Chapter 25 - Trix
The next morning was, for most of the ponies in Ponyville, a quiet and pleasant one. The term 'most' in this case refers to any pony who was not working or shopping at the main competitor of Lyra's Ultimate Item Emporium: Filthy Trix. For those unfortunate ponies, the morning was anything but pleasant and, thanks to one Trixie Lulamoon, was destined to be anything but quiet.
Trixie eyed a customer from her position at the checkout counter. The customer, a tall, thin mare with a curly blonde mane, picked up a turnip. She gave it a squeeze, then put it back and picked up another one. She had been doing this for the past five minutes. Why did she always get stuck with the obnoxious ones?
With a roll of her eyes, Trixie stepped out from behind the counter and approached the mare.
"Can Trixie help you?" she drawled.
The customer frowned slightly and didn't bother to look at Trixie. "Just looking," was her curt reply.
Trixie's eyes narrowed. "Is that so? Are you looking for turnips, perhaps?" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Because you found them five minutes ago!" she cried, all false courtesies abandoned.
The mare dropped the turnip she had been examining and rounded on Trixie. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I wasting your precious time? Because I wouldn't have to if half of these turnips weren't rotten!"
And thus, the war began.
"That's strange, they weren't rotten when you came in." Trixie held a hoof up to her chin in mock thought. "Maybe they're rotten because you've been staring at them for an eternity! How hard is to to buy a turnip, anyway?"
"Oh I don't know, about as difficult as it is for you to sell one. Which is very!"
"Have you ever tried buying one, or is turnip-staring the only thing that bored housemares such as yourself have left for fun?"
The mare's eyes widened. "Where is your manager? I'd like to offer some feedback."
Trixie grinned maniacally. "Trixie is the manager! You want to leave some feedback? Right this way." She nudged the mare's bottom with her head, pushing her all the way down the aisle until she was out the front door. "Don't have a lovely day!" she sung as she turned around and kicked the door shut.
At that point, it finally became quiet for the ponies in Filthy Trix. It did not, however, become pleasant. Things weren't going well for the shop, and Trixie had an idea that Lyra Heartstrings was to blame. How did that silly unicorn manage to gather so many loyal customers? She would need to find out.
"You there," Trixie said, spying Diamond Tiara just as she was coming out of the back room. "Gather up all the rotten fruits and vegetables and take out the rubbish." The filly made to speak, but Trixie interrupted her. "When you've finished that, the entire shop needs cleaning. There are buckets and rags in the storage room. Oh, and you'll need to deal with customers, too. I'm going on an extended break."
With that, Trixie opened the door and disappeared out the shop, leaving Diamond Tiara to brood by herself.
"Thanks for stopping by. Have a lovely day!"
"You too, Lyra!" Minuette, a light blue unicorn with a blue and white mane, said as she gathered her purchases. "Ever since you opened this shop up it's even more worthwhile to come down to visit one of my best friends!" She gave an enthusiastic wave of her hoof, then exited the shop.
Lyra's smile was wide. Despite the fact that tomorrow's deadline for her debt payment was fast approaching, the shop was doing well enough that it would only really take one more decent contract to bring her to within paying it off. With Iron Will apparently off on some kind of contract already, that likely meant that any profits from today and tomorrow would go towards providing a good buffer for the third week's payment.
Bon Bon came out of the back room with new stock to replenish what had already sold. Once she'd set up the displays, she walked over to Lyra and gave her a hoof bump.
"Not a bad morning, huh?" Bon Bon said. "At this rate we might even need to close up early so we can prepare tomorrow's inventory. Maybe if we have enough time, we can prepare for the weekend as well. Can't hurt to plan early. Hey, want me to take out the rubbish? It's a bit full."
Lyra laughed and shook her head. "No, it's okay. I can't have you doing all the menial tasks for me! I have to do my part, too!"
She watched Bon Bon head over to greet another group of customers, then turned her attention to one of the rubbish bins.
"Okay, rubbish. You're too gross to sell to anypony. Not even in the bargain bin, so out you go!"
She used her magic to take the bag out from the bin and tie it up, then hummed as she took it out the front door towards the outdoor bins. A moment later, her task was complete. She took a moment to appreciate the cool breeze on her face.
It was at that point that she noticed one of the spare apple barrels she kept outside had moved.
Lyra's eyes lit up with excitement. Could there be a cute cat or dog in the barrel? Maybe some stray unicorn magic had made her apples come to life. Those would probably be worth at least twice what a normal apple would sell for! She grinned as she pulled the lid off the barrel.
"Oh, hi Trixie! What are you doing in there for?" She blinked and looked around excitedly. "Are you playing Hide and Seek? Is anypony else playing, or did I just win?"
Trixie nearly tumbled to the ground as she climbed out of the barrel. "Trixie was not hiding! She was... she—" she blinked and shook her head "—you know what, Trixie doesn't have to explain what she was doing."
Lyra was busy studying the position of the barrel to pay Trixie any mind. "Oh, I get it! You were spying on us from out here by the window!" She hopped into the barrel and then took a peek into the shop. "Wow, you had an excellent view out here. And the apples smell so nice. So did you learn what you wanted to know, or would you like me to tell you?"
Trixie sputtered. "S-s-spying!?" She adjusted her cape and took a moment to compose herself. "Trixie doesn't know what you're talking about." With that, she spun around and hastily ran back towards Filthy Trix.
Lyra waved at the retreating unicorn. "Make sure to do your best! I know you'll do great!"
An unwelcome sight was awaiting Trixie when she returned to the shop.
"And what is this, then?"
Things had been bad for Trixie, but she hadn't known until then just how much worse they could get. Standing in the middle of the shop was the matron of the Rich family, Spoiled Rich. Trixie's ears lowered at the sight.
"My daughter made to do the work of a lowly peasant! Is this what you and my husband had planned when we agreed to let our little Diamond gain some work experience here?"
Trixie's eyes darted over to Diamond Tiara, who was covered in what she could only assume was rotted turnip juice, among other things. The filly looked miserable, her eyes downcast, and looked as if she were being scolded right along with Trixie. Spoiled continued.
"Customer loyalty is down," she said, moving to pace a circle around Trixie. "Confidence is down. Productivity... down. Profits..." she paused just long enough to meet Trixie's gaze. "Down!" she shouted, causing Trixie to flinch.
"My loving husband, bless his heart, still seems to have faith that you can make this work. I, on the other hoof, never had any in the first place." She indicated Diamond with a hoof. "See to it that my daughter is given work appropriate for her stature, and get this shop to turn a profit." She beckoned Diamond to follow her to the exit, then turned around and added, "Or I'll fire you myself!"
As she followed her mother out of the shop, Diamond Tiara couldn't help but to allow a wicked grin to spread across her face. She'd be free soon. She was going to make sure of it.
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Top shelf customer service, Trixie.
Best episode.
Tiarawhy you got to resort to such Dirty Trix just so you can get out of work?
9217515 Maybe she's hoping to take over as manager. After all, you know what they say, 'Trix are for kids!'
Oh Trixie you silly pony, why would you think selling rotten food would be a good idea? I mean sure, maybe you could have gotten away with it back when you had no competition, but that's not true anymore now is it?
9217601
.
I mean this is taking into consideration that Trixie pre-Starlight had good ideas
9217582
I think it's more of a ego show down. Tiara takes after her evil mother, and doesn't think she should work when things can be handed down to her. And Trixie is noone's number 2. With such a clash of titanic egos. Something has to give ... either that or collapse into a singularity.
Ha!
“Good luck with your espionage, Trixie! If you give it you’re all, I’m sure you’ll put us out of business in no time! Oh! We’re having a special tomorrow, so make sure drop by!”
Lyra Heartstrings is the best shopkeep in Equestria, and Beverly Hills!
Oh my god, it's like Christmas! And my birthday! (They're within a few weeks of each other)
Aaand it's over. So fleeting, yet so beautiful. We can only cherish the short moment that it lasts.
Oh, and hey, Diamond getting her revenge!
9217515
What's this, a typo I see!?
9217984
Nope, a reference. Try again.
9218011
Ah. Well played, good sir.
9217601 To be fair, it probably wasn't rotten when she got it. Remember, she bought out entire stocks of vegetables from Appleoosa. She obviously couldn't sell them all fast enough, and had no way to perserve the excess. Either that or she didn't handle them very well while transporting them to Ponyville.
9218858
Oh yeah I can totally see that...but Trixie really isn't paying much attention to quality at all. The fact that she got pissed when a customer pointed out that she had a bunch of produce, which she then pawned off to Diamond to toss out, just proves that she's not doing things right.
Again, she could have gotten away with such shenanigans back when there was no competition, but now that Lyra is in town as a legitimate rival business, she can't be doing such half assed BS.
Industrial espionage, like many things, becomes very strange in Ponyville.
Also, it's amazing what quality service can do.
You have no idea how many times I wanted to do that at my job. Bless you for putting that scene in. It may not be customer friendly but boy does it feel good.
Trixie is so tsundere to Lyra! It's beautiful
Trixie either does not seem to know about sale by dates when it comes to certain goods, doesn't care, or both.