Trixie pulled her cart along as a book floated in front of her, her eyes sliding left and right in reading motions. "Mmm." The cart was less of a problem than usual with her slightly enhanced strength drawing it along, even if the swinging of her new arms was a new experience. "Mmm..."

"Trixie?" Garou loped up to her side, watching her and her floating book. "Got a moment?"

"I'm trying to fix this, puppy."

Garou quirked an ear back. "Puppy, really? I'm larger than any other Equestrian dog I've run into so far."

"You're not larger than Cerberus," countered Trixie with a smirk. "What's on your mind?"

"You, mostly." His tongue lolled a bit as he walked alongside her, tail wagging firmly behind him. The sand indented beneath them, walking with the caravan away from Kludgetown, as successful as that stop had been.

"It is only natural that your thoughts would drift to somepony as Great and Powerful as me." She put a hoof to her chest, a smug smile on her face. "But you'll need to be more specific than that. What about Trixie specifically has captivated your thoughts?"

"I like the look." He darted between her trotting legs, tail brushing her belly as he scurried to her other side. "It's really... cool, for lack of better word."

"Cool?" Trixie hiked a brow before her smug smile returned. "Of course it's cool, and fantastic." She nudged the book away, floating along, as she looked to Garou. "I must admit I am a little surprised. What about Trixie's Great and Powerful form pleases you most?"

"You have the pony parts." He tossed his head at her powerful equine frame. "Topped by a more biped part." His vision raised to her upper half, hooved arms swinging. "I like it, a lot. Can you show me?"

"Show you?" Trixie frowned a little. "You seem to be looking without any assistance from me. Show you what, exactly?"

"How to do it." Garou reared up on his hind legs as they became his only legs, his forepaws becoming hands and his frame swelling in size with a low growl. "I like hands." He spread out his furry fingers. "But I like speed and power, and you have both going on right there."

"Trixie has no fingers," she countered. "But she could, if she wanted them, which she does not." She turned up her nose at the idea. "Why would Trixie want those when she has magic?"

"I'm not a unicorn," Garou reminded with a feral smile. "So fingers are the next best thing."

"Pity for you." She waggled a hoof at him, her magic bringing the book back in front of her. "Trixie is not going to give lessons while we walk. That sounds twice as tiring and I'm not in the mood. Besides, you don't do unicorn magic."

"No..." He looped back around her, darting between her and the wagon. "I have my own magic, but if you show me yours, maybe I can figure it out?"

"You think?" She lifted her shoulders, both of them. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything. At least, nothing of mine. You may twist yourself in a pretzel, but that would be a 'you' problem for sure."

"What are you two talking about?" Luna landed lightly atop the wagon Trixie was pulling.

Trixie glared over her shoulder. "I'm pulling that, you realize."

"You seem to be doing just fine." Luna nodded softly. "And this vantage point provides a fine viewing of the caravan. Now, what were you discussing?"

Garou flexed his fingers, curling them and uncurling them in fidgets. "Just doing what you taught me. I'm trying to get better at using what I have creatively."

"Have you mastered shaping shields?"

Trixie perked an ear. "Shields come in spheres. what other shape would you make?"

Luna rolled her eyes before settling them on Garou. "Did you forget so quickly?" She pointed a metal-clad hoof at him. "He began making flat walls at first, though I think we've broken that limitation at least?"

Thrusting a furry arm forward, his hand clenched at a grip that wasn't there, but became there a moment later, his shield popping into being out from that grip to form a stout curved shield. "I didn't forget." He raised the shield up and it folded downwards, growing over his form in a shell of metal-colored magic. "All around, just like you showed."

"That is better," complimented Luna, bringing her hooves together in a soft polite clapping. "But you can do so much more. Now, tell me what trick you are attempting to learn from Trixie?"

Trixie inclined her head and horn towards her floating book. "He's trying to learn Trixie's tricks. I should be offended." She didn't sound very offended. "He wants to replicate my latest Great and Powerful show."

Luna blinked softly. "He wants to... that?" She wobbled a hoof at Trixie's bizarre anatomy.

"With hands." His shield vanished, revealing his spread fingers, claws curled dangerously. "The power and stability of a wolf and the hands of a..."

"A..." Luna leaned forward from her perch. "You certainly do like your secrets, do you not. Go on. The hands of a...?"

"It's not important." He fell to all fours, loping away as a smaller wolf instead of the considerable wolfman he was a moment prior.

Trixie quirked an ear back at Luna. "You chased him away quite well. Did he bother you?"

"I am genuinely curious... So he wants to become as you are now?" Luna jumped down from the wagon, landing beside Trixie and walking with her. "Go ahead and teach him, if you can. I would see the full reach of his abilities, when he abandons the idea that there are limits to it. When we find what he cannot do, then we will know the measure of it."

Trixie reached up with her hoof to adjust her hat. "You know, there are times when having these extra arms comes in handy." She seemed entirely ignorant of the pun she slung. "I will show him as best I can, but he's not a unicorn, so Trixie promises nothing."

"Your attempt is all I ask." Luna gently touched side to side with Trixie. "Thank you." She spread her wings and took to the air, soaring over the caravan line.

"Busy day."

Trixie jumped in place. Celestia had come up on her seemingly out of nowhere. "Trixie is very popular today, it seems." She paused a moment, raising a hoof to her chin. "Just the way it should be. How can I help you?"

"I was more thinking of how I could help you." Celestia looked Trixie's form top to bottom and back. "Are you alright? I don't want you to think I don't care. If I can help..."

Trixie opened her mouth, a scowl on her face and ready to tell Celestia off, but it faltered. "I... thank you. That's..." She smirked suddenly. "I can see how you remained princess for so long. You know how to put ponies at ease."

"It is a learned talent." Celestia smiled gently. "But I am speaking plainly. I will help in any way I can, Trixie. I do not want any companion of mine, which you are, to suffer, especially if I can do something about it."

"Thank... you." Trixie coughed into a hoof softly. "Also, I am going to point out that it's strange being at eye level with you."

Celestia snorted softly, her smile growing. "It is a delight to meet your vision, but only if that is what you want. You know, I do remember when you were in my school."

Trixie's cheeks lit up bright red. "You do?! You... ignored me the entire time. When I left, I thought you couldn't have cared less."

"Oh... no... No no... Never that." She glanced away, walking in silence for a few moments. "There was a time," she resumed quietly. "There was a time I was considering approaching you, much like I had Twilight..."

Trixie's ears perked right up, her hat dancing with the movement. "Really?! You are joking to Trixie now and it is a cruel joke."

"I would never." Celestia held a hoof over her heart. "You had... the spark, but there was so much in the way, and your magic--"

"Was Great and Powerful even then!" she crooned, straightening her stance.

"Was energetic, but undisciplined," corrected Celestia. "It also lacked refinement and scope. You were, and are, a talented stage magician, but you had no interest in expanding your abilities beyond that. Magic classes bored you."

Trixie sagged a bit as she walked. "They were boring. You made them. Why were they so boring?"

"There is no shortcut to learning magic." A timid smile creeped back onto Celestia's face. "I did what I could, and it wasn't enough to reach you, and for that I am very sorry. But... now you work more advanced magic, and it... it reminds me. Who reached you, Trixie Lulamoon? Who succeeded where I failed?"

Quiet grew between them, Trixie looking forward and fidgeting her hooves as she walked. Having extra hooves meant she could worry them together and still walk at full speed. "I... made a friend. A... dear... stupid... friend... I left her behind, stupid Starlight."

"Starlight? Starlight Glimmer?" She leaned in a little. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" Trixie stomped her lower left hoof in the sand as she marched. "We just had... a disagreement, is all. This is why Trixie has time to come waste her time with you and your sister and turn herself into a freak and--" She suddenly stopped, something settling over her cloaked back.

Celestia had wrapped a wing gently over Trixie and stepped in, holding the showmare gently. "I am so sorry, but saying that will solve nothing. When you are ready, please, come talk to me. I will gladly listen to all you have to say and lend what hoof I may." She smiled radiantly. "I would ask, what did you learn? You seem far more ready to perform magic beyond stage illusions."

"I am both Great and Powerful. It just took some personal tutelage from a Stupid but Helpful friend to show her how to reach even further." She thrust a hoof high, a grin on her face. "Once I got transformations and teleportation down, it felt like I could learn any magic I wanted with a little work."

"Transformations?!" Celestia took a step away, her wings folding. "Teleportation? Those are both high level and frighteningly dangerous techniques I would never teach to--"

Trixie thrust one of her extra hooves at Celestia. "And this is why you lost me. Starlight, for all her flaws, trusted me to get it right, or fail on my own terms. She... She had faith in me..." She shook her head suddenly, shaking away the tears before they could finish emerging. "She gave me the tools and I began to use them. Now I can weave magic as never before." She threw her new hooves wide.

"Most impressive... But I see sometimes it doesn't quite go according to plan."

"Yes... of course... When you try New and Bold things, sometimes things will go awry, but you learn from your mistakes, and become Greater and Powerfuller." She snorted softly, tail lashing at the air. "Tell me you've never messed up your own magic ever and I will know you are a liar."

"I never said that." Celestia looked around conspiratorially. "If you agree to whisper your secrets to me, I can share a few choice tidbits in return. It's only fair."

Oh the magnificent smile that spread on Trixie's face. Celestia-grade gossip? Even she was tempted as such things. "Perhaps I will take you up on that. Tomorrow. Today, we walk, then I have a wolf to try to show unicorn tricks to. Who knows, perhaps he will surprise both of us and figure it out. I'll at least try."

"At least that," she gently agreed, a hint of regret in her voice.

Author's Note

Onwards, woo! Kludgetown is behind us, adventure is ahead of us!

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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