Starlight levitated her old, dusty textbook away, and glanced up at her teacher, completely puzzled.
“How can it be a teleportation and a transformation spell? I thought that was -”
“Impossible?” Twilight replied with a smile. “I thought so too, but it turns out there's a loophole in Haycart's 7th law -”
A sudden thud at the door ended any hopes of finishing the lesson.
Twilight raced over to the door, almost crashing into it herself.
“Spike? Are you alright?”
The door creaked open, and a grey mare, donning a bag of mail, greeted her, blushing furiously.
“Sorry, just me.”
Twilight let out a snort-like giggle before regaining control of herself.
“At least you didn't go through the door this time! Mail, I'm guessing?”
The mare nodded, reaching into the bag on her back and pulling out a letter reading 'addressed to Starlight Glimmer'.
How did you do that without even looking?, Twilight thought to herself, making a mental note to research it later. She smiled at the mare, and lifted the letter with her magic, passing it to Starlight.
“Thankyou” Twilight answered kindly.
“No problem” the mail mare answered, before bidding a swift retreat.
Twilight turned, to see Starlight smiling like Pinkie Pie on caffeine.
“Well, what's it say?” she asked.
“Trixie's running another show in Ponyville!” Starlight squeaked.
“Oh.” Twilight answered unenthusiastically, before staring at the ground.
“Twilight!” Starlight snapped, “she saved Equestria, cut her some slack!”
“It's not that, I just –” Twilight started, stumbling over her words. “Look, it's not your concern anyway.”
With that, she raced out of the room, leaving a bewildered Starlight staring wide-eyed at the door.
Trixie galloped into town with the usual fanfare. Fireworks, smoke bombs, dramatic statements in third person.
This time, however, instead of suspicious glances, she was met with friendly greetings and fillies looking for autographs.
“Trixie meets a lot of fans, but she supposes she can make time for one more,” the show pony said, trying not to smile too much as she scribbled out another autograph. She could get used to this.
Suddenly, Trixie found herself toppling over backwards, and landing flank-first in the dirt.
“Sorry!” Starlight exclaimed, “I only meant to give you a hug!”
“Hah!” Trixie replied, before returning the favour.
“So,” Starlight asked, “you wanted assistance with the show?”
“Oh, yes... that!” Trixie answered, a slight tinge of uncertainty in her voice.
Starlight squinted at her friend suspiciously. “Are you alright?”
“Of course! The great and... alright Trixie is the most alright, totally normal, not-at-all-hiding-something pony in all of Equestria!”
“What is it?”
Trixie sighed, and beckoned Starlight to follow with her hoof. Together, they galloped back to Trixie's cart, which she had pre-placed behind a tree the previous night, in case it was required for dramatic exits.
The interior of Trixie's mobile home was a lot clearer than usual. The floor was polished, the show supplies were packed neatly into cardboard boxes (all of which had Trixie's face stamped on them), and the walls seemed to have been re-painted.
“You've redecorated!” Starlight blurted out, still a little taken aback by the change.
“You don't like it?” Trixie asked, a concerned frown taking over her face.
“No no, it's great!”
“Trixie knew you would say that. She was just testing!”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Well, you've made your dramatic exit, what did you want to tell me?”
Trixie glanced quickly to the left, to the right, then back at Starlight. “Trixie – uh – I actually don't hate Twilight”, she whispered.
Starlight giggled. “Really, that's all?”
“Well actually I -” Trixie stopped herself mid sentence. “I mean yes, that's all.”
“I'm your friend Trixie, whatever you have to say, I'm not going to judge you for it.”
“Let's – uh – start preparing for the show!” Trixie suggested, eager to change the topic.
Starlight decided to give in. “Alright, anything I can do?”
Trixie levitated a bag of flyers in Starlight's direction. Naturally, the bag was painted blue, with Trixie's cutie mark on both sides.
“Can you get these to as many ponies as possible, and then meet Trixie back here?”
Starlight nodded. “Sure thing!”
“Excellent! See ya!”
With that, Starlight trotted out of the cart, levitating the flyers alongside her, and Trixie quickly shut the door behind her.
Twilight collapsed in a heap on her soft, comfy bed.
“Remind me never to go on another one of Cadance's hikes.”
Spike scribbled her instructions on a notepad.
“Twilight?” Spike asked, immediately afterwards.
“Yes?”
“Never go on another one of Cadance's hikes.”
In reply, he got a groan and pillow to the face.
“Totally worth it”, the dragon chuckled to himself as he closed the door behind him, a massive grin on his face.
A few seconds of precious silence passed, before the door swung back open.
“Twilight!” her student gasped. “I need friendship advice! It's urgent!”
“Come in.” Twilight said with a defeated sigh, her voice muffled by her blankets.
“Uh... is now a bad time?”
“Of course not”, Twilight said with a smile, taking the opportunity to practice Celestia's try-not-to-show-you're-dying-inside technique.
“I was just wondering,” Starlight, began, softly walking over to Twilights side, “say your best friend has a secret, and they really need to talk about it, but they don't want to tell you?”
“You're not talking about anypony in particular are you?” Twilight asked, in a slightly more panicked voice than intended.
“Umm.... no?”
“Sorry... c-continue” Twilight requested.
“Sure... Um yeah, so how would you get them to talk about it?”
“Well, you need to make sure they're in a comfortable setting. Try revealing one of your own secrets first to make them feel safer. Oh, and the most important thing is not to pressure them.”
“Thanks so much!” Starlight exclaimed, galloping out of the room.
“Yuh, no problem”, Twilight yawned, before rolling over and instantly falling asleep.
