Going At It Alone

Chapters

Liar, Liar, Pinkie Pie's On Fire
The Valentine
What Are Friends For

Liar, Liar, Pinkie Pie's On Fire

I will never be able to find my way around here I thought, as I walked aimlessly around through the endless corridors and hallways. All of these places look the same. I was about to give up my search for Twilight when I heard the echo of hooves against the cold wood floors. At least she was on the same floor as me. I picked up the pace as I trotted down the hall. I spotted a small note card from underneath one of the many big wooden doors. The tall crystal walls created a shimmering pattern on it. There was only one door with that kind of pattern at this time of day. I had finally found the library, where the purple alicorn spent most of her time. I focused on the doorknob and a small mint colored glow surrounded my lavender unicorn horn, as well as the knob. The door creaked open.

“Twilight, I have something to ask you.” Twilight looked up in surprise, then she smiled. She was using her magic, which unlike mine, had a pinkish glow, to hover a few books in the air.

“Hi their Starlight,” said Twilight “I’m sorry, I got wrapped up in the books I was reading. Were you calling for me?” She placed the books neatly on one of the small tables nearby.

“No, no, you’re fine Twilight. I just came in here to ask you . . .” I paused looking at the cover of one of the books Twilight had set down. “What’s this about.” She explained that she was just going over some of the history of the holiday ‘Hearts and Hooves Day,’ which was tomorrow. “Do you want to tell me about it,” I offered.

“I thought you’d never ask!” The book started to glow pink, and the book flipped a few pages to a chapter called, ‘Discrimination.’ “Even though at this point, Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi were technically united, ponies could only have a Very Special Somepony who was the same race as them. Earth Ponies could only be with other Earth Ponies and so on. It was only when . . .” Twilight stopped “Oh I’m so sorry, I got carried away there. What were you saying?”

“Huh? Oh right, um . . . yes. I was wondering I could go visit Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner. She said she was backed up with orders because everypony was ordering special baked goods for ‘Hearts and Hooves Day,’ and I thought she might like some help.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you Starlight! Of course you can go!” Before I even had a chance to respond, Twilight had her muzzle buried in another one of the library's many books. Once I finally found the exit of Twilight's huge castle, I headed down the street to Sugar Cube Corner. The line of ponies giving their orders was nearly out the door! Once I had gotten passed them all I pulled the pink Earth pony aside. I asked if she needed any help. Pinkie glanced nervously back at Mrs. Cake, then back at me.

“Nope, we don’t need help, um, we’re all good! Heh, heh. Yup, all good. Er, Twilight probably needs you back at the castle, Starlight, and I don’t want to hold you up, so, um, you can go!” Pinkie smiled really big and scooted me out of there. “Tell Twilight I say hi,” she said, the she slammed the door shut. I knew Twilight didn’t actually need me, but I still headed back to the castle. I needed help dealing with what just happened.

“Twilight, I think Pinkie Pie just lied to me, and I want to find out why, but, what if I hurt her feelings. What should I do?”

Twilight walked up to me. “Starlight, listen. You’ve done great with your friendship lessons so far, but for most of them so far, I’ve answered all of your questions.” She paused, and then smiled a bit. “But I think it’s time that you start doing what you think is best to do in situations like these. If you mess up, I’ll be here for you, I always will be. But one of the best ways to learn is through trial and error. Do you understand?” I looked down at the floor. My face got all hot and my eyes started to water. I nodded. Twilight gently tilted my chin up. “I know you can do it, Starlight. Plus, like I said, I’ll always be here to help you.” She looked directly into my eyes. “I promise.”

Later, Once I had calmed down a bit, I confronted Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, I know you lied to my earlier.” I was trying my best to be polite. “Why?”

Pinkie took a deep breath and said, “Oh I’m so sorry Starlight It’s just I think Mrs. Cake is still mad at you for making her look bad from when Twilight wanted you to make a new friend and you went to see if I knew anyone who might want to be your friend and I offered Mrs. Cake and then you made this super yummy looking cake that fell on her head which probably made her even more angry and I lied to you because I just didn’t want her to see you and get all mad and I’m so super duper uper sorry because I should have told you earlier just please don’t be mad at me.”

“wha . . . what? Um, never mind. Oh, and I’m not mad at you Pinkie, I’m just glad you told me what happened.” Pinkie sprung into the air with a big, this time real smile on her face. Once she landed, she pulled a cannon out of nowhere, a cannon as big as her, and fired confetti up into the sky. I will never understand that pony. Nopony ever will!

“Oh few! Well, anyway, see you later Starlight. Happy almost ‘Hearts and Hooves Day!’” and she bounced away. Meanwhile, the sun was starting to set. I walked back to the castle to tell Twilight that I had succeeded in talking to Pinkie Pie, and of also for a good night’s sleep.

The Valentine

The next day, a similar situation with me and Twilight the morning before, except this time I headed over to the Carousel Boutique. In my saddle bag, I held my valentine of Trixie. I worked very hard on it, but it was still missing something. I knew the Rarity would have scraps from older dresses that I could use to make it more exiting. I walked up to the door of the tall building, which kind of reminded me of a blue and pink circus tent, but, you know, fancier.

“Rarity, can I join you up in your workspace?” I called once I went inside.

“Starlight, is that you? But of course, darling, come on up.” I went up the stairs to find the Beautiful white unicorn. Multiple drawings of dresses and other plans floated in the air around her, each of which had a slight, light blue glow. “Did you need something?” I told her that I just wanted to borrow some scraps for Trixie’s valentine. “Well yes, you may take some if you’d like, but my friends deserve the best! I’m sure I have something better for you somewhere around here. Now, what kind of materials do you want?” Using her magic, she opened a couple of drawers. “Anything here interest you?”

“Well, I do have a few ideas.” I offered. “Do you have any light pink fabrics? Like to Trixie’s magic?” She showed me a few, but none of them were quite what I was looking for. Then I spotted a net like fabric with sparkles in it. “Hey, what about that one?”

“You can take as much as you’d like!” Rarity said, sweetly. “Anything else?” After gathering more supplies, Rarity helped me piece the valentine together. In the end, it looked even better than I had imagined! I wrote ‘To the greatest and most powerful friend I could ever hope for, Trixie’ with a silvery-blue pen, then I signed my name at the bottom, ‘From the luckiest unicorn in the world, Starlight Gimmer.’ I felt very proud.

“It looks absolutely divine darling,” announced Rarity “You put so much effort into making it perfect for her. I know Trixie will just love it.”

“The only thing I needed to do now is find her,” I said. “Do you know where she might be?” She said she didn’t have a clue, but that Rainbow Dash might, consider she’s awaze zipping around town.

“I didn’t take long for me to find her. “Rainbow Dash, have you see Trixie around here? I haven’t seen her.”

“I think I saw her wagon near townhall,” stated Rainbow Dash. “Does that help?”

“It sure does. Thanks Rainbow,” and I Cantered away towards townhall. Sure enough, there was Trixie’s wagon! I was just as magical as I remembered it, with its purple walls and blue roof. Stars and moons coated the wooden structure. Large wheels and a harness allowed her to pull it to the various locations of her shows. A small light was glowing from inside, so I knew she was in there, even though it was kind of strange that she was in there, considering it was a holiday. I used my magic to carefully take her valentine out of my saddle bag. I fixed up a few bent corners, then I headed up to the wagon, the valentine floating behind me.

I imagined what Trixie’s expression would look like when I presented the valentine. I was sure she would love it!

I closed my eyes. That way her expression would be a totally surprise, even though I knew for sure how she would react. I walked in the wagon. “Hey Trixie, I have a surprise for you . . .Ta-da! A valentine from me to you!” There was no answer. I opened my eyes. Trixie was sitting by a small table in the corner. “Trixie, are you ok?”

The glow of the valentine changed from mint to blue as she hovered it over to her. “Yah, I’m fine,” she said. But I don’t think she meant it. She wasn’t even facing me! “Thanks for the valentine.”

I walked over to her. “I’m, um, glad you like it.” There was an awkward pause. “What have you been doing lately?”

“Just planning for my next show, practicing my tricks, stuff like that.” Another pause. This was weird, Trixie never passed up a chance to talk about herself!

I put my hoof on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re acting . . . different.”

Suddenly, Trixie whipped around. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She shoved my hoof away. “Maybe that’s because I am different,” she yelled. She pushed past me and ran out of her wagon, slamming the door behind her.

What Are Friends For

I just stood there for a little bit . . . thinking. I had so many questions. Why was Trixie so upset? Why didn’t she tell me what was wrong? What should I do now? I knew Twilight could answer my questions, but she said that I needed to be more independent. I thought back to what I did when I thought Pinkie Pie lied to me. I decided to just walk up to Trixie and talk to her, because it seemed to do the trick before. I needed to find her, of course, but I decided to do the searching myself this time. I looked for her at the places where she puts on most of her shows. She wasn’t at any of them! I was about to give up when I saw her sitting under a tree that looked over Sweet Apple Acres.

“Trixie? Can we talk about what happened?” She looked at me this time, but she didn’t say anything. I sat down next to her. Applejack was out in the orchard, bucking some apple trees. Apple Bloom was catching the falling apples in a wooden container. Big Mac was hauling some apples back up to their barn.

“I’m sorry Starlight, I . . . I shouldn’t have treated you like that, I should’ve told you what was wrong. It’s just . . . I-It’s just . . .” Trixie started to cry again. “I-I just d-didn’t want it to ch-change the way we f-feel about each other. I was b-being . . . I d-don’t know. It’s just I’m n-not sure if I can tell you r-right now.” What was I supposed to do now?

“Well . . . If you’re not ready to tell me, then, um, you don’t have to.” Trixie didn’t answer. She probably wanted to be alone. I started to get up and walk away so she could think.

“Starlight?” I stopped and turned back around. “You know how I said I was different? Well, um, this should explain it.” A red, heart shape piece of paper with a light blue glow floated in front of my face.

When I see you, joy overwhelms me. You make me feel special, even when it’s hard for me to see it myself. We don’t see each other often, but I would like to see you more. Will you be my Very Special Sompony?

To: Applejack

From: Trixie

“Oh, Trixie, I had no idea, I . . .” I couldn’t even get my words out.

“It’s not your fault. I never told you. But, can we, you know, still be friends?” This time Trixie turned around and gave a nervous smile.

I looked Trixie in the eye. “Of course we’re still friends, Trixie! Only one thing has changed. I’ve just made it my goal to help you talk this out with Applejack.”

“You . . . You’d really do that for me?”

“Of course,” I said, embracing Trixie in a tight hug. “What are friends for?” Trixie and I discussed a plan to separate the others from Applejack, without me leaving Trixie for too long. Even great and powerful ponies need backup from time to time! Once we figured out what to do, we headed down the hill towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Applebloom was tottering around, her basket filled high with apples. The little filly looked like she was about to drop it any moment. “Hey Appleboom, I think your apple basket has a hole in it.” Startled, she nearly dropped it.

“Oh, hi Starlight! Where’s this hole now?” She started to set the basket down. While she still didn’t have a clear view of it, I fired a beam from my horn. It hit the side of the basket, leaving a large hole. Apples started to spill out of it. “I see it now, thanks. I’ma go and get a new one.” She headed off towards the barn. Meanwhile, Trixie was carrying out her part of the plan.

As Big Mac Started to pick up the apples that had fallen out of Applebloom’s basket, Trixie pushed his apple cart into a rock. Apples when everywhere. It would take Big Mac a while to clean them all up!

Just like that, the only member of the apple family left was Applejack. I nudged Trixie Then gestured that I’d be watching from nearby.

“Hey, Applejack,” Said Trixie, blushing. “I, um, made this for you.” Trixie hovered the valentine over to Applejack.

“For-For Me?” Applejack read the valentine, then just stared at it for a bit. Maybe it was just me, but it looked like applejack’s face turned slightly red. Applejack looked up from the paper. “You . . . you think about other mares like that too?”

“You mean,” Trixie looked hopeful, “you like me back?”

“Well sugar cube, I dunno. We’ve only seen each other a couple o’ times. I don’t really know you that well.” Trixie started to tear up. She dashed away. I followed after her. After a while, she finally stopped and sat down. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to do. A chill set over Ponyville. The sun was starting to set, and the sky turned shades of pink and orange. Stars started appearing, one after another, making the sky glitter. I’m not sure how long we sat together, but after a while, we started to hear hoofsteps. It was Applejack.

“Trixie, you didn’t let me finish,” Applejack stated. “I don’t know you that well, so maybe we should get together sometime, and, you know, get to know each other.” Trixie looked at Applejack. Applejack looked at Trixie. Both of their faces turned bright red. Then they both looked at me.
“Oh, you mean, right now? Oh, got it, well, um bye.” I trotted away, but not before I saw Applejack sit down to be with Trixie and snuggle up next to her. Trixie put her head on Applejack’s shoulder, and Applejack rubbed her back. I’d never felt more joyful in my entire life.