//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Setting Up // Story: One Shot, One Chance // by SpeederClaw //------------------------------// The night gale was cold, but had a soothing feel as well. No sound was emitted but the hoof steps echoing in the distance. Blitz followed sheepishly behind Trixie as the blue mare led him through the forest they had entered not so long ago. He nervously wondered what Trixie had wanted with him and he still had seething questions to be answered. "So, uh, where exactly are we going? Isn't your house back-" "Quiet," Trixie said sternly. "Just follow and don't talk." 'Geez, don't have to be so rude,’ Blitz thought with irritation. 'Clyde must’ve made her seem nicer than she is.' The two kept traveling in a linear path, Blitz trying constantly to catch up with Trixie. He made a mental note that he was still carrying his saddle bag despite almost forgetting about it when he snuck out of the hospital. It swayed lightly as the two eventually came to a stop with Blitz almost bumping into Trixie. Through the tangle of trees, Blitz spotted some sort of caravan parked next to a giant trunk. He thought he could see an aurora circling around it. "What-" "What did the Great and Powerful Trixie say before? No talking," Trixie repeated once more hushing Blitz. She motioned him to follow her towards the strange caravan. Not really knowing what to do or expect, Blitz quickly complied and entered the caravan. An abnormal smell drifted its way into Blitz's system the minute he stepped in. "What's wrong? Don't like the Great and Powerful Trixie's incense?" said Trixie after seeing Blitz's face of discomfort. "No, no. I'm just surprised by it. There's nothing wrong with it," Blitz said lying through his teeth. "Mmhm. Well then, why don't we get started," Trixie said rummaging through a wooden chest. Blitz looked around and observed many different things he had never seen before. A plethora of hanging cloth littered the ceiling. Odd symbols were printed on each item which Blitz couldn't comprehend at all. A desk with a scratched, dank mirror sat in a corner with a purple hairbrush lying askew. Next to the chest where Trixie was at, there lie an intricate bed filled with fancy designs and multiple colors. "Wait...what are we doing?!" Blitz asked again with a mix of obscurity and irritation. "We're going to be practicing magic." "What?" "Stop saying what all the time and just go with it. You did say you were going to help the Great and Powerful Trixie didn't you?" Trixie said smirking. Blitz looked down and sighed. "Okay, let's practice magic." "Excellent," Trixie said holding an assortment of items. "Go outside and wait for the Great and Powerful Trixie." Blitz sighed again and headed out of the caravan. ’Thank Celestia I'm out of that stench,’ Blitz thought thankfully. ’Also, why am I practicing magic? What could this pony possibly want with me? And why is she talking in third person, why is her name so long? Oh yeah, that's right, too many questions with not a single answer. Should've known that by now.’ Blitz stopped and mused for a bit. ’Then again, this learning magic thing might be interesting. But, I can only make snowballs.’ Blitz waited somewhat eagerly for Trixie to come out. He honestly didn't know what to expect. "Alright," said Trixie walking out of her caravan. "Since you are a unicorn, the Great and Powerful Trixie assumes you know how to use magic." "Uh, sure?" Blitz responded carefully. "Then show Trixie what you've got!" Blitz was unsure what to do at this point. He stood just staring at the mare unable to make an action. "Um, well." Blitz felt a wave of embarrassment flow through him as he prepared his inevitable question. "Do you have an ice lying around, by chance?" Trixie gave Blitz an unamused look. "Are you being serious?" "I kinda need it in order to...do magic," Blitz said looking down at the dancing grass. It was as if the inanimate objects were taunting him. Trixie muttered something to herself and went back inside the caravan. Blitz still didn't understand what she had brought out in the first place, but was soon distracted as the blue mare came back out with a cup of water. "That's not ice-" "No duh!" Trixie sounded furious. "What kind of loser can't even make magic without help?" Blitz was stunned at the statement. He dared not to make eye contact with Trixie and instead kept watching the grass laugh at him. He looked up at Luna’s moon and decided it may as well have been laughing at him too. Trixie sighed dramatically. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will have to help you now," she said with sarcasm. Trixie took the glass of water and placed it next to Blitz on the grass. She stared at him and pointed at the cup. "Do something, anything." Blitz grew extremely distressed. He had never really been tested on his magic before, nor was he judged on how well he could do it. With Trixie staring him down, he felt even more pressured to do something, yet he knew he couldn't do anything with just water. He looked at the glass and focused for a bit. He tried to drown out all thoughts pulling him back, and the fact that Trixie was staring into his soul. With his horn glowing aqua blue, Blitz made his best effort to do something. He could see that the glass wasn't changed in the slightest and exerted himself even more in order to make something happen. At this point, he actually didn't know what he was doing. After a minute or so of Blitz's act of focusing on the water, a clink sound could be heard within the glass. Trixie rushed over and inspected the cup of water. She noted that there was a single cube of ice floating at the top of the water no bigger than a centimeter. Groaning out of sheer frustration Trixie replied, "that's pathetic." Blitz almost let out a whimper as he was insulted. ’That's it, I'm a failure. I've never been on the spot and torn down like this in forever. I guess I had it coming to me,’ he thought with sorrow. "But, at least the Great and Powerful Trixie knows what type of magic you could specialize in," Trixie said with a glint of hope in her voice for Blitz. "How can I get better when I'm the lowest of the low?" "Do you doubt the Great and Powerful Trixie? She's going to make something out of you, don't you worry," Trixie said. Blitz didn't know how to comment back. He was to tied up in the mindset that he was the worst unicorn to perform magic in Equestria. He turned to Trixie and complained. "Why am I doing this anyway?" "Oh, nothing much. The Great and Powerful Trixie only plans on assaulting a certain pony." "Assault?" Blitz was bewildered. He did not expect to be in a situation like this, the fact that Trixie eluded it until now made Blitz even more flustered than ever. "That's right, on an old friend of Trixie's. You're not backing out anytime soon, are you?" Trixie asked raising her brow with intimidation. ‘This is crazy! What kind of-what, I don’t even-‘ Blitz mind raced as he tried to comprehend what he had just heard. ’Okay, this has to be a prank. Come on, and she did fix my leg. How can I say no, it’s just gonna be a silly prank, that’s right. This is all a big joke,’ Blitz thought reconsidering his actions. "No, I'm not," he affirmed. "Good, let's get down to business." ~~~~~~~~~~ Vice was awoken as Celestia's sun blazed through the hospital curtains and tried to cover his eyes. Failing to do so, he turned to his other side and came face to face with Enzo who was already wide awake, sitting on a chair. "Oh my," Vice exaggerated tumbling backwards in his bed. "Don't give me a heart attack like that, man, s'pecially since I'm all injured and stuff." "Sorry, you scared yourself," Enzo said looking out the window not paying attention to his friend. "Whatever. Hey, how was yesterday? Where did I go-no wait, more importantly, what happened with that girl?" said Vice with enthusiasm. "You act as if losing consciousness was nothing," said Enzo worryingly. "Cause it’s not, now answer the question," Vice demanded waving off Enzo's remark. "Well, Clyde took you to the hospital which left me and Fluttershy alone," Enzo said drowning out the last word. He saw Vice grin and sighed rolling, his eyes as well. "That minotaur guy, Iron Will, he left and Clyde said he was going to have some guards look for him. Meanwhile, I-well me and Fluttershy, we, uh." Enzo was hesitant to say what happened. "Dude, you sound like you got it in or something," Vice said with a snicker. "Wait, did you guys actually do it!?" "NO!" Enzo yelled which actually blew away Vice a little bit. Almost falling off the bed, Vice regained his balance and spoke with regret. "I'm sorry, shouldn't have went there." "We just talked, nothing else," said Enzo regaining his calm nature. "I had a hard time making her stop crying, but she eventually opened up to me." Vice grinned again, but decided not to make another sexual innuendo joke. Instead, he replied with a safer response. "That's good, buddy. I see your starting to crack out of your old self and becoming a new man or pony." Vice chuckled a bit, but turned serious for the next statement. "But, I don't believe a word you've said." "What?" Enzo sounded offended. "I mean, come on. You make it sound so easy. Ya can't just waltz in there and sweep a girl off her feet-" "I was just there to make sure she was okay, not ask her out!" Enzo defended while facehoofing due to how he knew Vice would keep the topic going. "I'm just saying that it doesn't add up, but anyway, please continue. What happened after you 'calmed her down'," said Vice quoting the last three words with the motion of his hooves. "Well after that...we kind of-well we didn't really talk at all," Enzo admitted. "She said she was okay and that was basically it." "You shittin' me? You didn't even take initiative to-" "I tried! I did, I wanted to say something, start a conversation, but nothing came out," said Enzo sadly. "I just left without a goodbye." Vice's face was that of disappointment and confusion. "I-I don't know what to say, man. I was all excited to hear how you would own the night. That’s a huge-ass letdown. Anything else happen?" "Well when I left, I saw two other ponies enter her house. One was pink the other white. I assume they were her friends...I guess it’s better that they comfort her instead of some random guy." "Damn, I-well that's a threeso-nevermind, no more jokes," Vice scratched his head awkwardly. "Hey, hey hey, don't feel defeated. We don't know for sure she-well you like her, right? Let's confirm this before I say stuff in vain." Enzo was silent. He didn't respond back to Vice who slowly nodded his head. "I'll take that as a yes. So, first things first. We don't know if this means she likes you or not. She definitely doesn't hate you if she let you in her house, so that's covered. Now, it’s all a matter of figuring out how to approach this delicate situation," Vice voiced softly to Enzo, speaking softly as if the conversation itself were delicate. "Girls can be confusing, I know, its hell for me. Just remember to take things nice and easy. Ask her questions, and get to know her.” Vice diverted his eyes away and smiled faintly. “Well, you know I dated all them shallow bitches back then so it’s not as complicated. But, you, you got yourself a special gal that I know is like you.” He leaned in and whispered slyly in Enzo's ear. "She kicked my ass just like you did that one time way back then." Enzo laughed nervously. "Isn't 'back then' over though, we're never getting-" "Back, yeah I know we're not. But, you know what I love to say. Forget the past and enjoy the present," Vice said with a hint of melancholy. A large knock split the conversation followed by shorter, softer knocks. The duo looked over to see a white pegasus stride into the room. His eyes were tinted red and his mane was muffled. The only thing clean was his mustache. "Hello, boys. Mister Vice, are you doing better?" Clyde said with a strong voice. "Yeah, Clyde, never been better." "Well then, you boys are probably wondering what happened to me in the time that I was absent." Clyde stroked his mustache carefully. "I headed back to Canterlot to form a search party in order to find where Iron Will was hiding. All night, we searched, but unfortunately we've had no luck up until this point." Clyde turned away and solemnly looked out the bright window. "Another train has been demolished," Clyde said coldly. "Similar to the one Mister Blitz was in." Enzo gasped, but Vice nodded his head slowly. The two exchanged frightened glances. "That's horrible!" Enzo said loudly. "Thanks Sir Captain Obvious. So, Clyde, what's the deal then? Why are you telling us this," Vice said anticipating an answer. "We believe that Iron Will may have had something to do with it. He may have been responsible for the train crash earlier this week, we can't tell for sure," declared Clyde. Again, Vice and Enzo looked at each other with the utmost uneasiness. "So you need lil 'ole me to do some dirty work, is that it?" Vice said with increasing excitement. "Give a guy a whole night to recover then ask him to go on an investigation?" Vice paused for dramatic effect. "Yeah, I'm in. How 'bout you Enzo? You up for some detective work?" Clyde sighed and shook his head. "Since all other guards are preoccupied with their own duties, you boys were the only option I could find. Understand that this is a favor-excuse me?" "You heard me, I'm in, brotha," Vice said confidently. "And due to Enzo's quietness, I say he's in too." Clyde was speechless. "What, did you really expect me to say no?" Vice asked slightly offended. "Never mind. You say your feeling better?" "Dude it’s not like I got my dick ripped off, okay? Just a few scratches and bruises, nothing much," Vice said. Clyde sighed again. "Alright, well boys, you better get ready. We are heading out in a few minutes." "Aye, aye, bossman," said Vice putting his hoof over his head in army-like fashion. Clyde left the room and Vice instantly turned to Enzo and held his shoulders. "Holy ass cheeks, man! Did you hear what he said?" Vice said trying to suppress laughter. "Did you think he would've figured it out?" Enzo said shaking. "Dude, we stopped those guys from crashing the train, not the other way around," said Vice." Guys attack train, we stop guys, day is saved. Don't worry so much, Enzo. We're the good guys." "Are you sure?" "Starting on that day we are." Vice hesitated for a second. "As for the past-well forget the past and enjoy the present, hehh." Behind a closed door, Clyde was listening to the conversation going on between Vice and Enzo. He was only able to hear Vice’s last words about the past. He took in every word Vice was saying, but kept to himself. ‘Are these ponies really who they say they are,’ thought Clyde anxiously.