Cider and a Show

by Dishonest

Rating: everyone
Tags: Flim and Flam, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Trixie
Length: 1586

Flim is utterly besmitten by Trixie, but Flam is less than happy by this new distraction.

Two travelling salesponies, weary of the road, are passing through the small town Witherlock for a few days. By chance, they happen to catch a magical performance of a certain blue unicorn. Will an imperious performer of magic notice a lowly salespony? Will their close, brotherly friendship be broken up for good by this illustrious mare?

If anyone can think of a clever and witty title, I'd be very appreciative to hear it, as I have no ideas. I alone have edited this story (probably not very well) and the cover art was hastily thrown together by me.

Published 2012-02-29 01:54:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-29 01:54:01 UTC

The Show

Bright white spotlights roved across the thick red curtain that hid the stage from the curious eyes of the crowd. The ponies murmured excitedly as they anticipated the show to come. Suddenly, there was a great flash of light, causing a burst of assorted gasps and shrieks, which quickly became appreciative sighs of awe as the royal red curtain dissolved into a cloud of crimson butterflies that fluttered upwards towards the night sky. In the exact centre of the newly revealed stage, there stood a blue mare, striking an impressive pose with hind legs apart, a foreleg raised slightly into the air, face shrouded in shadow by the wide brimmed had she wore, purple in colouring and sprinkled with stars, up to its conical tip. She wore a long cape of the same design, and the entire get-up hinted of mysterious power and secrets waiting to be told- an effect the mysterious mare was careful to cultivate.

“Come one, come all! Prepare to be dazzled by the amazing feats of magic and might by the spectacular, the awe-inspiring, Great and Powerful TRIXIE!”

The magically-amplified voice took the audience by surprise, every syllable laced with power. The final shouted word was embellished not only with magic but with a royal fanfare, a dazzling burst of gold and blue fireworks, and a burst of light that illuminated the mare's face for the first time.

She struck an enchanting sight. Her pale blue coat glimmered, her mouth was curved into a small yet confident smile, her eyes shone with a delicate lilac, and her silvery white hair blew with her garments in the false breeze she stealthily conjured.
The entire crowd was bedazzled by the display, but there was one pony who was particularly captivated. He and his brother were passing through Witherlock for a few days and were fortunate that their first night coincided with a magical performance that they had read about on a poster entering town. He began to manoeuvre himself to the front of the crowd to get a closer look, with his brother following in surprise.

This particular unicorn, upon finding himself at the head of the audience, could scarcely believe his eyes. She was simply the most exquisitely dazzling sight he could remember. Her hair was like moon-spun gossamer and her eyes the softest most beautiful shade of purple he had ever seen. And her voice- her rich, glorious voice…

“Prepare yourselves, unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi alike, for you are about to behold feats of magic so fantastic that they could rival those of Starswirl the Bearded in splendour!” she shouted, rearing onto her hind legs, briefly revealing her wand and moon cutie mark. The illustrious showpony twirled her hooves, appearing to manipulate the air as prismatic particles swirled and coalesced before her.

“Oooh!” went the crowd. Only two ponies watching were speechless. At the front, a particular unicorn who could only stare- not at the tricks, but at the mare herself. And, standing slightly behind him, his older brother, who was less than impressed.

“What rubbish,” he muttered. “This was a mistake, brother. A waste of time.”

His complaints, however, went unheard. His brother had eyes only for the performing mare, and ears only for her voice.

The performance passed in somewhat of a blur for the unicorn twins. The younger sibling had his eyes on Trixie the entire time, and could only dimly recall a few tricks- an ethereal tree that sprouted from the wooden stage, shining and rippling like an aurora borealis before disintegrating and blowing over the audience as a cloud of leaves, the softly-glowing likeliness of the moon conjured in the centre of the stage, rotating slowly and dimming all other lights, a fountain of roses pouring from the mane of a volunteer called onto the stage.

The elder had not been paying nearly as much attention. Not wanting to cause a fuss by pushing his way out of the crowd during the performance, he instead opted to simply tune out for the hour long performance, resurfacing with a roll of the eyes and an audible groan with every gasp the audience gave.

After the final trick- a scrap of cloth found on the ground in front of the stage being turned into a doll holding a flower, which Trixie then gifted to a young foal in the audience- a group of dark blue saddlebags began to float among the audience.
“And that concludes The Great and Powerful Trixie’s performance!” announced the sparkling blue mare as a shower of coins dropped into the bags, her face flushed with success. “Be generous, fillies and gentlecolts, and thank you!” The audience enthusiastically stamped their hooves in a thundering applause.

The enthralled unicorn levitated into a hefty bundle of coins into a passing saddlebag. His brother grudgingly gave up a single bit.

When the entire audience had been passed by a saddlebag, they were recalled to Trixie’s place on the stage, where they settled on the ground in a circle around her.

“And with that…” called Trixie, as a shining pentacle formed on the wooden floor beneath her, “The Great and Powerful Trixie bids you all… ADIEU!” A pillar of golden light obscured Trixie, and when it faded, there was no trace of her left on the stage. The smitten stallion continued to stare at where the show mare had been long after the rest of the crowd began to shuffle away. He knew, without a doubt, that that was the most incredible performance he had ever seen.

“That was, without a shred of doubt, the worst performance I have ever seen, and the biggest waste of time.”
The unicorn beside him, who had been thinking dreamily of the performing mare, was snapped out of his reverie.

“How can you say that, brother?” he asked in shock. “She was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on!”

His brother raised an eyebrow.

“I mean… Incredible. It was. The performance, I mean. The performance was incredible.” stammered the uncomfortable stallion lamely.

His older brother frowned. “I saw nothing but smoke and fireworks. No spectacular magic.”

But his younger sibling had become distracted. He had caught a glimpse of Trixie packing her things into crates and chests behind the outdoor stage, and loading them into the back of a small caravan.

“Why don’t you go on ahead to our hotel room, brother?” he suggested. “I, ah, fancy a walk.”

“Fine by me,” came the huffy reply. The love-struck stallion waited until his brother was out of sight, then turned and trotted eagerly towards the baby blue mare.

She did not see him approach, for which he was thankful. He stopped at a few metres away. Taking off his straw hat, he anxiously smoothed his hair and replaced the hat carefully on his head. Then, straightening his black bow-tie, he stepped forward.

Trixie, hearing his hoofstep, looked over her shoulder distractedly before turning around and looking up and down. She remembered him from the crowd- tall twins in striped clothes tend to not go unnoticed.

She had initially intended to superciliously inform him that she was busy and did not want to be disturbed, but then recalled that he seemed to be quite generous with his bits. So, instead, she simply asked him “Can I help you?”

“I…Ah…” the stallion’s mind went blank. Gone were his rapier wit and ready-to-mind wordplay, leaving only the awkward school colt of his youth. “Your performance was… Incredible.”

“Why, thank you!” said the beautiful mare, softening to him slightly. “Trixie is great and powerful, after all. “I remember you, and also who I can only assume to be your brother. It’s a pity he did not seem to enjoy it as much as you." She looked at him curiously. "Trixie does seem to recognise you both from somewhere else though. Who are you?"

The stallion felt his confidence returning. “Flim,” he said, sweeping off his hat and bowing with a flourish. “At your service.”

Oooh, so this is what it's like on the other side? Ahem. This is the author speaking. Hey, feels impressive to finally be the writer of a story, and not just a reader. So yes, I am the author of this story. Now that we've gotten that established, may I stop writing in italics? Thank you. So yes. This is the first thing I've written in quite a while. It is the product of me thinking "Hmm. I wonder if anyone's written about Trixie coming between (or, should I say, betwixt, if you will pardon the almost semi not-quite-a pun) the Flim Flam brothers? Surely not! I'd better write it and be the first so I can get a cake and a trophy! I'm not terribly pleased with the way it's turned out. I certainly feel that it does not accurately demonstrate my writing abilities. I'm probably just writing about the wrong thing. I tend to prefer stories about tragedies and darkness and all that good stuff.

If I get even a single positive response, I'll continue with the story. On that note...

This message is written in the royal Canterlock voice to emphasise its importance. I would dearly love some constructive criticism on this, so if you did not enjoy it, please try to tell me what parts/aspects of it you did not like, and if you did enjoy it, please tell me what I did right and what I could improve on. Thank you.