Pinkie Pie: Private I - The secrets of my friends

"Read 'em and weep boys, Trixie's got you beat," the smug mare said to the four dumbstruck stallions before her as she spread out four aces along with a jack of spades.

"Well Flam... Looks like we're out of luck."

"Seems like it Flim." The two unicorns mumbled to one another

"Cup is going to murder me..." the earth pony said to himself as he took another gulp of cider.

"Not yeah..." the muscular pegasus sulked, his tiny wings falling to his sides in shame.

"Oh don't cry, really, do you think you stood a chance against The great and powerful Trixie?" the blue mare said as she pulled the stack of chips toward her, a smirk spread across her face. Coming into the casino with fifteen bits and walking out with two-hundred eighty-seven was quite the lucky break for Trixie.

The small crowd that had gathered dissipated as Trixie exchanged her chips and left the building, carrying her small fortune with her.

Trixie was quite happy with her recent victory. Being laughed offstage time after time had begun to wear on her nerves, and the feeling of finally being the winner again came as a euphoric wave.

Trixie sat in her new cart, organizing everything for her return to Ponyville.

"Soon. Oh so soon." She would whisper to herself every night. Finally she had paid off the new cart. Finally she had everything she needed, and the anticipation was making her giddy.

"And Trixie believes she have some business to attend to," Trixie thought aloud, trotting to her makeshift training ground outside the cart. It wasn't much, just a bucking bag(*) filled with sand and a few stones arranged in a row. Trixie refused to be outdone by Twilight again and had been studying and training in all of her free time. Sure, she could have just bought a magic trinket (an obsidian and blood ruby amulet in particular caught her eye), especially with her recent fortune, but that would be the easy way out, the foals way out. The great and powerful Trixie was no foal. So for hours each night she practiced countless techniques, studying and training, each and every skill honed to perfection.

Trixie exhausted herself, pulling off each trick with unparalleled skill, she began her final session. First simple shattering rocks, advancing to moving complex formations withe the remnants, and eventually moving to teleportation. That cursed teleportation. Such a simple effect, point a to point b, but it was so exhausting, so energy consuming that she had considered giving up on it. No. She couldn't accept that. Twilight Sparkle could teleport almost effortlessly from her experience, so she would have to as well.

"Trixie had only upstaged a few of your friends, she didn't call the Ursa, she didn't leave anypony with anything that would pain them more than a few hours, and suddenly she's the laughing stock of Equestria. Twilight... The day you're out of Trixie's head is the day Trixie finally gets a good night's rest!" She ranted as she practiced the technique over and over again, each time her horn burning from the magical stress.

"Time for Trixie to show you who's really the best!"