//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen // Story: Rats In The Belfry // by Beegirl Scribbler //------------------------------// Somnambula eyed the shattered hemisphere with disgust. “Stupid, stupid worm...” The Princess was out. Well, wasn't this just perfect. She drew out the two crystals she had left. The alicorn's power—siphoned into Somnambula—was great enough that Somnambula was confident she could beat Luna in a fight, but she wasn't eager to test it. It was all Grogar's fault. “How fortunate...” she muttered, “...that Grogar will soon cease to be a factor.” “How come?” Her head shot up. She looked around the dark throne room, but there was no-one to be seen. “Who is that?” she demanded. “'That' is me!” Somnambula turned to see a pair of bright eyes: one green, one purple. It was an earth pony—one staring at her through a stained glass window so her coloration could not be determined. Not that Somnambula would have been able to recognize her anyways. Somnambula chuckled. “And who are you supposed to be?” “Oh, just somepony.” The pony waved a hoof dismissively. She beamed. “So! Whatcha doing here? It looks like all of Canterlot's overrun!” We're on the fourth floor! Somnambula thought. How is this pony flying without wings? Unfortunately, all she could see of the many-hued creature was her head. “Yes. So it is. I am...here to avoid the chaos.” Somnambula had use for another battery, come to think of it. But the window would reflect the device's power. “Why don't you come on in so we can discuss it?” “Huh.” The pony frowned. “Uh...sure!” She brightened. She lifted two hooves and pressed them against the window. She then pulled them pack, pulling the window out as if it had merely been resting in its frame. The pony—bright pink, Somnambula saw—seemed to have her hooves stuck to the window, and started trying to shake it loose. “Darnit! This dumb old—” The window detached from her hooves—taking some fur with it—and flew up into the air. The pink pony watched it go up. “Huh. Maybe I better talk to Kooky Krastos about her new brand of—hey!” Somnambula had taken advantage of the distraction to whip out a silver rod and lunge with it. Its end—a mess of wires, stars and eyes, vaguely resembling a foal's mobile—flashed and started wrapping around the pony's neck. The pony stared at it, then looked up at Somnambula, pouting. “That is really rude.” Somnambula was dumbstruck. Normally the process caused tremendous pain—she generally preferred to deploy its subtler ranged attack, but that took time she didn't have. “How can you tolerate it?” The pony gave a little shrug, hopping into the throne room. She looked at the rod, grinning. “So that's how you did it. Too bad I'm—” Somnambula's other arm shot out, grasping the pony by the throat. To her shock, the neck gave, crushing inwards in a grotesque fashion. She quickly released it, eying her hand with a mixture of horror and excitement. Perhaps I underestimated the power Celestia has—” “—not quite that easy a target!” the pony continued, as if Somnambula had done nothing. Somnambula looked back at the pony, whose neck had returned to normal without effect. Somnambula blinked. As she tried to decide what to do, something shot right past her and plunged into the eye of the pink pony. The scissors tore into her like she was made of paper, and then... ...she popped. Pieces of pink skin—no, rubber—flew everywhere as a pink hoof latched onto the window's edge. Somnambula watched, expression neutral, as an identical pony rose up and gave a manic giggle. “Surprise! It was all an Inflatable Pinkie! They're great at parties, by the way, so if you wanna—” Somnambula turned, kicking the pony out the window as she did so, to see who had thrown the scissors. Standing in the throne room was a smirking cyan pegasus who looked utterly unfazed about her friend's plight. The pegasus ran a hoof through her rainbow-colored mane, looking a bit out of breath. “So you're that Insomnia weirdo, right?” Somnambula scowled. “Right.” The pegasus gave a sigh. “Name's Rainbow Dash. The pony—er, ponies there—are Pinkie Pie, I guess.” Somnambula glanced back. 'Pinkie Pie' had returned, now carried by three other balloon her's. Somnambula wasn't sure how she'd thought the balloons were real—they now looked completely artificial. Perhaps her mind was going. She turned back to Rainbow Dash, crossing her arms and subtly concealing the device. “Let me guess: you're the resistance movement?” “Resistance movement?” Raising an eyebrow, Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. “Y'know, I kinda like the sound of that. Rainbow Dash the Rebel! Pretty cool, huh, Pinkie Pie?” “Super-duper cool, Dashie! But, uh, maaaybe now's not the time.” Somnambula rolled her eyes. “This is all Equestria could muster.” Sensing her device was ready to deploy, she adopted a fighting stance. “This will not take long.” She had her sights set on the pegasus. Everything about Rainbow Dash's aggressive attitude screamed danger to Somnambula, while the milder Pinkie Pie was clearly no sort of threat. In a crystal Rainbow Dash would be quite useful indeed. Rainbow Dash poised to leap at Somnambula, who in turn prepared to fire the device. Against a pony who had no defenses against the device's illusions, Somnambula had no doubt the device would work with ease. She estimated five seconds after impact before Rainbow Dash would be no more than just another crystal at Somnambula's belt. But then something unexpected happened. A rubber chicken hit her in the head. Somnambula was aware that she wasn't the bravest villain in Equestria, and she wasn't proud of what she did next. But she panicked. Spinning, she fired the device at her attacker. Hundreds of tiny silver motes shot out of the rod towards Pinkie Pie and quickly surrounded her. They began weaving together, forming a web of helices until the pony beneath could not even be seen. Then the motes were gone altogether, along with the pony. All this happened in less than a second. Somnambula scowled at the pink crystal she now held. “What a waste,” she muttered. From behind her she heard a crash. Turning, she saw a window had been broken. The cyan pegasus was gone. Although she had won the fight and beaten the 'resistance', Somnambula couldn't shake the feeling she had made some fatal tactical blunder. Unable to place the feeling, she pocketed the device, dropped the crystal into her belt pouch, and continued on her way. She had greater matters to attend to. Self-involved blue sheep did not betray themselves, after all. “Well, um, this is good, right?” Luna ignored Fluttershy as she made her way into the cave. Fluttershy hurried after her. “They were taking us here all along! So that's, um, good.” Luna ground her teeth as she made her way to the back of the cave. As they walked, the cave seemed to get larger until they were at the Gate—a monstrosity twice the size of Canterlot's castle gates. She looked around. Cerberus was nowhere to be seen. “Um, Luna?” Luna looked back at Fluttershy. “What?” she snapped. Fluttershy cringed. “Are...are you okay?” Luna's eye twitched. She turned around. “Ms. Fluttershy, go home.” Fluttershy took a step back. “What?” “Go home. Go back to Ponyville.” Luna pointed to the cave exit. “Perhaps see how it was Discord allowed the Element to be stolen. It matters little. Go.” “But—I c-couldn't! You need my help here!” Luna shook her head derisively. “'Help'? Is it your idea of 'help' to intervene in negotiations?” “N-negotiations? You were—you were threatening them!” “Only because they were toying with us. The safety of Equestria must come first.” Fluttershy visibly swallowed, giving an glare rendered unconvincing when she took another step back. “She might have been mean, but that's no excuse for being a bully!” Luna gave a short laugh, her voice rising. “A bully! Grogar means to take away our world and you complain that I am the bully! We needed Bumble's help!” “Just because somepony doesn't want to get involved—” “And I don't want you involved.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but faltered. Luna closed her eyes. “Forgive me, Fluttershy. Regardless of the previous events, there is little you can do now and I do not wish to put you in danger. Your place is the cottage, looking after your small animals.” She opened her eyes and looked around, expression growing weary. “You do not belong on dangerous quest. I refuse to force you onto it.” "But I'm an Element Bearer, too." “What?” “N-nothing.” Fluttershy turned, eyes shut. The pegasus took to the air and quickly flew out of the cave. Luna watched the pegasus leave, then gave a sigh. She turned back to the Gate of Tartarus. It was time to see how much had changed in her absence. “This one believes the heart to be filled with selfishness. The mouth would do well to apologize and the holey hooves would do well to step away.” “Cease speaking like that, thou intolerably imbecilic knave! Canst thou not realize how stupid thy manner of speech sounds to mine carapaced ears?” “This one dislikes the tone of the mouth.” “And I dislike thy tone, thou wisp of chilled smoke!” “This one shall not stand for much more of the insults!” Cadance crept away through the tall grass, praying the weeds would do enough to hide her bright pink coat. The windigo's and changeling's tones were rising sharply. Cadance could only hope the argument would last long enough for her to reach the pond before coming to blows. Ordinarily, of course, a windigo would crush any ordinary changeling—probably even one as 'important' as this one. But though hunger had not been kind to either inmate, it was clear that the windigo had suffered far worse. The fight would be short. It sounded like the changeling had come to this conclusion as well. “Why should I trouble mineself with thy foalishness? Leaveth this place, wisp, or be crushed into water vapor!” The windigo's raspy voice trembled with anger. “This one is not so weak to be ordered by a piece of meat.” “Ha! I could topple thou by merely breathing upon thee!” Cadance neared the pool. I'll just stay here until they're gone, I think. Her head was starting to pound anew from this stress, but she was almost there. The changeling sounded like she was enjoying herself now. In contrast, the windigo sounded so furious Cadance wondered for a moment if windigoes could have heart attacks. “This one...will not be mocked...by food! This one...has survived for...twenty-eight hundred solar cycles...and it retains the strength to BREAK YOU!” Cadance's front hooves touched the water. She was almost there. “It sounds as if 'this one' can barely stand, period!” The changeling gave a long dolphin-like laugh. “I shall—” CRASH For just a moment there was silence, as the crash echoed throughout the courtyard. Cadance turned her head, with difficulty, to look back. The changeling lay on the ground. Her blue eyes had gone white and her body was beginning to dissipate into blue vapor. Around her lay what looked like the shattered remains of a stained glass window. The windigo looked at the changeling in shock. Then it glanced up, locking eyes with Cadance. Cadance desperately tried to pull herself into the water, but it was too late now. The windigo let out a shrill whinny and began to gallop in the air towards her. Its hooves were beginning to dissipate like the changeling from the effort and its eyes were beginning to turn white, but it seemed to no longer care. It barreled straight at its target, only one goal in mind. Suddenly, a red tentacle swiped out and slapped the windigo away as easily as an octopus the size of a house would swat an ancient, starving winter spirit. The windigo flew into the wall on the opposite side of the courtyard and instantly evaporated. The pale blue mist rose up and soared up into the air, on the way back to its cell. Heart sinking, Cadance turned back to behold her 'savior'. Squirk. Not quite an octopus, but something like one—a great tentacled monster with a mouth full of sharp teeth and bright yellow eyes gleaming with malice. On Squirk's head perched a minuscule lavender crayfish-like creature bearing a massive white mustache. The creatures had risen from the pond without warning. Squirk gave a savage grin. “Going somewhere, Princess?” Cadance lay on the ground defenseless, but she managed to glare up at him. “Hi, Squirk. I see you've gotten even fatter with age.” He cackled. “It's all muscle, Princess!” One of his tentacles shot out and wrapped around an old maple tree. He ripped it from the earth like an annoying weed and, still cackling, cast it through the castle wall. Though all this was done with scarcely any effort on his part, the tree crashed through the stone bricks with the power of a cannonball. “Right. So I see.” “His powers have grown tenfold!” squeaked the creature on Squirk's head in a Trottingham accent. “And you've shrunk tenfold.” The creature glared. “As I grow, Crang shrinks.” Squirk gave a little shrug with his tentacles. “Immortality can be inconvenient in that way.” Cadance tried to grin, but she had a feeling it came out as more of a grimace. “Since when would you care?” “I have to be careful hitting him now.” Squirk scowled, as if this was on a level of unfairness comparable to being hit by an anvil. He brightened. “So. Who gave you that concussion, Princess?” Cadance didn't answer. “You should answer me!” One of the creature's tentacles wrapped around her torso, lifting her up to eye level. “I am Third Warden of Tartarus, after all!” “Third?” Cadance frowned. “If First is Grogar, uh, who is Second?”* “Bah!” Squirk waved her in the air above his head. Cadance tried not to pass out—or throw up. “A robed interloper. Why should I care?” “It—it looks like you care a lot!” Cadance gagged. Squirk stopped spinning her and jerked her back down to lock eyes. He glared. “I don't care! Shut up!” “Right! Shut up!” Crang bounced up and down on Squirk's head. Squirk glared up, clearly not quite able to see the lobster but crossing his eyes in the attempt. Cadance felt his grip on her tighten, as if he was about to use her as a club. But he just growled. “Anyways, Princess, I am Third Warden, and I have strict orders from Grogar to kill any Princess I see except Celestia. And to sometimes put sharks in lakes, because that is a perfect use of my time.” Cadance blinked. “Why not—I mean, doesn't that sound a bit dangerous?” “Hah! He's trying to kill me!” Squirk rolled his eyes. “But I have a hostage now! He won't dare break his word now!” “Let me guess. You help him, he has to give you the Flashstone Amulet.” “That's correct.” Squirk started sinking into the pond. Cadance's pulse sped up as she realized he was dragging her underwater. “Wait! I can't—” “Then take a deep breath, Princess.” Squirk sank beneath, but the monster had an uncanny talent for speaking even when water filled his mouth. “There's an underground river down here leading off the mountain, but it's quite a ride!”