The Great and Powerful Trixie (the most beloved pony in all of Ponyville, according to a very scientific poll that she herself had conducted) leaned forward across the outdoor Formica table. Her hat flopped over her eyes, and she adjusted it magically so that she could get a better view of the food sitting on a small, green-rimmed plate in front of her. Sitting upon the plate were three small rolls of white rice and seaweed.
Her eyes flitted upward to the pony sitting across from her. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not know how she feels about this…soo-sheeee.”
Starlight stared back at her, both amused and slightly confused. “It’s fine. Try it.”
“Trixie does not know.” Trixie poked at it. “I don’t know how I feel about raw things.”
“You mean a raw avocado roll?”
“Avocado is a suspicious fruit!” protested Trixie. “It has no practical use! It is the toe-sock of fruits!”
“But it’s good in guacamole.”
“Heresy! Guacamole is disgusting! It doesn’t taste like anything at all!”
“Then you’ve never had good guacamole. Come on.” Starlight pushed the plate closer. “Eat it. I’m paying. And I know you need it.”
Trixie gasped. “Are you saying Trixie is too THIN? That my flank is not adequately rounded and Celestia-like? I’ll have you know that I just purchased a new leotard, and I guarantee that I fill it out quite well- -”
“But you don’t eat!”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie eats many delicious and expensive foods!”
“No. You graze outside of town when you think nopony’s looking.”
Trixie blushed. “You…saw that?”
“I’m Starlight Glimmer. I see everything.”
Trixie huffed. Then she leaned forward and stuffed the rolls into her mouth.
“Well?”
“They thaste thtoopid,” said Trixie, shoving the rest in her mouth and swallowing.
Starlight laughed. She could tell that Trixie liked them, and Trixie could tell that Starlight knew. It was how their relationship worked. Especially with regard to restaurants. New ones had been arriving steadily in town since the construction of the Castle of Frienships, as more ponies flocked to what would surely one day be a thriving city. Trixie, despite being great AND powerful, was both poor and not very adventurous. She greatly enjoyed new foods, but would never go out of her way to find them. That was Starlight’s job. And it worked.
“Next week we can try the pizza place on first.”
Trixie looked up just before she attempted to eat all of the wasabi. “This Pete Zah. Does he also have food? Will he bow down to Trixie’s greatness? Her POWERFULLNESS?” She paused. “Is he hot?”
“Um…”
The awkwardness of the situation was defused almost instantly as three loud children raced down the street, two of them in a wagon and the third pulling the other on a scooter. Trixie immediately grabbed her condiments and the last sushi fragment as if the fillies were about to steal them.
Across the street, a blue Pegasus and a yellow-orange earth-pony were approaching from the opposite direction, perhaps discussing the next race at the Running of the Leaves- -and how not to get beaten by an (admittedly beloved) nerd this time.
“Rainbow Dash! RAINBOW DASH!”
Rainbow Dash turned. “Scoots! What’s up?”
Scootaloo was so excited that she nearly fell off her Scooter and derailed the wagon carrying her friends. They hardly seemed to mind, though. All three of the fillies were wide-eyed and looked about to burst with excitement. Perhaps Starlight detected that something was wrong, that their pupils were just a little bit too wide, and their gazes a little bit too distant for their level of excitement. If she did, she did not say anything. If she had, things in the end might have been different.
“Whoa, WHOA! What is it? Did you kiss a griffon or something?”
Applejack elbowed her. “Don’t encourage bad behavior!”
“What? I kissed a griffon at her age and I turned out fine!”
Applejack frowned. “You…kissed a griffon? A guy griffon, right?”
Rainbow Dash darkened. “Um…yes?”
“Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash RAINBOW DASH!”
“Scoots, I’m right here! Don’t wear my name out!”
That joke usually quieted Scootaloo relatively quickly, but at this point she was jumping so fast she was nearly vibrating. “We found something in the woods!”
“It’s not another skeleton, is it?” Applejack shivered. “Because you’re supposed to leave those there. I got in soooo much trouble the last time- -”
“No, no, not this time!” Applebloom was climbing over Sweetie Belle to get out of the wagon. “No! We found- -”
“We found a HOLE!” cried Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, I wanted to tell them!”
“Wait,” said Applejack, raising an eyebrow. “A hole? You’re all excited over…a hole?”
“Well when you put it like that- -”
“But it’s not just a hole!” squeaked Scootaloo. “It’s the most amazing hole EVER! You have to come see it!” She grabbed Rainbow Dash’s hoof. “Come on! COME ON! You have to see it! It’s so COOL!”
“Well…I do like cool things. And I’m not scheduled for a nap for another thirty minutes or so…So I guess I can make some time.” She ruffled Scootaloo’s hair. “Sure. Show me where this so-called ‘hole’ is.”
“Now just wait a minute,” said Applejack. “Rainbow, you may know cloud stuff but you couldn’t tell your rump from a hole in the ground! I’m coming too.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked overjoyed, and excitedly led the pair of adult ponies back the way they had come. Starlight waved to them as they passed, and they waved back. Trixie, meanwhile, jealously guarded the condiments that she had already begun hiding in her cape.
“All that excitement over a hole?” muttered Trixie. “Trixie is FAR more interesting than some pit. I mean, I can understand earth-ponies, they love dirt…but Pegasuses too?”
“Pegasi. And you know how kids can be.”
“I don’t have any children! Who have you been talking to?!”
Starlight blinked, and then began to laugh. Trixie looked confused for a moment, and then joined in as well, even if she did not know why.
“Come on. Let’s get back to the castle before it gets dark.”
Trixie nodded and stood up, the soy-sauce in her cape jingling, and joined her best friend on the way up the hill toward the vicinity of where the both of them lived.