//------------------------------// // Chapter Eleven // Story: The New Student // by TheTwelfthDoctor //------------------------------// Chapter Eleven Trixie was finally content with life. She had found a small apartment in New Yoke City’s Manehatten borough--it was even rent-controlled--and was working as a professional magician-for-hire--birthday parties, corporate functions, even the New Year’s Eve ceremonies in Lunar Square. Then the invitation came. After a day of performances in magic kindergarten classes, Trixie was tired. She pushed open the front door to her apartment building, and used her key to open the small mailbox each tenant was issued in the lobby. Trixie took out the stack of papers that greeted her and walked up the five flights to her apartment. She let herself in, tossed the mail on the kitchen table, and made herself a large mug of instant coffee. Retrieving her letter opener, Trixie began to work through the stack. “Hmm...bill, bill, sock catalog, junk...a letter from the palace?” Trixie paused when she saw the signature thick, creamy white envelope that bore the palace’s return address in embossed gold. It was addressed specifically to her, so it couldn’t be something boring like a voter registration reminder or another round of tax increases. “Better see what they want,” Trixie decided, slitting the envelope and pulling out the equally heavy, creamy white enclosure laced in gold leaf. She unfolded the paper and was surprised to see a ticket to something fall out onto the table. “Dear Miss Lulamoon,” Trixie began to read, taking a large gulp of coffee. “You are hereby cordially invited to attend the coronation ceremonies of Her Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria...” She spat out the coffee all over the letter. “WHAT?!” An ancient memory came to the front of Trixie’s mind... ‘You’re destined for great things, Trixie,’ Celestia had said on the day she had taken Trixie as a student. ‘Really? How great?’ Trixie had replied. ‘“Great,” as in you might even become the next princess of Equestria,’ Celestia had encouraged. ‘Really?!’ ‘Yes, Trixie. Really.’ Trixie found herself tearing the paper up, clenching her teeth and shaking uncontrollably from rage, while crying at the same time. ‘This was supposed to be my destiny...’ The ticket lay untouched on the table, glaring up at Trixie, as if teasing her more. “February sixteenth, ten-thirty sharp, eh? I’ll be there.” ‘But how are you going to best an alicorn? She was already better than you without the wings.’ That’s when a flyer she had tacked up on her reminder board caught her eye. “Magic Dueling Lessons at the community center? Let’s get some of those first.” “Good afternoon, Trixie-san,” the instructor said, bowing. Trixie awkwardly did so in return. “We will now begin our first lesson.” “So when do I learn how to defeat an alicorn in battle?” Trixie asked eagerly. “I want to get to the good stuff right away!” “Patience, young applebucker. You must learn how to draw the magic energies out from within yourself,” the instructor, “The Amazing Yin-Yang,” replied, taking a seat on a floor mat. “But I don’t have time for all that nonsense!” Yin-Yang lost his patience. He lost his air of calm and snapped in a gruff Hooflyn accent: “Do you want to get better at magical dueling or not, you oaf?” “Geez, no need to call your mafia friends on me,” Trixie grumbled back. “Are you implying that I work for an organized crime syndicate?” Yin-Yang retorted. “Yes.” “Get out. Unless you want me to call The Fixer on you, that is.” Trixie trotted up the stairs to the New Yoke Public Library, past the two statues of lions standing guard by the door, and went directly to the stacks. Large, red-and-blue posters adorned the ends of shelves, bearing a likeness of now-Princess Twilight and the caption: “READ.” “Section XX...rare, special and banned books...” Trixie muttered as she came to a locked door. Making sure nopony was around, she cast a weak invisibility spell and waited. After a while, a preservationist came along and undid the door’s magical seal. Trixie slipped in behind him and waited some more. When he finally left, having returned an old book he was apparently re-binding, Trixie negated the cloak, barred the door with a chair, and began to hunt the shelves. “Slumber 101: Everything You Wanted To Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid To Ask?” Trixie puzzled as she glanced over the cover of what seemed to be a misshelved book. ‘Maybe it’s a trick. Why don’t you open it?’ So open the book Trixie did. The inside had been hollowed out, and a tattered brown journal fell out. It practically disintegrated on the floor. “CELESTIA’S PERSONAL DIARY?!” Trixie screamed. ‘You idiot,’ Trixie thought in hindsight as she shoved a hoof in her mouth. A few minutes accentuated by Trixie’s heavy breathing passed. ‘I guess nopony heard.’ Satisfied that her clandestine mission was still secret, Trixie placed the diary on a reading table and sat down. “Hmm...the missing 18 minutes of the Derpygate tapes...Starswirl the Bearded’s unfinished masterpiece--why is it crossed out and corrected in Twilight’s hornwriting?--aha! The secret to the power of alicorns!” Trixie read into more of the fine print. “A high amount of terrestrial magical energy and a physical connection to a major celestial body...bah! You can’t get those at the corner store!” She shut the diary and tucked it into her saddlebags, then quickly slipped out of the library, in search of another way around her problem. “Huh. Temporary alicorn transformation potion. Causes the user to develop alicorn features for a period of approximately three hours,” Trixie read aloud from a magical compendium. “All I need is a bunch of rare elemental compounds that are under heavy lock and key and some fancy scientific laboratory equipment. Sounds doable enough. I think I did a gig for The Manehatten Science Expo once. I wonder if any of the white-coat guys I met there will remember me...”