Life at Canterlot High

"Okay, so in eighteen-eighty-two, General Trottingham marched onto the Canterlot Plains for the first time alongside his squad of...um...fifty men? Thirty?" Trixie groaned as she looked over the paper she was writing. But of course, this grumble had the expected effect of prompting a sudden "shhh" from the main librarian, Cheerilee, popping out from behind a bookcase and disappearing before Trixie even had a chance to see her. After glancing around, and giving an eye-roll for good measure, the amateur magician got back to her studies. Rummaging around in her backpack, she pulled out an old and fairly dusty book, cracking it open and going through page after page, searching for her desired information. "Let's see...ah, here we go. it was only twenty men with him!" She scribbled furiously afterwards, then looked a touch disappointed. "You'd have thought Trixie would remember that, but apparently not."

"Hey don't beat yourself up over it. We all forget stuff from time to time," a second voice said to her.

Looking up from her essay, Trixie raised an eyebrow when she saw that it was Snips who had spoken, with Snails beside him and giving the girl a friendly wave. Though slightly irritated by having her train of thought interrupted, Trixie couldn't help crack a smile. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is far too amazing to allow herself to forget such small matters." She paused, then let her shoulders slump slightly. "If nothing else, you'd hope she'd pay more attention in class."

Seeing this upset way she was right now, the two boys took their places, sitting on the chairs around the table she was at, with Snails looking to her and speaking with his usual oblivious tone. "Hey, no worries, Trix. Nobody expects the two of us to remember all those dates and stuff, right?"

Slowly, Trixie arched an eyebrow. "Yes, Snails, but people don't tend to think of you two as...well..." She considered her words carefully. These were, after all, her two closest associates in the school, and as they smiled to her, she soon found herself unwilling to say what she'd clearly been wanting to say. "You know what? Nevermind. Just..." She sighed, offering them a small smile. "Thanks...for trying to cheer me up."

The two boys chuckled over that, giving each other a high-five shortly afterwards. "See? Told ya we could get her to smile!" Snips remarked.

Trixie smirked, shaking her head slightly before setting her paper to one side for a moment. "So, dare I ask why you're here? Last I checked you two didn't have any homework today."

Snails shrugged. "Meh. I like coming here. It's quiet."

Snips folded his arms and gave a pout. "I wanted to go to the arcade, but this guy said he wanted to be around books and stuff."

Trixie blinked, her eyes going from Snips to Snails. "Oh? Trixie wouldn't have pegged you as the kind of lad to want to be around books."

Snails smiled in his usual care-free manner. "Books are great. Don't use them for learning or anything, I just like the stories."

Trixie stifled the need to giggle over a remark like that. "I wouldn't let the teachers catching you say that, if I were you. It's kinda the opposite of what they wanted for this place." She glanced around, making sure they weren't being overheard, before leaning in closer to the taller of the two boys. "And definitely don't let Twilight hear you. Lord knows what that girl might do to you if she heard." They shared a laugh, and again this prompted a sudden "shhh" from Cheerilee, who once more disappeared before any of the students could spot her.

"Huh, the place is kinda loud sometimes, huh?" Snails remarked.

As before, Trixie held herself back from laughing at the remark, looking to Snails while tapping her chin. "You know, I imagine you gave Sunset Shimmer a fair few laughs back when you were her lackeys."

Snips shrugged. "Meh, not really. She was always too busy. You know, evil schemes and stuff? Planning for control and world domination..." He paused, then glanced to Snails. "That was her plan, right? I forget what she actually wanted sometimes." Unfortunately, Snails' only response was a shrug of his own, much to Snips' annoyance. "Well anyway, you're much better at having fun while doing your own thing, Trixie. Way less serious than Sunset was."

Trixie swept some of her hair aside. "Well, let it never be said that Trixie is not a more amenable mistress when she needs to be. And if nothing else, you two have proved to be some fine goons during your brief time in my employ."

Snips folded his arms looking away with a huff. "Excuse me, but we're minions thank you very much!"

Trixie was taken aback by his tone, but after seeing him smirk back at her, she understood, and the three yet again found themselves trying their hardest to hold back the laughter. Glancing around, and making sure Cheerilee wasn't here to shush them again, Trixie finally broke the silence between them. "You know, you two should come see me during my next street performance. I promise you there'll be quite the crowd."

Snails smiled to her as he leaned forward slightly. "Oh yeah, I saw your last one on Cantertube. That was some neato telekinesis."

Here, Trixie grumbled a bit. "Hmph! Turns out that was nothing more than Twilight's involvement! I assured everyone Spike would be fine, but apparently she needed to make sure of it!"

Snips scratched the side of his head as he regarded her. "Well...that was nice of her...right?"

After a moment, Trixie sighed. "Yes...I guess. It's just..." In a repeat of her past actions, she looked around, making sure nobody was listening, before looking to the two boys. "Can the great and Powerful Trixie let you in on a secret?" She watched as the two glanced to each other, then looked back to her and smiled in unison, nodding eagerly. Trixie, after getting her words together in her head, finally let out her confession. "I'm...a little jealous of Twilight and her friends sometimes."

Now, what Trixie was probably expecting at this point was for her small audience to gasp in shock, perhaps while clasping onto their cheeks, exclaiming that it couldn't possibly be true that a girl like Trixie would debase herself with petty feelings such as jealousy. So you can probably imagine the disappointment she felt when they just stared at her blankly for a while. After about a minute or two of them just sitting in total quiet, the boys looked to one another, then back to her. "...And?" Snips asked.

Trixie frowned. "Um, I'm sorry, but why aren't you acting more surprised?"

Snails shrugged. "What, is this about them having magic and you not having magic?"

Though she was somewhat pleased at not having to explain her position, her earlier annoyance remained. "Well...yes. Aren't you at least a little bit taken aback by that?"

The boys both shook their heads, with Snips giving a quick chuckle. "Come on, Trix, I think it's safe to say that everyone's a bit jealous of them by now."

Folding her arms, Trixie leaned back into her chair and regarded the boy. "What do you mean?"

Snips snorted. "What? Are you kidding? They're friggin' superheroes! They have power and go around town stopping monsters and doing cool stuff! Who wouldn't be jealous of that?"

Trixie paused here, considering that statement. "Huh...I guess it is pretty awesome that they do what they do." Then she immediately realised what she said, waving her hands frantically. "Just...don't tell them I said that."

But then Snails looked to her with confusion. "So...is that not what you were jealous about?"

Placing her hands upon the table, Trixie sighed. "No. It's just...all my life I've wanted one thing. To be seen as an astounding magical performer. I work hard on my acts, I try to make them as impressive as possible, and nothing beats the thrill of having people go 'ooh' or 'aah' to my work." She grimaced. "And suddenly, the town has seven girls running around doing actual magic. Compared to that, all the little tricks I do just don't seem all that..." Her shoulders slumped. "...all that great...or powerful."

Snips looked at her, then smirked a little. "Silly Trix. Tricks are for kids." Then, after seeing the pure annoyance he'd sparked in Trixie after that remark, and even in the usually-calm Snails, he backtracked immediately, avoiding both of their gazes. "Okay, yeah, forget I said that one."

Doing her best to avoid just that, Trixie rubbed her temples, clearly as some sort of stress-alleviation. "It's just hard, you know? Knowing there's people out there who can do something more impressive than I ever could?"

But Snails, in contrast to Trixie's downer mood, actually looked quite perky. "Okay, you've still got stuff to be proud of, Trix." After seeing her look to him with confusion, he explained further. "I mean, yeah, those other girls have all this awesome power, but all they do for it is wear those neat little necklace thingies, right?" Seeing Trixie give him a quick nod, his smile grew. "Well there you go. When you do magic, it's all because of practice and planning and making sure everything's where it's supposed to be. You work hard for your magic, and when it all comes together it looks...well...amazing."

Trixie stared at him for a long time, and after a while it because obvious to anyone looking at her that she was genuinely moved by what he'd said to her. Reaching forward, she gave him a quick pat on the hand. "Thank you, Snails." She watched him nod to her, keeping that calm smile he always wore. "You know, no matter what anybody says about you, you're pretty smart for a kid your age."

Snails chuckled. "Thanks." Then he paused, looking to her again with some confusion. "Wait...what do people say about me?"

Clearing her throat, Trixie glanced away. "Anyway..." Wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible, Trixie's eyes eventually met Snips'. "Say, any word on Mac for our next game session?"

Snips sighed, shaking his head. "Nah. He's got chores for his family at the weekend. Guess it's just the three of us this time."

Trixie folded her arms, matching his sigh. "Oh well, that's okay. We'll just...have to carry on our dangerous quest without our nigh-invincible tank character." She grimaced. "That won't be too bad...right?" Seeing the worried looks her friends were giving her, she gave a quick shrug. "Yeah, thought so."

Then Snails, in that way he seemed to be doing a lot of today, perked up. "Hey, I hear that talking dog really likes those games. So maybe we could invite him?"

It took no time at all for Trixie to understand who he was talking about. "What, you mean Spike?" After seeing Snails give a nod, she continued. "Doesn't it seem a bit odd to invite a talking dog to our game session? I mean, no disrespect to the little guy, I enjoy being around dogs as much as the next girl, but still..."

Snails chortled briefly. "Hey, we're going on a magical fantasy adventure, right? What better time than that to have a talking animal with us?"

Trixie blinked a couple of times, then turned to Snips, who promptly shrugged. "Hey, when he's right he's right."

Snorting for a moment, Trixie gave a permissive nod. "Alrighty then, send the word. If nothing else it'll make it an interesting game session." The three shared a laugh together, and when it was over, Trixie pondered for a short while before pointing to the two of them. "Say...how would you two like to join me and the Illusions for our jam session this weekend?"

Snips looked to her with surprise. "R...really? You want us to come and watch you and your band?"

Trixie offered him a genuine smile. "Hey, we're friends, right? Besides, I figured you'd earned it after being such good minions for me." To that, the two boys gave each other high-fives, with big grins on their faces, to which Trixie gave a slight smirk. "You're welcome."