Trixie and Starlight Travel to Chukotka

It was dark and cold outside, as it also was inside the abandoned commieblock that Starlight was trying to survive in. She was in a different commieblock than Trixie, whose one was across the street of the one Starlight was in. Starlight just wanted to take distance from her for the rest of the day. She was angrier and more disappointed towards her than ever. The cold temperatures in the abandoned panel building, were hard to endure for Starlight. Because of this, she used the many clothes, she brought along with her, to warm herself up. She not only putted on many jackets, scarfs and hats, but also used some of them as a blanket. She also continued to read the book, she got from the library earlier this day. She was unable to calm down. The harsh temperatures and darkness she had to deal with along with the book, reminding her of some of the worst traits about her best friend, made Starlight only angrier and more furious about Trixie. She legitimately began to feel true hate towards her and even began to think about cutting ties with her forever. She kept the anger and frustration inside of her tho, as she saw no need at becoming loud and angry. While reading the book, she realised something about it tho.

"Does this book even give any advice with dealing with a pony like this?" She asked, "I mean the book literately is called "Help! My Friend is a Narcissist!" so there should be some hints on how to deal with ponies like this, right?"

She looked into the table of contents and saw that the section of to deal with people and ponies like that, was very short. In fact, it was only 1 page long. Still, she took a look towards it, in hope, that there might be a way to change Trixie to the better and keep their friendship. Disappointingly, there was only one, really bad way to deal with narcissists in the book.

"Cut all ties with them?" She read out of the book with a questioning tone, ""Don't let Narcissists ruin your life, they don't deserve friends and neither deserve you having to deal with someone like that!" This is horrible! How will this help anypony? Especially the narcissist in question. It will only make their behaviour worse."

Starlight was clearly unhappy with the books "help" on how to deal with a narcissist. She felt like, the book lied to her with it's title and began to question it's content because of it. She started to realise that the book pretty much rage baited her and possibly even manipulated her. She took a look back at some of the reasons, that made her believe that Trixie is a narcissist, with a more skeptical thought. She began to notice how basic and even normal and common some of these reasons and how shallow some of the descriptions were.

"Taking pride in their own achievements, I mean who doesn't," Starlight talked to herself, "even Fluttershy has a lot of pride about her own animal sanctuary and there is nothing wrong with that. And having visions of success and perfection? Many ponies have that, especially a performer like Trixie!"

Starlight started to feel guilty for lashing out towards her best friend. She blamed herself for believing into this and making so many negative assumptions about Trixie because of it. She also began to think about how Trixie is feeling now.

"I hope Trixie is doing fine. She looked seriously sad when I called her a narcissist, just because of this stupid book," She said to herself. "Plus she too has to survive in an abandoned commieblock right now. It's not like she did this just to make me suffer. She just wanted something weird, challenging and adventurous for us to do. I should apologise to her. I mean, I am letting one of my longest and the closest friendship of mine getting destroyed by an idiotic book. Who am I? Twilight Sparkle?"

Starlight threw the book away into a dusty old trashcan. She took a look outside of a window near the front entrance, that was across the front entrance of the commieblock Trixie was in. However, Trixie's commieblock looked almost unrecognizable compared to how it looked like the last time she saw it. It was bright, had windows and even seemed livable. Starlight was highly surprised on how well Trixie managed to spruce up the dark, grey and lifeless building.

As bright and warm Trixie's commieblock looked like, she was feeling absolutely miserable. Not only was she sad about possibly loosing her best friend, she was feeling guilty too and secretly blamed herself for this situation. She was legitimately starting to believe, that she is a narcissist. It was not the first time someone called her something like that, but the fact it came from her closest friend and was said to her in such a serious tone, mentally broke her. She has been crying almost constantly since that happened, even while she was making the abandoned building more livable. She was feeling ashamed of herself for not caring enough about Starlight's interests and feelings. Nothing managed to cheer her up. Not even the fact that the commieblock she was in had a vinyl player. She putted on the Molchat Doma vinyl she brought along with her, but because it was Molchat Doma, all what it did is make her feel even more depressed and miserable. Especially because the new album had some songs about feeling misunderstood by your friends or not understanding your friends, including the opener of the album, whose Russian title translated to "You don't know who I am" in English. Normally she would start to shake and dance to the aggressive synth melody of this song, but now, the lyrics of the song, made her heart break even more.

Starlight went outside and looked into Trixie's commieblock through one of the windows, which seemed to made of thick sheets of ice. She saw her laying on a bed sheet on the floor, with the vinyl player next to her. She was still crying heavily. Starlight felt more and more guilty of herself, the more she saw her best friend crying. She then knocked on the door. She could hear Trixie's crying becoming quieter and her stopping the music. Trixie slowly opened the door afterwards.

"What do you want, you fake friend?" Trixie passive aggressively said while still crying but tried to hide it, "Leave me alone!" she tried to close the door again afterwards.

"No Trixie, please, I want to apologise," Starlight said to her while she held the door open, "I am sorry, I let my getting brainwashed by a stupid and harmful book that nopony or nohuman should ever read. You are not a narcissist. I thought so because the book listed down reasons on why somepony could be narcissist and well, they all applied to you. However, I didn't realise how nonissue and shallow many of these and their descriptions were. I could blame the book all I want, but in reality, I am the problem for believing this bullshit and letting it destroy my closest friendship. I messed up and I am so sorry for it and hurting you feeling."

"But Starlight," Trixie replied in a calmer tone, while stopping to hide her tears, "I am the problem. I planned this trip for us, so we can explore this place, while doing fun things together. Unfortunately I completely forgot about the fact, that you might not like all of these things. I just assumed that because I would find them fun, you would too, not realising how dumb and naive I actually was. And even when there was something for you to enjoy, like the Lenin statue on our second day in Anadyr, I did not acknowledge it all and just forced us to go further. You were right, I am an awful friend."

"No Trixie," Starlight replied in an apologetic tone, "you are not an awful friend, neither are you dumb or naive. You just don't have the experience to travel with somepony else. You have been a traveling magician since your teenage years and you did it all alone with nopony else on your side. You didn't even had a friend for the majority of your life, so of course there will be mistakes when you do something like this and that's totally ok and understandable. Plus, a lot of these mistakes weren't even that bad. I took them way seriously and despite that, I didn't even had the guts to tell you that I don't want this. If there is an awful friend here, it's me."

"You too are not an awful friend," Trixie responded, while her crying started to calm down, "none of us are. I think it's fair to say, that we both did our mistakes. We didn't intended anything bad and yet, we still fucked up hurt each others feelings."

"You can say that loudly," Starlight replied, being relieved that Trixie accepted her apology so well, "but look at the bright side. Although we messed up, we at least are able to realise it, even if it took some time and caused us to hurt each other feelings, we are now back together, accepting our mistakes and trying to learn from them."

"Yeah, you are right," Trixie replied back, with a happier tone, "we can learn from this situation to make the rest of our trip greater and more powerful. Perhaps instead of just doing the things I have planned, we can talk about it and perhaps even decide more spontaneously what we want to do. What do you think?"

"That's a great idea!" Starlight happily responded, "By the way, I haven't even mentioned how nice your commieblock looks. How did you turned this grey and depressing building into something that actually looks livable?"

"Oh that was pretty simple," Trixie replied to her, with the return of usual smug tone and expression, "I just took some sheets of ice from the frozen waters, formed them rectangular with my magic and used them as windows. As for the lights, I simply used my magic to create some sparkler effects that last for multiple hours."

Starlight began to smile as she replied, "Now that is the Trixie I know and like. I shouldn't care about what some silly book says, there is nothing wrong with feeling proud of themself. I never even thought about using my magic to make this grey abandoned commieblock more livable. You have all of the rights on taking pride on that. One thing that can't be denied, is that you sure are creative."

Trixie began to happily smile too and said, "Thanks for appreciating it! Would you like to come in? Now that we have learned from our mistakes and get along again, why don't we spend this night... and the evening we currently have... and the next morning most likely too, together?"

"Sure! Let me get my luggage first!" Starlight happily replied as she ran back to her commieblock, to get her suitcase.

After she had brought her luggage with her and walked into Trixie's formally abandoned commieblock, she said, "Wow, you really know on how to make a place like this more comfortable. It even is somewhat warm inside here. So much more pleasant than the commieblock I was in."

They both comfortably laid themselves down on some blankets and clothes their putted on the floor. They were both glad, that they get along and be friends again.

Starlight was still impressed by Trixie's improvisation skills on how to live in an abandoned building. She knew that wasn't the first time she had done something like this. It looked too good for that, so she asked her, "Trixie, have you done something like this before? You spruced this building up so nicely and creatively, I am sure that this wasn't the first time you did something like that."

Trixie looked over to her with a surprisingly melancholic expression and answered her question, "Well, you are indeed right. I have done this before, a couple of times actually. Remember how I told you I was homeless once because my old trailer got destroyed during a certain incident? Yeah, it was during that time period where I spend quite a lot of time living in abandoned buildings to not land on the streets. It wasn't as bad as it's sounds, or it would've if it wasn't for the fact that most cities try to get rid of them and thus, I often needed to relocate to find a new one. Eventually, there were almost no abandoned buildings left in the parts of Equestria where I could walk around freely, without having somepony call me a fraud or a pathetic boaster and thus, I eventually landed on the streets. The time I spend on the streets was the worst period of my life and I just wanted a place I could comfortably live in. I didn't care that it was a tiny trailer, with no shower and toilet or an old abandoned building, that looked grey and depressing, I just wanted a place where I can sleep comfortably and have my privacy."

A tear ran down on Starlight's face when Trixie told her about her rough past and she replied, "Wow, now it makes sense. That explains even more why you felt so alienated by the hotel room in Anadyr. You generally aren't used to live in a normal home. After you left your mothers house, you spend your whole live either living in trailers, abandoned buildings or on the street. Now I know why you wanted us to live and sleep in this thing. It's familiar to you, unlike the hotel room. Honestly, this only makes me feel even more guilty for getting so mad at you."

"There is no need to feel guilty Starlight," Trixie replied to her in a comforting tone, "I can understand why you got so mad and even then, all what matters is that we get along again."

"You're right," Starlight happily responded to her, "we should stop thinking about the times where we got mad at each other and instead enjoy the good memories we share. But I do have to say, after you talked about your worst period of your life, it reminded me of my rough period. The time after Sunburst left me and I was left alone with no friends, was more difficult than I like to tell. My former hate for cutie marks, didn't began immediately after Sunburst left me, instead, I fell into a depression. I had doubts in myself for getting my cutie mark so late and not having to go to magic school. I thought I was a worthless failure with no talents and skills. This is why I fell in love with communism. It made me feel like I wasn't worse than anypony else, instead we are all equal, I loved that thought and when I founded my village, I had something that I never had before, pride. Unfortunately, the things I did there, were awful and since then, I often have doubts in me again, which is why it's so hard for me to stand up for myself sometimes and I instead bottle up my anger. But honestly, being friends with somepony, that has as much pride as you, despite having a really rough life, having done some big mistakes in the past and struggles with friendship, is actually helping me to get some more self esteem."

Trixie began to look thoughtfully and replied to her, "You know what, the fact that you have doubts in yourself, is helping me to become more humble too. I actually was quite shy when I was a little filly, but everypony pushed me around because of that and thus, I more and more got the needs to stand up for myself and to show everypony that I am better than them, which is why I eventually became interested in stage magic. I loved the thrill of being on the stage, showing that I have passion and talent, while the crowd cheers and applauds for me and overtime, I became more comfortable with myself. Unfortunately, I became too comfortable with myself. In my earlier years of being a magician, well before we first met and prior to becoming homeless, I had nopony else to reflect myself on. The only ponies I really talked to, were my fans, that only praised and applauded me and being on stage almost everyday, showing off my talent and acting very proud of it, didn't help too. Sure I was happy and didn't really minded it that I have no friends and that my ego grew over the top big, but nowadays, I wish things went differently."

Starlight really appreciated it, when Trixie told her that and replied, "Honestly, I think we have more in common than we often think. Sure, on the surface we seem very different. I am somepony who often doubts in herself, can be too selfless at certain times, likes thing ordered and tidy and tries to walk with rest of the crowd, since I stopped being a cutie mark stealer. You on the other hoof, have a lot of pride, can be too self absorbed at times, are also pretty chaotic and unpredictable, more rebellious and often seen as somewhat of an outcast. Yet despite that, we share one thing, struggle. We both have been through some rough times, have problems with friendship and even did some pretty bad things in the past. But not only have learned from our mistakes, we genuinely relate to each others problems and issues and try to make our lives better and even if doesn't always work, we still come back together."

Trixie started to get a happy smile on her face as she replied, "That is it! Now I know why this place fits to us, my research was right! It's not because you are a commie or that I kinda behave like a stereotypical Russian, it's struggle. Russia has a rough history, with wars, poverty, economic crises, corruption, alcoholism and harsh climate, yet the humans who live here, still try to make the best of it. They don't want to bring themselves down with a troubled past or having lower living standards. They don't need having a big friend circle, a big fancy home and constant happy smiles, they just want to live their lives, despite their struggles and problems, just like us. I mean just look at this place. On the one side, you have the cold and grey abandoned buildings, but on the other, you have clean and colourful ones, showing that they still try to keep this place well and alive, just like how we try to improve on ourselves, even after some of the worst periods of our lives."

Starlight's eyes started to get big and she responded, "Wow, that actually makes sense. It's a dark yet also somewhat optimistic way to see things. Even if it's unusual and this is without a doubt the weirdest and most insane travel trip that I have ever experienced, this place really does fit to us."

Trixie began to get a smug expression as she replied, "By the way, have you seen that this commieblock has a vinyl player?"

Starlight replied blunt, "Um yes, is there something about it?"

"Not with the vinyl player itself," Trixie smugly replied, as she opened her suitcase, "it's the music I brought here with us! I originally brought this new Molchat Doma album with us, simply because I thought it would fit with the vibe of this place, but honestly, it does fit to us pretty well too. I mean the band is kinda known for making music only ponies and humans with unhappy lives can enjoy."

Starlight thought and replied, "You know what, I am ready to give it a listen. It does sound like something I could enjoy. I never really had the time so far to really give this band a listen, but I am ready to do it now. The album cover sure looks cool... uh I mean great and powerful of course."

Trixie putted on the album afterwards and they both listened to it. Both Trixie and Starlight liked the music a lot. The songs were dark, yet also danceable. The lyrics of the songs were all in Russian. Trixie was able to understand quite a lot of it and even explained the lyrics of the songs to her friend. Of the 10 songs of the album, their favorite was "Ya Tak Ustal". A new wave like song about trying to understand someone you like and is close to you and finally succeeding. It fitted perfectly to this moment. After the final song of the album ended, a green light began to shimmer through the ice sheet windows of the commieblock.

Trixie's eyes began to open widely, as she said in joy, "Starlight look, the polar lights! They are finally starting to come! Let's get up on the roof top so that we have the perfect view to see them in all their glory."

"Sure," Starlight replied, "but isn't it very cold up there?"

"Yes, but don't worry," Trixie comfortably replied, "there is some firewood here in this commieblock. We can use it to make us a fire to warm us up."

"Great idea my friend!" Starlight happily replied, "But before you put on the fire, I need to get something. Don't worry, I will be back in a minute."

Starlight ran back to her commieblock, only to come back less than a minute later, with a certain book.

"If we make a fire, I think we should use the opportunity to burn down this horrible book," Starlight said with a somewhat smug smile.

"A great and powerful idea for sure," Trixie smugly replied back, "I also brought us some marshmallows along to our trip. You too are probably hungry after such an exciting and exhausting day, aren't you?"

"Yes I am," Starlight replied to her with a smile, "but wow, I am still impressed at the kind of stuff you brought along to this trip. But seeing how things went so far, I definitely shouldn't complain."

They both went up to the rooftop, putted on a little fire, burnt the book in it, baked and ate some marshmallows and enjoyed the beautiful view over the polar lights on the night sky. They were both happy again. Having calmed themselves down from the drama and began to enjoy each others company again. It was a long night with long lasting polar lights. The two ponies stayed awake for much longer than their thought. By the time they began to sleep, it has long been past midnight and they slept on the floor over a bunch of clothes and blankets, but they didn't care. They had fun together for that night, watching the polar lights, baking and eating marshmallows and listening to music and that is what mattered the most.