“Alright Trixie, concentrate on the object in front of you. Clear your mind of everything but the apple and where you want it to go.”
Starlight Glimmer’s words flowed into Trixie’s mind as she glared at the apple in front of her, the slight sparkle of determination in her eye. She was going to master this disappear… er, teleportation spell today! All she had to do was think about teleporting the apple to where she wanted it to go. She watched as the piece of fruit, tauntingly sitting at the end of the perfectly normal wooden table, glowed with the pinkish aura of her magic.
“Almost there, Trixie. Now, just imagine it suddenly appearing at the other end of the table.”
Trixie heard the words, but her concentration broke for just the quick second it took for her to roll her eyes and say, “Relax, Starlight, I—”
Before she even got to say “have it under control” the apple vanished, only to appear in the air right above Starlight. It hung there for a brief second before gently knocking her on the head.
“Eh heh, sorry about that,” Trixie said, biting her lip so as to not break out in laughter. It was, after all, a little funny, but she could see the look of irritation on Starlight’s face as she rubbed at the spot where the apple hit her. It’d probably be rude to laugh.
“It’s… fine, Trixie. It was an accident after all, right?” Trixie couldn’t ignore the obvious furrow to Starlight’s brow. She had to act fast.
“Of course! It’s not like I was imagining gently bopping you in a teasing way for your micromanaging instructions.” She quickly gave a big, innocent smile to throw Starlight off the trail.
Starlight continued to glare at her for a moment, but before Trixie could respond with yet another burst of defensive statements, Starlight began to laugh. The tension broken, Trixie quickly joined in the laughter.
“It’s alright, Trixie. I was kind of getting carried away with the instructions, wasn’t I?” Starlight gave her that little apologetic smile Trixie loved to see as Starlight lifted the apple back onto the table.
“Well, just a tad. But, I deserved it too. Just a little bit.”
They both glanced over at the apple lodged into the faucet nearby. It hadn’t been her fault entirely, really. How was she supposed to concentrate with an overly leaky faucet? It had to be stopped! Apparently, that thought had translated into her teleporting the apple into the faucet, presumably to tell the faucet to “stuff it”.
So, yes, Starlight being a little bossy with instructions may have been an appropriate response. It was obvious, though, that if they kept up the lesson, it would get messy. She was already starting to get a little curt in her speech, and her mane was a little ragged too. It was only a matter of time till those angry storm clouds would appear.
“Say, why don’t we take a break from all this and go get something to eat? My treat.”
“Are you sure, Trixie? I mean, you were getting pretty close there. If you could JUST concentrate—” There was a pause, a look of recognition on Starlight’s face before she smiled sheepishly. “Or… yeah, maybe taking a break is a good idea.”
“Then it’s settled. The Great and Powerful Trixie—” she stood up and raised a hoof in the air as if making a formal announcement “—shall provide you with the best snack break ever.”
Trixie smiled at hearing Starlight’s laughter. While Starlight most likely thought it just a part of Trixie’s usual showboating persona, Trixie admittedly liked to play things up a little to hear that laugh. As a showmare, the sound of an audience applauding was always the thing Trixie had wanted most, but since they had become such close friends, even the simplest laugh from Starlight was quickly becoming her favorite sound. Oh, and her praise of course. She would never tire of being praised, and that went double for praise from Starlight.
“Alright then, so I guess that means Sugarcube Corner?” Starlight was already heading towards the door before Trixie returned to having all four hooves on the ground.
“Ehh, I don’t know. Don’t quite feel up to sweets right now.” She glanced over at Starlight, who had an eyebrow raised but with a playful smile.
“I don’t know, I was thinking I could go for something sweet right now. And you did promise to take me on the best snack break ever...”
“And that’s why we are going to Sugarcube Corner. I was simply teasing you,” Trixie said, again smiling to try and sell the obvious lie. Starlight rolled her eyes and giggled.
It was already getting rather late when they arrived at Sugarcube Corner, the place practically empty. There were one or two customers still sitting down and enjoying an evening coffee, but it was likely that by the time the two of them sat down to enjoy their snack they’d be the only ones left.
“Evening, Mrs. Cake. Filling in for Pinkie Pie tonight?”
Mrs. Cake was standing behind the counter, working on putting away some trays and the last of the evening pastries, but with Starlight’s words she gave the two of them a friendly wave.
“Oh, well hello there, Starlight, Trixie,” she said as she approached the register, ready to take their order. “Pumpkin and Pound were being extra fussy tonight about bath time, so I’m holding down the fort while Pinkie calms them down. “
Trixie almost replied with a sarcastic “fascinating,” but by now she had begun to pick up at least some of the social graces needed to survive in Ponyville. Instead, she simply kept up a smile and let Starlight do the talking, using the time to let her eyes travel slowly over the tantalizing, if probably a little old by now, baked goods in the display.
“Well, we won’t take up too much of your time if you need to go and help. We just needed a break from practicing some new spells.”
“Doesn’t that sound exciting,” Mrs. Cake replied, looking over at Trixie. “Working on some new tricks for your next show, Trixie?”
While she had been drooling at a slice of chocolate cake that was calling her name, Trixie was quick to pay attention when somepony called her name.
“Maybe,” she said with a grin. “Guess you’ll just have to come to my next show to find out.”
“Looking forward to it. Pound and Pumpkin absolutely loved your last show, and despite the, uhh, past you’ve had with Ponyville, I have to admit I’m a little excited to see your next show too.”
Stepping right around that bit about her past, Trixie simply grinned, putting on that air of confidence that came when she got into her showmare mood. She straightened her posture out, looking just a bit taller as she began to wave her foreleg with her words.
“Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie will be sure to put on a spectacular show for you and your foals that you’ll never forget,” she said, eyes lowering towards the counter. “But for her current trick, the Great and Powerful Trixie simply wishes to make that chocolate cake disappear.”
Both Starlight and Mrs. Cake burst into giggles, though for Trixie the only giggles she paid attention to were the one’s coming from Starlight. Mrs. Cake was alright —Trixie admitted she made a mean pastry so it was best to stay on her good side —but her chest always felt a light flutter when she heard Starlight enjoying herself in her company.
“Okay, one slice of chocolate cake coming up. And for you, Starlight?”
The giggles petered out as Starlight focused on her own order.
“Uhm, well, I think I’ll have that last slice of strawberry shortcake.”
“One slice of chocolate cake and one slice of strawberry shortcake coming right up,” she said, ringing up the cash register. “You two feel free to take a seat. I’ll bring your cakes out after I brew you some fresh coffee, okay?”
Starlight gave a quick nod and a thank you as Trixie levitated out the bits for payment, with a few extra bits to preemptively pay for the tip. Once payment was done, she joined Starlight at a little table by the window, giving the two of them a rather good view of the square outside of Sugarcube Corner. Trixie simply watched the various ponies go by, most likely heading home after work or heading to what few night spots there were around here.
“You know, I used to really hate this town because of what happened. But, ever since I’ve been here and met you, I think it’s starting to grow on me.” She looked out the window at the center of the plaza. “Still think a statue of me would look great right there though.”
“Trixie!” Starlight replied. For a moment she thought maybe Starlight was chastising her for that bit of maniacal egotism, but instead Trixie gave a small smile of relief at Starlight’s own smile. Wanting to keep seeing that smile, she continued to playfully indulge in her own ego.
“What? Think about it. You, me, we’re the best. We could easily rack up a few more “Save Equestria” tales and they would absolutely have to reward us with a statue.”
Starlight laughed.
“Trixie, we’re supposed to save Equestria because it’s the right thing to do, not for rewards and statues.”
“I know, I know... but you’ve got to admit, those medals we got for beating Chrysalis were pretty sweet,” she said with a devilish little smile just daring Starlight to deny that fact.
“Well, they are pretty cool, I guess,” Starlight replied, eyes playfully rolling. It was then that Mrs. Cake arrived, the coffee and cakes balanced on a tray on her back. She began to try and reach for it all when Starlight’s aura encapsulated it, bringing it towards the table.
“Oh, you don’t need to do that, dear.”
Starlight gently shook her head.
“It’s no trouble at all.”
“Well, at least let me pour the coffee for you so I feel like I’m doing something.”
Just as she began to pour it, however, a small yellow unicorn foal with a carrot-colored mane suddenly appeared, levitating and dripping with water, right in front of Mrs. Cake. Startled by the surprise guest, she lost her grip on the coffee pot, spilling coffee all over the table.
“Pumpkin Cake! You’re supposed to be in the bath!” She refrained from yelling at her daughter, but her voice was nonetheless stern. Pumpkin let out a “cooo” as a sudden blur of pink came running down the stairs.
“Sorry, Mrs. Cake! We were just having fun playing hide and seek in the bath tub and it was Pumpkin’s turn to hide but I guess she wanted to hide somewhere else,” Pinkie said, speaking a mile a minute as she gently grabbed the levitating baby, quickly turning towards Trixie and Starlight. “Hi Trixie, hi Starlight! Sorry about the mess. I’d help clean it up, but I got to get Miss Disappearing Baby here back into the tub.” Pinkie was already back up the stairs and gone before they even had a chance to react.
“No problem, Pinkie,” Starlight said to the empty air where Pinkie had been, teeth clenched. Honestly, Trixie couldn’t blame her. While she had come to tolerate Twilight’s friends out of respect for Starlight, Pinkie did tend to get on her nerves. She was just so... excitable. At least there was coffee-soaked chocolate cake to enjoy, which was far from the worst outcome that could have happened here.
“I’m really sorry for all the fuss, you two. It seems she still hasn’t quite gotten control over her baby magic yet. Let me just go get some napkins and…”
Trixie stood up, horn glowing.
“Don’t worry about it, I can get them.”
“Trixie, wait! You haven’t…”
Trixie knew that Starlight was going to say something about having not mastered teleportation yet, but she had promised her the best snack break ever, and she wasn’t going to let a coffee spill ruin that! Sure, just waiting on Mrs. Cake would delay fixing that by just a few seconds, but it was Trixie’s promise to keep! Besides, it was a great excuse to try out the spell again, and this time she felt really, really sure she’d be able to teleport them this time, no problem! Showing off her mastery of the spell would totally make up for this spilled coffee fiasco.
Okay, concentrate on the napkins and wanting to bring them to the table. It’s for Starlight after all, you can’t screw it up if you’re thinking that!
Having closed her eyes to concentrate, she opened them again after casting the spell. With bated breath she looked over at the table and… well, she had brought napkins over. That it looked like every single last napkin in the store meant it was probably way more than they needed, but at least they hadn’t fallen on Starlight’s head or buried Mrs. Cake. So, success!
Speaking of the two, Starlight was looking at the table with a small grin on her face. Mrs. Cake, meanwhile, was also looking at the table, but with a slight scrunch to her face that vaguely reminded Trixie of Twilight doing a math problem. Probably calculating how much it’d cost to pay for all those napkins. Well, in any case, Trixie did what any trained showmare would do in this situation.
“...Ta da! Trixie did it yay...”
Nailed it.
“Oh, well, uh, thank you, Trixie. I’ll let you two finish cleaning up. I... got to go make sure Pumpkin doesn’t decide to teleport again. Enjoy your cakes.”
With Mrs. Cake now running upstairs to join her family, that left the two of them alone, staring at the gigantic pile of napkins engulfing the table.
“Congratulations, Trixie, your first truly successful teleportation spell... mostly.” She used her magic to grab some napkins to wipe the table down while folding the rest into a neat stack for future use.
“Well, technically the second if you count me dropping an apple on your head.”
“I thought you said you didn’t plan on doing that? If so, it doesn’t count as successful,” Starlight replied, smirking.
“Oh, uh, you’re right, that was totally an accident and this was indeed my first successful teleportation spell.” She sat back down after wiping off her part of the table and began helping to fold napkins.
“Still, this is progress. After we’ve practiced enough to make sure you’ve mastered teleporting inanimate objects, we can start working on teleporting living things, like yourself. I’m sure in no time at all you’ll be able to match Pumpkin in teleporting ability,” Starlight said, laughing a little at her own joke.
“Ugggh, don’t remind me I’m falling behind a baby in talent,” Trixie moaned. She levitated her wet napkins over to a nearby trash can. Sure, she could have simply teleported them, having now mastered the art, but it’d probably be safer to restrain. As it was right now, it was fifty percent chance landing in trash can, fifty percent landing on top of the babies upstairs out of pettiness. Not good odds.
“Well, to be fair, she’s still young enough her magic is in fluctuation. She’s basically running on pure instinct. Baby magic is, if anything, almost kind of like Discord’s chaos magic: raw power plus a strong enough will and poof, magic.”
“I guess….” She glanced outside, half expecting Discord to be waving at them, but was glad to see he wasn’t. “Sometimes wish it was still that easy…”
“Well, if it was that easy, then every little emotional outburst could have dangerous magical repercussions. Magic that’s easy to control is basically the same as magic you can’t control.”
“Still, it’s really tempting compared to all this studying and stuff. Even thinking about it as being tied to my emotions like you do can be pretty hard,” Trixie huffed, finally biting into her cake, which quickly brought a smile back to her face. That coffee really helped to bring out the flavor of the chocolate.
“Yeah, with how much you hate studying I’m really surprised you actually attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. You really don’t seem the type.” Starlight said with a giggle as she happily dug into her cake.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Trixie said, an eyebrow raised as she scrutinized Starlight, who began to fidget under Trixie’s gaze.
“I mean, it’s just... I’m not saying you aren’t talented or anything, but you’ve seen how Twilight and Sunburst are. They’re total book nerds, and you’re… not.”
Trixie’s brow furrowed, a slight burning in her face as she tried to figure out if that was supposed to be insulting. It was true, she didn’t care about books all that much, but it was the implication of the statement that was troubling.
“So are you saying that I wasn’t good enough to go?”
Starlight’s eyes widened as she frantically waved her hooves. “No no no no no, not at all Trixie! Your illusions are amazing! It’s just... I guess I’m just saying I don’t think it would have been a good fit for you and your… unique educational needs.”
Unique educational needs?! Now that definitely sounded like she was trying to insult her! She turned away from Starlight, her muzzle upturned.
“Hmph, I’ll have you know that at school I was known as The Intelligent and Studious Trixie. In fact, if Twilight Sparkle and that Moondancer hadn’t been in the class, I’d probably have been at the top,” she said as she dismissively waved a hoof at Starlight.
“Really? Do I have to remind you of the ‘teleporting Twilight’s map’ incident?”
Trixie turned back around to find herself facing a Starlight who was almost completely deadpanned in disbelief, except a slight furrow of the brow that seemed unsure if it was yet ready to turn into a piercing gaze.
“No, you don’t have to remind me of that, thank you very much.”
“Then how do you expect me to believe that you were the third best student at one of the most prestigious schools in Equestria when you couldn’t even wait five seconds to listen to me teaching you how to use the spell?”
“Well, maybe you’re just a lousy teacher. Did you ever think of that?”
For a moment Trixie felt some smug satisfaction at Starlight gritting her teeth, but as a familiar red mist began to pour out of Starlight’s horn the satisfaction quickly turned to worry.
“Uhhh, Starlight…”
“Seriously, Trixie? After all the time I’ve spent putting up with your… your… foalishness, you’re going to say I’m a terrible teacher?!”
The cloud thickened as Starlight began to grind her teeth for what was surely an attempt to hold back on saying something even meaner. This was starting to get a little out of hoof. As much as Trixie hated to admit to making mistakes, it was either own up to what was obviously a lie or risk having the entirety of the Cake Family, and Pinkie Pie, chasing her down in a fit of anger-magic induced rage.
“Starlight, look, I’m sorry. I-I was obviously lying, alright?”
That seemed to help as the storming cloud began to lose some vigor.
“Well, I knew you were lying Trixie. What I don’t get is why you would lie about something so obviously not true?”
“Hey, you’re the one—” Trixie sighed. If she lashed out again like that it’d only make things worse. “Look, I’m sorry, it’s just what you said made me feel like you thought I was stupid or something, and I just wanted to try and impress you.”
Starlight put a hoof to her face. The cloud began to dissipate even faster as she rubbed at her temple.
“Ugggh… Trixie, I’m sorry. I was trying to make a joke about how you really don’t seem like the kind of student you’d expect out of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but obviously it didn’t turn out that way, and you’re right to be mad. I’m sorry if I made you feel like I thought you were stupid.”
“And I’m sorry for lying and saying you were a terrible teacher,” Trixie replied. “You’re right though, I... wasn’t the best student around. I mean, you’re teaching me, you know what I’m like. Unfocused, easily distracted, absolutely loathe reading books. Now, imagine me in a classroom all day with a bunch of other students. I was practically ready to explode!”
Starlight nodded.
“Yeah, I can picture you just sitting there, planning your next show instead of listening to the lecture.”
Trixie grinned. “I practically planned out an entire career’s worth of show ideas from just sitting in class bored out of my mind. Of course, since I didn’t pay attention in class, I kind of didn’t pick up the skills to do most of it…”
“But if you didn’t like the school that much why did you stay?”
Trixie just looked at Starlight with a deadpan expression.
“Uh, cause it was still the most prestigious school in the country. If you graduated from there, you were practically set for life! Or at least, that’s what I thought. Didn’t matter if the principal thought I was some ‘periwinkle punk’ or whatever she called me, I was going to graduate. Besides—”
Small bursts of fireworks streamed out of Trixie’s horn. Trixie giggled a bit as Starlight initially jumped back, but there was nothing to fear. As the fireworks eventually landed on Starlight, she would simply feel a warmth not unlike that of sitting by a fireplace on a winter’s night.
“I am a great illusionist, and coming up with a safe-to-use-indoors fireworks spell when I was still a foal was considered impressive enough they thought it worth keeping me around. So they did kind of lighten up on me eventually. Made things a bit more tolerable.”
She watched as Starlight waved her forelegs through the fireworks, giggling as the gentle glows faded away.
“Yeah, that’s a pretty impressive trick for a foal to learn.”
“I know. Kind of had to do it when I almost took out Princess Celestia at talent show practice with a real firework. They actually tried to expel me for that, but she just laughed it off. Deal was if I found a way to do my act without the possibly of setting the stage on fire, I got to stay. And, welp, tada, Trixie’s patented firework illusion was born.”
If there were any bits of anger cloud left by now, they were gone as Starlight began to chuckle.
“Seriously, Trixie? You actually brought real fireworks to a talent show and almost took out the Princess?”
“I wasn’t planning on almost setting Princess Celestia’s mane on fire. I was just trying to put on the greatest and most powerful performance that any foal in the entire history of the school had ever performed!”
Starlight smiled as she shook her head. “You honestly haven’t changed that much since then, have you, ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’.”
Part of her wanted to say she was absolutely perfect so of course she hadn’t changed at all. But, well, that would just be another lie, right? And while this was one she’d probably get away with, Starlight obviously in a good mood and all, it wouldn’t feel right. Besides, as she thought back to her classes and all the teachers she had ever had, Trixie felt that there was something she needed to say.
“Well, yes and no,” she said as she began to rub her foreleg. Confessing your emotions was not an easy task, and she had to channel that anxiety into something. “I mean, yes, I’m still pretty impulsive, easily distracted, and I’m going to pick big, flashy tricks to learn over practical stuff any day. I’m a showmare, it’s what I do. But, if you had met me before everything with Twilight and the Alicorn Amulet, my response to what you said would have been to take that new teleportation spell, teleport that cake right onto your head, and then use telekinesis to rub it in. So basically, I was a total jerk.”
She scooted a bit closer, leaning in towards Starlight, a gentle smile on her face as she touched the mare with her foreleg. “I know we’ve talked about it before, but meeting you has been one of the best things in my life. Sure, you get frustrated with me a lot, but you always try, and you’ve had a lot more faith in me than anyone else… okay, Celestia had quite a bit of faith since she did let me stay after shooting explosives at her.”
Trixie paused to let Starlight giggle a bit at the joke, but even now Trixie could see the familiar shimmer of tears forming in Starlight’s eyes. Normally this kind of touchy-feely stuff was not her cup of tea, but Trixie made an exception when it came to her best friend.
“Point is, I’ve had a lot of teachers, but you’ve done more than any of them to try and understand me. Maybe some of that is because we both share sordid pasts filled with mistakes—”
“Trixie...” Starlight said. Trixie sensed she wanted to rebuke her for bringing up things they had mutually agreed should not be talked about, but the grin slowly building on Starlight’s face suggested she’d let it slide this one time.
“But, it’s mostly because you’re kind and passionate, and whenever I mess up you find a way to help me get back on track. That’s why I couldn’t ask for a better teacher, and friend, than you.”
With absolutely no surprise at the outcome, Trixie found herself pulled into a hug, the back of her neck starting to feel dampened by Starlight’s tears.
“Hey, we got an entire store’s worth of napkins for you to do that with.”
“Sorry Trixie, it’s just I’m really, really glad you said all that.” She pulled back from the hug, grabbing a napkin to dab at the small pool of tears in the corners of her eyes as she continued.
“It’s just, I know that Twilight and the other Princesses expect a lot of me, and I proved that I can take charge and be a leader when I need to when we battled Chrysalis. But still, it’s just… it’s just really nice to hear that someone has such complete trust in me like you do. It helps me remember how much I’ve changed since, well, you know.”
Trixie nodded.
“So, when do you think you’ll become the new Element of Magic then? Because I really feel like after that speech, it’s probably time we formally get added to the whole Elements of Harmony thing.”
Trixie grinned as Starlight burst into laughter again, swatting a hoof playfully at Trixie.
“Oh come on Trixie, really? Going to burn all that goodwill you just made on that kind of a joke?
”
“No, I’m serious. You’re great at magic and have a better backstory than Twilight. ‘Friendless nerd learns magic of friendship?’ Pfft, who’d ever want to read that?”
“Trixie, that’s absolutely—hah hah—terrible, and you know it,” Starlight replied.
As Starlight kept laughing, Trixie felt a warmth in her chest. Sure, she really, really didn’t like dealing with all the sentimental touchy-feely stuff even when it was needed. But what she was good at was getting her best friend to laugh no matter what. If that ruined the moment, so be it. But this was the kind of moment that made their friendship what it was.
Author's Note
I love Starlight and Trixie, and after seeing "All Bottled Up" I had to do something to channel my inner shipper. This didn't quite turn into a ship fic though since, by the time I was getting to the end of the story, it didn't quite feel like a good time to ship. But hey, story doesn't have to end in smooches to appreciate the relationship these two have. The quiet moments of friendship and support are just as important as smooches.
