Show Stopper

Everything’s quiet inside Trixie’s caravan. Hardly a sound could be heard coming from outside, as you lie peacefully inside the living room, on the couch, with blankets covering you completely. Light pours over you, warming you further and sending you into an even deeper, more relaxed sleep. Suddenly, a voice slowly begins to rise through the fog of slumber.

“…ke up!” You can’t quite make out what the familiar, frustrated voice is saying.

“..ake up… said!” The voice is starting to get louder and seemingly angrier, as you continue to try sleeping through the noise.

“That’s it!” As the voice shouts with a tone of finality, you suddenly feel something round impact with the side of your face viciously, startling you and making you jump up off the couch and into the floor with a small ‘thud’.

“I warned you twice and you didn’t get up, so that’s what you get!” Trixie says as she waits for you to speak, setting her hoof on the floor of the caravan.

“You know, the scary thing is that I’m starting to get used to being woken up like this…” you groggily state as you rub the cheek that she kicked.

“Well it’s your fault for not getting up when I told you to!” Trixie crosses her arms and looks down at you with a stern look of authority on her face.

“Well you treat me like a dog half the time, so why would I want to listen to you?” you ask, still sitting on the floor.

“I don’t treat you badly, you just force me to punish you! Besides, I never want to,” Trixie explains.

“Well when you want to act cute you’re fun to be with, but half the time you get touchy about the littlest things,” you claim, yawning afterwards.

“I always act cute!” Trixie retorts.

You laugh at how seriously she’s taking your statement. “It’s too early to be making jokes, you know.”

“I’m not joking! How dare you accuse me of joking about something like that!” She begins to pout.

“Now, when you do that? That’s cute. The rest? Obnoxious, at best,” you state assertively, mocking her when she huffs at you in frustration.

“My head’s hurting too much to argue about this,” she says as she rubs her temples.

“Well that isn’t my fault, you should’ve drank less,” you say bluntly.

“Well, YOU get to help me. While I take a shower and change, you’re going to cook me a wonderful breakfast!” Trixie says, pointing to the kitchen area.

“Huh?” is the only reply you can manage.

She asserts her decision with a smug look on her face. “You heard me, I demand you cook me a good breakfast. There’s this recipe I wanted to try called “Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole”, and what better way to try it, than to have you make it for me?”

You slowly get to your feet. “And how would I even make something like that?!”

“You can read the recipe, can’t you?” she responds, cocking her head to the side, as if the question couldn’t have a more obvious answer.

“And what makes you think I’ll even consider making anything with you after you just kicked me in the face?” you ask, getting increasingly irritated with her cocky attitude.

“Because I’ll make your punishment ten times worse for you if you don’t,” she says in a menacing tone.

You look at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean!” She steps closer, leaning in to the point where your noses are almost touching, as she jabs a finger in your chest. “I remember ‘everything’ you did to me yesterday!”

You flinch slightly. “E-everything?”

“Yes, and now, I’m going to get my revenge by turning you into my servant for today.”

“I-I said I didn’t c-care what you’d d-do to me!” You try to sound unfazed but you can’t even come close.

“If you don’t obey, I’ll use the saw blade trick to cut you into pieces... without putting you back together,” she says without the slightest sign of humor in her tone.

“E-Even YOU wouldn’t do that!”

Trixie’s horn glows ominously as you fail to see what she’s holding with her magic. “Oh? Would you care to test me?”

You swallow nervously as you start questioning what would be worse: Having Trixie perform the ‘trick’ on you, or the idea of her knowing what happened last night. After all, if she knows, it sounds like she’s letting you off easy. “F-Fine, I’ll do it.”

Her horn stops glowing as she smirks at you deviously. “That’s a good servant, now get to it; I expect it to be close to ready by the time I’m done!” She says as she walks away.

Ugh, what a great way to start the morning, better go find that recipe book quickly, you tell yourself as you head into the kitchen area, hearing her turn the shower on in the process.

Trixie had already placed the book on the counter which made finding it easier, though the recipe itself was a little difficult, as you almost messed up on a few of the steps. There were some close calls, including almost forgetting about the casserole when you left to sit on the couch. You managed to get it just in time and had it out to cool off a little as you took another brief moment to rest, as the smell of the casserole made your mouth water. You really wanted to try it for yourself, but decided not to take the chance just in case it upset Trixie.

After about ten minutes pass, you grab a plate and a utensil, carefully taking some of the casserole out of the pan and setting it on her plate. No sooner than you start to prepare Trixie’s plate, do you see her getting out of the shower. She appears to be much more refreshed and relaxed than she was earlier, which makes you feel less pensive about talking to her.

You watch as she sits up by the arm of the couch that you slept on, resting her head on the back of it as her damp hair spreads out, with her legs taking up most of the remaining seating area. You quickly pick her plate up and head to the table, handing her the plate. She graciously takes it and moves her legs to make room for you to sit next to her. You cautiously do so as she waits patiently, giving you a strangely timid, happy smile.

You sit next to her, plate in your hands.

“Okay, now for the second part of your punishment!” She hands you her plate.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” you ask.

“Simple, I want to be treated like a princess for a little bit, so what better way than to have my servant feed me?” she proudly proclaims.

You pause and look at her for a moment before speaking. “W-what did you say?”

“You heard me!” She glares at you impatiently.

“U-uh, o-okay, if thats what you really want.” You blush a little.

She closes her eyes and opens her mouth, making a cute noise. “Ahh...”

You swallow hard, slowly pick up a small bite of food, and gently slide it into her mouth.

She slowly chews it before swallowing. “This is really good! I’ll have to have you make this for me more often!”

You look away from her, trying to hide your blush. “D-do I really have to keep this up?”

“Of course you do! Besides, I’ve always wanted to get you to feed me…” she says.

“W-what did yo-you just say!?” Your blush deepens as you look back towards her.

Trixie blushes, though her scowl only becomes more prominent. “N-nothing at all, j-just ignore that and get back to what I told you to do, or else!” she yells at you.

“O-okay, okay I will!” You quickly follow orders and continue to feed her.

You hold up bite after bite, which she happily accepts every time. She starts moaning softly as she chews her food. You know it’s just because she likes the taste, but it still makes it a little difficult to concentrate, since it reminds you of what happened last night. To make things worse, a few times she opens her mouth wide with her tongue hanging out slightly, which makes her look incredibly cute in the process. She seems to be greatly enjoying the treatment you’re giving her, humming a little after taking the last bite of her food that you feed her. After she swallows it, she leans back onto the couch.

You look over at her, and notice a crumb of food on the side of her mouth. “Trixie, you’ve... you’ve got a little, erm...” you mutter, gesturing to a section of her face.

“Huh? Where?” She places a hand on the wrong side.

You roll your eyes as she completely fails to clean the spot. “Here, let me get it for you,” You lean towards her, being careful not to fall forward. Trixie blushes from the sudden shift in proximity between the two of you. You can see her breathing hitch when your warm breath caresses her chin, curving underneath and gently grazing her neck. You inch closer, your lips only a few inches away from each other while your visage totally encompasses her vision, as you see beads of sweat begin to form on her face. Without her noticing, you deftly wipe away the crumb of food with a napkin that she didn’t see you holding.

“There you go,” you say as you lean back into your original position and toss the napkin on the plate.

Trixie stares blankly at you for a moment before snapping out of it. “W-what was that about?!” she asks, blushing.

“Hm? Well you wanted me to serve you, so I figured that was part of it,” you remark, acting innocent.

“Uhm, right…” She pauses momentarily before swiftly shaking her head and clearing her throat. “Anyway, I was just thinking about what we’ll be doing for the competition.”

“I was curious when you’d bring that up…” you state, placing the empty plate aside for the moment as you return your attention to Trixie.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll change much of the start of my performance, though I think the rest needs to be revised, especially the grand finale which will have to completely blow the audience away.”

“Do you have anything planned?” you ask.

“Well, I remember what that stallion said about summoning familiars being considered difficult, so perhaps sending you back home might get me the win I want.” she bluntly asserts.

Your heart feels like it’s stopped for a second. You feel saddened by her saying she’ll send you home, but her reason upsets you more than even the prospect of leaving, itself. “Well fine, if you really want me gone, I’ll go,” you try your best to sound uncaring.

“Well then, I’ll do it if you want to go that badly!” she angrily shouts.

“Fine by me! At least I’ll finally be away from your constant complaining!” you shout back.

“D-Do you really think I can’t do it or something? I could easily send you back!” She grits her teeth.

“Oh I’m sure you could,” you sarcastically blurt out.

“I could! After all I’m-”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ I know, we’ll see if you come up with something or not,” you say, mockingly.

“Keep it up and I might not wait!” she yells.

“Go for it.” you retort.

Trixie continues to fume. “You’re really pushing your luck!”

“You started it,” you retort.

Trixie pauses and gives you a devilish smirk. “No, I’m not arguing with you anymore, I’ll just punish you in a different way that will benefit me, before the show!”

“Huh?! Wait, why do I have to be punished more than I already have?” you ask in a confused tone.

“Because, I said so!” She sticks her nose in the air and crosses her arms.

You open your mouth to say something but decide against it. “Fine, whatever, you win.”

Trixie looks at you cautiously, as if waiting for you to say something else before she decides to continue. “I want you to clean both the bathroom, and my room while I’m gone!”

“Ugh, why do I have to clean the bathroom anyway? And why do you have to leave?”

“This is punishment! And if you stop complaining, I’ll tell you why I’ll be going out.” You stop arguing as Trixie glares at you, expecting a response. “... Thank you. I’m heading into town to look for inspiration and I want to get a few things in the process.

“Fine, but why do I have to clean your room and the bathroom? Isn’t this your house?” you ask as you try to get out of it.

“It’s my house, but it’s clearly your mess!” she retorts, furiously.

“Wait, my “mess”? What mess?” You tilt your head trying to remember a mess you made the last time you went to the bathroom, but nothing comes to mind.

“Go take a look for yourself and see!” she demands.

You stand up and slowly walk over to the bathroom, open the door as you reach it. It was slightly damp and humid from her taking a shower, but other than that, it didn’t look dirty at all. You look at her, confused. “Huh? It’s fine, what’s the problem?”

You see her visibly twitch before she points towards the bathroom. “What do you mean? The smell, it smells like you in there!” she states.

You’re even more confused now than you were before, and cross your arms as you expect her to clarify her statement. “Okay, I don’t follow.”

“I-I mean… well… I know what you were doing yesterday in my shower and it smelled funny!” she yells, cheeks turning pink.

You blush when you hear what she just stated. “T-That isn’t even what it smells like! And besides, I wasn’t even able to get off after I saw you!” you yell back.

She blushes even harder and stares at you.

You mentally slap yourself. “I-I didn’t mean it like that! I… What I meant was… Well, I…” you stammer over your words.

Trixie continues to blush furiously, unable to speak as you can only begin to imagine what your stammering is causing her to think.

“Ugh, forget it!” You throw your hands up in defeat and walk towards her room, thinking that you might as well see what you’ll have to clean in there as well. As you open her door, you’re immediately hit with a familiar scent. “What’s that smell…?” you say, to no one in particular.

You suddenly hear a gasp, followed by the rapid sound of hoofsteps coming towards you. “I-I changed my m-mind!” she says as she pushes you away from her door and closes it.

“Huh?” you question as Trixie uses her magic to lock the door to her room.

She looks at you nervously. “I c-can handle my room. Be-besides, you might steal my panties or something.”

You simply shrug in acceptance of her request. “Okay, whatever you say. One less thing I have to do either way.”

Trixie regains her composure, smirking at you once more. “Y-yes, I’m being extremely generous with you after everything you’ve pulled. But I still want you to clean the bathroom.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll clean it even though I don’t think it’s dirty.” you say in a bored tone.

“Of course it is! It absolutely reeks of you!” she retorts.

“And here I was thinking you liked my scent,” you say, giving her a coy smile.

“W-What are you talking abo-... I-I don’t like the way you smell at all!” Trixie blushes.

“You don’t sound too confident, you know...” You laugh a little when she gives you a death glare.

“I only tolerate your sme-... stench, because you're useful sometimes.” she asserts, crossing her arms and sticking her nose up in the process.

“Sheesh, I was only kidding, why’d you have to go and say something like that?” You cringe slightly and turn away as you sound noticeably upset about her statement.

She looks at you in surprise. “Uh, I... sorry if I...”

“Wow, never thought I’d hear you apologize for something like that!” You laugh even harder.

She starts to fume. “That’s it; I’m sending you back to your world the first chance I get!” She yells at you, firing off a bolt of lightning at you in the process, which hits you and knocks you over from the impact.

“O-ow… You didn’t have to go that far…” you say, slowly getting up off the floor. Getting to your feet, you feel thankful that Trixie’s lightning magic isn’t anything close to lethal, though the burn mark it leaves is far from obscure.

“Hmph! It was your fault to begin with.”

“You’re so violent when you get mad, you know that?” you ask, dusting yourself off.

“I’m just giving you proper punishment, is all,” she says as she puts her hat on.

You laugh a little. “Do you always act so childish when you’re mad?”

“For the last time, I’m not being childish!” She fumes even more.

“Okay, whatever you say, princess.”

“Grr... Get to work, I’m leaving!” She leaves before you can say anything.

You sigh heavily as you voice your concern. “I hope she was just joking about sending me back…”

You continue to scrub the shower down while lost in thought. You try thinking about a way to tell Trixie that you want to stay, just in case you really are going to end up being sent home, but nothing comes to mind aside from telling her bluntly.

As you continue to clean while trying to think of a way out of being sent back, you hear Trixie’s voice calling out your name. You look up from what you’re doing when you hear her say your name a second time. You look out from the bathroom, noticing the spare magician’s hat in its usual spot, glowing with a familiar light and a horn sticking out of it, with light blue hair as well.

You leave the bathroom and walk up to the glowing hat, sighing to yourself before speaking. “What?” you ask in a dull voice.

She huffs. “It’s about time you answered! What were you doing?”

“I was cleaning the bathroom like you told me to.” you state in a slightly annoyed tone.

“Oh, right.” was her only answer.

“So what do you want?” you ask.

“I was just bored and wanted to see if you were doing what I asked.”

“Well as you can tell, I’m doing it,” you state plainly.

“Well I can’t see anything you’re doing,”

You facepalm reflexively, trying to keep yourself from laughing at her most-likely unintentional joke. “I mean you have to trust that I’m doing it.”

“So I should trust you? Oh, I feel so much better now.” she says in a sarcastic voice.

“You’re not being cute at all right now,” you say, getting an evil idea while reaching over the hat and patting the exposed section of Trixie’s mane that she’s wearing her hat upon as you feel her flinch slightly at your touch.

“H-hey, don’t do that out of nowhere!”

“Aww, what’s wrong?” you say, running your fingers through her hair.

“Ugh, f-fine I’ll stop bothering you!” Satisfied with her remark, you lift your hand from her hair. However, before she can do anything, you begin to trace a finger up her horn, making her let out a sharp ‘Eep’.

“W-w-w-what are you doing?!” she whispers in a high-pitched, hushed voice.

“Oh, nothing really, I just thought I’d tease you a little. After all, I have to get you back for having to clean up after you.” you state, tracing your finger back down to the base.

“I-I demand you stop this immediately!” she quietly demands.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” you say, stroking her horn gently.

“Ah! Y-You heard me! Take your h-hand off my horn right now, or else!” she seethes.

You barely acknowledge her threat as you tickle her horn with your fingers whimsically. “Hmm, I think I like this; it seems to get a nice reaction from you.”

You hear her moan further as she remains silent for a moment aside from the occasional moans, but you can also hear other things through the portal, such as the sounds of concerned citizens, and the hastened running of hooves on different surfaces. Suddenly, the running stops, and you hear Trixie groan in annoyance before yelling, “That’s it!”

You can feel her grab her hat because the portal moves slightly, but you quickly wrap your hand around her horn and use your fingers to massage its hard, smooth base.

She lets out a cute squeak as she silently pleads with you. “N-n-n-no, st-stop doing th-that! I ca-can’t control my m-magic or remove m-my hat when you’re st-stroking it like th-that!”

“Isn’t that kind of the point?” you note, continuing your tender torture.

You suddenly feel Trixie’s hand grab your arm and pull, though it does nothing to relinquish your grip on her horn. Looking through the portal, you can see Trixie staring up at you with a look of desperation and fear in her eyes, as you can see her other arm go up and out of your field of vision; you can only assume that she’s holding her hat up with the other hand.

You smile deviously at her look of frustration. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d become so desperate with me doing this to you, I’ll have to remember this trick later, just in case.”

“Yo-you will do n-no such thing!” she says, panting a little as you hear the sound of hooves clopping once more.

“What? Don’t tell me it causes you to become short of breath, too... I think I like this little exploit of yours.” you tease, as the horn pokes back through the portal, presumably because she let go of her hat.

“Okay, you’ve had enough fun, l-let go and I-I will let it sl-slide!” she says, as you hear a door shut from the other side of the portal.

“Hm, I don’t think I can take a chance with you. Besides I have no idea where you are right now, you could be right outside and ready to have your revenge,” you claim openly.

“I-I promise you I’m not, I’m in a restroom right now!” she says, noticeably out of breath.

“A restroom? Why there?” you ask, somewhat taken aback by her statement.

“I… I can’t let others see me like this! I can hardly walk straight right now…” You hear her squeal in a mix of panic and something else that you can’t quite figure out.

“Oh, really? I see,” you add curiously.

“Yes, s-so please let my horn go n-now!”

“And what will I get if I listen to you?” you ask, smiling.

“I-I don’t know! Wh-what do you want?!” she lets out a muffled moan.

“Well how about this, I can do one thing, whatever I want, and it goes unpunished, and you have to agree to it when I say so. No complaining, no arguing, nothing.” you state the deal to her.

“W-what? There’s n-no way I’m agreeing to that!” she blurts out.

You use your other hand to fiddle with the tip of her horn. “Well that’s fine, but I’m going to get every last drop of entertainment that I can out of this.”

“N-no wait, I-I’ll… reconsider… Just please…!!” Trixie lets out a muffled squeal, as you hear her start to pant heavily.

You stop moving your hand for a moment. “Trixie, did you just…”

“N-NO! I-I didn’t do what you think! I-I kicked the wall and st-stubbed my hoof!” Trixie yells out, embarrassed.

“Huh, well do we have a deal?” you ask again, ignoring her obvious lie.

“F-fine, you win. I p-promise to let one favor slide no matter what it i-is.” she says, breathing heavily again.

“Good girl, now was that so hard?” you ask, satisfied that you just gained an advantage over her.

She growls at you angrily. “D-don’t push yo-your luck, jerk…”

“Hey, I have to fight with you tooth and nail to even have a chance against you, so don’t blame me,” you say in your defense.

“I-I wasn’t referring to… Never mind, just let go of my horn, you perverted mutt!” she yells.

“Okay, okay I will,” you let it go and retract your arm out of the hat.

She picks up her hat, moving it so she can look through it, staring at you furiously. “D-don’t ever do that to me again!” she yells at you before turning off the spell.

“Maybe I did do something bad?” You shrug it off.

“Meh, it was worth it. Besides, now I’ve got a way to stop her from sending me back home, just in case she really was serious earlier…” you mentally note before heading back into the bathroom to finish cleaning it.

~*~*~

Where is she? Its been an hour since she last spoke. You think to yourself as you toss the spare magician’s hat in the air whimsically, while you lay comfortably on the couch.

Maybe she’s too afraid to come back? You begin to worry.

Suddenly the door opens as Trixie slowly walks into the caravan, while you take the moment to welcome her back. “Hey, I was just wondering when you’d get back.”

She sighs heavily. “Please, at least give me a little time to relax before you do anything…” she whines.

“Who said I was going to do anything right now?” you say, putting her hat down.

“But I thought…?” She looks at you in confusion as she approaches you.

“Hey, I’m just going to use it at the right time.”

“T-then what did you want me to do that would make you do that to me?” she asks hesitantly.

“That’s a secret,” you say, smiling at her.

“Why you…!” She grumbles, stomping away angrily. “F-Fine, I don’t care anyway.” she declares without turning around.

“Sure you don’t…” you remark, before changing your tone. “Well anyway, Trixie,” you call out to her in order to get her attention.

“Hm?” She turns around at the sound of her name, staring at you curiously.

“Well, it’s just... I’m kinda bored, so do you wanna go scope out the competition grounds?” you ask, gaining a look of shock from Trixie in response.

“Wait, you actually want to go? But I was just there a little while ago and there wasn’t anything there.” she states, immediately looking off towards the direction of the stage area.

You look at her curiously. “Hey, what's wrong?”

She snaps out of her thoughts. “Oh, uh, n-nothing really.

“If you say so,” you simply shrug it off.

“A-anyway, are you really sure you want to go?” she asks you.

“Well, it’s not like we have much else to do, right?”

“I guess you’ve got a point,” Trixie looks away from you, seeming to consider something before turning back in your direction. “Alright, but first let me change, I don’t want to go out like this,” she states.

“Fine, but hurry up!” you demand, hoping she won’t take as long as she usually does when it comes to changing.

“Hmph! I can go at whatever pace I want!” She huffs and quickly moves towards her room.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t take Trixie long to get ready, as only a few minutes go by before she opens her bedroom door, shutting it behind her as she walks out. She’s wearing a dark blue shirt with light blue pants. The shirt hugs against her breasts tightly, making it rather difficult to keep your stare from wavering as you desperately try to hold eye contact.

“What are you looking at?” she questions, looking at you in confusion upon noticing the rather prominent blush on your cheeks.

“Uh, n-nothing at all! S-so we’re ready to go, now?” you ask, trying your best to remain looking her in the eyes.

“Yeah, lets go...” she adds before walking towards the door.

“Alright then,” You hop off the couch, breathing a sigh of relief as you follow Trixie out the door.

Trixie walks beside you as you both head for the competition grounds. Trixie seems to be a little more tense than usual, made stranger by the fact that she didn’t seem to even care about trying to hide her reluctance.

You decide to ignore it for now as you both reach your destination. You’ve each noticed a fair few participants that are already either practicing or otherwise showcasing their skills. One in particular catches your attention rather quickly.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” you remark, looking over at one of the stallions in the distance.

“What’s wrong?” Trixie asks.

“It’s him, that annoying stallion from the other day! I can recognize that outfit anywhere…” you state, pointing him out for Trixie to see.

A few mares and a couple of stallions surround him as he performs a few tricks for a rather sizable crowd. Both you and Trixie move towards his performance area, curious to see how good he really is.

The flashy stallion was hand-picking a couple of the mares in the crowd and asking them to join him on-stage, taking their hands into his own and helping them on stage. He asks both of them to stand on the opposite sides of the stage and face away from each other. He then starts to concentrate on both of them as his horn starts to glow tremendously. The two mares suddenly disappear in a flash of light before reappearing on opposite sides of the stage, facing each other.

“Wow, that’s not too bad.” you say as you watch the two mares look at one another, shocked.

You lean in so your voice doesn’t carry and give away you or Trixie. “You’ve got something that can beat that I’m sure, right?” you ask.

“S-sure I d-do…” Trixie stammers.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not at all!” She straightens her posture, trying to look confident in the process.

You shrug your concern away and continue watching as the stallion performs several other tricks, each one seemingly more complicated than the one before it. As you watch, you glance back over at Trixie, seeing her become noticeably even more tense at the sight of the tricks being performed, making you start feeling more concern for her as the stallion’s show continues.

After a multitude of different tricks, he calls to the now-massive crowd to remain silent so that he may not allow his focus to slip. The next trick he looks to perform requires only one audience member, and after picking another mare from the crowd, he speaks out to the rest of the onlookers. He explains that he’ll be levitating the mare, while at the same time using hats to send swords through her body, yet leaving her unscathed.

The stallion’s voice becomes deeper as he speaks. "Should my focus be allowed to wane in even the slightest manner... I may end up slicing right into her!”

The crowd gasps as he starts making her hover in the air, while she makes a cross-formation with her body by stretching her arms out. He places six hats on her, three hats on her front and three on her back, lining them up with each other on their respective sides.

He then takes it a step further by picking up three swords at once with his magic and aiming them at different hats. The tension makes for quite the show as the audience gasps and looks onward, waiting to see what happens. The three swords shoot forward, each one piercing through a different hat at the same time, as well as through the mare, coming out from the other hats.

The crowd cheers as the swords are pulled out and she is placed down completely unharmed. Even you were a little impressed by the trick. “Well, I guess it wasn’t too bad of a trick, but I’m sure you’ll-” You turn to see that Trixie’s running away from the performance grounds, having already run a good distance away from you.

“H-hey, Trixie what’s wrong?!” you shout as you take off after her. You manage to keep up with her, and although you’re still far behind her, you continue running to try to catch up as you watch her run towards the caravan and head inside.

You eventually make it to the caravan as well, completely out of breath. As you take a moment to catch your breath, you step inside and look around, noticing that Trixie’s door is slightly open. You slowly walk towards it when all of a sudden; the caravan starts to take off, causing you to stumble and nearly fall down from the sudden shift in balance. You catch yourself, hurry to her room, and find her sitting on her bed, facing away from the door.

“Hey, what’s going on?” you ask, looking at Trixie in confusion.

“N-nothing, we’re leaving!” she shouts, letting out a stifled sniffle.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand, I thought you wanted to compete no matter what it took!” you declare, noticing the caravan speeding up by how often it’s shaking.

“I-I’ll never compete in that stupid tournament! I couldn’t possibly win, even against that lame stallion! I’ve got nothing... no tricks that could match that level of control...”

“What are you talking about? You’ve managed to do just fine up until now,”

Though, if we leave now, I won’t get sent back to my world… and if that happens, I can tell Trixie that I… You pause while thinking to yourself momentarily, smirking at the notion of what this development can provide for you.

“I-I wanted to win so badly, it’s been my dream to completely succeed and become the greatest magician in all of Equestria,” Trixie rants on in a depressing tone, sniffling and letting out occasional, brief sobs that she attempts to stifle with little success.

What the hell am I thinking? If she doesn’t go into this competition and win, or at least try, she’ll regret and torture herself over it… If she’ll be happy with being the best, I should be helping her to do what it takes for her to be happy. Otherwise I’m just forcing her to give up her dreams for me. Besides, she wants to send me back, anyway… You mentally steel yourself for what you’re about to do.

“Trixie, when will it be your time to perform?” you ask, waiting for her response.

“It doesn’t matter I said! I’m not going!” she yells again.

“Trixie, will you stop being so stubborn!?” you snap back.

“Shut up, I said no!” she shouts again.

You grit your teeth, glaring at her as you slam your hand against the wall of the caravan, startling her. “Will you just answer!?”

“AH! U-um, an hour… I would’ve been on in about an hour, m-maybe two…” she stammers, looking at you in surprise.

“Good, we have plenty of time, then. Please stop the caravan so we can head back,” you ask in a displeased tone, calming down slightly at the prospect of her listening to you.

“What!? I... I said I’m not going!” she states, defyingly.

“Would you quit being so thick-skulled and just stop the caravan?!” you say, raising your voice as you step closer to her.

“Y-You can’t make me!” she shouts.

“I said stop the caravan!” you say in a deep, stern voice as you glare at her, no longer raising your voice at her as you realize how shouting at her isn’t getting anywhere.

She gasps, murmuring to herself for a moment before sighing, slowly giving up her fight against you. You can feel her slowly stopping the caravan as she remains looking up from her spot on her bed. “W-what is... wh... Why are you angry at me?” she asks, wiping her eyes.

You pause and think about how to answer her. I need to help her relax... I know, I’ll give her a full-body massage to take her mind off things. Might as well get something out of this, after all; this’ll be the last thing I’ll ever do for her before I become her grand finale either way… You can feel a small pain in your throat from the knowledge that you’ll have to leave Trixie.

“Remember how you owed me one thing that you have to do no matter what I say? Well I know what I want to do with it.” you finally say.

She looks at you in surprise, backing herself up on her bed slightly as she’s taken aback by the sudden topic shift. “W-what?”

“You heard me. Now, I want you to get the massage table out, strip, and lay down on it.” you say in a calm and steady voice.

Trixie blushes at your bold request. “W-what are you talking about, you pervert!? There’s no way I’ll do that!”

“Trixie, I’m not asking, I’m telling you to do it. I’ll leave the room, so let me know when you’re ready for me.” You turn and leave before she can complain, closing the door behind you.

As you wait, you remember some of her soothing oils she keeps in the bathroom and immediately go and grab one of her favorites.

A few more minutes pass, until you finally hear her voice calling for you to enter. You walk in and notice that Trixie did what you asked, as she lies face-down on the massage table, completely naked aside from a single towel covering her lower region.

With her arms crossed underneath her, she peeks over her shoulder, the uneasiness in her eyes accompanied by what looks like curiosity. “W-why do I have to do this? I-I don’t want to go to the magic show, and this is completely-” You cut her off before she can finish.

“Trixie, you aren’t allowed to complain or argue at all, remember?” you say, walking up next to her.

“I… fine, you win.” She lowers her head and closes her eyes, as you hear her sniffle lightly.

You let out a sigh of dismay, reminding yourself this wasn’t for your enjoyment, though her sighs certainly don’t help to cause you to believe otherwise. This all will be for her: The massage, the performance, the finale, all of it. As much as you want to stay with her, you know that living with her being depressed or regretful wouldn’t be right to her. You open the bottle of scented massage oil, pour it on your hands, and rub them together vigorously before placing them on her shoulders, kneading her muscles firmly. She grunts a little from the noticeable pressure being applied, but soon sighs as the tension slowly begins to leave her shoulder muscles.

“Trixie, want to know something?” you ask, still massaging her shoulders.

“Wh-nngh...W-what?” she asks weakly, taking a moment to try turning her head before realizing that the act of you massaging her shoulders is making it impossible for her to do so.

“I’ve always admired you…” you claim openly.

“H-How could you admire a m...mare that can’t even perform a simple tr-transformation spell…” she asks, struggling to speak through the massage.

“Easy, your stubbornness and tenacity towards your goals and how much you strive for them has always made me want to cheer you on… for a while now, and even back when I first met you. Watching you use magic the way you do, and seeing you perform tricks that I thought were impossible... I was blown away by how amazing you were. You know, I still am, sometimes.”

“I... Y...” Trixie’s left speechless, as you can feel her tense up significantly, as if she’s fighting to hold something back.

“You know, you’re also a pretty strong individual.” you declare, moving to her lower back and applying steady pressure to her sides, carefully trying to find the proper balance of force to apply to her.

“That’s a lie, l-ah... look at me, s-sniveling and trying to run from everything, I’m just a c... coward…” she says, her voice muffled by her arm.

“A coward? No, that’s not the Trixie I know. The Trixie I know doesn’t even know the meaning of weakness, let alone cowardice,” you retort as you slowly start to work into her lower back, making sure you pay extra attention around her spine.

She remains silent as you talk, though you can hear what sound like a mix of both moans and mutterings as you continue applying gentle pressure to her spine.

“Trixie, I-I also…” You swallow hard before continuing your words, as well as resuming her massage. “I also think you are a truly beautiful and radiant mare. You’re better than any other mare I’ve seen.”

“Y-you don’t have to force yourself to give me false compliments! I know fully well you don’t think of m-me that way…” she adds dejectedly.

You begin working your way back up to her shoulders after adding more massage oil to your hands; you can feel her start to relax under your touch. “That’s where you’re wrong; I’ve just never had the guts to say what I thought of you because I thought it wouldn’t have made much difference. But if it means helping you when you’re like this, I’ll do anything...”

“B-but I… you really think about me like... like that?” she asks timidly, slowly turning as you stop massaging her so that she can look at you for the moment.

“Yes, I do.” you state bluntly.

“Why, why would you even like me after I-” You quickly interrupt her.

“Trixie, I said not to argue with me,” you say, a distinct tone of seriousness in your voice.

Trixie huffs and lets her head fall back on her arms; her tail starting to twitch back and forth as she silently fumes.

“Careful with that tail, I just might use it against you.” you warn, unconsciously smiling.

“Hmph!” She flicks it up, the tip hitting your chin.

You grab her tail and lightly pull on it, making a soft ‘Eep’ escape her lips. She slightly sticks her butt in the air out of reflex, producing an incoherent mumble before falling silent.

You then go back to her massage. By this time, you’ve worked out the kinks in her back and shoulders as you prepare to move on to her hips, just above her butt. She sighs when you rub over the base of her tail. “Does it feel okay?” you ask.

“Y-yes. I-It feels...” She sighs again, clearly focusing more on the pressure you’re applying than what she wants to say.

You place both your thumbs on each side of her tail and start working the muscles roughly at first, but as you slowly massage the area underneath, you lighten your pressure as she continues to relax under your hands. She starts to moan softly as you continue to knead the area above her butt and down her hips. She even starts to sway her hips from side to side, which made ignoring the urge to grab her rump quite difficult.

You apply more massage oil to your hands before continuing, opting to skip over the remainder of her backside and focusing your attention down her right thigh. She lightly gasps at your touch but soon calms down as you go from roughly massaging the muscles, to rubbing them softly. Smiling, you voice another thought of yours that you hadn’t considered in the past. “You have really nice legs, I have to admit…”

She flinches at your sudden compliment. “I-idiot, don’t say stuff like that out of nowhere!” she shouts, burying her head into her arms further as she makes an effort to completely avoid even the slightest chance of making eye contact with you.

“Hey, I can’t help it!” You smile when you hear Trixie let out an adorable whine.

You chuckle a little before remembering what you’re doing. You idiot, remember why you’re doing this. After all, in just a little while you’ll be…

A frown forms on your face as you move slowly down her right leg, to her calf. Trixie sighs again as you relieve the pressure by steadily kneading the muscles in the lower part of her leg before moving down to her ankle. She giggles slightly from your touch for a moment until you apply a steady increase in pressure. You spend a little time on her right ankle before stopping, adding more massaging oil and moving to the left.

“Hey Trixie, how are you feeling so far?” you decide to ask,

“I feel great… not much of a punishment…” she remarks openly.

“Oh? Would you like this to feel more like a punishment?” you say with a smirk as you increase the pressure being applied to the lower half of her leg.

“Y-Y...! N-No, I like this v-very much…” she quickly says with a noticeably nervous stammer, as you hear her gasp slightly before correcting herself.

“That’s good…” Your smile softens a little, as does the pressure you apply to her.

You spend a fair amount of time on her left leg, particularly her thigh as you massage up her leg, as you decide that it’s time to change things up a bit. “Okay, turn around and lay on your back.”

She hums momentarily before seeming to finally realize what you were saying to her. “W-what?! I-I can’t do that! Y-You’d see my…” You can see her blush profusely.

“No complaining, Trixie, just do it.” You grab an extra towel that she didn’t see you bring in, closing your eyes out of courtesy, but not leaving the room this time.

You hear her slowly get up and turn around; she sighs and takes the towel from you before laying back down.

“Okay, I’m ready.” she says, sounding rather displeased in the process.

You open your eyes, seeing that Trixie has done what you asked her to do, including using the towels to cover her breasts, as well as using a separate towel to cover her marehood.

“Good,” You place your hands on her stomach and began caressing her abdominal region. “Your fur is really soft here, I’m surprised.”

She looks away from you and blushes. “I-I just use the right sh-shampoo is all… Have to look m-my best, after all.”

Why is this getting harder to do? It’s nothing but a massage before the show. Then I’ll be sent home. I’ll leave her behind. I’ll… I’ll… never see her again, You pause for a second as your thoughts truly begin to sink in.

“What’s wrong?” she asks when she feels you stop.

“Oh, a-ah, it’s nothing...” you quickly state.

Come on, just focus at the task at hand. Stop being such a selfish jerk! Remember, this is for her. It’s... what she wants. You think to yourself.

Lost in thought, you fail to notice your hands drifting downward towards the area above the pubis, as the towel gets pushed aside by your sliding fingers. Trixie blushes madly as you hear her trying to silence her involuntary moaning. Realizing what you’re doing, you deftly move away and return to massaging her midsection. As the moans subside in frequency, you meet her gaze and quickly look away as she does the same. As you look away, you see something interesting on her dresser: A quill with a finely-feathered tip. You smile and decide to see if Trixie’s back to her normal self, since you can’t take much more tension at this point, regardless. You reach over without her noticing and grab the quill with haste; you then trace it up one of Trixie’s sides slowly, making her begin to giggle steadily.

“W-what are you doing?” she says as she continues giggling.

“I’m just lightening the mood a little, now stay still,” you demand as you continue your torture.

“I-I can’t!” She say, starting to laugh as you start on the other side, causing her to try covering the side you’re assaulting with the feather while she remains pleading for you to stop. “You’ve h-had your fun, now s-sto-o-op!” She reaches for the quill but you pull it just out of her reach.

“Hey now, keep that up and your towels might unravel,” You continue teasing her by dangling the quill in front of her as she sits up as a means of defending herself from your torment.

She growls at you before lunging for your arm and pulling it towards her, causing you to jolt forward before catching your leg on the edge of the table and falling on top of her. You open your eyes and lock your stare with hers, her face mere inches from your own. One of your hands has ended up in-between her breasts as you tried to stop yourself from falling, while one of her own hands found its way onto your chest as well. Trixie’s eyes seem to sparkle a little from the lighting of the caravan, her cheeks developing a deep crimson tint as her eyes hold a mixture of both shock and surprise.

As your stare drifts down from her eyes, you can see her mouth open slightly; her lips look soft and very kissable. The thought runs through your head rampantly.

What would it hurt at this point; it couldn’t make things any worse than they already are, right?

Just do it: Lean in and kiss her. You know you want to. You could feel her heart pounding away in her chest, but you were sure she could feel yours doing the same, as the pace of your heartbeats increase with every second.

Hurry, kiss her…

Kiss her…

KISS HER!

You sigh to yourself, feeling her breath caress your cheeks briefly, before you slowly sit up, looking down to her. “You ready to go back and win?”

She hesitates for a moment before speaking. “I... O-Of course I am.”

“That’s the Trixie I know…” You smile and turn to leave so that she can get dressed, as you can wash your hands and change as well.

You quickly wash your hands of the remains of the massage oil, before changing into the jester suit she bought for you. Kinda fits the way I’m feeling right now… This is it...

Trixie soon exits, fully dressed and ready to go. “Are you ready?” she asks.

“Yes, now then, let’s go take this competition by storm!” You smile broadly as you adjust your jester hat appropriately; you don’t want to show her an ounce of the pain or sadness you’re feeling in your heart right now.

“Good,” she walks up to you, sidling next to you as she tickles your legs with her tail. “I’ll get you back for that last part, you know that, right?”

You chuckle slightly. “I’m sure you will…” you say as you both leave and head straight for the magic show, and the last show you’ll ever perform with her.

~*~*~

You both make it back with just a few minutes to spare. As you get ready, the only thing on your mind is staying calm as you make sure everything goes smoothly and you’re ready to give it your all for Trixie. Looking over at her, you still notice that she’s nervous, but clearly determined; you smile at her attitude and start to think about how strong-willed she is. It helps you to calm down as you’re slowly forced to come to terms with what’s about to happen. She looks over at you and smiles; her way of telling you that she’s ready to go.

“Just remember, even if the first part of your performance isn’t up to par, you’ve still got an ace up your sleeve,” you state, smiling as she nods in agreement.

“I know, but I’m sure we’ll do fine since I’m here.” she boasts openly, delivering a coy smirk as she exudes her natural aura of confidence.

“Glad you’re back to your normal self,” you say to her with a smile.

The stage performance in front of you comes to an end and workers start clearing off props and other various objects from the stage as you and Trixie prepare yourselves.

“Just remember, you have to come on stage after the signal, and don’t forget to react for the crowd,” she says, reminding you to have enthusiasm when you enter on stage.

You nod knowingly. “I got it, don’t worry. Just focus on your magic and this will work out fine, I’m sure.”

The announcer pops up on the loudspeaker, getting the crowd ready and announcing the next performer: The Great and Powerful Trixie.

Trixie sighs heavily as the announcer gives the stage to her. Her horn glows and she appears upon the stage in a burst of magic and fanfare, loud and confident like you would expect. She starts with a simple trick before flowing seamlessly into more difficult tricks, one involving her juggling flaming rings with her horns. Some of the crowd claps while others look on, unamused. She soon calls on you for assistance as it hits the second stage of her routine. You immediately get to work, setting up props while Trixie explains the next trick, of course, it is your least favorite since you hate being chopped into pieces, but you began to get used to it a while ago.

Even though she’s giving her all, the critical crowd only finds a few of your magic tricks worthy of even polite applause, and you can tell it’s making her confidence waver. You glance over at her; she looks back at you, unsure of what to do.

You lean in to whisper to her. “I think we need to go for the finale; all or nothing,” you whisper to her, uncaring of what it implies.

“I’m not sure if-” She stops whispering when you walk before the crowd.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie, with her absolute focus, will now cast a difficult and dangerous spell to shock and amaze you! Prepare to be struck with awe at a true, interstellar transportation spell, the likes of which the world has never seen!”

The crowd looks at you in shock and amazement, but no more than Trixie herself. “What are you doing?! I-I was never going to use that trick! I-I was just upset at you when I said it!” she hurriedly whispers to you in a panic.

What? But I… forget it, the magicians code to never back away from an announced trick will have to take effect regardless, You think to yourself, struggling to stick to the plan.

You smile at her. “It’s fine, Trixie. It’s more than likely, you’ll get high marks for the difficulty alone, right?”

“But I…”

“Just do it before they get suspicious! You want to win don’t you?” you ask.

“I-I do!” she states.

“Then win…”

Trixie begins to concentrate as her horn starts to glow brightly, almost making it hard to look at her. A blast of magic shoots from her horn, and starts encircling you before hitting the ground below you, making a pillar of light shoot up just past your head. As it fluctuates, an effect of distortion appears around you, making everything around you shift and twist as reality looks to be bending and breaking from where you’re standing.

The crowd stares in awe but you don’t care about that right now. You look over at Trixie who’s staring blankly at you, as if she’s not paying any attention to the trick itself. You smile gently at the thought that you might have helped her achieve her dream, before speaking. “Hey, Trixie…”

She snaps out of her train of thought when you say her name. “I had a lot of fun with you these past couple of months. I’ll miss you…”

“W-why? Why did yo-you make me…” she stutters.

“I wouldn’t have done this if I thought you could be happy with anything other than winning. As long as you’re happy, I’ll be happy,” You force yourself to keep smiling at her.

Her eyes widen upon hearing your words. “N-no, please don’t… I-I...” she mutters as your words start to sink in, causing her to begin shedding tears.

You silently stare at her for a moment before you decide to give her something. “Hey Trixie, catch.” You grab the jester hat on your head and toss it to her, she catches it and looks at it, then back at you with a look of confusion and shock in her eyes.

“Something to remember me by; I always thought it was kind of stupid to wear it, but I know you liked it so I wore it anyway. I hope it brings you luck,” You look at your feet as the pillar of light and distortion starts to bend and shift wildly as sparks and bolts of electricity surround it.

This is it… The end for me being with her… Your heart sinks as you lock eyes with Trixie.

You smile proudly as you stare at her, doing everything you can to not to let her in on how you’re really feeling. “No matter what, just be happy with whatever you do, be happy for me,” You look towards the crowd of astonished onlookers and bow deeply, “Behold the incredible magic of the one and only, “The Great and Powerful Trixie”!” you announce before fading away into darkness. The last thing you see as you turn back to face Trixie, is her hand reaching out, unable to reach you as you can only hope that she’ll get the win you know she deserves.