The Pledge

   Trixie and I have had our fair share of squabbles. She truly was one of the worst unicorns I ever met. Her ego surpassed Rainbow Dash, she tried to kill me, and to top it all off she referred to herself in the third person. The third person! Who even does that anymore!

But after months of pure hatred between us, we were friends. Not best friends, she still referred to herself in the third person, but friends nonetheless.

And friends support each other, which is what I'm doing for her right now.

Her stage was getting prepped up. Snips and Snails cleaned the floors with mops as I sat in a chair next to a bunch of moms and their kids, all earth ponies. It was an open show kind of thing, so you didn't have to pay any bits to get in. First come, first serve. It was also her first magic show after an entire year of failures.

"Are you all ready for... the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

A flurry of multicolored explosions and fireworks soared into the air as Trixie raised her hooves in a dramatic pose.

But I guess she must have bust through the curtains a bit early, because Snips and Snails stared at her with their pupils shrunk to the size of a peanut.

"Oh, too early? My bad."

She blushed and crept back through the curtains, some of the little colts and even the moms were chuckling around me. Luckily they thought it was an elaborate joke. Trixie can still start off strong.

Snips and Snails wiped sweat off their heads and left the stage. Through the closed red curtains I could see the silhouette of them whispering into Trixie's ear.

"Now, are you all really ready for... the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

A burst of cheer and applause as the remaining fireworks burst into the sky.

"Very good! Very good! Now, for my first trick, I want you to pay attention to this rock. You're probably waiting for me to say that it's an ordinary rock, but deep down you know it isn't. Watch, as the Great and Powerful Trixie...

She squinted at the rock and held her hooves high.

"Turns this rock into a butterfly!"

The rock disappeared for a second in an array of blue lights and came back, but as a rock again.

"Oh. Let's try that one more time. Turns this rock into a butterfly!"

Nothing happens.

"Into a butterfly!"

What Trixie was attempting was something in magic called the Size Swap. Turning one object into something else of roughly the same size, but that's nearly impossible. It's even hard for alicorns to do.

"Into... a... butterfly."

One of the moms got her kid and left.

"Oh, I know! Who wants to see a cloud form from water!"

Kids cheered and clapped their hooves.

"Okay, so here I have a glass of water. Watch as the Great and Powerful Trixie...

Just like with the rock, she raised her hooves in a dramatic pose and held her breath.

"Turns this glass of water into a cloud!"

Again, nothing happened. Just blue sparks of magic.

I looked around at the crowd. They were at their last straw.

"Okay, clearly there are some problems, but that just means I can show you the best trick first! We are going to open a portal that's fifteen miles away from here, so we can travel in an instant!"

Woah! Fifteen miles! That's not just hard, that's technically impossible. A unicorn can go so far as ten and even that's a stretch.

"I want you all to pay attention very closely, as I concentrate my magic...

The audience leaned in their heads.

"And I...

Their eyes widened as they waited in anticipation.

"Open a portal!"

The last straw had been pulled. Nothing happened.

"You promised this wouldn't be like other times!" Somepony stood up and said, provoking the entire audience.

"Yeah!"

"I've had enough of coming to your shows and you messing up! That's it, I'm leaving!"

One after another, they took their kids and huddled away from the stage, mumbling and groaning.

"Wait! No, we can still make this work, just...

She stopped short when she saw I was the only one there.

Her eyes started to well up. She turned from shock to sadness to anger and back to sadness.

I heard an audible cry as she broke down and ran away from the stage. All proffesionalism was gone.

Before she did, I examined her face. I remember every detail. It was covered up with sadness, but deep down I saw determination. She was angry. Very angry. She knows now that nothing like this will ever take her anywhere. Her ego was too big for that. Whatever she would do next would be something different. Much different.

"Trixie! Wait!" I shouted. Flying at a rapid speed, I followed her as she ran through Ponyville, heads turning her way from just how fast she was running.

I flew downward and smashed into her, holding her to the ground while she reluctantly tried to break free.

"Leave me alone! I'm worthless!" She said with a choked voice.

"Calm down Trixie! Everything's going to be fine! We can figure out why the trick didn't work!"

She shot a small blast of magic on my face that didn't harm me but caused me to let go of her. I watched as she ran, tears flowing down her cheeks.

I clutched my face, trying to ease the pain of the magic. I got up and saw she was still running. Still trying to get away from the embarrassment.

I don't know if she can come back from this. Her audience has been dissapointed one too many times. It might be the end for the Great and Powerful Trixie.

***

"Calm down Trixie! Everything's going to be fine! We can figure out why the trick didn't work!"

I blasted a small ray of magic on Twilight's face that didn't harm her but caused her to let go of me.

I was now running as fast as I could, tears flowing down my face like I was a madmare.

As if nothing could get worse, a piece of paper flew onto my face, causing me to trip over a branch and badly injure my knee.

In anger I removed the paper from my face, ready to crumble it, until I saw what it said.

'Do you think you have what it takes to learn magic other than what you're used to? Would you like to study the art of wind magic? Dark magic? Even anti-magic? Well, we aren't offering invitations just yet. We're offering unicorns everywhere an audition. If you can decipher the clues and find out where we're located, you'll be accepted, and will be granted the opportunity to learn wonders. We hope to see you there. If you find us.

                                           From the leader, Light Source.'

I think this might be exactly what I needed.