Doubt

CHAPTER FIVE
THE SHOW

“Citizens of Canterlot!”

The yell echoed around the square, making the prissy ponies jump in surprise. Faint clinking filled the silence as a few teacups dropped onto the stones and shattered. Many heads turned to glare at the source of the disturbance, which had come from the stage in the center of the square. Collectively, the ponies all let loose loud “Hmph”s as they glared at the unicorn who had interrupted tea time.

Trixie smirked as she saw all the eyes that had turned to ogle at her, even though most of them were narrowed. “Gaze in awe as you rest your eyes on the Great and Powerful Trixie, as she performs some of the greatest acts of magic ever to be witnessed!” She yelled, raising her chin and turning to show the audience her side, one of her front hooves raised in a regal position. As she struck her pose, her horn began to glow with a purple aura. Above her, a white orb grew, shifting and glowing as it floated in midair. Suddenly, it burst with a flash of white light, revealing a fancy purple cape that was dotted with stars. The cape descended and landed on her back, fastening itself around her neck with a shining blue jewel.

Who needs that old rag anyways, Trixie thought as she scrutinized her new cape. Quite satisfied, she turned again towards her audience who all looked a little shocked at her pronouncement, which had evidently not pleased them. They were all very proud ponies, and the even thought of being told that somepony was better than them was repugnant. Their wide eyes began to narrow in dislike as they watched Trixie.

“And what makes you so Great?” Somepony yelled from the edge of the square.

“What makes The Great and Powerful Trixie so absolutely amazing, you ask?” Said Trixie, completely unabashed, “Trixie is the only unicorn with the amazing magical ability to vanquish two terrible Ursa Majors!” And with that, her horn began to glow once more as two brilliant jets of light arose from either side of her and collided in the sky, sending a shower of multicolour sparks over the stage. In the space the jets had collided sat the form of an Ursa Minor, crudely drawn out of blue light. “When the citizens of both Hoofington and Ponyville were left helpless by the terrifying beast, they had no one to turn to in their time of need. That is, until the Great and Powerful Trixie appeared!”

The small blue outline of a unicorn burst into life in the sky as it fought the Ursa by waving around a deadly Wand With a Star on the End. The Ursa was covered by beams of waving and pulsating light that appeared to be emanating from the tiny pony in front of it, then disappeared altogether.

“That, dear Canterlotians, is why Trixie is the greatest unicorn in all of Equastria!,” Trixie finished as her blue outline burst into multiple jets of light, all of which shot off in different directions, some twirling as they went, then exploded in bright flashes of light. “Was there ever any doubt?”

At these words, a few of the unicorns that sat watching stood up in anger, most pawing at the ground with their delicately manicured hooves. A few noticed what they were doing and almost began to cry as they saw the chips in their layers of makeup. One of these poor stallions began to limp towards the nearest salon, as though he required a hooficure to function properly. In the window of the store, two spa ponies sat, looking terrified at the sight of his hoof, and one promptly fainted dramatically.

Eyeing the silent ponies distastefully, Trixie sniffed and began, “Don’t believe the Great and Powerful Trixie?” She smirked, “Well then, Canterlotens, I hereby challenge you to Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better.”

A silence followed these words. All the ponies in the square Trixie to be proved wrong, but none of them actually wanted to get up and do it. Trixie’s grin only widened at the sight of the unmoving ponies.

“I’ll take that action” Came a voice from above, and with a flash of blue and yellow, a pony landed on the stage with a loud thunk. The pony’s legs were spaced widely apart in landing position, although one was raised in the air. Raising his head to stare Trixie in the eye, she realized that he was covered in a Wonderbolt’s costume. A dark blue mane stuck out of the top, blown back in the typical windswept Wonderbolt style. His eyes were covered by goggles, and the only other visible thing was his tail and a pair of light blue wings sticking out from either side of his body, still straight from the landing. Staring Trixie down, he looked quite impressive.

The crowd gasped in awe at the sight of a Wonderbolt, and the air was instantly ripe with flashes of light coming from the cameras of the reporters who had seemingly appeared out of thin air. Trixie, however, scoffed.

“A rough, little Pegasus here to challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie. Don’t make me laugh.” Trixie turned her back on the Wonderbolt and faced the crowd. “Anypony else?”

“I think you’ll find me quite a worthy opponent,” Replied the Pegasus as he lifted his goggles, revealing a pair of light green eyes. He smiled as he spoke and offered a hoof to Trixie, saying “Name’s Soarin’, in case you don’t know me.”

Trixie ignored his hoof as she turned to face him, scowling. “Alright then, Borin’, what can you do? Oh, and no, rolling around in mud is not a talent.”

Ignoring the unicorn’s feeble insults, Soarin’ lowered his goggles back over his eyes and splayed his wings out, then suddenly took off. He was so fast that a gust of wind blew over Trixie, causing her main the poof up. Combing it back down with her magic, Trixie grudgingly looked up to watch Soarin’ fly, which was something that most ponies had to pay for.

And, much to her dismay, Trixie found herself to be impressed. Soarin’ spun, twirled, and twisted as he cut through the air, appearing as nothing more than a blue blur streaked with yellow. Behind him trailed a line of storm clouds, all dark gray and menacing, all spewing lightning before they faded away into the sky. After about a minute of flipping and dashing in the air, he went into a spectacular dive, heading right for Trixie. She screamed, then cowered and covered her head with her hooves. Right before he crashed right into the unicorn, he suddenly stopped in midair, his wings stretched far to either side of his body, then touched down with grace onto the wooden planks in front of her, breathing heavily.

As Trixie peered out from behind her shaking hooves, she saw Soarin’ bowing to a wildly cheering crowd. Her crowd.

Rising to her hooves, she yelled over the deafening crowd, “Pathetic!”

Soarin’, who had his back to the unicorn, felt himself being pulled backwards and a searing pain coming from his rump. Looking backwards in confusion and fright, he saw that his tail was surrounded by a light purple aura.

The crowd gasped as Soarin’ was yanked into the air, suspended by his tail. His arms waved wildly as he swung, his head turning desperately from side to side. In front of the embarrassing sight, a flash of yellow appeared as another Pegasus landed in the square, although this one was not in uniform. Her mane and tail were swept back like Soarin’s, and both looked to be made out of fire. It was unmistakeably Spitfire, though she must have been off the job today. Spitfire was the only Wonderbolt who Trixie knew by name; she had never much liked sports.

“Another Blunderbolt here to have fun? Good, you’ve come just in time to see the amazing Trixie perform her show-stopping magic.” And with that, she jerked Soarin’ higher, beginning her show.

THUMP. The noise cut through the silent square like a knife. Trixie had swung Soarin’ over her head, sending him straight into the wooden planks of the stage. Pulling him up again, Trixie swung him in an arc above her head.

WHUMP. Harder this time.

CRASH. Soarin’ was smashing into the stage at full speed.

CRASH. CRASH. CRASH. Silence. Trixie had stopped as Soarin’ hit the stage for the sixth time.

Trixie simply stood for a moment, looking down at the Pegasus as he lay at her hooves. The whole crowd was completely silent as they gaped at the limp form of Soarin'. Spitfire's mouth was nearly touching the ground in shock.

“Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie has beaten the Wonderbolt at his own game,” She pronounced, smirking as she glared down at Spitfire, who now had her eyes narrowed in anger.

“You didn’t win! That wasn’t what he did!” The Pegasus yelled as dashed onto the stage, so fast that she left a trail of white hot flames in her wake. She had her nose pressed against Trixie’s and was glaring at her with such hatred that the unicorn thought lightning might shoot from her eyes.

“Of course I won,” Trixie replied calmly as she stepped away from Spitfire, “Just look at that pathetic-“

“You didn’t!” Yelled Spitfire, spit (although it was luckily not on fire) flying into Trixie’s face as she did so. “You claimed that you could do anything better, didn’t you?” She continued in a calmed voice, trying to regain her composure, although her teeth were still bared.

“Yes, and as you can see-“

“You didn’t do anything better. You did a cheap little magic trick and injured him even though he challenged you to a flying competition! That isn’t winning!”

And much to Trixie’s dismay, the crowd all collectively nodded, murmuring to each other in soft voices.

Spitfire, who had turned to look at the crowd as they whispered in agreement, spun back to face Trixie, returning the smirk that had just been wiped off of the unicorn’s face.

Trixie simply sat there, until the near silence was broken by a faint groan from behind her. Turning, she saw Soarin’, who was on his hooves and was rubbing his head, wincing.

“Soarin’! We need to get you some medical treatment right away; you have a show in an hour!” Spitfire exclaimed, galloping towards the dizzy Pegasus.

But her friend ignored her completely as he tried to make his way, limping, towards Trixie, a look of utter hatred in his face. They stared daggers at each other until the gaze was broken by Spitfire as she stepped between them.

“Oh, no you don’t! We’re getting you a doctor’s office first!” She exclaimed. She then proceeded to duck her head under Soarin’s body and lift him onto her back. Her back legs slid backwards on the stage and shook under the weight of stallion, who was waving his arms, desperately trying to get to Trixie.

Turning away with a small grin on her face, she turned to the crowd, expecting to see a lump of ponies cheering for her and her victory. There was no way any of them would listen to that disaster over there. Instead, she saw the backs of a few ponies as they walked away, following their peers, who had all already left.

“No! Wait!” Trixie called desperately at their retreating backs. A little filly who was trailing behind her mother turned and stuck out her tongue, then dashed off to her mother’s side again.

Trixie slumped onto the stage and stared at the ground, feebly muttering, “Come… Come back…”

But there was no one there to watch as a tear fell from her muzzle onto the wooden stage.