Chapter 9: trixie and rose

An: small early warning, my canon for trixie stops at magic duel for story purposes.

Rose, the name didn't ring a bell for anyone in the room but that just peaked their intrigue even more. "She's now my friend but wasn't before, i had to do a lot to win her trust, i didn't meet her in ponyville actually…" trixie started saying, everyone was nodding along, trying to speed up her pacing. "Apparently, the ursa major incident caused a bit more property damage then i thought, let's just say that there was a store in this town that wasn't before…." trixie said with a nervous laugh. Only one of them in the room chuckled and that was vinyl. Trixie wasn't sure if she genuinely thought that was funny or was laughing out of pity. "Anyways, after i left the last time, i sent myself away and managed to find work at a rock farm, it was fine, i made good pay, it allowed me to move on…" trixie said, giving everyone as many smaller details as possible. "My initial deal was to never return to ponyville, leave my mistakes behind me but if it weren't for that one encounter, that one month with her, i wouldn't be here…" trixie said, leading into her story.

1 year earlier

The winds were rougher on this side of the woods, the side that trixie decided to stop at. She started feeling weary and needed a break. She laid down on her back, burying herself in the thick grassland of this unknown area. Dew was still peppered on the grass and that genuinely made it better for her. She desperately wanted to find at least one lake to bathe in. not just for cleanliness, but to also feel cool water around her coat. Trixie sighed, finding herself in thought of the aimlessness of her journey. It's been months since she left the rock farm, making enough to buy herself a carriage. "Work the farm, buy the carriage, but now what?" she asked herself. All she had in her mind was her need to run. She needed freedom, from responsibility, from humiliation, from everything. "Maybe, i should have thought this out more…." she thought to herself, not knowing the sacrifices she'd make to take a journey like this one. "Hell, it's even been a while since i've had a legit conversation with another pony, i might be going insane" she said to herself, not even noticing how loud she was being. Maybe it's the fact that these woods looked as if they were abandoned. These suspicions were soon proven wrong as trixie heard a rustling in the deeper parts of the woods. She looked to her left and saw eyes staring right at her. But as soon as she saw these eyes, the eyes dashed away further into the left side of the woods. "Hey!" she yelled, this didn't even make the mare stop. She quickly picked up her carriage and quickly dashed into the woods after her.

Trixie blindly dashed into the woods, hoping that those eyes weren't a delusion of hers. She isn't even sure why she's chasing this possibly non-existent mare. She was running out of breath and decided to stop for a second. She looked around her and she immediately lost the mysterious set of eyes. "Now i'm in the middle of nowhere, eh, not different then before…" trixie said passively. "Wait, if there was a pony in these woods, that's means a village could be near by!" trixie thought to herself. This slightly brightened her mood but it still meant she would most likely still have a long trip to go. However, in her mind, the positives outweigh the negatives. She then picked up her carriage and started to take it a little slower, thinking she'll eventually find some kind of village. As she was walking, trixie admired the falling leaves that were peppering the ground. She looked around and saw she was almost buried in trees, completely alone. it wasn't really that much of a difference to most of her time spent traveling. "I'd love to say it isn't getting to me but….." trixie thoughts were aflame once again. This thought stopped her walking and made her look around once more. For some reason, looking at the woods surrounding her once, this deep sweep of dark emotion made her collapse to the ground. "I am and will always be….." her mind was taking control once again. "Such weakness, utter weakness!" she was trying to fight whatever feelings she had. A single tear fell from her face, trying to prevent breaking into a full sob. She sat on the leaf colored ground and took a couple deep breaths. "This is new, definitely a terrible, new feeling" she mistakenly said out loud, her inner thoughts started slipping out. "You're panicking, it'll pass, it always does….." a voice that was distinctly female was echoing throughout the woods. This immediately gained trixie's attention, the voice seemed to be coming from right in front of her. "Could that be the pony i saw in the woods?" trixie thought to herself. She had a lack of options at this point, maybe calling this voice out could get some result. "Who are you, show yourself!" trixie yelled. For a couple moments, the silence returned and then a mare slowly emerged from behind a tree. She was a red colored mare with a blue mane colored, something that trixie didn't think clashed well. But it didn't help that although it seemed she tried to keep her mane in a bun, it was frizzled and unkempt. Trixie emotions were a mix of fear and excitement, not really sure how to address this new mare. The mare started walking towards her and without knowing how to react to this, trixie started backing away. "Oh, i'm sorry!. Am i scaring you?!" the mare exclaimed, instantly stopping in her tracks. "You didn't answer my question, who are you?" trixie asked, still not sure about this mysterious mare. "Oh… well, ok then, first of all, my name's rose, rose weathers…." the mysterious mare addressed herself before continuing. "I'm lost too, usually i know where i'm going when i do expeditions….." rose seemed to be ready to go on and on about her entire journey. Her scattershot manner of speech gave trixie a lighter feeling, gaining trixie's trust. "Ok, ok!" trixie interjected, stopping her frantic explanation. "So….. i was wondering….. Could i….. I don't know, join you?" rose asked, immediately flipping to a different question. Trixie was taken aback by this mare's immediate trust in her but still… "sure…."

Present day

"So we traveled together,and we actually found a village, which took a day…" trixie was saying, spike and vinyl were hooked onto every word. Something about her story was bothering octavia though. "How long were you and this rose traveling?" octavia asked while she was speaking. Trixie looked at her and casually replied "about a month, i thought i hinted at that in the beginning though…." trixie said, puzzled. "It's ok, now weren't you responsible for the destruction of her home though, when does her reaction to that come along?" octavia railed her with another question, like a tabloid interviewer looking for dirt. Trixie suddenly stopped speaking, her eyes starting to look downwards. Before she had her eyes fixated on everyone, telling her story without any of the fear that she started with. "Trixie, are you…" spike obviously was the one to first speak up, it was just his nature. "I'm….. i….. Uh, can we stop for today!" trixie nervously exclaimed. Octavia stared at her, curious but at the same time, worried if she caused her any type of distress. "As long as you bring the rest, i'll even come to the treehouse for that, ok?" vinyl said, reserving her less extreme personality for a softer tone. Trixie didn't respond for a solid minute, it was almost like a maelstrom was manifesting inside her head. She did eventually nod in reply and everybody started making their leave out of the room, spike and fluttershy trailing behind trixie.

"I think….. I'm gonna head home, we can meet up sometime next week" fluttershy said, everyone was outside of the club at this point. Spike nodded in reply, trixie was standing around in silence, watching them. "I'll see you soon then…." spike looked up at the sky and saw a full moon was out tonight. "Moon looks pretty tonight…" spike said, fluttershy moved a little closer in towards spike. Spike looked straight into her eyes, the moonlight cascading on her face. "You look….." before spike even finished this sentence, they finally shared their first real kiss. They were so into each other, they both even forgot that trixie was just standing right behind them. Trixie had a mix of emotions about this, she just wasn't sure what kind they exactly were yet. Spike and fluttershy had to eventually separate, they both didn't even have the words to describe how they felt right now. "Um….. i…." spike was trying to get something out, now usually this would be fluttershy's place to fill in the blank. All she did was fill that blank in with silly, giddy laughter. Spike, just looking at her, put on a smile of pure euphoria. Trixie, at least for the moment, was happy for the drake and decided to smirk at the display. "I'll see you then…." fluttershy blurted, almost dashing away from him. "Oh….. ok!" spike exclaimed, trying to let his voice carry to her while she was dashing. Spike then signaled trixie that he was about to start walking and then suddenly, it started raining. "Come on, it's starts raining now!, what about during our moment, huh weather ponies!" spike exclaimed, yelling at forces that would never hear him. This made trixie chuckle as both of them were walking.

"Believe it or not, that might actually be my first kiss, that's crazy…." spike said, really talking to himself but leaving it open for any kind of response. "I would be lying to you if i said the same thing….." trixie said passively, this immediately gained spike's attention. "What!?" spike asked, trixie nodded in response with a smile. "You think my life was strictly in ponyville?, come on, i'm a traveling magician but at the same time, it was only one colt, nothing spectacular…" trixie said, once again being very passive about these details. "Wow, someone could actually stand you for the duration of a relationship" spike said with a laugh, really meaning it as a joke. Trixie didn't take it this way, she sighed heavily. "Hey….. i didn't mean it that way, it was just a joke" spike said, immediately returning to a softer tone. Trixie nodded, looked up at the rain covered sky, the drops falling on her face. "Matter of fact, i have to thank you…." spike started saying. Trixie's attention was immediately gained. "I really had a good time coming out here, maybe parties aren't such a bad thing…." spike finished, trixie just nodded. "Damn it!, you aren't helping my cluttered mind!" trixie thought to herself. "Speaking of the party, sorry i choked on telling the story, i should be over it but i'm not….." trixie said, spike nodded in reply. "Look, i don't know if it helps, but want me to tell you something about me?" spike asked frankly in tone. Trixie nodded, spike then continued on. " a couple years ago, i found out that with being a dragon, i'm actually an immortal being" spike started with a clincher. Trixie couldn't even contain the gasp that she had. "This means that eventually, everything that i'm doing, every connection i've made, is going to mean nothing to anyone else but me and maybe the alicorns, i don't know, not the point though" spike said, each word started hurting him more and more to say. "Unlike me, you will eventually die and be remembered for something, trixie lulamoon will be who you make her" spike said, sighing towards the end but he wasn't done yet. "If you let you past dictate you, you will become your past, but if you let it go and work towards the mare you wanna be, you can be remembered as a different pony" spike finished. Trixie was blown away by his words, they almost fit perfectly for her. These were things she needed to think about, things that could truly help her. "Thank you, for almost everything, if i've never said it, well, there it is" trixie said with a beaming smile. Spike was caught off guard by the smile but it was still welcome to him. He nodded in reply and looked to his left. Realizing that they made it to the treehouse, spike took a relaxed breath. "Home sweet home, that furnace is calling me!" spike exclaimed, getting a small chuckle out of trixie. Spike opened the door and was walking inside but trixie was just standing outside. Spike was almost ready to close the door before seeing that trixie was still just standing outside. "Aren't you coming in?" spike asked, trixie seemed frozen before spike addressed her. "Um, i think i'm gonna walk around for a bit, i got something to think about…" trixie replied, spike nodded and replied "alright, your choice, just letting you know, it gets pretty cold out here". Trixie chuckled at the sentiment, knowing this very well. "Don't worry, i be back by my curfew" trixie said jokingly. Spike chuckled and let her go, leaving the mare walking around town in her thoughts.

It was still raining outside and yet trixie didn't regret her decision to take a walk around town. The raindrops falling on her face actually felt relaxing to her. It was almost a cold pack for her brain at this point. "I could flake, tell everyone i forgot the rest of….." trixie almost said but immediately thought how stupid this would be. "Of course, it would be obvious that i conveniently forget the most important part of the story!" trixie thought to herself in frustration. She's been running and abandoning her past but yet, these things keep haunting her. Especially with the influx of personalities wanting to accept her, be her friend. "That's why they sting, every time he does something nice, every word of encouragement i get…." trixie thought to herself. While she was walking, she found a park bench in the middle of the town. "It is rain, i would definitely be dumb for actually trying to sit…" while trixie's thoughts were saying one thing, her body did something completely different. She was already sitting on the bench, no matter how damp it already was. "At Least the bench isn't a puddle" trixie commented, trying to find some kind of win with her choice. "What's keeping me from moving forward?" that was the only question that she wanted answered. It's the question that years of time still couldn't answer for her. "I've tried everything…" before trixie could go on any longer. "Everything… are you sure if that's the case my dear" trixie was taken aback, she looked next to her to make sure that nobody snuck up on her. The voice sounded familiar to her, she could almost say her name at this point. "Lun….." before she could even finish, she started feeling sluggish. "I didn't feel tired before…." trixie's last thought was before falling into a slumber.

"Ughh…." trixie grunted, slowly waking from what felt like a forced slumbered. Her eyes were fluttering open, to discover a horrifying fact. She was above ground by a decent amount… "dear celestia, please tell me i'm dreaming!" trixie exclaimed, immediately jolting out of her waking up phase. "It's fine, you mus…. don't worry" trixie once again heard what sounded to be luna but this time, she felt her hoof tap her shoulder. Trixie turned around to see royalty herself speaking to her. "Lu...luna?" trixie asked in disbelief, luna nodded in reply while smiling. "Now take the time and look at the beauty of the clouds, untethered by things such as fear" luna said, keeping that warm smile on her face. Trixie then realized that her hooves seemed to feel planted firmly on a surface while being in the sky. She decided to take luna's advice and was blown away by what she saw. The sky was the clearest blue, she saw cloud formations seeming to be pegasus houses. Weather ponies shaping the clouds around her, different pegasi flying around the sky and down into ponyville. This actually started calming trixie down, giving her a perspective she's never had before. "Are you calmed, ready for what i'm going to show you?" luna asked, trixie looking at her puzzled but yet she still nodded. "Memories are sometimes disordered fragments, fragments that can be manipulated by the pony who owns them" luna started saying, trixie started immediately realizing what she was about to do. "I can travel throughout memories, memories are the construct of the mind and can infect dreams as well, there is an important memory you need to see…." luna said, then her horn started glowing, luna's eyes closed in concentration. Trixie looked around and the sky was no more, the area around her started rapidly flipping from place to place. She saw herself in each of these quick location flashes. She closed her eyes, not really excited to see herself, having a feeling about which memory she was going to pick for a visit.

"Rose, rose!" trixie heard her voice calling her friends name, her eyes were still closed with fear. "Trixie, you can open your eyes now…." luna said in a softer voice, aware of trixie's unease. Trixie took a deep breath and she finally opened her eyes and the area around her was darkly familiar. "This is….." trixie couldn't even get the entire sentence out. What she saw was a little shop in complete disarray and shambles. This little shop in fact belonged to the friend but haunting memory, rose weathers. "I know, just breathe, there is something important here to show, i promise you" luna said to her, trying her best to comfort the shaken mare. From this point on, trixie decided to attempt putting on a brave face. "Why here, why now….?" trixie asked, regaining her braver, standing straight looking directly at luna. "I feel that a lesson could be learned here, now let's hurry along, i'm stretching my time for you" luna replied, rushing her along, an unusually out of character thing for her. "Ok, i understand" trixie replied, luna nodded and continued on. "Now do you remember this day?" luna asked, trixie smirked and chuckled, remembering this day in a weirdly fond way. "Yeah, uh…. Me and her were still having growing pains, she was…. Well she was still angry with me after finding out…." trixie sentences started breaking down. "Anyways, this specific day was actually our worst argument…" trixie finished, sighing as the memory went down as normal.

A memory snippet from 3 months ago

"What?!" rose yelled from the backroom, replying to trixie's call. "Come on, i need you here, it's something you need to see…!" trixie replied. Rose was honestly doing a whole lot of nothing, sitting in the middle of a shambled backroom. She sighed, feeling more comfortable wallowing in destruction then going to talk to the mare who caused it. She got up and walked out of the back room, immediately seeing trixie's face behind the front counter. "What is it?" rose asked with a bite of attitude. "As much as i'd love to say we could do it…. We need to hire some kind of contractor for this place or….." trixie was about to finish but rose violently interjected "i am not abandoning this shop!" trixie wasn't too proud to admit that rose actually managed to scare her right now. "Ok…. ok, then what about a contractor…?" trixie asked, rose sarcastically chuckled before responding. "Maybe you're too stupid to realize but this entire shop was everything financially, and it's gone, we know who to blame for that…." trixie already blamed herself enough but at this point she's had enough. "Enough!, ok, i get it, i blame myself every single day, but i've had enough of your bullying!" trixie exclaimed, this broke rose from her sarcasm and made her angry. "What!, you destroy my home, my way of earning any type of bit in this town and you have the nerve! To call me a bully, screw you and your martyr crap!" rose was uncontrollably furious. "Haven't i already told you, the beast smashed your home, i just brought it here for a stupid trick!" trixie snapped back, genuinely thinking that was a good response. "Why the hell….." rose said, sighing, trying to calming herself down. "All i'm saying is that, all i'm doing is trying to help you, make up for it…." trixie barely finished the sentence before rose interjected "so what, you feel bad and i'm without a shop, fair trade, really fair trade" she said with another sarcastic bite. Trixie didn't know what else to say, what she could reply with to counter. She was just frozen, mixed with emotions of frustration and hurt, not knowing how to deal with them. "Finally you shut up, dear celestia, why did i let you into my shop….." rose said, trixie heard a tearful crack in her voice. "This was everything for me, what…. What am i supposed to do now?!" rose didn't care, she couldn't care the weight of this anymore, trixie then heard the most painful cry in her life. Trixie then slowly backed away, walking out the door, feeling the weight on her back. As she was outside of the shop, approaching her carriage, ready to run away again. Then, almost immediately something popped into her head, she rushed to the back of her carriage, having a specific item in her mind.

Present dream

"So, it was that day, i traveled across to a completely different…, wait, wouldn't you know this already?" trixie asked luna, luna nodded and replied "yes i do dear, but i so desperately want to hear it from you…". Trixie nodded, not really sure why this was the case but she then continued on. "I traveled to manehatten, so that someone can appraise the gem that i wore on my cape, it was worth enough bits for a contractor and much more, that gem was the very last thing my father gave me before i became a full grown mare" trixie finished, luna nodded in response. "Does you doing that, at that moment, matter to you at all?" luna asked, trixie had to think on how she responded. "To be honest, to this day, i still don't know…." trixie replied, luna nodded once again. "Why do you find it so hard to forgive yourself, even when so many around you are willing to lift the burden?" luna asked, the questions piercing more and more into trixie. "I can't answer that for you, not yet, not in a sensible way…." trixie said, luna let out a sigh for the first time during their conversation. Trixie was interested in this sentiment but before she even had time to comment, luna was ready speak. "It's hard….. Trying to leave the past in the past, not forgiving what you once were….." luna words were emotionally shaky, trixie could tell this was coming from the heart. "Your first instinct is to run from it, but the past keeps catching up to you, beating you up, keeping you up at night….." trixie was hanging onto each and every word that she was speaking to her. "You've done the first step, you trying to be a better mare, now tell yourself that, everyday, take it one step at a time" luna's voice became a calming and motherly one. "Want me to tell you something, promise to tell no one else?" luna asked, trixie nodded and luna continued on. "I'm the am the guardian of the night and i still have trouble sleeping….." luna said, trixie was genuine surprised that royalty like her was opening up like this. "It's who i was, nightmare moon, still, i can't shake her, i can't shake her actions and she's the voice in my ear telling me i'm still worthless, that i'm not worthy of anyone's affection….." luna was saying, trixie was once again awestruck by her. "You know, my sister, she tells me "when i look up at the night sky, i see you, your compassion and strength, guarding the night "." luna said, mimicking celestia's voice.

"I don't see that, still don't, i see a monster feeding off the happiness of others but at the same time, i aspire to see the guardian" luna continued, trixie actually started choking up hearing luna speak on herself. "So, everyday, i continue to want that for myself, it keeps me going…." luna was talking but she stopped as both her and trixie saw a small crack in the sky outside the store window. "Oh, that time flew fast!" luna exclaimed, instantly changing tone. "Trixie…." luna called to her, trixie was already in full attention of luna. "I'm extending an invitation to the castle, i want to truly meet you, i also want you to be my…" before luna could finish…

Trixie's eyes shot open, her eyes darted around to realize that she was no longer outside. She actually felt quite comfortable where she was. "Am i….." she thought, realizing that she was in her room at the treehouse. She still didn't feel like getting up quite yet, luna's words were weighing on her way more then she thought. "A guardian…. What would be my guardian?" trixie asked herself, referring to something she would want to be more then anything. "All i want is to be good…" trixie was thinking but then she upped her original thought "no, i want to great, great and powerful, i want my title back!" trixie exclaimed with confidence, sadly this wasn't spoken in her mind. "Looks like she's up" trixie heard what sounded like fluttershy's voice coming from downstairs. "What's she doing here?" trixie thought, then she immediately came to a conclusion. "I was outside all night, wasn't i?" trixie asked aloud, sighing in disappointment. Then trixie heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs, "she's coming…" trixie thought to herself, for some reason dreading that. Trixie sat up, ready for her arrival as she heard fluttershy's footsteps outside of her door. "Well, not necessarily, your were out there for about an hour according to spike" fluttershy said, entering her room while saying it. "Jeez, well, i don't know what to say…." trixie was about to say but fluttershy interjected "no need, it's what friends are for" fluttershy followed that with a trademark smile. "Does this mare ever get angry….. I don't think i wanna know what that would look like" trixie thought to herself. The discomfort with fluttershy was still inside her, a discomfort that was non existent just a day ago. "Well….. I'm going to go see a friend" trixie said, not really having anything else she wants to say. Trixie walked out the door, saying absolutely nothing to fluttershy. While trixie was walking downstairs, the intentional silence from her bothered fluttershy. Before trixie even had a chance to open the front door, fluttershy spoke up. "Hey, trixie" fluttershy called out, getting trixie attention. "Are we ok?" she asked, a simple and genuine question asked to trixie. Trixie didn't have anything to mad about when it came to fluttershy, not at all. She's not even mad. just a weird level of discomfort for a reason she can't figure out yet. "Of course, no problems here" trixie replied, forcing a smile before walking out of the door. Fluttershy sighed, not satisfied with her answer but letting it go for now.

The weather outside was perfect for today. The sky was the clearest blue and the sun shined bright. This would be one of the best days to head out to a farmers market. Sadly, for trixie, almost everyone in town thought the same exact thing. Rose's shop is placed right around where all of the vendors in town are placed. A giant fairground located outside of the main strip of houses and shops. Trixie was walking through these fairgrounds, looking straight at the small shop at the very end of these fairgrounds. However, the walking distance would be doubled due to trixie being caught up by the large mass of ponies shopping here. "Come on, how am i supposed to get there at a reasonable amount of time" trixie thought to herself, looking around to find some kind of easy opening. "Alright, just gotta take it step by step then" trixie said to herself, looking for small openings and rushing through them quickly. Still, this maneuver was barely getting her moving. She was looking around at all the different stands and saw a fruit stand. At that stand, she saw a very familiar dragon looking through all their inventory. She decided to take a detour to at least greet the dragon. "Hey!" she called out while only a few feet in front of him. This made the dragon turn immediately to see her, waved and sped up his browsing time. "I'll be right there, just give me a second!" spike called out in return, trixie nodding in response to that. Trixie decided to wait where she was, it's wasn't like she was going anywhere. Spike finished up his purchase and headed towards trixie to greet her. "Hey, looks like you're feeling well, what are you doing out here?" spike asked, trixie then replied with "just going to see a friend, she's literally at the end of this fairground". Spike nodded in reply and looked around to see the massive crowd. "Well, i'll leave you to it then, i'll see you back at the house this time?" spike asked, still having an obvious bit of concern. Trixie reassured him by nodding, appreciating his worry for her. "Alright then, i'll see you later" spike said, ending their brief conversation. "So lucky to….. Wait, what am i saying!?" trixie almost said to herself, her mind being high on some kind of metaphorical substance. For now she ignored whatever she's feeling and focused on the task at hand. She continued maneuvering through crowds, having a determination to see rose today.

With only her patience as a sacrifice, she finally made it to rose's shop. Oddly, her shop didn't have flocks of ponies attracted to it. Only her normal customer base on a decent day, "guess like her shop isn't the most appealing for some" trixie thought to herself. She walked up to the door and proceeded to enter the shop. Her and rose immediately locked eyes, she wasn't currently taking any customers at the register. "Trixie…..?" rose said, making sure that she was accurate with her description. "Hey rose…." trixie replied, giving rose a big smile on her face. "Nice to see you, let me just finish up with this one customer" rose said, completely ignoring her one day absence from work. "I can explain why i…" trixie was about to say but rose interjected quickly with "no need, lucky you picked a day without any real significant traffic, so i managed on my own" rose was looking at an indecisive mare that was rummaging through different items in the shop. "That's good" trixie replied, deciding to look around the shop herself. She saw dozens of new and interesting items that weren't there before. "Guess like you had a good haul" trixie commented. "Yeah, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, this time, well, you can obviously see" rose replied, trixie nodded and continued to look around the small shop. "Excuse me?" the mare who was looking around before trixie finally spoke to rose. "Yes mam?" rose replied in courtesy. "This mask over here, what kind of wood is it made of?" the mare asked, pointing at an mask with tribal markings and an oval look. "Hmm…. well, from what i recall, a tribe existing long before us killed a timberwolf and made that mask" rose said in a theatrical voice, hard selling the mask. "That is….." before trixie could even comment on the validity of that story, rose gave her a stern look. "totally true, i've heard that story before, totally cool find rose!" trixie said in a falsely excited manner. "Cool…. I'll take it, my husband would love this!" the mare said, picking it up and placing it on the front desk. "I bet he will, now your total will be 4 bits" rose said, finishing up the sale with this mare. This mare finally left the store leaving only trixie and rose at the shop. "I'll close up for today, let's go to the cakes, better place to talk and i'm starving" rose said, trixie chuckled and nodded in reply. As they walked out of the shop, trixie asked "was that story actually true?" rose gave a shrug and replied "the pony who gave me this mask thought so, it looked cool, so, let's just say yes" trixie smirked at this sentiment and they both walked out the door.

They both managed to obtain a seat at a modestly busy day for the cakes. Trixie wasn't hungry so she decided not to get anything but that wasn't the case at all for rose. "Hmmm, that looks great, but those cookies look even better, you know what, i'll take em both!" rose said with a hearty laugh. "Got it, is there anything else that you'd like to have?" the new waitress asked, pinkie no longer being a server at the shop. "I guess i'll take a chocolate shake, while my friend is holding the tab" trixie said, the waitress writing that down as well. "Ok, coming right up!" the waitress perked up with a friendly energy. As she drifted away, rose commented "i wonder what happened to their last server, she was a ton of fun". Trixie sighed, knowing immediately who she was talking about. "Not everyone stays here long term" trixie replied, rose nodded in agreement with her. "Hey, i know i said i didn't mind and all, but why weren't you at work yesterday?" rose asked. "Well, i had a small taste of contract work, helped a new friend with a job" trixe replied, rose was immediately interested with one specific detail. "You made a new friend, well, that's interesting" rose replied, trixie nodded in response. "Well, i already told you i found a place, it happened to be with this new friend" trixie replied, rose gasped. "Wow, who is this nice mare or colt?" rose asked. This put trixie in an interesting spot, this new friend wasn't necessarily either of these things. "Well, neither, he…. Well, might be the only dragon in this town" trixie said, seeing no reason to hide this fact. Rose would have done a spit take if she had a drink available to her. "What?!, but aren't dragons like huge?!" rose asked in shock. "Shouldn't you know this miss world traveler?, no, this dragon is only slightly taller then the average pony" trixie replied with a chuckle. "Be careful still, dragons are very unpredictable" rose replied but trixie had an interesting type of reply. "I'm sure i'll be safe rose, this one is really sweet…." it only took a second for rose to pick up on the way she said that. "No way….. Have you…." rose was about to ask but trixie quickly interjected "oh, no, not at all, did the way i say that come off wrong?". Rose nodded in reply, trixie sighing in disappointment. "Were friends, nothing more, nothing less" trixie clarified, rose smirking, ready to say something. "That might be true but you might be caught up in feelings though?" rose replied, trixie not wanting this to be true. "Of course not, not me, pfft!, caught up in feelings…" trixie dismissed, rose shaking her head in disbelief. "Jeez, sometimes your just too transparent" rose replied, trixie blushing at that comment. "Look…. Um, it's complicated, can we move on?" trixie asked, rose then nodded to spare her friend of embarrassment. "So besides that mess, what else is going on?" rose asked, trixie trying to find a adequate topic. "Oh yeah, wanna hear a cool story, your valiant employee protecting the store with her life!" trixie replied with her voice in a heroic slant. "Oh yeah, you heroic flank destroyed half my plates" rose replied, deflating trixie's heroism.

"You wanna hear it or not?" trixie said in annoyance. Rose shrugged and nodded, starting trixie off on her story. "Well, a crazy mare decided to rob the shop and threatened to kill me!" trixie exclaimed, giving her own colored version of the story. "She didn't hold back, charged up her biggest blast, one that can destroy the store, but the mighty trixie conjured a wondrous shield!" she continued, rose buying her version less and less. "The mare cowered in fear, at the great and powerful trixie!" she finished, gaining a base in her voice. "Ok, sure, great story, how much of that was born in this realm of truth?" rose asked sarcastically. "Well, all of it of course!" trixie replied keeping her heroic voice. Rose chuckled in disbelief of the story but she decided to let her have this one. "Alright, your excellence, i'll believe you" rose replied, trixie smirked at her and finally their orders came in. "sorry it took so long, i'm kinda new at this" the new waitress said shyly. "I'm am sitting in front of a slice of chocolate cake and amazing smelling pack of cookies, your fine my dear" rose replied, getting the waitress and trixie to laugh. "Enjoy" the waitress said, leaving trixie and rose to their orders. "Hey, actually i wanted to talk to you about something…" trixie was about to ask something but rose interjected "were good, you've asked this before, it's pretty clear now, so why ask it again?". "Jeez, am i that readable?" trixie thought to herself, not knowing if that'll become a problem. "Well, it's just, i remembered that fight we had, months ago, it was apart of a dream i had" trixie replied. Rose nodded, remembering that moment in particular. "Are you asking me for a reason, why that dream occurred? , because i'm sorry but i got none" rose replied, trixie shook her head in response. "No, i have my reason, it's just crazy to me how were friends now" trixie replied, rose took a bite out of cake and nodded. "Yeah, i mean, i'll admit i wanted nothing to do with you, but what you did, because of that, i can live the life i've always dreamed of" rose replied, trixie smiled at that. "Well, all i did was sell a gem, nothing that special" trixie dismissed but rose quickly replied "so, instead of running away with thousands of bits, forgetting about me, you came back and gave me that, asking for nothing more then to be my employee, that's apparently nothing in your book". Rose even chuckled at that ridiculous coming from trixie's mouth. "I did that, me, i was capable of that" trixie thought to herself, remembering luna's advice for her. "Sorry, it's just, remembering is starting to help me" trixie replied, rose nodded and said "if it's helps you, then go for it, i'll remind you 50 times a day if i have to!" rose exclaimed, both of them breaking into laughter. "Now if you don't mind, i'm ready to chow down" rose said, trixie then replied with her own comment "now the tab is on you right?". Rose was dead silent and just started eating her chocolate cake. Trixie sighed, regretting even getting that chocolate shake.

"Ok, ok, i'll pay you back, 60 bits, mental note!" rose exclaimed, trixie peeved at her for having almost 55 bits worth of food at the cakes. "Well, i gotta go, it's late" trixie said, looking up at the night sky outside of the cakes shop. "You'll be at work tomorrow, right?" rose asked, trixie nodding in reply. "Well there you go, that's about 70 bits easy" rose replied, trixie chucking and replying "how about an extra 60 bits on top of that?". Rose smiled at her, giving a silent treatment once more and walking away. Trixie then started walking back to the tree house which isn't too far from the cakes. Trixie reminisced on her good day with rose, wanting more like them. "Were friends and i don't even remember the last time we hung out like that" trixie thought to herself. As she was getting closer to the treehouse, she was reminded of something from her dream including luna. "Did she say something about extending an invitation…." before trixie could even finish the thought, she saw the treehouse and spike standing right outside it. "Um, trixie, you might wanna come inside for this one" spike said, trixie nodded and followed the drake inside.

Trixie couldn't believe what she was reading, it was a letter on official parchment but the writing was so informal. "Hi ms lulamoon, it's me, luna, this is that invitation that i was meaning to send to you, things have been so busy but it was so personally important to me for you to get this….. i barely managed. Inside are two train tickets for a ride here to you and spike, this is the best i can do for now. If you can't make it for the date listed on the tickets, please write me a letter telling me so and i'll get back to you as soon as possible. I meant it when i said i really wanted to meet you. Plus, i have a very interesting proposition for you, i think you'd like it.

P.s: also, this is for spike. Twilight will be available on the date listed but her schedule has been pretty booked, i can't promise any other day but today for you to see her. I think she'll be pretty happy to see you.

Luna

"The date on the tickets are listed for tomorrow afternoon, um, so yeah, do you wanna go?" spike said, taking on a nervous tone immediately. "Well, i'll have to call my…" trixie was about to say but spike quickly interjected "you have work, right, that means you don't have to go, i mean, responsibility right?" spike said this in a speedy nervous tone. "It'll be fine, rose wouldn't mind, i would love to go" trixie said with a smile. "Ok….. well, we should get some rest, it's gonna be a long trip" spike said, sighing at the end of it. "Spike, don't worry about it, your not doing this alone" trixie said, trying to comfort the dragon. "Um….. thanks a lot, i appreciate it…." spike said weakly, curling up in the living room. Trixie looked back at him, wondering why he would be this nervous. As she walked upstairs, looking at the upset drake, a statement from rose popped up in her mind once again. "Caught up in my feelings huh?" she thought, taking some rest for the next day

An 2: my god, guess like that promise fell through then huh? Once a month was my initial plan but then a whole crap ton of stuff got in the way plus just good ol fashion procrastination. What i can say is that the next chapter is going to be big, very big. The timetable i'm feeling this chapter will come out in February. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much for reading :)