The Magic of Starswirl the Bearded
“Well, if it isn’t Trixie herself,” the dark brown unicorn pony announced, nudging his compatriot. “Look, Fortune, have you ever seen her not covered in tomato?”
His pale cream earth pony friend quickly appeared at Trixie’s side and, before she could jerk away, appeared to reach out and scoop something off her cloak with a hoof, holding it up to see.
It was a spot of marinara. Trixie noticed that one of the ponies had just finished a plate of pasta, which answered the question of where Fortune had gotten it.
“Whoops! Missed a spot there, Trixie. That’s what happens when you scrub your clothes in a stream somewhere.” The two ponies grinned at her brightly.
Trixie groaned. “Magic Pen and Fortune Teller. Trixie thought you were still in Las Pegasus stealing Sigfield and Coy’s routine. If Trixie had known the clowns had come marching in to Canterlot, Trixie would have stayed on the road.”
“We got a personal invitation to come perform for the Princesses, so how could we pass it up?” Magic replied with a grin. “Maybe if your act ever got as famous as the world renown Magic and Fortune, you’d get invited places, too.”
Fortune grabbed a cloth napkin off the nearby table and quickly wrapped it around his head like a pony ninja, then slunk across the floor beneath the table before popping up and juggling spoons and forks. Then, quick as a wink, he disappeared back underneath the table.
Magic watched that silently, then turned back to Trixie. “As opposed to sneaking in where you’re not wanted and performing until they chase you out, you know. You should try it. It’s nice. We even get our room service comped.”
“Tricks and shenanigans,” Trixie said with a dismissive sniff. “Any pony can pull a bit out of a foal’s ear and call it magic. It takes power and skill to make the coin sprout wings and fly out on its own. And power… Trixie has to spare.” She gave them a critical look. “Not to mention beauty and grace. But never you mind. The Great and Powerful Trixie has also been invited to perform in Canterlot at the Starswirl Memorial Gardens for the Millennial celebration. Because the greatest unicorn magician in Equestrian history deserves to be remembered by a real unicorn magician.” She sniffed. “Not a couple of hacks.”
“Aww, that’s adorable. I’m sure at least a dozen ponies will show up to a garden party. We’re just going performing at the Royal Playhouse. You know, biggest auditorium in Canterlot? Seats thousands? Permanently reserved box seats for the Princesses? What night did you say you were performing?”
Trixie narrowed her eyes. “A real magic pony would know that it was being held on the Millennial of his groundbreaking development of the natural resonance spell. Or, for unlettered ponies such as yourself, the twenty third of this month.”
Fortune abruptly stood up on his hind legs at full extension, clutching at his chest with his forehooves. Then, comedically, crumpled to the ground.
Magic tsked. “We were originally scheduled for the fifteenth, but my friend here just came down with something, so it looks like we’ll have to delay the night. What a pity, really. Oh well, I’m sure somepony will show up for your show.” He snickered. “At the very least, the custodian has to be there with the keys. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful night.” He mock bowed. “Ta ta for now, Trixie.”
Magic and Fortune left the restaurant together, leaving Trixie fuming.
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“Ahh, where is it, where is it… I don’t have time for this…” Trixie muttered to herself as she scanned the shelves at the Royal Library. As the Millennial was very much an officially sanctioned event, she’d managed to wheedle almost unfettered access to the archives to prepare for her routine. She’d been lucky to get invited to perform at the event at all, but Star Struck, who’d recently gotten a job at the gardens, had a signed poster of her hanging in his room from a show she’d done in his hometown a year back, and had successfully argued in her favor. Trixie was magnanimous in her gratitude.
But now, she couldn’t find this one stupid book!
Spying another library patron hunched over a table surrounded by stacks of books, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
“Excuse me, but have you seen a copy of Toblerone’s Tables of Tuned Twinkleharmonics?”
“Oh, yes, I’m sorry, I had just finished it. Here you goeeeeeeh?! Trixie?!” Twilight exclaimed as she offered the book with her magic.
Trixie didn’t recognize the purple pony, but she was kind of cute, definitely the kind of pony Trixie would have offered to sign autographs for. “It’s you! I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?” Trixie asked politely, guessing she was a fan.
“I… Good?“ Twilight hadn’t expected that response. It was kind of hard to be indignant at someone who was smiling politely at you. Trixie had liked her? What?
“Thank you for finding the book. I’m preparing for the Starswirl the Bearded Millennial. The Great and Powerful Trixie wants to have the best act possible for the celebration of the most amazing magician in Equestrian history. Perhaps you’ll be at the show?”
“You’re performing at the Millennial?! Oh my gosh! It’s only going to be the event of the year!”
Oh, this was exactly what Trixie needed to hear. She smiled proudly, tossing her hair slightly and giving the cute filly her best profile. She cracked one eye to gauge the response.
Twilight’s expression wasn’t exactly one of awe. “So how did you get that job?” she asked darkly. “Lied about defeating another Ursa Major? Or maybe it was a dragon this time?”
Trixie gaped.
“You know, that Ursa Minor could have hurt somepony! I had to use the entire watertower to pacify it! Hundreds of bits of damage all because you had to brag about something you’d never done!”
Oh dear sweet Celestia. She was from “Ponyville! You’re from Ponyville!” Trixie winced and pulled the brim of her magician’s hat down over her face to hide her embarrassment. She wasn’t sure of the pony’s name, but she’d heard a few things about the mare who’d stopped the starbear when she’d sneaked back in to grab her wagon. “You’re… Sparkler?” she hazarded.
“SPARKLE. Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight growled. “And I will not see the celebration of Starswirl the Bearded devolve into you abusing ponies on stage and making up lies.” She got to her hooves. “I’m going to go find the pony running the event and-“
“No!” Trixie begged, falling to the floor and grabbing the purple pony’s legs. “Trixie needs this! Trixie would never sully the memory of Starswirl the bearded with any less than the best!” She hesitated, tears springing to her eyes. “And Trixie really, really needs the job.”
Twilight hesistated. Looked down at the suddenly crying magician. “You really liked Starswirl the Bearded?”
Trixie hiccupped and nodded.
Twilight seemed to deflate. “Well, nopony who knows who Starswirl the Bearded is can be all bad, I guess.” Her face hardened. “But I’m not going to let you humiliate ponies for your act.”
The blue unicorn turned her head away, sniffing. “Trixie just wanted to make the audience laugh,” she muttered.
“Humiliation is never funny,” Twilight replied seriously.
“Plenty of ponies have laughed at Trixie. Trixie just wants to give them something else to laugh at,” she answered, a little bitterly.
“I can still go tell the organizers about your Ursa Major stunt.”
“Trixie will be good!” she replied, jumping to her hooves.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, because Twilight, I mean, I’m going to be there to keep an eye on you. Now tell me what you’re planning on doing.”
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“Bowtie’s Bushel of Bouqets? That’s a pretty exhausting spell. Have you ever done it before?”
“…okay, that’s pretty good. But we’re both going to get kicked out of the library unless we clean up these roses.”
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“Have you thought about casting Starswirl’s Stone Sealer? He made that spell to keep a dam from bursting and flooding a valley. You could show how it works by sprucing up one of the garden walls.”
“Trixie likes the idea of using one of Starswirl’s spells… but confesses she does not know that one.”
“Really? Oh, it’s easy. Here, let me show you.”
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“I don’t know if I trust you with audience participation. A lot of ponies I really respect are going to be there. I don’t want you embarrassing one of my old professors or one of my friends.”
“But this trick requires two ponies! Trixie cannot do it alone!”
“Well, tough. You’ve been doing real well, but I don’t want you to get up to your old tricks.” She paused. “Literally.”
“…Trixie notices that you are a very pretty mare. Trixie has an idea.”
“…what?”
Trixie explained.
“What?! No! No, no, no, no, no, no!”
Trixie explained further.
“No! I’d be too embarrassed! I’m not a showpony! No one wants to see me on stage!”
Trixie patiently explained even more, and threw in some flattery.
“No! I mean… You really think I’m pretty?”
“Lovely. Trixie said you would make a lovely assistant. And who better to help explain the magic of Starswirl the Bearded?”
“I… I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
“Trixie will get you a dress.”
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“NO! I’m not wearing that! It’s… Is that even all of it?!”
“It’s not like we normally wear clothes. You’d look great. And Trixie would love to see you in it.”
“Trixie, my parents are coming to this! And in that dress, everyone would be staring at my… flanks…”
“That’s the point,” Trixie explained patiently. “Ponies stare at the lovely assistant while the magician prepares to wow them.”
“Still, I’m not wearing that. I’ll… I’ll get Rarity to make something.”
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“A dress for the Millennial? But you said you already had a dress.”
Twilight winced. “Yes, but that was before I agreed to be a magician’s assistant.”
“You what? Oh my! Who are you assisting?”
“...The Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“What.”
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“Ohboyohboyohboy! Twilight’s gonna be a stage magician! I can’t wait to tell all of Ponyville!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing around. “Everyone’s going to want to see this!”
“That braggart showpony? Twi, do you even remember what happened the last time?” Applejack asked dubiously.
“I know, I know,” Twilight replied. “But that’s why I agreed to be her assistant. Too many of her tricks require a second pony, and I didn’t trust her not to embarrass someone else.”
“But what if she tries to make herself look good by embarrassing you?” Dash asked.
Twilight smirked. “Well, I’ll show her a few tricks of my own.”
“Oh, I gotta see this.”
“Great! Now, Trixie asked me to pass out some flyers for the show…”
“The twenty-third? That’s when Magic and Fortune are having their big show at the Coliseum. I think Trixie picked a bad night. I mean, shoot, I’ll be there, but Big Mac was going to take Applebloom and her friends to see Magic and Fortune. Ah ain’t looking forward to their attempts to get magician cutie marks, either, I tell you.”
“But Trixie didn’t set the date, it’s the Millennial! It’s an anniversary set a thousand years ago!”
“Well, alright Twi, but I hope Trixie is prepared for it. Most of the ponies that’ll want to see her show are going to be watching Magic and Fortune instead. They’re just…”
“Better in every possible way?” Dash offered.
“..yeah.”
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“Why didn’t you tell me Magic and Fortune were going to be in town?”
“Trixie assumed you knew. Are you a fan?”
“No, and that’s why I didn’t know. But even if I was, Starswirl the Bearded’s Millennial celebration is way more important!”
“Trixie agrees wholeheartedly!”
“So what else haven’t you told me?”
“…”
“Comeon, give.”
“…”
“Trixie, just tell me. I think, at this point, you can call me a friend.”
“…Trixie may have a rivalry with Magic and Fortune. They might sort of take every opportunity to rub Trixie’s nose in their success.”
“A rivalry? Really? But, they’re wildly successful, and you do traveling shows in small towns.”
“Don’t remind Trixie. Humiliation, has, after all, always been a part of Trixie’s life.”
“Oh, Trixie. I’m sorry.”
“Trixie may need a longer hug to feel better.”
“Of course. We’re going to beat the pants off those two bit ponies.”
“Trixie likes the sound of that.”
“Trixie can stop hugging me now.”
“Does Trixie have to?”
“Yes!”
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On the one thousanth anniversary of the day Starswirl the Bearded cast a spell over the young land of Equestria, tying all the ponies to nature in a way that promoted harmony and peace, the Royal Canterlot Colleseum hosted the famous duo Magic and Fortune, whose show had absolutely nothing to do with Starswirl the Bearded and everything to do with getting admission from five thousand ponies. Their total take would be more than Trixie had made in the last two years combined. Although they’d exaggerated to Trixie when they’d said they’d been invited to perform for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they were telling the truth when they said the corulers had permanently reserved box seats.
Little fillies and colts, and big, adult fillies and colts from leagues around squealed and cheered. In the audience, a pair of well to do fillies from Ponyvile watched, enraptured, alongside their parents as the comedic pair amazed and delighted.
Oh, and in the lovely memorial gardens devoted to the memory of the amazing unicorn, almost a hundred ponies, roughly split between academics and ponyville friends, were there to celebrate magic and learning. First, the organizer spoke, thanking everypony for being there. Then the curator spoke for a much longer length of time. Then various ponies were honored. Then presenters got up in series and spoke of their research and that of Starswirl.
In the audience, three little fillies who’d been talked into going by their big sisters and friends were really, really wishing they’d gone with the original plan to go see Magic and Fortune.
And, incidentally, once the official stuff was done and everyone was ready to move on to refreshments, they were there to watch a blue unicorn pony who constantly referred to herself as Trixie, and a purple unicorn pony who was gradually becoming her friend through a shared love of learning an magic, put on an educational show about a long dead pony who’d helped make Equestria what it was that day. Trixie would pocket two hundred and fifty bits, minus the costs of her props and decorations, but had already decided to give half of the profit to the pony that almost became her arch nemisis and instead became her oh so beautiful assistant, shimmering in a slinky dress covered in sequins of blue.
If Trixie had been more jealous of a pony, she might have ruined her own night, trying to make herself look better in comparison to Twilight. But, somehow, with Twilight, Trixie felt that she had never looked better than when, hoof in hoof, the two of them had appeared in the middle of the gardens in a flash of heatless sparks and puff of smoke from magical fireworks.
So what if the academics only clapped quietly and politely. The ponies from Ponyville, a town she’d once written off as a lost cause and a place to never, ever, ever visit again, cheered loud and long, if a little desperately. Some of those presenters had gone on forever. And if the audience was actually smaller than what she usually had even in the tiny little country towns out in the middle of nowhere, well, by Celestia she was performing in Canterlot that night!
Trixie had learned long ago that you don’t look at the audience.
Twilight hadn’t learned that yet, and she froze at the sight of all her friends, family, and more importantly, teachers and other respected ponies staring back at her. She forgot her lines, she forgot what she was supposed to be doing, and she forgot why she’d ever agreed to this stupid idea in the first place!
Rarity gasped, sure that Trixie was about to break the ice by humiliating her friend in front of everypony.
“For the first time in history, The Great and Powerful Trixie appears before you with something new! Beautiful and talented in her own right, a pony capable of rocking the terrible Ursa Minor to sleep using only her magic, Twiiiiilight! Spaaaarrkle!” Out of the corner of her mouth, she stage whispered, “Bow to the ponies, Twi!”
Twilight flushed and looked embarrassed. “Y-yes!” she stammered, bowing.
“We come here tonight to celebrate the mighty magic of a very special pony. A pony whose power was second only to his intellect. But changing the face of Equestria wasn’t all he could do. Starswirl the Bearded invented a number of spells still in use today! Spells such as the Stone Sealer! Behold, as I rejoin the very rock of this garden wall into a mineral matrix stronger than it was when it was new!”
The audience oohed and ahhed as, her horn glowing brightly with magic and beads of perspiration on her face, Trixie stared at the wall and concentrated.
This was the point, where, if Twilight had remembered, she would have made a big show of wiping the sweat from Trixie’s brow, because there really wasn’t anything else to the spell. Trixie very nearly interrupted herself by snapping at her assisstant to pay attention and assist, but another idea came to mind.
Finishing the magic, Trixie repaired the slightly crumbling wall and smoothed out the granite stones.
“You see, Starswirl discovered the principle of the lesser obfuscated force, and used parallel theory as a basis for a magical spell to make the rocks grow.”
“But that’s not right!” Twilight spluttered, indignant. “Parallel theory has nothing to do with it!”
Everyone turned to stare at Twilight, who shrank in on herself, ears back, as she realized everyone was looking at her expectantly.
Trixie was grinning smugly.
“You, you-“
She was cut off. “So, my genius assistant. Please, since I’ve gotten it wrong, will you explain it?”
Twilight froze again.
Trixie trotted dramatically to her side. “But how could, I, as a unicorn, affect rocks?”
“The- the first ponycentric premise, upon which Equestria is founded. We’re not just unicorns, or pegasi, or earth ponies, or even alicorns. We’re not even donkeys or mules or zebra or whatever. We’re ponies, first and foremost. We’re all related.” Twilight found herself warming to the topic. “Starswirl the Bearded was special because, unlike the unicorns and alicorns that came before him, he didn’t just focus on unicorn magic. He developed pony magic. Magic from and for all the races. He didn’t create the Stone Sealer spell so much as he simply learned how to make rocks grow from an earth pony friend of his, Ivy Vine. All of us have a little earth pony in us, and if we learn to listen to that, we can do things with magic they’d never thought of before his time.”
Realizing that her assistant was going to go on about that at some length, Trixie waved her horn with a twist of her neck, and a cloud of mist rose from the reflecting pool in the middle of the garden, then formed it into a huge white bear, not unlike an ursa minor, and sent it stomping dramatically around the garden. Fillies screamed and ponies backed away nervously, and Twilight trailed off mid explaination. However, the misty bear did no damage where it stepped, and instead left droplets of dew hanging from the leaves and branches.
“And this, my lovely assistant?”
“Clarity’s Cloud Collossus. Clarity was one of Starswirl’s apprenticies, and with his help, developed the spell for watering crops during a feather pox plague. You see, pegasus magic relies on…”
And so the remainder of the evening went, with Trixie casting spells of increasing complexity and drama, and Twilight explaining them to the audience, then getting cut off before she could explain the explaination by another dazzling spectacle from Trixie.
The audience was enraptured. Even the stodgy old professors who already knew what Twilight was explaining were impressed by the effortless flair the showpony put into her spells. Trixie had died and gone to heaven. She’d had good audiences before. She’d had good shows before. But never before had she had an audience where every single pony was spellbound in her hoof. She was in the zone, and all she could think of was how great it felt, and how she’d do anything to feel that good again.
Her assitant, Twilight Sparkle, was the key, she realized. She’d never really had a pony she could call an equal. Oh, sure, Twilight was no showpony, certainly not on Trixie’s level, but she had an enthusiasm and a gift for learning and magic that, privately, Trixie would admit surpassed her own. What if Twilight cast a few spells? Hadn’t she mentioned the flutterwing spell? Trixie had never even heard of another pony casting that powerful, exhausting spell.
Briefly, she fantasized about doing another show, with Twilight gracefully flying under the power of her own magic to assist Trixie. If Trixie was excited by the idea, the audience would love it!
Twilight coughed nervously, realizing that Trixie had missed her cue.
Blushing furiously, Trixie realized it too. “Ahem, excuse me, everypony. I just realized I was having the best time of my life, out here performing for you. Please, allow the Great and Powerful Trixie a moment to compose herself.” With a stamp of her hoof and a twinkling of her horn, four rolled up cloths appeared around them and unfurled, creating a box of star studded fabric that hid them from sight.
“Trixie? I’m sorry, buhhmmmmph!” she exclaimed, blushing furiously, her ears laying back as Trixie kissed her furiously.
“There,” Trixie murmured. “Now we both need a moment to compose ourselves.”
Twilight gasped, but slowly, her ears perked back up as she realized what had just happened.
Trixie arched one eyebrow at her.
“Magic indeed,” Twilight murmured back.
Trixie nuzzled her again briefly, and brushed her mane back in place with a little magic. “Perk up, I’m about to drop the cloth. We need to wrap this up while we’re riding high.”
With another burst of smoke, the cloth disappeared and Trixie and Twilight reappeared.
“This! This is Starswirl the Bearded’s legacy!” Trixie announced. “Magic that helps, magic that heals, magic that comes from everypony! And that’s why, here, at the thousand year anniversary of his greatest accomplishment, we should take the time to remind everypony why they’re special. Let’s take this inspiration and use it to teach and guide our young students!”
The crowd went wild, or, at least, the academics did. They liked being recognized. But even the less intellectually inclined were moved by the statement.
“Hey, maybe we can get our magic cutie marks,” Applebloom whispered to her friends.
“Yeah!” Scootaloo replied.
“I don’t know, I’m not very good at magic,” Sweetie said dubiously.
“Don’t worry, we’ll let you use ours!” her friends encouraged.
After the show, Trixie found herself with the worst stage fright she’d ever had. She’d been so caught up in the show she’d ignored the audience, and hadn’t noticed a couple of special guests arriving inconspicuously in the back.
“Trixie? I’d like you to meet my mentor and her sister. Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? This is The Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“A wonderful show, my little pony. I haven’t seen its equal in hundreds of years.”
“Hnnng!” And the Great and Powerful Trixie flopped onto her side at the hooves of the Greater and More Powerful Princesses of the Sun and Moon.
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Morning in the hotel restaurant. A toasted muffin and jam broke her fast, but it was hard to eat when she couldn’t close her mouth properly for grinning.
“Ah, the Great and Powerful. Did you see our show last night? No? A pity, everypony else did. Maybe they’ll tell you about it.”
Fortune mimed reading a newspaper and gasping at headlines.
Trixie didn’t notice. Twilight had just come downstairs, and trotted over for a brief peck and a nuzzle. “I’ve got to be going, I’m meeting Princess Celestia for brunch to talk about our school tour idea. Have a good day, and I’ll see you this afternoon, okay?”
Swallowing, Trixie nodded. “Don’t forget, we need to get you a stage name. You’re too amazing to be just an assistant. How about the Brave and Bold Twilight?”
“I think I’d rather just be an assistant,” Twilight said dubiously. “But we’ll see. Bye!” Twilight trotted out of the restaurant, and all three ponies remaining eyed her flanks as she departed.
Magic and Fortune turned back to Trixie, who was grinning so hard her face hurt.
Disgusted, Fortune tossed his pretend newspaper on the table and left.
Yeah, it's a bit rushed, but this WAS for a thirty minute prompt. Not my usual style of doing things at all. Realistically, this should have been like a ten to fifteen thousand word fic to do the idea justice. Still, I had fun. Hope you enjoyed.
