//------------------------------// // Going Under: The Great and Powerful Trixie // Story: Harpflank and Sweets: Forced Introspection // by Arcainum //------------------------------// The Great and Powerful Trixie’s ears perked as the voice of Twilight Sparkle filtered through the fine, magically-reinforced fabric of the large tent that was the only thing between Trixie and the blizzard outside. “Trixie, I’m not sure that maintaining consistent silicate levitation is going to do anything to affect my magical potential!” Trixie glanced up from the thick book she had borrowed from her fellow Element and peered at the shadow she could just about make out on the tent’s surface, blurred by the whirling snow. Twilight’s silhouette was upside down, standing precariously on its head, while a number of large round shapes hovered about it. Trixie breathed on her hooves and held them up to the candle burning warmly on her travel table and called out over the storm, “Oh, it certainly is! Unlocking the Element’s power requires... calm! Yes. And you must learn that calm through... concentration!” Twilight’s reply was uncertain but trusting. “Oh... ok! That makes sense! Concentrating!” Feeling slightly guilty, but only slightly, Trixie nodded to herself. She would let Twilight freeze for another hour or so, then tell her the training was over for the night and get her frustratingly intelligent protégé to help her with research. It was a source of constant irritation to Trixie that Twilight, it was plain to see, vastly outstripped her in magical talent. She had been prepared to deal with a student who matched her in intellect and power, but her Elemental partner had turned out to be a prodigy beyond anything she could have imagined. Trixie was no slouch, years of practice and proximity to Nightmare Moon having gifted her with significant prowess, but Twilight was in a league of her own. So Trixie had taken to just mildly tormenting her to pass the time as a half-hearted punishment for being better until her Element awakened naturally. She turned her attention back to the book, muttering quietly to herself as she tried to find her place. With an “Ah!” of triumph, she found what she was looking for after a few turned pages. Her hoof traced the stylised diagram of Celestia Tower, moving from the bottom, where her colleagues at ExTech had built their robot, to the top, which nopony had ever entered. She had once asked Luna what secrets the Tower held, but the Princess had merely shook Her head and said that some things ponies weren’t meant to know. But there were... patterns, she had realised. The way time passed. The way everything seemed to happen to the city. The way their lives were... paced. There was something strange about Metropony and everypony in it, something important, and she was certain that the secret lay in Celestia Tower. Her eye was drawn to something that she had never seen in any representation of the Tower yet. At the very tip of the Tower, at its thinnest point, was a tiny glyph, blurred with the age of the book and what could very well have been intentional damage. The glyph was in the shape of a square, with a smaller rectangle beneath. The rectangle was filled with tiny squares. Trixie leaned closer, squinting. Was that...? It... couldn’t be. “A ke-” Before she could follow the train of thought any further, the book slammed shut of its own accord. She yelped in surprise and pulled her hoof away, glancing about the tent to no avail. Something tweaked her hat and a voice she had only ever heard described whispered, “Ah, The Great and Powerful Trixie. The question is... are you?”