The Lost and Broken Trixie.

by Shyrose

Chapter 1, A Chance Night

It had been a few months since Ferris' own debacle, he had returned to Canterlot. Back to the mansions and gardens tended by servants. Back to the family that had now finished disowning him, just to win some favor back with the other high-class ponies. It was quite late, Joe's was almost certainly the only place still open at this hour, when Ferris nudged the door open. The slate gray stallion was crestfallen, a pair of heavy bags strapped across his back- all he'd managed to salvage of his trick collection. He levitated his bags into one side of a booth, before easing himself into the other. He leaned into the seat with a heavy sigh.

Hearing the door bell jingle, the azure mare in a white apron uniform, wearing a paper hat on her brushed, but unstyled mane, came over to the table, levitating a pen and notepad, she moved slowly, but with purpose, her eyes holding a dull glazed look of somepony who had given up. Wearing an extremely false smile she asked softly.

"Welcome to Pony Joe's, where the Donuts are fresh and the coffee is divine, What can Trixie get for you?"

Obviously this line was automatic to her, she had said it so many times, she often said it in her sleep now. the pen held to the paper readily as she awaited to take his order.

The stallion looked up at her, and nearly said something he'd regret. Something his mother or nearly ex-fiance would say about the help. So what, she looked down on her luck? At least she had a job, and wasn't winning drinking money out from under cider-soaked stallions avoiding their wives.

"Half dozen of the Apple-sprinkle ones, cup of coffee and plenty of cream. Please." His soft blue eyes looked around the place; it seemed it was just the two of them, maybe Joe in the back. "And maybe the story of why you look so out of place here, Trixie."

The pen glided across the notepad in sweeping, fancy, showmareship letters, but she appeared to be doing it by habit, before turning on her hoofs and walking back into the back. The quiet store offered little to mask the sound she was making in the back, as she was setting things on a tray to bring out. returning back to the table, she had her fake smile on again, it wasn't as if she trying to be insulting, maybe it was as if she believed she was really smiling, it was hard to put into words, this poor broken Mare simply..survived..but wasn't alive it seemed. her dull magical aura around the tray appeared weak as she set the tray holding the coffee, Fresh donuts, and a large carafe of cream. "Will that be all? Or can Trixie get you anything else?" She asked, the first real sounding thing she said so far.

"I think so. Although you didn't respond to the other thing I asked for." He shot her a calm, friendly smile. One of the few legitimate ones to cross his face since he'd left Canterlot. He poured some cream into his coffee, a quick twist of the green aura around it setting it mixing, as he continued to talk to her. "If you want, I could go first. I know you're just working, but.. you're the first pony I've talked to in a very long time that wasn't drunk or trying to get rid of me." Ferris said to the mare before him.

Trixie glanced around the shop, seeing it empty, she didn't walk away, she would be polite and listen, it couldn't hurt to listen to a pony in need of an ear to listen. "Okay. Trixie has time to listen, but She can't make promises, Trixie might be called away to work." She said, being polite, casting a look over her shoulder at the haggard face of Joe, who simply smiled from the back and nodded, giving her a wink, to which she had no idea as to it's meaning.

Ferris followed Trixie's gaze back to Joe, and just shook his head at the wink. "Nothing of the sort! I assure you, my intentions are noble." It came out in his performance voice, the tone and pitch of a pony used to being on stage. He sipped his coffee, idly rolling one of the donuts around the plate as he started to talk. "Right. So you're Trixie. My name's Ferris, and you have the wonderful honor of speaking with Canterlot high society's latest outcast. Everything I still own is in those overstuffed saddlebags in the seat there."

It was slight, but it was there, the use of a stage voice, a glimmer of light in dead eyes, but was gone in a flash "Canterlot does tend to..cast ponies aside, Trixie apologizes for your predicament...Trixie knows of a nice hotel nearby if you wish a place to stay." She was trying to be helpful, and polite, and she meant it, she did appear to want to help, but was unsure of what she was supposed to say, noticing the Coffee cup was only half full, and the steam was starting to dissipate, she excused herself quickly and returned with fresh coffee to refill his mug..she was after all, Employee of the month, for the past...-looking over her shoulder at the wall- ...7 months..Trixie had no idea it had been that long ago when she became a 'good employee'

"Maybe. I was thinking about just staying up all night, honestly. Thank you!" Ferris added more cream to the fresh coffee, and had by now started in on the donuts. "You can have one if you want. I won't tell Joe you're eating on the clock." He sighed a bit. It really wasn't doing him much good, going back over his own problems again. He wanted to hear her story. Maybe she'd reciprocate if he kept going. "Yes, Canterlot is like that. Though to hear the ponies on the hill tell it, I should be in jail for attempted murder. As if it's my fault that airhead couldn't follow simple directions, or was too busy looking for a camera to smile at to focus on the show." Yes, he was still bitter about what happened, and his voice carried it openly.

Trixie was genuinely curious now, and actually edged into the booth across from him, though passed on the donuts..she worked here after all..donuts where not high on her list of favorite foods anymore. "What was it you did? if Trixie can ask? You seem clearly upset over it still, did you injure somepony?" A conversation with someone seemed to be bringing her out of her shell slightly, like, perhaps she hadn't talked..in a long while, to anypony more than her rehearsed routines for the customers.

"No, no, I don't mind at all." He laughed a bit, a sort of nervous laughter covering up a wound that was more raw than he realized. One of the bags beside her glowed for a moment, before he levitated a top hat from it, setting it upon his head. "I'm a magician by trade. Not unicorn magic, though I know more of that than is useful. Old Earth Pony magic. Pulling things out of hats, sleight of hoof. Sawing mares in half.. And that last one is the source of my troubles!" He had fallen into his routine, his voice and gestures making it seem as if he was revealing some deep secret, some amazing tale of Old Magic and trouble.

Trixie's eyes glowed! Stage magic! here? after so long...who was this pony? She nearly winced at seeing him in all his grandeur, and felt...weird all of a sudden, a little voice whispered something in the back of her head, though she couldn't hear it, though she swore..she heard fireworks. "Your assistant..was too distracted to slip all her hooves in one side and replace the legs...right?" She gasped slightly, surprised, she didn't mean to interrupt him like that. "Trixie apologizes, please, keep going!"

He snickered a little at her sudden enthusiasm. He took advantage of the break to take another sip of coffee and nibble on his donuts. "I don't mind at all. Stories are always better when the audience is involved. But don't go telling everypony how all my tricks work, or I'll never get working again!" He put the coffee cup and donuts back down "But you're exactly right. I've had school-fillies on stage with me with better poise than her. She'd gotten the falsies out, but didn't pull her legs all the way back. I started sawing.. And stopped when I saw the blood." He sighed a bit "It wasn't deep, they wouldn't call me The Amazing Ferris if I was that sloppy. But she just started wailing. As if I'd really cut her in half. No 'It's all part of the show!" was going to smooth THAT over."

Trixie nodded, "Trixie won't say a word to any others." She replied, sneaking a peak into his bag from whence the hat had come, absentmindedly, her hoof reached to her own hat, a white and pink stripped paper hat, and sighed. inspecting his hat from her vantage point, she critiqued it, in her mind, before asking. "Did you get that from here in Canterlot..or is that..a Hoofington creation..it almost appears to be the work of Haver Dasher, if Trixie had to warrant a guess, and he only works out of his shop in Hoofington" Memories she had locked away, a young mare, using all her bits to buy the perfect hat...

That bag was hardly exciting to look into. A plain black cape, a few ties and other pieces of costumes. He had started shaking his head when she asked if the hat was from Canterlot, then simply stared as she spoke. He recovered from the surprise and nodded, flipping it off his head so it landed on it's top in front of her, obviously a move he'd done countless times, to let ponies examine that he had nothing in it. But the inner band confirmed what Trixie had said. "My grandfather bought it for me, after I got my first headline act. From Haver Dasher of Hoofington. You don't strike me as a fashionista, Trixie. How'd you know that?"

Trixie blushed a bit. "Trixie is from Hoofington, She would often walk by his shop, he was a nice stallion." She wasn't lying, all of what she said was the absolute truth, she was born in Hoofington and thought the old Stallion was nice. though that was all she let herself remember, painful memories assaulted her, half forgotten. lost in her own little world, she didn't realize the crestfallen and utterly depressed look that her face naturally fell into when she wasn't paying attention, the kind of look a pony gets when they have nothing left anymore. snapping out of her world a bit when she heard the chink of the cup on the table, she hurried to fill it again, before moving off to replace his cream with fresh. "Trixie apologizes, you where saying?"

"Thanks again. And don't worry about it. I don't mind. makes it feel more like a conversation and less like you're just hoping I'll drop a big tip." He smiled at her as he added cream to the new coffee, swirling the cup idly as he continued his story. "That's the end of the interesting part, I'm afraid. I'm standing there on stage, slack-jawed, there's blood on the saw, and she's screaming at the top of her lungs." He finished off the last few bites of one of the donuts. "Manager killed the lights and turned up the music. One of the stage-hooves helped me pull her out of the box, get her to a clinic. And then." He paused, gesturing towards her with a levitating doughnut wreathed in emerald light. "Her parents showed up."

Trixie nodded, and seemed slightly offended at the thought that all she wanted was a bigger tip. Trixie had very little use for bits anymore, she owned a small home, her bills where all paid..after all, she worked here at Pony Joe's everyday, all day, she came in shortly after Joe's Opened, to catch the breakfast rush..and well..went home when Joe forced her too, she hadn't had a single day off...Ever as far as she could remember, never took them, always showed up to work anyway. so the thought of money left a bitter taste in her mouth. Giving a slight stage gasp out of habit at the point of inflection with the doughnut, she allowed him to continue.

"Sweet Celestia, did they let me have it. I was actually kind of surprised ponies that high-class knew some of those words. The gist was that I had tried to kill their precious little filly, and that if I was a REAL Unicorn, it wouldn't have happened." He sighed a bit, staring at the brown and white pattern swirling in his coffee, he lifted it up and took a drink, carefully setting it down before he went on. "I couldn't take it anymore after that. I went to the most selective magic academy in Canterlot; if that's not good enough to be a real unicorn, I don't know what is. So I broke down the entire trick. Told them exactly where their little princess bucked up. How I had no idea she'd done it wrong until the saw bit. I didn't even know clinics like that HAD security, but they threw me out."

She shook her head "It's never fair when Truly Magnificent ponies are ruined, Trixie apologizes, she is sure your magic show was amazing, She has never actually seen the sawing pony trick before, only..heard about it in passing." Her horn lit with a dull, lackluster aura, and another plate of Apple sprinkled doughnuts sat themselves on the empty plate. "These are on Trixie, please Continue, She wishes to know how you ended up here tonight, you seem to have done a lot of traveling"

"You don't have to give me doughnuts to keep me talking." He smiled at her, looking her over for a long moment before he went on. She looked sad- exhausted, far older than her body otherwise suggested. "Well, they basically drove me out of Canterlot. The club canceled the rest of my shows, and they made sure word got around quick. No-pony would hire me for a show, or anything else for that matter. My Dad suggested I go lay low somewhere for a while. So.. I took a tour, basically. Appleoosa to Manehattan, and most every town in between. I had money. Still have some- but I kind of went wild. Took out my anger on poor drunks, bilking them out of bits on card games and schoolyard tricks."

Trixie gave a halfhearted giggle. "Never play cards with a magician. And no, it's okay, Trixie...Trixie has not had any-pony to talk to for a long time, it's...nice." She was actively sitting in the booth across from him, and had even helped herself to a doughnut, nibbling on it subconsciously, looking a bit cute actually, taking tiny bites while her eyes watched the Stallion before her.

"Appleoosa was probably my favorite. Sort of lawless out there, and those settler ponies know how to have a good time." He shrugged a bit, slouching into the booth now. His story had wandered away from the showy parts, and the stage presence he had been exuding went away with it. "So my Mom finally managed to get a letter to me about a week ago. Begging me to come home. Foal that I was, I thought things had blown over. I got back to Canterlot this morning. You can imagine how well things have gone, since I'm leaving again first thing in the morning."

Unsure why, Trixie slumped a bit hearing he was leaving so soon. "Trixie understands, do you have any idea where you'd be going? Wandering blindly can lead to a nasty trip." She finished her doughnut and wiped her mouth with a napkin, before looking back to Ferris "I mean, obviously nothing is keeping you here, so you have a plan I take it?" Again, she was Unsure why she cared. Maybe something about this Stallion peaked her interest. She thought the company was nice, and perhaps she didn't want to return to relative anonymity, that her current job left her in..even if it was Trixie herself that seemed to have imposed this on herself.

He shook his head as she advised him against wandering blindly, and if he had a plan. He picked up another doughnut, thoughtfully chewing it before he answered her. "I've always been good at thinking on my hooves. Honestly I've got less of a plan and more of an urge. My name's dirt up here, you know?" He sighed a bit as he looked back at her. There was something about her, he couldn't quite put his hoof on. "But you do have a good point. Maybe I should stay a day or two. Think things through."

She nodded, perhaps a bit eagerly, it was hard to tell "Yes, Trixie Agrees you should think things out, Nothing bad could come from-" She was interrupted by Pony Joe, who was walking over to the two of them

"Hey, Sorry to interrupt you there Trixie, but it's closing time, why don't you get up and outta here with your new friend? I can handle the clean up tonight, and if you, you know, wanna take tomorrow off.." He winked at the two of them. "Don't worry about it! you kids have a good night!"

The grizzled store owner laughed at his own humor and started the motions of cleaning up. Trixie however, looked a bit heartbroken. "Oh..Okay Joe." Turning to Ferris, she said. "Trixie guesses we have to go, you said you where gonna be up all night? Do you wanna walk me home? Maybe have a glass of Cider?"

Ferris mostly just rolled his eyes at Joe's ham-hooved attempt to get them together. He'd had enough of matchmaking for one lifetime. Still.. He looked at Trixie as he lifted a few bits out of one of his bags. He placed half of them beside his coffee cup, and slid the rest across the booth towards Trixie. "I'd be honored." He finished off the last cup of coffee before he slipped out of the booth, feeling in better spirits now than when he'd drug himself in. He waited for her to get up so he could retrieve his bags.

Taking the bits with her hoof, Trixie eased out of the booth, Trixie was blushing from Joe's remarks, used to him trying to set her up with anypony who said more than 2 words to her. heading into the back, she tossed her apron into a hamper and got her coat, the Canterlot nights could be chilly. Slipping it on, she joined Ferris back in the Dining area, and offered a hoof with his bags. "Trixie would like to help, if you'll let Trixie." She asked before accidentally leaning too far forward and a bag bumped her forehoof, blushing, She stumbled on her words, unable to grasp them for some reason. "T-Trixie is sorry!" She felt bad, she could have broken something he needed to perform his magic, and that would be horrible!

"Well, if Trixie insi.." He gave her a confused, concerned look as she stuttered. It wasn't a thing worth apologizing for, he didn't think, never mind getting so flustered as she did. "Of course I'll let you help. And don't worry about tripping, I'm sure you've been on your hooves plenty today." His bags soon covered in his verdant aura, settling the lighter bag on her side, the heavier one on his. His hat danced between them a moment, before he settled it on her head with a goofy grin. "Come on, Trixie, let's get you home."

Opening on the door, and holding it for Ferris, Trixie let him go ahead of her as she let it close behind her, flipping the sign around for Joe, she threw her scarf around her neck, and snuggling into it for warmth briefly. Taking a breath she turns down the street, and starts off on a slow trot, letting Ferris follow easily, she walked mostly in silence, letting Ferris talk about whatever, before stopping a mere four houses down. It was a small house by Canterlot standards, but still, being Canterlot, was larger than most houses in other cities. It was split level, but no yard, a small flight of steps led up to a landing/ "Well, it's not grand, but this is Trixie's home." Trixie blushed nervously, unsure of what to say, before asking rather sheepishly. "Did..Did you wanna come in, and have that glass of cider?"

Ferris stopped, looking over at her as she stood beside the stairs. His ears flicking nervously as he thought about the offer "I'd like to, but.. I should probably find some place to stay for the night. Though I figure Joe would just say -Trixie'll let you stay at her place, kid!-" The imitation was spot on, he'd even managed to adopt the grizzled stallion's stance when he said it.

Trixie giggled, real, honest, hearty giggling. It was quick, but it was there. She giggled for a few seconds and said. "Oh Trixie could have sworn Pony Joe was here, that was the best impression Trixie has ever heard..." She paused for a second, before blushing, she responded. "Well..you wouldn't be the first traveler Trixie allowed to stay in her guest room. Trixie has far more space then Trixie needs." She thought for a moment, and then caught on to what Pony Joe said earlier. "B-but not like that! Trixie is not that kind of mare! Trixie merely wishes to help ponies in need when she can. It's not fun to sleep out in the cold..."

He beamed when she complimented his impression, though he felt the laughter was worth far more than the words. He turned his head curiously as she went on, however. "That's the voice of experience speaking, isn't it? Let's get inside and have that cider, Trixie." His fore-hooves edged up onto the first step of her house, his soft blue eyes all but fixed on her. "I could probably talk my way into a room someplace, but I don't think there's anyplace in Canterlot I'd rather be." He immediately hung his head when he realized what he'd said. "Sorry, that was like the cheesiest line and I didn't even mean it like that, I'm so sorry."

Trixie smiled, and giggled again. "No, it's okay, Trixie doesn't mind, as long as you don't try to talk your way into Trixie's room!" She giggled again, being far more playful than she expected herself to be, perhaps Ferris was just a funny Pony, it's okay to laugh at pony funnies right? Opening her door, Trixie held it open for Ferris to enter. "Make yourself at home."

"That's probably the only thing I've never tricked my way into, words, magic or Magic." He quickly trotted up the stairs and into her house, looking around a bit as he slipped his bag off, putting it into an out of the way corner as he took in her dwelling. They say you can learn a lot about somepony by how they arrange their houses. "Thanks, Trixie. A lot of ponies would've just told me to take a hike. Especially here."

Trixie is not like Every-pony...not a lot of ponies have such a sad tale as yours, Trixie feels you deserve a kind hoof in need." She came in and set his other bag down next to it's mate, before leading him through the house, giving him a bit of a tour. The first thing that struck about the arrangements, were that there where very little. a couch, a table with chairs, a simple T.V. a computer off in one corner that looked barely touched, the place was spotless, not in that "Hyper clean" way, but in the...No one lived here..kinda way. no pictures hung the walls, the mantle was empty...this was a crypt, no one "lived" here. Offering him a place on the couch, she went to the kitchen and, soon to exit with a few glasses, suspended in her weak aura, filled with a golden amber fluid.

Ferris let a bit of a sad sigh slip from him as she lead him through the dwelling. It was so.. empty. He settled in on the couch, smiling up at her when she returned with the glasses. His horn lit up, snagging the closer glass from her aura. When he 'grabbed' the glass, her aura would flare to full color briefly, though it faded as soon as he moved the glass from her influence. "Thank you ma'am. So I've got two questions for you. First, Ferris wants to know why Trixie talks like that. And second, what the sad tale that led her to Canterlot is." His slipping into third person was meant to be a gentle teasing, not mocking, and he hoped it came across right.

Trixie shrugged, sitting on the couch next to him, briefly remarking if her magic aura was ever that blue before, before the thought passed. "Trixie has always talked like this, as long as she can remember, Pony Joe once tried to get her to stop, but couldn't do it, Trixie has no clue why, She guesses she prefers it. And Trixie's story is rather plain, nothing special, just like Trixie...She had a rough time, and had to relocate to Canterlot, then she got a job at Pony Joe's, and has been working there for about a year now" She sipped on her Cider slowly, she didn't feel mocked, she didn't feel much really, but she was sure she enjoyed the company, and that much at least showed in her demeanor.

Perhaps she was raised by dragons or something. But no, as far as he knew Hoofington was a pretty normal place. His brow knit a bit as he took a sip of the cider. "Plain, normal ponies don't let strangers into their houses after chatting in a diner. Ordinary ponies don't know how the sawing in half trick works. Ponies who.." He stopped himself before going on. He probably could've ranted at her, his voice raising with every example until he'd detailed everything she'd said or done with him tonight. "Sorry. I just know there's more to you than this. You're like a trick I don't know the gimmick to. But come on. I told you a lot tonight. I want to know more about you than you had a 'rough time.' Please?"

Trixie sighed. "Trixie just lost her profession in a little town not far from here, and it was a good deal of time before she could arrange another one, roughly two years between her lose, and then the find of employment at Joe's...when Pony Joe found Trixie..behind his shop...next to the dumpster...She blushed as she talked, slightly embarrassed, normally she wouldn't let someone this deep, normally she didn't let herself this deep even. "Trixie is ashamed of the way Trixie had to live, and knows how cold Canterlot can be, Trixie can not stand to see other ponies go through what Trixie did."

That story and she was blushing. Not crying, but blushing. He shifted on the couch until he was beside her, putting one arm around her shoulders. "Trixie.. I'm so sorry. And you called MY story sad, and you've suffered all that?" He held her loosely against him. It certainly put things in perspective for him. He took another drink of his cider, looking away from her and just sort of staring blankly at the wall. He thought of all kinds of deep questions to ask her, but he put them aside. "What do you want to do tomorrow, Trixie?"

Trixie had the look of a pony all out of tears, someone who couldn't cry anymore, something soul crushing had happened to this pony, to bring her to such a state. "Trixie works all day tomorrow, why do you ask?" She leaned into him a bit, enjoying the warmth of another pony close, just a friendly way, innocently.

"No you don't. I was right there when Joe told you to take the day off. And I think you need it." He was already afraid of the answer, but he went ahead and asked anyway. "When was the last time you took a day off?" He reached his free hoof over, brushing a few strands of her mane out of her face. "Even if you don't want to spend it with me."

Trixie thought for a moment, letting him brush her lifeless mane away from her face.. "Trixie..has never taken a day off. From opening to closing, Trixie is there. all day, every day. Why would Trixie need a day off? Trixie..doesn't like days off...Trixie would just spend it here, alone..Trixie..doesn't like being alone." Her voice hitched slightly, like she would begin to cry, but it passed, and she just sighed. "So..if Trixie is to not work tomorrow, she would prefer to spend it..with you..What did you want to do?"

"Oh Trixie.." He brushed his hoof against her cheek now, almost cradling her against his body. He saw it much more clearly now. How fragile she was, how little there was left to this mare. Who'd listened to him gripe and whine about being freed from his gilded cage. " I'm honestly not sure. It's not that there's nothing to do here, but.. I'm honestly not sure where I'm still welcome." He shrugged a bit "Well, it's not the royal gardens, but we could spend some time in the parks. I don't think anypony can keep me out of public spaces. And there's one club I can still get into, if you want to go dancing or something. But it's not my day, it's yours, understand?"

Trixie looked up into his eyes, for the first time, actually meeting his eyes..it was all their, the pain, sorrow, loose, a shattered life, a dead mare just going about their remaining time, her eyes had the look of some-pony just waiting to die now. Trixie slumped her shoulders, and shrugged. "Trixie..doesn't know, maybe the Park would be nice, the spring is nice if Trixie remembers." She said this, as if having no clue it was the middle of Fall. "Trixie, has never really been dancing before, but if Trixie remembers correctly, Club Pon3 never rejects people based on "Prim Opinion" I believe Miss Vinyl had said..she comes into Joe's a lot..Trixie thinks she a nice enough pony."

He almost corrected her, but would there be much use to it? Not right now. He bit his tongue, listening to her. "That's open now? They were still converting it from the old club when I left. We shared a club for a while- Cider and Bridle. Seedy underbelly of Canterlot that was!" He smiled at her, dialing back his enthusiasm a little. He set his cider down, wrapping his other arm around her and hugging her tight. "It's settled then. We'll spend part of the day out, watching the leaves, then we'll go out to Club Pon3."

Trixie smiled a bit, and leaned against her guest. "Trixie likes the sound of that. But..Don't make fun of Trixie is she can't dance please!" Trixie looked away, taking another sip of her Cider, before resting her head on Ferris' side, yawning loudly. "Oh, Please excuse Trixie, It seems like it's time for bed, Follow Trixie, and she can show you where you'll be sleeping." Getting off the couch, she took the glasses to the Kitchen, before leading Ferris up the stairs to the upper level, opening a door on the left, she shows the bathroom. "Towels are in the closet there." Moving back down the hall, she opens another door on the right. "This is the guest room, you can sleep in here." The room was rather plush, and fully furnished, it had a nice, homely feel too it, a lot of effort went into making this room feel welcoming and Inviting. opening the door directly across from it, she said. "And this one is Trixie's room, it's nothing special." She wasn't kidding, her room was utterly barren. A simple bed, with a simple spread, there was a dresser in one corner, and no mirror. On the nightstand there was a picture frame that was laying down, hiding the picture from view. "If you need anything you can't find in the morning, feel free to wake Trixie. She'll help."

"I promise I won't make fun of your dancing." He followed her up the stairs, then stood there in the little corridor between the rooms. It wasn't acting, but he glanced back and forth between the two rooms in an almost cartoonish fashion. "Trixie, you can't be serious. You take the good room. I promise I won't snoop in your room!" So, Joe wasn't a slave driver after all, judging by how well-furnished the guest room was. He stamped at the carpet under his hoof. "And, i don't mean this how it sounds, but you seemed very comfortable in my arms. We could sleep together, if you'd like." He turned his head and looked at her. He was desperate, to do something, anything to help her.

Trixie stood for a minute..and considered her options a bit, she knew he meant well. She trotted into her room slowly..but left the door open.."Trixie recommends bringing the spare blanket off the guest bed, hers isn't really that warm..." Taking off her coat and shawl, she folded them and set them on the dresser, for the first time, showing her cutie mark. Set into her soft fur, was a magic wand, capped with a star, the unmistakable swirl of magic coming off it, in the shape of a crescent moon. pulling back the covers, she added. "Oh..And um..Trixie also recommends another pillow or two.."

Ah ha! So she was a full-on magic unicorn then. That explained why her aura had been so reactive. He turned, walking part-way into the guest room, gathering up the requested items in a bundle of magic force, letting it hover in behind him as he climbed into bed beside her. The pillows inserting themselves under their heads, the blanket draping over their bodies. Ferris pressed himself lightly against her, putting one arm across her side. "I'm glad I stopped for those doughnuts. I almost just went straight to the train station.."

Trixie raised a fore-hoof and clutched onto the hoof holding her, and scooted closer, resting her back fully against his front, a single tear rolled down her eye into her pillow as she nearly fell right to sleep in his embrace. "Trixie...is glad..she doesn't..have to be alone tonight." The hitch was there, and though it was over near instantly, she cried herself to sleep with that action, but almost as if they where tears of happiness, she was sound asleep, holding onto Ferris, pressing against him as if she was afraid he would disappear, and leave her. the picture laying down was next to Ferris on the nightstand, as if she slept with her back to it, the way she slept seemed to indicate she was always on this side.

Ferris held on to the mare in his hooves, who seemed was already asleep. Nuzzling her head with his, he held her close, trying his best to help her feel save. However, one of his last thoughts before sleep, was that he had somehow, talked his way into her bed that night, even when he had sworn he wouldn't try.