• Published 16th Feb 2014
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Trixie's Forest Retreat - crowscrowcrow



Following the events of Boast Busters, Trixie decides to hide from the town (and Rainbow Dash in particular) by taking cover in the Everfree Forest. Not every problem can be outrun, and sometimes facing them can have unexpected consequences.

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Chapter 3 - Reinforcing


A low grumbling growl accompanied Trixie on her march through the forest. At first it was cause for alarm, but at this point just another point on her list as she muttered to herself. “Really... Does Celestia have it out for the Great and Powerful Trixie? Trixie only claimed to be more powerful than her once! ...Okay per performance... but still!”

The light of her horn slowly began a disconcerting flickering, which evoked an irritated sigh. “Great! What else can go wrong today!?” Trixie’s eyes went wide as she realized what she'd said, and quickly covered her mouth with a hoof No no no Trixie did not just say that!

Moisture beaded up at the corners of Trixie’s eyes while she just waited for the universe to one-up her again. Between being lost, hungry, cold, wet, humiliated, dispossessed, and outright terrified by the Ursa, it certainly had seemed to do its best to punish her for having the audacity to put up a performance.

She dropped to the ground and huddled up, tucking her legs tightly against her body. Trixie hid her head below her front hooves while she her eyes closed tight. She braced herself for whatever came next, but the pattering of droplets around her was all she heard. After several moments of chilling silence, she carefully opened one eye to glance around, then up at her horn seeing the familiar orchid glow still held strong. Trixie let out a breath she had not even realized she was holding. “Safe.”

As little a victory as not having another horrible thing happen to a pony might have been, it was just what Trixie needed to regain some confidence. “That's right, what is there to fear? The Great and Powerful Trixie needs only to take control of the situation.” She brought up a hoof to wipe her eyes clear. R-rainwater, she interjected in her mind.

Trixie went over the little checklist of her problems she'd made in her panic once again, but this time, sorting them into issues she could deal with right now and those that she just had to put off until later. “Shelter and food. Well those cannot be that difficult. Trixie is in a forest. Almost everything here should be food,” said Trixie with a forced smile. Though not all of it equally appetizing. A small shiver ran down her spine as she recalled some of the emergency meals she'd eaten while on the road when funds ran lower than usual, but this would be better.

Trixie trotted towards the nearest tree and glanced down at the soft pink moss that covered the roots. She pondered to herself if it would double as a good source of food before shook her head and decided against pressing her luck so soon after tempting fate. If she got sick, that would be just the kind of thing to make everything even worse.

A slow trot through the forest while she examined the various plants, bushes and roots, bit by bit, looking for any that she recognized as edible. Strangely, the flora in the forest was so different from what she was at least vaguely familiar with, as if it were an entirely different region.

She gazed down upon her collected bounty gathered together on the forest floor. A small hoof full of purple berries, some sand brown roots she'd dug up from the trees, a few black thorny vines, a blue flower, and a pile of the pink moss. She was not especially sure of herself that she'd actually found something she could eat safely among these.

“Okay Trixie, all you need to do is eat a bit of one of these and wait to find out if it has any harmful effect. It should be okay if Trixie only eats a tiny bit. She won't be ill long even if it turns out that way.” She nodded vigorously at her wisdom and leaned down, opening her mouth to try the first bite.

Five minutes had passed, with the blue-furred open muzzle still hovering over the pink moss, then Trixie swayed towards the roots, trying to bring herself to eat them instead, but she stayed just as frozen. Trixie shook while mentally flogging herself. Come on, just one bite! How bad could it be?! Don't be such a coward, the chances of any of these being that poisonous are… well Trixie doesn't know. That's not the point. Don't be so weak!

Weak, the word stung the show mare's heart, making her chest tighten and her breaths shallow. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to force the feeling back again. “N-no. Trixie is Great and Powerful!” She shouted at the top of her lungs without care of who or what might hear her. In fact she'd welcome any kind of audience at this point, even those Ponyvillians just to witness her.

While her determination still held, she brought her head down and devoured the makeshift meal before her. The taste was bitter and sandy, then it became sweet, light, and finally physically painful as one of the thorns dug into the roof of her mouth. Spitting out the thorny piece, she slumped back on her haunches, breathing quickly.

The growling of her stomach had stopped, and she actually felt a bit warmer, much to her delight, after her meal. Her mouth tasted weird, and there was the dull pain from the thorn that made her tear up, but the tradeoff had been, to Trixie’s satisfaction, a pretty good one.

It was then she noticed through blurred vision that the clear forest floor contained only the offending piece of thorny vine. She blinked slowly as she ran that revelation through her head again. Where was the rest of the food? She wiped away the tears brought on by the thorn to clear her vision, concentrating on brightening the light from her horn a bit more to search. But she could only find scraps and rested a hoof on her stomach. Way to go Trixie. You sure showed yourself, she grumbled annoyed with herself. Now if Trixie is sick, Trixie won't know what it was. Hay, if it was all of it Trixie might not even have to worry about it after tomorrow. She struck herself against her forehead hard enough invoke a yelp.

“W-well it does mean Trixie's hunger problem is solved. And if Trixie is fine, it means all of those were good to eat... except maybe the vines.” She pushed herself up on her hooves and whipped her mane out of her eyes. “That's right! The Great and Powerful Trixie has overcome problem number one! Now to find shelter! Or the way out.” Both required the same action anyway, and she was not partial to which outcome she landed on. Trixie set out to continue her way through the muddy forest with renewed vigor to find her goal. …or come up short and die trying.

Author's Note:

It's interesting how hard it can be to start something but things get rolling once you got some momentum. ^^
Just too bad starting every chapter is starting something >.>
Oh well I hope you enjoy. ^^

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