Heart of Stone
Chapter Five: Caged Fears
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Trixie woke up to the smell of hay bacon and eggs being cooked in the kitchen. Her room was brightened by the sun’s light shining through the window. After taking her morning meds she looked outside the window seeing the front yard. A flat expanse that went on forever, a few sparse trees, and mountains were all there to greet her. For a moment she stared out the window but hunger eventually drove her to the kitchen.
In the kitchen she found Maud cooking food, and Pinkie Pie sitting at the table looking excited as always. After taking a seat across from Pinkie Pie, Trixie looked at the empty table trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes. “Good morning."
Pinkie Pie returned the greeting. “Good morning, Trixie. Maud’s making breakfast, isn’t she a wonderful chief?”
Maud brought a cup half full of coffee to Trixie, and set it down before kissing Trixie on the cheek. Before Trixie could return the favor Maud went back to cooking. So Trixie did the next best thing, filling the cup up with as much sugar as she could possibly fit in.
Pinkie Pie stared in amusement at this before saying. “Wow. It looks like you love sugar almost as much as I do.”
Trixie smiled at her and took a sip of the sweet liquid. Oddly it was still a little bitter. She wondered If more sugar would help. After setting the cup down she smiled at Pinkie Pie. “I really like sweet things.”
Pinkie Pie grinned before saying with even more excitement. “You too. Then you should come over to the Sugarcube Corner. We have a lot of awesome sweets, especially chocolate.”
Trixie could feel her sweet tooth acting up, craving the fabled chocolate. She couldn’t help but ask. “Do you have Germane chocolate cake?”
Pinkie Pie nodded, and Trixie was salivating at the thought of sinking her teeth into the fabled treat. It had been awhile since she last had any chocolate, and now she wanted some more than anything. After taking a few more drinks of her coffee Maud set a plate full of food in front of Trixie, and Pinkie Pie. The coffee still didn’t taste right.
It looked delicious, not chocolate cake delicious, but still delicious none the less. On the plate was eggs sunny side up on toast with hay bacon on the side. This was truly a wonderful breakfast, made by a wonderful pony. Trixie looked up from the plate to find Maud staring at her blankly.
This stare could mean anything from her wanting to talk, to her being lost in thought again. Trixie looked down at the plate, and took a bite. It was delightful to say the least. She looked back at Maud and knew that she just had to complement her. “It’s wonderful, thanks for making it.”
Maud’s lip curled up ever so slightly. “You’re welcome, Lulu.”
The breakfast went by mostly quietly as Pinkie Pie was stuffing her face, and Maud was eating politely. Trixie was watching Maud’s careful manner, appreciating the care she took in something as simple as eating food. About halfway through her breakfast Maud looked up and met Trixie’s eyes. “I read that you’re not supposed to have caffeine with your medicine.”
Trixie paused for a second at the thought before wrapping a foreleg around the cup and sliding it closer to her. She thought about it for a second and said. “I need my coffee.”
Maud didn’t argue, or react for that matter. It was sometimes very difficult to read Maud, and this time was no exception. Trixie took another drink of the slightly bitter coffee, after that she added another five sugar cubes. Pinkie Pie seemed to be curious about Trixie’s obsession with the sugar cubes. Pinkie grabbed one too and after sucking on it for a few seconds changed her expression from curious to sour. “Eww I don’t like fake sugar.”
Trixie looked at the bowl of sugar cubes for a moment in confusion as well, before she grabbed one to taste. After a few seconds she became aware that this was not real sugar, it was the artificial stuff. Her coffee was half finished already, and with the new revelation of why it was still bitter she decided against drinking the rest of it.
How did the artificial sugar get into the bowl, there was real sugar in it yesterday. A conspiracy began stirring inside Trixie’s mind. Maud was still staring at her with this unreadable expression. Trixie took another bite of food.
Maud hadn’t touched her food again. “Don’t you like your coffee?”
Something wicked occurred to Trixie. “Maud… honey, why is there artificial sugar in the bowl?”
Maud’s expression and tone stayed the same that they always were. “I replaced the sugar, and the coffee. I want you to stay healthy Lulu.”
Trixie really enjoyed having such a straight forward pony, because this means she wouldn’t have to worry about lies. Instead she would just have to deal with the sugar and the coffee being replaced by a very sneaky although loving marefriend. Trixie’s first, and rather upset response came out as, “Trixie demands real coffee.” After a few moments of silence she regained her composer and let out a sigh. “It was very thoughtful of you to think of me, Maud. But you don’t need to go behind my back like this… also I want my real coffee and real sugar back.”
“I didn’t go behind your back. I made you coffee and gave you sugar. You didn’t ask what it was.”
Trixie continued eating while her brain processed what Maud just said, and tried to analyze what it really meant. After a few moments her caffeine deprived brain finally deduced that Maud may have been trying to introduce Trixie to something new, she wasn’t trying to be manipulative. She simply wasn’t very good at the whole social thing.
Looking up at Maud, Trixie began to imagine that maybe she had just hurt Maud’s feelings. Trixie frowned as the guilt built up deep inside of her. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to accuse you like that.”
Maud placed a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I should have told you I changed the coffee. I was trying to help you. It was rude of me too change everything without consulting you.”
Trixie was still feeling bad about accusing Maud, but at least it seemed there were no hurt feelings. This was probably just one of those odd things that new couples go through… probably. They may have a lot to learn about being in a relationship, and about each other. Trixie found herself enjoying the idea of a good challenge though. Trixie smiled at Maud and continued eating; she even finished the bitter coffee to show Maud that she really did care. Trixie had plans to make some real coffee with real sugar later.
After breakfast was done, Maud began packing some things into her saddle bags. This peaked Trixie’s interest. So she decided to stick her nose into Maud’s business. “What are you packing for?”
Maud replied, “I am doing some research today. I am bringing Twilight along with me.”
Trixie found it odd that she didn’t know about this earlier. It left her feeling left out of the loop. “Why didn’t Twilight want me to help, is she afraid that I will mess up her project?”
Maud frowned at Trixie and looked over at Pinkie Pie who was sitting on the couch with a book in her hooves. She was staring at them from over the top of the book. Pinkie Pie returned her eyes to the book after meeting Maud’s eyes. Trixie then remembered that the whole project was supposed to be a secret, and Trixie may have just blown the whole thing. Now Trixie was nervous all over again.
Maud looked back at Trixie. “She does want your help. I am the one keeping you out of this. I don’t need to worry about you right now. I would like you to stay with my sister and her friends. I promise that you can help when I return from the mountain.”
Trixie sat down hard. Maud didn’t want to worry about her. Does that mean Maud doesn’t want me? But she told me that she would always want to be with me. Trixie had to remind herself that Maud wasn’t the best at conveying emotions, so it was probably meant to sound a lot nicer then it came out. Maud gave Trixie a hug before leaving to meet Twilight. Trixie and Pinkie Pie were left at the house alone. Despite the company of Pinkie Pie, she couldn’t help but to feel lonely.
Pinkie Pie looked at Trixie and set the book down saying. “Me, and my friends were planning on a picnic today, and since Twilight doesn’t seem to be able to make it… do you wanna come with me?”
Trixie smiled at the pink earth pony, it may not help her feel all the way better, but being with other ponies should cure her loneliness. She agreed to go. After a few minutes the two of them set off to have a picnic.
The two ponies walked for about half an hour before arriving at the picnic. Actually Pinkie Pie bounced all the way there while Trixie walked. It was impossible to think that anypony could possibly bounce that much. When they arrived there were four ponies already waiting for them with a blanket laid out on the ground and various foods spread out, the cupcakes grabbed at Trixie’s attention more than anything else.
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Apple-something were all sitting on the blanket looking lively as ever. Trixie was beginning to get nervous now that she realized she couldn’t remember the apple one’s name. Pinkie Pie bounced over before sitting down by her friends. Trixie followed feeling a little bit out of place.
After sitting down next to Pinkie Pie, Trixie noticed the somewhat worried expressions on everypony’s faces. Pinkie Pie looked a little confused for a moment before seeming to understand and explain, “Twilight couldn’t make it. So I brought my sister along.” She pulled Trixie into a one legged embrace after saying this.
Trixie could feel her face warming up again, she wondered if there could be a medical condition for blushing too often. Everypony looked a little more confused before Rainbow Dash finally said, “Uh, Pinkie Pie, you brought Trixie with you… why?”
Trixie was trying to avoid looking anypony in the eyes, so she simply stared at Pinkie Pie. If she had not been living with Maud for so long she never could have caught the insanely quick transitions that Pinkie’s face made when Rainbow Dash spoke. Her face within a micro second had gone from happy, to sad, to anger, to sad, and finally ended on being happy again, and all within a fraction of a second. Trixie found this to be a sign that both she wasn’t the craziest pony after all, and that Pinkie Pie might be.
Pinkie than explained to everypony in joyful tones, that now felt very forced to Trixie’s ears, “Maud loves Trixie, so I adopted Trixie as my new bestest sister, next to Maud of course.”
Everypony looked a little misplaced for a few seconds, and then they calmed down a little before all looking at Trixie. Rarity spoke first. “Well darling, tell us about yourself. How is it living in New Slate? What is your affair with Maudie like? And most importantly, have you kept up on the latest fashions?”
Trixie felt a little odd talking about herself, which struck her as odd considering how she used to be able to do that without trouble at all. But she supposed that these ponies didn’t know her for anything other than being a monster. Secretly Trixie still desired their love and attention, although she would never admit it. It took Trixie a minute to realize that Pinkie was not letting go of her anytime soon, so she decided to cuddle in and talk about herself.
A smile spread across Trixie’s face as she began, “Uh well it’s kinda boring here, which is a good thing. I don’t handle stress too well anymore. Um, Maud is… the best pony in Equestria. Oh and um, not really, I do like the color purple though.”
Rarity exclaimed. “I love big hats. I have an entire line of purple ones that are anything from orchard to wild fire. I think you would love it.”
Trixie smiled. “There’s only one big hat for me.” Though I can’t really wear it anymore, too many bad memories.
Fluttershy spoke up after that. “Um…what’s your favorite animal?”
Trixie had to ponder this for a moment, she did love animals but she couldn’t really think of any to cal her favorites. There were a few beavers in Ponyville that were adorable. There was also that one dog from when she was in Canterlot that was super friendly and took a crap on Twilight’s lawn. Finally she remembered one animal that was kinda endeared to her from her old profession as a show magician. “I really like all animals, but I think Bunnies may be my favorite.”
Fluttershy made a sort of quiet squealing sound. “I love bunnies. I need to introduce you to Angel.”
That’s an adorable name for a bunny, I bet it’s the sweetest little thing in all of Equestria. It is named Angle after all. Trixie found herself feeling more comfortable around these ponies now that she was getting to know them. It seemed that the more she knew about them, the less she felt bad about what she had done to them. A wild idea came to her mind, maybe they could all be her friends one day. Though that was probably a selfish thought.
The Apple pony then began speaking, “Shucks looks like everyponies warming up to ya sugarcube, makes me wonder though, how do you feel about apples?”
Trixie began speaking before her brain began working, it was the lack of caffeine that made her brain dumb today. “I don’t really like apples. I like sweet things more.”
The Apple pony frowned. “So you are saying, that you don’t like apples ‘cus they aren’t sweet enough fer you?”
Trixie began feeling a little bad about telling her that. The mare’s freaking cutie mark was apples for crying out loud. “Um… I meant to say that I love apples. There my favorite… food.”
Pinkie Pie laughed. “But you said that your favorite food was Chocolate cake this morning.”
The Apple pony then shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d lie about apples.”
Now Trixie felt really bad, she didn’t mean to hurt the apple one’s feelings. Rarity jumped in with a strong voice demanding everypony’s attention, “Now hold on one minute, Applejack. She said she likes sweet things, are there not sweets made from apples.”
Trixie looked at the two ponies before thinking of some of the really good sweets she liked that had apples inside them. Finally she remembered one of her favorite treats from home. Trixie felt really dumb as she admitted, “Well I do love Apple Pie. I used to eat it a lot as a filly, the best apple pie in all of Equestria comes from my home town.”
Applejack perked up at that. Her smile showed that she was willing to forgive Trixie’s blunder. “I think I could find a better Apple Pie, if you’re ever interested.”
Everypony seemed to be happy now, all of them learning a little more about Trixie, all of them except for Rainbow Dash who was busy eating some of the cupcakes while everypony talked. After a few minutes of little talk Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash. “Do you have any questions for Trixie? You know, to become better friends with her.”
Rainbow Dash swallowed some of the cupcake she was eating before waving a hoof dismissively saying. “I saved her when she tried to kill herself. That makes us pretty good friends.”
Everypony froze staring at Rainbow Dash for a moment before turning their gaze to Trixie who was still laying against Pinkie’s side. The tightness in Trixie’s chest tried to steal away her breath. Now that everypony heard that, would they not want to be friends with Trixie? Why would Rainbow Dash even say that to everypony, she knew that it was a secret… right?
Rarity was the first to speak, her voice full of worry, “Darling… is this true. Why would you do such a thing?”
Pinkie tightened her embrace on Trixie a little, but there was no way that Pinkie was going to be able to make Trixie feel secure now. Trixie was beginning to shake a little bit as she tried to explain to everypony. “After what I did to ponyville, and to all of you. I didn’t deserve to live, not when all I could do was hurt ponies. Some bad things happened to me after that, and I… couldn’t handle it anymore.
“I promised Maud that I would be a good pony from now on, but I… I still feel like I’m a bad pony. Sometimes I still wonder if I deserve the second chance that Rainbow Dash gave me… I don’t know if I do.” By the time Trixie was finished her heart felt hollow all over again. Her skin was numb to the touch, even Pinkie’s warmth and tight embrace couldn’t reach her soul.
Everypony was quiet for a while after that before Applejack asked, “Do you mind if we ask what happened?”
Trixie’s body was still, and a cold calm had overtaken her. “I would rather not talk about it anymore… maybe Rainbow Dash could tell you later… when I’m not around. After all she doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.”
The next few minutes were very quiet with the only brakes being from when everypony would try and make small talk. It didn’t work though, and finally Trixie couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore. She pulled herself free from Pinkie Pie and said her goodbyes to everypony before heading home.
On her way home she decided to take a detour and walk around town. She walked around for at least a few hours before the clouds above began to look a little like rain. She decided to head home. It had been several hours since she had last seen Maud, and she was now becoming worried about the weather. Though Trixie had every reason to suspect that Maud already knew about Trixie’s suicide attempt, Trixie had to wonder if Maud would really accept her if she knew the whole truth surrounding it.
On her way back home she found Twilight Sparkle, and Maud walking down the road with a large cage behind them. The cage had a black tarp strapped over it. The cage itself was being rolled along the road behind them. They were taking care not to let the cage fall into the ditch next to the road. Trixie ran up to the duo, she would have loved to hug Maud and forget her troubles. The cage however made Trixie’s fur stand on edge, something was inside of it. She could feel it, a strange alien sensation crawled up her horn.
“What’s in the cage?” Trixie asked the two.
Maud was about to answer when Twilight put a hoof over Maud’s mouth. “That’s classified information. And apparently you can’t be trusted with such information.”
“What?” Trixie asked in shock, she felt a hint of anger at Twilight’s daring movement to silence Maud.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at Trixie. “Maud told me about what you said this morning to Pinkie Pie. I didn’t help you out just for you to betray me like this.”
Trixie was silenced, she had angered Twilight. Trixie felt really bad about that but she was still a little angry at Twilight for cutting off Maud. Nopony had the right to do that to Maud when she already had a hard enough time talking.
Maud then looked at Twilight saying. “Trixie didn’t mean to say anything. It was more my faul-“
Maud was cut off by Twilight saying angrily, “Shush. Do you know, do either of you have even the slightest of a clue as to what Pinkie Pie would do to me if she knew I was working with Maud to do this. I would prefer to keep my eye firmly intact inside my skull thank you very much.”
Maud looked at Twilight with a blank stare, but her lip slipped ever so slightly downward. Trixie could see the frown that no pony else could see on her face. No pony made Maud sad, no pony ever. Stomping over to the Twilight, Trixie had several things in mind for the stuck up alicorn princess, but the only thing she was going to do right now was find out what was so important about the darn cage.
Twilight looked at Trixie with a threatening look in her eyes, but Trixie ignored it and gave Maud a big kiss. Twilight stared for only a second before looking away from the two with shyly. She was embarrassed to watch ponies being intimate. And Trixie was counting on this weakness of hers. Trixie quickly pulled away, and ran behind the two of them and pulled the tarp up, just enough to see underneath it.
Trixie saw a huge scaly pony with piranha eyes lying on its belly. She held completely still for a few moments staring at the monster as it breathed deeply, its eyes were yellow and its… maw had some burn marks on it. This was the same monster that almost ate her. Its eyes then moved and focused on her before it said in a low growl, “You.”
Trixie screamed as loud as she could while back peddling away from the monster, dropping the tarp back over it. She could still hear it breathing, she could still see its burns. Maud began saying something to her, but she couldn’t hear her over her own screaming. Finally she took one too many steps back and fell backwards into the ditch. Trixie tumbled down a few feet before she felt her skull slam into the hard earth beneath her as came to a sudden stop at the bottom. Everything began to turn black for the poor unicorn, the last thing she heard was Maud yelling, “Trixie!”
Everything then was devoured by the blackness.