Concerning Trixie Lulamoon · 1:54am Dec 28th, 2013
Well, now that that holidays are done, it's time for me to start thinking about what to do next (an easy answer in this case: start planning the next act of Flash Fog, which by sheer coincidence happened to reach the end of a major subplot at the same time I was finishing Pandelirium). That said, there's a lot of interesting background information related to the development of The Petriculture Cycles that never saw the light of day, usually due to me forgetting to write Author Notes at the time. I've decided to let you in on how one of my main plot ideas developed in this post. If there's enough interest (and I can think of other nuggets of information that I haven't mentioned elsewhere), I may do a few more posts like this one.
There is a lot that I haven't yet said about my decision to make Trixie the primary antagonist for the final stories. For one thing, it wasn't until I figured out how to make her a worthy foil for Discord that I was willing to start writing the final three stories in the cycle, and until I worked out how to redeem her, I wasn't willing to write π.* That's where the following song comes in.
I don't want to go into too much detail here for the sake of those who haven't had the chance to read the final chapters of Pandelirium yet, but suffice it to say that this song gave me the creative inspiration needed to make sure that Trixie's subplot had a satisfactory ending.
* Despite its focus on Twilight and Penny, π was really about getting Trixie to the point where she could be a credible antagonist in the final story. As I was writing it, I had the notion that, once Pandelirium was complete, readers could go back to π and reread it, and that the knowledge of what's actually happening to her would enhance the overall story. If anyone has already tried this, please let me know if I managed to meet my ambitions.
I am not entirely sure just how satisfying her conclusion was, though. We saw her reject her ego-ridden persona, and seem to decide to try again, and then she passes out and it is mostly left to the readers to decide what happened to her after the escape. Of course, this is because the real focus of the story was Discord, and Trixie was never more than a secondary antagonist, but considering just how big an impact she had nonetheless, it still seems a bit...unsatisfying?
1654652 - When I said "satisfying," I meant a conclusion allows Trixie to be rescued from her stage persona with a minimum of physical and mental trauma (though odds are good Trixie will still need to see a therapist to deal with the latter). As for what happens next, well, I doubt that the Element Bearers will simply turn her away if she asks them to make good on their offers of assistance.
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This sounds like a phenomenally good story idea for anyone who wants to continue the Petriverse.
Yeah. I meant to ask what happens to Trixie now? However, I was hoping that someone would write that and I would see it added to the group.
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True. Despite circunstances, I don´t find believable the Regal Sisters and Cadence will let her go with a slap on the hooves. Trixie has proven herself to be a trouble magnet, and should at least be monitorized.
1672382 - That may be the case, but I did have Celestia note at the end of the fourth story that magically-induced temporary insanity is considered a valid legal defense, which makes determining the point where Trixie ceased to be legally responsible for her actions a rather thorny problem (and one that I'm happy to leave to others, for that matter).