//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: To Glimpse a Wider World // by Burraku_Pansa //------------------------------// The Friendship Express had pulled out from Ponyville Station over half an hour ago, and was well on its way to Canterlot. Few Ponyvillians having to commute, the Elements of Harmony found themselves populating an otherwise empty car, but the usual wonder of the rarely ridden train was lost on them. Even Pinkie Pie, who felt she should be bouncing off the walls, was merely staring out the window with a subdued smile. “But why would they do this, Applejack?” asked Rarity, who was sharing a corner of the car with her fellow in loss. “Who gave them the ridiculous idea that they should simply run away from home?” The mare was spread languidly over what would normally be a two-pony seat, a few dried tears beneath her eyes. “Ah don’t rightly know,” said Applejack, staring out her window, directly towards the rapidly approaching city. “Heck, it coulda been me an’ mah blasted cutie mark story. That’s not important right now, though—we’ve gotta find ‘em first.” Rarity began to grind her teeth. “Ooh, I think I’m beginning to come around to your way of thinking, darling,” she said. “When we find them, Sweetie’s going to get quite the talking to. And I’ll make sure Mother and Father give her a matching punishment!” “Ah hear that,” said Applejack. “It’s a lack ’a discipline, ah tell ya. Back when Mom ‘n Pop were around, ah’d never think 'a doin’ somethin’ like this. Heck, when ah went away ta Manehattan, ah still got permission. ‘S not like ah just ran off, y’know?” Rainbow, who had been trying unsuccessfully to get some rest, couldn’t help but overhear. “I don’t know why you guys are so hung up on the fact that they ran off, honestly.” Applejack turned to give the pegasus an icy look. “An’ what’s that s’posed to mean?” “Oh!” Rainbow’s eyes widened and she sat up. “No, don’t get me wrong or anything—I want to find ‘em, too! I’m just saying running away from home is a pretty normal thing for kids, yeah? I did it. Hay, even Fluttershy did it!” The mare in question caught Rainbow’s declaration from her own seat. “Um, Rainbow,” she said, tone a shade of apologetic, “I had myself emancipated and moved to Ponyville. There’s… It's different.” “Pfft, whatever,” Rainbow said, waggling a hoof in Fluttershy’s direction. “Just think about it, though. All of us left home when we were kids.” She gestured to all six of them, her hoof halting when it reached Twilight. “Well, except Twilight, I guess, but still. Half of us never even went back, and we’re fine!” Pinkie Pie bounced over from her window. “Dashie’s right!” she said. “Leaving the farm was the best thing I ever did! I might’ve made my family a little sad, which isn’t good, but I made so many friends in Ponyville that I don’t regret it even the teensiest little bit.” Rarity propped herself up on her forelegs and cut back in, “Dears, the situation we face now simply cannot be compared to what you’ve been through! The three of you already had your cutie marks before you left home—you knew where it was you were going and what it was you were doing. The Crusaders do not.” She looked to the floor now, frown growing more and more as she continued to speak. “Sweetie is almost incapable of magic, as well, and I’m fairly sure little Scootaloo still doesn’t fly properly.” Rainbow remained undeterred. “Well, think of it like this,” she said, crossing her arms, “you and AJ left home before you had your marks, but when you got back, you had ‘em! Those kids could’ve already found theirs, for all we know.” Applejack leapt up from her seat, eyes fiery. “Rainbow, this’s serious! The last time they ran off ‘n did somethin’ stupid, did they come back with cutie marks? No! All they ever wind up doin’ is landin’ themselves in trouble, and we’ve gotta go get ‘em out of it!” Twilight stood up from her seat as well, and quickly put herself between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Girls, don’t fight!” she said, foreleg outstretched to block Applejack’s path. “It won’t be long at all until we reach Canterlot. We’ll find your sisters and we’ll all head home together. Everything will be just fine, I’m sure of it.” Twilight capped off her statement with a confident smile directed towards Applejack and Rarity. Breaking her gaze at the floor, Rarity looked up towards Twilight, her expression no less worried than it had been. “Yes,” she said. “I’m sure as well…” - - - - - After the impromptu performance, Trixie used her magic to upend her newly purchased hat, and she approached her crowd. Many ponies, upon seeing the magician coming in their direction, began to walk nonchalantly away. Trixie scowled bitterly at them, even as she extracted bits from the ponies who had stayed behind—some out of generosity, and some because they had simply been too mesmerized by the show’s finale to make an escape. When all was said and done, only three audience members remained: a trio of fillies with broad smiles aimed directly at Trixie. The showmare noted, sourly, that these three had not paid her a single copper. “And what, pray tell, may the Great and Powerful Trixie do for you?” After the mare had spoken, the trio gained a matching set of shocked expressions, before huddling together and whispering amongst themselves. Trixie rolled her eyes. Several moments passed, the fillies’ discussion undecipherable at Trixie’s distance. After somewhere around the eighth time that one or more of the children popped their heads up and looked at her before zipping back down to continue talking, Trixie decided that she had had enough, and that her wagon was waiting for her. She turned showily, costly cape fluttering in the breeze, and started to walk through the Canterlot Square garden in the direction of Main Street. Trixie heard a gasp from behind herself, followed by the almost panicked pitter-pattering of hooves on grass. “Hey, Miss Trixie! Wait up!” Trixie continued trotting along, not even sparing a glance at the filly addressing her. It was just a moment before said filly, yellow-furred and bow-clad, leapt into the showmare’s field of vision. “Ah said hold on a minute, would’ja please?” “The Great and Powerful Trixie has important matters to attend to, and can’t spare her time for three exuberant little deadbeats,” said Trixie, not breaking her stride. “Either become one of Trixie’s many wise and discerning customers, or kindly allow her to go about her business in peace.” At that, the filly’s face fell, soon growing a little scowl. “Fine…” she said, reaching a hoof into the folds of her bow. After rummaging around for a short while, the little earth pony withdrew and held up an old silver bit—encrusted with something, it looked like. “This enough?” Not having expected her ploy to work at all, Trixie fought to contain a grin as she levitated the coin into a pouch concealed within her tail. “It is acceptable,” she said, her expression neutral. “Just barely.” Now coming out of the garden and setting her hooves on the well-worn sidewalk of Main Street, Trixie silently despaired to find that her apparent fan’s friends had now caught up with them. “Hey gals, she said she’d be fine with talkin’ to us now!” said the yellow filly, her excitement back in full force. Not a moment later, an orange pegasus and a white unicorn appeared before Trixie as well, the three cheerful fillies now walking in front of her down the street, eyes fixated on the magician. It was the pegasus who spoke up next. “Your show was awesome!” Trixie rolled her eyes, but the filly didn’t seem to notice. “All those explosions, and that wicked snake—that colt was probably a hooflength away from having a heart attack!” “Yeah!” said her bow-clad friend. “Ah’ve never seen somethin’ that mean-lookin’ up close before, an’ ah’ve been face-to-face with a cockadoodle!” “Well, the lights and explosions were impressive, sure, but what really hit me was that sound trick!” lauded the little white unicorn. “It’s not often at all that you see magic used to make music without a real instrument. Where did you learn something like that?” “Ah, Trixie developed that little parlor trick after T—” Trixie looked startled all of a sudden, forehoof frozen over her chest in a nonchalantly boastful pose. “…Er, after it came to her in a dream. Yes.” Silence reigned over the group for a while. The number of ponies around the four thinned out as they went further and further from Canterlot Square. The fillies would trade meaningful looks with each other every now and again, as though they had more to say. Trixie noticed, but said nothing. ‘If they wish to give me a moment’s peace,’ she thought, ‘who am I to complain?’ Just as they turned collectively onto a sparsely populated side street, the bow-clad member of the group sighed. “Ah’m Apple Bloom, Miss,” she said. “And I’m Scootaloo,” said the pegasus. “My name is Sweetie Belle,” chimed in the prim white unicorn. Each of the three reached a foreleg up, apparently expecting a hoofshake. “Charmed, Trixie supposes,” said the mare, wondering to herself why the fillies thought she should bother knowing their names. “As you are no doubt aware, Trixie is the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Her horn lit up beneath her hat, and she shook each offered hoof with a field of telekinesis. A few more looks were traded over silent moments before Apple Bloom spoke again. “Where are you from, Miss Trixie?” Trixie scrunched up her face. “Trixie hails from the far-off and mysterious land of Trixie’s Own Business. Why?” Apple Bloom shifted her head down and stared at her hooves. “Oh, uh… no reason.” Sweetie Belle bore a disheartened look, but Scootaloo was as chipper as before. The pegasus jumped right in with, “We’re from Ponyville!” The mare sneered. “Ponyville?” she said. “Ugh, Trixie is no fan of that dreadful little place.” “Hey!” said Scootaloo. “Ponyville’s an awesome place to live—Rainbow Dash lives there!” Trixie stared upwards for a few moments. “Rainbow Dash… Rainbow D— Oh! Was that the name of that garish little pegasus that Trixie bested not ten minutes into her performance?” Scootaloo growled beneath her breath. She made to leap at Trixie, her friends holding her back. “You take that back!” snapped the filly. “I swear to Celestia I’ll—” “Don’t mind her, Miss Trixie,” said Sweetie Belle, a rictus grin on her face. She turned her head to face Scootaloo. “She’s just. Being. Silly.” Each word was punctuated with an ever-sharpening glare at the pegasus. Scootaloo soon calmed down, looking towards her friend apologetically. Trixie now found herself genuinely curious about what this trio of fillies actually wanted with her. “What exactly is going on here?” she asked. “Why do the three of you seem so eager to trade life stories with Trixie? Beyond the obvious reason, of course.” The fillies exchanged one last meaningful look amongst themselves. “Um, well…” started Scootaloo. “Y’see…” A look of exasperation found its way onto her face. Scootaloo bumped shoulders with Apple Bloom, and the earth pony took over. “Well, the three of us got ta talkin’, and we decided…” Apple Bloom nodded to her comrades. “We want to be your apprentices!” the trio shouted together. It was not an excited shout this time around, but a cautious one, as though they expected rejection. Still, it was no less loud. For the third time in so many minutes, Trixie was stunned, and not because of the ringing in her ears. “Certainly not!” she said. “The last time that the Great and Powerful Trixie took on mere foals as assistants—assistants, mind you, not apprentices—she was run out of town! That isn’t a mistake that Trixie will be making twice.” “Miss Trixie,” said Apple Bloom, “Snips ‘n Snails ain’t exactly the brightest-burnin’ wicks in the wax. Us three’d make fine appren’ices, ah think!” “Yeah,” said Scootaloo, “just give us a chance!” “Look here, Scooterloose,” said Trixie. The filly scowled. “It isn’t going to happen. The Great and Powerful Trixie is a very busy mare. She won’t even be in Canterlot for very much longer.” “We don’t need this to be permanent,” offered Sweetie Belle. “We just want to get our cutie marks and go home.” The mare seemed to take a close look at the fillies, as though for the first time. “Hm. Trixie hadn’t even noticed. Still, that changes nothing. Trixie, though it pains her to say it, is not as financially stable as she once was. Feeding three growing fillies as well as herself is simply beyond Trixie’s means for the time being.” “We won’t eat much!” promised Scootaloo. “And besides, we’ll be your apprentices! That means we can get bits with what you teach us.” “And that is another thing,” said Trixie. “What is it exactly that you expect Trixie to teach you? Despite her vast array of magical knowledge, pegasus and earth pony magic is far from Trixie’s forte. Certainly, she would be more than capable of showing some effects to little Sweetbell, but what of yourself and Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle grumbled under her breath while Apple Bloom smirked at her companions. Apple Bloom turned back to Trixie. “Well,” she said, “yer main thing is that yer a showmare, right? Couldn’t ya teach us how to be flashy and everything? Scootaloo can do plenty ’a tricks already, and ah… ah’ll do somethin’, ah guess.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded excitedly, grinning towards Trixie. The mare now began to visibly grind her teeth together. “Bah!” she shouted. “This is all irrelevant! Trixie receives nothing at all from this arrangement in the first place, so why should she bother taking you on?” The fillies, for once, seemed to have no answer. They simply stared at one another, hoping one of them would come up with something. “Because…” Sweetie Belle tried. “Because we need you?” Trixie merely chuckled. The group was now coming to the end of the street. The area was relatively industrial when compared to the commercial district surrounding Canterlot Square; the trio spotted a number of lumber yards and mills, as well as masonry workshops, small factories, and other supply businesses. The building that the Crusaders and Trixie were now approaching, however, appeared to be a poorly trafficked inn. A number of simple, canvas-covered wagons were parked out front. Trixie walked up to one such wagon, this one seeming newer, yet lower quality than the others. After depositing a number of pouches that had been hidden within her mane and tail into the wagon, along with her new outfit, she turned to face the fillies that had come with her. “Here is what’s going to happen,” Trixie said sternly. “Trixie is going to enter this inn, pay for a meal and a room, have her dinner, and then go to sleep. The three of you are welcome to come in, but you will not be with Trixie. From this point on, whatever you do, you do on your own. What Trixie would suggest, however, is that you go back home. Canterlot is a difficult sort of place for copperless fillies—Trixie should know. Now, Trixie wishes you luck, and she bids you adieu.” The showmare spun a hoof in the air and gave a bow before promptly turning and heading towards the inn’s entrance, leaving three shell-shocked fillies behind. Scootaloo was the first to speak. “No way. I’m not gonna give up like that! There’s gotta be something we can do for her that’ll show her she should make us apprentices.” “Like what?” asked Sweetie Belle. The trio turned their heads to look all around the area. Eventually, all three sets of eyes settled on a nearby lumber yard, and the seemingly abandoned toolbelt that rested on a bench therein. As one, the fillies looked back behind themselves, at Trixie’s wagon. All three grinned brightly. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Scootaloo. “Be more corny, Scoots,” said Sweetie Belle, “but yes! I’ll find some paint.” “Gals, no offense, but let me handle most of the work, ‘kay?”