//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 - Reflections of the Past 
// Story: True Magic 
// by CodeMonkey 
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Chapter 11 - Reflections of the Past



Trixie and Magus spent the much of the morning, or night if one were speaking from Equestria’s point of view, walking from store to store within the enchanted town. From oddly titled books to weird staves, Magus purchased a great many items for Trixie’s magical education, and yet the only thing stranger than what they were buying was the world of magic they wandered through. The more of the town that she saw, the more amazing sights were revealed as they entered each new district. Non-pegasus ponies flew through the air, cheering and shouting in excitement to one another as they rode long, narrow boards that looked like a cross between a skateboard and a surfboard. Skeletal pony familiars wandered through the streets carrying large bags or pulling carts. Even the small saddle bag that now hung off of Magus’s side was conjured from thin air and it managed to hold everything they had purchased since the tailor shop in its seemingly infinite space. It was all almost overwhelming for Trixie as much of it she thought only existed in her dreams. The burning orb in the sky gradually rose higher as the two walked.

The feeling of hunger soon struck Trixie, despite the fact that it was probably around midnight back in Trottingham, reminding her that she had not eaten since last night. She tried not to say anything just yet, less she receive a snobbish response from her Master. 

“Are you hungry?” Magus asked, demonstrating his mind reading capabilities once again.

“How did you guess?” Trixie said, curious whether or not he really was psychic.

“Well, it has been awhile since you last ate. In addition, I can hear your stomach.”

Trixie turned red in the cheeks, just now finding that her stomach was growling for food. “I could eat something,” Trixie said, trying to draw attention away from her embarrassment.

“Very well,” he replied. 

As the two walked down the road, a large building came into view. It was a white stone building that sat on the corner of the road with a large sign hanging overhead that read: The Village Lantern. A number of tables sat outside with various colorfully dressed ponies sitting at them on red, pillow-like cushions. A large balcony, above the sign, overlooked the street with tweeting birds sitting on its stone railing. 

As they approached, the exotic smell of fine cuisine filled the air. Looking on the tables, Trixie could see exquisite food and brightly colored drinks sitting in front of the patrons as they casually talked to one another. The two followed a small, paved path through the tables to the tall, arched door of the building. 

The interior of the building was overcrowded with guests talking and laughing to one another, making it difficult to hear anything over their noisy conversations. 

“Where are we going to sit?” Trixie shouted, attempting to be heard over the noise.

Either he didn’t hear her, which was a good possibility, or he was ignoring her as they proceeded across the wood floored room. Trixie followed as close as she could so as not to lose him in the sea of patrons. Much of the space in the room was occupied by three long tables in the center, which accommodated many of diners, along with smaller, circular tables spread out around them. Tankards of wonderfully sweetly-smelling drinks floated through the air overhead and eventually landed in front of a guest all without the aid of a magical, unicorn aura. Trixie had to be careful not to bump into anypony that inexplicably jumped out of their seat in a seemingly intoxicated state. They quickly reached the other end of the room, passing through a stone archway to a stairwell that led to the second floor. 

The second story was smaller and looked out over the busy floor below, but was just as crowded with every table taken. Without stopping, Magus proceeded toward an arched doorway at the other end of the room, strangely, walking faster than usual. Moving through the tables and ducking under the occasional floating tankard, Trixie walked through the door with Magus and was welcomed by the familiar, tranquil sounds of singing birds. 

The door had led them outside onto the balcony where only a few diners sat in peace. Small strands of ivy, with white flowers spanning their vines, wrapped around the stone walled railing, looking as if it was embroidered onto it. Colorful birds sat along the railing as they sang, paying no attention to the patrons that dined nearby. Trixie followed as Magus headed toward a lone table at the far end of the balcony. While she followed, she couldn’t help but notice a strange wavering sway in his normally steadfast walk, as if he were dizzy, or perhaps tired. She said nothing as they approached table. Trixie sat down on the cushion before noticing a gold lantern hanging a ways above the door they had entered through, possibly the reason for the name. Magus sat the magic bag down next to him before sitting at the other end of the table. He looked out over the railing, appearing to be lost in thought.

After a while, it felt unsettling to be sitting together in silence when there was so much to talk about. The stallion didn’t look too interested in speaking, then again he never did.

Trixie had to say something to at least break the silence. “So, do you come here very often?” she said, trying to find a reason to speak.

Without looking away, Magus replied, “From time to time.”

“The restaurant or the city?”

“Either, the answer is the same,” Magus said, once again back to his short, quick answers that appeared to signal that something was on his mind. 

“Um, I never thanked you for the outfit.”

“No you didn’t, and it’s not necessary. It is part of my responsibility to ensure that you are properly equipped.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Trixie said, finding it difficult to start a conversation. She looked out on the city of Haven and saw an integrate design, crafted from the many buildings and wide open plazas within view. It made her think about the magic she had seen in just a few hours and, in turn, what she had seen since joining up with the stallion. “A magical city, huh?” Trixie said, almost sounding impressed as she tried to start a conversation yet again. “Hidden from the world?”

“I believe we’ve already had this conversation,” Magus said quickly in an attempt to put an end to her thought.

“Yes, but is it only the members of your Order that know about this? Do the princess’s realize this is all here?”

For the first time since they sat down, Magus’s eyes darted over to her with mild interest. He looked at her for a moment, as if contemplating her question, before he said, “Hm, I had almost forgotten how new you are to The Order.” It felt as if she was being insulted again, but at this point it was hard to tell. Magus looked back to the city and said, “No, they do not know of this place. Nor do they have knowledge of us, not anymore.”

“Why’s that?” she said curiously. “They are the rulers after all.”

“Their title means nothing to us,” Magus replied very sternly with a brief glare, as if he wanted to make sure his point got across. “They hold no dominion over The Circle, we are our own masters.”

As Trixie was about to reply to his statement, she was stopped by an unfamiliar, yet joyful voice, “Fates welcome ya!” Standing next to their table, stood an earth mare. She wore a bright, white apron that covered much of her chestnut coat. Her orange mane was worn in a bun as was her tail. She looked between the two of them with her orange colored eyes as she said, “What can I get ya?” It appeared she was the waitress, here to take their order.

“Ember Tea,” Magus said solemnly without breaking eye contact with Trixie.

The waitress nodded to him before turning to Trixie, “And what about you dear?”

Trixie looked blankly at the waitress, not knowing what you would order at a place where the drinks floated through the air. Would they even serve the same food as Equestria? Wouldn’t hurt to ask, she figured. 

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a single word, Magus interrupted by ordering, “My Initiate will be having the special and a tankard of Morning Star.” Trixie glared at him from across the table.

“An excellent choice sir,” the waitress said as she bowed her head slightly to Magus. “It will be out shortly.” She walked away, unwittingly leaving the two scowling at each other. 

When they were alone, Magus addressed her foul stare, “You think me ill-mannered, but know that this is not Equestria. Our world works differently from yours. That includes what we consider food and drink.”

“Well you could have let me find that out for myself and allowed me to make my own decision!” she said in frustration. “Instead you made me look like an idiot.” She may not have showed it, but Trixie was surprised she said such a thing and in an angered tone of voice. Not that she felt ashamed for talking back to him, she was proud of that, but Trixie never thought she would feel so angry about not being able to order food. She wondered why she felt such anger.

Magus shut his eyes while he held a hoof to his forehead, as if he was having a severe headache. Trixie watched as his face twitched and winced, appearing to be in pain. As he took a deep breath, seeming to be over the pain, Trixie asked, “What’s wrong with you?” confused by the display. She certainly didn’t care if he was in pain or not, but found it strange compared with how he usually behaved when she said something in anger to him.

It took him a moment to answer as he lowered his hoof, taking another deep breath. His eyes opened, looking directly at Trixie with an uncomfortable stare. “It’s nothing. I’m fine,” he said quickly, but calmly.

It was clear to Trixie that he was far from fine, as this was not the first odd action he’s done. “Are you sure?” Trixie said. “Because at times it seems--”

“I said I’m fine!” Magus snapped as he slammed a hoof onto the table, appearing to be struggling to keep his calm demeanor. Caught off guard by his sudden, short-tempered response, she leaned away from the table, as if Magus was ready to leap over the table at any moment. Seeing her reaction caused the crimson cloaked pony to shut his eyes immediately and began taking several quick, deep, calming breaths. “My apologies,” he said slowly, his eyes still shut tightly. “I will ensure that your individuality is respected in the future.” As he spoke, Trixie noticed his hoof, which was still on the table, trembling uncontrollably, as if the ground under him was shaking. Cracking open his eyes, he noticed his hoof and quickly removed it from the table as well as Trixie’s view of it. He held his leg under his robe, as he refused to make eye contact of any kind.

Before the situation had a chance to become any tenser, or weirder, a small white tea cup, with a small spoon and plate accompanying it, and a silver tankard floated onto their table. Steam rose from the red colored liquid in front of Magus and a yellow colored beverage sat in the silver tankard in front of Trixie. The drink in front of her appeared like liquid gold and smelled of sweet honey. Trixie lifted the mug, with a bit of unicorn magic, and took a small sip. Whatever the thick drink was tasted amazing, sweet, with some kind of spice added in.

After taking another big gulp, Trixie sat the tankard down with a satisfied sigh. As she looked across the table, Trixie noticed Magus pouring a clear liquid from a small, glass vial into his drink. Noticing her prying eyes, he plugged the top with a cork before quickly concealing it into his robe. 

“What’s that?” Trixie asked curiously, swearing she had seen him hide such a thing before, as Magus began to vigorously down his beverage.

A few gulps later, he sat his cup back down onto the table and took another deep breath. “I believe you asked for the reason why we are in hiding, yes?” he said as he looked into her eyes.

“Well yeah, but what…” Trixie began before noticing a cold, deathly glare from Magus. It was as if his stare cast a spell that caused her mind to go blank and her voice to leave her. A dry sweat developed on her forehead as she cleared her throat and said in an unnerved tone, “I mean, yes I did.” She didn’t understand why she was changing the subject, but felt compelled to.

Crimson eyes remained focused on her for a moment, as if they were continuing to cast the spell. Behaving as if nothing was wrong, Magus said, “Good. To understand the story as to why we are here today, you must understand what transpired after the discovery of the Arcana Infinitum. When the book was found and the secret of true magic returned to the three pony tribes, others began developing the ability to command the forces. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all began mastering the art and formed what is known as The Order of the Circle. But even with the magic still so young, there was unease from those who could not wield the power, due to its…” Magus looked behind him, over at the table at the other end of the balcony, where a mare and stallion sat, laughing and giggling as they stretched their faces into different shapes, “…strange behavior.” 

Trixie watched as the two morphed their faces into animal-like shapes such as those of a pig, a bird, and even a dragon. She had seen transformation spells before, but had never seen it used in such a manner, nor had she seen it used by non-unicorns. They chuckled and giggled away, appearing to be having a good time, whereas she was receiving another history lesson from her master.

Magus turned back to her, looking as if he was annoyed by their laughter, before placing a hoof on the table and muttering something under his breath. The table began to glow before a hazy picture appeared upon its surface. “The distrust between us only grew as we used our magic to shield ourselves from the cold and harsh conditions around us during the great blizzard.” The image cleared and a silhouetted depiction of three robed ponies appeared, one of each race, with what looked like a bubble surrounding them as snow fell outside of it. All the shadowy figures on the table moved like it was a movie.    

Trixie tapped on the surface of the table, curious about the properties of the spell. It was as if the image was protected behind a glass surface. “Incredible,” she said to herself. Disregarding the magic shadow play for a moment, Trixie asked, “Why didn’t The Circle help the tribes?”

“A combination of discomfort for The Circle’s magic and an egotistical unwillingness to allow another species to help them. And by this time, we were a sizeable collective of all three species, all communicating with each other and looking out for one another. As we did not wish to freeze and starve with the others, we held out through the storm by ourselves.” The image changed as he spoke, disappearing for a moment before reappearing as something new. The picture was split down the middle by a jagged line with the same robed ponies enjoying a sunny day on one side, while three normal looking ponies appeared to be cold on the other with ice and snow covering the borders of their area. 

Magus took a sip of his tea to clear his throat as Trixie did the same. “We, of course, knew of the cannibalistic wendigos that were creating the storm and feeding on those who could not survive, but found it best if the others solved their problems on their own, for once.”

“Wait, what?” Trixie said in disbelief of his story. “’Cannibalistic?’ ‘Wendigos’? I’ve never heard about that.”
Magus grunted as he stirred his tea with a levitated spoon. “Where? During that preposterous, tall tale of a Hearth’s Warming Day play you call a reenactment?” Magus scoffed. “You can learn more from staring into the sun than you could from that travesty, falsely called historical theater.”

“Well it’s not common knowledge for a wendigo to eat ponies in Equestiria,” She protested.

“Yes, indeed. I doubt you have ever seen a wendigo, much less read an accurate account on one. In addition, I can assure you that they can do a lot more than just cause blizzards or practice cannibalism. I know this from…personal experience,” Magus said as he looked down at the red pool in his cup, appearing to be lost in his own thoughts. 

It was best if she avoided questioning him when he was like this so as to avoid fueling his unstable ire. He shook his head slightly before looking back up to her. “Then again, this tale is not about the inaccuracy of the founding of a country or about a wraith-like apparition,” he said, before getting back on track. “Now then, after the migration to the land now known as Equestria, and the three pony races having learned to hate each other a little less, our order flourished. With the species no longer attempting to best each other in every endeavor, we were able to greatly increase our numbers, but with our increased population the distrust about us grew.” The image on the table disappeared again before a depiction of Equestria bloomed onto the surface. It looked as if one were looking at a map of the land with everywhere from the Frozen North to the Southern Badlands being portrayed clearly on the blank, blackened rendition of the territory. 

“Despite finding this new land, there were still those who wanted their own kingdom to call themselves leaders in.” The land glowed with different colors, all separated by black, jagged lines to mark the individual countries. “The pony race became fractured once again, but now our separation was more about territory and power rather than species. Not much of a difference if you ask me.”

Trixie scanned the surface of the table, observing the different countries that came from the migration. “So, which one was The Circle’s land?” she said, presuming their next step to their relocation.

“The Circle possessed no land. We are an order of magic, not a nation attempting to splinter ourselves from one another to achieve a sort of dominance.”

“What about Haven then?”

Magus sighed in an irritable manner. “I will get to that. Please pay attention.” 

Trixie got angry over his command, but allowed it to slip by as she took another drink from her tankard and continued to listen.

“We had no need for a land of our own as we integrated ourselves into the common society of all the nations. Our presence was well known, some saw us as healers, heroes, wise ponies, but many viewed our existence as a curse.” Magus waved a hoof over the table, changing the image to that of a silhouette of two figures. The one on the left was a pony that wore a hooded robe and the one on the right appeared as a saddened dragon wearing a crown. “Many kings, queens, princes, and princesses sought our aid and council for their plights.” The silhouetted pony on the table waved a hoof to the air, causing a bolt of lightning to strike the dragon. The table vibrated and roared like thunder with the image. The dragon disappeared and in its place stood a king-like pony, jumping for joy. “Others,” the image changed slightly as the jolly king vanished and in its place stood an armored pegasus, wielding a large spear in his wing, “attempted to be rid of us.” The speared pony lowered his weapon to the hooded equine before charging. As if the robed pony was made of smoke, he disappeared as the spear passed through him. 

Trixie shook her head as she said, “I don’t understand. If you wanted to help them, then why did so many want to get rid of you?”

With a raised eyebrow, Magus looked up from the table at her. “I’d dare say that is the best question you’ve asked since I’ve met you.”

Narrowing her eyes to him, she wasn’t sure if he was insulting her or giving a compliment.

“Even after so many years of holding a presence in the world, our spells were still far too different from normal unicorn magic. And that is exactly why we were still not trusted. As we were able to cast spells that would be impossible for unicorn magic, it was claimed that our magic disrupted the natural order of the world. As if common, unicorn magic wasn’t guilty of that already.”

“Like the way you control fire?”

“Control over the elements of nature is but one of our capabilities. But yes, you are correct,” he said as he looked back down on the table.

“Well that’s good, isn’t it? If you mean to help, then I don’t see the problem,” Trixie said as she drank from her tankard again.

“Paranoia,” Magus began before directing his attention back to her, “can have devastating results.” Another wave of his hoof changed the surface into the shape of a heart. “Tell me, how much do you know about the history behind the holiday known as Hearts and Hooves?”

It was a curious question to be asking considering the context of what they had been talking about. “Hearts and Hooves?” Trixie asked confused by the point he was trying to make. “I know a bit, but I don’t see what it has to do with anything.”

“Enlighten me,” he said levitating his cup into the air, about to take a drink.

Trixie thought for a moment, trying to remember what she had learned a long time ago. “Something about a prince giving a love potion to some princess he liked?”

“And?”

“Uh…I believe that there was something about a dragon, eternal chaos, and a kingdom falling, all because of the effects the potion had on them or something like that.” 

“Good,” he said, sounding as unimpressed as ever. “Now, you’re a smart young mare the majority of the time, think about what you said and consider what The Order has to do with it.”

The information rolled around in her head for a moment. Soon, as if she was struck by inspiration, an idea popped into her head. It sounded absurd, but from what she had heard so far it was anything but. She looked at Magus, who had a confident gleam in his fiery eyes, as if he knew what she was thinking. “You?” she said in disbelief. “You’re the ones who--”

“Indeed,” Magus said as he took a quick sip from his teacup. 

“Even the dragon?”

“No. The dragon was a matter of circumstance.”

“Well I guess it’s fortunate for them that you don’t have control over dragons at least,” Trixie said as began to sip his tea.

He stopped before his lips made contact with the cup. “Who says we don’t?” Magus replied, briefly looking up at her before taking a drink.

Trixie raised an eyebrow with interest and skepticism. He did not appear very interested in entertaining the idea to her as he rolled his eyes with a grunt. 

“I digress, yes, we are responsible for what happened on that day and I suppose you might say we, in turn, gave rise to the holiday. Although how you get a day of romance from a time of famine, destruction, and chaos leading to the total annihilation of a kingdom is beyond me.”

“But, why?”

“What happened to the hopeless lover who longed for the attention of a single mare was not the first, nor the last of The Circle’s acts of vengeance or violence; it was just the most prominent. The years leading up to that day were some of the worst moments in the Order’s history. Trusts were betrayed, deals were cheated, and many good sorcerers were hunted like wild beasts.” 

“You reached your breaking point,” she said solemnly, feeling a sense of pity from his story, understanding the feeling.

“Correct,” he said as he took another drink. “We had two choices then: make a stand or succumb to an inevitable extinction. Our decision, all who betrayed our trust or stepped out of line suffered under our wrath.”

Trixie quickly lost taste for her beverage as she said in a confused, yet shocked tone, “What could they have done to force you to wipe out a kingdom? Doesn’t that seem a little extreme? First you help others now you’re destroying them.”

“I promise you, that the events that transpired were fair after the centuries of mounting bloodshed towards our kind. This kingdom was just among the more brutal and deceitful of all the lands that we came in contact with. Although, it’s not something you could read in any history book in Equestria.” 

Magus waved a hoof over the table again, changing the image to a silhouette of a princely-looking pony, standing before a robed unicorn, Pegasus, and earth pony. “Believing he had power over us, the prince demanded us to craft the potion for him, so that the mare of his dreams would take notice of him and never look away.” The princely pony stomped his hooves at the three before they bowed their heads. Magus swirled his drink around in his cup as he said, “The fool got exactly what he had asked for.” 

Once more he waved his hoof over the table’s surface, causing the image to swirl, like water going down a drain, changing the image into a bottle filled with some kind of bubbling concoction. “He voraciously took the mixture we had prepared, not questioning its effects. In the end, the prince, the princess, and all those who served them suffered at our hooves for their crimes against The Circle.” The image changed to a picture of a skull that quietly moaned as it appeared. “We had destroyed a nation without lifting a hoof and from that day on, we were feared by all. The mere mention of our name struck fear in even the most stalwart hero or even the strongest rulers.” Magus paused for a moment and sighed before he said in a depressed manner, “It was not the most…illustrious moment for us.” He took another sip of his drink as he allowed what he said to sink in. 

“You realize,” Trixie said, “you’re making yourselves sound like the bad guys in this story, right.”

“I know…It’s because we were.”

Trixie wasn’t sure why he was making the order that he belonged to appear villainous when any other time he seemed to support it, but continued to listen regardless.

“We had power over all the kingdoms, but it was not the way of The Order, nor was it our place to hold dominion over the land or its people, especially with fear. Before a solution could be acted upon to solve this dilemma, the regal sisters appeared, the now crowned rulers of Equestria as you would know them.”

As the table showed a picture of the sisters, Trixie asked, “What happened?”

Magus sighed again before he said, “We were seen as bloodthirsty tyrants wielding a dark magic to them. They attempted to banish us, like others before us, but the eons had made us clever. We saw their banishment as an opportunity to escape our unintentional reign of terror over the land.” The table showed the three robed ponies again this time standing before the images of the two princesses. The sisters released a magical beam toward them, but before it could hit them, the three disappeared in a cloud of smoke following a flash of an arcane symbol. “It was believed that they had banished our magic, banished any trace of our power, but we were far from gone. Our presence was hidden, our writings, works, anything significantly relevant to The Order disappeared with us. We had become dead to the world.”

Trixie stared at Magus with intrigue. “But why has the Circle never been mentioned in any kind of books or any studies on magic? Seems like something that should be mentioned if you really had that much if an impact on the world.”

Magus turned and stared out onto Haven. He did not seem to be in thought, but more enjoying the sight of the mystical city. “Our magic, and everything associated with it, was considered black magic, evil to use a better word. Anything we did not take with us into the shadows was destroyed. We were wiped from history, written out for fear of our magic influencing somepony to attempt our spells. Every achievement that we made was erased from the world.” He took a deep breath as he paused for a moment. “We are nothing but a footnote in the studies of mythology and fairytales now. Cities like Haven were created so that we may live in peace and that we may practice our magic without persecution. The world is at peace, and that is all we want.”

“But you’re cut off from the world. Doesn’t that upset at all?”

He looked over to her before he said, “It may be thought by the outside world that we never happened at all, but there is no reason for any to believe that we exist. It is perhaps best if they continue to believe that. The princesses are neither our enemy nor our friends. What they do is their own will, so long as we are left in peace.” Magus turned to face the cityscape and gave the settlement his full attention.

As Magus brought a close to his tale, changing the windowed table back to normal with a tap from his hoof, a strange energy steadily filled the air around Trixie. The energy accumulated in front of her before a bowl appeared in a flash of light. Trixie began to lean forward to look inside before she reared back as another flash dropped a spoon into her bowl with a clink and a splash.

“Ah, It appears your lunch has arrived,” Magus said glancing over to her. “Hm, they appear to be a bit slow today, pity.”

Trixie looked inside the bowl to see a golden brown liquid filling it, with the the soothing scent of autumn rising from it. “What is it?” Trixie asked as she levitated the spoon, full of the watery broth, into the air just above the bowl.

“The house special, Lantern Soup. Eat, it is quite appetizing,” said Magus as he sipped his tea once more.

She tasted the broth to find that, like her drink, was very good. Stirring the soup with her spoon, she found small, curly bits of pasta mixed in. Scooping up the noodles onto her spoon, she continued to eat. The story Magus had told made her forget just how hungry she was. Seeing her satisfied, Magus gazed back out at the city, once again lost in his thoughts.

As Trixie ate and the feeling of starvation disappeared, a thought began to roll around her mind. “Master,” she said getting the immediate attention of the stallion’s eyes. “Is The Order’s magic good or evil?”

Magus took a pause before answering. “What do you think?”

“Well, from what I’ve heard so far, I don’t know what to think. This magic seems good one moment and evil the next. It’s a little odd, but it doesn’t appear to have a side.”

His attention returned to the view before he said, “Magic, all magic, has no morality. It matters not what kind of magic you use, but how you use it and for what purpose you are using it. At least that’s The Circle’s brief interpretation of it.”

“And what do you believe?”

He grew silent once more, taking another drink. “I believe it is based on the individual’s point of view, but really it is a question that has and needs no answer. I can no more change my magic, an ability that defines who I am, any more than you can change, say, who your parents are.”

Trixie looked away with her ears pinned back for a moment, thinking about who her parents were. It was a topic she appeared to want to avoid.

Magus viewed this with a glance, before saying, “Then again, does it matter?” Trixie looked back up to him with a curious expression. “You want to learn this magic to become powerful, do you not? From what you said before, you wish vengeance upon somepony that wronged you, correct?”

The idea of vengeance came to her mind. The embarrassment of her time in that puny, little town burning inside her, like fire, being fueled by the name of the upstart that dared challenge her. “I want her to pay dearly for what she has done,” Trixie said with a venomous bite in her tone and a scowl.

“Then this power will grant you that wish, should you be able to tame it. We have one more stop to make and then your training may begin at first light tomorrow.”

“Good,” she said as she took another bite, the idea of vengeance still burning inside.

After a moment of observing her, Magus said, “What do you think of The Circle’s magic now? Do you believe it to be good or evil?”

Trixie looked up from her soup and said, “What?”

“You mean to do harm unto one who has seemed to have merely damaged your pride. You don’t believe that to be a bit of selfish power you desire?”

She looked down at her half-empty bowl of soup and saw her scowl in her reflection. Trixie’s face softened; before she shut her eyes tightly and looked away. She quickly looked back at him as she opened her eyes with a glare. “I know what I’m doing. I will be the judge of how I use my magic.” 

He looked into her eyes in a brief pause before saying, “It is no concern of mine how you exact your revenge, just be mindful how far you take it. Now eat, I wish to be off soon.”

They sat in silence as Trixie ate and Magus continued to look out onto Haven, sipping his tea. Despite everything she had learned, one thought remained in her mind, like an undying flame, 'I will have my revenge on you, Twilight Sparkle!'