Trixie was sorting through her stuff in her caravan. And until now, she did not fully realize how many things she had in her ride. Chests were overloaded with props, boxes filled to the brim, and it was a cluttered mess. But she had grown to live with it. She couldn't afford a bigger caravan, and plus she always felt comfortable with this one. Despite its low space.
As she looked through her things, she encountered a picture frame that she found inside the chest. It was her and Starlight behind a ice cream cart. They were both eating ice cream together while putting up tiny grins on their faces. Trixie was levitating a chocolate ice cream while Starlight had vanilla. And Trixie's face was smeared with chocolate stains, while Starlight only had a few bits.
She smiled at the picture. She felt ashamed that it was hidden underneath the mess for so long. You would think that a cherished photo like this one would be kept in a place where it wouldn't be potentially damaged, or be forgotten in the mist of clutter that has barely seen the light of day.
She spat some spit at the glass, and rubbed it with her handkerchief. Once it looked clean, Trixie put it in a place where it would never get lost, or broken: she taped it in the inside top of her chest.
So whenever I open my prized chest, I will be able to look at the photo as reminisce. Trixie concluded as she closed the chest, satisfied by what she did.
Trixie decided to pop out of her caravan for some fresh air. She enjoyed hearing the birds chirp and the swift breeze that went through her mane. It was a beautiful day.
She sat down on the grass and listened to the sounds that surrounded her. Birds chirping, squirrels chittering, swords clashing, magic beams, war cries.
Wait.
Where is all those noises coming from? Trixie strained her ears for a better listen. She could clearly hear the sounds of battle cries, swords clashing with the other, and arrows being shot. But she was shocked when she heard it at the direction of Twilight's castle.
Extremely curious, Trixie slammed open the castle doors to find the source of the ruckus. But her jaw dropped when she saw the sights of a land made of cardboard. And she saw these weird squid-like creatures appearing around every corner. But when she looked closer, she could see three figures in the center. And from what she could see, one had a wizard hat, one looked like an archer, and another figure was a tall creature that looked like an elf.
But soon when she got a better look, and from the sounds of their voices, she immediately knew who they were.
This is what they do when Twilight is away? Trixie cringed hard. She didn't know if Twilight knew this was happening in her own castle or not. If so, then she must have the same weird feeling that she was getting now.
When Spike, who was the wizard, turned to the direction where the door was in front, he immediately raised his hand to stop. Soon Big Mac and Discord, who were the archer and the elf, had stopped too, and looked at the door where Trixie stood.
"Trixie?" Spike said shockingly. "Wha-what are you doing here?"
"Ugh." Discord rolled his eyes at the dragon. "This is why I wanted to play this somewhere else." he growled, but he had an embarrassed look at his face.
"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed, sharing the same reaction as Discord.
With a snap of the draconequus's claws, the cardboard land quickly disappeared, along with the squid enemies, and the three returned to their normal appearance: naked.
"Did you three seriously not expect someone to arrive here? What if Twilight and the girls came in early?" Trixie scoffed.
"That's a silly question. They practically never arrive late." Discord said while waving his hand in a smug way.
"That's right. This is our 15th Guys Night and the girls always arrive on times that they said they would be." Spike stated.
Trixie tilted her head. "How is it Guy's Night if its in the middle of the day?"
"Don't question the name." Discord shook his grey head. "You just don't."
Trixie rolled her eyes annoyingly. "Oh please. Tell me this isn't the only thing that you do on your 'get togethers'."
"Nope." Big Mac said, but Trixie saw sweat marks going down his face. Discord seemed to notice it too, which he prodded the red earth pony with his bird claw's shoulder, making Big Mac clear his throat and he turned his head away to avoid Trixie's stare.
"Of course we don't always do this." Spike reassured Trixie. "We go to restaurants to drink, play other games, and many more."
"Drink?" Trixie snorted in amusement. There was she way she would imagine a tiny dragon like him would drink alcohol. Especially if he was seemingly an adolescent. "What do you guys really drink? Juice?"
"Exactly!" Discord clapped. He disappeared and reappeared besides Trixie, which had startled her as he put his lion paw around her neck. He then magically pulled out a chart that had the silhouettes of certain fruits.
"We drink many kinds of juices. Apple juice, pear juice, orange juice, and many kinds of juices that has not existed yet!" He cackled. "Too bad that you miss out on all of it."
Trixie ducked away from his arm. "Not really. Those sound extremely boring."
"Boring?" Discord gasped. Then he put on a mocking face. "As if you're an expert on Guy's Nights. Or as they call, Girl's Nights for the females."
"I know how to have a good time with my friends!" Trixie spat back. There was no way she would let Discord think that she was a killjoy. Or think that she was boring. "I do know how to make any night the best night ever!"
"Oh please." Discord snickered.
Spike now stepped in. "Don't let his words go into your head." he tried to tell the blue pony. "He gets cranky when our game is interrupted."
"Eeyup." Big Mac started to giggle.
Discord immediately caught on. "Cranky isn't the word I'd use..." he said nervously.
And Trixie did too. "Ok, you big baby." she replied with a sneer.
"Although," Spike now addressed to Trixie. "Have you ever have a Girl's Night before?"
Trixie was caught off-guard by his question. She now went back to her memories. Surely she had hung out with her friends such as Starlight, and her friends like Maud Pie. But she found none.
"No..." Trixie was now stunned. "No I did not."
"Hm. Maybe you could try it out." The dragon advised.
"I would... but ever since Starlight took the job as a guidance counselor in Twilight's school, she's now busier than ever! We hardly have time for each other now." Trixie sighed. She did miss the days where Starlight was so easily available. Now the times they spend are as rare as zap apples.
"But she gets off at night time, doesn't she?" Spike asked.
"I guess."
"Never even thought of spending time at night? Have you got rabbits in your ears?" Discord said jokingly.
Trixie glared at him before turning to Spike. "I'll think about it. Thank you, Spike."
She turned away from the group and closed Twilight's doors.
"As if they will ever succeed in having an awesome Girl's Night." Discord laughed.
"Oh, lighten up, Discord." Spike said to him. "Maybe a resume of our game will soothe you?"
"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed.
"Actually, that would sound nice." Discord snapped his claws, and they both went back to their outfits, and the landscapes. And the weapons and the squid creatures had returned.
"Shall we continue this arousing game, my friends?"
After a few steps, she got back to her caravan and laid down on her hammock. She now thought about what the tiny dragon said. Trixie didn't remember having a Girl's Night with Starlight. But she did remember that she suggested something that was similar to Girl's Night at Starlight's graduation party, but she didn't say anything afterwards for some reason. Maybe the time was wrong?
Maybe she should take Spike's suggestion and go out on a Girl's Night with Starlight, and with her other mare friends. But is today the day? What if Starlight had something planned after her shift at the school? It felt wrong to go on a Girl's Night without Starlight. If she wouldn't go, then the event will not take place.
And besides, Trixie didn't really know any other friends. The only friend that she really had a bond with was Starlight. Her other friends, such as Sunburst and Maud, never really clicked to her. The only time she encountered them is if Starlight had invited them out.
But that was going to change.
Spike was right. She never had been on a Girl's Night before. But today, this will be her first one ever. Once she gets Starlight to join, of course.
She opened up her chest to grab her magician hat and cape. She looked at the inside to see the photo of her and Starlight. It's time to make some new memories.
Trixie stepped inside the School of Friendship, which was not very far from her caravan. Down the hall, she could hear the muffled voices of a worried colt, and followed by the recognizable voice of Starlight.
She hurried to her office, and saw that there was a few ponies waiting outside her door, patiently waiting for her to finish.
But Trixie didn't have time to wait for these ponies to blurt out their entire lifespan. She stepped at the side so her view wasn't blocked by students.
As soon as Starlight opened the door and urged the first pony to come in, Trixie quickly dashed forward and cut in front of the pony, and slammed the door behind her, followed by cries of protest she heard outside.
"Guess who's here?" Trixie acknowledged with a wide grin and started whishing out her cape.
Starlight was shocked when she saw her friend in her office, instead of a pony that she called inside. "Are you serious, Trixie? This is the second time you've done this." she said, exasperated.
"Of course I'm serious. Otherwise why would I do this?"
Starlight sat on her office chair and put her elbow on her desk and a hoof on her left cheek. "This better be good. I have a lot of students outside waiting to see me. And I don't appreciate you cutting in line."
Trixie cleared her throat. "You know how since you took the job as students counselor we rarely spend time together?"
Starlight stopped her by raising her hoof. "If this is about my job taking away our quality time together, then I'm sorry that I am." she stated.
"Oh yeah, I know that your job has taken away our time recently." Trixie said smugly. But when Starlight opened her mouth to object, she quickly silenced her. "Which is why I want you to join us in Girl's Night."
"Who's 'us'?" Starlight asked, genuinely curious now and her annoyance had faded away. Well, mostly.
"Well, no one." Trixie added. "But we had never done a Girl's Night before, which was surprising since we have known each other for a long time." she reminded her. "And I did invite you to a trip to Las Pegasus back in the day but you completely ignored my suggestion."
Starlight's ears went down as she knew what memory she was talking about. "Back when I was quickly overwhelmed by graduating from being Twilight's Pupil?"
Trixie nodded. "Yes, that time."
Starlight looked at a nearby clock in her office. "As much as I love to go out and spend time with you, I don't think I will be available at the moment."
"Well, I was thinking we could start tonight." Trixie suggested. "Or whenever you get off from your duties."
"Hm." Starlight thought. "The school ends in the late afternoon. Maybe I could meet up at your caravan?" she asked.
But Trixie shook her head. "I was thinking we could go to to Sugarcube Corner. Where..." she immediately threw a smoke bomb to the ground and she disappeared and reappeared behind Starlight and wrapped her hoof around her neck.
"Where our very first Girl's Night will take place!" she shouted boastfully.
"Trixie... no... smoke bombs in the office." Starlight said as she continued coughing.
"Sorry." Trixie nervously giggled. "I'm just so excited!" Its actually going to happen! Our first Girl's Night and ruling the down with our coolness.
"Although," Starlight started thinking. "Maybe we could invite someone else to join us. And be the 'awesome threesome'."
Trixie looked confused. She never even thought about getting a third member. Maybe her friend had something else in mind? "Who?"
"I was thinking... Maud?"
"Oh." Trixie said, trying not to express disappointment. She never really thought of Maud as the party type, and sometimes even thought she was just a pony who likes rocks. But it was foolish of her to think that. Trixie and Starlight were living proof to not judge a book by their cover. Maybe Maud can make this night awesome?
"Sure!" Trixie made a tiny smile. "When will you get off?"
"In a few hours." Starlight said as she looked at the clock. "But it may be longer if you don't let me take care of the students."
"Oh." Trixie blushed in embarrassment. "I guess I've leave so you can resume your job. See you at Sugarcube Corner!" he said as she opened the doors.
"Ok." Starlight said as she left.
Then another pony had entered her office. It was a light blue pegasus with a white curly mane.
"Who was that?" The pony asked in a high pitched voice.
"A friend of mine." Starlight said as she shuffled through some papers. "A crazy one too." she added jokingly.
The sun was starting to set as Trixie continued waiting at the bakery. She even got a little dessert from sugarcube corner so she wouldn't be starving while waiting for those two mares.
In a few hours, she said. Trixie said mockingly in her head.
Finally, she saw Starlight appear from the corner. Trixie immediately rushed over to her.
"What took you so long?" Trixie demanded.
"Silverstream." Starlight simply answered.
"One student took you that long?" Trixie raised her eyebrow.
Starlight nodded. "Yup. Silverstream issues."
"She took you six hours?" Trixie knew that Starlight was busy, but she found it hard to believe that Starlight wasted so much time on the Hippogriff.
"There were other students too." she said hotly. "But, I'm here now and..." he looked besides her, and when she found nothing, she rolled her eyes. "Maud! Get over here!"
"Maud is here?" Trixie peeked behind Starlight. Sure enough, the grey pony was behind her, scanning rocks.
"Sorry." she said flatly as she headed to the two.
"Um, no worries." Trixie chuckled awkwardly.
"So, what plans did you have for this night?" Starlight asked the blue mare.
"Glad you asked!" Trixie winked. "Because the great and powerful Trixie will be taking her Great and Powerful friends to..." she raised hoof and pointed at a restaurant with hard mushrooms for tables. "The Resturant!"
"Why do you call it The Resturant?" Starlight said, confused and amused. "It does have a name."
"Well Trixie tends to forget a few things." she retorted. She looked at Maud, who was staring at the resturant with a stare.
"What do you think?" Starlight asked the gray pony.
"This place has rocks." Maud answered her in her usual monotone voice.
Trixie looked at the ground. And back up at Maud. "Does it now?" she said sarcastically. "Next, you'll tell me they have trees, or tables, oh, and even rarer, grass."
Starlight looked a little concern, as if she had hurt her feelings, but Maud didn't seem bothered by her reply. "I meant rock bands." she pointed at a flyer that advertised a rock band playing inside the restaurant for a limited time.
"Oh." Trixie said, and she straightened herself. "Well, you get the point."
Starlight chuckled a little bit and prodded the two mares. "Come on, let's eat! The sound of food is starting to make me hungry."
She trodded off and sat on one of the tables that was next to the front door of the facility. But Trixie noticed that the spot was seemed to be made for two ponies, since the one side had a tiny ditch, and the other side blocked the door.
Starlight noticed too and she looked around for another table. Turns out she picked the only one available.
After assessing the situation, Maud got out of her seat and she sat on the ground, text to the chair. "Now she can have a seat." she told her.
"Oh, Maud, that's so thoughtful." Starlight said with a warm smile.
"Erm, yes." Trixie said as she sat down onto her chair. While she was thankful that Maud let her have her seat, she cringed when Maud is literally just sitting there just picking at the tiny pebbles in the open, where everyone can seed
Soon, a pony with a tiny blue mustache appeared and put the menus on the table, and, with a confused expression, he put the menu on the ground in front of Maud, and exited the area.
Trixie lifted the menu to look at the food items, and so did Starlight with her aura. While Maud opened the menu with her hoof and kept casually reading.
"Aha!" Trixie pointed at the food that was depicted with brown straws of hay. "That's what I'm going to get!"
Starlight looked at what she was pointing at. After shortly giving her a disgusted look, she sighed and look at the menu again. "If that's what you want."
Trixie looked at her back in shock. "What's wrong with fried hay?"
"Uh, nothing." Starlight said, not taking her eyes off the menu. Her eyes lifted when she saw something in the menu "They have it? Yes!"
"What!" Trixie and Maud both asked her.
"They have my favorite food of all time!" Starlight showed the menu to the two mares. It was a picture of grass topped with ketchup and some seasoning.
"Ew!" Trixie immediately grabbed the menu with her aura and tossed it aside.
Starlight looked stunned. "Trixie, what the heck?"
"I'm sorry, but why in the name of Celestia is that thing your favorite food 'of all time'?" Trixie questioned.
"Its about how the chef does it. If they find the right grass and seasoning, its the best thing in the world." Starlight signed happily.
"If you say so." Trixie grumbled. She looked downwards. At least Maud has non-questionable food choices? "What are you getting?"
Maud pointed at a picture of hay topped in gravy.
Trixie used her magic to grab it and tossed it alongside Starlight's menu.
Starlight gave Trixie an unimpressed look.
"What?" Trixie said to her. "Not my fault the two of you have weird tastes."
Since Trixie threw the menus out, and as they were kicked for being "disrespectful", they just decided to skip dinner and they now headed to Trixie's caravan. Turns out that Trixie did not think ahead of adding more than two ponies in her caravan, since they were literally cramped inside. So instead, they were outside and placed a wooden box she found inside her ride.
"Hope you guys are ready for board games!" Trixie squealed. With her magic, a board game suddenly teleported to them. The game was called Lands.
Starlight looked confused at the box art. Since all it had was farm ponies tending the land, and nothing else. "What's this?"
"Can't you read? Lands!" Trixie literally shoved the box onto Starlight's face. Which made her push it away and rub her nose.
"What is Lands?" Maud asked.
Trixie set out the board, the game pieces, and the instructions that came with it. "Lands is a game about farmland. The goal is to have as much land as you can before time runs out. Each spot of land earns one point. And if you get ten, the land will increase."
"What are these instructions?" Starlight snatched the instructions from her. "Sweet Celestia... this game sounds boring as ever!"
"What are you talking about?" Trixie snatched the instructions back. "This is a very good game. You haven't even played it."
"Well, the instructions are great at putting me to sleep." Starlight said sarcastically.
"Shut up. We're playing whether you like it or not." Trixie put the game pieces on the board, and the timer that came with the came suddenly started. "Begin!"
Trixie rolled a die, and she moved her piece that was moving close to a cut-out paper barn. And she passed TBE die to Starlight.
"Uh... what?" she was confused about what to do.
"There are certain landmarks that you need to get too in order to gain more land." Trixie explained. "Each player has a barn."
"Heh. Ok then." Starlight chuckled nervously. She rolled the dice with her magic and she rolled a six.
After almost making it to the barn, it was now Maud's turn. But when Starlight handed her the die, she barely did anything.
Starlight and Trixie looked at her in amusement and awkwardly.
"Its your turn now." Trixie told her.
"Oh. Was thinking about my dad's rock barn." Maud said. Before suddenly putting the dice inside her mouth.
"Ew!" Starlight immediately pulled the dice out of her mouth and threw it as far as she can. "What in the name of Celestia was that?" she demanded.
"That's how we roll die." Maud explained to her. "What else did you expect?"
They both gave her blank stares.
"Nope!" Trixie quickly grabbed the pieces, the dice that landed in a pond, and the board, and quickly put it back in the box. "I'm not playing a game with saliva dice staining the board. Or any game with a dice in general."
Starlight had a game of Dragon Pit that she teleported behind her, but after hearing Trixie's words, she sighed and put it away.
"Any other board games that doesn't involve dice?" Trixie asked her two friends.
They said nothing.
"Fine!" Trixie got up and stomped away. "Trixie has planned other things on how to spend Girl's Night."
As she walked away, Starlight and Maud both gave her little angry looks.
"Are you serious, Trixie?" Starlight asked her friend at her side.
"Of course I am!" She called out to her. "Why else would be on a cliff, preparing to jump down to the lake below?"
"I may be a daredevil but I'm not this extreme!" Starlight's hooves started shaking in fright, and soon, Maud did the same.
"Relax, you two. This is perfectly safe. I had a test dummy prove it!" Trixie grinned.
"And what were the damages?" Maud asked, with her expression not changing at all.
"A hole puncture."
Starlight and Maud looked immediately concerned.
"Oh, relax, its an old test dummy anyway."
"Ok, no." Starlight quickly teleported the group to safety down below. "There was no way I'm risking my life for a stupid experiment."
"It's not an experiment." Trixie corrected her.
"Whatever." Starlight rolled her eyes. "This night has not been going great so far. And I am now starting to get tired. I may turn in for the night if things don't go peachy soon." she said and Maud nodded in agreement.
Trixie felt her heart drop. "Wait, don't throw in the towel just yet! I have at least... three fun things to do on this night."
Starlight sighed. "And that is?"
"Ok, now you're just teasing us." Starlight lowered her ears as she watched what was happening in front of her. "A puppet show?"
"This is the only time that this show premieres at night!" Trixie defended herself. "This is a rare treat!"
"Except for those who don't enjoy puppets?" Starlight continued to sound angry. "I'm not a foal anymore." She turned her head to see Maud watching. "Well, at least you're interested."
She did not move nor say a sound.
"Maud?" Starlight prodded her with her hoof, and Maud was startled.
"Sorry." She apologized to her. "I learned how to sleep with my eyes open recently."
Now Trixie's ears drooped. She was trying to give her friends the best night ever and instead they were just bored out of their minds. And plus things hadn't really been going so well these past hours.
"Ok, that's it." Trixie got up. "I'm done."
"Done? What do you mean done?" Starlight integrated her, but she was quickly shushed by few ponies around her.
"Well, I've tried giving you the best night of your lives. We were kicked out of the restaurant, then Maud ruined game night with her weird dice rolling technique, you guys didn't want to cliff-dive with me, even though I clearly said it was safe. And now you don't want to see an exclusive puppet show?"
"For the dinner, that was entirely your fault." Starlight pointed out. "And you gave up way to easily."
"Exactly. I might as well give up before we do any more activities that I have planned, which I know you two won't like either." she said sadly.
Starlight frowned as she saw Trixie walk away in defeat.
"No." Maud said to the departed Trixie.
Starlight whipped her head. "What was that?"
"That was me trying to call her." She explained.
Expaserated, she chased after Trixie. "Wait!"
Trixie stopped in her tracks and turned to face Starlight.
"Look, me and Maud are grateful that you booked out a night just for us to hang out." she started to explain. "But you did activities that me and Maud are not interested in. Sure you may not know what Maud likes and dislikes, but you should've known mine."
"I know." she sighed.
"You know, you don't have to go overboard with these activities to have a good time." Starlight pointed out.
Trixie looked away in shame. "I just wanted to make new memories." she admitted.
"We already are." Starlight soothed her by having her arm around her neck.
They heard footsteps beside her and saw Maud walk up to them.
"What took you so long to comfort me?" Trixie asked her. But she stopped when she ice cream in her jaws.
She sat down and dropped the ice cream between her legs. "There is a ice cream cart nearby." she told the two.
"That's how you eat ice cream?" Starlight tried to stiffle a laugh.
"Not all of us have magical horns." Maud replied, not sounding offended at all by what she said.
After a few chuckles, the two both went up to the ice cream cart, ordered strawberry for her, and Starlight ordered a cookies and cream ice cream. Which made Trixie wish that she gotten that instead.
They headed to where Maud was, and, feeling a little bad for Maud, they both sat down with ice cream in between their hooves, and they all started eat it... while having the dessert drip on their coats.
"See?" Starlight prodded Trixie with her hoof. "We're having a great time and you don't even have to try."
"I guess so." Trixie blushed. "I guess I just gotta go where the wind blows?"
Starlight nodded and leaned over and licked her ice cream once more.
Trixie looked over at Maud, who was eating her ice cream casually.
"You would make a pretty good Girl's Night member." Trixie said to Maud warmly.
Maud stopped licking and looked up at Trixie. "Really?"
Trixie nodded. Maybe Maud was not so bad after all.
For the first time since tonight, Maud smiled. "Thank you."
And with no words needed to be said, they both ate their ice cream on the ground, with their backs hurting from leaning too much, and with ponies giving them confused looks as to why two unicorns were eating the same way as an earth pony does.
But did they care?
Not one bit.