//------------------------------// // Look who's coming to town. // Story: It runs in the family. // by ponylaw //------------------------------// The clock struck three on a sunny afternoon and the street was suddenly taken over by a mass of unicorn colts and fillies scurrying out of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns; all except for two fillies: a random purple pony with her face buried in a book several levels above what her classmates could begin to comprehend, and a pale blue filly with an even paler shade of blue hair that curled slightly at the tips. Trixie meandered away from the crowd and sat below an oak tree within the nearby park. She began to draw stars in the sand as she continued to stifle tears that had begun to leak. “So what if I’m a blank flank, it doesn’t mean I’m not good at magic; or that I don’t belong there.” Trixie lightly kicked a pebble across the dirt and laid her head down in her front legs with a heavy sigh, “Who am I kidding? The only reason I’m even in this school is because I sneezed and filled the room with sparks.” Trixie closed her eyes and thought back on the day of her entrance exam. Even though she had the fiercest runny nose, her mother insisted that she go to this exam instead of waiting until the one the following month. All she had to do was pour the tea into the cup and float it over to the instructor. This was already difficult because the headache she had made her see three tea pots and an unmeasurable amount of cups. “Mom,” a younger Trixie moaned, “I don’t feel so good. Can’t I just do it another time?” “Oh don’t worry dear,” exclaimed her mother, Sunflower Shine. “You just have a case of the butterflies.” She raised her hoof and nudged Trixie closer to the tea set. Trixie closed her eyes to stop the room from spinning and took a deep breath. With all her might, she focused any energy she could muster and focused it directly at the tea set. The pot and cup began to tremor on the table. The instructor leaned forward to get a good judge of the magic. Just as the pot began to lift, Trixie sneezed and a blinding light shot out of the spout. The ball of light bounced off of every wall like the room was an oversized pinball machine. Sunflower and instructors alike dove for cover while Trixie watched the light careen across the room. After several bounces, the ball stopped in the middle of the room and exploded, sending smaller balls of different colored sparkling light everywhere, even some out the window; one of the lights knocking the crown off of a nearby flying Celestia. The sparks fizzled out and everyone came out of their hiding spots staring at a beaming Trixie. One of the instructors started blowing off a small fire on his clipboard when he noticed Princess Celestia enter the room. Trixie had not noticed her presence and was confused thinking their bowing was them bracing for another incoming spark. She turned and saw a looming Celestia standing over her with a smoldering crown atop her head. Trixie coward to the floor knowing full well that the smoke and cracked gem could only have been caused by one of her flying pieces of shrapnel. “I’m sorry princess. I didn’t mean to cause such a mess or strike you.” Trixie flinched when she felt a hoof lightly lift her head. “What is your name little one,” questioned Celestia in her usual soft tone. “T-t-trixe. My name is Trixie Lulamoon.” “I see great potential in you. And to see you performed such great a feat in less than perfect conditions,” she placed a napkin to Trixie’s nose to which she instinctively blew into. “How would you like to learn more about your magic at my school?” Trixie gasped and began to prance around. “Yes yes yes…whoa,” Trixie stumbled as her dizziness came back. “Very well then. I will have the instructors provide the paperwork to your mother and I hope to see you in class very soon.” Trixie was snapped out of her flashback by a loose piece of paper that had violently smacked her in the face. “What the hay?!” She pulled the parchment from her face, and was about to throw it, until she caught a quick glimpse at the picture. She looked at it closer and saw a stallion standing on his hind legs being surrounded by stars and swirls shooting out from behind him. At the top read a banner The Fabulous and Fantastic Jackpot. Trixie scanned it further and saw that it was an advertisement for a magic show that was coming to Canterlot. The poster filled her with a rush of excitement. She neatly rolled up the poster and placed it into her school bag. In the blink of an eye, she sprinted out of the park and made her way home. *** Sunflower Shine stood in the kitchen preparing dinner for her and Trixie. The sweet smell of freshly cut daisies hung in the air, tickling her nose ever so slightly. The smell mixed nicely with the sound of Neightoveen playing from her record in the living room. She became lost in her senses and begun to sway with the music while she hummed the melody. She was rudely shaken out of her blissful state by the sound of a door slamming against the wall, the screeching of the needle across the record, and a little filly screaming at the top of her lungs. “MOM! I’M HOME! YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GUESS WHAT I FOUND!” “I’m hoping a volume switch,” mumbled Sunflower. She rounded the corner and saw Trixie still standing in the open door, breathing heavily as if she had just ran a marathon. “So what has you in a tizzy my little firecracker?” Trixie rolled her eyes at the name. She never liked the nicknames her mother gave her, but she was at least glad she stopped calling her ‘sparkle’, a name she will loath till her dying day. She reached back in her bag and unfurled it for her mother, “Look at this. It’s a picture of a great magician, and he’s coming to our town next month. Can we go see him?” Sunflower took the poster from Trixie and examined it. “Jackpot huh? That’s a name I haven’t heard in years. He always did tell me I’d see his name in the papers one day, I just always thought it would be in the arrest reports.” She pulled the paper away from her gaze and saw Trixie staring at her wide eyed with astonishment. “You know who he is?” Sunflower sucked some air through her teeth. She was unaware she had said that out loud, let alone loud enough for Trixie to hear. “Well,” Sunflower thought quickly for damage control, “a little bit. We knew each other in the past, but not for very long.” Trixie started to dance in place looking as if she had to pee. Sunflower chuckled at the sight of her daughter. “I did know him long enough to pick up a few tricks though.” Trixie began to dance even harder until her mother motioned her to calm herself, which resulted in her becoming as still as stone and planting herself in a sitting position. Sunflower placed her hoof behind Trixie’s left ear, and with a flick, pulled it back to reveal a single bit. Trixie gasped and grabbed the bit from her mother’s hoof. She turned it over, examining every inch of it, hoping to figure out how something so big was pulled out of her ear. Sunflower had to stifle a laugh realizing Trixie never noticed her grab the bit off of the counter top behind her head. “How did you do that,” Trixie asked with anticipation. “Ah, another thing he taught me was that a good magician never reveals their secrets.” Trixie thought for a moment, “But he told you.” Sunflower was surprised at her remark. She flashed a sly grin and pulled Trixie into her, messing up her main with her hoof, “Somepony is getting a bit too smart.” They both laughed while playfully wrestling with each other. As they settled down, Sunflower pointed at the counter, “I pulled the coin off of there.” Trixie looked at the counter, then at the coin. After she had put the two together, she turned to her mother, “That’s cheating!” Sunflower laughed, “On the contrary firecracker. That’s magic.” She waved her hand around in a showy manner. “Tell you what, you set the table up in the living room, and I’ll show you some more pictures of the Jackpot I knew.” Trixie nodded her head gleefully and ran to the kitchen to grab some plates. As she did this, Sunflower went to her room and pulled out an old slide projector and a case of film slides from her bedroom closet. She dragged them to the living room and made sure the lens was in focus. She pulled out a small box labeled “Me & JP” and placed them into the projector. She sat on the couch next to Trixie and took a bite of her sandwich before turning to the first slide. What came up was a picture of Sunflower in a sparkling red dress standing next to Jackpot fanning out a deck of cards. “This was taken during a costume party where we met. I can’t remember why I was wearing that, but he said he was putting on a magic show for the kids that came with their parents, and that I would make a great assistant.” She clicked to the next slide and she sighed with annoyance. It showed Sunflower dripping wet yelling at a panic stricken Jackpot from the top of a water tank. “And this was supposed to be his biggest trick yet. He said he had it all figured out, but at the end he realized the water wasn’t draining like it should have and I nearly drowned.” She looked at Trixie who was in shock, “But don’t worry, I was able to break out, and,” she flashed an evil grin at the next slide, “I got even.” This one showed Sunflower lifting the tank and dumping the watery contents onto Jackpot. This made both of them laugh. They flicked through a couple of more and finally made it to the last one. Sunflower clicked the button to bring out the next one, but immediately clicked it again to cycle past it. “What was that one mommy?” “Oh nothing dear. It was just a random slide that somehow got into the mix.” Trixie acknowledged with a shrug and took the last bite of her sandwich. “Be a dear and put the dishes away while I clean this up.” Trixie nodded and cleared the table. When she had made it into the kitchen, Sunflower clicked another button to return the projector to the previous slide. This one showed Jackpot dipping Sunflower in his front legs as they shared a tender kiss. “Oh JP,” Sunflower whispered, “You always were such a charmer.” She heard Trixie shut off the water in the sink and start walking back to the living room. Sunflower hastily shut off the projector and placed the slides back into the box. As she was putting the projector back in the closet, she knocked over another box that landed in a loud thud. She had no idea how long it had been there, but it was enough for it to collect enough dust to fill the air around her. She looked inside and saw that it was a box of old costumes that she and Jackpot would wear in some of their skits. One that stuck out to her was a purple hat with stars and a matching cape. She smiled and pulled it out. She hid it behind the door and called for Trixie to come to her. “So, I’m guessing after all you’ve seen, you probably want to try and do some stage magic of your own.” Trixie nodded in reply. “Well, if you’re going to perform, you first have to look the part.” She grabbed the cape and tossed it on top of Trixie. Trixie crawled out from under only to be engulfed again by a giant hat. “Don’t worry, you’ll grow into it,” mused Sunflower.