Lots of relationships are different. No relationship can ever be perfect, nor identical to one another and with such unique relationships, there are also unique rule sets to them.
One rule was the three strike rule. It’s this skill set where if your partner hurts or disappoints you three times, the relationship ends. Some ponies abided by that rule, finding no flaws with it, while others found it ludicrous and would scoff at such a rule.
Hi, I’m Starlight Glimmer, and this is my story of how I used the three strike rule.
So my past wasn’t exactly all peaches and keen, okay, I was a total mess. Long story short, I ended up being a villain who reformed and saw the light to the magic of friendship. There were other friends like me who went through similar ordeals such as Sunset Shimmer, Discord The Lord Of Chaos, and even Princess Luna.
Though as I was reintroducing myself to society in a new way, I met another mare similar to me. Her name was Trixie Lulamoon. We shared a love for magic, a little bit of snarkiness, and even had shady pasts we could bond about.
Our friendship didn’t start out in the best way but I let that go pretty easily, my friendship with Twilight and the rest of the Elements Of Harmony wasn’t exactly perfect either.
We made a relationship after we defeated Queen Chrysalis, but somehow I found myself unknowingly using the three strike rule.
The first strike was when she accidentally teleported the map table away from Twilight’s castle. It wasn’t so much that she teleported the map table was what bugged me, it was the fact that she didn’t even seem to care that she may get me into a lot of trouble with Twilight. All she cared about was getting cinnamon nuts and going on a day out. It took me literally screaming at her for her to finally get the message that what she did was a problem. She apologized and I definitely forgave her but somehow I felt this deep pit inside of me that Trixie won’t ever care about what she does unless I reprimand her for it.
I shook the thought off, and ignored the littlest signs of Trixie’s apathy. The time where we tried to deal with Pharynx in the Changeling Hive where she hardly took a thing seriously and the amount of times we argued during the road trip to Saddle Arabia. I was definitely no saint in those moments myself so I ignored any feelings of doubt.
The second strike however was not so easy to ignore. I was getting ready to take my position as Headmare and find a Vice Headmare as well. For some reason, Trixie was convinced that the spot was created just for her, and no matter how many times I tried to make it clear that I couldn’t just give her the role, she would not LISTEN. I wasn’t perfect there myself, but yet again, I had to have a big fit of rage before she finally got the message.
Once again, the doubts returned. I was still getting the sense my girlfriend was being apathetic and dismissive of everything. I then told Trixie that she needs to work on her empathy more, but Trixie brushed me off, claiming that she made a few mistakes and we were fine.
For some reason I decided to believe that. Things seemed fine, I was happy, and Trixie was happy.
Until we weren’t.
It was the Spring semester when I was taking control of the School Of Friendship as Headmare. Trixie had told me she needed to boost her stage magician career and that she would like to perform a magic show for the magic class.
I didn’t see any harm in it so long as Trixie was careful, but I told her that she needed to tone it down as there are students we need to look after and Trixie promised me she would be.
So imagine my shock when I came to find Trixie shooting fireworks in the classroom, I tried to stop her but it was too late. A firework had already hit the ceiling and started a fire, and we barely got the students out in time.
Once the fire was being put out and the school was evacuated, Trixie picked the worst possible moment to speak.
“So… I guess the fireworks I planned to use weren’t as good of an idea as I thought.” Trixie smiled sheepishly.
“Not a good idea?! Why in Celestia would you EVER think that using fireworks in the school was a good idea! They’re highly uncontrollable and are supposed to be used for OUTDOORS!” I could barely contain my rage, she nearly got me and all of my students and faculty killed.
“Okay okay, I get it. I was just trying to spice things up for the show. We can get past this, right?” Trixie said sheepishly.
I couldn’t look at her, I turned away from Trixie and shut my eyes, letting the tears fall silently. She really thought it’d be so easy for me to just get over this.
“Starlight, you know I didn’t mean to hurt you-“ Trixie tried to put a hoof around me before I slapped the hoof away.
“NO! Of course you didn’t! You just don’t care to think! You never do!” I cried out, barely keeping my emotions in check as tears fell from my eyes.
That was the third strike, after that, I had ended my relationship with Trixie and fired her from the school. Now before you get all hissy with me, I did not make either decision lightly, breaking up with Trixie was definitely a hard thing for me, and terminating her from the School Of Friendship was an even bigger challenge. I had to pull in Sunburst to help me consider that one. When he mentioned this was the second time that Trixie almost got the students killed, I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry.
Trixie never really spoke to me again after the incident, she continued her stage magician career as a traveling performer but she definitely had less audience members after Equestria was made aware of her almost burning down the school. Given it was an accident, there wasn’t much controversy after a while but the gossip still held forward.
I sometimes felt a bit of emptiness. Me and Trixie had been together for so long that I felt there was a missing piece in my heart, but somehow, I never find it in me to go back to Trixie.
One night, I found myself going to a Ponyville bar, don’t worry, I wasn’t depressed enough to let myself be consumed by alcohol, I just had a light apple cider, however I did run into some old friends.
Spike, Big Mac, and Discord were all sitting at a table together, when they noticed my presence.
“Hi Starlight.” Spike said happily, which filled me with some joy, having not seen him for quite some time and all. So I decided to talk to them.
“Hey guys. Nice to see you here.” I said in a friendly tone before noticing Big Mac reading an article.
“What are you reading?” I decided to ask, both curious and to keep the conversation flowing.
“Uh…” Big Mac stammered before speaking softly, “Trixie got a big break in Saddle Arabia the other day.”
I could see Spike cringing uncomfortably while Discord just gave Big Mac a look as if to ask if he was stupid.
I paled at the mention of my ex before stomaching it and smiling, “Well good for Trixie. Glad everything is working out for her.”
Spike noticed my discomfort and whispered to his friends before gesturing me to follow him.
I decided to do so and sat with him at an empty table.
“Starlight, I’m aware that things are likely hard for you ever since you dumped Trixie. Are you feeling okay?” Spike asked softly.
“Honestly I’m not sure Spike. Trixie was a big part of my life.” I sighed sadly.
Spike nodded in understanding before giving his input, “Well if you want my honest opinion, you probably did yourself a favor in the long run. From what it sounds like, you reached your limit with Trixie and if my old crush for Rarity is anything go by, you need to learn that limit so you’ll feel better and keep yourself from being hurt.”
Ever since Spike said that, I found it easier to get over Trixie and move on with my life. I’ll always hold a special fond place in my heart for her, and it was tough for me to let someone I really care about go, but I needed to learn my limit.
In the end, you need to learn to show enough respect for yourself to where if you feel the line has been crossed to many times to end the relationship and move on with your life.
You’ll thank yourself for many reasons, the most notable ones being that you’re finally letting yourself be freed from being hurt all the time and heck, you may even open up to finding someone better for you.
I can’t exactly say much of what happened after I dumped Trixie, but I will tell you, my life only got better.
You may not even need three strikes, but it’s always a valid option.
Author's Note
I got this idea from a Total Drama fanfic.
The ending can be portrayed however you want. Maybe Starlight got a new partner or maybe she stayed single and focused on her friendships. Either way it works and she gets vindicated.
