The Standard and Normal Human: One : Meeting T.G.A.P. Trixie

The Standard and Normal Human3

As I stood on the stage, staring at all of the fleeing ponies running for their lives, I had a revelation. This was going to happen every time I encountered a town and its folk... Their reaction was a reasonable one however, I mean c’mon, I was something they had never seen before so it was natural that they were scared. At the time however I was hoping that perhaps I’d find that one town that wouldn’t recoil in fear, this however wasn’t looking promising.

I finally decided to sit down on the spot and began to think out loud, “Why... Do they always run?” I sighed, turning to Trixie for some kind of answer. “Is there something on my face?”

Trixie giggled to herself before answering, “Perhaps it was your face they were running from”

I glared at her, she was laughing to herself... at my expense no less. “Harsh Trix... Harsh...” Eventually I snapped out of it and realised what had occurred, “I think I ruined your show... Sorry...”

Trixie's eyebrow arched with confusion, “What? Why are you apologising?” She strolled over to where I was sitting, “This was hardly your fault”

Not to her maybe, but to me it seemed kind of obvious. “Yes, it was” I began, “It was all going fine and dandy until I strolled onto the stage, they saw me, turned tail and then ran for their lives...”

I might not have intentionally caused this to happen, but I truly thought this was my doing. I got up and looked around at the empty town, no sound, no busy streets, just pure silence...

“They were just scared, You know that anyway-” Trixie Began to say but was interrupted by a sound in the distance, it wasn’t actually that far away.

“Pip! Get back here!” A familiar voice shouted, me and Trixie looked around but couldn’t see where it was coming from. Eventually we both peered over the edge of the stage, there was a small filly with deep brown eyes, a dark brown mane with lighter streaks mixed in and a white coat of fur with greyish brown spots, one of which was on his left eye... In the style of Rolf Harris, Can you tell who it is yet?

“Um, hello?” Pipsqueak said nervously, eventually my mind went from inactive to proactive and I realised who was talking to us.

“Oh, hi there!” I replied back happily, I jumped down to greet him but didn’t realise how stupid that was. He backed away slightly, still unsure as to who or what I was. I apologised immediately, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, honest”

“His face seems to do that just fine though...” Trixie remarked in a very sly fashion, she was actually enjoying this. “Perhaps we should do a travelling sideshow? You're pretty good at scaring everypony...”

“Oh ha-ha, very funny” I replied in an un-enthusiastic voice, “What are you going do? Put me in a cage and cart me around everywhere?!”

Trixie began to rub her chin with her hoof, “Hm, not a bad idea...” She said, jokingly... I hoped. “Now... Where do we get a cage from?”

I walked closer to the stage that Trixie was still standing on, with a serious tone I muttered, “Yo- Please tell me you're joking...” Her facial expression wasn’t moving, she was torturing me mentally, “Trix? You're not actually going to-”

Eventually she cracked a smile and began laughing at me, again. “Of course not!”

I sighed with relief, “Can you, you know, Not do that again... I almost had a heart attack...” Trixie was now on the floor in stitches, as well as a certain filly who was a character inspired by work done by the late Charles Dickens. I chuckled to myself, “Well at least someone is enjoying themselves...”

“S-sorry sir” Pipsqueak said, still trying to contain his laughter. “B-But it was just a tad funny is all. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear!”

Eventually, just like when I first arrived, the ponies that fled were looking now through their windows and doors, trying to figure out whether I was a danger to them. This however seemed to go a lot smoother than before, considering we were all laughing instead of shouting at each other. Suddenly my attention was diverted, as I saw a certain teacher peering around the corner of one of the buildings. It was Miss Cheerilee no less...

“Pip!” She shouted again, “Please! Come back here!” Looking ever so worried for her student. I never questioned why they were here, I just guessed it was a school trip or something. If I asked why they were in Dodge, it would have sounded like I knew them. This of course would spark confusion, so I kept to my guns and pretended to know nothing at all, it was for the best. Behind her were a collective of eyes, the other students that she was teaching. Three of these students, codenamed ‘CMC’ by many people from my world, charged out from their cover and stared me down me from where they were... I’ve said this so many times before but still... Guess who...

“W-what!?” Cheerilee spluttered nervously as more of her students had wandered off from her side, “Come back here girls!”

“What is That!?” Sweetie Belle asked as her voice cracked with surprise, “I’ve never seen one of those before!” Her voice went straight through me...

“What y’all think? A scale-less dragon?” Applebloom asked her friends, slowly getting closer to me.

“It doesn’t matter, I say we catch it!” Scootaloo announced loudly, they all looked at each other and nodded in synchronisation. Then they turned to me, slowly advancing towards me with evil intent in their eyes.

“Um, Trix...” I whimpered, not taking my eyes off the crusaders. She started giggling again, “That’s not helping...”

“Ok fine, want some advice?” Trixie muttered, smirking at me.

“That would be greatly appreciated...” I replied in haste, “What should I do?”

“Run!” Trixie barked at me, as she did the crusaders charged towards me and I hightailed it outta there.

Cheerilee began to chase after the three ‘rapscallions' but Trixie stopped her, “You don’t have to worry, he’s not dangerous...”

The teachers eyes were squinting at Trixie, trying to recognise who she was looking at. “I know you, you came to ponyville!” But she snapped out of her daze and quickly remembered her main concern, “Wait, how can you be so sure it’s safe?”

Trixie didn’t respond, she just pointed at me, I was laughing happily. I turned back to see the two talking but I had no idea what they were saying, I just kept on running with a big grin on my face. The whole situation wasn’t a serious one anyway... To me at least. I mean If the army, our army, found a new species, what would the the first rules of engagement be? Simple, expect hostility. As for these guys? They didn’t show much fear for such ideas as ‘It might be dangerous’, in short I wasn’t taking this as seriously as they were, I was laughing the entire time... In turn,  they thought I was taunting them... Not good for me as it would turn out, they got clever and split up from each other.

Now, describing a small town like this one would be tricky, I mean I was being chased the entire time so I’ll give you an idea of what the place was like. Most houses were businesses, in other words each house was a shop. Fresh fruit, books, building utensils, heck there would be way too many to point out. One of which caught my eye was a certain drinking hole, meaning a pub. And if your not British then its a bar, oh I do love the complexities of other countries... And worlds for that matter... But yeah, they were mostly family run businesses from what I learnt. They had a strong community, just like the village I’ve lived in for the past 20 years. The community however were watching in confusion, Pip and Trixie were laughing as I ran around trying to avoid my pursuers, Cheerilee looked with concern at the three who had ignored her request to come back. I was sweating and losing the will to go on much further with this daring chase, I eventually headed back to the stage, jumped up onto the platform and sat down on the spot in order to catch my breath.

I held my hands out and shook them, trying to signal I gave up. “Ok, J-ust give- me a sec-ond” I slowly muttered, gasping for breath. “Gah... I hate running-” I was suddenly ambushed! The three fillies had tackled me to the ground, then stood triumphantly over me. “-Ach, c’mon!”

“We caught it! We caught it!” Applebloom shouted in success, she looked at her friends with glee. “What do we do now?”

“You could always, you know, Get off me...” I suggested, “This floor isn’t exactly comfy...”

“Not a chance!” Scootaloo announced, standing her ground... On my back... “I say we tie it up and bring it back to ponyville!”

Trixie’s eyes sparked up yet again, as she had yet another evil idea up her sleeve. “I might be able to help with that...” she taunted, giggling to herself as she walked back stage. “I think I have some rope here somewhere...” Turning to me, looking at the horrified look on my face she laughed herself to the ground. I was entertaining her in such a way I didn’t think possible, at this point I was banging my head on the floor in complete disbelief.

I eventually stopped my self harming and, calmly, stated the following. “I’m not going to hurt anybody! Just get off so I can talk-” I was abruptly interrupted, also I’d like to point out that Trixie had totally betrayed me by this point...

“So y’all can run away? Fat chance!” Applebloom stated, looking at their  teacher who was slowly approaching. “Its ok Miss Cheerilee! We caught it!”

“Students, please get off of Trixie’s friend...” Miss Cheerilee asked, this confused the crusaders entirely, and me actually...

They all shouted in confusion, “Friend?” They responded in complete synchronicity, they turned to each other and eventually got their hides off my back. I stood up and brushed the dust off my shirt, if I had known that I would have been dragged into another world, I would have gone through the portal wearing something other than my best clothes... Just my luck... They clambered down from the stage and headed to their teacher, after a couple of seconds of muttering something... “We’re sorry...”

I gave a loud laugh, “What? Don’t worry about it... Seriously...” I moved to the edge of the stage and sat down, my legs were hanging off the side. “It wasn’t exactly an unexpected response, I mean if it were some guards then I’d guess it would have been worse...” I hadn’t seen any guards up to that point, by this I mean in the towns I had passed through. I guess their main objective was to protect the royalty of this land, then again to protect them from what?

My attention had turned to Trixie, the same mare who had used me as a target for three fillies, “Oh and Trix, Thanks for your help...” I muttered sarcastically, “I just don’t know what I would have done without you...”

She began laughing, “Oh but it was priceless!” I swear she was laughing the entire time, at my expense. “At least the residence of the town got a fun show!”

“What?” I responded in confusion, I looked up and actually payed attention to my immediate environment... I was surrounded. The towns folks eyes were all fixated on me, my eye went all twitchy and my face went red, right on cue. “Oh... Um, hi?”

This was the only response I could conjure from my confidence, for the next few seconds I was telling myself mentally, ‘Don’t do anything stupid’, It didn’t help. Of course eventually my brain clicked and rewinded to when I first arrived and I realised, yet again, that I shouldn’t panic when confronted with talking ponies, no matter how insane that might have sounded. I have a saying of my own, You want to know what it is? It’s, ‘Insanity is Bliss’ It makes sense to me, so I just ran with what was going on without question... Easiest way to do it...

“The names Nick, nice to meetcha!” I said clearly, “I hope I didn’t scare anyone- Er, pony. Seems like that happens every time I’m seen out in the open...”

Trixie had eventually stopped laughing, at me, long enough to give a serious answer, “We’ve been to two towns so far, maybe it won't happen Everytime...” She gave me yet another amused look, “Maybe...”

I shook my head, “You really are enjoying this too much you know?” Then I looked around at the ponies, just stood there watching me. I had completely forgot about them, “Oh.. Right...”

Just then I heard yet another churning sound from below, it was my stomach, Again... Man I was hungry...

“So where did you come from!?” Sweetie Belle shouted at me as her voice cracked yet again, slowly she tilted her head. “Did you come from space?”

“What? Do you have any idea how silly that sounds? Of course not!” I stated plainly and quickly, they looked disappointed. “Nah, I came from another world...” This in turn caused their faces to go completely the opposite shape, what was once disappointment was now wonder and amazement. I had a big grin on my face, it's not everyday I get a chance to be the talk of the town. The townsfolk were all in awe, I looked around at the crowd, they were all very intrigued as to what I was, I figured I had time to kill. “Anyone else got any questions? One at a time just fire away...”

Yet another short silence, until some of the townsfolk took up my offer. “What are y’all? If you don’t mind us asking...” A good first question, though it seems kind of simple now I look back at it.

“Well I’m human, I walk on two legs...” I began to explain in the best way I could, “Kind of like... Like a diamond dog I guess...”

“Diamond dog?!” The towns folk replied, it wasn’t in sync but several of them kind of blurted it out. They then started talking amongst themselves, “Do you have them in your world too?”

“What?” I replied swiftly in confusion, slowly realising that I am from another world and I am talking about things from theirs... It took me awhile to figure that out, “Oh! No, no we um... We encountered some a while back, on our way here in fact...”

“Impossible!” One of them shouted, “How did y’all get away!?” I began to laugh as I remembered exactly how I did it, I still can’t even believe that it worked.

“Easily apparently, I just distracted them with a ball...” I said plainly, this was true. I didn’t really do much to escape from them... “It seemed to work quite well for us...”

“How would a ball help you against them!?” Scootaloo shouted, “Their mean and stupid”

“And that’s why it worked, I just played fetch with them. Kind of reminded me of the dogs from my world... Well, except without the talking... And being big meanies...”

The crowd laughed, a creature, unknown to them, had managed to evade quite a dangerous enemy by doing something so ridiculous. One voice which was laughing stood out from the rest of the crowd ponies, it was coming from the back.

“Seems like you’ve adapted quickly Kid, good to see your settling in...” A familiar voice said.

“Yeah well I- wait...” I stopped, recognising the tone of voice, as well as the nickname I was given by a certain pony when I first arrived. I glanced down at the crowd, scanning for the pony I was looking for and there he was, clear as day. “...Steam Trail?”

The crowd split into two and the same mare I first met when I arrived walked through the middle, he had a big grin on his face. “It’s good to see you remember me, how you been doing Kid?”

I jumped down and walked up to him, kneeling down so I could get eye level. I patted him on the shoulder, it was good to see him. “I’ve not been too bad, what about you?” I replied with a smile.

“Good, I get to travel wherever the train takes me, I get to see the sights and help ponies find their way...” Trail said enthusiastically, he took pride in what he did. To be honest while I think about it their Cutiemarks seem to determine their jobs right? But what ever their job is they seem to enjoy it, I kind of wish the human world worked that way... Would make working a lot easier, without having to adapt to different jobs and all, just focus on what you're good at... Then again, perhaps humans are slightly more flexible at adjusting to different jobs than ponies, just a thought...

Trail looked at everypony else around us, he shook his head and turned to face them. “C’mon, go about your daily business everypony” He asked the crowd, “He’s not dangerous, he may even take a look around the town... So keep calm and carry on...”

They didn’t question him, they listened to his every word and dispersed from the area. I was quite surprised, I mean I wasn’t even sure if they knew him or not but they didn’t question him. However he did say that he travelled everywhere, so it would only be natural to know someone from each local town... But still, for all of them to just walk away like that...

That left me, Trixie, Cheerilee, the students and Steam Trail who, from this point onward, will be known as Tray, all standing next to the stage as a unit... Well, kind of... Before Cheerilee took her students and continued walking around town, they began walking towards me.

“It was very nice to meet you” Miss Cheerilee said kindly, “I hope your remaining days in Equestria go a little... smoother...” I guessed that Trixie had filled her in, otherwise she wouldn’t have known that.

“Thank you! It was a pleasure to meet you all, see ya around!” I replied with a smile, waving as they all walked away. I turned back to Tray and Trixie, my stomach started churning again, I averted my eyes in embarrassment. “He, sorry about that...” I uttered nervously.

“C,mon kid, let’s get ya something to eat” He said kindly, then he turned to Trixie, “You as well, my treat...”

“What?” Trixie yelped with surprise, “Oh, thank you!” She didn’t expect that I think, from the outside she does seem like a loner. I mean think about it, did you see her travelling with anyone else? Well, except those two numbskulls following her around. They were more like awkward fans, in any case she had never had company on her travels before as far as I could tell... I guess the trust barrier must have been a big milestone for her, especially if she had just taken up an offer of a stranger who knew me... Oh and allowed me to join her on her travels, that reason being the main one I guess...

Tray led us to the ‘Drinking Hole’, or the saloon if you're a normal human being... Or pony for that matter. I could hear the sound of that stereotypical piano music being played, as I walked into the saloon it stopped abruptly. The other ponies in the room looked at the piano-ny, yes that’s what I just said, as he had just stopped playing his instrument. Then they all looked where he was looking, which was at me by the way.

“Enough” Tray uttered loudly,  “Just carry on as normal, he’s a guest of these lands...” They all looked at eachother and just continued their business, it was nice to feel like some normality for once.

“They seem to look up to you...” I pointed out as he led us to a free table, we all took our seats and my eyes began to wander around the room. It was a typical saloon setting, quite a large one at that. There were about ten tables, three to four chairs at each one, then a bar at the center. My attention returned to Tray, I wasn’t sure why he was here buying us food when he had a job to do... Unless... “So Tray... Did you get time off work for now?”

“Well I’ve finished for the day, in fact, I live here in Dodge Junction” Tray said happily, “It's a nice town, everypony is happy and we have a strong bonded community”. He held up his hoof to get the attention of a waitress, yes a waitress. A pony waitress to be precise, what else could it be right? “I’ll get us a menu...”

Eventually the waitress arrived, carrying menus in the air using her horn. Walking up to us nervously she placed them to our table, then looked towards me as if unsure about something. “Um, I do hope we have something you’ll like” She stated very nervously, “I’m not entirely sure what you would want to eat...”

“Oh, don’t worry about that” I replied with sincerity, “I’m sure I’ll find something on here...” Within moments my prayers had been answered, vegetable curry.

Now, If I was in a casino and had just won at a slot machine, I would have shouted Jackpot! And I would have done exactly the same here too, if it wasn’t for me trying to stay calm and act normal. I can act pretty daft at times, I might appear to be quiet and calm in real life, but when talking to me any other way, I’m anything but normal. It usually involves a lot of shouting... Oh and uncontrollable laughter...

Tangent again... Anyway, my eyes glared at this in particular meal that I was reading about on the menu. I love curry, there were other meals on this menu that looked just as good. All vegetarian of course, listing from lasagne, potatoes, pasta, then the obvious ones of course, like a salad... And Hay. They all sounded amazing, well except for the last one of course. I avoided the hay for human reasons. Like the main one, we don’t eat hay...

Now I won’t bore you with every little detail like, for example, how long the meals took to make and how I had managed to get the majority of the meal on my face. Or perhaps the fact that their cider is non-alcoholic, it's just apple juice. I’ve tried cider, in fact its my favourite drink in my world. Nothing beats a cold pint of Cider... Anyway, what I can explain was that we were just having general conversation. What the town was like and where we were from, Tray grew up in dodge and spent his days helping the Mayor. How he did this was by keeping the trains in check and making sure that the passengers were heading in the right direction when they arrived or departed. Eventually by doing this he was rewarded by receiving his Cutie mark, he was a little older than most fillies who usually get their marks at a young age, so he kind of stood out.

Then I explained the mess I was, no not being sucked through the portal, that would have been an interesting conversation mind you. No, it was about  my Human life. Like going to college for 3 years and having very little to show for it. Mentioning college intrigued Tray and meant I had to explain how our world works. The education system, the government which I know nothing about by the way and, of course, what the world revolves around. You know, money right? Yeah, in their world love makes the world go round... Or something like that. I then explained the recession and how it made everything worse, about how I struggled to find any kind of work anywhere. When you want to find work and you just can’t, it’s frustrating. Let me tell you a tale, once upon a time, when I was looking for work in my quiet town. I walked into a pub and asked the manager, ‘I don’t suppose you have any jobs do you?’ He said there might be some in a weeks time and that I should return then, so I waited a week and went back. Guess what happened when I got there? Seriously... As I walked up to it, it was boarded up with wood. The Windows were concealed and the signs were taken down. They had basically closed the shop down completely and left town... Just my luck eh? Other than that I told them about how I wanted to be a Teacher Assistant, like how I had done work in schools before and how I helped out during my time there.

Then there was Trixie and, for whatever reason, she was trying to avoid the topic... But at the same time she didn’t seem as defensive as before, perhaps she learned to trust others more? Heck if I know...

“So what about you Trix?” I began to ask her, It was a simple question to begin with. “Where did you grow up?”

“... Well...” Trixie sounded uneasy, but not as bad as when I first asked her this morning. “I grew up in Las Pegasus... But-”

“Wait, do you mean the city that never sleeps?” Tray interrupted with interest, he was leaning forward at this point. “I’ve never been there before but I’ve heard stories about it...”

Now remember, I know nothing, or at least that's what I wanted them to believe. I have heard of this place being mentioned before by one of the characters on the show, but that’s about it. So instead of guessing I just asked, “Hang on a sec, Las Pegasus?”

“Oh... Right”, Tray replied, quickly remembering that I wasn’t from this world. “Well, it's a gigantic city which, they say, lights up the night sky. It’s home to all the major entertainments of our world, big and small”

“Huh, sounds like quite the place...” I replied, sounded just like Las Vegas to me... With added pony.

“Wait, you said ‘But-’ Trixie, you grew up there, but what?”

She had averted her eyes, showing how uneasy this was for her to talk about this subject. “I grew up there, but...” She stopped, slight hesitation was showing as her pause stretched out for a short while. “...I didn’t stay in one place”

“What? You were bought up in a place like that and you didn’t stay put? “ I was surprised but after saying this I figured something out, why would she be travelling around if she didn’t want to get away from something. I could figure that out with the next question, “What made you leave?”

That awkward silence lingered for a while longer, something she was running from perhaps? “Nothing in particular... And nothing You should worry about...” Trixie replied, slightly more defensive than earlier.

I was about to question that answer when suddenly I got a swift kick under the table from Tray, I looked at him as if to say ‘The Hell Man?!’ But he shook his head, signalling to me not to push her for an answer. I obeyed and changed the subject, I peered outside and noticed the sun setting. “Huh, it’s getting late. We should probably be heading back to the wagon...” I said happily, standing up and stretching my arms. “Thanks for the meal Tray! It was Darn good eating!”

“It’s not a problem” Tray began, “But it’s not me you should be thanking...” His hoof pointed behind me, as I turned around I was witness to a pony chef, wearing the biggest french white hat... Thing, that you have ever seen!

“Well I’m glad you enjoyed it!” The chef replied, with a thick french accent no less. I can’t write in french, or make English words sound french, so bare with me and just use your imagination for the next few moments. “I made sure the curry wasn’t too spicy, some can get quite hot indeed!”

I responded without thinking, “Yeah, I tried a Madras once” I began to elaborate, “I was pretty much in tears and my face was bright red the entire time... In a restaurant. With people looking at me... It was extremely embarrassing”

“Oh!” The chef uttered in surprise, “I never realised that- Well I guess I never asked, Is this world similar to yours in any particular way?”

“In every way pretty much...” I said without any delay in response, “... Well, except we don’t eat hay... But that’s about it...” I didn’t mention the fact that we’re Omnivores, or that we’re always in wars, or that we keep horses and ponies as pets and property. I wouldn't even think about doing something like that, the repercussions on doing so would be unimaginable...

We said our goodbyes to the workers and headed outside, I soon realised that I had missed a golden opportunity to use a Monty Python reference whilst talking to the french pony, If only they had a dirty fork... Anyway, we parted ways from Tray and he headed for his home.

“Ok Guys” Tray began, “It was good seeing you, try not to get into too much trouble...”

“We’ll try Tray” I replied happily. “See ya later dude!”

“And thank you for the meal!” Trixie added, she was in a better mood than earlier.

“Take care!” He said, as he walked away towards his home.

Me and Trixie headed back to the wagon and hit the hay as soon as we got there, I decided to grab my sleeping bag and put it beside the main stage’s curtain. I opened it slightly so I could see the stars as I slowly fell asleep, I had never done this before and it was pretty amazing to see the night sky in a place without artificial lights. You know, because it makes the night sky dull.

I woke up the following morning, I didn’t know what time it was. Well, until I swayed out of bed and moved the curtain to ascertain the position of the sun. It was at a 45 degree angle, so I guessed it was around about 6 am. I decided to stay there for what felt like another hour, surrounded by the sound of the towns folk just outside.

It also gave me a moment to think about Trixie and her past, about why she avoided those questions, about her reasons for leaving, why she acts the way she does, heck a whole list of questions came to mind. I figured it was kind of pointless to think about such things at the time, I still had a few more days yet to figure all this out. ‘Whatever’ I thought to myself, as I jumped out of bed. I got changed and headed outside, Trixie was still asleep so I was on my own. The town was busy and, unlike yesterday, the townsfolk were happy to see me. It made a pleasant change to, you know, them screaming at the sight of me... That was getting pretty old...

I was walking around for a while until I came across a bakery, I peered through the window and I could see all sorts of things. Bread, Cakes, Croissants, Doughnuts, heck they all looked amazing! Only one slight problem... I had no money whatsoever... Now, I may be one of the worst ‘Bronies’ out there, I can barely recollect even some of the basic events that occurred in the show half of the time, but something was very clear to me, their currency. Bits, as they called them, were small coins made of metal. Just like ours, except with one major difference. They didn’t have a figure head on them, you know, like a British penny has the queen or an American cent with Mr Lincoln on the front. They were just... Blank... The only reason I knew this was because one was accidentally dropped onto the floor found its way next to my feet, I picked it up and inspected it.

I was looking at it for so long I had completely forgot about the pony who was looking at me, holding their money in my hand. I panicked, “Oh, I’m sorry!” quickly handing it over back to the pony, well I say handed it over. They put it in their mouth, then into their bag.

“Thank you human!” The pony said, as they re-entered the shop to buy their confectionaries.

‘Huh, well that was... Normal’ I figured, I continued walking down the street looking at anything that spiked my interest. Eventually I headed to the train station to see Tray before he left to do his job. Oh right, how he did this was by travelling with the train and helping passers find their way, it was a noble job. However I looked around and couldn’t find him anywhere, I guessed he had left early and was doing his job, I then continued to walk around aimlessly.

Then I came across something truly interesting, it was a newspaper stand. The pony who was manning the stall tipped his hat to me, I nodded back as a sign of respect. Picking up the local paper I recoiled in both confusion and shock as the front page read ‘Princess Celestia’s Surprise Visit to Appleloosa!’. ‘Huh, I was just there the other day...’ I thought to myself. At the time I just guessed it was to see her loyal subjects, in a place which is out of the way in the middle of the desert. I then turned to the second page and noticed the headline, one of which was a little less savoury. ‘Strange Creature Scares Appleloosians!’

I was both disappointed and outraged, “How on Earth... Did I... Not get on the front cover!?” I joked to myself, “Preposterous! I must complain to the masses!”

“Did you say something sir?” The Newspaper pony asked me in confusion, looking me in the eyes whilst tilting his neck.

“Wha- Uh- No!” I spluttered nervously, “No, I’m just... Talking to myself...” I put the paper back where I found it and walked away, I felt like a right muppet. “I’m not crazy...” I whispered. I’d managed to ignore my common sense, again, forgetting not to look crazy or stupid in public.

I finally headed back to the wagon, I could see Trixie in the distance packing up and preparing to head out to our next destination. It was now midday, I didn’t realise how much time I had spent wandering around. Oh and I had no idea where we were heading mind you, so I would just have to find out.

“Morning Little Trix” I said casually, hinting a certain band from a British talent show. “So, where we heading next?”

“Little?- Oh, we’re heading to Trottingham...” Trixie replied, slightly confused initially by my first comment. “It's quite the trip, I was supposed to pack up earlier, but...”

“But?” I questioned, perhaps there was a logical reason for this. “But It would be better to travel at midday? No Wait! But we could ride the wagon with the wind blowing behind us!”

“No... There’s a simple reason for it actually...” Trixie began, looking away for some reason. “... I... Slept in... I didn’t mean to though...” She seemed, uneasy... Embarrassed even...

“Hang on... Are- Are you blushing?!” I stated in surprise, “It’s not that bad you know, everyone has done something like that... Whatever, it’s not important, when we heading out?”

“Wha- Oh! As soon as the wagon is ready”, Trixie stated. She really took her job seriously, even if she did try to keep to herself...

We got all the props, the decorations, the lighting, everything we had prepared for in the morning and stowed them in the back. It looked like quite the mess if you ever get the chance to see it, it was kept together with rope so that it didn’t make so much noise on our travels, as well as keeping everything from falling out. Some of the towns folk approached the stage whilst we were packing up, there was three of them. Two either side looked like guards, black suits and those black glasses. The dude in the middle wore a monocle, oh and a top hat... You’ve got to love the top hat...

I turned my attention to him and waved from a distance, “Why hello there human!” The Mayor said happily, yep, it was the mayor of the town. “I would like to be the first to thank you for coming to our town, it isn’t much but I do hope you enjoyed your stay!”

“Um, It’s nothing really” I replied, slightly humbled. “But it’s not me you should thank...” I pointed to Trixie who was in the distance, trying to put things away. “She came here to entertain the town, I came with her to help. If you want to thank anyone, thank her...”

“How Nobel... Very well!” The Mayor replied, he jumped up onto the stage and began walking towards Trixie. “Miss?”

She turned around and was slightly shocked by the colt, now staring at her in the face. “Oh... Hello?” Trixie uttered in confusion, “Can I help you?”

“Miss?” The mayor began to say. “I would like to be the first to thank you for bringing this town an amazing show!”

Trixie’s face was priceless, It was true modesty coming out of mayors, No... Horses Mouth... Ha! Her face went bright red, which actually turned it purple, in complete embarrassment and shock. Her eyes started darting around and eventually she gave a response “Oh- Um, thank you!” She replied, spluttering as she spoke. “I’m just- doing what I’ve always done...”

It was kind of weird, I mean she’s a performer right? Surely she can manage someone telling her she did a good job... Right? Unless before she was just hiding behind her persona, actually now I think about it, she would have said something like, ‘At least you know good entertainment when you see it!’ Or something like that... So for her to actually throw that persona away, the same one she used to hide behind, and  see her with actual emotions was pretty amazing. The hate I had once felt for her and that damned stage persona had died, this was Trixie as she should have been, just a performer doing what she enjoyed doing for the people she met. By people I mean Ponies by the way, and no, I’m not changing it... Glasses, Deal With It.

“I also have something for you...” The Mayor said, as he passed her a bag containing things from the town, it as mainly food and souvenirs. It was a very kind gesture, “It’s not much, but I hope you would accept this...”

Trixie didn’t respond, in fact at the time I didn’t think she knew how to respond. She looked at me as if to say ‘What do I do!?’ I quickly pulled out the cue card, which I was still carrying by the way, and wrote on one before throwing it ninja style at her hoofs. She looked down and responded, “Oh! Thank you, I’ll return to this lovely town one day”

The mayor smiled, “I hope so” He said happily, he jumped down from the stage and shouted to us. “Take care!”

Trixie sighed with relief, “Thanks for that, my mind went... Blank...”

“No worries” I replied, scratching the back of my head. “Just remember to breath next time ok?”

She nodded happily and carried the bag to the front of the wagon, as she did this however something had fallen out.

“Er, Trix?” I tried to get her attention but her mind was elsewhere, I shrugged and walked over to the piece of paper on the floor. As I picked it up I realised it was a letter, addressed to me... I knew this for a fact because it said Kid on the front. ‘Wait... Tray?’ I thought to myself, as I opened it and unfolded the letter... It read the following:-

Dear Nick,

I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye formally as I have a job to do, I did walk down to the wagon but you were asleep, I needed to tell you something important about Trixie. She may seem like a stubborn little filly when asked about her past, but it seems to me that she trusts you more than when you first met her. There’s something else I have to confess too, when you went to apologise to her back in Appleloosa, I followed you. Another thing I have to point out is that I’ve seen her around before, it was a while ago in fact... Years even. Back then she was stubborn all of the time, I even followed the circuit she did for her entertaining. Eventually a while back I saw her again in a place called Ponyville, she was put in her place. I was watching from afar so I don’t know the full story,

But my point is this, she isn’t as bad you think. And to be frank I think you’ve learnt this by now...

There will be a time when she tells you everything you want to know, until then don’t push her for information, I have to hazard a guess and say you may have tried this before no?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your time in this land.

Take care

S.T.

P.S. There should be doughnuts in the bag for your travels...

I stood there and began to collect my thoughts... Well actually that wasn’t strictly true, I ended up jumping and shouting for joy, “Yes!” I cried hysterically, “We’ve got Doughnuts!”