Tricks up my Sleeve

by Garnet Shield

Rating: teen
Tags: Trixie, Sunset Shimmer, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Human, Drama, Original Character, Dazzlings, Equestria Girls
Length: 3260

after another embarrassing loss in the talent show at the hands of Rainbow Dash, Trixie is on the verge of giving up, but there is more than one person who wants to get the girl back up on her feet, and show her there is more than one way to win!

At CHS, a talent show is held biannually. Trixie Lulamoon has wanted nothing more than to take first place at the show, but every year she loses to Dash and has been unable to place at all recently. She's on the verge of giving up and not trying at all, but there may yet be hope, for there is more than one person who wants to see her keep going. But can she be ready for next semester's show, or will her feelings slow her down?

Big thanks to my friends Joey the Pony and RussianRoulette for editing this story you guys rock. I hope you two continue to support me and edit my countless mistakes

Published 2014-12-08 16:00:03 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-04 12:23:58 UTC

The Stubborn Magician

The CHS Talent Show

Intro Song

You stare at the clock in utter anticipation, completely ignoring the history book and paper lying on your desk. Notes were the last thing on your mind at the moment. Every semester, Canterlot High has a big talent show that all the gifted students always perform in. Being a junior at CHS was the good life. Driving yourself to school, only being one year away from graduation, and class rings were all things to look forward to. The talent show was just icing on the cake at this point.

You are quickly snapped out of your own thoughts when the voice of Miss Cheerilee hits your ears.

“Ok, class, continuing with our lesson on Greek mythology, who can tell me the name of the creatures that would lure sailors to their deaths by singing beautiful songs, which would captivate their minds and bodies causing them to crash into rocks on the shores of nearby islands?” Miss Cheerilee asks charismatically.

You look around the room and see everyone paying less than zero attention to their energetic history teacher. You notice Trixie playing with a deck of cards apparently practicing a few tricks for the talent show.

'Don’t tell me Trixie is gonna do the same magic act for the 3rd year in a row,' you mentally facepalm at the thought of THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE doing the same exact thing she did both her sophomore and freshman year. You didn’t know Trixie all that well, except for maybe the occasional glance and the off chance she needed to copy your homework. Asking her why would get you met with a smile and the remark, “Because The Great and Powerful Trixie…didn’t get hers done in homeroom." Altogether she seemed like a decent person at heart, and the fact she carried a dislike of Flash Sentry made few situations quite an event when you and him were hanging out.

You push away the thoughts about Trixie and continue to examine the actions of your fellow classmates around you. You spot Sunset Shimmer across the room leaning back with her feet propped up on the desk next to her. Sunset quickly spots you looking at her and gives a subtle wave as if to say “Yeah, I’m here.” Sunset Shimmer was a girl you didn’t know too much about when she arrived. She just showed up at CHS one day from someplace you had never heard about, but she fits in quite well and is the only girl you've been able to call a friend at CHS. Ever since she started coming to school here, she always struck you as the kind of person who doesn’t care about what other people think of her.

You see a hand shoot up into the air, its owner a young girl, with her long hair two different shades of blue and in a ponytail.

“Yes, Sonata, do you know the answer?”

“Mhmmmm.” Sonata says, smiling.

“……well, what is it?”

“Huh? What is what?”

“The answer to the question. You raised your hand, so could you answer the question please?” Cheerilee says, slightly annoyed.

“Oooooh, you wanted me to tell YOU the answer? I just thought if we knew the answer, we raise our hand, but the answer is sirens. Hmm, kinda like us.” She puts a finger to her chin to think.

“Won’t you ever just be quiet for once, Sonata?” You hear a girl behind her chastise.

“It’s called freedom of speech for a reason Aria, helllooo. I think you should know that.”

“Yeah, and they should rectify freedom to be stupid as soon as possible.” The girl you note as Aria snaps back harshly.

“Would both of you please shut UP?” A girl with bountiful puffy, orange hair growls at them.

“She started it, Adagio.” Sonata points accusingly at Aria.

“Well, I’m ending it,” Adagio says dominantly, like a mother scolding two stubborn children.

“I wouldn’t have to argue if she wasn’t the worst.” Aria grumbles to herself.

Sonata sticks her tongue out at the purple haired girl.

You gaze transfixed at the small scene the three girls in the back of class are making and wonder if they will stop anytime soon.

“OOOOOOWWWWWW!” You spot the one known as Adagio with her arms stretched out, each hand clenched inward with a fistful of the bickering girls’ hair.

“Now let’s all get along, shall we, and try not to kill each other for the rest of the day, huh?” Adagio says with a threatening grin at both of them.

Both Aria and Sonata sigh and turn around, facing towards the front once again. Like Sunset, the Dazzlings, as they call themselves, just showed up one day at CHS, though this year is supposed to be their first. Little is known about the Dazzlings except for that they have a passion for singing, and don’t get along too well most of the time. Which makes it odd that they mostly keep to themselves, even though CHS is such a social and energetic school.

“Ok, class. Our next lesson will be on…” The loud dinging of the bell effortlessly overtakes Miss Cheerilee, effectively cutting her off mid-lesson.

You look over at the clock on the wall and see that the bell is ringing for the talent show. As you ready yourself to head over to the gym, a calm yet firm voice emanates from the intercom above the door.

“All Canterlot High students from grades seventh to twelfth, please report to the gym for this semester’s talent show.” The intercom clicks off. You thought you could almost make out the excitement in Principal Celestia’s voice.

You slide your computer into its bag and toss your notebook into your backpack. You get up from the desk and follow your classmates into the hallway. You engage in a little small talk with Lyra and Derpy before breaking off and heading towards the gym. It’s always best to get there quickly before the best seats are taken. You spot Shining Armor walking across the courtyard and race to catch up to him. Shining has always been a fairly decent guy, and he’s always been good to just have a conversation with. He is a bit of a blockhead sometimes, but that doesn’t ever put his sense of self-confidence down. The way he talks about his sister truly shows how caring he is as a person. As you run through the courtyard, you completely miss the frame of a person in front of you, and all you see is a blurry, blue figure go tumbling backwards as you fall to the ground, dazed.

You shake your head back and forth to regain your senses.

“Ahhhh! Watch where you're going! You could have really hurt someone!” you hear a soft yet high voice say.

“Should really be more careful next time,” another voice says.

“Doesn’t anyone watch where they are going anymore?” a third voice says.

You look up to see all three of the Dazzlings standing over you.

“Here, up on your feet,” Adagio says, holding out her hand to help you up.

You push her hand aside and stand up.

“Hmm, one who doesn’t want the help of others, I admire that in a person.”

“Yeah, that’s just how I’ve always been,” you say with a shrug of the shoulders, “Which one of you did I just run into?”

“That would be her,” Aria says, pointing a finger at Sonata.

“Who? Oh yeah, me. You ran into me.” Sonata says with an innocent smile.

“Sorry about that. I guess I was just in too big a hurry. I was trying to catch up to Shining Armor to discuss the talent show this year.”

“Well, seeing as how he’s nowhere in sight now, why don’t you join us today?” Adagio says politely.

“That’s ok. I’m good. It’s been nice talking to you three, but I should really go catch up to him.” You can’t help but feel weird and awkward with all three of them there staring at you, but you decide to turn and quickly walk away.

“Couldn’t we have just sung to make him stay around, instead of being all friendly about it?” Aria asks turning toward Adagio.

“Of course we could have, but I don’t see why we needed too.”

“Because making friends the nice way is too hard, especially since everyone says we are so ‘off’.”

You open the door to the gym and step inside. It’s loud and overflowing with the sounds of different voices talking about this, that, and the other. You notice the floor is lined with chairs that are already filled with students. You spot Shining in the stands and take your seat next to him. You run your hands through your hair and rub your eyes to notify him of your presence.

“Hey, man. Why do you look like you just had a run in with the Grim Reaper?” the white skinned teenager asked.

You think about it a brief second and decide to use that to mess with him.

“You're one to talk, dude. You're whiter than a piece of chalk!” you coyly grin.

“Haha, very funny. But that doesn’t really answer my question. Now, what happened?”

“Eeeehhhhh, nothin' too serious. I just kinda ran into those three new girls and knocked one of them on the ground,” you say, shrugging your shoulders trying to put it off.

Shining Armor slaps a hand down onto your shoulder and bursts into a fit of laughter.

“Well, why’d you do that mate? If you wanted to get their attention, you didn’t have to practically run over them to do it.”

“Hey, it didn’t really happen like that,” you say, joining him in the humor, “I was actually trying to catch up to you, and I wasn’t looking where I was going, then I just kinda, BAM! Ran smack dab intoooo…Sonata I think was her name. “

The laughter between you two finally dulls down before giving way to an abrupt silence, as the auditorium echoes with voices of every single student at CHS.

Shining Armor picks up the conversation from where it left off.

“Still, man, I tell you, those three girls are strange.”

“Who? You mean the Dazzlings? Nah, they aren’t that bad. You're one to talk about strange, the way you loll up, down, and all around Cadance. You might as well kiss her feet and call her Princess Cadance.”

Shining Armor chuckles and opens his mouth to dispute your claims when the lights in the auditorium begin to dim and Principal Celestia steps out onto the stage.

“Good afternoon, students!” she says, her voice chiming through the microphone attached to her jacket. “I’m pleased to announce the beginning of our first semester CHS talent show this year!” she says, smiling. “We have some excellent contenders this semester, but there is always room for more participants next semester. Well, without further ado, let’s begin the first talent show of the year. First, we have Octavia Melody, who will be playing Waltz of the Flowers on her stand-up bass.”

***

For all intents and purposes, most of the performances were really good, although the majority were music related. Octavia played her bass, Flash Sentry and his band shredded to some AC DC, Lyra and Bonny, aka Bon Bon, played a beautiful piano duet, where you could have sworn you almost saw them kiss, Bulk Biceps played an excellent violin rendition of Devil Went Down to Georgia, a strange choice of instrument  for the biggest and most muscular football player at the school, Snips and Snails free styled to a song you can only assume they made up themselves and hardly practiced, considering it seemed like they barely even knew the words to it, and Rainbow Dash tore up the stage with some heavy guitar and dynamic lighting effects that made the stage seem like it was just erupting with explosion upon explosion of rainbow colored wonder. Finally, there was just one contender left: a performance you and the rest of CHS knew all too well.

The dark purple curtains instantly lit up with an array of brilliant sheens and shining colors from the multi-colored spotlights that hung from the ceiling. The colored lights danced across the stage, giving off a seamless yet faint aura of purples, whites, blues, and multiple intensities of gold all coalescing onto a cloaked figure wearing a pointed wizard hat standing in the middle of the stage.

“Watch, and be amazed as I perform feats of magic beyond any mortal’s COMPRHENSION!” the cloaked figure declares. With intense speed, she throws back her cloak, revealing the perfect figure hiding behind it.

“I, Trixie, will perform magical tricks that will blow your mind and leave you ASTOUNDED!”

***

For Trixie, the show proceeded exactly as planned. The crowd never took their eyes off her, basking in her magnificent presence as she commanded their attention, keeping them wrapped in her magical and majestic tricks. Everything was timed perfectly, from the disappearing act to the exploding sparklers that turned into playing cards, yet for you, it wasn’t anything different that she hasn’t done before. You even glanced at Shining Armor a few times for his opinion and the most he gave was just a subtle, disappointed shake of the head. You figured she’d do this again. Every talent show since freshman year, she would participate in both semester’s talent shows, and what would she do… a magic show. The first couple times were cool, but Trixie was never good enough to win every year, and has been second place until recently. Now, she doesn’t place at all. Ever since CHS became more musically intense, Trixie’s shows just don’t carry the gravitas or pizzazz they used to. You have to give her credit, though. Every year, she has new tricks, new lighting effects, and a whole host of new words to make her shows seem more amazing than they actually are. As it stands now, CHS just doesn’t really care for the classic talent show stuff from a few years back. It’s all about the music now. When Trixie finishes her show, she bows to the crowd’s applause and walks backstage.

After the crowd settles down, normal spotlights hit the center stage and one shines down on vice principal Luna, following her as she walks up the small set of stairs leaning on the front of the stage.

Her voice carries a sort of regal air, as if the fate of the world lies in her hands, and it practically does in the case of the talent show.

“My sister and I have tallied the scores and looked over each performance and judged it thoroughly. All participants come up onto the stage.”

You watch as all the students who performed in the talent show step up onto the stage.

“Now, before I reveal the winners, I want you all to know that each and every one of you deserves to win.”

“Some… more than others.” Dash says with a smug grin.

“Yeah, this year will finally be the year I win!” Trixie snaps.

“Haha, really? You think you can win first place with that lame magic show you do every year? Why, you’d be lucky to get third!” Rainbow laughs mockingly.

Luna glares at them both, causing Trixie and Dash to fall silent. She holds up a small card and begins to read the winner's names off aloud.

“Third place is Bulk Biceps!”

You see Bulk step and bow as all the jocks chant and howl his name in victory as the huge football player takes a small bronze trophy and walks off stage.

“Everyone settle down,” Luna calls out to the audience, “Now second place goes to Octavia Melody."

Octavia smiles and curtsies before taking a medium sized silver trophy. Before she steps off stage, you hear a loud cheering voice hit your ears.

“WOOOOOOOO!!! Go Tavi! THAT’S MY GIRL!” you scan the auditorium and see the students staring at none other than DJ Vinyl Scratch, who is standing up on her seat cheering and clapping, but quickly calms down and sits back in her place when she notices she’s caught the attention of the entire auditorium.

“Anyway,” Luna says, “our first place talent show winner this semester is…………Rainbow Dash for her performance of what she calls the Sonic Rainboom!” you hear the entire auditorium rise to its feet, clapping and cheering for Dash as she takes the large gold trophy and holds it high above her head for everyone to see.

“Okay everyone, settle down,” Luna says, “School is dismissed. Everyone get what you need from your lockers and feel free to head home. The winners of the talent show, however, will need to stay for pictures.”

You file out of the auditorium with everyone else, along with Shining Armor following close behind.

“So, what did you think of the performances?” you ask him, as you two walk down the hallway towards the lockers.

“I thought they were pretty decent.”

“So did I, just sucks Trixie did the exact same thing she always does.”

“Yeah, that whole magic show routine is getting pretty old.”

“Her shows are fairly good, actually. It’s just that she does a show for every talent competition. She never mixes it up.”

“Yeah, true. Well, man, I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ve got to run. I’m meeting Cadance at the movies, so later.” Shining Armor waves to you and runs off sprinting down the hall towards the doors like a maniac.

You roll your eyes and open your locker, whispering a random tune to yourself as you throw an assortment of books into your backpack. You shut your locker and notice Trixie walking down the hall with Sunset Shimmer before turning and storming off towards the school exit, no doubt furious about losing yet again. You give it a few seconds of thought and you decide to stop Sunset in the hall as she passes you.

“Hey, Sunset. You're friends with Trixie, right?”

“Yeah. I like to think so, since we talk on a regular basis. Why do you ask?”

“I couldn’t help but notice she seemed pretty upset about losing to Dash yet again.”

“Mhmmmm, she’s not taking it too well.”

“Well, I was wondering, since you two are good friends, can I sit with you and Trixie at lunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s fine. But why? You’ve never really asked to sit with us before.”

“Well, I’m kind of tired of Trixie going through so much effort on her magic show every year then losing. So I wanted to see if I could help her change things up a little. Ya know, try something different?”

“That’s not a bad idea. She does do the same thing every year.” Sunset places two fingers against her forehead in thought. “Yeah, I think we can try to help out some way, though I don’t know how.”

“Ha, neither do I.” You say with a chuckle.

“Well, it’s been fun talking, but I’ve got to go. Pinkie Pie is throwing a sleepover and I have to go. See you tomorrow.”

Sunset waves goodbye and heads for the exit.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” you mumble under your breath as you turn and leave. You spot your truck in the parking lot as one of the few remaining vehicles still at the school. You get in, crank it up, and head down the road to your apartment, letting thoughts of the day play through your mind.