The Equalist and The Egotist
Starlight Glimmer was a legend in her own mind. Her town had been perfection, until that upstart Sparkle had come. Sparkle had simply strode in and ruined the balance, destroying the equality of the town. She had spread lies about how ‘friendships’ were made through the differences between ponies. Well, she would show them! She would show all of them!
It was fortunate that Starlight had found Sparkle in Canterlot, with a different entourage than the one that ruined her town. Sickening, that’s what it was. Sparkle couldn’t even keep one set of friends. Soon she would have her revenge; soon, it would be Starlight Glimmer’s turn to-
“Ow!” Starlight yelped as she was bumped into by a melancholy blue unicorn.
“Trixie apologizes, she should have watched where she was going.” The other pony intoned contritely.
While many could say Starlight was evil, she was also empathic, albeit to a degree. That was how her town had been founded, and the way this mare was holding herself made her the perfect target for Starlight’s generosity.
Starlight searched for the downtrodden mare among the crowd. It was a simple task to spot a blue unicorn who was walking a bit slower than the remainder of the busy Canterlot elite. Starlight squeezed silently through the crowd trying to keep an eye on her target.
It took a fair spattering of time but Starlight saw her target walk into a coffee shop. This was the perfect opportunity. Starlight sidled up to the unicorn.
“Hello,” Starlight probed as she approached her target.
The unicorn looked at Starlight and her brows furrowed.
“You… You are the pony Trixie bumped into a few minutes ago…” The Unicorn, Trixie as she called herself, assessed, “Trixie has already apologized, and sees no reason to apologize still further.” she stated, dismissively.
“Oh, no, you don’t understand,” Starlight said as she waved her hooves demonstratively, “It’s just that you seemed so sad walking over here, is everything okay?”
“Trixie has no need to talk to you!” Trixie turned her head piggishly away from Starlight.
“Don’t be like that! You know that you’ll feel better after you’ve talked about it, deep within your heart!” Starlight said forcefully, causing Trixie to jump.
Trixie carefully inspected Starlight’s excessively earnest face
“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need to talk!” Trixie enunciated clearly “For now Trixie only requires Caffeine. If you’re buying, then maybe Trixie is listening?”
“ Now, now, I know it is quite odd for a Random Mare to be asking personal questions, but I’ve made a living out of helping ponies like you…” Starlight said, sliding some bits across the table to get the washed out performer a few dregs of frothy whipped latte.
“Trixie is far more interesting than other dullards, and needs not the advice of such a dull pony as you,” Trixie said, taking the mug paid for by Starlight, and shoving her muzzle deep into the heavenly froth.
“We had a deal” Starlight slammed a hoof on the table.
“Trixie only said she would maybe listen. Leave Trixie ALONE.” Trixie slammed her face into her cup greedily
“Oh, I think you’ve spent enough time alone.” Starlight murmured in a honied tone
Trixie opened her eyes in surprise, and then promptly lowered her head, ears flat.
“Trixie … has been thinking…” Trixie said, enticingly. She got quieter with each word
“Go on…”Starlight pried, sidling closer.
“Trixie was born to be Great and Powerful, and for the longest time, she was the master of illusion and sleight of Hoof!” Trixie half shouted into Starlight’s ears.
Starlight's ears flattened protectively against her head as her mood darkened, but her face still held the look of concerned friendliness, despite the earache.
Trixie continued gently, “But, now, Trixie can’t even meet the standards she set for herself.” She shook her head in melancholy, and slurped down another latte.
“Yes, it is hard to measure up to one’s own expectations of magic.” Starlight said carefully, plonking more money on the counter to keep her audience captive. This was quickly becoming an expensive venture, but some gut instinct told Starlight that it would be worth it...
“Trixie once thought she was the greatest magician in Equestria, but then Trixie saw true magic, and Trixie knows she can’t measure up to that.” Trixie tapped the table pointedly. She expected more bits for another latte from Starlight
“You feel trapped with your Talent?” Starlight said, her smile grew wicked, yet it went unnoticed by Trixie. Bits were placed on a table and, in a financial sort of magic, yet another latte materialized.
“You could say that, yes” Trixie picked her head up and looked into Starlight’s eyes.
Starlight’s eyes were predatory and her smile villainous, anypony in their right mind could see that. Trixie was not in her right mind, nor were the Citizens of Starlight’s town when they were inducted. It was a cycle. A cycle of depression a predation. Ponies would feel as though their talents let them down in someway, and Starlight preyed on that.
“What would you say, if I told you, there was a way I could release you from your talent, Trixie?” Starlight proposed, having had this conversation numerous times before.
“Trixie would say that you were a mad mare for even suggesting such a thing!” Trixie exclaimed, hoofing the table. Her latte wobbled, then gushed across the counter, and her face fell. “And yet Trixie will continue to maybe listen, all for the low price of another latte!”
“I will admit, it is extreme, but you said yourself, you’re being bogged down by your magic!” Sunlight said, disgustedly spilling more coins on the counter for the latte greedy Trixie.
“Trixie did say that, yes, but… What are you proposing?” the latte greedy mare asked, pressing her newest cup of warm beverage close against her muzzle.
“Just as I said, I can remove your talent, remove those chains that bind you,” Sunlight purred intimately into Trixie’s ears, causing a shiver to work it’s way down Trixie’s spine.
“That’s insane, This is Trixie’s identity! Her Destiny even!” Trixie responded, still shivering from Sunlight’s magic touch
“Oh, of course, I know what you would lose” Starlight’s voice took a more consoling tone, stroking Trixie’s back with a hoof in a comforting fashion. “But When you really think about it, Where has that destiny gotten you?”
Trixie opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it when she realized she had nothing to say. She drank her latte to cover her silence
“Your Destiny has gotten you doing parlor tricks while, ponies like Princess Twilight Sparkle become synonymous with Magic.” Starlight murmured, nibbling the edge of Trixie’s ear
“Twilight Sparkle, She is the reason Trixie feels this way” Trixie’s body relaxed against Starlight’s embrace.
‘Perfect’ Starlight thought, a savage grin making her look less like a pony, and more like a shark. ‘ It looks like we have a common goal’
“Doesn’t that hurt enough?” Starlight asked, still grinning into Trixie’s ear. “ Twilight Sparkle shows you up just because she’s more Talented?
“Twilight Sparkle IS NOT more talented THAN THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!” Trixie slammed her hooves on the table again, cracking one of the many latte mugs resting on the abused surface and putting yet another dent in it.
The barista, Fudge Shot, shot the pair of mares a glare filled with mild contempt. She wondered why all the weirdos showed up on her shift. Why didn’t Pint Mug or Perfect Cuppa have to deal with this sort of thing?
‘Oh, I seem to have touched a raw nerve there’ Starlight thought, though she quickly decided to stay the course.
Starlight tapped Trixie’s hoof with her own to get the other mare’s attention. ”So why is she a princess while you’re talking to me in a ragged donut shop” Starlight pried.
Trixie’s head fell into her most recent latte, the question burning deep into her heart.
“Oh, I know it’s not fair,”Starlight continued as though she were Trixie’s mother, “ I can help you, I can make it so you will never feel inferior to anypony ever again,”
Starlight had a talent for sweet talk. The ponies she would do this to were too morose to think about the consequences. After all, They had a chance to change their fate, who wouldn’t take that?
“What would Trixie have to do?” Trixie asked, one ear perked up, the other flat against her head.
“ You don’t have to do anything, I just need a container” Starlight announced tapping the table demonstratively, “Does this mean you agree?”
Trixie nodded her head slowly.
“Excellent! Meet me in the park Tonight, after the sun sets, I’ll just need to gather up the spell components” Starlight said. She was rather quite pleased by her work.
Trixie waved to the waitress. “Trixie would like one cup to go? With a lid! The purple one is still buying!”
Starlight counted the coins left in her purse, disconsolately. The number once more came up five. “I… appear to be out”
“No worries, Trixie came prepared to dine and dash! Ta ta!”
“Dine and... “ Fudge Shot started. “NO!” She lunged for the mug, only for Trixie, Sunlight, and the mug to all be consumed by a flash of light, and a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, only the unprepared Sunlight was left behind, hacking and coughing.
Sunlight looked up into the unamused barista's eyes. She glanced at the waiting door.
“No.” Fudge Shot said firmly, pressing a rag into Starlight’s hoof “You clean.”
Starlight groaned.
It was unusual for Trixie to feel as vulnerable as she felt. The park looked a lot bigger with nopony occupying it. There was no place to feasibly hide. What was Trixie thinking? She had just struck a deal with a Shady mare! A deal to get rid of her Cutie mark no less! This was Madness!
“Sorry I’m late” Starlight called as she sauntered up to Trixie, equipped with a jar, a two-pronged staff.
“What’s all this?” Trixie asked nervously, backing away slightly
“This particular spell requires an implement, so I fashioned this staff to optimize the spell’s effect” Starlight explained, there was really no need to continue the Pretense of the Staff of Sameness in this instance. Starlight hated to admit it, but one weakness in her town was that she lied to her citizens. Maybe if she just claimed the spell in the first place, the town wouldn’t be so quick to overthrow her.
“Trixie feels uneasy about this…” Trixie spoke, shaking Starlight from her thoughts.
“It’s natural to feel that way, just relax” Starlight said, lighting her horn.
Starlight then charged her Staff. The light blue glow enveloped the staff, collecting on the two prongs. The Prongs erupted into two bolts of magic, one on each side, meeting together at a mutual point, causing a bolt to erupt towards Trixie.
Trixie flinched as the bolt hit her. Her flank burned as the Cutie Mark tore itself off. Suddenly, Trixie felt an overwhelming emptiness. Following that emptiness, however was the feeling of a great weight being lifted.
“How are you feeling?” Starlight asked as the Ritual ended.
“Trixie feels empty….” Trixie murmured, slight sadness in her voice
“That’s Natural, I can help you-” Starlight began, wiping her horn on the apron
“... But Liberated!” Trixie announced enthusiastically
Starlight paused, and rubbed an ear with a hoof to clean it out “What?”
“Trixie… No, There’s no need for that anymore. I feel liberated!” Trixie said cheerfully, doing a clumsy little goofy dance. She then tried an acrobatic headstand, but failed, landing on her head instead. She laughed.
“That’s … Great!” Starlight said, usually most ponies would have had to been brought around to what just happened to them.
“I mean… I don’t feel like myself…but that doesn’t matter!” She sprung towards Starlight, to grab the other mare in her hoofs.
Starlight started to feel a bit uneasy, Trixie wasn’t acting like any of her citizens at all.
“Oh, how can I ever thank you?” Trixie asked while still hugging Starlight.
“There’s no need to thank me, I’m just a mare… spreading Friendship wherever I can!” She tried to pry Trixie’s hooves off of her body, but Trixie was still surprisingly strong for her frame.
Trixie let go of Starlight, eyes shooting wide open “Friendship… I’ve done some horrible things… and now I intend to fix them!”
Trixie felt a tingle in her flank , but ignored it.
“Again, Thank you, Starlight. This is the perfect chance to start over.” She waved cheerfully to Starlight.
“Well … uh” Starlight was at a loss at what to say
“I have to go now, I’ll see you later!” Trixie said as she galloped away into the horizon.
“Uh, Hey! Wait!” Starlight yelled after the former showmare, “There’s orientation and an entire… Process…”
Trixie was gone. Starlight was stunned as to what had just happened. Well if Trixie was going to embrace equality without Starlight’s help, it was no skin off her bones. Starlight Glimmer already had her prize, and soon she would teach Princess Twilight Sparkle what it meant to feel inferior.