An "A" for Effort

by No Raisin

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Starlight Glimmer, Romance, Trixie, Spike, Comedy
Length: 2004

Starlight awkwardly attempts to ask out Trixie for Hearts and Hooves Day.

Love is in the air on Hearts and Hooves Day, and Starlight Glimmers knows exactly who she wants to spend it with. Now if only she can gather enough courage to confess to her best friend.

Cover art by the great and powerful okaces.

Published 2017-02-21 03:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-02-21 03:10:01 UTC

She Tried

Starlight Glimmer was working herself into a sweat; she'd been pacing around the dining hall for so long that her hooves left an indentation in the ground. Twilight and Spike didn't know how to calm their friend in this particular case, since they themselves didn't have much experience in the area of... well...

Love.

The stressed-out unicorn was too busy talking to herself anyway. "Alright, Starlight, it's natural, it's totally natural, you just have to—" sneezing— "keep a cool demeanor! Act like nothing's happening, then pop the question. Just say the words," she said, then turned to Spike. "What are the words?"

Spike had been watching the spectacle with a bucket of popcorn in claw. "Uhhh, 'Wanna go out'? You're not the only one worrying about rejection, Starlight. Today is the day, after all."

Not feeling reassured, Starlight scrunched up her nose. "Thanks, Spike. I feel so special."

Twilight chimed in with, "He does have a point, Starlight. I imagine it must be stressful trying to ask somepony out on a date. Especially if it's somepony with as big a... um..."

"Ego?" Spike took another batch of buttered popcorn into his mouth. The alicorn shot him a glare, but continued.

"As big an ego as Trixie, yes. What with all the theatrics and so on," Twilight said before moving up alongside Starlight and causing her to stop her pacing. "But look on the bright side. She adores you, Starlight." She gave an ashamed look at nothing specifically. "You certainly get along with her better than I ever did."

Starlight patted Twilight's shoulder with a sympathetic hoof. "Hey, it was my fault our friendship almost got destroyed. I vowed to never even come close to losing her again after that."

The alicorn sighed and smiled meekly at her friend. "It was kinda my fault too, remember? I doubted both of you more than anypony, and that's not how the Princess of Friendship is supposed to act. If anypony should be helping you now, it's me."

Her heart slowing down to a normal rate, Starlight nuzzled Twilight's neck as a token of thanks. "At least I'm not doing this on my own."

"Well, until you have to ask her yourself," quipped Spike. "That part's totally you." Starlight frowned at the remark.

"I still know how to use that mind-control combo, in case you were wondering," she said half-jokingly. Both Starlight and Twilight let out a kindhearted giggle at that moment. At this point in their friendship it was best to not look back on Starlight's missteps too seriously. For the most part, anyway. Starlight still had a habit of deprecating herself too much, but she'd get over it eventually.

Twilight gestured with her hoof. "Hey, if you need to get some weight off your chest—" putting her hoof to her heart, then pushing it outward— "just do what I do. Princess Cadance taught me that one."

"How many princesses do you know?" Starlight said, giggling again.

"Juuuuuuust a few." Twilight jabbed her friend in the side with her hoof cheekily. "Remember, Starlight, I believe in you. If anything goes wrong, you can always count on me. Almost always." The two smiled at each other for a moment.

"That's being a little too optimistic!" Spike yelled from the castle kitchen, no doubt baking some sweets.

Ignoring the little dragon, Starlight said, "Hopefully it'll go right. I'm just nervous, ya know? Like really nervous..." Then a thought came to her head. "You don't have a special somepony in mind as well?"

Twilight laughed heartily at the question, as if it were a joke. "They won't let me get one!"

"Oh." Starlight wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "Yeah, that would sure do it."

Finding Trixie's caravan wasn't so hard. Everything else would be, though. Starlight gently lowered herself on to the grassy ground and felt her heart speed up again. This whole ordeal was going to take years off her life.

"Hang on," the unicorn uttered. "I can't just go up to the front door and knock. Not right off. Not right away. Right? Right! Don't wanna rush into it. Okay..." She took some deep breaths and started to stretch her legs. "Gotta work these muscles first! Exercise is always healthy. I should probably do it more often." Starlight used to wonder if she had mustang blood in her heritage, considering her penchant for anxiety and deceptive physical prowess.

After she gave her legs some good stretches, feeling the joints crack satisfyingly, Starlight began making her way to the caravan. Until she stopped again. "But wait! I should do some cardio too. Yeah, running in place works wonders, and I've read somewhere that it helps prevent stomach cramps. Or something like that." So here she was, dancing like a maniac on the floor, blissfully unaware of her own procrastinating. The day was still young anyway.

Unexpectedly, the side window of the caravan opened to let Trixie's head pop out. She didn't have her wizard hat on, which was a rarity, but then this was a day off for most workers. She looked around until she saw Starlight near the front. "Uhh, Starlight?"

"AH!" Starlight jumped a foot in the air before coming back down, her heart threatening to burst out of her chest. "Trixie! Heeeeeeey!" She donned an unconvincing grin and shifted her eyes side to side.

"Hello, Starlight," Trixie uttered. "Aren't you supposed to be with Twilight?"

"W-well, I was thinking, with you being great and powerful and—"

"I understand that you're my good friend and all, but the Grrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie doesn't do shows for free." The magician tapped her hoof on her chin, remembering something. "Except for that one time, but I was young and needed the experience."

"O-oh no, that's not what I'm here for. Nope." Starlight's eyes shifted again.

"You came all the way here just to talk, then? I must admit, that flatters me," Trixie beamed a smile that was half-mischievous and half-sincere. "Gimme just a second." A few seconds later and Trixie stood at the doorway of the caravan. Her cape was gone too...

Starlight rubbed the back of her neck anxiously. "I was just wanted to say, uhhh—" eye twitching— "How's it going?" The magician shot her a confused look, but didn't seem too taken back.

"Pretty swell, if you must know." She eyed Starlight skeptically. "Is there a reason why you were acting like a spaz outside my home?"

"Oh, well, you see, uh..." Starlight shook her head rapidly, her brain getting tossed around inside. "I came to tell you something. It's really important. Like the most important thing I've told you in a long time."

Trixie's eyebrow arched. "Is it an emergency?"

"No, not exactly..."

"That nasty changeling queen came back?"

"No..."

"Discord is being a pain in the rear?"

"N-nope."

"Twilight sent you on another friendship lesson?"

` "Definitely not." Starlight let a breathy laugh escape her lips at that one. Trixie went down the steps and slowly approached her friend, who had to have something important to say if she was being so weird about it.

"So... what is it, then? The Grrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie likes talking to her best friend—" dodging a rock that had been thrown at her head— "and favorite assistant, but not if she's acting like something's the matter."

"Well, I mean, nothing's really the matter, but," Starlight coughed out, "what day is today?"

"Saturday. Why...?" The magician let the actual answer fly over her.

"I guess that's technically correct, but other than that, what day is it?" Starlight wiped some sweat that had rolled down her cheek. One of her hind legs kept twitching.

Trixie stood there for a moment, resting her chin on her hoof. "Hmm," she said. "The Grrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie isn't too keen on holidays, unfortunately. Please don't tell anypony that."

"Oh, of course," the stressed unicorn said. "But the thing is—the thing is—" taking a deep breath—"it's Hearts and Hooves Day!"

Trixie's eyes widened with a start. "Is it now?" She then coyly poked Starlight's nose with her hoof. "I'm guessing you're here to tell me you want some love advice? Who's the special somepony, if I may be so curious?"

"No, no! I haven't asked anypony out." Starlight shook her head in denial. "I actually came here to say I li—..." The word wouldn't come to her, no matter how much she strained for it to materialize. Trixie simply cocked her head quizzically. "I liiiiiii...!"

"Well? Spit it out already. Trixie doesn't have all day."

Much to her chagrin, Starlight's tongue tied itself up in knots. "I life you! No, wait, I loaf you! NO!" The unicorn smacked her forehead and felt her cheeks get flooded with blood. "I live you! I link you! I look you! I larf you! I—!"

"I like you?" Trixie blinked a few times and didn't say anything more. Her expression was difficult to make out, and Starlight wondered if she could screw this up any more than she already did.

"That's what I meant..." Starlight hung her head in embarrassment.

Trixie rubbed one of her temples before she spoke up again. "Like, what kind of 'like' are we talking about here? This is all pretty odd, even by the Grrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie's standards."

Looking back up to meet Trixie's gaze, Starlight said weakly, "I like you, Trixie."

"You like me? As in, that kind of 'like'?"

"Are we thinking of the same thing?" Starlight sighed, exhausted by this point. "Can I make myself any clearer?"

"A lot clearer," the magician said dryly, but soon took on a smile. "But I think I know what you're talking about."

Starlight's spirits picked up, and her eyes fluttered. "Y-you do?"

"Of course!" In a flash, Trixie threw her forelegs around her friend and nearly pushed Starlight on to her back. For a mare who didn't appear to have much in the way of raw strength, Trixie squeezed the life of Starlight with this hug. "The Grrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie likes you too, Starlight!"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The pressure on her lungs hurt, but at the same time felt good. "You do?"

"Wasn't it obvious? My first and best friend? How can I not like you in that... you know..." Trixie reluctantly loosened her grasp and gave Starlight some air. The two almost had their muzzles touching.

"You l-like mares?" Starlight uttered. "I know most mares aren't exactly straight shooters, but there was the fear in the back of my mind that you only liked—"

"Well, if you really must know, I like you, Starlight. And that's all I need to have figured out to get a good night's sleep," the magician said, then, "unless those stupid fireworks of mine go off again." Both of them giggled, Trixie from her own joke, Starlight from the waves of relief washing over her.

"So... I was wondering, um..." Starlight nearly lost it again, but kept going. "With Hearts and Hooves Day being what it is, and you and me being what we are—"

"Awesome?" Trixie interrupted, but Starlight didn't mind the compliment.

"That too, but I was wondering if maybe we could—ya know—go on a date? Today?"

"Ohhhhhhhhh," the magician dragged on until she finally said, "To be totally honest with you, Starlight, even somepony like Trixie hasn't—well..." Her tone suddenly became more hushed. "Trixie hasn't gone on a date before..."

"Neither have I, Trixie," the relieved unicorn said. "Is that okay? Us not knowing what we're doing?" She nuzzled Trixie's cheek in a way she had never quite done before. The action might have been the same, but the feeling behind it was different.

Trixie gained back her smile, now entirely sincere, and brushed her cheek against Starlight's. "With my wonderful assistant at my side, the Grrrrrrreat and Powerful Trixie is ready to improvise!"

The ensuing date would undoubtedly be a beautiful failure, and they wouldn't have it any other way.