As he took his second prat-fall while tripping over his over-sized shoes, Troubleshoes slammed into a table full of whipped-cream pies. As he tried to get back to his hooves, he felt his rear pants-flap coming undone from his struggles, with it then falling and showing his rump to all of the spectators in the Ponyville Rodeo audience, the pants carefully designed to not show anything explicit.

The roar of laughter from the crowd and following stomping applause caused him to smile widely as he lifted himself up from the table, overjoyed despite being coated from mane to chest in whipped cream. Everything he went through in that arena was all worth it to hear the loving cheers and applause from his audience, everypony knowing now that his hijinx was all part of the show. That he was an actor instead of the vandal he'd previously been labeled as.

Troubleshoes then did the crowd favorite of chasing after the small colt with the hoop, with the colt easily only a fifth his size, the whole while shouting in a silly voice 'I'mma get through that li'l hoop! Hold still!' while the colt ran away. As he again felt himself lose his balance, he found out quickly that he'd tripped over a conveniently placed haybale comically placed by one of his fellow clown cronies as part of the skit.

As such he ended up landing face-first into a mud puddle, with that causing another wave of uproarious laughter from the crowd as his pants fell down once more, leaving his flank once again exposed to the crowd. As he heard the uproarious cheers and laughter, he himself once again smiled despite now being utterly filthy once more, so happy that he finally found his purpose in life as a rodeo clown thanks to three young fillies.

~

As the final bull was ridden and the final competitions were completed, Troubleshoes and the rest of his clown posse went and did their final show, ending it with a wide bow. Most of the clowns, including him, fell over forward as they intentionally over-exaggerated their bows, the rest flailing in a silly way to keep their balance, earning them another bout of laughter and hoof-stomping applause from the audience.

As they piled into a tiny carriage and left the stage, pulled by the smallest stallion of the posse, Troubleshoes then got out of the magically-enlarged vehicle's interior when it stopped and went to the showers behind stage, removing his filth-coated outfit and placing it into the laundry basket before running the water. He then proceeded to clean off the sticky, filthy caked-on mess his job demanded he be coated in on a regular basis, using the special soap, comb, and brush they had there to remove everything from his coat, mane, and tail.

Each time he would perform at a rodeo, Trouble's bad luck would decrease for about a month after, leaving him less prone to bad things happening to him as much...though even still, more often than not he was still finding himself tripping over something, or forgetting something that anypony else would have remembered until it was no longer relevant. That was just his lot in life, he supposed.

As he finished cleaning himself up a few minutes later, Troubleshoes headed out of the shower room and outside to his trailer, narrowly avoiding tripping into another mud puddle that would have rendered his time showering wasted. Sighing, he opened his trailer door and went inside.

It would seem that despite still being unlucky and klutzy even after Apple Bloom and her friends showed him his life's purpose of being a rodeo clown, he'd found he had more control over some of the events that he used to have no reign on. It was as though he actually let out a lot of his bad luck on the stage of the rodeo instead of throughout his personal life as he'd used to; seemingly using the rodeo-clowning as a conduit to channel his bad luck away from him.

~

As Trouble was finishing up making himself dinner a while later, he heard a rough knocking on his door, startling him and nearly making him knock his pot of soup to the floor. Fortunately for him however, he hadn't hit the stove hard enough but to make only some of his soup spill out, making him give a sigh of relief as he then moved to answer the door.

When he carefully opened the trailer door, peaked through the crack and looked way down, Troubleshoes saw that it was an orange-coated earth pony mare who had knocked. Atop her head was a long blonde mane in a braid wrapped by red ribbon, and an old Stetson cowboy hat. As he wondered what such a beautiful mare was doing knocking at his trailer, Troubleshoes nearly fell through the door and landed on top of her, and would have had he not caught his balance at the last second. Giving a sigh of relief, he opened the door fully and gave a cautious "Howdy?"

"Well, uh, howdy. Yer Troubleshoes Clyde, right?" the mare asked, to which Troubleshoes nodded.

"Yup." Troubleshoes answered simply, but for some reason he found himself feeling particularly drawn to this mare. He was unable to help it as he looked down from her face to her muscular fore-legs, then to her hooves, then all the way back to the blonde mane surrounding her rather ruggedly beautiful face again, wondering how silky her hair would feel under his hooves...

Troubleshoes shook his head hard at that thought, causing the whole trailer to sway with his movements. Troubleshoes was by no means a tiny pony, easily standing well over a head over even the tallest stallions and two over most mares. With his mass also easily half more any other stallions as well, he nearly made the small trailer nearly fall on its side as his weight shifted so sharply.

The mare spoke again, "Well, uh, Ah really liked yer performance tonight. Ah haven't laughed so hard since Big Mac lost that bet with me and had to walk down Mane Street in a pair of Granny's bloomers!" She chuckled at the memory, making Troubleshoes only stare at her, the inside joke lost on him as he continued waiting for an explanation for her presence.

"Well anyhoo, how right rude a me t' not even introduce mahself. Name's Applejack Apple, and it's mah pleasure makin' yer acquaintance." Applejack said, tipping her hat at him. "Ah saw ya at yer first performance back in Apploosa too, an' laughed real hard then as well! Y' really do have a special talent at bein'...well, bein' funny." Applejack finished flatly, scratching her mane with a hoof.

"Uh-huh." Troubleshoes responded slowly but promptly, making Applejack tilt her head at him in an adorable way, her mane shifting so perfectly as... Troubleshoes again shook his head, clearing those thoughts from his mind. Surely he shouldn't be having those kind of thoughts about a fan of his, let alone somepony whom he'd only properly met a couple of minutes ago!

After a short, awkward silence, Troubleshoes spoke up. "So, thanks, but uh, Ah've got some soup in here I'd like to get t' eatin'..." Troubleshoes said, leaving the rest to Applejack's imagination, wanting to close the door and get this mare away from him before he did something rash and his bad luck could affect her. After all, it always did so to any mares he got even slightly close to.

He'd been in a couple relationships before, but neither lasted. The mares would always leave him after the second or third date, and always because of his rotten luck affecting himself or them while they were together, with the last breakup leaving him an utter emotional wreck for a couple of weeks, making him not want to risk such heartache by seeking another fillyfriend. Now, it would seem, the opportunity had seeked him.

"Look, uh...Troubleshoes? Ah know this is right sudden an' we've only just met, an' call me impulsive but uh...would ya like t'...go out sometime?" Applejack asked, removing her hat and hiding her face with it as a harsh blush suddenly bloomed. Why in the hay did Ah ask that?! she thought, Ah've never been this impulsive before!

Troubleshoes couldn't help but feel drawn closer to Applejack as she asked that, feeling his instinct shoving him on to say yes. He was highly reluctant though, shifting on his hooves as he looked at Applejack. After all, this wold likely just be another repeat of his last two filly-friends. Well, what was the harm in it? he asked himself as he finally gave into his urges, knowing how lonely he felt on those cold nights alone in his trailer.

To refuse such a beautiful mare offering herself like this to him was outright ludicrous, even if it was so sudden and he did have horrible luck. After all, perhaps this mare coming to him was a sign that his luck was changing for the better!

Troubleshoes sighed. "Ah suppose we could try a date...but Ah gotta warn ya, Ah ain't th' luckiest pony." Troubleshoes said, knowing all he could do was give fair warning.

"Well that's right fine. Who knows, maybe Ah'll be your lucky charm!" Applejack suddenly exclaimed, making her giggle like a school-filly. Why was she acting so strange, she thought to herself. She never acted this way!

They agreed on a day they were both free and a meeting place, with Applejack giving Troubleshoes a tip of her hat as she departed. As she turned her rear to him, Troubleshoes saw her tail flick to the side – and could swear she winked her clitoris at him! Surely he was only seeing things though, right? After all, they'd only just met!

Troubleshoes just stood with his door open for a minute, trying to take in what had just happened. It had all happened so fast: he'd been cooking dinner, then heard a knock at the door – then before he knew it, he'd agreed to a date with a beautiful mare and she'd seemingly 'winked herself' at him, a primal invitation for him to mount and breed her!

Troubleshoes sighed, knowing that this couldn't end well as he realized the time of year. It was Spring, the season when all the mares went into estrus, a time when their hormones made them do crazy things just to get rid of the incessant burn and itch in their lower abdomen. He knew the only permanent cure to a mare's estrus was to have sex with a stallion multiple times and have him 'finish' in them each time while likely getting pregnant from it, taking a special potion, or to have a heat-quelling spell cast on them. With most of Ponyville being earth-pony mares, and most earth-ponies having an opposition through outright abhorrence of magic being mixed with nature, the prior two were the only real option for most.

"It's just mah luck. A pretty mare wants t' go on a date this time'a' year, an' it's only cuz she's probably goin' into heat..." Troubleshoes said, not entirely sure why he'd agreed to the mare's—Applejack was her name?—offer as he then closed the door and went to rewarm his soup, hoping that this date wasn't going to be just another disaster he could add to his endless list.

Author's Note

So begins another taIL (intended!) of love and lust. Hope you enjoy it!