//------------------------------// // Chapter 56 - Redemonstrate * // Story: Trixie's Forest Retreat // by crowscrowcrow //------------------------------// On the roof of the school, Trixie and Flitter feverishly discussed yet again what had them going for almost all of yesterday: Trixie’s brand new cutie mark. With that the number of blank flanks in their class had shrunk to just four, and one of them was causing the pair endless amusement. “Did you see the look on Starlight’s face in class today? I was sure she was trying to burn the mark right of my flank with her stare!” Trixie giggled. Flitter Bouquet laughed and nodded. “Yes! She is so jealous. But well, she should be, you’re really pretty, uh, yours is really pretty I mean! T-tell me again what it means? And what it was like?” Trixie blinked briefly, but forgot all about it when she was offered another opportunity to tell her tale she immediately struck a dramatic pose. She sat up on her flanks with one hoof on her chest and the other stretched to the sky. “There I was! All eyes upon me, casting my most powerful spell!” Flitter snickered at the mention of the spell. “You are going to keep calling it that huh? It was just some sparkles.” Trixie paused in her dramatic reenactment to quickly look back down to Flitter. “Of course! Because it is the only spell Trixie knows, so it is automatically Trixie’s most powerful spell! And also Trixie’s most awesome spell, but it will always be that, no matter the thousand new ones Trixie will learn soon.” “Come on you can’t possibly say that. I’m sure you will get loads more awesome spells, ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’. What if you learned to move the sun?” Grinning, Flitter paged through their homework assignment, a history lesson on Princess Celestia. Flashing a cheesy grin at the stage name, Trixie sat back down. “Doesn’t matter. Don’t you get it? I have my cutie mark because my best friend taught that spell to me. Sparks is the most awesome, because you taught it to me! What could be more awesome than that?” Flitter blushed and stared at Trixie, then quickly looked back down at her book. “Y-you're just saying that, any spell would have done.” “Any spell that you taught me.” Trixie corrected sternly, then moved over to sit next to Flitter, looking down into the book. “Wow, you sure are diligent, Flitter, but she can’t be more interesting than me.” She reached down to close the book, and gave a grin. Giggling, Flitter shook her head, and pushed the book away. “No, you’re right. What could be more interesting than The Great and Powerful Trixie?” “Hey, if you keep calling me that, I’ll start talking in the third person too! You’ve been warned.” “Is that supposed to make me do it less, or more? The way you talk when you are like that has something special.” Flitter smiled she locked eyes with Trixie. “I-I like it.” “You do? Uh I, I’m glad. I never really thought about using it for anything other than a show though. Doesn’t it sound weird? If I start talking like: Trixie is the greatest unicorn in Hoofington.” Trixie looked unsure at Flitter, feeling a bit silly. Flitter, however, smiled widely as Trixie put on her voice. Her eyes sparkled like sun-struck firerubies. “Not at all!” She brought a hoof to her chin stroking it contemplatively. “Mhm there’s something missing though, you aren’t really feeling it are you? Oh I know!” Flitter picked Trixie’s hat off the roof, giving a sly smile while Trixie blinked confused. She slung it on Trixie head, pulling the brim down over her eyes. “Try it again, please?” Trixie was not quite sure what to think, but she had rarely seen Flitter so enthusiastic about something. Come to think of it, I’ve not done one of those shows since the first day I got to school. Until yesterday, but I guess she did say she really liked the first one, and the second one by the looks of it! She took a deep breath, then grinned as she lifted her head, raising the brim of her hat to uncover her adoring audience of one. “The Great and Powerful Trixie, would never deny a request! Especially not from her number one fan!” With a gleeful cheer, Flitter sat back down and motioned for Trixie to continue. Clearing her throat, Trixie sprung up on her hind legs. “There Trixie was! Trapped in the middle of the necromancer's den, undead ponies on all sides! Her loyal companion, Flitter The Daring, carried the treasure, but she was cornered by two of the ugliest zombie foals she had ever seen, and the necromancer herself! Even for a pony as Great and Powerful as Trixie, there was only one way out. The dreaded terror of zombie ponies everywhere, the mighty sparks spell!” Trixie threw her front hooves into the air, knocking her hat back enough to reveal her horn in the same motion, and send out an array of red, gray, and purple sparks. “Within moments they were all enthralled by Trixie’s magnificence, and they drew closer! It was then that The Daring Flitter made her tactical retreat, awaiting The Great and Powerful Trixie’s arrival at their base. “But something magnificent happened that day, as Trixie stood there, mere moments away from being swarmed by the dreaded Sunny Days’s hoards, she recognized something! For Trixie was wise beyond her years. She had already learned that all magic tricks had a trick, and how to spot it, but! What Trixie discovered that day, is that magic too is but a trick, and that fateful day… Trixie saw the trick! Hidden deep within the necromancers dark magic!” An orchid glow enveloped Trixie’s horn, and soon it spread to slowly encroach around her hat while her face contorted in effort. Flitter cheered for the story at the appropriate moments and gasped comedically at the mention of dread necromancer Sunny Days, but her next gasp of surprise was completely genuine. She watched Trixie’s hat float up off her head almost half a hoof, before it flopped back down, but it had definitely moved. Her eyes darted to Trixie’s hooves, but they were held out in a wide dramatic gesture towards the horizons. “Wow! How did you do that?” Panting heavily from the effort, Trixie sunk through her kneels with a wince as she impacted against the roof. “The Necromancer, revealed her secret without knowing. Only the trained eye of a master magician, such as The Great and Powerful Trixie, could have unraveled its mysteries. Within seconds she overpowered the necromancer with her own spell, far more powerful and grand in scale!” Giggling, Flitter let the blatant lie pass unopposed. It was clear to both of them that Sunny Day’s was much better at the telekinesis spell, but it was definitely a spell neither Flitter nor Trixie had any idea how to use just yesterday. “Way to go Great and Powerful Trixie. I bet they will never show their muzzles again.” She applauded. Trixie took a bow, then dropped back onto her haunches, taking deep breaths while she smiled at Flitter. The little demonstration had been exhausting, but Trixie was sure it was not a problem of magic power. “How is it that hard? Sunny can’t have that much more magic, and she had like three plates up for ages. I’m sure I must be doing something wrong.” “Wait, aww you stopped.” Flitter let out a disappointed whine. “Wasn’t it fun?” Trixie smiled. “No it was fun, but it feels weird. I don’t think I’ll stick with it.” She paused when she saw the disappointment on Flitter’s face. ”Mayyybe I’ll try it a bit more later, for you. I just want to figure this spell out, I know I am missing something.” Smiling, Flitter shrugged. “It’s too bad you can’t ask Sunny for advice, but it’s already amazing, Trixie. You could just wait until we get to that lesson you know. Because there is no way they will let us leave school without knowing that.“ Trixie stroked her chin while she stared up at the sky thoughtfully. “Mhm yes, too bad… but I’ll bet she’d be willing to give another demonstration.” Packing up her books in anticipation of the bell, Flitter shook her head. “Sunny isn’t too bad, but she still doesn’t like us remember? Besides, Starlight and Moon Rock are going to be there too. Hah, maybe they will all give a demonstration, if you ask nicely.” A grin spread across Trixie’s face. “Ohhh, good idea, Flitter. They do all know that spell.” Flitter looked at Trixie with a worried expression. “Uhm, I was kidding, Trixie. There’s no way they’d help us just because we asked them nicely.” “Maybe not, nicely.” Trixie scrambled onto her hooves, then picked up her backpack. “Come on ‘Trixie’ has a great idea. Actually, you hold this okay?” She pawned off her backpack on Flitter before she led the way down off the roof and back into the school building “Trixie, wait! Where are you going? You know we can’t go in yet, they will be waiting for us.” Flitter called after her friend. Normally they would wait until after the bell and arrive at class a little bit late, to avoid Starlight and her friends. Professor Silence never said anything about tardiness, and Moon Rock absolutely refused to be late to class, so it was the easiest way to avoid them. It did have the minor side effect of Trixie and Flitter missing the start of every lesson, and no one ever wanted to fill them in. There was not much left of their recess, and Trixie ran around quickly with a nervous Flitter right behind her. She was not sure where the three fillies she meant to find hung out, but they always seemed to find them sooner or later. It only took a short time for Trixie to hear them. “Oh hey it’s Bucket and Trickery! What a drag, we don’t usually have to see you losers before the bell.” Starlight’s voice actually carried a more hateful tone than usual. Trixie grinned as she spotted the trio gathered together in the hallway by their lockers, or at least Moon Rock’s locker. The sizable stack of books and scrolls within the open locker gave its owner away. Moon Rock shook her head annoyed. “What did you finally learn how to tell time? Starlight, don’t bother, we only have a few minutes left.” “Aw but we never get to play with them before class! Yesterday was so much fun, normally they just run away!” Sunny Days piped up. Trixie looked over her shoulder at Flitter, smiling at her confidently. “Flitter, we are not going to miss the start today! Let’s go.” Starlight raised a brow. “What so is this your new little plan? You learned yesterday you cannot outrun us, so you are not even going to try?” Raising her voice theatrically, Trixie leaned in closer to Starlight. “Run? That you even still dare to show your face in public is astounding.” She let her eyes sweep down to the auspiciously empty fur on Starlight’s leg. ”Why would The Great and Powerful Trixie have to run from a mere blank flank? Is that why you are staring at Trixie, to see how it is done?” “What?! H-how dare you, you! Oh, it is on!” Starlight seethed while she pulled her tail over her flank. An amethyst glow sparked up around her horn, then around one of Moon Rock’s books. She flung it towards Trixie, but it lacked the speed to actually hit her. Trixie leaned to the side and watched the book as it flew past, or rather the aura around it. “Is that the best you can do? No wonder you don’t have a cutie mark. This won’t even be hard, I’ll see you in class Flitter. Be sure to take some notes for me.” She grinned smugly at Starlight. Flitter nodded a little. “U-uhm, O-okay.” She gulped while she looked at the other three ponies, a worried look on her face, but she did not question it. Though she was on her way to the class, she could not help looking over her shoulder. Sunny bounced up and down, her orange glow already around her horn and three more books “Oh oh let me try next!” Sunny chirped and sent the books flying, catching Trixie off guard as one struck her shoulder, another her chest and the last missed. “Hey! Those are mine, be careful! Sunny, let go!” Moon Rock called out. “Starlight, calm down come on! She’s taunting you can’t you see that? She’s trying to make us late!” “Shut up!” Starlight snapped at Moon Rock. “If you are not going to help, then get to your precious class.” She charged up another spell to throw a book. Grinning widely, Trixie stared into Starlight’s eyes. They shared the same amethyst color, yet somehow their magic aura was different. Trixie’s orchid glow shone brightly as she pulled her hat back, summoning up a small barrage of bright red sparks that she sent at Starlight and Sunny Days. The affect was short, but it blinded them just enough to throw off their aim. “Ugh fine, I don’t even care anymore. If you break any of those I’m taking yours!” Moon Rock growled at Starlight and Sunny. She stared briefly at Trixie, but was forced to look away when the sparks came. She turned towards Flitter, a calculating smile spread over her lips. Moon Rock trotted past Flitter, then she briefly stopped to look at her. “Hey Bouquet, come on, or we’re going to be late. It seems we are the only ones that still care.” Flitter snapped out of her surprise. “Uh, uhm. R-right.” She mumbled and walked with Moon Rock toward the classroom. Trixie, Starlight and Sunny Days stayed behind, continuing their minor barrage of each other, before finally resorting to hooves. It would be almost ten minutes before they too entered the class room, exhausted and bruised from their epic battle. Forunately, there really was not that much damage young fillies could actually inflict on each other. Trixie was easily the worst off of the three, but she also carried the greatest smile while she sat down beside Flitter. With a short orchid glow, she slid Flitter's notebook in between them from across the desk.