Cutie Mark Crusader Magicians, Yay!
Chapter 12
The forest ahead of them thinned out and the homes of Ponyville came into view beyond the trees. Trixie let out a breath and looked behind her at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “We’re here.” At her words, the three ran past her towards the village. A streak of rainbow light zipped overhead and turned towards the village. Trixie watched it go and then kept walking.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran down the path and had just crossed the bridge when Applejack rounded a corner with Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle flying overhead. Apple Bloom raised a hoof. “We’re okay!”
The Crusaders slowed down and Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground beside Applejack. Applejack looked down at Apple Bloom and glared. “Y’all got one chance to talk me outta groundin’ ya for a month. Go for it.”
Apple Bloom opened her mouth, then closed it and shook her head. “Ah got nothin’.”
Applejack recoiled. “Seriously?”
“Yup.” Apple Bloom held up her hooves. “We did something stupid, we almost got killed for it, and then Trixie had to save us.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Who are you guys and what did you do with the Crusaders?”
Sighing, Scootaloo walked up to Rainbow. “No, she’s right. We went too far this time.” She looked up with the most powerful puppy dog eyes she could muster. “I don’t suppose you can not tell my dad about this one, too?”
“Nope.”
“Darn.”
Sweetie Belle looked around. “Where’s Rarity?”
“She’s at the train station,” Rainbow said with a nod. “I’ll go get her and send her over. Need to tell Pinkie and Fluttershy, too.” She jumped up and flew off.
Applejack smiled and pulled Apple Bloom to her side. “Apple Bloom. Ya know how Ah just said ya had to talk me outta grounding ya for a month?”
“Yeah?”
“Four weeks. Because you took responsibility.”
“Yippee,” Apple Bloom deadpanned. She glanced over at Trixie, tilting her head. She was talking to Twilight and Trixie looked solemn. She couldn’t hear them, but she saw Twilight nod and turn their way.
“Well, girls,” she said as she reached them, “where do you go from here?”
“Um…” Apple Bloom looked between Twilight and Trixie, who was coming up behind her. “Ah was thinkin’, Trixie, we should have a talk about some stuff tomorrow?”
“Trixie was thinking the same,” Twilight replied.
Trixie bowed her head. “For the evening and most of the morrow, Trixie will be settling in and restocking her supplies. Attend to her tomorrow evening.”
“Hey!” Applejack frowned. “Ah just gone done groundin’ her!”
“Applejack.” Twilight held up a hoof and shook her head. “It’s okay. They won’t be long.”
Applejack scrunched her face. “Well… all right, Twi. If you’ll vouch for them.”
Keeping a neutral expression, Trixie walked past the two. “If that is all, Trixie shall retire to her cart.”
“Uh, hey.” Applejack gently held out a hoof to stop her. “What happened in that forest, anyhow?”
“I saved them from an ursa minor.”
Applejack’s eyebrows lifted. “An ursa? …Well, shucks, this has been a heck of a day for ya, huh?”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
The moon was high in the sky, the last ribbons of sunlight fading on the horizon when Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo knocked on the door of Sweet Apple Acres. A short time later, the door pulled back to reveal Apple Bloom. “Applejack says we can’t be too long. I’m grounded.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Me too. Two weeks.” She looked at Sweetie Belle. “You?”
“Rarity says until I’m old enough to know what ‘emancipation’ means, because that’s the only way it’ll happen.” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I just looked it up in a dictionary, but she says that doesn’t count.”
Apple Bloom stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind her. “Let’s go see what Trixie wants.”
“Yeah, about that,” Scootaloo cut in. “I know I’ve brought it up before, but maybe we can just tell her we want to end it?” She paused and shook her head. “I mean… look. It isn’t fair to her, right? She’s spending all this time and stuff training us, settled down in Ponyville when she’s usually travelling. But if it isn’t gonna happen…”
“Ah was thinkin’ the same.” Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah really like Trixie’s lessons, but Ah’m just not feeling it’s gonna get me mah cutie mark. And like you said, it’s kinda unfair for her to be doin’ this.”
The two looked to Sweetie Belle again. She looked between the two, and then out over the apple fields. “Girls, you know I love these lessons. Trixie’s taught me a lot about magic, and I really learned a lot. But…” she bit her lip. “I know you’re right. I don’t wanna be a magician.” She faced them again. “Can we at least hear her out, first? Before we say anything?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Apple Bloom stepped between the two and led the way into the apple orchard. The night was young and there was enough light for them to find their way easily enough. When their clubhouse and Trixie’s cart came into view, they also noticed a light source on the far side of the tree. The trio walked past the clubhouse to find the cause of the light.
In an open spot of the orchard away from the apple trees, a campfire was burning from a pile of broken branches. Trixie was sitting beside it, staring across the fire into the darkness. Her cape, neatly folded, was on the ground beside her, her hat on top of it. The three shared a look before coming closer. At the sound of their hooves, Trixie blinked, her eyes focused, and she looked their way.
“Hey,” she said softly.
Sweetie Belle looked at the campfire. “What’s with this?”
“It’s dark. We should have light.” Trixie breathed deeply. “I’ve spent a lot of the day trying to figure out how to say this stuff. It’s not something I tell often, and not to a lot of ponies.” She frowned. “I guess… I should start at the beginning.”
“Hang on.”
Trixie paused and looked over the fire. The Cutie Mark Crusaders sat down opposite her. It was Scootaloo that had spoken.
“We’ve been doing some thinking,” she continued, “and we really do wanna call off the training this time.”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “We love what you’ve taught us, Trixie. You know I mean that. But maybe this is for the best for all of us.”
“We know you’re not likin’ it, stayin’ in Ponyville this long, spending so much time on us,” Apple Bloom said. “And, well, if we ain’t gonna get it, and you don’t like it, let’s just call it quits. It makes sense, right?” She looked up to see Trixie giving them a passive look and fidgeted in her seat. “Ah mean, we do appreciate your time an’ all, but it hasn’t done much for us, and it ain’t doing much for you, either. Ya get me?”
Trixie continued to stare, blinking slowly. Apple Bloom looked away. “It’s just, you’ve done a lot for us. But there’s nothin’ really we can do to repay ya, especially after what we’ve put ya through.”
“Not to mention we don’t even know why you’ve put up with us like this,” Scootaloo added. “Most other adults we try stuff with give up on us.”
“Whatever the reason is, it isn’t fair to you.” Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “So, maybe the best thing we can do to show we appreciate it is… just say it’s not working.”
The ponies around the campfire fell into silence. Trixie said nothing, eventually lowering her eyes to the fire.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah know you’re probably angry. We can wait in the clubhouse if you wanna think this stuff over.” Trixie said nothing and Apple Bloom stood up. “Okay, then. Like Ah said, if—”
“I was your age.”
Apple Bloom stopped. Trixie’s browed had furrowed, but she was still looking at the fire.
“Well, perhaps a bit older than you. My classmate, Cherry Swirl, was having her cute-ceañera. She had helped her mother bake pies for a school bake sale and got her cutie mark for coming up with a new filling recipe. Everyone was happy for her, including me. I really was. It didn’t hit me until the party was almost over. Another classmate of mine said I was probably feeling embarrassed. I didn’t get what he meant, so I asked why. And that was when he said it…”
Trixie’s eyes lifted from the fire to look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Well, this makes you the only pony left in the class without her cutie mark.”
Apple Bloom sat down and looked to the side to see Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle watching intently. Trixie waited a moment before continuing.
“It wasn’t long before the insults came. Not at first, but they came. And once the more creative names caught on, everypony used them.” Trixie raised her pitch in imitation of a foal’s. “‘Hey Trixie, a cutie mark is a sign of a pony’s talent, right? I guess that means you don’t have any talent. No-Talent Trixie, No-Talent Trixie!’” Trixie gritted her teeth. “No-Talent Trixie was their favorite, but there were plenty others. Trixie Losermoon. Beatrips, Tripsie – those two didn’t even make sense, I wasn’t clumsy. And of course, there was the old standby.”
Trixie spat her next words. “Blank flank.”
The foals opposite her leaned in.
Trixie continued, “I wanted to shut them up. I knew I would get my cutie mark in time, so I didn’t care about that. I just wanted to make them stop. I spent weeks trying to think of some way, anything, to make it stop. Then I saw it. A poster for the school talent show. I signed up without having any real idea of what to do. I went to the library to get some ideas and took out a lot of books on magic, to try and develop my powers there. Then, among them, I found a book on stage magic. And the opening paragraph said something I committed to memory.” Trixie closed her eyes and recited the passage.
“‘The key to stage magic is not what you can do. It’s what you can make your audience think you can do.’
“I wasn’t very good with magic, but I realized I didn’t need to be. I would leave them in awe, make myself look like the most powerful unicorn the school would ever see. I kept practicing my magic, but I also turned to other means to develop an act. I saved up every bit I had and did odd jobs wherever I could just for a couple more. And when I had enough, I went to the nearest alchemist. I rented books on alchemy and taught myself how to make some basic mixtures. Smoke bombs came easy enough. Even simpler was making a clump of powder that could explode into sparks and then another mix that created a flash of light. I didn’t have much, but I learned to make the most of what I did.
“I spent hours in that library reading all I could, and when I wasn’t reading I was practicing, making more alchemy mixes and refining my magic. I worked myself to the bone. I collapsed into bed at night and stumbled into class in the morning. They still made fun of me, but I endured it. I knew it was almost at an end. It would all be worth it. Then came the night. I was nervous and they still laughed that my act would fail. I waited backstage, wearing a cape I made from an old bed sheet to conceal the satchels of supplies I was wearing. They called me up and I went out in front of the crowd.”
Trixie smiled softly. “I pulled out every trick I could think of. I made them see images of monsters with some choice magic blasts against a cloud of smoke. I vanished and reappeared before their eyes on opposite ends of the stage. I made props manifest from nothing and sent them back a moment later. With my final trick, I poured as much power as I could into my horn, and let loose a spell I had figured out myself. I shot a fireworks spell over the audience. The air came alive in a burst of red and blue in the shape of a star. With that, I could take no more and collapsed on the stage.”
Tearing her gaze away from the fire, Trixie looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “The crowd went mad. I could feel the stage shake from the force of their applause. I pushed myself up and bowed. I looked off-stage and saw my classmates applauding as well. Even the teachers were doing it.” Trixie closed her eyes and a look of absolute joy came over her. “The pounding of their hooves, the sound of their cheers, my heart thumping in my chest, my hooves and horn more sore than they’d ever been. It was the most incredible experience of my life. I wanted more of it. I knew at that moment I was meant to be on the stage. This was my calling. I was born to be a magician.”
Trixie turned and nodded at her flank, the silver-blue star and wand glowing in the firelight. “It wasn’t until I noticed their cheers and applause had grown louder that I realized something had happened, and I saw my teacher pointing at my flank. I got my cutie mark that night, on stage in front of everypony.”
She turned her head back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. A long time passed with neither of them saying anything, just looking at the other over the flames. At last, she spoke again. “I’ve spent a lot of timing thinking about that night. What might have happened if I hadn’t performed. And do you know what I realized?”
The three foals shook their heads.
“I realized we are the sum of our own actions. No more and no less. If I hadn’t gone on that stage, my cutie mark, and my life, would have turned out different. I made my choice and I found my calling. It didn’t find me. A cutie mark isn’t some arbitrary destiny that waits for us to realize we belong to it. It’s the destiny we choose for ourselves, because we want it.”
Trixie took a deep breath. “I’ve been trying to help you because I thought maybe, this way, showing you instead of telling you what I knew would let that lesson would sink in. You told me you’ve heard everyone else’s cutie mark story. But you’d never heard mine. And I know better than any what you’re going through. I know how tough it can be, how desperate and eager you are to prove yourselves.” She shook her head. “But forcing yourselves to grow up before your time won’t accomplish anything. The harder you look, the harder it is to see it. The more you want it, the further it slips from your grasp.” Trixie looked to the side and smirked, giving a small snort. “I forget that lesson, sometimes. I forgot it when Twilight Sparkle showed me up with the ursa minor. I forgot it a few times before then too. And maybe I forgot it, trying to train you three.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to—”
The sound of moving hooves caught her attention and Trixie opened her eyes. She cried out as three small bodies swarmed her, knocking her onto her back. Before she could react, three sets of hooves had wrapped around her neck and body, squeezing for all they were worth. Trixie blinked, looked down,realized what was happening, and gave a small chuckle. She let her head fall back and brought her hooves up to hug them back.
For several minutes, the only sound was the crackling of the fire.
“Trixie?” Scootaloo kept her face pressed against Trixie’s stomach as she spoke. “I don’t wanna be a magician.”
“Me neither.”
“Nope.”
Trixie let out a barking laugh. “Yes, Trixie had figured as much out herself.” She sat up and the three foals stepped back to let her. Back on her hooves, Trixie smiled warmly. “I don’t know when you’ll get your cutie marks. It could be tomorrow, next month, next year. But I know it won’t happen until you three truly discover what you want to be. And when that epiphany finally comes, you’ll know your place in the world for the first time. As I did that night.”
Trixie lifted her head, smiling down at them proudly. “Trixie recognizes greatness when she sees it. And there are great things waiting for you, my young apprentices.”
Scootaloo grinned. “Got that right.”
Beaming, Sweetie Belle said, “Hey, we’re already growin’ up!”
The three returned confused looks.
“We got through all our lessons without getting covered in tree sap!”
The four shared a laugh.
Trixie lifted the trunk of freshly stocked alchemy ingredients into the cart and pushed it into place. “There. That’s everything.” She stepped back and pulled the door shut, latching it. Trixie hopped off the small steps into the cart and regarded the nine assembled ponies standing a short distance away. “Trixie shall be picking up where she left off, on her way to Appleloosa. From there, hard to say. Trixie walks as the road takes her.”
Applejack smiled. “Never thought Ah’d say this, but Ah’m kinda sad to see ya go, Trixie.” The other five adults around her voiced agreement.
“Will you come back and visit us?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Of course. Trixie can’t promise a precise time, but she’s sure to be back someday.”
“And we’ll have our cutie marks to show you!” Scootaloo added. She winced and shrank back. “Maybe.”
“Trixie would be delighted to see them.”
Walking up to her, Twilight asked, “Is there anything else you need to take care of before you go?”
“Not that Trixie can recall. She has her supplies restocked and her cart is prepared.” She bowed her head. “Trixie thanks you for your aid, Twilight Sparkle.” She turned her attention to the other five. “Rainbow Dash, Trixie trusts you to keep these three out of trouble.”
“Yeah, right.” Rainbow winked and gave her a knowing look.
“Applejack, Trixie thanks you for usage of your land. And the apples, of course.”
“No problem.” Applejack nodded and tipped her hat.
“Rarity, whichever tea that was you served, please be sure you have some more in stock for Trixie’s return.”
Rarity beamed. “Lavender and lemon, darling. And of course.”
“Pinkie.” Trixie frowned. “We forgot about the cake and it melted. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry!” Before Trixie saw her take a step, Pinkie zipped across the orchard to a tree and climbed partway up it, sticking her hooves into the leaves. She emerged with a pink box. “Here you go, chocolate and vanilla swirl!”
Trixie cocked her head as Pinkie brought the cake over. “You had a cake stored in an apple tree?”
“I have cakes stored all over Ponyville. In case of cake emergency.”
“When would…” Trixie saw Twilight discreetly shake her head. “Nevermind. Thank you.” Trixie looked at Fluttershy, and frowned. “Fluttershy… um… Fluttershy… you really…”
Fluttershy gave a small smile. “It’s okay. I don’t have much to say goodbye to you for, either. Sorry.”
Trixie shrugged. “Fair enough. Then…” She thought for a moment, and then her face brightened. “You look very nice today.”
“Thank you, Trixie. So do you.”
Finally, Trixie looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She puffed out her chest and lifted her head into the air. “My young apprentices. You have been the best students Trixie could ask for. Truly, you have benefited from her vast wisdom and experience in ways lesser ponies cannot imagine. When next we chance to meet, she shall be overjoyed to hear how you’ve grown.”
The three said nothing, until Sweetie Belle turned her head. “Girls? Think you can leave us alone for a sec?” The older ponies nodded, Twilight leading them away from the cart. When they were a distance away, Sweetie Belle looked behind a tree. A small brown box floated out in glowing green magic. “We had to promise Rarity we'd pay her back by next month to get her to make this.”
Trixie took the box and set it at her hooves. “What is it?”
Apple Bloom smiled. “Somethin’ to remember us by.”
Trixie lifted the lid off the box and set it aside. Her eyes widened slightly as she lifted the garment into the air.
A dark red cape, sized for an adult with a high neck, hung in front of her. Trixie turned the cape over and saw the emblem on the back: a blue shield with a yellow pony rearing on it.
Scootaloo nodded. “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders, forever. We stick together, even when apart.”
Trixie pulled the cape over her neck and looked down at the clasp. One part magician’s wand, other part crescent moon, slid together and clicked into place. She looked up, and no words were spoken as the three came closer and hugged her. Trixie squeezed her hooves around the three.
“Thank you, my young friends.”
The four parted, Trixie tipping her hat to them. “I’ll see you again, someday. Count on it.” She grinned. “The Great and Powerful Trixie always holds to her word!” With a flourish of her new cape, she twisted around, walking to the end of her cart. The harness slipped under the cape onto her back and Trixie waved.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders sat together, calling out farewells and waving, as Trixie pulled her cart to the gate at the far end of the orchard and then up the hill beyond.