//------------------------------// // That Something Special // Story: In Somepony's Shadow // by Whammy //------------------------------// “Ooooh, this was a bad idea,” Trixie said as she looked over “herself” in the mirror. It had been several hours now since she had started working on her Princess Luna glamour spell, and things could not be going any worse. To start with, the coat was several shades of blue lighter than the darkened blues of Princess Luna, more soft pastel than the bold darkness of the night. She also realized she really had no idea how the princess got her mane to do that wavy star thing it was always doing, leaving her with just a plain old mane that she was pretty sure wrongly colored too. If the colors were all off, that was nothing compared to the body shape issues. When she had put out this (admittedly self-made) challenge, she didn’t even think about the fact that, oh, yeah, she didn’t even look anywhere close to the princess physically! Luna had long, slender legs with an equally slender body that just yelled out “regal” and “graceful”. She, however, was normal sized in height, and her build was...she’d use the word ‘stouter’. Yeah, that sounded better than the other options. Then, of course, there was the obvious issue of the wings, which she didn’t even want to think about how to replicate those and not dive straight into the uncanny valley. To think she had just spent hours cramming just to figure out how to do a full body glamour spell in the first place, and all she could do was maybe pass herself off as the only-a-unicorn younger sister of the princess. That was a far cry from her claim she’d be able make herself a “perfect replication.” “Ugggh, come on Trixie, you can think of something,” she said. Her body was exhausted, however, having not even gotten any sleep since she ran out of the lesson. Despite her wants, the needs of her body forced her to flop on her bed, dejected. In her heart she knew this was all just some stupid stunt she had forced on herself. At the end of the day, Luna really hadn’t said anything that bad or mean to her. Just, the idea that her ego was so unrestrained that she just subconsciously showed off over something as simple like an illusion on a cup had scared her. She was trying to do better, really! Yet it seemed that no matter what she did, she still couldn’t break her own habits. Once that panic set in, she lost all control over her mouth. Years of trying to cover a boast with more boasting apparently weren’t so easily broken. Honestly, she really should have just gone back, apologized, and just asked Luna to forget the whole thing. Yet, at the same time, she wanted to at least give it a try. She had made the claim, so she needed to be able to do it. She was done with the boasting after all! Or, well, she was at least done with not being able to back up her boasting. And maybe, just maybe, showing she really could buckle down and do amazing things would get Luna to forget all about her little outburst, maybe even impress her. Yet, now it seemed that when midnight came around she’d show up to the next lesson looking like some bad quality knock-off. Not that Luna would care about that kind of thing. She’d probably just tell me to learn from this mistake and just have more patience or something, Trixie thought rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. Nothing I do seems to ever bother her that much… Even now she could imagine it. She’d show up to Luna’s room, looking nothing like her at all, and give a weak “Ta-da.” Luna would just sit there quietly, maybe give a little sigh, before shaking her head, and then just say something like “It is a very good start, Trixie, but there is much work to be done.” It’d sound like a nice, patient mentor, but the real knockout would be her face. Luna always seemed to be just holding back what she was thinking, but that calm demeanor made you feel like she silently judging you, her words a simple politeness to not hurt your feelings. It’d be damning with faint praise, which for her was even worse than somepony just hating her stuff outright. She could fight back against hate and mockery, but not disappointment! And then they’d have to talk about why she had done all this in the first place, and as much as Luna would probably say she sympathized, would she really want somepony so erratic as her as an apprentice. If she could pull this off, at least she’d be able to show she was so awesome at magic that Luna would have to keep her around, right? “Why does making somepony like you have to be so hard!” she shouted, throwing her forelegs into the air before just letting them flop back onto the bed. “And there, I think you hit on the vast majority of problems ponies have,” a familiar and irritating voice said from behind her. Trixie would have been shocked if she wasn’t already busy trying to process being frustrated. “What do you want, Discord?” she said, tilting her head back and seeing the draconequus had suddenly taken up refuge on the headboard. “Oh, such a grumpy little pony, aren’t you? By the way, did you do something with your mane?” he said, but before Trixie could respond he poofed. Of course, she doubted he would be gone for long, and just as she sat up she heard him reappear behind her again, his claws digging through her mane. “Though, if you were trying to copy Princess Luna’s look, your mane is missing a certain...shimmeriness to it. You are shampooing, rinse, and repeating, right?” “Oh just shut up and go away,” she said, trying to bat him away with a foreleg. He complied, backing away at least. “No need to be so testy there little stage mare. Here, just as a sign of peace, I’ll help you out, just a tad.” She heard the snap of his fingers...claws...whatever they were, and at first she thought nothing had changed. When some strands of her mane fell in front of her face, however, her eyes widened. Trixie jumped off the bed, running over to the mirror to get a better look. The simple pastels of her attempts at the glamour spell were gone, instead replaced with the transparent, sparkling appearance that made Princess Luna’s mane so celestial. He had apparently even thrown in her tail, which was shimmering and moving behind her on its own. “...you didn’t steal Luna’s mane and put it on me again, did you?” “No, no, of course not. Do you think so poorly of me that you’d believe I’d pull the same joke twice?” Trixie just looked at him. “Oh, you wound me, Trixie,” he said, posing with a hand to his forehead before fainting onto the bed. With a poof, however, he was back in the air. “But seriously, it’s all yours this time. Honestly, it really isn’t as big of a deal to do as some ponies make it out to be.” “Well, it helps the appearance out a bit, but I still look like a total mess…” she said, glancing at the rest of her body. “Yes, you don’t exactly have that alicorn physique, do you? The long, slender legs,” he said, stretching his arms out like they were noodles. “The thin, supermodel barrel,” he continued, sucking in his breath and his body with it. “And of course, the magnificent pair of wings,” he finished, flapping his own wings. The whole sight was...well, it was a sight at least. “Yeah, all of that. I mean, even though Twilight’s got a couple inches on me now, I could probably fake it enough to disguise myself as her,” she said, brow furrowing as she looked at the mirror. “But no way am I going to match Princess Luna. Though, guess if I got some stilts and a corset, maybe I could…” “Oh pish-posh, you don’t need all that junk,” Discord said. Trixie watched as he floated over to her nightstand, pulling the apple he had given her out and giving it a light toss. “No.” “You didn’t even…” “No! I already told you I don’t want your stupid ‘chaos’ magic,” she said, taking the apple in her levitation magic before throwing it onto the bed. “Oh, come on, Trixie, cut it with the pride act,” he said, slinking as he flew towards her, turning her around to face the mirror, his paw and claw on her shoulders. “I mean, for a first try this really isn’t too bad, but it’s nowhere near what you promised her.” “Yeah, so what? She probably won’t mind at all,” Trixie replied, noting the irony of having this exact argument with herself just a few moments ago. “Wait, how did you know what kind of bet I made with her?” “I might have been taking a little peek at your session. Though thank goodness you arrived when you did. It’s really hard for me to sit still as it is, but hiding as a book for over an hour? Ugh, it almost felt like I was a statue again.” “Glad I could put on a good performance for you,” she said, her voice flat. “Meh, I expected a bit more fireworks to be honest,” he said, shrugging. “Point is, you already screwed up once, then you threw a little tantrum that ended with you running off and leaving her utterly baffled,” he replied. “Yeah, well...so?” she said, not exactly sure what to say. That pretty much summed up the situation, didn’t it? “I mean, I don’t mind a little chaos now and then obviously, but do you really think Luna’s wanting to play therapist for a pony who swings so wildly in emotions? At least, one without a little something extra to make it worthwhile?” “And what, you think letting me use chaos magic gives me that ‘something extra’?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Maaaybe? I mean, think of it like this. The last two apprentices Princess Celestia took up were a child prodigy and Twilight ‘probably pre-destined to be an Element of Harmony’ Sparkle,” he said, twirling a claw. “Granted, that Sunset Shimmer mare didn’t work out from what I heard, something about being really arrogant apparently. Sound familiar?” “What are you saying?” she said, furrowing her brow. “That maybe after a while they’ll think having another arrogant and egotistical apprentice might not be worth the trouble, unless they really think there’s a good reason to keep you around. And what would be a better reason than being something totally unique in the entire history of ponykind! I mean, unless you’re banking on there being another hidden set of Elements for you to become a bearer of?” Trixie took another glance at the apple, which Discord was annoyingly hovering right in front of her. She glanced in the mirror again, seeing the laughable excuse of a Luna clone she looked like right now. “...and you’re saying this would help me with my illusion challenge, right?” “Hah, it’d be more than illusion if you really wanted to,” he said, flying back while snapping his fingers. There was a puff of smoke, and when it finally cleared and she stopped coughing, she found herself looking down at the ground. Weirdly, it looked a few inches further away than she remembered, which prompted her to look in the mirror. “I-I’m—" She stopped as she heard her voice. It was deeper, more...well, Trixie considered herself a rather mature pony, but that was probably the best way to put it. Instead of speaking, she instead looked herself over. Slender legs and barrel, a celestial mane and tail shimmering around her, a coat dark like the night sky. Hesitantly she concentrated on trying to move the wings, only to let out a yelp as they shot wide open. “Woops, I forgot you probably wouldn’t be used to the whole ‘having wings’ thing. If it matters, it took Twilight a whole trip to an alternate universe to get a hang of it,” Discord said, sitting on her bed, his legs crossed and his arms clasped on top of them. “I really am Princess Luna now, aren’t I?” she said, looking over herself in disbelief. “Well, not quite. I can’t really make you an alicorn, so you’re nowhere near her power. You might be able to lift up a moon pie, but definitely not the moon. I’d also suggest not trying to fly: I have no idea what pegasi wings grafted onto a unicorn would do. The whole magical flow surrounding you right now is just so chaotic, and I love it,” he said, chuckling. Trixie really wasn’t paying too much attention though, too fixated on just how easy it had been for him to do this. She had spent years of learning the basics of illusion magic and trying to get a hang of even more complex stuff, and he had just snapped his fingers. Somewhere in her head she could hear Luna’s statement from last night, that there were “no shortcuts”. But, well, she had spent all day trying to do this and got halfway there, right? Would it reaaaaalllly be that bad if she got a little help to get over the last hump and finish it? “Soooo, liking the new look there, Princess?” She snapped back to attention, to Discord and the apple now floating in front of her face. “You don’t have any funny business going on, right?” “Trixie, dear, I am a reformed and honest member of society,” he said as he placed his paw on his chest and held up his claw. “Scout’s honor.” “You were in the Pony Scouts?” “No, but you don’t have to be a scout to have scout’s honor, do you?” “Well…” “Picky, picky. Point is, it’s all yours. Just enjoy that fresh and nutritious apple, and then you’ll have all the magical power you need to show Princess Luna that you really are the greatest and most powerful apprentice she could ever hope to find. Then she’d have no choice to keep you around, now wouldn’t she?” Trixie bit at her lip, looking over herself in the mirror once more. This really was magic far beyond anything she could do on her own, at least not in time for Princess Luna think she was an apprentice worth keeping on. Even if she said no right now and just accepted looking like a complete fool, it really was just a matter of time till the princess realized she really wasn’t anything that special and dump her. Probably for some pony who wasn’t as loud or obnoxious as she could be. Basically, a total book nerd like Twilight seemed a much better fit to be Luna’s apprentice than she was. But, if she had something absolutely no one else had… Taking a deep breath, she looked over at Discord, who was leaning forwards with anticipation, and then back at the apple. She let the breath go as a sigh, taking another look at the apple. There was still a chance to back out as she leaned forward, hesitating when her lips touched its surface. A second later, she bit it.