//------------------------------// // The Vorinrac, part 1 // Story: My Strange Ponies // by CTVulpin //------------------------------// I wouldn’t trade my life in Tartarus for anything, but it’s not all fun and games. While some of the inmates, like Grogar and Chrysalis, have developed a good attitude over time and generally play fair when they try to pull something off, most of the creatures and spirits under our watch are seriously bad news. They have to be kept under close watch, often behind seals that shut them down almost completely, and if they get out our response has to be immediate. Even the best of intentions can’t compensate for laziness however, and that’s why they have me. Once she’d warmed up to me, Queen Chrysalis became an eager fan of tales of my fugitive hunts. Sitting across from at a table in the cafeteria, she would keep those enchanting green eyes of hers on me in complete rapture as I spun yarns about tracking Tirek for days before pouncing when his guard was down and stealing his magic weapons out from under his nose before leading him back to the caverns. I may have exaggerated and fabricated a few facts just for the sake of keeping the story going, but it was worth it to see the adoration in her face. Just as I reaching a climactic moment, however, her gaze slid off of me to somepony approaching from behind. I looked over my shoulder to see Dark Applejack glaring at me. “What is she doing here Skin?” she asked, indicating the Changeling. “She’s on that probationary free-range thing, remember?” I responded, “I’m her supervisor.” “Yeah, I remember,” DAJ said in flat disapproval, “but seein’ as you’re in here I’d assume you’re off-duty which means she ought ta be back in her cell.” “She was under the impression,” Chrys said, voice laced with sarcasm, “That her good behavior has earned her some lee-way in her movements.” That was true; there was an unspoken agreement among the guards that so long as Chrysalis was wearing the magic inhibitor on her horn and was within earshot of me then she could be out and about as long as she wanted. I’m not sure if Dark Applejack was aware of that, but if she did it obviously had no effect on her usual no-fun killjoy attitude. “Lettin’ her out of her cage doesn’t mean she can come inta this here cafeteria and eat our food,” she said sharply. “If you took a second to do more than glare at me,” the royal Changeling said smoothly, “you’d notice that Skin is the only one at the table with food in front of him. I’m not even hungry,” she added when I realized my lapse and tried to slide an apple slice toward her on the sly. DAJ started to protest again, but Chrys stood up, looked down at the smaller equine and said, “You can ask your cook to verify this: in all the times Skin has brought me in here, I haven’t touched a morsel of the food he’s prepared.” She looked at me next and said, “Thank you for the story Skin, but I think we should save the rest for another time.” “Whatever you wish your majesty,” I quipped flipping the apple slice into the air and catching it in my mouth. Just as I bit down, alarms began echoing up from the deeper areas of Tartarus, followed by the clamor of confused guards and inmates. Swallowing the apple, I bolted out of the cafeteria toward the source of the alarms, with Chrysalis and Dark Applejack hot my tail. I started to get a bad feeling in my gut the farther we went, which grew worse as we passed by the holding areas of Tirek, Grogar, and the Smooze without seeing anything amiss. The deeper you go into Tartarus, the better-maintained the alarms and seals are because the things held there get progressively worse. The fact that we hadn’t intercepted whatever had broken out worried me as well. The only way out of Tartarus is through the Gates, unless you’re a big enough hot-shot to try and make an alternative. At the site of the break-out were Tibia and Two-tone, battered, broken, and nearly unconscious. Between them, framed in a natural spotlight from a gaping hole in the roof, was the shattered remnant of a stone and metal seal chamber just big enough to hold one average-sized pony. Dark Fluttershy, a figure rarely seen around my usual haunts due to being in charge of the so-called medical staff (bunch of crackpot mad scientists with way too much time on their hooves in my opinion) was already seeing to their care and taking stock of the situation. “What happened?” Dark Applejack demanded, “Who got out and how?” “The Vorinrac,” Dark Fluttershy answered in an emotionless tone. Chrysalis gasped and took a step back, eyes dilating in fright. DAJ noticed this and quirked an eyebrow, asking, “Heard of it have ya?” “It was merely a bogeymare,” Chrys said fearfully, “A story to keep me in line when I was small. A creature that preys on your emotions, especially love, and turns them against you to control your will and commit unspeakable acts.” “What’s ‘unspeakable’ to a monster that live by kidnappin’ and replacin’ ponies ta feed on the love others give to them?” “Well, it’s apparently real and you had it locked up in here, so you tell me,” Chrysalis retorted. I think I saw the ghost a smile cross Dark Fluttershy’s normally impassive face as Dark AJ stood in dumbfounded silence for a second before pointedly turning to me and saying, “This thing plays with the mind like a kitten with a mouse, so if you think yer going after it, yer takin’ somepony ta back you up.” I saluted with all due seriousness. “Good,” DAJ said, nodding, “Now git to it quick; we don’t want this thing –or you fer that matter – reaching civilization.” “I volunteer,” Chrysalis said, looking up at the hole the Vorinrac had apparently dug through the rock to reach the surface. “Come again?” Dark Applejack said, and then scowled and pawed at the ground when she caught on. “Oh heck no,” she said, glaring daggers at the insectoid alicorn, “Yer a prisoner missy, not an em-ploy-ee. All this freedom ya got walkin’ ‘round with Skin here’s obviously been goin’ to yer head, so y’all can just go back to yer cell and sit there while Skin gets himself a proper partner and does his job.” “Hmmm,” Chrys said, tapping her chin in thought, “No.” She reached up and somehow managed to fling the inhibitor ring off her horn with a flick of her hole-studded hoof, and then knocked DAJ away with a magic blast, hefted me off the ground and stuck me onto her back with a large amount of her sticky green changeling goo and then spread her dragonfly wings and flew up through the hole in the roof and out into the open air. “Chrys,” I said as she came to a stop in the air and began looking around, “I’ve never seen anypony try to take a hostage during a break-out, but I seriously doubt it’ll help. If you just took me as a food source, then-” “Shut up and help me find that monster’s trail,” Chrysalis snapped, “I was serious about volunteering to be your back-up.” I have to admit, I was touched, but between duty and attraction duty always wins and that left me confused. “Why?” I asked. “I have my reasons,” she snapped in answer, “We’ll find the Vorinrac, get it back to Tartarus, and I will not attempt to escape or bargain for my freedom afterwards. Now, are you going to track this thing or not?” “Set me down on the ground,” I said, still confused but acknowledging that the Vorinrac was a higher priority, “I don’t do so well in the air.”