“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked quietly. She and Trixie were still locked in their respective cells. They had yet to see the ponies responsible for taking them captive.
There had occasionally been slight sways or rolls in the room, and Trixie surmised that it meant they were aboard a watercraft of some kind. The sound of steam engines continued.
“Are you sure you don’t have anything to pick the locks?” Trixie asked again.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No. I’m so sorry, Trixie.”
Trixie sighed. “I guess I can’t really fault you for that.”
“I wish our friends were here,” Fluttershy murmured. “I wish Valiant were here. If anypony would know how to get out of this, it would be him.”
“You seem to speak more highly of him than most ponies,” Trixie observed.
“Well, he wasn’t very nice, but he never singled me out. Usually he was only messed with Rainbow or Twilight.”
“Arguably the two that deserved it the most,” Trixie chuckled. She tried to find another subject. She’d already talked with Fluttershy about how much she missed her father.
“I guess if we can’t figure out how to sneak out, we’ll just have to try brute force,” Trixie said. It sounded very Valiant of her.
“What are you going to try?” asked Fluttershy.
Trixie considered the plan for a moment. “Longwave energy, so that the bars of the cells act as a Faraday cage. That will keep you safe from side effects, and help me keep everything focused.”
She sighed. “This isn’t going to be pretty, though. Even if it works, I’m probably going to transform again.”
Fluttershy reached through the bars to touch Trixie’s hoof comfortingly. “If it works, you shouldn’t feel ashamed. I’m still your friend either way.”
Trixie smiled. “Thank you. It means a lot.”
Fluttershy withdrew her hoof and Trixie closed her eyes, beginning to concentrate. She paused for a moment to take stock of her body. When re-growing up, Trixie had studied under Twilight. She’d learned a little more about the physiological side of magic, and how to get more out of her body. Feeling the metaphorical door that kept her wilder side locked away, Trixie took a deep breath and opened it up.
She felt her skin slide across the floor as her body lengthened, four more legs appearing. At the same time, there was a tickle of the inherent magic that accompanied the transformation.
Opening her eyes, Trixie glanced downward, seeing that only half her legs were now constrained by the four shackles. There was a thrum of magic in her body, focused, purposeful, and undeniably potent. She realized it was the first time she’d ever made the transformation completely on purpose.
Not pausing to reflect on it, Trixie began to funnel magic into her horn, although not yet projecting it. She felt the spell build inside her, almost seeming to take up space as she held it back. Then, with one targeted discharge, she let it go.
The bolt of magic overloaded the horn suppressor, going so far as to slag the metal. Trixie tossed it off before it could burn her and then got her free legs under her, slamming against her restraints forcefully, a second spell adding punch. The metal tore away, chunks of it scattering across the floor.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t know exactly what I just saw, but that was very impressive.”
Trixie nodded, slightly winded, but still feeling good. “Let’s get out of here.”
It was easy to disengage the locks. Valiant had taught her how to deal with those, after all. As a unicorn, she could manage it even easier than he could.
After they were both free, Trixie led Fluttershy towards the door at the end of the room. Careful to keep her eight hooves quiet, Trixie crept up to the door and listened for activity on the other side.
“I’m tellin’ ya, I heard something in there!” a voice faintly argued.
Well, the speaker was right. Rather than wait for somepony to come investigate the sound of the breakout, however, Trixie aimed her horn at the thin door and blew it in with a puff of magic.
Two stallions were in the next room. The wore little buttons with the letters CB on them. Both jerked in surprise at the sight of Trixie breaking in. While they were busy being astonished, she had time for a quick glance around the room, spotting her things in a glass display case on the far wall. Why they would show off her hat, cape, weapons, and personal effects, Trixie had no idea.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“We’re the Cult of Badass,” one of the stallions replied, gesturing to his button.
“And despite your freakiness and emotional issues, you are pretty badass,” supplied the other one. “We’ve been following your exploits for quite some time now. We're big fans.”
“So we’re going to eat your brain to become badass ourselves.”
Trixie frowned. “Are you in any way affiliated with the Cult of Awesome out on the west coast? Your business model is almost exactly the same.”
“Psh, as if.” One of the stallions waved a hoof dismissively.
“Here’s a tip,” said Trixie. “Badasses don’t say things like that. Membership buttons aren’t very badass, either.”
“Um, not to interrupt,” broke in Fluttershy, “but why did you take me, too?”
“It’s pretty badass how you handle bears and dragons and stuff,” answered one of the cultists.
“You were going to…eat my brain?” squeaked Fluttershy. Her lip quivered and her eyes started to well up with frightened tears.
Trixie sighed. “Well, now you idiots have gone and done it.”
Both of the stallions looked immensely guilty at making Fluttershy cry. Trixie rolled her eyes and sighed, deciding to spare them any further embarrassment. She yanked her M60 out of the display case in a shower of broken glass, soundly whacking both ponies on the backs of their heads as she brought the machine gun to her. They both fell unconscious.
Quickly gathering her things, Trixie led Fluttershy to the next door. It revealed a staircase and they went up.
The door at the top of the stairs led to the deck of a steamboat, cruising down a wide river. The scenery was pretty, and the sky was clear blue.
The decks of the steamboat were crowded with other ponies, most of them armed. They all wore little CB buttons.
Trixie glanced around. “Fluttershy, stay behind me. I’ll try not to get blood on you.”