On the Corner of Straight and Narrow

by Tatsurou


Interlude - Happy Home

Trixie's day began as they always did, pushing herself to her hooves, shrugging the cover off as she yawned and stretched, cat like. Smacking her lips, she gave Major Ursa one last hug before climbing out of bed and trotting over to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, she fired a bolt of magic at the ceiling. The thunderclap it released awoke the rest of the household to begin the day. Her Daddy arrived shortly after with a huge grin and an armful of shampoos, ready for their morning ablutions. In comfortable silence, they stepped into the tub as he turned on the water, her magic keeping any water from hitting either of them until it was warm. Once the water was warm, she sat in the warm cascade as her Daddy scrubbed himself clean. Once he was clean, he then proceeded to scrub her clean, being careful around her face and horn. He then finished off by lathering her mane and tail before rinsing her off completely.

Once they were both completely clean, Trixie put the plug in the drain and waited until the tub filled to a comfortable level. She then shut it off as her Daddy pulled the tub toys out. They then proceeded to play "Armada and the Dangerous Sea", with one of them controlling the sea ships while the other attempted to destroy the ships with anything from natural hazards to sea monsters. Trixie generally used her magic when she controlled the sea, doing anything from tentacles made of water to miniature storms to simply smashing them with her hooves as an angry sea god. Today was her Daddy's turn to be the hazards, and as usual his focus was being a massive shark to chomp and eat the ships. While such things might normally get boring, Trixie had started arming her vessels with mini water cannons, which she used to fire balls of water at her Daddy to play at taking down the Megashark.

When they finished playing in the tub - play time being measured in how long it took to transfer the tub's contents of water to the floor, ceiling, and other bathroom fixtures - the two climbed out of the tub and her Daddy grabbed the towels. First he dried himself off completely, first by shaking off excess moisture and then scrubbing with the towel. Then he would dry Trixie, using the towels on her coat and a hair dryer on her mane and tail. When this resulted in mane, coat, and tail poofing up ridiculously, they both laughed at her reflection before he grabbed brush and comb. He then spent the next hour or so carefully grooming her coat, mane, and tail until they looked flawless.

When they came down from the bathroom, Uncle Sam - as always - had breakfast ready. Today was pancakes with maple syrup, fried eggs, bacon - pork for Uncle Sam and Daddy, tofu for Trixie - hash browns, a treat, and drinks. The treats varied depending on what Uncle Sam made, and for whom. Uncle Sam's treat today was a large bone from last night's dinner with a bit of meat still on; he'd probably spend most of the rest of the day chewing on it. Daddy's treat was a carrot cake cupcake, his secret favorite. Trixie's treat was the holy grail of special foods for her...peanut butter crackers. For drinks, there was coffee for Uncle Sam, fruit punch for Daddy, and apple juice in a box for Trixie, just how she loved it.

After taking their time and enjoying breakfast, Trixie got dressed in her hat and cape. Uncle Sam cleaned up dishes while Trixie and her Daddy played video games. Trixie was beginning to get the hang of the controllers, and was really enjoying herself playing with her Daddy. Of course, she blamed controllers not designed for hooves when she lost, and strutted proclaiming the greatness of her powerful skills when she won. Neither her Daddy nor Uncle indicated she should change this behavior. Her Daddy, in fact, encouraged it. Once Uncle Sam finished cleaning up the kitchen and bathroom, he would join them for a three player game.

After morning video games, if there wasn't a case call, they would have lunch. Today, lunch was peanut butter sandwiches, potato chips, and sodas. Uncle Sam preferred Sprite, Max had an unimaginably chaotic mix of flavors that sounded disgusting but somehow tasted good, and Trixie had black cherry cola.

After lunch, they wandered happily around town. Sometimes they would visit Sybil to see how her job search was going. Her last job as a tabloid writer failed because everyone lost interest in aliens after Trixie's television debut and everyone now wanted to know about ponies. Other days, they would stop in at Bosco's inconvenience to see what he had for sale - other than a free piece of candy for Trixie - or how things were going with his disguise. Currently, he'd set aside his British disguise, since the threat of the skinbodies had been dealt with and no one new seemed to be after him.

And then there were days like today, when there was nothing interesting around town to distract them. On some days like this, they would hit a movie theater and watch one of the new films coming out. Other days, they would hit an arcade. Still others, they'd run around in a park, playing hide and seek or watching Uncle Sam chase a frisbee.

But today was special. Uncle Sam had gotten them some new toys to play with, ones that Trixie could accept for gun play. Paintball had been out because paint was near impossible to clean out of Trixie's mane and tail. Today, however, they would play in the park. Trixie grinned as she slipped on her vest, strapping it on under her cape. Once in position, she levitated the gun and switched them on.

"Ready!" her suit informed her.

"Ready!" she heard echoed from her Daddy's vest.

"Ready!" Uncle Sam's suit intoned.

"Game on!" all three suits chimed.

With that, Trixie leapt out of her cover, swinging her gun up. The laser beam shot out, immediately tagging Uncle Sam.

"One point: G.A.P. Trixie!" the suits informed them, pronouncing the acronym of her title as Gap.

"You cannot defeat the Great and Powerful-" Her brag was interrupted as he suit alerted her to being hit.

"Point for Mad Max!"

"Gotcha, schnookums!"

"Trixie will end you!"

"Point for Hound Dog!"

"Sam!"

"That's for programming my call sign without consulting me, little buddy!"

The trio played well into the late afternoon, enjoying themselves immensely. As the sun started to set, they stopped and checked their points. As each suit added a point for scoring a hit and deducted one for being hit, it was no surprise that Trixie had proven victorious, being a very small target.

"None can conquer the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie proclaimed.

"Next time you play without your cape," Sam pointed out. "I must have had 12 clear shots at you if not for that."

"Ha! A likely story! You are simply jealous of Trixie's leet skillz!"

"On no! Not leet speak!"

The three laughed their way home. Dinner was pizza they ordered in to eat alongside popcorn as they watched a video together, relaxing on the sofa.

When Trixie dozed off towards the credits, Max tenderly scooped her up, hung up her hat and cape, and tucked her in beside Major Ursa, who she automatically curled up to. Sitting back, he stroked her mane, singing her lullaby softly to ease her from drowsing to deep sleep.

This was Trixie's daily life with her Daddy and Uncle. And she was happy.