Trixie Luna Moon

by Lets Do This


Examination Day

The day dawned bright and warm in Canterlot. And fillies and colts, together with their parents, waited in line to be admitted to Celestia's School for their entrance examinations.

"Now don't you worry, cupcake!" Sunflower said. The orange, cornflower-maned mare hugged the nervous slate-green filly beside her. "That nice pony filling in the forms over there already has us on his list. So you just line up with the other children, and we'll wait until they start calling us in."

"You think I have a chance, mama?" the filly asked, shivering.

Sunflower nuzzled her comfortingly. "Every chance in the world, honey! Now just do your best, and remember, no matter what happens today -- no matter what -- we are proud, very proud of you my darling, for getting this far!"

"Okay, mama!" The filly beamed, and trotted happily forward to join the line.

"Uhm.. excuse me, ma'am?"

Sunflower turned, and found herself facing a nervous, white-maned blue filly, wearing a carryall with a magic wand emblazoned on the pockets.

"Is this where ponies line up for the entrance examinations?"

"It surely is, honey!" Sunflower smiled encouragingly. "And oh my, you look like such a sharp young thing, you're sure to do well. What's your name, deary?"

"Trixie," the filly replied meekly.

"Oh, what a pretty name! And how appropriate! I'm Sunflower, by the way." She grinned warmly. "And I'll just bet you were an early admission too, just like my little cupcake! Am I right?"

"Um... no, actually." Trixie grimaced. "I was hoping to try for one of the open admission slots... assuming there are any left."

"Oh, how forthright of you, my dear! Now I don't understand all the details myself, but I'm sure if you trot on over and talk to that nice pony at the table, he should be able to get you all sorted out."

"Oh. Thank you, ma'am!"

"You're most welcome, my dear. Best of luck, now!"

Trixie headed over to the table, and found herself facing a harried-looking gray unicorn, wearing a red uniform vest and a baked-in look of weary indifference.

"I wish to sign in," Trixie declared primly. "For the open exams today."

"Name?" he snapped disinterestedly, drawing over a fresh sheet of parchment. His quill darted around over it like a bloodthirsty fly, filling in lines, ticking boxes.

"Trixie."

"Trixie..." he echoed coldly, still bent over the parchment, quill scribbling. Then he eyed her, the quill poised over a blank line on the form. "Trixie what?"

Apparently he was expecting something more, a last name. Trixie thought fast. She had two teachers, so she could just pick one... but which one to choose... which one...

And then she smirked. Why choose? This was Canterlot, after all.

"Luna Moon," she said loftily. "Trixie Luna Moon!"

"Trixie... Lulamoon," the pony muttered inattentively, quill scratching away.

"Uh no! Wait..." Trixie said, annoyed.

"Yes?" The pony glared up at her sourly. "What?"

"Oh. Never mind." Trixie mentally shrugged. What difference did it make, anyway? It was just a name on a form.

"Address?"

Trixie gave the current location of her wagon.

The official went on, taking down some other identifying particulars. And then...

"Parent or guardian?" he snapped.

"Oh, my mother's with me," Trixie said, waving a hoof vaguely in Sunflower's direction. "Sunflower. Same address."

"I need a release signature," the pony said. His quill pointed to a line near the bottom of the form.

Trixie froze, chilled. Oh haybales! she thought frantically. What do I do? What do I do?

"Just... one moment," she said brightly. "I'll be right back."

She turned and trotted casually back toward Sunflower, anxiously turning over ideas in her head.

Then one came to her.

"Why hello, dear!" Sunflower greeted her. "All signed up?"

"Um, not quite," Trixie replied, looking embarrassed. "They need some kind of witness signature on the form, just to make it official. I don't have anypony with me today so... would you mind...?"

"Oh, not a bit, dear. Glad to help!" Sunflower willingly trotted back with her to the table.

"You'll be accompanying her during the exam?" the official demanded grumpily.

"Oh! Well, certainly, I'd be glad to!"

The official harrumphed, then read out an apparently memorized litany of potential hazards of the test, up to and including physical injury, thaumic dissociation, and simple, unvarnished death.

And Sunflower willingly signed her name, not even looking at the form. "She's such a bright young thing, isn't she?" she said to the official. "She'll make an excellent student!"

The official scowled in annoyance, then pointed with a hoof. "Wait over there, until you're called." Then he tossed the filled-in parchment onto a stack to his left, and turned to the next applicant.

"Well now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Sunflower said brightly, as they trotted back to the line.

Trixie nodded distractedly, stumbling along on legs like jelly, her heart pounding. "Thanks so much, ma'am," she whispered. "You can't know how much this means to me!"

"Oh, it's no trouble, dear. You remind me so much of my own little cupcake, after all. So excited and nervous! But I know you'll do just fine."

Trixie stared up at her, astonished... at the warmly smiling, comforting face gazing down at her. For a brief moment, she had a strong, dreamlike recollection. Of a Hearth's Warming Eve, long ago, and another smiling face.

Yes, Showcase had said to her. The ornaments on the tree are a lot like fireworks. You're such a perceptive little filly, Patricia! And then her father had called her attention back to the rabbit-in-the-hat trick he was working to amuse her...

It had felt nice, back then... having somepony she could count on to look after her.

Trixie turned to look ahead, at the long line of fillies and colts waiting to go in. "I wish..." she said quietly, thinking of Princess Luna, "I wish she could have been here with me. I wish I didn't have to do this all on my own."

"Oh, my dear!" Sunflower said, putting a consoling hoof on her withers. "You're not alone! You're never alone! Not ever! Don't even think that! Now, we'll stay and watch you take your exam, all right? Give you a little extra encouragement, eh? And don't you fret, Trixie! Just do your best. That's all anypony could ask of you, right?"

"Uh huh," Trixie said, numbly.

"And don't doubt yourself, dear, not for a moment! After all, this is your big chance to shine now, isn't it?"

Trixie nodded, distractedly. "I suppose so."

"Absolutely! So just remember, my dear..."

Trixie looked up at her. Sunflower gave her a gentle squeeze and a reassuring smile.

"Never any fear, Trixie... and never any doubt!"

Then Sunflower's gaze swing to the doors of the examination hall. "Oops! Looks like they're ready for us. Here we go!" She trotted ahead, to be with her own little filly.

Trixie stared after her, with a wistful look on her face.

Then she squared her shoulders and trotted along after them.

And fought to hold back the tears.

------------------------------

"Trixie... Lulamoon." The head examiner intoned the name, flatly and dispassionately, like a bailiff summoning a prisoner to the witness stand.

His associates readied their clipboards and quills, looking on with bored indifference.

Trixie took a quick bow.

"Thank you all! And prepare yourselves, for a spectacle the likes of which you have never seen!"

"Ahem, yes..." The examiner glanced at his clipboard. "Levitation, please, Miss Lulamoon."

That was easy. Trixie grabbed a book from a nearby table with her magic, and caused it to hover -- a trifle unsteadily -- before her.

"Alteration, please."

Trixie pointed a hoof at a candle on the table, and used a simple incendiary spell to light it.

"Conjuration."

Trixie thought quickly, then attempted a quick weather-spell. To her relief it worked, producing a diffident cloud that crackled and fizzed fitfully for a moment, sprinkling a few drops of water on the floor.

The examination went on, and the requests became harder and harder to fulfill with her limited repertoire of spells. And Trixie could tell that her pitiful, wimpy spellwork wasn't endearing her in the eyes of the examiners. They fidgeted, glanced around, cleared their throats. She was losing them, losing her audience. And Trixie couldn't have that.

Just then, they asked her for something that she knew she could not do.

"Transfiguration, please. Turn the candle to stone."

Trixie froze.

The examiner raised his eyebrows. "Well, Miss Lulamoon?"

Trixie stared at him, swallowing uncomfortably. And then, throwing caution to the winds, she shrugged in a bored fashion.

"Oh, pshaw! Trixie does not trifle with such... plebeian prestidigitation!"

"Really." The examiner's tone was flat, cold, and dismissive. He moved to write something on his clipboard --

"Not when she is capable of feats such as this!"

She brushed back her mane, then waved her forehooves in mystic passes. And then, almost too fast to follow, her hooves held up an apple... and the candle had disappeared.

"But Trixie is not yet finished!" Turning to her carryall, Trixie rummaged inside... and then pulled out the candle, its wick still alight.

The examiners sat up at that, watching intently.

"Go on, Miss Lulamoon," the lead examiner prompted.

Trixie had only intended to do just the one trick, just to distract them from her failure at real magic. But here she was, presented with a willing audience, who clearly wanted something more -- something truly astounding.

Trixie had never been able to resist that.

"Watch in awe!" she intoned grandly, "as the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie demonstrates powers and skills the likes of which you have never seen! Behold!"

And she dove into her usual performance. She demonstrated all manner of types of magic: conjuring, pyromancy, teleportation, transfiguration, plus a few tricks requiring props from her carryall. And all of it stage magic, a complete fraud, offered with confident aplomb and depth of skill, allowing the examiners not a second's pause, not a moment's opportunity to ask for something Trixie could not do, not an instant to realize that they were being hoodwinked, thoroughly and completely.

Trixie found herself actually pitying the examiners. The poor things, stuck in this auditorium for hours on end, watching pitiful candidate after pitiful candidate attempting to impress them with clumsy, fitful spellwork. When what they were really after was smooth, polished, powerful showponyship, the likes of which only the Great and Powerful Trixie could provide!

And Trixie could tell she had them hooked. They were impressed, even though they tried to hide it. She'd always been good at reading a crowd. But more than that, she sensed they were... strangely relieved, somehow. As if they'd been looking for something like this all day. And in Trixie, they had finally found it.

Trixie wrapped up her performance smartly, and took a deep bow. "Thank you!" she called out grandly. "Thank you all, for your time and attention! Now, if you will excuse Trixie, she has many other pressing engagements to attend to, many, on this fine day!"

And with that, leaving the examiners not a chance to ask questions, Trixie turned, swept up her carryall, and marched straight out of the examination hall, tall and proud and radiating absolute confidence.

She didn't look back, not even once. She didn't have to... she knew she'd won them over.

Later that day, when a messenger tapped on the door of her wagon, and presented a gilt-edged scroll, which proudly told Miss Trixie Lulamoon that she was welcomed wholeheartedly as a student of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Trixie merely nodded in satisfaction. It was only her just due, after all.

Really... if the School was going to staff its entrance panel with judges so unfit as to be unable to distinguish stage-work from thaumic magic... why should the Great and Powerful Trixie trouble herself to show them the error of their ways?

Trixie decided, then and there, that she would not care in the slightest. Trixie had an evening performance to prepare for, after all.

And she definitely didn't have time for regrets...

------------------------------

That night, long after midnight, Trixie finally managed to drop off to sleep, tucked up in the bunk in her wagon.

"Trixie..." a voice called, slinking through her dreams, like cold mist through a deep underground chasm.

For once, Trixie didn't mind the interruption of her slumbers. Opening her eyes, she looked about eagerly, seeking the source of the voice. She found herself in a dark, echoing throne room, with cold marble walls hung with night-dark tapestries...

... it was her throne room... Nightmare Moon's.

Around Trixie stood a phalanx of lantern-eyed, dragon-winged nightmares. As one, the guards came to attention, bowing their heads respectfully to Trixie.

Trixie carefully trotted forward through them, approaching the throne herself, and then dropping a carefully measured curtsey. Her teacher liked a show of fealty, but despised servile flattery. It was a very thin line, but Trixie nailed it perfectly.

Nightmare Moon leant forwards out of the shadows, grinning down at her. "Welcome, our diligent student! How fared thee at the examination?"

Trixie sniffed. "It wasn't even a contest, Your Highness."

"Really? The examiners presented no difficulties?"

"Not a hope! The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie floored them with the skill and brilliance of her presentation. They wanted a show, and Trixie gave them one. And they bought it, without hesitation."

"Indeed?" Nightmare Moon eyed her closely. "And thou, Trixie? Thou has no qualms about that?"

Trixie rolled her eyes in disgust.

"They're undeserving of Trixie... a means to an end, nothing more."

"Capital! So, thou has been accepted?" Nightmare Moon grinned, in a way that suggested she already knew the answer.

Trixie nodded. "Trixie received her scroll just this afternoon. Hoof-delivered, by special messenger! They must have been in a hurry -- didn't want to miss their chance."

"Our congratulations. Though really, we expected no less from thee." Nightmare Moon nodded. "Now thou are ready... ready for the next, most important part of our plans..."

"Oooh! What is it?" Trixie settled herself attentively on the cushion that had been provided by one of the nightmares.

"It concerns a fellow student, who has only recently begun studies at the School herself: Celestia's own personal protégé..."

An image formed in the air between them: a lavender pony, with a blue, red-striped mane. And her snout buried in a book.

"Twilight Sparkle," the Nightmare snarled, her tone cold and sharp, like a sword being unsheathed...

------------------------------

Trixie came awake, in the pale light of early morning.

She was shivering, though not from cold. Even as the dream slipped away from her, fading from her awareness as it always did, she recalled fragments of the viciously triumphant voice of her teacher, spelling out the terms of her retribution...

... and Trixie's part in it.

"Thou will position thyself close to Twilight Sparkle," Nightmare Moon had said, "and await my command. For safety's sake, you will not remember why, only that it is essential -- very essential -- that you be part of her inner circle of companions at the School..."

The Nightmare had glared, ragingly, at the image of the studious, distracted pony.

"So like Celestia," she'd said. "So perfect, so flawless, so quick with an answer, so swift to win the confidence of all who speak with her. No wonder she was selected to be Celestia's protégé. Celestia likely sees herself in that bookish little brat. Celestia never could resist primping and preening in front of a mirror, keeping up her image, her oh-so-perfect image, as the kind and benevolent ruler of all Equestria..."

Nightmare Moon's armored hoof had struck the marble floor, fracturing and splintering it with a thunderous crash.

"A role she usurped from me! Me! The true mind and power behind the throne! Without me, Celestia would be nothing, a figurehead! And I shall take back what is rightfully mine! There shall be one ruler in Equestria... and that ruler shall be me!"

She'd gazed down at Trixie, grinning, yet without a trace of mirth... or remorse.

"And you, my student, shall be the instrument of my retribution... my revenge. Against dear Celestia, and her chosen successor... Twilight Sparkle..."

Her loud, braying, laugh had echoed through the throne room.

"When I give the command, Trixie, thou shall act! Thou shall strike! And thus seal their fate... their doom... forever!"

The triumphant echoes of her laughter mounted to a thunderous cacophany. And then, gradually faded, slipping away into nothingness, as the memory of the dream itself slipped from Trixie's grasp.

Trixie shook herself. She got up, lit the stove, put a kettle on for tea. She brushed her mane, inspected her wizard's hat and cloak for dust or lint. She went through her props, deciding on a lineup of tricks for the morning's matinee performance. And tried not to think about the dream. No, the nightmare...

She tried to let it settle back into her mind, fading away, as it always did. But for once, she didn't feel comfortable with that, didn't want to let go. She didn't want to forget what she had been instructed to do.

Because then she would still have to go through with it.

She covered her face with her hooves.

"Princess Luna?" she whispered, helplessly. And thought she heard the Princess's calm reply, though she wasn't certain whether it wasn't just her own thoughts, anymore:

"What ails thee, our student?"

"What would you do if... well, if there was something you had to do. Like, to help somepony you really, really cared about... ?" She gritted her teeth. Then she rushed into it, before she lost her nerve. "And it wasn't something you thought you could live with? Because it meant destroying a whole bunch of other ponies' lives, irreversibly?"

There was a long, considered silence.

"I would live with it," the Princess replied, calmly and directly. "So that others would not have to."

"But --"

"Trixie, thou are a strong, capable pony. Trust in thyself. Thou will do the right thing, when the time comes."

"But, Princess... I'm all alone!"

"Trixie, we have told thee before: thou are never alone. We will always be here for thee. And there is nothing that cannot be accomplished, so long as we do it together. Trust in us, Trixie. Please... trust us!"

"I do trust you, Your Highness," Trixie whispered desperately. "Always."

"And if we tell thee to do something, Trixie," the Princess reminded her. "Do it, without question. Because it will mean everything in the world..."

"I will, Your Highness! I swear!"

"And remember, Trixie... always remember..."

"Yes?"

"Never any fear... and never any doubt."

Trixie relaxed, nodding. "Yes, Your Highness." She smiled, her mind made up. "I'm so glad I have you to help me!"

"And we are glad of thee, our diligent student... more than thee can know...

------------------------------

The back shelves of the library at Celestia's School were dark and dusty. Few ponies ever came back here.

Except for Twilight, of course -- the lavender unicorn came here practically every day, chasing down a reference. She rummaged amongst the scrolls in a bin at the far end of a shelf, tongue between her teeth, her horn gently singing to provide a soft gleam of light to see by.

"Hellooo, Twilight..."

Twilight looked up in surprise, and saw, standing in the shadows at the far end of the shelf, a light blue filly with a white mane... and a proudly triumphant grin on her face.

"Oh, hi!" Twilight replied. "Sorry, you are...?"

"Trrrixie Lulamoon!" the pony said, in a tone that suggested it was the answer to any and all questions of importance. "I'm new here, and having just a tiny bit of trouble finding my way around. Could you tell me, where might I find a good book on transfiguration? I've been finding it so difficult to wrap my brain around how it works..."

"Oh, no kidding! You'll want Clover the Clever's survey on projection along thaumic dimensions. It's kinda wordy, but it'll give you a real grasp of the whole subject. Come on, I'll show you where it is."

"Oh, would you?" Trixie smiled. "That would be so kind of you, Twilight. So very kind, indeed..."

With Twilight leading the way, the two of them disappeared further into the darkness of the back shelves, the light from Twilight's horn fading into the shadows.

She's just like everypony says, Trixie thought to herself. So bookish, so knowledgeable. So innocent and perfect. The pony with all the answers... always the head of the class.

That kind of perfection just burned Trixie up. Why, she couldn't quite put her hoof on -- it just did.

Well, that wouldn't last long...

Not now that the Great and Powerful Trixie Luna Moon was here...

------------------------------

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
in the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away --
for the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
-- The Hunting of the Snark, by Lewis Carroll

The End

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.