Canterlot, Shining Armor's home.
Bingtang Xueli sat up straight. Sitting across from him was Twilight Sparkle’s older brother, Shining Armor.
"Shining, you have to be careful!" Spike said with a deadly serious expression. "This guy Xueli is utterly despicable, insidious, shameless, depraved, and completely unscrupulous..."
"Hold on, hold on. Are you just going to keep insulting me endlessly?"
Spike gave an awkward cough.
"Don't worry, Spike. I'll definitely avenge you."
Shining Armor wore a warm smile.
"Will you win?" Spike asked with a hint of anticipation.
"I'll win," Shining Armor said with absolute confidence. "I am the strongest, after all."
—Ten minutes later.—
"What a thoroughly delightful experience, Shining Armor," Bingtang Xueli said, letting out a deep breath as he laid down his final card. "I might never forget you for as long as I live."
Shining Armor stared in absolute disbelief at the hand on the table. He had actually lost!
Spike had originally planned to return to Canterlot on an errand, and upon hearing the news, Bingtang Xueli decided to accompany him. His guitar was nearly repaired, needing only a few new strings, and the specific strings he used were only available in Canterlot.
By the time Spike finished his business, it was already evening, so they decided to stay the night in Canterlot. When Spike declined Bingtang Xueli's invitation to stay at a hotel and announced he was heading home, Bingtang Xueli asked if he could stay at Twilight's place for the night as well. Spike readily agreed, though he was still a bit puzzled: didn't Bingtang Xueli have a home in Canterlot too? Why wasn't he going back there?
"For certain reasons, I can't go home right now."
That was what Bingtang Xueli had said, and Spike didn't press further, simply bringing him along to Twilight's house.
Upon learning that Bingtang Xueli was a friend of Twilight and Spike, the household warmly hosted him. He and Shining Armor even hit it off remarkably well. When Spike recounted how he had never won a single game of cards against Bingtang Xueli, Shining Armor immediately declared that he would avenge his little buddy.
As it turned out, revenge was not secured, and he lost as well.
Early the next morning, after finishing breakfast, Xueli and Spike prepared to set off for Ponyville, chatting as they walked.
"I haven't been back in three years," Bingtang Xueli said. "Though it doesn't look much different from when I left."
"Say, were you really some kind of Canterlot royal city bully back in the day? How come I never heard about it?" Spike asked with a curious expression.
"Of course I was. Back when I was eliminating tyrants and—cough—upholding justice, you were just a baby dragon. Though, come to think of it, you're still a baby dragon now."
"Oh, please. I reckon you're just full of hot air. 'Upholding justice,' my hoof," Spike retorted dismissively.
"Don't you doubt it. The troublemakers in my grade at Canterlot were brought completely to heel by me. Nowadays, there isn't even any bullying going on."
Hearing this, Spike initially glanced away in disdain, but then he froze. He hurriedly turned back, a wicked grin spreading across his face.
"Oh? Really? I don't believe it. Care to make a bet with me?"
That immediately provoked Bingtang Xueli.
"Are you challenging me? Fine! I accept your challenge. What's the bet? What are we wagering?"
"Let's bet on this: if I find a pony bullying another pony within five minutes, you have to treat me to a deluxe turquoise pink donut from Donut Joe's. Conversely, if I don't find one, I'll hand over Twilight, the Golden Oak Library, and the entire Shining Armor household to you. How's that?"
Bingtang Xueli laughed in exasperation.
"Spike, I know you can breathe fire, but I had no idea your mouth could write checks this big. Forget finding one in five minutes—even if you searched all day in Canterlot, you..."
Before he could finish, Spike extended a claw and pointed to the side.
Trixie felt she must be the unluckiest pony alive. Ever since she left Ponyville last time, not a single good thing had happened to her. Rumors traveled faster than the speed of light, and no matter where she performed, she couldn't earn a single bit, receiving only jeers and ridicule. Even her most precious wagon had been crushed to splinters by that baby Ursa Minor in Ponyville.
She had been living through the most miserable period imaginable. Not long ago, she had spent her absolute last savings on a train ticket to Canterlot, intending to make one final desperate gamble to see if the Canterlot Grand Theater would let her perform.
The result? The hiring manager took one look at her and told her to get lost so she wouldn't ruin the theater's reputation.
Walking the streets of Canterlot, Trixie no longer possessed any of the splendor she had when she first arrived in Ponyville. Her magician's robe looked tattered and worn, and the pointed hat on her head was covered in grime.
Perhaps because she was far too absorbed in trying to figure out what to do next, she accidentally bumped straight into another pony, knocking her hat crooked.
"Sorry," Trixie muttered, straightening her hat as she offered an apology. But as she looked up at the pony in front of her, she recognized him. He was a Unicorn named Gan whom she had seen back when she attended Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. His reputation was far from stellar; he took great pleasure in bullying other ponies.
Unfortunately for her, Gan recognized her as well.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here? If it isn't the legendary Trixie who defeated the Ursa Major! Hey boys, get over here! We've got a big-shot pony here!"
At his shout, a Pegasus named Wen and an Earth Pony named Cui hurried over.
"Well, boss, it really is her!" Wen said excitedly.
Trixie had no desire to deal with them. She turned to leave, but Cui stepped directly into her path.
"Our boss didn't say you could go yet."
Trixie immediately spun back to face Gan, her horn glowing as she warned in a threatening tone,
"What do you want? I'm warning you, you'd better not—"
"What do you want?" Gan interrupted Trixie with a sneer. "Do you know who my dad is? Just try touching me if you dare."
Of course Trixie knew who this little bastard's old bastard of a father was. The old man was a member of the Royal Council, and back at school, Gan had constantly used his father's status to bully other ponies, his mouth running off with endless threats about what his dad would do.
Moreover, Trixie knew all too well that she couldn't afford to touch this little punk. Hit the kid and the old man shows up; if she ended up locked in a dungeon, she'd be completely ruined.
Therefore, Trixie had no choice but to swallow her fury and extinguish the light on her horn.
"Hahaha, I knew you didn't have the guts."
Faced with Gan's mocking expression, Trixie cried out angrily, "Step aside! The Great and Powerful Trixie has no time to waste with you here."
Far from being intimidated, her words only made the three ponies laugh even louder.
"Hahahahaha! Boss, did you hear what she said? The Great and Powerful? Hahahahaha!"
"Great and Powerful? More like the Pathetic and Ridiculous Trixie, wouldn't you say?"
"Since you've fallen on such hard times, why don't you tell us the story of how you defeated the bear again, and maybe I'll toss you a few bits? Hahahahaha!"
Confronted with the mockery, Trixie had no idea what to do. All four of her hooves were trembling, and tears were already welling in her eyes.
At that exact moment, a white flash streaked past her, charging straight at Gan in the center of the trio. Before any of them could process what was happening, the white figure delivered a vicious, resounding slap right across Gan's face.
Gan was left in a state of utter shock. Stunned, he looked up at the pony who had dared strike him, and his shock deepened when he recognized the black-and-white patterned coat.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Bingtang Xueli snarled fiercely. "Still trying to throw your dad's name around? What, did your mother forget to teach you? Well, let me tell you right now—your dad's here!"
"B-Brother Li?! You're back?" Gan stammered in disbelief.
"Go apologize to Trixie—no wait, go buy Trixie... just apologize to Trixie!"
"What gives, Brother Li? We were just having a little fun with her," Gan whimpered, looking deeply aggrieved.
Hearing that made Bingtang Xueli even angrier.
"Are you kidding me? Is Trixie not a pony? Does Trixie not have a mother? Is Trixie supposed to be your damn plaything?"
"Brother Li, I was wrong! I was wrong! I'll apologize right now!"
Gan nodded frantically. Bingtang Xueli then turned his fierce glare onto the other two ponies. The moment his gaze swept over them, both shrank their necks back in terror.
Pointing at them one by one, Bingtang Xueli unleashed a torrent of furious abuse:
"Extorting losers! Harassing mares! Chasing fools! Tormenting the weak! Is there anything you pieces of trash won't do? What's this? Did you think that just because I was away from Canterlot for three years, my old words didn't mean anything anymore? If I ever hear about the three of you bullying another pony again, I swear I'll chop you all into pieces! Now go apologize to Trixie, and then get the hell out of my sight!"
Gone was any trace of their previous arrogance. The three ponies hung their heads like whipped dogs, rushed through hurried apologies to Trixie, and bolted with their tails tucked between their legs before she could even respond.
Trixie stood frozen in shock. She recognized this peculiar pony from Ponyville, but the scene she had just witnessed made him seem like an entirely different creature compared to the one she had met there.
At that moment, Spike trotted over.
"My goodness, Xueli, you were fierce back there!"
Spike gave Bingtang Xueli an approving thumbs-up.
"Those little bastards," Bingtang Xueli exhaled deeply, then turned his gaze toward Trixie.
Trixie was still staring in astonishment.
Bingtang Xueli paused to think, then leaned down to tell Spike to head back to Ponyville first, taking the guitar strings with him so Xueli could hand them over when he returned later.
Spike shrugged, said nothing, and trotted off alone.
Only then did Bingtang Xueli turn his full attention back to Trixie, who was still standing there looking thoroughly battered and miserable.
"Are you alright...?"
He stopped mid-sentence. Only now did he properly take in Trixie's current state. Gone was any semblance of the haughty, swaggering mare who used to boast endlessly about her greatness and power in Ponyville.
Right now, Trixie was a tattered, filthy mess. Her mane and coat were unkempt and caked in dust—she looked so wretched that, at a glance, she could easily be mistaken for a beggar.
Moreover, Bingtang Xueli had just finished bragging—er, introducing his glorious past to Spike, only to be slapped in the face by reality immediately afterward, so he hadn't looked closely in his flash of anger.
Realizing she was being stared at, Trixie recalled her past behavior. Knowing she had no ground to stand on, she murmured a quick "thank you" and turned to leave.
But Bingtang Xueli had no intention of letting her walk away just like that.
"Hey there, Trixie. How have you been holding up—"
Before he even finished, Bingtang Xueli realized how inappropriate that sounded. Asking someone how they were holding up when their wretched state was blindingly obvious wasn't showing concern; it was twisting the knife.
He hurriedly corrected himself:
"Uh, what brings you to Canterlot?"
Trixie hadn't intended to answer, but upon reflection, the stallion had essentially helped her and she owed him that much. She might as well answer—it wasn't like she hadn't been mocked before.
So, she recounted her experiences over the recent period: how she had spent her last savings on a train ticket to Canterlot, only to be rejected when she tried to apply for a performance at the Grand Theater.
The mockery she anticipated never came. After listening quietly, Bingtang Xueli simply asked what she planned to do next.
"Do? What else can I do? Probably head to the quarry to work as a laborer," she said with bitter self-mockery. "They were right, after all. 'Great and Powerful'—what a joke."
Looking at the utterly dejected mare before him, Bingtang Xueli felt a storm of emotions. He had to admit he had genuinely disliked her arrogant persona in the past, but seeing her reduced to such a pathetic state stirred an unavoidable wave of pity.
"How about this? Since you've got nowhere to be, keep me company for a meal," he said with a smile. "How does Donut Joe's sound? My treat."
Trixie's first instinct was to refuse, but her stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble. Looking at Bingtang Xueli's brightening smile, she remembered she hadn't eaten in nearly two days. Figuring she had nothing left to lose and that he couldn't possibly want anything from someone with nothing, she flushed and nodded in agreement.
The door to Donut Joe's swung open as Bingtang Xueli walked in, greeting the owner with a bright, cheerful smile.
"Hey, Joe! Long time no see! I'm back—is my platinum membership still valid?"
Joe looked up with a hint of surprise.
"Well, if it isn't Xueli! Welcome back, it really has been a while. And of course—with only three platinum memberships in all of Canterlot, how could I ever forget?"
At that moment, Trixie stepped in behind Bingtang Xueli. Joe glanced between her and Bingtang Xueli, then asked with a grin,
"Did you bring home a girlfriend?"
Trixie's face instantly went crimson, and she shook her head frantically to deny it.
While Trixie cared deeply about her dignity, Bingtang Xueli certainly did not.
"Yep, she's one of my eighty girlfriends."
Trixie stared at him with wide eyes, her jaw practically hitting the floor, while Joe laughed heartily.
"You haven't changed a bit, kid. Sit down, what'll you have?"
"Bring me one of every kind of donut you've got, pack a deluxe turquoise donut to go, and get a cup of milk. What are you drinking?"
"Huh? Oh, milk for me is fine too."
As the food was brought out, Trixie stared at the mountain of donuts and swallowed hard.
"Do you want sugar in your milk?" Bingtang Xueli asked thoughtfully. Seeing her nod, he asked how many spoonfuls she wanted.
"Three, I suppose."
"Can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because adding three spoonfuls of sugar is a dead giveaway."
Seeing Trixie's utter confusion, Bingtang Xueli chuckled, pushed the glass of milk toward her, and pointed at the mountain of donuts as an invitation to dig in.
At first, Trixie tried to use her magic to eat with a semblance of elegance, but hunger soon got the better of her. Abandoning all pretense of manners, she levitated her milk while grabbing a donut in each hoof and began devouring them with gusto.
Bingtang Xueli, meanwhile, took his time, savoring his food at a leisurely pace.
After consuming more than half the plate, Trixie finally felt somewhat full. She wiped the powdered sugar from her mouth with a napkin and asked,
"Alright, what's your game?"
She refused to believe that Bingtang Xueli was treating her to a lavish meal out of pure kindness; there had to be some ulterior motive.
"What motive could I possibly have?" he smiled. "I was just bored and felt like chatting with someone."
That was a lie.
Of course Bingtang Xueli wasn't merely looking for casual conversation. He had always possessed his own unique way of reading ponies, and his intuition told him that the mare before him wasn't nearly as awful as everyone made her out to be. He simply wanted to understand this seemingly conceited Unicorn better.
Well, just understand her. Nothing else in mind. Definitely not. Probably.
"Could you tell me about your past?"
Trixie hesitated upon hearing the question. She wasn't particularly eager to share her history with a relatively unfamiliar pony, but since he had just helped her and bought her a meal, outright refusal felt ungrateful.
Just as Trixie was struggling to decide, Bingtang Xueli spoke up.
"Look at me, how impolite. I've been interrogating you the whole time—let me tell you my story first."
Unsure of what he was playing at, Trixie gave a vague, bewildered nod.
"My name is Bingtang Xueli, as you probably know. My... my father is Bingtang Xueli—wait, no, Ice Crystal, the vice chairman of the Canterlot Royal Council."
At that, Trixie's eyes widened into perfect circles, but Bingtang Xueli remained unfazed and continued.
"He's a remarkably capable politician with immense influence in the council. Our Snow Family is a noble house with a long history in Equestria. My mother was an Earth Pony mare who came to Canterlot to do business after reaching adulthood. They fell in love at first sight during a banquet. Despite plenty of opposition from the family, my father loved my mother deeply and didn't care about her peasant Earth Pony background. They married, and eventually, I was born. My birth marked the first time I deeply disappointed my father."
He offered a bitter smile and went on.
"Generations of our family had been Unicorns. When my mother was pregnant, everyone assumed the child would be a Unicorn as well. My father originally intended to cultivate my magical potential, hoping to make me a powerful wizard. But I was born an Earth Pony. Earth Ponies can't be wizards, can they? My father was deeply disappointed, but he didn't give up. Instead, he shifted his focus to grooming me into a politician like himself. So, during my early years, my childhood lacked the joys of ordinary foals. I had books—endless, unfinishable books. I detested those damn books from the bottom of my heart, but I refused to let my father down, so I forced myself to memorize every single piece of knowledge, useful or not. And my father never once praised me. The only thing he ever said was: 'You aren't working hard enough.' No matter how hard I tried, in his eyes, it was never enough."
"What about your mother?" Trixie asked timidly.
"My mother loved me," Bingtang Xueli softened slightly at the mention of her. "But she was a businesswoman who constantly traveled between cities. I only got to see her a few times a year. Most of the time, it was just me and my father."
"Later, I started school. I entered the Canterlot High Aristocratic Academy—ironic, isn't it? Earth Ponies couldn't possibly enter Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. To win my father's approval, I studied even harder at school. But the one time I failed to get top marks and placed second, my father locked me in solitary confinement for a entire month, scolding me for slacking off and forbidding me from going outside to play. He probably didn't realize that even if he let me outside, I didn't have any friends to play with anyway. Aside from school hours, I spent almost all my time at home studying. Studying hard in that environment only invited contempt. They called me a nerd, bullied me, and hid my stationery. But I didn't dare tell my father, because I knew telling him would only make him more disappointed. That was how my childhood went. I lived like that for nine years, right up until that day."
At this point, the gloomy look in his eyes sparked with life.
"That day was my ninth birthday. I unwrapped a birthday gift sent by my mother—a beautifully crafted harmonica. I didn't pay much attention to it, just left it on the windowsill, and prepared to go back to studying. Right then, a massive roar echoed from outside. I turned to look, and the sky outside was flashing with rainbow ripples. A shockwave rippled outward along with the rainbow, blowing the harmonica right off the windowsill and straight into my mouth. I instinctively exhaled, and notes spilled out of the instrument. In that exact instant, even though the chaotic sounds couldn't really be called music, I felt it was the most wondrous thing I had ever heard. I felt like I was born for music. I didn't want to be some damn politician—I wanted to be a musician! That was the exact moment my Cutie Mark appeared! My life was altered by the sound of that harmonica."
"After that, I never touched those damn books again. I only did what I wanted to do. Aside from studying everything related to music, whenever I didn't want to go to class, I skipped it! When other ponies humiliated me, I cursed them right back! When they insulted me, I threw punches! If I could beat them, I beat them; if I couldn't, I fought them to the death with the fury of a madman. Those privileged little foals had never seen such a suicidal fighting style before. And it wasn't just at school—I'd wander around Canterlot, and whenever I saw ponies bullying others, I'd wade into the fight! Who cares about your background? Cross me, piss me off, and I'll beat you senseless! Within a few years, I built quite a reputation around Canterlot. The kids in my grade were terrified of me, calling me the Canterlot Royal City Bully. Of course, I caused no end of trouble for my family, but I didn't care. Seeing the mounting disappointment on my father's face didn't discourage me anymore; instead, it made me happier than ever. When I turned eleven, I had a massive row with my father, packed all my belongings, left home, and hit the road. I never went back."
"Though I hit plenty of walls at first and had a pretty miserable time of it, those three years of wandering were happier than my entire previous eleven years combined. I finally understood: I didn't come into this world to become what other ponies wanted me to be. I came to see how flowers bloom, how water flows, how the sun rises, and when the twilight falls. I came into this world simply to figure things out, experience interesting things, and meet unforgettable ponies. Life is an accident, and I'm just searching for meaning within it."
Bingtang Xueli finished speaking and let out a long breath. Trixie sat listening, lost in his words, unable to collect her thoughts for a long, long time.