Plot Bunny Theater: An Alternate Trixie · 2:36am Nov 26th, 2019
Trixie did apply to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and passed the academic portion with flying colors.
But at the practical exam? She failed. Miserably. So she worked as her father's assistant for years before striking out on her own.
Years later, Twilight sees Trixie's techniques for magic... And realizes she was taught incorrectly by her father how to use it. And she actually has enormous talent! She offers Trixie to become her apprentice.
But Trixie is a vengeful pony, and she's planning on destroying her father. She thinks he intentionally sabotaged her just to have cheap labor. The truth though is that Jackpot's approach to magic was hit or miss because he wasn't formally trained. He did what worked for him, but it didn't always work for his daughter. The two would meet, fight, but thanks to Twilight's instruction (and interference) Trixie would learn to forgive her father, and make up with him.
This doesn't rule out Starlight Glimmer becoming Twilight's apprentice later, of course. It would just be an interesting take on the concept.
So you're saying that Jackpot's magical techniques are... a gamble?
(That said, this does raise the question of how Trixie could do so well on the academic side if she were trained incorrectly. I'd assume at least part of that exam would be magic theory.)
5160531
She was a very good student and was very competent in magical theory. Actual application though she struggled in and her father didn't teach her how to do it her own way: Just his way, which was very much a gamble.
Now, I've asked this before and this is in no way an indictment on this idea or on people who do this, but does it strike no one else as ironic that everyone's always been trying to reimagine, reinterpret or retcon Trixie into being, or at least having the makings of, a brilliant mage when, in her first appearence and arguably her second as well, literally the entire point of her character was that she wasn't notably good at magic, but good at making people think she was?
Like I said, not a complaint - it's a perfectly valid way of using the character, even if I'm not big on it myself, it's just that that seems like an amusing situation to me.
Also, dear lord was that first paragraph a freight train, I do apologize.
Also also, looks like you double posted this blog - not sure how that happens, but thought you should know.
Mater Eraqus from Kingdom Hearts took on 3 students...why not Twilight?
5160546
Here's the thing, Trixie's biggest failing wasn't being a fraud, it was being a jerk. The only ponies who actually thought she could beat a starbeast the size of a house were Snips and Snails.
Trixie actually does show an impressive variety of spells in "Boast Busters," ranging from enough strength and dexterity in her telekinesis to hogtie Applejack, manipulating rainbows, and even performing the magically nigh-impossible on Rarity (going by "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You," though that's more an indictment of that episode's premise.) Heck, between the rainbow and summoning thunderclouds, Trixie seems to know a fair amount of pegasus magic, something we've only seen in one other unicorn, and that was Rarity with Dash's cutie mark. That's reinforced in "Magic Duel," when she calls down a foot of snow. Yes, she's empowered by the Alicorn Amulet, but much like a tickle becomes a ray of agony, she has to know how to at least start with that spell.
It's only when Starlight comes to town that Trixie dismisses her abilities as mere "stage magic," and only after Twilight expresses her concerns over their friendship. Personally, I think that's the act. Trixie bolsters Starlight's self-esteem by playing the naive student, and Trixie herself fills out the holes in her magic education and rubs it all in Sparkle's smug face. It's a very Trixie kind of win-win.
I like the idea. I've always been of the opinion that Trixie has the magic to be great and powerful, just as she claims, but didn't have the support or teachings to user her magic to its full potential. Once Starlight comes into the picture, and is being taught, Trixie's shown to be able to do some impressive spells.
5160546
Keep in mind that, until Sunset Shimmer, there wasn't another unicorn that could potentially match Twilight in magical prowess. You could argue Rarity, but she'd probably scoff at that, deeming it too "unladylike" or not worth her time. Besides, Rarity's magic talents lie elsewhere.
So Trixie's all we had, barring original characters.
5160638
Eh, I wouldn't go that far with Trixie. She has some good ideas here and there but that seems too convoluted for her. But, she'd probably claim otherwise when it's brought up, though.
"Of course! That's what Trixie's plan was, all along!"
5160638
Eh, like I said, nothing wrong with that interpretation, but I'd say it's fairly arguable. Especially since most of her visually-impressive feats come down one way or another to telekinesis. And she was very good with her telekinesis, I will definitely say that, but that doesn't speak of great power but rather of long practice... like most stage magicians do.
She does indeed show some ability to manipulate the weather but, then, so did Rarity during the musical-cutie-marks incident and Rarity would have had far less reason to learn such spells (I'd expect that Trixie learned the basics of such spells purely so she could give herself dramatic lightning strikes whenever she wanted... which is one her few bits of showing off that I could kind of get behind). That, plus the fact we know Winter Wrap-Up in Canterlot uses unicorn magic, suggests that, while Pegasus magic is more suited to the task, unicorn magic and telekinesis works on clouds and weather to a degree. So, being able to grab a rainbow, summon a small thunderbolt and, presumbably, make a few snowflakes (amplified by the amulet) probably wouldn't be out of the ordinary. Again, suggests considerable skill but still well within normal parameters for a unicorn. And as for the mane-thing... yeah, as you alluded to, I'm not buying that that's a sign of great power.
In the end, though, I'm not saying that she's terrible at magic nor that we have reason, given what we've seen, to assume she is. I'm saying there's not much reason to assume she's any better than most unicorns. Because things like basic weather manipulation for light and thunderstrikes, illusions, fireworks... these would all come under the label of "some spells related to her special talent" (i.e. stage magic). And, as I understand it, that's kind of the baseline for unicorns.
Again, it's not invalid to interpret her as having great power or potential, but I think it is an interpretation and not necessarily the most evident one. Not her being a jerk in those episodes, though, that's not open to interpretation at all.
5160650
Oh, I'm aware of that. I get that the image of her as a master spellcaster may come, to a degree, from having little to compare to in the early days, plus possibly a touch of wishful thinking in the sense of needing an antagonist for Twilight. I'm certainly not against the use of her as an antagonist. As her second appearance proved, she could still be made into a serious threat even if she wasn't one previously. I just find it amusing that her facade of enormous power works even better on the fandom than it does on ponies.
5160725 I think it's all relative. I agree with you that what Trixie did was not a wide series of powerful spells, but instead mostly just focused use of telekinesis. I think the key thing to remember is, what we saw Trixie do is still far more powerful and skilled than 99% of unicorns.
From what we've seen, almost all unicorns have a moderate amount of telekinesis, and one or two small spells related to their cutie mark. The exceptions are incredibly rare, but those exceptions also appear in the show a lot. So to us Trixie is not that impressive because the main character of the show and later her apprentice are quite possibly the two most powerful unicorns who have ever lived, but compared to almost any other unicorn, including Rarity, Trixie's skilled use of telekinesis and moderate amount of spells known qualifies her as "great and powerful."
5160837
That's... possible, but I will just point out that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It's true that we haven't seen many other unicorns display such magic... because the few unicorns we do see on a recurrent or major basis haven't been in situations where they would or would need to demonstrate what magic they do or don't possess. Again, this may suggest they don't have the same level of magic... or it could just suggest they don't feel the need to make a public spectacle of it in the same way as the pony for whom that is literally their job.
The only real, not-anomalously-powerful comparison we have is, as you say, Rarity. But, while Trixie's magic is far more flashy and impressive-looking than Rarity's (and I will admit, that's not a low bar), well... considering the finesse, intricacy and multiplicity of Rarity's own telekinesis plus her own ouvre of spells, including long-distance gem finding, light shows, instant topiary, reattaching branches and the ever-summonable fainting couch, I'd say she's a lot more on par with Trixie than you give her credit for.
Again, I'm not trying to dismiss the interpretation her being a great caster, just pointing out that it's neither the only valid nor the most valid interpretation. Though, in fairness, I don't think there is a "most valid" interpretation considering that, let's be honest, the show's always been a touch laissez-faire about power levels and depictions of most kinds of magic. That's not a complaint - if nothing else, Rule of Funny exists for a reason - but it does make it kind of difficult to make conclusive judgments on such matters.
You know technically (at least in part), this isn't an alternate Trixie, but is in fact canon.
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5160638
Hypothetically, you could make the argument that there's a difference between modifying a mane that's already there, and regrowing a mane from scratch.
That depends on how you look at it. In Inspiration Manifestation, depending on the magical item, all you need to cast a spell is your own imagination. Granted, these are two completely different magical items. But what do we actually know about the Alicorn Amulet other than that it grants power and that it corrupts?