//------------------------------// // Abandonment and Imprisonment // Story: My Little Pony: Return of the Primal Fear // by Lizardsareradical //------------------------------// Chapter 13: Abandonment and Imprisonment Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity were pursuing Trixie, Anvillain, and Blubayou through the apple trees, trying to avoid the sticks, logs and upturned trees Anvillain left in its wake. They were only thirty feet behind Trixie and Anvillain, and fifty feet away from Blubayou. Trixie was beginning to worry that they were gaining on the two of them. But then she came up with a dirty trick up her hat. She called out to the three Elements as she ran. "Hey! I think I left a couple of fillies behind a bunch of trees. I sure do hope the others found those little fillies!" As expected, all three pursuers stopped in their tracks, giving Anvillain and Trixie to widen the gap. The Elements of Generosity, Honesty, and Magic were all concerned about what she said. They knew they meant Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, but they couldn't just give up the chase on Scootaloo. "I'll go make sure they're okay!" Rarity interjected. "You two continue on!" She then ran back to the battle scene. Applejack and Twilight wasted no time to continue the chase, seeing the two foalnappers in the very distance. But to the two's confusion, all three of Screameater's minions stopped running as they stood in front a pond. Both mares stopped only ten feet away. The golem may have been injured, but it was probably still a threat. "Giver back!" Applejack shouted out to Trixie, taking no for an answer. Trixie thought for a moment. She knew that she couldn't just give her to them. Screameater would hate that. But on the other hand, if they did take her, chances are Celestia will go to Phobos on a full scale assault. She looked up and noticed that a Pegasus Mara was just above, encircling the scene like a vulture. She then looked at her amulet. And then she remembered Blubayou and that bunny Hopz. By what she saw, he got too attached to it. The blue mare remembered what her master what to do when that happens. In no time, she formulated a plan. "Hello! Equestria to Trix!" Blubayou stated as he waved his hand in the deep-in-thought Trixie. She snapped out of it and gave the stallion a harsh look. "Ahem!" Trixie looked ahead and Applejack and Twilight were still ready to fight if need be. Scootaloo was sobbing, reaching out towards them. The magician used a fog spell to obscure all vision. Trixie then whistled for the Mara to fly down as she used a spell to improve her vision. She then used her Amulet of Alteration on the Mara, making it look just like the pegasus filly they were taking. She then passed "Scootaloo" towards Blu. "Here's the brat! She's a kicker!" Trixie told him as he heard him catch the imposter. She soon saw that the fog was fading. She quickly put her hoof on Anvillain and in a blue light, they were gone. When Twilight Sparkle and Applejack regained their vision, all they saw was Blubayou holding a flailing Scootaloo in his forehooves. By the looks of it, he was struggling to keep his grip. Both ponies looked around to see any sign of Trixie or Anvillain. As Blubayou was trying to keep his grip, "Scootaloo" kicked him straight in the face."YEOWCH!" He rubbed the front of his snout. As he saw the two mares gaining, he quickly hopped onto a tree branch. He then put the frightened filly down on the branch. "Somebody needs a time out!" He then looked down the tree, seeing both Elements looking up with distain. "That won't stop us!" The purple pony exclaimed as she began to use her magic to lift Scootaloo into the air. Blubayou desperately held onto the filly, trying to pull him back to her. But to his ill luck, he got lifted up with her, his forelegs dangling in the air. He soon dropped himself to the ground in-between the two mares. He was on the complete defensive now. He hopped back, ready to fight. Applejack slowly moved closer to him. "Alright then." She spoke up to the foalnapper as she stopped only five feet away from him. "We can either do this the easy way." She then got ready to fight, if need be. "Or the hard way." Blubayou looked at her, and then looked at the filly as Twilight put her down on the ground. He quickly shot his tongue out at Scootaloo, trying to grab her. But before he even got to her, he felt a painful buck to his side, causing him to yelp and stumble back. Went her looked up; he saw the orange mare was the culprit, looking down at him. "Before ya even consider trying again, think about you two partners. Where did they go off to?" Applejack told Blu trying to control her anger. The amphibipony just head butted her in response, and then used his strong hind legs to kick her ten feet away. He then spoke up. "They'll be back! They'll never leave! They just need to find one pure of heart!" He then leaped thirty feet towards Twilight, trying to get to the filly, which refused to leave her side. But when he was only inches from her, the Element of Magic suspended him into the air. He kicked about and tried to free himself. He looked to his left and saw Applejack tackle him. The two tumbled for over twelve feet, hitting each other the whole way. Applejack then pushed the amphibipony right off of her. He jumped up and hopped towards a tree. He then leaped right off the side of the tree and tried to once again go for the pegasus filly. But he was grabbed by the tail and landed face first on the ground. As he got up, Blubayou quickly felt a solid hoof hit him square in the jaw, sending him into the nearby pond. As he wallowed in the shallow water, he slowly tried to get up. Applejack walked over, still with a stern expression on her face. "You ain't getting this filly even if it's the last thing I do!" She then looked straight at her opponent and began to speak more rationally, realizing she was beating up her own blood. "Just give up. Make it easier on all of us. I beg of you." Blubayou just panted for a bit as he absorbed what she was saying. He gritted his teeth, tensed his muscles, and began to breathe harder, and from what Applejack and Twilight can see, his normal blue hue becoming slightly duller. He then looked straight up at the orange mare, with the look of determination in his face. "I NEED THE GIRL!" He told them almost desperate as he shot his long tongue out at Applejack, wrapping it around her. He then dragged her into the water to him. He then grabbed her with his forehooves and tossed her into the deeper center of the pond, where she was neck deep in water. Applejack tried as best as she could to swim away. She was an okay swimmer, but she was on somepony else's turf now. Blubayou swam at a great speed towards her, hit her at her side, and then swam away. Applejack got her feet on the bottom of the pond and waited for another attack. The pond looked very nice, but wasn't exactly the easiest to look through. But she knew he was somewhere, ready to attack. She soon tried to swim again, but she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She then felt a blow to her left shoulder. Then she saw him rise out of the water, with his bluish-grey face filled with anger. "I HAVE TO FREE HIM!"He looked straight into her eyes, and then looked away. "But you servants of his tyrant sisters keep getting in the way." Applejack was horrified what he just said. She had no time to reply as Blu dunked her head into the water. Blu then realized something. He let Applejack up to breathe. He then quickly asked curiously, letting out a small croak. "Whatcha say madam?" Applejack coughed out some water and answered him. "I was going to say how you can believe such a lie. I know you're smarter than that. She's the kindest pony anypony knows." Blubayou just shook his head. "That's what she wants you to think." He then looked at her sternly. "She and her sister imprisoned their own brother…" His let out a sigh. "…my master…" He looked away from her. "…my guardian…" Applejack could see tears well up in his eyes. "…my savior." He then let go of AJ and quickly swam out of the pond towards "Scootaloo" and Twilight, who galloped to the pond out of concern for her friend. When Blu got out of the water, he hopped right next to the scared filly and got ready to grab her. But as he was about to get her, he saw two blue hooves hit him straight in the face. Blubayou's vision got slow and blurry. He also heard this horrible high pitched sound. As he tried to shake the feeling out of his head, he saw the orange mare get out of the water with her hat in her teeth. He also saw the filly he was after move quickly towards the violet mare, hugging her. As he stumbled around he saw the blue pegasus with a rainbow mane looking at him in rage. He could barely hear her say something. He wasn't sure what, but she looked furious at him. He then noticed the ponies behind her. The gentle looking pegasus mare looked almost bad for him. He then realized that she had Hopz on her back. Blubayou began to regret that he forgot him. Next to her was this bald stallion that looked at the blue pegasus, then him, then back to the pegasus again. Blu could hear the words "You hit him way to hard." Come out right out of the stallion's mouth. The rainbow maned mare just shook her head as she continued to scold the amphibipony. He also saw a pink pony and green pony look and him, then brohoofing one another, doing a victory dance. A white unicorn next to them was keeping two crying fillies close to her, patting them on the head. The earth filly with the bow on her head took a look at him in distain. But then Blubayou realized he had something to do rather than look around and stumble about. He needed to get that pegasus filly. He couldn't just go back to his master empty hoofed could he? But on the other hoof, he wondered if Trixie and Anvillain succeeded in finding one pure of heart. But his work first. He tried to gain his footing as he tried to hop towards "Scootaloo". He tried to hop, but he only went six feet and fell onto the ground flat on his face. But he knew he couldn't just stop. He began to slowly crawl towards the orange filly, who hid behind the purple unicorn. His limbs started to limp and his vision got worse. He felt his eyelids getting heavier as he pathetically attempted to crawl around the unicorn mare. His limbs then suddenly started to stop and he just layed on the ground, only three feet from his target. In one more futile attempt, he tried to lash out his tongue to try and grab her. His tongue came out as slow as molasses and he tried to move it towards the filly, but it went limp right in front of her. Blu now knew he was helpless. He had failed. "I'm sorry Screamy." Was the last thing he muttered as his eyes fully closed. The last thing he felt was being gently picked up before losing consciousness. -------------------------------------------------------------- Blubayou woke up with an aching head. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the sun was going down and he was in the middle of a town full of ponies of all kinds. They were all staring at him. Some looked confused, some looked like they pitied him, but many looked absolutely disgusted at him. "It's the fishpony!" One pony with a cream coat and a purple/pink mane cried out horrified. She looked like she was about to scream. Blubayou didn't understand what she really meant. He just decided to politely correct her. "Actually, the term I prefer to be called by is "Amphibipony". I can breathe air as you see, but common mistake. No hard feelings." He then tried to hop away, but he realized that his limbs were chained to a golden chariot. He tried to struggle but he then heard a voice. "Quit your struggling!" He looked to his left to see the blue pegasus mare looking at him with those angry eyes of hers. Behind her were the other Elements of Harmony. Blubayou didn't dare look at the rainbow maned pony. He just turned his face away from her, losing all faith in himself. "So what happens now? Ya'll are just gonna feed me to the tyrannical princesses or something?" Rainbow, along with the rest of Ponyville, were horrified with what he just said. Even the pegasus guards linked to the chariot were dumbstruck about such an accusation. Paramail just fainted right then and there, landing flat on his face. "Wha? Something I said?" Blubayou asked the audience confused, still tugging at his chains. "It ain't surprising when it's true." A green mare with a green and white mane called out from the crowd, her voice angry and condescending. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT OUR PRINCESS! WHAT KIND OF PONY HAS THE NERVE TO SAY THAT?" Another pony in the crowd answered her. "WHO SAYS HE EVEN IS A PONY?" "YEAH! HE'S A MONSTER!" Another pony called out. A unicorn stallion picked up a tomato with his magic. "NO WORSE! HE'S A FOALNAPPING FREAK!" He then tossed the tomato at Blubayou, hitting him straight in the face. Blubayou had no idea how to react. He didn't even see it coming. He had no idea what was even thrown at him. He just wiped his face with a forehoof and looked at the remains of the smashed fruit. He then felt himself get hit by a green, leafy vegetable of sorts. Now Blu began to panic as he saw the barrage of food being thrown at him by various ponies. Each one was calling him "monster", "freak", "foalnapper", and more. All he could do was puts his hooves in front of him in an attempt to protect himself. Applejack looked at her friends. Pinkie Pie couldn't bear to look and had to turn away. Coocoodrill drilled into the ground to muffle the sounds and isolate himself from the incident. Rarity looked straight at the amphibious stallion as he was being clobbered with all sorts of food, Applejack can tell she thought he deserved what was happening. Paramail got back up, but when he saw what was going on, he fainted once again. She could see Fluttershy softly weeping, feeling pity for the poor pony. She even saw Rainbow Dash joining with the pelting of food. Twilight just had no idea how to react to this situation, she just stared blindly. But when Applejack thought about it, she didn't have any idea what to do either. On one hoof, he brought Trixie to Screameater, trapped her little sister, and tried to kidnap Scootaloo. But on the other hoof, he was taken by Auntie Razzi and Uncle Blubarry at such a young age, he probably had little idea what was right and wrong. It didn't help that he was also her second cousin. She just looked back at the poor amphibipony, who was now visibly tearing up. "TRIXIE! HELP ME! HELP ME!" He cried out as he was pelted with an egg, an apple, and a muffin. He looked at his hoof, which began to get even greyer. He then began to let out a small whimper as he began to lie down. "Please. I beg of you. Help me." Applejack couldn't stand watching any longer. She rushed in front of the Blubayou. She kept telling the crowd to stop tormenting him, but they all ignored her as they continued tossing the various food items. She even got herself hit a couple of times. But then from behind Applejack, a bright light shone, causing all of the residents to stop. Applejack and the other elements saw that it was the radiant princess. Paramail once again got up, but when he saw the great alicorn's angry expression, he fainted for a third time. "STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING THIS INSTANT!" Celestia demanded the entire group of ponies. All of the ponies, including Rainbow Dash, dropped what they were about to toss. The princess wasn't this furious since Twilight made everypony go crazy over a doll. Everypony watched as Celestia walked over to the sobbing stallion. She nudged him softly, causing him to bolt up straight, his chains holding him down. He tried to slowly crawl away from her, but he just hit the back of the chariot. "Please don't hurt me." Blubayou begged the princess covering his face from any sort of attack. Celestia's only reply was using her magic to release him from his chains. "There, there. I'm not here to hurt you." She reassured him, wiping away a chunk of food scraps from his body with a hoof. Everypony could tell that she was grimacing at what happened to him. Blu had no idea what she was doing or why she was doing this. He was also puzzled as to why she levitated him onto her back. Celestia then turned towards the crowd. "I am very disappointed in all of you. This is not how we act towards transgressors. He may have committed several crimes, but it does not give you the right to treat him like a beast, calling him a monster." She then looked at Applejack, who was covered in food from trying to defend him. "Out of all the ponies in Ponyville, only one bothered to help him. I thought I taught you better than that. But you resort to throwing apples, custards, and cabbages at somebody when they can't even defend themselves. So now I ask you one question. What makes you any better?" All of the ponies just looked down in shame. Some were genuinely remorseful, but others still didn't like Blu. Celestia then looked towards her star pupil in a much less angry manner. "Twilight Sparkle. I need you and Coocoodrill to come to Canterlot to ask this poor, poor pony some questions. I know that you two know the most about Phobos." Celestia told her in her more benign manner. She knew this amphibipony was the pony her brother Cosmus took. Coocoodrill popped his head from out of his hole, hearing what the princess wanted with him. He then jumped right out of the hole and galloped next to Twilight, putting an arm around her. "We'd be more than happy to interrogate Blu." He then shook his friend a bit. "Right Twi?" Twilight knew they still had to search for Spike. But when she thought about it, she remembered that a dragon was part of Screameater's ritual according to the book. She didn't want to admit it, but perhaps they already took Spike away from her. It was a tragic thought and she didn't dare tell the green unicorn next to her about the subject. All she did was nod an answer to Coocoo. "Well then my little ponies. I'll see you in Canterlot." Celestia told the two unicorns as she flew away with Blubayou on his back. Twilight Sparkle and Coocoodrill just got into the chariot, which was covered in all sorts of food. The guards then began to fly into the air. Coocoodrill grabbed a mostly complete cupcake from the chariot and took a bite. He offered a chunk of apple pie to Twilight, but she just looked away in disgust. Coocoo just shrugged and ate it himself. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie watched them leave. Rarity turned to the rest of the group. "Now that that is over, I'm going to go home. I have orders to fill." Rarity told them in a relatively sour manner. Her sister was just at risk and in her opinion, the perpetrator wasn't punished enough. She then trotted away. Rainbow Dash took to the air. "Well I'm going to take a nap." She then nonchalantly moved her left forehoof around. "My forehoof is tired from throwing stuff." She then quickly flew away before Applejack can say anything about it. Applejack then looked at Fluttershy and poked Paramail, causing him to immediately get up. "What did I miss?" Paramail asked the two mares as he rubbed his head, looking at his surroundings. He then felt a sudden jolt of pain in his right forehoof. Just as he said "Ouch", Fluttershy was right next to him, holding up the hurt forehoof, inspecting it. Applejack can see him blush and couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Oh dear! Oh dear!" Fluttershy softly interjected as she put down the teal stallion's hoof. "It's sprained!" Paramail immediately took heed of what she just said. He remembered tackling a Mara into the ground and hitting it in the face. Guess he was too pepped up with adrenaline to notice that he injured his hoof in the process. He took a look at his injured hoof and sighed in disappointment. "Well this really stinks. I guess I'm going to have to see a doctor then. We see ya later." But as he was about to fly away, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Fluttershy with her usual cute smile. It made Paramail's heart feel so much lighter. "Paramail…"Fluttershy paused for a bit, trying to muster up some courage. "I have bandages and medicine at my house. I can wrap that sprain up for you if you like." She then turned away. "You know…if you like." His longtime crush just offered to help him in a time of need. He didn't even think about it. He just made a warm smile and nodded. "Sure thing…thanks a ton. I'll even help you with the animals again. Twice in a row, awesome deal." Fluttershy looked at him in joy and hugged him, causing to get even redder. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! Nobody ever helps me at this hour! You're the best!" Those last three words caused Paramail's eyes to go wide open. Even Fluttershy was surprised that she even said that, blushing a bit. After a bit, the two broke away. "Well…let's go I guess." Fluttershy told him trying not to let out a girlish giggle. She then walked on ahead, intending to get to her home by foot. Paramail followed suit. Applejack watched them leave with a small smile. At least somebody was enjoying their day. She then looked back at Canterlot in the distance, concerned for her cousin. How are they going to treat ya Blu? Ya didn't any of this. She then slowly walked home. Due to the huge distraction today, there was still work to do at home. And she was determined to finish it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile on Phobos, Scootaloo was in the dungeon, confined to a mere bird cage. She was sobbing, scared of what this "Screameater" will do to her when he wakes up from his nap. "Help me Rainbow Dash. Please get here." She begged her distant idol, denying the fact that no help can possibly come. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------