The train is approaching Ponyville, but the train stops with a loud bump and a jolt, the station not even in view yet. A pony wearing typical trainyard wear comes out and says that the train can’t move forward because something is blocking the tracks. We are instructed that we should wait inside the train where it is safe until help arrives or a solution is found.

I roll my eyes and just phase through the side of the train car, taking the small leap to the grass below. I walk up to the tracks and, sure enough, there’s a barrier. It’s clear, solid, and kind of spherical. It’s as if Ponyville’s been put under a giant glass dome somehow... but it’s obviously not just normal glass. Weird. Perhaps the place has been quarantined?

The idea of a zombie outbreak pervades my rational thought, claiming it is a rational thought since the confirmation that necromancy exists and therefore zombies are an actual thing and so the idea is just as likely a scenario as any other.

Oh well, guess I should prepare for the worst anyways. I go intangible and walk through the weird dome thing. Cautiously I regain tangibility, and everything seems fine. Air is still clean, no weird smells, no smoke, no screaming... Huh. There’s usually someone screaming even if the trouble is minor so that makes the fishbowl even weirder...

I head back into the train and alert the passengers that there is something going on, though the town seems fine. The ponies on board begin speculating as to what the issue could be, and a few higher-class ponies begin complaining about the unscheduled stop. Wow, way to enforce the ‘herd species’ ideal, guys. I explain that I don’t know exactly what the problem is, but I will try to fix the issue. A particularly rude mare demands I ‘make it quick’ as she has somewhere to be. Sighing, I exit the train and return to the inside of the clear dome.

I figure I might as well head to the Town Hall, figuring the mayor or someone would know what’s going on. When I get there however, I see an... odd sight. There’s a large crowd, seemingly most of the entire town, in front of the Town Hall. There’s a blue pony with a whitish mane, standing on the wooden stage platform and exalting herself in front of the crowd. When I get closer, I see that she’s a unicorn and is wearing a trinket around her neck, like a pendant or something.

Whatever it is, it looks like your run-of-the-mill ‘Artifact of Evil Power’ all the cliché villains have, with an ornate design and displaying heavy use of silver and black for its coloration, with a large dark-red gem in the center. Evil and gaudy. Great, one of those bad guys...

I decide to approach the clearly antagonistic mare anyway, stepping up onto the stage. “Hey uh, you got any idea why there’s a giant dome over the town? The trains can’t get through.”

The powder-blue unicorn turns to face me, and gives me a few looks up and down, studying me. After a moment, she speaks. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has never seen a creature such as you before. What manner of animal are you, and how could you entertain Trixie?”

Oh. She’s an egotist that talks in third person... and she called me an animal. I hate this mare already. “I’m a human and my name is Anthony. I’m sure you’ve heard of me before. You know, hero of Equestria, known leg-breaker, etcetera. Now piss off before I get pissed off.”

“Trixie is the most powerful unicorn in existence! She does not obey orders, she gives them! Now kneel, creature!”

I feel my eye twitch. “Listen up, and listen good. I don’t do the whole ‘kneeling’ thing. Now get your ass out of town before I rip out the Great and Powerful Trixie’s tongue.”

Trixie huffs, a smug look on her face. “You could not possibly imagine just how powerful Trixie is! Trixie has already proven that she is far superior to Twilight Sparkle as a magic user, what makes you think you can do anything?”

Huh, she kicked out Twilight? Dang, wish I could have seen that. Still, this new mare is already on my nerves. “I know I can outdo you because of one simple fact: I’m awesome, and anything you can do, I can do better!”

Trixie glares at me. “Trixie can do anything better than you!”

I roll my eyes. “No you can’t.”

The glare intensifies. “Yes I can!”

Wow, I actually broke the whole ‘third-person’ thing. She must be mad... “No you can’t!”

“Yes I can, yes I can, yes I can!!” Trixie shouts at me in a rage. Her horn glows a rather disturbing red and I’m flung backwards at high speed. I go intangible just before I hit a house and just sail right through it. When my momentum slows down, I get back up and walk back to the Town Hall. “Is that all you got?”

Trixie stares surprisedly, but then angrily once more. “You are certainly an interesting creature, but you are still no match for Trixie’s power! Trixie may have started as a mere showmare, but now she is the highest level unicorn this world has ever known!”

“Showmare? What, like an entertainer? Well sorry to break it to you, but I’m better at that than you are for sure!”

“Feast your eyes then, pathetic creature, as you are about to bear witness to the greatest feats of magic ponykind has ever seen!” She proceeds to summon a huge load of fireworks and rockets out of nowhere and shows off a few interesting tricks, the equal to which would be a magician for a five-year-old’s birthday party, though with a bit of unicorn magic thrown in, it is obviously done with more than just sleight of hand. However, as the set goes on, it actually starts getting pretty impressive to be honest. I don’t deny it, the mare has skills.

Once her rather long yet interesting-to-witness routine is finished, the crowd claps weakly, apparently very afraid of not complimenting her. Trixie gives me a cocky grin. “You couldn’t possibly outdo that!”

I roll my eyes. “The most important part of being an entertainer is entertaining the audience. It’s not judged on how skilled you are, but the crowd’s reaction.” I walk closer to center stage, taking the Lyre and holding it in my hand. “That said, watch and learn, noob.”

I begin playing the first song to pop into my head that would fit the situation. I hold the Lyre in my hand and strum it, calling forth an electric guitar’s style of sound and that of a drum behind it. Then I start singing, the song I’m playing taking me back to my childhood and reminding me of doing battle with what I still think is probably the coolest boss in video game history. As my joy increases, the night-sky effect crawls up my arms slowly before disappearing under the sleeves of my t-shirt. The crowd is moving to the music, clearly enjoying it. Trixie is not amused, but I can tell it’s taking her a bit of effort to not start dancing as well.

After a few minutes, the song is over and the crowd is cheering happily. I raise my starry fist in the air and shout to my audience. “Tell me who you love!”

The large gathering of ponies chant my chosen name happily, many of the smaller kids getting up on their parents’ backs to get higher. At the sheer amount of adulation I’m getting compared to the polite clapping Trixie got, I feel fantastic! Once the cheering dies down and my arms’ coloration has returned to normal, I turn to Trixie. “And that’s how you entertain. Looks like another loss for The Lame and Pitiful Windbag.”

Trixie narrows her eyes and, with a scream of rage, her horn lights up. I see a tiny ball of energy forming at her horn’s tip and suddenly sparks of red lightning shoot from her horn. I’m barely fast enough for it to register, but I manage to cancel it out before I’m struck.

Trixie looks at me in utter surprise. Becoming angry once more, she fires a barrage of crackling, arcing magic blasts at me, but now that I’m aware of being attacked, I nullify each burst of magic, dispelling them as they approach me. Trixie growls angrily. “Trixie may not know how you have such skill in counterspells, but Trixie does know that she can easily outlast you! You shall feel The Great and Powerful Trixie’s wrath!”

I sigh as I ‘counter’ another volley of magically conjured lightning blasts. “Could you quit with the third-person bullshit? All it does is show off how much of an attention whore you are.”

“You shall burn for your insolence!” She screams dramatically as I see a huge wall of red and purple fire surround me. I barely have enough time to register it, and the heat makes me feel weak. I do manage to get into my Heat form though, and I feel much better, knowing that now all I have to do is wait it out.

It takes a minute, but the flames die down and I’m standing where I was, orange flames leaping from my skin, seeming to be burned alive to the untrained eye. Trixie laughs. “Ha! The same fate shall befall any who dare oppose the Great and Pow-”

“Enough with the fucking self-promotion!” Trixie turns and looks aghast at me as I extinguish my flaming form. “News flash, bitch: Fire and lightning don’t work on me and they never will.”

Trixie stammers incoherently, wide-eyed as she backs away from me. I walk closer as she retreats. “So, are you going to get rid of the fishbowl and get your ugly mug out of town and never ever come back, or do I have to beat you senseless first?”

“Trixie will never surrender!” Her horn glows and I prepare to stop whatever she throws at me next, but instead I feel myself grow smaller. A very strange and slightly itchy sensation washes over me slowly as I continue to shrink. Eventually I stop shrinking and the sensation stops, though I still feel somewhat itchy. I hear the now gigantic Trixie laugh.

*Squeak squeak squeak squeak!* What the heck? *squeak!* Is that my voice!? Ohhh shit. What did she do to me!?

I look down at myself and realize that, on top of having a furry snout significantly different to that of a pony’s, I am rather furry all over with a pair of paws with fingers, though I lack thumbs. I’m a rat!

Trixie looks down at me, grinning evilly. “For your disobedience and insubordination, you shall live the rest of your pathetic life as a common gerbil!” Oh. I’m a gerbil. I knew that. “Now, Ponyville, bow to your new ruler, and do all she demands, or an even worse fate shall befall the entire town!” She finishes her speech off with a slightly maniacal laugh and I take my chance to haul tail, one of which I now have, away from the insane mare and to find someplace safe. Preferably with sunflower seeds and some sand. Maybe someplace where I can dig- Oh dear sweet goddesses of Hylia, what is happening to my brain!? Next Chapter: Chapter 129 Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 12 Minutes