Tricks, cloaks and wands: The Lost Tales of a Traveling Magician

by divinearcadia

Friends and Success

To get this out of the way, I have no control over the characters of and related to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This is a piece of literary fiction, the events of this story are not intended to reflect the actions or incriminate anypony.

Chapter Ten: Friends and Success

Trixie was out of breath, sweat stinging as it ran into her eyes and very sore. It was a hot spring morning out on the training grounds as she sparred with Flickering Shadows. Two weeks ago when he started her martial training, she would spend hours learning poses as well as strikes and blows that would incapacitate or outright kill foes. She still had a while before she would meet Flickering Shadows bar for her to progress into the next style but she was getting there. Pushing the cluttering thoughts out of her mind, she gets up after being thrown. It was her own carelessness that led to it and she knew it.

She advances on her passive opponent in a half-crouch, her steps long and fluid. With a surge, she closes the distance in a flash as her left forehoof lashes like a viper towards his right shoulder. He drops down slightly, but this time she was ready for the shift as she raises and lowers her right forehoof whip fast towards the brittle shoulder blade that rises out of his back slightly. He shifts to the left, her blow barely missing and pivots lightning fast to whip his right hind leg out to hit her in the chest as she begins coming down. The blow shudders throughout her body causing her to loose control of her body. She comes down limply to lay there breathing harshly at the sharp pain.

“We're done for the day. You won't be any good until tomorrow since I struck your solar plexus. Once you get your hooves under you, go wash up and you may leave. Good effort, you never make the same mistake twice but you have to hide your intentions better and your blows have to be sharper. You still have too many wasted motions.” He turns and walks away to leave Trixie with her pain as a final lesson. As she lies there, the fight replays slowly through her mind. She recounts his motions and the timing of his last counter. He still astounds her his instinctual talent for fighting. Groaning, she shifts her weight back with her forelegs to a sitting position and waits for the rest of her limbs to obey her again.

After a few more minutes, she gets up to walk over to a spigot and washes herself in the ice cold water. Her battered body twinges at the cold, but the more pronounced throbs dull to a pulse of moderate discomfort. With a sigh she steps out from underneath the water to go take the train back. She had to go to the library to get several books for her current studies as well as trying to hunt down some on the martial arts and find Rime Ice besides. On the ride up, she practices breathing and muscular control exercises to ease some of the tension to reinvigorate herself. She feels pretty good by the time the train pulls in at the station, only her bruises from sparring give her any trouble as she walks into the castle. But those would be the least of her problems as the day would go on. She had to talk with Rime Ice as soon as she could track her down about something that started a couple days after her familial reunion.

She was loosing sleep. Not through stress or worries, her physical regimen left her too tired to worry. That wasn't it in the least, it's that she wasn't able to sleep normally anymore. She thought that it was something to do with her new magical advancement, as the new spell matrices became a part of her though active assimilation and needing her mind conscious. She looked into that after the first week of this happening, but the book had said it would only take roughly an hour to assimilate with her. She went to the royal physician to have a physical evaluation, but she had said she was fine and prescribed her a gentle infusion for her to use with tea. That did nothing to help her out. So she looked through the library about techniques involved for sleeping, finding a meditative technique not too dissimilar from what Flickering Shadow had taught her for introspection and muscular control. She was getting by, but her concern was getting the better of her. She had talked to Whetstone about this new development a couple days ago but he had only told her to go to Rime Ice if she was really worried since it didn't seem to have any adverse affects and she had been to the physician already.

So here she is, wandering through the castle hallways towards the kitchen to get lunch and find out where her quarry was having her meal delivered to. After eating, she finds that Rime Ice was in the summer garden and heads there. Once outside again, the scent of the many flowers wafts through the air accompanied by the golden shimmer of pollen floating on the slight breeze. She walks through the enormous garden along the well kept path while keeping an eye out for the telltale blue pony. However after twenty minutes of searching, she decides to resort to one of her new spells to aid her; the Oculus. The spell was moderately complex but requiring surprisingly little arcane energy. Drawing from her arcane reserves and slightly modifying the matrix of the spell, she conjures five light blue spherical objects roughly the size of a marble with a small black circle centered on her left eye. It still gives her a sense of disassociation as the spell rewires her optic nerve to accept the input of not only one external source, but five. Each is able to move at her mental orders, a spell meant for wide area coverage but not advised for a pony on the move as the focus required and split optical focus can lead to some interesting accidents. At the moment, this was her largest number of simultaneously controlled oculi.

Once the sensation passes and her left eye takes on five separate but distinct sights of herself, the oculi swivel around briefly to find a direction and float off at a brisk rate. Trixie had spent some of her sleepless nights learning to manipulate these arcane constructs, sometimes ending in her vomiting unexpectedly at her own directions as she would have one go up while another go down and yet another swiveled around to scan the area. But three oculi seemed to be the big hurdle for her as she added a fourth the night after she could handle without vomiting. To say the least, it was a point of pride for the pony to quickly learn control over the strange spell. Focusing intently, she looks around with her right eye as well as taking in the sights the oculi observe. From below, the garden spreads out in waves of vibrant colors while the oculi reveal it to be a quadrant of Celestia's flaring sun and Luna's crescent cutie mark. Each flare reaches out to touch the crescent moon separating the garden into four grassy picnicking areas, several couples and families making use of the space. Focusing her oculi to search over these areas, she spots Rime Ice in the middle of the most crowded section enjoying the sights and the ponies around her. Using the oculi to double check her position in case she got turned around, she dispels the constructs in a faint waft of arcane energy. It doesn't take Trixie too long as she navigates herself to the right area and walks through the grassy area to where Rime Ice sits with an empty trolly for company.

“Mind if I join you? I have something I need to talk to you about.” Trixie says once she stands at the edge of the blanket Rime sits on.

“I don't mind at all. So, mind if I ask you how you found me?” She says with a half smile.

“I followed the bread crumbs.” Trixie says lightly getting a laugh out of her companion. “But seriously, I just asked the kitchen staff where you had your lunch delivered which is much the same. I also used one of my new spells to spare me a half hour of searching the entirety of the garden.”

“Oh? What spell was that? I can tell it wasn't a targeted or area of effect spell otherwise I would have sensed it.” She says with curiosity.

“The Oculus. It's an interesting and very useful spell to say the least. I've been working on it a lot lately and I can now manipulate five of the constructs with relative ease.” She says with a smile at the eyebrow that raises at her response.

“Impressive. Not many ponies that know the spell can boast that number.” She leans over conspiratorially and whispers with a smile, “Not even Twilight Sparkle can manage . The input of the third makes her queasy. She never got over it after it made her sick up really bad, calling it good that she had the spell in her repertoire.”

This gets Trixie to laugh briefly but she quickly recounts her own experience and her overcoming it. Their casual conversation making her comfortable enough with Rime Ice after not seeing her for a few days. She sobers up shortly to explain to her companion about her new development. Rime Ice sobers immediately as Trixie explains about how she hasn't had or felt the need to sleep in weeks. When she finishes explaining, Rime Ice stays silent for a moment before standing.

“We need to go see Luna about this. It must have something to do with the bond you two formed. I know a few tricks, but Luna would be the best to get this sorted out.” Trixie stands as well to follow Rime Ice who starts off towards the Night Tower. In the time that Trixie has been a student, Rime Ice has always treated the Princesses as though they were old friends. She never uses their honorifics in private and visits either at anytime of the day or night as she may. She knows Rime Ice has a unique status in the palace, however Trixie thinks it seems as the pony makes full use of it despite the Princesses strange lack of ire at the intrusion or distraction. Trixie was still nervous about going to Luna for anything aside from emergencies or their scheduled lessons. It doesn't take too long as they don't go through the castle to reach their destination, but across the castle grounds to the ground level door. Rime Ice doesn't even knock on the door, a brief flare of magic opening the door as they walk in. With a bit of nervousness at the uninvited intrusion she gets instructed to go wait in the library to wait for Luna. Once there, she waits like a little filly sent to the principals office for some reason she doesn't quite know. She doesn't have to wait long for Luna to arrive with Rime Ice close behind.

“Rime Ice has informed us that you have had a recent development. How long has this been going on, my dear student?” Luna says with a neutral expression.

“Since a few days after the get together with my family.” Trixie says resignedly, her voice tapering off at Luna's darkening expression.

“Didst we not tell thee to inform us of anything strange? What good is the bond we now share if thou do not feel the need to come to me with anything that may be troubling you, magical or mundane?” Luna says looking Trixie in the eye. “What good is it that we art thine teacher if we cannot have the trust that we know Twilight Sparkle places in mine own sister? We may be unused to having a pupil, but we try our hardest to make the effort.” Luna says with a belligerent look and a slightly huffy tone. Trixie studies the floor, embarrassment flushing her cheeks.

“My apologies, Mistress Luna.” Trixie responds in a hoarse whisper. Luna nods in acceptance of the apology. “I thought it may have been a side effect of the new magics I have been learning, so I tried to find out why this was happening on my own. I even went to the royal physician, but they said nothing was wrong with me physically. I just didn't want to trouble you needlessly.”

“Trixie. Thou art mine student. I have already troubled myself with thee, so make it worth my while.” Luna says with a half smile. “This is for both our benefit, not just thine.”

Trixie, chagrined, looks up at Luna who still wears the wry smile. The Alicorn looks back at her expectantly and raises an eyebrow slightly. She nods, not knowing what to say. That seems to happen to her a lot lately when she finds herself out of her depth. Luna nods brusquely, putting that discussion behind her to move on to the matter at hoof. They seat themselves around the low table to discuss Trixies new state, Rime Ice leading the discussion.

“One of the major concerns I have about this is for Trixies mental health. The pony mind needs time to rest and assimilate the things it has learned through sleep, though she seems sound enough right now despite close to two weeks of sporadic or nonexistent sleep. Trixie told me of some techniques she had learned about to help her try to sleep, which sound promising, but they don't work for long from what she had said.” The pair look to Trixie at this point who looks slightly away in abashment.

“That's right. I've been using a technique similar to what my physical instructor taught me to deliberately relax my muscles. Once I relax enough, I let my thoughts become fallow. I can't think or ponder anything otherwise I immediately snap out of it and have to restart the whole process from the beginning. I did look into sleep spells, but I didn't want to mess it up and have either of you come to wake me up from a spell set to end ten years from last night.” She says with a slight grimace of the first few nights she tried to learn the trick and the possibility of spectacular arcane failure. Those were some very long nights, but now she could rest for a couple hours at a time. It wasn't a good nights rest, but it was something.

“Thou art certainly going down the right track, mine clever student.” Luna says after hearing about Trixies methods. “Spells and mundane sleep aid can be troublesome at the best, and as such should be rarely used because they can cause either damage to the mind or become addictive over time. Thou art wise to go with your hunch about meditation. This is as good a point for us to cover self-delving as it will help thee master this meditation technique.” Rime Ice glances at Luna who just smiles and nods. Rime Ice sighs slightly and nods in mutual agreement.

“Self-delving?” Trixie asks as her interest is piqued at the prospect of learning something new. Rime Ice is the one who responds this time to her question.

“It is an old technique for powerful unicorns to communicate with their talents. You have proven that you are one such due to the soul fracturing that occurred and the events of your life that have remained shrouded through the intervention of your talent. The beginning process of self-delving is much as you have experienced but goes much further. Once your thoughts become fallow, allow yourself to completely go beneath the flow of conscious thought. Many ponies inadvertently fall into this state, even if they do not possess magical talents of their own. You may recall times when you just begin to drift off to sleep and begin to feel as though you were falling only to immediately jolt awake? That is the feeling you seek as you pass beyond your conscious bounds, seeking that other place within you where your talent resides. It will take you some time to not only knowingly induce this state, but to become familiar enough with the sensation that you do not immediately end the trance when you initiate it. For sleeping, you will want to find the barrier just before you begin the fall inwards. With time you can maintain this balance naturally which allows for a more relaxing sleep for your body.”

“It is as she has said. It is a skill that takes much time and effort to learn, but in seeking it out thou will find what will pass for sleep. This is indeed a manifestation of the bond we share as I no longer sleep as ponies would. Instead, when I enter this state I walk amongst the dreams of others. We hope that this new lack of sleep is the only thing thou hast taken from that particular aspect of myself. We would hope to not see thee wandering the realms of dreams. Tonight, after our lessons, I want thou to spend the night seeking the falling sensation Rime Ice speaks of. If you find it even once, we would call it a night well spent.” Rime Ice nods in agreement before she looks back to Luna.

“So would I, but back to your lessons Luna. It seems Trixie here is quite gifted in multi-threaded construct manipulation. She told me she's able to easily manipulate five oculi simultaneously. Maybe we should expound upon this school of magic and the synergistic branches to help her strengthen this school?” Luna looks from Rime Ice to Trixie smiling proudly at her students development. “It's not as though I don't believe you, but I'd like to see you actively use and manipulate the spell for us so we know your full proficiency.”

Trixie nods at the reasonable request and recreates the spell that kept her occupied on some of the longer nights. A moment later, there are five small oculi moving about the room in smooth motions as Trixie gets up and moves about slowly. But the point is that she is able to move at all when controlling the moderate number of oculi is somewhat astounding to the other occupants of the room. Rime Ice nudges the much larger Princess who beams with pride at the display. They quickly share a glance and a nod before telling Trixie that they've seen enough. They talk a bit amongst their selves for a few minutes to discuss advancing Trixies study in arcane constructs during the next week or two. With their time done, Trixie makes her farewells to go to the library to retrieve the books she needs for her current studies and interests.

It was roughly one thirty in the afternoon as Trixie finds herself wandering amongst the steep shafts of afternoon light from the angled ceiling windows and the hundreds of tomes and scrolls look down on the happy pony who's just content to be in their company. As she walks amongst the stacks with the general knowledge of where to look from a slightly harried looking scribe she spots several other ponies perusing the shelves as well. As she rounds a corner into one of the cavern-like alcoves that holds scrolls she stops suddenly at the sight of a certain pony reading at the table at the back who turns at the sudden darkness of her standing in the entrance.

“Oh! Hello Trixie. What brings you to the medical wing of the library today?” Twilight Sparkle says as she sees who was intruding into her sanctuary.

“Just looking for some materials for my studies. I'm currently studying some of the minor medical magics and anatomy.” Trixie says.

“Do you mind if I give you some of my own suggestions? I'm not sure what Princess Luna assigned for you to read, but I'm sure I know of a scroll or two that could help you understand the material better.” Twilight responds eagerly at the prospect of helping somepony along with their own studies with her own suggestions.

“That would be great. Thank you very much Twilight Sparkle. I've been learning a lot more than I ever thought I would have, and I'm coming to look forward to what the next book or scroll has in store for me. It's certainly something I never thought I would have had the opportunity to have, such an advanced education based on my own merit and student to Princess Luna of all ponies.” Trixie says with a quiet half laugh.

“It's no problem at all, glad I could help.” Twilight responds with a big smile. “So what all have you been learning under Princess Luna?”

“Well, in the past week I've started on multi-threaded arcane constructs.” Trixie says mischievously remembering Rime Ices words. “I've found the Oculus construct to be particularly useful, especially when you need to search for somepony or something.” Twilight’s ears fold back slightly and her cheeks turn a slight shade of green at the mention of the spell.

“O-oh? I remember that spell. I'm just glad I don't really have a use for it.” She says with a shaky smile.

“That's true. You must have an amazing knowledge of magic as befitting Princess Celestia's student.” Trixie says thinking about the possibility of being able to ask Twilight for help or tutoring. “Would you be free tomorrow night after supper? I'd like to discuss books and spells for my next set of studies over wine and maybe a pleasant game of chess?”

“You know something Trixie?” Twilight says with a short laugh. “That was the precise reason I never took you up on your offer to best you the first time you came by Ponyville after I moved there. I was afraid that my magical repertoire would single me out as being better than everypony by potentially besting you. I know that's not the case anymore, but I just want you to know that knowledge can be as much a burden as a blessing. But I really would like to help you out.”

“I truly am sorry about that, Twilight Sparkle. I never wanted to be somepony like that as I knew a few like that from the Guild I was in and nopony liked to associate with them. Something in my life caused me to turn out that way, but I promise that will never happen again with so many great ponies supporting me.” Trixie looks away a little bit in embarrassment and continues. “Speaking of which, I have to apologize again. Rime Ice told me about the problems you had with the Oculus spell. I didn't mean to embarrass you that much. Maybe I can teach you personally as a real apology? I can also tell you that I had the same problem when I progressed to three oculi that you did.”

Twilight looks at Trixie askance for a moment and then chuckles ruefully. “I would expect Rime Ice or Princess Luna to use me as an example, but not quite like that. But I think I'd like you to teach me how to master three oculi and more very much. Consider your apology accepted. Now, lets get you those scrolls so you can get to your studies.”

Relieved that she hasn't spoiled her relatively new friendship, Trixie lists off the texts she's studying. Twilight's aura surrounds the text after a brief thought and brings it over to float between the two. Once the scrolls are all listed off, Twilight adds three more scrolls with a smile and a quiet thank you and sets the time for Twilight's visit to be around eight. Trixie takes the scrolls in her own aura and speaks briefly to the head librarian to check them out for study. Soon thereafter, Trixie settles down in her study to begin reading the scrolls in the hours leading up to her next lesson.

It was the cusp of dawn when Trixie finally opens her eyes to look outside. With a deep sigh she keeps staring at the ceiling of her room. After her lesson last night, Trixie finishes the last scroll and a half before walking upstairs to try to find the sleep that has been eluding her. Finding a neutral position, she relaxes the control her mind has over her body starting from the top of her head to cascade down her body. Once she feels comfortable enough, she begins to relax her mind as she seeks the state Rime Ice told her about. As she lies there, time begins to loose its meaning to her as she begins to ride on the ebb and flow of her subconsciousness. Slowly she begins to sink lower and lower into the inviting peace beneath the waves. It was from this place the first ethereal shimmers of the morning sunlight reach her eyes.

It was so close to real sleep that she had let herself forget to search out that place within herself. With another big sigh, she rolls over onto her side for a few more minutes of peace before her days starts in earnest. As the sun rises higher in the sky, she notices the light become more strongly tinged by red to signal that there would be a good sized storm on the way well before noon. It was going to be a great day for conditioning she thought sarcastically but it still had to be done. With a fwump of her comforter being thrown back, she rolls out of her bed and heads downstairs to prep and have a light breakfast for the morning ahead.

Trixie gritted her teeth then grimaced immediately as the grit of the mud made its presence in her mouth. She was currently sprawled out on the ground with dark brown mud coating most of her body as well as matting her wet tail and mane. Getting up carefully so she doesn't slip, she looks over to Flickering Shadow whose hooves are the only part of his body to be really muddied aside from the odd line where he had gotten mud on himself due to his own movements. She asses the ground between them with a quick glance, coming up with a quick plan of attack that may just let her land a blow for the first time since she started sparring with him. But she didn't hold out any hope against it actually succeeding as she is a realist at heart.

Digging her rear hooves deeply into the soft ground, she rushes forward low to the ground. When she gets within two paces of her opponent, she lets her hoof seemingly drag in a puddle of muddy water to the front and right of her. Her next step replicates this action, causing Flickering Shadow to shift his stance lower to avoid the water cresting about eye height. One more spray of water just after she fakes a waver in her balance causes Flickering Shadow to dart forward to attack through the thin sheet of water. Trixie was hoping just for this as she used that apparent weakness to flip onto her back, sliding a short distance in the slick mud. Just as she sees the edge of his hoof begin to part the water, she kicks sharply with her hind leg. The sheet of water rapidly collapses like a popped bubble revealing both ponies mid strike, Trixies expression of grim determination despite being sorely outclassed and Flickering Shadow with a small predatory smile. The moment passes in a flash with Trixie panting giddily as her leg throbs with the feeling of a blow solidly connected while on her back and Flickering Shadow getting up easily, mud and the odd bit of grass dotting the left side of his body.

I actually hit him. She thinks as the rain falls around her, unnoticed against her fevered skin. Flickering Shadow walks over to the prone Trixie getting her attention and motioning for her to follow him. She gets up and follows Flickering Shadows back to the front door of their administration building, still slightly giddy from what had just transpired. “Tomorrow, we will start you on a new martial art. This one may suit you far better though each style will give you something you can use depending on the situation, so I will still teach you all I know. You may go for the day. Expect a congratulatory present to arrive this evening for landing your first blow against me. Good job.”

Trixie nods in acknowledgment because she knew that it was a grand coalescing of factors that led to the kick landing and that she had done what she could to bring it about. It just happened to be in her favor this time, but she knew she couldn't always count on a quickly devised plan to always follow through as she well knew from her long days and weeks of sparring. But she had finally followed through a plan fully ending with a blow. A warmly burning sense of accomplishment fills her chest as she turns and walks away.

After a slightly embarrassing walk through the castle while caked in mud drawing curious, and sometimes dirty ones as well, Trixie finally makes it to the baths. After washing herself thoroughly and a relaxing soak, she makes her way back to her room to begin practicing on one of her new construct spells. It was commonly referred to as the Arcane Familiar spell which not only required a magnitude of power far greater than the Oculus but also incorporating a semi-intelligent logic matrix so that it could think and act on its own when not directly controlled by her. It couldn't speak as such, but it could communicate with the mind of its master what it sees and hears. Rime Ice had given her three different constructs for her to practice on: a cat, a pigeon and a mouse. She thought the constructs a bit cliché in their assignment, but knew that they would take long hours of study before she felt she would even be able to remotely create a passable familiar. Trixie spends the next hour studying until Venerable Service comes by with lunch. They talk companionably about what her current studies are covering as well as about a return trip to Ponyville Venerable plans to go on to visit Carousel Boutique again on her own.

Once lunch is finished and Venerable Service takes her leave, the rest of the afternoon passes slowly for Trixie as she begins taking in the many different aspects of the complex spell. It covers all aspects of crafting the familiar, from size ranges and fur color variations to stable chimeric modifications by manipulating the familiars physical matrix. The spell was not only complex but incredibly variable in its applications. No wonder the unicorn nobles only had a token force of guards when they could have winged predatory cats with the raking horns of a minotaur and something akin to pony intelligence with the right matrices and power. She ends her study a little after six and asks Venerable for an early supper as Twilight was going to be coming by around eight or so. About an hour after supper, the gift Flickering Shadow was sending her arrives.

It was a simply wrapped box containing several things: an elegantly curved ceramic jar with a waxed lid along with four small wooden boxes with no tops, and a filled oil heating lamp with a metal frame to sit the jar in. A small note is tucked along the niche the jar rests in which she promptly reads. My gift to you is one of the pleasures I learned about in my travels in Neighpon. The jar contains the rice wine commonly served there, this particular variety is best drank warmed. I have also included some of the traditional serving cups and a small heating lamp for the purpose. Enjoy the first fruits of your hard work while you can for they will quickly spoil. She smirks at the reference to another long month of hard work and thanks him silently for the efforts he has put in teaching her. She takes most of the objects out of the box and arranges them for use tonight. About a quarter til eight, Trixie sparks the lamp to life so the rice wine would warm up sufficiently by Twilight's arrival.

When eight rolls around a knock comes from her door, Trixie goes to open the door personally instead of telling her to come in or opening it from halfway across the room with magic. Trixie smiles as she sees Twilight standing there and invites her in. Twilight looks around curiously, her eyes mostly lingering on the book shelves as her eyes quickly scan the lowest titles.

“So, how are you liking life in the castle? It took me a while to get used to it, but then again I was still a filly when I moved in here.” Twilight says.

“It's not too bad. Everypony here is nice and I've made some good friends, but nothing can compare to the life of wandering. I make sure I burn out my wandering urges and restlessness with a physical regimen. But I really love the things I've been learning from Princess Luna and Rime Ice.” Trixie says warmly.

“I'm glad to hear that. But what is it you want to do with the knowledge you gain?” Twilight asks curious about what now drives her friend.

“To put it simply, I want to protect Equestria and the ponies who live here. I've traveled through much of the country, meeting so many ponies who go about their lives as well as they can trying their best to keep their families happy despite hardship. I want to protect them from the things they couldn't possibly know about and keep the peace of Equestria safe.” By the end of her reply, Trixies voice and expression takes on a hard tone that makes Twilight take an involuntary step back. Trixie looks over to the table with the warm rice wine and invites Twilight to join her as her expression softens. “I have some warm rice wine that was given to me as a gift and I thought it would be good to share some with you since you're taking some time out of your schedule to help me.”

“Rice wine? I haven't had it before even though I've been with Princess Celestia on diplomatic visits in the past to Neighpon. I hear it's distinctly stronger than the wine we make here in Equestria.”

“I wouldn't know since this is the first time I've had any.” Trixie says. “I guess we'll both find out whether or not we like it or not soon enough.” Twilight joins her at the table as Trixie pours a modest amount of the slightly steaming liquid into each of the wooden cups. After setting Twilight's cup in front of her, Trixie levitates hers under her nose and gives it a quick sniff. The scent is a slightly oily floral aroma with the distinct bite of alcohol vapor. Trixie quickly looks at the clear drink which moves slightly sluggishly and takes a sip. The flavor of foreign flower petals dances across her tongue, a slight oil taste lingers slightly after she swallows but dissipates fairly quickly. On the way down, the alcohol warms her thoroughly along its passage. Trixie eyebrows rise slightly in appreciation of the drink and takes another. Looking over to Twilight, she sees her friends face light up at the taste and smiles as she takes another drink, letting it linger slightly in her mouth before swallowing. “It's pretty good, and you weren't kidding when you said it was stronger than our wine. So I take it you like it pretty well from the look you had?”

“Oh yes. Now I know why Princess Celestia keeps a small supply in the castle.” She responds with a smirk. “I may have to see about establishing my own reserve as well. Now, on to the topic at hoof. What would you like my help with in your studies?”

“Well, currently I was given the Arcane Familiar to study yesterday since Princess Luna found out I had an aptitude with constructs. I was going over the aspects of it and I think it may give be a little troublesome since I've never worked with logic matrices in the past. I'm fine with the actual physical structure, but I think that's also why they only gave me the specifics for three common animals in the first place since their logic structure is pretty straight forward.”

“Really?” Twilight asks leaning onto the table, her face brightening visibly in excitement. “When I was still in school, Arcane Familiars were strictly forbidden to any of the students not under advanced lessons or above the 5th grade. Our school didn't go by the traditional graduation standards though and advanced us by a spell mastery criteria. Enough about my school though. In all seriousness, this is really amazing Trixie! You've only been studying for almost two months and the Princess has you studying the Arcane Familiar spell? That's absolutely fantastic!” Twilight suddenly leans back and claps her forehooves together like a filly who suddenly found something really fun to do.

“Really?” Trixie asks slightly embarrassed.

“Absolutely.” Twilight saws with a firm nod. “How about we fill our cups again and get to work. This may be a long night for us and I want to see you succeed as a friend and fellow student.” Trixie smiles at her friends barely restrained enthusiasm and fills their cups halfway before she brings over the book and scrolls pertaining to her current spell. They quickly become engrossed in teaching and understanding. Trixie asks questions which are promptly answered and expounded upon which quickly gives her enough understanding to attempt her first conjuring of the mouse familiar within the hour. The spell takes shape quickly enough though Trixie slows the process enough so that she can watch the logic matrix form and integrate with the constructs physical matrix. Then the mouse sits there on the table, its mind linked to Trixies as though it were in a small corner of her mind. She reaches for the spell through her mind and tells it to slide her cup over to her from across the table. The construct responds immediately to the command slightly shocking her. After the cup slides over, she looks to Twilight and grins maniacally with a quick laugh.

“This is amazing! Thank you for helping me Twilight.” Trixie says giddily at her success.

“I'm glad I could help.” Twilight responds with a smile. “How about we go on to the pigeon familiar?” Trixie nods enthusiastically and they go back to work. For almost two hours they work, Trixie quickly mastering the other construct spells and moving onto chimeric mutations involving the cat. After closely examining the logic structure of the pigeon, she is able to pick out the motor function of the wings and incorporates it into the cat. She barely needs to think about the constructs physical structure as she modifies the body to sprout two graceful wings which she sculpts for fast flight. A moment later she makes further changes to the construct which makes it sleeker and lighter so that it can fly more easily. Once done, she has it take a leaping jump from the tabletop and watches as it flies around the circular room. After it lands on the table again, she splits the last of the rice wine between them and she toasts to friends and the pursuit of knowledge.

Author's Note:

The next chapter will jump ahead quite a bit, roughly six months or so in the timeline. Just giving a heads up as Trixies personality is going to have a bit of a shift and I don't want to just blindside my readers.