"Okay, Starlight! Light them up! The Great and Powerful Trrrixie is ready for her final performance BEFORE the performance." The blue unicorn magician said with a cheeky grin as she stared down the fireworks stand on the other side of the small room behind the stage.
Trixie's assistant, The Great and Powerful Starlight Glimmer (also her best friend and assistant to the Princess Of Friendship) rolled her eyes as she adjusted the last few fireworks. "Trix, when I said we needed to practice before the show, I didn’t mean RIGHT BEFORE the show! We were supposed to start the show over a minute ago! Pretty soon the crowd might start asking for their bits back." She gestured over to the curtain. Trixie pulled it aside with her magic and saw the large crowd of ponies that had turned out to watch her show.
Aside from most of Ponyville and some citizens of Canterlot, there were the students at the School Of Friendship, and Starlight's father from Sire's Hollow. Even Discord had turned up, since he and Trixie had become better friends after they saved Equestria from Queen Chrysalis, but he was more off to the side with his friend, The Smooze, which was entertaining itself with a paddleball. Then there was Zecora, the CMC's, Terramar, Spitfire with her mother and Soarin, Thorax and Pharynx, Sunset Shimmer, Cranky Doodle and Matilda Donkey, and Fancy Pants. Everyone had come out expecting a good show, and were a little annoyed that it wasn’t starting yet.
At the front row were Trixie's other friends, Sunburst, Maud, and her boyfriend Mudbriar, both with their inanimate pets. In the middle was Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, seated to next her idol, Star Swirl The Bearded himself, who was staring at Twilight like this show better be the greatest thing he’s seen in the past thousand years. Seated with Twilight was Spike, and her five friends, of course- Rainbow Dash, who was wearing dark sunglasses, either because she wanted to be seen as cool or just didn’t want to be seen at all, Applejack with Big Mac, who were working on a schedule for the upcoming apple harvest, Fluttershy, who had brought an angry Angel Bunny along, Pinkie Pie, who was busy enjoying the free savoury popcorn, and Rarity, who was sewing. Twilight was the only one who seemed to want to actually be there as she waved up at Trixie.
Trixie didn’t even notice, as she squealed with excitement and turned to Starlight. "I am so beyond excited! This is going to be my final standing ovation before I leave Ponyville for my tour... oh, I just wish you were coming too, Starry!" She said as she frowned.
Starlight chuckled as she reached over and ran a hoof through Trixie's silver white mane, making them both smile. "Don’t worry, Miss Powerful. You can send me postcards from your stage in Las Pegasus when you’re wowing the crowd with your power!"
The magician blushed and waved her away. "Oh, you little tease. Just get those damn fireworks ready." Starlight shook her head and laughed as she went back to the box. Then, she had a sudden thought. "Hey, Trixie," She said seriously as she looked up at her best friend. "What’s up with that other magician that performs there? That 'Jack Pot' stallion who performs with his friends? Ponies are saying he looks JUST like you- the mane, the body colour, the talent... hell, he even has similar fireworks!"
Trixie sighed. "No, no, those are just rumours. I never really knew that pony- besides, nopony's talent could EVER amount to the awesomeness of Trrrixie!" She said, always making sure she really rolled the R's.
Unfortunately, Starlight knew the truth: she was lying. Trixie didn’t want to tell anypony, but her relationship with her father was always a little... rocky. Ever since she had left home to become a magician, and ended up becoming a boasting jerk, her father kept sending her angry letters saying that she never should have left home at all and that she was nothing without him, which she usually discarded immediately. After she used a magical amulet to banish Twilight from town, she never heard from him again.
But that was all in the past. Starlight could tell Trixie had moved on and she knew Jack had moved on too, as she heard from tourists that he was performing all over Equestria: as long as it was a million miles away from his great and powerful daughter.
Starlight had always wondered if she should have confronted Trixie about this earlier. She felt like she hadn’t been very committing towards their relationship lately- heck, it had only been one or two weeks since they started calling each other their little pet names and started having movie nights on weekends in Trixie's wagon, which even Starlight sometimes had to miss out on so she could have some cozy midnight confessions at the school with her students- uh, I mean... was Trixie crying?
"Uh, Trixie, are you okay?" Starlight piped up, hoping they could just get this show over with and talk somewhere else. Trixie turned away from the dark corner she had just been facing, seemingly wiping tears from her eyes as though she had just been having similar memories. "Y-yes?"
"Oh, uh, sorry, do you need a break? Because we’ve been practicing for hours and it would be a good idea to grab a snack before we performed. I’m starving!" She said, as the sound of her hungry belly rumbling began to fill the room. "Definitely don’t want the audience hearing THAT..." she chuckled. Trixie smirked. "No, no, it’s fine. I’m ready. Oh, but pretty pretty PLEASE can we just test ONE firework first?" She rubbed her hooves together excitedly. "It always helps to have a little adrenaline racing before the show."
Starlight looked worriedly between her friend and the blue swirly fireworks. She really didn’t think they had the time, but she could never say no to Trixie. She groaned and without saying another word pushed the box together with the one on the other side of the room, which was also filled to the brim with fireworks. "So the trick is that you climb in and I cut you in half, and then I open the boxes and there are FIREWORKS inside?"
Trixie nodded eagerly as she began climbing into the box. "Eeyup! I decided to make it even more extreme after my last performance in Griffonstone! Grampa Gruff says he’s seen better tricks in the illustrations on the safety manual for his new BLENDER!"
Starlight chuckled. "What does that guy know? I’m sure when you do this in front of the crowd, they’ll-"
"HEY! START THE SHOW ALREADY!" Cranky yelled angrily from the crowd. "I’ve gotta get home to take my pills in this heat!" Trixie parted the curtain and hissed "Be patient already! The show will begin momentarily.” She turned back around to the sounds of the audience groaning. "Now, where were we?"
Starlight sighed as she helped Trixie climb into the box. "Alright, you’re in. Now promise me you’ll be safe." She said worriedly. Trixie just rolled her eyes. "Come on, Starlight. We’ve been through so much together. I’m sure this won’t be too bad."
Starlight just smiled, knowing Trixie was nuttier than Fluttershy's pet squirrels when they got covered in peanut butter, but she levitated the saw over to the box anyways. "And now, everypony, watch in awe as The Great And Powerful Trixie gets brutally cut in half!" Trixie practiced her booming announcing voice as Starlight began sawing the box in half.
When it was done, she pulled the boxes away, revealing that Trixie was now separated from her legs. "Ta-dah!"
"Woah! Can you FEEL that?" Starlight chuckled as she poked one of her legs. "Of course! There’s more to the art of magic than you think, Starlight!" Trixie teased.
"Great, whatever." Starlight said, seemingly not even caring as her stomach started rumbling again. "Ugh, can we just DO this already? I’m super hungry and I can practically smell the-" She suddenly paused as her nose picked up the smell of fire. "Um, do you smell something burning?" Starlight asked.
Trixie looked worried as she started to smell it too. She then opened up the box her top half was still in, and her eyes widened in horror as she saw that she had accidentally lit one of the fireworks. She screamed and began flying her arms around in fright. "STARLIGHT, DO SOMETHING!"
"TRIXIE!” Starlight screamed as she ran towards the box, but was unable to do anything before the box exploded, gliding the unicorn and throwing her against the wall, knocking her out. Fireworks flew everywhere and destroyed whatever was left of the magician as red blood and blue skin splattered against the unconscious Starlight and the walls, and smoke began pouring out from the curtains, much to the confusion of the startled crowd.
Starlight groggily opened her eyes and shrieked hysterically at the horrific bloody sight in front of her. A minute later, Twilight she the others emerged from the front of the curtain to see what the fuss was about and they all look just as shocked and distressed as they saw the disgusting mess and figured it out immediately.
Trixie was gone.
"Starlight?" Twilight knocked the door a few times before letting herself into the room. "Are you ready to talk?"
"Go away, Twilight." Came another one of Starlight's cheery responses since she had gone into her bedroom three days ago.
Twilight sighed as she stepped into the room. "Listen, I know you’re still upset about Trixie, and I am too. But the funeral is today and you can’t just hide from the world in here forever. It’s time to say goodbye to-"
"No, Twilight! I WON'T say goodbye!" Starlight yelled at her friend as she sat up in bed with a fire in her eyes. "I loved Trixie more than anything else in the world, and you and your friends all treated her like manure. Yet I never had the guts to tell her, and I just watched her beautiful body blow up before my eyes, and all you and the girls are doing is sitting around, waiting for her to get buried six feet under ground so you can all go back to your lives like nothing ever happened."
"That’s nit true!" Twilight said, tears starting to form in her eyes as well. "We all loved Trixie, and we're all going to miss her. And I know you and Trixie loved each other so much and neither of you ever told the other, and it can be hard, but it’s like Rainbow Dash learned one winter with Tank: sometimes it’s better to just let go and move on."
Starlight didn’t say anything. She just fell back on her bed, and muttered "Go away, Twilight.” The princess sighed and left, closing the door gently on her way out. It was worth a shot.
***
The funeral was held that afternoon in the park. It rained, of course, and multiple ponies brought umbrellas and gifts for Starlight. Almost everyone who had attended Trixie's final show days prior was in the audience mourning the magician. Twilight and her five friends were one of the first to show up, and, to nopony's surprise, Starlight was one of the last to arrive.
As the unicorn made her way down to her seat next to Twilight, she could feel everyone’s eyes burning into her. They knew how depressed she was over Trixie's death, even if she had decided to not show it today.
The service was short. Twilight and a few of her friends said some words, with most of them in tears, especially Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who said she always loved how Trixie used to rip her mouth off of her face, which confused most of the crowd. Starlight chose not to talk, because she knew that if she trotted up there and started talking, she was going to either cry hysterically or throw up.
She did, however, scan the crowd around her once in search of one particular pony. "Where’s Trixie's father?" She asked, nudging Twilight, who wasn’t expecting to even hear her talk. "You know, Jack Pot? The magician from Las Pegasus?" She looked down and cried as she muttered sadly, "Trixie always wanted to go there."
Twilight just hugged her friend and said, "No, I don’t think I can see him. Maybe he just didn’t hear the news. Or maybe he was too busy to come."
Starlight made a disgusted face as Twilight released her grip. Who would be 'too busy' for their own daughter's funeral?
She thought about him until after the funeral, when most of the crowd cleared out, some of them still in tears as they gently laid flowers next to Trixie's grave, and, at Twilight's suggestion, a few fireworks, and a few stayed back to comfort Twilight and Starllight. Princess Celestia, who had attended the sad memorial as well, even cast a special spell around the coffin to keep Trixie safe for all eternity.
Lastly, Starlight pulled out Trixie's purple magician's hat, which was still ripped and tattered from the explosion, kissed it gently in between sobs, and placed it on top of the grave.
After a few ponies gave their condolences, she was approached by Discord, who was dressed as an undertaker and dragging The Smooze along by a leash, which was now playing with a toy airplane. "Um, Starlight." He said as he dabbed at his eyes with a tissue. "I just wanted to say I’m so sorry for your loss. Smoozie and I never really knew Trixie, but..."
"Discord, she’s the one who helped us defeat Queen Chrysalis when the changelings were evil, remember?" Starlight said, as she started to remember some funny memories. "I remember you guys were arguing the whole time about how incompetent you both were."
"Yeah, remember our code words if we got separated? 'Klutzy Draconequus'." Thorax said, which made everyone laugh, even Starlight. Discord scoffed. "I never did like that name. But you see? Sometimes remembering funny stories can help cheer you up."
Starlight gave a little smile that only Twilight noticed. "Wait, was she the one who I almost killed with an Ursa Major at the school?" Discord asked.
Starlight's brief happiness didn’t last long, however, as she spent that night up in bed, poring over pictures of her and Trixie in her scrapbook hanging out like good friends. She couldn’t help but get tears on the pages as she looked at Trixie and her smiling while being pampered at the Ponyville spa, where they had first met. If only Trixie knew how much closer Starlight wanted to be.
She fell asleep the same way she had the past few days- crying herself into unconsciousness wishing she could hug Trixie just one more time.
Before long, Starlight found herself in an odd dream. She was walking around in a star-filled sky, like she was on some sort of invisible platform. She had no idea where and why she was walking, but no matter how hard she strained against the motion, she couldn’t stop it.
Then, she heard a familiar voice. It laughed and echoed somewhere in the distance. "Trixie?" Starlight whispered, already feeling like she was going to cry. Suddenly, large pictures began to appear out of thin air, and passed by her as her big, tear-filled eyes gazed up at them uncontrollably.
Some of them were animated visions if her and Trixie going on adventures together, like when they were in Saddle Arabia arguing with each other, and when they were in the Everfree Forest, running from monsters and screaming like little fillies. Starlight just laughed and sobbed at the same time. This wasn’t a dream, it was a nightmare. And she wanted it to end right now.
After a few more minutes of watching the nostalgic- yet heartbreaking -photographs, Starlight's laugh-crying was shattered by a sudden loud flash as the moving pictures disappeared and the world went black. "Wha-what’s going on?" She said with a hiccup.
A pony suddenly stepped into view. He was a tall, handsome stallion, a blue unicorn in a purple-and-yellow top hat and a similarly coloured coat. He had a white mane like Trixie's and a cutie mark of three stars. Starlight wiped the tears out of her shiny eyes and gasped. It was him. Trixie's father, Jack Pot. She couldn’t believe she was finally meeting him.
But now she wanted to rip him to shreds.
"You! You’re Trixie's father!" She said, her voice slowly going from miserable to angry.
The stallion chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I am. You can call me the Spectacular and Marvellous Jack Pot if you’d like! That’s what the fans call me."
Starlight snorted angrily and felt her face start to burn. "Well I’m not a fan, and i’m not calling you anything, shitface! Where were you earlier when your daughter- my GIRLFRIEND- was killed? It was horrific and sad, and you weren’t even there for the FUNERAL, you ASSHOLE!" Starlight didn’t care if this guy was real or not. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind.
Jack was unfazed. "Oh, so I’m the asshole here now! I may have left my daughter but at least I told her how much I loved her!"
Before he could continue, Starlight growled and immediately fired a bright blast of magic at the chuckling stallion. "We were going to be together and you know it!"
The blast disintegrated the grinning stallion, but even after he disappeared she could still hear his voice taunting her from the black abyss. "Admit it, Starbright. She only wanted you because you knew a princess, not because of your pussy. Even if you had made an effort, you never would have stood a chance."
"No! It’s not true!" Starlight yelled at the top of her lungs as Jack appeared before her again and laughed. "I’m going to find you and I’m gonna make you wish you were never born!" She hissed through her teeth.
"Oh, really? And how exactly do you plan on doing that, hmmm? You’re all the way over there in Ponyville, collecting dust in that wet trap of yours, and I’m alllll the way over here in Las Pegasus, living my life, without. My. Daughter!"
A loud boom of thunder woke Starlight from the hellish nightmare, as she looked out the window and snarled menacingly. "Not for much longer."
