Finally finishing up their meals, both Sunset and Starlight enjoyed what this new restaurant was able to provide, despite their waitress sparking bad memories for them. Their experience with the human Juniper at least brought them closer together, making their first adventure that much more memorable. They were ready to leave, but not before Starlight had left payment for their tab, along with a tip, as she had promised. It still made her feel awkward to once again interact with this Juniper, since she had technically already met her, despite her not being the same one. Once Juniper had been satisfied with the payment and collected it, the two unicorns trotted off together further in Manehattan, thinking of what to do next.

"Well, that sure was awkward seeing who our waitress was, don't you think?" Starlight asked. "I think that's the first time I've actually met somepony in another world before I got to know them here in Equestria."

"That's actually what's been happening to me ever since I decided to take an extended return here." Sunset related. "I guess spending time in another world under the philosophy of making new friends had somehow gotten me to know a lot of people there. And since I've returned, I've been running into the pony versions of those very people I've known, or at least encountered once or twice during my stay there."

"You can even relate to that with me?" Starlight asked with astonishment. "We really do have a lot more in common than I thought. Well, I suppose whenever you do plan on taking more extended stays in Equestria, you've got another best friend here. To be honest, I've never really had a legitimate best friend before until I met Trixie. Even then, I do sometimes feel she can be a bit of a pain, as she especially has a habit of not recognizing how badly her actions affect others. I've even lost my temper several times due to it, since it really did get that bad."

"Hmm, I don't really know much about the Trixie you know." Sunset began. "So far with the pony versions of people I've met, they can be either close to their human personalities, or completely different. But from what you've described of Trixie, it sounds like she's got the same obnoxious ego me and my friends have to put up with at CHS from time to time. To her credit though, she never means anything bad when acting the way she does, it's mostly behavior I roll my eyes at, since there's usually no harm from her actions. Plus, she even helped me one time when this girl erased my friends' memories with some magical stone artifact, so I'm more neutral on her, honestly."

"I get that feeling, Trixie's still loyal and trying to mean well." Starlight explained. "Plus, if it wasn't for her help, we probably wouldn't have helped the Changelings turn a new leaf and fit in to Equestria's society. I just… really wish she would at least take her experiences with me more to heart, and wasn't so oblivious with her shenanigans. Like there was one time she kept trying to be my assistant once Twilight promoted me to headmare of the School of Friendship. She unfortunately kept performing incompetently and even ended up putting innocent students in massive danger."

"I can definitely understand where you're coming from, but it's not exactly with Trixie from my experience." Sunset elaborated. "I've learned it's better to treat your closest friends like family, and that we can't always expect them to be perfect with us. I know what it's like, I even wished the same when I went to this festival with Pinkie. I kept getting frustrated, expecting a perfect day with her, but she just kept screwing things up and even got us both kicked out. Then, when I finally got what I wanted in my eyes as a 'perfect' day, I realized it just wasn't the same without her, and no matter how hard you try, wanting to make things perfect will just make you eternally miserable, since it's impossible. Plus, since I have my own personal flaws such as anger issues, my friends still always accepted me for who I was, much like I did the same for them."

"I never really thought of it like that, sounds like a pretty nice philosophy to take to heart." Starlight heeded Sunset's words. "I'm certainly not the most perfect pony myself, yet Trixie still accepted me despite these flaws. For example, I sometimes still have a habit of bottling up my anger to not be more calm and direct with Trixie before I just suddenly explode in her face. But thinking about this in the way you just worded it, she's still stuck by my side after all this time because we both accept each other despite these flaws. I suppose it's more just a matter of knowing how to live with Trixie, as I'd definitely feel lonesome without her. Honestly, this hesitation in standing up for myself seemed more like an effect on starting out feeling comfortable in making new friends. Because when I only just started to accept and embrace friendship, the last thing I wanted to do was"

As Starlight was about to finish, Sunset tried to finish the sentence before being surprised at Starlight seemingly finishing the sentence mutually, almost as if she was reading her mind.

"Let everypony down." Both Sunset and Starlight said to each other simultaneously. Starlight gave a warm smile to Sunset at how she was even able to understand this psychological issue she's kept battling for a while. Sunset smiled back, realizing that this seemed to be a nice parallel toward how Princess Twilight and herself came to a mutual understanding of each other as a group leader, back when they were both trying to stop the Dazzlings.

"I wasn't really as confident of a leader for my new friends since it was still something new I was getting used to." Sunset reflected. "It mostly involved pleasing everyone and ensuring they'd always have a friend who'd stick by their side regardless of what happens. Things weren't easy when most students at CHS kept shunning me or acting hostile. Rightfully so, since I certainly did much worse to all of them for so long. But after I saw my friends weren't powerful enough without me to aide them in their struggles, I was finally able to stand up, helping me cement myself as both a leader and true friend. It certainly was a struggle to overcome my past insecurities after all that had happened, but I managed to do so and fully integrate myself into the group as a respected and trusted leader."

"That sounds like a bold path you went down, Sunset." Starlight acknowledged. "I actually wish I had more time to experience a similar journey, since what I almost did by myself was pretty horrible. Somehow, Twilight was able to help convince everypony here that I had turned a new leaf, and that I could be a new friend for them all. I sometimes still feel bad that even after what I did, I didn't get a more fitting punishment."

"Well, from what I've read about you from Twilight, you've certainly done more good than bad in your own journey, so I'd definitely be happy for that." Sunset assured. "Although I got a punishment of rebuilding CHS after I turned into a demon and wrecked the front doors, the punishment that hit the hardest was still being socially and mentally tormented in a society that didn't understand or accept me. Well… at least until Twilight convinced my human friends to pick me up off the ground, shortly before returning to Equestria. And to be fair, I didn't exactly have Twilight to help convince everyone at CHS to give me another chance immediately, so I did have to take baby steps to get where I am now."

"That makes sense." Starlight listened on. "Perhaps it's better that I don't compare our pasts in that light, since we clearly both went through drastically different psychological effects. The least I could say now is, the two of us are finally no longer miserable and lonely, all thanks to Twilight. I'm happy for us both, along with the fact we've gotten to know each other more closely during the time we've spent together."

"Same here." Sunset agreed. "Even after you had an extended stay back in the human world the first time, we mostly hung out with my human friends, to where we didn't really have as much time to know each other like we are now. Speaking of which, how was the stay for you, personally? I'm sure it still felt awkward trying to adjust toward walking on two feet instead of four hooves?"

"The stay itself was pretty great." Starlight replied. "It was cool meeting your human friends, and I certainly enjoyed the ice cream they served at that… mall, I think it was called? As for the rest of the days I spent there, it was cool being able to explore a whole new world I had never seen before, let alone doing so outside of my unicorn body. The only real weird occurrence however, seemed to begin after the third day."

"Hm? How so?" Sunset asked out of curiosity.

"Well, I didn't say anything back then since it was only a temporary stay, and I didn't think much of it at the time." Starlight began explaining. "Everything seemed to be normal the first two days I spent in your world, but after the third day, I couldn't help but feel something was amiss. Despite being a human without magic, I began noticing unusual reflexes in my new body, almost as if a new jolt of magic was suddenly controlling me. Magic also began to somehow resonate in me, in a way that I could almost perceive, without being able to actually use it. And to top it all off, I had the weirdest dream on the third night. It's hard to describe, but… I could only sum it up as, me somehow sitting in complete darkness, while a voice in the distance began to cry out for help. The creepiest part being, it sounded like my voice."

Sunset's eyes widened after what Starlight just revealed, before speaking up herself. "That's… that's really chilling to me now that you've mentioned it. Even though I went through that portal many years ago, I still vividly remember almost a similar experience. Just like you described, on the third day, I felt uneasy myself when a seemingly outside force began to control my body. And likewise, later that night, I had that exact same dream too. It was pitch black, to where I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face. Shortly after, I could've sworn I heard my own voice, except that it wasn't me speaking. Among the crying and screaming, I recalled two distinct sentences I was able to make out from the rest. All I know was, I definitely heard the phrases 'Mom, please be with me!' and 'Don't just leave me here, please!' said in my voice."

A chill ran down Starlight's spine as she responded. "That's legitimately pretty weird. So it wasn't just me, you went through this unusual dream and behavior out of your control too? Not only that, but also on the third day during our first times we visited the human world? I have no idea what this could mean, but I really can't imagine this was just a coincidence. If it was only me, I'd have only chalked it up as a bizarre dream, which everypony can get. There has to be more meaning behind why we both went through that when entering the mirror."

"I agree with your reasoning." Sunset replied. "The thing is, when I was hanging with Pinkie earlier at Sugarcube Corner, she mentioned how Princess Celestia at one point said something about how when Twilight first entered the mirror to retrieve the crown I had stolen, she had to go alone. Apparently, this had something to do with how sending the rest of her friends with her through the world could upset the world's balance? Either, this was connected to what Celestia was getting at when mentioning an imbalance, or we just had one very creepy coincidence occur."

"Considering how I'm certainly not as a big of an expert as you regarding that world, I can't really say for sure." Starlight said. "Even during my own magical studies, the idea of a magical mirror sending you to another world was beyond my comprehension. If Celestia really said that though, I'd certainly ask her more about it, since it definitely sounds like she knows something more deep behind that mirror. She's now living in Silver Shoals with her sister, so feel free to visit her whenever you'd like."

"Yeah, Twilight's told me about that." Sunset began, looking a little bit glum. "I'm not really sure if I should be asking her about that though. Looking back, my persistent curiosity of that mirror was what drove Celestia and I apart, and how I ended up in the life I currently have. She always told me I wasn't ready to know about that mirror just yet, and I began to learn over time, perhaps she was right. I stayed behind in a world I had next to no knowledge about, and even after being there for so long, I'm still not sure if there's something else crucial I'm missing. I just don't know if should bring up this topic again with Celestia, and if it could once again, negatively impact our relationship."

"I'm sure she'd still be willing to give you some closure for this unanswered mystery." Starlight assured. "Plus, that was back when you were her pupil. Now that she's no longer the princess of all of Equestria, she's got more time to relax and reflect on the past. For that matter, this sounds like information you deserve to know, now that you've spent a good chunk of your life there. You now have rare knowledge of a world, which most ponies here in Equestria have no idea even exists. If Celestia still deems you as 'not ready' to learn further information about that world, then I'd have to believe she's deliberately hiding something she doesn't want you to know about."

"Sounds about right." Sunset reasoned. "I guess… I'll ask her about it once I get to Silver Shoals, but if she doesn't want to reveal anything, I'll respect her wishes and not pry any further."

"Pretty noble choice for sure." Starlight said. "Good luck handling things when you reach that point, I hope it goes well, Sunset."

"Yeah, same…" Sunset replied. "Now that we've been going around Manehattan for a while, I'm still not sure where we should head next. All I know is, Rarity's doing something with an influencer at a beauty pageant right now. I'm wondering if we should make that our next stop?"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that." Starlight recalled, as she saw the clock of a nearby building. "According to the time, that show isn't going to start for at least another hour, so you have a little more time to explore. In the meantime, Trixie told me that she'll be performing a show somewhere around Manehattan, but she didn't mention where specifically. If we do run into her, that's another event we can check out together. Plus, I'd certainly be happy to introduce you to Trixie."

"Sounds cool." Sunset smiled. "I think I already have a pretty good idea on what Trixie's like, but of course, I haven't met this one yet. She might be full of herself at times, but she can still put on an enjoyable show. If she's anything like the Trixie I know, she'll be doing tricks involving peanut butter crackers and teacups. At least, the show she put on back at CHS was heavily themed around those two things."

"That certainly sounds like her, all right." Starlight said amused. "We've certainly had a number of adventures together."

Starlight began to share numerous stories revolving around her and Trixie to Sunset, as they kept trotting around town looking for any places that caught their attention. Nothing particularly stood out yet, so they mostly kept on exploring while bearing in mind that stopping by Trixie's show was a good choice. Sunset listened on to Starlight's stories until one particular story stood out, leaving her incredibly confused on what she had heard.

"Wait, what do you mean you traded away Trixie's wagon?" Sunset asked in an aghast manner. "Sure, the wagon might've been cramped, but that doesn't give you the right to sell something you don't own, at least not without her approval. I couldn't imagine any of my friends still being with me if I sold their belongings without their knowledge. Seriously, what were you thinking?"

"Yeah, I admit, that was especially rotten of me." Starlight said sadly. "It's definitely one of the biggest regrets I've made in my life, which makes me seem hypocritical when I earlier criticized Trixie for doing things without thinking of the consequences. I might've just been frustrated with how poorly our whole trip to Saddle Arabia was going, and she did end up getting her wagon back, but that's certainly no excuse for what I did. This certainly best exemplifies the conversation you and I had earlier, how Trixie and I are friends because we accept each other for who we are, despite these issues."

"Well, I'm glad things were able to work out between you and her." Sunset said modestly. "I still wish I could say the same for me and the pony Rainbow Dash…"

"Hm? May I ask what's wrong?" Starlight asked with a bit of concern.

"Eh, let's just say I accused a good friend of hers of a serious crime, only to find out it wasn't actually her." Sunset said with guilt. "Now Rainbow no longer wants anything to do with me. Talk about getting off on the wrong hoof, huh? I have no idea how I'm going to explain to Twilight about this…"

"Hey, don't fret too much." Starlight assured. "Before I met Trixie, I was trying to spend more time with the rest of Twilight's friends too. I didn't exactly make the best first impressions with any of them either. Plus, accusing someone wrongly sounds like nothing compared to my huge blunder involving Trixie's wagon, and she's still my friend to this day. Take it from me, Sunset. She'll forgive you in due time, though I would at least report to Twilight on what happened for you two to perhaps talk things out."

"Thanks, Starlight." Sunset said, a little happier with her guilt eased. "You might be the first friend I've made who's been able to fully understand most of, if not all the psychological problems relating to friendship I've dealt with over the years."

"I could certainly say the same about you." Starlight smiled, before hearing a familiar voice in the distance. "Well, good luck fixing things with Rainbow, I'll be sure to vouch for you if Twilight decides to call a meeting for us all. But moving on from this, I think I just heard Trixie's voice. It sounded like it came from over here, just down the street."

Sunset and Starlight turned the corner to see the aforementioned unicorn in the center of town square performing atop a large mobile stage. As Trixie continued to carry on with her show just as she normally would, she began to realize the audience was notably starting to get bored of the tricks she had started to unintentionally repeat. But the new tricks she had planned required a volunteer from the crowd, and with nopony seeming enthusiastic on participating in the seemingly dying show, Trixie found herself in a bit of a pickle. She had no idea if she was simply having an off-day, or if the crowd in Manehattan was just rather difficult to impress. However, this changed when Trixie was looking around her audience, and saw Starlight had now arrived, along with Sunset, whom she didn't recognize.

"Well well, if it isn't the Great and Powerful Trixie's favorite assistant!" Trixie announced before pointing at Starlight. "Since nopony seems to be up to the task of participating in my next amazing trick, how about you fulfill that role?"

"I'd be happy to, Trixie." Starlight began. "But I do have a guest with me this time around, and she's mentioned she enjoys magic shows. What do you say, Sunset?"

"Oh, sure. All right, I can do that." Sunset smiled as she trotted past the crowd of unamused ponies and onto the stage.

But instead of performing a trick with her as a volunteer like she would've expected, Trixie quickly grabbed Sunset's hoof and dragged her behind the curtains of the stage to give her a little rundown. Even before Trixie began explaining, Sunset already had somewhat of a feeling that Trixie needed to rely on her for something obvious in order to make this next trick work.

"Okay, listen up, girl." Trixie whispered to Sunset. "I can see you're a unicorn, so you clearly have magic, right?"

"Well yes, but" Sunset began, but was quickly cut off before she could explain she hasn't had enough practice with her own magic.

"Perfect." Trixie said quietly. "All right, so for this trick, I'll be putting this hat on my head. Every time I say the magic word, 'teacup', I'll be ready to take it off, and every time I do, I'm going to have a new manestyle. The magic word will be your cue to use your magic from behind the curtain to change my manestyle. I don't mind what you end up creating with your magic, as long as you make it different from what I have now. The reason I can't use my own magic to do that is because the crowd would very clearly see my magical aurora, which would ruin everything. You understand all the instructions I just laid out?"

Sunset was unable to give a clear answer right away, after believing this would not end well, especially with her being out of practice with magic. "But I'm trying to tell you, I haven't had enough practice with magic-"

"Nonsense, you're a unicorn mare like me." Trixie insisted. "You've used magic for your entire life. Now no more stalling, just remember your cue when I say the magic words."

Trixie then went back on stage before Sunset sighed, not realizing what she just signed up for. She realized that while this could be a good opportunity for her to practice magic once again, making a mistake could certainly come at the expense of Trixie's performance. At the same time, Sunset could feel Trixie was cheating with this particular trick, as the volunteer she chose would essentially be doing all the work, while she'd be showing it all off. Still, this didn't seem far off from how the human Trixie would act at times, so Sunset decided to just roll with it and try her best.

"And although I just made my volunteer disappear, the Great and Powerful Trixie will now dazzle you all with this enchanted hat!" Trixie announced to the crowd, before putting the hat back on. "Every time I put it on, I will have expected to have come out of a beauty salon without actually paying for the manestyles! Why, this might be a good opportunity to have this hat give me a classy look, while I'm sipping a nice and fancy… teacup!"

Sunset listened on behind the stage, but begun to panic when hearing her cue. She realized the first challenge was having proper judgement of where Trixie was behind the curtain, as she couldn't see through them. The second obstacle was definitely whether or not her mane-changing spell would even work, as from her previous experiences with attempting to use magic, she believed it could go either way. Almost without any hesitation, Sunset quickly used her magic to start up a growth spell, similar to the beanstalk she managed to grow during her last midterm at the School For Gifted Unicorns. As expected, she didn't manage to pull off the spell initially, but she tried harder to remember how she did so all those years ago. Unaware that Sunset was having trouble getting the spell underway, Trixie began to awkwardly take off her hat, only to find her mane remaining the same.

"Err… I said, I think this enchanted hat should give me a good manestyle that'll make me look classy whilst drinking from a teacup." Trixie reiterated a few times back toward Sunset's direction, as the audience was starting to really lose interest.

Finally, after trying to start up enough times, and hearing which direction Trixie's voice was coming from, Sunset managed to finally pull off a successful spell that she couldn't immediately see. She wasn't sure if the spell did grow out Trixie's mane, or if she had created an unintentional effect. Whatever was the case, Trixie sounded happy outside on the stage, to where Sunset peaked around the corner to see what was happening.

"Haha, I told you this hat was magical!" Trixie announced. "Look at how suddenly stylish your favorite magician's mane has become!"

The audience was not impressed in the slightest, along with the foals. They were all immediately able to surmise that Sunset was taken backstage to perform magic on Trixie's mane, and that this wasn't any kind of magic that the unicorns living in Manehattan were strangers to. With this final nail in the coffin, everypony in the crowd with the exception of Starlight, began grabbing their bits back from Trixie's admission jar and trotted away unamused.

"No, wait! Don't go, please!" Trixie begged, but it was far too late.

The admission jar was already empty, and the only ponies remaining were the three unicorns. Starlight went on stage to comfort her friend, while Sunset came out from behind the curtains to do the same. While processing what had happened, Starlight was rather confused at how Trixie was somehow failing at her magical performance.

"What happened there, Trixie?" Starlight asked. "You usually do so well in these performances, and make the crowds fall in love with your acts. But I couldn't help but feel you began to get desperate when you asked Sunset to perform magic for you off-stage."

"…Maybe it's a sign I'm not as good as I used to be." Trixie sighed. "Perhaps someone as great and powerful as I am finally getting too old for this kind of job. Plus, I've been performing for so many years now, it's hard for me to come up with new material. The mane shifting trick was just something I came up with off the top of my head, since I had no more ideas on how to truly amaze those ponies. Not even the fillies or colts in my audience seemed impressed by my performance, even for some of the good tricks I did earlier on in the show."

"I can definitely understand doing something for a little too long, to where I start getting sick of it." Sunset mediated. "It's why I decided to take a break from my old hometown to return to Canterlot for a bit. Maybe you were having an off-day, or the ponies here in Manehattan were just a tough crowd. But I know from experience that it's better to do something you have legitimate passion for, rather than something you begin to find repetitive and uninteresting after a while."

"I'm afraid… that is the case." Trixie agreed. "Performing magic has been my entire life, but now that I've done both figuratively and literally every trick in the book, ponies just don't find me entertaining anymore. Not just in Manehattan, but the even the last few times I've gotten booked for magician gigs all over Equestria. I suppose… now that I've got big responsibilities as the new guidance counselor at that school with Starlight, along with doing this for so long… I've begun to lose passion for my craft."

"I know where you come from, Trixie." Sunset put a hoof on her. "Change is a tough thing to accept over time, but I've come to learn change can still be a good aspect for any of our lives. Starlight would certainly agree with me on that, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, right." Starlight said sheepishly. "Sunset does bring up a good point, though. Are there any other hobbies of interest you've grown to enjoy at all, Trixie?"

"Well, not really anything besides performing and having all sorts of ponies and foals adore me." Trixie reflected. "I just love that sort of attention and adoration from my work in entertainment. Now that next to nopony shows any further interest in magic anymore, I'm considering it's perhaps time I really do retire. Magic's not even that special to one pony since nearly one third of the entire pony population can use it."

"Adoration and… entertainment?" Sunset brainstormed. "And you mention you like doing so with other ponies including foals? Well, this is a job I enjoyed doing at my old town, but have you considered babysitting? I'm sure that would not only give you a perfect audience to show off what you can perform, but also gain that adoration you enjoy."

"Hmm, I hadn't considered that, but I actually like the idea." Trixie said with astonishment at how great the suggestion sounded. "For that matter, I've forgotten that when I was just starting out, I was actually hired to perform at other little foals' birthday parties. I think the first one I ever did was for somepony named Moondancer. Nopony else attended her party, but I was at least able to keep her entertained."

Sunset winced with a little guilt upon being reminded an effect she caused by never being social with the other unicorns at Canterlot. Regardless, she was happy at being able to come up with a good solution for Trixie to continue on with her life, doing something she'd truly enjoy.

"Well, I'm glad we were able to figure something out, Trixie." Sunset smiled. "If you do start doing babysitting gigs around Equestria, maybe we should start calling you 'Babysitter Trixie', how does that sound?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of… 'The Great and Powerful Sitter', because I like to make my brand stand out." Trixie replied. "Though that name probably wouldn't sit well with parents who want somepony to protect their foals. Alright, 'Babysitter Trixie', it is! I'll start looking for any potential jobs soon, because I'm ready to start a new career!"

"Thanks for caring enough to help her out, Sunset." Starlight smiled. "Even I couldn't have come up with an idea as great as that."

"Hey, your friends are my friends too." Sunset replied. "Plus, it's the least I can do for Trixie after she helped me stop Wallflower when she erased my friends' memories."

"…I did what now?" Trixie said, confused.

"Err, let's just say you unintentionally helped me." Sunset covered up her mistake of accidentally bringing up something the other Trixie did for her. "You're just that great and powerful."

"Indeed I am!" Trixie boasted. "But now that there could be foals in need of a sitter, Babysitter Trixie will be in town! I should start packing up my stage and equipment, while researching who needs someone to watch their foals. Wish me luck!"

Trixie went on to pack up all her things and head out of Manehattan by herself. Though Starlight felt it was probably a good idea to help her carry some of the load, as it did look rather heavy.

"I think I'm going to help Trixie carry her things." Starlight said to Sunset. "I might even help her get started on this whole babysitting business if she really needs it. In the meantime, the beauty pageant Rarity told me about should be starting soon, I think in about half an hour. The building is right down the corner on the left from where we are now, and it's got neon signs, so you definitely wouldn't miss it. Thanks again for being a good friend to both Trixie and I."

"Anytime, hope I'll see you again soon." Sunset finished, as she waved goodbye to the two unicorns now carrying huge wagons of equipment.

With enough time spent in Manehattan, Sunset realized that it was still a good opportunity for check out the beauty pageant, and the reception of the leather vest she and Rarity had worked on. Although she wasn't entirely sure if Rarity was finished with her meetings yet, she decided to still attend, as admission was free after all. Sunset went forth toward the directions Starlight had mentioned, happy that she was able to have good experiences with both Trixie and Starlight in her time here.