In Somepony's Shadow

by Whammy


First Lesson

The only sound that could be heard in the library was the tick-tock of the clock, the little hand on the verge of hitting one in the morning. Princess Luna felt a tinge of worry in her chest as her eyes watched the steady pace of the second hand. It was unfortunate that the tea she had prepared had become so cold. A warm cup to help steady her nerves would have been divine. Instead, all she could do was sit and wait, eyes slowly scanning over the unopened books and still quill pens that should have been in a rush of writing by now. It had been agreed that her and Trixie would begin their lessons at midnight, when the most pressing of Luna’s nightly duties had been dealt with. When the first few minutes had gone by with no sign of her, Luna had simply assumed that Trixie was a little lost. It was, after all, her first time navigating the castle. When a half hour had passed, she had thought to send a guard for her. Feeling that it was best to let Trixie learn on her own, however, she had decided to give her just a little more time.

By now, however, she had to assume that something else had happened to have kept her eager new apprentice from arriving to the first lesson. Even in a castle as large as this the library would have been easy to find, and there plenty of guards for Trixie to have asked if she truly had gotten lost. Had some nefarious pony stopped her? Well, that would have been quite a stretch. There was always Discord, but even he would know better than to prank someone in the heart of the castle…well, most of the time anyway.

Still, the thought was enough to move the princess to action. Just as she stood up, however, her ear twitched, catching the sound of hooves clopping against stone. A few seconds later, Trixie burst through the library doors, panting as she slowed down before collapsing at the table.

“I’m…sorry…I’m late,” the mare said, struggling to catch her breath.

Trixie’s sudden arrival had startled her, and so she too had to take a moment to collect her own breath, relieved that Trixie appeared unharmed. Still, she had been an hour late, which had to be addressed. She couldn’t be too lenient, right? A good instructor did not go easy on their student, even when worried. Her composure regained, Luna stood up straight, hoping to hit that look of concerned but stern.

“I am glad to see that you are alright, Trixie. I was worried you weren’t going to make it to your first lesson,” she said as she sat back down at the table, maintaining her imposing posture.

Trixie, meanwhile, had finally settled down, her chest no longer rapidly expanding and contracting in her attempts to gasp for air.

“I said I’m sorry. It’s just that…”

“That?” Luna said, pouring Trixie a cup of tea as she awaited an answer, using some magic to try and heat it up just a tad.

“Well, it’s a little embarrassing,” Trixie said, gladly taking the cup in her own magic and gulping it down

“Trixie, if you had simply gotten lost, there is no real shame in that, though I would assume after an hour you would have asked a guard for assistance.”

“No, that’s not…okay, that was part of it.”

“Then what, Trixie, kept you?”

“I…slept in.”

Luna paused for a second, watching Trixie wiggle in her seat, her eyes darting at the door as if she was hoping to escape.

“Slept in?” she said, an eyebrow ever so slightly raised.

“Well, yeah. I set an alarm, but out of instinct I hit the snooze button…and then did that several more times,” she said, a blush growing on her cheeks.

Luna remained straight faced, but internally she was trying to hold back a laugh. All her worry and anxiety had been because Trixie had slept in? Part of her felt annoyed that Trixie couldn’t get up for something as important as a lesson, but that contrast between her worries and what actually happened was too great to ignore.

“And when I finally was awake enough to remember why I had set it so early, it was almost a quarter till. I tried to run here as fast I could, which is when I got lost and had to get directions,” Trixie said, her eyes finally meeting Luna’s, slouched down as if she were an animal trying to show submission. “You’re not mad, are you?”

Luna sighed. Trixie’s eyes were shimmering as she nervously pouted, and she felt that one wrong word would send the poor mare into a fit. Not wanting her first night as a mentor to start with crying, she relented.

“No Trixie, I am not mad,” she said, Trixie rising to a more confident posture. “I understand that adapting to a nocturnal schedule will require some time. However, please make sure to put more effort into ensuring that you are on time. Punctuality is a necessary part of showing proper respect for a mentor, after all.”

“That’s…fair,  I guess,” she replied. Before either of them could settle on that for long, however, Trixie noticed the study materials across the table, her eyes lighting up. “Soooooo, what were you planning on teaching me?”

Luna smiled, glad to finally get the two of them on track. She levitated a paper, quill, and ink towards Trixie.

“We were to begin with some introductory magic theory so I could test your basic knowledge – ”

“No offense, Princess, but we covered all back in school, so maybe we could skip all that?”

Luna’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Yes, I am aware of your educational background, and while I am sure you received an excellent education at my sister’s school, I would prefer to test it for myself. There are no shortcuts, after all.”

She saw Trixie winced, but quickly returned to her more normal air of bravado by the time she finished speaking.

“Right, it’s just…I never thought my skills were truly reflected by exams. Quizzing me wouldn’t do me justice, and so I thought that maybe I could do something else?”

“Is that so?” Luna replied, the edge of her mouth curling up ever so slightly in a smile as she set the materials back down.

Trixie’s records from the school, which she had borrowed from Celestia, had suggested Trixie was not the academic that Twilight Sparkle had been. Trixie’s proposal, then, didn’t surprise her. In fact, she had expected Trixie to try and wriggle her way out of a theoretical exam. In truth, she hadn’t wanted to give one anyway, her own opinion similar to that of Trixie’s. In preparation for that, then, Luna had kept a wooden rectangular box underneath the table, which she now placed in front of Trixie.

“Then I suppose we can move on to more practical examinations.”

Trixie glanced down, a brief flash of uncertainty across her face, before responding.

“Y-yes, of course.”

“Good, though I think you might be familiar with the objects within this box,” Luna replied.

She levitated the lid off, and inside were simply three wooden balls, painted red, blue, and yellow. Trixie leaned over and peered in, and Luna could sense that Trixie’s relief at seeing the objects.

“Juggling? You just want me to juggle?”

Luna nodded. She had presumed an exam that was part performance would appeal to Trixie.

“Yes, you simply have to juggle using your telekinetic magic. It’s a simple exercise, yes, but the amount of control required to do it well shows a basic understanding of the usage of telekinesis.”

“Hah, then there’s nothing to fear, for I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, am an excellent juggler,” she said, though her eyes widened a second after she finished. Luna simply smiled as Trixie looked at her, having felt no real offense that Trixie had slipped into her “Great and Powerful” persona for a moment, and it seemed to give Trixie the comfort she needed to continue.

“Whenever you are ready, begin with one ball, and add in the others as you feel comfortable.”

Trixie’s horn glowed with a pink aura, which soon enveloped the blue ball. Luna couldn’t help but take a guess at why that one was the first, considering the color of Trixie’s own coat. She simply sat back and watched as Trixie levitated the ball up before cutting off the spell. The ball soon plummeted back down, but right before it hit the table, Trixie’s magic enveloped it again, and it was soon on its merry way back to the top of the cycle. Within a minute Trixie was comfortably doing this with all three balls, the pattern staggered such that there was always one ball just starting its way up, one ball at the peak, and one ball about to hit the table. Luna was pleasantly surprised that Trixie’s boast was indeed correct, though Trixie having her eyes closed and laying into the cushion seemed a bit overkill.

“Well, Trixie, it seems you have indeed mastered the basics of telekinesis,” Luna said, her own horn starting to glow with a dark blue aura as she levitated a fourth ball from under the table. “However, one should not feel so comfortable even when performing the basics of magic.”

“Huh, what do you mean by OOF—”

With her eyes closed, Trixie hadn’t noticed Luna adding the extra ball to the pattern, and in return received a nice bump on the head, disrupting her spell. Luna made sure to catch the rest of the balls before they fell, feeling that the one bump was enough for the point to be made.

“You could have warned me,” Trixie said, sitting back up and pouting as she rubbed at the sore spot.

“You could have remained alert instead of feeling so comfortable in having mastered basic techniques,” Luna replied, her voice having the slightest sharpness to it. She had been aware that Trixie was known for an ego, but seeing it in action was quite different. If they were to progress with lessons, it would have to be worked on.

For now, it seemed her point had been taken as Trixie simply took a breath and sighed.

“Yeah, I get it,” she replied. “Any other tests you’d like me to take?”

“I believe you have an interest in illusion magic, correct?”

Trixie looked up again, the smug smile that came with her usual bravado making another appearance. “It’s the staple of any good magician, like myself” she said, pointing at herself with her hoof. “It also happened to be my best subject in school.”

“...yes. In that case, let us test that next,” Luna said, though she did have to admit that illusion was the one class where Trixie did in fact receive a steady stream of higher scores.

Luna levitated one of the teacups form the tea set over to Trixie, setting it down in front of her. It was silver in color, and the moonlight from a nearby window was reflecting off it, revealing the patina of the piece that showed its age. Next, Luna levitated over another teacup, this one a basic white porcelain cup. Both were sat down in front of Trixie, who was fixated on the two cups.

“For this test, I would like you to cast a glamour spell to disguise the porcelain cup as the silver one. I shall turn around as you do so and then attempt to determine which one is the real silver cup based on sight alone.”

“Oh, is that all? That should be...easy enough,” Trixie said, sitting up and puffing out her chest. “I am a master illusionist, after all.”

Luna had to give some credit: as much as it could be irritating, Trixie’s bravado allowed her a quick turnaround from nervous to confident. It would simply be a matter of tampering it down just a tad so that Trixie had greater self-awareness.

“Just to ask, do I win anything if I trick you?”

Luna blinked. “Does the feeling of accomplishment for having passed the test not count as a reward?” she said, tilting her head.

“Oh, well, I guess it does…”

Luna glanced over at the pile of books on the table and had a thought. She levitated a scroll in front of Trixie.

“Trixie, do you know anything about sound magic?”

“Well, I do know how to add explosions to my fireworks spell, if that counts.”

Ah, yes, Trixie’s fireworks magic. It was a simple spell in appearance, but it’s combination of illusion and sound was actually quite advanced. The fact that her records had said she invented it while a student, albeit in her last year, had been impressive.

“In that case, I think you may be capable of learning this sound nullification spell on your own then. Learning to be quiet and hiding sound would be just as useful to a magician as learning how to make a loud explosion, would it not?”

“Oh, it would be great! I’ve had a lot of issues with ponies noticing me moving when I’m trying to be sneaky on stage, especially because there’s this really annoying creak in the floorboards of the wagon that I can’t seem to get rid of.”

For someone who apparently didn’t like books, Trixie couldn’t keep her eyes off of it.

“I thought so. Very well. If you trick me with your cup, I shall award you with this scroll,” she said. Internally, she had to give herself a little victory grin. She had honestly planned on giving it to Trixie as an assignment eventually anyway, so what did it matter if she made Trixie think she won it? The mare’s need for validation was obvious, after all, and it wouldn’t do to not take advantage of that to encourage her to study more.

“Alright, then watch as the Great and Powerful Trixie perfectly replicates this teacup by transforming this duller, less interesting one into something amazing!”

Luna put up a hoof before Trixie could cast the spell. “Do not be so hasty, Trixie. I still have to turn around, remember?”

Trixie blushed. “Oh, right.”

Luna simply giggled at her student’s enthusiasm and turned around.

“You may begin when—"

She didn’t even finish the sentence before she heard the sound of magic behind her.

“Ta-da!”

Luna took it as a sign that meant Trixie had finished her assignment.

“Very well, let us see if you truly are a master illusionist.”

She turned, and on the table before her were two silver teacups. At a first glance they looked rather similar, both being silver in color and of the right general shape. As she leaned in to take a better look, however, the flaws started to become apparent.

“I believe that the one on the right is the fake,” Luna replied. Trixie, to her credit, didn’t immediately exclaim ‘Oh no I’ve been found out’ or anything like that, but smiled instead.

“Oh, and how do you know?”

Now it was Luna’s turn to smile. She leaned in so her face was level with the cups, hoof pointing to the relevant parts as she spoke.

“First, the patterns on the edge of the cup are less defined and missing some of the details, the sign of someone who took a general look but didn’t work to study the material in-depth,” she said, looking up at Trixie. Trixie simply returned her look with a shaky smile.

“Second, it is too shiny. The original cup had a nice patina from its age and use. It seems your desire to show off got the better of you,” she said, returning to a comfortable sitting position, giving Trixie a slight smile. Her face returned to a more neutral position, however, as Trixie simply sighed, her horn glowing as she dispelled the glamour and revealing that yes, Luna had guessed correctly.

“You win, Princess,” Trixie replied, then glancing off to the side.

“Is something the matter, Trixie? I know for someone with your...confidence, losing is not a pleasant feeling, but it was still—"

“It was still ‘Trixie’s got too big of an ego for her own good’, wasn’t it?” Trixie said. The furrowed brow and shimmering eyes made Luna quite aware Trixie was now upset. What confused her more was who was Trixie upset at: her or herself?

“I did not mean for it to be taken that way, Trixie, but your eagerness did lead to several avoidable flaws in your spell. As your mentor, I must offer an accurate critique if you are to improve,” she replied.

“Yeah, but...but…” Trixie said, pushing herself on the table as if trying to match Luna’s height. After a second, however, she lowered herself back into the cushion, letting off a sigh. “Yes, Princess Luna.”

The coldness in Trixie’s voice stung, but Luna felt unsure on how to proceed. Trixie had already been jumping all over the place emotionally this evening. She recalled their magic duel in the dream world, the aggressiveness at which Trixie went at her. Underneath the pleasantries that Trixie put out, there was a pony who was angry. There was a temptation to poke at it just a little, to see what would happen if Trixie was prompted to let it all out. However, she still wanted this night to go well. Good instructors were tough, but they didn’t go out of their way to purposefully enrage their students. Glancing up at the clock, the end of the hour getting closer by the minute, Luna decided to address this another time, when Trixie had a chance to cool down and process whatever it was she was feeling.

“Please do not be too upset, Trixie, for it was indeed a good attempt. I am simply well informed about my personal tea sets, and to that effect more aware of the flaws than the average pony. Judging from that standard, then, I believe you’ve earned the scroll,” she said, levitating it in front of Trixie.

A moment passed.

“I don’t want it,”

“I said that I don’t want it!” Trixie yelled. “You’re just giving it to me out of pity, aren’t you?”

“Trixie that’s—" Luna paused, the statement not being completely untrue. It wasn’t out of pity, but a desire to reward a study who had legitimately tried. Her pause, however, seemed to be all that was needed for Trixie’s anxieties to begin to get the best of her.

“I thought so, but the Great and Powerful Trixie does not take pity hoofouts,” she said, pointing a hoof at Luna. “I won’t take that scroll until I can come up with an illusion so great that it’ll blow your mind! I’ll...I’ll…”

“Trixie, there’s no need to—" is what Luna started to say, before Trixie finished her thought.

“I’ll do a glamour spell that makes me look just like you!”

Luna just sat there, and the hoof she had started to reach out towards Trixie simply froze.

“What?”

Luna had meant that for a sign that the idea was highly unnecessary, but Trixie seemed to have gone into a fit, not even looking at her as she rambled on while pacing the floor.

“Yeah, it’s perfect! Your body shape is totally different from mine, and trying to replicate the wings would be really difficult!”

Trixie then turned back towards Luna, now in full “Great and Powerful” mode as she stood with her chest puffed out, gesturing to herself as she talked.

“By tomorrow night, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, shall pull off a perfect replication of you in illusion form. And with such a demonstration of Trixie’s mastery of visual illusion magic, Trixie will earn that sound magic book fair and square!”

“O-okay?” was all Luna could say, still trying to process just how badly this lesson had gone off course. She had not meant it to be an agreement of the plan, but it had satisfied Trixie, who smiled and turned towards the door.

“Perfect! Then we shall see each other tomorrow tonight for a most wonderful display of magic,” Trixie said, throwing a foreleg into the air as if to give a wave of her cape before finally running off.

Luna took a moment to process everything, and simply sighed.

“It seems Trixie’s pride may be a bit more difficult to manage than I thought…”