//------------------------------// // Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: I Spy // Story: Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Heart of Stone Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: I Spy Written by TheCrimsonDM The Lightning Runner was an impressive machine with a body of copper and wood, a head of black steel, and powerful sails. This metal beast somehow hovered off of the ground, and better yet flew through the air with a powerful stride. Lightning Dust stood at the helm of this ship, her determined eyes took them forward and into the cloudy skies above. Trixie was impressed to say the least. “How can we fly like this?” Trixie asked as she stood at the railing, looking down into the dark landscape far below them. “A mixture of Cloudsdale cloud tech and unicorn ingenuity. Unlike the cloud cars, anypony can walk on the Lightning Runner. I got quite a bit out of the schematics for this thing alone, and from what I’ve heard the Flim Flam brothers are trying to put these things into full production. They have at least three of them built so far,” Starfire explained. “I just hope that they don’t do anything foolish with them.” “Like what?” Trixie asked. “My first concern whenever giving technology out to anypony is whether they can or will use it for war. I can’t let the ponies of this world suffer the same fate as… the other world I was in,” Starfire said. “What are you talking about?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow. This mare was talking crazy again, different worlds. It was hard to believe this mare could have actually gone to another world. “I was in another world for awhile, I learned many secrets, a lot of history, and studied every topic that I possibly could. However the time came eventually when equestrians could no longer stay there, so I left. They had a history of war in that world, war the likes of which ponies have never seen. The only case I can think of that would be even a little similar was the war with Sombra over a thousand years ago,” Starfire said. “That world must have been horrible,” Trixie said, still not quite believing the mare, but sympathizing for her if it was true. “It really wasn’t so bad, they had a lot of good in them as well. They actually found the secrets to replacing organs, and limbs. That kind of research is virtually taboo here,” Starfire said. “That’s because It’s illegal to use that kind of magic. I mean maybe we can replace limbs, if you have the money, time and resources, but organs. That’s practically necromancy,” Trixie said. “They didn’t use magic though,” Starfire said. That raised some questions. “How… how can you do that?” “I think most ponies would have told me to be quiet by now, because what I’m saying is blasphemy,” Starfire said. “Why are you so interested?” Trixie shrugged. She looked out over the clouds that were now below them and marveled at the moon above. It was a beautiful night, even if it was a bit chilly. “I think you’re a curious one,” Starfire said. Trixie gave her a sour look. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Relax it’s a compliment. Curiosity is good, it leads itself to self discovery and learning. I like seeing that in ponies,” Starfire said. Trixie looked back to the clouds. “It’s only gotten me hurt.” “Learning hurts sometimes, but you can’t let that stop you. It’s our job to learn as much as possible, to try and understand everything, and then to use our knowledge to the best of our ability. That’s what the Seekers of Truth are all about,” Starfire said. she gestured around the deck. “That’s what we’re all about.” “So you are going to help me kill a pony in the name of learning?” Trixie asked with a smirk. “Somehow that sounds hard to believe.” “I’m using the knowledge to the best of my ability. I know for a fact that Ash is working with the deep one, and he needs to be stopped,” Starfire said. “The deep one, deep ones, whatever they are represent a twisted understanding of things around them. Distorted truths and outright lies. They are one of our few enemies.” “The deep one or Ash?” Trixie asked. “Both,” Starfire said. For a moment the two stayed silent and simply listened to the wind. A bright orange light flew out of the cloud cover below and angled itself up next to the ship. Its fiery feathers and gold burning eyes stood against the night sky like a beacon of hope surrounded by darkness. It was so close that Trixie could almost touch it. Starfire drew her hood back over her head and cursed quietly. She then threw her legs over the railing and made a shooing motion. “Go home.” The bird looked at her, and stuck its beak up in the air. “Please Philomena… and don’t tell Celestia about this,” Starfire said. “Wait, that’s Philomena, as in the princess’s pet?” Trixie asked in shock. “As in her closest and oldest friend. Phoenixes live forever, so they make great companions for alicorns. I just wish it would stop following me,” Starfire said with a dirty look at the bird. The bird swooped down and vanished from sight beneath the clouds, but every now and then Trixie could still spot a glimpse of orange light. It was still following them. Trixie could only wonder as to why it would be following Starfire, clearly they weren’t enemies because then the unicorn would have tried to strike the bird down. Something was very different about this mare, something that Trixie simply couldn’t trust. *** Trixie awoke to the sound of talking just outside her door. The door was cracked open just enough for a line of light to run through and reveal Valiant Heart lay next to her, wrapped up in the blanket with one leg hanging off the bed. The voices belonged to Maud and Bookworm. “Where did you procure your fur catcher?” Maud asked. “The magic one?” “Yes, it disposes of fur without having to dig it out with a tool. I dislike cleaning them after bathing at my house, so I would like to get one for us.” “I agree, if it hadn’t been for my cousin I would not have been able to get these ones for so cheap. I should say that they haven’t just been efficient; they have proven to be quite amusing in our household as well. Dee has amused herself by trying to decipher the secret of how they disintegrate hair for many hours. I used to be worried she would go bald in her attempts.” A tiny foreleg whipped over Trixie’s head and slammed right into her muzzle. Trixie tried desperately to ignore the smell of fish coming from the filly. “Are you and Twilight close?” Maud asked. “Quite, the tree tower connected to our house is actually something she made herself. Whenever she’s here doing research with me and Dee, she sleeps in the tower. I keep it locked for safety reasons. Unless Twilight authorizes it, nopony is allowed in there.” A high pitched voice piped up from somewhere beyond the door. “I GOT A NEW PLUSHIE!” For a brief moment, Trixie could have sworn that the voice belonged to Pinkie Pie. The illusion was ruined once Bookworm said, “Dee! You need to keep quiet, the princess is still sleeping.” Sometimes Trixie hated being a princess, she felt like she was intruding on these mares lives and creating complications for them. There wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it now though. After the ursa minor incident, it felt like the entire country turned their eyes toward her. Her and Maud. “Sorry,” Dee said in a loud whispery voice. “I just got excited because I finally got Mr. Centipede.” “How in Equestria did you manage that?” Bookworm asked. “You told me he was not only rare, but he was the hardest one to win from the grabber.” “It might have taken forty bits, a lot of luck, and a sledge hammer, but I finally got him,” Deedee replied. There was silence, followed by an awkward cough. Maud gasped. “Lulu, is awake.” “How do you know?” Bookworm asked, likely thankful for a change in topic. “She has a particular rhythm to her breathing while she’s asleep. She’s trying to hold her breath right now,” Maud said. The door cracked open a little more and Maud poked her head in. “Did I wake you?” Trixie shook her head. “No, I was just lying here. I’m not ready to get up.” “So you weren’t pretending to sleep so you could listen to us?” Maud asked. “N-no,” Trixie lied. “You’re lying.” “Sorry… I just like hearing your voice. It’s so calm and soothing,” Trixie said. Deedee poked her head in, short black mane falling her face as she did. “The party’s still going on tonight if you’re interested. I don’t like parties very much, but you seemed to enjoy yourself last night… even if you did come to bed rather early.” “That was early?” Trixie asked.  Deedee sucked in a mighty breath and began speaking, “It was only three am, yeah that was pretty early for here, but guess what, Princess Luna said she’s staying a few more days to fully immerse herself into the festival and stuff, and I think she heard that you were here, and wanted to say hi, though she hasn’t actually knocked on our door yet, so maybe not, but you never know with these princess types am I right?” Deedee stopped just long enough to suck in a huge breath of air, “you know because you’re all, all knowing and stuff. Right? Right?” “Dee,” Bookworm asked politely. “Did you just drink coffee?” “Not just coffee, I also took a Charge tablet. Man, I feel like I could race around the house, do all the cleaning, and tell everypony’s future all at the same time, can I? Please, please, please,” Deedee began begging. Bookworm pulled Deedee away from the door. “Stop bothering the princess and go reorganize the books.” “Alright, be back in a flash!” Deedee said. The following sound of hooves galloping away signaled her retreat. Bookworm noticeably relaxed. Trixie sat up and brushed the long locks of hair out of her face. “Okay, what exactly is Charge, and is it safe for me to have some?” After Trixie pulled herself out of bed, they served breakfast. Breakfast as they called it, was happening at two in the afternoon. Bookworm told Trixie that it was actually about six hours too early for it to be a real breakfast. Apparently everypony here was nocturnal, and Bookworm and Deedee just didn’t sleep very often. Deedee with her caffeine addiction, and Bookworm with her studies. In Bookworm’s case, Trixie figured that the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. She had no excuse for Deedee’s problem. It didn’t seem to matter though, for Trixie was still far too exhausted to stay properly awake after breakfast. She quickly found herself falling asleep on the couch, Maud didn’t help much as she laid down next to her, wrapped a foreleg around Trixie’s waist, pulled her close and drifted off. Trixie joined her on the trip to sleepy town. Population; everypony in Hollow Shades. *** Familiar weightlessness and a floaty feeling overcame Trixie. Looking around she found herself hovering above the floor in a huge hotel room. She wasn’t alone however, Princess Luna and the light blue guard was sitting next to her at a table. The armor covered the mare’s eyes, tail and wings. Even her mane was hidden beneath it. Trixie wished she knew the name of the guard, but until then she decided to just nickname her; Nameless. “Just try it,” Luna said as she lifted a plate with a small square of pink something on it. She set the plate down in front of her guard. Nameless sniffed it, and cringed. “It smells salty. I hate salty.” Somehow Trixie recognized the mare’s voice. She tried to look harder for any sign who this was. There were bandages wrapping around her stomach all the way to her back, and a few smaller ones on her legs. Something scratched at the back of Trixie’s head, screaming for her to recognize the mare. “Just try it, I assure you that it is indeed tasty.” “It smells awful,” Nameless replied in her rough voice. Her complaint aside, she did lean over and eat the piece of pink stuff. Her face contorted into a grimace and she quickly spat the chunk out onto the plate, meanwhile Luna was laughing. “It’s nothing but salt!” “It’s salted salmon,” Luna said, her laughter quickly dying out. “Don’t tell me that you have not tried it before. I thought you were heir to the Rain fortune.” “Yeah, I am the heir or whatever, but that doesn’t mean I spent my life doing rich pony things,” Nameless replied. “You went to Cloudsdale flight academy. Only the rich, the talented, or the privileged have ever gotten in,” Luna said. “Pfft, I’m all three of those. Especially the talented part,” Nameless replied. Luna laughed a little. “My, you do have faith in yourself.” A knock at the door drew their attention. The guard stood, and put herself into a battle ready stance. She was clearly injured, but still willing and capable of fighting for her princess. These bat ponies were truly devoted to Princess Luna. Luna used her magic to open the door without ever leaving her seat. Nightshade walked in, her helmet on. Upon having the door shut behind her, she removed her helmet and bowed. “Princess Luna, I come baring the report that you asked for.” “Come, sit with us. We would love to have your company,” Luna said. Nameless sat down again and winced as she relaxed her muscles. She must have been in pain, and Trixie felt pity for her. Nightshade took a seat at the table and kept her eyes firmly planted on the table and away from Luna or Nameless. “Now tell us what have you discovered about Trixie?” Luna asked. Before Nightshade could even speak, Nameless spoke up. “Wait, you sent her to spy on our friend? What the hay! Princess Luna, that’s messed up.” Luna ignored the comment, but it went ahead to prove that Trixie did indeed know the mare. The question was how? “She is spending her honeymoon here in Hollow Shades, and even though she is young and naive, she is friendly and open to new cultures,” Nightshade said. Well that’s a lot nicer than I would have said about myself. “Hmm, that’s what I thought. But does she seem like she might be dangerous to herself or others?” Luna inquired. Nameless stood on her hind legs, and planted her forelegs on the table firmly. “You sent her to spy on Trixie, just to see if Trixie is going to try and kill herself!” Luna shot a dangerous look at the upstart mare. “No, she did not seem that way to me,” Nightshade answered, while glaring at the other guard. “Was there anything that you can think of being a concern?” Luna asked. “Not a concern, but there was something I found… endearing about her. She was worried about the money she has received as a princess,” Nightshade said. “How is that endearing? She wants more money already, that’s just terrible, not only have we paid her hospital bills; we have also given her enough money to buy a small town. How could she have-“ Luna began. “No, my princess you misunderstand me. She is not worried about having too little, rather she is worried about having too much,” Nightshade defended. Luna calmed down, and took a sip of her drink. “That’s preposterous, why should she worry about that?” “Because unlike you or me, Trixie grew up poorer than a rock farmer,” Nameless said. “She probably doesn’t feel like she deserves it. I know if you gave that kind of money to Applejack, she’d buck you and tell you not to insult her… I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, even if said apple is a unicorn, er alicorn.” It’s not that I don’t deserve it, because after everything I’ve done I deserve a whole lot more than what I’ve got. It’s that I didn’t earn it. I at least should have done something to earn that money… just for being an alicorn doesn’t feel right. “So she’s insulted by our generous offer? That does not make an ounce of sense. Also, what is a rock farmer?” Luna asked. “A pony that farms… rocks.” “I could guess that much, but what do they do, exactly?” Luna inquired. “Uh…” Nameless was clearly lost for words. Even Trixie wasn’t sure what they did, and she worked on a rock farm. “I shall have to study this later, make a note to do research on this,” Luna said. The mare looked confused for a moment, and then quickly fished around for a notepad and a pen. She made the note. “While you’re at it, make sure to go to the library and do research on these rock farmers. You can give me your report when you are done,” Luna said with authority. The pen dropped from her lips. “What? You want me to do the research for you?” An evil smile grew over Luna’s lips. “I jest. I wish to do the research myself. You can be my study aid.” “That still sounds boring… researching rock farmers, ugh. Why am I stuck doing this again?” she asked. “Because Twilight said you wanted to feel useful. You can’t fly very well in your current state so the Wonderbolts don’t want you, and I could always use a good friend and assistant,” Luna explained. The mare let out a sigh. “There is one more thing, my princess,” Nightshade said. “Oh and what is that?” Luna asked. “She has met Dreamweaver.” Luna’s worked her mouth, but no words came out. It took a moment, but she finally managed to say, “Well… that, that is… um…” “Concerning?” Nightshade asked. Luna nodded. “If it is true, this may explain a great deal about her. Keep a close eye on her my trusty commander. If you can, find out what she saw.” Nightshade nodded. *** The house was quiet and darkness again had taken to take over the sky. As far as Trixie could hear, the only other sign of life in here was Valiant, who was quietly reading to herself in the corner. Slowly Trixie removed herself from the couch and waddled her way to Valiant, where she promptly plopped herself down next to the filly. She took a peek at what Valiant was reading. Something about Princess Luna and her exploits from before the time of Nightmare Moon. Most of it looked like fairy tale hogwash, but the artwork was pretty good. “Are you having fun?” Trixie asked sleepily. The filly nodded. “That’s good, hey can you listen to something for me?” Trixie asked. Again the filly nodded. “Thanks,” Trixie said with a smile. “You see I have this… friend who seems to be worried about me, so they decided that they were going to spy on me. I caught them, but they don’t know it yet. I understand their concern, I really do, but it still feels like it’s an invasion of privacy. Should I go to them directly and talk about it?” The filly nodded. “I guess that settles that,” Trixie said. The filly nodded yet again. Trixie frowned. “Are you tuning me out and just nodding to whatever I say?” The filly nodded, stopped looked at Trixie and then shook her head. Trixie rolled onto her back. “Pfft, yeah right. You were totally zoning out. That book must be really interesting.” Valiant flipped a page back and showed it to Trixie. What Trixie saw there made her heart skip a beat. An ocean of dark goopy slime washed over pillars of hard stone. A terrible storm was seen off on the horizon, and a lone figure of a young Luna stood valiantly against everything around her. The caption simply read, “The Inner Darkness”. Trixie quickly pulled the book from Valiant’s hooves and read the paragraph associated with the image. “The Inner Darkness was one of Luna’s hardest won victories. It is rumored that this mass of hatred and pain had once covered a large section of our world, but in conjunction with her older sister, she was able to banish it. Its namesake comes from the tales saying that it was our very own Princess’s pain, self doubt, and loathing made real in the physical world. Many scholars have argued that it might have been a collection of all of ponykinds evil instead. The truth we may never know, but at least we can rest assured that it will never threaten our world again.” By the time Trixie was done reading she felt herself trembling. The mere thought of the Inner Darkness existing in the real world was horrible. Though that was mostly because she knew of it by another name, an older name, quite possibly its true name. She knew of it as simply, The Dorchadas. Valiant had a message written on her little board. “I’ve seen this stuff before.” Trixie gasped. “How? Where?” “Inside of you.” “I… I don’t understand. You saw it inside of me?” Trixie asked, her heart was beating far too quickly. Valiant nodded and pointed to her injured eye. Trixie was reminded of how the filly got scared when she first opened that eye after it was done healing, how she had told them that she was seeing weird. She also remembered how Valiant told her how she had seen Twilight’s loneliness with the eye. Was it possible that the injury actually caused the filly to gain some kind of unique power? The power to see the things that lay inside a pony’s very soul? Nah, that’s… that’s crazy. I should know crazy when I see it, and that’s it. Valiant’s just… weird. Thankfully Trixie didn’t have to think about for too long. For Maud walked through the door with a blank expression on her face. “Do you want to go out and celebrate some more?”