//------------------------------// // XIX - Breakin Breakout // Story: Pony Fantasy V: Exodus of the Void // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “Uuuuuuuugh..” Rainbow Dash moaned. “UUUUUUUUUGH…” “Dash. Quiet.” Applejack muttered. “My head is not in the mood for pained moaning right now.” Twilight sighed as she stood up, shaking her head. “Well that was a warm welcome.” She looked at their surroundings - five mares in a cell obviously not suited to hold more than three. It was quite cramped, and as she tried to make her way to the bars she stepped on Starlight. “OW!” She yelled. “Hey!” “Sorry.” Twilight said, finally getting to the bars and looking out - she saw nothing but an empty hallway. She smirked. “No guards. Girls, it’s escaping time.” Rainbow Nodded, shuffling up to the door - bumping into Rarity on the way - and preparing to melt the door down. “Ah- ah- ah…!” A very confident and amused feminine voice said. A unicorn strode into the room - a yellow coat paired with a ketchup and mustard mane that resembled bacon. “Did you really think we were stupid enough to leave you without a guard?” Rainbow Dash growled. “We can take one measly unicorn.” The unicorn laughed. “Oh the overconfidence! It’s priceless!” She chuckled. Starlight shoved Rainbow Dash out of the way, a scowl on her face. “You. YOU BLEW UP MY SHIP!” “Oh pfft are you still mad about that? Really. I let you live didn’t I?” She sneered at Starlight. Starlight lit her horn. “I am going to-“ The unicorn lit her horn as well- causing Starlight’s magic to begin smoking. The powerful mage’s eyes widened in pain. “OW THAT’S HOT!” “It’s called burnout, Glimmy.” The unicorn chuckled. “There’ll be no magic coming from that horn for a while without serious pain. Heh. Such fun, I think I’ll do it to all of you-“ “That’s enough Sunset.” A very familiar voice said, sending chills into four of the mares. A blue armored humanoid stepped into view, towering over Sunset and leering towards the cell. Exdeath continued with his deep, unnatural voice. “They may be of use to me. Damaging them will only cause certain other parties to act rashly.” “What?” Sunset asked. “Pinkie has gathered an army on the Big Bridge.” He said as some ponies and gargoyles rolled a giant mirror into the room. “I need to send them a message to dissuade them from taking unwise actions.” He chuckled. “You otherworldly mares are about to become so useful to me!” “We’ll never help you!” Applejack yelled. “And here I was thinking you were honesty. Of course you will.” He cackled. “All you have to do is stand there!” Twilight took a step back. She didn’t like where this was going… Exdeath pointed the mirror at them and cleared his throat. He pressed a button and a soft beam of light swept across the five imprisoned mares. They felt nothing as it passed over them. Then the Mirror pointed upwards and shot a light through the ceiling into the air, projecting an image of the five mares into the sky ponies could see for miles around. “Listen up, Pinkie Pie.” Exdeath’s voice boomed over the land. “I have your foolish friends imprisoned in my castle. Stop the advance of your army, or they will die.” Then he cut the transmission of the image and ordered the mirror to be rolled away. “Sunset.” “Yes my ever-so-shiny lord?” “Watch them closely. Pinkie’s going to try to break them out. Don’t fight them unless you have to.” Exdeath turned one last time to look at the mares. “You should have stayed on your doomed world. All you have accomplished by coming here was make the situation worse. Try and live with that.” Then he left. Starlight turned to all of them. “You’re from another world?!” “Now’s not the time to be hung up on that.” Twilight said. “We need to get out of here-“ Suddenly all the walls lit on fire. The mares retreated to the center of the cell, barely able to fit. The fires died down and they could hear Sunset cackling. “Ah, you’re so stupid! Okay, let’s look at it like this - no talking, no plotting, and no using magic powers. I’ll be able to sense it coming out of your horns or wings of whatever. Talk, I burn you. Use telepathy, I BURN you. Look at me funny, I BURN YOU!” She smirked. “So no, you aren’t getting out little ponies.” “You’re the same size as us.” Rainbow Dash retorted. For her trouble she got a fireball to the face. “No talking!” Sunset said, glaring at them. Twilight hated to admit it, but she didn’t think they could get out easily. She considered just blasting Sunset with magic, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t work and she’d just light all of them on fire. Perhaps if Rarity made all of them faster and put some regeneration on them… …But she couldn’t tell Rarity the plan… Crap. She couldn’t tell anyone the plan. Great. Guess they had to wait for Pinkie to save them. — Pinkie Pie appeared in a random pot in Exdeath’s Castle. She pulled herself out of it, revealing her black outfit that wished it was on a real ninja. Pinkie quietly told the suit to stop complaining about it. She leapt behind a wall and appeared on the ceiling, crawling like a spider over Exdeath’s gargoyle guards. Then she stood on top of one of their helmets, playing leapfrog with their heads - a few thought something was up, but when they looked upwards there was no evidence of the pink pony at all. She quietly bounced around the walls, occasionally leaving little cakes around to mess with the guards. She was great at being sneaky. She appeared right in the middle of the room her friends were being kept in. “Hey guys! I’m great at being sneaky!” Sunset facehooved. “I was told you were a powerful idiot, but not this much of a powerful idiot.” Her horn lit up with intense fire and engulfed the room in flames. She grinned. “Ha! Burned up in an instan-“ Suddenly the stone floor shook, a brick flying out of the ground Sunset was standing on and mashing her into the ceiling. Then another brick came from nowhere and tossed her out the window. “AIEEEEEEEEE!” She squealed. “I meant for this to happen! Joke’s on you lot! I am more powerful in the ai-“ She hit another structure with a thunk and her eyes rolled back into her skull. The flames cleared, revealing a giant muscular man standing besides Pinkie. “Got em.” He said in a deep, gravelly voice. The imprisoned mare’s jaws dropped. “WHAT?” “Oh that’s just Titan.” Pinkie said. “Picked him up recently, found him in my old basement. He’s great!” “Done punching.” Titan said, fading away. The mares stared at Pinkie in disbelief. “Come on!” Pinkie said. “We gotta go! The alarm’s been raised and Sunset’ll be back soon!” She opened the cell door by punching the lock. She pulled Starlight out first. “Nice to meet you! Name’s Pinkie Pie. Now let’s get out of here!” “…Nice to meet you too.” Starlight said, looking a little amazed. The six mares didn’t waste any time scrambling out of the cell. “Okay!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “Time to bust out of this castle and get to the bridge where the army is!” “Where did you get an army??” Rainbow Dash yelled. “You’ve only been here for a few days!” “I have my ways.” Pinkie giggled. They ran into the main hall, the palace doors clearly visible. As were several dozen gargoyle guards in full armor. The mares turned to look at each other then smiled. “ALRIGHT!” Rainbow Dash said. “TIME FOR SOME BEATDOWN!” Starlight pouted as the other five rushed the gargoyles. “But… But my horn is burned out! AUGH. CURSE YOU SUNSET!” The warriors of light and Twilight made quick work of the guards now that they had the upper hand - fire blasted from Rainbow Dash’s wings, followed by electricity that went right through their armor. Rarity slowed all their movement to a crawl while Applejack lobbed off their heads. Twilight burned a few to a crisp, and Pinkie duplexed two at once just for the heck of it. Starlight’s jaw dropped. “That was… some impressive teamwork.” “Yeah…” Rarity said, turning to look at Rainbow Dash. “It was.” Rainbow Dash smiled before catching herself. She shook her head, glared at the door, and ignored Rarity. She flapped her wings and an enormous ball of fire engulfed the castle doors, blowing them out of the doorframe. They stepped outside - into a strong breeze. “I love wind.” Pinkie said. “I missed it so much…” The six mares heard commotion behind them - the rest of the castle was waking up. “May I suggest something?” Starlight asked. “RUN.” All the mares obliged tearing across the land, Pinkie in the lead. “The bridge is this way!” She yelled. Rarity cast haste on all of them, improving their speed significantly. Then they saw it. The Big Bridge. They realized, first off, that it wasn’t a normal bridge - it was a tremendous bar of blue-white stone that twisted in a helix pattern across the ocean. They could not see the end of it. “…How is that a bridge?” Applejack asked. “After a bit of walking you’d just fall off the edge!” “It’s a piece of art that uses gravity to inspire others!” Pinkie answered. “You always stick to the bricks while on the bridge - allowing you to walk upside down!” She coughed. “And it’s the only way off this island without swimming through Shandra infested waters.” Rarity blinked. “Pinkie, what are-“ “No time to explain we gotta go now!” Pinkie yelled, running onto the bridge, the others following behind. Their hooves clacked on the strange stone, echoing as they slowly turned upside down. “This is very disorienting! The ocean is not supposed to be up!” Applejack complained. “Get used to it!” Pinkie yelled back. “We’re going to have company!” Gargoyles flew in from all sides, landing on the bridge from all angles. Some walking on the ground beneath them, others flying in the air around the ponies. “Ifrit!” Pinkie yelled. The eidolon appeared. “FINALLY! FEEL THE HELLFIRE CRETINS!” The fire burst from Ifrit, blowing the Gargoyles away. Rainbow blasted the remaining with a toxic spell, all of them falling either into the ocean or onto the bridge itself. They all galloped away. “Wow!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I don’t think I realized just how OP we’ve become!” Starlight grunted. “I want to be OP too… Stupid burnt horn…” “AHA!” Sunset yelled, appearing from the sky with a flash of fire. “Glad you like it!” The mares stopped moving upon seeing Sunset. The fiery unicorn grinned. “Now, it’s my turn to lay the smackdown on you!” Pinkie smiled. “Girls, I got this.” She produced a giant rubber hammer. “Let’s duel Sunset Shimmer!” Sunset stood on her hind legs and constructed a halberd made entirely of fire. “Accepted, Pinkie Pie! Let us fight like honorable mares on a bridge made of moonstone! En grade! Touche! Cliche battle line once over ATTACK!” Pinkie’s hammer hit Sunset’s halberd head on, stopping both mares. Sunset took the moment to create another flaming halberd and swing at Pinkie, only to have it stopped by Pinkie’s other front hoof, protected by an oven mitt. “Oven mitt? Such underhanded tactics!” Sunset announced. “Eh, you have two floating halberds.” Pinkie pointed out, giggling. “Just be glad I’m not using Titan again. He’d totally crack you!” “You didn’t used a rock based pun!” Sunset yelled. “Shame on you!” She lunged at the pink earth pony, her body on fire. Pinkie returned the favor with a tidal wave spell that blew Sunset back. She lifted her now damp self off the ground. “I shall not be made a fool of by the likes of you-“ She slipped on the water and crashed facefirst into the ground.” Starlight clapped. “Good job Sunset! You were right! You were’s made a fool by her! You didn’t need the help!” “Shut it Glim Glam” Sunset said, glaring at them. Then she looked behind them at the castle. A lightbulb went off in her head. “I just remembered! I have somewhere to be! Noodles and tater tots!” Then she was gone in a flash of fire. “Well that was… something.” Twilight said. “Come on, we need to hurry-“ She stopped as she felt a tremendous magical surge from behind them. She turned to see the castle they had just escaped from glowing, taking energy from four giant crystal towers she hadn’t noticed before. A sphere of energy began to expand outward at extreme speeds. “BUBBLE US!” Pinkie yelled. Twilight complied, encasing everyone in a magical bubble seconds before the energy reached them, impacting the bubble and tossing them into the air at supersonic speeds. The lavender sphere shot up out of the atmosphere, the blue of the sky vanishing quickly and being substituted with the starry sky usually seen only in the night. The mares began to float as the lack of gravity asserted itself. Rarity’s eye twitched. “I said I didn’t want do this again!” Starlight blinked. “Again? You’ve had a magical shield system toss you into space before?” “Well… no.” Rarity responded. “Just the last time I was in space we crash landed into the ocean.” Starlight nodded. “That explains a lot.” Twilight looked out of the bubble at the stars - a mixture of fear and wonder in her mind. “Okay.” Applejack said. “Enough sightseeing. How do we get back down?” Twilight’s stomach sank and her pupils dilated. “Er… Well… Uh… I DON’T KNOW.”