Trixie's eyes swept back and forth as she trotted down the street. In front of her, a newspaper hovered faithfully for her perusing pleasure. "Mmm..." She ducked to the right, avoiding colliding with another pony. She hadn't seen them, not exactly, but she'd had a feeling and didn't argue it. "Mmm..." The newspaper had details about the conference she was about to rob.

How had she arrived at that point? She dimly recalled a different life. She pushed things. Big heavy things that would get bigger and heavier the more she pushed them. She would help people, usually alright people, but she remembered not-nice people too, all growing hazy.

She shook her head suddenly, jostling the cobwebs. "I was a human," she said to herself, a reminder. She had worked at a supermarket. She had an apartment. It was a stupid dead-end job, but it had been hers, and she didn't want to forget that. It made being a magic pony all the sweeter.

She had also been a guy, which felt increasingly... strange... to think about. She was a mare. There was little room for doubt, and every day she was casually reminded a few times. But she had been male, and she held that memory close as well. She would not let that stupid doctor win. She'd play her part and be herself. She'd win her freedom, then do whatever she wanted, as a magic pony.

Angrily, she crumpled up the paper and sent it flying at a trash can. It was just a bit off target and hit the rim. Just as it was about to bounce off of it into the road, she grabbed it in her magic and made it circle dramatically before falling into the trash properly. She had meant to do that, or at least she told herself that.

She could see the conference center, rising tall and imposingly. "Time to scout." She approached at a casual trot. The conference was coming up the next day. Other ponies came and left, those who worked there, either for the center, or for the conference itself.

She saw there was a dangling bit of a card around their necks that identified them. She wanted one of those, but how to get one? She went right up to the door with a cocky smile.

A large stallion sat on a seat just inside and put out a hoof to block her way. "Sorry, miss."

Trixie raised a brow at him. "You will be sorry if you get in the way of Trixie inspecting her workplace before she has to perform."

The stallion perked up. "Huh?"

"Did Trixie stutter? She is to perform." She pointed into the conference center. "They said I could come inspect the venue beforehand." She reached behind the stallion's ear and pulled free a long and colorful string of cloth, one kerchief after the other, all tied together. "How is Trixie to plan her act if you stand in the way?"

"Coming through!" called someone behind Trixie. A glance revealed large carts of materials were rolling towards them. The guard hopped to his hooves and got to opening two doors instead of one to allow the carts inside.

Trixie smiled, victory in sight. As the carts rolled past, she went with them, casually keeping them between herself and the guard.

He blinked as the carts went past. Wasn't he talking to somepony? There was no one there anymore... He closed the extra door and sat down, ready to do his job.

Trixie broke away from the carts and looked around the towering conference center from the inside. Wide open spaces left plenty of room for many ponies to walk around. Doors led to big conference rooms, where various discussions and panels would be held, she imagined. It was all a little bare, still being set up in a flurry of activity.

She had seen the map, she knew where she had to be. She kept walking, always kept walking. She had to look like she was supposed to be there, which meant not looking like an awestruck tourist. She had someplace to be. She was important! Of course she was, she was Trixie, who was both Great and Powerful.

She strode purposefully to where the operations were, and the money would be held. She walked past the door casually, as if her target were on the other side, even as she looked inside as best she could in the act. There were only two ponies present. Most of them, she guessed, were busy setting up the conference. There were some tables, a filing cabinet, and wide-bottomed pony chairs. It wasn't a glamorous room, but it became a room Trixie knew, which she hoped would make getting to it later just a little--

Her thoughts were interrupted by a large shape suddenly in front of her. "Miss?" asked the large stallion. "You don't have a badge."

"That is because Trixie got lost on the way to get one," deflected Trixie with a smile at the large pony. "Can you point the way?"

"Just outside," he said in firm tones. He thrust a hoof back towards the entrance. "That way."

"Ah, very good." Trixie turned in place and began trotting without delay. "Thank you." The stallion watched her go, clearly suspicious of her, but she did leave as requested, and he didn't seem interested in following her outside. He'd done what he meant to do, getting the unknown out of there.

Trixie had done what she meant to do. She knew where the room was, and what it basically looked like. She knew with her own hooves how far inside the conference center it was, rather than a map. Maps were nice, but didn't give 'feelings', and she needed that if she hoped to teleport without incident.

Free of the conference, she trotted away as if nothing important had happened.

"Trixie!"

She blinked and looked around before a tapping brought her vision down to a little filly waving excitedly at her. "Hello?" she offered, uncertain.

"Hello, Trixie! You're my favorite magician!" She clip-clopped her hooves together excitedly. "Can you do a trick?"

Trixie felt a blush coming on. She had never done a magic show. That was the... real Trixie. She was a Trixie, but not that one. Still, sending the filly away felt like a horrible thing to do. "The Great and Powerful Trixie can afford a moment for her adoring fans." The filly's grin grew almost worryingly wide.

Trixie returned the smile in a more sedate expression before she reared up onto her hind legs. She threw her forehooves wide and sparkles shot out in either direction. "You've come for a display of magic and--"

"--Actually," cut in the filly, bouncing in place a little. "Could you tell me one of your stories?"

Trixie crashed down to all fours, stunned. "Oh. Is there a particular story you wanted to hear from Trixie?" The filly wasn't there to see magic? The very idea baffled Trixie.

"A new one!" she cried excitedly. Another little pony, a colt, poked her and pointed at Trixie. "Yeah, it's Trixie, and she's gonna tell me a new story!" The colt sat down next to his friend, apparently also ready to hear the new story.

Before Trixie knew what was happening, ponies began to gather, as if their herding instinct just compelled them to join the forming crowd. She had so many eyes on her, waiting for a new story of magic and amazingness. It was her cue to act. "There she was, in the frozen north." Trixie pointed in the direction she was pretty sure north was. "The snow drove down in thick sheets, not allowing Trixie to see more than an inch in front of her own snoot." She raised a hoof to her nose, booping herself. "Not that she could even feel it in all the cold, brrr."

The foals giggled at the story, their eyes locked on the storyteller they had roped into the performance. The colt from before waved a hoof excitedly. "Did you get lost forever?!"

The filly ribbed him with an elbow. "Don't be stupid, she's right there, and let her finish her story!"

Trixie's smile deepened as she got into the groove. "Trixie thought she might become that, lost forever in endless snow, perhaps to be found years later as a Trix-scicle. But! She pressed on! She had to reach that precious place, to free the ponies that had been trapped there for so long."

She focused her magic as she drew in a deep breath. With a slow exhalation that sounded like a chill wind, she willed her magic to go along, and it did, thankfully. Her cheeks grew cold as she blew out mildly cold air, washing out over the crowd as she turned to face each group of them. They applauded the special effect, immersed in the idea of cold. It came so much more naturally. She was Trixie. Trixie was a stage magician, and she was in her element. Her magic would cooperate with her.

"Just when Trixie thought she had taken her last step, the last struggling step she could manage, her hoof struck something besides snow." She looked around and saw a mailbox. She hurried over to it and tapped a hoof on it. It made an appropriately metallic and hollow sound. "Just like that, and Trixie rejoiced! It was exactly what she had been searching for."

And so Trixie's story went on, growing more and more bold and magical until she was the one that pulled the Crystal Empire out of the void it had been trapped in. "She would have helped them after that, but she was very cold and hungry, so she left, confident that others would soon arrive to finish the job." She polished her chest with a hoof. "The Humble and Defferential Trixie did not stay long enough for even the crystal ponies to know what she had done, and now they make statues of other heroes, and that's alright." Trixie dipped her head. "Trixie knows what she did, and that's good enough." She was also gloating about it to a crowd, but let's not get confused.

Hooves stomped on the sidewalk as ponies cheered and called. Most of the crowd were younger, but there were a good number of older ponies too. The adults in the crowd threw some bits at her that she gladly grabbed from the air with her magic. One pony emerged from the crowd, his pelt glittering in the light. It was a crystal stallion!

"I... had no idea," he started, awkwardly squirming. "We just thought the spell that banished us expired, but I guess the odds of that happening are pretty small compared to somepony actually causing it to end. Um... thank you." He dropped down to one knee, bowing before Trixie. "We are forever indebted to the Great and Powerful Trixie."

Trixie felt her face heating. It was one thing to make up a story to entertain foals. She hadn't meant to... "You are very welcome, but let's keep this between us." She wobbled a hoof between herself and the stallion. "Trixie is perfectly happy as she is. She does not need statues of herself." Would the real Trixie ever say that? "Please, forget you heard a thing."

"I'll never forget this," argued the pony with a timid grin. "But I'll keep it a secret if you prefer, Great and Powerful Trixie."

That would have to do. "Yes, please. Now, Trixie must be off. Who knows when another set of ponies may have need of her astounding magic!?" She turned away from the crowd and got to trotting as quickly as she could without breaking into a gallop.

She had seen her target, and made a few extra bits by storytelling. All in all, she decided it hadn't been a poorly spent day at all. She smiled as he went down the road. Telling that story had been kind of fun...

Author's Note

The best part is that you can't prove Trixie didn't do it.

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