The Complicated History of a Showpony
Despite the wood being peaceable, I couldn’t suppress a moment’s hesitation at wandering into it at night. An owl hooted, and the night wind made the leaves rustle. The energy and adrenaline that bowling had instilled in me was quickly evaporating.
As I continued on, even my resolution from before was beginning to waver. Why was I doing this, really? What hope did I have of getting a better reception from Trixie this time around? Maybe because of her conduct at Sugarcube Corner, if it even was her. No, what did I mean ‘if it even was her’? It had to be her. It fit too well to be anypony else. Anyway, the fact that she actually came to Sugarcube Corner and asked Mr. Cake to give her regards to me must mean something, right?
At all events, I found myself for the third time in Trixie’s secret glade, and was about to knock on the door of her carriage when I heard her speaking from within. The window was open, so I slipped over to the side of it and listened closely.
“Ah! Here it is. ‘The Alicorn Amulet: crafted by unicorn sorcerers long ago to contain the essence of their greatest king…Grants untold and unlimited magical power’. Ooh, I like the sound of that! ‘Corrupts the user’, blah-blah-blah, ‘magical lock’...Ugh, all these superstitious warnings. I never did care for those. Some ponies are just too scared to realize true power But this is just what I need. If I can get my hooves on this, wherever it is, oho, how I’ll make Twilight Sparkle pay. Then we’ll see who the best unicorn in all of Equestria is!”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! Trixie was descending into the depths of cartoonish villainy, and the most clichéd kind at that! Even Dr. Eggman would have said, ‘Lady, you’ve got problems!’
Opting to pop in unassuming and unaware of what I’d just overheard, I went to the door and knocked. Through the window, I heard a book snap shut, then some rustlings of objects (probably hiding said book), and then the top half of the door swung open, revealing Trixie, who looked agitated at the interruption, but changed her countenance upon spying me.
“Good evening, Trixie,” I said.
“Oh. It’s you again,” said Trixie, in a civil tone. “I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point. This is, what, the third time you’ve called at my caravan?”
“Well, I’m calling because you called at Sugarcube Corner for me.”
Trixie didn't look the least bit surprised.
“I had a feeling you'd know it was me," she said. "Well, come on in. I don’t doubt you’ll have something on your mind.”
“True enough, Miss Trixie.”
Trixie opened the other half of the door, and I stepped inside. I could see a pie with a slice already taken out of it and a few cupcake wrappers. I glanced at Trixie as she took a seat on her bed. She was looking much better, much more well-fed. Not overstuffed, I mean, but much more like the mare she was in her own posters. She really was kinda pretty, I had to admit.
“What are you staring at?” she asked.
“Er, sorry,” I stumbled, “I just thought, you’re looking very well tonight. Those sweets you bought really did you well.”
“Hmm? Oh! Of course, the pastries. Yes, I’m feeling much better, but I’m more inclined to put you at blame.”
“At blame?” I asked. “For what?”
“For hooking me on these insufferably irresistible sweets," she said, pouting. "If I lose my Great and Powerful figure because of you...”
“Oh, come on now,” I said, playfully, as I sat beside her. “You don’t seem the kind of pony to let that happen to yourself. You’re looking a lot more like you do in your posters.”
A slight tinge appeared in Trixie’s cheeks, but she cleared her throat.
“Thank you. I appreciate your obvious compliments to my beauty,” she said, giving her silky mane a flip.
“Besides," I said, choosing to ignore this dash of vanity, "if you were able to go to Sugarcube Corner to buy stuff, why not do the same for the marketplace for vegetables and such? Couldn’t be too hard.”
This put Trixie into a moment of reflection.
“Hmm...I hadn’t thought of that, to be honest. I suppose the chastisements I received when I first arrived kept me from going back in secret.”
“I see. But I think we’re getting off topic, Trixie. I actually had something much more important to talk to you about, something that can’t wait.”
Trixie looked uneasy
“Is it about what I told you yesterday?" she asked.
"Sort of," I said. "But I’m not mad at you for what you said.”
Trixie blinked.
“You’re not?”
“No. Even if it was hard to swallow, you were just laying down your opinion, is all.”
Trixie said nothing to this. She merely stared at me.
“Which is why I want to know the truth,” I said, firmly.
“The truth?” repeated Trixie.
“The truth about you. Was it Beatrix Lulamoon who decided friends mean nothing, or was it The Great and Powerful Trixie? What happened to make you so cynical about friendship?”
I could tell that these questions didn't sit well with Trixie. She bit her lip and averted her eyes. She remained silent for a little while, and I just sat and waited, not taking my eyes off her. She finally asked, in a quiet voice,
“Why?”
“Hmm?”
“Why are you so interested in the history of a magician who has fallen from grace, brought down to the lowest of the low? What could possibly interest you about somepony like me?”
"Well," I said, slowly, trying to choose my words carefully, "it's because I feel like there’s much more to you than your dramatic bluster or your self-spoken grandeur. I feel like you really are a good pony inside, who bad things have happened to. I can't help but worry about you, all alone out here, ostracized by everypony in Ponyville. You just seem like you really need someone to talk to, someone who'll listen to you.”
Trixie stayed silent for a long time, looking me straight in the eye. At last, she said, in an almost pitying voice,
“Some might say you’re just a boy hoping to see a fairy tale ending in everything, when the world just doesn’t work that way.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic,” I countered.
“I suppose that’s true," said Trixie. "You’re too much of a goody-good, but I also can’t deny there’s an earnestness about you that I can’t help but admire. You're a good soul. I can see it in your eyes."
She continued to look at me for a while, then, she took a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh.
"Very well. If you're truly that eager to hear about me, I suppose I can't deny an audience. My story's not one that is easy to listen to, so you have been warned.”
She shifted herself into a more comfortable position, and I settled myself against the wall, prepared to hear her through to the end.
***
“I came from modest conditions in Canterlot. My father was a traveling salesman, and my mother a stage singer. I suppose you can say I inherited my wanderlust and love of theatrics from them both. Ever since I was a filly, I’d had a love of performing, and I’d hold little magic shows on my lawn, pulling rabbits from hats, card tricks; you know, the usual magician routine.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of a little Trixie pulling a rabbit from a hat.
“Do you find something funny with that?” asked Trixie, abruptly.
“What? No, no, take it easy. I just thought of how adorable it must have been, seeing you as a little kid perform.”
Trixie gave a small snort.
“Of course it was. Trixie has always had a style other ponies envied. They wished they could have my style, my flair, my elocution!”
(And there she goes again…)
“At least, that’s what I myself thought.”
“What do you mean?”
“My first couple shows, I managed to retain a decent-sized audience, but over time, they began to peter out. It seemed my tricks were becoming old news; they were growing tired of them. I’d have to step up my game with some new tactics. I started to, well, embellish my performances with tales of daring that I had accomplished in my youth.”
“Ones that you never actually did?” I asked, wryly.
“Well, no, but they didn’t know that. They were just simple little colts and fillies, and they devoured my every word.”
Her eyes lit up with glee.
“If only you could have seen their faces when I told them I had subdued a manticore single-hoofed when I was still in diapers!”
“Uh-huh," I said, unconvinced.
“But, sadly, even that had to end sometime," said Trixie, regretfully. "Some foals started to call my bluff, told me to prove how ‘great’ and ‘powerful’ I was. Well, let’s just say that went downhill fast. It didn’t help that I had dressed up a neighbor’s lazy dog as a manticore and ‘subdued’ it.”
“So they started seeing you were just blowing hot air?”
“Yes,” she said, begrudgingly. “Now I wasn’t just a two-bit magician, but a two-bit magician who told lies bigger than a wart on a dragon’s nose. I could have let it slide then and there, move on, try to put that part of my life behind me, but that wasn’t my way. That wasn’t the way of the Great and Powerful Trixie,” she added, theatrically.
“So, what did you do?”
“My parents thought that I certainly had talent, so they enrolled me in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. They seemed to have a lot of faith in me, and I had a lot of faith in myself, so, of course, I accepted."
"Well, that sounds good," I said, hopefully.
"Oh, it made me the happiest I'd been in a long time," said Trixie, fondly, but then her face darkened. "Unfortunately, what I didn't know was that I had to pass an entrance exam."
"Oh," I said, a slight check in my enthusiasm. "Well, how bad could it have been?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Trixie, with awful sarcasm. "You tell me how bad hatching a dragon egg can be at a filly's age!"
My mouth fell open.
"Hatching a dragon egg?" I repeated, dumbstruck.
“Hatching a dragon egg!” repeated Trixie, in a voice that bordered on a shriek. “Were they mad?! How did they expect any foal my age to perform such a feat!?”
“Well, it is a school for gifted unicorns, from what its name implies," I said, reasonably.
Although, now that I thought about it, Twilight said she hatched Spike the same day she got her cutie mark and became Princess Celestia's pupil. Could that egg Trixie tried to hatch have been...?
“Hmph," Trixie huffed. "Well, of course, I couldn’t manage to hatch the stupid thing, so I had to take a different test to enter the school. It was a sore blow for my parents; they thought I’d be able to make a grand first impression on my first day, but the examiners were still fairly impressed with how I performed the other test. I made it into Celestia's school, and I graduated majoring in Performance Magic.”
“Well, that seems perfect for what you're good at.”
“Everyone else thought so, and, if truth be told, it was a demonstration of where I truly belonged. I received my cutie mark at the school talent show, actually. It was the first time I did what I was best at in front of an attentive crowd, without having to be a liar.”
“That’s good!” I said, enthusiastically.
“Indeed, but, during my school days, I found the world changing around me. My mother hadn’t performed in Canterlot in weeks, and she had gone into a slump. My father, too, hadn’t sold very many products in a long time.”
“What did he sell?”
“Oh, miscellany," said Trixie, waving an airy hoof, "anything you could buy under the sun. Little things, you know. He also had a lot of magic props that I’d sometimes borrow, and the biggest haul of homemade fireworks you'd ever seen. He was all smiles, my dear father, before business went bad. Now he would just sit around the wagon all day, lost in his own thoughts.”
“Oh.”
“Well, one day, both of my parents decided they had to get away, and so…”
Trixie swallowed.
“So they said goodbye to me and…and left Canterlot in Father’s wagon.”
“W-What??” I asked, surprised. “They left you behind?!”
“They told me it was best this way. They said I had so much potential, so much to give and live for, that they didn’t want to drag me down from my destiny solely by their loss of business. They wanted me to go on, even if it meant having to say goodbye. So, they left me in my aunt and uncle's care, and departed.”
A tear trickled down Trixie’s cheek as she said this, lowering her head. Moved, I put a hand to her shoulder.
“Trixie, I had no idea. But then again, it only shows how much your parents loved you. They were prepared to do anything to keep you living your dream, even if I can’t entirely condone their leaving you behind, in your relatives' care or no.”
Trixie sniffed and dabbed at her eyes.
“I suppose.”
She cleared her throat and straightened up.
“There. I’m all right now. Just a minor…a minor hiccup. Now, where was I?…Oh, yes. I somehow managed to get through my remaining semesters, despite my parents constantly being on my mind. I guess I was trying to keep their convictions from being in vain, so I had to press on, hard as it was. When I graduated, I had a clear idea of what it was I had to do. Father had left me his unsold collection of magic props as a parting gift, as well as his first caravan, so there was no doubt as to what my mission in life would be: to travel Equestria and put my talents to good use. I would draw ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s from all the backcountry bumpkins outside of Canterlot, and wow them with feats never before seen by pony eyes! I was no longer Beatrix Lulamoon, daughter of a salesman and a singer. I was…the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
She raised her foreleg in a grand point to the heavens, and I could have sworn I heard the crash of thunder somewhere, though that must have been in my head.
“So from then on, you spent your whole life on the road?” I asked.
“Yes. From Canterlot, I made my way across the other grand cities of Equestria: Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Hoofington, Las Pegasus, Baltimare…Oh, it was grand: street performances from my wagon, grand entertainments on stage. The wide-eyed wonder on their faces, the rich cuisines, the showers of bouquets, the cheers and screams of adulation.”
She gave a dreamy sigh and leaned against me, lost in the remembrance of those wonderful times. I smiled as I regarded her; she really did have a softer side after all.
However, she seemed to snap back into her old senses, as she realized what she was doing and straightened back up, clearing her throat and blushing.
“But you couldn’t linger anywhere, right?” I asked.
“As often as I wished I could, I couldn’t. At the start, indeed, I thought I could settle down in Manehattan, or even in Fillydelphia, but I’d wear out my welcome there pretty soon.”
Here, she became silent and meditative, as if weighing something on her mind, something she was debating whether or not to divulge. At last, after a swallow, she said,
“I had gained a few fans and admirers, but there was one in particular that really struck me.”
“And who was that?”
“A little pegasus named Star Glider. She had run away from home and, since there wasn’t a circus nearby, decided to run away to my caravan.”
I gave a snort of laughter, but thought it might have been in bad taste, so I apologized.
“Don’t be sorry,” said Trixie, with a smile. “It was a favorite joke of ours back then, actually. It was when I decided on a stopover in Las Pegasus. It‘s a grand city, with its casinos and neon, but it can also get very rough. It's a vacation spot, so it's like one wild party all day long. It's one of the few cities in Equestria to actually have a crime rate.”
“Wow. That does sound rough.”
“Nothing too extreme, though. Mostly petty robberies or hoof-fights.”
“Oh. Good,” I said, relieved.
I shuddered to imagine the concept of murder in such a peaceful world.
“Well, I let Star Glider stay in my caravan. She was a scrawny, meek little thing, never spoke very loud, but stuck by my side like a shadow.”
(Sounds a little like Fluttershy.)
“I let her attend all of my shows for free, since she never had much money on her, and she refused to borrow any of mine. After a show, we’d spend the night hours talking and laughing before we both finally fell asleep. I remember she’d always drop off first, nuzzled by my side. She’d even call me ‘Trix’.”
Trixie looked away, her eyes becoming moist and misty. For a while, she said nothing, and I could almost fancy she was even choking back sobs. Something told me I didn’t want to know what the cause was, but, at the same time, curiosity got the best of me.
“Did something happen to her?”
Trixie took in a deep breath, then said,
“I took Star Glider with me to Manehattan. I promised her that I was going to show her the world. She was so happy to hear that, she actually hugged me and said, ‘A world with you is better than any other, Trix.' She was such a sweet girl.
"Well, time wore on, and I was beginning to overstay my welcome. Ponies from the rougher quarters attended my show, and started heckling me, wolf-whistling and cracking jokes at me. It was getting very irritating. Star Glider was having more than she could stand as well. One night, after a particularly rough performance, she told me that the next time somepony heckled me, she was going to settle him herself."
"What?" I asked, startled. "She didn't really mean that, did she?"
“I didn't think she did," said Trixie. "I’ll admit, I actually found it funny; she was such a little, skinny pony, and as gentle as a lamb. She seemed to guess my misgivings on such a threat, though, and said, ‘For you, Trix, I’d punch a cockatrice in the eyes’. She was actually being serious. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, so I opted to just leave Manehattan, but she insisted I stay for my final scheduled show.
“Well, that night, someone started being rude while I was in the middle of a particularly tricky routine. Unfortunately, Star Glider had been sitting right in front of him, and wheeled on him to give him a good sock in the eyes. Very, very bad move on her part, for the heckler was a huge Earth pony.”
A leaden feeling descended into my stomach.
“Uh oh.”
“Star Glider wouldn’t back down, though. She told him to stop heckling me or she’d give him more than just a piece of her mind. The Earth pony just laughed and said something that clearly offended her, as she slapped him in the face. Another very bad move, because he struck back. Hard.”
My mouth fell open in horror.
“Oh no!…”
“Mares screamed, stallions called for security, and I…I just stood there, stricken dumb with horror, at seeing my best friend, poor innocent little Star Glider, struck down and lying on the floor, bleeding from the mouth. They restrained the thug, thankfully, and carted him off, but they took Star Glider to the Manehattan hospital. I wanted to follow her, to ask if she’d be all right, so I tailed the ambulance. I told them who I was, that she was my dearest friend, and I demanded to know what was going to happen to her. The doctor looked very grim, and told me she’d taken a nasty wound to the head from that oaf’s hoof. There was little chance she would recover.
"I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe my friend would die, not Star Glider…But I couldn’t stay. Somehow, I knew I couldn’t stay. I left them a considerable amount of bits to do what they could for her, and I left Manehattan behind me, and never went back.”
I sat there, jaw hanging open in shock. To think something so violent could happen to such a sweet, innocent creature…
“It was all because of me," Trixie croaked. "I led her into this. I had led her into that fateful night.”
“Trixie…”
“I don’t even know what’s happened to her now. The most likely chance is that she’s…she’s…”
Her purple eyes began to overflow with tears.
“Dead…And it would have been all my fault. And if she recovered, would she still be my friend? She was hospitalized standing up for my show, standing up for a mare who had grown up telling lies and boasting. How would she ever forgive me? Oh, Star Glider…Star Glider…”
She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst into a paroxysm of sobs, throwing herself against my side and crying against my shirt. I confess that my eyes were plenty moist, and a tear or two were running down my face. I hated seeing other people cry, as it made me feel like crying too, but poor Star Glider. To think she might be…
I held Trixie in my arms as she cried into me. I doubt she would have let me do that if she weren’t so wracked with grief.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said, softly.
“But it was. If I hadn’t led her with me…”
“None of you could have predicted that would happen. It was an accident.”
Trixie said nothing to that. Finally, I released my hold on her, and she sat up, straightening the disheveling her mane had undergone, and I did my best to wipe at the tears and snot she’d left behind on my shirt.
“So, that’s what made you believe?” I asked.
Trixie nodded.
“Yes. I would never allow another to fall into the same fatal accident that took Star Glider from me. Besides, what good are friends when you’re on the move like me? You never stay in one place, and you can’t take them with you without hassle. You always overstay your welcome, and gain as many enemies as you do fans. I was better off alone.”
“Trixie, I’m so sorry. I could never have imagined someone like you could suffer so much.”
Trixie sniffed.
“No one ever cares to think that, but, thank you.”
“Huh?”
“Thank you. You’re the first person since Star Glider to actually care about Beatrix Lulamoon, and not just The Great and Powerful Trixie. You’re the first since her to treat me as a friend and not a fan. I don’t really know if I’m ready to consider you a full friend, but you’re very sweet, I’ll say that.”
I felt warm on the inside at these words.
“Thanks, Trixie, and you’re welcome.”
She wiped her nose and gave me a small smile. I hated to break up such a nice moment, but I had to ask one more thing.
“Trixie, I'm sorry, but I want to know one last thing.”
“What?”
“Your hatred towards Twilight. Why do you have such animosity towards her? This can’t only be because of the Ursa Minor thing.”
Trixie’s face slowly darkened.
“You’re right. It isn’t. But it was a huge factor.”
I knew I had thrown myself into dangerous waters with this line of questioning, but there was no going back now. Trixie's voice grew angrier and louder as she went.
“After she showed me up with the Ursa Minor, news spread about it all across Equestria. Everypony had heard what had happened, and those who had been the most attentive listeners to my boasts were the ones who carried out their taunts the most fervently. I couldn’t get a moment’s peace wherever I went! No one would attend my shows without jeering all throughout or throwing rotten fruit my way! One pony even had the audacity to deface my new wagon! Well, I couldn’t get by on my shows, so I hard to earn my living on a rock farm! A rock farm, for Celestia’s sake! Breaking and moving rocks day after day! How was that the culmination of my efforts? How could Beatrix Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful Trixie, be destined to a life working a rock farm?!?”
She breathed heavily, her pupils shrunken to pinpoints of fury, looking very much like an angry tigress. I couldn't help shrinking back in trepidation.
“Then," she continued, "a few months ago, I found out from the newspaper about the fiasco at the royal wedding, particularly in how victory was earned by the 'dedication and instincts of Twilight Sparkle: Princess Celestia’s Prized Pupil’. She was more than my rival. She was my born enemy!”
“Born enemy?" I asked, weakly. "Isn’t that a little strong?”
“She took what I wanted!" Trixie snapped. "She somehow weaseled her way into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and passed the exam I had failed! It allowed her to become Celestia's personal lapdog! And then, she used that, years later, to make me look like a fool and throw me into my downward spiral! If I could have her life without shedding blood, I’d…”
Her face had become very frightening to behold in all of its fury. Terrified as I was, however, anger was uppermost in my heart.
“So that’s it," I said, quietly. "Just because she took what you had sought for yourself, you want her dead? Just because of that, you want revenge by any means possible? Because of that, you would use something like an ‘Alicorn Amulet’ to-”
I stopped, for I saw her give a sharp gasp of surprise. I realized my blunder, but I still pressed on.
“Yes, Trixie, I heard you, but I'm asking you to pay attention. I won't breathe a word of this to anyone, not your story, nor this amulet business, but if I hear anything that sounds like a threat against Twilight or her friends, we'll see how long these lips will stay sealed.”
Trixie didn’t once take her eyes off me.
“I know you’ve had it hard, Trixie, really hard. You failed to pass a test Twilight eventually passed, your parents left because they felt they were endangering your future, you lost your best friend, and you suffered humiliation, but is this really the way to go about it? Are you really going to throw everything away just for revenge on a young mare who’s saved this country God knows how many times now? If anything, you ought to be praising her for getting into Celestia’s school and becoming her student, because if not for her or her friends, you’d have been suffering under Nightmare Moon or Discord or some other threat, so I’d say a little gratitude is in order!
“And on top of that, are you honestly that willing to go from a stage magician to a common thug? Are you seriously considering violence as the way to solve your problems? Isn’t that what sent Star Glider to the hospital? And speaking of Star Glider, what would she have to say to all of this? Would she approve of this plan of yours? Would she have been happy knowing her best friend, her ‘Trix’, was being driven through life by a lust for revenge!?”
I was now the one staring the other down with heavy, panting breaths, but in the next moment, I realized I was staring into a pair of frightened, tear-soaked eyes.
What was I doing? I’d become a monster in half an instant.
“Trixie, I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
“No, no," Trixie interrupted. "You were right to snap at me. I think it was about time someone finally gave me the full truth. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, nor what I’ve been doing. I know she’d never want this. I know my parents would never have wanted this. But I was so desperate, so mad. I’ve lost so many ponies close to me.”
I took a deep breath, and sighed.
“The way it stands, Trixie," I said, "I’ve lost my family and friends back home, too, if I can’t find a way home, but after I left you yesterday, I met somepony who invested a few words of wisdom for me. She told me that, yes, parting hurts, and the pain will linger, but if you keep your eyes on the past, you’ll never enjoy what the present holds for you.”
Trixie took a wipe at her eyes, keeping them locked on mine.
“But what does the present hold for me? Solitude and rejection.”
“Only if you let it be that way, Trixie. It’ll take a little time, I’m sure, but it’s never too late to make reparations.”
“How do I go on, though? How do I go on after losing my dear friend, after I’ve suffered so much humiliation?”
“Well, you’ll have to do two things, the way I see it: forgive yourself, and forgive Twilight.”
Trixie bit her lip.
“I never said it would be easy," I said, "but if you’re ever going to move on, you have to let the past go.”
She still looked unsure, so I added,
“Don’t worry. I'll do what I can to help you. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, as far as I see.”
Trixie wiped at her eyes again, and, closing them, slowly said,
“…I’ll try.”
I felt a wave of relief flow over me.
“Good.”
I gave her shoulders an encouraging squeeze, and she gave a slight smile. At that moment, though, something struck my memory, something Trixie had said.
“Trixie, did you say you worked on a rock farm?”
“Yes," she said, rolling her eyes. "Ridiculous, isn’t it? I never thought such a place existed.”
“Where was it?”
“Oh, I don't know. Southern Equestria, quite a ways away from Ponyville.”
I gasped. It couldn’t be…but what other explanation was there?
“Aha!” I crowed, smacking my fist into my palm. “Pinkie!”
“Pinkie?" asked Trixie, puzzled. "What about her?”
“Her family! Her family owns that rock farm!”
“W-What??” blurted Trixie, befuddled. “That sugar-hyped companion of yours is related to-No, no, you must be messing with me. It’s too unbelievable.”
“You must have met them, right? What are they like? Who was there?”
I was asking this with such energy that I must have been frightening the poor girl, but I had to know!
“Well, there was a stallion and a mare, a married couple, and three mares around your friend’s age, give or take a year or two, and an old grandmother.”
“Yes, yes! Just as Pinkie told me! Her parents, sisters, and grandmother! What are they like?”
Trixie, still looking somewhat bemused, pondered.
“Upon reflection, they were decent folk. Rather dour-faced, but polite and civil. The grandmother, though, she was always all smiles and kindness towards me. Now that I think about it, she does resemble your Pinkie.”
“Oh, this is just perfect!” I said. “Trixie, I could kiss you!”
Her face told me she’d rather I didn’t.
“Wait until Pinkie hears about this!”
I sprang to my feet and made for the door.
“What? No! You can’t!” Trixie shouted, making me stop.
“Why not? She’s dying to know what they’ve been up to!”
“But this news would be coming from me,” said Trixie, emphatically. “She already has a less-than-favorable opinion of me after what I've done. She might take it as a personal affront to know I was on her family’s rock farm.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Disappointing as it was to have to keep a secret like this, Trixie had a point.
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to wait for the letter to arrive, if one does arrive,” I reasoned.
Trixie breathed a sigh of relief.
“You really do care about her, don’t you?” I asked, slyly.
“For her? Don’t be ridiculous,” huffed Trixie. “I’m looking out for my own skin.”
“Ok, then, look,” I said, in a more business-like tone, “if I keep your days on the farm, your whole past, and this business about that amulet you were reading on a secret, you have to give me your word you won’t attempt anything…untoward against Twilight or her friends.”
Trixie chewed her lip again, mulling the deal over. Then she said, holding out her hoof,
“You have my word.”
“And you have mine.”
I gripped her hoof firmly in my hand, then released it and headed back for the door. I paused there and looked back at her.
“I’m sorry I made you dredge up those memories. I’ll let you blame me if you have nightmares.”
“Don’t be sorry," she said, gently. "It actually felt a little refreshing to get it off my chest.”
“Good. Well, good night, Trixie.”
“Good night…Dave.”
I gave her a smile, and I saw her return it as I descended the caravan steps and started making my way home.
***
By the time I returned to Sugarcube Corner, it was half past 10, and I found myself the witness of a bizarre scene.
Pinkie had fallen asleep, curled up like a dog, right beside the mailbox, but I saw her shiver as the night wind blew past her.
It went to my heart to see what she was willing to suffer to get her family’s letter. I knew she’d probably just head right back to it the next day, but I couldn’t just leave her out here in the cold. Kneeling down, I gathered her up in my arms. She wasn’t easy to carry, but somehow, I managed to hoist her up like a baby and carry her inside, praying the Cakes wouldn’t awaken from the tinkling of the door bell.
I lugged Pinkie upstairs to our room and set her down on her bed. Even in her dreams, she seemed to sense something was amiss, and when she was put down, she whimpered and fidgeted. I drew her covers over her, gave her mane a gentle stroke, and kissed her forehead. The fit ended, and a little smile crossed her muzzle.
“Sweet dreams, Pinkie,” I whispered, before turning to my own bed, ready to crash after such a night.
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Now to see if Dave causes a paradox or if Trixie continues with her plan, hmmmmmmmm
1987733
I see what you mean. I had started this whole story before all was revealed in Season 3. This is supposed to take place after Season 2, but I do try to add little nods here and there.
damn you to hell blazewing, TWICE youve almost made me cry TWICE!
The path to redemption has been revealed, but it is a long and uncomfortable journey...and one cannot be forced to walk upon it.
This chapter has revealed a whole new side to Trixie. (Even though this is only fan-developed head-cannon and not official Hasbro cannon) Trixie is a character, that until now, I don't think I could ever have even remotely liked because I'd only ever seen the side of the mane six, and I'd sided with them. Now that I've seen this background story on Beatrix, I can't help but feel not just a little sympathetic of her.
Your chapters continue to amaze me, and make me laugh and cry, and I absolutely cannot wait to read the next one.
This should be the canon Trixie backstory. WHERE ARE YOU, HASBRO?
Missing a word?
Trixie, I have a message for you from Doctor Eggman
!
(Bokkun, I'm referring to you
.)
There ought to be images of that!
Considering that Star Glider and Trixie's guilt. It looks bizarre Trixie would go "it's all my fault". Imagine someone watching a completed series, and then after the last episode exclaiming: "There are no more episodes, and it's all my fault!" No, you drama monarch! It is not your fault stuff has happened, which you regret! Sure, 'tis a tragedy the series have ended, but you have no reason to beat yourself over it! Yes, Trixie, we see you've witnessed your tragedy, but dramatisation, be it damned! "Your fault", can you believe it?!
Feeling guilty is awful, scolded children can tell!..