GreentextSavant - Cognitive Dissonance

>Trixie always saw herself as the biggest star out there.
>Ever since she was a little girl, her aspirations rose to heights even too high for those of a child.
>She actually planned out her success on paper, mapping out what gigs she would imagine herself doing decades into the future.
>Call it arrogant, but this meant the whole world and then some to the girl. And that was years before now.
>Trixie’s hands these days shake at the very thought of her success. The feeling compels her to walk through the chilly breeze every morning to the theater to attend her daily performing arts club she signed up for.
>It’s always right before school, and Trixie has to be careful not to wake her stepsister Sugarcoat on the lower portion of their bunk bed. She won’t have to do this anymore once she starts raking in more money for herself so she can move out.
>Everyone notices her approach the theater, but mostly because of the walkways being on the opposite side of the building from the parking lot.
>The girl knows her entrance electrifies everyone in the room as she steps through the door. She just KNOWS it.
>Ignoring the looks on everyone else’s faces, Trixie sets her mind free of distractions and pulls out her glorious equipment.
>She walks to the center of the stage to ensure that everyone can watch her practice.
>It feels like an eternity before Trixie is done going over her act, and the other people around her reluctantly clap to avoid another… episode.
>Trixie thanks them and basks in the encouragement they give her. The carefully crafted fake smiles reinforce Trixie’s ego as she packs up at the end fo the session and gets ready to go to school.
>The confidence sticks with her in each desk she sits in as the classes go by.
>…
>Sugarcoat sits at her desk in her room at 3:10 in the afternoon, planning to finish all of her homework by 5:00.
>She’s too used to hearing the footsteps going up the stairs to flinch when Trixie comes bursting through the door.
>”The talent show is still a whole week away! Why can’t it just be here already? Trixie is far beyond excited!” The magician girl throws her backpack onto her top part of the bunk bed, staring at Sugarcoat.
>It takes Sugarcoat a few seconds to give into the pressure to answer. She can’t ignore her stepsister for much longer.
>”Why are you so excited? It’s just another talent show that your school does every year. What makes this one any different?”
>Trixie rolls her eyes to the ceiling and scoffs, climbing up to her throne that is the higher bunk bed. “Because Trixie is going to dominate it this time!”
>Sugarcoat doesn’t humor the girl by answering, only waiting for her to dish out more material before she starts shooting it down again.
>”You see.” Trixie continues. “The last year or so has seen Trixie learning many new methods on creating illusions. Unlike last year, so many hours have been spent on practicing. The competition will have no idea what hit them.”
>”Unless you convince me otherwise, I seriously doubt it.”
>Trixie watches Sugarcoat cross her arms, having expected her to not be easily swayed.
>”Trixie was hoping you’d say that.” She pulls a deck of cards out of her backpack.”
>”Another card trick, huh?” Sugarcoat squints at the girl on top of the bunk beds. “You should try to come up with an original act sometime. Because doing a card trick isn’t going to help you stand out. Tons of magicians or what have you do card tricks. And they all end up with them choosing a card you didn’t expect or something. It gets really uninteresting after seeing enough of them.”
>”How do YOU know this is going to be uninteresting?” Trixie’s grin still becomes smug regardless. “Trixie already knew that. Which is why she added a new twist to the act to make it more interesting.”
>Sugarcoat turns back to her desk, wishing she could make of for the wasted two and a half minutes she spent talking to Trixie. “I’m not interested. Go show dad or something.”
>With a furrow of her brow, Trixie slides off the edge of the bed and lands right behind Sugarcoat. “You’re just afraid that you’ll actually be impressed this time.” She insists.
>”Um, no. I’m not.”
>Trixie sets up the card trick while Sugarcoat has her back turned, slipping a couple of cards up her sleeves in advance.
>”You sure? Trixie would have guessed that you think it’s impossible to…” Trixie pauses for emphasis. “Juggle cards.”
>Sugarcoat would have laughed had she not been annoyed. She spins around on her chair and fixes her glasses. “I guess I’d like to see what your idea of “juggling” is, then.”
>Determined to change Sugarcoat’s mind as quickly as possible, Trixie begins to toss the card around in front of her, spinning them vertically.
>It’s already obvious that this trick wasn’t well thought out in any way, even though Trixie put a lot of time into learning how to catch them easily.
>”Pretty sure you can’t do this.” Trixie starts to boast.
>”Nope. But I’m also pretty sure I don’t give a-”
>”I hasn’t even begun yet!” Trixie lets all of the cards land onto her hand face up in a stack. “Pick one.” She fans them out in her hand to reveal the five cards revealing the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.
>Sugarcoat’s glare is more than enough for the girl to have to verbally answer “no”.
>”Pick… one!” Trixie repeats, a little more insistently. “More importantly, pick a card with a number that you DON’T see.”
>And that’s the last thing Sugarcoat needed to know that Trixie has the other five cards up her sleeves. She sighs in the wake of something far from surprise. “One.”
>Trixie commences the “oh so exciting” juggling of the cards once more, showing how much she practices using one hand to catch the cards as she starts to toss them around her back at the same time.
>Sugarcoat watches her do it quickly as well, noticing the precision it takes in order to pull something like this off.
>Until… she’s able to clearly see where Trixie slips the card with the 1 on it out from her sleeve. It wasn’t anywhere near subtle enough.
>Trixie finishes juggling and produces the deck of cards in her hand, all face down. The card numbered 1 on top, of course. She swipes it off the top and shows it to Sugarcoat, at least expecting her eyebrows involuntarily rise.
>Nothing.
>”In shock?” Trixie asks, straightening her back. “Trixie’s original and innovative act was epic and you know it! When have you ever seen someone juggle cards?”
>”I saw you get the card from out of your sleeve.” Sugarcoat points out. “And your hand movements don’t resemble traditional juggling. You were literally just throwing the cards into the air and catching them one at a time. I’ll admit that learning how to catch them so fast takes memorization, but it’s not interesting enough to put into a talent show.”
>”Oh, please!” Trixie responds. “You only knew that because I showed you that song I wrote.”
>”Which is what made it even more obvious that you were going to have “tricks up your sleeve”. Not only did I figure out you were going to do that before you even did it, but it’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. You should expect over half of your audience to figure it out even if they don’t see it, which I wouldn’t hold my breath on. I bet they know about your song too, by the way.”
>”Don’t lie to your sister! Trixie knows she’s not invisible. There’s no way-”
>”I saw it. And I’m not impressed, and I’m sure that no one else will be either.”
>”You’re just jealous that Trixie can do something you can’t! Again! All you do is waste your time on school work because you’re too used to living a boring life going to the boring school that doesn’t even have talent shows!”
>”No, I’m glad that I’m not as deluded as you.” Sugarcoat imagines all of the things she can do that Trixie isn’t aware of. “And you do realize that all Crystal Prep students have to know archery, right?”
>Trixie stifles an arrogant cackle. “Archery is easy! All you have to do is point and shoot! Far too below Trixie’s level of intellect!”
>”I can assure you that it’s a lot more than just a simple “point and shoot” type deal. But then again, I’m not surprised that you think otherwise. You’ve never even tried it, have you?” Sugarcoat actually can’t believe that Trixie is THIS clueless about archery.
>”Trixie doesn’t NEED to try it! She has more… interesting things to do.”
>”Again, I’m glad that I’m not ad deluded as you.”
>”Out of arguments, hmm?”
>”At least I had a valid one to begin with. I simply feel like it’s not worth my time to have this conversation with you again when I could be finishing up my homework. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” she spins the chair back around to her desk.
>”It’s YOU who is deluded.” Trixie raises her voice, but keeps the smug grin on her face. “You just don’t want to admit that Trixie has become a multi-talented genius who can do things that will not only rock the talent show next week, but win as well.” She starts to walk away to go back downstairs.
>”You’re going to lose that talent show.”
>”Whatever you say miss archery.” Trixie turns around. “In fact. To prove her point, Trixie will learn archery before the talent show and put it into her act in addition to her new card trick! You better get ready to eat your words!”
>”I recommend that you don’t make such stupid decisions so quickly.”
>”It’s not stupid if Trixie will be proven right!” The other girl trots down the stairs.
>”You’re in for an unpleasant surprise.” Sugarcoat keeps her eyes glued to her work.
>Trixie doesn’t answer her, going down to the basement to find the archery equipment.
>The door swings open with a swift kick of Trixie’s foot.
>The girl scans the concrete room in search for that purple bag she remembers Sugarcoat carrying around. She spots it next to a pile of boxes.
>She opens it and starts to fiddle with the contents inside; more equipment than she imagined. Much more than just a simple bow and a few arrows.
>Trixie doesn’t even know what to call these things, but in her mind, she doesn’t need to know the names. She marches outside with everything haphazardly put back into the bag and feels the breeze rush its familiar determination onto her face.
>There has always been that fence post that Sugarcoat had practiced with whenever she had to brush up in her archery skills. Trixie looks at all of the bullseyes that her stepsister got over the previous few years.
>How confident Sugarcoat must feel about herself that she got so many perfect shots.
>Trixie feels like she’s going to have to inform Sugarcoat that the new bullseyes on the little circles painted onto the fence are not hers, but by a new and much more versatile competitor.
>And so, the girl does what she saw in the movies so many times. She holds the bow in what she can only call a “shooting position”, places the arrow on the string and pulls in back.
>She squints at the target with aspiring eyes, trying to decide if she could afford to step further back or not.
>Trixie figures that it surely couldn’t hurt to do this with a little bit more difficulty. All it does is Prove Sugarcoat even more wrong. Just the thought of pulling off a bigger stunts excites Trixie’s ego with each modification she makes to her plan to get a bullseye the first time she fires an arrow.
>Getting a bullseye the first time… who else can even say that? Trixie just might be breaking a record here.
>The girl steps back again, getting ready to draw a line in the dirt when she notices a certain girl staring at her from a certain bedroom window.
>Perfect.
>Trixie’s smug grin returns.
>The fact that Sugarcoat’s head is so low on the window can only indicate that she swiveled over to the window in her chair, too lazy or uninterested to even stand up.
>Trixie knew that her rummaging through the basement was loud enough to be heard from upstairs.
>With the wind picking up behind her, she stand in place, huffing out her chest as she basks being in plain sight. Sugarcoat does not even look the slightest bit impressed, none to Trixie’s surprise.
>The bow makes the quietest creaking sound as Trixie pulls the arrow back, and the girl expects the sound of the arrowhead hitting the designated center of the bullseye following.
>There is not a doubt in her mind.
>Sugarcoat crosses her arms a little bit tighter as she waits for the truth to give Trixie a well-deserved uppercut.
>…Whoosh!
>The arrow didn’t even hit the fence at all. It flies all the way over into the next yard, and hits something discomfortingly fleshy sounding before a high pitched screech can be heard.
>Even Sugarcoat’s eyebrows shoot up in shock. Trixie freezes in place, still in her confident position of “being such an excellent archer”.
>A dull silence following the high pitch screech does little to nothing for the girl to feel at all relieved.
>Sugarcoat thought she would be the one silently snickering to herself, turning away before her sides were lost. She thought the horrified look on Trixie’s face would be from something else.
>Trixie’s shaking hands drop the weapon, letting it his the damp grass with a soft thud.
>She decides what to do next.
>A sliding glass door soon opens. It's already obvious that the sound came from the house which the yard belongs to.
>Trixie's mind sets itself to running inside, not even considering picking up the now and arrow.
>"What in the world was that?" A man's slightly familiar voice reacts to whatever the arrow sticks into on the other side of his backyard.
>Sugarcoat expects his voice to become plagued with despair any second now. She has seen the guy have his episodes before, being one of his neighbors and all.
>She braces herself, turning back to her desk and slightly wincing.
>"Oh... oh my god." The voice carries itself into Trixie's ears, blaring like a looming horn of judgment. "Honey, come look! Something happened to that raccoon!"
>The man nearly skips out of the house towards the twitching animal holding onto its life by a thread.
>Neither Trixie nor Sugarcoat can see the animal from the angles the spectate from, but they notice the mixture of shock and relief on the middle aged man's face.
>"Hello?" The man spins around in search for whoever fired the arrow.
>Trixie still remains silent, knowing how loud her footfalls would be had she made a run for it.
>"Who did this?" The man asks into the open air, momentarily lowering his voice to speaking to himself. "They're my got-dang hero right now, that's for sure."
>Every little ounce of Trixie's heart shifts up in the opposite direction. Her pupils dilate in delightful realization.
>"What is it, Hank?" The man's wife emerges from the sliding glass door.
>She shrieks at first before her husband rushes over to console her.
>"It's alright, Peggy. It's gone now." He turns back towards the lane and the two rows of fences separating the would be archer from his sight. "Whoever this is, you can come out now! You're not in trouble or anything like that. Hell, I should get you some kind of a medal or something."
>Trixie's ego flares aggressively upon hearing the word "medal".
>"Mr Hill?" Trixie has already recognized the man's voice from before.
>"Wait a minute." Hank steps out into the lane and starts to look into the mostly fenced in yard. "I think I know you. Are you one of those girls who lives across the lane from me."
>Trixie steps into view with the bow and arrow back in her hands and a proud grin on her face.
>She already knows that Sugarcoat must have gone back to her desk right now to not even give her stepsister the luxury of seeing the defeated look on her own face.
>"I though I recognized your voice. I knew that I heard you're pretty handy with a bow and arrow. You must be Sugarcoat." He takes a closer look. "Where are your glasses?"
>Trixie jumps internally when she realizes she gets to correct him with her own name instead of Sugarcoat's.
>"I'm actually Trixie."
>Hank raises his eyebrows, rippling the surface of his forehead even more than before.
>"Well I'll be darned. I didn't know both of ya were the sporty types." He turns back to the raccoon. "That raccoon has been being the worst kinda pest I've seen in a while. I can hardly let Ladybird out anymore these days without worrying about it biting her or something."
>"Well... I knew that it wasn't supposed to be in your yard. And I remember you've already been trying to kill it. Is that correct."
>Hank passionately nods his head. "Eyup. But that dang thing was always too smart to fall for the poison traps Peggy and I had set up. It's like that dang raccoon can spot a pest control watermark from a mile away, I tell ya hwhat."
>"Oh, my lord!" Peggy Hill emerges from the backyard, steps over to Trixie and hugs her. "Thank you so much for doing that. That damn thing has been giving us living hell ever since spring started up."
>"Yup. Thank you so much uhh... Trixie. Really appreciate it."
>"It's no problem." Trixie eyes Sugarcoat's empty bedroom window.
>...
>Trixie's footsteps echo through the kitchen.
>Sugarcoat furrows her brow at the sound, hearing the girl arrogantly, and gradually stomping up the stairs with glee.
>"Well, looks like we have a winner."
>Sugarcoat spins in her chair to face her stepsister. "Two things. One, you completely missed the target you were AIMING for. Two, hitting that raccoon was dumb luck."
>"Was it?" Trixie brushes some dust off of her shoulder with a sly grin plastered onto her face. "Trixie supposes that she forgot to inform you about the raccoon she spotted through the slits of the fence boards."
>"Yeah, the fence boards that were painted white and blue from the target you were aiming for. And missed."
>"Trixie simply wasn't aiming for the target."
>Sugarcoat huffs, knowing through deductive reasoning exactly where this argument is going to go if she drags this out; nowhere.
>But Trixie continues anyway. "The shot Trixie took was merely impromptu, when she spotted that nasty little rodent in the Hills's backyard. She decided to kill two birds with one stone and prove herself right while also solving a pest problem. Or should Trixie say... kill one raccoon with one arrow."
>"Dumb. Luck. And you know it."
>"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not rely on luck. She relies on her instincts. The instincts hat told her to shoot the raccoon instead at the last minute."
>"This is some serious overly confident damage control. Even for you, surprisingly."
>"Say what you want. But Trixie's success speaks otherwise."
>"You better hope they have a raccoon running around with dumb luck charms at the talent show. Because that's the only way you'll-"
>"OH WOW! YOU'RE SO FUNNY, SUGARCOAT! NICE JOKE!"
>"I wasn't trying to be funny. I'm trying to insult you. But you're too deluded and stupid to insult."
>Trixie's grin only widens. "Thank you for the compliment."
>Sugarcoat slams her palm against her face as Trixie parades out of the room.
>Wow. Just wow.
>…
>All throughout the next day of school, Trixie’s overly confident stride carries a little bit more speed in her step than usual.
>She’s just waiting for someone to ask her why she’s in such a good mood. The girl has already recited her answers to herself.
>”You know those nasty raccoons that go climbing into people’s backyards around this time of year?” Trixie’s voice starts off all airy and almost humble.
>Before anyone can even hope to ask, Trixie answers in a much more excited voice.
>”The Great and Powerful Trixie put an arrow through the heart of one of those.”
>Even Trixie herself saw the arrow go through its back. But whatever, these people can’t prove a thing anyway.
>Maybe the arrow really did reach the heart from the back, which is a little bit more than just a possibility in Trixie’s mind.
>”When did you get so good at firing arrows?” An already skeptical Rainbow Dash approaches the would-be archer.
>”Trixie was simply already good at firing arrows!” The girl restates the same thing she proclaimed to her stepsister.
>Rainbow Dash crosses her arms in a way that Trixie recognizes from a certain time before.
>”And you struck it through the… heart? You said?” Dash curiously waits for Trixie’s answer.
>”Rainbow!” Twilight’s voice sounds from behind.
>With a slight jolt, Rainbow Dash turns around. Her friend stands before her with an obviously concerned expression on her face.
>”Erm… I gotta admit, that’s a very interesting story, Trixie. Sure wish I could have been there to witness it myself. Sounds like you’ve gotten pretty good at archery since last year.”
>”IF… you were paying attention, Trixie already made it crystal clear that she doesn’t NEED practice to perfectly fire an arrow.” Trixie lightly shuts her eyes and tilts her face towards the ceiling.
>”O-of course! That was silly of me. Sorry.” Twilight turns to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, can we talk for a second?”
>Dash follows Twilight out of sight and earshot as Trixie continues to brag to the other students about her lucky shot.
>”Twilight!” Dash quietly grits her teeth and balls her hands into fists. “She’s totally making this up! It couldn’t be more obvious.”
>Twilight lets out a deep breath. “Rainbow, I know this might be a little hard to swallow at first, but you need to let her have this one.”
>”W-what?” Dash’s eyes widen.
>”Just hear me out… please. As a friend.”
>Dash squeezes the upper ridge of her nose between her eyebrows, but nods and agrees to listen.
>”I’ve been watching Trixie rather closely nowadays. Because… well… her social behavior around other people seemed a little bit…”
>”Weird?”
>”Different.” Twilight sternly corrects her friend. “And I’ve recently been reading up on social behavior a lot. And I mean, a WHOLE lot.”
>”…Okay?”
>”I did a little bit of analysis on the specific things I’ve observed from Trixie. Referring to herself in third person all the time, always seriously roleplaying as a wizard, just to name two of them. Very specific things.”
>”So… what does this mean?” Dash is already starting to see where this is going, gulping to herself that she might have to apologize to Trixie.
>”Well, I’m clearly in no position to formally diagnose anything. But I’ve still read up on the subject a lot.”
>”Stop beating around the bush and tell me!” Dash grows tense and urgent.
>Twilight sighs, then continues. “Trixie, as far as I can tell, is most likely displaying quite a few symptoms of autism.”
>Rainbow Dash groans, now realizing why a lot of the students around Trixie had been oddly nice to her whenever she would boat after one of her performances during theater practice.
>She knew that there had to be a reason behind it.
>”I’m not saying that she absolutely does or anything like that. I could very well be wrong. But it’s a pretty high possibility that this is the case, Rainbow.”
>”So… is that why… everyone else… whenever-”
>”Yes. This has been talked about amongst a lot of the students recently, which is what compelled me to read up on it.”
>”So…”
>”Look. I’m not asking you to worship her or anything. But just play along with it and slowly extract yourself from the conversation if you don’t feel like doing it for long.”
>”What if you’re wrong?” Rainbow Dash inquires. “What if Trixie just said something like this so a rumor would spread and everyone would give her more… positive attention?”
>”There’s no proof of that, Rainbow. I’m just trying to be careful and take the high road here. Like I said, I know it’s hard to swallow at first, but it’s the rational thing to do.”
>”Oh, I get it.” Dash forces herself to understand. “So you don’t want me making that same mistake Leafy did.”
>Twilight stares at her. “Who?”
>”Err… a YouTuber. Sorry, that was a bad example. You wouldn’t even know who that is, since you don’t watch YouTube videos, right?”
>”I watch educational videos from Numberphile and other channels on that site.”
>”…Who?”
>”Nevermind.” Twilight shakes her head, returning to the central point. “Back on topic. Can you just promise me not to… burst her bubble? At least not for the time being?”
>Rainbow Dash hesitates for a second.
>”Fine.” She finally sighs. “I just… didn’t think about this whole thing that way.”
>”Don’t sweat it, Rainbow. I’m just making sure you’re aware, that’s all. I’m not mad at you or anything.”
>”Okay.”
>They both nod and walks back around the corner to where Trixie persists in her bragging.
>…
>Sugarcoat sits with her group of friends as Crystal Prep during lunch time.
>”Your stepsister sounds arrogant as hell.” Sour Sweet comments, hopping onto her metaphorical high horse. “There’s no way anyone could delude themselves into believing that luck is the same thing as skill. I mean, we all know first hand how much practice it takes to pull off a bullseye more than even half the time.”
>Everyone at the nods in agreement, except for Lemon Zest who can’t hear anything other than the music coming form her headphones.
>”Well, anyone normal at least.”
>”You’re not exactly one to determine who’s normal or not.” Sugarcoat adds.
>”Hey, shut up!” Sour Sweet slams her fists onto the table.
>Sugarcoat doesn’t even flinch. “But you still have a point about Trixie being more arrogant than a regular person should.”
>”What if there’s something up with her?” Sunny Flare asks.
>There’s a long moment of silence at the table before Indigo Zap speaks up. “Hey, I just thought of something.” She brings up. “What if there’s something up with your stepsister?”
>”Well, it’s pretty clear she has issues.” Sour Sweet agrees before turning to Sugarcoat and swiftly changing her voice back to an aggressive tone. “Don’t say it!”
>”Yeah, but…” Indigo continues. “Maybe someone needs to give her a wake up call. You know, give her a good kick in the ass to burst her bubble. Give her a little taste of reality.”
>Sugarcoat sighs. “Believe me, I’ve tried. She doesn’t listen. Ever. Literally ever.”
>The other girls already know that Sugarcoat’s not exaggerating.
>”There is no way she’s that bad.” Indigo nearly stands up. “Like… what the hell!”
>”Wait.” Sour Sweet interjects. “You said that Canterlot High’s having a talent show, right?”
>Sugarcoat nods.
>”And Trixie’s going to try and be the huge star of it all, right?”
>Sugarcoat nods a second time.
>”What if we were to….?”
>”It isn’t necessary.” Sugarcoat tells her. “She’s doomed to fail no matter what she does. Her main act in and of itself is unoriginal garbage.” The then adds, “But that doesn’t mean the crowds won’t cheer her on anyay.”
>”Ugh, Canterlot High has always been a bunch of softies!” Huffs Indigo. “No matter how bad a performance is, they stick their thumbs up in mid air and go GOOD JOB! GOOD JOB! GUD JEEAAHHB!” She mockingly sticks her thumb out in front of her. “They might be alright people overall now after the Friendship Games, but their hugbox culture can stick its thumb up its ass.”
>”It’s like no one in Trixie’s sphere of communication can tell her how much of an arrogant bitch she is.” Sour Sweet conveys.
>”No, but I can.” Sugarcoat tells her, planning up something to tell Trixie once the two girls get back home.
>…
>As she enters through the front door, Trixie hums a tune to herself.
>Sugarcoat waits in the bedroom once again, doing the same thing she does every day after school.
>She keeps her pencil steady so she doesn’t let the startling sound of the door slamming open make her have to spend two minutes erasing an unwanted mark on her homework.
>”So…” Trixie begins. “You gonna come to the talent show this Friday?”
>”No. Now let me do my homework.” Sugarcoat doesn’t even look up from the desk.
>Trixie places her backpack on her bed and steps back out the door. “Mmmkay…”
>Sugarcoat memorizes what specific things she’s going to have to break to Trixie once she gets the homework out of the way.
>Some… presumably simple things.
>Down in the basement, Trixie picks up the equipment once again. She plans to take thing a little bit more… slowly.
>She happily strides out to the backyard and sets everything up once more.
>Trixie already knows that Sugarcoat isn’t watching from the window; she’d rather it be this way.
>The arrow is pulled back again, with Trixie eyeing the red dot a little more closely.
>”Juuust a little bit of practice.” She convinces herself.
>The first shot fired makes it just outside the outer rim of the target. Trixie looks back up to the window, finding no one looking down at her.
>Sugarcoat stays focused on her work, listening to the repeating sound of the arrows colliding into the surface of the fence.
>It continues all the way until she finishes the last math problem. An hour and a half.
>And Sugarcoat knows that there’s no way Trixie got a bullseye in that time; she would have come parading up the stairs if that were the case.
>After a couple more minutes, Trixie hears the sliding glass door to the house open. She focuses away from the fence to see Sugarcoat standing on the back patio.
>”Hit a bullseye.” The girl challenges. “Now. Come on, do it.”
>Trixie stares at Sugarcoat for the longest time. “Wh-wha…”
>”I already know you’re going to say those other ‘great shots’ you just took were just practice.” She eyes the fence with a couple of extra arrows jutting into various parts of the target; far from the center. ”Just do it.”
>Sugarcoat doesn’t say another word, waiting for Trixie to start stalling again.
>With a riled look growing on her face, Trixie point the arrow towards the target. She does everything her mind can possibly do to get a bullseye.
>She waits a few more seconds before deciding two things to herself. That her hand is steady enough to pull this off and that the arrow tip is pointed directly towards nowhere other than the tiny bullseye on the fence.
>…
>The sound of the arrow hitting the fence makes Trixie want to look away, and makes Sugarcoat want to do anything but.
>Sugarcoat’s widening eyes soon boost Trixie’s ego into a smile. The girl holding the bow already knows what to say.
>”What did Trixie tell you?” She notices the arrow’s tip nuzzled directly into the red dot. “That should be proof enough.”
>With her cheeks reddening slightly, Sugarcoat grits her teeth with her mouth closed so Trixie doesn’t see. But her uneasiness still doesn’t go unnoticed.
>”Do it again.” Sugarcoat orders as she sees the three remaining arrows in the quiver.
>Her harsh tone does less than she hoped to Trixie’s arrogance; the other girl already has another arrow in her hand.
>Ready to fire.
>A much less awkward moment of silence passes before the next arrow is released, now with confidence alongside the heightened amount of focus Trixie had the first time.
>Another bullseye, dropping Sugarcoats jaw nearly low enough to land on the grass below.
>”There’s no way.” Sugarcoat gasps.
>Trixie says nothing this time, letting the evidence sink in. The aggravated grunts coming form her stepsister make her wish she could go back in time to see her so skeptical once again.
>So she could compare the past and present Sugarcoat…
>Sugarcoat’s hand snatches the bow and quiver in a heartbeat. ”Give me that.”
>Doesn’t matter to Trixie, all this means is that she can smugly cross her arms now.
>Everything Sugarcoat learned in her time practicing archery is brought up. All of the lessons, tests she took, everything.
>Sugarcoat remembers beating Sour Sweet in a quick match up involving getting three bullseyes in one release with three arrows on the string and three targets. Sour Sweet had done it two times in a row before screwing up; Sugarcoat had done it three times.
>Firing these two on the string should be no problem, while being something Trixie can’t just pick up on.
>The fingers release the string, and there are two different sounds against the fence.
>A familiar thud of one arrow snugly sliding into the wood right next to another arrow in the red dot… and a sharp slicing sound followed by the clank of one metallic arrowhead pelting another.
>Trixie gulps after realizing that the arrow she most recently shot has been split down the middle.
>But her determination unintentionally skyrockets.
>”If anything… THAT might have been a little bit interesting in a talent show. Maybe not winning material, but better than just showing that you can hit a bullseye a couple of ti-” Sugarcoat cuts herself off after seeing Trixie rushing over to the fence. “What are you doing?”
>Trixie yanks the four still in tact arrows from the wood (and the head of the split arrow), now gritting her own teeth herself.
>The girl returns to the spot she stood in before and sets her sights on the split arrow.
>Returning to the pose where she’s about to fire, but with only one arrow on the string.
>Sugarcoat faces Trixie. ”Just what the hell do you think you’re-” She is interrupted by the sharp sound of a metal arrow head striking another of its kind.
>She’d continue to speak if that same sound didn’t happen three more times in a row.
>And Sugarcoat is too afraid to even look at the fence, already aware that there is only one arrow still intact.
>Trixie, trying to hide her own surprise, utters out a few short breathed words. “Go ahead, look.”
>The sight that meets Sugarcoat’s eyes makes the girl have to adjust her glasses to believe that there is a shish kebab of metal arrowheads sticking out of the fence.
>It’s topped off with petal-like halves of wooden shafts sprouting to the sides with the exception of the only erect shaft, lucky enough to have been fired last.
>”Trixie is pretty sure that would win some crows over at a talent show.” Trixie grins over to her step sister.
>”Th-“ Sugarcoat stutters. “There… is n-no way. Just no way. This is literally impossible.”
>Once again, Trixie lets the results do the talking before speaking up herself as she trots on inside. “Looks like we need new arrows.” She’s far too proud to say this.
>Sugarcoat can’t stop her hands from trembling with… some sort of strong emotion she can’t even identify right now.
>She faces Trixie once more. “Y-you…. won this round. But there’s still no possible way you learned that just today! There’s something you’re not telling me!”
>The sliding glass door gently slams behind Trixie as she enters the kitchen, leaving Sugarcoat alone in the backyard.
>And Sugarcoat doesn’t immediately follow Trixie.
>She just stands there in the grass for like five minutes in shock, first questioning reality. Then questioning what really goes on in Trixie’s brain.
>Trixie already knew that Sugarcoat wasn’t going to talk to her as she finally made it back to the room.
>The most depressing sound of the pillow losing its air sounds as Sugarcoats falls onto the bed and leans back onto the pillow.
>The ceiling is the only thing Trixie can see, giving her a blank canvas to imagine the look on Sugarcoat’s face. And that deflated look is the last thing Trixie thinks of before she falls asleep to dream about it.
>Sugarcoat can only grow more confused as the sky grows darker, before falling asleep herself.
>…
>The next couple of days go by without much interaction between Sugarcoat and Trixie.
>Even if those “lucky shots” hadn’t occurred yesterday, Trixie would have gotten a slight boost to her self-esteem from the absence of Sugarcoat’s criticism anyway.
>She goes about the usual bringing up her achievements in conversation, trying to think of the best ways to enthrall people with the stories about herself. As triumphant and amusing as she can make herself appear in the eyes of her peers.
>For them to see her the same way she sees herself.
>Meanwhile at Crystal Prep, Sugarcoat has trouble mentioning what Trixie did to her inner circle of friends.
>All of them immediately feel deep concern for the girl, as she has never hesitated when she had something she wanted to say. Something is definitely wrong.
>”She must have cheated, or learned it beforehand somehow. It’s the only way.” Sour Sweet proclaims. “She’s totally messing with you! She’s probably been doing it for some time now!”
>”I just don’t know what to do. I mean, that’s pretty much the type of material to win the talent show. If she does that on Friday, she has this in the bag.” Sugarcoat admits.
>”I can’t stand cheaters.” Indigo brings up with a slam of her fist on the table. “We have to find out what she’s doing before the talent show.”
>…
>Trixie feels more than happy to be surrounded by interested peers on the bus ride home.
>”As if the raccoon wasn’t enough for Trixie to prove herself.” Trixie leans back into her heat with the widest smile.
>”But like…” Applejack begins. “How on earth did the arrows even stack on top of one another when they’re made of metal? You’d have to shoot them pretty hard in order to get enough force for them to do that. I’m only asking because I work with metal and I’m curious as to how you did that.”
>Twilight leans in. “I’m pretty sure she just pulled the arrow all the way back so it would go extra fast. I think it helps you aim a lot better when the string is all tense and everything.” She suggests. “I’d have to read up on physics to confirm this, but it’s definitely possible.”
>”Especially when Trixie did it herself.” Pinkie adds, eager to hear more.
>”Trixie supposes that it’s easy enough it one focuses to the point where they can see everything that can happen when they let go of the arrow.” Trixie explains. “Perhaps it was determination. Who knows?”
>Rainbow Dash stays in her seat with a blank face the entire bus ride to Trixie’s stop. In her head, there are countless ways to counter what Trixie is telling her friends. So many holes in her story, so many inconsistencies.
>Let alone the fact that she claims to have learned how to perfectly shoot an arrow in… a couple of minutes, was it?
>But then again, there’s no way the rest of the mane six don’t have doubts of their own.
>Rainbow Dash finally speaks up after Trixie is off the bus, respecting what Twilight told her. “So what do you girls think?” She waits until the bus is well over a block away from where Trixie arrogantly strides in the direction of her house.
>”I think it’s a very interesting story.” Fluttershy brings up. “But uh… is that raccoon okay?”
>Applejack starts to speak up, but lets Rarity interrupt her on purpose.
>”Darling, the raccoon’s going to be fine. All the Hills had to do is pull that arrow out of its bottom and set it free back into the wild.” Rarity answers for Applejack.
>”B-but Trixie says that she got it right in the heart. Is that true?”
>”Nope.” Rainbow Dash blurts without thinking.
>”Well, there’s no real proof other than Trixie’s own account of the situation. And she’s the one who did it anyway.” Twilight turns to Rainbow Dash with a reminding look.
>”I wanna get good at archery too!” Pinkie announces. “It looks so fun! I want to see if I can get three bullseyes in a row like Trixie did.”
>”I’m pretty sure that takes a lot of practice, Pinkie.” Applejack tells her. “Doesn’t mean you can’t be able to do it one day, though. All ya gotta do is build up some skill and go on from there.”
>”But Trixie did it in a few minutes! I want to know the trick! I can’t wait for a hundred years to be good at archery.”
>”Ugh, it wouldn’t take that long, Pinkie.”
>”I know. It was just an exaggeration. But still, I don’t wanna wait if Trixie found a shortcut.”
>Twilight hesitates for a second. “Maybe Trixie has a special way of figuring things out really fast, Pinkie. Because I’m pretty sure not everyone can shoot multiple bullseyes in a row after only a few minutes of practice. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.”
>”She had been practicing since the day before, right?” Fluttershy asks.
>”Maybe. I don’t know that for a fact.” Twilight answers.
>Rainbow Dash remains quiet for the rest of the bus ride until he gets off.
>…
>”So Trixie has ben thinking about getting metal arrows that won’t break so easily.” Trixie scrolls through the sporting good store’s website. “Just curious, do you know of some of the ones with the lowest price?”
>Sugarcoat feels almost too embarrassed to answer. Her stepsister outdid her years and years of archery practice in the backyard yesterday in a matter of minutes.
>And it cost her the archery equipment she had for those years she spent practicing.
>It’s as though she has been bested, and is losing her honor in the face of helping Trixie pick out new archery equipment in the wake of her breaking the previous arrows.
>”Ooh! Trixie likes these silver ones! They match the color of her glorious hair!” She proclaims as Sugarcoat just watches in silence.
>”Well…” Sugarcoat starts off. “You are the one who needs the new equipment. Maybe you should decide with design you want.” Sugarcoat doesn’t even want to look at the arrows that will replace the ones she had before. “It’s not like I have to re-enroll into Crystal Prep all over again or anything like that.”
>Trixie is already ignoring her, scrolling through the page and looking for the most gaudy arrows and other equipment that match her ego. She’s even looking in the section for a new bow, desiring a complete makeover of the kit.
>Sugarcoat sets her backpack down onto the bed and walks out of the room, having finished her homework early so she would have to sit through Trixie’s little ego trip after she got home.
>She goes down to the kitchen and fetches herself a glass of water, not even caring if Trixie watched her walk out of the room.
>A test is sent to Indigo Zap, stating that Trixie is in her room right now and far away from the basement and the backyard.
>[Listen, we only have a small time window to do this. So we better move quick.] Indigo reminds for the tenth time.
>[That doesn’t matter Trixie broke all of the arrows except for one, remember? She’s literally looking up new archery equipment as I’m typing this. She’s not using that one arrow any time soon. I’m pretty sure.]
>[Okay, well I still want to get to the bottom of this.]
>In a couple of minutes, Indigo Zap appears in the front yard. Sugarcoat lets her in, immediately hearing the bedroom door swing open.
>”Who’s that?” Trixie calls down from the bannister on the second floor.
>”Indigo, a friend of mine. From my school. We like to hang out sometimes.” Sugarcoat tells her.
>”Yo.” Indigo calls back up to the blue girl she can barely see leaning on the bannister.
>Trixie nods her head. “Ah, okay. Well nice to meet you.” Trixie pauses for a second and remembers that archery applies to every Crystal Prep student. “Say, Trixie supposes that you know archery too, right?”
>Indigo and Sugarcoat exchange glances and nod in agreement.
>”Oh, that’s wonderful!” Chimes Trixie. “Maybe Trixie can help the two of you brush up on some shooting techniques after she gets her new kit.”
>”M-maybe.” Indigo answers her, internally cursing the girl before the bedroom door can be heard shutting once more.
>Bu that door shutting is the cue to head down to the basement.
>”Let’s go.“ Indigo automatically starts searching for the way down.
>”We were just on our way back up.” Indigo lies, already heading back towards the stairs.
>Trixie stands there with a look that the other two would have wished was nothing more than just confusion.
>Sugarcoat watches Indigo rush right past Trixie, as though she were concerned that the girl might have lashed out at her as she went by. Trixie stares down at Sugarcoat without saying a word, expecting her to do the same.
>”Trixie sees that you managed to get the rest of the arrow heads out of the fence.” Trixie begins her way down the stairs.
>Where the hell did Indigo Zap just go?
>Was that the front door slamming shut?
>”Yes, we wanted to take a look at them.” Sugarcoat answers.
>Trixie raises an eyebrow at her stepsister.
>Sugarcoat isn’t going to hesitate to answer honestly if asked, and Trixie knows this. There’s no need for an interrogation.
>”Why did you want to look at the arrows Trixie shot yesterday?” She leans forward towards Sugarcoat. “Did you think she cheated somehow?”
>”Yes.” Sugarcoat answers not even two seconds later. “There is no way you legitimately did that.”
>Trixie’s infamous grin returns. “Sounds like someone’s a little jealous.” The girl slyly comments.
>”It’s impossible for me to be jealous of a cheater.” Sugarcoat isn’t fazed… again.
>”Oh, right! Trixie should know your methods by now.” Trixie turns around and starts to pace around the basement. “Just keep implying, implying, implying…”
>Sugarcoat silently sighs.
>”And if you act hard enough, maybe… just maybe the other one will crack under the pressure. Because you have literally NO defense for your argument.” Trixie spins around and menacingly steps in the direction of Sugarcoat.
>”My defense is that you claim to have learned how to get four bullseyes in a row in less than a day. Which is literally humanly impossible. It’s more like four bullshits in a row.”
>”Very clever play on words, dear sister!” Trixie mocks, pointing her nose towards the ceiling. “Really shows how unbiased you AREN’T anymore. Trixie feels as though she struck a nerve.”
>”I bet you feel as though you struck a legitimate bullseye as well.”
>”Don’t you mean struck a legitimate bullshit? If you’re going to be mad at Trixie, stay mad at her the whole conversation and stay consistent with your butthurt insults! Trixie enjoys that.”
>”I’m not angry, I’m annoyed that your head is so far in the clouds. At least I can stay a little relevant to what we’re talking about before stooping to ‘ooooh, she must be angry’.”
>Trixie had snatched the arrowheads up from the work table before Sugarcoat even finished her sentence. “At least Trixie’s head is in the clouds and not up her ass!” She squints at Sugarcoat before stomping back up the stairs.
>Sugarcoat adds one last comment before Trixie starts off to the stairs back up to the bedroom from the kitchen. “That didn’t even make any sense. And I honestly don’t know which place your head is closet to at this point.”
>”You’re sooooooo funny!” Trixie’s voice chimes through the house, more distant with each step she takes.
>Sugarcoat angrily grunts, only now realizing that she shouldn’t have let the other girl get under her skin like that.
>After she makes it back up the stairs, she gets an odd feeling of someone watching her.
>She ignores it until she rounds the corner to go up the second flight of stairs to get to the bedroom.
>”And another thing!” Trixie’s sudden voice startles Sugarcoat. “Don’t… touch… Trixie’s arrows… again.”
>Sugarcoat feels her heart beating in her ears, noticing through the kitchen window that the arrows are back to being stacked on top of one another on the side of the fence.
>”They’re my arrows. And don’t startle me like that again.” Sugarcoat responds.
>”They’re Trixie’s now. It’s not like you’re ever going to shoot them again.” Trixie looks out the window as well. “And Trixie wants them to stay the way she left them. Forever.”
>She seems REALLY uptight about this.
>Sugarcoat starts to answer, but she notices Trixie already turning around and walking away, not even paying attention.
>It’s really awkward staying in the room together the following night.
>…
>Sugarcoat can’t figure out what to do.
>There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that Trixie had been cheating, to any extent.
>She had gone back to the fence when Trixie wasn’t around. It was only a five minute or so window while Trixie was in the shower, but it was enough time to tell that the arrows were legitimately shot and not tampered with.
>Sugarcoat has known these arrows for years; she’d be able to figure out if there were something different about them.
>No magnets in the fence, the shafts or the heads. No funny business.
>And five minutes is a surprisingly long time to spend analyzing a shish kebab of metal arrow heads and the fence they protrude from. There wasn’t much to look over.
>…
>The day of the talent show finally comes.
>It has been less than a week since Trixie started showing off her card tricks and whatnot to Sugarcoat.
>And Sugarcoat would have been confident that there was no way for Trixie to have learnt it in a few days if it weren’t for the fact that she apparently took up archery to a level of mastery in less than one day.
>No matter what, it still doesn’t make logical sense.
>”So what do we do?” Indigo sits next to Sugarcoat at lunch. “The thing’s tonight, is it?”
>”Yeah, but I’m starting to question whether or not I should care.” Sugarcoat responds.
>”Are you kidding me?! You’re not seriously going to let someone get away with cheating in a competition, are you? Think about all of the other people who worked hard on their acts!”
>Sugarcoat shakes her head. “I shouldn’t be hell-bent on exposing whatever Trixie’s doing. It’s not worth it. The best we can do is report her or something.”
>”Right, like a report from ANOTHER SCHOOL is going to have any effect… would it?”
>”I believe it doesn’t. But in any case, it’s not worth it.” Sugarcoat sips the rest of her chocolate milk and stands up to leave.
>…
>Canterlot High.
>The night of the talent show.
>The audience collectively murmurs in anticipation for the show.
>The lights dim as the performances are about to start. Principal Celestia walks out onto the stage.
>In one of the back rows, the shadowbolt five sit after hastily picking up some last minute tickets.
>"I reeeeeealy don't know what we're doing here." Sour Sweet looks back at the door, imagining stepping through it.
>"You can thank Indy for that. This was her idea." Sugarcoat comments.
>Indigo only squints her eyes at the stage.
>"How are we supposed to stop her if we're just sitting here in the audience where everyone can see us?" Sunny Flare criticizes. "There's pretty much nothing left we can do anyway!"
>"Maybe we should go afterward to tell the judges that Trixie may have cheated on her act. But we'd need evidence, though." Sour Sweet suggests.
>"Doubt it." Indigo keeps her eyes glued on the curtains as they open.
>The other girls question whether or not she's been taking this too seriously, with the exception of Lemon Zest who isn't even paying attention to anything except for her music.
>"And now for out first act, Trixie Lulamoon!" Celestia steps to the side as Trixie appears into view.
>"Rainbow! Clap!" Twilight nudges her friend with her elbow as she sees Trixie appear.
>"But we're not even in the audience!" Dash protests. "And we have to go next anyway!"
>"Please. Just this once. This might mean more to Trixie than we can comprehend."
>The music begins to play as Trixie stands alone at center stage.
>Her eyes filled with ambition.
>"Greeting, ladies and gentlemen! The Great and Powerful Trixie is more than thrilled to see you all here tonight!" She proudly blares.
>They all clap encouragingly.
>The curtains finish opening to reveal what Trixie's act is going to be.
>It takes Sugarcoat and the rest of the group to decipher what that deck of cards is doing taped onto a bullseye.
>"So... Trixie heard you want to see talent tonight." She begins. "Do you like card tricks?"
>The audience replies with a resounding yes.
>"Do you like archery?"
>They cheer this time, mixing countless "yes"'s in.
>Trixie pulls out an excessively shiny object with multiple parts and extremities.
>This bow must have cost at least a few hundred dollars.
>"How would you like too what what Trixie can do when she combines both of these acts into one..." She pauses. "After only having practiced it for one night."
>The audience nervously cheers.
>"Trixie is sure that at least half of you have seen Trixie's routine she was going to use to kick off this talent show with a bang!"
>The ones in the audience who have seen Trixie practicing start to make some noise. There are more of them in the audience tonight than Sugarcoat had expected.
>"Well how about Trixie shows you all her brand new act through actions instead of words?"
>The crowd continues to encourage her through cheers.
>Indigo Zap stares at the girl, watching for any suspicious movements.
>"Who wants to pick a card?" Is the only thing Trixie needs to say for the audience to go wild with tidal waves of responses.
>Indigo Zap tries to think of a way to get Trixie's attention so she can pick the least likely card possible. But she then remembers that magicians usually go for those types of cards anyway.
>The card chosen is a seven of spades.
>Trixie removes the deck of cards from the target and shuffles it for a good minute.
>She re-tapes it to the bullseye, pulling one of the metal arrows out of her quiver.
>"BEHOLD!" She trumpets as she pulls the arrow back.
>The audience winces in anticipation, already having second thoughts about this.
>Trixie fires the arrow, aiming directly for that bullseye she has not fully become familiar with thus far.
>It ricochets off of the edge of the cards, being completely different that the other arrows that Trixie is used to firing. She never even fired any of these heavier metal arrows until now.
>She never thought to see how it felt until this very moment.
>The arrow goes careening into the audience, soon deflecting off of a flask of alcohol and zooming right back at the target. But misses.
>It starts bouncing off of multiple stage lights, eventually flying in at the same angle from the beginning, after going right over a ducking Trixie.
>The girl didn't even realize how far she pulled the damn thing back, let alone how much momentum the arrow would have.
>The razor sharp head barely sinks into the deck enough to stay sticking out.
>Without thinking, Trixie knows the show must go on... and fires another arrow.
>She loses all care for everything else, aiming directly at the butt of the previous arrow.
>This time, the shaft does not split in two, but vibrates as the head lightly stabs the but with enough force to start a long chair of arrows.
>Trixie repeats this until there are six total arrows sticking out at least five feet from the target, all connected head to butt.
>The combined force from the blows jutted the head of the first arrow about 2/3 of the way into the deck of cards.
>Needless to say, the audience was stunned.
>After the longest awkward silence, Trixie stumbles over to the train of arrows, the most confused person in the room.
>"Th-the... first c-c-card that th-the arrow d-didn't go through..." She stutters, wondering if she is really still alive. "W-will be... the s-s-s-seven of s-spades..."
>Pulls the deck of cards off of the target and separates the pierced portion from the intact.
>Turns the innermost card of the pierced portion to face the audience.
>It's a seven of fucking spades.
>"S-see?"
>Trixie lets the cards slowly fall from her hand, revealing that they are all different from one another. The other 2/3 of the deck can clearly be seen having been pierced with the hole in the middle.
>The seven of spades was the first cart to have not been pierced.
>The crowd goes WILD.
>Sugarcoat can't even look at the stage, having her back turned so the only thing making her cringe is the thunderous applause.
>Indigo Zap curses to herself all the way to the point where the audience has to stay quiet until the next act.
>...
>Trixie slams the door open as she enters her room, tears welling up in her eyes.
>She doesn't even have half the heart to hop up onto her bed.
>The girl collapses to the floor as Sugarcoat follows in after her, arms crossed like they always are.
>But Sugarcoat doesn't have a smug grin on her face, only the truth fluttering around in her mind.
>"You know, if actual magic has always been something that was allowed in the talent show, I can't see how you even thought you had a chance at winning."
>Trixie doesn't answer Sugarcoat.
>Silently covering her face in her hands on the floor.
>"To be honest, you shouldn't have even gotten as far as you had with your own act. What you did was literally impossible. And I'm not saying that to comfort you, I'm saying that because I still think you cheated somehow. It's simply what I believe happened based on objective fact and the realm of possibility." She goes on to rant about the same thing she ranted about the whole car ride home. "There was no way you genuinely learned how to do that. I you really cheated, which is what all the evidence points to, you got what you had coming to you."
>Sugarcoat holds nothing back. Keeping that same glazed glare in her eyes.
>Every ounce of every negative feeling Trixie could possibly feel bears down upon her. Focusing on the very thing she put all of her hope and effort into.
>It's all crushed now.
>And she still can't answer her stepsister.
>"If anything, I'm glad Twilight and her friends are able to use real magic. Otherwise, you would have taken the whole show away from everyone else simply because you know too many more secrets than everybody else."
>Trixie isn't listening anymore.
>She should have never listened in the first place.
>But Sugarcoat continues anyway. "What happened on that stage was justice. You still got your act in perfectly... somehow... without EVER practicing a single thing, which in and of itself is unacceptable for anyone with a properly functioning mind to believe. But at the same time, you didn't ruin the competition for everyone else who actually tried hard and practiced for weeks. Weeks. Hell, forget weeks, even months. Maybe even years."
>The center of Trixie's sadness slowly turns to some sort of mixture of rage and spite.
>The hunger for revenge against the universe itself.
>"Maybe you should consider doing what Twilight did and make some friends." Suggests Sugarcoat. "Get help from others. Learn new things instead of trying to jump through impossible hoops then rigging the whole thing so it works."
>Trixie's hands begin to tremble. They ball up into fists.
>"Look, Trixie. I'm not saying that you don't have potential. Because that would also be a lie if I told you that. But you need to focus your potential on the right things. Not overshadowing everybody else in the spotlight with some secret method or advantage you know that nobody else knows. You have to work hard like everybody else. There's no getting around that."
>"Fuck off."
>"No, there is no reason to blame me for this. Because I am telling you the truth. This is something EVERYBODY has to face whether you like it or not. You have to work hard like everyone else. There are no free rides in life if you want to succeed. And part of working hard means making friends and working together with other people AS A TEAM. No more indulging in how great you are alone. You depend on others for your success."
>"Trixie... said..."
>"I'm not going anywhere, Trixie. Because somebody needs to tell you this at some point in life." Sugarcoat is not even fazed. "The thing you need to do is actually practice and let other people work with you as a team. That's what Twilight did. It's not like she learned magic overnight. Yes, that's right. Even that fantasy type stuff requires sustained effort. There is nothing you can do... nowhere you can go to change that."
>Trixie's entire body silently trembles.
>"If want to be more like Twilight or even anyone who is really successful, go out into the world and talk to people. Collaborate. And most of all... practice. It's supposed to suck, not be freaking easy street the whole way through. You need to change the way you do things and get over yourself."
>"I SAID FUCK OFF!" Trixie chucks her backpack in Sugarcoat's direction.
>It hits the wall with a startling bang, and Sugarcoat backs out of the room.
>"If you're not going to listen to helpful advice, it's your loss." Sugarcoat starts down the stairs.
>"No..." Trixie hyperventilates. "You're wrong..."
>The rest of the night goes by silently.
>And the interactions between Trixie and Sugarcoat indefinitely dwindle to nearly nothing.