HEART OF STONE
Chapter Sixty Five: A Mothers Return
Written by TheCrimsonDM
The house was almost quiet, almost but not quite as Pinkie Pie was singing to herself while washing dishes in the kitchen. It had been difficult bringing the stage wagon back home all by herself, but Trixie had managed much more difficult feats in the past. As for now she was simply trying to distract her mind from the kiss that Fluttershy had given her, without much success of course. It didn’t take much coaxing for Trixie to run away from her thoughts so when there was a knocking at the front door Trixie was overjoyed to go and answer it.
She opened the door and suddenly her mind shut down. There were two ponies at the door, one that she had never expected to see come and visit her at home, the other one had already visited several times by now. Both Screw Loose and Timequill stood silently at Trixie’s front door.
Screw Loose looked very different then the last time Trixie had visited her. Screw Loose’s manic grin was gone completely now replaced by a small smile, her eyes were focused and full of intelligence, and most of all her mane was styled into a ponytail. It was also of importance to note that Screw Loose was wearing a dark blue dress.
“Trix, I’m… I’m finally back,” Screw Loose spoke calmly.
Trixie couldn’t do anything more than gape at her mother’s ability to speak so normally. The loud clash of a dish breaking snapped Trixie out of her daze and drew her attention to Pinkie Pie who was currently looking at the shattered pieces of glass at her hooves. In an attempt to regain her composer Trixie shook her head.
“I… I know this must be a shock, I know it was shocking to me and my doctors but I’m really here Trix,” Screw Loose said.
It was impossible for Trixie to care about the broken plate right now. All that she could focus on was her mother and suddenly she was beyond thankful for Red Velvet’s promise. Tears streamed down her face as she leapt forward and wrapped her hooves around Screw Loose while saying, “Mommy!”
Screw Loose returned the embrace and together they simply held each other for the longest time. Finally Trixie knew that she had to force herself to pull away from her mom and as painful as it was she did so. Even though Trixie knew that Red Velvet had been behind this she still wanted details so she looked at Timequill and asked, “How is this possible?”
Timequill adjusted the scarf around his neck before answering, “It was a new discovery in the field of conjuration. We actually had a specialist come over and assist us with the new treatment and to our surprise it worked. That being said we will be keeping Screw Loose close by for a period of time just in case the spell didn’t take.”
“So it was just a spell?” Trixie asked feeling slightly off put by how simple it all sounded.
“It wasn’t just a spell,” Timequill said. “It was powerful one, and it very nearly destroyed the mind of the unicorn who cast it. If we had been allowed to know the dangers that the spell came with I’m not sure that we would have allowed it to be cast, not without a lot of preparation first.”
Trixie didn’t like the idea that healing her mother could’ve hurt somepony but everything seemed to turn out for the best in the end. Looking back at her mother Trixie felt a warmth that she hadn’t felt in such a long time filling her chest. Unable to resist Trixie wrapped her hooves around her mother again and embraced her tightly afraid to let go.
“I love you, Trix,” Screw Loose said gently.
“I love you too, mom.”
***
So many questions were running through Trixie’s mind it was impossible for her to grasp at more than a hoof full of them. Sitting on the couch was also very difficult when she just wanted to bounce around with how excited she was, if not for her mother sitting on the couch next to her she would’ve been jumping up and down like an excited filly.
“So tell me, what have you been doing lately?” Screw Loose asked.
Trixie grinned with glee at the question. “I’ve spent the last year living with this mare name Maud. I introduced her to you once if you remember?” When Screw Loose shook her head Trixie continued, “Well anyway me and her are engaged to be married. I have never loved a pony as much as I love her. It makes me think about how you must’ve felt about dad.”
Screw Loose gave Trixie a sad smile before saying, “You’re dad was… an interesting event. I met him one day and instantly we made a connection. It wasn’t too much longer before I was pregnant and boy was your grandmother upset. Against her wishes I decided to marry your father and I have never regretted it. Even when he left us I still loved him.”
“Why did he leave?”
“Truthfully speaking your father didn’t leave us on the best of intentions. He had a vendetta to settle with one of his old enemies, and after an attack on our home he knew that he couldn’t just sit back and live a peaceful life any longer. After the fire he said good bye to me and left on a journey to go and… finish things with somepony called Ash.
“I tried my best to take care of you after that, Trix. I really did. But I guess that I wasn’t strong enough to handle all the pressure and I broke. For that I can never apologize enough to you, but I vow to be here for you from now on. Those doctors helped me out a lot, especially the unicorn they brought in, although I don’t remember the spell being preformed. It feels like I woke up after having slept for a very long time,” Screw Loose finished quietly. “It’s a little weird to see how much you’ve grown up.”
Trixie hugged her mother yet again. Her entire world was now bright and sunny, she only wished that Maud could be here to enjoy this as well. For better or worse all the depressing thoughts about Fluttershy, and her own darkness were gone. This moment might have been the happiest moment of her life, right next to getting engaged, and the happiest moment that she would get to enjoy for a long time. Even with her own darkness having been defeated for now, somewhere in the back of her mind she just knew that the universe was conspiring against her, but at the very least she had this one moment of happiness and peace to enjoy.
Pinkie Pie walked into the living room alongside Timequill and together they looked at reunion of mother and daughter with delight. Timequill however had some sour news to give to Trixie.
“Trixie, Screw Loose, I hate to interrupt you two but-“ he started.
“But it’s time for me to go back isn’t it?” Screw Loose asked.
Timequill looked downtrodden as he nodded.
Screw Loose looked into Trixie’s eyes and said, “Now don’t worry, I’ll come back and visit you. But right now I have to head back with my doctor. There are still tests that need completed, and they need to keep me under surveillance in case something goes wrong, but I’m sure that everything will be fine.”
It was hard for the lonely unicorn to watch her mother leave but she knew that it was important. Just as Timequill and Screw Loose walked out the door Screw Loose stopped just long enough to turn and say, “Meet her in abandoned outpost tonight.”
Trixie’s heart froze and Timequill stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at Screw Loose carefully and asked, “Meet who?”
“I… I don’t know. I just felt like I needed to say that, I’m not exactly sure why,” Screw Loose said worriedly.
Timequill looked back at Trixie and with a serious tone of voice he said, “I might be old now, but I’m just as perceptive as I once was. Be careful of whatever burdens you may have, Trixie.”
Trixie nodded and watched as the two walked away. Timequill was a smart pony and of course he would know that something was off about this whole ordeal but there wasn’t anything that Trixie could tell him, not with Red Velvet’s curse stopping her. Trixie knew exactly where the abandoned dear outpost was, the location was burned into her memory. She would go there tonight, and no matter what it was that Red Velvet wanted, she would give it to her.