“C’mon, Starlight, what’s the surprise? Trixie demands to know!” Trixie called out as a purple hoof hovered in front of her eyes, Starlight’s cheeks dimpling as the corners of her eyes wrinkled. They walked through the empty hallways of Twilight Sparkle’s castle, Starlight guiding Trixie towards the towering doors at the end.
It was sometime past midnight, Twilight and Spike out of the castle for a trip to the Crystal Empire. That left the two mares alone, and Starlight could not be happier. Of course Starlight had to make sure everything was perfect though; scrubbed down floors, everything dusted- pretty much anything that could be cleaned was clean. Trixie could’ve sworn she still smelled soap from somewhere.
“I know you’re going to love it,” Starlight bragged from the magician’s side, a skip in her trot as she guided the blue mare. If she could’ve seen Trixie’s eyes, she would’ve seen them rolling. Hooves clicking against the marble, the hallway echoed as Starlight pushed open the creaking doors with magic and removed her hoof from Trixie’s eyes. “You can open them now.”
With a few fluttery blinks, Trixie took in the sight before wind gusted against her. Her eyes shut on instinct. As if on cue, a red scarf found its way around Trixie’s neck. She turned to see Starlight do the same to herself, chuckling a bit. “I, uh, put them in the basket just in case. Hehe.” She gestured to the display before her.
There laid a red picnic blanket spread out close to the railing, a basket in the center illuminated by the night’s full moon. An array of food was taken out, each detail done to a ridiculously high standard. Napkins folded neatly, plates shining with food perfectly centered, even the blanket seemingly absent of wrinkles. Still grinning like an idiot as Trixie stood silent, Starlight dragged her over with a blush.
“I thought I’d give you something special after we, well, saved Equestria,” she said with darkening cheeks, gesturing a hoof to the food. “I even had Twilight personally ask Luna for all the stars to be shining and for the weather ponies to make it clear.” She puffed out her chest a bit. “It’s great, right?”
Trixie stuttered. “I-I… Trixie does not deserve such perfection.”
Starlight giggled, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “We saved frickin’ Equestria. We could ask for a lot more than a pretty night.”
Trixie’s eyes darted around the food before making their way up to the stars. Starlight was definitely not wrong when she said Luna had made the night special.
A canopy of shimmering stars danced across a vast backdrop of blackness, an assemblage of various nebulae painting the sky with colors. The moon shone brighter than ever, dark greys of craters clearly visible as it appeared closer than ever. Distant stars flickered while close up stars shone bright, illuminating the quiet town of Ponyville with luminous highlights. Trixie shook her head.
“Trixie decrees that Starlight Glimmer is too much of a perfectionist,” Trixie mumbled, levitating one of the spoons to eye level. Even the silverware was ridiculously shiny and fancy. “T-Thank you.” She felt her own cheeks growing hot. She hadn’t done much of anything, she had just tagged along because Starlight was friends with her. A former villainess didn’t deserve this.
“I like things to be perfect when it comes to my friends.” Trixie cocked an eyebrow. There was a bit too much emphasis on that last word.
The two sat down on opposite ends, Trixie sifting through the various items. Perfect rose petal sandwiches, champagne, Belgian chocolate- Trixie’s personal favorites… The two ate in silence for a moment, simply enjoying the chilly autumn night’s beauty. It was so, well, kind. Thoughtful. Made for her. Trixie cleared her throat, drawing Starlight’s eyes to her.
“Tri-I would like to ask why you didn’t invite Discord or perhaps Thorax. They helped, too,” Trixie mumbled over her chocolate. She should feel guilty for this. Starlight lowered her champagne.
“Well, we did have that party with the princesses. I kind of wanted something personal between us, y’know? We’re better friends.”
“Friends…” Trixie mulled over the word before grinning. “Are you sure that’s it?”
Starlight’s countenance twisted to something that resembled a beyond mortified look. Pupils dilating, her muzzle turned bright red as she shook her head and flailed her hooves. Her words came out fast and jumbled. “N-No! I mean, yeah, it’s because we’re friends, but not like that, I mean we’re good friends, and I just wanted to do something nice and-”
Trixie cut her off with a chuckle, closing her eyes as she giggled. “You’re so much fun to tease, Starlight. Almost better than when I mess with Twilight.”
“S-shut up.”
A silence fell between the two and Starlight looked away with a grumble. Smiling, Trixie levitated her own glass, twirling it around in her magic before drinking it. Bubbly, flavorful, pleasant tingle; it was just right for a calm night as this. She breathed out slowly, tilting her head up to the sky. Calmness was hard to come by these days, so it was rare moments like this that made her day. A quiet meal with a good friend.
Was that it? No. Trixie closed her eyes. She was just teasing, it couldn’t be more than that. Trixie barely proved to be a good friend, so how could she be in that kind of relationship?
“Say, I wanna talk a bit. How’d you get your cutie mark?”
Trixie raised her eyebrows at the sudden question, craning her head back to Starlight. “Hmm?”
“Well,” Starlight said as she took a bite out of a sandwich, “I was kind of thinking about how I got to this, and if you don’t know already, my past has a lot to do with cutie marks.” Starlight shook her head, wincing a bit. “That’s now what I wanna talk about though. I was wondering how you got yours- your cutie mark, that is.” She put on a simper. “I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours. I have quite an embarrassing one”
Trixie touched a hoof to her chin, still taken aback by the question. Why did she care so much about her? “Gods, that was a long time ago. I’ll try to tell you if I can remember.”
“Well, we’ve got a nice night out, food, and champagne. I think a good story is perfect for concluding this night.”
“I think this night is perfect with you here.” The words slipped from Trixie’s mouth before she could stop them. Starlight froze up a bit, watching beads of sweat form on her temple. Quiet crept between the two. Starlight awkwardly snickered, lifting a hoof to her muzzle.
“Oh, I will so get back at you with that-”
“So about my cutie mark!” Trixie butted in. Starlight lowered her hoof, ear flicking. Trixie rubbed the back of her neck. “I was about four or five. I think. My father wasn’t the, uh, richest in town, and my mother had recently… moved on.” She paused. Starlight’s eyes flashed with worry. Trixie cleared her throat. That was a story for another time. “So he decided to take me to a magic show. It was cheap, but it was nice. Then at the end…”
Trixie closed her eyes before they shot back open. Leaning in close to Starlight, the corners of her lips rose as she flashed her teeth. “He did this amazing explosion at the end! I was so starstruck, I decided I had to do the same. A few failed spells later and I guess I might’ve blown up my old doll.” Trixie giggled a little. “I was doing this pretend show for a couple of my friends. They ended up running away screaming, but I was prouder than ever. I had done a magic trick. Sort of.”
She tapped her hoof to the marble. “I mean, I had done tricks before that, but an explosion? Making rabbits appear in hats is nothing to that.”
Starlight joined in with a few suppressed snorts. “The Great and Powerful Exploder, huh? It has a nice ring.”
Trixie sighed. “Yup. I bounced around and looked at my butt and poof, cutie mark.”
Starlight fumbled around with her fork.
“Hmm… Couldn’t that technically mean your talent is linked to explosions?”
Trixie paused. “Huh, I’ve never really thought about that. I’ve been happy doing what I do. It... It might be. Or maybe imitating magic.”
“Well, you said you did tricks before. It was probably linked to the whole finishing a magic show thing. Maybe Twilight can answer that or lend a book or something.”
Starlight nibbled on her sandwich, watching as Trixie tapped her hoof and looked to the side. Suddenly, she slammed her hooves down, shooting up. Starlight almost choked on her sandwich.
“Wanna find out?” she practically burst out.
“W-What?”
“Come on, a little bit of excitement from The Great and Powerful Trixie will be fun! We can do some tests on objects and see if I can explode them easily. If not, we can try practicing a few spells that you show me. Won’t Twilight be happy you experimented or whatever?”
Starlight hesitated. “Well, I do have some rather unfavorable pictures I would’ve been burning anyways…”
“So?” Trixie’s eyes lit up, her muzzle practically touching Starlight’s.
“Y-Yeah, why not? There’s a field around here where we won’t bother anyone if things go, ahem, wrong.”
“Then Trixie declares this to be an adventure!” Trixie announced dramatically, pointing her hoof to the stars with an inflated grin. “Let us explode our embarrassing memories into oblivion!”
With a quick look over safety spells and retrieval of said embarrassing memories, the two found themselves isolated in a large field, the once bright green grass fading into brown. Moonlight tipped the blades with white, sparkling as Trixie puffed out her chest. Starlight was busy fretting over every detail, flipping through a book on spells as she buried her nose in the pages.
“Anti flame spell… silencing spell… I think we’re good,” she concluded, slamming the book shut. “If anything happens I’ll honestly be at a loss.” Setting the book down in the grass, she hovered up two photos, feeling her ears fall back as she blushed. “Uh, let’s not talk about this?”
“Agreed,” Trixie replied as she found herself staring at Starlight in some rather compromising positions. “How do ponies even bend back like that?”
“Can we please destroy it already?”
Trixie rolled her eyes, picking up the pictures in her aura. “Yeah, yeah, alright miss flexible.”
With that, Starlight’s horn illuminated, a large green bubble forming around Trixie. With a gesture, Trixie nodded back, pushing the images out in front of her. Closing her eyes, she drew in a sharp breath, her magic shimmering around the images. Within a few seconds, the images began shaking and-
Boom!
The images disappeared in a ball of flames, Starlight breaking out into a mirthful viage. Her horn’s light faded along with the bubble, hooves carrying her over to Trixie.
“Oh my Celestia that was amazing! How come-”
She froze mid step. Trixie stood heaving, her eyes staring off to space as her ears pinned back to her skull. Starlight cocked an eyebrow.
“Trixie?”
“I… I…” Tears began to well up in Trixie’s eyes. “I can’t believe this.” She turned to run away, only for Starlight to circle in front of her with a puzzled look. Trixie’s eyes closed as one tear followed another. Within seconds she forced herself on the purple mare, burying her muzzle into her. Starlight found herself frozen, opening her mouth only for nothing to come out as her shoulder became soaked. Starlight wrapped a hoof around her.
“Let’s head back to the castle. You’re staying there tonight.”
“I-”
“Just come with me.”
The walk back was wordless. Starlight had made Trixie a cup of tea and left her in the kitchen, preparing the guest bedroom. Within a few minutes of spreading out blankets and tidying up things she heard the door click open, a clearly downtrodden mare entering. Starlight opened her mouth to say something, only to be cut off.
“It’s not you,” she said quickly, “please don’t think it's you.”
Silence.
“...This whole night has been perfect up until-” She sighed, walking to the bed. “It’s just… I can’t believe I didn’t even get my talent right.”
Starlight shook her head. “Trixie, there’s a million things that could explain why you just happened to blow up those pictures. Wouldn’t you have noticed if you messed up your destiny?”
She rolled her eyes. “Besides,” she took a step closer, “What do you mean ‘I can’t even’?”
She snapped back with a growl. “Starlight, I’m a freaking magician who lives in a wagon. Is that what you’d call successful? Me following my destiny? What motivated me for a while was a petty squabble with Twilight, and look at her now! A princess, and you’re her student, and Discord is a god, Thorax is a king, and I’m…”
Trixie’s cheeks grew wet as she looked down. “I’m the mare who can’t even get her cutie mark right. The mare whose magic can only be used for cheap tricks. The mare who’s life has been nothing but a trainwreck. Why go out of your way for me?”
Trixie sighed, looking over to the picnic box. “Look, I know you want to say something inspirational or whatever but I think what I really want right now is to drink a lot more champagne.”
Starlight opened her mouth. “I-”
“Please.”
The pair paused.
“...okay.”
Starlight silently walked over to the basket, pulling out two glasses. She poured the liquid equally into each, magicing over a glass to the blue mare. She took it with a spell, wasting no time to start drinking. She climbed up on the bed. Starlight followed suit.
There the two mares sat. While Starlight took a few sips, she eventually levitated the glass to the ground. She couldn’t drink while her friend was upset.
It didn’t make sense though. Trixie said it wasn’t her, but… why now then? Why not to get upset? She had to have done something wrong.
Trixie suddenly butted in, clearly not as sober as she was before.
“I think it’s the loneliness, Starlight,” she whispered, drawing Starlight’s eyes onto her. “It kind of a lot, you know. You were my first true friend. You cared. You listened. It’s… scary. I disappointed you once, I hurt you once, and I never wanted to do that again.
“But at that moment when I lost your trust I felt… small. Weak. I covered up in front of Twilight by pretending I was fine. And tonight, you did all of this for me. You wanted to learn about me. You wanted to help me. And when I found myself doing that stupid explosion, I felt small again. Small like I always have. Starlight’s friend can’t even get her talent right? I… I…”
“Trixie,” she stated firmly, “Is this what it’s all about? Because I’ll have you know that I want to know about you because I like you. It doesn’t matter if you’re as strong as other ponies, and it’s perfectly fine if you’re scared! I guess I kind of understand…” She tensed up. “You, you… I like you a lot. That’s why I wanted a special night. But I guess I messed up.”
Trixie froze up. “N-No… don’t flip this to yourself!” she snapped. “You and Twilight- you’re always perfect, always getting things right. Living in a castle, amazing at magic! I mess up. Normal ponies mess up.”
Starlight jerked back a bit. “I’m sorry? What, do you think my life’s been easy?”
“Oh yeah, the friend you lost because you couldn’t send a letter.”
“You know it's been more than that.”
“Oh, yeah? Was it more like having your mother die? Was it living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to live with a dad who was broken? Was it realizing that your best friend probably looks down on you because she can’t even get her freakin’ cutie mark right?!”
Quiet. Deafening silence. Trixie hiccuped. “I don’t know why I’m still hung up on any of this. It’s been years.”
Starlight let the silence continue for a moment. “Well, if you need to talk, you know I’m here.”
Trixie smiled, opening her mouth to do just that. Each word was barely comprehensible, though. Her words slurring and switched out for a bottle, bags under her eyes as she began to lay down. Starlight took in a deep breath and looked to the side. She knew Trixie had problems before all of this, so why did it hurt so much now?
Things did work out pretty great for me, huh? Even after possibly dooming Equestria, she still received a second chance; heck, a chance at studying with Princess Twilight. There were a lot of ponies that struggled.
Starlight found herself stifling a yawn. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a few seconds...
The smell of blueberries jolted Starlight awake. With a yawn, she pushed the large blanket off of her, rubbing her eyes. Bleary vision clearing, she quickly realized that she was not in her own room. She sprung to her hooves in a panic. No, I didn’t-
Trixie walked in, balancing an array of foods in her magic. Her eyes swiftly fell on Starlight. She put on a small smile.
“I, um, wanted to apologize for last night with breakfast in bed. I woke up last night and really started thinking.”
She placed the tray and items on the bed, walking over to Starlight. She put a hoof on her shoulder. “Look, even the Great and Powerful Trixie has bad nights for no reason. I guess I’m a bit jealous everything’s come to you so nicely. Want to just talk over some food? I even looked through the cabinets and used fancy looking spatulas for the pancakes.”
Starlight was frozen in place, morbid at the thought of her sleeping in the same bed with Trixie. But as she looked at the mare’s pleasing look, she broke out a sigh.
“That would be nice.”
Author's Note
A really random idea I had.
Edited by Shimmer Shy.
