Twilight opened her eyes to darkness, the heavy strain of sleep rejecting the action. As her vision accustomed to the meager light provided by the moonlight shining through her bedroom window, the strange sound that woke her became clearer. A soft sobbing was emanating from the blue shape that formed in her vision before her. As her mind recognised that she was looking at Trixe's back, it also deduced that the azure mare was weeping quietly. Twilight propped herself up on an elbow.

"Trixie?" Twilight called softly.

A loud sniff was the immediate response Twilight received, followed by Trixie's demanding voice: "Go back to sleep Twilight."

"Are you alright Trixie?" Twilight asked with concern, reaching a hoof out to her shoulder.

"I'm fine!" Trixie snapped, recoiling from Twilight's touch and jumping out of the bed. She quickly trotted back to her own mattress and jumped under the covers.

"Trixe?!" Twilight cried again, but she received no response this time. With a sigh let her head fall back to her pillow. She just needs a little time Twilight decided, but she failed to convince herself. With a frown she turned to her side, finding, to her surprise, that she suddenly missed the warmth of Trixie's body in her bed. She shut her eyes, and tried her best to put her worries aside until the morning.

*

Deep concern greeted Twilight as she awoke to the sunlight that morning, as the bed across from her was devoid of its inhabitant. Twilight's bed sheets were tossed aside as she leapt from her mattress, an array of worries as to Trixie's whereabouts flying through her mind. She almost stumbled down the stairs in her haste, causing the very magician she was looking for to glance up in surprise from a desk below.

Relief flooded Twilight as she caught sight of Trixie, and the breath she did not realise she had been holding escaped her lungs.

"Oh, Trixie... you're here!" she panted.

"Well yes but... I'm leaving soon." Trixie answered, avoiding eye-contact. She was attired in her purple cape.

"You're what?!" Twilight yelled.

"I don't want to stay here any longer Twilight."

"Wha... where is this coming from all of a sudden?"

A frown covered Trixie's face. "I don't want to talk about this, I'm just letting you know that I'm going."

Twilight stood, mouth agape, a cocktail of conflicting emotions brewing in her chest. While feelings of panic, dread, sorrow and surprise were all present, one emotion seemed to overtake them all: anger. Her eyebrow's knitted into a deep scowl.

"You're unbelievable!" she snapped, her voice gaining volume.

"What?!" Trixie responded, taken aback by the sudden fury in Twilight's voice.

"You heard me, you're unbelievable! I can't believe you would treat me like this after everything I've done for you! I thought I had seen a good side to you Trixie, but I can see you're just the same dishonest, selfish mare that first walked into this town!"

Trixie stood dumbfounded in the center of the library foyer under Twilight's sudden assault.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this!"

"Oh you can't?!" Twilight yelled, her voice growing ever louder. "Well let me explain Trixie! I didn't think you were a coward when I saw you faint before the Ursa, but now that I see you trying to run away after actually displaying some emotion to another pony, somepony who was supposed to be your friend, I see you truly are one! Last night was the first time I finally got a thank you from you, then the next day you just up and leave! How could you treat a friend like this? It's really no wonder that you spent most of your time alone on the road!"

"How dare you!" Trixie yelled in response, stomping over to face the raging librarian. "You think you're so perfect with all your perfect little friends and being the Princess's little pet! You have no idea what I've gone through!"

"How dare I? I dare because what is a coward like you going to do about it?!" Twilight felt her blood boil, her heart pounding with adrenaline as the anger overtook her mind. "And you're right, I have no idea what you have been through, because you're too afraid to speak to anypony about yourself!

"IF YOU CALL ME A COWARD ONE MORE TIME!" Trixie threatened, now standing snout to snout with Twilight. Her breathing had become rapid, and her face was flushed from the rage the irritating purple know-it-all was building in her. An intense heat flushed her entire body and she leer'd into Twilight's eyes.

"WHAT?! WHAT'S A COWARD LIKE YOU GOING TO—"

Twilight's yelling was abruptly cut of by a pair of lips attacking her own. She felt her argument die in her throat as Trixie flung herself at her, wrapping two hooves around her neck. Twilight's mind spun, still dizzy from rage, she was unable to comprehend exactly what was happening. Closing her eyes, she felt a tongue prod at her lips, and she opened them. She let out a moan of shock as she felt Trixie's tongue launch itself inside her mouth, rolling over her own. She found herself falling backwards as Trixie's weight leaned forward, until they both fell to the floor. Trixie never broke the kiss, instead she continued to explore inside Twilight's mouth. Twilight could feel two hooves pinning her own to the floor as she lay on her back under Trixie. Her face flushed with an even deeper heat than had built before, and it spread throughout her entire body, causing the two lower hooves which were not bound by Trixie to curl towards her torso.

The kiss continued for an unrecorded amount of time, neither pony having the mental facilities available to process just how long they were at it. Finally, Twilight felt Trixie release her lips from her own, and she stood gasping above her, while she herself huffed rapidly below. The two ponies stared at each other in silence as they panted for breath.

"Who's... a coward... now..." Trixie huffed.

Twilight nodded in response. "I think you... made your point! Umm... do you think you could let go of my hooves?"

Trixie, who hadn't even realised that she had been holding Twilight down, glanced to the purple hooves beneath her own, stepping off them and onto the floor. She then sat on her flanks, pondering the action she had just taken.

"So..." Twilight asked after a few moments of silence, a strong red blush still sitting on her cheeks. "You're still leaving?"

After a few more moments of panting, Trixie looked over at Twilight. "Trixie has reconsidered her actions..."