Chapter 10
A/N: Oh my gosh this season's off to an amazing start! What a premiere! On with the story!
& & &
Twilight sat, enrapt as Cloud Kicker finished her story of Trixie and Rainbow Dash’s first meeting and the friendship that ensued. “…after that, they were inseparable.” Cloud Kicker finished.
Twilight looked confused. “I would’ve thought that they would have hated each other. I mean what with their…um…” She struggled for the polite words.
Fortunately Cloud Kicker didn’t operate under any such constraints. “Massive egos? Yeah. It’s a weird thing.” CK shrugged. “My parents used to tell me this story that if you get two old soldiers together from opposite sides of a war they’ll either be mortal enemies or fast friends for life. With Trixie and Rainbow it was the latter. I guess the boss could allow herself to be impressed because Trixie’s skills didn’t rival Rainbow Dash’s own and they weren’t of a kind Rainbow Dash could imitate, being a pegasus and all. So we all started hanging out, sometimes with Vinyl, sometimes on our own.
"At first, it was great. Then I started noticing things about Trixie that made me uncomfortable: like the way her ears perked up whenever Rainbow Dash talked about the Princess or life in the Palace…Hay, when Trixie first found out that Dash was the Princess’ student she almost flipped her lid. When we went out she used to play up Rainbow’s connection to the Princess all the time—getting the best seats, free meals. She treated Rainbow Dash as her personal key to the city. It made RD really uncomfortable. Eventually Trixie toned it down, but only to use it more judiciously when it really mattered…to her that is.”
Twilight winced. “I see.” Cloud Kicker nodded.
“Yeah well, I didn’t think too much about it…until later that is. She and I weren’t really that close—not quite friends, more like we had a friend in common. Then all of a sudden she got really chummy with me. This was just after I got busted by my CO for table top dancing at this bar in downtown Canterlot…don’t give me that look. Anyway, he made a big stink in front of Dash, Trixie and Vinyl about what a disgrace it was to the ‘long and honorable’ history of the Kicker clan in the Royal Guard and how influential we are in the Royal Guard, blah blah blah.” Cloud Kicker snorted. “It was right after that when Trixie started getting nicer around me.”
“That’s…that’s pretty horrible.” Twilight bit her lip. “What makes a pony willing to use other ponies like that?”
Kicker fidgeted. “As much as I’d like to just say that she’s a jerk plain and simple, I can’t. Not that she isn’t a jerk, mind you. But…I should explain. I found out a bit about her past thanks to Rainbow Dash issuing a shot drinking challenge and Trixie’s inability to turn down a challenge. Oooh, the dirt I dug up on both of them.” She smirked, putting her backhooves up on a low table.
“Um, weren’t they underage?” Twilight asked. Cloud Kicker nodded as if to say, ‘yeah, and?’ Clearly, Twilight wasn’t making herself clear. “Wan’t that really dangerous?”
Cloud Kicker grinned. “Hey they were both young mares in pretty stressful roles and they needed to blow off some steam. I wasn’t drinking—much—so I made sure nothing bad would happen. Now, do you want know or not?”
Twilight sighed, but nodded as she settled back to let Cloud Kicker tell her what happened.
It was a Friday night in Canterlot. I had managed to switch my shift with another trainee so I could get out of the Academy for the night and Rainbow was just looking for an excuse to blow off some assignment she was supposed to be doing for the Princess. Trixie was enjoying the nightlife and tossing her status as a (minor) city celebrity around.
We had gotten a private table away from action—Vinyl Scratch was DJing—and started talking about stuff. Trixie called for a toast to celebrate her most recent success and she called a waitress over. A rather cute waitress in a sexy little black and white dress that failed to cover her tight, pert…huh? Oh, sorry. No, I wasn’t drooling. It was just, uh…ANYWAY!
She came over with a glass of a whiskey called Jura. Vinyl swore by the stuff, some high-brow classy Canterlot musician had turned her on to it…among other things.
We all took a sip. It had a smooth texture and a smoky taste with overtones of oak. It was good…something that could be nursed and enjoyed throughout the evening.
So of course Rainbow Dash slammed her glass down and shouted, “Shot contest!”
I groaned. I really didn’t want to deal with Rainbow Dash drunk. Dealing with her sober was challenging enough. “Dash, c’mon…having some drinks is one thing but a shot contest? You know that can’t end well.”
“Pfff!” She just waved me off. “C’mon Kicker pony-up! Are you a pegasus or are you a chicken?” She looked to Trixie. “Trixie’s in on this, right Trix?”
Trixie pouted at Dash’s continual habit of contracting her name, but shrugged. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is never backward in going forward…why are you laughing?” She demanded of me, who put more thought into that statement than she did. After a moment she got it and blushed. “Pour the shots!” She blurted, trying to move past it.
A few shot rounds later found Rainbow and Trixie getting royally plastered. Dash wasn’t exactly a light-weight but she didn’t exactly have a lot of body fat to absorb the booze. I also suspect Trixie might have cheated and used her magic to limit the impact of all the whiskey on her. Not that it helped that much as she was still pretty tipsy.
After around midnight Rainbow Dash passed out but Trixie was still conscious, if tipsy—I think she cheated but I can’t be sure. Anyway she was royally smashed, started talking in a Neigh Orleans accent with some Prench thrown in and started gushing about herself and how ‘stunning’ she looked in purple.
Don’t worry, Rainbow was fine…maybe not in the morning after I brought her back to the castle. Princess Celestia was so worried that she put Rainbow in her own bed…and woke her up the next morning with a full-blown drinking lecture in the Royal Cantertlot Voice as RD was suffering through her first major hangover. I would’ve paid anything to have been there for that! Yeah, I know I’m a good friend, thanks for saying so Twilight.
After Rainbow conked out, Trixie looked at me, swaying slightly in her seat. “Y-you think you’re so great cuz you’ve got your whole family in the Goyal Ruard? Feh!” I should point out that at no point during the evening did I say anything remotely LIKE this. I DID say that perhaps I could call some cousins of mine to help give her a lift back to her stage carriage.
“The Powerful and Great Trixie—I mean the Preat and Gowerful…no, the GREAT AND POWERFUL Dixie…wait? Gah!” She pointed at me with her hoof, knocking over her drink. “Trixie had to struggle to get where she is today?” She announced proudly, drunk off her rump. “I *hic!* left my family when I was a little filly to make my own way! I didn’t even have my cutie mark yet!” She stood up and turned around, practically shoving her plot in my face. “See? My flank was blank as a…a…thing that’s really blank.” She wiggled her rump at me. What’s with that look Twilight? NO! I didn’t ‘tap that flank’…not that it wasn’t a nice butt, though frankly I’ve seen nicer…I'm on a low fat-head diet anyway...where’d you even learn that expression anyway? On second thought, never mind. I don’t really want to know.
After driving the point home Trixie put her plot back in her seat and continued her drunk pontificating. Interestingly, the more she drank the less drunk she got. I mean, she stopped being a fun drunk, slurring her words and getting mixed up on her own title and started being really depressed. She spoke more clearly and without any of the hyped-up glamour, arrogance or pizzaz that you or I’d normally associate with Trixie.
She grumbled, a regular grouse. “Trixie’s family was poor…Trixie’s father was a factory worker and Trixie’s mother was a farmer…they had plain ordinary cutie marks you saw on plenty of ponies: gears, plows, hammers and sickles…they didn’t have any great destiny.” She absently swirled what’s left of her drink in her glass. “They were downtrodden, poor, beaten down by life. Everyday they dragged themselves back from the factories and the fields half-dead; barely able to put food on the table, let alone try to talk to Trixie or help her practice her magic or play with her or…” She trailed off, looking down. For a moment I thought she had passed out.
Then she started speaking again, this time so quietly I had to lean in just to hear her. “…Trixie knew, even as a little filly, that she didn’t want to grow up to be like them. So I ran away.”
I knew she was being sincere when she dropped referring to herself in the third person. I half-wanted to say something but, I don't know…I was afraid that I’d just make her clam up. Somehow, I knew she had to get this off her chest, for her own sake. “I ran and hitch-hiked and snuck aboard trains just so I could get to Fillydelphia. It took me almost a week to get there from Neigh Orleans. When I got there I was starving. I didn’t even have two bits to rub together. What little I had taken with me was used up just to get me that far.” Trixie rested her face in her hooves. “That’s when I first saw them: the Fillydelphia street performers. I had seen them before on the streets of Neigh Orleans. To me, they were like something from another world: they sat on the same dingy corners I walked, but they way the acted and spoke it was like they pulled you into another place full of the wondrous, the extraordinary…and all of the mundane mendacities of life just fell away and in their place was something far grander. So when I got to Fillydelphia, the city where everypony goes to make it big, I knew that the life of a performer was what I wanted…of course, seeing the hats and bags full of bits might have influenced my decision too.”
She took another sip of her drink, coughing as she slammed it back down. “I busted my rump, trying to perform the tricks I’ve seen other magicians do with what little magic I knew. The few bits I got were more out of pity than anything else. But it’s not like I had any other prospects so I kept at it. For weeks and weeks I kept it up, barely scraping by to get food, living in shelters or sleeping on park benches. Finally, I started to get it. My magic was growing stronger and my tricks were working. Some charitable ponies even hired me to do their foals’ birthday parties or Cutie-Ceañera or Cutie Markvitzvahs. Slowly my name started to get out there. Open nights at local businesses, talent contests, any chance to test myself and improve, I took it. Then one day I decided to go for it. I announced my grand-debut in Fillydelphia Square. I even had my own stage—a crude, hoof-made thing. But it was enough.”
“Over a hundred ponies came. I introduced myself as the Amazing Trixie and performed every feat of magic I knew. But it wasn’t enough.” Her shoulders sagged. “I could tell they weren’t impressed. There was this one trick I was working on…but I could never do it. But there was no choice.” She swallowed. “I was so nervous my knees shook, straining my magic so hard that I gave myself a migraine…but I still couldn’t do it.”
"I felt my magic reserves being drained and I couldn’t perform my spell…but just then there was this…explosion of light for lack of a better word. All of a sudden, I felt my magic being amplified—not a lot, but just enough. Fireworks, the biggest Fillydelphia had ever seen, went off. Everypony loved it. It was all I could do to bow and not fall over.”
She smiled wistfully. “Afterwards I was signing autographs and shaking hooves when who should come up to me but none other than Hoofdini himself! The greatest magical performer in all of Equestria! I was stunned. He congratulated me on my show and offered to take me under his wing to learn the tricks of the trade. He even gave me this hat and cape.” Trixie gently brushed her tacky garb with something approaching adoration. “That’s when I got my Cutie Mark and I knew, I was destined for greatness.”
Cloud Kicker paused, getting up to get a drink of water. All this talking at left her parched. She brought a glass of water back for Twilight too.
She accepted it gratefully, shaking her head softly. “That’s…actually pretty impressive. But also sad…did she ever get back in touch with her parents? I’m sure they were worried about her.”
“Trixie never said.” Cloud Kicker replied. “But I’m guessing she didn’t…even drunk, she didn’t like talking about them. I don’t think she ever sent them so much as a bit. As proud as she is of herself for making it so far, she’d sooner like to forget—and for everypony else to forget—anything that happened before she became Great and Powerful.”
The purple unicorn bit her lip. “Now I feel kinda bad for being so angry at her…”
“Wait a few minutes,” Cloud Kicker drawled as she sat back down. “I’m not finished…”
Trixie glowed with memories of her triumph and drank another shot. Her good mood dissipated as soon as she finished. “S’not fair…”
“What isn’t?” I asked.
She just glowered balefully at me and then at Rainbow Dash as she drunkenly snored, her face smushed against the table top.
“I had to work hard to get where I am…” she grumbled. “I had to struggle and plan and sacrifice to make it to the top. I became the Great and Powerful Trixie by working with the best magicians in the trade, learning their secrets, wheedling them out of other performers and then striking out my own. Rainbow Dash pulls off one great trick and the Princess takes her home and makes Dash her personal student and she isn’t even a unicorn! I’m the magical wonder of our generation! Why her and not me?”
Okay, now I know she was drunk, but I couldn’t let that pass. “Come off it Trixie. Magic isn’t everything you know. Rainbow earned her spot. Besides, do you really think Princess Celestia wouldn’t have chosen Rainbow Dash if she didn’t think she was worth it?”
Trixie grunted. “Oh yeah? If she’s such a GREAT student,” She sneered, albeit a touch tipsily. “Then what’s she doing slumming it here instead of doing…whatever it is a Princess’ student should be doing?”
“Having fun with some friends?” I offered, getting a touch annoyed. Or maybe more than a touch. “What would you do if you were Rainbow Dash?”
Trixie slammed her hoof down, making all the glasses clatter. “I’d actually DO something with my position as the Princess’ student! What’s the point of having all that power and status if she doesn’t make the most of it?”
“Like what, exactly?” I asked.
“Like making sure her friends were set for life!” Trixie proclaimed. “She should be asking Celestia about trying to get me into her School for Gifted Unicorns or into the royal court itself!” I blamed her uncharacteristic bluntness on the booze…but I didn’t think it made her say anything she didn’t mean. “If Rainbow Dash were a real friend she’d either use her position to help me out or she should just quit and join me in taking our show on the road!”
Well, that’s when—whoa, Twilight! Settle down! No need for that sort of language…yeah, yeah I know she is. Just calm down. You good? Sure you don’t want me to stop? You look kinda worked up…maybe I could get you a drink, do something to take some of that pressure off…okay, okay. Fine. Anyway, I told her rather bluntly that her idea of what friendship means was really off. Friendship isn’t just about what your friends can do to help them out.
She just looked at me like a two-headed hippogriff. “You don’t understand…” she said, sounding mournful. Looked like all that alcohol was really taking its toll. “If-if you have talent like me…or Rainbow Dash I suppose…it means you have a special destiny. Not everypony has one. If you do, then it’s your responsibility to make that destiny real! You can’t let anything hold you back! Rainbow Dash isn’t moving forward…she’s content just to goof off and hang around Canterlot when she should be doing what I did—use every opportunity to advance and make her dreams a reality! She could have Celestia set up an interview or audition or whatever with the Wonderbolts at any time! She clearly doesn’t know how to use her resources to her best use. This is why she needs me. She and I will help each other reach our destinies…and nothing will stand in my way. Nothing…”
Twilight gasped. “What did you say to her?”
“Not much. She passed out right after that.” Cloud Kicker rolled her eyes. “That’s when I dragged their rumps back out…well, Trixie might have had an encounter with a black marker, but that’s another matter. You know what I said earlier about old soldiers having one of two reactions? Well, it’s the same way with drunks: either you say things that you don’t mean because you’re hammered or being drunk lets you say all the things that you believe but don’t necessarily say. With Trixie, I knew it was the second."
The lavender pegasus snorted. "I guess Trixie recalled enough to realize how many beans she had spilled to me so she made sure never to let her guard down around me like that again. I tried to talk to Rainbow about the stuff Trixie said but Trixie denied it and I had no proof. Rainbow Dash didn't believe me...maybe she didn't want to believe anypony she was friends with could be capable of being so nasty and self-involved. I don't know."
We had some fights about it, major ones. I tried to pressure Trixie to leave us alone, but she went to my commanding officer at the Academy and claimed that I 'made inappropriate advances' on her when I was drunk. Given my reputation for chasing flank and Trixie's skills as an actor, it didn't take much. I was confined to West Hoof for three months while Trixie sunk her hooves even deeper into Dash, convincing her that she had to sell herself more. Rainbow was never what you would call an excessively modest pony like Fluttershy, but under Trixie's influence she got worse. Much worse." Cloud Kicker rubbed her head. "I tried to tell her that nag was going to ruin her life but she refused to believe me...or believe that Trixie had gotten me in hot water with my CO. It was an ugly couple of months until Trixie found out about some opportunity in Hoofington that she just had to leap on, thank Celestia. I tried repairing things with Dash after Trixie left, but she never believed me about her and thought I was being obsessive. I eventually just had to drop it and we avoided the whole 'Trixie Question' for the duration."
A few months later I dropped out of West Hoof and moved to Ponyville. And that's about everything." She gave Twilight an unhappy sigh. "Now you know who Trixie is: she’s possessive, manipulative and jealous of Rainbow Dash for having everything Trixie wants without having to sink to her levels to do it. Sometimes I even wonder if Trixie actually LIKES Rainbow Dash or if she just wants her as a show prop.”
“Do you really think so?” Twilight asked worriedly.
Kicker shrugged. “I don’t really know…I guess there’s some actual affection there. Just…a really messed up kind. But here’s what I think…” The pegasus stretched her neck, trying to get the kinks out. “I think Trixie has rationalized everything she’s done as being necessary to get to where she is today. That because she ended up a success, she thinks that everything she did to get there was justified—running away from her family, stealing tricks from other magicians, using other ponies to advance…”
Twilight nodded. “An action that turns out to be correct is not the same as proof that you acted correctly: the third law of Graymane the Wise.”
Kicker blinked owlishly. “Uh, sure, why not. Trixie has this…really warped worldview, I guess you could call it. She thinks that if you have a great talent, then you have this destiny and anything you do that helps you achieve it is okay.” Cloud Kicker paused to let Twilight absorb that.
The purple unicorn shook her head, her eyes wide. “But that’s just…just unfettered egotism! The idea that your own personal happiness and wellbeing is your main purpose in life, regardless of what you have to do to achieve it…that sort of idea can be used to justify anything a pony does!” Then something else clicked. “And when she finds a talented, successful pony who DOESN’T operate that way, like Rainbow Dash…”
“Trixie gets nasty.” Cloud Kicker agreed.
Twilight nodded. “That’s it! It all makes sense! She can’t stand the idea that her way ISN’T the only way—that there are ways to succeed without sacrificing other ponies along the way. If she accepts that, then she’d have to wonder how much of her past decisions were a mistake and her ego won’t let her do that. She can’t and won’t accept the idea that she might have been wrong. And if comes down to realizing that how reality works is different from how Trixie THINKS it works—then it’s reality that has to change.” She closed her eyes as she thought back to something Applejack related to her after the Nightmare Moon incident. It was something Fluttershy had told Applejack about Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow Dash…um, well she makes you believe: in her and in yourself. She can stand up and announce that she’s going to do something dangerous, impossible and even a little, um, crazy and you believe that she can really do it. She’s not one of those ponies who brags about doing great things that they’ve never done—she goes out and does it.” Fluttershy closed her eyes. “Even when you think she’s being irresponsible and impossible, you want her to succeed, against the odds. And then she does it and it makes you believe that you can do the impossible too.”
She opened her eyes, shifting about slightly. “But it’s not what she represents that I became friends with. I became friends with her. I know she puts up a bold front, but she is one of the most steadfast and brave friends ever. Rainbow Dash would never let a pony down when they really needed her. She’s held me up for so long and never deserted me. I heard somepony say that when strong ponies fall—the kind who’ve held you up for so long—they fall harder under the weight they’ve been carrying for us. That’s why I’m here for her.”
Twilight was only half aware that she spoke out loud when Cloud Kicker nodded. “Couldn’t have put it better myself. That pretty much comes down to the difference between her and Rainbow Dash.” Cloud Kicker added. “Yeah, they both have egos and are very competitive but what makes them so similar is what also sets them apart.” She sat up, looking Twilight in the eye. "As much as she loves competitions and winning and being the best, it’s not the most important thing to her: loyalty is. She stood up for Eepy—Flutershy—back at flight camp even though she was a pretty weak flyer. If RD was like Trixie she would’ve have been caught dead hanging around her. Not Rainbow though. She did it for Ditzy too, even though she was older than all of us, but even the foals made fun of her eyes. Rainbow likes being tough and strong…not just for its own sake, but because she likes being able to stand up for weaker ponies—she likes how it makes her feel and also because it’s just the right thing to do. She might get annoyed at Fluttershy’s meekness or Ditzy’s scatterbrained nature…or what I do with my personal life...but don’t let that fool you. She’d sooner nosedive into Ghastly Gorge than let anypony down. Which is actually part of the problem here since she considers Trixie a friend. She's trying to avoid having to choose between friends. She feels loyalty to all of us and it's driving her crazy that we can't all smile and get along.”
Twilight sat still, thinking. Cloud Kicker went on. “As annoying as her competitiveness and ego might get at times, Rainbow Dash is one of the great friends a pony could have. She always says what’s on her mind, usually even when she should think on it a bit more; she’s always got your back and she won’t hesitate to throw herself into danger for a friend’s sake.” CK took a sip of her water and cleared her throat. “For all her magic and bragging, Trixie has all of Rainbow’s faults—magnified to the nth degree—and none of her virtues. Or really, any virtues.”
“Aren’t you exaggerating a little?” Twilight prodded.
“Not nearly as much as she does.” Cloud Kicker grumbled. “Ugh, fine, whatever. So anyway, now you know the whole story. Question is, what do you do now?”
“I don’t know how…but we’re not going to let Trixie ruin Rainbow Dash’s life or her friendships!” Twilight vowed, stomping her hoof down emphatically. “One way or another we are going to fix this!”
Cloud Kicker pumped her hoof in the air as she hovered off the ground. “Yeah!”
“YEAH!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she stuck her head in through the open window. “WHY AM I CHEERING, I DON'T KNOW, BUT YEAH!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “Um, what’re we talking about?” She blinked at the sight of Cloud Kicker and Twilight Sparkle sitting on the couch together. “What’re you two doing?”
“Cloud Kicker and I were discussing the details of Trixie’s evil plot...” Twilight started when Cloud Kicker suddenly fell backwards onto the couch, clutching her stomach and laughing.
Pinkie paled as she gasped at all the horrific implications. “This is worse than I ever imagined having my worst nightmare about! I—I gotta lie down for a bit.” She slowly lowered her head down until she disappeared from sight.
Twilight blinked. “What was that all about?” Cloud Kicker couldn’t stop laughing long enough to answer. The purple unicorn put it out of her mind. "Look out Trixie, here I come!" Twilight ran out of Cloud Kicker's house and into the streets. Her hooves thumped against the ground as she ran through the streets. Ponies leaped back to avoid being run over, but Twilight barely noticed them. Her mind was a blur as she did what she did best: make a plan.
& & &
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
843 users online
1,369,757 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Oh Buck, Twilight is planing, Trixie you are so boned.
Hmm...
...yeah, I can buy this as Trixie's motivation. Also, kudos for not giving Trixie a tragic backstory - I hate those. But leaving home to make it big? Heck, that's what Applejack did.
Well that was an eye-opening look into Rainboom!Trixie's psyche. Softy that I am, it would be nice to see Trixie learn a thing or two in the process of getting her comeuppance, but from what's been presented so far, it's looking like there's little chance of that short of a full hard drive formatting and OS re-install.
That first know is supposed to be 'now'.
And did you just attribute Trixie's first cutie mark to the Sonic Rainboom? Great, now I'm irked.
I see what you did there.
Way to use Cloud Kicker as an important plot device
...
Wait...did I just say what I think I said?
1593721
Applejack at least left home, and told her family, and stayed with family. A young filly running away from home without telling her family? *shakes head* Situations may seem the same but it is still different.
If I didn't know better I would swear that was a Babylon 5 reference.
1593773
Pretty sure it is, or at the very least it's a reference to my fic wherein I had a drunk, cajun Trixie quote Londo.
It is different, but at least it's not tragic and dark, like, say, this.
That is horrible and I hate it.
1593781
I may never read you fics (ok I may read Family Matters at some point), but it is nice to find another B5 fan around here. Great now I picturing that scene with Trixie instead of Londo.
1593793
If it helps, Pinkie Pie is Vir, and Bon Bon is Garibaldi.
1593817
Pinkie as Vir? Well I suppose that better than having her as Lennier.
Time to make... A CHECKLIST!
1593781
Glad to see you're reading! I was hoping you'd catch that. XD
I was trying to create a plausible semi-sympathetic backstory for Trixie that would explain how and why she views the world (and interacts with it) the way she does. She's not evil, not about to become a minion for world domination nor is she just a shy, scared little butterfly putting up a brave front. She's a capable, competent, fully developed person, er, pony, who has an outlook that is very self-absorbed and narcissistic...which makes her different from a lot of other people in that she's has a developed philosophy to accompany and justify it. I don't hate Trixie (but let's see how her re-appearance in Season 3 goes) but she isn't nature's noblewoman and she has no problem with that.
I like your Trixie in that it doesn't attempt to sweep away all her flaws under the rubric of "Oh well, she's a performer! She's supposed to exaggerate!" Nor do I want to portray her as completely inept and incompetent.
Thanks again for all the inspiration you've given me from Lunaverse!
PS
Nice job with the new story.
1593891
Twilight's Checklist
Step One: Chew bubblegum
Step Two: Take names
Step Three: Kick flank (repeat Step Three as necessary)
1593737 *groans* Not that kind of plot, ya lunatics!
*snerk* (Edit: meaning Cloud Kicker, Twilight and Pinkie as the "lunatics" in question--not anypony among the fans)
1593979
Come on, anything involving Cloud Kicker is practically begging for that pun to be made!
Not sure I'd call it a story...
You messed up the quote placement here; it should be at the start of the second paragraph, not the end of the first (you did it again later)
Dropped a d, and you may want a space after the ellipses
The hyphen is entirely unnecessary
Again here
Um, I think you mean "now"
1593906
We're all out of gum! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
1594290
"The lavender pegasu snorted."
You should probably fix that.
Pinkie Pie is obviously Marcus Cole.
1594720
Actually, I used another scene from B5 between Archer (background pony) and Sweetie Belle in Chapter 14 of "A Camping We Will Go" Archer was Marcus Cole.
Suspicious explosion of light is suspicious, I have to wonder if that is going to come into play later on in the story.
Not sure if I want some reconciliation or just some flank kicking after that back story.
1594912
Then I did what I wanted to do! X3
Ah, Pinkie I love you so.
Let's see Twi kick some flank.
[Celestia] woke her up the next morning with a full-blown drinking lecture in the Royal Cantertlot Voice as RD was suffering through her first major hangover.
Well... That's one way to teach a lesson...
The plot thickens!...not that kind of plot, Cloud Kicker. Get your mind out of the gutter.
...gee, now I really, really like Trixie. And, honestly, I didn't get "self-absorbed" out of Cloud Kicker's story at all; if anything, what I got out of the drunk Trixie story was that Trixie could be a great influence on Rainbow if she could drop the facade and be candid about her viewpoints.
That's a very interesting perspective on Trixie. I do like that she's neither wicked and depraved, nor a tragic woobie. Sure, her childhood was a bit rough, but I generally imagine her growing up in the Equestrian equivalent of middle-of-nowhere Kansas, since she's basically Professor Marvel from "The Wizard of Oz". The way she treats Rainbow is pretty selfish, but understandable. I think there's room to work with her. Now that we know that the Sonic Rainboom was responsible for her getting her cutie mark, that seems like more of a reason for Rainbow not just to cut her out of her life. After all, friendship isn't always easy, but it's always worth fighting for! (Thanks, Discord!)
Rainbow Dash is best Commander Shepard. (Red Ending, Dash! Red Ending!)
Also:
That made me laugh hard enough to spray my poor, weary screen with my beverage. Congrats, Tri: you now have a spit-take count.
1648882
Dammit CK, I blew right past that without a thought and lo and behold this comment, insert two seconds of focused comprehension and bam... spit take on a computer.
2292267
I laughed my hair off when I got it.
Agree with everyone else; you hit the right note between "helpless woobie" and "absolute evil". Can't wait to see Twilight's plan!
Very nice background on Trixie. I still can't call her 'wrong'.
1593721
And I was hoping for a little bit more L-verse drunk-Trixie, oh well.
Move " mark to before We.
______________
Move " to before A
_______________
friend
_________________
greatest friend
______________
5498536
What's wrong is how she goes about things, and what she's willing to do to get her way. It's borderline sociopathic, seeing as how as long as she gets what she wants it's all justified.
If not for her stealing from others to better herself, using those in high positions to further her own ends, and her manipulating others to get what she wants. When it benefits herself. She would be just slightly misguided, and while off-kilter, not exactly wrong. But how she goes about it, and what she does to benefit herself is what makes her wrong.