The Ties that Bind

by the7Saviors

A Fleeting Hope

Fell Wind wasn't sure what to think at the moment.

Trixie had been unlike any other foal the mare had ever seen -- and she'd seen some pretty interesting foals in her time. This one however, seemed to defy all logic and bend the world around her to her will... with just her will alone.

She proclaimed herself to be Great and Powerful, and so the world made it so.

And now here the filly was, saying Fell Wind could do the same. It was a ridiculous notion, but looking up at Trixie with her confident smile and outstretched hoof -- on top of seeing her just waltz right through the patrol without being spotted -- Fell Wind couldn't help but believe at least a little that it was possible.

Even as she began to believe Trixie's words, she could feel the terrible pain from her violent coughing fits fade and she even felt a bit stronger than she had before.

Stunned at the revelation, Fell Wind ignored Trixie's offered hoof and rose to her own four hooves, the filly stepping back in surprise. The pegasus mare looked about herself and saw that her coat had gained a little more shine and that she was noticeably more filled out -- no longer just literal skin, fur, and bones.

Fell Wind's eyes widened in disbelief before she grinned and yanked a yelping Trixie into a hug.

"It worked!" she cried, heedless of the shadow ponies around her, "your stupid speech actually worked!" she pulled back to look the bewildered filly in the eye, "I tell ya, you're something else, kid. I don't know how your crazy unicorn powers work, but this is the best I've felt in ages!"

Trixie frowned briefly before her expression slowly shifted to one of reassurance.

"Trixie told you, didn't she?" Trixie replied, stepping away from the mare, "almost anything is possible when you believe it is."

"Guess you were right about that," Fell Wind responded before turning to the shadow ponies, "now I believe it's time for us to get the buck out of here and over to the next building to save my brother."

Trixie nodded happily and the two of them trotted the rest of the way to the door where Trixie had just been only moments ago -- the shadows as heedless of the duo as Trixie and Fell Wind were to the shadows.

Once they had reached the door, Fell Wind raised her hoof to push the door open, but stopped just short. She turned to look out at the oblivious shadow ponies flitting about the cavern and slowly shook her head in awe.

"Bucking crazy..."

Trixie meanwhile, followed Fell Wind's gaze and frowned once more.

The filly wasn't normally one to constantly worry about anything and everything she did, at least not anymore -- she had done everything she could to try and put that part of herself behind her for good -- but something suddenly nagged at her about what she was trying to do.

She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but ever since Fell Wind had hugged her, something had felt... wrong. Despite her conviction to help the mare, She began to feel as though what she was doing was wrong in some way -- like she was going to regret doing all of this later somehow.

Since she couldn't place the feeling properly, she ultimately chocked it up to nerves and followed Fell Wind inside the building as the mare pushed the door opened and stepped inside.

As the two trotted inside, Trixie felt the pressure of her spell increase threefold and she nearly buckled under the strain -- the spell suddenly gripping her in a vice. The filly grunted and clenched her teeth, trying to fight off the smothering weight of the Memory Weaving spell.

Trixie was so focused on maintaining control that she didn't notice when Fell Wind slowly begin to back away, her expression a mix of terrible fear, sadness, and guilt.

"No... w-why the buck are you here?"

The question brought Trixie's attention back to Fell Wind and, still straining to maintain her grip on the spell, she followed the mare's horrified gaze.

The sight very nearly shattered her focus completely.

What the filly had thought would be another hallway was in fact a large, wide open circular room with metal doors lining the stone walls at regular intervals. In the middle of the room was a thick pillar surrounded by a spiral staircase leading upwards into another large room above it.

The first thing Trixie had noticed upon refocusing her attention on her surroundings however, was the terrifying cacophony of mad ranting, anguished screams, and chilling laughter of stallions, mares, and Trixie could've sworn she even heard a foal or two somewhere in all the maddening noise.

The horrible sound echoed throughout the large circular prison unceasingly -- each and every shout, laugh, and scream coming from behind the many doors surrounding the filly.

That wasn't what held Trixie's attention however.

What had nearly caused the azure filly's spell to unravel was the sight of the other filly resting alone on the ground near the spiral staircase in the middle of the room.

Her coat was a faded yellow and her mane and tail were an amaranth red with two streaks of light grey violet and purple. The filly had no cutie mark and her mane and tail were cut in a strikingly similar fashion to Twilight's.

In fact, Trixie was shocked to see that the filly could've passed for Twilight's twin sister had they the same mane, tail, and coat color. She also saw that the filly seemed to be a bit smaller than her and possibly a bit younger.

Seeing her there, Trixie could only come to one unpleasant conclusion.

This must be Moon Dancer...

The mysterious filly looked perfectly at ease surrounded by the tortured wails and shrieks of the ponies behind the doors. She laid there wearing a contented smile -- her eyes closed and humming a tune Trixie didn't recognize.

"I'm sorry..."

Trixie snapped her gaze back to Fell Wind to see her staring at the filly with wide teary eyes. The mare fell to her haunches -- all hope and confidence wiped away as though it was never there to begin with.

The only thing Trixie could see now was guilt and despair.

"I'm so sorry, Moon Dancer..." Fell Wind whispered again, "I should've done more... and now it's too late."

As if in response, Moon Dancer opened her dark purple eyes and her contented smile widened into a toothy grin when she noticed Fell Wind sitting there.

"Oh, Hi Windy!" Moon Dancer cried happily, waving a hoof, "did you come to see your brother again?" her smile sank into a bemused frown, "wait... where's mama's shadow ponies? Weren't they supposed to come with you?"

Fell Wind took a step back as the filly rose to her hooves and trotted closer.

"I... they..." Fell Wind struggled with her words, trying to find some kind of convincing lie, "they're... ah... on break, yeah... t-told me to... go on ahead and they'll... uh... meet me here."

Even through her continuing struggle with the spell, Trixie managed to gape at the mare. It was like another switch had been flipped and Fell Wind was now more akin to a scared little foal trying to hide a bad deed from her parents -- and all this fear from a filly who was younger than even Trixie herself.

Moon Dancer narrowed her eyes suspiciously -- her head tilting ever so slightly.

"The shadow ponies don't need to take breaks, Windy... they're made of shadows."

"R-Right, yeah I ah... I meant... y-y'know... they... t-they, uh..." Fell Wind swallowed and took another step back, her face twisted in mortal fear and her voice suddenly small and pleading, "please don't tell your mom I'm here, Moon Dancer..."

The filly's frown deepened and for a heart stopping moment, Trixie was sure the filly would refuse Fell Wind's request. Then Moon Dancer suddenly smiled and the azure filly felt the pressure increase exponentially.

She let out a loud gasp and fell to the floor, curling in on herself as she desperately tried to push back the pressure that was beginning to crush her ethereal form. Somewhere far away, she could hear Moon Dancer laugh and Fell Wind scream for mercy.

"...very late for your scheduled checkup, C-38."

Everything flickered and warped for a brief second as Trixie's focus faltered. Her widened, terrified eyes locked on to the scene before her and she found herself facing another mare.

This mare was surprisingly short, only a few hooves taller than Trixie. Her coat was a golden yellow and her magenta colored mane cascaded down one side of her face, partially covering her horn rimmed glasses.

Dull, sunken, and cold violet eyes bored into Fell Wind who had been shoved down onto the floor by two shadow ponies that hadn't been there a moment ago. The pegasus was now looking up at the smirking mare -- her own eyes showing pure terror as she struggled in the grip of the shadow ponies.

Trixie winced as the world around her flickered and twisted again.

Moon Dancer was now hopping up and down, giggling with joy next to the mare. The mare herself lifted Moon Dancer in a baby blue aura and set her down on her back before addressing Fell Wind once more.

"I'm not quite sure how you managed to escape, but we have a lot of time to make up, and I'll not be delayed a moment further," a thick bubbling black aura encased her horn and the shadow ponies began to sink into the floor, taking Fell Wind with them.

"NO! DON'T TAKE ME BACK THERE, PLEASE!" Fell Wind cried, tears streaming down her face as she sank further and further into the black ooze covering the floor beneath her, "I WON'T TRY TO ESCAPE AGAIN! I JUST WANTED TO SEE MY BROTHER! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! I'LL DIE! I'LL--"

The world distorted again -- the pausing and flickering getting worse as Fell Wind's fear mounted. Taking no notice of the strange occurrences around her, Fell Wind suddenly turned to Trixie, her already wide and frantic eyes widening further.

'TRIXIE! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME! USE YOUR WEIRD MAGIC! MAKE HER DISAPPEAR! MAKE HERMMmmfff!"

Her words became a muffled scream as her muzzle dipped beneath the ooze. The last thing Trixie saw before the world ripped itself apart was Moon Dancer clapping her hooves as though she had just seen a grand performance...

...and Moon Gazer's shocked expression as she stared back at Trixie.

Author's Note:

I did it guys! One hundred freakin' chapters and it's still going! Not only that, but I'm also about to reach the 200k mark!

Seriously, up until about two years ago now, I never thought I'd be writing... like, at all. And now here I am managing what? Six stories now? Every day? That's madness is what that is, and now that I'm in this deep, I wouldn't change it for anything.

Really, thanks to everyone who's supported me and my rather bleak and sometimes depressing stories thus far, it means a lot!

EDIT: Apparently I reached one hundred chapters two chapters ago... but that still doesn't devalue anything I've said here!

Comments

[DracoDarastrix]

Okay,...... The plot thickens.... Hmmmm,

[Venerable Ro]

Fascinating ending to that memory-weave, very complicated situation. Things seemed to be going well, very well, but then they ran into Moondancer. Enjoying the Chorus of the Dammed. That's, that's not a good thing. (Some say you can leverage such things as a method of Divination, I'm not personally convinced.)

Anyway, Fell Wind is surprised, curious that, and begs her not to tell her Mother. Then, well, speak of the Devil... we all know how things went from there...

But Moongazer saw Trixie... that shouldn't have been possible... up till then Trixie had been less than a ghost to anyone other than Fell. So was this an example of a novice Dream-walker letting a cascade failure get away from them, or is there something else in there with them. Something with enough willpower to override Fell's role in the Weave.

But at least this didn't end with a massively inconsistent set of memories in Fell's head. If they'd succeeded fell would have been left with both a memory of her brother's rescue, and knowledge of his death. (or whatever really happened to him...) Troublesome. Instead she just remembers a fever-dream about some ludicrously magical unicorn filly trying to break her out.

[the7Saviors]

8984855
She won't even be left with that. Once the spell breaks, Fell Wnd forgets everything that happended during the Memory Weave spell.

[Venerable Ro]

8984903
Ah, so the edit is dependent on a successful tying off of the spell. I thought so, but one can never tell with these traumatic shut-downs. They tend to go off in unexpected directions.

[Kichi]

Sadly, while the magician is great in the show, when the show end, the powers banish.

[Venerable Ro]

8988307
Perhaps, though in such matters one must look carefully for the hook in the bait. Such beings do nothing out of kindness, only in anticipation of future malice. In any case, there are some things that are simply not good to know. Irregardless of intent, good or bad, aberrant knowledge can twist the mind and erode the soul.
i.redditmedia.com/4X__9rXei9R0MiL_NbYs0nj_skFaF7eHCWBUJgRlIss.jpg?w=543&s=1de4554e3e2f10978df7f50774c0c2e2

[Venerable Ro]

8988584
Well there's no excusing poor writing... likewise, smut generally exists only in the mind of they that write it. As to mutual exclusivity, well, an omniverse is a very large thing. more than enough room for everyone. Besides, fundamental differences in universes make for interesting crossovers! Have you perchance, read the maretian?

[Rosewell8]

When you said you were throwing this story into rotation I assumes=d you were going to do an every other day thing or twice a week thing. It gets kind of boring waiting for these to come out :(. But I understand wanting to work on your other things too.

[Birribi]

I don't know how you're crazy unicorn powers work

your

[Chillean]

Dammit, so close..