//------------------------------// // Welcome to Hoofington // Story: Fluttershy and Trixie, Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives // by Majin Syeekoh //------------------------------// Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably in her train seat, wearing her pink blazer. She was stroking Angel’s head as she looked out the window. Next to her, Trixie was reading an issue of Glamare while she sipped on a screwdriver. “Look at these pictures!” Trixie said, sipping on her drink, “you can hardly tell what’s real and what isn’t! Why, I bet that all of these models have tail extensions!” Fluttershy ignored her, staring at the scenery. “Any thoughts on our next destination?” Fluttershy asked, absentmindedly stroking Angel, who purred. “Hoofington?” Trixie asked as she took another sip of her screwdriver, “it’s a nice city. Not too crowded, but still enough ponies around to justify a nightlife.” “Isn’t this where you’re from?” Trixie nodded. “Yes. Yes it is.” She took another sip of her drink. “Hmmm,” Fluttershy said. She then noticed groupings of houses outside of the window. “Why are those houses so close together?” Trixie giggled. “That’s a suburb.” “Suburb?” Trixie took another sip of her drink and flipped a page with her magic. “A residential area surrounding a city.” “Ok.” Trixie nodded and tried to sip on her drink, noticing that it was empty. “Another screwdriver!” A waiter trotted up to her with another screwdriver, which she grasped in her magic and took a swig of. Fluttershy sighed. “Trixie, I wish you wouldn’t drink so much.” “Shut up.” “No really, it’s bad for you—” “Not now, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy sighed and kept looking out the window. “So, who are we meeting in Hoofington? You must have met him before.” Trixie nodded as she sipped on her drink, engrossed in her magazine. “Oh, yes. He’s a very personable pegasus called Eggshell Shadow.” Fluttershy turned to Trixie and raised an eyebrow. “Eggshell Shadow?” Trixie nodded. “Did I stutter?” Fluttershy shook her head. “No...it just seems kind of strange…” “Strange? How?” Trixie sipped on her screwdriver again. “It’s just...have you noticed that everypony we’ve been dealing with that’s associated with Transpicuous has had a name that’s a color followed by a synonym for shadow?” Trixie turned a page of her magazine. “I think they’re related.” Fluttershy looked at Trixie. “Really? A family owned pharmaceutical company? Trixie nodded. “It’s not like it’s unheard of to have a family owned business,” Trixie said as she sipped on her drink. “But a big corporation?” “They probably all have stock in it or something,” Trixie said as she flipped a page. Fluttershy nodded uneasily. “I guess that makes sense.” Trixie nodded, flipping to another page. “Of course is does.” “But don’t you think their names would all have to do with chemicals?” Trixie let out a hearty guffaw as she sipped on her drink. “Fluttershy, do you realize how ridiculous that would sound? Besides, most of the chemicals didn’t even exist when these ponies were born, so you’d end up with a pony named Thorium Nitrate or something awful like that!” Fluttershy looked out the window. “I guess so.” A female voice came on over the loudspeaker, “Next stop, Hoofington.” Trixie slugged her drink down and stood up. “This is our stop, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy turned her head and nodded, standing up. “Ok.” A grin danced across Trixie’s face. “Hoofington, here we come!” ---- “So, where are we going again?” Fluttershy asked, looking around. “Forty-forty Horseshoe Street,” Trixie said, looking dead ahead. Fluttershy kept looking around. “Why isn’t anypony saying hi to you? I thought you were from around here.” Trixie shook her head. “Fluttershy, Hoofington is a big city. Well, not as big as Canterlot or Manehattan, but a big city all the same. The chances of me bumping into somepony I know here are—” she started before she bumped into a strapping yellow earth pony stallion with a violet mane, knocking her off her hooves. “Watch where you’re going you big, dumb—” she started saying while standing up, only to stop when she saw the stallion she had bumped into. “Seismic Thrum? Is that you?” Seismic Thrum chuckled. “The one and only. Nice to see you haven’t changed.” Seismic Thrum looked at Fluttershy. “Who’s this lovely mare behind you?” Fluttershy blushed and looked away. “I’m Fluttershy.” Seismic Thrum nodded to Fluttershy. “Nice to meet you, Fluttershy.” Seismic Thrum then turned to Trixie. “So, what brings you around these parts? From what I understand, the Great and Powerful Trixie tapped out Hoofington a while ago.” Trixie shook her head. “I’m not here to be Great and Powerful. I’m here on business.” Seismic Thrum raised an eyebrow. “I’m a pharmaceutical sales representative now.” Seismic Thrum laughed. “Finally putting that Sales degree to good use, eh?” Trixie nodded. “Never would have gotten it if you hadn’t helped me with my Calc homework.” Seismic Thrum smiled. “Well, what was I going to do? Say no to a study session with the prettiest mare on campus?” Trixie blushed. “Always the charmer. So, what did you do with your degree?” “I’m a seismologist now,” Seismic Thrum said with a smile. “Oh, really, now?” “Around now I’m supposed to spout out a lame line about how I’m going to rock your world, but I assume a pretty mare like yourself is already taken,” Seismic Thrum said with a chuckle. Trixie brushed her mane back with a hoof. “I wouldn’t mind some flirting.” Seismic Thrum shook his head. “I’m actually gay.” Trixie’s features dropped. “Oh.” Seismic Thrum then looked at Trixie. “So...how’s your sister?” he asked, causing Trixie’s eyes to widen, “the artistic one?” Trixie’s features became neutral. “Oh. She’s fine.” “What kind of art does she do again?” Trixie looked away. “Metalworking,” she said, “but we really must be going now.” She started dragging Fluttershy along with her, leaving Seismic Thrum to stare off in confusion. “Goodbye, Trixie,” he said. “Bye, Seismic Thrum, it was nice catching up.” When they were out of earshot, Trixie sighed. “That could have turned ugly.” Fluttershy stared at Trixie in confusion. “How so?” “Well, I don’t really know a lot about metalworking.” “But your sister—” Trixie looked down. “My sister is not an artist. Seismic Thrum must have been confused.” Fluttershy stared at Trixie. “Then why did you tell him she was?” Trixie looked away. “Because the truth is...my sister lives right here in Hoofington.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with that?” Trixie looked up, then at Fluttershy. “Well,” she said, scratching the back of her neck, “she lives at the Hoofington Brain Disease Center.” “So?” Trixie shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “Don’t you get it?” Fluttershy looked around, then at Trixie. “No? What am I supposed to get?” Trixie looked down, tears streaming down her face. “She’s not artistic, she’s autistic.”