//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - The Plot Thickens // Story: Twilight Discovers Comics // by nyycuh //------------------------------// “Facet, my dear brother, stop this madness right now!” Star Storm admonished Facet. “Madness? I'm only taking what is rightfully mine. A little piece of land to call my own, even if it's populated with dumb mules. That's all I ask,” Facet said sardonically. “You've already hurt our mother's feelings with your action. Our mother-” Facet's nerve frayed. “She's not my mother! My mother would never lie to me, betray my trust, and then banish me to the nether realm!” “You forced her to take drastic action! Stop being so selfish and repent! Wake up from your madness!” “I'm already mad,” Facet said, and he smiled. Confused, Star Storm looked up just in time to see Captain Equestria about to pounce on her. Star Storm teleported away just as his shield slammed into the ground. Star Storm sensed fast movement. She ducked just in time to avoid one of Steam Vent's cannon ball, and retaliated with a blast of heat energy. Steam Vent fell to the ground, his armor glowing red hot. Only his armor protected him from being burnt. Steam Vent glimpsed a gauge on his hoof. “Two hundred percent heat capacity? How nice of you,” he muttered . Steam Vent stood up and aimed a blast of boiling hot steam from his arm cannon. Star Storm deflected the blast with a water shield. Rolling clouds of steam immediately enveloped the forest. When the steam dissipated, Steam Vent and Captain Equestria were aiming their weapons at her. “Who are you? Why do you want with Prince Facet?” Captain Equestria demanded. “Look at her, this mare is incredible!” Steam Vent said in awe. “This is not the time, Steam!” Captain Equestria barked back. “No, I'm serious. I've measured her energy signature. Her magical power is off the charts! The only beings more powerful than her are the Alicorn princesses!” “What?” “I am Princess Star Storm from the Amethyst Kingdom, daughter of Queen Ruby Heart,” Star Storm said with the pride of a warrior. “I figured she's a princess,” Steam Vent mused. “Prince Facet is my brother,” Star Storm continued. “I am taking him back to my home kingdom after he escaped from his prison in the nether realm. I am also searching for the Hydra Stone.” “Why are you after the Hydra Stone?” Captain Equestria asked. “The Hydra Stone is an ancient artefact created by my ancestors. In the wrong hooves, it can become an unstoppable weapon of mass destruction. It's far too dangerous to leave it in Equestria,” she explained. Captain Equestria lowered his shield, and Steam Vent followed suit by lowering his cannons. “I’m sorry for our misunderstanding. We wish to bring Prince Facet back with us for questioning. Perhaps you can come along to help. Director Stone believes he has far bigger plan,” Captain Equestria said. Star Storm looked anxiously at his grinning brother, and then to the strangers who were minutes ago battling her. “Director Stone is my acquaintance, and I trust his words. I'll come,” Star Storm said grudgingly. “But beware; my brother is a cunning trickster.” “Come on, come on! Where's the next issue?” Twilight found herself rummaging through the untidy stack searching for the next issue. She found it lying spine-up on the floor, hidden behind the stack. Beautrix was sitting alone on the observation deck of the airship carrier, silently watching the moon rising and the world moving slowly below behind the deck's massive glass facade. Star Storm entered the deck. “Greetings,” Star Storm greeted Beautrix. “You're Beautrix, I presume?” “Your highness! Yes, I am Beautrix, and I'm eternally honoured by your presence.” Beautrix bowed to her out of respect, but Star Storm stopped her. “Please, dispense with the formality. May I join you in star-gazing?” Star Storm asked. “Absolutely!” Beautrix agreed. Star Storm sat beside Beautrix, watching the rolling clouds with her. “You know who I actually am, don't you?” Beautrix asked, nervously brushing her luscious black hair with her hooves. “Yes, Beautrix. I know the story.” “Aren't you afraid that I might lose control again?” Star Storm looked kindly at Beautrix. “Beautrix, I sympathize with your struggle. I practice the Amethyst branch of magic. It granted me great power, but this great power can be easily corrupted by dark desires. My brother Facet lost control of his anger and greed, and his power turned him into the monster he is now.” “You struggled with controlling your powers too?” “Yes. It's not easy, but I've managed to find inner peace by channelling my power to defending my homes, both my kingdom and Equestria.” Beautrix looked down at her hooves. “My struggles are different from yours. My power is a curse, not a gift. I gave in to my anger once, and I ended up hurting all the ponies who mattered in my life. Now I'm an outcast, always hiding, always afraid of turning into a monster again. I'm afraid I might even become a liability to the team.” Star Storm gently placed one of her hooves on Beautrix's. “You may have made terrible mistakes in the past, but I sense your heart is pure. I'm confident you'll put your powers only to good use, regardless of how you gained it.” Beautrix smiled. “Thank you.” Suddenly, alarms started wailing. Explosions from outside rocked the airship, throwing them off-balance. Beautrix scrambled to the intercom. “Foresight, what's going on?” “We're under attack! They've already taken out three of our helium cells! We're launching as many Pegasi as we could to intercept, but we're already losing altitude!” Foresight reported over the intercom. Beautrix looked back at Star Storm and said, “Come on, we must defend the airship!” “I’m with you!” Beautrix and Star Storm galloped down the corridor. “Hello? Twilight, are you here?” Twilight Sparkle jumped in fright when she suddenly heard some pony mentioned her name. “There you are Twilight! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Twilight then heard the same pony calling her from the doorstep of the room, and she hastily hid the comic book she had been engrossed in. “Oh, hi Cheerilee! Fancy you dropping by while I’m, er, cleaning!” She nervously greeted Cheerilee, one eye making sure that Cheerilee could not see the cover of the comic book. “Hi Twilight. Are you busy at the moment?” Cheerilee asked, smiling. “Er, no! Not really. I’m just, er, organizing my stuff in this room, which are definitely not comic books – wait, what am I talking about? Oh yes, how can I help you?” Twilight flashed a wide, nervous grin. Cheerilee sensed something was amiss, but she continued anyhow, “I like to discuss the upcoming school visit. When will be a convenient time?” “School visit? You mean the one next week?” “That’s right.” “No problem! Let me check my diary.” With her magic, Twilight willed her planner book to fly to her. The planner zoomed into the room through the door entrance, missing Cheerilee’s head by just a hair. Twilight flipped through the book’s sentries. “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, lemme see... How about two o’clock in the afternoon?” “Sure, that sounds good,” Cheerilee said brightly. “By the way, can I pick up the book I've reserved?” “Let me check.” Twilight squeezed her way through the stack of comic books to a shelf where she placed books reserved by the library’s patrons. Along the way, she accidentally knocked one pile down. “Where on earth did all these comic books come from?” Cheerilee asked, slightly alarmed at the sight of comic books scattering all over the floor. “These are all Spike’s comic books. And before you ask, no, they don’t belong to the library.” Twilight explained as she brought the gardening book Cheerilee had reserved to her. “Oh, thank you Twilight. I've been waiting forever for this book to be available,” Cheerilee thanked Twilight. “Well, I better go.” “Nice helping you!” Twilight slammed the door shut the moment Cheerilee left the room. Cheerilee left the library, confused over Twilight’s odd behaviour. “She needs to lighten up a bit,” she muttered. Relieved, Twilight reopened the comic book she had been reading. “Now where was I? I better finish this before Spike comes back.” Steam Vent carefully sealed up the last damaged helium cell with a blowtorch, trying his best to concentrate above the noise of defensive cannon fires, and the winged demons attacking the ship. “Almost there,” Steam Vent muttered to himself, sweats falling freely inside his bronze helmet. The lives of everyone on the airship were counting on him completing the improvised repair work in time. One of the bigger winged demons crashed into Beautrix. The two monsters clawed at each other as they tumbled on the helium cell Steam Vent was trying to repair. The impact caused him to lose balance. He grabbed hold of a rigging rope just in time to avoid falling off the airship. “Come on!” He pulled himself back up. He couldn't fire his flight pack. He had already depleted all of his fuel in his backpacks and he needed all the remaining fuel to mend the leak. He crawled his way up the slippery skin of the helium cell back to the ruptured spot. Using all of his muscle strength to hang on, he sealed the last leak. “Captain, inflate it now!” He shouted to Captain Equestria. “Give me a sec!” Captain Equestria shouted as he slammed his shield into the face of a demon. “Captain, now!” Steam Vent could already see the trees on the ground rushing up towards him. “Captain, stand still!” Crossbow swooped in and fired off a volley of stun arrows at Captain Equestria's direction, paralyzing all the demons that were fighting Captain Equestria and leaving him unscathed. “Thanks Crossbow!” Captain Equestria punched the last standing winged demon off the airship, and pulled the lever that inflates the helium cell. The helium cell instantly inflated. The airship's descend halted and started to climb. The airship was saved. “Yes! We did it! Uh oh.” The beast Beautrix had been fighting turned its attention to him and leaps towards his direction. Beautrix grabbed its tail just before its teeth could touch Steam Vent's helmet, swung it a full circle, and flung it howling into the skies. “You aren't so strong when your suit isn't working,” Beautrix said in a deep, booming voice. She stretched her giant clawed hand to Steam Vent. “Happens all the time,” Steam Vent said sheepishly, gratefully taking her hand.