//------------------------------// // Chapter One Hundred and One: Lion's Paw // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter One Hundred and One: Lion’s Paw Written by TheCrimsonDm The cold grew thickly around Trixie’s legs as the snow grew in thick piles. She looked around the dark cave she stood at the entrance of, it was familiar, too familiar. Deep inside, she could see the constellations, however impossible, they floated inside the cave with a dark purple aura surrounding them. She took a step out of the snow, and her white frost covered hooves cracked with deep glowing lines of blue. Everything was so very cold. The constellations shifted, and two yellow eye appeared out of thin air, they slowly narrowed onto Trixie. Each eye was about the same size as she was, and both were filled with hate. Trixie’s heart barely pumped, and her body was relaxed. Trixie mentally screamed at the body she now felt very trapped in, she wanted to run, to hide, to cower underneath Maud. With a single hoof, she gently brushed the translucent purple fur, and a smile grew over her lips. With a voice colder than ice, and a bitter frozen pain scratching at her throat, she said, “That’s a good boy. You’re going to become my new best friend.” The creature's maw opened wide, and hot foul breath swept over her. the maw moved forward slowly, and her body simply smiled while her brain shrieked from the fear. As the darkness enveloped her, she felt a cold wetness covering her. Finally Trixie’s body reacted and she pushed herself up in a thrashing move, her hooves swinging wildly for anything to grab, anything to protect her. the darkness surrounded her, but she wasn’t in a cave, much less an ursa’s mouth. She was in her bed, inside the den. Covered in cold sweat, and with tears running down her face, she quickly looked around for Maud and Val. They weren’t in here, and the bed sheets were soaked with sweat. Trixie brushed her mane out of the way, the wet matted fur clung thickly to the side of her face. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she fully realized that she was completely alone. A creeping fear crawled down her spine. With a little bit of magic she reached out and found her father's sword underneath the bed. She brought it to her with a telekinetic grab, and held it closely to her chest in silence. seconds passed into minutes as she sat there, unable to push herself out of the bed, and only praying that everything was perfectly fine. When she finally heard Maud’s soft spoken voice from the kitchen she relaxed almost instantly. With a bit of effort she pushed herself out of the bed, tried to fix her mane, gave up once she realized it had simply grown out too much, and made her way to the door. She cracked it open, but something seized her, a tiny gentle voice, as fragile as glass was speaking to Maud. “P-p-please don’t t-tell,” it said with a sniffle. “Shh, we cleaned it up, and took a bath. Lulu won’t have to know you had an accident,” Maud said softly. “P-promise,” the tiny voice asked. “I swear,” Maud said. “I pinkie swear that I won’t tell her. But you shouldn’t be ashamed, Val. We all have accidents from time to time. Even Lulu does.” Trixie’s mind almost snapped as she realized that the tiny voice, was Valiant Heart. Valiant was actually talking! A small giggle escaped the filly’s lips. “T-that’s funny.” Trixie peeked through the crack and saw Valiant sitting on the floor, her fur looked nice and clean, and Maud sat in front of her with one of the kindest expressions that Trixie had ever seen her wear. Valiant wasn’t smiling though, in fact she was frowning, and her unbandaged eye was watery. “What’s wrong?” Maud asked quietly. “S-she doesn’t w-want me,” Valiant said in a shaky voice. The silence that followed that sentence only served to make Trixie’s heart plummet into the abyss. She tried to keep afloat but hearing the filly speak those words, it hurt, more than anything else. Trixie laid her head against the wall, and closed her eyes. “And if s-she found out, w-what I did…” Valiant added in the tiniest voice that Trixie had ever heard. “She just wants the best for you. Lulu loves you very much, and wants to keep you safe,” Maud said. “I think she’s worried about you seeing us fight.” “T-that’s all?” Valiant asked followed by a sniffle. “You deserve the best,” Maud said. “You are the best. I want you,” Valiant said. Trixie peeked out the door again and saw Valiant hugging Maud’s leg. “Please don’t send me away,” Valiant asked, her voice was broken. Maud picked up the small filly, and held her tightly, while Valiant wrapped her legs around Maud’s neck. That’s when Trixie noticed the tears running down the filly’s cheek. Maud kissed the top of Valiant’s head gently. “I love you… and I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I promise.” “Y-you won’t s-send me away?” Maud was quiet, so utterly quiet and for so long that Trixie could’ve sworn that the entire world had just gone mute. It gave Trixie time to think, think about what Valiant must have been thinking. This whole time she’s known that I wanted to find her a new home, one where things would be good for her. But she thinks I just want to send her away. Val trusts Maud enough to talk to her, to tell her when things are bad, and to ask for help, but she doesn’t trust me. I can’t blame her for that though, after all it’s really my fault that she doesn’t trust me. I’m the one trying to ship her off… I can’t do that though. I can’t find her a better home, because she’s already decided where she wants to be. Trixie wiped her nose on her foreleg, and after realizing what she just did, she flinched away in disgust. She felt like crying alongside Valiant, but she didn’t want the filly to know she had been listening in on their conversation. Worse yet, she didn’t want to stop hearing the filly speak yet. Even if Valiant was sad, hearing that miniscule voice was something she never thought possible. She wanted to enjoy it just a bit longer.  “I won’t send you away,” Maud finally said so quietly that Trixie almost missed it. “T-thank you,” Valiant replied. That decided it. With Maud’s decision to keep the filly, Trixie wouldn’t argue, not after this. She was almost surprised to find out that she was still holding her father’s sword. She was surprised when it slipped from her cold wet grasp and leaned ominously towards the floor. Trixie reached out with her telekinesis just in time to grab it and to lift it up and off of the floor. A squeaking noise Drew Trixie’s attention towards the cracked open door, and Trixie saw Valiant pointing a hoof nervously at her, with Maud frowning right at her. She might have remained silent, but the light purple glow from her horn and around her sword made that a mute point. Trixie released a sigh of defeat and set her father’s blade against the wall. After opening the door and walking through it, she met both Valiant and Maud’s gaze. The disappointment was clear in Maud’s expression, while Valiant looked nervous, scared even. “Trixie Lulamoon, were you spying on us?” Maud asked strictly. Trixie pawed at the floor with a hoof, and lowered her head. “I… had a nightmare. Then I heard you two talking and… I’m sorry.” Maud stared right at her with piercing eyes that Trixie hadn’t seen the mare use since she was caught in a lie. Valiant tried to hide behind Maud. “And what do you have to say?” Maud asked. “I shouldn’t have spied on you two, and I’m sorry,” Trixie said lamely. “Not that,” Maud said. Trixie stared at her for a long moment feeling confused. If you didn’t want me to grovel, then what do you want me to say? She looked down at the fearful Valiant and the gears in her head began turning. “Oh, I get it.” Trixie stood as proudly as she dared to at the moment. “I too have had a few accidents. You should not feel bad for it, because it’s only natural. You should feel lucky knowing that you at least had yours in the privacy of our house, I… wasn’t so lucky.” Maud frowned, and even growled. “I… um…” Trixie said. She took a nervous step back, and looked back down at Valiant who was still scared. If it’s not the accident that’s scaring her, then maybe… “Can I ask you a question, Val?” Trixie said, attempting and failing at ignoring Maud’s stone cold glare. Valiant didn’t reply, but she didn’t need to. “I’ve been trying to find a good home for you, one where you can grow up and have all the things that you deserve. But recently I’ve realized that I have looked in all the wrong places.” Trixie stopped short as her brain completely died. She was on a roll, and just needed the right words to fix this, she just knew it, but with mental fatigue kicking in, that task was made all the more difficult. For a moment silence followed, Valiant was looking a little more confident, and Maud was no longer glaring. But the right words just didn’t come to her mind. Instead of sounding intelligent, Trixie opted for second best, direct and blunt. “So do you want to live with me and Maud? We can adopt you and raise you ourselves,” Trixie said before flashing a smile. Silence again followed but this time Valiant was slowly beginning to smile. Finally Valiant nodded, giving Trixie her answer. “Good work,” Maud said. Trixie smiled. “Well I would have liked to hear Val’s reply, but I’ll settle for-“ Trixie nearly jumped. “I know what I was going to say now! I’ve been looking for a good place for you to live at, when I should have been trying to make one!” Trixie beamed. “I knew that I was going to say something intelligent.” Valiant covered her muzzle as she tried to stifle a giggle. Maud rolled her eyes, but she smiled anyway. Trixie sat down with her back against the wall. “We might have to change the bed sheets though, I kinda made them gross.” “You look horrible,” Maud said flatly. That statement made Trixie feel all kinds of self conscious. “We need to give you a bath.” She looked down at Valiant and smiled, a sly and playful smile that in truth belonged on anypony else, not Maud. “Do you think she needs a bath?” Valiant nodded curtly. For a second Trixie’s mind went blank. Where, where is this going? Valiant vanished behind Maud, only to reappear a few seconds later with a bar of soap in her mouth and an evil look in her eyes. Maud began rubbing her hooves together while laughing in a monotonous voice. It was probably the creepiest laugh Trixie had ever heard. When Maud was finished she said, “Get her.” Valiant charged, soap in mouth, ready to strike. Trixie turned and fled into the den. The chase didn’t last long, but even so, with the two of them laughing and shrieking, Trixie had to admit; it was good chase. Of course in the end, Trixie opted to actually bathe by herself, both Maud and Valiant looked about as tired as she was and clearly needed some more sleep. As she lay in the tub by herself, she couldn’t help but to smile. It was nice having a family, and seeing Maud’s playful side was a real treat. *** Morning came and went by without much anything interesting happening. The first thing on Everypony's agenda for the day was to go out and meet with the doctor at the hospital to get Valiant’s bandages removed. When they got there however, Doctor Horse was busy with something urgent, so they were given the second best. A unicorn mare of the name Moon Flow. With Maud holding Valiant’s hoof, the filly was less afraid of the doctor. Doctor Flow slowly unwrapped the bandages with her telekinesis and Trixie watched in hopeful determination that the damage was less severe than originally suspected. When the doctor pulled away, Trixie saw Valiant sitting there with her eye closed, the swelling and cuts were completely gone. “Now that’s interesting,” Doctor Flow said. “She’s healed far faster than I would have thought possible. Can you open your eye for me, Valiant?” Slowly the eye opened and revealed a milky pink orb that looked surprised. Valiant looked from Trixie to Doctor Flow to Maud, her eyes widening impossibly large. She jerked away from Maud and scooted away, her breathing grew rapid as she crawled into the corner, shaking. “Val, what’s wrong?” Maud asked gently. Valiant shook her head. “Is something wrong with your eye?” Trixie asked. Valiant closed her eyes, and shook a little. For a moment nopony dared to move or act, then Maud turned on the doctor and glared at her. “What did you do to my filly?” “M-me? I didn’t do anything. S-she probably has some vision problems that are worrying her. I-it’s not my fault,” Doctor Flow replied. Trixie stepped in. “Maud, we both know what Val’s been through. It’s not the doctor’s fault that our filly’s scared.” A tiny squeaking sound drew both Maud and Trixie’s attention. Valiant’s bright pink eye was staring open wide at Maud and Trixie. Her injured eye however was closed with a hoof covering it. Valiant stretched her hoof out and made a grabbing motion. Trixie levitated the whiteboard and the marker out and set them down at Valiant’s hooves. The filly smiled and didn’t waste any time working on a message. “I see weird.” “I-I was afraid of this,” Doctor Flow said. “After reading the report I knew that the chance of her seeing correctly was slim. Um, I can give you an eye patch if you want.” Maud gave a bitter look to the doctor. “So you can’t fix it?” Doctor Flow lowered her head, and her ears flattened. “S-sorry…” “Maud,” Trixie said. “She’s not a miracle worker. That job would go to Princess Cadence, but she’s off in another country raising a foal of her own.” “Hmm,” Maud said to herself. “Fine. We’ll take an eye patch… for now.” Doctor Flow raised her head, and gave a sheepish smile to the filly. “We have a bunch of different colors of eye patches… um do you have a preference?” Valiant scrawled some more on her white board. “Gray?” “Like your mom? Okay, I’ll go get one for you,” Doctor Flow said. She quickly retreated out of the door leaving Trixie and Maud alone with Valiant. Maud stared flatly at the door, with an emotionless expression on her face. Trixie could sense something was wrong though, but her only indication was the slight twitch in Maud’s ears. “Are you okay, honey?” Trixie asked. “She called me a mom,” Maud said flatly. “Well you do make a good mother figure for Val,” Trixie said. “I don’t deserve that,” Maud said. Before Trixie could even say anything, Valiant had crawled up from her place on the bed and wrapped her legs around Maud and nuzzled into her side. Whatever was making Maud feel disheartened was lost in that instant as she smiled down at the little filly and returned the embrace. Making Maud feel better was something that Trixie always had a hard time doing, but here all Valiant had to do was give Maud a hug. Trixie had to envy the filly for that ability. For several minutes they waited until the doctor returned with a small clear plastic box. She set the box down and opened it to reveal several different cloth eye patches, two gray and one blue. Trixie gave her an odd look to which Doctor Flow looked a little embarrassed saying, “I, um, could only find two gray ones…” Doctor Flow kindly explained how to wear, and use the eye patch. She also explained that it might cause irritation to the eyes if worn over night, so it was best to take it off before bed. After all that was done, Trixie and Maud prepared to leave but were stopped. “Um, we should check out Valiant’s leg as well,” Doctor Flow suggested. Trixie simply shrugged. “We’re already here, right? Why not?” Maud nodded in agreement. It only took a few seconds for Doctor Flow to use a spell that cast the filly’s leg in a white light. Doctor Flow’s face grew tense as she examined the leg. “This… this is impossible.” “What’s wrong?” Maud asked. Doctor Flow released the spell and sat down. “Nothing… nothing is wrong.” Trixie raised her eyebrow. “Okay, then can we go home?” “No you don’t understand,” Doctor Flow said as she gave a serious look to Trixie and Maud. “Her leg isn’t broken, it's… better. I mean I can still see where the damage has crippled her leg, but it’s not broken… it’s like it healed over night.” “That’s not possible,” Trixie said. “The doctors said she might be in the cast for a long time.” “Up to six months,” Maud corrected. “Yeah, so how is it better all of a sudden?” Trixie asked. “I, I don’t know. It’s just like with her eye, it’s just… healed,” Doctor Flow said sheepishly. “Um, if it’s better though, we should see about getting the cast off… but, um… I’d like to get a second opinion first if you don’t mind.” “Not at all, if you can get somepony to explain this to us that would be great,” Trixie said. As the doctor left the room, Maud placed a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. Trixie looked back and saw a grave look on Maud’s face. “What did you do?” “Me? I didn’t do anything. I don’t even know any healing spells… well okay I know a few but I’m not any good at them,” Trixie explained. “The great and powerful Trixie can’t do everything you know.” “Are you sure you don’t know how this happened? I’m not mad,” Maud said. “I’m positive,” Trixie said. She looked back at Valiant who looked a little worried. “But whatever happened was a miracle, and we should just be thankful for it. It’s a blessing. Now you can go out and play with the other fillies you know.” That brought a small smile to Valiant’s face, and she quickly wrote something on the whiteboard. “Can I play with Sweety Bell? She has dolls.” “Of course you can,” Trixie said. Maud stared at the message, and then her jaw dropped. “Are you okay?” Trixie asked. Maud shook herself and then looked at Trixie. “We are going to the toy store after this.” “Um, okay. I guess Val does deserve a present for being so good,” Trixie said. Maud leaned in and whispered into Trixie’s ear. “She doesn’t have any toys. None at all.” Now it was Trixie’s turn to have her jaw drop. The one thing that Trixie had completely overlooked was the fact that they had completely forgotten that Valiant was a child, and one who didn’t have any toys, dolls, or well anything. It probably didn’t even occur to Valiant that she could actually have toys, after living on the streets for so long, just having a home was more than she had ever expected. Two doctors later, and the slow process of removing the cast, and finally Trixie and her family could leave. Valiant could finally walk on her own again, well without as much trouble as before, but she still carried a little bit of a limp as she moved. She didn’t seem to mind much though, between finally having her leg free, and the promise of getting toys, Valiant was probably the happiest filly in Ponyville. Finding an actual toy store in Ponyville turned out to be more challenging than it should have been. After asking around a bit, Trixie found herself standing in front of a purple building with golden stars decorating the front. In the window seal there was a sign that caught Trixie’s attention right away. “All sold out of Trixie wands and accessories. Come back next week.” “I, but, why?” Trixie stammered as she stared at the sign. Maud nodded for Trixie to follow, and the trio entered the store. Inside, it smelled of lavender, and there were toys lining rows of shoulder high shelves. The store owner, a green earth pony with a short and curly pink mane sat in the back talking to two colts that Trixie had gotten to know. Snips and Snails. “But we want them,” Snips whined. “Yeah, we want them,” Snails added. The mare looked sad as she shook her head slowly. “I’m so sorry guys. I tried really, really hard to keep a few back for you, but Pinkie Pie came in here and cleared me out of my stock. She brought Fluttershy with her too… that surprised me.” This explained where Pinkie Pie had gotten all the merchandise from. It doesn’t explain why they had Trixie inspired toys in the first place, but at least part of this mystery had been explained. “Because she’s been missing our meetings?” Snips asked. “Yeah,” She replied. “She’s really nice.” “Unless you let her chickens loose on Nightmare Night,” Snails stated. As Maud walked down one of the alleys with Valiant by her side, Trixie noticed that there were actually several bins with ‘sold out’ tags over them. She walked over to the counter, leaving Maud and Valiant behind for the moment. “Um,” The store owner said. “I could… uh… check the clubhouse again. I mean there might be a few lying around, right?” Trixie coughed politely to let the three know she was standing there. All three looked over at Trixie and all at once their mouths fell open and they stared on in silence. “Trixie!” they all exclaimed in unison. “Um, hi,” Trixie said meekly. She felt her cheeks heating up from the sudden attention. Snips and Snails looked at each other, and then up at the store owner. The store owner grinned and stepped back. Together all three of them stood on their hind legs, spread their forelegs in a wide gesture inviting gesture and said, “Welcome to the Trixie fan club.” The mare landed on her legs again and with excitement filling her voice said, “My name is Peppers Ghost. It’s really nice to meet you oh Great and Powerful Trixie. I’ve been a fan of yours ever since you first came to Ponyville, although, I guess you didn’t really notice me in the crowd… I don’t stand out very much.” Trixie had to give the mare a kind smile. “It’s okay, Peppers. That wasn’t one of my better days. It makes me happy to know that you enjoyed my show none the less.” “Oh of course I did, you were fantastic, I mean the magic and the ursa and, and, and,” She started to stammer. A small giggle escaped Trixie’s lips. This mare was kinda cute, in a little sister kind of way. “Thank you. I’m actually here with my, er, special somepony and our… foal.” It felt really strange to be calling Valiant hers, it was also hard to think about the fact that she had yet to actually marry Maud. That was one thing she knew she’d have to do soon, because dragging it out wasn’t any fun. “You have a foal!” Snips exclaimed. “Since when?” Snails asked. Trixie rubbed the back her head, it was getting hot. “Well, me and Maud sort of adopted her…” Trixie narrowed her eyes on Snips and Snails. “You two have an important job.” They both gulped and looked up at her excitedly. “You have to promise that you will be good friends with her, and you will keep her safe from bullies,” Trixie said. They nodded, and Trixie smiled. A gentle hoof tapped lightly against the back of her leg and Trixie looked down at Valiant who had her cheeks puffed out in a clear sign of annoyance. Maud stood next to her staring flatly between Trixie and Peppers. “Are you two friends?” Maud asked flatly, but a dangerous look crossed her eyes. Trixie looked over at Peppers. “Um, we just met. She’s one of my fans.” “I-I wish that I was friends with Trixie. That would be really nice,” Peppers said to herself. “Are you sure?” Maud asked. Trixie leaned over and whispered into Maud ear, “She’s just a fan, Maud. Don’t worry.” Peppers shook her head. “Um, I have a twin sister who would also like to meet you. M-maybe you could come to one of our fan club meetings sometime?” “Of course I could,” Trixie said. “I’m busy at the moment, but when I get the time I’ll be sure to let you know.” “OH MY CELESTIA! Really?” She asked excitedly. Trixie nodded, she then looked over Maud and Valiant and smiled. “Well, we came here to buy some toys for you, Val. Let’s get spending shall we?”