• Published 19th Feb 2018
  • 6,067 Views, 1,290 Comments

The Ties that Bind - the7Saviors



This is the story of a bond forged between three fillies and the many trials and tribulations that strengthen that bond as they grow older. Friendship, secrets, and a dark journey awaits.

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A Filly by any Other Name

Trixie was less than happy.

Night was fast approaching and while the three fillies didn't have too much to pack outside of kitchenware and the foldable table, they were helping Ancient Scroll move several books and other various things from his study into the Vardo.

The old stallion had all told them to take a break and decide on their false names while he, Rouge, and Yojimbo finished packing. It was now that they sat around the bedroom trying to figure out what they'd call themselves.

Trixie was unfortunately having some reservations.

"I don't see why Trixie should give up referring to herself as anypony other than Trixie," the light blue filly complained, "Trixie isn't well known like you or Sunset, why should she have to change her name?"

"Because then there'd be almost no point to the disguise," Twilight groaned in exasperation, "Trixie we've already gone over this. It isn't a good idea to do it at all, but If you absolutely have to refer yourself in third pony, just do it with a new name!"

"But Trixie doesn't want to!" Trixie whined, "do you know how long it took Trixie to remember to call herself Trixie in the first place?"

"Yes, I do," Sunset interjected with a roll of her eyes, "and to this day I still don't know why you started doing it."

"Of course you wouldn't, Sunset Shimmer," Trixie retorted with a huff, "Referring to yourself in third pony is empowering! It let's ponies know that you're important and gives you more stage presence!"

She stood up on her hind legs and wave her hooves dramatically as she spoke.

"When ponies see Trixie on stage, I don't want them to just see regular old me, I want them to see the Great and Powerful Trixie!" she lowered herself back to the floor, "staying in character all the time is just a sign of Trixie's dedication."

"Did you read all that in a book?" Sunset asked flatly.

"So what if Trixie did?" Trixie shot back haughtily, "it's still true no matter where Trixie heard or read it."

"Alright, look," Twilight said, turning to Trixie, "I know it might take some time to get used to, but why not make the effort? After all, if you can do it again, wouldn't that show even more dedication?"

"Maybe..." Trixie replied, still somewhat unconvinced.

"Think about it like this," Twilight pressed on in a sudden spark of inspiration, "what if you finally make it big and suddenly a 'new' magician explodes onto the scene?"

"What?" Trixie replied with a baffled expression, "why would that--"

"Nonono just listen," Twilight continued as she wrapped a foreleg around Trixie's withers, "what if this 'new' magician becomes super popular and starts a rivalry with the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"Trixie still doesn't see where you're going with this, Twilight Sparkle."

"What if," Sunset added with a sly smile as she caught on to what Twilight was saying, "in an absolutely spectacular display, this mysterious rival magician is revealed to be none other than the Great and Powerful Trixie herself!"

Trixie sat in contemplative silence for all of about a minute before she slowly nodded her head with a growing smile.

"It's... It's brilliant!" she cried, squeezing the black coated filly in a hug, "Trixie never thought to do something so... bold! She loves it!"

"So you'll take on a new name then?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Trixie will do it!" the light blue filly announced, "for the sake of the show, Trixie will become the Dark and Mysterious Blue Moon!"

"Blue Moon, huh?" Sunset mused, rubbing her chin, "I like it, though I think Twilight here has the whole 'dark and mysterious' thing covered."

Twilight rolled her eyes as the maroon filly smirked at her.

"Hilarious, Blood Red Shimmer," Twilight shot back, "I don't need to be reminded of how... not me this coat and mane color is."

"Oh, come on, Twi," Sunset replied with a chuckle, "it won't be so bad once you get used to it."

Twilight just harrumphed and looked away.

"So what about you, Sunset?" Blue Moon asked, "have you decided on a name yet?"

Sunset hummed in thought for a moment before turning her gaze to her false cutie mark. She frowned in thought and looked back to Blue Moon.

"I think I'll go with..." she paused and gave a satisfied nod and smile, "...Radiant Corona."

"Kind of... lofty isn't it?" Twilight commented with a raised eyebrow, "sounds like a name a noble would have -- and I would know."

"And beside that," Blue Moon added, giving the maroon filly a flat look, "it's a mouthful. Just shorten it to Corona."

Sunset wanted to argue.

She liked the name, but it was a bit of a mouthful to say and Corona did roll off the tongue better than Radiant Corona. Of course, it didn't really matter in the end since this was an alias.

"Alright, I'll go with just Corona for now," Corona replied, "but if anypony asks for a full name, I'm going with Radiant Corona."

"I guess that's fine," Twilight said with a shrug, "everypony, except for Trixie--"

"Blue Moon," the light blue filly interjected.

"Sorry," Twilight replied before turning back to Corona, "everypony except for Blue Moon just calls me Twilight."

"And speaking of," Blue Moon said as she raised an eyebrow at the black filly, "what is your name gonna be?"

"Yeah, I've gotta hear this one," Sunset added with a smirk, "is it gonna be something as 'dark and mysterious' as you are?"

Twilight groaned in aggravation and shook her head.

"I don't know," she replied rubbing her face, "maybe..."

She was about to throw out a random name when she suddenly remembered she was passing for a foreign pony. Thankfully the books she had bought from the festival were still in the bedroom. She floated the books over from the dresser and scanned them briefly.

Corona and Blue Moon looked at each other and shrugged as they waited for Twilight to find what she was looking for.

"Interesting..." Twilight muttered as she skimmed through one of the books, "some of these names seem to be the same as those the griffons use. It's almost like they took pony and griffon names and mashed them together..."

She furrowed her brow and after another minute of incoherent muttering, she nodded and snapped the book shut. She placed all the books back on the bed and turned to the other two expectant fillies with a smile.

"It seems Trottish ponies -- and a lot of other pony nations outside Equestria -- have unique given names and take Equestrian pony names as their surnames," she explained, "so in light of this, my new moniker will be Fia Starshine."

"Fia Starshine..." Blue Moon repeated thoughtfully, "Tri -- Blue Moon is okay with the name."

"I'm fine with it, too," Corona agreed with a shrug before turning to Blue Moon with a bemused look, "now that I think about it though, the name 'Beatrix' is kind of out there for a pony too."

"Don't ask Blue Moon," Blue Moon replied with a shrug of her own, "she has no idea where Luciano and Abilia got the name."

"Well in any case," Fia said as she trotted to the door, "we've got our names down, so we should go back and tell Uncle Scroll."

"Right," Corona agreed, following behind Fia, "I kinda wanna see what Uncle Scroll, Rouge, and Yojimbo think."

"Who knows," the light blue filly replied as she trotted alongside Corona, "right now the only thing Trix -- Blue Moon cares about is dinner."

They all stepped out of the bedroom just as Ancient Scroll and Yojimbo were removing the last of the books he had decided to take with him. Blue Moon suddenly stopped in her tracks as she looked from the books to the still open doorway behind her.

"Um..." she began with a nervous chuckle, "why don't you two go ahead, T -- Blue Moon forgot to get her pouch from the closet."

"Alright," Corona replied without looking back, "hurry up though, it looks like Uncle Scroll and the other's are just about ready to go."

Fia frowned slightly and followed Blue Moon back into the bedroom.

"Trixie," she called out, "are you -- eep!"

Fia cried out as Blue Moon suddenly and roughly yanked her further into the room.

"It's Blue Moon," the light blue filly hissed, "and keep it down, Twil -- Fia Starshine!"

"What?" Fia asked in confusion, "why? Aren't you just going to get your pouch?"

"Yes but... well..." Blue Moon fidgeted uncomfortably and sighed before motioning Fia to follow her into the closet, "look, you have to keep this a secret from Uncle Scroll and Suns... Corona, alright?"

Fia mulled over the idea and nodded after a moment.

"Alright, as long as it doesn't put any of us in danger," Fia agreed, "your secret is safe with me."

Blue Moon smiled and headed the rest of the way into the closet to retrieve her pouch -- Fia following behind curiously. Blue Moon reached the pouch and pulled it open.

"Remember when we first went into Uncle Scroll's study after he left?"

"Yeah," Fia said with a nod, "we..."

Her eyes widened in sudden realization but she quickly schooled her features before Blue Moon noticed.

"We all went in there to find more books to use for our studies."

"Right," Blue Moon replied as she pulled something out of her pouch, "well, Trix -- Blue Moon found this one book that S... Corona said might've been written by Uncle Scroll."

"Uncle Scroll wrote a book?" Fia cried excitedly as she eyed the book Blue Moon had just removed, "is that it? Lemme see!"

Before Blue Moon could protest, Fia grabbed the book in her magic and looked it over enthusiastically. After a moment she frowned thoughtfully and gave an impressed nod of her head.

"This is amazing," she muttered as she skimmed through the pages, "so this is the type of magic the changelings use... and it looks like Uncle Scroll wrote notes on how to adapt the magic for use by ponies..."

"So... you're not mad that I took the book without asking Uncle Scroll first?" Blue Moon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm?" Fia muttered absently, the majority of her attention still focused on the book, "oh... no. Not at all. I did the same thing actually."

Blue Moon blinked.

"You did?"

"Mhm," Fia replied, "in fact..."

She levitated the book over and into the pouch before trotting out of the closet. Curious, Blue Moon followed Fia out of the closet with her pouch and raised both her brows in surprise.

The black coated filly lifted a green book out from under the bed and showed it to Blue Moon.

"Remember when I talked to Sunset -- er, Corona, about using Blood Magic?"

"Yes..." Blue Moon replied, eyeing the book warily, "Blue Moon also remember telling you learning about Blood Magic was a bad idea."

"There is no such thing as evil knowledge, Blue Moon," Fia replied with a sagely nod of her head, "only evil practice."

"Did you read that in a book?" Blue Moon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I did," Fia replied easily, "this one as a matter of fact."

With that, Fia's horn flashed and the green book changed back to a red one with gold plating.

Blue Moon gasped as she read the title and shot Fia an incredulous look.

"Twilight, you can't read this!" she whispered, "Sunset told you it was dangerous!"

"It's Fia Starshine and Corona, remember?" Fia replied as she changed the book back and placed it in Blue Moon's pouch, "and I've already read through most of it."

"But... but Fia!" Blue Moon sputtered, "you can't! You'll... die or something!"

"No, Blue Moon," Fia responded, giving Blue Moon a serious look, "I'm not planning on using a lot of what I've read in here, and even the spells I do want to use are too far out of my league right now. I'm not so dumb as to try and cast any of these before I'm ready, I'm just reading up on them for the moment."

"Oh," Blue Moon replied uncertainly after a moment. "Tr... Blue Moon supposes that's fine."

"Trust me, Blue Moon, I'll be okay," Fia said with a reassuring smile. She turned and trotted back to the bedroom door, "now let's go before Uncle Scroll and Corona get suspicious."

"...Alright, Fia Starshine," Blue Moon finally replied, "as long as you don't try anything."

Fia looked back at Blue Moon with a confident grin as she opened the door.

"I won't do anything reckless, Blue Moon. I promise."

Author's Note:

From here on out I will be referring to the fillies by their aliases even if they themselves forget to -- and there will be times where they'll forget to -- though some will remember better than others.

It might be weird and/or off-putting for some of you, but I feel like that's how having to adopt an alias would -- and should -- go. It's strange for me (the writer), It's strange for you (the readers), and it's strange for them (the fillies).

We all might as well get used to the strangeness of the new names together, right?

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