“Amethyst Star is Trapeze Star’s distant cousin.” Explained Rarity to an annoyed and highly upset Dik-Dik who recently put in a spare set of hearing cybernetics considering her other two had been decimated when her desk got shot up. So’Grahd looked like she could use a vacation as she rubbed at her skull with her cloven hooves slowly kneading her head.
So’Grahd had been busy filing another case of attempted murder, the third one that happened in less than twelve hours and in the middle of the local Planetary Protection Patrol headquarters no less.
“Yeah of course she is, that doesn’t make this any less confusing. Amethyst Star has done nothing to warrant a kill order, much less all the trouble you seem to be bringing to my doorstep by just existing. Someone seems to be using her as an ideal scapegoat as to the idea of why you were killed during the most recent attempt, if it had actually happened.” Dealing with all this was giving So’Grahd a migraine headache and it doesn’t help matter that the multiple attempts on Rarity might be happening to another innocent mare or that innocent mare was being used as a reason to target Rarity. None of it made any complete sense and she just recently arrested three Dik-Diks to show that it didn’t. “Someone went through a lot of trouble to make me your minder and then expected me to not carry through on it because of all this. Well they were wrong about that much. I will follow through and carry out my duty, but I find myself lacking in the ability to actually do it. Getting you out of headquarters alive will probably lead to another attempt on your life. What of the Trapeze Troupe, how are they doing?”
“The Trapeze Troupe is fine and they can definitely take care of themselves, what I’m worried about is if someone were to go after our friend Tree Hugger.” There were priorities in any crisis, even Rarity would have to set the upkeep of her appearance far lower than a friend’s life. Their current troubles was an unknown quantity and even moved in unseen ways, most of those ways seem to want Rarity buried.
“Nobody would be stupid enough to try hitting a high profile target like her at this moment, she’s way up the ladder in the SNUGGLES organization and we have a lot of people guarding her. The fact that she knows and likes you enough to take several quite damaging and almost lethal hits for you says a lot.” So’Grahd sent a poignant look to Rarity, as if to say she’d like to see who or whatever is doing all this try and get to Tree. “Whoever is behind all these attempts on you, they are trying to get either you specifically or cause Amethyst Star trouble wherever she it. It beggars belief that Amethyst Star actually shows up as being on the station and doesn’t have any outstanding crimes to her name, yet three knuckleheads went gunning for you with her name to tell for it anyway. So it’s most likely you that’s in danger Rarity.”
“It has to be me, I’m not quite that lucky as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Rarity certainly wished her luck didn’t involve as many hazardous things as it did. Things were so quiet back on Desserzon and quite peaceful unlike how things are now, maybe she should have just stayed on the dusty planet. No wait, there was a kidnapping ring starting up there until Sweetie Belle tried to cook something and she might have been involved in that somehow.
“I need to find where Amethyst Star went. I can find out what’s going on from her end, which is if she even knows anything to begin with.” The atmosphere was tense and Grahd was using Officer Drit’s office for real this time. Having looked up Amethyst Star's image, she didn’t understand how anyone could ever possibly confuse Rarity for Amethyst. For one Amethyst wore her mane and tail shorter, she also had purple eyes and a pink coat thus making her very distinctively different in appearance overall. The description of purple haired Unicorn rang true however and it could feasibly match Rarity’s description if you left multiple things out of describing her, like how she styled her mane for one. There was a percolating though in the back of Grahd’s head that this wasn’t the last of the attempts on Rarity with a certainty that she’d see another happen soon enough if she left Rarity unguarded for any reason. She was getting quite paranoid about all of this and the ones she was minding could likely see it even if they themselves couldn’t feel the building paranoia. “I want you to try to stay out of this and hope that you’re not targeted again, but I highly doubt that you’ll be left alone after we had another higher up the chain trying to get at you after the sniper and assassin failed. These incidents are not isolated and that someone is in fact out to get you. I’m finding myself burdened with having to either trust a group of random strangers to be in my presence or trusting people who could be given orders to kill someone innocent of any crime at any second behind my back.”
“Yes, well, I don’t know about you, but I have a business to run and while I’m sad that I can’t go looking for a stallion because of this mess. I wouldn’t want to find, ‘the one’, only to have the stallion take a shot through the head for me. I would still like to do some business while I’m here to make up for whatever financial losses I’m incurring.” It seemed Rarity’s friends agreed because they looked ready to join her as they sat up when Rarity stood up and moved towards the door. “I would also want to visit Tree, but I’d rather not endanger her unnecessarily.”
So’Grahd could at least say that they were all loyal to one another and she didn’t have any underlying loyalty to anyone in particular aside from the law as it stands in this sector. She didn’t see herself killing any of these people personally, except maybe Chrysalis who had been making a few lewd comments every now and then since they came to this office. A screen popped up on Drit’s computer and So’Grahd was immediately at it looking over the information that had been sent to this terminal and paled a bit.
“What is it?” Judging by the look on their minder’s face, it was easy for Coco to assume that something important just came up.
“I wasn’t given the minder position to fail… I don’t know how she did it, but your friend Tree Hugger somehow got me saddled with this exact position. If it wasn’t me it would have gone to So’Jeourn, he’s the next choice for your minder in case something happened to me. He also happens to be a respected triple P officer as well.” It left Grahd wondering just what kind of mastermind Tree Hugger exactly was, it seemed she was quite benevolent about keeping Rarity alive and bringing the danger to Grahd’s attention. Only, this wasn’t her terminal or her office and yet this was a time delayed message set for exactly this moment. She had made a note of Tree Hugger being in the store an hour prior to meeting her for the first time before the second incident and that the Cacceran put on the helmet at her urging, which is why Mr. Pirguer was still alive. “She seems to be quite benign in how she did it even, what really scares me is the kinds of connections she has or her ability to predict that I’d even be in this office at this time. To be honest I’m getting a little freaked out by all this and I’m a battle tested Dik-Dik.”
“To be fair she freaks us out too.” Drawled out Sassy as she watched the door and ignored Chrysalis trying to get her attention in a rather juvenile manner, mostly by poking her every once in a while in order to provoke a reaction. Chrysalis was just not someone you could ignore forever and eventually Sassy would have to show her some modicum of attention.
So’Grahd was beginning to believe Rarity about Tree Hugger being a seer, this level of set up couldn’t be anything other than a manufactured situation for Rarity’s continued survival. The set up notably had them going down a certain path and no matter what they did, they were likely to continue that same path even if they tried to avoid it.
In essence Grahd would continue to do her job with the continued ongoing case of various failed attempts at mare slaughter and it would either turn out for the better or worse. If Grahd had to guess, Tree Hugger wanted a triple P officer to watch out for Rarity, but she also wanted it to be a Dik-Dik as well. Grahd would just have to see how well she lived up to whatever expectation is expected of her, a regular Dik-Dik minder wouldn’t be nearly as invested to investigate the issue further.
Coco was rather glad that So’Grahd was forgetting to question her about what Tree told her, because she wasn’t going to forget what she was told by the portents of doom that was Tree Hugger. No matter what she personally did, she was going to cause someone’s death. It was hard to relax knowing she’d eventually kill someone, Coco didn’t think she even had the heart to hurt anyone on purpose in such a permanent manner.
“I think your friend wanted me to succeed and so far it seems like I’m doing just that, so we need to help you get back to your ship and I’ll put a heavy protection detail on it. You can get your business done easily enough, just try not to attract any more trouble. As for me, I have to search for…” Was as far as Grahd got before the door opened and Officer Del’Drit, a grizzled old looking grey furred male Dik-dik with a broken off left horn and short pepper colored tuft coming from his head. He trotted in with a relatively young looking blonde Pegasus mare with bright grey fur. “Hello Officer Drit, I hope you don’t mind me using your office, but I’ve been troubled as of late in my own.”
“Of course not Grahd of the ‘So’ clan, though I have a bit of a situation here. This here is courier Derpy D. Hooves, I’m about to start working a case for her and she’s looking for her adoptive daughter…” Before Drit or Derpy could say anything, So’Grahd kind of saw where this was going given that she already looked up the information to see if Amethyst Star had any criminal records to speak of. Amethyst didn’t have anything negative to speak of, except that she’s currently being used as a patsy to explain away Rarity’s attempted murder as far as Grahd knew.
“Amethyst Star, of course she is… Amethyst Star was listed as coming to this station and then somehow disappeared off the grid without witnesses, her minder is also missing.” Though So’Grahd sorely wished she weren’t right about it, she had to tell Officer Drit as a courtesy to her fellow officer. What she didn’t mention is the fact that they might find either Amethyst or her minder dead, possibly both. “I think I know what’s happening here and you’d best be on your guard Drit of clan Del. We currently have concurrent running cases, so I suggest we cooperate in a shared investigation capacity.”
“That’s what she said woo!” Nobody paid any mind to Chrysalis except maybe the blonde mare who smiled at her.
“This is no longer a missing person’s case for you, I suggest you equip yourself with a projectile shield and a high output shock rod, it’s one of ‘those’ cases.” Yep, a case where everything just decides to go south for the winter of their discontent and then the winter follows and starts beating them up for lunch money. Grahd’s mind went to some weird places sometimes. “I just arrested three Dik-Diks coming after my charges unprovoked with the understanding that they were going after someone named Amethyst Star and that she was a dangerous fugitive.”
“What, my big muffin would never do something mean or nasty, I taught her better than that!” Courier D.D. Hooves looked rather incensed at the implication that her adoptive daughter could have done any wrong on purpose. This wasn’t a coincidental meeting by a long shot and that’s why Grahd brought up Amethyst before either of them could say anything. “She knows to respect the law, well unless the law is intentionally trying to hurt her. At that point she’d know to run away and hide or come to find me to deal with the problem.”
“Right, the last time something like this happened, it stunk so badly I caught the bastard behind it because he was too smug for his own good.” Officer Drit sounded like a friend of Grahd’s and a quite friendly one at that. “I agree with you Grahd, our cases are hereby linked and we have the wherewithal to act in a concerted effort to see both our problems solved. That being finding your lost daughter Ms. Hooves and finding out why Amethyst is related to your case.”
“It’s probably not her fault to begin with ma’am and there are likely extenuating circumstances behind your daughter being missing, but someone still deliberately used her name in the targeting of one of my charges here. Also thank you Officer Drit, let me get you up to speed. There’s been three attempts on one of my charges and the third attempt happened not too long ago in this very building.” Grahd motioned to Rarity’s quiet group sitting off to the side and chatting about inane things among themselves and making a few idle comments here or there to keep their minds active. “Drit these are my charges, this is Baroness Rarity Belle, her daughter Opal Belle, Lady Coco Pommel and Lady Sassy Saddles. Also, despite my distaste for her, the visiting foreign dignitary Queen Chrysalis. She legally has diplomatic immunity even if she weren’t a trained and licensed EMT, so even if we could find her doing something incriminating she’d likely get away with it.”
“Well it wouldn’t be fun if I couldn’t get punished for being caught, so I probably won’t do anything like that. So I can do thing like say, if I’m sexy and I know it clap my hooves.” Chrysalis clapped her hooves twice in a juvenile display, surprisingly Derpy followed along with it much to her surprise. “Now there’s a mare who’s proud of who she is, nice bubble butt by the way.”
“Thank you Ms. Dick, it’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other.” Derpy blushed and rubbed at her mane, she looked quite embarrassed at Chrysalis’s words.
“We’ve met before… how could I forget such a fine butt like yours?” She might have been paying attention to other things that day and must have missed talking to Derpy, either that or she was stalking Celestia again. She now knew that she had an attraction to Celestia’s glorious looking mane. “Excuse me if I have been rude to you before, it’s just who I am.”
“No problem, though I don’t think you ever ate the muffin I gave you.” For someone whose daughter was missing, she was being quite calm and even a little absurdly levelheaded. “It was only later that I learned that Changelings don’t eat muffins for sustenance. I was traumatized for days after hearing that, but I got better.”
“Well it depends on where the muffin is, if the muffin is between your hind legs for instance… then I would have definitely orally tapped it.” Yes, there was no shame on Chrysalis’s face and she did keep it quite straight too. Now Derpy’s face was quite red and Chrysalis looked to Sassy for some sign of incoming abuse and was sad that Sassy didn’t do anything in retaliation. “Oh come on, that’s at least worth a small slap or another high speed judo throw.”
“So someone’s after Queen Chrysalis?” In Drit’s mind he immediately jumped to the conclusion that the ‘foreign dignitary’ was the one that was in grave danger. “I think I can understand why from just that little outburst. Also I’ll take you up on that recommendation for getting my high output shock rod out, because I can only hope that this will not be another Luna incident.”
“Surprisingly enough, no, it’s not her I’m worried about and I kind of wish it was her. There have been three attempts on Ms. Belle’s life since she came to the Selengard Station, thankfully none of them have been successful even if it has been rather close twice and one of them severely injured one of her friends. Amethyst’s name came up in the previous attempt and I’m sorry ma’am, but I have no idea where your adopted daughter could be at this time or what she’s doing.” That had upset the Pegasus Pony slightly making her sniffle a bit and So’Grahd got up to hug the mare, the Dik-Diks expression softened up quite a bit when she did. Considering she usually had either a bored or a stern no nonsense look on her face up to this point, it was quite a change for Grahd in the eyes of Rarity and the others. “Though I now find it very important to know and will be looking into it, don’t worry we will find her and make sure she’s alright and if not… then we’ll make sure it’s alright anyway.”
“Thank you miss… er… I don’t know your name. Hello, I’m Derpy, would you like a muffin?” The mare certainly bounced back from embarrassment and sadness quickly enough, she reached into her satchel with a muffin symbol on it and pulled out a white box labeled ‘muffins’ in large black letters. She opened it to show muffins of several types inside. “They are always delicious, made fresh this day and will be eaten before the day is out. Well as much as a day as anyone can have moving from station to station as I do for my job, they’re my comfort food.”
“No thanks and hello to you too Miss Hooves, I’m Grahd of the So clan. Has anyone else touched that box other than you?” Grahd wouldn’t put it past anyone to try and poison Rarity at this rate. The Dik-Dik was thankful that no one had tried at the restaurant and that no one was hungry right now, even if the muffins looked delicious.
Drit who took her up on her offer and grabbed a blueberry muffin. Most fruits from other planets were safe for a Dik-Dik to eat, but some vegetables had to be carefully processed. For instance and example, Dik-Diks couldn’t eat Equestrian carrots without getting sick, but could eat carrots from the Human home world of Earth just fine despite their being little difference in appearance between the two. Dik-Diks could even tell the difference if you put two near identical carrots next to each other.
“No ma’am, aside from Dinky and Amy, no one else is allowed to touch my muffin box but me. My little Dinky loves muffins, but I haven’t seen Amethyst for some time and I know she likes the muffins too even if she prefers cookies.” Looking at the rice paper wrapped muffins inside, Derpy took out a beautiful golden looking raspberry muffin and bit into. She eventually swallowed and smiled brightly. “Nobody will experience a bad muffin on my watch, I don’t like it very much when someone bakes badly and I don’t like anyone trying to tamper with my favorite on the job snacks. Speaking of, does anyone here need a courier right now? My rates are really good and I’m not currently busy... well aside from filing a missing pony report.”
Said snacks were something Derpy was obviously willing to share freely with anyone, she was a well-traveled courier and known in many systems as being quite competent despite some minor disabilities. She was clumsy and her eyes went wonky every now and then, but she was a well-traveled delivery mare. When So’Grahd had looked her up after looking up Amethyst to see what kind of family life the mare came from, she found out that Derpy was a mother of two and a distinguished courier who never did any wrong. Derpy had no ties to anything illegal whatsoever, so she was unusually squeaky clean in that regard and has never failed to deliver a package once given to her. Whether she delivered a package on time or not was the questionable thing.
“Not at this time Ms. Hooves. Anyway, we’ll do our best to help you find your adoptive daughter, but first I have to see these people to their ship safely and without another attempt on Ms. Belle’s life happening.” Turning from her fellow officer, So’Grahd looked to Sassy for what they were going to do next. “I believe you had a plan to get Rarity out of here and back to your ship in the docking bay safely Ms. Saddles? I would like to know what that plan entails and then implement it with some speed, as sitting around here is just begging for another attack on Rarity to happen. I would like to get started on this joint case with Officer Drit sometime today. I’m already authorizing heavy security for your group while you do business.”
“Of course, my plan is really quite simple, well for us anyway. I know this will be traumatizing, but it requires us to make shoddily made clothing intentionally.” Not being the only one to shudder or hiss, Sassy had also made both Coco and Rarity do the same. They were all professional fashion engineers in both form and function, they would never half ass their wares and sold their things at an affordable price. They could be making more money off of their quality goods in Sassy’s opinion, but Rarity’s method of making things quite affordable tended to bring them more customers from all walks of life. “With that in mind we’ll need some fabric, thread, a needle, some kind of stuffing material, a makeup kit and five blocks of wood.”
-
“Hey there, why the long face? I think you’re the only one in the audience who wasn’t watching and I want to know what’s wrong with you, because I’m the kind of mare that likes to find out if there’s a problem with me or if my audience has the problem.” Trapeze took a seat at the bar next to the bulky stallion with dark brown hair and light brown fur who was drooping at the bar over some kind of alcoholic beverage with a salt cube slowly eroding away in it. The white stripe down his nose led to a frown and Trapeze could not abide by it existing. She checked the stallion’s cutie mark and it was an upside down green horseshoe, an interesting mark.
“I’m sorry miss, but I really don’t feel like talking about it.” The stallion sat his chin on the counter and it was around the time that Bernard and Rover came to investigate what Trapeze was doing. “It’s not you, it’s me.”
“What is it about you that you’re feeling this gloomy about?” Putting her hooves under her chin, Trapeze was even more interested to hear his story and she wasn’t leaving until he obliged. She was taking a page from Rarity’s book, find someone down on their luck like Lightning and then help them by giving them a job. If this guy didn’t have a job well… she did need more members in her troupe. Rover was a fine juggler, but his clowning skills were surprisingly low for a Diamond Dog. As for Bernard, his card tricks were quite phenomenal, but he wasn’t exactly good at doing bigger magical things like Trapeze was. He was still the best magician’s assistant a mare could ask for and was a decent clown if anything. “Do you need a hug big guy?”
Bernard squeaked out something unintelligible from standing on the counter to Trapeze’s left and she lifted an ear to listen while continuing to look at the sad sack. Rover sat on the stool next to her and gave the stallion a curious look while sniffing the air in the stallion’s general direction.
“No I don’t think it’s us Bernard, this guy seems predetermined to drink himself into a stupor to try and forget his woes.” As if to prove Trapeze’s words, once the salt cube dissolved enough into the drink the stallion took a small chug of it and swallowed. “Whatever those may be. Call me strange, but I’m now fascinated with doing things like the Boss Lady by getting proactive about helping people who need it. It’s my job to make people smile and happy, if even for a little while, by doing ridiculous things.”
“Look miss, I’m not exactly someone you want to be around.” The stallion continued to take in his spirits while Trapeze gave him a searching glance. “I’m bad luck.”
“You might want to listen to him, he seems to know what he’s talking about.”Zel’Itenk turned to the nearby Dik-Dik with black stripe and brown fur and asked. “What’s his deal anyway?”
“The guys a clumsy oaf. He falls down and nocks over things so much, it’s hard to find a moment when he isn’t causing havoc and despite complaints his actions aren’t illegal and are always accidents.” The Dik-Dik took a sip of his drink before continuing. “He even started the bar brawl your charges stopped with their song and dance routine, like usual, it was an accident and happened through no fault of his own. Kind of feel sorry for him myself, but I wouldn’t be as brave or daring to sit next to him like she is. He has a good taste in drinks though, the salt cube really does add the right amount of kick to the drink.”
“Would you say you’re friends with him?” Zel’Itenk was just curious and the Trapeze Troupe just happened to be listening in to the conversation as Itenk sat down and got a drink for himself. “I’ll have what they’re having.”
“You could say that, I’m at least buying the poor sod some drinks. He’s a lot better and less destructive when he’s drunk, but I would still prefer to keep my distance from him.” The male Dik-Dik took another drink before continuing. “As in more than five feet at all times no matter what, nearly knocked some teeth out of my head once and after that I decided a little distance was quite prudent.”
“Interesting, a natural born sad clown...” Muttered an intrigued Trapeze rubbing her chin, she spoke up to the stallion. “How painful are the tumbles you take?”
“Not too bad, I learned how to fall or tumble about. Still hurts a bit whenever it happens, but there’s not too many hospital bills and I recover from injury quite fast. Never once broken any of my bones, it’s just about the only thing about me that I’d consider even remotely lucky. I even got fired from a demolitions job despite how good I was at it, some would say I was a little too good at it.” The stallion continued drinking on in peace for another minute or two with Trapeze just staring at him, Bernard and Rover quickly followed her example. It started making the stallion a bit shifty, he sighed loudly and finally decided to give in to the interested stares. “The names Trouble Shoes, can’t hold down a single job without destroying everything around me. Whatever money I make usually goes straight into food if not repairs for the damage I cause.”
“Trapeze Star, leader of the Trapeze Troupe. I would like to say food is quite an understandable and big necessity for a guy like you, but I have to know something.” Trapeze leaned on the counter to get a look at the stallion’s eyes just staring at the wood. “When and where exactly did you get your cutie mark?”
“If you must know, even I’m not sure why I got this cursed cutie mark. I always wanted to take part in the old Earth Pony traditional rodeos.” Trouble figured he may as well humor this Trapeze mare, as far as show mares went she was quite amazing. He was just in too much of a funk to really enjoy the shows the mare put on. He continued on with his story. “I loved the events and watching the crowd, it was just something I knew I really wanted to do with my life after going to so many rodeos. It was during one of them that this mark appeared on my damn blasted flank and ruined my life. An upside down horseshoe is exceedingly bad luck miss.”
“That or a completely misinterpreted cutie mark, cutie marks never fail to find the true talent of a pony and I’m living proof.” Mumbled Trapeze before she spoke up. “Which event were you watching when said cutie mark appeared?”
“I believe it was the rodeo clowns event, yeah it was definitely the rodeo clowns. That’s been etched in my memory for as long as I can remember.” The slap of a hoof against the counter jolted Trouble shoes a bit and he fell backwards off his stool and rolled expertly with the blow to his back into a sitting position, he stared up at Trapeze laughing insanely in her seat and even Rover and Bernard got the joke going on here.
“Oh that is so ironic! You have got to be the absolute dumbest pony I’ve ever met, but I believe you’re perfect for a position I’ve been trying to fill since forever.” If there was anything Trapeze’s troupe direly needed, it would be a naturally talented clown. Even as she talked she couldn’t stop laughing. “My goodness do you have it all so wrong!”
“What are you talking about?” Angrily grumped the stallion on the floor, Trouble didn’t exactly appreciate Trapeze’s laughter or her continued giggling thereafter.
“Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, that your special talent isn’t to be a constant imminent disaster?” The way the guy tumbled out of the stool with his hat flopping back onto his head after he stopped was just simply amazing to Trapeze. Not the mare thought that anything she ever did was ever as close to amazing as this stallion was. “In fact, I don’t think you’re clumsy at all. I think you’ve had a different problem and took it to mean that you were bad luck. I’ve met Mr. Chaos, Discord probably doesn’t even know your first name or that you even exist. He’d find you exceedingly funny like I do. In fact, you might actually be lucky if not for a slight problem in why you’ve had so much bad luck.”
Trapeze was a good judge of tumbling and though Chrysalis would make a good clown, she probably wouldn’t appreciate the general clown accoutrements or the white face paint. That and not being allowed to intentionally injure herself trying to get free sympathy points despite the fact that she enjoyed pain a little too much. Trouble Shoes face was already mostly naturally white, stick a red nose on him and some funny ill-fitting clothes… oh yes, Trapeze had finally found a clown worth having. Now if only Trapeze could only convince him of his real problem and why he was so ridiculously clumsy, it was really quite simple and she wasn’t sure why Trouble Shoes never noticed it before.
“What do you know of my problems?” Though he sounded a bit hopeful there, he was still a bit grim and doubtful.
“Quite a bit from the demonstration of your real talent in action really.” The small tan hat on his head was a bit of a dead giveaway to Trapeze as to why Trouble Shoes was having so much trouble. “First of all, how long have you had that hat for Mr. Shoes?”
“The day I got my cutie mark of course.” There was a parallel there and Trouble Shoes might have been a bit dim to not see it, but it was okay, he was a clown after all and he blamed his bad luck on his cutie mark. Clowns were never meant to be bright unless they were doing a lightbulb gag.
“Well there you go, try getting up and walking around without that hat on your head.” Quite frankly it was mildly upsetting for Trapeze to ruin on of the universes longest jokes, but it was for a good cause and had to be done for this stallion’s happiness. “In fact, let me hold onto it so you can see if there’s a difference in how you move.”
“Well I’m prepared to duck and cover the minute he stumbles.” The Dik-Dik that had to be Trouble’s minder said while watching Trouble warily as he started to walk around the room after giving Trapeze his hat. The stallion may have stumbled a few times and he had a lot of people watching him, but he made a complete circuit without anything bad happening.
“How… how did I do that?” Trouble asked after he came back up to Trapeze with a completely flummoxed and mystified look on his face. “Was it my favorite hat that was cursing me all along?”
“It’s not a curse, there’s actually a logical and scientific reason behind all this.” The crowd leaned in towards Trapeze wanting to hear what she had to say about Selengard Station’s unluckiest stallion, probably the unluckiest stallion to ever exist. “You see, there’s a reason why I laughed like I did. It's also why I’m still giggling, it is just that funny. You were completely missing the point of your cutie mark entirely and it’ll be quite hilarious to you in hindsight when you learn why. It is only now, do I ever think, that the universe has had its fun with you and decided to introduce you to someone who could really help you. Someone who knows how to focus that talent of yours in the correct direction.”
“Could you just get on with it and tell me what you mean already you crazy witch?” The stallion bellowed, decided to save Trouble any more trouble Trapeze just came right out and said it.
“I’m not a crazy witch, I’m a crazy magician, they are both completely different fields of magic and I’m not really that great at witchery. You were watching rodeo clowns the day you got your cutie mark and thought that you’d want to be doing that for the rest of your life and you got a cutie mark relating to that exact subject which led to you doing it most of your life without realizing it.” Pausing for dramatic effect, the constantly giggling Trapeze went on to explain things. “Remove the word rodeo from what you were watching and you’ll find out what you truly are good at, you’re a clown Trouble and that’s what your special talent is. So embrace the clown side of you that you’ve been missing and become who you really should be!”
“Also you happen to have a rare disorder and a mild problem with your ears that, upon wearing anything on your head, your sense of balance is always completely thrown off and leads to tripping, tumbling and or being in traction a lot. It is especially painful for those who don’t have your special talent to avoid any real serious injury like you do.” The giggling Trapeze continued on quickly. “The reason why I’m still laughing is because your whole life has been one long running joke... and I’m the punchline to it!”
“My life… has been… one… long… joke?” It started off slowly, but after a bit he started laughing as it all started to make sense to him, then came the tears. He pulled Trapeze into a choking hug that had her gasping for air as she patted his back with an awkwardly bent limb and a smile of gritted teeth trying to suck in any air that she could. The big guy really needed to let it all out.
If the disorder was as rare as Trapeze made it out to be, then Trouble hearing the doctors saying he was fine when he wasn’t wearing his hat during various medical examinations made a lot more sense to him now. It all made so much sense really, and it was all thanks to this mare that might finally have a chance to turn his life around… why was the mare turning as blue as her hair?
Trouble noticed Bernard stomping on one of his legs and pointing frantically at the mare and even Rover was trying to get him to release their leader, he quickly released Trapeze who flopped back against the counter almost lifelessly.
After taking in a deep breath, Trapeze’s giggling started up again if a bit softer this time.