//------------------------------// // Prologue part 1 // Story: Unicorn x Unicorn // by Typewrittensoul //------------------------------// Trixie Lulamoon was ecstatic. From the pep in her step to the tell-tale look of smugness plastered on her face, her happiness was plain as day. Resplendent white marble columns soothed her eyes, as did the shimmering hues and tones of light streaming in from the stained glass windows that painted the walls. The intimately detailed panes were as tall as the ceiling, which arched way overhead the unicorn filly. In a touch of her magic, the silver-maned pony couldn't help but grasp the finely quill-written letter addressed to her, bringing it out of her saddlebag to read once more. Carefully unrolling it so it remained in its pristine condition, Trixie continued trotting happily down the plush red carpet that was placed in the exact center of the hallway. The flowing script, the perfectly traced lines... Oh, how Trixie regretted hating writing class when she first began her formal training in magic kindergarten just two years ago. To think that she railed and complained about how learning to write was a dumb and pointless exercise in the first week of class. But now that she knew better, as she was much more mature and sophisticated at the age of seven, she found the skill to apply the right touch of the pen point against the paper something so awe inspiring that nopony should ever know. Especially given how vocal she was in front of the whole class during those days. It would simply have to remain a secret, made all the easier given how far away she expected to be from any of her former classmates from this point on. Trixie didn’t even completely mind that she would be away from her family in order to attend advanced private instruction from none other than Her Highness herself, Princess Celestia. While boarding at the palace no less. Her parents, as dear to her as they were, were modest folk. Much more settled than her grandfather who traveled across the world performing feats of magic and escape...and sometimes chicanery. Her father an actuary and her mother a grocer, Trixie lived a perfect, quaint life with her brothers and sisters. And that bored her. It hadn’t taken long for Trixie to start making mischief here and there to liven things up whenever she wasn't arguing with her siblings or enjoying taco night. A false alarm here, and a game of “hide dad’s important documents” there. Then, one fateful day, she had met her grandfather, who came to babysit thanks to everypony else in town not being able to handle four frightfully rambunctious foals. As it turned out he had just been released from the local jail for petty theft, but she paid no mind to her dear grandfather's colorful background. No, Trixie was too busy being awed by the older unicorn's acts of prestidigitation and illusion. Most especially illusion. He made flowers appear and silverware disappear; he asked them to bring their mother’s necklace and other jewelry and made them disappear before their very eyes. A bag of bits? Gone, no matter how hard she focused and tried to follow the stallion’s hoof movements. All of this managed to happen without magic. Bluebeard then showed off how he could bend light with traditional unicorn spells to make it seem like he was invisible, or shoot sparkling fireworks of vibrant blues, reds, oranges, yellows...other, lighter blues... Trixie was taken in and amazed, even when her siblings grew bored of the show and fell asleep on the couch next to her. The fact that Star Runner and Greensleeves managed to come back to a house that wasn’t torn up—or hopelessly on fire—as they had expected it to be had locked Bluebeard as the go-to foalsitter. He even told her parents that she was his little assistant, though by then even a filly like her couldn’t stay up way long past her bedtime and was already falling fast asleep. The following day at breakfast, Trixie remembered being asked how it had felt to meet her dad’s dad. “Grandpa showed me all sorts of tricks!” she remembered saying, then began to regale her parents with the show that had occurred and all the things that Bluebeard the Magnificent could make disappear. Then, for the next couple of weeks after that, Trixie didn’t get to see her grandfather. She remembered her mom being really upset and screaming at her dad that Bluebeard was a “clipped toe...” something... It didn’t matter what her mother said, as eventually Trixie was able to see her grandfather again. And ever since, Trixie learned all she knew from her grandfather. The tricks of the trade; the art of illusion and misdirection, amongst other things. She smiled from such fond memories and, from the corner of her eye, Trixie noticed that the help must have arrived to take her things to wherever her room would be. It was expected that the palace would be staffed with maids, butlers, and the like. Floating behind her in a soft purple glow was a set of luggage and a traveling trunk that was then set onto the floor nearby the ponies standing a little ways ahead of her. “Yes, if you could please take these for me,” Trixie said with a heightened feeling of privilege to have other ponies work to her whims despite not having a drop of noble blood in her. She turned away to admire the scale of the hall when one of the servants unexpectedly asked, “And what am I supposed to do with these?” The surprisingly young-sounding maid sounded irritated in her tone, prompting Trixie to spin back around in confusion at the situation. “I...what...here, too...huh?” Once her eyes settled upon the two fillies standing and looking back at her, Trixie stammered and stuttered nonsensically when she recognized the fiery-maned unicorn, her lifelong rival Sunset Shimmer, and standing next to her...the purple one. Sunset gave her a smirk in return, enjoying how quickly the usually straight-faced filly’s demeanor had changed in a single moment. "I got an invitation, Tricky," Trixie oh-so hated that nickname, and she ground her teeth as the other filly continued loudly exclaiming, "so you probably just got one of my extras that they sent out to make absolutely certain that one of them reached me." "Um, I got one too," the purple one said in an attempt to join the conversation. Ignoring her, the two other ponies continued their heated conversation. "Well the addressee on this invite is quite a misspelling of your name, Somersault Shummer." Sunset gasped as though insulted and then growled out, "My name is—" Trixie rolled her eyes in response. "I said it wrong on purpose." Hearing this, Sunset narrowed her eyes and glowered. "What's your deal, Tricky?" Trixie bristled from hearing that yet again. "For the last time, my name is Trrrrrrrrixie," she said with a roll of her tongue, emphasizing what Sunset was supposed to correct. "I'm Twilight. Twilight Sparkle," the other filly said, stepping forward with a polite smile. "We were in the same class, remember?" Trixie and Sunset found themselves glancing at each other for a short moment before they turned their attention back to the unicorn looking at them. "Right..." Sunset addressed the matter curtly. “In any case, there’s no way you could have gotten an invitation to meet the princess, Lulamoon. Twilight I can understand, as much a goody-two-shoes she is.” “Thanks,” Twilight chirped, not realizing how she’d just been sniped at. “Well, I’m surprised a bully like you who was held back a year would be asked to show up at the palace.” Trixie decided to go for the kill, but for her daring she earned a crazed stare from Sunset. For the slightest moment Trixie wanted to jump back, but she stood her ground, keeping a stern face against the other pony’s legitimately intimidating appearance. In short order the wide-eyed look disappeared and it turned back into the cool, haughty smirk as before. “‘Bully?” Sunset said with a scoff, combing back her wavy mane with a hoof in a blasé manner. “It’s called being a winner.” "Truth be told, all three of you received invitations." A familiar voice echoed throughout the chamber. The voice was authoritative yet gentle, loud but fitting the grand expanse of the room they were in. The three fillies wasted no time following the length of the red carpet, their eyes climbing the high staircase to spot a tall figure who had appeared and was watching them. From atop the staircase stood a mare with a snow-white coat and a flowing mane, unmistakable even to ponies who had never seen her before. Ponies learned as early as foalhood who she was. From her posture to the very way she regarded the three animated fillies, everything about the mare bespoke a regal nature. "Princess!" the fillies called out in unison. The three of them bowed toward the alicorn, who smiled at their display of proper decorum. "You three have each proven yourselves to be astounding in your respective fields of magic, and at such young ages, no less,” the slender, tall alicorn said while descending each step. “I can sense great potential in each of you, and would be honored to have you be my students." Sunset Shimmer was the first to respond, unable to keep up her attitude in their kind ruler’s presence. Celestia had managed to earn Sunset’s respect, it seemed. “Y-Your highness, I think I speak for all of us here whe-” “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Twilight jumped out and surprised them all, hopping around in circles around Celestia and continuing to cheer loudly, unaware of how embarrassing her behavior was. “H-hey! Don’t interrupt me like that!” Sunset shrieked, her helium-like voice cracking slightly. As Sunset continued yelling at Twilight to stop, the princess simply smiled and turned her attention to Trixie with an expectant look. Pressured by the feeling of being watched, as she was ignoring the other fillies’ noises up to this point, Trixie looked up from the floor and was caught in Celestia’s curious gaze. “W-What’s wrong?” the filly twitched and stammered, forgetting herself from the undue, intimate attention that didn’t occur from performing in front of a crowd. “Nothing’s wrong,” the princess chuckled warmly in response, smiling in a manner that soothed Trixie’s nerves more so than the white columns had. In fact, the tension seemed to melt away as the waving, resplendent mane reminded the filly of the light that streamed from the stained glass windows. “So...you want all three of us to study under you?” Trixie finally asked, standing straight and looking up to Celestia as she would to any adult. “That was the plan, yes,” Celestia replied slyly, chuckling once more. She remained standing tall, keeping in direct eye contact with the stern-looking Trixie. The filly noticed how the princess wasn’t leaning down to take the same eye level as her like most adults would. Of course, most stallions and mares simply weren’t as imposing a figure as Princess Celestia, requiring Trixie to take just a step back to comfortably remain in eye contact. It wasn’t at as if she was intimidated. Far from it, actually. The princess gave a light chuckle at the sight, managing to do so without making the filly feel self-conscious about the size disparity. “So?” Celestia asked after a moment passed. “What do you say?” “What do I say?” Trixie asked in return, not fully understanding what she meant. “You’re the princess, so...if you want us to be your students…what you say goes” At this Celestia let out a surprisingly loud laugh that simply couldn’t be stifled, making the other two fillies stop in their places. “Princess?” Twilight was the first to ask aloud when Celestia raised a hoof to wipe away a tear. She looked to each of the three fillies in turn, then maneuvered herself so that everypony could see her when she looked once more to Trixie. “I may be responsible for raising the sun and moon everyday, and making sure my little ponies are safe from harm, but that in no way makes ‘what I say go’ just like that. Rather, it’s up to each of you and you alone whether to give me the chance to be your teacher. And I would very much like that chance to show you your true potential, Trixie Lulamoon,” she looked away while continuing to address the other fillies. “Twilight Sparkle, and you as well, Sunset Shimmer.” Trixie had long since learned how to read an adult’s eyes to discern what they actually meant. Her grandfather made it a point to teach her never to take anypony’s word at face value. Unlike most of the adults that her grandfather always had her meet, the princess’ eyes shone clearly and lucidly like a marble in the sunlight. Her intent was bare for everypony to see. A bit too upfront, almost, that the filly had to look away else she’d forever be caught in them and forget everything Bluebeard had warned her about adults. “Yeah,” Trixie said noncommittally with a shrug of her shoulders. “Sounds like fun.” The princess was quite pleased with the answer when her attention returned to Trixie. “Oh, me too! I’d be honored if I could be a student of yours, princess!” Twilight ecstatically announced, hopping into sight right next to Trixie. Sunset nodded quietly in agreement, lending a soft smile and appearing on the silver-maned filly’s other side. “Girls,” Celestia said with a wide smile of her own. “I’m so happy that you’ve all agreed! Now, let’s get started with the first lesson.” Trixie furrowed her brows and deadpanned, “Wait…right now?”