Controlling the Beast Within

“...Wh-What?”

My eyes fluttered open, before quickly sealing shut from the swirling mess of colors I found myself surrounded by. Forcibly, I opened my eyes once more, trying my hardest not to focus on any fixed point for the migraine it began to give me. The plane on which I stood did not appear solid, reflecting everything above it in some sort of distortion and rippling whenever I shifted my footing. The sky, if you could call it that, seemed to be in a constant state of stirring. Blots of black mixed with hues of purple, while flashes of white and yellow sparked into existence like flashes of lightning, though without making a sound…

Nothing was making any sound.

“Wh-Where am I?”, I asked aloud, my voice seeming to echo off into the mass of disorganization around me.

“...Welcome to my little domain.”

My eyes widened at the sudden voice, its presence surrounding me from all angles. I turned all around, searching for the being it came from, but turned up empty. However, my momentary panic subsided slightly when a realization came to mind.

“I know that voice…”

“Hehehe… Yes, you most certainly do.”

A shadowy mass began to seep up from the ground around me, before slithering a few feet away. From there, it pooled upwards to form into the being I’d only recently gotten a rough look at.

“Discord.”

“At your service.”, he said while giving an over-exaggerated bow. “I would have prepared some refreshments for you, but as you can see…” He glanced around, gesturing his clawed appendage toward the scenery about us. “...I’ve been a bit scarce lately.”

Rolling my eyes at the comment, I simply stared at where I figured his own eyes should be. “Why did you bring me here?”

Discord struck a pose as though I had upset him. “You’re not even going to say ‘Hello’, first?” My unamused expression caused him to fold his arms over his shrouded chest. “Fine… But you have to understand, it gets dreadfully boring here by myself.”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with that anyway?”, I asked, mimicking his mannerism. “Luna said something about Celestia and her taking over Equestria after kicking you off the throne?”

While I couldn’t see any expression change on his face, the grunt he let out was clear enough. “Those two…” Waving his more bulky arm, he floated off the ground before turning himself around, no longer facing me. “While I would love to go on about ‘Who did what’, and point the hoof, I’m afraid we have more pressing matters at hand.” He turned his head to look over his shoulder towards me. “...Bad things are going to be coming, Nick. Terribly bad things…”

I stood there, staring at the shade with hints of uncertainty and skepticism painted on my face. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not at liberty to explain much, other than you have several years before the end… begins.”

I stared at him in growing annoyance, shaking my head. “...Really? You’re just gonna drop some sort of ‘anonymous, foreshadowing, prophecy’ on me, and then not go any further into it?!”

Discord only nodded his head, going slightly fuzzy before focusing again. He seemed to notice, speaking up once more in a more hurried tone. “My time is short, brother. I’m sorry I can’t say more.” Again, his form became slightly distorted before reforming himself. “I can leave you with this small piece of advice. Seek the other Elements. Your p-th wil- be re-eal-d wh-n y-...-an…-om--e—”

He had already begun to cut out as the world around me started to cave in on itself, with me caught in the center of it. My vision was blurring, while a tightness was forming in my chest, burning to the point where I couldn’t breathe. I tried calling out to anyone, before pleading for the pain to stop, but my cries seemed to go unanswered. Darkness started falling upon me, and before I could fight back, I began to feel myself go unconscious.

—————————————~O~o~O~—————————————

I quickly found myself leaning forward, shouting out in mild terror. My eyes opened to find a distorted, light purple thing leaping away just as quick with her own cry of surprise. Taking a moment to rub the sleep out from my eyes—as well as allowing my heart to stop racing—I glanced back up at the sight of Twilight picking herself up off the floor.

“What the heck was that about?”, she asked, giving me a look mixed with vexation and concern. “I came in to check on you after I heard muttering. I found you in bed, tossing and turning.” Her expression turned a bit more concerned. “Were you having a bad dream?”

Glancing down toward my covers, I tried my best to recall what had actually happened. But thanks to that weird after-effect of dreaming, bits and pieces were already starting to fade away into the dark recesses of my mind. Looking back up at the unicorn, I could only shake my head, sadly.

“I… I don’t know”, I uttered, closing my eyes to try again at remembering. “...’Find the Elements’. A voice was telling me I-” I opened my eyes to a surprised-looking Twilight, causing something in my brain to click. Oh shit…

“A voice? What kind of voice?” She was starting to look more interested in my dream than before.

I opened my mouth without thinking… Again.

“Uhh…” I tried my best to think up something on the spot, but the fact that I had just woken up was making it harder than usual. Thankfully, a rather pleasant smell caught my attention, and soon had me crawling out of bed. “I think it was just my stomach telling me to get food.”

“...What?”, Twilight asked, deadpanning as I walked right past her. I could feel her eyes digging into my back the entire time I headed downstairs, the sound of her hoof steps close at my heels. “Nick…”

“Morning Spike!”, I said rather cheerfully as I entered the kitchen, halting right in my tracks at the sight before me. “...I-Is that b-b-b-”

“Morin’, Nick”, the little dragon turned away from what he was doing, giving me a rather amused look. “Hay Bacon? Why yes, it just so happens it is.”

My brow went rather crooked at that. “Hay bacon? You ponies turned hay into bacon?”

Twilight, with a still rather questioning eye on me, took a seat at the table, levitating a few plates over to it as well. “It’s been made from hay for as long as I can remember. Why? Don’t they have it where you’re from?”

A rather nervous smile slowly found its way creeping onto my face as I, too, took a seat at the table. “Well, yes. It’s just…” I trailed off slightly, rubbing the back of my head. “...It wasn’t made from hay.”

Spike, coming over with the pan he’d been using, began to deposit the very similar-seeming strips of delicacy onto our plates. “Well, I know some ponies prefer that ‘tofu’ stuff. But I’d never really had much of a taste for it.”

Nodding my head, I took a piece of hay bacon from my plate, sniffing it once before taking a small bite. My eyes widened immediately. “...It tastes just like my world’s bacon.”

Twilight, currently spreading some jam on a slice of bread she must have gotten, tilted her head. “So? What was your world’s bacon made of?”

Gulping down the last of my share, I hesitated before letting out a small sigh. “Well… Pork, mostly. Though I do know there was turkey bacon as well.” Both pairs of eyes before me widened at my words, before squinting ever so slightly. “Hey, I told you we were omnivores. Plus that animals on my planet didn’t share the sentience that you all do, too.”

Twilight seemed to struggle a bit to get her bite of bacon down, lowering the slice back to her plate. “I-I know you did, Nick. It’s just… Still a bit difficult to get used to.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I got up and headed over to the fridge to get myself some milk. “Yeah, well, I apologize that my diet disturbs you.” Fishing out the carton and uncapping it, I took a good swig from it before looking back at the rather disgusted pair of violet eyes glaring at me. I only stared back at her before smiling sweetly. “But I guess we all can’t be perfect.”

“Isn’t that the truth…”

“Oy, don’t get your tail in a knot, Sparkler.” Spike immediately went into a coughing fit. “That dream was probably just my mind fabricating some sort of fantasy from all the stress I’ve been through. Don’t read into it so much. You’ll just end up giving yourself a headache.”

With a small groan, Twilight leaned back in her chair while rubbing her temples with her forehooves. “You already give me headaches, Nick. I couldn’t possibly manage having more!”

A sneer escaped my lips. “Careful, Twilight. Wouldn’t want to jinx yourself.” And with a quick wink, I took one more gulp of milk before putting it back into the fridge. Turning back to the two, I asked, “So, what’s on for today?”

“Well,” Spike said with a raspy voice before letting out one last ‘ahem’, smiling sheepishly, “Twilight and I were going to test out a list of magic tricks she’s been wanting to try out.” This had my brow lifting slightly.

“Tricks, you say?” I couldn’t stop the childish grin I was starting to gain. Then the idea started to form in that devious, little head of mine. “Will you excuse me for a moment?” And with that, I was bolting out the door.

I didn’t quite get five feet out the door before I was frozen in place by a magical hold. “Nick, before you go and do…”, Twilight’s voice paused for a moment, before continuing, “whatever it is you’re going to do, perhaps you should go get ready for the day?” The magic soon let go of me, allowing me to turn and look at the slightly revolted unicorn. “When was the last time you took a shower, anyway?”

“Uhh…” I placed a finger to my chin, attempting to recall. “...What year is it?”

Twilight face-hoofed, rolling her eyes before flatly saying, “Go take a shower.”

With a defeated nod of my head, I promptly shuffled past her and toward the bathroom, stopping before I opened the door. Turning around toward the unicorn, who began to lift her eyebrow at me, I smiled rather seducingly, before saying in a husky voice, “...Did you wanna help scrub my back?”

I barely got in and shut the door before the small “thump” of one of the couch pillows hitting it brought a laugh to my throat.

She’s far too fun to mess with.

I was just getting undressed when my ears picked up on a certain dragon giggling, followed by him asking, “Sparkler?” The groan that it received made me quite proud.

One quick shower later, and I was exiting the bathroom with one towel wrapped around my waist, and another one rolled up around my shoulders. I had thought about putting my clothes back on, but realized midway through the shower that they could probably do with a good cleaning, too. Now, I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going to get them washed—These ponies didn’t really seem to wear clothes enough to own washing machines—but I figured Twilight would have an idea.

Plus, I don’t really get enough chances to show off this amazing body of mine.

Stepping into the main room of the tree library, I found Twilight with her eyes closed as she seemed to cast a spell of some sort. Spike, who was holding what looked to be a regular old ball, flinched when a small spark left the unicorn’s horn, and hit the object. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But I soon began to notice the color of the ball change from a bold red, to a light blue.

Spike looked down at the ball, before smiling to himself and bouncing it on the floor. “Welp, that makes ten so far, Twilight.”

“That was actually sort of cool.”, I stated matter-of-factly, making myself known to the two. “You think you could do a spell to clean my clothes?”

Twi glanced over at me, the slightest of brow rises forming before she looked over toward the clothing in my arms. “...Well, I think I know of something that may work.” She quickly switched over to a frown, rolling her eyes. “But don’t just think I’ll do this all the time, Nick.”

Grinning, while holding out my clothes, I gave a small nod. “I’ll be sure to remember that, Mrs. Clean.”

With a heavy sigh, she soon closed her eyes and began concentrating. There were a couple of sparks from her horn, until a thin strobe of light shot out from the tip, hitting my attire. They glowed in the same light for perhaps two seconds, before slowly dimming down, a new scent of freshness immediately hitting my nostrils. With yet another reason to be happy today, I gave my regards to Twilight before going to get dressed.

It wasn’t too far after that I said farewell, and left to go into town.

“Okay,” I said aloud to myself as I glanced at the houses I was walking past. “Now, if I were a magic kit, where would I be?” Pursing my lips in thought, I didn’t quite notice the pink mare that had decided to spawn into existence beside me.

“Hiya, Nick!”

“Hey, Pinkie.”

“Whatcha doin’?”, she asked, continuing to hop along beside me.

I paused in place, glancing over at the cheerful pony. “Well, I was going to try and look for a magic kit. Twilight’s practicing a few trick spells at her place, an-”

“Oooo!” She was suddenly fully entranced. “I didn’t know you could do magic!”

There was a small gleam in my eye as I turned to face her, fist over my chest. “Ms. Pie, I’ll have you know I was once known as ‘Nick, the Magnificent’ back in my world!” Her eyes slowly began to widen. “Why, I could do more than a dozen different divinations with just a simple, ordinary, cloth!”

I hadn’t been lying when I said magic acts and magicians had been a favorite pastime of mine back home. While it had been one of my more silly hobbies, it was amusing to do at parties and special occasions. Sis was probably my biggest fan, regardless of whether or not she was my only fan. I never was able to convince Mom to get me a rabbit, though…

Pinkie Pie was bouncing in place like a giddy school girl. “You absotively, posilutely HAVE to show me!”

“Well, I’d love to, Pinkie.”, I responded, chuckling to myself. “It’s just, I sort of left all my stuff back where I came from.” I couldn’t stop the melancholy-like sigh from escaping. “And… there doesn’t really seem to be a way back to get them…” I could notice Pinkie’s expression grow slightly downhearted, though it only stayed like that for a second.

“Oh. Well, I’m sure we can think of something!” And just like that, she was wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “I can’t just let a friend of mine miss out on showing off his super fun tricks, right?”

Chuckling, I shrugged my shoulders free from her grasp, shaking my head. “I suppose not. Though you really don’t have to go out of your way. It’s just a silly pastime.” I continued walking on, when something a distance off caught my eye. “...What’s that?”

Glancing back toward my side revealed a rather empty space that a pink pony had just been occupying. Swirling around for a second to see where she might have run off to, I rolled my eyes when I couldn’t see her and looked back toward what had caught my attention in the first place. It seemed to resemble a yellow, wooden cart, having four wheels and a tongue, as they’re called, for hitching a horse up to. “Wagon” then came to mind. But the roofing was a red, wooden material as well, not cloth. Plus, I couldn’t think of a reason why ponies would need stagecoaches if they were, well, ponies in the first place.

A kind of trailer, perhaps?

Curiosity beginning to get the better of me, I quickly found myself advancing toward the odd thing that seemed to be out of place. Especially because it looked like it was right in front of Town Hall. There didn’t seem to be anypony, either. Though, my ears could definitely pick up movement coming from inside. Noticing a door on the front of the wagon, I shrugged my shoulders before tapping on it.

“Hello, anyone th-”, I was quickly cut off by a rather overdone exclamation from inside.

“The show will not begin for another half hour. Come back then!”

My brow raised slightly at that. “Show? What show?”

There was a moment of silence, before a mare poked her head out from the hole-like window on the door. With a rather irked expression upon her face, as well as holding a hoof to her chest, she proclaimed out in an obviously faked accent that involved many rollings of the tongue on t’s.

“Why, the Great and Powerful Trixie’s show, of course! It’s only the most popular show in Equestria.” She was so caught up in her little explanation, that she hadn’t seemed to even notice my presence yet. Instead, she just continued on with talking more for her own benefit. “Trixie would not be surprised in the slightest if it was the greatest show in Equus! In fact, Trixie is quite certain it is.”

“And, I presume that you’re Trixie?.”, I asked impassively. Her talking in the third person was throwing me off a bit. Asking this, however, seemed to get her full attention.

“You can no-”, she cut herself short right when she laid her eyes on me, them widening slightly. Oddly enough, she seemed to recover rather quickly. “Can you not tell that the impressive unicorn before you is, indeed, the Great and Powerful Trixie?! Hmph!” She then swung her head away, as if disgusted with me. “Trixie supposes that a creature like yourself wouldn’t know true ingenious, even if you saw it right in front of your face.” A frown was slowly starting to form itself on said face.

However, it was only then that I had fully taken note of the hat she had been wearing the whole time. “Is that a…”, I tilted my head slowly, squinting my eyes a bit, “...Witch’s hat?”

If I hadn’t already struck a nerve with the mare, that had really done the trick. The death glare she was delivering to the center of my forehead almost made me a bit uncomfortable. Grinding her teeth, she hissed out. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is not a witch! To call Trixie something as hideous and inferior would be akin to calling a dragon a gecko.” Her horn then summoned up a deck of cards, which she then proceeded to shuffle in mid-air. “Trixie is a sorceress!” She then made the cards spread out around her, before circling around me quickly. I had to look away due to the fact it was starting to make me dizzy. And just like that, the cards flashed away, letting out a series of small sparks behind. “There is NO pony that is as talented in the art of magic as the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

After rubbing away the last of the dots that had obscured my vision, I pursed my lips in slight annoyance. However, a lightbulb also lit up in my head. She’s... a magician!?

Any small judgments I had been making about her before were completely gone as my eyes began widening, a goofy grin spreading itself out from ear to ear. “I-I’m guessing that you can do a whole bunch of different tricks?”

The mare seemed to calm down marginally, rolling her eyes. “Trixie is not named Trixie for nothing…”

Ohmygod. Ohmygod! OHMYGOD!!!

The fanboy in me was really starting to come out now. It was seriously taking a lot of willpower to not start jumping up and down. I didn’t even try to hide any excitement in my voice when asking, “When does the show start?!”

Trixie just huffed. “It would start a lot sooner if Trixie wasn’t being distracted...”

I caught the hint, sobering up from my little moment immediately. Rubbing my head with a guilty chuckle, I bowed my head a little before apologizing. “S-Sorry, I’ll leave you to it.” With one last look of disdain, she moved away from the door’s window before shutting it closed.

Letting out a soft sigh, I turned away from Trixie’s wagon and began to head back toward the library. Figuring the show wouldn’t start for a little bit longer, I suspected I’d have enough time to go inform Twilight and Spike about today’s big event. I couldn’t help but imagine Twilight’s reaction to me telling her that this ‘Trixie’ thought of herself as being the best magic user around, though. You know, since she’s kind of supposed to be the Element of Magic?

Maybe they’ll have some kind of duel to try and show the other off!

Trying to shrug off the mental boner that image was causing my little fanboy self, I almost didn’t notice my name being called from somewhere. Glancing about, I caught eye of Berry Punch trotting over in my direction with a friendly smile on her muzzle.

“Hey, Nick.”, the magenta mare said as she made her way to my side, following along with me. “Didn’t see ya at the bar the other night.” She tilted her head before asking, ”Didja get second thoughts?”

“No,” I replied with a shake of my head. “Something just came up last minute.” I paused a moment, then continued with, “Twilight’s place got broken into. Don’t worry though, nothing was stolen.”

Berry Punch’s muzzle scrunched up into one of distaste. “What kind of scum breaks into a library?”

“...I don’t know.”

“Well, I hope the creep got what he deserved.”, she said, glancing toward me. I swear I saw a small glint in her eyes.

I nodded, shoving my hands into my pockets before answering. “I went out and found them, then proceeded to encourage them not to go breaking into ponies' places anymore.”

The mare laughed a bit at that, elbowing me in the hip. “Oh, I bet you did.” I couldn’t help but half chuckle at it. “But hey, don’t worry about not making it yesterday.” She waved a hoof at me before nodding with a grin. “Between you and me, you’re the only one I’ve seen so far that I think is worthy of the job.” I couldn’t help but smirk at that.

Nice to know I’m not a completely lost cause in this town.

“That’s very kind of you, Berry.”, I said in earnest. However, the sight of a purple unicorn in the distance started to catch my attention. “Um, I’ll be sure to try and stop by whenever I get a free moment.”

Berry nodded her head, before following my fixated gaze. Again, a very obvious grin stretched itself across her face. She gave me one quick pat on the back before trotting away, calling back in a sultry voice. “Sure thing, Romeo.”

My cheeks immediately turned a burning salmon as I turned toward the mare with a heated glare. However, she didn’t seem to notice, or mind, and continued on her merry way. I was dumbstruck on why she again teased the idea of me having any feelings toward Twilight in… that way.

I mean, she’s not even my species! Isn’t there a law against stuff like that?!

“Oh!”, came a rather inquiring statement from behind me. Obviously, it was Twilight. Facing her, I could see Spike was also with her. “There you are, Nick. Spike and I were actually just leaving to come look for you.” She was looking up at me with a rather benign smile, but I could still catch the faintest hints of sourness in her words. “Did you do whatever it was you had to do?”

I shook my head, frowning slightly at the remembrance. “No, not really. I was going to try and find a magic kit similar to the one I had back home, and put on a show for you and Spike.” Spike’s eyes widened in a bit of fascination at that. “But sadly, I remembered I was without any money of my own. That, plus I don’t think the market would have what I’d need to construct my own kit.”

Twilight’s expression dampened a bit. “...I’m sorry to hear that, Nick. That was very thoughtful of you.” I could tell she was being fully sincere this time. “I’m sure we both would have enjoyed it.” I just shrugged with a small smile. She quickly began to grow a smile of her own. “You know, I think I might be able to find something in the library that could teach you some simple spells. That is, if you think you could learn to cast them.”

I stared at her a moment, at first wondering if a screw had gone loose in her head. “...Uh, Twi?” I raised a finger to point at my head. “I don’t really have a horn, if you couldn’t tell.” Her expression slowly began to grow rather bitter. I was quick to let out a harmless laugh, raising my hands in submission. “But I could give it a shot and see what happens.”

“Good.”, she said with a smile on her face once more. I couldn’t help but pat her on the head, causing a confused look to come upon her face.

“I understand that it was just a kind gesture.”, I said softly. “And I’m very grateful for it.” She stared at me for a moment longer before steadily smiling with a bit more sentiment. “However,” I continued, shoving my hands into my pockets with a casual sigh, “You’re gonna have to teach me how to read those infernal things. Since I can’t make heads or tails of that chicken scratch.”

Her face, surprisingly, turned extremely overjoyed. “I get to teach you something?!?” I slowly regretted whatever I had just started.

“But wait...” Spike spoke up suddenly, before pausing in momentary confusion. “You can’t read? How exactly old are you?” This snapped Twilight out of her trance, causing her to look at me in mild confusion as well.

I rolled my eyes at that. You know, for a couple of book caretakers, they sure are dumb sometimes… “I know how to read, Spike. I just can’t read your language.”

This had Twi speaking up again. “But…” She pointed a hoof at me. “You’re speaking it. Right now.”

I took a moment to recognize that was, indeed, true, before shrugging my shoulders. “Well, that’s just because your vocabulary is nearly identical to my own. It just seems that your alphabet is what’s different.”

She nodded, considering it before looking back at me with a grin once more. “We can begin your studies later today.”

I thought about it for a second, before nodding once. “Sounds good to-”

“Gangway!!!”

“Gwahhh!!!”

“Uh…” I was immediately confused when Spike was suddenly being carried off by a couple of unicorns, him shouting the entire way. “...Spike?”

Without another moment's hesitation, Twilight and I were quickly chasing after the trio. I managed to intercept the would-be dragon knappers just when they were skidding to a halt. And before I knew it, Spike was being catapulted right into me, causing us both to topple over onto the ground.

“Oh! Uhh…”, came the taller of the two. “Sorry about that!” He didn’t quite sound all there.

“Sheesh, where’s the fire?”, I grunted, pushing Spike off of me before getting back to my feet. I could feel a rather nice bruise forming on my chest.

“F-Fire?!”, echoed the smaller, rather chubby, unicorn. My reaction was simply applying my palm directly to my face.

Yup. We’ve got a couple of live ones over here…

“He means what’s got you two in such a hurry, Snips.”, Twilight spelled out with a small sigh.

“Ohhh.”, responded Dimwit Number One. “Haven’t you heard? There’s a new unicorn putting on a show in town!” My brow raised a tad at that.

“Yeah, yeah!”, replied Shorty, getting rather excited. “They say she’s got a whole bunch of magical powers. More than any unicorn ever!”

“Yup, that’s Trixie alright.”, I stated rather blankly, glancing in the direction her cart had been parked.

“Yeah, that’s her!”, said the taller one.

“Trixie?”, questioned Twilight. I could just make out a bit of disappointment showing on her face. Wasn’t really sure why, though. “Who’s she?”

“Just a traveling magician I spotted earlier.” I didn’t hold back the grin coming to my face. “She was pretty decent from what I saw. Bit of an egoistic little filly, but that’s show business.”

“Ah, don’t worry Twilight.”, Spike chimed in. “I know you’re really the best magic user!”

That managed to get a small blush out of her. She quickly recovered, though, before saying, “Well, regardless of who’s better, I’d still like to see her performance.”

Shivers went up my spine at the thought of seeing a live, professional magic show. Regardless if the performer was a magic-wielding pony. I was already turning on my heels with an avid hop to my step, calling out behind me to the others.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!”

Twilight and Spike were soon to follow after me, almost needing to pace themselves in order to keep up with my high-spirited bustle. I could already hear Trixie’s voice calling out over a loudspeaker of some kind. It didn’t take long to see signs of a crowd forming, and in no time at all, all three of us were making our way to the front of the large turn-up. Twilight and Spike were right at my side, staring blankly at the wagon. A small “Ahem” caught my attention, however, getting me to look to my left. A friendly-looking Rarity, followed by the rest of Twilight’s friends, looked toward me with a variety of greeting expressions.

“I presume all this fuss caught your attention as well, Mr. Nick?”, asked the snow-white unicorn. looking up at me in mild interest.

“You kidding?”, I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. “I love me a good magic act!” That got a small giggle from her. However, the announcement coming to an end soon had us hushing down.

“—witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful, Trixie!”

The wagon caught all of our attention as it began to shift and unhinge itself, unfolding in ways that honestly didn’t even seem physically possible. In mere seconds, what had once been a wagon had now become a decent-sized stage, complete with curtains, trumpets, and what resembled fuckin' pyrotechnics!

Forget several laws against science, is this thing even legal?!

And in a flash of sparks, followed by a poof of dark, purple smoke, appeared Trixie. Proud looking as ever. From just her meager yet fanciful entrance alone, the entire crowd was in the midst of “ah”s and “ooh”s. I, in all honesty, was amongst those in a trance.

...This is gonna be gewd.

“Watch in awe!”, she began, staring down the crowd before whipping her head back to gaze upon the heavens, “As the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular, stupendous feats of magic witnessed by pony eyes!” This proclamation was followed by her raising to her hind legs as fireworks and flame pillars went off around her.

...I think I just got a stiffy...

However, my euphoria was uprooted by the sound of Rarity’s voice.

“My, my, my…”, she stated in a rather repelled manner. “Such boasting!”

...Waht.

“Yeah,” chipped in Spike. “No ponies as magical as Twi-”

He was cut short however when he noticed Rarity next to me. I didn’t catch much else of what he said—except something about a “mustache”?—before Twilight also decided to interrupt my concentration on the show.

“There isn’t anything wrong about being talented, is there?”

“Not t’all, Twi.”, responded Applejack, before turning a rather stern look toward the magician on stage. “‘Cept when somepony goes around, showin’ it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons.”

“Are you kidding me?”, I asked aloud, looking at the ponies beside me.

Rarity looked at me with a rather baffled look. “Whatever do you mean, Nick?”

I raised a hand to emphasize the show before us. “She’s a showgirl! Er- Showmare, rather.” I shook my head while watching Trixie magic up a bouquet of flowers. “She has to make herself appear larger than life to help draw attention to her show. It’s an act!”

Rarity seemed to ponder my words for a second, before rolling her eyes. “Well, just because one has the ability to conduct many magic spells doesn’t mean they are better than anypony else.”

I swear I just about facepalmed straight through my head. Letting out a sigh, I just decided to tune out the rest of the conversation and watch the show. It had seemed Trixie, however, had begun to overhear the little chit-chat going on before her, and had paused a moment to glare at us. She also took extreme care in making sure I was the one getting the most of it. However, Rainbow Dash going “Boooo”, caught both of our attention.

“Well, well, well…”, Trixie started, before glowering toward us. “It looks like we have some neigh sayers in the—” She was immediately cut off by the outrageous amounts of laughter that began coming from yours truly.

“Y-You…”, I was finding it very difficult to speak straight through my laughing fit. “You actually- Pffttt… Neighed!” I was in tears, holding onto my sides for the life of me. I didn’t care if everypony else was staring at me like I was on drugs or something. That shit right there was fucking GOLD!

“Are you quite finished?!”, yelled a rather upset Trixie. “How dare you all try to mock the Great and Powerful Trixie!” ...Somebody's butthurt. “Which of you would be so ignorant to challenge the magical abilities of Trixie?!” No one seemed to comment. “Do none of you know that you are before the greatest and most powerful unicorn of all Equestria?!”

“...Alright, perhaps that’s just a tad bit much.”, I stated rather quietly to myself, shrinking back a bit. Rarity blowing a raspberry soon had me taking a seat on the ground in slight disappointment.

“Just who does she think she is?”

And just like that, Spike was back. “Yeah! Besides, everypony knows Twilight’s–” Said unicorn was quickly quieting him up, before dragging him out of the crowd.

...What’s up with her?

All my attention was quickly brought back to the stage when a new series of flames and fireworks went off. I was disappointed in myself for not finding it as amazing as I had before. But a sudden chill going up my spine caught me off guard. Something was suddenly off, and I could feel it. Staring up at the unicorn on stage, I couldn’t help but get this nagging feeling in the back of my mind. For one reason or another, I had this crazy sensation of being pulled toward this boastful enchantress, and I couldn’t shake the eerie presence off.

Something is definitely not right. But… At the same time, something just feels… Familiar.

I was just getting up with the thought of walking back to the library when RD went zooming up onto the stage, getting right into Trixie’s face. “Alright Miss Great and Powerful. Just what makes you so awesome, anyway?”

Trixie just smirked right back at her. “Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie could defeat the terrible Ursa Major!” There were gasps from all around as sparks of magic flew up to create an image of what looked like a cartoon bear.

“...You defeated a constellation?”, I questioned rather bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

“Ha! Just goes to show how big a buffoon you are!”, she spat. “The Ursa Major just so happens to be one of the largest, deadliest creatures in all of Equestria. And when it was terrorizing the ponies of Cliffington, the Great and Powerful Trixie was the only one who could vanquish it!”

While the rest of the crowd seemed to go into a frenzy of cheers, I simply stared at Trixie with a blank expression.

“Well, that settles it.” I put my hands up in mock defeat. “You truly are the greatest and most powerful pony in all of Equestria. Hell, I just can’t come up with any more doubt.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie knows sarcasm when she hears it…”

I raised my brow in surprise, pointing at myself while backing away from the stage. “Me? Not at all, your all-powerful, greatness!” And with that, I took off toward the library, shouting out. “I’m all scared just thinking about it!”

I kept running until I had made it into the library, and up to my room, slamming the door behind me as I began pacing about. I’d already concluded that Trixie was far more than what she let on to be. She was a windbag of a pers- pony if I’d ever met one. But there was more to it than that.

She wasn’t just boosting her own ego up. She was deflating anyone else’s.

Taking a seat at my bedside with a heavy sigh, I tried to wrack my brain on why all this was bugging me so much. Something had my mind swirling back there, but I just couldn’t—

My eyes widen slightly, a single thought starting to form in the recesses of my mind. At first, it was blurred out, and a bit hard to fully understand. But the more I dwelled over it, the more the fog began to lift, slowly revealing the answer I was looking for.

“...Smug. That’s exactly what she is. She only seems to care about her own well stature in this world.” I got up from my seat, heading toward the window. I was lucky enough to be able to see Trixie’s show-off in the distance. “She’s not a show pony. She’s a big, arrogant braggart! She’s so wrapped up in her own pri-”

And then it was clear. That word. The one thing that I’d been reeling in.

“...Pridefulness.” My eyes opened widely, recognizing now what significance that bore to me. Why I had been getting such a strange read from her. A sense of familiarity. “She’s… the Element of Pride, isn’t she?”