Heart of Stone
Chapter Sixty Two: Departure
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Later that evening back at home, Maud and Trixie were finally preparing for bed. Trixie found her thoughts being drawn continuously towards what Maud had said about Pinkie’s mind reading abilities. If Trixie had been procrastinating about telling Maud that she too could read minds before, then she was now terrified of letting Maud in on that little secret. If only simple fixes to problems actually existed in this world then Trixie would be quiet pleased.
Trixie slipped off her jacket and examined it for a second, much to her shock there was no evidence of any spider bites on her jacket. Red Velvet must’ve fixed her jacket. Trixie tossed the jacket into the closet. A sudden and sharp intake of air from Maud made Trixie turn quickly to see what was wrong. Maud simply stared at Trixie, her eyes were slightly more open than normal and she stared with her mouth agape at Trixie. Trixie had a frightful suspicion as to what it was that Maud was looking at.
Trixie’s shoulders now had dark circular patches of fur, right where the spiders had sunk their fangs into her. Trixie couldn’t stare at the marks for long without feeling ashamed of them, and instead she decided to look at Maud. Trixie opened her mouth but stopped, she could tell Maud about the spiders but she knew that she couldn’t tell her about Red Velvet, if she even considered the idea she might forget her new unicorn friend yet again. Trixie braced herself to lie to Maud if necessary.
“What happened to your back,” Maud asked flatly.
“I was bitten by some spiders when I was in the Everfree, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m okay though. They didn’t hurt me too bad,” Trixie said with a false smile.
Maud stared in silence for a moment and finally said, “You are not allowed to go into that forest alone again.”
That was a problem because Trixie had to go into the forest or else she would not be able to meet up with Red. It also didn’t help that Maud was trying to control her, although Trixie could understand the reason behind it, that didn’t make it much better. Trixie walked to the bed and climbed under the covers.
“You can’t tell me what to do. I know you’re worried about me, but that doesn’t mean you can control me, Maud,” Trixie said quietly.
There was nothing but silence for a moment as Maud crawled into bed next to Trixie. Trixie squirmed with delight as Maud wrapped a foreleg around her waist and said, “I’m sorry. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”
Trixie let out a sigh. “I know, and I’m sorry that I got hurt again. I’ll try my best to not get hurt again in the future…”
Maud’s hoof began sliding down Trixie’s belly, but after everything that happened today Trixie just didn’t feel up to it. She grabbed Maud’s hoof and said, “Not tonight, honey. I… I’m not feeling up to it.”
Maud’s hoof slid back up and held tightly around her chest. “Okay… Good night, Lulu”
“Good night, Maud,” Trixie replied.
It didn’t take long before the darkness of sleep smothered Trixie, dragging her into the depths of her subconscious.
***
Stone halls of crumbling stone decorated in ancient runes stretched on for miles. Bits and pieces of old rotting wooden furniture, or intact pieces of stone worked chairs and tables were strewn about the halls. Every now and then a pony skeleton could be seen poking out from underneath some of the rubble. These halls were long since dead and silent.
Trixie walked alongside one of her schoolmates, a particularly tall white unicorn named Moon Dancer. Together the two of them walked down these cold, empty corridors. Moon Dancer continued to stare out from underneath her red mane at Trixie. Finally Trixie had enough of being stared at and stopped dead in her tracks, looked straight at Moon Dancer, and said, “What is it?”
“I… um… well if you don’t mind I uh… nevermind,” Moon Dancer said nervously.
Trixie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Trixie is very busy trying to find the other members of our group. What is it that you want?”
“I… I wanted to ask you to go to the um… nevermind.”
Trixie stomped her hoof in frustration making the shy unicorn jump back. “Tell Trixie what it is that you want.”
“Dance, with me, will you go?” Moon Dancer spat out almost faster then Trixie could understand.
Trixie was speechless for a moment before realizing that Moon Dancer was asking her to go to the high school dance with her. Trixie smiled pridefully and said, “Trixie is honored that you would wish to take her, but Trixie has her eyes set on another unicorn. Trixie suggests that you ask Twilight instead.”
Moon Dancer’s eyes darted to the side and she said, “But… Twilight is um… she likes me doesn’t she?”
Trixie nodded and said, “Yes, and I like Candle Light.”
“But Candle Light likes Twilight… isn’t that a um… a conundrum?” Moon Dancer asked quietly.
Trixie let out another sigh. “Yes this has been vexing for us. It is like one of those terrible love triangles from romance novels.”
“Um… isn’t it more like a love square?” Moon Dancer asked shyly.
Before Trixie could respond the sounds of hooves clip clopping from the down the hall and drew their attention. Two more unicorns were trotting towards them, a teal mare with a mane of white and blue was on the left. Next to her was another unicorn, slightly taller with a dark blue fur coat and a mane of silver with a dark blue streak. The two of them looked rather anxious.
“Lyra, Minuette,” Trixie greeted as the two of them trotted right past.
“You might want to follow us,” Minuette said quickly.
A wave of dust appeared from where the two unicorns had come down from, and the wave quickly washed over the four unicorns. Trixie coughed violently a few times while cursing her luck before she heard the loud groan of rusted metal. Two glowing eyes appeared in the distance and seemed to look directly at Trixie.
It didn’t take anymore convincing then that for all four of the unicorns to begin galloping away at full speed. They needed to find Twilight Sparkle and Candle Light, and they needed to find them now!
***
The four frightened ponies galloped at an ever quickening pace. They moved with purpose and direction as they wound around the corridors. They knew where Twilight and Candle Light were hold up, and they were going to get their fearless leader at any cost. The sounds of metal slamming hard against the stone floors caused their hearts to skip with each succeeding step.
The four entered a large chamber filled with old dusty tables and knocked over chairs. Twilight Sparkle stood staring at the four ponies her eyes wide. Alongside her stood Candle Light who stared fearfully at the group’s frantic entrance.
Twilight quickly shook herself alert and spoke loudly, “Okay everypony, time to enact plan b. Trixie, use your magic to make Minuette invisible.”
“Invisible?” Trixie questioned, she didn’t know that spell, the most she could do was camouflage Minuette. Hopefully that would be good enough.
“Minuette, get that hammer ready,” Twilight shouted while jumping on top of a table. “Moon Dancer, get behind me. Lyra , start playing some music.”
A beautiful melody began playing throughout the room and Trixie saw Lyra with her lyre out. Lyra used her hooves to play the instrument rather than using her telekinesis which always stood out as being strange to Trixie, but with how wonderful her music was, Trixie couldn’t really complain.
Along with the music came a new found strength in Trixie’s heart and she quickly turned around. Trixie’s horn began glowing and Minuette disappeared from sight. Candle Light joined by Twilight’s side and together they stood on top of a table waiting for the monster that was coming for them all to arrive. Moon Dancer quickly hid behind Twilight’s table, her fearful eyes just barely visible behind her long mane. Trixie joined next to Moon Dancer.
The loud sounds of metal screeching and scraping against stone came to an ear piercing volume before the dust cloud arrived inside the chamber. A large shadow with two red glowing eyes walked in on all fours. Twilight’s horn began glowing and a sudden whirlwind swept the room clear of the dust cloud.
A giant mechanical dog stood in front of them, long blade like claws hung down from its now rusted paws. Its jaw hung open showcasing two rows of deadly sharp and crimson stained teeth. It scanned the room with its eyes and settled on staring right at Twilight. Twilight just smiled and nodded. The creature leapt forward.
In an instant the air next to the monster shimmered and shattered as a blue ethereal hammer swung down into the creatures skull casing sending it into the ground hard with bits of metal splintering off in every direction. Although only half its size in height Minuette stood proudly with a glowing hammer the length of her body floating next to her. Twilight Sparkle unleashed a lightning bolt from her horn and struck the mechanical creatures head. The creature tried to stand again but the effort only earned it another blow from Minuette’s fearsome hammer.
Twilight looked around and scoffed. “Were you fillies really running around this old place, scared out of your wits, because of that thing?”
***
The next week went by far too quickly for Trixie. She had spent time visiting her mother every day, but with no improvement in her condition Trixie’s heart was sinking. Pinkie Pie and Maud had an awkward relationship for a while but it was quickly repairing itself. Trixie watched as Spike had grown a few more inches in height, and how Twilight was actually accepting it. The snow had settled down to stay in Ponyville. Now that the day for Maud’s trip had finally arrived Trixie was growing nervous.
Trixie stood at the train station with Maud. The sky was covered in white fluffy clouds; it looked like it was going to snow again today. Maud was stiff and Trixie could feel the anxiety flowing off of her. Trixie nuzzled Maud’s neck a little while saying, “It’s going to be fine.”
Maud relaxed a little. “I know. I already talked to Pinkie Pie about this and she agreed. If you need to have sex you can do it with Pinkie. I’ll be home in a week… and thanks again for letting me go on this trip. I love rocks.”
“I know you do, honey,” Trixie said.
“And I love you,” Maud said quietly before lifting up Trixie’s head with a gentle hoof and planting a soft kiss upon Trixie’s lips.
Trixie’s face began to heat up and she replied, “I love you too.”
The train’s doors hissed open and with an uneasy start Maud walked aboard the train. Trixie could only watch in silence as the trains doors closed afterwards and then took off. A deepening sense of loneliness filled Trixie as she watched the train disappear into the horizon. The snow chose that exact moment to start flaking down around Trixie, thankfully she had been wearing her jacket almost none stop since the first day that it snowed. A few tears made their way down Trixie’s face and she wiped them away with a foreleg before turning to leave.
Fluttershy stood behind her with a kind and gentle smile. Trixie returned the smile and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, um, I just heard that Maud was leaving today. I, um, wanted to say good bye but I guess she’s gone?” Fluttershy asked.
Trixie nodded and Fluttershy’s smile grew but quickly vanished a second later as she said, “Oh, I missed her… I’m sorry.”