Doubt

CHAPTER THREE
A LITTLE HELP

"Gaaaah!" shrieked Trixie, bolting to her hooves. Who was that? The answer stood right in front of her, looking a bit shocked at this response. A yellow stallion with a light brown mane and tail, wearing a brown leather vest and a brown cowboy hat (brown must have run in the family). He looks quite like that farm filly I saw back in Ponyville... Trixie thought, quite uncouth, if you ask me.

"Well, ahhh... Glad tah see you're fully conscious." Replied the stallion awkwardly. He had a strong accent, and as he spoke, Trixie caught a strong smell of apples on his breath, mixed with... Well, it must have simply been bad oral hygiene.

"Who are you?" Said Trixie loudly. Now that she was in the presence of a simple earth pony, she had regained most of her swagger. "Do you even know who I am?" Here, the mare struck a quite ridiculous pose. Her chin was so high that her head nearly touched her back, and her lips were puffed in out in what she obviously thought was an alluring expression. Her right hoof went to bounce her mane for that extra hint of I'm better than you, but it quickly became tangled in the horrid mess that she used to brush almost constantly.

"Ahhh, well, Ah'm Braeburn," The stallion said as Trixie fought with her curtain of tangled hair, "And, ah... Who are yah, exactly?" He continued, smiling sheepishly.

"I? I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! Trixie has freed towns from the evil clutches of terrible creatures, saved innocent ponies, done the best magic in all of Equastria!" She bellowed, and once again, she attempted to strike a pose, but quite forgot that her hoof was still grievously tangled in her mane. "Ow!" Well, at least her hoof was free from it, but so was a lump of hair from her scalp. She raised the hoof to massage her scalp, but quickly realized that that was a bad idea, and lowered it again to strike her pose properly, then continued in an angry voice "Are you telling me you don't know who I am?!"

"Well, as a matter of fact, no." Said Braeburn shyly, but, being the kind stallion he was, did not want to make the mare before him upset, "But ah' reckon that yah must be a... a wonderful unicorn! And ah was just wonderin' how a hero like, um, yerself got ahhh, stuck out here! And it's ah... a pleasure tah meet yah!" He finished, beaming as he took one of her hooves in his and shook it. Hard.

"We-e-e-ll I-I J-J-Jus-" Trixie pulled her hoof out of the yellow stallion's grip, but, much to her dismay, found that she was still shaking quite violently. Once it had subsided, she continued, "Ah-hem. As Trixie was saying, Trixie just left a town Trixie was saving so Trixie could get to Canterlot. They require the presence of their hero, The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Well, then, Great and Powerful Trixie, need any help? Ah got room for another on mah way ta Canterlot." He gestured as he spoke, towards a beaten up cart filled with apples that was trailing behind him, attached to him by a harness.

"Help? The Great and Powerful," Trixie said, emphasizing the last three words, "Trixie does not require help from filthy peasants like you!" And with that, she turned her head with a loud Hmph and began to trot away, levitating her filthy cape onto the top of her head as she walked.

"Well, ah, judgin' by tha fact that ah found ya sleepin' out here in tha middle of a desert, I reckon ya'll go could do will ah little assistance," Braeburn replied, quite unfazed by Trixie's rude response, as he began to trot beside her, taking his creaky cart with him.

"Trixie does not!" Trixie said peevishly, turning her head away once again, causing the cape to ruffle and slide over her eyes, and trotting to the side to avoid the farm pony.

"I reckon yah do!" Said Braeburn happily as he moved sideways too, making sure that he stayed next to her.

"Do not!" Yelled Trixie as she drifted further away and quickened her pace, while moved her cape to its proper place on her back.

"Yah do to!" Said Braeburn, still right next to her.

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Do n-AHHH" Trixie, who had been going at a gallop now with her head turned stubbornly to the side, had tripped over a rock, and had fallen face first into the dirt. "Mmph! Mmph mmph!" She protested, but her words were too muffeled to make out.

Pop. Her head freed itself from the small crater it had made in the ground (it must have been pretty big to leave one like that). Her face, covered in dirt that barely budged as she spluttered and pawed furiously at it, turned angrily to Braeburn, but almost instantly looked away again, a look of terror and disgust on her face.

"Dirt! Dirt! Filthy disgusting dirt!"

She moved with speed that would almost make the Wonderbolts jealous as she fled to the only clean, or at least moderately not completely made out of dirt, place near her, Braeburn's apple cart, where she stood, shaking, completely terrified of getting dirtier. Although at this point, that seemed quite impossible.

"Good tah see yer finally agreein'!" Said Braeburn brightly as he began to trot down the road.

Trixie glared at Braeburn. She didnt want to give up so easily, but one look at that surrounding dirt, at how distance the castle was... "I- It's- Fine!" She relented as she turned around so that she wouldn't have to look him in the eye. Down on the ground, she saw a small, brown-purple object. She levitated it over, only to find out that it was her cape, though it looked more like used underwear now. Placing it on her back as thought it was the most regal cape in the land, she finally sat down in the cramped little cart, although only about 20% of the time was actually spent sitting, the rest was spent in the air as the old cart hit rocks and bumps and dead turtles or who knows what.

Around Trixie sat apple after apple after apple. Some were red, some were green, some yellow, and much to Trixie's amazement, some were rainbow coloured. But they were still apples. Boring little Apples.

Bored already, she placed her head on her left hoof and stared forwards, a glazed and bored look in her eyes as she thought about more important things, such as herself.

"Yah know, now would be a great time tah tell yah mah life story!" Said Braeburn excitedly. He evidently loved talking.

"I'd rather you just-" began Trixie, a little annoyed.

"See, it all started when I was born. So my story starts with," Continued Braeburn, "Me being born. You see-"

"Braeburn, I!"

"I was born on my birthday,"

"BRAEBURN!"

But it was evident that the stallion could not hear her over the sound of his own dialogue, since he continued as though nothing had happened, "My birthday is the day I was born. I was born that day, on my birthday."

Groan

~~~~~~~

Blah Blah Apples. Blah Blah Buffalo. Blah Blah Apples. Blah Apples Blah Apples Apples Apples

It was all she had heard for the last few hours. Trixie wouldn't be surprised if Braeburn turned around and pointed to an apple and said That there's mah wife, yuk yuk yuk.

Bored Bored BoredBoredBored- until her boredom was finally remedied by a few simple words:

"We're here!"