• 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 Sixty Six: Theft

HEART OF STONE
Chapter Sixty Six: Theft
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The room was as pink as always and as usual Trixie was enjoying herself here. Pinkie Pie was digging through her closet in a desperate attempt to find some ancient card game that she had bought. This left Trixie alone to try and amuse herself with whatever she could find in Pinkie’s room, and the loss of Maud was beginning to get to her again, only this time it was a little more annoying.

“Pinkie,” Trixie asked nervously, “Can I borrow one of your… um… secret magazines.”

A loud thud drew Trixie’s attention to the closet as Pinkie began rubbing her head. “Owie, that hurt. Anyway, did you just ask to borrow one of my adult mags?”

“Um… maybe…”

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes and returned to digging in the closet. “Be my guest, just leave the special one alone.”

“Special one?”

“You’ll see a familiar face on it.”

Trixie wasn’t sure who she could possibly know that would be in a magazine such as these. The box as always was located just underneath the bed and was a little heavier then she believed it should be. Just inside the box she saw the various magazines, all of them making her face heat up quickly. The magazines ranged from the simple Playpony to the much more kinky things like Cake Plot and Whips and Whinnies. One single magazine however stood out to Trixie and after seeing it there was no way she could avoid taking a peek inside.

Trixie levitated up the magazine that advertized itself as, ‘Including one of the shortest lived models of our time. One of the Elements of Harmony, and the most graceful pony to ever show up on their pages, the one, the only, Fluttershy.’ With a picture of the yellow pegasus taking a sensual pose on the cover Trixie just couldn’t believe this thing existed.

She opened up the magazine right to the article showing Fluttershy in the most intimate pose that she could have ever imagined the pegasus being in. With Trixie’s face now burning from embarrassment she couldn’t help herself from saying, “Oh… my.”

Again a loud thud came from the closet and Pinkie nearly shouted, “Trixie, I told you not to touch that one! That right there may very well be the very last copy of that very special and very rare book, now put it down thank you very much.”

“What do you mean the last one?”

“After Fluttershy’s short modeling career was over she begged Twilight to find and destroy the unreleased issues of this magazine. I had to steal one before it got sent to the incinerator… which was actually Fluttershy’s fireplace. It was never put into production so there were only about thirty ever made and twenty nine of them were burned,” Pinkie Pie explained. “That’s why it’s so special.”

Trixie closed the magazine and set it down inside the box gently. “Sorry, Pinkie. I just saw her on the cover and… well she kind of pulled me in.”

“Yeah… I know the feeling,” Pinkie Pie said almost dreamily.

A whimsical look struck Pinkie’s face and Trixie felt the need to ask, “Pinkie, do you still want to be with Fluttershy?”

“Yeah, I’d like that but I don’t think I’m ready to ask her out yet. I want her to be a little closer to me before hoof, ya know.”

Trixie took another look at the magazines and settled on a copy of Marvelous Mares, it looked normal enough to lack most of the weird stuff that Pinkie’s other things contained. Trixie let out a sigh before sliding it into her saddlebag.

“Grab a copy of Play Pony and Very Sexy Ponies as well. Trust me you’ll like those and they will give you some idea’s for when Maud comes back,” Pinkie suggested.

Following instructions she felt that it was really weird to be doing this. In an attempt to ignore just how awkward this whole situation was she decided to get to know more about Pinkie.

“Are you in love with Fluttershy?” Trixie asked.

For a little while silence filled the room and Pinkie retreated into her closet to find that card game. Things stayed quiet for about five minutes which made Trixie feel as though she had crossed a line with her question. When Pinkie finally came out of the closet she held a box of cards in her mouth. She put the cards into Trixie’s saddlebags before saying, “I think so… please don’t tell her that I said that.”

Although it took a minute for Trixie to realize what Pinkie Pie was referring to she quickly responded. “You know that Fluttershy is lonely right? She doesn’t think that anypony could truly love her, maybe that could be you’re opening?”

“Sadly now that everypony knows about my secret mind reading powers none of them really trust me. Fluttershy does seem to be the most okay with it, but she still has issues with me being able to read minds. It’s been hard trying to ignore the fact that they all don’t trust me anymore,” Pinkie Pie said quietly. “If only I could get rid of these stupid powers of mine, I’d be so much happier.”

Trixie reached out and gave Pinkie a one legged hug. “It will be okay, trust me, everything will be just fine. Now let’s go back to my house and we can play whatever card game you got.”

“Okay, that sounds like fun. By the way the game is called Mash Up. It’s really nerdy, I think you’ll like it.”

And with that said the two ponies packed up and left Sugarcube Corner. After the day she’d been having, Trixie knew that tonight was going to be rough.

***

Strange noises plagued the woods at night like giving Trixie the chills. Trixie hadn’t enjoyed sneaking out of the house but she couldn’t let Pinkie Pie know about what she was planning on doing. It was odd traveling through the woods alone at night, not because she was scared, because that was normal, no it was weird because she knew exactly where she was heading. It was like the abandoned deer outpost was calling her.

It didn’t take very long before she arrived at the base of the giant trees that the deer had converted into homes. A dark silence hung about this place leaving a frightful feeling to the air. Instinctively Trixie walked up the stairs and towards the largest of the tree homes. No light could be seen from it but this felt right.

After reaching it Trixie peeked inside the entrance way and saw a small light coming from the back room. Not wanting to be rude Trixie called out, “Red Velvet, are you home?”

The room’s door opened and for a brief moment absolute terror filled Trixie’s heart as she quickly realized that she had no idea who was actually here. When Red Velvet stepped out looking exhausted Trixie calmed down. Red Velvet walked with slow steady steps over to where Trixie stood at the entrance way. The ceiling flower lit up as Red Velvet walked past it.

“I got your message,” Trixie said cautiously, something felt off about Red Velvet.

Red Velvet smiled gently and spoke softly, “I’m glad. It was a lot more trying to heal your mother then I had originally thought.”

“You shouldn’t have used my mom like that.”

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any unrest, I just needed your help more so now than ever before,” Red Velvet said timidly.

Trixie couldn’t stop staring at Red Velvet’s shoulders. Although they looked perfectly normal something seemed off about them they looked a little larger then a normal ponies; probably a side effect of being such a tall pony. Trixie forced herself to look at something else and said, “They remembered you going in to help my mom.”

“N-n-no they actually um… well I actually gave a copy of the spell to another pony, and aided from the shadows. Their minds probably filled in any details that didn’t make sense to them,” Red Velvet said honestly.

Although Trixie believed that Red Velvet was telling the truth something felt off about the statement. Unfortunately for the blue unicorn she was having trouble making sense of things at the moment. In the end Trixie decided that the sooner she got this done the sooner she would get home.

“What do you want from me?” Trixie asked flatly.

“I need you to acquire a magical wand for me,” Red Velvet stumbled forward and barely caught herself. “I’ve been too exhausted to get it myself.”

It was dark outside but the moon was casting enough light for her to see by fairly well tonight. Without much hope of this task being easy Trixie let out a sigh before asking, “Where is it?”

“Thank you, Trixie.” Red Velvet said kindly.

Trixie gave a smile to the tall unicorn and said, “No problem. You saved my mom after all.”

“The wand was partially destroyed so you will need to get a new power source for it. The wand itself is located in an old tree house just north of here. It was once used as food storage for the deer.”

“Where is the second half, the power source?” Trixie inquired.

“In the basement of Twilight Sparkle’s castle. You will need to access the secret passage way in her basement and make your way to it. The power source is the heart of the castle,” Red Velvet explained.

Trixie gave a worried look at Red Velvet and asked, “Wait, do you want me to steal from Twilight Sparkle?”

“I’m sorry… I know that this is hard but it’s not like she even knows the heart exists.”

“Why should I steal from a friend?” Trixie demanded.

Suddenly Trixie’s heart sunk and she felt a terror rising up inside of her. There was nothing around to be scared of though. Red Velvet spoke gently but what she said put a poisonous pin into Trixie’s chest. “I know that this might sound wrong to you, but I put everything I had into healing your mother. If you’re mom were to return to her old self I would be unable to fix it at the moment.”

Despite whatever Trixie wanted to say in retaliation to this threat she didn’t dare speak rudely to the powerful unicorn. Her heart was filled with an unbeatable fear and she simply nodded and said, “I’ll get it right away.”

After that Trixie trotted away at a quick pace her heart was racing and her mind was trying to make sense of the darkness around her. Everything in this old place was so dark, so quiet, and so lonely that it made Red Velvet look like a ghost. Though Trixie didn’t want to believe that she was threatened into this she was to scared of Red Velvet’s power. For now she just concentrated on the task at hoof, get the wand and protect her mom. That was all she needed to know.

***

It didn’t take long before Trixie stumbled upon a sight that froze her in her tracks. The darkness of the forest couldn’t even begin to compare to what she was looking at now. Death, lots and lots of death lay before her. The trees were withered and rotted, the ground was dry and sticky, and giant dead spiders lay before her.

If one could possibly describe the scene they might say that it looked as though the spiders had all gone completely insane and began tearing into one another until they got stuck upon each others corpses. A select few of the spiders had exploded leaving the charred corpses behind. A burned down building rest amongst the dead and stood out instantly to Trixie.

This old building had been the one that she had crawled into but last she was here it hadn’t been burned and this entire area had been covered in spider webs. Upon closer inspection the house still smelled of burnt wood and the ground around it showed signs of a recent fire. Whatever had happened here had been recent, but why would this place be destroyed now? She had to wonder if her use of fire spells hadn’t accidently caused all this mess.

Well whether or not it was her fault she regretted only the loss of Starswirl’s old hideout and whatever information could have been found in there. Now nothing looked salvageable. A sigh escaped Trixie’s lips and she moved on from the scene.

***

An old tree loomed darkly over the surrounding forest with its branches grasping outward threateningly. Trixie didn’t like the look of it in the slightest but what bothered her the most was the black paint that had been splattered on the base of the tree. A large entrance way stood open but the darkness inside was not inviting. With ever growing caution she walked towards the entrance slowly, the flowers that usually grew inside the deer buildings were nowhere in sight leaving only darkness for Trixie to search through. A filthy smell hit Trixie’s nostrils as she entered.

“Why don’t you just use that horn of yours,” a familiar voice playfully said to Trixie.

“Babble, is that you?” Trixie asked already knowing the answer.

“Why but who else would keep you company while exploring such a dreadful place,” Babble replied.

Trixie just sighed. There was no way of getting rid of the voice in her head although it has proven itself useful on occasion it was still just a fragment of her crazy. Carefully she poured some magic into her horn and without much effort she created a small floating light. The room now shaded in purple was utterly destroyed. All the food stores had spilled over and rotted although no bugs had taken residence in the disgusting mess.

“Ewe, how can you possibly stand to walk into such a disgusting room,” Babble said in a tone that made it sound like the room had somehow offended him.

Trixie looked around in silence for a moment before seeing a bright blue wooden stick. On closer inspection, the stick had several branches that reached upward and outward as though something was supposed to be set between them and strange covered the shaft. Trixie vaguely recognized the symbols as ancient unicorn script.

“Hmm, this might be part of the wand. What do you think, Babble?”

“I think that we should leave before you look closer at the walls of this room,” Babble replied.

Almost by instinct Trixie looked up and for a moment the walls simply looked like they were messy, and covered in the same kind of paint as the outside. After a moment it became clear to her that the marks on the walls actually made out to be crudely drawn words that read, ‘The tide rises.’

“Why would somepony write that? And with black paint too, don’t they realize that it’s hard to read black paint in the dark?” Trixie asked herself.

“I don’t believe that deer use paint,” Babble said flatly.

Only moments later Trixie was running out of the old building with the wand held tightly in her telekinesis. She had a sudden terrifying suspicion that the walls were covered in deer blood. The place was already dark and creepy, she didn’t need to think about whatever dark things had happened in there, nor about what the words meant.

“I suppose that Twilight’s place is next. This should be quite delightful,” Babble said enthusiastically.

Trixie slowed down to a trot and aimed herself towards Twilight’s house. It was weird how she simply knew exactly where to go because normally she couldn’t go five feet into these woods without getting lost. She didn’t speak to Babble as she made her way through the woods, choosing instead to stay quiet and focus on her task. Even though she didn’t want to do steal from anypony she knew that she could; and that she would… for her mom.

***

With Trixie’s mane flowing in the cold wind she stood at the front of the castle’s front entrance. There was not an awful lot for her to think about now that she was already here. Breaking into Twilight’s home was wrong and stealing from one of her oldest friends was even worse, but she had to do this, for her mom.

Carefully Trixie tried the door and to her amazement found it to be unlocked. With slow and steady steps she walked inside. After living in Manehattan Trixie would never allow her doors to be left unlocked at nighttime, but Twilight lived in such a small peaceful town that maybe she had forgotten how dangerous the world could be.

Although she hadn’t spent a lot of time exploring Twilight’s castle she did remember where the basement entrance was. A large door led to a small staircase winding down into the earth. She was careful to walk slowly down the steps as she had a suspicion that with Twilight’s sleep schedule she might not be alone down here.

“Stop,” Babble whispered.

Trixie looked upwards by instinct and growled, “What is it?”

“That torch looks a little strange doesn’t it? Why not give it a tug?”

Babble was right on the mark about the torch looking odd. At first glance it was normal but on closer inspection the thing wasn’t properly fastened to the wall. Using her magic she tugged on the torch and it pulled outward with a series of clicking sounds. The wall next to it opened up into a tiny hallway just big enough for a pony to walk into.

The sound of hooves clip clopping from above and behind Trixie made her dash into the hall and begin searching desperately for a way to close the wall. Another torch next to the secret entrance was also movable and after pulling it out the wall slid back into place almost without a sound. With her heart racing she leaned against the wall and stayed silent.

The sound of hooves could still be heard from behind the wall and as Trixie listened she could also hear two ponies talking.

“So, Luna… how have things been at the castle?” Twilight asked.

“They have been much too dull without you around my love, I would love it immensely if you could come and visit more often. Because otherwise I still have to sneak away at night to visit you,” Luna said sweetly.

“Oh… I’m sorry. I’ll try and make more visits, but wouldn’t it easier to be caught by Celestia if we were in Canterlot?” Twilight inquired.

“Yes, but that is also what makes it the most fun.”

The voices quickly dropped off and disappeared after that leaving Trixie to wonder about how long this had been going on, and how they have managed to keep it a secret. It was no wonder why Luna didn’t want Trixie to see her over at Twilight’s castle that night now, she really wasn’t supposed to be there. A small smile stayed on Trixie’s face as she imagined what the two alicorns did together, it wasn’t any secret that both of these ponies could be socially awkward, and the idea of them trying to date sounded ridiculous enough to make Trixie want to laugh. She stifled the laughter though and continued moving forward.

Deeper into the castle Trixie walked until finally she arrived at as small chamber. The floor dropped about twenty feet and into a see through crystal window that showed a small lab underneath. Trixie stared in amazement at the two alicorns who were inside the lab currently entangled with one another rolling around the floor, their muzzles pressed tightly together and their tongues grappling with each other in an endless battle of lust.

“Wow, I didn’t know that Twilight and Luna were so… uh… yeah,” Trixie said to her imaginary friend. After receiving no reply she asked, “Babble, you still there?” No answer only silence.

Although difficult she turned her gaze away from the two alicorns a few floors below her and examined the room some more. A small bridge lead to a pedestal and on said pedestal hovered a small crystal heart about the size of Trixie’s hoof. The heart was just big enough it could easily fit into the wand.

She reached out with her magic and attempted to grasp the heart with telekinesis but felt something shock her horn. The heart was protected from magic but as far as Trixie could tell it wasn’t protected from anything else.

Taking extra precaution to stay quiet she walked across the platform. It took only a few moments before she realized that while standing on the bridge she could faintly hear the noises from below, and with increasingly loud moans escaping from the two ponies’ mouths she figured that she should probably hurry.

With her face heating up immensely from the current embarrassment and shame she held for having seen the two alicorns in action she quickened her pace. Within seconds she reached the bridge and with a swipe of her hoof she grabbed the crystal heart.

She stared at it for a few seconds now feeling the weight of her actions on her mind. She was stealing from her friend after breaking into her house and watching her attempt to breed with another mare. It suddenly occurred to her that even though these friends of hers had tried repeatedly to tell her that she was a good pony, the fact that she could so easily do something like this, no matter the intention, meant otherwise.

Suddenly the crystal heart faded to gray and lost its smooth texture. Trixie watched in horrified fascination as the heart she held in her hooves became stone. The pedestal was slowly becoming stone as well. She took in a deep breath and trotted away and back down the passageway. When she came to the end of the hall she didn’t stop as she used magic to pull down the torch and walked up the staircase. Without any trouble she walked out of the castle’s front door and straight towards the forest.

“Hello again,” Babble said casually.

“Not now,” Trixie replied.

***

Trixie tossed the wand and the stone heart onto the table with reckless abandon making Red Velvet flinch. Trixie stared the tall unicorn in the eyes and said, “Is my mom going to be okay now?”

Red Velvet nodded nervously and quickly glanced around the room frightfully. “Y-y-yes she will be just fine. I promise.”

Trixie turned and looked at the front entrance to the tree house and asked, “What did you want all this stuff for anyway?”

“This will fix everything, after I’m done with it I swear that I will return it in person and apologize. Twilight doesn’t have to know that you were involved,” Red Velvet said apologetically.

Trixie’s heart was numb after the long walk back to the old dear outpost. She had sunk and betrayed one of her best friends, even if it was for her mother this just proved that she was a bad pony. Anger, horror, sadness, all of these things had affected her before she finally arrived and now they were all gone, replaced by a feeling of emptiness. Right now she just wanted to go to sleep and pretend that this never happened.

“I will be able to fix your magic when I’m all better as well… it will still be dangerous though. So if you don’t want me to help you, I understand,” Red Velvet offered.

“Not interested. I still have friends, family, and Maud,” Trixie replied flatly.

“Yes, you do,” Red Velvet said pathetically. “If you ever change your mind, I will be here… studying.”

With that said Trixie was through with this night and left. She had only one goal now, and that was to get home and get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a better day.

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