Trixie's Fate
This was largely written before season three, and then Magic Duel came along, so I never finished it. Think of it as a trip down memory lane—back before Sombra or alicorn Twilight.
The Many Faces of a Showpony
Admiral Biscuit
8.12.2012
The six Element bearers were gathered at the Ponyville library. Rarity and Fluttershy were seated side-by-side on cushions, Twilight Sparkle paced around making sure everypony’s teacups were full, and the other three were stretched out on the floor.
“I’m worried about Trixie,” Twilight said bluntly. “I was too busy thinking about how everypony would hate me for showing off with my magic—and then, with the Ursa . . . things happened so fast. But we shouldn’t have let her run off like that. Her caravan was destroyed, and I bet everything she owns was in it.”
“It’s her own fault for being such a boastful creature,” Rarity said with her nose up. Emergency treatment had returned her mane to its former glory, but she kept glancing at it, afraid it might turn back.
“What if she’s hurt?” Fluttershy looked down at the floor. “Um, maybe we should try to find her.”
Twilight stamped her hoof on the floor. “I have been. I even asked Zecora to keep an eye out in the Everfree Forest, but nopony has seen her since she ran away.”
“I was gonna go after her,” Rainbow remarked.
“I should have let you.”
“I don’t get it.” Pinkie stood up and walked over to Twilight. “I mean, she is a boasty-meany-meany-pants. But she’s also a grown mare. She’s able to take care of herself!”
“Is she?” Twilight frowned.
• • •
Trixie finally stopped running. It was the middle of the day, so she had been running since the middle of the night. She gasped for breath as she sat down on the hard-packed dirt trail before her legs could collapse under her. Her sides were dripping sweat and her heart was racing. She was trembling not just from exertion, but because she was still terrified of the Ursa Minor, as well as the powerful unicorn which had done what she could not, banished it from Ponyville.
“Trixie has lost . . . everything,” she panted, sudden tears forming in her eyes. “Trixie doesn’t know . . . what she will do. . . .”
She sat on the path, until her heart slowed down, then unsteadily got to her feet. She nibbled at a little grass, then began walking again, talking to herself as she went.
“Trixie will go to Canterlot. Perhaps Trixie can find work there. There are many ponies in Canterlot who will like Trixie.” She glanced at the castle, visible off in the distance. “Canterlot is very far, and Trixie does not know how she will survive until she gets there. Her magic is not very strong.”
Trixie walked throughout the day, occasionally pausing to graze or drink from the small streams that crisscrossed Equestria. As the sun set, she stopped at a small clearing and began gathering evergreen branches. “These will be Trixie’s bed,” she said to nopony in particular. “Not as comfortable as Trixie’s wagon, but they will have to do.” She laid them out, then sat down on top of them and set her head between her hooves. “If only Trixie had not been such a show-off.”
Three days later, Trixie finally made it to Canterlot. Her coat was shaggy and sweat-stained, and her mane was tangled and full of sticks and leaves. She tried shop after shop, looking for work, but nopony wanted her help. She begged and pleaded strangers for a place to stay, but everypony ignored her. She finally found a narrow alley and slept next to a dumpster.
Weeks passed, as Trixie tried and failed to find a job, any job. Nopony wanted to hire a filthy, smelly, boastful unicorn. She had come to think of the alley as her home. Every night, she went back by the dumpster, her belly growling with hunger. She knew that one night, she would fall asleep and simply wouldn’t wake up. . . .
• • •
“Whoa, Twilight, that’s getting’ pretty morbid,” Applejack said. “Ah mean, it’s only been one night since she left, an Ah don’t figure she’d be completely lackin’ in every kinda job skill.”
“Quite so,” Rarity commented. “She is a showmare, and distasteful and uncultured though she may be, Trixie no doubt knows how to sell herself.” She paused to fluff her mane. “In fact. . . .”
• • •
Trixie looked at the garish neon sign in distaste. Had it really come down to this? “Trixie is a showmare,” she reminded herself, “and this is only for a little while.” She pushed open the doors, and what small, shriveled sense of self-worth she had left vanished as she stepped up to the smarmy stallion waiting behind the hideous velvet ropes.
“Trixie would like a job,” she said, tossing her mane back. “Trixie will work all hours, and Trixie cleans up nicely.”
He looked her over thoughtfully, and licked his lips. “Very good. Dressing rooms are in the back, twenty percent of your tips go to the house, costumes come out of your pay, show starts at six pm sharp and runs ‘till midnight—two am on Saturday—or until the Guards shut us down.”
An hour later, she stepped unsteadily on stage. “Aaaand, here for her first time, Trixie! Give her a big round of applause, folks! A unicorn from the great city of Manehatten, she likes dressing up and getting dirty!”
Trixie backed out onto the stage, pulling a small rolling suitcase with her teeth. Her mane and tail were braided and tied with pink bows, and her coat had been oiled until it glistened. She blinked at the spotlights, took a quick glance at the good-for-nothing stallions that were crowding the edge of the stage, then heard a click and an annoying bit of feedback as her song started.
She began dancing to the heavy beat of the music, trying to cover every part of the stage, before she moved back to the center and opened the suitcase. She grabbed out a pink sock, and, swaying slightly with the beat, pulled it over her left forehoof. As the music continued, she moved around the stage for a bit with her single pink sock, then pulled a second pink sock out of her suitcase and—“
• • •
“Ew. Socks.” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue at Rarity. “Really? What is wrong with you?”
Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Trixie seems like the kind of unicorn who would wear socks. Anypony who turns my fabulous coiffure into a hideous green. . . .”
“Um, I sometimes wear socks when my hooves are cold, and . . . eep.”
“It isn’t just the socks, it’s that they’re pink and—“
Pinkie Pie glared at Rarity.
“—and pink just isn’t her color,” Rarity finished. “Humph. Some ponies have a warm palette, and some ponies have a cooler palette. Besides, she seems like the kind of pony who’d wear socks for money, for drooling imbecilic—“
“Rarity.” Twilight glared at the unicorn.
“—never-do-well stallions who—“
“Rarity!”
“—when they could be spending their bits and time with—“
“Rarity, focus!” Twilight teleported in front of the rambling unicorn.
“—and . . . oh, I’m sorry, Twilight. I believe I may have gotten just a little bit carried away.”
“I doubt that Trixie is going to return to Canterlot to become an exotic dancer,” Twilight muttered.
Rarity stuck her nose in the air. “It is just as likely as her starving to death in an alley,” she countered.
“Um, girls, please,” Fluttershy whispered. “I don’t see why you think that Trixie will come to an awful end.
“If she’s still in the woods, she’s probably made some new animal friends. Um, she’s not afraid to seek them out—like the Ursa.”
“But Snips and Snails brought the Ursa to Ponyville,” Twilight protested. “Trixie had nothing to do with that. At least, not directly.”
“Maybe she’ll want to learn more about them, now,” Fluttershy continued undaunted. “I used to not know anything about all the cute little animals that lived on the ground, but—” She looked up at the other five ponies, who were all staring at her. “Um, well, maybe she should start with something smaller. Much smaller. If we find her, I could give her a bunny. Everypony likes bunnies.”
“Being along in the woods must be the most boring thing ever. Oh my gosh, I hope she can find her way out. We should put up balloons to show her the way home!” Pinkie grabbed a hoofful of books and yanked them off the shelf. “Good thing I keep a stockpile of balloons handy in case of a balloon-related emergency. We can float them over the forest and guide her back to Ponyville. Oh! I know, I’ll tie a note to the string on each one. . . .”
“The odds of her finding any of those balloons are minuscule, darling. Honestly—”
“Why would she even want to come back to Ponyville?” Rainbow interrupted.
“Silly, because she’s hungry. And some extra-special cupcakes are sure to bring her back, and—I could tie a cupcake to each balloon, and a note!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
• • •
Trixie was lying in a cave, just inside the border of the forest, where she’d been for days, ever since the mean ponies in Ponyville had run her out of town. Her belly was grumbling, and she hadn’t had anypony to talk to since she’d fled, except for a bunch of acorns she’d found scattered around a tree, but they weren’t all that fun to talk to because they never talked back because they were just acorns. She’d arranged them in neat rows in front of her, and pretended that they were her audience, giving each one a name.
“Watch and behold as the Magnificent Trixie makes this, um, rock disappear!” She stood on her hind hooves and waved her tattered cape around. Before the amazed eyes—do acorns have eyes?—of the crowd, she tossed the rock over her withers and sent it skidding into the darkness of the cave. Her patter covered the soft clatter of the rock bouncing deeper and deeper into the cave, and she didn’t hear the startled yelp the timberwolf made as the rock collided with its muzzle.
The timberwolf sniffed the rock. Intrigued by the strong scent of unicorn on it, the wolf walked towards the entrance of the cave, hoping to make a new friend. Trixie shared the acorns with him, and they lived happily ever after.
• • •
“Granny says that timberwolves are mighty scary,” Applejack muttered. “Don’t reckon one’s gonna take a shine to nopony. Like as not he’d gobble her right up.”
“Pah-leaze. You had your idea of what she was up to, and I have mine.” Pinkie plopped down on the floor as if that would prove her point.
“Ah ain’t said nothin’ about what she’s doin’ right now. Y’all are the ones comin’ up with one weird idea after another. Ah reckon that she got mighty good at her act by a lotta hard work, an’ Ah reckon she’ll git back on her hooves sooner or later. Ah ain’t gonna assume that just ‘cause she’s unpleasant that she’s gonna go make friends with a buncha acorns, or tart herself up in Las Pegasus, or starve to death in Canterlot. Ah reckon she done fine before she came here.”
“Maybe she just needs to learn to become more awesome. Then everypony would like her. I could find her and teach her how to be awesome, like me.”
• • •
Trixie smiled at the rainbow-maned awesome pony who had become her new best friend after finding her in the scary woods and rescuing her from the terrifying monster. In the weeks since she’d been saved, she’d practiced and practiced until she could run a race almost as fast as her hero could.
She stood at the end of the track, having already galloped a dozen laps. Her sides were heaving from the exertion, and sweat stained her coat. But she was smiling—she had busted all but one of the track records, and she knew that the last was forever out of her reach.
“Trixie is so glad that you showed her the joys of physical competition,” she panted. “She will be able to show everypony else how awesome she is.”
“I got you a ticket to see the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow told her. “They’re performing for a special event in Ponyville, and I got an exclusive ticket. I’ll be flying with them, of course, because I’m the best pegasus in all of Equestria—”
• • •
“Oh, please.” Rarity stomped her hoof. “Your story is a self-aggrandizing masturbatory fantasy that’s even less likely than mine. Even if you did find her, I doubt she’d fall head over hoof for you.”
“What?” Rainbow glared at her. “A friendly competition is hardly self-agrivatig . . . whatever you said. Me and Applejack compete hoof-to-hoof all the time.”
“Which just proves my point,” she said smugly.
Beatrix Lulamoon sat on a cushion in her air-conditioned Canterlot apartment. She sipped at an oat smoothie, her eyes occasionally roving to one of the many posters on the walls surrounding her. Naturally, they were all pictures of her, performing some feat of magic or another.
She sighed. Her mind was tired, and her body was sore. She had just finished a week-long gig in Manehatten, capping off her Summer Sun Celebration tour. It had gone pretty well, except for that . . . incident in Ponyville.
“I suppose the Great and Powerful Trixie may have gotten to depend on her enchanted wagon just a little too much,” she said to nopony in particular. “Good thing I had it insured with Neightionwide, or else I’d be putting up the bits to replace it out of my own saddlebags.” She smiled as she whistled their commercial jingle. The check had arrived yesterday, and she had wasted no time placing an order for a new one at Wagons and Whisks.
“Oh, I had to perform in my old hat and cape, with my old wagon,” she said to a poster of herself. ”Can you imagine? It was simply dreadful.” She smiled. The ponies hadn’t known any different, of course, but it had taken her a week to practice a different routine, and magic up a few items she needed, as well as more than a few bits to replace a few items she either didn’t have the time or skills to make. But the show went off without a hitch, and that’s what showbiz is all about.
Bored, she levitated over a copy of Who’s Who in Equestria, 7547th edition, and began flipping through it to see if she could figure out who the purple unicorn was. Not listed in Ponyville, but then this was an older copy. I really should get a new copy—after that whole Nightmare Moon fiasco, there’ve been a few changes here and there.
She had already identified Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack; in fact, before the show she had anticipated going up against one or more of them. After all, a good showmare prepares well. Suddenly an entry caught her eye:
“Twilight Sparkle, unicorn, protégé of Princess Celestia. Twilight studies advanced magic under the Princess in Canterlot . . . unparalleled magical ability. . . .” Trixie paused. Twilight Sparkle. The name was right, the description fit, and she was old enough now to be living on her own in Ponyville, but why?
She tapped her hoof on the ground a few times, thinking. She had heard that name before. Where? She levitated a stack of magazines over, finally finding one whose front cover boldly declared “Nightmare Moon a threat to Equestrian Society? No more!”
She flipped the magazine open and began reading. “…was defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle, bearing the Element of Magic, Rainbow Dash, bearing the Element of Loyalty, Rarity, bearing the Element of Generosity, Applejack. . . .” She stopped, briefly in shock. Then she started to laugh, a rich, deep laugh.
“Beat three of the Element bearers, brought low by the fourth—the single most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria. Not bad, Trixie. Not bad at all.”
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You know, when Trixie puts it that way, it does seek rather impressive. Ah, those Mane Six, what imaginations they have!
I can see that this is an unfinished product, it somehow lacks the polish of your other projects. Still puts anything I do to shame.
Neightionwide is on your side!
Threw this together for the hell of it:
i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag115/Nightmeer7/Neightionwide_logo_zps7f53813d.gif
A really novel story approach. I loved it! I like the "What if the whole incident wasn't as big a deal to Trixie as everyone thought?" idea. It's a path that not many have explored, sadly.
And the imagine spots. Hehehe.
3948065
Trixie still beats all of them in maturity
As Trixie's portrays (and redemption) go I really liked the one in The Audience by RealityCheck
And what really Trixie's talent is.
This is a SI but this one chapter can be read as standalone, simply skip to "It was evening and...." :
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/24890/10/the-audience/chapter-10
Very interesting concept that very few brought up. I like it.
Interesting. And actually pretty original compared to the vast majorty of post-BB fic.
3948065
The hardest part was thinking of what each of them would consider the "Worst. Possible. Thing." That's why I never finished it way back when--Twilight and Rarity's parts came to me pretty quick, but I couldn't figure out the other four's stories.
I tried a similar concept with a meta story called "Ponies Write Fanfics," but after two chapters I just lost interest.
3948437
Ah, more fan art! Thank you!
3948629
Well, I've been performing on stage off and on for over 20 years now. Haven't had any gigs go that badly, but really--at the end of the weekend, we put everything away, either congratulate ourselves on a good show or have a nice long cry, and go on with our lives. This blog post (for my one-shot Here I Am) may be of interest.
3948951
That was a really good read. Memoirs of a Reality Jumper had a pretty good Trixie redemption scene in it, too, if I remember correctly.
It's really too bad that the writers of the show kind of played her as a revenge-obsessed lunatic in Season 3. They could have handled it so much better.
3949452
3950674
Thank you!
3950846 Could have been worse. Lauren Faust envisioned her as a recurring petty villain. Much as I would have liked to see a return, I'm actually glad that didn't happen.
Took it like a champ too.
I really enjoyed this story. It shows that Trixie really is a businessmare at heart and able to easily bounce back from that one mishap. Most, if not all, stories show her as a mare down on her luck but you took it another way and showed that she didn't even look phase in the aftermath.
Good job sir!
I absolutely love how un-phased she is. With that last line, I let out a laugh and a loud, "Fuck yeah!" Ha ha! That was great! This is getting a fave, for sure.
3953316
Thanks!
3993918
Thank you!
Having worked in theatre I confess I found the maine 6's behaviour to be utterly atrocious. Sure Trixie was a bit stuck up but the idea that they were in the right heckling her was ridiculous. I love your take on things.
4016698
I agree; my own experience with bad audiences was an inspiration for this story.
You might also like Here I Am, if you haven't read it before.
4016797 Eeehhh I tend to shy away from tragedies >< but I like your other stuff ^^;
4024860
It's a fairly light tragedy, for what that's worth. I wish I could think of a good literary example, but I've got nothing. Either way, I respect your choice--I personally tend to avoid fics with the 'gore' tag unless they come highly recommended.
I loved this! It was a very entertaining story! I love myself a good Trixie fic! Great job!
4038350
Thank you!
For a good Trixie fic, I would also recommend McPoodle's Trixie's Clear and Simple Secret to Ultimate Power.
Or, for a more comedic story, MythriMoth's Trixie and Spike go down the Hoooooole
If you like stories about showmares in general, be sure to check out my own Here I Am.
4038615 yay! I can now further feed my Trix-Fix!
I'm thinking of writing a Trixie story myself.
Instafave. Gotta say I haven't seen this outcome in all the Trixie fics I've read. And I like reading Trixie. And watching Trixie. And listening to Trixie.
I'm a Trixie sucker. And I don't regret it.
4026305 Hm I may try it then, i dislike pretty much all tragedy. If the character struggles and still fails at the end it jsut bums me out. Appreciate the respect of opinion though
Wow, that's one of the more original takes that I've seen that deals with Trixie's "plight". All the other ones that I can think of at the moment have her destitute and/or go crazy with revenge. It's refreshing to see a more "normal" response.
A like and a fave, if nothing else, for the originality.
.
As has been mentioned by others, this portrayal of the Ursa Minor incident not really affecting Trixie all that much is very unique, and I would like to see more fics that have Trixie not be all that affected by the Incident. Sure it renders Magic Duel invalid, but you can come up with another reason for Twilight Sparkle and Trixie to get into a magic duel if you really want to. I, for one, would like to see a continuation, where the Mane Six run into Beatrix Lulamoon the next time they're in Canterlot, and discover that she's actually pretty personable outside showing up hecklers.
On a final note, I find it funny that Applejack got Trixie's situation pegged. She's good at what she does, and she'll get back on her hooves without much trouble.
4196456
Thank you! I wrote it before Magic Duel aired, and it was still in the editing queue when Magic Duel came out, so I didn't publish back then. Trixie's characterization was influenced by my own work as a performer.
I figure AJ would be the least likely to engage in flights of fancy.
This was quite funny, definitely enjoyed it.
Keep going! ;)
Until I reread it I thought for sure the ending bit was Rarity's imagination. It sounded far too much like an off-the-cuff improvisation with the same strong undertones of the inventor's personality all the others did.
Which has the effect of tarring the story as a whole with the same brush of wish fulfillment, honestly.
5171056
The ending is certainly one of those "Your Mileage May vary" things.
As a performer myself, I've had my share of bad reviews, disastrous shows, and so on, and all you can do is just move on to the next one.
Indeed. My father has been in several bands, and has had to deal with terrible band members before. That being said, I like how Trixie was able to look at the bright side in this fic. Sure, she was beaten, but she still managed to beat 3 elements of harmony before that happened.
6317401
I can only imagine how difficult it must be to make a living at it. I've got a regular job, so I don't lose anything when a show doesn't go as well as planned, and when I'm not feeling it, I don't have to audition for the next show. Making a living as a travelling performer . . . man, that's gotta be tough.
I just realized that, while I read this 5 weeks and 3 days ago, I totally forgot to upvote it and favorite it! My bad! That oversight has been corrected.
Faved, Double Faved and upvoted.
Partly for the reverse stripper gag.
6665786
Ha, thanks!
Nicely done, even if it's an 'ancient' fic. :) I very much disliked the mane six in that episode. Hadn't they heckled a showmare that was just doing her job -being boastful was obviously a central part of her glittery show, like any circus everywhere- the whole fiasco would never have happened. Trixie still doesn't get enough love around here.
7143116
I was more on the mane six's side when I first saw it (Trixie was a bit of a jerk), but over time I sort of changed my opinion of her. Especially as a part-time stage performer myself who's had my share of terrible audiences.
Of course, there's the revenge with the alicorn amulet to consider.
7147871
Which I think wouldn't have happened without the prior events, but...
*wince* I can imagine.
7149210
None of them involved rampaging star-bears destroying all our equipment, though, so that's a plus.
Pretty interesting, you can tell it's unfinished but it's still pretty good. Rarity's imagination is certainly pretty good.
8230073
Rarity was the most fun to write, along with Applejack's playing it totally straight. It'd gotten the Twilight and Rarity parts done when the alicorn amulet episode aired, and that kind of knocked the wind out of my sails, since it basically showed Trixie to be the opposite of how I portrayed her.
Yeah, it probably isn't as good as some of the later stuff I wrote; on the other hand, I think it was a fairly unique take on Trixie, especially at the time.
8231157
the biggest thing is just polish in my opinion, and you can kind of tell when the episode came out. Still an interesting take. That's got to suck, having the show just destroy a fic like that.
8233362
Yeah, a lot of it was written way back when I was getting started, and I don't believe this one ever got pre-read at all.
Thanks! As far as I know, it's unique. But I've done theatre, and I've had my fair share of bad shows, and while none of them ended with me getting run out of town, there was always that possibility.
Well, that's kind of something that you sign up for when you're writing fanfiction for an ongoing show. Another one of my plot bunnies got mostly jossed by the comics, but I can just ignore that (after all, the comics are secondary canon). And a few other things that the show changed--in the pony planet stories, Magnum is an earth pony, not a unicorn (also he has a new name now). And Starlight in OPP isn't Starlight Glimmer, although some new readers think she is. One of the nurses got a new name, too. Which is part of the reason why I'm now including pictures of canon ponies in the blog posts, in case their fan names get changed.
8235436
I haven't had fics get ruined (kind of easy when you don't write) but i've had head canon ruined.
Intrigued, scent
9310306
Corrections made; thank you!