Between Shows: Letters from the Road

by Natedogg2006

A Little Randomness

Beatrix
How are you doing? I know we only just saw each other a couple weeks ago, but I realized something a little... off-putting, on my way home from a meeting with Princess Celestia the other day. It took nearly a three hour train ride to get back to Ponyville just from there, and suddenly sitting though that trip I realized the ride from Manehattan is twice as far as that. I guess when I was making that trip after we parted I just thought the ride back from there felt long because I was so anxious I wouldn't get back in time to make my surprise work. Now that I realize how long that distance is it's suddenly amazing and, more then a little troubling to me that you make trips like that by yourself, on hoof, and while pulling a cart all the whole way. And now I feel both worried and guilty that I can't be there, taking at least some of the burden off of you.
I'm sorry if this is weird, or if I'm suddenly sounding like a clingy, obsessed marefriend. But, well... You know I love you, and it really makes me worry that much more now. I guess now that we've spent some more extended time together this relationship is just becoming so much more real to me. I want you to be safe and not have to work that hard just to get by.
Just want to know you're ok.
Love,
Twilight

Twilight
If you really want to make my life easier, then you can do that in one simple way. Just keep writing and sending me letters like that one.
It's hard for me to put into words, so the way I'm going to say this is probably going to sound horrible. But... The fact that you're worried kind of makes me happy.
Yeah, that does sound horrible. Let me try again.
I've never had anypony worry about me. Even the few ponies who realize I actually do exist outside of my performances probably don't give much of a thought about me once I'm gone. You could probably explain it better then I could honestly, but travelers aren't really directly a part of anyponies lives in particular. I guess it makes us hard to classify in other ponies heads, so they don't. I've walked Equestria for years and no pony who doesn't already know what that lifestyle is like has ever wondered if it's hard on me. No pony until you.
And for the record, it is a little hard, but I'm use to it. I can manage the miles, and I know how to keep myself safe. Equestria is a pretty safe place after all, as long as you stay clear of places with weird magical stuff. Like forests with endless supplies of cart destroying monsters right next to nice little towns that seem perfect for making a quick pile of bits.
The worst part, I think I've already mentioned, has always been how lonely each trip gets after a while, and how it builds up over time. But now I have you, and a letter to look forward to almost every night. It honestly makes the miles just fly by like my cart weighs nothing.
So don't worry about me. I have you, so I'm happier then I've ever been. I worry about you, you're the one who's stuck with me and now have to keep me constantly entertainer. So do your marefriend duties and regale me with tales of what it's like being a normal pony.
Love,
Beatrix

Harhar, you're so clever Beatrix.
And just so you know, the concept of normal is very relative. You are currently asking a multiple time savior of Equestria to tell you all the normal things about living in a town full of crazy ponies that's constantly under siege by some kind of weird magic threat, cart destroying monster, or ancient evil force. Just about every week it seems like. We always seem to get by, but it gets really weird sometimes. So get ready to hear about that every now and then.
However there was one "normal pony" thing that did happen recently that I think you'll be interested in. It turns out that Rarity actually was totally willing to hold off on gossiping. She decided she was going to wait to say anything about us and our relationship to anypony until we were ready.
.....

Rainbow Dash was the one who blabbed. And she blabbed to Pinkie. And didn't tell Pinkie not to tell anypony else. And Pinkie does not have an off switch that we've been able to find despite exhaustive attempts. Literally the whole town knew at least something about what happened in both Manehattan and Canterlot, before I even managed to get back into town apparently.
Luckily I think there is a plus side here that I didn't see coming. I don't think that anypony really remembers much about the last time you were here, you know, other then a giant semi-ethereal bear stomping through town and smashing stuff up. They weren't quite as use to that sort of thing back then, so it's what dominates their memories of the whole incident. And besides that, apparently most ponies are too shocked that I actually have a special somepony to care who it is. Paradoxically, I found out about a lot of ponies who made a lot of bits off of finding out I'm gay. I've basically been getting sly glances and barely disguised attempts to figure out if I'm still a virgin basically since I stepped off the train.
Therefore I think if you make it out here again anytime soon the only thing you might have to worry about is maybe Applejack. I can't really say how I think that will turn out, but I think it might have to happen eventually.
Gotta go for the night though. I have a report to send off in the morning and I still have two more proof readings to do.
Be safe. Love you.
Twilight

Twilight wait.
Which one was Applejack? Was that one of the other ponies from the show? Oh sweet Luna, that wasn't that earth pony I figured I had to tie up because I was absolutely sure she could rip me in half if she got the chance, was it?
Seriously, I don't mess with earth ponies. Is she still mad? Rarity and Rainbow Dash were still mad. I was totally sure Rainbow was gonna break my jaw back in Manehattan. Would Applejack actually go that far? Should I be worried?

Twilight????

Twilight????!!!!!

Beatrix I told you I was gonna be busy the rest of last night.
I'm sorry I couldn't reply until now but you didn't have to freak out that bad.
I can't really say what Applejack might do, she hasn't really said much about it since finding out. I can say she can sometimes be prideful to a fault, but she's also usually vary reasonable. So take from that what you can. If it makes you feel better I can talk to her for you if you want.
Honestly, I didn't think the part about Applejack would be what you'd focus on from that story.
Sorry if I freaked you out.

Sorry I freaked out so bad.
But honestly that was the only part of the story that really caught me off guard. I've been doing this for a long time and I know that thankfully a bad show is forgotten pretty quickly. I've literally gotten rave reviews from places I was booed out of just months before. Rolling with the ups and downs of show business is fairly natural for me.
Having a marefriend with potentially over protective friends who absolutely will remember my lowest point and might take it as a reason to take away the greatest thing that ever happened to me, that's totally new for me. And it's honestly the scariest thing I've ever experienced.
Sorry if I'm sounding like the clingy marefriend now, but even though we've promised to stay together it's still different for me to have something I'm scared to lose. I'll put it this way: I've seen other showponies willingly take beatings for the sake of being able to keep performing in certain places. That's something I have never even considered doing simply because I've literally never been attached to anything strongly enough to go to that extreme. But I'm at the point now that if this Applejack still wants some kind of revenge on me... I guess I gotta let her have it.

No pony is getting hurt for my sake, least of all you. If there are any hard feelings from her then the two of you can will work it out peacefully. You're actually pretty good at that if I recall correctly.
Then once that's all taken care of I'm going to show you off all over town. I want everypony to know I actually can get a marefriend and that she's drop dead gorgeous. Also I need to introduce you to ponies because Pinkie is already planning a party for us and inviting basically everypony in town despite not having a set date. Don't ask, it's just what she does. But her parties are usually really fun, so we endure it. And just to make things easier on you/her/MEEEEEEE, I already told her your birthday and the day we made our relationship official, so I'm sure you can expect parties in your/our honor on those days for the foreseeable future.

I've...
I've never really had a party before.
They did birthdays back at the orphanage, but the mare who ran the place could only afford one big party a month, so I shared it with three other ponies. And my mentor brought me dinner a few times on the actual day, but he never called it a birthday party.
.....

How does changing just the one thing in my life change so much?

Well if you're really interested, I was thinking about something. In another few weeks you were going to be passing close to Ponyville for a show I was going to be doing with you. I was thinking... That it might actually be nice to be a proper team and for me to go on the road with you. At least for a while. And... maybe in the process you could stop here in Ponyville for a couple days and meet my friends.
I know traveling can be hard if you don't know what you're doing, but the same can be said of attending a Pinkie Pie party. So we can be there for each other and learn about the different parts of each others lives we normally don't get to see.
I mean, if you think you're ready for something like that anyway. It just sounded like fun to me. We can totally do it if you think it sounds fun to you too.

That sounds like a lot of fun actually. But I'm afraid we're going to have to work out the details for it tomorrow or some other time as I am currently in the middle of some ugly crying right now and need to sleep it off.
Love you so much
Beatrix
P.S.
It's good ugly crying.

Twilight No! For the last time. WE! ARE! NOT! DOING! THAT! TRICK!!!!!

But why not? It really don't think it looks all that complicated. It seems like all it takes is really good timing. I totally think we could pull it off. I've been reading a bunch of these stage magic books and honestly I think we've done more dangerous tricks then this already.

The answer is still no! And I told you already to stop reading those books. Only failed hacks do things like write books that reveal all their secrets. The only secrets that get revealed are the secrets that weren't worth keeping. I can guarantee you that none of the ponies that wrote those books ever came close to even being good enough to open for any magician even half as good as The Great Hoofini. And even he said that particular trick almost killed him.

But that doesn't quite add up though. You said that the better the magician, the more closely they guard their secrets. Why would Hoofini even reveal that much about the trick if he was the greatest ever?

The great Hoofini absolutely was the greatest ever, and he had two very good reasons for revealing what he did. One: It made him all the more legendary when everypony found out just how dangerous the trick really was. And two: He only revealed that two years later, after seven other ponies had died trying to copy him. Fans and promoters came together to ask him to try to keep ponies from trying it themselves, that was all he could do.

..... Oh. So the trick really is dangerous. I hadn't read anything about anypony dieing from it in any of the books I've been going through though.

I've told you a lot of little industry secrets, probably a lot more then I've ever told anypony. But some secrets are dark secrets, and they stay secrets for good reason.
Honestly, I'm just not a strong enough magic user to be willing to risk something like that. The Great Hoofini was a solo act, so him going into the manticore in his act made sense. But a magic acts dynamic changes a lot with the addition of an assistant. With the two of us it would make more sense if you were the one going in, and I just wouldn't trust my magic enough to save you if something went wrong. Manticores are notorious for not really behaving after all. The only way I could ever see this happening is if, and that is a big if, we figured out some scenario where it makes sense for me to be going in and you to save me. I trust your skills with pure magic much more then my own at this point.

No way! Not if at least seven ponies have died trying this trick before. I may be good at magic but there's no way I'd put you at risk like that. There is no way I'd let you go into the manticore!

Well there's no way I'd let you go into the manticore either!

Twilight. Is this what love is suppose to feel like? Because I feel like this is nowhere near what love is suppose to be. But at the same time I feel like this is exactly what love is suppose to feel like.

Considering that Spike is currently looking at me funny because I am both crying and, in his words, smiling like a dork, I think we're probably doing everything right and everything wrong. So that puts us somewhere in the middle, which is probably ok.

Beatrix. You're going to be up near Flankstaff at the end of the week for a show right?

Yeah, a small town just a little east of there. Why?

Because I was just overcome with an incredible urge to see you that I don't think is going to wait until Balitmare.

That might not work though. There aren't any good hotels in that area. If you came out here it would be the two of us in just the space in my cart.

Considering that all I want to do when I get there is latch onto you and not let go for as long as possible, I think that would be plenty.
See you soon.

Twilight. This town is soooooooooooo hot.
Please don't think I'm being ungrateful. Being the first entertainer in a newly founded town is a potential gold mine. If they like my show I might have a steady income for years to come. So I want you to know that I really do appreciate you telling me about this place.
But it's soooooooooooo hot here. You didn't tell me it was literally in the desert. The middle of nowhere I can handle, but deserts are soooooooooooo hot. And soooooooooooo dry. And soooooooooooo dusty. And I can only use a cooling spell in my cart for so long but it wears me out.

I'm sorry Twilight, it seems like all I've been doing lately is complaining about things when I write to you. I'm really actually doing ok, and it seems like there's some real excitement for my show tomorrow. I really shouldn't spend so much of what contact we get with each other being so negative. How are things going for you?

Everything is fine sweetie. This is kinda funny actually. I have a feeling you don't even realize that what you're doing is called venting. It's one of those things you do when you have other ponies in your life who care about you enough to hear your problems. If you need somepony to vent to about how hot Appleloosa is then I'm happy to do it. I still have to listen to Rarity complaining about her ride back from Dodge Junction at least once a week.
Btw, things are going great for me. Maybe just missing my marefriend a little bit.

Twilight

Did you just call me "sweetie"?

uuuuuummmm.

Yeah... I think I did. Sorry if that was weird.

Sorry. It's just that, well, every time I've been thinking about you lately it's just been the word that jumps into my head.
I've been missing... My sweetie.

please don't break up with me for being such an awkward dork please please please

.....

On one condition.

literally absolutely anything

.....

I get to call you my honey and you don't tell anypony ever under any circumstances.
Ever!

That just might be the easiest deal I've ever made. And yes, deal. Sweetie.

Then we're just going to have to kiss on it to make the deal official the next time we see each other. I'm looking forward to it. Honey.

I've never sealed a deal like that before Sweetie. I hope you don't mind, but I think it'll take us a lot of tries to do it right.

Oh my goodness you are becoming such a wonderfully terrible flirt. Gods, I wish you didn't have that report you had to do for the Princess due so soon. I really want a taste of honey right about now.

.....
You parked your cart right next to the train station?

What?????

I kind of actually asked Princess Celestia for an extension on that report already.
If you listen carefully I think you should hear the sound of the last train of the night pulling in.
Did you really think I wasn't going to be there for you at such a big show?
So I guess it's kind of a shame you already think it's too hot here, that might put a damper on what I had planned for the rest of the night.

Beatrix? Sweetie?

Oh come on, I thought that last one was good.

Bea-----~~~~√\____