White, Turn 1: White Pawn To E4
Scholar's Mate
White, Turn 1: White Pawn To E4
by MagnetBolt
Twilight watched as sparkling blue magic filled the platform, snaking up like smoke to fill the air with a dense magical aura. She took a step back, knowing what was coming. With a crack of lightning, a horned, winged shape appeared on the platform, looking down on those around it.
“After ten thousand years imprisoned on the moon, I'm free again!” Evil laughter rung through the room.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. She waited for the laughter to stop.
“Now the stars have aligned and I will assume my rightful place as-”
“Trixie, it was a month,” Twilight said. The ominous magical aura collapsed, leaving a pale blue mare standing there. “And it was for your own good.”
“Do you know how boring it is on the moon?!” Trixie asked. “Trixie will give you a spoiler in case you ever get banished to the moon by your friends! It's really boring! There's just rocks and dust and dusty rocks! Trixie never wants to see gray again! It may have been a month, but it felt like it was at least ten thousand years.”
“From what Luna told me, Nightmare Moon's castle is twice as big as this, and even more ornate.” Twilight noted, gesturing around them to Canterlot palace as Trixie walked towards her. “She said something about a spa...”
“Trixie admits that it is extremely impressive that Nightmare Moon was able to create working plumbing on the lunar surface with no industrial equipment to help her. But the water heater was broken and Trixie had to take cold showers every morning!”
“How awful. I had to fight an ancient evil that was trying to drain all the magic of Equestria and destroy us all. Trixie, you know we sent you there so you'd be safe.”
“Trixie notices that none of you were sent to the moon for 'safety'.” The silver-maned alicorn huffed. Twilight gave her a small smile. “And from what Luna told me, you had the whole thing wrapped up in short order. You could have brought Trixie back sooner.”
“Celestia said that we couldn't change the duration of the spell after you were already transported to the moon,” Twilight explained. “If we tried to bring you back sooner, it would have caused you to snap back to the moon after the month ended. Permanently. And I didn't want you to be stuck up there that long.”
“Of course not. No doubt you were pining for Trixie every day,” the blue alicorn said, smirking.
“Are you sure you want to go there, Trixie? After what Luna said about some of the dreams you were having about me...” Twilight smiled as she trailed off, watching Trixie's expression. The blue on the mare's cheeks was replaced with a bright red, and she looked away from Twilight, finding the floor, dust motes, and generally anything else at all very interesting all of a sudden.
“Luna made a promise that she wouldn't reveal what she saw! She even said something about sticking a cupcake in her eye! I can't believe she told you!” Trixie pawed at the ground with her hoof. “I-I assure you that whatever you heard, it was probably only half as lewd as she implied, if not even more chaste and benign! Trixie is not some simple pony who would dream about such awful things, especially not the one with a swimming pool full of chocolate syrup!”
“A swimming pool full of chocolate syrup?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. Trixie's wings sprung up, out of her control.
“S-she didn't tell you about that-” Trixie coughed, trying to get her wings under control. “That is, she didn't lie about the hypothetical dream which Trixie certainly did not have!”
“Actually she never told me about any of your dreams,” Twilight said, walking to the door and leaving Trixie standing in the hallway with her wings up.
“What?!” Trixie looked confused. She ran over to Twilight. “Explain yourself!”
“Even the Great and Powerful Trixie falls for a little trick now and then,” Twilight said, laughing. She kissed Trixie's cheek. “I missed you too. Now tell me about this pool full of chocolate syrup.”
“Well... that is...” Trixie's ears folded flat. “We went swimming and we got all dirty, so we needed to get all cleaned up...”
***
“I trust my old castle served you well,” Luna said, as she watched Trixie eat a third plate of food. “Of all the things I did as Nightmare Moon, 'tis the only thing I am still proud of. When I was building it and being constructive, 'twas the time I felt closest to my old self.”
“I'd like to see it someday,” Twilight said, smiling. She had eaten half of her daffodil sandwich, losing her appetite as she watched Trixie eat enough food to kill a lesser pony.
“Well you should have asked to be banished with me,” Trixie grumbled, as she polished off her salad, picking at the cranberries and walnuts left on the plate.
“Without Princess Twilight, Tirek would have taken all the magic of Equestria,” Celestia noted, sipping her tea. A plate next to her had once had cake, but it had fallen to the hunger of the solar tyrant, scourge of pastries, destroyer of baked goods.
“'Twas a most impressive battle!” Luna agreed, grinning widely. “Thou should have sen her! She fought with all of our strength and would have won through force of arms alone if Tirek had not stooped to using hostages.”
“Trixie saw the explosions from the moon,” Trixie said.
“It was really scary,” Twilight said, looking down. “Not just fighting Tirek. I was more angry than scared then. But all that power felt too much like when I became a Nightmare.”
“In that case, Trixie should have been able to defeat Tirek, since she defeated Nightmare Twilight-”
“We don't have a bunch of artifacts for you to abuse, Trixie,” Twilight pointed out. “And if you tried that again you might end up looking like Discord. We still don't know what happened exactly...” Twilight prodded Trixie's wing with a hoof.
“Actually, twas part out our plan!” Luna said, standing up. “'Twould have been impossible for Trixie to best Tirek.” Trixie looked downcast at that. “Nay, tis not a slight on you. Twilight was only able to match him with the power of four Alicorns. With only your own might, he would have been unbeatable.”
“You lost me,” Trixie said, looking at Luna.
“Twas my backup plan in case all else failed! Thou would return and confront Tirek!”
“I thought I was the backup plan,” Twilight said, looking at Celestia for confirmation.
“You were my backup plan,” Celestia said, with a small smile. “Though you grew far beyond my expectations, Twilight.”
“'Twas mostly luck,” Luna grumbled. She coughed politely and continued in a more normal voice. “My plan was that should the worst occur, you would return from the moon and, as Twilight has put it 'abuse artifacts' to defeat Tirek once and for all.”
“Wouldn't opening the Black Archive be a really bad idea with Tirek around?” Twilight asked, skeptical already of this plan. “And if he had all the alicorn magic you couldn't even get it open to begin with!”
“Aye. Tis true. But we had something prepared just in case.” Luna smirked. “A certain amulet that thou are familiar with would have provided the necessary artifact for you to abuse.”
“...The Alicorn Amulet?!” Trixie and Twilight exclaimed, at the same time. Luna nodded proudly.
“That's a really awful idea,” Twilight said. “Then Trixie would turn evil. Again.”
“'Twas a better plan than just hiding the magic in thou and hoping for the best.” Luna pouted. Celestia sighed and gave her a kind smile.
“Perhaps it's better that things worked out how they did,” the solar princess said. “Now, Luna, I think it's time for me to retire for a time and you to open Night Court.”
As the four split up, and Trixie walked with Twilight towards her tower in the castle, she couldn't help but think of the way Celestia had glared at her, every time she had thought Trixie wasn't looking.
***
“Thou are still awake?” Luna asked, looking in Celestia's room. Her sister was reading, but put the book down and stood as her sister entered.
“I've been having problems sleeping,” Celestia admitted.
“Perhaps a game of chess? You have the board set already.” Luna trotted over to Celestia's elaborate chessboard. Both princesses were considered to be masters of the game, though Luna had never managed to actually best her sister.
“Are you sure, Luna?” Celestia gave her a genuine smile. “I know you're still a bit rusty.”
“Do not think thou can go easy on me!” Luna warned. “I have had Twilight Sparkle read several books at me regarding modern chess theory.”
“Did she mention I probably wrote those books?” Celestia's grin grew wider. She didn't question Luna's phrasing. Twilight often read books at ponies instead of to them, not letting them escape or halt her dramatic reading of anything from a history book to long papers on magical theory.
“Yes, and she described ways she disagreed with your theories on the Wandering Princess opening.” Luna matched her smirk.
“Well, then.” Celestia sat at her customary place behind the white pieces. Luna sat opposite her, looking at the board.
“I don't suppose we could-” Luna gave Celestia a nervous grin.
“Luna, you know I always play white. It's expected now.” She narrowed her eyes in a mischievous grin. “The fact that white has a slight advantage is a coincidence, of course.”
“Hmph. I still say that if thy subjects didn't always allow thou to play white your reputation as a chessmaster would be for naught.”
“Ah, Luna. The fact I've made it so I traditionally always play white is because I have also mastered the metagame.” Celestia started moving her pieces, starting with a safe opening. Luna took it as an opportunity to play on the offense, taking one of Celestia's pawns as soon as it seemed vulnerable.
“Are thou slipping, sister?” Luna asked, putting the pawn aside. Celestia moved her Unicorn instead of answering, Luna having completely missed the opening she'd left on the diagonal.
Luna made a small noise of annoyance, having to halt her advance to stop the attack from Celestia's Unicorn. As that was dealt with she realized she'd reacted exactly as Celestia had intended, her Earth Pony crashing all the way from her back row into the midst of Luna's pieces, cutting off lines of attack.
“Hmph,” Luna pouted, thinking.
“I warned you, Luna,” Celestia pointed out. As Luna moved a pawn, one of Celestia's Pegasai swooped in to take the younger sister's Unicorn.
“Bah! I hate how the Pegasai move. Tis senseless how they cannot move in straight lines like Earth Ponies or Unicorns! And jumping over other pieces is unfair!”
“It represents how they can attack from the air at unexpected angles,” Celestia explained. Luna had made this same argument a thousand times, along with suggestions on how to improve the game. Celestia had indulged her once, and Luna had never brought it up again. She had ordered every copy of her improved chess game rules burned, along with the power cards and multi-level boards.
Luna thought for much longer before finally making another move, taking Celestia's Earth Pony with her Princess. Celestia immediately took Luna's Princess with her own, and looked at her sister.
“I believe that's checkmate,” Celestia said, calmly.
“I suppose so,” Luna sighed, sitting back. “I will beat thou some day.”
“Maybe, but not today,” Celestia agreed.
“There was something else I wanted to discuss with thou,” Luna said. “I know thou are not... enamored of the idea of taking Lulamoon as a student.”
“No,” Celestia agreed. “I am not. I do not trust her, or her power. I don't know where it came from and she herself has proven to be easily corrupted by authority and personal power.”
“She saved Equestria from thy own faithful student,” Luna pointed out.
“She saved Equestria from a disaster you created,” Celestia countered. Luna looked down. Celestia's glare softened as she saw how her words had hurt Luna. “Forgive me. In the wake of Tirek's attack I still find myself with too much work and too little time to do it in. I know that what happened was no fault of yours.”
“I take what blame is rightfully mine,” Luna said, quietly. “But even if you do not trust her, tis folly to allow her to continue with no training at all.”
“I do not have time to train her. Perhaps when all this is over...”
“I was hoping that, instead, you would allow me to instruct her.” Luna looked up hopefully.
“It would be doing me a favor,” Celestia said, gratefully. “I would be thankful if you would, Luna.”
“Yes! Have no worries, sister! I will make sure Lulamoon is prepared for court!”
“Just remember, Luna,” Celestia cautioned, as her sister got up and started for the door, making her pause as she starter running out. “We can't reveal what she is yet. As far as anypony knows, she's just a unicorn, and it has to stay that way.”
“I am not sure why thou so insist on that, sister.”
“I have my reasons,” Celestia said. “The court is unstable as it is. Another new princess, especially one that I was not prepared for...” Celestia shook her head.
“That always was your weakness, sister,” Luna said, as she walked out the door. “Thou are too tied down by your own plans. Tis important to be flexible! A new alicorn should be celebrated, not hidden away. Our little ponies could use something to celebrate.”
Luna didn't see the glare that Celestia gave her as she left the room. If she had, she never would have made it out the door, her sister glaring at her with the same intensity she had used when they had been mortal enemies a thousand years ago.
***
Twilight's tower was almost empty, in contrast to how it had been a few months ago when Trixie had visited the castle for the first time. The books had been pulled from the shelves, only a few titles remaining here and there among the ravaged bookcases.
“It's not as nice as the last time I was here,” Trixie noted.
“Celestia was kind enough to donate almost everything here to my new castle library in Ponyville,” Twilight said, as she ran a hoof along the dusty shelves. “I didn't realize...” she sighed. “I guess I thought this tower would always feel like home. But without the books here...” she shrugged, looking down.
“Well, in the morning, Trixie will return with you to Ponyville. No doubt your friends are already preparing some sort of party.”
“About that...” Twilight turned to look at Trixie. “Celestia wants you to stay here. She thinks there's too much chance that you'll be exposed in Ponyville.”
“You mean we're going to have to stay here for longer?” Trixie sighed, sitting down and huffing. “At least Trixie will have you to keep her company.”
“About that...” Twilight coughed. “I actually have to leave tomorrow night. I wanted to be here when you got back from the moon, but I'm in the middle of studying the power we used to defeat Tirek and I can't do it here.” When she saw Trixie's face fall she hastily continued on, sputtering. “It could be the most important thing in the world right now! It was able to defeat him when he had the power of countless ponies, Discord, and four alicorn princesses! I estimate the output at over thirty million thaums and...” Twilight looked down. “Sorry.”
Trixie sighed. “It can wait a few days, Sparkle. Or you could tell Celestia that I'm perfectly safe in Ponyville! Even if some ponies found out it would be easier to keep it quiet there than here in Canterlot.”
“You're not safe, Trixie,” Twilight said, frowning. “I mean, it's not like anyone there will hurt you-”
“Not that they could. Trixie is immortal now!”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “The point is, there's more than one kind of safe. For one thing, you still don't know how to control your powers. It took me months just to get my bearings and use basic magic safely. Learning to fly or control your strength will take even longer!”
“You underestimate Trixie, which has been your downfall before,” Trixie said, folding her hooves and turning up her nose. “In case you've forgotten, Trixie is an expert at using vast magical power.”
“Trixie, I just don't want you or anypony else to get hurt,” Twilight said, with a sigh. “I know you think you can handle it, but if my transformation is anything to go on, you could be generating fifty times as much magical power as you did before you became an alicorn!”
“Trixie can easily handle this,” the mare said, flipping her hair with a hoof and smirking.
“No, you can't. It's not just a matter of being more careful! You have to relearn all your reflexes and then manage the magical flows from pegasus and earth pony magic so you don't end up making a tornado when you just wanted to grab a book off a shelf-”
“Trixie has been stuck alone for a month on the moon!” She snapped. “Trixie had plenty of time to practice! She isn't some foal who needs to go to magic kindergarten!”
“I didn't say you were!” Twilight groaned and stood, pacing. “You just don't know how much damage you could do! I destroyed so much of the countryside that they're making new maps! I have a crater named after me! Do you know how many ponies have craters named after them?!”
“...Trixie is somewhat jealous,” the blue mare said.
Twilight made the sound of ultimate frustration, and servants who had nearly entered to ask if the two needed anything turned around very quickly and went back the other way.
“I'm a princess, Trixie. I have responsibilities. I can't just stay here and help you, there are a lot of wonderful teachers that can help you.”
“Because you can't even make time for me,” Trixie grumbled, walking away from Twilight.
“I told you how important it was to understand this rainbow power! It might be the original source of the Elements of Harmony! You just don't understand what it's like to have people looking up to you because you're not a-”
“Because I'm not a princess,” Trixie finished, fluttering her wings to remind Twilight that she had them. “Trixie would be a wonderful princess! If Celestia would just stop sending her to the moon and arrange some little ceremony with a few thousand adoring fans, Trixie could have the whole 'being a princess' thing down in no time at all.”
“Trixie, being a ruler isn't just about power and a crown,” Twilight said, exasperated. “Having wings and a horn doesn't qualify you to give orders to ponies. You have to earn their trust. Celestia has known me practically my whole life. She knows she can trust me. She hasn't had a chance to get to know you. Maybe if you actually try earning that trust you can work your way up to a crown.”
“Trixie saved Equestria twice! That should be more than enough for anypony!”
“Stop being difficult! We're trying to do what's best for all of Equestria!”
“This isn't about Equestria! You should trust Trixie's judgment!”
“And you should trust mine!”
“You didn't even decide anything! You're just doing whatever Celestia tells you to do!”
“I'm deferring to her because she knows a lot more about politics and alicorns than I do!”
“She'd rather lock Trixie away forever than have her hanging around!”
“That's not true!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “You're seeing thing that aren't there!”
“And you're refusing to see things that are!”
The two glared at each other, turning away at almost the same time. Trixie took a deep breath and opened her mouth, looking down, her expression fallen. Before she could get an apology out, Twilight stormed away.
“You can sleep on the couch. I'm taking the bed.”
***
Eventually, the morning came. As it traditionally does, save on those days when Celestia is hung over or otherwise incapacitated. In those dark times the morning was sometimes quite delayed, such as the occasion where she was captive in a dragon's lair for a month and completely lost track of what time it was. Scholars still debated on if they had missed a Thursday somewhere.
This was nearly a normal morning, though. Nearly. Twilight had almost forgotten how much she enjoyed having breakfast with Celestia. Grilled mushroom steaks and eggs served to bridge what was normally Luna's dinner with Celestia's breakfast.
“Did you sleep well?” Celestia asked Twilight. Twilight glanced at Trixie. The mare was poking at her food, with bags under her eyes. The argument from last night had meant neither of them had gotten much sleep. It obviously wasn't helping the mare's mood that Twilight had bound her wings to her side to keep the servants from seeing them.
“We're just... are you sure it isn't safe to have Trixie come back with me to Ponyville?” She looked up at Celestia. The white alicorn shook her head.
“I'm sorry, Twilight. This is for the best. Just be patient. There's a lot at stake here.” Celestia lowered her teacup. “You've been mostly insulated from the politics here. After Tirek escaped and we failed to stop him ourselves, there has been dissent in the court. Luna and I are going to have to spend a long time regaining the trust we had.”
Twilight looked at Trixie. The showmare's ears folded back.
“So the reason you don't want anypony to know about Trixie is...” Trixie said, trailing off.
“Right now what our little ponies need is stability. It hasn't even been a month since we nearly lost everything and Ponyville saw the appearance of a new castle. If you appeared out of nowhere, especially since the court knows almost nothing about you, it could be a disaster.”
“Tis why you must stay in Canterlot,” Luna added. “The sycophants and courtiers will see that Trixie is a personal friend to the princesses, and is thus of some import. They will already be accustomed to you before you are inevitably revealed.”
“I suppose,” Trixie said. “But how long will it be? A week? Two weeks?”
“I think something more like ten years would be appropriate, assuming there isn't a more opportune moment from events in the meantime,” Celestia said. Trixie's jaw dropped.
“Ten years?!” Trixie sputtered.
“It's not very long when you consider you're probably immortal now,” Celestia pointed out. “And it will give you plenty of time to escape your... previous reputation.”
“Trixie can't just hide away for a dec-” before she could finish, the doors to the room opened. A stallion trotted into the room, thick glasses perched on his snout and wearing an elaborate hat and collar, fixed in place with a jeweled pendant.
“I apologize for my tardiness, Princesses. There was a minor emergency at the school's alchemy department.” The stallion took off his hat as he sat down at the empty place setting.
“Of course, Professor Sundowner.” Celestia smiled. “I heard from one of the adjunct faculty that one of the students managed to make things interesting.”
“Princess, there's interesting and then there's nearly a ton of chlorine triflouride being produced in a vessel which immediately bursts into flames, collapses, and spills onto the floor of the hazardous chemical laboratory.”
“That sounds bad,” Twilight said, wings fluttering as her eyes went wide.
“It burned through over a meter of marble, concrete, and gravel. We tried pouring sand onto it, and the sand managed to also catch on fire. Then one of the shelves collapsed, and that had a few liters of water on it, which made things really exciting...” He sighed. “By the way, we'll need a new alchemy department, once the professors have enough counseling that they're mentally prepared to return to work.”
“I hope no one was hurt,” Celestia said.
“No, no. We have good evacuation protocols in place for just such an event. There were no serious injuries. The worst of it was that Professor Ponder twisted a knee fleeing from the fire and explosions.”
“That's good,” Twilight said, with a sigh.
“Yes,” the professor agreed, taking a cup of tea from a servant and adding precise amounts of honey and milk to it. “That said, it's good to get away from that disaster for a bit and let the grad students clean up the mess. Besides, I wanted to see how the best student Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns has ever produced was doing.”
Twilight blushed and smiled at the compliment. Trixie grumbled and poked at her food again. The professor pointedly ignored her.
“No doubt thou also remembers Trixie,” Luna said. “I have been told she also graduated with honors from my sister's school.”
“Oh I remember her,” the professor noted, adjusting his glasses and frowning at the blue showmare. “Honors would not be how I would put it. She all but cheated on her exams to the point that we had to write new rules to keep other students from doing the same things.”
“Trixie followed the letter of the rules,” the mare said, dismissively.
“Which is hardly the same as following the spirit of the rules. You were a troublemaker, and from what I've heard, you still are. I'm surprised you're sitting here and not in a dungeon somewhere for fraud. Or from what I've heard, for terrorizing Ponyville.”
“Lulamoon has performed great services for the crown,” Luna interrupted. “She is a hero of Equestria.” Luna stood up. “And starting today, she is my personal student. My sister and I have already discussed this, and feel it is the best way for her to continue her studies.”
Trixie smiled at the praise. “Trixie would be honored to be your student, Luna.”
“You could at least call her Princess Luna,” Professor Sundowner said, putting his tea down and looking at her with disdain. “Somepony like you shouldn't get too familiar with your betters.”
“Trixie supposes that you never get familiar with anypony else, then,” She turned up her nose at the stallion, just barely managing to avoid sticking out her tongue and calling him names.
“Says the student that skated by only because the Princess happened to show mercy when I would have failed her on the spot,” the Professor noted. “Luck won't always save you. Someday you will have to stand alone and you're going to find you don't have what it takes, because you squandered whatever small potential you had.”
“You have no idea what Trixie is capable of!” Trixie yelled. Twilight noted with no small amount of concern that her hooves sparked when she pounded them into the table hard enough to leave imprints on the thick wood. “She has faced down things that you couldn't have dreamed of! You would have had grad students using your hat as a bucket to carry your remains back home!”
“I doubt that,” Sundowner said. “More likely you found a frog in their garden and convinced them it was a swamp dragon that you'd defeated. Whatever small things you've accomplished have no doubt been blown out of proportion with each telling of the tale, just like every excuse you made in school.”
“Professor, Trixie is among the most powerful magic-users in Equestria,” Twilight said, frowning. She had neatly avoided saying unicorn, which was inaccurate, or alicorn, which was secret.
“She certainly says so at every opportunity,” Sundowner said.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie-” Trixie started, standing and stomping with enough force to crack the marble floor and send blue sparks skittering across the room.
“Oh no, she's starting using titles again,” Twilight groaned.
“-Laughs at your doubt!” Trixie then, of course, laughed. “You clearly don't understand her power! Long ago you might have impressed me, but Trixie has become much stronger than you could ever be.”
“Here we go again,” Sundowner said, sighing. “More of this useless boasting.”
“You see, Professor, you're not dealing with the average unicorn spellcaster. I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
“Trixie, please...” Celestia rolled her eyes.
“That's right, Professor. I've arisen beyond the limits of a normal unicorn, and into the realm of legend. The legend that you fear. The legend known throughout Equestria as the most powerful spellcaster to ever exist! I, the Great and Powerful Trixie have become-”
Twilight kicked her in the shin, cutting her off. “Trixie, remember those things you're not supposed to do, which you are currently doing?” She whispered harshly.
“Oh, right. I, um. The Great and Powerful Trixie believes her point has been made.”
“Indeed it has,” Professor Sundowner said dryly. “You're still as much of a useless braggart as you were in school. I can't imagine how you managed to con Princess Luna into teaching you, but I suppose given her history she couldn't find a better student.”
Luna's jaw dropped at Sundowner's slander. Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly, which those closest to her would know meant she was fuming with barely-contained anger. Twilight was simply speechless.
“Perhaps you would care to rephrase that,” Celestia said, her tone carefully even and measured as she put down everything she was holding in her telekinetic grip. The teacup already had a hairline fracture in it from a momentary loss of control.
“I mean no offense, of course,” Sundowner said, not sounding like he meant it.
“Well Trixie takes great offense!” The mare's horn sparked, and though Sundowner couldn't see it with the table concealing her lower half, Twilight noted with alarm that wisps of magic were rising up from her hooves and starting to show through her bandages. “You are unfit to be a teacher!”
“And you have always been unfit to be a student!” He snapped. “If it was up to me you'd go back to magic kindergarten and stay there for the rest of your life! You don't respect authority, knowledge, or your betters!”
“Trixie would be more impressed if you had authority over more than just the students you abuse, knowledge that applied outside of the classroom, or were actually better than her in any way.” The mare glared across the table.
“I think we are all letting this get out of hoof,” Celestia said, standing. “We should stop and think for a few moments before somepony says something they regret.”
“I won't stand for somepony like you thinking they're anywhere near as good as me!” The Professor stood, knocking Celestia's teacup over as he bumped the table. Celestia looked down at her spilled tea as it dripped onto the floor.
“Trixie concurs,” Trixie smirked. “I'm not nearly as good as you are. To say it would besmirch Trixie's amazing power. She is not nearly as good as you, she is far above you.”
“That's it!” The Professor snapped. “I'm going to put you in your place! You want to keep boasting about how good you are? Well then you can prove it! I challenge you to a magic duel!”
Stats
Page generated in 0.033 seconds
Total duration
1,054 users online
1,877,844 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Oh boy, it's here!
Heh, I see it didn't take long for Trixie to regain all that lost confidence. Becoming an alicorn does that, I guess.
Moon castle? Was that inspiration from the comics? Would have been funny to hear about Trixie chillin' with the creatures there.
Sundowner's got a mouth on him, that's for sure. And so does Trixie. Not a good combination...
Glad to see this story continue! Awaiting more!
Break that fool, Trixie. He ain't got nothin' on you.
Let's see how many more plans of Celestia will Trixie destroy just by being Trixie.
That teacher is a dick
One: Awesome! A direct continuation of one of my favorite stories! Will track.
Two: Hmm, Celestia seems to be a fair bit hostile, not to mention manipulative. Will be interesting to see if she has just cause, or if she's wrong.
Three: Sundowner is an enormously conceited dick. It's one thing to insult a former student you never liked. It's quite another to insult a former student who is currently having breakfast with the nation's rulers (and who obviously isn't there to slice the bread for them). And taking a stab at Luna, while he's at it. I will enjoy watching him go down.
No editing flaws I could spot in this chapter.
Remember that the Pisa Sol was locked away because using it had side effects on Celestia's personality. She just used boatloads of its power to undo Nightmare Twilight's rampage. Having not used it for thousands of years her memories of its side effects might be a bit fuzzy and she isn't watching her own behavior as closely as she should be. Fortunately she has Luna watching for her.
I put all of my money (currently nothing) on Sundowner being Discord.
4537333
girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/strips/ggmain20090515b.jpg
Why is it that otherwise supposedly sympathetic characters never seem able ta grasp the "fear" part of irrational fear? Ignorin' the fact that Trixie's fear wasn't actually irrational, it irks me that Twilight decided ta get mad about it instead of recognizin' that what she was scared of was somethin' inestimably bigger than herself. It's gonna be hard for me ta like Twilight in this one unless she suddenly grows a sense of empathy.
During the argument between Sundowner an' Trixie, Celestia gives me a Wonka-esque impression with the subdued "no, stop, don't"... an' Sundowner is a bad nut.
It amazes me, honestly amazes me, how Sundowner somehow believes he can openly insult a ruling diarch of his nature and suffer no consequences.
Or really, that he can openly insult anybody and suffer no consequences. It’s only going to be a matter of time before he says something to someone that will convince them they’d like to give dentistry a try.
This story is just as good as the one before it.
I love it, and I can't wait for more. 
I'd love to edit for you. 
4555955
Excellent. You're drafted, son. Welcome to the army.
4557929 I can't believe I was the only volunteer!
Your original story was wonderful. I thought people would jump all over the chance to edit the sequel. 
ut oh
I hate this professor. You can never fully escape your past. Luna will always have to deal with what happened with Nightmare Moon and Trixie will always have to deal with her boasting and what happened with the Alicorn Amulet. I expect Trixie to reveal herself with this duel. I also believe that if stuff like this keeps up, Trixie will become what Celestia is scared of.
I have the feeling the real reason Celestia doesn´t trust Trixie is because she is a wildcard, an unknown variable in her otherwise perfect plans. Twilight was groomed since childhood for being a Bearer of Magic and an alicorn. Celestia has guided Twi in every stept, molded her into her image, and I have no doubt she had plans about her future as ruler and probably the suitors more compatible with her. And now this Trixie Lulamoon comes from nowhere, gets involved in one of the Elements adventures, saves the world from the Nightmare, ascend into an alicorn on her own... all while winning Twilight´s heart in the process.
Summing, Celestia is worried because she cannot control Trixie like Twilight.
magic duel, eh? trixie, destroy him!
grumblegrumbleinsultinglunagrumble.
4544774
ooh good choice of words. mind if i start using that?
4539646 how do u do the blacked out thing?
4602091
Hahahaha! That's so true, if Celestia had any more control over every facet of Twilight's life, her hoof would be stuck up Twilight's plot, and would be working her like a puppet. I can't wait for Trixie to be revealed and all of Celestia's plans be thrown out the window.
Celestia seems a bit out of character. Not sure if plot, or poor characterization.
Actually, I've been wondering about that. Trixie had no idea the amulet was cursed and she must have spent days wearing it before going bonkers. If you actually knew the risks, you could probably use it for a little while and then take it off before it can corrupt you too badly. It's not like you get addicted to it or anything, Trixie couldn't get it off fast enough when she thought she'd found something better.
Um, Cadence turned into an alicorn by defeating and evil sorceress (with yet another magic amulet artifact), and she was a pegasus raised by earth ponies, for goodness sake. As for Twilight, she became an alicorn after doing the magical equivalent of proving Fermat's Last Theorem.
It seems to be something that simply happens to some ponies if they prove themselves worthy, and Trixie totally blew Cadence and Twilight out of the water in that regard.
And this is where Trixie should have gotten up, pointed her hoof going: "What's that over there!?" and jumped out of the nearest window when the others turned their heads. I mean, what are they going to do, lock her up? She's a citizen, she has rights. It's not like having wings and a horn is illegal.
Celestia: Maybe I'll just make it illega... Wait.
I'm now hoping Trixie uses the duel against Sundowner to pull a Hellboy and "accidentally" out herself.
Speaking of which, wow! Sundowner sure has some gall to be that rude to a royal guest/national hero, and insult Luna to her face. Is Celestia really that lax on the etiquette? Why is this guy not deported to the Frozen North?
Somepony's been reading Things I Won't Work With.
Also Sundowner managed to offend four alicorns in one sentence. I'm not too keen on feeding her ego too much, but here's hoping she roflstomps him before he chokes to death on his own spoon or dies from eating paint chips or something.
Way to channel Anakin Skywalker there, Trixie!
Power Rangers reference in the second paragraph. Sweet.
Not the first time I've seen chlorine trifluoride mentioned
seen
___________
Pegasi
_______________
things
_____________
4537523
That's what I was thinking, too.
Oh sure, I can buy Celestia not being naturally inclined to trust Trixie with princesshood, but the degree of venom she's barely restraining towards Luna for mild criticism seems more like she needs evil artifact decontamination.
Is that a Dragonball Z reference? Is Trixie Vegeta? I love this idea. I hope at some point Trixie gets to tell the Professor "Sundowner you just jealous of my alicorn swagger."
Not gonna lie, I lost a bit of respect for Twilight in this chapter. I don't care how mad I am at my wife, I would never just sit there and let someone talk to her like that. Twilight needs to get her shit together.
And why was Sundowner even there at all? So far the only thing he's done is insult everyone at the table, contribute nothing, and since he's clearly not privy to Trixie's new form... what was the point of including him?
Yeah, I like Derek Lowe too. You have good taste. Also, this professor needs to be fired. What a blowhard.
Since she visited the moon before she became Boss's student, does that mean I knew Trixie before she was famous?
Hungover when.
Start of the chapter:
memegenerator.net/img/instances/57388092/meh-whatever.jpg
The cliffhanger of the chapter:
Not very professional of you professor.