//------------------------------// // Friday - Angry mob // Story: Pokey's Holiday (or Trixie's adventures in Bureaucracy land) // by Talon and Thorn //------------------------------// Friday   Finally after what felt like an eternity imprisoned in the waiting room without even a selection of out of date magazines for company Trixie’s number was called.   She took a deep breath and trotted into the office, it was small and messy with piles of files covering most of the floor, for a moment Trixie was reminded of the state of her own house. Then she drew her attention to the middle aged mare behind the desk, she was a unicorn and both her mane and coat were the same dull shade of grey. I guess grey really does mean government, thought Trixie. Much of the room was the same colour, the only hint of colour in the entire room was a single picture on the desk showing the smiling face of a young light blue unicorn mare.   “I’m sorry for the delay,” she said in a monotone, completely lacking any sincerity. “My name is Dull Grey. How can I help you Miss.”   “I’d like to process these papers please.” Trixie pushed the pile of paperwork over the desk. Grey took them in her aura, also grey, and slowly scanned through them one page at a time. Somewhere in the background a clock ticked away the seconds slowly, it felt to Trixie like it was cutting away her life one tiny fragment at a time.   “This seems to be in order. The finished licence should be with your office by the end of next week.”   “Could you speed it up a bit, there was a mix up it should have been with you several days ago.”   “I’m sorry but time scales are time scales. If I rushed this through I’d have to rush them all through.”   Ok, thought Trixie, I can do this, I’m a show mare. Time to put on a show.   Trixie gave a theatrical sigh and let her nuzzle quiver a bit, “Well thanks for your time, Ms Grey. I just don’t know what to do now,” she put a hitch in her voice, “This is my first big job and if I come back empty hooved, my boss is sure to fire me. It’s just me to look after my mother and my sisters.” she let a single tear roll down her cheek.   “Well,” said Dull hesitantly, “There might be something I can do to help.”   “Really,” said Trixie excitedly, “You’re such a great pony.”   “Well you remind me of my daughter. Just don’t tell anyone I did this for you.”   “My lips are sealed,” said Trixie making a zipping motion with her hoof.     Dull pulled out a form from her desk and started to write on it. “Now if you just give me the processing charge.”   “Charge?”   “The 200 bits for the licence.”   Trixie thought back to the bag of money Mac had given her and how it was still in her safe, in Ponyville, miles away. Her heart fell. “I left them at home,” she stuttered.   Dull sighed, “You work for a representative right? Do you have their charge code? We can take it from that account.”   Trixie quickly gave out her code, she could still salvage this, Dull went through a list from her desk. “That’s odd. This code’s been suspended. It’s apparently been overcharged, something about a massive order of forms.”   Trixie felt like screaming, those forms seemed to dog her every step. “Couldn’t you wave the charge, just this once?”   Dull gave her a strict look, “I’m sorry, I might be able to bend the rules to get this done quickly but it still has to be paid for. You really need to talk to your boss about this.”   Giving her grudging thanks Trixie turned and slouched out of the door in defeat. She checked the clock again, the offices would be closing in about four hours. Maybe if she could sort out the form thing she could get her code unsuspended and then get back here in time to get the licence. Given how things had been going so far it didn’t seem likely but it was a plan.   Trixie wandered over to the receptionist not really expecting anything but willing to try, “You wouldn’t happen to know where I go to see about returning forms would you?”   “No.”   “I thought so, well, you’ve been very helpful, not!”   “Oh, wait, actually I do, I think that’s central admin it’s just across the street.” The receptionist pointed out of a window.   “Thanks, I could kiss you, but I won’t,” said Trixie as she rushed rushed off in the direction indicated.   **   “Forms, sure just submit a QZ456 form and we’ll get you all the forms you want. You want to return forms? Why would you do that? Try complaints, their up in the castle, north wing 4th floor.”   **   “We’ll this isn’t a complaint, you made the mistake, unless you want to complain about yourself. Deliveries are arrange from central admin down on Clover square.”   **   “I think I remember arranging to return forms, we’ll need a copy of the original order and form H2SO4, I think you can get one from up in the castle.”   **   “Try next door.”   **   “H2SO4, we don’t use them anymore maybe if you talk to central admin.”   **   “Forms, sure just submit a QZ456 form and we’ll get you all the forms you want. Didn’t I see you earlier?”   **   “Ffurflenni beth ydych chi'n siarad am? Mae hwn yn siop esgidiau!”   **   “Maybe someone in the loading docks can help you?”   **   “Sorry Toots love to help you but we’re closed for the day. Maybe if you come back after the weekend?” The supervisor put a far too friendly hoof on Trixie’s flank and gently guided the bewildered mare out of the large loading area before slamming the door.   Trixie looked up at the sun now starting its ascent into the sky, around her the city was just starting to go to sleep. Four hours! She had spent over four hours being pushed from office to office and she had nothing to show for her work. She was exhausted, her head ached, her hooves throbbed, she wanted to sleep, she wanted to cry, she even briefly wished for the peace of death. This was a worse torture than anything Corona could ever do to anypony, this was beaurocracy.   She wandered the city like a zombie for a while, mind blank, hooves on autopilot. When she came to she found herself in a small donut shop in the backstreets nuzzle deep in the fried treats and without even the smallest dollop of mayonnaise to help with the flavour.   Defeated, she had been utterly defeated by the system she had spent all night wrestling with. Now all she could do was return to Ponyville and face the music.   Still Trixie thought, What’s the worst that can happen? Ok, the town is going to be fairly upset about not being able to buy alcohol, but it’s not like they're going to lynch me, some might even thank me. The Trust might not be happy about not being allowed to sell their cider but Mac said they sell it in other places they’re not going to make a loss. Her mood started to brighten, the donuts were really good. As for the forms well I’ll sort something out, it’s not like Luna will banish me for over ordering too many, it probably happens all the times. I’m just making a mountain out of a molehill.   With renewed purpose Trixie stood and trotted from the shop to the train station just in time to catch the next train to Ponyville. She fell into a deep dreamless sleep for the whole of the journey.   ****   Trixie was awoken by the conductor shaking her when the train pulled into Ponyville station. She yawned and stretched, although she felt better than she had a few hours ago she was still groggy and wished for nothing more than another day or so’s sleep, but she should open the residence for the day. She wouldn’t make her performance this week any better by closing for the day, plus maybe if she looked through the files enough she might find a solution to her problems. Perhaps she could sell the excess forms as firelighters or something, at least she’d make up some of the cost and it would be cathartic to see the paperwork in flames.   As she trotted through the town Trixie couldn’t help but notice the evil looks she was getting from the ponies about town. Most glared at her, one or two crossed the street to avoid her, one even spat at her hooves. With a sinking feeling she arrived at the residence to see a large crowd surrounding the building muttering to each other.   “What’s going on?” asked Trixie to a random pony as she approached the crowd.   “Well I’ve heard that the representative banned all alcohol from the town,” replied the pony not giving Trixie a second glance.   “I heard that she’s found a loophole that allows her to get all the booze she want while leaving the rest of us dry.” added a second pony.   “It’s disgraceful,” said a third, “Making decisions for us like that, who put her in charge anyway?”   “Err, Princess Luna?” suggested Trixie.   “We’ll maybe her majesty didn’t know what a sneaky, deceitful pony her representative is. If she ever stops hiding in her house I’ll give her a piece of my mind.”   “Never trusted her,” noted the original pony, “Making nice with Corona when she first turned up.”   “What a minute.” said the second pony pointing at Trixie, “You’re her! You’re the representative.”   “Hey,” yelled the third, “She’s back here, Trixie’s here.”   It seemed to Trixie that the entire crowd turned as one to face her, she had to fight very hard against her instinct to turn invisible. She scanned the crowd looking for familiar faces, she saw Cheerilee standing next to her sister near the residence her foreleg over the pink mare’s withers. In the middle of the crowd she thought she saw Lyra give her a friendly wave.   The crowd opened for her in silence. Nervously she started to trot forwards towards her home, preparing to gallop if the crowd turned more hostile. Suddenly a stallion rushed forwards causing her to rear up, “It’s her fault,” he yelled, “She’s the one stealing our booze.”   “Now hold on a minute,” came a rumbling shout, Trixie saw Big Mac effortlessly push his way through the crowd and stop between her and the stallion who skidded to a halt then started to back away. “I don’t want any trouble here,” warned the large red earth pony.   The crowd give Trixie and her protector at bit more room as they reached the door of the residence. Trixie turned to look at the mob.   “Now I’m sure the representative had a good reason for what she did,” said Mac, “Isn’t that right Trixie.”   Trixie swallowed as all the moisture seemed to evaporate from her mouth, “Err,” she stuttered looking out at the sea of ponies in front of her, normally she would love to be in front of such a crowd but right now she wished she was anywhere else but here. “Well, the thing is,” she took a deep breath, “You see the thing is, it was all a mistake, I didn’t mean to vote that way, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t kill me!”   The crowd was quiet for a moment processing this revelation. Then everypony seemed to be talking at once, yelling at Trixie, who backed away pushing herself flat against her door.   Big Mac once again stepped forward, “Listen,” he bellowed, “The Mayor has told me that she can sort all this out in a month, you only have to go without booze for a few weeks.” The crowd seemed to debate amongst themselves for a few moments before yelling even louder. “Anyway, Trixie herself has made sure that the Apple Trust can hold our normal Cider sell next week, I can personally guarantee we’ll have enough for everybody. Isn’t that right Trixie.” Mac turned to the blue unicorn.   There were a few yells from the crowd about ‘an Apple Trust conspiracy’ but most seemed reasonably happy with this state of affairs.   “Err, about that, there might have been a bit of a mix up.” Mac stared at her in astonishment. “Sorry,” she said lamely.   “Burn her!” cried Berry Punch leaping forward from the crowd hooves swinging just in front of Trixie’s face, she was barely held back by her sister who dragged her back into the crowd, “Burn the witch!”   “Que le Tartarus” cried Trixie in shock.   “She’s talking in Fancy, she’s going to put a spell on us,” cried an orange mare in the crowd, Big Mac gave her an evil glare.   “She turned my Lyra into a bear,” yelled a cream coloured mare. The crowd quieted for a moment and stared at the aqua unicorn next to her who quailed under their gaze, “She got better,” Bon Bon mumbled.   “Burn the witch!” yelled the crowd beginning to surge forward.   “Oh, come on, you all see magic every day. Some of you are Unicorns,” the relevant section of the crowd look abashed.   “Smash her windows!” cried a random stallion.   “Window pane!” gasped Trixie.   “Hey, it’s been a slow week, I’ve got bills to pay.” said the stallion.   There was a yell from above and the approaching crowd of angry ponies stopped in their tracks as a yellow pony with a blue mane dropped to the ground in front of Trixie. The representative was sure she felt the ground shake as Raindrops hit it. The crowd took one and in many cases several steps back.   “You know who I am,” intoned Raindrops surveying the crowd, “You know what I’ve done in the past.” She and Mac took a step forwards. The crowd started to disperse as several of its members suddenly decided they had to desperately be somewhere else. “Now leave Trixie alone.”   “Trixie,” growled Raindrops her eyes locked on the crowd in front of her.   “Yes?” said Trixie nervously.   “Whatever, you’ve done. Fix it!”   “I don’t know how,” whined Trixie wringing her hooves.   “Then figure it out, or I might be on their side,” she nodded towards the retreating crowd, “next time.”   “I think you better go lie low for a while Trixie,” said Mac, “Me and Ms Raindrops will make sure these,” he gestured to the crowd, “Don’t cause you any trouble for the moment, but some of them might be back.”   Not needing to be told twice Trixie rushed into her house only to emerge a second later with a hastily written sign stating “For Luna’s sake were closed”, she hung the sign on the door before quickly disappearing back into the building and locking the door.   ****   Trixie spent the rest of the day hiding in her own house. She kept the curtains drawn and would occasionally peek out of the windows. Although there was no longer an angry crowd surrounding the building many passers-by stopped and glared at the residence some even shook their hooves in anger. It appeared that her mistakes had not quickly been forgotten.   Trixie was just thinking of preparing supper, although today’s events had mostly killed her appetite, when there was a knocking at the door. “Go away, were closed.” she yelled.   “Trixie, it’s me Carrot Top. Can I come in?” came the reply.   Trixie hesitated for a minute, she didn’t want to be yelled at by one of her friends, but she probably deserved it. “Come in,” she sighed unlocking the door.   The orange mare entered and then stared at the mess around the building, “Trixie, why is your house full of boxes and stacks of paper?” As the door shut a pile of paper shifted in the breeze it started to bend until Trixie’s aura carefully straightened it.   “No it isn’t”   “I can see them, they fill the whole place.”   “Oh, these,” replied Trixie as if she hadn’t seen them before, “It’s an illusion.” she bluffed   “An illusion?”   “Yes I’m practising making illusions of boxes in case of box related emergencies.”   “Looking confused Carrot Top poked the nearest box with her hoof, “They’re solid.”   “They’re really good illusions.”   The earth pony shook her head at this and seemed to accept it, “Look Trixie, I’ve got to talk to you about something.”   “Trixie is sorry about the prohibition thing, it was all a big mistake.”   “What prohibition thing?”   Trixie blurted out the whole story to her friend, her mistake in the meeting, the Apple Trust application even her trip to Canterlot. By the time she was finished she felt a little better.   “So no cider, this year then,“ mused Carrot Top, “That should hurt the trust, but I guess I’ll be selling less hangover cures this month,” then she shook her head. “Look Trixie, you shouldn’t blame yourself about all this, it isn’t your fault.” she paused for a second, “Ok I guess it is really but you weren’t the only councillor who voted for the prohibition thing and the forms were an honest mistake.”   Trixie nodded slowly.   “Anyway, I didn’t come here for that. I’ve been told there’s going to be an investigation into some of the subsidies the farmers union have applied for and I was going to ask if you knew anything about them?”   “I don’t think so,” Trixie considered for a moment, then thought of the meeting with the Mayor a few days ago, she remembered something about subsidies then, she hadn’t really been listening, “Oh, I think that might be my fault too,” she wailed, “I thought it was about the Apple Trust but I think I suggested the mayor investigate the subsidies. I’m sorry.”   Carrot Top looked exasperated, “Trixie, you’ve got to stop doing this, you have to realise that what you do affects other ponies, you're responsible for doing what's right for them.”   Suddenly angry Trixie yelled, “Well I didn’t ask for this job. I never wanted to be a representative.”   “No,” growled Carrot Top, “You wanted to be a member of the night court, but don’t you think you’ll have to make decisions there which will affect other ponies? If you can’t manage here what do you think you would do there?”   “I don’t know, I just thought it would be easier than this, that I’d be able to do things, that it’d be exciting, not just be all this paperwork.”   “Trixie, paperwork is how everything gets done, it’s not fun but it’s necessary. You can get things done, but it doesn’t just happen by itself you have to work at it. You fill in a form here and somepony gets to have their wedding by the lake, another one and somepony builds their dream home. You are important and what you do matters, but that’s both a blessing and a curse.”   Trixie seemed to deflate, “I’m sorry, it’s just everything’s been going wrong, I miss Pokey, he made all this seem easy.”   Carrot Top stepped forward and nuzzled Trixie, “Trixie, it’s ok, I know the union deserves every grant it applied for, we’ll still get them just a month or so later. If there’s anything I can do to help just tell me and I know any of the girls would do all they can as well.”   “Thanks but I caused this, I need to fix it.”   “If you’re sure? If this is about that bet, it doesn’t matter”   “Yeh, I’m sure, and it has nothing to do with the bet. Thanks for being such a good friend, I don’t deserve you.”   “Probably not, but you’re stuck with me now,” said Carrot Top with a grin. “See you soon.” with that she trotted out into the night.   Trixie felt energized by her talk with her friend and busied herself cooking a simple meal for herself. She almost burned down the house before she realised that some forms had been stored in the oven. However, she managed to put out the fire before it caused serious damage and the only side effect was her food being slightly charred. Over supper she had an idea as to how she could fix at least one of her failures this week. However, rather than rushing into it, this time she decided to sleep on it. She couldn’t get anything done before the end of the weekend anyway if it still seemed a good idea tomorrow she’d try it.   Staggering into her bedroom she found her bed covered in the ever present paperwork. Sighing she spent half an hour clearing it before collapsing forward into its welcoming embrace. She was asleep before she even hit the sheets.