Where Do I Belong?
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I benefit financially from any of the content within this story. MLP: Friendship is magic, its settings, and its characters are copyrighted by their respective owners.
"Show off!"
"Braggart!"
"Liar!"
"Con artist!"
One of the stallions among the riot shifted his head in confusion, glancing over at the light blue Pegasus mare standing next to him. "Breezy, we didn't even pay to see this trash! There's nothin' to con!"
"Oh yeah!" She giggled, blushing slightly out of embarrassment. "I sorta forgot."
The stallion shook his head, sighing, shifting his focus back to the blue unicorn mare standing on stage, backing up a bit as she regarded the crowd. "Buck it. Get 'er!"
There were two things The Great and Powerful Trixie was good at in life: The elegant, yet vastly under-appreciated art of illusion magic; and running. At that exact moment she was high-tailing it, perhaps for the, what? twentieth time? fiftieth? It didn't matter. She had lost count. For too long had she done the latter, and that bugged her. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to dazzle the crowds with indescribable feats never before witnessed by ponykind!
Trixie didn't even bother to look back, sweat beading down her brow as her stage coach bounced along the path behind her. She galloped at full speed, pulling with all her might, away from her most recent disaster. Her horn burned from the strain, feeling like it was going to snap like a twig from the intense pressure of pulling the wagon along so forcefully. But she couldn't stop, not until she had disappeared into the safety of the forest.
It had started out innocently enough, just as it always had. Always the same scenario. She'd approach a town, her single, most important goal in mind. A filly-hood dream, it was; a new life, somewhere she belonged.
It was a dream that seemed so close, but so far away. Always so far away. She had snapped again, just like she always had. She never had any intentions to gloat. She never meant to chide and humiliate those ponies she only wanted to perform for, but it happened anyway, and all she had to show for it was regret. Tears stained her cheeks now, falling to the ground in big, fat droplets as she trotted through the forest. She was confident now that she had put enough distance between herself and her pursuers. Nopony would have had the drive to chase her out this far. She could finally relax and lose herself in her thoughts. She refused to let sadness reign over her any longer today. It'd had its run for far too long.
Trixie allowed herself to become absorbed in the sounds around her as she walked, enjoying the gentle rustling of the leaves as the wind fluttered through them, smiling as she heard the calls of several birds somewhere in the distance along with several other animal calls she couldn't quite place. She had to admit, she always enjoyed walking through the forests, as much as she hated traveling the road itself. The natural symphony of music it supplied helped her in sorting through the various, fleeting thoughts that shot through her mind one after another.
Good going Trixie, you've done it once again, she sighed, thinking to herself as she trotted along at a brisk pace. She was subconsciously doubling her effort to get as far away from that dreaded town as possible.
What was Trixie thinking!? Making up such a boastful story. A hydra? Really? Trixie would be fortunate if she could even take on a manticore with her magic. She shook her head and sighed, carefully traversing a shallow stream running through the forest trail. She may have been lost in her thoughts, but it would have been foalish to neglect her surroundings.
Hoofington was such a nice little town, too, with nice ponies and a quaint little charm to it... She twitched in agitation and grumbled.
"And Trixie ruined it... Ruined it just like she always does...Why can't Trixie just be nice!?" She looked up at the sky, screaming in frustration and panting heavily, slowly calming down and slumping, plopping down onto her flank.
"W-What good is Trixie's special talent if she can't even use it?" She sighed, ears folding back to the side of her head. Any normal pony would have thought Trixie crazy for talking to herself, let alone doing so while also talking in the third-pony. She didn't care; it had always helped her to vent her frustrations aloud.
"This is as good of a place as any, Trixie thinks," She looked around as she spoke, taking in her surroundings. It was certainly peaceful enough; she had come upon a small clearing along the forest path, plenty of room to park her wagon and relax for a bit while she planned her next move. She may have been frustrated beyond belief, but she wasn't going to give up. Not yet. She may be many things, even if she didn't want to be them. She may have been a braggart, and a show-off, and a liar -oh, Celestia was she a liar- but if she gave up now, it would have all been for nothing. She would fail the one task given to her by the only pony who-
"NO!" She shook her head, banishing those thoughts back to whatever dark and dreary recess they had crawled out of. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie! She could do this! She could do anything!
"Right!" She grinned, magicking the wagon into place along the western edge of the clearing, setting up camp for the day. "Let's try this again!"
Silence reigned throughout the forest. Save the chirping of crickets or the occasional hoot of an owl, a calming silence enveloped the forest as Luna's moon rose high into the sky, casting its dazzling light down upon the land and coloring everything it shone upon in those familiar hues of blue and black, the colors of the night. For most of the critters that inhabited the forest, this was a time of rest and dreams. For one particular pony, though, the comforting embrace of sleep would have to wait.
Scritch.
Scritch.
Scritch.
"No...No... Oh Celestia no," Trixie shook her head, clearing her thoughts as she stared down at the piece of parchment she currently had situated on a small, oaken fold-out table she had dragged out from the confines of her trailer. She set it up by the blazing fire she had gotten going as twilight had begun to spread through the land. She always enjoyed a nice fire, basking in the warmth as its radiant glow danced across her features. "Fillydelphia's definitely out. Trixie has heard they're quite... inhospitable. And the ponies in Manehatten probably wouldn't know a decent magic act if it bit them in the flank." Trixie rolled her eyes, levitating a quill to the parchment, making two more scratches across the map of Equestria. "If there's one thing Trixie cannot stand, it's a snooty, aristocratic, stuck up pony." She paused, looking up and staring ahead, a look of disgust played across her face. Only then did she realize the hypocrisy of that statement; she shook her head and shrugged it off as her eyes darted across the map.
Unfortunately, a good portion of the map was now full of big, black "X" marks. They were places she had already been, or places she had no desire to try, knowing full well the likely outcome.
"Hmmmm..." Trixie turned her gaze to her current position on the map. Using the stars and several constellation charts, she had determined her position to be somewhere within the heart of Whitetail Woods, a forest located just a bit south of a town called Ponyville.
Trixie looked up, a smile on her face. "Ponyville," she mused, finding an odd sense of joy from the way it rolled nicely off her tongue. It felt natural; it felt comforting...it felt...right, somehow. And best of all, it was so close.
"That settles it!" She nodded, bringing quill to parchment in a great flourish, circling Ponyville and rolling up the map with a nod, followed by a long yawn. "Now then, Trixie requires her beauty sleep. She simply must make a good impression for the charming ponies of Ponyville. Sleep deprivation will not aid her."
With that, Trixie hobbled onto all fours, levitating a bucket of water over to the fire, extinguishing the crackling flames, a mighty hiss emanating from it as it was snuffed out. She trudged over to her wagon, heeding the call of her bed, beckoning her to snuggle into its comfy confines and drift into the world of dreams.
Closing the door on her wagon and trotting over to her bed, she hopped in and snuggled under the covers, barely having enough time for one last, conscious thought.
Tomorrow, Ponyville...Tomorrow.
