Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Ninety Five: No Mercy

HEART OF STONE

Chapter Ninety Five: No Mercy

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Trixie woke up screaming. Maud held her thrashing form down, and Twilight’s horn cast the room in an eerie pink light. Despite the pink glow surrounding Trixie, she had no problem in moving. Now that she was conscious, and able to think she only had one plan.

I have to get to Valiant before it’s too late!

Trixie placed two hooves on Maud’s chest and looked her straight in the eyes.

I’m sorry, honey buns. I have to do this.

Trixie shoved with all her might, and sunk back into the couch. Maud raised an eyebrow. Trixie growled and put all four of her hooves on Maud’s chest and put every ounce of strength that she had into the next push. Maud shifted about an inch before staying still.

Maud frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to push you off of me so that I can save Valiant Heart,” Trixie said. “Would you mind moving?”

“Are you going to calm down?” Maud asked.

“Of course,” Trixie lied.

Maud relaxed and moved to the side. Trixie smiled and sat up. She looked at the two ponies, making sure to smile brightly at both of them. The second that they looked relaxed Trixie bolted for the door. Before anypony could stop her, she had slid the door open and jumped out into the long skinny corridor. The night sky was black and the snow covered hills were rolling past. She looked back at the others behind her in frustration. Why are we not there yet?

Strangely enough Maud’s mouth was moving but Trixie couldn’t hear any sound coming from her. That’s when she noticed an odd pink glowing bubble around the door to their room. Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and the bubble popped without a sound.

Maud’s voice came back instantly, “-n she even hear me with that spell active?”

“Well she should be able to now,” Twilight said confidently. “I deactivated it.”

“Good,” Maud said. “Trixie, you need to come back in here. We will be in Manehattan in under a half hour.”

Trixie scowled at her marefriend as she re-entered and closed the door shut behind her. “It’ll be too late then. Those cats…”

“Now you’re trying to save cats?” Twilight asked. “Did you suddenly become Fluttershy or something?”

Maud glared at Twilight, Twilight ignored it. Trixie sat down and folded her legs and pouted as grumpily as she possibly could. Maybe if I’m angry, the train will move faster.

“Lulu,” Maud said as she took a seat next to her. “What did you see this time?”

“They hurt her,” Trixie grumbled. “They hurt her… worse than me. Not only that, they had a bag… it was meowing.”Her lower lip trembled. “And Frailty had this baseball bat…” Her body shook. “Frailty, used the bat, and she, and… no.”

Trixie curled up into a ball, covered her head with her hooves and tried to become as small as Valiant Heart was. Slow gentle hooves stroked through Trixie’s mane, but this time it didn’t stop the shaking. Trixie couldn’t forget what she had experienced, this would stay with her for a very long time.

“Those monsters aren’t even ponies anymore,” Maud said flatly. “You don’t hurt foals.”

Twilight looked out the window. “Something similar happened to The Cutie Mark Crusaders once, when they fillynapped by Queen Chrysalis. They still have nightmares to this day.”

“Great, so the world is just screwed,” Trixie muttered through shaky breaths. “Why am I not surprised? I’m willing to bet that at least half of my friends have been raped, or abused in some way.”

“Trixie,” Twilight said quietly. “The world is not that dark. We all deal with problems, but there is goodness here too. Look at Maud, isn’t she something good?”

Trixie peaked out from underneath her hoof. “She’s the best thing I’ve ever had. But I’m not ready for this yet. Why do I have to return now? Why did the universe decide that they could hurt that filly now?”

“You’re right, you aren’t ready for this. The fact that you decided to go and save her, despite the damage that you have suffered is simply amazing. Trixie, I’m proud of you,” Twilight said.

“And I’m here to support you,” Maud added.

Trixie felt herself relax, little by little the longer she lay there. She knew that they were going to arrive soon. When they did, all Tartarus would break loose. She looked up at the ceiling and found that pit of darkness deep inside. Knowing that it would be needed for this trip she held onto it, and didn’t let go.

“Thank you guys,” Was all that Trixie could think to say right now. “I’m grateful that you decided to come with me.”

By the time the train had finally halted, Trixie had calmed down and the trio went out into the dark night sky. The city was filled with lights, tall buildings were lit up brightly, and various theaters and clubs had glowing neon signs that all welcomed ponies in. Ponies still walked the street at this time of night, all of them wearing the latest fashions.

“So where to first?” Twilight asked.

Trixie looked down at the cloak covering her body, the suitcase that was floating next to her, and finally at Twilight. “I know exactly where those monsters hang out at. They haven’t changed location in over a year.”

“Good, we can get a move on and-“Twilight began.

A yellow pegasus with a mane resembling fire strode up to Twilight Sparkle, her body moved with pride and determination. “Princess Twilight, I’m so glad you’re here. We’ve just received reports of a windigo outside of the city.”

Twilight stopped and stared at her with hard eyes. “Seriously, Spitfire? Great, okay, we will just drop our things off and- Trixie!”

Ignoring both Twilight and Spitfire, Trixie left her suitcase behind, she already had what she needed from it after all. Trixie walked away. “We’re going to go get her, right now. I won’t wait around any longer and watch that filly being destroyed. They are going to break her. It might already be too late.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Do you know what a windigo in the city means? How do you even know she’s in immediate danger?”

“I dreamed about it,” Trixie replied.

“Okay, well prophetic dreams do usually have a ti-“Twilight started. “Wait, where are you going?” She trotted to catch up. “Can’t we at least get to my base of operations first? Somewhere we can return to after we find her?”

“She doesn’t have time,” Trixie stated coldly.

“I have a duty here to defend Equestria, the windigos are a huge threat,” Twilight argued.

“We’ve already wasted too much time,” Trixie said. “It’s now or never.”

Maud looked at Twilight. “Go help your friend. We got this. Can you take our stuff somewhere safe?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course I can. It’ll just take a little spell but I know both of you well enough that I can home in on your signatures. Besides finding an alicorn is easy if you know how, we practically radiate magic.”

“Good,” Trixie said. “Go and do that. Maud and I will start clearing the way; we will meet up with you afterwards.”

Twilight nodded, and walked away. “I’ll be really quick, so please stay out of trouble until I get back.”

As Twilight vanished into the night crowds, Trixie looked at Maud and frowned. “We came here to wipe out a gang of evil ponies; it’s not possible to stay out of trouble.”

“It’s good that we leave her here,” Maud replied flatly. “She wouldn’t agree with this.”

Trixie agreed and together they moved onward. There was only one destination, and with a rising fire in Trixie’s chest, she knew that she was going to burn everything wicked down to the ground tonight. Nothing is going to escape my wrath.

***

Stalking through the backstreets of the glorious city of Manehattan brought memories of a darker time for Trixie. Seeing a group of vagrant ponies huddled up next to a barrel fire for warmth, and the ponies sleeping underneath bridges or in the abandoned buildings only served to remind Trixie of how dark the world really was. The faces of a few foals hiding in dark places staring out at Maud and her as they passed hammered this truth home.

This is horrible… Has Ponyville spoiled me? I’ve seen all this before, in fact I was part of them. Nothing has changed here. Why does is it still like this? Doesn’t Celestia know about this?

Maud had snuck up so close to Trixie that she was bumping shoulders with her every other step. Maud wore a stern expression. Every time they passed by another vagrant pony, her muscles would tighten. Trixie could feel the fear coming off of her lover.

“It’s okay, honey. These are my streets,” Trixie saw an old mare pushing a shopping cart. The mare waved at her, and Trixie waved back. As they continued on, a few of the ponies glared at her, jealous of her new life, even if they didn’t know what it was, they could sense how much better off she was, the others generally ignored her, and only a select few nodded or waved.

These ponies took me in and taught me how to survive. Soup kitchens, dumpster diving… hiding. I learned it all from these ponies. How could Celestia simply abandon them like this?

Eventually they moved so deeply into the abandoned section of the city, that the ponies all but vanished. Trixie found herself standing in the empty alleys that she had once chosen for her hideout. A thick layer of snow covered everything, and the black ice covered large sections of the ground. Trixie stopped at the sight of two abandoned dumpsters. Maud stopped next to her.

The walls were covered with graffiti; various slanderous things were painted on the walls.

“The magician sucked my wand. She certainly knows a few tricks. Rut this mare.”

Maud stared up at the walls, her mouth agape and her eyes slowly widening. Trixie looked at the dumpsters, and frowned. “This is where I used to live.”

Following Trixie’s gaze, Maud’s eye twitched. “But… this is a dumpster.”

“Yeah, it’ll keep you warm in the winter,” Trixie said flatly. Her emotions had quit working and left her feeling empty. “After the Alicorn Amulet I was destroyed. This is where I lived before I left to commit suicide.”

Trixie walked further down the alleyway. “Come on, this place is a like a maze to those who don’t know it.”

Maud followed in complete silence.

She ran, but she could hear them behind her. Still shouting, why were they shouting at her? Couldn’t they let her be?

She turned around the bend and they followed right at her heels. Fear gripped her heart, and poisoned her mind. Babble laughed in the back of her head.

“No!” Trixie screamed. “I won’t let you do it again! Not again! Please not again!”

She turned another corner blindly and hit a dead end. The clip clop of hooves slowed behind her. Ahead of her was an overhang that blocked the snow. On the ground was an old dark stain. The walls here had graffiti as well.

“TEN!”

Trixie screamed at the wall. Her mind blank with fear, and rage, she fought back. Energy crackled around her horn and magic flared. Lightning shot forth from her horn and struck the wall!

“IT WASN’T TEN! YOU DIRTY BUCKING BRUTES!”

The wall exploded forth, and showered her with bricks! A cloud of dust spread out and Trixie stared wide eyed and angry at the wall. A hoof touched her shoulder and Trixie wheeled around, her horn flashed and she pressed it tightly against the pony’s neck.

She refused to be hurt again.

Maud stared wide eyed, horn pressed to her throat; a small trickle of scarlet liquid ran down her perfect gray neck. Why is Maud there?

Trixie pulled back and felt her knees buckle beneath her. Maud stood completely still for a moment, staring at Trixie with fear clear in her eyes.

“It wasn’t ten,” Trixie whispered. “I promise, there weren’t ten of them. There couldn’t have been ten of them.”

For the longest moment Maud stood still, while Trixie shook on the ground. Tears flowed from her eyes, and pain filled her heart.

“Why? Why did I come back here?” Trixie whispered. “Wasn’t it enough to live through this once?”

“We came here to save Valiant Heart,” Maud said quietly.

“But it’s too late, they already got her,” Trixie said. “I couldn’t save her.”

“Trixie, if we don’t save her now, we might not be able to,” Maud explained.

… she’s right.

Trixie stood, and took one last look at the dark stain on the ground. “Why doesn’t blood ever go away?”

Maud stared at the spot in silence. Maud wiped the red away from her neck and turned. “If you lead me to them, I will kill them for you.”

Trixie shook her head violently. “No...”

I have to do this myself.

Trixie was broken inside, she knew that, perhaps better than anypony else. However she would not let that stop her now. There was a sweet little filly, one who deserved all the kindness the world could offer her, but only received all the hurt. Right then, that filly was being put through the very same nightmare that Trixie had once survived, barely.

Scath had once mentioned how Trixie’s pain was her greatest source of power. If that was true then each step closer to that accursed place, where the Black Hoof gang called home, would only serve as a wellspring of energy for her to use. Knowing that she could use this to save Valiant, Trixie steeled herself, pain and torment were her weapons.

She marched forward, each step falling like stone slabs in the snow.

”...I’m going to kill them, kill them all!” Trixie said as she led Maud.

They stalked onward to the Black Hoof’s lair. They weren’t far from their position; after all they never worked outside of their comfort zone.

It didn’t take long, minutes really. With a clear goal, Trixie was able to lead Maud straight to the front porch of the gang; a three way intersection of abandoned buildings on this forgotten street. Three of the gangsters sat outside by the barrel fire. Trixie felt for the hilt underneath her cloak and smiled.

The purple mare looked at Trixie and Maud on their approach, the mare’s face was covered in red scratches. The others took notice as well. Trixie stopped just short of the fire, Maud by her side.

“Where is Frailty?” Trixie demanded.

The purple mare spat into the fire. “Screw you.”

Wrong answer.

The purple aura that surrounded the mare made the other two look at her with fear, and when the purple mare went flying into the sky, the other two simply stared up in silence. The mare quickly vanished from sight, and Trixie laughed. “Where is Frailty?”

The front door to the building straight across from her opened and Frailty stepped out. Her teal colored fur was stained with splotches of red. Her brown mane was a mess.

“What the buck?” Frailty asked. “Who wants to talk to… magician slut? What the Tartarus do you want?”

There was a flash of purple as something hit the concrete ground a few yards behind Trixie. The horrific crunch that accompanied it made Trixie grin. Frailty looked at her two mares in front and shouted, “Get her already!”

The two charged, but Maud vanished from sight. A moment later the two were sent flying in other directions, and bouncing down the alleys. A hot feeling filled Trixie’s chest, to her surprise she was enjoying herself. Finally getting to take revenge on the ponies who broke her, it was more than she could have ever wished for.

Frailty frowned at Maud. “You move too slow.”

Frailty jumped at her, and Maud leaned back. The two collided and began tumbling through the snow. Trixie reached out with her magic but pain shot through the side of her head as she was sent her flying off into the snow. Trixie looked up to see three mares approaching her from behind, the orange one held a crimson stained baseball bat.

“You’re dead, Trixie!” The orange mare said through broken teeth.

The world was spinning around Trixie as she tried to stand. She fell as the world sucked her down. Everything was blurry, and as she focused on the orange mare, she became two different ponies. They strutted towards her, mimicking each other's movements perfectly. The two mares behind the orange one had doubled as well. Trixie shot a bolt of lightning at the left one, and it went right through her. The orange mares smiled, showing off their broken teeth proudly.

A red beam shot out from the side and struck the orange mares in the head. They both looked at Trixie with a confused expression, and fell forward. The other four charged to somewhere on Trixie’s left, and as Trixie turned her head to follow pain shot through her skull.

Two yellow alicorns with long red manes stood before them. It was Red Velvet, only there was two of her. Trixie felt very confused. She tried to watch the battle but it was very blurry and hard to watch, so she closed her eyes and laid still for a moment. Everything went black.

When Maud screamed, Trixie’s eyes shot open and fear pounded in her heart. Maud was on the ground with a blood trickling down her nose. Frailty stood on her hind legs, with her hooves raised. The world wasn’t spinning any more.

The four mares that had been fighting Red Velvet had become two, and they lay on the ground. They were far too still. Trixie stood and watched as Maud swung a hoof forward. Frailty dodged with deft skill, and brought a hoof down onto Maud’s face. Maud went sprawling into the snow, and struggled to stand back up. Something was wrong with her leg.

Frailty laughed madly, and walked on her hind legs toward Maud. Maud stumbled forward, and fell to her knees. Frailty reached her muzzle into her jacket and pulled a knife out, dropped onto all fours and jumped toward the fallen Maud.

Time slowed down and Trixie was forced to watch what would happen in horrible detail. Maud had a busted lip, her nose had a trail of red underneath it, and the cut above her left eye was bleeding profusely. Her left leg had a gash through the jacket, and Trixie saw the red soaking through the purple fabric.

Frozen in the air, Frailty had a few bruises and a busted lip but was in far better condition than Maud was. Her knife reflected the barrel’s fire, and in her mad eyes Trixie saw murder. She remembered the face all too well now that she was staring at it.

She could remember the sour taste that the evil mare had left in her mouth. Trixie remembered that she had stood by as she ordered her stallions, and even her mares to do whatever they pleased to Trixie’s limp body. After they were done with the beating, the humiliation, and the abuse, Frailty finally took her turn. Trixie had blacked out, but Frailty made her wake up. It continued for what had felt like an eternity, a torture that just wouldn’t end.

The memories that Trixie had thought missing, gone, and destroyed came flooding back with intensity. Then she saw Valiant, she could imagine them doing all those things to the tiny filly. Evil, that was what this mare stood for. This wasn’t even a pony anymore; it was a monster.

Trixie latched onto those memories, onto her pain, her anger, and her need to bring justice to this mare. Power unlike what she’d ever felt before, flowed through her, electricity filled her body and she lashed out. Dark inky tendrils shot forth from the darkness, as time resumed.

Frailty didn’t fall, she was held in the air by ten different tendrils wrapped tightly around her. Trixie stood, and Maud crawled towards her. Burning, intense flames raged in Trixie’s body. Slowly Trixie turned Frailty towards her and stared into those dead eyes, now made wide with terror.

“How does it feel to have ten powerful, monstrous things holding you down?” Trixie asked.

Frailty looked at the tendrils and smiled. “Oh, are you going please me with these or something?”

They tightened and Frailty screamed. Trixie kept the pressure on until she saw red spittle flying from the mare’s mouth. Then they relaxed, a little.

“You hurt her. Where is she?” Trixie asked.

The evil creature spat at Trixie, it fell short and landed in the snow. “Buck you.”

“Maud, check inside, tell me if Valiant’s inside there.”

Maud nodded and pushed herself up. After limping into the building she stayed silent for a few minutes. Finally Maud walked back out and said, “She’s here… kill that thing.”

Trixie grimaced. “Oh death would be too kind for you.”

“Oh what are you going to do? Rape me? Ha, go ahead, I’ll just enjoy it,” Frailty snapped.

Trixie frowned. “No, I won’t do that. I might be a bad pony, but I’m no monster. That said, I am still a bad pony.”

The tendrils tightened, and Trixie stayed there listening to the screams that Frailty made. She didn’t stop until the cracking sound began.

The Dorchadas, it really is a potent weapon, isn’t it Scath?

***

When Trixie was finished she stood outside the entrance, panting and sweating. Her rage had all but vanished, and now her mind was trying to desperately get a grip of the situation around her. She sat down in the cold, but it didn’t affect her. She felt hollow inside, like something that was once very important had been viciously clawed out of her chest.

“Do not blame yourself, you served justice here today, as is your right, Princess Lulamoon,” A mature, and kind voice said to her.

Trixie looked to the empty spot next to her and saw Red Velvet sitting in the snow besides her.

“Crimson Ti- er, Red Velvet?” Trixie said, confused as to why the mare would be here of all places.

“I was checking up on the windigo situation, I’ve heard that there was a spotting of one here. I found one, and then killed two others,” Red replied.

“That’s not good…”

“Everypony has been writing articles about how the winter came early and without any probable cause. Considering the fact that the weather factory was destroyed last year, they didn’t expect to have one this year,” Red Velvet explained.

“Wait… what? It was destroyed?” Trixie exclaimed.

“Yes, just after finishing with Ponyville, they found it destroyed. They used the remaining resources they had to give a light winter to the rest of Equestria, but without a good snow this year their attempts wouldn’t have been enough. Too bad ponies are calling this a miracle rather than seeing the truth, the windigos are invading,” Red Velvet explained.

“Can’t they just fix the machines?” Trixie asked feeling a bit dumb for not knowing about this.

“Sadly Equestria’s industry is very poor. It is estimated to be about five years before they can fully rebuild the facility. Without snow for that many years, many plants and animals are going to suffer as a drought hits, there will be shortage of crops and all of Equestria will suffer. The alicorns would never have let this happen to us,” Red explained.

Trixie was quiet for a long moment. She didn’t want to speak, but the thoughts of what she had just done came rushing back to her. She needed a distraction. “Why does Celestia let this happen?”

“You mean the thing with that filly? I do not know, Celestia has tried to install a proper sense of order, but as the situation grows increasingly dire in Equestria it seems harder for her to maintain control. That’s why we need the alicorns now more than ever before. As where the draconequus stood for chaos, the alicorns stood for order.

“In just five short years, everything could go straight to Tartarus,” Red Velvet said with sad eyes.

“Celestia needs to take control back,” Trixie muttered.

“Yes she does, there won’t always be an alicorn like you or a crazy pegasus and her unicorn marefriend to save the day.”

“Wait… who?” Trixie asked confused.

“I had heard that a few members of the gang had split off after the planned mugging of a pegasus and her unicorn friend went badly. It turned out that the pegasus was insane, and the second that her friend had been hurt, she lost it and utterly ruined the gang’s day… even killing two her attackers in the process. It weakened Frailty’s control on the group, and she became increasingly unhinged after that,” Red explained.

Another long moment of silence passed before Trixie finally said, “Thanks for the rescue… and for what you did for my father. I still can’t forgive you for turning me into an alicorn, but I want you to know that I appreciate it.”

“Will you aid me in recovering the alicorns?” Red asked honestly.

“I don’t think I can, but if we happen to blunder into each other while in Canterlot, maybe I can keep Celestia from killing you,” Trixie said.

“If you could distract her, that would be all I really need,” Red replied. “After seeing the damage I’ve done to your personal life, I can’t rightly say that you owe me more than that.”

“Good, because I don’t ever want to do a favor for you again. Heck, I barely want to talk to you right now, it’s just distracting me from…” Trixie quieted.

Red Velvet looked at the purple clump over in the alley. “You did what you had too, this filly was in trouble and nopony else was going to save her. You should be proud, Trixie.”

A faint smile grew on Trixie’s lips. “Yeah you’re ri-“

The snow crunched next to Trixie, and before she could see it, she sensed something was wrong. She ducked forward and rolled into the snow just in time as a lead pipe swung over her and dinged into the wall where her head used to be. Red Velvet had another mare on her, trying to stab the alicorn with a knife.

The ponies Maud knocked away! They were still alive!

Without thought, Trixie’s body went into motion. She tried to pull magic into her horn, but nothing happened, she was empty. The mare swung the pipe down, and Trixie dodged to the side. Adrenaline pumped hot through her veins as she reached over with her mouth, pulled her father’s sword free and swung at the pony.

The mare jumped back, and grinned. Trixie cursed through clenched teeth. Blue lines flew from the sword and through the air before surrounding the mare. For a moment the mare stared at the blue lines, as they vanished, she started laughing at Trixie. A large pile of snow fell from the roof and dropped onto the mare, covering all but her head. She tried to move and found herself stuck.

Now it was Trixie’s turn to laugh. The fiery rage built up inside her again as she stomped through the snow. She might not have magic right now, but she had the only thing she needed to save Valiant Heart. Trixie had a sword.

With a fatal plunge of her father’s blade, Trixie stabbed through the snow and watched the mare’s eyes grow wide, and then slowly close. The mare went limp and Trixie pulled her sword back. She grimaced at the red stain, and picked up a cloth to wipe it clean with. It only took a moment to return the sword to its proper shine. She sheathed it, and looked for Red Velvet.

Red was gone, but the mare who had attacked her was lying completely still on the ground. Trixie looked up and saw the alicorn flying away. Red paused just long enough to look back and say, “Me and my guardians are leaving now, farewell, Princess Lulamoon.”

Red flew into the night sky and was joined by the silhouette of an alicorn, only this one was missing its tail and mane, it also had two horns instead of one. Its horns spiraled in crazy directions. Trixie frowned as two more appeared next to Red and then they flew off together into the night sky, probably on the hunt for more windigos.

Trixie let out a sigh, Red Velvet and her creepy alicorn-like friends were none of her concern. The only thing she needed to worry about now was a small filly that had just experienced utter ruination at the hands of an evil monster.

Once inside, Trixie found a small room filled with rotting furniture. Wooden crates were being used as tables, a few things sat on the table that Trixie recognized. There was a half empty package of ‘CHARGE!’, bought from the local convenient store no doubt, and a bowl of smelling salts used for waking up unconscious ponies. Trixie only had dark memories of the smelling salts.

A long hallway leading to several closed doors. The one door at the end was open, and a soft voice was coming from it. A soothing voice, not necessarily beautiful but its calm, loving nature made even this dingy little place feel warmer. The best news, the voice was singing. Trixie turned her walk into a canter and stopped just short of the door to listen.

“Rockabye filly, in the treetop. When the wind blows the cradle will rock.

If the branch breaks, filly won’t fall. ‘Cus I will catch filly, cradle and all.”

It was quiet for a moment, with a few quiet whimpers breaking the silence. The singing started up again as soon as the whimpers became too loud.

“rocks I love, rocks I know

Like stalagmites, the little ones grow.

When one day I look around,

Because I hear the cutest sound.

A rock so small and sweet

To me was such a treat.

So full of joy and so full of heart,

I just did not know where to start.”

More silence, only this time it wasn’t broken up by whimpering. It was just quiet. Trixie decided it was time to finally poke her head in. What she saw brought the warmest feeling she had ever experienced to her broken heart.

Maud sat on the mattress, with the tiny form of Valiant Heart lying in her arms, and she rocked the filly back and forth. Maud smiled that very same smile that she gave to Trixie when nopony was looking.

“Maud, honey, I think it’s time too-“Trixie stopped when she saw the red soaking sack in the corner… Trixie had to look away once she remembered that it was a blanket, not a sack.

“We should go,” Trixie said quickly.

“Lulu,” Maud said, her voice was soft. “What are we going to do with her?”

Trixie looked Maud in the eyes. The pleading look Maud gave her made Trixie stumble back. One second Maud was all fire and brimstone, and then she was sensitive and soft. That was strange for her.

“I… I’m not sure,” Trixie said honestly. I guess we should take her to a hospital, and find her a home. She can stay with us until we find one… right.

“Trixie,” Maud’s voice was fragile. “Can she stay with us for awhile?”

I guess she really does love her sisters. We need to get that filly some help though.

Trixie looked back. The long dark hallway reminded Trixie of the mares that had been here, and what they had done to the foal. There was no way that anypony would be able to understand what the filly had gone through, not unless they had gone through it themselves. Trixie looked back at Maud.

After all she’s been through, who’s going to be able to help her though?

“Alright, Maud. I was planning on letting her stay with us for awhile anyway,” Trixie said.

Maud squeed. Trixie stared at Maud’s happy expression, but Maud wasn’t looking at her, she was staring at the filly in her legs. The way Maud looked right then reminded Trixie of the way her mother had looked back when she was young, before life hit the fan. Trixie had just made Maud’s entire life brighter.

She wasn’t even this happy when I got her that rock as a present.

“I never got to do this,” Maud said softly.

Trixie blinked. “What?”

Maud frowned and looked back at the filly she was still rocking in her legs. “With my… sisters.”

After Maud had carefully placed the filly onto her back, Trixie wrapped her cloak around the filly. Yes it left Trixie’s sword exposed, but Trixie didn’t care right now. On these back streets the only law was power, and Trixie was the one wielding the most power right then.

Maud gave Trixie a key on the way out. “This doesn’t seem to go to the door. I think it goes to a safe or something.”

Upon taking the key, Trixie went to searching the little building. With Valiant safe in Maud’s grasp, there was a little time for Trixie to find out what these mares were up to. It didn’t take long before she found a locker in the back. It was locked, and just as Maud had said the key fit. Inside Trixie found a cracked red gem about the size of her head. It looked very familiar somehow.

Trixie shrugged, she didn’t need a broken gem. The only thing she could do with it was feed it to Spike but that wouldn’t help at all. So Trixie turned and met up with Maud at the front door. Together they left, Maud made no comments about the dead, nor the twitching, squirming… thing in the corner. Trixie really didn’t feel like explaining that one, actually she felt like forgetting about it for the rest of her life.

It took a few minutes, but eventually they found themselves back at Trixie’s old dumpster home. This time Trixie didn’t freak out about the graffiti, there was only a numb feeling left after she had wiped out the Black Hoof gang. That’s when the purple alicorn dropped in from the sky, finally having shown up far too late for the party.

“Whoa, you like… um, so did it go well?” Twilight said, she smiled sheepishly at them.

“No, we had to destroy everypony there without you, and saved her ourselves,” Trixie said while pointing at Valiant’s sleeping form on top of Maud’s back.

“Sorry, it turned out that there were three windigo corpses,” Twilight said lamely.

Twilight looked at the filly and her eyes grew. Twilight quickly drew a blanket out of her saddlebag and removed Trixie’s cloak from the filly, before tossing it at Trixie. Trixie caught it, and put it back on. She ignored the red stains.

Twilight walked around Maud as she stretched out the blanket, and froze when she got behind Maud. Upon seeing all the blood, her purple face turned green, and the blanket fell from her grasp, landing on the filly’s back. Twilight walked over to the nearest wall and purged her stomach of all its contents.

Trixie tucked the blanket in around Valiant Heart.

“Who? What? Why?” Twilight asked shakily as she tried to contain herself.

“I told you what they were doing,” Trixie said. “Celestia could’ve stopped this from happening you know?”

“I don’t… Why a filly? I don’t even think she’s six years old yet,” Twilight exclaimed.

Trixie looked at Valiant Heart. “I don’t know how old she is, she sure acts mature… maybe she’s just small?”

“It wouldn’t matter, she’s still not old enough to have a cutie mark yet, so she’s still too young to even think about those… she can’t even go into heat yet… I… why?” Twilight asked with pleading eyes. It dawned on Trixie that Twilight’s entire little world had just exploded.

“Twilight we need to get her to a doctor right away, a good one. We could also use a psychologist,” Trixie explained.

“Okay, okay. That’s fine,, and you know more about this than I do, so I think you will be able to do something, I don’t know what, she looks dead, is she breathing, are you sure she’s alive, how could she live after something like that, Trixie I think she’s dead!” Twilight spat out faster than Trixie could keep up with.

Trixie raised a hoof and slapped Twilight across the face as hard as she could. The older princess stumbled to the side and nearly fell over. There was something satisfying about smacking her.

“S-s-sorry,” Twilight apologized.

“Doctor, we need a good doctor right now,” Trixie said.

“Okay, I know one who can work miracles,” Twilight said.

Twilight’s horn lit up brightly. Trixie and Maud were dragged by an invisible force closer to Twilight. Maud held on tightly to Valiant’s forelegs. An over glow surrounded Twilight’s horn, and the world blurred. Trixie began fearing what Twilight was about to do. Sweat poured down Twilight’s brow as a third layer of glowing magic covered her horn, and her pink aura darkened to red. The world crackled, and lightning flew out from an invisible bubble surrounding them. Finally a fourth layer grew over Twilight’s horn and she gave a shout, “Greater Teleport!”

Trixie blinked. They were standing on a warped and twisted marble floor at the hospital, bits of concrete littered the area around them. Twilight smiled, one of her eyes was completely bloodshot and red liquid trickled down her nose. She looked over at Nurse Red Heart and said kindly, “We need the best doctor you have for this filly over here. And doctor um up too ‘cus iz bad.”

Nurse Red Heart stared in wide eyed horror at Twilight. “Oh… okay, we’ll take care of her right away. Any-anything else?”

“Um gab bug sometimes,” Twilight replied thoughtfully before falling over and twitching.

Trixie stared blankly.

“What in Pan’s Labyrinth is going on here?” Timequill asked.

Trixie looked over at him. “Why are you and Red Heart in Manehattan?”

“We’re not, we’re in Ponyville,” Timequill said. “Why does Twilight look like she just tried to move the moon… again?”

“Oh… because we were just in Manehattan,” Trixie admitted.

“But that’s impos-“Timequill started. “Oh…”