Heart of Stone
Chapter One hundred and Twenty Four: The Windigo Chase
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Luna moved with great purpose toward the northern wall the second they heard Rainbow Dash’s report. Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight followed her. Trixie clung to Luna’s back as they flew over the city. There were still ponies under them being moved through the various entrances to the mines below Canterlot.
The evacuation is going too slow.
If there was any solace to be taken here, it was the fact that Trixie had begun growing accustomed to the aches and pains throughout her body. It didn’t lesson, she’d just been getting used to it as they moved about.
The second they touched the top of the wall, Luna let out a small hiss. Twilight followed her example with a curse, and Rainbow Dash gasped. There was the ever shrinking ring of clouds here too, but something large stalked beneath their shadow. It’s slightly purple glowing fur was offset only by the icy white paws. Its yellow eyes were filled only with malice. For a brief moment it stared at the wall, and then it let out a threatening roar that even from this distance made Trixie shake.
Once upon a time Trixie had heard that an ursa major can recognize those that killed their kin. Staring upon the hatful face off in the distance, only made Trixie believe it had recognized her.
“They brought an ursa major,” Twilight gasped.
“We already knew they had one, of course they would bring it,” Luna said.
Rainbow Dash was hovering next to them. “Yeah, it’s worse. I can see two ponies on top of its back. I can’t recognize them from this distance, but I’m willing to bet its Mr. Cloak and Frailty.”
Trixie shivered at the thought. Then something occurred to her. “We have to get everypony out now. Frailty can’t be stopped like this.”
“What do you mean?” Luna asked.
“I plunged a sword clean through her neck. She laughed it off,” Trixie said.
There was silence.
This was not the kind of silence that happened after a bad remark on somepony’s mane. That would have been short, awkward, and a bit embarrassing. No this was the kind of silence that made the air grew heavy with unspoken fear, the kind that made everypony so tense that blood vessels burst. This silence went on for nearly five whole minutes.
“She’s immortal?” Twilight asked carefully.
“I… I don’t know. My attack clearly didn’t do anything, but maybe it’s because she has a windigo soul stuck inside of her,” Trixie said.
“A windigo possessed her? How?” Luna demanded.
“Not possessed. She’s the one in control and using its power. I can’t be sure, but it might have something to do with the giant gem stuck halfway in her chest,” Trixie explained.
“Perhaps that gem is the windigo soul, and mayhap it’s what is keeping her alive,” Luna suggested.
“Aim for the magic gem weak spot,” Twilight said, her voice shook a little. “This sounds like a game of Oubliettes and Ogres.”
Luna shrugged. “Look on the dark side. We could be fighting a massive sewage beast. Than we would be hoof deep in our own sh-“
“Luna!” Rainbow Dash cried.
Trixie saw it before Luna. A small spot of light emitted from the cloud, and it grew larger and brighter by the second. The sound of thunder followed not a second later. Rainbow Dash shot up into the air, Twilight and Luna followed her example. Only a second afterward did the light crash into the top of the rampart. The light slowly faded as ice grew over the bricks. A cold breeze came from the crash.
Three of the pony sized windigo stood up from the ground. They opened icy mouths filled with razor sharp and jagged teeth. They looked up with fiery blue eyes, hungry for battle.
“Pawns!” Twilight called out to Luna.
Luna’s horn lit up like a holy beacon and missiles of white energy streaked from the tip of her horn down into the beasts below. She struck one in the chest, the creature along with its heart shattered. The other one she hit in the face. It fell, but Trixie knew not for long. The last one jumped back and dodged the attack.
The last one standing opened its mouth wide, and howled. The headless one’s body shattered and its gem flew out toward its kin. The gem slammed into its forehead, and imbedded itself. Before anypony had time to properly react an icy horn grew from the creature’s skull, sharp as a knife.
The creature’s horn lit up in a pale blue light, and just like a unicorn it unleashed a magic beam at Luna. Trixie felt her heart jump up her throat as the beam neared them, but stopped only a foot away. The beam ran against Luna’s shield, and Trixie felt a deep chill coming from the beam. She watched in fright as the shield began to ice up.
Thankfully there were two others the windigo unicorn had not accounted for. Twilight shot a beam of red energy into its head, destroying the gem there. Rainbow Dash flew in under it, a flash of prismatic light struck the creature, and Rainbow landed on the opposite side with a rainbow colored sword in her mouth. A second later, Trixie watched the creature fall apart as a thin slice appeared through its middle. The gem exploded and the creature fell to pieces.
Luna and Twilight landed once again.
“That was new,” Twilight said.
“Shall we call that one a bishop?” Luna asked.
Twilight nodded.
Trixie felt confused. “Why call it that?”
“We decided on chess pieces for the names of our windigo enemies. The big slow ones are rooks, the fast flying ones knights. Etcetera,” Luna said.
“What’s the ice dragon called a queen?” Trixie asked, she couldn’t hide her disapproval for the names in her voice.
“No, as far as we know he was the only ice dragon left. They didn’t make him,” Twilight said.
“Besides, we have so far saved the titles of King and Queen for the nastiest of the creatures,” Luna said.
Trixie shivered at the thought. “Perhaps Frailty should be the queen.”
“Would that make Mr. Cloak the king?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Because I didn’t exactly see a crown on him.”
Luna smiled, and opened her mouth to retort when they heard the sound of thunder rolling off in the distance. The thunder struck again, and again, and again. It hurt to push herself up, but she had to get a good view of her surroundings. Small blue dots of light were seen coming at the city from all angles. The windigo were making their first assault.
“Prepare the barrier,” Luna cried.
“I already did,” Twilight said with a smile.
Trixie wasn’t sure what they had meant when they said it, but it was made abundantly clear a moment later. The lights slammed into an invisible wall, shattering into dust upon impact. The impacts caused a shimmering light to ripple out around Canterlot revealing the giant pink bubble that surrounding the fair city.
“How long?” Luna asked.
“I don’t know, I’m not my brother. This spell could only last us an hour or so. I really hope it’s longer than that,” Twilight said, her face serious.
Luna nodded. “That’ gives the evacuees just that much more time to get safe. Once the fighting starts in earnest, there will not be any marepower left to defend them.”
“I’ll see what I can do about my friends,” Twilight said. She took off and flew toward the castle.
Trixie wanted to go back and see Maud, but she was more or less dependent on Luna for travel, and she dared not ask it of the princess when there was actual work to be had. Luna frowned. “Let us go see to our commanders. Rainbow Dash, would you accompany me?”
Rainbow Dash lifted her hoof to her head in a stern salute. “Sir, yes Sir.”
Luna laughed. “You do not need such formalities with me. You are my knight after all.” She took a running start, leapt off the rampart and launched herself into the night sky.
Trixie held on for dear life as they sailed over the city again. It was looking slightly less crowded down below, but that only meant there would be less chance of somepony catching her should she fall. A hard lump formed in Trixie’s throat.
I hate flying.
***
It took awhile to reach the tower in which Luna had requested her council to meet up at. Trixie was able to enjoy watching Windigo slam themselves uselessly against the shield the entire time. At first she wandered how they could survive an impact against the earth or the city, but not one against Twilight’s shield, until Trixie saw the lightning that surged from the shield once the windigo hit. The shield was literally attacking them back for daring to threaten the shield.
It was rather impressive.
When they entered the tower, via the balcony near the top. Trixie found herself in what appeared to be some sort of lounge or break room. A few guards that Trixie didn’t recognize along with Wind Rider and Lightning Dust were all in the room. Luna gave an apologetic look to Trixie.
“I know that you are still a princess, but you are injured, and these deliberations might be rough for you. Do you think you can rest here?” Luna asked.
Trixie nodded. “Set me down near him.” Trixie pointed at Wind Rider.
A smile grew over Luna’s lips. “Oh, but I thought you were interested in mares.”
“It’s not like that,” Trixie complained. “I know him.”
“You know Wind Rider?” Luna asked, taken by surprise. She quickly recovered. “Birds of a feather I suppose.”
“What does that mean?” Trixie asked.
“Nothing, I shall do as you ask,” Luna said.
She walked over to the two Shadowbolts and using her magic lifted Trixie up off her back and set her gently onto the couch. Rainbow Dash marched up to them and said, “You two better take good care of my friend here. I’ll have your hide if anything happens to her.”
Both Wind Rider and Lightning Dust nodded quickly. Rainbow Dash turned tail and followed Princess Luna up the stairs and into a room where Trixie heard a fair amount of arguing. She pitied Luna for having to deal with whatever mess was going on up there, but at the same time, she knew that this was only the beginning of a night gone horribly wrong.
Wind Rider grabbed an unopened can of cola off of the table. With a wing tip he popped the top and hoofed it over to Trixie. First Trixie tried to grab it with magic, her horn fizzled, sparked, and pain shot through it. She reached out with a hoof and missed the can by an inch.
The old stallion smiled a tired old smile and moved it close enough to Trixie’s mouth so she could take a drink. He kindly held it for her until she pulled away and coughed. The carbonation burned at her throat at the same as the cool liquid soothed it.
“So,” he asked gently. “What happened to you?”
Trixie shook her head. The world spun, so she stopped. “After our last encounter, or just today?”
“We have until about ten minutes after Luna loses her patience and threatens those jackrabbits upstairs. Tell me what happened after our last encounter. I’ll fill you in on my half after,” Wind Rider said.
“I killed Ash, buried my father, and went home. Killed an ursa, got married, adopted a kid… not exactly in that order. Now I’m here,” Trixie said.
“Well that was a lot to have happen for such a brief statement. Let’s see if I can do better,” Wind Rider said with a wink.
Lightning Dust rolled her eyes.
“After we got separated, me and Sunny had to fight our way out of that mess. We killed every last one of those deep ones, and began destroying the tunnel entrances to prevent anypony from entering, or anything from leaving. Something went wrong and the whole place began collapsing. We got separated and I haven’t seen her again since,” Wind Rider said.
Trixie closed her eyes. “So she’s really gone?”
“I don’t think so. I think she’s just lying low. I got a message from another Seeker, and it told me to keep a close eye on the situation with the windigo. When Rainbow Dash came around recruiting talented flyers, she offered us a spot as a way to redeem ourselves. Me and Lightning joined,” He explained.
Trixie opened her eyes and stared at him. “Don’t the two of you have a beef with her?”
“We’ve had our past differences, but that’s the past. After everything fell apart for me, I was just floating from place to place, no money, no job, if it hadn’t been for Sunny I’d be in trouble. So when Rainbow Dash asked for my services, I couldn’t say no. Sure I’m mostly just a trainer for the younger recruits, but being a teacher is far better than being… well what I was,” He said.
It hurt every single muscle in her body, but Trixie pushed herself upright. The world spun for a moment, but she focused on her hooves until the spinning stopped. “Tonight’s been pretty rough. Everything went straight to Tartarus, I made a huge mistake and trusted the wrong pony, and now we’re surrounded by windigo. This sucks.”
“I know the feeling,” Wind Rider said.
“Can I ask you something?” Trixie asked.
“Sure kid, what’s on your mind,” he replied.
A sudden bout of shouting, so loud that it shook the top half of the tower caught Trixie by surprise. It was Luna’s voice. “THOU SHALT NOT WASTE MINE TIME! IF THY WISH IS TO DIE TONIGHT, BY ALL MEANS, GO AND GREET THE WINDIGO AT THE GATE. I WILL PERSONALLY SEND THEE ON THY WAY IF THIS IS TO BE THE CASE!”
“You got less than ten minutes,” He said with a smile.
“Is Starfire Shine an alicorn?” Trixie asked.
“When she wants to be,” He replied.
That made Trixie feel very odd. Then again, it made some amount of sense, she was incredibly powerful. If she wanted to cast an illusion of being a normal unicorn, nopony could rightly tell otherwise. This mare might have been more powerful than even Twilight. It was a shame she wasn’t there with them.
Trixie remained silent until the door opened up and Luna along with Rainbow Dash marched down the steps. Luna was wearing a defiant smile that spoke highly of her victory upstairs.
“Trixie, are you ready to leave?” Luna asked.
Trixie nodded.
Up again on Luna’s back, the two looked at Rainbow Dash one last time. Luna nodded, and Rainbow returned the look. Then they were off as Luna soared through the skies. The next destination looked to be the castle. Hopefully things were still alright there. The streets were nearly empty of civilians now. Only the guards remained, and they were already marching into formation.
***
Inside the castle Luna took Trixie into a large chamber that held a round table. The room felt unnaturally dark, the only lighting came from the crystals lined in the overhead chandler. It attempted to cast an improvised sunlight, but it just made everything feel shaded.
Around the table sat ten mares and one filly. Twilight’s original group of friends had met her new group. Maud and Valiant sat at edge closest to the door. Luna carefully set Trixie besides them, and despite her attempt to stay upright, Trixie fell against Maud.
The pain was steadily increasing.
Luna walked in a slow circle around the table until she could find her place next to Twilight Sparkle. To everypony else it just looked like the princesses wanted to sit together, it was no different than when Celestia and Luna sat together at a table. To Trixie, she saw Luna and Twilight, two secret lovers wanting to be in each other’s company now more than ever before. Even with a war just outside the walls, these two kept their secret.
“Everypony here in attendance is somepony with whom I trust implicitly,” Twilight said. “Somepony that I know can be of great help during this time of even greater need. The evacuation is almost complete, and I have a few guards stationed at a secret tunnel in the castle for when we too evacuate. If you wish to leave now though, I will not hold it against you, and the guards will help you get out.”
Nopony spoke.
Twilight eyed Trixie. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid that I must ask that you leave. Trixie, Maud, and Valiant, you three cannot be here once the fighting starts.”
Maud looked down at Trixie, but never said a word. Valiant simply turned her nose up in defiance of the princess’s order. It was sweet, but Trixie knew that Twilight had a point.
Trixie rose and acid washed over her back, especially where her wings used to be. Blackness encroached at the edges of her vision. Her hooves hit the table, and she nearly stumbled but somehow kept balance. She looked Twilight in the eyes.
“I won’t leave yet,” Trixie said. “Maud can take Valiant and get to safety, but I am staying until this situation is resolved.”
Twilight eyed her, she couldn’t hide the surprise in her face, but she didn’t back down. “Trixie, the city is already lost. We don’t have to horsepower to stop an army of windigo and an ursa major. Our goal as of right this moment is simply to try and survive. I can’t have you putting yourself into danger yet again. Thank you for your support, but you needn’t be here.”
“But-“ Trixie began to protest.
“I said you are not needed!” Twilight snapped.
The force of her words knocked out whatever strength was left in Trixie’s limbs and she slumped down to the ground. For nearly a minute the room stayed quiet and Trixie sat there repeating the words in her head, over and over again. Twilight didn’t need her…
“Trixie, go home,” Twilight said coldly.
Trixie closed her eyes. Her body hurt, and all she wanted to do was help. Twilight was probably right, but it hurt hearing those words, it hurt so bad that Trixie wasn’t even sure how she had not broken down into tears yet. Even if Twilight was right, there was one thing that Trixie still had, one that even Twilight couldn’t refute.
Trixie had psychic powers.
“You think I’m helpless without magic. You think that just because it hurts to move means that I can’t fight, or help. Well Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said. “You’re wrong.”
“What are you talking about? Is this another, you still have your mind things? Well guess what, I’m smarter than you, I’m sorry but it’s true. You can’t possibly tell me that you’ll have some sort of insight that I won’t,” Twilight said.
Trixie flinched.
Twilight’s words were harsh, but they were calculated. If it had been any other situation, Trixie would have been angry, hurt, and distressed. Right then she just felt tired. It was clear that Twilight was trying to ruin Trixie’s resolve, and it was working.
“Twilight, ple-“ Trixie didn’t even get to finish.
“Leave now!” Twilight nearly shouted at her.
A shudder ran through Trixie, painful and deep. Psychic powers don’t really do much to fight monsters anyway…
Carefully Trixie leaned against Maud and said very quietly. “Take me home.”
Maud nodded, and even though it was a bit of a struggle she managed to get Trixie on her back. Valiant walked alongside them, and together they left. Just before Maud left the room, she looked back at Twilight and shot the princess a look so full of venom and fire that Trixie wouldn’t have been surprised if Twilight simply burst into flames that very second. This time Twilight flinched.
Maud walked out the door along with Valiant, and true to Twilight’s word, there was a guard waiting for them. His yellow eyes looked familiar, but at the same time very strange. He didn’t say a word; he just led them through the castle.
They had hardly gotten out of the door when Applejack joined them. She looked a little grumpy, but otherwise okay. Of course since she was pregnant she would be leaving as well.
The small group walked in near silence for awhile. The only sounds to keep them company were their own hooves clipping along the marble floor and the occasional roar of thunder from the windigo.
“Ah’m sorry, Trixie,” Applejack finally said.
There were silent tears running down the side of her face, but she ignored them. “Don’t be.”
“Twi was only trying t’ keep ya safe, but that was still wrong of her. She’ll make it up t’ ya,” Applejack said.
Trixie ignored the comment. “Do you agree with her?”
Applejack shook her head. “Ah don’t rightly know. Ah reckon if yer were really that weak, you would’ve been down n’ out already. Yer still awake, so ya gotta have some kind of hidden strength.”
“Darn straight,” Trixie said. She wanted to help, she really did, but she could only lie to herself for so long. She let out a small cry as a fresh wave of pain washed over her shoulders. “I hate this! I can’t do a thing to help. Why can’t I ever do anything to help?”
“You do help,” Maud said.
“You saved us from the ursa,” Applejack said.
“isn’t there something I can do here?” Trixie asked.
“You’ve been hurt in the line of duty, it’s time t’ rest,” Applejack said.
They got to the end of the hall and turned. Everypony froze dead in their tracks as they saw the three guards lying on the floor, halfway frozen, and the door they were guarding completely encased in ice.
Trixie gulped. “I don’t suppose that door was our escape route.”
The guard with them nodded.
“Well… that sucks,” Trixie said.
The window next to them allowed them just enough of a view of the city to see bright blue streaks all across the city. Like meteors the windigo traveled in and crashed into buildings or on streets. Twilight’s shield had failed.
Three windigo pawns walked out from one of the rooms. A frost covered voice hissed at them. “Ponies… kill.”
The pawns charged toward them. Without warning, Maud bucked and Trixie was thrown off her back and onto the floor. Applejack took a step forward, looked down at her stomach and stepped back. Valiant cuddled up as close as she could to Trixie and shivered.
Trixie’s body burned as she pushed herself up slowly. Her vision went black for a second. When the blackness went away, she witnessed Maud ducking and weaving between the lead windigo. Her powerful hooves sent the first windigo flying at least thirty yards back! Sliding against the marble floor until it eventually hit a wall. The guard went after that one, sword drawn in mouth.
The other two however kept her on her hooves as they pressed the attack forward leaving her with only one option. A slow and steady retreat.
Maud saw an opportunity after one of the windigo overshot its attack. She moved underneath it, lifted up with her shoulder and sent it sprawling onto its rear legs where she slammed a mighty kick into its gut. Just as the first one, the second one was sent flying.
She didn’t see the third one.
Trixie tried to let out a warning, but it was too late as the windigo bore down with hooves as sharp as ice picks. Maud let out a pained gasp, red splattered the floor, and Trixie’s mind exploded with a fury of fiery rage.
Before Maud had even hit the floor, Trixie had charged up to the windigo. Instinct took over and she forced every ounce of will she had outward all at once. She felt the windigo’s cold thoughts, and put them into a vice grip so tight that it couldn’t hope to ever escape. The thing simply stood, frozen, and staring blankly at her for several long seconds.
Maud took the opportunity to shove the thing back. Then Maud slammed a hoof into its chest with so much force that her leg went clean through it and the gem shattered before flying out the back as a spray of fragmented shards.
Trixie stood there, at first frozen, surprised by what had happened. What she had just done certainly wasn’t magic, it was her psychic powers. Her mind felt tingly and with the thing now gone the pain was slowly coming back to her.
Maud coughed, and Trixie looked down only to see a long crimson line drawn along the side of her lovers ribs. Just like the strong mare she was, Maud pushed herself up shook it off and stared forward at the guard who had just finished stabbing his sword into the last windigo’s heart.
He looked back and frowned, they all heard the sounds of hooves clipping against the marble floor. They sounded odd, and almost fragile. Trixie realized with startling urgency that it must have been the sound of frozen hooves moving across the floor.
The guard nodded for them to go on. He stood his ground, sword gripped tightly. Trixie didn’t want to see him sacrifice himself for them, but if it would get her pregnant cousin and her daughter out of here.
“Trixie, can you run?” Maud asked.
A sudden new wave of pain shot through her body, her previous shock was quickly dissipating now being replaced by dread. Trixie spun on her fetlocks faced Applejack and the Valiant.
“We need to move, I’m sorry cousin but you need to run,” Trixie said.
Applejack nodded.
Trixie galloped ahead, and Maud took the rear, as she did she picked up Valiant and tossed her onto her back. Maud said something to Valiant but Trixie didn’t hear. They spun around the corner and Trixie nearly halted.
A bright purple cannon stood pointed at her, and a manic pink pony stood behind it. The guard was not far behind them and spun around the corner just in time to see it too. The shattered remains of a windigo lay scattered across the hall. Trixie and the group ran past Pinkie Pie, got behind her and watched. Just as a group of a dozen windigo round the corner, Pinkie Pie grinned.
“Why was the bolt put into an insane asylum?” Pinkie Pie shouted.
The windigo all slid to a stop and stared at the cannon, then up at her. Trixie swore that their fiery eyes were wide with fear.
“Because he was nuts!” Pinkie Pie shouted the answer. She tugged hard on the string.
Trixie expected a cannonball to come out of the cannon. What she saw was much more effective. A series of pikes launched from the cannon and spread across the hall. They slammed into the two windigos chests! The creatures were knocked onto the floor and slid up to the wall. A few of them had their hearts pierced already.
“Three,” Pinkie Pie said.
Trixie looked at her friend. “No… there were a lot mo-“
“Two!” Pinkie Pie said with a manic grin.
Trixie looked behind her at the one on the floor. “What are y-“
“One!” Pinkie Pie nearly screamed.
The pikes inside the still twitching windigo exploded! Chunks of ice went flying everywhere. The ones headed for Trixie’s group rebounded off of a green shield as the guard’s horn lit up. When it died down, and his shield vanished, there was almost nothing left of the windigo that had threatened them.
Pinkie Pie spun around pushed her rump out and sat on the cannon. “I figured that this might happen. So I brought some of my new toys along. Did you like them?”
Trixie nodded. “That was… um… explosive.”
Pinkie Pie laughed hard. “Wow that’s everypony says when they experience my toys the first time!”
Trixie sat down, hard. “You… we nearly died, and you are making sex jokes?”
Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yeppers.”
Trixie laughed. She couldn’t help it. She fell on her side laughing, it was high pitched, it hurt her throat, and it made her feel alive.
“Trixie was just running for her life,” Trixie cried out between the sharp laughs. “And now you’re making jokes!” She grabbed her sides, tried to stop and gave up promptly. Tears flowed out of her eyes as she continued laughing, slowly though, the laughs transformed into sobs. “You’re making jokes! We almost died, Maud got hurt, I couldn’t do a thing to stop that, and now you’re making jokes!” Trixie wept. “I wanna go home!”
Maud lay down next to Trixie wrapped a foreleg around her and looked back at Pinkie Pie. “We need to get her out of here.”
Pinkie Pie nodded. “On it, Twilight has a second evacuation plan. It requires some walking though. You up for it, sis?”
“I’ll need help carrying her,” Maud said with a nod toward the sobbing mess of a pony on the floor.
“Right, Mr. guard, can you carry my stuff?” Pinkie Pie asked.
The guard nodded.
“Where are we going?” Maud asked.
“The study hall of course! Where else would Twilight stage a daring escape plan from?” Pinkie said as though it was the silliest question she ever heard.