//------------------------------// // Can't Miss a Show // Story: Great and Powerful Shipping // by Halogenmyst //------------------------------// The sun was setting. As its edge started to dip below the horizon the sky lit up in dazzling pinks and oranges, the lights converged in few clouds that hung above the earth, signaling the oncoming night. The heavens' beauty wasn't lost on Starlight Glimmer. Worry weighed on her mind, however, as she hadn't seen her close friend Trixie Lulamoon all day. Starlight approached the wagon Trixie lived in while she would take her traveling magic shows across Equestria. "Trixie!" Starlight called as she tapped her hoof against the door. "Trixie, it's me, Starlight. Are you in there?" Starlight could hear a grumbling and shuffling indicating the wagon was not empty. Distinctly lacking was any actual response though. Trixie was supposed to start her 'Great and Powerful Friendship Tour' in Ponyville tonight, but the stage she reserved had none of the usual dressings indicating a show was going to happen at all. "Trixie, I'm coming in." Starlight announced before opening the door with her magic and stepping inside. Trixie's wagon was messy at the best of times. The showmare tended to prefer spending energy finding something as opposed to spending energy making a place for something, just another reason she and Twilight Sparkle found it hard to get along. Now however, Starlight was surprised to find the wagon looking as though a tornado had just run through it, Trixie wasn't usually this messy. Starlight saw many orange cans thrown haphazardly about the wagon and picked one up with her magic to inspect it. "Cheez's Cheesey-whiz?" Starlight noted the can was completely empty and lifted another can to find it possessed the same label and the same emptiness. Starlight lifted her eyes from the cans toward Trixie, who was crumpled on the floor like a paper tossed into the garbage. "You know this stuff is super fake, right?" Starlight asked, voice tinged with worry. Trixie threw her head back and finally spoke. "Just like me!" She wailed. Another orange can in her hoof, she pressed the nozzle straight into her mouth and ate the orange cream straight from the can. Starlight gripped the can with her magic and ripped it from Trixie's hoof. "What in Celestia's name has gotten into you?" She demanded, as Trixie limply reached for the can just outside her reach. "You've got a show in just a couple hours, and I find you drinking fake cheese?" Trixie's expression hardened as her glassy eyes met Starlight's. "It's not like you could ever understand!" Trixie fought back. "Besides, the show was cancelled..." "What?" Starlight stepped back with surprise. The can in her grip loosened enough for Trixie to quickly snatch it out of the air and press it back into her mouth like a baby's bottle. "You've never cancelled a show, you'd rather jump into the mouth of a manticore than cancel!" Trixie swallowed hard and mumbled under her shallow breath. "I didn't... they did..." Tears started to well in her eyes as she tried to hide her face from Starlight. No mumbling was too quiet for Starlight to understand, she had had practice with Fluttershy, veritable queen of quiet, after all. "Why?" She asked seriously. "Because it's not real! Why else!?" Trixie shouted back. "How is any of this-" She waved her hoof over the contents of her wagon, filled with show props and bags of glitter. "-Supposed to compare with any unicorn and their dog!? Infants can do more miracles than me!" Tears began to run down her cheeks, down the same tracks from previous weeping. Trixie pressed the nozzle of the can in her hoof against her tongue and nothing happened. She angrily threw the empty can across the room, just barely missing Starlight in front of her. "The 'Great' and 'Powerful' Trixie has always been a sham... I've never mattered..." Trixie said softly as she dropped her head to hide under her hooves. Starlight's face twisted with concern. Trixie was her best friend and seeing her so depressed caused Starlight's heart to ache. Starlight walked over to where Trixie was huddled and wrapped her arms around the light blue mare. "You'll always be great and powerful to me. No matter what anypony thinks, you've done a miracle nopony else could perform." She said softly into Trixie's ear. Trixie turned her head up to see Starlight's eyes also welling up with tears. "What?" She asked. Starlight's eyes closed softly, releasing the tears in her eyes, and she gently yet swiftly pressed her lips against Trixie's. Trixie's eyes widened in complete surprise, but her mind was like a record where the needle was bumped off. She could feel the gears turning, but her mind remained blank. With Starlight Glimmer's soft lips against her own, she could only listen to her heart. Trixie took the rapid beating of her heart to mean she was happy and so she closed her eyes and pressed her lips back into Starlight's. Starlight's arms wrapped around the back of Trixie's neck and twisted her head slightly to press closer. The two of them closed together for an eternity that couldn't last long enough. After releasing the kiss, both ponies opened their eyes carefully, looking into each other for some cue. A moment of admiring each other's eyes passed before Starlight pressed her forehead against Trixie's and let her eyelids drift shut again. "I'm in love. If that's not a miracle worthy of calling you great and powerful... Frankly, I don't know what is." Starlight whispered. Trixie could barely piece her brain back together as her arms automatically wrapped around Starlight's barrel and pulled tight. Trixie couldn't help but let a chuckling out of her chest. The chuckle evolved into full laughter, which caused Starlight to pull away with a powerful blush burning through her cheeks. "Geez Trixie! Just say no, you don't need to laugh at me!" Starlight said as her face squeezed with embarrassment mixed with anger. Trixie's voice tried to respond between giggles. "No no no, its not- *snrk* I'm just so happy!" Her eyes were pressed closed by her extreme smile as she brought her hoof to her mouth to try and stifle the last of the giggles in her. Starlight turned quickly from anger to confusion. "What's-" She asked before being cut off by Trixie's lips. Trixie placed all the passion she could muster into a statement words could not declare. Between them, soft lips parted slightly to allow shallow breaths that were too heavy to ignore, but nothing was powerful enough to separate the joyful passion binding their muzzles together. After the long, meaningful kiss ended, Trixie laid her head down on Starlight's shoulder, pulling their bodies closer. "Star, I love you." Trixie felt the words drip off her tongue and couldn't imagine a better sensation. "I love you too Trixie." Star whispered back, resting her own head on Trixie's shoulder. The two held each other tightly as their final tears dripped into each other's coats. Finally, they backed enough to get a good look at each other, and their hearts fluttered in unison at the sight of their loved one's smile. Starlight was the first to speak. "Your lips taste like Cheesey-whiz." She said with a smug smile. Trixie blushed and playfully smacked Starlight's cheek. "Oh, shut up!" She said with a huge smile. Starlight nuzzled her new fillyfriend. "I never said I didn't like it." Trixie nuzzled her back. "addictive, isn't it?"