//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Trixie's Stupendous, Awe-Inspiring Adventure of Destiny // by Turkleson //------------------------------// It was sunrise in Equestria. Trixie could see the beams of light poking through the trees indicating Celestia’s light was ascending from the horizon. She had woken up a while earlier and sat out on the front of the wagon. Sleep was difficult at this time as her mind was still racing from the current situation. It was just her and her feathered comrade Gilda. Two souls out on the open road with burdens of glory awaiting them wherever they ended up. Needless to say, this felt right to Trixie. This wagon she hadn’t even had for a day felt more like a home than that apartment ever did. The Unicorn decided to waste no more time. She turned behind her and pulled the lever, kicking the magic wagon into gear. From there, all they needed to do was prepare for what this road had in store for them. *** It was nearly high noon before Trixie was greeted by the sight of her fellow adventurer. Her head feathers were a mess and she still had a groggy expression on her face. “When did we start moving again?” she asked. “At sunrise. Surprised you didn’t wake up sooner,” the mare responded. “Yeah, well, I’m a deep sleeper when I wanna be.” “I’ve noticed.” “So what’s the plan for today?” “Keep on the road until we reach a town or something interesting happens.” “Interesting how?” “Well something like-“ Trixie lost track of her sentence when she saw what was ahead. It wasn’t long before Gilda saw it too. The thing approaching from the other end of the road certainly LOOKED like a chicken. What was odd was the fact that this chicken was somewhere around 6 feet tall and strutting down the road rather than waddling like other chickens. As they got closer they could hear the chicken humming a tune. When within talking distance the wagon came to a complete halt and the chicken looked upon Gilda and Trixie with a smile on its beak. “Well top-I say-top of the morning to you ladies.” said the chicken … Said the chicken. “Um, hello mister…uh.” “Mr. Leghorn if you will,” he responded. “Ok, Mr. Leghorn…how are you?” “Finer-I say-finer than my granny Beth’s peach cobbler.” “Oh. Well good. So, uh, where are you headed?” “Why, I’m on my way to Los Alicornes to try and get in on them talkin’ pictures.” “Huh.” The duo exchanged looks of oddity. “Well good luck.” “Mighty appreciate it, ma’am.” Mr. Leghorn then moved to carry on the road, and then halted. “Oh. And ladies?” “Yes?” “Watch out-I say-Watch out on this road here. Folks come across strange things on this here dirt street.” “Oh, um…sure. Thank you.” With that, they started the wagon again and left their first oddity of the day far behind. *** While trying to process just what it is they just saw, Trixie and Gilda did indeed heed the giant chicken's warning. They both eyed the road carefully, steeling themselves for any future surprises. The Unicorn was half expecting a giant rabbit to speak to them next, but so far no such luck. What they got instead was an approaching cloud of dust and a pair of voices increasing in volume. “Seriously! We’re going too fast,” one voice said. “Oh relax. You’re doing just fine. Now keep your eyes on the road!” the other responded. “Come on! Just tell me how to stop it!” “Now now, there’s no reason to stop now. We’re on an em- WAGON! 12 O’Clock!” With that, the ever nearing cloud of dust began to decelerate. That, however, wasn’t that great a comforting factor to the two in the now stationary wagon. Gilda’s wings were twitching in anticipation to dodge the potential threat. Trixie, meanwhile, was going over potential magic methods to avoid being flattened by the oncoming whatever it was. Trying to steel themselves kept them from noticing the dust hitting them until it was too late. The cloud threatening to fill the pair's lungs had soon after dispersed. A coughing, watery eyed Unicorn angrily looked around to see whatever it was that needed a serious lecture on roadside ethics. When her vision got a fix however, she had to rub her eyes to ensure nothing was obscuring them and making her see what she thought she was seeing. What she saw was a visual atrocity. A mish mash of different animals practically sewn together to a body with a poor excuse of a pony’s head on top. This was the image that struck dread in ponies' hearts for eons because of what it represented. This cluster of a creature was always defined as anarchy incarnate, and Trixie was not two feet away from it. “D-Discord…” Trixie stammered. “Why yes. That would be I.” the creature said, extending a lion paw towards the Unicorn. “How nice of you for noticing.” “Hey! Woulja mind not clownin’ aroun’ fo like TWO SECONDS an getting me home!?” an unknown voice outraged. Trixie blinked and looked down next to the creature of chaos to see his compatriot. A small, brown earth pony with hot pink hair and, judging from her accent, was of Manehattan origin. Now the mare was not sure what confused her more. The fact that she was face to face with the Draconequus of legend, or that fact that he had been running around with a tiny filly….OR that they both seemed to be sitting on a couch in the middle of the road. “Trix” Gilda finally spoke up “What the hay am I lookin’ at right now?” “Why, you’re looking at Discord,” the creature answered, using his extended paw to shake her eagle claw. “Anarchy Extraordinaire. Former evil-doer and now full time do-gooder.” He then displayed a scroll to the two. The only words they could bother to read was the word REFORMED on the top and the signature of Princess Celestia on the bottom. The faint magical aura from the signature proved it to be legitimate. “And THIS, is my current case for do-goodery, Babs Seed,” Discord said, introducing the Earth Pony. Certain dread was replaced with definite bewilderment in a matter of moments. Trixie and Gilda were far too confused to utter a word to the two in front of them. Although, this didn’t seem to be a problem as the apparently rehabilitated villain continued to talk and the filly next to him continued to look annoyed. “You see. Babs here,” Discord said “Is a ‘Blank Flank’.” He then pulled put a magnifying glass from Celestia-knows-where to bring notice to the indeed blank posterior of Babs. “As such, I took it upon myself to assist her in obtaining the cutie mark that she so desperately desires.” “More like annoyin’ me an’ neahly getting’ me killed!” The filly shouted. “Nearly never counts my dear. Besides, nopony ever got a cutie mark in sofa racing before. I thought it would be nice to try something original,” Discord justified. “Nopony has ever had one cuz the idea is stupid!” Babs retorted. “Sofa racing?” Trixie asked. “Indeed,” said the Lord of Chaos. Then a beeping from a device on his wrist received his attention. “Well, that’s all the time I have for this cameo. Come along Babs.” “And where are you going?” queried the Griffon. Discord smirked. “When the writer decides to get off his lazy rump and start writing my story you’ll find out.” Before anything else could be asked the couch had bolted down the road and record speeds, leaving the two travelers in the dust again. *** Despite all the craziness they’ve been met with thus far, the adventure express kept on rolling. Trixie focused all her senses on the surrounding area for impending weirdness. Gilda, while doing something similar, had a twinge of confliction about the situation going through her mind. “You sure this was a good idea?” she asked. “We’ve only been traveling for a day and I’ve already seen things I’d rather not see again.” “Hey don’t worry about it,” Trixie comforted. “Sure, we’ve seen some… strange things today, but it’s part of the experience. These journeys are about learning and becoming more than you were. I like to think that we are already much wiser than we were yesterday.” “By wiser, do you mean that we now know that giant, talking chickens exist and some weird mutant pony thing kidnaps fillies?” Gilda asked. “Now we don’t know that he kidnapped her, but yes, that’s sort of what I mean.” “Uh-huh.” “Besides,” Trixie continued, “we’ve seen some weird stuff today. But so far nothing dangerous.” “…aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” A loud shriek was heard followed by something slamming into the ground in front of the wagon. The two adventurers leaped out of their seats in surprise. Then, upon seeing the dusty crash site, they cautiously moved closer to investigate. In the small crater they found a Pegasus. She had a light aqua coat and a bold yellow mane. The most noticeable thing about her, however, was the fact that her wings were smoldering, as if on fire. A panicked Trixie dashed back into the wagon, reappearing a moment later with a bucket of water that was dumped on the small fires on the pony’s wings. The sudden contact of water seemed to snap the Pegasus out of a brief unconsciousness as she yelped loudly and commenced to babble. “Wha? W-what happened? Ow! My wings. Where am I? Where’s the Dragon?” “Dragon? What Dragon?” A great roar shook the earth as three pairs of eyes looked into the sky to see a giant flying behemoth flying right towards them. “I’m gonna guess that dragon,” Gilda answered.