Trixie's Stupendous, Awe-Inspiring Adventure of Destiny

by Turkleson

Chapter Four

It’s been a week. One week since Trixie had taken the first steps towards the destiny that awaited her. A week that, in her humble opinion, was quite progressive. A week spent recognizing her strengths as a user of magic. She had searched the entirety of the books she and her trusted roommate had to procure by force from that tyrant of a librarian (seriously, there was no other way). Together, they had gone over all of the different classes of magic from destruction to conjuration. Now, Trixie wasn’t what anypony would classify as a bookworm by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, she was on a journey to reinvent herself, and that required doing new things and tread unfamiliar territory. The week of massive ‘book learnin’ was well worth it, as the Unicorn was quite pleased with the results.

In the week of magical practices, Trixie had all but cemented the conformation of her strongest magical points. One such strength was the class of Illusion, involving the use of magic for theatricality and deception (something the mare was quite familiar with already). The other strength was the class of enchantment, involving the use of magic to apply or enhance special properties of pony’s surroundings. Her weakest point in magic….wasn’t too important at the moment. The to-be legend could look back at this step of her journey as a success.

Her Griffon friend, however, had a considerably different opinion on the matter. As she was not a magic user herself, Trixie employed her with the task of being her lab rat. In the past week of magical training, she had been set aflame, electrocuted, a victim of attempted disintegration, partially turned into a moose, grew a second head from a botched duplication spell and nearly blown up from a force field conjured inside her body to name a few things. The only solace she had in the past week was a pile of pillows her roommate created to replace the dematerialized futon. The pillows were meant to become a king sized bed but they could only hope for so much.

As torturous as the last 168 hours had been, salvation for the poor Gilda was at hand. That salvation came in the words of “Well, we have officially gone over all of these books.” by her Unicorn friend.

“Oh, finally!” Gilda exclaimed, mentally praising all of the Griffon gods for those words.

“Indeed, this step of our journey is complete” commented the mare.

Yellow eyes widened at those words. “This step? As in the final step, right?”

Trixie arched a brow. “Of course not. Like I said, this is just the beginning.” She proceeded to the fridge to retrieve a morning yogurt. “The books were a good starting point, but the mark of a great Unicorn has to amount to more than that. A Unicorn can’t be limited to what she reads from paper and ink. She has to find her own way. To make her own mark on the world of magic. Something that can’t be achieve from just books.”

“OK. So how do we do that?” Gilda asked.

“Well according to one of the books” Trixie began, to which Gilda had to try really hard not to roll her eyes, “In the days of the three tribes, whatever a Unicorn would lack in raw power, they would compensate in a personalized arsenal of magic tools and enchantments.” The blue pony returned to the living room with her yogurt. “So, I feel that should be my next step. To develop a personalized arsenal.”

“And be like the Army knife of Unicorns?” the Griffon humored.

Her roommate chuckled. “Something like that.” She then took a moment to choose her next words carefully. Agreeing to magical testing was one thing, but to get Gilda to agree to the next step would take some fancy word play. “And in order to get started on this step,” good so far “we’re going to need some supplies,” almost there “and that means, we’ll just have to…”

“No” Gilda interrupted.

So close. “Oh come on!” Trixie whined. “You’re a girl too! You’re supposed to love shopping!”

The hybrid just scoffed. “Way to be sexist Trix.”

“Don’t you get just a little bit tired of stealing everything?”

“The only ones who get tired of stealing are the ones who get caught.”

A less-than-polite snort escaped the pony’s nose. “Fine then killjoy.” She proceeded to the door. “I guess I’ll have to partake in this endeavor all by my lonesome.”

“A’ight, but don’t go overboard.” Gilda warned “We gotta watch our money.”

Trixie looked at her eagle eyed friend in amazement. “Since when did you care about our financial position?”

“Since you quit your job and, quite frankly, have been going a bit nuts with all those nights of take-out.”

“Hey. Magical training is hard work. I needed to keep my strength up.”

“Whatever, bubble butt.”

The disgruntled child of fate walked out the door, saying nothing else.

***

The premise of shopping for magic tools and gadgets is the victim to a common misconception. When the idea comes to mind, ponies would often think of things like magic shops. Places that sold rare and exotic trinkets and potions for magic users that performed rituals and chanted incantations. Such shops were borderline nonexistent because the unicorns of old never required anything like that. The materials they used for their charms were usually very commonly acquired goods that they would later enchant at home. This would make Trixie’s shopping session easy as well as inconspicuous.

She looked at her list, knowing such items would not warrant any questions from shop keepers. Nothing except the smoke pellets perhaps, but Trixie already knew a guy for that. He doesn’t ask questions and neither does she. Still, it was probably best that she decided to save that item for last. She then turned the corner and spotted her first stop.

***

The azure Unicorn has a love/hate relationship with waiting in line. On one hoof, she loved the idea of ponies waiting in a line as far as the eye could see to see her perform her amazing magical feats. On the other hoof, she hated waiting in lines herself.

The clothing store Trixie stepped into was having a sale on horseshoes. Sadly, Trixie was not the only mare in Fillydelphia who saw that as good news. She tried to look past the pony in front of her in the hopes of seeing how far away the cashier was, but to no avail. Partly because of the sheer size of the line and partly because the pony right in front of her could stand to lay off the hay fries (and Gilda thinks Trixie’s fat?). The blue mare could feel the vein pulsing on her forehead trying to contain her unforgiving rage at the situation.

“Not a big fan of lines either, eh?” The anger was interrupted by a voice coming from behind Trixie. She concluded it’s probably another shopper trying to make small talk to keep her mind off the current annoyance. Deciding to be polite, she turned her head to see the source of the question.

It was a Unicorn like herself, but the visual similarities stopped there. This mare had a practically golden coat and a mane like wildfire. Her eyes a deep green like a massive rainforest. The words were stuck in the blue one’s mouth for but a moment as she was captivated by this stranger’s appearance. Intent on making a speedy social recovery, Trixie replied to the question with “Can’t way that I am.”

The other unicorn gave a warm chuckle, indicating to Trixie she hadn’t come across as awkward. “I hear you there. I only came in because needed a new coat. Who knew it was going to take me the whole day?”

“Well that’s what happens when a store puts up a ‘sale’ sign” the azure ponies replies.

“Like catching flies with a bug light.” A mutual laugh was shared by the two.

At this point, the golden stranger decided to reach out her hoof and make a formal introduction. “I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

The other returned the hoofshake. “Lulamoon” she replied, remembering the name she used in public.

Another warm smile grace Ms. Shimmers face. “Say, I’m not exactly from around here. After we’re done, would you mind helping me find a place to get a good cup of coffee?”

Trixie was slightly taken aback by how friendly this pony was being before complying “Uh, sure. No problem.”

***

“…and then I said ‘Buddy, you couldn’t find it with two hooves and a map.’” Another round of laughter was had by the two Unicorns at the Café table. This rather audible behavior attracted the annoyance of a few customers. To Trixie and Sunset however, it was as though anypony else wasn’t even there.

Sunset wiped a tear of hilarity from her eyes as the laughter softened. “Y’know, I gotta say. I didn’t think it would be this easy to make new friends here.”

‘Friends’ Trixie pondered slightly. It too, took her as a surprise that the two had hit it off so well. “So” She began “You just moved here I’m guessing.”

“Actually, this is just a stop. I’m actually more of a traveler.”

“Oh? How’s that going for you?”

“Pretty good. I get to see new and exciting places, learn new things, meet knew people”

“Huh. Sounds great, I was kind of a traveler myself.”

“Oh really? What brought you here?”

“Uh” Trixie paused. “Financial issues”

Sunset gave a slight pout in sympathy “Aw, that’s too bad. I’ve been able to keep at it by doing a few odd jobs that I come across. Some of them are less than glamorous, but hey. It’s good for karma.”

Trixie could help but smile at the notion. “Yeah” She then finished the rest of her coffe and moved to get up. “Well I best be going. Still got some shopping to do”

Sunset too, got up from her seat. “OK then, I guess I’ll be headed back to the hotel. It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise.”

“Let me know if you ever decide to hit the open road again. We could meet up.”

“How will I do that?”

The golden unicorn got an envelope out from her saddle bag. “This envelope is enchanted to locate me wherever I am. Just put your letter in there, seal it up and let magic do the rest.”

Trixie looked at the envelop in amazement. “Wow, um…sure. OK”

Another lovely smile came from her face “Well, see you around.” Sunset said as she trotted away.”

Trixie waved her new friend farewell “Yeah…see ya.” A brief sadness overcame the blue Unicorn after seeing Sunset go. Fortunately she decided to shake it off and commence with the rest of her shopping.

***

The opening of the front door interrupted Gilda from her scheduled nap. She looked up to see her roommate had returned with several different shopping bags and a gleeful look on her face. From there, the Unicorn practically pranced back to her room to begin her work.

“So shopping went well?” Gilda asked

“Was there ever any doubt?” The Unicorn replied.

“Wonderful. Another step in the quest to ‘fulfill your destiny’” Sarcasm dripping from her friends’ beak.

Trixie smiled as she opened the door to her room as she thought to herself ‘And the next step has practically planned itself.’

Comments

[Volscon]

I'm really enjoying this story, but for whatever reason, new chapters do not show up in my favorites.

[carlos_pony]

I think this is the first fic I have seen with Sunset Shimmer in it.

[Obsidian Raindrop]

Please tell me ss and trix are just friends

[Fervidor]

I couldn't help but notice you jump from past to present tense a few times in this chapter, here for example:

She looked at her list, knowing such items would not warrant any questions from shop keepers. Nothing except the smoke pellets perhaps, but Trixie already knew a guy for that. He doesn’t ask questions and neither does she. Still, it was probably best that she decided to save that item for last. She then turned the corner and spotted her first stop.

Protip, you'll want to pick one tense and stick with it, preferably past tense all the way. It's just much neater and more coherent that way.