Chapter 1: Not So Great Any More
“Don’t you think the ‘Great and Apologetic Trixie’ is the most magnificent, humble pony you’ve ever seen?” With that Trixie left in a cloud of smoke, eager to get back on the road. Her hope for the future having been raised by the acceptance of the first true apology she had given in years. With no strings attached no less. The very pony she had directly wronged and deliberately targeted had forgiven her after she had banished her from her home and friends. Surely if even she had been willing to forgive her then towns-ponies that lived in completely different towns would welcome her with open arms now. Right?
Wrong. It had only gotten worse. Whereas before she had merely been heckled, generally made a laughing stock and much more often than not barred from performing, she would still at least be allowed to spend what meager bits she had and to park her cart outside the town proper. Now however, she was treated as a hated criminal who had somehow escaped execution.
She wasn't welcome or even allowed near any towns. She had learned that the hard way, the large scar on her forehead still visible from where her newfound hope for the future had been shattered in the form of a rock. It was only the first on many but, none that followed weighed as heavily on her as that one just as none had left such a visible reminder of how she was thought of.
She actually wished that she could go back to how things were before. How she was treated before the amulet. At least then she was sometimes allowed to perform a little before she was recognized and run out of town with tomatoes. That was better than kept away from towns with threats, rocks and other various debris. The graffiti her cart acquired when she went shopping was much better than the last time she had seen her cart. Fire rippling across the sky, everything inside too far gone to be saved. She had once again lost everything she held dear. Well almost everything. She considered herself very lucky that she had been bathing and doing laundry in a nearby stream at the time. This act showed her even more what ponies thought of her. That they would rather burn her only home than let her even park near their town.
That had been the last straw for Trixie. She was broke, with nowhere to go now living inside a cave within the Everfree Forest. Sure, she could try Ponyville again but she had long since begun to question the sincerity of Twilight Sparkle. If other towns had treated her like they had, how would the town she had directly wronged treat her? She didn’t want to risk it. No matter how often Pixie had told her to try.
Pixie. She had been the only friend Trixie had for many years. She was Trixie’s salvation from her dreams that were filled by shadowy figures picking away at her soul with their taunts, jeer, insults and angry cries. Pixie had saved her more times than she cared to remember in the early days of life and early days of her new life style within the most dangerous forest known to ponies, from herself. Telling Trixie that the various ways she thought up were ‘the weakling’s way out’ was a surefire way to at least get Trixie’s attention and draw her away from those thoughts. It mattered little that Trixie was a full grown mare. Pixie was still her friend. Her imaginary friend, sure. But her very best friend nonetheless.
Pixie had first come into existence when Trixie was but a filly, living in the alleys of Prance. Her early life was not an easy one and without Pixie it would definitely had been a lonely one towards the end. In the time that they had been together they only grew closer. Now they were closer than ever before. Trixie’s mind having, a month into her stay within the forest having been pushed into a corner. The loneliness of her situation, the fear of the forest and sadness preying on her was nearly too much. In a fit of a need to survive her mind took a leap and added even more to the existence of Pixie. A body, hallucination or whatever others may call it. All Trixie knew was that she wasn't alone and Pixie wouldn't leave her. Sure she knew that talking and being able to see her imaginary friend was definitely not a good sign. That much was common sense. But she, although most ponies lose their imaginary friends when they are young, could never stand the thought of losing her best and only friend and companion was far too frightening to even think about. So she stayed.
Pixie herself was the spitting image of Trixie when she was a filly except for the colors. Whereas Trixie was blue with a silver mane and tail, Pixie was brown with a sea green mane and tail. Trixie still knew that Pixie was merely a creation of what she expected to be her slowly breaking mind but, that knowledge was being muddled by the thought that she wasn't alone out here. The thought reached a point that she had actually made her bed larger so that Pixie could sleep comfortably next to her. The warmth may have only been in her head but it was still welcome all the same as warmth was something that had been steadily harder to grasp. Winter was coming. The air was getting colder and food was much scarcer, a week ago her own stores of food had gone dry. She understood what this meant. In around a weeks’ time, if not sooner, she was going to die of starvation.
In a sick way this excited her. Pixie couldn’t talk her down from the inevitable. All the same it didn’t mean she rushed towards such a fate. She had decided that if she died in this forest in such a way it was her fate. No adoring fans lined up for miles to mourn her, nopony to remember her fondly, no ponies telling their fillies and colts about the time they were amazing at one of her shows. No. It now seemed much more likely that her fate was as it had been recently. Hated, ostracized, dead in a cave with only a hallucination to hear her last words and then she would be forgotten.
She didn’t wish for such a fate obviously. She was still Trixie even if all seemed lost. Pixie would never allow her to just lie down and die either. No. She may not be great anymore, having fallen to rock bottom and then some. She may not be powerful anymore, her magic having failed on her days ago. But, she was still Trixie. Death could have her. But only if it earned the right to reap her. She would make death work for it.
Unfortunately, work it did. As time passed and she got weaker, her run-ins with hostile wildlife became much more frequent. She had even at one point stumbled across the sleeping form of what she could only assume to be the very same Ursa Minor that had crushed all she owned and nearly killed her. She stayed far away from that part of the forest from then on. It mattered little that she wanted revenge. After all, she saw how it had shrugged off her magic.
The morning sun was rising in the east, shining through a small hole Trixie had blasted through the treetops early in the history of her current residence so as to be able to tell the time while within ever-dark forest. It was a new day and that meant getting up and scrounging for food once again, even if the chances of finding enough food to stave off starvation for much longer were slim. However the new day brought an old challenge. That being, Trixie was most definitely not a morning pony. This left it up to Trixie’s mind to wake her. In the form of a small filly named Pixie.
“Trixie. Trixie~. Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! Trix-“
“Enough! I'm up! Cease your jumping and incessant chanting.” Trixie cut her off as she shuffled up from under her cape made blanket, the sensation of weight on her back leaving as the image of Pixie jumped in front of her.
“Sorry Trixie. But you know how hard it is to get you up sometimes.” Pixie apologized with a grin. Leaving Trixie to merely grumble about mornings being too early as she clasped her cape on herself albeit with a smile.
Trixie had changed much in the time since she had moved inside the forest. Her once blue coat had darkened several hues due to the dirt and grime of the forest. Bathing it off was however, sadly out of the question. The dark color of both her filthy coat and likewise filthy cape made it easier to move about the forest unseen. The smell, which she had long since gotten used to also helped her to smell like the forest and live in her cave without the scent of a lively pony wafting about. These facts were quite helpful now, though she wished she had access to this knowledge long ago when she had first learned the dangers of letting her mane and tail grow long.
She had been only a week into living within the forest and it had most definitely not been easy. Early on she made use of her magic constantly, protecting herself and hiding her scent with it. The kinds of things she could now do on her own. She had been searching for food in her full ensemble: after all if she needed to run she would wish to take her belongings with her. However she had been walking around the territory of a pack of timberwolves, which had quickly sniffed her out. In her run to keep herself alive she had lost her hat and her tail had gotten caught on a bush. Thinking quickly though, she used a sharp rock to cut it short and kept running. When she was once again safely back in her cave she did the same to her mane, not wishing to let something as inconsequential as looks, while alone in a dangerous forest, lead to her death.
“It is fine. I understand. Thanks you for waking her once again, Pixie.” Trixie said as she stretched. She could feel just how weak she had become. She had been getting slowly weaker before coming to the forest for reasons unknown to her and the long days without food resulted in her own body eating itself to survive. As she stood there, poking at the ribs that showed through her skin, she calculated how many days she had left before she could no longer move. Pixie then moved into her view, wearing a worried look.
“You’re welcome. But hey, don’t worry. Something good will happen today. I just know it.”
Trixie sighed looking down. “So you tell me every day. Yet each day I grow weaker.” She said before looking back at the worried face of her only friend. “But, I must admit I do admire your positive outlook.” Trixie admitted with a small smile. Leading to one twice its size on Pixie’s face.
“Hey, that’s what I’m here for Trix. To be adorable and positive. That’s me.” She said with a grin, causing Trixie’s smile to grow at her antics before Pixie grew serious for a moment. “Seriously though, today will be better. I feel it.”
Shaking her head Trixie began making her way into the forest proper. ”I'll entertain this idea for now I suppose. Now get on and let’s go.” She said as Pixie jumped on her back. It was a good thing that hallucinations didn’t weigh anything.
Only about a half hour into the search and Trixie was already breathing heavily and covered in sweat. “Stupid body. No part of me should be weak. Why do you defy me so?” She grumbled while once again looking at her prominent ribs.
“It’s not your bodies fault. It was just doing what it had to in order to keep the best unicorn in existence alive.” This got a truly large smile out of Trixie.
“Then I suppose I can forgive It this time since it shows such loyalty to me and understands this piece of common sense so well. Maybe Pixie, you were actually right about today. I'm is actually starting to feel like something might actually go well for once.” Her smile disappeared quickly once the forest decided to remind Trixie of Murphneighs Law in the form of growling from behind her. Without moving Trixie tensed up and spoke quietly. ”Pixie?”
“Y-yeah, T-Trixie?” answered a shivering mess of hallucinated filly on her back.
“Hold on.” With that Trixie tapped into every ounce of power and energy she still had. Adrenaline pouring through her pushed her forwards. She kept running without looking back even once. At some point she had entered some incredibly bright area and the soft soil of the forest gave way to hard rock. However, where she was mattered little. Inside her mind she could still feel the shivering of the filly on her back and the growls she heard earlier. So she kept running until she was brought down hard to the ground, having tripped over something like a rock.
“Trixie!” Pixie yelled as she got right in front of her vision. She kept yelling but it became harder for Trixie to understand it. Soon she was teetering on the very edge of consciousness, her vision was black and she could hear naught but unintelligible noises. There were a few raspy noises as she felt herself being lifted, pain shooting through her body, pulling her closer to unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was a higher pitched noise before she felt herself fall, and then, nothing.
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Interesting. I'll keep an eye on this.
what the first commenter said. it´s good in Narration so far, but too early to judge the plot.
Well written and interesting, I hope to see more in the near future.
2395423
Well written? Me?
yay
Very well written!
I'm faving this, I want to know what happens next!
Well, I'l; be a griffons uncle. this was shockingly good!
I am sorry to say I went in on this with low expectations. But I was dead wrong this is looking to be a great story. I am really glad I read it! really please keep up the great work!
Excellent story so far. I can't wait for updates.
Okay... why does this part go so well with this and why do they both make Trixie seem so much more awesome?
2414960
Because Trixie is awesome.
2415746 Nothing more to add to that^^
Well, not much has happened and I hate to say it but Trixie living in the Everfree forest is about as overdone as FlutterDash.
You've earned a track for now, but I'll hold off on a like or dislike.
2428666
I understand that all too well. But the idea in my head demanded this. Also it's kinda hard to think of something that would be pressing enough on the mind to hallucinate.
So, yeah I know. It's cliche but I'm going to try to not simply focus on her hardships. This is a ship fic, not a sad/tragedy fic.
2428725
That's why I'm here
Well-wriitten, mate. I shall be watching this production.
Well done yet. I'm interested. Let's see how we progress...
Is this... A Trixie x Rarity ship? Color me intrigued and interested. I'll save my judgement for when I've read more, but hopefully it's as good as it sounds.
Onward to reading!