//------------------------------// // Chapter Ninety Six: Home is Where the Hearth Is // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter Ninety Six: Home is Where the Hearth Is Written by TheCrimsonDM Waiting patiently was never one of Trixie’s strong suits, but after what happened two days ago, she had grown accustomed to it. Between dodging questions from hospital officials, waiting for Twilight Sparkle to wake up, and staying close to Valiant Heart’s side, Trixie found herself emotionally exhausted. The only solace she could find right now was in the fact that the filly was being released tonight. Timequill’s office was quiet and still, the clock on the wall moved slowly, each second lasted far too long. Waiting for Timequill to finish looking over his report of the filly’s condition, Trixie began counting down the seconds mentally while staring at the clock. One, two, three, four, five... ten. The clock's second hand moved a notch. One second to every ten seconds… am I just counting too fast or is there honestly something wrong here. Timequill relaxed in his chair, set the report down, and let out a quiet sigh. Now focused on the stallion, she couldn’t help but notice his rather festive scarf. It was green and red, which only reminded her that Hearth's Warming was just around the corner. That could be fun, after all she wouldn’t be alone this year. “Trixie,” Timequill said quietly. His eyes looked tired. “This filly has been through the worst that life has to offer, and yet she survived with only two serious injuries.” “Yeah,” Trixie said lamely. I was too late to save her from that. “How is she doing?” He asked. “She hasn’t spoken to either of us, but that’s not too odd. I never even knew she could talk until… um, her leg is in a cast now, and her eye is still bandaged,” Trixie finished nervously. “Do you think it’s wise for her to leave the hospital yet?” He asked. Trixie averted his eyes and focused on his desk instead. Various papers lined it, since they were facing Timequil it was difficult for her to read them. There was also a cup of coffee next to Timequill, the steam rose slowly, too slowly. “I don’t think she will improve here. Every single time a mare other than myself or Maud go near her, whether it’s a nurse or a doctor, Valiant… her whole body goes rigid and she watches them with these untrusting eyes, the kind that a filly should never have,” Trixie answered. “I noticed. I’ve warned the staff that only stallions should deal with her, but we only have three stallions on hoof, me included. So its been difficult.It might take her a very long time to trust mares again,” He said. “But… why?” Trixie asked. I could understand if she was scared of stallions, but why mares? Shouldn’t she only trust mares from now on or... something? “She was hurt by mares, it’s probable that all mares remind her of what happened,” Timequill explained. “You were hurt by stallions, she was hurt by mares. Think of it as your case in reverse.” Trixie shivered. “That’s not fair.” “Nothing about either of your cases was fair,” Timequill corrected. After a moment’s pause he added, “I’m proud of you though.” “For what; getting a filly nearly killed because I wasn’t fast enough to save her?” Trixie replied. “You faced your fears, returned to Manehattan, and rescued a filly. I’d say that was a triumph,” Timequill explained. Trixie pushed herself back further into her chair. She didn’t want to think about what had happened back there again. Especially considering the nightmares she’d been having since then. It was always the same one too, a nightmare full of pain, cold, and something so utterly dark and evil that her mind couldn’t grasp around what it was. It felt like there were a lot of things she didn’t want to think about. “What are you going to do with the filly?” Timequill asked. “I told Maud that we would take her home until we found a family for her,” Trixie said. “After everything she’s been through, I won’t rest until we find her the perfect family.” “That’s going to be a challenge,” Timequill admitted. “I’ll help in any way that I can.” “Thank you,” Trixie said. She let out a loud yawn, as a wave of fatigue swept over her. “You’ve been awake too long. Why don’t you go back to the filly’s room and get some rest with Maud,” he suggested. Trixie stood up and looked at the clock. It was ticking had returned to a normal pace. She turned and walked to the door. “Trixie,” Timequill said just as she opened the door. She paused long enough to listen to him. “Do remember that where Valiant Heart goes, is just as much her decision as it is yours and Maud’s, if not more so.” Trixie nodded and left. She just wanted to sleep somewhere nice, warm, and full of love. The long white corridors, and bright lights all gave her a sense of a sterile clean atmosphere, it also made her feel closed in and nervous. She had never really thought about hospitals until she tried to kill herself, and then she began to hate them without realizing it. I never go to the hospital because life is all smiles and roses; I only seem to go to one after everything falls apart. Surprisingly, Trixie passed by Rarity and Spike as they sat in a one of the examination rooms, with the door open. She had to stop and check up on her friends, especially considering that these were the only two who had yet come to visit Maud and her. The second she entered the small room, she noticed a particularly foul scent coming from the two of them, it was stronger on Rarity who sat next to the bed that Spike lay on. Rarity’s mane was an absolute disaster, such that Trixie hadn’t seen since the day she first met the unicorn and decided to teach her a valuable lesson about pride. A few pink stains dotted her chin. Spike was at least clean looking but from the bandages wrapped around his shoulder, Trixie had to wonder at what had happened. This late at night, it must have been something serious. “Shh,” Rarity said. “It’s going to be okay darling.” Spike looked away from the wall, met Trixie’s gaze and froze. “Uh, hi, Trixie,” Spike said. His face turned pink. It certainly look strange having a pony sized dragon lying in a hospital bed, but Trixie ignored that fact and instead choose to focus on his wound. “What happened?” Rarity looked away, her face turned pink as well. If these two didn’t smell so bad, Trixie would swear the room smelled of conspiracy. “I was bitten by a wild animal,” Spike said. “The animal didn’t mean to bite you… that hard,” Rarity added. “Yeah well, I’m sure she didn’t mean to rip out a few of my scales and then lick me either,” Spike replied. There was a little resentment in his tone. “She was in the throes of passion, how was she supposed to know what she was doing,” Rarity said defensively. “I mean, she hasn’t felt that good since… well ever.” “Yeah, well why did she lick up my blood?” “She wanted to make you feel better… how was she supposed to know how badly you were hurt?” Rarity said. She was quiet for a moment and then added in a quiet and apologetic tone. “She really was just trying to make the blood go away… when it didn’t… I…. Spike please forgive-“ “Don’t worry about it, I already forgave her for biting me. After all that’s what a good dragon should do right?” Spike said. Rarity smiled. “Oh thank you so much.” She sniffled, and looked at Trixie. “Do you think we could get some privacy, I don’t mean to push you away, I just…” Trixie nodded. “Yeah, you two animals should probably talk, cuddle, and whatever else you two do. Just remember that it is unbelievably easy to get caught in here. Trust me on that.” Rarity’s face went bright red. Spike looked between her and Trixie, he looked a little confused for a moment, and then he looked away. Trixie left the two alone, the last thing she wanted was to rain on their parade. Though when their door closed behind her, she had the sudden desire to go back and peek into the room. After all, she was a little curious how a dragon worked. Once she remembered that Spike was a colt dragon, well a stallion dragon, she lost almost all interest in seeing them… almost. Continuing onward and trying to forget about what she had just seen, honestly, spying on dragons was not worth it, she moved with urgency back to Valiant’s room. Her trot slowed down to a canter and then a full stop once she reached the door. She poked her head inside just enough to hear Maud speaking with a sensitive voice. Valiant must have woken up again. For the past two days, Valiant had mostly slept, but she would periodically wake up and look around confused. They’ve explained the situation to her every single time she awoke, but she still didn’t look like she believed it. “…and the princess was saved by the legendary hero Trixie,” Maud finished. There was silence and Trixie felt a smile growing on her lips as she realized that it must have been one of her stories that Maud had been telling  the filly. “She will be here soon, then we can go home,” Maud said in a voice as soft as silk. It was so strange that when Trixie wasn’t looking, Maud would become almost a completely different mare around Valiant. It was like some long dormant part of Maud had surfaced upon befriending the filly. “I can make us a batch of cookies… It’s my secret recipe… Yes it’s a secret… I mean it, I don’t share it with anypony… there are such things as secret recipes… it’s not weird.” “Are you going to stand in the hallway, and listen to them all night or what?” Red Heart asked from behind Trixie. the sudden voice made her jump forward and into the room. Red Heart rolled her eyes and walked past Trixie. Both Maud and Valiant stared at Trixie. “So, who's ready to go home?” Trixie said sheepishly. I really hope they don’t realize how long I was listening in for. Maud’s voice returned to its normal flat expressionless tone. “We’re ready now.” Red Heart did a quick check on the filly’s bandages before turning to Maud. “Keep these bandages freshly cleaned. Bring her back in here in three days and we will check up on her eye. If we’re lucky, she won’t be completely blind in it.” Maud nodded gravely. Valiant looked at nothing in particular, after all this time in the hospital Trixie imagined that the filly must be depressed. Reaching out mentally, Trixie made an attempt to read the filly’s emotions, but found a brick wall instead. after saving her, it had become nearly impossible to get a grip on Valiant’s emotions, and mind reading had simply failed altogether. Giving up on the attempt, Trixie let out a sigh of defeat. “Is there anything else we should know?” “Doctor Timequill asked that you three come to visit him tomorrow morning,” Red Heart said. “Sure,” Trixie replied. That makes sense, he wants to keep close contact with us after this whole affair, and I can’t blame him either. He could probably do a lot of good for Val. It only took another half hour before papers were signed, a wheelchair was given to Valiant, and the trio left the hospital in the dead of night. Normally one would not wish to enter the freezing cold, but after being cooped up for two days straight, even Valiant had decided embracing the chilly winter night was better than staying in the hospital. She was the one being poked and prodded with every sort of needle after all. At the very least they had obtained a good thick quilt to wrap the filly in. She looked so tiny in that wheelchair. The sky was dark, but the moon shone brightly upon Ponyville tonight, with only a few clouds gathering in the distance. The snow glistened in the pale light, and things felt calm, peaceful. Trixie gave a small smile to Val as Maud pushed her. “I can push the chair with my magic if you wish,” Trixie offered. Maud stared forward, her lips curled ever so slightly. “No. I can do this.” Together they made their way home without any trouble. Once inside, Trixie shivered a little, it was freezing inside. Maud shook a little as well as she removed her jacket. While Trixie went to looking around the house she began to consider a few issues. They didn’t exactly have a bedroom set up for Valiant, in fact all the spare rooms were currently being used as storage. After that, they still needed to find an extra bed. Trixie wasn’t even sure if she had brought her old bed back from the cabin. The room started to warm up, prompting Trixie to look over and see Maud at the oven. She had it open, and on, allowing the heat to fill the room slowly. “Good idea, honey,” Trixie complemented. “We don’t have a fireplace… why did we get a home that did not have a hearth?” Maud asked. “Because this place was… uh… perfect?” Trixie said. “We need one,” Maud replied simply. Trixie looked down at Valiant who had her eye on Maud, she was smiling. With a filly around, we certainly need a fireplace more than ever. I could have sworn I saw one here before, but where was it? “Hold on a moment,” Trixie said. She looked down at Valiant. “Will you be okay here with Maud?” Valiant nodded. Just as Trixie trotted off into the living room, Maud called at her, “What are you doing?” “I’m looking for a hearth,” Trixie said. Maud didn’t reply. The living room was dark until Trixie lit up a few candles and went to work looking around the room. Couches, a table, book shelves, and a window. Several paintings covered the walls but aside from that there really wasn’t anything indicating a hearth. “Mmm, I know I saw one,” Trixie said to herself. Upon staring at the small living room something began to dawn on her. This is a really small living room… “What ever could you looking for, my dear? Did you happen to misplace something important, like your sanity perhaps?” A stallion whispered into her ear. Trixie jumped back with a shriek. She could see Maud and Val staring at her with confused looks. Forcing a nervous smile Trixie waved a hoof dismissively. “I thought I saw a spider,” Trixie lied. Maud returned to watching the oven, and Val simply stared in silence. Trixie retreated just out of sight before whispering. “Babble, what do you want?” “You look absolutely frigid, as well as that filly. Pray tell, where did you get it from?” He asked. “We saved her from Manehattan… and yes, we are freezing,” Trixie admitted. “Oh, I’ll have to sink my fangs into that story later, but for now I actually have business to attend too,” He said. “So I can’t waste any more time here, though I thought it’d be nice to at least say hello.” “What? What kind of business could you have? You- you’re the voice in my head,” Trixie said. Babble’s voice grew quiet and distant. “Why don’t check the den area. You might find what you’re looking for…” “Den? What den? We don’t have a den,” Trixie replied. She waited a good minute for a reply. “Babble?” Again more silence. “Trixie, what are you doing?” Maud asked. Giving up on the crazy voice, she trotted into the kitchen, finding Maud sitting on a chair with Valiant Heart sitting on her lap. A  small bowl of green leaves and flowers was sitting on the table, Valiant was muzzle deep in the bowl. The only reason that the filly could even reach the table was because of Maud’s assistance. Maud was smiling, and holding the filly’s long mane back out of the food. “Hungry?” Trixie asked. I thought she had eaten plenty at the hospital, but I guess a growing filly needs a lot to eat… “You don’t mind, do you?” Maud asked. “Not at all,” Trixie grinned. “I’m going to go check out if our den has anything in it.” “Den?” “Yeah…” Trixie replied lamely. If there is not a den here somewhere, I’m going to look like an idiot. Before Trixie left to explore the unused rooms in the house, she made sure to bring in the candles from the living room and leave them on the table. She didn’t need a candle when she had her horn to light the way, but both Maud and Valiant were earth ponies, so they lacked that particular luxury. The rest of the house, was freezing compared to the kitchen.. She needed to check the two empty rooms, which had yet to be assigned to anything yet, and the storage room. Trixie checked the empty rooms, they were the coldest rooms in the house, and completely bare. The pantry was also worthless to check in, unless she wanted to eat food this room served little purpose. Finally she checked the room they had dumped most of their stuff in. Unpacked boxes sat here and there, an old wooden bed was propped up against a wooden wall, and a few pieces of unused furniture sat in here. There was something odd about the wall the bed was up against though, instead of being wood, like the rest of the wall, it was actually stone. Using her telekinetic prowess, she cleared a spot on the floor, stacked all the boxes in the room, and set up the bed in one swift motion. Multi tasking was something Trixie had excelled at during school, and it was a necessary skill for any decent magician. Proud of her work, she looked back to the wall and found a metal gate, shut and locked. After undoing the latch, Trixie smiled.This was the hearth! Taking a new look around the storage room, Trixie realized that it was almost twice the size of the living room… this was a wonderful little den. Trixie regretted having not realized this room's purpose before. A fireplace would have been so romantic, I feel like I squandered this lovely room. Happily trotting out into the kitchen Trixie met with Maud, and Valiant. Valiant had taken to sitting back in her chair while Maud was cleaning the table. Trixie couldn’t help smiling. “Guess what I found!” Maud gave her attention. “I found the den. It turns out that the room we stored all of our extra stuff in has a hearth!” Trixie said excitedly. “You mean the room you stored our stuff in,” Maud replied. Trixie was a little dispirited by that comment, but she didn’t let it bother her too much. “We can finally get warm now.” Maud nodded. “Good. Do we have firewood?” Trixie smiled. “Nope.” Maud frowned. “why are you smiling?” “Because I found the den,” Trixie said. “Plus you can go and get us some firewood right?” Maud looked back at Valiant, and the filly shook her head slowly. Maud returned a frown to Trixie. “We can stay in here tonight.” Trixie let out a sigh. “I’ll go get some. I mean how hard can that be. I killed a windigo and a bunch of evil mares, surely I can gather firewood.” “Make sure it’s dry,” Maud said. “If it’s not, I’ll just use magic… actually I’ll just use magic for everything,” Trixie said while trotting to the door. Having not taken off her jacket, she opened the door already prepared to leave. “I’ll see you in a half hour or so.” “Please be careful,” Maud said flatly. Val stared at Trixie, worked her mouth a little, but then relaxed and looked away. “I will, I promise,” Trixie said. *** Walking along the edge of the Everfree Forest was not Trixie’s idea of fun, but there was a sense of excitement walking around in the middle of the night by herself, even if she was just looking for firewood. She didn’t dare go into the forest though, not after the last time. Thinking about it only gave her shivers. In a vague attempt to cheer herself up, Trixie attempted to sing. “Getting some sticks to make into a fire, Gonna lit it up like funereal pyre…” Trixie frowned. “That sounded absolutely morbid… hmm. How does Pinkie Pie make songs up on the fly.” “La lala la la, gathering wood. La lala la la, it sure is… good.” This time Trixie stopped, and smiled. A nice thick branch rested against a tree, just begging to be taken home and burned to death. “I might not be able to sing well, but at least I can find firewood like a champion.” Hooves crunched in the snow behind her, Trixie’s ears twitched, it sounded like somepony was coming right at her. She spun around, only to see Fluttershy galloping down snow-covered hilltop towards her at full speed, wearing a halfway buttoned jacket, and un-tucked scarf around her neck. She looked worried.   For a brief second Trixie wanted to run away, after everything that had happened between them, getting close to Fluttershy again was a bad idea. However something told Trixie to at least hear Fluttershy out, this could be important.   “Trixie!” Fluttershy cried as she continued galloping.   Trixie stood fast, and prepared herself for the worst. She hoped that Fluttershy wouldn’t try anything funny, but her expectations were low. Fluttershy tripped and fell forward, rolling in the snow. As Fluttershy’s momentum picked up speed, snow clung to her body. Within mere seconds she had become a pony sized snowball, heading straight for Trixie.   Trixie turned and fled. She could hear Fluttershy screaming at the top of her lungs as the snowball rolled on with determination. Something hard hit Trixie’s hoof and she fell forward, but before she even hit the snow, she felt the giant snowball roll over her. It continued roiling along with the two of them stuck together, Trixie found her head free and she looked around desperately for a solution. Seeing nothing else to do, she started screaming as well.   The snowballed continued its downward descent for a few more seconds before smashing against the base of a shed. Snow exploded in every direction, leaving both Trixie and Fluttershy sitting on the ground, in a daze.   “Wha… what happened?” Fluttershy asked. “Snowball of doom, that’s what happened,” Trixie answered. “S-s-sorry.” “Why did you call out to me?” Trixie asked, annoyed. She felt snow in places that should never be that could, and it was all because Fluttershy had to become the pony eating snowball. Fluttershy sat straight up. “That’s right! It’s Pinkie Pie, she needs help. I-I-I” Fluttershy sniffled and tears filled her eyes. “Please help.” Pushing herself up, snow fell off of her chest and onto her already freezing cold legs. Trixie shook her head violently, clumps of snow flew everywhere. When she stopped, she frowned. Annoyed or not, it was her sister who was in danger. “I was looking for firewood but if Pinkies in trouble...” “I-i-if you help, I can give you some firewood,” Fluttershy begged. “Please.” “Fine, I don’t want to leave my sister in any kind of trouble after all. Lead me to her,” Trixie replied. Fluttershy bounced up, and trotted away. “Come on, we need to hurry.” Trixie followed. This had better be worth it. After all, I didn’t come out here to freeze my rump off. It took a bit of walking, and by the time they reached the cottage it had begun snowing. So they hurried inside and shut the door behind them. Fluttershy’s fireplace was lit up and the whole room was nice and toasty, Pinkie Pie was leaning over, her rear facing the door, she had her hooves over her left flank, covering up her cutie mark. Trixie really wished that this hadn’t been the first time she’d seen Pinkie in this position. “Fluttershy, did you find anypony to help?” Pinkie Pie asked while staring at the wall ahead of her. Trixie stepped forward. “Yeah, I’m here. What’s wrong with your cutie mark?” Trixie took account of the fact that there was a disassembled bird house on the floor, and a bottle of industrial strength glue. She recognized the brand as well from an accident in her own past. Royal Alicorn Wood Glue, nasty stuff. Fluttershy began tearing up again. “It’s my fault, I-I-I shouldn’t have let her try and fix it for me.” “What?” Trixie asked. “I got glue stuck to my hooves!” Pinkie said excitedly. “And then I had this itch, and I thought, why can’t I just fix it really quick, but then I reached up and scratched it, my hoof didn’t pull away, so I tried to pry it off with my other hoof but it got stuck too… yep.” Trixie sat down. “You mean to tell me,” her tone grew serious, “That I was run over by a giant snowball, crashed into a shed, and missed my chance at getting some firewood all because you got glue stuck to you’re a- butt?” Fluttershy nodded. “I-i-I’m sorry, but I didn’t know who else to help. Nopony was awake, and then I saw you. If this is too much I’ll just give you some firewood and you can leave… if you want.” Trixie growled. “I did not come all this way to cheat anypony out of firewood.” She sat back for a moment and thought. I know how to get Pinkie out of this, but I’m pretty upset about this whole thing… ugh, I’ll help anyway. Maybe I can score some free tea or something considering how cold I am. “Okay, I’ll tell you how to fix this,” Trixie said. “First, I want firewood and tea.” Fluttershy frowned. “Oh… okay. Um, I’ll go start the tea, I keep my firewood by the backdoor, I’ll bring you some.” “She can use my saddlebag,” Pinkie offered. Fluttershy nodded and vanished into the back room. “So,” Trixie said suspiciously. “Bent over with your rear in the air, bet this is not what you had pictured when you thought about having a good night with Fluttershy, am I right?” Pinkie giggled. “Nope, I thought we would drink cider, tell stories, and play card games. She’s really good at go fish. Then I tripped and broke one of her bird houses… I tried to fix it.” “You clumsy pony you,” Trixie said playfully. Trixie reached out with a hoof and patted Pinkie on the head. “Well Auntie Trixie is here now, and she will fix this mess for you. Don’t you worry.” “But I’m a year older than you…” Pinkie Pie said confused. After a few minutes Fluttershy returned with three cups of tea, it smelled faintly of roses, and a pink saddlebag with a few pieces of firewood sticking out. As Trixie sipped gently from her cup, both Pinkie and Fluttershy stared at her. Trixie smiled. “The glue dissolves with saliva.” Fluttershy sat in contemplative silence for a bit, while Pinkie flashed looks between the two mares. When Fluttershy’s eyes began to widen, Trixie grinned madly. Fluttershy looked at Pinkie. “Are you saying that somepony has to… has to… s-s-spit on…” “Well slobbering would work better, you know get your tongue all nice and wet and really work in there,” Trixie said. Fluttershy’s face became beat red. “What! No! i… I… can’t you do it?” “I refuse to lick Pinkie’s butt,” Trixie said flatly. it honestly doesn’t taste that good.  Trixie added, “She’s your guest, you fix this.” Fluttershy looked over at Pinkie Pie’s flank, and she squeaked. Trixie smiled. it was rather satisfying to see Fluttershy’s reaction to this, it was like getting revenge for the snowball. Not to mention for making her life with Maud a living Tartarus. “It’s okay, Flutters,” Pinkie Pie said. “We can wait until morning, and,” Pinkie moved her right foreleg and squinted painfully. “Yeah, I can wait…” With a shake of Fluttershy’s head, she leaned over and said, “You’re in pain… after everything you’ve done for me in the past couple of days, I can’t just ignore this.” Trixie stood up. “I’m going to get some salt for my tea.” Pinkie Pie gave her the strangest look, Fluttershy had her eyes planted firmly, on Pinkie’s rump. Fluttershy looked worried. Trixie giggled. “Look at it this way, it could be worse. I’ve heard of solutions that could only be dissolved by urine before.” That got both of their attentions. Trixie trotted off to go and get the salt. It was easy enough to find, set right on the table. The kitchen still had the smell of steamed vegetables, and salt. Did they really have to use so much salt on their vegetables, I hate salt! Once back in the living room, Trixie found Fluttershy, gingerly licking Pinkie where her hooves met her flank. Fluttershy’s face was an entirely new shade of red, and the expression she made was priceless. Seeing Fluttershy like this gave Trixie a warm feeling, too warm. Trixie looked away and coughed as loudly as she possibly could. Fluttershy stopped and looked at her. “You know,” Trixie said as she began dumping the entire salt container into the glass of tea. Both ponies stared in absolute horror at Trixie’s drink. “Despite how adorable you two look together, I have to interject.” “You aren’t really going to drink that?” Fluttershy asked. Trixie just stirred the salt in with her magic. “I wanna see you drink that!” Pinkie said excitedly. Trixie smiled, floated the tea over to Pinkie’s rump, and dumped the concoction over Pinkie’s stuck hooves. Just as Pinkie began complaining, and Fluttershy stared in confused silence, Trixie donned the saddlebag full of firewood. An evil smile grew along Trixie’s lips as Pinkie’s hooves suddenly fell free from their stuck position on her flank. With Fluttershy continuing to stare at Pinkie, the pink pony rolled around and flexed her hooves in joy. Trixie trotted to the door, threw it open and stopped just long enough to say, “Thanks for the firewood.” Trixie went home. By the time she finally got home, forty five minutes had passed by, and Maud was sitting on the chair with a little bundle wrapped up tightly in her forelegs. Being as quiet as she possibly could, Trixie walked over and peeped at the tiny brown face. The bandages covering Valiant’s right eye were distracting, reminding Trixie of how she failed. Past that though, she found that she could only smile at the tiny sleeping filly, who looked so utterly peaceful. One day me and Maud are going to have a pony of our own, and she will be just as sweet as this one… “Hey, Lulu,” Maud said quietly. “Did you bring the firewood?” Trixie nodded. “Yeah, I’ll start the fire, you grab some blankets and stuff. Tonight, we are staying warm.” Maud nodded, returned her gaze to the filly in her legs and smiled. Trixie smiled as well. We will do our best to find you a good home Val, I swear it.