"Spike, take a letter!"
Twilight Sparkle's assistant complied with her cheery order immediately, readying a quill and parchment. "Yes, Ma'am!" It was morning, yet Spike was already primed to help Twilight however she might need. That's why he was her number one assistant.
Twilight began, closing her eyes with her nose in the air as she dictated, "Dear Princess Celestia, while I have yet to discover anything new about friendship this week, I would like to take the time to revisit and discuss my old lessons. Namely, the importance of pride in one's own talents." Twilight turned directly to Spike. "And the importance of not hiding yourself with mustaches, eh, Spike?"
"…Eh…Spike...," the young dragon repeated.
"Spike, don't write that down! I was talking to you," Twilight pointed a hoof at him to punctuate her order.
"Don't…write…Oh! Sorry, Twilight. I got confused for a second there." He chuckled.
"Do you need me to get the dictating hat again, Spike?" She teased him. "Let's start from…" Before Twilight could finish, a knock came to the door. "Huh? Who could that be?"
Spike chimed in helpfully. "Maybe it's Pinkie Pie? She probably wanted to come invite you to her party, too."
"She already invited you, Spike? Why didn't she just tell you to invite me?"
"I think she wants to deliver it in person. She's trying to deliver singing telegrams again." He told her with more than a hint of concern in his voice.
"Oh boy, did that girl not learn from the last time?" Twilight approached the door, turning the knob with her magic. "Hi, Pinkie. Don't worry about sing—"
"Twilight Sparkle!" A familiar, yet particularly obnoxious voice rang out. "Today will be marked as the greatest day of your insignificant life from now on!"
"Oh, no…" Twilight muttered a little too loudly, recognizing the pony that stood before her all too well.
"Oh, yes! It is I, Trixie, the Great and Powerful!" The pony yelled, standing on her two back legs, proudly holding her front hooves in the sky. The mare that now stood at the door was a blue unicorn, bearing a bright silver mane. Though, much of this mane was covered by the purple, star-laden hat. She wore a matching cape as well. The cape waved easily in the summer wind, revealing her blue cutie mark, which was a wand with a stream of pure magic behind it. "However, as of today you may refer to me as 'Miss Trixie, the Great and Powerful!'"
"And why would I want to do that?" Twilight asked, having moved past surprise and into annoyance.
"Why, because I will be making your life whole today by adopting you, Twilight Sparkle, as my student!"
Twilight met Trixie's suggestion with a mixture of surprise and amusement. "Well, Trixie…That certainly sounds like an interesting offer!"
"I can hear the utter shock in your voice! You're thinking, 'What could I have possibly done to deserve this?'"
"Yes, actually, that's exactly what I'm thinking."
Trixie allowed herself a bit of pride in guessing Twilight's thoughts correctly. "Well, when last we met, you showed great promise, assisting me in defeating an Ursa Minor…"
"Assist?" Twilight interrupted, but the rambling pony took no notice.
"But only the Great and Powerful Trixie has the ability to unlock that full potential!"
Twilight had heard enough of Trixie's self-congratulatory dialogue. "Well, that'd be great and all, but I'm afraid I simply don't have the time!" Twilight told her as she backed away and began to close the door.
Trixie stuck her hoof in the way before Twilight could cut Trixie off. "Nonsense! With so much time to read all these books, you surely have more than enough time to let me train you!"
"Well, Trixie,"
"Miss Trixie, the Great and Powerful!" She corrected.
"Riiiiight. Well, Even if I did have the time I…I'm afraid I just couldn't keep up with your talents!" Twilight would've said anything to get rid of Trixie at this point.
"Ah, I understand completely," spoke the blue unicorn, giving Twilight a glimmer of hope that she would leave her alone. "In that case, I'll simply have to teach slowly for you!" There goes that hope.
Twilight was running out of excuses. Trixie seemed adamant that Twilight would be her student. Weighing the pros and cons of either getting rid of Trixie by force or giving in, Twilight decided that she could spare an hour or so for the girl. And anyway, if she didn't learn anything, at least Twilight might get a bit of fun from the ordeal. Things had been uneventful lately.
"Oh, alright. I suppose I could become your pupil for a while." Twilight gave in.
"I knew you couldn't refuse! Oh, and there's one more thing."
Oh good, more surprises, thought Twilight as Trixie went back to the cart she had been pulling and retrieved a large blue bag.
"I, the Great and Generous Trixie, will be allowing you, my new student, the privilege of my presence in your house 24/7!"
Twilight's heart skipped a beat at the prospect of being near Trixie so long. She'd rather live with the parasprites, at least they were cute! Well, cuter…Twilight added, immediately wondering why. "But…But isn't there anyone else you can stay with?"
"Twilight, if you're going to take my teachings seriously, you must learn that I can teach you! I may even tell you the correct way to brush your teeth, if I find you worthy enough."
Twilight knew that, despite how unpleasant the prospect may be, there was no arguing with the unicorn. "Fine, you can sleep downstairs I suppose."
"Wonderful! Your new life begins tomorrow, Twilight Sparkle! Sleep well and prepare yourself!"
"But, it's morning!" Twilight called after Trixie, who ignored her as she descended the stairs to her new temporary home. As she sat at her desk, Twilight plopped her cheek on her hoof. "I'm going to regret this…"
It was 7:00 AM in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle stood outside of the library lazily following Trixie as she moved back and forth in front of her, rambling non-stop about her adventures with very fleeting references to actual magical technique. Behind Trixie, she had set up a large suitcase that seemed ready to burst, trembling slightly from the pressure of its contents. However, Trixie didn't seem to notice or care about the case as she continued her tirade about something-or-other. Truthfully, even if Trixie's lecturing skills were on par with the greatest teachers of Canterlot, Twilight was too tired to pay attention having been woken up so early by Trixie's demand to show Twilight 'how real magic is done!'
"…And then the eighth dragon showed up and…"
"Trixie!" Twilight yelled loudly, but groggily.
The blue unicorn ceased her exaggerations to reprimand Twilight. "That is Miss Trixie, The Great and Powerful to you!"
Twilight rolled her eyes, Trixie's voice finally beginning to rattle her out of her daze. "Fine, Miss Trixie, can we please start? I have a lot of work to do today and…"
"You certainly do have a lot of work to do! Trixie fears there aren't enough hours left in the day to bring you to even one-eighth of her skill level! But we shall make the best out of what we have." Trixie turned behind her to the suitcase. Her horn glowed for half-a-second as a restraint on the case snapped open, allowing the contents of the case to pull the remaining off with their own force, sending items all over the ground. Trixie levitated a small pink ball to Twilight, tossing it in front of her hooves. "Now, lift this if you can!" Trixie ordered, condescendingly.
Twilight's initial reaction after effortlessly picking up the ball was to launch it with even greater effort at Trixie, but she resisted the urge. "Here you go, no problem." Twilight rolled her eyes at her 'mentor's' obvious insult.
"Very good, Twilight. You're well on your way to becoming as powerful as Trixie!" Trixie told her with a challenging grin on her face.
Ugh! Twilight exclaimed as the urge to fling that little ball became harder and harder to resist. Instead, she flung it behind her, forgetting her strength as the ball crashed through the library window. She heard a crash and a faint 'ow!'
"Trixie can see your talents are truly wasted on such pitiful tasks! So, Trixie will show you something better." Trixie's horn began to glow again, as Twilight watched a gray dot appear in the air. In a second, the dot grew in size to a pebble, then a stone the size of her hoof, then the size of her, and larger still until a boulder even larger than the one Rarity had mistaken for a diamond months before landed with an earth-shattering crash between them. Twilight's mouth hung open as she looked from the boulder to Trixie, who hadn't so much as broken a sweat from the feat.
"Now, Twilight Sparkle, show your teacher The Great and Powerful Trixie," she pumped her front hooves into the air with flourish again, "what you can do with this!"
Twilight looked at the rock with trepidation, knowing just from its size how heavy it would be. She even had trouble lifting Tom, er, Rarity's rock. However, with a confident glower at it, summoned an aura around the rock. Gritting her teeth, she began the process of lifting it, only to be surprised at how light it appeared. Her face relaxed as she grinned at what she'd done. Trixie's face did not appear as amused. Downright stunned was more appropriate as the showmare's jaw hung open at the ease of which Twilight lifted the immense thing.
"Well that's certainly a start, Twilight Sparkle!" The blue unicorn stuttered, trying to not to let her surprise show. "But, allow your teacher to show you how it's done." Trixie adopted a confident smirk as her own horn lit up, an aura quickly spreading over the rock. The boulder now picked up off the ground quickly, as if it was light as a feather. Slowly, it lifted higher and higher in the sky, until it rested 10 meters in the air.
Twilight took her attention away from the boulder, positively floored at the unicorn's new power Casting a glance at Trixie, she seemed unfazed as she readjusted her hat and cloak. When did she get so…so…powerful?
Inside, Trixie was reeling. She continued to smirk confidently at Twilight who wasn't trying in the least to hide her awe. Doing her best to keep her leg's trembling as little as possible, Trixie ignored every muscle's demand to collapse and pass out. The showmare took in a large breath of air and boasted, "You look absolutely amazed at Trixie's talent and as well you should be! They don't call her the Great and Powerful Trixie for nothing!"
The door behind Twilight opened as a short purple dragon walked out, sporting a small welt on his forehead and carrying a piece of parchment. "Hey, Twi…," Spike was interrupted by a gigantic boulder falling just next to him. He leapt into the air in fright at the boulder's sudden and violent appearance. These lessons of hers are going to be the end of me! Spike thought. "T-Twilight, you've…you've got a letter from the princess!"
Twilight hadn't even noticed the rock falling. All of her thoughts were focused on the spectacle she had just witnessed. It wasn't until she heard 'princess' that she snapped out of her stupor. "Um, okay Spike…I'll just take it inside. Excuse me, Tri…Miss Trixie." Twilight followed Spike inside, glad to have a moment to recuperate.
---------------------------