Public spectacle: Rapid Quill's Punishment (Private)

[starguy]

OOC: This thread is part of an ongoing story that started with the thread "training day" It is open only to TwiDashPie, Rapid Quill, and myself, though anyone is free to read along. Also, I apologize if there is any accidental god-moding in this. It's very hard to describe the experiance following without mentioning how painful it would be, despite that being something your character would be experiencing, not any of the characters I'm RPing here. Anywho, once Rapid Quill has posted, we should wait for TwiDashPie to respond as this will be partially his show, so to speak.

Bic:

The procession from the tunnels underneath the crystal empire finally came out into the Earth pony infantry training area. Before leaving, the procession acquired three more earth pony guards, one holding a thin, rigid piece of bamboo in addition to his weapon and armor. The group led a chained and hooded Rapid Quill through the streets. Every so often, a  curious passer by would stop what they were doing and start to follow the military procession. Rapid Quill's procession of shame quickly gathered into a large mob of curious ponies, some of whom were carrying groceries from the nearby market. After a few minutes of marching, the procession reached the center of town where a wooden device had been set up on a wooden platform. The device (called a pillory) was two wooden boards help up vertically, from either side with a post each with a semi-circle hole in the center to create a completely circular hole in the center large enough for a pony to fit their neck through but not large enough to get it out if the top board was locked in place. Similarly, there were two holes on either side for the placing of appendages. a steel hinge had been put in place to to trap the head and fore legs between the two boards. Rapid Quill was prodded into place. In one swift motion, the guards surrounded him, removing his shackles and placing his neck between the vertically placed slats of wood with his fore hooves on either side. The pillory was then securely locked. to prevent escape. Silently, the guards took their positions, 3 guards evenly spaced behind Rapid facing outwards, save for the one pony with the bamboo rod who faced Rapid Quill's hind quarters with a sort of menacing presence. Three guards faced outwards on the left and right of the platform,  preventing any escape or rescue attempt on those ends. Silver saber ascended the platform and removed the black hood from Rapid Quill that prevented anyone from seeing his face. Clearing his throat, Rapid Quill adressed the crowd:

"This pony has been found guilty of espionage and crimes against the crystal empire. For this, he will receive ten lashes with a bamboo rod followed by spending 12 days in the pillory, 12 hours a day."

A chorus of boos and jeers followed. The mob began hurling insults and crying "Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!"  From somewhere in the crowd, an egg flew through the air and splattered on Rapid's mane, covering him in yolk as it slid down his face. When the crowd had finally been waved into silence, Silver continued:

"Begin the sentence...ONE!"

Before Rapid could prepare for it, the rod struck his rump, leaving a large red welt.

"TWO!"

The second struck like lighting. Before the pain of the first blow could subside, the second struck Rapid hard with a resounding whack.

"THREE!"

The blows were coming down fast and furious. It was hard to tell if the pony doing the punishment genuinely despised  Rapid Quill and was trying his hardest to hurt him or weather this was was the normal amount of pain for this punishment. 

"FOUR!"

Yet another blow landed, scorching Rapid Quill's rump with the painful bamboo rod.

"FIVE!"

To Rapid, the rod might have felt like metal. The blows were so intense, it was quite possible Rapid Quill's butt might go numb from the pain.

Rapid was now half way through. If he could endure 5 more strokes, he would be done that section of the punishment. Five strokes can feel like forever. For Rapid, it probably did...

[Rapid Quill]

ooc: I replied to Training Day a bit as well in case if there was any confusion.

bic: Rapid Quill was understandably very nervous by the time the guards arrived at his cell to take him outside. As soon as they arrived he stopped his struggling and grinned sheepishly at them. "Oh hey look, I know what this looks like, but I swear I wasn't trying to escape, honest! I was just um shining my chains. Yes sirree, I can't go out there with old rusty chains, now can I? How would that look?" he nervously lied. However, the dead serious looks on his guards faces told Rapid that they weren't exactly in a joking mood; which in truth only made him feel even more nervous than before. Swallowing hard his ears flattened to the sides. "You're not buying any of this, are you? Great," Rapid asked with a sigh. With their stern faces his guards just silently shook their heads and Rapid knew he was in deep trouble. Desiring to avoid looking at his guards for awhile, Rapid's eyes lowered to the ground.

Rapid only glanced up upon hearing the captain's loud coughing. He listened as Captain Saber demanded to know why Rapid has a loose hoof. To Rapid's disappointment the guard, Diamond told the captain a little white lie telling Saber that Rapid must have broken free of it all on his own and to Rapid's great surprise the captain believed it! He opened his mouth to protest against this grievous injustice, but decided against it. If he lied for Diamond then he would likely get nothing for his efforts, but even more trouble! And if he verbally denied it, well they wouldn't believe him anyway! He was just their prisoner. They wouldn't care what he said.

Rapid only gave a grunt as his restraints were further tightened. The blue unicorn only cringed at Saber's formal sentencing and gulped. Scared, his eyes returned to the ground. Just the way Saber announced it made it seem very painful. Afterwards, Diamond covered up his face with the same hood as before. 'At least now I don't have to look at my guards,' Rapid thought sadly with a sigh.

He gave an uncomfortable grunt as Diamond gave a jerk on his leash. Rapid took a deep breath when his captors announced it was time for his punishment. Rapid obediently tried to keep at their pace as to avoid getting dragged. This was easier said than done, however, given how much in a hurry his guards seemed to be and it was a lot harder to walk when you couldn't see anything. Rapid certainly wasn't used to walking blind, so every now and then Rapid felt a sudden, painful jerk of the leash. Even so, Rapid got the sense they were being followed by curious passerby. Rapid was so glad he didn't have to see anyone. He didn't think he could face anyone after this.

He did wonder where his captors were taking him. He wouldn't have to wonder for long, however, since they at last arrived at their intended destination. Rapid gave a cry of surprise as he was quickly shoved into something; something uncomfortable. He had seen these types of torture devices before. He believed they were called a pillory. Rapid had no idea how he even knew that since most ponies didn't seem to. Then his mind went back to his recent dream that he had of his trouble making contacts. 'Of course, now I understand,' he thought to himself as he heard his guards surround him.

At last his hood was removed allowing him to see everypony before him and exactly where he was. Seeing all the angry faces before him made Rapid feel even more nervewrecked than before! He could do nothing, but listen as Saber formally announced his punishment to the angry crowd of ponies. Not surprisingly they booed him and somepony on top of it all threw an egg and he hated eggs! Well, that's not entirely true. He liked eggs after they were turned into a cake, but he didn't much care for eggs by themselves. As the yolk slid down his face some of it landed in his mouth causing him to cough and gag. He spat it out.

Rapid really wanted to say something at this point. Anything because he really did feel bad for what he did even though he really couldn't remember much. "Wait, before you guys punish me I'd like to say something. I am so sorry! I deeply apologize for whatever harm I caused. I didn't mean to spy. on your...lovely military and what fine ponies they are I might add. I just wanted a good story for my paper is all. So, there, that's my story. I'm sorry everypony! Looks like we're be seeing each other a lot these next twelve days! Wow, that's a lot of days being stuck here, am I right? But seriously, we'll probably get to know each other quite a bit in that time. And that...that concludes my uh apology. I am now ready to face my punishment," Rapid said nervously. He tried his best to sound as brave as his words, but it was pretty obvious to everypony that he was a nervous wreck. All the while his face dripped in sweat.

"Geez, you sure do talk a lot! Well, I for one know how to fix that," announced one of the guards called, Randy. Randy walked right up to Rapid and place a gag across Rapid's mouth to keep him from saying anything else. This not surprisingly caused some of the crowd to laugh. Rapid just sent a glare at Randy. 'Very well. Have your fun gagging me, but I'll remember this! You'll see! You'll all see, that you can't keep this ace reporter quiet for long!' thought the gagged unicorn snickering to himself.

After Randy got out of the way, Saber ordered Rapid to be whipped with the rod. Rapid let out a loud squeak at the first one. Perhaps in hindsight it was a good idea that he was gagged after all. Now he had something to bite into. He bit hard onto the cloth as he mentally screamed and fought back tears. He yelled out at the second one as well with the gag likely quieting his screams. His heart pounded speeding up with each new blow. Rapid just continued to yell out in pain each time he was hit. However, by the time he made it to the sixth lash his rear had indeed gone numb from the previous lashings. He was beginning to get used to the pain. During his final blows his screams of agony lessened to that of a whisper.

At long last the blows ceased leaving an exhausted Rapid Quill panting. He truly felt like fainting at this point and he felt so dizzy.

The guard that was hitting Rapid with the rod looked up at his commanding officer when he had finished. He had counted the blows himself and his captain counted them out loud. So yeah he was pretty sure he was done. "Sir that was all of the lashes Sir. What is next, Sir?" he asked as he excitedly awaited orders. Nopony in a hundred years could have predicted what happened next, however.

[TwiDashPie]

It was a nice day in the Crystal Empire, well, except the fact that there was a public punishment currently going on and everypony was watching and mocking the pony getting beaten. Well, almost everypony, only a few minutes away from the entrance to the empire was a pegasus mare named Thunder Strike. She was flying as fast as she could toward the Empire, determined to get there as soon as she could. She was on a mission and needed to do fulfill it as fast as possible. She knew that if she succeeded, she would be a hero and would go down in Equestrian history. It was fairly simple, rescue some unicorn that had gotten captured. She hadn't been giving many details about him, just his appearance and name. His name was Rapid Quill and he was supposed to be punished right now. As she flew closer to the Empire, she could hear a bunch of ponies yelling and cheering. Ugh, ponies can be so rude and annoying, she thought to herself even though she was a pony. 

Thunder smirked upon seeing she had arrived at the Empire and started to fly towards the commotion that could be heard miles away. She flew high up so she could see the scene in front of her, it was a unicorn being whipped repeatedly. She immediately recognized him as Rapid Quill and started to think about how she was going to do this. She couldn't deny though, that when she looked at him, there was a spark she had never seen before in any other pony. Wait what!? Ugh, her brain didn't need to be going there, she didn't need anypony. She pushed the thoughts aside and continued watching, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The moment was soon given as she heard a pony say they were out of lashes. She quickly launched out of her spot and toward the guards and Rapid. However, she didn't realize that she had launched in the air so hard, that it had created a noise that was similar to a firework going off. So, that going everypony's attention and caused them to watch the pegasus swoop down. She screeched to a halt once by Rapid. She knew she had to act fast, so without hesitation she broke open the boards. She knew the guards would be coming momentarily and that the escape would be hard. So, she quickly put herself between, the now freed, Rapid Quill and the oncoming guards and readied for a fight.

[starguy]

OOC:I don't mean to be bossy, but I don't think it should be quite so easy to rescue. I was kinda hoping for a more extended battle between Thunder Strike and Silver Saber for the fate of Rapid Quill. I don't have a problem with him incapacitating most of the guards, I just need a more..complete explanation for Thunder Strike being able to rescue Rapid Quill from military custody without any effort. Also, carrying fully grown pony on Thunder Strike's back seems a little improbable. Your character would have to be enormously strong to be able to get off the ground with wings the size of a normal pegasus while carrying the weight of an entire other pony. Sorry for the inconvenience. Much better. Thanks, Twi.
Bic:

The guards converged on Thunder Strike and the recently freed Rapid Quill, their spears creating a small forest of pointy doom around the two would-be escapees. The spears formed a canopy above the heads of Rapid Quill, preventing any airborne escape. One of them readied the chains that had formally held Rapid Quill and prepared to try and shackle one of the fugitives. Before he could, however, Silver Saber called out loudly.


"ATTEN-TION!"

The guards on all sides stood to attention, their spears now held strait up to the sky. None of them knew quite why the Captain was seemingly preventing the capture of the two fugitives, but they all knew better than to disobey a command from a superior officer. The guards parted to allow Silver Saber onto the  stage where the now smashed pillory lay.

"Don't worry boys, I'll handle this personally."

Silver Saber turned his attention to the new arrival and smiled.

"It's been a long while since somepony had the guts to try and interrupt a military operation that I was in the progress of executing. You must be very brave...or very, very foolish."

Silver Saber drew one his weapons slowly and cast a spell onto it

I'll see if I can take her alive. If someone is going to the trouble of rescuing him, he must be valuable...or they think he still has his notebook, perhaps. Either way I'll find out who sent her and why.

The elegant steel saber rippled with the same electro-static energy that Silver Saber had used on Rapid Quill during the interrogation, only twice as powerful as before. The weapon would not break bones or cut flesh, but it would produce a powerful stun effect on contact.

"If you want to rescue that worthless traitor from my custody, you'll have to go through me."

Overhead, the a cloud passed in front of the sun, bathing the center of town in a deep shadow, as if predicting the oncoming battle.

[Rapid Quill]

ooc: Before I reply, I was just wondering where the captain hid Rapid's notebook and if it would be at all possible for Rapid to retrieve it? If it's not, that's cool. Just thought I'd ask before I replied. Also now that Rapid is no longer restrained, can he remove the anti magic ring thingie from his horn? If so his magic is going to go crazy. For one thing he's been reading that evil spellbook that he got from a previous thread and has been learning the spells from it and for another he has been holding his magic in for much too long (for him it was too long). And believe it or not he's mad at Saber for humiliating him! Oh boy, a mad Rapid Quill is scary.

[Rapid Quill]

Rapid nervously waited for Captain Saber to answer the guard's question of what comes next when a sudden loud sound interrupted the crowd heckling him. The imprisoned blue unicorn thought it a firework going off. 'Great, bad enough I'm being humiliated up here by all of these ponies, but now somepony is celebrating it with fireworks,' Rapid glumly thought with a depressed sigh. His ears then flickered excitedly upon overhearing the crowd shouting not about him, but about something coming in hot from the sky. 'Not a firework? Then what in Equestria is it?' Rapid thought to himself.

As he was still imprisoned he could not move his head to see the super speedy, reckless pegasus swoop down until she was practically in front of him. He looked her over although he had to say he did not recognize her from anywhere. His yellow eyes just widened in surprise and was so tongue tied that for once he was glad that he was gagged to give him a good excuse for not speaking. He didn't realize the crowd was allowed to get this close to him. Fearing what the female pegasus may do to him, he closed his eyes. However, when nothing bad happened he cautiously reopened his eyes and to his great shock and disappointment the female pegasus for whatever reason freed him from the uncomfortable pillory.

He let out a startled gasp as he swiftly removed his gag, so that he could speak and perhaps in so doing give this reckless mare a piece of his mind! If she seriously expected a 'thank you' from him then she had another thing coming! No as far as he was concerned he had everything under control and now thanks to this mare all his plans were ruined! And worst of all, she made a liar out of him! He had just formed a public apology and accepted his sentence with the bravest face he could muster and now this crazy pegasus is saving him! That no doubt made him look bad even though it really wasn't his fault! He didn't plan on any of this nor did he hire her! And how could he have? He was in a cell the whole time! Oh hopefully the guards could be made to listen to reason.

"Are you crazy!? I had everything under control and now thanks to your...interference these guards are going to be very, very angry at both of us. You really didn't need to get involved in any of this," he hissed at the pegasus mare as the two were back to back and completely surrounded by angry armed guards. Seeing the sharp, pointy spears surround them as well as a guard threatening them with chains, Rapid's ears lowered and he let out a nervous gulp as he started backing away from them. "Let me guess, you don't have a plan. Do you 'hero'?" accused Rapid of his would be hero as he backed away from the guards.

However, before any of the guards could do anything, Saber for some weird reason called them off. Thinking that perhaps the captain was going to give him another chance, Rapid let out a sigh of relief. He just knew one way or another justice would prevail. However, Rapid's heart sank at the captain's words. Sadly, he wasn't wrong, Rapid realized. 'So much for surrendering,' Rapid thought. The blue unicorn's ears flickered at the distinct sound of the captain using magic. Rapid watched as the captain put a spell on his weapons. Rapid recognized the spell as being the same one Saber had previously used on his saber to taze him with.

Rapid just frowned at the insult. "Worthless traitor? That's kind of harsh and a gross exaggeration, don't you think? And technically speaking I'm not really a traitor. I don't even live here! For me to actually be a traitor I would have needed to have spied on Ponyville; which I didn't. Besides, I prefer the term morally challenged," Rapid boldly corrected.

Remembering the anti magic ring wrapped around his horn, Rapid quickly jerked it off. In an act of defiance he threw it fairly far away from everypony. Almost immediately Rapid's eyes turned red and they began to glow and he started to feel funny. Nearby objects began to float around him. Rapid honestly had no idea what was going on with his magic since it has never acted up before. But not wanting to look like he lacked control he pretended that nothing out of the ordinary was happening to him. Instead he just casually walked in front of the pegasus mare as though shielding her from Captain Saber. "Stand back Miss and allow me to handle this," he warned Thunder.

He then returned his attention to Captain Saber and he took a deep breath. "Please Captain don't hurt her! Let me explain! You can't honestly think I orchestrated this...clumsy rescue attempt, do you? I don't even know who this pony is! I swear, I've never even seen her before! If I truly knew somepony was coming to my rescue I wouldn't have even bothered trying to apologize for spying and I probably would have stalled until my rescuer arrived to avoid getting whipped! Truth is I meant everything I said during my attempt at apology. But seeing how I am no longer trapped in the pillory things have changed and I highly suggest you and your guards just go with it," Rapid calmly pointed out taking a breath.

Rapid's eyes began glowing even more and his voice started changing. "Captain Saber of the Crystal Empire military I challenge you to a one on one magic duel! Just you and me! Nopony else needs to get involved. I win and you let us both go and you give us both full pardons. Oh and I'll take back my notebook if you don't mind. It's mine you know! Do you accept the challenge I have presented to you Captain or are you too afraid to face me alone without your armed guards backing you up?" challenged Rapid wearing a smirk. This caused the crowd to gasp loudly. As he awaited the Captain's response, Rapid felt all four of his hooves leave the ground and he found himself floating a few feet up in the air with objects just swirling around him. Watching in awe the crowd began murmuring excitedly among themselves. "Uh just kindly ignore what you see here. I am perfectly capable of participating in a magic duel. Sure I may not be as good at magic as some unicorns, but I feel as though I've been improving a lot lately," Rapid announced with a nervous laugh. 'Rapid you crazy! Just who knows what may happen if the overzealous captain wins!' Rapid scolded himself.

"What's wrong with Rapid? He looks evil," called out one of the crowd. "Eep, she's right! He does look evil!" cried out another. "Ack, it's S-Sombra all over again! Everypony run for your lives!" shouted another; which caused the crowd of ponies to panic and run. "What, that's just preposterous! I'm not evil! Now stop running away, all of you!" Rapid called out to them in his attempt to reassure them that everything was just fine and completely under his control. "Oh yes you are! You have red glowing eyes- a sure sign of evil! Also your magic is acting all chaotic right now," one of the crowd pointed out. "Red eyes? What? I don't have red eyes. Mine are yellow," Rapid pointed out, confused with his voice continuing to fluctuate. "You might want to check a mirror then," the crystal pony announced handing Rapid a small mirror. Using his magic, Rapid lifted up the mirror and cautiously looked at his reflection. His reflection just winked creepily at him and started laughing evilly. Startled, Rapid jumped back and very nearly broke the mirror. "You!" Rapid hissed into the mirror. "That's right, your better, more powerful half; your mirror self is here and this time I am here to stay," his evil reflection warned cackling. "But it can't be! I got rid of you," Rapid called into the mirror. "So you thought, but really by now you should realize you can't get rid of him so easily. You've been avoiding becoming me for too long," his evil reflection reminded. "No! I'll never become you! Never!" Rapid yelled using his magic he threw the mirror as far as he could. "What was that all about?" asked some ponies who had witnessed Rapid yelling at the mirror and then throwing it away. "Nothing! Everything is just fine. I just didn't like how that personal mirror made me look, that's all. So you can all just calm down and stop running. Nothing and I repeat nothing is wrong with me," Rapid lied with a nervous laugh.

Little did anyone know, however, that the magic book that Rapid recently checked out from the library had been slowly corrupting him ever since he first started reading it. It also made his magic a lot stronger albeit a tad bit on the unstable side. Poor Rapid had been made a pawn for somepony purposely stuck the dark spellbook in the library all for a unicorn pony like Rapid to find.

Unfortunately for the fleeing crowd of ponies, Rapid was losing his patience resulting in his darker half; his mirror self being released. For months Rapid struggled against him, but was no longer able to resist. The dark magic spellbook Rapid had unknowingly been reading only made things a whole lot easier for his evil mirror self to escape and take over his body so to speak. It had purposely been waiting for the perfect moment to strike and this was it.

Using his newly found dark magic Rapid began lifting them all up and holding them high up in the air. "I...tried being nice, didn't I? I told you lot not to run and what do you do? You ignore me and run anyway! See, that's the trouble with this world: nopony ever listens! if nobody ever does anything to fix this then total chaos will run rampant in the streets! I hate chaos! But not to worry for I have the perfect solution starting with keeping all of you here because I wouldn't want any of you to miss this. I need an audience to watch as I single-hoofedly defeat your silly little captain," Rapid announced through gritted teeth in a voice that wasn't his own laughing like a nut. Using a transformation spell he transformed various large objects into bleachers. "So sit down and shut up!" Rapid growled as he set the crowd of ponies down in the magically created bleachers and restrained them all there. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before throwing food at helpless ponies! You'll also know exactly how it feels being restrained. Isn't it just peachy?"

While the crowd of ponies began struggling against their restraints and wondering aloud what was wrong with Rapid, Rapid floated over to where Saber stood. "So how about it Captain? Are we to duel or not? As you probably noticed we now have a captive audience just waiting to watch you lose," Rapid asked with a sneer. "I also assume you'll have your own terms and rules if you decide to duel me. Well, I haven't all day Captain. What are they?" "You can do it Captain! Beat the living flank off him!" shouted one of the ponies from the bleachers. Rapid rolled his eyes. "He won't win! Nopony can save you now!" Rapid retorted laughing. "With my superior magic he doesn't stand half a chance!"

Rapid then turned to the brave little pegasus that risked so much to save him. The troublemaking blue unicorn smiled at her. "As for you, I cannot thank you enough for saving me! It was very smart of you! But I advise you to...take cover. I sense this duel between the captain and I will get ugly," he warned.

[TwiDashPie]

OOC: I'm so sorry I was gone for so long! I'm back though, I promise!

Thunder Strike couldn't believe this scene that had happened after her arrival. First, this captain had called her foolish, then Rapid Quill had stepped in front of her and had pretty much told her to stay out of the fight she had started. She hated being told that, it always made her feel like she wasn't good enough to be in the battle. She knew she was though, no matter what anypony else said to her. She was the best of the best and should be praised, or, that's what she thought and told herself. She did like that Rapid thanked her though, but other than that, she hated everything else he did and said. She couldn't deny the anger that started to surge through her, it was her battle and he thought he could just stop her from fighting.

Thunder immediately snapped out of her thoughts upon making a decision on her actions in her head. Quickly, she zoomed in front of Rapid Quill, ignoring what the scene he had caused while she was deep in her own thoughts. She launched up in the air and turned to face him angrily. "Get out of my way! I don't need ponies like you getting in the way of my fights!" She snapped, feeling her anger rise. She then turned back to the captain, glaring at him. "Now, you wanna fight!? Then let's fight!" She yelled before charging full speed right at the captain. Truthfully, she hadn't entirely thought through what would happen after, but she was too mad to think about it.

[starguy]

Ooc: This was as mild a punishment as I could think to do for such a severe crime. To be clear, this was a spanking, not a whipping. I could have gone far more dark than I did, but I didn't in order to keep things within the tone of the show. In any other place but MLP, espionage would have been met with life in prison at least. If anything, this was taking it easy on her. There was no blood or anything like that, not even any tangible injury, other than a few spank-marks which will face with time. Also, I don't think Shining Armor/Cadence know about every single crime and it's punishment that goes on in the empire, just as the king of a nation isn't aware of every law breaking incident within the boarders of his kingdom. Kings have to delegate tasks or they would kill themselves with over-work. I think you might be a bit heavy-handed with your moderating in this instance, Ashti.



Bic:

The captain sighed in exasperation and signaled the guards to surround the newly arrival. In an instant, the guards had moved into formation, separating Rapid Quill from the brash pegasus who had freed him. The guards had surrounded and trapped Thuder Strike with their spears, aiming them either at his neck or above his head to create a canopy of sharp metal points, making aerial escape difficult to say the least. Meanwhile, frightened towns-ponies fled left and right, escaping from the 'evil' pony now about to be engaged in combat by the grizzled captain of the guard. Despite his protestations, Rapid quill seemed to be having very little sucscess getting ponies to listen to him. In a matter of moments, the crystal empire's central plaza was deserted.

"I will deal with you later. First, I have an escaped criminal to recapture. "  Silver saber said to Thunder Strike

"Just stay put" one of the guards said to Thunder in a low, gruff voice." Once the captain is done with the prisoner, he will have ample time to deal with you. He chuckled unpleasantly.

Rapid drew his second saber and enchanted it, causing it to glow with a barely perceptible aura of shimmering light.

This anti-magic blade enchantment will hopefully deal with any spells he casts.

"Rapid Quill, I accept your challenge!"

With surprising speed for one so old, Saber moved in to attack his, his anti-magic blade on one side and his electrostatic blade on the other, both pointing directly at Rapid Quill.

[Rapid Quill]

Rapid now fully possessed by his darker, eviler mirror self just casually stepped aside allowing the wrath filled rescuer to charge right at Captain Saber. "You really want to fight Saber? Well then go right on ahead little girl, but don't come crying to me when you get hurt! This isn't some namby pandy backyard duel! This is the real thing," Mirror Rapid informed her rather nastily with a laugh.

His amused smile was then replaced with a look of annoyance as the captain's guards effectively kept Thunder Strike from engaging with the captain. "Aw, what's the matter Captain? So worried about getting your flank beat by a wittle girl that you have to use your guys to keep her from the fight? Now that's just sad on so many levels," Rapid sneered. "But no matter. I prefer it this way. Just you and me with our captive audience cheering me on! Last thing I want is for ponies thinking that I need help from anypony to defeat the likes of you in combat," proclaimed a very confident Mirror Rapid as he paced in front of Saber.

"No way dude! Captain Saber will beat you to a pulp!" shouted one of the captive audience from the stands. Rapid glared. "Oh? Is that a fact? Because I just don't see it," taunted Rapid. Emitting a red blast of magic from his horn at the audience member caused him to be gagged by some rope. Rapid laughed. "Anyone else think the ole captain here has what it takes to beat the likes of me?" Rapid asked scaring the audience. "No? Then I trust there will be no more interruptions as I singlehoofedly put the captain in his place and get some well deserved revenge. On that note let the duel begin."

Returning his attention back to the captain, Mirror Rapid watched with interest as the captain enchanted his saber with electrical static on one side and antimagic on the other. Normal Rapid likely would not have noticed this trick until too late, but Mirror Rapid recognized it for he was an ancient being with much experience and as such has been around the block a thousand times over. A knowing smile crossed his lips. With glowing red eyes, Mirror Rapid cast a protective antimagic shield around himself; which should be strong enough to keep the captain at bay for at least the moment. "Ah, I see you've cast an antimagic spell on one of your sabers. Well played. It will slow me down a bit, I admit, but it won't be enough to stop me from defeating you!" Taking full advantage of his protective antimagic shield, Mirror Rapid began speaking a spell causing himself to levitate high into the air. Looking down he shot a beam of red magic at Saber while laughing crazily.

The audience, meanwhile, watched on in fear. None of them understood what was going on with Rapid. They just thought he was going crazy, but they weren't sure why.