Two months later...
The stars seemed to shine brighter than usual that night, as Twilight Sparkle laid on her balcony with a paper scroll in front of her. The night sky provided all the light she needed to see the words on the page, but for once, she wasn't paying much attention to the written word.
The world was very still – the kind of still that one could actually feel, actually notice. There was a light breeze, neither cold nor bothersome, just gentle enough to caress the fur on the back of her neck. No ponies yelled or cheered in the streets after one of Pinkie's parties. No crickets sang to disturb the peace. Only the occasional hoot of a graceful owl pierced the calming silence.
It was Twilight's favourite kind of night. It helped her to think, about a lot of things. And, with how hectic the past few months had been, she needed all the help she could get.
Being champion of the Manehattan Display made one famous over a much wider area than just the city itself. The past two months had seen a large increase in the number of travellers and tourists to Ponyville, coming in search of the 'amazing showmare duo that dazzled the whole of Manehattan'. It was quite the fanbase they'd amassed, and while Twilight would never complain about making so many ponies happy, it was nice to get away from it all when she could.
That was getting easier and easier, now that the initial hype had died down. For the first few weeks, ponies had been coming up to her in the streets – asking for autographs or photographs, inviting her to 'exclusive' parties, begging her to perform for them at fancy venues. Now, after a couple of months, she still had all of that, but in a much more subdued capacity. Most requests or invitations came in written form, and they were perfectly manageable within Twilight's daily schedule. And, in most cases, it was her pleasure to oblige.
Nowadays, the thoughts that filled her mind mostly were not those of excitable fans, nor were they of her studies, in point of fact. The thoughts were those of a certain, azure-coated unicorn.
A kiss. A hug. A word. A smile...
Those thoughts always made her feel warm, and tonight was no exception. Her eyes turned to the moon as the warmth filled her up and made her let out a content breath through her nose.
She let minutes pass, simply drifting around in her own little world, before finally turning back to the scroll of paper which lay in front of her on the balcony. Starlight illuminated the black inked words that ran down the page, forming a half-written letter to Princess Celestia. She'd been puzzling over it for what must've been hours now, but she wasn't really in any hurry. It was a relaxed sort of night, and she didn't want to waste it by stressing out.
“Procrastinating again, Twilight? Somehow, I don't think your Princess would approve.”
Snapping out of her daydream, Twilight gave the barest hint of a start and looked over her shoulder. Trixie had just stepped out onto the balcony, wearing her cape, a pair of saddlebags and a warm sort of smirk.
“I'm not procrastinating,” said Twilight, “I'm just looking for inspiration.”
Trixie closed the door behind her and gave a deliberate flick of her mane. “Thinking about pretty mares, more like.”
“I have no idea who you might be talking about,” said Twilight, looking back out towards the starry sky with a smile now gracing her lips. “How was your day?”
“Fantastic, as ever,” said Trixie. A rustling and a quiet thud told that she had dropped her saddlebags down by the door. “Everypony loved my performance and the new spell went down perfectly. It actually caught the eye of a noble couple from Canterlot, who recognised me from the Display. They offered to make a 'sizeable donation' to the Ponyville Town Hall Repair Fund if I could convince you to perform with me next week. Wednesday, if you're interested.”
Twilight's smile widened. “Always. I'll work it into my schedule.” She let her gaze fall back down to the paper in front of her and started idly pretending to write. “I take it the Farmer's Market was a success then?”
She could almost hear Trixie turning her nose up and smiling with pride. “It was. Trixie's performance drew in crowds from all over town, just like you predicted. Most of the stalls were sold out within a couple of hours. And I think your apple friend is starting to like me – she actually shook my hoof when her last pie disappeared.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Twilight. “But my friends might start to like you faster if you actually remembered their names.”
“Oh, I remember their names,” said Trixie dismissively. “I'm just being cute.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “You think far too highly of yourself, Miss Lulamoon.”
Twilight could hear the smirk in Trixie's voice. “One cannot think too highly of the Great and Powerful Trixie, 'Miss Sparkle'.”
As she heard Trixie approaching, Twilight lifted her quill from the letter and let it rest in the inkwell, pretending to think of what to write next.
“What're you working on?” Trixie asked over Twilight's shoulder.
“A friendship report to Princess Celestia.”
“Another one?” said Trixie.
Twilight lowered her head a little bit. “No. The same one.”
“Again?” Trixie leant in closer to get a look at the scroll. “How long have you been working on that now?”
“Almost two months,” Twilight admitted quietly. “Since the week we got back from the Display.”
Trixie squinted down at the scroll. “You know how much I adore your obsessive attention to detail, but even you can't spend two months on two paragraphs worth of writing.”
“I haven't been working on it constantly,” Twilight stressed, going a little red. “And this is just the latest version! I've written lots of letters, they just haven't been...”
“'Just haven't been...'?” said Trixie.
“...'Right',” said Twilight.
Trixie rolled her eyes more obviously than Twilight had seen in a long while. “Give it here, let me see.”
Twilight made a false-reluctant gesture and hesitated for a moment before magically passing it over. Trixie took it in her own magical grip and ran her eyes across the scroll as she sat down next to Twilight.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Trixie read aloud. “I'm very sorry for the lateness of this letter. It's important to me that I get it right, and so I wanted to take some time to make sure that I'd gotten all the facts down and, well, I suppose I got carried away.
A few months ago – though it already feels like a lot longer – I met somepony very special. I didn't know it at the time, but Trixie came to teach me a valuable lesson about friendship.”
Trixie lowered the scroll and frowned thoughtfully. “Okay,” she said. “It's... a start.”
“Yeah,” Twilight muttered. “I'm just not quite sure where to go from there.”
“Mmm,” Trixie grunted. There was a long pause, during which Trixie stared at the scroll and Twilight waited patiently for her to suggest something. And then, Trixie picked up the quill and said “Here, let me try.”
Hesitant, but curious, Twilight shuffled backwards and allowed Trixie some room to put the scroll down on the balcony. She watched over Trixie's shoulder as the showmare began writing, the silent ambience of night broken only by the scratching of the quill.
The lesson I taught Twilight, Princess Celestia, is that sometimes it can be hard to allow yourself to get close to another pony.
Allowing someone to help with your fears and troubles means that you have to put a certain amount of trust in them, and that can be scary, especially if you've been hurt in the past. Accepting that, and moving past it, is the first step towards making a friend. If you just give somepony the chance to earn your trust, you might find that they surprise you with their intentions.
Trixie paused to look at Twilight, and offered a genuine smile before returning to the scroll.
In a long time, I've never really shown myself to others. There have been times when I've used my showmare persona as a shield, and other times when my pride has pushed people away. I liked it that way – or, at least, I thought I did – because it meant that I didn't have to risk getting close enough to someone to be hurt, or used. I'd be known to everyone as the 'Great and Powerful Trixie', never needing anyone's help but my own.
But Twilight has shown me that being alone isn't the only way. It might be safer, sure, but it's also lacking in something I'd forgotten about until very recently. Companionship. For me, it's been one of the things you don't realise is important until you have it. But it is important to me. And that's why, sometimes, it's okay to trust.
I'm still working on that part, but I'm trying my best to give people here in Ponyville – and certain others from my past – the chance to get to know me properly. The prospect is daunting, to say the least, but I think the possibility of my opening myself to others besides Twilight is... Well, it's a possibility. One day at a time.
Twilight has introduced me to something amazing, Princess. She has introduced me to the prospects of trust, and of friendship, the rewards for which have already proven to be greater than anything I could've ever expected to find on my own.
She stopped writing. There was a long pause as she set down the quill and looked over her work, during which time, Twilight just watched and waited patiently. When she was done, Trixie looked across and gave Twilight a searching look. “Well? How's that?”
A smile spread across Twilight's face as she looked over Trixie's letter herself. The words on the scroll touched her more than she'd thought they would, if only because it was Trixie who wrote them. She didn't think that she could put it any better if she tried to.
“It looks perfect to me,” she whispered. She leaned over to give Trixie an affectionate kiss on the nose. “Thank you.”
With the letter finally finished, Twilight put the quill to paper to sign it...
Your faithful student,
~Twilight Sparkle
“Ahem.”
Twilight turned to see Trixie looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” said Twilight. “I always sign it like that.”
Trixie tutted and gently took the quill from Twilight's grasp. She crossed out Twilight's name – despite a disapproving grunt – and wrote...
Your faithful students,
~Twilight Sparkle
~The Great and Powerful Trixie and the Educated and Well-read Twilight Sparkle
“There,” said Trixie, smiling as she deposited the quill in the inkwell with finality. “Much better.”
Twilight bit her lip, trying not to giggle at the ridiculously long signature, but it did her little good. After a quick chortle, she smiled across at Trixie. Trixie smiled back. Twilight leaned down and gave her partner's fetlock a quick nuzzle--
“Ow!” Trixie recoiled from the touch, her face a grimace.
Twilight gasped, mortified and wondering what she'd done. “Trixie! Your leg, I--”
And then Trixie peeked open an eye and flashed a teasing smirk. Twilight's mouth dropped open as she realised the prank. She poked Trixie in the side, and the showmare immediately started giggling. “You are terrible!”
“Terribly cute,” said Trixie.
Amidst the gentle giggles that graced the balcony of their home, Twilight and Trixie leant close to one another and shared a long blissful kiss. They would share in the embrace for minutes that stretched into hours, and hours into much, much more.
...Twilight's horn lit up faintly as she opened one eye and lifted the quill, lowering it to the scroll one last time. After she'd erased the existing signature, she simply wrote...
~Twilight and Trixie x
* * *
FIN