How Trixie Saved Hearth's Warming Ch. 3.1

How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming
Chapter 2
By Godzillawolf

“Trixie is very surprised that Yakyakistan was so easy to get through,” Trixie remarked, the two now moving past it, the mare riding a bit high on her defeat of the Rat King. They'd gone through the kingdom of the Yaks in a surprisingly uneventful visit (so uneventful in fact it will not be addressed by the story).

“Tell me about it, Santa always had to be careful giving them gifts because they tend to smash anything they don't like. Good thing they made peace with Equestria,” Venus remarked. “Though they were happy to learn that those two yaks are safe now.”

The azure showmare gave a proud, content look. “Trixie is sure, Trixie appreciated the praise.”

Vixen chuckled. “You deserved it...and Trixie?”

“Yes?”

The reindeer's confident exterior lowered for a moment. “Thanks for getting us out of that.”

The unicorn blinked, then gave a smug, but friendly smirk. “You are quite welcome! Was there ever any doubt Trixie would pull through?”

Vixen gave a smile. “No...there wasn't...” she said, looking up to her. She then gasped and pointed a hoof. “There it is!”

Trixie followed her companion's hoof to find a mountain towering above the landscape. At it's top was a massive palace, four towers extending high into the sky, which was fittingly stormy and ominous for a holiday ruining villain lair. Trixie noted that the clouds above the palace were swirling like a vortex or eye of a storm, snow and ice radiating out from it. She didn't know why, but she felt a cold chill (well a colder chill given the situation) looking at it.

“...That's Leidr's lair?”

Vixen nodded. “Yeah...it's bigger than I thought.”

“And we're certain that's not the lair of some other evil ice themed villain?...Or Jack Frost?”

Vixen shook her head. “No, Santa said he lived around here in a castle made of ice with the eye of the storm above it...And Jack Frost lives with Father Winter.”


Trixie looked back to Vixen. A part of her was screaming for her to call it quits and run for it...but the fact Vixen's face was one of admiration and respect shut that part of her up. She steeled herself and gave a sigh. “Okay, let's get this over with! We don't have all night!”

The azure mare still hung onto the hope that Leidr was simply a rogue pegasus. Besides, after defeating the Rat King, how could this get any worse?

+++

“It's really windy, Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Minty, the two of them trying to keep the balloon in the air. Both of them were now wearing warm cozy socks, Opal having one on like it was a scarf.

“I know, Minty! We must have flown into another pony's Hearth's Warming saving adventure!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Minty managed to pull the rope to right the balloon. “There...” she said, giving a sigh of relief...then carefully moving the rope slightly to be aligned where it was supposed to be. “Perfect!” However, as she turned, she slipped on some snow that made it into the basket, grabbing the rope as she fell, sending the balloon out of control. “Oops!”

Pinkie and Minty tried to right the balloon with a yell, Opal giving a yowl.

“Minty Minty Minty...” Pinkie Pie muttered, not so much angry but as if this was a regular occurrence she accepted about her friend...surprising given they were currently in an out of control balloon.

“Sorry...”

“It's okay, Minty! We'll still make it to Santa!”
+++

“This...is a very tall mountain!” Trixie exclaimed, the two climbing up the very large mountain the ice palace was perched on top of.

Vixen nodded. “Yeah...and still too windy to fly. This reminds me of how Rudolph said he had to climb up to save Baby New Year from an evil vulture! I guess holiday villains just like really tall mountains with bad storms around them!”

“Annoying how being a flying Reindeer doesn't come more in handy...” Trixie muttered...then perked up. “Wait, you can't fly straight up...”

The unicorn pulled off her hat and performed   a spell, pulling out a long tightly woven rope of scarves and throwing one down to Vixen. “Can you tie this to you and fly up as far as you can SAFELY go?”

Vixen gave a blink. “Uh, sure, why?”

“Then Trixie can use the rope to climb up faster,” the azure mare explained. “We can cover more ground that way!”

“Alright, let's give it a shot!” The reindeer launched herself up and while the wind was too strong to stay up long, she was able to land a good ways up the mount and secured herself. “Okay Trixie! Come on up!”

The azure mare nodded, wrapping her hooves around the scarf rope and pulled herself up. Much easier and faster than having to find a billion little hoof holds in the (rather icy) rock before moving up a foot.

Trixie's confidence quickly took a nose dive when she looked down and realized how high up she was. She barely managed to contain her internal screaming as she continued to scale up the cliff. 'Don't-look-down-don't-look-down-don't-look-down! Sweet-Celestia-don't-look-down!'

+++

“Alright...” Trixie panted as Vixen helped her climb over the ledge of the cliff at the very top of the mountain. “We're up here...”

Vixen gave a nod. “Yeah, now all we need to do is stop Leidr and save Hearth's Warming!”

The azure mare couldn't help but smirk at how happy that thought seemed to make Vixen. “Indeed. Now given we're dealing with an evil villain in a giant, imposing castle in the sky, he will probably have evil minions, so prepare for a fight.” She'd seen enough fiction to be savvy to that.

Vixen looked around. “Don't see any minions...”

Trixie blinked, looking around. “Hmm...you're right...”

No guards protecting the gates, none lining the walls. In fact the rather massive castle seemed to be very desolate. The Rat King's palace had been big for him, but it'd at least been filled with slaves and rats. This just seemed...desolate and empty...

Trixie trotted over to one of the walls and put a hoof on it. “Ice?”

Vixen joined her and touched the wall. “The whole palace is made out of ice?”

“Trixie has a bad feeling about this...”

The two jumped as a pair of unearthly howls ripped through the air. “And I have a bad feeling about that!” Vixen exclaimed.

The two looked up to see the vortex above the castle...and noticed four glowing blue eyes staring back a them.

With a howl, a duo of spectral, icy blue horses with ghostly tails where their hindquarters would be descended from the vortex, howling like the winter wind.

“WINDIGOS?!” Vixen and Trixie asked in shock, having to hit the deck as the two winter beasts dove past them.

“You didn't tell Trixie Leidr had WINDIGOS!” Trixie yelled, ducking again as one of the Windigos made another dive at them.

“I didn't know!” Vixen yelled. “I'm sorry!”

The azure unicorn looked up at the pair of Windigos, who seemed to be moving around them like guard dogs circling a thief. “...Aren't those Windigos smaller than the myths typically portray them as being?”

Vixen nodded nerviously. “Yeah, I don't know why, but those three were a lot bigger and stronger than the normal kind.”

“Normal kind?!”

“Normal Windigos are kinda really dangerous animals, it's only when they get super strong that they become a world threatening thing.”

Trixie nodded, then eeping as she had to use a fire spell (specifically one intended for use in fire breathing) to block a wave of icy wind from the Windigos by melting them. “Trixie sees...Okay, new plan, we get away from these guard dogs and take out however Leidr is controlling them.”

Vixen nodded in agreement, then jumped away from a surge of icy wind. She then flew up (the wind near the castle being less severe) and kicked one of the Windigos in the face...then got bashed back by it's tail and barely dodged another surge of ice. “Okay, this won't be easy.”

“Come at Trixie, beasts!” Trixie exclaimed, feeling a thug in her heart when she saw Vixen knocked away. She sat off several fireworks in front of the beasts, which seemed to startle them with a howl of surprise, but only managed to distract them long enough for Vixen to give them another flying kick before a shockwave of icy wind blew them both back.

The azure mare got up, but was sent tumbling back head over hooves by a tail smack. Trixie got back up and blasted one of the beasts' in the back with a beam of magic that did little more than annoy it. Vixen grabbed Trixie by the shoulders and flew her friend out of the way of another icy blast.

“Okay, not to self, Windigos are tough!” Vixen lamented.

Trixie focused and summoned a thunder cloud and brought down a lightning bolt on one of the Windigos. It gave a howl of pain from the heat of the lightning more so than the voltage...then sent a wave of ice their way and forced Vixen to dive down to avoid it. “Okay, that at least hurt it, but Trixie thinks it just made it mad...”

Vixen dove down and few back up, giving a mule kick to the jaw of one of the Windigos while Trixie blasted the beast with a beam to the face...resulting in them being tail whipped back into the ground.

Trixie gasped as she noticed the two Windigos fire another blast of ice at them. She used as strong of a fire spell as she could manage. Despite blocking the brunt of the assault, she and Vixen still ended up with some ice forming on their body.

The azure mare used a couple fire spells to melt the ice off but was left shivering. “Trixie is beginning to miss her hot coco and warm blanket!”

The two had to scramble out of the way of another blast of icy that made a small ice formation where they'd just been standing.

'Okay, Trixie is facing two mythological beasts...this situation can't get much worse,' Trixie lamented, trying another lightning bolt again, but only succeeded in enraging the Windigo she shot with it and getting the end of her tail frozen solid causing her to give a yelp when the weight pulled the hair.

Vixen flew up and headbutted one of the Windigos as hard as she could but did little more than annoy it. It sent off a blast of frigid wind, freezing her hind legs solid and blasting her away.

Trixie gasped as Vixen hit the ground and bounced, nearly going over the cliff. She grabbed onto the edge and tried desperately not to fall, but it was a losing battle.

The azure unicorn saw the two Windigos give a howl and prepare to attack...and felt something grip her heart she wasn't very familiar. A tug similar to fear, but quite distinct.

Trixie galloped over and skidded to a stop between Vixen and the Windigos without even thinking. “Hear me foul beasts! You shall not harm the Great and Powerful Trixie's friend!”

She charged up her magic for a fire spell...and for a brief moment, a pink flame flickered around her horn before she unleashed the fire spell, there being a slight rose tint to it.

The twin horrors howled in pain as the flames licked them. They turned tail and fled back into the eye of the storm, giving panicked winnies.

Trixie quickly pulled Vixen back up and used a quick fire spell to melt the ice around her hindquarters. “Vixen, are you alright?!”

Vixen nodded. “Y-Yeah...Trixie...you scared off the Windigos!”

“Yes, Trixie drove off the Windigos...wait...” the Azure mare's mind finally caught up to her body and she stared up in absolute shock. “Trixie...Trixie just drove off two Windigos...”

Trixie wracked her brain for two answers: one, what had happened to her self preservation in that instant, and two, how the buck she'd done that?!

Oh, and why she felt an immense feeling of relief right now seeing Vixen in front of her and okay. That was a new emotion.

“Trixie, you okay?” Vixen questioned.

“Oh! Yes...Trixie is fine...She's just basking in the moment for a bit...hey wait,” the showmare asked. “Why didn't you just fly back up?”

“Oh, flying reindeer need to be able to run to fly, you know how we gallop through the sky and stuff?” the doe explained.

“Right...Trixie supposes that makes sense,” Trixie replied, then turned back to the entrance to the castle. “Well let's take care of Leidr and save the holiday, shall we!”

Trixie allowed her confidence to rise. After all, how could Leidr possibly be tougher than two Windigos?


To Be Continued...