HEART OF STONE
Chapter seventeen: worrisome nights
Written by TheCrimsonDM
A flash of soft pink light and a moment later Trixie appeared inside of a small hut. She examined her surroundings. The dark moonlit room made it a little hard to see things but Trixie had gotten used to the darkness while in the cave. There were wooden masks hung from the walls, various herbs collected on the shelf and an old familiar looking bed at the side of the room. And lying on the bed was a very startled looking zebra staring with wide eyes at Trixie and Twilight. She was inside Zecora’s home.
Trixie opened her mouth to apologize to the Zecora for the intrusion, but instead of words Trixie’s breakfast came out…all over the floor. Twilight looked over and said, “Eww, that’s gross. Maybe teleportation was a little too rough for you.”
Trixie spat out the last piece of bile and looked angrily towards Twilight. Trixie then looked away and apologized. “I’m sorry for…this. I hope you’re not mad with us Zecora.”
Zecora got out of the bed and walked towards the two ponies. She then smiled to Trixie and said, “There is no harm in what you’ve done, being sick is never fun.”
Trixie couldn’t help but smile at Zecora’s odd way of speaking in rhymes. A sudden wave of dizziness hit Trixie causing her to sit down hard on her rump. It felt like the entire world was spinning out of her control. Trixie felt Twilight gentle help her to her hooves and together they walked to the bed and Trixie laid down on it. Trixie was beginning to hate beds.
Trixie listened in on the conversation between Twilight and Zecora. She would have given them their privacy but there wasn’t any way for her to ignore them. Listening in sounded like a good distraction for her, her insides still hurt after all. Trixie could still taste the vomit in her mouth and it was disgusting.
“So I came here to make sure that the…you know what is still secure,” Twilight said.
“The ground keeps its secrets safe and sound, you have no need to fear for the safety of the town,” Zecora rhymed in response.
Twilight looked down at her hooves and let out a sigh before saying, “I am so glad to hear that. Last thing I need is an extra worry, it’s been far too long since anything big happened. I’m getting paranoid.”
Zecora placed a hoof gently on Twilight’s for leg and said, “There is no need to fear, for you have many friends here. Why not go out and have fun, just like the rising of the sun.”
Twilight looked up at her with tearful eyes. Twilight then admitted, “I’m so scared. Ever since I moved to Ponyville two years ago things have gotten worse. I have to save the world once every three months, and things have been escalating exponentially. After Lord Tirek I finally realized that our country is going to face something horrible soon…I am terrified that it could be what destroys us.”
“There are things dark to be sure, but with some light you will soar. If you place trust in your friends they will fight with you till the end.” explained Zecora.
Trixie hadn’t considered how hard things had been for Twilight recently. Now she simply wanted to help Twilight out the best she could, but that didn’t mean that she would be able to do anything. Trixie felt something come up her throat and she quickly spat it out onto the floor. Trixie looked skeptically at the red glob that she just spat out of her mouth. That couldn’t have come from her…
Twilight looked away from Trixie and towards the door while saying. “I never wanted to be a princess, or a hero, or an anything. All of my friends have been through so much lately and I just want to make everything be peaceful for them. I don’t know what I can do though…”
Twilight gave a long pause allowing silence to fill the room. After a few moments of the oppressive silence Twilight said, “I have been trying to prevent bad things from happening. My…plans have been getting more secretive and more dangerous. I need help from my friends, but I’m scared to trust them with this. They look so much happier than me…why did she have to turn me into a princess, why did I have to be the element of magic,” Twilight’s voice raised to nearly shouting volume, “why is everything so freaking hard?”
Zecora walked over to Twilight and nuzzled her back for a few moments. As Twilight seemed to calm down Zecora said, “Life is full of hurt, and all we can do is work, day by day so that we may see the light that lurks just out of sight.”
Twilight looked up at her and smiled before looking at Trixie and giving her a smile as well. Tears were running down Twilights face and Trixie felt really bad for her. Twilights smile faded the longer she looked at Trixie and then she asked, “Are you okay?”
Trixie opened her mouth and spoke gently, her throat was still in pain. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
Twilight walked over to her and said, “No you’re not, there is blood on your muzzle.” Twilight looked back at the pool of vomit that had settled onto the floor and looked a little shocked as she said, “Oh my Celestia, how did I not see that sooner. You were puking up blood.”
Trixie was unsurprised, and she already knew why, she had used too much magic. Either from when she saved Twilight or from when Scath had possessed her. Scath was the sudden realization that made her sit up in a jolt and say, “That doesn’t matter now, we have much bigger problems.”
Twilight looked at Trixie and frowned before asking, “What’s wrong?”
Trixie felt her body shaking from the sudden movement and her insides hurt a little. Trixie sucked up the pain and said, “There was another pony down there with me…and we need to stop her.”
Trixie had explained to them about her being possessed by the creature named Scath. How Scath used her to make a new body, and how Scath escaped. Trixie told them about the element of domination and that brought a new look of horror from Twilight’s face. Trixie even told them about how her cloned body, the one Scath was now using had no cutie mark. It looked like everything that Twilight was fearful of was already happening, now it was only a matter of whether they could stop it in time or not.
***
Trixie was enjoying the nice cool breeze on her fur coat as they walked back to town. Twilight and Trixie had decided to walk back, while Zecora checked up on whatever Twilight was so worried about being stolen.
Trixie looked up at the moon and wondered about how long she had been gone. Trixie shook with the idea of leaving Maud alone that long. Trixie had to ask, “How long was I stuck down there, and is Maud okay?”
Twilight looked over at her surprised and said, “You told her that you were going to be gone until nightfall. Said something about going to visit somepony I think, Maud didn’t seem upset about it…wait did you actually say that? Or was it Scath?”
Trixie looked away and said, “I didn’t do that. It had to be Scath…I really hope that Maud is okay.”
Trixie then remembered what Fluttershy had said to her when she was pretending to sleep. Trixie let out a sigh of frustration and said, “Darn it. I have to deal with Fluttershy too don’t I…I hate drama.”
Twilight gave her an inquisitive look prompting Trixie to explain, “Fluttershy has a…well she has a small problem that I might need to help her with. I only hope that I can do something good for her, I don’t want anypony to be hurt from this."
Twilight continued giving her the look obviously wanting to know more before she realized that Trixie wasn’t going to say any more, and gave up.
“You probably shouldn’t tell me, I am horrible at keeping secrets,” Twilight admitted.
Trixie gave a small laugh at Twilights words. “Yeah remember the time that I caught you trying to use dark magic. It took you all of five minutes before you cried to Celestia begging for her forgiveness,” said Trixie.
Twilight laughed back with her and said, “Yeah and then there was the time I had a crush on…well you know the fillies name. I think I got myself in all kinds of trouble with that one.”
Trixie laughed with her and said, “Yeah, if you had been in Ponyville that would of gone unnoticed. But there are a lot of stallions in Canterlot so it’s expected that you find a colt friend. You should of come here sooner.”
Twilight laughed along and joked, “Ponyville, hometown of the fillyfooler’s.”
Trixie smiled and said, “Well duh, my home town is the best home town.”
Together the two of them laughed happily, and joked alongside one another as they reminisced about their school days. They continued like this until they made their way back to town. Maybe they weren’t friends in school but they were beginning to realize that they had been closer than they once thought.
***
The two of them finally arrived in town, Trixie was still beaten and exhausted but Twilight looked on edge and paranoid. Trixie doubted that even a slumber spell would allow Twilight to go to sleep right now. Twilight brought Trixie over to the Sugarcube Corner where Maud and Pinkie were staying.
Both Maud and Pinkie Pie were sitting on the steps outside the small baker shop looking bored. Trixie could feel Maud’s anxiety as they approached. Twilight looked at Trixie and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll do research on this element of domination and see what I can do to stop Scath. You only need to rest and work on having a fun trip. This time let me save you, okay.”
Trixie nodded and began trotting towards Maud, she was happy to finally see her lover again. Twilight decided to leave her alone and return to her castle, she would begin doing research there.
On Trixie’s approach Maud looked up at her and usually bored expression turned into a small smile. Maud got up from her seat on the steps of Sugarcube Corner and began trotting towards Trixie. The two of them embraced each other and Maud gave Trixie a wonderful kiss that lasted for what felt like an eternity, and yet as she pulled away it felt like it had been so short.
Maud was wearing a slightly sour face and fought for a moment before spitting on the ground. Trixie felt bad and apologized, “I’m sorry, I kinda threw up at Zecora’s house. I didn’t’ get a chance to wash my mouth ou-“ Trixie was cut off as Maud kissed her again. This time she kissed her even longer than before.
When Maud finally pulled away she said, “I don’t mind. I missed you. Please don’t leave me like that again.” Maud truly had missed Trixie, and Trixie really hoped that it wasn’t hard for her in Ponyville. Trixie wanted to tell Maud about her doppelganger Scath so badly, but she decided to leave it for tomorrow. Twilight was going to handle this, and Trixie was going to simply enjoy her time in Ponyville. Tomorrow she would help Maud look for a place to move into, and afterwards Trixie would visit her mother. Hopefully things wouldn’t explode tomorrow, but if her luck held like was now…then everything would collapse tomorrow.