//------------------------------// // First Time For Everything // Story: Boast Busters // by TheKing2001 //------------------------------// Roseluck bit back multiple curse words as her alarm screamed at her, idly flailing a hoof at her nightstand till she slammed a hoof down on the clock and the infernal machine went silent. “Thank Celestia,” Roseluck grumbled as she moved deeper into her warm blanket pile. “Stupid alarm clock, stupid sun, stupid work.” “Get up!” Lily shouted through the door as Roseluck groaned. “Your friends or whatever are here. If you don’t get your flank down these steps, I’m eating your waffles and I mean it.” Roseluck rolled out of her blankets and fell with a thud as she rubbed her cutie mark with a wince. “That’s gonna bruise,” Roseluck muttered as she awkwardly stood up and opened her bedroom door. “Now why are my friends here?” “How the hell should I know? They’re your friends, probably here to do whatever it is friends do,” Lily answered with a shrug. “You’re the expert, you tell me.” “Is this where we have another argument and awkwardly work around each other for the next week till we forget about it?” Roseluck asked as she followed Lily down the steps. “Nah I’m in a decent mood today surprisingly so please don’t ruin it.” “Which friend is it?” Roseluck asked as Lily paused. “Blue coat one. Unicorn. Trixie is her name.” “I’m trying to decide if that was a poorly made poem or not,” Roseluck mused as Lily surprised her by laughing. “Nah it’s not. I’m not entirely good at poems but go see what Trixie wants. Surprised she is out and about with that one stallion still in town,” Lily commented as Roseluck scowled. “He’s still here? I thought he left!” Roseluck pounded a hoof on the base of the stairs. “Nope and from what I heard, he’s been following Trixie around and criticizing her every move. Why, I’m not sure,” Lily admitted as she stepped into the kitchen. “She’s in the dining room.” “Hey how’s it going Trixie?” Roseluck asked with a smile as she entered the room and paused as Trixie continued browsing cupboards. “Uhm Trixie? What are you doing?” “Got bored and started looking for alcohol. You don’t have any, do you?” Trixie asked as she closed a cupboard and opened another with seeds. “Why in the world do you have seeds in random places in your house?” “Not sure. Us running a floral shop might have something to do with it?” Roseluck suggested as she closed the doors of the cupboards Trixie had already looked through. “Why come to us for alcohol? Why not Berry Punch? She runs a store out of her cellar, remember?” “Been there.” “And?” “Trixie bought all she had,” Trixie answered as she shut the final doors and sighed. “Okay, thanks anyways.” “Hold up, so you’re not going to sit down and talk?” Roseluck asked as she trotted into the living room, flinging herself on the couch in one corner of the room, patting the spot next to her. “Sit and stay awhile. I don’t care if Lily wants you gone, I want you here and you don’t seem okay so spill.” Trixie eyed the couch warily before sitting down next to the mare before clearing her throat. “For the record, Lily actually suggested Trixie comes inside. She was only gonna poke around for a few moments,” Trixie admitted after a moment of silence. “Huh,” Roseluck muttered as she folded her forelegs under her. “Lily has been in good mood all day she said. Weird.” “Anyway, Trixie is fine,” Trixie insisted as Roseluck raised an eyebrow slightly. “Fine, she’s upset but that’s it.” “What the hell even is your story with him? All you said was he was a business partner and that was that. There’s more to that story than just that,” Roseluck said as Trixie bit her lip. “Fine, he used to work for me and my master,” Trixie admitted as Roseluck gave her a worried look. “Were you like a slave or something? I really hope not.” “No, no nothing like that. Master is just a term of respect I used for the pony who taught me all I know. Good stallion. Anyway, that’s a story for later. You wanna know more about Wild Card. He’s just as boastful as me, has or well had a lot of bits that he invested in my shows and equipment. But he got taken out of his dad’s will after he died and Wild Card pretty much went broke. He had a nice wife but she left him after the money was gone so I guess not as nice as I once thought. So I suggested he spend his last few bits at a casino in an attempt to make a lot of bits and well, he obviously lost. I thought his cutie mark was being good at card games but evidently not. I ruined his life with one suggestion. He would still have a wife if it wasn’t for me fucking things up like usual. Anyway, that’s all,” Trixie concluded as she shifted on the couch. “Oh and he used to travel with me on my shows so that was already pretty hard on his family. I don’t really have a family that I’m on speaking terms with so it was easy for me to travel for months at a time. I didn’t actually put down roots so to speak till I became friends with you girls.” “That is not on you,” Roseluck said after a moment as she wrapped a foreleg around Trixie. “Just a bunch of misfortune in general. Could have happened to anypony, hay that could have happened to Daisy or Crescent Moon or Star Tracker. And you don’t fuck things up, what happened the Trixie we all know and love that brags about herself, is all about her being the greatest at everything?” “It is my fault,” Trixie corrected and shook her head. “None of that would have happened if I didn’t convince him to come along. Most ponies thought we were together but it was a strictly professional relationship. I don’t cross lines like sleeping with married stallions or mares. And that Trixie is still there, she’s just taking a break at the moment.” Roseluck flinched and looked away. She didn’t really think Trixie meant that as a jab about her and Derpy’s ex husband but it didn’t necessarily hurt any less. “I have to go now. It’s been a decent conversation I guess but I wanna go back to sleep after getting wasted,” Trixie said as she levitated Roseluck’s foreleg off of her. “Alcohol is calling this mares name and she desperately needs whiskey in her system till she can’t walk.” Roseluck gave a frustrated sigh as she watched Trixie leave out the front door as Roseluck inhaled. “Lily! I’m going out!” “And that’s why I came here,” Roseluck finished as Raindrops growled incoherent curses under her breath as the two sat on a bench near the pond, watching ducks swimming. “You’ve know Trixie longer than any of us in town, any suggestions?” “Beat up Wild Card and throw him out of town?” Raindrops suggested hopefully and her face fell as Roseluck shook her head. “Anyway, Trixie mentioned him a few years back but it was only good things except in one letter where they went their separate ways and ended the partnership. I’ve never met him and so far, I’m not impressed.” Roseluck nodded her agreement as she watched a colt run by before focusing back on the pegasus. “So how exactly do I stop Trixie from feeling bad about something that clearly wasn’t her fault?” Roseluck asked as Raindrops grimaced. “Trixie has always been this way. She usually tried too hard back in school to get friends and well, it usually backfired so she’s used to thinking she was the problem. She usually gets random depressive phases so I suggest just giving her stuff she likes. She really likes chocolate and peanut butter crackers. Like, she loves that shit. And back off when she says to otherwise she’ll get angry,” Raindrops explained as Roseluck stared at her in silence. “When you know Trixie as a long as I do, you pick up on little things like this. Angry Trixie is scary and I thought I was intimidating when mad but Trixie is a whole ‘nother level.” Roseluck shuddered slightly as she nodded. She had seen Raindrops angry before, the whole town had and most ponies knew to run in the opposite direction when Raindrops was on a rampage. There was nothing scarier than a furious pegasus who could make it rain whenever she wanted and control lightning. “Anyway, I’m gonna get back to work. My break is over,” Raindrops glanced and tossed a lazy salute. “I’ll drop by Trixie’s wagon later and talk to her. I’ll also keep an eye out for Wild Card, he’s been out and about all over town from what I heard.” “Thanks Dropsy.” Roseluck watched the pegasus fly off before standing up herself to go find Derpy. Derpy usually provided a perspective that most couldn’t provide, Roseluck mused as she looked down at her stomach growling and blushed. First, she needed food.