First of Three

The clop-clop-clopping of hooves on the marble floor echoed around the hallway. The hooves making the noise could've belonged to anypony - many preceded it in this task, and by Harmonia's will, many shall succeed it in the future. And while the hooves moved at a steady pace, within their sound was a sense of agitation. And indeed, their owner was fighting with all her might not to hasten her pace, as she drew nearer and nearer to the 'T' of the corridor.

She could already see her. Her reflection, blurred by the  haziness of the marble tiles, yet, she could still read the smug expression on her face.

She hated it. The fact that she did this every time she was near hear, and the psychology behind it. Fighting back a litany of curses, she breathed in deeply, as if going into labor...

3...

2...

1...

"Twilight Sparkle!" the blue mare jeered - it was her way to greet the youngest princess "Ooops, I mean... Greetings, your majesty!"

There she goes again.

When Beatrix Lulamoon figured out her life as a travelling magician doesn't holds much to her anymore, she did something very daring, and, in hindsight, very sage: she turned to the authorities, who handed her an application form, which she filled out, posthaste.

A week later, she was brought to the capital, to the house-of-state, the Royal Palace, and stood before the Princesses, legs shaking, as she bowed, uttering a prayer. Well, that was until Princess Luna said the following sentence:

"Beatrix Lulamoon! By the power and authority bestowed upon me by the people of Equestria, I offer thee the opportunity to become my apprentice and assistant in my own studies, and thus, learn the knowledge thou rightfully deserveth. Do thou accept my offer?"

To which Trixie's reply was:

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!"

And she jumped and bounced around, gleefully, while the two princesses exchanged bemused looks. Well, Luna did, in spite of herself, as she, much like her sister, found the sight somewhat adorable. But unlike her sister, she hid her smile, trying not to mock the unicorn before them.

Suddenly, the blue mare stopped dead in her tracks.

Princess Twilight Sparkle stood not an inch away from her, wide-eyed like the magician herself.

The Princesses flinched.

They knew of the rivalry between the two ponies.

"I learned quite a lot today, I must say..." Trixie sneered, as the two mares walked beside one another "Who knew chemistry and pyrotechnics was interesting and complex...

She bit her lip. She HAD to!

In spite of her recent rise to Princesshood, Twilight still got that nagging feeling whenever this was brought up. She was only taught by ONE of the two royal sisters. Of course, her respect and love for Celestia was ever deep, but she couldn't help but to feel that she had missed out on a deal.

Out of the two of them, Celestia was always the more... Socially minded. She studied Art. Society. Luna, on the other hoof, was the more reserved sort, indulged in the sciences. Tactics. Economy.

And while the elder princess still held quite a high place in her heart, it still bothered her that the funnest part of studies was now missing from her repertoire. Luna still actively continued her own studies, while her sister had already finished most of them. Being an apprentice rather than a "student", and also being an assistant meant that Luna treated Trixie as an equivalent (more or less).

And even though the statue of the Second Mom still stood proudly within Twilight's mind, it lost some of it's grace, and was crumbling, ever so slightly. In fact, it now seemed to lack curves, metaphorically speaking, and now bared much resemblance to a kolkhozist, "contemporary" futuristic sculpture, made of ferro-concrete instead of pristine marble, covered in dirt and graffiti at the bottom, and smoke on the top, while it sides were cracked. It still inspired, never-the-less, but it was getting more and more clear that the message it contained and the era this message meant something (something new) was gone, slipping further and further into the past. Twilight still respected this statue, and the mare that inspired it, but the messages has been passed, and it was no longer an untouchable piece, already having itself besmirched petty trivialities. And Twilight was no longer a little filly - she knew idols will fall in time.

She longed for that awe the statue used to inspire, but there was nopony she could turn to with this problem. She was a princess now.

SHE inspired awe, though not her own.

Or Trixie's, for that matter.

"Pity you can't enjoy the wonders of learning anymore, your majesty..." the former showmare went on "But. alas, you've graduated already, leaving me to aid the Princess of the Night in her quest of knowledge, part of which is rightfully mine."

UGH. Three strikes at once.

She knew of the psychological torture she made the blue unicorn suffer from, and regretted it deeply. She knew the sensation very well, having been bullied herself in her younger years.

Even so, being humiliated twice, embarrassed publicly (without being present) and unintentionally ruining her career (or, as one would say: OUT OF SHEER IGNORANCE), and in the end, showing up (literally) under the sun, having reached her intended end goal, as predicted and devised by her mentor...

OK, so the envy was a bit mutual - Trixie, with all her ill-made decisions, was still very IN control of her life, where as Twilight was almost groomed to be a princess (another point discount on her former teacher's scoreboard). All the same, the showmare had every right and reason to be envious and bitter.

When she first saw her "arch-nemesis" with wings and her tiara, a great portion of her ego was chipped off, leaving a vacuum that drew in bitterness, cynicism, and the painful urge to prove, more to herself than to anyone, that everything Twilight Sparkle can do, she can do better.

So, after months of studying like a madmare under Luna's wings, loosing half her body weight, suffering from several nervous breakdowns, and noticing an increasing temptation to commit sociocide (thus building the guilt-pile in Twilight and Princess Celestia to untold heights), Trixie finally realized that her efforts were in vain, and so, she resulted to the eldest of solutions: snarky comments that slowly ground down others' glee while she received her daily dose of endorphin, serotonin, and dopamine, of course!

Her main target was her new colleague, but she liked to duke it out when Luna's experiments turned out to be nothing more than spectacular buck-ups, or when Celestia had to deal with especially smug and muzzle-six-hooves-up-in-the-plothole type of businessponies and bureaucrats - the type of ponies that have the word "TWAT" printed all over them in an elaborate pattern that forms the word "HUBRIS" if you observe them from afar.

Regrettably, her irksome behavior reached it's peak around the youngest princess, and, after stilling her tongue for the last few weeks since she blasted the blue unicorn through garish window, Twilight replied while actually using a tone that one may even call "expressive".

"I'm still being mentored by Celestia, Trixie." she said, before her tone suddenly kicked up a notch "And unlike you, I was her student, not some dropout she picked up from the street. She devoted her time, patience and honest care, teaching me how to eventually solve things on my own. You're merely Luna's apprentice, nothing short of a mareservant that she could easily discard at any given moment, without even a reason. It's not my fault I succeeded through repeated trial and error, that I, for some miraculous reason, showed promise, which is totally not a one-in-a-bucking-million scenario which I have absolutely no control over, and that learned that the only way to receive the kindness of others is by being kind yourself. Nor is it my fault that you've been a haughty loudmouth, the same way you're now a haughty try-hard."

She paused for a moment, shuddering internally as she noticed the icy, royalist coldness if her voice.

Trixie stood, stunned and baffled. A tear silently welled up in her eye.

The Princess of Friendship and Harmony took a deep breath, and continued on a more softer, though, far from motherly and comforting tone, the exact one the showmare would've most needed at that moment.

"My predecessor, Sunset Shimmer, who's talent at magic and pace of progress left mine in the dust, She was so indulged in her own efforts and success that she became a sociopath and fell out of favor with the Princess for the eye-stabbingly overt malicious intention of surpassing the capabilities of the strongest being known to equines in order to take over Equestria for kicks, and fatten her ego into even more ridiculous proportions." she paused again, trying to recollect her thoughts "My point is, if you're addicted to success, withdrawal will be one heck of witch. Instead of trying to work your innards out and annoy me for unintentionally causing you grief in the past, to the point where I will unceremoniously nail you to a cross, you little martyr, try to enjoy the present and put your heart into your studies, not just your brawn. Unless you want me to embarrass you even more, and I swear, if I'll have to mop the floor with you, YET AGAIN, or any other delusional pony, YET AGAIN, who thinks they NEED to beat me to ever get a proper stiffy and succeed in dating, I'll bucking hang myself!"

And with that tirade complete, leaving Trixie, some royal maids, members of the Royal Guard positioned there and even some artsy portraits on the wall having their jaws dropped so hard that one would've thought they're refugees from Luna's japoneese gaming console -slash- computing device, in which the leading character goes about excreting enough bricks to build a city block in Vectorian Landon, Eagleland.

But the blue unicorn was quick to collect her chin from the marble, and continue trotting alongside the disillusioned princess.

Her recovery from sheer ownage was so quick, in fact, that she struck up a conversation as soon as they arrived to the next bend:

"You're really growing into this royalty thing, aren't you, Sparkle?"

"Bite me, Lulamoon."