Not so Great and Powerful
I am the Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie has more magic than any other unicorn in Equestria. So why is Trixie so unpopular? Trixie should be loved! But Trixie should not be arrogant. It's what caused her downfall, after all. Trixie almost was killed by that Ursa Minor, in Ponyville, where Trixie currently is.
Something stops.
"Trixie, can you move?." says the wretched Twilight Sparkle rudely.
"Twilight Sparkle, you may have rudimentary magic, but you have nothing against the Great and Powerful Trixie!" I cry, galloping away.
I sit on the grass near a foal's playground. There's no one around me, which is good. No one should see Trixie cry.
A lone tear falls from my eye. How has it come to this, the Great and Powerful Trixie, greatest unicorn in all of Equestria, sitting in a foal's playground, reduced to tears?
I see a blur of orange movements out of the corner of my eye, and immediately grab it with my telekinesis. While powerful magic certainly didn't get Trixie any friends, it does have it's advantages. Like right now.
The thing in my grasp appears to be...just a foal. Embarrassed, I let go of it, and it falls to the ground.
It's a pegasus filly. She jumps up immediately, glares at me, and then notices I've been crying.
"Who are you?" asks the filly both angrily and pityingly.
"I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, why do you care? Who are you to be out at night?"
She glares at me, retrieving a blue scooter from where she was.
"I'm Scootaloo."
"Okay, Scootaloo, what do you want?"
"You seemed sad about something, so I asked what was wrong."
"Nothing's wrong..except everything. I have no family, no friends, no money, but what does a foal know about that?"
She looks at me kindly.
"Hey, I know a lot about that. I'm an orphan, my parents were killed by some unicorn's magic that went crazy. And I know a lot about no friends, before I came to Ponyville everyone laughed at me because of my wings." she gives a look of deep loathing to her wings.
I know who that unicorn was..but it wouldn't be kind to tell her that. Instead I say,
"I'm so sorry your parents were killed, but excuse me for asking: what's wrong with your wings?"
She looks at them again before answering me. "Well, the muscles in my wings are weak and underdeveloped, so they'll never support my weight. I may as well not be a pegasus."
Tears come to my eyes for the second time that night.
"Well Scootaloo, I'm very sorry about that. Nopony so young should ever have to go through so much hurt."
She blinks, clearly confused as to why Trixie is being so kind to her. "Well, why are you so sad? I mean, you seem like a kinda proud pony...why would you be in a playground in the middle of the night?"
I'm not sure she should know this...but she's sustained lots of hurt and seems like a very tough filly.
"I run a magic show called The Great and Powerful Trixie's Show of Wonders. It seems like Trixie was too arrogant for the public's taste. A Twilight Sparkle told me I was a pretending fake."
Scootaloo looks shocked.
"I know Miss Twilight, it's hard to believe she'd ever do that."
"Well, she and her 'friends' were quite rude to Trixie."
Scootaloo wrinkles her nose. "Didn't you come to Ponyville with your show and boast a lot? Also, why do you sometimes talk in the third person?"
"Well, Miss Scootaloo, you are quite perceptive for a filly. Yes, Trixie came to Ponyville, but all Trixie did was defend Trixie's honor to a bunch of ruffians."
Then before I know it, I'm crying again. I know it isn't true...I was bragging about my magic, and it wasn't even that true. I have some magic, but nothing as good as Twilight Sparkle's. Also, they were just trying to show me ponies can be great and not boast about it, and I mocked and even hurt them. I know I'm a horrible pony.
I look at Scootaloo, who's stroking my mane, looking frightened.
"It's okay, Miss Trixie. You know, just because some other ponies don't appreciate you doesn't mean you're a bad pony. Some mean foals in my class tease me and call me 'Blank Flank', but they don't know anything. I have potential."
Now tears are forming in her eyes. I pick her up, gently.
"Scootaloo, what you said is true. Ponies who tease or bully other ponies are just haters, they don't know anything."
She smiles at me. "Geez, I dunno why Twilight doesn't like you. You seem like a really nice pony."
"Well, Trixie is not like this all the time. Trixie was very arrogant, and Trixie was hurt because of it. You see, when Trixie was little-" Scootaloo tapped me on the shoulder. "Could you stop talking in the third person?" she asks. "Of course. When I was little, my mother wanted me to amount to greatness, to become Celestia's student. Of course, Twilight Sparkle took that away from me, and my mother was very angry at me. She told me, when I was twelve, 'Go, Trixie Lulamoon. You are no daughter of mine, if you would disappoint me like this.' She pushed me out onto the streets, I never came back home again. I started a magic show in Manehatten, and traveled all around until I came to Ponyville, where those street urchins Snips and Snails destroyed my career by bringing that Ursa Minor to town. Stupid whelps."
Scootaloo laughed, then covered her mouth with a hoof. "Omigosh, I'm so sorry Trixie, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that they really are stupid. I'm also really sorry that your mom was so mean to you. In the words of Pinkie Pie, what a meanie pants!"
I stroke her mane. "It's okay, it is sort of funny. What was your life like?"
She wrinkles her nose. "Are you sure you want to know?"
I nod, continuing to stroke her mane.
"Well, Miss Trixie, if you really want to know, my mother and father were both pegasi, friends of the Wonderbolts. We lived in Ponyville, where they raised me as a hardcore pony, were a bit disappointed when they found out I can't fly, but they got over it. They were incredibly supportive of me, I cried for days when they told me that I would never fly. Then they got me my first scooter. I loved it. One day, I was at home, practicing with my scooter, when Derpy the mail pony gave me a scroll. It read, 'Scootaloo, your parents have been killed by a magical accident. Please come to the Ponyville Orphanage.' I couldn't believe it. My dreams, had been destroyed, and now my parents were dead?"
Tears were in her eyes as she remembered the day her parents died. I snuggled her protectively.
"Poor little Scootaloo, it's going to be okay." I murmur, stroking her mane again.
She looks up at me angrily.
"But don't you see? It's never going to be okay! Anyway, when Miss Slaphappy took me in, I was the only orphan there. She was a jerk. Whenever I broke any of her rules, like not to eat to much, or buy anything of my own, or stay out past five, she would slap me. Hard. That's what her cutie mark was in, slapping."
"Oh my Celestia, that's horrible!" I exclaim.
"Yeah, it was, but when I had finally had enough of her violence, I ran away one night. I hid next to the schoolhouse and stayed there for a little while, shivering. Then I realized I couldn't hide there forever, so I went to my friend Applebloom's house. She and her family let me stay there, but I told them I couldn't stay there forever. I started living in this little playground, and the Apple family give me some food."
"Oh Scootaloo! That's such a sad story!"
She leaned in closer to me.
"Hey, I'm fine now. I might have sustained a lot of hurt, but everything turned out all right in the end. I may not be able to fly, but I can go faster than Rainbow Dash on my scooter! Also, I may not have my cutie mark yet, but that just means I'm not stuck being a jerk to other ponies who don't have theirs."
I nuzzle the top of her head with my chin.
"Sometimes it seems like I'm not worthy of being a unicorn. Twilight Sparkle told me that I was misusing my powers and don't deserve to be a unicorn."
Scootaloo looks at me angrily.
"That's the meanest thing anypony's ever said! It doesn't matter whether you have powerful magic like Twilight, or can fly fast like Rainbow Dash, or even have a cutie mark. What makes you important is that every pony is their own pony, and ponies who think that all ponies should be perfect, are jerks!"
I look at her and smile.
"That's the greatest speech I ever heard," I say, snuggling her close.
We stay that way for a long time, curled up together, two ponies who have both been hurt deeply.
Eventually she looks up at me.
"Miss Trixie, can you come to the orphanage with me? I need a friend to help me do this."
"Scoots, if you're thinking of going back to that orphanage, that's a great idea. But I have a better one."
She looks at me curiously, tilting her head. "What?"
"Would you object to me...adopting you?"
She leaps up and hugs me.
"I'd love that! Will you please? Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"The only problem is, I don't have a house."
She smiles at me.
"Who needs a house?"
"Hey, you want to have an awesome trip?"
She nods eagerly.
I light my horn up, a magical aura starting to form. Power rushes from my horn, and encases us both in a bluish-silver bubble. It lifts up in the air, flying over Ponyville slowly. Scootaloo looks at me, amazed.
"Wow! This is amazing!" She jumps up in the air happily.
I look down and notice we're almost there.
The bubble gently floats down outside the orphanage, and then bursts.
"Thank you, Miss Trixie."
I smile, and rub her head.
We walk inside the orphanage. Luckily, by now, it's sort of morning, and the orphanage is actually open.
Miss Slaphappy is sitting at the front desk.
"Scootaloo! You've been missing for two weeks! Explain yourself, young filly, because you are in deep, deep trouble." she barks. I clear my throat.
"My name is Trixie Lulamoon, I'm a Ponyville citizen, and I'm twenty two, which I believe are the grounds for adopting a foal, correct?"
The rude nurse nods, still glaring at Scoots.
"Well, I'd like to adopt Scootaloo."
Her jaw falls open.
"What? But surely you want a better filly! This filly is rude, filthy and a thief!"
Scootaloo gets red. "I did not steal anything! You're lying!"
I clear my throat again.
"Miss Slaphappy? I believe you are supposed to give me the Adoption Papers."
She pushes some papers to me. Using magic, I signed them.
"And that should make it official. Thank you, Miss Slaphappy."
She just stares into space, her jaw still hanging open.
Scoots and I walk out the door and go back to the playground.
"So, you're my mother now?"
I smile.
"Yes, if that's what you want."
She grins and snuggles closer to me.
"I love you, Mom."
I cuddle her in my hooves. She quickly falls asleep. Poor darling, she's been up all night.
Then I realize something. What she meant before was that I am Great and Powerful, no matter with my arrogance or not. What makes somepony great is believing that they are great, not bragging about their talents.
