//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Cutie Mark Crusader Magicians, Yay! // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// Cutie Mark Crusader Magicians, Yay! Chapter 9 The sun had just risen on the horizon of Sweet Apple Acres, casting the ground in a golden glow. Grouped inside the shadow of the barn doors, the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked across the orchards at the distant shape of Trixie’s wagon near the treehouse.   Sweetie Belle backed away from the door. “I’m not sure this is a good idea. Maybe we should just take a break for a day.”   Apple Bloom shook her head. “Trixie said she wanted us to come see her for the usual lessons. We can’t just not show up. Right?”   Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Why not? I’m ready for a break from all the lessons. Besides…” She flopped on her stomach and beat a hoof on the grass. “It’s not like our next show is gonna be different, right?”   “Don’t say that.” Apple Bloom reached a hoof over to pat Scootaloo on the back. “It was a great show, everypony loved it.”   Scootaloo looked up at her and smiled. “Yeah, and I had a lot of fun dropping Diamond Tiara down the hole.” The three shared a snicker at the memory. Scootaloo looked back at her flank. “But, ya know, we started all this to get our cutie marks. And it didn’t happen, did it? Like usual for us.”   Sweetie Belle bit her lip and lowered her head. She approached Scootaloo, keeping her eyes down. “Everypony always said we’d get our cutie marks when it was time, Scootaloo. It just isn’t ours yet, right?”   “Exactly.” Scootaloo pushed herself up. “This magic stuff isn’t working, especially for me. I’m tired, I’m sore, and I’m fed up. Trixie said she promised she would get us our cutie marks, but it ain’t happening. And the more time we train with her, the less interesting it gets.”   Sweetie Bell raised her eyes. Her brow furrowed for a moment and then she gave a slow nod. “Yeah. When you put it like that, I gotta agree. I’ve been working really hard on my magic, but I’m going to bed really early these days and eating a lot. Rarity says I’m not used to using so much power and it’s wearing me out. I went to bed almost as soon as I came home last night after the show.” The three fell silent and looked between themselves and Trixie’s cart. Apple Bloom spoke up first. “Look, Ah get what y’all are sayin’. We’ve worked hard, and it isn’t goin’ so well for us, and we’re havin’ second thoughts.” She forced a smile. “We’ve been tryin’ to get our cutie marks for a while now, and we’ve tried a lot of different ways. Sure, it hasn’t worked yet, but we don’t give in, right? One way or another, it’s gotta happen eventually. What’s it hurt to keep trying this one a bit more?” Scootaloo shook her head. “It hurts because I’m tired of trying and failing…” Sweetie Belle gave a small nod. Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah know, girls. So am Ah, but we can’t give up. Let’s go talk to Trixie at least before we quit. Maybe we can have a day off, huh?”   Scootaloo said nothing but began walking forward, leaving the two others to follow her. They reached the cart and Scootaloo knocked twice. A moment later, the door opened.   “Excellent, right on time.” Trixie backed into the cart, inclining her head for them to follow. “We have much to do today.” She opened a case against the wall and withdrew several interlocking silver rings. “Scootaloo, we’ll be moving on to proper usage of pre-made props. Some of them are difficult to manipulate with hooves, but you can manage. Sweetie Belle, we’ll be—” As she finished taking out the rings and closing the trunk, Trixie turned to the three and paused. Sweetie Belle was looking away with her eyes downcast while Scootaloo stared at Trixie, her eyes narrowed and her mouth set in a line. Trixie looked between them. “What is it?” Apple Bloom sighed and stepped forward. “Well, Trixie… see, thing is, we were doin’ some talkin’, and we’re kinda tired after last night. Maybe we can take a break from all the training?”   Trixie nodded. “I suppose that’s all right. We can continue tomorrow, a day won’t hurt.”   Apple Bloom hesitated before raising a hoof. “Actually, maybe tomorrow we can break too? To be honest, we’re having second thoughts and wanna kinda thinks some of this over.”   “Second thoughts?” Trixie raised an eyebrow. “About what? You three displayed wonderful talent yesterday. It’s barely been a week and you’ve learned much more than I’d have expected on our initial meeting.”   Sweetie Belle grimaced and looked away. “Yeah, but… well, the whole reason we were doing this is because we wanted to get our cutie marks, and…” she said nothing more but jerked her head back at her bare flank.   Trixie scoffed. “You must be patient, it’ll come in time. If that is truly a concern, we can mix up our lessons and have you three each try something new.”   “I don’t want to try anything new!” Scootaloo said in a huff. “We’ve been working at this magician stuff for a week, and yeah, we’re good at it. But if it isn’t getting us our cutie marks, what’s the point?”   Trixie glared and set the silver rings down on the table. “You want your cutie marks, but don’t want to work to discover them? Don’t be ridiculous. You’re smarter than that and Trixie knows it.”   Letting out a gasp, Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped. “We’ve been working hard for years! You have no idea how many things we’ve tried!”   “I have no idea how hard you’ve worked? You’ve spent a week barely scratching the surface of Trixie’s knowledge, ignorant of how long she—” Trixie stopped and shook her head. “This was your idea, and I went along with it, against my better judgment, mind you. And now you want to quit just because the first time you put on a performance, it didn’t get you your cutie marks? If it was as simple as just being good at something, we’d all have gotten our cutie marks in our infancy. It takes dedication, hard work, determination!”   Scootaloo flung up her hooves. “We’ve got all those things, we’ve had them, and for years it’s gotten us nowhere!”   Sweetie Belle nodded, adding, “We’ve been working hard and doing our best, but it’s not getting us anywhere!”   Trixie scowled. “Twilight Sparkle warned me you three were liable not to listen. I thought you all wanted to be magicians, hm? If you only wanted me to train you to get your cutie marks and don’t actually care about the craft, then you’re just wasting everypony’s time! Cutie marks are not merely about being good at something, it’s—”   “We know what it is!” Scootaloo said, cutting her off.  “Everypony’s been telling us for years what it is! But we do things we like and things we’re good at and things we wanna try, and none of it works! All I know about what cutie marks are anymore is what they’re not, and they’re not coming to us!”   “And that’s Trixie’s fault?” Trixie glared, looming over them as Scootaloo glared back. “Trixie has dedicated her time, her cart, her supplies, and her years of experience to helping you three!”   “And a fat load of good it’s done us!” Scootaloo jerked her hoof towards her flank. “You promised us you’d get us our cutie marks if you stayed and we trained with you. Well, Trixie, thanks for nothing!”   “Enough!” The door to Trixie’s cart flung open so hard the cart itself shook, and Trixie thrust out  her hoof. “Get out, now! The Great and Powerful Trixie has better things to do with her time than waste it on three impatient ingrates!”   “Back at ya!” Scootaloo spun around and marched out of the cart. Apple Bloom looked between the two, eyes wide and glistening. Then, she turned and ran after Scootaloo. “Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle lowered her eyes. “Sorry, Trixie.” She turned and slowly headed out of the cart, closing the door behind her. When the door closed, Trixie spun around and swept a hoof over the table, knocking the silver rings to the ground. She scowled and looked down at them, as though they were somehow responsible. All I’ve done for those three, all I’ve tried to make them see…  She lifted the rings from the floor next to the bookcase and saw a spot of pink under a pile of handkerchiefs. Trixie lifted the clothes and found a faded book on the floor. “A Foal’s Guide to Magic…” The lessons still worked wonders on Sweetie Belle. Too bad it doesn’t work on earth ponies or pegasi. She snorted and set the book on the shelf. “Twilight was right. I should have just told them the truth to begin with. Subtlety is lost on children with their level of impatience.” Trixie paused as she realized what she had just said. She groaned and grabbed her cloak and hat from a hook on the wall. Can’t think in here. Need to clear my head. She pushed open the door and hurried out it, not sparing a glance at the clubhouse over her head. Sweetie Belle dropped down from the window. “She left.” “Did she look mad?” “I couldn’t tell.” Sweetie Belle turned her attention to a corner of the clubhouse. “I didn’t think you’d be that angry.”   Facing the corner, huddled over, Scootaloo wiped her eyes. “I didn’t either. You know I haven’t been on board with this much. But I…” she dropped her head. “I didn’t mean to talk to her like that...”   ‘”Hey.” Scootaloo turned her head to see Sweetie behind her, the other pony patting her on the back. “You’ve been angry for a while. It was bound to come out.”   Scootaloo sniffed. “But—”   “No ‘buts’. If you weren’t liking the training, you should have told her a while ago.” “You liked it. Just because I can’t use magic doesn’t mean you can’t learn to use yours.” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Hey, we’re a team. We always talked about getting our cutie marks together. I want my cutie mark, but I’m not going to make my friends try something they don’t like to get it faster.” Scootaloo stared for a moment, then turned and hugged her. “Thanks, Sweetie Belle…” “Besides, like I said,” Sweetie Belle continued with a shrug, “I never really thought I’d be a magician like her.” “Me neither.” Scootaloo pulled away and stood up. “If we don’t want to be magicians, then we really are wasting her time. Trixie’s tried hard, but it just isn’t for us. When she comes back, we’ll tell her this really isn’t working and she should just move on.”   “Maybe…” The two turned their heads; Apple Bloom had been pacing the room in thought as the others spoke. Now she had stopped to gaze at them, her eyes bright. Scootaloo tilted her head. “What are you thinking?” “Ah’m thinkin’ that even if we didn’t want to be magicians, we still learned some useful stuff, right?” Apple Bloom lowered her head and smiled.   Sweetie Belle’s brow creased. “Yeah, I guess.” “We’re good at doin’ what Trixie taught us. We just don’t wanna use it to be magicians. Ah think we’re going about this wrong. Trixie’s lessons aren’t the problem, it’s how we’re usin’ them.” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “So, what? You’ve got an idea to do something else with them?” Apple Bloom ran to the window. “Sweetie Belle, you said Trixie left, right?”   “Yeah, why?” Sweetie Belle said.   Apple Bloom grinned and pointed to the door to the clubhouse. “Ah got an idea, come on! We’ll make it right, Ah promise!”     Trixie gulped down her milk and slammed the mug back onto the café table. “And when she said that, I’d had enough and told them to get out!” She looked at the mug and scowled. “I’ve been far more patient with them than they deserve, given them more time and effort than anypony else who’s tried to be my apprentice, and they don’t even know why or care. If this is how it’s going to end, then this really was all just a waste of our time.”   On the opposite side of the table, resting her head on her hoof with a wide grin, Pinkie Pie nodded her head. “Yup. That sounds pretty bad.” Trixie looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you smiling?” “I like listening to my friends talk about their problems.” Pinkie’s grin grew wider. “We’re friends?” Pinkie’s grin vanished and her ears drooped and tears formed in her eyes. “You mean, you don’t want to be my friend?” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Sure.” “Hooray!” Pinkie threw her hooves up and a burst of confetti exploded behind her. She came back down and rubbed her chin. “Ya know, now that we’re officially friends, I gotta ask you something.” “Shoot.” “Why do you call yourself Trixie?” Trixie frowned. “Because that’s my name?” Pinkie held up a hoof. “I mean why do you say ‘Trixie doesn’t like this’ instead of just ‘I don’t like this’. Twilight told me it’s called third-person, but I tried it one time for fun and it just confused me.” “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Trixie muttered. Louder she said “Trixie speaks of herself in such a manner to give herself grandeur and spectacle. She is a showmare, she must be a larger-than-life figure.” “Oooh, okay.” Pinkie grinned again. “That’s cool! Can you teach me how to do it better?” Trixie shook her head. “Pass. Trixie doesn’t much feel like teaching anyone anything today.” “Oh, come on!” Before Trixie saw her move, Pinkie was beside her and hugging her tightly. “Don’t be such a mopey-dopey-lopey! What’s wrong?”    Trixie struggled to escape. “Weren’t you listening? The Crusaders and I had a bad fight.” She grunted and pushed back against the clingy pony. “So?” Pinkie held up her hooves in a shrug, resulting in Trixie staggering away and falling on her back. Pinkie leaned on the table and shook her head. “Friends fight all the time! Nopony gets along every day, so of course you’re gonna have a fight now and then. What’s important is that you make up when it’s over and say you’re sorry. That’s what friends do: they forgive each other!” Trixie pursed her lip. “That… actually makes a lot of sense.” She stood up and gave Pinkie a sideways look. “Since when are you so insightful?” Pinkie giggled. “Silly, there’s nothing I don’t know about friendship!” “Right. I guess if you’re so insightful, then what do you think I—” Pinkie shoved a hoof in Trixie’s face to cover her mouth. “Uh-uh! Say it the cool way!” Trixie scowled and pushed Pinkie’s hoof aside. “If Trixie were to be interested in returning to her cart and attempting to mend bridges, how would you advise she do it?” Pinkie waved a hoof in the air. “That’s easy. Trixie should go to them, apologize for losing her temper, offer to start fresh tomorrow, and ask them what they want to do about their cutie marks. Also, Trixie should get a cake.” “Why?” “Because a cake will help smooth things over when she shares it with them once they forgive her. And if it doesn’t work out and they’re still angry at her, then at least she still has a cake.” “What if Trixie doesn’t like cake?” “Then I’d advise Trixie should check herself into Ponyville General Hospital, because she clearly got hit on the head recently.” Pinkie’s cheerful demeanor never changed even as she finished her recommendations. Trixie looked at her evenly for a moment, then took a deep breath. “I’m a bit strapped for money.” “Aw. Does Trixie have any money she can lend you?” Trixie stared for a moment, her face scrunched in confusion. “No.” “Oh well. Good thing you’ve got an inside connection!” Pinkie put a hoof around Trixie’s neck and began to lead her down the street. “Come on, we’ll get you and Trixie both a sweet deal! How do you feel about coconut cream?” Applejack’s plow reached the end of the field and she stopped, wiping a sheen of sweat off her brow. She lifted the plow and turned it to go back the other way for a new row when she saw Trixie coming through the fields. She raised a hoof and waved. “Hiya, Trixie!” “Hey.” Trixie nodded at her and stopped in front of her wagon to look up at the clubhouse looming over it. She ran her tongue around in her mouth and pursed her lips. Applejack’s eyes fell on the purple box floating beside Trixie. “What’s that?” Trixie looked back at her and followed her eyes to the box. “Vanilla and caramel ice cream cake. It’s a long story that involves Pinkie Pie. Don’t ask.” “Ya said ‘Pinkie Pie’, so that’s all the explanation Ah need.” Applejack tipped her hat. “Ah’ll presume you comin' back here with a cake has somethin’ to do with all the yellin’ Ah heard this mornin’?” “Yeah…” Trixie frowned and set the box on the ground next to the stairs to her wagon. “Have you seen them?” “Nope, sorry. Ah’ve been busy plowing the new fields in the front this morning and worked my way back here just an hour ago.” “Right.” Trixie looked at the clubhouse again. She took a breath, hesitated, and shook her head. “I need to compose myself, make sure I don’t say something stupid again.” She walked over to her wagon and climbed the stairs. She pushed open the door and took one step inside before she froze. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. “Applejack!”   Applejack looked up from her plowing. “Eh?”   “I’ve been robbed!”   “Say what?” Applejack ran to the cart as Trixie went inside. Applejack put a hoof on the stairs and looked. The cart had been ransacked. Textbooks lay strewn over the floor along with props and costumes, and several drawers and cupboards had been left open. Trixie stared, slack jawed, at the carnage. Her eyes darted back and forth.   “They got my alchemy chest, my magic textbooks, most of my props! They even took the cheap ones I fall back on when the professional-grade stuff breaks.” Trixie slammed her head on the table. “I can’t believe I was so careless! I have security spells on the cart but I haven’t been using them!”   “Hey, calm down.” Applejack held up a hoof. “Ah told ya, Ah’ve been working these back fields all afternoon. Anyone who came back here has to still be hidin’ on the farm somewhere. There’s no way they coulda taken all of this without me seeing ’em go.”   “Good point.” Trixie nodded and turned back to her. “Apple Bloom and her friends are up in the clubhouse so go check if they’ve seen anything.”   “Right.” Applejack left the doorway and headed up the walkway to the clubhouse. Trixie came to the door and looked up at her as she went in and came back out. Applejack leaned over the railing. “Trixie? They ain’t here.”   Trixie scowled. “Then where could they—” She stopped as a horrifying thought came to her. “No… Applejack!”   “What?”   “You said you’ve been here all afternoon?”   “Yes ma’am, was workin’ the front fields this mornin’ and the back ones just now.”   Trixie looked over the fields. “So… for anypony to get to my cart without you seeing them… they’d have to already be back here this morning.”   “Ah guess. But Ah haven’t seen anyone come or go but you and the Crusaders.”   Trixie gave Applejack a pointed look. Applejack’s eyes widened as she realized what Trixie had said.   “Oh no.”   “Oh hay no.”