Trixie lifted the last of the hayfries off the floor and floated them into the nearby garbage can. They were the result of yet another misbehaving foal, and left to Trixie to clean up. The once great and powerful one was working as a waitress for the Manehatten I-Trot, and the only solace she found in her work was that her shift was almost over.
After the disaster in Ponyville, Trixie had tried moving on with her magic show. However, without a stage or any props, her audience would generally mistake her – HER, The greatest and most powerful magician in all of Equestria – as an asylum escapee. After her fourth time being delivered to the Canterlot Home for the Psychologically Unstable by police (to the ever increasing amusement of the receptionists) she decided to cancel her show. Trixie had tried to get a job worthy of her, but quickly found out that Celestia and Luna were not planning on stepping down any time soon. After that mishap she went looking for something a little more reasonable: Captain of the guard, Mayor of Manehatten, CEO of Mane Capitol… she even stepped as low as applying to be the Equestrian ambassador to the griffon nation, imagine her surprise when she was not immediately appointed to such a lowly position.
With her steadily depleting supply of bits, Trixie eventually was forced to take a position lower than she deserved or starve. It was, of course, an easy decision for her to make. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice anyway. After Trixie’s third night with no dinner, she reconsidered, and found the nearest place hiring and took the job.
The restaurant was fairly empty today, and the only patrons were on their way out, so Trixie had nothing to do but sit down and wait. As with almost every quiet moment since the incident, she couldn’t help but think about that horrible night almost one year ago. The scene had played through in her head hundreds of times before, but Trixie still flinched at the memory of her home being destroyed. She did not understand just how powerful they were back when she boasted vanquishing one, but being only a few feet away from that bear gave Trixie a new perspective on power. Unfortunately for her great and powerful ego, that new perspective did not last long. Trixie never knew anypony could wield that power, let alone some unicorn from Ponyville. Forget the bear, being able to defeat a unicorn of that caliber would make for a much better story.
Now that Trixie thought of it, defeating that unicorn would be a better story. A unicorn actually powerful enough to vanquish an ursa (major or minor) has probably spread her name across most of Equestria, it must have been just bad luck that Trixie had never heard of her. News of that unicorn’s defeat would spread like wildfire, all Trixie would have to do is actually defeat her. Trixie was sure she would win in a competition against the other unicorn; no amount of power could trump Trixie’s style and skill. She decided not to wait one more moment; Trixie threw off her uniform and marched right out the door, paying little attention to the manager’s cheers.
“Hey, your shift isn’t over yet… “
Trixie decided to tune him out, she would have many more fans soon, and his cheers were fairly strange. It was just past noon; Trixie would make it to Ponyville at the perfect time to start a show. She could see it already, the adoring fans, the humiliated purple monster, a new stage… Things were finally looking up for the showmare.
When Trixie’s stage home rolled into Ponyville, it immediately became the center of attention. The residents of Ponyville remembered the last time Trixie was there, and while not many wanted to attend her show, none of them wanted to miss the chance of seeing another Ursa Minor attack. Sure, the first attack had been rather destructive, but if it was going to happen they wanted to see it. Especially if Twilight showed the true extent of her power again, the full force of a mage of her caliber is quite the sight. Word of Trixie’s return quickly spread to those who did not see her enter, and soon there was a crowd in front of Trixie’s home just waiting for something to happen.
Even with the knowledge of what was coming, everypony in the audience was startled when the stage opened with a trumpet fanfare and a round of fireworks. A huge cloud of smoke rapidly filled the stage, and out of it came Trixie, complete with the cape and hat.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned!” There was a distinct noise of some cricket in the distance chirping its heart out, but nothing else. This response did not faze her; it was what she was expecting after all.
“The last time she was here, Trixie challenged anypony and everypony, but this time Trixie is here to prove that she is truly the greatest and most powerful unicorn in Equestria, so I challenge Twilight Sparkle to a magic competition!”
As is on cue, the entire crowd turned towards Twilight, who was standing near the front with her friends.
“What, me? I would really rather-“
“So you will forfeit to me now, knowing that I am indeed the greatest and most powerful wizard to ever live!” More fireworks went off on the background.
“Go on Twi!” Rainbow Dash cheered. “Show that Phony who’s boss!”
“But I think that I really sho-“
“Twilight, dear, I hate to interrupt, but remember that she saw you deal with that dreaded Ursa, she knows full well just who she is challenging.” Rarity then gestured to the stage. “Everyone deserves to show off what they are good at, and up there waits your chance to do just that. Just go up there and show her what it means to be a true magician. And besides Twilight, you wouldn’t want all these ponies to have shown up here and then be denied a show.”
While Twilight had learned from the last time Trixie visited that it is acceptable to let others know how powerful she is, she still felt uncomfortable about the Idea of a competition. She knew that Trixie would lose, there was no doubt of that, but that just made Twilight feel even more reluctant to get up on stage. Rarity had a point though; Trixie knew what she was getting into by targeting Twilight. So maybe it would be alright for her to accept Trixie’s challenge…
“No need to fret there sugercube.” Twilight figured that her anxiety was written all over her face by now. “This is all just for entertainment, Twi. No big deal, all you have to do is be yourself, and I promise nothing will go wrong.”
Her friends were right, there was no reason for her to not deny Trixie’s request. Twilight knew that at the very least
she would put on a good show for the town. “I accept you challenge Trixie!”
The anticipation was nearly tangible, this could be the greatest magical performance Ponyville would ever see, and everyone there knew it. Many ponies actually held their breath while Twilight walked to the stage, or to them, took her sweet time slowly sauntering up to the stage.
“So, Trixie, what are the rules for this show?” Just as Twilight finished hew question, Trixie’s horn lit up and the stage was clouded in smoke. When the smoke cleared seconds later, Trixie was standing on the other side.
“Beat that, Sparkle.” Trixie spat the last word out as if it were a distasteful insult. Twilight responded by simply teleporting a few feet to the side. Trixie was not expecting that, but she only let her surprise remain visible for a few seconds. “Hmph, so you have one special trick, but can you do this!?” After a few moments of working with her magic, Trixie lifted up into the air. This seemed like quite the feat to Twilight, at least until she saw the thin strings attached to the top of the stage. Based on the applause Twilight heard, only the front few rows could see what was really going on, everypony else was cheering for the apparent magical mastery. After a few moments of pretending to float around, Trixie lowered herself and glared at the other mare on stage.
Twilight quickly remembered a spell she had used not too long ago that she thought would work perfectly now. She
summoned a large amount of power and started weaving a magical cocoon around herself. Moments later, Twilight reappeared with a brand new set of wings and started slowly flying around the stage. Out in the audience, Rarity nearly fainted.
To say that Trixie looked unhappy would be the understatement of the century. It would be more accurate to say that Trixie looked like a depressed dear in headlights. She had to figure out a way to show up Twilight soon, or she would never be able to win back the crowd, or win the crowd at all for that matter. Trixie went to an old staple of hers, she stood up on her back legs in the grandest manner she could muster, as soon as she did this an array of beautiful fireworks went off behind her.
By now, Twilight was more interested in putting on an entertaining magic show than defeating Trixie, so she thought for a moment about her options. Suddenly, Twilight was struck by inspiration. Twilight started flying straight up with her brand new wings, and behind her, a bright formation of pure magical power rose with her. Twilight continued this display, trying to emulate Celestia raising the sun. The magic swirled behind and around her in a display of magnificent magical skill. After several seconds of this, Twilight stopped rising and put twice as much power into her magic, The crowd was blasted with pure light of every color and a silhouette the greatest and most powerful magician on stage. The cheers were deafening.
When Twilight landed, she didn’t even wait for Trixie, she went straight into another display of magic, and another, and another. A minute later, the stage and crowd were filled with Twilights magic. In one place, she was using an illusion spell to create a light show. Over a small group of fillies, Twilight juggled with balls she took from backstage. Over Twilight herself, several spells were working on changing a large patch of grass into a cape and hat. Twilight was in her element, she was aware of everything that was happening, from the delighted laughs of foals, to the adoring looks her spells received from every member of the audience, to the small whimper of the mare next to trying to contain her tears. Twilight saw the complex working of all her spells as she wove them around the crowd, circling some of them to other sections. She saw legitimate tears of joy fall from more than one pony’s eyes. She also saw Trixie discard her hat and cape and start to glow. Twilight looked over to Trixie in confusion and saw her quickly become completely engulfed in light and grow nearly twice her size. Where moments before was a sad showmare, now stood princess Celestia.
“…What!?”
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Celestia stared down at Twilight with one of the most disappointed and accusing glares in history.
“Wait… What?” Twilight’s mind took that moment to go on vacation, not like it was going to be much help anyway.
“What was the third lesson I taught you about your magic?” Twilight just stared; she was a bit too busy being confused to answer questions. After about a minute, Celestia spoke back up. “I told you that your power is special, and you should never use it to make another pony feel bad about themselves.”
“Buh… Huh?” Twilight really wished her brain would come back.
“That is exactly what you did here Twilight, you made poor ‘Trixie’ feel like a foal compared to you. I made her distress as obvious as I could, and you didn’t even have the decency to apologize.”
“Twilight, you failed the test of modesty, and you know what teachers do to students who fail a test… I will send a chariot for you tomorrow.” And with that, Celestia flew off.
Any of Twilight’s friends would have objected if they could, all of them wanted to do something. Unfortunately, they were all hindered by the state of their jaws, that being firmly affixed to the ground. Indeed, the entire audience was afflicted by this very predicament. After a few minutes, Twilight walked off stage, head hung low. Every other pony was still shocked into stasis for the time being.
As Trixie walked into Ponyville, she thought about her situation: no stage, no outfit, and apparently no ponies to watch. Trixie had yet to see a pony, and the further she went into the city, the more worried she became.
Eventually, Trixie turned the corner towards town center, where she was planning of having her show, and that is when she finally saw her first pony. And second, third, fourth… it seemed like the whole town was here. All of them were facing away from her, towards something she still couldn’t see. When Trixie caught sight of what everypony was looking at, she felt her heart leap to the top of her chest. There, in the center of town, sat an exact replica of her stage, with a replica of her outfit laying on it. If that wasn’t enough, the entire town seemed to be waiting for a show. Not a single pony moved or spoke, if Trixie didn’t know better, she would think that they were all in some state of shock. Trixie, however, did know better, they were all hoping for her return. They must do this on a nightly basis, it made sense to Trixie, of course they would wait so patiently for the return if the Great and Powerful Trixie.
Trixie wasted no time sneaking around the crowd and up to the stage. She triggered the smoke machines she was so familiar with, and walked onto stage, putting on her cape and hat in the process. Trixie strode to the center of the stage, and shouted out to the crowd: “The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned!”
The entire audience immediately bowed.
