The dream was the same. She'd get up and wander through a dark hallway, calling out somepony's name that she couldn't remember. She'd turn around to see something slither out of the darkness and make its way towards her. Trixie would find herself running from whatever this creature was. She'd wake up wanting to scream.
"Gods," Trixie thought to herself, " What is happening to me." It was always the same question that she could never find an answer to. She woke up in a cold sweat again. There were times she wanted to scream at her own reflection. It wasn't the same after the ALicorn Amulet disaster. She'd look in a mirror and see a hideous version of herself laughing back at her.
The only pony she'd ever told this too was of all beings Fluttershy. She was the only one that actively seemed to care for Trixie's well being after that incident. Not even Twilight knew that they had been talking to each other. Trixie always felt comfortable in her presence.
"It was the same nightmare again," she had found herself telling the mare. It was always the same start and ending. It was like a sick game was being played out in her mind that she would never have control of. She could tell Fluttershy was worried about what this was doing to her.
"Take a deep breath and tell me what happened this time," Fluttershy reassured her by putting a hoof on her shoulder. Trixie thanked her by putting her own hoof on top of Fluttershy's before taking a breath. It was the least she felt she could to right now.
"I was walking down the hallway when something came slithering out of the blackness,"Trixie had to pause before continuing. She felt like she had been robbed of air for a moment but gathered the strength to press on with her story. Her life wasn't exactly perfect. Her mother was a mentally asylum patient and her own father was a drifter that barely contacted her at all unless it was to boast about his new gig in Las Pegasus.
It wasn't until Starlight had recently come into her life that she could trust herself enough to confide in another pony excluding Fluttershy. She stared at her hooves before finishing the tale.
"What happened next?"Fluttershy pressed her.
"The thing started to chase me, screaming why did you abandon me?" The look on Trixie's face was enough to tell Fluttershy that she was tired but needed to finish describing what had happened in her dream. Trixie pulled Fluttershy into a hug before she kept going.
"Afterwards I woke up and decided to come here for our daily session." Fluttershy could tell now that she was relieved to have gotten that off of her chest. She hugged Trixie back and told her she was glad to be of help.
"I don't mind, Your making good progress Trixie. Im glad to help another pony when it comes to stuff like this. Ive never told anypony this either but my mother used to tell me a bed story as well. I think she meant to instill confidence in me when she'd tell it to me at night so that I wouldn't be so scared." This caught Trixie's attention by the Fluttershy could tell she was looking at her now.
"Really? What was the story about?"Trixie put a hoof to her cheek, now invested in what Fluttershy was telling her. It was an old wives tale to be honest. Something about it enraptured her.
"IT was about a place called Silent Ponyville,"Fluttershy turned to see the color drain from Trixie's face. That place wasn't just a Mare's tale. It was someplace that no pony ever wanted to hear of. Something chimed that spelled the end of their Therapy session. Trixie got up and thanked Fluttershy again before walking out the door.
Fluttershy turned towards the direction of the sound and rounded the corner to see somepony poking her music box. They just gently tapped at it out of curiosity. She recognized the mane and tail colors as belonging to Dead Loyalty. If Trixie had been smarter that day, she could have run into the mare before seeking her out in the Forest.
"Um, can I help you Loyalty?" This caught her attention. And not in a bad way. She just stared at Fluttershy before speaking anything at all. She didn't know her that well but her resemblance to Rainbow Dash was a bit striking in Fluttershy's eyes. She always wondered if they had been twins separated at birth. To be honest the truth would be a bit more of a stretch.
"Not really. Im just remembering what you were like in Cloudsdale." That caught Fluttershy off guard. As far as she remembered they had never seen each other there. All she knew was that Dead Loyalty had recently shown up in their lives. The only one that had knowledge of where the mare was from was Twilight. And she didn't like talking about it that much. Fluttershy would have remembered her if they had come across each other back when she was a filly. And the only one that did live there at the time was Rainbow Dash. The more she thought of it, the more she started to wonder why those two looked alike and yet had never met each other.
That was when she remembered what Twilight had said over a year ago. Dead Loyalty had been displaced from an alternate Timeline after the incident with Starlight Glimmer messing up the Timelines. She also hated hearing the name Rainbow Dash from what Twilight had been willing to speak of.
Trixie prepped herself for the trip with Starlight. She felt that now was the right time to express herself to her "friend". She wanted to be so much more with her. This was the right time to tell her she thought to herself. She'd tell Starlight just how much she loved her. And that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her.
Even though the Everfree forest wasn't as out of control as it used to be, there were still some parts that were widely unexplored. Tales of lost ruins were known to exist. And no pony knew where they had originated. A number of expeditions had been sent out and only one had returned. And even then the team lead eventually died of his injuries. No pony knew what other treasures or horrors they contained, one thing was certain. There was still enough mystery to draw in one's curiosity. That would get the better of Starlight Glimmer before her and Trixie's camping trip was finished. Trixie was holding something important back from the mare she loved. She wasn't sure at first how to go about explaining the real reason for coming out here.
"I mean I know that mare is out here i just have to keep searching," Trixie was looking for somepony specific. Somepony that could help her with a certain situation to be honest. She had to make sure that her eyes weren't going to play tricks on her when she finally found out where this pony was.
While she was at it she decided to stop and wait for Starlight to catch up. Their camp wasn't too far now. IT was the same spot they always traveled to when they did need to get away from town every now and then. Trixie liked it because she could see the Moon and the night sky on a clear night. She'd always find herself staring at the moon until Starlight would get her attention.
"The moon is so beautiful tonight," she told Starlight as the two of them sat on the ground. She noticed that Starlight was blushing a bit when she said this. That was what she also looking for. It was just more confirmation of what she was already feeling. Starlight did feel the same way Trixie thought to herself. She was certain of it.
There was another mare that lived out here besides Zecora that Trixie need to see for some " guidance" as she decided to call it. A mare that Starlight didn't even realize was out here, one that had been personally affected by Starlight's little Time travel escapades all those years ago. There was also the matter of how much longer she could go without watering her plant Phylis. Twilight had told her once that were some underground ruins that she had always wanted to explore but never had the time to.
She could feel that her emotions were getting the better of her right now. She had to maintain control regardless. They were out here for a reason. A reason that was standing in front of her brushing a silver and white mane. There were so many other emotions she was feeling right now. There was one that kept creeping into her mind.
What if her love interest didn't feel the same way she did. There had always been mixed signals between them as of late. There were times where it was like Trixie wanted to pull her into the wagon for some " fun time". There were others where Trixie didn't seem that interested in romance at all. It left Starlight feeling somewhat confused.
How much longer till we get back to town, was constantly rolling around in Starlight's mind. She was trying to distract herself from the obvious question that started to form. It was so simple in her head. Hey Trixie, she'd ask, do you love me? How hard was that to ask. She realized a lot harder to ask in pony right now. There were a lot of other things weighing on her mind as well.
"what would my friends think," She told herself over and over. She knew Twilight and AJ might understand because of the relationships they were in. The uncertainty factors were Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. She hoped that they wouldn't be too judgemental because of their past experience with Trixie. She still had to be sure when they got back to town to at least make sure there wasn't any real problems that would arise.
Starlight found her concentration wavering a bit when she saw Trixie standing there in the pale moonlight. The way the wind passed through the showmare's mane. And the way the light seemed to shine off her eyes. It wasn't until she took her magicians' hat off that Starlight felt like she could just lose herself completely in those shimmering blue eyes.
Her concentration finally became broken at that moment. Trixie had taken her magicians' hat off to pull a twig or two out of her mane. The silverish mane that stood in contrast to her ice blue-tinted irises. Those eyes that Starlight could just lose herself in anytime she looked into them.
"come on Starlight, you can do this, just trot up and ask her point blank" she thought some more. Why was it so hard lately to just confess how she really felt. From the moment they had first met in the spa, Starlight Glimmer had realized that this was the one mare that she wanted to spend eternity with.
Through all the perils that they had overcome together the bond between the two mares was only strengthened. She knew that she'd push on and ask her for her hoof in marriage. Right now, she needed to sit for a moment. All this thinking was making her a bit exhausted.
Starlight and Trixie were on their way back to Trixie's wagon when Starlight felt a chill in the air. It wasn't usually this cold on the outskirts of Ponyville. Trixie didn't seem to notice the chill in the air at all as she was busy focusing on packing her equipment into her travel wagon. She paused for a moment to look back at Starlight though. Starlight's mane was glistening in the cold air tonight.
Trixie thought she looked so beautiful right now. And of course Trixie was trying to do her best to hide her feelings towards Starlight but it wasn't exactly easy. Especially when she was right there standing a few feet away from her. There were so many times she wanted to pull Starlight into her Wagon and share her feelings with the lavender mare. There was always a palpable tension between them at times. It was like Starlight was conflicted herself in how she felt towards Trixie as well.
There was also the matter of Starlight's former friend Sunburst. Trixie found her mind wandering again. It drifted back to the days when she had dispised Twilight and her circle of friends. But the more she thought about how jealous she had been, the more she came to the realiztion that Twilight wasn't trying to out do her. It clicked that Twilight didn't want her own friends to think she was a show off like Trixie. That she had been just as socially awkward as Trixie had been at the time.
Her mind snapped back to the present when she noticed Starlight was looking at her in a concerned manner. She decided to just come out with the truth right then and there and gauge Starlight's response accordingly.
"Starlight,", she began.
"What is it Trixs?", Starlight had become fond of calling her, " What's wrong?", She braced herself for whatever answer was going to be coming her way.
"I love you." There Trixie thought, just put it out there and see what happens she said to herself.
A look of utter shock washed across Starlight's face. No other emotion, just a brief wave of shock. It was just as she hoped too.Trixie did have the same feelings for her that she felt for Trixie. It felt so sudden just hearing it uttered like that. She was sure that it wasn't in that 'I love you as a friend' kind of tone.
It was that ' Starlight I have loved you from the moment we meet' kind of tone. And she was ok with this. She could feel that connection again. It was like it became more focused as she repeated in her mind. What worried her now was the look on Trixie's face. She was taking too long to come up with a response back. That had to be it.
" Trixie," she began," Why did you wait to tell me?", she watched as Trixie's eyes softened a bit after hearing that. There was more of a natural connection between them then there had been between her and Sunburst. She had also felt that she'd be lying to herself if she had actually tried to date him at all. And then there was the matter of his family pushing them to get closer. Also, It didn't help that his older sister was Sunset Shimmer.
Starlight and Sunset never really got along back then. Now, they were more or less friends. That still didn't stop Sunset from acting protective of her little brother. It wasnt as bad as it used to be between them, especially now that one of them was aware of a certain show mares affection towards the other. Sunset could tell right away how Trixie felt about Starlight.
Right there under the moonlight of Luna's beautifully crafted night, Trix and Starlight had their first kiss. This was the mare Starlight knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Little did she know she'd have to broker a deal with the devil in order to keep her soulmare alive. Trixie wanted to tell Starlight about her experience with the Alicorn Amulet. That it did more then just suck the life out of the wielder in exchange for the use of its power.
Or that Starlight would have to go through literal hell just to reverse its effects on its host.