//------------------------------// // Memory // Story: Power Ponies: The Storm Unleashed // by Darksonickiller //------------------------------// Power Ponies: The Storm Unleashed Chapter 7: Memory By Darksonickiller and Izangi In the span of just a few seconds, the whole of over three years’ worth of events passed through Zapp’s mind, starting with the very moment one of the Power Ponies’ greatest nemeses had ran her through with that unnatural aberration of a mane. Just like an assassin’s blade in the dark; the primary source of the scorching pain. Pain. It was one of the first things Zapp sensed creeping into her memory. To say that she was surprised by this would not be entirely accurate. Pain had become second nature to her, a sensation rendered almost impactless from repetition after having spent so much time in her predicament. Mane-iac had flung and catapulted her through the air almost effortlessly, and the glass of the skylight had given way to her momentum with just as much ease. Zapp felt herself soaring through the air, arcing wildly over the edge of the Museum's ornate marble and copper roof and towards the street. Zapp’s vision was blurry, her eyes watering from the wound. Next, came the concrete. The crunch of bone against a hard surface, and the tiny clatter of glass fragments. Zapp struggled to draw breath against injuries that could have long since ended the life of an ordinary pony. The faintest sound of sirens could be heard in the distance, too far to be seen yet even if Zapp could make sense of her surroundings. Her body was in a state of shock as it entered survival mode, her metabolism flooding her arteries with the necessary chemicals to keep her alive. By some stroke of chance, Zapp was able to regain a semblance of a grip on her senses enough to notice something odd: she was no longer laying on the debris-strewn sidewalk, but on something soft. Fabric, perhaps? Whatever it was, she was no longer still; she sensed movement. Zapp then registered the regular flapping of wings, and part of her mind that managed to endure through the searing pain was struggling to make sense of the situation. Somepony must have been carrying her through the air on their back. Who’s carrying me? she wanted to ask. Saddle Rager? She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, but not a sound came out. Whomever was carrying her sighed as they gained altitude. “My apologies for such a violent and unpleasant acquisition, dear Zappara. Bah, I wonder if you can even understand me in the state your in…” they muttered apologetically, still maintaining an aristocratic eloquence. The only part of them Zapp could currently make out were wavy shocks of mane in front of her, almost the exact same color as her own. Their voice was all too familiar to her, but whatever significance that held was currently present in the part of her consciousness overcome by having been impaled through the chest. “Ugh, all this blood, it will take me a lifetime getting it off my suit. Now, I had hoped that mare Mane-iac would dispatch you and your friends for me, but not in the barbaric way that she did. Now I have even more work on my hooves, but no matter,” the pegasus continued.” You and me get some quality sibling time together anyhow, you’ll finally be able to assist me in my project like I’d always hoped you would, and Mane-iac will eventually face her downfall. Everypony’s happy, are they not?” Zapp could only answer back with a feeble groan. “Don’t worry, Zappara! I have an associate just a couple of seconds away, they’ll patch you up in mere moments, just enough for now. Unicorns are quite convenient like that, aren’t they? This particular chap is a retired surgeon and part-time thaumaturgist, typically does work on short notice for mafia types, but he has no qualms about metapony anatomy, fear not! “ The next several moments were a blur as blood loss gradually took its toll on Zapp. When things became clear again, it was to the greeting of another wave of agony. “Don’t you dare skimp on the anesthetics, unicorn. Not only am I paying you half of your life’s wages, you could very well say that I also payed with my own blood, and saved you a little trip to a blood bank. With that in mind, hear this: upsetting your usual clientele is nothing compared to the storm of misery that could be brought down upon you if this mare dies! Double. The dosage.” Zapp’s eyelids began to flutter again as the pain ebbed away to nothing. The outline of what could be a bed in a brightly-lit room was all that her vision could make out. “My apologies, Lord Stormtrotter. The stitching and restorative field were keeping my eyes too occupied to pay attention to the gauge. Besides that, I-I figured that with her robust anat-” “Just continue your work, I have things that demand my attention. Signal me the second she’s safe to be moved.” “Of course.” There was a squeaking sound as a metal knob was continually turned. With that, the superhero finally blacked out as the anesthetics took full effect. According to her recollection, when Zapp had next come to, her physical state had changed drastically. She had finally regained full control of her senses, and her surroundings left her with nothing but a growing number of questions as she looked on in confusion. She was once again on a soft surface, a bed, and the room was well lit, just as the previous had been. Squinting as her eyes adjusted to the overhead illumination as it reflected off white pristine walls, Zapp struggled to figure how much time had passed since her costly defeat at the Museum in the clutches of Mane-iac. She decided to mentally shelf the time dilemma for now, focusing instead on her immediate surroundings and situation. Zapp started with a physical self-evaluation. While many of her muscles were still quite weak, and they protested stiffly as she gently tested each, she discovered with relief that every one of her limbs appeared to be attached to her body still, and were where they should be. Waves of dull pain still radiated outwards from her core area with regular frequency, but other than that, the damage from her subsequent fall seemed to be mostly healed. Zapp was still wearing her damaged costume, to her slight surprise. A cursory inspection of her chest yielded the somewhat grisly sight of an intricate working of stitches laying past the gaping hole in the fabric. The fur of the area had been removed completely in a neat circular radius around the original wound, the sensitive skin beneath bearing the tell tale markings of unicorn restoration magic that was ordinarily used for cauterizing the wounds of soldiers. Just as Zapp was about the address the matter of discerning her present location, the voice of a pony drew her attention away from her chest. “How are you feeling, Zappara?” At the end of the rectangular room, past several consoles and tables lined with medical equipment, stood a pegasus, the one whose voice Zapp had heard during her feverish bouts of consciousness. Zapp’s eyes widened with almost immediate recognition as the newcomer casually approached her. “This is no world-class hospital I admit, but we have world-class equipment, and my doctors did their best. Nothing too pretty, but it got the job done.” “Storm!” Zapp’s face fell into a bitter scowl, and she recoiled as Stormtrotter curiously reached a hoof out to inspect her chest. Stormtrotter gave an indignant sigh, but retained a warm smile as he withdrew his hoof and cupped it under his chin. “Actually, it’s Stormtrotter, these days. Lord Stormtrotter to some, although I seldom invoke my assumed nobility, myself. We never were very keen on making our alter-egos overly elaborate in the House of Nimbus, were we sister?” “Thou would speak of assumed nobility, brother?” Zapp snorted with derision. “There was good reason why the Nimbus family abandoned our old heraldry over a century ago. It took only a hoofful of deluded fiends such as thyself in a single generation to forever slander our ancestral name and spark revolution back across the sea. I ask now, and I will ask only once with civility: where am I, and what cause have you to restrain me?” The expression on Stormtrotter’s face became inexpressive as he appraised her physical condition. “Speak, or you will know the true fury of a storm!” Zapp snapped. Perplexingly, Stormtrotter’s face brightened again. “Good,” he said, nodding. “Good. If you’re strong enough now to make wanton threats, then you should be more than strong enough for the work you and I will have on our hooves, very soon.” He was about to make a gesture to a wheelchair adjacent to the bed, much to her chagrin, but paused in the movement. “Oh, and one quick thing before I forget...I was unable to recover your pendant along with yourself, due to a little friend I like to call ‘time’. You can thank Mane-iac’s barbarism for that, you see. That is the last time I willingly rely on variables outside of my control to get the job done,” he mused. To his apparent disappointment, his twin made no effort to get off the bed. “Come, come now! Let’s not make this difficult, the chair is a lot cozier than it looks, security straps and all!” Zapp rapidly pondered her tactical options in her head, which were to her begrudging acknowledgement, laughably limited given her present condition. She had no choice but to cooperate, for now. “Very well…” Slowly and carefully, the mare ambled her legs off the bed and onto the tiled floor. The minimal difficulty made the movement seem promising at first, until Zapp finally put weight on the legs as she fully got up. The gave out almost immediately, and Stormtrotter had to break her fall with his forelegs. “There we go...easy now.” Stormtrotter guided his sister into the wheelchair, then secured her forelegs to the sides neatly. “Alright, now we can get down to business. Allow me to give you an impromptu tour of sorts as we make our way to our destination, shall we?” “Mane-iac,” Zapp growled. “I’ll see her rot in Balkham for the rest of her natural life for enabling this travesty, however unknowingly. Were I fully convalesced, thou would be the one in need of this chair, or worse.” Stormtrotter leaned in towards her ear as he wheeled her down the hallway. A group of armed guards passed by them accompanied by a robotic equine, the barrels of their exotic guns crackling with electricity. “Be humbled, Zapp,” he whispered. “There are other, far less pleasant ways of getting a pony from place to place when it’s not their idea.” After a couple minutes passing through the corridors of Stormtrotter’s lair, the siblings eventually arrived in a large circular chamber, several stories tall and easily the largest section of the base. Zapp looked upon the sprawling machinery with bewilderment as Stormtrotter stopped them at the edge of a balcony. Throngs of scientists and engineers milled about, tending to what Zapp could immediately recognize: a weather-generating array, the largest one she had ever seen. “Impressive, is it not?” Stormtrotter asked her, taking in the sight of his machine with pride. “We’re just now beginning the covert work on its network of amplification spires that will surround Maretropolis via its waterways.” The cogs turned rapidly in Zapp’s head as she quickly discerned her twin’s intentions. “Waterways? These spires, by superheating the water around them, they’ll…” “Provide fuel for the most powerful hurricane that ever was? One so great in magnitude that no army of pegasi could ever hope to stop it, without gaining control of its source?” Stormtrotter finished with a nod. “Very astute, sister, very astute indeed.” “This? This is the tactic you were alluding to when you made that claim so many years ago?” Zapp’s vexation had grown to the point that she had ceased using her usual second person tense. “That you would resurrect our family’s old empire by some great show of power? Delusion! I will not allow this to be so!” “There is but one final piece to this puzzle that is needed, besides the spires,” Stormtrotter declared, ignoring Zapp’s protest. “Think you can walk now, sister?” “You would un-restrain me, and tempt chance?” “I have made far riskier decisions in the past.” Stormtrotter moved to undo Zapp’s straps. The Power Pony sighed and rubbed at her wrists as she tentatively got onto all fours, briefly watching a group of henchponies on the other side of the balcony. “What is this ‘work’ that you referenced, earlier? Is my presence here merely a form of childish boast on your part, brother?” The supervillain’s sudden laughter caused Zapp’s frown to deepen to a scowl once more. “Dear Zappara, you do not realize your importance yet, do you?” Stormtrotter waved to the weather machine, and her gaze followed. “The generator for such a powerful storm cannot be sparked by conventional means.” “How do you mean?” Zapp demanded, hearing the heavy clang of boots on the ground behind them. “Carefully,” Stormtrotter said in an authoritative tone, his head tilted away from her. Zapp scrunched her face in confusion as she finished flexing and testing her legs, and prepared to turn around. “What?” There was no response from Stormtrotter. Instead, Zapp felt a sharp pain against her head as something heavy and blunt struck it without warning, before everything went black. When Zapp regained consciousness again, a familiar sensation greeted. Pain, pain of such burning intensity that it easily rivalled the agony that Mane-iac had inflicted. The pain was accompanied by one emotion in particular: anger. Zapp managed to looked down as her body itself felt as if it were melting, and saw Stormtrotter returning her gaze.The mastermind was joined by two stoic unicorns in labcoats, their horns ignited as magic danced about in the air around Zapp. “The cables are not fully installed yet, keep her pacified,” he instructed sharply. “or her wound may reopen. I don’t trust your spells enough to hold the stitching fast. Damn that glorified salon mare for inflicting this complication upon our plans!” “Stormtrotter!” Zapp roared. “You will pay for this treachery!” The two unicorns sneered and amplified their magic, doing their best to try and prevent her from straining against her restraints. Stormtrotter ignored her and studied the readouts in front of him. “That’s it!” An inner fire began to burn inside the red of his irises. “The cables are primed, now we can begin.” He looked up at Zapp. “I’m afraid you are wrong. When enough of your power has primed the array in a few years’ time, victory will be at hoof!” “A few years...you…” Zapp’s outrage was cut short as the cables began siphoning off her body’s power. The augmented pegasi magic, of which Zapp’s pendant had long been used as useful focal point for, was slowly channeled into the waiting weather machine, which would now serve as a gargantuan counterpart to the superhero’s missing pendant. As more of her power was siphoned and circulated between her and the machine to gradually amplify the charge, her eyes began glowing, and Zapp began to scream as her body felt like it was trapped in the center of the sun itself. Stormtrotter raised a brow and had his mouth open as he stepped back a bit to observe his sister’s convulsing form. “Impressive.” He looked to his researchers beside him. “My decision was wise, wasn’t it.” he stated more so than asked. “We may be twins, but I don’t have the build of a superhero. My body would not have been enough.” Zapp’s now glowing white eyes turned to stare daggers into Stormtrotter. If her eyes could kill, her twin would no doubt already be a pile of ash. The scientists nodded. “Indeed, sir. If I may, sir, it would be most unseemly were you to have be restrained in such a manner,” one of them said. Stormtrotter nodded thoughtfully. “It would be, wouldn’t it? Too many little things that demand my attention to be hanging out in one spot, all day.” He cast one final glance over to Zapp, then began taking his leave. “Speaking of which. Look after her, won’t you? I’ll be back to check on her progress in a few weeks. Have some loose ends to tie up with the Power Ponies and Maretropolis above, you see.” “Sir,” the other scientist nodded. “We’ll notify you immediately if anything seems amiss with her, or the machine.” “Good.” With her body having mostly stabilized in response to the siphoning of energy it was forced to endure, Zapp’s eyes followed her brother’s movements carefully through the chamber until he was well out of her sight. True to his word, Stormtrotter returned in person to the central chamber after a few gruelling weeks had passed for Zapp as she continued to endure being a living battery for her brother’s weather-based superweapon. The stallion quickly nodded to members of his staff that were present before checking the console readouts that monitored the machine and its many components, both within the base, and around Maretropolis. “Spires?” he questioned. “Nearing ten percent completion, milord. The local government and port authority have given no sign that they suspect anything. The spires are still hidden.” “Good, splendid, excellent, other synonyms for good!” Stormtrotter almost seemed like a foal at play with the twinkle of excitement in his eyes. He approached the edge of the balcony and peered up at Zapp. “How has your stay been, Zappara? Are you hang-” “I dare you to use that common colloquialism when speaking with me, Storm. I promise, it will make your eventual fate all the more unpleasant,” Zapp growled. “You will beg me for mercy, you damn twisted deviant.” Stormtrotter smirked and made a tsk-tsk noise. “Zappara, I’m surprised at you! That’s not very superhero-like of you to say something like that, you know.” “You’re not forcefully powering a doomsday device against your will.” “Ah...fair point.” Stormtrotter chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few seconds. “Oh, I have some big news for you. You know how I’ve been busy out and about in the city?” “My team will find me soon. It’s only a matter of time,” Zapp declared. “Under different circumstances, yes. However, due to the circumstances you have landed in, that’s both true, and false.” “Stop speaking in riddles, Storm!” Zapp retorted venomously. “You will be reunited with your friends, yes. But not in the way you’re expecting. We have quite a bit of time before we’re there, yet.” “They will not rest!” “Actually, about that, there’s something I feel...obligated to show you, Zappara. The big news...” Stormtrotter said, pressing a button on a console. With a loud beep, and whir, several large holographic screens sprung up on the walls of the chamber, automatically drawing the eye of several of the staff currently working in the room. Zapp frowned in confusion as she initially studied what was onscreen. It was a local newscast on mute, focused on one of Maretropolis’ many city parks. The venue was packed to the brims with citizens, and a large stage had been erected in front of some kind of statue that Zapp regarded with incomprehension. “What is this?” she demanded, turning to Stormtrotter. He shrugged incredulously. “Is it not obvious? Have you not read the captions, perhaps?” The Power Pony’s breathing picked up, and her glowing eyes intensified as she returned them to the screen, and she finally read the headline caption beneath the dour-looking news anchors. Breaking News: Power Pony Zapp Pronounced Deceased; City Mourns Her eyes widening with shock, Zapp’s stomach churned in her gut, and her heart began beating furiously in her throat. Every single hair stood on end across her fur. “N-no…this is a fabrication! Another dimension to your depraved insanity!” Stormtrotter shook his head sadly. “You do me too much credit, Zappara.” He pressed something on his console, and the channels changed on the large screens above between several different television programs. Zapp’s story was the topic of almost every newscast currently on the air. Had a pony been in combat with Zapp and heard the roar of pure, primal rage that she immediately emitted upon coming to her realization, it likely would have been the last thing they ever heard. In an instant, the machine began glowing brighter than it ever had yet as Zapp’s outroar echoed across the chamber, Many of the scientists quaked with terror, fully convinced that they had all crossed a line, and the weather array would detonate then and there. Fortunately for them, the machine soon returned to its normal glow, and Zapp finally fell silent. Stormtrotter wouldn’t openly admit it, but for a brief few seconds, his sister’s roar had struck true fear into him. It reminded him of the sheer power he had managed to harness in the heart of his hidden base. To his surprise, Zapp remained mute seemingly on a permanent basis after that, rather than simply losing much of her confrontational edge, as had originally been intended. And so Zapp remained, from that time onwards until the final phases of Stormtrotter’s plan began to slide into motion. Her body gradually weakened as the machine itself grew to become the primary nexus of her power, rather than herself. With her mind finally returning to the present and her eyes making contact with those of her friends, there was one primary thought that demanded her consciousness’ full and foremost attention: Stormtrotter’s plan was still in the middle of its final stage, even with the supervillain himself seemingly out of the picture. It was all clear to her, now. She still had work to do.