You Passed

You Passed

Story 2

Chapter 1: Another Chance

By: SleeplessScribe

Isn’t it crazy what desperation can do to a mare? A few months ago, I was known as “The Great and Powerful Trixie”. Now here I was, sleeping in a makeshift bed of leaves, my hat, and my cape just outside of Ponyville. There was nowhere left for me to go. If I hadn’t made almost the entire city or town angry at me, I had become a laughing stock and was far too embarrassed to return. Granted, Twilight Sparkle had found the heart to forgive me, and I felt she may have convinced most of her friends to do the same, but that didn’t change what I had done to them.

Working on the rock farm was torture, but it was about all I was good for at this point. However, even as I made my way towards that farm I had to work on for a month, a little voice inside my head kept nagging me.

“Go back, go back.” That was all I could hear during my trek. Finally, my conscience got the best of me, and I did a 180 and looked back towards the bright mountain city. They say no matter what happens, you can always go back home, and even though I didn’t have parents to go back to, I still had one pony left that might have enough heart to take me in again.

My mentor, Astro.

In all honesty, I was gifted to have him as a tutor. After my father bailed on us, my mother did all she could to teach me the spell needed to pass the entrance test in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Of course, it took a few years in a regular academy for me to finally master it, but I managed to get in before the Encephalitis finally took her from me.

Astro himself was pretty well respected in the school. I never found out all the places he went to, but the rumors were that he started studying magic when he was three and went abroad when he was nine. Obviously there was no way to confirm this unless Astro himself validated the claims, and he chose not to “gloat” whenever asked. There was no denying how… whatever he had done in his twenty years of living had benefitted him. It was also a requirement for teachers at the school to be able to perform the spells they aimed to teach, and Astro had pulled off spells I could only dream of.

As I walked, I began to question my motivations for running away. I was sure it would take a long time before he even let me speak, but I had to find out why he felt the need to teach at such a slow pace. Of course, I needed to get to Canterlot first. I hated to do it, but I decided to use what little money I had left to buy a train ticket back in Ponyville. Putting my trust in anything with wheels was something I’d been trying to avoid for a while.

Luckily for me, the train station kept running 24/7. Somehow I had enough money for a ticket, and I loved how these trains had cars with beds in them, even if they did use wheels. It was by no means luxury, but it was nice to actually sleep in a real bed. The train ride from Ponyville to Canterlot had to have taken at least six hours, as the sun was starting to come up when I awoke.

Astro didn’t actually live in Canterlot proper, but he had a country style manor outside the city. It was amazing how a city near the peak of a mountain could still look so… plain-like. Alright, I can’t pretend like I don’t know, it’s magic. Canterlot had two massive, circular platforms on either side of it that were covered in grass and trees, and on the left platform was where Astro’s manor was. Sweet mother of Celestia, he had way too much money. I mean, granted it was a country manor, meaning gardens and bricks as opposed to white columns and marble, but still.

I guess it was made for those who couldn’t afford train tickets or didn’t trust wheels like me, but the fact that there were cobblestone roads leading from the city down the mountain only added to the “ye olden” look of the building. In all honesty, it was probably modeled after a Sirish home, as my mentor liked to keep a few elements from his homeland here.

As I approached the black gate in front of the manor, I paused and took a deep breath. A chill ran up my spine as the thought of finally coming back to Astro crossed my mind, so I took a few moments just to listen to the water in his fountain nearby in an attempt to calm down.

“Are you finally done acting the maggot, Trixie? Running away in the first place was foolish enough, not to mention everything that happened afterward.”

He had a habit of somehow popping up behind others. Most of the time it was funny, but only when I wasn’t the one who wasn’t expecting it. I turned to him and opened my mouth, but shut it immediately as I saw those vibrant blue eyes nearly pierce through my own.

“Get a move on, it feels much nicer inside, and we have much to talk about.”

My mentor walked right passed me and opened the gates, proceeding to the front door of the manor. He stood before it but never opened it, nor did he look at me. “Are you coming or what?”

I couldn’t move. My legs felt so weak, I was surprised I could even stand. All I could do was look at him and sift through all the possible word choices until I finally came up with something that was both quick and still meaningful.

“Astro, I… I’m so sorry. Please don’t be angry.”

Finally he turned around, but was sporting an expression I had not expected. He didn’t even raise his voice when he spoke. “Trixie, do I look angry? To be honest, I’m more worried than anything. Granted, you made a holy show of yourself yesterday with that Alicorn Amulet business, and I am a little upset with you, but my response to all of that can come after you no longer look like a complete haymes. I mean, really, you look like you’ve not bathed in donkey’s years, so come on inside before I make you.”

As he spoke, I was reminded of how hard it was to understand when he first started tutoring me. In time, I learned what most of his little Sirish slang meant, but some of his jargon still confused me from time to time. Regardless, I made my way towards the door more so because he had told me to as opposed to me actually being able to on my own. He closed the door once I was inside, though I wasn’t given much time to reacquaint myself with the building I once called home.

Immediately, Astro pulled me between the two staircases that stood in the entrance foyer and led to the second floor. Through here was the kitchen, and as soon as we got in I caught a whiff of what seemed to be… fresh pancakes?

I felt something tap my shoulder, and turning to look revealed that it was actually Astro patting it. “Go and get some food. I’ll get a bath ready for you; you smell like my aunt’s cat.”

My teacher trotted away, leaving me along in the kitchen. I slowly trotted over to the kitchen counter and took in the heavenly aroma of the sweet treats.

“You know, I’m pretty sure they taste a lot better than they smell!”

I turned to the little dragon coming around the corner, smiling as she wrapped her light blue arms around me. “Sapphire! Oh, I missed you!”

She didn’t let go of me, even as she spoke. “I missed you too, Trixie! Do you have any idea how long you were gone? Six months, Trixie! Six months! You missed my second birthday!”

My eyes widened as the dragon released me from her embrace. “Oh… I… I completely forgot. I’m so sorry Sapphire.”

She wrapped her little arms around me again. “You’re basically my mom… Astro told me over and over again that he was sure you’d remember and come back, but you didn’t.”

“Oh, Sapphire. Please forgive me. I don’t know what came over me, but after all that’s happened, all that I’ve done… I regret ever leaving in the first place.”

“Well then, we’re making progress already.” You know, I really wish Astro would just stop doing that. He could at least announce his presence before poking himself into a conversation. “You know, Sapphire’s been missing you quite a bit, Trixie, and I have as well.”

I looked up at him with raised brows. There was no good reason I could think of as to why they did, but Astro’s words somewhat irritated me. “You missed me? You missed me, Astro?” Unaware of what I was doing until much later, I stalked towards my teacher and pushed myself right up in his face. “If you missed me so much, why didn’t you come looking for me? For all you know, I could have been dead! Hell, I had to come to you, despite you apparently knowing that I was behind what happened in Ponyville yesterday! Some mentor you are if you let your student do whatever she wants and not even bother to stop her!”

Although I’d never admit it to anyone, especially Astro himself, just having him around was intimidating. It’s not like he ever did anything to intentionally be such, but despite only a two year age gap, he was at least a head taller than me, and whenever I went on these tirades his expression never seemed to display any emotion. There was just a cold, almost lifeless gaze meeting my own furious one, and the longer I looked at it, the more frightened I became.

“Trixie, I’d go get my bath if I were you. Breakfast will still be warm when you come back, but I think it best if you clean yourself up first.”

My ears fell flat as my brows turned up. I had brought it on myself with my little outburst, but Astro didn’t even want to talk to me now. With a lowered head, I made my way towards the stairs leading to the bathroom.

“One more thing. Get a good, long look at that cape and hat. I’m throwing them out when you’re done.”

Honestly, I didn’t really care. If my mother had made these, or they were like, a gift from somepony, the garments would’ve meant much more to me, but really, I bought them from a discount corner store. I just rolled my eyes and closed the bathroom door behind me.

Well, at least Astro knew how to do something right when it came to making me feel good. As I entered the bathroom, the fresh scent of lavender blocked out anything else that could’ve risen into the air. The tub was filled with bubbles, which told me Astro remembered my love of relaxing bubble baths. After tossing my hat off and hanging my cape on a nearby wall rack, I even discovered that he made sure the water wasn’t too hot or cold.

With closed eyes, I sunk down until my muzzle was just above water. It was very nice to be able to enjoy such a luxury once again, and for a moment, I forgot about what I had said earlier. This feeling was almost as if the dirt and grime was just melting off of me. However, everything came flooding back into my mind once my gaze met my cape again.

In the fake gem that I used to hold the two ends of the cloak around my neck, there was a horizontal line that was much darker than the light blue piece of plastic. At first I ignored it until I was good and clean, but once I got out to dry off, I took a closer look. In fact, I pulled the thing off my cape. However, I nearly dropped it when the line opened up to reveal a yellow eye with a black slit for a pupil looking back at me.

Screaming, I ran down the stairs and to the table where Astro and Sapphire were… not eating yet? Anyway, I slammed the thing on the table, panting as I looked up at my teacher. “What. In the blue fuck. Is this?”

Astro just looked at me for a moment before I saw a smirk spread across his muzzle. “Let’s just say… I was never gone. That right there is something I cast a spell on so I would know where you were at all times. I knew you were safe, so I decided to let you stay out there. Don’t try to tell me you haven’t learned something from your experiences. Besides, if you ever were in actual danger, I would have been there in the blink of an eye.”

Again, my ears fell flat. My gaze shifted between the gem and my mentor, but I couldn’t point out one emotion in particular amongst the fifty or so swirling around in my head. “You… so you didn’t just let me go?”

His smirk slowly became a soft smile as he reached over and patted my shoulder. “No. I’d never do that to you, Trixie. You’re here to learn, but in order for me to be an effective teacher, sometimes I just have to let go and allow you to make and learn from mistakes.”

I found myself lowering my head, though I couldn’t determine whether it was sadness or guilt prompting me to do so. However, it wasn’t long before a dark green hoof was pushing my chin up, forcing me to look into rather soft, caring blue eyes.

“Astro,” I felt like a fool, like a weakling, as my eyes began to mist up, “are you really not angry with me?”

For the first time in a while, I actually felt real warmth from a hug. “No, I’m not. Trixie, we’ll discuss this more after you’ve eaten, but both as your teacher and friend, I’ve been exercising about… um… half my patience with you. Getting angry isn’t going to do anything to help your learning or help us build a relationship as friends, and we are friends. I’m not just your mentor, Trixie, I’m here for you in many ways.”

Had the echoes of the loud growl not been spreading throughout the entire manor, I would have said something, but instead I opted for just nodding and grabbing a plate so we could all eat together. As always, Sapphire’s cooking was amazing. Though I had to wonder how a two year old dragon could manage to cook anything, but it was only for a few moments. We ate in silence, enjoying every moment of it down to the last bite.

“Sapphire, you’ve outdone yourself! As always, your cooking is delicious.”

A pink tint glowed quite clearly against her light blue cheeks. “Aw, thanks Trixie!”

I felt a tap on my shoulder, looking up to see Astro nudging his head. “With that, you and I have much to discuss.”

A chill ran up my spine as he said this. Astro’s study was right in the center of the indoor balcony, and was normally lit by the sunlight that came through the windows on his ceiling. Both side walls were lined with bookshelves, but they were nothing compared to his library, and charts, maps, and graphs of all kinds lined the back wall. There were also a number of paintings from Sirish artists, and a tapestry of his family crest was hung in the middle of the back wall, forming a thick, solid split in all the papers he had tacked on there.

The stallion pulled up one of those comfy, circular chairs for me, sitting in his own from behind his desk. “As I said, we have much to talk about, but I want you to do most of the talking. Trixie, as a teacher, it’s my duty to make sure you’re constantly being challenged, constantly learning, and constantly feeling as if you’re actually succeeding. Tell me in as much detail as you can why exactly you ran away.”

I let out a sigh, looking out of the single window he had on the wall next to his smaller bookshelf. “In as much detail as I can?”

“Every little, frivolous reason you had. I want my student back, Trixie. I’m giving you a second chance, can you find it in your heart to do the same for me?”

It took a moment, but finally I managed to face the stallion. “I think I can.”