//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty Seven: Apple Pie // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter Thirty Seven: Apple Pie Written by TheCrimsonDM Together, Twilight and Trixie made their way back to Ponyville. They had been gone just over an hour before finally returning to the edge of the forest. The sight of Ponyville was a welcoming one indeed; the sight of six perturbed looking ponies was not. Trixie knew exactly where this was going. Applejack was the first one to speak saying, “so…the mirror pool was used again, and you didn’t tell us.” Trixie lowered her head feeling guilty. Applejack was right, Trixie should have told them, instead she went along with Twilight’s plan without question. Rarity spoke next saying, “darling, you could have been hurt. You know we are here to support you.” Trixie avoided any eye contact; she couldn’t bear to look at her friends after having kept a secret like this from them. Pinkie Pie looked a little angry as she said, “that’s twice now that you have kept secrets from us.” Trixie’s heart sunk now, everypony was going to give her their opinion and they were all correct. Rainbow Dash was silent but her legs were crossed and she looked pissed. Fluttershy then said in a very quiet voice, “Rainbow Dash and me could have been hurt…” Trixie felt tears beginning to run down the side of her face, she had screwed up everything with her friends now. Trixie closed her eyes and awaited the final blow. Rainbow Dash let out a frustrated, angry growl and said, “okay, there are so many things about this situation that are screwed up. First of all you almost got the entire town into a riot, secondly you hurt us very deeply, thirdly you hurt Trixie worst of all. Seriously, Twilight, why did you keep this secret from us?” Trixie fell to the ground and cried, “I’m so sorry, please don’t hate me. Twilight made me swear not to tell anypony, I shouldn’t have made that promised, I know that now. but Twilight made it sound like you could be in danger if I told any of you. Please forgive me.” After a few moments of silence Trixie opened her tear streaked eyes and looked up at her friends. They all looked a little confused as they stared back at her. Finally Rarity asked, “do you think we are made at you?” at Trixie’s nod, Rarity gave a kind smile and explained, “darling we are not upset with you, Maud already told us all about Twilight making you swear to secrecy. We are upset with Twilight.” Rarity then looked sternly at Twilight. Twilight began speaking, her voice was cracking as she said, “I just did what I thought was the best. I didn’t want anypony to be hurt…I…I’m so sorry.” Twilight then lowered her head crying silent tears. Fluttershy gave Twilight a hug and explained, “shhh, Twilight, you just made a mistake, we all do that sometimes. We are friends and we can forgive each other, so please don’t cry.” Twilight wrapped her legs around Fluttershy tightly and buried her head into Fluttershy’s neck. Fluttershy gave a shocked squeak and looked a little stunned at first, but quickly recovered and relaxed. Fluttershy began petting Twilight’s mane while saying, “there, there.” Trixie stood up still feeling shaken and looked at the others, none of them looked angry, upset but not angry. Applejack walked next to Trixie and said quietly, “sorry about that sugarcube, we thought that you were crying because of something Twilight did. Didn’t know how we must’ve sounded. Tell ya what, Ah got an apple pie at home with yer name on it, if yer still interested.” Trixie smiled and said, “okay…Maud, do you wanna come too?” Maud stood next to Trixie and gave her a hug saying, “yes.” *** By the time Trixie finally arrived at Applejack’s barn house, her hoof was really sore from all the walking. Applejack brought them into the kitchen and together Maud and Trixie sat there waiting for Applejack. After a few minutes Applejack brought them a nice and hot pie, and some plates. Maud looked at Applejack and said flatly, “could we get some privacy for a few minutes?” Applejack looked at her and said, “of course.” Just as Applejack left the room Maud turned to Trixie and said, “Trixie, there are a few things we need to discuss.” Trixie never liked these conversations, they usually ended up with Trixie wanting to cry. “Okay…what is it?” Maud looked down at the pie and said, “after today…Trixie, are you sure you want to live in Ponyville?” Trixie looked out the window and admitted, “this place is a little crazy, but it’s nothing like Manehattan.” Memories of the crowd that stood before Trixie’s stage today replayed in her mind. Trixie didn’t have the ability to consider it at the time, but now she realized that the crowd was actually cheering for her. A smile grew on her lips as she added, “but Trixie thinks she will be just fine here.” Maud began cutting the pie into slices and then gave one to Trixie, and one for herself. Maud then set the knife down and said, “Scath said some things at the show. The way she was talking about Fluttershy. I didn’t like that.” Trixie wasn’t sure if there was a question in Maud’s words, but she figured that she might need to explain her past with Fluttershy now. Trixie let out a sigh and said, “before I ran my first show here in Ponyville, I met Fluttershy. I was only sixteen, and I was a little crazy, but I did kinda have a crush on her…” Trixie wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence, so she decided it would be easier to explain how she met Fluttershy, and the promise she had made to her, it was going to be a long story. *** When Trixie was finished Maud asked, “so you slept in her hotel room. Did you have sex with her?” Trixie felt her face beginning to heat up quickly as she said, “what? No, of course I didn’t. I don’t even think she would’ve let me. I mean…um…the answer is no.” The pie had been half eaten while Trixie told the story, Trixie had to admit it was darn good pie. Maud was working on her third slice. Maud said, “we should invite her to a threesome.” Trixie’s face burned from embarrassment of the comment and Trixie opened her mouth to say something, but only squeaks came out. Maud smiled and said, “that was revenge for not telling me about your old crush.” Trixie covered her eyes and said, “it is impolite to talk about old relationships…or anything like that.” Maud took another bite of the pie, and chewed slowly, making Trixie wait to hear a response. Finally after several long agonizingly, embarrassing moments Maud swallowed and said, “it is only impolite, if your lover isn’t already friends with them. I noticed that Fluttershy seems to have her eyes on you a lot, but I’m not the jealous type…usually. Now that I heard your story; I pity Fluttershy, she has to watch you and me be happy together. While she doesn’t have anypony for herself, we should fix that.” Trixie face hoofed, there was no way that Maud just suggested that. It had to be some kind of joke. “You have to be kidding, that is a terrible idea. Who do we know that is even available?” Maud smiled and said, “Pinkie Pie.” Trixie looked away and said, “this is a bad idea, and a terrible conversation. We do not need to be going around trying to hook our friends up with each other. Besides I think that Pinkie Pie isn’t the kind of mare that Fluttershy needs.” “Then what kind of mare does she need?” Maud asked. Trixie rolled her eyes and said, “I don’t know, a nice, loyal, honest, sensitive, and understanding mare…maybe Appleja-“ “Enjoying the pie?” Applejack asked as she entered the kitchen. Trixie was beginning to burn again, hopefully Applejack hadn’t heard their conversation. Maud looked up at Applejack and said, “the pie is good.” Trixie wanted to crawl into a corner and never come out, why did Maud insist on having an awkward conversation in the middle of a friend’s house. It’s not like Maud to even be interested in this kind of thing. The idea then hit Trixie that this might have been all some elaborate way of getting revenge. Of course Maud wouldn’t do this to her; unless she was actually jealous of Fluttershy. After a few minutes of awkward conversation with Applejack, Maud and Trixie were left alone again. Maud looked at Trixie and asked, “do you think it will be peaceful for us now?” Trixie smiled before saying, “yes, I do.” Maud was quiet for a few more minutes before saying, “I just want to make Pinkie Pie happy. She has been so lonely before. I want her to be like us.” Trixie looked into Maud’s eyes, and could feel a deep sense of regret coming from her. Trixie smiled softly before saying, “I know you do. I do too. But Pinkie doesn’t need a special somepony to be happy, she needs us. Or at least that’s what I like to think.” Maud looked away and said, “I don’t think she wants me.” Trixie didn’t like hearing Maud talk this way, it was sad…and a little worrisome. Trixie then asked, “what’s wrong?” Maud didn’t answer so Trixie added, “look I’ve done some horrible things in the past. There is nothing you could say to throw me off. I enslaved an entire town once, I have a monster inside of me now…so trust me when I say that there is nothing you could say to make me upset with you.” Maud closed her eyes tightly and said, “Trixie…you aren’t the monster.” Trixie had heard Maud say this before. When she had told Maud about Scath. Trixie said, “I know that already, Scath was the monster, and now she is inside of me…gone for good, maybe.” Maud opened her eyes slowly and Trixie could see that they were watery. Trixie repeated Maud’s words in her head a few times, Maud was implying that there was still a monster…but if it wasn’t Trixie then who could it be….oh no. “Maud you are not a monster,” Trixie quickly said. Maud shook her head and explained, “the poison joke revived an old fear inside of me. Trixie, I…I hurt Pinkie Pie once. She had lost my pet rock, Boulder. I was so angry with her, I was so angry that I…I attacked her. Trixie, I broke her leg. I didn’t mean to, but after that Pinkie never acted the same again.” Maud paused for a few seconds to breath and tried to calm herself. When Maud continued her voice was shaky. “After I hurt her, I knew that I was too dangerous. I’m too strong and my emotions made me a danger. So I decided to get rid of them, if I didn’t feel anything, then I couldn’t hurt anyone. When I first took you in, I saw a pony who was very similar to me, and I realized how wrong I had been to kill off my own emotions. You broke through to my heart, and saved me from being alone. “the poison joke however reminded me off just how much of a danger I really am. The fears came back to me, and they felt fresh. I was afraid of everything, but more then that I am afraid of myself. I know I’ve been acting strange, and it’s because I don’t want to hurt you, ever…so you see Trixie, you aren’t the monster…I am.” When Maud finished there were tears running down her face. Trixie stood up and walked around to Maud. Trixie wrapped her legs around Maud and pulled her into a tight embrace saying, “I will always be here for you, forever. I might even be the only pony who can truly understand why you would kill off your own emotions. I guess were just two broken ponies who found comfort and peace in one another, but even so, I believe that finding each other is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us. There is no way I would ever abandon you, no matter what happens, I will always love you. Don’t forget, you are my heart of stone.” Maud and Trixie stayed quiet after that holding each other. It was true, they were both broken ponies. But they had each other, and that was all they would ever need. Only a broken pony could truly understand another broken pony. As Trixie held Maud she noticed an old family portrait on the kitchen wall. It looked like Applejack’s entire family line had come over and taken their picture in front of the barn. There were a lot of ponies, maybe over a hundred of them. Trixie noticed a familiar looking mare, with blue fur, and a silver mane. She was young; maybe in her teens, and she looked a lot like Trixie…