//------------------------------// // Chapter Four - Flurry // Story: The Fall of the Anoian // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Pain. Darkness. Flurry Heart only remembered those things since she’d been snatched. Her head throbbed, she couldn’t see anything, and her rear ankle felt like something was cutting into it. And so Flurry Heart lay in the darkness for a while, long enough for her to get very, very scared, and very, very mad. She was an alicorn princess. Not only that, but she was the daughter and niece of two other alicorn princesses. And she was kinda, sorta the granddaughter and grand niece of two more alicorn princesses. Yeah. She was kinda a big deal. In kidnapping her, these monsters were practically asking to get blasted with rainbows and turned to stone. Flurry blinked open her eyes. Still dark. Except… there was a band of light coming from underneath… a door? Flurry opened her eyes wider. Slowly, the light brought the rest of Flurry’s surroundings into focus. Flurry was in a plain room made of steel. The only other things in it were two buckets next to a large, gray door that looked as if it weighed more than Cadance’s throne. Seriously? Flurry thought incredulously. I can blast that door to pieces before you can say Sweet Celestia. Flurry lit her horn, but as she did, a shock of electricity jolted her body. Flurry’s horn did not ignite. Flurry looked down at her ankle. There was an iron band on it, cutting into her skin. Waves and swirls were carved in it, and they were glowing briefly before dimming again. Flurry’s breath came out in gasps. That hurt! Whoever did this was gonna pay. Flurry tried to at least light the tip of her horn for a bit more light, but, once again, another painful shock rocked her body. Flurry’s legs numbed, and she toppled onto the ground, shivering. Okay, she thought to herself, these guys gave me a hoof cuff that shocks me whenever I try to do magic. Flurry glanced back at it again. The cuff was attached to a chain that was about a foot long and was anchored to the ground at the other end. So she was stuck. And she did not like it. Flurry lay on the ground for a while, breathing hard and trying to get enough strength back to be able to stand again. When she did, she tried pulling on the chain, stomping on it, even biting it. Nothing worked. Flurry spread her wings and flew upwards towards the ceiling, hoping to pull her hoof out of the chains. Still, she was trapped. Flurry beat her wings harder, straining to get away, but she finally gave up and plopped down on the ground again. She eyed the two buckets by the door. They were just far enough away that Flurry couldn’t reach them. Flurry wasn’t sure how long she was stuck in the room, but she spent her time pacing, trying to come up with a plan, a strategy, anything that would get her out of here. It made her even more angry when she realized that these guys were probably using her as a bargaining chip against her mother and her aunt Twilight. These guys probably wanted to take over Equestria and were going to use her to make sure they got what they wanted. After what seemed like forever, Flurry heard hoof steps outside the door. There was a bunch of clunking and clicking, and then the door swung open. On the threshold were three ponies. Two of them were unicorns with blank expressions on their faces. One had a straight brown mane and a lime-colored coat. She smelled like garbage. Her dark brown eyes narrowed at Flurry Heart. Flurry could tell that she hated ponies for some reason. Her companion was a tan stallion with greasy black hair. His shallow gray eyes were empty of any emotion whatsoever. However, it was the pony in front of these two that puzzled Flurry the most. He had a gray coat like a rock, and his mane was black and well-groomed. His dark brown eyes were so dark they appeared black, and they were cold and calculating. They studied Flurry Heart like she was nothing more than a fascinating bug or rock that he found on the side of the road. But the thing most extraordinary about this stallion was the fact that he had both a horn and wings. However, unlike Flurry’s own wings, his were like those of a pegasus. It was like he was an alicorn without the earth pony magic mixed in, so he had just unicorn and pegasus magic. His wings were spread authoritatively, and he held his head high. Flurry could tell that this was the pony in charge. Flurry kept her wings tucked in close. She would not give this infuriating pony the pleasure of her cooperating. “So, you say this one is one of them?” Fake Alicorn asked Garbage Pony. Garbage Pony scowled at Flurry, and Flurry glared right back. “Yes,” she said grudgingly. “Our scouts found it flying by itself. Easy catch.” “Ah. I… see.” Fake Alicorn walked around Flurry Heart in circles, poking and prodding Flurry’s mane, tail, and wings. He “hmm”d and “ahh”d like Flurry was just an interesting artifact or exhibit instead of a real pony. Fake Alicorn grabbed one of Flurry’s wings and unfolded it forcefully, displaying it for his two companions to see. Flurry hissed at him, but he didn’t seem to notice. “As you can see, this specimen’s wings are much larger than the average pegacorn.” Fake Alicorn’s voice was filled with amazement and wonder as if he couldn’t wait to make Flurry drink radioactive dye and see how she reacted. They think I’m just another experiment, Flurry thought with a flare of anger, just another toy for them to play with instead of a real pony with feelings! “With all due respect, sir,” Garbage Pony interrupted, “what does that mean?” “It leads me to believe,” Fake Alicorn said amusingly, “that either it is another species altogether, or it has much more power. It will be fascinating to study.” Fake Alicorn dropped Flurry’s wing, which had been getting numb. “Kiwi Swirl, I want you to find out all you can about these unique pegacorns. We need to know all we can about this place if we are to claim it for our own kind.” “Excuse me,” Flurry interrupted. All three ponies turned and gawked at her as if they didn’t think she was capable of speech. “Hi. I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding. But if you think you can… what was it? Oh, right, ‘claim it for your own kind’, you’re gonna be very surprised. In case you’re wondering, you are most definitely not the first one who wanted to take over Equestria, and you will not be the first to succeed, either. Now, if you could please just let us all go, we’ll go back home, and everything will be fine.” Flurry innocently blinked her large blue eyes at Fake Alicorn. This trick always worked with her mom. However, it did not work on these ponies. Fake Alicorn chuckled. “Well well well, got a feisty one here, do we?” Fake Alicorn walked up to Flurry Heart and cupped her chin, forcing her to look at his face. “Unfortunately it won’t do much. We’ve got everything we need to claim the rest of the world, and your home along the way, especially now that we’ve got you now. I hear that your little leaders would do anything to get you back, including surrendering their kingdoms to me. Soon the whole world will be one empire under me!” Fake Alicorn did an evil laugh that made Flurry roll her eyes. Yeah, so he was scary and all, but her aunt Twilight had faced worse threats. Also, his evil laugh wasn’t that evil. Fake Alicorn tilted Flurry’s head from side to side, inspecting it. “Hmm,” he muttered. “Kiwi, I want the magic meter in here as soon as possible. We need to measure its power.” He dropped Flurry’s head and turned away, walking out of the room with the two unicorns behind him. The door slammed with a clunk, and Flurry was left to darkness again. She sighed, turning in a circle and plopping down on the cold cement floor. Fake Alicorn had forgotten to move the two buckets closer so Flurry could reach them. Her stomach growled and her mouth was as dry as sawdust. Flurry closed her eyes and slipped off into dreamland. Flurry’s dreams were full of happy memories of her and her family. There was her last birthday party, all the Hearth’s Warming Eves she could remember, and just visiting her aunt in Canterlot. She might never see any of them again. A loud clunk jolted Flurry out of her sleep. She was still in the gray room, but the door was open again. Garbage Pony and her friend were back. Thankfully, Fake Alicorn was nowhere to be seen. Kiwi Swirl was holding an iron mold of a unicorn horn and a small instrument that looked like a thermometer. She walked up to Flurry and, with no particular gentleness, jammed the iron horn onto Flurry’s horn. A single groove swirled around the iron mold, and it lit up as the machine read how much magic Flurry had. Kiwi held up the thermometer with her magic, and she and Blank Face both looked at it curiously. The red blob in the bottom of the meter suddenly shot upwards and broke through the top of the instrument. Both ponies looked between Flurry Heart and the broken instrument with shocked faces. Finally, Kiwi shook her head. “What’ll we tell Boss?” she asked her companion quietly. “Pony has lots of magic,” Blank Face muttered. His way of speech reminded Flurry of the yaks. But she liked yaks much better. “Yes, but how much?” Kiwi persisted. “Boss wants to know exactly how much magic it has.” I’m not an it! Flurry thought indignantly. “This one needs further study… much further study.” Kiwi shook her head and used her magic to grab the instrument off of Flurry’s horn. She and Blank Face left the room again, plunging Flurry into darkness again. Flurry was a big filly, almost a mare, but she felt like she could cry loud enough to break the Crystal Heart again. She collapsed on the floor and let the tears spill, clinging to the hope that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would come and rescue her soon. But a part of her knew with iron certainty that they weren’t coming soon. They might never come at all. Equestria was doomed, and it was all her fault.