Among the other young unicorns wandering the school, Trixie was but a pale blue speck. But she didn't mind, nor did she notice. With her gaze trained on a piece of paper, she tried to juggle several books, quills, and scrolls (her parents hadn't yet been able to afford saddlebags big enough to carry all of her required school materials. So focused was she that she didn't see anyone around her, but then again the pony she crashed into wasn't looking where she was going either.
"Oh no!" Trixie cried, jumping to her feet after landing in a tangle of blue and purple limbs with the other young unicorn. "Oh my goodness, I didn't see you, are you okay?" The purple unicorn nodded as she also got to her feet and quickly set about picking up all of the items that Trixie had dropped.
"I'm okay but are you?" the filly asked her, picking up several quills and returning them to the blue unicorn.
"Yes," Trixie confirmed, mentally assessing her body for bruises.
"You don't look okay," the purple filly giggled. "Your mane looks like a nest." Trixie tilted her head to the side, confused, and immediately noticed that the stranger already had her cutie mark. It looked like a purple star surrounded by other stars. But the unicorn's words made her come back to earth.
"Oh no, really?" she blushed, reaching her hooves up and frantically sweeping them through her mane. Several quills fell to the ground and Trixie was so embarrassed that she wanted the ground to swallow her up. The other filly simply giggled at her.
"They're all out now," the unicorn assured her. "Don't worry, I always end up crashing into other ponies because I've always got my nose in a book. You learn to laugh at it."
"I-if you say so," Trixie conceded, calming down enough to levitate all of her items again.
"Oh, you don't have saddlebags? Don't worry, I've got one extra because you can never be too prepared," the kind unicorn smiled at her. As she spoke, she levitated a set of pale purple saddlebags over to Trixie. Her cutie mark was emblazoned on each as the clasp, just like they were for everypony who wasn't a blankflank.
"Are you sure?" Trixie asked, her lavender eyes widening at such kindness. But she wasn't going to cry on her first day, she'd promised herself that!
"Sure! You look like you're as dedicated to your learning as I am," the filly smiled at her. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Trixie," the blue unicorn replied with a smile, feeling tears fill her eyes anyway. She'd never met someone as generous as this pony before!
"I'm Twilight, Twilight Sparkle," the other filly introduced herself, and held her hoof out for Trixie to shake. Trixie shook it gladly before filling her newly-acquired saddlebags with the items that had before been subject to her levitation.
The two fillies sat together in class and then again out in the perfectly-polished courtyard. It was decorated with shiny statues of unicorns in all stages of life, as well as the alicorn statues that were everywhere in Canterlot. There was even an alicorn in the fountain.
"The courtyard is so pretty, isn't it?" Twilight asked, and Trixie nodded eagerly.
"It's amazing," she gushed. "I'm so glad my parents took on extra jobs so I could come here. Did your parents have to do that too?"
"No, my parents work in the royal observatory," Twilight informed her. "Where do your parents work?"
"My daddy's a coalminer and mummy is a maid in Princess Celestia's castle," Trixie informed her. "Mummy said that she's proud of my talent with magic because then I can earn lots of money and live in the fancy houses in Canterlot when I grow up."
"Or maybe you'll be Celestia's personal student! That what I want to do," Twilight grinned. "She was there at my entrance exam when I got my cutie mark."
"It'd be nice if we could both be her personal students," Trixie mused. "Then we'd never have to be apart and we could be friends forever."
"Let's try to do that, then," Twilight decided, her eyes sparkling with glee. "We'll be Celestia's Apprentices!"
"Yes!" Trixie agreed, jumping to her feet. "Celestia's Apprentices!" The sun shone on the two of them, as though Celestia herself were viewing the sight. Trixie hoped that she was smiling upon them and giving them her blessing that one day they would be her apprentices.