//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Truth 
// Story: The Trixie Treatment. 
// by DerpyDitzyDerpyDo 
//------------------------------//

Applejack was unable to keep her eyes off Trixie. She'd never seen a pony eat so much so quickly. If she didn't put a stop to it soon the Apple family would have their winter larders run dry. Trixie looked up, about halfway through her third pie, still with a dollop of filling on her nose. 

"Why are you staring at Trixie like that?" she raised an eyebrow, "Captivated by the splendour of Trixie's company already?" 

"You've got some apple in yer hair," smiled AJ.

Applejack was seated across the kitchen table from Trixie, leaning her chin on her hoof and watching the blue unicorn gorge herself. Trixie barely hesitated for a moment before charging snout first into what was left of the pie. 

"Ah spoke to Twilight yesterday."

"Hmhmphhmhmph," Trixie swallowed hard, "About what?"

"About you... didn't ya say the whole point of you helpin' me out during the blizzard was so Ah'd go back and tell Twilight you're doin' better and yer not out for revenge again or anything'," Trixie stared blankly at AJ for a moment, she was still lost in a giddy, food induced, high. 

"Ah... ah! Right! And what did Twilight Sparkle say?"

Well, Twilight said Ah should be as friendly as Ah can with you so you don't go off the deep end again. Sometimes even the element of honesty had to execute a little discretion. 

"Uh... Twilight said that... uh... that it's great that you're doin' so well," that much was true.

"It is great! And powerful! But not powerful in a corrupted, magical amulet kind of way. Do you eat food like this every day?" said Trixie, her cheeks still stuffed to bursting, "Hmphmph- Trixie hasn't... hmhmph... eaten this well in ages."

"Go easy there, sugarcube. It ain't goin' nowhere."

Now that AJ had got Trixie all to herself she wasn't really sure what to say. Maybe it might be worth tackling the elephant in the room.

"So... uh... fought any Ursa Majors lately?" she had meant it as a joke but the way Trixie stopped eating mid bite suddenly made things awkward.

"Trixie remembers her first outing to Ponyville. That was the first time we met, wasn't it?  You were one of the neigh-sayers heckling Trixie's magnificent performance," Applejack rubbed her arm nervously as Trixie spoke. Trixie eyed her warily and then put down the slice of pie she'd been munching on, "Trixie supposes that she owes you an apology, of sorts. For embarrassing you in front of your friends."

"And for lying," said AJ bluntly.

"Now Trixie will not apologize for embellishing the truth. You don't know what it's like being a magician in Equestria. Young ones these days couldn't care less about stage magic. Some of them can even do real magic themselves. No pony was willing to give Trixie a chance until she started telling ponies that she'd accomplished great feats. No pony wanted to listen to Trixie's stories until she said that they were true."

"Look, Ah know that you've had a tough time. That you're still havin' a tough time. But that ain't no kind of an excuse for lyin' to folks. The truth will always come out in the end and then you'll jus' be in a worse spot then you were before," this seems to have sunk home with Trixie. Although her lies had won her temporary fame she was now reviled as a fraud. AJ continued, "Why do you do this whole 'Great and Powerful' act for everypony? Why can't you jus' try bein' yerself for a change?"

Trixie sat in silence for the longest time. Staring at the table in front of her and unmoving. When she finally spoke her voice was a dry monotone. Devoid of the flair and pizzazz that she usually spiced up her speech with.

"When I was very young my father past away. I had to live with my step mother. She hated me. Not a single day went by without her telling me what a burden I was being. What a disappointment I was. I would go to school every morning without a shred of confidence. Because of that I spent all my time alone and got bullied really badly at school as well. Every day ponies would tell me that I was worthless. That I was stupid. That I was weak. And soon I realized that  what they were saying to me was becoming true. I often ditched school to hide from the bullies. And my marks plummeted because of it. Ponies called me stupid and then I started failing my classes and proving them right. They told me I was a loner. And so I remained a loner. They told me that I would fail and then I did. They told me I was a burden and so I became one. Words have power. When you get told something over and over you start to believe that it must be true. And when you believe something is true then it will decide what you can and can't accomplish. We base our lives, our expectations, our hopes on what we believe to be true. We create our own realities based on the things we are told, the things we learn and the things we experience. So on the day I got my cutie mark I decided that if everypony else was going to tell Trixie that she was pathetic and powerless then she'd just have to tell herself the opposite. Trixie would defy the truth. She would create her own truth. She'd tell herself she was brilliant a hundred times for every single time she was told that she was pitiful by other ponies. She'd crow it from the rooftops and whisper it to herself before she went to bed. Trixie is Great and Powerful. Trixie is spectacular. Trixie is the greatest there ever was."

Trixie got off her chair now. Her air of confidence returning. She strutted across the kitchen and stood, staring defiantly at her host.

"When somepony is told something over and over again they become convinced that its true. And Trixie  has told herself that she is Great and Powerful every day since she ran away from home ten years ago. And, although her confidence may have been a little rattled by Twilight Sparkle, she still believes that it is true. That she is Great and Powerful. And if she believes it long enough, if she works hard enough then maybe it will really be true," her voice wobbled momentarily and then she regained her composure, "Trixie can see that you value honesty and the truth but Trixie knows that the truth is a thing we make for ourselves. Sure, Trixie often told stories about herself defeating an Ursa Major. But these stories were more than true: not because they actually happened but because ponies need to believe that monsters can be beaten. Trixie knows they can. She's beaten a few herself and some of the ones she faced were scarier than some stupid bear."

Applejack paused. She removed her hat and placed it gently on the table. She took a deep breath. And then she gave Trixie the biggest hug she had ever given anypony in her life.