//------------------------------// // A Talk with Trixie // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// The morning had grown late, and Ancient Scroll had finally felt magically fit enough to get the Vardo up and running. With the incident involving Fell Wind behind them—at least for the most part—they were able to continue making their way through the forest. Camping equipment had been packed up, the caravan had been sufficiently cleaned, and Ancient Scroll had once again fired up the modified Come-to-Life spell that carried the Vardo across the forested path. By the time they were actually on the road, late morning had given way to early afternoon. There was still roughly half a day's travel left before they passed through the forest, and Ancient Scroll hadn't planned on stopping until they reached the forest's exit. With nothing else to distract him, Ancient Scroll took it upon himself to clear up and take care of a few things regarding what had happened that night... starting with Trixie. It was now that they both stood out on the platform—Ancient Scroll levitating the book Trixie had swiped from his library between them. Trixie eyed the book, her ears flat and her expression guilty. Ancient Scroll silently looked at the filly with a disapproving scowl for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "Trixie—" "Trixie knows it was wrong!" the filly blurted out suddenly, "it's just... you weren't there to ask, and the book was really interesting and... and... she wasn't going to use the spells to do anything bad, really!" She lowered her head and pawed at the wooden floor of the platform. "She was just... curious," she muttered quietly, "that's all, honest." Ancient Scroll closed his mouth and stared at the filly with a thoughtful frown. He furrowed his brow after a minute and gave a small, almost imperceptible smile. "Did you learn anything useful?" he finally asked, surprising Trixie, "I've documented quite a few changeling based spells in this book, and many of them would be fairly difficult to pull off without some sort of understanding of how emotions affect magic and vice versa." Trixie's open mouthed surprise turned to a proud smile as she puffed out her chest. "Trixie will have you know, she's already memorized the chapter concerning emotions, magic, and how they affect each other," she boasted, "and she even managed to learn a few spells too... although she hasn't had a chance to test them out yet..." "That's all well and good, little filly," Ancient Scroll said with a nod, "I would've much preferred it if you'd have waited until I got back and asked me before taking the book, but on that front, what's done is done I suppose." He lowered the book to Trixie's eye level and the filly looked between him and the book, a bemused expression on her face. "Since you've already delved into the strange world of changeling Mind Magic, you may as well complete your studies—as long as you make sure to read up on the dangers and precautions of using such magic." Trixie nodded dumbly as she took the book in her own magic and looked at it. She turned to thank Ancient Scroll, but was stopped by a raise of his hoof. "I'm not done, filly," he continued with a frown, "I was initially going to ban you from learning any more Mind Magic for the time being, but at this point, I believe that would be detrimental, so instead, I'm going to be shifting the focus of your studies to learning how to use Mind Magic responsibly." Trixie lowered her head in thought and slowly nodded after a moment. "Trixie... I think that's a good idea," she finally said, her voice growing quiet once more, "I don't want anything like what happened with Fell Wind to ever happen again." "I'm sure you don't," Ancient Scroll replied just as quietly, "and to ensure an incident like that doesn't happen again, I'm drilling you on safeties and precautions—something I honestly should've done ages ago." Ancient Scroll sighed and looked away, his own face betraying a hint of guilt. "That... was also a bit of folly on my part as a teacher," he conceded, "I know how dangerous and sensitive Mind Magic can be, and I should've focused more on it's proper use as a whole." He looked back to Trixie with a scowl, causing the filly to wince slightly. "I've amended my decision in the hopes that you genuinely understand the consequences of such rash actions," Ancient Scroll said, giving the filly a level stare, "and I expect you to carefully and wisely consider how they'll affect others in the future, am I understood?" Trixie nodded rapidly. "Trixie understands, Uncle Scroll," she said quickly before grimacing and looking away, "she'll... make sure to ask you if the spell is safe to use first." "Good," Ancient Scroll replied, nodding in satisfaction, "now then—" "Hey, old timer!" Both Ancient Scroll and Trixie turned just in time to see Fell Wind trot out onto the platform. The mare stopped briefly when she spotted Trixie, and the filly looked back nervously. For a heartbeat, the mare and the filly stared at each other. "Yo," she said, giving Trixie a single nod before turning to Ancient Scroll, and unfurling her wings, "hey listen, I'm gonna stretch my wings for a bit, maybe see how long we got left until we're out of this Tartarus forsaken forest." Without waiting for a reply, she flapped her wings once and shot off into the sky with all the force and speed of a cannonball being fired from a cannon. The two watched her go until she was out of sight before Trixie turned to Ancient Scroll. "She... she's not mad at me?" Ancient Scroll frowned thoughtfully before looking down at Trixie. "That mare is... well it's complicated, little filly," he said with a sigh, "I think she still has some residual issues with you, but she's trying not to let it bother her." "Oh," Trixie replied, her ears flattening, "I guess that makes sense..." "Oh, don't be like that, Trixie," Ancient Scroll replied rubbing the filly's mane, "I'm sure things will work out between you two in the end, but the both of you are gonna have to work this out sooner or later." "I know," Trixie answered with a small sigh of her own, "I'm not looking forward to it though." "I doubt Fell Wind is either," Ancient Scroll said with a small chuckle, "but like I said, I'm sure the both of you will come to an understanding in time." His understanding smile was then replaced with a grimace as he shifted topics. "Now like I was about to say before we were distracted," he began, "I want you to tell me more about this... 'Mare of Dreams'." One of Trixie's ears gave an errant twitch at the name and she frowned. She opened her mouth, closed it, sighed, then tried again. "Trixie doesn't know a lot about the Mare of Dreams," Trixie began, "she just... showed up while Trixie was having a... really bad nightmare. She didn't give me her name, she said it wasn't time or something like that." "And you said this mare had both wings and a horn?" Ancient Scroll pressed, "and it wasn't Princess Celestia?" "No," Trixie confirmed with a shake of her head, "the mare was black and wore this crazy looking armor with... stuff written all over it." "Stuff?" Ancient Scroll replied with a raised eyebrow, "what kind of stuff?" "Trixie doesn't know," the filly replied, throwing up a hoof in bemusement, "it looked like those Runic things you and Suns—er, Corona were going on about." Ancient Scroll hummed in thought and remained silent for a few moments. "So she implants a powerful and dangerous spell in your mind and fails to explain anything other than said spell's name and function..." He went silent again, causing Trixie to shift nervously. After another moment he eyed the azure filly again and furrowed his brow. "I don't think you're telling me everything, little filly," he finally said, "You yourself told me she might've had a plan she wants carried out, and she wouldn't just hoof you a spell like that without explaining at least in part what she wants you to do with it." Trixie found she couldn't argue with that, and relented. "I really don't know her plan, Uncle Scroll," the filly answered, "but she did tell Trixie one thing." "And what's that?" Trixie looked off to the side, towards the entrance into the caravan. Her expression turned worried and she looked back towards Ancient Scroll. "She told Trixie that there would be a time when something terrible happens to Twilight, and that Trixie would need to use the Mind Walking spell to save her... but she didn't say how, or what that terrible thing would be." Ancient Scroll's gaze drifted away from Trixie as he thought, reaching a hoof up to idly stroke his beard. This mare, if she was to be believed—and Ancient Scroll had no reason to at this point—then there really was something to worry about in the future. But what on Equus would warrant such a potent Mind Magic spell? Ancient Scroll couldn't fathom the answer, but the possibility scared him more than he would've liked to admit. Yes, he didn't have any reason as of yet to believe this mare—this... alicorn that had invaded Trixie's mind, but it wouldn't hurt to remain cautious of her supposed prediction. "Um... Uncle Scroll?" The stallion blinked and looked back down at Trixie, who was looking towards the sky. He followed the filly's gaze and saw the outline of a pegasus quickly flying in their direction. "Is that..." Ancient Scroll's unfinished question was answered soon enough, as the outline grew clearer and a dark green pegasus began to descend towards the Vardo. Ancient Scroll and Trixie took a step back as Fell Wind landed on the platform. The mare shook her messy black mane out of her eyes before looking at the two with a grim expression. "Guys... we got a bit of a problem."