The room is relatively dark, with a small shimmer of light shining in front of a mirror on one side. In its reflection could be seen a small filly with a light blue mane. She hums to herself contently, a hair brush floating on its own running through her hair. With a pony this calm, it would be hard to believe that this is one of the most important days of her life. Suddenly a distant voice could be heard downstairs.
"Trixie, we're going to be late to your entrance exam if you don't hurry."
"Coming uncle!" she exclaims with a confident smile as she lays her brush on the table and rushes out of her room. She trots downstairs in what could only be described as a curiosity shop. Every inch of the walls hung shelves of strange odds and ends and mysterious doodads. This was her home, as long as she could remember. Without her parents, Trixie was raised by her uncle Fizzlesnap, a much older pony with a dark brown mane and a firecracker for a cutie mark. For many years he has owned and operated his curiosity shop in Canterlot and is well re-knowned for its rare and unique merchandise. Every night before bed he would tell stories to his niece about the many powerful and fabulous ponies in the world, like Starswirl the Bearded and Whiteflash the Magnificent.
"One day, I want to be as famous as these ponies!" She says one night. Her uncle chuckles "Well if you try hard enough and believe in yourself, then it'll happen."
All her life she has been brought up around magic and its vast power and wonder. Very soon it would be her moment to shine.
As they approach the front door of the shop about ready to leave, Fizzlesnap looks down at his niece with a smile.
"Now Trixie, whatever happens today, I'll be proud of you no matter what, and you'll always be great and magical in my book."
Trixie looks up ecstatically, not sure what to say all she could do was nod vigorously. Together they make their way into the heart of Canterlot with the Royal Castle looming overhead.
What seemed like an eternity, they reach the Royal Canterlot grounds. The Royal guards point them to an amazing structure made of gold and ivory, a name could be seen etched into the facade that reads "Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." At this point Trixie is starting to become quite nervous, but she can't allow that to show for fear of others that might be watching her every move. A few flights of stairs and couple hallways later, they reach a large adjacent room with many other small fillies and their families waiting anxiously for their turn. Names were being called out one by one, some of them returning moments later either with joy and excitement in their faces, or exhaustion and defeat. Almost every filly could be seen with their mother and father, this only brought more anxiety to Trixie. She looks back at her uncle who stays close and comforts her, thinking the same thing. "Don't worry, I'm right here with you." This boosted her confidence considerably knowing that he was right beside her. Anxiously waiting what seemed like ages, a distant voice cried out
"Trixie Lunamoon, you're next."
Both Trixie and her uncle enter what could only be described as a lecture hall. The air is so quiet she could hear her quickening heart beat. She looks back at her uncle nervously, he looks down with a reassuring smile and nudges her toward the center of the room. In the back row stood the four unicorn judges, all with the most unamused expressions. She makes a large gulp, unsure what to expect. 'Will this be some kind of puzzle?' she thinks to herself. Her questions were soon answered as a small cart with a peculiarly large egg could be seen pushed into the room and stops just short of the center. About half the size of the filly, this egg is white with light blue spots covering the exterior. Her bewilderment was soon interrupted by one of the judges:
"You may proceed Ms. Lunamoon."
She thinks for a moment, knowing full-well this was no ordinary egg, but a dragon egg! Ha! I remember reading about this from Whiteflash the Magnificent's account when he stumbled upon one of these, and he found that a certain spell would hatch the egg and could be raised as your own. With a confident smirk she lowers her head, and with a blinding light from her horn, the egg in front of her cracked open, revealing a newborn green and blue dragon.
She gasped as she saw the newborn dragon in front of her. Smiling proudly she looks up to the judges hoping for a reaction, yet they all stood stern and seemingly unimpressed. The sound of scribbling could be heard as they write on their clipboards. Trixie quickly becomes nervous, oh no, did I do something wrong? as sweat begins to pour down her face. A few moments later the silence is broken as the judges raise their heads and give a satisfied nod in unison "Well done, you pass your entrance exam. You will be given test results shortly. You may go." Trixie's eyes grow wide and she lets out another gasp as she leaps to her uncle, who couldn't be prouder of his niece. Never could she have imagined the test to be done so quickly, and so easily!
In a short amount of time, they are escorted back into the waiting room, to be joined once again by the many fillies anxiously waiting their turn. Both Trixie and her uncle sit down and catch their breath as they wait for the detailed results of her exam. Another name could be heard being announced in the background "Twilight Sparkle, you're next!" Trixie looks up at her uncle with the happiest face in the world "I knew I would make you proud!" She stands back up, too excited to sit as she looks around impatiently to receive her results. Moments later a loud BOOM could be heard.
The noise startled everypony in the waiting room as they stand and look at each other nervously wondering where the large commotion came from. Trixie is just as perplexed, but she could hear more noise coming from the examining room next-door. She can't help but wonder what it was, and decides to move slowly toward the door that was left ajar after the large boom. She cautiously looks inside to see Twilight Sparkle hovering in mid air with lightning and magic emanating from her as well as a giant green and purple dragon that stood nearby. The chaos is enough to fascinate any unicorn, but the situation quickly becomes one of extreme bewilderment as none other than Princess Celestia appears! Trixie gasps at the sight of the Princess, seeing her only a couple of times in her whole life in Canterlot. It has been her dream to one day impress the Princess and be known to every pony in Equestria. In no time at all the Princess' horn began to glow, and with it, all the chaotic mayhem in the room turned to normal
"You have a special gift, I don't think I've come across any unicorn with your raw abilities!" Celestia explained to Twilight.
Trixie's jaw drops.
"Twilight Sparkle, I would like to make you my own personal protege here at the school."
In an instant, the vast euphoria and excitement that was with her just moments ago, quickly vanished. She turns away from the door, not wanting to be seen as she sluggishly makes her way back to her uncle. Looking down at the floor with teary eyes, all time seems to stop. Never has Trixie felt such jealousy, such envy of another pony then what she is experiencing. Was I not good enough? she thinks to herself. She tries to hold back her pain as her uncle is seen with a piece of parchment "Hey Trixie, I have your results! You've been accepted!" She couldn't help but still smile at the news, but now the celebration was bittersweet, knowing that it wasn't her that was hand picked by the Princess to be her apprentice. As Trixie and her uncle leave towards the hall, there is only one thought that stays with her 'I'll just have to prove that I'm better than this…Twilight Sparkle."
Many days pass since Trixie's memorable entrance exam. Her first semester at the School for Gifted Unicorns is in full-swing.
"Alright class, today we will be learning about strange fauna and other anomalies"
The unicorn professor, much like you'd expect a professor to look like with long white hair and spectacles, magically starts to draw on the blackboard the shape of a bear that looks like a constellation made of stars. Trixie could be seen in the middle of the seating arrangement, yawning widely like she has been at most of the lectures. The school has turned out to be quite boring so-far, either because most of what's discussed she's already known, or has no interest to her.
"Can anyone tell me what this is?" says the professor to the students, pointing to her drawing on the blackboard. A student raises her hoof in the very front row in the center. Unsurprisingly, it was Twilight Sparkle. The professor motions to her.
"That would be an Ursa Major Professor. Not much is known about them with very few sightings to make accurate accounts. They are known to be very large and something you don't want to provoke if you value your life."
The Professor smiles "Well done yet again Twilight Sparkle. Yes the Ursa Major is one of the many strange beasts of Equestria that have yet to be fully understood. There have been no successful attempts at the capture or study of them, and they continue to be quite elusive. There is also the lesser form of this beast, unsurprisingly named the Ursa Minor."
Trixie mutters under her breath as Twilight answers yet another of the majority of questions the professor throws to the class. She sighs and magically starts twirling her pencil on her desk, day-dreaming about capturing a wild Ursa Major and presenting it to Princess Celestia. Such a feat would unquestionably make her one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria.
The professor notices the very inattentive unicorn in the center of the class "Ms. Lunamoon, is there anything you'd like to add?" Trixie immediately perks up, her cheeks flush as she feels a wave of embarrassment knowing the other unicorns are staring at her waiting for a response. "I uh…." she mumbles "Well, surely someone can capture one, I bet even I could!." The professor lets out a small chuckle "Oh I don't doubt a great and powerful filly like yourself would have any trouble." The other students join in on the amusement. "However, I do admire your tenacity, but a little modesty might do you some good yes?" Trixie grumbles and nods to the professor not liking to be told in front of everypony that she is incapable of great things, at least not at the moment.
After what seemed like an eternity, class was over and the students were all on their way to their next lecture. Trixie is usually seen by herself, not having made many friends during her short time in school. She mostly kept to herself, imagining the glory that would come from capturing something like an Ursa Major and proving her superiority to the other unicorns, especially Twilight. Thinking of her immediately brings a wave of jealousy and anger to Trixie. I need to find a way to prove I'm better than this Twilight Sparkle. Her imaginary daze caused her to bump into a slightly larger male unicorn. It was not unusual at the school for younger and older unicorns to mingle in the same building. He looks down at the young filly "Oh sorry, didn't mean to bump into you." He had a two toned blue mane not unlike Trixie's but with a darker hue. He was white with a shield and star as his cutie mark. She blushed not just at her embarrassment, but also running into such a handsome unicorn. He wasn't alone either, with a few other unicorns big and small around him. "Oh you must be new, I'm Shining Armor, and you are..?" Trixie chokes up, even uttering her name becomes difficult. Without thinking she utters "the great and powerful Trixie." She immediately puts her hoof to her face, realizing what she said. He smiles and lets out a small chuckle "already making a name for yourself eh? Well Trixie, if you need help finding your way around the school let me know" She nods timidly and begins to walk off, she looks back once to get another glimpse at the unicorn. It becomes clear that he's a designated guide to the new ponies who might be lost in between classes. Her heart was pounding more then she'd ever felt before.
