Return to Disharmony

“I’ve never seen anyone master warping so fast my dear.”

“Well I’ve always been good at learning a few extra tricks on the fly.” Trixie laughed.

“Oh and the way you warped that pompous stallion into the sky, o-ho-ho, that was classic my dear. Couldn’t have done any better myself.” Discord said as he reminisced.

“Yeah, and did you see all his friends gawking at me? They looked at me as if I’d sprouted a second head or something.”

In truth, Trixie loved the attention of the crowd as they witnessed her feats of magic. It’s been almost a year since the Ursa incident forced her to work for Mr. Leo and though she wouldn’t admit it, she was happy to finally be back in the spotlight…though she wished that it had happened under different circumstances.

Her thoughts suddenly shifted to Mr. Leo.

“Why so sad my dear, you were so happy a moment ago.”

Trixie knew that she couldn’t trust Discord. She’d have to find a way to free Mr. Leo on her own but until then, she had to pick her moment.

“Oh it’s…nothing. So are there any other tricks that I could learn?”

Discord chuckled warmly inside Trixie’s mind.

“Why of course my dear, what good is unlimited power if you don’t have as many tricks up your sleeves?”

Trixie had a smile on her face, she didn’t know whether or not it was because of the chance to practice magic again or to lull the chaotic trickster into a false sense of security.

“Well what do I get to learn first?”

She could hear him chuckling to herself before he continued.

“Where do you wanna begin?”

Trixie thought back to her days as performer and tried the first trick she could think off. She felt the power building at the base of her horn as she thought of a fresh bushel of daisies. As the power grew, the fragrance of fresh cut flowers filled the air until suddenly, in a flash, a fresh bouquet of flowers appeared in front of her, floating in front of her nose.

“Bravo Trixie, bravo!” Discord cheered as Trixie heard the sound of clapping inside her mind.

A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she remembered her days on the road, traveling from town to town, performing feats of magic for the masses as they cheered her on. She remembered how happy she was when she first bought her shack and left home to start her career. Nothing, short of her discovering her special talent, could compare to her first show when she first made a bouquet appear before her eyes.

Then, just as suddenly, her mood began to change as she sadly remembered how far she had come since then, cleaning statues and getting yelled at when things went wrong, it wasn’t what she’d expected when she first thought of her first visit to Canterlot.

And now it came down to this…

“Is something wrong?”

Trixie didn’t notice the tear running down her face until she had subconsciously wiped it away.

“Oh its nothing,” she lied, “it’s been a while since I performed this trick.”

“Alright then, well my dear, would you like to learn how to use that trick of yours to its full potential?”

Curiosity got the better of her.

“Sure, how?”

Trixie heard the sound of cracking knuckles inside her head before she heard Discord continue.

“Well my dear, instead of making something appear, have you ever thought of making something…disappear?”

Some part of her didn’t like where the conversation was going yet some part of her was too curious to let the question drop so easily.

“Well no…I mean I have tried making ponies disappear in my shows but usually that was a temporary invisibility spell. I’ve never actually tried to make something disappear completely.”

“Wait…you could turn ponies invisible?”

“Well like I said, it was temporary, maybe only three minutes at the most.”

“Oh…how disappointing.” Discord said dejectedly, “it would’ve really helped if you could turn yourself invisible. Anywho, you haven’t thought about making something disappear?”

“Well…” Trixie thought about it for a moment, “no actually.”

“Well how about we start now, with something easy of course like say…that wonderful bouquet you poofed out of nowhere in particular.”

“Alright, where do I start?”

Trixie could swear she could’ve heard Discord thinking inside her mind.

“Well I suppose the best place to start would be to imagine something like a safe or a capsule, y’know, something where you could store these things until you’re ready to appearify them again.”

“Appearify, seriously?” Trixie asked, cocking an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Now don’t look at me like that, what better way would you describe causing something to reappear out of thin air? I’m not a dictionary y’know, just the master or chaos, embodiment of disharmony, blah blah blah, can we please move on? Now then, imagine a capsule or something similar where you can chuck these things until later.”

Trixie closed her eyes and the first thing she saw was an old oak chest with her father’s cutie mark, an oak wand with stars wrapping themselves around it, emblazoned on the lock. She didn’t know why she would’ve thought of it now, after all these years, but since beggars can’t be choosers she chose to focus on the image on the chest as power began to build at the base of her horn.

“Good, now imagine yourself throwing the bouquet into it.”

She imagined herself chucking the bouquet into the chest just as the power began to work its way up her horn. The power released itself almost instantaneously before a flash enveloped the bouquet and caused it disappeared before her eyes.

“Good my pupil, y’know you’re really getting the hang of this more quickly than I thought. I can see that I chose well in my choice of vessel.”

Trixie could feel the pride puffing up in her chest as the praise reached her ears. She couldn’t remember hearing such praise coming from someone besides her father.

“Thank you Discord…” She felt weird saying that to a voice in her mind.

“Why you’re quite welcome my dear. So…do you think that you’re ready to perform my favor yet?”

“I don’t know…even with my new tricks, I don’t know if I’d be able to actually get rid of the princesses for you.”

“I know my dear, I suppose it would be a bit much to ask you to take on the monarchs of Equestria, especially since you’re just getting your wings after all.”

Trixie could hear footsteps going back and forth inside her skull until she heard something like a light bulb going off inside her mind.

“I’ve got it, all I’d need you to do is take me into the throne room. All you’d have to do is avoid the guards, bypass the traps and defenses, and break into the princess’s throne room without getting crushed, trapped, burned, frozen, or banished to an astral body in the sky. Does that sound easier for you?”

“Are you joking?” It was the only thing Trixie could think to say in response to something so ridiculous.

“My dear, I have never been more serious about anything ever before in my entire life. It’s either I take us to the throne room and you take on the princesses or vice versa.”

She could feel the sweat dripping down her face as she considered her options. She either had to work her way into the throne room or she had to take on the princesses, two of the most powerful beings in all of Equestria and one of the few ponies to actually defeat Discord. Her nervousness began to show on her face and all she could think of was failure and the consequences of what she was about to do.

“What if I fail? I could be imprisoned for the rest of my life or even…banished. There’s no way that I could take on the princesses on my own. I’ll never make it past the front do-“

“Now my dear, first off, you hold the powers of unlimited potential in your hooves. You’re a natural magician who can learn any trick, any illusion, anything you wish to learn in the blink of an eye. You can’t run from this Trixie, one way or another you’re going to do this and y’know what my dear, you’re going to succeed and when you do, it’s going to be the greatest, show stopping event in your entire life. In addition, after this day, everypony is going to recognize your greatness from now until the end of time itself.

Trixie heard Discord drawing in a breath before he yelled a single question.

“WHO ARE YOU?”

“Trixie…” She said flatly.

“No my dear, that’s your civilian name, that’s the name of the mare who scrubbed statues and took orders from cantankerous old fogies. I want you to tell me what you’re true name is, the name greatness, the name that the ponies below will chant when they remember this day. Tell me what your name is my dear!”

Confidence built inside Trixie from a place she had forgotten existed. She found her voice, locked away deep inside her from so long ago, tucked away when she could no longer find an outlet to express her greatness to be forgotten forever. She took her voice, loud and confident, and loudly boasted to the heavens above, loudly enough for all of Equestria to hear, “I am the great and powerful Trixie!”

“I’m sorry, once again?”

”I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I AM, NO, I WILL WIN, I WILL SUCCEED!”

“That’s my girl, large and in charge as it should be! So with this in mind, I believe that we’re ready to begin.”

She felt a part of her still giving into the fear in spite of herself.

“Are you sure?” Trixie said apprehensively.

“Of course, and remember Trixie, I’ll be there every step of the way, all you need to do…is lead.”

So with that, Trixie looked upon the royal chambers from above her disc and smirked. The princesses had no idea what was coming for them.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

Trixie warped from atop the tallest tower into an alleyway before walking down a crowded street. As she walked, passing the blue manes who looked down upon her with contempt, she took pleasure in laughing in the face of every ignorant, self-centered pony that had the nerve to look down upon her. She didn’t need to prove anything to these stuck-up blue-manes who walked as if they owned the place, as if they owned the ground they walked on and Trixie was just an unwelcomed guest. She had nothing to fear from them and she knew that in time, she’d be able to show everyone why.

Meanwhile, disc which hung above the tallest tower began to fade until it was nothing more than a memory.

“No turning back now.”