The Alicorn of the Stars

by mushrumluver

Chapter 16- Imprisonment

The Alicorn of the Stars
Chapter 16 – Imprisonment

~Cloudsdale~

The sound of fireworks popping can be heard through the festive city of Cloudsdale. The weather was perfect for the competition to be held, courtesy of Cloudsdale’s own weather factory. And the sky was also graced with the sun princess’ beaming sunshine. Pegasi, both competitors and spectators, from all over Equestria gathered upon this festive day for the Annual Best Flyer’s Competition. For the crowd, it’s a contest to see the best flyer in all of Equestria; for the promising contestants, it’s a sure ticket to the doors of the Wonderbolts. Various airships and hot-air balloons were also seen floating around Cloudsdale for non-pegasus ponies to see the spectacle. Some were privately owned while others were rented out, and among the airships incoming Cloudsdale was a majestic-looking one with a dragon-like insignia stitched on the mast slowly approaching Cloudsdale.

Inside the bustling city, crowds were swarming in the stadium and the stand beside them selling various goods, souvenirs, and even some Wonderbolt paraphernalia. To cater to the non-pegasus ponies, several airships and balloons were designated to roam around the skies carting their wares.

Rainbow Dash, along with Fluttershy, excitedly roams around the busy clouds of Cloudsdale while waiting for their friends to come. Yet despite the excitement running around, there was still a hint of nervousness lingering within her veins for this competition is the door to her dreams and aspirations and the pressure alone was already slowly getting the best of her.

“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, I know you can do it…” Fluttershy spoke in her usual soft voice trying to cheer her friend up after noticing RD getting nervous.

“Thanks Fluttershy…” RD replied with her tension easing up a bit.

“Hey, Rainbow ready for the competition?” a silver Pegasus came flying fast towards them.

“Of course I am! Who do you think you’re talking to?” Rainbow getting her air of confidence back replied.

“That’s good, from what I heard the competition is a three part. Among the eight teams, the top four times will be chosen to proceed to the next round in the Semi-Final and—“ Silverstar catches her breath while trying to explain the mechanics of the competition. She suddenly paused after noticing a yellow mare hiding behind her partner. “Who’s this?” she points towards Fluttershy sneaking behind RD’s back.

“This is my friend Fluttershy.” RD moves out revealing Fluttershy. “and Fluttershy this is my partner of the competition, Silverstar.”

“Oh, Hi there.” Silverstar extends her hoof.

Fluttershy in turn stood timidly on the clouds, trying to find the proper greeting which was her usual problem when meeting new ponies.

“She’s just a bit shy…” RD sheepishly grins, breaking the awkward silence between the two.

“No worries… “ Silverstar returned her hoof back “Sorry for suddenly appearing out of nowhere, it’s a habit of mine.”

“That’s okay…” Fluttershy replied softly “Well it was rude of me to just stand there while you offer a hoofshake.” Fluttershy extended her hoof as a sign of apology and greeting as well. “I’m Fluttershy. It’s nice to meet you.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widen with surprise after seeing Fluttershy like that. Inside she felt happy and proud seeing her friend becoming more assertive and confidence in herself to actually greet a stranger like that.

“The pleasure’s all mine.” Silverstar accepted the hoofshake.

“Yoohoo! Missed me?” a familiar well-accented voice called out to them from up above.

“Rarity?!” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both surprised to see Rarity waving at them while riding on a deluxe airship slowly descending towards them.

“I thought you’d never make it!” Rainbow Dash quickly flew up towards the deck of the ship along with the Fluttershy and Silverstar. “This is my partner for the competition, her name’s Silverstar.” Rainbow Dash pointed towards the silver Pegasus. “And this is one of my good friends Rarity.” She pointed back towards her friend.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Rarity extends her hoof in greeting. “Please take care of our Dashie she tends to be reckless sometimes.” She let out a small giggle after her comment.

“I know.” Silverstar shakes hooves with Rarity.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash suddenly barged in on the conversation which ended up with most ponies laughing.

“I wonder where Pinkie Pie is? She said she was going to catch up.” Fluttershy started looking around the impromptu parking lot around Cloudsdale looking for any sign of their pink friend.

“Sorry I’m late! I guess my other guest won’t be coming.” Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted from a balloon ride coming up.

“I see… What about Applejack? Is she still coming?” Rarity asked.

“Nah… She said she’ll be really busy baking all those pies.” Pinkie Pie replied. “her pies really became famous after Soarin’ endorsed them.”

“Yeah… who would forget that night…” Rainbow Dash suddenly said.

A loud parade music suddenly played signifying the start of the anticipated-event. Both Rainbow Dash and Silverstar waved goodbye and their friends in turn waved good luck as they separated ways, Fluttershy stayed with Rarity on Draco’s ship, and Pinkie Pie with her balloon coasted along Draco’s airship.

---

~Ponyville Outskirts~

“What did she meant by ‘a doozy’?” Ovan with a puzzled looked on his face recalls Pinkie’s reaction earlier. Pinkie suddenly popped up and down shook left and right and her hooves and mane doing random things while shaking around the house. “She did say that something of a ‘doozy’ will happen at some Forgotten Woods Manor and it may involve some pony that he knows, but honestly who would name their manor ‘Forgotten Woods Manor.?” Ovan tries to go back to his experiments while trying to figure out what the pink pony meant by her words and ‘Pinkie sense’.

Around the room, there were some black dusts, probably disintegrated to the point of being too unrecognizable to figure out its original form, while also there were several apples lying around. mountains and spreads of scrolls were scattered around one corner of the room and some half-opened books were on the other side. On his table, there is a circular ring charged with a layer of magical sheet inside the ring. and on the floor just beside the table on the side where the ring is attached more black soot, powder and dust were seen.

Ovan himself was already a mess both physically and mentally, due to days of non-stop research and experiments. He soon found himself unable to control the urge to know this ‘Forgotten Woods Manor’ and to figure out what Pinkie Pie’s words mean; so he decided to take an atlas of Equestria piled along the book scattered all over the floor.

His vision turned grim and his expression darkened after seeing the location of the said place. The memories of his home burning, the death of both his parents and his dear brother flashed across his mind. He slowly backed away from the book trying to shake off those horrible memories from his mind.

“Of all places…” Ovan fell down sitting on the floor with a huge disbelief on his face. “Here? This must be the place where Quince sent Fran.”

Ovan rubbed his hoof against his forehead thinking of how will he accomplish both the spell and check up on Fran worried about Pinkie’s message.”There’s no time, I’ll just have to gamble on it.”

---

~Under the ruins of StarShine Manor~

“Ugh…” Twilight regains consciousness as she finds herself inside a dungeon like area. Her hooves are still staggering making hard for her to maintain balance as she tries to get up. Her vision was still hazy at the moment but she can still figure out what kind of place she was in after seeing blurry images of iron bars, pony bones, balls and chains and shaking her head only made the image clearer.

She tried to move her hoof forward but the sound of the chains clanking as it pulled her back made it impossible to simply walk away. Looking around the place, she noticed that there were no ponies in the area so the next thing she thought was cutting the steel shackles but, as soon as she starts charging her horn, a familiar ‘click’ sounded near her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” Paine pointed the musket over Twilight’s head while slowly shaking her head left and right as she walks towards Twilight.

“I wouldn’t want to waste that sweet flank of yours now would i?” She whispered behind Twilight’s ear while pushing the barrel upward against Twilight’s chin as she slowly slithers her hoof over Twilight’s flank in a seductive manner. “Nova wouldn’t like that either.” She pushed Twilight to the ground laughing afterwards.

“Why is he doing this? What does he want?” Twilight getting agitated after her confrontation with Nova yesterday asked.

“If I were to tell you that he wants to obtain the power of Cosmos what would you do?” Paine snickering back replied.

“But that would cause…” Twilight shocked to hear the stallion’s plan.

“A lot of fun don’t you say?” Paine interrupted Twilight and stared at her with a a maddening look in her eyes.

“How can that be fun?” Twilight tried to argue.

“You have to go out more, see new sights, meet new ponies and broaden your horizon.” Paine replied in a cheerful manner.

Her reply only left Twilight more perplex on what’s wrong with those ponies. “How can anypony be happy seeing others suffer and die” she thought. As she stood there helpless while seeing the crazy mare prance around about the wonder ‘joys’, her will to stop these ponies became more adamant than ever but the chains on her hooves prevents her from doing so.

“Well I have other things to take care of.” Paine called out some ponies to watch over Twilight. Two armored ponies equipped with spears marched towards their prisoner and stood still watching her every move. “If she tries anything funny don’t hesitate to show her the consequences.” She instructed the two. “Well tat-ta… I hope you enjoy your new company.” She grimaced while stroking Twilight’s mane before she left the room leaving Twilight alone at the mercy of the two ponies assigned to watch over her.