//------------------------------// // Lullaby and Good Night! // Story: The Amazing Adventures of Captain Invincible! // by shallow15 //------------------------------// Twilight's eyes creaked open and she peered blearily up at the window, and made a face at the sunlight streaming in through it. Her mouth felt like someone had scraped the gunk from the bottom of the oven at Sugarcube Corner and pasted it into her teeth, gums, and palate. Her eyelids felt puffy from falling asleep while crying the night before and in general, it was not a good morning to be her. As she rose to her hooves, she blinked as the blanket which had been covering her fell to the floor. She peered at it, confused, knowing she had not fallen asleep with it the night before. She levitated the blanket and left it neatly folded next to her reading cushion. She walked towards the icebox, deciding to look for something for breakfast. As she passed into the kitchen, her nostrils widened at the scent of eggs, toast, waffles, and (Thank you, sweet Celestia!) coffee. She moved to the table where the repast had been laid out for her. She sat on the cushion at the table, ready to devour everything in sight. She looked over the food and stopped as she realized there was something else sitting next to her plate. Spike's journal. Twilight swallowed heavily, her appetite suddenly gone. There was a folded note sitting on top of the book. She grabbed the note with her magic and unfolded it in front of her. Twilight, I did some thinking yesterday, and yeah, I'm still kind of mad at you. But, I also don't really want to keep on being mad at you. I made you some breakfast, and I left you something to read. I'm going out to run some errands. Should be gone most of the day. We'll talk when I get back. --Spike P.S. Hope you like what you read. Twilight put the note down and moved the journal in front of her, pushing her plate aside. She rifled through the pages, turning to where she had left off. Sure enough, there were more paged that had been filled in, almost completing the journal. Did he write this all last night? Twilight thought. And he still went out this morning? He must be exhausted. Twilight looked back at the door and felt a small smile cross her face. She had made a mistake, but it could be fixed. In the meantime, Spike had finished the adventures of Captain Invincible, and this time, he had given her permission to read them. She quickly loaded food onto her plate, then flipped the journal open next to it and began to read and eat. ***** “I thought you were dead,” Captain Invincible snarled, narrowing his eyes at the evil sorceress he and Midnight Sun had fought so long ago. “You should have made sure,” Lullaby replied with a wicked smile. “And as much as I'd love to catch up with you, Spike, I have more important things to do here. Take him down.” With a grin, Scaleseeker took to the air and shot straight toward Captain Invincible. The great dragon hero braced himself, but the dragon hunter was moving fast enough to send the two of them hurtling across the cavern and through the far wall. “Captain!” Hot Scoop cried. She started galloping towards the large hole in the wall, but quickly found herself staggering under an unexpected weight. She looked behind her and saw six Banana Splits grinning at her. “Not so fast now, are ya Miz Fancyhooves?” they chorused. Hot Scoop frowned and began bucking her hind legs, attempting to dislodge the evil clones. Banana Split responded by multiplying herself further, causing Hot Scoop to stagger and fall under the weight. She collapsed on the floor, causing a couple of the Banana Splits to roll off her and away. The unicorn pressed her forehooves to the floor and pushed up with all her might. The earth pony fillies on her back went flying from the sudden jolt and Hot Scoop continued her run to aid Captain Invincible. As she approached the hole in the wall the Captain and Scaleseeker had vanished through, there was a sudden explosion of crystal and blur of motion. Hot Scoop whirled around to see Captain Invincible and Scaleseeker crash on the floor. She began to run to help, but let out a gasp as a bolt of lightning struck her. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed to the floor of the cavern. Behind her, Joybuzzer dropped to the ground, smirking evilly. Half a dozen Banana Splits came over and began hoisting Hot Scoop up between them, one pausing to hoofbump the pegasus filly. ***** Captain Invincible let out a grunt of pain as Scaleseeker drove one of her hooves into his jaw. Both of his claws shot up, catching the dragon hunter's hooves in mid-strike. Scaleseeker let out a growl of frustration and drove her head forward, headbutting the Ponytopolis Protector. Captain Invincible responded with a growl of his own, bent his knees and pushed as hard as he could against the crystals at his back. The Captain's mighty strength caused both dragon and hunter to rocket back out into the main cavern of the lair. The two landed hard, both letting out gasps as the air rushed from their lungs. Captain Invincible recovered first, shoved Scaleseeker off of him, and got to his knees. His mouth curled up in a snarl as he saw Lullaby and the Schoolmarm approaching the crystal sarcophagus that held Midnight Sun. “No, you don't!” he cried, getting to his feet and racing to stop his enemies. Lullaby gave him a wicked grin and fired a bolt of crimson magic from the tiara on her head. Captain Invincible dodged to the left, letting the bolt crash into the floor. He rose to one knee and grinned at his old enemy. “You're out of practice, Lullaby!” he taunted. The sorceress' grin widened. “And you're just as gullible as ever,” she sneered. Captain Invincible opened his mouth to speak, but his words were cut off as Scaleseeker leaped onto his back and threw a foreleg around his neck, getting the hero in a choke hold. Before the Captain could react, the dragon hunter reached into a compartment on her breastplate with her free hoof, and extracted a golden collar with a skull shaped clasp. She quickly slapped the collar around Captain Invincible's muscular neck. The collar snapped shut and the clasp latched. Captain Invincible grabbed the collar and pulled with all his might. His mighty arms strained to remove the jewelry, but it refused to budge. He glared at Scaleseeker. “What have you done?” he demanded. Scaleseeker grinned. “This,” she answered. She held up her free hoof, displaying a gold bracelet with a similar skull-shaped clasp. She tapped the skull and Captain Invincible collapsed to the ground, his whole body suddenly feeling ten times heavier than it usually did. The collar was glowing brightly as he struggled. “Don't bother,” Scaleseeker said, walking around in front of the dragon hero. “The more you struggle, the heavier you're going to get. Keeps your kind subdued and easier to ki—GAAAHHKKKK!” Scaleseeker's face began to turn red as Captain Invincible forced on claw upward and grabbed her around the neck, dragging the gray pegasus to the ground next to him. He loosened his grip slightly, allowing the dragon hunter to get enough air to breathe while still keeping her restrained. Lullaby smiled again at her immobilized nemesis, then turned to the Schoolmarm. “Can you do it?” The Schoolmarm looked up from where she was examining Midnight Sun's coffin. “We'll have to take everyone, but I think so.” “Excellent,” Lullaby turned to face Captain Invincible. “It's been lovely seeing you again, Spike, but I have some other things to do at the moment. Girls?” The Urchins appeared, the Banana Split duplicates balancing the unconscious Hot Scoop on their backs. Captain Invincible struggled to extend his free claw. “Leave... her... alone,” he growled. Lullaby let out an evil chuckle. “Sorry, but as you so aptly noted, Dr. Spectra won't do anything without appropriate testing, so I'm afraid Miss Scoop is going to be coming with us.” “If you... hurt... her,” Captain Invincible hissed through his teeth. “You won't be able to do anything about it,” Lullaby finished. “In fact, I think it's only right that I leave you the exact same way you and the purple harlot over here left me. Sour Note?” The unicorn filly smiled and trotted over to her mistress. “Yes, Miss Lullaby?” “Bury the good Captain in his own lair, won't you?” “Yes, ma'am!” Sour Note chirped. She took a deep breath and was about to start singing when Scaleseeker's voice rang out. “Hey! What about me?” she demanded, as she still fought to escape Captain Invincible's grip. Lullaby sneered at the dragon hunter. “I hired you to track down and kill Captain Invincible, and as far as I can see, you failed. In which case, I no longer require your services. Sour Note?” Sour Note cut loose with a hyper-sonic scream that resonated the crystals composing the cavern. The crystals began to resonate and chime ominously. Bits and pieces began to fall from the ceiling. “Time to go,” she said. The Schoolmarm's eyes began glowing magenta. The magical energy flowed around Lullaby, the Urchins, Hot Scoop, and Midnight Sun. “Next stop, Canterlot.” There was a blinding flash, and soon the Captain and the hunter were alone in the rapidly collapsing cavern. Scaleseeker cursed, and began fumbling at the bracelet on her left hoof. “Lousy stupid double-crossing... Stop struggling!” she yelled at the Ponytopolis Defender. “I'm trying to turn the collar off.” Captain Invincible stopped struggling against the spell, and relaxed his grip, allowing Scaleseeker to get to her hooves. She slapped the skull on the bracelet. The golden glow faded from the collar and Captain Invincible got to his feet. “Right,” he said. “First thing we do is--” His words were lost as the ceiling came crashing down on the two of them. ***** “Oh, darn it!” Twilight said, looking up from the journal. There was an insistent knocking on the library door. “Twilight?” came Apple Bloom's voice. “Are ya home? Applejack said y'all got those books on rock climbin' we asked for last week!” Twilight rolled her eyes and got to her hooves. “Yes, I'm here Apple Bloom. I'll be right there!” She levitated the plate and silverware to the sink, and flipped the journal closed. She headed out of the kitchen and back to the main room, planning to get Apple Bloom on her way and get back to the story as soon as possible.