Crystals Grow on Rainbows

The relationship between Twilight Sparkle and Trixie Lulamoon turned out to be one of those, undefinable friendships. Both had a talent for magic, albeit in different areas, and while they worked comfortably together on several occasions, it wasn't clear to anyone if there was something going on behind closed doors. All the student alicorn could find herself noticing was their rather creepy awareness of what the other had been doing.

"Now, just follow my lead. The purpose of this lesson will be to introduce you to the magic behind fireworks, a particular speciality of mine. And given your special asset, you have the potential to cast spells mid-flight, which could lead to limitless possibilities. And the Crystal Ponies do love a great celebration, this should be good practice, and I promise a lot of fun." Opal was too busy watching the skies to pay much attention. Of all the times for Rainbow Dash to get a Cloudsdale summons, why did it have to be the very day that her first real flying lesson was supposed to be?

Trixie concentrated her magic for a moment, causing a bright blue rocket to fire up into the air. The resulting firework wasn't as spectacular as it would probably be at night, but it was impressive nonetheless. It had Opal vaguely interested now; at least there had been a big point about the relation to flying practice. But it still wasn't going to make up for missing out today. "Ookay... Looks, great I guess."

Trixie seemed rather enthusiastic about the whole thing, but she couldn't find the motivation to have a similar level of involvement. Magic tricks were supposed to be an addition to flying, not a prerequisite. One of Princess Luna's big words from her very brief time at the Night Palace. "It's a simple spell that only requires the one spell itself to be learned first. We can move onto details at a future lesson."

A future lesson, sure. More likely than not it would be added onto the end of today's lesson. Okay, so she was an alicorn, and that generally meant powerful magic. But that didn't necessarily mean that she'd be a fast learner, or a good one for that matter. Oh of course, Aunty Trixie didn't know that she had scraped through magic school. For all she knew, she was the best in her class! More like the wanna-be drop out. Still, if she gave it a decent try, that would cut down on repeats, and that had to be worth a little effort.

"Okay okay, just give me a minute." Using the method that Twilight had taught her for focusing her magic, she spread her hooves out and lowered her head. As her horn began to glow, her wings spread out to the sides as if to reflect the magic back into her horn. It was a reflex, but it did help in this case, at least there was some sensation of magic coming from her horn. "It's, not working! I can feel it, but it's not enough!" Sparks were beginning to fly at that point, and still no projectile. Trixie moved closer to investigate why Opal was having trouble.

"Uh, Opal? Perhaps you're trying too hard; you could accidentally make a somewhat larger one than..." Larger was an apt description, the rocket itself produced a dazzling light of rainbows. Trixie had to stumble back to avoid being caught in the magical after-burn, and to get a good look at the result. Fortunately for the rest of Ponyville, but not so fortunately for judging Opal's performance, the projectile continued on for several seconds longer before finally exploding into a shower of colourful embers and streaks. Twilight was nearby when the display came, drawing her to Trixie's place.

"You two alright? That was a pretty big burst there, and for a moment, I was worried something had gone wrong. Looks like you did great Opal!" The filly looked blankly at her mentor. More enthusiasm about her growing magical powers! Really what she didn't want to hear at all. The temptation to run off and try another stunt suddenly felt really appealing. "I'm sorry you missed out on flying today, Rainbow's on her way back now. Apparently there was an emergency at the weather factory with one of the rainbow fountains, pretty dangerous stuff."

It was too much for Opal to take any more, one mom working on dresses all day, the other going out and doing really awesome stuff. And she had to sit there and make fireworks, in the daytime. "You know what? I'm sick of magic! I wanna learn how to fly, not do all this fancy-shmancy stuff like turning rocks into crystals, and making me disappear. It's just not cool enough... Why should I be grounded all the time when I have wings!?"

Twilight took a step back at the outburst. Sick of magic? How would she explain that to Celestia in her next letter? And right now, how could she possibly provide an answer that was both truthful and non-upsetting for the young princess? "Well... Magic is a key part of Equestria; it's entwined into every pony, in some form or another. And you've got a part of Celestia's magic in you, don't you recall the early years where they needed to mute all magic in your presence? I know it's difficult to understand, but all of us involved wanted you to live here, without causing problems."

A moment of unintentional silence passed. Opal looked at her wings again in desperation. So technically, it was Celestia's fault that she had to wait so long to learn how to fly like Dash. Of course, nopony would understand how she felt. They never did, or chose not to at least. Twilight was just a plain unicorn; magic was pretty much obvious for her path. But she had her destiny selected by others for her. To be a magical princess, not a cool one clearly.

"Well, I think I got the hang of my, correction, Celestia's magic. So will you two stop forcing these lessons on me, just because mom's not here?" Seeing no point in trying to argue more, the filly began storming off away from them. One more mention of magic and she was very well prepared to run off into the Everfree Forest and hide forever. That wouldn't be so bad; at least magic was less potent there. She wouldn't have to worry about ever using her horn again!

The sound of a pony landing down behind her made Opal jump. She half turned to see Rainbow Dash waiting there with a grin on her face. "Hey Opal, what's up? Sorry I couldn't keep our lesson today, there was rainbows pouring out over all of Cloudsdale. Looked pretty neat if you ask me, but y'know pegasi, they've got a very small appreciation for colourful stuff. Unlike us of course. So how's things been for you?"

The filly lowered her head again in shame. Would it be fair to lie about shouting at Twilight and Trixie about how she didn't want more magic in her life? "I uh... lost my temper at Twilight just now, she kept talking about magic. And I don't want more, I just want to fly." She hugged Dash's leg at that moment in the chance that it wouldn't come across well. Feeling the soft rub on her back removed that fear. Dash was always understanding.

"I'll talk to her about it, you just needed to say that you're not comfortable with the pressure being put on you and she would've understood. Twilight's as obsessive about magic as Mom is about perfection, but she won't ignore you, okay?" Wrapping her wing around Opal allowed her to sit properly again, without leaving her daughter insecure. "Now, when you're ready, what do you say to heading up and teaching you take off from that hill you rode down before?"

Opal's eyes lit up at that moment, finally, what she had been desperately waiting for! "Really? Thank yoooou!" Racing off back towards the mountain, she didn't notice Rainbow Dash head back in Twilight's direction briefly. Dash had told her she would sort things out after all. Twilight and Trixie both seemed rather hurt by Opal's outburst however, both holding each other close.

"Hey Twi, Trixie, try not to take it personally okay? I think it's about time she got some flying time in anyway. She'll be back to herself in a few days; I'll make sure she apologizes personally before her birthday, to both of you."