As Twilight stared in terror into the glowing, green eyes of Tak the Fuser, it took every ounce of mental energy she had left not to whimper, she didn’t want to give her enemy the satisfaction of seeing her in a state of weakness, even if she WAS currently struggling in the grasp of his disgusting hand, her magic, for some reason now refusing to activate.
“Oh, what’s the matter Miss Twilight?” Tak asked mockingly. “Cat got your tongue?”
Twilight couldn’t help but gasp at that question, how did this creature know her name!?!
“You… you know me?” she stuttered fearfully. “Who are you?”
At those words, Tak’s eyes widened with surprise.
“What? You don’t know ME?” he asked in disbelief, his face quickly turning into another evil grin as he slowly began to chuckle. “Hehehehehehe, well what interesting circumstances these are, looks like dear Celestia has left out a crucial piece of info in your teachings, little one.”
“Wha… what do you mean?” twilight asked in response, having absolutely no idea to what this creatures was talking about.
However before Tak had any chance to answer, another voice interrupted him with a loud yell, one which Twilight easily recognised.
“Hey let her go!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed, quickly flying up to the roof to save her friend, uncaring about anything else.
But this display only made Tak laugh even harder.
“Oh, and what’s this?” he sneered. “She’s brought along a friend!”
All of a sudden, Tak’s slimy, purple tongue shot out of his mouth like a bullet out of a pistol, quickly stretching like taffy and wrapping itself around Rainbow Dash’s neck just as she was about to get with two feet of where he was standing. Around the same time this was happening, both Moonshine and Zeb were finally able to pull themselves back up onto the roof they were hanging off, instantly ready to take out all of their rage onto the two ponies on the street below, particular a certain Alicorn who blasted them with her magic. However once the two managed to scramble themselves back over to the other side of the building, Moonshine gasped in horror and dove behind the nearby chimney, quickly dragging along a confused Zeb in the process.
“Aw fiddlesticks, it’s Tak!” he whimpered, brining light to Zeb’s confusion.
“What!” Zeb yelped fearfully. “Oh man, now I’m glad I don’t have my shades.”
If anything, that was an understatement on Zeb’s part, granted he hated the fact that he couldn’t see without his sunglasses, but given the fact that the beast who sprang him from jail was right there, just on the other roof across the street, he was GLAD to be partially blind, mainly because he didn’t want to see Tak’s horrifying glare as he laid out whatever punishment he had in store for him and the Brittles for failing to keep the princesses locked up. Taking a nervous gulp, Moonshine then took a nervous peak around the corner of the chimney in order to see what the blue demon was doing.
“Well, on the plus side, at least he don’t look ticked with US,” he commented optimistically.
“Yeah, for NOW,” Zeb retorted, knowing full well what Tak was capable of and was no less scared for it.
All the while Moonshine Brittle watched Tak snare the two ponies, he made absolutely sure he was very quiet when relaying the details to Zeb, though in hindsight Zeb wished he skipped out on a few particulars as he listened to what happened next. After snaring Rainbow Dash in mid-flight, Tak then did the most unthinkable thing and used his free hand to literally rip out his own gelatinous tongue and plug the base of it into his back, only for a new one to grow back into his mouth, needless to say the whole display made everyone watching sick to their stomachs. Seeing the looks of horror and disgust upon their faces, Tak felt the need to continue his mocking as the tongue-turned-tentacle brought Rainbow Dash closer to his face, her whole body twitching as she desperately gasped for air.
“What’s the matter darling?” he asked with a light snarl in his voice. “Finding it a little hard to BREATHE!?!”
At those words, Tak then tightened the tentacles grip around Rainbow Dash’s neck, turning her face an even deeper shade of blue than it already was as every ounce of air was being choked out of her. Had this gone on any longer than it did, then the Pegasus would have passed out or worse, thankfully there was someone there to lend their voice in her time of need.
“NO, STOP!!!” Twilight screamed, her eyes filled with tears of despair as she was forced to watch her friend suffer.
Now normally, any other kind of cruel creature wouldn’t have complied to such a plea, however Tak the Fuser was someone who was a new breed of sadistic in his ways of thinking, and as such decided to prolong his fun a little more by obliging.
“Oh do forgive me, your highness,” he said in a disdainful tone, loosening his grip on Rainbow Dash’s neck and allowing her to have a large gasp of air. “I had no idea that this little filly meant so much to you… how unfortunate.”
Needless to say, neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash had any idea as to what this creature was planning to do next, but given the fact that he now felt the need to darkly lick Rainbow Dash’s cheek, almost as if he were TASTING her, they knew that it wasn’t going to be good.
“You know, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten a Pegasus,” he continued, both confirming the ponies’ fear and thus giving them some new ones in the process. “But perhaps I could do something to… spice up the meal?”
Neither Twilight, nor Rainbow Dash may not have known what Tak was referring to when he said that, but if they had, then they would have screamed and struggled even harder than they already were. After taking a brief glance around the area, Tak’s grin widened again as he suddenly spotted a nearby flower display upon someone’s second floor balcony, with one more shot of his stretchy tongue, he then snared the helpless wasp, amazing both mares in his grasp with the sheer fact that he was able to spot something so small from such a distance.
“Wha… what are you doing?” Twilight asked nervously, practically dreading the answer.
“Oh just you watch, Princess,” Tak sneered in response, spitting out the wasp into his free hand. “You’re gonna LOVE this.”
At those words he then dropped Twilight onto the roof, pinning her down with his disgusting foot as he fused his second free hand with the tentacle holding Rainbow Dash. After that he then stretched both his hands into the air, both still holding Rainbow Dash and the wasp in a vice-like grip. Watching all of this from their hiding place behind the chimney, both Moonshine and Zeb couldn’t help but wonder what it was that Tak was about to do, granted they have seen an example of his power when he turned three Alicorns into regular Earth Ponies, but when doing so he never made such a pose that he was doing now.
“What the heck’s going on?” Moonshine uttered in confusion.
Of course all Zeb could do was sigh in response.
“I don’t know man,” he snapped in an irritated tone. “I can’t see a…”
All of a sudden he found himself being interrupted mid-sentence by a small tap on his shoulder, instantly turning his head in response, he suddenly found his sunglasses being placed back onto his face, once his vision had returned, he surprised to see a small Gemnite smiling back up at him.
“Uh… thanks,” he said awkwardly, causing the little Gemnite give him a small thumbs-up.
As it turned out, after awaking from that blast of Magic Twilight had caused, one of the Gemnites took it upon themselves to retrieve Zeb’s sunglasses from the street, climb up to the roof and return them to their owner. It was a simple gesture but the little canine thought nothing of it, especially since many of her fellow Gemnites were also on the roof, some of which had buckets of popcorn at the ready, all of them eager to witness the show.
“Behold the power of my Mistress’s Disciple!” Tak declared, lowering his arms so that he was forming a T-pose, each of his hands glowing with an ugly black aura as Rainbow Dash and the Wasp continued to struggle in his grasp. “CONTACT FUSION!!!”
And just like that, Tak hands once again shot upwards impacting against each other like the blades of a pair of scissors, forcing a screaming Rainbow Dash and the wasp to collide with each other with a splat of Tak’s slime and a flash of blinding light. She may not have known what was happening, but judging from the fact that she could hear Rainbow Dash screaming at the top of her lungs with unbearable agony, Twilight knew in an instant that whatever Tak was doing to her, it was beyond sadistic.
“NOOOOOOOO!!!!!” she screamed, desperately trying in vain to get out from underneath Tak’s foot.
But it was too late, by the time the light faded and Rainbow Dash’s screams stopped, all that was left was a large bulbous swelling in the tentacle that used to be Tak’s two arms, a swelling that now seemed to be traveling downward, eventually going into Tak’s back, allowing him to separate his arms again. After that, Tak disgusted everyone watching by allowing the swelling to go up his throat like a puffed up toad and into his mouth, eventually spitting out whatever was inside. To Twilight’s horror, what, or rather WHO he spat out was none other than…
“R… Rainbow dash?”
As Twilight uttered that name, she couldn’t believe that what she was staring at was actually her, yet it was indeed Rainbow Dash, or rather what was left of her. And just to put even more salt into the already fresh wound, Tak made things worse by pulling up Rainbow’s unconscious body by the leg, displaying her new form for all to see.
“Behold Boys!” he cried out, finally acknowledging Zeb and Moonshine’s presence behind the cheering Gemnites. “The Pega-wasp!!!”
It was a crude title but it certainly was self-explanatory when it came to a basic description of Rainbow Dash’s new appearance, with her Wonderbolts uniform now torn to shreds, it was easy to see the many changes that had occurred. She still had her blue coat and Rainbow-coloured mane, however there was also a noticeable new streak of black added in amongst the other colours, a streak that matched the assortment of stripes that now decorated her body like that of a zebra, not only that but a pair of yellow antennae now sprouted from the top of her head, plus she now had a second pair of eyes resting just above her normal ones, a fair size smaller but still visible to anyone. But the most noticeable change of all was that of Rainbow Dash’s wings, what was one made out of muscle and blue feathers was now a large pair of translucent insect wings, not unlike a changelings but certainly had a more powerful look to them. Needless to say, this transformation earned a few different reactions, for Twilight it was horror, for Tak, amusement, and as for moonshine and Zeb, all they would do was react with shock and disgust.
“Wee Doggy!” Moonshine exclaimed. “That’s some mighty freaky-deaky stuff!”
“Sweet Celestia,” Zeb added, his face turning green with nausea after seeing the disgusting transformation. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”
To say that Rainbow’s sudden transformation earned such a reaction was certainly an understatement, the fact that she was fused in general was bad enough, but from the agonising screams she let out during the process only made what Tak did to her all the more horrendous, but the worst was yet to come for at that moment, Rainbow Dash began to regain consciousness.
“Ugh… wha…?” she muttered dizzily, all four of her eyes opening up to reveal deep red irises “What’s going…?”
It was only then that Rainbow Dash began to realise that something was severely wrong, not only were the new eyes she had yet to acknowledge giving her some weird double vision, but for some reason she felt a little… lighter, almost as though most of her body weight had been seriously reduced, and then she tilted her head to face her wings, only to see that they weren’t there.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” she screamed in terror, her new insect wings flapping madly as she been to become more frantic with every second. “YOU ZZZORRY SACK OF RAT DUNG!!! WHAT THE HAY HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?!”
In response to this horrifying outburst, Tak merely laughed out loud, revealing that he was in fact enjoying every second of Rainbow Dash’s despair like the sick sadist that he was.
“Oh I’m sorry, do you not like the new look?” he mocked, waving her about like a ragdoll and using his free hand to poke her viciously. “I guess the stripes do make you look a little fat, don’t they?”
As Tak continued to laugh at Rainbow Dash’s expense, all Twilight could do now was allow fresh tears to flow down her cheeks as she eased her struggle under Tak’s foot.
“Rainbow…” she uttered, having no other words to say given the circumstances.
Unfortunately for her, Tak heard her muttering quite clearly and took this opportunity to gloat even more.
“Not a bad little display is it, Princess?” he said, leaning in close so that Twilight could see the gaps between his teeth. “And this is but a taste of my power!”
“You… you WERE the one who changed the Princesses weren’t you?” Twilight whimpered in response, finally having some confirmation to what she had suspected earlier.
Once again, Tak chuckled at Twilight’s words.
“Guilty as charged,” he answered smugly, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s angry rants as his ego began to surface. “And for everything I can fuse, there is also something I can DE-fuse. Of course every process is different, when I fuse something, the subject is FULL of energy, but if I take something away…”
At those words, Tak then opened up his free hand and lowered it to Twilight’s face, so that she could get a good view at the crystal orb sprouting out of his palm like a flower, upon closer inspection the Alicorn could see three shimmering lights floating around inside like fireflies, each one taking a certain shape of its own every few seconds, shapes that Twilight quickly recognised as her brain began to process what Tak was telling her.
“…Then they become as weak as a leaf in the middle of Fall,” he continued smugly, once again absorbing the orb back into his hand. “Oh don’t worry about these little babies, it’s nothing more than the pure magic that gives Princesses their wings and horns… nothing they can’t live without.”
Now the pieces were beginning to fit together, it WAS Tak who turned the Princesses into Earth Ponies, and all by defusing them from their Alicorn Magic, Cutie marks and all, and judging from the fact that Twilight couldn’t even access her own magic at this point, he must have had a way of cancelling it out too. This guy must have been why Canterlot was evacuated! The creatures, the… Gemnites? They must have only been the scouts, someone to cause chaos to distract everypony while Tak made his move, but now that Tak had gotten what he wanted, the question is, what was he planning on doing now?
“B… but the sun…?” she uttered impulsively, her mind wondering just what was going to happen to Equestria now that the Princesses didn’t have their magic.
But once again, Tak laughed in response.
“HA! You see this is why you ponies are so stupid nowadays!” he sneered. “You’re always relying on some namby-pamby princess to raise the sun and moon when both can easily be put on auto-pilot.”
Of course Twilight, having been used to the fact that both Princesses, Celestia more than Luna over the course of the last millennium, were the ones who controlled the stages of night and day, couldn’t comprehend that such a feat could even be possible. However before she could question him further, rainbow Dash’s voice once again became the loudest one in the conversation.
“Hey, change me back right now, you freak!!!” she screamed, still struggling’s in Tak’s grip. “Just wait till I…”
However that was when Tak snapped his head towards her, his face now gaining an angrily scowl as his irritation grew.
“YOU are trying my patience!” he snapped, clearly angry that his gloating was being interrupted. “But if you’re so desperate to get eaten I…”
“TAK!!!” another voice screamed, cutting Tak off mid-sentence.
It was then that the eyes of not only Twilight widened in shock, but also everyone who was within earshot, for each and every individual knew in an instant who that particular voice belonged to, and sure enough, as everyone turned their heads towards the downed carriage, they saw her. She may not have stood her real size and no longer bore her flowing mane, but none the less there she was, still standing as elegantly as ever even with her new regular blue mane drooping down her shoulders. Upon seeing her, Tak’s smile instantly returned.
“Ah, Celestia,” he said, opening his arms in a boastful manner. “So good to see you awake at last.”
However as evident from Celestia’s hateful glare, the former Alicorn wasn’t in the mood for Tak’s arrogance.
“LET. THEM. GO!!!” she demanded, her voice no longer baring the royal volume but still loud enough to seem threatening despite her new size.
However even while both Zeb, Moonshine, and many of the Gemnites cringed with fear at Celestia’s demand, Tak never even lost his composure and merely scoffed.
“Not on your life, sweet-cheeks,” he retorted. “If you think that I’m just gonna let yet another Alicorn walk away from me while I am so close to achieving what I came here to do, then you’ve got another thing coming!”
Celestia grit her teeth with fury upon hearing that.
“Damn you!” she growled, her fury only matched by her grief upon seeing her student and her friend in such danger.
Needless to say, Celestia’s obvious fury fed Tak’s delight even more, of course even he had his limits when it came to patience.
“But I am willing to make an exchange,” he continued, surprising Celestia for a brief moment. “You and your other former-Alicorns return to your cell, then maybe, just MAYBE, I won’t eat this one.”
Once again, Celestia growled in anger, obviously she didn’t want to give into Tak’s demands, but with her magic completely gone and the demon himself holding all the cards, she may not have a choice. But then again, what’s to stop him going back on his word and hurting Twilight anyway? It would seem that Celestia was at a loss no matter what she did… until she heard a faint groan from the carriage behind her.
“S… sister?” Luna muttered exhaustedly, ungraciously stumbling out of the carriage. “Wha… what’s going on?”
Upon seeing the former Princess of the Night, everyone couldn’t help but gasp, even Celestia was surprised to see her sister on her hooves, mainly because it shouldn’t have been possible, at least not yet, in fact it was a miracle that Celestia was up and about. She could only assume that it was that sudden force that shook her awake earlier, only taking a little longer to help her sister with the same thing, either way, this sudden development may turn the tables if Celestia remembered things correctly.
“Hey, C!” Tak called out, losing his patience once again as he saw Celestia walk over to help her sister stand. “I’m not going to wait for your answer forever, you know!”
Obviously Celestia had no intention of testing Tak’s tolerance any further, less risk him hurting Twilight or Rainbow Dash, but she also had no intention of giving into his demands either, so unbeknownst to those watching, she began uttering something into Luna’s ear as she helped her balance herself.
“Luna?” she whispered, making sure her voice was quiet enough so that only could sister could hear We’re just on the old border of the city, yes?”
Of course Luna had absolutely no idea as to why her sister would ask such a question, but regardless, despite her current condition she tried her best to answer.
“We are,” she confirmed, taking a quick glance at her surroundings.
With that confirmation, Celestia quickly nodded with understanding.
“Then take a few steps back, quickly,” she responded with another whisper.
Again, Luna had no idea as to what Celestia was talking about, but given the situation she easily complied with her request and started walking backward, much to everyone’s confusion, then as soon as she walked back about five feet away, something happened. The moment Luna’s hoof touch the concrete beneath her on the final step a large, straight crack began to form and split the road inches in front of her, an eerie green light emanating from its depths. Needless to say, everyone, including those of both rooftops noticed the sudden occurrence, especially since the ground, and thus the buildings, began to shake violently.
“Huh!?!” Zeb exclaimed, trying desperately to keep his balance.
“What in tarnation!?!” Moonshine added, clinging onto the chimney for support.
That was but one of the many minds that were wildly wondering, just what in Equestria was happening right now!?!
#
Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, things were finally beginning to calm down a bit, granted the population of the town had grown significantly but at least the hustle and bustle of new ponies arriving had finally began to calm down. So much so that Pinkie Pie, another one of Twilight’s friends and the town’s local, Super-Party Pony, felt it was about time to start planning a little “Evacuate-to-Ponyville” Party, granted anyone else would have thought that given the circumstances, the idea is completely inappropriate, however in the poofy-haired mare’s mind, it seemed like the best way for the new arrivals to get settled in. Of course with THIS many arrivals, she obviously needed time to prepare and a LOT of supplies, more than even she kept in her house. At this current point in time she, along with Applejack and Starlight Glimmer, were in the middle of the street talking over what needed to be done for such a party, when all of a sudden Pinkie Pie felt a small rumble beneath her hooves.
“Shaky hooves?” she pondered in her own perky way. “Never felt that one before, must be a new one for the Pinkie Sense.”
For those who knew Pinkie Pie well, they would know that the “Pinkie Sense” was a little ability that only Pinkie Pie seemed to have that allows her to predict something about to happen, of course on this occasion, both Applejack and Starlight seriously doubted that was the current case.
“Uh Pinkie?” Applejack said, grapping the pink Earth Pony’s attention as she too felt a small rumble beneath her hooves. “Ah don’t think that’s your Pinkie Sense.”
Even Starlight, though still somewhat new to the concept of Pinkie’s supposed ability, was certain that the shaking beneath everyone’s hooves was no indication of a future event, but rather something happening at this very moment. Of course after taking a quick glance at her surroundings, she certainly wasn’t expecting to see something bursting out of the mountain… just above the city of Canterlot!
“Look there!!!” she yelled frantically, pointing her hoof towards the mountain.
Of course that shout not only drew the attention of her two friends, but also everyone who was within ear range, which in turn caused everyone to gasp in horror upon seeing the numerous shards of green crystal casing itself above Canterlot’s rooftops. Needless to say, the whole display was greatly unsettling.
“Heavens to Betsy!!!” Applejack exclaimed finding it difficult to believe that what she was seeing was in fact real. “Canterlot’s being swallowed by… by a…”
“By a big, shiny chandelier!” Pinkie Pie blurted out, cutting Applejack off before turning to… oh no. “Oh by the way… what’s the big idea about keeping me out of the story for so long, buddy!?!”
Uh… seeing the huge formation of crystal green spreading over Canterlot like a net…
“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Pinkie Pie demanded, once again addressing yours truly.
Not now Pinkie!
“Fine,” she finally huffed in reply, her cheeks puffing up into a pout. “But I expect more appearances in the future.”
#
Anyways… back in Canterlot, the chaos that was occurring was nothing short of disastrous. Just like what the ponies down in Ponyville were witnessing from below, there was in fact a tremendous amount of green crystals spurting out the side of the mountain, causing horrendous quakes in their wake, while at the same time several more crystals began sprouting out of the crack that had formed once Luna stepped over the old border of Canterlot. Granted any pony who wasn’t familiar with centuries-old history would know such a border existed and just assumed that it was on the edge of the city itself, but of course any pony with common sense would realise that Canterlot couldn’t have been the metropolis it was today when it was first built, thus the border would have been even closer to the centre at first and as time went on, as the populous grew, so did the city, thus passing the confines of the old border. Of course that didn’t mean that the old border didn’t exist anymore, and thus its secrets were merely kept hidden by time, which thanks to recent events was now literally erupting from above and below Canterlot. With shards of crystal now closing in on the surrounding area like a thousand jagged teeth, Celestia’s next course of action was now in full swing.
“Luna, can you run?” she asked, earning a small nod in response. “Then grab Cadence and get out of here, now!!!”
Granted it was a little much to ask of Luna given her current condition, but with Twilight and Rainbow Dash still in Tak’s clutches, Celestia herself had no time to do anything else, and knowing her sister to a great extent, Luna instantly agreed without needing to be told. While Luna quickly rushed back towards the carriage to pick up a still-unconscious Cadence, Celestia returned her focus to the gelatinous blue demon still on the roof, desperately trying to keep his balance through the shaking whilst still trying to keep his hold on Rainbow Dash and Twilight. At first she had no idea to what she needed to do, had she still have magic then she would probably use it to pull the two mares away from him, but since she didn’t then…
“Look out below!!!” someone cried from above her, cutting her off mid-thought.
Instantly reacting, Celestia quickly turned her head towards the direction of the voice, where several Gemnites were hanging onto dear life from the edge of the roof they were sitting on, desperately trying not to fall through the constant shaking. Of course, not all of them could hang on tight enough and fell to the ground, miraculously enough without serious injury, upon seeing this Celestia got an idea, it may have been considered insane but it was all she got. Mustering up whatever strength she had left, Celestia ran up to own of the downed Gemnites, picked them up by the scruff of its neck with her teeth, and tossed it high into the air… directly into Tak’s face. The Gemnite may have been one of the smaller ones, no bigger than a 10-year-old filly in fact, regardless he served his purpose and caused enough of a distraction when he impacted into Tak’s confused mug, so much so that Tak was forced to step off Twilight and let Rainbow Dash drop to his feet as he toppled backward and tried to pry the Gemnite off his face. Upon realising they were free, both Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other with relief as they struggled to get back onto their hooves amongst the shaking.
“Twilight, Rainbow, run!!!” Celestia cried out, grabbing both mares’ attention for a moment.
Having no need to argue such a request, Twilight and Rainbow instantly opened up their wings and took off, albeit Twilight having to carry Rainbow Dash due to have absolutely no clue as to how to use her new wings. Meanwhile, Tak was having a little trouble getting the surprisingly clingy Gemnite off him, which in turn made him even angrier than he already was.
“Get off me, you idiot!!!” he snarled furiously.
Eventually, the Gemnite’s clinginess infuriated him so much, Tak reached the point where he ended up opening his mouth and literally swallowing the poor canine whole. As soon he was able to see again, Tak could only gasp in horror as he witnesses all five ponies make their way towards the swiftly closing gaps in between the crystals. Upon first instinct, Tak quickly stretched out his arm to snare at least one of the ponies again, however given the constant shaking even he found it difficult to take proper aim, which was all the better since all five mares needed all the luck they could get as they quickly squeezed their way through the closing gaps. With the crystal mere inches away from crushing them, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but scream in terror.
“We’re not gonna make iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttt…”
Thankfully, she couldn’t be more wrong, for mere seconds before the crystal closed on them, they did make it out, albeit just by a hair. As soon as the two formations came into contact, the same eerie green light shimmered even more brightly between the cracks, sealing everything into a single unit like solder being welded into other metals, finally everything stopped shaking and all that remained was a gigantic, green orb of crystal encased Canterlot like a large snow globe that clung onto the side of the mountain like a boil. As the clouds of dust began to settle, and everyone on both sides of the crystal were finally able to stand up again, the stress of the whole ordeal soon began to subside, however Tak’s anger was far beyond the point where he could calm down so quickly.
“A fat lot of good you were!” he snapped, aiming his frustration at the gaggle of cowering Gemnites, who were SUPPOSED to block the ponies’ path.
“B… but the shaking…” one of them protested nervously, trying to defend the fact that they instead scrabbled while the whole area shook.
Unfortunately, that was the last thing the poor creature ever said, seconds later he ended up getting snared by Tak’s long tongue and swallowed whole, clearly Tak was in no mood for excuses.
“Morons,” he growled.
Fortunately for the rest of the Gemnites, along with Zeb and Moonshine, who were STILL cowering on the roof and clinging onto the chimney as if it were a comforting blanket?, Tak’s attention was soon turned towards the huge wall of green crystal in front of him, a wall that was thick but not so thick that it was able to block out the images of Celestia standing on the other side.
“Is this the best you can come up with, C?” he said casually, walking towards the wall as if it were nothing. “You think that mere Crystal can keep me in… ARGH!!!”
That was when Tak had the misfortune to actually lay a finger upon the crystal, granted it was only a slight touch, but regardless it was enough to make his blue skin bubble like frothy milk, not to mention cause him insufferable pain.
“WHAT!?!” he exclaimed, instantly confused as to what just happened, this was impossible, nothing could hurt him, unless… “Crystallised Witchweed!?!”
Of course neither the Gemnites nor the two cronies sitting on the rooftop knew what Witchweed was, but whatever it is, it was able to cause Tak pain, something of which they too thought impossible until now. Suddenly Tak’s eyes widened with realisation as a certain memory flooded into his head.
“That little blast of magic when I first came in?” he muttered, recalling the events just before he and his goons took away Celestia’s horn and wings. “That wasn’t a random act of violence was it?”
Of course, how could he have been so reckless as to overlook the fact that it was Celestia he was dealing with? Before he was even sealed away, Tak knew that the Princess of the Sun always had some kind of plan in mind. THIS was why Celestia had the whole city evacuated! She was planning on casting this spell the whole time, the blast of energy she used to hit the floor of the throne room must have been what was supposed to activate it, and her sister must have been the secondary trigger! Knowing her, Celestia must have meant for the trap to activate as soon as Luna was out of Canterlot, but obviously Tak delayed the reaction time by keeping her in. But still, even with the whole plan theorised in his head, Tak still couldn’t believe that Celestia actually used Crystallised Witchweed for the trap, so much so that he even began to chuckle.
“Hehe, well I must admit, I’m impressed with your choice of tactics Celestia,” he said, narrowing his gaze towards Celestia’s face, granted he knew she couldn’t hear him through the thick crystal but even so, he couldn’t help but let out his comments as they came. “I’m even more impressed that you’re even dare to even go near Witchweed of any form, especially knowing what it can do. You were really planning to seal yourself in here with me for the sake of your subjects?”
At those words, Tak could have sworn he saw Celestia glare at him even harder through the crystal, almost as though she COULD hear him, of course he quickly brushed it off as he continued to speak.
“Well, it matters not, you are only delaying the inevitable,” he said confidently. “Now that I know where the door is, it’s only a matter of time before I unlock it. Let’s not forget that I’ve already broken out of the first prison you and those dogs made for me, and even if it takes me yet another 800 years I WILL break out of this one too… along with someone else you know.”
Once again, he knew that Celestia couldn’t hear him, still Tak smile never wavered, even as he watched Celestia back away from the crystal, disappearing from sight.
“It’s only a matter of time, Celestia,” he declared, stomping his foot and causing a few of the nearby Gemnites to cower in fear at the sight of him. “No matter where you go, no matter what you do… My Mistress shall return, and she WILL find you!!!”
As that shout echoed within the confines of the crystal dome, Celestia couldn’t help but sigh in relief upon realising, and relishing in the fact that she couldn’t hear Tak’s vile voice anymore. Turning her head back towards the others, who were in fact in the worst possible condition, both physically and mentally, she then only had one last thing to say.
“Let’s go,”
And with that, Celestia began helping the others to their hooves, she knew that they all needed rest after what had just happened, but given the circumstances, she highly doubted anyone wanted to stay here any longer. Thusly, she and Twilight, both whom were supporting Cadence and Luna respectively, began making the long walk. Of course when Twilight looked up at the sky, she couldn’t help but stare in horror as the sun had begun to set… without Celestia moving it, which in turn meant that what Tak said to her earlier was in fact true, the sun and moon WERE now on auto-pilot. As they continued to walk, Celestia couldn’t help but look at her student with a frown upon her face, she and her friend had suffered a terrible ordeal, as did everyone else, and no doubt their heads were bound to be filling with questions. However such answered will have to wait for the moment, for now the best course of action was to remain on the road leading away from Tak’s new crystal prison.
#
And speaking of Crystals, as much as Twilight and the other escapees though otherwise, it turns out not ALL of the Gemnites were inside Canterlot when it became encased. To be more specific, six certain canines, all of whom were hiding in the baggage car of an evening train and snoring like they didn’t have a care in the world.
“Nnn… no, get that newspaper away from…” Sheen muttered dozily, obviously being the sleep-talker in the group.
After spending the last couple of hours on this train-ride, it was no wonder that these Gemnites became so bored that they dosed off. In any other circumstances they would have just hijacked the train and taken it for a joyride to their destination, however Tak gave them highly specific instructions for the task ahead, and as much as they would have preferred to do otherwise, Tak’s word was law to them. Finally after what felt like an eternity of waiting, the Gemnites finally felt the train come to a stop, thus stirring them from their slumber.
“Alright guys!” Crystal Dust declared, being the first to awaken. “Move your hides, we’re here!”
They all may have been a little hesitant to do so, preferring to stay asleep for a little while longer, but one by one, the other Gemnites followed Crystal Dust as she opened the door, jumped out of the baggage car and quickly started running towards a nearby ticket booth. Hiding behind it in order to avoid being spotted by local security, Crystal couldn’t help but take a long sniff of the air, a large smile spreading across her face as two of her diamond fangs shimmered in the setting sun.
“Ah yes, I love the smell of potential mayhem in the…” she tried to say, only to be cut off by the sound of someone STILL snoring. “Oh for the love of… will somebody wake up Topaz!”
Of course it was going to be Topaz to be the one who was still snoozing, heck, one of Crystal’s explosives would have gone off right next to him and he’d still be sleeping like a baby, it was only lucky that Roughcut was at least smart enough to slump the snoring mutt over his shoulder and carry him off the train with him. At the very least, there was one way to wake Topaz up, all it took was for Roughcut to pinch his nose, blocking his airway, within seconds he was wide awake and gasping for air.
“What the heck!?!” he snapped, giving Roughcut an irritated growl. “You TRYING to kill me!?!”
However, being quite used to Topaz’s outbursts on a daily basis, Roughcut merely rolled his eyes in response.
“We’re there,” he muttered, instantly causing Topaz so soften his gaze.
“We here?” he repeated, taking notice of his new surroundings for the first time. “Well then, time to have some fun.”
That was a notion that all five of his comrades seemed to agree on, with a sinister smile upon each of their faces, all six Gemnites then began moving away from the ticket booth and further into the town, making sure they weren’t seen by anyone. They may not have had any idea of what kind of mayhem they would cause just yet, but one thing was for sure, this was going to be one night that the town of Ponyville wasn’t going to forget in a hurry.