Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Fifty Four: Spying on Ponies

HEART OF STONE
Chapter Fifty Four: Spying on Ponies
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Trixie and Maud walked through the snow covered roads of Ponyville thankful for being bundled up in so much warm clothing. The snow was a few inches deep on the ground, and although freezing and hard to walk through, Trixie couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling of crunching the snow beneath her hooves. Maud on the other hoof was having trouble walking through the snow.

After a few minutes of walking towards the center of town Trixie turned to look back at Maud and said brightly, “Although I hate walking through a snowstorm, I have to admit its kinda fun to walk through the snow like this!”

Maud took a few more awkward steps before saying, “I don’t like this. I can’t feel the ground beneath my hooves.”

Trixie looked around and smiled before slowing her pace down to match Maud’s. Trixie gave Maud a pleased smile and said, “It’s just a little snow. You’ll get used to it.” Trixie then playfully bumped her shoulder against Maud’s.

Maud looked at Trixie with a blank stare for a moment before tripping forward. Without a second thought Trixie quickly lashed out with her magic and stopped Maud from falling. Slowly and carefully Trixie set Maud up right and then continued walking.

Maud didn’t follow but instead stood perfectly still while asking, “Trixie, how did you just do that?”

“Do what?” Trixie replied while stopping and waiting for Maud to catch up.

“You just used magic, without hurting yourself. How?” Maud asked again.

Trixie looked around and making sure that not a single pony was around she said quietly, “After that whole thing where you girls saw one of my dreams, I used my magic by instinct to shut a door. It didn’t hurt me at all, but I’m still a little scared to use it, you know? Twilight told me that my magic was healing a little bit, and that I might be able to use some minor spells without hurting myself now… though I don’t want them to know that I can do that. It’ll be our little secret.”

“You should have told me,” Maud said flatly. Maud then began walking again, only this time she was ahead of Trixie.

“You’re not upset are you?” Trixie asked. “It’s not like I have actually used my magic until now… I’m used to using my hooves and stuff now…” Maud continued walking without responding. After a few seconds Trixie added, “I didn’t actually believe that it was possible to use my magic until now, I was afraid, Maud.” Trixie followed behind Maud and waited for a response for a few moments, but she didn’t get one. “I’m sorry, Maud. I understand if you’re mad at me.”

“Do you think that it’s because we sorted out you’re past with that dream of yours? Or because you accepted yourself when you dealt with Scath?” Maud asked.

“I… um… maybe. Those make sense…” Trixie replied lamely.

“Maybe we should try and have Twilight use that spell again, then you maybe you could use more of your magic,” Maud stated.

“Yeah… I guess, I still have blank spots in my memory after all… Are you upset with me?” Trixie asked.

“Why would I be upset?” Maud said monotonously.

“Because after I used my magic you stopped talking to me. Are mad at me for not telling you? Or do you just not like my magic?” Trixie asked.

“I’m not upset, I was just trying to figure out how you got your magic back,” Maud explained. “I was lost in thought.”

“Oh, okay. Do you think it would be okay if we kept this a secret from the others?” Trixie asked still worried that Maud might be upset with her.

“I don’t see why they have to know. This only affects us after all, but, Trixie, could you do me a favor, and try to not keep secrets from me?” Maud asked. “I hate secrets.”

“I’m sorry, this was an accident I swear it. I didn’t mean to keep this a secret from you, I promise,” Trixie replied.

Maud slowed down her awkward walking and matched Trixie’s speed. Together they walked side by side towards their goal. Trixie looked at Maud and nuzzled her neck gently for a few seconds before Maud returned the favor. Trixie always enjoyed being nuzzled by the gray mare, every time they made physical contact it was like Trixie could feel Maud’s emotions inside of her. Right now Maud was a little nervous but even so, Trixie could feel Maud’s happiness overpowering it.

***

It took just over a half hour of walking but they finally managed to arrive at the center of town. The snow had been cleared away from the roads and shoved into mounds that rose up about six feet high; just high enough for two ponies to effectively hide behind. After climbing up onto the mound Trixie and Maud carefully peaked over the edge and saw the incredible sight.

A giant horse made of ice stood on its hind legs as it reared. A hole the size of Trixie’s head was missing from the ice horse’s chest. The surrounding ten feet was covered in a layer of thick ice, including half of the statue of Princess Celestia. The statue however was missing half of its body, with scorch marks along the jagged broken edges. It looked as though a terrible battle had happened here.

Lastly Trixie saw the six ponies who she called her friends gathered around in front of the ice horse and looking very worried. Twilight Sparkle’s mouth hung open, her eyes had become tiny pinpricks, and her right ear was twitching.

“Uh sugarcube, you’ve been staring at that statue fer nearly five whole minutes now. Are you gonna tell us about how a windigo got here anytime soon?”Applejack asked politely.

Twilight didn’t turn away from the ruined statue but she did reply, “I… who would destroy such a beautiful statue of Celestia? Who could do such a thing?”

“Twilight, you need to focus on the larger problem,” said Applejack.

“You’re right… okay,” Twilight said before she clenched her eyes shut and turned painfully away from the statue. She only opened her eyes again after she had turned and then she looked at the ice horse, at the windigo. “Alright everypony, I brought you here because things have been quiet in Equestria for far too long. I saw this and knew right away that we had a much larger problem on our hooves. I have no idea how this got here, nor how it was killed, but I believe that this windigo was the cause of yesterday’s freak blizzard.”

“Wow I didn’t even notice a battle going on. I mean we kinda just fell asleep last night around ten,” Pinkie Pie said.

“That’s weird, I fell asleep before ten as well,” Fluttershy said. Then in a much quieter voice she added, “Although I don’t often stay up later then that anyways…”

“I was listening to some awesome music and got all sleepy and stuff around then too,” said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight looked at Applejack and asked, “Did you?” Applejack nodded in affirmation and Twilight hung her head low and said, “I got really sleepy around ten as well. I usually don’t get to sleep until two in the morning so it was weird… maybe that’s a part of what the windigo does.”

Trixie stared in amazement and wondered aloud to herself, “I wonder what time I went to bed at?”

“It was almost ten when you went to bed,” Maud explained. “I followed just after you, along with Rarity.”

Trixie thought back to what she had seen just before falling asleep the night before. She vaguely remembered seeing an alicorn flying in the sky, or at least something that looked like one. Trixie wished that she could go down there and ask Twilight about that, but she wasn’t sure how Twilight would react to learning about how Trixie followed her here.

Pinkie Pie grinned and said, “What were you doing last night Twilight, around ten?”

“I was working on some research; it took me three wonderful hours of searching through my library to find the books that I needed. I was disappointed when I fell asleep at the table, why do you ask?” said Twilight.

“Oh only because I saw an alicorn outside the window last night. It was flying around in the sky so I thought it must have been you, guess I was wrong,” said Pinkie before she grinned again.

Everypony was quiet for a few long moments before Twilight said, “It wasn’t me, and Cadence is still in the Crystal Empire… It couldn’t have been Celestia, and Luna didn’t come over last night… so who the hay was it?”

“What do you mean by ‘Luna didn’t come over last night’?” Rainbow Dash asked

Everypony refocused their attention squarely on Twilight. Twilight’s eyes bugged out and she looked back and forth nervously for a few moments before saying, “We do research together. That’s it, that’s all, and we are not discussing this any further.”

Nopony seemed exactly sure how to go on from here and so they all stood around awkwardly for a few long moments. Trixie had to try and stifle her laughter as she remembered a few particular mentions of the lunar princess in Twilight’s journal, not to mention how nervous Luna looked when Trixie had caught her standing inside of Twilight’s castle that one time. Maud just laid still and stared at the group blankly.

Finally Pinkie Pie asked, “So why did you leave Trixie behind again?”

Twilight looked suddenly relieved to have a new topic to speak on said, “I’m keeping her safe. This could be very dangerous and I’m not sure how to handle this situation.”

“I’d say,” Rainbow Dash said while looking away. This earned a glare from Twilight.

“Anyway,” said Twilight. “Like I was saying, I’m keeping her safe because every time we have had trouble with monsters so far she’s been hurt. I don’t ever need a pony to get hurt while following me ever again, not if they aren’t capable of taking care of themselves.”

“So you don’t think she can take care of herself?” said Pinkie defensively.

“She hurts herself every time she uses her magic. She might be able to lift a spoon with her telekinesis without getting a migraine one day, but that’s about all she will ever do again, and it’s all my fault for involving her in our adventures in the first place. So you tell me, what in Tartarus am I suppose to do? Let her follow us until she dies because I’m not good enough to protect her? Or am I supposed to keep her safe even if it makes her hate me again?” Twilight explained hastily. After Twilight finished everypony was watching her again and her breathing had become heavy.

Pinkie looked a little sad as she said, “Maybe you should talk to her about this? You made her cry after all.”

Twilight closed her eyes tightly and said quietly, just loud enough for Trixie to hear, “I did?” After a second Twilight added, “I… I’m sorry. I should’ve brought her. This thing is dead, it’s not going to get up and attack anypony, so I just messed up and hurt her feelings… why do I keep hurting her?”

“Maybe it’ll be okay. I mean what if she popped up from around the corner and joined us. Wouldn’t that make everything better?” said Pinkie Pie. And then Pinkie looked straight at Trixie and Maud.

Trixie quickly ducked as the others began to follow Pinkie’s stare, and Trixie used a hoof to push Maud’s head down as well. Maud looked at Trixie and asked, “Why are we still hiding?”

“Shh, we can’t be caught now,” Trixie replied.

A long moment of silence passed before Twilight said, “You know for a moment there I was sure that Trixie was going to walk right up to us and everything would be okay… guess you were wrong Pinkie Pie.”

Trixie heard somepony stomping their hoof into the ice breaking it, followed by Pinkie Pie saying in a louder voice, “Maybe Trixie will magically appear from around the corner and forgive Twilight!”

Trixie looked into Maud’s beautiful green eyes and said quietly, “Let’s leave before Pinkie walks over here and drags me out in front of everypony. I don’t want to be around Twilight right now.” Trixie was still a little angry, but she was also feeling guilty for having followed Twilight this far when all Twilight wanted to do was keep her safe. “Beside’s if Twilight didn’t kill that windigo, I want to know who did… maybe we could beat the Mane Six to the punch line?”

With that Trixie and Maud carefully climbed down the mound of snow, trying to be as quiet as they possibly could. Then they began walking away and Maud said, “I hope you’re right about this.”

Comments

[crowscrowcrow]

“I don’t like this. I can’t feel the ground beneath my hooves.”

I like this idea. Also, lets hope Trixie never tries to plan a honeymoon trip to Cloudsdale.
There is something familiar about this, but I can't put my finger on it. Something about some sort of geomancers maybe. Darn this is going to bug me all day.

So, all of them got sleepy at ten, I knew it was suspicious that Trixie was suddenly tired! ...Still don't have a clue why though. ^.^; One possibility would be that the Alicorn was borrowing the energy from the town in order to fight, which made them all sleepy.

Actually, if you rule out Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight... That only leaves one other known Alicorn: Queen Chrysalis. It does make a certain amount of sense that Windigoes (who feed hate) and Changelings (who feed on love) would be in conflict with each other. I wonder if she can feed from a distance, during battle.

Notes:

“Because after you I used my magic you stopped talking to me.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

5555892
Chrysalis isn't technically an Alicorn but she is something very similar.