I Only Hate You.

I hate you...

I hate you all...

I could have been everything! I could have been anything! The world was mine. From the second I drew breath, this world became mine and mine alone. All i asked was that everyone get out of my way and adore me! That's all you had to do. That's all anyone had to do. But, no. No, that was too much for anyone. You all just had to get uppity with me and whine. Whine about how MEAN I was; or how CHILDISH I was being.

None of you understand!

None of you understood.

No one got it...

One could easily imagine the floor she danced upon had been decorated with hot coals with the speed of each of her steps. Her feet lept, strode, pranced and pounced upon the stage at a blinking speed. Each limb acted as a serpent; unpredictable and at times moving in a manner bewildering to the eye, yet always in an elegant and mesmerizing design that held the eye as a slave. One moment she would be at one end of the stage before bounding to the other side with the fluid motion of water across an oiled surface; unmatched and impossible to mistake. The crowds cheered, calling the dancer's name as she displayed footwork beyond their comprehension. As her preference drew on more and more, the floor she was allowed to use diminished as coin and bills alike were sent spilling over her feet from her adoring public.

As the cheers simmered down, the woman drew her feet to a stop and between huffing breathes, she bowed to the collected audience she drew in. Without a word, she went to her knees and began to shovel what coin or cash she could into her arms before any of her 'adoring public' had second thoughts about throwing money at her. Standing up, she couldn't help but show some disappointment at all the leftover money still scattered across the floor. With any luck she could get one of the stage hands to scoop up what was left before anyone else could get to it.

Arms full of her gains from her latest performance, the dancer scampered off pass the curtain of her stage to enter the throng of all the behind the scenes workers mingling about. Her arms tightened around the money she gathered, giving each person she passed a shift eyed glance that they would return in kind. Between each distrusting glance she gave someone, she would look out at the other wagons and trailers that made up her lovely caravan. Among the wagons, she would see other shows still going on; dancers, jugglers, magicians, clowns. All of them performing while other members of the caravan would mix into the audiences they gathered to lighten some purses and wallets.

She would love to ignore the darker trade secrets of the business, but it just came with the territory in the end. And it wasn't that great a secret, honestly. Without a thought more to it, she continued on threw the throng of other caravan actors and thieves until she found herself at the door of one special wagon. Above the door frame, decorated in glittering gold letters was the family name she was born to: Lulamoon.

Shifting the weight of what coins and dollar bills she scrounged up off of the ground against her chest, she struggled to open the door of the wagon. The moment she entered the wagon, she was welcomed by the bright, homey lights of her 'home' interior. As well as a man sitting back in a worn out armchair. The two of them shared a single glance at each other before the man looked at all the money she was carrying. She knew what he was going to say, and she had no intention of hearing it from him today. Much like every other day.

But just like every other day, he started anyway. "This is no life for her."

"'No life for her, no life for her', every day you say it's no life for her. But look at her," the dancer deposited what money she had into a large bin that held a large pile of coins. After which, she knelt down to look at a small girl -no older than five- sitting on a little blue blanket and playing with a 'witch's hat'. The dancer pinched playfully at the little girl's cheek, making both of them giggle. "She couldn't be happier."

"'Couldn't be happier' she says. 'Look at her', bah..." The man huffed, stroking his thumb and index finger against his mustache, "Her mama's dances for horny men's money and her daddy sells desperate people snake oil."

"We do well for ourselves! We always have!" She protested, though tried to keep a kinder tone for the sake of her daughter.

"You tell me to look at her, now you look at her!" The man shot up from his chair and stormed over to sit next to his daughter still playing with the hat her father wore for 'work'. Carefully, he lifted the little child and set her on his lap, placing a hand atop her shimmering, silver haired head. "Gypsies, tramps, thieves... Do you want that for Trixie? Do you want Trixie to be around this her whole life?" He whispered a pleading voice to his wife, still holding his little Trixie close.

For a moment, daughter and mother looked into the other's eyes. So young and unassuming, Trixie could not tell the pain in her mother's eyes. She tried her hardest to force a cheerful smile for Trixie, which made the little girl giggle happily and snuggle up into her father. "...Your sister lives in the next town, right?" Her husband nodded with a solemn look, "We'll... We'll have her take Trixie in... For now. She'll be able to make friends. And go to school..." With gentle tears threatening to break free, the both put their heads against the top of Trixie's, "She'll have a chance to be normal. Our great and very special Trixie..."

I was a just a baby when mom and dad handed me off to my aunt. They thought I'd forget about them, forget everything they taught me... The Great and Powerful Trixie NEVER forgets. I remember all the colorful people we traveled with, all the tricks they taught me, the smell of oils we'd sell as 'cure alls'. I also remember the things they called us when we left somewhere. Gypsies, tramps, thieves; among many more horrible, uncivilized things. The things you would expect from bumpkins and hicks... Like that Jack girl that lives in this town. Uncultured things, honestly. Even then I knew they were just jealous we were smarter than them.

I do wonder though... Could they have guessed leaving me there would be perhaps the worst thing to happen to me?

Coming in and being the new kid in class is a bit hard. New faces to learn, and you're the odd one out. All the seats are assigned so you're left with the dingy one with the broken left leg that makes it all wobble whenever you put books on the table. Every eye falls on you waiting to see you make a bad move that everyone can cling onto. It's a tough way to start...

Coming in and being the new kid in school is a bit harder though. Too many faces to put names to, making you almost sick at the shell-shock of it. Well, maybe not shell-shock but rather culture shock. Everyone's in a clique and you have no idea how to start one or join in on one. You're made an exile to sit alone at lunch, pair up in gym, and teaming up for drama class. It's the shortest end of the stick you could get...

Coming in and being the new kid on the block in a new town is in fact the worst. Take everything said before and amplify it to the umpth-degree. Why are you new? What did you do that brought you here? How many people did you kill? Did they ever find the bodies? When will you tell the truth? You're an enigma and everyone wants to know and will grill you until you tell them exactly what they want to hear. It's a horror story you never wake up from...

Then again, you're only a child when you feel that way. When you're older, you tend to see it not so bleak and horrible. But, you just can never see the reality from way down there when you're so small and young. That's exactly how Trixie felt upon first entering her new elementary school in her new town at the start of her new life. For the first time in her entire life she would be relieving an actual education outside of parlor tricks and card counting. Her aunt told her: "Trixie, no matter what happens, hold your head high and tell yourself 'I'm a Lulamoon'". Frankly, for the first time in her life, she wasn't feeling the magic of her name. Back 'home', she would strut around proud as could be with the knowledge she was a Lulamoon. They were jacks of all trades and the best performers you could ever see. But, something told her no one at this school or any school would 'get it'.

For the most part, on Trixie's first day there, everything went well. Though it all happened so fast for Trixie, she could only remember blurbs of time. A teacher bringing her before the whole class, everyone asking questions about her that the teacher had to answer, people muttering about her as she walked the hallways between classes. It was all a stark contrast compared to her life in the caravans. But, it also felt kind of nice. Kids her own age were everywhere, and some of them had some nice outfits. Sure, some of them were dressed like slumdogs or something, but that wasn't the point. The point was that things were different here. A bit more normal.

Before long, she found herself in the lunch room picking out her meal for the day. The only problem she ran into was at the end of the lunch line; when she had to pick somewhere to sit. Or rather find somewhere to sit. Friends had already conquered table after table, monopolizing every inch of the lunch room and making for Trixie to feel a bit awkward as she peered around while she stood in there out in the open. For a minute she thought she could maybe just sit on the floor and eat her lunch quickly before someone noticed; that was a branding she didn't need on her first day. However, her worries seemed to be answered as she noticed someone waving her down.

For a few seconds that felt like hours to Trixie, she looked at the girl sitting at an almost full table and wondered if she was actually waving her down. Trixie checked behind her and to her sides; no, not a soul was there. The other girl continued to wave Trixie down more feverishly, a wild smile on her face as she laughed at how weird Trixie was being. Trixie honestly didn't want to just stand there all day while people might be staring, so she hurried over to the girl and took a seat at her table.

The moment Trixie's rear hit the black plastic of the lunch room table, the girl that waved her down slammed her hands onto the table and groaned out the most exhausted sound one could think of. The other girls at the table snickered a bit aside from two of them that had their noses firmly planted into heavy books. "Finally! I felt my arm was gonna fall off!" The girl who waved Trixie down -a peppy blue haired girl with white highlights- threw her arms over the table in a faux tired state. "Lyra! Rub my armsies, they're tired!"

A minty green haired girl sitting next to the girl shook her head and started shoveling spoonfuls of mashed potatoes into her open mouth. "M'ah, m'ro! Mmm..." Lyra took a hard swallow, wincing a little as her food slid down her throat, "Ah... You wave, you pave. Pave meaning 'pay', but since pay didn't rhyme with 'wave'---"

The blue haired girl shot back to sitting up, ignoring Lyra as she continued to ramble on. "Welcome, newby! This is the 'cool table', so you're cool now. I'm Minuette, chatty-Cathy hear is Lyra," Lyra gave a little wave as she jammed more potatoes into her mouth, yet still continued to talk all the same, "Over there's Twink," a pink haired girl with a fair complexion smiled and waved a cutesy little hand gesture to Trixie, "The girl with her hand stuck in a jar next to you is Lemon."

"I swear, I came to school with both my hands free," a girl with icy blue hair whined as she waved around her right hand which had been jammed inside of a glass jar that also housed a pickle.

"Mere mo' m'ie'ing mo' m'et m'a mi'mm'le m't?" Lyra coughed out a bit, pointing her spoon in Lemon Hearts' direction.

The girl quietly lowered her head embarrassed, which made the other girls snicker. "Anyway, the two nerd-birds stuck in their books are Moondancer and Twilight." Even as Minuette introduced the two 'nerd-birds', neither one made a motion of greeting the girl. "So that leaves you... Who are you, newby?"

A teacher had introduced her in every class she took part in today. Trixie had never been given the chance to shine, to be who she really was. And now she was given that exact chance. She felt her throat dry for the first time in all her life, too afraid to speak. But she felt it, this was her moment. The moment that would distinguish her for the rest of her life. Trixie cleared her throat and readied her introduction. The one her aunt to her to announce if she ever had the chance. "My name is Trixie Lulamoon; the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"My name is--"

A small thud interrupted her as one of the 'nerd-birds' lowered her book from her face to finally look at Trixie for herself. In that moment, the two of them looked at one another in a passing eternity. The girl had the biggest purple eyes one could ever see and the neatest, prettiest straight hair with different shades of blues and a little red. The little girl -Twilight if Trixie could recall Minuette's naming- made a little smile as she took in Trixie. "Trixie Lulamoon. You're the newest student to our school and actually just moved into town over the Summer. I remember one of the teachers said you had a talent for magic tricks and the sort. Does that mean you'll be taking part in the talent show tomorrow? I was actually just reading up on some 'sleight of hand' myself and was planning on displaying what I learned tomorrow, actually. I think it'd be rather interesting to see if my studies match your method."

All of the wind was taken out of Trixie's sails and she was left there dead in the water. This Twilight just took her introduction... She spoke with such articulation... And she just challenged her... All in the same breathe. Trixie just sat there stunned; dumbfounded. Now all the other girls (aside from Moondancer who was still reading her book) were looking at Trixie with bated breath. Would she actually be going to the talent show tomorrow? Such a brave move for a new student!

Trixie sat there, looking between each hopeful face looking at her then at the tray of food she took from the lunch line. She didn't even like beans... Why did she take beans? Why did she take a sloppy Joe? Why did she sit at this table? Why did Twilight steal her thunder? All at once, something snapped in Trixie. Something she hadn't felt since her mommy and daddy had her on the road.

Trixie started to laugh. She threw her head back, feigned a hand to her mouth and smirked a devilish smirk. "Oh-ho-ho! Twilight, was it? Certainly you will see I --The Great and Powerful Trixie-- at this talent show. And you shall witness the finest arts of 'sleight of hand' you could ever imagine!" Trixie stood up from the table, still smirking as proud as anyone could be, "Until then, bask in the wonder that is Trixie!" With a fluttering finish to her words, Trixie rolled a bow to Twilight and all her friends before scampering out of the lunch room; a new found confidence within her.

"...You see that, Minuette? You scared another one," Lyra glared at Minuette and made a gesture towards the tray Trixie left behind, "See? She even left her food? Who's gonna eat it now?" Everyone at the table quietly looked at Lyra for a moment, who was still glaring at Minuette, "...Twinkle, pass that Joe."

Everything was to be perfect. I would amaze that Podunk school with my showstopping abilities at their rinky-dink talent show. "Talent show", what a farce it was. A girl telling jokes with a dummy and failing miserably to do anything resembling ventriloquism. Some would-be jock lifting chairs over his head until he dropped one on his foot. Even a teacher doing a clown act... Which was actually sort of funny, I'll admit. It was the nuance of it all. There were so many more cringe worthy acts, but they were simply filler before her act.

Twilight's Magic Act. She signed up just before me. So of course her performance would be right before mine. She pretended to be "let down" that she wouldn't see my act first; but I knew better even then. You always save the best for last. Her act included this young pre-schooler with spiked green hair. A cheap tactic to get "awww" factor.

Her biggest mistake was having only one trick to show. Amateur hour... She sawed her assistant in half; the most overdone trick there is. Oh, but the audience loved it. They were eating out of the palm of her hand. She had them all fooled with her little parlor trick. Fake legs in one box, the assistant pulling their own legs up into the 'first box' to make it look like they were being cut in half; you see it all the time on television now. But EVERYONE loved it.

Which only meant they would LOVE my act all the more...

I will never forget that night...

Three simple tricks: the rings, cards, and my daddy's hat trick.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, you shall be wowed and amazed by the greatest magical styling you have ever seen. Shock and awe shall fill you at each passing moment as I --The Great and Powerful Trixie-- display mind boggling illusions. First, the ever popular Chinese Linking Rings!" In a flurry of motion, Trixie produced from beneath the lavish cape she adorned herself with a set of glittering silver rings.

The whole of the auditorium was filled with playful 'oooo's' and 'ahhhh's' both humoring her and genuinely being interested. Two spotlights were fixed on the young would-be magician as she held center stage, showing off the rings to all the audience to see. With each flick of her wrist, she sent shimmers off of the set of rings she displayed. The room fell into a hush as Trixie threw up her free hand, calling for absolute silence. "Behold! These sterling steel rings are -in fact- solid. Whole pieces of circular metal," Trixie tried to pull the two apart for the audience's information, only for the two rings to clang against one another soundly. "Yes. Perfectly linked together. But how did they get that way? By magic! I shall show you now by making the two of them---!"

CLANG...

"--Separate!" The hushed remained, as too did the linked rings. Trixie's eyes fell to the rings, her lips curved up into a smile, though it started to shake nervously. "O-Of course, without the magic words, no two rings shall come apart. That was merely to show you what would happen without it," parts of the audience chuckled for Trixie's impromptu joke, but the others remained eerily quiet.

"Here we go! Ala--"

CLANG...

"--Kazam!" A cough reverberated through the dark auditorium. Trixie's smile started to shutter even more and she began to clang the rings together feverishly, her expression getting more and more desperate until she heard something from the audience. Laughter. Her eyes were wide and she looked off into the vast dark of the room, hearing small laughs as she tried to pull her rings apart. She felt the cold of the rings between her fingers filling her entire body; growing more and more clammy with each second. Everything felt cold in an instant. Her expression dropped and she simply looked off into the void for what felt like an eternity. Though reality sunk into her within those quick few seconds when she felt something hot brush against her cheek.

Her nerves shot together and she began to laugh and toss the rings aside. "Chinese Ring Tricks, am I right? If it's not made locally..." She tried to laugh it off as she began to dig into the pockets of the cape she wore. Another set of chuckles came from the open void, though they felt condescending instead of uplifting now. "What we need is a little--" her hands fumbled to remove the stacked deck of cards she had stowed away.

As she took them out, the air in front of her was soon filled with white and black as well as the sound of fluttering paper. Her hands felt beyond empty as her cards shot up into the air and fell to her feet in a spectacular display. But not the display she wanted or planned for. As every card fell to the floor, everyone in the crowd started to laugh at the display. Those two spotlights on her began to burn and her entire body felt like stone. She couldn't move, though she was shaking all over. Quickly, she fell to her knees and started to pick up all her cards in a hurry. "P-Pay this no mind! Sometimes the show just has... Accidents," as she tried to dismiss all the mistakes, she grabbed at every card she could get to.

That is until one card below her caught her eye. It was face down, but something was off about it. There was a wet mark on it as she began to look at it. Then another one formed on the back of it; then another. Before she knew it, there were wet marks dabbing across the ground beneath her face and that hot feeling started to stream down her face again. She threw her hands against her face and felt them become warm as well as wet. She tried to fight it, but everything inside her urged her to do it.

Trixie stood up and stormed off the stage, her face buried in her hands. It was all Twilight's fault... She took her confidence away... She ruined her act... She knew this would happen... She had to! She would NEVER forgive her for this. NEVER! Though the spotlights didn't track Trixie as she escaped behind stage, the audience's laughter became an awkward quiet as they heard the young magician screaming back at them. "Stop laughing at me! Stop laughing! This is all your fault! I'm special! I'm Trixie! You can't laugh at me like this! I hate you! This is HER fault!"

"Geez Louise, what a buttbag! You alright, Twilight?"

"Yeah... I think I made her mad..."

"Forget her. She's a poopnose."

"No... no I don't believe that. There has to be someway I can make it up to her."

"You didn't do anything! Twilight, sometimes a buttbag is just a buttbag."

Every year after I tried again for the talent show... She beat me...

For flag day, I challenged her to every event... She beat me...

In middle school, I entered the battle of the bands... She did too... I took second...

I ran for class president... She won!

I auditioned for the play every year...! She took a role and I was background!

I applied to be in our High School's Equestria Games! SHE AND HER FRIENDS GOT IN!

I dropped out of High School to get away from her and become the greatest success in the world! SHE OWNS MY THOUGHTS! I HATE TWILIGHT SPARKLE!

Why did she ruin my life!? Why can't I quit her?!

Why?

Why?

...Why?