//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Incident In Aisle 13 // Story: Bug In The City // by PointlessGizmo //------------------------------// Trixie awoke the next morning feeling as though she'd been on a cider binge, despite the fact she hadn't touched a drop for months. Her horn felt as though it were hewn from dark matter, its weight seemingly impossible for its size and causing Trixie difficulty in raising her head. Sliding off her bed, Trixie landed upon a set of legs that clearly weren't up to the task of supporting her body, and she immediately fell in a crumpled heap upon the dark green marble tiles. Lifting herself up, her legs shook and attempted to buckle in protest, but Trixie managed to get them to hold firm long enough for her to trot over to the couch and slump into the supportive softness of its cushions. Trixie wasn't sure whether her condition was down to nervousness at what the coming evening would hold, or a dire side effect of storing borrowed powers for an extended period - but either way, she'd have to get better before nightfall! Trixie wiped the seemingly endless torrents of sweat that ran down her face away from her eyes, as she focused in an attempt to prevent the room from spinning. The smell of food wafting over from the kitchenette made her nausea even more intense, and she instinctively raised a hoof to shield her nose from the delicious yet currently unwelcome aroma. "Leech!" croaked Trixie "Are you cooking again? Tell me you're not, I don't think the fire brigade will appreciate being woken this early!" Leech paced over to Trixie from the kitchen, and gasped audibly as he noted his friend's increasingly frail physical condition. "Izz Trixzzie... OK?" he asked, despite knowing the answer for himself already. "DO I LOOK-" Trixie began harshly, before altering her tone. "I mean, I'll be alright. Just nerves, that's all." "Hmm, Leech izz not zzso zzsure. Maybe Trixie should ditch new powerzz?" Leech suggested in a concerned tone. "No, no, it's fine, really." Trixie assured him, unconvincingly. "I've only got to hold onto them until tonight. Besides, it means I'll feel better as I release each power, so by the end of the show I'll feel great!" "Well, if Trixzzie is zzsure..." said Leech suspiciously. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is always sure!" said Trixie with a smile, her mood improving a little. "Doezz Trixzzie want breakfazzt?" asked Leech. "Hmm... I'm not really sure." replied Trixie, noting that she still felt very sick. "Maybe a bit later. What are you making anyway?" "Leech izz cooking hay." said Leech proudly. "You mean, you're cooking grass to dry it out and make hay?" asked Trixie, raising an eyebrow. "Nope, Leech izz juzzt cooking zzsome hay. Over a nizze hot, naked flame for that home cooked tazzte!" Leech replied, mistakenly believing he was reassuring Trixie. Despite her condition, Trixie instinctively leapt to her hooves and galloped across the apartment towards an ever-thickening plume of smoke that rose from the stove top. Sure enough, a frying pan filled with hay was aflame, orange shoots of plasma rising high and threatening to scorch the ceiling. Ignoring the pain that pulsed through her horn, Trixie levitated the burning pan into the half-full sink, immediately quelling the flames in the cooling embrace of last night's dishwater. With a sigh of relief, Trixie turned around to see Leech looking solemnly at the floor and shuffling his hooves. She approached him and placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "Never mind," she said with a smile, "you may not have made breakfast, but that bit of excitement has made me feel quite a bit better. How about we go out for breakfast this morning? You aren't due at work until this evening, after all." Leech brightened up immediately, and Trixie had to admit he had made her feel better even if it wasn't in the way he'd intended. The adrenal rush from fighting the fire had indeed stopped most of her symptoms, although her horn still felt tender to the touch and like a dead weight on her forehead. Still, she could walk properly and think of food without heaving, so it was definitely time for breakfast! ---------- After a short walk into the heart of Canterlot, Trixie and Leech were sitting outside a cafe, at a table that faced out into Canterlot Square. Trixie was somewhat gingerly eating a dandelion sandwich, whilst Leech was skimming love from any couples who happened to pass by. Leech noted with interest that the majority of the love in Canterlot was nowhere near as strong or sweet as it had tasted elsewhere - it tasted watered-down and somewhat half hearted. Nevertheless, he soon gathered enough to satisfy his hunger for the morning. Trixie too was deep in thought - would her idea to keep Twilight away from her show work? After Leech's gaffe in the kitchen, Trixie began to doubt whether he'd actually be able to keep the plan going for long enough. She pondered whether he'd mess it up before she had time to do what she needed to. If he did mess it up, it would be game over for the new life she had planned - it all hinged in Leech. An individual who doesn't even seem to know how fire works. Trixie shuddered involuntarily at this most terrifying of thoughts! "Doezz Trixzzie have everything needed for tonight?" asked Leech, snapping Trixie out of her thoughts. "No, I don't, not yet. We need to go shopping to get the supplies. That's why I came to Canterlot Square, they've got all the stores we need to go to." replied Trixie. With this, she finished her sandwich and got to her hooves, and motioned for Leech to follow her. Together they left the cafe and headed towards a large, grand-looking store called 'Gracy's'. Billed as the most prestigious department store in all of Equestria, Trixie and Leech stepped through the revolving doors and emerged inside the store itself. Or rather, Trixie emerged - she then had to go back into the revolving door to retrieve Leech, who'd managed to get himself lost in there. "It...wazz...like...being washed down plughole! Never-ending zzswirl of door and doorframezz!" gasped Leech dizzily. After a double facehoof by Trixie, the duo wandered up and down the store's seemingly endless array of aisles, that stretched for what appeared to be eternity in either direction. Upon their shelves lay an extraordinary range of products, from homecare to clothes, outdoor furniture to fine jewellery. Everything about the place was huge, not least the majority of its price tags - both Trixie and Leech felt somewhat out of place looking at the caliber of the other customers! The super rich and social elite of Canterlot milled about the store, placing items in their shopping baskets without even looking at the prices - oh how Trixie wished she could shop with such impunity! ---------- Presently, Trixie had gathered most of the things she'd come for - a set of plates and a potted plant, which she'd be using for her cross-group transformation routine plus a bunch of silk roses of varying colors. She planned to rapid-fire teleport around the audience, giving these out to the ponies she materialized closest to, remembering how the poet pony had benefited from including the audience in his performance. She was seeking one last item, this time an item that would be needed to help keep Twilight away, when she became aware of a commotion behind her. She spun around only to find a worried-looking Leech staring upwards at the seething face of an obviously enraged Prince Blueblood. Presently, Blueblood turned to face Trixie, his eyes mere pinpricks as a result of his furious indignation. "Is this... filthy object yours?" he demanded. "Now listen here, pretty boy," began Trixie, "he's not an object, he's my friend, and I'd suggest you step away from him you pompous piece of-" "I care not!" sniffed Blueblood, interrupting Trixie. "This creature just assaulted me! In a public place! I ought to have him banished to the moon!" "Leech did not!" protested Leech. "Leech got dizztracted looking at all thizz neat zzstuff and bumped into prince pony's leg! Leech zzsaid he was zzsorry!" "Sorry is not enough, insolent whelp!" snarled Blueblood. "I take it you're also 'sorry' for what you and your verminous brethren did at our dear Cadence's wedding?" Leech shrank back in shame at this, as ponies all around began to whisper grimly among themselves at the scene that unfolded before them. "Leech...alzzo... helped... zzsave... you..." he countered, feebly. "Ha! You supposedly 'saved' us from a second attack by YOUR species! More likely you're trying to win our trust so you can destroy us from within! And you even had the gall to coerce this fair maiden into your vile scheme!" boomed Blueblood, pointing a hoof at Trixie. Trixie steeled her body and prepared to give Blueblood a dental bill that even his immense wealth would struggle to cover. Nobody spoke to her friend like that, and she sure as hay wasn't going to tolerate being called a 'fair maiden' by a creep like Blueblood! However, her subconscious stopped her just as she prepared to charge at him - if she gave Blueblood a public humiliation now, she might as well not bother with her show tonight. She'd be run out of Canterlot in an instant, and Trixie was fed up of being run out of towns, being no stranger to leaving in a hurry when a magic show didn't go as planned. No, she couldn't teach Blueblood a lesson in respect, not right now anyway. Calming herself, she gently trotted between Leech and the still glowering prince. "I am sorry if my friend has caused you any problems," she said calmly, her eyes closing and her head hanging low, "but I can assure you I am not being coerced in any way. If my friend's presence here is a problem, I will ask him to leave." "Well, please do!" spat Blueblood, shooting another glare at Leech. Leech shrank again from the stare, now laying on his belly on the ground with his forehooves ineffectually covering his eyes. He peered through the holes in his limbs to see Trixie's face looking down at him, wearing a gentle expression tainted with deepest regret. "Leech, please wait for me at home. I will finish up here." she said softly. "But... but Leech..." he began to stutter in protest. He noted Trixie's soft but serious expression, and all the other ponies in the store now staring at him. Admitting defeat, he ceased his incoherent pleading and sadly headed for the exit, feeling the stare of Blueblood following him until he was totally out of sight. Almost immediately after he left the building, the assembled ponies returned to their normal shopping, the incident seemingly forgotten in an instant. That is, by all but two individuals. "That beast has no place here, young unicorn. You should know better than to bring our enemies into the very heart of our society!" said Blueblood sternly. Trixie was in no mood for debating the finer points of allowing a changeling into Canterlot. Instead, she strode up to Blueblood until the two were standing snout-to-snout amid the shelves of goods. Staring into the prince's blue eyes, she uttered just three words: "Don't. Push. It." she snarled through gritted teeth, before turning quickly and marching determinedly towards the aisle that held the last thing she needed. "Hmmph. Commoner." muttered Blueblood haughtily, before levitating his basket and trotting snootily in the opposite direction. The rest of Trixie's shopping went without incident - she found exactly what she was looking for in the toy aisle, headed for the checkout counter and paid with some coupons she'd received upon arriving in Canterlot. She was certainly relieved she wasn't paying cash, not at Gracy's prices! Cantering out of the exit, Trixie's stare remained fixed straight ahead - she dared not look down at the floor. She didn't want to catch sight of the trail of little salty spots of water that led to the exit. ---------- Leaving the store and emerging into the freshness of the mid morning air, Trixie's ailments were all but forgotten as she moved briskly through the city's streets and back towards the apartment complex. Although she had a thousand and one things on her mind, her main concern was getting back to her home and checking on Leech. "He's resilient enough." Trixie thought to herself. "He went through far worse back during his hive days. I'm sure he'll be alright. Entering the apartment complex and galloping up the flights of stairs, Trixie ignored the fatigue in her legs and pushed the apartment door open. Standing still for a moment to listen for signs of activity, she heard nothing. Not at first at least - after a momentary spike of panic that Leech hadn't come back, she was able to detect a faint whimpering emanating from behind the couch. Trixie set her purchases down on a nearby table, and trotted over to the couch. Peering behind it, she saw Leech curled in a ball between the back of the couch and wall, gently sobbing to himself. A burning pang of sorrow and regret pierced Trixie's heart as she levitated Leech from the behind the couch and set him down on the seat next to her. "It's alright Leech." she said quietly, attempting to comfort him. "Blueblood is just a snobbish flankhole, there's no need to take any notice whatsoever - I'll be sending a stiff letter to the palace about his behavior today." She placed a hoof around the still-shaken changeling's shoulders and received a shock when Leech uncurled his body and batted the friendly gesture away. He turned to face Trixie, his tear-stained eyes beneath a brow contorted downwards in what appeared to be... anger? "Leech! Why are you..." Trixie began, her hoof instinctively recoiling in surprise. "The embarrazzement, Leech can deal with." whispered Leech shakily. "Leech had worzze back in hive. But... b-b-but... what really hurtzz izz..." "What? What is it?" asked Trixie, having trouble keeping her own eyes from filling with tears. Leech shook his head mournfully, and croaked through a voice strained by the tension of holding back another wave of sobs: "... why didn't Trixzzie help Leech..?"