Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka

It was noon and the sun brightly shined right inside the hotel room. The sunlight landed right on Starlight's face, who has been in a deep sleep for many hours by now. The sun woke her up. After she has slowly opened her eyes, she took a look at her alarm clock, that she had turned of for today, because of the long and loud previous night. She saw how late it was and immediately jumped out of her bed.

"Oh my Celestia! Trixie! Wake up! We have been sleeping for way to long!" She hastily shouted towards her best friend, who was still cozily lying in her bed and slowly opened her eyes afterwards.

"Yawn... how late is it?" Trixie said tiredly, after Starlight woke her up, "Oh it's 12 o' clock, nice, that means I can sleep for 2 more hours."

"TRIXIE!" Starlight loudly shouted at her.

"Ok, fine. I'm waking up you early bird!" Trixie replied to her in a grumpy tone and slowly went out of her bed.

"Early bird? It's 12 o' clock you sleepy mare! How can a pony even have such a messed sleep schedule like you?" Starlight desperately asked to her.

Trixie smugly replied after she had left her bed, "Starlight, my sleep schedule is not messed up! As already said, I am a night pony, who likes to stay up late and there is nothing wrong with that."

Starlight simply replied back to her, "Technically, there is nothing wrong with staying up late, but you are really taking it to an extreme. I mean you sleep until 14 o' clock, that's just insane!"

Trixie smugly replied and slowly became louder and more boastful in her response, "Maybe it is a bit extreme, but there is a reason for it. The night is just the perfect time for some great and powerful magic. It's why I did that performance at such a late time. The cold and dark night is made for fireworks and magical illusions. This is the environment where the Great and Powerful Trixie thrives and warms the hearts of thousands of ponies and humans!"

Starlight tho didn't even really listen to her and instead looked out of the window and saw that is was a lot colder today. In fact, she could even see that the water of the estuary has frozen because of the cold temperatures.

"Wow, we really were lucky with yesterdays arrival. The entire estuary is covered in ice. We definitely couldn't use a ferry today," Starlight said afterwards.

"Wow, this is exactly how I wanted it, a warmer day for our arrival, so that we could use a ferry to cross the estuary and colder weather afterwards, so we can experience this place in it's true natural glory. I really outdid myself when planning trip, didn't I Starlight?" Trixie, being totally smug and proud of herself, asked.

"Well, I guess it is smart when you don't mind the colder weather, the problem is that I do," Starlight simply replied to her.

"Oh come on Starlight," Trixie responded to her, while eating the leftover meat jelly from yesterday, "it's still not that cold, at least for this places standards. Just put on some warmer clothes and you will be fine."

"I guess you are right," Starlight, who was more optimistic now, replied back, "I knew that this is a very cold place, so I took my thickest and warmest clothing with me. I mean if the humans, who are much more sensitive to cold temperatures, can handle it, so can I."

"Of course I'm right!" Trixie mumbled as she continued to eat the meat jelly.

"Are you literately eating the meat jelly for you breakfast?" Starlight asked to her, being slightly weirded out.

"Yes I am, is there anything wrong with that Starlight, or do you also want some of it?" Trixie defensively replied.

"No thanks," Starlight kinda awkwardly replied back, "I personally prefer something lighter and healthier for breakfast." and began to eat the salad, that she got from the supermarket yesterday.

After both ponies finished their meals, they made themselves ready to go out and explore more of Chukotka's largest city. Due to the cold weather, Starlight putted on a thick winter jacket along with her hat and scarf, before going out. Trixie tho only wore her hat and scarf along with her little pocket.

Starlight and Trixie walked out of their hotel and as soon as they stepped outside, little snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

"Look Starlight, its snowing!" Trixie told to her friend in excitement. "How great and powerful is this place to have snow in autumn?"

Starlight tho, didn't like it to much and simply replied, "Well it isn't really that great for me, but I can see why you like it. It does look pretty, especially here, witch all of the blocky yet colourful buildings in the back."

"Well, with the weather being so great, I think we should go to the city center and look for some interesting sights and things to do, shall we?" Trixie asked towards her friend.

"Sounds good to me," Starlight happily replied and they both made their way, to the center of Anadyr.

It was only a quick walk, as their hotel wasn't far away from the city center and after they have arrived here, they saw many human statues, more commieblocks and a museum. However, just after they have arrived there, a random human loudly screamed something in Russian, while pointing towards the two ponies. Trixie and especially Starlight were confused on why he did that. Only a few seconds later, a bunch of humans ran towards the two ponies.

"Trixie, what the hay is going on here?" Starlight asked in fear and confusion.

"Well I'm not sure, but I have a feeling on what it could be," Trixie calmly replied to her.

Right afterwards, the first of these humans stood right in front of the two ponies, he looked them in their faces with joy, while holding a little notebook open and asked, "Can I have autograph of Great and Powerful Trixie?" in broken English with an incredibly thick Russian accent.

"Sure!" Trixie replied to him with a smug, took out a pencil from her pocket and gave the human an autograph in his notebook. It was that moment when Starlight realised, that all these humans just wanted an autograph by Trixie.

"Alright humans, stay calm, the Great and Powerful Trixie is ready to give autographs to all of you, just please one after the other and no rushing!" Trixie kindly pleaded with a smug, to calm the situation down.

While Trixie gave out a bunch of autographs to humans, that visited her show last night, Starlight silently stood next to her and watched towards the long line of humans that has formed in front her friend. She knew that Trixie will give each one of them an autograph and that it will take quite some time for it to end, as a lot of humans were requesting autographs. From adults, to elderly ones and even children, all sorts of people came towards the stage magician pony. The humans loved Trixie and her magic. they were able to hear, the ones that could speak English, raving about last night's show and asking more of Trixie and her magic.

"It seems like you humans want to see more of the Great and Powerful Trixie, am I right?" She loudly asked in a boastful tone.

As soon as she said it, the humans shouted and screamed, "Yes!" or, "Da!" which was the Russian word for yes.

"Alright humans! Calm down! The Great and Powerful Trixie is ready to give you a couple more tricks," She boastfully replied and began to do some magic tricks afterwards.

At first, she picked up multiple of rocks from the ground at the same time with her magic and turned them all into teacups with in a second. Afterwards, she created a bunch of colourful firework effects with her magic. Later, she teleported away one of the statues and teleported it back to it's place afterwards. And finally, she teleported herself right behind the crowd of humans, that cheered loudly at her after every single one of her tricks.

"Ok, that's enough for now," she smugly said after doing her teleportation spell, "let's get back to the autographs please!"

Starlight was just waiting for this to be over by now and started to play in the snow as a time waster. After nearly an hour of Trixie giving out autographs and doing some magic tricks in between, she said, "Alright humans, it's now time for the Great and Powerful Trixie to continue her journey with her best friend."

The humans however, wanted to see more of her. They were so amazed by the blue unicorn and her flashy magic tricks, they just couldn't get enough of it. Trixie tho, wanted to continue, with exploring the city along with her friend.

Trixie tried to make the humans happy, so they could continue their journey, by saying, "Sorry humans, but even a performer can't constantly please her fans. But don't feel sad, the Great and Powerful Trixie might come back one day, to this wonderful place."

After she has said that, the humans immediately began to cheer loudly. Things like, "Please come back!" or, "We love you!" could be heard from the crowd, along with many other shouts and cheers, of which most of them were in Russian. Starlight even heard one human calling Trixie humble, which almost made her believe the universe was about to end, because a human legitimately called Trixie, one of the most boastful loudmouths imaginable, humble. Fortunately, the situation slowly calmed down afterwards and the crowd of humans started to disappear.

"Wow, not even I was expecting me to become such a popular pony here," Trixie said happily with a smug, after the human crowd was gone.

"Finally they are gone," Starlight said in relief, "let's just continue our voyage now. We already wasted enough of this day by sleeping for so long."

Trixie agreed and they continued to explore the city of Anadyr.

"Hey Trix, why don't we go inside the museum?" Starlight asked her friend," I'm sure we will find some interesting things about Anadyr and the rest of Chukotka in it."

"Sure we can," Trixie replied and agreed to her, "I'm usually not a big fan of museums, but I am ready to make an exception for this one."

They both paid one pony coin each for entry and went inside the museum, where they were instantly greeted by lots of real stuffed animals. Starlight was quite fascinated by this. Trixie immediately started to touch them.

"Trixie, don't touch those. You do know that these technically are dead animals, right?" Starlight asked her with slight disgust in her voice.

"Really?" Trixie replied back, "Meh, I've touched worse things before in my life."

Afterwards, the two ponies found the skeleton of a walrus, that surprised them in how big it was.

"Wow, now that is fascinating," Starlight said in excitement after seeing the skeleton, "I never knew walruses had this many bones and those tusks, wow they're huge!"

"That is indeed fascinating Starlight," Trixie responded to her, "but I do wonder how flexible this skeleton is," and started to move and play around with the skeleton, by using her magic.

"Trixie stop! It might break!" Starlight yelled at her in fear.

"Come on Starlight, it won't break. Do you really believe they would put something that is so fragile here?" Trixie responded, while she continued to use her magic on the skeleton and moved certain parts of it, almost making it look like it was alive.

Fortunately, the skeleton was well stabilised and nothing broke. But suddenly, out of nowhere, a security guard stood behind Trixie, as she continued to play around with the skeleton. She eventually noticed the human that stood behind her, who was wearing a grey security outfit with black pants.

As soon as she saw him, she smugly said to him, "Oh hello, are you another fan who wants an autograph by the Great and Powerful Trixie? I mean I already just did an autograph session outside, but I am always ready please my fans. Do you have a piece of paper or a notebook where I can write on?"

The security guard tho, didn't respond a single word to her and instead promptly kicked her out of the museum and Starlight with it.

"Why the hay did he kicked me out as well? I didn't do anything!" Starlight said confused and somewhat mad, after she was kicked out and landed on the snowy grounds in front of the museum.

Trixie was next to her, laying in the snow. She stood up and furiously said, "See Starlight, this is why I don't like museums! They put all of this great and interesting stuff up, only for you to not touch and play around with it!"

Starlight also stood up afterwards and responded, "Well either way, I'm pretty sure they wont let us in again."

"Yeah, but who needs museums anyway," Trixie replied to her, "I'm sure we will find many other interesting things here in Anadyr."

"Yes, let's go on then, shall we?" Starlight agreed and replied to her.

After they walked a couple more kilometers through the city, Starlight, suddenly, out of nowhere, screamed loudly and pointed towards a statue.

"Oh my Celestia! Look Trixie! IT'S VLADIMIR LENIN!" Starlight yelled in joy and ran towards the statue.

Trixie, who clearly got jumpscared by Starlight's loud and sudden scream, was confused and asked, "Starlight, what in Luna is this about?"

"My personal hero Trixie!" Starlight replied to her in joy and excitement, "Vladimir Lenin, the human who brought communism to Russia! A true hero for any communist! Look, the statue even has a hammer and sickle on it!"

Trixie was clearly not amused by this. "What the hay Starlight, you can worship your communist idols at home, but not when we are traveling together! Let's just continue and do something else!" Trixie shouted towards her.

"Please Trixie!" Starlight begged towards her friend, "This is like a dream come true for me, let me spend some more time with this statue!"

"No Starlight!" Trixie assertively replied to her, "You yourself said earlier today, that we should not waste our time with things like this. I wanted to go to the western side of the city, which has a viewpoint and some human factory buildings. Also I'm feeling hungry. I think we should go to a restaurant and eat something there, while we are on the way. Don't forget, which one of us is the experienced traveler?"

"Ok fine," Starlight replied to her, being slightly disappointed, "I guess you are right, we have already wasted enough time today and you are the more experienced traveler."

"Good, let's make our way then and see if we find a good restaurant while there." Trixie said before they continued their tour through the city. Starlight was still feeling a bit disappointed tho, that she couldn't spend anymore time with the Lenin statue and looked towards it, while they walked away from it.

As they began to walk to the western side of the city, they stumbled across a couple of different restaurants.

"Hey Trix, what about this one?" Starlight curiously asked her friend, "Its called Subway, a name that I can actually pronounce."

"Are you kidding me Starlight?" Trixie replied to her with as somewhat angry tone in her voice, "You are a communist, you should know to stay away from this place!"

Starlight became confused and asked Trixie back, "Uh... why? Whats wrong with this place and what does it have to do with me being a communist?"

Trixie moved closer to her and quietly asked her friend, "Ever heard of a place called MakDak? Or McDernelds or whatever?"

"Oh Celestia!" Starlight replied in shock, "Isn't that this horrible capitalistic western spy human restaurant?"

"Yes Starlight!" Trixie eagerly responded to her, "And this Subway restaurant is pretty much the same, but with a different menu. It's what you communists like to call western propaganda, so stay away from it!"

"Wow, I did not know that, but thanks for telling me Trix!" Starlight happily replied to her, "It's great to have a friend that accepts my political views even if they don't agree with it."

"No problem!", Trixie smugly replied, "Let's continue our walk and see if we find a good local restaurant."

Starlight agreed and they continued walking.

After they walked a couple of 100 meters, they found another restaurant. It was a smaller local restaurant with a name that was impossible to read and pronounce for non Russian speakers.

"Now this definitely looks more promising Starlight, don't you agree?" Trixie asked her.

"I do agree!" Starlight replied, "This definitely looks better. Let's go in and see what kind of dishes they have here."

They went into the restaurant and saw that it was indeed quite busy, as many locals were eating there when they arrived. They sat down at a free table and looked at the menu. There were a bunch of different Russian specialties on the menu. From Pelmeni to Chicken Kiev, Stroganoff, Kulebyaka and Cheburek, which Trixie picked for her order, with garlic sauce and kvass as a drink. Starlight tho didn't know what to pick, as she has never heard of most of these dishes before.

"Um Trixie?" Starlight asked her friend for help, "Do you know the things they have on the menu are, because I don't?"

Trixie laughed and replied in a snooty tone, "Starlight, do you really have no idea what any of these dishes are? But well, you communists generally don't know much about food, other than an empty plate. Me on the other hand, an experienced traveler who is always prepared and does proper research, knows all of these. Pelmeni for example are cooked dumplings filled with meat, and Cheburek, which is what I'm going to order, is pretty much the same but bigger and deep fried. Chicken Kiev is breaded chicken that gets deep fried and has a filling made of herbs and butter. Anything else you want to know?"

Starlight continued to look at the menu and simply replied, "You know what Trix, I think I'm just going to pick the same thing as you. It does sound tasty, is something I haven't had before and yet isn't anything crazy or flashy. But I think I'm going to pick sour cream instead of garlic sauce. Also, what is that is that kvass you want to order as a drink?"

"You haven't even heard of kvass before?" Trixie chuckled again and kept her snooty tone, while answering Starlight's question, "It's a drink that is made by fermenting bread, that also contains sugar, yeast, some lemon and other ingredients depending on which type. I chose the dark kvass, which is made with rye bread. But there is also honey kvass, fruit kvass and yes even mint kvass unfortunately."

"This doesn't sound like something I would like to drink to be honest," Starlight replied, "I think I'll go with an apple cider instead."

Shortly after they have chosen what to order, a server came to them and the two ponies ordered their dishes. After 10 to 15 minutes of waiting, the hungry mares got their food and began to eat. The Cheburek portion was quite big, almost too big for Starlight, who was feeling very full after they were done eating.

"Ugh... I think that was a bit too much for me, sure it was tasty and delicious, but my belly is really feeling full now," Starlight said in a somewhat exhausting sounding tone, after she finished her meal.

"I think the portion size was pretty good. The Great and Powerful Trixie always likes things that are a little bit extra," Trixie smugly responded.

"Yes, and that includes her ego and her plot size," Starlight replied, also in a somewhat smug tone.

"Of course the communist doormat can only make jokes about big egos and plot sizes. It's not like you live with Twilight, who, if I have a big ego, she has one too and eats like a selfcest fat fetishist after ordering from Hayburger!" Trixie replied with an smug smile.

Starlight began to laugh afterwards and responded, "Ok Trixie, you really got me with the Twilight diss, especially the Hayburger part, as it's actually is true and yet I feel like I shouldn't laugh at it because of how mean it is."

Trixie's smug smile got bigger and she replied, "Well I think you can call the princess of friendship, Twilightcado Sparklecado, am I right?"

They both laughed loudly afterwards. However, they good mood was quickly brought down when they saw the price of the food, they have ordered.

Starlight asked, sounding somewhat concerned, "Um Trixie, is it just me, or is this a lot of money?"

But Trixie smugly replied, "Yes it is Starlight, but no worries, I have learned something from the cashier of the supermarket yesterday!"

When the server arrived, Trixie simply gave him one pony coin. The server was confused at first, but then Trixie told him something about pony coins, "This is a pony coin, for us ponies it is our normal everyday currency. But for you humans, it is rare and valuable! What is just regular money in the pony world, is actually worth millions of Rubles here!"

The eyes of the server started to get big, as he actually believed in Trixie's lie and said, "Thank you ponies, for this valuable coin!"

The two ponies said goodbye afterwards and began to go out of the restaurant. While they were on the way to leave the restaurant, Starlight was concerned about what Trixie just did and quietly whispered to her, "Did you just bribed the server? That is really not ok and you know that!"

"Well if this place wasn't so expensive, I would not have the need to do something like this. If we would pay legitimately, we already be bankrupt!" Trixie quietly whispered back to her.

"Wait a minute, now I realise something. Didn't you made any money with your show last night?" Starlight questioningly whispered.

"Of course not, you want to lure and hook the fans first, because after that, they will always pay no matter what. Also the Rubles would be worthless anyway once our trip is over," Trixie smugly whispered back.

"Well for this, the Rubles would definitely be useful, but ok," Starlight replied back whispering.

When they stepped out of the restaurant, they saw that it has gotten pretty dark and gloomy outside.

"Oh Celestia! Is it already this late? I knew we already wasted quite some time today, but was it really this much?" Starlight asked her friend, sounding concerned.

"Calm down Starlight, it's not even evening actually," Trixie replied to her, "It is just the fact that it gets dark here really early. The sun only shines here for like a couple hours a day."

"Wow, whoever controls the sun for the humans, must not like this place," Starlight replied blunt.

"Well, whoever it is, he or she still likes it more than Pevek, which we will go to tomorrow and over there the sun only shines for like a few hours and doesn't even shine at all for a few months a year," Trixie replied to her.

"Well that sounds charming," Starlight ironically replied.

Afterwards, they continued their way to the western side of the city. While looking cute and charming during the bright day, Anadyr can look quite gloomy when it's darker, especially when it is also snowing. Starlight didn't feel to comfortable in the dark streets with blocky buildings that were covered in snow and ice. Trixie tho seemed to enjoy the darker and colder atmosphere. The thick snow and ice that covered the streets of Anadyr, made the walk took quite a bit longer than it normally would, but after walking for over half an hour, the two ponies have reached the viewpoint that they wanted to go on. They walked up the stairs and managed to get a great overview of the city and even managed to see the massive factories that the humans have built nearby.

"Now this is what I call great and powerful!" Trixie said with full excitement, "What an amazing view over an amazing city! You can see commieblocks, factories and the snow that covers it all and the darkness only gives it an even greater atmosphere!"

"It is cool to look at," Starlight replied to her, "but something here smells really bad, does it come from that massive factory building?" and coughed afterwards.

"Yes, it does come from the factory," Trixie replied to her, "but I honestly really like the smell. Ah, that smell brings back memories. Reminds of that time I did a show where I tried to use as many smoke bombs as possible", she said while breathing in the air, that was getting polluted by the factory.

Trixie adored standing on this viewing platform. She loved the view over the city and the smoke smell which was nostalgic to her. She distantly looked down to the city and up to the sky and began to daydream about herself, her life and dreams for the future.

"This is what freedom and success feels like. Standing over everypony else and looking down towards them, while simultaneously being in the same cold and dark world as them. But do you even care about it, when your dreams have come true and are at the highest level anypony can reach? No! You begin to appreciate the coldness, the darkness and all of the awful struggles you have been through, because without it, you never could have been able to reach it this far. Am I on that level yet? Unfortunately no! This, is just a short glimpse on how it actually feels like, to reach all of your dreams and be on top of the world. Every glimpse of this feeling, is like a drug. It gives you the illusion that you have accomplished everything you ever wanted, but in reality, you aren't even close to it, which I am. I have been doubting, if my dream of becoming Equestria's greatest and most powerful magician, would ever even come true, especially after my career and home got destroyed, a couple years ago in Ponyville. But while feeling the consequences of it, being right in the middle of the worst time of my life, I realised once again, why I even became a magician in the first place. To show all of the many ponies, who hate and dislike me, made my life worse and think I am self-absorbed, egotistical and talentless, that I am better than them, that I never give up, no matter how much shit they want to throw at me, because every time they try, it only makes my willpower stronger. And even if I am standing here, enjoying myself the drug, that this glimpse of success is, I wont let it take over me. Just like alcohol, there is nothing wrong with enjoying and consuming it from time to time, but for the love of Luna, don't let it control and corrupt you, or else, you dreams will never come true. And I will do anything, to not let it corrupt me. I will never forget the worst moments of my life, that scared, depressed and traumatised me and won't let myself get addicted to these glimpses of success, that will fool you, if you are not careful enough. I am the Great and Powerful Trixie and nopony should forget that! I will show my haters, the ponies who wanted to damage my career, my bullies and teachers from my magic school and my mom, who never cared and loved me, that I am the best, better than all of their pathetic lives, they have wasted, trying to bring me down. I might not be there yet, but I am on the way. My magic, getting better and better. My shows and tours, each one more successful than the last. My fanbase, growing bigger, better and more powerful by each day. And along this journey I have even made a great and powerful friend, who likes and accepts me, just the way I am and has helped me becoming even better and more powerful! It all happened, because of one day, where I had the strength and courage, to come back to the place, where my career almost ended, Ponyville. I have the passion, I have the talent, I have the support! I can do this! One day, I will stay on top of this dark and messed up world and anypony will know and respect my name, the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Starlight didn't even listen to Trixie's self motivating monologue, not even the part where Trixie mentioned and appreciated her. She just wanted to go back to the hotel, where it was bright, warm and it didn't smelled like Trixie did a smoke bomb rampage.

"Ugh... she complained about me worshiping a Lenin statue, yet this ego driven self talking, with no meaning, is totally fine," Starlight mumbled to herself, while Trixie was in the middle of her inner monologue.

Starlight was waiting down from the viewing platform, as she couldn't handle the smoke smell of the factories. She was relieved when Trixie was finally done with her daydreaming and came down the stairs.

"Are you finally done with your ego trip?" Starlight asked Trixie, while sounding not amused.

"It wasn't an ego trip Starlight," Trixie replied to her smugly, "it was a meaningful inner monologue to motivate me and remind myself to never give up."

"Sure," Starlight responded, still sounding not amused, "can we please go back to our hotel? I am sick of having to be in the cold and dark."

"Of course," Trixie happily replied, "I too wanted us to make our way back to the hotel now."

After again walking for nearly half an hour, due to the thick snow and ice, Trixie and Starlight have arrived back at their hotel. Starlight was relieved to be back in the warm and cozy hotel. They spent the rest of the day in their hotel room, where they watched some local TV, as their hotel room also had a television.

"Seriously Trix?" Starlight asked her best friend, "You were weirded out by beds and showers, but a TV is totally fine?"

"Yes Starlight, and?" Trixie replied simply and blunt.

As the TV channels were in Russian and Starlight couldn't understand it, and even Trixie too only partially, they made their own silly dubs of it. They made many strange voices and laughed a lot while at it. Afterwards, Starlight showered herself, while Trixie or course didn't.

"I was just enjoying feeling clean and fresh, and as soon as I stood next to you, I feel dirty again," Starlight not amusingly said to her smelly and dirty friend.

Trixie also ate the chocolate bar, Starlight got from the supermarket.

"Um Trixie, you know that chocolate bar was meant for me, right?" Starlight asked her with a dead expression.

"Starlight, you yourself ate the bread yogurt, that you were grossed out by at first and I chose for myself!" Trixie defensively replied.

"Ok, you are right on that and even then, I'm still feeling full from the Cheburek. You can eat it," Starlight replied in a happier tone.

All what their did afterwards, was packing some of their first things already, as they planned to leave Anadyr tomorrow and go to Pevek. After that, it was already midnight and the two ponies were feeling tired, even Trixie because she had to wake up earlier than usual, but also because of the many things the two had experienced today. They both made themselves ready for bed, brushed their teeth, said goodnight, turned the lights off and laid themselves down in their beds. This night, things stayed quiet and both of them could sleep safe and calm.