Doubt

by DitsyHooves

Chapter 4: Canterlot

CHAPTER FOUR
CANTERLOT

The carriage stopped with a jolt that almost sent Trixie barreling off onto the road, but she was too busy looking at the giant city to get angry. Trixie hadn't been here for years; she had forgotten how beautiful it was.

Light danced from atop the great, shining turrets of the royal castle, which cast a magnificent shadow over the posh city. Buildings towered and imposed, drawing one's eye's to examine and gawk at the smooth curves of the stone, the brilliant patterns that decorated them with stars, suns, flowers, and moons, and the onslaught of bright colours that could be seen for miles. The swirling towers and shapes crowning them gave the city a sense of importance, unity, and power. And yet, the waterfalls that cascaded over the dull rocks of the mountain Canterlot perched on, the cool and clear ponds, and the stunning nature beckoned, welcoming everypony.

It was clear to Trixie that this was a place for ponies who were not covered horn to hoof in mud.

"Stop this carriage at once!" She bellowed, causing Braeburn to jump as the unicorn behind him yelled straight into his ear.

"We've, uhhhh, already stopped," He replied, massaging his left ear with his hoof. It was still ringing.

"Then allow the Great Trixie access to a place of cleansing. Trixie can not enter Canterlot looking like her chauffeur" She said as she dismounted from the cart and stepped onto the stone road beneath. The rock felt cool on her hooves, which were still sore from her long hike. She longed to place her rump on the path to, as it was aching from the repeated assaults of her seat during the ride, but knew that this was not a very respectable thing to do. Instead, she held her chin high and glared at Braeburn, waiting for an answer.

"Well, I don't know about any 'places of cleansing' and whatnot," He began, much to Trixie's dismay, "but if you wanna take a bath, then you could use the pond right over there," He said, pointing at the water that flowed under the drawbridge of the front gates.

"The Great Trixie, bathe in a hole like that? Trixie will do nothing of the sort!" She scolded, turning so that only her back faced Braeburn.

"Well alrighty then, you can come on into Canterlot," He said as he leaned towards the great city, ready to resume his trotting.

~~~~

A blue shape, almost the same colour of the water, pulled itself out of the pond. Trixie now stood at the edge of the water, shivering profusely. Her silver hair was perfectly straight now, her coat once again a solid colour, and overall, no longer looking like a pony shaped dirt pile.

The water had been freezing, or at least it was to Trixie, who was used to hot baths and spa trips. Her body shook as she dashed away from the water, afraid of falling in once more.

"There. All better," Braeburn encouraged.

Trixie cast him a glare of utter hatred, but her teeth were chattering too hard for her to respond. She looked away and closed her eyes, concentrating. She sat on the damp grass and frowned. A few sparks flew out of her horn, eliciting a grunt of frustration from the unicorn. Trying to focus completely on the spell, she sat in silence for a moment. Her horn began to glow with a purple aura, which was then temporarily blocked from view as the pony was engulfed in a white flash of light. When she emerged from the spell, Trixie was perfectly dry.

"Yowzah!" Yelled Braeburn, who had grow up in an earth pony town, and was therefore quite impressed by the spell, "That was some fancy magic there!"

"Well, I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, don't you go forgetting that!" Trixie replied proudly as she sat back down in the cart. Her rump only protested slightly; it was feeling better after the bath.

The carriage creaked as it began moving, it's old frame sagging under the weight of the apples and big headed unicorn, but at least the ride was smooth on the path into Canterlot. As they passed through the gates, Braeburn bowed his head to the nearest guard, who stood perfectly still, not even moving his eyes to watch them walk past. As the cart wheeled straight in front of him Trixie turned and stuck out her tongue, trying to get a reaction, but the guard looked calm as ever. Trixie glared as him until her head almost completed a 180 degree turn, but resumed her regular, confident stare forwards.

The unicorns walking through the streets barely glanced at the apple cart as it passed by, busy as they were with going to tea parties and such. Occasionally, one or two would turn and enter one of the surrounding shops, causing a bell to sound as they passed through the door. Around some of the buildings, the ones that must have been restaurants, were an assortment of tables that each had two chairs at opposite ends and an umbrella for shading the important customers. Canterlot was a busy place, so most of these were filled up a pair of unicorns who always had there hair up in ridiculous styles.

At one table sat a light brown pony with a dark brown mane and a flaming tire cutie mark, who appeared to be yelling at a gray pony.

"Hoofacures do NOT give you hoof Canter!" She yelled, glaring at the pony who sat across from her. Canter... Trixie knew she had hard that once before. Some sort of deadly medical thing? Ehh, who cares.

"Yes, they do!" Yelled the gray pony. He had a dark gray mane and three clovers as a cutie mark, and was leaning over the table in anger at his... marefriend? Could they possibly be dating? "My aunt Aggy died from hoof Canter! She had those everyday!"

"I told you, she didn't die from Canter, she died because she had a CHEESE PROBLEM!" The brown pony raged on, throwing her hooves over her head, her face turning red as she yelled. The gray pony recoiled at this, looking shocked and hurt.

Turning away from the arguing ponies, Trixie continued to eye every building hungrily, trying to soak in all the details as she passed. She had missed this city, and was eager to try to spot place that she might remember. Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by a pair of unicorns who were walking perpendicular to the cart. As it passed in front of them, they were forced to stop, looking shocked that they could be cut off by such an uncouth vehicle. Trixie locked eyes with one of the unicorns, and they returned each other's glares until they both turned their heads away, their chins held high in a disapproving manner, with a loud Hmph of annoyance. Just like old times.

Returning her view to the sides of the street, Trixie was momentarily confused at the lack of shops, until she realized that they were now entering a square. The square, contrary to it's name was actually circular, and was also filled with the tables the Trixie had seen earlier outside of the restaurants. The ground was paved with clean white stones that were set an artistic pattern as they circled around in an endless line, sandwiched between their twins. Slowly, the rings of tiles became smaller as the approached the center, where a large platform sat. It must have been a stage for preforming bands, because it was covered with an array of music stands and stools, all of which were currently empty.

An idea popped into Trixies head, and she bellowed "Stop!"

The cart slowed to a stop, and Braeburn, a little confused, turned his head to talk to Trixie, only to find that she wasn't there. Turning his head back around, he almost jumped out of his skin as his nose almost bumped into Trixie's.

"GAHH!" He yelled as he almost toppled over backwards in shock, "Trixie, what- why-"

Trixie smiled smugly as she saw his look of fright as she began to speak, "The Great Trixie currently no longer requires your services, chauffeur. But, you shall return to this square this evening to repeat them Trixie's employ. Now, if you could get out of the Great Trixie's space, Trixie has something important to do," and with that, she turned and trotted away, smacking Braeburns's face with her tail as she went.

"Ermmmm... O.K. then, Trixie." Said Braeburn, still slightly confused. But, puzzled as he was, he was also busy, he didn't, after all, drag all of these apples to Canterlot just to show them the sights, and trotted away, thinking about how you could show something to something with out eyes. Rub it all over, maybe?

Trixie, however, was thinking of something quite different. Her eyes were fixed on the stage as she walked resolutely towards it.

She had something important to do.

Comments

[DitsyHooves]

Cheese problems are serious medical conditions, guys.

[Frankie]

Trixie is going to set up a show? Good grief.