Marks of Babylon
Chp.10
Dragolonians Part 3
After spending countless hours pacing about in her quarters, princess Celestia finally allowed herself to carry off to her bed in a struggling attempt to sleep. Finally getting back to Canterlot from the Ridge that she was "invited" to, and she couldn't feel any less at home.
Knowing full well that she had just finished from helping someone she despises with a project that could very well mean the end of her, she worried about the outcome of her current concern becoming a success.
As she began to try to sleep, a small gleaming stream of light began slithering it's way into the room, and floated up to halt in midair.
Celestia noticed this and looked in slight confusion at the tiny blue flame levitating before her eyes, before she had an immediate idea of what it probably was. These suspicions were reinforced, and then confirmed once more flames had emerged in the corners of her eyes and began to connect with the center flame. The combination of fire then began to rotate horizontally until they expanded and form an orb.
It took a few seconds for the expansion to come to a halt, finally realizing that what they were forming was more than just an orb; it was a sun. A blue sun, similar to her own, except minus most of the natural heat, a lack of movement and just a few inches smaller than she was.
"I recall you saying that you finished with my services, Dr." she said with an exhausted expression on her face, looking up at the blue sun before her. As she finished her statement, a figure had stepped out of the sun and onto her floor.
"You recall correctly, my walking source." A somewhat feminine voice told her as she stood up to look at the figure. It was another dragon.
This dragon was slightly shorter than Celestia was, but still about average for it's age from looking at it. It was wearing a white buttoned up lab coat, white trousers, and blue sneakers. The dragon's face was covered by wide-eye googles and a gas mask. However, this one had a detail that Spike, Xervint and Auxron seemed to lack: a head full of hair. The hair was blue, flat on top, covered the left eye up to the chin and tied up at the back up to the center of the spine.
"Then WHY are you here right now?" Celestia demanded to know.
"As you may or may not know, your apprentice Twilight Aurora Sparkle currently processes the first of many archives of Babylon history." The dragon replied.
"Oh? And where did she get that?"
"Calsuricxs apparently gave it to her after a race with Rainbow Dash. Anyway, I appear to have left my... notes in there at the epilogue, and I would ve-"
"Epilogue?" Celestia cut the dragon off. "What kind of history contains an epilogue?"
"This one, my dear, and I would very much like it returned to me, if you please."
"Well, forgive me for your disappointment, but she isn't here currently, and her presence is of no concern of mine, so farewell!" She commanded, as she pointed the dragon to leave the room.
"Hmm." The dragon seemed ready to leave, as it was leaning out of the window and had wings deployed.
"Oh, before I leave..." The dragon looked back at her. "...When she finds out, tell your sister to at least give him a chance." It said before taking off.
"Tell him to dream on..." Celestia whispered to herself.
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"So what do y'all make of these dragons then?" Applebloom asked her two young friends.
"Dangerous." answered Sweetie Belle. "Stealing talents is one thing to worry about, controlling something as big as gravity is another, being from Babylon is even worse, but now they have Spike."
"So what?!" Scootaloo interjected. "That's only more reason go after these dragons, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I say no more waiting around! It's about time that we bring the battle to them, instead of just waiting for another fight to start here! Plus, you two already took out two of those dragons, when am I gonna get my turn to fight?"
"Scoots, we didn't exactly ask to get involved with this, it sorta just... happened, really."
"She's right, ya know. Ah reckon if you took on Xervint or Auxron all by yer lonesome, you'd be signing yer death warrant."
"Hold on! Are you two saying I can't handle it?!" Scootaloo shouted.
"We didn't say that." Applebloom replied, looking apologetic, alongside Sweetie.
As they realized what they had just said, Scootaloo picked up her scooter and readied to shoot off.
"You didn't have to." Was the last thing she said before riding right out of Ponyville.
"Ohhh..." Sighed Sweetie Belle, looking sad as she saw her friend ride away.
"Well, that was entertaining." An entirely different voice came from the same Sweetie belle, sounding like a stallion about twice her age.
"I concur, she took it rather well." The same voice change appeared from Applebloom. "Now, shall we remove this illusion and get changed, good chap?"
"Yes, let's." With that, the two "fillies" left to find a spot to hide. As they began to walk away, the real two girls walked into Ponyville, in search of the third. Unfortunately, the fillies didn't see their doppelgangers, and just kept walking.
"Huh... she said she'd be here..." Sweetie stated.
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"Too dangerous to handle by myself? I'll show them!" Scootaloo thought to herself, rushing to her one chosen destination on her scooter. Ignoring everypony that she rode by and even those that she happened to hit, nothing had stopped her.
"I'll make a change in this war. I don't care who I take on, I'll do it, and I'll win!"
Finally, after about 15 minutes of riding, she made it to where she wanted to settle it. She had made it back to The Collapsed Chasm.
"Hey! Babylon! Come and get me, if you got the guts!" She shouted out to the world, only hearing her echo in response.
"Hey, did you hear me?! I said I wanna fight you!" Still nothing but her own echo.
"I SAID I WANNA-" was all that was heard in the valley, right before the sound cut off, as if she had been grabbed.
"I heard what you said, Thanksgiving." A tough British voice came from right behind her.
"Gaahh!" Wailed Scootaloo as she was then thrown across the cliff, onto the rocky floor. As she got back up on her hooves, she looked to see that Caxpe had disappeared.
"Oi oi, chicken." A whisper said to her right behind her, making her heart skip a beat in fear. This was followed by him wrapping his fore hooves under hers, bending them upwards, behind her head and lifting her up. As she was held like this, his cape then began to creep around her and form some kind of metal bind that held her in place as he let go.
"Now, just as a small word of advice: when your hanging around places like these, you need to be QUIET, or else you'll get-"
"Hey, quit your whining, some of us are trying to sleep!" A faint voice called to them in the distance.
"Oh, mate, give us a break."Caxpe then whispered to himself. "Right, wait here for us, yeah?" He said as he walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
"HEY WHY DON'T YOU SHUT YOUR FACE, YA SMEGHEAD!?" Caxpe shouted down to what sounded like a fat hairy single middle-aged stallion, living in a rented apartment.
"WHY DON'T YOU COME DOWN HERE AND MAKE ME, TOUGH GUY?!"
"WHY DON'T YOU COME UP HERE AND MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE, YOU MUPPET?!"
"GO BACK TO BRITAIN, YOU VINDALOO SCOFFING TEACAKE!"
"GO BACK TO YOUR MUMS BASEMENT PLAYING W.O.W., YA FAT SACK OF BEER!"
"WHY DON'T Y-"
"Hold on, Scootaloo!" A mares shout interrupted the arguing pair, as all three looked up. "I'll get you outta there and away from-"
"HEY, SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU STUPID PEGASUS!" The other stallion shouted to her, as a tire screeching sound effect was heard.
"Hold on, one second..." Rainbow then landed and walked to the cliff alongside Caxpe. "YOU WANNA REPEAT THAT, PUNK?!"
"YEAH, MATE, SAY IT AGAIN TO HER!"
"I SAID SHE'S STUPID, JUST LIKE YOU, PAL!"
"I'M JUST HERE TO HELP MY FRIEND!"
"YEAH, SHE'S HERE FOR HER KID, MAN!"
"Daddy, we can't sleep..." A foal's voice came from the same place as the stallion's.
"Oi, don't let him kiss you goodnight, he'll give you his rabies." Caxpe laughed at him.
"YEAH, HE'LL INFEC- Wait, what am I doing? Scootaloo, i'm here for-" Rainbow Dash then looked to see her state, looking surprised.
She saw that Scootaloo was lying unconscious and free of the bind. However, what really caught her eye, was the more obvious figure standing there as well. It was a dragon, wearing a lab coat, goggles and a gas mask.
"Take her to aid, quickly." The blue dragon told her as it placed her on Rainbow's back, before she flew off.
As she was flying away, Caxpe turned to see her go, only to find the same dragon looking at him, disappointed.
"Oh, er, A'up doc." He laughed.
The dragon then walked away before finishing with "You're an idiot."
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"Oh... My head... ugh..." Scootaloo regained consciousness and looked around.
"You okay, squirt?" Rainbow Dash asked the tiny Pegasus, rubbing her head gently. The two found themselves in Rainbow Dash's room, expecting to be safe.
"Yeah, I guess so... What happened, anyway?"
"Hey, you were there longer, you tell me."
"Well, I remember wanting to fight a Babylonian, coz I wanted to prove a point to them."
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on! You wanted to prove yourself to the Babylon, so you took them on by yourself?! That's suicide!"
"Not to the Babylon, to prove Sweetie and AB wrong; they said I couldn't look out for myself and that those other dragons would eat me alive."
"You'd be right, mein Hünchenpfanne." A stallion's voice called from the door frame. As the two saw who it was, they had different responses, preferably because only one knew who he was.
"Illiux! Can't we ever catch a break with these guys?!" Rainbow shouted as she got on her hooves and readied to fight, wings deployed and everything.
"Guten tag, miss Dash." Illiux simply bowed to her in a civilized manor, before he stood up and tried to walk up to her. He was still wearing his white long sleeve polo shirt with an aqua-berry sweater over in, along with dark blond jeans.
" 'Guten tag' THIS!" she yelled as she charged at him to kick him with her back hoof, only for him to respond by lighting up his horn for literally 5 milliseconds, and another one of his glass illusion panels to show up and have her kick that instead.
Thinking that she could break through, she took a shot at the panel, just to end with her being greeted with a sharp pain. It felt as though somepony had just shot her hoof in the middle with a nail gun, hammered it in further, and then pulled it out with a hammer claw.
Naturally, a scream of agony was welcomed from this impact, before a collapse and grabbing her injured hoof on the floor.
"Illusion optimized neon magical reinforced Plexiglas, Rainbow; you won't be breaking that today. No, scratch that; you won't be breaking that. Ever."
"Agh! Urg, Sc-Scootaloo, get... Outta here!" Rainbow Dash cried.
"Hmm... I appear to have hypnotized your friend." Illiux stated to her.
"Wh-What d- What did you do to her?!" Rainbow asked as she tried to stand back on her hooves. The key word being 'tried'.
"Here, allow me." He then stated as he actually got his fore hooves under her legs and back and lifted her up like a superhero saving the damsel in distress.
"Hey, put me down!" She demanded. He complied as he placed her on the bed alongside Scootaloo, who hadn't stopped staring at the stallion since she laid eyes on him.
"Are you quite alright, darling?" He queried.
"I'm fine, and don't call me that." Rainbow Dash replied, only to be surprised when he answered with "I wasn't referring to you."
"You-You're... perfect..." Scootaloo droned, with her gaze still fixed on him.
"Ah, another suitor for the prince." He smiled.
"WHAT?!" Rainbow nearly fell off the bed. "Squirt! He's the enemy!"
"Then I wanna be an enemy too..."
"Oh stop, darling, blush doesn't go with my outfit." He placed a hoof on his cheek like a lady after being flattered.
"Ugh, I think i'm gonna hurl... Scoot, you don't wanna be with him."
"Right now, she may wish to be with anyone other then miss Belle or miss Bloom."
"You know what happened?" She gasped.
"Perhaps I do, then again I may not. Those who spoke to you in Ponyville were speaking their minds. They were your friends, and they were not your friends. Perhaps an illusion best describes the thought."
"Uhhh..." Both the girls were lost.
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"So, that's all Illiux said to you?" Twilight asked the pegasi as they were walking down the streets of Ponyville once more.
"Pretty much. If it's a riddle, we might be here for a while. All i know is that to him, i'm his 'mein Hünchenpfanne.'" Scootaloo said dreamily.
"Uh, Scootaloo? Being called a Hünchenpfanne isn't a compl-"
"Anyway, where's Pinkie, she'll help us, won't she?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, not wanting to crush Scootaloo's happiness.
"Yes she will!" Pinkie suddenly emerged from nowhere, as she does, making the other three jump.
"Pinkie, we've been over this." Twilight closed her eyes, opening them slowly.
"I know, but i'm just excited. About everything! So what's the problem this time? Time bomb? Robbery? *gasp* Murder mystery?!"
"No, thankfully.The problem, well problems, are-"
"Firstly Scootaloo has become infatuated with her enemy, Secondly Illiux found a way to stand on clouds without magic, Thirdly Twilight has something that shouldn't be with her, fourthly the war is still on, and lastly, thanks to Celestia, my experiment is nearing completion." A feminine voice came from behind the four of them.
"You again?!" Rainbow asked in surprise.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked the same dragon.
"I am Expherient. Dr. Expherient. I have come here to collect your dept, Rainbow Dash."
*gasp* Pinkie gasped. "A dept?" She whispered through her gasped gasp followed by another silent gasp. She then turned round and bent Rainbow down with her and whispered: "Dashie, do you owe something to the Dr.?"
The pegasus then pulled out of her hoof and flew back behind the girls.
"What? No, of course not."
"Oh, you're quite wrong about that." The dragon then walked towards the group. "You owe me something for allowing you to find your... sibling... alive, and in one piece."
"Hey, you hardly did anything!" Rainbow Dash stated. "Whatever you did, I probably could've done quicker."
"Again, you're wrong in what you believe. You may recall the last time you Equestrians attempted to beat our magic with brute strength and your own magic? If that didn't work the first few times, why would this be any different?"
"Because Caxpe is an earth pony; magic isn't available to him." Twilight interjected.
"Your highness, did you not read the history volume that Calsuricxs gave you?"
"Most of it, yes. But what's that got to do with this, though?"
"So you never got to the end? Good, then my research will be worthwhile after all. Where, prey tell, is the book as of now?" Expherient asked the princess.
"That's not your concern, Expherient." She snarled back at the Dr.
"I couldn't possibly disagree more; it's entirely my concern. Now you could tell me where it is, or you can get to work on Scootaloo's memorial."
"Hey, You touch one hair on her mane, and I'll- AAAHHH!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted in fear, looking behind her as Mr. Fear himself had grabbed her again.
"Don't lose her this time, Caxpe!" Expheirent shouted to the greaser.
"Hmm! HMMFF! The filly tried to yell, muffled by the much older stallion.
"I told you to wait there for us!" Caxpe aggressively whispered down her ear, pulling her away.
"Hold on, Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she charged at him, which he blocked by using Scootaloo as a pony shield. She then had no choice but to negate her own attack and stop herself in midair, which worked to Caxpe advantage.
He slammed the filly onto the ground, and proceeded to use her as a leg up to stand on and kick Rainbow in the face.
"Hey, lay off them!" Pinkie shouted as she tried to slide underneath him and grab Scootaloo for herself. When Caxpe saw this, he stood back on his hind legs, held Scootaloo in his left hoof, and used his right hoof to grab Pinkie's and throw her upwards.
"Uh-oh..." Pinkie exclaimed as she was thrown, then caught by the same guy, followed immediately by a headbutt which knocked her out.
"Caxpe, let her go. NOW!" Twilight walked over to him, hoping to calmly sooth him.
"Come on, then!" Caxpe shouted back as Pinkie fell and he stood back on four legs, using his extra shadowy hands in his cape to grab hold of her.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Caxpe. I'm sorry about what happened to your home, and I know you must be angry, but I can help you and your friends, if you let me, and so can Hughh-!" Twilight was cut off from talking as Caxpe used his cape again to grab hold of her by the throat.
"You what?" He began to walk towards her, as she noticed Expherient walk past her and up to him. "You actually, WHAT?"
He then passed the now unconscious filly to the scientist, as the dragon then flew away.
"Like, babes, I ain't Sunset Shimmer, I'm glad I'm not Starlight Glimmer, and I'm bit upset that I'm not Seafood Dinner, so these little friendship talks that you like to give to these "villains" of yours aren't gonna influence me, yeah?"
He finally let go of her as she fell down, coughing.
"Mate, I'm not smart or aught, and I have been raised without a family, but I'm not dumb or anything, like. In fact, if Bronies React have taught me anything, it's that firstly, Blackgryph0n is gonna be after my plot for hurting you, secondly this show has finally jumped the shark, and thirdly you can't and shouldn't force anyone to change how they feel or how they react to anything. Besides, I've waited long enough to not see summit blow up, for smeg's sake."
"You're mad, Caxpe." Twilight told the stallion.
"And Flash Sentry's a waste of animation, what's your point?"
Twilight then stood up again to talk to him properly.
"The reason why Sunset and Starlight became reformed isn't because they were told to." She explained, as he snorted. "They both knew that they could've done better with their magic, and that-"
"Right, I'm sure what you're saying is dead important, but we've gotta get back to the plot." Caxpe then shoved Twilight of the way and looked to the camera. "So basically, we kidnap Scootaloo, now back to German Maximilian Pegasus and I'm just a sweet Dragsvestite."
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"So, the experiment might work this time?" Illiux asked the dark cerulean drake, as they walked down the hallway to the lab, while carrying the unconscious Pegasus on his back.
"We should dare to dream, old friend." Expherient replied as he continued to look at a clipboard containing some information.
"Your life's research, almost true, in just a matter of moments! So why are you not excited, comrade?"
"Well, about that..." The doctor put his claw on Illiux in a suspicious manor. "...There is, one small detail that I have waited until last minute to tell you about, that requires your assistance." Expherient finished with a sly smile on his face, causing Illiux to raise an eyebrow. "You see, to perform this start up I'll have to use several extracts of other material matter scattered around random areas of Equestria, most likely gathered in the Equestria geographical landscape group."
"OK, so I need to break in and steal them? Isn't that more of a job for Caxpe or Calsuricxs?" The unicorn then asked the scientist.
"No, not exactly. You see, to save on time, I found it much easier to have an insider help us, specifically one young, but experienced in this area, and of course female."
"Oh... You need me to flirt with somepony to have them help us? So what's the problem, having to meet new ladies and assisting you in your lifelong goal, whist boasting my own popularity?"
"THIS is your problem." Expherient replied as Illiux was then handed the clipboard, showing the pony's face and bio.
"O-Oh... Oh my... Wow, uh... What, er, What a lovely young, lady..." The prep looked in confusion at the pony. She was purple, wore glasses, had her frizzy ginger hair tied up at the top, an extended snout, buck teeth, and wore what looked like an average school girl uniform shirt and sweater.
"Her name's Frazzle Rock, and whilst her social status is less than average due to her interests, she appears to have high authority in this group, and should have the materials that're required for this experiment to work. The list for the gems are in her bio, so if you're ready I'll take your "chicken casserole" and keep it in the oven for you." Expherient took Scootaloo and continued onwards to the lab.
"Auf Wiedersehen, pride." He groaned.
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"So what does this ridge do, your highness?" Twilight asked the recently returned ruler of Equestria.
"From what I know, Dr Expherient needs this ridge to create and/or collect data for his lifelong work and dream: to create a second successful sun, after my own." Celestia replied after sipping her tea.
"He wants to create another sun? Wait, wouldn't that benefit Phoxjes's idea of splitting the world in half?"
"Yeah, that's pretty obvious." Caxpe answered as he drank his larger. "In fact, when he's done it, we've pretty much won this, really."
"What do you mean, Caxpe?" Twilight turned to ask the calmed down greaser.
"Apparently, he just needs the energy of a Unicorn, a Pegasus and an Earth pony so that it can start, so that's why he's taken your bird, your muscle and your dragon."
"He needs all three?" Celestia asked in return. "But Spike's not a Unicorn, so this won't work, will it? Also, why are you still here, Caxpe?"
"I brought your slave here, didn't I? Plus, we don't need Xandra's prodigy to be a Unicorn, he's still magic, init? So if he can replicate that kinda aura, yeah, we don't need a unicorn."
"Is that all you need my friends for? For one science project?! Kidnapping my friends just so yours can try something?!" Twilight stood up and walked towards him.
"Twilight, you must calm down." Celestia told her faithful student.
"Yes, my student." Caxpe answered in reply, as he appeared to be holding a microphone to his mouth, which edited his voice to sound exactly like Celestia's while mocking her. "You must quell your anger, as you can not defeat someone as good-looking and powerful as Caxpe. Not to mention his brilliant hair and perfect outfit. I wish I was as cool as him, but I know that's impossible." Caxpe finished with a snort.
"Whilst insulting, he raises a point Twilight. If your magic is nullified by him, and his physical strength is admitted far superior to ours, it would be better to avoid any conflict."
"Oh, trust me, I understand that. However, no disrespect to yourself, princess, but it wasn't his insults to yourself, or his mockery that angers me. The fact that he referred Spike to being "Xandra's prodigy" is what gets me irritated."
"Sorry, what'd you want me to call him then, some bloke who hates you? Or how 'bout Spike: Twily's scaled slave? Oh oh, better! What about Spike, my number 1 assistant?"
The last name, of course, angered her the most. This caused her to clench her hoof in anger and duck her head.
"Heh heh heh. Go on then, hit me. Come on." Caxpe laughed.
"Leave her be Capxe! Your ordeal is to be faced with me."
"Alright then, I'll face you. Ha ha: your a terrible leader and everypony hates you."
"I did not mean it like that, Caxpe." She whispered. "Say what you desire about me, but you can not blame her for what has happened and-"
"Yo-Yo, boss!" A street wise pony was heard down the corridor holding a sheet of paper. The three of them looked down to see him approaching. The pony was pale blue, had a thin blue fabric jacket which matched his coat. He had his black mane blown dried and gelled back, and a pair of black leather biking gloves on his hooves. His cutie mark was an arrow pointing left, with what looked like a door on the end.
"Yes, Left! What's happening?" Caxpe hoof bumped the other greaser pony.
"Take a quickie at this chick!" He stated as he showed Caxpe the paper, noticing how his face turned to looking as though he was about to throw up.
"Urgh, she is minging!" Caxpe turned his face away, putting his hoof over his mouth. "Who is she?"
"Right, get this: Illiux has gotta flirt with her, so doc can get his rocks!" Left laughed as he told him.
"You're joking!?! He's gotta get it on with that? With THAT? Oh mate, we've gotta see this!" Was his reply as he pulled Left towards himself and wrapping his cape over them, and vanishing as they did.
"Well, that's a load off our minds." Celestia muttered to herself. "Now Twilight, I understand that you're upset about what he may say, but understand this for me: these six do not have satisfying upbringings, unlike you and your friends."
"So just because they had bad lives, they think they can take and do whatever they want?" Twilight asked her teacher.
"It is more than just that, my dear student. You see, because of their backgrounds, they believe what they're doing, or at least trying to do is right. For example, Caxpe was raised in a broken and abandoned trailer site, without his family..."