So Are Amends
The Great and Powerful Trixie paced back and forth in the hallway of Twilight’s School of Friendship. Having spent the better half of the morning setting up plans for her and Starlight, Trixie had barely made it before the school day was over and the kids were sent to their living quarters. Checking the clock that hung in the school’s atrium, she saw that it was five minutes to three, right before the evening bell rang.
A magician arrives precisely when she means to, Trixie mused.
A quick glance at the apologetic bouquet of flowers she had purchased from Roseluck minutes before and a brief check of her breath with her hoof provided Trixie the confidence she needed to go in and talk to Starlight. Mostly.
“Okay, Trixie,” she said to herself, “all you need to do is go in there and apologize. It’s not so hard. And you should be used to it by now.” She chuckled, knowing that while she had apologized to almost everypony in town for some reason or another the last few years, it never got any easier for her. Her pride almost screamed at her to not do anything for someone she’d wronged in the past, but she knew that if she wanted to grow past her former self, she’d have to make these sacrifices. Even if it made her seem weak.
Trixie gulped. This was different, though. She’d made Starlight angry plenty of times before, but she was beginning to feel like her friend was getting sick of her. She had to make this night count, or else everything she’d worked for might go up in flames.
Looking back at the clock, Trixie saw that she still had two minutes left to wait. “Ugh, can’t this stupid clock go any faster?!” she yelled to nobody.
She deigned to explore the school a bit more, figuring she might as well take at least some interest in her best friend’s workplace. Amongst the garish paintings of clouds, cheesy banners of friendship, and litany of marble busts featuring ponies that she was unfamiliar with, Trixie came across one thing that finally caught her eye.
A small bust of the school’s headmare, Twilight Sparke, sat on a small table at the rear of a hallway, out of the way and almost completely hidden from view. Twilight’s sickening overabundance of modesty, no doubt. With a smirk on her lips, Trixie levitated the piece and began humorously bobbing it up and down.
“Hello, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she said in the most annoying voice possible. “I’m just sooo great and everypony loves me, just because I saved the world seven, or eight, or ten times. Don’t talk bad about me or else I’ll encase you in stone or something. And I’m just so much better than Trixie Lulamoon, even though she’s, like, wayyy prettier than me and has a much nicer butt.”
With all her focus honed on the mini-Twilight, Trixie lost track of time and didn’t expect the loud, startling bell of the school to ring right over her head.
“OOH!” she jumped, snapping her out of her trance. In her shock, Trixie let go of her grip on the statue, allowing it to drop and collide onto the marble floor, shattering it to pieces.
“Oh, shhhhhcrap!” Trixie yelled. “Umm…” She turned around as students began to file out of the multitude of classrooms that lined the halls, hoping that none would take notice of her standing there.
“Uh… lemme just…” Using her magic to scoop all of the pieces into a neat little pile next to the table, Trixie quickly picked up a nearby decorative flower pot and placed it in front of her crime. Nopony will ever know.
Making great haste to ensure that nobody would notice her deviousness, Trixie skirted along the side of the hallway and made her way around the corner to Starlight’s office, sashaying up to the door as confidently as she could. It takes a lot to shake Trixie when it came to social interactions – being a performance artist entailed great charisma in the eyes of the people – but on the admittedly long list of things Trixie was bad at, being humble and apologetic was certainly on the top.
Trixie knocked on the door and poked her head in, not bothering to take time to wait for a reply. “Starlight? It’s me, Trixie.” Looking around, Trixie lighted upon Starlight at the back of the room, sorting something in one of her file cabinets.
“Oh!” Starlight replied, briefly looking back from her filing. “Hey, Trixie! Hold on a sec, just let me put this report away.” She continued on with her paperwork as Trixie slid inside the room, closing the door behind her.
Trixie glanced around, taking in the… guidance counselor-ness of it all. “So… this is your office, huh? It’s… cute?”
“Heh, trust me, it’s intentionally devoid of personality.” Starlight slid the cabinet door closed before turning around and sitting at her desk. “Us guidance counselors are supposed to provide a ‘neutral’ environment for our students, allowing them to feel ‘safe’ and ‘unthreatened’ by their surroundings.”
“Don’t those words mean the same thing?”
Starlight smirked. “Probably.” She took a quick swig of water from her canteen before crossing her hooves on her desk and putting on a professional smile.
“So,” she began, “welcome to the school’s guidance counselor. How may I help you?”
“Quit it,” Trixie said with a frown. “You being an ‘adult’ is kinda creepy.”
Starlight blew her hair out of her face. “Technically, aren’t I always an adult?”
“Not that kind. We’re the… ‘have fun when we want to and not worry about getting in trouble’ kind of adult, not the ‘pay your taxes and do your nine-to-five everyday’ kind of adult.”
“Ha!” Starlight laughed. “Well, I guess I am now. Wait… do you not pay your taxes?”
“Trixie isn’t here to talk about whether or not she pays her taxes.”
Starlight raised her brow. “Then what is Trixie here to talk about?”
Trixie sighed. Here we go. “I’m here to…” her voice snagged on the word, “apologize for earlier today. I know I mess up a lot, and for some reason you still put up with me through it all, so… yeah. I’m really sorry, Starlight.”
“Oh…” Starlight looked like she was genuinely surprised Trixie came to apologize. Which, in itself, wasn’t surprising. “Uh, well, thanks, Trix. I have to admit, I was pretty peeved off at you today.”
Trixie nodded. “Super peeved.”
“But,” Starlight sighed, “after getting home and showering, and drying off, and being… disgustingly late to work, I took some time to think about things and realized that you weren’t trying to be… well, you, and you were just genuinely trying to do your first biologic rematerialization spell.”
“I was! I… I didn’t really think ahead, Starlight. I didn’t intend for you to get drenched.”
“I know. That’s why I forgive you. I know I can get pretty mad at you sometimes, but I know you’re not trying to hurt my feelings, and I hope you know that I’m not trying to hurt yours.”
Trixie nodded.
“Well, good,” concluded Starlight. “Then consider yourself forgiven. It’s all, uh… heh, water under the bridge.” Starlight paused. “Get it? Water?”
“Heh, yeah, water…” Trixie hesitated. “Um, so… I know I don’t normally do this, but I suppose I’m feeling a bit… generous, I guess? So… here.” Trixie levitated up the bouquet of flowers she had gotten, floating them over to Starlight.
Starlight’s eyes almost burst out of their sockets. “You… got me flowers?”
“And… if you’re not busy, Trixie got us reservations for dinner tonight at Shetland’s.” Trixie coughed. “Um, I really hope you’re not busy, because they’re really expensive and they don’t give full refunds. F.Y.I.…”
Taking the bouquet with her magic, Starlight seemed unable to break eye contact with the random assortment of cheap flowers. “Nopony’s ever gotten me flowers before.”
Now was Trixie’s turn to be surprised. “Wait, like… never ever?”
Starlight shook her head. “Trixie… this is really sweet of you. You didn’t have to do this.” Starlight stood up out of her chair and rapidly searched nearby, assumingly for something to put them in.
Trixie decided to push the issue. “So, you’ve never had a coltfriend buy you flowers for Hearts and Hooves Day or anything?”
Finding a small, see-through vase, Starlight slid the bouquet of flowers inside before popping the cap of her canteen and partially filling the vase with water. She sat it down on her desk and stepped back for a moment, a mile-wide grin adorning her face. “Wow. They look… really good, actually. Um, and, no, that’s never happened before. I’ve… never really been with somepony romantically before. And, if I did… it probably wouldn’t be with a colt.”
Trixie blushed. Huh. In all their months together as friends, Trixie honestly never pegged Starlight as the type. Interesting. To be honest, she, too, had never had time for a relationship. At least, that was the excuse she told herself. But when push came to shove, Trixie figured she’d probably fancy a mare for herself as well, if she had to choose.
Starlight interrupted her thought. “Um, sorry, what was that about Shetland’s? Did you say dinner?”
“Yes!” Trixie replied proudly. “I got us reservations for Shetland’s tonight at seven. I figured I owed you dinner after all the times I’ve screwed up your day.”
Starlight chuckled. “First of all, you’ve never screwed up my day.”
Trixie gave her a look.
“Well, ‘screwed up’ is a harsh way to put it. I’d say… mildly ruined?”
“That is not even remotely better.”
“Secondly… wow, Trixie, this is one of the nicest things anypony has ever done for me.” She ran her hoof lightly over her bouquet. “Thank you so much. You really didn’t have to do all of this for me.”
“Hmm, one of the nicest things?” Trixie asked. “The Great and Powerful Trixie likes to go big or go home, like you said. I like to think this is the nicest thing. Not that Trixie is fishing for compliments or anything.”
“Of course not.” Starlight put a hoof to her chin. “Well, I like to think that the nicest thing done for me was Twilight and her friends taking me in instead of having me arrested, or executed, or… something. But yeah, no, this is certainly up there.”
“I can settle for number two for once, I suppose.” Trixie exhaled heavily. Things went way better than she thought they would. Where all she initially expected was a terse acceptance of her apology and a shooing out the door, Trixie instead pleasantly surprised her best friend and got a genuine thanks in return. All while keeping their friendship totally intact. “So… can I show up at your place at six thirty? Then we can walk to dinner together?”
“Definitely!” Starlight replied, still beaming from ear to ear. “This more than makes up for this morning, Trix. Again… thank you, very much.”
Trixie closed her eyes and put a hoof on her chest. “As with all things, the Great Trixie is perfect at apologizing to her best friend. I’m just happy to see you smiling again.”
Starlight nodded. “Honestly, I haven’t smiled like this in months. I’m genuinely touched.” She rocked back and forth in her chair for a moment, bouncing something around in her mind before a sly grin curiously appeared. “Heh, you know, Trix, if I didn’t know better, it would seem like you came here to ask me out on a date.”
Wait. What?!
“Wait. What?!” Trixie exclaimed.
“Heheh, I’m just pulling your leg, Trixie,” snickered Starlight. “I know better. But you have to admit… I mean, flowers? Dinner reservations? Were your next plans to bring me back to your wagon and get me under your sheets?”
Trixie turned beet red. That was definitely not what she intended. But she reluctantly admitted that Starlight was right. This did sound like a romantic first date. Oh, Celestia. How did I even manage to mess this up?
“Uh… uhh…”
Starlight seemed to notice Trixie’s discomfort and popped out of her chair, making her way over to the confused mare. “Trixie, Trixie, I’m kidding. Didn’t think you’d take it so seriously.” She sat down in front of Trixie. “I know you’re saving up those sweeping romantic gestures for the next colt you find admiring you at a magic show.”
Well, about that…
“Although…” Starlight pondered, “I have to admit, you did look pretty cute with your wet mane all slicked back this morning.”
Cute? She thought I looked cute? Woah. This is weird. This isn’t where I intended things to go. On second thought, I guess she looked sort of cute too. OH NO! Weird thoughts! Why are things going this way?
Starlight stifled her laughter. “Alright, alright, I’m done teasing you, Trix. You know, you’re the only one I feel close enough to that I can joke around with like that. You really put me at ease.” She walked up and wrapped Trixie in a hug, who was still reeling from Starlight’s supposedly innocuous jokes.
“I… I’m glad we can be besties like that, Starlight.” Despite the awkwardness, she did mean those words. She loved Starlight as much as a best friend could.
“Thanks for everything, Trix. I’ll see you at six thirty.” Her enamoring smile returned before she began walking Trixie to the door. Beginning to shake herself out of the weirdness of their previous conversation, Trixie returned a smile of her own.
“Trixie won’t be a second late, Starlight Glimmer,” she said.
“I know you won’t,” Starlight said with a wave as she closed the door behind her.
Okay, Trixie thought, that went really well. For the most part.
Trixie made her way through the halls of the School of Friendship and out the front door, enjoying the scenic view as she traveled across the bridge connecting to the mainland. Despite Starlight making some admittedly strange jokes back there, Trixie found herself incredibly exited for the upcoming dinner they were having. A chance to really show Starlight the mare she wanted to be. And, if they just ended up having a fun girls night out, then she was more than happy to do that too.
She just wondered about the strange sense of butterflies suddenly fluttering in her stomach.
Ah, well. It was probably nothing.
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Oh Celestia, I did NOT need flashbacks to certain grimdark fanfics in my adorable Startrix romcom
9120911
Haha, sorry! I had a feeling being scientific about that would sound weird.
Ah, much better. Glad starlight cooled off even before the apology.
Much cuteness. Trixie's skills at both subterfuge and apology are unparalleled.
I don't know what grimdark fics are being referred to, but maybe call it transdimensional relocation instead? The first sounds more like creating a copy (for the silly treatment of that see Dying to Get There)
9121265
For the record, I don't know the reference either. It wasn't intentional. But you make a good point, there. I might change it actually.
Trixie planned a date without even realizing she was. That's adorkable.
9121265
I'm thinking it might be the Blink series of fics. (teleportation creates a clone and then seals the original in a blank, featureless room forever)
9124765
I like to think about the "Blink and you miss it" fanfic, where the teleporter goes on an endless journey in a short amount of time. I'm talking about the one with Twilight.
Um. Have you seen Starlight's office? With the... geodes... and the kites literally covering the ceiling... Starlight's office is very personal.
I love all the little jokes in here about Trixie's financial stability... or lack thereof.
At the bit where Starlight was telling Trixie that she didn't totally ruin her days and Trixie was thinking otherwise i had that John Cena meme pop into my head.