Size Up Starlight

As Trixie jogged into Ponyville, she noticed that many of the shops had started closing for the night. Finding the grocery stores closed, she decided that her best bet would be to contact Sweet Apple Acres. She wasn't close with Twilight Sparkle's other friends in Ponyville, so she knew she had to choose her words wisely if she had to talk to them.

She eventually arrived to the front entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. She had to act fast, so she pushed the gate open and ran towards the closest red building she could see. Some lights were still lit inside some of the rooms, giving Trixie some hope. She rushed up to the door, and knocked on it five times in succession.

The door was eventually swung open by an orange apple-farmer with a brown stetson hat. She looked annoyed, and her expression worsened upon seeing Trixie. "Ey, Trixie. Didn't think I'd see you hangin' around 'ere." Trixie took a deep breath, and put on the fakest smile that anypony could have ever faked in the equestrian history of fake smiles.

"Greetings, Applejack... Trixie... would like to... buy... your apples." Trixie's teeth clenched tightly as she finished her request, maintaining her big grin.

Applejack depressed her eyebrows suspiciously, squinting at Trixie's strange behaviour. "Yea... Trixie... Not sure if you noticed, but all the stores are all closin' for some shut-eye. Now if you excuse me, so am I-" Applejack began to close the door, hoping to be done with the annoying magician.

A painful crush was heard as Trixie wedged her hoof in the door. Thankfully, the end of hooves are quite tough and resistant to pain, but Trixie still winced. Keeping her big smile, Trixie pushed the door open again. "Well, yes, but, this is a slight emergency of sorts."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Of sorts?"

Trixie nodded. "Yes. Trixie requires...err... simply needs to buy a large shipment of apples. Or any food really." She grinned at Applejack, and Applejack couldn't tell if it was a smile of friendliness, contempt or mockery.

"So what's this about a 'slight emergency o' sorts', Trixie? You didn' get no bugbears into town or something, did ya?"

Trixie suddenly lost her composure, taken by surprise at the accusation. "What? How dare you even imply-" Trixie gulped. She had more important matters to deal with, and getting defensive wasn't going to help her cause. She took a deep breath, and smiled again. "It's for our dear friend Starlight, she's doing an experiment... On... Uhh..." She paused to think. "She wants to perform some tests between, erm, apples and, erm, other Everfree flowers, to compare their, uhm, seeds! Yes." She nodded to herself, coming up with an elaborate lie. "Starlight needs an entire cart of food so that she can perform cross-experiments between Ponyville fruits and Everfree plants."

Applejack squinted her eyes even further, her muzzle almost touching Trixie's sweating face. Suddenly, she opened her eyes fully and pulled her head back with a genuinely friendly grin. "Well why didn' ya say so, Trix! I'hm always happy to lend a good ol' hoof to Twilight's friend." She walked out from the doorway, gesturing Trixie to follow her as Applejack winched herself up to her apple family cart, "I'll give it to yuh's for free. Honestly it's nice of yuh to be helpin Starlight like this, after all you're gonna be pullin a big load and it might be a lil' heavy for ya city folk."

Applejack continued walking as if the cart wasn't even attached to her, and prepared the cart under an apple tree. She backed up to the tree and bucked some fresh apples straight into the cart as Trixie watched. Trixie was secretly amazed as apples fell perfectly into a wonderful pile into the cart, filling it up rather well. Applejack prepared the loaded cart to be ready for Trixie to pull, and then offered to pull it herself. "Ey Trixie, you sure you can handle pullin' this here load? I can take it up to the castle if yah wants me to."

Trixie panicked. "No!" She screamed. She then quickly recollected herself with a nervous chuckle. "No, no, the Great and Powerful Trixie will show the magnitude of her friendship with Starlight by pulling this cart, all by herself!"

Applejack seemed a little confused. "Erm, Trix, it's really no problem, I don't want yuhs to hurts yer back or nothin-"

"Nonsense!" Trixie retorted. She then got up close to Applejack, trying to play it cool. "After all, you have clearly been working very hard and it's quite late, you deserve a rest, Trixie is certain that Starlight will send her regards later on to thank you for your... kind donation."

Applejack blushed. "Aw, shucks Trix, I didn't expect you to be all complimentin' and nice like that. Maybe yer right, I do need to hit the hay harder than a cow fallin' over in the field, woo-hoo! Have a nice day now." Applejack nodded politely, and walked back into her family's house, leaving Trixie alone with the cart.

Trixie gulped. If she thought convincing Applejack to give her the ridiculously large load of food was the hardest part, she quickly found herself to be absolutely wrong. She attached the cart's rope around herself, and tugged as hard as she could. Inch by inch the cart began to follow behind her, as she huffed and puffed. She needed to do this, for Starlight! She wasn't a strong pony by any means, and the ropes felt like they were almost trying to dig their way into Trixie's coat as she pulled as hard as she could, which wasn't very much. The wonky wheels of the cart weren't helping her situation either, often locking and un-locking unexpectedly.

She left the barn's gate, and the overall gradient began to change. She found herself finding it easier to pull the wagon as she went on, as the change in gradient worked in her favour. The sun had already settled when she left the barn, and Luna's moon had already risen into the sky and lit the way for Trixie across Ponyville's border.

She finally arrived at the Everfree's border, and walked alongside it until she found her performance stage and her wagon sitting alone in the moonlight. She looked around, unable to see Starlight anywhere. Curious, and slightly worried, Trixie untied her ropes from her, securing her heavy cart of apples in place and resting against it to catch her breath. Suddenly, she heard something rustle from above, and found a flurry of leaves falling onto her face.

"Oh Celestia, don't eat me, vile Everfree creature!" Trixie exclaimed, covering her eyes in fright. Feeling that she was still alive and intact, she eventually uncovered her eyes, taking a look at what was above her. She saw a big light-pink horn and a massive amount of purple hair with cyan streaks bobbing up and down behind the Everfree trees. There was another rustle, and she saw Starlight's massive head pop out from behind the trees. Trixie sighed in relief, realizing it was just Starlight. Starlight didn't seem to respond instantly, as her mouth seemed to have an Everfree tree trunk sticking out of it like an oversized popsicle.

"Oh, sowwy Twixie-" Starlight said with her mouth full. She spat out the tree, which was devoid of any leaves, as it banged behind the Everfree treeline and rested peacefully, "I got so hungry I started eating the leaves off these trees... Wait, what are those?"

Trixie covered her mouth to stifle her laugh, and then pointed to the big pile of apples she had just brought, in a rather dramatic fashion with both hooves. "Gaze in amazement, dear Starlight, as the brave and courageous Trixie has legally brought you a cartful of apples to cure you of your hunger pains!"

Starlight was amazed. "Wow, Trixie, I didn't actually think..." She suddenly changed her sentence mid-way, "I mean, I'm so, so happy that you did this for me, Trixie! You pulled this heavy cart all by yourself all to help keep my situation a secret, I can't imagine how heavy this was to pull for you! You really are a super amazing friend, Trixie." Starlight's mouth watered as she stared at the cart, another loud growl of her tummy setting off again, shaking the leaves of the trees she was resting against.

Trixie raised her hoof against her own chest proudly. "Was there ever any doubt? Haha." She then took an apple for herself, and then raised her arm grandly. "I know you're super-starving, so go on, dig-in! It's all for you."

Starlight's eyes gleamed happily. She revealed herself by stepping over the wall of Everfree trees, sitting in front of Trixie, with the cart laying prey between her lower hooves. She grabbed the cart with both hooves and raised it up to her muzzle, tilting it at the edge of her open maw as apples rolled and bounced onto her tongue. She closed her mouth and gave a loud juicy sound of a massive pile of apples being crushed simultaneously. Starlight's anxiety seemed to vanish just like the apples she had just swallowed. She ate almost all the apples in the cart, leaving about six specifically for Trixie. After getting to taste a few munches of pure apples, Starlight swallowed one final time and gave a long sigh, setting the cart down gently in front of Trixie.

Trixie had watched the whole ritual from below, and felt somewhat unnerved. It was like watching a living trash compactor the size of an entire room at work. She made a mental note to never get accidentally lost in whatever Starlight was about to eat.

Starlight Glimmer was too busy rubbing her belly to notice Trixie's frightened expression. "Oh, gosh. That really hit the spot. Gosh, Trixie, I'm so glad I became friends with you." She beamed with happiness, quickly picking up Trixie by surprise, making her yelp briefly. For one second, Trixie was standing on the ground next to an almost-empty cart, the next, she found herself surrounded and gently pressed against her friend's warm body. It was a gentle and giant hug, and Trixie, tired and triumphant, loved every second of it.

Starlight refused to let Trixie go, and suddenly heard her squeak under her fur. Starlight raised Trixie up in front of her face, and Trixie began to blush. "Well, Starlight. Trixie...wants to ask.. if it's alright to rest with you for the night. It was much warmer on your neck than inside Trixie's wagon, honestly..."

Starlight found Trixie's request incredibly heart-warming, and responded by rubbing her snout with Trixie's body softly. "Of course, Trixie. Normally I'd feel really awkward if anypony asked me for that, but somehow, being so big, I... love the feeling of being hugged by an adorable tiny pony."

Trixie enjoyed being the centre of attention of her massive friend, and simply hugged Starlight's nose back. "Trixie somewhat shares similar feelings, dear Starlight! But we must sleep now, for tomorrow holds a lot of preparation for my show! Among other arrangements." Trixie petted Starlight on the tip of her nose before cuddling up between Starlight's eyes. "Goodnight, Starlight Glimmer!"

"Hah... Nighty night, Trixie." Starlight gently petted Trixie's head carefully and then rested back on the Everfree trees behind her, her eyelids slowly dropping down as she saw Trixie in front of her eyes comfortably going to sleep. Trixie was resting on her big snout as if it were a giant luxurious bed, her legs and arms spread across her nose. Starlight eyes soon closed as she too began to sleep.