When The Night Crawls

by Hoppa_21

Chapter 7: Snippets: Beezan’s Escape, Raging Rainbow and some Steam Gear

POV: Narrator

Location: S.H.A.M.P.O.O., Warehouse, Ground Floor
Time: 22:49

Beezan was having a very bad day. Not only was he kidnapped and demeaningly treated by an unknown and quite kooky creature, but he was as well branded as a traitor. Not to mention that his exit was blocked out.

Of course things weren’t made any easier by the large part of the warehouse his boss, or former boss now, and the nutcase that kidnapped him used as their battleground. Suffice to say he couldn’t use the exit that lay in that direction. Not to mention that it was the only other direct way to get out of this building.

This all of course wouldn’t be half bad if the glass ceiling didn’t just get annihilated as the police and Power Ponies were getting down via rope.

Not that Beezan couldn’t fight them! He was after all no wuss! ...But then again, they were having superior numbers, so he didn’t risk it. He wasn’t dumb after all. He knew he could take a few out but hardly the entirety that was just storming this building. So as soon as he heard the first shouts of “FREEZE!” he ran like the Mane-iac was hot on his tail.

He was panting a bit as he run along the downed and still standing shelves dodging always knew police ponies that came from above. Not to mention the stunning bolts fired at him from behind.

He noticed out of his peripheral vision that he just passed one of the Power Ponies, as well as his downed boss.

Beezan couldn’t help but curse under his breath seeing as he now gained the attention of one of the beings he definitely couldn’t fight off.

With desperation in his eyes he used his power to let some crates do suicidal jumps to block the way of the ponies chasing him. It gave him some time as he heard them stumbling, but at the same time he could also hear that some persistent ones were not falling for his delaying tactic.

“FREEZE!” he could hear them yell.

Of course he didn’t listen to them and opted to run further. Just as his lungs were burning and thoughts of yielding pervaded his mind he spotted a ventilation shaft. A hopeful smile appeared on his face as he clearly saw now how he could actually manage to perform a great escape!

He immediately used his furniture powers to line crates up like stairs so he could reach for it. A few jumps and he was at the right elevation. He quickly opened it, a stun spell barely missing him and crawled hastily inside of it. A confident grin was now on his face as almost his entire body vanished in the ventilation shaft, only for something to suddenly tighten around his leg.

Panic seeped in his thoughts and he crawled hastily forward, but it all was for nothing as he could suddenly feel a tug before he was pulled backwards. He tried to desperately get a good grip inside of the shaft, but with the rather smooth walls it was impossible for him. Inch for inch he felt himself slip out of the ventilation shaft, his hope diminishing with each tug. As if things couldn’t get any worse he yelped loudly as one particularly cheeky policemare had stunned his plot with one of her bolts!

Yup, it was rather humiliating as he felt his flank go numb as if he was sitting on it for too long. But that of course was swiftly ignored considering the tugging that was still all too persistent. It didn’t take any more as with one last especially strong tug he felt himself practically flying out of his escape route and then down to the ground.

“Oof!” Beezan voiced as his body made contact with the cold and hard ground. Only a second later his entire body was wrapped up in a strong golden rope.

“Yeehaw! That’s how we do it on the farm!” exclaimed an exuberant voice. And Beezan didn’t even have to look to know it was Mistress Mare-velous. He simply ceased his struggles and looked up all too poutingly (yes it is a newly coined word and it is awesome) at the ceiling.

“BUCK!”

---

Twi-, uh, I of course meant Masked Matter-Horn, which I will just call Matter-Horn for short now, seeing as her superhero name is a mouthful, wasn’t amused.

She just returned to Mare-velous (yes I will shorten the longer names) with not at all satisfying news. Not only did this potentially dangerous being escape her, but she also had to deal with another annoyance on the roof, which was also the reason her face and body were now covered in ink splotches, go figure.

As Mare-velous had just bound Beezan’s mouth too, seeing as she didn’t approve of his blatant profanity, she turned around to greet the Unicorn before frowning. Undoubtedly noticing her state.

“She again?” she asked in a deadpan to which Matter-Horn nodded.

“And the creature?”

“Gone. I was kept busy by ‘her’.”

“Well, at least we got the Mane-iac,” Mare-velous tried to cheer her up, but Matter-Horn could still only frown at the situation.

“We have but Steam Gear is still missing.”

Mare-velous grimaced. She was against this plan from the beginning. Risking and untrained civilian was outright reckless. But all that didn’t seem to hold any weight against the worry that each of them felt for the missing stallion. Especially Zapp who talked him into it, or more like bribed him with something he couldn’t refuse, was more fidgety and aggressive than normal at hearing the news of him missing.

She could only hope that she wouldn’t do anything reckless.

Mare-velous quickly shook her head.

“We will find him,” she simply assured as they went back to looking for the stallion.

---

Location: S.H.A.M.P.O.O., Train Station, Underground
Time: 22:53

*POW* it made as a policemare was struck down by a clawed fist, and the culprit couldn’t help but chuckle sadistically.

“Dweeb. Guess, it’s time for me to go now.”

Gilda was just about done. Her contract was running out and considering how the police was already flooding through the building it was best she would retreat too.

Kind of a pity these few policemares stopped her from getting the train, but then again it was probably safer not to take such an obvious vehicle to get out of there. Just as she walked casually away she heard a scratchy voice behind her.

“You are not getting away, Gilda!”

The Griffoness turned around, her eyes filled with hatred as she venomously spat out, “Dash.”

But soon enough she couldn’t help but get more casual as she adopted a devilish smile, “Look at who we have here, Rainbow Crash! I don’t have the time to kick your flank, but neither do you. Aren’t you supposed to catch your train?”

The Pegasus mare paused as she raised a suspicious eyebrow, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that your little dweeb friend is in this moment transported out of this base through the old underground tunnels. And once he is gone, who knows if you can find him that easily again,” she said with a laugh, “That guy with the top hat was your friend wasn’t he? He was so lame that he smelled definitely like one of your friends! Just how low have you fallen Dash. There was once a time you would only hang out with the cool gals.”

Zapp gritted her teeth at her insults as she glared down at the Griffoness before her, before her ears swiveled in the direction she could hear the indicated train distancing itself further from her.

“I don’t have time to stick around, so smell you later, loser!” Gilda said mockingly before flying in the opposite direction.

Zapp meanwhile looked after her, before her head turned around to the train that was only a speck now. She didn’t like it. She always wanted to finally solve things with Gilda and who knows when she would actually find her again? She was compelled to simply follow her and end this…

…

...But her friend needed her. And she would rather give up her mutant powers than forsake someone that trusted her enough to go on this mission. A mission he only accepted because of her bribe.

With that her decision was made and she took off after the speeding train.

“Guys, I’m going after the train. G is probably located there, and I’m not leaving a friend hanging! Not twice in a row!” Dash said with determination through her speakers.

“Understood,” acknowledged Matter-Horn, “but be careful Zapp. We don’t know what you have to expect there. Maybe Gilda is not the only mercenary the Mane-iac hired.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure to inform you when I see somepony like that.”

As she ended her communication she flapped her wings harder, getting closer and closer to the train, hoping their missing friend was alright.

Soon enough she caught up and immediately kicked the door open with full speed before landing on all fours inside.

The door creaked as it swung from the force, before slowly sliding shut again.

As Rainbow scanned the train compartment she could see quite a few crates fixed to the train walls with chains, but what really drew her attention was the with muscles bulging Minotaur before her. He had blue fur, was wearing black pants, a white tank top and a black mask hiding his face.

Something about him made her halt and she decided to inform the others about this situation.

“Uh, guys. This doesn’t look like a normal mercenary.”

“So, a pony came here to challenge Iron Fist?” the minotaur said before his whole body turned to iron and he punched his fists together with a noisy clang.

“One moment,” Spike said over the intercom as he was looking the mutant database up. But what he saw made his eyes widen in shock and his voice quiver in panic.

“You have to get out of there, Zapp! Iron Fist is too strong to take on on your own! His BML is 3!”

Rainbow reeled a bit back at this. 3 meant that he would be tough. Probably too tough to handle on her own. But that notion quickly vanished as she remembered her mission.

“But G is here on the train somewhere! I can’t just leave!” Zapp loudly protested.

“Spike is right!” the voice of Matter-Horn sounded, ”You have to! You need backup! Just distance yourself and follow the train, while waiting for further instructions. We will be with you as soon as we can.”

“No, I ca-“ she said before an iron fist connected painfully with her jaw, making her slam against the closed door she came from. Iron Fist seemed to have gotten a tad impatient and Zapp had to pay for that. She gritted her teeth through the painful strike and stood back up to level a glare at the cheating suckerpunching minotaur.

“No one resists, the Iron Fist!” he said triumphantly after laying his arms together and pointing them in one direction in a rather stylish posing position. Fans of One Piece might even recognize the position as it was the very same pose Franky always does.

But that’s just a side note. More important to note was Zapp at the moment.

Said mare was using her custom-clad hoof to rub a trail of blood from her snout. Rarity would probably throw a fit when she saw that as blood stains weren’t something easy to clean. But she would deal with that later. More important was now to save Steam Gear.

With that she stood up on all fours, before she slowly bend her forelegs a little and spread her wings out in an intimidating fighting stance. She scuffed at the ground aggressively as she snorted steam out of her nose.

“Out of the way, you oversized cow!”

Iron Fist merely grinned at her before he got into a combat stance himself.

“You think you can take the bull by its horns? Show me how long you can stay airborne!”

Zapp didn’t need any invitation as her legs tensed and she catapulted herself into the air twirling around like a tornado, while she had her necklace in her mouth.

A small horizontal tornado blasted forwards and right into Iron Fist.

Iron Fist who saw that had already both of his hooves in a wide stance planted safely on the ground, while he put his arms in a protective X form in front of his body.

The small tornado dispersed instantly as it came into contact with the bulging mass of metal that was Iron Fist.

Iron Fist grinned, but didn’t see the blur that went right around his legs and his body a few times.

It was so fast that Iron Fist was surprised by the restrictions his movements suddenly faced. He looked down only to see his body wrapped up in chains.

“Do you give up,” replied Rainbow Dash smugly which Iron Fist reiterated with one of his own smug looks.

“What’s what you would like to see, little pony.” was his confident response as he struggled against the restraints, his muscles flexing with every move. For a while it didn’t look like anything would happen, but then the chains broke.

“Well, seems like you will have to put in more effort than that!” the minotaur boasted.

Rainbow cursed under her breath. She was in a bad situation. She was in a train cart, underground. So her weather specific powers were greatly limited, not to mention her flight in the constraining environment. That tornado she just pulled off was one of the few things she could do here. Not to mention that she can’t summon any larger tornados in the middle of the train. That might derail the train, which in turn would put Steam Gear in danger, considering he could be already in the next cart.

Same goes for electricity which actually would be the most effective against his clump of iron.

Before Zapp could get any idea of what to use against him said Minotaur was already storming forward.

“My turn!” he all too exuberantly exclaimed as his fist lurched forward towards her small agile frame.

Zapp dodged in time before kicking against his jaw. A loud clang emitted as she felt her whole body vibrating from the strike.

Iron Fist didn’t wait as his fist struck again, this time Rainbow couldn’t dodge in time as she was still stunned.

She was thrown backwards as his fist connected with her belly robbing her of her breath as she slammed again against the door.

With a wince she quickly stood up, but Iron Fist was already in action. He quickly grabbed a crate and propelled it towards her. She avoided the first crate, as well as the second crate barely, but in that time frame didn’t realize fast enough that Iron Fist was storming towards her. His huge frame in such a small compartment made it hard to dodge under normal circumstances, but considering how the crates distracted Zapp she had no chance of dodging.

She felt her body slam against his muscled metal torso before he simply run further until they hit the door.

Not only the door, but also the metal surrounding it was bulging out before it bend outwards and the door along with Zapp were catapulted out of the train and back onto the rails.

Sparks flew as the door slid along the rails and slowing slowly down while the train got smaller with a pleased looking Iron Fist stretching his arm muscles and kissing said muscle proudly.

Zapp could only groggily look after the speeding train as it escaped her and with that the chance to save her friend.

“N-No!” she protested as the metal door she was surfing on came to a halt. She tried to stand back up, but quickly collapsed. The collision of getting rammed into said door with such a force having taken a toll on her.

“Dammit!” she cursed as a small dribble of liquid frustration stinged in her eyes.

She had lost. She couldn’t save her friend. Shame and guilt was filling her entire frame as she could only curse after the speeding train.

---

Location: S.H.A.M.P.O.O., Warehouse, Ground Floor
Time: 23:26

It took a bit but soon the police and Power Ponies had swarmed and arrested every single henchmen in the building. Their work of course wasn’t over as they were trying to find out where the train went. Not to mention that Fili-Second and Saddle Rager had to bring Zapp to the medical wing of their base much to the pegasus protests as she wanted to look for the train as well.

She was at least not badly hurt. A cracked rib, as well as a few bruises were the extent of her little run-in with the villain Iron Fist.

This alongside a missing friend was souring her mood as she felt herself responsible as the leader of the Power Ponies. As far as she was concerned this mission was a complete failure.

Matter-Horn sighed one of the many sighs while waiting for any good news to reach her. Luckily Radiance noticed her behavior and trotted up to her, “You know, darling. Worry will not help you get this solved any earlier. It only causes wrinkles.”

“What else am I supposed to do? I have the responsibility for what happened.”

“Oh, and pray tell, what happened,” she asked with a curious gaze.

“I have lost Steam Gear. A potentially dangerous mutant escaped. And Zapp is hospitalized.”

Radiance simply shook her head, “Or you could also say that the Mane-iac is captured and we also managed to arrest quite a few of her henchmen while crossing her truly nefarious plans, whatever these may be.”

She then levitated a shampoo bottle from the ground, “But I have an idea that it has something to do with ruining our manes if this is any indication. And yes, it is tragic that Steam Gear is missing, but I’m sure that we will find him soon enough. After all, once the train is found Steam Gear will be as well!”

Matter-Horn couldn’t help but smile at her comforting words, “Thank you. You are right. We will find him. Without the Mane-iac their henchmen are probably quite dazzled, making them easier to find since that would make them more prone to making mistakes!”

Radiance nodded approvingly, before her eyes were drawn to another occupant of the room.

“HMHMMM!”

Her ears flicked as she was sure she recognized the voice as she just saw a bound form being transported by two policemares.

“Oh, is that Beezan there?” she asked making the mares halt as Radiance took a closer look, confirming her suspicions and then waving her leg dismissively, “He is completely harmless. There is no need to put him into a cell. I’m sure I could use his abilities to redecorate the base as some form of community service if you will.”

The police mares blinked at each other before shrugging and letting the bound stallion fall to the ground with a loud *THUD* and a painful muffled groan from him.

Radiance nodded approvingly, “Thank you. I will make sure to clear all the formalities with Detective Turner.”

Beezan himself meanwhile didn’t know if he should feel relieved or insulted that they were treating him like a petulant child, like a foal caught with his hoof in the cookie jar. Truth be told, even as child Beezan was never really successful with raiding said jar.

Matter-Horn meanwhile couldn’t help but shake her head at the antics of her friend and pointed out an obvious flaw in her plan.

“You are aware that the Mane-iac could use his knowledge of our base then against us?”

Radiance simply waved her hoof dismissively, “Oh puh-lease! It is more likely that she would think he switched sides.”

“But sti-” Matter-Horn was about to say as she was interrupted by a loud *THUD* as two policestallions let a crate fall due to slipped grasp.

“Goddammit rookies! Can’t you do anything right!” A policemare instantly complained.

Twilight was about to open her mouth again, as her ear twitched as a whimper reached her ears.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“Hear what?” her friend asked curiously.

*Whimper*

“That!” she loudly exclaimed as all eyes suddenly trailed to the dropped crate.

With cautious steps the purple heroine neared the crate, while the policeponies stepped out of her way.

She eyed the crate, on high alert as her magic enveloped the upper side of it and tugged at it. Soon enough she managed to open the crate. A surprised muffled yelp could be heard. She leaned her head forward to look into it while having her horn aglow in preparation.

What she saw inside made her eyes go wide and her jaw drop. But only a second later a huge smile split her face.

“Steam Gear!” she exclaimed as she heaved the stallion out of the crate in her magic. His form was bound by ropes which Matter-Horn all too quickly relieved him from before setting him down.

His eyes were spinning a bit before he focused at them. Said stallion felt his anxiety slip quickly away as relief and joy flooded his system.

He quickly was tackled by a pink blur in a hug!

“I thought you might need one!” replied a cheerful suddenly appearing Fili-Second.

Steam Gear hugged her back a bit baffled as he slowly breathed in and out. Matter-Horn and Radiance quickly joined into the hugging fray.

It took at least a minute until they broke it and Matter-Horn couldn’t help but inquisitively ask, “How? How are you here? We all thought you were shipped on that train.”

Steam Gear rubbed his chin, “Well, I heard that they wanted to ship me but then…”

And so he told them everything. The sudden clobbering with Nightcrawler, how they worked together to clobber baddies with his Shampoo Shooter (rolling eyes of a few ponies involved) and how the Mane-iac grabbed him, before disposing him in that crate bound and helpless.

Reactions varied in the end when it came to the creature. Fili-Second was more than happy that Steam Gear made a cuddle obsessed friend, but…

“He sounds like a real brute!”

...Yeah. Radiance wasn’t all too exuberant upon hearing his tale.

Pinkie and Steam Gear both gasped in unison, “It was just a misunderstanding!” he reasoned and Pinkie joined, “Yupperoni! Besides somepony that likes cuddling can’t be bad!”

A rather flimsy logic, but then again… Has any of you guys seen a bad guy cuddle before? I certainly didn’t. So it might have some value to it. Certainly an interesting question: “Do bad guys cuddle?”

...Anyway Matter-Horn was also quite apprehensive.

“We will have to talk with this Nightcrawler ourselves before judging him. But we will take your positive statements for him into account.”

Steam Gear nodded before sighing. He then remembered something that made his anxiety spike again.

“I think I will abstain from future work like this if you don’t mind. I mean what would happen to-” he halted for a moment before breathing and lowering his panicked voice down to a normal tone. He almost slipped up and told them about… But no matter, so he continued, “-to my dream? I mean now that I finally got so close with Zapp promising her top material to me.”

Cue collective eyeroll. Well halfway eyeroll as they soon remembered Rainbow being treated. So Matter-Horn spoke up.

“Zapp is a bit bruised and resting, so that would probably have to wait until tomorrow.”

“Bruised? I hope it isn’t too bad.”

“She had it worse. Besides I think she was more worried about you, just like we all were.”

Steam Gear rubbed his head sheepishly at that, “I’m sorry about that. Should I visit her before going home so that she knows I’m okay? Just asking since… I actually am PRETTY tired,” cue fake yawn, “so I would actually like to get home to-, uh, to my shop!”

Matter-Horn shook her head at this weird stallions behavior before nodding, “Uh, sure. Fili-Second can inform her about your well-being. So no need for you to parade around if you don’t want to.”

The stallion in question breathed a sigh of relief before trotting away, “Uhm, until tomorrow!” he quickly goodbyed (yep it’s coining words day, or it’s not, unless I’m officially making that day today!) his way out of there, disappearing from the warehouse.

With this the mission pretty much came to a close. Sure police was still looking for the train and Iron Fist, but it was only a minor goal considering the foalnapped stallion was back with them and they had the Mane-iac under lock and key.

Also Rarity had a new workslave, uh, employee, so all's well that ends well?

Author's Note:

Title: Not really 'Raging' but it sounded better than 'Fighting Rainbow'.

Beezan being shot in the flanks by policemares. Yup. I'm planning to go with the gender-ratio thing of woman being more into such jobs. Also means I'm planning to correct the fighting scene of Nightcrawler, Beezan and Steam Gear. They should only fight mares in that one. I don't want to screw up the consistency after all.

The next chapter won't be that long. It will be a short one with Steam Gear. Actually, I have a bit of it already written and will probably finish it up this week, which will be followed by other finished chapters I will publish one chapter each day in a row you could say.

Also: “Do bad guys cuddle?” Leave your answer below. Also leave examples (if there are any from games, series or movies, etc.).

Comments

[The A I]

do bad guys cuddle? why yes, yes we do

[Flame Heart]

img11.deviantart.net/a2ed/i/2012/268/5/a/flipsy__by_elactra02-d5fv3dx.jpg

[Totallynotachicken]

8151579
Except that one guy from X-Men origins.
You know, the spikey dude?

[SpyderBookworm]

Twi-, uh, I of course meant Masked Matter-Horn, which I will just call Matter-Horn for short now, seeing as her superhero name is a mouthful, wasn’t amused.

Reminds me of Batman. If the hero’s name consists of two words, he will use their last name. But for some he will make an exception.

[SpyderBookworm]

The stallion in question breathed a sigh of relief before trotting away, “Uhm, until tomorrow!” he quickly goodbyed (yep it’s coining words day, or it’s not, unless I’m officially making that day today!) his way out of there, disappearing from the warehouse.

If you want to do that go here