Merry Christmas, Shadow Dragon
Author's Note
A shipfic between Trixie and Princess Twilight Sparkle.
I'll be honest with ya, I'm no Trixie fan nor will I see myself become one, lol. But I'm willing to put that aside for this story.
This one was kinda hard to write because not only of my inexperience with Trixie but around the middle of the Jinglemas writing session, I caught COVID. But I'm better now and I wrote the story to the best of my abilities.
Hope you enjoy, Shadow Dragon!
Merry Christmas, Shadow Dragon
"I can't believe it came down to this," Twilight grumbled to herself as she let out a fake smile to wave at the waving ponies.
"Oh trust Trixie. She wishes this could have ended in better circumstances." Trixie also added with a similar grumble while similarly parroting Twilight’s actions of waving and smiling at others.
With a week left before the merry celebration of Hearth's Warming Eve, this led to the Canterlot nobleponies’ decision to host a winter ball to celebrate the festive holiday. Naturally, the grand ball attracted some big names and a large roster of ponies attending the dance. By coincidence, it also attracted some problems for Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight sighed as she stared out the window, seeing the light snowy weather that was engulfing Canterlot. At first, she didn’t mind this ball. Though she was hoping to skip it in favor of spending time back in Ponyville like she originally hoped. Unfortunately, her princess status required her to be accompanied to the ball. And since choosing from a selection of Canterlot noble suitors was out of the question, Twilight found herself with a desperate decision…
“Trixie hopes that you’re happy now. Your little plan to invite me along to this ball so that you don’t get bugged by other stallions is a complete success!” Trixie hissed as she put on a fake smile while waving at the nobles who arrived at the ball.
“Oh for goodness sake, do you ever stop talking?” Twilight hissed back, her facial expressions matching Trixie’s as she also waved at the other ponies.
“Only when I’m asleep in my carriage.” Trixie snarked back.
“Ah yes, the carriage that’s more important to you than Starlight, which turned out really well for both of you.”
Trixie immediately let out a small grimace but chose to stay silent. Her track record of screwing up bypassed Twilight’s record, so she had to call defeat on this argument. Though she found some solace in finding something she did that bypassed Twilight’s actions.
The magician decided to indulge Twilight’s request to stop talking regardless. She joined the princess by waving at the nobles and putting on fake smiles as they both tried to look welcoming. Of course, neither of them knows that the other pony is getting tired of the charade. The question is who will be the first to break?
"Can we go outside, please?” Twilight whispered to Trixie as her smile started to fade a bit. “I'm getting a bit sick of others staring at us like we're a couple or something."
Twilight still tried to smile and wave at other ponies, which made her unaware that her last comment made Trixie feel a bit hurt. The magician is, however, thankful that the princess didn’t see her hurt expression so she let out a snooty humph as she nodded at the princess.
"Finally, something that Trixie agrees with the princess."
"Just Twilight, please," Twilight muttered as she let out a tired but genuine small smile. "I'm sure Starlight told you how much it annoys me when you call me a princess."
“Yeah, I guess…”
Both girls remained silent as they slowly left their spots at the ball. They soon found themselves in the courtyard of the castle. With the light snowy weather still happening, this led to the courtyard being lightly packed with snow. Both Twilight and Trixie came prepared with the proper snow attire so they could easily withstand the current weather. The courtyard was unsurprisingly mostly vacant since everypony else was inside the castle to enjoy the ball. There were still only a few ponies present. Thankfully they paid almost no afternoon to the duo.
One pony caught Twilight's attention, however. Upon a quick inspection, Twilight found out the pony is a coffee vendor.
"Have you ever had coffee?" She asked Trixie, who tilted her head in mild confusion.
"Trixie is more of a hot cocoa mare herself."
"I honestly preferred tea more than hot chocolate," Twilight mumbled before pointing at the coffee vendor. "It's getting chilly here. If you want, I can buy us some coffee. If you want, that is?"
Trixie thought for a moment before lifting her head up a bit in a slightly snooty fashion. "Trixie has never denied free drinks. She accepts, thank you."
"A simple yes woulda been better," Twilight grumbled as she headed towards the coffee vendor.
Trixie was left alone for a quick minute. Enough time to gather her thoughts about how she got herself into this predicament. A "date" with the princess with everypony staring at them. Now said princess was kind enough to buy some coffee for the both of them. Strangely enough, a part of her is glad to find herself stuck in this predicament of being Twilight's companion…
Before Trixie can think some more, Twilight soon arrived with two cups of coffee being levitated by her magic. Trixie used her magic to grab one of the cups to sniff it a bit. It's been a while since she had coffee so her tastes are a bit rustic when it comes to coffee.
“Definitely smells stronger than Trixie expected.” The unicorn muttered after scrunching her nose a bit from the odor. “Trixie assumes that the taste will at least resemble hot cocoa?”
Trixie continued to inspect her cup a bit more, unaware of Twilight's sly smile forming on her lips.
“Actually, the taste is the same as hot cocoa." Twilight lied. "It just smells strong from the nutrients and… stuff.”
“Oh well, good enough for Trixie!” The blue unicorn cheered as she took a big gulp. Twilight burst into laughter as Trixie immediately spat out the gulp of coffee with a shocked look on her face. Trixie shot a glare at Twilight as she opted to silently scowl at Twilight while carefully sipping her drink. She could always get retribution another time anyway.
Trixie took another sip but carefully this time. Thankfully, the coffee didn’t seem too bad. Trixie honestly thought she would hate it. But she found it so-so despite a bad first impression. Twilight was already sipping her coffee. Trixie assumed that Twilight's taste in coffee was better than her taste.
Already the two ponies just stood in the courtyard by themselves, carefully sipping the hot coffee. Neither of them spoke for a bit. Twilight and Trixie were partly grateful that they didn't have to talk to each other. But eventually, the silence was starting to get to them. Now the question is who will break first?
“So uh, anything new?”
Trixie glanced at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Are we making small chatter now?” she asked.
“I mean the silence is killing me. Can we talk about something? I mean, how’s that other job of yours?”
“That student counselor thing?” Trixie added as she looked away. “Uh, it’s doing good. Great. Well, I guess it could be better. I do give out as much good advice as I can but students still have a hard time trusting me when it comes to advice. After all, I’m not entirely 100% counselor material.”
"I mean because of that moment when you kinda endangered Silverstream's life and while everypony was panicking and blaming Starlight, you just joked about it even though you pushed Starlight to do so."
Trixie grimaced. "Thanks, Twilight. I remember that embarrassing moment."
"What are friends for?"
"Yes… friends…" Trixie mumbled with a hidden blush. Suddenly the gears in her head finally turned regarding the counseling fiasco. "Hey wait, that's not exactly what happened. I mean I was kind of at fault for that but what about-"
Before Trixie could babble any other excuse that comes into her mind and out of her mouth, she quickly noticed Twilight’s small but sly smile. This caused the magician’s panicked face to turn into laughter.
"Oh, you manipulative liar!"
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh along with Trixie. After a few seconds of laughter, Twilight coughed a bit before she spoke. “Anyway, give it some time with your new job. If Starlight trusts you to be the counselor, then I trust that you’ll improve yourself to be a great counselor.”
Trixie let out an appreciative smile at those words as she carefully sipped her coffee a bit. It felt strange but the coffee seemed to be a bit better after that first taste. Maybe her spirits just needed to be lifted for her to enjoy the little things in life? Or maybe that’s just the cheesy holiday stuff that Trixie sees in those winter books she reads in her wagon.
"Enough about Trixie. What about you? Your princess duties have to be rough. And not just the whole date thing right now."
Twilight let out a long-awaited groan as she rubbed her eyes with her hooves. “You have no idea. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance warned me it was going to be tough during the holidays but I didn’t think it would be that tough. I have to attend all these meetings and conversate with other diplomats and such. It’s even becoming harder to hang out with my friends. And that’s not even including this ball thing. I was being bothered left and right by nobles about even the silliest things and I even had to ask you out to get some peace but I still get bothered by all sorts of stuff and…”
Twilight let out another sigh as she found herself too exhausted to continue on.
Upon hearing all that, Trixie frowned as she slowly sipped her coffee. Looks like Starlight was right about how Twilight's princess duties were a bit stressful.
"Trixie is very sorry to hear that."
Twilight's exhausted face dissolved into a curious glance with a raised eyebrow. "You're sorry?"
Trixie, oblivious to Twilight's new reaction, continued. "Yeah, Trix- I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know being a princess was THAT tough."
Twilight shook her head. "I mean, I didn't expect you to be sorry about that. I kinda thought you hated me."
Fortunate to not be sipping coffee since that sentence would have caused her to spit it out, Trixie turned to Twilight with a shocked face. "What!? I never said that. I don't hate you!"
"Then what about all the times we head-butted each other or try to one-up each other or-"
"I was jealous, okay!?"
The gears in Trixie's head begin to turn when she realizes what she just said. At that point, she shook her head as she mumbled whatever excuse came out of her head.
"No, wait. I'm not jealous. I'm just… uh… give me a second… just trying to figure out the right word. Not jealous. Not one bit. I'm just… um…"
Not finding any other words to say, Trixie suddenly snapped. She threw her coffee cup to the ground which caused Twilight’s eyes to widen a bit.
"Okay fine, I'm jealous! Happy now!?"
Before Twilight could register a word from her mouth, Trixie continued as she pointed at Twilight. “I didn’t want to admit it but you’re always better at other things than I. Even before I met Starlight you were already liked by everypony else for your magic and how much of a good friend you are. Me? I still feel like I could have been a better friend to Starlight but no, you’re right, I’m just that screw-up counselor and that wanna-be magician that just makes ponies realize you’re better at magic and everything else! Everypony likes you and… well everypony doesn’t hate me, but…”
Trixie wiped a tear from her face. Normally she wouldn’t like others to see her cry even just a tiny bit but she stopped caring at this point. A part of her wants to blame Twilight right now but she knows that it’s her fault. She decided to suck it up and choose the part where it was her fault instead.
Trixie gasped lightly as she suddenly felt embraced by a warm furry presence. She quickly realized that Twilight was hugging her with a sad and comforting look on her face.
“Don’t ever put yourself down like that,” Twilight whispered as she patted Trixie’s back. “You’ve done better things than I have. Who helped Starlight with the changelings thing after all? Despite your setbacks, you still at least endured as much as I did and have made great friends as well. Heck, Spike now likes to talk about how cool you are despite back then he didn’t trust you. And you’re not a screw-up counselor. Starlight and some students told me that you’re pretty good which is saying a lot since you don’t even have a counselor background of any kind.”
Twilight let out a sigh as she continued patting the slightly teary-eyed Trixie. “In fact, I should apologize to you. Sometimes I do constantly bring up your past mistakes. I guess a part of me is jealous of you. This doesn’t make you a bad pony in any way. I’ll be honest though, you do have some flaws, but despite all that, you’re still a good pony and somepony I’ll be happy to call you my friend. I’m sorry for making it seem like the other way around.”
“T-thank you,” Trixie whispered as she patted the princess on the back. She felt herself tightening the hug with Twilight softly smiling in the process.
Eventually, they both let go of the hug. Trixie's coffee was still on the ground but the magician didn't care about that anymore. Twilight just continued to sip her coffee a bit while remaining silent. Trixie remained silent as well, but eventually decided it was her turn to break the silence. Especially since she had a question of her own that she decided was a good time to ask.
"Why did you pick me as a date?"
"Huh?" Twilight grunted as she turned to Trixie.
"I said why did you pick me as a date for the ball?" Trixie said as she turned herself directly at Twilight.
"I just told you,” Twilight bluntly replied. “I didn't have a choice."
"No no nooo, Trixie won't accept that as an answer. You're lying." Trixie responded as she narrowed her eyes.
"I'm not lyi-"
"C'mon Princess Twilight. Tell the truth…" Trixie teased with a slightly evil smile on her face.
Twilight backed up a bit as Trixie slowly started to walk toward her. "Please don't call m-"
"I'll stop calling you princess if you tell the truth." Trixie interrupted as Twilight started to look nervous.
"I'm telling the tru-"
"Princess." Trixie purred as she now found herself close to Twilight, leaning against the red-faced alicorn. "Oh, princesssss-"
"I thought Starlight was going to take you out!" Twilight shrieked before she dropped her coffee and covered her mouth with her hooves.
Trixie almost reacted the same as she ceased her teasing and instead shook her head a bit in confusion. "What? Why? Starlight was going to take Sunburst in the first place. Wait, why were you worried about her taking me out…?"
Twilight did not say a single word, opting to dart her eyes back and forth in embarrassment. Trixie didn’t say a single word as she was filled with confusion. Her confusion led her mind to wander at the possible choices before it slowly chose the most logical choice.
Trixie dropped her jaw as she slowly looked at Twilight. The princess’s blushing face and a nervous frown were other tattletale signs for Trixie to realize the truth.
Trixie soon found herself silent as the truth began to hit her like an anvil. She found herself blushing and feeling nervous and warm inside. At this point, she did the one thing she could do. Coincidentally, it was also something she had secretly hoped to do.
“Gih!” Trixie shrieked as she faked herself tripping on something and purposely fell towards Twilight. Before the princess could react, she soon found herself nearly colliding with Trixie. Specifically, she felt Trixie’s lips brush on her cheek.
Trixie’s composure quickly returned back to normal. Her heart felt itself pumping heavily and fast over what she had done. A part of her was satisfied but a bigger part of her wanted to know how Twilight would react. She wanted a happy ending but the doubts inside her began to brew.
Immediately, however, her doubts evaporated.
The doubts died when Trixie soon found herself locking lips with Twilight. The princess grabbed Trixie by the shoulders and leaned herself for a not-so-subtle kiss. Trixie’s eyes widened while Twilight’s eyes were closed. Trixie’s eyes soon closed as, like with Twilight, she too began to savor the moment and kiss her back.
They both thought to themselves that there was no need for further words at this point because how they felt about each other was already answered over a cup of coffee…
Spike strolled along the same snowy courtyard with his pony companion. Rarity was trotting next to him as she gently nuzzled against the slightly older dragon with a slight blush on her face.
Spike's face was also red but his attention towards Rarity was slightly put aside as he noticed Twilight and Trixie making out on the snowy ground near two nearby spilled coffee cups.
The dragon let out a smirk, satisfied to know that Starlight now owes him 20 bits.
