> Starlight, Are We Friends or Not?
>  by Sparrow9642
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Are We Still Friends?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Trixie Lulamoon took a bow next to her only friend, Starlight Glimmer, feeling the warmth of the crowd's cheers fill her with joy.  The feeling of actually having a friend that cared about her, and even understood her after all she had done in the past made her feel something she had never felt before. She actually felt whole. Happy. Warm. She had always acted boastful, arrogant, and headstrong against anypony she ever met, but just like Twilight, once she accepted true friendship into her heart, she became a much more caring pony, and was slowly growing into a better pony.
Twilight was standing in background, allowing Trixie to have her earned time in the spotlight. She could say that she actually was looking at a different Trixie, compared to the one that had tried multiple times to beat her at magic, even resorting to more dark methods, and  banishing her from Ponyville. She could sense a difference in Trixie, along with a desire to change from an arrogant mare, into a more kind mare. Trixie had managed to gain a friend and her trust, so she was on the right track. Twilight could only hope that Trixie would remain on the right track.
The red curtain closed, so Trixie placed her magician hat back on her head, while using her magic to set off the provided fireworks. The crowd erupted at the sight of the fireworks, while Trixie made her way toward Twilight along with Starlight. Twilight smiled at Trixie and Starlight, giving Trixie an apology, along with some helpful words, causing the magician mare to speak the words "thank you, princess." Something that Twilight thought she'd never hear from somepony like Trixie.  With those words being spoke, Twilight knew that Trixie wasn't lying or pulling any tricks. It was all legit.
With the show over, the three mares retired for the night, returning to their respectful homes, not to mention that Princess Celestia was still waiting at the castle along with some other unlikely guests. Trixie's home was her wagon, seeing she was a travelling magician, and she'd be leaving the next day, after a nice rest. Starlight gave Trixie a friendly hug, then proceeded off the stage, back to the castle, while Trixie was left alone to gather up her needed things, and take a rest in her small wagon.
Trixie grabbed some of her knick knacks that she used in acts, engulfing them in an aura of magic, and proceeded off the stage, back to her wagon parked just behind the stage. Trixie watched as her only friend disappeared from sight, as she used her magic to open the back door of her small compact wagon. She didn't have any special accessories for the wagon, such as heaters, an oven, nor even a lamp to light the small travelling device. She had her horn for that.
The wagon had only a bed fit for her size, space for her magic show knick knacks, and a small bathroom, just in case she ever needed to use the little mare's room while travelling across Equestria. The bathroom was much like an outhouse, seeing she could just use magic to clean herself up. Trixie often used the small bathroom, leaving a surprise for whoever was unlucky enough to come across what she left on her stops. At least she had the respect to only use it when she was in an area where she was sure that nopony would ever wander across.
Trixie yawned, as she maneuvered a large chest containing all her magic show requirements into the wagon, placing the large chest in an open area of the wagon, where she usually kept it. Once she was sure that she had all of her things from the show, she settled herself into the wagon, shutting the door behind her and locking it. She was relieved that she could finally rest, as she used her magic to remove her magician cloak and hat, setting them on the floor next to the bed.
With her clothing removed, Trixie retired under her bed sheets, settling herself into a comfortable position. The mare tossed and turned, finding it strange that she couldn't find a comfortable position, when she normally was able to find a comfy position any other night. For some reason, the sheets felt very rigid against her skin, almost as if the sheets were composed of sandpaper. Out of her discomfort, she attempted to just remove the sheets, and at first the attempt to escape the rigid feeling worked, until she started to feel a strong itch engulf her entire body. She decided to investigate this strange phenomenon, lighting the tip of her horn.
Trixie quivered in horror, immediately noticing a large amount of red blotches all over her skin. She was completely surprised that she had not noticed the red blotches before she had decided to retire for the night. Taking in deep breaths, Trixie came to realization that the red spots on her skin was more than likely some sort of rash. She calmed herself, examining the red spots closer. The spots were very mild, similar to the result of being burned very mildly. Trixie suspected the rash came from something in the sheets, but she had never had this issue before. Not to mention that she cleaned her sheets weekly, so had she used some sort of wrong detergent? That was all she could determine from the situation at hoof.
To resolve the issue, Trixie removed the sheets from her bed, throwing them on the floor, then proceeded to applying a lotion she had at her disposal to the rash all over her body. The thing about the rash was that it wasn't painful; just itchy, but Trixie didn't resort to itching the areas, seeing she knew that itching a rash only made it worse. Once the cool lotion was applied to her entire body, she didn't waste no time in attempting to go back to sleep, but without her sheets, she knew it was going to be a rough night. 
The mare managed to fall asleep without her sheets to keep her warm, but it was no easy task, due to the rash being a horrid nuisance. As the hours passed, it seemed as if the itching sensation seemed to only worsen, and the lotion had no effect against the rash. The itch had grown from mild to severe, along with a minor pain, but nothing drastic. She had thought about taking another look at the rash, but as stubborn as she was, she believed that she was "greater and more powerful" than some rash that had appeared out of nowhere. However, she was slowly giving into what was starting to feel like a burning sensation all over her body.
Three hours passed, and Trixie had begun to surrender to the pain she felt. She was in so much pain that she had resorted to crying mildly, and after three hours of battling the rash, she finally gave into the pain. Trixie rose from her bed, and lit the tip of her horn once again, only to immediately fall to shock at what she saw in the dimly lit darkness. 



	

The rash was no longer even a rash, but a large number of horrid sores. The sores were leaking pus and blood from small deteriorating openings that had been eaten wide open by some sort of bacteria. Trixie screamed at the sight of the sores all over her body, struggling to even move from her bed. Walking wasn't even an option for the mare, due to the more tender sores being positioned right along the inside of both her front and back legs. Trixie was afraid to move, scared that she might burst open one of the sores along the inside of her legs. She was literally frozen in place, crying from the horrid sight of her entire body covered with tender sores.
The young magician was terrified, seeing she needed medical attention, but if she dared to even move, she would more than likely rip open the sores along the insides of her legs. She had a choice to make, wait and hope for somepony to find her, or attempt to ignore her pain and get to a hospital. Her tolerance for pain was horrible, but by the time morning came, she might already be dead from whatever was wrong with her. She took in a deep breath, gritting her teeth, as she attempted to take a step forward. 
She screamed, feeling her flesh started to tear. The sound made her ears twitch, as she wasted no effort and flung her hoof forward, immediately being impacted by a severe shockwave of pain. The sores along the inside of her right legs were ripped open, leaking both blood and pus down her legs. The pain was excruciating, but unless she wanted to live, she had to do it. One wave of pain was done, now all that was left, was her left pair of legs. Another wave of shocking pain that she didn't want to endure.
Through her desperation, Trixie didn't hold back and thrusted her left pair of legs forward, feeling the sores rip open and leak more blood and pus down the side of her legs. Trixie was crying and begging for her nightmare to end, feeling the painful sensation engulf her entire body once again. She cringed through her pain, feeling the shocking phenomenon creep up her spine. She didn't dare do any sudden movements, knowing her body was covered with these sores, and the last thing she wanted, was more pain.
Trixie inhaled and exhaled massively, knowing the worst was over. She could move now, and perhaps the cool night air might help to soothe the painful sensation being caused by the sores. Trixie unlocked the back door of her wagon, and slowly worked her way out, into the night. The venue was completely silent, along with the rest of Ponyville, as Trixie slowly worked herself forward, attempting to adapt to the pain that she endured with every step she took. 
The feeling of the wounds chafing against each other, was similar to the feeling of a knife stabbing flesh at a slow pace. Each step was miserable, resulting in Trixie's limbs nearly collapsing from the excruciating pain she had to endure each time she took a step. The suffering mare stopped walking, realizing that walking wasn't going to get her anywhere. She was crying, sweating, and struggling to stand up straight. 
She had to somehow adapt to the pain, otherwise she was going to lose consciousness before she even reached past the venue. She was smarter than most ponies thought, she just never showed it with her boastful attitude. Trixie attempted to think of a way to adapt to the pain she was in, and somehow get to the hospital on the far side of the town. If walking was just making her feel as if she were going to pass out, then she'd have to speed up, making the pain just a little more tolerable. In conclusion, she knew she had to trot to adapt to this Celestia-forsaken pain. 
Taking in a deep breath, Trixie trotted as fast as she could, feeling the wounds leak more lurid content down the sides of her legs. She was relieved. Even though at first the pain was terrible, the pain had subsided massively. She continued to trot deeper into the town, hoping for somepony to notice her, but the town was completely dead. Trixie could see the neon red cross atop the hospital in the distance. A shred of confidence made her pain disappear for a split second, but quickly made itself known again, startling the young magician. She nearly collapsed at the feeling of the sudden impact.
Trixie shrugged off the sudden impact of unexpected pain, continuing her pursuit further into Ponyville. She was a stronger mare than most ponies thought, and being in a near-fatal situation, she was pushing all of her adrenaline into her pursuit. At the same time though, Trixie's pain was beginning to increase even more to where she could barely handle it. The level of misery had went from being tolerable to nearly impossible, as her trotting speed fell from fast to a much slower pace. The mare felt as if her limbs were locking up, as she collapsed to the ground with a hard thud, causing another large number of her tender sores to rip open, leaking lurid content onto the ground.
Trixie attempted to stand back up, but quickly gave up, realizing that the horrid sensation radiating from what seemed like her entire body was too much for her to handle. She could see the neon red cross glowing in the distance, and crawled along the ground in desperation, but even she knew that she would never be able to make it past the closest building at that pace. She didn't want to quit, but she had no choice. Trixie slowly begun to close her eyelids, glaring at Luna's moon in the sky. Once her eyes were shut, she immediately passed out, feeling no pain. She couldn't explain what she felt in that brief moment, as the night fell to pure silence.




A stir of faint voices is what woke the young magician, struggling to hold her eyelids open. She couldn't tell where she was, due to her vision being only a blur of bright light, a blob of a purple mass, and a blob of a lighter purple mass. With all her strength, Trixie focused her eyesight into full perspective, immediately recognizing the two ponies before her. It was her only friend, Starlight Glimmer, and her once-greatest rival, Twilight Sparkle. 
The mare attempted to move, but she couldn't even budge her limbs, due to them being extended outward and held in place by strong metal restraints. The sudden realization made her fall into a panic, immediately capturing Twilight and Starlight's attention. Trixie had continued to struggle, now realizing she was in some sort of containment. She was in some sort of small glass box where only the sounds of her shallow breathing and a small hiss were present. The outside voices of Twilight and Starlight were barely recognizable, as the mare saw Twilight approach the glass box.

"Don't move, Trixie," spoke Twilight through a set of speakers within the box. "Your flesh is very fragile right now, and even the smallest movement might cause it to become unstable."

Trixie froze at the sound of Twilight's words, unsure of what was going on, until she caught a glance of her right front leg. The sight was sickening. Her flesh looked like a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces assembled, leaking a green and black liquid out of the open crevices of the open flesh wounds. The liquid released a smell that nearly made Trixie vomit, hearing the liquid collide against the steel floor of the glass box. She wanted to panic again, but for once, she took Twilight's advice, knowing that Twilight was not feeding her any lies.

"Something is consuming your skin cells, Trixie," spoke Twilight. "Starlight and I are doing all we can to find a way to reverse the effects of whatever is happening to you. For your sake, it's best not to talk or move, otherwise, you could end up losing a lot of flesh."

Trixie obeyed, knowing the situation was a fatal one. The only question she had was, what in the world had caused this in the first place? She was fine after the show, so what had happened in a time period of about twenty minutes to cause this rash of horrors? None of that mattered anymore. Trixie was fighting for her life, and had a very slim chance of surviving this unexpected phenomenon. No magic tricks were going to get her out of this one. Real or fake.




For the first hour of experimentation, Trixie remained still in the restraints. Nothing had been uncovered in the first hour by Twilight or Starlight, seeing her condition was beyond anything as obvious as leprosy. Not even Ponyville Hospital could help Trixie, seeing this phenomenon was beyond anything in recorded Equestrian cases of flesh-eating diseases. She could only sit and wait for whatever the outcome may be, which at this point, was more than likely death.
Trixie didn't dare sleep, not sure if she'd wake up or not. These could be her last breaths. Her last moments of her short life. Her last chance. Not to mention, the pain level had grown beyond severe. She couldn't help but cry, feeling her life slowly slip away with each passing second. Trixie could feel her flesh deteriorating every second. A feeling she couldn't even describe, seeing it was like being skinned alive. To attempt to pass the time, she attempted to remember happier times in her past.
She remembered the day she got her first magic kit for her birthday, and how happy she was that day, despite the kit being a cheap one. She didn't care, because it was a start, and she was going to be just like her idol, Henry Hoofdini, someday! The kit was composed of a wand, a deck of cards, a magician hat, and an instruction manual. The first trick she ever wanted to learn was how to guess somepony's card out of a deck of cards, and even though it took her years of practice, she accomplished one of her many life goals.
She was so proud the day she managed to perform the trick successfully, and she knew she was one step closer to becoming like her idol. From that day forward, she became "The Great and Powerful Trixie," and even though she had become an arrogant pony, she didn't regret those moments one bit. She cherished ever bit of those memories, knowing deep down that her life was slowly coming to an end, but she knew that Princess Twilight Sparkle would never fulfil her greatest request right now.
Another hour passed of silence and zero progress. The pain had grown to a new level, forcing Trixie's eye sockets to leak tears until they couldn't cry anymore tears. Through the still silence and putrid smell from the rotting flesh, she struggled to even breathe. She was in misery beyond any other level of pain she could imagine, and her flesh was slowly rotting itself away. The young mare was suffering in a battle that she couldn't win, and she still didn't know the reason why. 
Trixie was begging for death at this point, but she knew that Twilight wasn't a quitter. Starlight Glimmer, her only friend in this entire world was her only hope. She just needed a window of opportunity.

12 HOURS LATER

Twelve. Twelve excruciating hours had passed with no information gained. Trixie had nearly fallen into shock by now, and was begging for the window of opportunity that she needed to escape this horrible nightmare. Twilight had searched through almost every book she could access, and nothing had come up. Starlight had fared the same, finding absolutely nothing, and even though Starlight was tired and exhausted from this situation, she wasn't giving up on her friend.
Trixie knew she didn't have to wait much longer, as she continued to sob from the misery. Twilight was almost out of options, and all she needed was a brief moment to convince Starlight to end her suffering. She knew it was only obvious that she was not going to make it. Even Starlight had started to notice Trixie's desperation from behind the glass, and knew the worse was obvious. Twilight shoved aside her last book, grunting from her failure.

"I can't believe there's nothing in my books!" she exclaimed.

The sudden outburst made Trixie's confidence boost. She was close to getting her wish.

"I'll be back, Starlight," spoke Twilight. "I'm going to contact Celestia, and see if there's anything that can help us in Canterlot."

Twilight stepped down from her chair, exiting the room. Once Trixie heard the door to the room shut, she resorted to getting Starlight's attention.

"S-S-Starlight," she muttered with pain in her voice.

Starlight barely heard Trixie, but her attention was captured.

"S-S-Starlight, p-please...

Starlight clearly heard her this time, so she approached the glass box, and spoke through the speakers.

"Trixie, don't talk," stated Starlight.

"I-I don't c-care anym-more, S-Starlight," she muttered in reply. "A-Are w-we still f-f-friends, Starlight?"

"Of course, Trixie, but we need you to remain strong, so we can save you," replied Starlight.

Trixie had grown irritated.

"S-Starlight, l-look at m-m-me!" she snapped in a weak voice. "You a-and I both know w-w-what is b-best!"

Starlight knew what Trixie meant, as she stared at her through the glass. She could see the tear streams from Trixie's eyesockets soaked into her fur, the desperation in her eyes, and a pony praying for mercy. For death. Starlight knew what she had to do, seeing that her friend needed her right now more than anything.

"You want me to...

Starlight had started to speak, but was quickly cut off by Trixie.

"Y-Y-Yes. P-Please, S-Starlight. I b-beg of y-you. Make t-the p-pain go aw-w-way," pleaded Trixie.

Starlight felt warm tears build up, as she contemplated on freeing Trixie of her suffering or not.

"Trixie, I can't kill you," spoke Starlight. "As your friend, that would be ungrateful of me!"

Trixie knew Starlight would do this, so she proceeded to the bitter question that would truly determine if Starlight was her friend or not.

"S-Starlight, are w-we f-friends or n-not? If w-we are, t-then as a f-friend, please let m-me g-go! I'm s-suffering! W-Would you rather s-see me s-suffer, or be f-free of pain?"

Starlight was stuck. She knew the answers, and that Trixie was begging for mercy. She was Trixie's friend, and she didn't want to see her suffer anymore. Trixie could see that Starlight had finally realized the bitter truth, and watched as Starlight placed one of her hooves against the glass as a final goodbye. She attempted to smile, as Starlight pulled her hoof from the glass, and placed her hoof on the "OXYGEN FILTER" button. Trixie's only oxygen supply inside of the box.

"Do it," pleaded Trixie.

Starlight didn't hesitate and pressed the button down, hearing the hiss of the oxygen filter system die down. As the time passed, Starlight's eyes leaked tears, watching as Trixie Lulamoon suffocated within the glass box. The mare coughed from the lack of oxygen, convulsed in the restraints, and after two long minutes of fighting for oxygen, the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon fell limp. The young magician was finally at peace, free of all the pain she had endured for the past 17 hours.
Starlight fell to tears at the sight of her dead friend. The only mare that truly understood both sides of her was gone forever, taken by her act of both generosity and cruelty. Her mind was blank, wondering if she truly had done the right thing, as she heard the door to the room open again. Twilight had returned with a smile on her face.

"Thank Celestia! Turns out Trixie's condition is very much curable! Her condition came from the saliva of the manticore's mouth! A very rare condition that has only been recorded in Equestria history once! Trixie's skin must've been very sensitive to the bacteria, but not to worry, a simple spell I'm sure you know will do the trick, Starlight!"

Starlight felt her blood run cold at the sound of Twilight's words, and she was afraid to ask her next question.

"W-W-What is the spell exactly, Twilight?" she spoke blankly.

"Predacarus Exporius," confirmed Twilight.

Starlight was at a loss for words. She did know that spell. It was a simple one too, one she could've simply cast with no struggles or issues. If only she would've waited just a little longer, Trixie could've been cured. She could've lived a longer life.

"Starlight?" asked Twilight.

The room was silent, as Twilight saw the state of Trixie's body. Dead. Limp. Silent.