As the two ponies neared the end of the hall, Trixie ruminated on the story she had just heard.
Another filly, the same as Trixie or any of her sisters forced into a horrible situation by her own mother. While it wasn't exactly the same thing, Trixie could again relate to this Moondancer. She didn't know the details of what had happened, and didn't understand everything Fell Wind was talking about, but she got enough.
Moondancer's mom had made her daughter do some terrible things, that much the azure filly was certain of. Shaking her head, Trixie turned to Fell Wind and tried to break the heavy silence by broaching another topic.
"So... Fell Wind," Trixie began hesitantly, "you never told me where we actually were."
"What? Why?" Fell Wind replied, raising an eyebrow at the filly as she limped along, "you know full well where we... oh, right. The amnesia," the mare finished, rolling her eyes, "alright, look... this isn't a place any foal should be... heck, this isn't a place anypony should be."
Trixie merely cocked her head to one side and Fell Wind groaned in annoyance. She stopped in front of a single brown door, making Trixie stop as well, and turned to fully face the azure filly.
"You know Mount Canterhorn, right?" Fell Wind asked, "that really tall mountain where Canterlot is?"
Trixie nodded, a curious expression on her face.
"Yeah, we're in that mountain -- well, below it really." Fell Wind explained, "I don't know exactly where we are in the mountain, but when I was first brought here, it was through a bunch of caves full of crystals and whatnot."
"So... this is like... some kind of underground laboratory beneath Canterlot or something?" Trixie asked, making a mental note to inform Ancient Scroll and the rest of the girls later.
"More or less," Fell Wind said with a shrug, "pretty cliche, right?"
"Hmm..."
Trixie lowered her head and furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before looking back up at Fell Wind.
"Did... do you know if Celestia had something to do with this?" the filly asked, "like... was Moongazer doing all this on her orders?"
"You know what?" Fell Wind replied as she rubbed the back of her neck, "I really don't know, kid. I mean, I'm assuming she had to have some kind of idea, seeing as how all of this is taking place right under her city."
"Oh," Trixie answered with a disappointed frown, "I guess that makes sense."
"Well in any case, we need to keep moving," the mare said after a moment, "I wanna make sure Stormy is okay, and the longer we wait, the more chance we have of galloping right into a shadow pony patrol."
Trixie scoffed and puffed out her chest.
"Trixie told you she could... uh..."
The filly's words died in her throat and a thrill of fear ran down her spine. In her casting of the Mind Weaving spell, she had failed to remember that she couldn't magically interfere with the memory Fell Wind was creating.
"Oh, that's right," Fell Wind replied, giving Trixie a look that was both thoughtful and relieved, "apparently you have that whole 'vanquisher of evil shadow pony things'... thing, going on."
"Well... actually," Trixie said with a nervous frown, "at the moment, Trixie can't... ah... that is... she doesn't... have enough strength to vanquish the evil shadow ponies right now."
"Are you serious?" Fell Wind replied, furrowing her brow, "you're kidding, right? The area outside this door is practically swarming with those things. If they get ahold of either of us... that's it," Fell Wind started to shake uncontrollably, her breathing picking up slightly as she spoke, "we'll be taken to see Moongazer, and I don't think I have it in me to survive another 'appointment', kid."
"I-It's okay," Trixie answered, trying to reassure the increasingly terrified pegasus, "I'm... I'm sure if we're careful, we could... avoid them," Trixie furrowed her brows in thought as sweat started to bead on her forehead, "um... is there... anywhere we could hide up ahead?"
Fell Wind turned to look at the door for a moment before slowly nodding.
"Yeah," she replied hesitantly, "this is one of the exits that lead to the next building where my brother is being held. It opens up to one of the underground pathways beneath the mountain."
"So we're going to be trotting through the caves themselves?"
Fell Wind nodded in response.
"It's still kind of a hallway, but there's all sorts of crevices and rocks we can hide behind," the pegasus mare explained, "though if one of those things spots us, it's over. The shadow ponies are made of shadow, and they can be hard to spot in those dark caves. On top of that, they can travel from shadow to shadow."
"So... if they spot us..."
"They can just pop right out of the shadow of whatever rock we're hiding behind and grab us," Fell Wind finished, looking at the door with no small amount of apprehension, "I don't know about you, kid, but in my condition, I'm not gonna be able to do much if they catch us."
"Well... maybe... maybe they won't be patrolling right now," Trixie tried hopefully, "I mean, it's possible, right? There's always a chance that--"
"No. There's no way in Tartarus they're not out there," Fell WInd replied firmly, "they're always out there. That's basically where they live."
Trixie's ears flattened against her skull and she gave the door a fearful look. She had hoped she could convince Fell Wind that there was nothing out there so that there really wouldn't be, but, unable to come up with anything meaningful, even Trixie herself could tell the attempt was a weak one.
She'd have to deal with events as they happened.
She heard a loud, deep exhale and turned to Fell Wind. From the look on her face, Trixie could tell the pegasus was trying to gather whatever courage she could muster to get through the harrowing situation that awaited them both.
"Okay, I gotta do this," Fell Wind muttered, staring at the door with a determined frown, "I'm never gonna rescue Red Storm if I just sit here shaking like a foal."
With one last calming breath, Fell Wind grimaced and pushed open the door. The odd pressure on Trixie suddenly increased and the filly nearly cried out in surprise.
Thankfully she was able to push back the pressure and stifle her cry into a small gasp, and it was a good thing she had.
Just standing in the doorway, Trixie could see dozens of shadow ponies flitting about in the distance of the dark cave before her. Fell Wind had been right, though, there were indeed several rocks, holes and crevices to hide in or behind.
Fell Wind didn't give Trixie anytime to gawk as she quickly pushed the filly out the door and quietly shut it behind her. Trixie stumbled forward slightly before righting herself and following Fell Wind behind a large rock near the exit of the building they had just left.
"So what do we--"
Fell Wind held up a hoof to shush Trixie before standing up on her hind legs and peeking over the rock. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to suss out some sort of pattern in the patrol of the shadow ponies.
The pegasus mare winced, her raised position putting undue strain on her still painfully sore legs and barrel. Still, she remained that way for another minute or so as she scanned the path ahead.
Eventually she nodded to herself and lowered back down to a crouch before turning to the curious azure filly.
"Alright, I think we should be able to move past them if we're careful," Fell Wind whispered, "we'll need to be quick and quiet, and if we're gonna do this right, you need to listen to every word I say and pay attention to every gesture I make."
"Okay," Trixie whispered back, "but what kind of gestures should Trixie be looking out for?"
Fell Wind spent the next few minutes explaining and demonstrating different signs and gestures to the filly, which Trixie did her best to memorize. After she was fairly certain she had everything down, she gave Fell Wind a curious look.
Ever since they had made it out here, it was as though a switch had been flipped. Trixie couldn't put her hoof on what exactly had changed about Fell Wind, but she seem more... self-assured, more alert, more in control of herself.
There was a sort of confidence and grim determination in her eyes that the filly hadn't seen before. At first, Trixie was confused at the sudden change, and then a thought hit her.
"Were you some kind of... Royal Guard or something before you came here?" Trixie asked, "because all of this feels like something a Royal Guard would do."
"I didn't come here, kid, I was dragged here against my will," Fell Wind clarified with a dark frown. She then snorted and gave the filly a smug grin, "and believe me when I say those Royal Pansies are nothing compared to the group me and my brother were a part of before all this."
"Really?" Trixie asked with an intrigued raise of her brows, "what kind of group was it? What was it called?"
"Not now, kid," Fell Wind hissed, "let's just say that my brother and I aren't exactly from Equestria and leave it at that for now," she saw the dejected look on Trixie's face and sighed, "look, if we make it out of here, I'll tell you all about it, alright?"
Trixie nodded with a small smile and Fell Wind nodded in return. The mare peeked out from behind the rock once more and Trixie waited for her to make some sort of move. The filly swallowed nervously before shaking her head and setting her expression into a determined frown.
Remember, Trixie, if things go bad, you can always drop the spell.
They waited for a few more tense seconds before Fell Wind snapped a hoof out and forward.
"Alright, let's move."