//------------------------------// // 2. Schoolyard Tales // Story: Magic Tutor // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// The Official Residency of the Representative of the Night Court of Luna to Ponyville needed a shorter name, but after eight months of living in Ponyville, Trixie had yet to make any serious progress on the matter – not for a lack of trying. In conversation most just shortened it to “the Residency,” or just “Trixie’s house,” and that was fine. The problem was with the sign that hung next to the front gate, identifying it. Trixie had three versions of it: the current version, hanging up, which was too long and stretched out too far into the street; the second version, sitting in her basement, that was too tall, reaching from the top of its pole to nearly the ground; and the third version, also in her basement, which was perfectly sized, but the text on it was too small to read. “What if it was written diagonally?” Trixie asked Pokey Pierce, her secretary and general helper. Her horn glowed blue and she waved her hooves a few times, changing the illusory mock-up of a fourth version of the sign so that the words were tilted. She frowned when they only ended up taking up more space. Pokey glanced up from the paperwork he was doing. “I still think this is a hopeless cause,” he said. “Duke Blueblood was this town’s representative for how many years and he never managed to fix it?” “Yes, but he spent a goodly portion of his time here drunk,” Trixie noted of her predecessor. There was a protracted and striking silence from Pokey at that, and Trixie could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. “Shut up,” Trixie appended. “Shutting up,” Pokey said with a chuckle, turning back to his paperwork. Normally, most of the work that the Representative and her secretary had to do pertained to farming bills in some way, requests or reports that needed to go to Canterlot, or come from Canterlot and be distributed to the ponies of Ponyville. Today, however, they had needed to focus on some last-minute paperwork concerning Twilight Sparkle’s pseudo-house-arrest and how it was going to work. Apparently some “concerned” pony back in Canterlot had raised an objection to Twilight’s sentencing, specifically the part about how she would be encouraged to work around town to make up for what she had done, and in essence was making the argument that Twilight had become an indentured servant to Ponyville’s town council – a practice that had been outlawed about a hundred and twenty years ago. Trixie and Pokey had needed to provide, in exacting detail, what Twilight was required and not required to do and not to do, so as to prove that Twilight had not been accidentally indentured at some point during her sentencing. Trixie didn’t know if the pony causing the trouble was genuinely concerned or just trying to stir up some recognition. She had decided to ignore it in either case, unless it became a genuine problem. The two had managed to finish up a few minutes ago, and Pokey was double-checking everything now as Trixie worked on her sign problem. “Varying font sizes?” Trixie asked, making the words residency, representative, Night Court, and Luna larger than the rest. Given that those were the longest words in the title already (except Luna, but that had to be large), it didn’t help matters as much as she had hoped. She let out a long-suffering groan and banished the sign, turning to face Pokey. “There’s no fixing it!” she exclaimed. “That’s it. I’ll just have to change the name entirely.” Pokey snorted a little. “Right. You making a title shorter.” Trixie stuck her tongue out at Pokey as she trotted up to his desk, looking down at the paperwork. “Done?” she asked. Pokey signed his signature below Trixie’s on one sheet of paper, pressed a stamp to it, and placed it with a stack of others inside of an envelope. “Done,” he said, though in fact he still had to seal the envelope with wax and the Official Sigil of the Residency of the Representative of the Night Court of Luna to Ponyville. This, mercifully, simply had the sigil of Ponyville on its bottom half, and the moon-and-star-holding-back-the-sun symbol of Luna in its top. Trixie nodded in approval. “Okay, we’ll call it a day here,” Trixie said, waving her hooves at Pokey as he rolled his eyes and stood. “Now shoo. Dinky and Snails will be here any minute.” Pokey groaned a little, though he did do as Trixie asked. “I hate Wednesdays,” he complained. Trixie frowned. “You get to go home early!” “Yeah, but that just means we have extra work on Thursdays to make up for it.” Trixie sighed. “Dinky – and Snails now, too – need help learning magic. I think the little extra work is worth it to ensure that the next generation of unicorns know how to use their magic properly!” “That’s not what you say on Thursday mornings.” “I’m not a morning pony. Also shut up.” Trixie used her hooves to hurry the stallion along towards the door. “Helping Dinky and Snails learn magic is exactly the sort of thing my special talent is for. And, it could be seen as a vital form of community service. It’s my civic duty as Representative!” She opened the door for Pokey – “Hi Miss Trixie!” Trixie yelped at the sudden and unexpected burst of noise. She looked out her door, and found herself looking at seven pairs of eyes, belonging to seven foals, each of which had still-growing horns on their foreheads. There was Dinky, of course, and Snails, he was expected as well. Less expected was Snips, Snails’ best friend, who was about half as tall of him, possessed of a green coat and orange mane and with a cutie mark of a pair of scissors. To their left was Tootsie Flute, a filly with a lavender mane and very pale coat, whom Trixie knew primarily because she was friends with Twist, Bon Bon’s little sister. The remaining foals, Trixie didn’t know the names of off-hoof – there was a white filly with a purple-and-pink mane; an orange one with a pale red mane; and a pale yellow filly with a purple mane and what looked like wings on her back. Standing behind them, shifting from one hoof to another uncomfortably, was Raindrops, while sitting beside her, huffing and puffing and sweating buckets onto her scooter with a cart attached to it, was Scootaloo. Raindrops glanced at Trixie. “Um,” she said. “This – this wasn’t my idea.” Trixie looked back down at the foals, all of whom were smiling eagerly, except for Dinky, who was looking nervously between the remaining foals and looked confused and worried. She felt a hoof pat her back, as Pokey trotted out and past Raindrops. “Have fun with your civic duties!” he exclaimed. Trixie watched him go, then looked to Raindrops, then to the foals, then back to Raindrops. She pointed a hoof. “Explain!” --- Snails had stayed up late the previous night simply making his horn glow as bright as possible for as long as possible. Trixie’s advice on the matter ended up working – he managed to get several hours of sleep before his headache had returned, and he finally felt genuinely tired as well. He wasn’t positive, but he was pretty sure that missing sleep, even if he wasn’t tired, was a bad thing. When he trotted into school that morning, he had been walking on starlight, and not simply because of finally being able to get some sleep. He could hardly pay attention in class, and once recess rolled around, he wasted no time in telling his best friend Snips the good news. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is gonna teach me magic!” He exclaimed loudly. Snips’ jaw dropped. “Aw, no way! Really?” Snails nodded happily. The two had trotted over to their usual hangout by the tree and flagpole in the front of the school. When they reached the tree’s trunk, Snails beamed as he tapped his noggin. “You know those headaches I’ve been getting? Well, yesterday, Miss Trixie came over and said she knew what was wrong. I’m just not using my magic often enough! She says that I have tons!” “Tons?” Snips asked. “Tons!” Snails responded, turning and facing the tree, reaching out for it with his telekinesis and trying to wrap it all around it so that he could lift it up and show off. He got a few sparks and an aura around one low branch, but that was it before he had to give up, panting. “Well, Miss Trixie said so, anyway,” Snails said when he had caught his breath. “And if Miss Trixie says that I’ve got tons of magic, I’ve gotta have tons!” “Did she actually say tons?” A new voice asked. Snips and Snails both looked, and saw Sweetie Belle, a white unicorn filly with a pink-and-lavender mane, looking at them with one brow raised. Snails nodded fervently. “Yah-huh,” he said, raising a hoof as he recited what Trixie had said from memory. “‘You have a lot more magic than you think, Snails, you just don’t know how to use it yet.’ That’s what she said.” “That’s not saying tons, though,” Sweetie noted. “What are you, a dictionary?” Snips asked. “You just don’t want Snails to be awesome!” Sweetie pouted. “I don’t mind!” she objected. “It’s just that Snails hardly ever uses any magic at all, and he’s the same age as me, and I don’t ever use that much magic either ‘cause I’m still learning. I think that’s all Miss Trixie was saying.” “Nuh-uh,” Snails objected. “I’m a month older than you. And Miss Trixie did too mean that I have tons of magic. I’m a pedigree.” “Prodigy,” Sweetie said without thinking. “Dictionary!” Snips said with a laugh. “I am not!” Sweetie countered. She crossed her hooves. “If Snails can get good with magic at Miss Trixie’s, then I should be able to as well!” Snips came forward at that. “No way! Miss Trixie said she’d help me and Snails! There isn’t any room.” Sweetie met his advance, getting right into his face, close enough that their horns and muzzles were practically touching. “She didn’t say that!” Sweetie said. “She didn’t even invite you!” Snails leaped to his best friend’s defense. “I bet she’d be okay with it, though!” he said. “’Cause he’s my friend, and ‘cause he’s Trixie’s biggest fan just like me, and ‘cause my sister says that miss Trixie’s special talent is even doing magic for ponies!” Sweetie Belle backed away a little at that, her eyes watering up. “F…fine!” she said. “I just…I just wanted to learn some magic too ‘cause my sister already could when she was my age, and ‘cause my mom and dad are disappointed, I just know it…” she turned around, running away in tears. Snips stuck his tongue out at her retreating form, but Snails blinked a few times. He hadn’t wanted to make Sweetie Belle cry. “Aw…now I feel bad,” he said, looking down and scuffing a hoof on the ground. Snips looked to his friend. “Why?” he asked. His eyes widened when he saw the look on Snails’ face. “Aw, no way, Snails! You know she’s just pretending to cry, right?” “But it’s wrong to make another pony cry.” Snails said. “My dad taught me that.” “But she’s faking it,” Snips said with certainty. Snails took in a deep breath. “I gotta make her stop crying, though,” he said, trotting after Sweetie. Snips rolled his eyes as he followed Snails across the playground. They found Sweetie Belle bawling her eyes out behind the swing set with her best friend Scootaloo, who was patting her withers; and another foal, Tootsie Flute, a pale blue filly with a lavender mane, who had one hoof on Sweetie’s head and was saying something, probably consoling. When Scootaloo saw Snips and Snails, she stood up, scuffing a hoof on the ground and spreading her wings wide, while Sweetie kept her back turned to the two of them, sniffling. “Go away!” Scootaloo demanded. “You made Sweetie cry!” Snails stopped a moment. Scootaloo had a well-deserved reputation as the toughest foal in school. Everypony still vividly remembered a fight she had once gotten into with Dinky Doo about a year ago, which had involved hooves, teeth, wings, macaroni, and snow. Dinky had started the fight, too, calling Scootaloo’s idol, Rainbow Dash, lazy. The fight had been broken up, and Dinky had apologized and the two were even friends now – but there had been no doubt that it had been Scootaloo who had been winning the fight. Snails swallowed and stepped forward. “Sweetie Belle, I’m sorry,” he said. “You can come with us to Trixie’s if you like. And you’re not a dictionary.” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed as she hopped forward. “Oh no, it’s not that easy – ” “R-really?” Sweetie interrupted, turning around and wiping tears from her eyes. At Snails’ nod, she brightened, standing up straight and beaming. “Oh, and Tootsie should come too!” she said, waving a hoof at the other unicorn. Tootsie’s eyes went wide. “Really?” she asked. “Yup!” Sweetie said. “Miss Trixie’s special talent is doing magic. I’m sure she’d love to show us all how to do magic just like her!” Tootsie’s head titled to the side. “But I’m the best in class with magic,” she said, as her horn glowed the same color as her mane and eyes. She easily picked up several stones in her aura and started juggling them. “My momma says it’s ‘cause I come from a good pedigree.” “’Cause you’re a prodigy,” Sweetie corrected. Tootsie set down the stones. “I don’t think so,” she said. “She says it’s ‘cause she and papa are both unicorns, and their parents were unicorns, and their parents were unicorns, and their parents were unicorns, and…” “Well, so’s my family,” Sweetie noted, putting a hoof to her mouth. “I don’t think it matters much.” Tootsie whickered. “Yeah it does!” “Does not!” “Does too!” “Does not!” “Does too! Just look at Snails!” Snails bristled. “What about me?” Tootsie looked to Snails, then scuffed a hoof on the ground. “Um. Well, your parents are both pegasi. But you’re a unicorn. That’s ‘cause there was mixed-breeding in your family some time. It means you can’t ever be really good at unicorn magic ‘cause there’s pegasus in you messing it up or something. That’s what my momma and papa say, anyway.” “But that’s not true at all!” Scootaloo objected, stomping forward. “My mom was a night guard! And I’m gonna be a Night Guard too! It doesn’t matter that my dad’s an earth pony!” “The Night Guard has all three tribes, though,” Snips pointed out. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna be part of the aerial division, duh. They only accept the best, but I’m gonna be the best, just like my mom was!” Tootsie scuffed her hoof again, looking embarrassed. “S’ not the same,” she said. “That’s what my momma said. Earth ponies and pegasi mixing isn’t like unicorns mixing.” She sighed. “Doesn’t seem fair to me, earth ponies and pegasi get to marry and have foals and their foals will be just as good as any other earth pony or pegasus, but unicorns marrying one of the other tribes might dilute the blood.” Scootaloo titled her head to the side. “Don’t you like Truffle Shuffle? He’s an earth pony.” Tootsie blushed even more and seemed to recede in herself. “Y…yeah…” she said in a small, quiet voice, eyes darting around in case Truffle was nearby. It probably wouldn’t have mattered, anyway; Tootsie’s crush on Truffle was perhaps the worst-kept secret in school. “And if your mom and dad feel like that, why’d they even move to Ponyville?” Snips asked. “I dunno,” Tootsie admitted. “It’s just what my momma and papa told me.” Snails considered. “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “Maybe Tootsie’s right and I’ll never be good at magic ‘cause I’m mixed-breed.” “That doesn’t matter!” Sweetie said. “Does too!” Tootsie said, coming out of her embarrassed withdrawal. “It’s dumb and stupid and I wish it wasn't like that but my momma and papa said it’s true so it is!” “Girls, girls!” Scootaloo said, interposing herself between the two unicorn fillies. “Look, your mom and dad said one thing,” she pointed at Sweetie, “and your mom and dad said something else,” she pointed at Tootsie, “and we don’t know who’s right. We need to go get advice.” The four unicorns and one pegasus all paused a moment, then nodded as one and turned around, heading towards the sandbox, where Alula was. Alula was a sandy-coated, purple-maned pegasus-unicorn, an extremely rare true hybrid between the two tribes. She had both wings and a horn, and could fly – though not very well – and do unicorn magic too – though this was also somewhat lacking. Both were because she was still young and still learning, but unlike a pure unicorn or pure pegasus, she had to split her time learning both forms of magic. Because of her wings and horn, Alula looked like an alicorn, however. She was not an alicorn, but that didn’t stop the foals of Ponyville from thinking that just maybe she was lying in order to hide her true alicorn nature and that one day when she grew up, she’d get to rule over a country somewhere like Luna and Cadenza. It also meant that the foals of Ponyville had collectively decided – much to Alula’s own consternation – that Alula was the wisest pony in all of town, or at least the wisest foal, and could answer any of their questions. They found her having used water from the school’s hose to wet the sand in the sandbox, and she was using her hooves, a bucket, and a small shovel to build a sand-castle – the largest and most impressive that the five of them had ever seen, at least in the school sandbox. It was nearly as tall as she was, and she was carefully using her hooves to pick out small windows, and had even surrounded it with a moat. “Wow…” Snails said as they approached. Alula glanced at them, and blushed immediately. “Th-thanks,” she said, her voice as soft as it usually was. “It’s, um…it’s supposed to look like the, um… Kaiserpfalz?” She paused, thinking, then nodded. “Yeah. The Kaiserpfalz. It’s the biggest castle in the world. Bigger than Canterlot, even! It’s in Pferdreich. It’s where the Boonde…Bundere…where their council meets.” “Is it gonna be yours someday?” Snips asked. Alula turned, blushing. “U-um, no…” she said, sitting down in front of the castle and tapping her two hooves together. Even no longer paying attention to it, however, she reached out a wing unconsciously to smooth over a wall with her feathers. “Oh,” Snails said, shifting a little. “Alula, we have a question.” Alula looked up at the four of them, eyes wide. “Oh,” she said. “Um…what is it?” Snails, Snips, and Scootaloo looked to Sweetie and Tootsie expectantly. The two glanced at each other for a moment, then nodded, agreeing that whatever Alula said, it would settle the matter. Sweetie stepped forward. “Does it matter if a unicorn is a mixed-breed or not?” she asked. Alula started. Her wing’s twitch carved a little more sand out of one of the castle’s walls then she intended, but it didn’t fall – a testament to her skill, one she probably would have been more proud of if not for the surprise of the question. “W-what?” she asked. Tootsie looked Alula over, then let out a long sigh and smacked her forehead. “Alula’s a pegasus-unicorn, guys…” she noted. “She won’t know…” “But she’s really wise!” Snails objected, getting down on his knees and hocks in front of Alula. “C’mon, Alula, you gotta know! Am I no good at magic ‘cause my mom and dad are pegasi?” Alula rubbed her hooves together. “U-um…” she said. “W…well, I guess, sort of, since they couldn’t – ” “Ha!” Tootsie exclaimed, leaping between her front and hind hooves. “See? I told you! It’s ‘cause of mixed-breeding like I said!” “W-wait!” Alula exclaimed, reaching out her hooves. Tootsie stopped her jumps, looking at Alula, and the foal tucked her wings tightly against her side and looked away. “I…I mean, I don’t think it’s just because Snails’ parents couldn’t teach him unicorn magic. Like my papa can’t teach me it either ‘cause he’s a pegasus. But my momma’s a unicorn and she can.” Snails blinked a few times, then stood with a hoof in the air. “That’s what the Great and Powerful Trixie said!” He exclaimed. “She said that weak magic is a common problem with unicorn foals raised by members of other tribes, like how a pegasus raised by an earth pony might have problems learning how to fly!” Scootaloo’s wings sagged. “Yeah, I can say that’s definitely true,” she said, though she brightened. “But I’m this close to convincing Rainbow Dash to help me! I just know it!” Tootsie bristled. “But my momma and papa said it’s not the same with pegasus ponies and earth ponies!” she whinneyed. “I don’t think it’s fair, but that’s just how it is!” Alula blinked a few times, tapping her hooves together. “I…w-well, my momma’s always telling me that, even though I’m not learning my magic at the same rate as some other unicorns, that I’ll still come into my own. That I have the same potential, it’s just taking me longer.” “But my momma and papa – ” Tootsie began. “Maybe they just made a mistake,” Snips suggested. “Adults make mistakes all the time. Like, my mom and dad were certain I was gonna be a filly and they didn’t have any names picked out for when I turned out to be a colt. So they nearly called me Sugar!” Snails rubbed a hoof behind his head as he considered that. “What’s wrong with being called Sugar?” “It’s a filly’s name,” Snips insisted. Tootsie, meanwhile, considered Snips’ line of reasoning. “I guess…” she said. Then her eyes widened. “That’s why I can go to the Great and Powerful Trixie’s home! I don’t need to learn all that much magic but maybe she can explain the whole mixed blood thing to me!” Alula glanced between the ponies. “Trixie’s teaching you all magic?” she asked. Sweetie nodded her head enthusiastically. “It’s her special talent!” she explained. “You should come with us!” Alula stood up, wings flaring in excitement. “I want to learn magic!” she said. “I bet it would make my pottery so much easier!” Scootaloo snickered slightly. “Potty,” she said, jabbing an elbow into Tootsie. Alula blushed. “Pott-er-y,” she said, though she knew full well that Scootaloo knew what she was talking about. “Making stuff with clay! I just know it’s gonna be my special talent but for some reason I haven’t gotten my cutie mark with it yet. Maybe I need to learn spells for helping with molding or baking or getting clay or painting it…oh! And can Firelock come? She was gonna help me bake some pottery today. Maybe instead she can learn some magic too!” The remaining foals froze somewhat at the mention of Firelock. “Um,” Sweetie said. “Didn’t she once nearly burn down Whitetail – ” “It was an accident.” “And there was the time when Sweet Apple – ” “She wasn’t even there!” “And the town hall once – ” “There was a flood in the basement, she was trying to help.” The foals looked between each other. Scootaloo held up her hooves. “I’m not learning magic,” she said, backing away. At length, the remaining ponies looked to Alula. “Okay,” Sweetie said. “Firelock can come. But she has to promise to not burn anything down!” “No problem!” Alula said happily. “I’ll go let her know!” she dashed off. Snails considered. Just a few minutes ago, it had just been him and Dinky going to Trixie’s place. Now there were five other foals added to the list. Something seemed wrong about that, like he had forgotten something important… “Oh, right!” he said quickly, looking between the foals. “Trixie made sure to get permission from my mom and dad. You all should get it, too, from your parents. But you’ll have to be fast, and get there when me and Dinky do!” “Fast?” Scootaloo asked, leaping forward again and smiling brightly. She winked at the unicorn foals. “I have my scooter and cart with me today…” Snails considered. “Can you really get all around town in time?” he asked. --- Trixie did not receive an explanation from Raindrops, who had none to give, while Scootaloo was too tuckered out. As she watched, however, one by one Tootsie Flute, Firelock, Alula, Snips, and Sweetie Belle all brought pieces of paper over to her. Each one had more or less the same thing written on it: Dear Representative Trixie, Thank-you for volunteering to teach my foal magic! As the bearer of the Element of Magic, I’m certain that you’ll have a lot to show them, especially seeing as your special talent is teaching magic to foals! As you requested, I am hereby giving my foal permission. Trixie opened her mouth and raised a hoof. She closed it and lowered the hoof. She bowed her head and thought deep thoughts. She felt a headache coming on. A big one. She knew she had to explain to the foals that her invitation was only to Snails, that she was just helping him out because of his headaches, that Dinky was the only true student she had time for… Then she made the mistake of looking at the foals. Each of them were wide-eyed and waiting eagerly. All of them wanted to learn magic, not from just anypony, but from Trixie. And if she told them to go away, she would disappoint them. There would be tears. There would be complaints. There would probably be angry parents demanding that she apologize and teach their foal anyway. Trixie took in a deep breath and let it out as a mighty sigh. This was going to end poorly. She knew it was going to end poorly. And she knew, just as surely, that she wasn’t going to send these foals away. “Come on in…” she groaned, stepping aside and waving a hoof.