//------------------------------// // A Task Worth Doing // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// Trixie found herself thrown to the ground -- or rather, what passed as the ground in the pitch black, mote filled mindscape. Her ethereal form rolled a few times before it stopped a few hoof lengths away from where she had been standing before she entered the memory. She quickly scrambled to her hooves and looked over to the memory motes she had connected were, eyes widened in shock. The large mote of light she had been ejected from began to shrink and she heard that same warbling from before. The noise was louder and, after a moment of humming, shrinking, and flickering, the mote seemed to shiver and split itself into two, one of the pieces drifting apart and moving away into the distance. In the span of only a few seconds, everything had returned to how it was before Trixie enter the memory. For a minute or two, the azure filly just sat there staring at the memory mote, stunned at what she had just seen. Everything had been going so well, and she was making actual progress with helping Fell Wind grow more confident and hopeful. She had almost had it. Fell Wind had very nearly come close to finding her brother and with the way things were going, Trixie had begun to think Fell Wind would escape, but then everything had come crashing down around them... literally. Moon Dancer had shown up in the Memory Weave spell. Trixie didn't know if Fell Wind's mind had conjured her up out of some sort of repressed fear or if there was something else going on, but when Moon Gazer had shown up -- and Trixie was certain that's who the mare had been -- the azure filly knew one thing for sure... Moon Gazer had seen her. She had seen Trixie. It wasn't just some odd quirk of the spell, mere coincidence, or even Fell Wind's sudden cry for help that had caused the mare to notice Trixie, she was sure of it. Moon Gazer was somehow here, in Fell Wind's mind along with Trixie herself. Trixie couldn't help but shudder at the thought that the mare was lurking somewhere in the pegasus mare's mind. Was she using Mind Magic like Trixie? No, she couldn't be. If that were the case, then shouldn't she be somewhere here in this open mindscape made to look like the starry night sky? The filly looked around her nervously, but the only thing she saw was more of the same black void dotted with countless motes of light in every direction. She was alone. Trixie shivered again and clenched her eyes shut, trying to block out the image of that other filly and her mother. She instead thought about what she should do from here. Should she try to cast the Mind Weaving spell once more? No, upon taking stock of her remaining mana, she discovered the spell had taken more out of her than she had thought. She didn't have enough left for another prolonged Mind Weaving spell. Should she just erase the appropriate memories and be done with it like she had originally planned? After what had happened at the end, she was very tempted to do so, but building frustration stayed her from actually making that decision. She had almost gotten through to the mare, only to fail at the last second. She opened her eyes and swept a contemplative gaze over the countless memory motes surrounding her. What should she do? What would Ancient Scroll do? What would Twilight and Sunset do? What would the Mare of Dreams do? She frowned as she thought about the mysterious mare. What had she even given her all this power for? She had mentioned something about some terrible event happening to Twilight further down the road, but hadn't said what it would be. The only thing she knew was that she was suppose to use this Mind Walking spell when that time came. That was it. That's all she'd been told. The way the Mare of Dreams had built it up, it sounded as though she was going to divulge some great scheme, but in reality, all she did was give the frustrated filly some vague idea of what she was supposed to do and force the knowledge of a few spells into her memory. Remembering her own studies on how Mind Magic worked, Trixie made sure to take them willingly of course, but it still hadn't exactly been a pleasant experience. Now here she sat, in the mindscape of the crazed mare that had tried to kill Ancient Scroll and foalnap Twilight. Not only had she wasted a ton of time trying to save this mare, but she had completely and utterly failed at it. What was she doing? Trixie shook her head and closed her eyes again, focusing on finding the memory that held the knowledge of how Fell Wind had found out about her and the other two fillies. She didn't have much more mana left to do anything else, and she had wasted enough time trying to help the mare. She needed to help her sisters more and she'd been an idiot not to do that first. After a minute, she heard a soft hum as the memory mote she was looking for and opened her eyes to see a new mote slow to a stop in front of her. Wasting no more time, she stepped into the light and everything faded to a bright blinding whiteness briefly before her vision returned. Blinking away the spots in her eyes, she looked around at where she had ended up. She found herself in a very familiar looking town amidst all sorts of odd buildings and various different creatures that walked the streets. With a start, she realized she was back in Faranda Way Village. "Nah... well, maybe. It depends." "On what if I may ask?" One of Trixie's ears twitched and she turned towards the familiar voice. Her eyes landed on none other than Fell Wind herself, standing just a few yards away talking to a female diamond dog. Trixie's eyes widened and she frantically looked for a place to hide. She spotted a small ice cream stand being run by a short stocky earth pony mare not too far from where Fell Wind was standing. She scrambled to hide behind the stand and once she had made it, she peeked her head out from behind, narrowing her eyes as she listened in on the pegasus and diamond dog's conversation. "...and tail with violet and pink streaks..." Trixie frowned. She's talking about Twilight... As she listened to Fell Wind describe Twilight, her mind wandered back to the Fell Wind she had seen only moments ago. She couldn't help but compare the pegasus mare she saw before her now to the one she had seen then. She looked so pathetic and broken back then, and looking at her now, she wouldn't have even begun to think something so terrible would've happened to Fell Wind had she not seen it for herself. "...colt I mentioned earlier? He's her brother, and I'm trying to..." Trixie's attention snapped back to Fell Wind and her jaw dropped at what she had just heard. Her ears perked up and she listened harder, trying to glean more from the conversation. "...you said her name was Twilight Sparkle?" "Yeah, that's right, lavender coat and all that." Trixie listened for another minute longer, but didn't hear anything she didn't already know. She started to panic when she saw that Fell Wind was about to take to the sky. She frantically galloped towards the mare, desperate to stop her from getting away. "Wait!" Trixie cried as she charged Fell Wind, "hang on!" Fell Wind faltered and turned to the azure filly in confusion. As Trixie got closer, Fell Wind's eyes narrowed briefly before suddenly widening in recognition. "Wait a minute," she muttered, her face a mask of disbelief, "I... I know you... you're that--" Trixie heard none of this as she practically slammed into Fell Wind in her rush to get to the mare before she took off. She planted a hoof on Fell Wind's chest and exerted her will over the memory. Fell Wind's mouth opened to speak, but before she could say anything else, everything froze as though time had suddenly stopped. For a brief moment, there was absolute silence... And then the world shattered. Trixie's eyes slammed shut, her entire being rocked from the sheer impact of her action. She heard a loud sucking sound and felt herself being dragged forward a little ways before she was suddenly and violently blasted backwards -- the sucking sound giving way to something akin to a small explosion. For the third time since she had entered Fell Wind's mind, Trixie was thrown out into the mindscape, but this time when she recovered, she saw that the memory mote was completely gone. She had done it. She had done what she originally came here to do. Not only had she successfully -- if violently -- removed the memory, but she had found out that Twilight's brother was indeed alive and in the hooves of the ponies who were after her. She had killed two birds with one stone, and despite everything that had happened to her up to this point, she allowed herself a wide victorious smile. The only thing she had to do now was try and find out where the bad ponies' base of operations were and they'd have everything they'd need to find Twilight's brother. She rose to her hooves, and closed her eyes, ready to jump into another memory mote and return to reality with all the information she needed. When nothing happened she frowned and concentrated harder, squeezing her eyes shut. Then she felt an odd tugging sensation. Her eyes snapped open in alarm as she began to feel herself lift upwards, slowly at first, then with increasing speed. She flailed about in a panic, but could do nothing to stop her rapidly accelerating ascent. "What's going on? What is this?" Trixie cried in confusion. A realization dawned on her a moment later and her already wide eyes widened further, "No! Not now! I was so close! I--" Trixie's ethereal form vanished in a flash of light.