"How may the Great and Powerful Trixie assist your call?"
It was another glorious Monday at the call center. Trixie answered with her usual flair, injecting energy and life into what for anypony else would have been a dreary and tedious, even horrible, job. For instance, the pony at the next station chose this moment to begin hurling balled-up papers over the cubicle wall, which Trixie deflected, grinning maniacally as she pressed the button for the connection the caller had requested.
Shortly after the cascade of papers ended, a rainbow-maned head peeked over the wall. "Do you ever do anything quietly?" Rainbow Dash growled. "That yelling is really obnoxious..."
"The callers love Trixie's style," Trixie replied with a small snort. "Besides, if Trixie has to hear your gravelly voice all day, you might as well suck it up and savor Trixie's dulcet tones." Her phone rang again. "How may the Great and Powerful Trixie assist your call? Oh, you want the dairy department? Never fear, Trixie has your plight well in hoof!" Click. "You see?"
"You connected her to the wrong department."
"Trixie connected her to a BETTER department!"
"How do you even... ugh, nevermind!" The frustrated pegasus vanished into her cubicle once more, and Trixie turned back to her phone with a grin.
It faded slightly as she thought about that exchange just now.
"Nevermind? Are you sure?" Now it was Trixie who was looking over the cubicle wall, standing on her desk to do so. "You're certainly giving up easily..."
"Yeah, well, I'm sick of having this conversation! That's, what, the third time this week?" Dash said, rolling her eyes. "There's really no point to it. So just... do your thing, whatever."
"Ah. I see."
The unicorn sunk back down into her position quietly, just as her phone rang again. "Hello? May I help you?"
~#~#~#~
Okay, THAT was weird, thought Rainbow Dash on the other side of the wall. Trixie was answering the phone normally now? Technically, it had been all Rainbow Dash had wanted for months now, but the transition was actually eerie.
"Yeah, what's up?" she said to her next caller. "Uh-huh... uh-huh..." She had gotten through several more "uh-huh"s before she realized that she had been so distracted by the lack of dramatic exclamations of "the Great and Powerful Trixie!" from right next to her, she hadn't heard a thing the caller had said. Sheepishly, she pressed the button to connect him to the livestock department.
Minutes passed, then half an hour, and more uncomfortably distracted calls. Finally, she let out a loud groan and poked her head over the wall once more.
Did I say something wrong? Did you just suddenly decide to be nice? Are you okay?
"...what gives?"
Trixie's head snapped up to look at Rainbow Dash. "What do you mean?"
"I mean suddenly you're just all... calm and stuff. What's up with that?"
"Wasn't that what you wanted?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Uh, yeah, but... you just... I mean..." She kneaded her forehead with a hoof, confused. "I don't know... forget it! At least I finally have some peace!"
Although she said that, she caught the look on Trixie's face, before she resumed working once more; it was a look of disappointment, one that Rainbow Dash couldn't shake out of her mind for the rest of the day.
~#~#~#~
Tuesday afternoon was neverending, but peaceful. At first it was a relief, but as the day went on, it became more and more worrying for the pegasus, who was really beginning to believe something was up. Every now and then, she would glance over to Trixie's workspace, and see the mare focused hard on taking calls. Trixie, meanwhile, never seemed to notice Dash peeking, the brim of her hat blocking her line of sight.
Rainbow Dash slumped back, staring at her desk. Is she TRYING to freak me out? That would be grade-A crazy, except it's working! Grimacing, she resolutely grabbed her phone again. Fine. She had better make the most of it while she could.
"Yo. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's right. No, the other one. Yeah. Uh-huh. That all? Alright, glad I could help." She hung up, and waited for the next call.
And waited.
The treacherous phone had decided not to ring! By some freak circumstance or other, none of the incoming calls were being directed to her desk. Rainbow Dash was left alone once more with her thoughts. Worse, she was left to listen to the positively polite voice of Trixie next to her. That sense of almost-panic began to well up again, the idea that Trixie was somehow broken and the realization that Rainbow Dash had no idea what to do about it.
She checked the clock. It had been two minutes.
The phone rang again. "Yo, what's up?" She punctuated this with a sigh of relief, and transferred the caller to the correct department.
The rest of the day went on in much the same manner, with the pegasus cycling from elation at a caller to nervousness, with occasional lapses into contemplation. Why DOES it bug me so much? she thought. It means I don't have to listen to that crazy mare yelling about how great she is, and I don't have to put up with her being snarky, and...
And that was it. Snarky Trixie was normal. Snarky Trixie meant everything was okay. Snarky Trixie was actually a little bit fun. New Trixie was just... creepy, off-putting. She wasn't being Trixie, and that just projected a sense of wrongness into the world.
Hesitantly, she stepped out of her cubicle and trotted over to Trixie's. She cleared her throat. "Hey. Trixie."
Trixie said nothing.
"Trixie. Hey, will you turn around or something?"
As Rainbow Dash said this, Trixie suddenly stopped what she was doing, looked up, then stood and turned around, and marched straight past her. She glanced at the clock again. Quitting time. Of course. Rainbow Dash slumped out, resolving to talk to Trixie first thing tomorrow.
~#~#~#~
First thing tomorrow, Rainbow Dash noticed that Trixie wasn't at her desk. Her eyes widened. No way. Right when Dash had finally decided to do something, Trixie was gone! Just up and gone! With a grunt like she'd had the wind knocked out of her, Dash took her own place, then laid her head on her desk, covering it with her forehooves.
She might have thought that Trixie was taking a sick day, or simply running late. She might have thought those things, but her thoughts were being constantly interrupted by phones ringing throughout the facility - and the noticeable and disturbing silence where Trixie's should be. So instead, she imagined Trixie having been in an accident, or quitting, or something, and every day from now on she would have to sit there drowning in that silence knowing that on the last normal day all she'd done was complain.
Finally Rainbow Dash's lunch break arrived. Agitated to the point of tremors, she decided to stop by the restroom as she left, thinking a good splash of cold water to her face might help her a little.
Of course, it couldn't be that simple. No, as she stepped inside, she heard something that sounded like a pony sobbing. Alarmed, she approached the only closed stall. "Hello?" she called, and the sound ceased immediately, which was even worse. Thinking about it, although she wasn't totally sure, the sobs had kind of sounded like they might be... "Trixie?"
The lack of response seemed to confirm it enough for Rainbow Dash, and she knocked, as gently as she could, on the stall door. A few moments passed, and then, sighing, the mare on the other side opened it to allow Rainbow Dash in. No surprise, Trixie sat inside, looking an absolute mess. Her signature hat was being used to dab at her eyes, cape clearly already too saturated for the purpose. Her once-sleek icy blue mane appeared frazzled, and her azure coat was tear-streaked.
"Whoa. You look awful."
"Thank you."
"Sorry, I mean... what happened...?"
Trixie gave a small shake of her head. "Nothing. You don't need to concern yourself with Trixie's appeara..."
"Don't give me that!" Rainbow Dash yelled, and realized a second later that she had slammed a frustrated hoof against the door, startling Trixie. "I mean... come on. Even I can see something's wrong here. What's going on?" Trixie appeared to hesitate, but Rainbow Dash pressed on, "I'm not going to stop worrying if you don't say something..."
Defeated, Trixie reluctantly spoke. "All my life," she began, "I've felt I was truly born for the stage. For Las Haygas. And I know... I know I'm not the only pony whose life isn't what she dreamed... and I'm certainly not the only one who knows what it's like to work in a Celestia-damned call center, but... well, I've coped. Really, for a long time I almost... didn't mind. But then there's you."
"Me?" Rainbow Dash blinked, having only vaguely had the idea that she might be the cause for Trixie's state. "What about me?"
"Arguing with you," Trixie continued with a sigh, "was amusing at first, but then it became... I don't know, reassuring. Calming. It was a constant, something I could look forward to, and I welcomed it."
"...so when I gave up..."
"...yeah."
There was an awkward silence after that for a solid minute before Trixie stood up. "I should be going," she nearly mumbled, taking a step forward, but Rainbow Dash blocked her way.
"Wait," she said, placing a hoof on Trixie's shoulder. "You're right, you're not the only one who knows how it feels, so..." The simple gesture turned smoothly into a tight hug. "Look... we don't need to spend all our time arguing... I think we both need something else. A friend. That would help, right?"
Trixie remained tense for a second. "...yes," she said, placing a hoof on Rainbow Dash's back. "Yes it would. Thank you, Rainbow Dash."
They held that position for a few more seconds, and then Rainbow pulled away, taking to the air. "So, hey," she said, scratching the back of her head, "I'm kinda burning up my lunch break now. Do you wanna go get coffee?"
Trixie thought about it, then smiled up at Rainbow Dash. "Of course," she said, setting her moist hat back on her head. "Trixie would be glad to."