One Last Trixie Up My Sleeve

by Piquo Pie

Chapter 1: Derailment

"Here is your tea, Trixie. I hope you like Earl Grey," said Ms. Twilight Sparkle. The perfect hostess even at the late hour. "and I found some cinnamon pine cones if you’re feeling peckish, but I should warn you, they're a bit, um, stale," Twilight added with an 'appropriate' smile, floating over a small tray with stale, but quality, pine cones.

"Earl Grey is most acceptable," said Trixie 'polity,' "as are the pine cones. The Great and.." Trixie coughed, "I mean thank you, Ms. Sparkle. I actually prefer my pine cones on the stale side." This is your last pair of wings, Trixie. Don't fly too high until you test them out.

"Oh, just call me Twilight. I'm trying to be more personable," said Twilight, setting down the tea to cool. "I'll be honest, I'm still surprised to see you here. You seemed pretty angry at me for showing off with the Ursa."

The Great and Powerful Trixie is above revealing eye twitches. "Yes," affirmed Trixie with mostly honest regret. The Great and Powerful Trixie composed herself momentarily before continuing. "The... I still am... However!" said The Great and Powerful Trixie, cutting off any potential interruptions, "You had good reason to VANqui—" started Trixie before being 'impudently' shushed.

"Spike is still asleep."

"Spike?" asked a confused Trixie in her 'indoor' voice.

"Oh," said Twilight with a blush of embarrassment, "Spike is my dragon assistant, has been since I hatched him as a foal."

Lied Twilight, obviously, no foal could hatch a dragon egg.

"You mean to tell the Great and Powerful Trixie that you, Twilight Sparkle, hatched a dragon's egg as a filly?" inquired Trixie with righteous curiosity and only a hint of disbelief.

"Yes!" exclaimed Twilight, hiding her obvious pride quite well. But not so well that the highly attuned senses of Trixie could not pick up on it. "It's how I got into Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, and got my cutie mark." Twilight Beamed. "Here," She floated over a small, plainly framed picture.

"It's a picture right after the entrance exam," stated the librarian with a causality that surprised even The Great and Powerful Trixie.

Trixie ignored Twilight. The picture before her did not just show a young Sparkle with a floating, flailing baby dragon. Nor did it simply show a filly, freshly accepted into the most prestigious school in the world, flanked by two proud parents who were intelligent enough to stay away from flailing baby dragon claws. It showed The Celestial Goddess, Princess of Equestria, and Guardian of the Sun, Princess Celestia of Equestria, standing behind the proud family. She was beaming, knowingly, at the her new pupil.

Trixie's great mental, and physical, control kept her strong, yet feminine, jaw from lowing more than the polite 1-3 inches required by decency in such situations. Twilight decided to play it coy. It was not Trixie's favorite trick, but in the circumstances something she could appreciate professionally.

"That there is my mother, Twilight Velvet, and my father, Night Light. I was magically burnt out after hatching Spike after my," Twilight blushed, "uncontrolled magical release. If Celestia hadn't been there, the sun above only knows how far my magic could have gone."

The wise and patient Trixie visibly pondered this. A Unicorn's magic was an extension of one's self. Spell variety, power, control, and application are all expressed during an uncontrolled magical outburst. What a pony desired was expressed in its purest form, though the means through which that desire was expressed could vary greatly. An accepted theory was that the means the magic expressed to reach the pony's inner desire depended largely on the strength of the pony's power base and their special talent. The means never seemed to conflict with a pony's moral conscience.

However Trixie had never heard of a pony having a true uncontrolled outburst before getting their cutie mark. Had the Great and Powerful Trixie not seen the strength of Twilight's magic, she might not believe it possible for a pony to have a outburst before a cutie mark. The knowledge of one’s special skill was innate, and without that focus, a pony's magic cannot readily manifest itself as well. Even spells unrelated to a pony's talent became easier after its discovery.

The Very Understanding Trixie also knew how private an uncontrolled burst was. It is the closest thing non alicorn's could get to having a glimpse into somepony's soul. The fact that Twilight was willing to talk about it at all was perhaps the most revealing thing one could observe, given the situation. Assuming Ms. Sparkle was telling the truth of course...

It was not unheard of for a unicorn with morals far below that of Trixie's to dramatically reveal their inner self with a well-conceived farce of a story in order to get something, or somepony. The Quick and Observant Trixie knew this from experience. Luckily she saw through the ruse before such a sorted stallion was able to get under her tail; though, figuring out one's first love was a lie tended to put a damper on even the most iron-willed pony, such as Trixie.

Regardless, few ponies were crass enough to falsify such facts about oneself. They were private and intimate, and Trixie knew better than to commit such a faux pas as to become close enough to share such details herself.

Besides, while personal, unicorn foals usually had at least two or three minor uncontrolled magical fits in their youth. In fact, these fits, when properly observed by knowledgeable unicorns, could lead to the discovery of new spells. Which, now that the Great and Powerful Trixie thought about it, could lead to another interesting line of questioning, one that might circumvent the rules of proper etiquette.

Then again, Trixie was here as a guest, and desperate. No reason to be rude. It's not like Twilight is actively trying to outshine her at one of her shows.

"Ms. Sp... Twilight, the Princess was there during your, episode?"

Twilight's 'convincingly' innocent blush confirmed the statement, even before she nodded.

"Then I am curious, if I may be so bold as to ask?" The Great and Powerful Trixie prompted for permission with an extended hoof.

Twilight again nodded.

"Would you consider yourself friends with the Princess?"

"Yes," stated Twilight quickly but casually, with perhaps a hint of pride. Yes definitely a hint of pride, but that is to be expected. "After my episode, she took me on as her personal student. Since then, I feel proud to say we have grown into good friends."

Trixie was, simply put, stunned. If what Twilight said was true, and Trixie begrudgingly admitted she had no reason to believe that any of what Twilight said had been falsified or overly exaggerated, then she had to be sitting in the presence of one of the greatest unicorns in modern times, if not the past three centuries. It had been at least that long since Celestia had formally taken on a personal student.

The Great and Powerful Trixie, however, found Twilight's presentation lacking. There was no buildup, no tension. It was, simply put, plainly stated. Yet the bluntness, Trixie found, was endearing. It was straightforward and presented as fact. It wasn't bragging; it wasn't pride, though that was present; it was a straight, objective fact.

A fact shared in response to a somewhat private question. Perhaps even shared in mutual respect. While most ponies Trixie dealt with would have been using the information to better their standing, Twilight simply did not seem to care. Trixie found it refreshing, intimidating, exotic, unquantifiable. A loose variable in social behavior that Trixie simply does not understand. And, in Trixie's experience, anything Trixie does not understand is dangerous as far as other ponies are concerned.

Twilight was staring at The Great and Powerful Trixie. Because of this, Trixie finally realized that she had been staring at Twilight for at least half a minute, her jaw slipping dangerously low.

"My apologies, Ms. Sparkle." The Great and Powerful Trixie damned her reaction. Trixie knew even before Twilight responded with a curt 'Just Twilight!' that she had offended the star mage. It was something that confused Trixie, as she regretted her word choice because of the obviously frustrated and slightly pained expression on the face of the purple unicorn.

"I mean, I’m sorry Twilight. I did not realize that you studied under royalty."

The celestial student sighed, possibly in practiced acceptance, definitely in exasperation.

"It's okay. Just don't make it into a big deal. I spent my childhood in the shadow of the title ‘student of the Princess’."

The Great and Powerful Trixie chuckled, honestly chuckled, much to the now-irate purple unicorn's offense.

"That wasn't a joke! Do you realize how hard it is to live up to everypony's expectations? Literally demigod level expectations from everypony you meet!"

"No, no," laughed the blue mare into her grave. "It's just, just." More giggles snuck out of the ever deepening hole. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not find much in common with the common pony. The fact that you, Twilight Sparkle, happen to have something in common with me is quite amusing."

"I fail to see how having anything in common with you could be amusing?" The Great and Powerful Trixie damned her lack of self control and the anger it brought forth from the one pony who was willing to help her. The one pony who was able. She chose to blame the late hour, despite knowing the truth.

"Trixie is sorry. Trixie does not associate with other ponies, so imagine her surprise that the shadows that Trixie can associate with, are cast by the Sun Princess herself."

Twilight paused to consider the implications. "What metaphorical shadow do you live under?"

Oops. "The shadow of The Magnificent and Unparalleled Hoofdini, as well as Trixie's own. After all, they do say that a candle burns brightest just before it goes out."

"Well, hopefully we can relight your flame soon," added the completely oblivious Twilight to the now amused Great and Powerful Trixie. "What? Did I say something?"

Trixie bothered to hide her grin behind her magnificent hoof. This served to both hide her smile and increase the imminent embarrassment of the clueless mare. "Oh, my Twilight, I did not realize you had those kind of emotions for strong mares."

Twilight's jaw dropped predictably as far as it could short of dislocating. She was likely trying to identify where the conversion went horribly wrong.

The innocent and inflammatory giggles, produced by none other than The Great and Powerful Trixie, likely added to the poor mare’s confusion and horror. Then again, they did cause Trixie to blush, naturally eliciting a similar response from the sheltered librarian.

Comments

[Y1]

"Ms. Sp... Twilight, the Princes was there during your, episode?"

I think you mean 'princess' not 'princes'. Masculine vs feminine.

[Y1]

"Well, hopefully we can relight your flame soon," added the completely oblivious Twilight to the now amused Great and Powerful Trixie.

"What? Did I say something?"

I'm unsure if the second line was spoken by Trixie, or Twilight. Consider adding a dialogue tag.