How Trixie Saved Hearth's Warming Ch. 2.2

Several things went through Trixie's head at this point as she sat in a prison cell in the depths of the Rat King's fortress.

The first of which was how humiliating it was she had been captured by a rat no bigger than her hoof.

Second was the fact she was trapped several hundred, if not thousand, miles from her home and had no knowledge of how she could get back.

Third was the fact she'd most likely doomed Hearth's Warming.

Fourth the Rat King had the worst taste in prison cell designers she had ever met in her entire life.

And fifth, and most prominent, was 'SWEET CELESTIA I'VE BEEN TURNED INTO A WOODEN PUPPET!'

Trixie was fairly certain she wasn't hyperventilating purely due to the fact she was currently made of wood. She couldn't even do magic! It was like her horn was just there for decoration!

Sitting nearby was Vixen, the reindeer turned into a similarly sized wooden reindeer doll and looking down at her hooves, having not made a sound since they ended up here.

The azure nutcracker calmed herself as best she conceivably could and noticed that their only surroundings were a bunch of what looked like living, wooden fairy dolls and a few other nutcrackers like herself. A number were dressed up as harlequins, some in chains being forced to clean the place. Still others being forced into the role of servants. To her surprise, a few seemed to be simply stationed around as window dressing, 'citizens' living here against their will. Other than these captive toys, the only other life in sight were rats only a slightly bit less monstrous than their king and armed with swords.

On one hoof, this set up intrigued Trixie. On the other she was too busy internally screaming to think too heavily on the matter.

“Trixie can't believe she got herself into this...” she muttered, giving a whimper. The nutcracker had a strong urge to chew out her 'partner' for dragging her into this mess...then she heard sniffling.

Turning, Trixie noticed the source of the sound. “Vixen?” she asked, trotting over with a loud clacking thanks to her wooden body. “Vixen, are you crying?..Or would be crying if we still had tear ducts?”

Trixie expected the doe to begin chewing her out and yelling. It was the typical response ponies had when something went wrong that could in anyway be considered her fault. Like back in Manehatten when her past had gotten the police against her easily. Instead...while it was difficult to tell given they were currently toys, Trixie saw the doe struggling to maintain any sense of composure. “N-No! Of course not...I...”

Vixen turned so Trixie couldn't see her face. “Santa...just trusted me to find somepony is all...” she said, her voice betraying her words. “Me, Vixen...not Comet, not Dasher, not Rudolph....me...”

Trixie felt a twinge of something in her heart...it felt strange but it also felt...familiar.

“Now...now Hearth's Warming is over...I...I'm sorry, Trixie...I'm the reason you're even here...I just wanted to be the hero for once...”

The azure mare gave a gasp (or at least she thought she did, hard to tell when you were uncertain whether or not you were actually breathing). “...So...you wanted to finally stand out?”

Vixen nodded slowly. “Yeah...Dasher's fastest with Blitzen a close second, Cupid's the prettiest, Comet's the handsomest, Prancer got Mrs. Hooves to give him a special harness with his charms, Dancer's the best at parties. Donner's voice is impossible to miss, did you know his name comes from a word for thunder? He'll remind you!...I'm just...Vixen...Rudolph got made fun of but at least he got noticed...”

The reindeer lowered her head. “So when Santa sent me to find help...I thought I could make him proud of me...it was my chance to shine. Maybe I'd finally get a chance to have a song written about me...Now Hearth's Warming is done for because of me...I was so selfish...”

Trixie stood there for a moment, looking deep in thought (at least as much as it was possible for a nutcracker to appear to be). “...Trixie...understands...Trixie thought you'd be angry at her. For getting us caught..”

Vixen turned and looked at her. “Trixie...you beat an Amarok and nearly got us through this...you were doing really well until I was an idiot and let you go into the Rat King's kingdom barely knowing a thing...I'm sorry...”

Trixie's face was even more unreadable than her current limited expressive ability would normally be. “...Trixie sees...” Her eyes went back to the guard standing outside their cell with a click. The rat had the keys...and a sword. She recalled how the majority of slaves in this place were in some fashion made of wood. Including Trixie. Made of nice, sturdy, hard wood.

“Vixen?” she asked in a whisper.

“...Yeah?”

“Trixie is about to do something, please play along to the best of your abilities.”

“What?”

Trixie cleared her throat, though was uncertain whether or not that would matter given she was uncertain if she actually still had a throat or not. She considered all the things a great actress would before putting on a performance...then let out a scream and threw herself on the ground, scratching at her body. “AH! Help! Trixie is infested with termites! Somepony please help her!” she yelled, doing her best to pretend she was being eaten alive. Given she had memories of night terrors involving a large star covered bear, she was fairly certain it was convincing.

The guard blinked, turning around. “What's the ruckus?”

Vixen stared for a moment... “Oh...” she rushed over to the guard rat. “My friend is being eaten by termites!”

“I fail to see how that concerns me,” the rat replied, giving a disinterested chuckle.

“It does if you want any of the slaves! We're all made of wood!” Vixen argued back, tapping on the wood she was made from.

“HELP TRIXIE! THEY'RE EATING HER INCREDIBLY GORGIOUS AND WELL-PAINTED FACE!”

The former statement did much more to get the guard's attention than the latter did. “Dang, the King will have my head if the prisoners get infested...”

He quickly opened the door, drawing his sword and pointing it at Vixen just in case. “Come on we'll get you fumigated or something...Or maybe just burn you in the furnace...”

Trixie writhed until the rat came within a few hoofsteps...and timed her movements just right so she kicked the sword right from his hand!

“You made two critical errors...”

She sprung up and latched her hooves on his shoulders while he was still surprised. “The first was underestimating the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

The nutcracker reared back as far as the ball joints in her back and neck would allow and swung her head forwards directly into the face of the guard with enough force to make Vixen cringe and cover her eyes.

The rat wobbled back and forth, little Trixies circling his head for a moment before he fell backwards to the floor, out cold.

“The second was turning a unicorn into wood!” the mare replied. Little known fact, unicorns' skulls were reinforced harder than most ponies so charging attacks with their horn would be less harmful to them. It was also to her benefit that her wooden body seemed to feel less pain. “Wood is hard you know.”

Externally, Trixie did a good job of looking like a confident heroine and everything had gone according to plan.

'TRIXIE CAN'T BELIEVE THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!' she screamed in her head.

Vixen blinked, or would have. Unlike Trixie she didn't have the benefit of functioning eyelids. “Trixie...”

Trixie stole the keys from the guard and took them in her mouth. She also took his belt and sword sheath. Then the bed sheets and tied him up...and to the bed. She went over to the discarded sword, unhinged her wooden jaw, and took the hilt in it...Then had to manually close it with the lever on her back. “Now come on, we have a holiday to save! In fact, how about we start with an opening act Trixie likes to call a prison break!”

Trixie ignored the fact the magic converting her into this form apparently allowed her to talk with a sword in her mouth and her jaw firmly locked on the sword. Then again she lacked a functioning tongue right now so who knew how the buck it worked? She'd have to ask Twilight about this when Hearth's Warming wasn't in jeopardy.

Vixen took a few moments to react. “You sure?”

Trixie sheathed the sword, and gave as close to a smile as her wooden jaw would allow. “Of course, we're both heroes are we not?”

The reindeer stared for a moment...then gave a small smile (or as close as her wooden face could). “...Yeah...yeah we are...thanks Trixie...”

The Azure nutcracker took a proud pose. “You are quite welcome. Now Trixie's fighting style consists of misdirection and fighting incredibly dirty, so please take any opening she creates, understood?”

Vixen nodded cautiously. “I gotcha...sorry for...you know...”

“Trixie...sympathizes. Now onward!”

The duo rushed out, another guard coming at them. Trixie drew her sword and blocked his sword, moving slightly out of the way and allowing Vixen to deliver a running headbutt between the rat's hind legs. He went cross-eyed, falling to his knees and covering himself. Trixie promptly bonked him on the head with the pummel of her sword and knocked him out.

Vixen took the dropped sword as Trixie began freeing the prisoners. “Run or help! Trixie feels it's entirely your choice in the matter!” Trixie told the ponies she freed, having to block the sword of a rat. The nutcracker was thankful she had the basics of sword fighting down, though she was all too aware she wasn't going to win a straight sword fight with a trained swordsman. So she instead used one of her hooves to snatch some dirt from a flower pot and toss it right into the rat's eyes, blinding him long enough to throw his sword back and then smash the flower pot itself into his head and knock him out.

Several of the prisoners did indeed decide to come to help fight the guards, one taking up the defeated guard's sword.

Vixen noticed a guard running to ring an alarm bell...and bucked a flower pot on the opposing table, managing to nail him in the back of the head and knock him out.

---

“This storm is pretty bad, Pinkie Pie...” said Minty, the two flying the balloon, Pinkie Pie using a hairdryer to keep the balloon from freezing.

“I know! I wonder if Weatherbe got a cold again...” the pink pony mused.

The balloon then floated by the Rat King's castle, which was in actuality the size of a very large doll house with a very deep canyon next to it. As they based by, Pinkie Pie saw Trixie and Vixen fighting off several more guards on one of the outer walls. “Hi, tiny wooden Trixie!” she called, waving...then noticed the balloon was moving too quickly passed it. “Bye, tiny wooden Trixie!”

Trixie blinked, looking around. She hit the deck, letting a charging guard trip over her and right into a buck from Vixen. “Did you hear something?”

The reindeer cocked her head. “No, why?”

The nutcracker shrugged, then ducked under a sword slash, grabbed a flower pot from a nearby window, and smashed said pot over the guard's head. “Trixie must be hearing things...”

“Why do they have so many flower pots?” Vixen questioned.

“Trixie doesn't know, but they make good weapons!”

“Good point...So what's the plan?” Vixen questioned, one of the fairy dolls blocking a rat's sword and allowing her to buck him into the wall. She was annoyed by how difficult it was to get her stiff wooden legs to do that.

“Simple: if Trixie knows fairy tales like she thinks she does, defeating the Rat King should likely break the curse on all of us,” the azure nutcracker replied, blocking an enemy's strike and rolling with it, using her hind legs to throw said rat into a wall. She then had to quickly pick up her sword as that move had hit the lever in her back and opened her mouth. Trixie would never admit it, but that was genuinely as much of a plan as she had at this point and everything else was simply her working as she went.

“We will distract the guards!” one of the fairy dolls cried. Trixie swore he had some kind of odd accent. Come to think about it, many of the dolls either spoke in some weird dialog she didn't understand or with an accent.

---

The duo rushed off to find the Rat King somewhere in this fortress...and quickly came to a conclusion.

“Now we're going to have to find him Trixie supposes,” the azure nutcracker lamented. The two then began the boring task of searching for the King's chambers.

---

The duo opened a door, finding themselves staring at an ENTIRE room full of cheese. Both put a hoof over their noses due to several particularly smelly varieties.

“...Trixie is not surprised...”

---
Trixie blinked, finding her and Vixen in a room lined with flower pots. “...These guys really do seem to have an unhealthy obsession with flower pots...”

---

“...Well at least they're following an exercise regiment...” Trixie snarked as the two heroes looked into a room filled with hamster wheels.

---

Trixie opened another door filled with tables, some of which were clearly chewed on.

“'All You Can Chew Table Buffet...'” Vixen read above the door.

---
“Uh....”

“...This isn't what this looks like...”

A rat sat at a table with a plastic female rat doll in a pink dress and stiff, jointless limbs. Everything else in the room appeared made of plastic like a normal doll house. It looked like they were having a date.

“...We were never here...” Vixen said.

“...Agreed...” the rat awkwardly replied.

Trixie slowly closed the door.
---
“RAAAAR!”

“AH!”

Trixie and Vixen both slammed the door on a black and white room with a black and white werewolf-like rat trying to pounce on them, causing a whimper as it slammed into the door and slid down.

“...Trixie isn't going to ask how that's even possible...”

“Maybe he's from Nightmare Night Town?” Vixen questioned.

---
“...Well...”

The two looked at a room with a shrine to a monstrous, but queenly looking female rat wearing the same crown the Rat King did.

“Trixie know even bad ponies love their mothers but this is a little much...”

---

“Why is it so much easier to find the evil overlord's chamber in movies?!” Trixie questioned as they threw open a window to a ball room with a balcony and a chandelier.

“Well at least they have good taste...” Vixen replied, looking over the place. “Though Santa's workshop is a lot nicer.”

Trixie's eyes searched the room and noticed a chain linked to the chandelier, presumably to raise or lower it for cleaning and redoing the candles. Her eyes traveled to the balcony and she trotted over to it, looking at the chandelier. “...Vixen, Trixie believes she has a plan...”

---

The Rat King was currently sitting in his throne room, feasting on a large hunk of cheese with several slaves toiling, some of which were forced to polish his crown. Some were simply chained and forced to stand around and bow on his command.

Trixie nudged the door slightly ajar and peaked in. “About time...” she whispered, watching closely.

“Polish faster!” the rodent tyrant snapped at the fairy doll polishing his crown. “Or would you rather I use you to sharpen my teeth?”

The doll gave a small whimper and sped up her polishing.

The Rat King gave a smirk and swallowed the hunk of cheese. “It's good to be king...”

He got off his throne and cleared his throat. A few dolls with musical instruments glued to their hooves hastily stepped forwards and the slaves looked ready to sing.

Trixie sighed. “He's going to sing...of course he's going to sing, Trixie is saving Hearth's Warming, of course the villain would get a song!” she muttered. “Trixie assumes it will either be about how much he hates Hearth's Warming or a song about who he is. Either way, it will likely be over the top...at least that's what Trixie would do if she were a villain in a Hearth's Warming Special.”

“King of the Rats, that's what he is,” sang one of the dolls when the king motioned for the slaves to start.

“Stealing all of us away and acting like we're his...” another sung, looking down at the chains binding her to the floor with less movement than a chained dog.

“Selfish to a fault...” the fairy doll polishing his crown sang.

“Tyrant to us all...” sang one as she picked up his plate.

“If you cross him he will turn you into a doll! The first doll sang, the entire group shuddering.

“But-” the Rat King interrupted with a sinister smirk, getting them to quake at his gaze. “I'm really something special...”

“Something we just can't deny!” the dolls sang miserably.

“Everypony raise a cheer...”

The group looked privately to each other as best their chained status would allow.

“Mainly because he's right here...” they whispered to one another fearfully.

“Everypony raise a cheer for the King of the Rats!”

Trixie sighed, still behind the door. “Just as Trixie thought, he's singing about who he is...”

“King of the Rats, that's what I am!” The Rat King sung proudly, forcing his subjects to pick him up and prance him around as best as their chains would allow.

“Lording over them because I know I can!” he continued, jumping and driving his poor carriers into the throne room floor and jumping off.

“Selfish to a fault...” one of the dazed fairy dolls sang as they tried to move .

“Ruler to them all!
If you cross me I will turn you into a doll!” the tyrannical rodent sang with glee, magic crackling across his front paws as his slaves trembled.

“But he's really something special,
Something we just can't deny...” the enslaved dolls sang, out of fear of his wrath.

“Everypony raise a cheer!” the crown polisher sang.

“Mainly because he's right here,” they whimpered privately.

“Everypony raise a cheer to the King of the Rats!” the King sang with the slaves, before pushing them down. “Now back to serving me, peasants!”

“...Trixie would be lying to say she never imaged having that kind of power...But Trixie is not THAT Trixie anymore...” the mare said to herself, still watching through the door. “Now Trixie would only expect occasional worship, and singing praises about her...and the song would be much cooler. Besides...” Trixie looked to the slaves. She felt something tug in her heart...or rather where her heart normally would be if she wasn't turned to wood. These ponies hadn't had a Hearth's Warming with their families in HOW long? “Alright, it's time for Trixie to make her grand entrance...”

Said grand entrance consisted of bucking open the door and pelting the Rat King in the face with quickly gathered snowballs to knock him back over his throne before he could react.

She rushed to one of the chained up dolls, unlocked their chains with the stolen keys. “Run! Get to safety! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall deal with this brute!”

They listened quickly despite their surprise.

The Rat King stood up and snarled. “You! I thought I'd already dealt with you!”

Trixie gave a laugh and taking on the most heroic pose she could manage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie never stays down for long!...But Trixie must ask you, Rat King. Would the fact that myself and my companion are trying to save Hearth's Warming mean a thing to you?”

The rodent of slightly unusual size laughed. “You kidding? That makes capturing you two a BONUS! That stupid stallion breaks into MY castle and gives ME coal while giving all my slaves stupid things I'm not even interested in! Not even worth taking to be MINE!”

Trixie sighed. “Trixie should have guessed that someone who admits to being selfish wouldn't go for the 'we're trying to save the holiday' line...”

Internally the nutcracker cursed her luck, as she really HAD hoped it'd be that simple.

[=The Nutcracker: Battle with the Mouse King=]

Trixie drew her sword and so did the Rat King. The tyrant charged her and she blocked a slash...then he snapped forwards and bashed her in the face with the hilt and then came within a few seconds of decapitating her before she dodged. The nutcracker tried a slash of her own, but was effortlessly parried and barely managed to evade the King's counter slash. The Rat's next slash knocked Trixie on her flank from the force and she had to roll out of the way.

Several exchanges later, Trixie was driven back against a pillar and just barely avoided being cut in half, the Rat King's sword slicing deep into the pillar. “How sharp is that sword?!”

“Sharp enough to cut you into mulch, big head!” he replied, trusting at her and barely being dodged.

“Alright, Trixie is fighting someone far more experienced and dangerous at sword fighting than her...” Trixie gave an eep as she had to jump to the floor to dodge a blast of magic from the Rat King that blew a hole in the wall. “And is a powerful mage...Is it Tuesday already?”

While still screaming very loudly in her own mind, the azure nutcracker began falling back to the door, but still making enough moves to make it look like she knew what she was doing so he didn't realize she was an utter novice. She was still decidedly on the defensive, and fairly certain if she stopped moving backwards for too long she'd be swiftly overpowered.

'Alright, step one going well, time for step two...' the nutcracker thought.

Trixie ducked a slash and the Rat King bisected a flower pot sitting on a table. Trixie also had to remember to take special care not to put her 'hat' in harm's way, as it was presently part of her body.

“Why do you have so many flower pots?!” the nutcracker questioned between slashes and trying not to die.

The Rat King parried her slashes. “Because we live in the Frozen North! Do you have any idea how few flowers we see this far north?!”

Trixie jumped back, continuing to do a fighting retreat. “That's a perfectly valid reason!”

“Then why are you still yelling?!”

“Because we're having a sword fight! It wouldn't be nearly as dramatic if we weren't be yelling!”

“That's a good point!”

“Given your villain song, Trixie expected you'd have a flair for a dramatic!“

“I'm a King! It comes with the territory!”

“Perhaps you should learn the Royal Canterlot Voice! It's good for that!”

“I'll look it up!”

The two never stopped having their sword fight, Trixie still being careful not to get her head chopped off. That didn't help her when he kicked her in the chest and sent her tumbling down a staircase. “Ow...Okay, polite yelling conversation kept him from noticing Trixie's plan, but isn't throwing him off his game...” she muttered. She then screamed, jumping back as the Rat King blew up the portion of castle she was standing on with a magical blast. “Time to play hard ball, Trixie style...”

The nutcracker rolled out of the way of a downward trust from the Rat King's sword. “You know, it's kind of funny, Trixie's beginning to wonder how she lost to you! You're not as tough as you look!”

The Rat King snarled and swung at her. “Watch your tongue, you little welp!”

Trixie blocked while jumping back to dodge the follow up swipe of his sword. “But Trixie's tongue is one of the best parts of her! Who doesn't love the sound of her lovely voice?” The nutcracker blocked a slash and barely jumped back in time to avoid a spinning back slash from the villain. He simply tail whipped her and launched her flying back. “...Trixie is lucky she's currently made of wood...”

“You know, at the moment I'm divided between mulching you and just using you for kindling!” the tyrannical mouse screamed, anger on his face. Trixie noted his slashes were still just as deadly, but his focus becoming much more narrow on her.

“You know, Trixie believe traditionally it's the Rat King who gets thrown in the furnace...” Trixie remarked, then had to dodge several VERY angry slashes. “Oh, did Trixie hit a nerve?”

The Rat King's eyes looked like that of a wild beast as he wildly swiped at her, forcing Trixie to go purely on the defensive just to avoid getting slashed to pieces. “SHUT YOUR MOUTH!”

Trixie felt immensely proud she managed to retain a heroic smile on her face. “Or was it getting a horseshoe thrown at his head? I can't remember.”

'I'M GOING TO DIE!' was what Trixie's brain was currently screaming at the top of it's lungs.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” the Rat King screamed, jumping up and drop kicking her through the door to the ballroom so hard even wit her numbed sense of touch knocked the wind out of her...or at least felt like it, she still was not certain she was actually breathing or not.

“Ow...” the nutcracker wondered, rubbing her wooden chest with the sound of wood grinding against itself. She then gasped, realizing when she'd hit the ground her back lever had been hit and let the sword fly out of her jaw, embedding itself in a wall. “Uh oh...”

Trixie gasped as the Rat King stalked towards her like a rabid beast and her sword was out of her grasp. Trixie barely leapt backwards out of the way of a slash. She backed away slowly, the king giving a sadistic smirk.

'Think Trixie...do something!' Trixie thought. 'Do something unexpected and unpredictable! What would somepony NEVER see coming in the middle of a dramatic sword fight?!...Well, that's worth a shot...”

The Rat King lifted his sword to strike...then blinked at the sight before him.

[=We're a Circle of Pony Friends=]

Trixie was currently dancing while humming a Hearth's Warming Eve carol.

“What are you doing?” the Rat King asked in a completely bewildered tone.

“Dance off, seemed a bit more fun,” the nutcracker said, continuing to hum before doing a moonwalk back a few feet. “Come on! You were so theatrical before!”

The tyrannical rodent growled and stalked forwards. “No, seriously! What are you doing?!”

Trixie did the closest thing to a smirk her wooden face was capable of. “Trixie's doing what she does best! Diverting attention! VIXEN NOW!”

The Rat King blinked, turning just in time for Vixen to come charging off an upper ledge, grabbing onto the chandelier and swinging down with it, having lowered it ever so much. She swung both her hind legs up and slammed her back hooves full speed into his chest, sending him flying backwards and and landing on the balcony, sword flying from his hand.

The despot struggled to his feet. “Who do you two think you are?! I'm the Rat King!”

Trixie rushed up and put her hooves on his shoulders. “Told you already, I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The nutcracker reared back and swung forwards, smashing her hard wooden head into his as hard as she could.

The tyrant staggered back dazed from the impact...and slipped, falling backwards over the balcony, and straight off the cliff next to the castle, screaming on the way down.

Trixie blinked. “...Well that worked better than Trixie-”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The two looked over the edge. “Wow...deep cliff...Went better than Trixie expected...”

Vixen nodded. “Yeah...seriously, dancing?”

Trixie chuckled. “Saw it in a movie...When it works it works.”

“Can't argue with that...”

The two then noticed both of them sparkling with magic. “Oh good! We're turning back to normal!”

The two then noticed where they were. “Oh horseapples! We're turning back to normal!”

The two rushed to the other side of the room and jumped out the opposing window and into the snow in the courtyard just in time as the spell broke and they both returned to their normal selves.

Trixie felt herself over. “No wood. No lever. Trixie's hat is a hat! OW! Trixie bit her tongue! Oh way, yay! Trixie has a tongue again!” the mare exclaimed giving a laugh of glee.

Vixen smirked. “Way to go Trixie...”

Trixie did a bow. “Was there any doubt?” was her external response.

'TRIXIE ACTUALLY DID IT! TRIXIE DEFEATED AN EVIL VILLAIN BY HERSELF!'

“Wonder what happened to him...” Vixen said, looking over the edge.
---

Pinkie Pie was currently looking at the map, Minty refueling the balloon. “Hmm...we just passed that one spooky castle...We shouldn't be too long now...”

Minty nodded. “Nope, we should be able to get there right on time!”

“Of course, Minty! We're in a Hearth's Warming Eve Special!”

The pink party pony then blinked when she heard a meow. Opal trudged over and looked up at her with a meow, the Rat King's crown now on her head.

“Opal, what are you doing here?” Pinkie questioned, picking up the cat, then looking at the crown. “Aww! And where'd you get that cute little crown?”

The feline gave a menacingly content smirk, then spat out a little piece of red fabric.

“Oh well, come on silly! We're going to meet Santa, then we'll get you back to Rarity in time for hot coco!” Pinkie said, placing the cat in the basket and jumping in.

---

That was when she noticed a mixture of screaming and cheering.

Nearby, the Rats that were still conscious screamed at the sight of the two 'giants' and ran away yelling at the top of their lungs. The army of captive dolls cheered as they all began to sparkle with magic. Several of them seemed to realize what that fact mean and joined the two in the snow as they grew back to normal ponies (and two Yaks) and hugged each other tight. The fairy dolls however, transformed into tiny ponies with feelers on their heads and butterfly-like wings on their backs.

“They're Breezies!” Vixen exclaimed. “What are you little guys doing this far north?”

“We got separated from our group several years ago and were blown here by the north wind!” a little orange Breezie explained. “The Rat King has held us captive ever sense! My name is Honeydew and on behalf of my fellow Breezie thank you so much for saving us!”

“Yeah, thanks!” said one of the ponies, who seemed to be a hiker. “We've all been there for so long...we never thought we'd escape! Thank you!”

Trixie gasped as a Yak picked her up and hugged her so hard she was afraid he'd break something. “Little pony save Yaks! Yaks very grateful!”

“Three cheers for Trixie!” called a female pegasus wearing a sweater.

Trixie blinked as she was picked up by the full grown ponies and Yaks picked her up and tossed her into the air. “Yip yip hooray! Yip yip hooray! Yip yip hooray!”

The azure unicorn blinked in complete confusion, expecting something to ruin the moment for her. For the Rat King to climb back up and turn them all back into dolls...but nothing happened. She was being tossed up and down by her cheering fans and then given a standing ovation when she set down. Trixie was stunned...she'd...she'd actually become a hero for real? Just once?

Trixie bowed like the showmare she was. “Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. The Great and Powerful Trixie was only doing what anypony would given the circumstances...” she said, soaking in the cheers like a battery.

“We can send back help, but will you guys be okay here?” Vixen asked, stepping forwards and patting Trixie on the back.

“Don't worry,” the hiker said, pulling a tent from his backpack. “My backpack became part of me while I was a nutcracker, I've got my tent and supplies still. We can last a bit.”

“And the Rats had a lot of cheese!” one of the Breezie. “We'll be set for awhile!”

Several other members nodded and produced their own supplies which hadn't aged a day since they were turned into toys.

“That's good...”

Trixie then frowned. “Oh...right...we have to continue...” She looked between the celebrating ponies and Vixen...then remembered the reindeer crying in the cell before. “...We're on our way to save Hearth's Warming...Vixen, could we...come back later?”

Vixen blinked...then nodded. “Sure. Santa can bring us back to pick them up too.”

The azure unicorn smirked. “Alright then.”

Trixie jumped up on a rock. “Trixie is sorry, but she much cut the celebrations short! The Great and Powerful Trixie and her companion need to be on our way to save Hearth's Warming from another vile villain!...But we'll be sure to stop on the way back with help!”

And thus with the cheers of those they rescued, the two departed, heading further north. “Onward to stop Leidr and save Hearth's Warming! Nothing can stop us now!” Trixie announced victoriously, pointing in that direction.

In the distance, lightning flashed behind a massive, long ethereal entity with glowing blue eyes, illuminating it as it howled like the north wind.

To Be Continued...