The Ties that Bind

by the7Saviors


A Struggling Trixie

It had been three days since Ancient Scroll had given the three fillies their assignments.

Sunset had been making steady progress learning more about the fundamentals of Elemental Magic and Twilight seemed to be blazing through her own books, though she had seemed a bit distracted and somewhat melancholy the last few days.

This left a floundering Trixie to fall far behind the other two due to her lack of experience with studying.

It was on a particularly frigid night that Trixie sat at the folding table, yawning as she read through the same paragraph for the fourth time. She sniffed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she tried to concentrate on finishing the page, but it was to no avail.

Trixie groaned in exasperation and slumped over the book.

"How?" she grumbled to herself, her voice muffled by the book she was resting her face on, "how do they do this day after day, for hours?" she raised her head suddenly and glared at the book, "No," she growled defiantly, "no complaints, Trixie won't fail and become some kind of... of... talentless hack."

The others had gone to bed awhile ago, having already reported their progress to Ancient Scroll for the day. Trixie, seeing how little progress she herself had made in comparison, had opted to stay up later studying - if for no other reason than a stubborn desire to put herself on equal terms with the two smarter fillies.

The problem was that Trixie had never been to good with bigger words, and both her books on the safe and responsible use of Mind Magic were full of them.

That was the biggest hurdle Trixie was currently facing right now.

For as much as she complained, the little blue filly had the drive to learn and, while maybe not as profound as Twilight's, she also had a rather good memory... just not a head for complicated vocabulary.

Another hurdle Trixie had to overcome was her unwillingness to accept help from the others. Twilight and Sunset for their part, never really offered to help anyway, as focused on their own studies as they were. Trixie didn't fault them for it though, she was sure they'd help if she'd asked.

The problem was that she didn't.

Maybe... Trixie thought as she stared at the open book, maybe I should ask for some help after all...

She frowned thoughtfully for a moment before sighing and closing the book.

I may as well. I'm already far enough behind the other two as it is.

Leaving her books on the table, she stepped down from her chair and cast a glance over to the armchair, where a quietly snoring Twilight Sparkle lay curled up under the wool blanket she had been using.

Twilight might have some ideas on-

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed the lavender filly beginning to twitch under the blanket, her face scrunching up in discomfort. She rolled over and Trixie could just make out a muffled whimper.

Is she having a nightmare? Trixie thought worriedly. She slowly trotted over to Twilight wanting to make sure the filly was alright.

"Donmmngh..."

Trixie froze, her ear twitching as she listened.

"Mmmgh... mmmomnn..."

Twilight moved again so that she was facing Trixie and Trixie's heart skipped a beat.

Twilight's eyes were wide open as she stared at Trixie, tears streaming down her face.


"Where's daddy?"


The two stared at each other silently, Trixie frozen in shock. After a moment, Twilight gave another unintelligible mumble and closed her eyes, snuggling deeper into the blanket.

The blue filly stared at Twilight for another moment, still stunned at what she had just witnessed. Several questions ran through her mind, chief among them was what exactly the lavender filly had gone through.

She ruminated on the issue for a minute more before heading off to the bedroom, deciding it was best just to leave Twilight be for now.

I'll ask her and Sunset for help in the morning, she thought with a yawn, right now I need sleep, badly.

Unfortunately, Trixie had trouble getting to sleep that night - Twilght's wide, teary eyed expression of horror replaying itself over and over again in her head.


"You alright there, little filly?"

Trixie turned her red-eyed gaze to a worried looking Ancient Scroll as she poured herself a bowl of honeyed oat clusters.

"Trixie is fine," she muttered, "just a little tired after a long night of studying her flank off."

"I don't know, Trixie," Twilight said with a frown as she levitated a carton of milk over to Trixie, "maybe it wasn't a good idea to spend the entire night reading."

Trixie eyed Twilight silently for a moment, causing the lavender filly to raise an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong?"

Trixie blinked and shook her head.

"It's nothing..." she mumbled before looking back to Twilight with a scoff, "and that's rich, coming from Bookworm Sparkle."

Twilight gave her a flat look, "That aside," her look changed to one of concern, "I'm used to late night reading, but you only just started seriously studying."

Sunset Shimmer, who had been reading through one of her books as she ate, picked that moment to speak up.

"She's right, Trixie," she agreed, not taking her eyes off the page, "it's good that you're actually taking this seriously, but you have to pace yourself or you'll burn out."

"Of course Trixie is taking this seriously!" the blue filly cried indignantly, slamming the carton of milk down on the table, "Trixie will never become a good magician one day if she doesn't work hard!"

"Easy there, little filly," Ancient Scroll said resting a hoof on Trixie's shoulder, "we've all seen how hard you've worked over the past few days."

"But that's just it!" Trixie yelled, standing up in her chair, "Trixie put in so much effort and has barely anything to show for it!"

She fell back to her haunches with a huff.

"Both of you are miles ahead of Trixie by now and Trixie is still..."

Twilight and Sunset stared at Trixie in surprise before glancing at each other. After a minute, Twilight looked back to the dejected filly.

"Why didn't you just ask for help, Trixie?" she asked, furrowing her brow, "we would've helped you, and Ancient Scroll said he'd help too."

Ancient Scroll nodded, taking a sip of coffee, "that I did, little filly. I told you, I'd be here if you needed sometime or advice."

"...Trixie doesn't know," Trixie said, looking away as she rubbed a foreleg, "she just... I just feel like it wouldn't mean anything if I didn't do it on my own."

She looked back to the two other fillies sheepishly, "I was going to ask you for help today, actually," she lowered her head, "like I said, I haven't made much progress and I want to catch up with you two."

Twilight jumped down from her chair and trotted over to Trixie's.

"What are you-"

Trixie was cut off as a pair of tiny lavender hooves wrapped her in a brief hug.

"Like I said, Trixie," Twilight said with a reassuring smile, "you just have to ask."

"Yes, alright, Trixie understands!" the blue filly cried, face burning red with embarrassment as she tried to push Twilight away, "can you please release Trixie now?"

Twilight giggled as she let go of Trixie and trotted back over to her seat. Ancient Scroll observed the exchange silently, a smile playing across his muzzle as he took another sip of coffee.

"What were you having trouble with anyway?" Sunset asked suddenly, giving the blue filly a quizzical look.

"Well..." Trixie began uncomfortably as she poked at her cereal with a spoon, "Trixie... isn't so good when it comes to bigger words. She has problems reading them and doesn't... really know what a lot of them mean."

"Ah, that's right," Ancient Scroll replied with a nod, "I remember you mentioning something along those lines before," he tapped his chin for a moment before slipping off of his chair and trotting towards his study, "well, that should be a simple enough problem to fix."

"What do you mean?" Trixie called out, "how are you going to fix it?"

"You'll see," Ancient Scroll responded over his shoulder, "just gimme a minute."

With that he trotted into the study, closing the door behind him. Trixie turned back to Twilight and Sunset with a bemused frown.

"What's he going to do about Trixie's problem?"

Twilight giggled and Sunset just rolled her eyes as she returned her attention to her book. Trixie looked between the two and furrowed her brow in irritation.

"Why won't you tell Trixie what's going on?" she asked jabbing a hoof at the two, "you obviously know, what he's planning, so... out with it!"

"Relax, Trixie," Twilight said, raising a placating hoof, "Uncle Scroll will be back in a second, just let him tell you."

Trixie opened her mouth to argue, but the sound of a door opening behind her made her turn around. Ancient Scroll trotted out of the study with a few very thick books held in his magical green aura.

"Alright, little filly," he said in a much too chipper tone for Trixie's liking, "As I said before, your problem is an easy one to fix. All you need..." he reached the table and set the books down in front of Trixie, "...is a little study aid."

Trixie looked over the book covers and grimaced.

A dictionary, a thesaurus, and an encyclopedia.

Trixie gave Ancient Scroll a flat look.

"This is how you're going to help Trixie?" she gestured to the books, "with even more reading?"

"Yep," Ancient Scroll replied with a smirk, "'know thy enemy' as they say. If you want to tackle those big words, you're gonna have to learn about them first."

Trixie groaned, slamming her head into the table.

"Don't worry, Trixie," Twilight chimed in happily, "I'll help you with the cross-referencing," she jumped down from her chair and grabbed Trixie in another crushing hug, "ooh, it'll be great!"

"Oh joy," Trixie deadpanned, "Trixie can't wait."