Inseptium Nova: Pt 5: The Great and Powerful Escape
September 12th, Post-Midnight...
Few of us are given the opportunity, even fewer the courage to sacrifice ourselves for the lives of our comrades. In daily life, even as in battle each one of us is mysteriously and irrevocably bound to our fellow man. And yet, it is only in death that the power of this bond is finally tested and proven. And who among us really knows how he might respond when the moment comes?
---"Courage Under Fire"...
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Volare peered down through the hole in the roof and watched as the two combatants squared off with each other. His friends had no idea where he was, but they were certain that Pinkie had put him somewhere safe. In the meantime, the three musicians and Bon-Bon hunkered down behind the much-abused bar, peeping out and around it at the battle that was about to begin. Ray had half a mind to shout a warning to Trixie until he remembered all the times she’d made him kiss her hooves and grovel before her…yeah, he was gonna let her find out the hard way why he and the others in their organization gave the Element of Laughter so much respect. Just as he predicted she would, Trixie wasn’t taking her opponent seriously, and just like a martial artist who practices drunken boxing as a way to lull his opponents into a false sense of security, the same effect was being displayed in the haughty magician’s attitude.
“Hahahaha, ‘if you think you can’. I’ll leave you with no doubt,” Trixie scoffed at Pinkie as she took a step closer to her new foe. This fool of a pony obviously didn’t realize who she was dealing with, the magician thought to herself as she sized up the pastry chef. Pink poofy mane and tail, bright balloons for a cutie mark, and giant blue eyes and a goofy grin…pah, this mare wasn’t a threat at all! She’s nothing compared to me! “I’ll give you a sporting chance to run,” Trixie announced with a sneer. “I’ll count to 10, but after that, I’ll”-
“Ooh, it’s just like hide-and-seek!” Pinkie interrupted with a giggle. “Or maybe it’s tag…or hide-and-seek tag! What’re the rules, Ms. Trix-oops, I mean Great and Powerful Trixie, hee-hee!”
“I-a-are you mocking me?!” the blue Unicorn demanded with a shake of her buzzing head.
“Nope, just makin’ sure I don’t break the rules, cuz cheating’s no fun for anypony,” Pinkie replied with a sincere smile. “So, are ya gonna count to 10 so I can hide, or should I hide and then I’ll count to”-
“Ugh, just…shut up!” Trixie exploded, firing a stream of red and blue sparks at the pink pony. With a small gasp of surprise (or was it excitement?), Pinkie dove under the nearest table, dodging the sparks by inches. With a growl, she levitated the table straight up into the air…but Pinkie was nowhere to be seen under it! The magician tossed the table aside and scanned the room, but she couldn’t see hide nor hair of her foe…but she could smell cotton candy for some reason…and why were those fools on the other side of the bar snickering?
“Boo!” A voice right by her ear cried, making Trixie leap a full meter sideways in surprise before turning to glare at Pinkie. She’d been standing right behind her the entire time!? “Whew, that was a close one, Great and Powerful Trixie,” she giggled behind her hoof. That’s it, she IS mocking me, dammit! “You almost got me there, but I thought it was called ‘tag’, not ‘shoot with sparks’…oooh, is it a new game now?”
“Sweet Celestia, shut up!!!” Trixie picked up a chair and hurled it at the pastry chef, but she deftly ducked under it before popping back up with a grin again.
“Hee-hee, you’re getting better; is it my turn yet?” Trixie growled and fired a small fireball at her, but again, the hyperactive pony somehow managed to dodge it and dive under another table. Trixie picked up the table and examined it thoroughly, thinking that maybe she was hanging onto the other side, but again, she was gone!”
“Ray, she’s using her…” Jill mumbled, half-stunned at what she was witnessing.
“I know, I know, I see it,” Ray replied. He saw it, and he’d read about it, and even given a small lecture about it, but he still could hardly believe it!
“Yoohoo!” a cheerful voice chuckled, and the magician looked up in shock to see Pinkie completely on the other side of the room now, sitting at a booth and holding an intact menu, waving her hoof with a smile. “Is this dinner and a show? I’d like an order of raisin pancakes and some real magic on the side, please!” The four ponies behind the bar and the Pegasus on the roof gawked at the impossible sight.
“I mean, what’s gotta be it, right?” his sister looked to him for answers, but he only gave her a tiny shrug.
“I-I dunno…you tell me, sis; I’ve never seen it in person before,” he shook his head slowly. “You tell me.”
“Holy hellfire,” Jill muttered. “She’s untouchable.” And she was frustrating Trixie so badly that they could see the bulging veins in her face from here!
“Real magic!?” Trixie roared and broke the table in half. “I’ll show you real magic!” She crashed the table-pieces full force onto Pinkie Pie with a snarl of satisfaction before conjuring a lighting cloud to rain electricity down onto the pieces of wood. But just as the cloud began to take shape, she heard a whistle just above her head and to the right. The magician reluctantly looked up and her jaw nearly hit her chest, while the cloud puffed into nothingness.
“Whew, you sure that was real magic?” Pinkie giggled, having popped her upper body out of one of the hanging light fixtures. “Looked more like a temper-tantrum involving a table to me.” She then gave a quick raspberry and disappeared back into the light again.
“RAGH, DAMN YOU!” Trixie spat and grabbed the light with her magic, tearing it down and leaving a small hole in the ceiling. She flipped the light over and tried to shake Pinkie out of it, but she was really hanging in there! Incensed, she crushed the light flat, expecting to hear the sound of breaking bones, but there was nothing but the light crunch of glass. She was gone again! What kind of demon-spawn was this pony!? The magician’s eyes darted wildly right and left, fear now beginning to fill them as she searched for her slippery opponent. In desperation, she began to shoot down the light fixtures, thinking that if she removed the places she could hide, she’d eventually catch her out in the open. Unfortunately, many of the spells missed their marks, and simply blew more holes in the weakening ceiling, a few of them even forcing Volare to roll out of the way to dodge them on the roof.
After nearly a minute of this, though, Trixie was left winded and at her wits’ end; her head was pounding and that buzzing sound in the back of her mind had increased 10-fold since the start of this fracas. Her vision was blurring from the effort and from the stinging sweat that she continuously had to blink out of her eyes, while she just barely managed to keep from stumbling around by leaning on a booth to catch her breath. This was bucking ridiculous!
“Looking for me, Great and Power Trixie?” a warm voice rang out from the back corner of the room in front of the door that led to Lyra’s human artifacts collection. The little heathen wasn’t even breathing hard! With a smash of her hoof on a booth seat, the magician charged forward, all semblance of strategy gone now; she was beyond wanting to use magic and instead just wanted to pound Pinkie’s face in with her own bare hooves. Let’s see her dodge that!
But to her surprise, just as she prepared to leap at the pastry chef, the pink pony raised a hoof and spoke. “Wait, wait, wait, stop!” Trixie skidded to a halt in sheer surprise, staring at Pinkie incredulously. “I have an idea!”
“Oh, what a shocker,” Trixie pawed the floor. “Just what in Equestria is it that your puff-filled brain could have possibly thought up at a time like this? You finally going to do everypony a favor and disappear and never come back?”
“Nope, but it’s pretty obvious you can’t hit me,” Pinkie replied matter-of-factly.
“Because you keep moving too much, you coward!” Trixie snarled.
“Well, duh, I wouldn’t be very smart if I stood still,” the party pony giggled at such a silly concept. “Besides, it’s not that I’m moving too much, it’s that you’re moving too little, Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“Shut up and stop not making sense, you-UGH!” the magician was absolutely positive that the only reason Pinkie was taking her time to use her full title wasn’t out of respect, but to make a mockery of her! Her face had turned a darker shade of purple and it was all she could do to keep herself from throwing every object she could get her magical grip on all over the room.
“But,” Pinkie tapped the floor twice, as if in contemplation of what to say. “Since you can’t hit me if I keep moving, I guess that’s not very fair, and unfair games aren’t very fun…sooooo…how about we make it a little more fair, hm?”
“W-what do you mean?” Trixie demanded.
“How about I stand still and let you try to hit me?” Pinkie suggested, causing Volare and Co. to groan and facehoof simultaneously. Trixie, however, felt a grin begin to curl across her lips.
“Pinkie Pie, you idiot, don’t do that!” Bon-Bon shouted in alarm. “She’ll kill you for sure!”
“For sure, huh?” Pinkie cocked her head. “What makes you so sure, BB?”
“Seriously, don’t do it, Pink!” Lyra cried, waving her hooves in wild protest. “That’s exactly what she wants!”
“Yep, I know,” the pastry chef nodded and smiled. “But if I don’t let her at least try, she might throw a filly-tantrum and that probably won’t end too well. Right, Great and Powerful Trixie?” Pinkie turned to the snickering magician, who couldn’t believe just how foolish her foe truly was. All that power and ability, but not enough brains to use it, unlike herself, as she’d soon find out!
“Indeed, that’s right,” Trixie replied as sickeningly sweetly as possible, nodding her head in emphasis. “Gimme my fair turn or it’ll go bad for everypony here.”
“Where the hell are the town Guards when you need them?” Volare thought to himself as he looked down on the scene, wanting to shout at Pinkie to discourage her, but not wanting to reveal his position for either Trixie or those two Unicorns still sitting in the corner, spellbound by the sight of the Element of Laughter making their temporary employer look like a complete fool without even touching her.
“You got it!” Pinkie grinned and stood straight and tall, her blue eyes sparkling with far to much excitement over her own impending destruction. “Hit me with your best shot; show me some real magic, come on!”
“NO PINKIE, NO!” the four ponies behind the bar cried at once, but they were overshadowed by Trixie’s evil cackle.
“Hahahahahahahaha! You asked for it, you pink heathen! Prepare to be involved in the greatest magic trick The Great and Powerful Trixie has ever attempted!” With that announcement, she didn’t waste any time as four blue-flamed torches appeared around Pinkie and a series of ropes popped into existence above her head before they shot across the room, slithering around Pinkie and tying themselves into an intricate series of knots. Trixie pulled them as tightly as possible, but only succeeding in eliciting a giggle of amusement from the pink pony.
“I must warn you, though,” Trixie grinned nastily as she conjured a set of heavy padlocked chains that clinked and clanked over the floor before they too wrapped around Pinkie like a metallic python, the locks clicking shut and helplessly immobilizing Pinkie. “I can’t recall anypony ever surviving this trick…hopefully you’re not the first!”
Trixie levitated Pinkie above the horrified faces of her friends, holding her in place as the magician then created a large cloud of blue smoke in the middle of the room, although Pinkie simply laughed as if she were on some sort of carnival ride. From out of that smoke materialized a large wooden crate, which Trixie then unceremoniously dropped Pinkie into, snickering with satisfaction at the loud thump and ouchy that trickled out of the bottom of the crate. The magician then grinned at her “audience” and created another large puff of smoke, out of which popped a large bucket which then proceeded to dump an impossible amount of water into the crate. They could all hear Pinkie’s gasps for breath, and it was all Lyra could do to not vault over the bar and save her friend herself!
“Hey Ray,” Jill elbowed her brother. “You think Trixie can kill that thing?”
“I-I dunno…” Ray shook his head again, entranced by what he was seeing.
“What if she does…then what?”
“Jill, I. Don’t. Know,” Ray hissed, shoving his sister’s hoof away. He wasn’t even sure how he wanted to win this battle of magic. On one hoof, if Trixie won, he was sure The Boss would be elated to hear that one of the Element Holders was out of the picture. But if Trixie did kill Pinkie, then how the hell would they find Volare?! On the other hoof, if Pinkie won…well, he’d honestly face their Boss’s wrath than that pink menace, especially after seeing what she could do in person. Holy hay…the theories were right about her…but if they were correct, then…was Pinkie even still in that box anymore!?
“Hee-hee-hee-hee,” Trixie giggled evilly as the bucket finished filling the crate to the top. Without missing a beat, the showmare slammed the lid on the crate shut and conjure up yet another series of chains that wrapped their way around and all over the box, sealing it tightly. “So, I wonder…how long can your friend hold her breath, hmm?”
“Let my friend go, you bitch!” Lyra cried, pounding the bar with a hoof. “You’re gonna kill her!”
“Oooh, she catches on quick,” Trixie laughed. “You wanna try round two, Freak? No? I didn’t think so, now sit down!” she shouted, her glassy eyes reflecting the torch flames without a hint of remorse for what she was doing. The pink heathen had embarrassed her publicly, and now she was paying the price! “Now then, if you don’t think she can breath in there…what do you say we give her some gill slits to breathe through, eh?”
With a swoosh of sharp metal, Trixie conjured two or three dozen large, wicked-looking blades out of thin air, cackling as she swirled them in unison before hovering them around the crate. “Oh, Pinkie Pie,” Trixie called with mock sweetness. “You’re about to find out what a shish-kabob feels like!” The blades all flipped around point first and Trixie raised a hoof like an officer commanding a firing squad.
No! Pinkie!!!!! Volare screamed in his head.
With an evil smirk and a twitching eye, she dropped her hoof, and the blades slammed through the wooden crate one after another, after another like the literal knife slicing through the proverbial butter. Each impact carried with it the sickening noise of crunching wood, screeching metal, and what everypony around swore was the sound of a pink pony being helplessly cut to ribbons.
“You-you monster!” Octavia shouted in anger, she too having to do her best to not charged Trixie head-on and beat her to a pulp. But her own self-restraint saved her, as did it Vinyl Scratch, who was throwing caution to the damned wind and stalking around the bar to punch Trixie’s face in herself, not even stopping to wipe away the furious tears that were trickling down her face. The cellist collared the DJ and firmly dragged her back behind the bar despite the wild-maned Unicorn’s kicking hooves and the cloud of epithets she was spewing at the magician, who still wore that same, completely remorseless smirk.
“Hah, I’m not the monster, the demon that lies dead in this box was,” she emphasized the last word with a tap on the crate. “Now then, let’s see what’s left of this heathen!” A large wood saw popped into view above the crate and descended, its razor sharp teeth hungering for the prey that lay beneath it. Without delay, the magician deftly controlled the saw blade with her magic as it chewed vertically downwards through the crate, the chains, and the pony inside, a thin stream of water trickling from out of the line being cut through the box. With a violent flourish, Trixie yanked the saw out of the box as it reached the floor and tore the blades from it as well, causing the crate to split open and spill its gruesome contents all over the floor. Bon-Bon and Octavia looked away, unable to bear the sight of their mutilated friend.
“And thus passes those who would mock the Great and…Powerful,” the magician trailed off as her disbelieving eyes sought through the water-logged ropes and chains…but not a trace of pink lay anywhere among them. Trixie’s jaw hung lower and lower as she dug through the restraints, but no…no, it was impossible…she couldn’t have shredded her that damn thoroughly! “She…she’s…”
“No bucking way,” Jill gasped, grabbing her brother’s arm in reflex.
“I see it, I see it, sis,” Ray replied shakily. This went WAY beyond his wildest nightmares.
“She’s gone,” Vinyl gasped, taking her shades completely off and gaping at the sight before nudging her friends. “Octy, BB, check it out! Pinkie’s gone!”
“She just disappeared!” Lyra grinned at the dumbfounded magician. Up on the roof, Volare pumped his fist and barely suppressed a whoop. Holy shit Pinkie, you’re amazing!
“I-Impossible,” Trixie muttered over and over again. “Th-that’s impossible! Where in balefire did she go!?”
A popping noise emanated from near the front of the café, drawing everypony’s attention to the backlit silhouette of Trixie’s hat that had been knocked off earlier. It seemed to rise up into the air and sit on top of a booth before a second popping sound, this one much louder than the first, issued forth from the hat itself. The noise was accompanied by a pressure wave that they all felt, even Volare high up on the roof, that blew their manes back and caused the front door to fall off its hinges. Right before their very eyes, a hoof appeared out of the hat, followed by another, and then two more, and then finally a pink tail, mane and then the grinning, blue-eyed face of Pinkie Pie. She shook her mane out, twiddled a hoof in her ear as if to clear it, and then proceeded to hop down the aisle towards Trixie, the magician’s hat still perched on the pastry chef’s head.
“No…no, no, no, no!” the blue Unicorn gasped, stumbling backwards over the piles of chains and ropes, slipping in the water that pooled on the floor and falling on her flank in complete and utter disbelief. “Get away from me!” she shouted, causing Pinkie to pause in her tracks and tilt her head in confusion.
“Why ya want me to get away? I was just bringing you your hat back,” Pinkie chuckled and indicated the star-covered headwear before finally calming down somewhat. “Wow, I gotta say, that was a pretty neat trick. I’d ask to see it again…but now it’s my turn. You want your hat back before I do this?”
“I don’t care, keep the bloody hat!” Trixie shouted, getting to her hooves and glaring at the Element of Laughter, completely unscathed from her trick. Her fur wasn’t even wet!
“Aww, if you say so,” Pinkie frowned slightly. Well, maybe this was for the best…it was a neat hat and she didn’t want it to get messed up if Trixie was wearing it during this… She then fixed Trixie with a large grin. “My turn…” The pink pony reached behind the broken box with both hooves, and as she did so, they all felt that pressure wave again, as if the very fabric of reality were the surface of a pond rippling from an object poking a hole through it. When Pink pulled her hooves back with a small pop noise, she dragged a silvery-blue cylindrical object on wheels from out behind the box that had certainly not been there before! She thunked it down and aimed it at the blue magician with an almost terrifying giggle.
“Shit…is about…to get real,” Volare muttered in wide-eyed disbelief.
“Just what in Equestria is that thing supposed to be?” Trixie demanded, allowing herself a slight laugh at the flowery motifs carved onto the wheels of the thing.
“R-Ray,” Jill mumbled, staring wide-eyed at what Pinkie Pie had just pulled from what had to have been the pocket universe her brother had spoken of earlier…at this point, the mare was totally convinced it wasn’t conjecture anymore! “I-is that her...?”
“My party cannon, silly,” Pinkie explained to the magician. “I never leave home without it!”
“Yeah…that’s the party cannon,” Ray echoed with a gulp, glancing towards the back door and noting that it didn’t seem to be locked. This had just been taken to a completely new level.
“What’s it do?” Jill asked in a whisper, her gaze switching between Pinkie and Trixie, the latter of whom laughed in relief at such a foolish concept.
“We really don’t know for sure,” Ray replied.
“Ha, that doesn’t scare me in the slightest!” Trixie scoffed, tossing her mane and grinning. “’Party Cannon’, how absurd!”
“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Jill hissed fearfully, her body tensing as she spoke.
“What exactly do you intend to do with that thing, anyway?” Trixie snorted. “Shoot party streamers all over me or something? Pfft, pathetic.”
“Well, its power could range from anything to anything...she used it to defeat a few dozen Changelings back in the spring, so she knows how to use the damn thing,” Ray licked his very dry lips.
“But it’s not pointed at us!” Jill protested hopefully.
“Hrm, you could say that,” Pinkie chuckled. “Only one way to find out!” Her hoof drifted over the cannon fuse.
“We don’t enough about it to know if it has a minimum safe distance if it goes off, sis,” Ray bit his bottom lip and tensed to run. “So at this point, I don’t think it matters if it’s not pointed at us or not.”
“Oh buck me…” his sister groaned and turned back to the standoff before her. It was like watching a semi-truck crash into a compact car; you know who was going to win…it was just sheer morbid curiosity of how bad it was going to be that kept you watching. “Shouldn’t we warn her or something?”
“I’d feel bad if I didn’t,” Ray nodded and called out. “Trixie, get outta there! You don’t know what you’re”-
“Ray, you’re still here? How about you and your sister just stay put, cuz once I’m finished with this fool, I’m going to take my bits back right out of your useless flank!” Trixie shot back with a snarl. “You don’t have the nerve!” she growled at Pinkie, whose hoof was sinking closer and closer to the fuse.
“Hmmmm, you might be wrong there, Great and Powerful Trixie,” Pinkie smiled brightly.
“Well come on, then!” the magician commanded with as much bravado as she could muster. “Make my day you pink freak!”
“Okey…” Pinkie’s hoof grazed the fuse.
“Well, we tried,” Ray threw his hooves in the air and jumped up. “Come on Jill!”
“Dokey…” the pink hoof settled onto the fuse, and at this point it didn’t really matter to Ray that she didn’t seem to have any way of lighting the cannon; this wasn’t worth it anymore!
“Run!” The two Unicorns stampeded towards and broke down the backdoor, galloping down the street as fast as their hooves would carry them.
“Lokey,” Pinkie giggled as her hoof pressed the fuse. Everypony in the room and on the roof braced themselves for a massive…well, something! But after a few moments of nothing but extreme tension, Trixie broke the silence with an arrogant laugh.
“Ha, what a joke!” But Pinkie’s grin merely grew a small fraction in response.
“Yep, joke’s on you,” the party mare laughed once more before the air between the two combatants was filled with the sounds of party noisemakers, a bright cloud of confetti and streamers, and the smell of (birthday cake?!). But more importantly, the noises, sights, and smells combined to generate a massive pressure wave that quite literally lifted Trixie off her hooves and blasted her across the room with such force that when she slammed against the wall next to Lyra’s human room, a stress fracture began to form in the wall behind her body. As she slipped off the wall and landed on her face with a loud groan, the stress fracture began to travel up towards the ceiling, finally halting at one of the main support beams for the roof.
“You…little…pink…fool,” Trixie growled into the floor, somehow still managing to summon the strength to stagger to her hooves and glare daggers at her opponent in still-simmering rage. “I can’t…lose to…you…freak,” she spat the last word along with a few drops of blood.
“Trix, just give it up and turn yourself in!” Vinyl shouted through cupped hooves. “You can’t win!”
“Yes, I agree whole-heartedly,” Octavia nodded grimly. “You’ve lost, and that’s that.”
“No! Not to her!” Trixie’s glassy eyes blazed with a crazed light as her face contorted into something between a rictus grin and a pained scowl. She raised herself to her full height and closed her eyes, her horn beginning to glow a bright blue-white again. “Not to any of you!” Her eyes snapped open as she gathered her remaining strength for one final assault, her wounded pride and the chemicals in her system combining to make her mentally unable to quit a fight she long ago would have had the sense to abandon. The smell of burning ozone filled the air as tendrils of electricity arced from her horn and stabbed at the ceiling and support columns, her purple eyes glazed over, and her tattered starry cape fluttering around her as a shrill cry began to rise from the back of her throat. “If I go down, I’ll take you all with me!”
“Oh hell no,” Volare growled and dragged himself towards the hole in the roof…which just so happened to right above the demented blue Unicorn. It was a bit of a long way down, but to his surprise, just as before on the cliff edge the other day…he no longer felt the fear of heights…
Before she could fully cast the spell and tear the building down around them, Pinkie’s tail suddenly began to twitch violently. “W-w-w-whoa, hold on guys, my tail’s a’twitchin!” Her friends gave her a look of disbelief before they too witnessed it and ducked for cover under the sturdiest objects they could find.
“Ha, why do I care if you’re quaking in fear before the awesome power that is The Great and Powerful-OOOF!!!” Trixie crumpled to the ground as a blue and yellow Pegasus fell from the ceiling and landed square on her head, slamming her to the ground and knocking her senseless, instantly ceasing the destructive spell. Volare lifted his head and gave a shaky laugh before rolling off of the magician, the ropes around his legs torn to pieces and the cast on his broken leg shattered from the impact, though the ropes that bounds his wings were still more or less intact.
“It means something’s about to fall,” Pinkie shook her head and chuckled at the pitiful sight of the half-flattened Trixie; 150+ pounds of Pegasus falling twenty feet right onto her head probably didn’t do her any favors. “Told ya you’d get a headache,” the party pony shook her head and turned to Volare.
“Whoa…” Vinyl Scratch gasped before running around the bar and attending to the Pegasus. “Dude, that was awesome!”
“Oh my goodness, Volare are you alright?” Octavia cried as she ran to his side. The pilot sat on his flank and rubbed his head before noticing that his injured hoof wasn’t injured anymore!
“Yeah, I-I think so,” he stammered in shock as he gingerly sat the hoof on the floor, expecting to be hit with a lightning bolt of pain…but instead it felt strong and solid! With a grin of joy growing across his face, Volare slowly got to his feet and inspected himself. “G-guys, check it out! I’m standing! And…whoa!” He pulled a bandage off of his shoulder with his teeth, but besides the sharp pain of a few strands of fur being yanked out by the adhesive bandage, there wasn’t any pain of wounds being open to the air. He brought a hoof up to his face to find that the laceration across his cheek was also completely gone! There didn’t even feel like there was a scar there! He turned to regard his friends, Pinkie foremost among them. “Pinkie…you told me to be ready to help…how’d you know?”
“Hee-hee, you’re looking a lot better Volare-bear,” Pinkie chuckled and dodged his question with a wink. “You been eating your veggies or something?”
“Ha, it’s a lot crazier than that, Pinkie!” Lyra grinned and grabbed Volare around the neck, giving him a friendly hoof-noogie as she did so. “Have we got a story to tell you!”
“Agh, our restaurant,” Bon-Bon groaned, her hooves on her cheeks in despair as she took in the sight of the broken…well, pretty much everything! “We’re ruined…we’ll never get this fixed…”
“Ah come on, Bon-Bon,” Vinyl grabbed her in a chummy embrace. “Let’s look on the bright side: Volare’s alive and well, and whatever the hay those two crazy Unicorns did worked!”
A low moan of pain sounded from behind them, and Volare turned to regard the beaten Unicorn Trixie. The pilot couldn’t help but feel pity for her; she was under the influence of so many drugs that she probably couldn’t comprehend what she was doing…it was all that Ray and Jill’s fault…those little bastards. He ground his newly-repaired hoof into the floorboards in anger. I swear if I ever see them again…I’ll kill them for what they did to me…to Scootaloo…and even to Trixie…
“Wait, if your legs are working, then that must mean”- Octavia interrupted his thoughts before Pinkie’s tail began to twitch violently again. “Uh-oh, now what?”
“Dunno…my tail’s still twitching, so that must mean”-
CRRRACK-ACK!
Everypony looked up to see the stress fracture that Trixie’s body had caused had split through the support column of the ceiling. And the poor roof, already wind and weather-damaged before being filled with holes tonight, had had enough. One of the wooden rafters cracked off from a column and crashed to the ground, barely missing the group. It was all coming down!! “Oh gimmie a break!” Bon-Bon cried in horror.
“Time to go!” Pinkie quipped, hoisting her party cannon over her head.
“Everypony, run!” Volare cried and began to gallop for the door, not having the slightest chance to appreciate his newly-repaired leg before trouble had found him yet again. Figures, he thought as he reached the front door and paused, his friends right on his heels as yet another heavy rafter fell and smashed right through the bar. But as everypony else got out the door and Volare himself turned to follow, a wavering cry reached his ears.
“Help….me…please…” The Pegasus looked and beheld Trixie, mostly conscious and straining to drag herself towards them. Her eyes no longer had that glassy stare to them, and instead they were wide with fear and pleading for aid. Tears leaked from them as she stared up at the ceiling that began to buckle and fall above her. She’d be crushed for sure!
At the pitiful sight, something welled up from deep inside Volare, something he never thought he’d feel for anyone at anytime…and what a hell of a time to feel it. When he looked at Trixie, struggling to safety, about to die, he felt no hate in his heart for her. On the contrary, he admired her willingness to keep going, her bravery to keep fighting even against the odds she was facing. For the first time in his life…he felt love rather than hate for an enemy. She didn’t deserve this…none of them deserved this…but Trixie…oh Trixie…damn me for a fool!
With a snort of finality and to the shock of his friends, Volare turned and charged back into the building, dodging falling debris as he went. He felt no strain in his limbs, no fatigue in his bones as he pounded them against the floorboards; those siblings had cast a damn good spell. It was as if he’d been fully rested rather than ever being confined to a wheelchair. It was as if he’d never been crippled in the first place! He pulled snort after snort of the air into his lungs, taking in the lingering smell of ozone, birthday cake, and smoke from the battle as the oxygen he inhaled fueled his muscles to their maximum.
However, he glanced up at the roof that was already beginning to buckle towards the Unicorn, and after a quick calculation, he determined he wouldn’t make it in time at his current speed…he needed to go faster! For the second time in two days, time seemed to slow…the sounds of the crashing roof seemed to dull, the sights of the burning menu pieces and falling rafters around him faded away to darkness as he focused on his target: the Great and Powerful Trixie. “Volare, you idiot, come back!” he thought he heard Bon-Bon shout…or maybe it was Lyra…couldn’t have been Pinkie…oh well…Volare you are an idiot…but I won’t be a coward and let my enemy die like this either!
Volare’s mind finally cleared of any extra thoughts as he reached the halfway point between Trixie and himself. His eye flicked upwards again for just a moment to see a great mass of debris detach itself from the ceiling and hurtle towards the Unicorn. She saw it too, and he watched as she slowly began to curl her hooves over her head in anticipation of the end. “Trixie!” he managed to shout, causing her to look up in surprise. To his surprise, he could see every single tiny detail in her face, from the wrinkles of worry creasing her forehead, to the breath misting from her muzzle, and even the tears hanging from her eyelashes. Everything about her, his target, was under scrutiny, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was distraught, helpless, and terrified. He threw his hooves against the floor again and again as he neared her, but it…just…wasn’t…enough! Need…More…Speed!!!!
SNAP-AP-AP-CRACK-PAP-POP!
The sound of shredding and snapping ropes emanated from behind his ear and all of a sudden, he was racing towards Trixie! He felt like a rocket on rails as the muted sound of feathers coursing through the air curled over his shoulder and found his ear-but he didn’t have time to think about that! He gritted his teeth with the effort and reached out with his forehoof toward the fallen magician as he finally reached her. Alright, now what, genius? his mind screamed. Now where ya gonna go?! He looked up and around for a split second, saw the only possible route of escape, and took it.
With a grunt, he grabbed her forehoof in his own, hauled her up towards his mouth and grasped the neck of her cape in his teeth. Gathering his hooves under him, he rolled forward, pulling the magician up into his body and sighted in on his next target: the doorknob of Lyra’s human artifacts room. He then happened to look up at Trixie’s gasp of fear to see that the falling roof was a mere two feet above them and closing! There wasn’t time to grab the knob!
“Dammit!” he growled through his teeth and in desperation, shot forwards, using his wings (holy shit his wings!) to lever himself off his back and launch himself at the door. With a crunch of wood and metal, his rear hooves connected with the door knob and blasted it through the door right before his shoulder rolled up and struck the wooden paneling, knocking the door clean open. And suddenly, they were through and tumbling into the darkness of the room as the ceiling collapsed behind them in a terrifying roar of noise, completely obscuring them from the view of his friends behind a cloud of dust and flying debris...and one very battered but still amazingly-intact cello.
---------------------------------
Notes: Dammit Volare, why you gotta be damn compassionate?!
You better be alive, cuz Twilight’s gonna kill your dumbass otherwise!
Volare: that doesn’t make sense…
Author: Shut up, I’m freaking out over here!!!
PS: I'll now be returning to shorter chapters like this, thusly, they'll be getting cranked out more often! ^^
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I believe you may have misplaced an italics tag somewhere.
Edit: WAT. I didn't even italicize my comment at all. What dark magic is this?
1238012 Aha, thank you!
*fixed*
aaaaaand now it's confirmed on who got that healing spell.
and whatever happened to Octavia's cello?
1238033 Oops, added that detail at the very end
1238012 And I dunno, did it to me too...fixed now
1238046...which part of my comment were you referring to?
1238059 refresh and look at the last sentence of the Story before the Author's note
Also
so awesome!!!
1238072 ah. thank you.
How do you cup hooves?
Anyway, good chapter as always, and you're still posting them at a good rate, so even better!
Although I'm still wondering when dash's cutie mark on volare's suit is going to come in.
Wow...
That was amazing. Very good descriptions.
HOLY MOTHER OF SHIT ANOTHER CHAPTER!
I was going to post some awesome comment. But then my brain decided to be the equivalent of about 5 million bags of dicks and made me forget it.
Damn brain...
Hot. Damn pinkie pie is a timelord/lady!!
This chapted had me on ghe edge of my seat,just like any other awesome fic. DUDE R U SOME SORT OF AUTHOR IN REAL LIFE?!
He has his wings back yes!!!!!!!!!
sawthisa few monthes ago on the feature box with6k words "thought ill read it later" wheni wanted to read it i forgot the title when i found this today in da feature box i went totally apeshit when isawthe 341kwords
You deserve all
And Volare is back in the game! Aww yeah!
Unless of course he just got crushed by the roof. I doubt it though.
Pinkie was as awesome as expected.
Hah! I was wondering about the cello once the roof started caving in.
1238030
so fast, so damn fast! I knew his wings would go. Ropes? HAH! RIP SNAP!
ANOTHER UPDATE?!!! i just got done reading the last one, ohh hell yes
wingsFTW!
OMG I KNEW IT GET THE BODY BAGS THIS CELLO NEEDS DE-FIB STAT
Well time for a well deserved cup of tea and perhaps some chess, even if my arms aren't quite as advanced as you humans.
Life sucks for a facypants albertosaurus who wants to be a tyrannosaurus, even if most of those are bullies. Come to think of it, life sucks in general for everydino in the forgotten center of the earth.
Looks like we now know who stole that wing restoration spell, eh?
So nice, oh so very nice!
That was one durable cello, hope it gets repaired properly after this.
So, Volare's got superpowers? He can go Mach 5?
Is he some new Element holder?
Awesome!! Volare IS alright, well from his previous injuries anyway. He may be a little sore in a few hours. I so can't wait till the next chapter!
So I am drunk and I come back from the bars to find another Blue Angel update!
What the FUCK!?
Nice work, and I am looking forwards to seeing how things go between Volare and Trixie now that they are stuck together in a room full of human artifacts.
Also, I noticed two errors while reading through this. First, in the first paragraph you had this sentence:
"In the meantime, the three magicians and Bon-Bon hunkered down behind the much-abused bar, peeping out and around it at the battle that was about to begin."
It looks to me like magicians should be musicians, considering Octavia is an earth pony.
Also, in this sentence you used the numeral 4 instead of spelling four out which is not correct for small numbers.
"With that announcement, she didn’t waste any time as 4 blue-flamed torches appeared around Pinkie and a series of ropes popped into existence above her head before they shot across the room, slithering around Pinkie and tying themselves into an intricate series of knots."
Was I the only one hearing Cloud in the back of their head calling out "Breaking my limits." when the 'ropes' snapped?
A few more things while I am Drunk.
1) Volare just went though a crazy shit and some how came out unscathed.
2) Shorter and more frequent chapter?
YAY!
3) At least Octavia's cello is alright. It is, isn't it?
Foreshadowing much? Well I actually kinda expected this honestly. I'll keep my mouth shut till my suspicions are confirmed. Pinkie is still annoying as hell never liked her anyways so no points gained from me on this aspect. Oh well on to next chapter.
STATUS CHECK : WINGS > OFFLINE_
*backspacebackspacebackspacebackspacebackspacebackspacebackspace*
STATUS CHECK : WINGS > ONLINE; OK!
ALL SYSTEMS GO
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
STATUS CHECK : WINGS > OFFLINE_
*backspacebackspacebackspacebackspacebackspacebackspacebackspace*
STATUS CHECK : WINGS > ONLINE; OK!
ALL SYSTEMS GO
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
You meant musicians?
I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen with Trixie now that she's not high as a kite. And at some point PLEASE tell me that Volare gets around to telling someone about Ray and Jill before he manages to nearly die again. There wasn't really time for it this chapter what with Pinkie being a badass over here, but if he doesn't get around to it soon his old pal Murphy is gonna screw him over again.
1230507
Damn straight!
Also, any epic fight music?
Oke, I survived this chapter in all its awesomeness.
for Volare having his wings back.
I guess next chapter would be, that Volare explains a battered and dejected, going through a cold turkey, Trixie the concept of human "magic" (aka technology), while his friends try to dig them out from under the mess that was once the GG.
Something tells me they will find a working laptop!
You don't screw around with a pony who can fire the laws of physics out the window and straight to Mars to live with the Martians.
That was awesome.
1238102 I'm still awaiting that particular shitstorm.
Www Yeah! That was AWESOME! More importantly Volare is healed, time for some high flying action!
Shit, man, another?
SWEET!
survivingcollege.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/i-see-what-you-did-there.jpg
We all love Fallout Equestria, eh?
Oh, and Volare?
Y U ALWAYS GET HURT?
1240614
Sorry dude, got a shitload of other stuff to do.
Read some of these...
Dang it lol I can't wait to see what happens when Rainbow comes back to find Volare is all better, this is gonna be good.
1241092 I feel she is going to find more then that honestly
So Dashie is thinks Volare is sick and injured, but know he is some how marculasly healed. She is going to come home expecting to find him all sick and injured but wount. There is so much potential to do some pranks.
IT GOING TO BE SO AWSOME!
Oh, Volare... It's simple. If you die, Twilight will resurrect you and kill you herself.
Okay, you know what? Now either Volare was supposed to spent years in that hospital or the hospital bills are extremely high. Because that, dear madams and sirs, is an absolute catastrophe worth of bits... I expect some numbers soon... or I won't believe that hospital money will do any good here...
not that I know much about prices and stuff...
Maybe they really should go look for FancyPants once again...
Oh and that fight was... hmmmm ... huh ...aaahhhhh ... errrmmmmm... ... ... I got nothing... Somepony find a good gif/pic/movie/whatever to describe it. i never was good at that.
And yeah, waiting in that room while being dug out... Trixie will probably have most of her questions answered. Now will this be a small toleration/truce/friendship? Time (and V-pony) will tell...dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_unsuresweetie_flip.png
Oh well, at least the place isn't on fire... It isn't, right? I mean Derpy dealt with that, right?
The Cello survived!!!!!dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Octavia2.png
And one more thing:
How is TWI!?!? Really, I'm worried! I can't recall ever being worried about fictional character but I am! Seriously!dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_unsuresweetie_flip.png
1238102 LOL idk
And it'll be coming into play soon, don't worry
1238108 Thank you!
1238132
1238155 Hope you can remember it
1238219 Nope, not at all. She's just Pinkie
1238255 Wow, really? Thank you!
And nope, just your average business student
1238319 Yesh, he does
1238372 I hope you enjoy it!
1238494 Aww, even if she was totally out of her mind/desperate/envious?
1238559 Thank you!
1238565 Yeah, Volare's a bit of a disillusioned dork sometimes
Volare:
1238571 LOL that everyone is more concerned about the cello than Volare! Maybe that means they know he can handle himself?
Volare:
1238606 Indeed!
1238647
1238735 Heh, they know worse language than that
1238754 Volare: does nopony care about me?!
1238760 Heh, possibly
1238810
1238956 Volare: the cello gets more love than me!
1239011 LOL I already had to do that with my younger siblings too
1239075 Heh, he's not going Mach 5
He just got a speed boost from his wings as he ran, that's all. Trust me, pegasi wings are powerful.
1239150 LOL if you think Volare's gonna be sore, think about how hung-over Trixie's gonna be
1239298 LOL I dunno
1239309 Yep, they're stuck for a bit
And thanks for the help!
1239313 Heh, I'll bet not
1239359 Oh he's not totally unscathed yet; he's still stuck in a room with a somewhat drugged-up unicorn...
Volare: yet again, the cello gets more love than me!
1239391 Whatcha mean? I'm curious to know
1239508 LOL possibly!
1239666 Yep, fixed it!
1239723 You have no idea