"Alright everypony, Show starts in 15 minutes." an earth pony with way too much gel in his mane and a necktie said over microphone.

I was at a park today, a park half-ish way between Ponyville and Soarin's house. I already have my lanyard on with my fake backstage id. I also had a light brown satchel. I quickly ran around to the back of the stage.

"Hmmm.... Trixie always said somethin' about how she had 'er dressing room close to the stage so she could just run back stage, jump onto her couch 'n' fall asleep after a big day of preformin'. I was about to walk into the backdoor when two cute little foals stopped me. Well, they're both a little weird looking actually...

"Hold on, mister. You got a pass?" The taller one asked.

"Yep. Ah sure do, little ones. I'm Trixie's assistant. Trixie was getting ready to perform, isn't she?"

"But... I thought WE were her assistants...." The shorter one looked up sadly.

"Well uh... She told me she would need some adult help at this show, so she called me 'n' here ah am! Don't worry boys, maybe she won't need my help next time." That's because there won't BE a next time. Shut up, brain.

The taller one frowned. "Oh, okay... see yuh mister..."

"Yeah, bye..." The shorter one started walking off.

I twitched.

"Hey fellas, wait a sec. Have mah ticket...um..and take these bits so you can buy another one. Now you can watch the show. But after the show, you have to leave."

"Thanks mister!' The orange haired one smiled at me. It was a little creepy, but I smiled back. The colts ran off to find a nice seat.

Now. back to business. I opened the door. Immediately to the left, there was a door that said " Dressing Room." To the left of that, there was a side end table with a vase of withered violets. Down the center of the small room, there was a door way blocked by a curtain. Im guessing it leads to the stage.

I knock on the dressing room door. The a window on it.

"WHO DA- er, who is it?"

The unicorn turned to me and froze.

"Well hello, Miss Trixie... Ah uh... Ah see yer workin' on yer....temper."

She shyly smiled at me.

"Oh, uh... Yeah. I'm trying to change my ways.... At least offstage. " Her voice was quiet and soft, as there was a door in between us.

"So uh... Can ah come in?"

She blinked. "Oh! Sorry.." She laughed and turned the the side slightly, giving me room to come in.

"So..." I looked down for a moment.

"So uh..." Her front left hoove slightly pawed at the floor.

C'mon Brae. It's getting awkward.

"So what brings you to Ponyville? Seeing relatives?" She asked.

"Well not t'day. Ah was just runnin' some errands when ah saw yer poster on a pole. Thought Ah'd come see ya. ah... ah miss ya, Trix."

Trixie tilted her head. You could see a faint pink in her cheeks.

"In what way?"

"Anyway ya want me to." I said with a wink. She smiled lightly at me, the pink in her cheeks glowing.

I chuckle lightly, turning to the table, gently setting my satchel down on it. She tilted her head a little. To her surprise, I brought out a wheat and daisy sandwhich.

"Oh! Sorry.. Can ah eat in here?" I grinned lightly, taking out the knife and cutting it in half. "Ya want half of it? Wheat 'n' daiiisies.."

"You remembered how I liked those?" She grinned wide. "Thank you..." She used her unicorn magic to levitate the sandwhich half over to her mouth, taking a small bite.

I grinned as well. "6 years and ah still remembered." I took a bite of my half. "So uh.... how's life been for ya? 'Ve been hearin' yer name around a bit more more lately..."

"It's been getting better. I might even be able to get a show at Canterlot! ...You've been hearing my name around, huh?"

"Well yeah... Ah've heard yer name visiting Ponyville a couple times... all with some smiles, ah'd assure ya. They seem ta think you're a hit! Can't wait to see you mahself..." I gave a bright smile before taking another bite of my sandwhich.

She giggled a little. This is progress.

"So uh..." I opened my mouth for a moment but lost the words. "You uh.. You seem to be gettin' a bit more poular 'n' all... Bet ya got yerself a nice coltfriend, huh?"

She looked away for a moment. "Ah had a four since you. None of 'em lasted longer than 3 months. One of them I could tell just wanted me for fame... I mean, i'm not even all that well known, but he was at one of my shows and threw a whole bouquet of flowers. I might get a rose or two occasionally, but I never a WHOLE THING of flowers..... anyways, I went to a cafe after the show, and he ended up being there as well. We talked for a while and before you knew it, we were a thing."

Does she get all of her colts at cafes?

"...A-Ah'm sorry ... what about the others?" I took another bite of my sandwhich.

She sighed. "Well, one cheated. One got tired of me. The other just pissed me off and I left her."

My eyes widened a little. "Her?"

"Yeah. I only went out with one mare. Worst mistake of my life." She finished off her sandwhich.

"....Oh." I decided to shrug it off.

She smiled, but it slowly faded away. She turned her body to face me more directly. "You know, Braeburn... "

"hm?' I started to look back at my knife.

"I don't think any of 'em compared to you. I mean I kinow we only went out for a few weeks, but there wasn't one time that you really upset me... I mean, I was a bit harsh about Twilight and rest"

I stayed silent.

"...I really thought about you a lot... Everytime I had a breakup I would think about you.... I think I might...Well I ... You know the word i'm looking for?" Her ears lowered sightly.

"...Do ya miss me?" I take the final bite of my own sandwhich.

"Well yeah... But I mean, I think the word i'm looking for... I th-think I might love you..." She got quiet, probably hoping I didn't hear that last part.

I nearly choked on my last bite.

"Sorry... what was that last part there? Ya got a little quiet..."

"I-I do really miss you, that's all. And well... I was wrong about Twilight... and your sister..."

"...How so?" My hoove lightly brushed over the knife.

" I was in the wrong the whole time. I ended up going back. Let's just say they taught me not to make a fool of myself. And that other ponies exist besides just me..." She laughed awkwardly. She was still looking away.

"TRIXIE. STAGE IN THREE." The voice from before called from the stage. I jumped and quickly hid the knife under some books.

"Oh! Sorry Braeburn... Gotta get ready for the show...." She turned back to me.

I frowned. "Oh alright... Ah guess ah'll see ya after?" Great. I missed my chance.

Her eyes brightened. "You know what? Why don't you be my assistant? It's easy."

"Oh, uh... Sure." ...Man, she really has changed. Back when we were dating, she wouldn't share the stage with Celestia.

I smiled weakly. I'm not really into show biz. But hey, it gives me more time.

She giggled in delight. "YAY! Ok let's see.. OOO! You can wear this fedora." Oh, so she's trying to kill me now.

She used her magic to take off my hat and started to comb my messy mane.

"OW! Hey.. Trixie cut it- AH!"

"Sorry Brae but your mane is a dragon's nest... We only have like two minutes."

She finished combing my mane and placed the fedora over it.

"OOOOO..... Fancy."

Oh jeez. This is gonna be a long night...

She squee'd, running out of the dressing room, pulling me by the ears with her magic.

"Ow..."

When we walked onto the stage, it was covered with rings, fire torches, a cage of lions, and a few other things. The curtains were closed so we could walk around freely.

"Wow... "

She sighed. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

"Ya really have improved, Trix... N-not that you wern't good before... Just sayin' ya didn't have lions and torches back then..."

"HELLOOOOO PONYVILLE! WELCOME TO TRIXIE'S MAGIC SHOW! PLEASE NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY. OUR STAR MIGHT GET BLINDED BY SUDDEN LIGHTS." The obnoxious stallion sang into his microphone from the other side of the curtain.

"Here we go!" Trixie squealed.

The crazy circus music came on. I guess the theme was circus this time around... The curtain started opening as Trixie whispered "Ya gotta sell it, Brae! Smile!"

Sell it, huh?

"WELCOME TO THE GRRRREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE'S MAGIC CIRCUS! Today we have a special guest all the way from Appleloosa. He's the cousin of our element of Honesty.... BRAEBURN!!!"

So, she changed in real life but not on stage. hmm.

There were various applauds and cheers... Some whistles...

"HERE! We have the classical box. Braeburn, If you will, please get inside..."

I gulped.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie will inform all that this is indeed an earth pony, so he has no wings or horn to help with the assist of keeping him alive."

I slowly opened the box. "Ya sure about this?"

She nodded lightly. I climbed into the box, putting my head and hooves where the homes provided. With her magic, Trixie closed the box on me. The cheap wood was barely scraping at my neck, pretty uncomfortable.

"Er.. Trixie? Can we speed it up? It's gettin' hot in here.."

The audience laughed.

"Oh, don't worry, Braeburn. The Great and Powerful TRIXIE will get ya out as soon as the magic does its job."

With that she picked up a large saw with her magic. Feeling my body inside the box, my hind hoove pressed a button. A small arm pushed my body over to the left corner of the box . a small wall came up and separated the left side of the box from the right, with a clunk. I can tell Trixie heard it. She smiled, knowing the show can go on.

"AND NOW.. WATCH AS MY ASSISTANT IS CUT IN HALF, PAINLESSLY! " she said she proceeded to saw into the box. I nervously smiled as the crowd gasped and whispered. Before you know it, the box was in half. Trixie wheeled both of the sides apart , looking as if my head and front hooves were in the left box (they were) and my back hooves were in the right box (she had fake ones hanging out.) The crowd gasped, ooed, and ahhed. Trixie smirked as she magically sealed the boxes back together. I could feel the wall go down, and the fake hooves were brought in and replaced with mine. Trixie then opened the box, helping me out of it. The crowd cheered and applauded.

"How did it feel, ASSISTANT?" Trixie smiled.

I looked out into the audience.

"Ah think a'hm gonna be sick."

The audience laughed.

"NEXT, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE WILL RELEASE HER FURRY FRIENDS. DO NOT WORRY. I feed them well! They are quite bloated actually."

She opened the door as all four of her ferocious felines padded out of their cage.

"JESTER! MAIZTRO! OVER TO THE MERRY GO-ROUND! " Two of her lions jumped onto her large merry go-round.

"DAGGER! TO THE TORCHES!"

Her feline went over to his place.

"KING! TO BRAEBURN!"

"WHAT?!"

I freaked out as the biggest of the lions ran over to me. He picked me up effortlessly and held me in his jaw. He lightly threw me up into the air, making me land on his back.

The lion with the torches jumped on to a crate with two torches in his mouth and started to balance them on his nose. One of the lions on the merry go-round flipped a switch with his tail as the merry go-round started to spin. Trixie threw balls at the two, as they started to juggle them. King stood on his hind legs, causing me to have to try and balance on his shoulders.

"THIS is where it gets tricky!" Trixie smiled as she tossed the lion with torches four more. He balanced one on the tip of his tail, one on either shoulder and the last torch on his tounge. He started to jump around on the box. The crowd ooed and ahhed when the two lions on the playground ride started to jump over the bars of the merry-go round as it spun, juggling the balls with their tails. The ride started to speed up rapidly. King started running on fours again. I've been in rodeos so this shouldn't be too hard.

I then realized King was running to a ring of fire. I yelped and lied flat as i could on his back as he jumped though it. In mid jump he shifted his lower body up, tossing me into the air right before he jumped though. He did a flip and landed on his front paws, doing a front paw walk, before catching me in his mouth.

Oh Celestia. This is quite the show.

At this point the crowd was screaming and cheering nonstop!

The merry go-round sped up to its maximum. The two lions were rapidly jumping over the bars, threw the ballad over to the torch lion as they started to backflip endlessly over the bars.

The lion with the torches caught all the balls and started balancing them in either front paw.

The crowd was going mad!

Suddenly, the lion threw all of the torches and balls into the air. The balls bounced and freeze in mid-air, in the formation that said "TRIXIE" for a few seconds , then fall and continue to bounce around. The torches are all caught by the lions except one, in which upon falling near Trixie's face, she blows on the fire and it grows many times its original height, spelling out "MAGIC!"

She then caught the torch in her mouth.

The lions all ran up to the middle on the stage, Trixie in the middle of them.

The crowd went silent.

Only for a moment.

Suddenly my eardrums were bombarded with the loudest cheers physically possible to pony-kind.

The lions and Trixie bowed. She gave me a slight nudge and I bowed as well.

"THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE WISHES EVERYONE A GOOD NIGHT!"

The curtains quickly closed, but it barely helped muffle the outrageous screaming and hollering from the other side.

Trixie returned to her normal, new self. She squealed and hugged me.

"You were awesome out there!!"

"That was... AMAZIN', Trixie!"

Trixie finally let go of me and turned to her felines.

"Cage. CAGE!" She took a wooden plank and swatted at them, they growl and roared and hissed but they got inside the cage. Poor guys. Well, they act different onstage as well.

"So uh... Trixie. Ya wanna walk 'round the park a bit?"

She smiled. "That would be awesome. But... It's gonna be a bit crowded. And i gotta go walk my other little assistants home."

"Oh don't worry 'bout that. They told me to tell ya that they uh, got sick so they got a ride."

"Oh... Well I wish they would have told me..."

"But ah told ya! Don't worry, they're fine." I smiled.

"I got a while before I leave the park, i'm probably just gonna leave in the morning . You wanna watch a movie or two?"

"Sure."

( 4 Hours later...)

I twitched. This is taking too long.

"H-Hey. Trixie."

"Yeah?" She turned her head away from the screen.

"That was really cool...The show, I mean."

"Yeah.." She cooed, edging a little closer to me on her little couch. "I had a nice time today..."

"Me too." I sighed for a moment, closing my eyes. I'm finally getting back into the game. She really has become a better magician. She's a little sad about exes and whatever it seems but it shouldn't be much to worry about.

I was thinking more to myself when I felt warm lips gently press against mine. After about 3 seconds, I could feel my hoove on her cheek. I blinked a couple times and backed up a little bit. She backed up a little as well, flattening her ears..

"Brae, i-im sorry... I don't know why I-"

"I-it's fine. Ah promise." I give a nervous smile before leaning back in and giving her a light peck on the lips. I smiled a genuine smile.

She gave me a light smile. "Really?"

"Really-Really." I looked into her eyes for a little bit.

...nooooonononono what just happened.... I cringed a little. You're supposed to kill her,not KISS her.

I flattened my ears. "Ya know, ah'll be right back." I ran off to the stage, leaving a confused hatted unicorn in her dressing room.

I ran over to the metal crate, studied the torches, examined the cage which was once again caged with lions.

It's weird... They look so happy on stage.. They were almost like ponies out there. But they only knew that if they juggled those balls and balanced those torches they would get treats. They don't see tricks the way we do. They see them like a dog does. Dog rolls over. Dog gets food.

I twitch, seeing the large sealed crate again. Must be something valuable in there...

"Speak the password."

"What?" I jumped a little at the sudden male voice. The crate had a small speaker on the side.

"Speak the password"

"Uh... Magic?"

The light flashes red.

"Speak the password."

"Op'n sesame?"

Red.

"Speak the password."

I tried thinking of things she likes.

"Raspberries? Jacuzzi? "

Red.

"Speak the password."

My eyes widened. Maybe it's...

"Brae...Braeburn?"

"Access granted."

Wow. I can't believe I figured it out.

......

Wow. I can't believe my name is her password.

The crate opened up to show piles of greasy steaks piled up.

Steaks? Why does she even lock up steaks? Why not bits, jewels, something useful?

I dry heaved a little at the smell.

Ugh, lets make this quick.

I was about to throw a couple steaks at the lions...when I got an idea. I locked the crate back up. I remembered the little door and metal parts of the first box that connected and pulled them apart. The box was tiny as it was already, imagine if the door didn't separate the body and the saw...

I laughed to myself for a moment.

"Brae?"

Shoot.

I turned.

"Hey Trixie."

"Feeding my babies?" She said, sniffing the air.

"Oh. Yeah. They looked awful hungry. Poor fellas."

"They still do. You don't know how much lions eat, do ya? " she giggled, walking over to her crate.

The male voice from the crate voice turned on one again.

"Speak the password."

"Braeburn." She said shyly.

"Access granted."

The crate opened once more. She started grabbing steaks with her magic.

"Ya know... It's kinda funny how you figured out my password. I mean, I kept it like that since we first starting dating..."

She looked to the side and put the steak down.

I started to walk over to the "classical box."

"Hey, show me how this works."

She turned. "Oh that. Well, you figured it out during the show, didn't you?

I quickly walked over to the sound-system and turned the circus music on.

The circus music came on. It was a dubstep remix, that got kinda loud at some points.

"Braeburn..."

"C'mon. Have a little fun. Let me do it this time and YOU get in the box."

"Oh... alright."

Before she got in it, I quickly helped her in, secretly putting a pebble in between the hinges of the switch inside it.

I closed the box for her and she shifted her body so her head and arms were in the holes.

I cleared my throat. "Introducing... the weird and not powerful BRAEBUUUURN!" She laughed at my stupidity. If I wasn't in the zone, I would have too.

"The weird and not powerful Braeburn is to be taken very seriously, young filly. You should be ashamed. ..Now. on with the show!" I cheered.

"Watch as I cut a friend in half. No return fees. BA DUM TSS....." I air drummed before grabbing the saw.

"youuu ruhddy?" I muffled with the saw in my mouth.

She nodded as she started to shift her body. I started to saw at the top of the box. She must really trust me. She took her time with the button. She only pressed it when I was about 4 inches from her body. She frowned.

"Brae, the button is jammed."

I pretended not to hear her.

"Brae, cut it out, this isn't funny."

I say it is.

She yelped, i'm guessing the saw has reached her skin by now. I started smirking.

"BRAEBURN! STOP!' She cried.

I kept sawing.

She started to use her unicorn magic to pick up a wooden plank and struck me with it. She was getting tired, so the hit wasn't at full force. I got up and started sawing more. Blood started to leak out of the box. The lions were sniffing the air and watching her.

Hmm...

"w-why..." She cried softly.

"Shhh..." I muffle/cooed with the saw in my mouth, the music started dying down.

She twitched. "Buck..Y-you..' She closed her eyes.

I took the saw out of my mouth momentarily. "Too late fer that, hun. Wed were in yer dressin' room for hours, coulda asked." I smirked.

I picked up her two parts and quickly shoved them in between the bars of the lion cage. They quickly got to work. Now it should look like an accident.

"Good boys...Jester... Dagger..."

I took a wet rag and washed off all the blood from the saw, box and the floor. Luckily, she had a small mat in the box so I could just throw the bloody mat away, instead of having to dispose of the whole box. I went outside and threw the mat saw into the dumpster... what? I'm not just gonna leave it out. And i'm not gonna give Soarin another option on how to punish me, so it ain't going back to his place....

I sighed, and walked into her dressing room, looking in the mirror. There's a cut on the side of my hat from the plank.... There's actually a nice sized bloody mark on the side of my head where she struck me as well....

"Ya know... Ah think ah'll keep this fedora." I chuckle and put it in my bag.

"Ah didn't even use mah knife.. Shame."

I smiled.

"But ah wasn't countin' on the lions bein' here." He laughed.

I gathered a few of Trixie's movies, and a few little boxes of her special coffee and put them all in my bag.

Ugh, I dropped my bag next to the magic box before I...

Before I...

Before Trixie "disappeared."

So anyways, now it smells like death.

I ran into her room and got her weird perfume and sprayed some on my bag to hide the smell.

Oh great, now i'm gonna smell like I was seeing a hooker.

I got the bag, put it on my back, and walked out the back door.

Well. That was fun. Now I gotta get home and make Soarin dinner. Again, yeah how stallion-y of me.

.....

.....

.....

Wow, I could have just poisoned the sandwhich.

Author's Note

...Rereading this, I think I unintentionally made a Shrek reference. I... I just don't know anymore.

But yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie done deedled.