Of Maids and Mistresses

Twilight was lost within peaceful and pleasant dreams, when the sound of wood scraping against wood roughly woke her from her slumber. She turned over in bed, stubbornly refusing to open her eyes as she attempted to go back to sleep and recapture the essence of her last dream, the details of which were quickly slipping away from her.

The noises did not abate, and after a few moments of rolling around underneath the sheets Twilight realised they weren’t coming from outside--as she had first expected--but from closer by. Really close, in fact. She blindly felt around for Trixie next to her, but her hooves encountered only empty air. She groaned at the possibility that her marefriend had gotten up early to take up her role as maid; it wasn’t like she didn’t want to play the mistress--she was looking forward to it very much, in fact--but the last few weeks had just been such a constant, crazy story of maids and mistresses that she just wanted to take a breather for a few days. After that... She let out a little giggle at her plans for the future.

Twilight Sparkle, you can be such a naughty, little-

Her thoughts got suddenly interrupted when the bedsheets were pulled off of her, and she opened her eyes with a start. Trixie was standing right next to her, looking down, a slight smile playing around her lips. She wasn’t wearing any clothing, and Twilight let out a sigh of relief; Trixie would’ve put on her maid’s outfit if she had been in such a mood, so the fact that she hadn’t meant there’d be one day of relative peace and quiet for the librarian to regain her bearings.

“If you’re awake enough to be giggling under the covers, perhaps you should come give Trixie a hoof?” the blue mare said, and Twilight knew her tone of voice was only questioning for show.

Twilight yawned as she rubbed her eyes. “You shouldn’t be making all this noise so early in the mo-”

“It’s nearly afternoon.”

“Oh,” Twilight blinked. “Is it?”

“Yes.”

Another sigh passed the purple mare’s lips as she slipped out of bed, her head still not entirely free from the lazy drowsiness of deep sleep. As she turned around to face Trixie, the other mare suddenly moved forward and, without giving Twilight much time to react, pressed their lips together. The kiss that followed was electrifying enough to shake Twilight to her core, and as she returned the love and passion, she felt more and more energised, ready to begin her day.

“W-was that what you needed help with?” Twilight asked, as always rendered momentarily breathless by the other’s intensity.

Trixie smiled smugly and shook her head. “No, silly. If that was the only thing Trixie wanted, she’d have just quietly slipped back in bed. You sometimes move in accordance to your dreams when you sleep, and tonight they seemed quite...” She threw her marefriend a suggestive look.

Twilight’s cheeks flushed a deep purple, as she stammered out an unclear response.

The showmare simply chuckled, as she walked towards the side of the room, where one of the wall panels had been opened. “Come here for a moment,” she half-asked, half-commanded as she disappeared inside of the room beyond.

“We’re going back into the closet? That’s rather unusual for a fillyfooling couple out in the open.” The purple unicorn giggled at her own joke, as she followed Trixie inside.

It took her some time to adjust to the fact that the closet was impossibly big on the inside, far bigger than it had any right to be. Twilight had asked the princess about this particular feat of magic many times, but it seemed the process itself was incredibly sophisticated, and nopony knew how the unicorn who had built the library--a century or two ago--had managed to procure the countless, rare spell components that he would have needed, or what the room had once been used for. Truly a stallion of mystery...

Regardless of its intended use, by the time Twilight had arrived at the library the room had already been turned into a storage room of sorts. It seemed like the entire building had been redecorated several times over, and instead of throwing the old furniture out they had simply stored it away in there every time. There were enough beds and mattresses piled up vertically against the wall to give half of Ponyville a comfortable place to stay the night, and the amount of tables and desks was simply too high to oversee. Some of those had been moved recently as they had seen use in Trixie’s party, already almost a week ago.

Even then it was easy to see that Trixie had been moving things around quite a bit: the dust had been disturbed in many places, and several tables of about equal height stood together close to the entrance to the room.

“Soooo... what are we doing again?” Twilight asked, scratching her head questioningly.

Trixie looked at her from behind a closet that had fallen onto its side at some point over the years, and smiled. “The Great and Powerful Trixie requires a grand stage to perform her amazing comeback, and there’s enough wood here to build three of them! If we can just get a good amount of tables of the same height, and then drape some carpets over them, then we can-”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Twilight interrupted her lover. “I can see how that’d work, but... You magicked up that party tent just fine, why would a stage be any different?”

“Well, of course Trixie, could do that,” the showmare said as she threw her mane back, “but visibly setting up parts of the stage creates anticipation. Somepony of Trixie’s stature is not going to go around soliciting attention before the show like some common street performer.”

Twilight nodded slowly, deciding not to mention that, until a few weeks ago, Trixie had been one of those street performers--and not a very successful one at that. “So I’m going to... ?”

“Help Trixie find suitable things in here, and reshape them a bit. We will leave keep them stored here until we need them.” She motioned at the mountains of stuff around them.

“Ah... we’re not using them today?”

Trixie shook her head. “Trixie needs a few days to prepare... You will help Trixie with that as well. Is that alright?”

“Of course!” A loving smile appeared on Twilight’s face as she stepped around the closet, approaching her marefriend. “I’ll always be there for you, my love.”

They rubbed cheeks and nuzzled against each other for a moment.

“Well then, let’s get started.”

And so they did.

***

Over the course of the next few days the two of them were very busy. If they weren’t dragging around furniture or cutting it down to Trixie’s specifications, they were practising new magic spells in the library, or--when Twilight felt a need to “relax”--working on some older projects the librarian had neglected over the past few weeks.

The library opened during its regular hours while Trixie was away to procure materials with which to build fireworks, and some of the returning visitors actually seemed disappointed that Trixie wasn’t around to help out, which amused Trixie greatly when Twilight later told her of it.

“Well, it’s only natural,” she boasted as she filled up a colourful tube with black powder, “the Great and Powerful Trixie can not easily be forgotten.”

They undertook a little visit to Canterlot, where they quickly got Trixie a new showmare’s outfit to perform in: an almost perfect copy of the previous one, with which Trixie seemed mighty pleased. There was a sparkle in her eyes when she stroked the fabric, and Twilight realised (and not for the first time) just how much the stage really meant to her marefriend; getting her back into performing really was the right thing to do. She hoped Rarity wouldn’t be upset with them for not taking their business to her, but Trixie wanted to keep her comeback a secret, and the white mare had always been one for gossip...

Trixie studied and practised with even more vigour afterwards, and with all of her hard work she managed to pick up quite a few additional tricks in the few days she had given herself to prepare, although some proved more difficult to master than others.

“No, not like that,” Twilight told her during one of their training sessions. “Almost, but not quite...”

“Trixie just doesn’t get it!” She bristled with frustration, having failed to cast the teleportation spell yet again. “Trixie did it once, why won’t it work?”

“There’s actually a good trick that seemed to help some ponies back in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, which I haven’t seen written down anywhere...” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof, trying to remember exactly how it went. “You need to imagine you’re a lot more fleeting than you are. Less solid, more transparent. Vaporous, like a-”

“Cloud?” Trixie suggested.

“Yes! That would work.” Twilight nodded.

“Hmmm.”

It finally started to make sense to Trixie; in order to cast the teleportation spell successfully, you had to concentrate intensely upon your destination, and last time she had successfully cast the spell she had been focusing upon Dash’s cloud house. When the spell failed right after that, she had been focusing upon the solid ground below. It made sense. It wasn’t easy, though, as she’d have to focus both on her destination and on clouds (or something similar) at the same time.

She concentrated for a moment, and then suddenly--with a flash of magic--she vanished. Twilight clapped her hooves and cheered, before looking around with a confusion; wasn’t Trixie supposed to teleport just a few meters forwards? Where was she?

She looked everywhere inside and around the library for the next hour, but Trixie was nowhere to be found. Just when she started to worry, the showmare walked in through the front door, her mane filled with little leaves and twigs and her coat damp.

“Trixie!” Twilight said with a breath of relief. “Where did you-”

“Don’t ask,” the showmare said grumpily as she made her way towards the bathroom, leaving a trail of mud in her wake.

For a moment Twilight considered asking her again anyway, but the annoyed expression on the other mare’s face told her that that would probably not be a very wise thing to do. Instead, she remained silent, but when Trixie slammed the bathroom door behind her, she couldn’t help but feel a little smile tug at the corners of her mouth. That smile soon became wider, until finally she broke into a fit of giggles; Trixie was really, really cute when she was angry.

Apart from that minor incident--or not so minor, Twilight wasn’t exactly sure where Trixie had ended up--everything went rather smoothly. Eventually the showmare was able to get the hang of it, with time to brush up on some other things to spare.

They fashioned a collection of tables into a stage that could very easily be assembled and disassembled--using Trixie’s expertise--with enough of a hassle that the news of them building something would spread throughout Ponyville on its own before they were done, but at the same time not so much of a hassle that it was a pain to set up.

One fine evening, Twilight was working in the library on her own, when someone knocked on the front door. It took several moments for the knock to be followed by another, as if the one on the other side of the door was hesitant, and unsure about how to proceed.

The purple unicorn looked up from her work with a frown, and quickly picked up the books that were lying in front of her. “It’s open!” she yelled back over her shoulder, as she walked towards one of the bookcases.

The front door creaked open behind her, and Twilight’s heart skipped a beat as she heard a familiar voice, one which she hadn’t heard for quite some time. “Hey, Twilight. Still busy with the books, I see.”

She turned around as fast as she could, facing Spike, who was standing in front of the opened door uncertainly and constantly changing his stance, as if he wasn’t exactly sure what pose to take. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then she rushed forward and pulled Spike against her chest with one of her forelegs.

“Spike! You came back!” she cried out, her voice brimming with emotion as a lone tear slid down her cheek. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened; I handled it really badly, but now I’m sure that-”

“Hold on, Twi,” Spike said as he carefully wrestled himself free of Twilight’s embrace. “I’ll accept your apology, and I’m not mad at you anymore or anything... I’m even sorry that I ran out like that, too. But I’m not staying.” He paused for a moment. “Not yet, at any rate.”

“What?” the unicorn said in confusion, her voice skipping a bit. “But why? If it’s Trixie, if you talk to her now, I’m sure you’ll see that she’s changed. She’s changed so much... You should give her a chance.”

The dragon shook his head. “I already talked to her; she came to see me at Fluttershy’s a few days ago. I know she’s changed, well, towards me, at least. Not towards you, I’m sure that’s still the same. And...” he hesitated. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that, Twilight.”

The mare bit her bottom lip as she remembered what Fluttershy had said, seemingly so long ago: “You’re like his mother in a lot of ways, and it’s hard for him to accept that he has to share you now. Owloysius was one thing, but now you’ve gone and accepted somepony into your life that he just can’t compete with. You have got to understand why he needs some time to come to terms with that, don’t you?”

“When will you come back?” she asked with a little voice.

He shrugged in a gesture that could have meant anything. “I’m not sure yet, Twilight. There’s something... something I still need to think about. You’ll see soon enough, I imagine...”

“Eh?” She wasn’t entirely sure what he was going on about.

“Never mind.” He shook his head. “At least the library looks pretty slick. That’s good.”

Twilight nodded enthusiastically, happy to finally have something a bit more light-hearted to talk about. “Yeah! At first it was a bit of a mess after you left, but Trixie’s really learned to he-” She clasped a hoof against her mouth, realising too late that she was dragging the conversation over thin ice once more. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply-”

Spike waved her concerns away. “It’s alright, Twi. It’s not like I identify myself with keeping the library specifically... it’s you I want to help out.” He sighed, and scratched the back of his head.

“And you can! Trixie may have taken some tasks around here upon herself, but they don’t all overlap with what you used to do, and at the same time, she’s added a lot of new work and new... distractions as well.” She smiled. “I mean, heh, I’ve missed pretty much all of my own deadlines and broken every sche... schedule...” She pressed a hoof up against her lips once more, this time out of pure shock. “Oh Celestia! I’ve broken my schedules, all of them! How did... why didn’t I... I mean, normally I’d have noticed, but...”

“Jeez, Twi, relax!” Spike raised his hands in a consoling gesture, attempting to calm her down a bit. “That’s... that’s what happens when you’re in love, I hear. You sorta... lose track of things. It’s nothing to, uh... worry about. It’s fine.” He shook his head. “Although it must be pretty serious if it’d make you forget that,” he mumbled.

A blush appeared on Twilight’s cheeks. “Well, she’s... it’s hard to explain, but... I...” She didn’t find the words.

“It’s alright, you don’t need to explain.” He nodded to himself; Twilight’s obvious love for Trixie made the decision he was wrestling with a bit easier, although he still wasn’t prepared to make it just yet. “I understand.”

Twilight smiled at him tenderly. “Thanks Spike... It means a lot to me that you do.”

“Well, I’ve seen part of your distractions, after all...”

The unicorn blushed once again, but as the two of them exchanged a glance they burst out into a fit of giggles and laughter.

“We... um... may have to work on that, a bit... discretion, I mean. Some kind of warning system?”

“So that it’s even easier to know when you’re going at it? No thanks!”

Twilight laughed. “Come here, you!”

They stepped closer together and drew each other into a hug, one that gave both of them a bigger understanding of the other than the entire preceding conversation. There was an initial unease there--remnants of their time apart--but also a natural connection, a bond forged throughout the years that had recently been obscured a bit, but which had never been broken. Twilight smiled down at Spike and the dragon looked up to do the same. Things would be ok, eventually. They both felt it. All they needed now was time; they’d figure things out.

They let go of each other and took a step back.

“Twilight... It was good to see you, but... I’m going back. For now.”

The unicorn nodded. She’d have felt sad if she hadn’t known that this was just a brief moment apart, not a farewell. “Do what you have to do, then come back, alright?”

Spike remained silent for a moment. He opened his mouth once, but then closed it again. Another moment passed. “Alright, and same goes for you, Twilight,” he finally said. “About doing what you have to do, I mean. Just... make the decisions that will make you happy.”

Twilight was a bit confused by the dragon’s behaviour, but she nodded slowly. What decisions were there for her to make? Whether or not she wanted Spike to come back? Surely that wasn’t much of a decision at all; of course she wanted him back! “I... sure,” she said despite her confusion.

The baby dragon nodded, and then turned around, having said most of what he’d come to say.

“Wait!” Twilight yelled after he had taken a few steps towards the front door. Spike turned around and looked at her questioningly. “Trixie is performing in the village square, two days from now... you’ll come see, won’t you? I... I’d appreciate it if you gave her that chance.”

A look of comprehension appeared in Spike’s eyes which Twilight couldn’t quite place, which gave her the feeling that the little dragon actually knew more about the situation than she did. That seemed impossible, but at times he had proven to be amazingly perceptive, so she did not dare dismiss the notion out of hoof. Just when she was about to ask him about it he slowly nodded.

“I’ll be there,” he said, before continuing on his way, softly pulling the door close behind him as he left.

The purple unicorn smiled; their meeting had perhaps been brief, but it was the first time she had seen him in quite a while, and he seemed to be doing alright. What’s more, she felt that they had come a bit closer to resolving the conflict between Trixie and him, which was necessary if they ever wanted to finally put this whole situation behind them.

“Take care, Spike,” she whispered softly. The smile stuck to her face; things were looking up. She started whistling a happy tune, as she went to fetch her books. She was in a good mood, and there was still studying to be done!

***

Trixie carefully pushed shut the kitchen door, closing the gap between the door and the wall that she’d been peeking through. As she turned back towards that evening’s dinner arrangements, she couldn’t help but grin; her plans were moving along much more expediently than she had expected. She had planned to extend an invitation to Spike herself the very next day, to make sure he showed up at her show, but it seemed that that would not be necessary. And this way which was good as well, much better, in fact, than when she had asked him herself; at least now she could be reasonably sure that he’d show up, as he wouldn’t let down Twilight nearly as fast as he would her.

Her plans could still be turned awry if he did not bring her keepsake along, but if she had judged his character correctly... No. It’d be alright. He was dependable, and certainly not one to go back on his words--despite their rather sour relationship, she wasn’t afraid to admit that much to herself--which was why she’d dared go through with her plans in the first place. He knew there was no way to spite her without also disappointing Twilight (and the same went for Trixie when it came to spiting Spike) and so she held the advantage. She didn’t feel too good about her calculating ways, but in the end her assessment of his character would help bring all of them together--or so she hoped.

Her plans made her heart thump inside of her chest, and she couldn’t resist opening the door and staring at Twilight for a bit as the mare peacefully lay down amidst a pile of books; she was so cute when she did that diligent student thing of hers. Trixie just wanted to sneak over there, and then...

The showmare shuddered as she pushed the door shut again, a blush upon her cheeks. She couldn’t get too distracted, not at that time. Soon she’d have her first show in a while, and she needed to be in tip-top shape after having been gone from the spotlights for so long... After that, if her dreams came true, she could...

A shiver of happiness ran down her spine as she turned back towards the food upon the table.

You’re mine, Twilight Sparkle! Thoughts flared up in her head. And Trixie is never letting you go... ever again.

***

Two days later, Ponyville was gripped in a strange sense of anticipation as the town woke up to find a great stack of tables, cloth and wood in the middle of one of the town’s bigger open spots. The sense of anticipation only grew as the gathered materials started to stack and arrange themselves, seemingly all on their own. The unicorn inhabitants of the town quickly noticed that magic was in play, and they remained adamant that the builders--whomever they may be--had to be nearby. Yet nopony within sight seemed to be using magic at all, at elast as far as they could tell.

Mayor Mare showed up an hour or so later with a knowing smile, but no matter how much everypony questioned her about the strange things going on, she would not say a word except for the fact that the builders had gotten her permission before they began their work; she liked surprises, and so their identities remained a secret.

And so it was that news of the curious scene quickly spread through the little town, causing more and more ponies to check up on the building’s proceedings, eagerly awaiting the moment where the secret would be revealed.

So focused upon the ground were they, that nopony spotted the two mares standing atop the observatory at the library’s peak, giggling at each other as their horns lit up with magical power. Most unicorns would not have been able to manipulate objects from such a long distance away, but for two experts in magic it wasn’t too difficult a task, especially not when they compensated for each other’s little mistakes.

Finally the stage was complete--and clearly recognisable as such--and the crowd buzzed with excitement as they waited for what was about to happen.

Trixie--already in her showmare outfit--looked out over the crowd with a beaming smile upon her face, breathing in deeply. “Ah... The sense of spectacle and grandeur in the air. Trixie... Trixie has missed this.”

“Nervous?” Twilight asked with a smile.

“Hah! Trixie was born for this, there is no way she would...” She fell silent as she noticed Twilight was frowning at her. “Well... maybe a little,” she admitted. “But not about the show...” Those last few words were barely a whisper, lost in the breeze that played through the trees.

The purple unicorn softly kissed Trixie upon the cheek. “Good luck,” she whispered. “Don’t forget: If this goes well, we can do Neighton next!” She grinned, and then disappeared with a bright flash of purple light.

She reappeared somewhere at the front of the crowd, right next to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The two of them barely batted an eyelash, used as they were to the unicorn teleporting all over the place. Twilight quickly noted that her friends were standing a lot closer together than was strictly necessary, almost brushing against each other despite the ample space available. Could it be that they... ?

“Oh, hey Twilight!” Dash said, as Applejack gave the librarian a nod of her hat.

“H-hey you two!” Twilight said, woken from her thoughts. “So uh... quite an odd setup here, isn’t it?” She grinned sheepishly.

Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash seemed fairly unimpressed with her acting skills.

“Yeah, Ah suppose Trixie will appear any second now. Any second...”

“W-what makes you say that, heh? I...”

“As if Trixie could stay away if a stage suddenly appeared in the middle of town,” Dash said. “Unless it happened to be her stage, of course.”

Twilight raised a hoof in defeat. “Alright! I give up, but it was worth a shot.” She grinned at the two of them. “I get the feeling you have some news of your own as well...”

“Like what?” the farmpony asked.

Twilight shrugged. “You seem a little... close.”

As the two of them looked at each other, an expression of surprise appeared on their faces, as if they hadn’t noticed just how close they had drifted towards each other. They both blushed as they scooted away from each other, looking in opposite directions shyly. They muttered some weak excuses, but Twilight hardly listened to them as she grinned; she had all the evidence she needed right there already. She went giddy with excitement as she realised that a perfect opportunity for a double date could present itself within foreseeable time; she’d been wanting to try out some of the things in “Double Dating for Dummies” since forever!

“So, have either of you two seen any of the others, or were you a bit... preoccupied?” she asked with a smile.

“We’re right here, dear,” Rarity’s voice came floating from the crowd behind them as she stepped forward, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in tow. “Lovely to see you again.”

The fashionista looked around with an air of mild interest, while Pinkie Pie seemed to be on the verge of exploding with excitement, jumping up and down as she let a waterfall of words loose upon Fluttershy. The pegasus smiled distractedly, as she kept whispering apologies to every pony they pushed past to reach the front of the crowd, where Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were waiting.

When Fluttershy caught up, Twilight finally noticed she had brought along Spike, sitting on top of her back.

“Spike, you came!” Twilight said happily. “Oh, I’m sure Trixie will-”

All further conversation was made impossible, as the magician in question suddenly appeared on stage out of thin air, accompanied by a bright flash of light. “Greetings, ponies of Ponyville! Today, Trixie returns to the stage with magic even greater than before!” The mare raised her forehoove, and a deafening display of fireworks shot up into the air, letting loose a barrage of colours that was welcomed with a lot of “Oooh”s and “Aaah”s by the ponyfolk in front of the stage.

“Oh hey, it’s Trixie!” Pinkie yelled as she motioned at the stage. “Look everyone, Trixie’s on stage!”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Yes, dear, we noticed...”

Somewhere within the crowd, one of the stallions moved a hoof next to his mouth as he yelled: “Hey! So what happened to the whole maid thing?”

Trixie smiled at him before she did a little twirl, hiding herself inside of a sudden puff of white smoke. When it cleared up again, she was once more dressed in her maid’s outfit, and several ponies within the crowd cheered.

“It’s still here, master, but...” Another flash temporarily hid her from sight, making everypony blink briefly. When they opened their eyes again, the showmare’s outfit was back, causing some mild disappointment here and there. “That is not what Trixie is here for today! Trixie is here to show you the most baffling array of magical prowess ever assembled!” Another wave of fireworks lit up the sky, as the crowd started to murmur excitedly.

Trixie met Twilight’s eyes briefly, and the purple unicorn winked; she knew her marefriend could do it.

The show wasn’t at all like the one the ponies of Ponyville remembered. Trixie had told Twilight that she wanted to retain the challenges to the crowd in the final version--it worked well most of the time (Ponyville having been a lone exception) perhaps just needing some tweaks--but the ones who would be seeing her first show had already seen most of that. Therefore, they had practised a few other tricks to add to her repertoire.

For close to an hour, Trixie baffled the crowd with feats of magic and legerdemain that seemed close to impossible. A combination of simple spells could often sortie an effect that even the most sophisticated of magics could not, and the crafty way in which Trixie had prepared her props helped sell the effect even more.

But as always, Trixie’s true strength lay in crowd interaction. She invited ponies onto her stage to prove their mettle--gently this time, with only enough arrogance to sell her part--and bested them one by one, yet she had learned to take the sting out of her display, and her witty delivery left not only the crowd roaring with laughter, but usually her challengers as well. It took only the featherweight spell to best both a muscular stallion in weightlifting, as well as an agile mare in a jumping challenge. Her new teleportation skills made several challenges quite a breeze, and with it she performed some of her funniest ploys, which were all well received.

Twilight was just about expecting the show to end, when Trixie looked out over the crowd. There were no fireworks this time, an something in her expression made even the rowdy crowd a bit more silent.

“For my next trick,” she began, “I shall be requiring some specific volunteers.”

Spike, who had remained silent for the majority of the show, threw a quick, knowing glance towards Twilight, which did not go unnoticed. The purple unicorn frowned; what was it that he knew, that she did not?

“Are they still volunteers then?” somepony wondered aloud.

“Woe upon the pony who doesn’t volunteer when the Great and Powerful Trixie tells them to!” she said with a wink, and a few chuckles were heard here and there. “First, Trixie requires a baby dragon to grace her stage with his presence!”

“Is there still woe upon him if he’s not a pony?”

“The one of whom Trixie speaks is an honorary pony in her eyes.”

“Oooo, that’s you, Spike!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she pointed at the baby dragon.

“Well, at least she has some taste,” Rarity said as she threw her mane back against her neck. “She picked the most honorary pony around. Go on then, Spike.” She smiled at him encouragingly. “She hasn’t turned anyone’s mane green today, so I believe it should be safe.”

“I...” Spike hesitated. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Trixie--he had realised she’d changed a while ago already, and the events of the day had only confirmed that--but he knew what she was planning. He had thought long and hard about whether or not he should allow her to go through with it, but no answer had ever come to him. He had hoped that he’d get a sudden surge of inspiration as the moment drew near, but there he was and his mind was just completely blank. But he had to do it, there was no way back now.

He swallowed back his doubts, and headed for the stairs on the side of the stage. He climbed up, accompanied by loud cheering and the sound of hooves striking the soil below. Trixie gave him an appreciative nod, and he forced himself to nod back. The showmare smiled as she turned back towards the crowd.

“And then, last but not least, Trixie requires the most beautiful, smartest and greatest unicorn of all of Ponyville to come up here!”

“Ah, finally one who recognises my talents,” Rarity began, but the others only threw her some blank looks as they raised an eyebrow. She sighed. “Fine. Twilight, you go ahead then, dear, she obviously means you... Everypony knows.”

Twilight nodded with a grin, curiosity gripping her. How had Spike known that he’d be called up? That look in his eyes... With a simple thought the purple unicorn transported herself onto the stage, and the crowd cheered even louder than they had before; the situation was starting to look like yet another chapter in the rumours about the two unicorns that they had loved to tell each other so much over the last few weeks, and they’d all have been on the tip of their seats if they had had any seats to speak of.

“Twilight,” Trixie began, and the loving tone in her voice made the librarian’s heart beat a bit faster, “you have taught Trixie much, not only about others, but also about herself. Trixie can never repay the debt of gratitude she owes you, despite some problems here and there...” The showmare winked, and Twilight blushed profusely; did she have to mention that in front of so many ponies? What if they found out the details! “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to use the rest of her life to try.”

The blue mare looked at Spike, who looked back at her with mixed emotions clear on his face. “Spike... The box, if you please.”

Twilight followed the exchange curiously, still unsure what was happening, and the crowd went completely silent as they held their collective breath, having seen through the situation a bit better than Twilight had--perhaps they weren’t sure yet, but a fair few of them had their suspicions.

Spike hesitated, before procuring a small black box, which he held atop the palm of his hand. Twilight hadn't seen him hold it before, but she assumed he had been keeping it in the same place everypony kept their bits. The little dragon stared at the box, and then at Trixie, clearly in doubt.

“But if I give this to you, you will...”

“Yes,” Trixie admitted with a nod. “Without the box, Trixie will not go through with it. Not right now. It is up to you, Spike.”

He realised what she was saying; it was about more than just letting her carry on with her plans: giving her the box or not giving her the box was equivalent to deciding to give their living together another chance or not. He knew what would happen if he let her have it back. The chances of her ever leaving his life again would be slim--slimmer than they had already been--at least as long as he decide to continue helping Twilight out.

Twilight.

He looked up at the purple mare, who was still looking at Trixie and him with a confused look upon her face. He glanced at the little black box, and then back at her, and he reached a decision. It wasn’t about him, or at least it shouldn’t be. He wanted to see his oldest friend and caretaker happy, and Trixie... he didn’t like her, not yet, but she had changed. She deserved the chance to prove herself again, and perhaps eventually they’d be able to put their differences behind them. For Twilight’s sake.

He extended his hand towards Trixie, and she used her magic to lift the box off of his palm with a smile. “You won’t regret it. Promise.”

The dragon did his best to shrug nonchalantly. “Someone has to see to the library if you two decide to go on a tour or something, after all.”

The showmare grinned, finally turning back towards a completely perplexed Twilight. In one swift motion, she lowered herself upon a knee as best she could, and used one of her forehooves to hold the box, while pulling the lid open with the other. Twilight and the audience (most of whom could see the scene quite well due to the way in which Trixie had positioned herself) let out a loud gasp as the glitter of jewellery sprang up from inside of the box. Within it there was only a single golden ring, adorned with the most brilliant of diamonds Twilight had ever seen.

“This once belonged to my mother... And now I ask you, Twilight Sparkle, upon this ring...” The showmare took a deep breath, feeling more vulnerable than she had ever before. “Will you marry me?”

Twilight’s eyes at once sprang full of tears as her heart was overwhelmed by unexpected emotions. There was no way she could have thought straight during a moment like that, but luckily for her, the answer was already there, waiting to come out. It didn’t come from her mind, but straight from the heart. “Yes!” she yelled out, loud enough for all gathered there to hear. “Yes I will, Trixie Lulamoon. Yes!”

Trixie felt a tear roll down her cheek as well, as she lifted the ring out of the box and carefully slid it onto Twilight’s horn. Even Spike felt his emotions overwhelm him a bit; they did make a beautiful couple, he was forced to admit.

Before another word could be said, Twilight flung her front legs around Trixie’s neck, and both of them tumbled to the ground as their lips met and they broke into a passionate kiss.

The crowd’s cheering was many times louder than any Trixie had ever received for a show ever in her life, and several handkerchiefs were brought out as more than one filly or mare felt deeply touched. Twilight’s friends cheered loudest of all, and nopony stopped cheering for quite a while.

There would be wedding plans aplenty, guests to be invited, decisions to be made. But none of that was important right at that moment; all Trixie and Twilight cared about right then was their love for one another, a love which they would share for the rest of their long and happy lives.