//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Plan C? Never Heard Of It! // Story: My Little Fantasy // by GuyWhoWritesThings //------------------------------// Chapter 14: Plan C? Never Heard Of It! Thankfully for our collective pocket book, the closest thing this backwater cowboy town has to 'fine dining' is a small shanty of a building that can barely pass itself off as a restaurant. We seat ourselves at a small table in the back, Trixie and myself on one side and the Ponyville pair on the other, getting a mix of the usual murmurs and glances in my direction, plus a few waves from ponies that must've seen the show earlier. At least the fact most of my body is covered in this poncho means most ponies simply turn away after a couple seconds, treating me more like that one-legged guy a mom might tell their kids not to stare at rather than some freak of nature. Not blending into any crowds any time soon, but at least not raising suspicions either. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, and, err..." Trixie starts, looking to me for help. "Applejack." The earth pony shoots Trixie an annoyed look. "Right! Please enjoy yourselves!" Trixie sweeps her hat off and bows as much as she can with a table in front of her. "Consider this meal on Trixie's tab as compensation for your aide in today's successful performance." She's trying hard to maintain a happy expression, but her face contorts ever-so-slightly into a glower at Twilight. "Ya got all those bits an'-" Applejack immediately gets cut off by a lavender hoof in her face. "It's okay, really Trixie." Twilight gives Trixie a sheepish grin. "I had fun. That's enough, right, Applejack?" The hoof lowers from Applejack's face tentatively. "...Right." I feel like I should be fighting off the tension in the room with my sword, never mind cutting it with a knife. "Ah, but Trixie insists!" She returns her hat to her head and picks up the menu with her hooves. Still wondering how they do that. Magnets? "Trixie would feel wrong if she did nothing to attempt returning the favor." She pulls the menu up over her face, and it contorts slightly, not sure if it wants to be happy about success or glare holes through the skulls of the ponies across the table. The unbridled jubilation from the giant tin of money must have worn off. I pick up my own menu, look at it, then promptly set it back down. Might as well be reading scribbles. Not sure how speaking the same language but writing a completely different one works, but it's another quirk I guess I can chalk up to the lack of thumbs. Time for Plan B - order last, copy whichever order sounds most edible. The last thing I need is to deal with Trixie realizing I can't read - at least as far as Equestria is concerned. "So, Trixie?" Twilight sets her menu down slowly, looking expectantly at Trixie for a few moments until the latter slowly lowers their menu. "Yes, Sparkle?" Trixie replies, happy-mask back on, though with an eyebrow raised. "So uh, does this situation, uh..." Twilight stammers a bit, "does it mean we're friends now?" "Friends?" Trixie theatrically raises a hoof to her chin and looks to the side. "Hmm... you ruined Trixie's career in Ponyville, yet also helped rebuild her career in Dodge Junction..." She lets the pose fall, turning to Twilight. "I suppose that would change our status from 'arch-enemies' to at least 'neutral', wouldn't it?" Twilight beams at her, a bit of nervousness showing through. "I suppose that's still an improvement, heh..." "Yes, it is! Reputation lost is hard to regain with The Great and Powerful Trixie!" She flicks her mane to the side with a hoof. "However, in your case, I shall be The Generous and Forgiving Trixie." "Why, how mighty generous of ya..." Applejack mutters as she sets her own menu down. "Of course, it's in the title! Or were you not listening to Trixie just now?" Thankfully, the waitress, a pale-yellow unicorn, walks up before that line can go any deeper. "So, uh." She glances up from the paper she's levitating in front of her, looking from Trixie to Twilight and back again. I can only imagine she's wondering what idiots would dress up like wizards in the middle of a desert. Valid question, really. "What can I get y'all folks today?" "Trixie would like some cider and your finest hayburger, if you would please." She sets a hoof on her menu and slides it to the waitress. Hayburger? That sounds pretty inedible to me. "Same." Applejack mirrors the motion. Twilight furrows her brow for a minute before sighing. "Me too, please." ...Well, Plan B just lit itself up in a ghastly hellfire and tossed itself screaming out the nearest window. Time for Plan Bullshit. It's a lot like Plan B but has no frame of reference. "...Fruit salad?" The waitress merely looks to her pad, taking notes. "Cider too?" "Yeah, thank you." Disaster averted as I place the menu of what may as well amount to glyphs for me on the stack with the others, the unicorn levitating them away and into her uniform. "It'll just be a few minutes then." I let out a small sigh, then turn back to see all three mares staring at me. "Cloud, hun, you okay?" Applejack asks, leaning forward and peering at me through my disguise. "Yer sweatin' a bit." "Just the heat from wearing this stuff so often." They seem more than happy to buy that excuse, thankfully. "So, Dusk," Trixie adds extra emphasis to the name, "Trixie has been thinking, thanks to you. Maybe we should go to Ponyville and attempt a showing. A successful showing there would do wonders for Trixie's career, no?" She shoots me a sideways glance and a grin. I can hear my bus outside, waiting for me to be thrown under it. Twilight lets out a small gasp and clops her forehooves together. "Really?" "I'm still not doing letting you do it, Twilight." I reply coolly, shooting a sideways glare at the mare beside me. "Still! The others will be happy to see you're doing okay." And her gaze switches from me to Trixie. "And I'm sure if we show them an act like we put on here in Dodge Junction, everyone in Ponyville will see that you've changed, Trixie!" Trixie quickly shifts her eyes back to Twilight, her collected-but-happy facade slowly cracking as an eye twitches. "You... wish to share the stage with Trixie again?" Karma, bitch. The underside of this bus has room for two. "It'd be fun! We'd have to do a far more complex act, though, with the kinds of things Ponyville is used to..." Twilight puts a hoof under her chin and thinks for a bit, then turns to Trixie. "That is, if you don't mind me helping again?" "No, of course not!" Trixie laughs sheepishly, struggling to keep her demeanor. "Trixie would be flattered, really!" Applejack narrows her eyes at Trixie but says nothing. It must be as obvious to her as it is to me that Trixie is only agreeing for the sake of her career with that glower she's firing. Like I said, I should be fighting off the tension in this room with my sword. Luckily, the waitress returns with our orders before the situation hits critical mass, placing out the three burgers and salad and four mugs of cider. I wait for the waitress to leave before adjusting the snout-shaped collar of my poncho hood enough to eat comfortably. "So Trixie," Twilight starts as Trixie begins munching on her burger, using her food as an excuse to hide her expression from the inquiring mare, "any ideas on crazy tricks we could do to wow Ponyville?" "Trixie... will need to think on it." She replies after swallowing, looking down at the reflection of herself in her plate. "As you said, Trixie will need to devise far more impressive acts due to Ponyville's recent... experiences." That's the second time they've brought that up - the hell happens at that town, anyway? I can vaguely recall that when Twilight was going on about the memory spell the very first time, she brought up something about a 'Discord', whoever or whatever that is. Maybe I'll ask sometime. Right now I'd hate to interrupt the show. The conversation, though, moves to different concepts for tricks and illusions that Twilight thinks might amaze Ponyville, while Trixie squirms in her seat and does her nervous laugh so often it's almost like someone's tickling her with a feather or something. A quick look at Applejack tells me her eyes are narrowed, enjoying the show as well, for as much as Twilight seems completely oblivious to it. We soon finish up, putting the money on the table as Applejack and Twilight get ready to filter out. "Hey," Trixie says, her voice low, "you two head back to the inn. Trixie needs to speak to her assistant for a moment." "Uhh, sure." Twilight gives her another of her sheepish grins before heading out with Applejack, leaving the two of us at the table. I look around for a minute, then lean in closer so we can speak without being overheard. "What is it?" There's a small pause as Trixie looks into her now-empty food plate, staring at herself, until finally, "Trixie... does not think she can handle this." "Hmm?" I rest my elbows on the table, careful of the poncho as always. "During the show earlier. Trixie... was the second fiddle." She looks at me, and seeing the confused expression through the layers of clothing, continues. "Magically, she means. While the tricks were of Trixie's making, much of the magic fueling them was Twilight Sparkle's. Trixie could never do something like pull another unicorn out of her hat like that!" "So why not learn how to do it?" I shrug. "It's... not that simple, Dusk..." She sighs. "It is not a matter of not knowing the method. Like Trixie said, she conceived much of the act, including how the magic works." "So you don't have the magical muscle." "Something like that." "Can't you train it like any other muscle?" "To a degree," She looks up at me a second time, and I can see the dam ready to burst open. She sniffles before continuing, "but for that, Trixie would need a training partner, and while definitely powerful, your magic is..." "Likely to light you on fire? I noticed." Time to make the stupid suggestion. "Why not Twilight Sparkle?" "Twilight Sparkle?! The mare who ruined Trixie's career?!" She slams a hoof on the table, barely able to contain her voice. "First the show and now this! You're supposed to be assisting Trixie, not-" "I am," I lean back in my chair, "by showing you when you end up doing things the hard way because you're too proud for your own good." I slide the chair out and get up, stretching my back as much as I can without lifting my arms, the bit tin still hooked securely under one of them. "But it's like the drinking. All I can do is make you aware of it. What you do about it's not my problem." I'm really not cut out for this pep-talk business, but I think I'm getting used to it. With someone like her, sometimes you need to wiggle the knife a bit before you can pull it out cleanly. "What good is having a rival if you don't use them to make you stronger? It's not like they need to know they're doing it, after all." I hear her exhale but I don't wait for a reply, leaving her at the table. As I head outside, I see both Applejack and Twilight plopped down outside the building, looking up at the sky. It's midday still, though, so they're not stargazing. As I'm about to ask them what they're looking at, I turn my head up, and quickly see it for myself - the entire sky has small, glimmering threads of green sewn through it. Green like... "Lifestream..." I end up muttering out loud to myself, causing both mares to look at me, finally alerted to my presence. I turn to them, pointing a thumb up at the sky. "That's not normal, is it?" Both of them slowly shake their head in the negative and I scrunch my brow in thought. Even if this place has a Lifestream of its own - possible, with how much magic there is - all I can remember about it says that the Lifestream is like a planet's blood - it should be under the crust, sometimes bubbling up into fountains, not in the goddamn sky. As if in reply to my most recent thought, the sky pulses a deep green for just a second, before returning to its original hue, with only the trace threads going through it, only just enough to be noticeable. I look around and others in Dodge Junction are looking up as well, so it's definitely not the three of us sharing a mass hallucination from spiked restaurant food or something. Hoofsteps sound behind me after a moment. "...Trixie has been thinking, and-" She pauses abruptly, her gait pausing with it. "-and what's wrong with the sky?" "No idea..." Twilight replies, getting off her haunches. "But... we need to get back to Ponyville. If it hasn't already gotten to Canterlot this is definitely something worth alerting the Princesses over. If it has, its possible Princess Celestia may want my help devising a spell or something to stop it." "So basically, skip the inn, take the overnight back to Ponyville?" I simplify her thought process. "Yeah." She nods, then turns to Trixie. "You don't mind, right, Trixie? It's probably better for you and Cloud to come with us now, if you're still coming to Ponyville that is." At least one of them is trying to be friends. Trixie's eyes widen a bit, finally realizing that I wasn't the only one there, and quickly regains her composure. "No, Trixie would be glad to return to Ponyville, post haste!" She gives Twilight a confident smirk and flick of her mane, but this time it's harder to tell if she's faking it or not. We make our way quickly for the train station, Trixie keeping pace with me but her head raised. I'm getting a vibe that she's more than a little pissed at me, but she's not reacting as bad as I expected her to, all things considered. She doesn't voice anything, though, and both Twilight and Applejack are walking a bit ahead, lost in their own conversation. As we reach the train station, we realize the light show must be freaking everybody else out because we're some of the only people boarding. There are a few others, but for all intents and purposes we may as well have the train to ourselves. We find some seats with a good window view. Applejack and I take the window seats, while Twilight and Trixie taking the aisle ones. We end up sitting around for another thirty minutes of awkward silence interspersed with Twilight asking Trixie some questions about stage performing before the train finally begins moving. The train rattles down the tracks as the sun sets. I'm leaning with one elbow on the windowsill, resting my head in my palm, before feeling a weight rest against my side. Passed out unicorn? Check. Twilight giggles slightly, but decides sleeping early is a good idea after seeing Applejack reclined, her hat covering her face. I don't see much point staying awake either, if I can get myself to pass out, and prepare myself to be chucked into another one of those crazy-ass dreams. Instead, what I get is flung against the side wall, an azure unicorn on top of me, now flailing wildly from being abruptly woken up like that. It doesn't take long to see that the cart - and most likely, the entire train - has been tipped onto its side. My ears ring from the crashing sounds of both the cart and whatever's slammed into it to topple it over like this. It feels like every other day, something dumb happens as soon as night falls. This is getting ridiculous. "W-w-what's going on?!" Twilight looks around, trying to crawl away from Applejack as the bells on her costume jingle. Really, why is she still wearing that? I mean, I get Trixie's a narcissist that's married to her job, but shouldn't Twilight have returned that getup to her magic pocket dimension or whatever by now? "Sugahcube, ah do believe our train has been tipped like a cow out to pasture." Applejack chimes in, getting to her hooves and straightening her hat. "Well, Trixie believes this train company will be owing her a re-" Trixie gets cut off by the sounds of scraping and footsteps on the new 'roof' of our railcar, shaking and putting her hooves around my waist. "Protect Trixie! She is too young and beautiful to be eaten!" Applejack rolls her eyes. "Talkin' like that just makes ya sound like Rarity." "Hmph!" That got Trixie to let go, at least. "Trixie will just need to show these cretins that she is more powerful than a pony with a nest for a mane!" "Well, there's yer cretin, Trixie." Applejack points her hoof up, to what used to be the far window, where what appears to be some kind of blue coeurl-looking thing is peering into the car at us, though its features appear to be... unnaturally distorted. "That's... a chupacabra!" Twilight looks up at it, almost curious. "But... something looks wrong with it. They shouldn't even be attacking po-" The sound of the window smashing cuts that sentence short.