Wrath Of The Jabberwock

by Mr. Grimm

The Turblusterlent Tempest

Twilight gave a grim look at the sky as she fumbled with the ropes and pulleys of her sailing system. The usual cheery blue had been replaced by a dark, threatening gray as the clouds had moved in overhead. A strong wind began to push on the surface of the balloon, causing the basket to tilt awkwardly. The purple unicorn tried to stabilize the aircraft by moving her gear to the other side.

“I could use a little help here, you know!” called the unicorn as she levitated a pair of heavy sandbags.

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” quipped Pinkie Pie as she pushed a trunk over to where Twilight was piling. Trixie was unable to help due to her being curled up in the bottom of the basket, wrapped up in a blanket, hugging tightly onto her bag. Twilight shook her head as she watched the magician tremble. It was evident by now that she was terrified of heights, among other things.

But even when they had moved all of their belongings to the front of the basket, the precarious tilt persisted as the balloon was carried backward. The winds were stronger now, and Twilight felt their icy chill as they rushed through her mane. She winced as the a flash of white light streaked across the sky. Moments afterwards there was a deafening thunderclap. The sound marked the start of what Twilight would recall as the worst storm she’d ever seen. The ominous clouds above them burst, releasing an airborne torrent upon the ponies. The massive raindrops thudded hollowly against the balloon as it was tossed about by the winds.

Twilight struggled to remain at the sails as the vehicle lurched violently back and forth. She jumped awkwardly as her gear tumbled from one side of the balloon to the other. She looked back at her companions. Pinkie sat contented in the corner as the rain pelted against her makeshift armor. Trixie was sitting up against a trunk, looking positively miserable as her complexion turned an unsightly green.

“Don’t worry, Twilight!” Pinkie called cheerfully above the roar of the storm, “It’s just a little squall! They come on ya fast, and they leave ya fast!” Moments after the earth pony spoke, Trixie rushed to the basket’s edge and hung her head over the side. Twilight grimaced as she turned back to work the rigging in an attempt to steer them back on course. But the balloon had been tossed, turned, and spun so many times that it was impossible to tell which direction they had been heading it. She glanced down at her compass. Though the constant churning of the basket made the needle wobble, she was able to make out that they were being blown west. In other words, they were being forced back the way they had come.

“Pinkie!” she shouted over a boom of thunder, “We need to land!” Instantly the pink pony was by her side, her eyes filled with merry resolute.

“Aye-aye, Cap’n,” she said as she grabbed onto the rope Twilight held, “How do we do it again?”

“First we…” Twilight suddenly paused as she realized something about the earth pony. It took a moment to register in her worried mind, but when it did it set off several alarms.

“Pinkie!” cried the unicorn, suddenly in a panic, “Your armor!”

“Yeah?” answered the pony with a blank smile.

“You need to take off your--” Her words were suddenly cut off by a crash of thunder. Pinkie raised an eyebrow and put a hoof to her ear.

“Pardon?” she said.

“You need to take off--” Again, a thunderclap overruled her voice.

“What?” called Pinkie, “Could you speak up?” Twilight suddenly grabbed the earth pony by the shoulders and roared furiously in her face.

“YOU NEED TO--” She never even finished her sentence, as that moment a bolt of lightning struck Pinkie’s metal-clad body. The energy traveled up through Twilight’s arms, causing her body to spasm along with that of her friend’s.

Trixie watched in horror as both of their smoking forms flopped over onto the floor. The crouching unicorn crawled over to their still bodies, a frantic look in her magenta eyes.

“No!” she shrieked, her voice dampened by the gales, “No, no, no!” She grabbed Twilight by the muzzle. “Wake up! Wake up! You need to land the balloon!” Trixie dealt the unicorn several powerful slaps to the face in an attempt to wake her. She did the same to Pinkie Pie, but in both cases it proved ineffectual. A horrible thought suddenly crossed Trixie’s mind. The panicked mare placed a hoof to Twilight’s neck. She felt some relief when she felt a dull rushing in the unicorn’s jugular. After confirming that Pinkie was still alive, the unicorn sat between the two ponies with a tearful look on her face. She was the only conscious pony on an out of control balloon in the middle of a tempest, and she had no idea how to land it.

Trixie looked back down at the two ponies. She didn’t like either of them, as she tended to dislike anypony who wasn’t herself. But the sight of their motionless, singed, soaked bodies made her uneasy all the same. The unicorn reluctantly began to unwrap the blanket from around herself, which had up until this point been keeping her dry and warm. She winced as she felt the cold rain and icy winds, which stabbed into her like a knife as she set the blanket over the unconscious ponies. Trixie weighted down the corners with sandbags to keep it from blowing away in the raging gales. The magician then wrapped her forelegs around the small bag she had brought along on the trip, feeling the teddy bear that lay inside of it.

“It’s just you and me now, Harry,” she murmured as she shrank back into her corner, trying her best to block out the creaking, groaning rigging of the balloon as it spiraled through the skies.

The beast growled crossly as it stomped down the road, the heavy raindrops running down his serpentine neck. Its antennae and barbels twitched and wavered in the wind, and the membranes of its wings fluttered like the ragged sails of ship. It had been having a very bad day. First it had been attacked by the dragon, and then it had been pestered by two equines in a flying blue box. To top it all off, it had journeyed into a flat farming expanse just as a storm broke out, leaving it bereft of shelter. But still it continued on, not at all deterred by the weather.

The creature spotted something overhead in the clouds. It glanced up with its enormous eyes to see a gigantic sphere being blown about in the sky uncontrollably, zigzagging west. At first the beast took it for a living creature, but as it trained its keen eyes upon the object, it realized that it was equine-made. It had no idea as to what it was, but as with most things that were equine made, the Jabberwock disliked it. It continued to watch as the object drifted away into distance.

Comments

[Pokey the Unicorn]

Ooh, looks good.

Flam tag though? What?

[Mr. Grimm]

1354511

I'm working on their chapter right now...It should be done...eventually...