Not So Great And Powerful
The Not So Great And Powerful Mare
Her name was Trixie. She grew up poor, and when her dear daddy was diagnosed with a severe case of prostate cancer, they could not pay the fees to help him get well. He died two months later after he was diagnosed; "Once it hits your prostate, you're a goner," her mother always said. Trixie was too young at the time for it to mean much to her; she wasn't ever really close to her father anyway. At age fourteen, just months after she began investing in Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, her mother grew very ill. Trixie did all she could to help her dear mother. It all came down to the hardest decision of her life; to take the money she had been gathering to pay for Celestia's school out of savings and use it to pay for treatment, or let her mother die.
"I'm sorry, mother," said Trixie, "this is my dream; I can't..."
Her mother would never forgive her.
Sent to the orphanage, she was. And did she hate it there; she had to make a living by entertaining the women who kept an eye on the children. She put on magic shows, and each time she pulled a rabbit out of a hat they rewarded her with a dollar. "Use it wisely," the women would say. The other children in the orphanage would tease her, calling her names, like Ticksy. "Ticksy has ticks!" They said in unison. Finally, she saved up enough money to apply to Celestia's school. She just barely managed the exam; hatching dragon eggs wasn't something she had expected for it.