Author's Note
Now before starting the first one I wanted to make a few things clear: Please keep in mind that I will only use requests if they work with my perspective - like featuring pairings I ship - because they're going to be in the middle of being canon to my current story series and canon to the show itself. Meaning Spike still looks like a 'baby dragon' in the oneshots, but what happens in the oneshots might be referenced in my future stories.
Also I won't use requests that have anything to do with my least favorite episodes, Putting Your Hoof Down for example. Plus I'd like my oneshots to stay more in the K-K+ rating, so no M rated requests at all and go easy on the T rated requests. Now, with that out of the way on to the first oneshot:
Post No Second Prances
Trixie had finished setting off the fireworks that ended all her performances. Twilight suddenly looked as if she realized something and groaned.
“Oh no...I’d better get back and...apologize to Princess Celestia for leaving her back at the castle.” Twilight facehoofed. “I hope she forgives me for that.”
“I’ll go with you Twilight, it’s my fault you had to leave anyway.” Starlight offered.
“Thank you....” Twilight said with relief before remembering something. “Oh, Trixie would you like to join us? The dinner was to tell Princess Celestia about Starlight’s friendship studies and introduce her to Starlight’s new friend so....”
“Um....” Trixie suddenly looked scared. “I dunno if that’s a good idea....”
“Oh...are you worried about how she’ll react to your past?” Starlight guessed sympathetically.
Trixie nodded.
“Don’t worry, she already knows about mine and didn’t even scold me.” Starlight smiled before chuckling: “And I’m sure my past was way worse than whatever you did. Even with that evil amulet you mentioned earlier.”
Trixie smiled slightly, feeling a little better but still nervous.
“Ah yes, the Alicorn Amulet. Thank goodness Zecora hid it....” Twilight remembered before rolling her eyes. “I don’t even want to know why somepony invented that thing in the first place.”
“Obviously somepony who didn’t want his identity revealed, since I couldn’t find any info on the amulet’s inventor.” Trixie said.
“Me either, and given the library I have that’s saying something.” Twilight chuckled. “Come on, we’d better not keep Princess Celestia waiting any longer.”
“Right.” Starlight agreed.
“Right....” Trixie said nervously, giving in but obviously not looking forward to meeting Celestia.
They headed back to the Castle of Friendship and went to the dining room.
“Ah, there you are Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia said, not sounding angry but not sounding happy either.
“Yes...I’m really sorry for leaving you like that but-” Twilight began.
“You had to get Starlight and her real new friend I presume?” Princess Celestia guessed before smiling. “It’s okay, that’s what this dinner was for anyway. But next time please tell me first.”
“Right....” Twilight chuckled awkwardly before realizing: “Wait a minute, you knew they weren’t Starlight’s real new friends all along?”
“Well the fact that they arrived to dinner without Starlight was a pretty good indicator that they weren’t.” Princess Celestia smirked.
“Heh, oh yeah....” Twilight blushed slightly. “Oh, um, Derpy, DJ Pon-3, Cranky, I want to apologize for bringing you here for false reasons. Is there anything I can do to make it up to any of you?”
“Just food, I’m kinda hungry. Got any muffins?” Derpy smiled.
“I’m hungry too, so yeah just food.” DJ nodded.
“Food and nose hair trimmers, since that was why I thought I was coming here anyway.” Cranky said.
“Hm...food I can do but I don’t have any nose hair trimmers. How about I pay for the spa to take care of that tomorrow instead?” Twilight suggested.
“Good enough.” Cranky agreed.
Now the guests hadn’t eaten before since they knew it was impolite to start eating without the host. And either way not even Cranky wanted to eat before Celestia since that’d be an even bigger faux pas (at least in their perspective anyway).
Anyway, they then instantly started eating the was-supposed-to-be-cold dishes, the rest needed to be reheated first which Spike was already taking care of. Derpy, DJ, and Cranky ate enough to satisfy themselves, and then left since the dinner was really supposed to be about Starlight and her real new friend. Oh, and Derpy did leave with a couple muffins since Twilight actually did have some in the kitchen.
“Well, now that that’s settled: Twilight, was there a reason why you didn’t bring Starlight’s real new friend earlier?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Eh...yeah I...already knew the new friend. I’m sure you remember her...Trixie?” Twilight winced awkwardly.
“Oh yes...I see now, after the way she treated your friends I can understand your hesitation in accepting her. Although she was apologetic about the Alicorn Amulet incident.” Princess Celestia pointed out.
“Yes I did forgive her for that, but she still hasn’t apologized for the way she treated my friends the first time she came here.” Twilight frowned.
“Oh...that was....” Trixie came further into the room with her head hanging. “Why you didn’t trust me with Starlight?”
“Yeah, I’m not entirely sure that you’ve completely reformed. Although you at least have accepted real friendship so....” Twilight reconsidered.
“No, no, you’re right I should’ve apologized to them. I’ll do it tomorrow.” Trixie promised before bowing. “Um, good evening Princess Celestia, I-”
“Rise Trixie Lulamoon, I already forgave you for your past.” Princess Celestia raised a hoof dismissively. “Especially since I know that your actions weren’t created by evil, they were merely caused by pride and jealousy.”
Trixie widened her eyes as she stood up.
“Whoa, she’s good.” Starlight remarked.
“Jealousy?” Twilight widened her eyes with realization. “Trixie, that was why you came back for that magic duel? You were jealous of me? I mean I kinda figured that when you gloated over Starlight choosing to perform with you instead of going to the dinner with me but....”
“Yes.” Trixie cut in. “Princess Celestia is right. I mean you-you’re better than me at-at everything....” Tears appeared in Trxie’s eyes. “You even became a princess.”
“Oh Trixie, my being a princess isn’t something for you to be jealous of.” Twilight actually put a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder comfortingly. “I earned that, and not easily either. I had to learn lessons on friendship, face many foes, and solve a difficult spell that caused trouble in Ponyville before I could become a princess. I didn’t even know I was going to become a princess until after I got my wings. If you want to gain something special, like a title, you have to earn it.”
“Oh....” Trixie sighed. “But your magic is still better than mine.”
“That’s just because powerful magic runs in my family, plus I studied constantly to make my magic stronger. In fact all that constant studying was why I later had to learn lessons in friendship.” Twilight chuckled awkwardly.
Trixie actually smiled at that.
“You however were born with only enough magic to do what you were meant to do, just like all other unicorns.” Twilight continued. “Rarity knows enough to make dresses, my brother knows enough to protect others, and you know enough to perform on a stage.”
There was a slight pause as Trixie thought about that.
“Yeah...I guess you’re right.” Trixie smiled, feeling better.
She, Starlight, Twilight, and Celestia then moved on to the rest of the meal and chatted, with Spike soon joining them.
“So...being a traveling showpony I normally don’t stay in one place for too long.” Trixie said to Starlight. “However I’ve never had a real friend before, so I can stay longer to hang out with you more if you want.”
“I’d love that.” Starlight grinned.
“I’d love it too, though I may have to reserve the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive for just Ponyville. I mean I understand if you’re still busy with your studies...and I doubt I could find somepony else as good as you to be my magician’s assistant.” Trixie admitted.
“Gee, thank you.” Starlight smiled, touched. “And yeah, I think I’m gonna be busy with my studies for a long time. Don’t know for sure though, I mean it is up to Twilight.” Starlight shrugged.
“Too be honest, your lessons are never going to end. And I know this because my lessons are still progressing.” Twilight chuckled.
“Even though you’re already a princess?” Trixie said with surprise.
“You never stop learning, no matter how many awards and titles you’ve earned.” Princess Celestia smiled.
Stunned, Trixie thought about that for a few moments.
“Say, have you ever performed in the Crystal Empire?” Starlight asked.
“No, I haven’t even visited there yet. Though that’s only because I just heard about it recently.” Trixie said. “Why?”
“Because my oldest friend Sunburst lives there, and I’d be happy to take you there and introduce you to him.” Starlight smiled. “Though it’d either have to be when I’m free for a very long trip so that I can join you in your wagon, or when you’re ready to take a small vacation so that we can take the train which is much faster.”
“It might be a while then, it took me a long time to restore my reputation after my pride and jealousy ruined it-”
Trixie caught Twilight’s smirk.
“What?” She asked.
“I think you’re forgetting a detail.” Twilight pointed out.
“Huh? Oh....” Trixie blushed but also looked annoyed. “Okay okay, and my ego didn’t help either. There, you happy now?”
“Yes, because Starlight actually did make a real friend.” Twilight smiled before looking apologetic. “I’m sorry about apparently not trusting you earlier Starlight. I actually did trust you, it was Trixie I didn’t trust. I was afraid that she might hurt you along with being a bad influence on you.”
“Oh....” Starlight said softly.
“Er...gonna have to admit you were right about me hurting her.” Trixie winced. “I really am sorry about that Starlight, I was so focused on beating Twilight at something that I didn’t stop to think how my actions would affect you.”
“It’s okay, I know how not having any real friends for a long time can cause you to make mistakes after you finally start making a friend or two.” Starlight smiled.
“Truthfully, I know that too.” Twilight admitted. “I made some mistakes with my new friends at first, and I was a horrible friend back when I lived in Canterlot. The friends I had there...I never even thought of them as my friends, I thought of them as my study group. And I didn’t realize my mistake until after Spike brought them up not too long ago. Instantly went to Canterlot to apologize to them after that.”
“Well I’m sure they forgave you.” Starlight smiled.
“Most of them did, one of them - Moondancer - didn’t at first because I really hurt her by not coming to her party due to focusing more on studying. I had to throw another party and let her vent her pain before she could even begin to forgive me.”
“Huh...guess Sunburst and I aren’t the only ones who’ve made that mistake.”
“What do you mean?” Trixie asked.
Starlight explained how and why she and Sunburst lost touch.
“After that I was so hurt that I did some terrible things. Including going back in time to try to prevent Twilight and her friends from ever meeting in the first place.” Starlight winced.
Trixie dropped her mouth open.
“You really traveled through time?” She asked.
Starlight looked at her incredulously as Spike chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.
“Sunburst pretty much reacted the same way when he found out.” Spike explained.
“Oh.” Twilight chuckled.
Trixie looked surprised then amused, and Celestia looked amused as well.
“So, you can travel through time?” Trixie repeated.
“Yeah, but I don’t recommend it. Learned the hard way that changing the past has...well, some pretty nasty consequences.” Starlight rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
“Right, I’ll remember that. Though what about traveling into the future? That could be turned into a really cool magic trick.” Trixie suggested.
“That might be a bit too risky to try.” Twilight said hesitantly. “I mean if you go too far into the future you could bore your audience from waiting, and I’m sure most tricks that could use time traveling would benefit just as well from simple teleportation.”
“Hmm...you might be right.” Trixie agreed reluctantly. “Oh well.”
“And even if it could be worked out I did vow to give up time traveling entirely.” Starlight added.
“Okay, never mind then.” Trixie gave in with a slight smile.
They chatted a while longer, and then Princess Celestia left so that she could get a good night’s sleep. Trixie then started to leave, but Starlight looked hesitant at letting her leave. Twilight noticed.
“Hey, to make up for trying to get Starlight to stop being your friend how about you spend the night here?” Twilight suggested to Trixie.
“Oh, I don’t want to impose.” Trixie hesitated.
“You wouldn’t because I just thought of a friendship activity Starlight has yet to experience.” Twilight grinned. “A slumber party!”
“A slumber party... I never did have one of those before.” Starlight smiled, already interested in the idea.
“Huh...me either. I would like to try it....” Trixie reconsidered.
“Then it’s settled, I’ll go get Starlight’s room set up. Spike would you mind making us some s’mores? You can make some for yourself too of course.” Twilight said.
“Sure thing.” Spike grinned; after all who’d say no to sweets?
“Should I get anything from my wagon?” Trixie asked.
“Hm...how about a deck of cards? We can play some card games.” Starlight suggested.
“Sounds good, I mean there is a book on how to throw slumber parties but I already learned that it’s more fun to wing it.” Twilight agreed before leaving.
“All right then.” Trixie smiled.
“I’ll teleport us there so that it won’t take long.” Starlight said.
She did, Trixie got the deck of cards and locked up her wagon, and Starlight teleported them back.
They then had the slumber party and had a really fun time. Also it was only the three of them because Twilight figured that Trixie would want to take baby steps in friendship, plus most-likely wanted to apologize to Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie before trying to hang out with them.
Trixie stayed in Ponyville for a few more days after that, performing a couple more times as well, but then had to leave. She was never actually booked for one place or another, but she didn’t really like staying in one place too long. Not only did she have the traveling bug in her blood, but she also enjoyed performing new tricks for new audiences.
Not that she was going to perform the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive anywhere else though, she decided to make that a Starlight-only performance. She might consider hiring other temporary assistants for her other performances, but only Starlight will be allowed to help her with the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive. After all that trick was what sealed their friendship, which only made the trick extra special.
Remembering About the Portal
Author's Note
Of course eventually Twilight would’ve remembered that the portal is permanently open, and this story is about that moment.
Also the details about where Sunset is living now were inspired by the story Finding Home, written by Cirrus Sky on this site. However unlike Cirrus’s story Sunset wasn’t adopted by Principal Celestia in my stories, since her biological parents are still alive. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna are just her unofficial human guardians, and kinda like aunts, in my stories.
Remembering About the Portal
It was just a few days after Flash, now Flicker, Sentry had moved into Ponyville with his parents. Flicker and Twilight were both in the Castle of Friendship library, Flicker reading up on Equestrian history and Twilight reading a random storybook. After finishing the book Twilight got up to put it away and look for something else to read, when a binder caught her eye. It was the journal she used to communicate with Sunset, and seeing it reminded her of something that made her facehoof.
“I feel like an idiot.” She said.
“Whazat?” Flicker looked up, only having half-heard her.
“I completely forgot that I had used this journal to alter the portal so that it would remain permanently open.” Twilight took the journal out of the shelf. “I guess I was so busy still getting used to being a princess and going on friendship missions that it slipped my mind. Plus there was the fact that I had the mirror moved back to the Crystal Empire, but even so this means....”
“That we could’ve visited each other often after all.” Flicker grinned with amusement. “Ah well, if nothing else look at it as a secret test of my devotion to you.”
“Heh, true, I guess forgetting about the portal being permanently open did come in handy for that.” Twilight chuckled. “And of course you passed the test with flying colors.”
“Of course, I do love you. Besides it was either move into Equestria with you or spend the rest of my life in pain, so it wasn’t like it was a hard decision.”
“I know what you mean about pain....” Twilight said softly before taking the journal to the table. “Say, I wonder if Sunset also forgot about the portal being permanently open. I’d better ask her about that.”
She opened it to the next blank page and began to write.
Dear Sunset,
Flicker and I were reading in my library, when I spotted this journal. Seeing it reminded me that the portal had actually been permanently open the whole time, which I forgot due to being busy. Did the same thing happen to you, or were you secretly testing Flash-now-Flicker?
Twilight
It wasn’t long before the page flashed to reveal Sunset’s answer.
Dear Twilight,
Both actually. Originally I did forget due to being busy, mostly with graduation and figuring out what I want to do with my future (I’m still not sure). Then when Flash-now-Flicker was getting ready to visit you I remembered about the portal being permanently open, but kept it a secret to test Flicker.
Back when I went to Camp Everfree with our friends for the first time, Flicker had been trying to get to know your human counterpart better due to knowing that he couldn’t ask you to move into the human world and figuring he wouldn’t get to see you often otherwise. Of course your human counterpart is different from you, too different, so when I noticed I suggested that he get over you. I also knew that you couldn’t move into the human world, and I wasn’t going to suggest to Flicker that he move into Equestria because if he did I wanted it to be his choice only. And since I didn’t want him in pain, I figured that it would be best if he moved on and found someone else.
As you know he couldn’t, so when he got the idea to visit you and then move into Equestria I was immediately on board with the idea. I always supported you two being together, I just didn’t want either of you to suffer from missing your respective worlds or - in your case - neglecting your duties in the process. So obviously I was really happy when Flicker made it clear that you’re more important to him than his world.
Sunset
Twilight and Flicker smiled, touched by how much Sunset cared about them being happy. Flicker then wrote.
Dear Sunset,
Flicker this time. I noticed you admitting that you’re still not sure what you want to do with your future. Is there any way Twilight or I can help?
Also, thank you for caring that much about us.
Dear Flicker,
Not really, I just don’t know what job I want since I want to help others and there are a lot of jobs that do that. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna - who took me in after The Battle of the Bands due to not liking me staying on my own in the school - are helping me narrow it down.
And no problem, hey it’s the least I can do after the way I treated you guys before I reformed. Besides, you are my friends and I’d be a terrible friend if I didn’t care about either of you.
Anyway I gotta go, I’m meeting the girls at the movies soon. Write to you later.
Sunset
Dear Sunset,
Okay, and be sure to tell us about the movie when you get back.
Twilight and Flicker
Dear Twilight and Flicker,
Will do.
Sunset
