//------------------------------// // Chapter One Hundred and Seven: Boulder Dash // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// HEART OF STONE Chapter One Hundred and Seven: Boulder Dash Written by TheCrimsonDM Drifting, weightless, empty and quiet. The dark abyss that was her safe haven stood only as a desolate land. The dark ocean of sludge had hardened into virtual concrete leaving her to look on in wonder. She could only feel the utter silence all around her. There was a distinct lack of motivation to do anything. Even floating here in this weightless world was too much work, but she didn’t have a choice about that one. Eventually she bumped into something. At first she just slumped against the hard surface, sinking against it and trying to ignore it. a quiet noise, almost like whispered giggling made her curious. The thing she was slumped against turned out to be a giant purple pillar made of similar consistency to the solidified oceans below. With a few lazy flaps of her wings she floated upward to the top where she saw an alicorn who looked just like her sitting still and giggling, her back faced to her. She recognized this mare as being somepony named Scath. She landed on the platform and her hooves echoed in the soundless void. “Fluttershy, what in Tartarus did you do?” Scath said in a rough voice. “I, um, I… Everything just went black and… I was only trying to find the poor baby crying for help… I didn’t mean to… D-did I d-do that?” Scath answered herself in a quiet and meek voice. “Do you have any freaking clue what Maud is going to do to you when she finds out?” She said in that same rough voice. “She’s going to kill you!” “Oh no… I… I don’t want to die,” Scath whimpered. “Well neither did Trixie, but guess what you did,” She replied in the rough voice. “Trixie ain’t dead yet,” Scath said in a southern drawl. Oh yeah, that’s my name is isn’t it. I’m Trixie. After a few minutes of listening to Scath crying and apologizing for hurting Trixie, she had finally enough of listening to the crazy conversation. she walked up and put a hoof on Scath’s shoulder. The double of herself giggled again. With a little bit of force, Trixie spun Scath around, only to see in horror that Scath’s face wasn’t her own. a yellow mare’s face with bright orange eyes stared back at her. She back peddled, and one of her hooves touched air. She was standing at the edge of the pillar. “Twilight found out what me and Spike have been up too,” Scath said in an elegant voice. She crawled toward Trixie. If not for the fear that she would no longer be floating if she fell of the edge, she would have jumped off then and there. Instead she could only watch as her double dragged her useless lower half behind as she crawled to her. Trixie sat down and scooted as far back as she possibly could. Scath reached out with a hoof and dragged it across Trixie’s face. “Scath, what happened?” Trixie asked. Scath giggled again. Then she exploded! Shadows went everywhere, they went through Trixie, and drained off the edge of the platform. Trixie felt really wrong watching this. She actually felt really wrong all the way around. A deep cold had set in firmly where her heart should be, and the hollow feeling had her in its threatening grip. For a long time, all she could do was sit there as the loneliness consumed her. Even Scath was gone. there was nothing left, nopony to talk to, nopony to think about. She was simply alone. She tried to remember what had happened, or how she had gotten here. Nothing would come to her though. She was left all alone with the crippling loneliness and hollow feeling in this never changing landscape of darkness. “Trixie!” a small voice called out. Trixie looked around, somepony was calling her name but she didn’t see them. “Hello?” “Trixie!” the voice called again, slightly louder, it clearly belonged to a colt. Trixie stood up. Fear seized her as she realized that the voice could leave any moment. “I’M HERE!” “Trixie!” the voice called one more time. The world around Trixie spun and melted into a luscious green landscape. A long road stretched ahead of her, with thick, green trees lining either side of the road. Far in the distance Trixie could just barely make out a castle of white ivory stone. With nowhere else to go, she began walking in that direction. “Trixie, is that you?” The colt asked. Trixie looked behind her only to see a small blue colt with a purple flat mane trotting up to her. his dull green eyes looked so familiar. “Wow, I can’t believe that I am finally getting to meet you.” Trixie nodded. “I’m… honored? I’m afraid I don’t know you.” “That’s okay, because I know you. I also know the things you have done,” He said. “Like what?” Trixie asked. “You still don’t remember?” he asked. “I’m sorry,” Trixie said. “All I really remember is my name.” The two of them started walking together. They were quiet for a little while but that didn’t bother Trixie much as she got to listen to the strange sounds all around her. for some reason she couldn’t really understand what they were, but she knew that they were absolutely beautiful. It was like the most involved and complex melody she had ever heard. She’d played guitar a little bit but never in a thousand years did she think she could ever play something as soothing as this. “Did you remember anything?” the colt asked. “I used to play guitar. I once played guitar for Maud, and made up a terrible little song on the spot. I think the chorus called her my heart of stone or something. After I was done, she was so impressed by my music that she made love to me right then and there. I remember the shock on her sister’s face, it was so funny,” Trixie said with a small giggle. She quickly remembered who she was talking to and felt a little embarrassed. “Sorry, I um… I forgot you’re just a kid.” “Oh I’m old enough to know how that all works. I’m glad that two of you could share something so special. She loves you a lot you know,” he said. Trixie smiled. “I’m glad. I love her too! Too bad I don’t…” Trixie thought back, she remembered how scared she was when Maud was about to be eaten by a giant monster pony. Trixie had poured every ounce of willpower she had into one measly attack to try and save the mare. Of course she succeeded but just barely. After that, Maud kissed her and told her not to endanger herself again. Something about that made her feel bad, like maybe she had endangered herself only this time, it didn’t end well. “You two weren’t originally fated to meet one another you know,” the colt said. “What do you mean?” Trixie asked. “You worked on the rock farm while she was away from home,” he said. Trixie remembered the rock farm. How quiet and friendly it was there. Old man ignus and Mama Pie were really sweet to her. They took her in when she was broken and desperate, and gave her something to do. Even if it was hard work, and Trixie was never as physically capable as the other members of the family, they had patience with her, and never gave her more work than she could handle. “They were so nice to me,” Trixie said. “But Maud was never there…” “No, she wasn’t. if you had only returned to the stage, or if you would have avoided the ursa major, none of this would have come to pass. You would probably out there doing magic shows, while Maud would be all alone, sobbing to herself when nopony was looking and praying for anypony to love her. But you’re here, you are here for her,” the colt explained. Trixie smiled. “I never thought about it that way. I guess I saved Maud from crippling loneliness. That’s neat.” A slight twinge of guilt hit her though. Though she couldn’t place why. “Why do I feel so guilty?” Trixie asked. “If you don’t remember now, you will later. For now let’s take a break, this road goes on for quite awhile you know. Some ponies say it goes on for a life time,” he joked. Trixie wanted to laugh along, but something about the way he said it was really strange. Instead she followed him into a small alcove to the path where there was a wooden park bench with a basket on top. He sat down first, and she took a seat next to him. the warm weather was really nice. “What’s in the basket?” Trixie asked. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s for you,” He said. Trixie believed him, strange as it may be she did not figure the kid for being able to lie. In that one respect he reminded her of her cousin Applejack. Without wasting anytime she opened the basket and pulled out a snow globe, only there wasn’t any snow inside. Instead there were two little ponies. One of them was Maud, wearing a purple dress that matched her mane, she looked younger. Next to her was a stallion, who looked a good number of years older than she did, but he was kind. His blue fur and rainbow mane were certainly more a match for Rainbow Dash than Maud. The two ponies were walking in what looked like a park. Maud was smiling like a filly, the old stallion was smiling as well. They eventually stopped, and a picnic grew from the earth around them. They ate for a bit, but soon stopped. The stallion leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, she didn’t refute him though, she kissed him back. The snowglobe went dark after that. Trixie looked over at the colt. “What was that?” “It was from before you met her,” the colt said. “Why was it here for me?” Trixie asked. “There are some things you may need to know about your lover, things that she might have had a hard time telling you in your world,” the colt replied. “My world?” Trixie asked. “You’ll figure it out soon enough, but enough time wasting here. Even if we do have all the time in the world, I think you might be curious as to where this road leads us,” he said. With a hop he got off the bench and began walking back to the road. Trixie followed him and it didn’t take long before they left the little bench behind. The road was getting slightly larger than before, and the trees more sparse. The white castle however was still some ways off in the distance. “You said that my world is different from this place,” Trixie said. Looking at a few flowers growing along the side of the road, some of which were colors that she had never even seen before. Describing them would be impossible except that they each gave her a different feeling. Hope, faith, ambition, that’s what the flowers represented for her. “I implied it,” He said. “Why?” “What is this place called?” “This world? I don’t think that a single name could actually apply to it. Though I can tell you that where we are right now is on a place called Firefly Island. That castle over there, the one that’s really far away. That’s called The Beginning. It’s a terrible name I must admit, but it represents something that is really nice,” he said. “What’s that?” “You’ll find out when you’re ready. For now let’s focus on trying to find out why you are here,” he said. For a while they traveled in silence. a few strange creatures flew by, small ponies about the size of Trixie’s hoof with butterfly wings flew by singing mirthful songs that made Trixie try and sing along. She wasn’t any good at it, but the butterfly ponies looked to be enjoying her attempt none the less. They too left after a while, or was it that Trixie left them. She wasn’t sure. She wondered why she was here, but that proved fruitless so instead she focused on the last thing she remembered from her past. Her guilt. She was guilty for something, a great sin that she had done, maybe even a few sins. At first she remembered seeing one of her friends horns being cut off, but despite the horror of that moment, it wasn’t her fault. There was nothing she could have done to change that situation, neither her nor her other friend that she was arguing with. She also remembered trying to take over the village of Ponyville when she was wearing a magical amulet. Again she could not feel too bad for her actions now understanding fully that the amulet was corrupting and to some extent controlling her actions. Everything had worked out for the best after that though. Finally she remembered what it was. She saw a beautiful yellow pegasus, and she knew that she had made love to this pegasus when Maud was away. Though even worse than that, was the fact that after confronting Maud with it went horribly awry she tried to kill herself. after all the good that had happened to her, and all the good she had done, she had still tried to take it all away in one moment of despair. This was where most of her guilt came from. Though now that she looked at it, she realized she shouldn’t feel so badly for it. If she had succeeded it would have hurt a lot of ponies, especially those close to her. Maud, her mom, and her friends would have suffered. Though that wasn’t what happened. Trixie survived, and learned just how much her friends really cared about her. Her friends also realized that she needed help, a lot of it. so it was after that, that Trixie was able to get the help she really needed from her loved ones. It wasn’t an experience that Trixie should look back on and feel bad about, instead it was something she should realize was important for her growth. It was a lesson she could choose to learn from rather than shackles that she needed to wear for the rest of her life. “You’re doing good, Trixie,” the colt said. “Yes, but even if this is good news. I still don’t know why I’m here,” Trixie said. “Not yet, but you will,” he replied. The colt looked over to a small nightstand by the side of the road. Another snow globe was sitting on top of the table. Trixie walked over to it, and somehow she just knew that the globe was left precisely for her to see. She peered into it. She saw Maud sitting on a hospital bed. The stallion from before was sitting next to her side. Maud was rubbing her belly with the warmest smile that Trixie had ever seen, no she had seen the smile once before, it was very similar to the one she gave to Valiant Heart as she sung the filly to sleep the first time after they rescued her. The image shifted to one showing Maud standing by the side of the hospital bed, her belly was large this time. However there was no smile. The stallion lay on the bed, his eyes slowly closed, and his smile faded, then he went still. Maud sobbed. To Trixie’s surprise Maud suddenly doubled over in pain with a look of absolute horror on her face. The image shifted one more time. Maud lay on the hospital bed. Her belly was significantly smaller, but there was no smile on her face. Instead she was rubbing at her belly, tears running down her cheeks. The snowglobe went dark. “What just happened?” Trixie asked the colt. “She lost… everything,” the colt said somberly. For a few minutes, Trixie sat there staring at the dark snow globe. Her heart ached for her lover, and all she wanted to do was to go and hold Maud once more. To make everything right again, sadly that was not going to happen anytime soon she feared. “When,” Trixie finally asked. “It happened a long time before she met you. Maybe five, six years before,” the colt said. “An interesting coincidence to make is that it happened around the same time that Valiant Heart was born.” “Is that why Maud is so attached to her?” Trixie asked. “I won’t answer that directly, but I can speculate that you might not too far off the mark,” the colt said. Trixie nodded. “Do we need to go on?” “Do you remember what happened?” the colt asked. “Not yet,” Trixie admitted. “Then maybe we should. It is your choice however, take however long you need,” He said. Trixie pushed herself up and continued walking. “I’m going to make Maud feel whole again. Whatever she desires, if I can do it, I will.” “You won’t be able to keep that exact promise, but I think simply trying will make her feel better,” the colt said. “At least I hope so.” The two continued on for a long while. The castle grew no closer, and the road did not change. Instead the walking felt less like actual moving and more like a way to keep busy. She was quickly suspecting that physical movement had no real meaning in this place. Considering how the sun was in the exact same spot overhead, she imagined that time had no meaning here either. At this point it felt like months if not years had passed since she first woke up, but at the same time it only felt like brief moments of things happening and then indiscernible amounts of time where things didn’t happen. The more she focused on it, the more sure she was that this place had rules to it that she simply couldn’t understand. The sound of thunder roared over the road and just like that the skies had turned into a bright and brilliant storm. She wasn’t scared though, instead she listened to the thunder intently and slowly a memory revealed itself to her. The ursa minor had attacked the village. it roared, but as to where its cry was horrifying before, now she could hear it. the pain in it’s voice. A mere child asking for help from its mom, begging to be saved. Trixie knew though, that whatever dark sorcery had been worked over it was something that could never be undone. The frozen pain and anguish the creature felt, like liquid ice running through its veins sending nails of torment through every fiber of its being. It was the kind of agony that Trixie had only experienced herself once before, when she was turned into an alicorn. Death would have been kinder than living with that pain forever. Luckily for the poor creature, but ultimately unlucky for Trixie, was the fact that she did end up killing it. She allowed the dark powers inside of her to seize full control even if only momentarily and she ended the child’s life. It had not been a mercy killing, it had been mostly for glory, but also in the effort of saving the village. now however Trixie could only see it as being a sad event, but in the end there was no way to save the creature. If only Fluttershy had realized the extent to which the creature’s pain had reached. Maybe she would not have become so violent, maybe she would not have killed her. “You remembered,” the colt said. Trixie turned to face him, and found herself standing in front of a bridge. The forest was a long ways behind her, and the castle was only a few hundred feet away. it’s giant ivory doors looked so inviting and somewhere deep inside she knew that she belonged here. That her final goal was to come back, to come back and begin a new life. A true life perhaps. “The Beginning. Ha, I get it now,” Trixie said. “Now you have a choice,” the colt said. “You can follow me across the bridge, and I’ll help you start your new life here. We all will.” Almost as if some sort of veil had been removed from Trixie’s eyes she looked around and saw ponies surrounding her. To her right stood her father, he smiled proudly down at her. just behind her stood two ponies she didn’t know, but some who they looked so familiar, they actually looked a lot like Applejack and Big mac. Across the bridge stood a red alicorn stallion with a blond mane, he waved nervously with a game of Canterlot Heights floating next to him. She did belong here, and if she stayed she knew that she would be welcomed in with loving embraces. The colt stared at her with a smile, but he already knew her answer, as did she. “I’m sorry, I can’t stay this time,” Trixie said with a sad heart. “I have things that I need to do. Ponies I need to protect and heal.” “I understand,” the colt said. “Then if you take my hooves I’ll take you home.” She reached out with a hoof and gently grabbed his tiny hoof in her own. “I’m afraid I never caught your name.” “That’s because I wouldn’t give it out to you until now,” he said. “My name is Boulder Dash.” “Boulder Dash,” Trixie said to herself. As the world around her washed away, the colt gripped on tightly to her hoof. “Can you tell Maud something for me. Can you tell her that I’m always watching her, and I don’t blame her at all.” “Of course,” Trixie said. “Could you also… giver her a hug for me?” He asked, his voice suddenly tiny. “I promise,” Trixie said. The world vanished before her sight. *** Bright sunlight filtered through the curtains illuminating the small room, but also blinding Trixie momentarily. As her eyes adjusted the first things she noticed were that she was in a bed, and that her foreleg was in a cast. Next she saw Maud and Valiant slumped over in a loveseat fast asleep. Valiant’s whiteboard was lying on the nightstand next to her, it was propped up against the wall so that Trixie could easily read it without moving. “Good morning. We love you. Six days.” The last part confused Trixie. What did six days have to do with anything. her body was quite numb overall and her head was a little cottony but she felt like she should have been able to figure out what three weeks meant. Instead she looked down at the bed and found a tube running up from the bottom of the blanket and going between her legs. It clearly wasn’t an iv, because there was already one in her free foreleg. Using a little bit of magic Trixie lifted the blanket and saw the catheter. It was gross to think that she’d been using one,  but after setting the blanket down she couldn’t help but to laugh. She had no idea why it was so funny, but she couldn’t help laughing anyway. “Lulu?” Maud asked in a drowsy voice. “Oops, sorry hunny bunny, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Trixie apologized. Maud opened her eyes, and sat straight up. “Trixie!” “The Great and Powerful of course,” Trixie joked. Maud got up off the bed and trotted over to Trixie’s side where she sat down. She rested a hoof on the bed and stared at Trixie with wet eyes, and a warm inviting grin. “How long have I been out?” Trixie asked. “Six days,” Maud said. “Dang. How is everypony? Oh you didn’t kill Fluttershy, did you?” Trixie asked. Maud shook her head. “I was too busy taking care of both you and Val. When you’re out of here I will.” “Ugh, no. Don’t do that. This is a good thing,” Trixie said. “it is?” Maud asked wearily. “Yes, because now you and I can be friends with her again,” Trixie said happily. “I… I don’t get it,” Maud said, clearly not following Trixie’s cotton candy brained logic. “Yes, of course silly. Jeez why do I have to be the smart one in the relationship? If Fluttershy hates my guts enough to try and murder me, than that means she won’t ever want to screw me again,” Trixie explained. “Yes, but she won’t want to be your friend either,” Maud replied. “Sam’s antics, sweetie. All I need to do is explain that the poor guy was in so much pain that it was a mercy murder. Once I do that she will still hate me, but accept my friendship,” Trixie said. “That doesn’t make sense,” Maud said. “Maybe you should wait until after the pain meds wear off before coming up with a plan to make amends to the crazy one.” “Wait, did I make Pinkie Pie angry too? Or did you mean Twilight?” Trixie asked. Maud smiled. “How are you feeling?” “Great, my body is numb and I’m peeing, but I feel great. Oh and I feel really great,” Trixie said. Maud’s smile only grew. “That’s the pain meds.” “No I’m pretty sure that’s my bladder… wait, oh you mean the great part. Yeah, I feel great!” Trixie said. “Oh and I have a present for you.” “Really?” Maud asked. Trixie reached over and gave Maud a weak one legged hug. “He says he doesn’t blame you for what happened, and that he’s always watching over you and that he loves you very much.” “Who said that?” Maud asked. “Boulder Dash,” Trixie answered. The surprised look that Maud gave Trixie was priceless, and actually brought a small laugh from Trixie. Maud was quick to turn that surprise into a frown. “Who told you about him?” “He did, I was hanging out with him in the other world. We talked a bit and he helped  me sort through a lot of my problems. Like, I was feeling really guilty and beating myself up for trying to kill myself, but now I know that I shouldn’t do that. I got a lot of help and stuff from you guys and that means the world to me. Also I saw my dad again, and I think I saw my aunt and uncle, I also saw another alicorn,” Trixie said. “Oh and there was this big ol place, it was like really cool and it was a castle. Don’t forget the butterfly ponies, they sang songs with me.” Maud’s expression grew from worried, to confused, to something in between before she finally settled on a small smile. When Trixie finally finished regaling Maud with her awesome adventure in the other world the earth pony gently patted Trixie on the head. “What’s that about?” Trixie asked. “You’re a good pony, Lulu. A little loopy from the pain medication but still a good pony,” Maud said. “Of course I’m a good pony! I’m Trixie, the powerful and great, I’m the best pony,” Trixie said. She paused as she realized something was off about what she just said. Maud just gave her a knowing smile. “Mmm, how long until the wedding,” Trixie asked. “We didn’t miss it did we?” Maud shook her head. “You circled the date near the end of the month. We’re fine.” “That’s good. I know something even better,” Trixie said. “What’s that?” Maud asked. “I’m going to lay here, and you are going to tell me poetry,” Trixie said. Maud nodded. It wasn’t long until she pulled out a poetry book she had in her saddlebag, and began reading for her. it might not have been the best poetry, heck it was actually pretty terrible, but Trixie loved hearing it. Maybe she just loved to hear Maud talk, monotone as she was it was a soothing and quiet voice that she could listen too for hours on end. It wouldn’t take long before the doctors realized that she was awake and came in here to check up on her. so she decided to soak up all of the Maud love she could get before then, excluding anything sexual. Trixie still remembered how that turned out the last time she tried. So far the day was promising to be a good one, and since it was morning, Trixie could officially say that it was a brand new day for her. A glorious, loving day. End of Act Four