Happy Birthday, Jordan, and a bit of a teaser for the next EG CheesePie · 5:45am Oct 30th, 2014
Interesting fact: while Jordan179 and I aren't exactly twins, it turns out that he is only a day older than I am. So I shall revel in the fact that I am a decade younger than he is for a whole day. Well, sort of. Depends on how you add it up.
But because he's been writing about EG Trixie, and because I've been thinking about the next EG CheesePie fic, I thought I'd provide a little teaser of something that may or may not be in there, and if it is, almost certainly won't be from Trixie's point of view.
~~
Trixie Lulamoon didn’t like listening to other people. In fact, she didn’t even like pretending to listen to other people, although she had a marvelous “I am listening to you” facial expression that was very effective, she thought. The only flaw in it was that she still had to remain silent and more or less stationary while the other person talked at her, and that was almost as irritating as actually having to listen. And yet here she was, her “I am listening to you” facial expression fraying around the edges, while she sat on a bar stool and allowed herself to be talked at, by Cheese Sandwich, of all people.
She poked at her glass with her straw. It was so filled with fruit garnishes, streamers, and little umbrellas that there was practically no room for any liquid. There was certainly no alcohol in it, as Trixie was naturally abstemious and avoided alcohol altogether when she was performing. However, the ice in the glass had reached such an advanced state of melt that it was almost as though her drink had been topped up with some more ginger ale. Cheese had been talking for that long, she realized, realizing at the same time that she was holding down an orange slice with her straw and keeping it pinned at the bottom of the glass, as though by doing so she could make Cheese run out of air and shut up. Cheese was difficult to uncork about anything remotely personal, but once the cork was out, he gushed so much that it was impossible to jam it back in: like a bottle of champagne, but a lot less fun.
He’d mostly been fairly polite to her at Canterlot High, and she suspected he’d arranged for her to perform at the Cake Festival, although not in the space and at the time slot that her talent clearly deserved. That had been Pinkie Pie’s fault, of course. Now she ran into him from time to time as they played various clubs, and no matter how flawless her routine and dazzling her wardrobe, she could never get the warm response that Cheese always got from an audience. Apparently the public preferred its performers shabbily dressed, telling stupid jokes and stories, and playing on a revolting stomach Steinway. It was deeply unfair.
But, she reminded herself, as her face began to ache from its unaccustomed expression, this was why it was worthwhile to allow Cheese to talk at her. Why was he able to make audiences love him? Surely it wasn’t anything he did, because it wasn’t that impressive, and it certainly wasn’t his looks. Trixie suspected something almost magical, and she wanted to know what it was. She’d better find out soon, because she was running out of patience with Cheese’s extravagant self-pity, his increasing incoherence, and the fact that the words “Pinkie Pie” were cropping up more and more frequently.
“S’really,” said Cheese, “I shouldnta been—y’know—surprised. Not like it was her fault or anything, right?—‘cause who would wanna put up withat? I sure don’t. Can’t blame her, really.”
Shut up shut up shut up! Trixie thought. Or say something useful! She realized that Cheese was actually looking at her, as though he expected some kind of response, and she grabbed at the closest possible cue. “Oh, yes, you can,” she reassured him. “Trixie finds she can blame all sorts of people for all kinds of things. They usually deserve it.”
“Say, where do you get off blaming Pinkie?” he responded, his eyes narrowing. “Wha’d she ever do to you, Trixle? Total sweetheart. Just not mine,” he added, the corners of his mouth twitching suspiciously. “Not anymore.”
Trixie frowned. Something was not adding up here.
“Trixie is confused,” she stated. “Trixie thought you were Pinkie’s Sassy Gay Best Friend.”
Cheese roared with laughter so hard that he slid backward off the barstool. “Ouch,” he said, as he hit the floor. “Hee hee hee!”
That ending....
Never change, Trixie!
Awww, thank you very much. Happy One-Day-Before-Your-Birthday-To-You! (technically, it's 11:32 PM on October 29th right now, but I turn 50 in less than half an hour and you ... are some graceful age in a day and half an hour.
Given what sort of thing has obviously happened, I suspect that poor Cheese is not exactly abstaining from alcohol at this moment.
Pure Trixie! I love it!
I see Trixie managed to miss the obvious. Then again, this is probably the first time she's seen Cheese in a while.
¡Happy 1-day-early birthday!
Let me add -- you're a really excellent person.
Leave it to Trixie to assume that Cheese is gay. Trixie, what will we do with you?
Nice snippet! Very nice teaser, if that's what it is. Given that I've now seen RR, I do wonder how you would handle a LGW sequel with the events that happened. It's got me excited actually.
Happy birthday to Jordan (if he sees this)! I didn't know your birthday was tomorrow either, so this is quite a surprise.
Ouch. Indeed, double ouch, given that Trixie was never disabused of that particular misunderstanding. I sincerely hope Cheese is suffering from one as well, otherwise this may hit triple ouch.
Still, several years in the future of the human dimension? Color me intrigued, and whatever hue my skin would turn there.
Also, pitch-perfect Trixie, and happy almost birthday.
Beautiful! And happy early birthday.
Wait... What?
Happy birthday to you both the coolest people on fimfiction.
2563701 No worries. Trixie is exactly the kind of person who never does change.
2563752 Cheese, not to put too fine a point on it, is getting hammered on purpose.
Oh, she sees Cheese from time to time. She just doesn't see him with Pinkie, because she and Cheese spend a lot of time on the road and his visits back to Canterlot haven't coincided with any of hers (not that she cares to visit very frequently, anyway.) Pinkie and Cheese were only together for a couple of days before he had to leave, so she missed that, too.
And besides, he seems to have been immune to Trixie's nigh-irresistible charms despite his seemingly flirtatious come-on at first, AND he was friends with a group of five girls and sat with them every day at lunch and he wasn't dating any of them? Please! And Trixie point blank asked if there was anything personal between himself and Pinkie Pie, and he said there wasn't and he knew perfectly well what Trixie meant. He was clearly Pinkie's minion and Sassy Gay Best Friend. Trixie is no fool. It was a perfectly logical assumption.
The fact that he might have meant "there is nothing personal about the decision to put you on the small stage" is irrelevant, as is the idea that he might value the friendship of those particular five girls. Trixie isn't very into the whole "friends" thing.
2563762 Thank you!
2563943 I like my Trixies egotistical. Yep. I think a LGW sequel will happen, though there are some other things I have to do first.
2563970 Cheese is the kind of person who would just laugh it off and then not bother to clear up the impression. On purpose. Unfortunately, he's not really misunderstanding what's going on with Pinkie at all. Oh, yes--playing some more with EG is definitely something I want to do--especially projected a few years down the line!
2564091 Thank you!
2564500 You'll have to wait and see. Whenever I get to it.
2564540 Aw, thanks!
That would have been the clincher.
Trixie is beautiful, skilled and smart, and vain about all her good qualities, so she automatically assumes she's fascinating to any male (and non-sexually to any female) who has the opportunity to speak to her. My Trixie is also not all that into being sexual toward anybody, with one gigantic exception (Piercing) in my fanon, but she loves the thought that others are sexually-attracted to her, because it makes her feel desired and special -- she is, in short, a tease (in the true sense, not just that she's prudish).
In fact, she's a tease in more ways than the sexual. Her whole style could be summed up as "I'm amazing! Don't you wish you could be more like me? Or at least hang out with me? Well you can't! Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!" The whole canon song "Tricks Up My Sleeve" is all about how the listener wishes he or she could be part of Trixie's band, but hah-hah, you're not good enough.
To someone with the right sense of humor and a strong ego of his own (such as Piercing) Trixie is utterly charming and hilarious (it helps that he's one of the very few people she actually respects). To most people, Trixie is a lot of fun to watch, but few want to make her closer acquaintance after they realize that her act is not entirely an act (I mean of course it's an act to some degree, not even Trixie is that fanatical about herself 24/7 -- but an alarming amount of it is just Trixie being Trixie).
Not sure how much of these points apply to your Trixie though. I suspect she's lonelier than mine, since my Trixie at least has a few good friends, mostly people who either like her enough to forgive her arrogance (Lavender), are thick-skinned (Fuschia), or both (Piercing). OTOH, the Trixie who goes insane and becomes Nightmare Delusion had absolutely no friends, and hadn't for years, which is why she goes mad. (Ironically, that Trixie knows about Cheese and Pinkie).
Of course, Trixie's mistake is partially Cheese's fault, because he didn't let her he loved Pinkie. But then, had Trixie really earned his confidence in that regard? Cheese is very extroverted about some things, but he's very private about others. And Cheese was probably wise not to bring up his attraction toward Pinkie when speaking to Trixie -- she probably either would have been angry at him for not being obsessed with her own wondrous greatness and power, or (worse) decided to help Cheese. Imagine the possibilities ...
By the way, both in terms external and internal to your universe, your concept of having the Course of Love Not Run Smooth between Cheese and Pinkie makes perfect sense. It creates an interesting problem about which your readers may care (provided the problem is something believable and organic to the characters rather than obviously diabolus ex machina, and I have a lot of faith in your abilities there). And, after all, they're two very strange people in a long-distance love affair, so problems are bound to crop up.
I hope you write this.
Noooo! I can't deal with this right now! Don't break them up! Nooooo!
Sorry, Doctor Who has left me tender. Plus I marathonned Teen Titans and I'm upset that it's over. Now my otp is breaking up in my head-canon universe. (And to top it all off -Zhu Li left Varrick? Oh the humanity!)
Sounds great and I can't wait to see what'll happen. And happy belated birthday to the both of you.
WUUUUUUT