Trixie's Last Show

by Str8aura

Trixie's Letter

Put a quill to the paper.

The stage was torn down. For several days after, nobody was quite sure what to do. Nothing like this had ever happened like this before in the sleepy forestside town.

Dip it in ink.

The case was presented to Celestia. The matters of the suddenly deceased prisoner and what remained of her spawn were settled far, far away from Twilight. She didn’t mind. She didn’t want to think any more about it.

Dear Princess Celestia

At the end of that particular day, it was a strangely open and shut ending, at least in the physical matters. One of the only stones left unturned was the remains of the once famous magician, her beloved hat and cape.

Today I learned

Trixie had no remaining family, or anyone who wished to claim ownership. Twilight searched, and she searched hard.

Everything is fine

Twilight finally ended up keeping it. She supposed it was what Trixie would have wanted; but she still wasn’t sure what, if anything, she would want now. That was the most annoying part of an ending.

Twilight shook her head in annoyance, and threw out the ‘Everything is fine’ letter, starting anew with a fresh sheet of paper. There was no point to wondering what she might have said when she said one thing very, very explicitly.

Dear Princess Celestia

I’ve wanted to speak about my life in Ponyville for a long while. Now seems as good a time as any. I’ve had a lot to think about.

Twilight sighed in relief. As she wrote, she began to feel rested for the first time in days now.

Comments

[Comma Typer]

As someone who isn't really that much of a fan of Trixie beyond the surface-level stuff, I think this is a good jaunt.

There's one blemish I'd like to get out of the way: the pacing for the ending of the third chapter (and effectively the end of the story proper, even witih Trixie's sudden disappearance if not death) is a bit too fast, almost jarring. It's made up for by the fact that, well, Trixie does disappear and/or die so suddenly, like a puzzle solved too fast... much to Twilight's dismay, but given how the third chapter's main event does showcase or at least kickstart much change for Trixie's mindset (and Twilight's, at that), it still feels like the reader doesn't get a chance to let these changes simmer in the reader's mind (and in the heads of relevant characters) before things get moving to the next scene.

That aside, I adore the dual-wielding that's going on here with both Twilight and Trixie. You establish Trixie's themes quite obviously, but with Twilight's, it's just in specific wording (like being a monster hunter, solving problems like it's just a TV show) which, when combined with Trixie talking to Twilight in the third chapter, completes the picture. Having Trixie kill Chrysalis in the second chapter as a way to exploit Twilight's monster-hunter mindset, however, helps complete that picture; it's at least clear that this Trixie is far darker than what I imagined even after just the first chapter, and so the question goes... sure, Trixie may have a point for Twilight, but what about what Trixie can learn and how Trixie can grow?

Beyond the themes and the lessons, there's also the words themselves and the framing device at the beginning, with Trixie talking to the reader like a psychic with her all-seeing glass orb. Or... well, the framing device may or may not fall apart as it's not so clear whether it's Trixie talking to the reader from beyond the dead or simply having survived and is simply hidden somewhere else. Either way, keeping the truth about the framing device hidden from the reader is a risky move depending on the theme/message you want to convey... and since that theme is about treating people as people, not as puzzles to be solved or television monsters to be routinely defeated (which fits so well for Twilight... and reminds me of how Rorschach dies, with as little I know about the Watchmen), I think the choice is best to leave that alone for now to let the reader linger longer on said theme.

I don't have much else to say here. It's a nice story. Thanks for it.

[ItsYaBoiSatan]

That was a beautiful and fitting end for Trixie, exclusively canonized for the real G's