The only reason it didn't literally fall on her is because Twilight caught it.
Yeah, I caught that in a rewatch. Twilight did save Trixie's life.
And the only reason she was in that position was because Snips and Snails are morons and she had to make a desperate attempt to prove her story or be exposed as a fraud. Her options were down to "fight the life-threatening monster to save face" and "admit it was all a story" and she chose to fight. And in the end, after having her credibility destroyed, she stuck to the story anyway. That's not even sane, much less plausible as a mere act.
I have to disagree on why she stayed. She ran when her mobile home was wrecked, and Snips and Snails followed. She seems to be faster than the Ursa, so she got some distance and then turned around to observe. Her mannerisms at this point are different. I think she dropped the act. She gave fighting a try because Snips and Snails were prodding her to do it, but when they started telling other ponies to relax because Trixie was going to win, she set the record straight.
Given that she doesn't appear to have a business model (no ticket sales, no donation intake, no merchandise), I can only see one of those being a possibility.
Pony economics are unclear at best. Maybe the government pays artists.
Already addressed this. The strongman/wrestler analogy doesn't hold up because those characters have zero serious real-world importance. Equestria is a land that has magic, has monsters, and presumably has powerful magic-users who defeat powerful monsters. If you claim to be able to defuse bombs in the middle of a war zone and some idiot hands you a live one to see it happen, well, shit. The idiot's still an idiot, but why would he expect that you were lying?
And Trixie went and cut the red wire to save face instead of running like hell.
I don't believe the real-world-importance thing is a concern. Tons of performers have grandiose claims that could have real-world applications, and it's never an issue. The ones who believed Trixie's fiction and started cheerleading were children, and the ones who actively disbelieved were taking shots at it because they wanted to find fault with Trixie. The warzone analogy is way out there, and Trixie never cut any red wire (metaphorically speaking).
Meh. You want a moderately sympathetic character, vouch for Gilda. I was expecting that episode to be a "just because your friends have other friends doesn't mean they don't like you too" episode, and then it veered in a completely different direction out of nowhere. The only reason she doesn't come off as the victim is the scene where she's explicitly written to be a bitch, in between the one where she's trying to get some personal time with an old friend and the one where she suffers a series of increasingly mean-spirited jokes. I came out of that not liking anyone involved.
I can't do Gilda. She went too far when she scared the elderly and stole apples and made Fluttershy cry. I'm willing to subscribe to the theory that she's gay, which was why she wanted to monopolize Rainbow and was adversarial towards Pinkie. And she took the stress of battling Pinkie out on others... but I just can't do it. It's too thin. Gilda's just bad.
Context.
Character A is like this because we see a scene where A is like this/another episode where A is this.
That's valid.
Overanalysis shit is stuff like bringing wrestling rules and psychology in a fucking pony show.
It's based on my beef on people pushing obviously, transparently evil/egoistic/jerkass characters in positive light for the sake of "I can't like a character without them in a positive light".
Real world examples and psychology are valid because the writers come from our real world.
I read a few months ago about how the audience is naturally inclined to believe every word or thought that comes from the protagonist. Sometimes even if those things run contrary to your own beliefs. You might believe it while you're reading, and you're immersed in the fictional world, and you might stop believing when you put the book down (unless it actually changed your view on things). The things the protagonists believe are automatically supposed to be true for the fictional world. Educated writers know this, and can use it to their advantage. They can make a protagonist believe wrongly, and leave trails of evidence showing that it's wrong, and when the protagonist eventually comes around (if done right), the audience says "wow, what a twist, how did I not see that coming". Writers can use this kind of knowledge in all sorts of ways.
When I first saw Boast Busters, I thought Trixie was a jerk. Then someone asked me why I thought that, and asked what Trixie did wrong. So I gave it some thought.
I can't objectively see anything that Trixie really did wrong, aside from getting into a fight with three protagonists. I had automatically sided against Trixie because Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Spike were against her. But why were they against her, and did
they do anything wrong?
Twilight and Spike are talking at the start of the episode about how most common Unicorns don't have much magic. That means Rarity. Then Trixie shows up and her schtick is about how she has lots of Unicorn magic. And for some reason, Rarity is the first pony to start the hate parade. Rarity was jealous. I believe that was deliberate on the part of the writer. Did you notice how Spike was in the middle of insulting Rarity's magical ability when he blurted "mustache" and ran away from her? After disrupting Trixie's show and getting called on it, did you see that disdainful snort from Rarity? Rarity didn't give a shit. Look at this comment from her again: "Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us." Trixie didn't say anything about herself being a better pony than Rarity. She only said one line about putting on an amazing magical display. Rarity's the one who inferred that she was inadequate.
Applejack joined Rarity in her hate parade, and this isn't the only time she's acted kind of jealous around wings and horns. Rainbow Dash made a joke, and Applejack glared at her until she sided with the haters.
Spike was going crazy because he wanted Twilight to brag. He didn't just want Twilight to shut Trixie up, he actually wanted Twilight to get the recognition he felt she deserved. In an episode that seems to say it's wrong to brag.
So why the heck would I side with these protagonists? Twilight is the main protagonist, she actually wanted to watch Trixie's show, and the hateful comments of those three ponies were making her uncomfortable, because the things they said about Trixie could be applied to her just as easily. And Spike was drawing an unwanted amount of attention towards her, against her protests. Twilight actually used magic to shut his mouth, but he still wouldn't listen.
Rarity/Applejack/Rainbow Dash never apologized for acting like jerks towards Trixie and hurting Twilight's feelings, they just blamed Twilight for coming to the wrong (right) conclusion. "Oh no, I mean, you're not Trixie. And look, you're not standing on a stage. Serious differences." And Spike got what he wanted because Twilight made a major scene.
Twilight to Celestia: I was so afraid of being thought of as a show off, that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of my talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off.
Yeah, Trixie sure needs to learn her lesson.