Rainbow Dash stepped forward towards her stage. She couldn’t believe how pathetic Royal Blue had become, letting something little like a confusing cutie mark or an angry Applejack get the better of him. To think that Rainbow Dash once thought of him as a rival. That didn’t matter now. What did matter was Trixie.

As much as Rainbow Dash hated to admit it, the show pony was made of tough stuff. Rainbow Dash just hoped Trixie could keep up with her long enough to put on a good show. Then, when it looked like they were neck and neck, zoom! Rainbow Dash would bust out her skills and leave Trixie in the dust.

Onto the stage Rainbow Dash and Trixie climbed. The audience was cheering. Rainbow Dash smiled and closed her eyes. It felt like there was an electricity in the air that was charging her up. This is what she loved. What she craved. Rainbow Dash was ready. She was going to show the audience a performance they would never forget.

Trixie listened to the cheering. She loved this. Ever since she had gotten her cutie mark, even before, she had always loved performing. Magic was what she loved best, but if she could listen to cheering like this every day... well, maybe puppets could work too. That was a thought for another day, though. Right now she had to focus. She had a champion to beat and no realistic way to do it.

Madam Soufflé had been right. Trixie’s bad luck hadn’t recharged yet. The previous match being over after a few minutes had just given her even less time. She hoped what she had would be enough to at least get started. From there she would have to rely on illusions and deception to keep the audience entertained.

Rainbow Dash had her eyes closed. She was enjoying this as much as Trixie. There was tension in the air. This was the match that the audience was waiting for. Anything after this would just be a formality. Trixie was ready. She was going to show the audience a performance they would never forget.

Spike flipped on his microphone. “I hope everypony is ready. After the disappointment of the last match, I’m sure we’re all looking for some mayhem. Well, look no further because we got us a good old-fashioned grudge match going on. In one corner, we have the two times champion of the WBEs and winner of this year’s Best Young Flyer’s competition. The pegasus with a serious need for speed, Rainbow Dash!”

“And in the other corner...” Pinkie scratched her head. “Well, actually, they’re both standing in the middle of the stage, so they aren’t really in corners. But if they were in the corners, then in the other corner would be the dazzling stage magician and master of illusionary arts, the unicorn who’s not afraid to take on anypony, Trixie!”

Spike grabbed his microphone and leaned back in his chair. “From what I’ve been told, these two have been at each other’s throats all day.”

“Yep,” Pinkie said with a nod. “It all started when Trixie put on a magic show in Ponyville. Can you believe it?”

“It does seem an odd thing to hold a grudge about for so long.”

“No, not that. There was a magic show in Ponyville, and I missed most of it! I was there for the very beginning, but I had to leave to go to work. I figured I would watch a repeat performance the next day when I had time off, but Trixie had already left! How often do magic shows come to Ponyville? Never! That’s how often.” Pinkie turned and looked at Spike. “I missed most of the only magic show ever to come to Ponyville. And don’t get me started on missing the ursa minor attacking that night...”

Spike clicked off their microphones and asked. “How did you miss that anyways? It woke up the entire town.”

“I thought it was Gummy snoring again, so I put in some ear plugs.”

Spike rolled his eyes and turned the microphones back on.

“Miss Rainbow Dash, are you ready?” the judge asked.

Rainbow Dash mocked a yawn into her hoof and rubbed it on her chest. “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Hey, Trixie. Tell you what. Since I’m such a good sport, I’ll give you a head start.”

“Uh... Miss Trixie, are you ready?” the judge asked.

“I am,” Trixie said. “You are too kind, Rainbow Dash, but the Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you without a head start.”

“Eh, snooze ya lose.”

The judge looked between the two competitors. “Go!”

Rainbow Dash zipped forward and touched the ingredient rack. “I win,” she announced.

Trixie rolled her eyes and started gathering her utensils. Rainbow Dash set her bowl on the countertop and began balancing a spoon on the end of her nose. Trixie stared at her. “Having fun?” Trixie asked sarcastically.

“Just waiting for you to hurry up so we can start baking together.”

“More like waiting so you can always be in my way.”

Rainbow Dash let the spoon fall into her bowl and feigned shock. “Why, Trixie. I would never do such a thing.”

Trixie moved back to the ingredients. She looked around for the sack of flour, then looked back at Rainbow Dash, who was humming to herself while pouring flour into her bowl.

Rainbow Dash looked up at Trixie. “Oh! I’m sorry,” she said. “I saw you looking at the ingredients, but you were taking so long, I decided to go on without you.”

Trixie sighed angrily and instead picked up the carton of eggs. She set them on the countertop and opened them. “I was hoping you would be a bit more mature during our performance, Rainbow Dash, but I can see that was too much to hope for,” Trixie said then selected an egg. She rapped it on the side of her bowl and was blown back. Raw egg shot from the hole in the eggshell like a fire hose. Trixie was on her back, wide-eyed and trying not to let the egg shoot further into her mouth. She turned and spat out the egg.

The egg spun around on stage, spraying down both of the baking ponies before launching itself off the stage. The egg bounced twice along the field before sailing above the audience. A pegasus stallion with a mouth mitt flew into the air and caught the egg. He landed and celebrated briefly before the egg popped and showered those around him in yolk. All the audience except for one section began to cheer.

“And we have our first catch of the night,” Spike said.

“We want to remind everypony that, as tempting as it may be, please refrain from catching any flying ingredients,” Pinkie said.

Rainbow Dash shook off the raw egg while Trixie got back on her legs. “Wow, didn’t expect that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie... often does the unexpected.”

Trixie was growing more annoyed by the second. Rainbow Dash seemed to be doing everything she could to try and get a rise from her. Rather than continue to fight for ingredients, Trixie had decided to grab everything and dump it on the countertop between them. Rainbow Dash had just stopped working and watched her with a smirk. She was purposefully keeping pace with Trixie, or rather staying one step ahead. The worst thing was Trixie’s bad luck only came in pitifully short bursts. She needed to do something to have a chance.

Trixie bit onto the carton of milk and lifted it. It didn’t move. She looked at Rainbow Dash holding the opposite end.

“Do you mind?” Trixie said through clenched teeth.

“I had it first,” Rainbow Dash said innocently.

“Let go!”

“No! You let go!”

Trixie yanked her head back as Rainbow Dash did the same. There was a sound like tearing paper and Trixie found herself laying on the stage again. She spat out a vertical half of a milk carton. She glared at Rainbow Dash, who was spitting out her own half. “What is the matter with you!” Trixie said. “You’re acting like a spoiled filly!”

“Well at least I don’t keep falling over.”

Trixie stood up and marched toward Rainbow Dash. “I have had about enough of your—”

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash hissed under her breath. Trixie only stared at her in confusion. “Stop getting mad, and insult me back! The audience is loving it!”

Trixie looked around. Every pony in the stadium was smiling and watching them eagerly. Trixie looked back at Rainbow Dash.

“Well?” Rainbow Dash said, still in a whisper. “Are you going to start acting like my rival or what?”

Trixie’s eyes opened wide. Rival. Rainbow Dash wanted a new rival and wanted it to be her. Trixie didn’t know whether to be honored or insulted, but... if this was a show...

“Nice going, Rainbow Doofus,” Trixie said. “Now neither of us has any milk.”

Rainbow Dash smiled then said, “What in the hay are you talking about? The milk is right there!” She pointed at the countertop. On the countertop was a rectangular prism of milk.

Trixie stared at it. “That... can’t be good milk,” she said.

Rainbow Dash sniffed it. “Ugh, smells like it spoiled a hundred years ago.”

Trixie took a quick look around the ingredient rack then said, “Well, it’s the only milk we have...”

Trixie and Rainbow Dash each grabbed half of the nearly solid milk and began mixing it into their batter while attempting not to gag.

This was how things were supposed to go. Rainbow Dash grinned as she added more ingredients to her mix. Trixie was doing a good job returning and slinging insults now that she had loosened up. She was still a boastful, little egomaniac, but all good rivals should be at least somewhat like that. Rainbow Dash turned up the speed on her mixing, sending batter splashing around.

“Watch it,” Trixie said. “You’re getting your batter in my bowl.”

Rainbow Dash let go of her spoon. “You should know by now, Trixie, that anything I add to your bowl would only improve it.”

“Exactly. I’m trying to make my cake as bad as possible, and you keep trying to make it better.”

“Well, I... just shut up and bake.”

“With pleasure,” Trixie said then bit onto her spoon. She jumped back as her dough began to bubble.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. Here it came again. Another crazy burst of bad luck from Trixie’s poison joke. The audience was silent in anticipation. The batter continued to sputter, then stopped. Trixie stared at it for a while longer but nothing further happened.

“Guess it was a dud,” Rainbow Dash said. It was a good thing too. Trixie’s batter was looking nasty. With how well they were working together, they would likely get the same score for their performance. That left the points for how bad the cake looked. Rainbow Dash swallowed nervously. She had to step it up if she was going to win.

“No matter, The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t want to beat you by a lot. A single point would do. Sorry, Rainbow Dash. Looks like the trophy will be mine this year.”

“You wish. I’m just pacing myself, so I can sprint to the finish.”

“Too bad we aren’t running a race,” Trixie said, then turned towards Rainbow Dash.

“It was a metaphor,” Rainbow Dash said, also turning.

Rainbow Dash and Trixie glared at each other. Nothing like two hated rivals going at each other’s throats to get the audience pumped up. The sound of splintering wood caused Rainbow Dash to look down. A crack had formed across the center of the stage. Rainbow Dash and Trixie met each other’s eyes before the middle of the stage collapsed and sent them crashing together.

“Ow... nice going, Rainbow Crash,” Trixie said as she tried to untangle herself.

“Oh sure, like I really wanted this to happen. Ah! You’re stepping on my wing!”

Rainbow Dash finally pulled herself loose and watched Trixie dust off her hat then set it back on her head. Rainbow Dash started laughing quietly.

“Something funny?” Trixie asked as she got unsteadily to her hooves.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said as she began to laugh harder. “Your face!”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Resorting to foalish insults? Have you run out of your own material already?”

“Sorry, sorry. I meant to say, your forehead!”

“What? Do I have some batter on me?”

“Oh, no.” Tears were beginning to roll down Rainbow Dash’s checks. “What’s funny is what isn’t on your forehead.”

“Well now you’re just speaking... in... riddles...”

The shock of realization of Trixie’s face just made Rainbow Dash laugh harder. The audience must be thinking she had gone crazy, but it was just too funny. Trixie’s poison joke had left her right before she would need it most.

“Laugh all you want, Rainbow Dash, but I suggest you get to work on your batter.”

Rainbow Dash slowly stopped laughing. “What?” she asked.

“All I have left to do is pour my batter into some cake pans. The second part of this match is about looks, and right now, it looks like my cake is worse off than yours.”

Rainbow Dash rushed back to her batter. She hated when Trixie was right. The first half of the round would be over in a few minutes. There wasn’t enough time left to get her batter as bad as Trixie’s. She would still try, though. She wasn’t a quitter.

Rainbow Dash had a few more ingredients she could add. Maybe she could make something turn sour? Or spicy? No, that would just make it taste bad. She had no idea what would make it look bad. She turned and noticed Trixie working on a new bowl with an opened box of instant cake mix next to her.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash whispered.

“Just watch.”

Trixie stood proudly as her finished cake was being tested for edibility. Rainbow Dash was looking at her like she had gone crazy. Maybe she had, but she was feeling too good to care. Her poison joke was gone, she still had her savings, and she was having fun.

Rainbow Dash’s cake was a mess. It had a sloppy layout with the layers being uneven and sliding apart. The frosting was an unappetizing greenish brown despite her only using blue food coloring. There was also a pigeon roosting on top, but it had flown in after the judging so it couldn’t be counted. One of the taste testers had nearly choked on the cake after just smelling it.

Trixie’s cake, on the other hoof, was magnificent. She knew a thing or two about baking, including how to improve upon store-bought cake mixes. Her cake had three tiers. The whole thing was covered in purple frosting with expertly designed blue and yellow stars covering it. Atop the cake was a miniature Trixie figurine made out of sugar. It already had its head bitten off.

All the taste testers held plates containing Trixie’s cake. They were sitting around and chatting with one another. A pink pony had also come running out of the stands and was taking bites from the cake itself.

“I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash said quietly.

“It’s not like I was going to win the finals without poison joke,” Trixie said.

“Yeah, but... you could have beat me. Isn’t that why you came here?”

“And you accuse me of having a big ego?”

Rainbow Dash just stared at Trixie.

“Okay... I admit it... the only reason I came here today was so I could make you lose. I had seen your poster and got really frustrated knowing that you would be out here competing. I, well... I was jealous of you.”

“Really? The Great and Powerful Trixie was jealous of me?”

“Laugh it up, but it’s true. I was jealous that you, a simple weathermare with dreams of flying big, would be on stage with thousands of cheering ponies, while I, The Great and Powerful Trixie... was performing to a nearly empty theatre.”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a while then said, “I’m sorry about what happened in Ponyville. I shouldn’t have been so angry. It’s just that I hate losing. And when you showed me up on stage in front of my friends... I let things go to my head.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash. I’m sorry too, about trying to ruin your big night. Still, it looks like you won this rematch.”

“Yeah, kinda. But, we need to compete in something else. Without any poison joke.”

The sound of a very angry judge loudly clearing his throat got the attention of all the ponies. “Have the taste testers, after their extending deliberation, in which all of you decided to join in, reached a verdict?” he asked.

“Yeah,” one of the taste tasters said with a mouth full of cake. “It’s delicious. Really top notch.”

“Thank you. Miss Trixie, I’m sorry, but you know the rules. You are disqualified. Rainbow Dash? Congratulation on reaching the finals.”

“Paging, Pinkie Pie,” an annoyed voice said from the speakers. “Please return to the announcer’s booth, so we can continue.”

“Okay!” the pink pony said, then quickly gobbled up the rest of the cake. She hopped happily back to the stands as she licked frosting from her face. The remaining taste testers looked sadly at where the cake had been, then walked away.

“Looks like that’s that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah,” Trixie agreed. “But there’s one more thing I have to do.”

“What’s that?”

Trixie stepped forward and used her magic to tap into the audio and visual spell above her. It felt great being able to use magic again without any bad luck. She looked at Rainbow Dash. “This may seem selfish of me... okay. It is selfish of me, but I need to do this to repay a debt.”

Trixie hoped the unicorns maintaining the spell would continue to hold it instead of just letting it fail. It was likely a very complex spell and one they would hesitate to have to recast. The image of the stage faded and was replaced with inky blackness that spread until the entire stadium was bathed in a surreal darkness. Stars appeared and floated around the stadium. Many ponies reached up to touch them, only to have their hooves pass through.

The stars started popping. They would burst into fragments of light and crackle as they faded away. More stars took their place. No longer white, the new stars were a multitude of colors that swirled into shapes and patterns.

Shooting stairs streaked across the field. Fireworks exploded. The audience oohed and aahed as each explosion was more colorful and complex than that last.

On stage, Trixie was sweating and straining. Even with the help of eight unicorns—who thankfully weren’t resisting—this was the most magic she had ever tried to control at once.

In the center of the starry field, Trixie’s head appeared. “Ponies of Equestria! Are you having a good time?” the head asked.

The audience responded by cheering. The sound amplification spell was still working. The most difficult part for Trixie was keeping the strain out of her voice.

“Do you enjoy my illusions?” The audience cheered louder. “Do you want to see more?” Louder still. “Then come to Fillydelphia! Come to the Dimmer Theatre! Let The Great and Powerful Trixie put on a performance for you that you’ll remember for the rest of your lives!”

The illusions swirled together like water going down a drain. The lights returned to their normal brightness yet there seemed to be a spot that was shining on the field. Trixie stood in it, her cape blowing in an imaginary wind. She reared up on her hind legs and brought her front legs down hard. When her hooves hit the field, smoke and colored light swirled out and quickly obscured the stage.

Trixie panted. She was never going to try something like that again. Still, if even a tenth of the ponies in the audience wanted to see her again, then the Dimmer Theatre would be in big business.

Trixie was glad she had noticed the trap door in the middle of the field. Why, exactly, there was a trap door in the middle of a field of grass, she didn’t know. She looked around, taking in the hallway of blackened bricks with torches spaced eventually every so often. She started walking.

“Where am I?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe what Trixie had just done. The smoke had faded several minutes ago yet the audience was still cheering. Pinkie was chattering aimlessly over the speakers about how cool it was to see a magic show even if it was so short. Rainbow Dash shook her head. Even after losing, Trixie had still found a way to show her up. Rainbow Dash smiled. Could she pick rivals, or what?