Act 1: Boast Boosters
"And now, for the grand finale!"
With a wave of her hoof, Trixie sent a multitude of spinning fireworks off her stage, splashing gold and crimson sparks everywhere amongst the gray cloudy day. But the trick didn't end there. With a simple flicker of her horn, the noisy and cackling shards of light rang out in a multi-burst of color, condensing into fiery serpentine dragon, complete with roar and fire breath. It circled low to the ground, almost within reach of the crowd's hooves, before spiraling back upwards into one last explosion of rainbow sprinkles.
The audience that comprised entirely of colts and fillies cheered loudly as they stuck out their tongues to catch the falling confections.
"Thank you! Thank you! You are far too kind!" The showmare bowed again and again as Field Trip, the tall burnt sienna mare with a red velvet cap atop her navy blue locks ushered the students back towards her bus wagon. After perhaps her tenth grandstanding bend over backwards, she vanished in a cloud of smoke, cantering off her portable platform as it magically folded up back into her fully functional, all-in-one, custom made, form fitting, mobile studio and dressing room. At least that's what she called it to everyone who asked. To six of her closest and most fortunate of friends though, it would always be considered the wagon she slept in when there was no spare room and board at any of the theaters she performed at.
As her last tip poofed into her hat, she graced two lingering fans with her presence.
"Great show as always Trixie," the little purple dragon as he poked a straw into a fresh carton of orange juice for her. "I see you took my sprinkle suggestion. That was major mind blowing."
Trixie accepted the juice without a moment's hesitation. "Verily, the Great and Powerful Trixie can make ANYthing magnificent. Nothing is beyond the reach of a magician of her caliber!"
Spike raised an eyebrow with a smirk.
"Oh really? Anything? How about a can of worms?"
"A simple song and dance and they'll be a basket of pied piping nightcrawlers!"
"A cup full of my toenail clippings!"
"A splash of color and it's grade-A confetti!"
"Week old drool from a manticore's mouth?"
"Put enough of it in my ice box and you've got a life size figure of moi!"
"Twilight's twenty-four hour study session bedhead!"
"Well, you've got Trixie there."
"Hey!" barked the indignant lavender unicorn from the side as the two shared a laugh. Taking it in stride though, she brushed off the remark a second later with a momentary pout on her lip. "And for the record, Spike. It's more of a twenty one and forty five minute session. I do set an hour aside for lunch and take fifteen minute breaks every four hours."
Spike was about to retort with another witty quip when a large collective scream derailed his train of thought. Looking towards the source they saw what caused it. The reins of the school wagon that held all the students earlier had snapped against the tug of the pair of stallion drivers towards the peak of the inclined street, and was now careening out of control as other drawn carts and pedestrians swerved away from the runaway bus.
A voice among the bystanders cried out in alarm as it neared the bottom of the hill where an apartment complex lay. "They're going to crash!"
Trixie's eyes then caught sight of the building's neighbor, Fluff 'n Stuff's Pillow Emporium. "Oh no, they're not!"
In a flash and a bang, Trixie now stood directly in the path of the incoming two ton vehicle. Her horn glowed vividly, and with a poof the entire wares of the nearby shop were raining all around her. Another poof, and there was now one gigantic cushion that matched the size of the two story apartment shielding it. Trixie then dove away just in time for her newly designed catcher's mitt to make the third out of the ninth inning in an explosion of feathers. As the down settled, everypony poked their heads out of their covered hooves to see the bus stopped and nestled safely against the cottony barricade of fluff, it's contents unharmed.
A cacophony of cheers and gratitude filled the air as denizens crowded round Trixie from one side and a stampede of giddy foals exited the wagon toward her from the other.
"That was amazing!"
"Incredible!"
"Bravo! Bravo!"
"You saved our lives, miss Trixie!"
"Three cheers for the hero!"
Momentarily stunned by the sudden influx of adoring devotees, Trixie could not help but hold her mouth slightly agape for a moment. Never in even her most fantastic of performances had she driven a crowd this wild. In fact, the only thing that could compare to this bombastic adoration was the parade shortly after the defeat of Nightmare Moon.
But that had been for all six elements of harmony. This right here, the admiration, the praise, the recognition, this was only for her. As the celebratory cries washed over her and sank in, her lips slowly spread into a grin stretching ear to ear. She breathed in deep as if she was smelling the sweetest nectar from a field of marigolds, then rose on her hindlegs giving a hearty and haughty laugh.
"But of course! Was there ever any doubt?"
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh…
(My Little Pony)
I used to wonder what friendship could be
(My Little Pony)
Until you all shared its magic with me
Great discoveries!
Tricks galore!
A rich slice of life,
And a heartfelt score.
Budding courage
It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete!
You have my little ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?
"Great, powerful, and courageous rescue: At 1:37 pm yesterday, a faulty stirrup tether almost resulted in a head on collision for a Manehattan west elementary class had it not been for the cunning ingenuity of our fair city's Element of Laughter, who brought everypony's smiles back in the blink of an eye as she single hoofily stopped the runaway wagon with zero injured," Blossomforth read from her tabloid as she walked into the museum with Twilight and Honey. "Wow! Who'd have thought? We're friends with a hero!"
"News flash Blossom, we're all kinda heroes," Honey pointed out. "Preventing a world of eternal cold and darkness does that to ponies."
"Oh, but, I just couldn't picture myself ever doing something like that ever again. Trixie on the other hoof, she just jumps right in! I'll bet if she had been with you that time in the Gate of Styx, she could have turned that rolling boulder trap into a gumball and then you wouldn't have had to risk fording the river of souls to escape and-"
She stopped at Honey's deadpan gaze. "I'm going to give your brain a chance to catch up and tell me what you did wrong."
"...ohhhh right. Not real." Blossomforth gave an toothy apologetic smile with just a hint of blush. "Sorry."
Honey regarded her apology with a meek smile as they approached the newly unearthed Tyrannosaurus Drake skeleton being pieced together by her commissioned staff. "If it makes you feel any better, I really did almost die on that expedition. But the river would have drowned me like any other body of water, it wouldn't have aged my body to dust."
"And of course it was your expedition team with a spare raft that fished you out instead of 'Charon the Ferrymare' right?" Twilight followed up.
"Oh no. Charon's real," Honey assured her bookish friend, who took a look of surprise as her grin evolved from demure to smug. "She just doesn't wear the cloak and hood, and believe it or not, she's actually a great singer-Hey! You two! No crossing the velvet ropes!"
A pair of unicorn colts, a tall, lanky, mustard yellow with very crooked mismatched eyeglasses and a stout, freckled, peridot with a satchel full of rolled up comic books, had ducked under the railing that set the barrier for the exhibits, and wandered closer to the assembled fossil.
"See Specs? Right from under here, it looks just like the Necrobeast, genus type Alpha II, from planet Groft in Star Trot issue #44!" the shorter one nasally affirmed.
"Eh, I don't know Cutup," the taller one lispingly replied. "They're uthually three times bigger than thisth. If you asthk me, I'd thay it more resthembles Skelecleft's pet Dracolich from He-pony, volumes 4 to 6."
"What? Do you need to change your lens again? This skeleton has a three prong claw structure, Skelecleft's Dracolich clearly has four!"
Blatantly touching said toes, the shorter one's taps for emphasis knocked a heel out of place. The skeleton rocked off balance and the workers on ladders instinctively clutched the nearest thing to keep steady. A cracking noise came from the neck joints, and before anyone could blink, the gigantic maw of the Tyrannosaurus Drake popped off and was barreling down at the two, who were too in shock to even cry out.
Suddenly, a puff of indigo smoke covered the impact zone, and in a matter of seconds, it gave way to reveal the huddle pair under a ribcage that had caught the descending skull inches away from their own. And beside the bony protective cage was none other than Manehattan's newest hero.
"At ease, citizens of Manehattan. The Great and Powerful Triiiiixie is here for you!"
The hallways burst in cheers again as the two colts squeezed their way out of the bones. Giddy with newly instilled fandom in their eyes.
"That was amazthing! You're the mosth awethome unicorn ever!"
"Yeah! You're better than Iron Mare, Captain Equestria, and The Jumbo combined!"
Trixie twirled about, posing every few other seconds as the cheers intensified. "But of course! Nothing could possibly come even remotely close to comparing against Trixie's prowess, grace, acumen, ability!"
"Not to mention humility," Honey whispered with a cupped hoof. Blossomforth giggled as Twilight looked on with growing skepticism.
"Is it just me, or is Trixie acting awfully arrogant lately?"
"Since when is she not?" Honey prodded, driving the point home as she pointed to a sudden burst of fireworks above the crowd in the shape of said mare.
"I suppose..." Twilight said, dismissing her concerns for the time being. The image of Trixie danced around sparkling anything it touched, and Twilight's lips admitted an amused smile. "She is pretty great though."
"Great and Powerful!" The image echoed.
Twilight's frown returned.
The lobby of Orange Hotel was bustling as ever as porters and bellhops scurried to and fro with luggage. The elevator dinged to open up for an exiting Orange Sherbet and Octavia.
"I must say, it's only been five lessons and Tangerine has taken to her viola like a fish to water! I just knew you'd be better than any tutor on my payroll."
Octavia shook her head. "Quality is not an act, it is a habit. If she has made such significant improvement, it stems from her desire to learn, not my ability to teach."
"Well, either way, I'd say a job well done deserves a little treat. I'm just going to pop into the kitchens for a moment and have Peppercorn prepare a few cannoli for you my filly. Would you like chocolate or vanilla?"
"Ooh! Ooh! Chocolate! Chocolate! That's my favorite!" piped up Spike as he and Twilight entered from the front doors.
"Spike, she wasn't asking you," Twilight chided her assistant.
"That's okay," Sherbet chuckled. "Spike can have one too. Octavia?"
"Well, if you insist." Octavia gave her lips a tiny lick. "I've always been partial to vanilla."
"Oh, uh, me too! That's my real all time favorite! I'll take vanilla too!" the baby dragon amended hastily.
Twilight kept her smirk to herself as the four entered the restaurant, which was just as busy as the lobby what with it being the lunch rush. In fact, it was so busy that many of the waiters and waitresses had to collect and stack used plates while delivering other orders, making their trays very heavy and crowded.
One in particular had collected a dozen leftover platters from a family of nine while a bowl of pea soup was perched on the other end of his hoof. In his rush, he had mistakenly tucked an edge of the tablecloth between the plates, and as he pressed onward the sudden tug of the cloth made him trip needlessly head over hooves. The hot soup sailed from his grasp high into the air towards it's appointed diner, Mayor Tux. Everypony in the room gasped and the poor mayor squeezed his eyes shut for the scalding that was about to befall his freshly pressed and cleaned suit.
*clink*
Another plate materialized in front of him and caught the bowl with naught a single drop spilt. It levitated down into the hoof of, you guessed it, Trixie.
"Never fear!" With a quick whirl of her cape, she stopped the rest of the flying plates in mid-air with her magic aura. They stood upright spinning, then each fell straight down. Trixie poofed directly under each them, rolling them from the tip of her forehoof over her shoulder and into a neat stack on her back. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is here!"
The dining room applauded loudly as she bumped the Mayor's soup over to his table. "Trixie! Trixie! Trixie!"
"Trixie can't hear you!"
"Trixie! Trixie! Trixie!!"
No longer did Twilight have a frown of nagging doubt on her face. Has she watched Trixie convey her fans like philharmonic conductor, a deep scowl of disapproval garnished her visage.
"All this over a bowl of soup? Next thing you know, she's going to get a key to the city just for fixing a broken cart wheel!"
"And it is with my distinct pleasure to award the Great and Powerful Trixie the key to the city in regards to her latest deed for our Manehattan, mending my Marecedes-Benz as it broke down in the middle of Main and Orchard, getting me to the monthly town council on time and avoiding what would probably have been the worst traffic congestion in the history of our fair city!"
Streamers and balloons filled the air as the stage magician illustriously accepted Mayor Tux's gift on his podium in front of the town hall, where practically every pony in Manehattan had gathered before to praise her.
With five exceptions.
Twilight mentally groused to herself, hooves crossed as she sat behind the stage with her other friends. "This is ridiculous. They're treating her like she's some sort of goddess. She just stopped a traffic jam for Celestia's sake! It's not like she vanquished Tirek!"
"Twilight, a poor self-image have thee that envies her fellow mare's accolades," Octavia chided.
Twilight just pointed to the mare flaunting and spinning the large golden key around her hoof like a basketball. "That is not how a hero is supposed to act!"
"It's not? Then how should she act?" Blossomforth asked.
"A hero...a hero...a hero should care more about the good her actions do, not the thanks she receives from it!" She turned to Honey. "You know what I'm talking about, that's the whole reason you have a second identity!"
"Twilight, I 'became' Honey Do because all the cameras and fans were interfering with my work. I couldn't do any excavating or documentation with a media horde breathing down my neck. I highly doubt that same problem applies to Trixie's case given her chosen profession." A series of fireworks nearly blinded her at point blank range as she turned to face the mare in question. "Though I will admit, the grandstanding does get a little annoying at some point."
"It's more than annoying, it's unscrupulous." Twilight then turned to Octavia. "Discretion is the better part of valor, she who keeps her head low avoids losing it, virtue is its own reward? Don't tell me none of these proverbs say the exact opposite of what she's doing right now."
"There is also a saying, to each their own pony. Far be it for me to judge another based solely on their personality."
Before Twilight could argue her case further, Trixie stepped up to the microphone. "Adoring public, Trixie is grateful for your endearing gratitude, as it should be for the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria! But she must admit, perhaps it is a tad overrated, as these past feats are a mere trifling endeavor as to my deeds outside this wonderful city!"
"Really?" the short yellow-green unicorn colt Cutup asked at the front of the crowd, wearing a T-shirt with Trixie's cuite mark on it. "Tell us Great and Powerful Trixie, what have you done before you came here?"
Trixie, delighted to have the bait taken so quickly, coyly flicked her hair to one side. "Well, for starters, the Great and Powerful Trixie is the only one in known history to have the magic strong enough to defeat the dreaded Ursa Major!"
"WHAT?!" Twilight's cry of disbelief was drowned out by the sudden explosion of neon as Trixie portrayed her story with magical visual cues.
"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to. But the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave, deep within the Everfree forest!"
The crowd oooh'd and aaaah'd at extravagant retelling as Trixie's image blasted the star beast into a wave of glitter. Twilight on the other hoof, was clutching her forehead in exasperation.
"You see? This is what I'm talking about! She lying to them and they're eating it up!"
"How can you be so sure she's lying about that?" Blossomforth asked.
"Do you even know how big an Ursa Major is? No pony can defeat one! I couldn't be able to best one and I'm the most magically talented unicorn I know."
"Really? I thought that was Trixie."
Twilight's face froze, her eye twitched, then she gave a few disgruntled sounds between an erk and an arugh. She recomposed herself, drew in a deep breath, and then marched right over to Trixie, who was in the middle of taking photos with little fillies and colts.
"Trixie, can we talk for a moment?"
"Ah, here to cash in on the perks of being the Great and Powerful Trixie's friend? Not to worry, Trixie will be sure that all the little ponies that helped her get to where she is now get credit where credit is due."
With that, Trixie groped Twilight against her side, and series of camera bulbs flashed before the purple mare's eyes. Blinking the spots away, Twilight blearily pulled her friend aside for one moment. "Trixie, don't you think you're getting a little carried away with this 'hero' title you're acquiring?"
Trixie met Twilight with a genuinely confused expression, then lit up with an aura of understanding. "Oh, Trixie sees now. Dear friend and companion Twilight, no need to worry. Our friendship is very important to Trixie, and she wouldn't want it to be jeopardized over something as trivial as this."
"Really? Oh, that's great!" Twilight was elated she was able to talk Trixie into toning it down faster than she hope-
"Rest assured, jealousy is but a passing phase. You still have your status as the princess' student to set you apart from the common mare. We'll be looking back on this laughing in our golden years, just wait."
"What?! Me...jealous!?" Before Twilight could cohere her thoughts again, she noticed her dragon assistant in a press coat and hat with a notepad in claw, scribbling furiously.
"Spike? Are you taking notes?"
Spike grinned eagerly. "Yup, I've been hoofpicked by Trixie herself to write her autobiography!"
Twilight was permanently beginning to lose her grip on tranquility. Even Spike was starting to buy into this? "Um, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about."
"Perhaps for the everyday, off the street pony. But the Great and Powerful Trixie is far too busy saving lives to stop for menial tasks such as writing. That is why she had given Spike the honor of being her ghost writer," Trixie announced as she gave the little dragon a playful pat. "He writes down everything Trixie says, don't you Spike?"
"Don't. you. Spike," the ghost writer enunciated as he wrote the words on his notepad. "Got it!"
"Now Trixie can spend her energy on more important things, such as facing down danger no other pony has the nerve to do." She continued to banter as she cantered off with the entire crowd in tow, unaware her narrow-eyed friend was not following. "It takes courage, nerves of steel, but it also takes unparalleled wit, skill, and the occasional fashion sense. Yes, it's not easy becoming the mare that is Trixie, maybe impossible for some, but it's always good to dream."
Twilight stood in place for what seemed to be hours, even though it was just about a minute or so, before her other friends joined her.
"This is worse than I thought," she finally said. "Trixie is completely delusional. We have to snap her out of this before her boasting gets her into serious trouble or hurts somepony."
"Look Twilight, we all agree she's more full of it than usual. But I've dealt with this kind of thing before, it never lasts," Honey tried to assure her. "Maybe it would be best to just let her have her 15 minutes of spotlight and let it blow over instead of stewing over what could happen."
"No, once you think you're somepony important, it never stops. I've been to enough of Princess Celestia's banquets to know that. I'm not going to let my friend turn into a...a Blueblood!"
"A what?" Blossomforth asked.
"Uh...you're probably better off not knowing. Point is, a true friend doesn't just let a friend gallivant off doing something she knows is wrong, especially if that something could have a negative influence on her character."
"Twilight, if you are that concerned, perhaps you should try explaining clearly to Trixie your worries," Octavia suggested.
Twilight shook her head. "She's beyond reasoning at this point. I just tried talking to her a few minutes ago!"
"Aw, you tried once, and it barely lasted half a minute," Honey disputed. "Prime Minister Roosepelt didn't have the Pommel canal built in a day."
"He also believed in the philosophy 'spare the whip and spoil the foal'. Trixie is not going to stop bragging and showboating unless somepony shows her why it's wrong. As her friends, it's up to us to be that pony."
"Now Twilight, we all have our share of bad habits," Sherbet reasoned. "It's nothing to obsess over. And besides, what harm can boasting really do?"
She then felt a tug on her leg, and looked down to see a sight that made her do a triple take. "Tangerine? What are you wearing?"
Her little filly was dressed up in a miniature hat and cape identical to Trixie's. "Do you like it mom?" she gushed in full filly mode. "It's the standard uniform for the Great and Powerful fanclub! And one day, I'm going to be a magician as great and powerful as Trixie is, and beat an Ursa of my own!"
"Tangerine!" called Specs in the distance. "You're gonna be late for our firsth meeting!"
"Coming! I gotta go mommy. Great and Powerful Tangerine, away!"
Orange Sherbet watched what was once her polite and shy angel now turned full fanfilly dash off, then turned to Twilight with a serious look on her face. "Okay, I'm in. The sooner we get that humble pie baking, the better."
"Eh, what the hay. We could all do with a little less bluster in our lives," Honey stuck her hoof in as well. "We'll all be better for this in the end, right?"
Blossomforth was next. "If it does help Trixie, I'll do everything I can!"
Twilight looked to Octavia, who finally sighed and stepped forward. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
"Excellent," Twilight said with a confident smile. "And I already have a good idea how knock some sense into Trixie. Come tomorrow, there's going to be a real hero in this city."
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From the premise presented in the description, it sounds like you're doing a sort of reversal on Boast Busters as well as re-handling the premise presented in The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. I'd say 'take notes, Merriworth,' but I'm really sick of the "Lurve And Tolerate" community knocking her up and down the walls about her handling of that episode - yes, she botched up what could've been a great premise and made our heroes idiotic pricks! BRONIES, GET OVER IT! She did a wonderful job with Wonderbolt Academy! Stop harping on the past and GIVE HER HER PROPS!
...Sorry, tangent. Anyway, color me intrigued. I'll slap this in my Read Later folder and will follow suit with that action later this evening. Also, Manehattan Universe is best universe! (Because it's new and I can catch up on the universe's 'canoninity')
Only thing I thought I should point out. Anyway, this looks interesting, mixing up Boast Busters and Mare Do Well together. I'll be wondering what differences you'll be putting in from the latter episode since as we all know it wasn't...well received. But you're a good writer, I know you'll come up with something good.
Well, until next time!
2484913 Not to mention it's sort of hypocritical since these are probably the same people who cheered when Kenny did it in South Park to Cartman/The Coon as Mysterion
Nice work on the next story(episode XD) of the Manehattanverse. Hope to see more of this developed. Props also for combining two epsiodes into one story that fits for Trixie.
Ooh, I literally just watched the episode this was based on today; seeing it transposed in the Manehattanverse is a real treat for me! Aside from a couple of capitalization errors I noticed (namely, capitalizing "Elements of Harmony" and "Element of Laughter"), I found no mistakes. Overall, this was a nice, easy, and enjoyable read for me. I'm definitely following this, and I hope to see more soon!
2485509
I wouldn't quite say that Rainbow Dash deserves exactly the same treatment as Eric "Cook a kid's parents into chili and force him to eat it" Cartman.
They also sell garden rakes!
I'm new to the Manehattanverse, and this looks interesting. Faved and I shall be watching this.
2484913 at first i disliked the mare do well episode but if you saw it as a two parter with wonderbolt academy is a genius premise since in wba lightning dust attitude was where rainbow dash was heading in mare do well
The reason you can't have tags for both comedy and sad is because the tags are supposed to show what the story's focus is. You can have a sad adventure with comedy moments, and that's fine. But if you tag comedy on there, it doesn't really show what the story's about.
3335502
Hmm...given that point, maybe a sad tag would be more relevant than comedy. Thanks for your input.
Not really too interested in the Manehatten-verse, but I do adore Trixie, so sign me up.
So far this specific story looks pretty interesting. It's Twilight specifically that feels put off by Trixie's bragging between her multiple acts that have garnered her praise and her bragging, while the rest of the Elements kind of just fall into line one by one, Orange Sherbet being the first only starting off when Tangerine starts singing Trixie's praises as well.
Ewww! I mean, she has a point I suppose. But still... gross.
Gee, I wonder what'll happen next.
That's not an enthusiast, that's someone who doesn't know the proper terminology. There is a difference between a comic book and a graphic novel. A comic book is like a TV show, having arcs that can span several episodes, but tends to have a continuous story. A graphic novel is like a movie, being longer than an episode of a show, going more into characterization, and finishing the story in one shot rather than spreading it out.
Also, was it really necessary to make a Manehatten version of Snips and Snails? I mean, I suppose they're different enough personality-wise. But the designs are the issue I have. They're just recolors. Then again, Bossomforth is basically a recolor of Twilight. And the cover image of this story includes a blatant recolor of Twilight.