The Masked Matter-Horn gritted her teeth and stretched to make another crawl. Just one more step. And another. The hurricane was nearly tearing her from the floor even with Mistress Mare-velous’ lasso tied around her waist and pushing down with all mental strength the earth pony could muster.
Lightning flashed, almost blinding her for a second. Matter-Horn instinctively glanced up. The vortex of the tornado had already reached the dome of the power plant’s main chamber. If not for the wind howling in her ears, she would certainly hear the squeaking of the metal plating of the roof under the terrible pressure.
Another lightning bolt flashed behind. Matter-Horn pressed on without looking back. She just had to reassure herself that Radiance would be able to hold her constructs long enough to shield the control terminal and those ponies who were still in the chamber.
Fili-Second had already evacuated most of the electricity plant staff. Only two senior engineers refused to leave their post. They tried to use the terminal, but their efforts to get thunderstorm back under control were futile. As were Zapp’s.
Matter-Horn shuddered, remembering how her friend tried to calm the thunderstorm with the Lightning Medallion. Just when Zapp cried the incantation, one of the lightning bolts, as if a sign of defiance, struck her. In the flash of lightning, Matter-Horn saw how the blue pegasus bounced back, hit a wall and fell to the floor, scorched.
The moment Zapp fell Matter-Horn was torn between running to her and turning back to the terminal to help the engineers. Every second lost brought them all closer to the disaster. And yet Matter-Horn herself failed to be of any help. Even as she knew a lot about magical thunderstorms, read several articles on the subject in fact, what good was all that knowledge if the controls were unresponsive and readings on the dials made no sense?
Frozen for a few seconds that felt like several minutes to her, Matter-Horn suddenly noticed a small piece of paper below the monitor. The wind would tear this paper away long ago if it wasn’t stuck on the terminal with a glue. Why would someone do that? Was it important?
It was apparently some kind of instructions as on the top of it was printed “In case of emergency” however, there was nothing else beside that printed on the paper only uneven letters that someone scribbled in the empty space, “Aim from a silent place that is the same backwards”.
Her first thought was that the note was some kind of prank. But what if…
“Marv!” Matter-Horn called. “Tie your lasso around me. I need to reach the center of the chamber”
“Why?” Mistress Mare-velous cried, barely heard over the storm.
“No time to explain,” yelled Horn back, “I have a hunch.”
“Whatever.” Marv threw her lasso on Matter-Horn and mentally ordered a noose to go around alicorn’s waist and folded wings a couple of times.
Another flash of lightning pulled Matter-Horn from recent memories. How much time passed since Zapp’s failure? She probably crawled for less than a minute, otherwise, the tornado would’ve already torn the dome apart. She had to reach the center! With another effort, Horn made a few more steps ahead.
And suddenly there was no wind around her anymore. For a second Matter-Horn relaxed. She reached the eye of the storm. After the raging howl outside it appeared so silent here. A moment later roar and thunder came back to her. And one glance in the direction of the control terminal where Radiance’s shields were blinking at each strike of the flashes of lightning was enough to refill Horn’s resolve if she ever lost one.
Matter-Horn walked into the very center of the chamber, concentrating, and aimed her horn at the seemingly empty space right above her.
A light beam came out of Matter-Horn’s horn and dissipated a few meters above her. One second she was afraid that she was wrong, but the next moment she felt the storm start to dissipate. She sighed in relief. But then she looked around and understood that it wasn’t all over yet. Many objects that the wind pulled into the vortex started to fall.
Fili-Second in a moment carried a few remaining workers to outside the building. And Radiance caught some stuff that looked valuable enough. Matter-Horn had just to jump out of the way of some heavy box. And the moment the storm subsided completely, she ran towards Zapp.
“I’m okay. Okay…” moaned Zapp, raising on her hooves. “Aww, more or less okay. Uh, I think…”
“Don’t move, please,” that was Radiance, who expressed her concern most vividly. “What if you have fractured a bone or something?”
“No, it’s really nothing.” Zapp stretched a bit, then wiggled her wings. “Just a bruise.”
Zapp winced as a beam of magic came out of Matter-Horn’s horn, scanning her, making her bones shine through, like in an X-ray shot. That was a neat trick that Power Ponies’ alicorn leader added to her arsenal recently and used quite often. Too often for Zapp’s taste.
“I’m okay.” Zapp’s voice became a little annoyed. “I don’t need a full medical check after every fall!”
“If I were smashed into a wall like that, I would be in bed for a week at least,” Radiance said.
"You would, sure!" Zapp rolled her eyes, then looked around. "So? Is everything over? I made it stop, didn’t I?
"Not exactly," answered Mistress Mare-velous. "It was something Matter-Horn did.” She turned to the leader. “What did you do anyway?”
"Just the standard neutralizing spell," answered the purple alicorn. "But I had to cast it right in the center of the vortex. Following these instructions.”
She put the note on the floor for everypony to see.
"It looks like a riddle," Fili-Second was the first one to break the silence.
"And the answer is ‘Eye’," answered Matter-Horn. "The word that is the same when is read backwards. And there is silence in the eye of the storm.”
"The only question is who wrote this riddle." Mistress Mare-velous frowned. "The only way for these instructions to work is if it was written by someone—”
The note suddenly blazed up. Everypony stepped back. And as smoke rose from the flaming note, inside it formed a silhouette.
"Congratulations, Power Ponies!" The voice coming from inside the smoke was a bit distorted, but not enough to hide the female voice and smug tone. "Ha ha! And to think you’ve almost missed my clue.”
"So, the storm breaking out of control was your doing!" cried Zapp.
She just laughed in response.
"Who are you?" asked Masked Matter-Horn.
"Ah. Now here is an interesting question." The silhouette in the smoke giggled. "You can call me Question Mare for now. But you will learn more about me if you pass my tests.”
"Tests? Like the one you did here?”
"Well, not exactly. I prepared all kinds of tests--for your powers, for your smart leader..." Question Mare abruptly stopped. "But I don’t want to give too much away. Let’s just say that for the next test, you will have to dig a little deeper.”
The silhouette vanished, the dispersing smoke making Power Ponies cough. In a few seconds the flames disappeared and there was nothing but a pile of ash where the magical note had been.
"So…" Zapp scratched her mane, trying to find words for the performance she just saw.
"So, we have a new villain on our hooves," finished Mistress Mare-velous.
Machinery under the dome was a complete mess. Power Ponies spent half an hour helping the workers to clean it up. They also were asking if anypony suspicious was seen on the premises. But nopony remembered anything significant.
Power Ponies went to the main gate, arguing what they should do now. Marv pointed out that their only option was to wait for the Question Mare’s next move. But Zapp and Matter-Horn were impatient. The latter was really anticipating the next “test” and Zapp was just impatient by nature.
A tremor interrupted them in mid-conversation.
”W-what’s happening?” asked Saddle Rager anxiously. “Could it be the dome?”
“No, we checked it twice—” replied Marv, but before she finished Fili-Second darted off back inside as a gust of wind.
“Dome is fine,” reported Fili on returning a fraction of second later. “I’ll go check the rest of the city.”
It took a couple of minutes before she returned.
“Those tremors are all over the Maretropolis,” Filli said in a quicker manner than usual. “And the strongest ones were near the river in the western part of the city.”
“Then let’s not waste any time!” commanded Matter-Horn and spread her wings.
She took off and flew in the direction Filli showed. Zapp and Saddle Rager followed her and Radiance lingered a bit to let the rest gather on her flying carpet construct.
"The river, of course!" exclaimed Matter-Horn as Radiance’s construct caught up with her. "There is a tunnel construction under it. I saw it on the news. I don’t remember contractor’s name, but they use some new technology that is combined with magic.”
"What?" cried back Mistress Mare-velous, getting only half the words through the wind. "What did you say about the tunnel?”
"I’ll explain later," answered Horn. "It’s time to land.”
Matter-Horn flew down to the road leading towards the tunnel entrance. Filli-Second was already there, waiting.
As soon as alicorn touched the pavement, her hooves felt familiar, yet even stronger vibrations. Right beside her Radiance descended, stopping her carpet construct floating couple feet above the ground.
Marv and Saddle Rager jumped off the carpet. They too felt the vibrations and as they turned to the river, their ears perking at the rumbling coming from there. The tremors followed, so strong that it took everypony a bit of an effort to stand straight.
Zapp landed the last. The quake already passed and she was going to ask Matter-Horn what would be their next move, but in that very moment a flash of light broke out right in front of the Power Ponies. But instead of fading the light source curled into a ball and then transformed into a familiar silhouette.
"Welcome, Power Ponies, to my next test! This time I prepared a few puzzles for you. Do you like puzzles?”
"I don’t like puzzles!" Zapp dashed towards the Question Mare’s light projection. "Stop hiding behind your spells! Come out and fight fair.”
"Only numbskulls like you prefer brute force," replied the villainess arrogantly. "I use my intellect, my magic, and my tech. And if I wanted, I could leave you no clue how to stop the thunderstorm. See? You are only alive because I want you to experience my intellectual superiority.”
"Not a huge bargain," muttered Zapp, then added audibly, "So, what do you want from us now?”
"As your thoughtful leader probably guessed, the source of the tremors is a piece of machinery in this tunnel. To reach it you have to pass through three bulkheads. Each one is locked with a puzzle lock. Solve each puzzle and you will be able to reach the furthest section.” Question Mare made a pause and then added as if she forgot it at first.”Oh, and don’t try any magic. This test is for intellect only. My locks will repel any spell, except telekinesis. And if you use some stronger magics, they will explode, causing the tunnel to collapse." Question Mare giggled. "If I were you, I would be verycareful, especially since a few workers are locked in the tunnel.”
"Oh dear," whispered Saddle Rager.
Before anypony could say something more, the light went out and the silhouette of Question Mare faded. There was another strong tremor.
“So, what’s the plan?” Zapp asked after the quake passed.
“Go into the tunnel and solve this psycho’s puzzles,” answered Matter-Horn grudgingly. “There is nothing else we can do.”
With gloomy faces, Power Ponies trotted into the dark maw of the tunnel.
The first bulkhead was actually quite far from the entrance. Luckily the tunnel itself wasn’t so dark as it appeared from outside. A row of lamps snaked below the ceiling. They shone with a dim, but steady light that revealed the rough concrete blocks and metal rods under the hooves of the Power Ponies.
The bulkhead itself was made of metal and burrowed its sides deep in the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel to make it completely waterproof. The gate for workers and equipment was about half the size of the whole bulkhead and was situated right in the middle of it. The gate leaves were hermetically shut, but also sealed with something the shape of a large square. That was undoubtedly the puzzle.
As Power Ponies came closer, they saw that the puzzle actually consisted of smaller squares. And those squares had notches and lugs that allowed them to move only along the vertical plane and only inside the puzzle’s metal frame.
"This… looks like a sliding puzzle," said Matter-Horn after examining it. "It’s nothing difficult.”
For two minutes she moved the pieces back and forth. And eventually, a pattern on them became a too familiar shadowy silhouette. As Matter-Horn shifted the last piece into place, the puzzle gave out a melodic chime and fell off the door, opening it.
"She should have known better than tease Matter-Horn with such easy puzzles!" blurted out Zapp.
The blue pegasus didn’t know how soon she would resent her words. The Power Ponies reached the next bulkhead quickly enough, but after that for the whole three minutes, Matter-Horn didn’t make any progress.
“What’s the holdup?” asked Zapp nervously.
“Shhh!” hushed Matter-Horn. “I need to find order those rings should be unlinked.”
The second puzzle was made of rings of different shapes that were locked together. Each time Matter-Horn thought that she found the right sequence, it appeared that one of the rings still got caught in the others. Several minutes slogged by, interrupted by a quake couple of times. With no result still, everypony felt more and more nervous.
"You know," sounded a familiar voice, this time seemingly coming from everywhere. "I’m bored. Maybe you should have something that will motivate you to work quicker?”
The vibrations below their hooves increased. Then there was an especially strong tremor.
"What have you done?!” cried Matter-Horn and Zapp almost in unison.
"Just disabled a safety guard. Now the drill is going into overdrive. You have ten, maybe fifteen minutes before the tunnel ceiling will fracture and collapse.”
"No! Stop. You trapped ponies inside, remember?!" Zapp cried her lungs out but had just silence for an answer. She turned to the purple alicorn.
"Matter-Horn, please hurry,” said Zapp, but Matter-Horn was totally consumed by solving the puzzle, relentlessly moving rings back and forth with telekinesis.
Zapp fell silent. She knew that talking would just be a distraction. A minute passed, then two.
Another tremor started, this time much stronger. Everypony except Matter-Horn pressed themselves to each other to keep balance and with growing unease eyed a pebble falling from the above. Horn, however, was still staring fixedly at the puzzle, wings spread wide to keep her balance.
And just as Power Ponies almost couldn’t bear the tension, Matter-Horn exclaimed, "Wait, this ring can shift outwards!”
She detached one ring moments later. Then another. The ponies exchanged glances, hesitant to release their breath. So far there were no more strong tremors, but how long that will last?
Less than two minutes passed and Matter-Horn took the last ring from the lock. A mechanism clicked and with a chime it fell off, opening the second bulkhead. Now everypony allowed themselves a sigh of relief.
But they already lost half the time that Question Mare said they had. If the next puzzle were to be equally hard… And as if Power Ponies weren’t agitated enough came another quake, a far more pieces of rubble than before fell from the ceiling.
A thought to turn back crossed everypony’s mind, but with innocents still trapped, they had no choice but to proceed. They dashed to the third puzzle and in a few seconds reached it. This one seemed to have a similar square field like the sliding one. However, there were no pieces in there to slide.
"So, what should we do?" Horn stared at the field.
"Look," Mistress Mare-velous pointed her hoof at a pile of strange metal pieces lying at the side. "Maybe those are parts of the puzzle.”
Matter-Horn took a few. They were also painted curiously. And she tried to put them into the square field. They stuck to it as if the were magnetized.
"Damn!" she exclaimed.
"What? It stuck to the board. That means it’s working.”
"Yes, Marv. But thispuzzle is different. All pieces have various peculiar shapes and must fit together very precisely. Do you see these?" Matter-Horn showed her friend a few especially tiny pieces. "There are so many, it will take me forever to place them properly. Certainly more than… four and a half minutes.”
"I think I can help you with this," exclaimed Fili-Second, and before Matter-Horn could say anything, the pink pony started to put various pieces on the board.
Fili’s movements became faster and faster. Soon she was a pink-and-white blur, her hooves moving so fast that they were not even seen.
"Done!" said Fili-Second and pointed at the puzzle filled with pieces forming, a bit unexpectedly, “I am impressed” inscription on them.
"Wow!" said Matter-Horn in a bit shocked voice. "Less than four minutes!”
"Ha, big deal," interrupted Zapp. "Four minutes is way too much for you, Fili.”
"But she had millions of variants to try.”
"I--" Fili had no chance to finish the answer.
The few remaining workers that were locked in the third section of the tunnel rushed through the opened door.
"Is anyone left in the last section with the drill?" asked Masked Matter-Horn.
"I don’t know," one of them called, clearly having his mind on getting out and nothing else.
Power Ponies entered the furthest part of the tunnel. It was shorter than the previous section, but wasn’t lit that well--some lamps were only far ahead, from where the rumbling from the drill was coming. Radiance quickly remedied that by making two large luminescent stick constructs.
The walls ponies saw around were mostly rock, barely cut at some rough edges. The floor was also uneven and cluttered with machinery and equipment. As little chance for somepony to be left here was, there was no way to say for sure in this clatter. Power Ponies cautiously went forward.
"You cheaters!" cried Question Mare, her voice coming from everywhere.
"It was you who changed rules first!" lashed out Matter-Horn. "You set a new time limit right in the middle of the test.
"And we already saved everyone!" added Zapp. "You have no hostages in the tunnel anymore.”
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha," Question Mare’s laugh was almost hysterical. "No hostages. Say that there is nopony in this tunnel.”
"What? I’ll say…" and then Zapp fell silent, realizing her mistake.
The bulkhead the Power Ponies just unlocked, started to close again. However, Matter-Horn wasn’t caught by surprise. She used her freezing ray to stop the folds.
"If only she had managed to stop the other two bulkheads from closing." the Question Mare sneered.
"So, was this your plan all along?" asked Marv. "To lure us underground and bury us alive? Because if it was, I warn you! You haven’t won…”
"Don’t speak nonsense!" interrupted the villainess. "As I’ve said, I could deal with you already. But I want to show my intellect being superior.”
"To whom?”
"To EVERYPONY!" screamed the Question Mare, almost silencing the noise from the drill. "I want everyone to know that it were my traps and riddles that were the instrument of your demise. That the smartest of you were unable to demonstrate ingenuity and cleverness, despite being given every single chance and every single hint! Even now, all you need is to say one “magic word” that I coded into the drill controls to stop it, but you wouldn't be able to do even that.”
"Why?
"Because instead of thinking, you are arguing with me. Ha!”
"And what was your hint about the “magic word” then?" asked Matter-Horn.
However, nopony answered her.
"Quickly!" cried Marv. "To the drill. We will figure something out!”
When Power Ponies approached the drill, it was already vibrating so loudly that they had to shout to be heard.
"Look around," commanded Matter-Horn. "She said that she has given us every single hint. I think she left something around. Search for it.”
"Stop!" cried Fili-Second right at the drill.
Immediately it produced a pleasant mare voice:
"Your magical word is incorrect.”
"Well," shrugged Fili-Second, "it was worth a try.”
"Now start searching!" cried Marv.
Matter-Horn stood in front of the drill, trying to figure out if there is another way to turn it off.
"You know, it’s a very advanced system," she said mostly to herself, though Mistress Mare-velous was close enough to hear her. "I’ve read about recent experiments to combine magic and technology, so apparently our ‘Question mare’ knows a lot about that.”
"That’s all well and good," answered Marv. "But let’s return to more pressing matters. How do you turn this advanced system off?”
"Fili!" cried Matter-Horn. "Have you found anything that resembles a hint?”
"Only some digging tools and stuff. Could it be the hint?”
"I don’t know." Matter-Horn turned to the machine, thinking what digging tool shouldn’t be around if you have a digging drill. "Shovel!”
"Your "magical word” is incorrect,” was an almost melodic answer.”
"Pick hammer.”
"Your magical word is incorrect.”
"What if we got it all wrong?" said Marv. "What if the hint is “magical word”? Like are there any standard spells to turn off such things?”
"Oh," Matter-Horn tried to remember the article, "I don’t think so.”
"Turn off, please," said Saddle Rager to the drill, trying to help, but the answer was still the same.
"Turn off this instant!" cried Zapp, but the answer again was incorrect.
"Of course!" Matter-Horn clapped her hoof at her face and then turned to the machine. "Incorrect!”
There was no answer, but a moment later the racket from the drill started to diminish.
"Wow! Who could have thought?" giggled Fili-Second.
"Now, let’s open the bulkheads and get out of here." Marv waved her hoof towards the exit.
However, they found out bulkheads already opened. Either their magic was tied to the drill “magic word” or Question Mare did that intentionally.
"Ha-ha! I knew you will find out the answer in the end," laughed the villainess, this time using a cloud of mist as her projection. "Why the long faces? That was fun. For me, at least.”
"You snarky bubble of hot air!" cried Zapp. "You could bury us and innocent workers in that tunnel just to have some fun.”
"Oh, you didn’t like that dark dump tunnel?" she asked, ignoring the pony. "My next test will happen in a totally different place. Happy, entertaining, amusing. For anypony. Ha-ha-ha.”
"Will you give us a hint again?" asked Marv. “Or should we search the whole Maretropolis for… a specific amusement park?”
"Oh, you’re getting the hang of it," answered the cloud. “Okay, since there are some thousand ponies’ lives on the line… I never was, yet always will be. Every day I come, yet never was seen.”
“Oh, a riddle again,” grunted Zapp. “Why wouldn’t you tell us your name outright? So we could come and kick...”
The voice inside the mist had burst into laughter all of a sudden. “Oh, sorry. That was just priceless. Totally. You will understand what I mean soon enough.”
And with the last word the cloud dissolved.
"So? Any Ideas?" asked Marv.”If we don’t find which of the amusement parks she targeted in time, there would be casualties for sure. I think Maretropolis has a dozen such parks or so.”
"Yes, but the riddle is probably about the park’s name," answered Matter-Horn. "Fili, what do you think?”
“Me? Why me?” replied pink pony trying to put on an offended face. “Do you think I’m the one that knows all entertainment in the city?”
She caught everypony’s glance.
“Okay, it’s probably “Land of Tomorrow” because ‘tomorrow’ is the answer to the riddle. Right?”
“Yes,” Matter-Horn said in a bit detached voice. “Wait. I remember ‘Land of Tomorrow’ being mentioned in a science magazine I read.”
"And let me guess," added Marv, "it also uses magic in conjunction with technology.”
Matter-Horn nodded.
"And I think it’s more than a coincidence. Fili, I want you to go to the city’s archives and look up something for me." Then Matter-Horn gave her quite a few instructions.
Good thing Fili-Second had a strong memory. But even for her with her speed, it would've taken a lot of time to search through the whole archives of Maretropolis. So the rest of the Power Ponies hurried to the “Land of Tomorrow”.
They knew their guess was correct even before entering the park itself. Screams and pleas for help came in abundance over the shiny metal wall that surrounded the park. The whole structure looked like some futuristic citadel of glass, metal and rainbow holograms. And without hesitation the Power Ponies burst through the giant gate, tearing it apart.
Just as superheroines took their first steps in, several ponies dashed out of the park through the opening, screaming in terror. A few seconds later the Power Ponies saw why--the plaza at the entrance was in complete disarray with the park’s various automatons unleashing their wrath upon the visitors.
"Welcome, Power Ponies!" this time Question Mare didn’t even bother with creating a projection. Her smug voice was coming from the park’s loudspeakers. "I trust each one of you will choose an attraction according to your abilities.”
This time even Zapp hasn’t stopped to reply. All Power Ponies attention was drawn to the park’s visitors in need of a rescue.
“Look there!” Matter-Horn pointed at a group of ponies who were cornered by phantoms from ‘Scream cave’. “Radiance, Saddle, let’s go!”
“Uhm, darling,” Radiance turned to Saddle Rager, while Horn galloped ahead. “Could you rush your transformation a bit?”
“I’m s-sorry, but right now I’m more nervous than angry,” answered the mare, trying to suppress her shivers. “And… Oh, you monsters!”
Radiance looked in the direction Saddle Rager was looking and saw an aviary compound where park visitors could look at exotic birds in a relaxing environment. Except climate control system made half of the area frozen like it was a huge ice cave. And heated the other half to the point where trees withered and could ignite at any second. Birds and ponies, unlucky enough to be caught inside that were trying to escape were brutally beaten by gusts of wind.
“Listen...” Radiance turned back to Saddle just to see her running towards the aviary, already transformed into her hulky form.
There was no point to follow. Radiance knew that all aviary cages and barriers wouldn’t stand five minutes. She looked around and saw Zapp, who joined Matter-Horn in blasting phantoms.
“A little help here!” unicorn heard Mistress Mare-velous’ voice from the opposite direction.
Radiance turned, already forming a club construct above her head, and saw her friend in the middle of bumper carts ride.
Marv was able to catch three carts using her lasso, but it took all her concentration to hold them steady long enough for ponies to crawl out. Even as three freed ponies were leaving the ride, carts twitched, nearly breaking through. And another cart was speeding right at Marf from behind.
“Hold on!” cried Radiance and threw her club construct to intercept.
It hit a split second before the cart could run Marv over. The cart, luckily empty, bounced somewhere back. Radiance was already running towards the ride, but it took her several seconds
Even before Marv even nodded, unicorn grabbed another two carts with ponies inside. Even without command, they jumped out the moment carts became still. Power Ponies glanced around - there were only half-a-dozen ponies in carts to go.
Meanwhile, Saddle Rager smashed her way through the aviary. She already destroyed wind magic charms on the hot side, so most exotic birds already escaped through that breach, as well as half the pony captives. But as Rager entered the frozen half, her progress slowed. Everything around was covered in ice and she had to punch with every step – otherwise, the blizzard inside would simply blow her away.
Luckily, Matter-Horn and Zapp, who at last dealt with their animatronic enemies, joined her. Horn ran right into the breach, while Zapp hovered above the caged roof. Pegasus raised her elemental medallion and the blizzard inside the aviary started to twist. Snow in the air formed a whirlwind and rose right to where Zapp was.
She lowered her hoof holding medallion and the amulet literally sucked the blizzard into itself. There was no more wind nor snow in the air, as to that moment Horn blasted all remaining climate control charms with heat beams from her horn. Then alicorn used less intensive beams to warm the ponies that were nearly frozen to death inside the aviary.
By that time Radiance and Marv dealt with cart ride and even destroyed a few too aggressive automatic food dispensers. With aviary also clear, the only attraction left unchecked was “observation wheel”. It was rotating way too fast for the ponies trapped inside its cabins to get out. None of the Power Ponies dared to approach it.
Only Saddle Rager wanted to grab it, but Matter-Horn stopped her. She was afraid it would break and send all ponies on it in the air. The wheel was simply too big to deal with it using brute force and considering previous Question Mare traps, magic was out of the question.
"Too bad your speedster is not here," declaimed the snarky voice from the loudspeakers. "She could’ve easily carried out everyone when each cabin reached the lowest point. Was it a mistake on your part, Matter-Horn? Well, I guess even the only Power Pony with brains is prone to make mistakes.”
"Listen, you twisted teaser! We are a team and any of my friends have all they need to be a hero. I trust Fili-Second to do everything right and when she returns, your travesty will be over!”
"I hope, she will not be too late." The villainess giggled.
And just as she said that a white-and-pink blur whooshed from the park entrance to the spot where Matter-Horn was standing. Fili-Second threw a thick file to her alicorn friend and in the next moment ran to help the screaming hostages off observation wheel. Just like Question predicted, it took Fili less than a minute to fill the stand beside the wheel with the flabbergasted ponies. Matter-Horn skimmed the file contents.
"So? Do you want to congratulate us with successfully finishing your test, Question Mare?" she cried. "Or maybe we should call you Riddle? Fitting name by the way.”
"It took you long enough," the voice from loudspeakers was less arrogant now, but just a bit.
"And your name is not the only thing I know now," continued Matter-Horn. "As I’ve suspected all the tech you messed in the tunnel, at the power plant and here--it was all produced by the same company. The company you were working for. Until they fired you for trading corporate secrets, that is. You can hide behind your projections, tests, and riddles all you want, but in reality, you are nothing but a spoiled pony, who just wants to have her petty revenge. Instead of taking responsibility.”
"Responsibility? Responsibility?!” cried Riddle and then grumbled. “And I thought you were smarter and more insightful than everypony!"
Apparently, Riddle was expecting some answer. But everypony considered better to remain silent, so after the pause became too awkward, she had no choice but continue her monologue. Her voice was now soaked with a disdainful tone, "You are no better than others. Just like others you simply take what’s written in the news at face value without even trying to dig deeper. Do you know that it was I, who invented the fusion of magic and technology in the first place? I personally created the spells used in all the projects you’ve seen today. And when I did all that work, I haven’t even thought about self-promotion. ‘Why should I bother and spend my valuable time?’ I thought, expecting to get the credit simply because I did it. Ha! Silly me.
“Yes, I wanted a raise and promotion, that was long overdue. However, the last straw was when they took down my new project, my personal new development, and didn’t even listen to me like my professional opinion or contributions didn’t count! And when I tried to, well… negotiate with another company and use some of the funds that were due to my canceled project, they kicked me out! Smearing my name, like was I some kind of traitor.
It was them who betrayed me! To have exclusive rights for using my tech and magic. It was them, who should’ve their name tarnished!”
"Why should we believe you?" lashed Zapp.
"And you are still in the wrong," added Matter-Horn after collecting her thoughts. "Yes, I believe you.”
“Wait. You do?” asked Mistress Mare-velous.
“Yes. All the magically enhanced tech should have fail-safe charms on it. Without being the one laying the groundwork, Riddle wouldn’t be able to get control over it so easily.” Matter-Horn raised her head. “Is that what you wanted, ‘Question Mare’? For us to prove your innocence? All you had to do was just ask. But instead, you decided to invent some sick tests that put lives of innocent ponies in danger. All you had to-”
"I don’t have to do anything!” yelled Riddle. “I’m not going to beg for what is rightfully mine! Especially morons who couldn’t even find me!”
"Be sure, we will. After all, there are only four large projects that were made using your inventions. The power plant, this park, tunnel drilling equipment, and passenger servicing tech on a new zeppelin called Titan. Such vain and insecure pony like you would definitely use it as a base of operations or a final weapon. In any case, I’m sure we will find you when we find your toy. It’s not so easy to hide…”
"Ahem…" Zapp touched Matter-Horn’s shoulder and pointed to a large banner, hanging at the side of the park’s plaza.
“Be among the passengers of Titan on its maiden voyage!” proclaimed giant letters. A smaller poster located at the side spoke about tickets prices and on the other side was a huge arrow pointing in the direction of a tower where the zeppelin was docked. Right at this very moment the vessel just started its engines and cast off moorings.
"Oh, she is escaping!" Matter-Horn came to her senses after the initial surprise. "Come on, team. Let’s show her that no one messes with the Power Ponies!”
Saying this, she spread her wings and went straight for the zeppelin.
"Need a lift?" asked Zapp with a bit of a smirk.
"If you don’t mind," answered Mistress Mare-velous.
And a small tornado, immediately created by the pegasus, sucked the mare in and threw in the direction of the zeppelin.
Saddle Rager in her hulky form just jumped up. And that was enough to bring her as high as the airship was. When she reached the highest point, the blimp’s upper deck was right in front of her.
Saddle started to descend. She winced, realizing the blimp was still too far. Her mind, not used to complex calculations in this form, rushed through possibilities. Had she not accounted for zeppelin movement? Can she still somehow reach the deck?
Rager stretched for the deck with her hoof, but it was useless. She started to flutter her wings desperately. It seemed to propel her forward a bit, but that wasn’t enough.
"Got you!" cried Radiance, catching Saddle with her construct.
”Aaaa-ho-old o-on-” Radiance yelled, as her flying carpet construct struggled with the weight of expanded Rager. It heeled and started to dive to the right, both Radiance and Fili holding on for dear life.
They stretched over the left side to counterbalance Rager. The unicorn pulled every ounce of her mental strength to keep construct on course. They reached Titan’s the upper deck, barely scratching the railing. The construct dissolved a few moments later, three ponies tumbling on the deck.
They jumped on their hooves immediately and saw that Marv had already landed right beside them.
"I think I had enough “amusement” for all my life," muttered Radiance while collecting herself. "After we finish this, I won’t step my hoof in that park again.”
"Why?" answered Fili, who was already on her feet and ready to fight. "That was so much fun!”
Matter-Horn landed right beside them. She surveyed the deck.
"Look! Here is our villainess.” She pointed her hoof towards the center of the deck.
There, separated from Power Ponies by a luxurious restaurant area, a row of golden pegasus statues and other decorations, under the central mast bearing a giant rotor for fast altitude shifts, was a deckhouse. And there, right on the bridge a green pony with a lettuce green mane was standing.
"So, let’s kick her cutie mark!" exclaimed Fili-Second and ran towards Question Mare.
"You know," Riddle’s voice boomed from the deck speakers. All the heroines had to stick hooves in their ears. "I actually planned to flee this airship away before you even came to the park. But then I thought, nah, you’re not enough of a threat.”
"You will regret your overconfidence!" cried back Zapp, seizing the opportunity to talk when the villainess paused. "Staying here to gloat was your fatal mistake.”
"Enough talk! She probably doesn’t hear you anyway," interrupted her Mistress Mare-velous. "Let’s go and get her.”
She ran forward, not waiting for the others.
"Attacking already, huh?" replied Question Mare with a snark. “Your every step was directed by me from the very start. And now you are just where I wanted you to be.”
”Go on with your delusional monologuing,” grumbled Mistress Mare-velous through clenched teeth. She crouched to keep her balance under the sound attack. The moment Riddle lapsed into silence, the heroine made another sprint forward.
Meanwhile, the rest of Power Ponies crowded together, Radiance creating a purple dome that muffled the sound at least partially.
"We need to neutralize the speakers," said Matter-Horn. "They can--”
A deafening squeal from the speakers penetrated through the dome. Everypony felt like their brain was going to explode. No further explanation was needed.
“Look – there are two on port and starboard sides," she pointed with her hoof. "There and there. And one is right on the deckhouse, right below her. I’ll take that one. Zapp! Get the ones on the right, Saddle those on the left. Radiance, cover us.”
Meanwhile Marv caught up with Fili-Second. Speedster pony got it worst - as sound bursts took away her sense balance, she stumbled at full speed and got quite a concussion.
The only thing Filli was able to do while still dizzy, is to hide among the tables in the restaurant area. Marv found her right beside stern mast - it raised in the center of the restaurant, and just like the mast over the deckhouse was bearing a huge rotor.
"I’m okay," said the pink pony upon seeing her friend and shook her head to threw away remnants of dizziness. "That ne’er-do-well just caught me off guard. I swear she will not do that again.”
And yet Question Mare almost did. With a pull of a lever, she activated all three altitude rotors - on fore, center and stern masts. And before Power Ponies figured out where the sudden breeze was coming from, in mere seconds breeze turned into a squall.
Everypony was blown away, waiving hooves in the air. Frantically Marv and Filli managed to grab on the tables. And fortunately for them, those tables were tightly screwed to the deck.
Zapp was hanging right beside the rotor and yet she was taken by surprise too. Airflow pushed her aside right when she was aiming at speakers with intent to take two of them out in one shot. Before pegasus realized what was happening she was spinning in the air and on the way towards the ground.
But Zapp wasn’t called mistress of storms and lightning for nothing. The second she collected herself she managed to disperse the wind with the power of her medallion. It took almost all of her strength and the air calmed only in a small area around her, but that was enough for Zapp to turn upright again.
She squeezed medallion with her front hooves and put all remaining concentration into lightning powers. A flurry of lightning bolts came out of the relic and stroke the starboard side, blasting both speakers to smithereens in the process. Not exactly what Zapp was planning, but she had her part done.
Only a moment later it came to pegasus that others may need her help. She started twisting her head in a rush to find her comrades. To her relief, all of them were far from falling off the deck. Radiance protected Matter-Horn with her constructs and Matter-Horn herself already managed to freeze the speaker on the deck-house.
Saddle Rager was able to resist the wind by herself. She scrambled forward, breaking holes in the deck and grappling them with her hooves. And as she became angrier, Rager was able to move faster and faster. And already smashed one of the speakers.
Only one last megaphone left and Question Mare’s cries lost their power, becoming simply annoying.
Zapp rushed to Matter-Horn and Radiance. She landed inside constructs cover, almost stretching on the deck.
“Are you all right?” asked Matter-Horn, leaning right to pegasus ear.
“Just… take… breath,” Zapp panted.
Respiring, Zapp still maintained medallion aura against the wind. It eased the pressure on with Radiance’s constructs, so unicorn could also take a breather. In less than a minute ponies were already pushing forward.
Combined protection from constructs and medallion allowed Matter-Horn, Zapp, and Radiance go through the restaurant area without any problems. However, right when they were passing the raw of golden pony statues that separated restaurant from major walking area Question Mare decided to talk again.
"So, do you really think that on my zeppelin I have nothing except loudspeakers and altitude control?”
"I think that you are the most annoying pony!" yelled Zapp on the top of her lungs. "That’s all you are, Question! Or Riddle. Whatever.”
"Of course, you can offer nothing but insults." Riddle sighed. "I was really overestimating your intellect. In the tunnel, you barely solved my simplest riddle. In the park, I hoped to see some ingenuity, but you went with the most obvious and brute solutions.
“Fine! Here is the last riddle for you: One serves, one owns, one provides, and many fight you.”
And seeing that nopony is going to reply, she cried:
“It’s a host!”
And the moment she finished the last word, the golden pegasus statues turned and bucked Zapp, Radiance, and Matter-Horn so all three Power Ponies flew several meters in different directions.
"See? Why do I ever need help from such losers?! I will not grovel at your hooves to get some legal advice. I will defeat you and this time I’ll get all the credit. Who needs those corporate mules if I can become The Villain who defeated infamous Power Ponies!”
There was a bit of crunching sound at the end of the tirade, as Riddle took a bucket of popcorn from a food dispenser on the bridge and threw some into her mouth.
"Now, let the real show begin!”
And the show indeed began. As in just a few moments, the Power Ponies recovered and counterattacked. Radiance created a big club and immediately crashed two automatons so hard that they fell through the deck. She turned around, looking for new targets. And suddenly, felt something tugging her tail. She glanced back. and saw as some squat device, probably automatic cleaner, swallowing her precious tail. Almost half was already inside the insidious contraption.
With a scream, the unicorn broke into a run, at the same time trying squash the thing on her. She made a couple of circles across the walking area, barely noticing what happened around. And finally succeeded to crash damned thing through the deck too.
Meanwhile, Matter-Horn attacked golden pegasi with freezing ray. They scattered in all directions, but she managed to caught two. They stayed in place, frozen solid.
"Hey! Leave some for me!" cried Saddle Rager, who chose to abandon the last megaphone that was on the further side of the deck anyway and now was rolling towards the deckhouse, the wind blowing at her tail helping a great deal.
It appeared that Saddle’s concerns were unfounded. Four remained automatons spread their wings and sprang into the air. Zapp, who was dispensing lightning bolts from above, threw herself aside just to dodge them by a hairbreadth. She started to turn around to take another shot, but at that very moment, two golden pegasi that Radiance smashed below the deck flew up right from the hole. Then another two. And another…
In a few seconds, there were easily two dozens “hosts” above the deck.
"Did you really think that on such a luxurious vessel there are only eight animated hosts?" asked Question Mare, cracking with popcorn.
Zapp, Matter-Horn, and Radiance recoiled back. They bunched together, shooting and throwing everything to keep Automatons at bay. Zapp’s lightning had stuck one machine and now others were circling around, slowly closing the distance.
Then Saddle Rager joined her friends. She jumped right at the enemies circle and managed to grab two automatons with her fore-hooves. Next moment she smashed one onto the deck and threw another, hitting with him the third golden pegasus. She broke into a trot, continuing to hold one automaton and rubbing its face into the deck. It was torn apart completely when she reached the two that knocked down.
Rager then took those two, throwing the wrecked one away, and smashed them into each other several times. As a result both machines looked more like pancakes and probably wouldn’t be useful even as spare parts
Meanwhile, Matter-Horn used her freeze ray again and Zapp shot bolts of lightning from the medallion. However, golden automatons learned their lessons and maneuvered too fast for Power Ponies to hit their targets.
Suddenly Question Mare heard a thud above her ear, that made her wince. She squinted in that direction and saw Mistress Mare-velous’ lasso sliding over her invisible force dome.
"So-o predictable," she said right before a pink-white blur smashed into the force field right before mare’s eyes.
Sat aback, Riddle dropped pop-corn. Fili paused just one second and took another run. She smashed at the invisible dome at another side, again with a loud thud. But this time Question Mare thought there was a cracking sound.
"This has been going on long enough. Deal with them!" Riddle motioned with her head towards Fili and Marv.
"Who are you…" started Fili-Second, but the next moment the large cube of food dispenser turned to her and from a small window of “drink filler” came a spurt of fizzed soda hitting her right in the muzzle. "Grrr-ll-glug-glug…”
Pony nearly choked and was forced back by the stream. But immediately stepped forward again, drinking the soda as fast as her super-speed ability allowed her too. A few seconds later machine added “heavy artillery” in the form of cakes, hot-dogs and all other food packages available, but it was still no match for the speedster - everything was eaten in midair.
Seeing food dispenser distracted, Marv flung her lasso to catch it. However, even with her mental control lasso noose wasn’t enough to hold dispenser still. A huge box started to rotate unusually fast and reeled up the whole rope, pulling Marv right into its metal side.
At the last moment, Mistress Mare-velous bent herself, so she didn’t smash her face at the dispenser. Though the last piece of the lasso lapped over her and now she was tied to the animated machine. Fili-Second ran to help her, but dispenser stopped her with another barrage of snacks.
Meanwhile, Saddle, Zapp, Matter-Horn, and Radiance were pressed to the port side by automatons. Even though Saddle smashed two golden statues to pieces and Zapp managed to fry another one, remaining pegasi-bots now were flying even faster and in more complex patterns. And just to make things worse, another dispenser that joined its mechanical-magical brethren. It rammed at the full speed into Rager, making her roll away from her friends’ defensive formation.
Matter-Horn started to run to help her, but three automatons at once went down on her. Alicorn almost dodged, but one of them managed to graze her with a wing. All four Power Ponies started to feel the exhaustion from all the fight.
"Ha-ha-ha! You have no chance, Power Ponies." Question Mare couldn’t conceal the excitement in her voice. "My automatons have a direct link to me. You can’t outsmart them. And they outnumber you, even with all your strength and abilities.”
"Don’t gloat until you’ve won!" cried Zapp, concentrating all her will into the Lightning Talisman.
"Wait," muttered Masked Matter-Horn. "Did she say that she has a psychic link to her machines? We were going about this the wrong way!”
Then there was a series of loud cracks as Zapp unleashed the full fury of her thunderstorm power. Golden pegasi took evasive actions. They scattered and tried to go through gaps in electric discharges. With clenched teeth, Zapp saw how they manage to dodge almost all of her bolts with more finesse the machines shown before. Two automatons were struck down and crashed at the deck in smoke. But there was still too many of them. And they gathered above Power Ponies for their final attack!
"Everyone!" cried Matter-Horn. "Go for Riddle! Don’t bother with her golems. We can’t beat them all. But her--”
She couldn’t finish as automaton flying pack finally assembled and several of them dived at her. However, by that time Zapp, Radiance and Saddle were already on the way to Riddle’s deck-house. Matter-Horn ran in the rearguard, mincing the air above with freezing ray so fast, that pegasi had to scatter again one last time.
"Back to me!" cried Riddle, though automatons were already on the way driven by her thought.
Something heavy smashed at her forcefield with a loud crack. Riddle turned and saw the cube of her food dispenser being driven right at her by Marv. The pony was still tied to it but managed to set her hooves at cube surface firm enough. Craziest rodeo ever.
Villainess didn’t even say anything. She just gave the dispenser, which was linked to her mind too, a hard glance and the machine started to turn on its side. Marv, realizing that in a second she will be simply squashed, frenziedly pawed the dispenser the in attempt to move at the upper edge. For a moment she was just grazing the surface, but then with a titanic effort, she made the lasso noose around her waist to help her. Following the mental order, noose pushed its mistress and immediately loosened.
Marv grabbed already falling dispenser’s ledge trying to pull herself up. She knew it was too late, feeling her hind legs being squeezed by the cube’s weight. And at that very moment, Fili-Second appeared as out of nowhere, grabbed her and pulled away. Just for them both to hear the loud crash of dispenser smashing the clear deck surface.
Agitated, Question Mare turned to other four Power Ponies. They already were in front of her deckhouse, Zapp already high enough to attack. Others ready to scale the deckhouse using their powers. And automatons who chased them were too far behind. There was a second of panic in Riddle’s eyes, but then she remembered about rotor controls.
"Now you’ve run to your doom!" exclaimed Question Mare, turning the altitude rotors into reverse.
The wind changed, sucking everything on deck right into propeller on the mast. Zapp didn’t react fast enough and barely escaped the blades. Her shielding from the wind disappeared and Matter-Horn with Radiance were torn from the deck too. Luckily Radiance caught Horn with the net construct and then got a hold on rigging by other.
Only Saddle Rager due to her weight was able to stay on deck. She jumped forward and in a moment landed right on the top of the deck-house. Hulky pony dashed straight to the Riddle’s forcefield. She was already raising her hooves to smash the dome with all her strength, but the food dispenser, now totally free from Marv’s lasso, flipped into her way. This machine, apparently able to move very fast through some levitation amulet inside, and was stronger than several serving automatons combined. Even Saddle couldn’t stand on her hooves and made a roll to the side after such a powerful blow.
But it wasn’t over yet. Saddle flipped and got a grip on the deck before flying far enough to fall overboard. And with all her rage she jumped at food machine, kicking it right into Riddle’s force field. Now Riddle heard the loudest crackle of her forcefield, signifying protection sphere breakdown. Though the spell was still holding, as dispenser cube didn’t go through. It bounced off the dome up into the rotor… And stuck between the blades!
With hindrance, rotor slowed and Mistress Mare-velous, who was holding starboard railings this entire time, managed to throw her lasso with her teeth. The noose of the lasso caught one of the blades and the other end tied itself to the rigging at Marv’s mental command. The wind subsided and Matter-Horn with Radiance was able to get down on the bridge. They were a few meters away from the villainess, but her pegasus automatons finally caught up and were already encircling them.
"Ha! You almost got me," smirked Question Mare. "But--”
She was not able to finish, as the food dispenser that was stuck between the rotor blades had unstuck and fell right on her force dome. That was the last blow to deplete the magic barrier and with a loud clatter, the protective sphere broke. Riddle barely managed to jump out of the way.
"Now you…" she started, but something flew from behind and hit her.
Mare fell unconscious.
"And you talk too much," finished Mistress Mare-velous, catching her returning hoofarang.
Then Marv wearily looked around for attacking automatons. Following the last command they attacked, but this time their movements were totally uncoordinated. Radiance with her mace construct repelled golden pegasi diving at her with ease. And Matter-Horn had hit three targets in a row with her freeze beam.
“Now it’s just too easy!” regretted Zapp, after dodging another lunge in the air and frying her attacker with a thunderbolt.
The rest half-a-dozen automatons moved slower with every second and eventually stopped, standing in different poses like golden statues they were at first.
“A-and that’s a wrap,” declared Matter-Horn, while producing a light stream of sleeping gas directed into Riddle’s face.
Radiance created a construct cage right around a sleeping villain.
"Good job Power Ponies!" proclaimed Masked Matter-Horn. "Another villain defeated, many innocent pones saved.
Suddenly a hatch on the deck opened with a loud squeak. Everypony turned around and saw no other than Humdrum.
"E-e-eh.." he said with a sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing here?
"What? We? What are youdoing here?!
"What? Have you forgotten about the invitation you got a week ago? You know, the maiden voyage of the most advanced and luxurious airship. You decided to decline but allowed me to go instead. I just got here early and had some shut-eye in the VIP stateroom." Humdrum looked around. "Wait! Has the party already begun? Have I missed it? Why are you laughing?!”
