//------------------------------// // Chapter One Hundred and Six: The Real Monster // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter One Hundred and Six: The Real Monster Written by TheCrimsonDM “Did you say, Ursa Minor?” Rarity asked. For a third time the terrible roar echoed across the village. Every muscle in Trixie’s body told her to turn tail and run, to grab Maud and Valiant and head for the hills. She turned around with that exact intent, but stopped when she saw the fear in Rarity’s eyes. “My sister’s at home,” Rarity said. Trixie looked back through the snow at the giant shape moving on the other side of town. With Twilight out of commission it was supposed to fall on Applejack to lead her friends. When Applejack wasn’t there, Trixie wasn’t sure who was next in line for leader. “Trixie,” Rarity said, her voice sounded so tiny. “What should we do?” Trixie frowned. This was not something she was prepared for. She didn’t want to do this again. The last time she took charge of a situation; she died! She couldn’t put Maud and Valiant through that. Dying was simply not an option. “Please, Trixie. I- I don’t know what to do,” Rarity said. “Darn it!” Trixie said with a stomp. “I didn’t want to do this.” Trixie looked at Rarity and nodded toward the living room. “Leave Twilight in Maud’s care. She’s really good at taking care of crazy ponies, I should know. Next grab Spike and go get your sister, and your friends. When that’s done, come back here, and if at all possible make your way to Sweet Apple Acres. That place is huge and far enough away that it shouldn’t be in the way.” She grabbed her father’s sword and slung it around her side. Once before this very sword had been used to kill an ursa major, it could surely do so again. Injured leg, tired muscles, and an exhausted supply of magic; this was a recipe for failure. “What are you doing?” Rarity asked. “I’m going to keep him busy. Don’t worry, I’m the pony who vanquished the ursa major of Hoofington, remember?” Trixie said. “Lulu,” Maud called out. Trixie walked out the door. “Keep Val safe!” She shut the door behind her and focused her will. It was already dark outside, as the sun was swallowed by the snow storm, so there was no question as to whether it would work or not. Trixie melted into the shadows and flew in the direction of the ursa minor. What in Celestia’s glorious plot am I doing? This is going to get me killed, but if I don’t do it, nopony will. Who else is better to distract a giant killing machine than I, the Great and Powerful Trixie? Twilight Sparkle, Luna, Celestia, heck even Rainbow Dash might be better suited for this task. That doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it just means it will be harder. Life’s always been hard on me though, and I don’t know why I expected it to quit now. But if life won’t quit, than neither will I! Here I come ursa minor. In this mode of transit it was much easier for Trixie to feel the presence of ponies around her, but it wasn’t just ponies, she felt the animals, the plants, and the huge power coming from the beast. There was something else there as well. She felt its frozen heart. She’d felt it somewhere before. Just as Trixie approached the ursa minor, she popped out of the shadows and continued trotting toward it. Its translucent blue fur shined many different constellations, but there was something new. Ice had formed like armor around it’s legs and parts of its back, chest and face. The creature’s pale yellow eyes looked down at her, and narrowed. To either side of it, Trixie could see a few ruined houses. This beast was surely having its fill of fun here. She could feel it. It was so cold, its body burned from the frost. Not only that, it also remembered her, it remembered what she did in her vain attempts to stop it in the past. This creature had not forgotten and it certainly hadn’t forgiven her. It wanted to take its pain out on her. The creature loosed a mighty roar that shook the glass windows of the houses still standing around it. With one giant paw it smashed another one of the houses. Half of the house was gone in an instant. Seeing the utter destruction of the building stunned her. She looked around at the various buildings that had been destroyed already, and quickly realized just how dumb of a plan this really was. Even with a magic sword, and control over the darkness itself, she did not dare to think she could actually take on an ursa anything. Her body began to shake. “Oh little, Trixie. Shaking in your boots like the pansy you always were,” A cruel and malicious mare said from above her. Trixie looked up, and in the air she saw somepony she never expected to see again; Frailty! Frailty stood on the back of a giant winged beast made entirely of solid ice. She had been changed. A glowing blue gem was fused to the mare’s chest, and her legs had become white as snow with bright blue veins running up them. Her eyes glowed a pale blue in the darkness. “How’s that filly? What was her name again? Play Thing right? Or was Trash Heap?” Frailty said. The ursa was quickly forgotten. Trixie lashed out with a dark tendril, appearing from the shadows beneath her. The tendril got close but Frailty sucked in a breath of cold air, and vomited snow down onto it. The shadowy spell disappeared underneath the snow. Trixie leapt back as the snow landed into a mushy pile in front of her. Frailty laughed. “Don’t worry, Ten. I’m going to be sure to show that gray mutt you’re bucking the same kind of treatment that I gave to that filly. I might even let the windigo have a try,” Frailty said. That was the final straw. Trixie had had enough of this crap, and she was going to end the mare then and there. Her questions about how the mare survived, or how she got those powers were all pushed away. All that Trixie cared about was making sure that the mare paid for everything she’d done, and stop her from doing it ever again. Scath’s voice rang true inside Trixie’s skull shouting, “FLY!” After abandoning the jacket, Trixie’s open spread open as if prepared to lay waste to this frigid mud eater. With one powerful flap, and a leap of faith, Trixie flew into the air. Seeing the surprised look upon Frailty’s face was something that Trixie enjoyed. As Trixie flapped her wings, and picked up speed, she drew her blade with her telekinesis. Frailty sucked in some more air, but Trixie was prepared for that already. Channeling the magic in her horn into a flamethrower, Frailty attempted to vomit more snow, but it met the flames and melted. Then the sword pierced Frailty’s chest, just above the gem. The mare looked down, seeing the sword protruding from her body. She smiled, and coughed up blue glowing sludge. “You really are an idiot,” Frailty said. “My magic is all that’s hold the beast back. Now…” She pushed Trixie away, the sword slid free from her chest and Trixie watched as the mare knelt down on top of her icy bird. “…It’s going to kill you!” Trixie fell back to the earth as her wings gave up. All she could do was watch as the icy bird flew away, Frailty laughing and coughing up blood as they vanished into the storm. Trixie hit the snow with her back and for a moment everything went black. She was cold, her wings were starting to hurt along with a new pain in her horn. She could feel the cold steel of her father’s sword lying on her leg, but made no attempts to move it. Frailty is alive? That sword didn’t even worry her, and I stabbed her through the chest! What… what the Tartarus happened to her? The following roar snapped her out of the daze. Something was wrong with the sound of it, it wasn’t just enraged, but Trixie couldn’t quite place what was wrong. She pushed herself up, snow came down around her as she pulled herself out of the snow pile and she shook her mane free of the stuff. The ursa was slamming its paws down into the buildings around it. Home after home was demolished by the thing’s rampage. She picked up her father’s blade. Trixie walked out of the snow, and back onto more solid ground. She looked up at the ursa minor. Her flash of rage was beginning to give way to the bitter fear inside of her heart, but she clung to the hope that she could stop this thing. At least long enough to make sure other ponies got away. Trixie gave a mighty whistle and watched as the ursa stopped in its tracks. With two pale yellow eyes, stained with red it glared at her. This was good, scary sure, but good. She needed it to pay attention to her. “You smelly beast, you think you can get away with destroying the town like this?” Trixie asked. The creature pawed at the earth, its large claws tearing up the road. Trixie took a few steps back. It took one giant step forward and raised its paw. Trixie barely managed to meld into the shadows and flee as its paw came crashing back down. Snow exploded behind Trixie’s shadow just as she popped out and took off in a full gallop. Pushing through the pain, Trixie galloped for her life. She could hear the crashing sounds of the beast’s paws chasing after her, and feel the earth tremble with each massive step. It had only been a few years since Trixie had last faced off against this ursa minor, and she had to admit he sure looked and felt a lot bigger than before. She rounded the corner, and saw both Snips and Snails standing there staring at her. They waved and cheered for her, but Trixie didn’t have time to play their insane games. She slid to a stop in the snow. “Hey, Trixie, are you gonna defeat the ursa major this time?” Snails asked. “Yeah we can’t… wait are you an alicorn?” Snips asked. He pointed a hoof at Trixie’s bare wings. Trixie swung the sword round and pointed it at them. “If you two don’t run away now, I’m going to spank you with the sharp end of this blade!” The two looked at each other, than at her. Trixie caught a glimpse of the ursa minor rounding the corner behind her. She reared up. “NOW!” The two turned and fled down one of the roads. Trixie picked a different road and galloped off. This time she didn’t have to pray that the beast would follow her, because this time she knew the monster had a personal vendetta against her. Trixie passed by a few groups of ponies all gathered together into small herds. As she flew by, she shouted for them to run. With a giant monstrous bear creature on her tail, it didn’t take much convincing to make them listen. Her muscles burned and her bad leg was screaming for her to stop and rest. When she finally reached the park she galloped in and hid behind one of the trees. The storm’s intensity had increased, large clumps of snow were stuck to her fur, but thanks to the exercise she wasn’t cold. Thankfully, between the low visibility and the tree, she’d be hard to spot. While the ursa minor made his way into the park, Trixie held as still as she could, but she just couldn’t stop shaking. It wasn’t the adrenaline making her tremble so, it was the terror. She couldn’t stop thinking about what the ursa would do once it found her. The ursa stomped and smashed several of the trees around him. Though he had yet to find Trixie behind her tree, it was only a matter of time. Just as she was beginning to think of a way to escape, she noticed something that changed her entire situation. A group of mares were hiding underneath one of the benches. Rainbow Dash was on top of them, sheltering them as best she could with her wings. She looked on with determined eyes staring straight at Trixie. Underneath her wings Trixie could make out an orange headed earth pony, and on the other side was a gray unicorn filly. Rainbow Dash was mouthing something, but Trixie couldn’t read her lips from this far. So she did the next best thing and reached out with her mind and read Rainbow’s thoughts. ”Get them to safety.” Not being one to start an argument in the middle of a blizzard with an Ursa Minor running around, Trixie quickly dashed through the snow up to the bench. The second she got there Rainbow Dash climbed out from under the bench and shook the snow from her wings. She looked toward the Ursa Minor with a such strong determination that Trixie was filled with hope. She had done her part, she had kept the ursa busy, and now the cavalry had arrived. A hero stood before her, with rainbow mane and violet eyes, Trixie couldn’t help but to admire Rainbow’s strength. If only she could be that strong. “Take Carrot Top and Dinky to safety, I’ll take care of the ursa this time, Trixie,” Rainbow Dash said with a wicked grin. She looked right at Trixie. “I have something a little better than fireworks up my sleeve.” Before Trixie could even react, Rainbow Dash took off in a gallop, leapt into the air and flew awkwardly toward the ursa. it surprised Trixie that Rainbow Dash remembered the time Trixie had tried to fight an ursa major, and failed of course. She was right, fireworks were no match for a creature like this. With Rainbow Dash flying circles around the beast, Trixie lifted the bench up with her magic and helped the two ponies out. they quickly began trotting in the opposite direction of the battle. Trixie could hardly believe that she had survived long enough for one of the competent ponies to come by and save her. Then they all heard the sickening crunch. Followed by the most disturbing scream Trixie had ever heard. Together the three of them looked back at the ursa, and a planet sized weight dropped inside of Trixie’s chest. She saw Rainbow Dash screaming, bloody spittle flying from her mouth as she pounded down on the ursa’s nose with her hooves. The lower half of Rainbow’s body had disappeared inside the ursa’s closed mouth. “NO!” Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs. The ursa flicked his head and released Rainbow Dash’s body into the air. Rainbow Dash’s body hit the snow, and rolled a few times before stopping. The only thing Trixie could do was stare at the limp body of one of her oldest and dearest friends. There was a small movement from Rainbow Dash’s leg. Trixie let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and looked back at the other ponies. “You two get her out of here!” Trixie demanded. she didn’t wait for an answer as she charged forward. the ursa had tried to take one of her friends from her, and now it was going to pay. It was up to her, and her alone to stop this thing before it did anything more. Determined not lose her friend, she looked inside herself and found the dark power within. She could use her own fear as a weapon. The dark power inside of her surged, and just like that, the cold no longer mattered. As she galloped the shadows reached up, curled around her wings and her legs, and most of her body. The shadows grew solid and became a suit of black armor covering her; somehow it almost looked as though the suit was emitting darkness around her.  Or rather, it was sucking in light. She looked up at the ursa minor, and met it’s stare. She pointed her sword forward, and the fear she felt slowly evaporated. Instead she focused on the anger she had for being unable to be better than this, for only being able to stand in the way of her enemies and keep them from hurting her loved ones. That anger flowed through her, and gave her the strength to end this. The creature charged her in return. Just before they met, it opened its mouth large and wide. Teeth stained red. Trixie fell into the shadows beneath it as it bit into the snow drenched earth. She leapt out of the shadows not a second later, directly underneath the beast and drew a line across its belly. Dark black slime seeped out. When she landed a paw came swiping at her, she dodged underneath it. She galloped behind the ursa and away. It turned to follow her. Although she could still sense her leg was still in bad shape, she no longer felt the pain. It was almost as though her armor was muting the pain for her. Just as they reached the end of the park, Trixie stopped, and flapped her wings hard. She flew for a second time, and continued soaring into the air. The wind beat her around, but she didn’t need to go steady, she just needed to go up. A particularly strong gust of wind knocked her head over hoof and she tumbled toward the ursa minor. It raised its paw and Trixie raised her sword. Trixie attempted to melt into the shadows mid air, but the spell simply didn’t work. It occurred to her that there were no shadows to melt into, or at least not any that were substantial enough for her to fit in. The paw smashed into her! Her body was flung off to the side. When she hit the snow covered earth she tumbled and rolled, and for several long seconds she thought she would never stop. When she did finally quit moving her leg felt wrong. She looked at it, and noted that it was bent in the wrong direction. At first she tried to push herself up, but although she wasn’t feeling any pain, her body refused to listen. Scath’s voice whispered into her mind. “We can do this, just use the dorchadas. With it, even the ursa won’t stand a chance against us.” If her body wasn’t going to listen to her, then the shadows would. Trixie called out to them, and made them bow to her will. The shadows reached up and crawled up her legs. For one brief and wonderful moment she felt power unlike any she had ever felt before. The shadows fused to her skin, turning the fur on her legs navy blue. She felt her mane whip itself right out of the ponytail. Black streaks grew along her mane and tail. Finally she rose to her full height. Thankfully her sword was nearby, she grabbed it. The ursa was now barreling down on where Rainbow Dash had fallen. The earth pony mare, and the unicorn were next to her, staring in paralyzed shock at the monster. If Trixie didn’t hurry the thing was going to finish off her friend and a couple of innocent ponies. Trixie wanted that power, more than life itself she wanted that power so she could stop this menace and protect her friends. She called out to the dark power inside of her, to the Dorchadas, and found power unlike any she’d felt before. Time seemed to slow down as another voice, a familiar filly’s voice spoke to her, it was Dream Weaver.  “Be careful of the power you are using. For if you are reckless, it will destroy you. Stay strong and fight back, Guardian.” Reinvigorated, she leapt into the air, and even the turbulent wind was no match for her magical prowess. The wind stood still all around her, as she sailed faster than she could have imagined possible toward the ursa. She aimed her sword well and flew underneath him, cutting at his forelegs. The ursa stood for only a moment before its forelegs gave out and it fell onto its chest. It gave out a terrible cry and snapped at the hovering form of the Great and Powerful Trixie. she was no longer scared of it. With the new magic flowing through her, more than just feeling the tingly sensation of the magic all around her, she could actually see the magic. Ley lines of magic spun all around her, controlling the storm. The lines danced like bright blue ribbons through the air. The ley lines all inevitably tied back to the star on the monster’s forehead. It’s source of power. The creature stared up at her, but for a brief moment she did not see the anger and hatred it held. She saw pain in its eyes. Even with what it had just done, she couldn’t help but to pity the beast, it was a strong creature indeed, but nowhere near a match for the Great and Powerful Trixie. There was a flash of something small and yellow behind a tree, she swore she could hear somepony shouting. That didn’t matter though, for now it was time to end this battle, once and for all. Trixie plunged her sword deep into its skull, piercing the star and breaking the magic. The sword came back covered in black goo. The ley lines came apart and like ashes were swept away by the last mighty gust of wind. With the magic gone, and the beast dead; the skies cleared up. The snow ceased and what was left fell to the earth silently. The afternoon sun shone brilliantly across all of Ponyville. Trixie landed on her hooves, wiped the sword clean against the fallen beast’s fur and returned it to its sheath. She turned; ready to help Rainbow Dash, but what she saw paralyzed her. At least half the town's ponies stood at the edge of the park. Some of them had improvised weapons, others had torches. All of them looked just as confused as Trixie felt. Snips and Snails stood at the front with big grins on their faces. “We thought you might be in trouble,” Snips said. “So we brought the town to help,” Snails finished. Trixie shook her head, and the thought knocked her onto her butt. Snips and Snails brought backup, for me? Most of the ponies quickly dropped their tools and simply stared at Trixie and the fallen giant behind her. The magic inside of her left in an instant, and the shadows that had fused to her legs and mane vanished. She felt so cold inside. Returned to her normal alicorn self, armor aside, all she could do was stare down at herself attempting to figure out what had just happened. That power, that voice in her head, what did it mean by calling her a Guardian? Then the pain returned.  She cringed, her entire body hurt, but the pain served to remind her of what was really important here. She nodded toward the fallen form of Rainbow Dash and said, “Somepony help her, she’s dying!” Several ponies, Timequill included, trotted up to Rainbow Dash and the others. It was hard enough to simply keep her eyes open through the pain, talking was beyond what she felt capable of. So when Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all trotted up to her she couldn’t say anything. “What in Tartarus happened here?” Applejack asked. Trixie couldn’t concentrate enough to answer her. The pain was simply too much for simple things to bother her. “Is Rainbow Dash going to be okay? You saved her right? With that… power,  can all alicorns change like that?” Rarity asked. Pinkie Pie simply frowned. Trixie didn’t care about what they were saying. She felt cold. A deep hollow had been carved into her heart, and where warmth and love was supposed to be, all Trixie could find was crushing loneliness. When Fluttershy landed a few yards away, she felt a slight warmth return to her chest. Despite all that she’d been through with the pegasus in the past, she could not deny the simple fact that she still cared for her. She tried to smile for Fluttershy, at least until she saw Fluttershy’s face. Eyes narrowed, teeth bared including the single fang, and steam coming out of her nostrils as she snorted. Fluttershy looked like a completely different mare. “You… killed… him,” Fluttershy said, every word fell like hot cinders from a fireplace. The look that Fluttershy gave her had her frozen in her place. Trixie’s mind didn’t work, it was like somepony had simply flipped the off switch in her mind. A deep fear, unlike anything she had ever felt swelled up inside her chest, it was comparable to when she met the ursa major, but somehow worse because it was her friend scaring her. “I, uh, I mean, um, it was, you know, trying to kill me,” Trixie stammered. Fluttershy marched toward her. “He was crying out in pain for his mommy! He was just a child, a child! You cruel, heartless, evil, monster. He was defeated! You didn’t need to kill him! I tried so hard to pretend that you had actually become a good pony, well I was wrong. I don’t know how I ever fell in love with something like you.” The words stung more than the stare. Trixie shrunk back, her pain all but forgotten. “Fluttershy, I… It was going to kill Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy stopped right in front of Trixie. Rarity reached out with her hooves to try and console her friend, but Fluttershy shoved the white unicorn back and into the snow. The fear in Trixie’s body skyrocketed and her legs trembled all over again. She’d never seen anger like the kind that Fluttershy had in her eyes. “You don’t deserve pity, or remorse. You can keep Maud, at least somepony can love a freak like yourself,” Fluttershy spat. “That’s mean. Why are you being so mean?” Trixie asked weakly. Somehow those words broke Fluttershy, one of her eyes twitched and went red. “Because!” Fluttershy stood on her rear legs. “You!” She pulled back a hoof. “MURDERED!” Fluttershy’s hoof flew forward, faster than Trixie’s eyes could even keep up with. “A CHILD!” The hoof made contact with Trixie’s forehead. The world stopped hurting, and her pain went flying away. The ground was shoved away from her body and the world moved away from her. When the world finally stopped she was lying in the snow a good twenty feet away from Fluttershy. That didn’t last long when Fluttershy flew at her. Trixie couldn’t believe how fast the pegasus had become since she first met her. She was almost as fast as Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy landed on top of Trixie, and began to beat her relentlessly. The whole time, Trixie only managed one thought through the pain. Why am I not passing out. It felt like minutes before Fluttershy’s hooves stopped crushing her bones, and tearing pieces of flesh away. The whole time, Fluttershy screamed about how the child was begging for its mom, and how Trixie could have just left it alone after cutting its legs. She wasn’t sure how Fluttershy knew all this, unless she had been hiding somewhere and watching the fight, or at least the part where Trixie had won. Even more concerning was the fact that Trixie had no idea who the child was anymore, she was sure she remembered before the beating began, but now everything was just pain. When Fluttershy was finally pulled back by a giant stallion with a green orb on his rear, and red fur, almost as red as Fluttershy’s hooves. The world had quickly become nothing but a blur. Slowly, she felt her breathing slow down. At first Trixie tried to fight it, to continue breathing as much as she could, but she couldn’t think of a single reason to fight. In fact she couldn’t remember her name. She fought to try and remember at least that much. Who was she, what was her name? As the world slowed, and cold earth turned hard beneath her back. She drew a small painful breath and the name came back to her. “The Great and Powerful…”