Ch. 6: Klugetown (pt. 2)

Back at Capper's place, Sonic was providing a little music by playing "The Girl from Ipanema" on his guitar and looking at the two Chaos Emeralds he had found so far as the others talked. He had found the yellow emerald in the desert (inside a cow skull) and the green one in some of Capper's loot.

"Stop playin' me! A Sonic Rainboom?" asked Capper after hearing one of Rainbow's stories. "That's not a real thang. Is that a real thing?"

"I'll show ya!" said Rainbow as she started flying, but Capper stopped her.

"Naw-naw-naw, I don't need you sonic 'rainbooming' up in my place, thank you very much," he said. Then Rarity levitated a needle and thread and two gold buttons up to him, as she repaired his jacket. "Whoa, hey, hold up now. Whoa."

"Here you go," said Rarity as she attached the buttons to his lapels. "I do apologize. If we were back home, I could've done something truly fabulous."

"Looks good to me," said Sonic as he stopped playing.

"Okay…" said Capper. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing," said Rarity. "After all that you've done for use, consider it a 'thank you'."

"Oh. Uh, don't thank me. Really," said Capper in an unusual tone. Sonic grew suspicious, but he decided not to move on it just yet.

"Guys!" said Twilight as she levitated a map over to the table, which the others quickly zipped to. "We've been looking for the wrong queen! We don't need the queen of the hippos. We need the queen of the hippogriffs! Part pony, part eagle!"

"Oh, that makes much more sense," said Sonic.

"Oh! oh, the hippogriffs!" said Capper in a weird tone. "Now, the trouble with that is… no one knows… where they are…"

"Says here they're on the top of Mount Aris!" said Twilight accusingly.

"You mean the mountain right outside the window?" asked Pinkie. The others looked and saw a large form in the distance.

"Objects in windows may be less mountainous than they appear," said Capper and he gave a nervous chuckle.

"One; that doesn't make any sense," said Sonic as he walked over to the window. "And two;…" Then he pulled a pair of "Star Wars"-esque binoculars out. "This is why I have these." Then he looked through them at the large form. "Yep. That's Mount Aris alright." Then he pulled out his other cartography gear. "Judging from its position, I'd say it's about ten miles south-by-southeast." Then he packed up. "If we leave now, we can probably get there before dark," Twilight smirked and folded up the map.

"Let's go, everypony," said Twilight as they all left. Capper gasped.

"Wait!" he yelled and yowled like the cat he was, jumping in front of the door. "You can't- You can't make it by y'allselves. You need an airship! And lucky for you, I can get you a ride."

"I think we can get there on our own," said Twilight. Then Sonic held her back.

"Alright Capper, we'll play along," he said. "As long as you answer a two-part question for me."

"Sure. Shoot," said the cat.

"Who's Verko, and what do you owe him?" asked Sonic. Capper's face fell and he gulped.

"You heard that?" he asked.

"I also hear that Rainbow's about to rip one in three, two, one…" he counted before a small squeak was heard. Everyone looked at Sonic awestruck. "I have insane senses."

"Alright, ya got me. Hands are tied," said Capper. "Verko's a friend o' mine, and I just owe him money. Nothing to worry about. Now then, let's get to the docks." But as he opened the door, he and the others saw a small mole-like creature in glasses and a strange suit.

"Here's Verko!" he said and laughed. Twilight quickly slipped back and Sonic moved for his swords. "These ponies better shoot rainbow lasers out their eyes if they're gonna settle your debt, Capper! Brought the big cage. Let's load 'em up!" The others looked and saw a large wheeled cage outside. The girls gasped as Sonic glared at Capper.

"'Just owe him money', hmm?" he asked.

"You were… You were going to sell us?!" asked Rarity.

"I knew it!" said Twilight. "We gotta get outta here!" Then they all heard a painfully familiar chuckling.

"Silly little ponies," said the voice, whose owner turned out to be…

"Tempest!" yelled Twilight in fear. The others tried to hide in fear, but it wouldn't work. Tempest just kept chuckling.

"Trusting strangers?" she asked. "Big mistake. Big…"

"Huge!" said Grubber.

"Hoo-hoo! My goodness!" said Verko, looking Tempest over. "Well, look at you! With your scary broken horn and scowly eyes. What tricks do you know, my little pony-wony?" Tempest just zapped him, and he weakly coughed. "Not bad…" he said and fainted.

"Retreat!" yelled Sonic as the others jumped onto the windmill blades outside the window.

"Get her. Now!" yelled Tempest.

"You oughta be scared now, ponies!" yelled Grubber. Twilight and Rainbow touched their forehooves to the windmill blade and pushed, but a storm creature grabbed another blade and held it back. Then Sonic saw the gap and smirked.

"Girls, I have an idea," he said. "But odds are you're not gonna like it."

"Then don't do it!" said Rarity.

"You wanna make it out alive or not?" asked Sonic as he slid down to the fan's support beam. "Then let me do this!" Then he drew one of his swords and slashed through the support, sending the fan rolling down the street.

"I'm! Gonna! Be! Sick!" yelled Applejack as the fan made impact on several points in the street.

"Hmm. Y'know, in retrospect I probably should've seen this coming," said Sonic as he stood in the center of the fan. Then he saw a set of scaffolding in the distance. "Here's our stop!" Quickly, they jumped off the fan and ran along the scaffolding, the fan smashing it to kindling just behind them. They quickly ran through a building and Twilight saw a large airship starting to set sail at the docks above.

"We have to get there! To the docks!" she yelled. Quickly, they all ran up to the dock and ran to catch the ship. "Hurry!" Quickly, Sonic grabbed the line and ran in the opposite direction, his legs moving so fast, they looked like they were spinning like a wheel. Then once the ship had slowed down enough, he held the rope to the dock with his brute strength, while the others proceeded to use it as a tightrope.

"That's it," said Applejack, nudging Rarity. "Don't look down now."

"Why would you say that?" asked Sonic. "Now all she's gonna wanna do is look down!" Then Pinkie jumped on the rope, knocking it out from under Sonic's feet.

"Aw crap!" he yelled as Pinkie fell screaming.

"Pinkie!" yelled Twilight as she flew down. Sonic quickly jumped down and grabbed both Twilight's and Pinkie's hooves before Twilight flew them all back up, letting them faceplant on the deck of the ship.

"Best! Escape! Plan! EVER!" yelled Pinkie, shocking Twilight and Sonic.

"WHAT?!" asked Twilight.

"YOU PLANNED THAT?!" yelled Sonic. Then a rope flew around them and pulled them to the others.

"Shh!" shushed Spike. The team looked and saw two bird-like forms.

"Did you hear somethin'?" asked one of them. The other just squawked like a parrot. "Eh, probably just the rats. If we find 'em, we'll eat 'em." Then they left.

"Rats?" asked Rarity worried. Back at the docks in town, Tempest had him on the ground, her horn crackling with energy.

"Now… where are they going?" she asked.

"Okay, no need for violence," said Capper, getting up. "Uh, they're headed…" He couldn't finish the sentence the way he wanted to because he had just remembered the buttons Rarity had generously given him. Before he almost sold them to Verko. Then he decided to cut them some slack. "They headed east! Yeah, to… to Black Skull Island. So uh, glad I could be of service to His Majesty, the Storm King. I'll just be on my way." Two storm creatures, however, quickly blocked his way, making him yowl in fear and turn back to Tempest, concerned.

"When I get my princess," she said. "Until then, your fate is still… up in the air."

Grubber laughed. "Oh, you're gonna go in the skiff! Which is a boat! Specifically, a air-boat!" he said and laughed again. Capper was forced aboard the ship concerned for his new friends.