//------------------------------// // Chapter Ninety Four: No More // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter Ninety Four: No More Written by TheCrimsonDM Snow fell gently all around Trixie as she stood underneath the dead willow tree, the surrounding hills were burning, and the horizon was nothing but pitch black darkness. Dreamweaver, the little blue filly stood next to her. Dreamweaver’s sour green mane was glowing. “This was a nice place,” Dreamweaver said. “Yeah, it was. I haven’t been here in a while, now it’s all cold and… on fire,” Trixie agreed. “That can change.” “How?” “Save her. You have the power, and the means, you can do it.” Trixie looked down at the filly. “How?” “You’ll figure it out,” Dreamweaver said. “Just watch out, there are cold talons reaching out for you as we speak. If they have their way, all that has been built over the past thousand years will crumble.” “Why is this all on me?” Trixie asked quietly. “It’s not. You’re just the only one I can trust,” Dreamweaver explained. “Who are you exactly? Are you Princess Luna?” “No, I’m not. She has a physical body and a life…” Dreamweaver said somberly. “You should enjoy what little time you have left before everything becomes chaos.” The sky crackled with lightning, and Trixie smiled. “Time to wake up I guess.” *** Orange light filtered through the tall glass windows and filled the study with warm glowing light. Trixie lay on the couch with Maud wrapped up in her forelegs, the quilt wrapped tightly around them. Slowly, Trixie opened her eyes and kissed the back of Maud’s head. At first she was surprised to find that she was not in bed at home, but rather she was inside Twilight’s study. She snuggled closer to Maud while trying to remember how she had come to be here. The realization hit her like a freight train; Valiant Heart was still in danger! Leaping from the couch and onto the floor, Maud let out an uncomfortable groan just in time for Trixie to stumble across the cold slippery floor and fall onto her side. The floor was absolutely frigid, causing Trixie to yelp as she attempted to stand back up. She slipped and fell a second time. Why is this castle made out of freaking smooth crystals? Trixie tried one last time to stand up by herself, and just as she slipped something nice and warm wrapped itself around her holding her up. Trixie looked back at Maud and smiled. Maud returned the favor. “You need to be more careful,” Maud said. “It’s not my fault that these floors are made of crystal? Whose bright idea was that anyway? They’re freezing cold, and slippery, and I would never want to walk across them wet. I bet Twilight hates bathing here,” Trixie muttered. Maud was silent as she helped Trixie steady herself. Once Trixie was safely standing up on her own, Maud explained, “Twilight and Luna came in after you were asleep. I asked them to bring us a few things.” Maud pointed a hoof over at a suitcase in the corner. “They put everything there for you.” Trixie carefully walked over to the suitcase. The last thing she needed was to slip on these floors again. Once she got there she wasted no time in flipping open the lid and gasped. Inside she found her father’s old cloak, just underneath it a purple jacket of hers that she rarely wore. She dug deeper and found something that she hadn’t expected to see, her father’s sword. “Isn’t it illegal to go walking around with a weapon, more so considering it’s a magical one?” Trixie asked, she was a little confused as to why they would give her the sword. “I don’t think Luna cares,” Maud said flatly. “Besides you’re a princess now, laws don’t apply to you unless Celestia says otherwise.” Trixie poked further into the case and found her crown. She lifted it up and examined it slowly. Intricate little designs could be seen along its sides. Well if being a princess gives me that much freedom, then it could really help me save Valiant Heart. Trixie put the crown on her head; it felt really awkward and somehow very special at the same time. “Let’s go vanquish some evil ponies.” They repacked everything, including the crown. The only things Trixie took out were her jacket and her cloak. She put those on right away, after all Twilight’s castle was freaking cold. With Trixie’s wings hidden from sight, the two went out and looked for Twilight. After searching for a half hour they gave up and were about to retire to the study, when they found Mystic Soul and Twilight eating breakfast. The smell of eggs and hay bacon, along with pancakes nearly drove Trixie insane with hunger. She was surprised at just how hungry she was. “Come on in and grab some food,” Twilight offered between bites off hay bacon. For a moment Trixie tried to battle her hunger. She wanted to tell Twilight to hurry up, but she couldn’t hold herself back. Trixie looked back at Maud and nodded. The two of them dived in and began setting up their plates full of food, and started eating greedily. Trixie would’ve been taken aback by how much Maud was eating, but she was too focused on her own meal to notice much of anything outside of her plate. About halfway through their meal, Trixie’s nose picked up a new scent, and with a food covered muzzle she looked over to see a young mare in a maid outfit pulling a cart into the dining room. For a brief second Trixie wondered since when Twilight had servants, and then she saw what was being brought in on the cart and her question was washed away in food ecstasy. Gravy, mashed potatoes, and biscuits, along with an assortment of muffins came rushing in and Trixie imagined that she had suddenly died and gone to culinary heaven. If this was how a princess got to eat every morning, than she had to seriously consider fully accepting her new position. Only after they had stuffed themselves full, did the four of them leave to a smaller room full of giant round chairs, each one was big enough for a pony or two to lie on. Trixie and Maud enjoyed a single chair together, while Twilight and Mystic Soul found their own. After eating so much food, Trixie’s stomach hurt, lying down helped. Slowly as the food high worked off, Trixie remembered what was at stake. She tried to move off the couch, but her sides rudely told her to stay put. Fighting the tension building up as her worry came back. I have to save her, but I’m sure that Twilight has everything planned… right? “That was a wonderful feast,” Mystic Soul said. “I will remember it fondly as I make my return to my village.” “I’m glad that I could give you a good send off,” Twilight replied. “It would be nice if our tribes became closer friends.” “Maybe one day, but first we must defeat the windigo threat,” Mystic said. Twilight nodded in agreement. “When are we leaving?” Trixie asked, the tension was killing her. Why are these two acting like nothing is wrong?   Twilight gave a serious look to Trixie. “The train’s coming in at twelve. I’ve already set up things there, they will wait for us.”   Trixie relaxed a little, and pushed the worry to the back of her mind. If I keep like this, I’m going to have another panic attack. I need to calm down somehow.   “Hey, Mystic, I haven’t seen you since I arrived here. What have you been doing?” Trixie asked. “We have been discussing recent events in great detail, most of our conversations have focused on the growing presence of the windigos,” Mystic explained. “Thanks to you we know how to defeat them.” Twilight let out a sigh. “Between the Crimson Tide, and the windigos return. I honestly think we have our work cut out for us. The windigos are migrating south again, but unlike last time where we fought them off at the borders of Canterlot, they have to get past the Crystal Empire. Their movements haven’t made much sense either, it’s like they are being led by something.” “That sounds bad,” Trixie admitted. “It is,” Twilight replied. “This could end up being worse than the changelings. You... weren’t there for it.” Twilight looked away, and her eyes grew distant. “You know me and my friends have been writing about our lives for quite some time now. We even wrote about all of our past experiences, back to when we first met each other. My journals are a bit different, I’ve kept a lot more truthful information in them, but even I’ve omitted a few things that I’d prefer not to remember. The changeling assault on Canterlot was one of them.” “I’m sorry,” Trixie said lamely. “I was busy over at the rock farm during the skirmish.” Twilight let out a low laugh. “Skirmish? You call that a skirmish! It was war, Trixie. Me and my friends were caught behind enemy lines, working with rebels, and what was left of the guards. So many ponies… didn’t make it. We still don’t have an exact count of how many ponies died.” “Ponies died?” Trixie asked. When she thought about how scary the changelings were in history, it would only make sense that death had been involved, but she had never really thought too hard about what they had done to Canterlot. “You didn’t think that the changelings, the creatures known for mass genocides of ancient pony tribes were going to invade Canterlot and let everypony live, did you? I know that I completely omitted most of that even from the journal I gave you, those pages that were missing, I ripped them out and burned them,” Twilight said, her tone was dark and serious. “What happened?” Trixie found herself asking, and she quickly regretted it as Twilight looked at her, something was missing in her eyes. Something important. “We fought, we killed, they fought back, and we nearly lost.” Twilight shivered. “Fluttershy let loose all of her pent up anger, rage, and hatred. I have never seen anything so terrifying. Even Queen Chrysalis was disturbed by her.” Trixie’s mind halted. She tried to think of anything Fluttershy could do that could be so scary, or disturbing. There was nothing that Trixie could imagine that would fit the picture. “In the end we survived, we won, and the changelings tried to stop us again by fillynapping the Cutiemark Crusaders. They failed of course, because they were making a huge mistake in challenging us. “The memories of that attack on Canterlot had scared us. I actually had to use a memory wiping spell on most of my friends, because they had lost the ability to function in society. I couldn’t just wipe their memory though; I had to replace their memories with something new. I think Pinkie Pie helped me with that, but I’m not sure, I had somepony do the same thing to me, maybe that was what Pinkie Pie did…” Twilight finished quietly. “Then how do you know all of this?” Trixie asked, in a voice just as quiet. “I asked Luna to bring those memories back,” Twilight looked away. “So that’s why when I say that the windigos will be worse, I am utterly terrified of our future.” Trixie shivered. “I won’t tell anypony about this. I promise.” “Good, although I don’t think that they would believe you anyway,” Twilight said. “Mystic and me have been talking about this and trying to figure out what to do. I’ve described the changeling war with him in greater detail, and he has shared his own tales about his people’s wars with various beasts that I’ve never even heard of.” “What will we do?” Trixie asked. “For now, we will save your friend,” Twilight closed her eyes, took in a long slow breath, and relaxed. When she opened her eyes again, they had become soft and kind. “When it comes to the windigos we will survive, but that’s in the future, for now, let’s just save that filly. Get your sword, you will need it.” Trixie nodded, her tummy no longer ached, but her heart was frozen with the fear of what she’d just learned. The world she lived in was a lot more dangerous than she ever gave it credit for being. Slowly, Maud and Trixie made their way into the study they had slept in, grabbed the suitcase and prepared to leave. She knew that Twilight was prepared for practically everything, and could be trusted to put a good plan together. Things were going to work out, or at least that’s what Trixie hoped for. *** Boarding the train brought with it all the familiar emotions that Trixie had when moving to Ponyville. It was going to be slow, nerve-wracking, and things were going to be awkward. Obtaining a private booth, Maud, Twilight, and Trixie all found a place to sit down at. They had brought three suitcases, one for each of them. Twilight had explained that depending on the situation they might need a plethora of different items. It sounded like she had really thought this one out. Trixie couldn’t keep her eyes off of her own suitcase, the sky blue container which housed her father’s sword and her own crown made her a bit twitchy. What if we get stopped by a guard, and what if he looks in my suitcase? If he finds a weapon, a real weapon, I’m going to be in so much trouble. That is not a replica, nor a piece of art, or even a collector’s item. That’s a bonafide magic weapon, designed to kill. I know Twilight said that as a princess I’d be okay, but what if she’s wrong? “Trixie, calm down,” Twilight said. “If you freak out, we won’t be able to save that filly.” “Valiant Heart,” Trixie corrected. “Her name is Valiant Heart.” Things were quiet as the train began rolling on the tracks. Trixie stared out at the snow covered landscape and felt a small shiver run down her spine. I’m really returning to Manehattan… “Tell us about her,” Twilight said. Trixie didn’t look away as she watched the snow drenched hilltops roll by. She could see a few foals sledding down some of the largest hills. She also saw Rainbow Dash sledding down with Pinkie Pie. For a brief moment she felt something warm and tingly envelop the room, wash over her mind and then Pinkie Pie stared right at her. The train rolled on. “She’s a sweet little thing, she has this sort of reddish brown fur, though it was a lot darker looking last night. Um, her mane is red and long and her tail used to look strange, like a lion’s tail. Last night though, she just looked… sad. She was so angry, she couldn’t get any food from the dumpster, nor the trashcan and she even got yelled at for trying to find something to eat,” Trixie said. “Then she finally found some food, a weird squishy pink thing that smelled really salty. But that’s when Frailty caught her.” “She was eating out of dumpsters?” Twilight asked horrified. “Somepony yelled at her for starving?” Maud asked mortified. “Um… yes. But that’s not the problem, she was caught by the leader of the Black Hoof gang,” Trixie explained. “The same gang that…” She felt a lump form in the back of her throat. She tried so hard to force the word out, it was just one word, one single word about how she’d been victimized and destroyed. She couldn’t do it though. She wasn’t angry, she was just depressed. “The gang that hurt me,” Trixie finally said lamely. She felt like a weakling for not being able to be direct with the others. They understood though. Maud wrapped her leg around Trixie and pulled her into a hug. Twilight gave a kind smile to Trixie. “You survived, Trixie. And you got the help you needed. We’re going to help Valiant Heart as well, okay.” “Thank you, Twilight,” Trixie said quietly. She nuzzled into Maud’s neck and breathed in her lovely, calming scent. “No problem, we’re going to save somepony, and make a new friend. I’m always willing to help,” Twilight said. “No,” Trixie said. “I meant thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You got me medical aid when I was stupid and fought the Ursa Major, and you got me the psychiatric help I needed after everything I’d been through… if it wasn’t for you, you and Rainbow Dash, I would not be here right now.” Twilight sat there in silence for a few minutes. She looked like she had gotten lost deep in thought.  Finally she surprised Trixie when she said, “Your welcome, Trixie. I never actually expected you to recover as well as you have. After I learned about what had happened to you, I have to admit, I thought that you’d be just as quiet as Maud for the rest of your life. I just wanted to make it as peaceful and quiet as you needed it to be… but you,” Twilight sniffled, and wiped a hoof at her eyes. “You’ve come so far, and when I look at you now, I just know that you’ll continue to improve. I… I’m just so…” “Its okay, Twilight,” Trixie said quietly. “I’ll get all the way better, and I’ll start up my magic shows again someday. When I do, you’re going to get first row tickets to all of my shows.” Twilight looked away and smiled. “Does this mean we’re really friends? I… I never know where I stand with you.” “Of course we’re friends. I mean, I don’t usually know where I stand with myself, so don’t feel bad about that, I’m crazy. But we’ll always be friends,” Trixie admitted. Twilight’s smile widened and she nodded. “That’s good. Now it’s going to be a really long train ride, I suggest we get some rest.” It took awhile, with a bumpy train, and daylight shining brightly even with the curtains drawn, it was still bright. Eventually Trixie was able to doze off while using Maud’s flank as a pillow. Though as the darkness took her into its deep embrace, she knew that where her mind was going was not a peaceful place. This nap was going to suck. *** Pain throbbed all over Trixie’s tiny body. She tried to look around the room she currently occupied but the room was dark, and her vision was limited. Her body didn’t want to move at first, it just wanted to lay still and pray for the pain to go away. There was a particular throbbing from Trixie’s rump, she felt panic rise up and settle in her chest. Trixie fought with the urge to lie down, and she felt something in the back of her head give up and go to sleep. Trixie’s body moved at her leisure, well as well as she had expected it would. The faint streaks of orange light filtering through the room let her see what condition her brown legs were in. Wait, why do I have brown legs? Red stains covered her hooves; small cuts that stung when she moved covered her tiny body. Slowly she felt her face with a hoof, her right eye was swollen shut, and surged with pain as she touched it. This wasn’t just a bad situation to be in, it was the absolute worst. Looking around the room, Trixie’s eye slowly adjusted to the darkness. Trash lay everywhere, a single door led out of this room, but she already knew it was locked. The mattress she lay on was stained red mixed in with a lot of other stains so disgusting that she refused to ponder what had been done in here. She tried to move, but the chain locked to her rear hoof made it impossible to leave. Trixie laid her head back down and gave up. Strands of her dark red mane fell in front of her face. Slowly she felt something wake up inside of her and then her body moved on its own. Trixie recognized the feeling of the mind she was sharing the body with, it was Valiant Heart. Valiant sat up, and pain screamed across her entire body as she leaned over the side of the mattress and something rushed up the back of her throat and out onto the cold pavement. Out of the colors that now piled up onto the floor, the dark crimson worried Trixie, but Valiant simply went back to lying down and coughed a few times. It was getting a little hard to breath. She just lay there until finally she heard the sound of something at the broken window. Valiant looked up and saw the cat from the back alley staring at her. She instantly tried to kick her rear leg three times, it didn’t respond. Instead she tapped one of her forelegs on the floor three times. The cat mewed at her, and pushed something small through the window. The thing hit the floor and bounced with a metallic ringing, before landing next to the mattress. She reached over with a hoof and picked up a key. She felt a small smile pull over her lips. The cat let out a cry and Valiant watched a pair of purple hooves grab that cat. She quickly fumbled with the key in an attempt to open the lock on her shackle, it didn’t fit. A pair of hooves sounded from behind the door, and with great speed she quickly hid the key underneath the stained mattress. The door clicked and the handle turned slowly. Frailty walked in and smiled wickedly at her. She was wearing a black jacket. “Oh, so you finally woke up after the beating we gave you? You’ll wish you hadn’t here in a moment,” Frailty said. “Valiant Heart… you don’t look so valiant now, do you?” Frailty pulled a knife from her jacket and walked over close to Valiant’s mattress. The adult mare towered over her, and Trixie began mentally screaming at the mare. However Trixie couldn’t take control of the body a second time, Valiant’s mind was like a steel wall and Trixie couldn’t break it down.   Trixie tried to leave the body, but it was like being trapped, she could only watch, unable to help. Trixie felt rage building up inside as the mare pushed the filly down hard and held her there. Valiant didn’t struggle; she just lay still as possible. “Looks like you’re learning,” The mare said between clenched teeth, she was surprisingly good at talking around the knife in her mouth. Slowly the mare dragged the blunt edge of the knife across Valiant’s torso. Every muscle in Valiant’s body froze. As the blade danced across her stomach, Trixie cried. With the knife going over her hip, and up her leg across her leg, Trixie whimpered. Frailty stopped at a particularly painful spot on the knee. Trixie tried to break free from this body, she couldn’t handle this a second time, not this. The teasing, the humiliation, it was far too much for her. She beat with non-existent hooves against the mental barrier but nothing would save her from this. “They did a number on you, didn’t they,” Frailty asked. “Damn it, I told them to be gentle. I can’t do anything to you like this, you’re useless.” Frailty pulled the knife away and placed it back into her jacket. She leaned over to Valiant’s face and smiled a false offer of kindness. “You could look so pretty if you weren’t street trash. But you know what they say about orphaned fillies right?” Valiant’s heart filled with rage as the mare leaned in further, her hot breaths brushing against the filly’s nose and the foul acrid breath filtering through her nostrils. Trixie cried, screamed, and raged all at the same time. A smile formed slowly over Valiant’s lips, and she spat a scarlet colored wad right into Frailty’s eye. The mare screamed, and pulled back as she scraped a hoof at her eye. After a long slew of curses, some of which Trixie had never even heard before, Frailty snarled. “You are going to pay for that you mutt… you know what. No, I won’t punish you for that one.” She looked over to the open doorway and screamed, “Bring them in!” Frailty evil grin grew as one of the mares from earlier walked in with a dirty sack hanging from her mouth. She set the bag down. It was tied at the top. The sounds of small mews were heard, and the bag was moving! Trixie’s heart sunk, and Valiant’s body actually became even more tense. The mare left outside for a moment, leaving the bag which moved in every direction but was ultimately unable to go anywhere. The mare returned with a baseball bat that she quickly hoofed over to Frailty. “Now,” Frailty said as she walked over to the bag. “You see, I used to play baseball when I was in school. I was pretty good at batting, but never really got the hang of pitching.” She gripped the bat in her mouth, pulled back and froze in place as she stared right into Valiant’s eyes. For the longest moment they simply stared at each other, the room was silent except for the tiny mews that she heard from the sack. The sack looked familiar to Trixie. It took a moment but she finally realized that it wasn’t actually a sack that they had tied up. It was Valiant’s blanket! Valiant’s eyes widened, and Frailty grimaced around the baseball bat. “What? You don’t like this?” Frailty asked. Valiant Heart shook her head. “Say it!” Frailty demanded. Trixie raged. She can’t talk you evil witch! Frailty twitched. Valiant opened her mouth, it hurt a lot. “N-no… more.” Frailty’s teeth showed, and saliva ran down her mouth over the bat and finally dripped onto the floor. “Oh, really? No, you want more?” Frailty swung the bat!