Trixie's Forest Retreat

by crowscrowcrow

Chapter 34 - Recess *

A loud bell announced the start of recess, prompting all the little unicorn fillies and colts to abandon their desks, then rush for the door as loudly as only classrooms can. The teacher, a white unicorn stallion with a black mane and cutie mark shaped like a book and alembic named Strict Silence, stopped his lesson and grunted with all the commotion.

Trixie suspected that teaching was not really Professor Silence’s calling, at first she thought he might be more suited as a librarian. He certainly seemed to have a good name for it, but in practice he never tried to quiet the class down. He simply allowed for as much talking or fooling around as his students wanted, and would continue his lesson completely undeterred.

The reason for this was something Trixie had worked out over time. It had to be some kind of spell that simply stopped any sound, as it was not merely nonsense that he ignored, but also all questions or requests to use the little fillies room. The only time he actually responded was if a student was within a few hooves distance from him, and it seemed to annoy him.

Trixie would not have minded as much, if it was not for the fact that he also ignored all the teasing she had endured the past weeks. With the class now empty she approached Professor Silence till she was sure she was in his sphere and called out.

“Professor? I want to report on three students that are picking on me, my mom said you would know what to do.”

Strict Silence gave a wary sigh while he turned his attention to the straggler. “Miss Lunamoon, this school’s purpose is to sort out the wheat from the chaff in terms of magical abilities. Those with actual talent will be given recommendation to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. What you describe is one of the ways we differentiate between the wheat and the chaff, that is simply the way of the world. If you are having trouble then I am sure you can figure out which of the two you are.”

“…Chaff?”

“You certainly will be with that attitude. You have made good progress since you started, don’t squander it on self-pity. Do not think that these things are static, they are relative. Wheat can easily become as worthless as chaff if it has to compete with higher quality wheat, so if the chaff works hard enough it… this analogy is breaking down. Do you understand? Either way shouldn’t you be elsewhere?” Without waiting for a reply he turned back to his desk and floated up a wheat sandwich with chaff.

He’s not going to do anything? Was that an analogy or was he just hungry? That did not help at all! I guess I should go find Flitter before recess is over.

She left the classroom and made her way towards the cafeteria, usually Flitter would be there letting everypony go ahead of her. Trixie could not believe how hard it was to get her to do much of anything. She already learned a spell from Flitter, but she had made no progress in getting her any more confident so far.

The cafeteria was a busy place, even if the school was not that big it was still the biggest gathering of foals she had ever seen.

On one side was the lunchmare’s counter. She always had something for sale, but the menu tended to vary a lot, and all the good stuff was in short supply. Trixie especially liked the peanut butter chocolate chip muffins when she could get her hooves on them.

Getting there late meant missing out on the specials for that day, and the staple menu was pretty bad, especially the oatmeal. Flitter Bouquet was almost always late, usually dead last and stuck with the oatmeal.

It had been their main focus for confidence training. Each lunch period they took turns. One of them would sit down at the table closest to the counter area, and the other would get their lunches.

Trixie served as example, with a confident stride and a quickening of her pace to get to the back of the line before another approaching pony just because she could. She would retrieve the coveted peanut butter chocolate muffins if they were there that day, one for each of them, or something else of the special list if she had to make do.

The plan was to have Flitter mimic Trixie’s approach and return with something special. But so far it always ended up with Flitter at the back of the line mumbling “excuse me” to the ponies that lined up in front of her while Trixie hoof gestured like crazy to get her to just get in line.

This approach meant that half the time Trixie had to settle for oatmeal, and she would accuse Flitter of making her miss out on a proper lunch in jest. On one occasion she could not laugh it off however, when she had to watch helplessly from her table as the last of her precious muffins got taken. She glared daggers at the continuously apologizing Flitter that day while she silently chewed her stale oats.

However, to Trixie’s surprise Flitter was not at her usual spot at the back of the line. Excitement filled her as she brought her attention to the menu, muffins were listed! “No way! You managed it this time!? Huh… Flitter?” The nearest table was empty, her friend nowhere to be found.

Trixie let her gaze sweep over the rest of the tables, looking for the dull gray and purple colors of Flitter. It did not take long to spot her, ironically Flitter's dull tones made her stand out all the more amongst all the vibrant colored ponies, much to her chagrin.

The good news, Flitter Bouquet was balancing a tray with two glorious peanut butter chocolate muffins on her back. The bad news, Flitter stood with her rump against a wall, and was surrounded by a very familiar trio of unicorns: Starlight, Sunny Days, and Moon Rock.

She dashed across the cafeteria towards the trio but stopped herself when she got within earshot, staring at the variously blue coated trio. Ah wait, what am I going to do? I can’t take them on, it never works, they’re way better than me. I’ll just get ‘trashed’ again, and Flitter along with me.

“Come on, ‘Bucket’, hand them over. We’re starving here, you wouldn’t let poor starving ponies waste away would you?” Starlight grinned. She stood directly in front of Flitter. Her purple mane slicked back. Trixie hated her, she always started everything.

“Yeah look at poor Sunny, she’s so hungry she can barely smile. You want to put a smile on her face don’t you, Bucket?” Moon Rock added in an overly sympathetic tone, giving Flitter the puppy dog eyes treatment. Or rather ‘eye’ as long, deep-blue locks covered the other one up. She was the smart one, and probably why the other two passed their first test with such high marks, she was also a horribly manipulative mule in Trixie’s estimation.

“What? Girls I have a lunch right here, I’m just wai—Oohhh, never mind I got it! So hungry I can’t think! And uh bucket!” Sunny Days giggled cheerily on Flitter’s right side, her short golden yellow mane shook as she did. Trixie… did not really have anything bad to say about her.

Flitter looked panicked from one to the other as they spoke, her gaze lingering the longest on Starlight’s Amethyst eyes while the others only got passing glances. They were just like Trixie’s. “I-I can’t, we n-need eat t-too, please? I-I finally got a special.”

“Yeah you got one because everypony else was watching the fight! That’s like cheating or something, Bucket! Everybody else already ate theirs and now we don’t get any while you haven’t even touched yours? I don’t think so.” Starlight leaned in closer. “Hand them over.”

“Don’t be like that Starlight, you know she’s saving them for her ‘marefriend’, isn’t that right Flitter? Where is Trickery at? Did you think you were going to get a reward for getting the special? Oh I know, a proper kiss? A date maybe?” Moon Rock’s sly smile crept up as she watched Flitter blush even through her dark coat and shake her head furiously.

“Is that all? I could kiss you and get the muffin, that’s a good trade.” Sunny Days laughed and leaned in, but received a swat to the horn by Starlight.

“Sunny! No! What’s wrong with you, we talked about this. Kissing is for colts. Geez what if somepony saw you, do you want to be a weirdo like Trickery? Forget this just gra—”

“BEHOLD! The Great and Powerful Trixie! New and improved! The greatest unicorn in Hoofington!” Trixie stood up on one of the tables, screaming at the top of her lungs while a shower of red, gray and purple sparks rained down around her. While all eyes were glued to her, more than she had ever seen, she raised up one hoof at the sky, or ceiling in this case. “Trixie has mastered magic! Who dares dispute her superiority? All those who doubt Trixie’s power better FLEE NOW.” She glanced at Flitter Bouquets eyes for just a second as she spoke the last words.

“What the hay! Trickery the best unicorn? Hah!” Starlight shouted, but getting all eyes of the cafeteria on her made her stumble for a second. “What are you looking at? She’s the weirdo on the table!”

Moon Rock for once did not try to follow up on Starlight, letting her and Trixie have all the attention.

Sunny Days laughed at the spectacle. “Ohh pretty lights! Huh not very colorful though! Oh oh let me try!” She jumped on an opposite table and set her blue horn a light with an orange light and levitated three plates, each with the orange glow around them to make more light.

Flitter Bouquet looked up at Trixie stunned for a moment by the crazy act, once she caught her eyes though she gave a small nod. The moment Sunny ran off to compete she escaped through the gaping hole left in their formation and made for the door, carrying the muffing outside to their secret practice area. She gave one look back as she passed through the door, watching Trixie’s flank give off a spark that was not part of the spell.

Standing on top of the table in the cafeteria with all eyes on her as she out preformed Sunny Days’s attempt at light magic plates with an explosion of tri-colored sparks. Trixie’s cutie mark sparkled into existence.

“Was there ever any doubt!?”

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.

How did Trixie get her Cutie Mark?
Will we ever find out if she actually wakes up?
Is Sunny Days the mastermind?

Some of these questions may be answered,

Comments

[Phaoray]

Haha! The battle begins!

to use the use the little fillies room.

I'm sure you see the issue.

Strict Silence gave a wary sigh while he turned her attention to the straggler

Very odd indentation between these two words, and also odd that he becomes a she all of a sudden.

mumbling “excuse me” to the ponies that in front

i don't understand the 'that in front' part.

muffins get taken. She glared daggers at the continuously apologizing Flitter that day while she silently chewed her stale oaths.

i think 'got' sounds better than 'get' in this scenario. Also love Trixie chewing on her oaths.

I’ll just get ‘trashed’ again, and Flitter Bouquet along with me.

i'd assume by now that they are close enough friends for trixie to not use Flitter's last name all the time, Her full name does come up as a few random times in this chapter which is a bit confusing to me. Would Trixie really mentally use her full name instead of just thinking of her as 'Flitter'?

Don't quite get the professor in this, i mean, if the students get into a fight and are severely injured and one of them mentions that he ignored them when they came to him for help with the situation he's kinda screwed. Doesn't seem like a very smart teacher to me, but ah well. This does make me curious to understand how Flitter turned on her. Also, grats on delaying showing us what happened to Trixie. Jerk.

[crowscrowcrow]

4244566

Haha! The battle begins!

Oh! It. Is. On.

Thanks for pointing those out.
Drat some of these are silly, serves me right for thinking I could proofread on 3 hours of sleep.

i'd assume by now that they are close enough friends for trixie to not use Flitter's last name all the time, Her full name does come up as a few random times in this chapter which is a bit confusing to me. Would Trixie really mentally use her full name instead of just thinking of her as 'Flitter'?

The full name thing is a pony culture thing. They seem to just use each others names completely inconsistently and randomly. I assume it is for the benefit of the audience, so they know the proper names. I ran with it. It seemed important to point out Flitter Bouquet's proper name since I had shortened it to Flitter so often I was worried the 'Bucket' nickname would appear to make no sense, but.I may have over done it.
Ultimately I agree it just looks weird and changed it so it is not part of Trixie's dialogue. Thanks for mentioning it.

Don't quite get the professor in this, i mean, if the students get into a fight and are severely injured and one of them mentions that he ignored them when they came to him for help with the situation he's kinda screwed. Doesn't seem like a very smart teacher to me, but ah well.

Tenure is weird.

This does make me curious to understand how Flitter turned on her.

I am pleased to hear that. All will be revealed.

Also, grats on delaying showing us what happened to Trixie. Jerk

I am the worst.

[fimfic4ever]

so sunny days is like the unicorn version of derpy? nice

another great chapter from one of my favourite ongoing stories keep up the good work

[crowscrowcrow]

4246396
I had not thought of it that way. I guess she does have similarities, Especially with the mane style, total happy accident.^^
She definitely belongs in that category of special ponies, along Pinkie.

Thanks! I will most certainly do so!

[Knight of the Raven]

I didn't need Strict Silence to mention Celestia's school to know Trixie didn't go there. If Celestia knew how he treated Trixie, she would have him quartered.

I must admit I don't care much about Trixie's past. Until very recently, I didn't like any original character (and the lucky mare that broke the spell happens to be a Twilight recolor, of all things ) and I'm interested in where the canon characters will go, not where they come from.

You can guess my opinion of the 'we'd have been laughed out of the room as mary sues if we hadn't been written by the show's team' royal couple.

I found only one mistake; a double space before 'this school's purpose'.

a wheat sandwich with chaff

[TheGreatEater]

Those with actual talent will be given recommendation to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns.

Cap.
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