Team Star

“Well, show us something you’ve learned” Sunset encouraged, eagerly waiting to see what Trixie had been down in that bunker learning to do for the past couple weeks.

Trixie hopped from left to right, feeling much more like herself in the moment, though still not completely her overly-cocky-self. “Well, with the whole ‘changeling’ thing going on, it’s really just been Cadence and I so…”

Sunset waved her off. “I’m sure whatever it is, you’re great at it.”

Starlight bit her tongue, knowing Trixie the best, she knew that was not always the case. Though, having learned a teensy bit of time-and-place behavior, she recognized now was not the best time to point out all of her best friend’s flaws. “Yeah.. just give us a little snippet!”

Rarity looked up from the project she’d been sewing in the corner of their dorm room. “Oh do please, Trixie, darling.” She placed her hooves in her lap as her magic pulled from the machine she used to sew. “I’ve put down my project, so you know, you must go on!”

Trixie hummed, taking a deep breath slowly in, and then out. Revving her horn, the trio leaned in with excitement. It was then that a single snowflake danced off the Winter Maiden’s horn. “That’s all I can do.” Trixie confessed.

“And that was-“

“Great! It was amazing actually!” Sunset shouted, interrupting any semi-unkind words from Starlight.

“I know, it sucks, I suck. That’s the whole reason they chose me to give the power to.” Trixie huffed, throwing her flank down on her bed. “No pony would ever expect a huge loser like me to be ‘The Winter Maiden’.” She sulked, falling to her back, letting her hind legs dangle off the edge of the bed.

“Oh no, doll, I’ve never seen any pony make a snowflake before. Usually it takes whole weather factories to make those and you’ve gone and made one all on your own!” Rarity said, using her magic to lift the red, cat-eye glasses from her muzzle. “That is a skill indeed.”

“Rarity’s right” Sunset insisted. “I just feel like you’re being too hard on yourself.” She huffed. “We can’t imagine how you must feel…”

Starlight chipperly jumped up with a sort of cartoonish pep. “You are going about it all wrong!” Rarity and Sunset turned, giving Starlight the stinkiest of eyes. “You are trying to learn to control your powers the way Cadence does, when you really need to use them the way Trixie would.”

“What, by pretending I know what I’m doing and throwing smoke bombs to cover up any stupid mistakes I make?”

Sunset tapped a hoof to the ground, “that’s not half bad, Starlight.” Trixie sat up, giving her a look of annoyance and disdain. “The Trixie we know would make the best of her situation… why don’t you try treating your lessons… like tricks?”

Rarity placed her glasses on her sewing table, “or rather, imagine oneself performing the marvelous tricks of a Winter Maiden to the grandest audience. Now, I know you are a truly professional a performer, and if I know anything about performers… they know: the show must go on!”

“Where’s your little blue friend?” Rainbow Dash asked as their sparring opponents approached. Today’s meet was held inside the gymnasium, and it seemed only three of their team of four had shown.

“You’re literally blue.” Sunset insisted, gesturing at the clearly blue pegasus hovering in the air.

Starlight chuckled at this “she won’t be joining us, PARTY ponies, you’ll just have to get your butts kicked by us.”

Fluttershy hummed, pittering away. “Oh, it really won’t be a fair fight. I will just sit this one out.” She seemed oh so sincere in her disappointment, save for the huge grin and her urgency to get off the gymnasium floor.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called. “Your talent is like… super awesome…” she mumbled as her partner got further away.

“What? Don’t think you can take us on your own?” Sunset asked.

Apple Jack stepped up, “Naw, think we’re pretty square. Your teams got two real opponents and a couple’a dead weights.”

Rarity swirled her magic about her as if it were a sword. “I beg to differ, Earth Pony.”

“Now what is that supposed to mean?” Pinkie Pie asked, hopping in, something had been noticeably different with her since the match between Cadence and Cossette. Something nopony could pin-point and something she refused to explain.

Rarity aimed her sword. “Think twice before referring to me as dead-weight.”

As the bell rang, Pinkie Pie bolted across the floor with a dash of light. Before Rarity could blink, she was standing close enough to touch. In an instant Pinkie Pie managed to fully pull a string of magic out of Rarity’s grasp. “Be NICE!” Pinkie Pie screamed as she twisted the ribbon of blue magic into a bizarre balloon animal. It was a dog, no a giraffe, an animatronic pony giraffe, no that’s just ridiculous! How she could handle unicorn magic with just her hooves was beyond anypony’s understanding.

Throwing the magical ribbon balloon (that simply made no physical sense, and based on all known laws of magic, should not have existed) to the ground resulted in a small explosion that blasted both Pinkie and Rarity clear across the gym.

Sunset teleported directly behind Apple Jack, who was swirling a lasso in the hopes of capturing her. “You’ll have to be faster than that, cow-pony.” She giggled at her far less offensive joke before teleporting away again. As the rope wrangled around her, she struggled against it, how could Apple Jack have known where she would go. “Hey!”

“Hey, lucky guess.” Apple Jack said as she began to pull the rope towards herself as if she were reeling in the catch of the day. “Hey!” She shouted back as she dropped the now flaming rope before it turned completely to ash. Reviewing her former captive, who was fully ignited. “Seems we’ve both got tricks up our sleeves.”

Starlight teleported effortlessly away from Rainbow Dash, her speed was impressive, but she lacked precision and thought. Starlight predicted her moves well before she made them, and could thus evade them with little to no action. “Rainbow Dash, I thought you were fast!” She said tauntingly.

“I AM FAST!” Rainbow cried as she bolted with her full power. An eruption of circular energy radiated behind her as she seemingly moved as fast as light itself. It was then, that Starlight was bested, surrounding herself in a force field so that she would not take the brunt of the hit.

Rainbow ricocheted from the orb of protection, but landed flawlessly on her hooves. She slid against the gymnasium floor. “That’s enough!” Their professor said, clapping her hooves at their displacement. “This is a draw if I’ve ever seen one.” Celestia said “great work, all of you.”

It was then that Trixie appeared, from behind Celestia. And unbeknownst to team PARTY, returned from her training. “Hey! Nice fighting you guys!” She said enthusiastically hoof-tapping her teammates. “You guys too!” She said cheerfully holding out her hoof for Rainbow Dash or Apple Jack to tap.

“Whatever, you didn’t even fight us, where were you anyway?” Rainbow snapped. She and Apple Jack turning to leave, obviously a bit jealous of the clear favoritism Celestia was displaying toward Trixie.

Pinkie Pie slowly crept up, gently tapping her hoof against Trixie’s “I’m on to you.” She whispered mysteriously through her gritted-teethed smile. Only Trixie had heard it, perhaps she had made it up.

“Well, anyways, looks like dinner time.” She said, awkwardly placing her hoof behind her head.

Earlier that day

“Keep your head up!” Cadence shouted, she slid across the ground on all four hooves, wings half bent before charging toward Trixie. Trixie flailed aimlessly, using her one trick. Snow bunched around as a flurry of flakes formed, but a single cloud of snow was no match for a charging opponent. Just before Cadence struck, she pulled all her force back. Stopping just short of Trixie, close enough for their muzzles to have bumped. “Huh.” She said, “usually that works.”

“Have you trained a maiden before?” Trixie asked, releasing the breath she’d hitched in during the charge.

Cadence flapped her wings, lifting her slender figure from the floor, creating distance between the two maidens. “Not exactly, it’s just…” she thought for a moment. “When some pony hides their talent, sometimes one might… scare it out of them.”

“I’m not sure your methods are… foolproof for everypony.” Trixie murmured. “I think we need to take a different approach…”

So, after a moment of set up, and a chair pulled out from one of the bunker offices, Cadence was instructed to sit.

Trixie cleared her throat, stepping out from behind the empty glass cylinders that once held the former Winter Maiden. “Behold!” She said dramatically, reciting her magician’s monologue. It felt like years since she’d been a street magician, but it had only been a few months at most. “Tis’ I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!” She announced. Cadence giggle to herself, which wavered Trixie’s confidence. “I- I’m sorry I’m just a bit rusty… and used to much larger audiences.”

Cadence waved her off with a single hoof. “Go on.”

Trixie cleared her throat, adjusting her footing as she focused all her energy toward her head and then her horn. “For my first trick, I will…” she thought for a moment, stalling. Drawing a perfect circle in front of herself she created a screen of glimmering light, and in jumping through her own cover, blasted her concentration upwards into the bunker ceiling. “Create a snow storm!” She announced as gusts of wind blew down hard from her creation.

The flurries turned to icy breezes as they picked up speed, the tornado of ice surrounding Trixie as she seemed to panic, but it was only momentarily.

Cadence was fully toppled by the blasts of wind, barely able to press toward Trixie, even with full use of her wings to propel her forward. “Trixie!” She shouted urgently. This was surely a grand show of power, but unfortunately the Alicorn wasn’t certain the unicorn had what it took to control it.

Trixie closed her eyes, lifting from her place on the floor, into the eye of the storm. Taking a deep breath, she made eye contact with Cadence, as she retracted the entirety of the weather back into her body.

Gently, she floated back to the ground, clearly winded and out of breath. She bowed, continuing her show, it was all an act a persona she’d created. “Hope you are all in stunned awe! Of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Cadence pressed her wings toward the winded unicorn. “That was amazing!” She shouted, rushing to her aid. “How did you do that? Moments ago you could hardly make a flurry of flakes.”

Trixie shrugged, body heaving as she tried to catch her breath. “I am a performer.” She answered simply. “I may not be confident or even particularly skilled, but ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ is.”