HEART OF STONE
Chapter Sixty Nine: A New Trick
TheCrimsonDM
“So this is really happening?” Trixie asked her mind still reeling in shock from the unexpected turn of events.
Timequill sat behind his desk smiling brightly. “It really is. I simply can’t believe the change your mother has undergone in such a short amount of time. This has been such a beautiful thing to have happen that we are proud to reintroduce Screw Loose into society.”
The last thing that Trixie expected when she came to talk to Timequill today was to learn theat her mother was going to be released soon. “How long before it happens?”
“We still have property owned since the last time we attempted this, so maybe three days at the latest. It will be simply too wonderful to help her in this endeavor. Will you be willing to aid us?” Timequill asked joyfully.
“Of course I’ll help. What do you need?”
“For now just continue visiting your mother, and after she moves into her new home don’t let yourself become a stranger.” After a momentary pause he added quietly, “But I do have one very important question; do you have any idea how she has been healed so completely?”
Trixie avoided eye contact with him and quietly said, “No, I don’t. And even if I did I might be too scared to tell you. So please don’t ask me about this again, please.”
“All right, I will stay out of it. Just remember that you have a lot of friends to help you if you’re in trouble.”
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sickening feeling in her stomach. There was nothing but disgust inside for the sins she had committed recently. “I… I might have screwed up my entire life.”
A serious look crossed into Timequill’s eyes before they quickly softened and he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t know where to begin. Oh Celestia the things I’ve done are so horrible, why am I such a worthless evil pony. All I can do is cause harm wherever I go. Can’t I just be a good pony like everypony else?”
“Shh, just start from the beginning and we will see what we can do to help you,” Timequill suggested in a soft tone.
Trixie sniffed. Her eyes and her heart were hurting as she fought with the urge to cry. “Have you seen Twilight’s castle? The way it’s all stone now instead of crystal?”
“Yes, I did notice that.”
“That’s my fault. I stole something from the castle that turned it into stone. Twilight Sparkle trusted me, and then I turn around and stole from her. How am I supposed to reconcile with that?”
Timequill was silent and that made Trixie fear that he was contemplating doing something. Just as Trixie’s fear began to rise he spoke saying, “That is unfortunate but if we tell her what you did, and why, maybe we can fix this?”
“I wish that I could but I had to do this to fix her; to fix my mom. If I didn’t she wouldn’t be okay right now, please don’t let anypony know,” Trixie begged.
“So that’s how it is. Well in that case don’t judge yourself too harshly, if you had an actual choice in the matter then I’m sure that you wouldn’t have done this.” Timequill spoke so coolly to Trixie as though her actions didn’t bother him in the slightest.
“Thanks.”
“Is there anything else you would like to discuss?”
Trixie stared at the floor and she knew that this was her one chance to find out how to make her night with Fluttershy all better. Just as she opened her mouth to speak there was a furious knocking at Timequill’s door and somepony shouting, “She’s doing it again!”
Timequill stood and gave a serious look to Trixie while saying, “I’m sorry but we need to cut this short. I don’t want anypony getting bit again.”
Trixie watched as he grabbed his brown jacket from the wall and walked outside the office. Following closely behind Trixie began hearing a mare barking like a dog from down the hall. “Oh no.”
Around the corner an orange mare with a green mane was growling like a wild animal at anypony who got close. Trixie wasn’t exactly sure what she was staring at but it looked like the same thing that had afflicted her mother just recently. The mare barked and Timequill walked forward. Trixie watched in shocking silence as the world around the crazed mare and Timequill slowed down, literally. Ponies that were backing away previously had now been frozen in place as Timequill approached the still barking mare. Timequill raised a hoof gently at the pony who was now snarling at him.
The pony advanced slowly and sniffed his hoof. After a moment she calmed down and licked his hoof before looking up at him with round confused eyes. Trixie stretched out her mind and tried to probe Timequill’s but found it impossible to get a read on his thoughts. She wisely decided to give up on reading his mind before she hurt herself.
A clock on the wall showed the time and much to Trixie’s dismay the clock’s hands were frozen in place. It looked as though Timequill had somehow managed to freeze time for himself and the two mares. How Timequill had done this she didn’t know, but she did know that an earth pony should never have been able to do something like this. The fact that she was brought along to watch must have been a coincidence.
“Shh, Orange Peel, it’s okay,” He whispered ever so gently to her.
It took a few minutes of quiet talking but he managed to calm Orange Peel down and the world around the two of them began moving again. With the clock ticking and the ponies around the two smiling and giving thanks to Timequill things looked normal again. Trixie just stood still and waited for Timequill to return to her.
On his approach she tried to ask, “How did you-“
“I’m sorry, Trixie,” He interrupted, “I’m feeling a little fatigued. If you’ll excuse me I think that I might go home and take a nap.”
Timequill’s pupils had shrunk to the size of pinpricks and tired black circles were visible around his eyes. Suddenly Trixie had the idea that maybe whatever he had done was physically exhausting him. She watched as he walked away while putting his jacket on.
“I can’t believe that the doctor was able to help you again. Ever since we fixed that one patient you have been acting strange, I know how traumatizing it was to see Clover nearly die from using the spell. Maybe you should take a few days off to rest. Come back when you’re at full health,” A pink unicorn said to the Orange Peel.
“I… yeah, a few days off. That will help me,” Orange Peel replied unsurely.
Trixie turned and left. She had heard and seen enough to know that the spell that had fixed her mother might’ve caused trouble for another pony. She hoped they would be able to help Orange Peel out with her new problem. Between Timequill’s strange ability to stop time itself and Orange Peel adopting Screw Loose’s crazy, Trixie decided to stay out of everything. If she involved herself she would only cause an even larger mess.
***
It was late and Trixie was exhausted. She stood at the open doorway to her own bedroom and found herself deeply troubled. This room was where she spent her most intimate moments with Maud, this room showed how much she loved her earth pony, and this room was no longer meant for her. She could still sleep in here after what she did to Twilight because that action didn’t directly betray Maud, but after what she had done with Fluttershy…
Trixie closed the door and walked into the living room. She climbed up onto the couch and attempted to find a comfortable position. It was cold, it was hard, and it was tiny, but she could sleep here.
“Are you seriously going to sleep in the living room tonight?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah,” Trixie replied flatly.
“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie said playfully. “It’ll be like a camping only in the living room, and in the same house. It’ll be awesome!”
It only took a few minutes for Pinkie Pie to come back with a mess of blankets and quilts that she made into a makeshift bed on the floor. It took some convincing but eventually Trixie joined Pinkie on the floor and together they cuddled underneath an extravagant amount of blankets. Despite how much hatred she held for herself she was able to get to sleep a lot easier then she had thought possible. Then again Pinkie Pie seemed to make everything better when she cuddled somepony.
***
The next day came and time passed by without much occurring. Not much until Fluttershy showed up at Trixie’s with a box labeled ‘Magic’. The two ponies stood in the kitchen and with the contents of the box spread out on the table it was becoming clear to Trixie that her friend really did have an invested interest in magic. Everything here were beginner tools sure, but there was enough here to start an entertaining little show. Trixie even found a few books on the table, along with a few magazines, including one with Trixie on the cover.
“Wow, this must be old,” Trixie stated while looking through the issue. She vaguely remembered being interviewed about her show while she was still in Canterlot. Things sure were different back then, simple, kind, and happy.
“Yes well um, it means a lot to me,” Fluttershy said quietly. She allowed a moment of silence to go by letting Trixie fully soak in the meaning of her words.
“Oh… thank you.”
Fluttershy shifted nervously before asking, “Do you remember a filly called the foal from the sky?”
“The what?” Trixie asked bluntly.
“You know from when you were a filly living in Ponyville?”
The title was only vaguely familiar to Trixie but the memories were so old that she had a hard time recalling them. “Sorry, I don’t remember very much about my childhood.”
“That’s okay. Um what do you remember about the first time we met?”
“That was at one of my earliest shows right? When you asked me to run a show for you at Ponyville. I remember that night pretty well, it really meant so much to me that a fan of mine would care so much about what I do,” Trixie admitted, her heart smiling at the happy memory.
“Oh no, I meant um… from when we were fillies…” Fluttershy added sheepishly.
For a moment Trixie was stunned but quickly an old memory was fished out from the back of her mind. There had been a rather tall and skinny looking pegasus who she remembered being friendly to when she was younger. The filly always looked a little awkward to Trixie and she couldn’t remember ever seeing the filly’s parents.
“I… think I remember you. Why do you ask?” Trixie asked.
“It’s just that when I landed in Everfree Forest I was left down here. The animals in the forest adopted me for awhile and I became one with them. Eventually though the ponies in Ponyville found me and forced me to rejoin society… I was always treated as an oddity though. They called me some mean names, the nicest one being the foal from the sky.”
It suddenly dawned on Trixie. “Wait you were the animal child? Wow, I had no idea that was you.”
“I don’t like that name…”
“Oh sorry, it’s just that I remember that you never once made fun of me for my mom’s condition. Huh, guess that means we were both outcasts weren’t we?”
Fluttershy smiled and said, “Yes, we were. I tried to go back to Cloudsdale but I was so scared of heights after falling the first time that I nearly had a heart attack. They decided that it was safer for me on the ground. I’ve spent a long time here in Ponyville, it’s my home just like it’s yours.”
“That’s pretty cool. Well Ponyville is lucky to have you, Fluttershy,” Trixie said honestly.
Fluttershy hid behind her mane and Trixie caught the cute pony’s cheeks becoming pink. Something about seeing the blushing mare was adorable, but it also made another part of Trixie began heating up. Now that she thought about it, inviting Fluttershy inside the house might backfire.
Suddenly Trixie’s eyes came across a pair of hoofcuffs and Trixie laughed. “No way, you’re trying to escape from hoofcuffs now? You do realize that without magic that it’s incredibly difficult.”
“I, um, figured that out. Actually I was wondering if you could help me learn to do that trick?” Fluttershy asked shyly.
“Oh yeah, this is one that I, The Great and Powerful Trixie can teach you without any magic,” Trixie said proudly.
The cuffs were an awkward fit on Fluttershy’s skinny legs. Despite being so tall, Fluttershy was incredibly slender, all of her was a little awkward and beautiful. Trixie quickly tugged on the cuffs and made sure that they were indeed locked. With a sly grin Trixie stepped back from Fluttershy.
“Go ahead, let me see you try and escape,” Trixie said casually.
Fluttershy sat down and gnawed at the cuffs at first, this achieved nothing but a sour look on the yellow pony’s face. Next Fluttershy tried to slide them off her legs but Trixie had made sure that they were tightened. The cuffs didn’t budge. Finally Fluttershy prodded them with the tips of her wings before letting out a sigh and saying, “I don’t know how.”
With a growing Smile Trixie pointed at the table behind Fluttershy. “First you need to get a lock pick from the table.”
Fluttershy stood and turned around and took two steps forward before falling face first into the floor. It was very difficult for Trixie not to laugh at the sight of Fluttershy’s butt stuck up in the air while her face had made fast friends with the ground. After a moment Fluttershy asked meekly, “Um, can you help me?”
Trixie let out a sigh and said, “Yeah I’ll help.”
Help was exactly what Trixie had meant to do. But when Trixie walked over and with her hooves wrapped around Fluttershy’s waist she began to pull the pony back up she stopped. A succulent smell was coming from Fluttershy, one that made Trixie’s heart race and her mind begin fog over. First Trixie tired to discern the source of the smell and found that it was coming from Fluttershy’s rear.
“I’m smelling your scent right now,” Trixie thought allowed, her body suddenly beginning to catch on fire.
“Eeek! d-d-don’t smell me there!” Fluttershy protested.
Trixie let go of Fluttershy’s waist and quickly double checked her surroundings. Pinkie was gone, and if she was right, the pink pony was going to be gone all day. With a gentle hoof Trixie stroked Fluttershy’s flank and played with the butterfly’s that made up Fluttershy’s cutie mark. She had already done this with Fluttershy once before, she had a hard time trying to find a reason to not do it again. Sure Maud would be angry but it wasn’t like Maud could get any more upset with Trixie for having had sex with Fluttershy, so a second round couldn’t possibly be so bad… right?
Trixie leaned in, her heart was pounding so hard that it wanted nothing more than to jump right out of her chest. Her mind was becoming even more foggy, and only one desire was left on her mind. With a gentle press of her lips she kissed Fluttershy’s cutie mark and felt Fluttershy squirming underneath her touch. She wanted Fluttershy more now than ever before.
“You know I can think of a magic trick that you may not have ever heard of before,” Trixie said.
“Um, is it safe?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh you might feel like you’re going to die, but that just means that it’s working,” Trixie replied slyly. “In fact I’ve never gotten to try this particular trick out before. Would you mind being my assistant for this private performance?”
With great pleasure Fluttershy’s tail lifted up and she spread her rear legs apart a little. “Um… it won’t hurt will it?”
Trixie’s horn lit up and Fluttershy squeaked. “Why don’t we find out?”