HEART OF STONE
Chapter Eighty Two: The Weeping Statue
Written by TheCrimsonDM
With everypony now gathered around the bench, Trixie was trying her hardest to forget about recent events. Her mind insisted on reminding her about everything that she had done to hurt her friends, and about everything bad that had happened to her. Despite how wonderful it was to hear all of her friends voices again, it didn’t serve as a distraction from her thoughts. The only real solace she could take out here came from the cold.
Even with Maud’s legs wrapped tightly around her, Trixie was still shaking from the cold. Why the forest was so warm when everywhere else had to freeze she couldn’t figure out. It was unfair to say the least. Eventually somepony noticed.
“Trixie, if you want to go inside we can. I know it must be freezing out here without any proper clothes on,” Twilight offered.
Trixie gave her a glance, and then buried her head into Maud’s chest. She wasn’t feeling like answering anything at the moment.
“Anywhere you want to go is okay. Pick somewhere you feel safe, and we’ll all go with you to keep you company,” Twilight offered yet again.
She could have argued with Twilight, but Trixie choose to give in instead. Getting out of this cold sounded like a good idea to her. With a quiet voice, Trixie said, “Can we go back home? I need to drop some stuff off there anyway.”
Twilight smiled and nodded.
Trixie gave Twilight a small smile. “Thank you. I’d love it if you all came with me, but you have more important business to tend to right now. Twilight, you need to speak with Mystic Soul about the windigo… I had to fight one before getting back here.”
That brought a shocked look to Twilight’s face. Trixie smiled. Nopony spoke for a moment, allowing time for everypony to actually think about what Trixie had said. Windigos hadn’t been seen in Equestria in a very long time, and the fact that two of them appeared so recently spelled trouble, added to the fact that Trixie had to kill one just made current matters worse.
Reluctantly Twilight got away from the bench. She looked at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who had been sitting by her and said, “Come on you two. I’ll need you for this. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Maud… take care of Trixie okay.” Everypony nodded, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash followed behind Twilight Sparkle. They were both as reluctant as Twilight was.
Now left with only four other ponies, Trixie had time to think more clearly about what needed to be done. She had returned the wand, reunited with Maud, and warned Twilight of the danger via meeting with Mystic Soul, but now what? She felt like there was something left to do, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Darling, why don’t we get out of this frightful weather?” Rarity suggested.
Trixie didn’t look at anypony. There was still a hollow feeling deep inside that refused to leave. She hated her depression, but maybe getting out of the cold would do her some good. Trixie snuggled a little closer to Maud while saying, “Yeah… let’s do that.”
***
The front door to her house stood as an opposing obstacle, one that Trixie didn’t want to pass. Fear was creeping over her heart and down her spine. The longer she stood still, staring at the front door the more she wanted to panic and flee. Something was wrong, she felt that if she opened that door, that if she took the first step inside, she was going to learn something that she’d regret. Whether it was something that she didn’t know about, or if it would just be her guilt sinking in even further, she didn’t know.
Trixie turned to face the four ponies standing just behind her. They had increasingly worried looks on their faces, even Maud looked worried for Trixie. Trixie closed her eyes and took a step back away from the door, that’s when a comforting gray hoof grabbed her shoulder. For a split second, Trixie’s heart jumped at the touch, but after seeing Maud she calmed down.
“I…” Trixie attempted to say.
“It’s alright, if you aren’t feeling ready to come home yet then we don’t have to,” Rarity said gently.
Trixie shook herself and stepped forward, she refused to let her fear keep her from coming home. It had been so long since she had last been here, and even longer since she had been in good spirits with Maud. She simply couldn’t back down now. Taking in a deep breath she opened the door with her magic and walked inside.
After going inside she saw the kitchen/dining area to her left, and the spare room to her right. Much to her surprise, everything was clean, but whatever she was afraid of didn’t seem to be here. She took a few more steps and found the living room, the long hallway that led to the bathroom, all those empty rooms, and her bedroom. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
With a smile Trixie turned to face her friends. Her smile faded when she saw the look of petrifaction in Maud’s eyes. Maud wasn’t staring at her however, she was staring at something behind her. Slowly Trixie turned to face the wall, and for a moment she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. As she looked further up the wall, her eyes widened in horror.
There was a large dent in the wall where the wood had been smashed in, and a small spot of blood was left behind in the depression. With a sickening fear, Trixie realized exactly what she was staring at; this was the wall that Maud had thrown her against in anger. The memory was made fresh after seeing this, she had remembered the pain, the fear, and the strength of which Maud had used against her, but she didn’t realize just how much damage had been done. If not for Red Velvet’s magic, could there have been complications with Trixie’s back?
The wood floor creaked as Maud took a step towards Trixie. Panic instantly took over and Trixie backed away from Maud, she looked around for any escape, she felt like she was in danger. When Maud stopped moving and laid down, with ears folded back and a guilty look in her eyes, Trixie was able to calm down a little. Both Rarity and Pinkie were giving each other worried glances, while Applejack stared sternly at Maud.
Quietly Trixie spoke, “I’m okay, I just... forgot what it was like to be inside… We can all go in the living room and rest.”
Nopony moved until after Trixie found a place to lie down on the couch. Maud choose to stand at the opposite end of the couch, it wasn’t hard to pick up on the feelings of shame coming from Maud. Applejack sat by the hallway and watched Maud carefully, while Pinkie and Rarity took places on the other couch.
“So… what have things been like while I was gone?” Trixie asked in an attempt to break the silence.
Pinkie Pie smiled at Trixie and proclaimed, “Oh we’ve been searching for you, and Twilight’s been losing sleep. Seriously, did you know that she could stay awake for eight days in a row and still function?”
Rarity chimed in, “I’m not sure that I’d count what she was doing as productive.”
“Oh come on, how could you not see the connection between space bugs, the royal throne, Trixie’s fillynapping, and the orange? Seriously, Rarity, Twilight was onto something there,” Pinkie Pie replied casually.
Trixie shook her head and a small giggle escaped her lips. She looked at Pinkie Pie and Rarity with a smile and said, “I’ve seen Twilight stay awake for two whole weeks once, she nearly destroyed the castle. After that Celestia demanded that if she ever stayed awake longer than a week again, Spike was to contact her immediately.”
“So eight days is too much?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“That does explain why we caught Princess Luna flying away from her castle the one night she actually got some sleep. She must have used some sort of spell,” Rarity suggested.
Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened and she exclaimed, “Like a super spell!”
“No, where did you even get that idea? Wait, I don’t want to know,” Rarity said.
Trixie giggled again, this time it was because she realized what it was that must’ve put Twilight to sleep. “Yeah, I’m sure that it was a really powerful spell. How else could we explain how Twilight Sparkle got to sleep?”
It suddenly occurred to Trixie that Maud wasn’t in the living room anymore. She was gone! Fear gripped Trixie’s heart and she leapt up, and managed to completely fall off the couch while shrieking, “MAUD! WHERE ARE YOU?”
Still lying on the floor she saw Maud trot into view from the kitchen with a bucket in her mouth. She set the bucket down and trotted a little closer to Trixie, but still kept her distance. “What’s wrong?” Maud asked flatly.
Trixie picked herself up and with her heart still racing and her breathing rapid she asked quickly, “Why did you leave?”
Maud looked at the floor and lowered her head. “I was just going to do some cleaning… I won’t leave you again.”
With some help from Applejack, Trixie managed to get back onto the couch and this time she kept her eyes focused on Maud. Her heart slowed down a little, and her breathing returned to normal as she watched Maud. She couldn’t help but fear that Maud would leave her still.
At first Trixie couldn’t figure out what Maud was trying to clean, so she watched as Maud reached in with a hoof, grabbed a soaking wet sponge and stood on her hind legs. As Maud worked on cleaning the blood off the wall, Trixie understood what was going on. Maud was, in her own way, trying to make up for what had happened.
Applejack rested a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder, the hoof bumped up against Trixie’s wing causing a very awkward tingle to run through her back. “Ah’m sorry Trixie. Just give it some time, things will get easier.”
Without thinking Trixie muttered lamely, “She hurt me, and I deserved it…”
“Now hold on one minute, you did not deserve to be slammed against a wall. Do you hear me?”
Trixie heard her, but she didn’t agree. “You’re wrong, Applejack. After what I did, in the sanctity of our own home none the less… I deserve so much worse.”
Maud quickly glanced over at Trixie with a deep sadness in her eyes as she continued cleaning the wall. Trixie stood up from the couch and walked over to Maud. The closer she got the more fear grew in her heart, but she fought it and kept going. The second she reached Maud she wrapped her legs around her special somepony and whispered, “I know what I did was wrong, and I know how bad you feel about what you did. Even if we’re both a broken mess right now, we still have each other.”
Maud returned the embrace, and something happened that Trixie didn’t expect. Maud began sobbing into Trixie’s neck, weeping uncontrollably. Maud made several attempts to speak but all of her words broke down into even more sobs. Trixie hadn’t realized that even Maud was capable of crying like this, Maud had always been her statue, but even Maud could break.
It took awhile but Maud finally managed to say, “I’m so sorry about what I did. I never wanted hurt you, Lulu. Please don’t hate me.”
Trixie held her marefriend tightly and said, “I could never hate you, not you, you’re my precious heart of stone.”
6106633 You're welcome. I'm glad to hear you enjoying the story. It's been nice giving Trixie some breathing room.
6102505 Wow, awesome comments, they made me laugh. XD
Yeah, sometimes Spike can be the most mature, and intelligent out of the mane six. Other times he is just as bad as Twilight Sparkle. I've noticed lately that the fact that I prefer watching the first three seasons of mlp, has lead to me writing my characters in slightly different ways then most people would. This story really points that fact out a lot.
As always thanks for the comments. XD
I don't think I have ever felt more compelled to hug something as I was when I read that.
Also I really like how you are putting so much detail into the trials both Trixie and Maud are going thought to get back to how they where, with each other and with their friends.
Once again thinks for writing it was really touching to read.
6120460 lol glad to hear it. There is surely going to be some awkwardness with these two for awhile, but that's just what happens when this this stuff occurs. I'm surprised to see a comment so quickly after I posted the story, that's awesome. XD
6120415
Wait, what the-
-Ohh. Yes. That would lead to a rather different Spike. The early seasons he's a pretty competent sidekick basicly defined by playing the straight man and deadpan snarker to the rest of them, but once he starts to get his own episodes he's very quickly given a portrayal as a selfish, incompetent child with an inferiority complex. Not that those aren't interesting character traits in their own right, but it's a lot different from early seasons Spike.
Granted the rest of the manesix are varying degrees of different too, but most of that is actual character progression and not wildly different characters. (Sadly, mostly manifested by losing their more amusing, negative traits.)
Well, it was nice of them to clean up the bloody mess. Too bad they missed a spot.
The language Trixie uses is scarily reminiscent of an abusive relationship, and Applejack's rapid response is a good sign that she's watching out for that. Even though Maud will probably never hit Trixie again, judging by how broken up she is about it right now, it is still worth keeping an eye on how she reacts if she gets angry again.
Random thought, Trixie's been off her meds for what? Two weeks? She appears to be doing alright. It might have to do with her semi-alicorn transformation, or she just has too many legit reasons to be depressed that we can't recognize the difference. Either way, she probably should not be taking her meds until she's seen a doctor and has her new body appraised. Possibly followed by recalibrated meds.
I can't recall if Trixie told Soul about the week she's had. Isn't he currently in there, misinforming Twilight about the danger of the Crimson Tide, when Trixie knows more?
Notes:
6121057 You know it's weird, but I noticed that the second Season 4 hit the ground there were some very odd changes in the characters. Things that I couldn't quite place at first, but after rewatching a few of the episodes I slowly began to realize that by making the show more mainstream they lost something important. One of my favorite moments in season three was when Twilight nearly blew up her house, while attacking Spike, because she was worried about a test. Seriously, Twilight used to actually be scary.
Season four comes around and suddenly she's calmer, doesn't have panic attacks, and seems to have forgotten that she is actually better than everypony else. Although I like the idea of them growing as characters, but the way they handled it feels awkward at best. Sadly the most intact characters seem to be Pinkie Pie, and Applejack.
And yes, The situation with Trixie and Maud is all sorts of strange right now. Poor Trixie wasn't the only one to mess up royally during this whole event, and now they are left to pick up the pieces and attempt to rebuild. I'm also glad that you noticed the medication thing, I was wondering if that would cross anyone's mind. XD
as always thanks for reading my story. XD
6121139
First of all, they made the show more mainstream? Are you sure about that?
It is a shame Twilight's not as easily crazy anymore.
But, that change in season 4 for Twilight that you noticed actually has two reasons and constitute character growth on Twilight's part. The first is pretty obvious, she became an alicorn, and was given absolutely no responsibility for her freak out over. Instead, she was left to stew until she wanted more princess duties on her own.
The second is a bit more subtle, as it's a sequence done entirely in the background of the 2nd to last episode of season 3. Games Ponies Play. Namely this:
img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130210111451/mlp/images/d/dd/Cadance_helps_Twilight_relax_S03E12.png
While things are falling apart during the episode Twilight starts to crack, until Cadence shows her a breathing technique to calm her down, and it becomes a staple.
After that we're given the more calm season 4 Twilight. Which, again, I'll totally agree it's too bad she isn't as unstable anymore which was a lot of fun/interesting, but it did make sense.
I'm not sure that it's a good thing that Pinkie Pie and Applejack have gone through almost no growth over the course of five seasons. To be fair, I do understand it. Pinkie Pie is difficult to grasp and write, leading to her often being simply written as comic relief (Though she did end up learning a bit about responsibility with the twins which was nice.) While Applejack is the most down to earth pony and already had her flaw of being stubborn nipped in the bud during season one. She never had another one until she was suddenly overprotective of Apple Bloom, and that lasted one episode. (Do we count her pushing the CMC on Breaburn while a criminal was on the loose? If anything that showed she was okay with not overseeing them herself.)
Trixie and Maud are going to need a lot of counseling. Good thing Trixie knows a good shrink. Though I think he's not a marriage counselor, but he'd probably know one to recommend.
Trixie being on meds is one of the defining features that stuck with me when I started reading this story, so I've been paying attention to it. I think it's the only story that has this element.
6121255 I've noticed that the older episodes, seasons 1-3 are still really girly, and have almost no male characters at all, even in the background. Season four started adding a lot more male characters in the background, and even giving them voices. Also the show is more unisex then it used to be, the 'girly' tone of the series is practically gone at this point.
I can still go back and watch an older episode and see how feminine the show is, while the new episodes do a better job of portraying friendships as a universal rule. I'd like to say that this is because I wasn't used to the show when I first started watching, but there are still a few episodes that scream out as being a girls show to me. (That one where Rarity pretends to be a southern hic, that had a lot of girly feelings to it. I loved that.) Btw, being girly wasn't a bad thing, I actually kinda liked it because it was so alien to me at first.
OMG Twilight learned breathing techniques! Okay, I'll relax on Twilight's crazy a little bit. I can't believe that such an important aspect of her growth was done in the background.
6121322
Ack, I only meant to explain why that change happened, not imply that your Twilight has to be the same.
But yeah, totally in the background without a single verbal acknowledgement. It was kind of awesome how they sneaked that extra little storyline in there. Sadly I've not seen that done since.
I don't really have the impression that the later seasons are any less 'girly' that the earlier seasons. The ratio of males has gone up, which breaks my yuri-loving heart, but I don't think that is how girly is defined? Perhaps I am missing the point?
6121590 Sorry if I came off as sounding rude, I was legitimately surprised to see that with Twilight and Cadance. I'm actually very happy to see it, although I will still write the characters in my story in the way that best suits said story. I mean if we all listened to the tv show like it was religion, we would never have any good fanfiction.
sadly I am unable to explain what I mean by more or less girly. It's hard to actually put into words, because it's more of an atmospheric thing.
6121640
Alright, we're all on the same page then.
Pretty sure the show doesn't have TrixMaud, and losing that would be catastrophic, so yeah let's not treat it as gospel.
Real good story so far, but I'm starting to feel disconnected from Trixie, and the other characters either aren't fleshed out, consistent, or given enough time for me to attach to them. I suspect the inconsistencies are hints for a big plot twist later. However, leaving too many hints -especially if they go agents what we are led to believe- just leaves me too confused to enjoy the surprise. I know its a tall order to do that while making sure your surprises have buildup and don't just come out of the blue, but its the second biggest thing I see holding this story back.
The biggest thing I see holding it back is the lack of contrast. (If this is just a product of the current challenge the protagonist is facing, then you can disregard the next few paragraphs,) The chapters in the beginning were really good with contrast, providing an good emotional high to drop from, but recently I have noticed the constant self loathing and ceaseless hardship have left me drained of sympathy. Now I just feel alienated when hardship comes her way, as she just accepts it as fate. There are two ways I would go about fixing this (unless the story is about overcoming these alienating flaws,).
One: show her actively rebelling agents her suffering. At lest show internal conflict with her loathing, and her desire for happiness -if you chose this option-.
Two: set up bonus chapters before intense moments of hardship. The bonus chapters should be focused on either comedy or some other distraction from Trixies death march. I know they may seem unimportant -due to the good times being implied- but the readers need to be reminded of what Trixie is missing when she is gone. You can also go back to old chapters and wedge in a bonus chapter to keep new readers from falling into the same trap I did.
As I sad before, this is still a really good story, but these problems must be addressed before I can see it as a great story.
If you have any questions, or would like further explanation, PM me. If you want to discus this more in depth, than my skype name is 'no_other_words'. I am not afraid to get into symbolism, so don't be afraid to use that as justification.
6124145 You know its nice to see some good constructive criticism for once. I have had quite a few people virtually attack me for the beginning of my story, without giving any clues as how to fix my mistakes. So thank you very much for the comment, I think I will take you up on your offer. XD
Ah Sleep deprived Twilight , yeah that could be bad.