Twilight and friends had taken the hour long interlude between their matches to get lunch, courteously provided free of charge for the participants. They all sat with their pokémon, the three mares remaining in the competition mulling over their strategies for the battles to come. Trixie seemed to have vanished since Twilight's last battle, and her absence came as a blessing onto Twilight. She sat next to Pinkie, who was playing with Steve, tossing him bits of pokémon food as he floated about in midair.
"That was a great battle." Twilight commented as she sat down beside her. "You and Steve really are a pair."
"Aww, thanks Twi!" She smiled, tossing another piece of food to Steve. "Me and this little guy have been together for a long time now. I'm so happy to be able to take him to see the world."
"Actually Pinkie, that's something I wanted to ask you about." Pinkie stopped playing with her partner and turned her full attention to Twilight. "Rainbow and Applejack and I want to become better trainers, Rarity wanted to see the world to find her inspiration, and Fluttershy wanted to see new kinds of pokémon and get out to see the world with friends to keep her safe. Mind if I ask what you're on your journey for?"
Pinkie shrugged. "Iunno." She said plainly.
Twilight was more than a little disappointed by that answer. "What do you mean you don’t know? How can you not know why you left?"
"What I mean is I don’t know what I'm looking for." Pinkie answered again. "Twilight, if I wanted to, I could go back to Ponyville right this second and be happy for the rest of my life working with the Cakes in the bakery and planning parties in town. I left town to travel with you guys so I could have a chance to experience something new before I did that. I have my whole life to settle down, but while we're still young, I can get out and see the world."
"I guess that makes sense." Twilight conceded.
"I mean, look at Steve," She took her Skiploom into her hooves and pressed him towards Twilight. "He evolved because we went on this adventure. That might have never happened if we stayed back home. We're getting the chance to see things that are all new and exciting. I'm not looking for anything. I'm looking for everything!"
Twilight laughed at Pinkie's theatrical declaration. "Okay, I think I get it."
"I wasn’t planning to win a gym badge, or make it to the semifinals in a tournament. But now I can say I did both of those things, and I had a great time doing them! I don't even care if we win or not Twilight! I entered because it looked like fun. And so far I've been right!"
Pinkie Pie's gigantic smile spread to Twilight. "I guess that's a good way to think about things. As long as you're having fun, it doesn't matter what you're doing."
"Exac-a-lackely!" Pinkie chimed.
"Just makes you wonder what somepony like Trixie is looking for." She mused.
"You know Twilight, I bet she doesn’t know either." Pinkie smiled knowingly.
The remark gave Twilight pause. "What makes you say that?"
"Just a hunch." Pinkie Pie didn't explain any further and returned to playing catch with Steve. Twilight returned her attention to the delicious hayburger she had left unattended, and resumed thinking over her strategies.
I'm more scared of Trixie than her pokémon… The thought bothered Twilight. As a filly, she had been afraid of stories of Nightmare Moon eating her soul on Nightmare Night. She had been afraid of stories of ghost pokémon stealing away naughty fillies as they slept. But Trixie wasn’t like either of those things. She was just a unicorn, really no different than her. But the brutal way Trixie fought against other trainers and her seeming obsession with defeating her made Twilight afraid. Whenever she saw her, Twilight's ears would droop and her tail would be stowed in between her legs. She's just a regular unicorn. She's not a monster… Well at least not in the literal sense. She's just a pony. You can deal with a pony. Trixie wasn't some all-powerful monster, just a mare with a really bad attitude. When Twilight finally made that conscious realization, she finally was able to start thinking logically about how to best beat her. Twilight's mind went back to the mountains of books that had been her friends before embarking on her journey. Years ago, Twilight stumbled across a book that had a section which spoke about how to understand certain pony's quirks and personalities and how they can be used to one's advantage. One example it gave was how an attractive mare could use her feminine charms on a lonely stallion to help carry something heavy or to get a better deal in a shop. Twilight had at first dismissed the teachings as immoral, but now recognized its use. Trixie was just a regular pony after all. As long as Twilight could figure out which buttons to push, she might be able to get a hoof up on her opponent.
A huge smile dawned on Twilight's face. "I got it!" She joyfully shouted, galloping out to the arena with Ivysaur following close behind.
"Got what?" Rainbow Dash shouted back, but Twilight was already gone.