The Ties that Bind

by the7Saviors

A Reluctant Push Forward

Wracked with guilt as Iron Heart was, she still had a job to do.

To this end, she had gathered the group of ponies and the Abyssinian just outside the Vardo. She lined them up and looked them over, her face unreadable save for the very slight wince upon seeing the fearful faces of the two fillies.

She found she couldn't meet their eyes for long, and seeing the glares of the two adults didn't help matters either.

Pushing down the sudden bout of self-loathing for the moment, she paced in front of the group as she spoke—her voice loud and authoritative.

"You all have my sincerest apologies for the... debacle earlier," she said, her commanding tone faltering a bit, "I assure you it was not my intent to harm either of your foals."

She stopped and hung her head.

"I admit, that was... not the best way I could've handled the situation," she raised her head with a set frown, "I won't make excuses, only apologies."

Iron Heart waited as they all looked at each other, as if having some silent conversation she wasn't aware of. She blinked in surprise when she noticed one of the fillies—the maroon one—looking in her direction and raising a hoof.

"Yes?" Iron Heart replied, somewhat caught off guard, "you had a question?"

The filly nodded and looked the captain up and down as though searching for something.

"W-What did you do to our magic?" she asked, her tone both unnerved and accusatory, "when I try to draw mana into my horn it doesn't work. You're not a unicorn, so you shouldn't be able to nullify our magic with your own."

The filly cast a quick glance at the old stallion before returning her gaze to Iron Heart, her eyes narrowing slightly as she continued.

"Are you using some kind of artifact to block our magic? Or maybe all magic within a certain range?"

Iron Heart's eyes widened in surprise at the filly's accusation. She hadn't expected that to be the question coming out of the filly's mouth.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help but chuckle slightly, impressed by the filly's insight. She seemed to be the smart, studious type... much like she was told the lavender filly they were supposed to be on the lookout for was.

The thought nagged at the captain, but she pushed it aside, knowing full well that had the filly been using magic to disguise herself, her 'gift' from the Princess would've dispelled it in an instant.

She shook her head and reached into a pocket inside her armor and pulled out a smooth, flat white stone a little smaller than her hoof.

"That's it?" the silvery blue unicorn filly blurted out incredulously when she saw the seemingly benign stone, "you jammed our magic with a small rock?"

"That isn't just any stone, little filly," Ancient Scroll replied with a grimace, "what the lady has there is known as null stone."

"Null stone," the maroon filly muttered thoughtfully before her eyes widened in recognition, "isn't that the stuff some of the most powerful anti-magic horn rings are made of?"

"It certainly is," Iron Heart replied just as Ancient Scroll was about to, "though in my opinion, it has far more use as a simple stone than a ring."

The fact of the matter was that Iron Heart was right in a way. Once cultivated into a horn ring, the effects of null stone were reduced to nullifying the magic of the one unicorn who wore it.

The trade off for that was that the effects were concentrated into a single point, making them more potent. As a stone however, it had a much wider—though still somewhat limited—range of effect, and it didn't just apply to unicorns either.

Null stone in its natural state had a subdued effect on the innate magic of pegasi and earth ponies, to the point where pegasi couldn't fly for very long or that earth ponies would feel a bit of weakness and some sluggishness.

Where the stone truly shined however, was when it was being used against a unicorn. Null stone was exceedingly difficult to find in Equestria, and it was even more of a daunting task to mold it into a horn ring, but the effects the stone had on unicorns were worth the effort.

If need be, the effects of null stone could be muted by a special material that was normally woven into small pouches used to store said stones when not in use—a pouch Iron Heart just so happened to possess.

"That's... but that..." Blue Moon sputtered indignantly, "that's just unfair!"

"Is it?" Iron Heart asked, raising an eyebrow, "I think not, considering the power unicorns have at their disposal normally."

"Just let it go for now, Blue Moon," Corona said with a resigned sigh. She turned her attention back to Iron Heart, a scowl crossing her face, "so what now? Are you gonna arrest us? Turn us into the Princess for traveling through the forest?"

Rather than answer right away, Iron Heart observed the filly. Her tone was angry and accusatory, but it was clear to the pegasus captain that the filly—Corona if she had heard right—was scared.

In fact, if it hadn't been for her own blunder, she would've said the filly was almost unreasonably scared. She noticed the shaking in her legs and the quaver in her voice increase when she mentioned the Princess.

The captain made a mental note of her reaction before moving on.

"I'm not going to arrest you on the spot," Iron Heart finally replied, "but I will warn you that there is a very dangerous... individual on the loose in this forest."

A thought struck her and she narrowed her eyes.

"The four of you wouldn't happen to know anything about this individual would you?" she asked suddenly, "or might have at least seen them? We're on the lookout for what some of my scouts have described as a dark green pegasus mare with a black mane and tail."

"Can't say that I've seen such a mare, ma'am," Ancient Scroll answered readily, "wish I could be of more help, but we haven't run into any trouble at all... until now that is."

"It is true," Rouge added with a curt nod, "the trip had been rather pleasant, at least until you charged into our caravan, attacked my husband unprovoked, and nearly killed our granddaughters."

Iron Heart paused for a heartbeat before clearing her throat and replying with as much grace as she could, trying all the while to hide her shame.

"I see," she continued, "be that as it may, I still have a duty to uphold, and while I'd like nothing more than to let you continue your travels at your own leisure, I believe it would be wiser to expedite your journey through the forest."

Without warning the pegasus captain let out an ear piercing whistle that, from the sheer volume, most likely carried quite a distance.

The sound left the fillies' ears ringing and it took a moment before they realized they were suddenly surrounded on all sides by more pegasus Guards, and a few unicorn and earth pony Guards as well.

It was as though they had all been hiding in the trees this entire time—or at least that was Ancient Scroll's guess, as he hadn't seen them appear either.

Blue Moon yelped in surprise while the others simply looked around with various expressions of bemusement or nervousness. Their attention was brought back to Iron Heart as she spoke again.

"As an apology, and because I believe it to be the safer option, I will have a contingent of Guards escort you the rest of the way out of the forest from here."

"What?!" Blue Moon and Corona shouted in unison.

"B-But we can't just leave!" Blue Moon cried, "what about Tw—"

"What about Fia?!" Corona yelled over Blue Moon, trying to salvage the other filly's near slip, "she's still missing! We can just leave her out there!"

"A missing filly?" Iron Heart replied, turning to Ancient Scroll with a frown, "there was no mention of a missing filly. Why?"

Ancient Scroll exhaled through his nose and met Iron Heart's questioning gaze with a grimace.

"We... were about to go out looking for her when you showed up," he replied, "what with being attacked, I might have forgotten to mention it."

A sudden realization came to him and he inwardly cursed his own mistake. If Yojimbo came back now with Guards hot on his tail it would cause all sorts of problems.

Problems they most certainly did not need right now.

"We... actually have another one traveling with us," he admitted, "a diamond dog by the name of Yojimbo. The old dog is... very protective of the fillies.

"He went out to go looking for our lost little filly earlier, and he... might've done something rash if he ran into any of your Guards in the forest."

"Oh?" Iron Heart replied with a scowl, "and why would he do that?"

"He doesn't know too much about how things work this side of Equestria," Ancient Scroll answered smoothly, "he may have thought the Guards were a threat to the filly," he shrugged, "I'm not sure what goes on in that brain of his at times, but please don't be too hard on the fellow if you see him."

Iron Heart eyed the stallion coolly for a moment before speaking again.

"Do you have any idea where this Yojimbo is right now?" she asked, "or when he'll be back?"

"I'm not sure, Miss," Ancient Scroll replied with a sad shake of his head, "if he hasn't gotten himself lost, he should be back within the hour."

The captain mulled this over for a moment before turning to the waiting Guards behind her.

"Fast Strike, Wind Whisper, Quick Silver, White Star," she commanded, "I want the four of you to see these good ponies—and Abyssinian—out of the forest ASAP."

The two pegasi and two unicorns in question each snapped a crisp salute with matching shouts of 'Yes ma'am' before positioning themselves at various points around the caravan.

Iron Heart nodded in satisfaction before turning to address the remaining soldiers.

"The rest of you are to assist me in locating the missing filly," she said before looking back towards the worried group of travelers, "we'll find her, Ancient Scroll, and if the diamond dog comes back, and if he's willing to cooperate, we'll be sure to send him your way."

Ancient Scroll wanted to grit his teeth in frustration, but held back. The situation was less than ideal, but none of them really had a choice but to go with it and hope the Guards didn't find Fell Wind with the filly.

Ancient Scroll knew Yojimbo well enough to know that he'd pick up on what the stallion had done and play along.

This wouldn't have been the first time something like this happened, so the old stallion wasn't too worried about his little lie to the captain.

"Very well," he replied, "the filly's name is Fia, she has a black coat and a silvery white mane with an orange streak. Might be a bit hard to see her now, but you'll know her once you do. Bring her back safe if you would."

"On my honor as the Captain of the Royal Guard, Mister Scroll," Iron Heart replied before nodding towards the Vardo, "now if you and the rest of your family would return to the caravan?"

As Ancient Scroll explained to the captain how they'd be moving without a harness, the two fillies looked at each other nervously, neither of them having to say a word about how worried they were.

Within the span of about five minutes, they were loaded up and moving out with their escorts while Iron Heart remained behind in the clearing along with several of her Guards.

It was not how Ancient Scroll had envisioned what was supposed to be a relatively safe trip through Farhoof Forest, but it couldn't be helped.

Whatever happened to Yojimbo, Fell Wind, and Fia was out of his hooves now.

Author's Note:

And with that, we can finally return to the present!

Comments

[Biker_Dash]

Had TrixieBlue Moon and SunsetCorona not panicked, Rover (easier to say than 'Yamja... Yam... that mutt) could have smuggled TwilightFia past the guards and met up with the rest outside the forest.

[Birribi]

Null stone was exceedingly difficult to find in Equestria

stones were

the effects of null stone could be muted by a special material that was normally woven

stones

[ThunderandLightning]

9161470
I hate to nitpick, but given that "null stone" is being described as a type of mineral rather than an object in this context, those corrections are in fact needless.
-Thunder

[Birribi]

9161576
I guess, it just feels weird to read.

EDIT: I was a bit tired when I read it yesterday, it made more sense when I re-read it today