//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty Four: Shadowed Hearts // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter Twenty Four: Shadowed Hearts Written by TheCrimsonDM After they got downstairs they found out The Cakes were out with the little ones going to the doctor’s office. Trixie heard the word vaccine and began pitying the parents. It was bad enough for one child to receive a shot, but for two of them at once. When they get home it was likely the foals would cuddle up with their cousin, Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie had made some breakfast for Maud and Trixie, and Pinkie couldn’t stop grinning the entire time. Trixie couldn’t tell if it was the fact that Pinkie had succeeded in interrupting her private time with Maud, or if she was just being herself. Because Trixie suspected the former, she began disliking Pinkie’s smile. Breakfast today seemed to be a good helping of pancakes, with chocolate chips baked inside them. Despite Pinkie’s rude behavior earlier, Trixie decided not to hold it against her. Because of how good the food smelled, Trixie found herself salivating long before the food reached the table. Together the three of them ate in peace, save for Pinkie Pie who was singing a song about pancakes. It was the same song she had started singing while cooking them, only now she changed the words slightly to make the song about eating them. Trixie didn’t mind, she could barely hear Pinkie’s song over the sound of herself eating the wonderful chocolate pancakes before her. Having finished the food Trixie laid back in her chair feeling satisfied and full. Pinkie Pie looked excited and smiled brightly at her. “So did you like the food? Trixie nodded and Pinkie Pie continued, “good.” After that Pinkie Pie got up from the table and left the room. Trixie didn’t like why Pinkie Pie had asked her that question. Why would she bring up the issue of whether Trixie liked the food or not. She began to fear Pinkie Pie had done something to pancakes, but what could she have done? It was a scary idea, and Trixie attempted her best to forget about it. Maud stared in silence at Trixie for a few minutes causing Trixie to wonder what Maud was thinking about. Maud had been a little too quiet during the meal, and Trixie didn’t like that. So Trixie decided to fix that problem. “So, Maud, what do you want to do today?” Maud looked flatly at Trixie and stayed quiet. Trixie didn’t like this at all. Maybe Trixie had indeed hurt Maud more then she had believed. “Um…Maud…I am sorry about what I did. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, all you have to do is ask.” Maud finally looked away from Trixie and said, “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. But I think I’ve been…I haven’t been listening to you. It’s my fault you were hurt isn’t it?” Trixie didn’t know where this had come from but she didn’t like it at all. Trixie said, “of course not. I would have been in trouble at some point no matter what I did. Please don’t blame yourself.” Trixie tried to get Maud to look at her and when Maud showed no signs of wanting to look at Trixie, she knew she had somehow hurt Maud deeper then she had thought possible. Trixie felt on the verge of tears when Maud finally said, “You didn’t want to come here originally, and then when you did…it was only to save Twilight. Then you got hurt, and I didn’t even realize something was wrong until the next day.” It was painful for Trixie to see Maud worried like this. Maud had been blaming herself for what had happened…and she had tried to make everything better yesterday. Trixie hated herself for not noticing how much Maud cared. Something felt off inside her head, she had already known Maud cared about her. And that Maud paid attention to everything Trixie did, but why did Trixie forget that. “I got hurt in the forest…my body was taken over by an evil monster. Whatever happened during that time, had hurt me. Her name is Scath, and now she is out there somewhere doing bad things. I just know it. Twilight has promised me that she would fix this, so everything will be okay,” Trixie explained to Maud, hoping that it would somehow make Maud feel better. Maud was quiet again. After a minute of sitting still waiting, hoping for a response, Trixie gave up and let out a depressed sigh. Maud finally spoke again saying, “I’m sorry. I should have saved you Trixie, but…I didn’t even know something was wrong with you. You were possessed and I didn’t even know. I hurt you…just like…I’m sorry.” Trixie heard Maud and although she couldn’t hear any difference in the tone of Maud’s voice, she could tell that there was something heavy weighing on Maud’s heart. Trixie closed her eyes and concentrated on Maud’s mind. It was a little harder for Trixie to hear Maud’s thought’s today, but she heard Maud thinking, “it’s just Pinkie Pie all over again…” Suddenly Trixie was pulled back from Maud’s mind. It was hard to concentrate right now, but what she had heard was horrible. Trixie wanted to know what had happened and she needed to know now, before it got any worse. “Something happened between you and Pinkie Pie didn’t it? Maud, you need to tell me what happened,” Trixie said in as steady a voice as she could muster. Maud didn’t answer, instead she simply picked up the dishes and brought them to the sink. Trixie could tell Maud was going to ignore her, so Trixie decided it was time to press. Trixie was determined to fix this mess. Maud began washing the dishes as Trixie decided to speak up saying, “you need to tell me. Maud what you are doing right now is just like when I lied to you.” Maud didn’t turn from the dishes but she replied with her monotonous voice, “now you know how I felt.” Trixie’s heart stopped. Maud had just said something…hurtful. Something inside Trixie began breaking, it was as though all her inner pain was beginning to smother her in sorrow. Trixie felt something screw up inside her, she didn’t like it at all. “What did you just say?” she asked in such a tiny voice, hopping that she had misheard Maud. Maud didn’t respond for a few agonizing moments, and when she did she said, “I told you I am not talking about this.” Trixie couldn’t find any way to stop her heart from breaking further. Hot tears began running down Trixie’s face as she begged, “please Maud. You already know everything about me. I just want to know something about you…please.” Maud finally turned around to look directly at Trixie and stomped her hoof into the floor. “I said I refuse to talk about what I did. Drop it Trixie.” There was nothing but a cold silence for a few seconds as tears continued to stream down Trixie’s face. Trixie looked away from Maud’s face, and noticed the floor beneath Maud’s hoof. The kitchen tiles were cracked where Maud had stomped on them. Trixie had been neglecting her sensing abilities and just realized that Maud was angry. Maud was angry, terrified, and…ashamed. After another long moment of silence Maud finally said in a gentler tone, “I’m sorry I snapped like that. I…it’s a painful memory for me. One that makes me fear what could happen, if I’m not careful. I won’t ever ask you to tell me about what happened during the dark times in your life, all I ask is that you do the same.” Trixie continued staring at the broken floor. Her broken heart was fearful now. Trixie looked up and said in an almost whimpering tone, “I…I understand, I won’t ask about this anymore. But may I ask you why you were…mean to me?” A confused feeling came over Maud as she asked, “I’m sorry. I’m not very good at talking, if I said something mean…I’m sorry.” Trixie closed her eyes and said, “but why did you say ‘now you know how it feels’?” Maud’s expression changed slightly as her eyes opened a little more. “I didn’t say that out loud…how did you know what I was thinking?” This concerned Trixie, amongst everything else seemed wrong about this event. She began to wonder if she had just read Maud’s mind passively. If Trixie could do that passively and by mistake, then she had to wonder if it ever happened in the past? Trixie didn’t like the idea. Trixie also didn’t like how Maud just ruined the floor out of anger, but worst of all she didn’t like how Maud wasn’t letting her in. Trixie closed her eyes and painfully told another false truth, “I heard when two ponies are soul mates they can sometimes hear each other’s thoughts…maybe that’s what I just did?” Maud walked up and embraced Trixie gently with her wet hooves. Trixie’s broken heart and fear started to fade as she embraced Maud back. Maud then spoke softly into Trixie’s ear. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” Trixie knew everything was a mess right now, but at least Maud still loved her. And so long as Trixie had Maud’s love everything should be okay in the end. They stayed together in that embrace for a while before Trixie finally felt calm enough to nuzzle back into Maud’s neck. They simply held each other for the longest time. After that though Maud returned to washing dishes and Trixie was still not sure what she should do. *** After breakfast and the event with Maud Trixie decided to go and find a nice quiet place to relax. Trixie was content lounging on one of the chairs with her rear legs propped on top of the table. She stayed like that and rested for a while, and she would have stayed there in the peace and quiet forever should she have been given a chance. The bell just over the door rung as the door was swung open and in walked a disheveled Twilight Sparkle. Trixie sat up straight and asked, “what happened to you?” Twilight looked around suspiciously before answering, “I have been trying to track down Scath, find a cure for your horn, figure out how Celestia learned of our actions in New Slate, and on top of all of that, I have been trying to not freak out and destroy the town.” “What…wait why would you destroy the town?” Trixie asked in worry for her friend. Twilight gave a manic laugh before saying, “are you kidding me, I have been bouncing between anger, and depression for the longest time now. But your screwing around with the mirror pool has revived memories of the darn Pinkie Pie clones. I would’ve much preferred never to think about them again.” Trixie pitied for Twilight, for she had been in a similar spot once before. But Twilight had friends to look after her, including Trixie. Then Trixie realized Twilight had said the words “Pinkie Pie clones”. “What do you mean Pinkie Pie clones?” Trixie asked feeling curious and just a little excited about the idea. Twilight looked away from Trixie and said, “Pinkie Pie made a bunch of clones once. It was a mess. I fixed it. End of story. Never talk about it again.” Trixie was confused, why should she never talk about it again, wasn’t it an awesome idea? “Why, I think a Pinkie Pie clone would be awesome to have.” Twilight gave an angry look to Trixie before saying, “no it was not awesome. They were annoying, and everypony suffered.” Trixie rolled her eyes at Twilight. She was beginning to see what was going on. Twilight had probably not gotten any sleep since the Scath incident. That meant Twilight was all paranoid and silly, when she got sleep she would be normal again. “Pfft, Pinkie Pie clones are only annoying if you keep them too close together,” Trixie said dismissively. Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she asked, “what?” It made sense to Trixie that Pinkie Pie could be annoying sometimes, if you had a bunch of Pinkie Pie’s you would need to separate them, or else the singing might never end.“Simple fix, separate them. Oooo maybe you could put a Pinkie Pie inside every town in Equestria. Then no pony would ever be sad or lonely again. Or you could give them out as pets…oh can I have one?” Trixie said now envisioning all sorts of ideas of what to do with Pinkie Pie clones. Twilight’s mouth gapped open and she stood frozen. After nearly a minute Twilight said, “I…can’t believe that would’ve…I mean we could at least have tried it. Why didn’t we ask anypony else for advice.” “So what did you end up doing? Probably locked them away until you figured out what to do huh. I guess you were always the smart one.” Trixie said while contemplating a cage full of bouncing pink ponies, and then thinking about how sad they were without any friends. Twilight refused to meet Trixie’s eyes and said, “I didn’t come here to complain about my own issues. I needed to tell you what I’ve found out so far.” “Oh what is it, something about Scath?” Trixie asked, feeling a little less excited for the news now. Twilight let out a sigh before saying, “do you know what a dark heart is?” Trixie shook her head and Twilight continued, “it’s when a pony becomes a dark version of themselves. The worst cases have them becoming gray in color. It is a terrifying thing to see, and also really annoying. Well I have suffered from a dark heart twice. Once was when I first fought Discord.” Trixie shivered when she heard that name. She didn’t know a lot about him, but what little she had heard was horrifying, especially considering the thing with Lord Tirek. Twilight gave a few seconds of silence before continuing. “The second time was after I fought Lord Tirek. My home was destroyed, along with everything I had ever once owned. Fluttershy was emotionally destroyed by Discord’s betrayal, and needed a lot of help. I don’t think she slept alone for a month after that. And there was destruction from the roles not being filled during Lord Tirek’s rain. “My entire body was in pain for a few weeks from how much magic had been poured into me, and ripped out again. Not to mention that it was the first time I had realized that Celestia’s plans…well they suck. All of my pain, anger, and dark feelings began to pile up and explode and I went dark. I heard about what happened to you, and I did my very best to help you Trixie. But there were so many things happening. There was even a small rebellion that we had to quell. It was all horrible. “Trixie it was the darkest time of my life, and I began searching for ways to keep Equestria and my friends safe. This included many trips into dark and forbidden places. I even broke into the Canterlot royal archives. But the worst thing I discovered was King Sombra’s old lab. Trixie, I did experiments there, things that I should not have messed around with, and eventually I became corrupted by my dark heart and went to Maud for help with the purple crystals. I…knew of their effects but I thought myself better than to succumb to them. “After you entered my heart and pulled out my darkness. You took it inside of you didn’t you? And that…created a dark heart inside of you. But I believe that you already had one from the past. When you were…under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet. So it was then that I theorize my dark heart, and yours, fused. I don’t know what this element of domination thing is all about…but if I had been told that you were this element back in the old days…I might have believed it to be true. “Trixie it is very likely that what we are facing is a great darkness, something belonging to both me and you. That is why I believe it is only we, who can destroy it and send it back to the mirror pool. This monster must be stopped and I need your help, because the only one who knows how to stop you is…you. Even I couldn’t beat you when you were at your best, I had to cheat. So please, will you help me with this?” Trixie sat there feeling as though she was in some kind of dream. All of that information was…a lot to take in. but the last thing Twilight had said. That Twilight had cheated in their magic dual…it brought back memories once forgotten. Trixie closed her eyes and felt a cold shiver pass through her. She needed to do this, to take down her evil self…she had always wanted to destroy her inner darkness and now…she had the chance, together with Twilight. Trixie looked into Twilight’s eyes and said, “I will help you Twilight, where do we start?”