ate. She suddenly dropped her spoon, her eyes widening. She quickly stood up and grabbed her nearby cape and hat. She set the hat onto her head carefully as she whipped the cape on quickly. She pulled open the door and charged out of the hotel, thoughts reeling in her mind.