Twenty years ago
“Trixie, would you stop gawking at me like that and help me prepare for tonight?” Sunset wore high heels and the sleek looking, iridescent dress Trixie had picked out for her, standing in front of a mirror and frowning. First at herself, then at the now smug looking girl behind her.
Trixie took a step towards Sunset and brushed her red and gold hair over her shoulder, before zipping up her dress. “Told you, you would look good in that dress,” she cooed.
Sunset shivered as she felt the girl’s fingers touching her neck and turned around to face her directly, ignoring the warm feeling she sensed in her stomach. She wobbled a little on her shoes that definitely wouldn’t be her favourite choice in like, ever.
She tapped Trixie on her chest so that she needed to take a step back “I still don’t like it,” she answered, but had to smile. “Admit it, you just don’t like my leather jacket.”
Trixie grinned. “I won’t concede nor deny the truth of that statement.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, shook her head but laughed to herself. “You are one of a kind,” she said and then looked at Trixie, contemplating something. “Could you help me with that?” she finally asked and held up a garter.
Trixie hesitated, blushing at the same time.
An instance later the red in her face was gone and her voice turned up in volume “Why do you need Trixie to do that?” she asked. “A menial task to dress a girl like a common maid.”
She put a hand to her forehead and Sunset wasn’t sure if Rarity was an influence here at some point.
“Quit the act, showgirl,” she smirked and threw the rubber band at her friend, who caught it with a surprised yelp.
“You know very well that I can’t get it on myself because these heels are not very– eep” she tumbled and braced herself on a nearby chair “Case in point,” she huffed.
Trixie looked at the garter suspiciously and then at Sunset who still leaned on the chair.
Sunset gave her a prompting look and Trixie finally knelt down in front of her.
Carefully she lifted her foot from the ground so that Trixie could slip the rubber belt over her shoe and then up her leg.
None of them were talking and a cackling tension filled the air.
Putting her foot back on the ground, she bent over and grabbed the apparel at her knee level, stopping Trixie to slide it further up. Flaming hot blood shot into her face and she looked at the girl to her feet. “Th–Thanks. I can get it from here.”
Trixie, blushing profusely herself, nodded and pulled herself up and away from Sunset.
An awkward silence fell onto the room.
“Hey did I tell you?” Sunset croaked hoarsely to break the suspense. “I have been accepted at the university I was telling you about.”
Baffled and overrun by this abrupt change of subject, Trixie grasped for the wall to support her suddenly weak knees. “The one overseas?” she asked bewildered.
“Yes,” Sunset answered slowly and gulped, all of a sudden very aware that her impulsive demeanour once again bubbled to the surface at the wrong time.
“So you’ll really be gone after the summer?” Trixie asked crestfallen.
“Well, yeah” Sunset awkwardly rubbed her neck, one hand still on the chair to not fall over. “But I’ll be home during the breaks. And I’ll write to you.” she smiled. “And you’ll write to me. It’ll be fun right?”
“Yeah–” Trixie responded and after a second she smiled a well trained smile. “Yeah, it’ll be fun.”
Today
Sunset fixed some drinks for Twilight and Trixie who had sat down in the spacious living room she and her friend called home.
She heard the two of them chatter politely. While she put three glasses, a bottle of water and apple juice on a tray, she overheard some snippets of conversation.
“Yes, I agree, if you did in fact do a full feature-length show, of course he should have paid you. Even if there were some blunders. That could always happen in a live show, right?” she heard Twilight say.
“Thank you,” Trixie answered.
Sunset re-entered the living room and put the tray in the middle of the coffee table encouraging them to help themselves with a simple gesture.
Both women smiled at her, and she sat down opposite Twilight - who was seated in her comfortable wingback chair - to the left of Trixie, who now sat in between her two hosts.
“So,” Trixie started, “you were about to offer me some job opportunities?” she enquired.
“Um–” was the only thing Twilight could muster and she looked helplessly at Sunset.
On their ride over, Twilight and her had rehearsed parts of what would happen when they meet with Trixie in their home. Twilight wasn’t actually lying, when she said that she knew people who might want to hire Trixie as a performer. But they came to an understanding that it might be more important to know why Sunset’s magic had returned so strongly. And after that, they could offer to help Trixie.
Twilight had already contacted a few people and before she hadn’t heard back from anyone, they wouldn’t be able to tell Trixie something positive anyway.
“Look Trixie, we have something we wanted to discuss with you prior to the potential job offerings.” Sunset jumped in and earned a relieved look from Twilight.
Nervously, she rubbed her arm and looked at Trixie. “As you noticed, in the café, something happened there between us,” Sunset said. “Well actually it happened to me.”
Trixie put a strand of hair behind her ear and looked down. Her cheeks flushed with colour and she nodded. “I recall, yes. But what does that have to do with me? You used to use your magic all the time if I remember correctly.”
“Yes, I did. But what you don’t know is that my magic,” she looked across the table at Twilight, “our magic, vanished.”
“What are you talking about?” Trixie countered. “Even after–,” she fell silent and a bittersweet expression mixed in with her embarrassment. “Even after you left, you wrote me a last letter, and in there you said that you used it.”
Awkwardly, Sunset shuffled on her seat and put on a pained expression. Sooner or later the subject had to come up. After she told Trixie about leaving Canterlot and before she actually left for university, the relationship between Trixie and her had become much deeper than she could ever anticipate. It wasn’t romantic at the point she was leaving, but she couldn’t say if it wouldn’t have led to that if she had stayed.
That’s why it pained her so much to face the thing she had done. After she got the answer to her first letter, it became apparent that it would be way more difficult to be apart from Trixie than she had imagined. So to bury her feelings and to not think about her anymore, she decided to cut all ties and stayed overseas even for the breaks. A few letters arrived during her first year, but eventually Trixie stopped writing. It was one of the stupidest decisions Sunset had made in her life.
“I– it wasn’t supposed to be my last letter to you,” was the only thing she could say in her not very well thought out defense.
“That’s what you wrote in it,” Trixie spat. “Yet here we are, 20 something years later and the first thing you do to me after not answering back anymore is read my mind to– to what?” she burst out, welling up at the same time. “See how pathetic I became? Well congratulations, Sunset. You got it. And you have the audacity to tell me that you don’t have magic? What is the matter with you?” A tear left the corner of her eye and slowly trickled down her cheek. Trixie trembled but seemed to be unable to move more than a few centimetres at the same time.
“I-it wasn’t like that. I had no control,” Sunset tried to explain. She buried her face in her palms and started to cry, herself. “I’m sorry Trixie. I didn’t want to hurt you. Not then, not now,” she sobbed.
“Trixie,” Twilight intervened with a small voice and both women looked at her with reddened eyes, as if they had forgotten she was even there. “May I try to explain some things that have happened since– we lost touch?”
Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Trixie looked like she was torn between jumping up and leaving and giving Twilight a chance to tell her what’s going on.
After a few seconds of consideration, she slowly nodded at Twilight and wiped her eyes one last time.
Sunset offered her a handkerchief which she begrudgingly took.
Twilight nodded herself. “First of all, I know we didn’t spend much time getting to know each other in High School,” she said, “but I always thought you and Sunset were great together. Sunny was always in a great mood after you two were out.”
Sunset and Trixie both looked at each other and Sunset sniffled, before Twilight carried on.
“The last few months at CHS our magic somehow faded. There were no more threats emerging again and we used our powers less and less. Well except for Rainbow Dash,” she chuckled softly.
“It was around that time, we found out that the connection to Equestria must have been severed somehow. Sunset had a book –” she looked over to Sunset and waited for her approving nod to carry on “– where she could exchange messages with Princess Twilight. One day she just didn’t write back anymore. And after that we found that the portal to Equestria had closed. To this day, we don’t know why. And it hasn’t been open ever since. We check regularly.
“And after High School,” she continued, “even during the last semester, we had problems focussing our powers.” She pointed at the amulet around her neck. “These were supposed to channel Equestrian magic. But with no connection to Equestria, the magic just seemed to– vanish. There was some energy stored in them, but the more we’d use them, the more it diminished and, in some cases, disappeared for good.” she ended and a sad look flickered across her face.
“So what you are saying is, that the portal has reopened, because Sunset can use her magic again?” Trixie asked, her voice still raspy.
“That’s it, we don’t know,” Sunset answered instead of Twilight, avoiding Trixie’s gaze and looking at her feet instead, wrangling her hands. “We talked about it on our way home, but we don’t have an explanation. I wasn’t even consciously doing it. It was just– I think it might have been triggered– by you.” She looked up and saw a bewildered Trixie in front of her.
“But why would I channel your magic? That doesn’t make sense.” Trixie replied. She shook her head and stood up.
Both Sunset and Twilight raised themselves.
“Look, this was a mistake,” Trixie rambled. “I should–
Sunset had taken a step forward and her heart raced inside her chest as she reached for Trixie’s arm, but stopped herself, clenching her hand into a fist and forcing her arm to come down. “Please,” she interrupted her. “stay.”
Trixie hesitated and looked from one to the other.
“Trixie, I want to ask for your forgiveness. I was a bad friend. I was selfish and I should have written back after you answered me. I should have called. Visited.
“When I saw you today on those cameras, I took it as a sign. I wanted to see you. Talk to you. I wanted to apologise to you for what I have done.” she looked down.
It felt like an eternity, but then a hand was placed on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Trixie’s voice was very soft, almost broken: “Thank you, Sunset. I didn’t know how much it meant to me hearing that until now.”
Sunset’s heart skipped a beat at the touch and she looked up with a weak smiling face and watery eyes. She met her gaze and Trixie moved in, waiting for her to signal that it was ok. Only after that, Trixie embraced her.
Although careful not to touch any of her exposed skin, Sunset couldn’t help but smile, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Twilight stood next to them, clutching her hands in front of her mouth, looking like she was one step away from squealing in joy.
Trixie opened her eyes and looked at Twilight “What are you so happy about?” she asked, wiping away the tears again. “We don’t even know each other that well.”
“I know, but seeing Sunny happy makes me happy,” she replied cheerfully “Also, we might not know each other well, but I think what just happened was super cute. And yes, being 39 doesn’t change that fact one bit.”
Trixie struggled between being offended and being flattered and instinctively decided to go the Trixie route: “Trixie is not cute!”
The three of them were standing at the kitchen counter and Sunset was bent over her magic book, flipping through the pages to see if Princess Twilight had written back to her.
Trixie and Twilight stood opposite her, waiting intently.
“Nothing,” Sunset finally snapped the book shut and pushed it away from the edge. “No answer, no new messages, no nothing.”
Twilight rubbed her chin and hummed. “That is very curious. Then it’s got to be something else.” Her phone beeped and she pulled it out. After reading something she groaned. “And it’s not the portal. Fluttershy just texted.”
“Well, what about what you said earlier?” Trixie wondered. “About me being the catalyst? What was that about? Or was it just a fixed idea?”
“Actually yes,” Sunset admitted, “that was merely a hypothesis. When I hugged you, and touched your skin, there was a sensation I haven’t felt in a long time.”
“Would you like to tell us what it was?” Trixie asked.
Sunset sat down on a bar stool and put her elbows on the counter. “Actually, I could barely remember at first. The only time I felt like that was when my magic first came to life. At the Battle of the Bands.”
Trixie snorted. “You mean where you stole Trixie’s spot in the finale?”
“And defeated the sirens in the wake of it,” Sunset added. “Guess we weren’t such good friends back then”
“No, we weren’t,” Trixie retorted, but couldn’t quite suppress a smile.
“I’ve only heard of it, since I was still in Crystal Prep. So do you mind skipping forward?” Twilight asked, smirking.
“Yes, sorry. I was on the hill with Princess Twilight,” she emphasised the title, “and the others. I had to jump in. And when we all sang together,” she gulped, “as friends, I ponied up, stubs for ears and everything.”
“Ponied up,” Trixie laughed, “I still can’t get over that you called it that.”
Both Sunset and Twilight chose to ignore her outburst to not further fuel her teasing.
“Anyway, that was the first time I experienced true positive Magic again after leaving Equestria. And today felt exactly like that. Except that it went off by itself. I used to have control over my power. It just worked, when I wanted it to work. It never just went haywire.”
“Well once,” Twilight added, “when Rainbow Dash abused her superspeed, all of our powers kind of went overboard.”
“That’s true. But it was different then. And our amulets glowed so we could see that there was something wrong.”
“So you are saying, that despite you leaving back then and only seeing me today just rekindled your magic because we were friends in High School?” Trixie looked wary.
Sunset shrugged helplessly and couldn’t even muster a proper response that went past a dumbfounded “Eh–”
“Well, then try it,” Trixie suggested. “Here, touch me.” She pushed her sleeve upwards and extended her arm across the counter towards Sunset.
Who, despite her first impulse just to grab the arm, backed away, careful not to touch her. “I– don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, I want to know what happens just as much as you do.” Maybe even more. She looked to the side and rubbed her arm. “But I don’t want to invade your mind like I did before.”
Trixie retracted her arm and nodded sympathetically. “I understand. But let me tell you something. Back then you were always asking me if I was ok with everything. And even in the café today you waited for my approval. And I appreciate that a lot. But you couldn’t have foreseen what would happen, when the last time you did something like that was years ago. And even then, it was always a conscious decision. You couldn’t know it was going off, let alone being on autopilot.”
“I guess so.”
“So don’t make a fuss about it. You can’t control it, yet. But you learned to control it once. So you can do it again. And you know what? You have my consent to read my mind by accident,” Trixie chuckled. “We just have to catch up on the last 20 years, and then I have nothing to hide from you anymore.” she smiled.
Sunset smiled back carefully “Thank you for your trust Trixie. I do hope that I am worthy of it. And I would love to bring us both up to date.”
Someone cleared her throat. Sunset and Trixie looked at Twilight simultaneously and then giggled. “Ok, we have a lot of catching up to do then,” Sunset laughed and the other two chimed in.