Trixie's Special Performance
Trixie's Special Performance
By: Mr. Sparkles Fantastic
The sun rose high over the town of Westburro as Trixie made her way to the location of her next show. She always felt a flare of pride whenever she was requested to perform, and this time was no different. Not even the loss of her cart could dampen her spirits. After all, the show must go on, and she still had plenty of tricks up her hat besides.
The building her performance would be in was a fairly large structure, nearly three stories tall and solidly constructed from stone. Its double doors swung wide at her approach, and Trixie was greeted by a rather plump gray mare.
“I'm so glad you're here! They've been clamoring for you non-stop since this morning.”
A toothy grin played its way across Trixie's face at this announcement, and she knew that she had made the right choice in taking her time to get here. Anticipation would only make the show better.
“Well, then we can't keep the Great and Powerful Trixie's audience waiting! Lead me to them.”
Making their way through the corridors of the building to where the performance would be held, the gray mare explained that they had put on a small opening act to keep the audience entertained, but they were swiftly running out of material. Hearing this, Trixie gave a small laugh.
“Then it seems the Great and Powerful Trixie has, as always, arrived at the perfect moment.”
Arriving behind the curtain, Trixie couldn't help but wince at the awful jokes coming from the other side. However, the terrible comedy would only serve to make her show better by comparison, despite the fact that most of her better tricks went out with her cart when it got trampled back in Ponyville. While waiting, Trixie idly toyed with a small hoof-full of green powder that she had acquired from a Zebra peddler along the road. According to the peddler, and confirmed by herself after a bit of testing, the powder would, once charged with a bit of magic, become capable of producing illusions and effects that put her previous firework displays to shame, as well as negate the need for a fog machine. Signaling the gray mare she was ready, Trixie began to put a little life into the powder.
Applying her magic, Trixie smiled as it began to smoke. Aiming towards the curtains, she blew the hoof-full of powder into a mighty cloud, covering the stage and heralding the beginning of her act. Squaring her hat and cloak, she announced herself.
“Now, the moment you all have been waiting for! Be in awe of the magical prowess of the Great!” The fog begins to swirl about the stage, drawing itself towards center stage. “And Powerful!” The fog, now swirling faster, has drawn itself into what could best be described as a small green cyclone, rises nearly to the curtain rods. “Trixie!” The cyclone vanishes in a flourish of cloak and pony, with Trixie appearing triumphantly from the heart of the swirling cloud in the manner of a true showpony. Her arrival was met with thunderous applause, cheers, and several exclamations of “how did she do that!?”
Reveling in the attention, she continued her act. Every so often she would call for volunteers from the audience. Even though she had a lot fewer props to work with, she could still make a pony disappear easily enough. Sleight of hoof and a dash of the illusion powder made certain of that. Making a mental note to track down that peddler, Trixie found herself near the end of her performance. Her routine had shortened considerably, so she decided to extend the tale-telling portion of it to pad out the time. And she had just the story to tell.
Preparing another hoof-full of the powder, Trixie began to speak.
“Now, dear audience, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, will tell you the tale of how I saved the town of Ponyville from certain doom!”
It began similarly to how events actually transpired, with a few choice details omitted here and there, until the bear showed up. Charging the powder with a another jolt of magic, Trixie breathed life into a small, smokey replica of the Ursa Minor that had trashed her wagon and a portion of the town. Of course, she didn't call it what it that, since calling it an Ursa Major made it a better story. The audience was spellbound as she told them of the devastation it wrought upon the hapless town and its helpless townsfolk, and how lucky they were that she happened to be in town.
Finally, she reached the climax of the story, with the Ursa Major being confronted by her Great and Powerful self. Her wagon, an unfortunate casualty to the mighty struggle between the two, lay in ruins as she called upon all of her magic to at last vanquish the celestial bear. With a bright flash and a flourish of her cloak, the smokey beast was felled and peace restored to the town.
As the smoke faded from the stage, Trixie was nearly deafened by the cheers and applause of her audience. This was the moment that she lived for, as an entertainer, and as she took her bows she inwardly reveled in the attention. Backing through the curtains as she exited the stage, Trixie was greeted by the gray mare who had let her in, as well as the yellowish-beige stallion who had served as her opening act.
“Thank you so much for coming today, Miss Trixie.” the mare began. “It's so rare for a traveling show pony like yourself to be in the area, and the children truly appreciate you accepting the performance request.”
Trixie scoffed.
“Why, what sort of monster would the Great and Powerful Trixie be if she had refused to perform for a foals' hospital? It was my pleasure to be here.”
The nurse smiled at Trixie's response, and was about to continue speaking when she was interrupted by a cough from her companion.
“Miss Trixie,” he began. “If it wouldn't be too inconvenient, we've prepared some balloons and trinkets for the foals and were wondering if you would like to assist in helping to pass them out? I'm sure it would just make their day if stayed a while longer.”
“I don't see why I couldn't. The Great and Powerful Trixie always has time for her admirers.”
Making their way to the balloon cart, they pushed their way into the throng of foals. Trixie was instantly bombarded with questions of how did she do her tricks, was the Ursa Major really that scary, would she come back when her wagon was fixed, and so on. Evading many of the questions, and being non-committal about others, she managed to whittle away at the number of both balloons and foals circling her until there were only a few balloons left with no foals to give them to. Separating herself from the crowd, Trixie asked the gray nurse what they wanted done with the spares. The nurse thought for a moment, and then answered.
“Those aren't actually spares. There were supposed to be another two fillies here today, but they both caught a fever last night. We've had them in bed all day. If you like, we could deliver those to them while you collect your pay. We're already grateful you decided to stay and pass out the others.”
Trixie snorted at this.
“A show pony of my caliber does not simply leave a performance half-finished. Lead me to them and I shall deliver them myself.”
Smiling at this, the nurse guided Trixie through the corridors of the hospital until they reached the room the two fillies were in. It was a brightly lit space, with a large window placed above the bed at the far end of the room. The walls were a cheery shade of pink, with all sorts of doodles and designs on them, from clouds to stars and all sorts of other things that would put foals at ease.
“The two fillies are in here. One is in for a broken foreleg, while the other is in for a nasty bump on her head. The fever they both caught wasn't that bad, but it was enough to put them in bed for the day. If you want to wake them up for a chat, you shouldn't have too much trouble.”
Nodding as she entered, Trixie stowed the balloons under her hat as she made her way to the bed where the two fillies were sleeping. One was a curly-maned yellow, while the other was a straight-maned pink. As she drew closer, the yellow one stirred and woke, groggily meeting Trixie's eyes. Once she realized who she was looking at, however, the little yellow filly's eyes shot wide open, and she turned to her bed mate. Shaking her as gently as she could in her excitement, the filly spoke.
“Torte! Torte, wake up! It's her!”
The pink filly groaned as she slowly made her way into the waking world.
“Huh? Lemon, what are you so-” she stopped in shock once she saw exactly who had put Lemon in such a fit of excitement.
“See! I told you we would get to see her! And we didn't even have to sneak out like I planned!” Lemon joyfully clapped her hooves together.
“Sneak out? How were you planning on doing that, snoring like a big old bear?”
“I don't snore! And I wasn't sleeping either. I was, uh, conserving energy! Yeah, conserving energy!”
The two fillies bickered back and forth for a bit before remembering who woke them up. Shuffling to the edge of their bed, the yellow filly asked Trixie if they had missed the show. Their faces fell as Trixie nodded.
“However...” Trixie began, causing the two fillies' heads to snap back up. “However, that isn't to say that the Great and Powerful Trixie won't put on a special show, just for you two.
Taking a few steps back, Trixie went through a her most basic routine, focusing on tricks of sleight-of-hoof such as making small toys disappear and reappear, summoning a small bouquet of flowers, and other small tricks that didn't rely heavily on magical props. The two fillies were fascinated, and most of all, appreciative at all the right points during the performance. Ending her act, Trixie joined the two fillies on their bed, siting near the middle as she gave out the bouquet to Torte, and pulled the balloons from her hat for Lemon.
“Um, Miss Trixie?” Torte sheepishly began to ask from behind the flowers.
“Yes?”
“Are you gonna come back again when we're all better?”
“Yeah, are you?” Lemon chimed in.
Trixie thought for a moment before answering. “Certainly, children. I'll come back on a brand new wagon, and you two will be right there in the audience to see the entire show in all of its splendor.”
“Do you mean it?”
The pink filly hugged the flowers closer to herself, hope practically dripping from every word.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie never lies.”
Pulling the two fillies into a hug, Trixie couldn't suppress a small frown from flitting across her face. Lying to foals outside of her shows always left a sour taste in her mouth. But, she chides herself, this might not actually turn out to be false. After all, no pony can see the future, so she might indeed find her way back here once she has her new cart stocked up and outfitted for her acts. It would take a few weeks, certainly, to find or buy the materials for the cart, as well as tracking down that peddler or one of his ilk for more illusion powder. Not to mention the fireworks. Those don't come cheap, nor are they always available.
Disengaging from the two fillies, Trixie bid them farewell. Making her way to the door, she gave them one last wave farewell and, with a dramatic flourish of her cloak, left. A few doors down, she met the gray nurse who was waiting for her in the hallway.
“Sorry for the wait, Miss Trixie. Here, your payment.”
Handing over a small sack of bits, the nurse then began to escort Trixie from the hospital. It was late afternoon as she exited the building, and after promising the nurse that she would consider stopping by again in a few months, she set out to pay for her room at the local inn. In the morning, she would search for materials for her new cart. Then, once it was finished and she had restored her routine to its former glory, she would come back, bigger and better than ever. After all, she had promised.
