Arrival in the Crystal Empire

As they boarded the train they noticed that there was very few passengers going to the Empire that day so they would have their own car. Despite there being more than enough seats for each of them to have their own, Trixie sat next to Starlight so they could talk more easily. While this did bring about a bit of curiosity in Twilight as to why they would sit so close at first, she realized that given the closeness of their friendship, that they would do that.

The trip seemed to go by rather quickly for Starlight and Trixie but given that she had nopony to talk to, it seemed to take forever to Twilight. Once the train pulled into the station Twilight quickly rushed off while Starlight and Trixie disembarked at a much more leisurely pace. Twilight looked at the two and asked, "Well shall we?"

Starlight replied, "Sure. Come on Trixie, let's go."

Trixie nodded and they headed towards the castle. Like it normally is, several of the crystal ponies greeted Twilight in their normal, cheerful manner. Once they arrived at the castle the guards immediately noticed who she was and led the three up to the throne room. Once they arrived the guard said, "Your Majesties, you have company."

Immediately Cadence and Twilight rushed to one another and sang, "Sunshine sunshine, lady bugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Shining Armor greeted the other two, "Hi Starlight, Hi Trixie."

Starlight replied, "Hello your Majesty."

*Shining laughed, "You don't have to call me your Majesty, just call me Shining Armor." He looked at Trixie and continued, "And you as well. You can just address me by my name."

Starlight asked, "So Shining Armor, how has everything been?"

Shining replied, "Rather uneventful and I'm hoping that Flurry's birthday will be the same." He began to laugh, "Hopefully it will be calm compared to last year."

While Starlight knew exactly what he was talking about, Trixie was unaware of what happened during the crystalling. She asked, "Calm? What happened last year to make you say that?"

Shining replied, "Starlight never told you about Flurry shattering the crystal heart and the blizzard last year, did she?"

Trixie's jaw dropped open. She asked, "Starlight, how could you not tell your best friend about something like this? How could you not tell the pony you share everything with about this?"

Starlight replied, "Well uh, we've had so many other things going on that it never crossed my mind."

Shining added, "Well thankfully she has Sunburst as a friend and he had books that contained what we had to know." Trixie's eyes began to narrow as Shining continued, "He may not be able to actually do any of the magic he knows but he has a wealth of knowledge in his house."

Starlight asked, "Speaking of Sunburst, how is he anyway?"

Shining replied, "Well he is in the nursery. Follow me and you can ask him yourself."

Starlight enthusiastically agreed and the three headed to the nursery. While Shining and Starlight had smiles on their faces, Trixie couldn't help but have a scowl on her face. While she had never actually met Sunburst before, she already hated him and hated the fact that he and Starlight may spend some time without her around which made her angry and jealous.

Trixie Meets Flurry Heart

As they headed into the nursery they found Sunburst entertaining Flurry, making funny faces, talking to her in a baby voice and playing with her. While Shining and Starlight couldn't help but smile, Trixie had a look of disgust on her face. This was the first time she had seen him and was not impressed with what she saw. She thought to herself, "She is friends with him?"

As soon as he noticed the three were in there he ran to Starlight, hugged her and said, "Starlight! It is good to see you again."

Starlight replied, "It's good to see you too."

Despite being very upset and jealous over seeing their reaction, Trixie knew she better at least pretend to be happy so she faked a smile. As she walked up by Starlight Sunburst asked, "Who are you? I don't believe we have met before."

Trixie replied, "I am The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Sunburst asked, "Great and powerful?"

Starlight could see a slight look of disapproval on Sunburst's face over how Trixie introduced herself. She put her hoof around her and said, "You'd have to know Trixie better to understand why she referred to herself like that." She nudged Trixie, gave her a smile and continued, "Besides, we're besties and it is one of the things about her that I like so much. She has a lot of confidence in herself and isn't afraid to be herself in social situations."

While she still had her focus on Sunburst, Trixie couldn't help but smile over what Starlight said. Trixie looked over towards the crib and asked, "So, when is Trixie going to get to meet Flurry Heart?"

Shining led them over to the crib and said, "Trixie, I want you to meet Flurry Heart. Flurry, I want you to meet Trixie."

Trixie knew that she couldn't be her normal self in this situation so she leaned down and said, "Hi Flurry, aren't you the most adorable little thing!"

What would happen next shocked everypony. Flurry flew up and landed on Trixie's back. She wrapped her hooves around her neck and began to giggle. Shining gave her a smile and said, "Wow, it looks like she likes you."

Trixie smiled, "It looks like she does."

Sunburst tried to levitate her off of Trixie to put her back in the crib to get some rest but Flurry fired energy and stopped him. This caused her to cling to Trixie tighter so they figured it would be best to let Flurry cling to Trixie after what happened when they took her away from Pinkie last year.

Once it was clear that Flurry was going to stay with Trixie, Sunburst asked, "So Starlight, would you want to go somewhere and talk."

Upon hearing this Trixie's ears shot up. Given that she could not react negatively with Flurry on her, she was still not happy and would be more unhappy when Starlight reply, "Yeah, sure."

Trixie asked, "Starlight, can The Great and Powerful Trixie come with you?"

Starlight replied, "Well I don't know. Sunburst and I do want to just talk and catch up and besides, you have an adorable filly on your back anyway."

This was not the answer Trixie was hoping for but she still wanted to know where exactly she was going. She asked, "Starlight, so where are you two going?"

Starlight replied, "We're going to Sunburst's house...."

Trixie interrupted, "Where is it and what does it look like?"

Starlight began to say something but Sunburst interrupted, "Well it is a crystal house like the others. It is ten houses away from the palace on the right and it looks like it has a wizard hat on the top of it, kind of like your hat."

Trixie replied, "Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it."

The two nodded and headed off to catch up while Trixie stood there full of jealousy but also a little bit of heartache knowing that the pony she has such a crush on would run off and talk with another pony, especially a male. Shining noticed something different about Trixie and her last reply, that she did not speak like she normally does. He was able to get Flurry off of her, put her in her crib and asked, "Are you ok Trixie, something doesn't seem right."

While Trixie did her best to hide her emotions and sound strong she sighed, "Trixie is alright, The Great and Powerful Trixie just likes having her friend around."

Almost as soon as she had been put in there, Flurry flew out of her crib and landed on Trixie's back again, laughing and giggling. Shining laughed, "Well it looks like you have one new friend who doesn't want to leave your side."

Trixie gave a weak smile, "That is true."

Shining suggested, "How about we head to the throne room and see how Twilight and Cadence are doing. I'm sure Cadence will be thrilled to see Flurry has a new friend."

Trixie nodded and they headed towards the throne room. While Flurry had begun to nuzzle Trixie and cause her to giggle and talk to her more, her mind was consumed with Starlight going to talk with Sunburst in his house. While she knew that Starlight would never do anything with him, she couldn't help but worry that he may woo her and cause her to want him as her coltfriend.

Author's Note

* From this point forward Shining Armor will simply be referred to as Shining.