Chapter 2
Cutie Mark Crusader Magicians, Yay!
Chapter 2
Clad in her magician’s hat and cloak, Trixie paced back and forth in front of the three fillies lined up on the grass outside her carriage. She looked at them each in turn as she spoke.
“Now, the first step of being a showmare is to choose a stage name. Something powerful, bold, and memorable.” She stopped and curled a hoof into the air with a smirk. “Something that speaks to you as a true magician and lets the world know you are there to amaze them.” She turned and thrust her hoof at Apple Bloom. “Let’s hear it!”
Apple Bloom smiled. “Ah’m kinda happy with just bein’ plain ‘Apple Bloom’.”
“No. Try harder.”
“Uh… The Great and Powerful Apple Bloom?”
“We’ll come back to you.” Trixie stepped up in front of Sweetie Belle. “You—smart one. Stage name?”
“How about ‘Dazzler’?” Sweetie Belle stood up and thrust her hooves into the air as she said the word.
Trixie smiled and patted Sweetie Belle on the head. “Not bad, for a first try. A bit generic, but you’re young.” Sweetie Belle grinned and sat back down. Trixie moved down the line to Scootaloo. “And you?”
Scootaloo leapt into the air and crossed her hooves. “I am The Amazing Scooter Rocker, world-famous stunt pony and scooter rider!”
Trixie shook her head. “We are magicians, not stunt ponies.”
“Can’t I be both?”
“No.”
Scootaloo pouted and crossed her hooves. Trixie ignored her and backed away from the trio. “All right, we’ll come back to stage names later. Alternate personas take time to develop anyway.” She tossed her mane and flared out her cape. “A showmare needs a sense of presence—a sense of charisma and grace that draws all eyes to her. You must become that pony, not merely put on an act.”
Trixie stood in front of Sweetie Belle. “What was your stage name, again?”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Dazzler?”
“Wrong!”
Trixie slipped behind Sweetie Belle and stood over her, sweeping a hoof through the air. “You are the one and only Dazzler! No unicorn in Ponyville could compare to your beauty and power, and none would dare try! All are in awe of your magnificence and line up to behold but a glimpse of your magical prowess on the stage!”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes glittered as Trixie spoke and her mouth hung open. “That sounds so cool…”
“It will be more than ‘cool’ when I teach you to live it!” Trixie smirked and stepped back in front of the three. “Now, Dazzler! Show me a pose worthy of a magnificent showmare!”
“Uh…” Sweetie Belle stood up on her hind hooves and spread her front hooves out. “Ta-da?” She wobbled in place, her hooves shaking. She stumbled to the side and crashed into Scootaloo, knocking them both down.
Trixie looked down at the two. “Try it again without falling over.”
Sweetie Belle held her side and winced as she climbed off of Scootaloo. “Maybe later.”
“Hn.” Trixie sniffed. “You must be confident if you are to be a showmare! A magician controls her audience as deftly as her tricks. Nothing can shake her resolve to put on the grandest show the audience will ever see.”
She looked at Scootaloo as she stood up. “You next! Show Trixie how confident you are!”
“Confident?” Scootaloo grinned. She dropped low to the ground, spreading her hooves and tilting her head up. “Confident is my middle name! I’m the second-coolest, most awesomest pony in Equestria, and it doesn’t matter if I’m on a stage or a scooter—I’m gonna rock it!”
Trixie glanced up from Scootaloo’s face to her mane. “You may want to get that twig out of your hair first.”
“Huh?” Scootaloo reached up and quickly brushed her hooves through her hair. “There’s a twig in my hair?”
“No, there isn’t. But see how quickly you fell for a distraction?” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Be sure of yourself. Be bold! If you make an error, take command of it and make it yours! The audience doesn’t know what you tried to do, and unless you tell them they never will! Yes, there was a twig in your hair, so what? You wanted it there! In fact, you put it there!”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “I did?”
“Yes, you did. And you are going to do an amazing trick with it.”
“But you just said there isn’t a twig!”
“Trixie was speaking in hypotheticals.”
“Is that a fancy word for ‘trying to confuse me’? Because it’s working.”
Trixie snorted and turned away from Scootaloo. She pointed at Apple Bloom. “You—boring one.”
“Hey!” Apple Bloom glared at Trixie. “Ah’m not boring!”
“Do you have a stage name yet?”
“Uh…”
“Then you’re the boring one.”
Apple Bloom stuck out her tongue, then lowered her head and bit her lip. “Well… um, what about ‘Apple Cadabra’?”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle turned their heads to stare at her; Trixie simply stared.
Apple Bloom looked between the three. “What?”
“That is both the dumbest and coolest thing you’ve ever said,” Scootaloo said.
“I’ve heard worse,” Trixie said. She scrunched her face and made a gagging sound. “I’ve opened for worse. All right: Apple Cadabra, Scooter Rocker, and Dazzler. They’re not the best stage names but they’ll do. The next step is to work on confidence. Some magicians adopt a persona on-stage to help them. Be yourself or be somepony else, whatever works for you. The key either way is to always be confident and in control. All will go as you demand it to go and you must control your audience’s full attention when it does, otherwise—”
Sweetie Belle cleared her throat and raised a hoof. Trixie looked her way. “Yes?”
“When do we start learning some actual magic?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Trixie scoffed and tilted her nose up. “If you three wish to be magicians, you must first possess the proper state of mind to command the stage. A magician is not merely a pony who does tricks, she must have a sense of grace and mysticism—”
“Yeah, yeah, we can figure that out on our own,” Scootaloo said. “We were thinking more about you teaching us stuff that’s useful.”
Trixie stared, then reached up and pulled her hat over her face. The three foals shared confused looks as the sound of muffled grumbling came from beneath the fabric.
Sweetie Belle leaned over and whispered in Scootaloo's ear, “I think she's angry with us.”
Trixie lifted her hat back up and gave a forced smile. “Not at all. This is your lesson, you get out of it what you put in. If the benefit of Trixie’s years of experience is too boring for you, we shall move on. Tell me, what practical skills do you three have that could be applied to stage magic?”
“Well, Twilight was teachin’ me how to brew potions.”
“I was learning how to build things. Mostly a unicycle.”
“I was developing my magic. She was teaching me tele… tele-kuh… how to move things.”
“That, Trixie can work with.” She smiled and turned to walk into the wagon. “Give her a moment to gather some materials and we can begin.”
Trixie held up a hoof and frowned. “Stop.”
Apple Bloom lifted her eyes from the bowl of yellow flakes in front of her, a vial of purple liquid in her hooves. “What?”
Trixie sighed heavily and shook her head. “Do you know what you hold in your hooves?”
Apple Bloom looked at the label on the vial. “Manticore venom?”
“And what were you going to pour it into?”
“Cragadile sheddings and iron filings?”
Trixie leaned closer. “Do you know what that combination will do?”
Apple Bloom looked between the sheddings and the venom, then back at Trixie. “It should create a cloud of blue smoke, right?”
“Yes, it will. In that it will explode in a blast of magical energy with a blue afterburst.”
“You’re just sayin' that because the last three potions Ah brewed exploded!”
“No, Trixie says that because it’s the truth.” Trixie took the venom in her magic and set it down. “You’ve blown up enough of Trixie’s alchemy supplies already.” She walked away from Apple Bloom and approached Scootaloo, sitting among a pile of metal parts. “You—what have you built to show Trixie?”
Scootaloo rifled through the metal and lifted a tangle of bike parts in her hooves. “I made this!”
Trixie took the contraption and lifted it to eye level. Various metal poles connected to a wheel sitting horizontally on the top, and a length of bicycle chain hung from the tire. Trixie spun the wheel around with a flick of her hoof. “And what is ‘this’ that you have built?”
“Well, you grab the chain, and use that to pull the tire around!”
“And?”
“And… it’s shiny?” Scootaloo gave an awkward chuckle.
Trixie lifted the bike chain and raised an eyebrow. “This chain is not supposed to come apart. How did you manage to get it around the tire?”
“I dunno. I was wondering that too.” Scootaloo held up her hooves.
Trixie dropped the jumble of bike parts and slapped her face. “This is why Trixie doesn’t work with children. Smart one!” She raised her head. “Need Trixie turn around, or shall she presume your magic practice is equally disappointing?”
Sweetie Belle’s voice came from behind Trixie. “Well, uh…”
“That would be a ‘yes’.”
“We’re sorry, Trixie.” Apple Bloom walked up to her. “We’re doing our best, but we’re not very good at these things. Even when Twilight was teaching us, it took weeks for us to get the hang of it.”
“Well, you don’t have weeks with Trixie. You have a day.” Trixie thrust a hoof at the sky. “A day that will soon be over.”
The foals followed her hoof and saw the sun had sunk below the trees, the sky a sea of red and violet.
“We’ve been out here all day?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yes, and thus Trixie is bringing this lesson to a close.” Trixie looked over the area, and the various supplied she had given them floated beside her. She walked into her wagon and approached the alchemy table, lifting the lid of a trunk next to it. “Trixie has upheld the end of our arrangement, even if it was a waste of time for everypony involved. It is time for you to do her a great favour and get out of her mane.”
“Hey, we did our best!” Apple Bloom said. She stepped into the wagon and stood in the doorway, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle on the steps behind her. “You don’t have to be so mean about it.”
Trixie dropped the goods with her in the trunk and slammed the lid. “Trixie would remind you that she only agreed to give you this lesson out of blackmail.”
“She’s got us there,” Scootaloo said.
Trixie lifted the enchanted emerald off the table and floated it over to Apple Bloom. “Here. Focus on the image of Ponyville in your mind, and the gem’s light will point the way. Safe travels.”
Apple Bloom looked at the emerald as Trixie dropped it at her hooves. “So, that’s it? We just go home now?”
“We had an agreement: one lesson and then you go home,” Trixie replied. “That emerald is my price to take my leave of you three. Take it and be quick of it.”
Apple Bloom picked up the emerald, looking over her shoulder. “But… it looks like it’s gonna be night soon.”
“Are you gonna make us walk home through the dark and scary woods?” Scootaloo asked.
“Can you come with us?” Sweetie Belle pursed her lips and widened her eyes.
Trixie huffed. “Trixie is beginning to wonder if this isn’t some sort of con job. Is there a fourth foal waiting in Ponyville that’s going to claim she’s my long-lost little sister?”
“No. We just don’t wanna go home by ourselves this late,” Scootaloo said.
Trixie looked around the wagon then back at the three foals in front of her. She groaned. “Truly, Trixie’s generous and caring spirit is getting the better of her. Trixie will not accompany you, but she will allow you three to stay the night. You will let Trixie get her beauty sleep, you will not bug her any further, and come sunrise the three of you will go home without further incident or protest. Understood?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “That sounds fair.”
“Good. Now go play outside while Trixie prepares dinner for us. You three are a distraction and will get in her way.”
The three foals filed out of the wagon, the door shutting behind them once they cleared the stairs.
Scootaloo sat down on the grass and looked back. “You don’t think she’ll leave us out here for the night, do you?”
“Nah, I think we can trust Trixie,” Apple Bloom replied. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gave her a matching pair of doubtful looks. “Well, maybe we can! She gave us the magic lesson we wanted, right?”
Scootaloo her head. “Not really. She just told us we need to look cool and strike poses. I mean, duh, we do that already anyway. If that’s all it took to be a showmare, we would have gotten our magic cutie marks a long time ago.”
“And she only gave us the lesson because we blackmailed her,” Sweetie Belle pointed out. “She wanted us to go home and leave her alone before.” She scrunched her face. “Why is it called blackmail, anyway? We didn’t mail her anything.”
“What if we tell her we want a second lesson?” Scootaloo asked.
Apple Bloom thought, looked up at the wagon, and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. Trixie was already angry about us blackmailing her the first time, if we try it again she might not care what we tell our sisters.”
Scootaloo groaned. “Well, we gotta do something else before we leave! We haven’t learned anything that could help us get our cutie marks in stage magic!”
“Maybe it doesn’t matter.” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “We don’t get our cutie marks in anything else we try, and none of us are any good at magic anyway. I’m a unicorn, and I can’t even lift a broom for very long without getting tired.”
“Yeah, but we haven’t had a teacher like Trixie before!” Apple Bloom said. “Everypony else in Ponyville just tells us our cutie marks will appear once we’re ready. Well, Ah’m ready now, and mine ain’t showin’ up. But we never asked Trixie for advice before. Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
“Maybe…” Sweetie Belle lay down on the grass and yawned. “Or maybe this was just another wasted day.”
Trixie stared at the wall of her wagon, a cool breeze blowing through the window over her bed. Her eyes were narrow, her teeth gritted. Behind her, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo lay asleep on the floor of the wagon. After they had finished dinner, Trixie had insisted they go to sleep so they could get an early morning.
Why oh why did I agree to let them sleep in the wagon with me? Another loud snore interrupted her thoughts. Trixie let out a small growl. The orange one is mouthy, and the white one is dumb. Figures the yellow one is hiding the worst secret of all. For what seemed like hours, the snoring had been like a steady rhythm of wagon wheels grinding over Trixie’s head. She lifted her pillow and held it over her ears.
I never should have taken them in, just more trouble than they were worth. I could have just slammed the door and ignored them, but nooo, I had to be nice. Who knows what they’ll tell their sisters when they get back to Ponyville? Why on all days did they have to get lost when I’m passing through?
Trixie heard the wagon creak, and her expression softened. Then, the door to the wagon clicked. She turned over in bed and saw the door close behind her. She glanced down at the floor of the wagon. The orange one?
Trixie carefully climbed out of bed, stepped over the two sleeping foals, and pushed the door to the wagon open. “Hey.” She padded down the steps to the orange pegasus sitting on the grass. What did this one say her name was? Scooterloo? “Uh, Scooterloo?”
Scootaloo turned her head. “Oh. Sorry, Trixie. Did I wake you up?”
“Waking Trixie up would imply she was previously sleeping. Your friend has made a remarkable effort to prevent that.” Trixie walked closer as she spoke and stopped next to Scootaloo.
Scootaloo smirked and gave a small snicker. “Yeah, Apple Bloom’s snoring is something. You get used to it. Between camping trips with Rainbow Dash and sleepovers with Apple Bloom, I don’t even hear it anymore.”
“Well, Trixie does hear it, and she would much prefer not to get used to it, thank you very much.” Trixie looked down at Scootaloo. “Why are you out here, if not to escape the noise?”
“Just thinkin’. No offense, Trixie, but as far as helping us get our cutie marks goes, today was pretty much a bust.”
“No offense is taken, Trixie is inclined to agree.” Trixie looked back at the wagon. What was it they kept calling themselves? Cutie Mark Crusaders? “You three seem rather obsessed with getting your cutie marks.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Scootaloo thrust a hoof at her blank flank. “The three of us are the only ones left in our class that don’t have our cutie marks yet. Everypony used to make fun of Apple Bloom until Sweetie Belle and I came to her defense and they backed off!” She slumped and frowned, padding a hoof on the dirt. “Well, at first. Now they just make fun of all three of us.”
Scootaloo looked up at Trixie. Trixie was staring off into space. Her mouth was set in a small frown, and her eyes didn’t seem focused. Scootaloo gently nudged her hoof. “Uh, Trixie?”
“Seeing as your flanks are still unmarked, your efforts thus far have been futile,” Trixie said softly.
“Yeah. We call ourselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and we spend all our time trying new things in case one of them finally gets one of us their cutie mark. Hasn’t worked out so far.”
“And you thought perhaps stage magic is a venue worth pursuing, hence you forcing my hoof into aiding you.”
Scootaloo slowly nodded. “Right. Are you okay, Trixie?”
Scootaloo nudged her again, and Trixie blinked. She held her eyes shut for a moment; when she opened them again, she looked at Scootaloo. “Yes, Trixie is fine. Go inside and rest. We have an early morning tomorrow.”
“Okay. What about you?”
“Trixie is getting some fresh air. She will be along shortly.”
Scootaloo nodded and walked back into the wagon. Trixie watched her go and used her magic to softly shut the door behind her.
Sweetie Belle jerked and snorted, her eyelids fluttering. “Wha…?” She looked around the wagon. The jingle of glass and metal filled her ears and her eyes opened fully. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo!” She turned to either side of her and shook her friends awake.
Apple Bloom lifted her head and yawned. “What is it?”
“Something’s happening!” Sweetie Belle looked at the wall. The glass vials over the alchemy table were shaking in their rack, and there was a constant wooden creaking.
Scootaloo realized it first. “The wagon is moving!” She looked at the bed against the wall and found it empty. “Trixie?”
Apple Bloom climbed over them and jumped on the bed, rising on her hind hooves to look out the window over it. Outside, at the front of the cart, Trixie had a harness slung over her back and was slowly towing the wagon through the woods. The enchanted emerald floated in front of her, its far edge pulsing with light.
“Trixie!” Apple Bloom called to her.
Trixie stopped and looked behind her. “Go back to sleep.”
Scootaloo nudged Apple Bloom aside to look out the window with her. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has deigned to grant you foals mercy and take you home. Now go to sleep and let her keep on with it, as she is quite tired, and this wagon is not exactly light.”
Trixie resumed walking and the wagon began to move again.
Apple Bloom smiled at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “Told ya we could trust her.”
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The cmc are kinda jerks in this story...thankfully, Trixie is trying to be as nice as she possibly can be.
I've got a story with a comparable premise, and I'm amazed at all the little details that are shared between that and this. You and I seem to think very much alike.
Looking forward to more.
5905014 Thanks for pointing out the typo, I'll fix it immediately.
Well Im liking your story so far but I just have a very minor complaint:
After season 3 I got the feeling that the cutie mark crusaders were not in such a big hurry to get their cutie marks like they were in season 1. Nowdays it seems that their attempts to to get their cutie marks are just a way to play around like kids with getting their marks as a secondary objective.
This is more obvious when Diamond Tiara teases them about it again during "Flight to the Finish" and they are completly unnafeected by that and considering that this story is after "Twilight Time" I just find the cutie mark crusaders a little bit OOC due to character development in the show.
5905326 Hm, fair enough. That is a good interpretation, though from my end I didn't get that. Differing views aside though, thanks for reading and hope you enjoy it moving ahead.
5905373 Dont worry, you are giving me the cutie mark crusader and Trixie in the same picture, which is awesome.
I particularly like how you write Trixie, the way she doesnt cuddle them and it is not afraid of insulting them in such a direct manner is pretty refreshing. Sometimes I wonder if they need an adult like this in the show that interacts with them.
5905373
What is the last one?
5925902 I'll be discussing that sort of thing in later chapters.
Why do I get the idea that Trixie just kidnapped the CMCS? If she did she's in for quite the headache.
Missing a period at the end.
Trixie's advice to the CMC about stage names and the presence that goes along with them reminds me a lot of the professional wrestler Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado. Outside of the ring, she's this sweet, lovely woman who does all this charity work and loves her fans...
But in the ring?
She is Sasha Banks, the Boss. She's better than you, and you, and especially you. She doesn't take shit from anyone. You wanna mess with her? She's gonna break your fucking spine and then choke you to death. Banks is probably the best example of someone 'becoming' their character as soon as the camera is on them. It's an important skill to have in show business.
5904833 Yeah, very irritating and simply not getting that the BASICS MUST BE LEARNED! Then again that's par for the course with them.
5925902 Spellbinding is when you link a magical spell to an object. for example a book To cause or create an effect. continuing with the example a book enchanted with an ice spell could then be used by anyone to cast that same spell. I think
5925902 You there. That name. I know that name, and I approve. That is all.
Man, first Rainbow Dash, AJ and Rarity heckle Trixie at her show...then their little (honourary) sisters show up in the middle of the woods and heckle her, blackmail her for a lesson without really even taking it seriously, and then stay overnight. Trixie's practically a saint to even consider going back to Ponyville.
Either Trixie wants to find an apprentice, or she thinks it worthwhile to get them their Cutie Marks, making her successful where Twilight has failed. Or both
I like it.
Sweetie Belle chose the second best stage name in all of Equestria.
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6377043
Flint Fireforge approves of your approval.
Be thankful the CMCs didn't meet the Lich King. CUTIE MARK CRUSADER NECROMANCERS YAY!
Awww. Trixie is a grump, but can't be completely mean to kids.