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ARTIST NOTE:
Tempest steeled herself. She has dealt with troublesome prisoners before. She had dealt with dangerous prisoners before. She had dealt with prisoners who thought themselves comedians. Those were fun.

What she had not dealt with was all three at once, not before him.

She cleared her mind, breathing deeply as she resumed her stony countenance. Even her patience was growing thin with Prisoner #1987, and he only seemed to be growing bolder still. With a silent exhale, she turned the steel hatch and stepped inside, her boots clicking against the metal stairway.

"Ahh, and here she is, the magnificent Captain Shadow herself, in the flesh. To what DO I owe the honor?"

The serpentine body stood up, before stooping to a ridiculously low bow. Even in the cramped confines of the cage, his slender form could contort itself to great lengths, though that was likely owed more to his nature than his body.

"Would you care for some tea? I was just about to put the kettle on. This floor is just the right temperature to boil anything in seconds! Tea, water, feet"

"Stow it, clown." Already the self-proclaimed "God of Chaos" was beginning to wear on her. In a puff of smoke, the teapot Discord had summoned disappeared into the aether. He floated above the scalding metal floor of his cage and crossed his mismatched arms. "Hmph. I used to know another captain like you. Humorless, dull, serious, never smiled. You'd like him, maybe you could have contests to see how far you can shove a stick up your respective"

"ENOUGH!" Tempest bellowed, slamming her foot on the grating. She leaned forward and grabbed the bars, pressing her snarling face threw them. "TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!"

At that, Discord perked up. He shrugged innocently. "Oh, is that all this is about? They're probably on their way to find some improbable way to beat you all and save the kingdom once again from evil. Twilight has a habit of that." Tempest slammed the bars again, her face scrunching up in rage.

"I KNOW THAT ALREADY!"

"Well, why are you asking me then?" He gave her snout a soft 'boop' with accompanying sound effect and pushed her back from the cage. "Really my dear, you're quite the silly thing if you're asking things you already know. But that's what you get with you ponies." At that Tempest had to control herself, exhaling sharply. When she regained enough control to turn around, the serpent had summoned a chaise lounge with a ridiculous pair of glasses and a notepad he was busily scribbling on. "But enough about me, let's talk about you. Tell me about your childhood."

Tempest snorted. This was absurd. "I should drop you in the forge."

"Hmm, anger from some deeply-rooted sense of incompleteness. Fascinating. Do go on." That was enough. Tempest made for the stairs, convinced she was getting nothing out of him. "Maybe a few more days in that cage will change your mind."

"Cage… Hmm, that's interesting, isn't it? I'm the one behind bars, but are you sure I'm the one who's trapped here?"

Tempest froze on the spot. Slowly she craned her neck back to him. "What did you say?"

"It's just that I need all these lovely bars and that great big pool of lava to keep me here. All you need is some thieving charlatan promising you the moon and back, and you fall to your needs like a good little lapdog." His eyes widened and glistened, and he clasped his paw and talon together pleadingly. "Oh pwease, Mistah Stowm King, I wost my horn and would weawy wike it back. Can you help me? Pwetty pwease? I'll do whatever you want. I'll get those big nasty pwincesses fow you and make you reawy powerful so you can thwow me away wike every toy you get bored with!"

A chill went through the broken unicorn. This wasn't anger, this was something else, something she hadn't felt in a long time: Fear.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She blabbered out.

"Oh don't lie, Captain. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Somewhere not so deep down is that scared little filly, rejected by friends and family, still looking for acceptance and love, isn't there?" He chuckled, coldly. "Looking for anything, anyone, to fix you. I'm right, aren't I?"

She didn't move, but even with her back turned to him, Discord could see the wide, frightened eyes on her face. Her folded ears were enough to tell that.

"…Well, I think this has been a wonderful start to our sessions. Now I really must go. Fulgrim's throwing one of his excellent parties, and anydeity who's anydeity will be there. Ta-ta!" And in a cloud of purple smoke, he vanished, leaving the cage empty and dangling.

She didn't notice that her most valuable prisoner had escaped. She didn't notice he left without so much as touching the cage. She didn't notice the hatch opening at the top of the stairs and the heavy metal boots thundering down it.

"Captain Tempest! Where is he? Where's the prisoner? What happened?" Several Storm Guards rushed down to the cell, fanning out to search it as the lieutenant stood in front of her, shaking her shoulder. That snapped her out of her daze.

"Get this ship moving, Lieutenant. I want every engine running at full power! We're going to find them, and we're not stopping for a minute until they're at the Storm King's feet! Do I make myself clear?" The Captain took over again, and what little bit of Fizzlepop had come out of hiding retreated back into the comforting void, safe inside the cold and cruel Tempest Shadow. But as the lieutenant responded with a sharp salute and sent his men to their respective posts, Tempest couldn't help but glare at the empty cage, disturbed. No, bars did hold him. It was because of her he was in there, caged like an animal. And yet… He left. He could have left at any time.

She felt the broken stub where her horn had been, feeling the electric prickle of loose magic floating about it. No, no bars to hold her back, but something did, didn't it?

She left that thought hanging there in that place, and as far as she cared, it could rot in there. She had her orders. She had her duty. And when this was all over…

She would be free.

***

So, this has been a short story idea that's been floating around my head for a while. I absolutely adore the "Open Up Your Eyes" scene in the movie, meme-worthy though it is. It's surprisingly poignant for what it is, and reveals so much about Tempest's mindset. It's a great villain song — It's not gloating or triumphant, it's bitter and broken. It's Tempest saying "Welcome to the real world, princess."

Cage model from here: ponysfm.com/storm-king-cage-an…

(Going to re-render this tonight after work. Saw some problems I didn't have time to fix after looking at it properly)

Upvotes at import: 84 | Stars at import: 63
Posted previously at: 2018-07-18T16:34:56 | Posted previously by: Johnny B. Mediocre