The mad pony in a trench coat

by Dragonhoof91

A mad pony in jail

Chapter 3. A mad pony in jail.

When the old author returned, he did so early this time. The children were just about to be brought inside as the darkness fell, and the teacher has happy to see him, as they more eagerly went inside now that they knew he was here!

Scarfs, hats, muffs and whatever other chill-shielding clothing their wore was tossed off in a hurry as the fillies rushed to their seats in the classroom. "Such anticipation... Well then, better not dilly-dally too much than." The old one chuckled, and brought his book up on the desk, flipping the pages to the third chapter.
He gave all the fillies a warning look. "Be ware though, this chapter can be scary to those of poor nerves."
He said to tease them, and chuckled over the many stern looks of young ones considering themselves more adult than they were given credit for. Aah the wisdom of toddlers....

He coughed a few times, and set his tone as the story began where it left of...

Hours passed. Alonso had never been in such a big city before, only heard the tales of it from wanderers and seen images on paintings. But in reality, it was far more wast then he had hoped. Realizing that the metaphorical apple he was taking a bite of was maybe too big even for him, he lit another cigarette.

They had walked the town all day just looking. And every time Crisp asked, Alonso responded with that he was looking for something, something he did not know what it was yet. But that he would know it once he saw it, he said to encourage the tired star-gazer, who was really not used to being this active. They were an odd pair as they walked down the roads of Canterlot, ponies stared at the giant who was near to rival the size of even the princess, with giant hooves and thick, long fur. And walking next to him was a unicorn who looked all but fit. Deep sacks beneath his eyes from a lifetime of long nights and twisted hours, and the complete lack of any physical activities left him scrawny and thin...

Alonso finally stopped and bought the two of them something refreshing to drink. Hot cocoa for Crisp, who gratefully accepted some quick energy and heat, as he was poorly equipped for the dropping temperature, while Alonso himself just got a mug of warm milk. As they sat down on the cold benches in the autumn weather, the giant sprinkled strange herbs into his milk, before fishing out a small metallic flask from his many pockets and spilled a few drops of a very strong-smelling liqueur... Crisp decided it was best not to ask what it was, but it seemed to renew the nord.

"We're looking for a sign, mate. Since it was a demony-summon, I bet'cha my hat they are someplace underground. Summons like that requires contact to the element o'wich they pull the creatures. demonys from the ground, angelus's from the sky. But we've walked the town'round and I've felt nothing..." The giant took a swig of his strange blend, and sighed happily after. Just the smell of his breath indicated that there was something alcoholic in the flask..

"Well... sir Alons-y, where do you suggest then? I am certain that there are hundreds of basements to these many houses, and searching through them all... how much time do we even have?" Crisp looked a bit concerned at the giant, noticing how a faint blush started to appear on his face from whatever he was drinking...

"Time? T'was four days since the summoning. And with ONE here, feeding on wha'ever mystic or unicorn the summoners gave it, it can summon more of it's kind without us noticing... every hour that passed since the yearly summon could mean another demony. Do the math." Alonso looked surprisingly calm and cocky over this presentation, but Crisp felt panic rising as by this information, there could be nearly one hundred of those things summoned already! In worst case scenario!

Alonso suddenly got to his hooves again, yelling something in a strange language, but he sounded happy!
"I know where we can find'em! Follo'!" And with that he started dashing down the road, his trench coat looking more like a cape for the shocking speed the giant quickly built! Crisp never got to finish his cocoa as he tried to follow...

Gasping for breath, legs shivering and the misty air that escaped his mouth like a pillar, Crisp finally caught up to Alonso.
Unable to speak his question, too exhausted to do more then just pant and look at the hunter with eyes of confusion.
"Reckon I could be wrong... but didn't the castle in early pony-era serve assa prison? With crime not existing here for decades, who cares for the ancient catacombs and cells?" He grinned, and began walking up the stairs to the castle.
Crisp looked at the stairs and whimpered, had they really reached that high and been so many steps the last time...?

The guards recognized the mad pony this time, and with the authority of their princess, they let him enter without much fuzz. Though they did glare at him. Not only because of his towering size that made the armoured stallions feel insecure, but for his odd attire and wheezing company as well... Once inside however, Alonso asked the first staff-member of the royal building he could locate for directions. And though the young maid jumped at first over the strange accent and booming voice, Crisp was quickly there to ease the communication... though she looked at the astronomer as if he was sick, the way he was breathing heavily and sweating, poor pony must have the flu..

They soon reached the older, more unused passages in the castle, through an old and rusty wooden door that had not been used for years, something that for some reason made Alonso all the more certain that it was the right track.
"Sir Alons-y.. you can see for yourself that this door has not been used since the early eras... why would-"

He was interrupted as the giant took a short dash and pressed a shoulder against the door with all his weight, causing even this thick, prison-designed wood and metal to creak and crack as the door flew off it's hinges! Splinters and flakes of rust flew everywhere as the large door bounced down the dusty stairs, causing it to stir.

"Logic, Crispy. This place hasn't been used in forever, so who'd go here on a daily basis? No doubt in my mane that there is some old passage they found, leaving the door rusted and shut to keep suspicion out." Alonso slimmed his eyes and dug in one of his many belt-pockets, fishing out two small, yellow crystals that he quickly stuffed in his mouth and moved them around with his tongue. He then spat one out to Crisp after muffling "catch".

The unicorn caught it with his magic, if more out of disgust than actually wanting it, and was about to question why the larger pony did that, when he noticed that the gem started to glow all the more brightly by the second!
"Lamp-lake-lures. Crystal that grows onna special Nordic fish. It keeps it dry inna special skin, but when it pulls th'skin back the crystal glows. It reacts to water and recharges in the dark." With that the giant grinned, holding his own crystal in the very same manner he held his cigarette earlier, and he entered with Crisp following.

Crisp Scope was a scientist, a pony of studies and research, not an Daring Doo... He was growing weary of this, the darkness around him, the aura of long-gone imprisoned murderers and criminals, the possibility of a summoned horde of demonys, the company of this strange giant and his mad arsenal of... Celestia knows what! And what annoyed him the most was that the giant just expected him to tag along! He had not been questioned once! Not asked or thanked!
Crisp took a second to make sure he was not thinking out loud again, with the echo in these halls it would be quite embarrassing. He then continued his inner rant about all of this. This strange outlander just kept pulling things from beneath his trench coat, who knows how dangerous he is? His strength alone would-

"Wait... we got compony.." Alonso had stopped, staring into the darkness ahead of them. These tunnels with cells on the sides were had to see into, even with the glowing gems. The giant pulled the stargazer closer, before flipping his own head some and spitting at the same time, sending his own glowing gem several yards ahead of them.

"Welcome... We have been expecting you.." an old voice chuckled from the direction of the glowing gem. And into it's light stepped an old, knackered pony. It took Crisp several seconds to see it in the dim glow, but there was no doubt, the elder pony was a norse-horse like Alonso! And he kept talking. "My son... have you yet to see the real light? How long must you seek to destroy the work of your-"

"Father, yer surrounded. You're inna castle full of guards an' the most magical creature in the land! How hard y'think it was to figure out you summoned them here, to have them then feast and grow on the biggest source of magic in history?!"
Crisp blinked over the booming voice of his giant friend. So that is how he figured out it had to be here... it made sense.

The elder pony smirked, the dim light made his greyish brown fur coat seem ghost-like compared to the darkness.
"Child... No-one but you would seek me here. These ponies, these small ones, they know nothing of worth about our history in magic. I have found many hungry students here... many who were rejected Celestia's blessing to seek the limit of their abilities. She is afraid, you know? To allow anyone to grow too powerful, too strong for her to easily control with a smile and honeyed words."

"She's a greater leader than y'ever was, father... she rules with wisdom, power makes ponies go mad, like yerself."
Alonso let out an angry grunt through his nostrils, and pillars of smoke rose from them in the chill of the catacombs.
Crisp was shaking, he felt the power that built an aura around the elder pony. He felt the same energies that he had when the demony had been summoned in his house! His every instinct told him to run, but Alonso put a hoof behind him.

"Don't, they'll kill you. We've been surrounded since the moment we entered. Here, 'ave some gum. Calms the nerves."
He smiled warmly at his small sidekick, offering him a crude paper-wrapped something, while taking one himself and chewing. Turned out to be some kind of dried sap.

"Oh? You noticed them? Well, I suppose I have yet to train them fully, they are just city-ponies after all... sneaking is not their ace... but their magic? Ooh, son... the things we can do here, them and I... their natural gift for spells combined with my knowledge and bond to the netherworld? Come now... surely you would rather see your mother again? Why would you stop me from bringing my... my sweet, sweet Aumar back..? Do you not miss her as well..?"

The elder pony looked almost pleading, desperate for a moment, his eyes moist with held-back tears, aimed for Alonso.
"Galning! Moder dog i en olycka, men hon dog kämpande mot de samma krafter du nu omger dig med! Hon ville alldrig detta!" Alonso snapped, his booming voice sounding like a raging bear as he spoke in his native, throat-gurgling tongue!
The elder pony regained his dark eyes at this, and shouted something back in the same tongue, it was impossible to make out what it was, but soon Crisp felt nothing anyway...

He awoke with a headache. His eyes needed a while to adapt to the darkness around him. It was cold, and he pulled his blanket a bit tighter around himself. He laid there for a few minutes, just cursing the cold and trying to remember.
He sat up with a gasp, as his memories came rushing back! In the darkness he now realized that he had no blanket, it was Alonso's giant trench coat.

"Ah, yer awake. Grand! How's yer head?" Alonso's voice sounded cheery in the dark, he was standing by the old metal bars that separated the cell from the long path they had been in earlier.
"A-Alonso...? What happened?" Crisp held his head, not to eager to give up the trench coat either, it shielded him well from the dropping temperature.

The nord explained that they got jumped by his father's students. They dazed Alonso with a hit to the head, but Crisp got knocked out. They got imprisoned here to be kept out of the way. Had Alonso not been the son of the elder pony, who's name apparently was Cliff Climber, they had probably been killed.

He continued with explaining shortly the story and reason. Long ago both his mother and father had been hunters like himself, tracking down mystics and summoners and other criminals. His mother had sadly been gravely wounded in a fight, and they just barely managed to transport her home in her poor condition so both Alonso and Cliff could say their farewell to her. His father, Cliff, took this very hard. Too hard. He refused to accept that his beloved wife and companion from decades back had been killed, that there had not been anyone good with magic around able to heal or save her..

He turned to the arts he had spent his life fighting. And due to him fighting it, he knew just about as much of it as any summoner. And as a hunter, he had contacts... Imprisoned summoners, access to countless confiscated books and items.
It did not take him long to build his own cult with the reclaimed items and riches from generations of hunting.
He sought to with the aid of the other side bring his love back... but with time he went mad back and forth.

Alonso sighed and patted Crisp on the head. "Sorry t'drag you into this. But hey, can't say I forced you. Promise to make it up for you when we get out of here." This made Crisp snap.
"WHEN we get out of here?! We are trapped! Locked in a cell in the endless dark of an dungeon no-pony has bothered to visit in hundreds of years! How would we ever get out of here?!"

Alonso grunted at the loud screaming, and casually walked over to the door to the cell. Which he pushed open with minimal effort. Crisp looked at him with huge eyes. "H-how... how did..." The giant interrupted him.
"Gum. I spat it into the lock-hole when they pushed me in here. What, you thought I didn't havva plan?"
He grinned widely, and began walking out. "Oh, feel free t'keep wearing it for the cold, but bring me coat, would ya?"

"Jävlar!" Alonso swore as they reached the table with his many belts and items. Included the large saddle-bag that Crisp had not noticed before, and he guessed it must have been hidden beneath the coat.
"What is the matter? We finally found your stuff!" He said, still wrapped in the way-too-big coat.
"Aye. But it seems father took every crystal I had... I got no power for my items..." Alonso grunted and began strapping his belts and his bag back on.

He explained again that amongst his people magic-users is extremely rare, so they mostly use natural resources. Their most used and powerful resource are their gems. Gems that can store vibrations for sound, gems that can store electricity, magic, you name it. But without any of them, he did not have power to fuel his trinkets and gizmo's.
And he admitted that there was just so much he COULD do with brute force and cunning alone against the forces of the nether world. Crisp looked at him, feeling a bit unsure now.

"So... what can we do..?" Alonso did not answer right away, but looked at his companion. And slowly, slowly a smirk formed on his face...

Then and there, he slowly put the book shut, and heard the moans and groans of the class in front of him.
They wanted to know what happened next! They were cursing him to ending it in the midst of the exciting part!
There were begs and pleas to know just a few spoilers of what happened next, but the old pony would not fall for it.

"Tell you what, young ones... I may or may not have nearly written the next chapter to completion... If you are all inside and silent tomorrow, and obey your teacher like little angelus's... I may just have the FINAL chapter ready for you!"
He said in that naturally mysterious voice that came with age and wisdom. There were gasps and glee's escaping the young ones, and they all started promising in a discorded chorus how they would behave tomorrow!

The old pony left the school chuckling happily to himself. Such anticipation. Such eagerness... he had a long night ahead of himself if he wanted to meet this promise to the young ones. But age higher than most local tree's or not, body frail and old from a lifetime of hard work... there was by Celestia fire in the old pony's eyes!