Chapters Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
Chapter 2: Welcome to Anadyr
As soon as Trixie and Starlight took their first steps in Anadyr, they were greeted with lots of streets that were loaded to the brim with colourful commieblock buildings, as well as a few orthodox churches, but ponies don't believe religion, so instead, they took their time to appreciate the colourful commieblock architecture of Anadyr.
"Now this is more how I like it!" said Starlight with an happy expression, "Colourful buildings, more humans and an all around much happier atmosphere."
"It does have a very different vibe compared to Ugolnye Kopi. While it isn't quite as unique and fascinating as that place, or some of the other cities that we will visit later on, it is perfect for something something," Trixie said in her usual smug tone.
"And what is that something something?" Starlight curiously asked to her.
"Come on Starlight, you know me and thus you know what it is," Trixie smugly replied.
"Oh Celestia, don't tell me you want to do a performance here Trixie?" Starlight asked with a concerned tone in her voice.
"Of course the Great and Powerful Trixie is going to do a performance here Starlight!" Trixie replied to her with an exited tone in her voice, "Humans are so easily fascinated by the magic we ponies have, I bet half of Anadyr will come to see it!"
"Well, I guess you can do a performance here if you want to, but I'm not going to assist you. I want to do other things here and I think we should head towards our hotel first," Starlight replied to her.
"Don't worry Starlight, I don't need any assistance. By now, my magic is great and powerful enough to carry this alone, especially when it comes to a human audience. And I do agree that it is best if we go to our hotel first and put our luggage there," Trixie replied with an assertive tone in her voice.
After they have walked for a couple of minutes, Trixie and Starlight have arrived at their hotel. It was a 3 star hotel, that is more affordable compared to some of the others in the city. Trixie planned 2 nights for the hotel, since she has planned to go to Pevek after that. Starlight thought this was fine and enough time to experience the city of Anadyr. But before they did that, they took the key for their room from the reception, went to their two bed hotel room and putted their luggage here. Despite being an experienced traveler, Trixie has never been in a hotel before, as she usually traveled with her trailer. Since the portals to earth were to small for her trailer, she traveled without it for the first time in her life. Due to this, she was surprised about the hotel room, as it was very different than what she was used to.
"What the fuck is that? Beds?" Trixie questioned confusingly, "I thought I booked a more affordable hotel and not some luxurious and expensive bullshit!"
Starlight was weirded out by her best friend and replied, "You do know that beds are in literately every hotel room, right? I mean you are a traveler after all."
"You know that I usually travel with my trailer which is why I don't book hotels. I will miss my little trailer friend. Good thing I took this picture of it with me, so that it will always be with me in at least some shape or form," Trixie responded to her in a more melancholic tone, while pulling out a picture of her trailer from her suitcase.
"You really are a weird pony Trixie!" Starlight has said amusingly, before taking a look at the things Trixie took along inside her suitcase and became more and more confused about it, "What even is all of this stuff you took with you? I mean I should have expected the fireworks and smoke bombs, but a picture of your trailer, teacups and a vinyl?"
"Teacups are always necessary Starlight and I thought this hotel room would have a vinyl player, I mean if you can afford beds, why not vinyl player?" Trixie responded with a defensive tone in her voice.
"I don't think I have ever seen a hotel room that has a vinyl player and if it exists, it is probably very expensive," Starlight explained to her friend.
"Aw come on, the new Molchat Doma album would have totally fitted to the vibe of this place, well fuck it!" Trixie said in disappointment.
"Anyway," Starlight said afterwards, "I think we should check out the bathroom of our hotel room, what do you think?"
"This hotel room has a motherfucking bathroom, but not a vinyl player?" Trixie asked in confusion, "Are hotels always this weird?"
"Hotels aren't weird, you are weird Trixie," Starlight replied to her with a serious tone in her voice.
"Is there anything wrong with being weird, Starlight?" Trixie asked to her in a sassy tone.
"Of course there is nothing wrong with being weird Trix," replied Starlight, with a happier tone, to her, "I actually like it that you are a bit weirder than the other ponies. I don't want a normie as my friend, I want someone who is unique and interesting and you definitely are."
Trixie started to get a sassy and smug smile on her face, nodded and replied, "The Great and Powerful Trixie is an anomaly for sure!"
Afterwards, they both took a look at the bathroom, which didn't stop Trixie from feeling alienated of the hotel room.
"A motherfucking shower?" she shouted loudly, "Who in Equestria needs a shower?"
"Well I know a certain blue unicorn, who lives in a trailer that doesn't have shower and rarely washes herself because of that," Starlight said to Trixie with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
Trixie immediately replied to her, "Oh come on Starlight, just because I am not some kind of cleanliness freak like you, doesn't mean I need to wash myself more often. Once a month is more than enough!"
Starlight simply replied, "You really don't know how lucky you are, about the fact that I am used to the smell of smoke bombs mixed with peanut butter, spicy chips, green tea and old pony sweat by now."
Trixie and Starlight left the hotel afterwards, to use the rest of the day to explore the city of Anadyr and it's culture.
"Alright Trix, what kind of things have you planned to do here? I really want to know more about the culture of this place, do you know any great activities we can do for that?" Starlight curiously asked her friend.
"I know what the perfect thing is, to experience the culture of a place, and that would be tasting it's cuisine," Trixie responded to her.
Starlight, a bit confused at first, replied, "Ok, I was expecting something different to start things off, but food is indeed a pretty big part of culture. Well, let's see if there are any good restaurants nearby."
"No no Starlight," Trixie replied to her, with increased excitement in her voice, "we are not going to a restaurant, I have planned that for our next day. For today, I thought we would go to the place were the humans that live here, get the things that they eat the most and that place is the supermarket!"
Starlight being really confused now, responded to her, "The supermarket? I mean, I can kinda get it, but is it really something to get this exited about?"
"Yes it is!" Trixie answered her question, "This is not just any supermarket, this is a human supermarket in Chukotka. Can you even imagine what kind of things they sell here?"
"Well uh... I really don't," Starlight replied to her blunt.
"Here it is!" Trixie said gleefully after they have arrived at a supermarket, "Well then, let's go in, shall we?"
They went inside the supermarket and were immediately fascinated with how huge it was, as the supermarkets in Equestria weren't as big as the ones on Earth.
"Wow Trixie, you were right! This place really is amazing!" Starlight said with a surprised and joyful expression.
"Of course I was right, when was I why ever wrong?" Trixie boastfully replied.
"Well, there were a couple of times, but let's just not talk about those," Starlight responded with an amused tone in her voice.
Trixie also gave Starlight a little warning about her taste for food, "Also Starlight, and this is very important, no mint! You know I fucking hate mint with a burning passion! That weird disgusting flavour that tries to be spicy and sweet at the same, while managing to be neither and yet both at the same time, which makes you feel like your mouth is being castrated with cleanliness and as soon as it reaches your throat, it will trigger..."
"Ok that's enough!" Starlight interrupted her, "Don't worry Trix, I know that you don't like the taste of mint and trust me, I won't buy anything with it."
They took a shopping cart and walked through the long and wide passages of the supermarket, while looking for some interesting things they could find. Some of the things they sold here, are things that the two ponies have never seen before.
"Dried cod fish," Starlight read the writing of the package of something, that she has never seen before, "that sounds gross, I don't I want to buy that."
Trixie too found some interesting specialties. "Fermented bear testicles in teriyaki sauce. Could be something my mom used to serve me back when I was filly. Can't be that bad," she said with a sarcastic tone in her voice and putted it in their shopping cart afterwards.
The things Trixie chose were very different compared to ones Starlight did. Starlight wanted something that tasted good and mostly chose things that looked familiar because of that. She putted some apples, a bar of chocolate, raspberry yogurt, some rye bread and a salad in their shopping cart. Trixie tho, putted some very strange and exotic things in the cart. From bread flavoured yogurt, to meat jelly and fermented deer, she was looking for something more unique and different, even if it might be gross. The only normal thing she chose, was tea.
After they have found enough stuff to try out, they went to the checkout. While there, Starlight started to notice all of the strange things Trixie has put inside their shopping cart.
"Uh Trixie, what is all of that weird and disgusting stuff you chose? And is that bread flavoured yogurt?" Starlight asked her in concern and confusion.
"Well Starlight, I want to experience the culture, which is something you yourself wanted too, but instead, you brought apples and chocolate. What kind of lame stuff do you want us to try out?" Trixie defensively told to her friend.
"I want something that is delicious and not something that makes me throw up!" Starlight replied to her with an slightly annoyed tone her voice, "Also you chose tea, which is also something that isn't unique and special to Chukotka too."
"Tea is always needed Starlight!" Trixie yelled towards Starlight, defending her choice of food items, "Besides, all of your stuff is just uninteresting things that we also have in Equestria! Hasn't Applejack already force feed us enough with Apples anyway?"
Starlight began to kinda understand Trixie's argument afterwards and tried to calm the situation down, "Ok ok, it seems like we had different ideas when it came to this shopping trip, let's just accept that."
Trixie calmed her self down and accepted Starlight's choose of more ordinary food items afterwards, "Well, I guess it isn't that bad to have some more normal stuff to eat too. In fact now where I am thinking about, it is actually pretty great that we have such nice mix between new and familiar food, am I right?"
Starlight agreed with her and responded, "You are right Trix, but I don't think I want to eat some of that stuff you brought. Perhaps you don't mind trying out those things just for yourself?" She asked her, with slight concern in her voice.
Trixie chuckled and replied, "Starlight, you really expect me to try out these things just for myself? Of course I won't! We are best friends after all and if best friends do weird and disgusting things, they do it together!"
Fear began to cover Starlight's face, as she quietly whispered to herself, "Oh my Celestia, please help me."
After the depressed looking cashier had scanned all of the items, he said the price of all the things the two ponies have bought, "That would be 18900 Rubles please."
Trixie took out a small note from her little pocket, that showed the value between pony coins and rubles. Her jaw dropped as soon as she took a look towards that note. "That would be uh..." Trixie said with a very awkward tone and expression, "exactly one pony coin," and gave the cashier one singular pony coin.
"Wait a minute a pony coin?" The cashier took the coin with a massive glow up in his face and tone of voice and told the two ponies, "I never ever thought I would get a pony coin! Do you ponies even know how much we humans value these? This is the greatest day of my life!"
"Wow, I didn't know pony coins are that valuable for humans," Starlight said with a surprised expression.
"They are!" The cashier told the two ponies gleefully, "It is the rarest and hardest to get currency for us humans!"
"I don't remember the captain, that brought us to Anadyr, being this exited about a pony coin," Starlight said in fascination, "perhaps he hid his excitement or didn't know about how valuable they are for humans. What do you think Trix?"
But Trixie wasn't listening to Starlight. She was just glad that the cashier was this happy and exited about one pony coin, while she hurriedly putted all of the things they bought in a bag and ran to the entrance to bring the shopping cart back. Drops of sweat covered her face while she did that. Starlight was visibly confused about her behavior.
"Ok Starlight," Trixie hastily said to her friend, still having a very awkward and nervous expression on her face, "let's go back to our hotel and try out all of the things we bought, shall we?"
Starlight quickly tried to say goodbye to the cashier, "Uh... goodbye!" but Trixie rushed out of the supermarket and pulled Starlight out along her.
After being forcefully dragged of the supermarket, Starlight questioned Trixie's behavior, "Why in the hay did you have to rush out of the supermarket like that? I have a feeling that all of that stuff we bought probably costed more than just one pony coin, didn't it?"
"Well uh..." Trixie replied to her awkwardly, "let's just say, you really don't want to know how much that stuff actually costed."
"Oh come on Trix," Starlight replied to her with a chill tone in her voice, "it can't be that expensive. I mean we didn't buy that much, did we? Just tell it to me Trix!"
Trixie started to get a nervous look on her face and began to sweat, as she quietly told Starlight the real price of their little shopping trip, "Well, let's just say, according to official calculations, all of that stuff we just bought, costs 36 pony coins."
"36 PONY COINS!?" Starlight questionably yelled to Trixie.
"Don't be so loud Starlight!" Trixie putted her hoof in front of Starlight's mouth, while she tried to calm her down, "I too am shocked with how expensive this place is, but the cashier was fine with one coin and that's all what matters."
"Ok, sorry for being so loud," Starlight apologized, with an awkward expression and voice, to her. "Well even tho we technically just did a theft, let's just... pretend like it didn't happen."
"Oh don't worry Starlight," Trixie replied to her, "as long as nohuman notices it, it doesn't matter anyway. Let's just go back to our hotel and try out all of the things we bought."
Starlight nervously replied, "Yes, lets just go back to hotel and do a nice little feast... Oh Celestia, please no..."
As soon as they were back inside their hotel room, Trixie immediately putted all the stuff they bought out of the bag and laid it on a table.
"Well let's put all of the stuff we already know, to the side first. You do wanted to experience the culture of this place, am I right?" Trixie said in a sassy tone with a smug smile on her face.
"Ugh... let's just get the torture over me," Starlight said with an exhausted and nervous tone.
"Alright then," Trixie said in excitement, "let's start out with something tame, bread flavoured yogurt!" and pulled out a teaspoon from her suitcase.
Starlight wasn't even surprised, about weird things Trixie was carrying along with her, anymore. Her face was covered with fear and agony and she very quietly whispered to herself, "Please let this be over as fast as possible."
Trixie opened the cup of yogurt and putted some of the beige coloured yogurt on her spoon, "Let's see how bread yogurt tastes like," she curiously said and ate some of the yogurt.
"Hey, this actually tastes not bad," Trixie said afterwards, to Starlight's surprise.
Starlight was more optimistic on the yogurt by now and too ate a spoon of it. "Hey, this really ain't bad, it actually tastes kinda good," she said pleasantly surprised.
"See Starlight, sometimes you just have to try out some new things," Trixie smugly said. "Well with that said, let's try out the meat jelly next!"
"Oh no..." was all what Starlight could say to this.
Trixie opened the package of the meat jelly. Immediately, the strong scent of this Russian delicacy went trough their noses. Surprisingly for Starlight, it actually didn't smelled that bad.
"Honestly, I expected it to smell worse," Starlight said in surprise.
"Of course it doesn't smell bad Starlight," Trixie replied to her, "this is a popular dish here for a reason, maybe the taste will be even better!" she said with excitement and ate a big chunk of the meat jelly. Starlight was just hoping for her friend to not throw up.
"Mmh, delicious!" Trixie delightfully said after she tried out the meat jelly.
Starlight just stared at her with a confused expression. "Aw come on, you have to be joking! I mean, it looks so gross and unappetizing," she said with slight disgust in her voice.
"Oh come on Starlight," Trixie replied to her in a snooty tone, "you're a communist, you are like the last type of pony that should judge something by it looks. Try it out and you will see that I am not joking!"
"Ugh, ok fine, I will give it a try," Starlight replied to her in a not amused tone and begrudgingly ate a small piece of the meat jelly.
"Hey, not only were you not joking, you are right, this actually tastes good!" Starlight, being happily suprised, replied.
Trixie began to laugh, "Oh Starlight, you like at little filly! At first you are like "Ooh I don't want, it looks and sounds so gross!" but then you gave it a try and realise, that you actually like it," she amusingly said, while mocking Starlight and doing a high pitched voice while at it.
"Ok ok, i guess you are right," Starlight replied back to Trixie, while she accepted her criticism towards her, "maybe I should judge the food less by it looks and actually give it a try. After all, I have never tried these things before, where should I even know how they taste like?"
Trixie, totally smug, replied, "Well then, how about you try out the fermented deer next, Starlight?"
"Well uh..." Starlight was already regretting the things she just said, "I guess I have no other choice."
She opened the small can, was immediately hit with the smell of fermented meat, took a tiny piece of it on the spoon, quickly ate it and swallowed it down afterwards.
"And Starlight?" Trixie, who was slowly moving closer her, asked, while still having a smug look on her face, "How does it taste like?"
"It tastes... ok to be honest," Starlight replied to her blunt.
"Ok then, let me try it too," Trixie has said, before she ate a piece of it for herself. "Mmh, well seasoned, a bit of crunch and slight hint of fermentation, exactly how I like it."
After another relief for Starlight, her stomach began to twist, as she saw the final exotic treat that Trixie has brought for them, fermented bear testicles in teriyaki sauce. Trixie opened the glass that they were laid in, which Starlight looked towards with a shocked and disgusted expression. The smell of it was actually not bad, as the fermented bear testicles didn't had much of a scent and only the teriyaki sauce could be smelled. Still, this hasn't stopped Starlight from feeling totally grossed out by it.
"Well, here it comes Starlight," Trixie said to her. This time, even she seemed to feel nervous about it. "Well Starlight, seeing as you said, that you are now ready to try out new things, how about you try them first?" she awkwardly asked her friend.
"No Trixie, I won't!" Starlight replied to her, in a surprisingly assertive tone, "You wanted to buy this shit, so you are going to be the first one to try!"
"Ugh... ok fine," Trixie begrudgingly said.
She took her spoon and pulled out one of the testicles from the jar with it. Starlight saw that her face was covered in fear and somewhat enjoyed seeing her friend getting punished by her own questionable food choices, distracting herself from the fact, that she too had to try it out later on. Trixie anxiously putted the spoon with the testicle on it in her mouth and began to chew afterwards.
"And Trixie," Starlight amusingly asked her with a smug on her face, "how does it taste like?"
Trixie immediately replied, "Actually, it tastes kinda good."
"Really?" Starlight, being slightly disappointed and highly surprised, asked to her. "Oh well, you are not spitting it out, so I guess it can't that bad," she comfortably added to it and tried a bear testicle for herself.
As soon as Starlight putted one of the bear testicles in her mouth and began to chew, Trixie instantly grabbed the trash bucket of their hotel room, spat out the bear testicle into it, and drank big gulps of water from her bottle. Starlight immediately began to realise that Trixie has outsmarted her and started to gag and cough due to the awful taste of fermented bear testicles in her mouth. Trixie was hysterically laughing at her, while she herself was also heavily coughing from the disgusting taste, in between her laughs. Starlight too quickly grabbed the bucket of trash and spat out the testicle and afterwards, also drank from her bottle of water. Trixie's face was covered in red from all of her laughing and coughing, while Starlight desperately tried to get the awful taste out of her mouth. After Starlight drank almost her entire bottle of water empty, she looked over to Trixie, who was still laying on the floor, laughing at her. Her coughing has stopped, but her laughing has started to sound very raspy and exhausted.
Trixie slowly calmed down afterwards and stood up, while being totally out of breath and gasping for air and said to Starlight, "Oh my Luna, you totally fell for it Starlight!" and chuckled afterwards.
Starlight just stared at her with a dead expression and said, "Well I guess you won this thing, but for the love of Celestia, don't ever make me eat stuff that is this disgusting, ever again!"
Starlight was feeling a little bit angry towards Trixie, but simultaneously knew that this was just silly fun between two friends in her eyes. Still, for Starlight, Trixie had crossed a line here, but she didn't wanted to get angry towards her, so she just silently accepted it and tried to forget about. However, this was easier said than done, thanks to Trixie making silly comments towards Starlight.
"Well Starlight, how was it to experience the culture of Chukotka with your taste buds?" Trixie smugly asked her, while still being noticeably out of breath.
"Are these bear testicle things even part of this place's culture?" Starlight, being somewhat pissed off, asked back to her.
"Well, I haven't seen them being sold in a store in any other place," Trixie answered to Starlight, who was barely even listening to her and wanted to forget, what just happened.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
"We are now only 200 kilometers away from Anadyr Airport," said the announcer of the flight, that started in Khabarovsk.
Despite being inside the flying airplane for multiple hours by now, Trixie and Starlight were still feeling uncomfortable and scared on it.
"Mother of Luna, is this really how humans travel? No wonder Applejack thinks we ponies are the superior species. Not having the magic to teleport yourself is a real disadvantage," said Trixie with a nervous voice.
"You know you yourself couldn't teleport yourself, until like a couple weeks ago," Starlight told to her with a slightly annoyed tone in her voice.
Trixie responded in an arrogant tone, "Oh come on Starlight, we all know that the Great and Powerful Trixie had the ability to teleport herself this whole time, she just didn't know how to fully perfect it because she was kicked from that shitty magic school, which thought "teaching" magic with fucking books is better, than actually really teaching magic with skill and practice!"
"Well as arrogant that sounded, it is kinda true. The magic school system is definitely not for everypony. Not every unicorn, that has a thing for magic, is a Twilight and your magic does have a lot of power and strength for sure, it is just, you don't really know how to use it," Starlight honestly responded.
"Of course it's true, they call me the Great and Powerful Trixie for a reason," Trixie smugly replied.
"We are now landing in Anadyr Airport," said the announcer of the flight.
"Oh thanks Celestia, we are finally landing!" Starlight said with an exhausted yet relieved tone in her voice.
The airplane lands on the runway. Both Trixie and Starlight were thankful that the flight was finally over and that they can now visit and explore Chukotka and it's biggest city Anadyr. However, after they took their suitcases, left the airport and arrived in the city, Starlight thought something was odd.
"Um, Trixie? Is it just me or did Anadyr looked bigger and less abandoned on the pictures we saw? I mean, I know that Chukotka's population has dropped a lot, after the fall of humans greatest nation, the Soviet Union, but Anadyr was supposed to be not that heavily affected by it. Haven't you even told me that Anadyr has been seeing a bit of a rebound in the last few years?" Starlight questioned with a nervous and confused voice.
"Oh Starlight!" Trixie replied with an amused tone in her voice, "We are not in Anadyr, we are in Ugolnye Kopi, which is a smaller, semi abandoned settlement that is right across the estuary from Anadyr. Infact the airport we landed on is actually called Ugolnye Airport, but apparently not even the announcer of the airplane knew that."
"So wait a minute, are you telling me that we need to cross an estuary to get to Anadyr?" Starlight asked in a surprised yet still concerned tone.
Trixie responded with a relaxed and smug expression, "Don't worry Starlight, there are ferries that will take us to Anadyr. It is one of the reasons why I planned our trip outside of the winter season because otherwise, we would either have to cross an ice road or fly with some weird human machine called heliclocker or something like that. That and the fact that it gets so insanely cold and dark in the winter, it would even make the Crystal Empire look warm and sunny. You seem to be way to concerned about this Starlight. I am a professional and experienced traveler after all. Trust me, I know what I am doing when planning a trip like this."
Starlight, feeling more relieved now, responded, "You know what Trix, you are right. You do have a lot of travel experience, more than any other pony I know. If there is one pony out there that can plan something like this, it is you."
While walking through Ugolnye Kopi, Trixie and Starlight saw many abandoned buildings and little to no humans, which gave the place a weird and uncanny atmosphere. Starlight started to feel rather uncomfortable because of that, but Trixie didn't seemed to mind it. In fact, she seemed to be quite fascinated by the loads and loads of abandoned buildings.
"Wow Starlight, in all my years of traveling I have never seen something like this. I mean, I have seen a good amount of ghost towns in Equestria, but never one that has this many abandoned buildings. Can you even imagine how many humans used to live here?" Trixie said in a relatively joyful tone.
Starlight simply responded, "I don't know if I would be so happy about this. All of those abandoned buildings in this cold landscape make me feel kinda depressed," to which Trixie responded, "Well considering we also plan to go to Pevek and Bilibino, you might better get used to this."
After walking for an hour, Trixie and Starlight have arrived at the estuary. Since it wasn't winter, the water wasn't frozen and ferries were swimming on the waters between Anadyr and Ugolnye Kopi. Still, it was autumn and the weather was already getting colder. It was around six degrees Celsius, which was already too cold for Starlight, who got her jacket out of her suitcase and putted it on. Trixie on the other side, was used to dealing with more extreme temperatures, especially the cold, as she usually toured during the autumn and winter seasons. She also had thicker fur and a stronger and chubbier built body compared to Starlight.
"Is our little malnourished communist already freezing?" Trixie said jokingly.
"At least my plot isn't as fat as yours!" Starlight responded savagely, to which Trixie smugly replied, "Starlight, the Great and Powerful Trixie is a natural and curvaceous beauty. You should know that thick mares are considered attractive these days, it's probably why every stallion in Ponyville is so horny for marshmallow Rarity."
"Meh, I prefer not getting stuck inside my own canon," Starlight brutally replied, with a smug smile on her face.
"DON'T BRING THAT UP YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Trixie yelled at her with a loud and angry voice, but Starlight didn't seem to care about it.
After waiting for a couple of minutes, a small ferry has arrived in front of the two unicorns. Other than the captain, no other humans were on it. The captain was an older male human with grey hair, a full beard and tall body. He instantly greeted both of them in Russian.
"Uh Trixie, do you have any idea about what he just said?" asked Starlight to her friend, who had a better understanding of the Russian language.
"I think he said his name, that he is amazed by fact that ponies are here and asked us if want to go to Anadyr," Trixie replied.
"Well don't worry guys... uh I mean ponies, I can also speak English if you prefer. My name is captain Kolya and it looks like you two want to go to Anadyr, am I right?" said the captain, who had a harsh and raspy voice with a thick Russian accent.
"Yes, we do want to go to Anadyr," said Trixie with her usual smug tone.
"Then get on board ponies!" the captain loudly replied.
The two ponies stepped on board of the small ferry and the captain began to head the ferry to Anadyr. The water was very calm and silent on that day, which gave the little sea trip a very quiet yet eerie atmosphere. In the distance they could the see the city of Anadyr, which was getting closer and closer to them.
"I never thought i would have ponies on my tiny ferry!" the captain said and asked them curiously, "Who are you, how did you two even get to this cold and isolated place and why?"
Trixie replied to him, "I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, but you can just call me Trixie and this is my best friend Starlight Glimmer. Long story short, we have always planned to visit the human world ever since we ponies invented portals, that allow us to visit it. At first tho, we didn't know where to go, because the human world, or earth as it is technically called, is big, bigger than our own pony world. So we looked up on what place fits to us the most and the result was Russia. But since Russia is like the biggest nation in the human world, we also looked up what place in Russia has the most characteristics that are associated with the country and Chukotka was the one that came out on top. On how we got here, we just used one of the portals that brought us to Khabarovsk, the closest human settlement to Chukotka, that has a portal and after that, we took one of those scary airplane things that brought us here."
Starlight nodded approvingly and added to Trixie's explanation, "Yeah, let's just say it already has been quite an adventure and our trip is just starting. I mean we are just arriving at our first real big stop."
"Wow this is incredible!" said the captain with fascination and excitement, "You are like the first ever ponies to come to this place and they are on my ferry, this is such a honor. Yes, Chukotka does rank very high on a lot of things that are associated with Russia, like population decline, low population density and alcohol consumption, all of us that live here know that. But I do wonder, what kind of personalities do you two have, that fit to this place?"
Starlight began to answer this question, "Well I am a communist and big fan of the Soviet Union, so of course Russia is country that speaks to me. I believe in equality and justice. Democracy is something nopony knows about anyway. As for my friend, she just has a lot resemblance to how other humans see Russians. She's a loud and egotistical loner, who does a lot of crazy things and listens to Molchat Doma."
"Hey, I am not egotistical! I am just a passionate performer who has an healthy amount of pride, that I need when I'm on stage!" said Trixie with a loud and prideful tone.
"See, exactly what I mean," Starlight said afterwards.
The captain began to laugh. "Ha ha, you two are hilarious. Always nice to see a friendship between two people... uh I mean ponies, that seemingly have so little in common, yet somehow end up having similar interests. I don't think i have ever seen a friendship between a communist who believes in equality and an individualist performer who has a big ego. But hey, I too listen to Molchat Doma! Great taste for music you got there blue one!" he said.
"Thanks, but I don't have a big ego!" Trixie boastfully replied.
Only a few minutes later, the ferry has arrived in Anadyr and Trixie and Starlight get off of it. They pay the captain with one pony coin and waved to him as a goodbye.
"Thanks for the sea ride!" Starlight said while waving her hoof.
"It was a pleasure having you two on my ferry! Good luck with your trip!" The captain replied back to them.
Afterwards, Trixie and Starlight took their first steps in Anadyr and began to explore Chukotka's largest city.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
It was already pretty late after Trixie and Starlight have finished their gross and chaotic feast. It was 22 o' clock and Starlight was feeling tired.
"Well, I think it's time to go to bed," Starlight said after she had yawed.
"What?" Trixie confusingly asked her, "It's not even that late, plus I still have quite a lot energy in me."
"Well I don't," Starlight replied to her with a tired voice, "why don't you also go to sleep as well? You have been up late for more than enough times by now Trix. Come on, we can still do other things tomorrow."
"No Starlight!" Trixie assertively replied to her, "How should I even sleep when I'm not feeling tired at all? I'm a night pony Starlight, I even have a moon on my cutie mark. Why don't you get used to your best friends sleep schedule and stay awake for a little bit longer?"
Starlight really did not wanted to stay awake for any longer and was still a little bit mad towards Trixie, because of the disgusting food she has forced her to eat.
"I don't want to stay up any longer," Starlight replied grumpy, "but well, since you aren't feeling tired, why don't you just go out for yourself and do things alone. You are alone, pretty much always when I'm not there with you anyway."
"Honestly Starlight," Trixie replied back to her, "that's not a bad idea. You can go to sleep, while I can do some other exiting things for myself. In fact, I already know what I can do out there without you."
"Good, that means I can make myself ready for bed, where as you can let out the energy, you have in you," Starlight agreed and replied.
"Well then," Trixie smugly responded back to her, "it's time for Trixie to go out again," and took the key of their hotel room and her suitcase with her.
"Why are you taking your suitcase with you?" Starlight asked to her, in light confusion.
"For reasons that I can't tell you, Starlight," Trixie smugly replied. "I'll be back soon, bye!" she said and went out of the hotel room, opening the door and closing it behind her.
After Trixie was out of the hotel room, Starlight began to enjoy the silence.
"As much as I like Trixie, breaks of silence are definitely needed after spending some time with her." Starlight said to herself.
But before Starlight began to make herself ready for bed, she ate the final leftovers of the bread flavoured yogurt, as she tried to get rid of the final light aftertaste, that was still in her mouth from the fermented bear testicle. Afterwards, she brushed her teeth, drank the last sip of water from her bottle, turned the lights off and comfortably laid herself in one of the two beds. Her eyes slowly closed down, as she enjoyed the silence of the night and forgot about the bad thing Trixie did to her.
After she had closed down her eyes, Starlight started to hear a calm and soothing synth melody from outside. It was a slow and relaxing melody, so she didn't mind it. However, the melody also sounded quite familiar to her, almost too familiar. That was the moment where Starlight realised, what was actually going on outside.
"TRIXIE IS DOING A PERFORMANCE!!!" she screamed in shock and quickly woke up.
Afterwards, the synth music became louder and more powerful and as soon as Starlight took a look out of the window, she saw Trixie, proudly standing on a stage, wearing her magician outfit, in front of a massive crowd of humans.
"Citizens of Anadyr, watch in awe and be amazed, by the marvelous and magical talent that is the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Starlight could hear Trixie boastfully shouting through the microphone.
"Does she have to do this so late in the night, right in front of our hotel?" she furiously asked to herself while putting her hoof on her forehead.
Starlight was too tired to get angry at Trixie, so instead, she just went back in her bed and tried to sleep, despite the noisy soundscape. But even after pulling her pillow over her head, it was simply to loud for Starlight to sleep. She could hear fireworks, loud synth music, that sounded like it came straight from the 80s, Trixie's boastful talking and shouting and the human crowd loudly cheering at her, by chanting her name or sentences like, "Great and Powerful!" or, "Teacup!"
After one full hour of Trixie's boasting, loud fireworks and humans chanting, it was over. Starlight was laying sleeplessly in her bed, with an extremely tired and annoyed expression. But now, the show was finally over and she could sleep peacefully... or at least, she thought. Because as soon she closed down her eyes again, she heard a loud BAM! Trixie, who just came back from her performance, slammed the door open and turned the lights on.
"What a great and powerful performance by me, wasn't it Starlight?" Trixie excitingly asked her friend, with a smug expression, while she putted her suitcase back in the corner of the room.
Starlight's face turned red, as she angrily shouted towards her friend, "TRIXIE! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I AM TRYING TO SLEEP!?"
"Oh, sorry Starlight, I forgot about that," Trixie apologized to her, in a calmer and less smug tone, "I didn't want to wake you up."
"Wake me up?" Starlight, being slightly calmer now, yet still very mad, replied to her, "I couldn't even sleep for a second because of your ridiculously loud show!"
"Sorry Starlight," Trixie apologized to her again in a calm yet still slightly smug tone, "I didn't know you were able to hear the performance all the way up here," while she ate the rest of the canned fermented deer.
"Wasn't that kinda obvious?" Starlight asked towards her, with a tired and annoyed look on her face.
"Ok Starlight, I admit," Trixie told to her friend, as she began to realise, that Starlight couldn't sleep because of her, "perhaps I should have thought a little bit more about this, but oh well. The crowd loved it and that's what's most important as a performer!" while she continued to eat.
Despite Trixie's apology sounding a bit halfheartedly, Starlight accepted it and asked her, "Well, good thing is that you too are going to sleep now, am I right?
Trixie chuckled however and asked another question back to her friend, "Starlight, do you even know how late I go to sleep most of the time?"
"Do I even want to know that?" Starlight asked back to her, with a slightly concerning tone in her voice.
"Well let's just say," Trixie replied to her smugly, while still eating the leftover fermented deer meat, "I mostly go to sleep somewhere between 5 to 6 o' clock."
"SIX O' CLOCK?!" Starlight loudly asked her, "Are you insane?"
"Perhaps," Trixie comfortably replied. "Either way, I wanted to be calmer now anyways. All I'm going to do out there from now on, is walking around, exploring the city a bit and appreciating my own greatness," she said and ate the last bit of the fermented deer while at it.
"No Trixie," Starlight replied to her assertively, "I want you to go to bed now too. It is late enough as it is and I don't want you to wake up in the afternoon tomorrow."
"Ok fine," Trixie understandingly responded, "I can go to sleep now if you want to. I'm actually already starting to feel a bit tired too. Probably because of all the stuff we have been through today."
"Oh thanks Celestia, does that mean I can finally sleep now safe and quiet?" Starlight asked to her in relief.
"Sure you can sleep now, Starlight," Trixie happily replied to her, "the only thing that I am going to do before sleeping, is brushing my teeth."
"Well then, brush your teeth Trix, I'm just glad I can finally sleep." Starlight tiredly said to her and slowly closed her eyes afterwards.
Unfortunately for Starlight, as soon as she closed her eyes, she once again heard noises that kept her awake. Trixie was using a magical toothbrush, that was quite noisy. Fortunately, it was over after only 2 minutes. Still, Starlight stared towards Trixie with a dead expression after she walked out of the bathroom.
"Um... didn't you wanted to sleep?" Trixie asked her in light confusion.
Starlight simply replied to her, "Your magic toothbrush is somewhat noisy to say the least. How do you even brush your teeth anyway? I thought hated the taste of mint?"
Trixie replied to her, "I use a strawberry flavoured toothpaste, that doesn't have any disgusting mint taste in it. It technically is for fillies, but Trixie doesn't care about target audiences. Either way, I am now going to sleep as well, and you can finally get yours too."
"I hope," Starlight replied pessimistic, while Trixie laid herself down on the other bed.
After she closed down her eyes and tried to sleep quietly, for like the fifth time of the night, Starlight could hear Trixie silently talking in her sleep. Her sleep talking was very quiet tho, so Starlight just pulled a pillow over her head and continued to sleep. Afterwards however, Trixie's sleep talking started to become louder and louder.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, watch in awe and be amazed by the incredible talent, that is the Great and Powerful Trixie! Wait, why are you ponies booing at me? What did I do? My trailer! What are you doing to my trailer? NO! NOT MY PRECIOUS TRAILER!"
"TRIXIE, WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG IS YOU!?" Starlight woke up and furiously yelled towards Trixie, which woke her up too.
"Ugh... sorry Starlight. I just had a really awful nightmare and I just sometimes get a bit loud during my sleep when I have nightmares." Trixie replied back to her, sounding tired and exhausted.
"It's fine Trix," Starlight replied back to her, "can you just please sleep quieter now?"
"Well I can't guarantee it, but I can at least try," Trixie replied.
They both closed their eyes again and tried to sleep and fortunately for Starlight, Trixie remained quiet for the rest of the night, which meant she could finally take her long needed sleep, after a long and exhausting day.
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.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
It was the next morning, the sun wasn't even really shining yet, but suddenly, something incredibly loud woke one of the two ponies up.
"WAKE UP STARLIGHT!" Trixie screamed at her, while her friend was still sleeping.
"Trixie, what the hay?" Starlight got jumpscared and suddenly woke up, "It's 10 o' clock, which is good I guess, definitely earlier than yesterday, but you are free willingly waking up four hours earlier than usual?"
"Yes Starlight why not?" Trixie replied, being smug yet exited at the same time, "Especially today, not only because I went to sleep earlier than usual yesterday, but also because, today will probably be the greatest and most powerful day of our journey!"
Starlight was still in her bed while she replied, "Oh yeah, we wanted to go to that other place, of which I forget the name of."
"The place is called Pevek, Starlight," Trixie replied, being full with excitement and energy, "and we are indeed going there today! It will take a bit of time until we have arrived here, but once we are there, we will see abandoned commieblocks, a floating nuclear power plant and on top of that, they have reported that on today's night, there will be a bunch of polar lights on the sky over there! Can you believe that? This will be the best day ever! Hard to believe that we even can top those amazing first two days, we have already been here in Chukotka, but trust me, we will!"
Starlight got out of her bed and replied, "Well, it does sound pretty great the way you say it, at least the polar lights part, but I am still somewhat disturbed by the fact, that you woke up this early. Like, this really is out of character for you."
"First of Starlight," Trixie smugly replied, "you pretty much forced me to change my regular sleep schedule, by forcing me to go to bed earlier than usual and wake up earlier than usual. Secondly, as a result of you changing my sleep schedule, I went sleeping earlier yesterday. Thirdly, I am exited for today and fourth, I slept really good the last night."
Starlight began to smile and replied, "Well as unusual it is, I actually like it that you have a more normal sleep schedule now, or at least for today."
After they both woke up, they ate something for breakfast, Starlight wanted to eat her raspberry yogurt, but then saw something strange.
"Expired 3 days ago? I bought this 2 days ago! Is this even legal?" Starlight said in a desperate tone.
"Oh come on Starlight, that doesn't mean anything. Plus, the fact that it already is expired, means that we probably saved money when we bought it, which we would have so or so, because of that weird cashier, but still," Trixie comfortably replied to her.
"But it still is expired," Starlight replied in a somewhat mad tone.
"Starlight, it is most certainly not expired. I mean these things are always edible for a much longer time than they advertise and it's only 3 days on top of that," Trixie assertively replied to her.
"You are technically right Trixie, but the last time I ate a yogurt that was past it's best before date, I got sick and I don't want that to happen again, especially here and now," Starlight responded, sounding somewhat embarrassed of herself.
"Well I can still eat it you pussy," Trixie replied, still having her assertive tone, "I almost only ate expired food back when I was homeless, along with raw onions and as you can see, I am still alive."
"Yeah Trixie, I admit, I am very sensitive when it comes to that, even tho I know it isn't a good habit. But yes, you can still eat it if it's still good. I am going to eat one or two apples instead," Starlight replied in a shy tone.
"Ok then!" Trixie smugly replied and began to eat the raspberry yogurt afterwards, "See Starlight! It's still good and delicious!"
After they have finished eating, they packed the last of their things in their suitcases. Since she used many of her smoke bombs and fireworks, that she brought along with her, in her magic show, Trixie still had a good amount of space in her suitcase.
"There still is some space in there. How about we also take the television with us?" Trixie asked her friend.
"No Trixie! The television belongs to the hotel. You can't take it with you." Starlight replied in a not amused tone.
"But this hotel room still belongs to us Starlight, that means we can take the television with us now," Trixie comfortably replied.
"That is not how hotels work Trixie! Everything that already was in the room, when we arrived, belongs to the hotel and must stay here or else the hotel will send the police to us!" Starlight assertively replied.
"Oh come on, why do hotels have to be so weird, I hope this is the last and only time I have to travel without my trailer!" Trixie replied, sounding disappointed.
They left the hotel, after they were done with packing all of their stuff, and began to head to their next stop, Pevek. The snow and ice wasn't as thick as it was yesterday, so the time it took for them to leave the city wasn't even half a hour long. They said goodbye to Anadyr and walked through the cold and snowy landscapes of Chukotka. They walked for a pretty long time, nearly 2 hours in total to be exact. Starlight was feeling tired of walking at this point.
"Trixie, we have been walking for so long by now, are we close to Pevek? My hooves are starting to hurt," Starlight asked her friend while sounding exhausted.
"Actually Starlight, we aren't even close to Pevek at all, we are still much closer to Anadyr and still need walk 600 to 700 kilometers," Trixie comfortably replied.
"Wh... what? You... you are kidding... right? HOPEFULLY?!" Starlight asked while sounding incredible nervous and concerned.
"No Starlight, I am not kidding," Trixie simply replied.
Starlight's face was covered in shock and fear as she loudly screamed, "ARE YOU COMPLETELY FUCKING INSANE!!!!!!! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, IN A COLD AND ISOLATED PLACE AND YOU WANT US TO WALK HUNDREDS OF KILOMETERS THROUGH IT?!?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!??! YOU NEED THERAPY EVEN MORE DESPERATELY THAN I THOUGHT YOU INSANE PONY!!!! LET US GO BACK TO ANADYR, I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE I..."
"CALM DOWN STARLIGHT!" Trixie yelled back to her, while interrupting her mid sentence, "Of course we won't walk all of that distance, do you really think I am that crazy? Instead we will use my new, great and powerful invention, that will help us to travel long distances in less than a minute, when I don't have my trailer with me."
"Wait," Starlight began to calm down afterwards, "you have something that can help us to cross hundreds of kilometers in seconds? Why haven't we already used it? And more importantly, what even is it?"
"It is this!" Trixie said smugly and full of pride, while she pulled out an overly large sized firework rocket out of her suitcase, "This is Trixie's Great and Powerful Fast Travel Firework Rocket 6000!"
Starlight looked at the massive rocket with big eyes and replied in a somewhat disturbed and confused tone, "Ok wow, I was right about you being even crazier than I always thought, but I am glad I don't have to walk that distance, but otherwise, I have so many questions. First, as said, why haven't we already used it earlier? It would have saved us from walking nearly 2 hours! Secondly, how did this enormously sized rocket even fit in your suitcase? Thirdly, why is there a 6000 at the end of the name? Fourth and most important, is this thing even safe?"
Trixie smugly and comfortably answered all of Starlight's questions, "Well Starlight, for you first question, the reason why we didn't used it immediately after leaving Anadyr, is because I want to keep this invention a secret for now, especially from humans, so don't tell anypony and especially anyhuman about it! For you second question, my suitcase just has a lot of space and is bigger on the inside than it seems, in fact I even have a second Trixie's Great and Powerful Fast Travel Firework Rocket 6000 inside of it. For you third question, it just sounds better with a three or four digit long number at the end and I chose the 6000 because 6 is my favorite number. And for you fourth question, of course it is safe. I mean it was made by me after all."
Even after getting all of these questions answered, Starlight was still highly weirded out by Trixie's crazy invention, probably also because she still had one more question about it, "Ok Trixie, that explains some things, at least. But I still have one more question. How are we even suppose to travel with this thing?"
"It's very simple Starlight," Trixie answered this question too, while still having a smug and comfortable attitude, "we sit on top of the rocket and use these belts to attach us and our suitcases on it. When we and our luggage are safely tied up, I will light up the fuse and a couple of seconds after that, the rocket will fly off and make us travel faster than you can imagine! And when we have arrived at our destination, I will simply press this red button, that will launch us and our luggage of the rocket. After that, the parachutes, that are built within the rocket, will safely bring us to the ground whereas the rocket will go up to the sky and explode."
"I thought you said this thing was safe? This sounds incredibly dangerous!" Starlight asked in concern.
"Ok Starlight," Trixie replied in a still smug yet also somewhat annoyed tone, "maybe it isn't 100% safe, but as a magician you kinda have live with danger, which also gives you the ability to handle danger better, so even then, there is little to no reason to be concerned."
"Ok if you say so," Starlight replied still sounding concerned, "but if anything bad happens, I will never trust you and your weird pyrotechnic inventions again!"
"Don't worry Starlight, trust me, everything will be fine!" Trixie comfortably replied back, "I first need to set up the rocket anyway, so it will still take a few minutes until we begin our flight. Good thing I also brought two of these Trixie's Great and Powerful Rocket Holder and Aimer 600 with me," and pulled out a big rocket rack made out of wood. Unlike a regular rocket rack tho, it could only hold one rocket, one very big rocket.
"Wow, and I thought the names for you magic shows and tours were an overly long mouthful of words," Starlight replied, while still being shocked and terrified.
Trixie began to set up the Trixie's Great and Powerful Fast Travel Firework Rocket 6000 on the Trixie's Great and Powerful Rocket Holder and Aimer 600 and used a map of Chukotka and a compass to make sure, that the firework rocket was aiming in the right direction.
"Wait a minute, isn't the rocket aiming in a completely different direction than the one we walked to this whole time?" Starlight asked, still being scared and weirded out.
"Yes, that is because Anadyr is located on a peninsula and it isn't safe yet to walk on the ice of the waters here," Trixie simply replied, while she was aiming the rocket to the right direction.
"Yeah, makes sense," Starlight responded, still sounding scared and confused.
After a couple of minutes of Trixie setting up and aiming the rocket, she said, "It is done! Starlight, come! Let's get on the rocket and travel to Pevek in no time! Oh and one more thing I forgot to mention, I will press the red button a couple of kilometers before we have reached Pevek. As said, I want to keep this invention a secret for now and I don't want the humans there to see it. But as a traveler, you are pretty much used to walking long distances and I am sure you don't mind it neither."
Starlight just stood there with an somewhat disturbed smile and calmly replied, "No, of course I don't mind."
Trixie went up and sat down on the rocket and tied herself and her suitcase up with the belt. Starlight was hesitant and still afraid of Trixie's idea of fast travel. But eventually, she to went up and sat down on the rocket. She tightened herself and her suitcase up with the belt very tightly.
"Are you ready Starlight?" Trixie asked her best friend, with smug and excitement.
"I guess I have to," Starlight replied, still sounding afraid.
Trixie lightened up the fuse, by using her magic. The countdown was on, but she also remembered that she forgot to tell Starlight one more thing.
"Oh another I forgot to mention, I will try to fly as high as possible or else I have to try to dodge, because between Anadyr and Pevek is a big mountain range with mountains that are over 1000 meters tall."
"Well let's hope we survive this," Starlight said in total fear and concern, "but I too forgot to ask you something. Have you even tested this fast travel firework rocket thing before?"
Trixie answered, "Oh come on Starlight, who do you think I am," that made Starlight relieve a bit, as it sounded like Trixie has tested it before, "of course I haven't!" and suddenly, Starlight was absolutely afraid and she couldn't stop the rocket either, because the fuse was already on.
And only a few seconds after that, the rocket was activated and began to fly in an incredible speed. Fortunately, the rocket flew just high enough for them, to not have to dodge the many tall mountains of the Anadyr Highlands. Still, this didn't stop Starlight from feeling absolutely terrified and scared. She was clinging herself on Trixie's suitcase, that was in front of her, while screaming loudly. Trixie was a bit scared too at first, but eventually, was fine with being on a super fast firework rocket, that flying high through the skies. She looked forward to see, when they were close to Pevek.
Eventually, Trixie was able to see Pevek from the distance and as soon as she did, she pressed the red button and the two ponies and their luggage were launched off the rocket and were slowly brought to the ground by the parachutes that were built within the rocket. The rocket itself began to head straight towards the sky, as soon as the two ponies were off of it and exploded. The explosion was very loud and on the sky appeared a sparkling pattern, that looked like Trixie herself. Normally, Starlight would question why Trixie made the explosion of the firework rocket so loud and flashy, even tho she wanted to keep the invention a secret, but in reality, she was just glad that she and her friend were well and alive.
After they and their luggage safely landed on the ground, Trixie smugly and proudly said, "Wow, it worked absolutely perfect! Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie outdid herself!"
Starlight tho, was still shaking from this crazy flight, but tried to calm herself down and afterwards, they took their luggage and began to walk the last couple of kilometers, to the city of Pevek.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
Chapter 6: Different Thoughts and Interests
It only took around half an hour of walking for Trixie and Starlight to enter Pevek. When they entered the city, they quickly saw that Pevek was smaller and more abandoned compared to Anadyr. Starlight was still shaken up from the firework rocket flight and because of this, wanted to do something quieter and more relaxing. In the distance she was able to see a library, which looked like something good to calm herself down.
"Hey Trixie," Starlight kindly asked her friend, "how about we go over to that library over there?"
"Really Starlight?" Trixie replied, not sounding amused by Starlight's request, "We traveled to this place to visit a library? Have you forgotten that you yourself live in a library? Plus most of the books there are going to be in Russian anyway."
"Oh come Trixie, please!" Starlight begged to her, "I know that Twilight's castle pretty much is a library, because it's Twilight, but I just really need something quiet to calm myself down from that crazy rocket flight and I am sure that there will be at least a few interesting books in English. We can still do other things later on."
"Ok fine," Trixie replied, sounding somewhat begrudging, "we can go to the library I you want to. But please do it quick, because the days here are very short and there still is one other activity I want to do here, before it gets dark."
Starlight was glad that Trixie accepted her request and agreed to go to the library, even tho she sounded like she doesn't really want to. They walked into the library, while they were still carrying their suitcases. It wasn't a big library, pretty tiny compared to the one in Twilight's castle, still there was a good amount of books to select, even including some that were in English. A couple of humans were in the library too. Starlight quickly found an English book, that was about Chukotka's history and geography.
"Hey Trixie, look at this!" Starlight calmly said to her friend, "This looks like an interesting book about Chukotka."
"Come on Starli..." Trixie responded somewhat loudly at first, but quickly got hissed by the humans in the library and talked quieter afterwards, "Come on Starlight, I already know almost everything there is to know about Chukotka without books. I read it all on Ponypedia and it's human equivalent Wikipedia. Why do we need this?"
"Well I thought it could have been interesting to us, but oh well," Starlight replied in calm tone, while also sounding somewhat annoyed and disappointed towards her friend.
Trixie found the library to be boring and just wanted to go out of it. She pretty much spent most of the time inside there, with walking from one end of the library to the other, with a grumpy expression. Starlight meanwhile looked around for some other interesting books. Eventually she found a book called "Help! My Friend is a Narcissist!" She kinda chuckled when she first saw the title of the book, thinking it was a stupid wannabe shocking book, that tries to act smart. Still, she decided to take a look inside of it, out of curiosity. The book listed down various sings of why someone might be narcissist, with 2 reasons per page.
"Self-absorbed behavior," Starlight read out of the book, "narcissists are much more concerned about themselves instead of others. That means they often don't care about issues and interests of their friends and family and instead prioritise themselves," she chuckles again after she read that, "well that kinda sounds like a certain blue unicorn, but come on. Yeah Trixie can be self-absorbed at times, but that doesn't mean that she is narcissist. The real reason is that she just hasn't had a lot of experience with friendship yet, she literately had nopony to trust prior to meeting me."
She continued to look at some more reasons and the more reasons she read, the more she realised, that pretty much all of these described her best friend, Trixie. From seeking positive attention, to taking a lot pride in their own achievements and of course, generally arrogant behavior. Some reasons that were written down in the book, even reminded her of things that have happened on their current trip, like having fantasies of being superior to others, success and perfection, which immediately reminded her of Trixie's overly long self monologue on that viewing platform from yesterday. Then there was forcing friends to do things they don't want to do, which instantly gave her Vietnam-flashbacks of having to eat a fermented bear testicle on the first day of their trip. And then there was becoming inpatient and angry when they don't get the recognition or things they wanted, to which Starlight looked over to her friend and saw her furiously walking around in the library with a grumpy face. Starlight started to get concerned, actually believing that her best friend, might be a narcissist. She took the book with her, without her friend's notice, bought it and putted it in her suitcase.
She then went to her friend and told to her, "Alright Trixie we can now go out of the library and do other things."
"Finally," Trixie replied sounding not amused, "this definitely took long enough. By the way, you just came from the checkout. Did you actually just bought a book here?"
"Yes, yes I did," Starlight replied in a slightly awkward tone.
"What kind of book did you even bought here, I mean 80 to 90% of the ones they sell here are in Russian?" Trixie asked to her.
"Well it's uh... it's uh... um... the new Daring Do book," Starlight answered to her friend in a very insecure sounding tone.
"Really? I thought Twilight and Rainbow Dash were the only ones crazy enough to read that crap, but it seems to be more popular than I thought considering you just bought it, in a fucking incredibly isolated place in the human world in English, in a place were humans mostly speak Russian," Trixie replied sounding somewhat annoyed, "let's just go out of here now. I have something much greater and more powerful planned for us to do."
After they left the library, Trixie led Starlight to the place where she wanted to go to. While at it, they saw quite a few different streets and parts of Pevek. It was an interesting walk, as Pevek has both clean and colourful commieblocks, but also ones that are dark, grey and abandoned and they saw quite a bit of both of these sides of the city. After walking for a couple of minutes, they arrived at the coast, where the water was covered in ice. Near the coast was a massive ship that looked somewhat strange and blocky.
"That ship over there sure looks weird, don't you agree Trix?" Starlight asked to her friend after she chuckled.
"That, Starlight, is not a ship," Trixie replied in her usual smug tone, "it's a floating nuclear power plant."
"A floating nuclear power plant?" Starlight asked in a pretty confused tone, "Aren't those the things humans use to create their own energy? And more importantly, why is it floating?"
"Yes Starlight," Trixie replied in a smug and snooty tone, "humans use these to create their own energy. This one right here is the only floating one that exists and it supplies the entirety of Pevek. The reasons on why it's floating, is simply because that it is great and powerful."
"Wait a minute, don't tell me that's the place were you wanted to take us?" Starlight asked her friend with slight distrust.
"Of course that is the place where I wanted to take us," Trixie comfortably replied, "in fact I have already told you about it today, after we woke up, don't you remember? However, I have to add that we are not quite exactly there, where I wanted us to go to."
"What do you mean by this?" Starlight asked Trixie, with slight concern in her voice, fearing it might be something weird or dangerous.
"Well, I wanted us to teleport ourselves on to the nuclear power plant and visit it," Trixie bluntly and comfortably replied to her friend.
Starlight's jaw dropped after Trixie said that and she responded, "Are you crazy? You want us to go on to that nuclear power plant thing? That sounds straight up dangerous and illegal! Like, what do you even think they will do to us, when they see us on there? Welcome us and show us their power plant? Of course not! They will kick us out, potentially even kill us! And it's actually even more dangerous for you, because you yourself knows how to teleport since only like a week or so. If you teleportation spell doesn't bring you to exactly where you wanted to be, you could very likely land on the ice and I highly doubt that the ice will be thick enough to carry your weight. It's not really cold enough for ice to be this thick yet, especially during the bright time of the day, which we have now and we are having freezing temperatures for only like the second day by now. Plus, you are not a light pony, you are actually kinda hefty, meaning the ice will have to be extra thick for your... extra thick body."
"Oh come on Starlight," Trixie replied in a defensive yet comfortable tone, "you are clearly underestimating me. Not only will my teleportation spell work, the humans on the power plant will welcome and appreciate me. You saw yesterday in Anadyr, how much the humans in Chukotka love me and why would the ones on the power plant be any different? I have been dreaming about this part of the trip ever since I started planning it! Trust me Starlight, nothing bad will happen over there. Let's just teleport ourselves on to the nuclear power plant and visit it!"
"No Trixie, I wont!" Starlight replied in a loud and somewhat angry tone, "I am not teleporting myself on to that thing! You know what, you can try it for yourself if you think it will be so great! Just please stop putting me into these crazy and dangerous things you insane bitch!"
"Wow Starlight calm down," Trixie said, being quite shocked of Starlight's unusually aggressive response, "it's totally fine if you don't want to go on there, just tell it to me in a more normal tone please. It wont stop me from going on there anyway. This is no need to get mad at each other."
"Sorry Trixie," Starlight apologised to her, "you are right that I might have overreacted there a bit. I don't want to get mad at you and argue. I just wanted to warn you because I don't want anything bad happening to you and me."
"It's fine Starlight," Trixie replied, "you can stay here, but I so much want to go over there. Don't worry tho, I will be careful."
"Sure," Starlight replied, sounding somewhat begrudging, "I just hope nothing bad happens."
Trixie left her suitcase on the land with Starlight. Afterwards, she teleported herself on to the floating nuclear power plant. Starlight was pretty anxious about this. Fortunately, Trixie managed to teleport herself right to the spot where she wanted to land.
While Trixie was on the floating nuclear power plant, Starlight tried to calm herself down.
"Ugh, as much as I like her, Trixie can really be really exhausting and stressing at times," Starlight talked to herself, "speaking of which, perhaps I can continue reading that book from the library. It seems to understand me, so it will probably make make me feel better."
While Starlight believed that reading the book will make her feel better, it actually did the opposite. All what it did, is made her feel angrier and more frustrated about Trixie, as more and more stuff in the book, reminded her about the bad things she has done to her and it made her believe more and more, that Trixie is a narcissist. Some more reasons, why someone or somepony might be a narcissist, she read were, high sense of self importance, problems at managing emotions and behavior and trying to avoid criticism, which is was really made Starlight's eyes open up, as she began to believe, that this is what just happened a few minutes ago and that Trixie only calmed her down, to avoid criticism. Starlight became angrier and angrier towards her friend the more she read of the book, pretty much forgetting all of the positive aspects of Trixie and the friendship she has with her. Still, she didn't want to hurt her, so Starlight just let the anger inside of her, hoping it will disappear over time.
Trixie meanwhile, was on the floating nuclear power plant. A human guard was also on it, who heard the noise Trixie's teleportation spell. However, Trixie began to walk around the entrance block, which made her escape the guard, without even noticing it and when she arrived at the entrance, no one was there and she could open the door without any problems or anyone noticing it.
"So much for danger and not made for public entry, Starlight," Trixie said with a mischievous smug on her face.
She walked in the power plant and landed in a room with humans that were sitting on computers. The humans were shocked as soon as they saw the blue unicorn walking around in the power plant.
"Don't worry humans," Trixie smugly said to calm the situation down, "this is the Great and Powerful Trixie. A talented and passionate magician who just wants to visit this nice floating nuclear power plant."
The humans however, didn't calm down at all. Trixie could hear them say things in Russian. Some things they said, she could understand, were things like "What is that pony doing here?" or "Throw her out!" amongst other Russian sentences. Suddenly, a bunch of guards were standing right behind Trixie.
"Oh come on, please don't kick me out, I just want to know how this nuclear power plant thing works," She pleaded towards the humans.
They didn't care tho and not only kicked her out of the power plant, but threw her all the way back to the mainland.
Starlight was sitting on the coast near the power plant, reading her book and having all of the luggage by her. She was suddenly able to hear a loud screeching scream from the distance that sounded very familiar. The scream seemed to come closer and closer to her and then suddenly, Trixie landed into the ground, right in front of her.
"Trixie, are you ok?" she asked to her with light concern.
"Of course I am not ok," Trixie replied to her in a mad tone, "they kicked me out!"
"Phew, that means you are fine," Starlight replied with slight relieve.
"Why did they do this to me, what is wrong with those humans over there?" Trixie asked in an angry tone.
"Well to be honest, it was pretty obvious that this would happen," Starlight replied blunt.
"They could have at least be nicer to me and not just kick me out. If they would have kindly asked me to leave, I would have left, but no, instead they chose violence," Trixie responded, still sounding angry.
"I guess you are kinda right about that, but still," Starlight replied to her, not sounding amused, "I think we go to our hotel next. It seems like that it is already starting to get dark, plus I don't want to constantly carry my suitcase with me anymore."
"Sure we can do that next. I have saved it up for a bit later the day, because it will be a very special surprise," Trixie replied, after she has calmed down.
"What is so surprising about the hotel?" Starlight asked her.
"Well, you will see that in a couple of minutes," Trixie smugly answered.
The two ponies walked away from the coast and went back to the more inland part of the city. Starlight was still somewhat mad towards her friend and just wanted to be somewhere warm and quiet. Trixie was leading Starlight to the hotel, but something was strange. They were heading right to the abandoned part of the city, which weirded Starlight out a bit.
They stood right in front of a grey abandoned commieblock, as Trixie, loud and comfortably said, "Here it is, this is where are going to sleep tonight!"
Starlight stared at the abandoned panel house building in confusion and said, "Ok Trixie, enough with the jokes. Take us to our real hotel and not to those depressing abandoned buildings."
"No Starlight," Trixie comfortably replied, "this is the place where we are going to sleep tonight. I thought it would be interesting to live in a abandoned commieblock for a day, also I saved a good amount of money for not buying a hotel for today."
"No, just no!" Starlight responded with fear and anger in her voice, "This can't be true! I am not going to sleep in that grey desolate building in this place, that has such a cold climate!"
"Calm down Starlight," Trixie responded in calmer tone, "we will do this together, as best friends and even if it will be challenge, we can do this! I think we will be a lot of fun doing this!"
In that moment, Starlight's brain exploded with anger and frustration. This was the moment, where she thought, she can't take this anymore. Her anger towards Trixie was higher than it ever was and she completely exploded with rage.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" She shouted towards her, with pure unfiltered anger, "AS IF ALL THE OTHER CRAZY CRAP WASN'T ALREADY ENOUGH, YOU DO THIS?! I HAD ENOUGH!!"
"Starlight what is wrong with you?" Trixie asked to her in concern and shock, "Why are you so angry today?"
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU IS THE REAL QUESTION!" Starlight continued to furiously shout at Trixie, "YOU DO ALL OF THIS CRAZY SHIT BECAUSE YOU ONLY THINK OF YOURSELF AND NEVER OF ME!!!!"
"I'm sorry Starlight," Trixie apologised to her, to try to calm her down, "but what kind of crazy shit are you talking about? Don't you enjoy the activities I have planned for us?"
"Of course I don't!" Starlight still madly shouted at her in a less, but still pretty loud tone, "You forced me to eat a fermented bear testicle, you were so loud on the first night here that I could not sleep, you held an overly long autograph session, got us kicked out of a museum, held a really long ego filled monologue all to yourself, made me fly on a dangerous firework rocket, broke into a nuclear power plant and now you force me to sleep in a abandoned commieblock while you never let me do what I wanted!"
"I thought you liked most of those things?" Trixie answered in a concerned tone, "I can get the that you weren't a fan of us getting kicked out of the museum, the autograph session and me being loud on our first night, but the bear testicle thing was just gross silly fun between us, you didn't even went onto the power plant and what was the problem with the rocket flight? You never told me about it before. Why haven't you done it sooner?"
"Because I didn't realise, what you truly are!" Starlight said, with a tear in her eye and pulled out the book from her suitcase, "Everything that I have read in this book so far, applies to you, you narcissist!"
Trixie began to cry as she replied, "Help, my friend is a narcissist? You think I am a narcissist? I thought you were my best friend! I thought I can trust you and that you will stay close to me even if I make mistakes, but no. You don't like me! You hate me just as much as all of those ponies, who think I am a self absorbed egomaniac who is stupid and has no talent. I am used to haters, but not to ponies who pretend to like me, only to break me in the worst way, during the worst moment possible, where I imagined us to share one of the happiest moments of our lives, but instead you ruined it, me and my life!"
"I wanted to like you," Starlight responded, still feeling angry, "but you are just an awful friend who only thinks of herself! This is why I am so mad and disappointed at you! I thought you had a good heart under your ego, but no! You are just a narcissistic pony who never cares for others, including her friends! There is a reason why so many other ponies see you as a talentless narcissist, it's because you are one!"
After that, Trixie took her suitcase and ran into the abandoned commieblock while crying intensely. Despite that, Starlight did not feel bad for her. She thought she did the right by finally standing up for herself. This still didn't change the fact that she too, had to sleep and live in an abandoned commieblock for the rest of the day.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
Chapter 7: Struggling Friendship
It was dark and cold outside, as it also was inside the abandoned commieblock that Starlight was trying to survive in. She was in a different commieblock than Trixie, whose one was across the street of the one Starlight was in. Starlight just wanted to take distance from her for the rest of the day. She was angrier and more disappointed towards her than ever. The cold temperatures in the abandoned panel building, were hard to endure for Starlight. Because of this, she used the many clothes, she brought along with her, to warm herself up. She not only putted on many jackets, scarfs and hats, but also used some of them as a blanket. She also continued to read the book, she got from the library earlier this day. She was unable to calm down. The harsh temperatures and darkness she had to deal with along with the book, reminding her of some of the worst traits about her best friend, made Starlight only angrier and more furious about Trixie. She legitimately began to feel true hate towards her and even began to think about cutting ties with her forever. She kept the anger and frustration inside of her tho, as she saw no need at becoming loud and angry. While reading the book, she realised something about it tho.
"Does this book even give any advice with dealing with a pony like this?" She asked, "I mean the book literately is called "Help! My Friend is a Narcissist!" so there should be some hints on how to deal with ponies like this, right?"
She looked into the table of contents and saw that the section of to deal with people and ponies like that, was very short. In fact, it was only 1 page long. Still, she took a look towards it, in hope, that there might be a way to change Trixie to the better and keep their friendship. Disappointingly, there was only one, really bad way to deal with narcissists in the book.
"Cut all ties with them?" She read out of the book with a questioning tone, ""Don't let Narcissists ruin your life, they don't deserve friends and neither deserve you having to deal with someone like that!" This is horrible! How will this help anypony? Especially the narcissist in question. It will only make their behaviour worse."
Starlight was clearly unhappy with the books "help" on how to deal with a narcissist. She felt like, the book lied to her with it's title and began to question it's content because of it. She started to realise that the book pretty much rage baited her and possibly even manipulated her. She took a look back at some of the reasons, that made her believe that Trixie is a narcissist, with a more skeptical thought. She began to notice how basic and even normal and common some of these reasons and how shallow some of the descriptions were.
"Taking pride in their own achievements, I mean who doesn't," Starlight talked to herself, "even Fluttershy has a lot of pride about her own animal sanctuary and there is nothing wrong with that. And having visions of success and perfection? Many ponies have that, especially a performer like Trixie!"
Starlight started to feel guilty for lashing out towards her best friend. She blamed herself for believing into this and making so many negative assumptions about Trixie because of it. She also began to think about how Trixie is feeling now.
"I hope Trixie is doing fine. She looked seriously sad when I called her a narcissist, just because of this stupid book," She said to herself. "Plus she too has to survive in an abandoned commieblock right now. It's not like she did this just to make me suffer. She just wanted something weird, challenging and adventurous for us to do. I should apologise to her. I mean, I am letting one of my longest and the closest friendship of mine getting destroyed by an idiotic book. Who am I? Twilight Sparkle?"
Starlight threw the book away into a dusty old trashcan. She took a look outside of a window near the front entrance, that was across the front entrance of the commieblock Trixie was in. However, Trixie's commieblock looked almost unrecognizable compared to how it looked like the last time she saw it. It was bright, had windows and even seemed livable. Starlight was highly surprised on how well Trixie managed to spruce up the dark, grey and lifeless building.
As bright and warm Trixie's commieblock looked like, she was feeling absolutely miserable. Not only was she sad about possibly loosing her best friend, she was feeling guilty too and secretly blamed herself for this situation. She was legitimately starting to believe, that she is a narcissist. It was not the first time someone called her something like that, but the fact it came from her closest friend and was said to her in such a serious tone, mentally broke her. She has been crying almost constantly since that happened, even while she was making the abandoned building more livable. She was feeling ashamed of herself for not caring enough about Starlight's interests and feelings. Nothing managed to cheer her up. Not even the fact that the commieblock she was in had a vinyl player. She putted on the Molchat Doma vinyl she brought along with her, but because it was Molchat Doma, all what it did is make her feel even more depressed and miserable. Especially because the new album had some songs about feeling misunderstood by your friends or not understanding your friends, including the opener of the album, whose Russian title translated to "You don't know who I am" in English. Normally she would start to shake and dance to the aggressive synth melody of this song, but now, the lyrics of the song, made her heart break even more.
Starlight went outside and looked into Trixie's commieblock through one of the windows, which seemed to made of thick sheets of ice. She saw her laying on a bed sheet on the floor, with the vinyl player next to her. She was still crying heavily. Starlight felt more and more guilty of herself, the more she saw her best friend crying. She then knocked on the door. She could hear Trixie's crying becoming quieter and her stopping the music. Trixie slowly opened the door afterwards.
"What do you want, you fake friend?" Trixie passive aggressively said while still crying but tried to hide it, "Leave me alone!" she tried to close the door again afterwards.
"No Trixie, please, I want to apologise," Starlight said to her while she held the door open, "I am sorry, I let my getting brainwashed by a stupid and harmful book that nopony or nohuman should ever read. You are not a narcissist. I thought so because the book listed down reasons on why somepony could be narcissist and well, they all applied to you. However, I didn't realise how nonissue and shallow many of these and their descriptions were. I could blame the book all I want, but in reality, I am the problem for believing this bullshit and letting it destroy my closest friendship. I messed up and I am so sorry for it and hurting you feeling."
"But Starlight," Trixie replied in a calmer tone, while stopping to hide her tears, "I am the problem. I planned this trip for us, so we can explore this place, while doing fun things together. Unfortunately I completely forgot about the fact, that you might not like all of these things. I just assumed that because I would find them fun, you would too, not realising how dumb and naive I actually was. And even when there was something for you to enjoy, like the Lenin statue on our second day in Anadyr, I did not acknowledge it all and just forced us to go further. You were right, I am an awful friend."
"No Trixie," Starlight replied in an apologetic tone, "you are not an awful friend, neither are you dumb or naive. You just don't have the experience to travel with somepony else. You have been a traveling magician since your teenage years and you did it all alone with nopony else on your side. You didn't even had a friend for the majority of your life, so of course there will be mistakes when you do something like this and that's totally ok and understandable. Plus, a lot of these mistakes weren't even that bad. I took them way seriously and despite that, I didn't even had the guts to tell you that I don't want this. If there is an awful friend here, it's me."
"You too are not an awful friend," Trixie responded, while her crying started to calm down, "none of us are. I think it's fair to say, that we both did our mistakes. We didn't intended anything bad and yet, we still fucked up hurt each others feelings."
"You can say that loudly," Starlight replied, being relieved that Trixie accepted her apology so well, "but look at the bright side. Although we messed up, we at least are able to realise it, even if it took some time and caused us to hurt each other feelings, we are now back together, accepting our mistakes and trying to learn from them."
"Yeah, you are right," Trixie replied back, with a happier tone, "we can learn from this situation to make the rest of our trip greater and more powerful. Perhaps instead of just doing the things I have planned, we can talk about it and perhaps even decide more spontaneously what we want to do. What do you think?"
"That's a great idea!" Starlight happily responded, "By the way, I haven't even mentioned how nice your commieblock looks. How did you turned this grey and depressing building into something that actually looks livable?"
"Oh that was pretty simple," Trixie replied to her, with the return of usual smug tone and expression, "I just took some sheets of ice from the frozen waters, formed them rectangular with my magic and used them as windows. As for the lights, I simply used my magic to create some sparkler effects that last for multiple hours."
Starlight began to smile as she replied, "Now that is the Trixie I know and like. I shouldn't care about what some silly book says, there is nothing wrong with feeling proud of themself. I never even thought about using my magic to make this grey abandoned commieblock more livable. You have all of the rights on taking pride on that. One thing that can't be denied, is that you sure are creative."
Trixie began to happily smile too and said, "Thanks for appreciating it! Would you like to come in? Now that we have learned from our mistakes and get along again, why don't we spend this night... and the evening we currently have... and the next morning most likely too, together?"
"Sure! Let me get my luggage first!" Starlight happily replied as she ran back to her commieblock, to get her suitcase.
After she had brought her luggage with her and walked into Trixie's formally abandoned commieblock, she said, "Wow, you really know on how to make a place like this more comfortable. It even is somewhat warm inside here. So much more pleasant than the commieblock I was in."
They both comfortably laid themselves down on some blankets and clothes their putted on the floor. They were both glad, that they get along and be friends again.
Starlight was still impressed by Trixie's improvisation skills on how to live in an abandoned building. She knew that wasn't the first time she had done something like this. It looked too good for that, so she asked her, "Trixie, have you done something like this before? You spruced this building up so nicely and creatively, I am sure that this wasn't the first time you did something like that."
Trixie looked over to her with a surprisingly melancholic expression and answered her question, "Well, you are indeed right. I have done this before, a couple of times actually. Remember how I told you I was homeless once because my old trailer got destroyed during a certain incident? Yeah, it was during that time period where I spend quite a lot of time living in abandoned buildings to not land on the streets. It wasn't as bad as it's sounds, or it would've if it wasn't for the fact that most cities try to get rid of them and thus, I often needed to relocate to find a new one. Eventually, there were almost no abandoned buildings left in the parts of Equestria where I could walk around freely, without having somepony call me a fraud or a pathetic boaster and thus, I eventually landed on the streets. The time I spend on the streets was the worst period of my life and I just wanted a place I could comfortably live in. I didn't care that it was a tiny trailer, with no shower and toilet or an old abandoned building, that looked grey and depressing, I just wanted a place where I can sleep comfortably and have my privacy."
A tear ran down on Starlight's face when Trixie told her about her rough past and she replied, "Wow, now it makes sense. That explains even more why you felt so alienated by the hotel room in Anadyr. You generally aren't used to live in a normal home. After you left your mothers house, you spend your whole live either living in trailers, abandoned buildings or on the street. Now I know why you wanted us to live and sleep in this thing. It's familiar to you, unlike the hotel room. Honestly, this only makes me feel even more guilty for getting so mad at you."
"There is no need to feel guilty Starlight," Trixie replied to her in a comforting tone, "I can understand why you got so mad and even then, all what matters is that we get along again."
"You're right," Starlight happily responded to her, "we should stop thinking about the times where we got mad at each other and instead enjoy the good memories we share. But I do have to say, after you talked about your worst period of your life, it reminded me of my rough period. The time after Sunburst left me and I was left alone with no friends, was more difficult than I like to tell. My former hate for cutie marks, didn't began immediately after Sunburst left me, instead, I fell into a depression. I had doubts in myself for getting my cutie mark so late and not having to go to magic school. I thought I was a worthless failure with no talents and skills. This is why I fell in love with communism. It made me feel like I wasn't worse than anypony else, instead we are all equal, I loved that thought and when I founded my village, I had something that I never had before, pride. Unfortunately, the things I did there, were awful and since then, I often have doubts in me again, which is why it's so hard for me to stand up for myself sometimes and I instead bottle up my anger. But honestly, being friends with somepony, that has as much pride as you, despite having a really rough life, having done some big mistakes in the past and struggles with friendship, is actually helping me to get some more self esteem."
Trixie began to look thoughtfully and replied to her, "You know what, the fact that you have doubts in yourself, is helping me to become more humble too. I actually was quite shy when I was a little filly, but everypony pushed me around because of that and thus, I more and more got the needs to stand up for myself and to show everypony that I am better than them, which is why I eventually became interested in stage magic. I loved the thrill of being on the stage, showing that I have passion and talent, while the crowd cheers and applauds for me and overtime, I became more comfortable with myself. Unfortunately, I became too comfortable with myself. In my earlier years of being a magician, well before we first met and prior to becoming homeless, I had nopony else to reflect myself on. The only ponies I really talked to, were my fans, that only praised and applauded me and being on stage almost everyday, showing off my talent and acting very proud of it, didn't help too. Sure I was happy and didn't really minded it that I have no friends and that my ego grew over the top big, but nowadays, I wish things went differently."
Starlight really appreciated it, when Trixie told her that and replied, "Honestly, I think we have more in common than we often think. Sure, on the surface we seem very different. I am somepony who often doubts in herself, can be too selfless at certain times, likes thing ordered and tidy and tries to walk with rest of the crowd, since I stopped being a cutie mark stealer. You on the other hoof, have a lot of pride, can be too self absorbed at times, are also pretty chaotic and unpredictable, more rebellious and often seen as somewhat of an outcast. Yet despite that, we share one thing, struggle. We both have been through some rough times, have problems with friendship and even did some pretty bad things in the past. But not only have learned from our mistakes, we genuinely relate to each others problems and issues and try to make our lives better and even if doesn't always work, we still come back together."
Trixie started to get a happy smile on her face as she replied, "That is it! Now I know why this place fits to us, my research was right! It's not because you are a commie or that I kinda behave like a stereotypical Russian, it's struggle. Russia has a rough history, with wars, poverty, economic crises, corruption, alcoholism and harsh climate, yet the humans who live here, still try to make the best of it. They don't want to bring themselves down with a troubled past or having lower living standards. They don't need having a big friend circle, a big fancy home and constant happy smiles, they just want to live their lives, despite their struggles and problems, just like us. I mean just look at this place. On the one side, you have the cold and grey abandoned buildings, but on the other, you have clean and colourful ones, showing that they still try to keep this place well and alive, just like how we try to improve on ourselves, even after some of the worst periods of our lives."
Starlight's eyes started to get big and she responded, "Wow, that actually makes sense. It's a dark yet also somewhat optimistic way to see things. Even if it's unusual and this is without a doubt the weirdest and most insane travel trip that I have ever experienced, this place really does fit to us."
Trixie began to get a smug expression as she replied, "By the way, have you seen that this commieblock has a vinyl player?"
Starlight replied blunt, "Um yes, is there something about it?"
"Not with the vinyl player itself," Trixie smugly replied, as she opened her suitcase, "it's the music I brought here with us! I originally brought this new Molchat Doma album with us, simply because I thought it would fit with the vibe of this place, but honestly, it does fit to us pretty well too. I mean the band is kinda known for making music only ponies and humans with unhappy lives can enjoy."
Starlight thought and replied, "You know what, I am ready to give it a listen. It does sound like something I could enjoy. I never really had the time so far to really give this band a listen, but I am ready to do it now. The album cover sure looks cool... uh I mean great and powerful of course."
Trixie putted on the album afterwards and they both listened to it. Both Trixie and Starlight liked the music a lot. The songs were dark, yet also danceable. The lyrics of the songs were all in Russian. Trixie was able to understand quite a lot of it and even explained the lyrics of the songs to her friend. Of the 10 songs of the album, their favorite was "Ya Tak Ustal". A new wave like song about trying to understand someone you like and is close to you and finally succeeding. It fitted perfectly to this moment. After the final song of the album ended, a green light began to shimmer through the ice sheet windows of the commieblock.
Trixie's eyes began to open widely, as she said in joy, "Starlight look, the polar lights! They are finally starting to come! Let's get up on the roof top so that we have the perfect view to see them in all their glory."
"Sure," Starlight replied, "but isn't it very cold up there?"
"Yes, but don't worry," Trixie comfortably replied, "there is some firewood here in this commieblock. We can use it to make us a fire to warm us up."
"Great idea my friend!" Starlight happily replied, "But before you put on the fire, I need to get something. Don't worry, I will be back in a minute."
Starlight ran back to her commieblock, only to come back less than a minute later, with a certain book.
"If we make a fire, I think we should use the opportunity to burn down this horrible book," Starlight said with a somewhat smug smile.
"A great and powerful idea for sure," Trixie smugly replied back, "I also brought us some marshmallows along to our trip. You too are probably hungry after such an exciting and exhausting day, aren't you?"
"Yes I am," Starlight replied to her with a smile, "but wow, I am still impressed at the kind of stuff you brought along to this trip. But seeing how things went so far, I definitely shouldn't complain."
They both went up to the rooftop, putted on a little fire, burnt the book in it, baked and ate some marshmallows and enjoyed the beautiful view over the polar lights on the night sky. They were both happy again. Having calmed themselves down from the drama and began to enjoy each others company again. It was a long night with long lasting polar lights. The two ponies stayed awake for much longer than their thought. By the time they began to sleep, it has long been past midnight and they slept on the floor over a bunch of clothes and blankets, but they didn't care. They had fun together for that night, watching the polar lights, baking and eating marshmallows and listening to music and that is what mattered the most.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
It was the next day, Trixie and Starlight were still sleeping in the formally abandoned commieblock. The sparkler lights, created by Trixie, have decayed over the night. The sun was already shining brightly. The light of the sun eventually landed on Trixie's face, which woke her up. She rubbed her eyes, got up and saw how bright it already was outside. She quickly realised that they have slept for too long. She took a look at an old clock that was on the wall. After wiping the dust away from it, she saw it was 13 o' clock.
"Fuck! Starlight wake up! It's late!" Trixie yelled to her friend, who was still sleeping.
Starlight slowly opened her eyes as she said, "Ugh... how late is it? I usually don't sleep for so long. You are the late sleeper of us usually."
"It's 13 o' clock," Trixie simply replied.
Starlight jumped up in shock and screamed, "13 O' CLOCK? Since when did I seep for so long?"
"Well honestly," Trixie replied, "I am wondering, since when I have woke up so early without feeling tired?"
They both chuckled afterwards and then quickly began to pack their stuff and make themselves ready for their next stop, Bilibino. They left the commieblock with the ice sheet windows and began to head to their final destination of this trip.
While they were on their way, they talked about what kind of things they wanted to do in Bilibino.
"Well Trix, what kind of stuff have planned for us to do over in Bilibino?" Starlight asked to her friend.
Trixie replied, "Originally, I planned us to do some bear hunting over there, but I'm not sure if you are into that."
"Bear hunting?" Starlight curiously questioned, "I don't think I'm into that. I would probably prefer it if we would do something else."
"Well we can also do other things over there," Trixie replied in excitement, "Like urban spelunking, exploring the nature around the city or try to visit their nuclear power plant. Yes they have one too, but theirs isn't floating."
Starlight thought and replied, "I think I would like to explore the nature near the city, that sounds nice. I have another question tho. Do we have to travel with one of those crazy big firework rockets again?"
Trixie comfortably responded, "Of course, do you really think we would walk all of that distance? The rocket is our only way to get to that place. Bilibino is actually one of the most remote places in Chukotka and not even you are able to teleport that far, to a place you never have been before."
Starlight started to get a begrudging look on her face and replied, "You are right, but flying on that rocket thing once was already scary enough. Like, I was actually afraid that we will die. These things feel dangerous."
Trixie tried to make her friend feel less afraid, "Don't worry Starlight. It worked perfectly the first time, so I am certain it will work this time too. Especially because this time, the distance we have to fly is shorter, there are less tall mountains and the first third of it, we will only fly over water... or ice with the current temperatures."
Starlight, feeling less scared now, replied, "You know what, I should feel less afraid about this. As you just said, it worked well the first time and this time the route is shorter and less dangerous. I think I'm indeed ready for this."
After walking for about an hour, they arrived at a coast, where Trixie began to set up the rocket.
While that, she said, "There is no reason to be afraid to fly on Trixie's Great and Powerful Fast Travel Firework Rocket 6000. Do you really think I want us to die?"
"Of course not," Starlight replied, "It's just, you can seem somewhat crazy and careless at times, but that's ok. One thing tho, don't you think that the name of that thing is a bit too long? It's quite a mouthful of words."
"It's a working title!" is all what Trixie replied.
After she was done setting up and aiming the rocket, they sat themselves on the rocket and tied up themselves and their luggage.
"Are you ready Starlight?" Trixie smugly asked her friend.
"Yes I am Trix!" Starlight comfortably replied.
"Well then, let's get this rocket to fly!" said Trixie proudly while she lightened up the fuse.
The rocket began to fly a couple of seconds later. The flight was indeed a bit shorter and less scary than the first one. In fact, Starlight even began to like the view from far up, of this fast flying rocket. Even when they flew over mountains, Starlight was no longer feeling scared. Eventually, Trixie began to see the first buildings of Bilibino and thus, pressed the button to launch themselves of the rocket. They landed on the ground via parachutes, the rocket flew up in the sky and exploded, once again creating Trixie's face in the sky and they began to enter the city of Bilibino.
Bilibino was the greyest city they visited on their trip and just like Pevek, there were a lot of abandoned buildings. It was the coldest city too. In winter the average temperature is around minus 30 degrees Celsius. As of the day where the two ponies were there, it was minus 5 degrees. This time, Trixie did book a hotel, which they went to first, to put their luggage over there. After that, they went to a restaurant to eat something. There weren't many restaurants in the city, but eventually they did manage to find a good looking local restaurant. This time, they both ordered different things. Trixie ate Chicken Kiev while Starlight ate an olive salad.
"An olive salad?" Trixie asked to her friend in disgust after they ordered they food, "How disgusting is that? You are afraid of a yogurt that is a couple days over it's best before date, but eat fucking olives?"
"What's so disgusting about olives?" Starlight asked to her in reply.
"That they taste like rotten vegetables," Trixie simply replied.
Starlight didn't care tho and they both ate their dishes. After they were done eating, the waiter asked them for their pay, which was pretty high once again. This time however, the two ponies couldn't fool the humans with the value of pony coins.
The waiter said to them "By the way, I have heard about two ponies that were in Anadyr two to thee days ago, that fooled humans in believing that pony coins are like super valuable, while there are official calculations that say otherwise. The police even began to search for them. Have you heard about them too?"
"Uh no, no we haven't," Starlight awkwardly replied to him.
"And it's definitely not us," Trixie also awkwardly replied, while giving the waiter the correct amount of pony coins.
The waiter chuckled and kindly replied, "Oh come on, of course it's not you two, these other two ponies were in Anadyr just 2 days ago. It's really difficult to get to Bilibino from any sort of place in such a short time."
After that, the two ponies said goodbye and quickly left the restaurant.
"I think we can forget coming back to Anadyr for the next... forever," Starlight said after they went out of the restaurant.
"Well this sure sucks. And the humans there loved my performance so much and I even promised to come back. FUCK!" Trixie replied in frustration.
"Do you really want to come back that place?" Starlight asked her.
"Of course, the humans loved me over there and the Great and Powerful Trixie could be a massive success in the human world if a comeback is possible!" answered Trixie smugly.
Later on, they began to explore the nature that was around Bilibino. The city was surrounded by forests and mountains, making it a great place for nature lovers. Starlight really liked the mountains and conifer trees. Trixie too did at first, but she quickly seemed to get bored of it. Starlight eventually realised that and to bring in some more action, she threw a snowball in her face.
Trixie wiped the snow of her face and said, "You know what that means," and shouted, "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" with a joyful tone.
A massive snowball fight began to break out between the two ponies. They both used their magic to build massive snow fortresses and weapons made out of snow. Starlight clearly was better and more experienced with her magic and thus was feeling pretty comfortable on winning this. However Trixie's magic has not only improved a lot in the recent months, but she was also very experienced with pyrotechnics and crafting firework rockets. She was able to build many, highly powerful rockets out of snow, that she was able to accurately shoot towards Starlight's snow fortress. Starlight's weaponry was clearly weaker, she built some tanks, whose designs were obviously inspired by soviet tanks, but she wasn't as fast and efficient with her weapons as Trixie. Still, Starlight knew how to use her better magic skills to an advantage. Her base was bigger and sturdier than Trixie's and was able to tank the many rockets her friend was firing towards her. She also was quicker at repairing damages of her base. Because of that, it was a fairly even fight and it went on for pretty long. Eventually tho, things began to look better for Starlight, as she managed to become more efficient with her weapons over time. Trixie struggled to keep up with repairing the damages of her base. However, she had one final trick left to possibly make her win. She created the biggest snow rocket she could. Starlight eventually saw the humongous rocket and her thoughts of winning the snow fight began to fade. Trixie's rocket was done faster than she could counterattack and her competitor immediately began to launch it as soon as she was done building it. The massive rocket headed straight into Starlight's base and obliterated everything she has built. Trixie has won the snowball fight.
Starlight crawled out of the snow and said in surprise, "Wow Trixie, I did not expect you to be this good at a magic snowball fight. You won, even tho I am technically the one who is better at magic."
Trixie in a fully smug and proud tone and expression replied, "The Great and Powerful Trixie always knows how to surprise other ponies with her talent."
The both chuckled afterwards and began to walk back to the proper city.
At the time their snowball fight was over, it has already been pretty dark for quite some time and because of that, they went to their hotel. The hotel room this time was smaller and cheaper than the one in Anadyr. There was no shower or TV in their hotel room this time, but since they only stayed there for one day, that was perfectly fine for the two ponies. They spend the rest of the day in the hotel room, talking about their lives, telling funny stories and jokes and talking about tomorrow, where they will leave Chukotka and go back to their hometown in Equestria. They were afraid to fly on an airplane again, but were also exited to see Ponyville again and for Starlight, her other friends too, whereas Trixie just wanted to see her trailer again. Still, they were more than happy with the fourth day of their trip. After the third day, where their friendship nearly fell apart, it now felt like, that their friendship was stronger than ever. Even with some issues and disagreements on the first 3 days, their trip in Chukotka ended on a happy note. Pass midnight, they began to make themselves ready to sleep. They brushed their teeth, comfortably laid themselves down in the beds and closed their eyes, as their took their final sleep in Chukotka, before traveling back to home.
Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka
It still was quite gloomy outside when Trixie and Starlight woke up. Starlight has put on her alarm clock for today, so that they don't sleep for too long. They were both still feeling tired and wanted to sleep for longer, but they couldn't, because they will go back to their homes in Eqeustria today. They both packed all of their stuff and left the small hotel. Bilibino was a landlocked city, but there was a small airport south of it in a small settlement called Keperveyem. It was around 33 kilometers away from Bilibino, so they had to walk quite a bit to get there. They were also afraid of having to fly on an airplane again.
"Ugh, do we have to fly on one these things again?" asked Starlight to her friend, sounding somewhat afraid.
"Unfortunately yes," Trixie replied, "but things went fine on our first flight and I am sure nothing will happen this time too. Plus, we will fly on a smaller airplane this time, which will probably be less scary, I think... I hope."
Eventually, they arrived at the airport. It was much smaller than the one in Ugolnye Kopi, in fact, there weren't even any real big passenger planes here, only smaller ones. At the airport was a chubbier male human with a full beard.
"Privyet ponies!" the human greeted the two ponies with a very thick Russian accent, "How can I help you?"
"Hello, we would like to take a flight form here to Khabarovsk please," said Trixie to the man.
"To Khabarovsk? I'm sorry but the only planes we have here, that can fly all the way to there, only have space for two people... or ponies," the human replied to them.
"Wait, does that mean one of us has to steer that thing, if we want to go to Khabarovsk?" Starlight asked in concern.
"Yes, one of you two has to steer the airplane," replied the human to them.
"Well then, I am doing it" Trixie replied in loud and proud tone.
"Trixie are you sure you want to do that? None of us two even has the slightest idea on how the controls on that thing work," responded Starlight, sounding even more concerned now than before.
"Don't worry ponies," the human tried to calm the situation down and explained to them, how flying an airplane works, "flying an airplane isn't difficult. You just have to make sure everything on the airplane is closed properly, take on your seat belts and then activate this lever, which will start the airplane. Then you just have pull the steering wheel down and the plane will fly up in the sky. All what is to do then is pressing this button to retract the landing gear and follow the navigation system, which will show you the route to Khabarovsk. Once you have arrived there, you can land the airplane by activating the landing gear and flying the plane to the ground by pulling up the steering wheel and land on a nice even spot. Get it?"
"Sure!" Trixie comfortably replied to him, "Come on Starlight, let's get this thing ready to fly."
"Well, guess I have no other choice," Starlight said in fear, while she begrudgingly went into the back seat of the airplane.
"Oh and one more thing blue one," the human said to Trixie, "don't press any other buttons during the flight."
"Yeah sure, got that," Trixie simply replied.
The both putted their luggage in the airplane, sat themselves down in seats and putted on their seat belts. Starlight was still feeling somewhat nervous about having Trixie flying the airplane.
"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Starlight asked to her in concern.
"Well, we don't really any other choice," Trixie replied to her, "besides, the Great and Powerful Trixie will do her best in steering and flying the plane," in a smug tone.
Trixie started the airplane and began to fly it straight to the sky. Starlight was still feeling nervous. However, Trixie did ended up making a better job at steering the airplane than expected. After being 10 minutes into their flight, everything was fine and Starlight was feeling more relieved.
"I got to be honest, you do a lot better job on flying that thing than I thought," Starlight complemented her friend.
"See, I told you I can do it," Trixie replied in a comfortable tone, "however, I do wish it would fly a bit faster. I wonder if any of the buttons here will make it fly faster."
"Trixie no!" Starlight yelled to her, feeling more afraid again, "Haven't you hear what the human said to you?"
"Yes I did," replied Trixie smugly, "but honestly, I think he was underestimating my abilities. Besides, why would these buttons even be there, if there are so dangerous. For example, how about this one with that black and yellow symbol on it?"
"No Trixie don't press it!" Starlight yelled to her in fear.
But Trixie didn't listen to her and pressed the button. As soon as she pressed it, the airplane started to activate a nuclear nitro. The plane began to fly in an unimaginably high speed. In fact, the plane quickly left the earth atmosphere and flew through space with a speed faster than light. Starlight and Trixie too, were absolutely terrified.
"WHY DID YOU PRESS THAT BUTTON?" Starlight yelled in fear and shock.
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HUMAN AIRPLANES HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS!" Trixie screamed as a reply.
The nuclear nitro went on for a long while and the two ponies eventually began to say goodbye to each other as they thought, that this will be the last moment of their lives.
"Trixie, even if you just killed us and I got mad at you a lot of the times, I will still remember you as my best and closest friend!" said Starlight, who already accepted that she and her friend will probably die.
"You too are the greatest and most powerful friend I could have ever asked for. I never even had a friend before we first met each other and the fact that you even forgive me for the fact, that I probably just killed us, shows how strong our friendship really is," Trixie replied while a tear ran down on her face.
They held on closely to each other while they continued flying through space, waiting for the plane to crash or getting stuck in space. Eventually the plane began to slow down, as the nitro has used up almost all of it's fuel. They began to accept the fate that they will be trapped in space and die. Tears ran out of their eyes, as they more and more accepted their deaths. However, as the last bit of the nitro went on, the began to get close to a planet, a planet that seemed quite familiar.
"Wait a minute," Trixie said in surprise, "that is Equus, our home planet! Starlight we may survive and get back to home!"
"What? That can't be true!" Starlight replied in disbelieve.
However, as soon as she took a look out of the window, she saw, that they were indeed nearing their home planet.
"Oh sweet Celestia, there is hope for us!" Starlight yelled in relief, as the plane got closer and closer to their home planet.
Eventually, there were in the atmosphere of Equus and it was exactly then, where the nitro has emptied all of it's fuel. The plane began to fell and the two ponies screamed loudly.
The plane crashed on the ground. Fortunately, the two ponies weren't injured and survived. They both crawled out of the wreck of the airplane and took their luggage. Trixie eventually saw something from the distance.
"Starlight look," She told to her friend in excitement, "my precious trailer!"
"I can not believe we landed directly to the place where we live," Starlight replied, being amazed by the fact they were home.
"Well Starlight, seems like pressing that button wasn't a bad idea after all," Trixie smugly said to her friend.
"Yeah, but you still could have killed both of us," Starlight simply replied.
After that, they both made their ways back to their homes. One thing is for sure tho, that they will never forget this trip for the rest of their lives.
THE END
