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Description
Rainbow Dash soared through the skies of Ponyville, looking for the two filly forms of Twilight and Trixie. She and the rest of her friends had finished gathering the ingredients for the remedy that would cure the two, and had asked Zecora to prepare it.

Everypony was waiting for them at the spa, but when Rainbow checked the park, she found that they weren't there. According to many eyewitnesses, the two fillies had been sighted all over Ponyville, and it was anypony's guess where they were now.

"Man, why couldn't they just stay still? And why do I have ta find them?" Rainbow Dash complained as she looked down at the streets as she passed over them. Finally, she spotted the two fillies that she was looking for; a purple Unicorn filly and a blue Unicorn filly were sitting on a bench in front of the ice-cream stand in the market place, sharing an ice-cream cone together. "A-ha! Found 'em!" she shouted to herself as she prepared to descend.

She landed behind the two oblivious fillies, and decided to sneak up on them and make them jump. As she neared them, she could hear their conversation.

"So between Applejack and Wainbow Dash, who's the better athlete?" Trixie asked, taking a lick of the ice-cream.

Rainbow stopped when she realised that they were talking about her, and listened in on their conversation. Twilight giggled, and also took a lick on the opposite side. "There was actually a contest the two of them set up to find out," she said. "Turns out they're both as good as each other."

"Oh? Twixie would've put her money on the wainbow one," Trixie said, taking another lick of the ice-cream. "Of course, Twixie could beat either of them with her hooves tied behind her back."

Twilight rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh. "Really? You don't seem to be the athletic type."

"No, but Twixie's magic can keep them at bay while Twixie casually makes her way to the end."

"Isn't that against the whole point?"

"Maybe, but it's not against the wules."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin to remember the rules of athletic events. "True," she said, shrugging. She noticed that the ice-cream was dripping down the cone, and quickly licked up the leaking trail. "But then in that case, you'd come in second."

Trixie looked at Twilight in confusion. "Then who would be fiwst?"

"Me, naturally," Twilight said, grinning at Trixie.

Rainbow Dash extended her wings and got ready to separate the two from the fight that was sure to break out at any second now. She looked over at Trixie, who was frowning disapprovingly, and waited. However, what happened next surprised her. Trixie laughed. Not a mocking laugh, but a sincere, happy laugh.

"Maybe now, you can beat Twixie," Trixie said. "But it won't be long before Twixie catches up to you, so you'd better watch out, wival."

"And on that day, Rarity will take up mud wrestling." Twilight laughed, along with Trixie, and Rainbow also found it hard to suppress the giggling that was building up within her. Twilight noticed the ice-cream about to fall off, and took a big bite of it. Moments after swallowing it, she felt her head splitting open, and held it in her hooves. "Owwww!"

The intense pain caused Twilight to lose her magical focus on the ice-cream, and it dropped to the floor. "Ah! Twixie's ice-cream!"

"My head!" Twilight cried out in pain.

Behind them, Rainbow could no longer hold in her laughter, which alerted the two to her presence. "Sorry, did I interrupt your date?" she asked, grinning at the two fillies.

"'Bout time," Applejack said as Rainbow Dash approached her in the spa's lobby, with Twilight on her left and Trixie on her right. "Where in Equestria have you been?"

Rainbow grinned mischievously at Trixie, and then turned to Applejack. "These two went on a date around town, so I had ta track 'em down."

"We wewe NOT on a date!" Trixie shouted, her face bright red.

"That's right! I was just showing her around!" Twilight followed up, her face an equal shade of red to Trixie's.

"And sharing ice-cream," Rainbow said, giggling as she walked further into the spa.

"Wait, wha?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow at the two fillies. "Really Twi? You like Trixie?"

Trixie took offence to Applejack's words, but to her surprise it was Twilight who spoke up first. "What's wrong with Trixie? Sure, she can be a bit obnoxious sometimes, but when you get past that, she's pretty cool, and kind!"

Applejack looked at Trixie with a sceptical look on her face. Behind her, Applejack could hear Rainbow Dash say: "Careful, that's her marefriend you're dissin'."

"She's not my marefriend!" Twilight shouted, stomping her hoof. "I don't like her in that way! We're just friends!"

Trixie wasn't sure if she should be thankful to Twilight for sticking up for her, or be insulted that Twilight took such great offence to idea of Trixie being her marefriend. So she just followed Rainbow Dash into the spa, staring straight ahead with a look of annoyance on her face.

Twilight and Applejack soon followed, and they eventually arrived in the bathing room, where Zecora was preparing a special bath to cure the two fillies.

"Now, the letter says that you must soak in this bath for no less than 30 minutes, and no more than 1 hour," Rarity explained to Twilight and Trixie as she read the instructions sent to the group by the Princess. "The effect won't be instantaneous; it will take effect after a few hours. If you enter the bath now, it should happen overnight."

"Great! Come on Trixie!" Twilight shouted enthusiastically, running up to the bath tub. She placed a hoof in slowly, and then continued by putting the rest of her body in. She let out a pleasant sigh as the warm bath water relaxed her entire body. "Come on! The water's great!" she said to Trixie, who still hadn't moved from her spot.

Trixie stared at the bath water for a few moments, and when she refused to move closer, the rest of the group grew concerned, and asked her asked what was wrong. "Twixie…Doesn't think she wants to turn back, after all," she said, shocking everypony in the room.

"What are you saying!?" Rarity asked, grabbing Trixie's shoulders and shaking her small body. "Surely you don't mean that! The only other alternative is to grow back into your old self!"

"What Miss Rarity says is most true," Zecora said, walking up to Trixie and placing a hoof under her chin, lifting Trixie's head up to look into her eyes. "Perhaps you should tell us what is troubling you."

Trixie's eyes widened with fear, and tears started to form at the corners of her eyes, despite her best efforts to fight them off. Her entire body started shaking, and she backed away slightly to escape Rarity's grip. "Twixie…Doesn't wanna go back to her old life."

"Why not?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Were you poor? Were you not getting enough ponies to watch your shows?"

"She didn't exactly seem to be in any trouble earlier today," Applejack pointed out. "She seemed to be rather happy, and she had enough money for that spell that made her like this."

"Twixie…Doesn't wanna be alone anymore," she said, the shaking in her body increasing. "The old Twixie has been alone for so long, she forgot how to wely on others…She wanted to weach out to others, but she was afwaid, and her mind had settled on keeping others at a distance…Her heart was filled with jealousy at those who had fwiends, and anger that she couldn't bwing herself to befwiend others…

"I don't wanna go back to that!" she shouted, kneeling down and holding her head in her hooves. "Evewy night was so painful! I had nightmawes of dying on my own, with nopony even knowing whewe I was! And dreams that I had finally made fwiends, only to cwy the next mowning 'cause it was only a dweam!" The sounds of Trixie's crying started to fill the place, and everypony else remained silent, waiting for her to calm down. "Evewy day was dawk…I don't wanna be alone anymore…"

The other ponies, Spike, and Zecora, all exchanged looks of worry and sympathy, but none of them could find the right words to comfort the crying filly. Finally, a voice from the back of the room broke the long silence that was otherwise only filled by Trixie's sobbing. It was Twilight's voice. "So you're gonna give up?"

Trixie didn't stop crying, nor did she lift her head to look at Twilight, so Twilight continued. "You're just gonna run away, because you scared of going back? Come on, Trixie. That doesn't sound like you." Trixie's ear twitched, and she moved her hooves slightly to look at Twilight. "You're just running away from your problems. That won't make them go away."

"But…This way, I can start again…Fix all the mistakes I made in my life…"

"It don't work that way, hun," Applejack said. Trixie turned her attention to the orange farmer. "Even if ye change yer body now, yer past ain't gonna change. Ye're gonna have ta live with it forever, an' ah can assure ya, even if ye stay as ya are right now, one day yer past'll catch up to ya, and you'll surely regret it."

Fluttershy walked up to the still shaking Trixie, and placed a wing around her gently. She felt Trixie start to calm down, although she was still mumbling uncertainly. Rainbow Dash approached the blue filly, with a stern look on her face.

"So this is the "Great and Powerful Trixie"?" she asked. "I knew you were only exaggerating before, but I still thought your magic was pretty cool! And even I could tell it was much better than the average Unicorn!

"Some part of me wanted to give you another chance. Somehow, you reminded me of myself; you had dreams of being big, and you wanted everypony to know your name, so you showed off your talents everywhere! And you boasted your big feats because you honestly believed that you could make them reality.

"But I guess I was wrong." She stomped a hoof to emphasis her last point, startling Trixie. Fluttershy held Trixie tighter in her wing. "You're nothing like me. I would never give up just because I was afraid! Even if it seemed hopeless, I would do my best, and if my best wasn't enough, at least I can say I went down flying!"

"Rainbow, aren't you being a little hard on the poor dear?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, and continued her lecture. "So what if you fail once? Just try again! Keep trying no matter what! You're afraid to get close to other ponies? Then try a different angle! Try taking a break from your showmare business and just have some time to yourself! Find some ponies who share a common interest, and make them your friends! But giving up and just pushing the problem to one side? That's totally not cool."

Trixie's shaking and crying had stopped by this point, but she still kept her head buried in her hooves. She was still unsure about what she should do, and the others saw that she still needed an extra push.

"Wait, I don't get it," Pinkie Pie shouted, gaining the attention of everypony in the room. "Why can't we just be your friends? I mean, is friendship even so complicated in the first place?" Everypony remained silent as Pinkie hopped merrily over towards Trixie. "I don't think the problem is that you were afraid of making friends. It's that you were afraid you wouldn't be worthy of being somepony's friend, right?"

"W-What do you mean?" Trixie asked, slowly removing her head from her hooves.

"Well, you've been alone for so long, right? You probably think you were alone because you did something wrong. Eventually, that thought engraved itself into your mind, and you were certain that you would only hurt anypony who you befriended." She lifted Trixie off the ground, and spun around so that Trixie was facing Twilight.

"As proof, you became friends with Twilight thanks to being a filly again. If the problem was that you were too shy or afraid to approach somepony, that shouldn't have changed even as you became a filly. In fact, it should have gotten worse, if anything. But if the problem is that you blame yourself for being alone, then it makes sense, since you hadn't yet reached that conclusion as a filly."

The rest of the group stared at Pinkie Pie in astonishment. Finally, Rarity was able to break the silence and ask what was undoubtedly on everypony's minds: "Pinkie Pie, how in Equestria did you ever think of all of this?"

Pinkie turned her head to face Rarity, still smiling as wide as she possible could. "How d'you think I'm able to make friends with everypony I meet? I know how the pony mind works!"

Twilight and Trixie were perhaps the only two not concerned with Pinkie's surprising knowledge on pony psychology right now, and were instead staring into each other's eyes, Trixie with a worried look on her face, and Twilight with a pleading look.

"Trixie…If you need help, I'd be happy to share everything I've learned about friendship with you," Twilight said, extending her hoof towards the blue filly. "We're friends after all, right?"

Trixie was about to raise her hoof, but was still uncertain. "B-But…That's only right now…What if, after I turn back, you-"

"I'll still be your friend!" Twilight interrupted. "I don't care if you're the "Great and Powerful Trixie", or just "Trixie the innocent little filly". All that matters is that you're Trixie Lulamoon, somepony who I wanna be friends with." Trixie slowly raised her hoof, and just as she began to extend it forward, Twilight said: ""Cherish your friendships! They're what make life worth living!""

Trixie's eyes widened, and her hoof suddenly shot forward with much more speed than she had intended it to. Pinkie loosened her grip on Trixie, and the blue filly flew forward as Twilight pulled her into the bath tub, causing water to fly into the air as she splashed down into it.

Once Trixie wiped her eyes clean and was able to see again, she saw Twilight sitting in front of her, smiling at Trixie, and laughing at her wet mane as water dripped down from it. "Sorry, Trixie. I didn't think Pinkie would let go all of a sudden," she said, obviously lying.

Trixie stared for a few seconds with a dumbfounded look on her face, and then grinned at the purple filly. "Oh, you awe so gonna wegret that!" she said as she began splashing water into Twilight's face, who responded by yelping and fleeing to the other side of the bathtub. "Take that!"

"Counter attack!" Twilight shouted as she spun around in the tub and began splashing water back at Trixie, whilst covering her own face with her hooves to shield it.

"Stop!" Zecora shouted, startling everyone in the room and causing the two fillies to stop their little water fight. "The remedy took a long time to prepare! I would appreciate if you treat it with care!"

The two fillies lowered their hooves and settled down in the bathtub, mumbling apologies quietly.

Once they were finishing bathing in the remedy prepared by Zecora, the two fillies decided to return to the library and settle down, their bodies tired from all the running around that they had done earlier that day.

Fluttershy asked if they would like her to stay with them, but they insisted that they would be alright on their own. Despite this, their friends still imposed on Twilight that night, all curious to see if the remedy would truly work.

Since there wasn't enough room in her bedroom for everypony, her friends agreed to sleep downstairs, and Twilight offered them some spare blankets and pillows for them. Twilight allowed Trixie to sleep upstairs with her, still concerned about Trixie after what happened in the spa.

Twilight offered Trixie the guest bed, while Spike took his own bed in between the guest bed and Twilight's bed. Trixie looked over at the guest bed, and then back to Twilight, who was climbing into her own bed. She felt her heartbeat increasing, and her face flushing up, and gathered up the courage to ask Twilight: "C-Can Twixie sleep with you tonight?"

Twilight and Spike turned to Trixie in surprise, and she immediately apologized, saying that she'll take the guest bed. "Oh, I don't mind," Twilight said, stopping Trixie in her tracks. "But, why?"

"Well…Twixie…Doesn't want to wake up alone…" she said, keeping her back to Twilight. "But, if it'll cause a pwoblem, Twixie will sleep in the other bed."

"No, it's no problem at all," Twilight said, lifting the covers to invite Trixie into her bed. "I can understand the feeling. When I finally made friends here in Ponyville, I was so sad when I thought I had to leave them. And I was willing to give up my life in Canterlot, just so I could be with them every day."

Trixie turned towards Twilight, and hesitated for a moment, before finally approaching Twilight's bed and climbing in, lying down on one side of it. She remained silent as Twilight turned the lights off, and shut her eyes tight, resisting her body's desire to hold Twilight close.

"Good night, Spike, Trixie," Twilight said as she rested her head onto her pillow, closing her eyes to drift off into sleep.

"G'night," Spike replied.

Trixie opened her eyes and watched the purple filly resting peacefully next to her. Her uneasiness started to fade away, and a smile formed on her face as she closed her eyes once again, allowing herself to drift off into sleep. "Night, Twilight."

The following morning, Trixie was awoken by something against her face. It felt like the wind, only it was warm, and making a strange noise. She opened her eyes slowly to find out what it was, and saw a purple Unicorn mare sleeping right in front of her, her face mere inches away from Trixie's, and breathing into the showmare's face.

Trixie's eyes widened as she tried to make sense of the situation, but as the purple Unicorn's eyes started to open, Trixie reflexively pushed her away. A loud bang after that caused Trixie to rush to the other end of the bed that she was sleeping in, and peer over the side. She saw Twilight Sparkle lying on the floor, rubbing a hoof against her left flank, and groaning in pain.

"Um…Oops?"

"Trixie has already apologised multiple times!" Trixie shouted, moving around Twilight to try and look her in the eyes, but for the 47th time, Twilight simply turned around to avoid Trixie's gaze. "Stop being foolish already! It was just a simple mistake!"

"I let you sleep in my bed so that you wouldn't feel lonely, not so that you could try to kill me!" Twilight shouted, still refusing to turn around.

"Oh, come ON! You're overreacting!"

"Says the one who wasn't pushed out of bed so violently this morning!"

"It was your fault for sleeping so close to Trixie! What was Trixie supposed to do!?"

"Well, I can certainly think of better solutions than pushing your best friend out of bed and possibly breaking their leg!"

"It wasn't even that big of a fall!"

The rest of the group simply watch in both amusement and amazement at how a simply accident had somehow led to a huge argument between the two. Applejack leaned over to whisper into Rainbow Dash's ear: "Uh, those two are friends now, right?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged, and lifted up one of the pancake she was currently eating to her mouth. "Well, Trixie did make us all this sweet breakfast, so she's alright in my books."

"Um, Twilight did just refer to her and Trixie as "best friends", so…" Fluttershy said, but retreated when attention was drawn to her.

Rarity simply sighed, and levitated a piece of pancake to her mouth. "It's one of those friendships," she said, drawing confused looks from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "You know, where both friends are so stubborn that they bicker at every little thing. To outsiders, they seem like enemies, but to them, they have fun competing in this way, and are determined to outdo each other…That's what I think, at least."

"That's it! Trixie's leaving!" Trixie shouted, stomping towards the front door, making sure to grab her hat and cloak before opening it. "Good day!"

"Awww, you're leaving already?" a saddened Pinkie Pie asked.

"Trixie has a busy schedule, and she's already had to cancel some shows because of this…Incident."

Pinkie looked down at the floor with a frown, but understood that Trixie, like everypony, had to work. "Alright…I guess it can't be helped then…"

Trixie opened the door and started to make her way outside, when the librarian's voice stopped her. "You're going to come back, right?"

Trixie paused for a moment, and then, holding her head up high, responded: "If Trixie feels like it."

With that, Trixie left the library, closing the door behind her. Twilight simply smiled at the closed door, and levitated some of her breakfast to her mouth. "I'll be waiting then, Trixie."