//------------------------------// // Ch. 5 - The showmare and her passion // Story: The Great and Delicate Trixie // by DogSomeOre //------------------------------// Wooden wheels roll on the ground as the mare in front of it pulls along her wagon with the power of her unicorn magic. The breeze feels nice today on her fur considering the fact of how nervous she is. Mixed with emotions only the most excited ponies would feel. "Phew ok Trixie this is it, your big break, you can do this!" The mare says to herself psyching up her mind for the show in front of her. She knows this city well enough to know it won't be easy winning over anybody that watches her; this is where she grew up after all. Beautiful scenery shows itself all around her as she walks past them. Street lights shine as bright as the night can let it. Stores as fancy and decorous as the eye can behold are followed by her frantic eyes. Anything to get her mind off the pressure is enough for her to think about. Arriving at the location in question, the nervous unicorn looks ahead to see just how many have come to watch. Hundreds of rich and pompous ponies of all ages are standing by waiting for the first timer to begin her act. The thought of finally being something people can admire is almost too much to bare for the small mare; being able to show off all that she's practiced, years upon years learning and studying. It all comes down to this very moment, in her mind nothing else matters. The crowd grows increasingly silent as the showmare begins her trot up stage, the only sounds she's accompanied to now is of her own hoof steps meeting the wood planks and the rapid beating of her own heart. She notices a stray nail sticking out from one of the boards and cautiously steps around it as to not have an accident. "Am I shaking? I'm not shaking am I? Is my hair messy? No, no definitely not. What about my face? Am I making a weird face?" All these thoughts seep into her mind like a bad omen. If it was her call she would love to feel as calm and collected as possible. Stopping front and center of the stage she fixes her posture and looks the crowd straight in the eye. "Come on Trixie, it's now or never." The stage lights beam down on her and just like that she whips her cape back and raises a hoof in the air on que to announce her presence. This is it, her time to show the world what she's got has come. Nobody can stop her, this is her passion! "Ladies and gentlecolts!" She announces confidence oozing in every letter that comes out. "I have for you today a show you will not forget! A jaw dropping and once in a lifetime experience by the one and only Trixie Lulamoon!" And just like that her first trick is performed, sparkles light the sky as she she lifts up both hooves with ambition. The crowd watches in awe as the colorful light fills the stage not looking away for even a second. All the instruments she has to perform her tasks are tucked away neatly from the crowds view until she's ready to unleash them, objects of all sort are here and ready to make an impression on these ponies. She knows she can do it, she has to. The show goes on and all acts performed are enough to win over the crowd. She makes balloon animals move on command with her magic and gives them to all the little fillies in the audience who are delighted at the fact. Everything she had practiced and rehearsed go off with flying colors. Her moment is finally here. Finally the ponies of this city will shout her name with enthusiasm and anticipation as the one and only Trixie shows herself to the world. Friends, she'll have friends galore wanting to talk to her, about her! The world seemed so bleak in her mind until today, a change of pace for Trixie and the crowd alike as they've never seen something quite like this before in ages. Continuing on, every trick is expertly and calculatedly done by her own hooves with a seam of professionalism that she can not afford to settle for less. Years and years of her parents belittling her, shooting her down for not ever making something of herself, well now's the time to show them wrong, for them to finally embrace 'Trixie Lulamoon' Their only daughter with open hooves. "And for my last trick, a volunteer will be needed! Anypony is welcome!" Hooves are raised with glee as the ponies in the audience anxiously await to be picked. "Ah ha! You will do wonderfully!" A light is shined upon a small green frame sitting 2nd row in the back of the area. The fillie's surprise turns into excitement as they race up the stage as fast as their little hooves could muster. The filly and Trixie look at each other, Trixie smiling with friendliness and compassion. "Are you ready?' Trixie whispers to them and they nod their head with vigour. "Ahem. Then I bring you my most finest trick of them all!" A snake in a cage is brought out and the crowd gasps in terror at the sight of it. Trixie never had anyone to actually practice this trick with so she used a pony made out of mannequin parts that she was able to find by pure chance. Still she's confident she can pull this off, she's raised the snake well enough to perform all kinds of tricks and this is just one of many. "A-Are you sure about this ma'am?" "Don't worry, everything is under control." She whispers assurance to the now nervous filly as they stare cautiously at the scaly animal. She knows this is the one trick she absolutely cannot mess up. She lets the scaly animal out of its cage and has it crawl on her, directing its movements with a wand that she has held in her mouth; she has it do a few tricks and gives the snake a peanut with every one performed. The audience is astonished by how well the snake is behaving with some of them letting out collective "oooohs" at each trick the snake performs. "Wha-What are you doing?" "It's ok trust me! You'll be fine!" She has the filly hold the snake and they do so hesitantly, guiding the snake around with her wand it all seems like it's going as planned. She moves around and around back in forth having it's gaze be upon her and her alone. But as if fate itself couldn't let this moment have a good end Trixie trips backwards onto the nail that's poking up from the ground and she loses her balance. She tries to catch her bearings but it's too late as the blue pony falls back and off the stage to ground level where the audience has gathered. The next thing she knows everypony is screaming in horror at what Trixie presumed to be her falling but was actually something much, much worse. To the misfortune of the situation the snake is quickly euthanized by stallions and mares in uniform and the filly is now carried away quickly on a gurney as they try for their life to stay alive. In an instant her whole performance was now nothing more then a horror scene. "N-No... Oh Celestia no... h-how could this- how did this- I didn't mean to..." Screams are now the only sound the distraught mare could hear as panic ensues and everyone runs off until it's nothing but Trixie who remains. The lights aren't shining anymore, the mare that was once excited is no more; she sits alone at the front of the stage, confusion, self-hatred, anger, and sadness fills her once hopeful heart. Crying is heard from outside from all the different ponies. Her one shot to make a name for herself, is now demolished by her own mistakes. She finds herself alone once again in a town that already abandoned her. She failed the only thing she thought she was good at and the tall house she'd built in such as short time, was now destroyed by her own four hooves. -------*------- Wooden wheels roll on the ground as the mare in front of it pulls along her wagon with the power of her unicorn magic. The breeze feels nice today on her fur considering the fact of how nervous she is. It's the first time in years that she's managed to come back to her old town. Moving up the hill she can see the welcoming sign in the distance that looks so graciously inviting. Her heart beats faster and her body begins to ache as if it's telling her to turn away, but be it her prideful nature, she won't listen to her instincts. The blue pony nears her old familiar land and steps slowly, cautiously, one by one. Trixie hopes enough time has gone by where the people here will forgive her; though she was never kicked out to begin with, she felt immense shame of ever showing her minty blue mane here again. The town is as clear now as it ever was, the same old flashy lights on the fancy stores greet her with bright intensity, it's nostalgic if not sad. Trixie looks to a sign that reads 'mobile home parking' and begins down that path. RV's and trailers alike are scattered about everywhere, of course there would be, this town is a tourists paradise. "Hello ma'am!" Trixie is greeted by a mare of exquisite fashion. "Will you be staying with us long?" "Just a couple days I suppose." Trixie responds to her in a friendly manner. "Alrighty, well I'll tell you first hand Canterlot is a beautiful place to stay. This is where all the highest class of ponies resign! You can find all types of unique and interesting pieces of history here including but not limited to-" "Uh that's ok I really don't need to hear it." Trixie interrupts trying to be as polite but straight to the point as possible. "Oh sorry I can get carried away sometimes." The mare chuckles to herself. "Well don't let me keep you. Oh and don't worry about paying you can do it anytime you want!" "Ok thanks." Trixie begins to walk past the mare until she suddenly speaks again. "Oh ma'am!" She calls out to Trixie. Trixie turns around to greet her once again now with a bit of a frustrated look. "One more thing excuse me for forgetting but we have all our residents names printed down, just so we can keep track of everyone and all. So we just need your name and you'll be all set!" The mare says to her with a grin, not missing a beat at all. "It's Trixie..." The mare looks up from the paper she uses to mark down all the names. The mares eyes widen at the sound of her name like something bad just happened. Trixie notices her expression and treads carefully. "Trixie? And last name?" "....Hushlight. Trixie Hushlight." Relief visibly washes over her as she marks Trixie's name down. No comfort in knowing the ponies in this town have forgiven but she trots along alas. Trixie continues on to find a place to set her home down and to rest her sore body, she'd been trotting along for a long while. She finds a place by a family of three and sets up besides them. Placing her wagon down she stretches her back muscles and makes sure to latch the portable home down to the ground before calling it for the night. She isn't too certain of how things will pan out here and frankly she's quite scared but she'll do this, whether her body wants to or not.