Elements of Character

It was a beautiful day in Equestria. The day that nopony knew about.

Trixie was sitting in the back of the royal carriage, heading to Ponyville. She stared silently at the box that Luna gave her. It was made mostly of dark spruce wood with some gold framing. It was a strange shape as well. It was a hexagon shape, with symbols on each side. She had no idea what the symbols meant, and the longer she stared at them, she started getting a headache.

Trixie sighed and put the box back in her saddlebags. She was highly tempted to open it, but she couldn’t. She wanted to keep her word to Luna, even if it killed her.

She gently levitated her red jewel element. The element of Confidence.

Ironic, she thought to herself, she gave the element that always gets me into trouble…

Trixie was looking at the jewel when the carriage stopped. The door to the back opened and the coachpony looked at her.

“Miss Trixie Lulamoon, we have arrived at Ponyville.” He said.

Trixie nodded and stepped out of the carriage, “Thank you.”

The coachpony shrugged, “Anything for a close friend to Princess Luna.” With that he got back on the carriage a rode away.

Trixie watched him go and turned around to see the familiar town of Ponyville.

Her memories of this place are anything but pleasant. The teasing, the mocking, the assaults. She could still feel the pain of that apple that was chucked at her face.

She sighed, “Hopefully, ponies can forgive me for all that I have done…” She took her first step into Ponyville for months. She was relieved to see that not many ponies were out in the streets. As she was trotting through the streets of this painfully familiar town, she noticed that she was getting hungry.

“Great, like any of the restaurants would serve me…” She said somberly, “Not after what I did.”

Apparently somepony heard her talking to herself, because she heard a bubbly voice say, “Hey are you hungry?”

Trixie looked up at the mare who had spoken to her. She was a grey Pegasus with a light blonde mane. She was looking straight at Trixie, and that’s when Trixie noticed her eyes. They were a beautiful gold, but that isn’t what made them strange. They were crooked.

Trixie was surprised that anypony would even think to speak to her. What’s more, this mare was smiling at her.

“U-um, yeah…” Trixie said cautiously.

The mare gasped and then smiled, “Well, we can’t have that, now could we?” She took Trixie’s hoof and said, “I must get you fed right away!” She started leading her to a house.

Trixie was still in shock of this pony being so nice to her, “W-well that’s very nice of you Miss…”

“Derpy, Derpy Hooves. My name used to be Ditzy, but that’s just silly!” She laughed.

“Well, Derpy, I appreciate the gesture, but I’m kind of doing something really important.” Trixie said.

Derpy laughed again, “What could be more important than eating? Besides, we’re here!”

Trixie looked up at the cottage that the bubbly Pegasus had brought her to. It was quaint and on the outer rim of the town. It had two stories to it and a nice little front porch. By the porch, there were two gardens, both growing carrots.

Derpy trotted up to the porch, and knocked on the door with her hoof. A few seconds later, an Earth Pony opened the door.

She was beautiful. The mare had a golden coat and a bright orange curled mane. She also had emerald green eyes.

The Earth Pony smiled, “Hey Derpy, what brings you here?”

“Oh, my new friend is hungry.” Derpy smiled back, “I was wondering if you could fix something for her, Carrot Top?”

Carrot Top looked a Trixie and recognized her. “O-oh…” She looked at Trixie for a while, “Y-you want me to feed T-trixie…”

Derpy looked confused, “Yeah. Is there something wrong?”

Carrot Top shook her head, “No, I’m just wondering why she came back to Ponyville.”

Trixie sighed, “I’ve come here searching for the Elements of Character.”

“Elements of Character?” A voice came out of nowhere.

Suddenly a light yellow Pegasus with an aquamarine tail came and stared down Trixie. “That’s just an old pony’s tale. Or is this another one of your tricks, Trixie.” She glared at her.

Derpy stood in between Trixie and the mare, “That’s not nice, Raindrops.”

Raindrops rolled her eyes, “Come on Derpy, she has lied, cheated, and even put Ponyville under her control.”

“That’s no reason to be mean to her.” Derpy said.

Two other ponies came around from the backyard of Carrot Top’s house. One was a mint green Unicorn while the other was a magenta Earth Pony. They both had carts strapped to them, filled with vegetables.

“Hey, Carrot Top, Lyra and I are done.” The magenta mare said.

Carrot Top nodded, “Thanks, Cheerilee and Lyra.”

Lyra looked at the three mares standing on Carrot Top’s porch. “Oh, I didn’t know you had guests.”

Carrot Top sighed, “They’re not guests, and they kind of just showed up.”

Trixie nodded, “Look, I’m sorry for any inconvenience. I’ll be on my way.”

She started to walk away, she could hear them arguing.

“Raindrops, you hurt her feelings. Go apologize.” Derpy said.

“What? No, you know what she’s done in the past.” Raindrops said.

Lyra cut in, “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

“She had her second chance.” Carrot Top said.

“But still, you have to admit, she had a lot of confidence to come back to Ponyville.” Cheerilee said as well.

Derpy said, “Ha! Three against two. We win.” She flew in front of Trixie, stopping her. “We’re really sorry about how we treated you.”

Trixie smiled slightly, “Don’t worry about it, I’m used to it.”

“But-“ Derpy was suddenly cut off by a rumbling sound.

All six of the mares looked at where the sound was coming from. It was coming from the Everfree Forest.

“What is that?” Lyra said in a shaky voice.

“That,” Trixie looked at the forest, “is the sound of a monster…”