//------------------------------//
// After After Show 
// Story: Show Business 
// by Natedogg2006 
//------------------------------//

A small beam of light managed to find a break in the curtains and, as it always seemed to do, found Twilight's face a moment later. Due to the mares tendencies towards late night study sessions she had never been a morning pony. But she would swear her mentor was trying to make her one every morning in the most passive aggressive way imaginable.
This morning however the light seemed to be much more intense then it usually was. This prompted Twilight to resist the urge to open her eyes even more then usual. What also added to this desire was the slow and groggy state of her mind. Not being a fan of mornings she was used to her brain starting slowly. Today though it still seemed to be grinding, and even the ability to process where she was simply wasn't coming to her.
With a fair bit of effort she managed to start hacking through the mental fog that didn't seem to want to relent. The first thing that didn't seem to be right was how comfortable she felt, almost as if she was floating on a cloud. Oh right, she was in Canterlot. She may not have used it much as a filly but she definitely remembered this bed when she woke up on it.
But she did not remember why she was in Canterlot. Right, a summons from the princess. But wait, wasn't that done two days ago already. Why was she still here, why is it so hard to remember? Then she remembered a delicious cream pie, smashing her in the face. She wasn't quite sure why this actually made a slight smile come to her lips until other memories started to fill the void. 
Twilight had to feel a bit of pride in herself. In the course of less then two days she had taken a former enemy and made a friend. Granted the level to which she had regarded the mare a potential enemy had ended up being much more manageable then she had originally thought, but she was still considering it an achievement. This finally helped her to figure out why she was having such a hard time remembering the previous day. She could clearly remember clinking together a couple bottles of adult beverages with her newest friend, but everything after that got fuzzy.
Twilight's brilliant mind finally getting into something resembling a working condition started doing what it did best, analyzing. She decided that she must be experiencing her first ever occurrence of the phenomenon known as a hangover. From what she could remember of the symptoms she seemed to be experiencing most of them. That light definitely felt more annoying then it had any right to, there was a dull ache tapping on the back of her forehead, and she definitely felt she could drain a small bathtub of water if she was given access. Despite this she found herself wondering one thing about this phenomenon as she analyzed her symptoms, why did Rainbow Dash always make such a big deal about this whenever Twilight had run into her after a night of overindulging. It was certainly unpleasant, but not the "wishing she was dead" state Rainbow always made it out to be. 
To be fair on Dash though, it did seem that Twilight had some kind of naturally high tolerance to the drink. She could remember Trixie being impressed when they had managed to get through both her bottles, so when they had the castle staff bring them in food they had also decided to keep the party going. Since Twilight had never ordered alcoholic beverages from them before they were brought a wide selection to sample from, and they had sampled thoroughly. The fog in her brain after that was still impenetrable to Twilight. But still she supposed she should feel lucky that she was left with such minor symptoms after consuming so much alcohol on her first try. 
Though as her brain cleared more she found she might also have one other advantage over Dash in regards to handling a hangover. She wasn't sure where she got it, but for how comfortable her bed in her Canterlot room was it was nothing compared to the pillow she had her forehead resting against. It seemed to have the perfect balance of softness and support, the texture was so soft, almost fuzzy. And it seemed to also be in the perfect shape to also caress her horn without pressing into it, while it also seemed to be large enough for her to wrap her forehooves around. What was probably keeping her hangover headache at bay the best though was that this perfect pillow almost seemed to be radiating it's own heat, no doubt having been relaxing her head all night. Over all Twilight was feeling pretty good about her first experience drinking. She actually enjoyed the experience itself, she wasn't too bad off from it, and she hadn't made any reckless decisions. 
...., ........... Did her pillow just take a breath. 



Trixie was definitely not a morning pony. Even at the lowest point of her career her work day usually started when other ponies were finishing. At the height of her career her work days were finishing when most ponies were preparing for bed. Late nights and even later mornings were pretty normal for her, and she was more then ok with that.
She was in fact more ok with that then she usually was. She knew for a fact that she had never slept so well in her life. She felt like she was floating on a cloud. She was happy to finally get a chance to sleep in Twilight's bed, she had actually dreamed of sleeping in it while sleeping on her bed roll in her cart the previous night. She was still giddy over her show the previous night as well, and actually having somepony to celebrate with made it all the better. On some level she had wanted to sprawl out on the bed, having all the room she wanted to sleep was a rare experience for her. But just how much fun her and Twilight had ended up having together made it all the nicer to have something warm pressed up against her. As far as Trixie was concerned the rest of the day could wait, she felt no reason whatsoever to even move from where she was contentedly still half asleep. And then she heard a yelp come from Twilight. 


Her sleep probably could have survived the yelp but it was compounded by hooves suddenly pushing into her chest, skittering across the mattress that caused her to be rolled over as blankets were ripped off of her, and a soft thunk as a panicking purple pony fell off the side of the bed. Being mostly awake now Trixie slowly rolled herself to the side of the bed and peeked over. Twilight had fallen belly first and now laid on the ground with her hooves crossed over her head.
Twilight suddenly appreciated the way Rainbow Dash felt after drinking. The second her eyes had shot open upon realizing what she was doing she had regretted it. Her eyes burned at the gentle light from the window which made the pain in her head suddenly feel like jackhammers going to town on her temples. The sudden physical exertion of pulling away from the other mare and subsequently falling off the bed made her whole body hurt. It did however effectively distract her from the embarrassing situation she woke up to.
"You ok?" Trixie asked from the top of the bed.
"Trixie... Please never let me drink again."
Twilight was trying to protect her poor head from any outside stimulation, so she obviously did not see Trixie's face fall some upon hearing the words coming from Twilight. "You don't remember much from last night I'm guessing."
"I'm not sure I want to at this point. Oh sweet Celestia, why would anypony do this to themselves willingly." 
"Well, for most it helps them to loosen up. I believe I did say I might still need some help in getting you to loosen up. I believe I finally achieved that."
"So this is your fault then, uggghh. I thought we were friends. This is horrible."
Trixie's face fell a little more, Twilight was still oblivious to it. "Well as your friend I told you to stay away from that cognac. It may be fancy but it is more powerful then it seems."
"... Ok I do remember that. But still, why aren't you getting it this bad. You drank even more then me."
"I stayed away from the cognac for one. But mostly it's because I have more experience drinking. I'm feeling it some but not too bad, and until somepony decided to rudely wake me I was just going to sleep it off. You should start getting use to it soon, but this should help." Trixie's horn started to glow faintly and a small blob of magic jumped from it to Twilight's. A soothing feeling ran down the length of the magical appendage and straight into the mares aching skull.
The sensation allowed Twilight's mind to stop focusing on the pain, which she almost wished it hadn't. Trixie's previous words suddenly reminded her of how she ended up on the floor in the first place. "Umm, Trixie?"
Trixie's eyes started to take on a sad droop as she responded. "Yes Twilight?"
"This may be a little awkward to ask... But... Umm, why exactly were we cuddling."
"... I'm not sure I should answer that at this point. I think it might be better for you to either forget or just remember on your own. Either way, you're a smart pony, I'm sure you could venture some guesses."
"Umm, well. I did have some ideas but I wasn't sure it would be ok to ask. The whole situation seems to already be so awkward I didn't want to make it more so." Twilight finally managed to pry her hooves off her own forehead and experimentally started easing her eyes open. Wincing some she managed to fully open her eyes and finally started looking in the direction of the other mare. "I mean the idea I had was so outlandish, I didn't want to freak you out by making you think I was thinking about stuff like..." Twilight finally saw Trixie's face and realized there was a hurt expression there, a deep one that Twilight figured must confirm her suspicions. This made Twilight freeze up as Trixie's face fell even more.
"Twilight, I believe you are taking a very round about way of asking me if we ended up having sex last night." Twilight only managed to gulp, her already dry mouth suddenly feeling even drier. Trixie looked even more disheartened as she continued, "well no reason to keep you in suspense. The answer is yes." Trixie didn't want to see Twilight's reaction to this, so the yes came out as she started to roll back over on the bed where Twilight couldn't see her. It was probably for the best, Twilight was in full panic mode and her face showed it. 
Twilight's headache started to hurt more again as her mind started racing as fast as it could through her hangover haze. "But, but, but, I..." A million questions, explanations and excuses ran through her brain at once and, as her brain tended to do in these sorts of situations, decided on the absolute worst one. She shot to her hooves, immediately regretting it as one of her forehooves also shot to her aching forehead as she nearly shouted at the other mare. "You said you wouldn't come on to me any more, and then you..."
"TWILIGHT!!!" The anger in Trixie's voice was apparent, that and the overall volume of it stinging Twilight's sensitive ears hushed the panicking mare immediately. Trixie hesitated a moment before continuing, and as she did the anger was gone completely. Her tone was actually completely calm, almost emotionless. "Two things there. One, I made you a magicians promise. Magicians practice the art of deception, meaning their word is completely meaningless. Think about it. I promised the audience last night we'd both perform for them any time. I have no way of knowing you'll ever perform with me again."
Twilight's hoof came off her forehead as she looked down and saw a look of utter indifference on Trixie's face.  "But..."
"Second, you came on to me. Just because you were too drunk to remember doesn't mean it didn't happen. And you can't really claim I took advantage of you because you were too drunk to make reasonable decisions because I was definitely too drunk to as well."
"... Are you mad at me?" Though Twilight was extremely concerned about what had happened the previous night, the look on Trixie's face suddenly made her take pause.
"Why would I be?" Trixie rolled over so she was now facing away from the mare she had spent the night with.
"I, it's just that you seem upset, and I don't quite remember everything but I feel like I should."
"You don't have to remember anything, it's not like it's that big a deal."
That one stung Twilight a little bit. There was a hint of some emotion in the attempted monotone that Twilight couldn't quite place, something between anger, disgust, and disappointment. "I just.. I'm not sure how to deal with this. You seem upset, I'm not sure how I feel, and I'm not sure how this affects things between us. I mean, I've never even thought of other mares in that way, and I've only really thought of stallions that way on a purely theoretical level. I just don't know what this makes us."
"If you can't remember then there really isn't an 'us' to be worried about." The same sad tone creeped into her voice before it went flat and emotionless again. "Listen, I know you're a sentimental kind of pony. I'm sure you had some kind of expectation of your first time. And I'm sure it didn't involve drunken experimentation with another mare."
Twilight had managed to settle down some at this point and had sat down on her haunches on the carpet, the position putting her about level with the back of Trixie's head as she continued to talk to the apparently sad mare. "It's just that I don't remember what led to all this. I'm not sure how I should feel about this." Through sheer force of will Twilight was managing to remember some of what had happened between the two in bed. Though she remembered her drunken state making her even more awkward then she probably would have been if it had just been her first time she did remember one aspect of the experience. "I mean, from what I can remember... I, I think we both actually had.. a pretty good time."
Trixie didn't have to look to know Twilight's face was reddening. "That we did."
"But it's just that I've never done anything like that before.."
"You could have fooled me," Trixie interrupted, mostly because she knew it would make Twilight more embarrassed.
"...a, and I don't want to make things weird. We just became friends and I'd hate to ruin that. And I really don't know about any of the stuff, you know, beyond friendship. So I just want to know what this means for us."
"Well I can say that we are both grown mares so it's not like a drunken mistake is going to make me go back to hating you so quickly." Some of the happiness from the previous day had been creeping into Trixie's voice while she was teasing Twilight, but now it had gone flat again. "And like I said, it really doesn't have to mean anything. In fact it's probably better if it doesn't. 
"W, why.." 
"I believe I've already established that we both come from different worlds." Her tone went from flat to dismissive as she lifted her forehoof and randomly gestured with it in the air while still pointedly facing away. "That's not just an expression of how we see the world, it's also a physical barrier." She pointed her hoof in one direction, with no idea if it was the correct one. "I'm assuming you're heading back to Ponyville after this," she gestured the other way, "well I'm going the opposite direction." She went back to gesturing randomly. "I gotta head back to the play house and get my stuff packed up. I need to be leaving Canterlot by sundown if I'm going to make it to my next show. I have a few small shows in a few small towns over the next few weeks. Then in just over a month I've got another fairly big one in Manehatten." Her leg fell back to her side, and she curled it and her others up in such a way that made her seem smaller. "So you really don't have to worry about what we are now. It's not like we could be together, even if I.. if you actually wanted to be marefriends or something like that. It just doesn't work." 
"I.. I guess you'd be right about that. I, I just.. it's not that I can't be reasonable about this. It's just that something feels off. You're upset, I know you are. Could you just tell me about what happened last night.. you know other then.. that. I would really like to know. Especially if I was the one who made the first move. I.. I don't think I would have if there wasn't a good reason to."
"And what makes you think I remember any more then you do?" There was almost a sneer in her voice which told Twilight she was lying purposefully.
"You clearly do. Please. I don't know why but it seems really important to me that I remember." Trixie seemed to ignore the pleading. "Please Trixie." 
The mention of her name seemed to make the other mare flinch and draw into an even smaller form. "It doesn't matter."
"Trixi...."
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!!". The silence held between the mares for what seemed like forever. Finally, with all the emotion drained from her again Trixie added, "there's no need to get all sentimental again."
One word is all it took. Twilight had been racking her brain non stop to try to find what had led to her suddenly bedding the showmare she barely knew and all it took was one word for it all to come back to her. Twilight had quickly learned that her drunk self was not far off from the way she had acted while in character when she pretended to be Trixie's assistant. She was bubbly, she was confident, she was flirty. But Trixie had been true to her word and hadn't been flirting back, at least not directly. 
This had led to a very fun night for the two as they laughed and carried on together without a care in the world. This had lasted until Twilight had discovered that she had really liked a particular bottle of booze and had begun to over indulge even more. She suddenly started asking about Trixie's past, about what all she had gone through after what had happened in Ponyville, and almost crying over what she had caused the other mare to go through.
This had prompted Trixie to attempt to remove the bottle from the suddenly emotional mare. One thing Trixie had said while attempting to do so stuck in Twilight's mind. "Oh no, for Celestia's sake do not turn into a sentimental drunk." She remembered hearing Trixie sniff as if holding back a sob, "if you start getting sentimental," another sniff, "I'm going to start getting sentimental too."
"But it must have been so hard for you." Twilight could remember her eyes watering at that point. 
Another sniff, and tears started running down Trixie's face. "It, it was."
Their conversation became very emotional after that. They had ended up burying their faces into each other's manes to cry into but despite crying themselves out quickly they had stayed in the position for some time. 
The end of their conversation started playing in Twilight's mind. A very emotional Trixie explaining about how little she had in her life and how lonely she was. "It's almost sad even though it's so wonderful, but you are probably the closest pony to me, and two days ago I hated you. I seriously hated you. It has been a long time since I talked about any of this with anypony. And to tell the truth there really wouldn't be anypony to talk about it with. There's really only one pony left that I'm close to and he doesn't count. He's the only one left who knows me by my real name, but I could never be vulnerable like this to him, not when he was the one who taught me to be strong."
"You really don't have anypony close to you.. not even anypony who knows your name." Twilight remember getting misty eyed again thinking about that. 
"Some ponies do but nopony uses it. What it really is is that nopony can see past The Great And Powerful Trixie. I mean... I kind of let it slip to you.. but even you, suddenly being the closest pony to me, you don't use it."
Twilight's memories were suddenly very clear as she cemented this as a moment she never wanted to forget again. A decision, a promise, a sudden spark of emotion, and a kiss she didn't even think was made consciously. And in the stunned moment after, a reciprocated one, followed by another, and another, and another.
Twilight pulled herself out of her memories from the night before and lifted herself off of her haunches. She stood up on her hind legs, placed her forehooves on the bed and looked down at the wilted mare below her. She remembered all she needed to. She focused on the promise they had made the previous night while they were both at their most vulnerable. "B.. Beatrix." At least when they were alone, they could be completely open with each other and just let their emotions flow. Twilight heard and saw a breath suddenly hitch in Trixie's throat as she went rigid. With more conviction she continued. "Beatrix, I want.. I need you to look at me."
Slowly the mare rolled over. Though her mane flopped in such a way that it partially covered her face it was clear to Twilight that despite the fact that she had been hiding it well the mare had been crying while turned away. 
"Would you like to know why I was in Canterlot the other day when we ran into each other." Trixie didn't move a muscle, yet there was a glint of hope in her eyes that pleaded for Twilight to continue. "I, I think it must have been some kind of fate working. The princess had summoned me to the castle for something and I was going to just go home after. But a book that I had been waiting for in Ponyville was already in stock at my favorite book store here. It was on the way back that we met. There was no real reason all that should have happened like that. Much less.. what's going to happen now." Trixie let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding but couldn't hold anymore, taking a few ragged breaths that seemed to urge Twilight on even more. "The princess summoned me here to ask me to be her representative at a magical sciences and technology conference, this time next month... In Manehatten."
Trixie made a surprised noise as another breath hitched in her throat. "You, so you, actually want..." She didn't know how to finish the question. 
"This.. this does matter. It might be difficult but I'm willing to try to be a part of your life, as big a part as I can be. So.. do you think that if I were to help you get your cart packed up then you and I might have enough time to talk some more." Trixie's breathing was becoming rapid as barely contained excitement seemed to build in her eyes. "After all, I believe I still owe you a few lavished feasts. And I think I'd like to figure out some way of keeping in touch with my marefriend while she's on the roa..." 
Her words were cut off as a blue mass plowed into her. Both mares fell backwards onto the mercifully soft carpet. Twilight's mind was in pure bliss as lips eagerly pressed against hers while her face became covered with tears that were not her own.
Beatrix couldn't remember a time when she had a pony in her life that actually wanted to stay in it. And she knew that now that she had it she didn't want to let it go. They both knew it would be tough, but they both had been through tough before. And they both had a reason to get through it pressed up against them and kissing them passionately.