CHAPTER SIX
BUMPS AND BRUISES
She sat, alone, in the darkening light of the evening sky. She had not moved from the center of the stage, though it must have been hours since her show had ended.
Tears poured from her eyes onto the damp wood beneath her, as they had been doing on and off since mid-afternoon. She was left to nothing but her thoughts, and they flowed accordingly. Memories poured through her brain, but one stood out among the rush of feeling, one that had been tormenting her since the faithful day it had happened.
The head of a filly peeked out from behind a thick red curtain, it’s blue hue contrasting greatly with that of her chose of hiding place. Her eyes darted through the crowd, desperately trying to complete their search before they were discovered. After they roved over the whole crowd, they gave up, and were cast to the floor.
The head withdrew as the filly turned and slumped down onto the ground, both her ears and head lowered to the floor. She sighed loudly, trying to fight off the tears that were welling into her eyes. Her mother had failed to show up. Again.
“Next, we have Emerald Glimmer!”
The voice came from an adult pony who stood in the center of the stage, addressing the crowd of eager parents. This pony was the unicorn filly’s teacher, and she smiled brightly as she spoke to the crowd. She taught magic, the unicorn’s favorite subject, here at the Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.
As a green filly trotted past her and onto the stage to a smattering of polite applause, the unicorn remembered the acceptance test, the only time her mother had actually showed up to watch her daughter. It was mostly a haze of nervousness, but she could still clearly see her mother’s look of unimpressed anger as her daughter failed to shake the egg. And she could remember the feeling of determination that had filled her small form. She had been dead-set on making her mother proud.
She had passed the test, yes, but not with a very high mark. In fact, she was still surprised that it was high enough for entry into the academy, but she was still very proud, all the same. Her mother, however, had not been. That was pathetic, Trixie. The memory of the words still stung the filly, hurting her even though they had been said months ago. Get home and out of my sight. Her mother’s words had been more effective than a knife on their way out of the testing room.
The quite speech that had been filling the silence around the filly was replaced by the sound of stamping hooves, and Trixie was instantly filled with dread and fear. She was on after Emerald.
“Good luck!” Encouraged the green unicorn as she trotted delightedly off of the stage.
“And now, we have Trixie!”
Trixie stood and walked resolutely towards the stage, her legs shaking. She was determined to win the talent show and make her mother proud. Even though all she wanted to do right now was cry.
And so she did, though it was years in the future. But here, in the present, Trixie was completely alone.
A few times, she had heard the sounds of hooves hitting stone as ponies walked through the square, accompanied almost always by the sound of a derisive snort as they drew nearer. But they had all simply walked past.
And now, Trixie heard the sound again as it approached the stage, along with a strange creaking noise. She simply cast her head down even lower, trying to hide her tears. The hoofsteps came very close, then stopped.
Curious, she raised her head to see who had come to ogle at her. And, much to her surprise, she saw a yellow and brown earth pony standing there, smiling, an empty cart behind him. Braeburn.
Trixie instantly rose to her hooves, her steady flow of tears stopping as she smiled back at the stallion. She began to move towards him, staring at his face as she went, soaking in every bit of his smile. But Braeburn turned his head to look to the side of Trixie, and his eyes widened.
Trixie’s smile disappeared, and she began to move her head to see at whatever had caught Braeburns eye, but before it could turn to look, it was suddenly struck with a sharp blow.
She felt herself fall to the ground, her head searing as though it was on fire. Her vision began to blur as she groaned in agony. She heard hoofsteps approaching on all sides, but they sounded distant, like they were far away, and moving further away.
“TRIXIE!” The panicked scream was the last thing she heard before it all turned black.
~~~
Creak. Bump. Creak. Bump.
Trixie was woken by the sounds of… Something. Something that moved underneath her, taking her on its journey over a multitude of bumps.
She slowly opened her eyes. She was still a bit dizzy and dazed from her long sleep. Or maybe it was short. All she knew was that she was certainly not on that stage anymore.
As her eyes opened focused, she realized that she was staring a wooden plank. Confused, she looked up, and instantly regretted it.
A sharp pain shot through her head and she groaned in agony, dropping her head back onto the floor again.
“You finally awake?” Asked a voice that came from in front of her. She knew that voice.
“Braeburn?” Trixie inquired in a low voice, careful to keep her head still, “Wh-Where-”
“Yer in mah apple cart, on your way away from Canterlot.” He said, cutting off Trixie as she mumbled weakly, “I suppose yah want ta know why?”
“Uh-huh”
“Well, then, where do ah start…” Began Braeburn. He paused for a second, pondering his reply carefully. Then, he began.
“Well, yah see, back in Canterlot, you were, well… Injured. By a group of teenage fillies. They were all wearin' shirts with somepony's face on them. Must have been fans of... Somepony. But anyway, one bucked yah right in the head, and ah’m not sure if ya’ll were still awake after that, but then the rest gathered around yah. One stood near yer head, and raised a back hoof over it. Ah knew what they were about tah do, so ah sprang intah action.
“Ah left mah cart and threw those fillies off, and grabbed yah. I threw yah into mah cart- Oh, sorry bout that.” He interjected in a worried tone, “I hope ya’ll are fine. But then, ah grabbed mah cart and galloped. Ah galloped out of tha city, and luckily them gate guards didn’t do nothin’ about it. And now, after hours of trekkin’ through this darned forest, we’re almost there.”
“Where is ‘there’, exactly?”
“Why, Ponyville, a’course.
“PONYVILLE?!” Trixie bolted to her hooves, causing the cart to rock and Braeburn to stumble. Her head once again felt like her brain was on fire, but she did her best to ignore it. From her new vantage point, Trixie could finally see her surroundings. She realized that they were moving through a dark forest that was filled with tall trees, though a path had been cleared through the dense growth of plants. The path, however, was being intruded upon by the long roots of trees and growth of weeds in the dirt that made up the narrow walkway.
“Uh… Yes?” He replied, looking back at her, smiling unsurely.
“Oh, no, no, no,” Trixie exclaimed as she relented and began to massage her head with her hoof. “No, no, no, no.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Last time I was here-“
“Hold that thought,” interrupted Braeburn. He was peering forwards, squinting to get a good view. Ahead, approaching quickly, was something that looked like a clearing. Braeburn picked up the pace, and within seconds they had passed into the bright sunlight of morning.
Trixie’s eyes burned in the light, and she took her hoof away from her forehead and rubbed her now closed eyes with it. By the time her eyes, blinking furiously, had adjusted to the light of the new day, the cart had stopped.
“Ah’m afraid ah have ta leave ya here. I’ve got tah get back tah Appleousa,” Braeburn said, “Ah considered taken yah with me, but ah don’t think tha country is exactly yer cup a’ tea.”
“Well, thank you, I guess,” said Trixie uncertainly. She was being left here?
She began to move to the edge of the cart, intending to dismount, but stopped as soon as she had started, groaning and clutching her head, closing her eyes due to the pain.
“Headache that bad, huh,” said Braeburn nervously. He turned his head from side to side, looking around the town. After a moment, he had obviously spotted what he was looking for, because Trixie felt a jolt as the cart began to move again, but soon stopped. “There. Ya’ll can stay here.”
Trixie opened her eyes, and saw: A giant tree. With a door. Wow.
“This here’s the… Lib-are-ary,” Said Braeburn, struggling slightly with the last word, “Ya’ll should stay here fer now. Ah’m sure the lib-er-are-y pony can help yah, they’re all egghe- Ah mean, smart.”
The stallion helped Trixie down off of the cart and escorted her through to the front door, supporting her almost completely as they went.
“Ow,” Said Trixie as they stopped, rubbing her head with her hoof.
The inside of the library was pleasantly cool, and was absolutely filled with books. Books on science, books on history, books on magic, books on how to do things for dummies. Books on everything. Books everywhere.
Great.
Trixie’s thoughts were interrupted as she felt arms wrap around her neck.
“Uh… Why are you grabbing Trixie?” She asked, completely confused.
Braeburn let go, looking shocked.
“Ya’ve never been hugged before?” He said, looking slightly embarrassed. But before Trixie could reply, Braeburn said, rather quickly, “Well, I’ll just get going apples to buck, you know, stuff to… something.”
The yellow stallion, though right now his face made him look more light pink, dashed past Trixie and out the door. From outside, Trixie heard loud creaks fade into the distance.
She gulped, and waited for the librarian to show up.