The Ties that Bind

by the7Saviors

A Breaking Point

The Fourth Day

Trixie had spent the rest of yesterday doing little other than laying about the basement. Her entire body throbbed painfully and she was much too sore to do anything else. When she awoke the next day, the pain had subsided somewhat, but the soreness hadn't abated at all.

On top of that, she was beginning to lose hope.

While she still had the will to defy her parents, her drive to accomplish the goal of seeing Hoofdini was beginning to falter. In her current state she could barely move, let alone escape. Not to mention today was the final day Hoofdini would be in town before moving on, and then she would lose her chance to see him again -- possibly for the rest of her life.

As she ruminated on these ever darkening thoughts she heard the door slowly creak open and the steady clop of hooves make their way down the steps of the basement. She turned her tired gaze towards the source of the noise and saw her father standing there -- an unreadable, almost disinterested expression on his face.

To Trixie's confusion, he also had a large dirty brown pouch with him. Before she could ask what was going on, her father spoke first.

"You know something, Beatrix?" he began conversationally, "I never wanted a kid."

Trixie blinked.

"Your mother? She never wanted a kid either," he continued, "but me?" he chuckled and shook his head, "I never even wanted be with the broad. It was supposed to be a one night stand sort of deal, y'know? Bang her then leave her, but it didn't work out that way."

He trotted over to one of the boxes and dropped to his haunces -- making himself comfortable. Trixie watched him with a small worried frown, not sure of what to make of the situation. She was too confused to really be affected by his words, so she just laid there and waited to see where he was going.

"Your mother didn't let me go," he continued, "the moment she found out she was pregnant she tracked me down and practically dragged me back here to this dump," he chuckled again and looked off to the side, "bet she's regrettin' it now."

He shook his head and looked back to Trixie.

"I woulda just up and left the crazy nag, but the thing is, I had nowhere else to go. I was little more than a bum livin' on the streets myself. The nag may have had more than a few screws loose, but at least I had a roof over my head."

Trixie struggled to her hooves and eyed her father warily, though she didn't speak.

"Before I know it, I'm the one thing I never wanted to be... a father," he snorted, "I don't even know why that Tartarus damned mare even keeps me around when all I do is bum around the place and spend her money -- not that I'm complaining about that."

He shook his head again and turned to fully face the bemused filly.

"And then there's you."

He stood up and trotted over to Trixie as he spoke.

"For over seven years we've had to put up with a child we never wanted, and you know why?" he asked, to which Trixie responded with a nervous step back and shake of her head.

"The reason we even bothered to look after you instead of say, give you up to an orphanage or toss you in an alley somewhere, was because we thought you'd be useful."

At her father's words, Trixie began to feel that odd emotion she couldn't place slowly rise within her and she frowned. Her father however, took no notice of this and continued on.

"And while it was a nightmare taking care of you for the first few years, things began to get better," he said as he paced about the basement, "you became old enough to understand what you needed to do, and you did it."

He stopped and glared at the filly.

"But now things have change for you, haven't they, Beatrix?" he stepped closer to Trixie, causing her to take a few more steps back -- her soreness momentarily forgotten, "now you don't want to be useful. Now you want to fight back against the terrible parents who beat their child and make her work herself to exhaustion, because that's what we are, Beatrix -- terrible parents."

Trixie tried to take another step back and yelped in surprise as she bumped into the wall behind her. She looked from the wall to her father with growing dread.

She didn't like the look in his eye.

"Oh yeah, me and your mother are fully aware of how awful we've been to you your whole life, but like I said, we didn't want a kid, we wanted somepony who would do what we told them, when we told them without question.

"But now that you've decided you don't want to do what we tell you, your useless!"

Trixie flinched as her father yelled out his last words right in her face. She clinched her eyes shut, preparing for the thrashing.

But it never came.

She opened one eye, then both in surprise as her father backed away -- an impassive look once again spread across his face.

"So me and the Missus talked it over, and we've come to a decision," he smirked and lifted up the brown pouch in his magic, "you see, I tried to have a little talk with your magician pal yesterday."

Trixie's eyes widened and she spoke before she could stop herself.

"W-What did he say?" she asked frantically, "did he--"

"Shut. Your mouth." Trixie's father hissed.

Trixie complied out of reflex.

"Now, like I was saying," he cleared his throat, "I tried to give that low-life street performer a piece of my mind, but that overgrown backwater hick got in the way again!" he growled before calming himself once more.

"Here's the interesting part though," he said, pulling open the pouch, "before I left to go see the schmuck, I found these in a bag outside our door."

Trixie gasped in shock at what her father had pulled from the bag. Held in the stallion's cerulean magic was a large lavender magician's hat with a matching cape -- both adorned with stars. By the look of it, Trixie could tell both the hat and cape were brand new.

"Found a note too," her father continued, pulling the note from within the hat, "says it's from the hack himself, and it's addressed to his 'favorite adorable assistant' no less," he chuckled and smirked at the filly, "now ain't that precious?"

"Can..." Trixie gulped and stepped a little closer, not taking her eyes from the gift, "can I--"

"Have it?" her father finished, "sure thing, let me just make a few..."

RRRIP

"...adjustments..."

RRRIP

"...so it fits better."

RRRIP

"There we go."

Trixie looked from the thoroughly torn and tattered hat and cape, to her father -- her eyes tearing up in sorrow and... something else.

"Now then," rather than give Trixie the ruined costume, he shoved it back into the pouch and tossed the at the shaken filly's hooves, "about that discussion your mom and I had."

Trixie stared at the pouch.

"We've decided that it would be in our best interest if we didn't have you around anymore, useless as you are now."

Trixie looked from the pouch to her father.

"This works out for all of us, see?" he continued, "You can run off to that hack of a magician, and we don't have to spend your mother's hard earned bits taking care of you. It's a win-win."

Trixie blinked.

"So," her father stepped aside and gestured to the stairs, "the door's open, get the buck ou--"

Luciano Lulamoon fell to the floor, twitching and frothing at the mouth.

Trixie watched silently as Luciano gurgled and twitched, barely aware that her horn was emitting a soft, continuous pink glow. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but that strange emotion had completely overtaken her. After moment, she finally registered that she was casting some sort of spell -- but she didn't stop.

It was odd.

As Luciano's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he stopped moving altogether, all Trixie could think about was how strange it was that she had been able to cast a spell at all. She had never had the chance to learn any spells.

Her magic seemed to cut itself off, but she paid that no mind as she look over to the dirty brown pouch at her hooves. As if in a trance, she levitated it onto her back and slowly trotted up the stairs -- her soreness all but forgotten.

She didn't see Abilia Lulamoon anywhere once she made it out of the basement, but that was fine because the front door was already open and the morning sunlight was inviting her to come outside and leave this terrible place.

So she obliged, not caring why the door was open -- only that it was open.

As she stepped outside, she stopped to take in her surroundings.

Now that she was finally beginning to come to her senses, she realized what that emotion was.

Hate.

She hated her father, her mother, this city, and her life.

She found that the hate had passed though. Most likely used up when she...

What did she do?

Before she had anytime to dwell on it, she was startled out of her thoughts by a loud, almost musical laugh coming from an alley near her house. Trixie looked in the direction of the noise, a curious frown on her face.

She took a step towards the alley, but froze when she heard the laugh again.

She wasn't sure what possessed her to start trotting towards the noise, but something about that laugh intrigued her. It really was a beautiful sound, and she found herself wanting to hear it again.

She slowly made her way to the alley -- all thoughts of what had just occurred in her home pushed aside by the melodious sound of the laughter.

Trixie picked up the pace slightly and eventually reached her destination, smiling in anticipation as she turned the corner and--

Why was the smell of copper so strong?

Why didn't she notice it sooner?

Who was this smiling orange pegasus mare and what was that behind her?

Trixie took a shaky step back and squeaked as she bumped into something solid. She looked up to see an orange unicorn stallion wearing a soft smile -- a soothing gesture, had it not been for the dangerous gleam in his cold green eyes.

She looked from the stallion to the mare with wide eyed fear. Despite the gender and tribe difference, she could barely tell the two apart. They both had the same coat color, the same green eyes, the same bright green manes and--

Trixie felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.

Blood.

That's what the smell was.

A body.

That's what the thing behind the mare was.

The Razor Twins.

That's why they looked the same.

Without a word, the stallion shoved Trixie forward and the mare stepped aside as the blue filly stumbled forward and fell.

She opened her eyes and scrambled backwards with a scream -- desperately trying to put some distance between her and the splayed open body.

She recognized that turquoise coat and those milky copper eyes.

As she stared at the corpse, she began to hyperventilate -- her heart trying to beat it's way out of her chest. She flinched violently as a hoof rested itself gently on her shoulder. She continued to stare at the body even as she heard a soft melodious voice whisper in hear ear.

"Look familiar, little lady?"

Author's Note:

I was listening to the soundtrack for Nier while I was writing this and it may or may not have influenced the direction this chapter took...

Anyway, the next chapter will be the last one in Trixie's arc so look forward to it!

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

...oh shit.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

8828042
You took the words right outta my mouth...

[Umbra Animo]

Welll shit

[Grif_Bladefeather]

well at least she mindcrushed the bastard.

[Akwolfgrl13]

Welp that makes sense sadly.

[Rosewell8]

Sucks she ran into the razor twins, but at least they killed her mom.

[Prince Leviathan]

Ding Dong the BWitch is dead!

But so may Trixie be...if this wasn't a story she's telling in tge future...