4975618 "I'm the Ponynaught, BITCH!'

Well this is certainly becoming a real nightmare for the ponies. Third post, and Rainbow is already gone!

4976131 Your avatar fits with this post perfectly.

This makes me curious, do they address Twilight as "Your Majesty"?
She's a Princess, shouldn't the proper way be "Your Royal Highness".

Only Kings and Queens (or equivalent) and above are to my knowledge addressed as "Your Majesty".

4977341
Woah, woah, woah. Get your logic and facts out of here, there's no room for that stuff here.

Also, yes, you are correct.

Tag, you're it.

Twilight floated all the bottles she could find towards the front of the closet, lining them up next to the warded door. A few had been smashed in the chaos, but there was still a lot to work with. After commandeering every possible cleaning chemical imaginable, a pack of safety goggles that had been wedged behind the sponges, and a large mop bucket on wheels, she stepped back and wiped her forehead.

“Okay, so…” Twilight turned to See Fore and gave a guilty smile. “I hope you have some ideas about what we can do with this. All I really know about cleaning chemicals is it’s a bad idea to mix bleach and ammonia.”

See Fore smirked. “Actually, if you use enough ammonia you would make an explosive. But, uhh, you’d still have toxic fumes, so let’s not do that.” His smirk slid off his face and he poked through the bottles, his expression flagging from determined to worried. “It’s…been a while since I’ve had to improvise,” he muttered. “Even longer since chemistry courses…”

Twilight turned to the others, searching their faces for hope. She grimaced. “Well, if you can’t find anything, I’m sure we can figure out a different way to—”

“Aha!” See Fore straightened and flashed a triumphant grin, then held up something that looked like a brick. “This is perfect!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow and squinted at the label on the brick. “A…Magic Eraser? Isn’t that for cleaning kitchens?”

“Well…yeah, usually, but they’re actually magic. They have a low grade disintegration spell woven into them. It’s usually just strong enough to disintegrate grease, but—”

High Peak cut in. “But you know how to make it stronger?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle knows how to make it stronger.” His grin turned sheepish as he looked back to Twilight. “I hope?”

Twilight blinked at him. “Um…” She furrowed her brow and sank to her haunches. “Let me think…ugh, if I only had my books…” She took a deep breath and let it out through her snout slowly. “…Yes. Okay, strengthening a spell like that is difficult, but we don’t need to strengthen it, we just need to release it. The disintegration magic should go off all at once that way.”

See Fore grinned again. “Great! How do we do that?”

Twilight grimaced. “Blowing it up?”

“…Oh.” Sighing, he turned back to the bottles. “I guess that’s a little easier than trying to blow up a door. Hydrazine from bleach and ammonia might even work for that, if we back up far enough and somepony can spark it.”

Twilight scrunched her eyes shut and crackled magic from her horn. The room turned sideways in her vision for a moment, but she found her bearings after a few breaths. “I’m not sure I can manage anything more complicated than that, but I should be okay. The other problem is that the door is warded against magic, and I can’t imagine the ward was designed in such a way where a disintegration spell would work. Chemical explosions can mess up magic sometimes, but it wouldn’t help with this. I’m not sure what we can do.”

The closet lapsed into silence. Twilight’s heart sank.

“Um,” Fluttershy squeaked. Everypony turned to her, and she squeaked again. “W-what about using it on a wall instead? Would that work?”

“Fluttershy, that’s perfect!” Twilight bounced up to her hooves, then wavered with dizziness. She caught herself and turned back to See Fore. “We’ll set it up at the very back of the closet. The ward will extend around the whole room, but the explosion will have the best chance of interrupting it the furthest from the focal point, where the two sides of the spell overlap.”

With renewed enthusiasm, they set to work, clearing the back wall and strapping on safety goggles, while See Fore set to work sorting through chemicals. Soon they had the Magic Eraser pinned against the back of the closet and soaked in different cleaning solutions, with everypony crowded up against the door.

“Ready?” Twilight asked. “Here goes…” She sparked her horn.

A shot went off like a firework, and a flash of light filled Twilight’s vision. A bubbling hiss filled the room, and she blinked away the spots while holding her breath. A jagged circle ate away where the wall was Magically Erased.

“Yeah!” they all cheered, then poured out of the room.

Twilight felt uneasy on her hooves and completely turned around. They’d ended up in a different hallway and she had no idea where they were in the building anymore. “I need to find Rainbow Dash,” she muttered. “And signal the royal guard. And…” She stumbled and leaned against the wall. The small victory drained away from her, and as she looked around, she saw it had left her friends’ faces. “I don’t know what to do. I have no idea where Rainbow is now.”

Rainbow Dash bolted around a corner and skidded to a halt. “Oh, hey, Twilight!”

“R-Rainbow?” Twilight pushed off the wall and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s neck. “Oh thank goodness! What happened?” She stepped back and looked her friend over.

“I waited for the guy holding me to stop paying attention and cracked him in the face.” Rainbow shrugged. “Then I came back this way to try and bust you out. Guess I don’t have to. Oh! I heard a bunch of noise in that big hall, something big’s going down, we gotta go help them!” She turned on a dime and spread her wings, but Twilight grabbed her tail.

“We can’t, we have to call the guard. We have to warn them about that unicorn’s ability to cause magical feedback, too. And even if we ran into danger, these ponies didn’t sign up for this, anyway.” She gestured at High Peak, Mint Condition, and See Fore. “We should get out of here.”

“Twilight, we’ve saved Equestria how many times now? I know that unicorn guy was scary, but that’s why we’ve gotta help. The guard’s not trained for this, but after everything we’ve been through? You think the guard would’ve been okay facing down Starlight Glimmer even if they knew she could take a pony’s cutie mark? This is our job, it’s always been our job.”

“I…” Twilight frowned. “You’re right. I’m…you’re right, Rainbow. If nothing else, we can’t leave anypony behind who we might be able to help. We’ll alert the guards somehow, but we have to try.”

Fluttershy stepped forward. “Of course.”

Rainbow looked back at the rest of the group. “You guys wanna get out, that’s totally cool, though.”

“Are you kidding?” Mint Condition grinned. “This is the most fun I’ve had in years. Let’s kick flank.” She stuck her hoof out. See Fore and High Peak put their hooves on hers, and they looked back expectantly.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Rainbow joined their circle, followed by Fluttershy and Twilight. “Daring Do better be taking notes, because this is gonna be awesome.”

4977596

I just wanted to say I love you in a strictly platonic best friends kinda way.

...

Platonic best friends can kiss with their tongues, right?

4978675

4978690

4974656
4977596

Things are moving forward nicely! A little bit of despair, and then Dash socking the big bad in the jaw when his pants were down.

Unfortunately, due to work and other obligations, Kamikakushi will not be able to participate. In his place, I have managed to blackmail convince Auramane to take his place! His entry will be up no later than January 18, and then we can proceed along to ZOMG.

Good writing, everyone.

4981378 I blame you for this atrocity.

991 words of thing, I guess.

“Now, come on, guys!” called Rainbow, breaking their formation and flying down the hallway. “Let’s go get the guy who grabbed me. I left him over this way!”

The other five ran down the corridor after her. “So did you leave him tied up or anything?”

“Nope! Just socked him in the jaw and came to get you guys out.” She turned back to him and grinned. “He wasn’t moving when I left though.”

“How did you actually escape, Rainbow?” cut in Twilight. “He was carrying you away in his magic, and he seemed very skilled from what I saw back there. I don’t see how you could have broken out.”

“Well, duh!” broke in Mint. “She’s Rainbow Dash.” Her praise was punctuated with a large gasp. “S-sorry. Not used to doing so much running.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I’m sure it isn’t much farther, right?”

Rainbow nodded. “Just around this corner!”

With that she sped up and left the other five behind, zooming around the corner ahead of them. The others sped up to keep pace, Mint and Fluttershy trailing behind them slightly out of breath. Before they could round the corner however, they heard an angry “Hey!” in Rainbow’s voice, followed by a loud thump and a yelp.

The group rounded the corner and found Rainbow pinning the masked stallion to the ground. She waved at them with a smile from atop his groaning form. “He was trying to get away. Not fast enough though, are you?”

Rainbow jumped off him and sauntered back to join their group. Twilight’s horn lit up and picked up the stallion turning him around to face them.

Mint Condition gasped. “Oh my gosh! That looks like a genuine mask of Inti!”

“Like from Daring Do and the Machu Pony Mystery?” asked Dash, turning back to look at her would-be captor’s face.

“Yes, just like that!”

Using her magic, unclasped the mask from the stallion’s face. He struggled, but she held him fast in her telekinesis. She brought the mask up to her face and examined it. “There’s some writing here.” She held it out to Mint. “Do you think you can read it?”

She blinked. “What? No. Why would I be able to read it?”

“But you immediately recognised it. I thought—”

“I run a comic store and collect memorabilia. I’ve seen models and stuff before. Doesn’t mean I can read it.”

High Peak cleared his throat. “Actually, that’s not writing. It’s just decoration probably.”

“How do you know?” asked Twilight.

“Well, the ponies who lived on Machu Pony didn’t have a writing system. They used a thing called Quipu, where you tied knots in rope.” He laughed, scratching his head. “Never could really get my head around it.”

“How did you know that? Daring never said anything like that in the book, and if she did, I’d know,” said Rainbow, crossing her hooves as she hovered in the air.

He chuckled. “Well, I’ve been there. Remember I said I liked climbing? Machu Pony was a must see for me. Spent a bit of time there and learnt a lot about the ponies who used to live there; Daring didn’t talk much about their culture or anything in the book.”

Before anyone could reply, the stallion floating in twilight’s magic growled. “What am I, chopped liver?”

Everyone’ attention was yanked back over to the stallion. He wasn’t looking great. His breathing was laboured, and a nasty bruise was forming across his face.

Twilight put the mask aside and looked at him. “Okay, then. What are you doing here? What are you and Ahuizotl planning.”

“I won’t tell you anything,” he spat, his voice full of venom.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “What was the point in even talking then? Just shut up!”

He ignored her, staring defiantly into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight slowly nodded. “Uh huh. And we can’t get you to tell us anything? Are you sure?”

He didn’t answer. Twilight sighed. “Well, if you’re not going to tell us anything, I guess there’s not much we can do. Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Please make sure Rainbow didn’t injure him or anything. If you don’t find anything serious, we can just tie him up and leave him for the authorities.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Well, we aren’t going to torture you or anything. And if you won’t tell us anything, there’s no point in carrying you with us. You’re just dead weight.”

Fluttershy walked over to him and began checking him over, and Rainbow and the other Ponies in their group looked at Twilight.

“Twilight, is this a good idea?” asked Rainbow.

“Well we can’t just carry him around like this, especially if we’re going to be attacked again or something.”

“Still, I—”

“He’s fine!” called Fluttershy, walking back over to them. “She bruised his face and one of his legs looks a little swollen, but there’s nothing else visible there. He may also have a concussion. Rainbow did say he wasn’t moving when she hit him.”

She turned to look at Rainbow disapprovingly. “I’m sure you didn’t have to hit him so Hard, Rainbow.”

She shrugged noncommittally

“Hey!” he called. “So you’re just going to leave me tied up here or something.”

“That was the plan, unless anypony else has better ideas.” She turned back to her group. “Now, does anypony have any rope?”

High Peak nodded and delved into his saddlebags looking for some. After a second of searching, he pulled out a long stretch “Always come prepared,” he said to Mint Condition, who was looking at him oddly.

Twilight took the rope off him and quickly began to secure his limbs. his face grew nervous as she continued, and it finally cracked once he was completely bound. “Alright, Alright, I’ll tell you. Just don’t leave me alone here. If Ahuizotl finds me and I’ve failed, I don’t want to know what he’ll do to me.

Rainbow grinned. “Awww yeah, now we’re getting somewhere.”

We have words! From 4989809 no less!

4989907

Hey, I've been writing recently. :V

4990101 Now, if only I could get you to write on demand...

Ah, well. All caught up now. Lemme see what I can think up. As my girlfriend so loves to say, "Last minute is best minute."

4994266

Leave me alone ;-;

4994266

OMG, we get it already. You have a girlfriend.

Shut up and write already.

4994385 never!

4994612 you seem upset, ech

That moment when you realize you missed every update so you have to catch up because you don't get notifications XD

4989809
4981378

773 words later, I have a thing to add onto the thing that Auramane added to the thing.

...

Thing.

The stallion swallowed a lump in his throat. “Oh, Celestia, Ahuizotl’s gonna kill me for this—”

“You’re already in enough hot water, getting mixed up with all this,” Twilight cut in. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw set in a stern frown. “The only thing that’s keeping you from being left to his mercy is your cooperation.”

He flinched. “Alright, alright!” His ears laid flat against his scalp, he ducked his head between his shoulder blades. “It all started after his plans to take control of the sun were ruined by, well, Daring Do and you lot.” He looked to Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy each in turn. “And a few others, I think. He mentioned six. And then that book she wrote confirmed it.”

“Our friends,” Rainbow said. Her ears stood up straight, she darted over to the stallion and picked him up by his shoulders. Her eyes flashed with anger. “Start talking! Is he sending anypony for the others?”

Before he could answer, Twilight stepped in close and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Rainbow, calm down!” she chided.

“Calm down? How the hay can you ask me to calm down?” Rainbow gave the stallion’s shoulders a little shake. “If Ahuizotl’s here for us, what’s to stop him from going after the rest of the girls?” She leaned in close, growling as her anger bubbled over. “You’d better start talking right now, or you and I are gonna take a little flight and see how well unicorns do on a free fall!”

The stallion squeaked and tried to squirm out of her grasp. “No! No! This is it!” he babbled. “This is all he had left! You girls and Daring ruined everything last time! That’s why he’s here!”

Twilight pushed Rainbow’s hooves away from his shoulders, then lit her horn to set him down on the floor. “What do you mean ‘everything’? We only ruined the one plan. You can’t honestly tell me somepony like Ahuizotl put all his eggs in one basket.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand how long he and Daring have been at this, Princess. Almost as soon as they both started, they were fighting. Last time was supposed to be the one, the big score that set everything up for us.” The stallion broke off and gave a wistful sigh. “We were gonna live like kings!”

Rainbow snorted. “Yeah, well, we shredded that plan, pal. Big whoop. Ahuizotl’s always come back, annoying as ever, with some lame-o scheme.”

“There is no other plan!” he snapped. “This is it! This is the last chance saloon for us!”

A heavy silence fell over the group. Twilight shared a look with Rainbow and Fluttershy, both returned her gaze with confused stares.

“Um, I don’t really see how that counters Rainbow’s point,” Fluttershy said after a moment. “Why is this it?”

The stallion gave a bitter snort. “Didn’t you pay attention to her latest book? The way she wrote about your friend—” he cast a nod toward Rainbow “—is like she had an epiphany. She’s starting to get help from some of the brightest minds in the land, and she’s got a leg up she never had before because of it.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight caught sight of Rainbow puffing out her chest and fluffing her feathers. Proud to help one of her heroes.

A smile tugged at her lips, but she fought it back. She needed to stay focused.

“So, Rainbow’s insistence made Daring see she could accept help,” Twilight summarized. “So he’s here both for us and her.”

He nodded again. “She’s always loved treasure, even when it puts her at risk. What better way to lure Daring Do into a trap than to take something she treasures?”

“We’ll just have to see about that.” Her eyes hardened, Twilight flicked her tail in agitation. They needed to do something fast if they were going to stop Ahuizotl’s plan before Daring was caught unaware. “How long until Daring gets here?” she asked Rainbow.

Rainbow stopped her preening, blinking in surprise. “Uh, her panel was at seven tonight.”

“So we’ve got a few hours. Good.” Twilight chewed on her bottom lip, wracking her brain for solutions. Only half the usual group available and a bunch of ponies without experience in the area. Not looking to good for the home team. “We’re gonna need all the time we can get.” Her eyes flitted to the stallion again. “And all the information you have. So, what’s his plan? Full details.”

The stallion glanced away. “I’m so dead for this,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Alright, here it is…”

Tell the next person in line to do the thing!

I did the thing!

1308 words.

I have still absolutly no idea what I'm doing.

But before he could start, something else caught his attention. And just as he started to turn his head a small projectile pierced his skin.

The reaction was immediate. Too surprised to do anything but scramble away, the group of ponies watched in horror as fur turned to ash and his body perished.

Of all ponies present, Fluttershy was the first to take action.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!”

Followed by her scream was what was considered to be something nopony though the shy mare would be able to do.

Without even stopping to catch her breath nor stopping to scream she turned around and flew away at a speed that would even rival Rainbow Dash in her prime.

Coming out of her shock and panic just a second too late Twilight only managed to catch a glimpse of the yellow pegasus round the furthest corner at the end of the hallway.

Though before she could turn around again, the mare felt a sharp pain in her ear followed by a ringing sensation. The thought of her friend being in distress might have brought her out of her panic long enough to turn around, the other ponies weren’t that lucky.

“Everypony, get out of the hallway!”, she heard Rainbow shouting and immediately reacted by swinging her head around wildly, panic kicking in again at the reminder of the situation, looking for a door.

She found one, and faster than any of the other ponies present, she shouted and pointed towards it.

“Here! Get in there!”

And while her mind was still slightly in a fuzz, she managed to use her magic to ripe the door open for her fellow ponies to run towards safety.

And running they did, after all they had just witnessed.

See Fore was the first to make it into the room, not calming down and instead rushing to the first hiding point he could see.

Then came Mint Condition bolting into the room, before stopping at the sight of the other pony hiding behind the the base of the stairs. Just what pony hid in plain sight like that?

After her, High Peak came stumbling in, having tripped over his own hoof in order to escape.

Twilight and Rainbow came in at the same moment. How the two managed to both perfectly time their movement as well as fitting through the doorway was a mystery to everypony present.

With a loud bang the door closed behind them at Twilight’s will, causing the others to flinch slightly.

After a few seconds of hard breathing everypony had calmed down enough to think straight again. It was also at this point that they got away again of their surroundings. And Rainbow was the first to voice the thoughts of most ponies currently present.

“Where in Tartarus is Fluttershy!?”, she shouted while looking around wildly.

Panic begun to overtake her and Twilight needed to akt fast in order to avoid the brash pegasus to go rushing out again, right towards the pony who shot the dart.

“Rainbow, calm down! I think I saw her going around the corner at the end of the hallway. That pony isn’t going to hurt her.”

While being a valid response to her concerns, one meant to ease her worries, it did anything but.

“What?! You saw her and didn’t act!? We need to get her befo-”

Rainbow didn’t manage to finish her sentence as Twilight forcefully shut her mouth. While the purple pony knew her friend only wanted to help, she also knew that neither she nor anyone else in this room could do anything for Fluttershy.

“Rainbow, I said calm down! You can’t just rush out there and go after her! We don’t even now where exactly she went, neither where she is now! Going out there right now is only going to get you hurt, or worse!”

Twilight released her spell from her friends mouth, who still looked quite unhappy with her friend. However, she didn’t try to bolt for the door anymore.

Rainbow wasn’t a fool, after all. Twilight knew she knew what would happen to her, as well as that her friend was capable of hiding herself. She knew too however, that it didn’t made the situation any easier for her.

While the two mares had their little argument, High Peak looked around the room a bit more. It was a simple room, with stairs leading up towards the roof of the rather high building. High for a building with only one floor anyway. Then he got a idea. Their plan was to stop Ahuizotl, like in a Daring Do novel. And he learned from them that the villain always has weak spots. He also learned that the apparently never used the roof of buildings. And with a great deal of the roof being made out of glass, there was a good chance of finding anyone inside the main foyer and most hallways by going up there. So why not use the stairs to get a good overview at the highest peak?

So, after the princess was done scolding the Wonderbolt, something he thought only happened in movies, he voiced his idea.

“... so we can see them better and can decide what to do next.”

Twilight Sparkle liked the idea. Not because it was good - which it wasn’t - but because it gave a perfect moment to initiate her plan. Though doubts about her fellow ponies generell understanding of hugh glass domes came up as she saw the excitement and nods of her fellow ponies. Did the not now how dangerous these were? And how easily somepony could be seen. Although that did serve her perfectly well. After all, everyone should see what she was about to do.

“That’s a wonderful idea, High Peak! Let’s head up there, find Ahuizotl and then beat him with the power of friendship!”, she said, making Rainbow grown and fooling all of them with her false smile and enthusiasm.

The all startet to move upwards, climbing the stairs , without realising Twilight stayed a bit behind them.

As all of them were a good way ahead she placed her horn at the bottom of the stairway and funnelled magic into her horn, a magic she had missed for so long.

A dark crystal formed at the bottom of the stairs, barely visible but doing it’s job perfectly well.

The first cards were laid out, the first stone set. The thoughts on the ritual she was about to perform made her giddy.

Without the ponies ahead of her noticing, she murmured a curse and weaved a spell matrix into the dark-purple glowing crystal. The incarnation flowed flawlessly from her mouth and the runes embedded itself into the crystal, making it indestructible and uninterruptable for anypony but her.

Going fast, she made her way up to the other ponies, having them still obvious.

Already could she feel the spell taking effect, slowly sending out energetic waves at exactly the right frequency.

As she followed her friend and the other new ponies, she thought about her plan. How fortunate they decided to go to the roof. There she could plant the perfect focus point for the necromantic binding, the soul harvest spell she was going to perform. Since she was a small filly she awaited such a moment, and finally it was coming. Ahuizotl was a fool, but his stupid actions gave her the opening she needed.

After all, if a mare that loves dark magic and experiments - and not the good kind - , that can turn into a raging inferno and knows more about forbidden and sealed spells than any other pony alive could become the Princess of Friendship, even after willingly using the foulest magics and committing the worst crimes, then what couldn’t she do?

She was Twilight Sparkle, after all, and she would bring Sombra back to teach her.

... yeah, that happened. I apologise to the next person.

And for everything I wrote just now. First time I ever wrote something.

But, no one can blame me for being crazy!

4998232

The romance will come. It's probably a good thing that they haven't gotten all hung over on feelsy stuff yet. Patience.

As for the calendar . . . yeah. I added the dates next to the names, so that'll probably work. Semester hit like a freight train, but if people want I'm sure I can find time to post an actual calendar.

4998232
5005996
You see, kids. The calendar was inside each and every one of you. So when we say "A calendar will be posted." We're really saying "Look into your heart."

5006600

Huh. I do see gridlines and numbers in the cholesterol.

5006600
Just remember to take a swig of whiskey before looking in your heart, kids.

Helps with the pain tolerance when your knife goes in your chest.

This is the product of someone with responsibilities abandoning those responsibilities and having those responsibilities thrust upon you at the last minute . . .
867 Words

Twilight followed behind the group, cackling to herself. Soon the ritual would be complete. All she needed to do was set the dark crystal atop the convention center dome and recite the incantation. Only then could the dark lord, King Sombra, return.

“Hey Twi, I was thinkin’ . . .” Rainbow Dash’s voice trailed off as she stared at Twilight. Her eyes narrowed questioningly, her head tilting to the side.

Twilight watched as Rainbow moved towards her, slowly at first but her pace quickened with each step. She opened her mouth to question what in Equestria Rainbow was doing, but her answered was received in the shape of a blue hoof directly to her face.

Twilight reeled from the blow and fell to her haunches. She whined and grasped her muzzle in pain. She fully intended to retaliate, yell at her friend for hitting her, especially with the situation that they were in. Before she could do anything, the same hoof that struck her and it’s twin encompassed her head and forced her to look up.

Rainbow’s eyes bore into Twilight’s. Twilight couldn’t blink, couldn’t look away. It was as if Rainbow could see through her to her very soul. She felt herself being pulled into a sea of magenta, closer and closer until she thought she might drown. How had she not realized how beautiful and wondrous those eyes truly were?

“You okay, now?”

“Wha—What?” Twilight shook her head as the voice pulled her out of the stare induced trance she was in. Was she okay? She just got punched in the face . . . Rainbow punched her in the face! She winced as the realization brought forth another wave of pain, and she grasped at her nose.

“You punched me in the face!” Twilight tried to yell, but it only came out nasally and strained. grimaced. Even talking hurt. “Ow . . . I think you broke my nose.”

“Sorry. Your eyes were going all weird and junk, and it was the first thing I thought of.”

Deciding that talking wasn’t an option at the moment, Twilight fixed her face with her best ‘what they hay are you talking about’ expression. Well, as good as a pony could with a possible broken nose, and a hoof covering her muzzle. Apparently, it worked.

“Yeah, your eyes were all crazy green and black like you were going evil or something. Soooo, I punched you, and now they aren’t all crazy green and black,” Rainbow said grinning sheepishly.

Green and black? Twilight tried to recall how she got to where she was. Try and she might she couldn’t remember the past five minutes. Vague images of a crystal and darkness were the only things her mind could conjure. Had she fallen into darkness? She didn’t want to think about it; regardless, Rainbow had been there to snap her out of it. Plus, she did feel better, despite the pain in her nose, as if she was somehow lighter than she previously was. She hadn’t dropped anything she didn’t think.

She looked around, both getting her bearings and perhaps finding the source to this newfound lightness, and she noticed a pile black dust next to her hoof. Had she stepped on something? Perhaps she fell on it after she was hit. Whatever it used to be, she hoped it wasn’t expensive.

“You are okay now, right?” Rainbow asked with much more concern in her voice this time.

“Yes,” Twilight nodded, relieved that she could talk without it feeling someone had driven an ice pick through her face. “And thank you . . . for snapping me out of it.”

Rainbow grinned. “No problem, Twi. Anytime you need me to sock you one, just let me know.”

“It still hurts,” Twilight whined while attempting to still glare at Rainbow. Rainbow snickered and rolled her eyes.

“Here, you big baby.” Rainbow leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on the tip of Twilight’s nose. “Did mommy make the boo-boo better?”

Twilight went cross eyed trying to look at where Rainbow had just placed her lips. Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

“Great fish impression and all, Twi, but we kinda have a world to save,” Rainbow teased. Twilight shook her head, clearing her mind, and nodded. They still had to so much to do.

“You’re right. Let’s get this done, and maybe we can enjoy the end of this convention,” Twilight said, getting to her hooves.

The two only made it halfway up the stairs when High Peak came running down the stairs full tilt.

“There you two are! You aren’t going to believe this. Come on!” he yelled as he fled back up the stairs.

Twilight and Rainbow both glanced at each other then sprinted up the stairs after High Peak. They burst through the door leading to the roof and stopped dead in their tracks, their mouths falling to the floor.

A few feet away from them stood High Peak, Mint Condition, and See Fore, with equally shocked expressions, staring at the spectacle in front of them though. High Peak seemed to have recovered enough to go and fetch the two wayward ponies.

There was Daring Do sitting atop a hogtied Ahuizotl.

I learned about how relationships start from my parents . . .

5010413

Hmm, Rainbow socks evil unicorn in the jaw to escape, then socks Twilight in the nose to stop her from going all evil . . .

I'm sensing this fic's theme.

5010610

Okay, okay! I'll get a real calendar up sometime over the next couple of days in between my bouts of insanity!

And, unfortunately, Sweater Weather failed to contribute their share of the prompt special. They regrettably did not respond to any of the messages I sent them, and has not been online in the last handful of days. Sooooo I reached out to some more contacts and Scoots here managed to pull through with a few hours' notice last night so that Jake R could continue the collab on schedule.

Scoots is muh hero.

5010717

Punching the evil things for them to go away? Jup, sounds like a good theme.

5015651

That just happend.

Weren't they on the roof and not in a room?

5015844 That it's utter shit? Welcome to the club.

5015708
5015844
5015888

Nothing peer pressure and a stern talking to can't fix.

5016637

Ya-... wait, this isn't a good thing, right?

5016242

How the fuck am I...

Argh. Ok, alright. I can work with this.

...I hope.

~Skeeter The Lurker

Sooo ... Stormgnome, you're up.

5025111

Pretty much what you said.

To everyone else reading/participating, unfortunately Skeeter was unable to complete his chapter of the story, so we're going to have to move down the list of authors.

Best of luck and happy writing, Stormgnome!

728 words with just moments to spare.

“Right,” Rainbow said, stretching her legs and flexing her wings. “Twilight you take the ones on the right, I’ll take the ones on the left.”

“And you,” Gesturing to the other three. “ You just… You just handle anyone that comes through. Okay?”

Crouching down to take of she was stopped by a yank in her tail.

“Rainbow we can’t do this.”

Turning to look at Twilight her eyes narrowed. “What?”

“It’s too dangerous.” Twilight started.

“Oh, come on we’ve done this bef-”

“NO! We haven’t.” Twilight returned the glare.

Rising her head and puffing herself up Dash once again locking eyes with Twilight. She threw out a hoof in the direction of the batponies. “We haven’t? What’s different about these guys, huh?”

“These guys,” Pointing her own hoof at the batponies, Twilight started. “ As you so aptly put, are the real deal. They are no half-starved changelings, nor are they your typical henchmen.”

“So what? I’m sure I still can teach them a lesson or two.”

“Rainbow! This is serious, The Royal Guard are scared of them. They all but panicked when the first few started to show up after Luna returned.”

Rainbow was about to retort but stopped and raised an eyebrow. “Really? They don’t look that tough.”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, Really. I may be able to hold them of for a while with my magic, but other than that I don’t think there’s much we can do here.”

High Peak gulped, making Twilight and Rainbow aware that there were other ponies present and depending on them. “So… What do we do?”

Twilight let her eyes gaze over the rooftop and then back to the approaching fleet. “A tactical retreat, that’s our best option.”

“Seriously, we are just gonna run?”

“Yes Rainbow, as I said that’s our best option.” Twilight turned to look at the others. “Now hold still everyone.”

Twilight closed her eyes and focused. She wasn’t fully recovered yet but she should be able to cast a short untraceable teleportation spell to get them out of there and to safety for the time being. The option of running back down the stairs had occurred to her but then she would have to carry both Ahuizotl and Daring as well as relying on Mint Condition to be rested enough for them to actually get away.

Just as she charged her horn another voice entered her mind.

“This is exactly what you need. More souls for the ritual, the more souls the easier it will be.”

“Oh please,” she thought “With the ponies already trapped inside by Ahuizotl’s goons I won’t have any trouble at all. If the ritual didn’t specifically called for live sentient sacrifices I would have don this way sooner.”

“They are already here, and they seem quite eager. Why let them go to waste” The voice stated.

“Well if you put it like that.”

Twilight opened her eyes expecting to be down in one of the smaller meeting rooms down stairs. Instead she was met by a set of concerned red eyes.

“You okay Twi?” Rainbow asked, lowering her hoof to the ground not taking her eyes of Twilight.

“Yes I am. Why shouldn’t I be? Is something wrong?” she answered, narrowing her eyes slightly. “You weren’t about to slap me again were you?”

“Uh,” Dash looked away quickly before locking her eyes with Twilight again. “I thought you were gonna get us out of here. Instead your magic went green and… That happened.” She gestured to the right.

“My magic went green? And what!?” Twilight finally let her eyes leave Rainbow. They weren’t in the meeting room. They were still on the rooftop. But the fleet of batponies was gone and the glass dome over the main convention hall was replaced by what looked like black crystal.

“So are you okay?” Rainbow asked getting Twilights attention ones more.

“I…” Twilight started but trailed of. Something was definitely wrong.

“Pick up that pocket knife.” Rainbow pointed to Daring’s discarded knife.

“What?”

“Pick it up. In your magic.” Rainbow ordered.

Twilight did as she was told and floated the knife over to them. Only for Dash to start scrutinizing it.

After a moment she nodded to herself and then walked closer to Twilight reared up and started brushing away Twilight’s mane form around her Horn.

“Dash?”

“Hold it steady Twi.” Came the reply.

5029427

Despite Rainbow's best efforts, her Sonic Rainpunch (patent pending) was not enough to dispel whatever has a hold on Twilight!

Fiend from the Darkness, you're up!

I am beginning to write! My weekend was a mess... now, where to go with this that isn't completely off another wall...

I apologize for how short it is. At 490 words, I think it's decent enough for my ability levels. I'm... not used to this style of writing, nor this genre in proper fiction writing. I'm mostly a Play-by-Post writer for RP's. Don't hate me too much for what you've got to work with CalmNQuiet.

Rainbow brought her hoof around and socked Twilight’s’ horn. The poor alicorn’s eyes bugged out and she dropped the knife. The plunk of the knife was quickly followed behind by the thud of Twilight. Rainbow frowned. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” she stated in confusion. “The black crystals were supposed to break.” She looked between her companion…s? “Where’s Ahuizotl?” she asked. “And Daring? And High Peak?”

“I… don’t know?” Mint condition said in confusion, though that confusion was quickly morphing into concern, considering that there didn’t actually appear to be anything left of anypony but them. Sea Fore was unconscious, Rainbow had put Twilight into the same state, which left only Rainbow and Mint Condition. “But if I were con continue with the fiction analogies from earlier-“

A blue forehoof cut her off. “No. Do not jinx it,” Rainbow said.

“Why don’t we ask the Princess what happened?” Mint asked. “Once she wake up…” The unicorn turned and gave Rainbow a look. “Why did you hit her in the horn?”

“Well, it was working with everything else!” Rainbow said defensively, crossing her forehooves.

Mint condition opened her mouth to argue. Shut it again. Open. Shut. She sighed, as she really didn’t have an argument there besides it being such a small sample size. Even then, somehow she just knew it would fall on deaf ears.

Any argument she might have made, though, was quickly silenced as disembodied laughter began to sound. Quiet at first, and slowly getting louder, sounding like it was approaching them from the north. Mint condition squeaked and slowly began edging towards the door.

“So, disappear and regather ourselves to beat the villain’s butt all the more epically later?” Rainbow suggested, picking up Twilight and laying the alicorn across her back.

“Sounds good,” Mint said weakly.

“Right, so this is definitely not running, just a tactical retreat,” Rainbow confirmed, backing up towards the door to get back into the convention centre with Mint.

“Agreed,” the unicorn said once more.

“I see you,” a chilling voice said softly, finally breaking down Rainbow’s rationalization and, with Mint right on her heals, the pair of mares—and Twilight cargo—bolted back down the stairs and into the convention centre, Mint squeaking fearfully, while Rainbow was silently wide eyed.

Within the convention centre, it suddenly looked like the caves beneath Canterlot, but instead of beauty, the black Crystal held a foreboding feel. That foreboding feel did not go away as Mint and Rainbow ran, finally coming to a stop somewhere deeper in the centre, though they hadn’t run into anypony on their—metaphorical—flight.

“What was that?” Mint asked softly.

“Sombra,” Rainbow said with certainty. Though she had no way of knowing, even she, who was usually not exactly observant outside of flight and Daring Do, could recognize the voice. Even if he wasn’t screaming about crystals, there was no way Rainbow could ever forget that voice. “King Sombra is back…”

Having read all the entries, it's apparent everyone has had a great deal of fun.
We have quite the cast now in the story, dark magic, bats allowing Rainbow to come back. I'll think on this and try to come up with a suitable entry to add to the chaos.

5037389

bats allowing Rainbow to come back

It's been 3 years, and now I'm sad

5037389

bats allowing Rainbow to come back

Someday it's gonna happen. Someday it will ....

...hopefully ...

5037389 5037393 5037473

My every interaction with the TwiDash forums in a nutshell right here.

5037488 And your avatar sums your reaction to it~

5037518

My avatar sums up my reaction to everything.

5037534
Human trafficking?

5037886

Look at my avatar. That's how I'm looking at you right now.

5037889
I feel scared. Is that supposed to happen? Should I consult my physician?

5038808

5038819

I never noticed that she has rainbow-colored eyebrows. I approve.