//------------------------------// // Manehatten // Story: Bring Me the Heads of the Cutie Mark Crusaders! // by CCC //------------------------------// Tirek stomped back into the throne-room, the floor cracking slightly with every impact of his oversized hooves. “As to your punishment...” he said to Twilight. Twilight folded her forelegs, and glared back defiantly. “No doubt you're expecting me to torture you for this transgression. And no matter what I do to you, you'll probably think it's worth it, if you've let a friend escape.” Tirek shook his head at the sheer folly of the entire concept of friendship. “So I'm going to do something even worse.” He looked over at his other prisoners. “I'm going to torture your friends.” He reached into the group with his magic, and pulled out the smallest of the lot – Spike, the dragon. He held up the sharp, but rusty knife. “I believe I shall begin,” he said, “by defenestr-” Twilight thought faster than she'd ever thought before. “DON'T BURN HIM!” she cried, letting her panic at Spike's plight into her voice. “Burn him?” asked Tirek. “Don't be ridiculous. Dragons are immune to fire.” “...yes.” said Twilight, nervously. “All dragons are immune to fire. It's definitely not something that they grow into, and even if it was, Spike's quite certainly old enough that he is fireproof. It's not like fire is especially painful and terrifying for young dragons or anything like that. Spike is definitely quite absolutely immune to fire so there's absolutely no reason why you'd possibly want to use fire to torture him with.” Twilight promptly covered her mouth with both front hooves and looked away, not making eye contact with anyone. For a long moment, Tirek simply glared at Twilight. Then he said “That was the singularly worst lie I have ever heard.” He turned around and stomped back towards the door. “Guard captain!” he called out. “Bring me a brazier of red-hot coals!” * * * Fifteen minutes later Spike hung from the ceiling like the bob of some gigantic pendulum, his wrists tied together above his head. He looked more bored than anything else. Behind him, Tirek lifted a red-hot poker from the brazier of glowing coals, and inspected it thoroughly. Deciding that it was finally hot enough, he stepped forward and carefully poked Spike's tail with it. Spike did not immediately react. Twilight frowned at him and stomped her hoof. “Ow!” said Spike. “SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!” yelled Pinkie. “We're all here for you, Spike!” “You barbarian!” shouted Rarity. “Torturing a poor, sweet, innocent young dragon for your twisted whims!” Spike continued in a flat monotone. “Oh. Ouch. Oooh. Ow. Ouch. Oh dear, how much this hurts. Ouch. Ooooh. Ouch. Ouch.” “Noooooooo!” cried Twilight, collapsing dramatically on the ground and covering her face with her hooves. “I can't bear to looooooook!” * * * Manehatten, the following day “Hey, Ma, Pa. I's jus' gonna head out and play, okay?” “Babs Seed.” said Mrs. Orange, primly. “Do you have to speak in that ridiculous accent all the time?” Babs rolled her eyes. “It's the way everypony at school talks, Ma.” “Leave your poor daughter alone, dear.” said Mr. Orange, not looking up from his newspaper. “If she wants to talk like -” Exactly what Babs talked like wasn't further elaborated on, because at that moment the front door shattered, showering the Oranges with splinters of wood and revealing a grey-toned pegasus mare. “I say!” said Mr. Orange, putting down his paper and stepping forward. “Nopony breaks into my house and -” The pegasus leapt forward and, with a number of rapid kicks, knocked both adult Oranges unconscious. All without ever taking her eyes off Babs. Babs backed away nervously, then spun around and ran from the pegasus who'd attacked both her parents. But she was too late – after only two steps, she was stopped by teeth grabbing hold of her tail. A hoof took hold of her head, and turned it until she was facing her attacker. “Don't hurt us!” squealed Babs. Daring Do spat out Babs' tail. “Where,” she asked menacingly, “are the headquarters of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”