//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: The Root of the Problem // Story: The Trixie Treatment. // by DerpyDitzyDerpyDo //------------------------------// "I can't believe I could have been so stupid!" "Twilight, try and calm down." "Stupid, stupid, stupid. I was so caught up with impressing the Princess and the Saddle Arabian delegates. Who was I to criticize Trixie for being a show off? I'm just as bad." "Twilight, how 'bout you jus' take a deep breath and explain what's happenin'?" "How many weeks? How many weeks was this staring me in the face? I should have known that something like this would have happened!" "Twilight, everypony makes mistakes jus' tell us what's goin' on." "Stupid, stupid, stupid-" "TWILIGHT!" The town's librarian was pacing furious little circles around the wooden floors of the Golden Oaks library, clearly too lost in thought to pick up on Applejack's frustration or even the look of worry on Trixie's. "Of course the artefact could imprint itself on its host as long as it was parasitic in nature and I should have known its nature the very second I learned that it could not be removed by anypony but the user herself. A symbiotic relationship! It must necessarily form a bond far beyond that of any mere tool in order to enhance the magical attributes of its wearer. The bond must have been forged through mutual sacrifice. But what kind of tribute did it demand? Something psychological perhaps. Certainly not a physical tribute. That wouldn't have allowed for it to deposit residual anchors. The amulet is-" Twilight's motor-mouth was going full speed and the farmer pony was only understanding one sentence in every ten. AJ cast an exasperated look at Spike. The young dragon nodded his understanding, hopped off his stool and plucked a book at random off one of the nearby shelves. He walked briskly across the room and shelved it on another bookshelf entirely. Twilight seemed to snap out of her frantic trance immediately, suddenly jolted back to reality. "Spike, that book is about Zebra traditions and cultural practices. Why are you shelving it with the cooking books?" she said, apparently brought back down to earth by the perceived slight. "Twilight... can ya jus' explain things in a way that anypony would understand," AJ was more than a little worried at this point. The two had come to the purple unicorn in hopes of finding answers regarding Trixie's bout of bad dreams, nose bleeds and memory loss in the wake of the Alicorn Amulet. But the moment they had explained the situation Twilight had lost herself in some lengthy verbal self flagellation session, ranting about how she should have seen this all coming. "What's happening here is referred to as Third Tier Artefact Resonance in formal academia although some ponies refer to it as Braudel's Effect, named after Professor Pferde Braudel who discovered it some forty years ago. Symptoms may include..." Twilight trailed off as she noticed the vacant empty look in her audiences eyes, "Right... sorry. A way anypony could understand... hmm... Applejack do you remember when I came over to visit you last spring and you were busy weeding your orchards?" "Remember it like it was yesterday," said Applejack, relieved to finally be speaking the same language as Twilight. "I tried to help you pluck out the weeds but afterwards we had to go back and redo all that I'd done." "Gee Twilight, Ah hope that ain't still botherin' you. It weren't no big effort on mah part but with weeds you gotta really get deep into the earth you can't jus tear 'em out 'cos if you leave any of the roots behind then they jus' grow back," said Applejack, still unsure why Twilight would bring up the seemingly irrelevant episode. "Exactly!" Twilight was visibly pleased that her metaphor had hit home, "Well, magic can work in kind of the same way. We tricked Trixie into taking off the Amulet but we didn't get the roots out. So long as the remnants of the amulets power remain Trixie will continue to experience nightmares, headaches, bouts of nausea and any number of other possible symptoms." "But how can it grow back? Trixie has not even come near the Amulet since she got rid of it," said Trixie indignantly. "The important part of a magic amulet is the magic not the amulet. The artefact itself is only a physical representation of the compact signed between the tool and its wielder. If anything, the physical distance between you and the artefact has only served to worsen the withdrawal symptoms. I-" Twilight noticed Spike irritably tapping his foot and caught herself before she launched into an extensive history of magical antiquary. "What does Trixie need to do to stop having... having bad dreams..." Trixie had difficulty talking about her problems, even with Applejack by her side. She had stood silently for the most part as AJ had explained her situation to Twilight. "We have to send somepony inside to get out the 'roots' so to speak," Twilight said simply. "Send somepony into the Amulet?" asked Applejack. "No. Into Trixie," replied the purple unicorn. Applejack face flushed as her mind filled with images best left unmentioned, "Wuh-wuh-what? Whaddaya mean by that exactly?" "Unicorns draw their magic from their emotional states. In order to enhance her magical abilities the Alicorn Amulet would have had to plant its roots there," Twilight had telekinetically dragged out an unassuming large chest that sat in the corner, opened it and began rummaging around in it. "You mean sending some pony into... the Great and Powerful Trixie's mind?" Trixie sounded alarmed. "Technically into your psyche," replied the town librarian cheerfully, "This is going to require some difficult and technical magic and I will need your help with it, Applejack." "Mah help? Twilight, Ah ain't much good with all that magical hullabaloo. How can Ah help you..." she felt herself blush again, "...go inside Trixie." "Oh, no. To perform a mental insertion will require all of my focus. So I was hoping that you would be the one to take the journey. We need a pony with an honest and open heart to offset any possible chance of accidentally spreading or aggravating the problem. I can't think of a finer candidate!" Twilight had removed a large dusty tome from the trunk and placed it next to some of the other strange objects she had already picked out. A jar of chalk pieces, a twisted ivory wand, an emerald pendant and crumpled reel of black silk thread. "Muh-muh-my heart might not be as pure as all that," stuttered Applejack, her ears still burning, "If anything Ah'm beginning to wonder if that whole element of honesty thing isn't some kind of mistake. Ah... Ah've been acting a real fool these past couple a days and Ah... are ya sure there isn't somepony else or some other way we-" "Trixie wants Applejack!" the two were silenced by Trixie's sudden outburst, "Trixie... Trixie doesn't want anypony but Applejack to do it," Trixie seemed as shocked to have heard herself speak out as anyone else. She quickly cast her eyes to the ground and pawed the library floor timidly, "Trixie doesn't want... just anypony barging around inside her head. Please?" AJ melted like butter before those puppydog eyes. Every time. "So its settled then?" Twilight grinned, always eager for an opportunity to help somepony else and for a chance to test her magical prowess, "Let's get started."