I'm gonna kill him, she thought, her glare trying to burn a hole in the continually babbling pony next to her. Or myself. Whichever will bring the quiet first.
"So I'm like, 'what's wrong with oatmeal?'" Cheese Sandwich finished his story with a wide oblivious smile, before noting his traveling companion's glare. "Too much?" he asked, his grin never wavering.
Trixie simply nodded. Cheese closed his mouth and mimed zipping it shut (Trixie was actually mildly surprised his mouth didn't literally zip shut, since he did make the sound of a zipper). Trixie sighed in relief at the silence, brief though it likely was going to be. Accepting the idiot's offer the day before yesterday seemed simple enough. What did she have to lose? Now, a day and a half later, dragging her trailer along the road to Manehattan, she learned the answer. Just her sanity, was all. She cast one last look at him, who was obviously fit to burst with desire to talk some more, before speeding up a bit to get him out of her sight. Why'd she agree to this again?
"Uh, Trixie?" Cheese said, after catching back up to her.
"What is it this time?"
"My turn!"
There was a sudden blur of motion, and after the moment it took her eyes to refocus, Trixie could see she'd been booted out of the harness to her trailer and Cheese had himself perfectly strapped in. "I don't need help, you know," she grumbled, even as she realized she was already becoming acclimated to such moments. "The Great and Powerful Trixie can pull the cart herself."
"Never said you couldn't," he singsonged as he continued down the road, just as happy now as he was before.
Trixie couldn't help but smirk and shake her head. Oh, right. That.
"You're fine watching Boneless for a bit, right?" Cheese said out of the blue.
"Hmm?" Trixie turned and saw that chicken on her back. She yelped and jumped several hooves in the air (and the infernal thing stayed on her back. Truly the madness was spreading.) "Uhhh... of course," she managed to get out. "Trixie would be... ah... happy to."
Cheese's response was a toothy grin that squeaked.
~FiM~
Manehattan. Loud. Bustling. Crowded. Trixie had always loved it. It was certainly livelier than her hometown of Canterlot, in a way that was more... honest, she supposed. A true melting pot of ponies, ideas, cultures. It wasn't unheard of to meet an occasional griffon, minotaur, or horse. The saying was that if you could make it in Manehattan, you could make it anywhere, but the adventure of it all...
"Well, you're happy," Cheese Sandwich said, obviously amused.
Trixie sighed as she took in the cool coastal air. "I suppose I am. The Great and Powerful Trixie's first successful gig was in Manehattan."
"Sounds like a story."
"Not really. I was one of many attractions at a Summer Sun Celebration event in Central Park, and it was a 'success' in that I gained a decent sized group of spectators and left with enough money to get me to my next gig with some to spare. Still a good memory."
"Oh, I know what'cha mean. My first big party was here, too, and I come back here probably more often than anywhere else. Lotsa ponies equals lotsa parties. Stayed here for six months straight once, going from one party to the next, though I don't remember much of it." Cheese actually shivered, here. "Learned an important lesson on pacing yourself, there."
Trixie couldn't stop the laugh that erupted from her lips. "You? Pace yourself? Trixie has yet to see any signs of that."
Cheese shrugged. "Well, my pace is a bit quicker than most, I admit. The sugar helps. And the coffee."
"And the inanity."
"Exactly!" Cheese agreed with a grin. "Uh, what's inanity?"
Trixie just rolled her eyes. "So, whom is this party for, that we came all this way?"
"No idea."
Trixie stopped in her tracks. "What?"
"Oh, I never know who I'm putting the party on for 'till I find 'em. My Cheesy Sense just leads me to 'em. This one feels like a birthday. A kind of important one, like a Cutsinera."
Trixie's hoof met her face, her warm feelings suddenly gone. "You mean you came all the way here, from Ponyville, without so much as an invitation?"
"Uh, huh!"
"I thought you said you have a gig."
"I do. I just don't know who it's for or where exactly it is yet. That's how it always works."
"That's never how it works!" she practically exploded. "You can't just... just show up and hope for the best! You have to plan, make arrangements! You have to at least know your client! Even I had to do things such as get mayoral approval to set up my cart and put on my shows! You can't just... just.... AaauAugh!" And with that, she stomped off into the crowd.
"Trixie!" Cheese called. "Trixie, wait!" He was still strapped into the cart, and it suddenly seemed quite a bit heavier than it was just a moment ago, so it wasn't a surprise to him that Trixie vanished in the Manehattan crowds. "What did I do?"
~FiM~
Trixie was fuming. She could take the constant talking. She could take the inherent silliness. But one thing she did not abide was unprofessionalism. It wasn't just a matter of personal livelihood, though that was a part of it. It was... well the idea that his special talent of all things was something he didn't take seriously. How could he be so... so...?
"Trixie? Trixie Lulamoon?"
The sudden voice made Trixie cringe. It was a familiar voice, one she hadn't heard in some years. Was her luck really that awful? Not that I need an answer to that question, she mentally grumbled. Aloud she said "Hello, Star Dancer."
Star Dancer didn't seem to notice Trixie's rather cold greeting as she started circling her, as if needing to take in the sight at all angles to believe it. She was a beautiful young unicorn, tall and leggy, with a smooth silver coat and stylishly coiffed sunlight blonde mane. Hers was a face seen in many a magazine, and she rather liked it that way.
"It really is you. Wow, haven't seen you since... well since graduation, now that I think about it. Is that a rubber chicken?"
With that Trixie realized that Boneless was still on her back--somehow. With a blush and a flash of magic, Trixie made the cursed thing vanish. "Er, yes, well. It has truly been quite some time since we saw each other last, hasn't it? What are you doing in Manehattan, Star? Last I heard you were living in Burbuck."
"Yes, yes. Burbuck is where my official residence lies, but ever since the movie shoot finished, I haven't had time to stay still. I'm here for a promotional event." Trixie just now noticed that she was in front of a very high-end hotel, complete with a fountain out front. She could just see Star's lips twitch as she suppressed a smirk--or was she being paranoid again?
"But enough about me, what about you? Last I heard your little, heh, 'magic show' had fallen on hard times." Okay, then. Trixie was most certainly not being paranoid.
Still, a scene was the last thing she wanted to cause right now, especially coming of the tail end of the one she just did. "Yes, the Great and Powerful Trixie act has hit, shall we say, a snag. One that was nearly entirely my own fault, much as I hate to admit it. Still, there is a chance at a comeback here in town, which is what brought me here."
"Oh?" Dancer said, her ears cocked forward in curiosity. "What sort of comeback. A birthday party?"
"Yes, actually," Trixie admitted bluntly, amused at how the straightforward admission threw Dancer off her game. "I'm starting from square one after all." She gave Star Dancer a meaningful grin. "All performers have to start small, as I'm sure you remember. Sometimes even taking roles and gigs we'd rather not discuss afterwards."
Star Dancer coughed into a forehoof and blushed. "Yes, that is true..." Then her eyes narrowed. "But, still. I have trouble believing you're here alone. The solo traveling act may work for rural places like Ponyville," (You'd think, Trixie barely managed to keep herself from saying) "But it just doesn't fly here in Manehatten. Especially when there's no major events going on. You'd have to come here as part of a larger act. Maybe even..." Trixie managed to hold back a shudder at the look in Dancer's eye. "You did say birthday party, didn't you? And I certainly can't imagine you carting around a rubber chicken of all things willingly." She chuckled here. "Wow, you are a vicious one aren't you?"
Now Trixie was just confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, don't take that tone with me. We both know you're using that poor idiot Cheese Sandwich to get back on your hooves, only to dump in on the wayside when you do. You're hardly the first, you know."
That got Trixie's attention. "What?"
"Oh, didn't you know? He's rather well-known in the community. Even I'll admit he's something of a comic genius. It's a waste of his talents, the party planning thing he does. He's also one of the biggest dupes in the industry. I can't tell you how many 'struggling actresses' or performers he's taken under his hoof, but they never stay long. He does have a natural eye for talent, I'll give him that. His charges inevitably get discovered before too long and off they go, to fulfill their dreams with barely a farewell and nary a second thought. And the idiot keeps on doing it. I mean, he picked you up, didn't he?"
Star Dancer turned and began walking back to the entrance of her hotel. "Seriously, good for you. Perhaps I'll see you hit the big time after all. Unfortunately, I've used up the last of my free time today and have to get ready for a banquet."
Trixie's eyes narrowed at the retreating pony before her. She was good and angry again, but this was different than the poorly thought out explosion of emotion before. It wasn't even what Dancer had implied about her. A few months ago, heck, a few weeks ago, and she'd have been right. She was angry for another reason entirely. And so, she decided, perhaps a small scene was necessary, and she lit her horn up. She carefully pulled a rough sphere of water, about the size of her head, out of the hotel's fountain and hovered it above Dancer's head--harder to do than non magic practitioners would suspect due to it being, you know, water, but not overly taxing either--and she called out, "Oh, Star Dancer?"
Star Dancer turned to see Trixie sitting there with an odd, serene smile on her face. "Just to let you know, I honestly don't care what you think of me. I'm pretty sure I've earned it, in fact." Then she dropped the magical water balloon on Dancer's head, pretty well soaking her, and certainly putting to waste the hours her hairdressers and makeup ponies had spent on her that day. At her rage fueled screaming and incoherent noises, Trixie kept her serene smile. "But. I would rather you not say such disparaging things about my new... friend. Idiot he may be, but I've found that I'm growing rather fond of him."
And with that, Trixie spun around, and with her head held high in the traditional Canterlot show of disdain, marched off, smirking at the sound of Dancer's still wordless tirade.
~FiM~
Cheese Sandwich was beginning to feel just a teeny tiny little smidgen of worry. He didn't like it. He wasn't one who worried often. Where'd she go, anyway? Manehattan was a big city, one of the biggest. There were any number of places she could have gone, even in the short time he'd lost sight of her. And his Cheesy Sense wasn't helping any. Darned thing was always so... fickle. He'd made his way to Central Park, on the off chance she'd come here--it was the only place he knew she had a connection to--but even the park was rather on the huge side. He let out a rare sigh of frustration. It'd be like finding a needle in a haystack, but he could do that. This, however...
"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."
Oh, was that haughty sounding voice the best thing he'd heard all day! His natural smile returned to his face as he turned to face the owner of it. Or he tried to, in any event. He was still yoked to the trailer. Fortunately, Trixe strode into his line of sight quickly enough, herself wearing a smile that looked to be a combination of cockiness and relief. His own smile faded just a bit. "Y'know, whatever it was I did earlier, to make you mad? I'm sorry."
A blush appeared on Trixie's face as she awkwardly stamped at the ground. "No. No. You have no need to apologize. It was I..." She coughed. "It was I who was in the wrong, here. I thought you weren't taking things seriously--your talent, of all things--and I let my emotions get the better of me. I'd forgotten that, though you have your own way of doing things, this party planning thing you do, striving to make ponies smile, you take that very seriously. Why else would you even have bothered with me the other night?"
Cheese shrugged easily at the apology. "Yeah, well, you're not entirely wrong, either. As good as I am at the actual planning of a party, the other stuff, the business side of it, I'm kinda bad at. I sometimes forget there even is a business side to it. It's bit me in the flank a time or two, I can tell ya that."
Trixie's expression turned thoughtful. "Then perhaps, I may be able to pay you back for your kindness after all. The Great and Powerful Trixie has had to learn the 'business side' to our work long ago. Perhaps I can help you with that end of things for a while. Secure locations, run the budgets, that sort of thing, at least until you get the hang of it yourself."
"You mean like... like a partner?"
"Provisional, of course," Trixie added quickly, her blush intensifying.
"Wow, that's, I don't know what to say, really." For once, Cheese Sandwich really was at a loss for words. "I mean, that's a long way from a gig or two in Manehattan."
"Yes, well, I've traveled alone for quite a long time. I'm finding that I'm enjoying having some company along." Suddenly she wasn't meeting eye contact. "If you'll accept having me along, that is."
Cheese's smile returned, even wider than before. "Of course I will, as long as you want. Truth be told, I could use some company myself."
"Excellent!" Trixie practically barked, her forceful personality back at full force. "In that case, there's one last thing."
Cheese's ear flicked in curiosity. "Oh? What's that?"
There was a sudden flash of light and smell of ozone, and Cheese suddenly found himself switched with Trixie, and she was strapped back into her harness. "I think it's past my turn to pull the trailer. You can have this back." And with another flash of light, Boneless was dropped on Cheese's back. "Now, where is this birthday you sense, hmm? We've wasted enough time I think."
Cheese laughed heartily as he began to lead his new partner in the direction his Cheesy Sense was pulling him. He knew ponies well enough to know that Trixie had more she wished to speak to him about. What those things were he didn't know, but he wasn't worried. After all, there'd be plenty of time to talk later.
What a strange thing to feel really happy about.