Listening to Bingtang Xueli's story left Trixie with a whirlwind of mixed emotions.
She had always assumed that foals born to high-ranking, influential families were born with silver spoons in their mouths, pampered and spoiled from day one. But Bingtang Xueli's story made her realize that noble children had their own burdens to bear, too.
Yet she was also deeply moved by Bingtang Xueli's concluding words. She had constantly strived to make herself appear great, craving the recognition and adoration of others. Had she fallen into the same trap? Would she be much happier living not for the validation of others, but purely for herself?
Trixie did not know the answer to this question, but for some reason, she felt that the pony standing before her might just be able to give her one.
"All right, I'll tell you my story, too," Trixie began.
Trixie was born into a single-parent household and raised solely by her mother. She had occasionally asked about her father, but her mother would only tell her that he was an immensely talented and powerful magician. After asking many times and receiving the same reply, she eventually stopped asking altogether.
Her mother was an opera singer who loved Trixie dearly, doing her utmost to give her the very best. She even sent Trixie to the prestigious Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, where the tuition could only be described as astronomical. Trixie knew how hard her mother worked, so she applied herself fiercely, studying magic diligently in hopes of becoming a powerful sorceress. But things rarely went as planned; her aptitude for magic was truly abysmal. No matter how hard she studied, her grades remained stubbornly consistent—consistently at the very bottom of the class.
Later on, she accidentally discovered her natural talent for stage magic and realized this was what she truly wanted to do. Without hesitation, she left school and began traveling far and wide, making a living as a magician.
After hesitating for a moment, Trixie explained why she called herself the Great and Powerful. She said that at first, she had merely dreamed of one day becoming a truly great and powerful magician like that. But as she kept daydreaming, she seemed to immerse herself so deeply in the fantasy that...
Before Trixie could finish her stammering explanation, Bingtang Xueli already understood everything.
As a pony raised in a single-parent family, just like anyone in a similar situation, she used exaggerated bravado to mask her inner sensitivity. That was why she had always imagined herself as an exceptionally skilled magician—which was also the only detail her mother had ever revealed to her about her father.
Trixie had staked almost the entire meaning of her existence on her passion for magic and her delusions about her own identity. This explained why she had been so utterly devastated and frantic when Twilight Sparkle exposed her, acting as if the sky were falling. When Twilight pointed out the reality of her incompetence, she also ripped open Trixie's sensitive, fragile heart as a single-parent foal, dragging her down from the sunlit clouds of her imagination and back to the hard ground.
Bingtang Xueli could not help but sigh. The two ponies' experiences were somewhat similar yet vastly different. Both had worked hard yet failed to get the results they wanted. Therefore, he, the peerlessly righteous Bingtang Xueli, simply had to help her get back on the right path!
It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that she was pretty. Nope, it was entirely because he, Bingtang Xueli, was peerlessly righteous. Yes, that was it—precisely.
At that moment, Trixie voiced the question burning in her heart: what on earth should she do now?
"It's very simple. True fame is earned through your own achievements, not blown out of your own horn."
"You mean I should go pick fights with ponies too?"
Trixie's look of sudden realization nearly made Bingtang Xueli laugh out loud in exasperation.
"What? No! Absolutely not. What I mean is that to gain fame, you need other ponies to genuinely accept you. Your approach was wrong from the start. You aren't great and powerful because other ponies recognize you; rather, other ponies recognize you because you are truly great and powerful!"
"Then what should I do?"
Trixie's eyes shone with a glimmer of hope. At that moment, she genuinely believed that the pony before her could help her break free from the insecure, self-aggrandizing disguise she had worn for so long.
"That's simple too. Perform what you do best!"
"You mean... magic?"
"Precisely," Bingtang Xueli said with unwavering certainty. "My experiences are very similar to yours. When I first started out, no one gave me the time of day. When I first stepped onto the path of music, I faced endless suppression and ridicule. But I knew my talent wouldn't lie to me! And today, my success has proven all of that. I am called the premier musical talent of the younger generation not because I bragged about it, but because I broke through thorns and brambles, stepping over the corpses of countless peers to get here!"
"You... you killed your peers?!"
Trixie stared in utter shock, while Bingtang Xueli was left utterly speechless.
"That's just a figure of speech! I meant I defeated them."
"Oh, oh, I'm sorry," Trixie chuckled sheepishly. "So you mean I should go back to performing magic and win the approval of other ponies? But my reputation is already... no matter where I go to perform now, I'll just be mocked."
Her gaze dimmed once again, but Bingtang Xueli gently patted her shoulder.
"Don't lose heart. I'll help you."
"Why... why are you helping me?"
Trixie had originally wanted to ask how he planned to help, but she suddenly found it strange. Why would a successful, prominent stallion like Bingtang Xueli go out of his way to help an obscure pony whose reputation was thoroughly ruined? What did he stand to gain?
Yet Bingtang Xueli wore an expression of absolute sincerity.
"All the bustling in the world is for profit, and all the commotion is for gain, but I, Bingtang Xueli, refuse to be such a pony! I am a pony who has risen above vulgar interests! My ambition is simply to help ponies in need! The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of every individual! I, better known by my moniker of the Peerlessly Righteous Bingtang Xueli, will never stand idly by when a pony needs help!"
Trixie was deeply moved by his sincere and earnest expression, unable to help marveling that such a righteous pony existed in this world.
What she did not know, however, was that any pony familiar with Bingtang Xueli would have taken one look at that earnest face and known they needed to watch their back.
"Thank you, truly, thank you," Trixie said, deeply touched. "So, how are you going to help me?"
"Simple. I'll perform alongside you. Where you fall is where you stand back up. We'll go back to Ponyville. I still have a good reputation there. As long as we put on a fantastic magic show, your reputation will be restored."
"You're going to perform with me?" Bingtang Xueli's words caught Trixie by surprise. "You know magic too?"
"A little bit of everything. My moniker as the Unrivaled Jack-of-All-Trades Bingtang Xueli isn't just for show, you know. Two years ago in Las Pegasus, I picked up a few tricks from a friend who was a very talented magician. Let me think, what was his name again? It sounded like..."
Suddenly, Bingtang Xueli's expression changed drastically. He looked Trixie up and down with absolute terror in his eyes, then whipped his gaze away just as fast.
"Oh, crap. No way! If that's really true, then that's one hell of a ghost story!"
In the Ponyville town square, the ponies were busy with their own affairs, while the Elements of Harmony had gathered together.
"What's going on?" asked Rainbow Dash, who had arrived last.
"Xueli didn't come back himself, but his letter did, telling us to get all of you gathered here in the square," Applejack said, flicking the letter in mid-air.
Just then, a blue smoke abruptly materialized in the center of the town square. As the smoke slowly rose, two hazy figures seemed to stand within it.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked, looking somewhat flustered. But before the other ponies could say they had no idea either, a familiar voice drifted out from the smoke.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing the figures of two ponies: Trixie in a magician's robe and hat, and Bingtang Xueli dressed in the exact same outfit.
"To protect the world from devastation!" Trixie declared, striking a backward-leaning pose.
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" Bingtang Xueli instantly chimed in, pressing a hoof to his forehead.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Trixie the Great and Powerful!"
"Bingtang Xueli, not so great and not so powerful!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"
"Meow, that's right."
At that exact moment, Rarity's cat Opalescence let out a timely meow.
A heavy, awkward silence fell over the square.
"Um, I really don't think this entrance strategy was a good idea," Trixie whispered timidly.
"They're just utterly stunned by our dashing entrance," Bingtang Xueli declared unabashedly.
"Bingtang Xueli? And Trixie! What are you two doing together?" Applejack asked in astonishment, while Rainbow Dash bolted straight toward Bingtang Xueli.
"I knew you were definitely up to..."
What she wanted to say, Bingtang Xueli didn't know, but he knew he certainly couldn't let her finish. So he immediately clamped a hoof over her mouth.
"Calm down, you blue moron. Oh, sorry, Trixie, I didn't mean you."
He cast an apologetic glance at Trixie before pulling his hoof away from Rainbow Dash's mouth. While Rainbow Dash gagged on the side, he simply wiped his hoof on the ground, cleared his throat, and spoke.
"All joking aside, ponies, this is Trixie. I'm sure you all remember her? That's right, she's the one who was bragging here in Ponyville last time and indirectly caused an Ursa Minor to wreck the town."
The Elements of Harmony exchanged glances. They had initially thought Bingtang Xueli was trying to cover for Trixie for some unspoken reason, but this didn't look like it at all.
"So today I brought her back to face punishment. What do you all say?"
The ponies in the crowd nodded and cheered in agreement, while the Elements of Harmony decided to wait and see what Bingtang Xueli was up to.
Seeing that the crowd agreed, Bingtang Xueli turned to Trixie.
"Well, Trixie, are you willing to accept this punishment?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is willing to accept any punishment!"
"Alright! That's the spirit!"
Then Bingtang Xueli pulled out two objects larger than himself from some unknown pocket dimension, both covered by cloths. He whipped the cloth off one of them to reveal a wooden barrel with a hole in the lid.
Bingtang Xueli opened the barrel, and Trixie climbed inside without hesitation, poking her head out through the hole in the top.
Bingtang Xueli turned and whipped the cloth off the second object, which was a rack crammed with countless swords.
Walking over to Applejack, Bingtang Xueli spoke up: "Applejack, give me an apple."
"One gold coin."
"What do you mean, one gold coin? I'm your cousin! And why are you charging more than usual?"
"Oh! Right. Make that two gold coins."
With a face full of resentment, Bingtang Xueli handed two gold coins to Applejack and snatched a big red apple right out of her hoof.
Next, he picked a sword off the rack, swung it down in a single slash, and sliced the apple cleanly in two with a flat, even surface. He tossed one half entirely into his mouth and handed the other half to Trixie.
Trixie used her magic to take the apple and began to nibble on it gracefully.
Just as all the ponies were wondering what was going on, Bingtang Xueli clenched the sword in his teeth and drove it straight through the side of the wooden barrel.
The surrounding ponies gasped in terror, and Fluttershy buried her head in Pinkie Pie's mane. But even more shocking to everyone was the sight of Trixie calmly continuing to nibble on her apple.
Before the ponies could recover, Bingtang Xueli picked up another sword and thrust it into the barrel, followed by a third, a fourth... Before long, the entire sides of the barrel bristled with swords, yet Trixie remained completely relaxed, taking tiny bites of her apple.
"That—that—that is so, so amazing!" Pinkie Pie cheered, bouncing into the air and shaking Fluttershy right out of her mane. Encouraged by Pinkie's cheer, the rest of the crowd began to clap, and the sound of applause filled the square.
"How in tarnation did she do that?" Applejack asked in disbelief. "Is that some kind of indestructible magic?"
"It's not magic, it's stage illusion," Twilight replied.
By this time, Bingtang Xueli had pulled all the swords out and put them back on the rack. Trixie had finished her apple and hopped out of the barrel. Together, they bowed to the audience, drawing another wave of applause.
"Did you all enjoy our performance? Such a wonderful magic show! Those who can afford to give, please support us with a bit of coin—a bit isn't too little, a lot isn't too much! Those without coin, please support us with your applause! Thank you all!"
As he spoke, Bingtang Xueli placed a cardboard box in front of the audience, and ponies began tossing bits into it one after another.
After that, Bingtang Xueli somehow pulled a mountain of props out of thin air, and a dazzling variety of magic tricks followed one after another: pulling a living pony out of thin air, sawing a pony in half, escaping from a water tank. The ponies watched in utter amazement, and the bits in the cardboard box piled higher and higher.
Finally, following Trixie's signature fireworks display, Bingtang Xueli announced the end of the show.
"Thank you all for your love, but happy times are always brief, and our performance must come to an end! But before that, Trixie has something she'd like to say to everyone."
With that, Bingtang Xueli stepped back, yielding the stage to Trixie.
Trixie looked out at the ponies gathered before her, feeling deeply nervous, but she cleared her throat all the same and spoke up.
"Thank you for enjoying my show. I know I made mistakes in the past. I used to be a bit arrogant—okay, extremely arrogant. But I want to change. I want to work hard to become a better pony, and I hope that one day I can truly live up to that title. But before that, I hope I can earn your forgiveness."
With those words, she bowed deeply to all the ponies.
Needless to say, Pinkie Pie was the first to react. She instantly materialized right beside Trixie, wrapped her in a tight hug, and declared that even though she hadn't met Trixie before, she had already forgiven her, hoped to be friends, and promised to throw her the most amazing party ever.
The other ponies also stepped forward one by one to praise the wonderful performance and express their willingness to forgive Trixie, bringing a bright, beaming smile to Trixie's face.
Watching this scene unfold, Bingtang Xueli felt a deep sense of satisfaction. Yet he was still pondering a question—a very important question regarding Trixie's father.
Just as Bingtang Xueli was deep in thought, Applejack walked over to Trixie.
"That shore was a mighty fine show, cousin-in-law."
Trixie's face turned instantly red. She finally understood, at least to a small degree, what Bingtang Xueli had been after all along.