The Ties that Bind

by the7Saviors

An Unforeseen Consequence

Something wasn't right here.

Fell Wind's thoughts were a jumbled mess, and the powerful migraine she had experienced, hadn't helped either. Strangely enough however, it had disappeared almost as soon as it had arrived, leaving her confused and unsure. She was supposed to be in her cell, but instead she was...

Where was she?

The room looked cozy, and the bed was comfortable, but she hadn't been in a proper bed since... she couldn't even remember how long. Fell Wind tried to remember the last thing that had happened to her before she woke up.

She had been lying in her cell, still trying to recover from her latest appointment with Moon Gazer, when a filly suddenly popped into existence from out of nowhere, scaring the mare half to death.

She said some things to the filly, but then the shadow ponies showed up and dragged her away. The filly showed up again and... the shadows disappeared -- she made them disappear.

Then there were more words, and the door to the hallway wouldn't open and... that was it. Anything else she tried to remember after that only caused her migraine to spike drastically, and each time it ebbed and disappeared, she felt as though more of her memory ebbed and disappeared right along with it.

Rather than try to remember anymore, she instead swept a confused gaze over her surroundings.

"Where the buck..."

She spotted the azure filly and stopped cold.

It was her.

The filly from her memory, here and looking just as she did back at the underground facility. As Fell Wind stared, she searched what memories she could. trying to remember the filly's name.

"T-Trixie is... u-um... glad... to see you're o-okay... Fell Wind."

And just like that, the memory of the filly was thrown into sharp relief. The kid's name was Trixie, and she had all but saved the mare from what may very well have been her very last appointment with Moon Gazer.

Was she the one who had brought her here?

How would she have even done such a thing?

Just how much time had passed since then?

With a start, she finally realized she didn't feel an ounce of the constant pain, weakness, and sickness that wracked her frail and battered body. Ignoring Trixie for a moment, she inspected her own body and was shocked to see that she was in perfect health, save for the amnesia and agonizing migraine that would pop up whenever she tried to remember anything beyond meeting the filly in the hallway.

In fact, she felt far stronger than she ever had before.

As Fell Wind puzzled over this strange new development, Trixie and the others watched her with confused looks of their own. Fia trotted closer to Trixie and leaned in to whisper in her ear, not taking her eyes away from the wide eyed and increasingly frantic mare.

"What on Equus did you do to her, Trixie?" she hissed, "she's freaking out! I thought you said you could handle this?"

"W-Well, I... Trixie got rid of the memory, but..." Trixie stumbled over herself, trying to find an explanation for what had happened, "maybe I... when Trixie went to erase the memory of when she first heard about us, there might've been... an explosion?"

"An explosion? In her brain?" Corona asked flatly, "Trixie, what the buck are you talking about?"

"I don't know!" Trixie cried, becoming just as panicked as the mare sitting on the bed across from them, "I don't know what this is! She was about to escape, a-and I panicked, and... and... before that, there was this other spell, and it--"

"Wait a minute, hang on," Yojimbo interrupted, switching his disbelieving gaze from Fell Wind to Trixie, "other spell? What other spell? Trixie... what in Tartarus did you do?"

"WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!"

The others whipped around to face Fell Wind, the mare now standing rigid atop the cot with her wings outstretch from sheer agitation and stress. Her gaze was locked on the azure filly, her expression a mix of bewilderment, fear, and anger. She jabbed a hoof in Trixie's direction as she continued to rant and rave.

"How did... why am I... how the buck did a kid like you get me out of that Tartarus damned facility? Where's my brother? Did he get out too?" the pegasus mare looked about the room as if expecting him to pop up at any moment, "Red Storm? Stormy? Are you here?"

She hopped off the bed and quickly made her way to the door, pushing the fillies out of the way in the process.

"Whoa whoa, hang on there," Yojimbo cried, moving to stop the mare from leaving, "we can't just let you waltz outta here without--"

Yojimbo only had a moment's warning before Fell Wind lashed out at the husky with one of her hind legs. On reflex Yojimbo sidestepped the blow, but that left Fell Wind to dial back one of her front hooves and slam it into the door.

With a loud splintery crack the door flew off its hinges and into the wall on the opposite side of the hall outside the room. Wasting no time, Fell Wind rushed out and down the short hall.

She didn't make it halfway before the burly husky was on her. She yelped as she was dragged away from the back door of the caravan by her back leg and towards Yojimbo. With one more yank, the husky pulled Fell Wind close and wrapped his arms around her barrel, lifting her up and pinning her against his chest.

Fell Wind may have been far stronger than the average pegasus and just as strong as some of the strongest earth ponies, but Yojimbo was in a class of his own when it came to physical strength.

"Nuh-uh," he grunted as he held onto the struggling mare, "we still got business with you, Sparky," he turned his head slightly towards Rouge and the fillies who were standing just outside the doorway, "go tell the old coot, nap time's over! He needs to get his butt out here, now."

"But what can he do?" Fia cried as she watched Fell Wind struggle, "even if we wake him up now, he's not gonna be able to cast any magic! He's still weak!"

"Gah, damn it all to Tartarus," Yojimbo growled before addressing Trixie, "you gotta do something then, pup! You're the one with the crazy Mind Magic!"

Trixie watched Fell WInd as she desperately struggled and loudly cursed her canine captor. She felt a sharp pang of guilt rise up in her gut, realization all of this had been her fault.

She had messed up and done something that may very well have been irreversible to the mare she had originally intended to help. Regardless of her feelings on the matter however, Fell Wind was still a danger to her and the others, especially in this state.

She had to do something before the mare remembered she could control mana lightning.

"Fell Wind!"

The mare in question ignored Trixie as she fought against Yojimbo's iron grip. Trixie frowned and tried again, shouting over the mare.

"RED STORM ISN'T HERE!"

All at once, the fight left the mare and she hung limp in Yojimbo's arms. Fell Wind turned her head as far as she was able and looked back at Trixie. The azure filly expected anger, but what she got instead, much to her surprise, were desperate, tearful eyes looking back at her.

"I gotta find him," Fell Wind replied in a quiet shaky voice, "you don't understand, kid... he... Red Storm ain't well in the head. Even before that mare got ahold of us, he... he had problems. He needs me."

Trixie made to respond, but Rouge spoke up first.

"That may be the case, Fell Wind," she said, calmly walking over to the trapped mare, "but running around in a blind panic won't get you any closer to finding out what happened."

"But--"

"No, you need to calm down and think about this rationally," Rouge admonished, "I know things are... strange for you right now, but things will work out much better if you work with us," the feling gave Fell Wind a warm smile, "what do you say? Will you at least let us see what we can do to help?"

Fell Wind bit her lip and looked away from Rouge. For a long time she didn't say anything, her silence making the fillies uneasy. Corona nudged Trixie and nodded towards Fell Wind when she had her attention.

Taking the hint, Trixie stepped up next to Rouge and addressed the quiet pegasus. She didn't know anything about Red Storm other than that he was Fell Wind's brother, but she still had to try and convince Fell Wind that everything was okay, even if Trixie herself didn't know if it was true.

"Fell Wind, I think your brother got out just fine," Trixie began, trying to sound confident, "you told me yourself that you were both part of some super amazing team that was better than the Royal Guards."

Fell Wind's ears perked up and she turned to Trixie with a look of surprise, which quickly shifted to one of wary suspicion.

"When did I tell you that?" she demanded, "I never told anypony about... my life outside Equestria."

"It was when we were trying to escape," Trixie replied, thinking quickly, "you didn't really tell me much about it, but my point is, if Red Storm is as strong as you, then I don't think he'd have any problems escaping."

Fell Wind went quiet once more, and after another long moment, she let out a sigh of resignation.

"...Put me, down already, would ya?" she finally muttered, the fight leaving her voice entirely, "I'm not gonna try anything."

Yojimbo looked from Fell Wind, to Rouge who nodded once. He gave the pegasus one last wary look before carefully setting her down. True to her word, Fell Wind made no sudden movements, only wiping her eyes and turning around to fully face the others. She gave them all a calculating look before settling her gaze on Trixie.

"Kid, I don't know how you got me out of that facility," she narrowed her eyes, "and you better believe I got questions... lots of questions... but before that... thanks. If it hadn't been for you... I might've died in that place," she shivered involuntarily, "...or worse."

"Oh ah, well... I uh..."

Trixie smiled uneasily, the guilt at Fell Wind's misplaced gratitude slamming into her like a hoof to the face. She didn't have time to dwell on it however, as Fell Wind continued on.

"I ain't finished yet," Fell Wind interjected, cutting off Trixie's stammered reply, "it's not that I'm worried about whether or not Red Storm is alive -- I have no doubt he's still kicking."

The others looked at each other in confusion, but turned their attention back to Fell Wind as she spoke again.

"If he did manage to get out of that facility, it's gonna be everypony else that suffers the consequences."

Author's Note:

Next chapter is gonna include lies and exposition, just so you know.

Comments

[badninja]

I suddenly feel that there are sleeper agents placed all around Equestria. Hopefully Trixie undid the conditioning.

[Venerable Ro]

Whoops, didn't think she'd manage to do that. Counter-measures perhaps? In the event of capture, a spell erases her memory? Better than cyanide capsules I suppose...

[the7Saviors]

9013440
It was actually more of an unexpected chain reaction. I'll go into a bit more detail later, but that's basically what happened.

[Birribi]

before Fell WInd lashed

watched Fell WInd as

i

[AleaJactaEst]

Oh no. You fucked up, Trixie. You done fucked up real good. Well, perhaps it will be for the - questionable - better, but nonethless.