“Trixie? Triiiiiiixie!”
Twilight shuddered as the cool night air gently caressed her fur. Now that the chaos had settled and everypony was back in their homes and safe from the Ursa Minor, Twilight thought it fitting to check up on the boasting pony who had fled town. Twilight continued to call out for her, but no response. She sighed as she plopped her rear onto the pathway.
“She couldn’t have gone that far…”
Twilight’s ears perked up suddenly at the sound of rustling bushes about a few yards in front of her. She stood up and squinted her eyes to get a good look at them, assuring it wasn’t anything dangerous. When the sound of sniffling started to mix in with the swishing shrubbery, Twilight rushed behind them. Before her, crying with her face buried in her hooves and a puddle of tears below, was the former “Great and Powerful Trixie”.
“Trixie…”
The blue unicorn looked up suddenly, the shock in her eyes from realizing she was no longer alone suddenly turned to glares of resentment and spite. “Twilight Sparkle… come to humiliate “The Great and Powerful Trixie” again?!”
Twilight sighed and lowered her head as she sat in front of Trixie. “No, actually the opposite, I wanted to see if you were ok.”
“Ha! That’s a good one, maybe you’re the one who should have a show, you’d make a great comedy act!”
Twilight shook her head and a small smirk etched across her face. “It could never hold a candle to your theatrical melodrama.”
Trixie wiped her face, she did her best to give the most hateful and antagonizing stare she could despite the redness and puffiness of her eyes. “You’re really something else you know that, Sparkle?! The type to smile at somepony one minute and spit right in their eye the next!”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest Trixie’s statement but before she could the blue unicorn had turned away and sat down to look up at the star-lit sky. “Some ponies just never change.”
“And some ponies stay exactly the same.” Twilight retorted with a slight grin.
Trixie scoffed she smacked her lips to rid herself of the disgusting taste in her mouth. “I knew that garbage unsettled my stomach for a reason…”
Twilight emitted a soft chuckle and sat down next to Trixie. “So it’s garbage now? Because in magic kindergarten, it was the quota we lived by…or does “The Great and Powerful Trixie” not remember that?”
Trixie covered both ears with her hooves and shot an evil piercing stare at Twilight who only deflected it with an innocent beaming smile. “Is that all you came here to do? Taunt “The Great and Powerful Trixie” with your nostalgic quips?”
“Like I said before, I came to make sure you were ok.”
“Drop the act, Sparkle, “The Great and Powerful Trixie” didn’t fall for it then, and she most certainly won’t fall for it now.”
“Well back then you were “The Amazingly Awesome and Astounding Trixie” so don’t you mean th–”
“Silence!” Trixie bellowed pressing her face against Twilight’s whose current smile hadn’t yet faded. The blue unicorn blushed slightly and turned away, “”The Great and Powerful Trixie” left that name back in magic kindergarten, the same place where she herself was abandoned by her only friend.”
Twilight’s smile quickly faded to a frown. She raised an eyebrow. “I never abandoned you Trixie!”
Trixie turned around again more fiercely, an intense resentment burning in her dark violet eyes. “How DARE you call “The Great and Powerful Trixie” a liar?! The details of it continuously play in her head daily!”
Trixie lowered her head as her gaze fell upon the swaying blades of grass. She closed her eyes tightly as she used every ounce of mental strength she had to stop the oncoming tears bursting behind her eyelids.
"There we were, on the stage for Magic Show and Tell…"
“And now you worthless little fillies! Behold as I, the Amazingly Awesome and Astounding Trixie, along with my assistant Twilight Sparkle, turn this pile of hay into a sculpture of Princess Celestia herself!”
The young fillies stared in awe as the young Trixie’s cape flew in the wind, Twilight supplying the gust of air via tiny fan she conjured up with her own magic. The parents all sat slightly amused at the stage presence of the young fillies. Princess Celestia herself, who held true to her annual ritual of watching the Magic Kindergarten show, was also present and regally masked her flattery of the young students’ gesture.
Trixie looked at Twilight smiled at her. “Are you ready, Twi?” she whispered.
Twi swallowed nervously. “Trixie, this isn’t going to work.”
“Nonsense! The Amazingly Awesome and Astounding Trixie always knows what she’s doing!”
“But you didn’t read that entire chapter! There was stuff in the boxes and in the summary abou-“
“Oh, silly little ignorant Twilight. Nopony reads the text in the boxes because everypony knows those are useless facts that don’t apply to the actual material! Now get in position!”
Twilight sighed and got on the other side of the pile of hay. She bit her lip and then glared. “I’m not doing it Trixie! Something bad will happen!”
A bit of chatter erupted from the audience as they waited for the two young ponies to present their magic. Trixie looked among the crowd whose faces went from awe to concern. She shot a menacing glare at Twilight. “Fine! I’ll do it myself!”
Trixie closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn began to illuminate, and the hay began to quiver slightly. Suddenly it started floating and piecing itself together. Within seconds, the hay formed into a sculpture that resembled Celestia herself. The audience cheered wildly, slamming their hooves on the ground at such an amazing feat accomplished by ponies of such a young age. Trixie shot Twilight a smug smile whose face still showed signs of concern. The purple filly gasped when she noticed a slight spark come from one of the pieces of hay.
“Uh oh…”
The spark flared slightly, then a thin line of smoke slivered into the air as the tiny piece of hay burned. Suddenly the whole sculpture combusted in a blinding light, the ponies stomped their hooves again as the fire roared slightly. There was a problem, however. The statue didn’t burn to ashes, yet remained on fire. It began to move slightly, then it neighed violently and raised its forelegs in the air, flailing wildly before landing and kicking its back legs as if it had a violent animal on its back. As the flaming sculpture bucked and kicked, flames dispersed everywhere, landing on the ground causing ponies to jump and scatter for their lives.
Twilight backed away from the sculpture while Trixie remained stunned, shocked as the burning figure seemed to be looking right into her eyes. As her breathing became staggered, Trixie slowly began to back away only to have the statue corner her against the wall, the heat of the blazes violently penetrating past her fur and to her skin sucking all moisture from her body. The smoke encased her, sucking away all the oxygen in her lungs as she tried to inhale. Trixie closed her eyes as she cried what she thought were her last tears.
Suddenly, the cooling sensation of water drowned Trixie. She sat up coughing, and wiped the liquid from her eyes. She glanced around to see the burnt ashes of her failure along with several ponies crowded around Twilight cheering and applauding her for her bravery. Trixie glared at the purple unicorn but before she could even attempt to speak a word, she was assaulted by some ashes to the face from two other fillies.
“Amazingly Awesome and Astounding Trixie, huh?”
“More like, “Laughingstock, and Lame Loser Trixie!”
The laughter filled the room, bouncing from wall to wall, swallowing Trixie and ripping any sense of pride she had to shreds. She buried her head, tears flowing down her face as the ponies pointed, laughed and heckled her. She peeked from behind her hooves and saw her former friend Twilight pointing and commenting as well.
“And from that day forth, I swore, I’d never be outshined by anypony ever again! I studied magic outside of school and when I was good enough, I put on dazzling shows in every town I could, showing my superior magic and challenging anypony who thought they could take me. But despite all the ponies I humiliated, I knew nothing would make me happy until I put to shame the one who upstaged, betrayed and mocked me! So I came to Ponyville to finally give you a taste of your own medicine. When you backed down from my challenge, it was clear to me my magic had surpassed yours over the years. But then, Snips and Snails had to release that stupid Ursa! Those idiots prodded me to stop it, then you swoop in and make me look like a fool!”
Trixie stamped a hoof to the ground gritting her teeth before a thought hit her that made her shoot Twilight an accusing stare. “You told them to do that, didn’t you? You set it up so you could make me a laughing stock again and rub it in my face just like before! ”
Trixie let out a violent sniff, and blinked a few times as she exhaled, determined to stop the tears of her painful memory.
Twilight approached her. “Trixie, you thought I was making fun of you back then?”
“I know you were! I saw you! Pointing and yelling, just like the rest of them!” Trixie stomped her hoof into the ground, gritting her teeth as holding back the tears made her heart heavier.
“That’s not what happened Trixie!”
“Oh, really? What did happen then, Sparkle? I’d love to hear it!” Trixie said, officially giving up the fight and allowing the tears to fall freely now.
Twilight sighed and gently nuzzled her friend who shrugged her off and turned away. “After I destroyed that sculpture…”
Twilight’s chest constricted and expanded as she caught her breath. Sweat poured down her face as she looked up, relieved to see she stopped the beast before it destroyed her friend. She slowly took a step to approach Trixie, but was suddenly lifted up by her concerned parents, showered with worry then drowned with affection and adoration by them and all the ponies who witnessed her amazing act of bravery and advanced magic. Despite all this, Twilight’s concern laid heavily on her weeping unicorn friend on the other side of the room, being mocked by fellow classmates and what appeared to be some adult ponies as well. She reached a hoof out to her, calling out her name.
“Trixie! Trixie are you ok?! Trixie!”
Twilight frowned as the azure colored unicorn looked up, eyes riddled with a revolting mix of disappointment, desperation, hatred, and betrayal.
“Trixie! It’s gonna be ok! TRIXIE!!!”
Trixie stared at the ground as Twilight finished the story.
“I wasn’t making fun of you Trixie, I just wanted to make sure you were ok. When I got to school tomorrow, the teacher said you had withdrawn.”
Trixie sniffled as she replayed the moment in her head. The more and more the situation played out in her mind, the more Twilight’s side seemed plausible. Had she been carrying this burden in her heart this whole time for nothing? Trixie’s lip quivered as she struggled to speak.
“Trixie, you were my first friend outside of my family. We were always reading together, looking up at the sky at night and naming the constellations and looking ahead in our magic books and practicing magic, even when the teacher told us not to. The only difference between us was that, I just was happy learning, you wanted to show it off to everypony.”
“We were better than them Sparkle…they deserved to know…”
“We weren’t better than anypony. We were just overachievers.”
“And what is the satisfaction in that if nopony is calling out your name? Worshipping the ground on which you walk? Kneeling before you and acknowledging your hard work? Just like our idol Starswirl the Bearded!”
“He never set out to be famous; he wanted to make the world a better place, for the generations that followed. He wanted to broaden the young minds fueled by knowledge just like he was. That’s why we both loved talking about him so much, remember?”
Trixie lowered her head again and let out a deep sigh. She raised her head to look at the night time sky, eyes slowly falling upon the moon as it decorated the sky with its illumine. “I just…want to be as great as he was Twilight. I want my life to have meaning, to thrive with purpose and to change the world just like he did.”
Twilight put a hoof around Trixie who, this time, didn’t back away. “And you can, but not through putting up fancy lights and stages and claiming that you’re better than everypony else.”
“Then how? Keeping my nose in those darn books all day like you do?”
“That’s a start. Starswirl didn’t just make up those spells out of thin air, he learned from those before him, he studied them in books day and night, picking apart each detail until he could find ways to improve the old spells while stumbling upon his own findings along the way.”
Trixie curled her lips to one side and gave a slight nod. “Maybe you’re right, Twi.”
“And Trixie…”
“Yeah?”
“You have to read, no sense in showing off your magic if you can’t even distinguish the difference between an Ursa Major and an Ursa Minor.”
Trixie immediately blushed, she tried to give an angry glare to her fellow unicorn but all that flickered in her eyes was sheer embarrassment. “Ha, ha ha, very funny.”
“Maybe if SOMEPONY would read the text in the little boxes tha–”
“Oh, shut up, Sparkle!”
Trixie rolled her eyes while Twilight shot her an innocent smile. She succumbed to her former friend’s kindness and couldn’t help but smile herself. Twilight notice her shudder a bit as the chilly night breeze grazed them both. “Say Trixie, you maybe want to, come back to the library with me? We could sit out on my porch and name constellations like the old days.”
Trixie stood up and raised her nose to the air. “I suppose that would be sufficient. I, “The Great and Powerful Trixie” do not mind sharing my vast knowledge of the stars with the astrologically oblivious.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and began walking back home. “Some ponies never change.”
Trixie trotted up beside her and smiled nuzzling her friend gently. “And some ponies stay exactly the same.”
.
Trixie stood in the mirror, raising her forelegs in the air while swaying back and forth making her cape swirl in the wind. “I am…The Amazingly Awesome and Fantastical Trixie…no…that’s stupid! Ugh Twilight! Help me think of a catch phrase!”
Not hearing a reply, Trixie turned to Twilight to see her head buried in their school’s magic book. She stormed over and slammed her hoof on the page to which the young purple filly’s eyes were fixated. Startled, Twilight looked up to meet her friend's dissapproving stare.
“Ugh, you’re reading that again? We already finished that book!”
“You may have finished, but I haven’t. Did you even read the information in these little boxes? There is so much useful stuff in here!”
“Ugggggh! Nopony reads the text in the boxes Twilight! It’s full of random outdated facts and useless garbage.”
“Nu, uh! It’s full of lots of important examples on how to fix spells that go wrong, brief histories on how certain conclusions were sustained and discovered, and even insightful quotes! Listen to this one,” Twilight cleared her throat. “Some ponies never change, and some ponies stay exactly the same.”
Trixie raised a brow, baffled at the unicorn’s fascination. “That’s the dumbest quote I’ve ever heard. It’s the same point reiterated!”
“It is not. Listen. “Some ponies never change” refers to the naturalistic behavior of living creatures and how they identify themselves to the most personal degree. Despite the fact that they may grow and develop physically, by nature they will always be under their own given classification. Good unicorns, Bad unicorns, Good Pegasi, etc.”
“Like the Absolutely Astounding and Amazing Trixie? Oooh, I must write that down!” Trixie exclaimed as she used her magic to bring forth a note pad and quill.
Twilight raised a brow and referred back to her book. ““Some ponies stay exactly the same” refers to the socialistic behavior of creatures. Although we are born to exist as what we are and can’t alter our physical nature, we have the ability to choose whether or not who we want to be, may it be a scientist, a doctor, a great friend, anything! Those ponies who choose to be contributors or withholders choose that path, thus they will always “stay the same”.”
“So what you’re saying is, The Absolutely Astounding and Amazing Trixie will always be Absolutely Astounding and Amazing?” Trixie said as she posed in the mirror with her cape.
Twilight chuckled and stood up to approach her friend and putting a hoof around her.
“It means that, no matter what our birth circumstances may be, we ultimately control our destiny. We decide what, where, how, and who we want to be.”
“And what is it you want to be, Twilight?” Trixie inquired, looking from the mirror at her friend.
“Well, although I’m not entirely sure yet, I do know one thing. I always want us to be the best of friends.”
Twilight wrapped her hooves around Trixie who smiled and hugged back. “I do too Twilight. I do too.”
The End
