//------------------------------// // A Mare from the Land Beyond // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// The three fillies, the feline, and the husky once again gathered in the sitting room. Fell Wind sat on the chair opposite the others, her wings twitching in agitation every so often as she cast anxious glances to the busted doorway. Fia and Corona gave each other worried looks, but Trixie wasn't paying the slightest amount of attention. As they waited for Fell Wind to explain, the azure filly was desperately trying to come up with a plausible story as to why she was able to do what she did, why so much time had passed between then and now without her aging, and how she was able to get Fell Wind out of that facility when she herself didn't even know where the thing was exactly. Trixie was snapped out of her thoughts as Fell Wind finally spoke. "Okay, so Red Storm and I aren't exactly from Equestria," she paused and furrowed her brow, "well, technically we are from Equestria, but the land we grew up in may as well have been on a completely different continent." "Are you... from the Badlands?" Fia asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, "I thought that place wasn't inhabitable by normal ponies." Fell Wind chuckled and shook her head. "No, I ain't from the Badlands, kid," she gave the black filly a wry smirk, "I'm from a much tougher place than that." The group gave collective looks of bemusement, Yojimbo furrowing his brows in thought as he repeated Fell Wind's words under his breath. After a second his eyes widened and he turned back to Fell Wind in disbelief. "No barkin' way..." he breathed in awe, "are you telling me you and this brother of yours are from the Equestrian Outlands?" "Is that what ponies call it here?" Fell Wind asked with a raised eyebrow, "well, if by 'Equestrian Outlands' you mean the 'land beyond the Celestial Barrier', then yeah, ya got it in one, pooch." The various looks of confusion only grew at the revelation and Fia turned to Yojimbo for an explanation. Yojimbo was about to oblige when another, raspier voice spoke up from the doorway. "The Equestrian Outlands," came the voice as a familiar beige unicorn stallion stepped into the room, "the 'land beyond the Celestial Barrier', is a place known only to a select few, and for good reason." Everyone in the room turned to the old stallion who had just arrived with a mix of different expressions ranging from joy to relief to confusion to worry and trepidation. "UNCLE SCROLL!" The three fillies rushed over to Ancient Scroll and nearly bowled the stallion over with their collective hugs. Ancient Scroll himself returned the hugs without taking his narrowed eyes off the dark green pegasus. "It's great to see you again, girls," Ancient Scroll said, momentarily lowering his gaze to give the fillies a warm smile. He frowned when he finally took notice of Trixie's coat, "Trixie? What happened to your--" "we'll explain later," Corona interjected before looking over to Fell Wind nervously, "right now there's some... more important things going on." Ancient Scroll's frown deepened and he turned back to Fell Wind with a wary expression. "I suppose that's true," he muttered before speaking in a normal tone, "now, then, would any of you mind filling me in on why the sitting room door is smashed against the wall and Miss Evergreen is here talking about those blasted wastes?" "Miss Evergreen?" Fell Wind replied in confusion before turning to the others, "did this old coot just call me Miss Evergreen? Who the--" "Oh, don't mind him, dear," Rouge replied quickly, "you... just look like a mare he had known awhile back," she turned and gave Ancient Scroll a significant look, "I know the similarities are uncanny, but I assure you, she is not the same mare, Ancient Scroll. This is Fell Wind, and she has... a severe case of retrograde amnesia." Ancient Scroll eyed Rouge for a moment, taking in the information before giving a slow nod. "I... see," he turned back to Fell Wind with an apologetic smile, "please forgive me, Fell Wind, I tend to get a bit confused in my old age," he then frowned, "tell me, Miss Wind--" "Ugh, just call me Fell Wind, please," the pegasus mare interjected as she scrunched her face up in distaste, "Miss Wind just sounds... blegh." Ancient Scroll gave a slight smile. "Fair enough, Fell Wind," he replied with a small chuckle, "my name is Ancient Scroll, and I'm the one taking care of these fillies." As Ancient Scroll gave his name, the rest of the group realized none of them had actually introduced themselves to the mare. Rouge was the first to rectify the matter. "It seems we never did tell you our names, did we?" she said, smiling sheepishly at Fell WInd, "my name is Rouge," she then gestured to each of the others in turn, "the big one is Yojimbo, these are Fia and Corona, and you already seem to know of little Beatrix Lulamoon." Ancient Scroll raised an eyebrow at Trixie, who was very pointedly looking elsewhere, a slight sheen of nervous sweat showing on her forehead. The old stallion made a mental note to ask about what had happened between Trixie and the mare later. For the moment he looked back to Fell Wind with a polite smile. "You'll have to excuse my bluntness, Fell Wind," he said with another apologetic smile, "but what exactly do you remember, if you don't mind me asking?" "Well, before I woke up in that bed over there," Fell Wind replied, gesturing to the cot, "I was... in a pretty bad situation," she looked away for a moment before nodding towards Trixie, "but then the kid swooped in out of nowhere and saved me." "Oh?" Ancient Scroll responded, giving Trixie a pointed look that the filly tried to ignore, "...is that so?" "Yeah, she's something alright," Fell Wind answered with another nod, oblivious to the growing tension, "the last thing I remember is trying to open a door in a hallway, and then... nothing." Ancient Scroll hummed to himself as he continued to stare at Trixie. It was clear to everyone present that his mind was working to unravel the mystery of what had happened. After a minute his eyes widened before narrowing in disapproval as he looked at the azure filly. Trixie, seeing his reaction, merely whimpered and seemed to shrink in on herself. "...I believe I may know what's wrong, Fell Wind, and I think I might be able to help," he finally replied, addressing Fell Wind while keeping his eyes on Trixie, "but before that, I'd like to know more about why you were talking about the Equestrian Outlands." Fell Wind furrowed her brow and stole another glance outside of the room before letting out a resigned sigh and turning back to Ancient Scroll and the others. "Fine, but I'm gonna make it quick," she conceded, "I need to find Stormy before he does something stupid -- oh, and sorry about the door by the way," she shrugged, "kinda freaked out and busted it down." "It's quite alright," Ancient Scroll replied dismissively, "it'll be an easy fix, now about the wastes?" "Right," Fell Wind said, nodding, "the land beyond the Celestial Barrier--" "Wait!" Fia cried, looking between Ancient Scroll and Fell Wind in frustrated bemusement, "what is this 'Celestial Barrier' you keep mentioning?" "I'll explain it later, little filly," Ancient Scroll replied distractedly, "now let's listen to what Fell WInd has to say, shall we?" "Anyway," Fell Wind grumbled, annoyed at the interruption, "that place is a nightmare. Monsters and demons attacking constantly, really crappy living conditions, dreary and depressing creatures everywhere you look, and nothing but rocky desert as far as the eye can see." "Did you... say monsters and... and demons?" Corona asked, eyes widening in horror, "like, actual demons?" "Straight out of Tartarus," Fell Wind replied easily, "there's a reason that whole region is locked behind a Barrier," she shook her head and continued, "my brother and I were both Hunters in the town that we lived in." "Hunters?" Fia asked with a slight tilt of her head, "what does that mean? What did you hunt?" "We went out into the desert and hunted the more dangerous monsters and demons before they could attack our home," Fell Wind replied. Her expression turned dour as she spoke, "a mission we were on went south and I got myself in some real deep manure. My brother went through some things no creature should have to go through to save me..." She went quiet for a moment, her expression distant and filled with heavy guilt. She came back to reality a second later. "It... it messed him up bad," she said quietly, looking down at her hooves, "and it was after that, that I decided to leave those wastes with my brother. The journey was brutal, but we just barely managed to make it across the Barrier and into Equestria proper." She looked up and gave them all a bitter smile. "We thought we had reached the freaking promised land when we arrived," she chuckled lightly, "we were wounded, tired, hungry, and thirsty, but we made it into a nearby town where we were helped by some of the townsponies. "Everything was looking good, and it looked like we could finally start a new life away from that desert," her smile fell and was replaced with a pained grimace, "but then my brother had an... episode." "An... episode?" Ancient Scroll asked with a troubled frown, "what kind of episode?" "The kind where a lot of good, innocent ponies die and we have to leave town." The others sat in complete silence as they let Fell Wind's words sink in. Something about the mare's story pulled at Fia. She felt something niggling at the back of her mind as she thought about this Red Storm pony, and she couldn't help but feel a familiar fear slowly churning in her gut. She couldn't quite place the feeling or why the whole situation made her think back to the night her parents died, but she tried to ignore it as Fell Wind continued her story. "It wasn't that long after we fled that we ran into her," Fell Wind hissed, her eyes narrowing and her face contorting into a snarl. "Her?" Trixie asked before her eyes widened, "wait, you're not talking about--" "Moon Gazer," Fell Wind spat, "she showed up out of nowhere and promised us some kind of sanctuary. We had nowhere else to go, and she sounded sincere," she gave a derisive bark of laughter, "we were idiots... bucking desperate idiots." "I think I know where this is going," Yojimbo muttered from his seat on the couch, "and I don't like it one bit." "We followed the nag all the way to the region near Canterlot," Fell Wind shook her head as she remembered the trip, "I still don't know how she did it, but somehow she was able to keep Stormy's episodes under control." "So he didn't... y'know..." Fia shifted uncomfortably, "he didn't... kill anymore ponies?" "Not while we were travelling with Moon Gazer he didn't," Fell Wind replied before looking off to the side with a glare, "then, when we got close to Canterlot itself, she drugged us or something at some point and I woke up in some cell." "And that's when she started doing terrible things to you and your brother," Trixie finished quietly, "I'm sorry, Fell Wind, I didn't know..." "It ain't your fault," Fell Wind replied, breathing out a weary sigh, "it's hers, and if I ever see that nag again..." she smashed a hoof into the floor, leaving a sizable dent in the wood and causing the fillies to flinch, "...she's gonna wish she had killed me." As she finished her story, the others all looked at each other, trying to figure out exactly what to say. Ultimately it was Ancient Scroll that spoke. "It sounds like you and your brother have gone through quite the ordeal, Fell Wind," he said, before stepping back towards the entrance, "I'd like to talk more about this and how Trixie was able to help you escape captivity, but I believe it'd be best to do something about your condition first." He turned and started to make his way out of the room before stopping and looking back to Fell Wind and Trixie both. "If you'll follow me to the fillies' room, I'd like to examine you for a moment," he focused an intense gaze on Trixie who took a nervous step back, "and I believe I'll need this little filly's help." With that, he motioned for the two to follow and trotted out of the room. Fell Wind looked from the retreating stallion to Trixie before giving a shrug and following after Ancient Scroll. "Well whatever," she muttered, "as long as I can find Red Storm I don't care what I need to do, memory loss or not." Trixie hesitated for a moment longer, looking back to the other two fillies for some kind of help. Fia stepped back and looked away, her ears flattening. She bit her lip in indecision before letting out a sigh and fixing the azure filly with a stern frown. "I told you this was a bad idea, Trixie," she said before her features softened somewhat, "but I know you just wanted to help. I can't really do anything if Uncle Scroll decides to punish you... but I can at least be there." "And it's not like I can really say anything," Corona added, moving next to Trixie with a wry smile, "I was kind of on board with the idea, so I should be there too I guess." "I..." Trixie's eyes began to tear up, but she quickly wiped them away, "thanks, you two. I just... when I saw what happened to Fell Wind, I couldn't just do nothing," she hung her head, "but I just made everything worse." "Maybe, maybe not." The three fillies turned to look at Rouge, who was eyeing the broken doorway with a thoughtful expression. When she noticed them staring in bemusement, she smiled and nodded towards the entrance. "Don't mind me, little ones," she responded, "I'm merely thinking aloud. You should go before Ancient Scroll gets any more upset than he already is." Trixie swallowed before turning back to the doorway. She felt a hoof rest on her shoulder and looked back to see Corona giving her an encouraging nod. Trixie took a calming breath before nodding back and the three of them made their way out of the room. Scared as she was, Trixie couldn't help but wonder just what Ancient Scroll was planning to do.