Trixie was scared past the point of thinking.
Somewhere deep down, she knew she wasn't getting out of this situation alive, so she sat there. She stared at the body of her mother before her -- its image burning itself into her mind.
She almost didn't hear the mare's next words.
"Oh, dear," the mare exclaimed, turning to her brother in mock worry, "I think we've scared the poor filly out of her mind, Razor Blade."
The unicorn stallion didn't respond, instead trotting over to where Trixie was and grabbed a hold of her face, turning it this way and that. The filly didn't speak or make any sudden movements as she was inspected, instinctively falling back on old habits from back when her mother had been especially brutal in her treatment.
The stallion -- Razor Blade -- raised an eyebrow and turned to his sister, shaking his head.
"Oh?" the mare responded with surprise and amusement, "you mean like some kind of cornered animal?"
Razor Blade nodded with a smirk.
Trixie had enough of her faculties to be somewhat confused regarding the siblings communication. The mare seemed to be responding as if Razor Blade was speaking, but he wasn't.
"Well now, you've been through quite a lot, haven't you, dear?" the mare cooed as she stroked Trixie's mane with a wing, "now I wonder what could have caused you to act in such a way..."
The terrified filly whimpered in response and winced as she felt something solid catch in her mane. The stallion's attention was drawn to the pouch now hanging around Trixie's neck and with a flare of his horn the pouch was wrapped in a neon green glow.
"No! Don't touch -- AHH!"
Trixie cried out in pain as the mare sudden raked a wing across her back. The filly didn't know what had happened, but it felt like the mare had left a trail of fire wherever her wing touched. She tried to blink away the oncoming tears as she turned around to see what the mare had done.
At first she didn't see anything out of the ordinary -- her fur as soft and full as it ever was, but then her eyes widened in horror as several trails of blood oozed through her fur, staining it red in long thin lines.
She let the tears spill from her eyes as she cried out again -- her fear redoubling as the mare wrapped her in a comforting embrace.
"There, there little lady," the mare whispered reassuringly, "let it all~ out. Thaaat's it."
Trixie continued to cry as the stallion removed the pouch from her neck and pulled the contents out.
"Find anything good, Razor Blade?" the mare asked conversationally.
"P-Please..." Trixie croaked, "I... I just -- GAAH!"
Several more lines of red appeared across her flank and she fell limp against the mare's forelegs, unable to stand from the pain. The mare meanwhile, continued on as if nothing had happened.
"Go on," she pressed, eyeing the costume curiously, "show me what was inside, I wanna see."
Razor Blade floated the torn hat and cape over to his sister and she looked both of them over before turning to Trixie with a raised eyebrow.
"Aspiring to become some sort of magician, are you?" she asked. Without waiting for a response, she gave the costume one last look before tossing the hat and cape into a puddle of mud nearby, "sorry to say this, dear, but you won't get anywhere with those old things."
"NO!" Trixie cried, reaching for the costume.
Her cry turned to agonized scream as the mare slowly dragged both her wings across each side of her barrel.
"Now, now little lady," the mare admonished, "you know it's rude to yell in a pony's ear. They're so sensitive after all."
The mare finally let go of Trixie and she fell to the ground, crying from the pain wracking her small frame. The filly was scared, but it had originally been a familiar fear. She had though she was back in familiar territory -- being brutally punished by her mother and father.
A small part of her thought that this wouldn't be much different, despite the body of Abilia Lulamoon right in front of her, clearly showing otherwise. She though she'd be able to handle whatever torment these ponies put her through because she had dealt with it before.
She was wrong.
The pain was nothing like what her mother inflicted -- it was worse. Much worse. Her mother had never cut the filly like this mare seemed to be doing -- though Trixie had no idea how and couldn't be bothered to find out at the moment given the immense pain she was in.
"What's that, Razor Blade?"
The sound of the mare's voice snapped Trixie out of her pain addled thoughts and she looked over to the pegasus through watery eyes. The mare had trotted over to the stallion and they were both looking over what looked like a small piece of parchment paper.
After a moment of reading, the mare's eyes widened and she gasped before looking over to Trixie pityingly. She trotted over to the filly and Trixie tried to scramble away, but the searing pain thwarted any attempts and she found herself in another embrace by the mare.
"Oh, you poor filly!" the mare cried dramatically, stroking Trixie's mane once again, "alone! Unwanted! No place to go!" her voice turned motherly, making Trixie shudder in fear and disgust, "well don't you worry, little lady. Aunt Razor Wire and Uncle Razor Blade will take very good care of you."
Razor Blade trotted over to the corpse of Abilia and eyed it briefly before turning to his sister. The mare turned to her brother and she furrowed her brow before looking over to the body as well.
"I see..." she looked back to Trixie with a thoughtful frown, "that explains it," she jerked her head towards the body, "that was your mother wasn't it?"
Trixie said nothing, fearing another assault, but the mare ignored her and nodded to herself in satisfaction.
"That explains why you looked as though you recognized her," she gave the filly a toothy grin, "well, given what my brother and I just read, it looks like we did you a favor, dear! Here, take a look..."
The mare -- Razor Wire -- turned and nodded to her brother. Razor Blade nodded back and floated the note over for Trixie to read. Her eyes widened in shock and Razor Wire shook her head in disgust.
"What terrible ponies! Wouldn't you agree, dear?" she asked the filly, "aren't you grateful that we killed your mother for you?"
Trixie didn't respond.
"You are grateful... aren't you?" the mare asked again, an edge of irritation in her voice.
When Trixie continued to stay silent, the mare shove her away and Trixie fell to the ground with a pain grunt. Before she could make an attempt to get back up, she was caught off guard by another vicious swipe of Razor Wire's wings.
And then another.
And another.
Trixie curled up on the ground, trying to protect herself from the mare's attacks, but every swipe she tried to block with her legs only ended up cutting into the limbs instead. The mare continued to slash at the filly -- her mouth set in a snarl and her eyes wide and furious.
"Why... aren't you... grateful?!" she growled with each swipe, "we've... done... so much... for you... and this... is how you thank us?!"
Trixie could only respond with more screams of agony and silent prayers that the assault would end.
The mare suddenly froze mid swipe.
Trixie barely noticed as she lay on the ground, bleeding and sobbing.
Razor Wire turned to her brother, who was looking towards the street outside the alley with a grimace. The pegasus mare blinked and turned to look at whatever had caught her brother's attention. Her eyes widened in surprise before she smiled coquettishly.
"Well hey there handsome," she purred, "haven't seen you around her before. Come here often?"
Trixie fought through her pain to see who the mare was talking to and when she turned to face the new pony she froze.
Standing in the opening of the alleyway was a familiar tall grey unicorn stallion sporting a top hat, a moustache and goatee, and a grim scowl.
The look in his eyes promised retribution.
Trixie was so shocked she momentarily forgot about her heavy injuries.
She couldn't believe it.
She refused to believe it.
She endured so much to see him again -- fought so hard to speak to him one more time before he left, and here he was, like some comic book hero coming to save the damsel in distress.
Both the Razor Twins trotted over to the stallion -- Wire with a lascivious grin and Blade with a disapproving frown.
"Now don't be shy, handsome," Razor wired teased, "why don't you come a little closer so I can get a betterrrr lllllllooookkk aaaatttt yyyyyyoooooo..."
Trixie blinked in confusion.
She tried to shift her position to get a better look at what was happening, but stopped when her body screamed in protest. From where she was lying, it had looked like the twins had slowed to a stop mid trot.
But something about the way they just stopped was... off.
Like they were completely frozen.
Not to mention the pitch of the mare's voice getting lower and lower before stopping all together.
It was honestly one of the strangest things Trixie had ever seen.
Then she noticed Hoofdini just in time to see the white glow of his horn fade.
Did Hoofdini do something to them?
She was broken out of her thoughts as she saw Hoofdini making his way over to her -- trotting right past the two frozen ponies without so much as a glance.
On the way, he levitated the pouch that Razor Blade had discarded over to him -- as well the hat and cape Razor Wire had thrown aside.
"That won't hold those two for long," Hoofdini said gravely, "I need to get you out of here before the spell runs its course."
"H-Hoofdini," Trixie rasped, "I... I tried to come see--"
"Don't talk right now, Trixie," Hoofdini said urgently as he replaced her hat and cape back in the bag, "you need to save your strength," he frowned in thought, looked back to the frozen twins, and cursed silently before looking back to Trixie with a look of... guilt?
"I... I'm sorry, Trixie," he said, hanging his head, "I wanted to visit you one more time before I left -- make sure you were okay y'know?" he smiled wryly, "I guess it was a good thing I did."
That was when he noticed the blood spattered note next to Trixie.
He picked it up and looked it over, gritting his teeth in anger as he read through it.
"Those... I can't..." he sputtered in indignation before letting out a sigh and replacing the note in the bag alongside the ruined costume. Trixie watched him with half lidded eyes.
She was beginning to get tired for some reason, but thankfully the pain was beginning to fade somewhat. Hoofdini turned his attention back to Trixie and his widened in what Trixie thought was fear.
That's strange. Why would Hoofdini be afraid?
"This is bad," he muttered, "there's no time to get you to a hospital and the spell is going to wear off any--"
He whipped his head around to face the twins, cursing as they slowly began to move once again. He turned back to Trixie and removed his hat with a resigned sigh.
"Hoov... dini?" Trixie slurred, "Wha..."
"Shush now, Trixie," Hoofdini said with a gentle yet pained smile, "I'm going to get you out of here if it kills me," his hat expanded in size as he spoke, "you remember the disappearing box trick you helped me pull off?"
Trixie nodded with a small smile.
"Good," Hoofdini replied as silent tears began running down his face, "that's good, Trixie. Just... just keep thinking about that trick -- about how excited the crowd was."
Trixie did just that, her smile growing a little wider as the memory washed over her.
The hat continued to expand until it was large enough to cover the entire filly. Hoofdini wiped his eyes, stood up, and set his face in a determined frown. He set the pouch on top of the filly and Trixie unconsciously wrapped her hooves around it, her smile still in place. Hoofdini gave a kind, apologetic smile of his own before frowning once more.
"I don't know where you'll end up, but I do know that you'll be safe. I guarantee it," he muttered as he levitated the now massive hat over the filly, "farewell, Trixie. Hopefully we'll meet again sometime in the future, my adorable assistant."
A white light flashed from within the hat and a large rotating magic circle appeared below the filly. Hoofdini slammed the hat down on top of Trixie just as the Razor Twin completely broke free of his Stop spell. He turned to face the twins as the hat shrunk back to it's original size.
The twins looked around in confusion before turning to Hoofdini.
"What..." Razor Wire shook her head and glared at the grey unicorn, "what the buck did you do?" she growled, flaring out her wings, "do you want me to flay you alive?"
Hoofdini chuckled as he levitated his hat back onto his head.
"Terribly sorry, my dear," he said with a smirk, "had a bit of business to take care of, but I can assure you I'm all ears now if you'd like to talk."
Razor Wire glared at the stallion for a moment more before straightening up and giving a smirk of her own. She gave a small flick of her wings and several strands of near-invisible wire embedded themselves into the walls, creating a web that blocked off the alleyway entrance.
"You know, what?" the mare asked licking her lips, "I think I would like to talk, handsome."
Razor Blade said nothing, opting to stand back and let her sister handle the situation as watched with a twisted grin.
Hoofdini looked from the twins to the web of wires blocking the only exit. He cracked his neck and adjusted his top hat before setting himself in a defensive stance.
"Fighting really isn't my forte," he said, glaring at the mare standing before him, "I'd much rather make a grand escape myself -- and if I'm being honest, I most likely could."
His horn lit up and his entire body flashed white as the image of a giant ethereal ticking clock appeared above him. The clock spun a few times before vanishing a few seconds later -- much to the twin's confusion.
To further add to their bewilderment, the grey stallion now looked as though he was flickering in and out of existence and when he next spoke, it sound as though his voice was coming from everywhere at once.
"Instead of running away however," he boomed, "I think I'll stay here and teach you a lesson about how to properly treat a foal!"
Elsewhere, far from the bustling city of Hoofington, a large magic circle suddenly appeared above the ground and deposited a severely wounded blue filly in front of the door to a small cottage in the middle of nowhere.
The door opened to reveal a thoroughly shocked old stallion and an equally shocked orange filly.