We woke early the day of the trip. I had figured promoting them to fall asleep on the plane would be better than them fidgeting the entire time, even if that was a classic way for parents to handle children. Ponies were children, sort of. They had that naive innocence and that was what made them adorable, in part.
"Why are we moving--" Trixie's words were interrupted by a thunderous yawn. "--so early?"
"Since it was last minute, my options were limited." A half truth there. "Besides, leaving early means we arrive during the day instead of late at night." That much was true.
Starlight was a pony and working her mane with a brush. "Trixie, did you pack everything last night?"
"Almost..." She was a human and was still tossing things into her bag. "She thought we'd have more time!"
I glanced to my two pieces of luggage to check and my purse. I was as ready as I ever would be. "Trixie, how do you have so many things?" I moved to join her and hopefully help.
She shrugged helpfully. "Kevin likes shopping with Trixie, and she sees nothing wrong with it, so we--"
Starlight cut her off with sudden laughter. "Oh, please tell me you're either using him for everything he has or that you're serious." Trixie's confused blink was enough for her. She collapsed in fits of laughter. "You really don't know..."
Trixie put a hand on Starlight's fuzzy head and pulled her friend's face up to look at her. "Tell Trixie what you mean."
Starlight sat up on her haunches. "Right right. Kevin, very obviously might I mind, likes you."
"Who doesn't like Trixie? There's so much there to like." She looked so smugly confident.
Starlight's eyes rolled. "More than that. Trixie, Kevin wants to be your coltfriend."
"I--Oh..." She had been surprised enough to use a word she rarely did elsewise. "But... if he wanted that, he should have said so."
Starlight let out a loud snort. "Welcome to being alive. Ponies, or humans, don't always say exactly what they mean."
That was charmingly mature for a pony. "She's not wrong," I added. "Kevin does seem to have an interest in you." As strange as that felt, knowing Kevin had wanted me not that long before... but that was already pushed off the table, by me no less. I... couldn't hold it against him, and I was not angry about it at all.
Okay that was maybe a little lie I kept repeating to myself. I had no right to be upset. If Kevin and Trixie worked out, great for both of them. "Do you like him?"
Trixie frowned in thought as she pulled the zipper closed on her luggage. "She hadn't thought about it that way... Besides, she is a pony, and will go home one day. Unless he will come, then how will that even work?"
Starlight rolled a hoof. "If you invite him, he will come. I don't have a shred of doubt. If we had put up the portal earlier, he would have already tried Equestria out by now."
Trixie's tongue peeked free. "Then Trixie will consider, but she was not looking for a coltfriend. She already has a marefriend and that's enough friend for her."
The implications... I glanced between Trixie and Starlight as we all brought our things to the front. "So, are you two...?"
Starlight shrugged even as she trotted towards the bathroom. "Friends? Yes." She vanished out of sight and a bright flash of magic emerged as she ditched her hooves and tail in favor of spindly fingers and subtlety. "But you're asking more than that."
That was the thing about Starlight, she lacked just a bit of that innocence that most ponies had. Still, I wanted to know. "Right. So are you two romantically involved?"
Trixie went a sudden beet red. "What?!"
Starlight looked much more amused than scandalized. "We are very close friends, but we're not 'that'. Not that I say no if she's feeling lonely and wants a hug."
Trixie stammered and looked away, struck speechless, which was a new condition for her so far as I knew it.
Starlight went up behind her and hugged her gently. "There's nothing embarrassing there. We are friends, not 'friend friends'. We understand how the other feels and we're happy to help the other, but we're not... What's the word for it..."
She wasn't thinking of Trixie sexually, that was all I needed to know. "And that goes both ways?"
Trixie gave an inarticulate squeak. It was all I was going to get out of her until she recovered.
"For what it's worth," spoke Starlight into her stunned ear. "I won't stop you from getting a coltfriend."
Trixie fled, dashing back into her room with a cloud of smoke to cover her face of flustered horror.
That seemed like a fine time to order up a taxi. A few taps on the phone was enough to get one coming towards us. It seemed the bay area had more people driving for such services, and one would grab us up in just a few minutes.
Starlight leaned back against the rear of the couch. "She'll get over it, but at least now she knows the score and can at least choose to act responsibly. Whether she will or not is her choice."
Trixie emerged, her composure returned. "How soon do we depart?"
Starlight gestured at me. "A few minutes. Let's take our things out."
That was a good idea, and I joined in rolling all our various suitcases outside into the darkness of morning. The air was crisp and the neighborhood was relatively quiet. It was easy to forget, for just a moment, that we were in the middle of dense city life. The car rolled up. I remembered when taxis had distinctive colors, or even logos, but no, this was just someone's car who agreed to drive for the company, so it looked like anyone else's car.
The driver was a smiling dark-skinned gentleman that helped load up all our things. He had us to the airport with no fuss, and helped unload us when we got there, which was good. Both Trixie and Starlight were busy gawking at the sights to be had even at the entrance terminal. There were more people there than they usually saw, piling into the airport. There was noise, especially that of planes coming and going. I made sure to give the driver a healthy tip on that app. I did not miss the days of carrying cash.
We each took hold of our own luggage and got to rolling inside. I led them to the check-in for our carrier and we soon had a ticket for each of our suitcases as they were taken from us and sent away on a conveyor belt.
"Have a nice flight," wished the attendant that had helped us. "Enjoy America!" She had seen that neither Starlight or Trixie were American citizens. Their passports made that clear, but it also made it clear they were permitted to be there.
Starlight adjusted the purse at her side. "We're liking it so far. Have a nice day." We all waved as we proceeded towards the security check. Starlight hadn't needed a purse, nor Trixie, until now. They wanted their tablets, and the chargers to go with them, so there we were, three women, three purses. Perfectly standard, there, if one discounted the bright colors of the hair of my companions.
Trixie saw there was a line that was much longer than the one we were entering. "What is that one for?"
"We have priority security," I explained.
And it seemed to click right away. "Of course, as if they would make Trixie wait any longer than she had to."
Starlight was rubbernecking around, looking at everything. "There seem to be a lot of guards."
They called for the next in line, which was us, but they wanted one at a time. Still... I took Trixie by the arm and nudged her forward. "My apologies, she's still new at this."
The security guard, thankfully, looked more bored than annoyed at the two of us being there at once. He held out a hand expectantly. "Boarding pass and ID, please."
Trixie looked confused, which worked nicely. "He means your passport."
"Oh! He should have said so." She produced her passport with a flourish as I got out her boarding pass.
He scanned the pass and looked over the passport. "Refugee, huh? Hope things get better."
Trixie looked all the more confused, but nodded. "Trixie is here, things can only improve."
"Good attitude." He gave the passport and pass back. "And yours?" He was looking at me. He took mine when I offered them and passed them back without fuss and I waved Starlight up.
"She's with us," I explained. "Give him your passport."
Starlight fished out her passport and surrendered it. He glanced between Starlight and I. He didn't say a thing, but I wagered he thought we were related. That didn't clash with the unspoken story we had woven, and he let us pass towards the body scans. That's when I realized something... "Trixie?"
"Hmm?"
"Tell me you don't have a horn right now," I hissed in a whisper.
She blinked softly. "If you wish her to say that."
Ugh... "Make it go away."
Trixie crossed her plump arms under her chest. "Why?"
Starlight casually stepped on her friend's foot. "Do it. Look." She pointed to where people were standing in the scanner and it ran over them. "Now."
That was good observational skill on Starlight's behalf. I made a note to myself to thank her later even as Trixie grumbled and got rid of the thing that would have caused us no end of trouble.
They had us remove our shoes, priority or not, something my companions shared their grumbles about.
"They want her to take them off just to put them back on again? She doesn't get it." Trixie dropped her lost shoes in a small bin and put it on the rollers before advancing into the scanning chamber, or tried. The guard there put a hand across.
"Could you take off your hat? It won't fit."
Trixie huffed as she wrenched it off. There was no horn to display, but there were two fake ears. He held out a hand. "What?"
"It has to go through there." He hiked a thumb back at where her shoes had gone. "You'll get it back afterwards."
Trixie submitted, but not quietly. "She does not understand this at all. You should be happy that Trixie is even here." She stepped up into the chamber.
"Hands up," ordered another man on the other end. "And stand still."
The chamber did its sweep and she was allowed to step free. Predictably, it found a few potential issues and the pat down began as they pulled things free of her. Lots of things... I had already arrived, smoothly, on the other end as a pile of things began to form.
"Ma'am, you are aware none of this is allowed on a flight." He nudged the pile. "There's no way I can just pretend this didn't happen." And out came a pad. "You're getting a fine."
Trixie's eyes went wide. "A fine?! For carrying her work tools?"
"Work tools? What even is half of this?" He peered at the collection. "Is that an explosive?"
"A smoke bomb," she corrected and I gave a little laugh, trying to interrupt.
"I'm really sorry. This is her first flight. She's not trying to cause trouble. Let me have that fine and we'll take care of it. Sorry for the holdup."
Starlight had a hand to her face. "Take it all, she doesn't need it."
"Doesn't need it?! How is Trixie going to put on her show without her tools?!"
I put a hand on her shoulder as she heaved. "We can get new tools when we get there, but none of that can be on the plane, least of all in our pockets."
"Ma'am," spoke the guard. "This is a criminal offense." My heart chilled. "You will be contacted." He ripped off a slip of paper and handed it to her.
Starlight could apparently see my reaction and let out a long sigh. "Good job, Tricks, you're a criminal."
"But she did nothing wrong!" She protested even as we got her moving forward. They were at least letting us proceed. That was, itself, a miracle. They had every right to bust Trixie right then and there and cancel our trip. I was confused at that and did some quick research.
"Turns out," I explained as we hiked towards the gate of our plane. "They can't actually finalize a thing until the case is reviewed, so we're free until then, since all we're potentially guilty of is TSA violation. Even the fine isn't final until then, so, let's put this behind us for now and try to enjoy our trip."