Chase stopped, nearly falling forward as he tried to catch his breath. “R-rainbow Dash! Your interview was, was supposed to be today.”
Rainbow Dash stopped mid-flight and looked back to Chase, still working to slow his breathing. “Sorry, dude. No can do. I’ve got to get in some more practice today.” Without giving him another chance to speak, she then raced off to wherever she intended to practice.
Chase groaned and leaned against a nearby wall to let his breathing and heart rate ease up. “That mare is going to be the freaking death of me.”
After calming his body down, Chase stood up once more and stretched a bit. “Maybe if I find another pony to interview in time, I can quickly note some questions and get one in today.” He heard his stomach growl at him. “Maybe I can just focus on finding a job so I don’t feel so bad about asking for a snack somewhere.”
“Well, I believe Sugarcube Corner is looking for waiters.”
Chase jumped a bit at the unseen voice. He turned to find its owner, and was fairly surprised at who he saw. “Trixie?”
“Yes? Was my tip of any help, um, Chase, was it?”
“Uh, yeah, yeah. Um, I guess I’m just a bit, well, I mean it’s just that I was--”
“--expecting me to talk in third person?” Trixie finished for him with an amused smile. “That bit never made much sense to me, really.”
Chase nodded, letting the gears in his head turn. He soon smiled and nodded to himself slightly. “Well, is there any chance I could get an interview with you? I’m sure everyone back home will want to know more about your real life.”
Trixie’s expression hardened fairly quickly. “Oh, you can’t get an interview with Dash, so you settle for her marefriend instead? I’m not good enough to earn my own spot in your interviews without just being convenient?”
Chase stepped back slightly. “What? N-no! That’s not at all what I meant, Trixie. I just, I, um… Wait, what?! You’re her, but I thought, what?!”
Trixie tried her best to keep her expression, but it didn’t take long for her to start laughing. “Oh, calm down. I’m just joking with you. How about you come to my place and we get on that interview? After all, we don’t want your day to be wasted, do we?”
Chase opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. After a moment of this awkward pose, he finally snapped out of his spell. “Uh, sure. If that’s okay with you.”
“It’s no problem at all. Follow me. I assume you want to take the short way?”
Chase sighed. “Yeah, I think that’d be best.”
The two unicorns soon reached a moderately sized home with a very familiar trailer off to the side. Chase took note of this and smiled at his improved penmanship with his magic. After being let inside and taking a seat in Trixie’s living room, Chase tried to think up a few good starting questions.
After a moment, though, his stomach beat him to speak up first. Chase let out a nervous chuckle. “Sorry about that. I guess I forgot I haven’t eaten. It’s always been a bit of a problem for me.”
“Let me see if I’ve got something lying around here. Are you vegan? Vegetarian? Neither?”
“I don’t want to impose, Trixie.”
“Nonsense. It’s not a problem at all. How about a carb bar? They aren’t the best tasting things around, but they definitely help me out when they need to film for a few days at a time. If nothing else, it should hold you over for a while.”
Chase began to respond, but was once again beaten to it by his stomach. “It would be nice, actually.”
“I’ll get you a couple for now, then.” Trixie walked to her kitchen, which did give Chase time to make sure he had a few good questions to ask. After a moment, she returned and handed Chase a small bag of wrapped food bars.
Chase smiled and took one out. “Thanks.” Trixie nodded and took a seat herself as Chase unwrapped part of the bar and took a bite. “Not bad. You had me expecting cardboard.”
Trixie giggled. “Not too far off, I think.”
Chase chuckled. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, how about we get to the interview?”
“Of course. What do you want to know?”
“Well, first, I want to know how much of what you said earlier was a joke. Are you really with Rainbow Dash?”
“I am. She and I have been together since the episode with that weird amulet.”
Chase nodded, his quill moving faster as he focused briefly on his writing, happy to see he’d gotten more used to this since the first interview. “Okay, so, since the one featuring the Alicorn Amulet. Funny, I could’ve sworn I played an idea board for a story involving it. Ah well, no big deal. How are things between you two?”
“Well, for one, I think they chose rather poorly as far as her element goes. Now, I’m not saying she’d ever cheat on me, no, not at all. I just think that she’s more brutally honest than anything. I’ve never heard her tell a lie once. Get cocky and promise more than she can deliver? A few times. Purposely tell even a small fib? Forget about it.”
“So, since her house is made of clouds, do you both live here, or have you not moved in?”
“We haven’t moved in together. She enjoys her house and I enjoy mine. That, and we’re not married, so neither of us really sees much need to live in the same house.”
“Well, at least you both agree. That’s a good sign for relationships. So, what’s the biggest difference between you and the you they portray in the show?”
“That’s a bit of a tough one. I suppose the biggest, aside from that I don’t actually talk in third person, would have to be that I’m not a show pony, never have been, and never will be. Close to it would probably be that I’m perfectly fine with being magically inferior to Princess Twilight.”
“Interesting, so, they kind of just plucked you up for the role of a foil?”
“I guess so. To be honest, it seemed one of their better choices for the whole plotline.”
“Well, this is all definitely very interesting. I’m just not so sure how everyone will react to this. They--”
“--love to ‘ship’ Twilight and myself. I know. Don’t worry, they’ll just call it your headcanon or something. Besides, they write fiction for the show, so it wouldn’t be a stepping block if this were some ‘official release’ so long as it wasn’t said to be part of the show.”
Chase gave a nod and made sure he had his notes caught up and in order. “I don’t seem to have anything more I can think to ask about, except maybe if you have any suggestions for getting that interview with Rainbow?”
“If I knew how to get that mare to sit still for this long, my legs would be numb and twitching for days.”
“Welp, I’m stuck with that mental image for a while now.”
“Are you complaining about it?”
“... no, no, I don’t suppose I am.”
“Well, like I said, those bars are yours, and you should try talking with the Cakes about waiting for them at Sugarcube Corner. If you keep improving so quickly with your magic, I’m sure you’ll do just fine helping them out.”
Chase blushed slightly and smiled. “Well, thanks. I’ll be sure to ask them if I can help out. Anyways, thanks for the lead and the bars. These really do hold you up pretty well. It’ll make getting along until I can get hired a bit easier.”
“Not a problem, Chase. Also, where are you staying?”
“I’m staying at the local inn. They were nice enough to let me have one of the cheapest rooms for about a week without rent so I could find a job. All of you around here are really nice. I just hate feeling like I’m bumming off of anyone.”
“Oh, don’t worry, no one thinks you’re trying to bum off of them from what I can see. Good luck with the job, by the way.”
Chase stood and stretched, floating the inkwell to its holder and stretching. “Thanks, hopefully I won’t need it, though.”
Goodbyes said and done, Chase stepped out and looked over his notes, now much neater than before. He looked up and gauged that it was a little bit past noon. “Plenty of time to drop off my notes in my room and apply for that job.”
Chase set off towards the inn as his now mostly clear head found what he thought to be the perfect way to get his interview with Rainbow Dash. “Scootaloo has to know something. Maybe she could even tell me a few things in advance so I can improve my questions. Oh, I know my interview tomorrow.”