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Chapter One1,594 words
Chapter Two2,190 words
Chapter Three943 words
Chapter Four2,812 words
Chapter Five1,127 words

Chapter One

"Maybe if Trixie just lies down for a minute, she'll feel less tired." This sounded smart, so she plopped down right there on the dirt road. She had been travelling for a solid twenty minutes, so a rest was needed. The tip of her hair tickled her nose slightly, but she didn't feel like moving it. "Feels nice..." She mumbled to herself, content. She tried to recall the last time she had a decent meal, but her mind came up blank. Her belly rumbled in response, making her groan.

"I was just getting comfortable too..." She stood up, levitating some blueberries from her pouch into her mouth. They weren't as juicy as if they had just been picked. Continuing her purposeful stride down the road, she thought about what she would do next. She couldn't perform any more what with her cart being destroyed by the Ursa, and her funds were nonexistent.

She needed work that didn't depend on the cart, but still something that was in line with her special talent. A steady cash flow, instead of hoping that the next town would be better, that she would make enough in that town to actually last her to the one after that. Yes, she needed to settle into a job where she was still putting on a good show, utilizing magic. With this in mind, she began moving a little bit faster, hoping to hit a town before nightfall.

A few hours later, there were still no towns in sight. It was approaching midday, and Trixie was bored and hungry. There seemed to be nothing around her either, just fields and trees, a mountain range off to her right. The sun overhead beat down on her back and neck, making her sweat. She sighed deeply and continued trudging along, hoping that something would come up eventually.

Eventually something did come up, to the order of a few hundred apple trees. Nothing ever looked so delicious, her mouth started watering and she looked around. Seeing no one, she moved closer to the fence in search of apples. Grabbing one with her magic, she pulled it closer and took a bite. As she bit down and the juices filled her mouth, she could barely control herself. It was like biting into a slice of heaven, best thing she had eaten in a long time. As she finished that apple, she realized she was still quite hungry, and decided that if they wouldn’t notice one apple being taken, they can’t notice 4 more, right?

A short while later, with apples in tow, she was walking again and noticed a sign that said, ‘Sweet Apple Acres.’

“Must be the owner of all these apples...” She said to herself, as she tried to figure out a way to hide said apples. She didn’t have saddlebags or anything. Just the pouches for her berries, but they were much too small. It would be a waste to leave the apples on the ground, they were such good apples. As she was trying to figure out what to do, a voice cried out.

“What the hay are you doing?!”

Trixie froze, turning towards the source of the noise. Her mouth agape, she stared at the stranger, an orange coated mare with a blonde mane, stetson hat bestowed on her head, and a cutie mark consisting of three apples.

“Well, speak up! Don’t try lying, I can see you’ve stolen mah apples.” The stranger looked mad.

“I... well but, you just have so many apples. Trixie figured you wouldn’t notice a few missing?” She grinned sheepishly, pawing at the ground.

“Well, Ah probably wouldn’t have, but now that Ah’ve seen you Ah can’t just let you go. Wait a minute, don’t Ah know you from somewhere?” She squinted, looking at Trixie, running her eyes over her. “Ah recognize your cutie mark, but you don’t look the same, Trixie.”

Trixie stared back, wide eyed, “How did you know The Great and Powerful Trixie’s name?”

“Shucks, don’t you know where you are?” After receiving only a blank stare she sighed and continued, “Ponyville? You did a show here, upstaged a lot of ponies? Caused two young colts to stir up an ursa minor?”

That rang a bell, “That’s this place? Well then, Trixie simply must be off!” She turned and tried to trot away, but was stopped by Applejack’s teeth on her tail.

“Oh no ya don’t, you’re coming with me, you rascal.” With that, she began dragging her away, the apples forgotten on the ground.

“Let go of Trixie at once, this is no way for her to be treated!” Hooves scrambling, Trixie tried to at least slide on them instead of her belly.

“Mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph!” Applejack tried to say around the tail in her mouth.

“Trixie can’t understand a word you’re saying!” Nonetheless, she continued to be dragged, sighing all the way.

This odd sight greeted the citizens of Ponyville as they made their daily rounds, and rightfully, they stared. Trixie had never been so embarrassed, and she tried to hide her face. Applejack paid no mind to the other ponies and continued on with her prize. Pushing open the door to Town Hall, she dragged Trixie right up to the front desk. Spitting out Trixie’s tail, she looked to the secretary, and said, “Ah request a meeting with the Mayor.”

The secretary nodded and led them away. As they approached the Mayor’s office, Trixie said, “Harumph,” flipped her hair, and walked in. Applejack rolled her eyes and followed her. Mayor Mare sat behind her oak desk, a look of boredom evident on her face. She looked up as they entered, arching an eyebrow at Applejack.

“Afternoon, Mayor.” Applejack tipped her hat.

“Good afternoon, Applejack. What may I help you with?” She looked at Trixie, noting her starved appearance, stomach much thinner than a normal ponies.

“Well, Ah caught this varmint swiping mah apples! Then she just waltzes right past me with the apples held in her magic field, like it was nothing!” Applejack wasn’t quite mad, but she couldn’t just let this injustice go.

“I can understand your frustration, but it’s just a few apples, right? I’m sure that we can let that slide.” She silently begged Applejack to drop it.

“Ah’m sorry, Mayor, but I can’t just drop this. It’s thievery! Would you just ‘let it slide’ if I up and took your desk here?” She tapped her hoof on it. She looked the Mayor in the eye and signaled with her eyes, trying to convey something to her.

“I’m sorry, Trixie, would you excuse us for a moment? Be warned, my secretary will be keeping an eye on you. Don’t go too far.”

As Trixie left the room, Applejack turned and said, “Ah’m sorry about arguing with yah, but look at that girl! She’s all skin and bone, and we need to help her. She won’t stick around if we don’t make her, and I don’t know if she’ll survive the trip to another city.”

“You’re right, of course, but the worst I can give her for taking a couple apples is community service, and the maximum on that would be 20 hours.” She sighed, getting out some papers.

“That sounds perfect. She gets some much needed rest and food, and we get some small work out of her. Whatcha got, Mayor?” She watched her shuffle around on her desk.

“Well, nothing really. There’s only one thing I can think of, but she wouldn’t like it.” Having found the paper she was looking for, she began the search for a quill and some ink.

“Don’t matter if she likes it, it’s mandatory. What do you got in mind?” She looked at the flustered mare expectantly.

“Well, Cheerilee’s been looking for an assistant teacher to tutor some of her unicorn students in magic. Seems one of them lit a small fire on the playground with encouragement from her friends, trying to ‘get their cutie marks in brush clearing’ or some such nonsense.” Finding a quill, she began writing something.

“That don’t sound too hard, she could probably do that.” She went to fetch Trixie from outside.

“Is Trixie free to go? She’d like to move on, if you don’t mind.” She looked from the Mayor to Applejack, both were smiling. “What is it? Is there something on Trixie?”

“No, Trixie I’m afraid you won’t be going anywhere for a while.” The Mayor slid a paper across the desk to Applejack, “I’ve decided to charge you with theft, a charge normally mandating a fine, but seeing as you have no assets with which to pay a fine, I’m forced to charge you with 20 hours of community service at the schoolhouse.”

“What?! No, you can’t do this to Trixie! Trixie hates foals! They’re so unclean, and annoying!” She looked frantically between the two mares, pleading with her eyes.

“Fraid so, Trixie, and Ah’m gonna be the one caring for you while you work off your debt. That means early to bed, early to rise, 4 square meals a day.”

This was simply too much for Trixie’s overworked body to take, and she blacked out right then and there.

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