Equestria's Got Talentby BudCharlesChaptersGreat And Powerful Day OffOn A TechnicalityTake TwoExtinguishing The CompetitionThe Great And Conclusive EpilogueGreat And Powerful Day OffIt was Trixie’s great and relaxing day off! Time for a whole day of trotting around town and eating cupcakes! Not that she had any trouble with the 3 assignments every week, she was more than capable of being a royal student, in fact she was a truly magnificent royal student, she just enjoyed having time to herself, that was all. That’s what she told herself anyway – and what she told Twilight. For the first few weeks back in Ponyville, Trixie had gotten some suspicious looks, but over time she managed to convince the town ponies that she meant well – in fact her shows were now almost as popular as Pinkie Pie’s parties. Almost. GASP! Trixie’s eyes widened, this was too good to be true! Right on the door of Sugarcube Corner was a sign reading “Equestria’s Biggest Magic Show, looking for THE MOST TALENTED UNICORNS”, with a tray full of flyers underneath. Within about three seconds of the corner of Trixie’s eye noticing the words, Trixie had grabbed a flyer and was racing back towards Twilight’s castle. -✩- KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! Twilight Sparkle groaned at the sound assaulting her door and buried her face in the book she was reading. This was her least favourite day of the week. With Trixie away, she was bombarded with a new pony looking for friendship advice (or an autograph) every 2 minutes. After letting out a very long “euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh”, Twilight finally got up, put on her best fake smile and prancing over to the door in as princess-like a manner as possible. “Hello, Princess Twilight Spa-” Twilight’s sentence was stopped short when she was bowled over by an excited Trixie Lulamoon charging through the doorway. “Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat” her student squee-d, with a big, beaming smile on her face, “I’m going to be famous!” Twilight shook the dizziness out of her head and stood up, closing the door with her magic. “Aren’t you already famous?” “Well, the great and magnificent Trixie is going to be even more famous!” Twilight smiled genuinely this time – as much as she shouldn’t be encouraging it, Trixie’s self-admiring attitude was kind of adorable. In the same way as Spike’s ice-cream addiction. “Why’s that then?” Bubbling with enthusiasm, Trixie shoved the flyer into Twilight’s hooves. Quickly but carefully, Twilight read over every word. “Interesting, hmm, okay” she muttered to herself as her student watched on expectantly. “Well, that sounds great!” Twilight finally replied. “It’ll be good magic practice – but who’s your partner going to be?” “P-partner?” Trixie said, all the enthusiasm dissipating from her voice as quickly as it arrived. Not noticing Trixie’s sudden change of emotion, Twilight replied cheerfully. “Yeah, it says in order to encourage friendship, a central value of Equestria, unicorns will be competing in pairs”. “But, but, but Trixie doesn’t have a partner! Trixie isn’t friends with anyone!” “You’re friends with me.” “You’re not a unicorn!” Twilight suddenly remembered that she was in fact an alicorn, even after all this time it was hard to get used to. Being so famous all of a sudden was just weird – still, she found it quite easy to manage events and write her ideas, really she had been being a princess for her own enjoyment until she got the promotion. Still, all those ponies looking to her for advice, what if she made a mistake? What if- “Are you alright? Pay attention to Trixie!” Twilight suddenly snapped out of it. “Whoa, sorry Trixie, you were saying?” “Trixie requires a partner, for the magic competition.” “Oh, right, that! I have an idea!” -✩- “So let Trixie get this straight, you reckon that somepony here is just going to volunteer to be her partner?” “Yeah,” Twilight replied, ignoring the sceptical look on her students face, “there’s hundreds of unicorns lining up for the auditions, at least one of them has to be without a partner.” “Well Trixie has been here for several whole minutes and no pony has showed up alone.” Twilight chuckled a little to herself. “Be patient Trixie, you don’t want to end up crossing another apple with a salamander”. “Trixie meant to do that!” A few metres behind them, a group of three young ponies were having their own discussion, this one a little more heated. “Enough, Gold Star”, one of them snapped, “you’re just not good at magic!” “But I love magic”, replied the cream-coloured unicorn, with metallic-looking golden hair and a cutie mark to match his name, “I know all about it”. “It doesn’t matter”, the other argued, “it’s not about loving it, we’re in it to win, and we’re only allowed two ponies, so just leave!” “But-” “No buts, leave, now!” Gold Star began sobbing before he was shoved out of the line by his two ‘friends’. He noticed the ponies behind the fillies scolding them for their behaviour, but he didn’t care – he knew what they said was true. He was bad at magic! The colt flicked his blue cape over himself and ran away crying, only to end up charging face-first into a squishy wall of purple feathers. “Huh?” he commented, before looking up and nearly having a heart attack. “Princess Twilight? I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! Please don’t banish me to Tartarus!” Twilight chuckled, “are you planning any hostile takeovers of Equestria?” Gold Star shook his head, terrified. “Well if you’re not planning anything evil, the worst place I’m banishing you is the ice cream stand over there.” The colt giggled, but his laughter soon devolved back into tears. “Hey, don’t cry, it’s alright.” “No no, it’s not that, it’s something else” Gold Star sniffed, trying to hold back his feelings. “Do you need help?” the princess asked, becoming concerned. “No, it’s nothing important, I’m sure you have better things to do.” “I’m not more important than anypony else -”, Twilight began, about to go on one of her speeches until she realised who she was talking to, “ahem, what I mean to say is everyone is important, and whatever it is I’m sure I can help”. The princess of friendship then put on the best smile she possibly could, it seemed to work. “Well,” Gold Star began with a sigh, before continuing, “I-I wanted to enter the competition, because I really love magic and it’s so cool and interesting, but I had two friends, and they told me that I was bad at magic, and they wanted to enter on their own. And I think they’re right.” Twilight remembered her own primary school days and winced. The amount of times she was told how she sucked at magic – at least she had a few true friends though, only now did she realise how much they’d helped her over the years. “Don’t ever listen to them,” Twilight replied, giving Gold Star a tight hug, “as long as you love learning, you’ll do great at magic!” Oh my gosh, Gold Star thought to himself, I got hugged by a princess, and she told me I was good at magic. He couldn’t help it, as much as he wanted to be miserable, he smiled. “And I think I might just know who can help you.” Author's Note WOO HOO! NEW STORY! Everyone rejoice! Anyway yeah, I think I'm actually starting to improve too. "Yay!" This story will probably be a 3-part one, and after that I have one planned about the princesses (yep, a story not about Trixie or Scootaloo, blasphemy XD) On A Technicality"Trixie, I believe I've found your partner!" Twilight Sparkle declared confidently, Gold Star excitedly trotting behind her. "Meet Gold Star!" "Where is he?" Trixie replied, puzzled. "Right here" Twilight laughed, gently pushing Gold Star up to Trixie's front hooves. Trixie leaped back. "A colt? You expect the great and powerful Trixie to enter alongside a pony who's barely five years old?" "Um, seven" the young pony corrected quietly, all the excitement leaving him. "Look, Trixie", Twilight said. "This young pony was crying on his own because he didn't have a partner. It would absolutely make his day - scratch that, make his life if you would just give him a chance." Twilight should have known better than to use an emotional argument on Trixie. "So you expect the great, powerful and magnificent Trixie to just team up with some random colt you discovered on the street? He's probably not even good at magic!" Twilight winced at Gold Star's reaction. The little colt lowered his head and prepared to walk off. Twilight desperately argued with Trixie. "Alright, fine, look at it this way. This might be the only chance you have to enter the competition. And if he loves magic enough to enter, he's got to be alright at it, right?" Trixie sighed and turned to face Gold Star, who she noticed had begun to tear up slightly. She didn't want to admit it, but she did feel a little hint of guilt. She quietly approached him again. "Trixie... apologises", she forced herself to say, "and would like to be your partner." Gold's face lit up and the young pony bounced in circles around Trixie! "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he squeaked, "I promise I'll do my absolute total fantasmical best!" The colt stood still and saluted Trixie, smiling. Maybe he's not so bad, Trixie thought to herself. -✩- The line moved forwards again and a pair of disappointed unicorns were seen stomping away from the far end of it. Trixie was undaunted, she looked completely ready to go - and Gold Star decided if Trixie was undaunted, he'd better be undaunted too. The colt smiled confidently and held his head high, mimicking his new mentor. "I'm glad you're confident and all," Twilight interrupted the two of them, "but don't you think you should practice?" "Nonsense! Trixie and her assistant - partner rather, are more than capable already!" "Trixie, we've been through this before," Twilight continued as calmly as possible, "it doesn't matter how good you are, you have to practice something before you do it. Besides, you need to come up with an act, you know that with your occupation." "Wait," Gold Star interjected, "you mean Trixie is a show pony?" Gold Star's face lit up even more as he imagined how incredible Trixie's shows must be. "Of course," Trixie said proudly, "Trixie is Equestria's best show pony and Princess Twilight's important royal student!" "Now, listen, being my student doesn't make -" Twilight tried to say. "OH MY GOSH! You mean I get to perform with a show pony who is also the student of the Element of Magic herself?" Gold Star squeaked. "Uh, yeah, I guess", Twilight smiled. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh, what are we going to do? There's so many amazing awesome tricks I could learn! Are we going to do a teleportation spell, or a firework spell - or an age spell?" The young colt looked up at Trixie starry-eyed. "Trixie may do those things, your job is to hold the props." Trixie replied. "Oh. You know I'm not too good at props and stuff. I'm a lot better at -" "Nonsense, Trixie saw how confident you were, you'll do a great job. Now as Twilight said, let's go back to Ponyville and practice!" Trixie thought she was being reassuring, but didn't notice the anxious look on Gold Star's face. Twilight Sparkle wanted to intervene, but she knew it would be better for both of them if they worked it out on their own. She just hoped they'd do it sooner rather than later. -✩- It was late at night by the time Trixie and Gold Star had made it back to the auditions, only a few ponies were still waiting - and they were the very last in line. The bright lights and cold, clear air added to the intense atmosphere. Gold Star trembled and moved closer to Trixie's side. "Is Trixie's assistant cold?" "N-no. Just nervous." "Don't be silly, no assistant of Trixie's should be nervous!" The attempt to reassure Gold Star just made him feel worse. The young pony closed his eyes and tried to think about all the new spells he'd heard about recently. It didn't work. "Uh, Miss Trixie Lulamoon and Mr Gold Star?" a voice finally called out. The two of them made their way up to the stage, located in a large, open wooden room. They saw Twilight Sparkle on her own where the crowd used to be, and three quite tired-looking judges sitting at a bench. "Alright," one of the judges said with a tired but pleasant smile, "could you tell us a bit about yourselves?" Gold Star remained quiet, just hoping for the whole situation to be over, but Trixie was more than happy to speak up. "I'm the great and powerful Trixie, and this is my assistant - ahem - partner, Gold Star." "Great and powerful? Like the confidence! What do you do for a living?" the second judge asked. "Trixie is a professional show pony in Ponyville, and Gold Star is a student I believe." "Alright, always good to have a professional act. Well, let's see what you've got planned for us!" Trixie naturally opened with fireworks and a monologue about how wonderful she was. Once that was over, she levitated a hat from off-stage and placed it in Gold Star's hooves. With one spell, she then caused Gold Star to disappear, then reappear inside the hat, which she of course pulled him out of. In the crowd, Twilight watched on with a rather neutral expression. Trixie was usually much better than this. She knew they should've waited another day. The judges were similarly unimpressed. Trixie paid no attention to the audience and continued - she began to lift up the stage curtains with her magic and pull them towards the judges - the curtains appeared to continue extending infinitely, changing colours every few metres and wrapping their way around the room. The coloured areas then began changing through all the colours of the rainbow, before catching on fire with coloured flames. This was more like Trixie! Oohs and aahs came from the judges, and Twilight clapped her hooves together in excitement. Trixie smiled and with her magic she caused the curtains to burn back into their usual size, converting the flames into a firey blade of magic. She launched the blade at Gold Star, and just before it reached him it disintegrated, safely passing around him like water from a hose. More fireworks went off, Trixie and Gold Star bowed, and the crowd (a.k.a. Twilight Sparkle) went wild. It seemed to all go well from Trixie's point of view, the audience liked it, she showed how amazing she was - but the tone of the judges' conversation didn't sound very positive. The judges finished discussing the act with each other and spoke up. "Listen, Trixie, you did an incredible job, you're clearly skilled with magic - but this competition is about teamwork, I didn't see Gold Star do anything except stand there", the first judge told her. "I agree," the second added, "a good performance, but not what we're looking for." Gold Star grimaced. "I'm sorry Trixie," he whispered, "I-I did my best." Trixie paid no attention, she just stood there in shock. She was going to be kicked out of the competition in the first round! This was impossible! "Look," the third judge finally stated, "we still have one place to fill in, and it's either you or the weird jelly tub pony who's still lingering backstage. I'm not even sure he's a unicorn. The others are right that you shouldn't go through to the next round, but we don't have much choice, so consider this a warning. We loved your performance Trixie, but show us what Gold Star can do. We're looking for the best unicorns in Equestria, not the best unicorn, understand?" "Yes", Trixie muttered in reply, completely taken aback by what just happened, "thankyou." "Alright, best of luck in the next round", the first judge smiled, and with that Trixie and Gold Star walked down from the stage, both in shock. Once they were out of the building, Twilight Sparkle gave them both a big, reassuring hug. The disaster that had just befallen them disappeared in an instant, and they happily hugged back. As Trixie and Gold Star walked towards the train station, Twilight noticed Gold Star apologising and Trixie hugging him in response. Finally, she thought to herself she gets it. Author's Note Sorry if this isn't too great, I thought this would be a free day, but actually I kept getting called away for all kinds of household jobs so I couldn't sit down and focus. Anyway Trixie is both fun and difficult to write. I need to keep her likeable while still showing her, well, Trixieness XD It's well worth it though I think, I love Trixie Hopefully you guys like this anyway :3 There's a few cute moments X3 I'm hoping to use Gold Star's character a bit better next part. Take TwoSMASH! "What the hay?" Twilight shrieked, leaping out of her bed, taking the blankets with her, before flying head-first into the ceiling. "OW!" On the ground outside, Gold Star stared up at the shattered window with a horrified expression. Twilight spent about half a minute wrestling her way out of the blankets before finally making it to what was left of the window. "What's going on out there?" Twilight called out, still half-asleep. "The great and powerful Trixie wanted to test your window strength", came a reply from her student, who could barely keep herself from breaking out into laughter, "and your windows were not satisfactory!" "Euugh" Twilight groaned, "SPIKE!" She then turned her attention back to Trixie. "What are you actually doing"? "Practicing!" Trixie called back. "Maybe you should teach Gold Star the spell first before trying to use it!" "Oh right! Trixie forgot about that!" -✩- "Okay Gold Star, do you know the categories of spells?", Trixie began, trying so hard to act like a professional teacher that it looked hilarious. She had the blackboard, glasses and everything. "Of course!", the colt began excitedly, "there's movement spells and energy spells and - ooh and there's time spells, a really rare class of spells -" "Yes, good", an impatient Trixie interrupted, "well this one is a movement spell. Categ-" "Which category-", Gold Star began, before realising his teacher was already about to say that. "Sorry", he whimpered. "Ahem, as the wise and knowledgeable Trixie was saying, this is a Category 3 spell. Now the features of Category 3 include-" Gold Star raised his hoof and jumped up and down. "-yes Gold Star?" Trixie asked, rolling her eyes. "They don't have to be spoken aloud, just thought of, they require an intermediate level of skill and they take a very short amount of time to be cast." "Uh, yes actually" Trixie replied, surprised by how much her student knew, "so, if you know that, then this should be easy, the spell is regardless of weight, momentum create". Trixie smiled, feeling rather proud of her student. "Well that's the thing, I know all about spells, but I'm not so good at actually doing them", Gold Star nervously replied. "Don't be silly, just make sure you regulate the amount of power, and you'll be able to cast it like a professional!" "A-alright, I'm just not so sure-" "Nonsense, try it out on that bookshelf over there, make it glide across the room." Shakily, Gold Star took a step back, closed his eyes and lit up his horn. A loud rumble could be heard followed by a crash - Gold Star opened his eyes to see the bookshelf broken into several pieces against the wall, and a trail of smoke behind it. "Oops", Gold Star whimpered. Trixie was rendered speechless as she stared wide-eyed at what used to be a bookshelf. Spike proudly marched down the stairs with a newly emptied dustpan and brush, before seeing the remains of the bookshelf and fainting. -✩- "Okay, so the problem is regulating power", Trixie said, more to herself than her student, as they both walked into Trixie's favourite coffee shop. "Ooh," Gold Star squeaked, "they have strawberry milkshakes!" Trixie handed over the bits for a milkshake and pointed to the sign, but stopped short of smiling at Gold Star. She may be 'good' now, but she was most certainly not some fluffy emotional pony like Twilight Sparkle. "Thankyou!" Gold Star squeaked again, tightly hugging one of Trixie's front legs. Trixie smiled. -✩- Almost a week and no progress - Gold Star knew everything about every spell Trixie could think up, yet he couldn't use any of them. His fireworks destroyed Sweet Apple Acres' barn (for the 7th time in as many days), his water cloning spell nearly turned a bucket into a weapon of mass destruction, and his levitation spell - well let's just say the Wonderbolts were glad they didn't have a show the next day. "Trixie is ready to give up!" the show pony snapped, storming into Twilight's bedroom. "Nothing is working! Trixie knew this was a bad idea!" "Calm down", Twilight Sparkle smiled, placing her half-read book on the top of the already tremendous pile she had been amassing during her last few lunch breaks. "What's the problem?" "Gold Star can't do anything, he may be kind of cute but that is no excuse, anypony who works with Trixie must be excellent!" "Well from what I've been hearing, he's been having trouble regulating his power, is that right?" Trixie nodded, unconvinced that Twilight would make any progress. "Well the ability to regulate power can take months to learn, and the only solution is practice. But, don't you think there's a third option?" "Trixie doesn't have time for this, the next round is tomorrow!" Twilight smiled calmly and continued. Trixie needed to figure this out for herself, that was the only fair thing to do, even if she whined about it. "Imagine you had to perform in a big magic show, and your horn had suddenly doubled in power the day before - what would you do?" "Well that's easy, Trixie would simply change the performance to show off her new ability - oh." Trixie mentally kicked herself for not realising this earlier. "Thankyou Twilight!" "No problem", Twilight Sparkle chucked, magically closing the door behind Trixie and going back to her book. "Now, time to find out who really stole the Lost Sword of Muledor!" She added in her most adorkable excited nerd voice. -✩- "Wow!" The crowd gasped as Gold Star launched Trixie high into the air above Canterlot. "Ooh!" they continued, mesmerised, as Trixie sent a spiral of beautiful rainbow fireworks in all directions. The two of them then staged a fake magic battle as Trixie fell, launching huge beams of water and fire at each other - the two beams finally collided and a massive explosion of steam swept through the air, slowly cooling and descending around the stage. Finally, Trixie summoned a magic parachute, and Gold Star lit it up with a beam of colour, which flashed between all the colours of the rainbow as Trixie spiralled around the crowd and landed back on the stage next to Gold Star and the two of them bowed. The crowd cheered wildly and gave a standing ovation, while the judges watched on, awestruck. "What happened?", the first judge finally commented after at least a full minute of cheering and hoof-clapping. "That was incredible!" The crowd roared again in delight. "You know what", the second judge added, "I don't know what you two did since the last performance, but it's paid off. You're a real chance of winning this competition!" More applause. "I don't think I even need to say anything," the third finished, "we're putting you directly through to the finals, that was amazing!" The crowd went absolutely crazy. Trixie began to cry with happiness, despite trying her best to hide it. She hugged Gold Star tighter than he'd ever been hugged in his life. Right up the front of the crowd, Twilight Sparkle leaped completely out of her seat and flew into the air cheering, before remembering she was meant to be acting like a princess and bashfully gliding back down to the ground. In the back of the crowd, Gold Star's old 'friends' looked on spitefully. "You know what this means right? There's no more places left. We're out of the competition because of that little dweeb!" "Well, let's make him regret it." -✩- Author's Note Okay, so I know I said 3 parts, but I really can't fit this into 3 parts, so 4 parts it is. I'm not sure what I think about this chapter, it feels like it flows better than the other ones, but I'm not sure. I guess you can tell me in the comments shamelesscommentfarming Extinguishing The CompetitionCarefully, Gold Star levitated an apple across Twilight's 'cutie map room' and into Trixie's hoof. Once it landed, he leaped into the air with joy, forgetting his horn was still glowing, and splattered the apple all over the roof. Woops. Gold Star frowned as he stared up at the ceiling, and the newest member of the graveyard of apples that now coated the room. "Uh, good... job" Trixie half-heartedly said as she panicked to brush as much apple juice off her cape as she could. "You're... improving." Gold Star smiled widely at the words of encouragement. Trixie, the most awesome unicorn ever, thought he did a good job! "Of course, the performance of Trixie's student must be flawless in the finals, and this was far from flawless-" Trixie began, before quickly interrupting herself upon noticing Gold Star's smile turning back to a frown, "-so you must... uh... practice more to become even more great and powerful!" He smiled again, nice save! -✩- The competition itself went pretty much as expected for rounds three and four, no dramas or strange turns. The quality got better each time though, and once the finals came around, every act was as good as Trixie and Gold Stars'. There were acts that completely defied logic - mind-reading and self-duplication. There were acts so daring and dangerous they made even Rainbow Dash cover his eyes. And acts that so perfectly blended magic and technology that the two became like one force of glowy amazingness. Trixie and Gold Star would have to do something truly extraordinary to succeed, and there they were, still practicing how to throw a piece of fruit straight. Trixie was trying not to let on her frustration, but it was pretty obvious that she was frustrated. Every day she saw a news article or poster about some amazing acts, and wondered why she decided to team up with the colt in the first place. Then the worst possible thing happened... -✩- "I'm sorry Trixie!" Gold Star cried out, knocking at the unicorn's bedroom door at five in the morning. Confused and still ninety-five percent asleep, Trixie stumbled to the door and opened it. She was wearing Twilight's spare flower-covered pajamas, which at any other time would have been hilarious, but Gold Star was too busy with his own predicament to notice. "Trixie doesn't like to be disturbed, what's going on?" Trixie snapped. "This better not be another book Twilight!" She looked down and finally detected Gold Star, who was in tears and with an opened letter sitting in his pocket. "W-What happened?" Trixie asked, her voice softened but also more awkward. She had no idea how to handle the situation. "I'm useless at magic, the other ponies were right, and I shouldn't be holding you back!" "Hey wait, what are you talking about? No student of Trixie's is useless!" "I'm giving up, I'm sorry. I'm going back to Canterlot!" "No, Gold Star, wait!" Trixie didn't know what to say, but she decided to try and speak anyway. "Trixie would not even be in the competition if you didn't help her. Trixie made it all the way to the finals because of your magic!" "But you're just going to get humiliated, I'm going to stuff something up, and then everyone will think you're bad at magic, and you're not bad at magic, you're the awesomest magician ever!" Gold Star raced up to Trixie and hugged her, tears streaming down his face like some kind of dam leak. Trixie took a deep breath, and thought to herself. What would Twilight say? Little did Trixie know that whenever she was in a mood, Twilight would think to herself, what would Celestia say? "Gold Star, you know what? Trixie has made mistakes too." "Really?" Gold Star sniffed, looking up at Trixie in disbelief. "Yeah, Trixie has made lots of mistakes." Trixie grimaced at the fact she'd have to elaborate on what they were, she had enjoyed a pony actually believing she was perfect for once, but it had to be said. "Once Trixie bragged about something she didn't actually do - and many ponies' lives and homes were put at risk because of her actions; and another time, Trixie tried to drive Twilight Sparkle out of her own town, just out of jealousy for all the ponies who admired her." "You wouldn't do any of that!" Gold Star argued, still in complete disbelief. "Trixie knows it's hard to believe, but she really did those things - and learned from her mistakes. Not that Trixie has made many mistakes of course, but she's made some, everypony does." Gold Star hugged Trixie again, wiped away his tears, and jumped up and down as if nothing had happened. "Okay, I'll keep trying, and learn just like you Trixie!" "Okay, well, Trixie will see you in a couple of hours alright." "Okay!" Gold Star squeaked, bouncing away from the room. Trixie put her hoof on her head and collapsed back onto her bed. Thank the princesses that was over. -✩- Trixie took a deep breath. On the other side of the curtains were over ten thousand ponies. If this went well, every pony in Equestria would know her name. If it didn't - she quickly shook the thought of her head. She was Trixie. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie. It had to work out. This was her chance. Gold Star was even more nervous, he was absolutely trembling. If the night went wrong, he was sure it'd be his fault. He mentally went over all the spells he needed, all the tactics he used to keep the power under control. He covered everything, but had an ominous feeling he'd forgotten something, like the feeling somepony gets when they're leaving a motel - they think something got left behind, but they didn't know what it is. BOOM! The entire stage shook and screaming and the stomping of hooves could be heard as ponies fled the scene. Trixie and Gold Star raced out to see half the stage was had collapsed in a ball of fire, and two ponies were trapped in the wreckage - Gold Star's old friends. Gold Star didn't think twice - he jumped straight into the middle of the flames to save them, but as he panicked, his water spell over-fired, causing a huge amount of smoke to engulf the stage. Trixie raced in - cape and all - to find Gold Star. Her eyes glowed as she launched a huge bubble of magic, blasting away the smoke to reveal the three young ponies - unconscious but uninjured as well. Gold Star had his arms protectively wrapped around his friends. Trixie turned her young student onto his side, and he coughed a few times before shakily getting up. The crowd, that had re-gathered around the stage, cheered in a mixture of joy and relief. -✩- The next few hours were a blur, the Royal Guard arrived to look for any signs of changeling involvement, Gold Star and his friends were rushed to Canterlot Childrens' Hospital and Trixie rushed there with them. That's all Trixie really remembered, and all she cared about. Her friend - no - yes - her friend was alright. The next morning, a very flustered young doctor raced into Gold Star's room. "Is this where Trixie Lulamoon and Gold Star are staying?" he asked breathlessly. "Yes, that's correct, this is the location of the Great and Powerful Trixie." Wow, humble, the doctor thought to himself. "Are we free to go?" "Um, well, yes, your results were all fine but uh, someone would, uh, like to see you." The doctor scampered out of the room and bowed enthusiastically. Princess Celestia calmly told him to continue with his normal duties and entered the room. "Princess!" Gold Star exclaimed, trying to figure out how to bow while still in bed. Trixie, who had been sitting on the floor, was able to bow much more quickly. "Please, there's no need for that," Celestia smiled with all the brightness of her sun, "I'm here to congratulate you on your efforts yesterday night. Had it not been for both your actions, two ponies would not be here now. I must have a talk with them about their own actions, but I dropped in to invite you to a special awards ceremony this afternoon." -✩- Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! the huge crowd of ponies chanted with enthusiasm as said unicorn stepped out onto the royal balcony. Gold! Gold! Gold! they continued as Trixie's student walked out behind her, and climbed up onto her back to get a better view, before scampering back down when he realised how high up they were. Princesses Twilight and Celestia followed behind them and the crowd quietened down and bowed in acknowledgement. It did seem rather over the top to Celestia, all the bowing that plagued her life on a regular basis, but at least it got ponies to listen, and Luna seemed to enjoy the custom. Anything that made her sister feel more comfortable in the modern world was worth it, it was the least she could do. Celestia gestured for the crowd to stand up, and began speaking. "I'd like to thank you all for being present on such short notice. This is quite a unique occasion, and one that is worth celebrating. Quite often our princesses, our element bearers and our brave soldiers are willing to fight for our protection - to jump in and help when somepony needs saving - and we should all value the contributions they make on a daily basis. However, it's really something special when one or two ordinary members of our community step up and risk everything to help others - and that's exactly what Gold Star and Trixie did last night. They may not have had a chance to compete in the finals, but they will be receiving a much greater prize. For their bravery, on behalf of all my little ponies, I offer them the highest honor I can, the Medallion of the Three Tribes, symbolising their contribution to uniting and caring for all the ponies in Equestria." The crowd cheered wildly as both ponies were presented with a medallion - Gold Star by Celestia and Trixie by Twilight. The two of them waved joyously to the crowd outside. Twilight Sparkle smiled at her student proudly. Trixie didn't say anything, but Twilight knew what she was thinking. Maybe friendship is pretty good after all. Author's Note Here we go, the disjointed scenes again, I thought I'd gotten past that but apparently not :/ Sorry guys. I hope you liked the story anyway ^w^ I think the rest of it went alright, just the pacing is bizarre, and I don't really know why, I just can't connect scenes together. I don't know if you saw the plot twist coming, you probably all did XD But I felt I had to do something other than just have them plain out win the competition because that would be way too obvious and not really do anything part 3 hasn't done already. I think an epilogue is in order so that's why it still says "incomplete" :P The Great And Conclusive EpilogueTwilight Sparkle happily closed the last page of her book. "Finally, a whole day of just reading, not a single pony looking for-" Knock, knock, knock! Twilight sighed. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, how can I help -" "Trixie is so lonely!" Twilight's student cried out as dramatically as possible, flinging the door open. "You've never been lonely before", Twilight replied, raising an eyebrow. "But Trixie never had a friend before - you know - except you. You're alright, Trixie guesses. But still! Her only other friend has been gone for a whole week!" "Why don't you just go outside and make another friend?" "Because making friends is boring! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not like to be bored!" "Well, the 'Great and Attention-Seeking Trixie' could always do extra research?" "On second thoughts Trixie loves making friends! Where should the Friendly and Outgoing Trixie look first?" Twilight smiled and went onto her next book. "Try Sugarcube Corner, I guarantee you'll make at least one friend there!" Author's Note What? You can't expect me to have something intelligent to say every time xD I'm not sure if there's a rule against publishing more than one chapter in a day, I saw nothing in the FAQ, so I think it's okay. If not, sowee!
Great And Powerful Day OffIt was Trixie’s great and relaxing day off! Time for a whole day of trotting around town and eating cupcakes! Not that she had any trouble with the 3 assignments every week, she was more than capable of being a royal student, in fact she was a truly magnificent royal student, she just enjoyed having time to herself, that was all. That’s what she told herself anyway – and what she told Twilight. For the first few weeks back in Ponyville, Trixie had gotten some suspicious looks, but over time she managed to convince the town ponies that she meant well – in fact her shows were now almost as popular as Pinkie Pie’s parties. Almost. GASP! Trixie’s eyes widened, this was too good to be true! Right on the door of Sugarcube Corner was a sign reading “Equestria’s Biggest Magic Show, looking for THE MOST TALENTED UNICORNS”, with a tray full of flyers underneath. Within about three seconds of the corner of Trixie’s eye noticing the words, Trixie had grabbed a flyer and was racing back towards Twilight’s castle. -✩- KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! Twilight Sparkle groaned at the sound assaulting her door and buried her face in the book she was reading. This was her least favourite day of the week. With Trixie away, she was bombarded with a new pony looking for friendship advice (or an autograph) every 2 minutes. After letting out a very long “euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh”, Twilight finally got up, put on her best fake smile and prancing over to the door in as princess-like a manner as possible. “Hello, Princess Twilight Spa-” Twilight’s sentence was stopped short when she was bowled over by an excited Trixie Lulamoon charging through the doorway. “Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat” her student squee-d, with a big, beaming smile on her face, “I’m going to be famous!” Twilight shook the dizziness out of her head and stood up, closing the door with her magic. “Aren’t you already famous?” “Well, the great and magnificent Trixie is going to be even more famous!” Twilight smiled genuinely this time – as much as she shouldn’t be encouraging it, Trixie’s self-admiring attitude was kind of adorable. In the same way as Spike’s ice-cream addiction. “Why’s that then?” Bubbling with enthusiasm, Trixie shoved the flyer into Twilight’s hooves. Quickly but carefully, Twilight read over every word. “Interesting, hmm, okay” she muttered to herself as her student watched on expectantly. “Well, that sounds great!” Twilight finally replied. “It’ll be good magic practice – but who’s your partner going to be?” “P-partner?” Trixie said, all the enthusiasm dissipating from her voice as quickly as it arrived. Not noticing Trixie’s sudden change of emotion, Twilight replied cheerfully. “Yeah, it says in order to encourage friendship, a central value of Equestria, unicorns will be competing in pairs”. “But, but, but Trixie doesn’t have a partner! Trixie isn’t friends with anyone!” “You’re friends with me.” “You’re not a unicorn!” Twilight suddenly remembered that she was in fact an alicorn, even after all this time it was hard to get used to. Being so famous all of a sudden was just weird – still, she found it quite easy to manage events and write her ideas, really she had been being a princess for her own enjoyment until she got the promotion. Still, all those ponies looking to her for advice, what if she made a mistake? What if- “Are you alright? Pay attention to Trixie!” Twilight suddenly snapped out of it. “Whoa, sorry Trixie, you were saying?” “Trixie requires a partner, for the magic competition.” “Oh, right, that! I have an idea!” -✩- “So let Trixie get this straight, you reckon that somepony here is just going to volunteer to be her partner?” “Yeah,” Twilight replied, ignoring the sceptical look on her students face, “there’s hundreds of unicorns lining up for the auditions, at least one of them has to be without a partner.” “Well Trixie has been here for several whole minutes and no pony has showed up alone.” Twilight chuckled a little to herself. “Be patient Trixie, you don’t want to end up crossing another apple with a salamander”. “Trixie meant to do that!” A few metres behind them, a group of three young ponies were having their own discussion, this one a little more heated. “Enough, Gold Star”, one of them snapped, “you’re just not good at magic!” “But I love magic”, replied the cream-coloured unicorn, with metallic-looking golden hair and a cutie mark to match his name, “I know all about it”. “It doesn’t matter”, the other argued, “it’s not about loving it, we’re in it to win, and we’re only allowed two ponies, so just leave!” “But-” “No buts, leave, now!” Gold Star began sobbing before he was shoved out of the line by his two ‘friends’. He noticed the ponies behind the fillies scolding them for their behaviour, but he didn’t care – he knew what they said was true. He was bad at magic! The colt flicked his blue cape over himself and ran away crying, only to end up charging face-first into a squishy wall of purple feathers. “Huh?” he commented, before looking up and nearly having a heart attack. “Princess Twilight? I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! Please don’t banish me to Tartarus!” Twilight chuckled, “are you planning any hostile takeovers of Equestria?” Gold Star shook his head, terrified. “Well if you’re not planning anything evil, the worst place I’m banishing you is the ice cream stand over there.” The colt giggled, but his laughter soon devolved back into tears. “Hey, don’t cry, it’s alright.” “No no, it’s not that, it’s something else” Gold Star sniffed, trying to hold back his feelings. “Do you need help?” the princess asked, becoming concerned. “No, it’s nothing important, I’m sure you have better things to do.” “I’m not more important than anypony else -”, Twilight began, about to go on one of her speeches until she realised who she was talking to, “ahem, what I mean to say is everyone is important, and whatever it is I’m sure I can help”. The princess of friendship then put on the best smile she possibly could, it seemed to work. “Well,” Gold Star began with a sigh, before continuing, “I-I wanted to enter the competition, because I really love magic and it’s so cool and interesting, but I had two friends, and they told me that I was bad at magic, and they wanted to enter on their own. And I think they’re right.” Twilight remembered her own primary school days and winced. The amount of times she was told how she sucked at magic – at least she had a few true friends though, only now did she realise how much they’d helped her over the years. “Don’t ever listen to them,” Twilight replied, giving Gold Star a tight hug, “as long as you love learning, you’ll do great at magic!” Oh my gosh, Gold Star thought to himself, I got hugged by a princess, and she told me I was good at magic. He couldn’t help it, as much as he wanted to be miserable, he smiled. “And I think I might just know who can help you.” Author's Note WOO HOO! NEW STORY! Everyone rejoice! Anyway yeah, I think I'm actually starting to improve too. "Yay!" This story will probably be a 3-part one, and after that I have one planned about the princesses (yep, a story not about Trixie or Scootaloo, blasphemy XD)
On A Technicality"Trixie, I believe I've found your partner!" Twilight Sparkle declared confidently, Gold Star excitedly trotting behind her. "Meet Gold Star!" "Where is he?" Trixie replied, puzzled. "Right here" Twilight laughed, gently pushing Gold Star up to Trixie's front hooves. Trixie leaped back. "A colt? You expect the great and powerful Trixie to enter alongside a pony who's barely five years old?" "Um, seven" the young pony corrected quietly, all the excitement leaving him. "Look, Trixie", Twilight said. "This young pony was crying on his own because he didn't have a partner. It would absolutely make his day - scratch that, make his life if you would just give him a chance." Twilight should have known better than to use an emotional argument on Trixie. "So you expect the great, powerful and magnificent Trixie to just team up with some random colt you discovered on the street? He's probably not even good at magic!" Twilight winced at Gold Star's reaction. The little colt lowered his head and prepared to walk off. Twilight desperately argued with Trixie. "Alright, fine, look at it this way. This might be the only chance you have to enter the competition. And if he loves magic enough to enter, he's got to be alright at it, right?" Trixie sighed and turned to face Gold Star, who she noticed had begun to tear up slightly. She didn't want to admit it, but she did feel a little hint of guilt. She quietly approached him again. "Trixie... apologises", she forced herself to say, "and would like to be your partner." Gold's face lit up and the young pony bounced in circles around Trixie! "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he squeaked, "I promise I'll do my absolute total fantasmical best!" The colt stood still and saluted Trixie, smiling. Maybe he's not so bad, Trixie thought to herself. -✩- The line moved forwards again and a pair of disappointed unicorns were seen stomping away from the far end of it. Trixie was undaunted, she looked completely ready to go - and Gold Star decided if Trixie was undaunted, he'd better be undaunted too. The colt smiled confidently and held his head high, mimicking his new mentor. "I'm glad you're confident and all," Twilight interrupted the two of them, "but don't you think you should practice?" "Nonsense! Trixie and her assistant - partner rather, are more than capable already!" "Trixie, we've been through this before," Twilight continued as calmly as possible, "it doesn't matter how good you are, you have to practice something before you do it. Besides, you need to come up with an act, you know that with your occupation." "Wait," Gold Star interjected, "you mean Trixie is a show pony?" Gold Star's face lit up even more as he imagined how incredible Trixie's shows must be. "Of course," Trixie said proudly, "Trixie is Equestria's best show pony and Princess Twilight's important royal student!" "Now, listen, being my student doesn't make -" Twilight tried to say. "OH MY GOSH! You mean I get to perform with a show pony who is also the student of the Element of Magic herself?" Gold Star squeaked. "Uh, yeah, I guess", Twilight smiled. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh, what are we going to do? There's so many amazing awesome tricks I could learn! Are we going to do a teleportation spell, or a firework spell - or an age spell?" The young colt looked up at Trixie starry-eyed. "Trixie may do those things, your job is to hold the props." Trixie replied. "Oh. You know I'm not too good at props and stuff. I'm a lot better at -" "Nonsense, Trixie saw how confident you were, you'll do a great job. Now as Twilight said, let's go back to Ponyville and practice!" Trixie thought she was being reassuring, but didn't notice the anxious look on Gold Star's face. Twilight Sparkle wanted to intervene, but she knew it would be better for both of them if they worked it out on their own. She just hoped they'd do it sooner rather than later. -✩- It was late at night by the time Trixie and Gold Star had made it back to the auditions, only a few ponies were still waiting - and they were the very last in line. The bright lights and cold, clear air added to the intense atmosphere. Gold Star trembled and moved closer to Trixie's side. "Is Trixie's assistant cold?" "N-no. Just nervous." "Don't be silly, no assistant of Trixie's should be nervous!" The attempt to reassure Gold Star just made him feel worse. The young pony closed his eyes and tried to think about all the new spells he'd heard about recently. It didn't work. "Uh, Miss Trixie Lulamoon and Mr Gold Star?" a voice finally called out. The two of them made their way up to the stage, located in a large, open wooden room. They saw Twilight Sparkle on her own where the crowd used to be, and three quite tired-looking judges sitting at a bench. "Alright," one of the judges said with a tired but pleasant smile, "could you tell us a bit about yourselves?" Gold Star remained quiet, just hoping for the whole situation to be over, but Trixie was more than happy to speak up. "I'm the great and powerful Trixie, and this is my assistant - ahem - partner, Gold Star." "Great and powerful? Like the confidence! What do you do for a living?" the second judge asked. "Trixie is a professional show pony in Ponyville, and Gold Star is a student I believe." "Alright, always good to have a professional act. Well, let's see what you've got planned for us!" Trixie naturally opened with fireworks and a monologue about how wonderful she was. Once that was over, she levitated a hat from off-stage and placed it in Gold Star's hooves. With one spell, she then caused Gold Star to disappear, then reappear inside the hat, which she of course pulled him out of. In the crowd, Twilight watched on with a rather neutral expression. Trixie was usually much better than this. She knew they should've waited another day. The judges were similarly unimpressed. Trixie paid no attention to the audience and continued - she began to lift up the stage curtains with her magic and pull them towards the judges - the curtains appeared to continue extending infinitely, changing colours every few metres and wrapping their way around the room. The coloured areas then began changing through all the colours of the rainbow, before catching on fire with coloured flames. This was more like Trixie! Oohs and aahs came from the judges, and Twilight clapped her hooves together in excitement. Trixie smiled and with her magic she caused the curtains to burn back into their usual size, converting the flames into a firey blade of magic. She launched the blade at Gold Star, and just before it reached him it disintegrated, safely passing around him like water from a hose. More fireworks went off, Trixie and Gold Star bowed, and the crowd (a.k.a. Twilight Sparkle) went wild. It seemed to all go well from Trixie's point of view, the audience liked it, she showed how amazing she was - but the tone of the judges' conversation didn't sound very positive. The judges finished discussing the act with each other and spoke up. "Listen, Trixie, you did an incredible job, you're clearly skilled with magic - but this competition is about teamwork, I didn't see Gold Star do anything except stand there", the first judge told her. "I agree," the second added, "a good performance, but not what we're looking for." Gold Star grimaced. "I'm sorry Trixie," he whispered, "I-I did my best." Trixie paid no attention, she just stood there in shock. She was going to be kicked out of the competition in the first round! This was impossible! "Look," the third judge finally stated, "we still have one place to fill in, and it's either you or the weird jelly tub pony who's still lingering backstage. I'm not even sure he's a unicorn. The others are right that you shouldn't go through to the next round, but we don't have much choice, so consider this a warning. We loved your performance Trixie, but show us what Gold Star can do. We're looking for the best unicorns in Equestria, not the best unicorn, understand?" "Yes", Trixie muttered in reply, completely taken aback by what just happened, "thankyou." "Alright, best of luck in the next round", the first judge smiled, and with that Trixie and Gold Star walked down from the stage, both in shock. Once they were out of the building, Twilight Sparkle gave them both a big, reassuring hug. The disaster that had just befallen them disappeared in an instant, and they happily hugged back. As Trixie and Gold Star walked towards the train station, Twilight noticed Gold Star apologising and Trixie hugging him in response. Finally, she thought to herself she gets it. Author's Note Sorry if this isn't too great, I thought this would be a free day, but actually I kept getting called away for all kinds of household jobs so I couldn't sit down and focus. Anyway Trixie is both fun and difficult to write. I need to keep her likeable while still showing her, well, Trixieness XD It's well worth it though I think, I love Trixie Hopefully you guys like this anyway :3 There's a few cute moments X3 I'm hoping to use Gold Star's character a bit better next part.
Take TwoSMASH! "What the hay?" Twilight shrieked, leaping out of her bed, taking the blankets with her, before flying head-first into the ceiling. "OW!" On the ground outside, Gold Star stared up at the shattered window with a horrified expression. Twilight spent about half a minute wrestling her way out of the blankets before finally making it to what was left of the window. "What's going on out there?" Twilight called out, still half-asleep. "The great and powerful Trixie wanted to test your window strength", came a reply from her student, who could barely keep herself from breaking out into laughter, "and your windows were not satisfactory!" "Euugh" Twilight groaned, "SPIKE!" She then turned her attention back to Trixie. "What are you actually doing"? "Practicing!" Trixie called back. "Maybe you should teach Gold Star the spell first before trying to use it!" "Oh right! Trixie forgot about that!" -✩- "Okay Gold Star, do you know the categories of spells?", Trixie began, trying so hard to act like a professional teacher that it looked hilarious. She had the blackboard, glasses and everything. "Of course!", the colt began excitedly, "there's movement spells and energy spells and - ooh and there's time spells, a really rare class of spells -" "Yes, good", an impatient Trixie interrupted, "well this one is a movement spell. Categ-" "Which category-", Gold Star began, before realising his teacher was already about to say that. "Sorry", he whimpered. "Ahem, as the wise and knowledgeable Trixie was saying, this is a Category 3 spell. Now the features of Category 3 include-" Gold Star raised his hoof and jumped up and down. "-yes Gold Star?" Trixie asked, rolling her eyes. "They don't have to be spoken aloud, just thought of, they require an intermediate level of skill and they take a very short amount of time to be cast." "Uh, yes actually" Trixie replied, surprised by how much her student knew, "so, if you know that, then this should be easy, the spell is regardless of weight, momentum create". Trixie smiled, feeling rather proud of her student. "Well that's the thing, I know all about spells, but I'm not so good at actually doing them", Gold Star nervously replied. "Don't be silly, just make sure you regulate the amount of power, and you'll be able to cast it like a professional!" "A-alright, I'm just not so sure-" "Nonsense, try it out on that bookshelf over there, make it glide across the room." Shakily, Gold Star took a step back, closed his eyes and lit up his horn. A loud rumble could be heard followed by a crash - Gold Star opened his eyes to see the bookshelf broken into several pieces against the wall, and a trail of smoke behind it. "Oops", Gold Star whimpered. Trixie was rendered speechless as she stared wide-eyed at what used to be a bookshelf. Spike proudly marched down the stairs with a newly emptied dustpan and brush, before seeing the remains of the bookshelf and fainting. -✩- "Okay, so the problem is regulating power", Trixie said, more to herself than her student, as they both walked into Trixie's favourite coffee shop. "Ooh," Gold Star squeaked, "they have strawberry milkshakes!" Trixie handed over the bits for a milkshake and pointed to the sign, but stopped short of smiling at Gold Star. She may be 'good' now, but she was most certainly not some fluffy emotional pony like Twilight Sparkle. "Thankyou!" Gold Star squeaked again, tightly hugging one of Trixie's front legs. Trixie smiled. -✩- Almost a week and no progress - Gold Star knew everything about every spell Trixie could think up, yet he couldn't use any of them. His fireworks destroyed Sweet Apple Acres' barn (for the 7th time in as many days), his water cloning spell nearly turned a bucket into a weapon of mass destruction, and his levitation spell - well let's just say the Wonderbolts were glad they didn't have a show the next day. "Trixie is ready to give up!" the show pony snapped, storming into Twilight's bedroom. "Nothing is working! Trixie knew this was a bad idea!" "Calm down", Twilight Sparkle smiled, placing her half-read book on the top of the already tremendous pile she had been amassing during her last few lunch breaks. "What's the problem?" "Gold Star can't do anything, he may be kind of cute but that is no excuse, anypony who works with Trixie must be excellent!" "Well from what I've been hearing, he's been having trouble regulating his power, is that right?" Trixie nodded, unconvinced that Twilight would make any progress. "Well the ability to regulate power can take months to learn, and the only solution is practice. But, don't you think there's a third option?" "Trixie doesn't have time for this, the next round is tomorrow!" Twilight smiled calmly and continued. Trixie needed to figure this out for herself, that was the only fair thing to do, even if she whined about it. "Imagine you had to perform in a big magic show, and your horn had suddenly doubled in power the day before - what would you do?" "Well that's easy, Trixie would simply change the performance to show off her new ability - oh." Trixie mentally kicked herself for not realising this earlier. "Thankyou Twilight!" "No problem", Twilight Sparkle chucked, magically closing the door behind Trixie and going back to her book. "Now, time to find out who really stole the Lost Sword of Muledor!" She added in her most adorkable excited nerd voice. -✩- "Wow!" The crowd gasped as Gold Star launched Trixie high into the air above Canterlot. "Ooh!" they continued, mesmerised, as Trixie sent a spiral of beautiful rainbow fireworks in all directions. The two of them then staged a fake magic battle as Trixie fell, launching huge beams of water and fire at each other - the two beams finally collided and a massive explosion of steam swept through the air, slowly cooling and descending around the stage. Finally, Trixie summoned a magic parachute, and Gold Star lit it up with a beam of colour, which flashed between all the colours of the rainbow as Trixie spiralled around the crowd and landed back on the stage next to Gold Star and the two of them bowed. The crowd cheered wildly and gave a standing ovation, while the judges watched on, awestruck. "What happened?", the first judge finally commented after at least a full minute of cheering and hoof-clapping. "That was incredible!" The crowd roared again in delight. "You know what", the second judge added, "I don't know what you two did since the last performance, but it's paid off. You're a real chance of winning this competition!" More applause. "I don't think I even need to say anything," the third finished, "we're putting you directly through to the finals, that was amazing!" The crowd went absolutely crazy. Trixie began to cry with happiness, despite trying her best to hide it. She hugged Gold Star tighter than he'd ever been hugged in his life. Right up the front of the crowd, Twilight Sparkle leaped completely out of her seat and flew into the air cheering, before remembering she was meant to be acting like a princess and bashfully gliding back down to the ground. In the back of the crowd, Gold Star's old 'friends' looked on spitefully. "You know what this means right? There's no more places left. We're out of the competition because of that little dweeb!" "Well, let's make him regret it." -✩- Author's Note Okay, so I know I said 3 parts, but I really can't fit this into 3 parts, so 4 parts it is. I'm not sure what I think about this chapter, it feels like it flows better than the other ones, but I'm not sure. I guess you can tell me in the comments shamelesscommentfarming
Extinguishing The CompetitionCarefully, Gold Star levitated an apple across Twilight's 'cutie map room' and into Trixie's hoof. Once it landed, he leaped into the air with joy, forgetting his horn was still glowing, and splattered the apple all over the roof. Woops. Gold Star frowned as he stared up at the ceiling, and the newest member of the graveyard of apples that now coated the room. "Uh, good... job" Trixie half-heartedly said as she panicked to brush as much apple juice off her cape as she could. "You're... improving." Gold Star smiled widely at the words of encouragement. Trixie, the most awesome unicorn ever, thought he did a good job! "Of course, the performance of Trixie's student must be flawless in the finals, and this was far from flawless-" Trixie began, before quickly interrupting herself upon noticing Gold Star's smile turning back to a frown, "-so you must... uh... practice more to become even more great and powerful!" He smiled again, nice save! -✩- The competition itself went pretty much as expected for rounds three and four, no dramas or strange turns. The quality got better each time though, and once the finals came around, every act was as good as Trixie and Gold Stars'. There were acts that completely defied logic - mind-reading and self-duplication. There were acts so daring and dangerous they made even Rainbow Dash cover his eyes. And acts that so perfectly blended magic and technology that the two became like one force of glowy amazingness. Trixie and Gold Star would have to do something truly extraordinary to succeed, and there they were, still practicing how to throw a piece of fruit straight. Trixie was trying not to let on her frustration, but it was pretty obvious that she was frustrated. Every day she saw a news article or poster about some amazing acts, and wondered why she decided to team up with the colt in the first place. Then the worst possible thing happened... -✩- "I'm sorry Trixie!" Gold Star cried out, knocking at the unicorn's bedroom door at five in the morning. Confused and still ninety-five percent asleep, Trixie stumbled to the door and opened it. She was wearing Twilight's spare flower-covered pajamas, which at any other time would have been hilarious, but Gold Star was too busy with his own predicament to notice. "Trixie doesn't like to be disturbed, what's going on?" Trixie snapped. "This better not be another book Twilight!" She looked down and finally detected Gold Star, who was in tears and with an opened letter sitting in his pocket. "W-What happened?" Trixie asked, her voice softened but also more awkward. She had no idea how to handle the situation. "I'm useless at magic, the other ponies were right, and I shouldn't be holding you back!" "Hey wait, what are you talking about? No student of Trixie's is useless!" "I'm giving up, I'm sorry. I'm going back to Canterlot!" "No, Gold Star, wait!" Trixie didn't know what to say, but she decided to try and speak anyway. "Trixie would not even be in the competition if you didn't help her. Trixie made it all the way to the finals because of your magic!" "But you're just going to get humiliated, I'm going to stuff something up, and then everyone will think you're bad at magic, and you're not bad at magic, you're the awesomest magician ever!" Gold Star raced up to Trixie and hugged her, tears streaming down his face like some kind of dam leak. Trixie took a deep breath, and thought to herself. What would Twilight say? Little did Trixie know that whenever she was in a mood, Twilight would think to herself, what would Celestia say? "Gold Star, you know what? Trixie has made mistakes too." "Really?" Gold Star sniffed, looking up at Trixie in disbelief. "Yeah, Trixie has made lots of mistakes." Trixie grimaced at the fact she'd have to elaborate on what they were, she had enjoyed a pony actually believing she was perfect for once, but it had to be said. "Once Trixie bragged about something she didn't actually do - and many ponies' lives and homes were put at risk because of her actions; and another time, Trixie tried to drive Twilight Sparkle out of her own town, just out of jealousy for all the ponies who admired her." "You wouldn't do any of that!" Gold Star argued, still in complete disbelief. "Trixie knows it's hard to believe, but she really did those things - and learned from her mistakes. Not that Trixie has made many mistakes of course, but she's made some, everypony does." Gold Star hugged Trixie again, wiped away his tears, and jumped up and down as if nothing had happened. "Okay, I'll keep trying, and learn just like you Trixie!" "Okay, well, Trixie will see you in a couple of hours alright." "Okay!" Gold Star squeaked, bouncing away from the room. Trixie put her hoof on her head and collapsed back onto her bed. Thank the princesses that was over. -✩- Trixie took a deep breath. On the other side of the curtains were over ten thousand ponies. If this went well, every pony in Equestria would know her name. If it didn't - she quickly shook the thought of her head. She was Trixie. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie. It had to work out. This was her chance. Gold Star was even more nervous, he was absolutely trembling. If the night went wrong, he was sure it'd be his fault. He mentally went over all the spells he needed, all the tactics he used to keep the power under control. He covered everything, but had an ominous feeling he'd forgotten something, like the feeling somepony gets when they're leaving a motel - they think something got left behind, but they didn't know what it is. BOOM! The entire stage shook and screaming and the stomping of hooves could be heard as ponies fled the scene. Trixie and Gold Star raced out to see half the stage was had collapsed in a ball of fire, and two ponies were trapped in the wreckage - Gold Star's old friends. Gold Star didn't think twice - he jumped straight into the middle of the flames to save them, but as he panicked, his water spell over-fired, causing a huge amount of smoke to engulf the stage. Trixie raced in - cape and all - to find Gold Star. Her eyes glowed as she launched a huge bubble of magic, blasting away the smoke to reveal the three young ponies - unconscious but uninjured as well. Gold Star had his arms protectively wrapped around his friends. Trixie turned her young student onto his side, and he coughed a few times before shakily getting up. The crowd, that had re-gathered around the stage, cheered in a mixture of joy and relief. -✩- The next few hours were a blur, the Royal Guard arrived to look for any signs of changeling involvement, Gold Star and his friends were rushed to Canterlot Childrens' Hospital and Trixie rushed there with them. That's all Trixie really remembered, and all she cared about. Her friend - no - yes - her friend was alright. The next morning, a very flustered young doctor raced into Gold Star's room. "Is this where Trixie Lulamoon and Gold Star are staying?" he asked breathlessly. "Yes, that's correct, this is the location of the Great and Powerful Trixie." Wow, humble, the doctor thought to himself. "Are we free to go?" "Um, well, yes, your results were all fine but uh, someone would, uh, like to see you." The doctor scampered out of the room and bowed enthusiastically. Princess Celestia calmly told him to continue with his normal duties and entered the room. "Princess!" Gold Star exclaimed, trying to figure out how to bow while still in bed. Trixie, who had been sitting on the floor, was able to bow much more quickly. "Please, there's no need for that," Celestia smiled with all the brightness of her sun, "I'm here to congratulate you on your efforts yesterday night. Had it not been for both your actions, two ponies would not be here now. I must have a talk with them about their own actions, but I dropped in to invite you to a special awards ceremony this afternoon." -✩- Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! the huge crowd of ponies chanted with enthusiasm as said unicorn stepped out onto the royal balcony. Gold! Gold! Gold! they continued as Trixie's student walked out behind her, and climbed up onto her back to get a better view, before scampering back down when he realised how high up they were. Princesses Twilight and Celestia followed behind them and the crowd quietened down and bowed in acknowledgement. It did seem rather over the top to Celestia, all the bowing that plagued her life on a regular basis, but at least it got ponies to listen, and Luna seemed to enjoy the custom. Anything that made her sister feel more comfortable in the modern world was worth it, it was the least she could do. Celestia gestured for the crowd to stand up, and began speaking. "I'd like to thank you all for being present on such short notice. This is quite a unique occasion, and one that is worth celebrating. Quite often our princesses, our element bearers and our brave soldiers are willing to fight for our protection - to jump in and help when somepony needs saving - and we should all value the contributions they make on a daily basis. However, it's really something special when one or two ordinary members of our community step up and risk everything to help others - and that's exactly what Gold Star and Trixie did last night. They may not have had a chance to compete in the finals, but they will be receiving a much greater prize. For their bravery, on behalf of all my little ponies, I offer them the highest honor I can, the Medallion of the Three Tribes, symbolising their contribution to uniting and caring for all the ponies in Equestria." The crowd cheered wildly as both ponies were presented with a medallion - Gold Star by Celestia and Trixie by Twilight. The two of them waved joyously to the crowd outside. Twilight Sparkle smiled at her student proudly. Trixie didn't say anything, but Twilight knew what she was thinking. Maybe friendship is pretty good after all. Author's Note Here we go, the disjointed scenes again, I thought I'd gotten past that but apparently not :/ Sorry guys. I hope you liked the story anyway ^w^ I think the rest of it went alright, just the pacing is bizarre, and I don't really know why, I just can't connect scenes together. I don't know if you saw the plot twist coming, you probably all did XD But I felt I had to do something other than just have them plain out win the competition because that would be way too obvious and not really do anything part 3 hasn't done already. I think an epilogue is in order so that's why it still says "incomplete" :P
The Great And Conclusive EpilogueTwilight Sparkle happily closed the last page of her book. "Finally, a whole day of just reading, not a single pony looking for-" Knock, knock, knock! Twilight sighed. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, how can I help -" "Trixie is so lonely!" Twilight's student cried out as dramatically as possible, flinging the door open. "You've never been lonely before", Twilight replied, raising an eyebrow. "But Trixie never had a friend before - you know - except you. You're alright, Trixie guesses. But still! Her only other friend has been gone for a whole week!" "Why don't you just go outside and make another friend?" "Because making friends is boring! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not like to be bored!" "Well, the 'Great and Attention-Seeking Trixie' could always do extra research?" "On second thoughts Trixie loves making friends! Where should the Friendly and Outgoing Trixie look first?" Twilight smiled and went onto her next book. "Try Sugarcube Corner, I guarantee you'll make at least one friend there!" Author's Note What? You can't expect me to have something intelligent to say every time xD I'm not sure if there's a rule against publishing more than one chapter in a day, I saw nothing in the FAQ, so I think it's okay. If not, sowee!
