Trixie approached their table with her usual cocky smile. "What have we here?" She waved over the family of ponies and kirin. "All come together to see Trixie perform?" She bowed from the waist. "How can Trixie reward such generous friends? Perhaps with an extra show?"

Maple grinned from ear to ear. "I would love to see some of your tricks." She leaned in closer. "Please, do go on."

Dusk waved a hoof as he corrected with a grin, "We didn't come together just for that. We're a family!"

Trixie offered a smile at Dusk. "But all in attendance will be rewarded with one show free of charge! Such is the way of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

The little group smiled up at her with joy. She swept them up in tricks and illusions that had her casually slicing them in half and drawing coins from unusual places. The entire room was applauding and stomping by the time she was done astounding them all. "Thank you, thank you. Trixie appreciates her fans understanding how Great and Powerful she is."

She leaned in over the table. "Trixie would like to speak to you, after the show."

"You were amazing!" Spruce waved his hooves. "How did you do that?"

Trixie winked. "A true magician never tells her secrets, so Trixie shall not tell you." With a flick of her tail, she trotted back towards the stage.

When the show properly concluded, ponies began to disperse into the areas beyond, while the Brighthooves family remained in place. They waited patiently, watching as the seats around them emptied. Only when Trixie returned, without the stage trappings, did they turn to her. "So patient. Fortunately, Trixie likes that." She casually ruffled Dawn as she arrived.

"We're a nice little family." Summer smiled softly. "Come on over and talk with us for a bit." She tapped the table. "Ya got us all curious now."

Winter eyed Trixie. "Why did you want to talk to us? I'm not mad, just a little confused."

"You shouldn't be." Trixie leaned in towards Winter, her eyes wandering up towards his horn. "Kirin are a fascinating topic for unicorns these days, especially magically active ones. Your existence gives us so many questions that only a kirin could hope to answer." She slid her gaze over the family with a faint smile. "A whole clan of them at once is doubly intriguing."

Spruce gasped, pointing at Trixie. "We're not even telling everypony we know about what he is, but you just guessed!"

Dawn giggled at that and pointed up at Winter's horn, then Dusk's smaller version of the same. "It's kinda obvious."

Trixie smirked at that. "That it is. It would be just as hard for a unicorn to hide their nature." She gestured up at her own smooth horn, at least, smooth compared to a kirin's. "The question Trixie is most curious about is can a kirin cast a unicorn's spell, and might the other way be possible?"

Dusk flicked his tail, shaking his head. "What do you mean by casting a spell?"

Winter shook his head. "None of us learned magic. So we can't help you with that question, sorry."

Trixie huffed gently. "A shame, but you're still of potential use, hm? For even if you sit in a dark cave of ignorance, she is the bringer of light!" With far more flare than was required, she produced a slender tome. "Behold!" She slapped it down, revealing it to be a unicorn foal's guide to their first spells. "Follow this and you can learn your first spell, or not. Trixie remains uncertain if kirin can learn unicorn magic or not. Only trying will reveal the truth."

Summer shrugged at the suggestion. "Ya make it sound so easy, but why should we? We're here for a vacation."

Winter patted her shoulder with a smile. "Well, now I'm a little curious." With his magic, he opened the book to peek at a few pages. They were mostly pictures, with big fonted words explaining what was going on. It was made for a young viewer. "It doesn't look scary."

Spruce leaned in. "Can we see?" He flicked through the pages as Winter allowed him access to the book. "So pretty! And, huh, there's just a lot of pictures, isn't there?"

Dusk calmly put a hoof on the words of the current page. "They have words." He looked up towards his father. "Dad, can you read to us?" They were still learning how to read. Adults did it so much faster.

Winter blinked at that, glancing aside before he took the book from Spruce and held it up for them all to see. "Since we're a family, and this book is meant for young foals, then I should read it to my foals." He nodded with building confidence in that logic. At least, before he looked back to Trixie. "Thank you. We'll try the book."

Trixie tapped her hooves together. "Lovely! Let Trixie know how you progress. She would love to hear one way or the other. Even if it doesn't work out, tell her."

"Can do!" Dusk beamed at her, flapping his arms gently. "Thank you for the book!"

Trixie waved from her flank. "Trixie will always help ponies and kirin refine their power." With her job complete for the evening, she walked off into the hotel, having assumed the role of any other visitor of the resort.

Summer stretched upwards. "Now, it's been a busy first day, but my bet's on gettin' y'all up to the room, some food in yer bellies, then we rest an' sleep for the night." She stood with a grunt, ready to walk out with them. "So, that's what we'll do."

Dusk bounced at the idea. "Okay! Food, fun, and rest!"

Dawn followed him out with a nod. "And you can read that book to us."

Spruce bounced in his steps. "Do you think we'll learn magic?"

Winter fell in beside the foals. "Maybe. It's just reading right now, not casting." He flicked his tail gently as he led his family into the elevator. As it smoothly raised, he touched his nose to each foal. "Did you all have fun on your first day?"

Dusk nodded rapidly. "There were so many ponies! And, um, it was great!"

Summer smooched each foal in turn. "Good job on havin' some fun, but make sure you don't wander off without your parents, okay? We're here to make sure nothing bad happens." She leaned against Winter's shoulder as the elevator door slid open with a soft ping.

Spruce stuck out his tongue. "We won't! 'Sides, so long as we don't leave the hotel, we're safe." The other foals rose their voices in a chorus of agreement.

Maple tapped at their heads. "If we're not there, 'least keep each other in view. No wanderin' off entirely alone. We jus' want all of ya safe."

They received little resistance on that, which satisfied them, leading the foals back to the room they were all sharing.

Dusk yawned gently, dragging his hooves. "What's for dinner?"

Winter hummed gently, floating over the thick menu of the hotel with more offerings than just food. He flipped it open and found the dine-in options. "Here we are." He set the menu down so that all of them could see it. "Little foals share. You can all pick one thing, and have some of what we're having."

Dawn squeaked with delight at the sheer array of dishes on offer. "All this is right here?"

Maple leaned in to bump her nose against Dawn's. "Everythin' there. But y'all gotta agree." She waved at the other foals. "So get talkin'."

The little group of three debated over what they wanted. Summer lounged on the bed while Winter settled beside her, giving them space.

Summer nudged him gently. "I hear ya movin' down there." She yawned gently. "Mmm, did you pick what you wan'?"

Winter bumped her shoulder back. "Hey, I'm just getting comfortable." He scooted closer to Summer. "They can figure it out." He stretched up with a groan, and flopped down on his side.

Summer snorted gently. "You can't pick what they pick. They'll want to share what we're havin', and it shouldn't be more of the same." She grabbed another menu and slid it in front of Winter. "Let's pick together if you're feeling too tired to do it."

"Fair enough." Winter opened the menu and started looking it over. "There are so many options, and they all sound delicious. How am I supposed to choose?" He hummed softly as he flipped through the pages.

Summer reached out and casually slapped down on the page that was open at the time her hoof came down. "How 'bout that?"

Winter nodded. "Looks good to me." He glanced up towards the foals, just to find them trying to catch their parents' attention. He stood up with a grunt, trotting over. "Decided?"

All three echoed the same dish, in agreement. "That sounds like a yes." He took a moment to gently ruffle the mane of each of them. "And?" He looked to the adults, who were nodding. "Time to order then."

Soon enough, a pony arrived with a cart laden with the delicious smells of their chosen dishes.

Dusk's eyes went wide. "That's so much!" He pointed at the table where they had been arranged, one plate for each parent, and three smaller plates for each foal. They got to taste everything their parents had picked, and get their own food. The result was three full and pleased foals. The parents were looking pretty happy themselves, sharing among each other until each was quite contently full.

Spruce stared at the table, having just finished his meal. "You know, I'm gonna miss this when we go home." He stood up and carefully walked around the table, pushing himself into Summer's side with a grunt.

Summer squeaked, wrapping an arm around Spruce and drawing him closer. "Don't think too hard 'bout when it's over. Enjoy it while it's here. We can get a thing or two to remind us of it later."

Winter lay sprawled on the ground, slumping slightly as he reached out towards Spruce. "We have a lot of time left here, so there is no need to rush." He grabbed a book with his magic. "Now, you wanted me to read this. Are you all ready?"

Dusk rolled onto his belly, watching Winter with wide eyes. "Yes! Please, dad, read to us."

Spruce joined his siblings in making pleading noises until Winter held up the book, cleared his throat, and began to read. The book went over first what a horn was, and why it was very important to a unicorn. Dawn and Spruce looked nervous at that part, neither having a horn of their own.

Winter pressed on, getting to the actual magic bits as he began to explain how a unicorn needed to think and focus to get their horn to glow, then to do magic.

Dusk was soon glowing gently, following along.

Spruce and Dawn made noises of effort, trying to glow like their horned sibling. Summer came over, placing a hoof on Dawn's head. "Well, maybe we should give you a horn, and see if it helps." She lifted up a silver fork, offering it to Dawn.

Dawn blinked at the fork. "How will this help?" She held it up where a horn should have been, if she had one. "Will it glow?" She focused on the fork, even if it felt quite silly to do. Her mind whirled as she tried to make sense of how it was supposed to work, remembering what the book had said.

To all their surprise, Dawn began to glow. The fork wasn't glowing, but the top of Dawn's head was. She squeaked with glee, dropping the fork and spinning in place with a happy giggle. "I did it! I glowed!" She wiggled her tail, eager to try more.

Spruce whimpered. Dawn twirled on him and put the fork to his head. "It worked for me. Make the fork glow!" He mimicked his sister, focusing as hard as he could on the piece of silverware, desperate to find the light within himself. He didn't realize that his head was starting to glow, because the fork wasn't.

Dusk and Spruce applauded the success. Dusk danced in place. "Yay! I didn't want to be the only one doing magic." He touched noses with each sibling one at a time. "We're all kirin!"

Spruce laughed, tossing the fork aside with a flourish. "Yeah! All three of us can do it! Wait, what do we do now?" He stared up at Winter and Summer.

Winter ruffled Spruce's mane gently. "We keep reading the book to find out. I'm very proud you got past the first part." He didn't practice that part, already able to make his horn glow. "The next page has—" And he continued reading from the book, showing them each cute picture with each flip of a new page.

Maple was walking up behind him as he was explaining, enjoying watching her foals learn.

Spruce frowned as Winter got to the end of the book. "There's no other spells?" He huffed softly, tapping a hoof on the ground.

Winter waved a cloven hoof. "You haven't learned all the spells we went over. The book had three. Can you do them all already?"

Spruce waved a hoof at his siblings. "Well, no." He was just being a little impatient about it all. He had just managed to make his head glow, which was a remarkable feat for not having a horn, but clearly he wanted more.

Dusk pounced on his brother. "We're doing great! Dad! Can you go over the first one again, please?"

Winter nodded as Summer joined them with the book in hoof. "Of course. You will always have us around to help you learn." He leaned in and kissed Dusk on the nose. "And practice too. Now, your dad doesn't know this spell." He didn't know any spells, other than glowing or moving things around. He was a little excited too to learn a real spell. Could kirin even do unicorn spells? Only one way to find out.

Summer bumped her hip against Winter's shoulder. "Jus' focus on your horn, close yer eyes if you gotta." She leaned in to nuzzle him. "Don't be scared."

Winter smiled at the encouragement. "You're so good." He kissed at the air, took a slow breath, and began to lead the children through the first spell even as he tried to follow it himself.

Author's Note

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