Life's Left Hook

You walk through the crowd, ignoring any stares you get.

Thankfully, nobody decides to pull you over or bug you.

After about a minute or two of walking, you pass the pawn shop, and peek down the alley.

It's very dark, even with the sun out.

You can hardly see anything.

But you can't stop here.

You keep pressing on, your eyes adjusting to the light.

It smells like mildew back here, alongside some rotting garbage, some smoke, and...

Some sort of cheap perfume.

It clashes with the other smells, and even gives you a bit of a headache as you walk.

The alley is damp, and you step in a couple of puddles as you walk.

You're sure not to step on any garbage, and steer away from any of the reeking garbage cans.

Eventually, you reach the back of the alley.

There's a bit of a plaza; the walls are farther apart, and there's more room for what would be garbage cans and dumpsters.

Were it not for the rather large box, tipped over against the wall.

It's fairly pristine, contrary to the worn down, filthy, and generally unsanitary norm in the alley.

It couldn't have been here long.

Suddenly, you hear some rustling.

You're fairly certain you know what it is, but you decide to check anyhow.

You walk over and kneel down next to the box, reaching down and lifting up one side with your finger.

You see some blue fur swish around as the air comes in.

Trixie.

She's on her side, facing away from you.

There's nothing under her; nothing but the cold, hard, filthy ground.

You lift the box and make quite a racket as you throw it to the side.

But Trixie doesn't turn to face you.

She otherwise doesn't react to you taking the roof off of her head.

She's too busy quietly sobbing to herself.

You let her sniffle and sob for a moment, unsure as to what do do.

But, after a beat passes, she opens her mouth, still choking down tears.

"G-Go away, I... I'll do it later, just... Just not now..."

Do what later?

"Trixie?"

Upon hearing her voice, her ears perk.

"Wh-... Wait, Anonymous?"

She turns to face you with those red, tear stained eyes.

Her jaw hangs open, and she looks confused, shocked, and depressed at the same time.

"Wh-What? Whadaya want? D-Did you come to-... To mock me? To laugh at me?"

She sniffs again, and you can see her floodgates break again as tears well.

You sigh.

"No, Trixie, I just..."

"Y-You just what?! Came to r-rub in the salt?! Haven't you done enough?!"

"No, I haven't."

Well, that stopped her dead in her tracks.

She looked utterly confused.

"Wh--?"

You sigh, and look down at her.

"I've yet to do anything, actually."

She keeps looking at you with a bewildered look as you dig around in one of your pockets.

You pull out your wallet, and take out 25 bits.

Roughly the equivalent of $100 USD.

You hold it out to her.

"Here. Take this. You need it more than I do."

"Wh-What?! Holy shit! Okay, Anonymous? Trixie doesn't do anal!"

Your palm hits your face, full force.

"No, Trixie. I'm not trying to buy you. I'm just giving this to you."

You hold it out again in front of her.

"You're just giving it to me? Wh-What's the catch? Are you gonna tell the cops I stole it or something?"

"No, Trixie, I'm not going to-"

"Oh, let me guess. It's fake?"

She grabs one coin and bites down on it.

Hard.

And, she immediately reels in pain.

She holds her teeth, and looks at the bit in her hoof.

"Trixie. There's no catch. No games. I just want you to have this, because..."

You look at the box a few feet to your left, and then down at the cold ground.

"You shouldn't be here."

After a long pause, she reaches forward and grabs the bits.

She jingles them around, looking at them with wonder.

"What..? I... I don't..."

"You don't what?"

"I don't understand."

She sits up on her haunches, holding the bag of bits with both of her forelegs.

You let out a little huff, amused.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't, to tell you the truth."

She just stares at the bits, her jaw low.

"What? This doesn't make any sense, though!"

"To you, it doesn't."

She looks at you with an absolutely quizzical look.

Your gut starts to churn, and your chest aches.

The stress must be getting to your heart again.

Hopefully you won't have to go under.

You look up at Trixie, tossing your own worries away.

Her mane is out of place, and half of it is caked in gunk that was on the ground.

Same goes with her coat, as well.

It's a grease mess; must be from the burgeria you passed by.

It looks horrible, it's gunky, and there's no way in hell that it's going to come out easily.

Yet Trixie didn't seem to care at all.

"Wh-?"

You let out a sigh.

You have some explaining to do.

"Look, Trixie. I know what you've done. I know you tried to blackmail me, and I know you sent me to the hospital. Twice."

She looks down at the ground, shame hitting her like a derailed freight train.

"But, I've thought about it. And, even then, you don't come close to deserving this."

Her head slowly rises, but her nose stays down, humiliated.

She looks at you with big, purple, sad eyes.

Even though your chest hurts even more now, you keep going.

"I could only imagine what it's like to have your life taken away from you. I know I pulled attention away from you with my arrival, and... Well, let's just say I've had more than a word with Snarkle about... Happenings."

Trixie smiles lightly at the petty insult, but soon goes back to being gloomy.

"I could only imagine what it's like to live like this. No home, no roof, hardly any food, and having to do... That..."

You look down at the ground, and so does Trixie.

You stare for a moment, letting out a sigh.

"But."

"That isn't even half of it. You loved someone, and they left you. Not only did they leave you, but they left you for someone else."

"I honestly don't know if I'd be able to live with myself if that ever happened to me."

She hangs her head and closes her eyes.

You can see her lip quivering.

"But you... You've had it rough. You've had your life, quite literally, taken away from you, in every way, shape, and form I know of. And I don't want to let that happen because of circumstance. Nobody deserves that -- not even the lowest of the low."

"L-Like me?"

You let that sink in, and you sigh.

"Just... Please. Try to do something. Don't just flop down and go to waste. I'm bringing you back to the hotel tonight, so you-"

"Wh-What?! With-?"

"Yes, yes, with my two beautiful mares. Well, three, actually."

"Three...?"

She looks down in the ground in confusion for a moment, until her lips slowly curl into a bittersweet smile.

She opens her eyes to look at you, and at this point, you're not sure if those tears are out of sadness or out of joy.

Probably both.

"Try to talk to Octavia. I'm sure she's a bit more open-minded now, when it comes to love, and I know I won't mind if you two are together. Just... Don't let yourself go."

Before Trixie absolutely bursts into tears, you get a greasy mane in your face and some forelegs tightly wrapped around your chest.

You fall back into the muck as Trixie tackle-hugs you, holding tight.

She's sobbing her eyes out, and you can feel her chest shake as she cries.

You return the hug, holding her close.

Trixie tries to talk as her muzzle is buried in your shoulder, but whatever she says is incomprehensible through all of the crying.

You just hug her, pet her back, and hold her tight, telling her it will be okay.

Her sobbing slowly calms down, and she just lies on your chest, hugging you tight and wiping her eyes on your shirt.

"It's going to be okay... Just stay strong..."

She sniffles.

"I-It's been so hard..."

You slowly and gently pet her back, trying to wipe some of the greasy gunk out of her fur.

"I know... And it will be. But, if I know you at all, you're going to get through it if it kills you."

You've managed to get most of the globs out.

There are still stains, but nothing is caked on any more.

After another minute of your quiet hug, Trixie pulls her head back to look at you.

"You're insane," she says, a smile on her face.

Her eyes are still glazed with tears, but she has joy showing on her face.

You smile back.

"I know."

She tilts her head to her right, and her eyes start to flutter shut.

She starts to lower her head, gently pressing her lips against yours.

You rest your head back on the ground as she kisses you, closing your eyes.

Trixie is sure to take her time, slowly gliding her warm, soft lips along yours.

You do the same in response, careful not to rush.

Gently, you suckle on her lower lips like a baby, inciting a short moan from her.

Soon, you feel Trixie's tongue slide through her lips, licking yours.

Her hoof slides from your shoulders to behind your head, pulling you in closer as her tongue slides into your mouth.

Her jaw lowers and her mouth opens slowly, her head turning instinctively.

You push back with your own tongue, but you are no match to the magic mare as she pins it down in your mouth.

She lets out a hot breath into your mouth, and soon after, pulls back.

Some drool dangles from her lips to yours, and she looks at you with half lidded eyes.

You stare up at her for a moment, in a haze.

After you recollect your thoughts, only one short phrase can come to mind.

"Holy shit..."

"Not bad..."

You both just lie there for a moment, lost in each other's eyes.

And, as you stare, you feel something.

This feeling, is... Oddly familiar...

But you can't quite put your finger on it.

Whatever it is, it's just as warm and welcoming as her tender lips.

A smile on your face, you pass the question off for later, and sit up, Trixie still in your arms.

"Come on. I'm pretty sure Cadance and Octavia don't appreciate me being gone like this. Let's go."

You stand up, still holding Trixie like a baby.

She doesn't object, and you start walking.

"Wait. They don't know you're?"

You chuckle a little.

"I told Tavi I forgot my wallet at the pizza place. I saw you walk into the alley, and I knew it couldn't be good. And I felt guilty. I felt I needed to help, to."

Trixie pauses for a moment.

"That... That's..."

"That's what?"

"Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before..."

Probably because nobody wanted to.

Or even cared.

Poor mare.

"Well, it's going to get better. Trust me.

With that, you step out of the alleyway and into the bustling streets of Detrot.

You step out onto the sidewalk, ponies shuffling around you as they gawk.

If you didn't get stares before, you sure as hell got them now.

Lord knows what these ponies are thinking as you walk with a filthy mare in your arms.

This probably looks very, very bad.

Especially since you just walked out of an ally.

Welp, they're free to assume on their own, there isn't much you can do, you suppose.