Artemis awoke to a world of pain, something he should of been used to by now due to his time in Ponyville bringing pain on almost a daily basis. The one good point was it seemed he wasn't out for long, food was now on the table, and Rainbow was only half way through her burger and fries. He felt his head for any major wounds, apart from a bump it seemed he was fine, no cuts at least.
Noticing his movements, Rainbow paused at her eating and turned her attention to Artemis. "Ahh, I see your awake, foods here by the way."
Lifting his head off the table, he sighed at the obvious statement. Despite wanting to continue the discussion, and perhaps ask for an apology, he was ravenously hungry, and decided to sate his appetite first. He wolfed down his food at an alarming rate, and soon caught up and even surpassed his dinning companion.
Soon he was finished eating and waiting for her to finish her meal. He used this time wisely, firstly to nurse his injured head, and then to work out what to say to her when she was finished. Unfortunately he didn't get chance to, as the moment she finished she tossed the bits for her meal on the meal and walked out of the door. He was left with no choice to do similar, not forgetting to thank Sandy for her lovely food, and chase or rather roll after her.
It was hard work catching her up, she may be the fastest flyer in Equestria, but she was no slouch when it came to speed on the ground either. Finally, he caught up with her outside the train station.
"Wait! Rainbow, please, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going back to Ponyville."
"But why?"
Up until now she had been talking to him with her back turned, however at this she turned around to face him, and glared at him menacing. "It doesn't matter."
"Doesn't matter?! You're leaving me alone in Canterlot, after knocking me out without even apologizing, and you're saying it doesn't matter?"
"Fine... You really want to know? It's because this day has been rotten so far. First you get me up early, I miss breakfast and I get moaned at by Trixie's goons. Its bad enough I have to see her, and then to top it off you asked me about my family."
"So?"
Rainbow sighed, running a hoof down her face. "Look, I know it's not your fault, you're new to Ponyville, Equestria even. But, I don't talk about my family, nor do I like to talk about it. It's a tough topic, for me anyway."
"I don't see what that has to do with you leaving."
"It brings back bad memories, alright?! I just need to be alone for a while." With that, she took off into the air, zooming over a crowd of ponies as they emerged from the station. There was no time for Artemis to respond and no way for him to pursue, not through a crowd with his wheel chair. He was all alone.
He couldn't believe his luck, first he had been injured, twice, by Rainbow. Now, she had abandoned him as well. There was little point in following, either she was telling the truth and simply needed to be alone. Or she didn't, but beyond saying sorry, which he didn't really think he should do, after all, she had knocked him out again, there was nothing he could do. It looked like he would be going to Trixie's on his own.
Making his way back to the town center, he found that she must of knocked him out longer than he had presumed. It was now one o'clock, and with nothing or nopony else to kill time, he decided the best course of action was to go back to the theater and wait.
The walk to the theater took the better part of quarter an hour, and by the time he got there, he found a long line of ponies. It appeared as if most newspaper companies in Equestria had turned up, it was unlikely that Canterlot had over 30 different newspapers available. As he took his place at the back of the line, the news reporters were all being incredibly loud, arguing with each other and declaring he superiority of their own paper. Glad to be at the back of the line, he stood well back, making sure no to get in the middle of anything, he'd suffered enough pain or one day.
Before long, a hushed silence fell on the queue and the ponies began to move forward. The cause of the silence and where exactly they were going were unknown to Artemis, the pony standing in front of him was large and stocky, blocking his view.
Finally, the pony in front entered the building through a door to his left, and revealed the pony standing in front of him. It was none other that the hostess herself, Trixie, who was looked rather different without her star spangled cape and hat. Her face was hidden behind a clipboard that she suspended in front of her face with her magic.
As he approached her, she didn't look up and simply acknowledged his existence by asking, "Name?"
"Uh, Artemis."
"Artemis. Artemis, Artemis, wait a minute! There's no Artemis on this..." She was obviously about to moan at him until she lowered the clipboard, she paused mid sentence as she noticed who was in front of her. "Oh, I'm sorry" she said regaining her composure. "Don't know what came other Trixie, I mean me, there. You must be that, what is it called, Human, I invited, are you not?"
"I guess so, not met another Human in Equestria yet, and I have your invitation and back stage passes here."
"Bah, mere trival formalities I had to go to due to some legal stuff here in Canterlot. Come in, come in, let Trixie, I mean me, have a look at you." She slapped her head with a hoof, "Sorry about that, have problem staying in first person when I'm preparing for a show. Hope you understand."
"It's ok," he said as he followed her into the building. "I've heard of stage performers doing worse things than trying to stay 'out' of character."
"That is good to hear, now we need to turn left here and a right at the next turn after that I think." She mumbled as they approached a turn in the corridor. Artemis followed her obediently, however found it surprising when they went pass the press room.
"Aren't we going in there?"
"In there?" she asked indicating to the room they had just passed. "Oh, no-no-no-no. We shan't be in there, those peasants are only here to give me reviews. A formality I wish I didn't have to pursue, unfortunately, one can not simply exist in Canterlot without getting a review, the posh snobs won't turn up without one." She finished talking as they turned around a corner to the right. "Aha, here we are, my dressing room." She entered quickly, leaving Artemis lingering outside. That was until her voice called from inside, "It's rude to keep your hostess waiting, you know that right?"
He lingered no longer, and bit back any fear he had at entering a private place. Still, he closed his eyes as he entered the room. "I'm sorry, I know sometimes artists are strange with people entering their dressing room."
"Artist, you really think I am one?"
"I guess you are, you perform do you not?"
"That is true, anyway, you say Artists you know of are a bit sensitive about their dressing rooms. How then do they interview in private, or hold private conversations?"
"Often, they don't"
Trixie chuckled, "I feel sorry for the artists you know of."
"As do I, the world I come from values privacy poorly, especially of those in the lime light."
"Lime light? You can use limes to power the lights? Interesting, if only I had known. Would of saved me a fortune in lighting this place."
Covering his face with his hands, Artemis regretted his turn of phrase. "No, you can't, it's just an expression where I am from."
Trixie's face became flushed with embarrassment, her composure broken he noticed her eyes twitching. "Of course, I should have known. Trixie smacked her head with her hooves, "Trixie is a fool." She repeated smacking her face over and over again, until he came to his sense of mind and held back her legs to stop her.
"Stop that at once," then noticing the look she gave him, he sheepishly said "please?"
The tension in her legs gave way, and let his grip go, "You're right, I shouldn't be hitting myself. It's just, I haven't been the same since Ponyville."
"Ponyville?"
"Ahh, yes Ponyville, the site of my downfall. Initially it left me destitute, I wandered from town to town for months, begging for work just to feed myself. But eventually, I realized, there were truths to the claims of Twilight and her friends. I had forgotten how to separate the stage from real life. My persona had become my identity. While some ponies loved the act, I was often rude and aggressive to others, causing them to shun me after the Ponyville incident. My wondrous acts of magic they believed nothing more than cheap tricks."
"How did you get back into performing again then?"
"That, that's an interesting tale. Well after a string of bad luck, I found myself run out of yet another town. It was the middle of winter, and I found myself lost in the forest near the town as I tried to evade the ponies chasing me. I stumbled around for days, not knowing where I was or which direction to go. Now you may be wondering why I didn't use my magic to help me, but I had never needed to learn navigation spells before. Traveling by road meant I had clear sign posts to follow." She paused in her tale to drink some water out of a large jug she conjured from somewhere.
"As I was saying, I was lost in the forest for days, and just as my supplies were about to run out, I stumbled upon a small logging village. I spent several days recovering there, their kind hospitality vastly different to anything I had experience in the towns I had visited previously." By this point, tears were beginning to form in her eyes, and any contempt Artemis may of had for her, due to her arrogance, was gone. She had suffered enough for her behavior it seemed. "I was taken in by an elderly mare, who looked after her granddaughter, where I repaid the kindness with household chores. After being there a couple of weeks, the granddaughters birthday approached, and having learned of my profession, my hostess asked me if I could perform."
She paused again, to down more water and dry the tears from her muzzle, he moved to comfort but she pushed him away. "In my time there, I had come to know the filly quite well, and it was with great joy I willingly accepted the offer. In the end, it turned out to be a rather profitable decision, the whole camp turned out. By the end, I had them giving me a standing ovation, I had almost forgotten the sound of cheering. By the time I left the camp, it was with a purse full of bits and my confidence restored. The time in the village had taught me the difference between real Trixie and stage Trixie."
Finishing her talk, Trixie downed what was left of the water and looked like she was about to talk again when a knock on the door interrupted her. "Come in," she called.
The mare that opened the door had black fur, apart from her muzzle which was white, and a white mane and tail. "The press are getting a bit impatient, miss Trixie, perhaps you best meet with them now?"
"Ahh yes, thanks, Razzle. I'll be with them in a minute, just finishing up here. By the way, let me introduce you two. Razzle, this is the special guest I told you about."
"Ahh yes, Nice to meet you." Said Razzle, studying him with large violet eyes.
"And Artemis, this Razzle Dazzle, my personal Assistant. She deals with general tasks while I'm to busy. Anyway, I'm afraid I have to leave you, help yourself to any snacks while I'm gone, and I believe there are some magazines near the table as well." With a flourish she magically pulled back a curtain to reveal a table laden with snacks of different sorts, as well as several beverages, including Apple Family cider. Next to the tale was a pile of magazines, although to his dismay he noticed they were all gossip mags.
While Artemis was busy examining the table, Trixie and Razzle stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them. "So how did it go?" asked Razzle.
"Oh, it went well, I threw him some sob story and he bought it."
"So do you reckon he will accept the offer?"
"There is a high probability he will, after all who doesn't want to work for the Great and Powerful Trixie? But just in case, I brought a little extra insurance." She levitated a small vial of silver liquid out of her mane.
"Is that what I think it is miss Trixie?"
"Indeed Razzle, and I want you to give it to him if he refuses. Got it from a friend of mine, and he guarantees this stuff will deliver."
"You are extremely wise miss." Complimented Razzle.
"Oh it's nothing, after all when you've been in the business as long as me, you learn a few tricks. By the end of today he will be mine."
They shared maniacal laughter all the way to the press room, where Trixie regained her composure before stepping in. "Greetings Stallions and Mares, the Great and Powerful Trixie hopes you will enjoy tonight..."
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and hope it was rather epic, I wanted to continue a bit, but thought a cliff hanger would be nice, and besides. 2.3k words is a nice chapter length, not too short, not too long.