• Published 17th Jul 2014
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Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone - TheCrimsonDM



Trixie Lulamoon has led a hard life, especially after the events of her magic duel with Twilight Sparkle. Now trying to piece herself back together, can she learn the meaning of friendship from her first real friend, Maud Pie?

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Chapter Three: Melancholy Blue

Heart of Stone

Chapter Three: Melancholy Blue

Written by TheCrimsonDM

After a restless nap Trixie woke up with her pillow damp from the tears that had consumed her earlier. Now that she had stopped crying she could hear the ponies outside her room talking fairly clear through her wall. Trixie never realized that her walls were so thin, ha that’s fitting. She fought against snooping in on their conversation at first, but once she realized that her life here was over anyway she gave up.

Twilight was speaking in an authoritative tone. “I can’t believe you would do that to her. Why in Equestria would you attack her!”

Pinkie Pie answered her with fear clear in her voice, “I…I was just trying to protect my sister…I’m sorry.”

Twilight spoke again this time a little softer but her voice was laced with menace. “Pinkie, I am not the one you need to apologize too. When Trixie feels like coming out you will need to apologize to her. She has been through a lot of bad things since we last saw her.”

A softer voice spoke now, right outside of Trixie’s door. The voice belonged to Maud but it sounded weak, “Lulu… please don’t be mad. I really thought that you two could be friends. I am sorry for her behavior. Lulu…”

Another voice spoke next to her, it was very gentle sounding, and very soft, and caring. One that Trixie had to admit she actually missed hearing, it was Fluttershy, “I’m sure we can fix this, Maud. She just needs some time alone right now. Oh… please don’t cry.”

Trixie wondered if Maud was really crying, did she do the realization of what Trixie did to Pinkie hurt her that much? She didn’t know, and at the moment all she could focus on was the pain her back was in. A few minutes passed before she could clearly hear anything again, but she finally heard Pinkie Pie talking again, this time she was right outside of Trixie’s door, and she sounded very sad. “Trixie, can you hear me? I want to apologize for being such a meanie to you.”

Trixie turned her head to the side and tried to say as loud as she could without yelling. “Why? I deserved it.”

Pinkie replied, “Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Maud say that you’re not a bad pony anymore. So you’re not a bad pony anymore, right? You’re not going to like, kidnap Boulder and run away are you?”

The question made her sound nervous, but Trixie didn’t care much about anything at the moment. It hurt too much to care about things right now. So she replied truthfully. “After what I have done, I don’t think I could ever be a good pony again.”

“I… kinda understand. May I open your door just a crack. It would make it easier to talk to you. I pinkie promise I won’t come in, cross my hart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

It was rude for good ponies like Pinkie Pie to pretend that they could understand what it was like to be a bad pony, and to do such bad things. Feeling a little bit of anger, Trixie found herself responding without thinking. “And who gets to stick the cupcake in your eye?”

“… I suppose you would get to.”

She realized what she had said was rude. But couldn’t bring herself to apologize, so instead she compromised. “Fine, but only a crack.”

The door opened a tiny bit allowing the two ponies to speak to each other without being so loud. Trixie spoke first. “I really am sorry about everything I did. I know you won’t ever be my friend but maybe one day you can forgive me.”

Pinkie pie was quiet for a few moments making Trixie think that she had left, before Pinkie said in a quiet voice, “I forgive you. I hope that you can forgive me too. I know I scared you, but if you still want to I would love to be your friend. If you don’t want to though I can understand.”

Trixie was a little shocked to hear Pinkie Pie say this. She still wanted to be friends with Pinkie, if only for Maud’s sake. Maybe she could still recover her friendship with Maud, though she felt that any chance for a relationship was pretty much ruined now. Trixie took in a shaky breath before saying. “I forgive you too. I still want to be your friend as well.” After a moment she added. “I…I would also like to tell you something secret…if you want to hear it.”

Pinkie Pie sounded more cheerful as she said. “I would love to listen. I am really good at keeping secrets. Buuuut if you wanna tell me a secret, it would be better if I could come inside. We have somepony prying in on our conversation right now. Although their trying to hide from me, it doesn’t mean I don’t know that they have been behind the couch eavesdropping on us this whole time.”

Trixie didn’t doubt that a pony might be listening in. She didn’t care before, but this secret of Trixie’s wasn’t something she wanted to share openly. “Okay Pinkie Pie, you can come in… just please don’t hurt me again.”

Pinkie opened the door poking her head inside wearing a sad smile. She took only a single step forward before asking. “Did… I really hurt you?”

Trixie didn’t answer she only said. “Don’t forget to close the door.”

Pinkie Pie walked in and closed the door behind her softly. She then walked up to Trixie’s bed before sitting down on the floor. The two looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, Pinkie’s eyes looked very sad but there was a quiet power behind them, reminiscent of Trixie’s favorite rock. Trixie found herself with a small smile as she said. “You have your sister’s eyes. Did you know that?”

Pinkie smiled at that saying very softly. “I don’t have her eyes. There still inside her head you silly filly.”

Trixie smiled a little more at Pinkie’s literal interpretation of her complement. She looked away from Pinkie’s eyes before explaining. “I’ve got Schizophrenia. It was untreated until a few months ago, I… tried to… punish myself after what I did to ponyville.”

Pinkie Pie lost her smile for a second before shaking her head and putting on another sad smile. Pinkie’s eyes told Trixie that she knew what Trixie had gone through all too well. Pinkie Pie reached a hoof out slowly causing Trixie to flinch in fear before she placed her hoof on gently Trixie’s cheek. Pinkie Pie than said, “I am sorry to hear that, if I had been a better pony I would have helped you… but sometimes even I am a bad pony.”

Trixie wasn’t sure exactly how to take that but she was sure that Pinkie was trying to be kind to her. That meant a lot to Trixie, she always felt like everypony hated her after ponyville. Even after what she had done she found this whole event a little surreal.

Here stood one of the ponies she had hurt the worst, and yet this pony was being kind to her, trying to befriend her. Even if Trixie didn’t deserve this attention she really appreciated it, it was nice to have ponies care about her, even when she knew they were just wasting their time.

Pinkie Pie looked down Trixie’s back before she stopped moving and a look of horror spread across her face. What was scaring her, sure Trixie’s back hurt, but it wasn’t that bad…was it?

Pinkie Pie’s bottom lip began to quiver a little as she asked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Trixie did not recall ever saying that she was okay, nor did she recall ever feeling that way. Looking at Pinkie Pie she raised her head to ask what was wrong. A fresh wave of pain spread across her back causing her to whimper. Pinkie now looked even more scared and yelled at the door. “TWILIGHT. HELP. NOW.”

It took only a few seconds before both Twilight and Maud came rushing into the room. Trixie tried to sit up, to show them it was all okay. The motion caused a fresh wave of terrible pain to spike in her back, she screamed in pain from the attempted movement. Something was wrong with her back, and it hurt to move. Twilight looked worried, even Maud looked worried. This was bad.

After being levitated to the living room Trixie found herself lying on the same couch as Maud, with Fluttershy examining her back. Trixie’s back was burning with pain, but with her head laying on Maud’s lap and with Maud softly petting her hair she found the strength to fight against it. Maud looked at Trixie with gentle eyes, the fact that Maud didn’t hate her was apparent as she tried to sooth Trixie’s pain. Trixie had been unable to resist snuggling her head into Maud’s lap as she lay there. Maud didn’t resist, she only continued to pet her mane softly.

Fluttershy spoke very quietly with a kind and caring voice. “I think I can help you, but it might hurt a little at first. Is that okay?”

Trixie was still struggling with her emotions unable to decide on whether to be happy, sad, or to cry in pain. A general numbness was creeping up from deep inside her heart. Trixie found herself fighting it as much as she could. The thought occurred to her that taking care of her back would not only help with the pain, but might give her something to focus on other than her depression so she agreed to let Fluttershy do her thing.

Fluttershy began gently massaging Trixie’s back while explaining. “There is a terrible knot in your back. I think you’ve been under too much stress, but… there’s also some old tension here too. When Pinkie um, pushed you, she might have added to it. I’m sorry… I’m going to try and fix it…um, okay?”

Trixie tried to nod but the quick motion of her head caused a twinge of pain in her back. She instead said in a pained voice. “Okay.”

The massage hurt a little bit at first but soon it began feeling good. Fluttershy even put some kind of oil on her back which was really cold and took a huge bite out of the pain. With every press of Fluttershy’s gentle hooves against her back a wave of warm tingly sensations would pass through her. Soon Trixie found herself completely lost in the feeling unable to fight against the tide of wonderful tingles. After a few minutes she became increasingly aware of just how cute Fluttershy really was, with her buttery fur, and long candy pink mane. From the way her mane hung down it was blocking out Fluttershy’s eyes, and keeping her face mostly concealed except for the light blush on her cheeks and the warm smile on her soft lips. Fluttershy’s mane fell down upon Trixie’s withers causing the azure unicorn to let out a tiny squeak.

Fluttershy stopped her wonderful massage for a moment to ask in a concerned tone. “Are you okay, I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Trixie tried to answer but felt a lump get stuck in her throat as she realized just how much she had been enjoying the massage. It felt wrong to enjoy it this much, especially with head lying Maud’s lap like a pillow. Her face felt like it was on fire. “It’s okay, your hair scared me a little.”

Fluttershy looked away her cheeks growing a little more flush as she apologized. “Um… sorry.”

Trixie closed her eyes as she took in the scent of Maud’s fur, it smelled faintly of lilac with a hint of dirt. Trixie didn’t mind though, Maud did a lot of work in the dirt, and the fusion of smells created something that reminded Trixie of a garden. Enjoying the smell Trixie said, “You can stop, my back doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Fluttershy placed her hooves down on Trixie’s back again, kneading and padding with her angelic hooves while saying firmly. “Your back is still hurt, if I don’t take care of this now than you could have some permanent damage. You are lucky to have chiropractor on hoof.”

After that the massage continued with Trixie feeling the warm tingly feeling again as every press of her hooves pushed waves of pleasant warm feeling through Trixie’s entire body. Trixie just relaxed allowing the magical pegasus to do her work. After what Fluttershy had said, it would be dumb of Trixie to argue after all. Even if it was embarrassing. Meanwhile there was some sort of awkward conversation going on with the others that Trixie tuned out.

A few more minutes passed by before Trixie begun to feel other warm feelings inside of her, feelings that made her feel guilty considering it wasn’t Maud giving her a massage. Trixie wondered to herself if this massage was entirely for medical reasons or if Fluttershy was putting a little too much attention into this massage. But that would require Trixie to be worth Fluttershy’s attraction and that was impossible.

Finally Fluttershy found a sensitive spot near Trixie’s croup, and with the soft hooves pushing down on her croup Trixie let out an involuntary moan of satisfaction. Fluttershy froze solid at the moan, and Trixie’s face began warming up far more than before, her entire face becoming a new shade of red. She then buried her face into Maud’s lap trying to hide her embarrassment. Trixie had to stop this, damage or no this massage was going way too far and there was no reason for Fluttershy to be touching her there anyway. “You need to stop.” Trixie said as politely and as firmly as she could.

Fluttershy tried to hide behind her mane, her face equally as red as Trixie’s before she said in a quiet voice barely above a whisper. “Sorry, I, um, didn’t know you were, um so sensitive there.”

Trixie stayed quiet as Fluttershy moved to the other couch, Maud was still stroking her mane gently which made Trixie calm down a little. She eventually looked up to see Maud wearing a small smile as she looked down at Trixie. Maud asked, “Are you feeling better?”

Trixie did have to admit that her back no longer hurt, although she was still embarrassed about the massage. With careful movements Trixie sat up on the couch next to Maud with no pain in her back. It was amazing her back didn’t just stop hurting, it was like she had a hundred pounds of lead weight lifted off of her back. For the first time in a long time she felt as light as a feather.

Trixie looked across the room at Fluttershy who was still trying to hide behind her mane, and smiled saying. “Thank you, Fluttershy. That was magic.”

Fluttershy only gave a short nod of acceptance. Trixie looked around and realized that some of the ponies were no longer here though. The only ones inside the house were Trixie, Maud who was sitting next to her, Fluttershy sitting on the couch opposite of them, Pinkie Pie was also there sitting quietly with a small grin on her face. Twilight Sparkle was in the kitchen though with a letter floating in front of her as she read it, the book Trixie had ordered was also next to her.

Trixie then remembered the present she had ordered for Maud was in the package, but where was the package. Looking around almost frantic Trixie couldn’t see the package anywhere. Looking at the three ponies near her she asked. “Where is the package that I had?”

Pinkie Pie answered her saying a high pitched tone. “It’s on the table in the kitchen. Twilight put it on the table to keep it safe.”

Trixie stood up carefully remembering the pain her back was in only a few moments prior. Thankfully it would seem that Fluttershy really did fix the problem. Pinkie Pie then offered. “I can go get it for you if you’re back still hurts.”

Trixie shook her head. “It’s okay. I want to get it myself.”

She walked into the kitchen where Twilight was sitting at the table. To Trixie’s relief the package sat next to her, unopened. Sitting at the table Trixie opened the package peeking inside, Maud’s present was safe and sound inside its package. She let out an exhausting sigh of relief. She could still give the present to Maud, and hopefully it would mean as much to her as she hoped it would.

Trixie stayed quiet as she sat there looking at Twilight for a few minutes before she felt like being quiet might be considered rude. It only occurred to her now that there might be special rules on how to properly talk to a princess. “Hi… um… greetings, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight sat the letter down allowing Trixie to clearly see her face. Twilight had a few tears running down her face. She had been crying over something, Trixie wondered if it was the letter or Pinkie’s behavior. Taking a look at the letter itself Trixie realized that Twilight was reading the apology letter, even half finished it was obvious who had written it.

Trixie looked at Twilight and felt a need to apologize again, not even sure what she was sorry this time. “I’m sorry. I know the letter isn’t that great, I tried my best though.”

Twilight smiled. Her voice came out softly, “You don’t need to apologize, not for anything. I know about what you have been through. In fact I have been meaning to tell you something for awhile now.”

She felt confused now, what could a princess want to tell her. She wasn’t important enough to garner such attention, unless she had done something bad. Trixie couldn’t think of how to respond so she simply said. “Oh."

“I’m sorry.”

Trixie felt even more confused for a few moments as she tried to think of why a princess would apologize to her. She guessed it was because of Pinkie’s assault. Trixie smiled back feeling happy that Twilight cared enough to feel bad about that and she tried to put Twilight’s guilt at rest. “It’s okay, me and Pinkie Pie are friends now, and thanks to Fluttershy I shouldn’t be having any problems with my back.”

Twilight shook her head sadly and her smile faded a little as she explained. “That’s not what I was apologizing for, although I am terribly sorry for that too.”

Trixie began feeling worried now, what could Twilight be apologizing for. Dozens of possibilities ran through her mind before she stopped herself, and took a moment trying to calm her fears down before asking, “What do you mean?”

Twilight’s smile faded completely now, and with sad looking eyes she explained shamefully. “I messed up Trixie. I am supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, but the one pony who needed a friend more than anypony else in the world was left all alone because I failed to realize just how badly hurt she was inside. I mean even Discord got my friendship, so how could I screw up this badly? Than that pony almost dies because I didn’t help her… I don’t deserve to be a princess if I can’t even help the ponies who need it most.

“Trixie I should have helped you, now that I look back on the past events, I realize just how obvious it was that you needed help. Even if all I could do was give you my friendship, that would have helped you a lot… but I ignored you. That is what I am apologizing for. I know that you may never want to forgive me, but maybe one day we could… be… okay with each other?” By the time she was done tears were running down her face.

Trixie recognized the look in her eyes. It was the same exact feelings that were eating up Trixie inside. Guilt, shame, and remorse were eating up Twilight. Trixie shook her head and walked over to Twilight. Wrapping her forelegs around her, Trixie gave the sad Alicorn Princess a hug while whispering softly, “There is nothing to forgive; you never did anything bad Twilight. Unlike me you’re a good pony, and forgive me if it’s not my place, but I would like to be friends with you, if you don’t mind being friends with a bad pony like me that is.”

Twilight embraced Trixie saying. “I would love to be your friend. Thank you Trixie, you’re a much better pony than I am.”

Trixie froze as she said that. She knew for a fact that she was not better than anypony else, neither was she a good pony. Trixie broke away from Twilight’s embrace saying in as polite a tone as she could. “I am not better than anypony. In fact I am a much lower than you. So you don’t need to pretend, I know how bad I am.”

Twilight simply looked confused for a moment before she asked in a hushed tone. “Is this a joke? You can’t actually believe that, not you.”

Trixie was beginning to panic, how come Twilight was pretending that Trixie was a good pony. First it was Maud, than it was Pinkie Pie, and now even Twilight was lying to her. This was not a funny joke, and it was not a nice thing to do. Trixie took a few steps back away from Twilight, her ears folded as she tried to explain to Twilight this very simple concept. “I really am a bad pony. You saw what I did to Ponyville. I am a terrible horrible pony. It’s okay for you to tell me the truth. I already know.”

Twilight’s expression became a mixture of sadness and concern as she said in a soft voice. “Trixie, you’ve suffered a lot in your life. You have done bad things yes, but that doesn’t make you a bad pony.”

Trixie shook her head again. “Trixie is not a good pony. She has done bad things Twilight, and that makes Trixie a bad pony.”

Twilight was now looking very sad now as she said. “I don’t believe that.”

Trixie did not like this conversation, Twilight was being either really mean by pretending that she was a good pony, or Twilight was being very naive. Either way Trixie decided to change the topic before she started crying again or something worse. “Um… where did the other ponies go? Trixie noticed they were not here.”

Twilight still looked sad but she took the hint and answered question. “They're outside, Rainbow Dash needed to fly. Rarity and Applejack didn’t want to interrupt your massage.”

Trixie blushed a little at the mention of the massage but at least she was beginning to calm down a little bit now. So she decided she would go lay by Maud and hopefully that would make her feel all better. “Thank you for being nice to Tri- er I mean me.

Trixie did bring the package with her when she went back to Maud though. After sitting down on the couch next to the gray mare that she adored, Trixie gave the package to Maud saying nervously. “I got this for you… I hope you enjoy it.”

Twilight had set down besides Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie as Maud opened the package with her hooves. Maud reached down and pulled out a chunk of broken concrete, there was a small graffiti drawing on the side showing an earth pony standing tall amongst black shadowy ponies rising out of a sea of pitch black tar, the earth pony was blue and held a mining pick axe in its hooves. Maud examined the chunk turning it over in her hooves a few times and even going as far as to sniff it.

Fluttershy asked, “Um… it sure is… a rock.”

Pinkie pie was quiet and looked at the chunk suspiciously for a moment before realizing what it was and with a manic grin spreading across her face she asked. “Is that what I think it is?”

Twilight looked at the chunk of concrete and said. “It looks old, what exactly is it though?”

Maud finally licked the rock before setting it down on her lap seeming to examine the taste of it in her mouth. Trixie was feeling a little nervous, if this was a fake than it would be very heart breaking. Maud stopped suddenly, her eyes opened wide and a large smile grew across her face, it was such a big smile that Trixie feared it might break Maud’s face.

Maud then explained in an excited voice, one that Trixie had never expected to come from her, “Oh my Celestia… this is really from the Great Wall of Depression. Erected by the evil King Sombra and torn down when the rebellion began. The wall is over a thousand years old, and most of it was either lost or protected by museums over the millennium. It was made using rare ore which was believed at the time to be indestructible. It was a formidable wall to break. The geological advancements made from this one wall were outstanding.”

Looking over at Trixie she asked in a less excited voice while still smiling, “How did you get this, a single Boulder sized piece is worth a small fortune? This is a full chunk, it even has original artwork on it increasing the value to that of… of… I am not sure that money could buy this.”

Trixie found herself blushing along with a smile before saying, “I kinda lucked out, I was afraid it would be a fake though.”

Maud’s eyes were still wide as she said, “I will forever cherish this gift. I never thought I would even get to see a piece of the wall in person, let alone own a piece.”

The ponies on the other couch were smiling, and Trixie felt like her heart was soaring. Maud pulled Trixie into a tight loving embrace “I am so grateful for having you in my life.”

Pinkie Pie let out a long drawn out, “Awwwwwww.”

Meanwhile Fluttershy blushed a little. “You two really are best friends.”

Twilight sat there quietly smiling. After a few minutes of Maud explaining in ever decreasing excited volumes about the history behind the Great Wall of depression, both Fluttershy and Pinkie decided to head outside. Twilight stayed behind and listened, her attention perked up after hearing about how Starswirl the bearded had spent years trying to destroy the wall with alchemy.

After Maud had gotten done detailing the deep and vast history involving this wall, mostly focusing on the construction of the wall and the vast geological aspects of its construction, she had returned to her normal flat voice.

After that was finally over Twilight looked around as though to check if it really was just the three of them inside the cottage. Twilight decided to pull a small gem from her saddle bags. This gem was a deep purple color, and it gave Trixie inexplicable chills to look at it.

Twilight explained, “This was found on a device inside of the crystal empire, I haven’t told anypony about this gem so I expect you two to keep this secret.”

Both Trixie and Maud agreed to keep this conversation under wraps.

Twilight smiled before continuing, “The device I found was inside a special chamber located in the crystal empire. I still have not revealed the location of this place to anypony because I fear the secrets that could be found down there. I do not believe that even Celestia or Cadence knows about this place. It seems to me that King Sombra had been doing research down there involving this kind of ore, and after your report on the gems found out here I suspected that the two may be connected. This is why I hired you to research this for me Maud; I can only trust you with this task.”

Twilight then looked Trixie in the eyes. “Now that you have been involved with the gems, Trixie, I need your assistance. I believe that you two may be the only ponies who can unravel the secrets behind these gems for me. The last time I encountered them being used, I saw a vision of my worst nightmare coming true. So take care while working on them, and you can’t let anypony outside of us three know about what we're looking into. I will be staying here with my friends for a while as we look into this together.”

Trixie looked at the gem on the table one last time before Twilight took the gem back placing it in her saddle bags. Maud than took out one of the samples the two had collected from the mountain cave and placed it down on the table. The unrefined crystal had the same color, and still gave off chills as Trixie looked at it. Whatever these gems were, she felt like they were simply wrong. Almost like they didn’t belong in this world, hopefully this research would be safe, and not involve any more monster fish ponies.

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