Is Trixie Actually Homeless?

[IceStorm]

I've recently been watching through the seasons again, and have been talking with some friends when I noticed something about Trixie's personality. From the way Trixie talks about herself, and how she always tries to announce how she's "The most powerful unicorn in Equestria" I see this more as an attention grabbing tactic than an actual smite against the other ponies. Then it Dawned on me Trixie lived in her traveling cart. I got to thinking about it more and it occurred to me that she could actually be a homeless pony, and her motives behind her stories, and her "bragging" isn't to demoralize others, but just to gain some form of attention after being away from Civilization for so long in between journeys.

Has anypony else noticed this?

[weesh]

Amusing. She has cool tricks, but she is not a good showman. And it would surprise me if she was fabulously successful.

However, we haven't seen any homeless ponies have we? Even pinkie pie can hold down a residence. If she doesn't have an actual house, it may be entirely because she doesn't want one.

[Therainbowtroll]

Well I think that Trixie choose to live in the cart so she could travle and make a name for herself. I actually did a project on her a week ago. We had to match a fictional character to a psychological disorder and I got narcissistic personality disorder. I think in her head she was a successful traveling magic act and being on the road was just a part of it. She could have wanted to preform due to something previous that happened but we can't be sure.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Someone made a comic about just such a question:

In my personal headcanon, I do tend to think that Trixie's cart is her home. I think that, because she is on the road so much, she doesn't make enough money to be able to afford her own place. Thinking on it now, she also seems to be independent, so working for and being tied down to an employer might not work. Likely influenced by a fanfic I came across, I think that Trixie probably has no living family left, or at least, any that care about her.

[Halide]

Oh Tales. That's so great that I could just cry a potato. Callous causality is just so great.

To be fair, Trixie could likely continue her career in showmanship, as she technically accomplished all her on-stage stunts just fine. She'd just have a quieter boasting brigade, so she's likely still in business, since ponies are easily impressed and gullible.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Oh Tales. That's so great that I could just cry a potato. Callous causality is just so great.

[elsporko]

She is a traveling performer. Her home was destroyed but prior to that she had a home. The nature of her show probably works best with a new audience. All she did was say she is the best and show up some ponies who tried to prove her wrong. That can be entertaining enough for a show that rolls into town but if she was in a set venue people probably wouldn't travel to see her insult them.

[tacobob]

I did feel kind of bad for her when she had to run off into the night, all alone. At least let the poor girl crash on somepony's couch for the night! I'm not sure how her show was to be. I'm guessing she was doing her little 'teaser' to egg on the crowd into seeing her real (paying) show, which she probably would have done the next day, until the 'two stooges' messed that up for her. Still, if you're going to a town to mock the residents, it would probably be a good idea to bring a friend or employee along to watch your back. Being tarred and feathered is bad enough, but try having that done to you if you're covered in horse hair! Yow!

[Rosewind]

This is possibly the best Trixie topic ever. I'd love to hear what Sir Blackberry has to say.

As Trixie is a traveling showmare, she does live in her cart -- but I don't think that means she's homeless, she's just "on tour."

Maybe we'll see more of her in S3. I know she got a mention in the last CMC episode, so we know the writers are thinking about her!

[flutterscotch]

Ya know, we didn't and weren't supposed to feel bad for Professor Marvel in the Wizard of Oz, who lived in the same situation, but worse, and who Trixie seems to be quite similar to in many ways, and it seems unfair to woobie-fy her by pretending that she's tragically homeless when we all know that her fully stocked cart, the Equestria equivalent of Will Smith's mansion on wheels, is a poor substitute for a stationary home. It's not like she's living in a car with no room to move around. That would be tragic.

And she's not just a performer...she's also a con artist, albeit probably new to the game. Mobile home = faster getaways and makes her harder to track down.

I don't think she needs a sob story background to make her interesting, she's fine just being a bit of a jerk in my opinion.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

I doubt that her cart held all of her worldly possessions, and for all we know, she hired a towing company to salvage the remains while she booked her next gig. In the end, we really don't know, but in the magical land of Equestria, I doubt that her fate could be too horrible.

[flutterscotch]

hi hi

I doubt that her cart held all of her worldly possessions, and for all we know, she hired a towing company to salvage the remains while she booked her next gig. In the end, we really don't know, but in the magical land of Equestria, I doubt that her fate could be too horrible.

I dunno...people have been living in carts and wagons like that for centuries. Even some die-hard modern Romani STILL do it. And with the exception of Rarity and come of the Canterlotians, ponies don't seem quite as materialistic as modern folk. And I bet people would still do it if being nomadic wasn't so frowned upon (to the point of being a crime some places) in our society. I know I wouldn't mind stripping down all I own to live in a nice restored airstream. I even have an RP character on this forum whose parents choose this way of life (complete with wagon) to follow the freshest food ingredients.

But I agree. I don't think her fate can possibly be that bad. We haven't seen any real poverty problems or other plagues of modern society thus far in the show, even on the hearthswarming eve episode, and we all know that if creators of ANYTHING bring out the destitute and homeless, they're most likely to do it during a "Christmas episode".

But if you want a reason for her to be legitimately "homeless" besides that she just happens to like living in her cozy little wagon , I'd say best bet: parasprites ate her house.

[Ashton]

Are we wanting realistic or headcanon answers?

Realistic:

Trixie probably went back and repaired her wagon in the middle of the night and moved on to the next city (though if you watch a few episodes later, you see her in the background still in ponyville!)

Headcanon:

Trixie charged off into the everfree and is currently living in (and restoring) the old Castle where the elements were housed, as she plots revenge to "destroy" twilight and her friends... (cue "and then what?" lol)

(Oh and btw: LOVE that comic, tales )

[SirShadowdeath]

I would like to think that she's a gypsy. Or close to it.

[Ashton]

I would like to think that she's a gypsy. Or close to it.

Nah, your thinking of Pinkie Pie

[Saren]

Trixie is a con artist.

Trixie lives in a waggon.

See where I am going here?

[elsporko]

Trixie isn't a con artist. She just heavily plays up her powers. She didn't con anybody out of money.

[Ashton]

She didn't con anybody out of money.

Yet.

We dont know what she was planning, though from what she did I feel safe to say she wasnt planning to 'con' them except in making them think she's a LOT more powerful than she is.

[Starfox64x]

I'm guessing she's more of a con-mare... Yes, puns are required in 10% of my posts and i've been slacking lately... Anyway, she does a lot of showing off, bragging, etc, getting some lackies to buy her stuff and praise her so that she doesnt have to waste what little money her show brings in... then she moves on before anyone can challenge her properly. she chooses to live in her cart/trailer thing because it's easier to earn money that way rather than staying in one town, learning NEW tricks and paying rent... so yeah...

[HopeFox]

I don't think Trixie is particularly suffering. She may, technically, not have a dwelling immediately after "Boast Busters", but I doubt she's destitute. For one thing, we're really never seen anypony who could be identified as poor. There are some very rich ponies, but the poorest ponies we've seen are fairly comfortable working class ponies. Even if the Apple family had been run out of business at the end of SSCS6k, I have no doubt that they'd be able to live with friends and family until they got back on their hooves. The tragedy would have been the loss of Sweet Apple Acres as a family tradition and cultural institution, not the Apples starving. Ponies seem to have better prosocial instincts than humans, so I think they just plain take better care of each other.

Now, it's possible that Trixie doesn't have a permanent home. She really seems to love being the travelling showmare, so I suspect that she deliberately moved out of her childhood residence and started her travelling show. If she still has family, then she could go and live with them, but even if she doesn't, I think she'll manage. Remember that she pulls the wagon all by herself, so losing the wagon will if anything make her more mobile. If she's been living on the road for so long, then she probably has fairly decent survival skills, and can handle the indignity of eating grass straight off the ground if she needs to. Also, towns in Equestria seem to be pretty close together, and I'm sure that somepony in any given town would give her a place to sleep. So I think she'll do just fine until she can earn the bits for a new wagon (if, indeed, she didn't build the original one herself).

Another point that often gets raised in discussions of Trixie's fate is that her reputation has been ruined and she can never put on another show anywhere else. I don't think that's really true. Gossip doesn't seem to flow between towns very quickly - look at the Flim-Flam Brothers - and even if it does, she still has the skills that make her an excellent showmare. Remember, she captivated almost all of Ponyville before the mane cast showed up. At worst, she might have to attach herself to a larger troupe for a while. (Actually, that could be kind of cool.)

[elsporko]

I'm guessing she's more of a con-mare... Yes, puns are required in 10% of my posts and i've been slacking lately... Anyway, she does a lot of showing off, bragging, etc, getting some lackies to buy her stuff and praise her so that she doesnt have to waste what little money her show brings in... then she moves on before anyone can challenge her properly. she chooses to live in her cart/trailer thing because it's easier to earn money that way rather than staying in one town, learning NEW tricks and paying rent... so yeah...

She's still not conning anybody. Its basically the same business model as The Harlem Globetrotters. They come in, talk up a big game, throw out a lot of flash and razzmatazz, solve a mystery with Scooby Doo, and take off without anybody posing a real challenge.

[Starfox64x]

She's still not conning anybody. Its basically the same business model as The Harlem Globetrotters. They come in, talk up a big game, throw out a lot of flash and razzmatazz, solve a mystery with Scooby Doo, and take off without anybody posing a real challenge.

Well yeah, it's an effective business model, although a deceptive one... If she did the same thing every night in the same town she'd run out of people she COULD outdo, and then immediately lose interest and therfore money. So rather than having an honest challenge and giving others time to prep, she just scams them and leaves them.

[DrMaxwell]

I dont see trixie as a con-mare. Sure, shes an antagonist simply because shes a loudmouth, but her boasting that she's the greatest is just part of the show. Ponies are more likely to watch somepony that is 'great and powerful' over somepony that is simply 'very skilled'. I dont think she should have bragged about the ursa major, but it probably would have gone uncontested anyhow if it werent for the infinite genius that is snips and snails. Despite her boasting, I think she most likely puts on an honest show to entertain the ponies, so long as she isnt challenged.

She would be a great showmare if she bragged less.

As for the original question, she wasnt homeless, then ursa made her homeless, but she obviously has some magical skill, so she probably fixed her wagon and continued on her way to los pegasus to wow the west coast ponies.

[tacobob]

I think her bragging was useful to get ponies to come to her show and considering there's not a lot of entertainment options in Ponyville, she probably could have had a good turnout...

[TemplarFrost]

She tends to talk like she's number one, better than everybody else, at the top. Iv'e met people like that. All the attention she should have gotten when she was a foal,she didn't get some reason, and Trixie was neglected as a child. Now she's trying to make up for all that lost recognition in a very boastful and rude manner.