Equestria Fighter: Back Stories (Due For Revision)
Chapter 3: Trixie Lulamoon
Previous ChapterBack Stories chapter 3: The Wounded Pride of A former Showmare
Time frame: 13 years, 4 months, 15 days, until Day One
Detrot. A filthy, rotten, cesspool of crime, prostitution, and death. The city was, in every non-literal sense of the word, sick. If one wandered down a back alley, there were a likelihood of three things happening: first, you would be killed. Second, you would see somepony being killed. Third, you would see somepony that had already been killed. Bodies in dumpsters were fairly common, so much so that most owners of said dumpster just piled trash on top of the corpses. It was never really worth summoning the police. Ponies died, and everypony was somehow okay with that.
The homeless, that was another thing wrong with Detrot. Cardboard houses crowded a fair portion of Easy Street. The irony was never lost on the filthy denizens of said street. Most ponies ignored them, and they were okay with that. They didn’t beg for scraps or money, like you would think. No, they survived, and all but thrived.
All but one of course. She laid with her back to the rest of the disgusting hobos, under her carefully built sheet metal canopy. She was quite proud of it actually. She did not join in with the other homeless as they feasted on half eaten restaurant salads and plants grown in the collective garden. It was not because she was not welcome, it was because she refused. She may be at the bottom of the food chain, but she was no worm, feeding on filth, nor a rat, devouring garbage.
SHE was Trixie Lulamoon, the greatest showmare on the planet, or at least, she had been. Her humiliation at the hands of the Ursa Minor had ensured that she was a laughing stock of most of Equestria. If she had her cart, perhaps she would be faring a bit better, but before she could leave Ponyville, some hooligans had set it ablaze, destroying it. So she had gone north, traveling until she found the shit hole of a city called Detrot. No longer did she wear her star spangled cloak, it had been stolen on her first night there. She had fought tooth and hoof, though, to keep her precious hat. The thief had given up and gone away, said the thing was too tacky to fight over.
“Trixie,” a voice stirred her from her thoughts. “You need to eat child. You’re going to waste way. I can practically hear your ribs straining against your skin.”
“Can it geezer. I told you I won’t eat that crap.” she tried to snarl, but it came as a moan instead. She hated herself so much for being this weak, it was not becoming of her.
“I, huh? What happened to ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie?’ I always thought that was funny.” the greasy, filthy bearded pony said, sitting down in front of her.
“Takes too much energy. Trixie has decided that she is an ‘I,’ now go away Soul.” she said, looking up to the old unicorn stallion. Soul was grayish white, with a white, ragged mane and beard, cuie mark of a glowing heart. She could not hold her head up for very long, so she let it fall, and closed her eyes, breathing heavily. He had regarded her with a mix of things. Pity, hate, anger. Pity was the strongest. Kind Soul pitied those who would not forsake their pride to survive. She heard a piece of metal slide across the blacktop, and stop in front of her head. It was a plate, no doubt, and it likely held a meager amount of greens. No carrots, those were hard to grow. He stood and trotted away from her, but stopped momentarily and looked back at her.
“There’s a farm down south, owned by the Pie family. Roma said they were hiring when he wandered through. You should look into it, since your too proud to eat the ‘crap’ I’ve painstakingly grown.” he said, and continued to trot away, then briefly smiled as he heard a sharp scrape and a sob from behind him.
Trixie lay with her hat turned so it covered her face, none of them could see her like this. She sobbed quietly to herself as she chewed on a piece of lettuce, which stuck out of her mouth. She had no energy to tear it apart to chew it, so there it remained. She felt something in the back of her mouth snap, and roll around on her tongue. She… she was loosing her teeth. She had a tooth brush, but she had neglected to use it for a few weeks. How pathetic, she thought. Her throat siezed up and she could no longer contain the tears, so she just sat there and sobbed, tears trailing down her muzzled onto the cold ground, and her sobs became so violent that she could barely even chew. Why? Why did this happen to her? Finally she managed to choke the roughage down, and spit the missing tooth out. The lettuce was so good… She covered her trembling muzzle with her forelegs, and let loose a long, broken wail. She was so stupid… she had repeatedly turned down his offers of food over the past month, and had insulted him on numerous occasions about his greasy coat. Yet still he cared enough to give her a salad.
Speaking of which… she used her meek amount of magic to drag a piece of spinach into her mouth. She had heard somewhere that the stuff made you stronger, so maybe it would give her the strength to abandon her foalish pride. The dark green leaf went down easier than the lettuce, and tasted just as good. She opened her left eye after swallowing, and saw a smidge of orange on her plate. A carrot; there was a bucking carrot on her plate. How in Celestia’s name had he gotten a carrot?! She tried to levitate it, but it wouldn’t budge. She forced her trembling hoof forward and put it against the rim of the plate, and tried to drag it to her. No good, her hoof just slipped off. She tried again, and met with the same result. Several more attempts proved just as fruitless, until a black hoof pushed the plate towards her. She looked up and saw a black and white earth stallion with worn, red eyes and a kind smile standing over her. He was rather scary looking…
“Looked like you could use some help. Gotta build up your strength if you ever plan to put on another show.” he said softly, and lowered his head to pick up the carrot. “Say ah.”
“Aaaah…” she complied, as a small piece of carrot fell into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed it. This was repeated several times until the carrot had been completely devoured by pathetic mare. The stallion turned to leave, without even waiting to hear her thanks. “Thank you, Sir.”
“It’s my pleasure. I’m a big fan of yours by the way.” he said with a smile and trotted over to Kind Soul and the other homeless, then bid them farewell to trot off down Easy Street. Such a kind pony, despite his appearance. She never learned his name, either. Oh well. She smiled and worked a piece of celery into her mouth. She did have to build up her strength, not so she could put on a show. No, now she merely intended to survive.
>X<
The next week saw the same generosity from Kind Soul, ever day for seven days. He would bring her a salad in the morning, and one at night, and each one had a single carrot in it.
It was the eighth day that Soul had planned to serve Trixie, however, he was surprised to see her standing shakily before him. So surprised in fact, that he dropped her special meal, only to see it caught in her violet aura. She wasn’t completely healthy, but she had enough strength in her to stand. That was good.
“Soul, you are a fool.” she said, smiling at him.
“How so?” he replied, and trotted over to let her lean on him. Her ribs were still sharp, but al least her belly was filling out.
“You’ve been giving me your salad. While I appreciate the kindness, I do not wish you go hungry. From now on, you have to promise that you will eat the morning salad. I can build my strength on a few pieces of foliage a day.”
He laughed and led her over to the circle of ponies around the fire, and said to her, “Deal, but only if you promise to join us for dinner.”
“Deal.” she agreed with a weak smile.
Over the proceedings of a month, she grew very close to her new friends. No they were more like a family, she thought. But like a family, you eventually must strike away on your own. She approached the dinner circle and smiled to them all. She had carefully thought about what to say to them, and after three days, she had it.
“Good evening everypony, I have an announcement.” she said firmly. She was met with several curious stares, especially from the two foals in the group, Wicked Catch, and Sweet Cherry. It would break their heart that she was leaving. “Tonight, I set off for the Pie family farm. Now that I am able to stand on my own four hooves again, it’s time I stop leeching off of your kindness.” she stopped for a moment to wipe a tear from her cheek. “You’ve all done so much, I can’t ever repay you for it, I can only thank you for your kindness, and wish you all the best of luck in the future. Especially you, Uncle Soul. You sacrificed your own food to help me. I will never forget you.” she said, and leaned down t o gently kiss the stallion on the cheek.
Before they could protest, or say anything for that matter, she turned and trotted briskly down the sidewalk. To her surprise, they all galloped after her, including Soul, shouting at her to stay. She couldn’t face them again now, so she broke into a full tilt gallop. Seeing their faces would convince her to stay. It wasn’t just for her own sake that she was leaving. If she continued to live there, she would be causing their food to deplete faster. More food meant longer lives. This was best for everypony. They finally stopped chasing her, and just stood watching as she fled from them. Thankfully they could not see her face, twisted and wet with tears.
After hours of galloping, she crossed the city limits and stopped to look back. The city… as much as it sickened her, it had been home. No more. She turned to the south and headed for the farm. Things were going to be fine for her.
>X<
Two years later:
Trixie entered the farmhouse and wiped her face with white rag, stained by years of sweat being wiped with it. Another hard day of work, deserving of a satisfied huff, which she gave. Growing rocks was hard labor. Extremely hard, in fact, but being a unicorn helped, as it allowed her to harvest the stones more efficiently. Mr. Rock and Mrs. Quartz had been very kind to allow her to stay in their house. This was a life she was happy living, though she never forgot Kind Soul and the rest of her surrogate family. Perhaps she should go visit them. She smiled and trotted into the kitchen to find Mr. Rock sitting at the table while his wife prepared dinner.
“Say, Sir, would it be alright if I took a few days off to go visit my family in Detrot?” she said and joined him at the table.
“Don’t see why not, since you been working so hard, Lulamoon. Gone ahead and go this weekend, we can manage for a bit without ye.” he said with a grizzly smile. Funny…
“Have I ever told you that you remind me of my Uncle Soul when you smile?” she asked, leaning forward with a foreleg on the table.
“Sure haven’t. What’s he like?”
“He’s homeless, and not even my Uncle, really. But he’s the kindest, most generous pony I’ve ever seen. He took me in and fed me, until I was strong enough to make it down here.” she said, smiling at her fond memories of him.
“Sounds like a mighty good pony.”
“Oh, he is Sir. He’s the one I’m going to visit. I do miss him a lot.”
“Well, I hope your visit goes alright.” he said, as Mrs. Quartz served a veggie casserole with carrots as its main ingredient.
“Carrots! Oh they’re my favorite!” she said with a smile as her plate was fixed.
>X<
Kind Soul stood in his garden, watering his carrots, when she arrived. He didn’t hear her approach, she’d gotten very good at sneaking through a creaky old farmhouse. She leaned against the lamp post behind him and smiled. It was then that she saw them. Two scars on his back, right where a pegasi’s wings would be. Now, it all made sense, why he was so kind, so generous.
“Hello, Uncle Soul. It’s been a long time.” she said.
“Oh, hello there! What brings you back to Detrot, dear Trixie?”
“Just came back to visit. Where’s the rest of the family?” she replied, pushing off the pole and coming close to nuzzle him.
“They all followed your example, getting jobs and living their lives to the fullest. Hay, even the foals done found families to adopt them. I’m rather lonely these days.” he said with a grim smile across his lips. “I’ve missed you Trixie, a fair bit too.”
“So goes the life of a homeless Alicorn?” she said, causing him to gin like a fool. “I’ve missed you too.”
“Well, I’ll be! I’ve got to start wearing a saddle, or ponies are gonna start praising me again. Can’t be the Prince of Humility if I‘m famous, now can I?”
“I suppose not!” she said with a hardy laugh, taking the watering can and watering the spinach.
The stayed together and talked all through the night about what had transpire during the two years apart. It eventually came time for her to leave, and return to the farm. She slept under her- curiously- still standing sheet metal shelter. She built it pretty well, apparently. It was comforting to sleep outside again, after two years of a small bedroom in the attic. She slept so well, too…
The next morning found her at the train station, purchasing a ticket back to the valley. As she spoke to the cashier, though, she zoned out a bit. After buying her ticket and boarding the train, she couldn’t, for the life of Celestia, remember any of her conversation with the colt at the ticket booth. She glanced at her ticket absent mindedly.
Canterlot.
“What? Why did I buy a ticket to Canterlot? I need to get to the valley!” she said, eliciting stares from the many passengers. She galloped up the center aisle, but was stopped by a security guard.
“Miss you need to sit down!” he ordered.
“No, Sir, I need to get off!” she shouted, trying to get around him, but he was massive, and barred the whole aisle. “I’ve gotten on the wrong train!”
Many of the passengers laughed at her, she tried to think of a clever comeback… “Well, perhaps when you are so madly in love that he consumes your thoughts, you would understand!” so smooth, you are, Trixie.
“Well, I’m sure he’s special, you need to sit dow-ooooowwn!” he hollered as he stumbled towards Trixie, landing atop her. The train was moving! No, no, nonononono…
“Trixie cannot be on this train!” why was she referring to herself in third person again? Furthermore, why was she so desperate to get off? She struggled to get out from under the large stallion, and retreated to her seat. She thought, and thought, and thought… she had a good life in the valley. She was part of a family there. Maud, Marble, Limestone, Mr. and Mrs.… she cared for them, and they cared for her. Especially Maud. She really had liked Maud, despite her depressing nature, or perhaps, because of it. It was sobering, Trixie thought.
But she needed to get to Canterlot. She needed to visit a small emporium in a filthy back alley. The Pie’s would wait for her, she wouldn’t be too long.
>X<
“Oh, little amulet, you’re glowing. Found yourself a new victim, have you? Well I’ll try and make sure they get you, if the price is right, of course.”
The amulet was not alive, as the shop keeper believed, it was a device, nothing more. It was designed to seek out and find those who were humbled and/or broken by another in their life. No, the amulet was not alive, but it could think. The magic in the trinket always found what it was after, and no matter how far it had to reach, it always got it’s pony. It would not take too long for her to arrive, either. A day and a half, at best. She was perfect. She had not only been broken by her experience in this Ponyville, but she had been humbled by living on the streets, as well. The amulet did not know why it did this, it simply did. It was it’s creators will.
The god of chaos would be proud.