“...once again, Canterlot City has been saved, thanks to the heroic efforts of the group of superheroines known as ‘The Elements of Harmony’. The self proclaimed ‘Lord of Chaos’ Discord was defeated this afternoon by the team, and is now once again sealed away in stone. So far, no deaths and very few injuries have been reported in the aftermath of Discord’s rampage, no doubt thanks to the quick response from The Elements…”
Lying on her couch, legs hung over the armrest, Trixie scoffed, rolling her eyes. With a flick of her wrist, she grabbed the TV remote in an aura of magic, pressing the ‘mute’ button to silence the news broadcast. Satisfied, she went back to absentmindedly checking her social media feed on her phone.
The click of a door opening made her look up– or, rather, made her tilt her head over the other armrest and look upside down behind her, at Maud as she entered their shared apartment. “Hey,” she greeted, tilting her head to the now silenced TV. “Your sister and her friends are on the news again.”
Maud nodded. “I saw. I’m glad she’s okay.” It was only through continued exposure to Maud’s monotone that allowed Trixie to pick up the extremely subtle hint of relief in her voice.
“It’s not fair,” Trixie grumbled. “How come Canterlot gets all the supervillains? The Elements have, like, a bajillion nemeses, and we don’t have any! Why does this city have to be so boring…”
“Really?” Starlight asked from the corner. Her illustrated avatar lowered the book she was reading, a thin line of turquoise magic connecting it to its physical counterpart in the real world. “You’re complaining about not having enough crime to fight?” She shook her head. “In my day, humans would have sacrificed so much for a place to live that was this peaceful.”
“Yeah, well, in your day, people still thought the Earth was flat.”
“Actually, that’s a misnomer,” Starlight corrected. “Knowledge of the of Earth’s spherical nature was fairly widespread among learned circles, and even those who weren’t–”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Trixie cut her off, waving her hand, and sighed. “Trixie just desires a challenge. Something to test the limits of her great and powerful abilities! You get what I mean, right Maud?”
“Yes.” Maud said, placing her bag on a hook and walking over to the nook of the apartment that functioned as a kitchen, a collection of envelopes and flyers in her hand.
Trixie sat up, leaning over the back of the couch to watch Maud check the mail. “Anything interesting?” She asked.
“Ad. Bill. Charity. Bill.” Maud placed each envelope down onto the countertop in turn, separating them into different piles. “Letter from home. Ad. Coupons for pizza.”
“Ooh!” Starlight looked up again, floating over to Maud, the book in her hand vanishing as the thread of magic sustaining it snapped. “Pizza sounds good, what do you girls think?”
Trixie shrugged. “Works for Trixie.”
Maud nodded. “We can do pizza.”
“Make sure you get pineapple on mine!” Starlight added, her grimoire bobbing up and down at an increased pace.
Trixie made a face. “Blech. Trixie has no idea how you can stomach that. Demons are weird…” She shook her head, pulling up the pizza chain’s app on her phone and entering the coupon codes.
“Humans are weird,” Starlight retorted. “You have all these amazing foods and you just refuse to eat most of them! Back in the Demons Realms, all we had to eat was raw magic and the suffering of tortured souls.”
“What did that taste like?” Maud asked.
Starlight thought for a moment. “Baguettes, mostly. Kinda weird, when you think about it.” She shrugged. “Either way, pizza’s much better.” With a frown, she added. “Most things here are better than the Demon Realms.”
“You don’t talk much about where you come from,” Trixie said. “What are the Demon Realms even like? Are we talking, like, barren rocky wastelands, pits of fire everywhere, or what?”
“Kind of? In some places, yes, in others…” Starlight sighed. “I’d rather not talk about it. I left as soon as I could, and, well..” She gestured at the book that was her prison. “I haven’t exactly been back in a long time. Not like I’d want to go back.” She gave a grin. “They don’t have pizza, or pineapples, or kites, or you two! This world is much better.”
“I’m glad.” Maud said.
“If we’re gonna get sappy, Trixie is breaking out the liquor.” Trixie declared. “Trixie is never sappy while sober.”
Trixie did, indeed, break out the alcohol, as promised. However, they did not ‘get sappy’; rather, the three of them decided to just eat pizza and watch Netflix, which was more enjoyable, despite not being nearly as emotionally cathartic.
Starlight took the last bite of her illustrated pizza, As she did, it’s counterpart in the real world, connected to her with a thread of turquoise, completely turned black and shriveled up, the magic connection fading away. With a hum, Starlight tilted herself slightly to face another slice, and pointed at it. A beam of magic shot from her finger, out of her tome, and hit the pizza, tethering it to herself, causing it’s illustrated form to appear in her hand.
She shot a glance at Trixie’s glass of rum, and sighed. She took another bite of her pizza, mulling over her thoughts, and then floated over to Trixie and nudged her shoulder. “Hey, Trix?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah?” Trixie turned to look at Starlight, her avatar taking a step into the background with a nervous expression. Trixie tilted her head slightly in confusion, followed Starlight’s line of sight to her glass, and put two and two together. “Starlight…”
“Come on, please?” Starlight all but begged. “I can’t even get tipsy in here, it’s like, one of the very few downsides if I’m being on honest, can you even imagine what it’s like to drink alcohol without the buzz, it’s horrible–”
“You do remember what happened last time, right?” Trixie asked flatly. “Because Trixie does. Or, rather, Trixie remembers what happened after.”
“I’m sorry, okay?” Starlight hissed, trying not to speak too loudly despite the fact that none of them were really paying attention to whatever crappy Netflix original had autoplayed. “I wasn’t prepared, I lost control, it won’t happen again, I promise.”
Trixie turned to look at Maud, who was sitting on her other side, with a questioning look. Starlight looked to her too, with puppy dog eyes slightly too wide to be a realistic expression. “I trust her.” Maud said simply, downing the last of her whiskey. “And I can keep her in check, too.”
“Fair enough…” Trixie sighed. “It’s not that I have a problem with it, it’s just...”
Starlight shook her head rapidly. “No, no, I get it. Human bodies are squishy, and having someone else run around in yours isn’t something you’re used to.”
“It is… exceptionally weird, yes,” Trixie admitted. “But Trixie is more concerned with your wellbeing. You have a tendency to go… overboard.”
Starlight raised an eyebrow. “And you don’t?”
“Trixie is a trained professional. You aren’t used to feeling pain.”
“...Fair point.” Starlight conceded.
“Look, just…” Trixie sighed again. “Don’t do anything Trixie wouldn’t do. And try not to hurt yourself, I don’t want to wake up with bruises, or worse.”
“I’ll be careful, I promise.” Starlight gave a salute, and then looked past Trixie, at Maud, and gave her a saucy look. “So I can do things you would…?”
“That is between you and Maud.” Trixie said. “What you decide to do with our girlfriend while you are controlling my body is your business.” Trixie paused. “It is bizarre to Trixie that that sentence made sense. Why is life so weird?”
“That’s not so bad.” Maud answered. “We’re superheroes. Starlight is a demon who lives in a book. My sister can bend reality. Everything is weird.”
“Maud is… not wrong,” Starlight admitted. “I’m still not sure what Pinkie is…” she muttered under her breath.
“Besides,” Maud gave a very slight smile. “I think it’s hot.”
Both Trixie and Starlight went red in the face. “Uh…. good to know, then.” Starlight managed.
“We don’t deserve her.” Trixie stage whispered to Starlight.
“I know.” Starlight whispered back.
“I heard that.” Maud said, a touch of amusement actually present in her voice.
“You were supposed to.” Trixie stood up. “Alright, Starlight, let’s do this. Please try not to throw up this time.”
“I won’t, I swear.” Starlight promised, hands and eyes glowing as she prepared her magic. “I’ll be super responsible.”
Trixie awoke with a splitting headache.
“Ugghhh… what…” She tried to opened her eyes; her face was pressed against a pillow, but the light shining in from a crack in the curtains was still strong enough to force them shut again.
She was in bed, wrapped up in sheets… and not much else. Next to her, she could feel Maud’s body heat and hear her soft breathing, and putting those two facts together implied… well, it implied.
Fighting through the familiar pain of a hangover, Trixie tried to remember what had happened the prior night. There had been pizza, and gin, and Starlight–
Starlight.
“Starlight…” Trixie grumbled, turning over and forcing her eyes open to look around. Starlight’s tome hung on the bedside table, face down with one side hanging over the edge.
“...Ugh, yeah?” Starlight’s voice, muffled through the table, replied.
“What did you do last night?”
“...Maud is really pretty…” Starlight slurred.
“No, not–” Trixie would have shaken her head, but the movement made her feel dizzy. “How much did you drink?”
“Umm… the whiskey or the gin? Cause I only had a little of the whiskey, but...”
Trixie groaned again as Starlight’s words set in. “How much?” She asked, louder, regretting it as she felt Maud stir beside her.
“The whole bottle.” Starlight admitted guiltily. “But I didn’t throw up this time!”
Trixie sighed, bringing a hand to her face to massage her brow. “You have a problem.”
“...Maud is really pretty…” Starlight repeated dopily.
All Trixie had the energy to do was agree. “...Yeah, she is…”