The Moonstone Cup

by Cyanide

Trixie's Sidestory: Foolish Pride

I'd grown used to Canterlot in the last few days, but frankly I was not sorry to be leaving. I was humiliated and beaten and I was not going to impress anyone in this town for a long time to come. I was glad, for once, that nopony recognized or challenged me on my out of the city.

It was dark, but the tent city around Canterlot was alive as anything. There were parties, and music. I walked past a pride of gryphons having strength contests. They were probably drunk, given their yelling and general behavior. I've never liked alcohol, but I've never particularly liked gryphons, either, so there's that.

I really could have done without the noise. I just wanted to get back to my cart and get moving. There were even odds that I'd be leaving without Hopscotch, but he was, in the end, just eye candy. I was sure I could find a better assistant with even the slightest effort.

Turning off the road, I walked down into the colorful havoc. I had left my cart on the other side of a large canvas tent that belonged to some zebra dignitary. I had backed up on the tent in hopes that I could use it as a simple backdrop in case I needed to put on a performance, but I'd been far too busy to even think about that. I found the zebra encampment and rounded the large tent.

My cart was missing. Shallow furrows in the ground showed where it had been dragged off toward the road. That rat Hopscotch had stolen my cart! I was almost as surprised as I was angry; he hadn't often displayed the sort of initiative or ability to string two thoughts together it would require to backstab somepony like that.

I admit it, I lay down on the grass and started to cry. That was twice in one day, so good job, there. But, really, wouldn't you? This was the final insult. After everything I'd gone through, I had lost all of my possessions again! I should really have learned not to trust ponies and I was paying for my stupidity.

"Pardon me, miss, are you alright? You seem to be in quite a plight."

I looked up. There was a zebra standing there. One of them must have heard me crying and come around to investigate. I sniffed and stood up, wiping my tears with my uninjured leg. "No," I said, trying to regain my composure. "I'm fine."

"Well," the zebra said. "In that case, could you go further afield? You're interrupting our master's meal."

No sympathy for Trixie, as usual. I looked at him haughtily and flicked at him with my tail as I turned to walk away. Served him right.

But now where was I going to go? I had no place to sleep, no bits and no real way to earn any more without my cart. I did, however, know some ponies who might be convinced to give me a place to stay for the night. I looked down at my bandaged leg and sighed, before I started heading back toward the castle.

I had my invitation letter out before I reached the drawbridge, and the guards let me pass without question. I trudged down the street, favoring my injured leg, which was starting to hurt again. I heard a lot of inane chatter as I passed groups of ponies, the usual sorts of nonsense average ponies talk about. On my way past the bakery, however, I overhead a conversation about the most recent matches. Evidently, the big story was that Twilight Sparkle had bested Zlatan.

Ugh. After she beat me, I was really looking forward to Zlatan beating her. I didn't think she had it in her to bring him down, given what I'd read about his standard strategies. I thought for sure that he'd deprive her of her magic, and that would be that. I, of course, had a strategy worked out after the first day, not that it mattered anymore.

I approached the castle and the guards came out to meet me. I suppose I wasn't at my best, what with an injured leg and the fur on my face matted with tears. I hoped they'd take some pity on me.

"Um, Trixie is here to see..." What was her name again? "Fluttershy. She's staying with Twilight Sparkle and her entourage."

"One moment," one of the barded unicorns said tersely, before he turned and walked into the castle.

The other stood there, watching me closely. I tried my most winning smile, but his expression didn't change. I tried to think of something witty to say, but he didn't look likely to respond in any case, so I flipped my mane at him and snorted indignantly. His scowl seemed to deepen, so I counted that as a victory.

The other guard returned, and he gestured toward the castle with his poleaxe. "Come with me," he said, then turned. I grinned at the other guard and then followed the first. Instead of heading in the main entrance, he walked around the side, toward the small servants' entrance I'd used earlier that day. The door swung open and we headed inside.

After a short walk through the corridors, we came again to the door to the room Twilight and her friends were staying in. The guard turned sharply on his hooves and walked away, leaving my alone in the hallway. I sighed, deeply. I didn't really want to go asking any of these ponies for favors, but I didn't feel like I had much of a choice. I rapped a hoof against the heavy wooden door.

The door swung open. "Yes? Who is it?" a singsong voice called out. The door opened to reveal a white unicorn with a purple mane. Her face fell when she saw me. "Oh, it's you," she said, with a sneer. "What do you want?"

"Who is it?" I heard Twilight Sparkle call out from inside.

The white unicorn turned to look inside. "It's Trixie," she said, pronouncing my name as if it were some exotic form of gum disease.

Suddenly, instead of one pony, I was facing six. I recognized Twilight Sparkle, of course, and Fluttershy. The others were Twilight's friends, whose names I couldn't remember.

"Hi!" the pink one said, exuberantly. "I'm Pinkie Pie! You probably don't remember me, because we never met! Well, we did kinda meet at the ceremony." She stopped and looked thoughtful.

"Trixie," Twilight said. She looked confused and worried, and I confess that I really, really wanted to kick her in the face. "What are you doing here?"

I swallowed my pride. I'd been getting used to doing that. "Trixie's cart was stolen," I said. "I was hoping I could stay here for tonight." I trailed off at the end and the last words came out a mumble. Alright, so maybe I wasn't exactly used to swallowing my pride.

"Trixie, that's terrible!" Twilight said. Celestia, she was infuriating. Nevertheless, in short order I was inside with a hot cup of tea and a yellow pegasus inspecting my bandages.

"You shouldn't have been walking on this," Fluttershy said, quietly. "I'll need to put new bandages on."

Other than Fluttershy, who seemed genuinely concerned, and Twilight Sparkle none of the others seemed terribly thrilled to have me there. The orange one and the cyan pegasus had dragged Pinkie Pie off to a corner. Celestia only knew what they were telling her about me, but I could see her glaring at me and biting her lip, so whatever it was, it wasn't good. The snobbish white unicorn was sitting on her bed, pointedly looking away from me.

"So," I said after a minute of Twilight and I looking at each other and Fluttershy working on my bandages. "Where's your dragon?"

Twilight smiled. "Oh, Spike's having a long conversation with Zlatan. After I won, he asked if Spike wanted to know more about himself and his people! Princess Luna accompanied him and promised to bring him back when he was ready."

I bristled at that. More rewards for Twilight Sparkle. Now she had Princess Luna running errands for her! I bit back an acidic response. Suddenly, my vision was filled with an angry pink earth pony.

"Hey!" Pinkie said, her face about an inch from mine. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash told me how mean you were being when you were in Ponyville! And I saw you at the ceremony the other day! You weren't being nice at all! Now apologize!"

I wasn't really sure how to respond to this. Twilight and Fluttershy seemed taken aback as well. What else could I do? "Trixie's sorry?" I said, shrugging. Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes at me, and then grinned brightly and bounced away.

"It's okay, everypony, she apologized!"

This was going to be a long night.

Comments

[RTStephens]

Okay, NOW things make more sense. The transition from the last two chapters really had me scratching my head the last time I read things as I felt I had missed something.

Not sure I agree with Pinkie's reaction. She WAS there (along with Fluttershy) to watch Trixie's show in "Boast Busters." They just didn't have any speaking roles. Plus, with all the pranks Pinkie has pulled, I would think she'd have been less harsh.

Anyway, I'm wondering if there are going to be more of these Trixie interludes. From my perspective, her story is over though you seem to be trying to flesh her out more. I approve and look forward to finding out what you have planned.

Till then!

[Cedric Bale]

[Klice]

[Jirodyne]

234470 She was there, doesn't mean she was paying attention.

[DerpedRainbow]

I got pulled here by google and I admit that I am interested.

[Mossflower]

anyone mind telling me what spell twilight used on zlatan? (i've just finished chapter 12, so i don't know if that's described later)

[Twisted Visions]

1000884

She used his own spell against him, nullifying the magic around him.

[71M073J]

Dat Rusky Accent:) hehehe
A kdo ve kaj Mislim?

[PaulAsaran]

Still don't like how everyone's treating Trixie as a villain, but I do like her lingering bitterness – which only makes sense considering everyone's treating her like a villain. I do hope she lightens up a bit before this is over, but I won't be expecting it.

[Cobalt Shock]

1000884 I'm guessing that Twilight reverted Zlatan to his more... um... Natural, like the depictions of dragons on Earth. More like this I guess, minus the horns and gems and stripes and stuff:
th07.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2014/284/8/0/contest__1___dragon_design_by_delusionalpuffball-d5lbx1h.png or this:
fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/337/9/8/ryuu_the_golden_dragon_by_gingy1380-d4i07no.png
Either that, or it removed Zlatan's magic.
I hope that helps!

[Esterdell]

5092140
Personally I always looked at Trixie as being against the mane 6, but as soon as she is shown any sympathy (eg twilight comforting her after their fight) she twists the idea around so that she is still versus them. Almost as if she is purposefully antagonising herself.
But that's just how I see her.

[Bugpone]

5829790
In some ways, I'm getting an abuse victim feel from Trixie.