Storming Out

by Mocha Star

Let's See Here

Twilight glared at the bars of her cage and at the mare just past them. “You can sing to me, and I’ll forgive you for everything you’ve done, but you don’t need to keep me in a cage like an animal.”

“You are a fool; I don’t need anything from you. We’re gonna meet the Storm King soon, when we do he’s going to suck the magic from your little alicorn body, give me back my horn, and then I’ll be complete,” Tempest stood tall and proud, looking down on the mare in the cage with disdain.

“Please, you don’t have to do any of this. Princess Celestia-”

“Is more of a fool than you can ever hope to be! She lords over the world and controls everything through fear of destruction. The Storm King, at least, has limits on what he can do and what he wants from all this,” she gestured to a wall. “Well, if there was a window you’d see the other ships in the armada. They’re all working towards the same goal under his hand.”

Twilight sat and raised an eyebrow, “And, what might all this be about?”

Tempest looked down her snout at Twilight, an air of power and intimidation shadowed off her. Her horn sparked and she sneered, a light shorted out and sent sparks cascading like lightning flashed and the two combined gave Tempest a sinister visage. She looked down her snout saying one word. “Merchandising.” Twilight stayed in her position, waiting for more. “Don’t you see, the world is about money. Nothing is free, not even a free market or open trading.

“Taxes, levies, fees. The cage you’re in cost a lot of bits,” her horn sparked and a bolt of unrestrained magical energy coursed across the cage, keeping Twilight safe where she would have gotten some nasty burns otherwise. “The energy I just sent would have burnt every feather off your pretty little wings, your highness, it’s not cheap to get that kind of enchantment.

“So, the Storm King buys a single toy factory and makes dolls of himself. He starts playing hero to accidents he’s caused and parents buy them for their children, and it grew until now,” she gestured to the wall again. “Blast it! I’m having a window put in, now. The point is, we’re making more money than you can count thanks to toys, board games, book deals and the like. No one gets hurt anymore, at least not under the Storm King’s name,” she turned to the stairs and ascended them.

“Get some rest, Princess. We’ll be back in Canterlot and with your magic the Storm King will-”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it,” Twilight snarked, “fix your whatever, rule the world, blah, blah... Hey, how many amps is this cage designed to resist?” she asked tapping a bar.

“More than you can make, I’ll check on you later. Don’t escape now,” she laughed darkly, “we wouldn’t want to have to hunt you down again.” Tempest opened the door and left it ajar showing two bipedal guards holding spears guarding her door. Her only exit since she didn’t get to see anywhere to teleport to.

Twilight made a point to cast a lightning spell into the bars as Tempest was leaving, cowering to the center when the electricity encircled her. “Okay, that was close. C’mon, there’s gotta be a logical way out of here. Think, Twilight, think,” she tapped her hoof to her temple and time passed, as it tends to do from event to event.

“A-ha!” she exclaimed and covered her mouth, looking around cautiously. “That’s all I need to do, patience, Twilight. Just remember books, that’s what’ll make it easier,” she lay down and screamed. “Oh no, my lightning magic has reflected upon my horn and caused a magical recursion that may be fatal in twelve point six percent of the recorded three thousand reported cases over the past four hundred years. And while the studies have not been conclusive about the dangers or chances of occurrence, they seem to be not in my favor. Oh a sham, what foul tidings, that in my time of dire effort, oh what a cruel consequence, to be had upon me. Doth thy heart weep now, Romareo? Thy foalhood friend lay dead at mine hooves,” she then coughed, her horn lit and with both a silencing spell and a cooling spell she used during hot summer days cast she gagged, then kicked the bars several times as the guards watched from the doorway as she ran in a circle with her kicking, adding one final kick to line herself with where she started.

She fell down, one last time, with a loud ‘bleuh’ sound and let her tongue fall from her mouth. The guards arrived and looked into the cage, then to each other, then back to the cage. They backed up in unison and cried out to the ceiling in a language Twilight didn’t know.

One of them turned and ran up the stairs while the other took his spear in hand and used the blunt end to poke Twilight through the bars. Poke in the stomach. Poke in the foreleg joint that Twilight barely didn’t laugh at. Poke in the nose. She wished she could see what it was going to poke next, then she felt the weapon leave the cage for a second.

“Stop what you’re doing, fool!” Tempest’s voice rang through the very large room that was definitely a waste of space for a single cage. “Were you about to poke a princess of Equestria with the sharp end of your spear?!” the sound of electricity crackled and the creature grumbled in shock while being shocked.

There was the sound of gears turning, the cage rattled and then there was nothing for a couple of seconds. Twilight felt and heard Tempest’s hooves on the cage floor and felt the mare press her ear to her side. There they stayed for nearly two minutes before Tempest stood. One of the creatures spoke to Tempest and the mare raged.

“‘Is this bad’?! A princess of Equestria has just died on my watch. I have to think, we have to think… Oh no,” she stood still and Twilight wished she could see what was happening, “no Twilight means no fourth alicorn’s magic, which means no tempest collectors edition box set with detachable horn and realistic bucking action.

“Get her to the medbay, we have to make her presentable before we return. Maybe the Storm King will show us mercy for costing him the rights to certain aspects of the alicorn power.”

Two hours later, Twilight lay in a glass coffin on a bed of flowers of all types, a very comfortable pillow was under her head and she was being pulled into the realm of sleep as she waited. She lay in the manner of Snow White -without dwarves-, holding a purple lilac; because these are normal things to have on an airship in the neighboring countries of Equestria.

She peeked an eye open just barely and saw the coast was clear. She quickly lit her horn and teleported, aiming for the jail room she was held in. She vanished and reappeared an inch from the ceiling carrying momentum from somewhere in the aether between teleports. The cracking sound was audible through the room and Twilight fell, taking a small piece of the ceiling with her.

“Mbwah, I don’t think teleporting works here,” she stood and stumbled over all her hooves and landed on the floor by a sink. “Guhng, water make a better head,” she lit her horn and winced as the faucet turned on and she collected a small bit of water. She turned the faucet off and slurped the water, swallowing it quietly so guards wouldn’t hear her.

“What are you talking about?” Tempest’s voice came from the other side of the closed door. “A noise? Get out of my way,” the door opened and Tempest looked around the room, her eyes staying on Twilight for a second before seeing the missing tile and dust on the glass that encased Twilight.

“Cheap crap made by the lowest bidder,” Tempest grumbled to herself, only Twilight heard. “Doctor Horse?”

“What is it now?”

“You did a fine job, she looks like a princess should.”

“Well, if she didn’t then maybe she’d be mistaken for an elf,” the doctor replied sarcastically. “Look, you pay me to fix broken ponies. You bring me a stiff and ask me to play mortuary duty, I ask for double pay,” he said popping two pills in his mouth and swallowing them dry, “or maybe you’d like her to be ‘downward dog’ for the Storm King when we arrive?”

Tempest flinched back. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Hey, I’m here and not practicing my arts and crafts. My glue is drying, so let’s hurry this along.”

“Everyone out,” Tempest said. The room was emptied and Tempest walked over to Twilight. “Princess, I’m sorry about all this. I can’t believe you did what you did to yourself, and I have to go the rest of my life with the death of royalty on my hooves. I only wish the security camera was working, but the monitors broke when I sneezed a bit too hard.

“You know,” she sat and looked the princess over, “I have a secret that I want to share, one that no pony knows except maybe my parents if they’re still alive. Oh, and my foalhood friends. My neighbors, schoolmates, doctor… hrm, essentially my whole hometown and some extended family members that probably told a few people over a while…

“Anyway, my name; my real name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Just, tell the pony of shadows that I was a nice mare that made some mistakes along the way,” she placed a hoof on the glass and stood up, leaving quickly and sealing the door behind her. “Noone enters or leaves, the ship’s still falling apart so don’t call me if you hear a bumping sound again. Got it?”

Comments

[TheDriderPony]

An interesting start, and the humor is certainly there, but there's a number of small things that confuse me.

‘Is this bad’?!

I assume you meant 'This' is bad.

“Mbwah, I don’t think teleporting works here,” she stood and stumbled over all her hooves and landed on the floor by a sink. “Guhng, water make a better head,”

I don't understand the italics here, or the second bit of dialogue at all. Did the doctor/mortician glue her mouth shut?

Tempest looked around the room, her eyes staying on Twilight for a second before seeing the missing tile and dust on the glass that encased Twilight.

I had to reread a good section around here three or four times to understand what happened there. If I have it right, you're trying to say that Twilight teleported back into the case moments before Tempest returned.