Goddammit, Fluttershy. Remember how Trixie totally said she liked it? And now this could get really nasty, especially if Fluttershy... I dunno... goes to Twilight for advice? 'Cause Twilight's definitely got some weird issues surrounding one of the two of them. An excellent chapter, for sure. Sometimes I wonder if i should start a drinking game based on how many times you use the word repressed.
Damn, Rainbow Dash was just as hotheaded as ever. I'm just glad Applejack was able to talk her down after Trixie pulled an inverted That Mare is Dead combined with a variation of No Doubt The Years Have Changed Me when Rainbow Dash called her the Great and Powerful Trixie! Hopefully, later those two can have a nice calm talk about how Trixie fell for the trap of Becoming the Mask, and how Fluttershy has been helping Trixie overcome that...
The part with Trixie and Rarity was nice, and it looks like if she's drunk, Fluttershy's other nature takes control, which gave me one heck of a wingboner reading about it!
Masterful. It's not as though I've come to expect anything else from you, of course. The atmosphere you created was perfect, the confrontation was enraging, it was resolved with tact that didn't vilify anypony, and the way you allowed Trixie to ultimately maintain her composure with just enough slips to show how she felt was admirable, to say the least. And you leave us with a cliffhanger, begging for more! I once again look forward to the next time my notification bar alerts me to a new chapter. Thank you for the chapter, it was just what I needed to read tonight.
I rather like the idea that Rarity plays darts very well. Seems like something she ought to be good at that's also fairly believable for her to have picked up from her father.
Youch, that didn't go well with Dash. But again, it could have gone worse.
Nice self control, Trixie! It may be rough for the immediate future, but that was exactly the right move. Let's hope Twi isn't up to anything too crazy...
I have got to say this chapter was surprising in ways. Apple Jack reacting like she did to Trixie shouldn't surprise anyone. You really wrote her acting like she would of in show: Trixie showed honesty which AJ begrudgingly would accept. Am I the only one who feels a little for the colt who tried hitting on both Fluttershy and Trixie.
Anyway I really, really hope that Fluttershy went to Rarity and not Twilight. For all that is sacred under Luna's night sky, please avoid Twilight's library like it has the plague.
I'm personally mostly curious about what Twilight's been up to lately. Last we saw her, she was acting pretty peculiar towards Fluttershy about keeping Trixie under wraps.
With "A Bluebird's Song" story (sort of) put aside, I finally leave a review for this story -- happily, I feel much better leaving a review for this story for a few reasons....one, it's still ongoing, which means It won't have to be so huge, and I can actively follow it this time around (not to mention justify more leaving reviews for multiple chapters)....secondly, the focus is on Trixie who, compared to TwiDash, I have tons more experience reading stories about....as a whole, I feel alot more comfortable.
You make it no secret that this story was inspired by Kindness' Reward -- indeed, that's one of my favorite Trixie stories as well...although it's only six chapters long, it does an amazing job of capturing, not just Trixie's whole history and redemption, but the unlikely but, in the end, wholly endearing pairing of Fluttershy and herself. That it's so well-made makes it such a tremendous shame that it doesn't have attention and appreciation that should be magnitudes bigger .
The story thus far, is again, inspired by it....but It's definitely more then a little different - it's a vastly darker story, that's for sure....even though Trixie suffered within the Everfree Forest, it was never delved into enough, and in that sense, I enjoyed it...because the story was already dark enough as it needed to be, and we already got a big enough sense of the hardships that Trixie was going through. This story on the other hand....well, it's certainly going to be, and already is, a whole lot bigger then that story in every way....
And the realization behind that, is something I feel I need to keep in mind...akin to my feelings reading your TwiDash story, more and more that I read this, you are obviously going for something far far bigger then simply getting these two together; is that a big, and really, the focal point of this story? Yes....but if that's the case, well, these two are already together....if the story were to end here, I'd honestly feel it was really dark (and indeed it is), maybe darker then it needed perhaps....but although this story draws on Kindness' Reward, it's definitely a mistake to make too many comparisons, which is something I began to realize the more I thought on this.
More on that later, but right now, I want to focus on what you've already done, and easily what has captured my attention the most.....Trixie, or more accurately, her suffering......You really really put alot of development behind that, and it's something that made me feel good and bad about -- what's the bad? I often felt it was too much....again, I think, when I thought that, I was still making too many comparisons with Kindness' Reward, because again, that story went into Trixie's hardships, but not this much....but again, I feel I would be the one making the error in feeling that way - because while it is true you go much farther into, well, everything then that story did, it has a reason here....for starters, this isn't simply a story where these two get together -- indeed, like with the TwiDash story, their is a bigger plot in place, and it seems to be about who on earth is Trixie? Shockingly, she's not a showmare at all; she doesn't know what her destiny is....everything is darker then Kindness' Reward, but the reason is because it's much bigger, longer, and vastly more developed, and not like that 'just because'...again, It's something that needs to be kept in mind while reading this to not make the wrong presumptions.
However, knowing this, I can say that I did enjoy reading Trixie's hardships so much......I once read a dark Gilda story where the griffon was not allowed to return to her family; it was part of her culture that she had to kill someone, and that someone, in her otherwise dark and brutal upbringing that ponies in the frustratingly perpetually happy/ignorant/"utopian" Equestria, was the only person she could ever rightfully call a friend.....Rainbow Dash -- the result caused the two to slowly drift apart, until their relationship is almost nonexistent - Rainbow Dash is, simply put, living her life elsewhere....and Gilda? Simply put, she's drifting.....drifting aimlessly, unable to finish her task -- the sheer immersion of that story really expresses a state of being that can best be summed up as "Surviving" - because that's all it is.....Gilda is doing nothing, literally, but eating/sleeping/thinking and the bare minimum of what could be called a life.....you really grasp the extreme amount of time Gilda spends simply drifting....Life passing her by, becoming something of quantity rather then quality, days melding seamlessly and rapidly into eachother, until events take place that finally causes it all to stop and you realize just how much life Gilda spend doing absolutely nothing. Even though it was only objectively a shortwhile, subjectively....it truly felt like forever and a day.
What Trixie goes through here, is exactly the same thing....even though it's only objectively a year or so, you did a tremendous job darkly expressing, not just how hard it is, but even bigger, just how much time, how much life, is passing her by....and just like with Gilda, her heart tugged in two directions, Trixie has her reasons....It's not often that I read a story where she is, mentally, this much of a mess, but even though it sometimes feel like you're pushing it, it's never sadistic....again, you have your reasons for why things go so far and this whole story isn't ending anytime soon -- yet again, like with TwiDash, it's a mistake to simply see this story as a short story where the focus is simply getting her and Fluttershy together...you are going far beyond that and the relationship is only a (big) part of that.....Really, just like the TwiDash story, really isn't even so much about the romance but so much about (in this case) Trixie....about the growth (and Fluttershy, but more so her) she will go through as a person....Rainbow Dash had more skeletons in her closet then anyone could have thought, and here, Trixie has a whole life time to atone for....to make sense of....even though she made a lifetime full of mistakes, it's no reason for it to be the end of her, and although she brought herself dangerously close, she managed to save herself enough to have Fluttershy help her get further down the road...Kindness' Reward was so much of Fluttershy saving Trixie, and then the vice-versa -- here, again, everything is vastly bigger, darker, and more developed....but it's following much of the same route, and it's wonderful, not just seeing Fluttershy need her just as much, but seeing the contrast between both stories.
Once again, you did a tremendous job on Trixie in the forest....one of my favorite horror movies is "The Blair Witch Project" because of it's psychological horror; because we truly get to see these people just ebbing away...wasting away to the point of eating leaves in the forest ground....Trixie feels, in many ways, the same and we get to see her face the brink many times.....Trixie, unable to pull herself away from her self-destructive path in life because of this arrogant voice in her head (which of course, is just her own, and she will never truly be rid of....but she can certainly build herself up and turn away from that path)...again, like with the TwiDash story, you treat everything with a nice dark realistic vibe that, while it goes far, never goes too far or too much for the sake of it...again, their is a reason why Trixie is suffering so much, and as bad as it gets, maybe in some sense she really needs all this -- she suffers immensely more then Rainbow Dash did (in that other story), and has plenty more to make up for...but again, you treat everything with a sense of respect - she's not falling to pieces for no reason, but because she feels she needs this, and she is making progress.
Not just in apologizing for what she did to the town...again, it would be a mistake to think it's that kind of story, huh? Nope, the story isn't gonna end with just Trixie apologizing and eventually finding peace in Ponyville as a better mare...but in truly figuring herself out; it's what makes, honestly, what will happen in the future chapters quite interesting to read....because it's predictable enough to assume she will eventually make peace with the Mane 6 and live happily in Ponyville...but that she apparently is not truly a showmare but is, well, something else entirely apparently....I have to admit - I'm sort of at a loss to predict where you will go....which is why I'm looking forward to what happens next
I don't want this to go on forever, so I'll just hint a few more things quickly -- Rosemary honestly intrigues me and, while you undoubtedly plan on doing so, I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of her...even if it's just in flashbacks, you really made for an intriguing character; how someone can be so steadfast and loyal to Trixie, and eventually forced to leave when even her own patience runs out.....You've already expressed that Trixie is not truly anything special as a magician; it's an interesting route, no doubt....it does, I don't know, make me still wish, whatever happens to her, that her lifetime of magic won't be simply thrown away -- even if her raw magical talent is no bigger then any other unicorn, as you've expressed, surely her showmareship can come in handy eventually...even if it's a life she wants to rid herself of (or more accurately, wants to start over as a new mare), it feels sort of wrong to just sweep it all away, even if it was a mistake...maybe in some sense, is that I fear Trixie, with whatever route you take her, will become somewhat unrecognizable...silly maybe, but it's a thought that passed my head a few times.
One more thing, and while it may seem weird that I pick this one......I honestly enjoy reading Trixie and Cherrilee together ....maybe it's because I'm thinking of the Lunaverse where they (alongside Carrot Top, Raindrops, Ditzy/Derpy, and Lyra as the Elements of Harmony) are friends together, but it just seems so nice reading them having a good time together...something that may seem minor perhaps, but I don't know...they just seem really good together, and I wouldn't mind whatsoever seeing more of them together.
As before, I don't want this to go on forever...I haven't even touched jealous Twilight, the love triangle of RD, AJ, and Pinkie, or Fluttershy's aggression....but given that this is a ongoing story that seemingly has no intention of ending anytime soon, I feel at ease because I'll have more time to get to all of them. I honestly have no idea where you will go...again, you aren't simply doing a story where Trixie finds atonement with the Mane 6 and Ponyville and settles down....but one where she is even more broken then Dashie was in your TwiDash story...but it's okay, because I feel it'll be the same as that story - it will be dark, foreboding, long...but also full of adorable romance and, more importantly, all happens for a reason....their's a light at the end of the loooong tunnel, and things are arguably only just getting started -- I'm looking forward to enjoying the ride
A lot has transpired in the last two chapters. I'm glad AJ, RD and Pinkie are finally having a discussion. Now Fluttershy, Trixie and Twilight need to have one. Twilight didn't go to that party for a reason, and it has something to do with Fluttershy and/or Trixie. Again, I am on the pins and needles waiting for issues to be resolved. Please don't keep us waiting long (but take your time to make sure the quality doesn't suffer.)
2090395 Yep, I really need to stop doing the whole 'pick a word I like and then use it all the time' thing, it's definitely a problem I have! But I'm glad you like the chapter!
2090770 Thanks! I must confess I was pretty nervous about getting the balance in the confrontation scene, so I'm glad you think that worked.
2095631 Epic comment is epic. Thanks for taking the time to write that, it's much appreciated! You are right that this story was always intended to be more of a character study than a romance. (Although obviously romance is the driving force behind the character development, so I guess it's two sides of the same coin). The whole intention was to try and examine what was driving Trixie into such an arrogant act (and equally, why her stage persona spilled into her actual persona to such a degree). Hopefully the rest of the story will be able to look at the more damaging pieces of her past, and the impact they're still having on her. Rest assured, Rosemary is not forgotten!
I must admit, I found writing the Trixie/Cheerilee part to be remarkably fun. My headcanon for Cheerilee has always been a character who's optimistic intelligent and oddly insightful, but a quite eccentric and a bit head-in-the-clouds-ish (which is part of the reason she gets on with foals so well). I never really plan incidental character interactions; I just prefer to put the characters together and see what happens, so I didn't really expect the two of them to get on in that way, but I liked the finished product so I decided to include it. I get the impression that, in another Fluttershy-less universe, that particular interaction could have been the first step in a Cheerilee/Trixie romance story, but as ships go, that's kind of a leaky one at best! Even so, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they end up talking again, just because they're so darn fun to write together.
2098702 It's infuriating, I've been away for the last couple of days with only smartphone access to the chapter (so unable to edit), and I spotted the error about 5 minutes after I was unable to do anything about it! Fixed now though, and not a moment too soon, we could have had a full-scale punctuation revolution on our hands... Thanks for flagging it up, I'll keep a closer eye on the formatting in future!
That thought crossed my mind, too. Most of the time, Rainbow acts like a jerk when confrontation is inavoidable with Trixie (generally speaking, throughout many fanfics), yet it seems to be some strange formula that nobody gets tired of. Not to criticise, of course, it was handled well here; confrontation abound! Still, would be interesting to see a story where Rainbow is not the one giving the most crap to Trixie/[insert name]. This is the area reserved for advertisements.
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Sees update.
Has this reaction:
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I will now proceed to read!
Goddammit, Fluttershy. Remember how Trixie totally said she liked it? And now this could get really nasty, especially if Fluttershy... I dunno... goes to Twilight for advice? 'Cause Twilight's definitely got some weird issues surrounding one of the two of them. An excellent chapter, for sure. Sometimes I wonder if i should start a drinking game based on how many times you use the word repressed.
My...my feels...
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Damn, Rainbow Dash was just as hotheaded as ever. I'm just glad Applejack was able to talk her down after Trixie pulled an inverted That Mare is Dead combined with a variation of No Doubt The Years Have Changed Me when Rainbow Dash called her the Great and Powerful Trixie! Hopefully, later those two can have a nice calm talk about how Trixie fell for the trap of Becoming the Mask, and how Fluttershy has been helping Trixie overcome that...
The part with Trixie and Rarity was nice, and it looks like if she's drunk, Fluttershy's other nature takes control, which gave me one heck of a wingboner reading about it!
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I was SO glad Trixie was able to keep things from going too far...
...except it looks like things already went too far, at least from Fluttershy's perspective. In other words...
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Trixie had better find Fluttershy before the situation becomes completely FUBAR!
Also, I'm wondering how Twilight will fit into all this?
Here, have some badges while I nurse my feels back to health!
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Also:
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I can't help but applaud Trixie's handling of drunken Fluttershy. I just hope Fluttershy can forgive herself is all.
I DEMAND MOAR
Fluttershy! This is not how one resolves a relationship problem.
Masterful. It's not as though I've come to expect anything else from you, of course. The atmosphere you created was perfect, the confrontation was enraging, it was resolved with tact that didn't vilify anypony, and the way you allowed Trixie to ultimately maintain her composure with just enough slips to show how she felt was admirable, to say the least. And you leave us with a cliffhanger, begging for more!
I once again look forward to the next time my notification bar alerts me to a new chapter. Thank you for the chapter, it was just what I needed to read tonight.
ah come on a cliff-hanger really
I'd like to congratulate the author on another fine chapter. Trixie near the end was the highlight of the chapter for me.
Guess what? It's time to get to work on the next chapter! Like, right now. I should be reading it now.
GET CRACKING.
Man, that poor blue stallion.
I rather like the idea that Rarity plays darts very well. Seems like something she ought to be good at that's also fairly believable for her to have picked up from her father.
Youch, that didn't go well with Dash. But again, it could have gone worse.
Nice self control, Trixie! It may be rough for the immediate future, but that was exactly the right move. Let's hope Twi isn't up to anything too crazy...
I have got to say this chapter was surprising in ways. Apple Jack reacting like she did to Trixie shouldn't surprise anyone. You really wrote her acting like she would of in show: Trixie showed honesty which AJ begrudgingly would accept. Am I the only one who feels a little for the colt who tried hitting on both Fluttershy and Trixie.
Anyway I really, really hope that Fluttershy went to Rarity and not Twilight. For all that is sacred under Luna's night sky, please avoid Twilight's library like it has the plague.
I'm personally mostly curious about what Twilight's been up to lately. Last we saw her, she was acting pretty peculiar towards Fluttershy about keeping Trixie under wraps.
Can't wait to see what you will do with Twilight
2092152
Nope, I do too. I actually commented on it in the google doc during the editing process. Poor Cygnus...
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I can't wait, either... and I already know what's going to happen.
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I kiiiinda thought something like this would happen....
Still a bit sad it happened... and why is Rainbow always described so hard about apologies?
Welp let's see what happened to Twilight and Fluttershy (as single ponies)
Off to bed, goodnight
With "A Bluebird's Song" story (sort of) put aside, I finally leave a review for this story -- happily, I feel much better leaving a review for this story for a few reasons....one, it's still ongoing, which means It won't have to be so huge, and I can actively follow it this time around (not to mention justify more leaving reviews for multiple chapters)....secondly, the focus is on Trixie who, compared to TwiDash, I have tons more experience reading stories about....as a whole, I feel alot more comfortable.
You make it no secret that this story was inspired by Kindness' Reward -- indeed, that's one of my favorite Trixie stories as well...although it's only six chapters long, it does an amazing job of capturing, not just Trixie's whole history and redemption, but the unlikely but, in the end, wholly endearing pairing of Fluttershy and herself. That it's so well-made makes it such a tremendous shame that it doesn't have attention and appreciation that should be magnitudes bigger .
The story thus far, is again, inspired by it....but It's definitely more then a little different - it's a vastly darker story, that's for sure....even though Trixie suffered within the Everfree Forest, it was never delved into enough, and in that sense, I enjoyed it...because the story was already dark enough as it needed to be, and we already got a big enough sense of the hardships that Trixie was going through. This story on the other hand....well, it's certainly going to be, and already is, a whole lot bigger then that story in every way....
And the realization behind that, is something I feel I need to keep in mind...akin to my feelings reading your TwiDash story, more and more that I read this, you are obviously going for something far far bigger then simply getting these two together; is that a big, and really, the focal point of this story? Yes....but if that's the case, well, these two are already together....if the story were to end here, I'd honestly feel it was really dark (and indeed it is), maybe darker then it needed perhaps....but although this story draws on Kindness' Reward, it's definitely a mistake to make too many comparisons, which is something I began to realize the more I thought on this.
More on that later, but right now, I want to focus on what you've already done, and easily what has captured my attention the most.....Trixie, or more accurately, her suffering......You really really put alot of development behind that, and it's something that made me feel good and bad about -- what's the bad? I often felt it was too much....again, I think, when I thought that, I was still making too many comparisons with Kindness' Reward, because again, that story went into Trixie's hardships, but not this much....but again, I feel I would be the one making the error in feeling that way - because while it is true you go much farther into, well, everything then that story did, it has a reason here....for starters, this isn't simply a story where these two get together -- indeed, like with the TwiDash story, their is a bigger plot in place, and it seems to be about who on earth is Trixie? Shockingly, she's not a showmare at all; she doesn't know what her destiny is....everything is darker then Kindness' Reward, but the reason is because it's much bigger, longer, and vastly more developed, and not like that 'just because'...again, It's something that needs to be kept in mind while reading this to not make the wrong presumptions.
However, knowing this, I can say that I did enjoy reading Trixie's hardships so much......I once read a dark Gilda story where the griffon was not allowed to return to her family; it was part of her culture that she had to kill someone, and that someone, in her otherwise dark and brutal upbringing that ponies in the frustratingly perpetually happy/ignorant/"utopian" Equestria, was the only person she could ever rightfully call a friend.....Rainbow Dash -- the result caused the two to slowly drift apart, until their relationship is almost nonexistent - Rainbow Dash is, simply put, living her life elsewhere....and Gilda? Simply put, she's drifting.....drifting aimlessly, unable to finish her task -- the sheer immersion of that story really expresses a state of being that can best be summed up as "Surviving" - because that's all it is.....Gilda is doing nothing, literally, but eating/sleeping/thinking and the bare minimum of what could be called a life.....you really grasp the extreme amount of time Gilda spends simply drifting....Life passing her by, becoming something of quantity rather then quality, days melding seamlessly and rapidly into eachother, until events take place that finally causes it all to stop and you realize just how much life Gilda spend doing absolutely nothing. Even though it was only objectively a shortwhile, subjectively....it truly felt like forever and a day.
What Trixie goes through here, is exactly the same thing....even though it's only objectively a year or so, you did a tremendous job darkly expressing, not just how hard it is, but even bigger, just how much time, how much life, is passing her by....and just like with Gilda, her heart tugged in two directions, Trixie has her reasons....It's not often that I read a story where she is, mentally, this much of a mess, but even though it sometimes feel like you're pushing it, it's never sadistic....again, you have your reasons for why things go so far and this whole story isn't ending anytime soon -- yet again, like with TwiDash, it's a mistake to simply see this story as a short story where the focus is simply getting her and Fluttershy together...you are going far beyond that and the relationship is only a (big) part of that.....Really, just like the TwiDash story, really isn't even so much about the romance but so much about (in this case) Trixie....about the growth (and Fluttershy, but more so her) she will go through as a person....Rainbow Dash had more skeletons in her closet then anyone could have thought, and here, Trixie has a whole life time to atone for....to make sense of....even though she made a lifetime full of mistakes, it's no reason for it to be the end of her, and although she brought herself dangerously close, she managed to save herself enough to have Fluttershy help her get further down the road...Kindness' Reward was so much of Fluttershy saving Trixie, and then the vice-versa -- here, again, everything is vastly bigger, darker, and more developed....but it's following much of the same route, and it's wonderful, not just seeing Fluttershy need her just as much, but seeing the contrast between both stories.
Once again, you did a tremendous job on Trixie in the forest....one of my favorite horror movies is "The Blair Witch Project" because of it's psychological horror; because we truly get to see these people just ebbing away...wasting away to the point of eating leaves in the forest ground....Trixie feels, in many ways, the same and we get to see her face the brink many times.....Trixie, unable to pull herself away from her self-destructive path in life because of this arrogant voice in her head (which of course, is just her own, and she will never truly be rid of....but she can certainly build herself up and turn away from that path)...again, like with the TwiDash story, you treat everything with a nice dark realistic vibe that, while it goes far, never goes too far or too much for the sake of it...again, their is a reason why Trixie is suffering so much, and as bad as it gets, maybe in some sense she really needs all this -- she suffers immensely more then Rainbow Dash did (in that other story), and has plenty more to make up for...but again, you treat everything with a sense of respect - she's not falling to pieces for no reason, but because she feels she needs this, and she is making progress.
Not just in apologizing for what she did to the town...again, it would be a mistake to think it's that kind of story, huh? Nope, the story isn't gonna end with just Trixie apologizing and eventually finding peace in Ponyville as a better mare...but in truly figuring herself out; it's what makes, honestly, what will happen in the future chapters quite interesting to read....because it's predictable enough to assume she will eventually make peace with the Mane 6 and live happily in Ponyville...but that she apparently is not truly a showmare but is, well, something else entirely apparently....I have to admit - I'm sort of at a loss to predict where you will go....which is why I'm looking forward to what happens next
I don't want this to go on forever, so I'll just hint a few more things quickly -- Rosemary honestly intrigues me and, while you undoubtedly plan on doing so, I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of her...even if it's just in flashbacks, you really made for an intriguing character; how someone can be so steadfast and loyal to Trixie, and eventually forced to leave when even her own patience runs out.....You've already expressed that Trixie is not truly anything special as a magician; it's an interesting route, no doubt....it does, I don't know, make me still wish, whatever happens to her, that her lifetime of magic won't be simply thrown away -- even if her raw magical talent is no bigger then any other unicorn, as you've expressed, surely her showmareship can come in handy eventually...even if it's a life she wants to rid herself of (or more accurately, wants to start over as a new mare), it feels sort of wrong to just sweep it all away, even if it was a mistake...maybe in some sense, is that I fear Trixie, with whatever route you take her, will become somewhat unrecognizable...silly maybe, but it's a thought that passed my head a few times.
One more thing, and while it may seem weird that I pick this one......I honestly enjoy reading Trixie and Cherrilee together ....maybe it's because I'm thinking of the Lunaverse where they (alongside Carrot Top, Raindrops, Ditzy/Derpy, and Lyra as the Elements of Harmony) are friends together, but it just seems so nice reading them having a good time together...something that may seem minor perhaps, but I don't know...they just seem really good together, and I wouldn't mind whatsoever seeing more of them together.
As before, I don't want this to go on forever...I haven't even touched jealous Twilight, the love triangle of RD, AJ, and Pinkie, or Fluttershy's aggression....but given that this is a ongoing story that seemingly has no intention of ending anytime soon, I feel at ease because I'll have more time to get to all of them. I honestly have no idea where you will go...again, you aren't simply doing a story where Trixie finds atonement with the Mane 6 and Ponyville and settles down....but one where she is even more broken then Dashie was in your TwiDash story...but it's okay, because I feel it'll be the same as that story - it will be dark, foreboding, long...but also full of adorable romance and, more importantly, all happens for a reason....their's a light at the end of the loooong tunnel, and things are arguably only just getting started -- I'm looking forward to enjoying the ride
A lot has transpired in the last two chapters. I'm glad AJ, RD and Pinkie are finally having a discussion. Now Fluttershy, Trixie and Twilight need to have one. Twilight didn't go to that party for a reason, and it has something to do with Fluttershy and/or Trixie. Again, I am on the pins and needles waiting for issues to be resolved. Please don't keep us waiting long (but take your time to make sure the quality doesn't suffer.)
Hmmmm, the final asterix appears to be a rebellious one! Might want to bring it back to center, before it sways the others to follow its lead.
2090395 Yep, I really need to stop doing the whole 'pick a word I like and then use it all the time' thing, it's definitely a problem I have! But I'm glad you like the chapter!
2090770 Thanks! I must confess I was pretty nervous about getting the balance in the confrontation scene, so I'm glad you think that worked.
2095631 Epic comment is epic. Thanks for taking the time to write that, it's much appreciated! You are right that this story was always intended to be more of a character study than a romance. (Although obviously romance is the driving force behind the character development, so I guess it's two sides of the same coin). The whole intention was to try and examine what was driving Trixie into such an arrogant act (and equally, why her stage persona spilled into her actual persona to such a degree). Hopefully the rest of the story will be able to look at the more damaging pieces of her past, and the impact they're still having on her. Rest assured, Rosemary is not forgotten!
I must admit, I found writing the Trixie/Cheerilee part to be remarkably fun. My headcanon for Cheerilee has always been a character who's optimistic intelligent and oddly insightful, but a quite eccentric and a bit head-in-the-clouds-ish (which is part of the reason she gets on with foals so well). I never really plan incidental character interactions; I just prefer to put the characters together and see what happens, so I didn't really expect the two of them to get on in that way, but I liked the finished product so I decided to include it. I get the impression that, in another Fluttershy-less universe, that particular interaction could have been the first step in a Cheerilee/Trixie romance story, but as ships go, that's kind of a leaky one at best! Even so, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they end up talking again, just because they're so darn fun to write together.
2098702 It's infuriating, I've been away for the last couple of days with only smartphone access to the chapter (so unable to edit), and I spotted the error about 5 minutes after I was unable to do anything about it! Fixed now though, and not a moment too soon, we could have had a full-scale punctuation revolution on our hands... Thanks for flagging it up, I'll keep a closer eye on the formatting in future!
2094375
That thought crossed my mind, too. Most of the time, Rainbow acts like a jerk when confrontation is inavoidable with Trixie (generally speaking, throughout many fanfics), yet it seems to be some strange formula that nobody gets tired of. Not to criticise, of course, it was handled well here; confrontation abound!
Still, would be interesting to see a story where Rainbow is not the one giving the most crap to Trixie/[insert name].
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My feels... Poor shy, poor trixie... poor AJ... Twilight wtf can't you show up to a party?
Dang, guy. I've always enjoyed your writing. But this? This is just crazy good. I love your work.
By the way, do you actually dance? That passage about Trixie 'letting go' was quite accurate...
Ouch... hell of a cliffhanger. Although, I probably shouldn't talk about terrible cliffhangers.
Also, how have so few people read this story? It makes no sense!
NOOOOOOOOO! Fluttershy, don't leave her! You're the only one who she could ever love again!
This guy has atrocious luck.
Run away!
First I was like hmmmm,
then I was like O~h m~y,
then I was like aww
then I was like noooooo!
This story is such an emotional rollercoaster.