Trixie needs to learn how to command the stage and dazzle her audience if she’s to front her own travelling magic show after finishing school. The Wonderbolts, who sell out whole stadiums with their spectacular shows, offer work experience placements to schoolfillies Trixie’s age. There is exactly one problem with this plan.
Proofread at the very last minute by NaiadSagaIotaOar.
This was written for DrakeyC as a part of Jinglemas 2020.
That said, it's not massively focused on Hearth's Warming, so can hopefully be enjoyed all year round.
Chapters (1)
:o
What was the promo for this one? :)
10595433 ...Trixie and Spitfire...
('Light and fluffy is preferred, EQG is totally fine')
This is wonderful.
And I'm sold on this story already.
"A jetpack?"
"Some loser named 'Zephyr Breeze' submitted like, a dozen applications last month."
Maybe a team hamster...
This just says to me that Trixie has great health insurance, and considering we've seen her launch herself into a manticore's mouth, tie herself up chains, and lie in the middle of a road and dare somepony to run over her... yeah good call on her part.
"Does Trixie look purple to you?"
That's not flashiness Trixie, that's the skin-tight spandex uniforms.
So, Spitfire.
Though it did take her getting knocked into a trash can four times and a cloud bank three times. That first day was rough.
"I know how they get the caramel into the chocolate bar."
...no witty comment, this is accurate. I've the fanart to prove it.
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Ah, so this is where Trixie learned her narcissism.
*popcorn*
I've actually never even thought of this ship until now and I realize I may want it.
And if you tell any of the 'bolts that, I'll shove you off a cloud.
I'm assuming it involves a grope, a punch, and a court date.
"The Great and Articulate Trixie!"
"Keep workshopping it, kid."
Skin-tight spandex it is!
"I mean I did try it with my hair bunched up while smiling cutely, but they just kept giggling."
Nah, that's more suited for her assistant. And that's a thing too, there's official merch of Starlight in a cape and top hat. And somehow it never exploded the fanart scene.
That's true, actually. When the Ursa Minor came to Ponyville, Trixie was not in her cape. She should have known better than to try and confront it in such circumstance.
"She's going to enjoy spicy food and be into dragon culture!"
"And then I get home and she's still heckling me and I'm just like 'Mom, knock it off, it ain't funny anymore'."
I said it as a joke but turns out this where Trixie learned her narcissism.
Not just foals, Trix, I'm sure.
Tax fraud.
...I know that doesn't make sense, just the punchline that randomly sprang to mind in the moment. *shrug*
I did enjoy this very much. I liked that Trixie's view of the Wonderbolts was an angle Spitfire had never looked at the team with before, and how she was able to figure out the connection between their work and Trixie's perspective in a way that articulated what Trixie was looking for. I admit I wasn't sure what angle my recipient would take with the prompt, I'd just never really seen the two characters in a fic together and thought it could be something interesting, and you took in a great, logical direction that works for both of them.
If I'm gonna be a nitpick a little bit, I think Spitfire was a bit too talky and it went on a bit long, but I also got the sense that she was kind of figuring out how to articulate the ideas she was conveying herself, so it wasn't a drag. I also wish we could have seen Trixie actually trying to do work with the Wonderbolts, but the wordcount limit is a thing and diving into that would have likely pushed this over the edge. But again, I'm being nitpicky.
This was a great treat, thank you very much for it.
Sweet! This was really interesting. Poor Trixie
10595588 Ok, two months later it's probably time I wrote a reply to this
I agree with all your points on the story, completely. The issue my end wasn't the word limit, but the deadline. Last December was an absolute month from Hell for me, which is the main reason I'm only just replying to this now. I spent most of the month swaying on very strong painkillers or in worse shape from bad medication. So getting this done in time was very much a saga of working flat out once well enough, right up until the deadline. I didn't have a chance to read it through after finishing, let alone edit. If I remember rightly, I got it done with a few minutes to spare, but sorting out cover art took me an hour or two over.
That's why the dialogue here is so one-sided, it was quicker to basically write Spitfire a monologue and then just have Trixie interject here and there. It's why the prose is very basic, too, functional rather than creative. It's hard to see how this scenario would have ever been a conversation where both parties contribute similar numbers of words, but with more time that's what I'd have liked it to be closer to. With far more thoughts between the dialogue excerpts, too. I agree, seeing Trixie actually working with the 'Bolts would have been nice, the plan when I thought of the story was for it to be a series of scenes, each with a different character or small group of characters, and Trixie picking up a different part of the story's lesson from each. The idea of a stage name coming up when watching Soarin leading the warmup, a costume when having lunch with Misty Fly, that kind of thing. Again, the time limit completely did away with that idea, so it was down to Spitfire to save the day.
I was so glad you gave me this prompt! I hadn't done Jinglemas before, and some of the characters I'd seen people being given in the past left me thinking I wouldn't know where to start with them. I don't know how random or controlled the assigning was, but to be given the character I've written more than any other was the most welcome of surprises. Trixie I hadn't tried writing before, and it occurs to me now that picking teenaged Trixie and suggesting that everything she's done since has been a persona rather than how she'd naturally act could have been a clever strategy to hide my inexperience writing the Great and Powerful character we'd recognise. It wasn't, though, it just turned out that way. Wish I'd thought of that as a deliberate thing now. That would have been clever.
There are a few other Spitfire and Trixie stories out there, another reason I felt pretty lucky when the character name message came through is that I've read a couple of them previously. Nothing that really stuck with me, though, so once I had this story idea for how they might meet I was happy to invent the dynamic between them myself as required. Glad you liked the cat! He and the clouds were about the only light, fluffy things I managed to get in. Thanks for the big comment, that was really nice to see. And I like your suggestion of Trixie going to get her cape before taking on the ursa minor
This was the thing, right here.
And if this tale ever comes out, then Twilight, Starlight and half of Ponyville will be queueing outside Spitfire's office to give her their thoughts on the matter.
"Thanks to you, she's the most obnoxious, arrogant, egotistical unicorn I've ever heard of!"
"But you have heard of her."
10595483 Thanks!
10595804 Yeah, I think we could say Trixie's decision was worth it if her stage career had worked out. But, looking at how the series ends, she's in much the same position she would be anyway, just with friends who struggle to stand her because of who she chose to become. I think perhaps if she'd been a pegasus then Spitfire's advice would have been the thing to follow, because pegasus success usually involves a goal that's straightforward to see but physically very demanding to get to. Whereas a unicorn might have told Trixie that there's just no room for stage magic in a world where more powerful unicorns dazzle with real magic. The pony Trixie eventually ends up shacking up with did for real the same kind of things Trixie was only making illusions of, and the notion of selling tickets for the spectacle hadn't even crossed her mind. Thanks for reading and commenting!
10702937
Oof, that sounds rough indeed. I'm glad you've made it through the month though and hope you're doing better now.
I've been there, sometimes a story doesn't turn out as you'd thought for various reasons. But you did finish on time, hooray! And I did very much enjoy it, double hooray!
And that Jack Sparrow line totally belongs to Trixie and if it's not an image macro on Derpibooru I'm gonna go make it one.
10703002 Wasn't fun, no! But yeah, much better now thanks, all sorted.
That is a Trixie meme I would like to see
10703004
And it is so.
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10703012
That's great! 
...And powerful, too.