"Okay...let's try this again."

Trixie stood there, right on the edges of the Everfree Forest, bearing a look of fierce determination. She closed her eyes, showing concentration into whatever it was she was doing. Within moments, her horn began to glow its usual pale pink colour, the clear signs of her about to cast a spell. She frowned as she concentrated harder and harder, with her aura glowing ever brighter with each passing moment. As if responding to her power, the wind around her began to pick up, with stray leaves blowing all around her hooves. Beads of sweat began to form and fall down her brow as she began to struggle with her spell. Eventually, her aura had reached its apex, resulting in a near-blinding flash of light. This is it...I'm going to do it! But, when the flash finally occurred, what happened next was quite unexpected, as there was a sudden magical blast right where Trixie was standing, sending her flying backwards at great speed. In mere moments, she collided hard with a tree nearby, nearly winding herself before she landed on the ground below. She panted heavily in an attempt to catch her breath, before looking up. She saw, to her chagrin, that the spot where her spell was cast was now nothing but a massive scorch mark. Seeing this, she frowned and let out a loud grunt of annoyance.

"Argh! Every time! Trixie practises every day and what does she have to show for it? Nothing!"

"Um...Trixie?"

Hearing that new and unexpected voice, the anger faded from the blue mare's face immediately as she began to spin around, wherein she saw the young dragon, Spike, looking up at her with some concern.

"Oh! Er...Spike! What a pleasure it is to see you!"

Spike raised his eyebrow after hearing that.

"You okay? I thought I heard an explosion or something."

But Trixie merely shook her head.

"Nope! No explosions here! It was just...er...the wind."

The young dragon stared at her, with Trixie doing her best to avoid eye-contact. Eventually, Spike broke the silence between the two.

"The wind?"

Trixie nodded with a wide and obviously forced smile, to which Spike merely pointed to something behind her.

"So...the wind caused that smouldering spot there behind you?"

The mare turned, seeing the site of her failed spell, before looking back to him, still struggling to maintain her smile.

"Erm...yes!"

But Spike remained unconvinced.

"And I suppose the wind was also responsible for messing up your mane like that?"

Upon hearing that, Trixie's smile vanished, instead replaced with a look of confusion. She darted her head left and right before eventually spotting a nearby small pond. She ran over to it, kneeling beside its closest edge and looking down to the waters. Seeing her reflection in the water's surface, she discovered that, true to Spike's word, her mane was indeed a mess. It had been blown back from the force of the explosion, with stray strands pointing in every possible direction, not to mention a few strands that were still technically on fire. Seeing this, Trixie let out a yelp before using her magic to both put out the small flames and to help put the rest of her mane back into its usual shape. Needless to say, this took quite a while, during which, Spike walked over to her and folded his arms, waiting for her to finish so she could explain herself. But, Trixie seemed more than a little reluctant to do so, avoiding his gaze at every opportunity. However, as Spike's accusatory stares continued, Trixie eventually relented, sighing and slumping her shoulders somewhat before speaking up.

"I was...trying to cast a teleportation spell."

Spike's expression became one of surprise, before turning to look at the still-smoking spot of her failed spell.

"Didn't go as well as you hoped, I take it?"

Trixie got up off her knees and stomped at the ground in an annoyed manner.

"It's just not fair! Before Trixie came to Ponyville, she considered herself the best user of magic in all of Equestria! Now...it's like she's just a child standing among giants!"

Trixie looked away from Spike, hiding her look of anger from him. But, she looked back when he began to speak in a hushed tone.

"Are you...angry at my Mom?"

Seeing the slightly saddened look on the young dragon's face, Trixie's expression softened considerably, before she put on a small smile and placed a hoof upon his shoulder.

"No. Trixie is not angry at her. If anything, Trixie is grateful. Without Twilight teaching her, she'd probably have never even thought to cast a spell like this. It's just...seeing her do all those things, like it comes so naturally to her...it's difficult."

Spike looked up at her, seeing the honesty in her face, and began to smile back at her.

"Mom didn't always find magic easy, you know."

Looking down at him, Trixie gained a look of confusion, prompting the young dragon to explain himself.

"When she was a filly, she sometimes really struggled with casting spells. If she hadn't become Celestia's student, she might have had trouble with it her whole life."

Trixie nodded at that. Yes, Trixie remembers that. The day she got her cutie mark and her true power awakened. Hard to imagine that somepony as powerful as Twilight ever had difficulty with basic spells like that. Then again, she was just a child at the time. Guess it's a testament to hard work and all that good stuff. But...it's like...Twilight is in a whole other league to what Trixie could ever be! Facing down dragons, managing offensive spells like she does, and all the rest of it! It's like...like Trixie is playing catch-up to somepony twice as fast as she is! However, as she dwelt on that, a slight frown appeared on Trixie's face.

"Spike. You have to understand...Trixie's talent is magic too! And she's been practising these advanced spells for ages now! What if she never manages to pull it off? You don't know what that feels like, Spike!"

Hearing that, Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Oh no?"

With some confusion, Trixie watched as Spike turned around, showing her his back.

"Tell me, Trixie...do you see any wings on me?"

The mare stopped, giving the young dragon a look over.

"Well...no."

Spike nodded.

"Exactly. I'm the only dragon anypony has ever seen that has no wings. That means that, unlike every other member of my race, I'll never be able to fly. Even if I one day grow to be as big as every other dragon out there, I'll be considered less than them because of that."

As one might expect of this situation, Trixie immediately began to feel a great deal of guilt, hanging her head low and avoiding Spike's gaze yet again. Great. Not only have I failed, but I've made a small child feel bad about himself. Great work there, Trixie! Geez, I wonder if Twilight ever feels like this? Looking up, the blue mare began to bear a greatly apologetic look upon her face.

"Trixie...I...I'm sorry, Spike."

But, contrary to how she might have expected him to react, the young dragon merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's no biggie."

Trixie looked up, her face making it clear that she was quite taken aback by those words.

"It's...er...no biggie?"

Spike nodded.

"Yeah! No biggie! I mean, I'm probably never going to go out and live among other dragons, given how much of my life has been among ponies. And even if I did, it's not going to bother me. Wanna know why?"

Although hesitant at first, Trixie eventually nodded, leading to Spike continuing to speak.

"Because it doesn't matter. Not being able to do the same things that others can do doesn't make you somehow worse than them. It doesn't mean you're a failure and it certainly doesn't mean you should feel bad about not being able to pull it off. Everyone, pony or dragon, should learn to be happy with what they know they can do. Otherwise...they'll probably just be miserable all the time."

Trixie stared at the young dragon before her, his words sinking in for a moment. The two stood there in silence, with Spike looking up at Trixie and waiting for her to give some kind of reply to him. In time, she did so, raising an eyebrow and putting on a small smirk as she did so. A child pointing out the obvious while an adult couldn't see it. Guess that's just the kind of place Ponyville is.

"Since when does somepony as young as you get to be that wise?"

Spike let out a brief laugh.

"When you spend your whole life around a mare who seems to do nothing but solve everypony's problems, this kind of stuff just rubs off on you I guess."

The two laughed together, with the discomfort of the past failed spell leaving Trixie rather quickly. She looked back at the scorch marks on the ground, and put on a smile. The kid is right. Trixie may not be able to all the amazing things his mother can...but Trixie will keep on trying. And even if she doesn't succeed, so what? Trixie was amazing ponies with her magic long before she ever came to Ponyville, so clearly there's something special to her, even if she probably isn't the best like she thought she was. Trixie looked down at Spike, seeing him smile at her, before raising a hoof and gently placing it upon his head, patting him there a little. The mare turned, looking back to Ponyville, and gestured to it with her head. Getting the message, Spike nodded at her, and the two began to walk together back into the town. On their way, Trixie looked down at her young companion and spoke softly to him.

"Thank you, Spike. I think...I just needed somepony to talk to about this."

Looking rather proud of himself, Spike nodded in response.

"No problem, Trixie. I mean, with my Mom out of town for a bit, somepony's gotta to be the voice of reason around here."