Chapter 36: King for a day
WHAM!
Derpy kicked open the door to the mysterious Blue Box her beloved Doctor called home, it was a place she had grown fond of despite its bizarre, inexplicable inner workings. Now she was worried she might never see his curious gaze or excited smile shine in this place again.
She carried his bleeding and broken body towards a strange, metallic table that somewhat resembled a hospital bed. If it wasn’t for the advanced scientific devices and machines he had shown her in this place, she would have taken him right to the hospital alongside Big Mac and Cheerilee. She remembered though, she remembered he told her there were things in this blue box that could help him heal and heal faster; much faster than normal pony medicine and magic.
“You’re going to be okay, you’re going to be okay. I promise I won’t mess anything up this time,” she muttered brokenly.
Derpy’s hooves were stained with the Doctor’s blood. She tried to ignore the horrid red color but it was everywhere, her tears splashed onto his blood soaked brown fur. She hated herself. If it wasn’t for her, Dr. Whooves wouldn’t have been forced into a position like that and that creep wouldn’t have gotten what he wanted. She couldn’t believe he would be so cruel as to mangle her precious Doctor in front of her.
“Okay I uh…think-think it’s this-no, no; not that one. Maybe it’s-”
The grey mare ceased her rambling; something had jerked her out of it. She looked down at her left hoof and saw the Doctor’s hoof gently cradling hers. Her crossed eyes sparkled with hope.
“D-d-d-doctor…you’re…you’re really awake!”
He opened his eyes slowly; blood dripping down his right eye from a cut above his eyebrow. The Doctor smiled weakly. His hoof never letting go of Derpy’s, she craved his touch; needed it like she needed air to breathe.
“Yes I am…I’m still here…thank you for taking me here.”
“I just didn’t know where else to go. I was so worried and-and freaking out. I was going to the hospital, but then I remember you said if anything really bad happened to you I should take you here.”
“You did the right thing my dear…I’ll be fine here…just need a bit of…time.”
The Pegasus couldn’t hold it in any longer. She burst into a heaving, sobbing mess of blubbering tears. Derpy buried her face in the Doctor’s chest and just stayed there; soaking in his scent as if it was the last time she ever would. Her wings drooped and her tail was limp and lifeless. Her crying grew louder and heavier for the next several minutes. The Doctor raised a hoof and placed it over her back; weakly attempting to calm her despite his wounds.
“Derpy, why are you crying? I already told you I’m going to be fine.”
“I was so scared, so REALLY-really scared that you were going to….I…I thought I…it’s too scary to even put into words!”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to-”
“I’m in love with you!”
Whooves eyes widened ever so slowly, expanding upon hearing Derpy’s confession. He almost asked her to repeat that just to make sure he wasn’t hearing things due to severe blood loss. Derpy took a deep breath, wiped her sniffling nose messily on her forearm and tried to continue.
“I’ve loved you ever since we first met, and like a lovesick idiot I haven’t stopped. I don’t understand it, not at all. You say things that don’t make sense, you have all these weird stories and gadgets no pony has ever heard of, everything you do goes way over my head and all these experiments you do confuse even smart ponies like Princess Twilight.”
Derpy paused to sniffle and catch her breath. Whooves silently waited, his curious eyes and eager ears remained irresistibly drawn to the blond haired mail mare.
“I’m just a dopey, cross eyed klutz with a dumpy figure and I’m always getting confused and lost when you talk to me. But still…despite all that…I love every minute of it. I shouldn’t love you as much as I do, it doesn’t make sense; WE don’t make sense together. I don’t know how but every little thing you do just makes me fall more and more in love with you. Coming to see you in this little blue box is the highlight of every day; despite how weird and confusing it is. And when I saw what that monster did to you, I realized I should have told you this a long time ago. I was going to tell you at the dance but I chickened out. I know you might not feel the same way about me and I’m okay with that, really I am. I just wanted to get this off my chest before-”
Derpy felt a weak hoof grip her own. He was holding her hoof; he held it like he never wanted to be free from it. The Doctor felt so warm and comforting. Despite his bloody and battered state, feeling his body against hers was the most calming sensation she’d ever experienced.
He looked up at her; eyes watering slightly. “Oh my dear, sweet Derpy, you don’t know how happy it makes me to hear that,” he said contently. His smile widened as tears dripped down his cheeks.
“W-w-w-wait…you….you’re serious…you-you really f-f-feel the same way?”
“You speak so poorly about yourself and yet it was you who had the courage to speak your heart first. I may know world’s worth of information and galaxies beyond the tears, but in all my years I’ve never had the guts to say how I truly feel about the ones I’ve loved. You’re so much stronger than me; with such a beautiful heart and an even more beautiful face.”
Derpy couldn’t help but blush under such passionate praise.
“But it’s my fault you got hurt. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be-”
Whooves gently cupped Derpy’s cheek and softly brushed her blond hair from her crossed eyes.
“And I don’t regret it one little bit. I’d make that same sacrifice for you time and time again, without question. Besides, I was the one that provoked him; not you. I’m so terribly sorry for keeping you waiting, my little muffin. I was so blind by the wonders of this world I didn’t stop and realize the greatest one of all has been beside me all this time. Please forgive an old fool for taking so long to see the truth.”
Derpy gulped hard. Her cheeks reddened even more brightly and quickly than before.
“I love you too, my dear, dear Derpy.”
The brown stallion and grey mare locked lips for the first time. Time itself froze around them as love and passion filled their hearts and warmed their souls. All the pain, the blood, the fear, the sadness; it all melted away for that brief but beautiful moment their love finally bloomed.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
The sudden pounding jarred the loving ponies from their long desired embrace. Derpy made sure Dr. Whooves was going to be all right if she left before checking to see who was at the door. She opened the door and found a panting, frazzled looking punk male unicorn.
“Where is Princess Luna?” Rebel huffed.
The 5 ponies reluctantly made their way into the castle of their newly appointed ‘king,’ also known as Crowe. It felt wrong and unnatural stepping hoof in such a twisted and distorted castle, especially considering its rotten foundations were established over the charred remains of Twilight’s library home. The castle was black, dark and surging with darkly colored crystals and cold, unfeeling stone; it bore a slight resemblance to the style King Sombra used in his castle. Twilight and her friends felt uneasy just looking at the place they were now forced to call home. This castle was a poisonous scar that all of Ponyville was forced to bear, a place of evil and suffering that was endowed in every crystal and every block in its nightmarish structure.
Rarity visibly cringed at the décor. It was bad enough being enslaved in this horrible place, but now she was forced to stare at decorations that made her stomach turn for the rest of her life.
“This is why I never liked castles. They always felt so cold and lonely, intimidating even,” Twilight said.
“Ah wouldn’t judge all castles by this one, Twilight. Ah think the right one would suit you just fine. But in any case, this is where we’ll be hangin’ our hats now on so we all better get used to it,” Applejack replied.
“There’s gotta be something we can do. I know he’s strong and all, but there’s still 5 of us and only one of him. Maybe we could outrun him or outsmart him. He didn’t even put any guards or close off any exits,” Rainbow said as she observed possible exit routes.
“I’m still worried about these collars on our necks. Don’t you think it’s weird he was so eager for us to put them on so fast?” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Who cares?!? Their just stupid rings to play up to his sicko marriage plan; we got other things to worry about.”
“Ugh, well I for one find them to absolutely dreadful. The same can be said for the rest of this décor. Where did he even find such unflattering drapes and carpets?” Rarity groaned.
The pony’s attention was quickly drawn to the center of the throne room. Crowe cackled with thunderous echoes ringing throughout the castle, enjoying the mare’s not-so-secret murmuring. Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity leered scathingly at the armored tyrant sitting so proudly on his gloriously presented and crafted throne. The throne was raised on a high platform, high enough to allow him to look down upon any creature that came before him. Crowe propped his feet onto a small footstool and leaned back into his throne with a glazed smile.
“You know, you really shouldn’t judge my style until you’ve seen it in the light. Allow me to brighten things up in here,” Crowe said.
He clapped his metallic hooves together. Torches around the throne room sparkled with fiery life; quickly illuminating the room and revealing clearer views of his personally crafted décor.
The mares collectively gasped in horror.
High above the throne were two long banners; similar to the ones of Celestia and Luna in the Castle of the Two Sisters. These banners however featured horror stricken faces of two ponies: the one on the left was Bon-Bon and the one on the right was Lyra. The mares looked across from each other with outstretched hooves, unable to reach one another; forever frozen in their stitched prison. Rarity leapt off of the carpet once she recognized who it was. The carpet was designed in a jagged, sharp wave fashion and utilized one dark and one light shade of blue.
“This is…this carpet is…Vinyl Scratch! It looks just like her hair color,” Rarity exclaimed.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash felt sick to their stomachs.
Upon further inspection, they now realized the footstool also had familiar color designs. The stool was dark grey with a black top and there were small pink bows on collars circling around each stool leg. It was Octavia Melody. She had been turned into Crowe’s personal footstool!
Hanging below the banners was Celestia and Luna; confined to pony sized golden birdcages. They too had collars around their necks, though theirs was black and featured a blood red jewel with two small scythes crossing over the jewel in an X format. The sisters cast their eyes downward; too humiliated and dispirited to look at their friends.
“A good king knows how to make good use of his subjects, that’s why I brought them all here. I needed something that just screams: me. I think they really spruce up the place, don’t you?” he said casually.
The mares couldn’t believe this was the pony who would rule Equestria from now on, that he would be the one they would have to live and sleep next to for the rest of their lives. They had truly sold their souls to the worst kind of devil.
“Of all the rotten, no-good, two-faced, twisted, cold blooded monsters we have ever faced, this guy is the absolute worst!” Rainbow declared.
Crowe’s smile slowly wilted into a scowl.
“What did you call me?”
“You heard me you sick bastard! Nobody does this to my friends, nobody! I don’t care how strong or evil you are. I’m going to make you pay right here and now.”
“Rainbow Dash, please stop! This isn’t going to change anything.”
The speedy mare blocked out Twilight’s words of warning. She knew how strong Crowe was, she knew this probably wouldn’t end well for her, but none of that mattered now. At this very moment, all she knew was that she had to rearrange his face and make him suffer for everything he’s done.
WHOOSH!
Rainbow leapt off her hooves, soared through the air and zoomed towards Crowe at lightning fast speeds. She reared back her hoof and prepared to plow it into the wicked colt’s face until she heard every bone in his face crunch like dry leaves. Crowe’s eyes flashed red as his crown horn surged a dark red, purple and green energy aura around it.
ACK!
Rainbow suddenly dropped to the ground; skidding to a halt right in front of Crowe’s throne. She felt the collar crush and tighten around her neck, growing tighter the more she fought against it. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack were all experiencing the same situation with their collars. Crowe’s magic was controlling the collars; shrinking them to crush the pony’s throats and force them to drop to their knees.
The colorful Pegasus gasped and gagged in pain. Her eyes burned defiantly towards Crowe, struggling and choking as the collars clenched even tighter.
“Now I want you to remember this moment the next time you get any stupid ass ideas about talking back to me,” he lifted Rainbow’s chin under his hoof; forcing her to look directly at him. “Because every time you raise a hoof, shoot me a dirty look or disobey the simplest of orders; I’ll pop your heads like zits and watch you bleed into your DJ friend’s carpet,” he hissed.
“Go ahead…ACK…I can…ERK…take it,” Rainbow grunted out.
“Oh ho, ho I bet you can, which is exactly why the next time you step out of line, you’re not going to be punished at all,” Crowe said.
He released the hold on Rainbow’s collar and turned his attention toward her 4 friends. The collars instantly tightened even more around their throats, the smell of sizzling fur could be detected as red glowing marks appeared over the collars.
“They will.”
“Hey, no way, that’s not fair. You can’t hurt them just because-”
“ZIP IT YOU SPEEDY SKANK! This isn’t the Rainbow falls trade show; I tell you how things run around here. And as much I hate to admit it, there was one valuable thing I learned from old zombie face: when you punish someone, you don’t attack the body…you attack the heart. Once you learn that, you’d be surprised what ponies are willing to do to keep their friends safe, wouldn’t you agree?”
Rainbow gulped stiffly. It tor her up inside to see her friends writhing on the floor; squirming, struggling, wheezing as their voices gagged and their eyes bulged from the pressure.
“I said…wouldn’t you agree?!?”
“Yeah…I get it…I agree.”
“Nah uh, not good enough, get on your knees and address me by my proper title NOW!”
As much as she loathed doing this, Rainbow hated seeing her friends suffer because of her even more. She bowed down in front of Crowe and swallowed her pride.
“Please forgive me…ugh…King Crowe; please forgive me…your majesty. I live to serve you. And you alone my king.”
She felt like she wanted to throw up. Rainbow swore she would always be loyal to the princesses and her friends, not to monsters like him. Crowe was pleased with her groveling and deactivated the choking spell. Twilight and the others gasped for air. Rarity felt around her neck to check for any bruising or burn marks. Rainbow kept her eyes downcast until Crowe gave her permission to go back to her friends.
“Now that wasn’t hard to do, now was it? All you got to do is do what Simon says and life can be a cakewalk for you ladies,” Crowe said smugly.
“I don’t understand how you were able to do that. King Sombra’s horn is a separate magical appendage; not natural to your physiology. How were you able to control pony made collars with it?" Twilight inquired. She needed to know more about them if there was any ever hope of removing them.
“Neat huh? I call them compliance collars, made out of ancient metals I dug up during my many scavenger hunts. Khan toyed with the idea of making psionically linked collars that he could control through King Sombra’s horn once he got his hooves on it. The plan was to make one for each monster and he could control all of them through the horn. But the collars took way too long to make he needed something a lot faster. Once I brought him Horris’s eye, he and Bubbling Cauldron managed to magically link all the monsters through Sombra’s horn with hive mind magic. But that spell had some serious drawbacks, as you all remember when Khan was dragon spooked out of Ponyville. I kept making collars in secrecy just in case. As you can see they still work just fine regardless and, much like the Alicorn amulet, their impossible to take off” Crowe explained.
“Is that the same with our collars, you sick depraved creature?” Luna scowled from behind.
Crowe looked over to the two caged princesses. They looked like caged parrots; dolled up in glittery outfits to add to their humiliation and his amusement. The once proud and respected leaders of Equestria were now reduced to clownish ornaments; spoils to the villainous victor who conquered them so easily and cruelly. It broke Twilight’s heart to see them like this.
“I’d watch that tongue night tramp, cause you see, you’re collars are quite different and quite special compared to theirs,” he coldly replied.
Luna was about to snap a venomous retort but Celestia motioned for her to stop. She hated seeing her sister treated like this, but she feared what Crowe might do if he got angry enough even more.
“What do you mean special?” Celestia asked; forcing herself to be as polite as possible.
“Let’s just say things would get rather grim if you were to try and take those collars off.”
Daring to see her mentor and assure her safety, Twilight boldly raced towards Celestia. Crowe quickly teleported in front of Twilight and blocked her path. The princess gasped and landed onto her rump, startled.
“She’s no longer your concern, I am. So I suggest you get your not-so-royal ass back in line and start making things fun around here,” Crowe hissed.
“Pardon us if we don’t find beating on ladies especially fun” Rarity curtly interjected.
Crowe barely contained his twisted hyena-like laughter at Rarity’s remark. The mares failed to find the humor at their current situation.
“Is that why you think I brought all of you here, just to beat on girls? HA! That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard a broad say. The reason you 5 are here is the same reason the royal sisters are here: to prove a point.”
“I don’t understand,” Fluttershy sheepishly mused.
“Ever since Twinky became princess, you girls have done nothing but muck up the natural order of things. There’s always been a barrier that separated the royals from the rats. The princesses are up here and the rest of us are down here; plain and simple. But now thanks to you, common filth mingles with royalty. You’re breaking down the walls that have existed for years, they were there for a reason,” Crowe barked.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Applejack asked; irritably.
“HELL NO! You mares are pissing away the whole frigging point of being an undisputed ruler and I don’t like it! I worked my tail off to get where I am today, to earn the bowing, serving and obedience a ruler like me deserves. No way I’m letting that authority get tainted because the princess twits got too chummy with low class trash. I’m going to set things right and remind everyone where they belong so they understand where I now belong. Once the rest of the country finds out I’ve taken all of you and made you my brides, no one will dare mess with my kingdom. I’ll make Ponyville my permanent playpen and turn it into a kingdom everyone will fear and respect. You’re all trophies of my conquest; making you my personal brides is just the cherry on top of everything else.”
The mares wrinkled their faces in disgust. Celestia and Luna angrily clutched the bars to attempt to break free and protest. A high voltage charge electrified the bars and forced them back into compliance.
“But if you remain here in Ponyville and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna aren’t able to return to Canterlot, how will you be able to maintain order throughout the rest of Equestria?” Twilight asked.
“Hmmmm,” Crowe tapped his chin idly, “don’t know don’t care.”
“You can’t just do that. Thousands of lives depend on the peace and stability the princesses provide! You can’t just-”
“I wasn’t asking for your PERMISSION! What part of this code are you having trouble cracking, huh? You step out of line, I put you back in your place; same goes for all those loser nations. As long as my little slice of heaven stays fresh, the rest of the world can choke on its own vomit for all I care. I’ve worked too long and too hard to let anyone buzzkill my royal retirement plan and I’ll annihilate every sack of flesh and fur who gets in my way, including you!” he snapped.
Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy felt morbidly uncomfortable watching Twilight and Crowe argue. They remember all too vividly what happened to Pinkie when she ran into this maniac. Rarity coughed loudly and drew Crowe’s attention. She didn’t want to say what she was going to say next, it soured her tongue just thinking about saying it, but she knew it would get Crowe to calm down and back off from Twilight before he did anything rash.
“So um darling, I uh do hate to interrupt your eh kingly duties and all but, I was curious. What pray tell will be involved with us being you’re…brides?” Rarity said; squeaking anxiously.
She passed a long, audible swallow before saying the word ‘brides’; as if speaking it made her throw up in her mouth.
“Oh…yes…so glad you asked,” he said; licking his lips crudely.
This brought a smile to Crowe’s face. His mood instantly shifted from anger to delight, he turned away from Twilight to address the other mares. Twilight felt a brief moment of relief but quickly turned to concern as she was uncertain what Crowe had planned for her and her friends.
“Now then, let’s have a look shall we?”
Crowe instructed all 5 mares to line up before him. They reluctantly complied. The yellow colt examined Applejack first. His frozen blue eyes stared hungrily at the orange mare’s well sculpted body. He leered especially long at the country gal’s flank, lingering at the curve and shape of her flanks as they poured into her luscious legs like the smoothest butter. She flinched as he ran his hoof along the side of her flanks, slowly, lewdly; pressing firmly enough to feel the meat beneath the orange fur. Applejack actually felt like she was being treated as meat; some juicy treat for some slobbery predator to snack on. She had never felt so objectified in all her life.
Next he approached Rainbow Dash. He conjured up a velvet red hair brush and then used it to straighten her rainbow locks out. Rainbow grunted and was forced to contort and bend her body from the rough brushing; giving him all kinds of angles of observing her legs, wings and muscles. The vile pony even sniffed Rainbow’s mane to see if it smelled of fruit. The cyan Pegasus didn’t dare make eye contact with him. She knew if she did, she’d say something that would get everyone in trouble.
Fluttershy was next in line. Oddly enough, Crowe didn’t seem eager to touch or fondle her as he had the others. The buttery Pegasus trembled before the armored tyrant. She tried to be brave, she tried to stand tall and show no fear but it was a futile gesture. The fear she felt for her friends safety was suffocating, she was drowning in it. Crowe seemed delighted to see her quake and squeak in fear. He inched closer to her, never touching but merely hovering in various places around her; soaking in her anxiety. Crowe snickered at the sweat trickling down her sugary pink locks.
Rarity tried to compose herself for her “turn.” There’s nothing more she wanted than to throw caution to the wind, curse Crowe’s name and throttle the villain until his face splattered like pudding. She held it in; she held it all in, despite the indignity of it all. Crowe brushed his cheek against Rarity’s and crooned at the plush feel of her sublimely maintained coat. His cursed horn slowly and invasively prodded under Rarity’s plum curls, it moved through the curls like a comb. A flash of cold, penetrating metal brushed teasingly against Rarity’s cutie mark and flank. Crowe was lightly tapping his spiked club tail against her backside. The ivory mare’s fur bristled under the violating sensation.
Finally, Twilight’s turn had come. Crowe circled her in a morbid, dance like fashion. She heard chuckling and snickering chortles as he moved around her. Much like Fluttershy, he seemed more interested in inciting reactions out of her rather than actually touching her. His teeth snapped tauntingly at her flanks and legs, even nipping at her nail but never actually making contact. Twilight acted like she did when she tried to not move during her time travel freak out: flinching but still staying put; eyes never leaving his morbid movements.
Crowe’s inspection was done.
“Scrumptious, you’re all absolutely scrumptious my brides-to-be. You’ll all do nicely! As boring and soul crushing as traditional marriage sounds, I find the idea of shacking up with multiple gorgeous babes to be quite titillating. I shall wed each bride to each day of the week: each one will be assigned her own day and will have the pleasure of entertaining me in the bedroom at night.”
Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight and Rainbow felt their hearts jumping into their throats. This was a punishment far worse than death.
“Applejack will be Monday, Fluttershy gets Tuesday, Rarity is served on Wednesdays, Rainbow spices up Thursdays and you,” he turned to Twilight; running his hoof uncomfortably against Twilight’s face. “You will be my Friday night special. How’s that work for you?” he asked.
“Not that it matters, but I’m so much more of a Friday girl than a Wednesday,” Rarity huffed in protest.
“Yer right, it DOESN’T matter. Were all spoken fur anyway,” Applejack grumbled lowly.
Crowe snorted in annoyance, he heard that remark. The would-be king got directly in Applejack’s face. He could see the defiance in her eyes and puffed up freckled cheeks, enraging him.
“You say something Buttercup? Because I could have sworn I heard some bull crap coming out your pretty mouth about being spoken for. You talking about that limp dick red Pegasus with that sissy looking bow in his tail, hmm?”
“You ain’t even half the man he is.”
Before Crowe could snap back with a ruthless reply, Twilight briskly interrupted him.
“I’m afraid your math is a tad off, your highness. You said you wanted a girl for every day of the week. There are only 5 of us without Pinkie. So who do you plan to get for Saturday and Sunday?”
Crowe looked to Twilight. He hummed in thought, she was right. The rattling of the royal sisters cages caught his attention. He glared a glance towards Celestia and Luna. They simultaneously gagged and recoiled in revulsion.
“Don’t even think of it you fiend! None have the honor of touching my body except my noble and beloved Rebel Streak,” Luna angrily declared.
“I refuse to surrender my body to your sickening whims either. I too am spoken for,” Celestia said with an icy huff.
“Don’t flatter yourselves! I like you better as my personal pet birds anyway. Besides, I don’t touch older broads,” Crowe replied.
Luna and Celestia, grossly offended by such comments, tried to break free from the cages again and were once more zapped back into submission. Crowe’s eyes lit up as an idea sprang to mind.
“Wait a sec, you’re sister in-law is a tasty piece of ass, isn’t she? She’d make a perfect Saturday bride.”
“Ignoring that horribly offensive and disgusting description of Cadence, that’s not possible. She’s married to my brother and has a baby.”
“At least until the divorce is finalized.”
Twilight’s eyes bulged as Crowe made a ‘slit throat’ gesture as he said divorce. She knew what he was implying and she couldn’t hold her anger back any longer.
“You…YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY OR I’LL-”
The infuriated Alicorn powered up her horn, planning to blast Crowe with the most devastating spell she could unleash. Crowe activated his horn and triggered all 5 of the mare’s collars. Twilight’s spell instantly fizzled out and her horn stopped glowing. She dropped to the ground and wheezed in agony, grasping at her bound throat alongside her friends.
“You don’t threaten ME, no pony threatens me! I own you and you’re going to show me the respect I deserve no matter how many times I have to remind you. This is how it is; this is how it’s always going to be for the rest of your lives. So you all better get used to this because THIS is your life from now on. Now then, I think it’s time we got those wedding bells ringing, don’t you?”
KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Ugh! This had better be good!”
Crowe released the Mares from their mystical chokeholds. Rainbow desperately gasped for air, her lungs heavily heaving in and out. Rarity and Fluttershy tried to help one another back onto their hooves. Applejack sighed in commiseration with her friends. None of them could believe this was going to be their lives from now on.
“I just hope every pony keeps their distance from this awful, awful place. I don’t want anyone else experiencing Crowe’s fury,” Twilight said somberly.
As much as the thought of her handsome Necricorn prince, Moonstruck, coming to their rescue filled her heart with hope, she hoped he didn’t come. One look at Vinyl, Octavia, Lyra and Bon-Bon and Twilight was reminded what fate awaited him.
Crowe opened the doors; grumbling under his breath why his Tatzulwurm sentries didn’t alert him of anyone’s presence. The royal doors revealed a most peculiar and surprising sight: Discord, on his throne and being carried by Moonstruck, Spike, Hopeful and Arrowhead. The 3 stallions and lone dragon were bound in shackles and chains.
“What the-Discord?!?”
“Three cheers for treachery, up with the badness and down with the goody-goods, HOO-RAH” Discord bellowed jubilantly.
Discord snapped his claws and summoned an army of Discord copies. They lined up alongside the teal and blue carpet, bowing in unison and clapping thunderously.
“What the freaking crap is going on here? I thought you turned wussy on all of us. Why are you here? How did you get in? And why are the girl’s loser boyfriends carrying you like a parade float?”
“Would you like me to answer in order or alphabetically?”
The chaos spirit popped himself into 26 body parts; each one forming a letter of the alphabet. A gavel suddenly appeared, smashed the 26 parts into a heaping glob of mangled colors and then quickly pulled back together into Discord’s normal state.
Crowe snarled in disapproval.
“Oh now don’t be that way, pouty faces don’t suit emperors of evil. I just thought as your friendly local neighbor of nastiness, I’d welcome you into the neighborhood with a welcome home gift. Nothing says welcome wagon like a parade of enslaved ponies am I right?”
Moonstruck, Arrowhead, Hopeful and Spike groaned in displeasure.
“Plus I threw in one sad sack of a dragon as a bonus! I know you just returned him, but you seem like the kind of guy who is into re-gifting,” Discord said slyly; winking noticeably at Crowe.
“You expect me to believe you switched sides all of the sudden, just like that?” Crowe snapped.
“Who says I ever switched sides? Maybe I’m just looking for the right partner who won’t stab me in the back and suck my energy dry. I know you’re new to this whole evil alliance thing, but take it from one ruler to another.”
Discord oozed off his throne like slime and bounced back into shape. He leaned his elbow very painfully onto Moonstruck’s head and striking his horn. The purple colt cried out to protest but Discord slapped a sticker over his mouth; silencing him. The sticker read in green and red letters: Do not open until the 12th of never.
“Don’t look a gift Necricorn in the mouth. I’ve had my fun with these pony puff balls. Now I’m looking for a shiny new playmate to share my toys with and you look like you’re just the right tyrant for the job,” Discord beamed.
He materialized a pair of suits onto him and Crowe. Discord vigorously shook hooves with Crowe, handed him a white mug that said “world’s best bastard” in bold black letters, then stamped the message “you’re hired” over his crown with a wooden handle stamper. Crowe blasted away Discord’s mystical antics and turned his attention towards the pony slaves.
“Well I can’t deny you’ve got impeccable credentials,” Crowe said slyly. He stared coldly at Moonstruck; reveling in his imprisoned misery.
“YOU BACK STABBING TWISTED SNAKE! We make you our friend, trust you, and after Tirek you pull this-”
Crowe glared at Rainbow Dash; quickly silencing her with a flash of magic across his horn that activated her collar. She gagged and wheezed in pain. Arrowhead’s blood boiled at the sight of this, he thrashed against his shackles and tried to break free. Discord thwacked him across with head with his tail and silenced him.
“I just can’t believe it Discord. Is this really true? I thought we were past all this,” Fluttershy wept. Her teal eyes teared up; sniffling in misery at seeing her friend betray her again.
“I guess you’ve made your choice…Discord,” Celestia said brokenly. She tried to hold back her tears. She didn’t want anyone seeing her heart broken like this a second time.
“What can I say? I’m just a hard person to predict,” he said mischievously.
Discord sported an unusual smile. Fluttershy and Celestia had seen his playful trickster smiles before. Even when he tries to be wild and unpredictable, they’ve come to know him in ways others could not. There was something different about his tone and smile. Perhaps they were not being betrayed after all.
“There are 3 things I never say no to: chaos, tormenting ponies and triple layer-peanut-butter-sardine-pineapple-eggplant-cakes and fortunately for me, you’ve got all 3!”
Before Crowe could make a disgusted face at the ludicrous sounding cake described, Discord snapped his claws and materialized just such a cake into the throne room. It was several times larger than expected but it looked and smelled as disgusting as expected.
“Gee…you shouldn’t have. I mean seriously, you really shouldn’t have, we need to kill that with fire,” Crowe grumbled.
“Without checking for the free toy inside the box, now where would the fun in that be?”
“Wait, what do you mean-”
KABOOM!
The cake exploded from the top. Pinkie Pie emerged from the cake; sporting her party cannon. Discord snapped his claws and turned the cannon into a vacuum. The magical vacuum sucked up the colossal cake, was changed back to its original cannon form and then fired the putrid pastry at Crowe at full size.
The villain was completely engulfed in the fowl smelling cake, oozing across the floor like broken sceptic tank. Another snap from Discord’s claws caused the boys shackles to dissolve into butterflies. Discord teleported to Celestia and Luna to free them, meanwhile, Moonstruck and the others went to remove the girl’s collars.
“Moonstruck, Spike, everyone; you’re here!” Twilight beamed in celebration.
“And Pinkie Pie is all right! Oh you don’t know how worried we all were,” Fluttershy said.
“Ah think she has an idea, Fluttershy. Enough blabberin’ and blubberin’ for now, let’s get the Heck out of here and out of these collars,” Applejack said; tugging on her neck.
Spike tried to chew Rarity’s collar off, Moonstruck blasted Twilight’s with his magic, while Arrowhead and Hopeful resorted to basic pulling and tugging. Nothing was working though. The collars remained intact and they wouldn’t have long until Crowe bounced back to use them again.
“Oh for pony’s sake; must I do everything?” Discord groaned.
He snapped his claws and instantly removed the Mares collars. The chaos spirit resumed working on breaking Luna and Celestia free.
“It really grinds my gears to admit this, but I’m having a hard time breaking this whatever-it-is that Crowe character locked you into,” he said with a frustrated grunt. “I can’t seem to remove your collars like I did with the others, must be something annoyingly special about them.”
“It’s all right Dizzy. I know you can do it, I’m just happy you didn’t decide to leave us-err-me again,” Celestia said; sighing in relief.
“And leave my best girl to rot like some beautiful flower withering away in a dingy vase? Not a chance. I trust this leaves my intentions with you perfectly crystal clear?”
Celestia happily nodded in reply. She wiped a single tear with her hoof; truly moved by her lover’s final answer.
“Much as I love seeing Tia filled with joy, can we have a bit more expediency with the lock breaking?” Luna said with a sour pout.
Her thoughts drifted to Rebel Streak as she watched her sister’s flirtations with Discord. She had hoped he was somewhere safe and far from here. She had no idea what he was doing since she was captured, little did she know he was closer than she thought.
SPLAT!
A magical burst blasted chunks of cake into the air. Crowe emerged from the fowl smelling frosting and muck. He panted heavily, angrily; intensely. The yellow colt couldn’t believe that Pinkie was alive or the fact he had been tricked by Discord and the other ponies so easily.
“Don’t. Touch. My. STUFF!”
Crowe teleported his Tatzulwurm guards into the room and commanded them to stop Discord from freeing the princesses. The gargantuan, pink and purple worms lunged towards the chaos spirit; tentacles and flared maws gnashing wildly. Discord groaned audibly. He turned and snapped his claws again, this time summoning a portal to another dimension to suck in the worm creatures. The portal worked and rapidly sucked in the flailing beings, but not before they launched their red tendrils. Discord blinked in surprise as the worm creature’s tendrils snared him up like a fish in a net. The worms dragged Discord into the portal with them.
“Don’t worry about me, make sure you get free and help Fluttershy and the others,” he called out; vanishing into the portal. The portal closed immediately after.
POP!
Suddenly, Discord’s mismatched horns appeared in front of Celestia and Luna’s cage. The horns moved by themselves and inserted their jagged structures into the lock mechanism and attempted to pick the lock.
“If you think some Trojan trash cake is going to stop me, then you all got another-”
“Oops! Almost forgot, can’t be a welcoming party without my brand new, Pinkie personalized party bomb from my main squeeze, Cheese!”
Crowe was about to force the mares back under his control, but he was surprised once again by Pinkie’s interference. He turned around to confront the pink Earth pony but instead found a comically oversized pink party bomb with her face and name on it before him.
KABOOM!
The bomb burst with a blindingly assaulting flash of pink and multicolored confetti. The entire throne room was covered in thick, blotchy splotches of combination extra sticky bubblegum and extra creamy cake frosting. The bubblegum/frosting goo covered so much of the room it resembled a spider’s webbing.
Crowe grumbled furiously. He was covered from head to toe in the tar like substance, an angry pair of royal blue eyes popping out from under the gum. Pinkie somehow ended up sticking to the ceiling. She was hanging upside down with the pink goo sticking to her legs and dangling her like a bungee cord. The party pony swung forward to back; her nose inches away from colliding into Crowe’s irritated face with each swing.
“Give up yet? Heh and you thought I was a fool.”
“I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”
The armored tyrant tackled Pinkie down from her sticky straps and aggressively slammed her to the ground. He sat on top of her chest and proceeded to angrily shake her by her shoulders.
“Stupid little bitch! You stupid little bitch!”
Pinkie simply replied with a juvenile raspberry. Her mockery and playful attitude only served to enrage the villain further. Crowe moved his hooves from her shoulders to her neck; he proceeded to strangle her until her pink coloring dropped to a deathly corpse white.
“This time you won’t come back!”
WHIP!
A lasso suddenly looped over Crowe’s neck. He grunted as he felt a mighty pulling force attempting to drag him back. He turned and saw Applejack; she had the rope’s end in her mouth and was tugging with all her Earth pony might to pull Crowe off her friend. Crowe simply electrified his armor; surging across the rope and zapping Applejack back with a vicious, thunder charged sting. Hopeful quickly kneeled to aid his fallen fair maiden. He cradled her head, tearing up at the sight of scorch marks sizzling from her orange fur.
“No…no…please be all right…you have to be” he wept achingly. Hopeful glared hatefully at the armored villain who dare harmed his beloved. “I refuse to let these inexcusable atrocities continue! I’m ending you’re wickedness, right now!”
Hopeful flew like a rocket. He screamed unrelentingly at Crowe, reared back his hoof and smashed it into the left side of his twisted grinning face.
CLANG!
“OW”
Hopeful pulled back his hoof; wincing at the throbbing pain coursing through it. Crowe fitted his mask over his face before Hopeful’s punch connected. He retaliated with a bone crunching smash from his spiked club tail, catapulting Hopeful into the chandelier. His body hung limply among the cracked glass and crystal; swinging creakily. He appeared unconscious.
“Sugar…no…” Applejack weakly called out.
Crowe went back to continue his assault on Pinkie. He found the party mare being carried off by Fluttershy. Before he could react, Rainbow Dash and Arrowhead used their super speed to double tackle the ruthless yellow colt. The speedy ponies continued to run and attack over and over again; perpetually keeping Crowe off balance and unable to attack. They bounced off the tyrant like blurry rainbow and grey colored pinballs. Their speed and force increased with each blow.
Fed up with being treated like a punching bag, Crowe activated the Phoenix gauntlet and shielded himself with the incendiary wings. Rainbow and Arrow cried out as they barreled right into the flames. They were incapable of stopping at such high speeds. They recoiled back to the main group, Spike and Rarity stepped forward to shield the speedy couple.
“And what are you two going to do, sow me a pair of mittens?” Crowe taunted.
“Not quite, Spike and I just thought we’d do a little redecorating,” Rarity coldly replied.
The ivory mare levitated a nearby vase from a table. She flung it towards Crowe like a cannonball, Spike coated the vase with a fireball; turning it into a burning projectile.
CRASH!
Crowe cried out as the burning vase shattered over his masked face. He tried to shake it off and return fire, but Rarity and Spike were already launching a second flaming object; this time it was a clock. Rarity and Spike continued to bombard Crowe with volley after volley of burning objects-turned-projectiles. Moonstruck and Twilight took to the air, each one positioned on Crowe’s opposite side.
The royal couple simultaneously blasted Crowe with their magical horn beams. He hastily put up shields on each of his sides; trying to block out the beams. Twilight and Moonstruck managed to strike at the two primary blind spots on Starswirl’s plate. Now it was impossible for Crowe to absorb the attacks.
“ENOUGH!”
A shimmering teal energy sphere emerged around Crowe’s body. He blasted it across the room; engulfing everyone. Twilight, Moonstruck, Spike, Rarity and everyone else were physically frozen in place. Twilight remembered the spell all too well; she had used it in the past to quell ponies when they were becoming too frantic and chaotic. She never thought it could be used against her!
“Now, you girls have all said and done things in anger that I am willing to forgive…but I can’t say the same for your dipshit ex-boyfriends.”
Crowe levitated the frozen figures of Spike, Moonstruck and Arrowhead in front of his glowing horn. He charged up a powerful, deadly spell to finish them off right in front of the girls. Twilight and the others pleaded and begged for Crowe to spare them. The cold hearted colt simply laughed.
“Sorry but you ladies need to learn whose boss around here. Maybe wasting these piss poor stallions in front of you will finally-”
CRASH!
The centerpiece chandelier dropped from the ceiling and crashed onto Crowe with a deafening boom. The teal aura paralyzing everyone instantly disappeared. Moonstruck grabbed onto Spike and Arrowhead and gently landed them back to the ground. Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity ran to their boyfriends; happily hugging them.
“Woweeee, now that is how you REALLY bring the house down,” Pinkie exclaimed.
“It’s a lucky thing that chandelier broke when it did. I don’t want to think what would have happened if it hadn’t,” Fluttershy said.
“Ahm not so sure luck had anythin’ to do with it,” Applejack said knowingly.
Hopeful Romantic flew down from the severed chandelier post, a guilty, impish smile on his face.
“Oops, did I do that? Guess I have butter hooves,” he said teasingly.
The red Pegasus eagerly flew down to his breathless vision of orange fur and blond hair. He embraced her with warm arms and comforting wings.
“Give yer fair maiden some sugar, Sugar,” she said excitedly. The two shared a tender, loving kiss and eventually broke apart. “Ya’ll saved our flanks back there, thanks lover boy.”
He blushed deeply at her kind words.
A tame silence fell over the bustling ponies and lone dragon. Their attention was unavoidably drawn to the mangled mess of broken glass and metal where Crowe was buried.
“So ummm you guys think he’s dead?” Rainbow asked.
One of Crowe’s hooves suddenly burst from the chandelier wreckage.
“I’m going to take a wild guess here and say…no,” Twilight said; gulping heavily.
To be continued…