(Open)X marks the spot!

[NiktoBarada]

Tongue Twister noted it was a rather long trip to Trixie's residence - all the way back to town, then almost as far again through it.

"So, this Trixie you spoke of ?  She is a traveling magician or entertainer ?" TT asked, "We can see a older but cared for wagon up ahead."

((Tongue Twister looks curious and annoyed - that Trixie would go through the effort to keep fillies entertained is a plus; but the prizes she gives out are, well, disturbing.  Have to wonder where she finds them.  Or if she makes them.))

[Ashton]

As they neared the wagon, they did not see the figure within observing them..., who moments later vanished from the window.

 

Scootaloo knocked on the door "Trixie!" she called, less than enthusiastic, after a moment, the filly banged on the door again "I found the thing..." she added. After a moment she turned to TT "Maybe she's not ho-"

 

Before Scootaloo could finish her sentence there was a magical explosion over at the large stage as a portal was ripped open in midair, spewing out a sickly green fire that engulfed the whole structure, smelling of sulfur and brimstone the heat forcing anypony back that got too near, from the portal was spat a familiar pale blue mare, as if kicked backwards through a door

 

The Great and Powerful

Trixie Lulamoon

 

Trixie's wings flared out to catch her near the edge of the stage "You think that would stop THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE? You shall not take equestria this day, Dark lord Nizbal!" 

 

AS she spoke a massive blood-red eye could be seen through the portal, fill with scorn and hatred, the fires around the intensified, turning the snow around the stage to steam, as a bright glow formed around trixie's horn "Now, Go back to those fiery depths from whence you came!" a massive blast of pale blue light flew into the portal, and there was a monstrous scream of agony as the portal suddenly snapped closed and the flames died down. Trixie flapped her wings a few more times to clear the steam from the area before landing, falling to her knees, panting hard, swet dripping from her mane, it seemed like the fight had been intense...

 

Scootaloo just stood slack-jawed, though there was a clear outline of a grin on her face from watching Trixie. The foal's mood was instantly elevated quite high it from the sight, all thought of the trinket she had found was banished from her mind, atleast for now...

 

((Just fyi: yes, those fires were real! if TT got too close she could have burned herself.))

[NiktoBarada]

"QI'yaH !  Qu'vatlh jay' !" TT shrieked as a portal exploded nearby, "NOT AGAIN !!"

With that, she slammed her 'wings' into the ground, shoving herself backwards over fifteen feet instantly, well out of range of the fire.

Her pupils became vertical slits as the whites of her eyes turned oily black from the rage at being the universe's punching bag once more.

"Waiiiiit a minute ..... !  Since when are there SIX alicorns in Equestria ?" she mused to herself.

She noticed that Scootaloo wasn't terrified at all - in fact, she was the opposite.

TT scowled as she realized this was all stage magic.

So she took a few deep breaths to calm down and revert back to what passed for 'normal' for her nowadays.

 

Then just glared at Trixie.  "Was all that truly necessary ?"

[Ashton]

Trixie was still panting a little as she looked side-eyed at TT "would you prefer Trixie let the dark lord Nizbal take over our home? Trixie can assure you that would not be pleasant"

 

Scootaloo was absolutely bouncing as she ran over to Trixie "That was amazing! You saved us all from some huge monster! Who even was that? Why was he trying to take over equestria? How did you stop him like that?"

 

Trixie smiled at the foal as she pushed herself back up "Trixie does not remember us being introduced" she said to the older mare "Before you stands THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" she said without the slightest modicum of modesty, magical fireworks going off all around her, creating a breeze that blew her cape back so her wings were visible, no doubt meticulously planned

 

"TRixiiiieeeeee" whined Scotoaloo as she gently tugged on the mage's wing

 

Trixie winced as her wing was pulled awkwardly, there was no doubt those wings were real, which no doubt raised even more questions for poor TT, she smiled at scootaloo thought "Patience, young one, Trixie will answer all your questions, but Trixie would never set aside social etiquette when there is no threat to equestria"

 

Scootaloo sighed but sat down a short distance away, a little annoyed, and clearly having a thousand-and-one questions

 

"She really is a good if, excitable foal" commented trixie as she looked expectantly at TT, waiting for an introduction.

[Frostiny]

https://www.canterlot.com/topic/24841-frostinys-character-log/

 

Cinnamon stopped from her journey when she hears Trixie and Scootaloo talking "What's going on guys?" Asked Cinnamon "And who are the Dark lord Nizbal?" Cinnamon said that as she sat down "And why are you here young foal?" Asked Cinnamon toward Scootaloo. She stopped talking and asking question to everybody. "Oh yeah pardon me for not introducing myself, my name is Cinnamon Sugar but you could call me Cinnamon." She said that as she looked to Tongue Twister. "Are you ok?" She asked to Tongue Twister.

[NiktoBarada]

"Our name is Tongue Twister." TT replied to Trixie, "We were in town only to check our mail to see if anyone had a job for us when we encountered Scootaloo following one of your treasure maps.

 

We have some questions and concerns about the items she's been finding.  A Deck of Calamity ?  SERIOUSLY ?"

 

She then turned to Cinnamon and replied "Yes, we are fine.  We had an unfortunate encounter with an unpleasant sorceress some time ago, and we are rather - twitchy - around sudden displays of power."

[Ashton]

((er... little confused, frost, your app says your character is a filly, which would make her the same age as scootaloo, so unless she was trying to be rude she wouldn't have referred to scoots that way... so going to just assume scootaloo didn't hear that comment...))

 

Before trixie could even speak to the newcomer, scootaloo rushed forward to explain everything that had just happened... and more...  "You just missed it, it was awesome, there was this big evil portal and this huge monster so big you could only see its eye inside and all this fire that nearly was going to burn down the town and...!"

 

Trixie smiled, letting scootaloo explain what had happened, after all, the younger ones always embellished more than even she did, and it was far more believable to hear scootaloo talk about it, than if she were doing her own bragging. Instead she turned her attention to the other mare, who seemed unhappy with the results of a treasure map Trixie had sold. She shook her head "Unfortunately, Trixie sadly cannot make any promises of what long lost treasure is at the end of any of the maps she finds, no guarantees, no refunds" she explained, her head nodding slightly at scootaloo, trying to convey that she was going to stick to the proverbial script as long as the filly was in earshot, hoping that TT would understand

[Frostiny]

((Ooops sorry Ashton, I forgot my char's age))

 

"Huh? Monster? Burn down the town?" Said Cinnamon confusedly. "And what treasure map?" Cinnamon was very confused "Well whatever I have missed, it must be that awesome." Said Cinnamon. She looked towards Trixie. "Uh... Miss Trixie did you sold that map to Scoot and TT?" Asked Cinnamon.... and she asked again. "Well Miss Trixie you couldn't break any promises." She said. "Imagine if your friend Miss Starlight Glimmer break any of her promises will you be sad?" Said Cinnamon.

[NiktoBarada]

Quote

"Unfortunately, Trixie sadly cannot make any promises of what long lost treasure is at the end of any of the maps she finds, no guarantees, no refunds" she explained, her head nodding slightly at scootaloo, trying to convey that she was going to stick to the proverbial script as long as the filly was in earshot, hoping that TT would understand.

 

TT noted the phrase 'no guarantees, no refunds' - it was the same spiel her dad used when disgruntled customers accused him of scamming them.

 

They were right about nine times out of ten, but they didn't need to know that !

 

Then she noticed how happy Scootaloo was, and realized that pressing the matter right here and now might be a rather bad idea.

 

"Well, Trixie isn't breaking any promises", TT stated to Cinnamon, "She is being quite honest.  Since the prize is random, it could be junk, or something valuable.  Since nopony knows what the prize is ahead of time, the sensible thing to do is make no guarantees.  'Youse buys your ticket, youse takes your chances' as they say."

[Ashton]

There was the tiniest twitch of a smirk at the corner of Trixie's lips, this mare well understood how these kind of cons worked, though granted this was small peanuts for a con - and really only barely counted as a con since, as TT had realized before, Trixie was less selling the treasure, and more selling the experience. Though one could argue practically everything trixie did was a con since she was a stage magician, but that was a discussion of semantics for the scholars in their ivory towers (arguably something she should be doing at her main job, but she much preferred the stage to a school, so it was more of a 'part-time' gig for her, even if it did account for most of her income...).

 

"Indeed, The Great and Powerful Trixie Never breaks her promises!" said the showmare with a winning grin, hiding the fact that Cin had indeed hit her right in the gut with those words... while anypony else -literally even Princess Twilight herself- could lie to trixie's face and at most it would anger her, the thought of Starlight doing it did cut deep... of course being the seasoned veteran of the stage, trixie didn't so much as flinch

 

"no, she just sometimes bends them into pretzel-shapes" teased scootaloo with a smirk

 

Trixie laughed awkwardly "Er, still not broken, just slightly... reinvisioned!"

 

Scoots still smirked, she enjoyed getting one over on Trixie and forcing her to break character, not that it was hard, but it was still fun to the slightly-troublesome filly

 

"But as for the Dark Lord Nizbal, You need not fear, whatever monstrous deeds he had planned were thwarted by the Great and Powerful Trixie! While other so-called heroes may have  abandoned this town, Trixie remains ever-vigilant against any who would harm its citizens" her wings unfurled dramatically as a breeze flapped her cape... no doubt orchestrated by Trixie herself, but then this was the kind of thing she excelled at. 

 

((have a slice of cheese with that excessive ham XD ))

[NiktoBarada]

TT had to give the mare credit : she REALLY knows The Banter !  

 

"FINALLY somepony else has the good sense to deal with problems when they're small, instead of letting them go until only Harmony's Chosen can deal with them !

 

But I really need to ask : when did Equestria get a SIXTH alicorn ?"

[Ashton]

((welp, I gave frost/cin a time to react, seems she's left the thread.... continue as before I suppose?))

 

Trixie's smile faded as the pegasus spoke. she shook her head "That is a sad tale" she explained as she looked towards her wagon and floated out a framed picture, setting it down where TT could see. It showed Trixie alongside two griffens, a pegasus, and a unicorn, none of which looked familiar. Trixie sighed "Not long after the current princess took the throne and the heroes all-but disbanded, Trixie began hearing rumors of a... dark... nature. There was a new threat looming before equestria, one that only the most magic-sensitive or raving mad were aware of. Trixie, being a touch of both, began to gather a band of hero's to combat this threat - The griffon siblings Kyle and Kate, the Pegasus Feather Wing, and the unicorn mage Mage Song. Trixie continued to travel with these companions, using the cover of a simple magic act to investigate the rumors. It seemed Trixie's worst fears were confirmed, the dark lord Nizbal, of the 7th under-realm, was gaining power and preparing to overtake the upper realm in a bid to gain strength and destabilize the other under-realms. Trixie will not bore you with the politics of the Under-realms, simply said, it would be bad for all living things if Nizbal were to succeed in this mad grab for power.

 

"Once the group had prepared and gathered enough information, Trixie and Mage Song prepared an elaborate ritual, spanning no less than a week, to open a path through the various under-realms and directly to Nizbal's domain. While there was some difficulty passing through the Fourth Under-realm, its Ruler was not happy with Trixie's intrusion, but when Trixie explained Nizbal's plan, he allowed safe passage.  Once we reached the seventh under-realm though things were... messy. Trixie's information had been wrong, Nizbal was not beginning to build power, he had already grown his power to a terrifying state. Trixie would have retreated and gathered more forces, but this kind of sneak-attack would never work a second time. 

 

"With a potent strategy of gorilla tactics, Trixie and her team managed to slowly and methodically decimate Nizbal's army, but this unfortunately drew the dark lord's eye.  He attacked directly, destroying our cover and instantly... taking out...  Feather Wing. The rest of us fought vigilantly, but he was smart and powerful, using the close-quarters to... eliminate... the siblings, and knowing that unicorns could not fly he began splitting the ground, revealing pools of lava, all while still wearing down our magic reserves. Magic Song was the next to fall, as her teleport patterns were too predictable and he was able to lay a trap and..." Trixie shuddered at the memory, hanging her head, sighing, but continuing "Trixie was alone now, fighting Nizbal one-on-one, a hopeles battle. As trixie's body ws broken and bruised more and more, Trixie finally slipped and fell towards the lava, no magic left to teleport away...

 

"All trixie... all I could think about was how I failed... I failed my friends, I failed equestria, I failed myself... I was ready to let go, knowing how utterly I had failed, but I realized... No, I couldn't give up, I couldn't let him win. I was the only pony left that knew his plans and could have a chance of defeating him, or at least delating him. My horn sparked as I prepared another spell... but it fizzle and I heard the deep slow -sploosh- of myself landing in the lava. I felt the heat burning as I continued to fight to gather enough magic to cast a spell, any spell... then... something happened... I felt the others around me, my friends and comrades, I felt them protecting me. Power surged as their desire to protect me and equestria even after their end filled me with a determination - I could not let their sacrifices be in vain, I WOULD not let them! I rose out of the lava as energy surged through me, the hardened rock encasing me exploded as I unfurled my new wings, much to Nizbal's shock. 

 

"most of what happened next is a blur to trixie, but the battle ended with trixie focusing all her power into a single blast that managed to cost nizbal his left eye, which distracted the beast long enough for trixzie to make her escape. While Nizbal was not defeated, he had lost much of his power, and now, still using a traveling magic show as a cover, Trixie travels the world, seeking out the places where nizbal's portals may open, and closing them before he can gather any strength. Trixie may be alone in this fight, but she wont give up until the last breath..." she looked at the framed photo "...I cant give up..." she added quietly

[NiktoBarada]

Tongue Twister had to admit that Trixie's story was a great, heart wrenching tale of loss and glory; whether it was true or not was a whole other question.  So she decided to simply roll with it.

"Solving problems before they become too great is wisely proactive." she stated, "And a classic cover story !  One of the tried and true standbys - alongside 'tabloid reporter', 'jongleur', 'traveling salespony', 'itinerant scholar' and 'tinker'.

But is it wise to do all that alone ?  After all, a trouble shared is a trouble halved."

[Ashton]

Trixie sighed "Trixie wishes this burden could be shared..." she began "But Trixie knows the high cost of keeping order, and there have already been too many lives lost... The blame sits squarely on Trixie's sholdiers to protect this rock we call home from those who wish to harm it, be they internal, external, or something in-between!"

 

Scootaloo was just standing there staring in awe at trixie, lapping it up like a thirsty puppy

[NiktoBarada]

If Tongue Twister's eyes rolled any harder, they'd fall out of her head !  She'd always found this sort of self-aggradizing martyrdom teeth-grindingly annoying !

Which convinced her that Trixie was pulling her leg.  And even if she wasn't, the routine had been going on longer than was comfortable.

"If you couldn't succeed with the help of four friends, what makes you think you'll do better alone ?" she asked, "The only creature that ever took the weight of the heavens upon their shoulders alone was Atlas.  And THAT was as a punishment !

But that is beside the point.  What we wanted to know is where you're getting those maps from.

We mean : A Deck of Calamity ?  As a prize ?  WHY ?!

There are safer ways of dealing with troublesome artifacts before they become dangerous.  That's kind of why we are here."
 

[Ashton]

Trixie's wing went to her face in frustration, her normal tactics of dealing with trouble-makers had both failed now.... she lowered her wing and sighed "Scootaloo, why dont you go find your friends, Trixie needs to have a talk with this pony mare-to-mare"

 

Scoots sighed as she placed the bag with the ring down at trixie's hooves "yeah, sure... and here's the treasure I found, its some unicorn ring"

 

Trixie nodded as she floated some bits out of her wagon and into scootaloo's bags "Sorry it wasn't something you or your friends could use, better luck next time. Trixie will be sure to file it away for safe keeping"

 

"Yeah, whatever" said scootaloo as she headed off.

 

After the filly was far enough away, Trixie turned to TT "Look, some mistakes were made, but everything is taken care of now" she said, floating the ring out of the bag and with a flash of her horn the gem was now green and the band silver, she then returned it to its bag and floated it back inside her wagon "Its hard to keep up with demand with those three, you have no idea how many maps I have to draw, every time they do some chores or something scootaloo runs here and buys a map" she sighed "I mean, its good business and it keeps those three out of trouble, but I openly admit there were some bumps early on... I had no idea how dangerous that deck was. Its in my personal collection now, never top be used by any pony except for me"

[NiktoBarada]

TT listened to Trixie's explanation.

"That you're going through such effort to keep three fillies happy is impressive." she stated, "And it does sound like an interesting idea.  Might suggest it to mom later.

But where are you getting those 'prizes' ?

Our dad is a curio merchant in Canterlot.  Every time some pony finds an odd item in their attic, they try to sell it to him.

Between that and our job translating and finding artifacts for the museum, we have seen - and withstood - effects that make those 'treasures from the Lunar Republic' look like cereal box prizes !

That's why we are out here, trying to track down abandoned lairs that might still contain dangerous items.  Before anypony else gets hold of them.

So when we ran across a filly in the middle of the woods, following a map to 'ancient treasure', we were - concerned.

But it seems you have everything under control here."

She looked at Trixie at bit, trying to recall something.

"Wait - you're Trixie Lulamoon.  You, Starlight, Discord and Thorax foiled Queen Chrysalis' second invasion.  Got awarded the Pink Heart.  Not something that happens every day.
But that didn't give you wings." TT continued while gesturing towards Trixie's wings, "Are those a variant of the winged glamour those unicorns from Celestia's school use to play the pegasus part in buckball ?  We're honestly quite surprised Scootaloo hasn't been bugging you constantly to cast it on her !"