//------------------------------//
// The Great and Powerful Duo 
// Story: For My Final Trick 
// by TheEveryDaySparkle 
//------------------------------//

	Starlight Glimmer made her way through Ponyville, galloping in such a hurry that she didn't even bother to watch where she was going. Not that she needed to considering it was nighttime and everypony except her, Celestia, and Trixie were asleep. She had to find her. She didn't care where she went or where she had to go. She would search the entirety of Equestria if she had to. Anything to find her friend. 

But that was only if she managed to leave before she got there. Right now Trixie was still in ponyville, so she still had a chance to stop her, to change her mind about leaving, to make her see  that there was still someone who cared, that there was still a way to fix things, to make them better. All these thoughts ran through her mind as she sped up her galloping,  breathing harder now. 

After about an hour, she made it to the station. As she searched around, she found her friend, sitting on her haunches on the wooden planks of the station, waiting for the train.

She ran up to her and stopped in front of her, breathing so heavily that Trixie had to ask. "Are you...alright, Starlight?"

"Oh, sure!...I'm...fine..." Came Starlight's response as she tried to catch her breath.

"That's good and all, but, why are you here?" Trixie asked, confused.

"I came...to stop you...from getting on that train..." Starlight said as she inhaled sharply.

Trixie smirked. "Starlight, i'm glad that you care for me and all, and i'm happy you came all this way for me, but...I've made my decision. I'm leaving ponyville and that's that. ...Nopony even wants me there." She spoke the last line with sadness in her voice, her ears flattening to the back of her head to accentuate her emotion.

"You're wrong!" Trixie suddenly heard Starlight say. She had caught her breath and was now looking Trixie dead in the eyes. "I want you there."

Trixie scoffed. "Of course you do. You're my only friend. Everypony else doesn't."

"You don't know that!" Starlight yelled, now getting tired of her friends stubbornness.

"It's obvious!" Trixie said, matching her friend's tone of voice. "Nopony talks to me! They all just avoid me! They're so angry at me that they can't even look in my general direction! They hate me..."

"Have you even tried talking to them?" Starlight said, making Trixie stop.

"How could you know how they feel about you if you don't interact with them directly and find out for yourself? You can't just presume to understand people's feelings based off your own interpretations of them."

Trixie looked about ready to burst into tears. She hadn't realized that all she's been doing up to this point was avoiding her problems and assuming that people hated her and were judging her without ever taking into account how they might actually feel about it.

She hugged her friend tightly and sobbed into her chest.

"You've been hiding for too long." Starlight said, holding her friend close to her and letting her cry into her. "It's time to come out of hiding and face the light of day again."

Trixie looked up at Starlight, tears streaming down her face.

"Ya know?" Starlight said, finally finishing her sentence properly.

Trixie cried a bit more before saying between sobs, "But what do we do? How do we get everypony's attention so that I can apologize?"

"Leave that...to me." Starlight said, smiling now.

After that, and a bit of yelling from the conductor of the train about sappy reunions and speeding it up, to which Trixie said nothing, sending him on his way with a few bits for his wasted time, the two unicorns returned to ponyville.

Starlight's plan was to put on one of Trixie's magic shows, to which she protested profusely, saying, "That could never work! Nopony comes to my magic shows anymore!"

Starlight simply hugged her tight and said, "Don't worry. They'll come."

Trixie accepted and returned the hug, trusting her friend to help her in her time of need.

After some prep work, the show was ready to start. But once again, Trixie was nervous. "What if they don't like it? What if they throw tomatoes at me?"

Starlight chuckled. "Nopony's going to throw tomatoes at you." Trixie could've sworn she heard Starlight mumble, "I paid them enough bits not to." But she just thought it was the nervousness talking. "Now go out there and do some magic."

Trixie smiled, some of her confidence returning "Alright."

Trixie stepped out from behind the curtains and began her magic show with her usual catchphrase. "Welcome to the Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie's Terrifically Tantalizing magic show!"

What followed was a great show full of bunnies, hats, oats, and disappearing acts. Not to mention saws and boxes. There were thunderous shouts as everypony clapped their hooves together in applause.

Trixie nearly doubled over in joyous tears as she heard the cheers of her audience. This was why she did her magic shows. This was the reason. So she could see the happy faces of the ponies around her after they had watched her performance. Her whole career as a magician was for the purpose of making ponies happy. Without them, she was nothing, so to hear them cheer for her filled her with unimaginable happiness.

Her happiness was increased three fold when she looked down at the audience and saw Princess Twilight and her friends clapping their hooves excitedly.

Then she remembered Starlight's plan and said, "For my final trick, I require an assistant from the audience." She pointed at Twilight. "You there. Come on down!" she waved her hoof in a gesture of "Come on up."

Twilight did so as she made her way across the field and up the stairs to the stage. She stood in front of Trixie, who said, "And now I will....Apologize..." She said as she took off her hat and looked at the audience, sorrow in her eyes.

"Listen everypony. I'm sorry I did all those things back then. I'm sorry I acted the way I did, and I'm sorry I made such a mess in that...incident." She said, walking around and looking at the ponies of the audience, especially snips and snails. Then she turned to look at Twilight.

"I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you and your friends. I'm sorry I said all those hurtful things and treated you so badly. It was wrong of me and I feel so bad about it."

Twilight raised a hoof to Trixie's muzzle, smiling. "No need, Trixie. I forgive you."

Trixie smiled and grabbed hold of Twilight's hoof. The sudden action caused Twilight to blush and ask, "Trixie, wha-what are you doing?"

"Something I should've done in the beginning." Trixie said as she brought her muzzle close to Twilight's and kissed her deeply. throwing Twilight completely off guard and causing wings to flare up in surprise. The rest of the awed had shocked faces as they watched what had just happened.

Trixie broke the kiss, returning to her original position while still holding Twilight's hoof. She looked her deep in the eyes and said,

"Thank you Twilight, for forgiving me, and for giving me the chance to say this."

"Say what?" Twilight asked with an eyebrow raised.

Trixie got closer to Twilight again, causing her to blush as she thought she was going to be kissed again. Trixie blushed as well, saying "I love you, twilight Sparkle."

Twilight just stood there for a moment, processing what had just happened. Then, she smiled, a gentle look on her face. "I love you too, Trixie."

After that, the two of them left the stage, heading home together. Trixie had finally gotten her wish. She was with the mare she loved. And she was happy. Very happy.