POV: Narrator
Location: S.H.A.M.P.O.O., Warehouse, Ground Floor
Time: 22:35
“What’s going on?” Kurt asked while looking in the direction his newly acquired friend has disappeared.
But before Beezan could answer them they heard a laugh. And not any kind of laugh. It was a laugh of madness and utter villainy. The kind you would expect from that nutcase Kefka from Final Fantasy VI. Only female.
‘Kefkarine?’ Nightcrawler questioned, not sure if he should fangasm at the possibility or be rightfully afraid of it. Kefka was a real psycho after all. Admittedly rather amusing, but a real psycho no less.
But before he could really decide on it the maniacal laughter filled the air again, seemingly echoing from every aisle between the storage racks.
Kurt looked frantically around, trying to spot the source, but everything seemed empty.
Something that he could only describe as green tentacle suddenly surged towards him.
He reacted fast and teleported in a puff of black smoke out of the way and directly next to a panicking looking Beezan.
“Was- (What-), I mean, what is that?” our protagonist said at the retreating form of this green thing that went just behind a rack. He was about to give chase before another cat-thingy stepped out from the rack. This one however had a darker coloration with a tight purple suit and quite long green hair. She was rather big, compared to the few aliens the Nightcrawler had seen, and also quite slender. A manic grin was stretched on her face as said hair waved threateningly in the air and around her, seemingly extending at will.
“How do you Americans call this? A hairy situation?”
Beezan almost gaped at this stupid and provoking pun slash remark, fearing for the wrath of his boss, but before he could do that all the hairy appendages dived towards said blue being.
However, Nightcrawler easily enough vanished in a puff of smoke in tow before he found himself dangling on a shelf good three pony lengths away from the villainess appendages yet again.
She instantly turned her head to regard this unexpected movement.
“Interesting,” the crazed mare stated with cold calculation, “but then again not. How about we play a little game regardless? It seems that you have business with me after all!” she finished with a mad chuckle.
“Indeed! I challenge you foul villainess to a duel for my stolen pretzel!”
The Mane-iac was about to retort, but quickly noticed a certain stallion that tried to tiptoe away. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at this.
“And don’t think I have forgotten about you Beezan! Betraying me? ME?! You must be crazier then I gave you credit for! And not in a positive way!”
The called out stallion immediately winced.
“I swear it isn’t what it looks like!” he pleaded, but the Mane-iac only sneered.
“Oh I think I know exactly what it looks like. You are a spy from the League of Villains. Though I didn’t know that they accepted untrained whims with your BML along their ranks!”
“BML?” Kurt scratches his head, while Beezan tried to further plead his case.
“Really-”
“But don’t you worry my lost little sheep. I’m a generous boss. One month in the ‘Parlor’ will be enough to straighten you out and show you just who you have to be loyal t-”
*BAM*
Just in that moment in a wisp of smoke a fist struck her right in her face as she stumbled back, almost losing her balance if it wasn’t for her hair supporting her backside. Just as the Nightcrawler wanted to throw in another punch again a hair tentacle grabbed his fist securing it in place, causing him to gape in shock, before gulping at seeing the mad disapproving look of the Mane-iac.
“I’M TALKING NOW!” she screamed at him before hurling him against a rack. A gasp of pain from him followed as he fell down together with a few crates. Said crates shattered on the ground spilling more bottles of shampoo on the ground.
Mane-iac huffed, “How uncouth can one be! And this is who you have betrayed me with Beezan?! I have taken you in, treated you like one of my own, and this is the gratitude for all of this?! I’m a kind pony. Kind to everyone. But if you are unkind to me, kindness is not what you will remember me for!” Mane-iac said before stepping before the shivering pony.
At least she did until with a roar of anger the Nightcrawler teleported in front of her.
“NO ONE HURTS MY FLUFFY!” he loudly exclaimed as he punched the Mane-iac yet again.
She was dodging in time though as her hair quickly bounced her a few feet back. It quickly slithered a bit forward, almost looking like hissing snakes.
Beezan took this opportunity to straight up ran away. The Mane-iac wanted to give chase, but our blue friend quickly stepped into her path, before throwing another couple of punches at her.
She managed to reflect them and the both of them separated yet again.
“You are a real annoyance, you know that?” she sneered in clear disdain, “As if I’m going to lose to a mere lapdog of the League!”
The Nightcrawler put both his fists in front of his face, resuming a boxing stance as he looked at the mare with clear disgruntlement.
“I have no clue what you are talking about, but once I’m done with you I will get all the answers I need.”
“If you can win. Or do you really think-” she started to say before her hair propelled her back again to dodge some punches, “You insolent little-” she started again, only that he teleported behind her and gave her a kick in the plot, making the Mane-iac turn around with a loud screech as well as a slight blush as she dived for him.
Our blue friend of course teleported far away and onto a shelf in that moment, leaving the Mane-iac to crash right into a crate.
“Attack them while they are monologuing,” he said with a smug look.
But that look quickly vanished as some crates were flying his way. He quickly let go of the shelf and jumped down before teleporting to another one. The Mane-iac’s meanwhile continued with her extended mane to throw crate after crate at this annoying being.
He teleported again and again, from left shelf to right shelf to the ground where he sadly slipped on one of the shampoo battles of the destroyed crates.
He barely managed to teleport out in time before a crate crushed on the floor. A sigh of relief escaped him, before he glared down at the Mane-iac who was out of crates for the moment. At least she used all in her near proximity.
Deciding it was best to strike now, rather than let her get new ammunition he teleported forwards. Just as he wanted to realign her facebones her hairtacles grabbed his hand. But this time it didn’t let go.
“Poor creature,” the Mane-iac mocked as he struggled against her grip, while more and more of her hair was slung around all of his limbs, “Did you really think you could beat me in close-combat? Not even the Power Ponies are dumb enough to try that! You see, my hair is quite strong and strikes fast. Once trapped you have lost! WAHAHAHHAHHHAA!” she laughed maniacally. A true Kefkarine laugh Kurt couldn’t help but think.
‘Think Kurt, think! What would the Nightcrawler do?’ he asked himself before remembering a recent movie in which the tail of the Nightcrawler was grabbed.
With that he concentrated and teleported.
Yup. Speed teleporting. Or also known as ‘I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m just teleporting frantically around and hope to dislodge that villain from me’ teleporting.
Hey, it worked in the movie! So why shouldn’t it here?
The Mane-iac in any case didn’t expect that as a yelp escaped her as Kurt teleported hight into the air and around from aisle to aisle.
Her grip only seemed to tighten much to Kurt’s chagrin as she was gripping him for dear life, considering how completely disoriented it made her.
And Kurt.
It came as no surprise that Kurt crashed directly into a high rack. Luckily he did so with the Mane-iac’s hair softening the impact. Not that the mad mare had so much luck as her costumed back impacted full velocity into the rack.
Said rack seemed to slowly knock over and funnily enough led to another rack falling, pretty much displaying a huge domino game.
Kurt didn’t pay that any further mind, as he noticed the loosened grip of the Mane-iac as he quickly scampered away before she could regain her senses.
After all, the shelves probably won’t do any harm.
Beezan sighed in relief. He managed to get away from these two nutcases! He could already see the door to his freedom directly in front of him! He was so close! He would definitely get out of here!
But shortly before he managed a rack suddenly fell down in front of him and effectively blocking his way to freedom.
“Seriously?” he asked exasperated, as his rear slumped down on the ground.
This certainly would complicate his escape.
‘Yup,’ Kurt thought nodding to himself, ‘Most definitely no harm at all!’
The Mane-iac meanwhile stood up growling madly, as her eyes searched for the being that had thrown her into this shelf.
Blood was dripping from her snout, making her look all the more intimidating. Intimidating enough that Kurt gulped audibly.
“Playtime is over!” she said as her hair whipped wildly around, “‘Cause now you have done it! You have made me mad! The maddest mare in Maretropo- Wait, what do you have there?” the mad mare questioned.
Kurt simply blinked as he held a softly soft blue glowing gem in front of his eyes, before shrugging, “Just something I found in your mane.”
“YOU FOUND-?!” she screamed and coming to a halt as her expression turned completely serious, as well as eerily calm, “Could you give it back to me?” she all too politely asked. Which is kind of strange considering who it came from.
Kurt mulled this over for a moment.
“No.”
“Tch! Just give it back to me! You don’t know how dangerous it is!”
Kurt mulled it over for a second, “I could,” before a mischievous grin stretched on his face, “If you hand me back my pretzel!”
“Your pretz-” she started to say as she seemed to recall something, “Oh. That pretzel… Listen. We are both adults, let’s be rational here. How about I treat you to dinner instead?” she said fluttering her eyelashes all too seductively at Kurt, making him raise a confused eyebrow.
“Uh, no thanks. I just want my pretzel. And then you can have your gem back.”
“Come on. Certainly you wouldn’t mind to help a mare out and hoof her jewelry back,” she said fluttering her eyelashes at him once again.
“Uh, are your eyes okay?”
The Mane-iac huffed, getting frustrated at his stubborn behavior, not to mention that this creature seemed to lack the brain capacity to notice then a mare was trying to flirt with him, “Just take my offer! I will even treat you to in an expensive restaurant! That’s worth much more!”
“No,” said Kurt more forceful this time, “Just give me my pretzel! It can’t be that hard!”
“It is! I gave the pretzel to a friend! He probably has eaten it already! So just tell me what else you want and I give it to you!”
A painful pang shot through Kurt’s entire being, and he felt a few manly tear well in his eyes. His pretzel. given away by this overly hairy cat-thingy. Damned to be eaten by another being than him. To not fill his stomach with this pleasant fullness. Though he denied this. He wasn’t going to simply give up! If he had to he would throw a tantrum so long until he held his pretzel once again with a smile and a hearty laugh!
Just in that moment he felt something tingle in his hand. It came from the gem. Strangely it felt like it was reaching out to him...to support him?
Kurt was baffled, but fascinated all the same. He could feel the power. Feel the call to open his floodgates and accept it so that they could fight together for a world where everyone could munch happily on their pretzels without the fear of hairy cats stealing them.
A perfect world.
Kurt couldn’t help but smile. He felt happy and cheerful as the gem continued to call out to him with its soft encouraging glow, to reach out himself.
And he heeded the call.
Just a moment after he connected with it he felt an immense amount of power flowing through his veins. The gem then floated and started to lodge itself on his forehead and his eyes started glowing an eerie white.
The Mane-iac seemed to be much more panicky now with her pinprick pupils staring in shock at this spectacle.
“No! You utter nutcase! They will find it!” she screeched as she shot her hairtacles towards him intent of stopping his actions.
Kurt all too easily teleported out of her way as his voice seemed to suddenly boom with a cheery volume.
“You want to play? Well, let’s play then! For pretzels”
With that being said Kurt eyed the crates of the shelves that didn’t suffer under the domino effect with a grin.
It was hard to explain how he did it. Though if he had to explain it, it would be something along the lines of how he suddenly gained a deep understanding of his powers. How he simply knew how to use them in any way possible. And that he had also the power to back it up. It was like his mutation evolved further in an instant. And that without any training.
And with that he concentrated his powers on the crates. Feeling their form, weight and entire being.
And with that crate after crate was teleported at the villainess with incredible speed.
They would quickly disappear in a puff of black smoke and just as quickly reappear directly towards the Mane-iac. Said villainess huffed as her hair smashed one crate after the other that was sailing towards her, though she clearly strained under the continued assault that came from all directions.
While she did her best to defend herself it was a losing battle. Kurt only seemed to increase his pace while she desperately and wildly flailed her hair around.
In the end she couldn’t hold out and instead got on the defensive as she formed a hair cage around herself. Her whole form was hereby encased in her hair that seemingly hardened and letting the crates break apart against its hard surface.
Seeing how this didn’t bring the wanted effect Kurt went for a different strategy as he reached with his powers out to her.
Mane-iac’s eyes widened inside the sealed hair cocoon as she tried to resist the pull, but was clearly outmatched by it.
Quickly enough she felt herself being teleported around. Being thrown or more precisely teleported at shelfs, walls, and the ground. And even once a whole shelf was teleported into her, just like she was teleported into its direction.
The Mane-iac felt strength waver as her hair cocoon softened and some of her hair fell from it, leaving her open.
She didn’t have any time to react as an all too familiar creature teleported in front of her. His cheery grin, making her shudder as his fist was raised in the air.
“Hab dich! (Got you!)”
She had only enough time to turn her head slightly before his fist connected with her cheek, giving him the satisfaction of hearing a satisfying crack as her jawbone broke.
The Mane-iac fell into a heap to the ground, groaning in agony as her whole world was filled with pain.
“Mowewbuckew! Wou bwoke maw buckiw jaw!” the Mane-iac forced out venomously.
“And still you talk,” Kurt couldn’t help but joke lightheartedly as he had teleported himself to the ground too.
“A-Aw leaw powew wown,” the Mane-iac demanded with a frown.
“What?” Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow, before the Mane-iac used her hoof to point at the gem attached to his forehead.
Kurt let his hands roam over said forehead feeling the gem before it dawned on him, “Oh richtig, (Oh right) I don’t need that right now.”
He then took the gem in his fingers and started to pull. The gem however took some work.
“One moment please,” he said as he tugged and tugged at the gem, making his downed foe groan in annoyance.
‘I lost to an idiot!’ she couldn’t help but mentally rage, seeing as her jaw wasn’t all to pleasant to move just now.
Before long he managed to get the gem loose and then felt all the power that was coursing through his veins leaving him, fizzling out as his eyes returned to normal.
“That’s certainly a nice power-up,” Kurt commented as he squatted down in front of the Mane-iac’s defeated form, wincing a little, “I also might have gone a TAD to far.”
“Wou thinw,” the Mane-iac said giving him her best pain-filled deadpan.
“Moving on...,” he quickly said to divert the subject, “You are still owing me the name of the one with my pretzel.”
At that point the Mane-iac couldn’t help but look at him like he was dumbest being in Equestria as one hairtacle pointed at her jaw.
Kurt couldn’t help but feel his cheeks redden slightly as he embarrassedly rubbed the back of his head, “Richtig... (Right…)”
“Could you still try?” he asked hopefully,making the Mane-iac growl at him.
He then waved the gem in front of her eyes, “I might consider giving you the gem back.”
That actually caught her interest. And she mulled it over. She couldn’t let the gem get into the wrong hooves. Things were difficult as they were. Of course that made her also rethink her stance of that this strange creature was now really one of the League of villains. But if he was he wouldn’t give the gem back and would also knew what it was for that matter. Not that it was that much of a consolation, considering what an idiot this creature was she gave him a week before he would lose it somehow. And to find it again then… Yup, she didn’t like the thought of that.
“Iwon Wist,” she stated defeatedly as well as slightly wincing in pain from the effort. However Kurt only furrowed his brow.
“Ivan List?” he repeated making the Mane-iac groan in even more annoyance.
She simply used her hair to snake around as she got an idea. She dunked it into one of the shampoo bottles, before deciding to write it down on the ground.
Not the most readable way, but Kurt got it regardless as he repeated the name to her. She didn’t groan this time so he thought he got it right.
She then held one hairtacle out to him, demanding the gem back, but he simply shook his head, making her eye twitch as she glared up at him.
“No. I will give you the gem back. But first I need to get my pretzel back. Gem equals pretzel. So, once I have my pretzel back you get the gem back. Verstanden? (Understood?)”
She was about to give him a piece of her mind, no matter how much her jaw hurt. But just in that moment the glass canopy above them broke apart.
*CRASH*
Down came quite a few cat-thingies sliding down black ropes. Police cat-thingies if he had to guess. Though two of them seemed more distinct, wearing rather flashy and colorful outfits compared to the black garb of the others. One of the more unique ones had a purple fur and a dark bluish mane with a pink stripe under her costume. The other one had a blonde mane with orange coat.
“In the name of Equestria you are all under ar-” purple started before looking at the two beings in front of her. She was a tad dumbfounded seeing the downed form of the Mane-iac, as well as a creature she hadn’t seen before.
“What’s an ‘ar’?” Kurt couldn’t help but wonder, “Sounds like something a pirate says. Is she a pirate?” he asked the Mane-iac, who only rolled her eyes at him.
That seemed to shake Masked Matter-Horn out of it as she started again, “Uh, no! I meant you are under arrest!” she said correcting herself and lighting up her horn up in warning.
Kurt himself didn’t like the aggressive stances of all the ponies now surrounding him. At least or approximately two dozens he guessed.
With that he directed his gaze upwards, seeing the night sky through the broken glass roof.
He hummed shortly, before raising his hands over his head in faux surrender.
Then he all too mockingly waved with one of his hands, “Tschö! [Short form of Tschüss. Comparable with Goodbye being shortened to Bye]”
With a puff of black smoke he found himself over the warehouse.
He shuddered a bit from the cool night air, as well as from the height, considering he teleported quite a few ways above said building. Though once he got over it, he couldn’t help but admit that it was a rather nice view over this alien city. Not to mention the nice full moon that was hovering in the sky. But seeing as gravity was pulling him down he had to pull away his gaze (cue pun) and focus on getting safely down.
He quickly enough zoomed his gaze on a building below, teleporting to another roof and landing with a soft thud. Standing up he brushed himself off a bit before he then started to casually walk away. Or at least that was the plan...
“FREEZE!” the costumed horned pirate cat-thingy from before screamed at him, and shooting a warning bolt beside his head, making him screech to a halt.
“Turn slowly around!” she demanded with her horn still aglow. Ready to fire at a moments notice.
He did just that and faced the cat-thingy. Both were staring intently at each other.
Kurt tried to stay as casual as he could, but was still slightly nervous at this trigger pulling willing pirate.
“Just what are you?” she couldn’t help but wonder aloud as she scrutinized his shape with a critical eye.
“Um, Nightcrawler?” he offered while reaching out with his hand, which was rather pointless considering the purple being was at least four lengths away from him.
Purple opened her mouth for a moment to say something but a clack and the sound of fumbling interrupted her.
Both of them turned into the direction of the sound and saw another cat-thingy fumbling with something in the shadows.
Of course this distraction was all Kurt needed.
He quickly turned his head in the opposite direction and teleported away, noticing barely a bright flash before zipping deep into the night leaving the two beings behind him.