“Thank you! Thank you, Fillydelphia! You’ve been a wonderful audience!”

Trixie let her magic loose as she took a bow. Colorful lights and explosions surrounded her as her fireworks spun and flew about the stage. All illusions, of course. She wasn’t crazy enough to set off real fireworks indoors. Deception was the tool of the magician, though. The fireworks zipped around the auditorium, coming close but never quite touching the ponies in their seats. A little fear and excitement was a great way to leave the audience wanting more. Trixie rose from her bow as the last of the magical fireworks fizzled out. Her cape with its field of stars flapped in an imaginary breeze. She smiled at the audience and listened to the applause, letting her eyes scan the crowd.

There, in the front like always, was Mrs. Dimmer, the aging wife of this theatre’s owner. She stamped her hooves loudly, her eyes shining with delight. Trixie owed that earth pony so much. She was the one that had helped Trixie get off the streets and back on her hooves after that disastrous performance in Ponyville had almost ruined her career. It was thanks to this job at the Dimmer Theatre that she had already saved up enough to get her starry hat and cape replaced.

Along the far side of the auditorium was Stubs, the unicorn of many jobs. Ticket seller, usher, handyman. If there was an odd job that needed doing, Stubs was the pony doing it. He was currently standing next to a broom, his magic twirling it as he waited for the audience to leave. Trixie had wondered what the cutie mark of the pony with so many talents was. However, Stubs always wore a long coat that covered his flank and only served to deepen the mystery.

The other members of the audience were unfamiliar to Trixie. Either out-of-towners or first-timers most likely. At least they were applauding respectfully. All except for the last row in which there were two unicorn colts that seemed more interested in noisily telling each other jokes than watching Trixie’s performance. They got up and left the auditorium. Trixie fought against an eye twitch. Seeing those two reminded her of the last pair of unicorn colts she had met. The ones that had destroyed her trailer and all her things after thinking it was a good idea to bring an ursa into a populated area. Trixie calmed herself by taking deep breaths. Those two in the back had been rude, but they didn’t seem the type to endanger other ponies just to see more of her ‘awesome’ magic.

Trixie felt her smile waver and forced it to remain strong. She had to get off the stage. This was becoming too much for her to bear. She went into the standard end to all of her performances. Trixie reared up on her hind legs and brought her front legs down hard. When her hooves hit the stage, there was a great burst of smoke that swirled out to obscure her. The smoke quickly vanished, leaving no trace of Trixie behind.

Trixie breathed hard from behind the curtains. She had made it this time. There was no laughing from ponies catching a glimpse of her tail vanishing off stage. A scowl formed on Trixie’s face, replacing the fake smile that had been there a moment before. She fought hard to control her breathing.

Eight. There had been eight ponies in the audience. That was two less than last time. Eight ponies in a theatre that sat over a hundred. Tears burned in Trixie’s eyes but she refused to let them fall.

How? It was the only question on Trixie’s mind. How had it come to this? How had she fallen so far as to become a lowly stage magician? True, she had always been a stage magician, but at least she used to own her stage. It wasn’t fair. She used to bring whole towns out to her performance. They adored her. Waited on her hoof and leg. Yes, her ego had grown large, and she would sometimes pick on the hecklers, but it was all harmless fun. The rest of the crowd loved it. Everything had been great until Ponyville.

Ponyville. If—no—when Trixie got a new trailer, she would never go back to that podunk town. Her performance there had been going great, spectacular even. Then that rainbow-colored pegasus had booed her. Actually booed her! For doing magic at a magic show! The worst part was the crowd had started to take the pegasus’ side. Of course, Trixie had to show that little naysayer and her friends a thing or two. She even made up that ridiculous story about defeating an ursa major.

Everything had spiraled down from there. However, it all started with that pegasus. What was her name, even? Rainbow... something. Probably something stupid like Rainbow Dork. If Rainbow Dork hadn’t started booing, then Trixie wouldn’t have had to make up that story and then those colts... those colts! And her trailer and all her stuff and—

Trixie closed her eyes and held her breath. She counted to ten and then kept going until she reached twenty. She started breathing again, in and out, slowly. When she had calmed herself, she opened her eyes and got a close up view of Mr. Dimmer’s incredibly hairy face. Trixie gave a startled yell and took a step away from the earth pony.

“Another splendid performance, Miss Trixie,” Mr. Dimmer said.

“What? I—Y-yes... it was a magnificent performance, was it not? I even developed several new tricks just for tonight.”

“Quite an amazing display. I know my wife loved every minute of it.”

Trixie smiled and nodded. Mr. Dimmer nodded back and continued looking at Trixie. At least Trixie thought he was looking at her. Between his mane and mustache, there was so much hair covering Mr. Dimmer’s face it was nearly impossible to tell what he was looking at, or if he was even still awake.

Trixie cleared her throat. “I’m... I’m sorry I’m not drawing the crowds I used to, Mr. Dimmer.”

“Oh, that’s quite alright. I suspect most ponies in town have already seen your show. I know you try to keep it fresh but there’re only so many magic tricks you can see before even the new seems old. Seems to mostly be tourists coming to see you now, and Fillydelphia isn’t exactly the tourist capital of Equestria.”

“Yes, it’s just... I know the theatre has already lost some acts and—”

“Not to worry! This theatre has been in my family for generations and always will be. It goes all the way back to my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. It’ll eventually be passed on to my son and then grandson and so on and so forth. I know I’m getting old, but one day my son will get his head out of the clouds and take over so I can retire.”

“Isn’t your son a blacksmith? And doesn’t he have an anvil for a cutie mark?”

“Just a phase he’s going through. Anyway, my point is this theatre has seen its fair share of hard times, and if there’s one thing it knows how to do, it’s adapt. Never fear, I’ve got a plan! I have a big meeting tomorrow morning, and if things go well, why, we’ll be so jam-packed with ponies, we could fill every seat in the house. Twice over!”

“Really?” Trixie said, growing excited. She hadn’t performed for a full house since she had first come to the Dimmer Theatre so many months ago.

“Yes! So stop your fretting and enjoy your evening. I’ll be sure to tell you the good news tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dimmer! I will!”

Trixie walked towards her dressing room that she unfortunately also called her bedroom. Rent was expensive in Fillydelphia, and she was lucky Mrs. Dimmer had arranged for her to be able to live in the theatre. Things were looking up though. She had been growing increasingly worried. Her pay was directly proportional to the crowd she brought in, and at the rate she was going, it would have been years before she could afford a new trailer. Assuming she wasn’t fired before then. However, if there was one thing Trixie had learned during her stay with the Dimmers, it was to trust in Mr. Dimmer’s plans. His ideas often seemed hair-brained, ill-planned, or questionably-sane, but they never failed to work. If he said things would get better, then Trixie had no reason to doubt him.

Trixie reached her door and was greeted by an odd sight: a bouquet of flowers.

A bouquet of flowers by itself wasn’t normally an odd thing. Trixie was a truly magnificent magician, after all. If anything, the odd thing should have been that she didn’t get a bouquet of flowers more often. What was odd was the type of flowers. Trixie had never seen flowers like these before.

The flowers were multiple shades of blue. They had two rows of petals; a small inner row closed into a bulb and a large outer row that hung down. Four stamens poked out of the bulb, each tipped in a small circle.

Trixie used her telekinesis to float the bouquet to her face and sniffed the flowers. They were incredibly fragrant and smelled amazing. She buried her face in the bouquet and breathed deeply. She let her breath out in a happy sigh and entered her room. Things certainly were looking up. Today had been a good day in the end, and tomorrow would be even better.

“I’m afraid it’s poison joke,” the doctor said as he flipped through his charts.

“Poison what?” Trixie said.

Trixie had woken up that morning and known something was wrong. Getting tangled in her sheets, falling from bed, noticing the spots on her forehead, breaking her mirror, tripping over her trash can, burning her toast, burning her orange, burning her glass of milk, stumbling down the theatre steps, being chased by a dog, being chased by a cat, being cornered by a dog and cat working as a team, falling in the mud, becoming lost in the back alleys, finding her way back to a street she knew only to have a passing carriage splash her with mud, having a flower pot fall on her, having a paint bucket fall on her, having a painting of a flower pot fall on her, finding the dog and cat waiting for her around a corner, having the doctor’s door opened in her face, and being told she has an ailment she had never heard of before had just reaffirmed this.

“Poison joke.” The doctor looked up from his charts. “It’s a poisonous plant most commonly found within the Everfree Forest. Unlike most other poisonous plants, it doesn’t cause itchiness or swelling. Instead, it plays a magical joke on whatever touches it. Those blue spots on your forehead are the rash caused by it.”

“This is a joke? I nearly killed myself just getting here!”

“Yes, well... usually the joke is something harmless but annoying. Such as a pegasus’ wings being turned backwards or a pony getting giant hooves so they walk weird.” The doctor chuckled. “I once saw a pony under the effects of poison joke that looked just fine until you turned off the lights. She actually glowed in the dark!” The doctor started laughing but stopped and cleared his throat when Trixie hadn’t joined in. “In ah... in your case the poison joke seems to be manifesting itself as bad luck.”

The stool Trixie was sitting on collapsed. Trixie stared at the doctor.

“Extreme bad luck. I’ve never actually heard of such a severe reaction to poison joke before.”

The top two tacks of an eye chart fell out causing the chart to fall forward and land on Trixie. Trixie continued to stare at the doctor.

“Which is why we ran blood work. The bad news is that it seems that you are allergic to poison joke. The effects of the plant usually fades after a couple of days on its own. However, due to your allergy, it could take a while longer.”

“How much longer?”

“We really have no way of telling, but I would guess a week at least.”

“A week! How am supposed to live like this for a week? I haven’t even been able to eat anything today. I’ve been assaulted by animals. I have to look up constantly to make sure nothing falls on me, and I have to look down constantly to make sure I don’t fall into something! This has been the second worst day in my life, quickly approaching first, and you’re telling me this could go on for a week!” Trixie gritted her teeth and tried to keep from yelling further.

“Calm down. Take nice relaxing breaths. There is a cure.”

Trixie gave a sigh of relief and let the building stress fade. “Please mention that quicker next time. So, what? I just buy some ointment, take some medicine?”

“A bath with an herbal remedy added to it.”

“Well that sounds nice. Just write me a prescription, and I’ll be on my way.”

“I’m afraid there’s more bad news.”

Trixie stared at the doctor, her stress quickly returning. “Really? Why ever was I thinking there would be good news. Of course, there is bad news seeing as I’m cursed with bad luck! Now, what is this bad news?”

The doctor gulped. “The herbal remedy has recently become quite popular at spas all over Equestria due to its exfoliating and skin rejuvenating properties. As a result, the herbs are in high demand and short supply, seeing as how many of them come from the Everfree Forest itself. This means that the price of the bath has been rising steadily. It was seventy-five bits the last time I checked, but it could be higher now.”

The doctor cringed away and raised his clipboard between him and Trixie. When nothing was thrown or shouted, he slowly lowered it. Trixie was sitting calmly on the broken stool and staring at the doctor. Her sudden mood change scared the doctor more than her yelling.

“I’m sorry,” Trixie said, her voice dripping with venom. “I must have misheard you. It sounded like you said the cure would cost me almost all the money I’ve been saving for the past few months, and that can’t possibly be right. I’m sure there must be an emergency supply of herbs on hoof for those that need it. After all, the health care in Equestria is quite good, and the doctors wouldn’t allow such powerful healing medicine to be controlled by a couple of day spas. That would be silly. Now, why don’t you tell me again what I obviously misheard the first time?”

“Y-you might be able to get a reduced price if you shared a community bath and split the cost with some ponies?”

Trixie got up and let the eye chart clatter to the floor. The doctor backed into the corner and kept trying to back up further. Trixie breathed deeply in a vain attempt to calm herself.

“Do you have any idea who I am? I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! I perform the greatest feats of magic known to pony kind!” Trixie’s horn began to glow as she dragged the doctor was next to her face. “Fix this!” she hissed.

A ceiling tile came loose and broke in two on Trixie’s head. Trixie released the doctor and fell woozily onto her haunches.

“One more thing,” the doctor said as he tried to keep his distance.

“More bad news?”

“Well... you see. It’s... Whether news is good or bad is so subjective...” The doctor closed his eyes, breathed deeply then quickly said, “The bad luck also seems to respond to your magic so you should probably refrain from using it until you’re better. Pleasedon’thurtme!”

Trixie got up and walked towards the door. “I think we’re done here.” She began to grab the door handle with her mouth only to have the door swing open and hit her face.

“Doctor?” the nurse asked. “I just wanted to—oh my! I’m so sorry!”

Trixie dislodged her horn from the door. “Quite all right,” she said groggily. “The Powerful and Great audience thanks you for being such a wonderful Trixie and reminds you to try the fried celery.”

Trixie slammed shut the front door of the Dimmer Theatre as she dashed inside. She sat down as she tried to catch her breath. She was thankful that most cats and dogs had yet to figure out how to open doors.

Trixie didn’t know what to do. Her choices were to either spend nearly all of her money on a bath or live with bad luck until the poison joke wore off. If she was lucky, if would be gone in a couple of days. If she was unlucky…

Trixie’s breath caught in her throat. She was unlucky. The poison joke would last as long as possible. Maybe even forever. Could this day get any worse? Trixie froze. Why had she thought that? Of course, the day could get worse and probably will now that she had taunted fate by thinking that question.

Trixie nervously looked around the theatre’s entrance. No objects hanging above her. No obvious holes in the floor, but she would have to keep her eyes open for any unobvious ones. No doors ready to swing open and crash into her. Except the one behind her! Trixie took a few steps forward. Disaster averted. No angry animals—wait! There was one over... no, that was just Stubs, standing at the ticket booth and looking at her like she had gone crazy.

Trixie took a step forward and waited. When nothing happened, she repeated the process.

It was about an hour later that Trixie had made her way backstage and was approaching her dressing room. She was five feet away. So far, no bad luck. Four feet. It would be happening soon. Three feet. Keep focused, Trixie. Two feet. You can do it, Trixie. One foot. Trixie nervously reached out with a shaking hoof and touched her dressing room door. Nothing happened.

Trixie gave a sigh of relief. She was being silly, letting paranoia rule her life. Poison joke was only bad if you let it be. She just had to get her money, go to the spa, and take a bath. Maybe she could even get a discount with her being such a famous magician. This would only be a small setback. Mr. Dimmer had a plan, and soon, Trixie would be swimming in bits. She would buy a new trailer. A bigger, better trailer with more hidden compartments and folding stages than she could count. She would tour all of Equestria, letting everpony know she was back. Ponyville would be forgotten, of course. The town would become a laughing stock, known only as the one place the Great and Powerful Trixie didn’t perform. Eventually, she would be looking for a more permanent stage. Maybe if Mr. Dimmer’s son kept refusing, Trixie could buy this theatre. The Trixie Theatre. She liked the sound of that. Her name in lights. Everypony calling her name.

“Miss Trixie! There you are!”

Trixie yelped in surprise, spun around, and backed into her door. The screws that were holding the door hinges in place fell out, and the door began to tilt forward. She was slowly lowered to her belly as the door’s weight pushed down on her. Trixie gave Mr. Dimmer a miserable look.

“Oh my,” Mr. Dimmer said. “Terribly sorry. I was certain we had your door fixed last week.” He moved his head under the door and lifted it off of Trixie, allowing her to crawl out.

“Not your fault,” Trixie said as she got back on her hooves.

“Miss Trixie, are you alright? You’re covered in dried mud and... is that paint?”

“It’s a long story. I need to take a bath.”

Mr. Dimmer nodded. “Anyway, I’ve been hoping you would return soon. My meeting this morning went better than I had hoped, and I have the most wonderful news!”

The most wonderful news. Those were the best words Trixie had ever heard. They were like a parent’s loving embrace. Suddenly, all the worries of the day melted away and left behind a warm glow. It was proof that no matter how bad things got, there was always a silver lining.

“I’ve been looking for some time to get a well-known name into this theatre,” Mr. Dimmer said. “I spoke with just such a famous duo this morning. They got their start working in little Mom and Pop theatres and felt it was right to make one their permanent venue. I must say that I had underestimated their popularity. There were ponies everywhere, begging for their autographs.”

Trixie was hanging on every word. A famous duo of traveling performers? Which ones? There were so many. Many of them were magicians too!

“The negotiations were going well until I happened to mention you.”

A feeling of dread came across Trixie. Had she messed things up? No, Mr. Dimmer had said he had wonderful news. Unless the wonderful news involved her being fired! Trixie felt herself beginning to hyperventilate.

“When they found out we had a resident magician, they were ecstatic. Especially once I told them how talented you were. They insisted they had to meet you when they got everything moved in next week. I do believe they want to extend an offer for you to join their act. That is if you think you’re up to it?”

“Yes! Of course!” Trixie’s heart was pounding. Her, joining a famous performing duo. True, she enjoyed working alone, but how often does a chance like this come around? If anything, she could use the increased popularity to eventually spin off into a solo act once more.

“Wonderful! Now, I do have some bad news...”

Trixie stopped breathing. She didn’t know if she could handle any more bad news today.

“The theatre will be closed for the next week as we make the required changes to the stage. There needs to be a few more trap doors added, and it needs to be extended ever so slightly. I know how much you love performing, but you won’t be able to while the construction is going on. Not to worry though. I’ll still pay you next week as if the construction wasn’t happening.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dimmer. That wasn’t bad news at all.”

Mr. Dimmer laughed. “I guess not. Especially with all the good news mixed in. I just know you’re going to love working on this puppet show.”

Trixie froze. “P-puppet show?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes! Sorry. I was so excited I forgot to mention their names. Surely, you’ve heard of the Magnificent Grape Brothers? They’ve been looking for a unicorn with a talent for illusions for some time. They felt magic would make great special effects to go along with their puppeteering.”

“Puppet... show?” Trixie repeated weakly.

“Yes. With school starting up soon, I knew all the fillies and colts in town would be looking for something to do after class, and a puppet show was the answer! Let’s be honest, Trixie. Magic shows are last year. Once you get up and running with the Grape Brothers, we can cancel your act. You’ll be having such as great time working with puppets that you’ll forget all about your magic tricks. Are you feeling alright, Miss Trixie?”

“J-just fine... I think the weight of this... wonderful news is just finally catching up to me is all. I think I need to lie down.”

“I felt the same way once the meeting was over. Good afternoon, Miss Trixie.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Dimmer.”

Trixie stumbled over her fallen door and into her dressing room. She carefully stepped around the broken glass and got on to her bed. Once there, she laid on her back and stared at the ceiling.

Puppet show. Trixie, the Great and Powerful Puppeteer.

The bed frame collapsed from under her. She got up.

Trixie felt like her room was spinning. She couldn’t take much more of this. She had to get her money and get cured. Maybe it wouldn’t reverse Mr. Dimmer’s puppet show decision, but at least she would be able to go through a day without everything collapsing out from under her. She could spend her week off doing productive things, like finding out who gave her the poison joke in the first place. She would have a nice chat with them and explain to them calmly while dangling them over the edge of a cliff why it wasn’t a good idea to mess with the Great and Powerful Trixie.

Trixie opened her drawers. “I bet it was those rude colts from earlier,” she said to herself. “They were jealous of Trixie. Everypony is jealous of Trixie. That’s why they want me to work on a puppet show. Everyone laugh at Trixie! Laugh at the Unimportant and Inept Trixie. Nopony likes her magic anymore so they keep her offstage as a living stage light and smoke machine. I’ll show them. Where’s my money? Where’s my—wait... wrong drawer. That’s right. Here it is.”

Trixie lifted out her bag of bits and was unsurprised when the seam opened up and spilled her money around her room.

“Oh no you don’t,” she yelled at the ceiling. “I know what’s going on. I’ll try to go to the spa, but I’ll lose all my money along the way. Ha ha, that’s such a funny joke. Well, you can’t have it. You hear me? You can’t have it!”

Trixie grabbed at a bit only to have it slip out from under her hoof and disappear down a crack in the floorboards. “It’s starting,” she squeaked. Trixie moved as fast as she dared, which wasn’t very fast at all. She carefully lifted each bit one at a time and placed it inside of her hat. It was slow going, having to use her hooves and mouth for such menial tasks, but she didn’t dare risk using her magic and the increased bad luck it brought.

“Ninety-five... ninety-six... ninety-seven. That makes ninety-eight if I count the one that was stolen away from me. It’s all here. Ha ha, won’t it be funny when it get to the bath and it turns out I’m one bit short? Hilarious. What do I do now? The money will spill if I wear my hat. I could carry it in my mouth. But then a bird could snatch it away! See! I’m on to you! Wouldn’t that be funny? Having a bird steal my hat and all my money? I’ll put it in a metal box. With a lock! Yes! But then I might misplace the key. Or I might drop it in a lake, and it’ll sink! I’m a danger to myself. I need to get the money away from me. I need to... I need to stop talking to myself.”

Trixie sat down on the floor, clutched her hat to her chest, and whimpered. Everything was going wrong. Not just her money. Not just her bad luck. Mr. Dimmer’s decision. Could she really give up performing and just do special effects? Could she give up on who she was? What choices did she even have anymore?

“Hello? Trixie? Are you in there?” A mare stepped up to Trixie’s broken door.

“Mrs. Dimmer?”

Mrs. Dimmer looked at both the disheveled room and distressed mare. “What happened?”

“I’ve... been having a really bad day. Sorry about the mirror... and the bed. It was an accident.”

“It’s not a problem. We all have our bad days. I heard about my husband’s decision to stop your performance and include you in a puppet show. Are you alright with that?”

“Well... I... No, Mrs. Dimmer. I’m not. I-it’s a job, and I’ll still get to... to use magic but...”

“But it’s not your magic.”

Trixie shook her head. Mrs. Dimmer sat down next to Trixie and let the unicorn lean on her. Mrs. Dimmer said nothing and just acted as a pillar of support that Trixie so desperately needed at the moment.

“It’ll be alright,” Mrs. Dimmer said once Trixie had quieted down. “My husband can be a bit of an oaf sometimes. He seems to have a hard time realizing that not everyone thinks the same way as he does. Don’t worry. I’ll speak with him. I’m sure I can get your magic show going again at least a couple of nights a week.”

“You’ll do that for me?”

“Of course. I do so love watching your magic. It reminds me of my performing days. I was a lot like you then.”

“You were a magician?”

Mrs. Dimmer laughed. “Surprised to hear an earth pony did magic? I admit. I could never do all the flashy stuff you unicorns can do, but I was still able to pull a rabbit out from under my hat. Just so long as it hadn’t chewed its way out.”

Trixie tried to laugh, but her heart wasn’t in it.

“Feeling better?” Mrs. Dimmer asked.

Trixie nodded and wiped her eyes with a hoof. “Mrs. Dimmer? I have a favor to ask.”

Trixie explained her situation and her idea. Mrs. Dimmer would hold onto the money and go to the spa an hour after Trixie had left. That way, the money would be well outside of the bad luck aura that was surrounding Trixie.

With the plan set, Trixie thanked Mrs. Dimmer for everything and made her way back to the front door. She had been granted a brief respite from the bad luck, but she knew that would change once she exited the theatre. Trixie took a deep breath and opened the door.

Trixie stepped out of the Dimmer Theatre and looked up and down the street. No animals in sight. She would still have to be careful. They could be hiding. She had taken a few steps before it started to rain. There had been a rain scheduled for last night, so there was no way Fillydelphia’s weather team would have had another so soon. Trixie looked up. “Figures,” she said.

Floating above Trixie was a rain cloud no bigger than her head. Trixie walked a few steps only to have the rain cloud follow her. She sighed and continued walking down the street. After a few blocks, she finally spotted a pegasus.

“Excuse me, sir?” Trixie said, trying as hard as she could to sound pleasant.

The pegasus turned towards Trixie, looked up at the cloud then back at Trixie. “Yes?” he asked.

“I seem to be having a bit of a weather problem. Could you be so kind as to remedy it?”

“Oh, um, I dunno... I’m not on the weather team. I might get in trouble if I mess with the clouds.”

Trixie breathed deep, held her breath for a few seconds, and let it out. “I’m not asking you to mess with the clouds. I’m asking you to remove this obviously forgotten rain cloud from above my head so that I won’t be getting rained on. Do you enjoy seeing me get rained on? Is it a funny joke for you?”

“N-no. I’ll move it.”

“Thank you,” Trixie said as the pegasus hovered above her and moved the cloud. Once the pegasus let go of the cloud though, it floated back above Trixie’s head.

“It ah... it really seems to like you?” The pegasus grinned sheepishly.

“How cute. Buck it.”

“What?”

“Buck. The. Cloud.”

The pegasus gulped and turned around. He lined himself up with the cloud and slowly worked his legs back and forth to make sure he was on target. Once he was ready, he pulled his legs up so he could buck the cloud as hard as possible.

Trixie suddenly realized what was about to happen. “Wait!” she yelled.

The pegasus stopped and turned his head to look back at her. Trixie ducked down so that her face wasn’t right next to the cloud.

“Okay,” she said. “Continue.”

The pegasus bucked as hard as he could. When his hooves connected the cloud, there was a clap of thunder and a startled yelp of pain. Trixie’s mane and tail were standing on end. She coughed up a small cloud of smoke.

“Are you alright?” the pegasus asked. “Should I try again?”

“N-no...” Trixie said hoarsely. “Being struck by lightning once today was enough. It’s a small rain cloud. It’ll run out of water soon.”

The rain cloud did not run out of water soon. If one thing could be said about this rain cloud, it would be that it was dedicated to its work. It was showing Equestria how raining was supposed to be done, and it wasn’t letting anything like physics get in its way.

Half an hour, and many strange stares later, Trixie was wearily approaching the spa and didn’t know how much more she could take. The raincloud was bad. The bad luck constantly happening was worse. Open manholes, falling tree branches, that dog and cat again! It didn’t matter anymore. Trixie had made it. Here was the spa. Mrs. Dimmer would come with the money. Trixie would take a bath. Then she would go to bed and forget this terrible day ever happened.

‘Spa closed for repairs’ was written on the sign.

Trixie felt something snap. She laughed. What a funny joke. She turned from the spa and stumbled. Her head felt heavy, and she was having difficulty controlling her breathing. Why was everything suddenly so blurry? Trixie took a few more steps and stopped. She forced her breathing to slow and tried to calm down. It was hard but the world slowly came back into focus. Trixie didn’t know what to do. No. That wasn’t right. She did know what to do. She laughed again then said, “Can this day get any worse?”

There. She said it. For the second time today she had taunted fate. She wasn’t scared. The day couldn’t get any worse. She had reached its peak. Anything further could only be a minor annoyance compared to what had happened so far. “Well?” she said. “Come on, fate. Show Trixie what you’ve got!”

Nothing happened except for a few ponies giving her strange looks as they passed. Trixie laughed triumphantly and started looking around. She had beaten fate. There was no way this... day... could...

Trixie stared in disbelief. The day had just gotten worse.

There she was. The cyan pegasus with the rainbow mane. The one that had booed her. The one that was at the very top of the long list of ways Trixie’s life had started going downhill.

There she was. On the poster on the wall in front of Trixie. An advertisement for The Worst Baker in Equestria Competition. The smug look on that pegasus’ face as she asked if you had what it takes to be the worst.

There she was. The pegasus that had ruined Trixie’s life.

Trixie turned from the poster. She closed her eyes, held her breath and began to count upwards.

One... two... three…

This had to be a joke. Rainbow Doofus on a poster? Trixie wasn’t even on a poster.

Twelve... thirteen... fourteen…

Why was she even in that competition? Was she just showing off like she had tried to do on Trixie’s stage?

Thirty-one... thirty-two... thirty-three…

How had this happened? How was that pegasus a celebrity? How had everything gone so bad for Trixie? How?

Fifty-five... fifty-six…

How?

Sixty-four... sixty-five…

How?

Trixie’s lungs burned as she finally had to stop counting and breathe. Her body shook as she gasped for air. “You,” she said quietly.

An earth pony stallion passing in front of Trixie stopped. He raised an eyebrow at the distressed mare.

“You!” Trixie yelled. Her eyes were filled with rage. Everywhere she looked. It was nothing but rainbows laughing at her.

The stallion took a step back, his ears drooping in fear.

“How dare you! My life was fine until you showed up!”

A crowd had started to gather to watch what was going on. The stallion being yelled at by the crazy mare looked around in fear and confusion as the crowd blocked him in.

“You started booing for no good reason! It was a magic show! Of course, I was doing magic!”

The crowd began whispering amongst themselves and shooting disapproving glances at the cornered stallion.

“Yes, I had to make up lies! Only because you were turning everyone against me! You even came up on stage and started acting like some spoiled attention-seeking filly!”

The crowd gasped. The stallion’s eye bulged and he quickly shook his head at the crowd to try and say that wasn’t true.

Trixie had had enough. She wanted to yell more but there were no more words left. There was only one thing left she could do. She screamed. A loud, primal scream of frustration, anger, and sadness. A scream that had been building ever since the ursa had destroyed her home. A scream that had been bottled up and forced down repeatedly until it could no longer be contained. The crowd scattered. The stallion ran with tears in his eyes. The rain cloud decided now would be a good time to rain on something else far away.

Trixie screamed until her breath gave out. When she was done she felt... better. All the pent-up emotions she had been carrying for so long were gone. She felt new, reborn. Trixie turned around and looked at the poster. It was foalish to think that all of her problems had come from this one mare. There had been many bad choices made that day. Some of them had been Trixie’s. Not all, but some. Ponyville... didn’t matter. There was no desire for revenge. No need of retribution. But still.

That smug look on... Rainbow Dash. That was her name. That smug look on Rainbow Dash’s face. She honestly thought she was going to win, that there would be no real competition against her. Trixie wished she could be the one to show up that pegasus. Give her a challenge. Make her sweat a little. Show her that sometimes there is just someone better than you.

Trixie sighed. She wasn’t a bad baker. She was actually quite good. It didn’t matter though. The bakers in that competition all had an aura of bad luck that made anything they tried to make turn out terrible. Without that aura, Trixie didn’t stand a chance.

Without that bad luck aura...

Trixie blinked her eyes and then started to laugh. Not a haughty laugh. Not a sarcastic laugh. It was a laugh filled with mirth. A laughter of pure joy that Trixie had almost forgotten she knew how to do.

Oh, now this was a good joke. And one not being played on her either. Trixie read the poster. The competition was in two days. Just enough time to head to the tryouts, get a spot in the preliminaries, and make her way to Ponyville.

Trixie turned from the poster. Watch out, Rainbow Dash. The Great and Powerful Trixie is coming for you. She’ll give you all the competition you’ve ever wanted.